JP6727074B2 - Electrical connector for circuit board - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electric connector for circuit boards.

In this type of connector, when the mating connector is connected to the mating connector with the direction perpendicular to the surface of the circuit board as the connector fitting direction, the mating connector is displaced from the normal position in the direction parallel to the surface of the circuit board. A so-called floating connector that can be fitted and connected at a position and can absorb the above deviation is widely used, and is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1.

The floating connector of Patent Document 1 has a rectangular frame shape and a fixed housing (housing body) fixed to the circuit board at its bottom surface, and a movable movable member that is positioned in the rectangular frame of the fixed housing and movable with respect to the fixed housing. It has a housing (housing connection portion) and a plurality of terminals (contacts) arranged in a state of being bridged over the movable housing and the fixed housing. The fixed housing is fixed to the circuit board via the terminals by connecting the terminal connecting portions to the circuit board by soldering. The terminal has a substantially L-shaped elastic portion at the intermediate portion of the terminal located in the space between the movable housing and the fixed housing, and the displacement is absorbed by elastic displacement of the elastic portion.

The terminal of the connector in Patent Document 1 is a so-called bent terminal, which is formed by bending a metal strip in the plate thickness direction (Patent Document 1, paragraph [0041]). It is possible to assemble or integrally mold the fixed housing and the movable housing ([Paragraph 0053]).

One end side of the terminal is embedded in the movable housing, and the terminal is fixed to the side surface of the movable housing so that a contact portion for contact connection with a mating connector is exposed on the side surface of the movable housing. Further, the other end of the above-mentioned terminal is buried and held in a fixed housing, and its tip projects out of the fixed housing to form a connection portion for solder connection to a circuit board (see FIG. 5).

The elastic portion of the terminal has a substantially L shape in a groove facing the receiving space for receiving the mating connector between the movable housing and the fixed housing, and is elastically displaceable in the groove. A connector having such a receiving space is generally called a receptacle connector, and a mating connector is called a plug connector.

Patent No. 4411843

However, in the connector of Patent Document 1, since the contact portion of the terminal for contact connection with the mating connector is fixedly attached to the side surface of the movable housing, the contact portion of the terminal of the mating connector can be elastically displaced. Must have. Unlike the receptacle connector, the mating connector plug connector that is fitted and connected to the receptacle connector of Patent Document 1 is exposed to the outer surface of the plug housing, so that an unexpected impact force may be applied during handling. However, it is desirable that the contact is in the form of a fixed contact that is firmly fixed to the outer surface of the plug housing, and an elastically displaceable configuration is not preferred.

Therefore, in the receptacle connector of Patent Document 1, when the mating connector is a fixed contact portion type plug connector fixed to the outer surface of the plug housing, the contact portion of the terminal on the receptacle connector side is fixed to the movable housing. Since it is a fixed contact portion type attached and cannot be elastically displaced, it cannot be applied to the fixed contact portion type receptacle connector.

In Patent Document 1, the terminal has an elastic portion to enable floating. This floating terminal needs to be thin and thin in order to secure an elastic displacement amount in the floating elastic portion. However, if an attempt is made to secure a sufficient amount of elastic displacement, the terminal including the elastic contact portion becomes thin and thin, and as a result, the elastic contact portion becomes too soft and sufficient contact pressure cannot be obtained.

Further, according to Patent Document 1, it is described that the terminal can be held by the movable housing and the fixed housing even if integrally molded, but in the connector of this type, the terminal is bent and formed in the plate thickness direction. Although it is a bent terminal, even if it is a punched terminal that is punched in the plate thickness direction, it can be held by integral molding when the terminal width is reduced for the purpose of arranging the terminals at a high density pitch, but the contact of the terminals If the portion is made to be elastically displaceable, it is difficult to ensure sufficient strength to withstand the contact pressure with the mating connector during elastic displacement because the terminal width is small.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention ensures a sufficient contact pressure at the contact portion of the terminal even in a floating connector, and further, in order to arrange the terminals at a high density, the terminals having a small terminal width are connected to the housing. (EN) Provided is an electrical connector for a circuit board, which is capable of coping with a mating connector having a fixed contact portion type terminal which does not elastically displace, by providing the terminal having a small terminal width with a contact portion capable of elastic displacement even when integrally molded. This is an issue.

An electrical connector for a circuit board according to the present invention includes a fixed housing fixedly mounted on the surface of the circuit board, a movable housing movable with respect to the fixed housing, and a plurality of fixed housings arranged between the fixed housing and the movable housing. A fixed-side held portion held by a fixed housing, a movable-side held portion held by a movable housing, and an intermediate portion located between the fixed-side held portion and the movable-side held portion. And an elastic portion.

In such an electric connector for a circuit board, according to the present invention, the terminal is connected to the circuit board provided at one end portion extending from the fixed side held portion and located outside the fixed housing, and the terminal is more than the fixed side held portion. At the other end side position of the terminal, has a contact arm portion movably accommodated in a groove formed in the movable housing, the contact arm portion has two elastic arm portions connected by the contact portion, The movable side held portion is formed on each of the base portions of the two arm portions, the fixed side held portion is held by a fixed housing, and the movable side held portion is held by a movable housing. There is.

In the present invention having such a configuration, the contact arm portion having the two arm portions is integrally molded at the base portion of each arm portion and held by the movable housing, and the two arm portions connected by the contact portion are elastic at portions other than the base portion. Since it is displaceable, the contact pressure at the contact portion can be increased while ensuring the elastically displaceable portion of the arm portion for a long time. Further, since the contact arm portion is held by both the base portions, the strength of the contact arm portion is high.

In the present invention, the fixed housing may be provided with a restriction fitting for restricting the movable amount of the movable housing in the direction away from the circuit board. In this case, the restricting metal member restricts the movement of the movable housing in the extraction direction when the mating connector is extracted, which leads to protection of the terminal.

In the present invention, the restriction fitting has a restriction portion facing a top surface of a part of the movable housing, and a plurality of fixed leg portions extending from the restriction portion and fixedly connected to the circuit board. be able to. In this mode, since the plurality of fixed legs are provided on the restriction fitting, the force for holding the restriction fitting becomes large, and the restriction capacity of the movable housing becomes large. Furthermore, electrical connection with the circuit board is also possible through the fixed legs.

In the present invention, the restricting portion of the restricting metal member has a flat strip shape extending in the connector width direction perpendicular to the terminal arrangement direction, and the plurality of fixed leg portions are located at both end positions and intermediate position of the restricting portion in the connector width direction. Can be provided in. In this case, since the fixed leg portion is also provided in the intermediate portion of the flat belt-shaped regulation portion, the regulation ability to hold the regulation metal member becomes large without increasing the size in the height direction of the connector.

As described above, according to the present invention, the terminal is provided with the contact arm portion having the two elastic portions that are connected to each other at the contact portion, and the base portions of the two arm portions are integrally molded with the movable housing and held by the movable housing. Therefore, even if it is a floating connector, the two arm portions can undergo large elastic displacement, and while maintaining a sufficient elastic displacement amount at the contact portion, the two arm portions have the two arm portions so as to sandwich the contact portion. Therefore, the strength against the contact pressure at the contact portions is improved, and the holding strength of the contact arm portions is also improved by being held by the movable housing at the base portions of these two arm portions.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an electric connector (receptacle connector) for a circuit board and its counterpart connector (plug connector) as one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cutaway perspective view also showing the inside of the receptacle connector of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view (not shown) of the receptacle connector of FIG. 2, in which a fixed housing is not shown. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing only a terminal and a restricting metal, with a movable housing further omitted from that of FIG. 3. It is sectional drawing in the terminal position of both connectors of FIG. 1, (A) shows before connector fitting, (B) shows after fitting. FIG. 2 is a view of the receptacle connector of FIG. 2 seen from above, where (A) shows the movable housing in a normal position and (B) shows the movable housing in a floating position. It is sectional drawing which shows the modification of this embodiment, (A) shows one modification, (B) shows another modification.

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a receptacle connector 1 as an electric connector for a circuit board according to the present embodiment and a plug connector 2 fitted and connected thereto before fitting and connecting.

In FIG. 1, the receptacle connector 1 has a receptacle housing 10 made of an electrically insulating material, a terminal 30 made of a metal plate held by the receptacle housing 10, and a restriction fitting 40.

The receptacle housing 10 is a separate body from the fixed housing 11 in which the plane shape seen from above is a substantially square frame when the receptacle connector 1 is arranged on a circuit board (not shown). And a movable housing 21 formed in the square frame space of the fixed housing 11. The space between the fixed housing 11 and the movable housing 21 forms a receiving space 1A for receiving the plug connector 2. The terminal 30 is bridged between the fixed housing 11 and the movable housing 21, and is held by the fixed housing 11 at a part of the terminal 30 and by the movable housing 21 at the other part. Further, the restriction fitting 40 is held by the fixed housing 11. The receptacle connector 1 will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 2 and subsequent figures.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the plug connector 2 fitted and connected to the receptacle connector 1 has a plug housing 51 made of an electrically insulating material and a terminal 60 made of a metal plate held by the plug housing 51. The plug housing 51 has a rectangular block shape having an outer shape that fits into the receiving space 1A of the receptacle connector 1, and has a lower surface side (not shown in FIG. 1) in FIG. A recess 51A (see FIG. 5A) into which the movable housing 21 of the receptacle connector 2 enters is formed. The plug connector 2 holds a plurality of terminals 60 on each of two side walls 52 extending in the connector longitudinal direction and opposed to each other in a lateral direction perpendicular to the peripheral wall forming the recess 51A of the plug housing 51. There is. The terminals 60 are arranged in the longitudinal direction and face each other so as to be symmetrical in the lateral direction. The terminal 60 is held by the plug housing 51 by being integrally molded with the plug housing 51.

As shown in FIG. 5(A), the terminal 60 is formed by bending a metal strip in the plate thickness direction, and the one end 61 bent in the J shape is an opening in the peripheral wall of the plug housing 51. A connecting portion 62 which is embedded in and retained in the side wall 52 at one end, and the other end of which protrudes from the base portion of the side wall 52 to the outside of the plug housing 51 and extends in the lateral direction. The intermediate portion of the terminal 60 is bent in an L shape and has a vertical portion which is held by the side wall 52 and is exposed from the side wall 52 and a horizontal portion which is bent from the vertical portion, and the vertical portion is a contact portion. 63, and a transitional portion from the vertical portion to the horizontal portion is buried in the plug housing 51 to form a held portion 64 held by the plug housing 51.

Next, returning to the receptacle connector 1, based on FIGS. 2 to 5, the receptacle connector 1 will be described in more detail.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the fixed housing 11 and the movable housing 21 of the receptacle connector 1, the inner surface of the side wall 12 of the fixed housing 11 forming the receiving space 1A and the side wall of the movable housing 21 are respectively provided with the terminal groove 13 and the terminal. The grooves 22 are arranged so as to face each other. Further, in the movable housing 21, a lower end of a groove wall 23 formed between the terminal grooves 22 of the movable housing 21 extends toward the fixed housing 11 to form a rib 23A. All the ribs 23A located at the lower ends of the plurality of groove walls 23 are located at the bottom of the receiving space 1A of the receptacle connector 1 and form a bottom holding portion 24 extending in the longitudinal direction of the movable housing 21. The movable housing 21 is provided with stepped plate-shaped regulated portions 25 projecting from the lower portion of the movable housing 21 in the arrangement direction of the terminal grooves 22 at both ends in the arrangement direction of the terminal grooves 22 (see FIG. 3 ). ).

On the other hand, the terminal 30 of the receptacle connector 1 is in the form of a so-called bent terminal in which the metal strip is bent in the plate thickness direction in the present embodiment. In the present invention, the terminal is not limited to a bent terminal, and may be a so-called punched terminal in which a metal plate is pulled out in the plate thickness direction.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5(A), the terminal 30 has a substantially corrugated shape having two inverted U-shaped portions as a whole, and one of the terminals 30 is located on the side wall 12 side of the fixed housing 11. The inverted U-shaped portion forms the intermediate elastic portion 31 and is housed in the terminal groove 13 formed in the side wall 12. The other inverted U-shaped portion located on the movable housing 21 side forms a contact arm portion 32 having two arm portions 32A and 32B. Most of the two arm portions 32A, 32B except the base portions of the arm portions 32A, 32B are housed in the terminal groove 22 of the movable housing 21, and the arm portions 32A, 32B are the same as those of the arm portions 32A, 32B. The upper part is connected by the contact portion 33. The contact portion 33 is formed in a convex curve so as to project to the outside of the terminal groove 22.

The intermediate elastic portion 31 of the terminal 30 forms a fixed side held portion 34 that extends obliquely from the lower end of the arm portion located on the inner side of the terminal groove 13, and the fixed side held portion 34 of the fixed housing 11 is provided. The terminal 30 is embedded and held in the lower part of the side wall 12 by integral molding, and one end side of the terminal 30 extends from the fixed side held portion 34 and is located outside the side wall 12 and located along the lower surface of the side wall 12. This one end side forms a connection portion 35 for solder connection to the circuit board.

Of the two arm portions 32A and 32B, the contact arm portion 32 has a base portion 32A-1 which is a lower end portion of the arm portion 32A located on the far side of the terminal groove 22 and is bent in an L-shape, so that the movable housing is movable. It is embedded and held in the lower part of 21 by integral molding. On the other hand, the arm portion 32B located on the opening side of the terminal groove 22 bends the lower end portion of the base portion 32B-1 into an L-shape to penetrate the bottom holding portion 24 of the movable housing, and the intermediate elasticity Of the two arm portions of the portion 31, it is connected to the lower end of the arm portion located on the opening side of the terminal groove 13. A base portion 32B-1 of the arm portion 32B constitutes a movable side fixed portion 36 and is held by integral molding with the bottom portion holding portion 24.

As described above, in the terminal 30, the two arm portions 32A and 32B of the contact arm portion 32 that are connected by the contact portion 33 and form the inverted U shape have the base portions 32A-1 and 32B-1 by the movable housing 21. The inverted U-shaped portion, which is held by integral molding and is above the base portions 32A-1 and 32B-1, is not constrained at all and is elastically displaceable. Of course, since the intermediate elastic portion 31 is not restrained at all, elastic displacement is possible.

The metal plate restricting metal fitting 40 held by the fixed housing 11 is shown in FIG. It has a flat-belt-shaped regulating portion 41 facing the upper surface of the regulated portion 25 and extending in the connector width direction, and a fixed leg portion 42 extending from the regulating portion 41. The fixed leg portions 42 are provided on both ends and side portions of the restriction portion 41, but both are bent downward in a crank shape so that the lower end portions are soldered and fixed to the corresponding portions of the circuit board. It has become.

In such a restriction fitting 40, an edge portion of the restriction portion 41 facing the restricted portion 25 of the movable housing 21 where the fixed leg portion 42 is located and a base portion of the fixed leg portion 42 are integrally formed in the fixed housing 11. And is held by being integrally molded with the fixed housing 11. In other words, the parts other than the part buried and held in the fixed housing 11 are exposed.

Since a part of the restriction fitting 40 is integrally molded and held by the movable housing 21, it is not necessary to consider the press-fitting white of the restriction fitting as compared with holding by press-fitting, so that space can be saved and the restriction fitting 40 can be restrained in the press-fitting direction. Since this is not done, the shape of the restriction fitting can be simplified, which also leads to space saving.

The receptacle connector 1 having such a form is used in the following manner. First, in the receptacle connector 1, the connection portion 35 of the terminal 30 is soldered to a corresponding circuit portion of a circuit board (not shown), and the fixed leg portion 42 of the restriction fitting 40 is soldered to a corresponding portion of the circuit board. Fixed.

On the other hand, similarly to the receptacle connector 1, the plug connector 2 is also soldered to the corresponding circuit portion of another circuit board (not shown) at the contact portion 62 of the terminal 60 of the plug connector 2.

After that, the plug connector 2 attached to the other circuit board is in a posture with the other circuit board facing upward, that is, the recess 51A of the plug connector 2 is opened downward, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 5. In such a posture, it is brought to a position directly above the receptacle connector 1 attached to the circuit board, and then lowered as it is.

When the plug connector 2 is lowered, the movable housing 21 of the receptacle connector 1 enters the recess 51A of the plug connector 2 together with the contact arm portion 32 of the terminal 30 so that the plug connector 2 is received in the receiving space 1A of the receptacle connector 1. (See FIG. 5B).

As shown in FIG. 5B, when the plug connector 2 is fitted to a predetermined depth where it abuts the bottom holding portion 24 of the receptacle connector 1 at its lower end, the two rows of terminals 60 provided on the plug connector 2 are The contact portions 33 of the two rows of terminals 30 of the receptacle connector 1 come into contact with each other from inside in the connector width direction. The contact portion 33 is located above the contact arm portion 32 composed of two elastic arm portions 32A and 32B, and has a biasing force due to elastic bending displacement of the two arm portions 32A and 32B. The contact portion 62 of 60 is contacted.

Here, for example, if the plug connector 2 is fitted into the receptacle connector 1 at a position deviated from the predetermined position in the left-right direction with respect to the receptacle connector 1, the receptacle connector 1 makes a pair by the amount of the deviation. The intermediate elastic portion 31 of one of the two terminals 30 is elastically displaced so as to open both legs of the inverted U shape, and the intermediate elastic portion of the other terminal closes both legs of the inverted U shape. By elastically displacing so that the plug connector 2 can be moved, so-called floating is performed.

The above floating state can be well understood from FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B). 6(A) and 6(B) are views of the connector 1 viewed from above. FIG. 6(A) shows a case where the movable housing 21 is in the regular position with respect to the fixed housing 11, and FIG. 6(B) shows a movable housing. 21 shows the case where 21 is in a floating position with respect to the fixed housing 11. In FIG. 6(A), the movable housing 21 is in a normal position symmetrical with respect to the fixed housing 11 in both the vertical direction and the leftward direction. In this normal position, the movable housing 21 has an equal gap δ between the movable housing 21 and the fixed housing 11, as seen in the upper and lower portions of FIG. 6A, and the left and right regulated portions 25 of the movable housing 21 are The same area is regulated by the regulation portion 41 of the regulation metal fitting 40. This can be seen clearly from the fact that the regulated portion 25 that is not in contact with the regulating portion 41 has the same area on the left and right when viewed from above.

On the other hand, in FIG. 6B in the floating state, the movable housing 21 is diagonally moved to the upper right with respect to the fixed housing 11. That is, the upper gap δ in FIG. 6(A) is eliminated and the lower gap is increased. Further, in the left-right direction, the regulated portion 25 on the right side is regulated by the regulated portion 41 while being in contact with the regulated portion 41 in a larger area than the regulated portion 25 on the left side. In other words, the area where the regulated portion 25 on the left side is not regulated is made smaller than that in the state of FIG. This floating is made possible by elastic deformation of the elastic portion 31 of the terminal 30, as shown in FIG.

The contact arm portion 32 of the terminal 30 of the receptacle connector 1 has the two contact arm portions 32A and 32B regardless of whether the plug connector 2 is fitted in the regular position or is fitted with a deviation. While being firmly held integrally with the movable housing 21 at the base portion of the plug connector 2, since it extends sufficiently upward from the base portion, the contact pressure due to elastic displacement with the terminal 60 of the plug connector 2 is sufficiently large. Can be secured.

As described above, the terminal 30 of the receptacle connector 1 is in contact with the terminal 60 of the plug connector 2 with a large contact pressure at the contact portion 33 thereof. Therefore, when the plug connector 2 is pulled out, the receptacle connector 1 contacts the above contact. A large frictional force acts on the portion 33 in the extraction direction, and the movable housing 21 tends to move upward due to the force to increase the movable amount.

In this embodiment, the restricting metal fitting 40 is held by the fixed housing 11, and the restricting portion 41 of the restricting metal fitting 40 is positioned so as to face the upper surface of the regulated portion 25 of the movable housing 21. Therefore, even when the movable housing 21 is pulled upward by the frictional force at the contact portion 33 of the terminal 30 when the plug connector 2 is pulled out, the regulated portion 25 comes into contact with the regulating portion 41 and the upward movement is regulated. It The regulation portion 41 may be in contact with the upper surface of the regulated portion 25 from the beginning before the plug connector 2 is pulled out, or there may be a gap between the regulation portion 41 and the upper surface of the regulated portion 25 initially.

Although the restriction fitting 40 is integrally molded and firmly held by the fixed housing 11, the restriction fitting 40 itself is solder-fixed to the circuit board by the plurality of fixed leg portions 42, so that the restriction portion 41 is fixed. Even if an upward force is applied from the movable housing 21, the upward movement amount of the movable housing 21 is regulated with sufficient strength.

The present invention is not limited to the examples shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, and various modifications are possible.

For example, in the terminal 30 of the receptacle connector 1 described above, the pair of terminals 30 facing each other are separate members, but they may be formed as one member connected to each other. In the case of FIG. 6A, the terminal 30 having the contact portions 33 on the left and right with respect to the movable housing 21 is one member, and one arm portion 32A is directed downward from the contact portion 33 and the other arm is oriented laterally. The contact arm portion 32 has a shape in which the portion 32B extends. The base portion of the one arm portion 32A is held by the bottom portion holding portion 24 of the movable housing 21 as in the case of the above-described form, and the base portion of the other arm portion 32B is held by the upper portion of the central wall of the movable housing 21. ..

It is also possible to separate the terminal 30 of FIG. 7A into two terminals 30 forming a pair. For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the other arm portion 32B is cut between the left and right contact portions 33, and the base portion of the other arm portion is a central type having a T-shaped cross section of the movable housing 21. It is supposed to be held at the top.

1 Circuit board electrical connector (receptacle connector)
11 Fixed Housing 21 Movable Housing 30 Terminal 31 Intermediate Elastic Part 32 Contact Arm Part 32A, 32B Arm Part 33 Contact Part 34 Fixed Side Held Part 36 Movable Side Held Part

Claims (4)

It has a fixed housing fixedly mounted on the surface of the circuit board, a movable housing movable with respect to the fixed housing, and a fixed housing and a plurality of terminals arranged so as to span the movable housing, and is held by the fixed housing. Circuit board having a fixed-side held portion, a movable-side held portion held by a movable housing, and an intermediate elastic portion located between the fixed-side held portion and the movable-side held portion In the electrical connector,
The terminal is formed on the movable housing at a connecting portion that is provided at one end portion that extends from the fixed side held portion and is located outside the fixed housing and that is connected to the circuit board, and at the other end side position of the terminal with respect to the fixed side held portion. And a contact arm portion movably accommodated in the groove portion,
The contact arm has two elastic arms connected at the contact part,
The movable side held portion is formed on each of the base portions of the two arm portions,
An electric connector for circuit boards, wherein the fixed-side held portion is held by a fixed housing, and the movable-side held portion is held by a movable housing. The electrical connector for a circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the fixed housing is provided with a restricting metal member for restricting an amount of movement of the movable housing in a direction away from the circuit board. The regulating metal fitting has a regulating portion facing a top surface of a part of the movable housing, and a plurality of fixed leg portions extending from the regulating portion and fixedly connected to the circuit board. An electrical connector for a circuit board as described. The restricting portion of the restricting metal member has a flat strip shape extending in the connector width direction perpendicular to the terminal arrangement direction, and a plurality of fixed legs are provided at both end positions and intermediate positions of the restricting portion in the connector width direction. The electrical connector for a circuit board according to claim 3, wherein

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