JP2014107193A - Connector structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector capable of effectively suppressing intrusion of foreign matters in a state in which a male connector is removed from a female connector.SOLUTION: Two or more connectors are arranged in logically equivalent relationship with each other in at least one of a male connector and a female connector, and a protection structure is constituted by using a protection member corresponding to each of the two or more connectors. The protection structure includes a protection member for protecting a metal terminal in one of the male connector and the female connector when the male connector and the female connector are not engaged with each other. The protection member exposes a portion of the protected metal terminal with the pressing by the male connector and the female connector, compressively deforms an elastic body connected to the protection member, and returns to the position for protecting the portion of the metal terminal with the restoring force of the elastic body after releasing the pressing by the male connector or the female connector.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector structure, and more particularly, a connector used for connecting between conducting wires for conducting and transmitting / receiving signals in an electrical device, and harmful elements such as dust are not intended in the connector housing. The present invention relates to a connector structure having a structure that protects against intrusion.

  As shown in Patent Document 1, when connecting between conductive wires for conducting energization or signal transmission / reception in an electrical device or between patterns formed on a substrate, a metal hard terminal is connected to one end of each conductive wire. A connector structure is known in which pins are connected so as to be conductive, and the periphery of both terminal pins is covered with a housing formed of resin or the like.

  At this time, the respective housings formed at the ends of the respective conductive wires are formed so as to be arranged and fixed so that both terminal pins are brought into contact with each other in a state of being fitted to each other. Called female connector. In addition, the number of terminal pins in one housing is not limited to one, and a plurality of terminal pins are widely included.

JP 2000-315550 A

For example, a terminal pin and a battery are connected via a conductive wire, and a male connector containing the terminal pin and a female connector connected to the electronic circuit are connected to each other to supply power to the circuit board constituting the electronic circuit. In order to replace the battery, it is necessary to remove the male connector from the female connector.
However, since the power supply to the circuit board is temporarily cut off by removing the connector, if a volatile memory is mounted on the circuit board, the stored information is lost, resulting in inconvenience. To avoid this, if two or more female connectors are provided on the circuit board, and one of the female connectors or a male connector connected to the battery is inserted into the two or more female connectors, the circuit board is powered. In other words, it can be considered that the power supply to the circuit board is cut off only when no male connector connected to the battery is inserted into any female connector. In the present invention, the relationship between the female connectors is hereinafter expressed as being logically equivalent to each other.

  According to such a configuration, when replacing the battery, first, a new battery and a male connector connected thereto are prepared, and the power supply to the circuit board can be ensured by connecting to a vacant female connector. In addition, by removing the old battery and the male connector connected thereto from the female connector, it is possible to safely replace the battery with a new battery.

  By the way, in the above-described conventional connector structure, when the male connector and the female connector are fitted to each other, although the periphery of the terminal pin can be almost nearly sealed by both housings, both connectors When one of the housings is removed, the one end surface of the housing is open to the outside, which may prevent conduction between the terminal pins from this open surface or cause unintentional conduction (cross-link) between the terminal pins, Alternatively, a substance that adversely affects the terminal pin, such as rusting of the terminal pin, such as dust or water droplets in the air, may enter from the outside of the connector housing.

  On the other hand, when such a configuration is used, a male connector is not always inserted into any of the female connectors except when the battery is replaced. In particular, when the battery replacement cycle is on a yearly basis, the risk of entry of foreign matter such as dust into a female connector not inserted increases with time.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector structure that can effectively prevent the entry of foreign matters as described above even when the male connector is detached from the female connector.

  A connector structure according to claim 1 of the present invention includes a male connector provided with a metal terminal, a housing made of an insulating material covering the metal terminal, and a metal terminal that is brought into contact conduction with the metal terminal in the male connector. A female connector comprising a housing made of an insulating material covering the metal terminal and configured to be engageable with the housing of the male connector; and when the male connector and the female connector are not engaged, the male connector or the female connector A protective member that protects at least a part of the metal terminal in any one of the connectors, and the protective member exposes a part of the protected metal terminal by pressing with the male connector or the female connector. , After compressively deforming the elastic body connected to the protective member, after releasing the pressure by the male connector or female connector, A connector structure configured to return to a position where a part of the metal terminal is protected by a restoring force of the elastic body, wherein at least one of the male connector and the female connector is logically connected to each other. And a protective structure using the protective member corresponding to each of the two or more connectors.

  The connector structure according to claim 2 of the present invention is the connector structure according to claim 1, wherein a connector having a metal terminal protected by the protection member is fixed on a substrate, and the protection member and the elastic body Is formed on a support member fixed to the substrate.

  The connector structure according to a third aspect of the present invention is the connector structure according to the second aspect, further comprising a rail structure in which the protection member and the support member are engaged with each other, The elastic member is configured to move along the rail structure of the support member while compressively deforming the elastic body.

  The connector structure according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the connector structure according to the third aspect, wherein the protective member is configured to have a slope portion that is inclined with respect to a longitudinal direction of the rail, and the slope portion. The protective member is configured to be movable along the rail structure of the support member by applying the pressure to the support member.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a connector that can effectively prevent the intrusion of foreign matter even when the male connector is detached from the female connector.

It is sectional drawing which shows the outline | summary of the connector structure which concerns on 1st Example of this invention. It is sectional drawing which extracted only the support plate 4 and the cover 5 which concern on 1st Example of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the outline | summary of the connector structure which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure at the time of integrally forming the cover and spring member in this invention.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an outline of a connector structure according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, 1 and 1 'are male connectors, and 2 and 2' are female connectors. The male connector 1, 1 ′ includes a terminal pin 11 (not shown), and one end of the conducting wire 6 is connected to the male terminal pin 12 so as to be conductive with the male terminal pin 11. The female connectors 2, 2 ′ are configured to be matable with the male connector 1, and include female side terminal pins 21 that come into contact with the male side terminal pins 11 when mated with each other. The In the present embodiment, one end of the female terminal pin is disposed through the circuit board 3, and the lead pattern 31 provided on the back surface of the circuit board 3 where the female connectors 2, 2 ′ are located. Conductive connection is established by soldering. The lead pattern 31 connects the female terminal pins 21 of the female connectors 2 and 2 ′ to each other directly or via some appropriate electronic component, so that the female connectors 2 and 2 ′ are connected to each other. 'Ensuring mutual complementarity. A battery 7 is connected to the other end of the conductor 6, and the battery 7 supplies power to the circuit board 3 through the conductor 6, the male terminal pin 12, and the female terminal pin 21.

  Further, the circuit board 3 is provided with a support plate 4 at a position spaced apart by the height of the female connectors 2 and 2 ′, and a cover 5 is provided on the support plate 4 to close the opening surface 22 of the female connector 2. Is located so. On the support plate 4, a stopper 41 provided substantially perpendicular to the support plate 4 is formed, and a spring member 42 is provided. One end of the spring member 42 is in contact with the stopper 41 and the other end is in contact with the cover 5. In addition, a rail 43 is provided on the support plate 4 in parallel with the expansion and contraction direction of the spring member 42. On the other hand, as shown in the figure, the cover 5 is formed as a slope 51 in which a surface facing the opening surface 22 of the female connector is cut out at a predetermined angle with respect to the opening surface 22.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view in which only the support plate 4 and the cover 5 are extracted from the cross section along the line AA in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the engagement concave portions 52 provided on both side surfaces of the cover 5 respectively engage with the engagement convex portions 431 provided on the rail 43 correspondingly. For this reason, by pressing the cover 5 from the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1, a part of the pressing force acts as a force in a direction to compress and contract the spring member 42, so that the cover 5 compresses the spring member 42 and the rail 43. The cover 5 returns to the original position along the rail 43 by the restoring force of the spring member 42 by removing the pressing force.

  With such a structure, while the male connectors 1 and 1 ′ are not connected, the opening surfaces 22 of the female connectors 2 and 2 ′ are covered with the cover 5, and foreign matter such as dust and water drops is prevented by the cover 5. It becomes possible. In connecting the male connectors 1 and 1 ′ to the female connectors 2 and 2 ′, the cover 5 moves along the rail 43 by pressing the male connectors 1 and 1 ′ against the inclined surface 51 of the cover 5. And since the opening surface 22 of female connector 2, 2 'is open | released, it becomes possible to insert male connector 1, 1' in female connector 2, 2 '. Thereafter, when the male connectors 1 and 1 ′ are detached from the female connectors 2 and 2 ′, the cover 5 returns to the position where the spring member 42 covers the opening surface 22 again at the same time as the removal. The female connector can be appropriately protected by the cover 5 without requiring any extra operation. Further, even when the cover 5 is moved from the opening surface 22, the cover 5 is always located on the support plate 4, so that the opening surface 22 is covered with, for example, a seal or a cap, and only when the male connector is attached. Compared with the method of removing this, there is no possibility of losing the cover 5 itself.

  Further, as a secondary effect, the support plate 4 covers at least part or all of the circuit board 3 by providing the support plate 4 to provide the cover 5, so that the support plate 4 protects the circuit board 3. It functions as a member, and the effect of preventing damage to the circuit board 3 and eventually other electronic components (not shown) disposed on the circuit board 3 is obtained.

  FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an outline of the connector structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the method of fixing one end of the spring member 42 to the stopper 41 is adopted. However, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the stopper 41 is not used and the two covers 5, 5 ′ are used. On the other hand, both ends of the spring member are fixed. Even if it is such a structure, it becomes possible to obtain the effect similar to 1st embodiment.

  In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, as the spring member 42, various elastic materials such as a rubber material may be used in addition to a general metal spring. It may be formed separately and assembled with the stopper, or may be formed integrally with the spring shape at the time of molding the cover or the stopper.

  In particular, in the second embodiment described above, an example of the structure when the covers 5, 5 'and the spring member 42 are integrally formed is shown in FIG. Here, FIG. 4A is a top view showing the cover 5 and the spring member. As shown in the figure, the spring member 42 is integrally formed as a wave-like member that connects the two covers 5 to each other, so that the attaching operation of the spring member 42 and the cover 5 or the support plate 4 can be performed. There is an advantage that it becomes unnecessary.

  4B is a front view of a structure in which the covers 5, 5 'and the spring member 42 are integrally formed, and FIG. 4C is a side view thereof. Instead of the engagement recess 52 shown in the first embodiment, the cover 5, 5 ′ and the spring member 42 are pushed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Thus, there is an effect that it can be easily attached to the rail 43.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention can be modified in any component in the embodiment or omitted in any component within the scope of the invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the method of fixing the female connector on the circuit board and protecting it with the cover has been described, but conversely, the male connector is fixed on the circuit board and changed to be protected by the cover. Needless to say, there is no problem and, unlike the above-described embodiment, the male connector and the female connector may be two pairs or more, for example, three pairs.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a connector that can effectively prevent intrusion of foreign matters even in a state where the male connector is detached from the female connector.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Male connector 2 Female connector 21 Terminal pin 22 Opening surface 3 Circuit board 31 Lead pattern 4 Support plate 41 Stopper 42 Spring member 43 Rail 431 Engaging convex part 5 Cover 51 Slope 52 Engaging concave part 53 Engaging claw part 6 Conductor 7 Battery

Claims (4)

A male connector comprising a metal terminal and a housing made of an insulating material covering the metal terminal;
A female connector provided with a metal terminal that is in contact and conduction with the metal terminal in the male connector, and an insulating material that covers the metal terminal, and a housing formed to be engageable with the housing in the male connector;
A protective member that protects at least a part of the metal terminals in either the male connector or the female connector when the male connector and the female connector are not engaged.
The protective member exposes a part of the protected metal terminal by pressing with the male connector or the female connector, and compresses and deforms an elastic body connected to the protective member,
After releasing the pressing by the male connector or the female connector, the connector structure is configured to return to a position to protect a part of the metal terminal by the restoring force of the elastic body,
Two or more connectors are arranged logically equivalent to each other for at least one of the male connector and the female connector, and a protection structure using the protection member corresponding to each of the two or more connectors is provided. Features a connector structure. A connector having a metal terminal protected by the protective member is fixed on the substrate,
The connector structure according to claim 1, wherein the protection member and the elastic body are formed on a support member fixed to the substrate. The protection member and the support member have a rail structure that engages with each other, and the protection member that has received the pressure is configured to move along the rail structure of the support member while compressively deforming the elastic body. The connector structure according to claim 2, wherein: The protective member is configured to have a sloped portion having an inclination with respect to the longitudinal direction of the rail, and the protective member follows the rail structure of the support member by applying the pressure to the sloped portion. The connector structure according to claim 3, wherein the connector structure is movable.

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