Electrical connector assembly

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly for receiving a pair of memory modules therein.

2. Description of the Related Art

Duplex profile connector assembly for receiving modules therein is common knowledge in the area of PC industry. U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,472 discloses such a connector assembly, the assembly includes a lower housing and an upper housing substantially offsetting with each other in a front-to-rear direction. Each housing defines two rows of passageways on two sides of a central slot, in which the corresponding module is received. A plurality of terminals are received within the corresponding passageways wherein a tail of each terminal extends downward to be mounted on a PCB.

Due to continuing trend toward complicated and improved electrical performance by the electronic device, said assembly doesn't meet the new requirement, and a new electrical connector assembly is needed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly with standard electrical connectors and reasonable combination.

In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector assembly comprises a main board with a first card edge connector mounted thereon; a sub-board with a second card edge connector mounted thereon; a pair of complementary board to board connectors mounted on the main board and the sub-board respectively. The first and second card edge connectors are aligned with each other in a vertical direction and the second card edge connector is on top of the first card edge connector.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector assembly in accordance with the present invention, comprising a first card edge connector mounting onto a main board, a second card edge connector mounting onto a sub-board, and a pair of complementary board to board connectors connecting the main board and sub-board;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector assembly along line 2 - 2 in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is another exploded view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the first card edge connector of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the second card edge connector of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a pair of conductive terminals of the first card edge connector shown in FIG. 5 ;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a pair of conductive terminals of the second card edge connector shown in FIG. 6 ;

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the board-to-board connector of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 10 is another exploded view of the board-to-board connector in FIG. 9 ; and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the board-to-board connector in FIG. 9 .

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe a preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 , an electrical connector assembly according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided and comprises a main board 5 with a first card edge connector 1 mounted thereon, a sub-board 6 with a second card edge connector 2 mounted thereon, and a pair of complementary board-to-board connectors 3 , 4 located between the main board 5 and sub-board 6 .

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 , the sub-board 6 is located above the main board 5 , therefore a direction from the main board 5 to a sub-board 6 is defined as a vertical direction. Each board 5 , 6 has a notch 51 , 61 recessed rearward thereby defining a space for receiving the corresponding card edge connector, and the recessing direction is defined as a front-to-rear direction.

The structures of the first and second card edge connectors 1 , 2 are nearly the same, and each comprise an elongated housing 11 / 21 and a pair of arms 12 / 22 extending from opposite ends of the housing. A pair of supporting portions 13 / 23 respectively extend outwardly from side edges of the arms 12 / 22 and each supporting portion has a metallic tip 14 / 24 molded therein. The first card edge connector 1 is located in the notch 51 of the main board 5 , and the supporting portions 13 abut against edges of the main board 1 around the notch 51 , meanwhile, the tips 14 are inserted into the main board for retaining the first card edge connector 1 thereon. The second card edge connector 2 is mounted on the sub-board 6 in a same way as the first one and located on top of the first one.

The main board 5 and the sub-board 6 are connected with each other by the pair of complementary board to board connectors 3 , 4 . The first board to board connector 3 is mounted on the main board 5 and located behind the first card edge connector 1 . The first board to board connector 3 has an elongated housing 31 in parallel to the first card edge connector 1 , and a pair of mounting portions 32 with guiding post 33 thereon at opposite ends of the housing 31 . The second board to board connector 4 has a nearly same configuration with the first board to board connector 3 , and defines a pair of through holes 43 at opposite ends for receiving the guiding post 33 therein and combining the first and second board to board connectors 3 , 4 together.

Each supporting portion 13 / 23 of the first or second card edge connectors defines a guiding hole 131 / 231 therein corresponding with the through holes on the boards 5 / 6 . A plurality of screws 15 are provided to run through the guiding holes 131 , 231 and through holes to tighten the first and second card edge connectors 1 , 2 together with the main board 5 and sub-board 6 . The sub-board 6 forms a plurality of guiding post thereon to be inserted into the corresponding through holes defined on the main board 5 for further tightening the main board 5 and sub-board 6 .

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6 , each supporting portion 13 of the first card edge connector forms a blocking portion 132 extending from a bottom face thereof to abut against a bottom face of the main board 5 . An extending portion 16 / 26 of the first or second card edge connector 1 / 2 in a step shape extends rearward from the elongated housing 11 / 21 to cooperate with the conductive terminals, and a pair of holding portions 161 / 261 extend upwardly from ends of the extending portion 16 / 26 and abut against the bottom face of the board 5 / 6 . A mating slot 15 / 25 as shown in FIG. 1 is defined in a front portion of the card edge connector 1 / 2 , and a plurality of terminal grooves are defined at opposite sides of the slot for receiving the conductive terminals.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8 , the first and second card edge connectors 1 , 2 have a plurality of first and second group of conductive terminals 17 , 27 mounted therein respectively. As the first and second groups of conductive terminals 17 and 27 are in a same configuration, here will only describe the first group of conductive terminals 17 as an example. The first group of conductive terminals 17 includes an upper terminal 171 and a lower terminal 172 , each of which has a main body 1711 / 1721 , a resilient contacting arm 1712 / 1722 extending upwardly and then forwardly from the main body, and a solder tail 1713 / 1723 extending upwardly from a rear portion of the main body. The upper terminal 171 has a retaining portion 1714 extending forward from the contacting arm 1712 adjacent to the main body 1711 . The lower terminal 172 has a retaining portion 1724 extending upward from the main body 1721 adjacent to the contacting arm 1722 . The second group of conductive terminals 27 also has solder tails 2713 / 2723 retained in the corresponding holes in the sub-board 6 .

The contacting arms 1712 , 1722 of the first group of terminals 17 expose to the mating slot 15 and the solder tails 1713 , 1723 are retained in the corresponding through holes on the main board 5 . As the upper contacting arm 1712 extends forwardly further than the lower contacting arm 1722 , a module (not shown) should be inserted into the mating slot 15 slantwise from side of the lower contacting arm 1722 and be bend horizontally to the main board 5 , so is the second card edge connector 2 .

Referring to FIG. 9 to FIG. 11 , the first board to board connector 3 has a longitudinal slot 34 in the elongated housing 31 , and a plurality of terminals 35 are arranged at intervals and secured at opposite sides of the slot. A pair of metallic shells 36 are covering on an outer surface of the housing 31 , each of which has a plurality of grounding arms 361 extending outwardly from a bottom edge, and a retaining plate 362 extending upwardly from a middle portion of an upper edge thereof. The housing 31 has a pair of protrusion portion 37 protruding outward from the outer surface of the housing, each of which defines a channel 371 therein for receiving the retaining plate 362 . The second board to board connector 4 is a complementary connector and has an elongated housing 41 with a longitudinal tongue plate 45 therein. The tongue plate 45 is inserted into the slot 34 of the first connector 3 . The tongue plate 45 has a plurality of terminals 46 at opposite sides for electrically contacting with the terminals 35 in the first connector 3 . The tongue plate 45 also has a plurality of metallic pieces 47 thereon for mechanically and electrically with the metallic shell 36 so as to accomplish the grounding function.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 , when the electrical connector assembly has been assembled, a front portion of the first and second card edge connectors 1 , 2 are aligned with each other in the vertical direction and both of the connectors are sinking in the corresponding board, therefore the entire height of the electrical connector assembly is lowness. The second card edge connector 2 is connecting with the main board 5 through the path of the sub-board 6 and the pair of first and second board-to-board connectors 3 , 4 , therefore, the first and second card edge connectors 1 , 2 can be made in a standard configuration without any change.

It is noted that the upper terminals 171 and the lower terminals 172 are inserted into the corresponding passageways in different directions perpendicular to each other, i.e., the upper terminals vertically and the lower terminals horizontally, so as to have the corresponding passageways extending in the different directions, thus avoiding weakened structure of the housing due to extension in the same direction. On the other hand, because the solder tails 1723 are located behind the solder tails 1713 , it is preferred to assemble the terminals 171 into the housing before assembling the terminals 172 . Alternately, if the solder tails 1713 and 1723 extend in an opposite direction with regard to the current embodiment, the terminals 171 may be inserted into the housing vertically and the terminals 172 horizontally. Anyhow, the present embodiment is arranged to assure the distance between the mating slots 15 and 25 is essentially smaller than that between the main board 5 and the sub-board 6 so that the corresponding memory modules received in the corresponding mating slots 15 and 25 do not exceed, in the vertical direction, the main board 5 and the sub-board 6 protectively for design consideration within a limited space of a laptop computer.

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.