JP2002237339A - Cable connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cable connector which can arrange contacts connectable with mating contacts of a header connector and discreet electric wires of a cable with high density in a sequence direction. SOLUTION: The cable connector 1 comprises an insulating housing 10, and a contact group 20, which has electric wire connection parts 22 attached to the housing 10, which each the connection parts are connected to the discreet electric wire W of the cable C, and female type contact parts 23, which carry out plug-in contacts to the mating contacts 90 of the header connector 70 connected to a circuit board PCB. The contact group 20 is constituted by arranging alternately and also in one sequence with a first contact 20A having the above electric wire connection parts 22 in 1 side to a center axis CL of the contacts, and a second contacts 20B having the above electric wire connection parts 22 in the other side to the center axis CL of the contacts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cable connector for connecting a plurality of discrete wires of a cable to a header connector connected to a circuit board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as disclosed in JP-A-2000-231971 and JP-A-10-284201, a flexible circuit board (hereinafter, referred to as FPC) is connected to a header connector connected to the circuit board. Cable connectors for connection are known.

[0003] Of these, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-23 shown in FIG.
Cable connector 100 disclosed in 1971
Is an insulating housing 110 and the insulating housing 11
0, a plurality of contacts 120 mounted in a row at a predetermined pitch, a slider member 130, and an insulating housing 1.
10 and metal shell 140 covering slider member 130
Is provided.

[0004] Each contact 120 is formed by stamping a metal plate.
F contacting the signal pattern formed on the upper surface of C150
A PC contact portion 121 is provided, and a female contact portion 122 is provided on the other end side so as to fit and contact the contact 170 of the header connector 160 connected to the circuit board 180. In addition, the slider member 130 is configured to connect the FPC 150 to the contact 120.
The metal shell 140 has a function of contacting a ground pattern formed on the lower surface of the FPC 150 to ground the FPC 150.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2842 shown in FIG.
The cable connector 200 disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 01-201001 includes an insulating housing 210 and a plurality of contacts 22 attached to the insulating housing 210 in a row at a predetermined pitch.
0, a slider member 230, and a metal shell 240 attached to the slider member 230 and slidably holding the upper and lower surfaces of the insulating housing 210.

Each contact 220 is formed by stamping and bending a metal plate, and has an FPC contact portion 221 at one end contacting a signal pattern formed on the upper surface of the FPC 250, and a circuit at the other end. Substrate 2
80 of header connector 260 connected to
A female contact portion 222 that fits into contact with 70 is provided. The slider member 230 has a function of pressing the FPC 250 against the FPC contact portion 221 of the contact 220, and the metal shell 240 has a function of contacting a ground pattern formed on the lower surface of the FPC 250 to ground the FPC 250. To have.

[0007]

However, the conventional cable connector 10 shown in FIGS.
0, 200, each contact 120,
220 is not intended to be connected to a discrete wire. Therefore, any cable connector 10
Neither 0 nor 200 can connect a plurality of discrete wires of the cable to the header connectors 160 and 260.

On the other hand, in the cable connectors 100 and 200 shown in FIGS.
F, so that 0, 220 are connected to the discrete wires.
Even if the PC contact portions 121 and 221 are simply changed, if the discrete electric wires are connected by crimping or pressure welding, the width becomes structurally large.
20 cannot be arranged at high density in the column direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to dispose mating contacts of a header connector and contacts connectable to discrete wires of a cable at high density in a column direction. It is to provide a cable connector which can be used.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, a cable connector according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises:
A contact group having an insulative housing, an electric wire connecting portion attached to the housing, each of which is connected to a discrete electric wire of a cable, and a female contact portion that fits into a mating contact of a header connector connected to a circuit board. A first contact having the wire connection portion on one side with respect to a center axis of the contact, and a second contact having the wire connection portion on the other side with respect to the center axis of the contact. And are alternately arranged in a line.

According to this cable connector, the wire connection portion of the discrete wire of the first contact and the wire connection portion of the discrete wire of the second contact are arranged in a staggered manner in the column direction, so that the adjacent wire connection portion is Collisions can be avoided, and a group of contacts that can be connected to the mating contacts of the header connector and the discrete wires can be densely arranged at a predetermined pitch in the column direction.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a first contact showing a fitted state of a cable connector and a header connector according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the embodiment of the cable connector according to the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cable connector shown in FIG. 2. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a right side view of the cable connector shown in FIG. 2. FIG.
3A and 3B show a second contact used in the cable connector shown in FIG. 2, wherein FIG. 3A is a front view and FIG. 3B is a plan view.

As shown in FIG. 1, a cable connector 1 according to the present invention is fitted to a header connector 70 mounted on a circuit board PCB, and connects a plurality of discrete electric wires W of a cable C to the header connector 70. It has become. For this reason, the cable connector 1 is connected to the insulative housing 10, the wire connecting portion 22 attached to the housing 10 and connected to the discrete wire W, and the mating contact 90 of the header connector 70 connected to the circuit board PCB. And a contact group 20 having a female contact portion 23 that makes a fitting contact. The housing 10
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, it is formed of a substantially rectangular body extending in the longitudinal direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the contact group 20 includes a first contact 20A having a wire connecting portion 22 on the front side (left side in FIG. 1) with respect to the center axis CL of the contact, Second having a wire connection portion 22 on the rear side (right side in FIG. 1) with respect to the central axis CL
The contacts 20B alternately and in a row
0 are arranged at a predetermined pitch P along the longitudinal direction (row direction). Thereby, the first contact 20
A wire connection portion 22 of discrete wire W of A and wire connection portion 22 of discrete wire W of second contact 20B
Are arranged in a staggered manner in the column direction, so that collision of the adjacent electric wire connection portions 22 can be avoided, and the contact group 20
At a predetermined pitch P in the column direction. In order to mount the contact group 20, the housing 10 includes a plurality of contact accommodating passages 11 accommodating the first contact 20A and the second contact 20B constituting the contact group 20, and having the same pitch P as the pitch P along the longitudinal direction. It is formed with. Actually, the pitch of the contact accommodating passage 11 is about 0.6 mm, and the pitch P between the adjacent first contact 20A and second contact 20B is also about 0.6 mm. Also, the pitch between the closest first contacts 20A is about 1.2 times that of the first contact 20A.
mm, and the pitch between the closest second contacts 20B is also about 1.2 mm. As will be described later, the electric wire connecting portion 22 of the first contact 20A and the electric wire connecting portion 22 of the second contact 20B have respective press-contact portions 22a and 22b on the right side in the longitudinal direction of the housing 10 from both the upper and lower sides of the flat plate portion 22c. (Right side in FIG. 2), the first contact 2 is bent in the same direction.
The first contact 2 is also adjacent to the pitch P1 between the wire connecting portion 22 of the first contact 2A and the wire connecting portion 22 of the second contact 20B.
Similarly to the pitch P between 0A and the second contact 20B, it is about 0.6 mm.

Here, each first contact 20A is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a press-fit fixing portion 21 press-fitted and fixed to the side wall of the contact accommodating passage 11 from above the housing 10.
It has the electric wire connection part 22 extending forward with respect to the center axis CL above the press-fit fixing part 21 and the female contact part 23 extending downward from the press-fit fixing part 21 symmetrically with respect to the center axis CL. ing. Each first contact 20A is formed by punching and bending a metal plate. The electric wire connection part 22 is a flat plate part 22 c extending forward with respect to the center axis CL above the press-fit fixing part 21.
And a pair of press-contact portions 22 which are bent from the upper and lower sides of the flat plate portion 22c to the right side in the longitudinal direction of the housing 10 (right side in FIG. 2) and have a press-contact slot (not shown) at the center.
a and 22b. Pressing parts 22a, 22
Each press contact slot b is open to the front side, and the discrete electric wire W is inserted into each press contact slot from the front side of the press contact portions 22a and 22b so as to be press contacted. The female contact portion 23 is constituted by a pair of elastic contact pieces 23a and 23b extending downward from the press-fit fixing portion 21 symmetrically with respect to the center axis CL. Header connector 7
0 is a pair of elastic contact pieces 23a,
The elastic contact pieces 23a and 23b are fitted and contacted from the lower side of 23b. Note that a press-fit portion 24 extending forward from the flat plate portion 22c is provided on the flat plate portion 22c of the electric wire connection portion 22.

As shown in FIG. 5, each of the second contacts 20B has a press-fit fixing portion 21 press-fitted and fixed to the side wall of the contact accommodating passage 11 from above the housing 10, and a central shaft above the press-fit fixing portion 21. It has the electric wire connection part 22 extending rearward with respect to CL, and the female contact part 23 extending downward from the press-fit fixing part 21 symmetrically with respect to the central axis CL. Each first contact 20B is also a first contact 20B.
Like the contact 20A, it is formed by punching and bending a metal plate. And electric wire connection part 2
Reference numeral 2 denotes a flat plate portion 22c extending rearward with respect to the center axis CL above the press-fit fixing portion 21, and is bent to the right side in the longitudinal direction of the housing 10 (right side in FIG. 2) from both the upper and lower sides of the flat plate portion 22c. It is composed of a pair of press contact portions 22a and 22b having press contact slots 22d.
Each press contact slot 22d of the press contact portions 22a and 22b is open to the rear side, and the discrete electric wire W is connected to the press contact portion 22a.
a, 22b are inserted into the respective press-contact slots 22d from the rear side to be press-connected. Further, similarly to the female contact portion 23 of the first contact 20A, the female contact portion 23 is a pair of elastic contact pieces 23a and 23b extending downward from the press-fit fixing portion 21 symmetrically with respect to the center axis CL. It is configured. Mating contact 90 of header connector 70
Makes contact with the elastic contact pieces 23a, 23b from below the pair of elastic contact pieces 23a, 23b. Then, similarly to the first contact 20A, a press-fit portion 24 extending rearward from the flat plate portion 22c is provided in the flat plate portion 22c of the electric wire connection portion 22. Note that the upper end of the press-fit fixing portion 21 of the second contact 20B and the wire connection portion 2 with the center axis CL interposed therebetween.
On the opposite side of 2, a raised portion 25 is formed. The raised portion 25 contacts the step (not shown) of the contact accommodating passage 11 at its right end in FIG.
This is for preventing the contact 20B from tilting clockwise in FIG. 5A. This raised portion 25 is the first
It is also formed on the contact 20A.

The first contact 20A and the second contact 20B have different shapes manufactured by different molds, but may have the same shape manufactured by the same mold. In this case, when arranging the first contact 20A and the second contact 20B in the housing 10, the respective wire connection portions 22 may be arranged on opposite sides with respect to the center axis CL of the contact.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the cable connector 1 has an insulating front cover 30 for covering the electric wire connection portion 22 of the first contact 20A, and an electric wire connection of the second contact 20B. An insulating rear cover 40 for covering the part 22 is provided. The front cover 30 is a substantially rectangular body extending in the longitudinal direction along the front surface of the housing 10 and has a first contact 20A.
Has a plurality of press-fitting openings 31 that are press-fitted into the press-fitting portions 24 of the first contacts 20A by press-fitting the press-fitting openings 31 into the press-fitting portions 24. The rear cover 40 is a substantially rectangular body extending in the longitudinal direction along the rear surface of the housing 10 and includes a plurality of press-fitting openings 41 press-fitted into the press-fit portions 24 of the second contacts 20B.
By press-fitting these press-fit openings 41 into the press-fit portions 24, the wire connection portions 22 of the second contacts 20B are covered.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the cable connector 1 has an upper metal shell 50 for shielding.
And a lower metal shell 60 for shielding. Of these, the upper metal shell 50 is
A rear plate portion 51 that covers the rear surface of the housing 10, an upper plate portion 52 that is bent forward from the upper end of the rear plate portion 51 along the upper surface of the rear cover 40 and that is located at a predetermined distance from the upper surface of the housing 10. From both ends in the longitudinal direction of the plate portion 52, the housing 10
1 bent downward along both sides in the longitudinal direction of
And a pair of side plates 53. The upper metal shell 50 has the rear plate portion 51 locked by a plurality of rear plate locking portions 42 formed on the rear surface of the rear cover 40, and the side plate portions 53 of the upper metal shell 50 are formed on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the housing 10. Is attached by being locked to a plurality of side plate locking portions 12 formed at the same time. At this time, the upper plate 52
Are spaced apart from the upper surface of the housing 10 by a predetermined distance, so that a space for accommodating the discrete electric wires W can be provided above the housing 10.

On the other hand, the lower metal shell 60 is bent rearward from both ends in the longitudinal direction of the front plate 61 to cover the front surface of the front cover 30 and along both longitudinal sides of the housing 10. And a pair of side plate portions 62. The lower metal shell 60 includes a plurality of front plate locking portions 3 whose front plate portions 61 are formed on the front surface of the front cover 30.
2 and is attached by locking the side plate portions 62 to a plurality of side plate locking portions 13 formed on both longitudinal side surfaces of the housing 10. The upper metal shell 50 and the lower metal shell 60 are formed by stamping and bending a metal plate.

Here, the rear plate 51 of the upper metal shell 50
Are formed with a plurality of elastic contact pieces 54 projecting downward from the rear plate 51. Inside the elastic contact pieces 54, the header connector 70 is fitted when the cable connector 1 and the header connector 70 are fitted. A dimple 55 that contacts the rear surface of the metal shell 85 is provided. Also, a plurality of elastic contact pieces 63 projecting downward from the front plate 61 are formed on the front plate 61 of the lower metal shell 60, and the cable connector 1 and the header are provided inside each elastic contact piece 63. A dimple 64 is provided which comes into contact with the front surface of the metal shell 85 of the header connector 70 when fitted with the connector 70.

At the front end of the upper plate portion 52 of the upper metal shell 50, a folded portion 56 which is folded downward is provided, and at the upper end portion of the front plate portion 61 of the lower metal shell 60, it is once bent forward. There is provided a folded portion 65 which is folded upward afterwards. These folded portions 56 and 65
Is designed to avoid damage to the cable C by folding and bending the tip.

To assemble the cable connector 1 having the above structure, first, the first contact 20A and the second contact 20B are placed in the contact accommodating passage 11 of the housing 10 from above, and the respective female contact portions 23 are placed below. Press-fit. Then, the discrete electric wires W of the cable C are pressed from the front side and the rear side of the housing 10 to the press contact portions 2 of the electric wire connecting portions 22 of the first contacts 20A, respectively.
2a, 22b and electric wire connection part 2 of second contact 20B
The second pressure contact portions 22a and 22b are pressed against each other. Next, the press-fitting opening 31 of the front cover 30 is pressed into the press-fitting portion 24 of the first contact 20A from the front side of the housing 10 to cover the wire connection portion 22 of the first contact 20A, and the press-fitting opening 41 of the rear cover 40. From the rear side of the housing 10 into the press-fit portion 24 of the second contact 20B to cover the wire connection portion 22 of the second contact 20B. Thereafter, the front plate portion 61 of the lower metal shell 60 is locked from above by the front plate locking portion 32 along the front surface of the front cover 30, and the side plate portion 62 is held along both longitudinal side surfaces of the housing 10. The lower metal shell 6 is locked to the side plate locking portion 13 from above.
0 is attached to the front cover 30 and the housing 10. Finally, the rear plate portion 51 of the upper metal shell 50 is attached to the rear cover 4.
0 from above along the rear surface of the housing 10, and the side plate portions 53 are locked to the side plate locking portions 12 from above along both longitudinal side surfaces of the housing 10, and the upper metal shell 50 is the rear cover 40 and the housing 10
Attach to Thereby, the cable connector 1 is completed.

Next, the header connector 70 to be fitted to the cable connector 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIGS. FIG. 6 is a front view of the header connector.
FIG. 7 is a plan view of the header connector shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a right side view of the header connector shown in FIG. The header connector 70 includes an insulating housing 80 extending in the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of header contacts arranged along the longitudinal direction of the housing 80 at the same pitch P as the pitch P of the first contacts 20A and the second contacts 20B. (The other party contact) 90.

Here, the housing 80 has a fitting concave portion 81 for fitting the cable connector 1 at a central portion thereof, and a pair of peg attaching portions 82 for attaching solder pegs 84 on both sides on the rear surface. are doing. Each solder peg 84 is a substantially L-shaped metal plate, is press-fitted and fixed from below each peg mounting portion 82, and the lower surface thereof is connected by soldering to the circuit board PCB. Also, the housing 8
A pair of shell locking portions 83 are formed at the center of the front and rear surfaces of the housing 0 to lock a metal shell 85 covering the housing 80 excluding the fitting concave portion 81. The metal shell 85
An upper plate 86 covering the upper surface of the housing 80;
The front plate portion 87 bent downward from the front end of the housing 80 and locked by a shell locking portion 83 formed on the front surface of the housing 80.
And a rear plate portion 88 bent downward from the rear end of the upper plate portion 86 and locked by a shell locking portion 83 formed on the rear surface of the housing 80, and a lower portion from both longitudinal ends of the upper plate portion 86. And a pair of side plate portions 89 which cover both longitudinal side surfaces of the housing 10. Each of the solder pegs 84 is provided with a plurality of dimples 84 a that contact the rear plate 88 of the metal shell 85.

Each of the header contacts 90 is formed by stamping a metal plate and is press-fitted and fixed to the housing 80. The header contact 90 extends from a lower portion of the press-fitted fixed portion 91 and is soldered onto the circuit board PCB. It has a board connecting portion 92 to be connected, and a contact portion 93 extending upward from the press-fit fixing portion 91 and protruding into the fitting concave portion 81. The contact portion 93 is formed between the first contact 20A and the second contact 20A.
A fitting contact is made between a pair of elastic contact pieces 23a and 23b constituting the female contact portion 23 of the contact 20B.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the cable connector 1 to which the discrete electric wire W of the cable C is connected is fitted to the header connector 70 mounted on the circuit board PCB,
When the housing 10 enters the fitting recess 81, the contact portion 93 of the header contact 90 makes a fitting contact between the pair of elastic contact pieces 23a and 23b of the first contact 20A and the second contact 20B. Substrate P
The CB is interconnected. At this time, simultaneously, the dimple 55 of the upper metal shell 50 and the lower metal shell 60
Contact the rear surface of the rear plate portion 88 and the front surface of the front plate portion 87 of the metal shell 85, respectively, and the upper metal shell 50 and the lower metal shell 60 are connected to the circuit board PCB via the metal shell 85 and the solder peg 84. Grounded on top.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various changes can be made. For example, the first contact 20A and the second
The electric wire connecting portion 22 of the contact 20B may be connected not only when the discrete electric wire W is pressed against the press contact portions 22a and 22b, but also by soldering or crimping.

The female contact portion 23 is not limited to the pair of elastic contact pieces 23a and 23b as long as the female contact portion 23 fits and contacts the header contact 90 of the header connector 70. It may be a resilient contact piece or a box-shaped receptacle.

[0030]

As described above, according to the cable connector according to the first aspect of the present invention, the mating parts of the electric wire connection part connected to the discrete electric wire of the cable and the header connector connected to the circuit board, respectively. A contact group having a female contact portion that fits into the contact; the contact group includes a first contact having the wire connection portion on one side with respect to a center axis of the contact; Since the second contacts having the wire connection portions on the sides are arranged alternately and in a row, the wire connection portions of the discrete wires of the first contact and the wire connections of the discrete wires of the second contact are provided. Are arranged in a staggered manner in the row direction, so that collision between adjacent electric wire connection portions can be avoided, and the mating contact and data of the header connector can be avoided. Connectable contact groups Sukurito wires can be densely arranged at a predetermined pitch in the column direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a first contact showing a fitting state of a cable connector and a header connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an embodiment of the cable connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cable connector shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a right side view of the cable connector shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows a second connector used in the cable connector shown in FIG. 2;
4A and 4B show contacts, FIG. 4A is a front view, and FIG. 4B is a plan view.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the header connector.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the header connector shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a right side view of the header connector shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a fitted state of a conventional cable connector and a header connector.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a fitting state of a cable connector and a header connector according to another example of the related art.

[Description of Signs] 1 Cable connector 10 Housing 20 Contact group 20A First contact 20B Second contact 22 Electric wire connection part 23 Female contact part 70 Header connector 90 Header contact (partner contact) C Cable W Electric wire PCB Circuit board CL Contact Center axis of

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An insulative housing, a female contact mounted on the housing, each of which is in mating contact with a mating contact of a wire connector connected to a discrete wire of a cable and a header connector connected to a circuit board. A first contact having the wire connection portion on one side with respect to the center axis of the contact, and the wire connection portion on the other side with respect to the center axis of the contact. And a second contact having a plurality of contacts arranged alternately and in a line.