JPH0718135Y2 - Flat cable connector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a flat cable connector used for exchanging electrical signals between printed wiring boards and between units, and particularly to the structure thereof.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, a male connector is mounted on a printed wiring board and attached to a flat cable as disclosed in, for example, "Connector Latest Technology 1984 Edition" (published by Sogo Gijutsu Shuppan on May 31, 1984). A method of connecting the two printed wiring boards by fitting the obtained female connector to the male connector is performed.

The structure and connection method of a conventional flat cable connector will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional flat cable connector, and FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of FIG.

As shown in both figures, the flat cable connector 1 comprises a connector upper cover 2 and a housing 3, and the connector upper cover 2 and the housing 3 sandwich the flat cable 4 from above and below. Fixing claws 5 are attached to both side surfaces of the connector upper cover 2, and fixing bases 6 are attached to both side surfaces of the housing 3 at positions corresponding to the fixing claws 5. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of bifurcated contacts 7 having U-shaped grooves 8 for connecting to the core wire 4a of the flat cable 4 are fixed to the housing 3.

The internal structure will be further described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
9 is a cutaway view of FIG. 7A-A, and FIG. 10 is FIG. 7B-
It is a B sectional view.

In FIG. 9, the core wire 4a of the cable 4 is press-fitted into the U-shaped groove 8 of the bifurcated contactor 7, and the bifurcated contactor 7 and the core wire 4a are connected. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the bifurcated contact 7
A female terminal 10 having a U-shaped groove 9 is fixed to the lower part of the, and can be fitted with a male terminal.

Next, the connecting operation of the flat cable connector will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a connecting operation of a conventional flat cable connector, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing an operation of connecting an extension board.

In FIG. 11, male connectors 14 each having a male terminal 13 are mounted on two printed wiring boards 12. To connect the two boards 12, the two flat cable connectors 1 are fitted to the male connectors 14 of the boards 12, respectively. At this time, the male terminal 13 is press-fitted into the U-shaped groove 9 of the female terminal 10 in the connector 1.

In some cases, a board may be added for reasons such as installation of optional equipment. In this case, the connectors 1 shown in Fig. 11 should be removed, and as shown in Fig. 12, a dedicated connector with three connectors 1 should be used. The extension board 12a was connected using the flat cable 4 of.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) As described above, when adding a printed wiring board for reasons such as installation of an optional device, the flat cable connector used up to that time is removed and the board including the addition is added. They used a dedicated flat cable with the same number of connectors. Therefore, there is a problem in that the flat cable used before the expansion is unnecessary, resulting in loss.

Furthermore, in case of adding a board, it is troublesome to prepare a dedicated flat cable with many connectors.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems, and by providing a male terminal on the connector for a flat cable, it is possible to fit a new connector to the connector in use even when the number of boards is increased. The purpose is to eliminate connector loss.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a first member,
In a flat cable connector in which a flat cable is pressed and sandwiched by a second member having a plurality of female terminals, and the female terminal and the flat cable are connected to each other, the flat cable connector is embedded in the first member, and both ends from the embedded portion. Fixed to the second member, connected to the female terminal, and penetrating the flat cable while fitting the core wire of the flat cable, and the open end is the male terminal. It is characterized in that a bifurcated contactor fitted to one end of is provided.

(Operation) The operation of the present invention based on the above configuration will be described. The flat cable connector according to the present invention is not allowed to be fitted with a male connector as a female connector, but has a male terminal with one end protruding, so that it can be fitted with another female connector.

Embodiment An embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
Note that elements common to the drawings are given the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment according to the present invention. As shown in both figures, the flat cable connector 21 according to the present embodiment
Is composed of, for example, an upper cover 22 as a first member and a housing 23 as a second member, and has a structure in which the flat cable 4 is pressed and held between the two. Similar to the conventional example, the upper cover 22 is provided with fixing claws 5 on both side surfaces thereof and can be engaged with the fixing portion 6 attached to the housing 23.

A fitting portion 22a for inserting a male connector is provided on the upper portion of the upper cover 22, and the fitting portion 22a is sized to fit the conventional flat cable connector described above. There is.

A plurality of male terminals 24 are aligned and fixed to the upper cover 22, and the same number of bifurcated contacts 25 as the male terminals 24 are also aligned and fixed to the housing 23, as shown in FIG. ing. The male terminal 24 and the bifurcated contact 25 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. 3 is a cutaway view taken along the line CC of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG.

The plurality of male terminals 24 are fixed in the embedded portion 26 shown in FIG. 3 with the central portion embedded in the upper cover 22.
Therefore, the upper portion of the male terminal 24 is not
a), and the lower part is attached to the upper cover 22 with the male terminal 2
It projects downward in the grooves 27 formed by the number of 4.

Further, the housing 23 has a plurality of fitting holes 29 formed at positions facing the groove 27 of the upper cover 22, and the fitting holes 29 are formed in the fitting holes 29.
Conductive bifurcated contacts 25 are fixed in a state where they are inserted into the respective. A U-shaped groove 30 is formed in the bifurcated contact 25, and the flat cable 4 is held to hold the upper cover 22.
3 is connected to the housing 23, the core wire 4a of the flat cable 4 is press-fitted into the U-shaped groove 30 and the lower portion of the male terminal 24 is fitted into the groove 30 as shown in FIG. It has become. Female terminals 10 are provided under the bifurcated contacts 25, respectively.
Is fixed. As shown in FIG. 4, the female terminals 10 are provided with grooves 9 into which male terminals can be fitted from below.

Next, the connection operation of the flat cable connector in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the connection operation of this embodiment.

In FIG. 5, a male connector 14 is mounted on the printed wiring board 12. The conventional flat cable connector 1 and the flat cable connector 21 according to the present embodiment are attached to the flat cable 4a, and the connector 1 and the connector 21 are connected to the respective male connectors 14 of the two boards 12. There is. As a result, the two substrates 12 are connected.
Here, when a new board 12a is newly added, the male connector 14 is first mounted on the additional board 12a. Then, the conventional connectors 1 mounted on both sides of the flat cable 4b are fitted and connected to the male terminal 24 of the connector 21 and the male terminal 13 of the male connector 14 of this embodiment. At this time, the one connector 1 attached to the flat cable 4b enters the fitting portion 22a of the connector 21 and fits into the male terminal 24. As a result, the board 12 and the extension board 12a are connected. Therefore, by using the flat cable connector 21 according to the present embodiment from the beginning to connect the two boards 12, the connection with the extension board 12a can be realized without performing the connector removal work.

Further, by using the connector 21 according to the present embodiment by attaching the connector 21 according to the present embodiment to one of the flat cables used for connection with the extension board 12a and then using the connector 1, the connection with an extension board can be facilitated. become.

In this embodiment, the structure in which the female terminal 10 is fixed to the bifurcated contact 25 has been described, but the bifurcated contact 25 may be integrally formed with a groove as a female terminal.

Next, another embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment according to the present invention.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the flat cable connector 21 of the above embodiment is provided with a lid 32 for covering the upper cover 22. Four locking claws 33 having elasticity are integrally attached to the lid 32. Also, the fitting portion 22a of the upper cover 22
A shallow groove 34 is formed at a position corresponding to the locking claw 33 of. That is, when the lid 32 is put on the upper cover 22, the protruding portion of the locking claw 33 enters the shallow groove 34 and the elasticity causes the lid 32 to cover.
32 is locked to the upper cover 22. Then, when connecting to another female connector, the lid 32 is removed and connected. In this embodiment, the provision of the lid 32 for covering the upper cover 22 has an effect of preventing a short circuit of the male terminal 24 due to some influence from the outside, such as hitting a driver.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, according to the present invention, by providing a male terminal in a connector for a flat cable used for connection between printed wiring boards, for example, when adding boards, By connecting a new extension connector to the male terminal without removing the flat cable connector used until then, connection with the extension board becomes possible.

Therefore, there is an effect that the flat cable and the connector for the flat cable which have been used up to that point can be effectively utilized, and therefore no loss occurs.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG.
-C sectional view, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line D-D of FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a connecting operation of the first embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional flat cable connector, FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 7, FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 7, and FIG. 10 is FIG. FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing a connecting operation of a conventional flat cable connector, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing an operation of connecting an extension board. 10: Female terminal, 21: Flat cable connector, 22: Top cover, 23: Housing, 24: Male terminal, 25: Bifurcated contact, 3
0: U-shaped groove, 32: lid, 33: locking claw, 34: shallow groove.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A second member having a first member and a plurality of female terminals.
In a flat cable connector in which a flat cable is pressed and sandwiched by the member and the female terminal and the flat cable are connected, a plurality of male terminals which are embedded in the first member and whose both ends project from the embedded portion, A forked contact fixed to the second member, connected to the female terminal, penetrating the flat cable while fitting the core wire of the flat cable, and having an open end fitted to one end of the male terminal A flat cable connector characterized by having a child.