The present invention relates to a connector having a terminal soldered to a substrate at one end, an insulating member that supports the terminal, and a metal case that covers a part of the insulating member and the terminal. The present invention also relates to an electronic device including such a connector and a method for mounting such a connector.
Many electronic devices include a connector for signal connection with external devices. Such a connector is typically mounted on a substrate of the electronic device. Since the signal speed increases, countermeasure against EMI (electromagnetic interference) is required to prevent the EMI from the connector to the surrounding environment. For such countermeasure against EMI, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-268018, for example, proposes a shield surrounding a connector.
Meanwhile recently developed electronic devices, such as laptop or tablet PCs and smartphones, are thin, and so a substrate and a connector have to be arranged in a limited space. For a substrate that is displaced closer to one end of the chassis in the thickness direction due to such limitations of the space, the substrate accordingly has offset from the connector. The connector has terminals protruding upward from the mounting face of the substrate, extending outward of the substrate, and then descending toward the rear face of the substrate. When the offset between the substrate and the connector increases, the length of such a descending part of the terminal increases. A part surrounding the descending part then generates electromagnetic waves as noise like a loop antenna, and so the shielding has to be devised more.
As shown in
When the conductive tape 510 is used for the continuity as in
While an automated machine can mount the case 504 as the body and the clips 512, the operator has to conduct manual procedures to attach the conductive tape 510 and mount the shield 508.
Sufficiently low-resistance continuity cannot be obtained from the conductive tape 510 and the clips 512, and so the ability of shielding electromagnetic waves is not always so high. Stronger electromagnetic waves as noise will be expected due to a higher speed of signals and an increasing offset due to a thinner chassis, and so the improvement of shielding ability is required.
In view of the above, the present invention aims to provide a connector that can be easily mounted and has improved shielding ability of electromagnetic waves as noise and provide an electronic device and a method for mounting a connector.
To solve the problems and achieve the aim, a connector according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a terminal having one end soldered to a substrate, an insulating member that supports the terminal, a metal case that covers a part of the insulating member and the terminal, and a metal shield that is spot-welded to the case at several positions and covers at least a part of an exposed part of the insulating member.
An electronic device according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a connector including: a terminal having one end soldered to a substrate; an insulating member that supports the terminal; and a metal case that covers a part of the insulating member and the terminal. The connector is spot-welded to the case at several positions, and includes a metal shield that covers at least a part of an exposed part of the insulating member.
A method for mounting a connector according to the third aspect of the present invention is to mount a connector on a substrate, the connector including: a terminal having one end soldered to the substrate; an insulating member that supports the terminal; and a metal case that covers a part of the insulating member and the terminal. The method includes: welding a metal shield that covers at least a part of an exposed part of the insulating member to the case at several positions by spot-welding; mounting the connector at a prescribed position of the substrate; and soldering ground posts of the case and the shield to a ground line of the substrate.
These aspects can simplify the mounting procedures without using a conductive tape and clips. Favorable continuity also can be obtained from spot-welding and so the ability of shielding electromagnetic waves as noise can improve.
The terminal may include: an ascending part extending upward from an upper face of the substrate; a substrate-end upper part extending from the end of the ascending part and beyond the end of the substrate in the outwardly direction of substrate; a descending part extending downward from the end of the substrate-end upper part; and a contact part extending from the descending part in the outwardly direction of the substrate. The insulating member may support the ascending part, the case may have an upper plate that covers the upper face of the insulating member, and the shield may include: an upper shielding part that covers the upper plate; and an inner shielding part that bends from the end of the upper shielding part and covers at least a part of a substrate-inward lateral face of the insulating member. Such an inner shielding part can shield electromagnetic noise from the substrate-inward lateral face of the insulating member.
The case and the inner shielding part may have ground posts soldered to the ground line of the substrate. This can improve the ability of shielding more.
The inner shielding part may have three ground posts. This can achieve sufficient ability of shielding, and wiring pattern is allowed to pass through between the ground posts.
The spot weld may be disposed at one or more positions close to each of the ground posts. This can improve the ability of shielding more.
The spot weld at least at one position may be directly welded to the ground posts. This can improve the ability of shielding more.
The insulating member may include a descending-part supporting part that supports the descending part, the shield may include an extension that extends from the descending-part supporting part in the outward direction of the substrate, and the spot weld may be disposed at the extension at least at one position. This can shield electromagnetic noise from the descending-part supporting part toward the outside of the substrate.
The above described aspects of the present invention, which includes a metal shield that is spot-welded to a case at several positions, can simplify the mounting procedures without attaching a conductive tape and inserting clips. Favorable continuity also can be obtained from spot-welding and so the ability of shielding of electromagnetic waves as noise can improve.
The following describes one embodiment of a connector, an electronic device and a method for mounting a connector according to the present invention in details, with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiment.
This laptop PC 10 includes a chassis 14 and a lid 16 that is openable/closable relative to the chassis via hinges 18. The laptop PC with the lid 16 closed is compact and is suitable for mobile use.
The upper face of the chassis 14 includes a keyboard unit 20 and a touchpad 22. The front face of the lid 16 includes a display 24 that accounts for a major part of the area as well as a speaker and a camera that are not illustrated.
The chassis 14 includes a connector 12 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The connector 12 is disposed at an end of a substrate 26 in the chassis 14, and has a fitting part laterally exposed from the chassis 14. The substrate 26 is displaced closer to the below in
For the purpose of illustration, the side of the connector 12 facing the plug 28 is called the substrate-outward direction and the opposite side is called the substrate-inward direction. The extending direction of the substrate-outward direction and the substrate-inward direction is called a front-rear direction and the direction orthogonal to the front-rear direction is called a width direction. For the vertical direction, the direction is defined relative to the substrate 26. The side of the mounting face (the upper face of the substrate) 26a where the terminals 30 of the connector 12 are mounted (see
As shown in
The insulating member 32 is a plastic molded product, for example, and includes a substrate upper part 32a, a descending-part supporting part 32b, a substrate lower part 32c and a tongue 32d. The substrate upper part 32a comes in contact with the mounting face 26a at the lower part and covers all of the ascending part 30a and a part of the substrate-end upper part 30b for support. The descending-part supporting part 32b is located outside of the substrate 26, and covers all of the descending part 30c and a part of the substrate-end upper part 30b for support. The substrate lower part 32c is continuous with the descending-part supporting part 32b and reaches the lower plate of the case 34. The tongue 32d protrudes from the upper part of the substrate lower part 32c in the substrate-outward direction. The contact part 30d of the terminals 30 has a proximal end included in the descending-part supporting part 32b, center part supported by the substrate lower part 32c and a distal end supported by the tongue 32d.
The offset between the substrate 26 and the connector 12 can be a difference in height between the mounting face 26a and the tongue 32d. A larger offset means a longer descending part 30c. A longer descending part 30c means a larger region L surrounded by the ascending part 30a, the substrate-end upper part 30b and the descending part 30c on the three sides. This region L can generate electromagnetic noise due to the action similar to a loop antenna, and such electromagnetic noise can be shielded as described later.
Referring back to
The upper plate 40 has a substantially T-letter shape that is flattened in a planar view, and the width of the upper plate is smaller at a substrate-outward part 40a and is larger at a substrate-inward part 40b. The upper plate 40 has a substrate-outward end that is connected to the upper face of the base tube 38 so that the substrate-outward end is slightly higher than the upper face of the base tube. At both ends of the substrate-inward part 40b, downward bending parts 40c are formed. The substrate-inward part 40b and the bending parts 40c cover the substrate upper part 32a, the ascending part 30a and the substrate-end upper part 30b at the upper face and both of the lateral faces. The substrate-outward part 40a covers a part of the descending-part supporting part 32b.
While most of the insulating member 32 closer to the region L as stated above (see
Particularly the substrate-inward lateral face 32e is relatively wide and can generate electromagnetic waves as noise from the region L. The shield 36 can shield such electromagnetic waves and can sufficiently suppress the leakage to the outside. The lower face of the insulating member 32 facing the mounting face 26a can be shielded by the ground of the substrate 26.
The case 34 also includes ground posts 42a and 42b and ground posts 44a and 44b that are soldered to the ground line of the substrate 26. The ground posts 42a and 42b are disposed at the dents 38b of the base tube 38 on both sides. These ground posts are prepared by cutting a part of the base tube 38 so as to protrude laterally, and have a hook shape at the leading end that bends downward. Each of the ground posts 42a and 42b has a step to define a lateral face 43. Each of the ground posts 44a and 44b laterally protrudes from a part of the bending part 40c and has a hook shape at the leading end that bends downward. The downward leading ends of the ground posts 42a, 42b, 44a and 44b reach a position slightly below the dents 38b.
The shield 36 includes an upper shielding part 46 that is relatively wide, an inner shielding part 48 that bends from the substrate-inward end of the upper shielding part 46, supporting pieces 50a and 50b and a pair of clamping pieces 52.
As shown in
Referring back to
The inner shielding part 48 has three ground posts 54a, 54b and 54c that are soldered to the ground line of the substrate 26. The ground posts 54a to 54c are disposed at both ends and a center position in the width direction of the inner shielding part 48, and protrude downward. Each of the ground posts 54a to 54c has an appropriate width, and enough distance is kept between the ground post 54a and the ground post 54b and between the ground post 54b and the ground post 54c.
The shield 36 is spot-welded to the case 34 at seven positions. These welding points 56a, 56b, 56c, 56d, 56e, 56f, and 56g may be collectively called a spot weld 56.
The welding points 56a, 56b and 56c are aligned in the width direction, which are welded to the substrate-inward part 40b. The welding point 56a is close to the ground posts 54a and 44a. The welding point 56b is close to the ground post 54b. The welding point 56c is close to the ground posts 54c and 44b. The welding points 56d and 56e are aligned in the width direction, which are welded close to both ends of the substrate-outward part 40a in the width direction. The welding point 56f is at the supporting piece 50a, and is directly welded to the ground post 42a. The welding point 56g is at the supporting piece 50b, and is directly welded to the ground post 42b. In this way, the shield 36 is welded to the case 34 at appropriately many positions and evenly in the front-rear direction and in the width direction. This can achieve good continuity with the case 34 over the entire face and the welding strength also can increase.
As shown in
The ground posts 42a, 42b, 44a, 44b, 54a, 54b and 54c (hereinafter collectively called a ground post P) are fitted into corresponding through-holes 58 that are slots and are soldered. The ground post P has an appropriate thickness and is fitted into the through holes 58 for soldering. This configuration has very small resistance and is strong. The through holes 58 connect to the ground line of the substrate 26, so that the case 34 and the shield 36 are electrically connected to the ground. The ascending part 30a of the terminals 30 (see
In this way, when the connector 12 is mounted on the substrate 26, the shield 36 covers substantially all of the exposed part of the insulating member 32. This can prevent the leakage of electromagnetic waves as noise that are generated at the region L (see
Specifically the substrate-inward lateral face 32e of the insulating member 32 is not covered with the case 34, and is covered with the inner shielding part 48 of the shield 36. The inner shielding part 48 then connects to the ground line via the ground posts 54a to 54c, and parts close to the ground posts 54a to 54c are spot-welded to the case 34 at the welding points 56a to 56c. With this configuration, the shielding effect is high, and electromagnetic noise generated there can be shielded.
The case 34 and the inner shielding part 48 are soldered to the ground line of the substrate 26 via the ground post P. This configuration does not have contact resistance as in the clips and has direct continuity, and so the shielding effect can increase. Since no clips are required, the number of components accordingly decreases, and the cost decreases.
The inner shielding part 48 has the ground posts 54a to 54c at three positions including both ends and a center, and has good electrical and mechanical balance. Since appropriate intervals also are kept, a wiring pattern 60 (see
Since the spot welds 56 are close to the ground posts P, the ground of the shield 36 is enhanced, and so the shielding effect can increase. Particularly, the welding parts 56f and 56g are directly welded to the ground posts 42a and 42b, and so favorable continuity can be obtained with the ground. The shield 36 is spot-welded to the case 34, and the ground post P is soldered to the substrate 26. With this configuration, conductive resistance does not change with time, and the bonding strength and vibration resistance are high and reliable.
The extension 46a of the upper shielding part 46 extends beyond the descending-part supporting part 32b in the substrate-outward direction, which can prevent the leakage of electromagnetic noise from the region L more effectively. This extension 46a, disposed away from the base tube 38, is directly welded to the ground posts 42a and 42b at the two positions of the weld points 56f and 56g. This can lead to a favorable shielding effect. The spot weld disposed at least at one position of the extension 46a can lead to a corresponding advantageous effect.
The thus configured connector 12 can have a high shielding effect of electromagnetic noise. The experiment by the present inventors showed that the connector improved the effect by about 7 dB as compared with the combination of a connector 502 and a shield 508 (see
The following describes a method for mounting a connector according to one embodiment, which is a method for mounting the connector 12 to the substrate 26, with reference to
To mount the connector 12, the shield 36 is temporarily attached to the case 34 at Step S1. The shield 36 covers the exposed part of the insulating member 32 other than a part facing the mounting face of the substrate 26. The pair of clamping pieces 52 of the shield 36 holds the insulating member 32 with an appropriate force from both sides, so that the shield can be temporarily attached without falling. This can facilitate the following welding step.
Next at the welding step of Step S2, the shield 36 is spot-welded to the case 34 at seven welding points of 56a to 56g. The insulating member 32 and the terminals 30 may be mounted to the case 34 before or after the welding step. In this way, the connector 12 can be obtained. Note here that the welding step may be included in the method for manufacturing the connector 12, and the welding step may be included in a mounting method in a broad sense.
Next, the obtained connector 12 is placed at a prescribed position of the substrate 26 at the mounting step of Step S3. At this step, the ground post P is inserted into the through holes 58, and the terminals 30 is inserted into a through hole not illustrated (see
Next at the soldering step of Step S4, the ground post P is soldered at the through holes 58 for continuity with the ground line of the substrate 26. This soldering step may be conducted concurrently with the soldering of the terminal 30. Soldering may be conducted to other electrical components as well using a furnace or a tank.
Such a method for mounting the connector 12 spot-welds the shield 36 to the case 34, and adhesive means or step like a conductive tape is not required. Since the ground post P is soldered to the through holes 58, the skill like fastening with clips is not required for operators. Visual inspection after clipping also is not required. Most of the steps of the method for mounting the connector 12 can be automated, and so the productivity of the method is excellent.
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified freely without deviating from the scope of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2018-136434 | Jul 2018 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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4929195 | Seidoh | May 1990 | A |
8142224 | Wu | Mar 2012 | B2 |
9780494 | Chen | Oct 2017 | B2 |
10050373 | Wang | Aug 2018 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2005268018 | Sep 2005 | JP |