Card edge connector with improved latching structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11245224-B2
Application number	US-202016852568-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2020
Priority date	Apr 18, 2019
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

A card edge connector includes an elongated insulative housing, a plurality of conductive terminals retained in the housing, and a latching structure. The housing defines a card receiving slot. The latching structure includes a locking portion and an operating portion. The operating portion defines an operating surface. The operating portion is made of insulative material, and a metal plate is attached to the operating surface. The metal plate can effectively improve the technical feeling of the card edge connector and protect the operating surface from being damaged by external tools.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A card edge connector comprising:
an insulative housing defining a card slot;
a plurality of terminals retained in the insulative housing; and
a latching structure including a locking portion and an operating portion, the operating portion defining an upward operating surface;
wherein the operating portion is made of insulative material, and a metal plate is attached upon the operating surface; and
wherein the metal plate is made of magnetic material.

2. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the metal plate is embedded in the operating portion by injection molding process and covers the operating surface.

3. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the metal plate is assembled to the operating portion.

4. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the locking portion is fixed to a fixing portion defined by the housing, the operating portion includes a pair of wing portions extending laterally from opposite sides of a mounting portion of the latching structure, and the operating surface is an upper surface of each wing portion.

5. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the locking portion includes two vertical walls and two latching arms under the vertical walls and locks with the fixing portion of the housing, a card receiving groove is defined between the two walls, and a pair of shaft portions is protruded outwardly from the opposite sides of the mounting portion.

6. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the pair of wing portions extend outwardly from the walls.

7. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 5 , wherein each of the latching arms has a locking block protruding inwardly at its free end.

8. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the metal plate comprises two metal plate portions covering on the operating surface and a connecting portion connected between the two metal plate portions.

9. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the metal plate comprises two distinct metal plate portions covering on the operating surface.

10. A card edge connector comprising:
an insulative housing defining a card receiving slot along a longitudinal direction for receiving a card module;
a plurality of terminals retained in the insulative housing; and
a latching structure including a locking portion to retain the latch structure to the housing, and an operating portion located beside the card slot in a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the operating portion defining an upward operating surface for confrontation with an external tool in a vertical direction perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction; wherein
the operating portion is made of insulative material, and a metal plate is integrally formed with the operation portion for reinforcing the operation portion;
the latching structure further includes an ejecting portion under the card receiving slot for ejecting the card module, the locking portion is located by two sides of the card receiving slot in the transverse direction;
the operating portion includes a pair of wing portions extending laterally from opposite sides of the locking portion; and
the metal plate includes two parts covering on the operating surface formed on the pair of wing portions.

11. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the metal plate is embedded in the operating portion by injection molding process and covers the operating surface.

12. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the locking portion includes two vertical walls and two latching arms under the vertical walls and locking with a fixing portion of the housing.

13. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 10 , wherein in the metal plate the two parts are connected to each other by a connecting portion.

14. A latch structure for pivotally mounting to one end of an insulative housing of a card edge connector which receives a card module, comprising:
a pair of vertical walls defining a card receiving slot therebetween in a transverse direction, said card receiving slot extending along a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the transverse direction;
an ejection portion formed between the pair of vertical walls and under the card receiving slot in a vertical direction perpendicular to both the transverse direction and the longitudinal direction;
an operation portion including a pair of wing portions extending outwardly from the pair of vertical walls in the transverse direction, respectively, and
a pair of metal plates integrally formed with the corresponding wing portions for reinforcement.

15. The latch structure as claimed in claim 14 , further including a locking portion essentially composed of a pair of latch arms by two sides of the corresponding pair of vertical walls in the transverse direction, respectively, for locking corresponding fixing portions of the housing of the card edge connector.

16. The latch structure as claimed in claim 15 , wherein each of the pair of metal plates is located on an upper surface of the corresponding wing portion and upwardly exposed to an exterior in the vertical direction.

17. The card edge connector as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the metal plate is made of magnetic material.

18. The latch structure as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the pair of metal plates are made of magnetic material.

Assignees

• Foxconn Kunshan Computer Connector Co Ltd
• Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Yuan Chao
• Wu Xun
• Dong yuan-yuan
• Wu Kui

Classifications

• H01R12/716

  Coupling device provided on the PCB · CPC title

• H01R12/721 Primary

  cooperating directly with the edge of the rigid printed circuits · CPC title

• H01R13/6273 Primary

  comprising two latching arms · CPC title

• H01R13/6205

  Two-part coupling devices held in engagement by a magnet · CPC title