JP2822305B2 - Connector structure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector structure, and more specifically, to a signal in a flexible flat cable (FFC) in which a plurality of rectangular conductors arranged in parallel with each other are covered with an insulating resin. This is suitable for use in a case where a line and a power line are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a flexible printed circuit board (FFC) formed by baking an electric conductor on a flexible flat cable (FFC) or an insulating film body has been conventionally used.
PC) and the like allow wiring in narrow locations due to their structural characteristics and are applicable to movable parts because of their flexibility. For example, wire harnesses that connect between an automobile body and electrical components of doors Also, it is frequently used for interconnection between a computer main unit and terminal equipment.

[0003] Since these flexible cables have flexibility as described above, it is necessary to convert the terminal into a rigid terminal when connecting with a connector. Therefore, the applicant of the present application has disclosed, for example, Japanese Patent Application No.
-27142 specification (filing date: January 25, 1993)
A connector structure suitable for application to a flexible cable has already been proposed.

FIG. 7 illustrates this proposal. The connector structure 100 includes a connector housing 12.
0, a holder 130, and a holder guide 140.
Is a holder 130 which is a rigid plate-shaped member whose conductor 151 is exposed at its terminal and which is bent in reverse.
, The end of the electric wire can be turned into a male terminal by press-fitting the holder guide 140. The elastic terminal 110 of the conventional structure is inserted into the connector housing 120 by connecting the low-voltage wire 111 in advance, and the flexible flat cable 150 formed into a male terminal is inserted into the connector housing 120. The low-voltage wire 111 and the flexible flat cable 150 were electrically connected.

In the connector housing 120,
The upper and lower walls 123 and 124 are connected to each other to form the terminal accommodating chamber 1.
A partition 125 for partitioning the holder 22 is provided.
30 was provided with a slit 131 corresponding to the partition wall 125. Therefore, in a state where the conductive connection is established, the partition wall 125 enters between the adjacent conductors of the flexible flat cable 150 and between the adjacent terminals of the elastic terminal, thereby preventing leakage current and preventing the holder and the holder guide from being inserted. The bending deformation of the connector housing 120 due to the fitting was successfully prevented. That is, the connector structure described above has been applied to a flexible flat cable and has a suitable function.

[0006] Some circuit bodies to be connected to the connector include a mixture of signal lines and power lines (hereinafter referred to as power lines), and a flexible flat cable is also shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. As shown, the signal lines and the power lines were provided in a mixed form. FIG. 8 shows that the conductors of the rectangular conductors corresponding to the signal line and the power line have the same pitch corresponding to the connector structure, so that the power conductor 151B is not made to coincide with the width of the signal conductor 151A. The thickness is increased. In FIG. 9, the width of each of the signal conductor 251A and the power conductor 251B is made variable instead of being made constant.

[0007]

However, in the case of the former, when the insulating films A and B are laminated from both surfaces of the conductor at the time of manufacturing the cable, wrinkling occurs on the film surface, so that the manufacturing is difficult. It is difficult to make a reverse turn along the longitudinal direction of the cable due to the difference in the conductor thickness when the terminal is turned into a rigid terminal. On the other hand,
In the latter, since the conductor widths for the signal line and the power line were made variable, a connector structure was required in accordance with the circuit configuration of the cable, and the versatility of the connector structure was lost, resulting in an increase in manufacturing cost.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and can be used as a terminal even when applied to a flexible cable of a circuit body in which signal lines and power lines are mixed, thereby enabling connector connection. Another object of the present invention is to provide a connector structure capable of obtaining versatility.

[0009]

That is, the object of the present invention is to provide a comb-shaped protruding portion having slit grooves cut out at regular intervals in the insertion direction and projecting parallel to each other at a fixed interval from each other. Engagement with a holder of a substantially sheet-shaped electric wire having a plurality of arranged rectangular conductors, which is sandwiched by wire ends exposing the rectangular conductors, and by inserting the holder and the wire ends through the holder. And a connector housing accommodating an elastic terminal which is partitioned by a partition into which the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers are fitted into the slit grooves. The holder and the holder guide are inserted into the connector housing. A connector structure in which the end of the electric wire is press-connected to the elastic terminal, wherein the electric wire has a narrow first conductor corresponding to the width of the comb-shaped protrusion and the comb-shaped protrusion. And a wide conductor corresponding to the width of a plurality of the conductors is mixed. The second conductor is provided with a slit corresponding to the slit groove at an end of the electric wire, and is press-connected to the second conductor. The elastic terminal is achieved by a connector structure in which a plurality of elastic terminals corresponding to the first conductor are connected to each other. Further, the connector structure is characterized in that a space portion is provided in the partition wall of the connector housing so that a chain portion of the elastic terminals of the connection structure can enter.

[0010]

Even if the flexible cable has a configuration in which the first conductor for the signal line formed to be narrow and the second conductor for the power line formed to be wide are mixed, the second conductor is formed. Since the end of the electric wire has a slit corresponding to the slit groove of the holder, the flexible cable is held by the holder and inserted into the connector housing. Also,
Since the partition has a space partly cut away, the elastic terminal can be inserted into the housing by allowing the chain of the elastic terminals having the connection structure to enter the space.

Further, since the connector housing forms a terminal accommodating chamber and is provided with a partition wall which is engaged with the slit groove of the holder, the connector housing is caused by water droplets flowing between adjacent conductors and between the terminal accommodating chambers. Leakage, and the housing is prevented from bending due to the insertion force of the holder and the holder guide, and stable connection performance can be secured.

[0012]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a connector structure according to the present invention. 1 to 6 show an embodiment of the connector structure according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the connector, FIG. 2 is a cutaway perspective view of a main part of a holder holding a flexible flat cable, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the connector structure of FIG. 1 in a connected state, FIG. 4 is a rear view of FIG.
Is a perspective view of a power line elastic terminal used in the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a flexible flat cable (hereinafter simply referred to as an electric wire in the present specification) applied to the present invention. The electric wire applied to the present embodiment has a uniform conductor thickness and a variable conductor width.

The connector structure of this embodiment has a connector housing 2 that can accommodate two types of elastic terminals 10A and 10B.
0 and the connector housing 20 while holding the electric wire 50.
A holder 30 and a holder guide 40 are fitted into the housing 20 through an opening 21 formed on the front surface.

The elastic terminal 10A applied to the signal line is composed of a cantilever spring terminal having the same shape as the conventional one, and
After the signal wire 60a is crimped to the housing 20,
By being fitted into the inside, the flexible locking pieces 26 in the terminal accommodating chamber 22 are engaged and fixedly held so that they cannot fall back.

The elastic terminal 10B applied to the power line is
The elastic elastic terminal 10A has a shape in which it is connected in a double structure, and one of the electric wire connecting portions 11 is omitted. Furthermore,
The elastic terminal 10B will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5. The elastic terminal 10B has a pair of contact spring portions 12 supported in a cantilever manner.
And the contact spring portion 1
In order to prevent the spring from rising, the prevention piece 13 is provided so that its free end is inscribed, a chain portion 14 in which the prevention pieces 13 are connected to each other, and only one contact spring portion 12 is located rearward. And a wire connecting portion 11 extending from the wire connecting portion. Note that the height t 'of the chain portion 14 is
Height t [a partition wall 25 of the connector housing 20 described below]
Height (see FIG. 4). ]. Then, the power wire 60b is crimp-connected to the wire connection portion 11. The elastic terminals 10A and 10B are
Both are formed by punching and forming a conductive metal plate, and then by cutting and raising.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the electric wire 50 has a substantially sheet-like shape in which a plurality of rectangular conductors 51A and 51B arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval from each other are covered with an insulating resin 52 from both sides. The elastic terminals 10A, 10B
The wire end 50a connected to the wire is bent and the tip 5
The insulating resin 52 is peeled off except for 0b, and interline slits 54 are provided between the conductors to expose the rectangular conductors 51A and 51B.

The rectangular conductors 51A and 51B have two forms having the same conductor thickness and different widths, and the first conductor 51A applied to the signal line is a comb of one holder 30 described later. The second conductor 51B which is provided to have a narrow width corresponding to the width of the shape projecting portion 36 and is a power line is provided with the holder 3
It has a wide shape corresponding to the width of the two comb-shaped protrusions 36 of zero. The wide second conductor 51B includes an electric wire end 50.
In FIG. 3A, a slit 55 for dividing the conductor width of the conductor 51B into two is provided along the inter-line slit.
From the above configurations, the rectangular conductors 51A, 51B of the electric wire 50
Are arranged at a constant pitch P as shown in FIG.

Returning to FIG. 1, the connector housing 20 is formed of an insulating resin material into a substantially rectangular body, and has a terminal accommodating chamber 22 for individually accommodating the elastic terminals 10A and 10B inserted from the rear end side. It is configured to have. The terminal accommodating chamber 22 is formed by a partition wall 25 which communicates the upper wall 23 and the lower wall 24 of the housing 20 and partitions a space inside the housing. As shown in FIG. 3, the partition wall 25 forms a space portion 27 that is partially cut away in the upper end direction on the rear side, and allows the chain portion 14 to enter when the elastic terminal 10 </ b> B is inserted. . The partition 25 is connected to the opening 21 on the front side.

The holder 30 is provided in a substantially comb shape with slit grooves 31 cut out at regular intervals along the housing insertion direction, and has a rear end edge corresponding to the base of the protruding comb-shaped protrusion 36. Is folded back to one surface side to form a terminal storage portion 32. As shown in FIG. 2, the slit groove 31 and the comb 36 are folded so that the wire end 50a sandwiches the comb-shaped protrusion 36, and the slit groove 31 and the comb 36 are attached to the holder 30. The inter-line slit 54 between the conductors and the slit 55 formed in the second conductor 51B coincide with each other, and the comb-shaped protrusion 36 substantially coincides with the first conductor 51A and the bisected second conductor 51B. Positions and shapes are provided.

The holder guide 40 is provided with the opening 21
The main body 41 inserted into the housing 20 is
The holder 30 is provided with a holder holding portion 43 in which the holder 30 is fitted. On the inner wall surface of the holder holding portion 43,
A positioning projection (not shown) is formed which is press-fitted into the slit groove 31 of the holder 30 to prevent the holder 30 and the electric wire 50 from being laterally displaced. Further, a through hole 47 communicating with the holder holding portion 43 is provided on the front side of the main body portion 41, and the comb-shaped projecting portion 36 of the holder 30 holds the electric wire 50 in the through hole 47. It is inserted in the state where it was done. Further, on both sides of the main body portion 41, a lock piece 49 supported in a cantilever shape and extended in the front-rear direction is provided, and the holder guide 40 is inserted into the housing 20 together with the holder 30. Then, the locking projection 49a formed on the lock piece 49 engages with the engagement hole 27 provided on the side wall 26 of the housing 20, and is fixed to the housing irremovably.

Next, the state where the electric wire 50 is held by the holder 30 configured as described above, and then the state where the holder 30 holding the electric wire 50 is integrated with the holder guide 40 and then inserted into the housing 20. Will be described sequentially. First, after the rectangular conductors 51A and 51B are exposed, the electric wire 50 has an electric wire end 50a as shown by a broken line in FIG.
Is bent and attached to the holder 30 while holding the comb-shaped protrusion 36 of the holder 30 therebetween. At this time, the slits 54 between the rectangular conductors 51A and 51B and the conductors are aligned with the comb-shaped protrusions 36 and the slit grooves 31 of the holder 30. Then, the distal end portion 50b of the bent electric wire 50
Is stored in the terminal storage section 32 of the holder 30.

The holder 30 holding the electric wire 50 in the temporarily fixed state is fitted with the holder guide 40 and the comb-shaped projecting portion 36 is projected forward from the through hole 47 of the holder holding portion 43 so that the main body is The unit 41 is integrated. In this state, the electric wire 50 is connected to the holder guide 4.
0 and the holder 30.

The integrated holder 30 and holder guide 40
Is inserted into the housing 20 through the opening 21 of the housing 20. At this time, the partition 25 of the housing 20 is connected to each conductor 5 protruding from the holder guide 40.
1A and 51B and the slit 55 of the second conductor 51B. In other words, the slit enters the slit groove 31 of the holder 30. Thereby, the first conductor 51A, which is formed into a male terminal at the wire end 50a, can press the contact spring portion 12 of the elastic terminal 10A housed in the housing 20 in advance, and the second conductor 51B is Each contact spring portion 12 of the elastic terminal 10B is brought into pressure contact with each other, so that electrical continuity is achieved between the individual conductors. Further, the holder guide 40
When the lock piece 49 is inserted into the housing 20, the lock piece 49 is elastically deformed, and the locking projection 49 a is fitted into the engagement hole 27 of the housing 20, and is irremovably coupled to the housing 20. On the other hand, each of the elastic terminals 10A, 10B
Is inserted into the housing 20 from the rear end side of the housing 20 as described above. At this time, since the partition wall 25 has the space 27 as shown in FIGS. The elastic terminal 10 </ b> B having the connection structure described above allows the chain portion 14 to enter the space portion 27 and is inserted into the housing 20. Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to a case where the present invention is applied to a flexible flat cable, the present invention is also applicable to a flexible printed circuit board.

[0024]

As described above, according to the connector structure of the present invention, the electric wire has the same pitch as the signal line conductor by forming a wide power line conductor and providing a slit for dividing the conductor into two. Therefore, the connector structure can be made invariant regardless of the configuration of the circuit body, and versatility can be provided. Further, since the elastic terminal electrically connected to the power line has a paired connection structure, and furthermore, the partition in the housing is provided with a space that does not interfere with the chain of the terminals,
The connector can be configured by housing the elastic terminals corresponding to the respective conductors in the housing irrespective of the circuit configuration of the electric wire, so that the component parts of the connector can be shared and the cost can be reduced. In addition, the partition wall of the housing enters the slit groove of the holder to separate the conductors, and the upper wall and the lower wall of the housing are connected so that leakage current between conductors is prevented. At the same time, the strength of the housing can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing one embodiment of a connector structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cutaway perspective view of a main part of a holder holding an electric wire.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the connector structure of FIG. 1 in a connected state.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the connector structure of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of an elastic terminal electrically connected to a power line.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a flexible flat cable applied to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a connector showing a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a form of an electric wire according to a conventional example.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing another form of the electric wire according to the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10A Elastic terminal electrically connected to signal conductor 10B Elastic terminal electrically connected to power conductor 11 Electric wire connection part 12 Contact spring part 13 Prevention piece 14 Chain part 20 Connector housing 22 Terminal accommodation chamber 25 Partition wall 27 Space part 30 Holder 31 Slit Groove 32 Terminal storage portion 36 Comb-shaped protrusion 40 Holder guide 41 Main body 43 Holder holding portion 47 Through hole 50 Electric wire (flexible flat cable) 50a Wire end 51A First conductor for signal line 51B Second line for power line Conductor 54 Interline slit 55 Slit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-72084 (JP, A) JP-A-2-16587 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01R 23/66-23/68

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A substantially sheet-like shape having a plurality of rectangular conductors having a plurality of comb-shaped protrusions projecting with slit grooves cut out at regular intervals along an insertion direction and spaced apart from each other by a fixed distance. A plurality of terminal housings; a holder to be sandwiched between the ends of the electric wires exposing the rectangular conductors; a holder guide engaged with the holder by inserting the holder and the ends of the electric wires to be integrated with the holder; A chamber is partitioned by a partition wall fitted in the slit groove and comprises a connector housing accommodating an elastic terminal. The holder and the holder guide are inserted into the connector housing, and an end of the electric wire is press-connected to the elastic terminal. A first connector having a narrow width corresponding to the width of the comb-shaped protrusion.
A conductor and a wide second conductor corresponding to the width of the plurality of comb-shaped projecting portions are included, and the second conductor is provided with a slit corresponding to the slit groove at the end of the electric wire, The connector structure, wherein the elastic terminal connected to the second conductor by pressure contact has a connection structure in which a plurality of elastic terminals corresponding to the first conductor are connected. 2. The connector structure according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall of the connector housing is provided with a space that allows a chain portion of the elastic terminals of the connection structure to enter.