JP4030121B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector in which a metal part is sandwiched between insulating materials and bonded and assembled using laser, vibration, ultrasonic waves, or the like.

  Conventionally, there has been known a connector of a type in which a metal part is sandwiched between insulating materials and joined and assembled using laser, vibration, ultrasonic waves, or the like.

  9 to 11 are perspective views sequentially showing assembly of a laser welding type connector. A conventional connector assembly procedure will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Referring to FIG. 9, the connector 111 includes a base insulator 1, a cover insulator 2, and a contact 3. The base insulator includes a protruding portion 1g in which adjacent ones are arranged in parallel to each other at a predetermined interval in the width direction, and a groove 1h formed between the protruding portions 1g.

  Referring to FIG. 10, the contacts 3 are respectively mounted in the grooves 1 h of the base insulator 1 and covered with the cover insulator 2 from above.

  Referring to FIG. 11, the laser beam 14 from the laser device is irradiated as indicated by an arrow 15 to weld the contact 3, the base insulator 1 and the cover insulator 2, and fix the contact 3 to the insulator. The connector 111 is completed.

  12 to 14 are perspective views showing another example of a laser welding type connector according to the prior art. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a finished product of the laser welding type connector. FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the laser welding type connector before laser welding. FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view, and FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a state in which contacts are set on the base insulator.

  Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, the laser welding type connector 112 includes a base insulator 1, a contact 3, and a cover insulator 2. The base insulator 1 includes a mounting surface 4 of the cover insulator 2 and a holding surface 5 that is further depressed than the mounting surface. Protrusions 1a for sandwiching the contact 3 from both sides are formed on the holding surface 5, respectively. A holding groove 6 for mounting a contact is formed on the rear side of the pair of protrusions 1a of the base insulator 1.

  The contact 3 is integrally provided with a terminal portion 3a, a contact holding portion 3c, and a connecting portion 3b that connects the terminal portion 3a and the contact holding portion 3c in stages.

  In order to assemble this conventional connector 112, first, the contact holding portion 3c of the contact 3 is mounted on the protrusion 1a and the holding groove 6 of the base insulator 1, and then the cover insulator 2 is covered, and the state shown in FIG. Thus, the base insulator 1, the cover insulator 2 and the contact 3 are welded and fixed to each other by irradiating laser light in the same manner as shown in FIG.

  As a method for fixing contacts and cables to an insulator by laser welding in a flat cable connector, there is one shown in FIGS. 15 to 16 (see Patent Document 1). FIG. 15 is a partial perspective view used for explaining a connection method of a conventional flat cable connector, and FIG. 16 is a partial cross-sectional view used for explaining a connection method of a conventional flat cable connector.

  As shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, the terminal groove 72 of the base portion 71 provided integrally with the housing portion 53 is formed with inclined surfaces 72 a toward the both sides with the insertion hole 75 as the top at the bottom. . The elastic terminal 69 also has a connecting portion 69b processed according to the shape of the bottom of the terminal groove 72 and is mounted in the terminal accommodating chamber 67 of the housing portion 53 (see FIG. 16).

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 16, the clamping member 73 has an inclined surface 73 a with the inner wall surface facing the base portion 71 corresponding to the shape of the bottom portion of the terminal groove 72 and the insertion hole 75 as the bottom portion. ing. The clamping member 73 is provided separately from the housing portion 53, and a locking hole 78 appropriately provided on the side wall of the clamping member 73 is locked to the locking piece 78 of the base portion 71. Integrated with the part.

  The second flat cable is temporarily held by the housing portion 53 by inserting the conductor 76a into the terminal groove 72, placing it on the connection portion 69b of the elastic terminal 69, and then fitting the holding member 73 thereon. At that time, the connecting portion between the conductor 76a of the second flat cable and the connecting portion 69b of the elastic terminal 69 is connected to the inclined surface 72a of the terminal groove 72 of the base portion 71 and the holding member 73 as shown in FIG. The connecting portion is held in close contact with the inclined surface 73a. At this time, since the conductor 76a of the second flat cable is bent and sandwiched by the inclined surface 72a at the bottom of the terminal groove 72, the adhesion with the connection portion 69b of the elastic terminal 69 is further improved.

  Then, laser light (L) is introduced from the base portion 71 and the insertion hole 75 of the holding member 73 to weld the connecting portion, whereby the connector structure 51 is completed.

  Any of the laser welding connectors described above has a drawback that it is very difficult to determine or confirm whether or not the protrusion (welding rib) is properly melted when laser welding is performed.

JP 7-2111405 A

  Therefore, a technical problem of the present invention is to provide a connector that can confirm whether or not a contact is completely fixed to a melted welded portion without damaging the appearance.

According to the present invention, in the connector including a contact and an insulator, the contact includes a holding portion, and the insulator includes a base insulator and a cover insulator. The base insulator and the cover insulator include the contact. The contact is fixed and the base insulator and the cover insulator are fixed by irradiating the cover insulator with a laser from the surface of the cover insulator, and an opening is formed in the vicinity of the contact holder of the base insulator. forming a said base insulator comprises at least two pair of projections that can be melted by the laser irradiation with sandwiching the holding portion from both sides of the contact, the protrusion is formed at an edge of the opening, before When fixing the contact, the connector, characterized in that the melting of the contact holding portion is to be visible through the opening is obtained.

  In the present invention, by providing a window on the side of the welding rib of the base insulator, it is possible to provide a connector capable of confirming whether the welding rib portion is melted from the back side of the product after laser welding. Can do.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a connector according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the connector of FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where contacts are set on the base insulator in the assembly of the connector of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state after laser welding of the connector of FIG. 1, with the cover insulator removed. is there.

  1 to 4, the connector 101 includes a base insulator 1, a cover insulator 2, and a contact 3 held by these.

  The base insulator 1 includes a mounting surface 4 for mounting the cover insulator 2 that is recessed in a square shape, a holding surface 5 that is further recessed from the mounting surface 4, and a pair of two protrusions (welding ribs) that stand up from the holding surface. ) 1a. The contact 3 is mounted so as to be sandwiched between the protrusions 1a. A holding groove 6 for mounting the contact 3 is provided behind the protruding portion 1 a of the base insulator 1. Furthermore, the slit 1b which consists of an elongate through-hole as an opening part is provided in the outer side of the projection part 1a.

  In the illustrated example, the contact 3 has a shape extending further rearward than the contact holding portion 3c. In order to mainly explain the contact holding portion 3c, a partial perspective view of only one end side from the contact holding portion 3c. The portion extending further rearward than the contact holding portion 3c is omitted. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the contact 3 includes a terminal portion 3a exposed to form a terminal, a contact holding portion 3c held by the base insulator 1 and the cover insulator 2, and a contact holding portion with the terminal portion 3a. And a connecting portion 3b that connects the portion 3c in a stepped manner.

  The cover insulator 2 has a rectangular shape so as to be mounted on the mounting surface 4 of the base insulator.

  Next, assembly of the connector of FIG. 1 will be described. The contact holding portions 3c of the contacts 3 are attached to the protruding portions 1a and the holding grooves 6 of the base insulator 1, respectively. Next, the cover insulator 2 is mounted on the mounting surface 4 of the base insulator 1, and the contact holding portion 3 c is covered with the cover insulator 2. As a result, the contact holding portion 3 c of the contact 3 is sandwiched between the base insulator 1 and the cover insulator 2.

  Further, similarly to the one shown in FIG. 11, the laser beam 14 from the laser device 10 is irradiated from above the cover insulator to melt the protrusion 1a, and the contact 3, the cover insulator 2, and the base insulator 1 are welded. , Fix. The molten state of the protrusion 1a at that time can be observed through the slit 1b.

  For laser welding, a laser having a wavelength of 800 to 1100 (nm) is used. When laser welding is performed by LCP, a natural color is used for the cover insulator and black is used for the base insulator. Further, the cover insulator has a higher welding strength when a thin plate insulator such as 0.2 [mm] or 0.3 [mm] is used.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a connector according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the connector of FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where contacts are set on the base insulator in the assembly of the connector of FIG. 5, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state after laser welding of the connector of FIG. 5, with the cover insulator removed. is there.

  5 to 8, the connector 102 according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a base insulator 1, a cover insulator 2, and a contact 3 held by them.

  The base insulator 1 includes a mounting surface 4 for mounting the cover insulator 2 that is recessed in a square shape, a holding surface 5 that is further recessed from the mounting surface 4, and two-to-four projections (welding) that stand up from the holding surface 5. For ribs) 1f, 1f. The contact 3 is mounted so as to be sandwiched between the protrusions 1f and 1f. A holding groove 6 for mounting the contact 3 is provided behind the protrusions 1 f and 1 f of the base insulator 1. Further, on the outer side of the protrusions 1f and 1f, slits 1e each having an elongated through hole are provided as openings corresponding to the respective protrusions 1f.

  As in the first embodiment, the contact 3 is omitted from the rear part of the contact holding part 3c, and is held by the terminal part 3a exposed to form a terminal, the base insulator 1, and the cover insulator 2. A contact holding part 3c, and a connecting part 3b for connecting the terminal part 3a and the contact holding part 3c in stages.

  The cover insulator 2 has a rectangular shape so as to be mounted on the mounting surface 4 of the base insulator.

  Next, assembly of the connector of FIG. 5 will be described. The contact holding portions 3c of the contacts 3 are respectively attached to the protruding portions 1f and the holding grooves 6 of the base insulator 1. Next, the cover insulator 2 is mounted on the mounting surface 4 of the base insulator 1, and the contact holding portion 3 c is covered with the cover insulator 2. As a result, the contact holding portion 3 c of the contact 3 is sandwiched between the base insulator 1 and the cover insulator 2.

  Further, in the same manner as shown in FIG. 11, the laser beam 14 is irradiated from the laser device 10 from above the cover insulator, the protrusion 1f is melted, and the cover insulator 2 and the base insulator 1 are welded. The contact 3 is fixed by 1d to complete the connector shown in FIG. The molten state when the protrusion 1f is melted to become the welded portion 1d can be observed through the slit 1e.

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, a metal part, for example, a contact is sandwiched between insulators made of an insulating material and assembled by a method of joining using laser, vibration, or ultrasonic wave, after laser irradiation, It can be confirmed without damaging the appearance that the protrusion (welding rib) is melted from the slit.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, laser welding is used. Of course, vibration bonding and ultrasonic bonding can also be used.

  The connector according to the present invention is most suitable as a connector for electronic equipment and electrical equipment.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a connector according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a bottom view of the connector of FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which contacts are set on a base insulator in the assembly of the connector of FIG. 1. It is the perspective view which shows the state after the laser welding of the connector of FIG. 1, and is the figure which removed the cover insulator. It is a perspective view which shows the connector which removed the cover insulator by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a bottom view of the connector of FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which contacts are set on a base insulator in the assembly of the connector of FIG. 5. It is the perspective view which shows the state after laser welding of the connector of FIG. 5, and is the figure which removed the cover insulator. It is a perspective view which shows the assembly procedure of the laser welding type connector by an example of a prior art. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a procedure for assembling the connector of FIG. 9. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a procedure for assembling the connector of FIG. 9. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the laser welding type connector by a prior art, and is a perspective view of the completed product of a laser welding type connector. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the laser welding type connector by a prior art, and is an exploded assembly perspective view of the laser welding type connector before laser welding. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the laser welding type connector by a prior art, and is a perspective view which shows the state which set the contact to the base insulator. It is a fragmentary perspective view used for description of the connection method of the cable connector for flats by another example of a prior art. It is a fragmentary sectional view used for description of the connection method of the flat cable connection connector by another example of a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

1 Base insulator 1a, 1f Protrusion (welding rib)
1b, 1e Slit 1d Welding part 1g Projection part 1h Groove 2 Cover insulator 3 Contact 3a Terminal part 3b Connection part 3c Contact holding part 4 Mounting surface 5 Holding surface 6 Holding groove 14 Laser beam 15 Arrow 53 Housing part 67 Terminal storage chamber 69 Elastic terminal 69b Connection portion 71 Base portion 72 Terminal groove 72a Inclined surface 73 Holding member 73a Inclined surface 75 Insertion hole 76a Conductor 78 Locking hole, Locking piece 51 Connector structure 101, 102 Connector 111, 112 Laser welding type connector

Claims (1)

In the connector including a contact and an insulator, the contact includes a holding portion, the insulator includes a base insulator and a cover insulator, and the base insulator and the cover insulator sandwich the contact holding portion. Te, by laser irradiation from said cover insulator surface, fixing the contact, and thereby fixing the said cover insulator and said base insulator, an opening is formed in the vicinity of the contact holding portion of said base insulator, said base insulator comprises at least two pair of projections that can be melted by the laser irradiation with sandwiching the holding portion from both sides of the contact, the protrusion is fixed to the contact formed at an edge of the opening That time, the connector, characterized in that the melting of the contact holding portion is to be visible through the opening.

Images