CN117317700A

CN117317700A - FFC/FPC connector

Info

Publication number: CN117317700A
Application number: CN202311181367.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘传芳
Original assignee: Kunshan Jiahua Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Kunshan Jiahua Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-01-31
Filing date: 2023-09-13
Publication date: 2023-12-29

Abstract

The application discloses FFC/FPC connector includes: an insulating base, the front end of which is formed with a cable insertion port; a plurality of contact terminals electrically connecting the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port and the substrate to transmit signals; a pair of metal mounting nails located at both ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction, the mounting nails fixing the insulating base to the substrate when being welded to the substrate; an actuator provided at an upper portion of the insulation base, the actuator fixing or releasing the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port by rotating; at least one locking part formed by the mounting nail protruding to the side of the cable insertion port along the left and right direction of the insulating base, when the actuator fixes the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port by rotating, the locking part is locked with the end of the actuator in the left and right direction to limit the locking part from being separated from the fixation of the cable assembly.

Description

FFC/FPC connector

Technical Field

The present application relates to an FFC/FPC connector.

Background

With recent miniaturization of electronic products and development for improved performance, a greater number of electronic components are arranged on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and thus, a plurality of signals are input to or output from the products in parallel. In order to electrically connect these elements, a soft Flexible Flat Cable (FFC), a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC), or the like is widely used. An FFC or FPC (hereinafter referred to as a "cable") forms one cable by arranging a plurality of electrodes in parallel, and has a characteristic of higher degree of freedom of design compared with a hard PCB. Such a cable is detachably connected to a connector mounted on a substrate, and is electrically connected to the substrate via the connector.

The related art refers to chinese patent publication No. CN217823407U, which discloses a self-locking FPC connector comprising an insulating body 10, terminals 20 and a movable cover 30. The movable cover 30 rotates to be buckled with the insulating body 10 to fix the inserted FPC wire, in order to prevent the movable cover 30 from being separated from the wiring part 22 due to the external force wire core 41 after being automatically closed, the two sides of the movable cover 30 are provided with the buckles 32, and the two sides of the insulating body 10 are provided with the clamping grooves 11 corresponding to the buckles 32, so that the shockproof capacity is enhanced. However, the buckle matching structure is a hard interference buckle, and in the FPC connector, the insulation body 10 and the movable cover 30 are generally plastic members, so that the design is extremely easy to wear and fail.

In addition, in the prior art, plastic protruding columns for preventing the wire core 41 from withdrawing are further protruding upwards from two sides of the insertion opening of the insulation body 10, so that the wire core 41 cannot be inserted horizontally when being inserted into the insulation body 10, and the wire core 41 needs to be pressed downwards after being inserted obliquely, so that a larger installation space is required.

Therefore, there is a need to design a new FFC/FPC connector to ameliorate the above problems.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present application is to provide an FFC/FPC connector whose actuator can form a more stable fixation for an inserted cable assembly.

In order to achieve the purpose, the application provides the following technical scheme:

an FFC/FPC connector comprising:

an insulating base having a cable insertion port formed at a front end thereof;

a plurality of contact terminals electrically connecting the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port and the substrate to transmit signals, each contact terminal comprising:

a terminal fixing part fixed at the rear end of the insulating base;

a substrate contact part extending from the terminal fixing part to the outside of the insulating base for welding with the substrate;

a pair of contact portions extending forward from the terminal fixing portion and at least partially into the cable insertion port;

an actuation limiting part extending forwards from the terminal fixing part to form a cantilever shape, wherein the actuation limiting part is arranged above the butt contact part and is spaced from the butt contact part;

a pair of metal mounting nails located at both ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction, the mounting nails fixing the insulating base to the substrate when being welded to the substrate;

an actuator provided on an upper portion of the insulating base, the actuator including a main body portion pressing the cable assembly and a rotating portion, the actuator being configured to fix or release the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port by rotating the actuator;

the rotation part comprises a plurality of insertion ports formed at the lower part of the main body part and a rotating shaft part formed in each insertion port along the left-right direction and forming the rotation center of the main body part, and the front end part of the actuation limiting part is inserted into the insertion port and elastically pressed on the rotating shaft part downwards;

a pair of support shafts formed at both ends of the actuator in the left-right direction and supported on the mounting nails or on both ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction;

at least one locking part formed by the mounting nail protruding to the side of the cable insertion port along the left and right direction of the insulating base, when the actuator fixes the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port by rotating, the locking part is locked with the end of the actuator in the left and right direction to limit the locking part from being separated from the fixation of the cable assembly.

Further, the locking portion is elastically displaceable in the left-right direction of the insulating base.

Further, each of the support shafts is formed with a support protrusion protruding therefrom, the support protrusion being supported on the mounting nail or on both ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction, and when the actuator is rotated to release the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port, the rotation center of the main body portion is forced to be higher than that in a state when the actuator is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port.

Further, each of the support shafts is formed with a first planar portion, a second planar portion, and a third planar portion connected to each other on an outer peripheral surface thereof, wherein:

when the actuator is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the insulating base, the first planar portion is supported on the mounting nail or on both ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction;

when the actuator rotates to release the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port, the third plane part is supported on the mounting nail or on two ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction, and at the moment, the actuator is inclined backwards, and the upper surface of the main body part is propped against the insulating base backwards;

the actuator is rotated to have a predetermined state from a state of fixing the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port to a state of releasing the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port, and in this predetermined state, the actuator is vertically erected, and the second flat portion is supported on the mounting nail or on both ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction.

Further, the main body portion is configured to press a lower surface of the cable assembly to be coplanar or parallel with the first planar portion.

Further, the locking part is a convex hull structure formed by the installation nails protruding towards the cable insertion port side along the left-right direction of the insulation base;

a locking convex rib is formed at the end part of the actuator in the left-right direction, corresponding to the locking position, a guiding inclined plane is formed at the lower position of the locking convex rib, and a yielding clamping groove is formed at the upper position of the locking convex rib;

when the actuator is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port, the locking portion is guided by the guide slope and passes over the locking rib to enter the relief groove.

Further, the mounting nail comprises:

a fixing section extending along the front-rear direction of the insulation base and at least partially implanted and fixed into the insulation base;

the elastic section is arranged opposite to the fixed section along the left-right direction of the insulating base and is positioned at one side adjacent to the cable insertion port;

the connecting section is used for integrally connecting the fixed section and the elastic section, and is positioned at the position, close to the front end, of the upper edge of the fixed section, wherein

The locking portion is formed on the elastic section.

Further, the elastic section includes a first elastic section portion formed by extending downward from an edge of the connection section, and a second elastic section portion formed by extending further forward and downward from a front end edge of the first elastic section portion, at least a portion of the second elastic section portion being located directly in front of a front end face of the insulation base in a front-rear direction of the insulation base.

Further, the locking portion is formed on the second elastic segment portion.

Further, the main body part is used for pressing the lower surface of the cable assembly to downwards bulge to form a baffle column, the baffle column is positioned at the front end position of the main body part along the front-back direction of the main body part, and the baffle column is positioned at the end position of the main body part along the left-right direction of the main body part;

the insulating base is formed with a receiving groove recessed downward corresponding to the position of the blocking post, and when the actuator is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port, the end of the blocking post is inserted into the receiving groove to prevent the cable assembly from being withdrawn from the cable insertion port.

Further, the locking part is correspondingly matched and locked with the end face of the baffle column along the left-right direction.

Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this application are: the actuator can form a more stable fixation for the inserted cable assembly.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the FFC/FPC connector of the present application after being assembled to a substrate, and shows the actuator in a fully opened state.

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the FFC/FPC connector shown in fig. 1, showing in particular the actuator, a pair of mounting pins, and a perspective view of the substrate separated from the insulating base, while showing the substrate.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the FFC/FPC connector of the present application, particularly showing the FFC/FPC connector assembled onto a substrate and with the actuator in a fully closed position.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the structure within the dashed box in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the FFC/FPC connector of the present application, particularly showing the FFC/FPC connector assembled to a substrate with the actuator in a fully closed position.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the structure within the dashed box in fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line B-B of fig. 3, particularly illustrating a schematic view of the actuator in a fully opened state.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of fig. 3, particularly illustrating the actuator in a fully opened state.

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of fig. 3, particularly illustrating a schematic view of the actuator in a fully closed state.

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of fig. 3, particularly illustrating the actuator in a fully closed state.

Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in fig. 3, specifically illustrating a state of the actuator in a predetermined state.

Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of fig. 3, particularly illustrating the actuator in a fully opened state.

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of a pair of mounting studs of the FFC/FPC connector of the present application.

Fig. 14 is an enlarged view of the structure within the dashed circle in fig. 2.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is evident that the embodiments described are only some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.

For the sake of accuracy of the description throughout this application, all references to directions are uniformly made to fig. 1, in which the direction in which the X axis is located is defined as the left-right direction of the FFC/FPC connector; defining the direction of the Y axis as the up-down direction of the FFC/FPC connector, wherein the positive direction of the Y axis is up; the direction in which the Z axis is located is defined as the front-to-back direction of the FFC/FPC connector, with the Z axis forward direction being back.

Referring to fig. 1 to 14, an FFC/FPC connector disclosed in the present application includes an insulation base 1, a plurality of contact terminals 2 fixed to the insulation base 1, an actuator 4 rotatably coupled to the insulation base 1, and two mounting nails 3 fixed to both ends of the insulation base 1 in a left-right direction. The mounting nails 3 fix the insulating base 1 to the substrate 200 when being soldered to the substrate 200. The insulating base 1 is made of an insulating plastic material by integral injection molding, a cable insertion port 11 is formed at the front end of the insulating base 1, and the cable insertion port 11 is used for inserting a cable assembly (not shown). Specifically, in the present application, the cable assembly is inserted into the cable insertion port 11 from the front to the rear in a direction parallel to the basic surface. The plurality of contact terminals 2 are used to electrically connect the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port 11 and the substrate 200 to transmit signals. The actuator 4 fixes the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port 11 by rotating or releases the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port 11.

Referring to fig. 12 in combination with fig. 2, the contact terminal 2 is formed by blanking and stamping a metal plate, and includes a terminal fixing portion 21 fixed in the rear end of the insulating base 1, a substrate contact portion 22 extending from the terminal fixing portion 21 to the outside of the insulating base 1, a mating contact portion 23 formed by extending the terminal fixing portion 21 to the front, and an actuation limiting portion 24. The actuation restricting portion 24 is located above the counter contact portion 23 and is spaced apart from the counter contact portion 23 in the up-down direction, and a space between the actuation restricting portion 24 and the counter contact portion 23 is used for inserting the cable assembly. The tip end portion of the pair of contact portions 23 extends at least partially into the cable insertion port 11 and is elastically deformable in the up-down direction. The substrate contact portion 22 is for soldering to the substrate 200. The actuation restricting portion 24 extends forward in a cantilever shape, and a lower edge of a front end portion of the actuation restricting portion 24 is recessed upward to form a rotation notch (not numbered) for cooperation with the actuator 4.

Referring to fig. 1, 2 and 12, the mounting nail 3 is formed by punching and bending a metal plate, and includes a fixing section 31, an elastic section 32 disposed opposite to the fixing section 31 along a left-right direction, a connecting section 33 integrally connecting the fixing section 31 and an upper edge of the elastic section 32, and a welding section 34 vertically bent from a lower edge of the fixing section 31 to extend out of the insulating base 1. The fixed section 31, the elastic section 32 and the connecting section 33 are substantially n-shaped when viewed from the front to the rear. The elastic section 32 is located on the side adjacent to the cable insertion port 11 in the left-right direction.

Referring to fig. 1, 2, 6 and 7, the elastic section 32 can be elastically deformed in the left-right direction. In this embodiment, the fixing section 31 includes a base section 311 extending in the front-rear direction, and an excess section 312 extending upward from the upper edge of the front end of the base section 311. The connecting section 33 is integrally connected with the upper edge of the excess section 312. The mounting nails 3 are inserted and fixed into the insulating base 1 from front to back. Specifically, the rear end portion of the fixing section 31 is inserted into the insulating base 1; the lower edge portion of the front end portion of the fixed section 31 is inserted into the insulating base 1; the upper edge portion of the front end portion of the fixed section 31 is exposed outside the insulating base 1, and deformation spaces 102 are formed on both sides of the upper edge portion of the front end portion of the fixed section 31 in the left-right direction. Basically, the front end portion of the fixing section 31 is exposed to the outside of the insulating base 1 along the upper half in the up-down direction, and the lower half is inserted into the insulating base 1. This allows the portion of the mounting nail 3 exposed to the outside of the insulating base 1 to have a good flexibility, and the elastic section 32 is not easily irreversibly deformed.

Referring to fig. 13 in combination with fig. 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7, the elastic section 32 includes a first elastic section 321 formed by extending downward from an edge of the connecting section 33, and a second elastic section 322 formed by extending further forward and downward from a front end edge of the first elastic section 321. The first elastic section 321 is opposite to the front surface of the fixed section 31 in the right-left direction. The lower end portion of the second elastic section 322 in the up-down direction is located immediately in front of the front end surface 103 of the insulating base 1 in the front-rear direction of the insulating base 1 (see fig. 7 in particular and fig. 1 in combination). The second elastic section 322 protrudes toward the cable-insertion port 11 side in the left-right direction to form a locking portion 30, and when the actuator 4 is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the cable-insertion port 11, the locking portion 30 is locked with the end portion of the actuator 4 in the left-right direction to restrict the locking portion 30 from being disengaged from the fixation of the cable assembly. Specifically, the locking portion 30 is a convex hull structure formed by the second elastic section 32.

The FFC/FPC connector of the present application has a small design space for the effective elastic deformation amount of the elastic section 32 due to a small thickness in the up-down direction. The above-described design of the positions of the first elastic segment portion 321, the second elastic segment portion 322, and the locking portion 30 can enable the elastic segment 32 to have better flexibility. Wherein the second elastic segment 322 is designed with a downward extending portion, which can make the position design of the locking portion 30 have more choices, and also make the elastic segment 32 have better flexibility, and make the locking process of the locking portion 30 and the actuator 4 have more obvious click feel.

Referring to fig. 1, 2, and 7 to 12, the actuator 4 is disposed at an upper portion of the insulation base 1, and includes a main body 41 and a rotating portion 42 for pressing the cable assembly. The rotation portion 42 includes a plurality of insertion ports 421 formed at a lower portion of the main body portion 41 (a lower portion when the actuator 4 is in the completed open state), and a rotation shaft portion 422 formed in each of the insertion ports 421 in the left-right direction and forming a rotation center of the main body portion 41. A pair of support shafts 43 are formed to protrude from both ends of the main body 41 in the lateral direction, and the support shafts 43 are supported on the mounting nails 3 or on both ends of the insulating base 1 in the lateral direction (in the embodiment of the present application, the support shafts 43 are supported on the upper edges of the base section 311 of the mounting nails 3). The front end portion of the actuation restricting portion 24 is inserted into the insertion port 421 and elastically pressed downward against the rotating shaft portion 422, and the rotation notch is engaged with the rotating shaft portion 422 (see fig. 12).

When the actuator 4 fixes the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port 11 by rotating, the locking portion 30 is locked with the end portion of the actuator 4 in the left-right direction to restrict the locking portion 30 from being out of the fixation of the cable assembly. As shown in fig. 14, a locking rib 412 is formed at the end of the actuator 4 in the left-right direction corresponding to the position of the locking portion 30, a guiding slope 413 is formed at the lower position of the locking rib 412 (the position that is first contacted with the locking portion 30 when the actuator 4 is in the fully closed state), and a yielding slot 414 is formed at the upper position of the locking rib 412 (the upper position when the actuator 4 is in the fully closed state). When the actuator 4 is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port 11, the locking portion 30 is guided by the guide slope 413 and passes over the locking rib 412 to enter the relief groove 414, so as to form a closing lock between the actuator 4 and the mounting nail 3 and form a click feedback.

In the present application, the actuator 4 is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the insulation base 1, and thus, a completely closed state is formed, that is, a state shown in fig. 9 and 10; the actuator 4 is rotated to release the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port 11, and is in a fully opened state, that is, the state shown in fig. 7 and 8; the actuator 4 is rotated to have a predetermined state, that is, a state shown in fig. 11, from a state of fixedly inserting the cable assembly into the cable insertion port 11 to a state of releasing the fixedly inserting the cable assembly into the cable insertion port 11.

Each of the support shafts 43 is formed with a support protrusion 431 protruding thereon. When the actuator 4 is fully opened, the supporting protrusion 431 is supported on the mounting nail 3, forcing the rotation center of the main body 41 to be higher than that in the state when the actuator 4 is fully closed. Further, the outer peripheral surface of the supporting protrusion 431 is formed with a first flat surface portion 4311, a second flat surface portion 4312 and a third flat surface portion 4313, which are connected to each other. The main body 41 is used to press the lower surface 411 of the cable assembly parallel to the first plane 4311 (may be coplanar).

When the actuator 4 is fully opened, the first planar portion 4311 is supported on the mounting peg 3; when the actuator 4 is fully closed, the third flat surface portion 4313 is supported on the mounting nail 3, and at this time, the actuator 4 is inclined rearward, and the upper surface 410 of the main body portion 41 is abutted rearward against the insulating base 1; when the actuator 4 is in a predetermined state, the actuator 4 is in an upright state in the up-down direction, and the second flat portion 4312 is supported on the mounting nail 3. The design can enable the actuator 4 to form three states which can be kept static in the process of completely opening and completely closing the actuator 4, and the force required for driving the actuator 4 to rotate can be instantaneously changed in the process of switching the three states, so that the actuator 4 can form a gear shifting hand feel similar to jumping of driving force when the opening and closing angle is adjusted.

Referring to fig. 1, 2, and 7 to 12, the lower surface 411 of the main body 41 protrudes downward (when the actuator 4 is in the fully closed state) to form a blocking post 4111, the blocking post 4111 is located at a front end position of the main body 41 in the front-rear direction of the main body 41, and the blocking post 4111 is located at an end position of the main body 41 in the left-right direction of the main body 41. The insulating base 1 is formed with a receiving groove 101 recessed downward corresponding to the position of the stopper 4111, and when the actuator 4 is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port 11, the end of the stopper 4111 is inserted into the receiving groove 101 to prevent the cable assembly from being withdrawn from the cable insertion port 11. The locking portion 30 is correspondingly locked with the end face of the stopper 4111 along the left-right direction.

Although embodiments of the present application have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made therein without departing from the principles and spirit of the application, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An FFC/FPC connector, comprising:

an insulating base, the front end of which is formed with a cable insertion port;

a terminal fixing part fixed at the rear end of the insulating base;

2. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 1, wherein: the locking portion is elastically displaceable in a left-right direction of the insulating base.

3. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 1, wherein: each of the support shafts is formed with a support protrusion protruding therefrom, the support protrusion being supported by the mounting nail or by both ends of the insulating base in the left-right direction, and when the actuator is rotated to release the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port, the rotation center of the main body portion is forced to be higher than that in the state when the actuator is rotated to fix the cable assembly inserted into the cable insertion port.

4. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 3, wherein: the outer peripheral surface of each supporting shaft is provided with a first plane part, a second plane part and a third plane part which are connected with each other, wherein:

5. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 4, wherein: the main body part is used for pressing the lower surface of the cable assembly to be coplanar or parallel with the first plane part.

6. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 1, wherein: the locking part is a convex hull structure formed by installing nails protruding towards the cable insertion port side along the left-right direction of the insulating base;

7. The FFC/FPC connector according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: the mounting nail comprises:

The locking portion is formed on the elastic section.

8. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 7, wherein: the elastic section comprises a first elastic section part formed by downward extension of the edge of the connecting section and a second elastic section part formed by further forward and downward extension of the front end edge of the first elastic section part, and at least part of the second elastic section part is positioned right in front of the front end face of the insulating base along the front-back direction of the insulating base.

9. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 8, wherein: the locking portion is formed on the second elastic segment portion.

10. The FFC/FPC connector according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: the main body part is used for pressing the lower surface of the cable assembly to downwards bulge to form a baffle column, the baffle column is positioned at the front end position of the main body part along the front-back direction of the main body part, and the baffle column is positioned at the end position of the main body part along the left-right direction of the main body part;

11. The FFC/FPC connector according to claim 10, wherein: the locking part is correspondingly matched and locked with the end face of the baffle column along the left-right direction.