JP2007109600A - Floating connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a floating connector wherein stress caused by absorption of relative positional displacement of a socket connector and a plug connector while concentrating and acting on the soldered part of the solder tail part of a terminal is relieved to prevent the soldered part from being cracked or peeled by the stress. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of terminals 40 are laid across between an inner molding 20 and an outer molding 30 to form this floating connector 10 equipped with a floating function. A U-shaped first displacement absorbing part 45 provided in each terminal 40 is positioned between the inner molding 20 and the outer molding 30, and the same U-shaped second displacement absorbing part 46 is positioned between the outer molding 30 and the solder tail part 47 disposed on its outside, and a substrate fixing metal fitting 50 to fix it to a circuit board is provided in the outer molding 30. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a floating connector used in electrically connecting two circuit boards arranged opposite to each other.

  A female connector (socket connector) is mounted on one circuit board facing each other, a male connector (plug connector) is mounted on the other circuit board, both circuit boards are brought close together, and both connectors are fitted, In a so-called board-to-board type connector that performs electrical connection between both circuit boards, it is caused by the mounting tolerance of the socket connector or the plug connector to the respective circuit boards and the mounting tolerance of the both circuit boards to the frame. In order to absorb the relative displacement between the two, at least one of them is provided with a floating function to enable the fitting of both connectors.

  Various types of socket connectors or plug connectors having a floating function, that is, floating connectors are widely used in practical use. The basic structure thereof is, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1 below. A molding and an outer molding are provided, a terminal having a U-shaped displacement absorbing part is bridged between the moldings, and a part of the terminal extending to the inner molding side is used as a contact part with the mating connector. When a part of the terminal extending to the outer molding side is soldered to the circuit board as a solder tail, and there is a relative misalignment between the two connectors when they are fitted, depending on the amount of the misalignment Smooth displacement and connection are achieved by flexing the displacement absorber and accurately displacing the inner molding position. It has been cut way.

  In the floating connector having such a basic structure, the displacement absorbing portion of the terminal is appropriately bent in accordance with the amount of the positional deviation, and as a result, stress corresponding to the amount of bending acts on the terminal. Since this stress has no escape, it concentrates on the soldered part of the solder tail part, and cracks are generated in the solder, or the tail part is peeled off from the circuit board. It was.

  As a connector corresponding to this, in Patent Document 2 below, a fixed housing fixed to the circuit board, a movable housing attached to the fixed housing so as to be movable in the plane direction of the circuit board, and the movable housing are mounted. A plurality of terminals are provided, and these terminals have a contact part for conducting with a mating connector and a contact part abutted against a pattern printed on the circuit board.

  According to this connector, when the mating connector is fitted, the movable housing that is in a floating state with respect to the fixed housing can be moved to absorb the above-described misalignment. At this time, the movable housing is mounted on the movable housing. Since the contact portion of the terminal slides on the circuit board pattern, conduction is ensured, and the terminal of the connector is in sliding contact with the circuit board pattern without being soldered. These problems can be solved completely.

JP-A-6-163125 JP 2000-133342 A

  However, in the above-mentioned invention, since the contact portion of the terminal slides on a very thin metal pattern, the pattern is scraped off, leading to poor conduction, or the shaving residue touches another contact portion to cause a short circuit. There is a problem that could cause it.

  In addition, in the case of the present invention, since it is necessary to widen the pattern corresponding to the allowable sliding amount of the contact portion, it is necessary to increase the pitch between terminals, and it is difficult to narrow the connector pitch. It was.

  In addition, it is conceivable that the U-shaped displacement absorbing portion of Document 1 is lengthened or made extremely thin to extremely reduce its rigidity and suppress the occurrence of the stress. Because the support rigidity of the terminal that floats and supports the outer molding is drastically reduced, it can withstand the strong stress that occurs when connecting and disconnecting the socket connector and the plug connector, and the inner molding as a floating connector can be made independent from the outer molding. The idea of holding the inner molding in the design position cannot be satisfied, and this idea does not hold.

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a relative relationship between a connector mounted on one circuit board and a connector mounted on the other circuit board. In a floating connector having a function of absorbing the displacement due to the deflection of the displacement absorbing portion provided in the terminal, the stress caused by the displacement displacement is concentrated and acts on the soldered portion of the solder tail portion of the terminal. It is an object of the present invention to provide a floating connector that can alleviate the above and prevent the solder crack and peeling due to the stress.

  The present invention devised to achieve the above object is a floating connector in which a plurality of terminals are bridged between an inner molding and an outer molding, wherein the terminals are fixed to the inner molding, A second base fixed to the outer molding, a first displacement absorbing portion interposed between the second base and the first base and elastically deformable, and disposed on the side of the outer molding. A solder tail part soldered to a circuit board; and a second displacement absorbing part interposed between the tail part and the second base part, which is elastically deformable, and the molding is attached to the outer molding. A fixing bracket for fixing to the substrate is provided.

  It is preferable that a plurality of the fixing metal fittings are attached to the outer molding at intervals in the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of the terminals are arranged between the fixing metal fittings.

  It is preferable to further include a cover molding that covers the upper side of the second displacement absorbing portion.

  According to the present invention, the stress caused by the displacement of the inner molding for absorbing the displacement is applied to the two displacement absorbing parts (first displacement absorbing part, second displacement absorbing part) provided on the terminal and the outer molding. It is possible to relieve the stress applied to the solder tail portion by the fixing bracket provided, and to almost completely prevent the solder crack and peeling that are likely to occur in the portion.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a connector (socket connector) according to the present embodiment having a floating function. The inner molding 20 is made of a non-conductive material, the outer molding 30 is made of the same material, and has good conductivity such as phosphor bronze. A plurality of terminals 40 made of a conductive material, a plurality of fixing metal fittings 50 made of a copper alloy, and a cover molding 60 made of a non-conductive material are provided.

  The inner molding 20 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has a fitting portion 21 for fitting with a mating connector (plug connector) (not shown) at the top, and a first terminal press-fit groove 22 (see FIG. 3) below the fitting. ).

  The outer molding 30 is composed of a low-profile rectangular frame defined by a pair of side walls 31 arranged along the longitudinal direction of the connector 10 and a pair of end walls 32 arranged in a direction perpendicular to the side walls 31. In the inner space 33, the inner molding 20 is separated from the longitudinal direction (arrow X direction) of the connector 10 by an accurate clearance C1 (see FIG. 1), and the inner mold 20 is accurately formed in the width direction (arrow Y direction) of the connector 10. The clearance C2 is stored. The side wall 31 is formed with a second terminal press-fit groove 34 (see FIG. 3) and a fitting mounting portion 35 (see FIG. 2) into which the fixing fitting 50 is press-fitted.

  The cover molding 60 has an inverted L-shaped cross section and is disposed in a pair so as to face each other along the side wall 31 and extends toward the third terminal press-fit groove 61 (see FIG. 3) and the side wall 31 side. A ceiling 62 is provided.

  As is apparent from FIG. 3, the terminal 40 has a first base 41 having a press-fit portion 41A corresponding to the first terminal press-fit groove 22 and a press-fit portion 42A corresponding to the second terminal press-fit groove 34. A second base 42, a third base 43 having a press-fit portion 43A corresponding to the third terminal press-fit groove 61, a contact portion 44 extending from the first base 41 and facing the fitting portion 21, and a first base 41 The first U-shaped first displacement absorbing portion 45 that connects the second base 42 and the second U-shaped second displacement absorbing portion 46 that connects the second base 42 and the third base 43, and the third It has a solder tail portion 47 extending below and to the side (arrow X direction) of the base portion 43. The terminal 40 has a pair of 15 groups, 20 groups, 20 groups, and 15 groups, for a total of 70 groups, so as to be symmetrical with respect to the partition wall 23 arranged at the center of the inner molding 20. , 140 are arranged. In addition, the said number of groups is an illustration, and of course, other number of groups may be sufficient.

  The terminal 40 has its press-fit portions 41A, 42A, 43A press-fitted into the press-fit grooves 22, 34, 61 of the inner molding 20, the outer molding 30, and the cover molding 60 from below to above. The tail portion 47 extended from the third base portion 43 is soldered to a conductor pattern printed on a circuit board (not shown). The tail portion 47 is formed with a solder pool 48 for increasing the soldering strength.

  In the floating connector 10 having such a configuration, since the inverted U-shaped first displacement absorbing portion 45 is bridged between the inner molding 20 and the outer molding 30, the inner molding 20 floats with respect to the outer molding 30. Even if there is a misalignment when connecting to a plug connector (not shown), the displacement absorbing portion 45 is elastically bent and the inner molding 20 is displaced in the directions of the arrows X and Y. Can be connected without difficulty.

  The upper part of the first displacement absorbing part 45 is protected by the flange part 24 formed in the inner molding 20, and the upper part of the second displacement absorbing part 46 is also concealed by the ceiling part 62 of the cover molding 60. Protected. Therefore, when the connector 10 is fitted to the mating connector, the displacement absorbing portions 45 and 46 are suppressed from being deformed / damaged.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing bracket 50 has a substantially L shape and is attached to the side wall 31 at a substantially equal interval in the longitudinal direction. In more detail, since the terminal 40 has four groups of 15 groups, 20 groups, 20 groups, and 15 groups, in order to position the fixing bracket 50 between the terminal groups, Fixing metal fittings 50 are arranged to face each side wall 31 at five locations. The fixing fitting 50 has a press-fit portion 51 parallel to the side wall 31 and an attachment portion 52 that is substantially orthogonal to this and can face a circuit board (not shown). The fitting part 35 is press-fitted from the upper side to the lower side in the figure, and the attachment part 52 is fixed to the circuit board by soldering or the like.

  Further, the width (in the arrow Y direction) of the fixing bracket 50 is, for example, about 10 times that of the terminal 40, and its rigidity is relatively high (of course, this numerical value is within the technical scope of the present invention. Is not limited).

  The operation of the floating connector 10 according to this embodiment will be described.

  When the connector 10 (socket connector) is connected to the mating connector (plug connector: no floating function), for example, if there is a relative displacement in the direction of the arrow X, the tip of the mating connector is the same as the conventional similar connector. As the portion enters the fitting portion 21 of the inner molding 20, the inner molding 20 is pressed in the direction of the arrow X corresponding to the amount of deviation, and the molding 20 is the first displacement absorbing portion of the terminal 40. Since it is supported by 45, it can be easily displaced by bending it, so that it is possible to absorb the misalignment and achieve a smooth fit between them.

  At this time, if the terminal 40 of the connector 10 is the one in which the tail portion 47 is provided on the second base portion 42 as described in the above-mentioned document 1, the counterpart connector presses the inner molding 20. The stress concentrates on the tail part 47, and the solder part that attaches the tail part 47 to the circuit board may crack, or the tail part 47 may be peeled off from the circuit board. In the connector 10, the terminal 40 includes a second displacement absorbing portion 46 in addition to the first displacement absorbing portion 45, and a plurality of fixing metal fittings 50 are attached to the side wall 31 of the outer molding 30. Therefore, the stress is received by the fixing bracket 50 first, and then the stress that the fixing bracket 50 has not received completely is received by the second displacement. Since absorbed by Osamubu 46 flexes, the stress acting on the tail portion 47 comprises a weak, it is possible to substantially completely prevent the occurrence of the cracking and peeling.

  That is, since the mating connector that does not have a floating function cannot be displaced with respect to the relative displacement, the connector 10 according to the present embodiment absorbs this, and the inner molding 20 corresponding to this displacement is displaced. The first displacement absorbing portion 45 is bent according to the displacement amount, and a stress proportional to the deflection amount acts on the solder tail portion 47, but the second portion where the tail portion 47 is formed. The base 42 has a press-fit portion 42A that is press-fitted and fixed in the second terminal press-fit groove 34 of the side wall 31 of the outer molding 30. Further, the side wall 31 is fixed to the circuit board by a plurality of fixing brackets 50. The stress is received by both the tail portion 47 and the fixing bracket 50, so that the burden on the tail portion 47 is reduced. Than is.

  In order to explain this point in more detail, the fixing metal fitting 50 is arranged in five right and left pairs at right angles to the stress application direction (arrow X direction). The other five pieces receive tensile stress, and the width of each of them is 10 times that of the terminal 40, so it is as if 50 sets of terminals not receiving the same stress were provided. The stress acting on the tail portion 47 is reduced. Of course, by making the material of the fixing metal 50 stronger than that of the terminal 40, the stress acting on the tail portion 47 can be further reduced.

  Although the stress acting on the solder tail portion 47 is greatly reduced in this way, the side wall 31 of the outer molding 30 into which the press-fit portion 42A of the second base portion 42 of the terminal 40 is press-fitted is not a rigid body. The distortion causes a considerable stress to be applied to the tail portion 47 in the direction of the arrow X, but this stress is applied to the tail portion 47 by the second displacement absorbing portion 46 of the terminal 40. Can be reduced.

  From a microscopic viewpoint, the side wall 31 subjected to the stress has a very small amount of distortion at the portion supported by the fixing bracket 50, but the portion located between the side walls 31 has a small amount of bending, and the fixing is the same. It bulges in the direction of the arrow X between the metal fittings 50 (the other side wall is recessed in reverse) and bends to form an arc shape. The displacement of the central portion is particularly large, and the terminal 40 press-fitted there Where a considerable amount of stress can be transmitted to the solder tail portion 47, the displacement absorbing portion 46 absorbs the displacement due to the bending of the side wall 31, and the stress acting on the tail portion 47 is reduced.

  In addition, in order to make an understanding of this invention easy, although the effect | action of the 2nd displacement absorption part 46 and the fixing metal fitting 50 was demonstrated separately, the reality should not be taken separately. The above description has been made with an example in which the relative positional deviation between the connector 10 and the mating connector exists in the direction of the arrow X. However, even if the deviation is in the direction of the arrow Y or mixed in both directions, the terminal 40 The torsional force only acts and there is no great difference in the fact that the two displacement absorbing portions 45 and 46 absorb this, so the description thereof is omitted.

  As described above, in the floating connector 10 according to the present embodiment, the plurality of fixing brackets 50 are attached to the side wall 31 of the outer molding 30 and supported on the circuit board, and the first displacement absorbing portion 45 and the first fixing member 45 are connected to the terminal 40. Since the two-displacement absorbing portion 46 is provided and the stress acting on the solder tail portion 47 is reduced, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the solder crack and peeling due to this stress.

  Further, in the floating connector 10 according to the present embodiment, the pattern is scraped off when the “contact portion of the terminal slides on the pattern of the circuit board”, as described in the above-mentioned document 2, and the conduction It does not cause a defect, or the shavings cause a short circuit, and further, the pitch between terminals does not increase due to sliding.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the second displacement absorbing portion 46 of the terminal 40 is disposed outside the side wall 31 of the outer molding 30, so that dust adheres to this or something hits during assembly. Where there is a concern about an event that causes deformation or short-circuiting, since this is covered with the cover molding 60 having the ceiling 62, such a problem can be prevented.

  In the present embodiment, the socket connector 10 has been described as having a floating function. However, the plug connector may have the same function.

  Further, the cover molding 60 is not essential, and a portion corresponding to the ceiling portion 62 can be provided on the side wall 31 of the outer molding 30. In this case, there is no need to prepare the third base portion 43 of the terminal 40 and its press-fit portion 43A, and the tail portion 47 can be directly extended from the second displacement absorbing portion 46.

  Further, although the example in which the fixing metal 50 is provided on the side wall 31 of the outer molding 30 is shown, it does not prevent the fixing metal 50 from being provided on the end wall 32.

1 is an overall perspective view of a floating connector (socket connector) according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the III-III sectional view taken on the line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Floating connector 20 Inner molding 30 Outer molding 40 Terminal 41 1st base 42 2nd base 45 1st displacement absorption part 46 2nd displacement absorption part 47 Solder tail part 50 Fixing metal fitting 60 Cover molding

Claims (3)

A floating connector with a plurality of terminals spanned between an inner molding and an outer molding,
A first base fixed to the inner molding; a second base fixed to the outer molding; and a first elastically deformable first interposed between the second base and the first base. A displacement absorbing portion; a solder tail portion disposed on the side of the outer molding and soldered to the circuit board; and a second displacement absorbing member interposed between the tail portion and the second base portion and elastically deformable. With
A floating connector, wherein a fixing fitting for fixing the molding to the circuit board is provided on the outer molding.   The floating connector according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the fixing brackets are attached to the outer molding at intervals in the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of the terminals are arranged between the fixing brackets. The floating connector according to claim 1, further comprising a cover molding that covers an upper portion of the second displacement absorbing portion.

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