JP2013089460A - Electric connector, attachment and electric connector unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric connector in which a mode of connecting a flat connection member alone, and a mode of connecting a flat connection member along with an attachment can be alternatively selected.SOLUTION: A housing 2 of a base connector 1 has a first insertion recess 8 into which a connection member 107 can be inserted in an insertion direction X1, and a pair of second insertion recesses 9, 10 interconnected with a pair of width direction ends 8a, 8b of the first insertion recess 8, respectively, and spaced apart from each other. A width direction intermediate part 8c of the first insertion recess 8 directly faces a front surface 107a and a rear surface 107b of a connection member 107 being inserted. An attachment 11 having insertion protrusions 22, 23 that can support the pair of width direction ends of the connection member 107, respectively, while separating from each other in a width direction W1 and can be inserted into the second insertion recesses 9, 10, respectively, is used.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical connector, an attachment for attaching a connection member to the electrical connector, and an electrical connector unit including the electrical connector and the attachment.

In Patent Document 1, a connector with a holder is proposed in which a holder to which an FPC (flexible printed circuit) is attached is attached to or detached from a case. The holder is locked to the case when the locking portion of the holder is locked to the engaging portion of the case. On the other hand, the holder is unlocked using a punching jig.
Patent Document 2 proposes a flat cable connector in which a holder having a flat plate member on which an FFC (flexible flat cable) is placed is inserted into the opening of the connector housing together with the flat cable.

JP 2003-45529 A JP 2002-117923 A

  The holder includes a flat substrate and both side plates, and receives the entire surface (or back surface) of the flat connection member by the substrate. The specifications of an electrical connector using such a holder are completely different from those of an electrical connector in which a flat connecting member is independently connected. In both aspects, since the electrical connector cannot be shared, the manufacturing cost as a whole is high.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector, a touchment, and an electrical connector unit capable of selectively selecting a mode in which a flat connection member is connected alone and a mode in which the flat connection member is connected together with an attachment. Is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a housing (2) in which a first insertion recess (8) into which a flat connection member (7) can be inserted along a predetermined insertion direction (X1) is formed. And a colant (3) held by the housing so as to elastically contact the conductive portion of the connection member inserted into the first insertion recess, the first insertion recess including a pair of A width direction end portion (8a, 8b) and a width direction intermediate portion (8c) disposed between the pair of width direction end portions; and the housing communicates with the pair of width direction end portions, respectively. Then, a pair of second insertion recesses (9, 10) spaced apart from each other is formed, and the intermediate portion in the width direction of the first insertion recess directly faces the front surface (7a) and the back surface (7b) of the connecting member to be inserted. An electrical connector configured to be provided.

In addition, although the alphanumeric character in a parenthesis represents the corresponding component etc. in embodiment mentioned later, this does not mean that this invention should be limited to those embodiment as a matter of course. The same applies hereinafter.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the first insertion recess and the pair of second insertion recesses may have a groove shape when viewed along the insertion direction.

  Invention of Claim 3 is an attachment (11) for attaching the said connection member to the electrical connector of Claim 1 or 2, Comprising: It extends from the said main body (12) and the said main body, A pair of insertion convex portions (22, 23) that respectively hold the corresponding width direction end portions (107c, 107d) and can be inserted into the corresponding second insertion concave portions, and an elastically deformable support provided on the main body There is provided an attachment comprising a lock arm (14) pivotably supported by a piece (13) and configured to be removably locked to the housing.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, each of the pair of insertion convex portions includes a receiving portion (25) for receiving a corresponding width direction end portion of the connecting member, and a corresponding width of the connecting member provided in the receiving portion. It may include a retaining protrusion (28) that engages with a notch (27) provided at the direction end.
Invention of Claim 5 is an electrical connector unit (U1) provided with the electrical connector of Claim 1 or 2, and the attachment for mounting | wearing with the said connection member to the said electrical connector, Comprising: The said attachment is A main body, a pair of insertion protrusions extending from the main body, each holding a corresponding widthwise end of the connecting member and insertable into a corresponding second insertion recess, respectively, provided on the main body There is provided an electrical connector unit including a lock arm that is swingably supported by an elastically deformable support piece and configured to be removably locked to the housing.

  According to the electrical connector of the first aspect of the invention, the first aspect of attaching the connecting member to the electrical connector alone, and the electrical member together with the member (for example, an attachment) having an additional function (for example, a locking function for the housing). The second mode attached to can be selectively used. In both aspects, since a common electrical connector can be used, the manufacturing cost can be reduced due to the mass production effect.

  Specifically, in the first aspect, since the width direction intermediate portion of the first insertion recess directly faces the front and back surfaces of the connection member inserted into the first insertion recess, in the width direction intermediate portion, The contact can be elastically brought into contact with the conductive portion to achieve connection between the connection member and the electrical connector. On the other hand, in the second mode, for example, when an attachment having a pair of insertion convex portions respectively holding a pair of width direction end portions of the connection member is attached to the housing together with the connection member, each insertion convex portion corresponds to the second projection. While inserting into an insertion recessed part, the lock arm provided in the attachment is latched by a housing, the lock function with respect to a housing is achieved, and the reliable removal prevention of a connection member is realizable.

According to the electrical connector of the second aspect of the present invention, the first insertion recess and the pair of second insertion recesses as a whole have a groove shape when viewed along the insertion direction. Can be achieved.
According to the attachment of the invention of claim 3, the connection member is attached to the electrical connector together with the attachment by inserting the connection member into the first insertion recess while inserting each insertion protrusion into the corresponding second insertion recess. Since the attachment has a function of locking to the housing by the lock arm, it is possible to achieve reliable prevention of the connection member from being detached from the electrical connector (so-called positive lock).

According to the attachment of the invention of claim 4, each insertion convex portion has a receiving portion for receiving the corresponding width direction end portion of the connecting member, and the receiving portion has a notch in the corresponding width direction end portion of the connecting member. Since the retaining protrusion is engaged with the connecting member, it is possible to more reliably achieve the retaining of the connecting member.
According to the electrical connector unit of the invention of claim 5, by attaching the connecting member to the electrical connector together with the attachment holding the connecting member, the lock arm of the attachment is elastically locked to the housing. Thus, it is possible to achieve reliable securing of the connecting member (so-called positive lock).

It is the perspective view which looked at the base connector as an electrical connector of one embodiment of the present invention from the front slanting upper part, and shows the state where the base connector was attached on the substrate. It is a perspective view of a base connector, and shows the state which looked at the base connector from back diagonally upward. (A) And (b) is the perspective view from the front diagonally upper direction of a base connector, and the perspective view from the diagonally lower front side of a base connector, respectively, and shows the aspect by which the connection member was independently attached to the base connector. Yes. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a base connector unit (electrical connector unit) including an attachment for attaching the connection member to the base connector and a base connector, and shows a state in which the connection member held by the attachment is attached to the base connector together with the attachment ing. It is a schematic side view of the connection member when it is independently attached to the base connector. It is a front view of a base connector. It is sectional drawing of a base connector which follows the VII-VII line of FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view of the attachment and connecting member of FIG. It is a perspective view from another angle of an attachment. It is a schematic side view of a connecting member when attached to a base connector together with an attachment. (A) is the front diagonally upper perspective view of the attachment holding the connecting member, (b) is a perspective view of the attachment holding the connecting member as seen from the diagonally lower front. It is a disassembled perspective view of a base connector unit, and shows an attachment to which a connecting member is attached and a base connector. It is sectional drawing of a base connector unit, and has shown the state which attached the connection member.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a base connector as an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention from an obliquely upper front, and shows a state in which the base connector is mounted on a substrate. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the base connector from the rear and obliquely above. Referring to these drawings, the base connector 1 includes a horizontally long housing 2 made of an insulating synthetic resin, and a plurality of contacts 3 held side by side and held by the housing 2.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the present embodiment is characterized by a first mode in which a flat connection member 7 such as an FPC is attached to the base connector 1 alone, and FIG. As described above, the second aspect in which the connecting member 7 is attached to the base connector 1 together with the attachment 11 holding the connecting member 7 is configured to be selectively used. The attachment 11 is swingably supported by a main body 12 and an elastically deformable support piece 13 provided on both sides of the main body 12, and a pair of lock arms that can be detachably locked to the housing 2 of the base connector 1. 14. That is, the attachment 11 is configured as a member having a lock function (additional function) with respect to the housing 2. The base connector 1 and the attachment 11 constitute a base connector unit U1 (electric connector unit).

As shown in FIG. 5, the connecting member 7 is configured by covering the conductor 71 with an insulating resin 72 in a sandwich shape, and the conductive member 71 is exposed by removing the insulating resin 72 on the front surface 7 a side. A contact portion 710 is configured. Moreover, the front-end | tip part of the connection member 7 is reinforced with the reinforcement board 80 affixed on the back surface 7b side.
As shown in FIG. 5, which is a front view of the base connector 1, a metal reinforcing tab 4 is fixed to each side 2a, 2b of the housing 2, and the reinforcing tab 4 is as shown in FIG. The substrate K is fixed to the conductive portion of the surface Ka by soldering. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each side surface 2c, 2d of the housing 2 is provided with an engaging portion 5 formed of a step portion, and each engaging portion 5 is shown in FIG. As described above, the lock arm 14 of the attachment 11 is locked.

  With reference to FIGS. 1 and 6, an insertion recess 6 is opened in the front surface 2 e of the base connector 1. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the insertion recess 6 includes a first insertion recess 8 and a first insertion recess that can insert a flat connection member 7 such as an FPC alone along the insertion direction X1. A pair of second insertion recesses 9 and 10 communicated with the pair of eight widthwise end portions 8a and 8b, respectively.

  The pair of first insertion recesses 9 and 10 are separated from each other in the width direction W1. The entire shape including the first insertion recess 8 and the pair of second insertion recesses 9 and 10 has a groove shape. The 1st insertion recessed part 8 has the width direction intermediate part 8c between a pair of width direction edge part 8a, 8b. The width direction intermediate portion 8c of the first insertion recess 8 is a connecting member 7 (imaginary line) inserted into the first insertion recess 8 as shown in FIG. 7 which is a cross-sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG. It is configured so as to directly face the front surface 7a and the back surface 7b.

  As shown in FIG. 7, each contact 3 includes a main body portion 15 having a substantially rectangular shape, a fixed piece portion 17 extending from the main body portion 15 and press-fitted and fixed to the fixing hole 16 of the housing 2 from the rear, and a main body portion. 15, an elastic piece portion 19 that is accommodated in the accommodation groove 18 of the housing 2, and a lead portion 20 that has a substantially L-shape and extends from the main body portion 15. The elastic piece 19 has a mountain-shaped contact portion 21 that elastically advances into the first insertion recess 8 of the housing 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the lead portion 20 protrudes from the rear surface 2f of the housing 2 and is fixed to the surface Ka of the substrate K by soldering.

As shown in FIG. 8, the attachment 11 includes a main body 12, a pair of insertion protrusions 22 and 23 extending from the main body 12, and a pair of lock arms 14 supported by the main body 12 via a support piece 13. It has.
The main body 12 has a connection member insertion hole 24 that penetrates the main body 12 back and forth and allows the connection member 107 to be inserted therethrough. One end of the connection member insertion hole 24 opens to the front surface 12a of the main body 12 as shown in FIG. 8, and the other end of the connection member insertion hole 24 opens to the rear surface 12b of the main body 12 as shown in FIG. ing.

  The pair of insertion convex portions 22 and 23 protrudes rearward (corresponding to the insertion direction X1 of the connection member 107) from directly below the pair of width direction end portions of the connection member insertion hole 24 on the rear surface 12b of the main body 12. The pair of insertion convex portions 22 and 23 can be inserted into the corresponding second insertion concave portions 9 and 10 of the housing 2 while holding the corresponding width direction end portions 107c and 107d of the connecting member 107, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the connecting member 107 is configured by covering the conductor 71 with an insulating resin 72 in a sandwich shape, and the conductive member 71 is exposed by removing the insulating resin 72 on the front surface 7a side. A contact portion 710 is configured. The front end portion of the connecting member 7 is reinforced by a reinforcing plate 80 attached to the back surface 7b side. These points are common to the connection member 7 of FIG. The connecting member 107 in FIG. 10 is different from the connecting member 5 in FIG. 5 in that a notch 27 is provided.

  Each insertion convex part 22 and 23 has the receiving part 25 (refer FIG. 9) which receives a pair of width direction edge part 107c, 107d of the connection member 107. As shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIGS. 9, 11 (a) and 11 (b), positioning protrusions 26 for positioning the distal end of the connection member 107 in the insertion direction X <b> 1 of the connection member 107 are provided at the distal ends of the insertion protrusions 22 and 23. Is formed. Further, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 11A, the receiving portions 25 of the respective insertion convex portions 22 and 23 are provided with notches 27 provided in the corresponding width direction end portions 107c and 107d of the connecting member 107. A retaining protrusion 28 to be engaged is provided.

  Each lock arm 14 is swingably supported through elastically deformable support pieces 13 provided on a pair of side surfaces 12 c and 12 d of the main body 12. At the front end of each lock arm 14, a hook 29 is provided as an engaging portion that can be hooked and engaged with the corresponding engaging portion 5 of the housing 2. Further, at the rear end of each lock arm 14, a release operation portion 30 that is pressed when releasing the engagement of the hook 29 with the corresponding engagement portion 5 of the housing 2 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 12, the connection member 107 held by the attachment 11 is attached to the base connector 1 together with the attachment 11. At this time, the insertion convex portions 22 and 23 of the attachment 11 are inserted into the corresponding second insertion concave portions 9 and 10 of the housing 2.
Further, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the surface 107a and the back surface 107b of the intermediate portion in the width direction of the connecting member 107 supported between the insertion convex portions 22 and 23 are in a state after insertion. As shown in FIG. 13, the width direction intermediate portion 8 c of the first insertion recess 8 directly opposes, so that the contact 3 (contact portion 21) elastically contacts the conductive portion of the connection member 107 in the width direction intermediate portion 8 c. Thus, the connection between the connecting member 107 and the base connector 1 can be achieved.

  According to the present embodiment, the first mode of attaching the connecting member 7 to the base connector 1 alone (see FIGS. 3A and 3B) and the connecting member 107 have an additional function (locking function with respect to the housing 2). The second mode (see FIG. 4) attached to the base connector 1 together with the attachment 11 as a member having can be selectively used. In both aspects, since the common base connector 1 can be used, the manufacturing cost can be reduced due to the mass production effect.

Specifically, in the first mode, as shown in FIG. 7, the width direction intermediate portion 8 c of the first insertion recess 8 is directly formed on the front surface 7 a and the back surface 7 b of the connection member 7 inserted into the first insertion recess 8. Since it faces, the contact 3 (contact part 21) can be elastically brought into contact with the conductive part of the connection member 7 in the width direction intermediate part 8c, and the connection of the connection member 7 and the base connector 1 can be achieved.
On the other hand, in the second mode, as shown in FIG. 12, the attachment 11 having the pair of insertion convex portions 22 and 23 holding the pair of width direction end portions 107 c and 107 d of the connection member 107 is housed together with the connection member 107. 2, the insertion convex portions 22 and 23 are inserted into the corresponding second insertion concave portions 9 and 10, respectively, and the lock arm 14 provided on the attachment 11 is locked to the housing 2 (engagement portion 5). Thus, the lock function for the housing 2 can be achieved, and the connection member 7 can be reliably prevented from coming off.

Further, when viewed along the insertion direction X1, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, since the first insertion recess 8 and the pair of second insertion recesses 9 and 10 as a whole have a groove shape, The base connector 1 can be reduced in height.
Moreover, according to the attachment 11 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, the connection member 107 is made into the 1st insertion recessed part 8, inserting each insertion convex part 22,23 in the corresponding 2nd insertion recessed part 9,10. By inserting, the connection member 107 is attached to the base connector 1 together with the attachment 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the attachment 11 has a lock function to the housing 2 by its lock arm 14, so that the connection member 107 can be reliably prevented from coming off from the base connector 1 (so-called positive lock). be able to.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the attachment 11 includes a receiving portion 25 in which each of the insertion convex portions 22 and 23 receives the corresponding width direction end portions 107 c and 107 d of the connecting member 107. Since the retaining protrusion 28 that engages the notch 27 of the corresponding width direction end 107c, 107d of the connecting member 107 is provided, the retaining of the connecting member 107 can be achieved more reliably.

  Further, according to the base connector unit 1 of the present embodiment, the connecting member 107 is attached to the base connector 1 together with the attachment 11 holding the connecting member 107, whereby the lock arm 14 of the attachment 11 is locked to the housing 2 (specifically Specifically, since the hook 29 serving as the locking portion of the lock arm 14 is hooked and locked to the engaging portion 5, the connection member 107 can be reliably prevented from coming off from the base connector 1 (so-called positive lock). Can do.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the shape of the entire insertion recess 6 including the first insertion recess 8 and the pair of second insertion recesses 9 and 10 is as shown in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a groove shape (not shown) that opens to the opposite side of the substrate K. Further, the insertion recess 6 may have a lateral I shape (not shown). In addition, various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

1. Base connector (electrical connector)
2 ... Housing 2a, 2b ... Side 2c, 2d ... Side 2e ... Front 2f ... Rear 3 ... Contact 5 ... Engagement 6 ... Insertion recess 7; 107 ... Connection member 7a; 107a ... Front 7b; 107b ... Back 8 ... 1st insertion recessed part 8a, 8b ... width direction edge part 8c ... width direction intermediate part 9, 10 ... 2nd insertion recessed part 11 ... attachment 12 ... main body 13 ... support piece 14 ... lock arm 19 ... elastic piece part 21 ... contact part 22 , 23 ... Insertion convex part 24 ... Connection member insertion hole 25 ... Receiving part 26 ... Positioning protrusion 27 ... Notch 28 ... Retaining prevention protrusion 29 ... Hook (locking part)
30 ... Release operation unit 71 ... Conductor 72 ... Insulating resin 80 ... Reinforcing plate U1 ... Base connector unit (electrical connector unit)
W1 Width direction X1 Insertion direction

Claims (5)

A housing formed with a first insertion recess into which a flat connection member can be inserted along a predetermined insertion direction;
A colant holding the housing so as to elastically contact the conductive portion of the connection member inserted into the first insertion recess,
The first insertion recess includes a pair of width direction end portions and a width direction intermediate portion disposed between the pair of width direction end portions,
The housing is formed with a pair of second insertion recesses that communicate with the pair of widthwise ends and are spaced apart from each other.
The electrical connector is configured such that the intermediate portion in the width direction of the first insertion recess directly faces the front and back surfaces of the connecting member to be inserted.   The electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the first insertion recess and the pair of second insertion recesses as a whole have a groove shape when viewed along the insertion direction. An attachment for attaching the connection member to the electrical connector according to claim 1 or 2,
The body,
A pair of insertion protrusions extending from the main body, each holding a corresponding width direction end of the connection member, and being insertable into the corresponding second insertion recess;
An attachment comprising: a lock arm that is swingably supported by an elastically deformable support piece provided on the main body and configured to be removably locked to the housing.   4. The pair of insertion convex portions according to claim 3, wherein each of the pair of insertion convex portions is provided at the receiving portion corresponding to the width direction end portion of the connecting member, and provided at the receiving portion, and provided at the corresponding width direction end portion of the connecting member. A retaining projection for engaging the cutout, and an attachment. The electrical connector according to claim 1 or 2,
An electrical connector unit comprising: an attachment for mounting the connection member on the electrical connector;
The attachment includes a main body, a pair of insertion protrusions extending from the main body, each holding a corresponding end in the width direction of the connection member, and capable of being inserted into a corresponding second insertion recess, respectively, from the main body And an elastically deformable lock arm extended and configured to removably engage the housing.

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