Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – With mating connector which receives panel circuit edge
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-15
2001-10-09
Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
With mating connector which receives panel circuit edge
C439S079000, C439S541500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299455
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical card connector assembly, and particularly to a stacked electrical card connector assembly for ensuring reliable grounding capabilities thereof. In addition, the assembly features a low-profile structure which benefits reduced space on a printed circuit board (PCB) where the connector assembly is mounted.
2. Description of Prior Art
Most electrical cards and electrical card connectors conform to the standards of PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association). However, as both the requirements on capacity and speed of signal transmission increase, the quality of signal transmission is more vulnerable to electrostatic interference which may adversely affect the quality of signal transmission. To overcome the above-mentioned deficiency, a grounding plate for electrostatic discharge (ESD) is commonly assembled to the electrical card connector for effectively discharging the ESD thereby ensuring reliable signal transmission.
A stacked electrical card connector assembly is disclosed in a co-pending application, Ser. No. 09/421,441, filed on Oct. 19, 1999, assigned to the same assignee as the instant invention, and is incorporated herein for reference. The stacked card connector assembly comprises upper and lower grounding plates respectively attached to upper and lower headers. The lower grounding plate has a plurality of spring fingers downwardly extending into corresponding passageways in a male transition connector to contact corresponding grounding strips in a female transition connector connected with the male transition connector and soldered to grounding pads of a PCB. The upper grounding plate has a plurality of forwardly and downwardly extending spring arms for contacting the lower grounding plate. Thus, a grounding path is established between electrical cards inserted into the stacked electrical card connector assembly and the PCB via the upper and lower grounding plates and the grounding strips in the female transition connector.
However, the length of the male transition connector is significantly increased since one row of the passageways for receiving the spring fingers of the lower grounding plate is defined between two rows of terminal-receiving passageways. Thus, the entire length of the stacked electrical connector assembly is increased which needs more space to accommodate it. In some applications, especially in the notebook computer application, there is no room for the additional length. Furthermore, the spring fingers of the lower grounding plate are soldered to the corresponding grounding strips in the female transition connector to ensure a reliable contact therebetween. Therefore, if the spring fingers are improperly soldered to the corresponding grounding strips, it will be difficult to conduct a remedy and maintenance.
The present invention is directed to provide a low-profile stacked electrical connector assembly which can be used for different applications.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a stacked electrical card connector assembly having reduced length thereby conserving the occupied space on a PCB where the connector assembly is mounted.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a stacked electrical card connector assembly having improved upper and lower grounding plates, and improved male and female transition connectors with little modification to the conventional designs thereof.
In order to achieve the objects set forth, a stacked electrical card connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises upper and lower headers stacked together, a plurality of terminals extending through the headers, upper and lower grounding plates respectively attached to the upper and lower headers, and a transition device attached to the headers and mounted on a PCB. Each grounding plate comprises a plurality of spring fingers for contacting grounding patterns on an inserted electrical card and a pair of grounding legs downwardly extending from a front edge thereof. The transition device includes male and female transition connectors connectable with each other. The male transition connector defines two rows of passageways for extension of connecting ends of the terminals retained in the headers, and a pair of receiving holes respectively in opposite ends of each row of the passageways for extension of the corresponding grounding legs therethrough. The female transition connector comprises two rows of signal contacts for connecting with the connecting ends of the terminals in the headers, and two grounding contacts on each end of each row of the signal contacts for engaging a corresponding grounding leg.
With such a design, a compact transition device is obtained with little modification to the conventional design thereof thereby conserving the occupied space on the PCB, and reliable grounding capabilities are also ensured.
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.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5290174 (1994-03-01), Woratyla et al.
patent: 5636999 (1997-06-01), Hirai et al.
patent: 5688130 (1997-11-01), Huang
patent: 5775923 (1998-07-01), Tomioka
Chung Wei Te
Hon Hai - Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.
Luebke Renee
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