JP2002075583A - Connection of flexible flat cable and terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently firmly connect an FFC and a terminal. SOLUTION: Both side edges of the upper face of a bottom plate 21 have fixing pieces 22, while the terminal 20 has a strip-like top plate 23 in an area on the inner side of the fixing pieces 22. One end of the top plate 23 is fixed to the upper face of the bottom plate 21, while a portion extending to the other end can be opened and closed relatively to the upper face. The FFC 30 is inserted and fixed such that a conductor is disposed between the bottom plate 21 and the top plate 23, the top plate 23 of the terminal 20 is closed in that state, and the fixing pieces 22 are caulked such that the fixing pieces 22 hold the closed top plate 23 from the sides, so that the FFC 30 is crimped and connected by the bottom plate 21 and the top plate 23. A device therefor has positioning means for the terminal 20 and the FFC 30, and a press caulking means 10 for the terminal 20. The press caulking means 10 comprises a press part 11 of the top plate 23, and calking parts 12 for the fixing piece 22, which are vertically movable relatively to the press caulking means 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a flexible
Flat cable (Flexible Flat C
(hereinafter simply referred to as FFC) and terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 9, the above-mentioned FFC comprises two resin films 31a and 31b coated with an adhesive material.
With the adhesive application surfaces 31a 'and 31b' facing each other,
It is formed into a laminated film by heating and pressing with a heat roller 51 with a strip-shaped conductor 32 interposed therebetween. In the drawing, reference numerals 52 and 53 indicate feed rollers for the resin films 31a and 31b, reference numeral 54 indicates a feed roller for the conductor 32, and reference numeral 55 indicates a winding of the completed FFC 30. Roller.

[0003] As shown in the figure, the conductor 32 may have a plurality of conductors insulated and coated in parallel on a plane, or may have only one conductor insulated. In the case of the FFC 30 having a plurality of conductors 32, compared to a normal electric wire having a round cross-section in which a plurality of conductors are bundled and insulated and coated with a resin sheath,
The flat shape (laminated film shape) has the advantage that the space occupation ratio is small, suitable for miniaturization, and the heat dissipation area is large, so that heat is not stored.

[0004] Therefore, even in an automobile equipped with various electric components and the degree of the increase is increasing, the FFC 30 is also used in a wire harness for connecting the electric components, utilizing the advantage of the FFC 30. It is becoming possible.

[0005] In the case of a wire harness using the FFC 30, in the case of consumer electric equipment, the portion of the resin film 31a where the conductor 32 exists below the resin film 31a is peeled off to remove the exposed conductor 32. The end directly,
The connector is locked and engaged with the lance in the cavity of the connector.

However, in the case of a wire harness for an automobile, harsh use conditions such as vibration during running, which are not found in consumer electric equipment, are set. In such a case, the pull-out strength of the conductor 32 with respect to the connector as required in the above case cannot be obtained.

Therefore, in the FFC 30 used for a wire harness for an automobile, the exposed conductor 32 is not directly connected to the connector, but a three-dimensional terminal is connected to the conductor 32 and the terminal is connected to the inside of the cavity. The lance is locked. In such a form, a large pull-out strength can be obtained.

As described above, the connection between the FFC 30 and the connector is eliminated by connecting a three-dimensional terminal to the FFC 30 and locking the terminal to the lance. This is the connection of the FFC 30.

At present, the resin film 31 of the FFC 30
a, and the connection portion of the terminal is manually connected to the exposed portion of the conductor 32 by soldering, but the connection state varies by an operator,
In addition, efficiency is poor.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to efficiently connect a terminal to an FFC as described above.
The idea is to automate it so that it can be done accurately.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a form in which fixing pieces 22 are erected on both side edges of a bottom plate 21 as the terminals as shown in FIG. , So that the terminal 20 ′ is positioned and fixed, and the conductors 32 overlap the upper surface of the bottom plate 21 by piercing the fixing piece 22 of the terminal 20 ′.
C is placed and fixed, the fixing piece 22 of the terminal 20 ′ in this state is swaged, and the conductor 32 is wound from the side by the fixing piece 22, and the conductor 32 is fixed by the fixing piece 22 and the bottom plate 21.
The terminal 20 ′ and the FFC are provided with respective positioning means, and the fixing piece 22 of the terminal 20 ′ is swaged.

Since the fixing piece 22 of the terminal 20 'penetrates through the conductor 32 of the FFC, the horizontal movement of the conductor 32 with respect to the terminal 20' is prevented, and the terminal and the conductor 32 are firmly connected. You.

The terminal 2 shown in FIG.
In place of 0 ', as shown in FIG.
One end of the terminal 20 'is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom plate 21 on the inner side of the fixing piece 22 on the both side edges of the upper surface of the bottom plate 21 of the terminal 20', and a portion reaching the other end can be opened and closed with respect to the upper surface. A terminal 20 having a strip-shaped top plate 23 is used, and the conductor 32 is positioned between the bottom plate 21 and the top plate 23 so that the conductors 32 are positioned.
The FC is inserted and fixed, and the top plate 23 of the terminal 20 in that state is fixed.
Is closed, and the fixed piece 22 is swaged, and the closed top plate 23 is wound around the fixed piece 22 from the side thereof.
The conductor 32 can be crimped and connected between the bottom plate 21 and the top plate 23, and in this case, the top plate 23 is
Since there is no space between the bottom plate 21 and the FFC, there is no gap between the FFC and the bottom plate 21 as compared with the case without the top plate 23, so that the connection becomes stronger. An apparatus for that purpose may be provided with positioning means for each of the terminal 20 and the FFC, and pressing and caulking means for caulking the fixing piece while pressing the top plate 23 of the terminal 20.

Further, when the fixing pieces 22 on both side edges of the terminals 20 'and 20 are swaged, if the terminals 20' and 20 spread in the width direction, they may not be able to be inserted into the cavity to be inserted. In order to prevent the above problem, it is possible to cope with the problem by providing opposing walls which oppose each other by fixing the fixing pieces 22 on both side edges of the terminals 20 ′, 20 in the width direction of the terminals 20 ′, 20 in the caulking portion of each of the above devices.

If a plurality of any of the above devices are juxtaposed and the above methods are collectively performed for a combination of a plurality of sets of terminals and FFCs, the work efficiency is remarkably improved.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The terminal to be connected in this embodiment has the shape shown in FIG. Further, as for the FFC, as shown in FIG.
2 is cut out, and the resin film 31a of the portion where the conductor 32 is located is peeled off in advance, and the conductor 32 is exposed, and the unit is taken as a unit.
A connection is made to the exposed conductor 32. Therefore, two terminals 20 are connected to the unit FFC 30 of this embodiment. Of course, the unit specifications of the FFC 30 (the number of conductors 32 included and the number of connected terminals) are arbitrary. The conductor 32 can be stripped by a method of manually shaving the resin film with a blade or the like, or mechanically irradiating a laser with a laser irradiation device to melt the resin film. Next, the configuration of the connection device 100 of this embodiment for connecting the FFC 30 of the unit and the terminal 20 shown in FIG. 10B will be described with reference to FIG.

This apparatus 100 shown in FIG.
The terminal mounting table 1 and the FFC mounting table 6 are arranged on the top of the terminal 0, and the pressing and caulking means 10 for caulking the terminals is provided above the terminal mounting table 1. In the figure, the terminal mounting table 1 and the FFC mounting table are mounted. In order to clearly grasp the periphery of the upper surface of the mounting table 6, the pressing and crimping means of the terminal is drawn in a state of being retracted above the actual state.

As shown in the figure, four sets of grooves 2 each having a reference dimension slightly larger than the width of the terminal 20 are provided on the surface of the mounting table 1 of the terminal. By placing the terminal 20 in each groove 2, the position of the terminal 20 is regulated by the inner wall of the groove 2 for positioning.
The groove 2 also serves to prevent the fixing piece 22 from spreading to the side when the fixing piece 22 of the terminal 20 is crimped, as described later. This is because when the fixing piece 22 is expanded by the caulking action, if the expanded width dimension is larger than the width of the cavity into which the terminal 20 is to be inserted, it cannot be inserted into the cavity. This is to prevent it. Further, four fixing jigs 3 for fixing the terminals 20 positioned in the grooves 2 are provided behind the mounting positions of the terminals in a one-to-one correspondence with the two rows and one set of the grooves 2.

Each fixing jig 3 is a longitudinal member, the longitudinal direction of which is directed in the front-rear direction of the apparatus, and is rotatable around a horizontal axis 4 perpendicular to the direction. The rear end 3b is urged upward by a spring 5, and the front end 3a is urged to the upper surface of the terminal mounting table 1. The terminal 20 is held by the front end 3a. It is designed to be pressed and fixed.

On the other hand, the mounting table 6 of the FFC is provided on the front side of the mounting table 1 of the terminal independently of it.
On its surface, a groove 7 having a reference size slightly larger than the width of the FFC 30 is provided. FFC30 in the groove 7
Is placed, the posture is regulated and positioned on the inner wall of the groove 7,
It is fixed by a toggle clamp 8 provided on the mounting table 6.
At that time, the mounting table 6 of the FFC can be elastically and minutely moved vertically with respect to the base plate 40 by a structure as shown in FIG. The operation of this minute movement mechanism will be described later, and here, only the configuration will be described first.

As shown in FIG. 2, a slide shaft 6a is fixed on the mounting table 6 side in the plate thickness direction at a symmetrical position at the center along the left and right direction. The lower part of each sliding shaft 6a is pivotally supported by a bearing 41 provided on the base plate 40 side immediately below the sliding shaft 6a. This sliding shaft 6a
Has a cylindrical shape and an inner peripheral surface formed with a female screw.
Is fixed to the upper end side of the sliding shaft 6a by a pan screw 9a from a mounting hole provided therein. On the other hand, the base plate 40 is fixed to the lower end side of the slide shaft 6a by another pan screw 9b with a ring 43 interposed from a stepped mounting hole 42 provided on the bottom surface.
The mounting table 6 is prevented from coming out of the base plate 40 upward by the flange shape of the ring 42.

A compression spring 44 is provided between the bottom surface of the mounting table 6 and the base at a position symmetrical about the same position as the center of symmetry of the sliding shaft 6a inside the row of the sliding shafts 6a. It is interposed between the upper surface of the plate 40. With such a configuration, the mounting table 6 is elastically finely movable vertically with respect to the base plate 40. As described above, the operation of this configuration will be described later. Next, the pressing and crimping means 10 for the terminals disposed above will be described.

The pressing and caulking means 10 includes a pressing portion 11 (hereinafter, simply referred to as a pressing portion 11) of a top plate of a terminal and a caulking portion 12 (hereinafter, simply referred to as a caulking portion 12) of a fixed piece at a lower end of a lifting mechanism (not shown). Are provided integrally. FIG. 3 is an enlarged side sectional view of a portion where the pressing portion 11 and the caulking portion 12 are integrated.

The pressing portion 11 is sandwiched between the front and rear caulking portions 12 and is slidable vertically with respect to the caulking portion 12. The upper end of the pressing portion 11 is a flange 11
f, the flange 11f abuts against the upper surface of the caulked portion 12 and is suspended therefrom.
It is constantly urged downward by a spring 14 provided in a space 13h provided in the holder 13 of the caulking portion above the caulking portion 12. When the pressing portion 11 is pressed upward against the urging force of the spring 14, the pressing portion 11 is retracted upward from the lower end 12 a of the caulking portion 12 with respect to the caulking portion 12 before the spring 14 comes into close contact. ing. The configuration of the “terminal and FFC connection device 100” of this embodiment has been described above. Next, the operation will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, the rear end of the terminal fixing jig 3 is pressed down, the front end is raised, and the terminal can be inserted into the space below the terminal. Terminal. Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the terminal is fixed by pressing with the fixing jig 3. When positioning the terminal 20, the top plate 23 of the terminal is previously opened so that the FFC 30 can be inserted between the terminal 20 and the bottom plate 21.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the FFC 30 is inserted between the bottom plate 21 and the top plate 23 of the terminal, and the front portion is placed in the positioning groove 7 on the mounting table 6. Finally, as shown in FIG. 7, it is pressed and fixed by a toggle clamp 8.

When the positioning of the terminal 20 and the FFC 30 is completed, the pressing and caulking means 10 is operated (downward) as shown in FIGS. While holding down the top plate 23 and the FFC 30, the terminal fixing piece 22 is crimped inward, and the terminal 20 and the FFC 30 are connected such that the top plate 23 is wound around the fixing piece 22. At the time of the pressing and caulking operation shown in FIG. 8, the vertical moving mechanism of the mounting table 6 of the FFC 30 shown in FIG. 2 operates. Next, the operation of the minute moving mechanism will be described.

First, the terminal 20 and the FFC 30 shown in FIG.
In the positioning step, the FFC 30 is in a state of rising from the upper surface of the base plate 40 by the dimension d shown in the figure. The existence of this gap indicates that the FFC 30
In the stage of pressing the top plate 23 shown in (b), the FFC 3
0 is a state in which the FFC 30 is fixed to the toggle clamp 8 on the mounting table 6 when pressed together with the top plate 23,
If the mounting table 6 remains at the same height, the FFC 30
Is pulled toward the mounting table 6, causing a positional displacement in the longitudinal direction of the FFC 30. To prevent this, see Figure 2 above
Is provided with a micro-movement mechanism for the mounting table 6 indicated by.

That is, when the lifting mechanism (not shown) for raising and lowering the pressing and caulking means 10 descends, the bolt 8 a protruding from the upper surface of the pressing portion of the toggle clamp 8 is moved by the minute moving mechanism of the mounting table 6. The mounting table 6 is pressed by a pressing portion (not shown) provided in the pressing and caulking means 10.
It descends in synchronization with the fall of.

Therefore, the height d ′ (<d) of the upper surface of the mounting table 6 after being pressed from the upper surface of the base plate 40 is the FFC 30
Equal to the height of the bottom surface of the base plate 40 from the top surface,
The FFC 30 is always horizontal, and the displacement of the FFC 30 in the length direction at the time of pressing and caulking is prevented. The amount of protrusion of the bolt 8a protruding from the upper surface of the pressing portion of the toggle clamp 8 can be adjusted. Even if the thickness of the FFC 30 changes, the amount of protrusion can be adjusted. , The mounting table 6 of the FFC 30 always descends in synchronization with the FFC 30, and the FFC 3
The horizontal state of 0 can be maintained.

During the pressing and crimping operation as described above (or when the FFC 30 is placed on the terminal 20), both sides of the exposed conductor 32 in the width direction are pierced by the fixing pieces 22 of the terminal. After being caulked, the FFC 30 is sandwiched between the bottom plate 21 and the top plate 23 of the terminal and crimped in the thickness direction and is locked by the fixing piece 22, so that the pull-out strength is remarkable.

Further, as described above, since the terminal 20 is restricted in the width direction by the positioning groove 2, even if the fixing piece 22 tries to expand in the width direction at the time of caulking, the groove 2 is not fixed.
The width of the groove is smaller than the width of the cavity of the connector. If the width of the groove is smaller than the width of the cavity of the connector, the terminal 20 in the state where the FFC 30 is connected is not restricted.
Can be smoothly inserted into the cavity.

Although not shown, a plurality of positioning means for the terminals 20 are juxtaposed, and the pressing and caulking means 10 are arranged one-to-one above them to connect a plurality of sets of the FFC 30 and the terminals 20 at once. Can be performed, thereby significantly improving the working efficiency.

[0034]

As described above, the present invention provides an FF
As terminals to be connected to C, ones having fixed pieces standing on both side edges of the bottom plate are used, the terminals are fixed by positioning means, and the fixed pieces of the terminals are pierced to form the conductor on the upper surface of the bottom plate. Place and fix the FFC so that
Caulking the fixing piece of the terminal in that state by caulking means,
The conductor was wound from the side with the fixing piece, and the conductor was crimped and connected with the fixing piece and the bottom plate. Therefore, not only simple crimping but also the fixing piece of the terminal penetrated the FFC conductor and the conductor was horizontal. Since the movement in the direction is prevented, the terminal and the conductor are firmly connected.

In place of the terminal, one end is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom plate and one end is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom plate of the terminal, and a portion reaching the other end is located on the upper surface of the fixing plate on both side edges of the terminal plate. Using a terminal having a band-shaped top plate that can be opened and closed, inserting and fixing the FFC so that the conductor is located between the bottom plate and the top plate, while pressing and closing the top plate of the terminal in that state, If the fixed piece is swaged, the top plate is interposed between the fixed piece and the conductor, and the conductor is pressed without any gap in the thickness direction.

When caulking the fixing pieces on both side edges of each terminal, opposing walls surrounding the fixing pieces on both side edges of the terminal are provided in the caulking portion of the device, and the side faces of both fixing pieces are sandwiched. If the terminal is prevented from spreading in the width direction when swaged, the terminal is inserted into the cavity without difficulty, and the terminal and the lance in the cavity are smoothly engaged.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a connection device of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a vertical moving mechanism of a mounting table of the FFC.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a main part of the pressing and caulking means.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of terminal positioning.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state of fixing a terminal.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of positioning of the FFC.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state of fixing the FFC.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flow of a terminal caulking operation by a pressing caulking means in the order of (a), (b), and (c).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a conventional example of a method of manufacturing an FFC.

FIG. 10A shows an example of a terminal used in the present invention, and FIG. 10B shows another example.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of an FFC to be connected in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 terminal mounting table 2, 7 groove 3 fixing jig 6 FFC mounting table 8 toggle clamp 10 pressing and caulking means 11 pressing section 12 caulking section 13 caulking section holder 14 spring 20, 20 'terminal 21 bottom plate 22 fixing piece 23 top Board 30 FFC 32 conductor 40 base board 100 connecting device

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshio Yoneya 1-7-10 Kikuzumi, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi F-term in Harness Research Institute, Inc. (Reference) 5E051 JA01 JA07 JB01 5E077 BB05 BB11 BB32 DD08 EE06 JJ11 5E085 BB05 BB12 CC03 DD13 EE03 FF01 HH06 HH34 JJ06 JJ36 5G355 AA08 BA01 BA11 CA03 CA06

Claims (8)

[Claims] When connecting a terminal to the conductor of a flexible flat cable in which a strip-shaped conductor is insulated and coated in the form of a laminated film between two resin films, the terminal is provided on both side edges of a bottom plate as the terminal. Using a terminal with a fixed piece standing upright, positioning and fixing the terminal, piercing the fixed piece and placing and fixing a flexible flat cable so that the conductor overlaps the upper surface of the bottom plate And the fixed piece of the terminal in that state is caulked to be connected.
How to connect cables and terminals. 2. An apparatus for carrying out the method according to claim 1, comprising means for positioning each of the terminal and the flexible flat cable, and means for caulking a fixing piece of the terminal. Flexible flat cable and terminal connection device. 3. The terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:
One end is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom plate, and a terminal having a band-shaped top plate whose part reaching the other end is openable and closable with respect to the upper surface is used. A flexible terminal is provided so that the conductor is located between the bottom plate and the top plate. Insert and secure the flat cable,
In this state, the top plate of the terminal is closed, and the fixed piece is swaged, and the closed top plate is wound from the side with the fixed piece, and the conductor is crimped and connected between the bottom plate and the top plate. A method for connecting a flexible flat cable to a terminal, the method comprising: 4. An apparatus for performing the method according to claim 3, wherein the fixing pieces are swaged while pressing the positioning means of the terminal and the flexible flat cable, and the top plate of the terminal. A connection device for connecting a flexible flat cable to a terminal, the device comprising: 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the fixing pieces on both side edges of the terminal are swaged, the side faces of the two fixing pieces are sandwiched to prevent the terminal from spreading in the width direction when swaging. 4. The flexible flat device according to claim 1 or 3,
Terminal connection method to the cable. 6. An apparatus for carrying out the method according to claim 5, wherein the fixing pieces on both side edges of the terminal are opposed to the caulking portion of the apparatus according to claim 2 in a width direction of the terminal. Terminal connecting device to a flexible flat cable, characterized in that a facing wall is provided. 7. A flexible flat cable wherein the method according to claim 1, 3 or 5 is collectively performed for a combination of a plurality of sets of terminals and a flexible flat cable. Terminal connection method to. 8. An apparatus for performing a method according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of the apparatuses according to claim 2 or 4 or 6 are arranged side by side. Terminal connection device.