JP2002373739A - Connector for flat cable - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector for a flat cable convenient to handle and excellent in mounting workability. SOLUTION: In a shield shell 40, a base-side shell 41 and a lid-side shell 42 are integrally formed in a form crossing perpendicularly to each other through connection pieces 47 by pressing a metal sheet. A terminal end of a flat cable 10 is mounted to a housing 20 with the housing 20 having terminal, fittings 21 installed mounted on the shell 41, conductors 12 of respective shielded wires 11 are brought into press contact with the terminal fittings 21 and covered with a cover 35. The shell 42 is bent from both the connection pieces 47, and a hook 59 and a locked plate 62 are elastically engaged with a first lock plate 57 and a second lock plate 60, respectively, so that the shell 42 is locked by interposing the housing 20 between the shell 41 and itself. A contact piece 56 of the shell 42 is elastically brought into contact with the upper surface of a short-circuiting body 18 through a window hole 38 of the cover 35.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector used by connecting a plurality of shielded electric wires to a terminal of a flat cable formed in parallel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following types of flat cable connectors are known. This has a housing equipped with terminal fittings that are individually connected to the core wire of each shielded electric wire in the flat cable, and as a shield shell, a base side shell that can be fitted to the lower surface side of the housing, and an upper surface of the housing. And a lid-side shell that can be attached. At the time of assembling, the terminal of the flat cable is attached to the housing in which the base-side shell has been fitted in advance, and then the lid-side shell is attached. Are connected to the corresponding terminal fittings, and are sandwiched between the base-side shell and the lid-side shell over the shield layer of each shielded wire, so that a shielding effect such as removal of radiation noise can be obtained. . This type of flat cable connector is disclosed in JP-A-2000-77123.

[0003]

However, in the prior art, the shield shell is particularly configured as a separate body of the base side shell and the lid side shell to be attached later thereto, so that it is used for transportation. It is necessary to perform separate packing and parts management separately, handling is troublesome,
In addition, there is a problem that positioning when the lid side shell is retrofitted is quite difficult, and the workability of assembling is poor.
The present invention has been completed based on the above demands, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flat cable connector which is convenient in handling and excellent in workability in assembly.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems As means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a connector used by connecting a plurality of shielded wires to a terminal of a flat cable formed in parallel. In a housing provided with terminal fittings that are individually connected to the core wires of the shielded wires, a shield shell connected over a shield layer of the shielded wires is provided. It is characterized by comprising a base side shell fitted to the housing and a lid side shell integrally provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to the base side shell. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the device according to claim 1, the base side shell and the lid side shell are integrally formed from a single plate via a foldable connection piece. Have.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the connecting piece has a notch formed at a side edge serving as an end of a bending line, while the connecting piece has a notch. It is characterized in that a reinforcing bead is formed on one side of the line. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second or third aspect, on a surface of the housing facing the bent portion of the connecting piece, the connecting piece exceeds a predetermined bending angle. It is characterized in that a relief concave portion that allows it to be bent is formed.

[0006]

<Operation and effect of the present invention><Invention of claim 1> Since the shield shell is formed by integrally opening and closing the base side shell and the lid side shell, the shield shell itself is 1
It can be handled as a part, which simplifies packing at the time of carry-in and parts management. In addition, when assembling, it is only necessary to close the lid-side shell, and no special positioning with respect to the base-side shell is required, so that workability is excellent. <Invention of Claim 2> Since the base side shell and the lid side shell are formed from a single plate, both shells can be manufactured with one mold, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

<Invention of Claim 3> A notch is provided at the end of the bending line to guide the bending, and at least one side of the bending line is increased in rigidity by forming a bead. Therefore, the connecting piece can be bent accurately at the bending line. <Invention of claim 4> By using the relief recess to bend the connecting piece beyond a predetermined bending angle, even if springback occurs, the connecting piece is maintained at the predetermined bending angle.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the connector of this embodiment generally includes a housing 20 to which a terminal of the flat cable 10 is attached, and a shield shell 40 attached to the housing 20. As shown in FIG. 6, the flat cable 10 has a plurality of shielded wires 11 arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval, covered with a film 17, and formed in a belt shape. In the terminal of the flat cable 10, the short-circuit body 1 extends over the shield layer 14 of each shielded wire 11.
The core wires 12 are fixed so as to traverse, and the core wires 12 are exposed and protruded therefrom, and are connected by the alignment sheet 19, so that the core wires 12 are also held in a juxtaposed state at a predetermined interval.

The housing 20 has the same number of terminal fittings 21 as can be connected to the core wire 12 of each of the shielded wires 11 described above. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal fitting 21 is of a press contact type, has an elongated shape as a whole, and has a contact portion 22 which is formed by bending the distal end one step higher. On the other hand, on the rear end side, a press contact portion 23 is formed by being bent upward at a right angle while forming a fork, and a vertical groove of the press contact portion 23 is formed in the shielded electric wire 1.
A press-contact groove 24 for pressing one core wire 12 is formed.

The housing 20 is formed of a synthetic resin material in the shape of a horizontally long thick plate. A mounting area 26 for the terminal fitting 21 is set in a little over 2/3 of the front side (the right side in FIG. 2) of the housing 20. In this mounting area 26, a stepped shape that is one step higher on the front end side is provided. In addition, a plurality of terminal insertion grooves 27 into which the terminal fittings 21 can be inserted are formed at intervals in the lateral width direction.
In the vicinity of the stepped portion, a partition wall 29 is provided to partition between the terminal insertion grooves 27. Therefore, each terminal fitting 21
As shown in FIG. 2, the contact portion 22 is fitted in the terminal insertion groove 27 while the contact portion 22 at the distal end is placed on a portion raised one step.
Immediately after the mounting region 26 in the housing 20, a guide portion 30 that appropriately partitions between the inner coverings 13 in the shielded electric wire 11 of the flat cable 10 is provided. Guide portions 31 that appropriately partition between the coatings 15 are formed.

The housing 20 is provided with a cover 35 so as to cover the upper surface thereof, more specifically, the upper surface of a region extending from a position slightly behind the row of the front partition walls 29 to a row of the rear edge guides 31. Have been. The cover 35 is formed of a synthetic resin material as a separate body from the housing 20, but is swingably integrated at one end in the width direction of the housing 20 via a hinge 36. As shown in FIG. 8, on the back surface of the cover 35, when the cover 35 is covered, a pair of pressing portions 37 that enter the front and rear sides of the press-contact portion 23 of the terminal fitting 21,
It is formed at each position corresponding to each terminal insertion groove 27.

The shield shell 40 has a base side shell 41 and a lid side shell 42 integrally formed by pressing a single conductive metal plate such as phosphor bronze. More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the base side shell 41 is formed in a shape to be applied to almost the entire lower surface of the housing 20, and the front edge of the flat main body 44 (the back side in FIG. 3). In (), a high-order portion 45 is formed in a stepped shape so as to hit the lower surface of the housing 20 at one step higher than both ends in the lateral width direction.

From both ends at the front edge of the main body portion 44 of the base side shell 41, connecting pieces 47 having a predetermined width are formed so as to rise vertically, and the lid side shells 42 are provided on the upper ends of both connecting pieces 47.
Are integrally formed. Therefore, at the time of molding, the base side shell 41 and the lid side shell 42 are orthogonal to each other. The connecting piece 47 comes into contact with both ends (contact surface 20A) on the front surface of the housing 20 and is bent rearward at a right angle at a position corresponding to the upper edge of the contact surface 20A. It has become. Scheduled bending line 4
8 is indicated by a broken line in FIG. With the above bending, the lid-side shell 42 takes a parallel posture with the base-side shell 41 so as to cover the upper surface side of the housing 20.

The bending line 48 of the connecting piece 47 is described above.
Notches 50 are respectively formed on both side edges corresponding to both ends of. As shown in detail in FIG. 5, a bead 51 is formed so as to be knocked out toward the front side at a portion below the bending line 48 of the connecting piece 47. When the connecting piece 47 is bent as described above, the portion above the expected bending line 48 overlaps with the upper surface of the contact surface 20A. As shown by the chain line, the tapered surface 53 is inclined downward toward the rear. The formation of the tapered surface 53 allows the connecting piece 47 to be bent beyond 90 degrees.

Referring again to FIG. 3, on the rear edge side (front side in FIG. 3) of the main body portion 44 of the base side shell 41, four pressing pieces 5 shown in FIG.
5 is cut and raised. On the other hand, the lid-side shell 42
The swinging end side of the flat cable 10 can be elastically contacted with the surface of the short-circuit body 18 in the flat cable 10 as shown in FIG.
The book contact piece 56 is cut and raised. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the cover 35 is formed with a corresponding window hole 38 through which the contact piece 56 passes.

At the rear edge of the base side shell 41, a locking groove 58 is provided.
The three first locking plates 57 shown in the figure are formed so as to rise, and the swinging end of the lid-side shell 42 has
A hook 59 that can be locked in the locking groove 58 when bent in a posture substantially parallel to the base side shell 41 is formed correspondingly. Further, at the rear ends of the left and right side edges of the base side shell 41, second locking plates 60 are formed so as to rise, and locking pieces 61 projecting obliquely downward are formed on the outer surface of each second locking plate 60. It is formed by raising or knocking out. On the other hand, on the swinging end sides of the left and right side edges of the lid-side shell 42, a locking hole 63 into which the locking piece 61 fits when the bending is also substantially parallel to the base-side shell 41. Locking plates 62 are formed correspondingly. At the rear ends of the left and right side edges of the housing 20, mounting recesses 65 for fitting the second locking plates 60 are formed as shown in FIG.

Next, the procedure for assembling the present embodiment will be described. First, in the state where the cover 35 is opened, the terminal fittings 21 are attached to the respective terminal insertion grooves 27 of the housing 20, and the housing 20 is partially connected to the shield shell 40 as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2. And the second locking plate 60 is placed while being fitted into the mounting recess 65 (FIG. 6). At this time, the connecting piece 47 of the shield shell 40 is
The front surface of the contact surface 20A is in contact with the contact surfaces 20A at both ends, and the bending line 48 coincides with the upper edge of the contact surface 20A.

In this state, the terminal of the flat cable 10 is mounted on the mounting area 26 of the housing 20 from above as shown by the arrow in FIG. Accordingly, the core wire 12 of each shielded wire 11 is press-fitted into the press-contact groove 24 of the press-contact portion 23 of the corresponding terminal fitting 21 (see FIG. 8). Thereby, each shielded electric wire 11 and the terminal fitting 21 are connected. Next, the cover 35 is swung around the hinge 36 so that the cover 35 is turned upside down, and is closed as shown in FIG. Along with this, a pair of front and rear pressing portions 37 provided on the back surface of the cover 35 enter the front and rear sides of the press contact portion 23 as shown in FIG.
By pressing the front and rear of the press-contact portion of No. 2, the press-contact state is maintained.

Subsequently, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 8, the lid-side shell 42 is bent rearward from the expected bending line 48 of both connecting pieces 47. Here, a notch 50 is formed at the end of the planned bending line 48 to guide the bending, and the rigidity is increased by forming a bead 51 at a lower portion of the bent line 48 with the bead 51 interposed therebetween. The connecting piece 47 is accurately bent from the bending line 48. In addition, connecting piece 4
7 is bent by more than 90 degrees using the tapered surface 53 of the housing 20, as shown in FIG. Thus, even if springback occurs, the connecting piece 47 is maintained in a state of being bent substantially at a right angle, and the lid-side shell 42 is also maintained in a substantially parallel posture with the base-side shell 41.

When the lid-side shell 42 is bent as described above, as shown in FIGS.
The hooks 59 at the two swing ends elastically fit into the corresponding locking grooves 58 of the first locking plate 57 of the base side shell 41, and the locking holes 63 of the locked plates 62 at both ends. The corresponding second
The locking piece 61 of the locking plate 60 is elastically fitted, so that the lid-side shell 42 is
Locked in the closed state with the. As a result, the cover 35 is pressed by the lid-side shell 42, and the core wires 12 of the shielded electric wires 11 are held in a press-contact state as described above. At the same time, the contact piece 56 of the lid-side shell 42 is elastically pressed through the window hole 38 of the cover 35 to the upper surface of the short-circuit body 18 so that electrical contact is achieved, and a shield arranged so as to surround the periphery. The function of the shell 40 provides a shielding effect such as removal of radiation noise.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
The base side shell 41 and the lid side shell 42 constituting the shield shell 40 are formed from a single plate.
Since it can be manufactured with two dies, the cost can be reduced, and the shield shell 40 can be handled as one part, the packaging at the time of carry-in and the parts management can be simplified. Further, when assembling, it is only necessary to bend from the connecting piece 47 and close the lid-side shell 42, and no special positioning with respect to the base-side shell 41 is required, so that the workability is excellent.

Notches 50 are formed at both ends of the planned bending line 48 of the connecting piece 47 so as to guide the bending, and the lower portion of the connecting line 47 sandwiching the planned bending line 48 is formed with beads 51 to increase rigidity. Therefore, the connecting piece 47 can be accurately bent at the bending line 48. Further, since the connecting piece 47 is bent by using the tapered surface 53 formed on the housing 20 beyond a predetermined bending angle of 90 degrees, even if springback occurs, the connecting piece 47 is bent. Is maintained in a state of being bent substantially at a right angle, that is, the lid-side shell 42 is maintained in a substantially parallel posture with the base-side shell 41, and as a result, an excessive load acts on the locking portions of the two shells 41 and 42. Is prevented.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) The lid side shell is formed separately from the base side shell,
A structure that can be integrally connected so as to be able to open and close via a hinge or the like may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an initial assembling operation of a housing and a shield shell.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the shield shell during molding.

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view showing a bending operation of the shield shell.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a mounting operation of a flat cable terminal.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cover is closed.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the closing operation of the lid side shell.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a bending operation of a connecting piece.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state where the lid-side shell is completely closed.

FIG. 11 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Flat cable 11 ... Shield electric wire 12 ... Core wire 14 ... Shield layer 18 ... Short circuit body 20 ... Housing 20A ... Contact surface 21 ... Terminal fitting 35 ... Cover 38 ... Window hole 40 ... Shield shell 41 ... Base side shell 42 ... Lid Side shell 47 ... connecting piece 48 ... expected bending line 50 ... notch 51 ... bead 53 ... tapered surface (relief recess) 56 ... contact piece 57 ... first locking plate 59 ... hook 60 ... second locking plate 62 ... Locked plate

Claims (4)

[Claims] A connector which is used by being connected to a terminal of a flat cable formed by arranging a plurality of shielded wires in parallel, wherein a housing is provided with terminal fittings which are individually connected to core wires of the respective shielded wires. A shield shell connected over the shield layer of each of the shielded wires, wherein the shield shell is integrated with a base side shell fitted to the housing so as to be openable and closable with respect to the base side shell. A connector for a flat cable, comprising: a lid side shell provided in a fixed manner. 2. The flat cable connector according to claim 1, wherein the base side shell and the lid side shell are integrally formed from a single plate via a bendable connection piece. 3. The connecting piece has a notch formed at a side edge that is an end of the planned bending line, while a reinforcing bead is provided at a portion on one side of the bending line. The flat cable connector according to claim 2, wherein the connector is formed. 4. A relief recess is formed on a surface of the housing where the bent portion of the connecting piece is opposed to allow the connecting piece to be bent beyond a predetermined bending angle. The flat cable connector according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the connector is provided.