JP2011165682A - Electric connector with multi-contact terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal that is a miniaturized connector, has a large effective fitting length of terminals, and can ensure stable terminal contact.
A first elastic arm 22 and a second elastic arm 23 of a terminal 20 are located on one side with respect to a contact line X passing through a contact position with a mating terminal 31 and extending in a connector fitting direction. The first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 has a substantially triangular projection with a lower edge perpendicular to the contact line and an oblique edge positioned above the lower edge. The two contact portions 23B are located immediately below the lower edge of the first contact portion 22C.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal.

  For the purpose of improving the contact reliability of the terminal contact portion with respect to the mating terminal, an electrical connector in which two contact portions are formed on the terminal is known from Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.

  The terminals in these patent documents are formed such that one side portion in the width direction of the belt-shaped metal plate is bent so that the two contact pieces partially face each other on their plate surfaces. These two contact pieces have different lengths, and each tip end side is bent in the plate thickness direction to form a mountain-shaped contact portion. Thus, terminals having contact portions at two positions in the fitting direction with the mating connector are formed, and a plurality of such terminals are held in the width direction of the band-shaped metal plate by the housing. In such a connector, when the two contact portions of one terminal are in contact with the mating connector in order to form two contacts, the contact reliability is improved.

JP 08-236187 JP2002-175847

  However, the connectors disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 have some problems because the strip-shaped metal plate is bent in the thickness direction to obtain a terminal.

  The first is that the effective mating length of the terminals becomes very short. The terminal has two elastic arms, and the tip of each elastic arm is processed in the thickness direction to form a contact portion. Therefore, the distance between the two contact portions in the connector fitting direction is large due to processing technology. I have to be. Therefore, when it is required to reduce the size of the connector in the connector fitting direction, the effective fitting length of any elastic arm contact portion is shortened. As a result, the contact reliability at the contact portion decreases.

  Second, in addition to the troublesome bending process to make two elastic arms face each other, the contact forming process for each elastic arm occupies a large part of the member, and connector fitting Terminal dimensions increase in direction. The mountain-shaped contact portion is required to have a certain height in order to ensure contact pressure. In order to ease the insertion and removal of the connector under this height, it is necessary to loosen the angle of the mountain, and as a result, the elastic arm becomes longer as a result. It becomes difficult to operate.

  Furthermore, thirdly, since the terminals have large dimensions in the width direction, the pitch of the terminal arrangement cannot be reduced, and the miniaturization of the connector in the terminal arrangement direction cannot be realized.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides an electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal that can be easily made and the effective fitting length can be increased without increasing the size of the connector in the connector fitting direction and the terminal arrangement direction. The issue is to provide.

  An electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal according to the present invention includes a first elastic arm and a second elastic arm, which have a connection portion on the lower end side where the terminal is connected to the board, and the free end side extends side by side upward. When the mating connector is mated with the mating connector from above, the projecting first contact portion and the second contact portion respectively formed on the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm are sequentially elastic to the mating terminal. The terminals are made while maintaining the plate surface of the metal plate, and are arranged in the housing at intervals in the plate thickness direction of the terminal.

  In the electrical connector having such a multi-contact terminal, in the present invention, the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm of the terminal are on one side with respect to a contact line passing through the contact position with the mating terminal and extending in the connector fitting direction. The first contact portion of the first elastic arm has a substantially triangular projection with a lower edge perpendicular to the contact line and an oblique edge positioned above the lower edge, and the second elastic arm The second contact portion is located immediately below the lower edge of the first contact portion.

  Therefore, the corresponding terminal of the connector of the present invention contacts the mating terminal of the mating connector at the first contact portion and the second contact portion formed on the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm, respectively. In the present invention, when the mating terminal forms a contact portion on each surface having a step shape instead of one flat surface, the contact lines as the virtual lines exist in parallel to each other by the number of steps, The first elastic arm and the second elastic arm of the terminal of the present invention are located on one side with respect to any contact line.

  In the electrical connector of the present invention having such a configuration, the terminals are made by maintaining the plate surface of the metal plate and are not bent, so that the manufacturing is easy and the bending is performed at the time of processing. Thus, there is no restriction on the processing dimension that requires a certain dimension for processing, and the effective fitting can be sufficiently extended without increasing the terminal dimension in the fitting direction, and the first elastic arm and the second Sufficient elasticity of the elastic arm can be secured. Furthermore, since the terminals are arranged in the plate thickness direction, a connector having a narrow pitch structure is realized.

  In the present invention, the first contact portion and the second contact portion formed respectively on the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm of the terminal are the counterpart of the first contact portion that first contacts the counterpart terminal when the connector is fitted. The contact pressure with respect to the terminal can be made larger than the contact pressure at the second contact portion that contacts next. By forming in this way, when the mating connector is fitted, the second contact portion of the next second elastic arm is pressed with the force of pressing the first first contact portion, so that it is elastic with a small insertion force. The connector can be easily deformed.

  For example, it is desirable that the ratio between the contact pressure at the first contact portion of the first elastic arm and the contact pressure at the second contact portion of the second elastic arm to be contacted next is 2: 1.

  In the present invention, it is desirable that the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm have different natural frequencies. The connector of the present invention is originally intended to increase the contact reliability of the terminal, but such characteristics are required for use in a device with vibration, for example, a machine tool. In such a device, vibration of a specific frequency is transmitted to the connector, so if the natural frequency of the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm are different, even if one elastic arm resonates and contact failure occurs, Since the elastic arm does not resonate, the contact state is stably secured.

  In the present invention, as described above, the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm are formed by maintaining the plate surface of the metal plate, and the contact portion is provided on each elastic arm. There is no processing limitation due to bending, and each elastic arm is sufficiently long to ensure a large effective mating length at the contact portion, and yet sufficient elasticity is obtained, so that the connector in the connector mating direction can be obtained. Miniaturization can be achieved. Further, by arranging the terminals in the plate thickness direction, the terminals can be arranged in a narrow pitch, and the connector can be miniaturized also in this direction.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the connector of one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a perspective view of the terminal of the first embodiment used in the connector. 1 is a cross-sectional view when the mating connector is fitted to the connector, and is shown in the order of fitting in (A) to (D). It is sectional drawing of the principal part when fitting a mating connector to the connector which has a terminal of a second embodiment, and shows the order of progress of fitting by (A)-(C).

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the connector of the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a connector 1 has a terminal 10 made of a metal plate implanted in a housing 10 made of an electrically insulating material.

  The housing 10 has a main body portion 11 and a leg portion 12. The main body 11 has a substantially trapezoidal shape in which the planar shape is long in the horizontal direction, has a short cylindrical outer surface extending in the vertical direction, and the leg portions 12 are provided at both lower ends in the horizontal direction. The main body 11 of the housing 10 has a receiving recess 13 that opens upward and receives a mating portion of the mating connector. The receiving recess 13 is long in the lateral direction. A plurality of terminal grooves 14 for implanting 20 are formed at regular intervals in the lateral direction. The leg portion 12 is formed with a cutout portion 12A that opens in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. The cutout portion 12A has a horizontal mounting surface 19A in a state where a part of the metal fitting 19 held by the housing is bent. Is located. When the connector 1 is disposed on a circuit board (not shown), the mounting surface 19A is in contact with a corresponding land of the circuit board and is soldered to the corresponding land so that the connector 1 is connected to the circuit board. Contributes to installation. In addition, a shield plate may be attached to the outer peripheral surface of the main body 11 of the housing 10.

  A terminal 20 shown in FIG. 2 is inserted into the terminal groove 14 of the housing 10 from below.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 20 is shaped by punching or the like while maintaining the flat surface of the metal plate as it is.

  The terminal 20 has two elastic arms, that is, a first elastic arm 22 and a second elastic arm 23 extending in parallel upward from a base 21 serving as a lower part. The first elastic arm 22 is wider and longer than the second elastic arm 23.

  The first elastic arm 22 includes a mounted portion 22A in which the left side edge of the portion on the base portion 21 side is extended, and a first elastic portion that extends upward as it is with a stepped lower width than the mounted portion 22A. 22B, and a first contact portion 22C that protrudes to the right is provided at the upper end of the first elastic portion 22B.

  On the other hand, the second elastic arm 23 has a second elastic portion 23 </ b> A that extends upward from the base portion 21 with a slightly smaller width than the first elastic portion 22 </ b> B of the first elastic arm 22. The second elastic portion 23A extends to a position directly below the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22, and a second contact portion 23B protruding rightward is provided at the upper end of the second elastic portion 23A. . A line X ′ passing through the respective protruding ends of the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 and the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 is a mating terminal of the mating connector 30 shown in FIG. 31 is parallel to a virtual contact line X extending in the connector fitting direction through the corresponding contact portion 31A (contact surface thereof), and is offset from the contact line X by a distance δ. This distance δ is an elastic displacement amount in which the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 abut on the mating terminal 31 of the mating connector 30 and are displaced when the mating connector 30 is fitted. Thus, in the present embodiment, the two elastic arms of one terminal 20, that is, the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 are located on one side with respect to the contact line X, and their The amount of elastic displacement is also the same δ. However, since the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 have different widths and lengths, the natural frequencies are different from each other. This natural frequency is different from this frequency because the frequency of this vibration is often known in advance in an apparatus in which the connector is used, particularly a machine tool used under the vibration generated during cutting. Is set as follows.

  The terminal 20 has a connecting portion 24 extending from the lower end of the base portion 21 toward the left via a slant portion 24A.

  The terminal groove 14 formed in the main body 11 of the housing 10 so as to accommodate the terminal 20 from below is formed on both inner surfaces facing the receiving recess 13 that opens upward as seen in FIG. Has been. The form is symmetrical as shown in FIG. Below the receiving recess 13, a central wall 15 is provided to partition the left and right sides, and the left and right terminal grooves 14 extend downward on both sides of the central wall 15 so as to penetrate the lower surface of the housing 10. Yes.

  In FIG. 3A, the terminal groove 14 has a dimension that is perpendicular to the paper surface slightly larger than the plate thickness dimension of the terminal 20. The groove depth of the terminal groove 14, that is, the left and right dimensions of the groove in the figure, is the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 in the region of the receiving recess 13 in the vertical direction above the central wall 15. Of the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 and the protruding end of the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 protrudes from the terminal groove 14 by the distance δ, In the region of the wall 15, the base 21 of the terminal 20 is pressed into the terminal groove 14 from below while being pressed in the width direction (left-right direction in the figure). When the terminal 20 is press-fitted into the terminal groove 14, the connecting portion 24 extends left and right below the housing 10.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3A, the mating connector 30 to be fitted to the connector 1 has an outer wall 33 fitted to the outer surface of the main body 11 of the housing 10 and both ends in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. The housing 32 forms a fitting recess 36 with the end wall 34 and the bottom wall 35. In the housing 32, a fitting wall 37 extends from the bottom wall 35 toward the lower opening at the center position in the left-right direction of the fitting recess 36. Grooves are formed on both surfaces of the fitting wall 37 so as to extend vertically at a predetermined interval in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and the mating terminal 31 is press-fitted into the groove. Of course, the mating terminal 31 may be held by integral molding with the housing 32. The mating terminal 31 is provided at a position corresponding to the terminal 20 of the connector 1 in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. In the present embodiment, the counterpart terminal 31 has a corresponding contact portion 31A extending in a vertical direction and a contact line X passing therethrough. The insertion wall 37 is formed to have a thickness that allows the mating terminal 31 to enter between the left and right terminals 20 of the connector 1 when the connector is fitted, and when the connector is fitted, The lower end of the wall 37 is set to a length close to or in contact with the upper end of the central wall 15 of the connector 1.

  The connector 1 and 30 of this form are used in the following manner.

  (1) The connector 1 is arranged at a predetermined position on a circuit board (not shown), and the connection portion 24 of the terminal 20 is soldered to the corresponding circuit portion, and the metal fitting 19 is soldered to the corresponding land on the mounting surface 19A. To fix.

  (2) Next, the mating connector 30 (sometimes attached to another circuit board) is provided above the connector 1 thus attached to the circuit board (see FIG. 3A).

  (3) After that, the mating connector 30 is lowered. The outer wall 33 of the mating connector 30 is guided by the outer surface of the main body portion 11 of the housing 10 of the connector 1, and starts mating with the main body portion 11 by the fitting recess 36 of the mating connector 30. At the beginning of mating, the mating terminal 31 provided on the mating wall 37 of the mating connector 30 abuts on the first contact portion 22C provided on the first elastic arm 22 of the terminal 20 of the connector 1, and with the abutting pressure. The first elastic arms 22 on both the left and right sides are expanded to the left and right to be elastically deformed (see FIG. 3B). The elastic displacement amount of the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 is a distance δ. At this time, the second elastic arm 23 is not in contact with the mating connector 30 and is not yet elastically deformed.

  (4) Further, when the mating connector 30 is pushed down, the mating connector 30 descends from the state shown in FIG. 3A, and the mating terminal 31 of the mating connector 30 contacts the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 of the connector 1. Then, the second elastic arm 23 is also expanded and elastically deformed (see FIG. 3C). The amount of elastic displacement of the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 is also the same distance δ as the first contact portion 22C. The contact pressure required to expand the first elastic arm 22 (the former) (this is the force by which the operator pushes the mating connector when the connector is fitted, and is proportional to the contact pressure at the contact portion) and the second elastic arm 23 ( Compared with the contact pressure required to expand the latter), the former contact pressure is usually larger because the counterpart terminal contacts the first elastic arm 22 first. Therefore, since the latter second contact portion 23B is positioned directly below the former first contact portion 22C, the mating terminal pushes the latter without difficulty with the momentum of the former. Specifically, the above effect is remarkable when the former is more than twice the contact pressure with the counterpart terminal. Preferably, the contact pressure ratio of the former and the latter is 2: 1. These relations can be obtained by determining the length and width so that the rigidity of both is the same even if the amount of elastic displacement at the contact portion is the same in the former and the latter.

  (5) Thus, the mating connector 30 is fitted to the predetermined depth of FIG. 3D, and the fitting of both the connectors 1 and 30 is completed. In the present invention, since the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 and the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 can be positioned fairly close to each other in the connector fitting direction, the first elastic arm 22 is Of course, the second elastic arm 23 is also set longer, and the effective fitting length becomes longer for both the first contact portion 22C and the second contact portion 23B.

<Second embodiment>
In the first embodiment, the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 are elastically deformed sequentially and independently. However, in the present embodiment, both the elastic arms 22 and 23 are temporarily linked and elastically deformed. To do.

4A, the first elastic arm 22 has a recess 22C-1 formed at the lower edge of the first contact portion 22C, and has a locking portion 22C-2 at the tip of the first contact portion 22C. is doing. On the other hand, the second elastic arm 23 is provided with a protruding locked portion 23B-1 facing upward at the upper end portion of the second contact portion 23B. The locked portion 23B-1 is positioned so as to enter the recess 22C-1, and faces the locking portion 22C-2 with a gap in the lateral direction, that is, the displacement direction of the contact portions 22C and 23B. ing. Although only one terminal 20 is shown in FIG. 4A, the connector has another terminal symmetrically as in FIG. 3A.

In this embodiment, the mating terminal 31 is connected to the first elastic arm 22 when the connector is fitted.
The first contact portion 22C is lowered while being in contact with the first contact portion 22C, and is elastically displaced leftward. During the elastic deformation of the first elastic arm 22, the locking portion 22 </ b> C- 2 comes into contact with the locked portion 23 </ b> B- 1 of the second elastic arm 23, and this is pushed to the left, so that the second elastic arm 23 is elastically deformed in the same direction. During this time, the mating terminal 31 descends and comes into contact with the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 as shown in FIG. 4B, where the second elastic arm 23 is pressed and elastically deformed. Let Thus, the locked portion 23B-1 of the second elastic arm 23 is separated from the locking portion 22C-2 of the first elastic arm 22. That is, the second elastic arm 23 is first pressed by the first elastic arm 22 to be elastically deformed, and then is pressed by the mating terminal 31 from FIG. 4 (B) to FIG. 4 (C) to be elastic. Deform. When the second contact portion 23B comes into contact with the mating terminal 31, the second contact portion 23B has already been displaced to the left, so that the second contact portion 23B is in contact with the mating terminal 31 (the length of the oblique portion). However, it is not necessary to change the inclination at the inclined portion (that is, without changing the pushing force downward of the mating terminal) as compared with the case of the first embodiment. This means that the vertical distance between the top of the first contact portion 22C and the top of the second contact portion 23B can be shortened. Therefore, the terminal can be shortened in the vertical direction by the above-mentioned shortening while securing the effective fitting length of the same length as in the case of the first embodiment, which contributes to miniaturization in the same direction.

  Since the change in resistance force occurs in a series of ranges when the mating terminal 31 passes through the top of the first contact portion 22C and the top of the second contact portion 23B, the operability during fitting is also good.

  The present invention can be variously modified in addition to the illustrated embodiment. For example, the terminal may be provided with not only two elastic arms but also three or more. In the case where there are three elastic arms, all the elastic arms may extend upward in parallel from the base, and sequentially protrude sideways to form contact portions, respectively.

  Also, if the terminals of the mating connector are stepped and contact portions are formed at each step, the contact portions of the respective elastic arms can be positioned corresponding to the respective contact lines passing through the contact portions. good.

  Furthermore, each contact portion of the plurality of elastic arms may have a different amount of displacement at the time of contact with the mating terminal.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 23 2nd elastic arm 10 Housing 23B 2nd contact part 20 Terminal 30 Mating connector 22 1st elastic arm 31 Mating terminal 22C 1st contact part X Contact line

Claims (4)

  Fitting with a mating connector fitted from above, having a first elastic arm and a second elastic arm with the terminal connected to the board on the lower end side and the free end side extending side by side Sometimes, the protruding first contact portion and the second contact portion respectively formed on the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm are in elastic contact with the mating terminal, and the terminal is a plate surface of the metal plate. In the electrical connector, the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm of the terminal pass through the contact position with the mating terminal, and the connector is arranged in the housing at intervals in the plate thickness direction of the terminal. The first contact portion of the first elastic arm is positioned on one side with respect to the contact line extending in the fitting direction, and the lower edge that is perpendicular to the contact line and the oblique line positioned above the lower edge. A substantially triangular protrusion is formed at the edge, and the second contact portion of the second elastic arm is the first contact portion. Electrical connector having multiple contact terminals, characterized in that positioned immediately below the lower edge.   The first contact portion and the second contact portion respectively formed on the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm of the terminal have the following contact pressure with respect to the mating terminal of the first contact portion that first contacts the mating terminal when the connector is fitted. The electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal according to claim 1, wherein the electrical pressure is larger than a contact pressure at a second contact portion that contacts the contact.   3. The multi-contact according to claim 2, wherein a ratio of a contact pressure at the first contact portion of the first elastic arm to a contact pressure at the second contact portion of the second elastic arm to be contacted next is 2: 1. An electrical connector having terminals.   The electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal according to claim 1, wherein the first elastic arm and the second elastic arm have different natural frequencies.

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