Card Connector Limiting Portion Reduces Housing Thickness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional card connectors have a large thickness due to a recess on the insulative housing, which hinders effective contact with electrical cards, as the tearing portion does not extend into the receiving cavity to securely hold the card.
Innovation Solution
A card connector design featuring an insulative housing with a top surface, bottom portion, and side walls with a limiting portion extending into the receiving cavity, along with latching arms and conductive contacts that securely engage with the card, allowing for a smaller size while maintaining secure contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a recess is added to the insulative housing to enable positioning, then the housing can be positioned between the tearing portion and latching arm, but the thickness of the insulative housing becomes larger
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional positioning approach (recess on the side surface) to a three-dimensional approach by having the limiting portion extend into the receiving cavity. This allows positioning to occur in the depth dimension of the housing rather than requiring additional thickness on the side surface, effectively resolving the contradiction between positioning stability and housing thickness.
2Reliability
If the tearing portion does not extend into the receiving cavity, then the insulative housing structure is simpler, but the card connector cannot maintain well contact with the electrical card
Solution Approach 1:
The side wall is segmented into multiple functional portions: the limiting portion extending into the receiving cavity for card contact, and the latching arm for securing the housing. This segmentation allows each portion to perform its specific function efficiently, improving contact reliability while keeping the overall structure manageable through clear functional division.
3Length of stationary object
If the insulative housing thickness is reduced, then the overall connector size becomes smaller, but the housing cannot be properly positioned between the tearing portion and latching arm
Solution Approach 1:
The limiting portion is nested within the receiving cavity space, utilizing the existing internal volume of the housing rather than adding external thickness. This nested configuration allows the positioning function to be achieved without increasing the overall connector size, effectively resolving the contradiction between compact size and positioning stability.
Data Source
AI summary
A card connector (100) includes an insulative housing (1), a number of conductive contacts (2) retained in the insulative housing (1) and a shell (3) enclosing over the insulative housing (1). The shell (3) includes a top wall (31) and a pair of side walls (32) downwardly extending from two sides of the top wall (31). The side wall (32) has a latching arm (36) at the bottom thereof to upwardly abut against a bottom face (12) of the insulative housing (1). The insulative housing (1) has a top surface (11) facing the top wall (31). The top surface (11) and the top wall (31) define a receiving cavity (30) to receive an electrical card. The side wall (32) also has a limiting portion (33) extending into the receiving cavity (30) and downwardly abutting against the top surface (11) of the insulative housing (1). Therefore, the size of the card connector (100) is smaller which is in favor of a small-scale development of the card connector (100).