JP4543401B2 - Fluorescent tube connector device with collision sound generation avoidance structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a fluorescent tube connector device, and more particularly to a fluorescent tube connector device having a collision sound generation avoidance structure.

  As a backlight light source of a liquid crystal display device (liquid crystal display) such as a television receiver, a fluorescent tube (linear light source) such as a hot cathode tube (HCFL) or a cold cathode tube (CCFL) is widely used. These fluorescent tubes have lead wires (conductive wires) at both ends, and each lead wire is supported on a substrate such as a backlight back plate through a fluorescent tube connector device.

  7 and 8 show an example of a conventional fluorescent tube connector device 201 disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-259370. FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a part of the fluorescent tube connector device 201 disclosed in this conventional example, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing only the substrate 202 and the terminals 207 shown in FIG. This fluorescent tube connector device 201 has a function of supporting the fluorescent tube 203 or supplying power to the fluorescent tube 203, mainly to the terminal 207 and the housing 204, and to the terminal 207 and the housing 204. The actuator 205 is rotatable. The terminal 207 has a contact portion 210 that sandwiches the conducting wire 218 of the fluorescent tube 203, and this contact portion 210 sandwiches the conducting wire 218 and an open state in which the conducting wire 218 can be introduced in conjunction with the opening / closing operation of the actuator 205. The closed state can be taken.

JP 2005-259370 A

  For example, when the backlight is used, the fluorescent tube can be expanded and contracted along a lead wire extending in the length direction due to the influence of heat or the like emitted from the fluorescent tube. The stress due to such expansion and contraction is easily applied to the sandwiched portion of the conducting wire, and there is a risk that the conducting wire 218 may be cut due to, for example, a collision between the contact portion 210 that sandwiches the conducting wire 218 and the conducting wire 218. In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable that a part of the fluorescent tube connector device is floated in response to thermal expansion and contraction of the fluorescent tube. Could collide and generate unpleasant collision noise.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems in the prior art, and in particular, it is intended to provide a structure for avoiding the occurrence of collision noise in a fluorescent tube connector device having a floating mechanism. To do.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a movable housing that is movable according to the movement of the fluorescent tube in the length direction of the fluorescent tube, and a fixed housing that supports the movable housing in a floating manner in the length direction. the provided, which is part of the pre-Symbol fixed housing, the free end extending in the direction of the floating, protrudes to the movable housing side, in contact with a portion of the movable housing, wherein the movable housing There is provided a fluorescent tube connector device characterized in that an urging member for applying a force in a direction away from the fixed housing is provided.
In the above-described apparatus, a portion that is provided along the floating direction as a part of the fixed housing and that is constantly pressed by a part of the movable housing that receives a force in a direction away from the fixed housing by the biasing member. It can also be provided.

Further, in the above apparatus, the fluorescent tube is fixed at one end and the other end in the length direction of the fluorescent tube, and the biasing member is the other end side than the one end or the other end in the apparatus. It may be provided on the one end side . The apparatus may further include an attachment member attached to the movable housing and having a function of fixing the lead wire of the fluorescent tube to the terminal.

  Hereinafter, an example of a fluorescent tube connector device including a floating control mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fluorescent tube connector device 1 according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view thereof, FIG. 3 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 4 and FIG. A part of the process is shown in a perspective view.

  The device 1 has a substantially symmetrical shape as a whole. The apparatus 1 mainly includes a movable housing that is movable in accordance with the movement of the fluorescent tube 2 in the length direction (the arrow “A” direction in the drawing) of the fluorescent tube 2 (shown in FIGS. 4 and 5). 40, a fixed housing 70 that supports the movable housing 40 so that it can float in the length direction of the fluorescent tube 2, a lid member (attachment member) 20 that is pivotally supported with respect to the movable housing 40, and a movable housing 40 and the fixed housing 70 are partially exposed and electrically connected to two lead wires 5A and 5B (shown by dotted lines in FIG. 4) extending in the length direction from the fluorescent tube 2 90.

  By using the apparatus 1, for example, one side of the fluorescent tube 2 having a predetermined length is separated from the backlight back plate on one plate surface side of the backlight back plate (not shown). In addition, a signal can be transmitted to the fluorescent tube 2 from an inverter board (not shown) mounted on the other side of the backlight back plate, or electricity can be supplied thereto. In actual use, the fluorescent tube connector device 1 is disposed at each end of the fluorescent tube 2 in the length direction of the fluorescent tube 2 (in the direction of the arrow “A” in the drawing). A plurality of sets in which two fluorescent tube connector devices provided at the end are combined into one set are arranged in parallel. Thereby, it is possible to support television backlights of various sizes.

  In order to fix the device 1 to the backlight back plate, a part of the fixed housing 70 is guided by the inverter board guide surface 87 while passing through the hole of the backlight back plate and locked there. At this time, the lower side of the base part 80 is inserted into the hole of the backlight back plate, and the other parts appear at the upper part of the backlight back plate. The board mounting piece 84 having an elastic action symmetrically arranged at the left and right facing positions on the front surface of the main body 86 is elastically displaceable in the center direction, and after being inserted into the hole in the backlight back plate in the displaced state, the state shown in the figure By returning to, the engagement portion 85 snaps to the edge of the hole in the backlight back plate. Furthermore, the backlight back plate is sandwiched between the engaging portion 85 and the bottom surface 81 of the base portion 80 in the thickness direction with a predetermined force, and is fixed to each hole. After fixing the device 1, the inverter board is attached to the device 1. The inverter board can be mounted by collectively inserting each protrusion provided on one side edge into each board insertion hole 71 provided on the bottom front side of the fixed housing 70. When each protrusion is inserted into each board insertion hole 71, a part of the terminal 90 (contact piece 131) provided in an exposed state in the board insertion hole 71 comes into contact with the inverter board. 1 can be electrically connected.

  The lead wire 5 is fixed to the terminal 90 by the cooperative action of the lid member 20 and the movable housing 40 or the like. The terminal 90 is provided inside the fluorescent tube connector device 1 in a state of penetrating both the movable housing 40 and the fixed housing 70, and leads are provided in a part (lead support fixing portion 91) exposed from the movable housing 40. Lines 5A, 5B (shown in FIG. 4) can be supported and secured. The fluorescent tube 2 fixed to the movable housing 40 via the lead wire 5 expands due to, for example, the influence of heat generated in the fluorescent tube 2 and changes its length along the length direction “A”. There is. This change in length adversely affects the vicinity of the root of the fluorescent tube 2, particularly the connection state between the lead wire 5 of the fluorescent tube 2 and the terminal 90. In order to allow this change in length, the movable housing 40 can float with respect to the fixed housing 70 along the longitudinal direction “a” of the fluorescent tube 2.

The lead wire 5 is inserted into the insertion spaces 53A and 53B provided in the movable housing 40 from above. In each of the insertion spaces 53A and 53B, a gap is formed by a part of the terminal 90 (the fixed piece 92 and the movable piece 94), and these gaps cause the lid member 20 to rotate in the direction of the arrow “I” shown in the figure. In this case, the contact member 20 is narrowed through contact with part of the lid member 20 (interference surface 27) and part of the terminal 90 (intermediate bent portion 97 of the movable piece 94). By rotating the lid member 20 in the direction of the arrow “I1” in the figure, the gap between the terminals 90 is narrowed. As a result, the lead wires 5A and 5B can be fixed to the terminal 90. In addition, the taper-like induction | guidance | continuation which continues to the interference surface 27 so that a contact with the interference surface 27 formed by the inner surface of the cover member 20 and a part of terminal 90 (intermediate bending part 97 of the movable piece 94) may become smooth. A portion 28 may be provided. Thus, according to the apparatus 1, the lead wire 5 can be easily attached to the movable housing 40 by changing the lid member 20 from the “open” state shown in FIG. 4 to the “closed” state shown in FIG. it can. Conversely, the lead wires 5 </ b> A and 5 </ b> B can be removed from the movable housing 40 by rotating the lid member 20 in the direction of the arrow “A2” shown in the figure.
Hereinafter, the configuration of each component will be described in more detail.

  The fixed housing 70 mainly includes a cubic main body 86 and a flange-like base portion 80 formed on the upper portion of the main body 86. The base portion 80 has a hole (not shown) in the vicinity of the center, and is formed as a generally square plate as a whole. Although not particularly illustrated, the floating amount of the movable housing 40 is set by loosely fitting the protruding portion of the movable housing 40 into this hole. A space (not shown) is formed inside the main body 86 so that the upper portion of the terminal 90 can be installed in a state of protruding from the hole. A part of the terminal 90 protruding from the hole of the base portion 80 is substantially accommodated in the movable housing 40.

  A pair of side walls 73 are provided on the left and right sides of the upper portion of the base portion 80 in order to restrict the left and right movement of the movable housing 40 and to support the movable housing 40 so as to be slidable. Each of these side walls 73 extends along the floating direction of the movable housing 40 (arrow “A” direction in the figure), and supports a part of the movable housing 40 (base portion 42) so as to be sandwiched from the left and right sides. A slide locking piece 74 extending toward the holding side of the movable housing 40 along the floating direction is formed on the upper edge of the side wall 43. As a result, the movable housing 40 is prevented from falling off from above. Is prevented.

  In order to support the bottom 41 of the movable housing 40, a free end forming portion 77 is formed inside the side wall 73 on the base portion 80 along the floating direction (arrow “A” direction in the drawing). The movable housing 40 is supported in a floating state on the free end forming portion 77 fixed at one end 75. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. However, here, the lid member 20 is shown not in the “open” state but in the “closed” state. As shown in this figure, a biasing member 78 is provided at the end of the free end forming portion 77 opposite to the fixed side. The urging member 78 protrudes toward the movable housing 40 and is set so as to come into contact with the bottom 41 of the movable housing 40. The urging member 78 constantly urges the movable housing 40 in a direction (here, upward) away from the fixed housing 70. By providing the urging member 78, the movable housing 40 is always pressed against the slide locking piece 74 of the fixed housing 70 because it receives a force in a direction away from the fixed housing 70. As a result, the movable housing 40, which is a floating member, and the connector main body are brought into close contact with each other, and a gap (backlash) between them is eliminated, so that the occurrence of a collision sound between the fixed housing 70 and the movable housing 40 during floating can be suppressed.

  The movable housing 40 mainly includes a substantially flat base portion 42, a lid placement table 45 for placing a lid, and a left and right side so as to sandwich the lid placement table 45. A pair of locking pieces 47 arranged opposite to each other and a bearing 49 arranged on the rear side of the locking piece 47 along the illustrated arrow “A”.

  On the front side of the lid mounting table 45, a movable piece support portion 54 and a fixed piece support portion 56 are arranged so as to dispose the lead support fixing portion 91 of the terminal 90 in a partially exposed state. The movable piece support portion 54 has a movable piece insertion space 55 cut left and right, and the movable piece 94 is inserted into the movable piece insertion space 55 in a state of being movable left and right. On the other hand, the fixed piece support portion 56 is formed with a concave fixed piece fixing groove 57 in which the fixed piece 92 is embedded and fixed. The lead wire 5 of the fluorescent tube 2 is inserted through the gap between the movable piece support portion 54 and the fixed piece instruction portion 56 formed corresponding to the gap between the fixed piece 92 and the movable piece 94 in the direction indicated by the arrow “A”. Insertion spaces 53A and 53B are formed. When the lid member 20 is in the open state, a part of the terminal 90 (in the vicinity of the intermediate bent portion 97) is slightly protruded from the outer surface of the movable piece support portion 54 in the length direction “a”. I want you to be careful. When the lid member 20 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow “I1” in the figure, the projecting portion (intermediate bent portion 97) is in smooth contact with the guiding portion 28, and is further in contact with the interference surface 27 of the lid member 20. It is pressed to the center side through contact. As a result, the gap between the fixed piece 92 and the movable piece 94 sandwiching the lead wire 90 becomes narrow, and the lead wires 5A and 5B are fixed between them.

  The terminal 90 is composed of a pair of symmetrical left and right two terminals (terminals 90A and 90B). These two terminals 90A and 90B are each formed by punching and bending one metal plate, are separated from each other, and are not electrically or physically connected at all. These are each used to transmit a separate signal or power supply, and in this sense, the device 1 can be said to be a so-called two-pole type connector device. Of course, one terminal type may be used, or the terminals 90A and 90B may be connected to each other.

  The terminal 90 has a lead support fixing portion 91 composed of a fixed piece 92 and a movable piece 94 at the upper portion, and further includes a substrate contact portion 130 connected via an expansion / contraction absorbing portion (not shown). Among these, only the lead support fixing portion 91 is supported outside the fixed housing 70, more specifically, the movable housing 40, and the other portions are arranged inside the fixed housing 70. The terminal 90 is accommodated in a state where only a part thereof is exposed from the movable housing 40 or the fixed housing fixed housing 70.

  The substrate contact portion 130 is disposed in an exposed state at the substrate insertion port 71 of the fixed housing 70 and is used to connect the inverter substrate to the terminal 90. A contact piece 131 is formed in the vicinity of the front end of the substrate contact portion 130 by lightly bending inward, so that a predetermined portion of the inverter substrate can be supported with a predetermined force. When the inverter board is inserted from the board insertion opening 71 provided in the lower portion of the fixed housing 70, the contact piece 131 is displaced by contacting a predetermined portion of the inverter board, and can contact the inverter board with a predetermined force.

  The fixed piece 92 and the movable piece 94 constituting the lead support fixing portion 91 cooperate with the lid member 20 to support and fix the lead wire 5 of the fluorescent tube 2. Although these are connected to each other at the lower end, the fixed piece 92 is used by being fixed by being embedded in a predetermined position of the movable housing 40 (a fixed piece fixing groove 57 provided in the fixed piece support portion 56). 94 is used by being inserted into a predetermined position of the movable housing 40 (movable piece insertion space 55 provided at an intermediate position of the movable piece support portion 54). In particular, the movable piece 94 is provided in a movable state in the movable piece insertion space 55 in the left-right direction orthogonal to the floating direction (the arrow “A” direction in the drawing). The movable piece 94 is positioned in the middle of the fixed piece 92A (B) and the fixed piece 92A ′ (B ′) along the floating direction (the arrow “A” direction in the drawing). ), The fixed piece 92 </ b> A ′ (B ′) and the movable piece 94 are disposed so as to face each other in a zigzag manner along the axial direction of the lead wire 5. As a result, the lead wire 5 is stable in a plane at three fulcrums by three portions in the gap formed by the fixed piece 92A (B), the fixed piece 92A ′ (B ′), and the movable piece 94. Can be supported.

  In particular, it should be noted that the vicinity of the intermediate bent portion 97 of the movable piece 94 is slightly protruded left and right from the movable piece insertion space 55 in the floating direction (the arrow “A” direction in the drawing). . When the lid member 20 is changed from the “open” state to the “closed” state, the outer side surface of the intermediate bent portion 97 collides with the interference surface 27 of the lid member 20 being closed so as to be movable. The piece 94 is pushed into the movable piece insertion space 55 and displaced to the lead wire 5 side. By this displacement action, the gap for supporting the lead wire 5 is elastically narrowed, and the lead wire 5 supported between the fixed piece 92 and the movable piece 94 is sandwiched and fixed therein.

  The lid member 20 covers the movable housing 40 and fixes the lead wire 5. The lid member 20 is a substantially box-shaped body that is open at the front and bottom surfaces and closed at the left and right side surfaces 21, the top surface 22, and the back surface 23. Two shafts 58 projecting outward are provided on the left and right sides of the side surface 21 near the bottom on the back side. With the bottom edge 18 of the lid member 20 supported on the flat surface 52 of the movable housing 40, the shaft 58 is pivotally supported by the hole 59 of the bearing 49 of the movable housing 40, so that the lid member 20 is In the direction of the arrow “A” shown in the figure, it can be rotated about 90 degrees. Further, in order to lock the closed lid member 20 to the movable housing 40, two outward projecting portions 25 projecting outward are provided on the front left and right sides of the side surface 21. The lid member 20 is held in a closed state with respect to the movable housing 40 by pushing the outward projecting portions 25 into the lock pieces 47 of the movable housing 40 and locking them. Note that when the movable housing 40 is closed by the lid member 20, the outer surface of the outward projection 25 is preferably tapered so that the outward projection 25 of the lid 20 is smoothly guided to the lock piece 47. Further, in order to facilitate the opening operation of the lid member 20, it is preferable to provide a hooking portion 17 that projects outward on the upper facing side of the side surface 21. The lid member 20 can be easily opened and closed by hooking a nail of the hand on these hooks 17.

  A flat surface 52 on which the lid member 20 is placed is formed on the rear side of the lid placing table 45. A shaft 58 (shown well in FIG. 6) of the lid member 20 placed on the flat surface 52 is pivotally supported by a hole 59 provided in the bearing 49. When the lid member 20 is in the closed state, the outward projecting portion 25 of the lid member 20 gets over the lock piece 47 provided on the left and right opposite sides of the front side of the lid mounting table 45, and the lock piece 47 on the locking surface 26. And the lid member 20 is locked. In order to prevent the lead wire from coming out after the lid member 20 is closed, the retaining member 24 may be provided at the front side position of the movable piece support portion 54.

  In the above embodiment, one end of the free end forming portion 77 extending in the floating direction, which is a part of the fixed housing 70, is provided to protrude toward the movable housing 40, and comes into contact with the movable housing 40. The urging member 78 that applies a force in the direction in which the movable housing 40 is pulled away from the fixed housing 70 is provided. It is sufficient to apply a force in the direction away from the fixed housing 70. Therefore, it is not always necessary to provide the biasing member as a part of the fixed housing.

It is a perspective view of the connector apparatus for fluorescent tubes by this invention. It is a front view of this apparatus. It is a side view of this apparatus. It is a perspective view which shows a part of attachment process of a fluorescent tube. It is a perspective view which shows a part of attachment process of a fluorescent tube. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows a part of fluorescent tube connector apparatus shown by the prior art example with a longitudinal cross-sectional view. It is the perspective view which showed only the board | substrate and terminal of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector apparatus for fluorescent tubes 2 Fluorescent tube 5 Lead wire 20 Lid member (mounting member)
24 Detachable member 40 Movable housing 42 Base portion 45 Lid mounting base 47 Lock piece 53 Insert space 54 Movable piece support portion 55 Movable piece insert space 56 Fixed piece support portion 57 Fixed piece fixing groove 70 Fixed housing 77 Free end forming portion 78 Energizing Member 80 Base part 90 Terminal

Claims (4)

A movable housing movable in accordance with the movement of the fluorescent tube in the length direction of the fluorescent tube;
A fixed housing that supports the movable housing in a floating manner in the length direction ,
Is a part of the previous SL fixed housing, the free end extending in the direction of the floating, protrudes to the movable housing side, in contact with a portion of said movable housing, separating the movable housing from the fixed housing 1. A fluorescent tube connector device comprising an urging member for applying a force in a direction.   2. A part provided along the floating direction as a part of the fixed housing, and having a part that is always pressed by a part of the movable housing that receives a force in a direction away from the fixed housing by the biasing member. A connector device for a fluorescent tube as described in 1.   The fluorescent tube is fixed at one end and the other end in the length direction of the fluorescent tube, and the urging member is located at the other end side from the one end or at the one end side from the other end in the device. The apparatus of claim 2 provided.   4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an attachment member attached to the movable housing and having a function of fixing a lead wire of the fluorescent tube to a terminal.

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