HK1111269B - Electric connector - Google Patents

Description

Electrical connector

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electrical connector configured to fit a first and a second connector to each other in a direction substantially orthogonal to a multipolar arrangement direction of conductive terminals (contacts).

Background

In general, in various electric apparatuses, a plurality of coaxial cables, a flexible circuit board, and the like are connected to a printed circuit board via a pair of electric connectors configured to be capable of fitting and connecting with each other, and such a case is very widespread. As the pair of electric connectors, for example, a receptacle connector (first connector) mounted on a printed circuit board and a plug connector (second connector) fitted to the receptacle connector are used, and in a state where terminal portions of a plurality of coaxial cables, a flexible circuit board, or the like are joined to the plug connector, the plug connector is fitted to the receptacle connector.

Among the electrical connectors configured to be fitted to each other in this manner, a vertical fitting type electrical connector is conventionally known, and is configured to be inserted and fitted in a direction substantially orthogonal to a multipolar arrangement direction of conductive terminals (contacts), that is, a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane of a printed wiring board on which the receptacle connector is mounted, as disclosed in patent document 1 below, for example.

However, even in such a vertical fitting type electrical connector, as in other electrical connectors, the reduction in height and the miniaturization thereof have been rapidly advanced, and as a result, a space for allowing displacement of the conductive terminals at the time of fitting is reduced, and the contact pressure of the conductive terminals is lowered, which may cause a problem in terms of contact reliability, which is the most basic performance of the electrical connector.

Further, in recent electric connectors, it is urgently required to improve characteristics of electromagnetic interference (EMI) and static Electricity (ESD) for the purpose of preventing malfunction of equipment due to noise accompanying speeding up of electric signals, reducing influence of electromagnetic waves on a human body, and the like, but in general electric connectors, as in patent document 2 described below, a conductive shield covering an insulating housing is disposed in a relationship unrelated to a conductive terminal, and therefore sufficient characteristics of electromagnetic interference (EMI) and static Electricity (ESD) cannot be obtained.

[ patent document 1] Japanese laid-open patent application No. 2002-280102

[ patent document 2] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2005-302417

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector capable of improving characteristics of electromagnetic interference (EMI) and static Electricity (ESD) while maintaining contact reliability of a conductive terminal satisfactorily even when the electrical connector is reduced in height and size.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to achieve the above object, an electrical connector according to the present invention includes first and second connectors, the first and second connectors are arranged in a multipolar manner with a plurality of conductive terminals at appropriate intervals along the longitudinal direction of an elongated flat plate-like insulating housing, and a conductive shield covering an outer surface of the insulating housing, wherein the first and second connectors are fitted to each other in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction in which the multipolar arrangement is arranged, the contact between the conductive terminals of the first and second connectors and the conductive shell forms a terminal connection part and a shell connection part, respectively, the shell connection part is configured, the terminal connecting portion is opposed to the insulating housing of the second connector in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction of the first and second connectors.

According to the electrical connector having such a configuration, the shield connection portion disposed to face the terminal connection portions of the first and second connectors functions to maintain the contact pressure of the terminal connection portions well, thereby improving the electrical contact property of the terminal connection portions. Further, the shield connection portion is disposed so as to face the terminal connection portion, whereby the shield wire formed of the conductive shields of the both connectors is continuously formed, and the shield wire can be disposed along the electric signal line formed of the conductive terminals of the both connectors, so that the electromagnetic wave generated by the electric signal line can be favorably shielded.

Effects of the invention

The electrical connector according to the present invention as described above is configured such that the shield connection portions of the first and second connectors fitted in the direction substantially orthogonal to the multipolar arrangement are arranged to face the terminal connection portions in order to maintain the contact pressure of the terminal connection portions well, thereby improving the electrical contact property of the terminal connection portions, and the conductive shield is arranged substantially along the conductive terminals to improve the shielding effect of electromagnetic waves generated in addition to the electrical signals flowing through the conductive terminals.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an external perspective explanatory view showing a state immediately before fitting of an electric connector for a coaxial cable according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the configuration of the plug connector used in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the configuration of the receptacle connector used in fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a state in which the connectors shown in fig. 1 are fitted to each other.

Fig. 5 is a plan explanatory view showing a state in which the upper conductive shell is mounted on the plug connector used in fig. 1 immediately after the coaxial cable is soldered and connected.

Fig. 6 is an external perspective explanatory view showing a bottom-side structure of the plug connector used in fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an external perspective view showing a planar side structure of the receptacle connector used in fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a portion VIII of the receptacle connector shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing an enlarged portion IX of the receptacle connector shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing an enlarged X portion of the state in which both connectors shown in fig. 4 are fitted.

Description of the symbols

1 printed wiring board

2 socket connector (first connector)

3 plug connector (second connector)

4 coaxial cable

4a Cable center conductor (Signal line)

4b Cable outer conductor (shielded wire)

21 insulating shell

21a convex part

22 conductive terminal (contact)

22a bending protrusion

23 conductive shield

23a, 23b, 23c clamping member

23d front end edge portion

23e inner end edge portion

23f resilient connecting tongue

31 insulating shell

32 conductive terminal (contact)

32a groove part

33 conductive shield

33a upper conductive shield

33b lower conductive shield

33c bent outer end piece

33d connecting part

34 ground rod

CS terminal connection part

SS shield connecting part

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an electrical connector in which a plurality of coaxial cables are connected to a printed wiring board side will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the electrical connector shown in fig. 1 is composed of a receptacle connector (first connector) 2 mounted on a printed wiring board 1 and a plug connector (second connector) 3 fitted to the receptacle connector 2, and the plug connector 3 is of a vertical fitting type, and is configured to be lowered from a state of being arranged directly above the receptacle connector 2 to a downward direction of fig. 1 substantially orthogonal to the printed wiring board 1, so that a fitting portion of the plug connector 3 is inserted into a fitting portion of the receptacle connector 2, and both connectors are fitted to each other. Next, the direction of inserting the plug connector 3 is referred to as a downward direction, and the opposite direction of pulling out the plug connector is referred to as an upward direction.

As shown in fig. 2 and 7, each of the receptacle connector (first connector) 2 and the plug connector (second connector) 3 has an elongated plate-like extending insulating housing 21, 31, and a plurality of conductive terminals (contacts) 22, 32 are arranged in a multipolar manner at appropriate pitch intervals along the longitudinal direction of the elongated insulating housing 21, 31. Substantially the entire outer surface of the insulative housing 31 of the plug connector 3 is covered with the conductive shell 33 made of metal, and the outer peripheral portion of the receptacle connector 2 is covered with the conductive shell 23 made of metal.

Further, the terminal portions of the plurality of coaxial cables 4 arranged in parallel in a multipolar manner are connected to one side of the longitudinal side end edge portion of the plug connector 3. Hereinafter, the rear end edge portion of the end portion to which the coaxial cable 4 is connected is referred to as a rear end edge portion, the other front end edge portion opposite thereto is referred to as a front end edge portion, and the rear end edge portion and the front end edge portion of the receptacle connector 2 corresponding to the rear end edge portion and the front end edge portion of the plug connector 3 are also referred to as a rear end edge portion and a front end edge portion.

At the end portion of the coaxial cable 4, the covering material is peeled off to expose the cable center conductor (signal line) 4a and the cable outer conductor (shield line) 4b, the cable center conductor 4a arranged along the center axis is collectively soldered to each of the conductive terminals (contacts) 32 of the plug connector 3, and the cable outer conductor 4b arranged so as to surround the outer periphery of the cable center conductor 4a is sandwiched vertically between the pair of upper and lower grounding bars 34, 34 and is held by soldering. The coaxial cable 4 and the conductive terminals (contacts) 32 of the plug connector 3 can be connected by caulking, pressure welding, or the like.

The conductive shell 33 of the plug connector (second connector) 3 is composed of an upper conductive shell 33a and a lower conductive shell 33b which are respectively configured on the upper surface side and the lower surface side of fig. 1. In this way, the lower conductive shell 33b is insert-molded so as to be exposed on the bottom surface side (lower surface side in fig. 1) of the insulating housing 31, and the upper conductive shell 33a is fixed so as to be slidably fitted on the upper surface side of the insulating housing 31 from the front end edge portion side and substantially entirely cover the upper surface side of the insulating housing 31 in a state where the coaxial cable 4 is soldered (see fig. 5 in particular). At this time, the front end edge portion of the upper conductive shell 33a is bent downward at substantially right angles to form a bent outer end piece 33c, and the front end surface of the insulating housing 31 is covered from the outside by the bent outer end piece 33 c.

As described above, in the plug connector 3 as the second connector, the conductive shell 33 covers the upper surface (plane surface), the lower surface (bottom surface), the front surface, and both side surfaces of the insulating housing 31, that is, substantially the entire insulating housing 31 is covered with the conductive shell 33, and the structure is preferable in that the electromagnetic shielding effect is obtained, but the structure in which the conductive shell 33 covers the entire structure is not necessarily required.

On the other hand, the conductive shell 23 provided in the receptacle connector 2 as the first connector is disposed from the front end edge of the insulating housing 21 to both longitudinal end edges, and the conductive shell 23 is provided with the clamp members 23a and 23b bent so as to protrude in the front-rear direction at both longitudinal end portions thereof, and the clamp member 23c is also formed so as to protrude forward at a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the front end edge of the conductive shell 23. Then, these clamping members 23a, 23b, and 23c are soldered to a ground conductive path (not shown) on the printed wiring board 1, thereby electrically connecting and fixing the entire receptacle connector 2.

The front end edge portions of the conductive terminals (contacts) 22 provided in the receptacle connector 2 are formed to project forward from the front end edge portion of the insulating housing 21, and are soldered to signal conductive paths (not shown) on the printed wiring board 1 by these respective front projecting portions, thereby performing electrical connection.

Further, a front end edge portion 23d of the conductive shell 23 of the receptacle connector 2 is formed in a substantially L-shaped cross section, and covers a convex portion 21a formed at the front end edge portion of the insulating housing 21 from above. That is, as shown in fig. 8 and 9 in particular, the front end edge portion 23d of the conductive shell 23 covers the front end surface side of the convex portion 21a of the insulating housing 21, is bent at substantially right angles from the upper end position thereof, extends rearward along the upper surface side of the insulating housing 21, and is connected to an inner end edge portion 23e extending so as to be bent downward.

Although the inner end edge portion 23e extending downward is formed to be long in the longitudinal direction of the receptacle connector 2, a plurality of elastic connection tongues 23f are arranged at appropriate intervals in the longitudinal direction at intermediate positions in the longitudinal direction of the inner end edge portion 23e, and each of the elastic connection tongues 23f is provided to have appropriate elasticity by being formed in a cantilever shape by cutting. In this way, the lower end portion of each elastic connection tongue 23f is provided so as to extend obliquely rearward, and is configured to contact the bent outer end piece 33c provided on the front end side of the plug connector 3 in the press-contact state.

That is, as described above, the plug connector 3 as the second connector is inserted into the receptacle connector 2 as the first connector in the downward direction (the direction substantially orthogonal to the multipolar arrangement direction of the coaxial cable 4) and fitted, but when these two connectors 2 and 3 are fitted to each other, as shown in fig. 10 in particular, the conductive terminals (contacts) 22 and 32 provided on these two connectors 2 and 3 are brought into contact with each other to form the terminal connection portion CS, and the bent outer end piece 33c provided on the upper conductive shell 33a of the plug connector 3 is brought into pressure contact with the elastic connection tongue pieces 23f of the conductive shell 23 provided on the receptacle connector 2 to form the shell connection portion SS.

At this time, in the terminal connection portion CS, the bent projections 22a of the conductive terminals 22 of the receptacle connector 2 are pressed into the concave-convex shape in the groove portions 32a of the conductive terminals 32 provided on the plug connector 3 side, and an electric signal supplied through the cable center conductor (signal line) 4a of the coaxial cable 4 is transmitted to the front end side of the plug connector 3 through the conductive terminals (contacts) 32 on the plug connector 3 side, and then transmitted to the conductive terminals (contacts) 22 on the receptacle connector 2 side through the terminal connection portion CS, and the conductive terminals 22 are substantially S-shaped in a bent shape, and an electric signal flows and is supplied to the printed wiring board 1 side.

The cable outer conductor (shield wire) 4b of the coaxial cable 4 is connected to the conductive shell 33 of the plug connector 3 via the ground bars 34 and the connecting piece 33c of the upper conductive shell 33a, and particularly, the upper conductive shell 33a is connected to the conductive shell 23 on the receptacle connector 2 side via the shell connecting portion SS, thereby forming a shield wire along the signal line of the electric signal.

That is, the terminal connection part CS and the shield connection part SS are arranged at substantially the same height position in the height direction from the printed wiring board 1, and the shield connection part SS and the terminal connection part CS are arranged so as to face each other in the front-rear direction (the direction orthogonal to the fitting direction of the connectors 2 and 3). Between the shield connection SS and the terminal connection CS, there is an insulating housing 31 on the plug connector 3 side, and a contact state particularly in the terminal connection CS is favorably maintained by a pressing force in the front-rear direction (see an arrow in fig. 9) generated between the shield connection SS and the terminal connection CS with the insulating housing 31 interposed therebetween.

Further, as described above, the shield connection portion SS and the terminal connection portion CS are arranged to face each other in the front-rear direction, and thereby the shield wire formed by the conductive shields 23 and 33 of the connectors 2 and 3 is continuously formed. Further, since the shield connection portion SS forming the shield wire is disposed at a position entering the vicinity of the terminal connection portion CS disposed on the deep side in the connector, the shield wire is formed along the electric signal line formed in a substantially S-shape by the conductive terminals 22 and 32 of the both connectors 2 and 3. As a result, electromagnetic waves generated by the electric signal lines can be shielded satisfactorily.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the shield connection portion SS is arranged so as to face the terminal connection portion CS formed when the receptacle connector 2 as the first connector and the plug connector 3 as the second connector are fitted to each other, and the pressing force of the shield connection portion SS acts to maintain the contact pressure of the terminal connection portion CS well, and as a result, the electrical contact property of the terminal connection portion CS is improved. Further, since the shield connection portion SS is disposed in association with the position of the terminal connection portion CS, the conductive shields 23 and 33 are disposed along the electric signal lines passing through the conductive terminals 22 and 33, whereby the shielding effect of the conductive shields 23 and 32 against electromagnetic waves generated by the electric signal lines can be performed well.

While the invention realized by the present inventors has been specifically described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist thereof.

For example, although the portions of the conductive shell 23 constituting the receptacle connector (first connector) 2 and the shell connection portions SS are elastically deformable in the above-described embodiment, the portions constituting the shell connection portions SS on the plug connector (second connector) 3 side or both of them may be elastically deformable.

The present invention is not limited to the coaxial cable connector as in the above-described embodiments, and can be similarly applied to a hybrid type electrical connector in which a plurality of coaxial cables and insulated cables are mixed, an electrical connector to which a flexible wiring board or the like is connected, and the like.

In the present invention, unlike the above-described embodiments, the conductive shell of the receptacle connector may be constituted by the upper conductive shell and the lower conductive shell, and may be variously modified, and may be an integrally formed structure or a structure divided into 3 or more parts.

Possibility of industrial utilization

As described above, the present invention can be widely applied to a wide variety of electrical connectors used in various electrical instruments.

Claims (5)

1. An electrical connector is provided with a first and a second connectors, wherein a plurality of conductive terminals are arranged in a multipolar manner at appropriate intervals along the length direction of an elongated flat plate-shaped insulating housing, and a conductive shield is provided to cover the outer surface of the insulating housing,

these first and second connectors are a receptacle connector mounted on the printed wiring board and a plug connector fitted to the receptacle connector,

the plug connector is fitted to the receptacle connector in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction of the multipolar arrangement, that is, in a direction substantially orthogonal to the plane of the printed wiring board,

when the plug connector is vertically fitted to the receptacle connector, the conductive terminals of the receptacle connector and the plug connector are brought into contact with each other to form a terminal connection part (CS), and the conductive shields of the receptacle connector and the plug connector are brought into contact with each other to form a shield connection part (SS),

the shield connection section (SS) is disposed so as to face the terminal Connection Section (CS) via an insulating housing of the plug connector in a horizontal direction orthogonal to a vertical fitting direction of the receptacle connector and the plug connector.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein a portion of the conductive shell constituting the shell connection part (SS) is configured to be elastically displaceable so as to press the shell connection part (SS) against the terminal connection part (CS).

3. The electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of elastically displaceable elastic connection tongues are provided at a portion of the conductive shell constituting the shell connection part (SS), and the elastic connection tongues are arranged at appropriate intervals in the direction of the multipolar arrangement.

4. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the terminal connection part (CS) and the shield connection part (SS) are arranged at substantially the same height position in a height direction from the printed wiring substrate.

5. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the conductive shield of the plug connector is configured to cover substantially the entire outer surface of the insulative housing of the plug connector.