EP3818596B1 - Plug connector for flexible conductor films - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a connector for flexible conductor foils with foil-insulated conductors according to the preamble of claim 1.

State of the art

Flexible conductor foils with foil-insulated conductors are used today in the most diverse areas of entertainment and consumer electronics, but also in vehicle construction. Conductor foils are used in particular where a very flexible conductor structure with the lowest possible weight and limited space is required. Flexible conductor foils allow an orderly parallel routing of a large number of separate conductor tracks, with larger bends also being possible and parts that are arranged in only a very limited installation space being electrically conductively connected to one another. In vehicle construction in particular, such conductor foils must also be able to withstand greater mechanical influences, such as vibrations.

The contacting of the individual foil-insulated conductors is of particular importance. Especially in vehicle construction, this contact must be safe and resistant to external mechanical influences, but also be designed to be resistant to temperature influences and environmental influences of all kinds.

The DE 10 2006 017 019 A1 discloses a connector for flexible printed circuit (FPC) contacting. The plug has plug-in contact elements which are electrically connected to blades which penetrate and fix the conductors of the flexible printed circuit. The connector housing has two housing parts that can be slid into one another, one housing part supporting the cutting edges and the at least one plug-in contact element electrically conductively connected to them. The flexible printed circuit must be positioned and held on one of the two housing parts while the second housing part is assembled. During assembly, the position of three parts must therefore be coordinated with one another. Such an assembly is very expensive, particularly with regard to automated production, and is therefore not unproblematic.

From the FR 2 956 780 describes the contacting of a flexible conductor foil with foil-insulated conductors, in which the individual foil-insulated conductors are pierced by knife-like tips and these tips, after they have pierced the conductor tracks, are bent in such a way that they clamp the flexible conductor foil while simultaneously contacting the corresponding conductor tracks and hold. This is done using the crimping technique. The cutting edges are in turn electrically conductively connected to plug connectors, with each foil-insulated conductor being assigned a plug connector that is contacted via a number of cutting edges. After the contacting of the foil-insulated conductors, which is also possible automatically continuously, the connectors contacted in this way must be mounted in connector housings, which requires additional assembly steps that are independent of the contacting. As a result, the assembly of such connectors is complex, which is particularly disadvantageous with regard to automated assembly.

From the DE 199 53 646 B4 a plug-in connection for flexible conductor foils with foil-insulated conductors emerges with a plug and a mating connector, which are each provided on a conductor foil end region and can be plugged into one another for the purpose of making electrical contact with the foil-insulated conductors. For this purpose, the plug and the mating plug each have a base body and a cover, which can be brought into firm contact with the base body via a fixing mechanism. At least one penetration contact element is provided between the base body and the cover, which provides at least one base plate made of electrically conductive material with penetration bodies. The penetrating bodies are triangular shaped bodies formed from the base plate material, each with a triangular apex raised from the base plate and a triangular base lying opposite the triangle apex in the base plate, around which each shaped body is bent. A large number of penetrating bodies are provided in the base plate, the triangular bases of which each enclose an angle with the longitudinal axis of the base plate in such a way that the penetrating bodies are arranged one behind the other alternately at an angle of ± 60° relative to the longitudinal axis of the base plate. A foil-insulated conductor of the conductor foil end area can be arranged on the penetration contact element before the cover is brought into contact with the base body, with the penetration contact element at least partially penetrating the foil-insulated conductor for the purpose of fixing the electrical contact by pressing the cover against the base body. Several independent assembly steps are also required for this plug-in connection, on the one hand for contacting the individual foil-insulated conductors of the flexible conductor foil and on the other hand for the foil-insulated conductors in a connector housing connected to connectors in this way.

Here, too, automatic production is not readily possible.

From the DE 10 2015 100 401 A1 a generic connector for flexible conductor foils with foil-insulated conductors emerges, which is accessible to automatic production. This connector has a connector housing in which at least one plug-in contact element is arranged, and with a connection area in which cutting edges electrically conductively connected to the at least one plug-in contact element can penetrate and fix at least one foil-insulated conductor to produce an electrical contact, with the connector housing having two telescoping comprises housing parts, the first housing part of which supports the cutters and the at least one plug-in contact element electrically conductively connected to them, and the second housing part of which accommodates and supports the flexible conductor foil and which has at least one cutter receptacle adapted to the cutters, the boundary surfaces of which are designed in such a way that at least one part the cutting a telescoping of the two housing parts is bent in the direction of the foil-insulated conductor. The cutting edges are rigid and solid. The connector was developed for foils in which the conductors are made of rolled copper with thicknesses of 50 to 200 µm. Due to the cold deformation, these copper conductors are relatively hard and stable.

In the meantime, however, there are also film technologies in which printed circuit boards are structured photochemically, with the copper for the conductor tracks being deposited galvanically. This copper is relatively soft due to the galvanic deposition. The thicknesses of the conductor tracks or layers are only in the range of 12 to 70 µm. Two-layer systems can also be produced with this technique. In this way it is possible to form both conductor tracks and shielding layers.

Will one of the DE 10 2015 100 401 A1 If the resulting connector is used to make contact with such flexible conductor foils, the very thin conductor tracks can, in principle, be damaged, which in extreme cases can even cause the conductor track to be interrupted.

From the DE 103 52 927 A1 an electrical contact element for conductor tracks of a foil flat conductor emerges. The contact element has cutting edges that have a dumbbell-shaped hole. Although this hole represents a hollow space, an elastic deformation of the cutting edges of these cutting edges is not provided.

The U.S. 4,964,811 discloses a connector having a male contact element with U-shaped contacts. Recordings for lines are formed between the contacts. The contacts each have a cavity in their limbs, which enables elastic deformation of the limbs. The legs are then deformed as leads are inserted into the receptacles between the contacts. The plug contact element is not suitable for flexible conductor foils.

Disclosure of Invention Advantages of the Invention

The connector according to the invention for flexible conductor foils with the features of claim 1 has the advantage that flexible conductor foils with very thin foil-insulated conductors, which were produced, for example, by means of galvanic deposition, can be contacted automatically, quickly and reliably. For this purpose, it is provided that at least some of the cutting edges are designed to be flexible. This flexible design effectively avoids a cutting process that destroys the foil-insulated conductors. Extensive tests by the applicant have shown this.

"Flexible" blades mean that the blades can yield slightly when penetrating the foil-insulated conductors.

The flexibility is adapted to the thickness of the foil-insulated conductors. The thinner the foil-insulated conductors are, the more flexible the cutting edges are.

This connector for flexible conductor foils not only enables simple contacting of the foil-insulated conductor tracks, which is in particular accessible to automatic production, in particular also simultaneous contacting of several foil-insulated conductor tracks arranged next to one another in the flexible conductor foil with simultaneous assembly of the connector in the connector housing, but also, in particular, a very effective one , Electrically excellent and gas-tight contacting of the corresponding plug contacts, which also withstands mechanical loads and can therefore also be used in automobile construction, for example.

This excellent gas-tight contact is achieved by bending the cutting edges in the direction of the foil-insulated conductors. By bending the cutting edges, pressure is exerted on the contact surface and the electrical contact surface is enlarged. In this way, a gas-tight contact is realized. At the same time, the cutting edges are held under a certain tension in the connector housing. The production of the electrical contacts by the cutting edges electrically conductively connected to the plug connector takes place in a very advantageous manner simultaneously with the assembly of the plug connector housing by sliding the two plug connector housing parts into one another.

The flexible design is realized in that the cutting edges each have a cavity that enables elastic deformation, for example pressing together, of the cutting edges.

Advantageous further developments and improvements of the connector specified in the independent claim are possible as a result of the measures listed in the dependent claims.

This cavity can in turn be formed in the most varied of ways. It is particularly advantageous if the cavity has a contour that is adapted to the shape of the cutting edge. In this case, the cavity follows the cutting edge, so to speak, so that the cutting edges essentially have the shape of a ridge. The larger the cavity, the thinner the web and the better the cutting edge can be deformed, in other words, the greater the flexibility.

Provision is made particularly advantageously for the flexible cutting edges to be arranged between the cutting edges which are bent in the direction of the foil-insulated conductors when the two housing parts are pushed into one another.

According to one aspect of the invention, it is provided that the second housing part has a receiving space which is adapted to the conductor foil and has an opening in at least one housing wall for receiving the conductor foil. In this way, the flat, flexible conductor foil can be pushed into the second housing part and is held there in the accommodation space adapted to it. The opening and the receiving space are arranged in the second housing part in such a way that a conductor foil arranged in the receiving space comes to rest essentially perpendicular to the cutting edges. This enables the flexible conductor foil to be pre-positioned in the second housing part for assembly by pushing the flexible conductor foil into the second housing part, because the flexible conductor foil is already arranged in a starting position in the second housing part, which enables direct and also automated contacting of the foil-insulated conductors .

It is advantageously provided that the cutter holders have curved boundary surfaces.

In addition, these boundary surfaces are preferably designed as sliding surfaces for at least some of the cutting edges.

In this case, it is very advantageously provided that the boundary surfaces, which form the sliding surfaces, extend in a funnel shape in such a way that two cutting edges are bent toward one another while they slide along the boundary surfaces. This design of the cutting edge mounts, which is adapted to the cutting edges, enables optimal gas-tight contacting of the foil-insulated conductors with the at least one plug contact during assembly of the second connector housing part on the first connector housing part.

This assembly can in particular also be automated.

According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the cutting edges are arranged one behind the other along a line such that the foil-insulated conductor is cut through at several points during assembly of the second connector housing part on the first connector housing part.

A very advantageous embodiment provides that the cutting edges have different lengths, with each shorter, flexible cutting edge being surrounded by two longer cutting edges, which are spaced apart and whose length is so great that they are attached to the boundary surfaces in each case come into contact with a cutting edge holder.

In principle, such a cutting receptacle with three cutting edges, one shorter and two longer, would suffice in order to achieve good, safe and, in particular, gas-tight contacting of the foil-insulated conductor with the plug contact. However, a particularly advantageous embodiment provides that the second housing part has a plurality of cutter receptacles arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the foil-insulated conductors. This increases the contact area and thus the contact security. In addition, the current-carrying capacity of the contact made in this way also increases in this way. If the foil-insulated conductors extend over a large area, the cutting edges lying one behind the other can also be arranged slightly offset from one another perpendicularly to the direction of the conductor track.

Clamping elements are provided in the first and/or second housing part to provide strain relief for the flexible conductor foil when assembled in the plug connector.

In principle, these clamping elements can be designed in the most varied of ways and can be arranged in the housing parts.

An advantageous embodiment provides that the clamping elements are each arranged between conductor tracks of the flexible conductor foil.

It can be provided that the clamping elements are each associated with rows of cutting edges.

A very advantageous aspect of the invention provides that first clamping elements are arranged in the first housing part and second clamping elements which interact with the first clamping elements are arranged in the second housing part. In this way, a clamping of the flexible conductor film is automatically produced to a certain extent during the assembly of the second on the first housing part.

The formation of the first and second clamping elements can be designed very differently. An advantageous embodiment provides that the first clamping elements are clamping teeth with rounded clamping tooth surfaces and that the second clamping elements are adapted to the clamping teeth. openings arranged in the second housing member. A particularly effective and easy-to-manufacture clamping and thus strain relief of the flexible conductor film in the connector housing part can be achieved by such a configuration of the clamping elements.

It is advantageously provided that the clamping teeth have a height such that when the two housing parts are assembled together, the flexible conductor foil that can be arranged between the first and second housing parts can be deformed in such a way that the deformed flexible conductor foil in the area of the openings slightly protrudes into the second housing part arranged openings protrudes.

A very advantageous embodiment also provides that the second housing part can be latched to the first housing part.

Brief description of the drawings

• Fig. 1 eine schematische Schnittdarstellung eines erfindungsgemäßen Steckverbinders für flexible Leiterfolien vor der Montage der beiden Gehäuseteile;
• Fig. 2 die in Fig. 1 dargestellte Schnittdarstellung eines erfindungsgemäßen Steckverbinders nach der Montage der beiden Gehäuseteile;
• Fig. 3 bis Fig. 8 in isometrischer, teilweise weggebrochener Darstellung aufeinanderfolgende Schritte der Montage einer flexiblen Leiterfolie in einem von der Erfindung Gebrauch machenden Steckverbinder sowie teilweise Ausschnittvergrößerungen und
• Fig. 9 in isometrischer Darstellung den in den Fig. 3 bis 7 dargestellten Steckverbinder komplett.

Embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings and explained in more detail in the following description. Show it:

• 1 a schematic sectional view of a connector according to the invention for flexible conductor foils before assembly of the two housing parts;
• 2 in the 1 shown sectional view of a connector according to the invention after assembly of the two housing parts;
• 3 to 8 in an isometric, partially broken away representation of successive steps in the assembly of a flexible conductor foil in a connector making use of the invention, as well as partial enlargements and
• 9 in isometric representation in the Figures 3 to 7 connector shown complete.

Embodiments of the invention

A connector designated as a whole with 10 has a housing which consists of two parts. In a first connector housing part 100, plug contacts in the form of spring contacts 105 are arranged in a manner known per se. Cutting edges 110, 115, which are arranged one behind the other in a line, are electrically conductively connected to the plug contacts 105, with each shorter cutting edge 115 being surrounded by two longer cutting edges 110 in each case. The shorter cutting edges 115 have an opening 116, through which a flexibility of the cutting edges 115 is realized, which will be discussed in more detail below.

A second connector housing part 200 is designed as a separate part. The second connector housing part 200 is designed in such a way that it can be fixed to the first connector housing part 100 and latched thereto by pushing it into a corresponding opening. The second connector housing part 200 has an opening 222 on a side wall 220 which serves to accommodate a flexible conductor foil 300 . An opening 232 is also arranged in the opposite side wall 230 and is accessible from the inside of the second connector, more precisely from a receiving space 240 arranged inside and adapted to the conductor foil 300 . Both openings 222, 232 thus open into the receiving space 240, which is arranged in the second connector housing part and is adapted to the conductor foil 300, the dimensions of which essentially correspond to the outer dimensions of the conductor foil. Like that one in particular 1 can be seen, the outwardly accessible opening 222, into which the conductor foil is inserted, is formed in a funnel shape that the insertion of the conductor foil 300 into the second connector housing part 200 is facilitated.

In addition, two blade receptacles 210 are provided in the second connector housing part 200, which can also be referred to as blade receptacle spaces. These cutting edge mounts 210 have boundary surfaces 211, 212 curved in a funnel shape, which are spaced apart from one another in such a way that they are adapted to the distance between the two longer cutting edges 110, which surround the shorter cutting edge 115. The two longer cutting edges 110, which each surround the shorter cutting edge 115, "fit" so to speak into the cutting edge receptacles 210, with the longer cutting edges 110 coming to rest on the boundary surfaces 211 and 212, respectively. The state before the final assembly of the second connector housing part 200 on the first connector housing part 100 is in 1 shown. The assembly now takes place in that the second connector housing part 200 is pressed in the direction of the first connector housing part 100 . The cutters 110, 115 cut through a foil-insulated conductor track of the conductor foil and thus contact the conductor foil with the plug contact 105. During the telescoping process, the two outer longer cutters 110 surrounding the shorter cutter 115 slide on the two boundary surfaces 211, 212 of the cutter receptacles 210, whereby they are bent towards each other, like this in 2 is shown. In the fully assembled state, in which the second connector housing part 200 is locked on the first connector housing part 100, the outer cutters 110 surrounding the shorter inner cutter 115 are bent toward one another. Because of this bending, the two outer cutting edges 110 cut in the direction of the conductor foil and thus not only enlarge the contact area and thus increase the contact reliability and also the current-carrying capacity, but they are also under prestress. This exerts pressure on the contact surfaces and this in turn enables gas-tight contacting. This type of contacting allows electrical contacting that is resistant to external influences, in particular mechanical loads, and which—and this is particularly important—can also be automated. The shorter inner cutting edges 115 each have a cavity 116 which allows the cutting edges to be pressed together allows. This cavity 116 is essentially adapted to the contour of the cutters, so that the cutter walls 117 essentially have a constant thickness. A flexible design of the cutting edges 115 is realized by these cavities 116 . In this context, flexible means that the cutting edges 115 yield elastically under pressure, ie can be pressed in the direction of the interior of the cavity 116 . Due to this flexibility or resilience of the cutting edges 115, optimal contacting results are achieved, in particular with very thin foil conductors which are produced by galvanic deposition of copper and have thicknesses of the conductor tracks or layers in the range from 12 to 70 micrometers. With this technology, the contacting of two-layer systems is also possible, whereby the layers can be designed as conductor track or shielding layers. With very thin copper foils, the elastic cutting edges 115 achieve significantly better contacting than with non-flexible cutting edges.

In the 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 various steps in the assembly of the flexible circuit foil 300 are shown in an isometric and partially broken-away representation. 9 shows the flexible conductor foil 300 in a fully assembled connector, ie after the attachment of the housing part 200 to the housing part 100 with the formation of the electrical contact of foil-insulated conductors 310 of the conductor foil 300 and attachments of the conductor foil 300 in the manner described above.

In order to provide strain relief and secure attachment of the flexible conductor foil 300 in the connector housing, formed from the first housing part 100 and the second housing part 200 attached to it, fastening elements in the form of clamping teeth 410 are provided in the first housing part, which have rounded clamping tooth surfaces 415. These clamping teeth 410 are each positioned in the spaces between the foil-insulated conductors 310 in order to clamp the flexible conductor foil 300 there. Again 3 it can be seen that the foil-insulated conductors 310 are arranged side by side in the flexible conductor foil 300 . Any foil insulated Leads 310 are associated with blades 110, 115, respectively, to contact and clamp the foil-insulated leads 310. Clamping teeth 410 are assigned to each row of blades 110, 115 in each case. The clamping teeth 410 are therefore between the cutting edges 110, 115, approximately in the area of the flexible conductor foil 300 in which no foil-insulated conductor 310 is arranged. In 3 four rows of cutting edges 110, 115 and rows of clamping teeth, which are also arranged one behind the other and run essentially parallel to the rows of cutting edges 110, 115, are shown.

Openings 510 associated with the clamping teeth 410 are provided in the second housing part 200 and are adapted to the clamping teeth 410 in such a way that the clamping teeth can be accommodated by these openings 510 .

First, the conductor foil 300 is mounted in the second housing part 200 by being inserted into the receiving space 240 in the manner described above. this is in 4 shown schematically.

Then the second housing part 200 is moved in the direction of the first housing part 100 . The electrical contact is made in the manner also described above, in that the cutting edges 110, 115 penetrate the foil-insulated conductor tracks 310 and are then bent in the direction of the foil-insulated conductor 310, ie in the direction of the conductor.

This step is shown schematically in figure 5 shown. 6 shows an enlargement of the in figure 5 section marked VI. This enlarged section in particular shows how the clamping tooth surfaces 415 of the clamping teeth 410 are designed to taper upwards in the manner of a roof. Of course, the invention is not limited to this; clamping teeth that are rounded off or otherwise tapered upwards can also be provided. This tapering is used for optimal clamping of the flexible conductor foil 300. This clamping is shown schematically in 7 and 8 , which is an enlargement of the in 7 with VIII designated section is shown.

7 shows the fully assembled connector with flexible conductor foil 300. The isometric representation shows how the clamping teeth 410 with their upwardly tapering areas 415 deform the conductor foil 300 slightly, with the deformed areas 333 slightly penetrating the openings 510 in the second housing part 200 are provided, protrude. For this purpose, the clamping teeth 410 are of such a height that when the two housing parts are assembled together, the flexible circuit foil 300 arranged between the first and the second housing part is deformed in such a way that the deformed areas 333 of the flexible circuit foil 300 slightly protrude into the Openings 510 protrude as shown in 7 and 8th is shown. This type of clamping is evenly distributed over the entire conductor foil 300, resulting in a very stable fastening of the conductor foil 300, with the formation of a strain relief.

The assembled connector in its complete condition, i.e. without partially cut away areas, is in 9 shown.

The interaction of the contacting by the cutting edges 110 and the flexible cutting edges 115 with the clamping by the clamping teeth 410 enables a very good, reliable, durable and stable fastening and contacting of a flexible conductor foil in a connector with simple assembly.

Claims (18)

1. Plug connector (10) for flexible conductor foils (300) having foil-insulated conductors, having a plug connector housing in which at least one plug contact element (105) is arranged, and having a connection region in which blades (110, 115) connected to the plug contact element (15) in an electrically conducting manner are arranged and can pierce and fix at least one foil-insulated conductor while producing an electrical contact, wherein the connector housing comprises two telescopic housing parts (100, 200) of which the first housing part (100) supports the blades (110, 115) and the at least one plug contact element (105) connected to the latter in an electrically conducting manner, and the second housing part (200) can receive and support the flexible conductor foil (300) and has at least one blade receiver (210) adjusted to the blades (110, 115), the delimiting surfaces (211, 212) of which are designed such that at least one part of the blades (110, 115) is bent in the direction of the foil-insulated conductor when the two housing parts (100, 200) are telescoped, characterised in that at least one part of the blades (115) has a cavity (116) that enables the cutting edges to be elastically deformed.
2. Plug connector (10) according to claim 1, characterised in that the cavity (116) has a contour adjusted to the blade shape.
3. Plug connector (10) according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterised in that the blades (115) that have a cavity (116) are each arranged between the blades (10) that are bent in the direction of the foil-insulated conductor (310) when the two housing parts (100, 200) are telescoped.
4. Plug connector according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the second housing part (200) has a receiving chamber (240) adjusted to the conductor foil (300), wherein two flush openings (222, 232) for receiving the conductor foil (300) are arranged in two opposite housing walls (220, 230).
5. Plug connector according to claim 4, characterised in that the two flush openings (222, 232) are arranged such that a conductor foil (300) arranged in the receiving chamber (240) comes to rest substantially perpendicular to the blades (110, 115).
6. Plug connector according to claim 1, characterised in that the delimiting surfaces (211, 212) of the blade receivers (210) are bent.
7. Plug connector according to claim 6, characterised in that the delimiting surfaces (211, 212) of the blade receivers (210) form sliding surfaces for at least one part of the blades (110).
8. Plug connector according to claim 7, characterised in that the delimiting surfaces (211, 212) of the blade receivers (210) run in a funnel shape such that two blades (110) are bent towards each other as they slide along the delimiting surfaces (211, 212).
9. Plug connector according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the blades (110, 115) are arranged one behind the other along a line such that the foil-insulated conductor (310) is intersected in several places while the second housing part (200) is mounted on the first housing part (100).
10. Plug connector according to claim 9, characterised in that the blades (110, 115) have different lengths, wherein a shorter blade (115) having the cavity (116) is respectively surrounded by two longer blades (110) respectively (110), said longer blades (110) being spaced apart from one another in such a way, and their length being so great, that they come to rest on the delimiting surfaces (211, 212) of a blade receiver (210).
11. Plug connector according to claim 1, characterised in that the second housing part (200) has several blade receivers (210) arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the foil-insulated connector (310).
12. Plug connector (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that clamping elements (410, 510) are provided in the first and/or second housing part (100, 200), said clamping elements (410, 510) clamping the flexible conductor foils (300) in the region between the foil-insulated conductors (310) in the mounted state of the two housing parts (100, 200).
13. Plug connector (10) according to claim 12, characterised in that the clamping elements (410, 510) are arranged between conductor paths (310) of the flexible conductor foil (300).
14. Plug connector (10) according to claim 13, characterised in that the clamping elements (410, 510) are respectively assigned to rows of blades (110, 115).
15. Plug connector (10) according to one of claims 12 to 14, characterised in that first clamping elements (410) are arranged in the first housing part and second clamping elements (510) cooperating with the first clamping elements are arranged in the second housing part (200).
16. Plug connector (10) according to claim 15, characterised in that the first clamping elements are clamping teeth (410) having clamping teeth surfaces (415) extending in the direction of the flexible conductor foil (300) and that the second clamping elements are openings (510) adjusted to the clamping teeth arranged in the second housing element (200).
17. Plug connector (10) according to claim 16, characterised in that the clamping teeth (410) have a height such that, in the mounted state of the two housing parts (100, 200) on one another, the flexible conductor foil (300) that can be arranged between the first and the second housing part can be deformed such that the deformed regions (333) of the flexible conductor foil (300) protrude slightly into the openings (510) arranged in the second housing part (200).
18. Plug connector (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the second housing part (200) is locked with the first housing part (100) in the mounted state.

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