Patent Publication Number: US-7896669-B2

Title: Electrical card connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to electrical card connectors, and more particularly to an electrical card connector assembled on a printed circuit board (PCB) for electrically connected with other electrical devices. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     With a rapid development of the electronic technology, electrical products, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), Digital Still Cameras (DSC) or etc, are more and more minimized and meanwhile, the other way, are urgent of larger storage for meeting with customer&#39;s multiple and variety requirements. Memory cards, storing message and then transferring information between the electrical product and another one, are invented. Memory cards may be express cards, card buses, smart cards or etc adapted for different electrical card connectors. 
     An electrical card connector is always electrically connected with a PCB for electrically connected with other electrical devices. Usually, the electrical card connector comprises an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals received in the insulating housing and a metal shield covering the insulating housing. The metal shield forms a plurality of locking portions at two lateral sides and the PCB defines a plurality of matable elements mating with the locking portions for associating the electrical card connector with the PCB. The terminals comprise soldering portions electrically connected with soldering pads of the PCB. The PCB has a large size and the soldering pads connected with the soldering portions of the terminals only take a little room of the PCB, a large space of the PCB is unavailable and of course, it causes a waste of material. 
     Hence, an improved electrical card connector, which can avoid a waste of material, is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical card connector, which can avoid a waste of material. 
     To achieve the above object, an electrical card connector includes an insulating housing, a metal shield covering the insulating housing for defining a card receiving space therebetween, a printed circuit board (PCB), an insulator assembled on the PCB and a plurality of terminals received in the insulator. The insulating housing defines a cutout at a rear part thereof and the cutout communicates with the card receiving space. The PCB has a smaller size than the insulating housing and is received in the cutout. The PCB is fused with the insulating housing. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective, assembled view of an electrical card connector according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective, exploded view of the electrical card connector; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective, partly assembled view of the electrical card connector taken from a different aspect with respect to  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective, assembled view of the electrical card connector similar to  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIGS. 1-4  illustrate an electrical card connector  100  in accordance with the present invention comprising a metal shield  1 , an insulating housing  2  covered by the metal shield  1 , an insulator  3 , a plurality of terminals  4  received in the insulator  3 , a PCB  5  electrically connected with the terminals  4  and a flexible circuit board  6  connected with the PCB  5 . The insulator  3  and the terminals  4  are cooperatively combined in a terminal module (not labeled). 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the metal shield  1  sheaths over the insulating housing  2  for defining a card receiving space  21 . The metal shield  1  forms a generally rectangular flat portion  11 , which defines a front end  12  for an electrical card inserted therethrough and a rear end  13  opposite to the front end  12 . The flat portion  11  forms a pair of elastic pieces  110  close to the rear end  13  and extending into the card receiving space  21 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the insulating housing  2  comprises a bottom face  22  and the bottom face  22  defines a cutout  210  at a rear part thereof and the cutout  210  communicates with the card receiving space  21 . The cutout  210  forms a plurality of supporting portions  220  around. The supporting portions  220  are stepped along the bottom face  22  and the supporting portions  220  form a lot of columns  221  dispersed around the cutout  210  and extending towards the bottom face  22 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the terminals  4  are divided into a first terminal array  41  and a second terminal array  42  located at a rear part and meanwhile a lateral side of the first terminal array  41 . The first terminal array  41  forms a plurality of soldering portions  410 , a plurality of contacting portions  411  and connecting portions (not labeled) jointing the soldering portions  410  with the contacting portions  411 . The soldering portions  410  extend out of a rear end of the insulator  3  and are arranged along a line. The contacting portions  411  extend beyond an upper surface of the insulator  3  and are arranged in two parallel lines. The second terminal array  42  acts as a switch terminal array comprising a moveable terminal (not labeled) having a flexible portion (not labeled) and an immovable terminal (not labeled) having a matched portion (not labeled), while the flexible portion of the moveable terminal is located above the matched portion of the immovable terminal. The insulator  3  is attached to the PCB  5 . The soldering portions  410  of the first terminal array  41  and soldering portions (not labeled) of the second terminal array  42  are both soldered with circuit pads of the PCB  5 . The PCB  5  defines a plurality of apertures  51 , which are dispersed around the insulator  3 . The flexible circuit board  6  is electrically connected with the PCB  5 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-4 , the PCB  5  with the insulator  3  and the flexible circuit board  6  assembled thereon, is assembled on to the insulating housing  2  from a side of the bottom face  22 : the PCB  5  is received in the cutout  210  and is supported by the supporting portions  220 . The columns  221  are correspondingly received in the apertures  51  of the PCB  5  and then the columns  221  and the apertures  51  are fused under a high temperature to achieve a fixed attachment between the PCB  5  and the insulating housing  2 . The contacting portions  411  of the first terminal array  41  and the contacting portions (not labeled) of the second terminal array  42  both extend into the card receiving space  21  through the cutout  210 . When the electrical card is inserted, the electrical connection will not be attained until a front edge of the electrical card achieves at the flexible portion of the movable terminal and presses against the flexible portion to make a contact between the flexible portion and the matched portion. 
     Because the PCB  5  has a smaller size suitable to be received in the cutout  210 , a fixed attachment between the PCB  5  and the insulating housing  2  is achieved after a fusion under a high temperature. In this invention, it reduces a cost of the PCB  5  to enhance a predominance of the product. The columns  221  and the corresponding apertures  51  are dispersed around the insulator  3  to avoid a wrap of the PCB  5 , and an excellent electrical connection is achieved between the electrical card and the electrical card connector  100  thereby. 
     While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention has been shown and described, equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present invention are considered within the scope of the present invention as described in the appended claims.