JPH0332057Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" This invention relates to a connector used for various electrical connections.

``Prior Art'' As shown in FIG. 10, the contacts used in conventional connectors are made by bending the connecting portion 2 that connects the base ends of a pair of contact pieces 1 into a U-shape, so that the contact pieces 1 face each other. It is common to have a structure in which they are placed in a mating position.

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" According to the conventional contact shown in FIG. 10, the contact part 3 where the pair of contact pieces 1 are closest comes into contact with the contact (not particularly shown) of the mating connector. becomes. When inserting a contact of a mating connector, the contact portion 3 simultaneously starts contacting the pair of contact pieces 1 and performs an action of pushing them apart. For this reason, there is a disadvantage that the force required for insertion becomes large. In particular, as the number of pins increases, this tendency becomes more pronounced and there is a drawback that insertion and removal becomes difficult.

Further, since the contact portion 3 is closest to the contact piece 1, it is difficult to plate the contact portion 3. For this purpose, a strip-shaped material is partially plated before the contact is punched out, and punching is performed so that the plated portion corresponds to the contact portion 3.

If the process of partially plating the raw material in advance is carried out in this manner, there is a drawback that the cost becomes considerably high.

However, even when applying plating to a press machine for punching after plating a part, alignment must be performed so that the plating part becomes the contact part.
This point is also a factor in increasing costs.

Furthermore, when making the conventional contact shown in Fig. 10, the blanking process is performed with the contact piece 1 spread out laterally as shown in Fig. 11, so the pitch P ₁ at which the contact is punched becomes large. There are drawbacks.

In other words, if the pitch P ₁ for punching the contacts is large, it becomes difficult to automatically assemble the contacts into the contact storage holes of the insulator.

This is due to the following reasons. In other words, when manufacturing a connector, when punching contacts from a strip-shaped material, the ends of the contacts are connected without being separated, and then bending, plating, etc. are performed while they are continuous, and in the final stage, The contacts are mounted on an insulator, and after mounting, the portions connecting the contacts are separated, at which point they become independent contacts.

Therefore, the arrangement pitch of the contacts punched out of the material and connected to each other must match the arrangement pitch of the contact housing holes in the insulator. However, when the connector is downsized and the arrangement pitch of the contact storage holes becomes smaller, it is difficult to match the arrangement pitch _P1 on the material with the arrangement pitch of the contact storage holes using the conventional punched shape of the contacts. Therefore, the smaller the connector is, the more difficult it becomes to automate assembly.

The purpose of this invention is to require less force to insert and remove the mating connector, and to have a contact shape that allows plating to easily occur on the contact area even if the plating process is performed after punching out the contact. To provide a connector having contacts shaped so that the punching pitch can be made small and, as a result, the arrangement pitch of contact storage holes of an insulator and the punching pitch can be matched.

"Means for Solving the Problems" This invention consists of: A. an insulator having a plurality of contact storage holes; B. a support portion that engages with the inner wall of the contact storage hole to support the contacts inside the contact storage hole; A terminal section extending in one direction from the support section,
A lead-out part extending from the holding part in the opposite direction to the extension direction of the terminal part, a connecting part extending in a direction perpendicular to this lead-out part and bent in a U-shape, and a connecting part extending from the tip of the connecting part in the direction in which the connecting part extends. A contact comprising a pair of strips led out in orthogonal directions, bent into a U-shape, with free ends disposed at different positions, and a pair of contact pieces contacting contacts of a mating connector at different positions; The connector is constructed by:

"Function" According to the configuration of this invention, the punched shape of the contact is such that the strip-shaped body constituting the contact piece and the strip-shaped body constituting the terminal part are arranged parallel to each other, and the two are connected by a connecting part. be done. Since the connecting portion only needs to be long enough to connect the terminal portion and the contact piece, it can be made relatively short.

As a result, if the terminal part and the contact piece are punched in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the strip-shaped material, the punching pitch can be made smaller, matching the arrangement pitch of the contact storage holes in the insulator. be able to.

Furthermore, in this invention, the contact portions of the contact piece that come into contact with the contacts of the mating connector are provided at different positions with respect to the mating connector insertion/removal direction, so that when the contact portion starts contacting the mating connector contacts, it is difficult to contact one of the contact portions. The other contact portion starts contacting with a time difference. Therefore, the insertion force for fitting the mating connector is dispersed over time, and the mating connector can be mated with a small force. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for application to multi-pin connectors.

Further, according to this invention, since the contact portions of the contact pieces are arranged at different positions, a relatively large gap can be formed around the contact portions. Therefore, even if plating is performed after punching and bending, the plating can be sufficiently applied to the contact portion. As a result, there is no need to partially plate the material, which can lead to cost reductions.

"Embodiment" An embodiment of this invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to 7. An embodiment of the connector according to this invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In the figure, 11 indicates an insulator. In this example, the insulators 11 are a front insulator 11A and a back insulator 11.
A case where one insulator 11 is constructed by combining B is shown. As a means for combining them, this example shows a structure in which a notch window 12 is formed in the front insulator 11A, and a protrusion 13 protruding from the back insulator 11B is engaged with this notch window 12.

Reference numeral 14 indicates a plurality of contact storage holes formed in the insulator 11, and reference numeral 15 indicates a contact insertion hole into which contacts of a mating connector are inserted. A contact 100, which is a feature of this invention, is housed in the contact housing hole 14.

The contact 100 of this invention is constructed by bending a continuous strip of contact pieces 101 and 102 into a U-shape, and the lengths of the contact pieces 101 and 102 are made different in length and short. The contact portions 103 and 104 formed at the end portions are arranged at different positions with respect to the mating connector insertion/removal direction, and the contact pieces 101 and 10
2 is connected to a support part 106 via a connection part 105 bent into a U-shape, and the contact piece 1 is connected to the support part 106 by the support part 106.
01 and 102 are supported in the contact housing hole 14, and the terminal portion 1 is supported in the opposite direction from the support portion 106.
07 and the terminal portion 107 is projected from the insulator 11 to the outside.

In other words, the punched shape of the material for obtaining the contact is as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 16 shown in FIG. 3 indicates a conductive leaf spring material for forming a contact. This leaf spring material is in the shape of a long belt in the direction shown by the arrow
Contacts are made by sequentially passing through a bending machine, plating processing equipment, etc. During punching, for example, the terminal portions 107 are connected to each other by a strip 108, and the punched contact portions are connected to each other by the strip 108.

The axes of the terminal portion 107 and the contact pieces 101, 102 are selected to be perpendicular to the arrow X. Therefore, material 16
The contact pieces 101, 102 and the terminal portion 107 are selected to be perpendicular to the moving direction X.

The structure of this application will be explained again with reference to the exploded view of the contact shown in FIG. The support part 106 supports the contact pieces 101, 102 and the terminal part 107 by the support part 106 which is press-fitted into the groove 16 (see FIG. 1) formed in the buckle insulator 11B.

A terminal portion 107 is formed to extend from the support portion 106 in one direction, and a terminal portion 107 is formed from the support portion 106 to the terminal portion 107.
A lead-out portion 109 is formed in a direction opposite to the direction of extension. From the deriving part 109 to the connecting part 10 in a direction perpendicular to this
5 is extended, and this connecting portion is bent into a U-shape.

A strip is formed to extend from the tip of the coupling portion 105 in both directions perpendicular to the extending direction of the coupling portion 105, and this strip is bent into a U-shape to form a pair of contact pieces 101,1.
Form 02.

The pair of contact pieces 101 and 102 have different lengths, one being longer and the other being shorter, and the positions of contact portions 103 and 104 formed at each end are different.

The contact punched in the shape shown in FIG. 3 is bent as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7. That is, the contact pieces 101 and 102 are bent into a U-shape as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6. Furthermore, by bending the connecting portion 15 into a U-shape, the plate surfaces of the strips forming the contact pieces 101 and 102 and the plate surfaces of the plate forming the support portion 106 are bent so that they are in a position facing each other. Form a song.

Here, in the contact pieces 101 and 102, the contact piece 101
The distance to the connecting part 105 is short, and the contact piece 102
The distance to the connecting portion 105 becomes longer. This causes a difference in the spring constant between the contact pieces 101 and 102, so here we coined the material on the side that forms the contact piece 101, which has a shorter distance to the connecting portion 105, to reduce the plate thickness. , the contact piece 101 side is made elastic.

Curves are formed near the free ends of the contact pieces 101 and 102 to guide the contacts of the mating connector, and the portions of these guiding curves that protrude most toward the mating side become contact portions 103 and 104. Contact parts 103 and 1
By shifting the position of 04 back and forth with respect to the insertion direction of the mating connector, the insertion force of the mating connector can be reduced. In particular, by making the radius of curvature of the contact portion 104 located at the rear larger than the radius of curvature of the contact portion 103 located at the front, the insertion force of the mating connector can be further reduced.

The embodiment will be explained using FIG. 8 and FIG. 9. FIG. 8A shows the shape of a contact used in a conventional connector.

According to this shape, the insertion force of the mating connector is 9th
As shown in Figure A, a large insertion force _M1 is required.
A and b shown in FIG. 9 are frictional resistances received from contact pieces a and b.

When the position of the contact portion is shifted back and forth as shown in FIG. 8B, the insertion force _M2 can be made smaller than the insertion force _M1 as shown in FIG. 9B. In this case, it is assumed that the radius of curvature of the contact portion of the contact pieces a and b is equal.

FIG. 8C shows a case where the radius of curvature of the contact piece a placed at the rear is increased. According to this structure, the ninth
As shown in Figure C, the insertion force in the case of the structure of Figure 8B
_M3 is even smaller than _M2 .

"Effect of the invention" As explained above, according to this invention, the contact piece 10
1 and 102 are formed from one strip, and this strip and the strip forming the terminal portion are arranged in parallel and punched out of the material, so the punching pitch can be reduced. . As a result, the pitch at which the material is punched can match the pitch at which the contact housing holes of the insulator are arranged. In particular, even if the insulator is made smaller and the arrangement pitch of the contact storage holes becomes narrower, this can be accommodated, so even if the connector is made smaller, it can be assembled automatically.

Also, according to this invention, the position of the contact part of the contact is shifted back and forth, and the structure is such that it makes contact with the contact of the mating connector with a time difference, and
Since the radius of curvature of the contact portion 104 that comes into contact later is selected to be larger than the radius of curvature of the contact portion 103 that comes into contact first, it is possible to reduce the insertion/extraction force when the connectors are inserted into and removed from each other. Therefore, the effect is great when applied to multi-pin connectors.

Furthermore, since the position of the contact portion is shifted back and forth, a relatively large gap can be formed near the contact portion. This makes it easier for the plating layer to adhere, so there is no need to partially plating the material in advance, and in this respect cost reduction can be expected.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are cross-sectional views showing one embodiment of the connector according to this invention, FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining the punched shape of the contact, which is a feature of this invention, and FIGS. 4 to 7. 8 is a diagram for explaining the structure of the contact that is a feature of this invention, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the shape of the contact piece used in an experiment to explain the difference in insertion and removal force between a conventional connector and a connector of this invention. , Fig. 9 is a graph showing the insertion and removal force of each contact piece shown in Fig. 8, Fig. 10 is a perspective view for explaining the shape of the contact used in the conventional connector, and Fig. 11 is the FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining the shape of a contact when punched. 11: Insulator, 14: Contact storage hole, 15: Insertion hole for mating contact, 100: Contact, 101, 102: Contact piece, 103, 10
4: Contact portion, 105: Connection portion, 106: Support portion,
107: terminal section, 109: lead-out section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A. An insulator having a plurality of contact storage holes; B. A support portion that engages with the inner wall of the contact storage hole to support the contacts inside the contact storage hole; Terminal section extended to
A lead-out part extending from the supporting part in the opposite direction to the direction of extension of the terminal part, a connecting part extending in a direction perpendicular to this lead-out part and bent in a U-shape, and a connecting part extending from the tip of the connecting part in the direction in which the connecting part extends. A pair of strips led out in orthogonal directions are bent into a U-shape, and the free ends are arranged at different positions with respect to the insertion/extraction direction of the contacts of the mating connector, and these two free ends are placed close to each other. A curve that is convex in the direction is formed, and the parts of this curve that are closest to each other are the contact parts that come into contact with the contacts of the mating connector, and the radius of curvature of the contact part that comes into contact with the contacts of the mating connector later is A connector comprising: a contact having a pair of contact pieces selected to be larger than the radius of curvature of the contact portion that comes into contact with the contact of the connector first;