JPH0393178A - Flat cable and manufacture thereof and connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely connect a cable to a connector without causing erroneous contact by providing insulating walls guiding connector terminals to cable conductors respectively between cable conductors. CONSTITUTION:A flat cable 1 is constituted of two coating resin materials 2, cable conductors 3 arranged between coating resin materials 2, insulating walls, and a reinforcing plate 5. Multiple cable conductors 3 are provided into contact with connector terminals 11 and exposed at the end section of the cable 1, the reinforcing plate 5 is stuck below the exposed cable conductors 3, and cable conductors 3 at this portion are reinforced. Insulating walls 4 are provided between cable conductors 3 on the reinforcing plate 5 and at both side edges of the reinforcing plate 5 and guide connector terminals 11 to corresponding cable conductors 3 respectively. Cable conductors 3 are surely brought into contact with connector terminals 11, and erroneous contact is prevented.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to flat cables such as flexible printed circuit (hereinafter abbreviated as FPC) cables, flexible◆flat◆cables (hereinafter abbreviated as FFC), and The present invention relates to a manufacturing method thereof and a connector that fits into the flat cable, and particularly relates to a structure and manufacturing method suitable for finer pitch.

[Prior art] Conventional fine-pitch (less than 1.0 am) FPC cables absorb the tolerance between the pitch of the cable conductor and the pitch of the connector terminal that contacts this cable conductor to prevent accidental contact with the connector. In order to do this, the width of the contact portion 3a of the cable conductor 3 is widened, as shown in FIGS.
The contact portions 3a are arranged in a staggered manner.

On the other hand, in FFC, a rectangular conducting wire is used as a cable conductor, and this rectangular conducting wire is arranged at intervals between coated resin materials.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, conventional fine-pitch FPCs have adopted a configuration to prevent erroneous contacts, but in reality, there are cases where cable conductors and connector terminals do not come into contact, Erroneous contacts, such as short-circuit contacts in which one cable conductor contacts an adjacent connector terminal, often occur. Such erroneous contacts occur more frequently as the pitch of the cable becomes smaller.

On the other hand, in FFC, since rectangular conductors are used as cable conductors, it is not possible to widen the contact area of the cable conductor and arrange the contact areas in a staggered manner as in the above-mentioned fine-pitch FPC. Therefore, with FFC, it has been impossible to make the pitch finer.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a flat cable that allows finer pitch even in FFC and does not cause erroneous contact even when the pitch is finer, a manufacturing method thereof, and a connector suitable for the flat cable. Our goal is to provide the following.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the invention as set forth in claim 1, in a flat cable having a plurality of cable conductors each contacting a plurality of spaced apart connector terminals of a connector, the cable conductor and the A flat cable is obtained, characterized in that an insulating wall is provided between the cable conductors for guiding each of the connector terminals to each of the cable conductors.

According to the invention according to claim 2, the arrangement step of arranging the cable conductor on the unexposed photocurable resin, and after the arrangement step,
an exposure step of irradiating the photocurable resin with light from above the cable conductor to expose the photocurable resin to form an insulating wall; and after the exposure step, removing an unexposed portion of the photocurable resin; There is obtained a method for manufacturing a flat cable according to claim 1, further comprising a removing step of exposing the insulating wall.

According to the invention set forth in claim 3, there is obtained a connector characterized in that it is provided with a gap for receiving the woven edge of the flat cable set forth in claim 1.

[Function] In the case of the flat cable according to claim 1, when the flat cable is fitted into a connector, the insulating wall guides the connector terminal to the cable conductor, so that the cable conductor and the connector terminal are surely contacted, and no damage is caused. No contact occurs. On the other hand, since this insulating wall is located between cable conductors, one connector terminal (b) does not come into contact with both adjacent cable conductors, and therefore, when connecting a flat cable and a connector, In the manufacturing method according to claim 2, since light is blocked by the cable conductor during the exposure step after the arrangement step, the photocurable resin under the cable conductor is not cured and other parts are not cured. The photocurable resin is exposed to light and cured, forming insulating walls on both sides of the cable conductor. Therefore, if the unexposed portion of the photosensitive hardening resin is removed in the removal step, the insulating walls are exposed on both sides of the cable conductor, and a flat cable according to claim 1 can be obtained.

Since the connector according to the third aspect has a gap for receiving the insulating wall, it can be fitted with the flat cable according to the first aspect.

[Example] Fig. I1 is a perspective view of a flat cable and connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the main parts of the flat cable and connector, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the main parts of the flat cable. 4 are front views of the same foot cable.

! 11I! Referring to FIGS. 12 to 4, this flat cable (FFC) 1 includes two coated resin materials 2, a cable conductor 3 disposed between the single-covered resin materials 2, and an insulation N! 14 and a reinforcing plate 5.

A plurality of cable conductors 3 are provided at regular intervals so as to be in contact with connector terminals 11, which will be described later, and are exposed at the end of the flat cable 1.

A reinforcing plate 5 is adhered to the exposed lower surface of the cable conductor 3, and this portion of the cable conductor 3 is reinforced by this reinforcing plate 5. This reinforcing plate 5 is transparent. Note that the cable conductor 3 may be exposed on only one side at the end of the flat cable 1 (that is, only one side of the covering resin material 2 is removed). Further, the reinforcing plate 5 is not necessarily required.

The insulation 8814 is provided on the reinforcing plate 5 between the cable conductors 3 and on both side edges of the reinforcing plate 5, and guides each connector terminal 11 to the corresponding cable conductor 3. This insulating wall 4 is made of ultraviolet curing resin, as described in the explanation of the manufacturing method.

Referring also to FIG. 5, which is a sectional view of the connector shown in FIG. 1, the connector 10 is comprised of a plurality of connector terminals 11 and a connector housing 12.

A bent portion 13 is formed at the top of each connector terminal 11, and the tip thereof is adapted to come into contact with the cable conductor 3. Further, a bin l4 is formed at the bottom of each connector terminal 11. Bin 14 of each connector terminal 11
Their positions are shifted slightly from each other. The connector terminals 11 are mounted within the connector housing 12 at regular intervals.

A cavity 15 is defined within the connector housing 12 for receiving the insulating wall 4 . Furthermore, a space 16 is formed within the connector housing 12 so as to surround the bent portion 13 of the connector terminal 11. this space 16
This allows the bending portion 16 to bend.

FIGS. 6(a) to 6(f) are schematic diagrams schematically showing essential parts of a manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, with reference to Fig. 6 CB), first start with the flat cable (F
FC) 1, exposing the cable conductor 3;
A transparent reinforcing plate 5 is bonded to these cable conductors 3.

Referring to FIG. 6(b), the next step is to enter the placement process.
Fill the pedestal 20 with unsensitized ultraviolet curing resin 21,
The cable conductor 3 is placed on the reinforcing plate 5 on this ultraviolet curing resin 21.
Then, the placement process is completed. In this example, an ultraviolet curing resin is used as the photosensitive curing resin, but the invention is not particularly limited to this.

Referring to FIG. 6(c), after the arrangement process is completed, the exposure process begins, and an ultraviolet lamp 22 is used to apply the reinforcing plate 5 from above the cable conductor 3 to the unsensitized ultraviolet curing resin 21 on which the cable conductor 3 has been placed. Ultraviolet rays are irradiated through the substrate to expose the ultraviolet curing resin 21 to form an insulating wall, and the exposure process is completed.

Referring to FIGS. 6(d) to (e), after the exposure process is completed, a removal process is started, and the end of the flat cable 1 is placed on the holder 20.
The unsensitized ultraviolet curing resin 21 remaining on the end of the flat cable 1 is washed away with water to expose the insulating wall 4 and the removal process is completed.

Referring to FIG. 6(f), the flat cable 1 is completed through the above steps.

In the case of an FPC cable, it is preferable to expose only one side of the cable conductor at the end of the cable, and then form the insulating wall in the same manner as in the manufacturing method described above. In this case, a reinforcing plate is not necessarily required.

[Effects of the Invention] The flat cable of the present invention can be reliably connected to a connector without causing erroneous contact.

Further, according to the flat cable of the present invention, it is possible to easily make the pitch finer even in FFC.

According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, an insulating wall can be easily formed, so a flat cable can be easily manufactured.

The connector of the present invention can prevent erroneous contact by connecting with the flat cable of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a flat cable and connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the main parts of the flat cable and connector, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the main parts of the flat cable. Figure 4 is a front view of the same flat cable.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the connector, FIGS. 6(a) to 6(f) are schematic diagrams showing the main parts of the manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are conventional FIG. 3 is a plan view of main parts of the flat cable of FIG. 1...Flat cable, 2...Coated resin material, 3.
... Cable conductor, 4 ... Insulation wall, 5 ... Reinforcement plate,
10... Connector, 11... Connector terminal, 12.
・・・． Connector housing, 13... bending part, 14...
...Pin, 15...Gap, 16...Space, 20...
・Case, 21...UV curing resin, 22...UV lamp. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a flat cable having a plurality of cable conductors respectively contacting connector terminals arranged at a plurality of intervals of the connector, each of the connector terminals is arranged between the cable conductors. A flat cable characterized by comprising an insulating wall that guides each of the cable conductors. 2. A placement step of arranging the cable conductor on the unexposed photocurable resin, and after the placement step, irradiating the photocurable resin with light from above the cable conductor to expose the photocurable resin to form an insulating wall. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising an exposure step of forming the insulating wall, and a removing step of removing the unexposed portion of the photocurable resin to expose the insulating wall after the exposure step.
Method of manufacturing the flat cable described. 3. A connector comprising a cavity for receiving the insulating wall of the flat cable according to claim 1.