JPH0757825A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate mounting of a connector. CONSTITUTION:Projections 33b are formed at the inner surfaces of both arms 33 of an actuator 3. The projection 33b is fitted into the upper end 14 of a recess 12 of a housing 1 so that the actuator 3 is temporarily fixed to the housing 1. Recesses 32a for preventing abutment of a contact piece 21 of a contact 2 against an insertion piece 32 is formed on the insertion piece 32 of the actuator 3 with the actuator 3 temporarily fixed. Consequently, it is possible to prevent deformation of the contact piece 21 of the contact 2 at the time of soldering so as to realize mounting and soldering with the actuator 3 fixed to the housing 1, thus facilitating mounting of the connector.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector for connecting a printed board on the connection side, which is made of a flexible material such as a flexible printed board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printed circuit board made of a flexible material such as a flexible printed circuit board (hereinafter, a flexible printed circuit board will be described as an example, and this flexible printed circuit board is abbreviated as FPC) is a connector. When connecting to the FPC, force is applied to the mounting portion of the FPC to the connector, which causes a problem such as bending of the FPC. Therefore, in the FPC, in order to reinforce the mounting portion with the connector, a reinforcing plate is attached to the mounting portion to prevent the FPC from being broken. However, if the structure provided with the reinforcing portion is used, there is a problem that the FPC itself causes a large increase in cost.

Therefore, there is provided an FPC having a zero attachment force (or insertion force) to a connector (zero insertion force (ZIF)). This connector has a housing in which a recess for inserting an FPC is formed, a plurality of contacts fixed to the housing with a contact piece elastically contacting a conductive pattern of a printed circuit board located in the recess, and a housing in the recess. The actuator is provided so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the opening surface and has an insertion piece that can be inserted into and removed from the recess according to the movement.

In this connector, the FP is placed in the recess while the actuator is moved so as to be separated from the housing.
In the state where C is inserted and moved so as to come close to the housing, the FPC can be sandwiched between the insert piece inserted into the recess and the contact piece of the contact to connect the contact and the FPC. It is like this. The detailed structure of this type of connector is substantially the same as that of the connector of the embodiment of the present invention described later.

[0005]

By the way, in the case where the above-mentioned connector is surface-mounted and is soldered by reflow soldering or the like on the mounting surface of the connector to the printed circuit board, the actuator is soldered while it is still attached to the housing. However, there is a problem that the contact piece of the contact is deformed and a desired contact force with the printed circuit board cannot be obtained.

For example, in the connector of the type in which the FPC is mounted from above, during reflow soldering, the actuator is mounted in the housing in the same way as when the FPC is completely mounted, in which case the insert piece of the actuator and the contact of the contact. It is in contact with the piece. For this reason, under the high temperature at which the reflow soldering is performed, the contact and the actuator are expanded, so that the contact is deformed.

Therefore, conventionally, the connector is soldered with the actuator removed from the housing, and then the actuator is attached. However, if the step of assembling the actuator is separately provided in this way, there is a problem that it takes time to mount the connector. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a surface mounting type connector with an actuator that can be easily mounted.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a housing having a recess for inserting a connecting side printed circuit board made of a flexible material such as a flexible printed circuit board. , A terminal portion that is fixed to the housing by placing a contact piece that elastically contacts the conductive pattern of the printed circuit board in the recess and is surface-mounted and soldered to the connected printed circuit board to which the printed circuit board is connected. And a plurality of contacts, and an actuator that is attached so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the opening surface of the recess of the housing and that has an insert piece that can be inserted into and removed from the recess according to the movement. Insert the printed circuit board on the connection side into the recess while moving it so that it is separated from, and move it so that it approaches the housing, In a connector for connecting a contact and a printed board on the connection side by sandwiching a printed board on the connection side between an insert piece inserted in the place and a contact piece of the contact, the printed board on the connection side is formed by concavo-convex fitting. The actuator and the housing are provided with a temporary fixing part that temporarily fixes the actuator in the intermediate state when inserting and completely mounting
A recessed portion is formed on the insertion piece of the actuator to prevent the insertion piece and the contact piece of the outlet from coming into contact with each other in the temporarily fixed state.

[0009]

The present invention has the above-mentioned configuration,
When soldering, even when the actuator is attached to the housing, make sure that the insert piece of the actuator and the contact piece of the contact do not come into contact with each other, and even if the contact and the actuator expand under high temperature for soldering, the contact Do not deform. This allows
With the actuator still attached to the housing, the process from mounting to soldering can be performed automatically.

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows a connector as an embodiment of the present invention. The connector of this embodiment includes a housing 1, a plurality of contacts 2 integrally fixed to the housing 1, and an actuator 3 attached to the housing 1 for fixing an FPC (flexible printed circuit board) 4 (see FIG. 3).
It consists of and.

The housing 1 is formed in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped that opens upward, and has a recess 11 through which the FPC 4 is inserted. That is, the connector of the present embodiment mounts the FPC 4 from above. The contact 2 has a shape in which the contact piece 21 is housed in the recess 11 as shown in FIG.
The actuator 3 is fixed to the lower portion of the housing 1, and the actuator 3 is attached to the upper surface side of the housing 1.

In this embodiment, the contact 2 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the contact piece 21 has a long length in the vertical direction (hereinafter referred to as a long contact 2 ₁ ) and the contact piece 21 has a short length (hereinafter referred to as a short contact 2 ₂ ) as shown in FIG.
Called). Long contacts 2 _1, FIGS. 2 (a)
As shown in FIG.
Includes a fixing portion 22 ₁ is fitted pressed, the terminal unit 23 ₁ is soldered to the printed circuit board to which the connector projecting from the side surface of the housing 1 is mounted on the fixed portion 22 ₁
Contact piece 21 from the bridge portion connecting between the terminal portions 23 ₁ and
₁ is set up. Short contact 2 _2, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the terminal portion 23 ₂ is projected from the side surface of the fixing portion 23 ₂ side, the contact is curved from the base of the fixed part 23 ₂ piece 2
1 ₂ are erected.

The long and short contacts 2 ₁ and 2 ₂ are shown in FIG.
The housing 1 is alternately fixed in the left-right direction of FIG.
2A and 2B, the contact pieces 21 ₁ and 21 ₂ are fixed so that the contact pieces 21 ₁ and 21 ₂ are arranged on the inner surface side of the recess 11. In addition, as shown in FIG.
The terminal portions 23 ₁ and 23 ₂ of the respective contacts 2 ₁ and 2 ₂ are formed in a zigzag shape so as to project from both side surfaces of the housing 1. Here, the pitch of the terminal portion 23 ₁ of the long contact 2 ₁ or the pitch of the terminal portion 23 ₂ of the short contact 2 ₂ is 1.25 mm, and the solder is used when the connector is mounted upright on the printed circuit board. Will be attached. In this way, the terminal portions 23 ₁ and 23 ₂ are attached to the housing 1
By alternately projecting from both side surfaces, the terminal arrangement pitch can be twice the arrangement pitch of the contacts 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ , and the reliability of soldering can be improved. The housing 1 and the actuator 3 are made of synthetic resin, but it goes without saying that it is preferable to use a synthetic resin having excellent heat resistance.

As shown in FIG. 1C, the actuator 3 has a substantially U-shaped upper plate portion 31 when viewed from above, and is inserted from the upper plate portion 31 into the recess 11 of the housing 1. And an arm 33 extending vertically from both ends of the upper plate 31.
The actuator 3 is attached to the housing 1 so as to be hugged by. Here, the width of the upper plate portion 31 is formed so as to close approximately half the width of the recess 11, and the insertion piece 32 is hung from the closed portion of the recess 11 to contact the contact piece 21 of the recess 11.
_The structure is such that the insert piece 32 is inserted along the inner side surface opposite to the side on which ₁ and 21 ₂ are arranged.

Claws 33a are formed at the lower ends of both arm portions 33 toward the inside, and recesses 12 are formed in the vertical direction on both end surfaces of the housing 1 corresponding to the claws 33, and the actuator 3 moves in the vertical direction. It is free. The upper end portion (hereinafter, referred to as an engaging portion) 14 of the recess 12 of the housing 1 has a structure in which the claw 33a is caught and the actuator 3 cannot be detached from the housing 1.

Here, the actuator 3 is movable at the positions shown by the broken lines above and below the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1A, and the insertion piece 32 of the actuator 3 is at the recess 11 at the position shown by the upper broken line. And the insertion piece 32 completely enters the inside of the recess 11 at the position of the lower broken line. Two small protrusions 33b are formed in the upper and lower central portions of the inner surface of the both arm portions 33, and the engaging portion 14 of the recess 12 of the housing 1 is fitted between the protrusions 33b. As a result, the actuator 3 is temporarily fixed at the position shown by the solid line in FIG.

2A and 2B show a state in which the actuator 3 is temporarily fixed to the housing 1. Here, a recessed portion (for example, groove) 32a is formed in a portion of the insertion piece 32 corresponding to the tip portion 21a of the contact piece 21 of the contact 2.
The recessed portion 32a prevents the distal end portion 21a of the contact piece 21 from coming into contact with the insertion piece 32 when the actuator 3 is temporarily fixed to the housing 1.

In this way, even if the contact 2 or the actuator 3 is thermally expanded at a high temperature where the reflow soldering is performed, the force that deforms the contact 2, particularly the contact piece 21, does not act, and the contact with the FPC 4 is necessary. The problem that the contact force cannot be obtained does not occur. Therefore, the actuator 3 can be automatically mounted and reflow-soldered while still attached to the housing 1. During the automatic mounting, the upper surface plate 31 of the actuator 3 is sucked and mounted.
This has the advantage that the mounting work can be greatly simplified as compared with the case where the actuator 3 is mounted after reflow soldering.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the mounting portion of the FPC 4 to the connector. In the FPC 4, the contact portions 41a of the conductive pattern 41 are formed in a zigzag pattern in accordance with the positions of the tips 21a of the long and short contacts 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ in the recess 11. The connection of the FPC 4 to the connector is performed as follows. First, when mounting the connector of the FPC 4, the actuator 3 is pulled up to a position shown by a broken line above the temporary fixing position in FIG. At this time, the actuator 3 is pulled up to a position where the claws 33a of the both arm portions 33 are caught by the engaging portions 14 of the recess 12 of the housing 1. In this state, the FPC 4 is inserted into the recess 11 of the housing 1 along the insertion piece 32 of the actuator 3. However, at this time, the actuator 3
Since the insertion piece 32 of is in a state of being pulled out from the recess 11,
The force that prevents the FPC 4 from being inserted into the recess 11 is not exerted. Therefore, without applying any insertion force, the FPC4
Can be inserted into the connector.

Then, with the FPC 4 inserted to the bottom position of the recess 11, the actuator 3 is pushed downward. As a result, the FPC 4 is sandwiched between the insertion piece 32 of the actuator 3 and the contact piece 21 of the contact 2, and the tip portion 21a of the contact piece 21 elastically contacts the contact portion 41a of the FPC 4. This completes the connection between the contact 2 and the FPC 4, and eventually the FPC 4 and the circuit formed on the printed circuit board 4 on which the connector is mounted.

In addition, in the connection completed state of the complete FPC4
Is the actuator 3 is F of the contact piece 21 of the contact 3.
Inside the recess 11 of the housing 1 by the elastic force via the PC 4.
The actuator 3 is fixed by being pressed against the surface. Also,
Upper part of the recessed portion 32a of the insertion piece 32 of the actuator 3
But long and short contacts 2₁, 2₂21a of the tip₁, 21
a ₂So as to face (from the recessed portion 32a to the tip portion 21a
₁, 21a₂So that the contact position of the
The vertical dimension of a is set.

By the way, in the above case, two types of contacts 2 ₁ and 2 ₂ of long and short are required. Therefore, 2
Two molds are required, parts management becomes troublesome, and as a result, the cost of the connector increases. Therefore, in order to improve this point, the contact 2 may be formed as shown in FIG. The contact 2 in FIG. 4 has a tip portion 21a.
_A long contact piece (hereinafter referred to as a long contact piece) 21 ₁ and a short contact piece (hereinafter referred to as a short contact piece) 21 ₂ are integrally provided in such a manner that ₁ and 21a ₂ are formed so as to face each other inward. the structure, is formed with terminal portions 23 projecting from the side of the housing 1 from the long contact pieces 21 ₁ side. And the terminal portion 23
A fitting recess 24 is formed in a portion between the long contact piece 21 ₁ and the long contact piece 21 _1, and the fitting projections 15 formed on both sides of the housing 1 are press-fitted into the fitting recess 24 to insert the contact 2 into the housing 1. It is attached as a structure.

In other words, with this contact 2, a connector substantially similar to that described above can be constructed by merely changing the orientation of the contact 2 along the longitudinal direction of the housing 1. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the die cost and the cost of the connector, and it becomes easy to manage the parts.

[0024]

As described above, the present invention provides the actuator and the housing with a temporary fixing portion for temporarily fixing the actuator in an intermediate state at the time of inserting and completely mounting the printed circuit board on the connecting side by the concave and convex fitting, and the temporary fixing. Since the recessed portion that prevents the insertion piece and the contact piece of the outlet from coming into contact with each other in the state is formed in the insertion piece of the actuator, even if the actuator is attached to the housing when soldering, Even if the contact piece and the contact piece of the contact do not come into contact with each other and the contact and the actuator expand under high temperature for soldering, the contact does not deform. For this reason, it becomes possible to automatically carry out from mounting to soldering while the actuator is still attached to the housing, and the connector can be mounted without trouble.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A to 1C are a front view, a side view and a plan view in which a part of an embodiment of the present invention is cut away.

2A and 2B are a sectional view taken along the line AB and a sectional view taken along the line CD of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a main part of a flexible printed circuit board.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are cross-sectional views showing a method of mounting the contacts when each type of contact is one type.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Housing 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ Contact 3 Actuator 4 Flexible Printed Circuit Board (FPC) 11 Recess 14 Engagement part 21 ₁ , 21 ₂ Contact piece 23 ₁ , 23 ₂ Terminal part 32 Insert piece 32a Recessed part 33b Protrusion 41 Conductive pattern

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A housing having a recess for inserting a printed circuit board on a connection side, which is made of a flexible material such as a flexible printed circuit board, and a contact piece elastically contacting a conductive pattern of the printed circuit board are provided in the recess. Positioned and fixed to the housing, a plurality of contacts with terminals to be surface-mounted and soldered to the connected printed circuit board to which the printed circuit board is connected, and to the opening surface of the recess of the housing. It consists of an actuator that is movably mounted in the orthogonal direction and that has an insertion piece that can be inserted into and removed from the recess according to the movement, and prints the connection side in the recess when the actuator is moved so as to separate it from the housing. With the board inserted and moved so that it comes close to the housing, make a contact between the insert piece inserted into the recess and the contact piece of the contact. In a connector that connects a contact and a printed circuit board on the connection side by sandwiching the printed circuit board on the connection side, the actuator is temporarily fixed in an intermediate state during insertion and complete mounting of the printed circuit board on the connection side by concave and convex fitting. Providing a fixed part on the actuator and housing,
A connector characterized in that a recessed portion is formed on the insertion piece of the actuator to prevent the insertion piece and the contact piece of the outlet from coming into contact with each other in the temporarily fixed state.