JP2008270100A - Inter-board connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inter-board connector which can be reduced in height, compared to a conventional connector. <P>SOLUTION: A header contact 3 has a pillarlike projecting piece 7 projecting forward from the front face of a header body 4. The projecting piece 7 has a neck at the base end side and a head at the front end side that is thicker than the neck. A socket contact 5 has a connection piece 17 which has a thickness equal to or less than the height of the neck and whose longitudinal both ends are supported on a socket body 6 so that a gap equal to or more than the height of the head is formed at the rear. The connection piece 17 has a pair of spring pieces 20 between which a slit 21 of a width equal to or less than the thickness of the neck is formed and which have flexibility in the direction of width of the slit 21. On the connection piece 17, a guide-in hole 22 is formed, which is continuous with the slit 21 at the longitudinal both ends of the slit 21 and through which the head can be inserted in or pulled out. The paired spring pieces 20 comes in elastic contact with the head when the projecting piece 7 is inserted into the slit 21 through the guide-in hole 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a board-to-board connector that mechanically couples and electrically connects a pair of circuit boards arranged so that at least a part of their surfaces face each other.

  Conventionally, as this type of board-to-board connector, a header 1 mounted on the surface of a first circuit board (not shown) and a surface of a second circuit board 30 as shown in FIG. The thing provided with the socket 2 by which it is made is provided (for example, refer patent document 1). The header 1 has a header contact 3 made of a conductive material and a header body 4 that is a synthetic resin molded product and supports the header contact 3, and the socket 2 is made of a conductive material and is electrically connected to the header contact 3. And a socket body 6 that is a synthetic resin molded product and supports the socket contact 5. In the following description, the upper, lower, left, and right in FIG. 12 where the thickness direction of the second circuit board 30 is the vertical direction will be described.

  The socket body 6 is formed with a concave portion 31 that opens upward, and an island portion 32 that divides the concave portion 31 into two in the left-right direction. A plurality of socket contacts 5 are provided, and each is divided. In addition, the elastic contact piece 33 is disposed in each recess 31 and attached to the socket body 6. The socket contact 5 in the illustrated example has a holding part 34 formed in an inverted U shape that protrudes upward, and each side wall of the concave part 31 in the socket body 6 is press-fitted into the holding part 34. This is supported by the socket body 6. The elastic contact piece 33 of the socket contact 5 is formed in a substantially U shape by projecting from the end located in the recess 31 in the holding portion 34 to the island portion 32 side and being folded back to the holding portion 34 side. . Here, the tip end portion of the elastic contact piece 33 is bent into a substantially square shape so as to face the holding portion 34, thereby constituting a contact portion 35 that contacts the header contact 3. Note that a portion of the socket contact 5 that extends along the surface of the circuit board 30 from the end of the holding part 34 that is located outside the recess 31 has a terminal piece 18 for soldering to the circuit board 30. Constitute.

  On the other hand, the header body 4 is formed with a concave groove 36 that opens downward so that the island portion 32 of the socket 2 is inserted, and a plurality of header contacts 3 are provided, each having a substantially U shape that protrudes downward. The header body 4 is attached to the header body 4 in such a manner that the left and right side walls of the recessed groove 36 of the header body 4 are press-fitted into the press-fit portion 37. The header contact 3 in the illustrated example has a support portion 38 that is extended from an end portion of a press-fit portion 37 located in the concave groove 36 and is supported by the header body 4 by insert molding the base portion into the header body 4. ing. Further, the portion extending along the surface of the first circuit board from the tip of the support part 38 constitutes a terminal part 39 for soldering to the first circuit board.

In the board-to-board connector having the above-described configuration, when the header 1 is fitted to the socket 2 so that the island part 32 of the socket body 6 is inserted into the concave groove 36 of the header body 4, When the header 1 is inserted and the contact portion 35 of the elastic contact piece 33 elastically contacts the press-fit portion 37 of the header contact 3 to secure the contact pressure, the circuit boards 30 are mechanically coupled to each other and electrically Connected to. If the fitting between the header 1 and the socket 2 is released, the mechanical coupling and electrical connection between the circuit boards 30 are released.
JP 2004-55463 A

  By the way, in recent years, with the thinning of portable devices and the like, it is required to reduce the height of the inter-board connector in the thickness direction (that is, the vertical direction) of the circuit board 30. However, in the inter-board connector described above, the press-fit portion 37 of the header contact 3 is interposed between the elastic spring piece 33 and the holding portion 34 in the socket contact 5 in a state where the header 1 is fitted in the recess 31 of the socket 2. Since the elastic contact piece 33 and the holding portion 34 are connected below the press-fit portion 37, the press-fit portion 37 and the socket contact 5 are abutted in the height direction of the press-fit portion 37. This is an obstacle to lowering the height. Further, although the contact portion 35 of the elastic contact piece 33 is elastically contacted with the press-fit portion 37 of the header contact 3, the contact pressure for electrically connecting the header 1 and the socket 2 is secured, but the socket contact 5. The elastic contact piece 33 is bent in the thickness direction (that is, the vertical direction) of the circuit board 30 to ensure elasticity. Therefore, in order to obtain a desired contact pressure, the height dimension of the socket contact 5 is set. It is necessary to increase the size to some extent, which also hinders a reduction in height.

  When the elastic spring piece 33 is formed by bending, the strength of the mold used for the bending is reduced when the radius of curvature is reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to secure a certain large radius of curvature. When the elastic contact spring piece 33 is thinned, the strength of the mold used for the punching process is reduced. Therefore, the elastic contact spring piece 33 needs to be thickened to some extent. These processing problems also hinder the reduction of the height of the elastic contact piece 33. Actually, in the board-to-board connector having the above-described configuration, it is difficult to keep the distance between the circuit boards 30 to less than 1.0 mm.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above reasons, and an object of the present invention is to provide an inter-board connector that can be reduced in height as compared with the conventional configuration.

  The invention of claim 1 is a board-to-board connector that mechanically couples and electrically connects a pair of circuit boards arranged so that at least a part of their surfaces face each other. A header made of an insulating material and having a header body for supporting the header contact, provided on one circuit board, and a socket made of a conductive material and electrically connectable to the header contact and a socket made of an insulating material And a socket provided on the other circuit board having a socket body for supporting the contact, wherein the header contact includes a columnar protruding piece protruding in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the circuit board from the header body, and the protruding piece is The proximal end and the distal end have different thicknesses so that the distal end head is thicker than the proximal neck. The socket contact has a thickness dimension perpendicular to the surface of the circuit board that is equal to or less than the height dimension of the neck portion, and the other circuit board side has a longitudinal dimension so as to leave a gap greater than the height dimension of the head. Both ends have connecting pieces supported by the socket body, the connecting pieces are arranged in parallel in a plane along the surface of the circuit board, and a slit having a width dimension equal to or less than the thickness of the neck is formed between the two. The connecting piece is provided with a pair of spring pieces having flexibility in the width direction of the slit, and the connecting piece is formed with an introduction hole having a dimension that allows the head to be inserted and removed at least at one end in the longitudinal direction of the slit. The pair of spring pieces elastically contact the neck portion when the protruding piece is inserted into the slit through the introduction hole.

  According to this configuration, the connecting pieces are arranged side by side in a plane along the surface of the circuit board, and a slit having a width dimension equal to or smaller than the thickness of the neck portion is formed between the two, and flexibility is provided in the width direction of the slit. The connecting piece is formed with an introduction hole having a dimension that is continuous with the slit and can be inserted into and removed from at least one end in the longitudinal direction of the slit. After stacking the header and socket in the thickness direction of the circuit board so that it can be inserted into the socket, slide the header in a plane along the surface of the circuit board so that the protruding piece moves to the slit, so that the header is socketed Can be attached to. That is, since the mechanical coupling between the header and the socket is made by engaging the head of the protruding piece with both sides of the slit in the connecting piece, the protruding piece and the socket contact in the height direction of the protruding piece. Will not be matched. Regarding the electrical connection between the header and the socket, the spring pieces on both sides of the slit of the connecting pieces are elastically contacted with the neck portion, and the contact pressure is secured, and the elasticity of the spring pieces is the elasticity of the spring pieces along the surface of the circuit board. Since it is determined according to the length dimension, a desired contact pressure can be ensured regardless of the height dimension of the header and the socket. As a result, the height of the header and socket can be reduced to the height of the protruding piece.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the header includes a columnar guide protrusion that protrudes in the same direction as the protruding piece from the periphery of the contact area where the header contact protrudes in the header body. And the guide protrusion has a thickness that is different between the proximal end side and the distal end side so that the proximal end side small diameter portion is formed thicker than the neck portion, and the distal end side large diameter portion is thicker than the small diameter portion. The socket has a guide receiving portion provided with a guide long hole into which the guide protrusion is inserted at a position corresponding to the guide protrusion, and the guide long hole is equal to or larger than the thickness of the small diameter portion. A locking portion having a width dimension less than the thickness of the large-diameter portion and an introduction port having a width dimension greater than or equal to the thickness of the large-diameter portion, and the guide protrusion is moved from the introduction port to the locking portion. When the protruding piece moves from the introduction hole to the slit Characterized in that it is formed in that shape.

  According to this configuration, since the elongated guide hole is formed in a shape in which the protruding piece moves from the introduction hole to the slit when the guide protrusion is moved from the introduction port to the locking portion, the contact region By using guide protrusions and guide receiving portions provided around the guide as a guide, it becomes easier to visually confirm the relative positional relationship between the header and the socket, and the work of attaching and detaching the header to and from the socket is simplified. .

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the guide receiving portion is disposed on both sides in the width direction of the portion between the introduction port and the locking portion in the guide long hole. It has a projection protruding toward the circuit board and having a flexible projection in the thickness direction of the circuit board.

  According to this configuration, when the guide projection moves between the introduction port and the locking portion in the guide long hole, a click feeling is obtained by the large diameter portion of the guide projection getting over the locking projection. The operational feeling when the header is attached to and detached from the socket is improved.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the metal sheet according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein a plurality of the header contacts and the socket contacts are provided, and the socket is a metal sheet on which a plurality of socket contacts are formed. The socket body is formed by insert molding.

  According to this configuration, a plurality of socket contacts can be formed collectively, and there is an advantage that the pitch between the socket contacts can be set with high accuracy.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the fourth aspect, two socket contacts are arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the slit so that the longitudinal directions of the slits are opposite to each other. The introduction holes are respectively formed at both ends of the slit in the longitudinal direction so that the shape combined with the hole is symmetrical in the longitudinal direction of the slit.

  According to this configuration, since the two socket contacts are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction, the size of the socket can be reduced in the width direction of the connection piece. Moreover, since the socket contacts are arranged side by side so that the longitudinal directions of the slits are opposite to each other, the combined shape of the slit and the introduction hole is symmetric in the longitudinal direction of the slit. The two socket contacts arranged in parallel in the direction can be of the same shape, and for example, a common mold can be used for manufacturing the socket contacts.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects, the header body is integrally formed with the one circuit board.

  According to this configuration, the distance between the pair of circuit boards can be reduced as compared with the case where the header body is formed separately from the one circuit board.

  In the present invention, the connection pieces are arranged side by side in a plane along the surface of the circuit board, and a slit having a width dimension equal to or less than the thickness of the neck portion is formed between the connection pieces, and the pair has flexibility in the width direction of the slit. The connecting piece is formed with an introduction hole of a dimension that can be inserted into and removed from the head at least at one end in the longitudinal direction of the slit, so that it can be inserted between the header and the socket. The mechanical coupling is made by engaging the head of the protruding piece with both sides of the slit in the connecting piece, so that the protruding piece and the socket contact are not abutted in the height direction of the protruding piece. In addition, regarding the electrical connection between the header and the socket, the contact pressure is ensured by the elastic contact of the pair of spring pieces to the neck, and the elasticity of the spring pieces is the length of the spring pieces along the surface of the circuit board. Therefore, a desired contact pressure can be ensured regardless of the height dimension of the header and the socket. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the height of the header and the socket.

  The board-to-board connector of the present embodiment mechanically couples and electrically connects a pair of circuit boards that are arranged so that at least a part of their surfaces face each other.

  This inter-board connector is provided on the header 1 provided on the first circuit board as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and on the second circuit board (not shown) as shown in FIGS. Socket 2 is provided. The header 1 has a header contact 3 made of a conductive material and a header body 4 made of an insulating material and supporting the header contact 3, and the socket 2 is made of a conductive material and can be electrically connected to the header contact 3. And a socket body 6 made of an insulating material and supporting the socket contact 5. Although this embodiment shows an example in which the header body 4 is formed integrally with the first circuit board (that is, the first circuit board also serves as the header body 4), the header 1 is the first circuit board. It may have a header body 4 formed separately. In the following description, it is assumed that the thickness direction of the circuit board is the front-rear direction, and the second circuit board provided with the socket 2 is arranged on the front side of the first circuit board provided with the header 1. Further, description will be made assuming that the top, bottom, left, and right in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the header body 4 is formed in a rectangular plate shape that is a rectangle that is long in the left-right direction in plan view. A plurality of header contacts 3 are provided, each having a columnar projecting piece 7 projecting forward from the front surface of the header body 4 (the upper surface in FIG. 2C). Here, the columnar protruding piece 7 is adopted, but the protruding piece 7 may be, for example, a prismatic shape. The protruding piece 7 is formed in a so-called mushroom shape in which the distal end head portion 9 is thicker than the proximal end neck portion 8. The protruding piece 7 is formed by performing electroplating using a resist (not shown) having an opening. A portion filled in the opening of the resist becomes a neck portion 8 and a portion overflowing from the opening is a head. It becomes part 9. By forming the protruding piece 7 by plating in this way, the height dimension of the protruding piece 7 can be kept lower than when the protruding piece 7 is formed from a metal plate. Further, the projecting piece 7 has a flange portion 10 extending along the front surface of the header body 4 at the base end portion, and is formed in a shape in which the flange portion 10 and the head portion 9 are connected by the neck portion 8. Yes.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, a plurality of projecting pieces 7 of the header contact 3 are provided so as to project in a contact region 11 set in the center portion of the header body 4 in the longitudinal direction. Two header contacts 3 are arranged in the vertical direction, and a plurality of header contacts 3 are arranged in each contact region 11. In each contact region 11, a plurality of protruding pieces 7 are arranged in the left-right direction, and the plurality of protruding pieces 7 are arranged in two rows in the up-down direction so that adjacent ones in the left-right direction are displaced in the up-down direction. Is arranged. The arrangement of the protruding pieces 7 is common to both the contact regions 11, and in this embodiment, a total of 22 header contacts 3 are provided, 11 in each contact region 11.

  A conductor pattern (not shown) and a terminal portion (not shown) for external connection are formed on the back side of the header body 4. A through hole (not shown) is formed at each position of the header body 4 where the protruding piece 7 protrudes, and the conductor pattern on the back side of the protruding piece 7 and the header body 4 is formed by an electric path formed in the through hole. Are electrically connected. Here, the header body 4 that also serves as the first circuit board is formed of a laminated board in which a plurality of boards are laminated, and the boards are connected to each other by the electric circuit formed in the above-described through hole or via hole.

  Further, around the contact region 11 of the header body 4, columnar guide protrusions 12 projecting forward from the front surface of the header body 4, like the projecting pieces 7, are vertically arranged at the left and right ends of the header body 4. A total of four lines are provided so that two lines are arranged. Here, a cylindrical guide protrusion 12 is employed in the same manner as the protruding piece 7, but the guide protrusion 12 may be, for example, a prismatic shape. The guide protrusion 12 has a proximal end side small diameter portion 13 formed thicker than the neck portion 8 of the protruding piece 7, and a distal end side large diameter portion 14 formed thicker than the small diameter portion 13. Here, the height dimension of the guide protrusion 12 is set to be the same as the height dimension of the protruding piece 7. The guide protrusion 12 has a guide flange portion 15 extending along the front surface of the header body 4 at the base end portion, and connects the guide flange portion 15 and the large diameter portion 14 with the small diameter portion 13. It is formed into a shape.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4A, the socket body 6 has a rectangular plate shape that is a rectangular shape that is long in the left-right direction in plan view, and has a dimension in the vertical direction that is slightly larger than the header body 4 described above. (See FIG. 9). Furthermore, the socket body 6 has an installation hole 16 penetrating in the thickness direction at the center in the left-right direction. A plurality of socket contacts 5 are juxtaposed in the left-right direction, and each has a connection piece 17 made of a metal plate that is long between the upper and lower side walls of the installation hole 16 and that is long in the vertical direction. The connecting piece 17 has a thickness dimension (dimension in the front-rear direction) that is equal to or less than the height dimension of the neck portion 8 and is installed on the back side of the socket body 6 as shown in FIG. A gap larger than the height of the head 9 is formed between the second circuit board and the second circuit board. In the present embodiment, two installation holes 16 are arranged in the vertical direction in the same manner as the contact region 11 of the header body 4, and a plurality of connection pieces 17 are installed in each installation hole 16. The pitch of the connecting pieces 17 in the left-right direction is the same as the pitch of the protruding pieces 7 of the header 1 in common in both the erection holes 16, and in this embodiment, eleven in each erection hole 16, 22 in total. Socket contact 5 is provided. Here, the installation hole 16 penetrating in the thickness direction of the socket body 6 is employed. However, the installation hole 16 may be open at least rearward (that is, on the side opposite to the second circuit board). You may use the recess which has as the installation hole 16. FIG.

  The socket contact 5 according to the present embodiment is insert-molded with respect to the socket body 6 as shown in FIG. 6, and both end portions in the longitudinal direction of the connection piece 17 are on both upper and lower sides of the installation hole 16 in the socket body 6. The socket body 6 is supported by being inserted into the wall. Further, terminal pieces 18 projecting from both end faces in the vertical direction of the socket body 6 are extended from the connection pieces 17, and the terminal pieces 18 are formed on a conductor pattern (not shown) provided on the second circuit board. On the other hand, if they are joined by soldering, the socket 2 can be mechanically coupled and electrically connected to the second circuit board. That is, the socket 2 is surface-mounted on the back side of the second circuit board.

  By the way, the connection piece 17 of the socket contact 5 is provided with a long hole 19 extending in the vertical direction in a plane along the surface of the second circuit board, and the long hole 19 is formed on both sides of the long hole 19 in the width direction. A pair of spring pieces 20 having flexibility in the width direction is formed. That is, the width dimension of the long hole 19 of the connection piece 17 can be expanded to some extent by bending the spring pieces 20 on both sides of the long hole 19. Here, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the long hole 19 includes a slit 21 having a width less than the thickness (diameter) of the neck portion 8 of the protruding piece 7 and the head of the protruding piece 7. 9 and an introduction hole 22 having a width dimension equal to or greater than 9 thicknesses (diameters). According to this dimensional relationship, the projecting piece 7 can be inserted into and removed from the long hole 19 by passing through the introduction hole 22, and the slit 21 of the long hole 19 is inserted into the slit 21 as shown in FIGS. 7 (c) and 7 (d). The protruding piece 7 can be locked to the connecting piece 17 in a state where the neck portion 8 of the protruding piece 7 is inserted. Even if the width dimension of the slit 21 is smaller than the thickness of the neck portion 8 of the protruding piece 7, the neck portion 8 can be inserted into the slit 21 by the bending of the spring piece 20 of the connecting piece 17. Here, the so-called dumbbell-shaped long holes 19 that are symmetrical in the vertical direction are formed by forming the introduction holes 22 at both ends in the extending direction of the slit 21.

  Further, each long hole 19 is disposed at each position corresponding to the protruding piece 7 of the header contact 3 when the front surface of the header 1 is opposed to the back surface of the socket 2. Here, compared with the connection piece 17 which has the long hole 19 corresponding to the protrusion piece 7 provided near each edge part of the up-down direction of the header body 4, it was provided near the center part of the up-down direction of the header body 4. As shown in FIG. 6, the connecting piece 17 having the long hole 19 corresponding to the protruding piece 7 is set to have a long vertical dimension, and the connecting pieces 17 having these two types of length dimensions are arranged in the horizontal direction. Alternatingly arranged.

  Further, around the installation hole 16 of the socket body 6, two guide receiving portions 24 made of a conductive material and provided with a guide long hole 23 are arranged in the vertical direction at each of the left and right end portions. A total of four are provided. The guide receiving portion 24 is insert-molded to the socket body 6 in the same manner as the socket contact 5, and the fixing pieces 25 are protruded from both end surfaces of the socket body 6 in the vertical direction. Further, the socket body 6 has a through hole (FIG. 8) that penetrates around the guide long hole 23 in the thickness direction so that the peripheral portion of the guide long hole 23 in the guide receiving portion 24 is exposed on both sides in the front-rear direction. Reference) 26 is formed. The guide long hole 23 has a width 27 that is equal to or greater than the thickness (diameter) of the small-diameter portion 13 of the guide protrusion 12 and less than the thickness (diameter) of the large-diameter portion 14, and the guide protrusion 12. And an inlet 28 having a width dimension equal to or larger than the thickness (diameter) of the large-diameter portion 14. All the guide long holes 23 are aligned in the same direction in plan view, and each has an introduction port 28 in the upper part of FIG. 4A and a locking part 27 in the lower part. Here, each guide long hole 23 is arranged so that the relative positional relationship with respect to the long hole 19 is the same as the relative positional relationship of each guide projection 12 with respect to the protruding piece 7. With the protruding piece 7 of the header 1 inserted into the long hole 19 of the socket 2, the guide protrusion 12 is inserted into the guide long hole 23.

  A method of attaching / detaching the header 1 to / from the socket 2 in the board-to-board connector having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.

  If the header 7 and the socket 2 are overlapped in the thickness direction of the circuit board in a state where the protruding piece 7 is aligned with the introduction hole 22 below the long hole 19 as shown in FIG. The protruding piece 7 is inserted into the long hole 19 from 22. From this state, if the header 1 is moved relative to the socket 2 (upward in FIG. 8) so that the protruding piece 7 moves to the slit 21 in the long hole 19, it is shown in FIGS. In this manner, the neck 8 of the protruding piece 7 can be inserted into the slit 21 of the long hole 19. In addition, since the flange part 10 provided in the base end part of the protrusion piece 7 interposes between the connection piece 17 and the header body 4, when moving the header 1 relatively with respect to the socket 2, a connection piece The header body 4 is not worn by rubbing 17 and the header body 4.

  1 and 9, when the neck portion 8 of the protruding piece 7 is inserted into the slit 21 of the long hole 19, the head 9 of the protruding piece 7 is positioned on both sides of the long hole 19 in the connecting piece 17 (spring pieces). 20) and the protruding piece 7 is prevented from coming off from the long hole 19 in the thickness direction of the circuit board, and the header 1 and the socket 2 are mechanically coupled. Moreover, since the width dimension of the slit 21 of the long hole 19 is set to be equal to or smaller than the thickness of the neck portion 8 of the protruding piece 7, the spring pieces 20 on both sides of the slit 21 of the connecting piece 17 are in elastic contact with the neck portion 8. Thus, the contact pressure between the header contact 3 and the socket contact 5 is ensured. In short, after the header 1 and the socket 2 are overlapped in the thickness direction of the circuit board so that the protruding piece 7 is inserted into the long hole 19 from the introduction hole 22, the header 1 (or in the plane along the surface of the circuit board) The header 1 can be mounted on the socket 2 by sliding the socket 2). Further, the header 1 is positioned relative to the socket 2 so that the protruding piece 7 moves from the state in which the neck 8 of the protruding piece 7 is inserted into the slit 21 of the long hole 19 to the lower introduction hole 22 in the long hole 19. Therefore, if the movement is made (downward in FIG. 8), the engagement between the protruding piece 7 and the connecting piece 19 is released, and the header 1 can be detached from the socket 2.

  According to the inter-board connection connector of the present embodiment described above, the mechanical connection and electrical connection between the header 1 and the socket 2 are achieved by the protruding piece 7 of the header contact 3 and the connection piece 17 of the socket contact 5. Can do both. Here, the mechanical coupling between the header 1 and the socket 2 is made by engaging the head 9 of the protruding piece 7 with both sides of the long hole 19 in the connecting piece 17. The protruding piece 7 and the socket contact 5 do not face each other in the height direction. Further, a desired coupling force can be obtained regardless of the height dimension of the header 1 and the socket 2. With respect to the electrical connection between the header 1 and the socket 2, contact pressure is ensured by the spring pieces 20 on both sides of the slit 21 of the connection piece 17 being elastically contacted with the neck portion 8, and the elasticity of the spring piece 20 is the circuit board. Therefore, a desired contact pressure can be ensured regardless of the height dimension of the header 1 and the socket 2. Therefore, the header 1 and the socket 2 can be reduced in height to the height of the protruding piece 7. In the board-to-board connector of the present embodiment, for example, the distance between the circuit boards can be reduced to about 0.2 to 0.6 mm. In addition, even when the header body 4 and the socket body 6 are deformed, for example, when the header 1 is mounted on the socket 2, the force (that is, the protruding piece 7) is normally used to remove the header 1 from the socket 2. There is no advantage in that contact failure is likely to occur because a force that moves the header 1 relative to the socket 2 so as to move to the introduction hole 22 in the long hole 19 does not occur.

  Further, in this example, since the neck portion 8 of the projecting piece 7 is connected to the header contact 3 and the socket contact 5 by so-called clip contact that is sandwiched between the pair of spring pieces 20 of the connection piece 17, the header contact 3 is one piece. There is also an advantage that the contact reliability is improved as compared with the configuration in which the socket contact 5 is contacted at a place. For example, the header contact 3 is biased in the left-right direction with respect to the socket contact 5 in a state in which the header 1 is mounted on the socket 2 due to dimensional variations during manufacturing of the header 1 and the socket 2. Even if the contact pressure with the spring piece 20 decreases, the contact pressure with the other spring piece 20 increases, and contact stability can be ensured.

  Further, since the connection piece 17 has a double-supported beam structure constructed in the installation hole 16 of the socket body 6, when the connection piece 17 having a cantilever structure in which only one end is supported by the socket body 6 is employed. In comparison, the contact pressure between the connecting piece 17 and the protruding piece 7 can be increased, and the pitch between the connecting pieces 17 can be set with high accuracy. That is, it is possible to reduce the size of the socket 2 in the left-right direction by relatively narrowing the pitch between the connection pieces 17 in the left-right direction (for example, about 0.2 to 0.5 mm), and to insulate between the connection pieces 17. Even if the partition walls are not provided, short-circuiting between the connecting pieces 17 can be prevented. Moreover, by making the long hole 19 into a dumbbell shape, the flexibility of the spring piece 20 in the width direction of the long hole 19 can be improved without extending the length dimension of the spring piece 20, and the length of the spring piece 20 can be increased. It is possible to reduce the size of the socket 2 in the direction (vertical direction).

  By the way, in this embodiment, the header 1 is attached to and detached from the socket 2 using the guide protrusion 12 and the guide receiving portion 24 as a guide. That is, if the header 1 and the socket 2 are overlapped in the thickness direction of the circuit board in a state where the guide projection 12 is aligned with the introduction port 28 of the guide slot 23 as shown in FIG. The guide protrusion 12 is inserted into the guide long hole 23 from the introduction port 28, and at this time, the protruding piece 7 is inserted into the long hole 19 from the lower introduction hole 22 in FIG. . Further, from this state, if the header 1 is moved relative to the socket 2 (upward in FIG. 8) so that the guide protrusion 12 moves in the guide slot 23 to the locking portion 27, 1 and FIG. 9, the small-diameter portion 13 of the guide protrusion 12 can be inserted into the engaging portion 27 of the guide long hole 23, and at this time, the protruding piece 7 has the neck portion 8 with the long hole 19. The slit 21 is inserted. Since the guide flange portion 15 is interposed between the guide receiving piece 24 and the header body 4, the guide receiving portion 24 and the header body 4 are moved when the header 1 is moved relative to the socket 2. The header body does not wear 4 due to rubbing.

  Thus, by using the guide protrusion 12 provided on the peripheral portion of the header 1 and the guide receiving portion 24 provided on the peripheral portion of the socket 2 as a guide, the relative positional relationship between the header 1 and the socket 2 is achieved. It is easy to visually confirm the above, and there is an advantage that the work of attaching / detaching the header 1 to / from the socket 2 is simplified. Moreover, the longitudinal dimension of the guide long hole 23 provided in the guide receiving portion 24 is set to be shorter than the long hole 19 provided in the connection piece 17, and the movement of the guide protrusion 12 in the guide long hole 23 is set. By restricting the range, the movement range of the protruding piece 7 in the long hole 19 is restricted. That is, the longitudinal dimension of the long hole 19 may be set beyond the range of movement of the protruding piece 7 in the long hole 19, and therefore the degree of freedom in designing the longitudinal dimension of the long hole 19 is increased. The elasticity of the spring piece 20 in the connection piece 17 can be designed relatively freely. Here, an example in which the protruding piece 7 is inserted and removed through the lower introduction hole 22 in FIG. 8 is shown, but if the shape of the guide long hole 23 is changed, the protruding piece 7 is inserted through the upper introduction hole 22 in FIG. 7 can be inserted and removed.

  Further, in the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 9, the large-diameter portion 14 of the guide projection 12 engages with both sides of the guide slot 23 in the guide receiving portion 24, and the guide projection 12 serves as a guide in the thickness direction of the circuit board. By preventing the long hole 23 from coming off, the mechanical connection between the header 1 and the socket 2 is assisted. Since the small-diameter portion 13 of the guide protrusion 12 is formed thicker than the neck portion 8 of the protruding piece 7, the coupling force obtained by the engagement of one guide protrusion 12 with the guide receiving portion 24 is one protrusion. This is larger than the coupling force obtained by engaging the piece 7 with the connection piece 17 and greatly contributes to an increase in the coupling force between the header 1 and the socket 2.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the guide receiving portion 24 is provided on both sides in the width direction of the portion between the introduction port 28 and the locking portion 27 in the guide long hole 23. The locking projection 29 is convex forward (second circuit board side) and has flexibility in the thickness direction of the circuit board. According to this configuration, when the guide projection 12 moves between the introduction port 28 and the locking portion 27 in the guide long hole 23, the large-diameter portion 14 gets over the locking projection 29, thereby causing a click feeling. And the operation feeling when the header 1 is attached to and detached from the socket 2 is improved.

  The connecting piece 17 does not need to include the spring piece 20 around the introduction hole 22 in the long hole 19, and includes the spring piece 20 on at least both sides of the long hole 19 in the width direction of the slit 21. If you do. That is, the slit 21 may be formed between the pair of spring pieces 20, and the introduction hole 22 may be formed so as to be continuous with the slit 21 at least at one end portion in the longitudinal direction of the slit 21.

  By the way, the socket 2 having the above-described configuration is formed by insert-molding a metal sheet on which a plurality of socket contacts 5 are formed in the socket body 6. That is, the socket contacts 5 are not formed individually one by one, but are formed in plural from one metal sheet at a time, and the metal sheet is punched and bent. Is formed. For example, the plurality of socket contacts 5 are insert-molded into the socket body 6 in a state where the tip portions of the terminal pieces 18 are connected to each other, and are separated from each other after the insert molding. If a plurality of socket contacts 5 are formed from a single metal sheet in this way, the pitch between the connecting pieces 17 can be made relatively narrow (for example, about 0.2 to 0.5 mm) as described above. Become.

  The socket contacts 5 described above are provided in the vertical direction so that the terminal pieces 18 protrude from the respective end surfaces of the socket body 6 in the vertical direction. In the socket contact 5 provided in the lower installation hole 16, the vertical directions are opposite to each other. However, by forming the long hole 19 in a dumbbell shape that is symmetrical in the vertical direction, the socket contact 5 installed in any installation hole 16 can be handled in a common shape. As a result, it is possible to share a mold used when the socket contact 5 is formed (at the time of punching / bending). Specifically, in the case where a total of 22 socket contacts 5 are provided, 11 in each installation hole 16, the 22 socket contacts 5 connected in the left-right direction using a common mold are formed on a metal sheet. After the formation, this metal sheet is divided into two so that there are 11 socket contacts 5 each, and the 11 socket contacts 5 after being divided are insert-molded into the socket body 6 in a state of being arranged facing each other in the vertical direction. . Here, since the connection pieces 17 having two types of lengths are alternately arranged in the horizontal direction in each of the installation holes 16, the lengths of the connection pieces 17 arranged in the vertical direction are different from each other. As a result, the dimension of the socket body 6 in the width direction (vertical direction) is kept relatively small.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The structure of Embodiment 1 of this invention is shown, (a) is a front view, (b) is a right view, (c) is a bottom view. The structure of a header same as the above is shown, (a) is a front view, (b) is a right side view of (a), and (c) is a bottom view of (a). It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a header same as the above. The structure of a socket same as the above is shown, (a) is a rear view, (b) is a right side view of (a), and (c) is a bottom view of (a). It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a socket same as the above. It is a rear view of the principal part which shows a socket same as the above. The socket contact used for the above is shown, (a) is a front view, (b) is a right side view of (a), (c) is a front view with a header contact connected, (d) is a right side of (c). FIG. It is a front view which shows a structure same as the above. It is a perspective view which shows a structure same as the above. The guide receiving part used for the above is shown, (a) is a front view, (b) is a right side view of (a), (c) is a front view with the guide projection locked, and (d) is (c). FIG. The socket same as the above is shown, (a) is a front view of the main part, (b) is an AA sectional view of (a), and (c) is a BB sectional view of (a). It is sectional drawing which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Header 2 Socket 3 Header contact 4 Header body 5 Socket contact 6 Socket body 7 Protruding piece 8 Neck part 9 Head 11 Contact area 12 Guide protrusion 13 Small diameter part 14 Large diameter part 17 Connection piece 20 Spring piece 21 Slit 22 Introduction hole 23 Guide Long hole 24 Guide receiving portion 27 Locking portion 28 Introduction port 29 Locking protrusion

Claims (6)

  A board-to-board connector that mechanically couples and electrically connects a pair of circuit boards arranged so that at least a part of their surfaces face each other, comprising a header contact made of a conductive material and an insulating material A header having a header body for supporting the header contact and provided on one circuit board; a socket contact made of a conductive material and electrically connectable to the header contact; and a socket body made of an insulating material for supporting the socket contact. And a socket provided on the other circuit board, and the header contact includes a columnar protruding piece protruding from the header body in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the circuit board. The socket contour is formed with different thicknesses on the base end side and the tip end side so that the head on the tip end side is thick. The both ends of the longitudinal direction are such that a thickness dimension orthogonal to the surface of the circuit board is equal to or less than the height dimension of the neck, and a gap greater than the height dimension of the head is provided on the other circuit board side. Comprises a connection piece supported by the socket body, and the connection piece is arranged in parallel in a plane along the surface of the circuit board, and a slit having a width dimension equal to or less than the thickness of the neck is formed between the two. It has a pair of spring pieces that are flexible in the width direction, and the connection piece is formed with an introduction hole of a size that can be inserted into and removed from the head at least at one end in the longitudinal direction of the slit. The pair of spring pieces elastically contact the neck portion when the protruding piece is inserted through the slit through the introduction hole.   The header includes a columnar guide protrusion that protrudes in the same direction as the protruding piece from the periphery of the contact area where the header contact protrudes in the header body, and the guide protrusion has a small-diameter portion on the base end side. The socket is formed to be thicker than the neck, and the proximal end side and the distal end side have different thicknesses so that the large diameter portion on the distal end side is thicker than the small diameter portion, and the socket corresponds to the guide protrusion. A guide receiving portion provided with a guide long hole into which the guide protrusion is inserted, and the guide long hole has a width dimension equal to or larger than the thickness of the small diameter portion and smaller than the thickness of the large diameter portion. A locking portion and an introduction port having a width greater than or equal to the thickness of the large diameter portion are provided, and when the guide protrusion is moved from the introduction port to the locking portion, the protruding piece moves from the introduction hole to the slit. Characterized by the shape of Inter-board connection connector in claim 1.   The guide receiving portion protrudes toward the other side of the circuit board and is flexible in the thickness direction of the circuit board on both sides in the width direction of the portion between the introduction port and the locking part in the guide long hole. The board-to-board connector according to claim 2, further comprising a locking projection having a property.   2. The header contact and the socket contact are provided in plurality, and the socket is formed by insert molding a metal sheet having a plurality of socket contacts formed on the socket body. The board-to-board connector according to claim 3.   Two socket contacts are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the slit so that the longitudinal directions of the slits are opposite to each other, and the shape of the slit and the introduction hole is symmetrical to the longitudinal direction of the slit. 5. The board-to-board connector according to claim 4, wherein the introduction holes are respectively formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the slit.   6. The inter-board connector according to claim 1, wherein the header body is formed integrally with the one circuit board.

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