JP2010040309A - Electrical connector with multi-contact terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric connector having a multi-contact terminal which is a small size connector with a large effective insertion length of the terminal and secures stable terminal contact. <P>SOLUTION: In the electric connector, the terminal 20 includes a plurality of elastic arms 22, 23 and the projected contact parts 22C, 23B formed respectively in the plurality of elastic arms 22, 23 contact elastically the mating terminals 31 in order in insertion engagement with a mating connector 30, and the terminal 20 is formed with the plate face of a metal plate maintained and is arranged in a housing 10 with a spacing in plate-thickness direction of the terminal 20. The plurality of elastic arms 22, 23 of the terminal are positioned on one side to a contact line X which passes through a contact position with the mating terminal 31 and extends in insertion and engagement direction of the connector. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal.

  For the purpose of improving the contact reliability of the terminal contact portion with respect to the mating terminal, an electrical connector in which two contact portions are formed on the terminal is known from Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.

The terminals in these patent documents are formed such that one side portion in the width direction of the belt-shaped metal plate is bent so that the two contact pieces partially face each other on their plate surfaces. These two contact pieces have different lengths, and each tip end side is bent in the plate thickness direction to form a mountain-shaped contact portion. Thus, terminals having contact portions at two positions in the fitting direction with the mating connector are formed, and a plurality of such terminals are arranged and held in the width direction of the band-shaped metal plate by the housing. In such a connector, two contact portions of one terminal are sequentially brought into contact with the mating terminal to form two contact points when mated with the mating connector, thereby improving contact reliability.
JP 08-236187 JP2002-175847

  However, the connectors disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 have some problems because the strip-shaped metal plate is bent in the thickness direction to obtain a terminal.

  The first is that the effective mating length of the terminals becomes very short. The terminal has two elastic arms, and the tip of each elastic arm is processed in the thickness direction to form a contact portion. Therefore, the distance between the two contact portions in the connector fitting direction is large due to processing technology. I have to be. Therefore, when it is required to reduce the size of the connector in the connector fitting direction, the effective fitting length of any elastic arm contact portion is shortened. As a result, the contact reliability at the contact portion decreases.

  Second, in addition to the troublesome bending process to make two elastic arms face each other, the contact forming process for each elastic arm occupies a large part of the member, and connector fitting Terminal dimensions increase in direction. The mountain-shaped contact portion is required to have a certain height in order to ensure contact pressure. In order to ease the insertion and removal of the connector under this height, it is necessary to loosen the angle of the mountain, and as a result, the elastic arm becomes longer as a result. It becomes difficult to operate.

  Furthermore, thirdly, since the terminals have large dimensions in the width direction, the pitch of the terminal arrangement cannot be reduced, and the miniaturization of the connector in the terminal arrangement direction cannot be realized.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides an electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal that can be easily made and the effective fitting length can be increased without increasing the size of the connector in the connector fitting direction and the terminal arrangement direction. The issue is to provide.

  The electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal according to the present invention has a terminal having a plurality of elastic arms, and the protruding contact portions respectively formed on the plurality of elastic arms are mated with the mating connector. The terminals are sequentially brought into elastic contact, and the terminals are made while maintaining the plate surface of the metal plate, and are arranged in the housing at intervals in the plate thickness direction of the terminals.

  In the electrical connector having such a multi-contact terminal, in the present invention, the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal are positioned on one side with respect to a contact line (virtual line) extending through the contact position with the counterpart terminal and extending in the connector fitting direction. It is characterized by that.

  Therefore, the corresponding terminal of the connector of the present invention contacts the mating terminal of the mating connector at each contact portion formed on the plurality of elastic arms. In the present invention, when the mating terminal forms a contact portion on each surface having a step shape instead of one flat surface, the contact lines as the virtual lines exist in parallel to each other by the number of steps, The plurality of elastic arms of the terminal of the present invention are located on one side with respect to any contact line.

  In the electrical connector of the present invention having such a configuration, the terminals are made by maintaining the plate surface of the metal plate and are not bent, so that the manufacturing is easy and the bending is performed at the time of processing. Thus, there is no restriction on the processing dimension that requires a certain dimension for processing, the effective fitting can be made sufficiently long without increasing the terminal dimension in the fitting direction, and the elasticity of the elastic arm is also sufficient It can be secured. Furthermore, since the terminals are arranged in the plate thickness direction, a connector having a narrow pitch structure is realized.

  In the present invention, the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal extends in parallel along the contact line from the base of the terminal held by the housing, and protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the contact line on the distal end side of each elastic arm. Each contact portion may be formed by a portion. By doing in this way, since each elastic arm extends from the base, it can be formed long, and therefore sufficient elasticity can be secured.

  In this invention, each contact part formed in the some elastic arm of a terminal can be made to be located on the line parallel to a contact line at the same space | interval in the state before connector fitting. In this case, the contact portions of the respective elastic arms are all subjected to an equal amount of elastic displacement in the connector fitting state.

  Further, in the present invention, the contact portion formed on the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal may be configured such that the contact pressure with respect to the mating terminal decreases in order from the contact portion that first contacts the mating terminal when the connector is fitted. it can. By forming in this way, when the mating connector is fitted, the contact portion of the next elastic arm is pressed with the force of pressing the first contact portion, so that it can be elastically deformed with a small insertion force, Connector fitting becomes easy.

  For example, when the terminal has two elastic arms, the contact pressure at the contact portion of the elastic arm that first contacts the mating terminal when the connector is fitted, and the contact pressure at the contact portion of the elastic arm that comes into contact next. The ratio is preferably 2: 1.

  In the present invention, it is desirable that the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal have different natural frequencies. The connector of the present invention is originally intended to increase the contact reliability of the terminal, but such characteristics are required for use in a device with vibration, for example, a machine tool. In such a device, vibrations of a specific frequency are transmitted to the connector, so if the elastic frequencies of a plurality of elastic arms are different, even if one elastic arm resonates to cause poor contact, the other elastic arm resonates. Therefore, the contact state is secured stably.

  According to the present invention, the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal are in contact with the elastic arm to be contacted next during the elastic displacement of the elastic arm that comes into contact with the mating terminal when the connector is fitted, It can be made to displace. By doing so, the elastic arm that comes into contact with the counterpart terminal in advance is elastically moved before the next elastic arm comes into contact with the counterpart terminal of the elastic arm to be contacted next. Since the displacement is starting to occur, the next elastic arm may be elastically displaced by the remaining amount of the predetermined elastic displacement amount after the contact with the mating terminal at the contact portion. Therefore, the contact range with the counterpart terminal, that is, the length of the contact portion can be shortened. This means that the distance in the connector fitting direction from the contact portion of the preceding elastic arm to the contact portion of the next elastic arm can be reduced, thereby sacrificing the effective fitting length of the terminal. Therefore, the dimension of the terminal in the connector fitting direction can be shortened, and the connector can be miniaturized in the same direction.

  In the present invention, as described above, a plurality of elastic arms are formed while maintaining the plate surface of the metal plate, and a contact portion is provided on each elastic arm. There is no upper limitation, and each elastic arm is sufficiently long to ensure a large effective fitting length at the contact portion, while obtaining sufficient elasticity and miniaturizing the connector in the connector fitting direction. Further, by arranging the terminals in the plate thickness direction, the terminals can be arranged in a narrow pitch, and the connector can be miniaturized also in this direction.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the connector of the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a connector 1 has a terminal 10 made of a metal plate implanted in a housing 10 made of an electrically insulating material.

  The housing 10 has a main body portion 11 and a leg portion 12. The main body 11 has a substantially trapezoidal shape in which the planar shape is long in the horizontal direction, has a short cylindrical outer surface extending in the vertical direction, and the leg portions 12 are provided at both lower ends in the horizontal direction. The main body 11 of the housing 10 is formed with a receiving recess 13 that opens upward and receives the mating portion of the mating connector. The receiving recess 13 is long in the lateral direction. A plurality of terminal grooves 14 for implanting 20 are formed at regular intervals in the lateral direction. The leg portion 12 is formed with a notch portion 12A that opens in the vertical direction and in the lateral direction. The notch portion 12A has a horizontal mounting surface 19A in a state where a part of the metal fitting 19 held by the housing is bent. Is located. When the connector 1 is disposed on a circuit board (not shown), the mounting surface 19A is in contact with a corresponding land of the circuit board and is soldered to the corresponding land so that the connector 1 is connected to the circuit board. Contributes to installation. In addition, a shield plate may be attached to the outer peripheral surface of the main body 11 of the housing 10.

  A terminal 20 shown in FIG. 2 is inserted into the terminal groove 14 of the housing 10 from below.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 20 is shaped by punching or the like while maintaining the flat surface of the metal plate as it is.

  The terminal 20 has two elastic arms, that is, a first elastic arm 22 and a second elastic arm 23 extending in parallel upward from a base 21 serving as a lower part. The first elastic arm 22 is wider and longer than the second elastic arm 23.

  The first elastic arm 22 includes a mounted portion 22A in which the left side edge of the portion on the base portion 21 side is extended, and a first elastic portion that extends upward as it is with a stepped lower width than the mounted portion 22A. 22B, and a first contact portion 22C that protrudes to the right is provided at the upper end of the first elastic portion 22B.

  On the other hand, the second elastic arm 23 has a second elastic portion 23 </ b> A that extends upward from the base portion 21 with a slightly smaller width than the first elastic portion 22 </ b> B of the first elastic arm 22. The second elastic portion 23A extends to a position directly below the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22, and a second contact portion 22B protruding rightward is provided at the upper end of the second elastic portion 23A. . A line X ′ passing through the respective protruding ends of the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 and the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 is a corresponding terminal of the mating connector 30 shown in FIG. 31 is parallel to a virtual contact line X extending in the connector fitting direction through the corresponding contact portion 31A (contact surface thereof), and is offset from the contact line X by a distance δ. This distance δ is an elastic displacement amount in which the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 abut on the terminal 31 of the mating connector 30 and are displaced when the mating connector 30 is fitted. Thus, in the present embodiment, the two elastic arms of one terminal 20, that is, the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 are located on one side with respect to the contact line X, and their The amount of elastic displacement is also the same δ. However, since the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 have different widths and lengths, the natural frequencies are different from each other. This natural frequency is different from this frequency because the frequency of this vibration is often known in advance in an apparatus in which the connector is used, particularly a machine tool used under the vibration generated during cutting. Is set as follows.

  The terminal 20 has a connecting portion 24 extending from the lower end of the base portion 21 toward the left via a slant portion 24A.

  The terminal groove 14 formed in the main body 11 of the housing 10 so as to accommodate the terminal 20 from below is formed on both inner surfaces facing the receiving recess 13 that opens upward as seen in FIG. Has been. The form is symmetrical as shown in FIG. Below the receiving recess 13, there is provided a central wall 15 that partitions the left and right sides, and the left and right terminal grooves 14 extend downward on both sides of the central wall 15 so as to penetrate the lower surface of the housing 10. Yes.

  In FIG. 3A, the terminal groove 14 has a dimension that is perpendicular to the paper surface slightly larger than the plate thickness dimension of the terminal 20. The groove depth of the terminal groove 14, that is, the left and right dimensions of the groove in the figure, is the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 in the region of the receiving recess 13 in the vertical direction above the central wall 15. Of the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 and the protruding end of the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 protrudes from the terminal groove 14 by the distance δ, In the region of the wall 15, the base 21 of the terminal 20 is pressed into the terminal groove 14 from below while being pressed in the width direction (left-right direction in the figure). When the terminal 20 is press-fitted into the terminal groove 14, the connecting portion 24 extends left and right below the housing 10.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3A, the mating connector 30 to be fitted to the connector 1 has an outer wall 33 fitted to the outer surface of the main body 11 of the connector 10 and both ends in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. The housing 32 forms a fitting recess 36 with the end wall 34 and the bottom wall 35. In the housing 32, a fitting wall 37 extends from the bottom wall 35 toward the lower opening at the center position in the left-right direction of the fitting recess 36. Grooves are formed on both surfaces of the fitting wall 37 so as to extend vertically at a predetermined interval in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and the terminal 31 is press-fitted into the groove. Of course, the terminal 31 may be held integrally with the housing 32. The terminal 31 is provided at a position corresponding to the terminal 20 of the connector 1 in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. In the present embodiment, the contact portion 31A of the terminal 31 extends vertically with a flat surface, and the contact line X passes therethrough. The insertion wall 37 is formed to have a thickness that allows the terminal 31 to enter between the left and right terminals 20 of the connector 1 when the connector is fitted. The lower end of 37 is set to a length close to or in contact with the upper end of the central wall 15 of the connector 1.

  The connector 1 and 30 of this form are used in the following manner.

  (1) The connector 1 is arranged at a predetermined position on a circuit board (not shown), and the connection portion 24 of the terminal 20 is soldered to the corresponding circuit portion, and the metal fitting 19 is soldered to the corresponding land on the mounting surface 19A. To fix.

  (2) Next, the mating connector 30 (sometimes attached to another circuit board) is provided above the connector 1 thus attached to the circuit board (see FIG. 3A).

  (3) After that, the mating connector 30 is lowered. The outer wall 33 of the mating connector 30 is guided by the outer surface of the main body portion 11 of the housing 10 of the connector 1, and starts mating with the main body portion 11 by the fitting recess 36 of the mating connector 30. At the beginning of the fitting, the terminal 31 provided on the fitting wall 37 of the mating connector 30 comes into contact with the first contact portion 22C provided on the first elastic arm 22 of the terminal 20 of the connector 1, and the contact pressure causes the left and right The first elastic arms 22 on both sides are expanded to the left and right to be elastically deformed (see FIG. 3B). The elastic displacement amount of the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 is a distance δ. At this time, the second elastic arm 23 is not in contact with the mating connector 30 and is not yet elastically deformed.

  (4) Further, when the mating connector 30 is pushed down, the connector 31 descends from the state shown in FIG. 3A, and the terminal 31 of the mating connector 30 comes into contact with the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 of the connector 1. The second elastic arm 23 is also expanded and elastically deformed (see FIG. 3C). The amount of elastic displacement of the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 is also the same distance δ as the first contact portion 22C. The finger pressure required to push and expand the first elastic arm 22 (the former) (the force by which the operator pushes the mating connector when the connector is fitted, which is proportional to the contact pressure at the contact portion) and the second elastic arm 23 (the latter Compared with the finger pressure required to expand the pressure), the first elastic arm 22 comes into contact with the counterpart terminal first, so that the former finger pressure is usually larger. Therefore, since the latter second contact portion 23B is positioned directly below the former first contact portion 22C, the mating terminal pushes the latter without difficulty with the momentum of the former. Specifically, the above effect is remarkable when the former is more than twice the contact pressure with the counterpart terminal. Preferably, the contact pressure ratio of the former and the latter is 2: 1. These relations can be obtained by determining the length and width so that the rigidity of both is the same even if the amount of elastic displacement at the contact portion is the same in the former and the latter.

  (5) Thus, the mating connector 30 is fitted to the predetermined depth of FIG. 3D, and the fitting of both the connectors 1 and 30 is completed. In the present invention, since the first contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22 and the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 can be positioned fairly close to each other in the connector fitting direction, the first elastic arm 22 is Of course, the second elastic arm 23 is also set longer, and the effective fitting length becomes longer for both the first contact portion 22C and the second contact portion 23B.

<Second embodiment>
In the first embodiment, the first elastic arm 22 and the second elastic arm 23 are elastically deformed sequentially and independently. However, in the present embodiment, the elastic arms 22 and 23 are temporarily linked to elastically deform. To do.

  In FIG. 4A, the first elastic arm 22 has a recess 22C-1 formed at the lower edge of the first contact portion 22C, and has a locking portion 22C-2 at the tip of the first contact portion 22C. is doing. On the other hand, the second elastic arm 23 is provided with a protruding portion 23B-1 that protrudes upward at the upper end of the second contact portion 23B. The locked portion 23B-1 is located so as to enter the recess 22C-1, and faces the locking portion 22C-2 with a gap in the lateral direction, that is, the displacement direction of the contact portions 22C and 23B. ing. Although only one terminal 20 is shown in FIG. 4A, the connector has another terminal symmetrically as in FIG. 3A.

  In this embodiment, when the connector is fitted, the mating terminal 31 descends while abutting against the contact portion 22C of the first elastic arm 22, and elastically displaces it to the left. During the elastic deformation of the first elastic arm 22, the locking portion 22 </ b> C- 2 comes into contact with the locked portion 23 </ b> B- 1 of the second elastic arm 23 and pushes it to the left, 23 is elastically deformed in the same direction. During this time, the mating terminal 31 descends and comes into contact with the second contact portion 23B of the second elastic arm 23 as shown in FIG. 4B, where the second elastic arm 23 is pressed and elastically deformed. Let Thus, the locked portion 23B-1 of the second elastic arm 23 is separated from the locking portion 22C-2 of the first elastic arm 22. That is, the second elastic arm 23 is first pressed by the first elastic arm 22 to be elastically deformed, and then is pressed by the mating terminal 31 from FIG. 4 (B) to FIG. 4 (C) to be elastic. Deform. When the second contact portion 23B comes into contact with the mating terminal 31, the second contact portion 23B has already been displaced to the left, so that the second contact portion 23B is in contact with the mating terminal 31 (the length of the oblique portion). However, it is not necessary to change the inclination at the inclined portion (that is, without changing the pushing force downward of the mating terminal) as compared with the case of the first embodiment. This means that the vertical distance between the top of the first contact portion 22C and the top of the second contact portion 23B can be shortened. Therefore, the terminal can be shortened in the vertical direction by the above-mentioned shortening while securing the effective fitting length of the same length as in the case of the first embodiment, which contributes to miniaturization in the same direction.

  Since the change in resistance force occurs in a series of ranges when the mating terminal 31 passes through the top of the first contact portion 22C and the top of the second contact portion 23B, the operability during fitting is also good.

  The present invention can be variously modified in addition to the illustrated embodiment. For example, the terminal may be provided with not only two elastic arms but also three or more. In the case where there are three elastic arms, all the elastic arms may extend upward in parallel from the base, and sequentially protrude sideways to form contact portions, respectively.

  Also, if the terminals of the mating connector are stepped and contact portions are formed at each step, the contact portions of the respective elastic arms can be positioned corresponding to the respective contact lines passing through the contact portions. good.

  Furthermore, each contact portion of the plurality of elastic arms may have a different amount of displacement at the time of contact with the mating terminal.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the connector of one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a perspective view of the terminal of the first embodiment used in the connector. 1 is a cross-sectional view when the mating connector is fitted to the connector, and is shown in the order of fitting in (A) to (D). It is sectional drawing of the principal part when fitting a mating connector to the connector which has a terminal of a second embodiment, and shows the order of progress of fitting by (A)-(C).

Explanation of symbols

1 connector 23 (second) elastic arm 10 housing 23B (second) contact portion 20 terminal 30 mating connector 22 (first) elastic arm 31 mating terminal 22C (first) contact portion X contact line

Claims (7)

  The terminal has a plurality of elastic arms, and when mated with the mating connector, the protruding contact portions formed on the plurality of elastic arms respectively come into elastic contact with the mating terminal, and the terminals are made of metal. In the electrical connector which is made while maintaining the plate surface of the plate and arranged in the housing at intervals in the thickness direction of the terminal, the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal passes through the contact position with the mating terminal and the connector is fitted. An electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal, which is located on one side with respect to a contact line extending in a mating direction.   A plurality of elastic arms of the terminal extend in parallel along the contact line from the base of the terminal held by the housing, and contact each other at a protruding portion that is directed perpendicular to the contact line on the distal end side of each elastic arm. The electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal according to claim 1, wherein a portion is formed.   Each contact part formed in the some elastic arm of a terminal is located on the line parallel to a contact line at the same space | interval in the state before connector fitting. An electrical connector having multi-contact terminals.   4. The contact portion formed on the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal has a contact pressure with respect to the mating terminal decreasing in order from the contact portion that first contacts the mating terminal when the connector is fitted. The electrical connector which has the multi-contact terminal as described in one of them.   The terminal has two elastic arms, and the ratio of the contact pressure at the contact portion of the elastic arm that first comes into contact with the mating terminal when the connector is fitted to the contact pressure at the contact portion of the elastic arm that comes into contact next is 2: 1. An electrical connector having multi-contact terminals according to claim 4.   6. The electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of elastic arms of the terminal have different natural frequencies.   The plurality of elastic arms of the terminal, when the connector is fitted, the elastic arm that comes into contact with the mating terminal first comes into contact with the elastic arm to be contacted next during the elastic displacement and elastically displaces it. An electrical connector having a multi-contact terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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