JP2001185268A - Electrical connector assemble body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric assemble body connected to the first circuit board and mounted on the second circuit board, which is free of wrenched fitting with an opposite connector installed with a gap against a body of equipment, or even if wrenched fitting may occur, durable with respect to such a fitting. SOLUTION: The electrical connector assembly 1 is connected electrically to the first circuit board A and fitted to a opposite connector 70, which is installed separatedly on a casing body 80 fir electronic equipment and mounted to the second circuit board B, which is different from the first circuit board A. To the electrical connector assemble body 1, a covering member 60 mounted on an electric connector 10, and retaining a tongue-shaped piece 62 going in between the opposite connector 70 and the body of equipment 80, is installed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric circuit which is connected to a first circuit board such as a flexible circuit board and is fitted to a mating connector mounted on a second circuit board different from the first circuit board. The present invention relates to a connector assembly.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional electrical connector of this type, for example, the one shown in FIG.
No. 84201). This electrical connector 100
It is electrically connected to the flexible circuit board A and is fitted to the mating connector 110 mounted on another printed circuit board B.

The electrical connector 100 includes an insulating housing 101, a plurality of electrical contacts 102 mounted on the housing 101 in a row, a slider member 103, and a slider member 103.
And a metal shell 104 for slidably holding the upper and lower surfaces of the housing 101. Each of the electrical contacts 102 has a contact portion 102a on one end side for fitting and contacting the electrical contact 111 of the mating connector 110,
On the other end side, there is provided an elastic contact portion 102b which elastically contacts a conductive pad formed on the surface of the flexible circuit board A. Further, when the metal shell 104 is fitted to the mating connector 110, the metal shell 104 comes into contact with the metal shell 112 provided on the mating connector 110.

The electrical connector 100 is connected to the mating connector 1
10 is mated with the shell 10 of the electrical connector 100.
4 and the front end of the housing 101 by gripping the flexible circuit board A and holding the shell 11 of the mating connector 110.
2 and the contact portions 102 of each electrical contact 102
a should be brought into contact with the electrical contact 111 of the mating connector 110.

[0005]

However, the conventional electrical connector 100 has the following problems. That is, the mating connector 1 mounted on the circuit board B
The electronic component 10 is often disposed vertically apart from a housing (not shown) of an electronic device containing the mating connector 110. In this case, the electrical connector 100
When the electric connector 100 is fitted to the mating connector 110, there is a gap between the mating connector 100 and the housing, so that the electric connector 100 can be fitted while twisting up and down (so-called twist fitting), Due to the twisting engagement, a contact failure may occur between the electrical contact 102 of the electrical connector 100 and the electrical contact 111 of the mating connector 110, or the fitting portion of the connector may be damaged.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve this problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a counterpart mounted on a second circuit board and arranged with a gap between the housing and the second circuit board. It does not twist with the connector,
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly connected to a first circuit board, which has a high resistance to a twisting connection even if it is made.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrical connector assembly electrically connected to a first circuit board and connected to the first circuit board. An electrical connector assembly mounted on another second circuit board and fitted to a mating connector spaced apart from a housing of the electronic device, comprising: an insulating housing; An electrical connector having an electrical contact electrically connected to the first circuit board and contacting a mating contact of the mating connector; and an electric connector attached to the electric connector and entering between the mating connector and the housing. And a cover member having a tongue piece. Here, the “first circuit board” includes not only a flexible circuit board (FPC) but also a cable such as a flexible flat cable (FFC).

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electric connector assembly according to the first aspect, the cover member has the tongue piece and is located below the electric connector. It is characterized by comprising a side cover and a metal upper cover which is combined with the lower cover and located above the electric connector. Furthermore, an electric connector assembly according to a third aspect of the present invention is the electric connector assembly according to the second aspect, characterized in that operating portions are provided at both ends in the left-right direction of the cover member.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B show an embodiment of an electrical connector assembly according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG. 1B is a left side view. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where the electric connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 is fitted to a mating connector.

Referring to FIG. 1, an electrical connector assembly 1
Has an electrical connector 10 connected to the flexible circuit board A constituting the first circuit board, and a cover member 60 attached to the electrical connector 10. Then, this electric connector assembly 1 is, as shown in FIG.
A mating connector 70 mounted on a printed circuit board B constituting a second circuit board different from the flexible circuit board A is fitted. This mating connector 70
As shown in FIG. 2, is disposed at a predetermined distance above and away from the housing 80 of the electronic device.

Next, the electrical connector 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B show the electrical connector 10 connected to the flexible circuit board A, where FIG. 3A is a plan view, FIG. 3B is a front view, FIG. 3C is a bottom view, and FIG. 3D is a left side view. The electrical connector 10 includes an insulating housing 20, a plurality of electrical contacts 30 attached to the housing 20 in a row, and a flexible circuit board A.
Member 4 that presses against the electrical contact 30
0, and a shielded metal shell 50 that covers the housing 20 and the slider member 40.

The housing 20 has a longitudinal direction (FIG. 1) formed by molding an insulating resin.
It is a member extending in the left-right direction in (a), the direction orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 2). A mating connector receiving concave portion 21 extending continuously in the longitudinal direction is formed in a front portion (left portion in FIG. 2) of the housing 20, and a flexible circuit board receiving portion extending continuously in the longitudinal direction is formed in a rear portion. A recess 22 is formed. The housing 20
Are arranged at a predetermined pitch along the longitudinal direction, and the mating connector receiving concave portion 21 and the flexible circuit board receiving concave portion 2
A plurality of contact receiving cavities 23 extending so as to communicate with each other are formed.

Each of the electrical contacts 30 is disposed in each of the contact receiving cavities 23 of the housing 20, and is formed by stamping a metal plate. And each electric contact 30
As shown in FIG. 2, a press-fit fixing portion 31 press-fitted and fixed to the upper and lower walls of the contact receiving cavity 23, and a press-fit fixing portion 3
1 and a mating contact contact portion 32 extending forward from the front side
And a flexible board contact portion 33 extending rearward from the rear side of the press-fit fixing portion 31. The mating contact contact portion 32 has a pair of mating contact contact pieces 32a and 32b that elastically contact the upper and lower shearing edge surfaces of the mating contact 72 of the mating connector 70. On the other hand, the flexible substrate contact portion 33 includes a flexible substrate contact piece 33 b that elastically contacts a signal pattern formed on the back surface of the flexible circuit board A, and a pressing portion 42 of the slider member 40.
And a support piece 33a for supporting the upper surface of.

Further, the slider member 40 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped member formed by molding an insulating resin and extending in the longitudinal direction. The slider member 40 has a through hole 41 extending in the longitudinal direction, through which the flexible circuit board A is inserted. Also, the slider member 40
Has a pressing portion 42 that is located above the flexible circuit board A and presses into the flexible circuit board receiving recess 22 of the housing 20 to press the flexible circuit board A against the flexible board contact piece 33b.

A metal shell 50 is attached to the upper side of the housing 20 by being locked to the housing 20, and an upper shell 52 that covers the upper side of the housing 20 and the slider member 40, and an upper shell 52 that is located below the housing 20. The housing 20 and the slider member 4 are attached by being locked to the shell 52 and the housing 20.
0 and a lower shell 51 covering the lower side. Both the lower shell 51 and the upper shell 52 are formed by stamping and bending a metal plate. As shown in FIG. 3A, a pair of first grounding elastic contact pieces 53 that elastically contact with a tongue piece 73a of a metal shell 73 of a mating connector 70 described later are provided at a front portion of the upper shell 52. Is formed. Also, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3C, a pair of second grounding grounds elastically contacting a grounding pattern formed on the surface of the flexible circuit board A are provided at the rear end of the upper shell 52. An elastic contact piece 54 is formed.

Next, the cover member 60 attached to the electrical connector 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 5. FIG. 4A and 4B show a lower cover constituting a cover member, wherein FIG. 4A is a plan view, FIG.
(C) is a left side view. 5A and 5B show an upper cover member constituting the cover member, wherein FIG. 5A is a plan view, FIG. 5B is a rear view, and FIG. 5C is a left side view.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cover member 60 includes a lower cover 61 positioned below the electrical connector 10 and a metal upper portion positioned above the electrical connector 10 in combination with the lower cover 61. And a cover 65. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the lower cover 61 has a flat tongue piece 62 on which the electrical connector 10 is placed, and is provided on both right and left ends of the tongue piece 62 so as to extend in the left-right direction. It has a pair of operation units 63. The lower cover 61 is formed by molding an insulating resin. When the electrical connector 10 is placed on the upper side thereof, the tongue piece 62 protrudes more than the front end of the electrical connector 10 as best shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the distal end portion 62a enters between the mating connector 70 and the housing 80. The thickness of the distal end portion 62a is slightly smaller than the distance between the mating connector 70 and the housing 80, and is appropriately changed according to the distance. Each operation unit 63 has a thick structure that protrudes upward with respect to the tongue piece 62. Inside the operation unit 63,
A movement restricting portion 63a for restricting the rearward movement of the electrical connector 10 placed on the tongue piece 62 is provided. Also,
Each operation unit 63 is configured to place an ear 67 of an upper cover 65 described later on the upper surface, and has a side edge 63b protruding from the upper surface thereof for restricting the movement of the ear 67 in the left-right direction. I have. The upper cover 6 is provided on the rear surface of each operation unit 63.
The first locking projections 64a that protrude into the first locking holes 67b of the first and second locking holes 67b protrude, and the second locking of the upper cover 65 is provided on a side wall 63c extending along the side edge of the tongue piece 62 from each operating portion 63. Hole 68
A second locking projection 64b that protrudes into the projection b is provided.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper cover 65 has a flat plate 66 mounted on the upper shell 52 of the electrical connector 10 and a pair of right and left ends protruding from the left and right ends of the flat plate 66. And the ear 67. This upper cover 6
5 is formed by punching and bending a metal plate. Since the upper cover 65 is formed of a metal plate, the structural strength of the electrical connector assembly 1 can be increased while maintaining the overall height of the electrical connector assembly 1 including the upper cover 65 low. And each ear 6
7, a first locking plate 67a is bent downward at the rear end, and second locking plates 68a are bent downward at both left and right edges of the flat plate 66. . The first locking plate portion 67a is formed with a first locking hole 67b into which the first locking protrusion 64a of the lower cover 61 enters, and the second locking plate portion 68a is formed with the lower cover 61. A second locking hole 68b into which the second locking protrusion 64b enters is formed. Further, the first grounding elastic contact piece 53 of the upper shell 52 is attached to the flat plate portion 66 in a state where the upper cover 65 is attached to the lower cover 61 and the electric connector 10 is covered from above and below.
The movement restricting portion 69 that enters the cut-and-raised opening 53a when forming the electric connector 10 and restricts the forward movement of the electrical connector 10.
Has been cut and raised downward. Then, the upper cover 65 is assembled to the lower cover 61 to connect the electrical connector 10.
Is covered from above and below.
The tip of 6 protrudes slightly from the front end of the electrical connector 10, as best shown in FIG.

Next, a method of assembling the electrical connector assembly 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. At the time of this assembly, first, with the flexible circuit board A inserted through the through hole 41 of the slider member 40, the end of the circuit board A is inserted into the flexible circuit board receiving recess 22 of the housing 20, and then Then, the pressing portion 42 of the slider member 40 is inserted into the concave portion 22 for receiving the flexible circuit board. Thereafter, the upper shell 52 is locked and attached to the housing 20 from above the housing 20, and the lower shell 51 is fixed to the housing 2 from below the housing 20.
0 and the upper shell 52 are locked and attached. Thereby, the electrical connector 10 is completed. At this time, the slider member 40 is supported by the upper shell 52 and the lower shell 51. Then, the flexible board contact piece 33b of each electrical contact 30 is
Elastic contact with a signal pattern formed on the back surface of the upper shell 52 and a second grounding elastic contact piece 54 of the upper shell 52.
Contact the ground pattern formed on the surface of the flexible circuit board A elastically.

Then, after the electrical connector 10 is completed,
The tongue piece 62 of the lower cover 61 is connected to the electrical connector 10 so that the flexible circuit board A extends rearward (to the right in FIG. 2 and upward in FIGS. 1A and 4A).
Place on top. Then, the upper cover 65 is moved from the upper side of the electrical connector 10 to the first locking hole 67b of the upper cover 65.
The first locking projection 64a of the lower cover 61 enters the inside,
The lower cover 61 is inserted into the second locking hole 68b of the upper cover 65.
Is mounted so that the second locking projection 64b enters.
Thereby, the upper cover 65 and the lower cover 61 are attached to the electrical connector 10 in a state where they are locked to each other. Thereby, the electrical connector assembly 1 is completed. At this time, the rearward movement of the electric connector 10 with respect to the covers 65 and 61 is performed by the electric connector 10.
The rear end of the electric connector 10 is restricted by contacting the movement restricting portion 63a of the lower cover 61, and the forward movement of the electrical connector 10 with respect to the covers 65 and 61 is performed by opening the upper shell 52 of the electrical connector 10 with the opening 53a of the upper cover 65. Is restricted by contacting the movement restricting portion 69 of the first position.

Next, the mating connector 70 to which the electric connector assembly 1 is fitted will be described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B show a mating connector, wherein FIG. 6A is a plan view, FIG. 6B is a front view, FIG. 6C is a bottom view, and FIG. 6D is a right side view. The mating connector 70 includes an insulating housing 71 extending in the longitudinal direction, a plurality of mating contacts 72 attached to the housing 71 in a row, and a housing 7.
1 and a pair of solder pegs 74 attached to the left and right ends of the housing 71.
Is provided.

The mating contact 72 is soldered to a contact portion 72a located on the platform portion 71a of the housing 71 and in contact with the mating contact contact pieces 32a and 32b of the electrical contact 30 and a signal pattern on the circuit board B. And a substrate connecting portion 72b. Each of the solder pegs 74 is connected to the circuit board B by soldering so as to mount the mating connector 70 on the circuit board B. Also, it has a function of grounding the shell 73 to a ground pattern on the circuit board B. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 75 denotes a positioning post for positioning the mating connector 70 with respect to the circuit board B.

Next, a method of fitting the electric connector assembly 1 to the mating connector 70 will be described with reference to FIGS. At the time of this fitting, as shown in FIG. 1, the pair of operating portions 63, 63 of the electric connector assembly 1 are gripped so that the electric connector assembly 1 is opposed to the mating connector 70. The electrical connector assembly 1 is moved substantially parallel to the mating connector 70, and the tip portion 62 a of the tongue piece 62 of the lower cover 61 is
And the upper cover 65 is positioned above the mating connector 70, and the platform portion 71 of the mating connector 70 is inserted into the mating connector receiving recess 21.
a may be received. As a result, the electrical connector assembly 1 is fitted to the mating connector 70. On this occasion,
The mating contact pieces 32a and 32b of the electric contact 30 of the electric connector assembly 1 contact the contact portions 72a of the mating contact 72, and the signal pattern of the flexible circuit board A and the signal pattern of the circuit board B are electrically connected. You. Also, the first grounding elastic contact piece 53 of the upper shell 52 of the electrical connector assembly 1 comes into contact with the tongue piece 73a of the shell 73 of the mating connector 70, and the ground pattern of the flexible circuit board A and the ground pattern of the circuit board B Are electrically connected.

On the other hand, in order to release the mating between the electric connector assembly 1 and the mating connector 70, the electric connector assembly 1
What is necessary is just to grasp the pair of operation parts 63 and pull out the assembly 1. Here, when the electrical connector assembly 1 is fitted, the fitting is performed while the distal end portion 62 a of the tongue piece 62 of the lower cover 61 is inserted between the mating connector 70 and the housing 80. The lower cover 6 is fitted with the solid 1
The fitting is performed while being guided by the tip portion 62a of the tongue piece 62 of the tongue piece 62, so that the electrical connector assembly 1 is not fitted while being twisted up and down (so-called twisting fitting), but is twisted. Electrical contact 3
Contact failure between the contact 0 and the contact 72
The fitting portion of the connector is not damaged. on the other hand,
At this time, even if the electric connector assembly 1 is fitted while being twisted up and down, the tongue 6
2 functions as a baffle plate against vertical prying, and the resistance to prying fit can be increased.

When the electric connector assembly 1 is fitted, the upper cover 65 moves while being positioned on the mating connector 70. Therefore, when the electric connector assembly 1 is twisted and fitted, the upper cover 6 is moved.
Reference numeral 5 functions to assist the tongue piece 62 of the lower cover 61, so that the resistance against twisting fit can be further increased. Further, since the upper cover 65 is made of metal, the mechanical strength of the electrical connector assembly 1 can be increased while keeping the overall height of the electrical connector assembly 1 low, and furthermore, the resistance to the twist-fitting is improved. Can be made larger.

Further, a pair of operating portions 63 protruding from the left and right ends of the lower cover 61 are gripped to hold the electrical connector assembly 1.
Is moved, the pushing operation at the time of fitting to the mating connector 70 and the pulling-out operation at the time of releasing the fitting can be easily performed. As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
Various changes can be made.

For example, the electrical connector 10 includes a metal shell 50 including a lower shell 51 and an upper shell 52.
However, if it is not necessary to shield the electrical connector 10, the shell 50 need not be provided. In this case, the cover member 60 is directly attached to the housing 20 without going through the shell 50.

[0028]

As described above, according to the electrical connector assembly according to the first aspect of the present invention, the electrical connector assembly is electrically connected to the first circuit board and separate from the first circuit board. An electrical connector assembly mounted on a second circuit board and fitted to a mating connector spaced apart from a housing of the electronic device, wherein the electric connector assembly is attached to the electric connector and is provided between the mating connector and the housing. Is provided, the fitting of the electrical connector assembly is performed while being guided by the tongue of the cover member, and the electrical connector assembly is fitted while kneading up and down. (So-called twist-fitting) is not performed, and the twist-fitting does not cause a contact failure between the electrical contact and the mating contact and does not damage the fitting portion of the connector. . Then, at the time of the fitting, even if the electrical connector assembly is fitted while being pryed up and down, the tongue piece of the cover member functions as a baffle plate against up and down prying, thereby increasing the resistance to the prying fitting. be able to.

Further, according to the electric connector assembly of the present invention, in the invention of the first aspect,
The cover member includes a lower cover having the tongue piece and positioned below the electrical connector, and a metal upper cover combined with the lower cover and positioned above the electrical connector. So that the upper cover functions to assist the tongue of the lower cover,
The resistance to the twisting engagement can be further increased. And since this upper cover is made of metal,
The mechanical strength of the electrical connector assembly can be increased while keeping the overall height of the electrical connector assembly low, and the resistance to a prying fit can be further increased.

Further, according to the electrical connector assembly according to the third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention,
Since the operating portions are provided at both ends in the left-right direction of the cover member, the pushing operation at the time of fitting to the mating connector and the pulling-out operation at the time of releasing the fitting can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an electrical connector assembly according to the present invention, wherein (a) is a plan view and (b) is a left side view.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 is fitted to a mating connector.

3A and 3B show an electrical connector connected to a flexible circuit board A, wherein FIG. 3A is a plan view, FIG. 3B is a front view,
(C) is a bottom view, and (d) is a left side view.

FIG. 4 shows a lower cover constituting a cover member,
(A) is a plan view, (b) is a rear view, and (c) is a left side view.

FIG. 5 shows an upper cover member constituting the cover member;
(A) is a plan view, (b) is a rear view, and (c) is a left side view.

FIG. 6 shows a mating connector, (a) is a plan view thereof,
(B) is a front view, (c) is a bottom view, and (d) is a right side view.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which a conventional electrical connector is fitted to a mating connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 is an electrical connector assembly 10 is an electrical connector 20 is a housing 30 is an electrical contact 60 is a cover member 61 is a lower cover 62 is a tongue piece 63 is an operating section 65 is an upper cover 70 is a mating connector 80 is a housing A is a flexible circuit Substrate (first circuit board) B is a circuit board (second circuit board)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A mating connector electrically connected to a first circuit board and mounted on a second circuit board different from the first circuit board and spaced apart from a housing of an electronic device. An electrical connector assembly mated with: an insulative housing; mounted on the housing;
An electrical connector electrically connected to the first circuit board and having an electrical contact in contact with a mating contact of the mating connector; and a tongue attached to the electric connector and entering between the mating connector and the housing. And a cover member having a piece. 2. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein said cover member has said tongue piece and is located at a lower side of said electrical connector. A lower cover is combined with said lower cover and made of metal located at an upper side of said electrical connector. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 1, further comprising an upper cover. 3. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein operating portions are provided at both ends in the left-right direction of said cover member.