JP3989454B2 - Intermediate unit - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an intermediate unit that is provided in the middle of a cord provided with a connecting part connected to a portable device at one end and an earphone or a headphone at the other end.

  As technologies related to the intermediate unit configured as described above, there are those shown in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2. In Patent Document 1, a remote control unit (intermediate unit of the present invention) interposed in the middle of a cord connecting a plug (connect portion of the present invention) and an earphone is provided inside an upper case and a lower case (casing of the present invention). The board is housed in a switchboard, and includes a switch button, a hold knob, and a volume knob. The board is held by ribs formed on the upper case and the lower case, the switch button, the hold knob and the volume knob are supported by the board, and the cord is held between the upper case and the lower case via a bush. ing.

  In Patent Document 2, a function control unit (intermediate unit of the present invention) and a microphone are interposed in the middle of a cord connecting a plug and an earphone. The function control unit includes a transmission key, an end key, a mute key, and a one-touch operation. A dial key is provided, and the microphone is housed in a case.

JP-A-2-248194 (Specifications, FIGS. 1 to 4) JP-A-5-327844 (paragraph numbers [0011] to [0019], FIGS. 1 to 3)

  Considering the work process of interposing an intermediate unit with a substrate in the middle of a cord, in the conventional work, the cord of the part where the intermediate unit is interposed is cut, and the ends of a plurality of conductors included in this cord The part is connected to the substrate of the intermediate unit by soldering, and after this connection, an operation step of storing the substrate in a casing or the like is required. However, in the case where an earphone is provided at the distal end of the cord and a microphone is provided near the distal end of the cord, as described in Patent Document 2, these earphone and microphone are function control units (intermediate unit of the present invention). Since there is no need to control, there is room for improvement in the case where the conventional work process is performed, the work of soldering the signal line of the microphone or the earphone to the substrate is wasted and takes too much time.

  Further, as described in Patent Document 1, when a structure in which two members are overlapped as the casing of the intermediate unit is adopted, it is easy to increase the size, and an operation of tightening with a screw is required when assembling. The operation of fitting the members takes time. For these reasons, it is also desired to form a casing by forming a resin so as to be integrated with a substrate using a mold. Specifically, molding in a form in which a substrate is inserted by a so-called injection technique in which a mold is arranged in an area extending from a cord to a substrate and a resin is injected into the mold is desired. . However, since a relatively high pressure is applied when injecting the resin into the mold, there is room for improvement because the components provided on the substrate may be damaged or the components may be separated from the substrate. In addition, when the casing is formed by injecting resin into the mold, a strong force acts on the part even when the resin contracts due to heat dissipation after injection, and the part may be damaged in the same manner as described above. In some cases, parts were peeled off from the board.

  Such inconvenience often occurs when a relatively hard resin is used. Therefore, it is conceivable to form the casing using a resin having a flexible property. However, if a resin that is too flexible is used, the parts cannot be protected against an external impact, which is not feasible. there were.

  An object of the present invention is to form an intermediate unit with as little effort as possible.

A feature of the present invention is an intermediate unit that is provided in the middle of a cord provided with a connect portion connected to a portable device at one end and an earphone or a headphone at the other end.
The intermediate unit is configured by a substrate on which a component is mounted and a resin casing molded so as to be integrated with the substrate, and ends of some of the plurality of conductors constituting the cord are It is electrically connected to the substrate and is arranged in such a manner that it passes through the casing without connecting other conductors to the substrate.

  With this configuration, only a part of the conductors of the cord are electrically connected to the substrate by means such as soldering, so that it is possible to save time and labor for connection as compared to connecting all the conductors to the substrate. Become. As a result, the intermediate unit can be easily formed.

  In the present invention, the casing is formed of a first resin wrapper portion formed by a first mold at a substrate outer peripheral portion excluding a mounting space for the component, and a second mold is formed at a portion covering the wrapper portion and the component. The second resin may be configured so as to be softer than the first resin.

  With this configuration, since the first mold forms the wrapper portion with the first resin in the portion excluding the component mounting space, the pressure does not act on the components provided on the substrate from the first resin. In addition, although the covering portion is formed with the second resin in the portion that covers the wrapper portion and the component by the second mold, since the second resin is softer than the first resin, the second resin is strong against the component. The force does not act, and even when an impact is applied from the outside, the wrapper can receive the impact applied to the component.

  According to the present invention, the first resin is formed by injection of the first resin using the first mold having a restricting body for preventing the inflow of the first resin to the mounting space and the positioning space as the first resin. The second resin may be formed by injecting the second resin using the second mold set with reference to the positioning space.

  With this configuration, when the first resin is injected into the first mold, the restrictor prevents the first resin from flowing into the space in which the parts are provided and the positioning space. After the portion is formed, the position of the second mold can be determined based on the positioning space of the wrapper portion, so that the covering portion made of the second resin can be formed with high positional accuracy with respect to the wrapper portion.

  In the present invention, the wrapper portion is formed in a portion extending over the substrate and the cord connected to the substrate, and the covering portion is formed on the wrapper portion and the cord exposed to the outside of the wrapper portion. An elastomer may be used for the second resin that is formed in the extending portion and forms the covering portion.

  With this configuration, the substrate and the cord are covered with the wrapper portion, so that even when tension is applied to the cord, the wrapper portion receives the tension acting on the cord, suppressing the inconvenience of separating the cord from the substrate, Since the cover portion made of elastomer is formed in the portion extending from the wrapper portion to the cord, even when a bending force acts at the boundary portion with the casing, the phenomenon that the force acts locally on the cord is eliminated. Thus, the cord can be flexibly bent with a relatively large radius.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a plug 11 (an example of a connecting portion) connected to a jack portion 2 of a main body case 1 of a mobile phone T as a portable device is provided at one end of a cord 12, and the other end portion of the cord 12 is provided. An earphone 13 (may be a headphone) is provided, and an antenna unit A (an example of an intermediate unit) and a microphone / switch unit M are provided at an intermediate position of the cord 12 to constitute a hands-free set.

  The mobile phone T includes a plurality of keys 3, a liquid crystal display 4, and a rod antenna 5 in the main body case 1. The mobile phone T functions as a telephone by including a communication device inside the main body case 1 and receives a television broadcast. By incorporating the tuner, the television broadcast image is displayed on the liquid crystal display 4.

  In the hands-free set, the plug 11 is connected to the jack portion 2, and when the user sets the earphone 13 to the ear, the user hears the voice from the mobile phone T via the earphone 13, and the user's voice is a microphone switch. A so-called hands-free use in which the electret type microphone 17 provided in the unit M is received and sent out from the mobile phone T is made possible. Further, when a call is made to the cellular phone T, a call is realized by responding (off-hook) by operating the switch 18 of the microphone / switch unit M. As will be described later, the antenna unit A includes a component 22 (see Parts and FIG. 4) for receiving radio waves of television broadcasting, and the reception sensitivity is improved by using a part of the cord 12 as an antenna. Functions to enhance.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the microphone / switch unit M includes a substrate 16, a microphone 17, and a push-type switch 18 inside a case 15, and transmits sound to the microphone 17 in the case 15. A through-hole 17A is formed, and the operation part 18A of the switch 18 is provided in a state of penetrating the case 15, and is configured to reveal an off-hook state and an on-hook state by pressing the operation part 18A. ing.

  In the antenna unit A, a substrate 21 constituting an antenna circuit is built in a casing AC as a component 22 with a chip-type coil and a chip-type capacitor. The casing AC is formed by resin injection molding using a mold. Has been. The present invention is characterized by the structure of the antenna unit A as an intermediate unit.

  That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the substrate 21 is formed into an octagonal shape with an insulating material such as glass epoxy, and a wiring is formed by a printed wiring technique using a copper foil. The component 22 is fixed to the land portion 21A by soldering. The cord 12 includes a plurality of conductors 12B (made of copper wire) covered with an insulator inside a protective sheath 12A, and a shield 12C serving as an antenna line among the plurality of conductors 12B. It has a structure that includes a coating. Then, the end of the plurality of conductors 12B of the cord 12 arranged at a position sandwiching the substrate 21 and covered with the shield 12C (also functioning as a conductor) (functioning as a coaxial cable) and the shield 12C And are fixed by soldering. In addition, the conductor 12B not to be soldered is disposed in a form that allows the back side of the substrate 21 to pass therethrough.

  Specifically, the protective sheath 12A of the cord 12 corresponding to the portion sandwiching the substrate 21 is removed, the conductor 12B that functions as a coaxial cable is cut, and the conductor 12B and the shield 12C are cut. Are connected to corresponding ones of the land portions 21A by soldering, and other conductors 12B are arranged along the back side of the substrate 21.

  The casing AC is formed of a relatively hard first resin R1 such as polypropylene or nylon, and after forming the wrapper portion 25, the casing AC covers the wrapper portion 25 and is softer than the first resin R1. The covering portion 26 is laminated using a second resin R2 (an example of an elastomer). The second resin R2 is ideally the same material as the protective sheath 12A of the cord 12, but it is preferable to use a material having the same degree of flexibility as the protective sheath 12A.

  The casing AC uses a first mold M1 (an example of a first mold) shown in FIGS. 4 to 7 and inserts a substrate 21. The first resin R1 is injected into the first mold M1. After forming the wrapper portion 25 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 by performing (injection), this molded product is used for the wrapper portion 25 using a second mold M2 (an example of the second mold) shown in FIG. 3 is inserted into the second mold M2 to form a covering portion 26 as shown in FIG.

  The first mold M1 is composed of a main mold 31 and a sub mold 32, and four first pins 33 (which determine the position of the substrate 21 by contacting the end of the substrate 21 inside the mold on the main mold 31 side). An example of a restricting body) and two second pins 34 that determine the position by contacting the back side of the substrate 21 are formed. The sub mold 32 is formed with a wall portion 35 (an example of a regulating body) that prevents the first resin R1 from flowing into the space in which the component 22 provided on the substrate is mounted. The second mold M2 includes a main mold 41 and a sub mold 42, and positioning protrusions 43 are formed inside the main mold 41 and the sub mold 42, respectively.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, in the state where the substrate 21 soldered with the conductor 12B and the shield 12C is set inside the mold and the main mold 31 and the sub mold 32 of the first mold M1 are combined, With the wall 35 surrounding the mounting space of the component 22, the end of the wall 35 is in contact with the surface of the substrate 21, and the second pin 34 is in contact with the back surface of the substrate 21. Displacement in the front and back direction is prevented, and displacement in the direction along the surface of the substrate 21 is prevented by the first pin 33 contacting the edge of the substrate 21. Further, in such a state where the substrate 21 is arranged inside the first mold M1, the conductor 12B arranged on the back surface side of the substrate 21 is arranged between the first pin 33 and the second pin 34. become. In this state, by injecting the first resin R1 into the mold inside the first mold M1, the first resin R1 is sent to the outer peripheral portion of the board excluding the mounting space of the component 22, and the first pin and the second focus. The wrapper portion 25 having a space in which the first resin R1 is not filled is formed in the portion where the slag exists.

  As shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, in this molded product, a wrapper portion 25 is formed from a portion of the protective sheath 12 </ b> A of the cord 12 to a portion of the substrate 21, and the first resin R <b> 1 is made of the wall portion 35. An open space S1 in which flow-in is prevented is formed on the front surface side of the substrate 21, and the conductor 12B disposed on the back surface side of the substrate 21 is a hole-shaped positioning space in which the first pin 33 is inserted by the first resin R1. S2 is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 10, when the molded product is set inside and the main mold 41 and the sub mold 42 of the second mold M2 are combined, the positioning space S2 formed in the wrapper portion 25 is By engaging the protrusion 43, the position of the molded product is determined, and in this state, the second resin R2 is coated on the outer periphery of the first resin R1 by injecting the second resin R2 into the mold. 26.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the molded product formed in this way is in a form in which the covering portion 26 covers the entire outer periphery of the wrapper portion 25, the second space R <b> 1 is filled with the second resin R <b> 2, and the positioning space S <b> 2 is filled. Most of the portions are filled with the second resin R2, and the sleeve 26S made of the second resin R2 covers the portion of the protective sheath 12A of the cord 12 exposed from the wrapper portion 25. The sleeve 26S is thinner toward the end side, and is formed into a bellows shape by forming a plurality of annular grooves on the outer periphery of the intermediate portion, so that no local force acts on the cord 12, and the end side It functions to bend smoothly with a light force.

  That is, since only some of the conductors 12B of the cord 12 are electrically connected to the substrate 21 by means of soldering or the like, the labor required for connection is less than that for connecting all the conductors 12B to the substrate 21. The omitted antenna unit A (intermediate unit) can be easily formed. In the antenna unit A, the first resin R1 is formed in a portion excluding the mounting space of the parts (components) when the first resin R1 made of relatively hard polypropylene or the like is injected. Thus, no pressure acts on the component 22 provided on the substrate, and no pressure acts on the component from the resin when the temperature of the first resin R1 decreases after molding. Next, although the covering portion 26 is formed so as to cover the wrapper portion 25 and the component 22 with the second resin R2 made of relatively soft polyurethane or the like, the second resin R2 is softer than the first resin R1. A strong force does not act on the component 22 from the second resin R2, and even when a strong impact is applied from the outside during use, the wrapper 25 can receive an impact applied to the component. Protected and has good sealing performance.

  Further, since the first resin R1 is formed in a portion extending between the substrate 21 and the cord 12, the substrate 21 and the cord 12 are strongly connected, and the second resin R2 is formed in a portion extending between the wrapper portion 25 and the cord 12. Therefore, the cord 12 exposed from the antenna unit A is allowed to bend flexibly, and the feeling of use is good and the cord 12 is hardly damaged at the boundary portion with the antenna unit A.

[Another embodiment]
The present invention may be configured as follows in addition to the embodiment described above.

  The wrapper of the present invention includes a microphone / switch unit composed of a wrapper portion and a covering portion, and a portable audio device as a portable device, and a controller interposed in an earphone cord connecting a plug to the audio. It consists of a part and a covering part.

  As means for electrically connecting the conductor of the cord to the substrate, it is possible to use a welding technique such as a spot or a technique of crimping the end of the conductor to the substrate side in addition to soldering.

Perspective view showing mobile phone and hands-free set Side view and front view of antenna unit and microphone / switch unit Vertical side view of the antenna unit Longitudinal front view showing a state where the substrate is set inside the first mold Cross-sectional plan view showing a state where the substrate is set inside the first mold Vertical side view showing a state where the substrate is set inside the first mold in the separated state Longitudinal side view showing a state in which the first resin is injected into the first mold Longitudinal front view and longitudinal rear view of the molded product with the first resin Cross-sectional plan view of molded product with the first resin Longitudinal side view showing a state in which a molded product of the first resin is set inside the second mold in the separated state

Explanation of symbols

2 Connect part 12 Code 13 Earphone 21 Substrate 21B, 21C Conductor 22 Parts 25 Wrapper part 26 Cover part 33 Restrictor 35 Restrictor A Intermediate unit AC Casing M1 First type M2 Second type R1 First resin R2 Second resin S2 Positioning Space T Mobile device

Claims (4)

An intermediate unit that is provided in the middle of a cord provided with a connecting part connected to a portable device at one end and an earphone or headphone provided at the other end,
The intermediate unit is configured by a substrate on which a component is mounted and a resin casing molded so as to be integrated with the substrate, and ends of some of the plurality of conductors constituting the cord are An intermediate unit that is arranged in such a manner that it is electrically connected to the substrate and passes through the casing without connecting other conductors to the substrate.   The casing is made of a first resin wrapper portion formed by a first mold at a substrate outer peripheral portion excluding the mounting space for the component, and a second resin made by a second mold at a portion covering the wrapper portion and the component. The intermediate unit according to claim 1, wherein the second resin is set to be softer than the first resin.   The first resin is formed by injecting the first resin using the first mold having a restricting body for preventing the inflow of the first resin into the mounting space and the positioning space of the component, 3. The intermediate unit according to claim 2, wherein the two resins are formed by injecting the second resin using the second mold set with the positioning space as a reference.   The wrapper portion is formed in a portion extending over the substrate and the cord connected to the substrate, and the covering portion is formed in a portion extending over the wrapper portion and the cord exposed to the outside of the wrapper portion. The intermediate unit according to claim 2 or 3, wherein an elastomer is used for the second resin forming the covering portion.

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