JPH08306414A - Terminal structure and control apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily work terminal pieces on the terminal block side, dispense with soldering, sharply reduce manhours, reduce cost, and enhance versatility in various main body blocks of a terminal block. CONSTITUTION: A connecting plate 16 having elastic contact piece parts 17, 18, 19 and 20 is arranged between a terminal block 1 and a main body block 2. Terminal pieces 5 and 7 on the terminal block 1 side and terminal pieces 8 and 13 on the main body block 2 side are respectively elastically contacted with the elastic contact piece parts 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the connecting plate 16, and both are electrically connected to each other.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal structure and a control device which are applied, for example, when electrically connecting a socket terminal block side and a timer body block side in a timer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, as a terminal structure of a timer device, as shown in FIG. 8, a terminal block for a socket 10 in which a terminal piece 102 is fixedly mounted on an electrically insulating base 101.
3, the inner end portion 102a of the terminal piece 102 is formed in a substantially U shape, and the outer end portion 105a of the terminal piece 105 on the body block 104 side connected to the terminal block 103 is connected to the socket terminal block 103 side terminal. It has been known that the terminal piece 102 is inserted into the inner end portion 102a, and this portion is fixed with a solder 106 to electrically connect the terminal pieces 102 and 105 to each other.

[0003]

In the conventional terminal structure having the above-mentioned structure, since the inner end portion 102a of the terminal piece 102 on the socket terminal block 103 side is substantially U-shaped,
It takes time to process the terminal piece 102. In addition, the terminal piece 1 is provided between the terminal block 103 and the body block 104.
Since 02 and 105 are connected to each other by the solder 106, it is difficult to automate the connection work by the solder flow. Therefore, the soldering has to be done manually, and the number of man-hours is increased, resulting in extremely high production efficiency. It was bad and was a factor of high cost. In addition, the terminal block 103
The position of the terminal piece 102 on the side is fixed in the main body block 1
It is set corresponding to 03, so the main unit block 10
If the types of 4 are different, the terminal block 103 itself must be changed, and the terminal block 103 cannot be versatile.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and not only can the workability of the terminal piece on the terminal piece block side be improved, but also the terminal piece block side terminal piece and the main body block side terminal piece can be manufactured with less man-hours. It is an object of the present invention to provide a terminal structure and a control device that can be easily and inexpensively connected to each other and can easily cope with different types of main body blocks.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the terminal structure according to the invention of claim 1 has an elastic contact piece portion between the terminal block and the main body block coupled to the terminal block. A connection plate is arranged, and the terminal piece on the terminal block side and the terminal piece on the main body block side are elastically contacted with the contact piece portions to electrically connect the terminal pieces.

In the above terminal structure, a projection is formed at the tip of the electrically insulating support wall formed in the terminal block toward the main body block side, and the projection is formed in the positioning hole formed in the connection plate. It is desirable to have a configuration in which they are fitted, and in particular, it is desirable to crimp the projections and fix the connection plate to the support wall.

In the above k terminal structure, the terminal block on the body block side may be a terminal piece of an electronic component or a terminal piece of a printed wiring board.

Further, it is preferable that the connecting plate in the terminal structure is composed of a lead frame molded from a conductive spring material.

Further, the invention according to claim 7 is provided with a terminal block, a control device main body block coupled to the terminal block, and a lead frame having an elastic contact piece portion between the terminal block and the main body block. With the connection plate configured as described above, the terminal piece on the terminal block side and the terminal piece on the main body block side are elastically contacted with the contact piece portions respectively to electrically connect both terminal pieces. .

[0010]

According to the present invention, since the terminal pieces of both blocks are elastically contacted and electrically connected to the elastic contact piece portions of the connection plate arranged between the terminal block and the main body block, the terminal block side It is not necessary to process the terminal piece in a special shape, and complicated soldering by hand is not required, so that the connection work can be automated and rationalized, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Furthermore, by preparing a connection plate according to the type of main body block above, a type of terminal block can be shared by various main body blocks simply by replacing the connection plate without changing the terminal block for each type of main body block. It becomes possible to have general versatility. In particular, as in claims 2 and 3, by fitting the projection at the tip of the support wall on the terminal block side into the positioning hole on the connection plate side, and further caulking the projection, the terminal on the terminal block side is formed. The relative displacement of the connection plate with respect to the terminal piece on the side of the main body block and the terminal piece on the main body block side is suppressed, and the connection between both terminal pieces can be ensured.

Further, if the control device main body is used as the main body block and the terminal structure using the connection plate is introduced, the control device can be easily connected to each other during assembly. The whole assembly can be facilitated and the manufacturing cost of the control device can be reduced.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are a partially longitudinal front view and a partially longitudinal front view, respectively, showing a timer device to which a terminal structure according to the present invention is applied.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 is a socket terminal block, and 2 is a main body block coupled to the terminal block 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal block 1 includes a square block-shaped base 3 made of an electrically insulating synthetic resin and a terminal insertion hole 4 on the left end side of the base 3.
A plurality of plate-shaped terminal pieces 5 for relays that are press-fitted and fixed in
And a plate-like terminal piece 7 for a printed wiring board, which is press-fitted and fixed in the terminal insertion hole 6 on the right end side of the base 3. On the other hand, the main body block 2 is, as shown in FIG.
A relay 9 having a terminal piece 8 protruding to the lower surface side, and the relay 9
Printed wiring board 10 constituting a circuit for controlling the timer, and timer operating portion 11 mounted on this printed wiring board 10.
And a case 12 that accommodates the printed wiring board 10 together with the relay 9 and is coupled to the base 3. Reference numeral 13 denotes a part of a conductive pattern provided on the lower end side of the printed wiring board 10, and the terminal block 1
It is configured as a terminal piece that is electrically connected to the side terminal piece 7. Reference numeral 14 denotes an engagement frame portion formed on the lower end side of the case 12 and engaged with engagement protrusions 15 (FIGS. 3 and 7) on both front and rear sides on the base 3 side.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a connecting plate which is arranged between the terminal block 1 and the main body block 2 and electrically connects the both 1 and 2, and the connecting plate 16 is, as shown in FIGS. , A lead frame 16A having a part of a wiring circuit, which is formed by stamping from a conductive leaf spring material. The lead frame 16A is provided with a frame portion 16a having a U-shape and a plurality of lead frame pieces 16b to 16h connected to the inner edge of the frame portion 16a, and each of the lead frame pieces 16b to 16e has a tip end side. , The above terminal block 1
The elastic contact piece portions 17 that are elastically contacted with the inner end portions 5a of the relay-side terminal pieces 5 are bent and formed in an obliquely upward direction.
The elastic contact piece portions 18 that elastically contact the outer end portions 8a of the terminal pieces 8 on the side are bent and formed obliquely downward. Furthermore, the elastic contact piece portion 19 and the printed wiring board 9 which are in elastic contact with the inner end portions 7a of the terminal piece 7 for the printed wiring board on the terminal block 1 side are provided on the tip ends of the frame pieces 16f to 16h. The elastic contact piece portions 20 that elastically contact the terminal pieces 13 on the side are bent and formed obliquely upward. In addition, the frame pieces 16f, 16h
Also, the elastic contact piece portion 18 that comes into contact with the outer end portion 5a of the terminal piece 5 on the relay 9 side is bent and formed obliquely downward. Positioning holes 21 are formed in predetermined portions of the tips of the frame pieces 16b to 16h, respectively.

A plurality of support walls 22 are provided on the base 3 of the terminal block 1 so as to project toward the main body block 2 side, that is, upward, and the projections 23 formed on the tip surfaces of the support walls 22 are provided. The lead frame 16A is fitted in the positioning hole 21.

The electrical connection between the terminal block 1 side and the body block 2 side is performed as follows. First, the base 3 in the terminal block 1 to which the terminal pieces 5 and 7 are fixed
The lead frame 16A is horizontally arranged in a predetermined direction on the upper side, and the positioning holes 21 in the lead frame 16A are provided with protrusions 23 on the base 3 side.
Is fitted. Thereby, the lead frame 16A
Is laterally positioned with respect to the base 3, and each inner end portion 5a of the relay terminal piece 5 is elastically brought into contact with the elastic contact piece portion 17 on the lead frame 16A side. Further, each inner end portion 7a of the printed wiring board terminal piece 7 is also elastically contacted with the elastic contact piece portion 19 of the lead frame 16A. In this state, the letter-shaped frame portion 16 which is an unnecessary portion of the lead frame 16A.
The lead frame 16A can be easily fixed to the support wall 22 as the connecting plate 16 by caulking the protrusion 23 after cutting and removing a.

After the connection plate 16 is assembled, the case 12 accommodating the relay 9 and the printed wiring board 10 is joined to the base 3 by the engagement of the engagement frame portion 14 and the engagement protrusion 15. Let At this time, each outer end portion 8a of the terminal piece 8 of the relay 9 is elastically contacted with a predetermined elastic contact piece portion 18 of the connection board 16, while the terminal piece 13 of the printed wiring board 10 is also connected to the connection board. The elastic contact piece portion 20 at 16 is contacted. Further, a part of the terminal piece 8 of the relay 9 is also electrically connected to the printed wiring board 10 side via the connection plate 16. Since the connection plate 16 is positioned on the terminal block 1 side, the contact is accurate.

As described above, when the main body block 2 is connected to the terminal block 1, the terminal piece 8 of the relay 9 and the printed wiring board 10 are connected via the elastic contact piece portions 17 and 19 of the connection plate 16. The terminal pieces 13 are electrically connected to the terminal pieces 5 and 7 on the terminal block 1 side, respectively. Therefore, the terminal pieces 5, 7 on the terminal block 1 side
Since it is not necessary to process the special shape as in the related art, these terminal pieces 5 and 7 can be easily manufactured. Further, since the terminal block 1 side and the main body block 2 side can be electrically connected to each other without the need for soldering or the like, the assembling workability of both blocks 1 and 2 is improved, and the automatic assembling is supported. It becomes easy to carry out, and it becomes possible to greatly reduce the manufacturing cost.

Further, as the connecting plate 16, a plurality of types are prepared according to the type on the body block 2 side,
Instead of preparing the terminal block 1 for each type of the main body block 2, the terminal block 1 can be commonly used for various types to electrically connect the two to each other, and the versatility of the terminal block 1 can be enhanced.

In the above embodiment, the timer device having the relay 9 and the printed wiring board 10 on the main body block 2 side has been described as an example, but the terminal block 1 and the main body block 2 constitute another control device. Even with such a configuration, it is possible to achieve the same effect.

[0021]

As described above, according to the inventions of claims 1 to 6, the terminal pieces of both blocks are elastically contacted via the elastic contact piece portion of the connection plate arranged between the terminal block and the main body block. Since it is made to be electrically connected, it is not necessary to use a specially shaped terminal piece on the terminal block side, it is possible to facilitate the production of the terminal block, and it is also possible to solder by hand. Compared with the one to be attached, the man-hours at the time of terminal connection work can be significantly reduced, and it is easy to cope with automatic assembly, so that the manufacturing cost can be remarkably reduced. Further, only by preparing a connection plate according to the type of the main body block side, it is possible to share various terminal blocks with various main body blocks and easily perform electrical connection. That is, the versatility of the terminal block can be improved.

In particular, when the terminal block side projection is fitted into the connection plate side positioning hole or the fitted projection is caulked, the terminal block side terminal piece and the main body block are adopted. The terminal piece on the side can be surely and easily positioned when the two are joined, and the electric connection can be secured by elastic contact between the terminal pieces.

Further, as in the invention of claim 7, the main body block is composed of a control device body such as a relay or a timer body, and the terminal structure by the connection plate is introduced, so that the connection of the terminal pieces can be easily performed. Therefore, the assembling property of the entire control device can be remarkably improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially longitudinal front view showing a timer device to which a terminal structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a partially longitudinal front view showing the timer device of the above embodiment in an exploded state.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a base of a terminal block according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a relay according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a lead frame for a connecting plate in the above-mentioned embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the same lead frame.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a terminal structure when the terminal block and the main body block are joined together.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional front view showing an outline of a terminal structure of a conventional timer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal block 2 Main body block 5,7,8,13 Terminal piece 16 Connection board 16A Lead frame 17,18,19,20 Elastic contact piece part 21 Positioning hole 22 Support wall 23 Protrusion

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A connection plate having an elastic contact piece portion is arranged between a terminal block and a main body block coupled to the terminal block, and the terminal block on the terminal block side and the terminal piece on the main body block side are connected to each other. A terminal structure characterized in that the terminal pieces are electrically connected to each other by elastically contacting the contact pieces. 2. A projection is formed on the tip of an electrically insulating support wall formed in the terminal block toward the main body block side, and the projection is fitted into a positioning hole formed in the connection plate. The terminal structure according to claim 1, wherein 3. The terminal structure according to claim 2, wherein the connection plate is fixed to the support wall by caulking the protrusion. 4. The terminal structure according to claim 1, wherein the terminal piece on the main body block side is a terminal piece of an electronic component. 5. The terminal structure according to claim 1, wherein the terminal piece on the main body block side is a terminal piece of a printed wiring board. 6. The connecting plate comprises a lead frame molded from a conductive spring material.
The terminal structure according to any one of 1. 7. A connection plate comprising a terminal block and a control device main body block coupled to the terminal block, wherein a connection plate composed of a lead frame having an elastic contact piece portion is arranged between the terminal block and the main body block. In addition, the terminal block-side terminal piece and the main body block-side terminal piece are elastically brought into contact with the contact piece portion so that both terminal pieces are electrically connected to each other.