This invention relates to a guide insert for PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) connector receptacle.
It is common practice to make electrical connections between circuitry on a printed circuit board and a power supply or an external signal source or signal destination by mechanically engaging a connection edge of the board with a mating receptacle and simultaneously establishing electrically conductive connections between an electrically conductive structure at the connection edge of the board and a complementary electrically conductive structure incorporated in the receptacle and including contacts that are electrically connected to the power supply or to the signal source or destination, as the case may be. In one conventional case, the receptacle and electrically conductive structure incorporated therein is known as a card edge connector and the conductive structure at the connection edge of the circuit board is a printed pattern of conductive strips. It is possible to provide connections at a density as high as 38 pins per inch of circuit board edge with this type of connection scheme.
The edge connector receptacle typically includes a housing made of electrically insulating material and defining a slot for receiving the connection edge of a circuit board and a linear array of contacts distributed along the slot. Each contact may be in the form of a pair of pins at opposite respective sides of the slot. One form of edge connector receptacle is known as the PCI receptacle, and in its smaller size the PCI receptacle has 60 contacts organized in one group of 11 contacts and one group of 49 contacts spaced apart by an alignment web of the housing. A circuit board that is designed to engage the PCI receptacle is formed with a notch that the alignment web enters when the connection edge of the circuit board is fitted in the slot of the receptacle. Since the alignment web is asymmetrically positioned lengthwise of the slot, there is only one orientation in which the connection edge can be inserted in the slot.
The copending application Ser. No. 09/790,365 discloses an arrangement in which two or more circuit boards are mechanically engaged with a single PCI receptacle. Since the PCI receptacle has a single alignment web, use of a single PCI receptacle to make connections to two or more circuit boards necessitates that at least one of the circuit boards should not have a notch that receives the alignment web of the receptacle. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the circuit boards will not be properly positioned in the slot relative to the contacts of the PCI receptacle.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention there is provided a guide insert for engagement with an edge connector receptacle including a housing having an insertion face and defining a slot for receiving a card edge inserted into the slot along an insertion axis, the guide insert comprising a body portion that fits over the insertion face of the housing and is formed with first and second aligned slot-form apertures for providing access to first and second segments respectively of the slot defined by the housing, and a tab projecting from the body portion of the guide insert between the first and second apertures for entering the slot when the body portion engages the insertion face of the housing, the tab having two opposite faces presented towards two opposite sides respectively of the slot.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided a guide insert for engagement with an edge connector receptacle including a housing having an insertion face and defining a slot for receiving a card edge inserted into the slot along an insertion axis, the guide insert comprising a body portion that fits over the insertion face of the housing and is formed with first and second aligned slot-form apertures for providing access to first and second segments respectively of the slot defined by the housing, and at least first and second tabs projecting from the body portion of the guide insert for entering the slot when the body portion engages the insertion face of the housing, each tab having two opposite faces presented towards two opposite sides respectively of the slot, and wherein the first and second tabs are at opposite respective ends of the first aperture.
In accordance with a third aspect of the invention there is provided an article of manufacture comprising an edge connector receptacle including a housing having an insertion face and defining a slot for receiving a card edge inserted into the slot along an insertion axis, and a guide insert for engagement with the receptacle, the guide insert comprising a body portion that fits over the insertion face of the housing and is formed with first and second aligned slot-form apertures providing access to first and second segments respectively of the slot defined by the housing, and a tab projecting from the body portion of the guide insert between the first and second apertures into the slot defined by the housing, the tab having two opposite faces presented towards two opposite sides respectively of the slot.
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided an article of manufacture comprising an edge connector receptacle including a housing having an insertion face and defining a slot for receiving a card edge inserted into the slot along an insertion axis, and a guide insert for engagement with the receptacle, the guide insert comprising a body portion that fits over the insertion face of the housing and is formed with first and second aligned slot-form apertures providing access to first and second segments respectively of the slot defined by the housing, and at least first and second tabs projecting from the body portion of the guide insert into the slot defined by the housing, each tab having two opposite faces presented towards two opposite sides respectively of the slot, and wherein the first and second tabs are at opposite respective ends of the first aperture.