JP2000091823A - Female terminal for antenna - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a female terminal in which an elastic contact piece does not settle even when a male terminal is inserted or removed diagonally or a male terminal is twisted in a lateral direction. SOLUTION: A tubular member 11 and a spring member 12 incorporated inside the tubular member are provided. The spring member 12 has a plurality of elastic contact pieces 13 arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction. Then, in the antenna female terminal in which each elastic contact piece 13 is elastically deformable in the radially expanding direction, on the inner surface of the cylindrical member 11,
A plurality of protrusions 15 are formed so as to be located between the elastic contact pieces 13, and the diameter of the inscribed circle of these protrusions 15 is such that the elastic contact piece 13 can be elastically deformed when the male terminal portion of the antenna is inserted. It is set so that it can be elastically deformed only in the middle of the range.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a female terminal for an antenna used in a mobile communication device such as a portable telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile communication devices such as portable telephones have rapidly spread due to their convenience. In order to transmit and receive radio waves to and from these devices, as shown in FIG.
An antenna 2 that can be pulled out of and retracted from is mounted. This antenna 2 has a helical antenna 4 attached to the tip side of a whip antenna 3.

The antenna 2 has a female terminal 5 attached to the equipment housing 1 and a male terminal at the base end of the whip antenna 3 and the helical antenna 4 in order to establish electrical continuity with the transmission / reception section in the equipment housing 1. 6 and 7 are installed,
When the antenna 2 is pulled out as shown in FIG. 5 (a), the male terminal 6 of the whip antenna 3 conducts with the female terminal 5, and (b)
The male terminal 7 of the helical antenna 4 is electrically connected to the female terminal 5 when the antenna 2 is retracted as shown in FIG. Such an antenna is described, for example, in US Pat. No. 5,204,687.
It is described in the specification.

Conventionally, the female terminal 5 attached to the equipment housing 1 has a structure as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. That is, the female terminal 5 shown in FIG. 6 is one in which a conductive spring member 12 as shown in FIG. 7 is incorporated inside a conductive tubular member 11 which is attached to a device housing by screwing or the like. The spring member of FIG.
Numeral 12 is a double-supported spring type, in which the both ends of a plurality of elastic contact pieces 13 arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction are supported by annular connecting pieces 14, and each elastic contact piece 13 is bent inward to expand the diameter. It is designed to be elastically deformable in the direction.

The female terminal 5 shown in FIG. 8 has a structure in which a spring member 12 as shown in FIG. The spring member 12 in FIG. 9 is a cantilever spring type, and one end of a plurality of elastic contact pieces 13 arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction is connected to an annular connecting piece.
Supported by 14. The point that each elastic contact piece 13 is bent inward so that it can be elastically deformed in the radially enlarged direction is the same as the above.

[0006] Each type of spring member 12 not only comes into contact with the male terminal 6 of the whip antenna or the male terminal 7 of the helical antenna inserted into the female terminal 5 to be electrically conducted, but also the male terminal 6. Or 7 serves to hold firmly.

[0007]

However, in the conventional female terminal, when the male terminal is obliquely inserted or removed, or when the antenna is laterally twisted with the male terminal inserted, the elastic contact piece is elastically deformed. It is deformed to the limit of the possible range (that is, the elastic contact piece 13 is pressed against the inner surface of the cylindrical member 12 so that its curvature is lost), and as a result, plastic deformation of the elastic contact piece occurs, and the spring force is reduced. As a result, there is a problem that the force for sufficiently holding the male terminal is lost (slack).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a female terminal in which an elastic contact piece does not settle even if a male terminal is inserted or removed obliquely or a male terminal is twisted in a lateral direction. Is to provide.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a tubular member which is mounted on a housing of a device and into which a male terminal portion of an antenna is inserted, and a conductive member incorporated inside the tubular member. An elastic spring member, wherein the spring member has a plurality of elastic contact pieces arranged at intervals in a circumferential direction, and each elastic contact piece is elastically deformable in a radially expanding direction. In the female terminal, on the inner surface of the tubular member,
A plurality of protrusions are formed so as to be located between the elastic contact pieces, and the diameter of the inscribed circle of these protrusions is in the middle of the elastically deformable range of the elastic contact piece when the male terminal portion of the antenna is inserted. It is characterized in that it is set so that it can be elastically deformed only to this extent.

[0010] In this case, when the male terminal is obliquely inserted or withdrawn or laterally twisted, the male terminal does not hit the projection and push the elastic contact piece more than necessary. Plastic deformation and a decrease in spring force hardly occur, and the holding force of the male terminal can be maintained.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of a female terminal for an antenna according to the present invention. This female terminal 5
As in the prior art, a cylindrical member 11 is mounted on a device housing and into which a male terminal portion of an antenna is inserted, and a conductive spring member 12 is installed inside the cylindrical member 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the spring member 12 supports one end of a plurality of elastic contact pieces 13 arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction by an annular connecting piece 14, and curves each elastic contact piece 13 inward. It is configured to be elastically deformable in the diameter increasing direction, and is similar to that of FIG.

The feature of the female terminal 5 is that a plurality of protrusions are provided on the inner surface of the cylindrical member 11 so as to be located between the elastic contact pieces 13.
15 is formed. The projection 15 is elongated in the axial direction, and its width is set to be smaller than the interval between the elastic contact pieces 13. These projections 15 have a diameter D (see FIG. 3) of an inscribed circle whose diameter D (see FIG.
(See FIG. 2).

Therefore, when the male terminal is not inserted,
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the intermediate portion of the elastic contact piece 13 protrudes inward from the inner peripheral surface of the projection 15, so that the elastic contact piece 13 remains inside the projection 15 even when the male terminal portion of the antenna is inserted. It can be elastically deformed only to the same level as the peripheral surface.
In other words, even if the male terminal is inserted or removed diagonally or twisted in the horizontal direction, the elastic contact piece 13 can be elastically deformed only halfway in the elastically deformable range. The spring force is less likely to decrease.

The end of the resilient contact piece 13 on the side of the annular connecting piece 14 is wide as shown in FIG. This wide part 13
W is provided between the projections 15 to eliminate backlash in the circumferential direction and allow the elastic contact pieces 13 to be elastically deformed without contacting the projections 15.

[0015]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described. 3.6 mm inside diameter
As shown in FIG. 3, projections 15 were formed at four places on the inner surface of the cylindrical member 11 of FIG. The inner diameter (diameter of the inscribed circle) D of the projection 15 was 2.9 mm. A groove 16 is formed between the protrusions 15 and the inner diameter of the bottom surface of the groove 16 is 3.6 mm. The material of the tubular member 11 is aluminum, but may be a metal such as brass or stainless steel, or a resin. The spring member 12 has four elastic contact pieces 13 as shown in FIG. 4, and is provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Ring connection piece
The outer diameter of 14 was 3.6 mm, and the inner diameter d of the minimum inscribed circle of the elastic contact piece 13 was 2.38 mm. The material of the spring member 12 is beryllium copper, but may be phosphor bronze, stainless spring steel, or the like.
The spring member 12 was assembled into the tubular member 11 as shown in FIG. The outer diameter of the male terminal on the antenna side inserted into the female terminal 5 was 2.75 mm.

Therefore, when the male terminal is normally inserted into the female terminal 5, the inner diameter d of the elastic contact piece 13 becomes the inner diameter before insertion.
It can be expanded from 2.38mm to 2.75mm, and the spring force acts to hold the male terminal firmly. Also, when the male terminal is inserted obliquely or twisted in the lateral direction, the outer peripheral surface of the male terminal hits the inner surface of the projection 15, so that the elastic contact piece 13 is deformed larger than the inner diameter of the projection 15 by 2.9 mm. There is no. By the way, in the conventional female terminal without the projection 15, when the male terminal is inserted obliquely or twisted in the lateral direction, the elastic contact piece 13 causes the inner diameter of the cylindrical member 3.
It can be spread out to 6 mm, causing plastic deformation and easy to set.

Next, test results of the female terminal 5 configured as described above will be described. In the test, an antenna 2 (see FIG. 5) having a whip antenna-side male terminal 6 and a helical antenna-side male terminal 7 having an outer diameter of 2.75 mm was inserted into the female terminal 5, and 30 ° with respect to the center axis direction of the female terminal 5. The male terminals 6 and 7 are repeatedly inserted and extracted by tilting.
And 7 were measured for insertion force and ejection force. Table 1 shows the results.
Shown in

[0018]

[Table 1]

For comparison, a test similar to the above was performed on a conventional female terminal (having the same dimensions) having no protrusion on the inner surface of the cylindrical member. Table 2 shows the results.

[0020]

[Table 2]

According to these results, the insertion force and extraction force of the conventional female terminal were significantly reduced at the stage where insertion and extraction in the oblique direction were repeated 100 times. It can be seen that even if the terminal is repeatedly inserted and withdrawn in the oblique direction 10,000 times, the holding force of the male terminal is hardly reduced.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing a projection on the inner surface of the tubular member to regulate the elastic deformation range of the elastic contact piece, the male terminal can be inserted or removed diagonally,
Even if it is twisted in the lateral direction, the elastic contact piece can be pushed out only to the middle of the elastically deformable range, so plastic deformation of the elastic contact piece and reduction in spring force are unlikely to occur, maintaining the holding force of the male terminal As well as maintaining good electrical conduction with the male terminals.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B show one embodiment of a female terminal for an antenna according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a half-cut front view, and FIG.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary perspective view showing a part of the inner surface of the female terminal shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A shows a cylindrical member constituting the female terminal shown in FIG.
Is a half-cut front view, and (b) is a bottom view.

FIG. 4A shows a spring member constituting the female terminal shown in FIG.
Is a front view, and (b) is a bottom view.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams illustrating a state in which the antenna is pulled out and FIG. 5B is a state in which the antenna is retracted;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional female terminal for an antenna.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a spring member used for the female terminal of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing another example of a conventional female terminal for an antenna.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a spring member used for the female terminal of FIG. 8;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Case of mobile phone 2: Antenna 3: Whip antenna 4: Helical antenna 5: Female terminal 6: Male terminal of whip antenna 7: Male terminal of helical antenna 11: Cylindrical member 12: Spring member 13: Elastic contact piece 14: Ring connection piece 15: Projection 16: Groove

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tubular member which is mounted on an equipment housing and into which a male terminal portion of an antenna is inserted, and a conductive spring member incorporated inside the tubular member, wherein the spring member is arranged in a circumferential direction. A female terminal for an antenna having a plurality of elastic contact pieces arranged at intervals in the elastic member, each elastic contact piece being elastically deformable in a radially expanding direction; A plurality of protrusions are formed so as to be located between the contact pieces, and the diameter of the inscribed circle of these protrusions is only halfway within the elastically deformable range when the male terminal portion of the antenna is inserted. A female terminal for an antenna, wherein the female terminal is set so as not to be elastically deformed.