JPH06342679A - Structure for installing magnet connector and console panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the automatic connection possible when plural magnetic bodies are attracted by a magnet by inclining the guide surface of the magnet so as to position both plural magnetic bodies and the magnet relatively. CONSTITUTION:In a pin connector 1, plural energized contacts 6 energized in the advance direction are arranged in one side and magnets 7 are provided in both sides thereof. In a cable connector 2, plural belt-like contacts 11 extended in the direction crossing the arrangement direction are arranged with a space as same as the contacts 6, and magnetic bodies 14, 14 are arranged in both sides thereof. The opposite surfaces of the magnet 7 and the magnetic body 14 are provided with guide surfaces 8, 15, which position both the opposite surfaces alternately in the arrangement direction of the energized contacts 6 arrangement direction and which does not restrict the relative position in the extension direction of the belt-like contacts 11. These guide surfaces 8, 15 are inclined to position a magnetic body 14 and a magnet relatively when the magnetic body 14 is attracted by the magnet. Then, even in the case where a dislocation is generated when the connectors 1, 2 are attracted to each other, positioning error is corrected by the repulsion of the magnets 14 having the same polarity. A cable 10 is thereby connected to a fixed part automatically.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector for connecting and positioning contacts with each other by the attraction force of a magnet arranged close to the contacts, and particularly to a flexible connector provided with a belt-shaped conductor such as FPC or FFC. The present invention relates to a connector particularly suitable for connecting a cable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a magnet connector, a conventional magnet connector is shown in FIG.
There is known a connector for commercial power supply as shown in FIG. The one shown in FIG. 6 is provided at a power cable connecting portion such as a pot, and a permanent magnet 34 is provided between two urging contacts 33 urged in a forward direction by a spring 32 in a plug 31.
Are arranged, and two electrodes 3 are provided on the pot body 35 side.
An iron piece 37, which is attracted by the magnet 34, is arranged between the magnets 6. The power supply connection portion 38 of the pot body 35 is slightly recessed, and the electrode 36 and the biasing contact 33 are attracted by the attraction force between the iron piece 37 and the magnet 34 with the plug 31 fitted in the recess 38 and positioned. Come into contact with.

On the other hand, as a cable for connecting a console panel of a complicated electric device and a circuit board, an FPC or FFC is used.
Flexible cables and flat cables called are often used. These cables are flat strips and are connected to a printed circuit board or the like on which a main circuit is mounted via a cable connector attached to the tip thereof.

[0004]

If the console panel of the electric device can be fixed directly to the casing (cover) of the device, the mounting structure can be simplified, but the connector connection portion of the cable is inside the casing. Therefore, when the console panel is fixed to the housing, it is often impossible to connect the cables. Therefore, it is often the case that the console panel is fixed to a bracket that is erected from the base of the apparatus, and an opening is provided in the housing so that the console panel fits. However, such a structure complicates the mounting structure of the console panel, and the mounting position of the console panel and the opening of the housing are often deviated from each other, which makes it necessary to adjust the mounting position of the console panel or the console panel. Unnecessary force may be applied to the mounting part. To solve such a problem, when the console panel is directly fixed to the casing of the device and the casing is fixed to the base of the device, the cable of the console panel is automatically attached to the circuit board inside the casing. It would be very convenient if it could be connected.

The present invention provides a connector that enables automatic connection of a cable of a console panel, and a magnetic connector capable of accurately positioning and joining a large number of contacts by the attraction force of a magnet. It is an issue.

[0006]

A magnet connector according to the present invention comprises a pin connector 1 in which a plurality of biasing contacts 6 biased in the advancing direction are arranged in one direction and magnets 7 are provided at both ends thereof. Band-shaped contacts 11 extending in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction
Are arranged at equal intervals as the urging contact 6 and magnetic bodies 14 and 17 are arranged at both ends of the cable connector 2. The magnet 7 and the magnetic bodies 14 and 17 face each other on both sides. Guide surfaces 8 and 15 are provided in the direction in which the biasing contacts 6 are arranged in the arrangement direction, and in the extending direction of the strip-shaped contact 11, the guide surfaces 8 and 15 are not formed. The guide surfaces 8 and 15 are magnetic bodies 14 and 17 that are magnets. It is characterized in that it is inclined so as to position the relative position of the two when they are adsorbed by 7.

The magnet 7 may have an N pole and an S pole arranged with the guide surface 8 interposed therebetween, and the magnetic body may be a magnet 14 having a magnetic pole opposite to the magnet. The carrier of the strip-shaped contact 11 of the cable connector 2 is a flexible strip-shaped resin sheet 12, the strip-shaped contact 11 is exposed at the cut end portion of the resin sheet 12, and the back surface of the resin sheet 12 at this exposed portion. A reinforcing strip 13 in the direction of arrangement of the contact points 11 is attached to the ends of the reinforcing sheet 13 and both ends of the strip 13 are projected outward from the side edges of the resin sheet 12 so that the magnetic material 1
4, 17 can be provided. When the flexible strip-shaped cable 10 provided with the cable connector 2 of the magnet connector at the tip is pulled out from the back surface of the console panel 21 and the console panel 21 is mounted on the housing 20 of the electric device, the cable 10 is housed. The pin connector can be mounted in a fixed position at a position facing the cable connector 2 provided at the tip of the suspended cable 10 so that the pin connector is suspended in the body.

[0008]

The urging contact 6 and the strip-shaped contact 11 arranged at equal intervals in one direction come into contact with each other by the attraction force acting between the magnet 7 and the magnetic bodies 14 and 17. At this time, since the inclined guide surfaces 8 and 15 for restricting the mutual position in the contact arrangement direction are provided on the surfaces of the magnet 7 and the magnetic bodies 14 and 17 facing each other, the attraction force of the magnet and the action of the guide surfaces are applied. The positions of the force contact 6 and the strip contact 11 in the contact arrangement direction are accurately positioned, and it becomes possible to reliably connect a large number of contacts arranged at short intervals.

Since one of the contacts is a strip contact 11 extending in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the contacts, and the structure is such that displacement of the connectors 1 and 2 in the extension direction of the strip contact is not restricted. For example, even if the positions of the pin connector 1 and the cable connector 2 are slightly displaced due to an error in the length of the cable 10 with the cable connector 2 attached,
Positioning and connection of both are guaranteed.

The cable connector 2 is an F cable as a cable.
When the PC 10 or FFC is used, the exposed portion of the end portion of the strip-shaped conductor can be used as the strip-shaped contact 11 of the cable connector, so that the structure of the cable connector is simple and compact.

According to the installation of the console panel having the above structure, if the console panel 21 is fixed to the housing 20 of the apparatus and then the housing 20 is fixed to the base 25,
The cable connector 2 at the end of the cable 10 hanging from the console panel 21 faces the pin connector 1, and the cable connector 2 and the pin connector 1 are automatically connected by the attraction force of the magnet 7 and the magnetic bodies 14 and 17. At this time, since the positions of the cable connector 2 and the pin connector 1 in the extending direction of the cable 10 are not restricted, even if there is a slight error in the length of the cable 10 or the mounting position of the console panel 21, the cable connector 2 and the pin connector 1
And are automatically positioned and fixed.

When the housing 20 is detached from the base 25 and the housing 20 is lifted, the cable connector 2 is pulled away in a direction in which the magnet 7 and the magnetic bodies 14 and 17 are attracted to each other and is pulled upward. The connection with the pin connector 1 is automatically released. At this time, the biasing contact 6 of the pin connector rubs against the strip-shaped contact 11 of the cable connector, so that the contact surface is automatically cleaned and the cable connector 2 and the pin connector 1 when the housing 20 is mounted again. Poor contact with can be prevented.

[0013]

1 (a) and 1 (b) are perspective views showing an embodiment of a pin connector 1 and a cable connector 2 of the present invention. In the pin 3 of the pin connector 1, a pin contact 6 is slidably fitted to a pin sleeve 5 molded in a body 4 and a compression spring is provided inside. The pin contact 6 is urged by the compression spring. Is urged in the direction of advance (front of the figure). A plurality of pin contacts 6 are arranged in a horizontal row at equal intervals. Plane L-shaped magnets 7 are provided on both sides of the pin contact 6 in the arrangement direction. The magnet 7 on the right side in the figure has an N pole on the inside and the S pole on the protruding side on the outside. The inner side is the S pole, and the outer protruding side is the N pole. The step surface between the north pole and the south pole of the magnet 7 is an inclined surface (guide surface) 8 which is open to the outside.

The cable connector 2 is formed at the tip of a strip-shaped cable 10 made of an FPC (flexible printed circuit). The conductor pattern of the FPC is exposed by removing the insulating coating layer at the cut end of the cable, and the conductor pattern of this exposed portion becomes the strip-shaped contact 11 of the cable connector 2. The strip-shaped contact 11 is, for example, a vapor-deposited copper foil having a width of 0.5 mm and a thickness of 50 μm, and is printed on a polyester sheet 12 which serves as a carrier for a conductor. On the back surface of the polyester sheet 12 at the exposed portion of the strip contact 11, a reinforcing strip 13 made of synthetic resin is provided.
Is attached, and magnets 14 having an L-shaped cross section are adhered to both ends of the magnet 14 with the projecting sides thereof facing inward. The magnet on the right side of the drawing has the N pole on the inner protruding side and the S pole on the outer side, and the magnet on the left side of the drawing has the S pole on the inner protruding side and the N pole on the outer side.
The step surface between the north pole and the south pole of the magnet 14 is a guide surface 15 closed inward. Magnet 7 of pin connector 1
The magnet 14 of the cable connector 2 and the magnet 14 of the cable connector 2 have the same stepped surface, and the projecting sides thereof are reversed inward and outward so that when the two are opposed, the guide surfaces 8 and 15 of both are fitted. There is.

FIG. 2 is a plan view when the pin connector 1 and the cable connector 2 having the above-described structure are opposed to each other. The magnet 7 on the pin connector side and the magnet 1 on the cable connector side opposed to each other.
The direction of the magnetic pole is opposite to that of 4. Therefore, the pin connector 1 and the cable connector 2 are attracted to each other, but at this time, the positions of the connectors 1 and 2 in the left-right direction in the figure (contact 6,
11), the relative position error in the left-right direction in the figure is corrected by the repulsive action of the magnetic poles of the same polarity that are adjacent to the opposing magnetic poles, and the attraction force and inclination of the opposite polarities are increased. By fitting the guide surfaces 8 and 15 together,
The magnets 7 and 14 are attracted to each other in a state where the magnets 7 and 14 are accurately positioned in the left-right direction in the drawing, and at this time, the plurality of pin contacts 6 and the band-shaped contacts 11 facing each other come into contact with each other.

In this contact state, the tip of the pin contact 6 is in a state in which the spring incorporated in the pin sleeve 5 is slightly pushed by the attraction force of the magnets 7 and 14, and the pin contact 6 and the band-shaped contact 11 are connected. Will come into contact with each other in a state of being pressed by the biasing force of the spring built in the pin contact 6.
Since the guide surfaces 8 and 15 of the magnets 7 and 14 are flat surfaces in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2, the deviation of the pin connector 1 and the cable connector 2 in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2 is not corrected. However, since the strip-shaped contact 11 is a strip-shaped contact extending in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2, even if there is a deviation between the connectors 1 and 2 in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. There is no problem with the dynamic conduction.

The magnet connector shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is one in which magnets 7 and 14 are provided on both the pin connector 1 and the cable connector 2, but one of them is made of a non-magnetized magnetic material. You can also In FIG. 3, an iron plate 17 serving as a backup material is attached to the back surface of the reinforcing strip plate 13 of the strip-shaped contact 11, and both ends of the iron plate 17 are bent to form a magnetic body attracted to the magnet 7 on the pin connector 1 side. It was done. In the case where the pin connector 1 and the cable connector 2 are attracted by the attracting action of the magnet 7 and the non-magnetized magnetic body 17 as described above, the repulsion action between the same poles of the magnet does not occur, and thus the guide surfaces 8, 15 There is no alignment action in the stage before the abutting. Therefore, the allowable amount of positional deviation between the pin connector 1 and the cable connector 2 in the left-right direction in FIG. 2 is smaller than that in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the simplest structure of the magnet connector of the present invention.
The inclined guide surfaces 8 are formed at both ends of the resin body 4 and the magnets 7 are fixed so that the magnetic poles at both ends of the bar-shaped magnet 7 are located on the inner side thereof. On the other hand, in the cable connector 2, both ends of the iron plate 17 attached to the back side of the reinforcing strip plate 13 of the FPC 10 are simply bent forward, and the bent inner side surface 15 is a surface for fitting with the guide surface 8 of the pin connector 1.

FIG. 5 shows a magnet connector constructed as described above as a connector for connecting the cable 10 of the console panel 21 fixed to the casing 20 of the electric device and the circuit board 23 arranged in the casing 20. It shows an example of use. The circuit board 23 and a mechanical portion (for example, a disk drive unit) 24 above the circuit board 23 are fixed to the base 25 side, and the pin connector 1 is fixed to the front edge of the circuit board 23 with the pin 3 facing forward.
On the other hand, the console panel 21 is provided so as to be fixed to the housing 20 with a screw 27 while being fitted in an opening 26 provided in the upper front surface of the housing 20, and the FPC 10 hangs from the back surface thereof. The cable connector 2 having the structure of the present invention is formed at the tip of the FPC 10.

When the housing 20 is attached to the base 25 in the above structure, the cable connector 2 suspended by the cable 22 faces the front surface of the pin connector 1, and the cable connector 2 is attracted by the attraction force of the magnet 7 of the pin connector. Pin connector 1 and cable connector 2
And are connected. When the housing 20 is removed upward, the cable connector 1 slides upward and separates from the pin connector 1, and the connection between the cable connector 2 and the pin connector 1 is released.

[0021]

According to the magnetic connector of the present invention, since the contacts are accurately positioned in the arrangement direction, a large number of densely arranged contacts can be accurately connected. Further, even if there is a displacement in the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the contacts, there is no problem in connecting the contacts to each other. Therefore, when the magnet connector of the present invention is used between the cable and the fixed component, the contact between the two connectors is reduced. Even if there is a slight misalignment, the accurate connection between the contacts is guaranteed. In addition, the connectors are connected to each other by the attractive force of the magnets and can be removed by sliding in the direction orthogonal to the direction of arranging the contacts, which is extremely useful for connecting cables and fixed parts in places that are out of reach. is there.

According to the console panel mounting structure in which the cable is connected to the main body circuit using the magnet connector of the present invention, the console panel is fixed to the housing side and the console panel and the main body circuit are opened and closed. There is an effect that electrical connection and disconnection between and can be automatically performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a magnet connector.

FIG. 2 is a plan view schematically showing the fitting action of the magnet connector.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a second embodiment of the cable connector.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing a third embodiment of the magnet connector.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing a mounting structure of a console panel.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional magnet connector for an AC power supply.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-pin connector 2 Cable connector 6-pin contact 7 Magnet 10 Strip-shaped cable 11 Strip-shaped contact 12 Polyester sheet 13 Reinforcing strip 14 Magnet 15 Guide surface 17 Iron plate 20 Housing 21 Console panel 25 Base

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of biasing contacts biased in the advancing direction.
A pin connector (1) in which (6) is arranged in one direction and magnets (7) are provided at both ends thereof, and a strip-shaped contact (11) extending in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction are equal to the biasing contact (6). Cable connector in which magnetic materials (14, 17) are arranged at both ends and are arranged at intervals.
It is composed of a pair of (2) and the magnet (7) and the magnetic body (14, 17) are opposed to each other on the opposing surface in the arrangement direction of the biasing contact (6) and the belt-like contact (11). The guide surface (8, 15) that does not regulate the mutual position is provided in the extending direction of the
(8, 15) is a magnetic connector characterized in that the magnetic bodies (14, 17) are inclined to position the relative positions of the magnetic bodies (14, 17) when they are attracted to the magnet (7). 2. The magnet (7) has an N pole and an S pole arranged with a guide surface (8) sandwiched therebetween, and the magnetic body is a magnet (14) having a magnetic pole opposite to the magnet. The magnetic connector according to claim 1. 3. The carrier of the strip contacts (11) of the cable connector (2) is a flexible strip plate resin sheet (12),
The strip-shaped contact (11) is exposed at the cut end portion of the resin sheet (12), and a reinforcing strip plate (13) in the arrangement direction of the contacts (11) is provided on the back surface of the resin sheet (12) at this end exposed portion. The magnet according to claim 1 or 2, wherein both ends of the reinforcing band plate (13) attached to the resin sheet (12) are protruded outward from the side edges of the resin sheet (12), and the magnetic bodies (14, 17) are provided on the protruding portions. connector. 4. A flexible strip-shaped cable (10) provided with the cable connector (2) of the magnet connector according to claim 1, 2 or 3 at the tip thereof is pulled out from the rear surface of the console panel (21) to obtain a console. When the panel (21) is attached to the housing (20) of the electric device, the cable (10) is hung in the housing, and the cable connector (2) provided at the tip of the hanging cable (10). Claim 1 at a position facing
A mounting structure for a console panel, characterized in that the pin connector described above is mounted in a fixed position.