JP3122091B1 - Connector, its terminal, and connector mounting structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A connector mounting structure capable of stably attaching to a printed circuit board while realizing space saving inside an electronic device, securing a mounting area of the printed circuit board, and a connector used for the mounting structure And terminals are provided relatively inexpensively. A terminal held in a terminal mounting hole extending on a surface of a printed circuit board in a mounted state has a tail portion having a smaller thickness than other terminal portions. As a result, the terminals can be formed in a straight line along the direction of the printed circuit board surface in the mounted state. Further, a connector having such terminals can be attached without any gap between the connector and the side surface of the printed circuit board.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector suitable for mounting on an edge of a printed circuit board, a terminal of the connector, and a mounting structure of the connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, demands for downsizing and high performance required for electronic devices such as personal computers, printers, and mobile phones have never stopped. Along with this, there has been a constant challenge to save space inside the device and to secure a mounting area of a printed circuit board for realizing multi-functions. And the technique which solves the problem is also demanded of the connector.

FIG. 5 shows a conventional example of a so-called side face type connector (connector in which the mating direction of the connectors is the same plane direction on the surface of the printed circuit board) which is attached to the edge of the printed circuit board. The connector 11 is an interface connector used by being attached to the edge of the printed circuit board P.
A plurality of terminals 13 and 14 are mounted on each of 5u and 15d in upper and lower two rows. The connector 11 is mounted with the terminal holding portion 15 protruding from the printed circuit board P and the bottom surface of the terminal holding portion 15 positioned lower than the printed circuit board surface Pt. Therefore, terminal 1 of each row
In portions 3 and 14, the portions protruding from the terminal holding portion 15 of the insulating housing 12 are bent in a crank shape, and the tail portions 13b and 14b are soldered to the board circuit on the printed board surface Pt. As a result, compared to the case where the entire connector is mounted and mounted on the printed circuit board surface Pt, it is possible to realize space saving inside the device in the height direction from the printed circuit board surface Pt, and to mount the printed circuit board surface Pt. With a larger area, higher performance of the electronic device can be realized.

However, when the connector 11 is mounted on the printed circuit board P, in order to avoid contact between the crank portion of the lower row terminal 14 and the edge of the printed circuit board P, the terminal holding portion 15 and the side surface Ps of the printed circuit board P must be connected. The connector 11 must be mounted with a gap d between them. The gap d mainly causes two problems. First, the connector 11 has a problem that the amount of protrusion of the printed circuit board P to the side in the mounted state becomes large, and it is difficult to further reduce the space inside the device. In this respect, the gap d can be shortened to some extent by minimizing the bending degree of the terminal 14, but there is a limit to the shortening, and it is not appropriate as a method for fundamentally solving the above problem.

As a second problem, the connector 11 is
Both end portions of the insulating housing 12 are partially mounted on the printed circuit board surface Pt, and the mounting location and the terminals 13,
The mounting posture is maintained only by the 14 soldered portions. Therefore, as insertion and extraction with the mating connector are repeated, the mounting strength deteriorates relatively quickly, and it is difficult to maintain a stable mounting posture.

As a means for simultaneously solving these two problems, as shown in FIG. 6, a method is conceivable in which a notch Pc is provided in a printed circuit board P and a connector 11 is mounted therein. According to this method, the insulating housing 12
Are placed on the printed circuit board surface Pt. Therefore, even if there is a gap d between the terminal holding portion 15 and the printed circuit board side surface Ps, the connector 11
Can maintain a stable mounting posture and does not protrude to the side of the printed circuit board P, so that it meets the demand for space saving inside the device. However, this time, the notch portion Pc is formed in the printed circuit board P, and the whole of both end portions of the insulating housing 12 is placed on the printed circuit board surface Pt. Will happen.

As described above, for the connector 11 which must be mounted with a gap d inevitably between the printed circuit board side surface Ps, the problem of space saving and the problem of stability of the mounting posture are considered. It is difficult to solve the problem without hindering the mounting area of the printed circuit board P.

Here, another possible solution is to devise a connector which can be mounted without leaving a gap d between the printed circuit board and the side surface Ps in the mounted state. Therefore, for example, a gap d as shown in FIGS.
The connectors 21 and 31 which do not require the above are conceivable.

The connector 21 can be mounted without a gap d by reducing the radius of curvature of the crank portion of the lower row terminal 24 as much as possible, but there is room for study in terms of economy. In other words, the terminal 24 has the desired dimensional accuracy.
In order to minimize the radius of curvature of the crank part of
Since a precise press die is indispensable, the manufacturing cost of the terminal 24 is relatively high, and as a result, the manufacturing cost of the connector 24 is also high. In the connector 31, the crank portion of the lower row terminal 34 is inserted into the inside of the insulating housing 32 by insert molding. There is difficulty in terms.

The present invention has been made on the background of the conventional connector technology as described above, and realizes space saving inside an electronic device, and stably secures a mounting area of a printed circuit board. It is intended to provide a connector technology that can be attached at a relatively low cost.

[0011]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides an insulating housing having a terminal mounting hole.
And a terminal held in the terminal mounting hole.
Mounted with the terminal mounting hole located on the extension of the board surface
Connector that connects to the board circuit of the terminal.
The terminal is made thinner than the rest of the terminal,
It is intended to provide a connector characterized by being formed linearly in the direction of the surface of the printed circuit board .

Also, the present invention provides a tape connecting to a substrate circuit.
Has a pole tip, is held in the terminal mounting holes of the insulating housing located on an extension of the printed circuit board surface mounted state connector
The terminal of the terminal, the thickness of the tail portion is made thinner than other portions of the terminal, so that
The present invention provides a connector terminal characterized in that:

Here, as the mounting structure of the above-described connector,
The connector mounting structure in which the terminal tail portion is connected to the board circuit in a state where the terminal holding portion of the insulating housing is in contact with the side surface of the printed circuit board is particularly preferable .

[0014]

According to the connector of the present invention, its terminals, and its mounting structure as described above, the terminals held in the terminal mounting holes extending on the surface of the printed circuit board in the mounted state have the thickness of the tail portion thereof. Make it thinner than other terminal parts
Te, since there as a linear to a printed circuit board surface direction, in order to realize the space saving of the printed circuit board in the height direction, conventionally required and which do crank portion I and unnecessary
You . The connector provided with this terminal is no gap between the printed circuit board side in the mounted condition, it can be attached to the edge of the printed circuit board. As a result, space saving inside the device can be achieved not only in the height direction of the printed circuit board but also on the sides, and the connector can be stably mounted on the printed circuit board.

Further, since the terminal simply needs to have a thinner tail portion than other terminal portions, the manufacturing cost of the terminal is reduced as compared with the conventional case where the crank portion needs to be formed by pressing. It can be cheap. Further, a terminal having no crank portion does not require a high-precision mold as compared with a case where the crank portion is insert-molded in an insulating housing, and as a result, a connector can be manufactured at low cost.

In this specification, the term "tail" means at least a terminal portion mounted on a printed circuit board, and it is determined whether or not the terminal portion is soldered in a mounted state. Absent.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a connector according to an embodiment, and a plan view (partial view) with a front view (partial view (a)) at the center.
(b)), bottom view (split view (c)), rear view (split view (d)), right side view (split view (e)), and the left side view not shown is the right side view And symmetric.

A connector 1 is an interface connector for mounting an edge of a printed circuit board.
And terminals 3 and 4 mounted on the insulating housing 2.

The insulating housing 2 is formed with a wide, downwardly convex terminal holding portion 5 (see the drawing (a)), and a plurality of terminal mounting holes 5 at a predetermined pitch along the longitudinal direction.
u and 5d are provided in upper and lower two rows. In this terminal holding portion 5, a fitting surface 5a with a mating connector (see FIG.
(See (a)), side arms 6 protrude from both ends thereof, and the engagement with the mating connector is guided by the side arms 6. On the other hand, a mounting portion 7 having a mounting surface 7a to be mounted on the printed circuit board surface Pt is protruded from both ends of a wall surface 5b opposite to the fitting surface of the terminal holding portion 5. If the connector 1 is mounted by mounting the mounting portion 7 on the printed circuit board surface Pt, the weight of the connector 1 can be exerted on the printed circuit board P via the mounting portion 7, so that the terminals 3 and 4 are soldered. The extra stress applied to the portion is reduced, and the connector 1 is prevented from falling down, so that stable mounting can be performed.

The terminals 3 and 4 held in the terminal mounting holes 5u and 5d are connected with the terminals of the female connector whose tip portions 3a and 4a are mated, and the tail portions 3b and 4b are connected to the board circuit of the printed circuit board P. Is done. At this time, the tail portions 3b, 4
The connection method b is soldering of the STM method. The upper row of terminals 3 has a portion protruding from the terminal holding portion 5 bent downward in a rounded crank shape (see FIG. 3), and a tail portion 4 b at an end thereof is soldered to the printed circuit board P.

On the other hand, in the tail part 4b of the terminal 4 in the lower row, as shown in FIG. 2, the thickness of the terminal in contact with the printed circuit board P is smaller than the other terminal parts. Coining is performed to make this thin portion.

That is, the tail portion 4b is crushed to a desired thickness by a press machine. At this time, the thickness of the tail portion 4b crushed by coining is equal to the printed circuit board surface Pt.
The process is performed until the bottom surface of the tail portion 4b on the side reaches the same height position as the mounting surface 7a of the mounting portion 7 of the insulating housing 2. Then, the excess thickness of the tail portion 4b generated by the press is shaped by press-drawing. Since a thin portion can be formed by such simple coining processing, high mold accuracy is not required, and the manufacturing cost of the terminal can be reduced as compared with the case of manufacturing a terminal having a crank portion. It is economical. Further, compared with a case where the crank portion of the terminal is insert-molded in the insulating housing 2, a high-level mold is not required, and the connector can be manufactured relatively inexpensively.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a mounted state where the connector 1 of FIG. 1 is attached to the edge of the printed circuit board P.
With the connector 1 mounted, the printed circuit board surface Pt
The terminal mounting hole 5d of the insulating housing 2 is located on the extension line of FIG. At this time, the terminals 4 held in the terminal mounting holes 5d are linear, but since the tail portions 4b are formed thin so as not to interfere with the printed circuit board P, the terminals 4 are printed with the terminal holding portions 5 of the insulating housing 2. Side surface P of substrate P
s can be attached without leaving a gap.

Therefore, not only the amount of protrusion in the height direction from the surface Pt of the printed board P can be suppressed low, but also the amount of protrusion in the lateral direction from the side surface Ps of the printed board P can be suppressed short. Realizes space saving inside the device. Further, since the terminal holding portion 5 is in contact with the printed circuit board side surface Ps without any gap, the connector 1 can be stably mounted on the edge of the printed circuit board P even if the area of the mounting surface 7a is relatively small. For this reason, it is possible to save space inside the electronic device, and to mount the electronic device stably while securing the mounting area of the printed circuit board surface Pt. Moreover, when mating with the mating connector, the force applied to the terminal holding portion 5 through the terminals 3 and 4 in the mating direction can be received by the side surface Ps of the printed circuit board P. Therefore, even when insertion and extraction with the mating connector are repeated, the stress applied to the soldered portions of the terminals 3 and 4 can be reduced, and the occurrence of solder cracks and the play generated between the connector 1 and the printed circuit board P can be suppressed. be able to. Furthermore, the connector 1 of the present example has a small amount of protrusion in the lateral direction from the side surface Ps of the printed circuit board P, and the length of the mounting portion 7 mounted on the printed circuit board P may be short. It is economical because the overall size can be reduced and material consumption can be reduced.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a terminal according to another embodiment. This is because the tip 4a of the terminal 4 and the tail 4b
This is an example in which are formed coaxially. As described above, the shape of the terminal according to the present invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 as long as the tail portion is thinner than the other terminal portions. Can also be realized. In addition, the terminal may have any cross-sectional shape, and various terminal shapes can be obtained. Although the present embodiment shows a male connector, the present invention is also applicable to a female connector.

[0027]

According to the connector and terminal of the present invention, in the mounted state, pin held in the terminal mounting hole located on an extension of the printed circuit board surface, the other terminal portion of the thickness of the tail portion It is thinner than it is and is straight in the plane direction of the printed circuit board . Therefore, the crank portion of the terminal, which is conventionally required to realize space saving in the height direction of the printed circuit board, becomes unnecessary. Soshi
Since the connector having the terminal can be attached to the edge of the printed circuit board without a gap between the connector and the side surface of the printed circuit board, the connector can be stably mounted while securing a mounting area. As a result, the present invention makes it possible to save space inside the device not only in the height direction of the printed circuit board but also on the side of the printed circuit board.

Also, since the terminal simply needs to have a thinner tail portion than the other terminal portions, the manufacturing cost of the terminal is lower than in the case where it is necessary to form a crank with high precision by a conventional press. Is cheaper. Also, compared to a conventional example in which a crank shape is insert-molded in an insulating housing, a high-precision mold is not required, and the connector can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing terminals of the connector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of the connector of FIG. 1 on a printed circuit board.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a terminal of a connector according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a conventional example of a mounting structure of a connector.

FIG. 6 (a) is a cross-sectional view showing another conventional example of a connector mounting structure, and FIG. 6 (b) is a top view thereof.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are sectional views showing another conventional example of a connector mounting structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 2 Insulated housing 4 Lower row terminal 4b Tail part of lower row terminal 5 Terminal holding part 5u, d Terminal mounting hole P Printed circuit board Ps Printed circuit board side Pt Printed circuit board surface

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 12/00-12/38

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An insulating housing having a terminal mounting hole;
And a terminal held in the terminal mounting hole, and mounted in a state where the terminal mounting hole is located on an extension of the surface of the printed circuit board.
A connector, in which a terminal connected to a substrate circuit of a terminal is made thinner than other portions of the terminal, so that the terminal is directed toward a surface of the printed circuit board.
A connector characterized by being straightened . 2. A terminal of a connector having a tail portion connected to a board circuit and held in a terminal mounting hole of an insulating housing located on an extension of the surface of the printed circuit board in a mounted state.
Te, be thinner than other portions of the terminal thickness of the tail portion
The feature is that it is linear in the direction of the printed circuit board surface.
Connector of the terminal to be. 3. A mounting structure for a connector according to claim 1.
Thus, a connector mounting structure in which the tail portion of the terminal is connected to the circuit board in a state where the terminal holding portion of the insulating housing is in contact with the side surface of the printed circuit board.