JPS5834918B2 - Manufacturing method of elastomer connector - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention relates to an elastomer having a structure in which a plurality of conductive members made of conductive elastomer or conductive resin penetrate through one layer of an insulating elastomer in an aligned manner without shorting each other. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a connector.

In recent years, improvements have been made in functional parts and display parts for electrical circuit equipment, liquid crystal display devices, etc. that incorporate the above-mentioned types of elastomer connectors, and the above-mentioned equipment and devices have been made much smaller, thinner, and more diverse. , along with this, the connector parts incorporated in them have also become smaller and thinner.
Diversification and multipolarization are required.

Examples of connectors having the above structure include (1) U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,037, (2) U.S. Pat.
No. 77, (3) US Pat. No. 51-15681, and (4) US Pat. No. 3,982,320.

That is, the connector shown in (1) above is made by holding a conductive rubber-like elastic body through an insulating plate. Either an uncured rubber material must be inserted through the through hole or cured by injecting it into the through hole, and in this structure and manufacturing method, the arrangement pitch of the conductive rubber-like elastic body must be at least 11 rL 1 rL or more. The disadvantage is that it is unproductive and therefore extremely difficult to produce connectors with a high density of conductive elastomer.

In addition, what is shown in (2) above involves molding the insulating frame of the connector alone, setting the frame in a casting mold, injection molding the conductive resin, and deleting the conductive resin short-circuit part. However, this method has drawbacks such as a complicated manufacturing process and a high-precision mold, which tends to result in high costs and low productivity.

Furthermore, the connector shown in (3) is the connector shown in (1), (
2), but like the one shown in (1), this also has the disadvantage that it is extremely difficult to increase the number of conductive rubber-like elastic bodies per unit area. , the product shown in 4 above also requires complicated processes such as sheet forming, lamination and integration, slicing, lamination and integration, slicing, etc., and has the drawback that productivity is low and it is not economical. be.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a new and improved elastomer connector proposed to eliminate the manufacturing disadvantages and drawbacks of the conventionally known connectors described above. In part,
After pouring a conductive paint into the branch grooves of a molded body made of an insulating elastomer in which a plurality of parallel grooves are formed and curing it, a layer made of an insulating elastomer is applied to the surface where the conductive paint layer is exposed. The second invention is characterized in that the molded body is laminated and integrated, and then the molded body is sliced along a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the branch grooves extend. Alternatively, after pouring a conductive paint into the branch grooves of a molded body made of an insulating elastomer having a rectangular cross section with a plurality of parallel grooves formed on both sides and curing it, a plurality of thus obtained The molded bodies are laminated and integrated with the extension directions of the branch grooves being the same, and then the laminated and integrated molded body is sliced along a plane substantially perpendicular to the extension direction of the branch grooves. be.

The method of the present invention will be explained in detail below.

First, a typical embodiment of the first invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. 1 shows an insulating elastomer prepared in advance in manufacturing an elastomer connector according to the method of the present invention. This figure shows an example of a molded body made of a molded body 1, in which a plurality of grooves 2 are provided on both of a pair of corresponding surfaces.

This insulating elastomer molded body 1 is molded using conventionally known synthetic rubber or thermoplastic resin material exhibiting rubber elasticity, but the material is determined depending on the usage of the connector (usually between electronic circuit boards to be connected). In general, the hardness is 6 as specified in JISK6301, taking into consideration the
It is desirable that it be 0 or less, and if necessary, it can also be constructed with a cell-containing foam structure.

The shape of the surface 3 perpendicular to the extending direction of the groove 2 of the molded body 1,
That is, although FIG. 1 shows an example of a cross-sectional shape having a rectangular cross-sectional shape, this cross-sectional shape is not particularly limited in the present invention, and may be circular, semicircular, polygonal, frame-shaped, ring-shaped, etc. It can be done.

Furthermore, the cross-sectional shape of the groove 2 formed on the surface of the molded body 1 can be any shape such as a V-shape, a U-shape, or a semicircular shape. It can be applied partially or completely.

In the method of the present invention, in the first step, conductive paint 4 is poured into the parallel grooves of molded body 1 and cured, and this is carried out, for example, as shown in FIG. 2.

That is, a large amount of conductive paint 4 is supplied to the parallel grooves 2 of the molded body 1, and the slider 5 is brought into contact with the molded body 1 using the slider 5. By moving the molded body 1 and the molded body 1 relative to each other, the conductive paint 4 can be easily poured into the groove 2.

At this time, if some of the conductive paint remains on the surface of the molded body 1 (the convex portion in FIG. 1) on which the slider 5 is brought into contact and moved, it may be necessary to wipe it off or It is necessary to remove the polishing material.

The conductive paint 4 poured into the groove 2 is then cured according to a conventional method.

The conductive paint used here is not particularly limited, and commercially available conductive paints can be used as they are.
For example, fine particles of highly conductive substances such as carbon, graphite, metals, alloys, and metal carbides are used as conductivity imparting agents, and after curing, these are used to create fluid or non-flowable silicones that exhibit rubber-like elasticity. Use products blended with resins, silicone rubber compounds and solvents, uncured urethane resins, and even thermoplastic resins that exhibit rubber-like elasticity after curing and solvents. You can also do it.

Next, the conductive paint 4 is poured into the grooves 2 of the molded body 1 as described above, and once it is cured, in the second step of the present invention, the molded body 1 is coated with conductive paint 4 as shown in FIG. A separately prepared layer 6 made of an insulating elastomer is laminated and integrated so as to cover the adhesive paint layer 4.

This insulating elastomer layer 6 is preferably made of the same material as the molded body 1, but it may be of a different material from the molded body 1.

Note that this insulating elastomer layer 6 is provided by methods such as coating, dipping, and heat-pressure integration.

The molded body 1 formed by laminating and integrating one layer of insulating elastomer 6 as described above is then sliced to a desired thickness along a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the grooves 2 extend. It can be an elastomer connector.

FIG. 4 illustrates an elastomer connector manufactured using the molded body shown in FIG. 1 according to the above-described process.

Further, FIGS. 5 and 6 show an elastomer connector manufactured according to the above-described process using a molded body 1 having a circular cross section and a frame-shaped cross section, respectively, and having parallel grooves formed on its entire surface. This is an example.

Next, a typical embodiment of the second invention will be described with reference to the drawings from FIG. 7 onwards.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a molded body made of an insulating elastomer prepared in carrying out the second invention, and this plate-shaped molded body 11 has a plurality of parallel grooves 1 on one side thereof.
2 is provided.

In this embodiment as well, in the first step, the conductive paint 14 is
is poured into the parallel grooves 12 of the molded body 11 and hardened (see FIG. 8).

However, in the second step, as shown in FIG.
If necessary, an insulating elastomer layer 16 is provided on the exposed surface of the conductive paint layer 14 of the laminate, and then the laminate is integrated in a third step. The desired elastomer connector can be obtained by slicing the molded product along a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the parallel grooves 12 extend (see FIG. 10).

As explained above, according to the method of the present invention, a desired elastomer connector can be easily obtained through a simplified process, and even a high-density elastomer connector with a conductive member arrangement pitch of one peak or less can be obtained. Since it can be manufactured easily and inexpensively, the practical effects of the present invention are extremely effective.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 6 are drawings for explaining a typical embodiment of the present invention according to its steps, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an insulating elastomer molded product, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the process of forming a paint layer, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the lamination and integration process, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are perspective views showing the elastomer connector obtained through the above steps. Figures 7 to 10 are for explaining other typical embodiments of the present invention, in which Figure 7 is a perspective view showing an example of an insulating elastomer molded product, and Figure 8 is a perspective view showing an example of the insulating elastomer molded product. A perspective view showing a state in which a conductive paint layer is applied to a molded body,
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a state in which a plurality of molded bodies shown in FIG. 8 are laminated and integrated, and FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating the obtained elastomer connector. 1.11... Molded body, 2.12... Parallel groove, 3...
・End face, 4.14... Conductive paint, 5... Slider,
6.16...One layer of insulating elastomer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A conductive paint is poured into the branch grooves of a molded body made of an insulating elastomer having a plurality of parallel grooves formed on at least a part of its side circumferential surface, and is then cured. A method for manufacturing an elastomer connector, which comprises laminating and integrating a layer made of an insulating elastomer on the surface where the conductive paint layer is exposed, and then slicing the molded product along a plane substantially perpendicular to the extending direction of the branch grooves. . 2. After pouring a conductive paint into the branch grooves of a molded body made of an insulating elastomer with a rectangular cross section and having a plurality of parallel grooves formed on one or both of the corresponding surfaces of the pair and curing it, A plurality of molded bodies obtained in this manner are laminated and integrated with the extension directions of the branch grooves being aligned,
A method for producing an elastomer connector, which comprises slicing the laminated and integrated molded product along a plane substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the branch grooves extend.