TWI866009B - Expansion card assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

An expansion card assembly includes a first circuit board and a second circuit board. The first circuit board includes an edge connector on a first edge, a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, a first connector on the first surface, and a notch on a second edge. The first connector is located beside the notch. The second circuit board includes a third surface and a fourth surface opposite to each other, a second connector and at least one third connector located on the fourth surface. The second circuit board is disposed parallel to the first circuit board. The first circuit board partially overlaps the second circuit board, the second connector is pluggably disposed on the first connector, and the second circuit board corresponds to the notch, so that the at least one third connector on the fourth surface is exposed from the notch.

Description

Expansion card assembly

The present invention relates to an expansion card assembly.

According to the PCI-E Association specification, only components with a height of less than 2.67 mm can be placed on the back of a PCI-E expansion card, making it difficult to configure components on the back of a PCI-E expansion card, thus affecting the expandability. How to improve the expandability of expansion cards under the above restrictions is the research direction of this field.

The present invention provides an expansion card assembly that can improve the expandability of a circuit board with an edge connector under the back height restriction.

The expansion card assembly of the present invention includes a first circuit board and a second circuit board. The first circuit board includes a board edge connector located at a first board edge, a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, a first connector located at the first surface, and a notch recessed in a second board edge, wherein the first connector is located next to the notch. The second circuit board includes a third surface and a fourth surface opposite to each other, a second connector located at the fourth surface, and at least one third connector, wherein the second circuit board is arranged parallel to the first circuit board, the first circuit board and the second circuit board are partially overlapped, the second connector is pluggable and arranged on the first connector, and the second circuit board corresponds to the notch, so that at least one third connector located on the fourth surface is exposed in the notch.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned notch is also recessed in a third board edge, one of the second board edge and the third board edge is connected to the first board edge, and the other is opposite to the first board edge, so that the first circuit board is L-shaped.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the first circuit board further includes a processing chip located on the first surface, and the edge connector and the first connector are electrically connected to the processing chip.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the expansion card assembly further includes a fixing bracket fixed to a fourth board edge of the first circuit board.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the second circuit board includes at least one fourth connector located on the third surface.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the expansion card assembly further includes a plurality of third circuit boards, which are respectively inserted into at least one third connector and at least one fourth connector.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned board edge connector is a gold finger of a PCI-E interface, and each of the third connector and the fourth connector is an M.2 connector.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the third connector located on the fourth surface does not protrude from the second surface.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the height of 2.67 mm on the second surface is a height limit range, and the third connector located on the fourth surface does not exceed the height limit range.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the expansion card assembly further includes a plurality of locking members disposed near the notch to lock the second circuit board to the first circuit board.

Based on the above, the first circuit board of the expansion card assembly of the present invention can be connected to the motherboard through the board edge connector. If the first side of the first circuit board is called the front side, the second side is called the back side. The first circuit board includes a first connector located on the first side, and the second connector of the second circuit board is pluggable and arranged on the first connector of the first circuit board. In other words, the second circuit board is located next to the first side (front side) of the first circuit board. In addition, the second circuit board corresponds to the notch of the first circuit board, and the third connector of the second circuit board is exposed in the notch. Since the third connector exposed in the notch is located on the second circuit board, the distance between the second circuit board and the second side (back side) of the first circuit board is to compete for the space that can be set for the third connector. Therefore, the third connector can meet the height limit on the second side of the first circuit board, and can be plugged in by the expansion card to add expansion functions.

C: Notch

H: Height

100: Expansion card assembly

110: First circuit board

111: The first edge of the board

112: Second board edge

113: The third edge of the board

114: The fourth edge

115: First page

116: Second side

117: Board edge connector

118: First connector

119: Processing chip

120: Second circuit board

121: The third side

122: The fourth side

123: Second connector

124: Third connector

125: Fourth connector

130: The third circuit board

140:Fixed bracket

150: Lock firmware

160: Heat sink fins

Figures 1 to 3 are schematic diagrams of an expansion card assembly from different perspectives according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 4 and 5 are exploded schematic diagrams of the first circuit board and the second circuit board of the expansion card assembly of Figure 1 from different viewing angles.

FIG6 is a side view schematic diagram of the expansion card assembly of FIG1.

Figures 1 to 3 are schematic diagrams of an expansion card assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention at different viewing angles. Figures 4 and 5 are exploded schematic diagrams of the first circuit board and the second circuit board of the expansion card assembly of Figure 1 at different viewing angles. Figure 6 is a side view schematic diagram of the expansion card assembly of Figure 1.

Please refer to Figures 1 to 6. The expansion card assembly 100 of this embodiment includes a first circuit board 110, and the first circuit board 110 includes a board edge connector 117. In this embodiment, the board edge connector 117 is an example of a gold finger of a PCI-E interface, and can be inserted into a PCI-E slot on the motherboard. Due to the PCI-E Association specification, the back side (second side 116) of the first circuit board 110 inserted into the PCI-E slot can only be placed with a height H of less than 2.67 mm. In other words, no component can protrude from the back side (second side 116) of the first circuit board 110 with a height H (Figure 6) exceeding 2.67 mm.

The expansion card assembly 100 of this embodiment can improve the expandability while satisfying the above-mentioned height H restriction through the following design. This will be explained below.

The first circuit board 110 includes a first board edge 111, a second board edge 112, a third board edge 113 and a fourth board edge 114, a first surface 115 and a second surface 116 opposite to each other (Figure 4), a first connector 118 (Figure 4) located on the first surface 115, and a notch C (Figure 4) recessed in at least one second board edge 112. The board edge connector 117 is located on the first board edge 111.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the first board edge 111 is opposite to the second board edge 112, and the third board edge 113 is opposite to the fourth board edge 114 and is located between the first board edge 111 and the second board edge 112. The third board edge 113 and the fourth board edge 114 are connected to the first board edge 111. The notch C is also recessed in the third board edge 113, so that the first circuit board 110 is L-shaped. The first connector 118 is located next to the notch C.

The expansion card assembly 100 of this embodiment further includes a second circuit board 120. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the second circuit board 120 includes a third surface 121 (FIG. 4) and a fourth surface 122 (FIG. 5) opposite to each other, a second connector 123 and at least one third connector 124 located on the fourth surface 122, and at least one fourth connector 125 located on the third surface 121. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the expansion card assembly 100 further includes a plurality of third circuit boards 130, which are respectively inserted into at least one third connector 124 and at least one fourth connector 125.

In this embodiment, each of the third connector 124 and the fourth connector 125 is an M.2 connector, and the third circuit board 130 is an M.2 expansion card, but the types of the third connector 124, the fourth connector 125 and the third circuit board 130 are not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG6 , the second circuit board 120 is arranged in parallel with the first circuit board 110, and the first circuit board 110 and the second circuit board 120 partially overlap. The second connector 123 of the second circuit board 120 is pluggable and disposed on the first connector 118 of the first circuit board 110. As can be seen from FIG3 , the second circuit board 120 corresponds to the notch C, and at least one third connector 124 located on the fourth surface 122 is exposed in the notch C.

According to the PCI-E Association specification, the back of the circuit board (i.e., the first circuit board 110 with the edge connector 117) inserted into the PCI-E slot can only be placed with components within a height of 2.67 mm. In other words, the height H (Figure 6) of 2.67 mm on the second side 116 of the first circuit board 110 is a height limit range, and the third connector 124 located on the fourth side 122 does not exceed the height limit range, which meets the specification.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6 , the third connector 124 located on the fourth surface 122 does not protrude downward from the second surface 116 of the first circuit board 110. In other embodiments, the third connector 124 located on the fourth surface 122 may also protrude downward from the second surface 116. As long as the height of the third connector 124 located on the fourth surface 122 protruding from the second surface 116 is less than or equal to the height H (2.67 mm).

Compared to the conventional PCI-E expansion card which can only be equipped with two M.2 expansion cards on the front, the expansion card assembly 100 of this embodiment can be equipped with four M.2 expansion cards on the second circuit board 120, and has better expandability.

In addition, the expansion card assembly 100 further includes a plurality of locking members 150 disposed near the notch C to lock the second circuit board 120 to the first circuit board 110. Therefore, the second circuit board 120 can be stably fixed to the first circuit board 110. As shown in FIG. 6 , one of the locking members 150 protrudes from the second surface 116, but the height protruding from the second surface 116 is less than or equal to the height H (2.67 mm), which meets the specification.

In addition, the first circuit board 110 further includes a processing chip 119 (FIG. 6) located on the first surface 115, and the edge connector 117 and the first connector 118 are electrically connected to the processing chip 119. Since the processing chip 119 generates heat during operation, the processing chip 119 is disposed on the first surface 115 so that there is more space for the heat sink 160. In addition, in this embodiment, the processing chip 119 is, for example, a RAID chip, which enables the four third circuit boards 130 (including storage units) inserted on the second circuit board 120 to form a hard disk array.

Since the first circuit board 110 has an edge connector 117 and a processing chip 119, the PCI-E signal can be directly processed on the first circuit board 110 and then transmitted to the second circuit board 120. Compared with placing the edge connector inserted in the PCI-E slot and the processing chip on different circuit boards, the design of this embodiment can optimize the signal processing and have good performance.

In addition, please return to FIG. 1 , the expansion card assembly 100 further includes a fixing bracket 140 fixed to the fourth board edge 114 of the first circuit board 110. The fixing bracket 140 can lock the first circuit board 110 to the housing. Since the fixing bracket 140 is disposed on the first circuit board 110 that can be inserted into the PCI-E slot, the fixing bracket 140 can follow the known design, which can save costs.

It should be noted that the expansion card assembly 100 of this embodiment is not limited to expansion card assemblies with a PCI-E interface, but can also be applied to other expansion card assemblies with space or height H restrictions.

In summary, the first circuit board of the expansion card assembly of the present invention can be connected to the mainboard through the board edge connector. If the first side of the first circuit board is called the front side, the second side is called the back side. The first circuit board includes a first connector located on the first side, and the second connector of the second circuit board is pluggable and arranged on the first connector of the first circuit board. In other words, the second circuit board is located next to the first side (front side) of the first circuit board. In addition, the second circuit board corresponds to the recess of the first circuit board, and the third connector of the second circuit board is exposed in the recess. Since the third connector exposed in the recess is located on the second circuit board, the distance between the second circuit board and the second side (back side) of the first circuit board is to compete for the space for the third connector to be set. Therefore, the third connector can meet the height limit on the second surface of the first circuit board and can be inserted with an expansion card to add expansion functions.

100: Expansion card assembly

110: First circuit board

111: The first edge of the board

112: Second board edge

113: The third edge of the board

114: The fourth edge

115: First page

117: Board edge connector

120: Second circuit board

121: The third side

125: Fourth connector

130: The third circuit board

140:Fixed bracket

150: Lock firmware

160: Heat sink fins

Claims (6)

An expansion card assembly includes: a first circuit board, including a board edge connector located at a first board edge, a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, a first connector located at the first surface, and a notch recessed in a second board edge, wherein the first connector is located next to the notch; and a second circuit board, including a third surface and a fourth surface opposite to each other, a second connector located at the fourth surface, and at least one third connector, wherein the second circuit board is arranged in parallel with the first circuit board, the first circuit board and the second circuit board are partially overlapped, and the The second connector is pluggably disposed on the first connector, and the second circuit board corresponds to the notch, so that the at least one third connector located on the fourth surface is exposed from the notch, wherein the second circuit board includes at least one fourth connector located on the third surface, wherein the edge connector is a gold finger of a PCI-E interface, and each of the third connector and the fourth connector is an M.2 connector, wherein the height of 2.67 mm on the second surface is a height limit range, and the third connector located on the fourth surface does not exceed the height limit range. As described in claim 1, the notch is also recessed in a third board edge, one of the second board edge and the third board edge is connected to the first board edge, and the other is opposite to the first board edge, so that the first circuit board is L-shaped. An expansion card assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the first circuit board further includes a processing chip located on the first surface, and the edge connector and the first connector are electrically connected to the processing chip. The expansion card assembly as described in claim 1 further includes a fixing bracket fixed to a fourth board edge of the first circuit board. The expansion card assembly as described in claim 1 further includes a plurality of third circuit boards, which are respectively inserted into the at least one third connector and the at least one fourth connector. The expansion card assembly as described in claim 1 further includes a plurality of locking members disposed near the notch to lock the second circuit board to the first circuit board.

Images