JPH08169105A - Electrical connection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent the contact inferiority of contact electrodes by individually bringing the first projection parts of a backup member formed of an elastic material into contact with a substrate from the backs of respective contact electrodes and bringing the pointed tips of the second projection parts provided on the rear side of the first projection parts into contact with a support member to bring the contact electrodes into contact with opposed electrodes under pressure. CONSTITUTION: When a head holder 11 is mounted on a carriage 2, the pointed tips of first projection parts 8 are collapsed to press the backs of the protruding parts 7 of a flexible circuit 3 and contact electrodes 4 are brought into contact with opposed electrodes 6 under pressure to be electrically connected to the electrodes 6. At this time, the pointed tips of second projection parts 9 are also collapsed to support a rubber backup member 12. Since the second projection parts 9 supporting the backup member 12 have pointed tips, the second projection parts 9 are not buckled. Therefore, the irregularity of the pressing force from the backup member to the contact electrodes is suppressed and the contact electrodes 4 can be well electrically connected to the opposed electrodes 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrical connection device in which a plurality of contact electrodes provided on the surface of a substrate are pressed into contact with counter electrodes arranged to face each contact electrode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of electrical connecting device is used for connecting a head of an ink jet printer and a flexible circuit as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-101944.

In this ink jet printer, a large number of nozzles are arranged on the head, and a heating resistor is provided at the back of each nozzle. When ink is supplied to the vicinity of each heating resistor and a predetermined heating resistor is energized, the energized ink near the heating resistor is heated to a boiling state and ejected from a nozzle corresponding to print information.

Since the head always moves, the heating resistors are energized through a flexible circuit in which a conductor pattern is formed on a flexible resin substrate. Also,
Since it is necessary to replace the head every time all the ink contained in the head is consumed, the head is detachably fixed to the carriage. Then, the heating resistors are energized by bringing the counter electrode provided on the head surface into contact with the contact electrode provided on the flexible circuit surface.

An electric connecting device for such a printer is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 234942/1987. In the electrical connecting device, as shown in FIG. 3, the flexible circuit 23 has a hemisphere-shaped protruding portion 27.
Is provided, and the contact electrode 24 is disposed on the protruding portion 27. As a result, the contact electrode 24 is moved to the head (not shown).
The counter electrode 26 provided on the side substrate 25 is easily contacted. On the other hand, a carriage (not shown) is provided with a support plate 21 that faces the head with a flexible circuit 23 interposed therebetween, and a backup member made of rubber that abuts the substrate 25 from behind each contact electrode 24 on the surface of the support plate 21. Is attached. By this backup member, each contact electrode 24 and each counter electrode 26 are held in a pressed contact state.

The backup member is composed of a conical first protrusion 28 that contacts the rear of the protrusion 27 of the flexible circuit 23, a support portion 20, and a cylindrical second protrusion 29. The second protrusion 29 contacts the support plate 21 to support the entire backup member. By the pressing force from the backup member to the flexible circuit 23, each contact electrode 24 is pressed against the counter electrode 26 and electrically connected.

[0007]

However, in this type of electrical connecting device, when the contact electrodes 24 and the counter electrode 26 are pressed into contact with each other, the columnar second protrusions 29 may buckle. Then, the pressing force applied to the contact electrode 24 corresponding to the buckled second protrusion 29 is reduced. At this time, since there is also the second protrusion 29 that does not buckle, the pressing force applied to each contact electrode 24 from the backup member may vary, and the contact electrode 24 may cause contact failure.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connecting device which can solve the above problems and prevent contact failure of contact electrodes.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention made to achieve the above object, a plurality of contact electrodes provided on a surface of a substrate are arranged to face each contact electrode. A plurality of pointed first protrusions formed of an elastic material, each of which is in contact with the substrate from behind each contact electrode, and a backside of the first protrusion. And a backup member having a second protrusion in which the pointed tip is in contact with the support member.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the second protrusion is provided at a position corresponding to the first protrusion.

[0011]

With the above structure, in the electrical connecting device of the present invention, the first protrusion of the backup member made of an elastic material individually contacts the substrate from behind each contact electrode,
The second protrusion provided on the back side of the first protrusion contacts the support member with the pointed tip, and the second protrusion does not buckle, and the contact electrode is pressed against the counter electrode to be electrically connected. Connect to.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a usage state of the electrical connecting device, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a printing device using the electrical connecting device. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electrical connection device of this embodiment is used in an inkjet printer, and has a head holder 11 that holds an inkjet head 13 that ejects ink, and a carriage that slides along a guide rod 1. It is arranged between the two. still,
An ink jet method such as a piezoelectric method or a thermal method can be used for the inkjet head 13.

The carriage 2 is provided with a substrate 5 which supports a counter electrode 6 connected to a drive circuit (not shown). The head holder 11 is detachably supported by the carriage 2, and the head holder 11 detachably supports an ink cartridge 14 containing ink to be supplied to the inkjet head 13. On the lower surface of the head holder 11, a rubber backup member 1 is provided.
2 are installed. The backup member 12 is a flexible circuit 3 provided with a pattern for transmitting an electric signal from the drive circuit to the inkjet head 13.
The contact electrode 4 is pressed against the counter electrode 6. still,
The portion of the flexible circuit 3 where the contact electrode 4 is arranged is
The protrusion 7 is a hemispherical protrusion, which makes it easy to press the contact electrode 4 against the counter electrode 6.

The backup member 12 has a cone-shaped first protrusion 8 that contacts the flexible circuit 3, a cone-shaped second protrusion 9 that contacts the head holder 11, a first protrusion 8 and a second protrusion. And a support portion 10 for supporting the first projection portion 8 and a second projection portion 9 provided at a position corresponding to the first projection portion 8. Has been. The apex angle of the first protrusion 8 is smaller than the apex angle of the second protrusion.

Then, the head holder 11 is attached to the carriage 2
Then, the pointed tip of the first protrusion 8 is crushed and the back of the protrusion 7 of the flexible circuit 3 is pressed, and the contact electrode 4 is pressed against the counter electrode 6 to be electrically connected. At this time, the pointed tip of the second protrusion 9 is also crushed, and the backup member 12 is supported.

In the electrical connecting device of the present embodiment, the second protrusion 9 supporting the backup member 12 has a pointed shape, so that the second protrusion 9 does not buckle as in the conventional case.
Therefore, it is possible to suppress the variation in the pressing force from the backup member to the contact electrode as in the conventional case, and it is possible to electrically connect the contact electrode 4 to the counter electrode 6 satisfactorily.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the protrusion 8, the protrusion 9 and the supporting portion 10 are integrally formed, each protruding portion 8 can be formed only by setting the positional relationship between the supporting portion 10 and the flexible circuit 3. Can be arranged behind each contact electrode 4.
That is, it is not necessary to individually position each protrusion 8 behind each contact electrode 4.

In this embodiment, the first protrusion 8 and the second protrusion 9 are conical, but if the tip is pointed,
For example, it may have a triangular pyramid shape.

Further, in the present embodiment, the apex angle of the first protrusion 8 is smaller than the apex angle of the second protrusion 9, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the apex angle of the first protrusion 8 is the second protrusion. The apex angle of 9 may be the same or may be larger.

Further, in the present embodiment, the first projecting portion 8 and the second projecting portion 9 are arranged at corresponding positions, but they may not be arranged at corresponding positions.

Further, in the present embodiment, the electrical connecting device is used for the printing device for ejecting ink for printing, but it may be used for other devices.

[0023]

As described above, according to the electrical connecting device of the present invention, since the tip of the second protrusion of the backup member that abuts the support member is pointed, the second protrusion is pressed when the substrate is pressed. The part does not buckle. Therefore, the pressing force from the backup member to the substrate does not vary, and the contact electrode can be satisfactorily brought into pressure contact with the counter electrode and can be electrically connected satisfactorily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a usage state of an electrical connection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a printing device using the electrical connection device of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a usage state of a conventional electrical connection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Flexible Circuit 4 Contact Electrode 5 Substrate 6 Counter Electrode 7 Projection 8 Projection 9 Projection 10 Support 11 Head Holder 12 Backup Member

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrical connecting device in which a plurality of contact electrodes provided on a surface of a substrate are brought into pressure contact with counter electrodes arranged so as to face each contact electrode, wherein each contact electrode is made of an elastic material. A backup member having a large number of pointed first protrusions that individually come into contact with the substrate from behind and a second protrusion that has a pointed tip contacting the support member on the back side of the first protrusions. An electrical connection device characterized by being provided. 2. The second projecting portion is provided at a position corresponding to the first projecting portion.
The electrical connection device described.