JP2007287825A - Circuit board connection structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a circuit board connection structure which can save space when connecting circuit boards with a plurality of FFCs and can prevent erroneous connection by clarifying the arrangement relationship between connectors. <P>SOLUTION: In the circuit board connection structure, a plurality of connectors are arranged close to each other in such a manner the longitudinal direction may be nearly parallel to a main circuit board 20 and a sub-circuit board 10, respectively. The main circuit board and the sub-circuit board are arranged in such a manner that the plurality of connectors 21a and 21b on the main circuit board side and the plurality of connectors 11a and 11b on the sub-circuit board side may be nearly perpendicular to each other. The plurality of flat cables 30a and 30b are each folded back in the middle into such a shape that the folded portion may be perpendicular to the main body. Terminal portions formed at both ends of each cable are connected to the connectors formed in the main circuit board and the sub-circuit board, respectively, in such a manner that the cables may overlap in the thickness direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a circuit board connection structure, and more particularly to a structure in which circuit boards are connected by a plurality of flat cables when the connectors of each circuit board are orthogonal to each other.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a liquid ejecting apparatus such as an ink jet printer or a flat bed type image reading apparatus, a carriage that includes an ink cartridge and a reciprocating carriage, and a circuit board of a scanner carriage that includes a CCD and a lens and reciprocally moves are connected to each other. In connection with the main control circuit board, a flat cable (flexible flat cable, hereinafter abbreviated as FFC) is often used as a wiring material.

  The FFC is an excellent wiring material in that it has good heat dissipation, has a large current capacity per unit cross-sectional area, is excellent in flexibility, can be used by being bent into an arbitrary shape, and is lightweight. .

By the way, when the circuit boards are connected to each other by the FFC, when the connectors of the circuit boards are orthogonal to each other, the wiring is performed by bending, but when the FFC is bent, the circuit boards are arranged in the FFC. The arrangement of the wiring conductors that were connected was reversed, and there was a risk of incorrect connection.
In order to solve such a problem, in Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 3, one side in the width direction of the FFC is set as a reference line, and the reference line side has a constant pitch over the entire length in the longitudinal direction. Proposals have been made in which an identification mark is provided and the arrangement state of the wiring conductors can be confirmed at a glance by the position of the identification mark no matter how many times it is bent.

  However, even in the above configuration, when it is necessary to increase the number of control signal lines due to diversification of ink types or reading of color images, it is considered to increase the width of the FFC by increasing the number of wiring conductors. However, when the FFC is provided at the operating location, such as reciprocating movement during printing or image reading, the FFC may contact other members to hinder the operation of each carriage, That is, there is a problem that space in the width direction is required, which hinders space saving.

  In addition, since the area in the width direction is increased when the width of the FFC is increased, the FFC is also affected by interference with other electronic components due to electromagnetic waves and radiation noise generated from the FFC, and conversely, radiation noise from other electronic components. There was a risk that the possibility would increase.

Furthermore, when the FFC is bent as described above and each circuit board is connected by a plurality of FFCs, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to understand the arrangement relationship of the connectors, resulting in erroneous connection.
Japanese Patent No. 3649102

  The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-described problems. The object of the present invention is to save space when connecting circuit boards using a plurality of FFCs, and to clarify the layout relationship of connectors. An object of the present invention is to provide a circuit board connection structure capable of preventing connection.

  In order to achieve the above object, the circuit board connection structure according to claim 1 is provided with a main circuit board on which a control unit is mounted and a plurality of connectors are provided, a functional module is mounted, and a plurality of corresponding connectors are mounted. A circuit board connection structure in which the provided sub circuit board is connected by a plurality of flat cables, wherein the plurality of connectors are substantially parallel in the longitudinal direction to each of the main circuit board and the sub circuit board. In the main circuit board and the sub circuit board, the plurality of connectors on the main circuit board side and the plurality of connectors on the sub circuit board side are substantially orthogonal to each other. The plurality of flat cables are individually bent halfway and bent in a right angle direction, and have an overlap in the thickness direction. The terminal portion formed on both ends, the main circuit board, characterized in that connected to the respective corresponding connector provided on the auxiliary circuit board.

  Here, the degree of overlap in the thickness direction of the plurality of flat cables does not have to overlap in the stacked state, that is, in the longitudinal direction and the entire width direction, and the plurality of FFCs extend in the longitudinal direction in the width direction. Including a case where there is an overlap in the thickness direction partially.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, a main circuit board on which a main control unit of a scanner device is mounted and a plurality of connectors are provided, and a sub circuit board on which an image sensor circuit is mounted and a plurality of corresponding connectors are provided are provided in a plurality of flats. A circuit board connection structure configured by connecting with a cable, wherein the plurality of connectors are arranged close to each other so that a longitudinal direction thereof is substantially parallel to each of the main circuit board and the sub circuit board, The main circuit board and the sub circuit board are arranged so that the plurality of connectors on the main circuit board side and the plurality of connectors on the sub circuit board side are in a substantially orthogonal direction, The plurality of flat cables are individually bent halfway and bent in a right angle direction, and are formed at both ends so as to overlap in the thickness direction. Child unit, the main circuit board, characterized in that connected to the respective corresponding connector provided on the auxiliary circuit board.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the main circuit board is attached to the apparatus main body, the sub circuit board is attached to a reciprocating carriage and reciprocates together, and the flat cable is reciprocated by the carriage. Along with this, the structure is characterized in that it bends and deforms.

  According to claim 4, in any one of claims 1 to 3, an insulating spacer is interposed between each of the plurality of flat cables connected so as to overlap in the thickness direction. Features.

According to the circuit board connection structure of the first to fourth aspects, it is not necessary to increase the width of the FFC even when it is necessary to increase the number of wiring conductors due to an increase in the number of control signal lines. Space saving in the direction can be achieved.
Therefore, when used in various electronic devices, it is useful for reducing the size and thickness of these electronic devices.

Further, a structure in which a plurality of FFCs are connected to corresponding connectors provided on the main circuit board and the sub circuit board, respectively, so that the terminal portions formed at both ends of the FFCs are overlapped in the thickness direction, that is, After connecting the terminal portion provided at one end of each to the corresponding connector of one circuit board, the terminal portion provided at the other end of the terminal portion is connected to the corresponding connector of the other circuit board. Since it is only necessary to connect, the position in the thickness direction of the terminal portion provided at the other end does not change, and thus erroneous connection can be prevented.
In particular, without using differently shaped connectors with different numbers of poles or identifying marks, even if the same shaped connector is used, the connector can be easily identified as described above, and erroneous connection can be prevented. Therefore, the cost can be improved.

  Furthermore, since the area in the width direction of the plurality of FFCs does not increase, interference with other electronic components due to electromagnetic waves and radiation noise generated from the FFC, and conversely, the influence of radiation noise from other electronic components can be reduced. The reliability of the incorporated device can be improved.

  In the case where the main circuit board mounts the main control unit of the scanner device and the sub circuit board mounts the image sensor circuit as in claim 2, the circuit boards are usually separated from each other in the apparatus. Due to the provided structure, the same effect as described above can be expected, and it is beneficial for reducing the size and thickness of the scanner device and improving the reliability.

  The main circuit board is attached to the apparatus main body, the sub circuit board is attached to the reciprocating carriage and reciprocates together, and the FFC is bent and deformed as the carriage reciprocates. Then, since it is not necessary to increase the space in the width direction, the FFC does not interfere with the operation of the carriage due to contact with other members, which is beneficial for reducing the size, thickness, and reliability of the scanner device.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since an insulating spacer is sandwiched between each of the plurality of FFCs connected so as to overlap in the thickness direction, the influence due to the generation of radiation noise between the FFCs is reduced. be able to.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  1 and 2 show a circuit board connection structure according to the present embodiment, FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the circuit board connection structure, and FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. is there.

  1 shows a structure for connecting the main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10, the FFC 30a is connected, and the FFC 30b shows a state before being connected. In FIG. 2, both the FFCs 30a and 30b are connected to each circuit. A state of being connected to the substrate is shown.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the state in which each circuit board is tilted down in order to facilitate understanding of the present embodiment. The main circuit board 20 is arranged to be orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of each FFC 30 while being rotated 90 degrees to the right-hand direction side in FIG. (See FIG. 2).
1 and 2, each circuit board has a simple configuration, and each FFC 30 and the insulating spacer 40 are thick. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and usually a thin FFC and an insulating spacer are used. used.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, an example applied to a circuit board provided inside a main body casing in a flat bed type image reading apparatus is shown, and the main circuit board 20 is mounted with a main control unit that controls each electronic component. It is attached to a reader main body (not shown).
The sub circuit board 10 is mounted with an image sensor circuit connected to a CCD, a lens, a mirror, a light source and the like constituting the scanner, and is attached to a scanner carriage (not shown).

A plurality of connectors 21a, 21b are arranged close to each other on the main circuit board 20 so that the longitudinal directions thereof are substantially parallel, and a plurality of connectors 11a, 11b are arranged on the sub circuit board 10 in the longitudinal direction. It arrange | positions adjacent so that it may become substantially parallel.
The main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10 are arranged so that the plurality of connectors 21a and 21b on the main circuit board side and the plurality of connectors 11a and 11b on the sub circuit board side are in a substantially orthogonal direction. ing.
That is, in this embodiment, the connector 21a on the main circuit board 20 side and the connector 11a on the sub circuit board 10 side correspond to each other, and the connector 21b on the main circuit board 20 side and the connector 11b on the sub circuit board 10 side correspond to each other. It has become a connector.

The two FFCs 30a and 30b connected to the plurality of connectors have the same configuration, and wiring conductors 33 having a rectangular cross section are arranged in parallel in the width direction with a certain interval therebetween, and the upper and lower sides thereof are polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The wiring conductor 33 is covered with the plastic film 32 by being sandwiched between plastic films 32 made of a flexible thermoplastic resin such as (see FIG. 2) and thermally fused or thermally fused with an adhesive. It has a configuration.
That is, each wiring conductor 33 is in an insulated state.

Each of the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b has an intermediate portion, that is, a portion 50 where the connectors are orthogonal to each other, and is bent back at an angle and bent in a right angle direction.
Further, the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b are connected to each circuit board so as to overlap in the thickness direction.

Each FFC 30 supplies a drive power supply line to a CCD or the like connected to the sub circuit board 10 via the main circuit board 20, and outputs signals from the CCD or the like via the sub circuit board 10 to the main control of the main circuit board 20. It functions as a signal line to be transmitted to the unit.
Each FFC 30 is configured to bend and deform between the main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10 as the scanner carriage reciprocates (in the direction of arrow Y in FIG. 1).

Here, in this embodiment, an insulating spacer 40 is sandwiched between the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b.
The insulating spacer 40 is made of an insulating and flexible thermoplastic resin material, and has the same width as each FFC 30 and has a shape corresponding to the bent shape. The length of each of the insulating spacers 40 is determined by the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b. It is formed corresponding to the length of the portion having an overlap in the thickness direction.
That is, in the present embodiment, the insulating spacer 40 is placed on substantially the entire top surface of the FFC 30a.
Thereby, the influence by generation | occurrence | production of the radiation noise between each FFC30 can be reduced.
In particular, when the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b are provided at the operation location as described above, the plastic film 32 may be peeled off due to the reciprocating motion, so that the plastic film 32 may be short-circuited. 32 peeling can be prevented.

  Further, for example, when the FFCs are overlapped in the thickness direction and bent together, the insulating spacer cannot be sandwiched in the entire path of the overlapping portions of the FFCs. However, in this embodiment, each FFC 30 is bent individually. Therefore, the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b can function as an insulating spacer over the entire path where the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b overlap in the thickness direction.

Further, when the FFCs are overlapped and bent together as described above, the connector arrangement is reversed on each circuit board, that is, when applied to the present embodiment, the connector 21b on the main circuit board 20 side and the sub-board are subordinate. The connector 11a on the circuit board 10 side becomes the corresponding connector, and the connector 21a on the main circuit board 20 side and the connector 11b on the sub circuit board 10 side become the corresponding connectors. Therefore, in each circuit board, the FFC is arranged in the thickness direction. On the other hand, the arrangement relationship of the connectors and the arrangement relationship in the thickness direction of the FFC are difficult to understand, but the arrangement relationship in the thickness direction of each FFC 30 does not change during the assembly inspection by bending each FFC 30 individually. Inspection is facilitated, and the connector position is not changed, and erroneous connection can be prevented.
In particular, even if a connector with the same shape as in this embodiment is used, the connector can be easily identified as described above, erroneous connection can be prevented, and the number of parts can be reduced, resulting in excellent cost. It becomes.

Next, in this embodiment, when the main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10 are connected by the FFC 30, as shown in FIG. 1, first, each of the main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10 provided on each is provided. Terminal portions 31 formed at both ends of the FFC 30a are connected to the corresponding connectors 21a and 11a.
Next, the insulating spacer 40 is placed on the upper surface of the FFC 30a, and the terminal portions 31 formed on both ends of the FFC 30b are connected to the corresponding connectors 21b and 11b provided on the main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the circuit boards are connected by the plurality of FFCs 30 as described above, the main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10 are connected so that the FFC 30b and the FFC 30a overlap in the thickness direction. It is configured.
Further, as described above, the position of the connector is not changed on each circuit board.

  When the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b are provided at the operating location as in the present embodiment, the FFC 30a and the insulating spacer 40, and the insulating spacer 40 and the FFC 30b are displaced with an adhesive or with an adhesive tape, respectively. It is preferable to adopt a configuration that does not cause the problem.

Here, in this embodiment, each connector that connects the FFC 30 opens in a direction perpendicular to each circuit board surface, but may be a connector that opens in a horizontal direction to each circuit board surface. Not only the shape of the connector of the present embodiment but also any shape of connector can be applied.
In addition, the main circuit board 20 and the sub circuit board 10 are arranged on the same horizontal plane in a side view and are shown in an upright state, but are not limited thereto, and may be arranged on different horizontal planes, The configuration in which both circuit boards are inclined upward and downward with respect to the FFC connection direction side, or the state in which both circuit boards are tilted, that is, the configuration schematically shown in FIG. Is possible.

According to the above configuration, even when it is necessary to increase the number of wiring conductors 33 due to an increase in the number of control signal lines, it is not necessary to increase the width of the FFC 30, so that space saving in the width direction can be achieved. This is useful for reducing the size and thickness of electronic devices.
In particular, even if the FFC 30 is provided at the operating location as in the present embodiment and bends and deforms, the FFC 30 does not interfere with the operation of the carriage due to contact with other members, which is excellent.

  In addition, since the area in the width direction of the plurality of FFCs does not increase, interference with other electronic components due to electromagnetic waves and radiation noise generated from the FFC 30 and conversely the influence of radiation noise from other electronic components can be reduced. The reliability of the incorporated device can be improved.

  In this embodiment, the width in the width direction of the FFC 30a and the FFC 30b is the same, and the entire length in the longitudinal direction and the width direction is overlapped in the thickness direction, but the width of each FFC is wide. The FFCs 30 may be different from each other, and the FFCs 30 may partially overlap in the width direction in the longitudinal direction and overlap in the thickness direction.

Moreover, you may provide the guide which prevents the shift | offset | difference to the width direction or thickness direction of each FFC.
Further, as in this embodiment, the insulating spacer 40 is provided between the FFCs, and the upper surface of the FFC 30b and the lower surface of the FFC 30a are covered with the insulating film, that is, the FFC 30b and the FFC 30a are integrally covered with the insulating film. It is good also as a structure.
As a result, the FFC 30 that is individually bent as in the present embodiment is provided at the operating location, and even in a structure that bends and deforms, there is no displacement in the width direction or the thickness direction, and electromagnetic waves generated from the FFC 30 Interference with other electronic components due to radiation noise, and conversely, the influence of radiation noise from other electronic components can be further reduced.

  Furthermore, in the case of manufacturing a color reading apparatus which is becoming mainstream recently, for example, one FFC is used for wiring such as a driving power supply line and a signal line for a monochrome CCD necessary for a conventional monochrome reading apparatus. If a conductor is formed and a signal line or the like necessary only for the color reading device is formed on the other FFC, a color reading device can be manufactured using a mechanism of a conventional monochrome reading device. The mechanism and circuit board can be used in common for the monochrome reader and the color reader, and the reduction of parts management man-hours and cost reduction due to mass production effects can be expected.

In this embodiment, the example applied to the image reading apparatus has been shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is applicable to any apparatus in which circuit boards provided with a plurality of connectors are connected by FFC. it can.
Moreover, although the structure which connects each circuit board by two FFC was shown, it is applicable not only when connecting each circuit board by three or more FFCs but by two or more FFCs.

It is a schematic plan view which shows one Example of the connection structure of the circuit board which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

10 Sub circuit board 11a, b Connector (sub circuit board)
20 Main circuit board 21a, b Connector (main circuit board)
30a, b Flat cable (FFC, flexible flat cable)
31 Terminal part 32 Plastic film 33 Wiring conductor 40 Insulating spacer 50 Connector crossing

Claims (4)

Connection of a circuit board with a configuration in which a control circuit is mounted and a main circuit board provided with a plurality of connectors is connected to a sub circuit board on which functional modules are mounted and corresponding connectors are provided with a plurality of flat cables. Structure,
The plurality of connectors are arranged close to each other so that the longitudinal direction is substantially parallel to each of the main circuit board and the sub circuit board,
The main circuit board and the sub circuit board are arranged such that the plurality of connectors on the main circuit board side and the plurality of connectors on the sub circuit board side are substantially orthogonal to each other. ,
The plurality of flat cables are individually bent halfway and bent in a right angle direction, and terminal portions formed at both ends so as to overlap in the thickness direction are connected to the main circuit. A circuit board connection structure, wherein the circuit board is connected to a corresponding connector provided on the sub circuit board. A configuration in which a main circuit board on which the main control unit of the scanner device is mounted and a plurality of connectors are provided, and a sub circuit board on which an image sensor circuit is mounted and provided with a plurality of corresponding connectors are connected by a plurality of flat cables The circuit board connection structure of
The plurality of connectors are arranged close to each other so that the longitudinal direction is substantially parallel to each of the main circuit board and the sub circuit board,
The main circuit board and the sub circuit board are arranged such that the plurality of connectors on the main circuit board side and the plurality of connectors on the sub circuit board side are substantially orthogonal to each other. ,
The plurality of flat cables are individually bent halfway and bent in a right angle direction, and terminal portions formed at both ends so as to overlap in the thickness direction are connected to the main circuit. A circuit board connection structure, wherein the circuit board is connected to a corresponding connector provided on the sub circuit board. In claim 2,
The main circuit board is attached to the apparatus body, and the sub circuit board is attached to a reciprocating carriage and reciprocates together.
The circuit board connection structure according to claim 1, wherein the flat cable is configured to bend and deform as the carriage reciprocates. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
A circuit board connection structure, wherein an insulating spacer is interposed between each of the plurality of flat cables connected so as to overlap in the thickness direction.

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