JP2001057479A - Connection structure of electronic device accommodation case - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly align an electronic device accommodation case when the case is to be piled up by setting a part for mounting one connector and a guide pin to a flying type configuration with the degree of freedom, SOLUTION: Although a connector 7 is directly mounted to sheet metal 13 of an electronic device 2, a connector 6 is mounted to a plate 16, and the plate 16 is mounted to sheet metal 12 of an electronic device 1 by a screw 17. The diameter of a screw hole 18 for allowing the screw 17 of the plate 16 to pass is larger than that of the screw 17 without cutting any taps, thus freely moving the plate 16 where the connector 6 is mounted by movement width with the margin of the diameter of the screw 17 for that of the screw hole 18. In this manner, the plate 16 with the connector 6 and the guide pin 8 is set to a flying type configuration, thus freely moving the plate 16 by movement width with the margin of the diameter of the screw 17 for that of the screw hole 18, and hence smoothly carrying out alignment when a case 4 is to be piled up.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure for mechanically connecting adjacent housings housing electronic devices and electrically connecting the electronic devices to each other, that is, an electronic device housing. Connection structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is common practice to arrange a plurality of housings accommodating electronic devices in order to increase capacity or to provide a complex function, and to make functional cooperation between the housings. A conventional structure for mechanically connecting adjacent housings accommodating electronic devices and electrically connecting the electronic devices to each other will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a connection structure diagram of a conventional electronic device housing.
(A) is an internal rear view of the connection structure, and (b) is an internal side view. In the figure, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote electronic devices, and reference numerals 3 and 4 denote housings for housing these electronic devices 1 and 2. When two such housings 3 and 4 are stacked and connected, a method of mechanically connecting them by bolts and nuts (not shown) and then electrically connecting them by a cable 5 is adopted. This cable 5 is provided with respective connectors corresponding to the connectors of the electronic devices 1 and 2 at both ends.

[0003]

The conventional connection structure of the electronic device housing has the following problems because it is constructed as described above. In FIG. 7, the cable 5
Although only one is shown, depending on the electronic devices 1 and 2 housed in the housings 3 and 4, it is necessary to connect a considerably large number of cables between them. On the other hand, space conditions inside the housing have become extremely strict due to the tendency of overcrowding in recent years. In such a situation, the connector connection operation has become extremely difficult, and this has resulted in operation errors and excessive operation time. In addition, there are also problems such as an increased chance of picking up noise at the cable 5 and a source of noise.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connection structure of an electronic device housing which is particularly excellent in workability of electrical connection.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a connection structure for an electronic device housing, comprising: a plurality of electronic device housings for housing electronic devices; and an electrical connection between adjacent electronic device housings. A pair of connectors, a fastening means for mechanically connecting adjacent electronic device housings, a guide pin provided near one connector and serving as a guide for connecting the electronic device housings, and A guide hole is provided in the vicinity of the connector, into which the guide pin is inserted, and a portion to which one connector and the guide pin are attached is a floating type having a degree of freedom.

The portion to which one connector and the guide pin are attached is of a floating type having a degree of freedom in the horizontal direction.

One of the connectors is mounted on a plate, and the plate is mounted on a sheet metal of the electronic device by screws, and the screw holes for passing the screws of the plate are not tapped and are larger than the diameter of the screws. It is.

[0008] A portion to which one connector and the guide pin are attached is of a floating type having a degree of freedom in the vertical direction.

One of the connectors is mounted on a plate, and a gap larger than the plate thickness of the plate is provided between the screw head of the screw for mounting the plate on the plate of the electronic device and the plate.

The portion to which one connector and the guide pin are attached is of a floating type having a degree of freedom in the horizontal and vertical directions.

Further, one connector and a guide pin and the other connector and a guide hole are provided in the electronic device, respectively.

Further, one connector and a guide pin and the other connector and a guide hole are respectively provided in the electronic device housing.

[0013] Further, a connector-equipped cable for connecting a housing-side connector provided on the electronic device housing housing side and an electronic device-side connector provided on the electronic device is provided.

Also, one electronic device housing is disposed below the other electronic device housing, and the other electronic device housing is dropped from above the one electronic device housing so as to be mechanical. The connector is arranged so that when the connection is made, the electric connection is also made at the same time.

Further, one of the electronic device housings is disposed below the other electronic device housing, and the other electronic device housing is disposed on the upper front side of the one electronic device housing from the lower rear side. The connectors are placed so that they fit together, and when they are moved backward so as to slide on one of the electronic device housings and mechanically connected, the connectors are arranged so that electrical connection is also performed. is there.

The other end of the cable with the connector, which is to be fitted to the electronic device side connector, is also fixed in the electronic device housing, and the fixing position is such that the electronic device is slid from the front of the electronic device housing. When the electronic device is mounted, the electronic device side connector is set at a position where the electronic device-side connector is fitted when the electronic device reaches a proper position to be mounted and fixed.

Further, the connector is configured with a lock mechanism.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Figures 1 and 2
1 is a view showing Embodiment 1, FIG. 1 is a connection configuration diagram of an electronic device housing, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a floating connector used in the electronic device housing, and FIG. Figure 2
(B) shows a plan view. In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote electronic devices, 3 and 4 respectively house the electronic devices 1 and 2, and adjacent housings to be connected, and 6, 7 are provided in the respective electronic devices 1 and 2, and Is a guide pin provided on the electronic device 1, and 9 is a guide hole fitted with the guide pin 8 provided on the electronic device 2. Reference numerals 10 and 11 denote bolts and nuts for housing connection, which are typically shown.

Next, the configuration of the floating connector will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In the figure, 12, 1
3 are sheet metals of the electronic devices 1 and 2 shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 15 denotes an internal component of the electronic device 1 or 2 connected to the connector 6 or 7, respectively, and is generally a cable, a jumper wire, an electronic circuit board, or the like.

The connector 6 is mounted on a plate 16 as shown in the figure, while the connector 7 is directly mounted on the metal plate 13 of the electronic device 2, and the plate 16 is mounted on the metal plate 12 of the electronic device 1 by screws 17. Have been.
A screw hole 18 through which the screw 17 of the plate 16 passes is not cut, and is a hole larger than the diameter of the screw 17. Therefore, the plate 16 to which the connector 6 is attached is shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), the screw 17 moves freely with a margin of movement of the diameter of the screw 17 with respect to the diameter of the screw hole 18.

The plate 16 is provided with guide pins 8 to be provided in the electronic device 1, and the sheet metal 13 of the electronic device 2 is provided with guide holes 9 into which the guide pins 8 are inserted.

When the housings 3 and 4 are brought close to each other so that the guide pins 8 and the guide holes 9 are aligned with each other, the connectors 6 and 7 are connected, and at the same time, the housings 3 and 4 are connected. Comes to the connection position. Then, by connecting the connection fixing bolt 10 and the nut 11, which are fastening means, all the housing connections are completed.

Here, the actual stacking connection work of the housings is as follows.
The operation of stacking the housings 4 on the lower housing 3 placed on the floor is performed. When stacking, the operator holds the side surface of the housing 4. The position held by this operator and the mounting position of the connector 7 are separated from each other.
Since it is difficult to accurately confirm the joint surface of the connector 7, the connectors 6, 7
A normal position where the members can fit each other, in other words, the guide pins 8
It is difficult work to bring the housing 4 to the position where the guide hole 9 and the guide hole 9 are fitted.

However, when the plate 16 provided with the connectors 6 and the guide pins 8 as components is of a floating type as in this embodiment, the plate 16 has a diameter of the screw 17 with respect to the diameter of the screw hole 18. Since the housing 4 is freely moved with a sufficient movement width, the positioning at the time of stacking the housings 4 can be performed smoothly.

Embodiment 2 In the first embodiment, the guide pins 8 and the guide holes 9 are provided in the electronic devices 1 and 2, respectively. There is a possibility that an impact is applied, and this is disadvantageous when the weight of the housing is heavy and the strength of the electronic device or the connector is not strong. Embodiment 2 improves this point, and has a structure in which the guide pins 8 and the guide holes 9 are provided on the mechanically strong housing side.

Hereinafter, a second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows the second embodiment and is a connection configuration diagram of an electronic device housing. Guide pin 8 and guide hole 9
That the connectors 6 and 7 to be disposed near the guide pins 8 and the guide holes 9 are also provided in the housing. Therefore, it is necessary to connect the electronic devices mounted on the housing and the connectors provided on these housings by some method. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. The connector 21 provided on the electronic device 1 mounted on the housing is connected using the cable 19 with the connector. The connector on the housing side of this cable is a connector 6 provided on the housing and is fixed to the housing.

Cable 20 with connector in housing 4
Similarly, the connector provided on the electronic device to be mounted is connected to the connector 7 provided on the housing itself. The mounting of the electronic device on the housing may be performed before stacking the housing, and the connection of the cable with the connector in the housing to the electronic device may be freely performed when connecting. Because it can be moved, it is not a difficult task.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the guide pins 8, the guide holes 9, and the connectors 6, 7 are provided on the housing side, a large force or impact is exerted on the electronic device when the housings are stacked. Is less likely to be added.

Embodiment 3 In the second embodiment, the housings are stacked by assuming that the housing 4 is stacked on the lower housing 3 so that the housing 4 is dropped from above. The connectors 6 and 7, which are electrical connection elements between the housings, are mounted so that the fitting direction of the connectors is perpendicular to the upper and lower surfaces of the housing. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, by mounting the connectors so that the fitting directions of the connectors are horizontal with respect to the upper and lower surfaces of the housing and by setting the mounting position to the rear side of the housing, The following method can be used as a stacking method.

The lower surface of the upper case 4 is fitted to the upper surface of the lower case 3 so that the upper surface of the lower case 3 is slid backward. In addition to stacking the housings, the connectors arranged on the rear side of each housing are fitted and connected.

The weight of the housing on which the electronic device is mounted is 20 kg.
This is often the case, and it is common for the stacking work to be heavy. However, by adopting the above-described housing structure, the load of the housing to be stacked can be received by the lower housing, so that the alignment of the connectors can be easily performed, and the stacking operation can be easily performed. Become.

Embodiment 4 FIG. In the second and third embodiments, before stacking the casings, it is necessary to connect the electronic device mounted on the casing and the connector provided on the casing with a cable with a connector. A method for omitting this operation will be described with reference to FIG. A cable 19 with a connector for connecting the connector 6 for connection between the housings provided on the housing 3 and the connector 21 of the electronic device mounted on the housing.
, One end is fixed to the connector 6 side provided in the housing as described in the second and third embodiments, and the other end on the side to be fitted with the connector 21 of the electronic device is also fixed in the housing.

When the electronic device is mounted so as to be slid from the front surface of the housing, the fixing position is set to a position where the electronic device is fitted with the connector 21 of the electronic device when the electronic device comes to a proper position to be mounted and fixed. By doing so, the connector 21 of the electronic device is fitted to the connector 22 on the housing at the same time as the electronic device is mounted on the housing, and the connection of the cable with the connector between the electronic device and the housing is completed. Thus, the number of working steps can be reduced by one.

Here, the connector 22 on the housing side and the connector 21 on the electronic device side have a guide pin, a guide hole, and a floating connector structure, similarly to the connection connector between housings in the present invention. Therefore, when the electronic device is mounted on the housing, the alignment for the purpose of fitting the connector can be smoothly performed.

Embodiment 5 FIG. In the floating connector described in the first embodiment, the plate including the guide pins and the connector is mounted with a degree of freedom in the horizontal direction with respect to the mounting surface of the plate. In the present embodiment, the mounting structure of the plate is as shown in FIG. In FIG. 6A, a gap larger than the thickness of the plate 16 is provided between the screw head of the screw 17 for attaching the plate 16 to the sheet metal 12 and the sheet metal 12. By doing so, the plate 16 is moved with respect to the sheet metal 12 as its mounting surface.
You will have a vertical degree of freedom.

If such a floating connector having a degree of freedom in the vertical direction is applied to the electronic device housing shown in the second embodiment, the vertical vibration after the housing is fixed by stacking, for example, Even in the event of an earthquake, it is possible to avoid damage to the connector connection portion and maintain electrical connection.

FIG. 6B shows the connector body.
When using a connector with a lock mechanism as shown in
The safety of the electrical connection against the vertical vibration as described above can be further improved.

[0038]

According to the connection structure of the electronic device housing according to the present invention, the portion to which one connector and the guide pin are attached is of a floating type having a degree of freedom, so that the electronic device housing is stacked. Time alignment can be performed smoothly.

Further, since a portion to which one connector and the guide pin are attached is of a floating type having a degree of freedom in the vertical direction, even if a vertical vibration occurs after the housing is fixed in the stacked state, the connection of the connector can be performed. The electrical connection can be maintained by avoiding breakage of the part.

Further, since the one connector and the guide pin and the other connector and the guide hole are provided in the electronic device housing, respectively, the possibility that a large force or impact is applied to the electronic devices when the housings are stacked is reduced.

The other end of the cable with the connector, which is to be fitted with the connector on the electronic device side, is also fixed in the electronic device housing, and this fixed position is slid from the front of the electronic device housing. When the electronic device is mounted, the electronic device side connector is configured to be fitted when the electronic device reaches a regular position where the electronic device should be mounted and fixed. Therefore, the number of work steps for storing the electronic device in the housing can be reduced by one process. .

Further, since the connector is provided with a lock mechanism, the safety of electrical connection against vertical vibration can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the first embodiment, and is a connection configuration diagram of an electronic device housing.

FIG. 2 shows the first embodiment and is a configuration diagram of a floating connector.

FIG. 3 shows the second embodiment and is a connection configuration diagram of an electronic device housing.

FIG. 4 shows the third embodiment and is a connection configuration diagram of an electronic device housing.

FIG. 5 shows the fourth embodiment, and is a configuration diagram of mounting an electronic device in an electronic device housing.

FIG. 6 shows the fifth embodiment and is a structural diagram of the floating connector and the connector itself.

FIG. 7 is a connection structure diagram of a conventional electronic device housing.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 electronic devices, 3, 4 electronic device housing, 5 cables, 6, 7 connectors, 8 guide pins, 9 guide holes, 10 bolts, 11 nuts, 12, 13 sheet metal, 14, 15 internal components of the device, 16 plates, 1
7 Screws, 18 screw holes, 19, 20 Cable with connector, 21, 22 connector.

Claims (13)

[Claims] A plurality of electronic device housings for housing electronic devices; a pair of connectors for electrically connecting adjacent electronic device housings; and a mechanical connection between adjacent electronic device housings. A guide pin provided near the one connector and guiding the connection between the electronic device housings, and a guide provided near the other connector and into which the guide pin is inserted. A connection structure for an electronic device housing, comprising: a hole; and a portion to which the one connector and the guide pin are attached is a floating type having a degree of freedom. 2. A connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 1, wherein a portion to which said one connector and said guide pin are attached is of a floating type having a degree of freedom in a horizontal direction. . 3. The one connector is attached to a plate, and the plate is attached to a sheet metal of the electronic device by a screw. A screw hole for passing the screw of the plate is not tapped and is larger than a diameter of the screw. 3. The connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 2, wherein the connection structure is a hole. 4. The connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 1, wherein a portion to which said one connector and said guide pin are attached is of a floating type having a degree of freedom in a vertical direction. . 5. A structure in which said one connector is attached to a plate, and a gap having a thickness equal to or greater than the plate thickness of said plate is provided between a screw head of a screw for attaching said plate to a plate of said electronic device and said plate. 5. The connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 4, wherein: 6. A floating structure having a degree of freedom in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction at a portion where the one connector and the guide pin are mounted.
A connection structure of the electronic device housing described in the above. 7. The connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 1, wherein the one connector and the guide pin and the other connector and the guide hole are provided in the electronic device, respectively. 8. The electronic device storage case according to claim 1, wherein the one connector and the guide pin and the other connector and the guide hole are provided in the electronic device storage case, respectively. Connection structure. 9. The electronic device according to claim 8, further comprising a connector-equipped cable for connecting a housing-side connector provided on the electronic device housing housing side to an electronic device-side connector provided on the electronic device. Connection structure of the device housing. 10. The one electronic device storage case is disposed below the other electronic device storage case, and the other electronic device storage case is dropped from above the one electronic device storage case. 9. The connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 8, wherein the connector is arranged so that when the mechanical connection is performed as described above, the electrical connection is performed at the same time. 11. The one electronic device storage case is disposed below the other electronic device storage case, and the other electronic device storage case is located on the upper front side of the one electronic device storage case. The lower surface is placed so as to fit from the rear side, and when it is moved rearward so as to slide on the one electronic device storage case as it is and the mechanical connection is performed, the electrical connection is also performed. 9. The connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 8, wherein a connector is arranged. 12. The other end of the cable with the connector, which is fitted to the electronic device side connector, is also fixed in the electronic device housing, and the fixing position is set at the front of the electronic device housing. 10. The electronic device housing according to claim 9, wherein when the electronic device is mounted so as to be slid from the electronic device, the electronic device housing is set to a position where the electronic device-side connector is fitted when the electronic device reaches a proper position to be mounted and fixed. Connection structure. 13. The connection structure for an electronic device housing according to claim 4, wherein the connector has a lock mechanism.