Patent Publication Number: US-8535077-B2

Title: Card edge connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to a card edge connector for receiving a daughter card. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,666,011, issued on Feb. 23, 2010, discloses a related card edge connector which is adapted for mounting a daughter card. The card edge connector includes an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulative housing and a locking member mounted on an end of the insulative housing. The locking member has two stacked locking elastic pieces, and each elastic piece has a clamping portion and a positing arm, and each clamping portion overlaps with one positing arm along a left-to-right direction, the clamping portions are used to clamp the daughter card and are symmetrical disposed. However, the locking member need two stacked locking elastic pieces to enhance an intensity thereof, but that also complexes the configuration. Furthermore, both ends of the card edge connector are assembled with the locking elastic pieces, so people must use another detaching tool to withdraw the daughter card received in the card edge connector. 
     Hence, an improved card edge connector is desired to overcome the above problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, a card edge connector, adapted for receiving a daughter card with a locking notch, comprises a longitudinal insulative housing, a plurality of contacts retained into the insulative housing, an ejector and a locking member. The insulative housing defines a central slot for receiving the daughter card and has two towers located on two longitudinal ends of the insulative housing, and the contacts have contact portions protruding into the central slot. The ejector is assembled to one tower of the insulative housing and has an ejecting portion for withdrawing the daughter card received in the central slot; and the locking member is set on the other one tower, the locking member is formed with a retention portion interfering with the insulative housing and a pair of elastic arms extending upwardly from the retention portion and symmetrically located on two opposite sides of the central slot along a transverse direction perpendicular to longitudinal direction. Each elastic arm has a locking portion protruding toward each other, and a gap between the locking portions being smaller than a thickness of the daughter card. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an assembled, perspective view of a card edge connector in a preferred embodiment according to present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is similar with  FIG. 1 , but a daughter card is inserted into the card edge connector; 
         FIG. 3  is an explored, perspective view of the card edge connector; 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged, perspective view of a part of the card edge connector in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an insulative housing of the card edge connector; 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view of the card edge connector in  FIG. 1 , showing a locking member received in the insulative housing; 
         FIG. 7  is similar with  FIG. 6 , but shows the daughter card inserting into the card edge connector; 
         FIG. 8  is similar with  FIG. 7 , but the daughter card is completely received in the card edge connector; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the locking member of the card edge connector; and 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view of an alternative locking member of the card edge connector. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by same or similar reference numeral through the several views and same or similar terminology. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1-2 , a card edge connector  100  in a preferred embodiment according to present invention is disclosed and adapted for accommodating an daughter card  200 . The card edge connector  100  includes an insulative housing  1 , a plurality of contacts  2  assembled to the insulative housing  1 , an ejector  3  and a locking member  4  set on two ends of the insulative housing  1  to lock the daughter card  200  and a cap  5  assembled to the insulative housing and located above the locking member  4 . The insulative housing  1  is equipped with board lockers  6  to latch with a printed circuit board (not shown). The daughter card  200  defines a locking notch  201  for engaging with the locking member  4 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the insulative housing  1  extends in a longitudinal direction and includes a top surface  11 , a bottom surface  12 , two sidewalls  13  connecting the top surface  11  and the bottom surface  12 , a central slot  14  defined by and between the two sidewalls  13  and extending along the longitudinal direction and a plurality of contact passageways  15  arranged on two inner sides of the central slot  14 . The central slot  14  is divided into two different parts with different lengths by a key  141  so as to prevent the daughter card  200  from mismating. 
     Conjoined with  FIGS. 4-5 , the insulative housing  1  is formed with two towers  16  and  17  on two opposite longitudinal ends of the insualtive housing  1  and protruding upwardly beyond the top surface  11  of the insulative housing  1 . The first tower  16  has a top surface  161  on a top thereof and a peripheral wall  162  with a first guiding slot  163  defined on a side thereof facing the central slot  14 . The first guiding slot  163  passes through the top surface  161  and communicates with the central slot  14  for accommodating an edge of the daughter card  200 . The insulative housing  1  comprises a first mounting slot  121  for mounting the locking member  4 , and a second mounting slot  122  for mounting the board locker  6 , both the first and the second mounting slots  121 ,  122  are recessed from a bottom surface of the first tower  16  and spread along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, seen from a top side. A third mounting slot  123  is defined on a position corresponding to the key  141  of the bottom surface  12  of the insulative housing  1  for receiving another board locker  6 . 
     The second mounting slot  122  upwardly passes through the top surface  161  of the first tower  16 . The first mounting slot  121  also upwardly extends near to but not through the top of first tower  16 , the first tower  16  further defines two positioning slots  164  for positioning the cap  5 . The first guiding slot  163  intersects the second mounting slot  122 , the first mounting slot  121  is parallel to the second mounting slot  122  and nearer the central slot  14  than the second mounting slot  122 , and the positioning slots  164  are located on two opposite sides of the first guiding slot  163  and aligned with the first guiding slot  163  along the transverse direction. The first mounting slot  121  runs through the peripheral wall  161  to define opening  120  communicating with the first guiding slot  163 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 5 , and conjoined with  FIG. 1 , the second tower  17  has a peripheral wall  171  defining a receiving slot  172  therebetween to receive the ejector  3 . A second guiding slot  174  is defined by U shaped guiding wall  173  with an opening communicating with the central slot  14  and opposite ends connecting with an upper side of the peripheral wall  171 , observed from a top side, to guide another edge of the daughter card  200 , and the guiding wall  173  is located on a top side of the receiving slot  172  and has a guiding surface  165  at a top thereof. The peripheral wall  171  defines two pivoting holes  176  on two inner surfaces of the receiving slot  172  to pivot the ejector  3 . A forth mounting slot  177  is defined on a bottom surface of the second tower  17  to mounting another board locker  6 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the contact  2  has a contact portion  21  extending from the contact passageways  15  to the central slot  14  to contact with the daughter card  200 , a retaining portion  22  interfering with the insulative housing  1  to retain the contact  2  and a soldering leg  23  extending beyond the bottom surface  12  of the insulative housing  1  and bend outwardly then downwardly to be mounted on the printed circuit board. 
     The ejector  3  is received in the receiving slot  172  of the second tower  17 . The ejector  3  has two clumps  31  and two pivots  32  on two sides thereof, the pivots  32  are assembled to the pivoting holes  176  of the insulative housing  1  to make the ejector  3  capable of rotating inwardly or outwardly toward the central slot  14 . The ejector  3  has an inwardly protruding ejecting portion  33  on a bottom thereof to withdraw the daughter card  200  received in the central slot  14 , and a locking portion  34  and an outwardly extending operating portion  35 . 
     Conjoined with  FIG. 6  to  FIG. 9 , the locking member  4  is a sheet of metal and assembled to the insulative housing  1  from a bottom side. The locking member  4  is a one-piece element, and comprises a retention portion  41  and a pair of elastic arms  42  extending upwardly from the retention portion  41 . The retention portion  41  engages with a lower part of the first mounting slot  121  with a large dimension along the transverse direction to retain the locking member  4  onto the insulative housing  1 , and the elastic arms  42  are located with an upper part of the first mounting slot  121  with a small dimension and deflectable within the first mounting slot  121 . The elastic arm  42  comprises a locking portion  421  for locking with the daughter card  200 , and a supporting surface  422  below the locking portion  421  to prevent the daughter card  200  from swinging in the transverse direction. The elastic arm  42  are symmetrically located on two opposite sides of the central slot  14  along the transverse direction, and deflects outwardly when being pushed by the daughter card  200  in insertion and then returns back to protrude into and lock with the locking notch  201  when the locking notch  201  is aligned with the elastic arm  42 . The supporting surface  422  abuts against the daughter card  200  in the transverse direction to hold the daughter card  200 . The elastic arm  42  has a vertical arm  423  connecting the locking portion  421  and the retention portion  41 . The supporting surface  422  is an inclined surface. 
     The locking portion  421  further has a pressing surface  424  at a bottom thereof for downwardly pressing the daughter card  200  when the daughter card  200  received in the central slot  14  moves upwardly so as to prevent the daughter card  200  swing in a top-to-bottom direction. The supporting surface  422  connects the pressing surface  424  and the locking portion  421 . Each elastic arm  42  has an abutting surface  425  abutting against a side surface  202  of the daughter card  200  during an insertion process of the daughter card  200 , and a gap between the two abutting surfaces  425  of the two elastic arms  42  is smaller than a thickness of the daughter card  200 . Each elastic arm  42  has a guiding face  426  at a top of the locking portion  421  to guide the insertion of the daughter card  200 . The retention portion  41  is formed with barbs  411  and upright edges  412 , both the barbs  411  and the upright edges  412  interfere with insulative housing  1  to reliably retain the locking member  4  in the first mounting slot  121 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the cap  5  has a main body  51  and a first positioning post  52  and a second positing post  53  downwardly extending from the main body  51 , the first positing post  52  is mounted within the positing hole  164 , and the second positing post  53  is mounted within the second mounting slot  122 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8 , during an insertion of the daughter card  200  into the insulative housing  1 , a front end of the daughter card  200  presses the guiding face  426  and pushes the elastic arm  42  outwardly, after a front end passes through the guiding face  426 , the side surface  202  abuts against the abutting surface  425 , and the elastic arm  42  continues to deflect outwardly; and when the daughter card  200  arrives its final position, the elastic arm  42  returns back by its resiliency and are received in the locking notch  201  to lock the daughter card  200 . At this status, the daughter card  200  defines a minor gap between the pressing surface  424  and the supporting face  422 , respectively, to avoid the daughter card  200  directly conflict the locking member  4 . The pressing surface  424  can prevent the daughter card  200  from being pulled upwardly, and the supporting face  422  can prevent the daughter card  200  from swing in the transverse direction. So the daughter card  200  is reliably locked in the card edge connector  100 . 
       FIG. 10  shows another alternative locking member  4 ′ for the card edge connector  1 , the locking member  4 ′ similar with the locking member  4  except that the locking member  4 ′ is a two-piece element, that means the locking member  4 ′ is divided into two parts, and each part has a retention portion  41 ′ and a elastic arm  42 ′ extending upwardly from the retention portion  41 ′. Corresponding modification is needed to the first mounting slot  121 , here will not give unnecessary details. 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.