JP2008235131A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a miniaturizable connector. <P>SOLUTION: This connector 10 comprises a tubular female terminal 31 and a male terminal 21 inserted into the female terminal 31 for electrical connection. Since the male terminal 21 has an elastic contact part 21b pressed on the inner wall of the tubular part 31a of the female terminal 31, the female terminal can be simply formed. Consequently, the female terminal can be miniaturized, and the connector can be miniaturized as a whole. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a connection of a cable such as a wire harness to an electric device such as an automobile, and more particularly to a connector having a terminal connected to a core wire of an electric wire.

  In recent years, electrical signals transmitted to printed circuit boards for control mounted with electronic components and ICs (integrated circuits) incorporated in electrical devices of automobiles such as car navigation systems have been accelerated (increased in frequency). The printed circuit board pattern is also densely packed and densified. Generally, a shielded cable for high frequency is used to transmit such a high-frequency electric signal, but a shield connector connected to the shielded cable is also used as the transmitted electrical signal becomes higher in frequency. There is a demand for downsizing for high frequency.

  There are two types of shielded connectors: male and female. The male inner conductor terminal located at the center of the male shield connector and the female inner conductor terminal located at the center of the female shield connector are mated and connected. By doing so, transmission of an electrical signal is achieved.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the male inner conductor terminal 41 has a linear rod-like or plate-like contact portion 41 a. The female inner conductor terminal 42 has a rectangular or cylindrical tubular portion 42 a that receives the contact portion 41 a of the male inner conductor terminal 41. The tubular portion 42a is provided with, for example, a bellows type elastic contact piece or a pair of elastic contact pieces 42b and 42b as shown. The contact portion 41a of the male inner conductor terminal 41 and the elastic contact pieces 42b and 42b of the female inner conductor terminal 42 are brought into contact with each other so that electrical connection is achieved. In addition, the following patent document is mentioned as a prior art document relevant to this invention.

JP 2006-24499 A

  However, in the configuration in which the elastic contact piece is provided on the female terminal instead of the male terminal in this manner, it is difficult to reduce the size of the cylindrical portion of the female terminal, and as a result, it is not possible to meet the demand for downsizing of the connector. There was a problem. Moreover, in such a structure, since the elastic contact piece was exposed, there existed a problem that the reliability of quality fell.

  Therefore, a problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a connector that can be further miniaturized.

  In order to solve the above problems, a connector according to the present invention is a connector including a cylindrical female terminal and a male terminal inserted into the female terminal to be electrically connected, and the male terminal The gist of the invention is that it has an elastic contact portion that is pressed against the inner wall of the cylindrical portion of the female terminal.

  In this case, it is preferable that the elastic contact portion of the male terminal has a pair of contact pieces branched at a midway position. Moreover, it is good to set it as the structure by which the insertion side front-end | tip part of the said male terminal is formed in diameter smaller than the internal diameter of the cylindrical part of the said female terminal. Further, the female terminal has a cylindrical part into which the elastic contact part of the male terminal is inserted, and a connection part connected to the cylindrical part and connected to the core of the electric wire. It is good to make it. And the said connection part of the said female type terminal is good to set it as the structure which has the crimping | compression-bonding piece crimped | bonded to the said cylindrical part.

  Further, a female-side dielectric that accommodates the female-type terminal, a cylindrical female-side outer conductor terminal that accommodates the female-side dielectric, a male-side dielectric that accommodates the male-type terminal, and the male side A configuration in which a cylindrical male outer conductor terminal that accommodates a dielectric is provided, and a cylindrical portion of the female outer conductor terminal is inserted and connected to an inner side of the cylindrical portion of the male outer conductor terminal It is good to make it.

  According to the connector having the above configuration, the female terminal can be formed into a simple shape by including the elastic contact portion that is pressed against the inner wall of the cylindrical portion of the female terminal. . Accordingly, the female terminal can be further reduced in size, and as a result, the entire connector can be reduced in size.

  In this case, if the elastic contact portion of the male terminal has a pair of contact pieces branched at an intermediate position, the elastic contact portion of the male terminal can be formed small, and the female terminal Contributes to downsizing Further, if the distal end portion on the insertion side of the male terminal is formed to have a smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the cylindrical portion of the female terminal, the male terminal is inserted into the upper portion of the female terminal. This eliminates the need to separately provide a guide for a male terminal at the end of the opening of the cylindrical portion of the female terminal.

  Further, the female terminal has a cylindrical part into which the elastic contact part of the male terminal is inserted, and a connection part connected to the cylindrical part and connected to the core of the electric wire. That is, a simple cylindrical member or the like can be adopted as the cylindrical portion by configuring the female terminal to have two members of the cylindrical portion and the connecting portion. And if the said connection part of the said female type terminal is set as the structure which has the crimping | compression-bonding piece crimped-connected to the said cylindrical part, the connection of the connection part to a cylindrical part will become easy.

  Further, a female-side dielectric that accommodates the female-type terminal, a cylindrical female-side outer conductor terminal that accommodates the female-side dielectric, a male-side dielectric that accommodates the male-type terminal, and the male side A configuration in which a cylindrical male outer conductor terminal that accommodates a dielectric is provided, and a cylindrical portion of the female outer conductor terminal is inserted and connected to an inner side of the cylindrical portion of the male outer conductor terminal This makes it possible to reduce the size of the shielded connector and facilitate adjustment for matching the characteristic impedance of the connector to the characteristic impedance of the transmission path such as a cable, thereby improving the high frequency characteristics of the connector. it can.

  Hereinafter, a shield connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The shield connector 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a male shield connector 20 for connecting a shielded cable W and a female shield connector 30 for connecting the shielded cable W, and these are fitted together. Connection between shielded cables is achieved. FIG. 1 shows the shield connector 10 before fitting connection, and FIG. 2 shows the shield connector 10 after fitting connection. Hereinafter, each connector will be described with the fitting connection side as the front.

  The male shield connector 20 on the right side in the figure includes a male inner conductor terminal 21 connected to the core wire Wa of the shield cable W, a male dielectric 22 in which the male inner conductor terminal 21 is accommodated, and the male side. A male outer conductor terminal 23 that covers the outer periphery of the dielectric 22 and is connected to the shield wire Wb of the shield cable W is provided.

  A high frequency electrical signal is transmitted to the male inner conductor terminal 21 located at the center, and the male outer conductor terminal 23 covers the periphery of the male inner conductor terminal 21 and electromagnetically shields it. Therefore, the male side dielectric 22 is to insulate between both terminals.

  The illustrated male inner conductor terminal 21 is formed by stamping a conductive plate material and then pressing or the like. The male inner conductor terminal 21 is fitted and connected to the other female inner conductor terminal 31 to transfer electric signals. Is called. In this case, the male inner conductor terminal 21 is connected to the rod-shaped tip portion 21a in order from the front, the elastic contact portion 21b having a pair of contact pieces 21d and 21d that are branched and expanded in the middle, and the core wire Wa. A crimping portion 21c is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the elastic contact portion 21b of the male inner conductor terminal 21 is inserted into the cylindrical portion 31a of the female inner conductor terminal 31, the contact pieces 21d and 21d are formed on the inner wall of the cylindrical portion 31a. It comes to contact elastically.

  The crimped portion 21c of the male inner conductor terminal 21 is connected by caulking and fixing the core wire Wa of the exposed shielded cable W. In addition, a protruding piece (not shown) is formed on the portion of the male inner conductor terminal 21 held by the male side dielectric 22, and this protruding piece is locked to the inner wall of the accommodation hole 22 a of the male side dielectric 22. Thus, the male inner conductor terminal 21 is fixed to the male side dielectric 22.

  The illustrated male side dielectric 22 is formed from a resin insulating material having a predetermined dielectric constant, and is assembled between a male type inner conductor terminal 21 and a male side outer conductor terminal 23 described later. To insulate between both terminals. The male-side dielectric 22 has a housing hole 22a for housing and holding the male inner conductor terminal 21 opened in the front-rear direction and formed in the main body portion 22b. When housed and held in the main body portion 22b, the distal end portion 21a and the elastic contact portion 21b of the male inner conductor terminal 21 are arranged so as to protrude from the front end surface of the main body portion 22b.

  The male-side outer conductor terminal 23 shown in the figure is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape by pressing or the like after the conductive plate material is die-cut, and has a cylindrical main body cylindrical portion 23a and a rear portion of the main body cylindrical portion 23a. A crimping portion 23b is provided. The main body cylinder part 23a is composed of a rear-side small-diameter cylinder part 23d whose inner diameter has become smaller from the middle position and a front-side large-diameter cylinder part 23c, and the aforementioned male-side dielectric 22 is contained in the small-diameter cylinder part 23d. Is housed. At the time of housing, the concave portion 22c provided on the outer surface of the main body portion 22b of the male dielectric 22 is fixed to the convex portion 23g provided on the inner surface of the small diameter cylindrical portion 23d.

  In this case, as shown in the figure, the distal end portion 21 a and the elastic contact portion 21 b of the male terminal 21 that are arranged to protrude from the front end face of the main body portion 22 b of the male dielectric 22 are the main body of the male outer conductor terminal 23. It is located in the large diameter cylindrical portion 23c of the cylindrical portion 23a.

  Moreover, the front part of this large diameter cylinder part 23c is divided | segmented into the circumferential direction by the slit 23e, and the contact convex part 23f bulged inside is formed. The contact projection 23f is elastically in contact with the outer wall surface of the female-side outer conductor terminal 33 of the female shield connector 30 at the time of fitting connection. The shielded wire Wb of the exposed shielded cable W is connected to the crimping portion 23b of the male outer conductor terminal 23 by caulking.

  The female shield connector 30 on the left side of the figure similarly includes a female inner conductor terminal 31 connected to the core wire Wa of the shielded cable W, a female side dielectric 32 in which the female inner conductor terminal 31 is accommodated, and the female A female-side outer conductor terminal 33 that covers the outer periphery of the side dielectric 32 and is connected to the shield wire Wb of the shield cable W is provided.

  A high frequency electrical signal is transmitted to the female inner conductor terminal 31 located in the center, and the female side outer conductor terminal 33 covers the periphery of the female inner conductor terminal 31 and electromagnetically shields it. For this purpose, the female-side dielectric 32 is used to insulate both terminals.

  The illustrated female inner conductor terminal 31 is formed by stamping a conductive plate material and then pressing or the like. The female inner terminal 31 is fitted and connected to the other male terminal 21 to exchange electric signals.

  The female inner conductor terminal 31 is provided with a substantially cylindrical tubular portion 31 and a crimping portion 31b connected to the core wire Wa. The cylindrical portion 31a and the crimping portion 31b are configured as separate members as shown in the figure, and the crimping piece at the front end of the crimping portion 31b is fixed by crimping to the rear end of the cylindrical portion 31a made of the cylindrical member. It is united by doing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the aforementioned elastic contact portion 21b of the male inner conductor terminal 21 is inserted into the cylindrical portion 31a of the female inner conductor terminal 31, the contact pieces 21d and 21d become the cylindrical portion 31a. The inner surface is elastically contacted.

  The crimped portion 31b of the female inner conductor terminal 31 is connected by caulking and fixing the core wire Wa of the exposed shielded cable W. Further, a protruding piece (not shown) is formed on the portion of the female inner conductor terminal 31 held by the female dielectric 32, and this protruding piece is locked to the inner wall of the receiving hole 32 a of the female dielectric 32. Accordingly, the female inner conductor terminal 31 is fixed to the female dielectric 32.

  The illustrated female side dielectric 32 is formed from a resin insulating material having a predetermined dielectric constant, and is assembled between the female inner conductor terminal 31 and a female outer conductor terminal 33 described later. To insulate between both terminals. In the female-side dielectric 32, a housing hole 32a for housing and holding the female inner conductor terminal 31 is formed in the main body 32b by opening back and forth.

  The illustrated female-side outer conductor terminal 33 is formed into a substantially cylindrical shape by pressing or the like after the conductive plate material is die-cut, and includes a cylindrical main body cylindrical portion 33a and a rear portion of the main body cylindrical portion 23a. A crimping portion 33b is provided. The aforementioned female dielectric 32 is accommodated in the main body cylinder portion 33a. At the time of accommodation, the concave portion 32c provided on the outer surface of the main body portion 32b of the female-side dielectric 32 is fixed by being engaged with the convex portion 33c provided on the inner surface of the main body cylindrical portion 33a.

  In this case, as shown in the drawing, the front end surface of the main body cylindrical portion 33 a of the female side outer conductor terminal 33, the front end surface of the main body portion 32 a of the female side dielectric 33, and the front end of the cylindrical portion 31 a of the female inner conductor terminal 31. The planes are arranged so that they are almost at the same position.

  The outer diameter of the main body cylindrical portion 33a of the female side outer conductor terminal 33 is sized to fit inside the large diameter cylindrical portion 23c of the male side outer conductor terminal 23 described above. Therefore, at the time of fitting connection, the outer wall surface of the female-side outer conductor terminal 33 is elastically contacted with the contact convex portion 23f provided on the inner wall of the large-diameter cylindrical portion 23c of the male-side outer conductor terminal 23. . Further, as shown in the drawing, the outer diameter of the main body cylindrical portion 33 a of the female side outer conductor terminal 33 is substantially the same as the outer diameter of the small diameter cylindrical portion 23 d of the male side outer conductor terminal 23.

  According to the shield connector 10 according to the present invention described above, the male inner conductor terminal 21 includes the elastic contact portion 21b that is in contact with the inner wall of the cylindrical portion 31a of the female inner conductor terminal 31. Thus, the female inner conductor terminal 31 can be made simpler than before and can be miniaturized. As a result, the overall size of the shield connector 10 can be reduced.

  In this case, the elastic contact portion 21b of the male inner conductor terminal 21 can be formed small because it has a simple configuration having a pair of contact pieces 21d branched at a midway position. Contributes to downsizing. Further, by configuring the female inner conductor terminal 31 to include two members, the cylindrical portion 31a and the crimping portion 31b, a simple cylindrical member or the like can be employed as the cylindrical portion 31a.

  Furthermore, the shield connector 10 as described above can be reduced in size, and adjustment for matching the characteristic impedance of the shield connector with the characteristic impedance of the transmission path such as a cable is facilitated. As a result, the high frequency characteristics of the connector can be improved. Can be improved.

  Generally, the characteristic impedance of a transmission line in high-frequency signal transmission is set to 50Ω, for example, and matching with the characteristic impedance of a transmission path such as a circuit board or a cable of a relay-connected electric device is required. It is illustrated. If such a transmission path includes a portion where the characteristic impedance is not matched or a connection portion, problems such as a reduction in transmission efficiency due to signal reflection at the mismatching portion, generation of noise, and occurrence of crosstalk occur. Therefore, it is necessary that the characteristic impedance be matched also in the connector which is a relay connection part of the transmission path.

  The characteristic impedance of the cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the connector is determined by “the ratio of the inner diameter of the outer conductor to the outer diameter of the inner conductor” and “the dielectric constant of the dielectric”. In other words, in the male shield connector and the female shield connector of the connector, in order to make the characteristic impedance of the cross section perpendicular to the axial direction equal across the entire axial direction of the connector, the ratio of the outer conductor inner diameter to the inner conductor outer diameter It is necessary to adjust the dielectric constant of the insulator to match the characteristic impedance of the male shield connector and the female shield connector.

  In this case, adopting insulators of different materials for the male shield connector and the female shield connector, that is, the impedance matching method using insulators having different dielectric constants, the material cost, management cost, This is not preferable because it leads to an increase in manufacturing costs. In general, impedance matching can be achieved by adjusting the “ratio between the outer conductor inner diameter and the inner conductor outer diameter” of each of the male shield connector and the female shield connector so that the same dielectric material can be used.

  In the shield connector 10 described above, since the female inner conductor terminal 31 can be made smaller than before, the size and shape of the female outer conductor terminal 33 and the male outer conductor terminal 23 are designed in consideration of characteristic impedance matching. Increases the degree of freedom when doing so. Thereby, the high frequency characteristic of a connector can be improved.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to such embodiment at all, Of course, it can implement with a various aspect in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. For example, the elastic contact portion 21b of the male inner conductor terminal 21 has been described with reference to the paired contact pieces 21d and 21d. However, the configuration is such that the inner wall of the cylindrical portion 31a of the female inner conductor terminal 31 is in contact pressure. What is necessary is just and it is not limited to the structure of the elastic contact part 21b mentioned above. Moreover, although the shield connector 10 was demonstrated in the said embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is applicable also to the connector which does not have a shield structure. In the above embodiment, the cable connector is described. However, the present invention can also be applied to a board connector that is directly connected to a printed circuit board, and is not limited to a cable connector.

It is sectional drawing which showed schematic structure of the shield connector which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the fitting connection of the shield connector of FIG. It is the figure which showed schematic structure of the shield connector used conventionally.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Shield connector 20 Male type shield connector 21 Male type inner conductor terminal 21a Tip part 21b Elastic contact part 21c Crimp part 21d Contact piece 22 Male side dielectric 22a Housing hole 22b Main body part 22c Recess 23 Male side outer conductor terminal 23a Main body cylinder part 23b Crimp part 23c Large diameter cylinder part 23d Small diameter cylinder part 23e Slit 23f Contact convex part 23g Convex part 30 Female shield connector 31 Female inner conductor terminal 31a Cylindrical part 31b Crimp part 31c Rear end part 31d Crimp piece 32 Female side dielectric Body 32a Housing hole 32b Body portion 32c Recess 33 Female side outer conductor terminal 33a Body cylinder portion 33b Crimping portion 33c Convex portion W Shield cable Wa Core wire Wb Shield wire

Claims (6)

  A connector having a cylindrical female terminal and a male terminal that is inserted into the female terminal and is electrically connected to the inner wall of the cylindrical portion of the female terminal. A connector comprising an elastic contact portion to be pressed against.   The connector according to claim 1, wherein the elastic contact portion of the male terminal has a pair of contact pieces branched at an intermediate position.   The connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the insertion-side distal end of the male terminal is formed with a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the cylindrical portion of the female terminal.   The female terminal has a cylindrical part into which the elastic contact part of the male terminal is inserted, and a connecting part connected to the cylindrical part and connected to the core of the electric wire. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   The connector according to claim 4, wherein the connection portion of the female terminal includes a crimping piece that is crimped and connected to the cylindrical portion.   Furthermore, a female-side dielectric that accommodates the female-type terminal, a cylindrical female-side outer conductor terminal that accommodates the female-side dielectric, a male-side dielectric that accommodates the male-type terminal, and the male-side dielectric And a cylindrical portion of the female-side outer conductor terminal is inserted and connected to the inside of the cylindrical portion of the male-side outer conductor terminal. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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