JP2704552B2 - Edge connector for PCB - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a method for receiving an end of a substrate such as a printed circuit board and electrically connecting contacts at an edge of the substrate to another electric circuit. The present invention relates to an edge connector for a board.

(Problems to be Solved by the Related Art and the Invention) Various types of edge connectors of this type are known, but various types of substrates having greatly different thicknesses (hereinafter, represented by printed circuit boards (PCBs)). The edge connector which can respond to is not supplied enough. In other words, the elastically deformable contact at the receiving part of the connector that receives the edge of the PCB and makes electrical contact has a limited range of deformation, and it is difficult to handle both types of PCBs with greatly different standards. there were.

Furthermore, since the PCB itself may be warped, no connector that can handle such a warped PCB has been obtained.

For example, US Patent No.
There is a low insertion force connector of 4,737,120. This allows the edge of the PCB to be sandwiched between two opposing contacts, but one of the contacts has little room to deform, while the other contact has the shape of a cantilever spring, but does deform Since the base and the contact portion in contact with each other are close to each other, a large deformation cannot be performed, and there is a problem that the base is easily plastically deformed when the base is greatly deformed.

U.S. Pat.No. 3,848,952 also discloses a zero insertion force edge connector, which includes a C-shaped cantilevered spring shaped contact and a portion of the housing in opposing contact with the PCB to reduce stress. It is intended to be dispersed. This has the disadvantage that the dimensional accuracy is reduced because a part of the housing cooperates with the contacts.

Differences between the above-mentioned standards include, for example, a U.S. standard with a PCB thickness of _-1.27 ^+0.1 _-0.08 ▼ (mm), and _-1.2
^There is a Japanese standard of ^+0.15 _-0.12 ▼ (mm), and when trying to correspond to both, a tolerance of about 0.3 (mm) is required, and the edge connector with sufficient tolerance to cope with this It cannot be realized by the structure of the connector of the US patent.

Further, as this kind of edge connector, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
No. 0378 and the connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-193473 are known, all of which have a substantially C-shaped contact member for receiving an edge of a substrate and a base for supporting the C-shaped contact member. Since the length of the support portion between the two is short, stress is concentrated on the support portion, and plastic deformation may occur there.

Further, the elastic deformation of the contact portion mainly depends only on the end of the C-shaped contact member, and the amount of elastic deformation is limited, so that it cannot cope with a substrate having a large thickness tolerance.

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional edge connector, the present invention disperses stress, withstands large deformation, can cope with a PCB having a large tolerance, and does not allow a part of the housing to act together with the contact. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a highly accurate edge connector.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A contact of the edge connector according to the present invention comprises a first contact member having a substantially C shape, a substantially C shape disposed inside the member, and coupled and held at one end of the member. When the thickness of the board to be inserted is small, the both ends of the second contact member are in contact with the board as contacts, and when the board to be inserted is thick, the second Both ends of the two contact members and the other end of the first contact member are contacted with the substrate as contacts.

An overstress prevention (anti-overstress) member for regulating the amount of deviation of the one end is formed integrally with the first contact member on one end side of the first contact member. When this is done, one end of the first contact member comes into contact with the overstress prevention member.

Further, a sliding surface is formed on the inner surface of the first contact member so that the inner surface near the other end of the first contact member and the outer surface of the second contact member facing the inner surface are in sliding contact with each other, The contact surface (conductor) of the board to be inserted is scratched,
When the friction between the contact surface and the contact of the second contact member is large, a part of the outer surface of the second contact member slides along the sliding surface so that the contact of the second contact member contacts the substrate. It is designed to slide on the surface.

(Effect of the Invention) Since the contact of the edge connector of the present invention is formed of one metal plate integrally formed as described above, the dimensional accuracy can be improved. In addition, since the substantially C-shaped second contact member that contacts the substrate is coupled and held at one end of the substantially C-shaped first contact member, the first contact member is provided in addition to the C-shaped portion of the second contact member. Is also elastically deformed and the stress is dispersed, so that no plastic deformation occurs in the contact. Further, since the elastically deformable amount is large, it is possible to cope with a large tolerance (variation) in the thickness of the board to be inserted. Further, when the thickness of the board to be inserted is large, the other end of the first contact member comes into contact with the board, so that an excessive load is not applied to the contact of the second contact member near the other end. The contact portion of the second contact member is protected from deformation.

Further, since the overstress prevention member provided on the one end side of the first contact member comes into contact with the one end side of the first contact member when a thick board is inserted, the amount of deviation of the one end side is increased. In order to prevent excessive stress from being concentrated on the one end side and plastic deformation.

Further, a sliding surface is formed on the inner surface of the first contact member so that the inner surface near the other end of the first contact member and the outer surface of the second contact member facing the inner surface are in sliding contact with each other. Even if the contact surface of the substrate is scratched or a large friction occurs between the contact surface and the contact of the second contact member, by forcibly sliding the contact of the second contact member on the contact surface on the substrate, This prevents an excessive load from being applied to the contact portion of the second contact member and causes plastic deformation, and also has an effect of ensuring electrical connection by wiping the contact surface of the substrate.

(Embodiments) Various embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a contact 2 is inserted from below a housing 4 in the drawing and is connected to the housing. In the housing 4, the contact 2 is connected by engagement between a concave portion 4 a formed inside the housing 4 and a convex portion 2 a formed outside the contact 2.

The contact 2 has a first contact 21 that contacts the front surface 6A of the printed circuit board 6, and a back surface when the printed circuit board 6 is thick.
A spare contact 22 that contacts 6B and these two contacts 21 and 22
When the contact 2 receives the printed circuit board 6, the first contact member 20 has a substantially C-shape extending outside the end 6 c of the printed circuit board 6, and is disposed inside the first contact member 20. A second contact 23 located side by side with one of the two contacts 21 and 22 and a second contact 23 extending from the other of the two contacts 21 to the second contact 23 inside the base 20. It is formed of an integrally formed elastically deformable second contact member 24 having a curved portion connecting the other contact 21 and the second contact 23.

The printed circuit board 6 is inserted between the first contact 21 and the spare contact 22 of the contact 2 thus formed as shown by a solid line in FIG. 1 and FIG. By rotating around the auxiliary contact 22 as a fulcrum to the position shown, the contact portion having the first contact 21 and the contact portion having the second contact 23 are deformed by the elasticity of the metal plate forming the contact, and the It contacts the front and back of the printed circuit board 6 with a contact pressure. Of course, due to the elasticity of the contact portion of the deformed first contact 21, the spare contact 22 opposed thereto also contacts the front and back 6 B of the printed circuit board 6 with a large contact pressure.

As a result, the contact 2 is greatly deformed and can cope with the difference in the thickness of the printed circuit board 6 and contacts the front and back surfaces of the printed circuit board 6 with a large contact pressure.
A contact (connector) that can correspond to a printed circuit board having a large tolerance and has a reliable electrical contact is realized.

The spare contact 22 is a second contact member 24 having a second contact 23.
Also acts as an anti-overstress means to prevent extreme deformation of.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 25 denotes a tine portion of the contact 2 to be soldered to the substrate 10, and a tine portion 26 of a contact (not shown) adjacent to the contact 2 beside the tine portion 25 of the contact 2. (Arranged in a staggered manner with the tine portion 25) is shown.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment, which is of the type in which the contacts 12 are inserted into the housing 14 from above in the drawing and assembled. The structure of the contact 12 is basically the same as that of the contact 2 of the first embodiment.

The same reference numerals are used for the contacts and other members equivalent to those in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the disassembled state of the second embodiment. The housing 14 of the connector is mounted on the substrate 10, and a large number of contacts 12 (only one is shown as a representative)
Is inserted into the slot 13 of the housing, and the printed circuit board 6 is inserted thereon. When the printed circuit board 6 is to be inserted, 1
The printed circuit board 6 is inserted obliquely between the pair of holding portions 16,
Tapered portions in which both ends of the substrate 6 are formed on the inner surface of the holding portion 16
It is pressed into the vertical position so that it is pushed along 16a. In the vertical position, the printed circuit board 6 has its tapered portion
16a is inserted into the step 16b at the back of the substrate 16a.
The pair of holding parts 16 that have fallen outward by elastic deformation at the time of press-fitting return to the original vertical state, and hold the printed circuit board 6. At this time, in the illustrated example, locking projections 18a of a lock plate 18 formed adjacent to the holding portion 16 at both ends of the housing 14 are fitted into fixing openings 6a provided at both ends of the printed circuit board 6. Thus, the printed circuit board 6 is prevented from falling upward.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment, in which a stopper 128 is added to that of the second embodiment. The stopper 128 has its upper end surface 128a at a position facing the lower surface 129a of the arm 129 near one end of the first contact member 120, and the printed circuit board 106 comes into contact with the upper surface 121a of the first contact 121 at the time of insertion. The upper end surface 128a
This is to prevent the arm 129 from falling down and deforming the second contact member 124 by contacting the lower surface 129a of the ninth.

A first contact member 120, a first contact 121, a spare contact 122,
Both the second contact 123 and the second contact member 124 are the first and second contacts.
Since the configuration and operation are the same, the detailed description is omitted.

FIG. 6 shows a fourth embodiment, in which a first contact member 220 having a first contact 221 and a spare contact 222 is largely bent on the first contact 221 side, and the elasticity is increased. An arm portion 229 that enhances the performance is formed. Spare contacts 222
The position of the second contact 223 and the shape of the second contact member 224 connecting the second contact 223 to the first contact 221 are basically the same as those of the above-described embodiments. Contact member 224
The first contact member 220 that connects the first contact 221 and the spare contact 222 is branched from the middle of the first contact 221 and is connected to the arm 229 of the first contact member 220.

In this embodiment, too, the contact portion which is greatly deformed
A large tolerance of B can be accommodated, and three contacts are formed by an integrally formed metal plate, so that high accuracy can be realized.

FIG. 7 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in which a contact 302 is pushed from above a housing 304 at a position indicated by an arrow P from above into a housing 304, and is pressed into the housing 304. The concave portion 304a formed inside (or formed by press-fitting) and the convex portion 302a formed outside the contact 302 are connected by engagement.

The contact 302 has a tine portion 321 extending downward at a lower portion and a first support 322 extending upward at one end, and a second support 323 extending upward at the other end and a first support 322. A first contact member 324 having a rising portion 325 extending from the inside substantially parallel to the first pillar 322 and then extending toward the second pillar 323; The rising portion 325 is turned and the horizontal portion 3 of the first contact member is turned.
24, and an elastically deformable metal plate integrally formed with the second support member 323 and a second contact member 326 which is curved and extended in a substantially C shape along this order.

The tip 325a of the rising portion 325 forms a first contact A toward the second support 323, and the tip inside 323a of the second support 323 forms a spare contact toward the first contact 325a. Formed on the second contact member 326
The tip 326a extends toward the first contact 325a to form a second contact C. The inside of the first support 322 abuts against the outer surface 325b of the rising portion 325 when receiving a substrate. An anti-overstress portion 322a for limiting the amount of deviation of the rising portion 325 is formed, and the substrate inserted between the first contact A and the second contact C is attached to the substrate and the second contact C.
By rotating in the direction in which the contact pressure with the substrate increases, it is connected to the substrate.

A printed circuit board 306 is inserted between the first contact A and the second contact C of the contact 302 thus formed as shown by solid lines in FIGS. 8A and 8B. By rotating through the position shown by the one-dot chain line to the position shown by the second chain line, the contact portion having the first contact A and the contact portion having the second contact C are formed by the elasticity of the metal plate forming the contact. The printed circuit board 306 is deformed and contacts the front and back of the printed circuit board 306 with a large contact pressure.

As a result, the contact 302 is greatly deformed, and can cope with the difference in the thickness of the printed circuit board 306, and can contact the printed circuit board 306 with large contact pressure, so that it can cope with a printed circuit board having a large tolerance, and Assured electrical contact (connector) is realized.

When the substrate 306 is thin (for example, 1.08 mm in thickness),
Finally, as shown in FIG. 8A, the contacts A and C come into contact with the surface of the substrate 6 because they finally settle at the position indicated by the two-dot chain line. However, when they are thick (for example, 1.37 mm thick), they are shown in FIG. 8B. As the substrate 306
Is a projection 323a that is a spare contact in addition to the two contacts A and C.
(B) and connected.

The protrusion 322a on the inner side of the first support 322 abuts on the outer surface 325b of the rising portion 325, and functions as an anti-overstress means for preventing the rising portion 325 from being extremely deformed.

The anti-overstress means does not necessarily have to be in the shape of a protrusion, and may have any shape as long as the inner surface of the first support 322 can contact the outer surface 325a of the rising portion 325 to prevent overstress of the rising portion 325. Is also good. For example, the inner surface of the first support 322 may be flat, and the outer surface 325a of the rising portion 325 may be partially raised.

In the edge connector of each of the above embodiments, when the printed circuit board mounted on the edge connector is thick, or when the surface thereof is scratched and has irregularities, the following problems may occur.

That is, the printed circuit board 6 is rotated in the insertion direction at the contact point between the tip 23 of the second contact member 24 of the connector 2 shown in FIG. If the surface of the printed circuit board 6 has irregularities such as scratches during mounting,
The tip 23 of the second contact member 24 is pulled by friction or engagement with the irregularities on the surface of the printed circuit board 6 with the rotation of
The contact member 24 will be extended. This elongation causes the second contact member 24 to be plastically deformed, so that the contact pressure of the contact 2 on the printed circuit board 6 is reduced, resulting in poor electrical connection.

In order to prevent such extension of the second contact member 24, the tip (second contact) 23 of the second contact member 24 slides on the surface of the printed circuit board 6, and Unreasonable stress must be avoided.

The above-mentioned scratches on the surface of the printed circuit board are formed while the printed circuit board is repeatedly mounted on the contact, and the check board used repeatedly in the factory has this kind of scratch (unevenness). ) Is often attached. Frequent attachment / detachment of a substrate by a general user (market) also causes this kind of flaw (unevenness).

Even if there is no unevenness on the substrate, the friction between the pad surface on the substrate and the contact point of the contact increases considerably when the contact pressure increases, for example, when the substrate is thick. In some cases, the pad surface does not slide, and the above problem can occur in such a case.

Therefore, in order to cope with the above-described problems, it is desired to provide an edge connector in which the tip of the contact slides on the substrate when the substrate is mounted, so that the elastic portion of the contact does not expand and deform. .

The embodiment described below addresses this problem.
The connector has a substantially C-shaped first contact member fixed in the housing, and a substantially C-shaped first contact member disposed inside the first contact member and coupled and held at one end of the first contact member. 2
A contact member, wherein the second contact member is arranged such that an inner surface near the other end of the first contact member and an outer surface of the second contact member facing the inner surface are slidably contacted with each other. A sliding surface is provided on the inner surface, and both ends of the second contact member, or both ends and the other end of the first contact member are contact points.

The contact of this edge connector is 1
When the second contact member is formed of two metal plates,
Because it has an inclined sliding surface that comes into contact with the second contact member and slides its tip along the surface of the printed circuit board,
The second contact member can be prevented from being excessively deformed and plastically deformed.

Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. The contact 402 is pushed into the housing 404 from above at the position indicated by the arrow P and press-fitted into the housing 404, and a concave portion 404 a formed inside (or formed by press-fitting) the housing 404 and a contact 404 a outside the contact 402. The connection is made by engagement with the formed convex portion 402a.

The contact 402 has a tine portion 421 extending downward at a lower portion, and a first support 422 extending upward at one end, and a second support 423 extending upward at the other end and a first support 422 of the first support 422. A first contact member 424 having a rising portion 425 extending from the inside substantially parallel to the first supporting column 422 and then extending toward the second supporting column 423; The rising portion 425 while turning, the horizontal portion 4 of the first contact member
24, and an elastically deformable metal plate integrally formed with the second support member 423 and a second contact member 426 which is curved and extended in a substantially C shape along this order.

The tip 425a of the rising portion 425 forms a first contact point A toward the second support 423, and the tip inside 423a of the second support 423 forms a spare contact toward the first contact 425a. And the second contact member 426 is formed.
The tip 426a of the first support 425a extends toward the first contact 425a to form a second contact C. Inside the first support 422, the substrate 4
In receiving the 06, an anti-overstress portion 422a is formed to contact the outer surface 425b of the rising portion 425 to limit the amount of deviation of the rising portion 425.
The substrate 406 inserted between the contacts C of FIG.
The second contact C is connected to the substrate 406 by rotating in a direction in which the contact pressure between the contact and the second contact C increases.

The printed circuit board 406 is inserted between the first contact A and the second contact C of the contact 402 thus formed, and is inserted through the position shown in FIG. 9 to the position shown in FIG. By the rotation, the contact portion having the first contact A and the contact portion having the second contact C are deformed by the elasticity of the metal plate forming the contact, and contact the front and back of the printed circuit board 406 with a large contact pressure. .

Thereby, the contact 402 is greatly deformed, and can cope with the difference in the thickness of the printed circuit board 406, and can contact the front and back surfaces of the printed circuit board 406 with a large contact pressure. Assured electrical contact (connector) is realized.

As shown in FIG. 9, the contact 402 of the connector of the present embodiment faces the end (outer surface) 426b of the tip of the second contact member 426 of the second support 423 opposite to the tip 426a. The portion has a sliding surface 423b inclined upward. The sliding surface 423b abuts on the outer surface 426b and slides the tip 426a of the second contact member 426 along the surface 406a of the printed circuit board 406 when the second contact member 426 is deformed when the printed circuit board 406 is mounted. Has an action.

When the printed circuit board 406 is further attached (inserted) to the contact 402 from the state shown in FIG. 9, the end 426b of the distal end of the second contact member 426 comes into contact with the sliding surface 423b and rises along the sliding surface 423b. The tip 426a is located on the surface 4 of the printed circuit board 406.
You will slide along 06a. As a result, even if the surface 406a of the printed board 406 has
06 is mounted smoothly, and the second contact member 426 is stretched and does not deform excessively to cause plastic deformation.

When the substrate 406 is thin (for example, 1.08 mm in thickness),
The contacts A and C contact the surface of the substrate 406 but are thick (eg,
1.37mm) when the board 406 has two contacts A and C
423a (spare contact B) is contacted and connected.

In addition, the protrusion 422a inside the first support 422 is
It abuts against the outer surface 425a of the ridge 25 and acts as an anti-overstress means for preventing extreme deformation of the rising portion 425.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the contact, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a third embodiment, FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a fourth embodiment, FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a fifth embodiment, 8A is a cross-sectional view showing the positional relationship between the connector and the board when accepting a thin substrate, FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view showing the positional relationship between the connector and the board when accepting a thick board, and FIG. 9 is a sixth embodiment. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a state of the connector at the start of mounting the printed circuit board, FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the printed circuit board is being mounted, and FIG. 2,102,202,302 Contact 4,104,204,304 Housing 6,106 Printed circuit board 10, Board 20,120,220,324,424 First contact member 21,121,221,325a, 425a First contact 22,122,222,323a, 423a Extra contact 23,123,223,326a, 426a Second contact 24, 124, 224, 326, 426 Second contact member 25, 26, 125, 126 Tine 128 Stopper, 129, 229 Arm 322, 422 First support 322a, 422a Anti-overstress projection 323, 423 Second Post, 423b …… Sliding surface 325,425 …… Rise

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Naoki Kumagai 87 A Hisamoto, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Japan A.M.P. JP MRP Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-50-33483 (JP, A) JP-A-62-184786 (JP, A) JP-A-63-193473 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An edge connector having at least one contact in a housing and receiving an end of a substrate and interconnecting with a conductor of the substrate, wherein the first connector has a substantially C-shape fixed in the housing. A contact member, and a substantially C-shaped second contact member disposed inside the first contact member and coupled to and held at one end of the first contact member; both ends of the second contact member; or An edge connector for a board, wherein said both ends and the other end of said first contact member are used as contacts. 2. An edge connector having at least one contact in a housing for receiving an end of a substrate and interconnecting with a conductor of the substrate, wherein the first connector has a substantially C-shape fixed in the housing. A contact member; a substantially C-shaped second contact member disposed inside the first contact member and coupled to and held at one end of the first contact member; and a side portion of the first contact member on the one end side. And an overstress preventing member formed integrally with the first contact member to regulate the amount of deviation of the one end, wherein both ends of the second contact member, or both ends of the second contact member and the first contact member are provided. An edge connector having an end serving as a contact. 3. An edge connector having at least one contact in a housing and receiving an end of a substrate and interconnecting with a conductor of the substrate, wherein the first connector has a substantially C-shape fixed in the housing. A contact member, and a substantially C-shaped second contact member disposed inside the first contact member and coupled to and held at one end of the first contact member, wherein the second contact member includes the first contact member. A sliding surface is provided on the inner surface so that an inner surface near the other end of the contact member and an outer surface of the second contact member facing the inner surface come into sliding contact with each other, and both end portions of the second contact member Or an edge connector, wherein both ends and the other end of the first contact member are used as contacts.