JP2015015276A - Connector, and led lighting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a contact terminal to contact to an electrode of a connection object, without pressing and bending a flexible substrate.SOLUTION: In a part of wiring 56 buried in a flexible substrate 51 with exposure from the flexible substrate 51 to the surface side thereof, there is provided a contact terminal 56b protruding from the flexible substrate 51 in a thickness direction thereof because of formation thicker in the thickness direction of the flexible substrate 51 as compared to a surrounding wiring part. Thus, the protruded contact terminal 56b is made to contact to an electrode 36a of a connection object without pressing and bending the flexible substrate 51 toward the electrode 36a of the connection object.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector for connecting an external power source to an electrode of an LED module.

  When an LED module in which an LED package or LED chip is placed on a board is installed in a lighting fixture and used for light emission, the board fixing method, power supply method, light extraction method, heat dissipation (heat transfer) Although it is necessary to pay attention to the method and the like, there are the following methods [1] to [3] as a method of supplying power.

[1] A method of directly soldering a wiring extending from an external power source to an electrode of an LED module.
[2] A method in which an elastic contact of a conductor is connected to the tip of a wiring extending from an external power source, and the elastic contact is brought into contact with an electrode of the LED module (Patent Document 1). And as a method of connecting the elastic contact to the tip of the wiring, there are a method of connecting by soldering, a method of connecting the elastic contact to the tip of the wiring as a quick connection terminal, a pressure contact terminal, a tab terminal, etc. .
[3] A method of installing a connector for connecting an external power source to the electrode of the LED module (Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 04-082174 JP 2010-287480 A

  In the method [1], since the soldering must be performed at the site where the lighting fixture is assembled, the work at the site is troublesome. In the method [2], since the elastic contact at the tip of the wiring must be brought into contact with the electrode of the LED module at the site, the work at the site is troublesome. Moreover, since the method [3] only needs to install the connector at the site, the work at the site is less time-consuming than [1] and [2]. However, when there is no space for installing the connector, such as when there is no wide space around the LED module, it cannot be used.

  Therefore, the present inventor configures the connector 90 from a flexible flexible substrate 91 and a wiring 96 embedded therein, like the LED lighting apparatus 9 of the reference example shown in FIG. It was considered that the contact terminals 96b exposed on the surface side from the flexible substrate 91 were provided in the part. Then, by providing a pressing protrusion 49 on the fixing member 40 that fixes the LED module 30, and pressing the periphery of the contact terminal 96b of the flexible substrate 91 toward the electrode 36a of the LED module 30 with the pressing protrusion 49, It was considered that the contact terminal 96b was brought into contact with the electrode 36a by pushing and bending this portion.

  According to this reference example, the connector 90 can be flexibly installed using each gap such as a gap between the LED module 30 and the fixing member 40 even when there is no wide space around the LED module 30. can do. However, since the pressing protrusion 49 concentrates and presses the periphery of the contact terminal 96b of the flexible substrate 91 to push and bend this portion, the pressing protrusion 49 may penetrate the flexible substrate 91 and cause dielectric breakdown at this portion. .

  Then, it aims at making it possible to make a contact terminal contact the electrode of a connection object, without pushing and bending a flexible substrate.

  In order to achieve the above object, a connector of the present invention is a connector for connecting an external power supply to an electrode of a connection object, and includes a flexible flexible substrate and wiring embedded in the flexible substrate, A part of the wiring is exposed to the surface side from the flexible substrate and formed thicker in the thickness direction of the flexible substrate than the surrounding wiring portion, so that the contact terminal protruding in the thickness direction from the flexible substrate is formed. By being provided, the protruding contact terminal is configured to be in contact with the electrode of the connection object without pressing and bending the flexible substrate toward the electrode of the connection object.

  Although a connection target object is not specifically limited, It is preferable that it is an LED module provided with the LED chip. However, the connector of this invention can be used also for connection objects other than an LED module.

  Although the thickness of a contact terminal is not specifically limited, It is preferable that the contact terminal is formed 30-300 micrometers thick in the thickness direction of a flexible substrate compared with the surrounding wiring part. If it is less than 30 μm, the contact terminal does not sufficiently protrude in the thickness direction from the flexible substrate, so that the contact terminal may not contact the electrode sufficiently strongly. On the other hand, if it exceeds 300 μm, the contact terminal becomes uselessly thick. It is because it passes. More preferably, the contact terminal is formed to be 60 to 200 μm thicker in the thickness direction of the flexible substrate than the surrounding wiring portion.

  Although the electric appliance which employ | adopted the connector of this invention is not specifically limited, The following LED lighting fixture is illustrated. That is, a configuration including a housing, an LED module including an LED chip, a fixing member that fixes the LED module to the housing, and the connector of the present invention interposed in a gap between the LED module and the fixing member The fixing member is an LED lighting device including a pressing portion that presses the protruding contact terminal against the electrode of the LED module by pressing the flexible substrate toward the electrode of the LED module. Here, the reason why such a pressing portion is provided is that the contact between the protruding contact terminal and the electrode of the LED module can be made more reliable.

  According to the present invention, even if the flexible board is not pushed and bent toward the electrode of the connection object, the protruding contact terminal contacts the electrode of the connection object, so that it is not necessary to push and bend the flexible board. Therefore, in order to push and bend the flexible substrate, there is no need to intensively press the periphery of the contact terminal of the flexible substrate, and this portion is difficult to penetrate. Therefore, dielectric breakdown is less likely to occur.

(A) is a perspective view which shows the LED lighting fixture of Example 1, (b) is front sectional drawing. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the LED lighting fixture of Example 1. FIG. (A) is a perspective view which shows the lower surface side of the board | substrate material of the flexible substrate of the LED lighting fixture of Example 1, (b) is a perspective view which shows an upper surface side, (c) is a perspective view which shows a flexible substrate. is there. (A) is a top view which shows the board | substrate material of the flexible substrate of the LED lighting fixture of Example 1, (b) is front sectional drawing. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the LED lighting fixture of Example 2. FIG. (A) is a perspective view which shows the LED lighting fixture of Example 3, (b) is front sectional drawing. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing an LED lighting apparatus of Example 3. FIG. (A) is a perspective view which shows the upper surface side of the flexible substrate of the LED lighting fixture of Example 3, (b) is a perspective view which shows the lower surface side. It is a top view which shows the LED lighting fixture of Example 4. (A) is a bottom view which shows the board | substrate material of the flexible substrate of the modification 1, (b) is a bottom view which shows the board | substrate material of the flexible substrate of the modification 2. (A) is a perspective view which shows the LED lighting fixture of a reference example, (b) is front sectional drawing.

  Hereinafter, the connector and LED lighting fixture of this invention are demonstrated with reference to drawings. In the following, according to the drawings, one and the other in the thickness direction of the LED substrate are referred to as “upper” and “lower”, respectively, and the four directions in the surface direction of the LED substrate are referred to as “front” and “rear”, respectively. Although referred to as “left” and “right”, it may be carried out in an arbitrarily rotated state, for example, “up” is in front and “down” is in back.

  The LED lighting fixture 1 of Example 1 shown in FIGS. 1-4 is comprised including the housing | casing 10, the heat radiator 20, the LED module 30, the fixing member 40, and the connector 50 which are shown next. .

[Case 10]
The housing 10 is a case to which the LED module 30 and other members are attached. Screw holes 14 and 14 for screwing the fixing member 40 are formed in the upper surface of the housing 10.

[Heat radiator 20]
The heat dissipating body 20 improves the heat extraction efficiency by improving the heat conductivity and improving the heat dissipation from the LED module 30 and raising the LED module 30 by one step above the upper surface of the housing 10. It is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped block provided for the purpose. Therefore, the heat radiating body 20 is provided with a material having high thermal conductivity (for example, copper, aluminum, an alloy thereof, a synthetic resin, or the like). And in the four corners of the lower end portion of the heat radiating body 20, notches 24, 24,... That are locked to the locking claws 42, 42,.

[LED module 30]
The LED module 30 includes an LED substrate 31, LED chips 32, 32..., A sealing frame 33, a sealing body 34, and LED wiring 36, which will be described below.

  The LED substrate 31 is a substantially square flat substrate whose upper and lower surfaces are flat, and is installed on the upper surface of the radiator 20. The LED substrate 31 may be an insulating substrate (for example, a substrate made of a valve material made of an insulating material such as aluminum nitride), or only a part of the LED substrate 31 (for example, a metal such as aluminum). It may also be a substrate with an insulating layer formed on the surface of the material.

  The LED chips 32, 32,... Are mounted on the upper surface of the central portion of the LED substrate 31 in a grid pattern with a space left and right.

  The sealing frame 33 is a substantially square frame made of a synthetic resin, and is installed on the upper surface of the central portion of the LED substrate 31 so as to surround the LED chips 32, 32. The square of the sealing frame 33 is inclined 45 ° with respect to the square of the LED substrate 31.

  The sealing body 34 is made of a silicone resin containing a phosphor, and is filled inside the sealing frame 33. The sealing body 34 and the LED chips 32, 32,... Sealed inside thereof constitute a light emitting part of the LED module 30, and the surface of the sealing body 34 constitutes a light emitting surface.

  The LED wiring 36 is a wiring for supplying power to the LED chips 32, 32..., And is made of a conductor layer (for example, a metal foil) installed on the upper surface of the LED substrate 31. In addition, electrodes 36 a, 36 a... Exposed to the outside of the sealing frame 33 are provided at a part of the LED wiring 36, specifically at portions located at the four corners of the upper surface of the LED substrate 31.

[Fixing member 40]
The fixing member 40 is a member for fixing the LED module 30 to the housing 10 and is a thin plate material having high elasticity (for example, a metal plate such as a stainless steel plate, a phosphor bronze plate, a copper plate, a brass plate, or a synthetic resin plate). Etc.) are bent by press working. The fixing member 40 protrudes from the front end at the lower end of the box-shaped portion 40a to the front and from the rear end to the rear from the lower end of the box-shaped portion 40a that covers the LED module 30 and the radiator 20 from above. The fixing projections 40b and 40b are included.

  A transparent window 43 for exposing the sealing body 34 is provided in the central portion of the upper portion of the box-shaped portion 40 a of the fixing member 40. Further, at the four corners at the lower end of the box-shaped portion 40a of the fixing member 40, locking claws 42, 42,... For locking the notches 24, 24,. And the part which contacts the upper surface of the connector 50 of this fixing member 40, specifically, the part located in the outer side of each side of the translucent window 43 of the lower surface of the box-shaped part 40a is the upper surface of the flexible substrate 51 of the connector 50. The pressing portions 45, 45,... That press the contact terminals 56b, 56b,... Of the connector 50 against the electrodes 36a, 36a,.

  Further, screw through holes 44 and 44 through which the screws S1 and S1 are passed are provided in the fixing protrusions 40b and 40b of the fixing member 40, respectively. Since the screws S1 and S1 are passed through the screw through holes 44 and 44 and screwed into the screw holes 14 and 14 of the housing 10, the fixing member 40 is connected to the connector 50 and the LED module inside thereof. 30 and the heat radiating body 20 are included and fixed to the housing 10.

[Connector 50]
The connector 50 is a member for connecting an external power source (not shown) to the electrode 36 a of the LED module 30, and is interposed in a gap between the LED module 30 and the fixing member 40. The connector 50 includes a flexible substrate 51 and connector wiring 56 shown below.

  The flexible substrate 51 is a substrate having flexibility and insulation, and is formed by bending a substrate material 51p. The substrate material 51p is formed on the surface (lower surface) of a flexible insulating layer 51e made of a synthetic resin (for example, polyamide, liquid crystal polymer, crystalline polymer, etc.), and the insulating cover film 51f having a thickness A of about 20 μm also made of synthetic resin. Are combined. The flexible substrate 51 includes a box-shaped box-shaped portion 51a that opens downward to cover the LED module 30 and the upper portion of the heat radiating body 20, and extends downward from the lower right end of the box-shaped portion 51a. And an input-side protrusion 51b extending in the direction. A transparent window 53 for exposing the sealing body 34 is provided through the central portion of the upper portion of the box-shaped portion 51 a of the flexible substrate 51.

  The connector wires 56, 56 are wires for connecting an external power source (not shown) to the electrodes 36a, 36a,... Of the LED module 30, and are provided between the flexible insulating layer 51e of the flexible substrate 51 and the insulating cover film 51f. It is made of a conductor layer (for example, a metal foil such as a body foil) having a thickness B of about 20 to 50 μm embedded in the substrate.

  Further, input-side contact terminals 56a and 56a exposed from the flexible substrate 51 are provided on a part of the connector wirings 56 and 56, specifically on the upper surface of the portion located at the right end of the input-side protrusion 51b. . The contact terminals 56a, 56a on the input side are in contact with electrodes of an external power source (not shown).

Further, another part of the connector wirings 56, specifically, the lower surface of the part located outside each side of the light transmission window 53, is exposed from the flexible substrate 51 and is lower than the surrounding wiring part. Since the additional thickness B ^{+ is} formed to be about 70 to 120 μm thick, the output side contact terminals 56 b, 56 b, which protrude about 50 to 100 μm below the lower surface of the insulating cover film 51 f from the flexible substrate 51. Is provided. Therefore, each contact terminal 56b on the output side comes into contact with the electrode 36a without pressing and bending the periphery of the contact terminal 56b of the flexible substrate 51 toward the electrode 36a of the LED module 30.

  Each contact terminal 56b on the output side is formed as follows. That is, first, a portion of the insulating cover film 51f located outside each side of the transparent window 53 is removed to expose a part of the connector wiring 56. Next, a plating bump (precipitation of copper by electrolytic plating) is performed on a part of the exposed connector wiring 56. Thereafter, gold plating is applied to the surface (lower surface) of the plating bump to form a contact. This gold plating is performed for the purpose of preventing corrosion of the plating bumps and preventing an increase in contact resistance. Thus, each contact terminal 56b is formed.

  According to the first embodiment, the following effects [A] to [C] can be obtained.

[A] Since the connector 50 uses a flexible flexible substrate 51, the LED module can be used even when there is no wide space around the LED module 30 as in the first embodiment. The connector 50 can be flexibly installed using a gap between the fixing member 40 and the fixing member 40.

[B] Even if the flexible substrate 51 is not pushed and bent toward the electrodes 36a, 36a,... Of the LED module 30, the protruding output side contact terminals 56b, 56b,. Since the contact is made, the need to push and bend the flexible substrate 51 is eliminated. Therefore, there is no need to intensively press the periphery of the contact terminals 56b, 56b,... Of the flexible substrate 51 in order to push and bend the flexible substrate 51, and this portion is difficult to penetrate. Therefore, dielectric breakdown is less likely to occur.

[C] The pressing portion 45 of the fixing member 40 presses the flexible substrate 51 downward by the elasticity of the fixing member 40, so that the output side contact terminals 56b, 56b,. In order to press against, even when there is a repulsive force or contact resistance between the output side contact terminals 56b, 56b, and the electrodes 36a, 36a,. The contact can be ensured.

The LED lighting fixture 2 of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is different from the LED lighting fixture 1 of the first embodiment in the following [A], and is the same in other points.
[A] The heat dissipating body 20 is not a substantially rectangular parallelepiped block but a cylindrical block, and the fixing member 40 and the connector 50 are also rounded accordingly.

  Also according to the second embodiment, the effects [A] to [C] described in the first embodiment can be obtained.

The LED lighting device 3 of the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 is different from the LED lighting device 1 of the first embodiment in the following points [a] to [ki], and is the same in other points. is there.
[A] The LED lighting apparatus 3 does not include the heat radiator 20.
[A] The housing 10 is provided with screw holes 15 and 15 for screwing the connector 50 in addition to the screw holes 14 and 14 for screwing the fixing member 40.
[C] The LED module 30 is directly installed on the upper surface of the housing 10, not on the upper surface of the radiator 20.
[D] The fixing member 40 is not a box shape opened downward, but a flat plate shape that is long in the front-rear direction and has a width in the left-right direction.
[E] The fixing member 40 is provided with locking claws 46, 46,... For locking the LED substrate 31 instead of the locking claws 42, 42,. The locking claws 46 are formed by cutting portions located in the vicinity of each side of the transparent window 43 of the fixing member 40 into a substantially U shape.
[F] The flexible substrate 51 is not in a box shape opened downward, but in a flat plate shape that is long in the left-right direction and has a width in the front-rear direction.
[G] Screw through holes 55 and 55 for passing the screws S2 and S2 are formed through the flexible substrate 51.

  Also according to the third embodiment, the effects [A] to [C] described in the first embodiment can be obtained.

The LED lighting device 4 of the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 9 is different from the LED lighting device 3 of the third embodiment in the following points [a] and [b], and is the same in other points.
[A] The connector 50 does not include the translucent window 53, but instead is separated into two on the left and right sides so that the sealing body 34 is exposed.
[A] The fixing member 40 does not include the translucent window 43, and instead is separated into two on the left and right sides so as to expose the sealing body 34.

  Also according to the fourth embodiment, the effects [A] to [C] described in the first embodiment can be obtained.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said Examples 1-4, For example, like the following modifications 1-5, it can also change suitably in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of invention, and can also be embodied.

[Modification 1]
As shown in FIG. 10A, the shape of each contact terminal 56b on the output side may be changed to an arbitrary shape.

[Modification 2]
As shown in FIG. 10B, a plurality of protruding contact terminals 56 b and 56 b may be provided on the same exposed portion on the output side of the connector wiring 56.

[Modification 3]
The contact terminals 56a on the input side may also protrude from the flexible substrate 51 in the same manner as the contact terminals 56b on the output side.

[Modification 4]
Instead of performing gold plating on each contact terminal 56b on the output side, other metal such as nickel may be plated.

[Modification 5]
Each contact terminal 56a on the input side and each electrode 36a of the LED module 30 may be plated with various metals such as gold and nickel. This is because corrosion of the exposed conductor layer (for example, metal foil) can be prevented, thereby preventing increase in contact resistance.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 LED lighting 2 LED lighting 3 LED lighting 4 LED lighting 10 Case 30 LED module (connection object)
32 LED chip 36a Electrode of LED module 40 Fixing member 45 Press part 50 Connector 51 Flexible substrate 56 Connector wiring (wiring)
56b Contact terminal on output side (protruding contact terminal)

Claims (3)

In the connector (50) for connecting an external power source to the electrode (36a) of the connection object,
A flexible flexible substrate (51), and a wiring (56) embedded in the flexible substrate (51).
A part of the wiring (56) is exposed to the surface side from the flexible substrate (51) and is formed thicker in the thickness direction of the flexible substrate (51) than the surrounding wiring part. ) From the contact terminal (56b) projecting in the thickness direction, the projecting contact terminal (56b) does not have to be bent toward the connection target electrode (36a). 56b) is configured to come into contact with the electrode (36a) of the connection object.   The connector according to claim 1, wherein the object to be connected is an LED module (30) including an LED chip (32). A housing (10), an LED module (30) including an LED chip (32), a fixing member (40) for fixing the LED module (30) to the housing (10), and an LED module (30) The connector (50) according to claim 2, wherein the connector (50) is interposed in a gap between the member (40) and
The fixing member (40) presses the flexible substrate (51) toward the electrode (36a) of the LED module (30), thereby causing the protruding contact terminal (56b) to move to the electrode (36a) of the LED module (30). The LED lighting fixture provided with the press part (45) pressed against.

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