Patent Application
20240120693
The contents of the following Japanese patent application(s) are incorporated herein by reference:
The present invention relates to coaxial connectors for use in the connection between an electronic device and a coaxial cable, the connection between electronic devices, or the like, and more particularly relates to a connector with a floating mechanism excellent in connectability between a plug and a socket.
A socket of this type of coaxial connector is required to include a socket-side center contact arranged in the center of the socket, and a socket-side shell arranged outside the socket-side center contact. When the socket is connected to a plug, both the socket-side center contact and the socket-side shell are required to be appropriately connected to a plug-side center contact and a plug-side shell.
Therefore, even when an axial or radial misalignment occurs between a plug and a socket to be connected with each other due to the positions of the socket and the plug to be mounted on supporting bodies, such as a board incorporated in electronic devices or a chassis, the misalignment needs to be corrected at the time of connecting both coaxial connectors.
Therefore, for the sockets of conventional coaxial connectors, connectors with a floating mechanism are used. Here, the connectors with a floating mechanism include a socket movable housing that is supported movably in a radial direction (xy axis directions) with respect to a socket fixing housing that is fixed to a supporting body, such as a board or a casing.
Some of the connectors with a floating mechanism of this type have been developed so as to include a socket shell that covers an outer circumference and an upper face of the socket fixing housing. When the socket shell is connected with a plug shell, shielding performance is secured while the socket movable housing is allowed to move (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent No. 6712376
In the conventional technology as described above, the shielding performance is improved by covering the outer circumference and the upper face of the socket fixing housing with the socket shell. However, the socket movable housing that moves on the socket fixing housing is not shielded due to its structure.
On the other hand, the connector with a floating mechanism of this type is required to have high EMC characteristics, and further improvement of the EMC characteristics can be expected if the entire connector including the socket movable housing can be covered with a shielding member made of conductive metal.
Therefore, in light of such conventional problems, the present invention has been made in order to provide a connector with a floating mechanism, capable of improving the EMC characteristics by covering the entire connector including the floating mechanism with a shell.
In order to solve the conventional problems as described above, a first aspect of the invention relates to a connector with a floating mechanism, the connector with a floating mechanism being a coaxial connector including a plug and a socket configured to be connected with each other, the plug including a plug center contact, a plug shell configured to be positioned outside the plug center contact, and a plug housing configured to be interspersed between the plug center contact and the plug shell, the socket including a socket center contact, a socket fixing housing configured to be fixed to a support, a socket movable housing configured to be radially movable on a plug-side end face of the socket fixing housing together with the socket center contact, and a socket fixing shell configured to cover an outside of the socket fixing housing, the plug center contact being configured to be connected with the socket center contact while the plug shell is configured to be connected with the socket fixing shell, the connector with a floating mechanism including: a socket movable shell configured to cover an outside of the socket movable housing and to move together with the socket movable housing; and a conductive shell connecting unit configured to constantly provide connection between the socket movable shell and the socket fixing shell, the shell connecting unit being interposed between the socket movable shell and the socket fixing shell.
In a second aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, the socket movable housing includes a flange part that configured to protrude outward at a lower end part of a cylindrical housing main body, and the socket movable shell integrally includes a main body cylindrical part configured to cover an outer circumference of the housing main body and an upper face covering part configured to protrude outward from a lower end of the main body cylindrical part to cover an upper face of the flange part.
In a third aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the second aspect, the socket movable shell includes a flange outer circumference covering part configured to be integrally supported by an outer circumferential edge of the upper face covering part to cover an outer circumference of the flange part.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, the shell connecting unit is constituted of a plurality of elastic contact pieces configured to radially project from an outer circumferential part of the socket movable shell, and contact parts formed at tips of the respective elastic contact pieces are made to come into contact with an inner circumferential surface of the socket fixing shell.
In a fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the fourth aspect, the socket fixing housing has floating recess parts formed so as to open to an upper face and to outside and to allow insertion of the elastic contact pieces in a movable manner.
In a sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the fourth aspect, the socket movable housing has avoidance recess parts formed on an outer circumferential surface to allow deformation of the elastic contact pieces.
In a seventh aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the fifth aspect, the socket fixing housing has a slip-down preventing part formed to have a sliding support face that is flush with the plug-side end face between the floating recess parts adjacent in a circumferential direction, and the sliding support face supports a bottom face part of the socket movable housing at a time of floating so as to prevent the socket movable housing from falling into the floating recess parts.
Since the connector with a floating mechanism according to the aspect(s) of the present invention includes the configuration according to the first aspect, the socket movable shell can also be covered with a shell to shield the entire connector, so that the EMC characteristics can be improved.
In the aspect(s) of the present invention including the configuration of the second aspect, the socket movable housing and the socket movable shell can stably be moved, while the socket movable housing can be shielded without any gaps.
Furthermore, in the aspect(s) of the present invention including the configuration of the third aspect, the entire socket movable housing can be shielded, while impedance can be adjusted.
Furthermore, in the aspect(s) of the present invention including the configuration of the fourth aspect, a stable connection between the socket fixing shell and the socket movable shell can be made.
Furthermore, in the aspect(s) of the present invention including the configuration of the fifth aspect, the stable connection between the socket fixing shell and the socket movable shell can be maintained, while the socket movable housing and the socket movable shell can smoothly be moved with respect to the socket fixing housing.
Furthermore, in the aspect(s) of the present invention including the configuration of the sixth aspect, interference between the elastic contact pieces and the socket fixing housing can be prevented, and smooth deformation can be made.
Furthermore, in the aspect(s) of the present invention including the configuration of the seventh aspect, at the time of floating, the socket movable housing can slide in a stable state without inclining with respect to the socket fixing housing.
A description will now be given of an embodiment of a connector with a floating mechanism according to the present invention, on the basis of examples shown in
The connector with a floating mechanism includes a plug and a socket 1 that are connected to each other. The floating mechanism allows the plug and the socket 1 to be connected with each other while allowing their misalignment in a radial direction (xy directions) to be corrected.
Although not particularly illustrated, the plug includes a plug center contact made of a conductive metal material positioned at the center in the radial direction, a plug shell positioned outside the plug center contact, and an insulating plug housing that is interspersed between the plug center contact and the plug shell. The plug is structured such that a plug-side insulator and the plug center contact are incorporated into the plug shell.
The socket 1 includes a socket center contact 2 positioned at the center in the radial direction, a socket fixing housing 3 fixed to a support body such as a board of electrical devices or a chassis, a socket movable housing 4 that can radially move together with the socket center contact 2 on a plug-side end face of the socket fixing housing 3, a socket fixing shell 5 that covers the outside of the socket fixing housing 3, and a socket movable shell 6 that covers the outside of the socket movable housing 4 and moves together with the socket movable housing 4. The plug center contact is connected with the socket center contact 2, while the plug shell is connected with the socket fixing shell 5.
The socket 1 includes a floating spring body 7 with one end fixed to the socket fixing housing 3 and the other end fixed to the socket movable housing 4. The floating mechanism is formed in such a way that the socket movable housing 4 is supported, together with the socket center contact 2, by the socket fixing housing 3 via the floating spring body 7.
The socket 1 also includes a conductive shell connecting unit that is interposed between the socket movable shell 6 and the socket fixing shell 5. The shell connecting unit connects the socket movable shell 6 and the socket fixing shell 5 in a constantly conductive state.
The socket 1 uses a floating spring body with a contact (hereafter referred to as an integral spring body 8) made of a conductive metal sheet formed by integrating the socket center contact 2 and the floating spring body 7, so that the socket center contact 2 can follow the movement of the socket movable housing 4.
As shown in
The floating spring body 7 includes a support fixing part 71 that is fixed to the socket fixing housing 3, the floating fixing part 72 fixed to the socket movable housing 4, and an elastically deformable swing spring part 73 that couples the support fixing part 71 and the floating fixing part 72. The support fixing part 71 and the floating fixing part 72 are arranged in parallel to each other at an interval in a front-rear direction. With the elastic deformation of the swing spring part 73, the floating fixing part 72 can move forward and backward (a direction in which the support fixing part 71 and the floating fixing part 72 are arranged in parallel in the xy-plane) and swing left and right (a direction orthogonal to the forward and backward direction in the xy-plane) with respect to the support fixing part 71.
The support fixing part 71 is formed into a rectangular shape. The upper end of the support fixing part 71 supports one end of the swing spring part 73. From the lower end of the support fixing part 71, a board connecting terminal piece 21, constituting the socket center contact 2, extends in a horizontal direction.
The swing spring part 73 integrally includes an elastic expansion/contraction part 731 that is expandable and contractible in a direction between the support fixing part and the floating fixing part, that is, in a front-rear direction, and elastic twist parts that can twist around an axis in the direction between the support fixing part and the floating fixing part. The expansion and contraction of the elastic expansion/contraction part 731 allows forward and backward movement of the floating fixing part 72 relative to the support fixing part 71. The twist of each elastic twist part allows the movement of the floating fixing part 72 relative to the support fixing part 71 in a right-left direction, and allows return to its original position due to elasticity.
The upper end of the elastic expansion/contraction part 731 extends diagonally downward in the state of being supported by the upper edge of the support fixing part 71 via a folded part 732 that is curved in an arc shape, and the lower end of the elastic expansion/contraction part 731 integrally supports a horizontal support part 734 extending horizontally via a folded part 733.
The elastic expansion/contraction part 731 is curved at both the folded parts 732 and 733 so as to be able to expand and contract in the direction between the support fixing part and the floating fixing part, that is, in the front-rear direction, and return to its original position due to elasticity.
The horizontal support part 734 is formed into the shape of a horizontally extending thin plate, with one end being supported by the elastic expansion/contraction part 731 via the folded part 733, and the other end being integrally supported by the lower edge of the floating fixing part 72 via a folded part 735.
The respective folded parts 732, 733, and 735 are formed to have a plate width equal to or smaller than those of the support fixing part 71 and the floating fixing part 72, and constitute the elastic twist parts in the swing spring part 73.
Specifically, when the floating fixing part 72 moves with respect to the support fixing part 71 in the right-left direction, the respective folded parts 732, 733, and 735 twist around the axis in the direction between the support fixing part and the floating fixing part. This allows the movement in the right-left direction and allows return to the original position due to elasticity.
In the swing spring part 73, a slit 736 is formed in the direction between the support fixing part and the floating fixing part, so that both the side parts sandwiching the slit 736 can deform independently of each other. Accordingly, the respective folded parts 732, 733, and 735 can easily twist around the axis in the direction between the support fixing part and the floating fixing part.
The floating fixing part 72 is formed in a rectangular shape oriented in an up-down direction. Both the side parts of the floating fixing part 72 integrally support elastic clamping pieces 22 which constitute a connection part of the socket center contact 2.
The socket center contact 2 includes a connection part to be connected with the plug center contact, and the board connecting terminal piece 21 that is connected to a connection board. The connection part and the board connecting terminal piece 21 are electrically connected via the floating spring body 7.
The connection part includes a pair of elastic clamping pieces 22 that face each other in the right-left direction. The connection part connects with the plug center contact when a contact part of the pin-shaped plug center contact is held by both the elastic clamping pieces 22.
The elastic clamping pieces 22 are each formed into a band shape that is long in the up-down direction, with their lower side edges being integrally supported by support pieces 23 that are folded vertically from a lower end-side edge of the floating fixing part 72. The elastic clamping pieces 22 are arranged between the support fixing part 71 and the floating fixing part 72 so as to face each other in the right-left direction.
In addition, the respective elastic clamping pieces 22 have inwardly curved contacts 24 formed at the upper ends, so that the plug center contact is held between the contacts 24 that face each other.
As shown in
In the socket fixing housing 3, a support fixing part press-fitting part 32 oriented in the up-down direction is formed in an outer thickened part of the contact housing part 31. When the support fixing part 71 of the floating spring body 7 is press-fitted into the support fixing part press-fitting part 32, one end of the floating spring body 7, that is, the support fixing part 71, is fixed to the socket fixing housing 3.
The socket fixing housing 3 also has an avoidance groove 33 that is opened to the inside of the support fixing part press-fitting part 32 and communicates with the support fixing part press-fitting part 32, so as to avoid interference of the swing spring part 73.
Therefore, the lower parts of the floating fixing part 72 of the integral spring body 8 and both the elastic clamping pieces 22 are housed in the contact housing part 31 in a movable state, while being supported by the socket fixing housing 3 via the swing spring part 73, and the upper parts thereof project from an upper end opening of the contact housing part 31.
In addition, in the socket fixing housing 3, a plurality of floating recess parts 34, which are opened to the upper face and to the outside, are formed at intervals in the circumferential direction.
Between the floating recess parts 34 adjacent in the circumferential direction, a slip-down preventing part having a sliding support face 35 that is flush with the plug-side end face is also formed. At the time of floating, the sliding support face 35 supports a bottom face part of the socket movable housing 4 to prevent a bottom face edge part of the socket movable housing 4 from falling into the floating recess parts 34, so that the socket movable housing 4 can slide without inclining with respect to the socket fixing housing 3.
As shown in
The socket movable housing 4 has a fixed part press-fitting hole 44 arranged in parallel to the contact housing part 43 and opened to the lower face. When the socket movable housing 4 is assembled to the upper face part of the socket fixing housing 3, an upper end part of the floating fixing part 72, projecting from the upper end of the socket fixing housing 3, is press-fitted into the fixed part press-fitting hole 44, and the connection part of the socket center contact 2, that is, the upper part of both the elastic clamping pieces 22 is housed in the contact housing part 31.
The socket movable housing 4 also includes a contact insertion hole 45 that is opened to the upper end face and communicates with the contact housing part 31. Through the contact insertion hole 45, the pin-shaped plug center contact is inserted into the contact housing part 31.
The flange part 42 are formed into a disc shape smaller in diameter than the socket fixing housing 3, and on its outer circumferential surface, a plurality of avoidance recess parts 46 that are opened to the lower face and to the outside are formed at intervals in the circumferential direction.
The respective avoidance recess parts 46 are arranged so as to correspond to the positions of the floating recess parts 34 formed in the socket fixing housing 3, and have a circumferential width that is formed to be narrower than the circumferential width of the avoidance recess parts 46.
The bottom face part of the socket movable housing 4 (flange part 42) is in the state of being notched by the avoidance recess parts 46 at its circumferential edge part. However, since the slip-down preventing part having the sliding support face 35 is provided between the floating recess parts 34 of the socket fixing housing 3, portions between the avoidance recess parts 46 adjacent in the circumferential direction (hereinafter referred to as sliding face edge parts 47) slide on the sliding support face 35 at the time of floating, so that the entire socket movable housing 4 is supported by the sliding support face 35 in a stable state.
As shown in
The socket movable shell 6 is assembled to and integrated with the socket movable housing 4 from above. The main body cylindrical part 61 covers the outer circumference of the housing main body 41. The upper face covering part 62 covers the upper face of the flange part 42. The flange outer circumference covering part 63 covers the outer circumference of the flange part 42. Specifically, the entire socket movable housing 4 is covered with the socket movable shell 6 made of a conductive material.
In the following description, for the sake of convenience, the socket movable housing 4 integrated with the socket movable shell 6 is referred to as a movable housing body. Unless otherwise described, the housing main body 41 refers to the housing main body 41 covered with the main body cylindrical part 61, and the flange part 42 refers to the flange part 42 covered with the upper face covering part 62 and the flange outer circumference covering part 63.
The socket movable shell 6 includes the plurality of elastic contact pieces 64 that project radially from an outer circumferential part of the flange outer circumference covering part 63. The elastic contact pieces 64 are interposed between the socket movable shell 6 and the socket fixing shell 5 and constitutes the shell connecting unit that connects the socket movable shell 6 and the socket fixing shell 5 in a constantly conductive state.
In this example, the respective elastic contact pieces 64 project in four directions at intervals of 90 degrees in the circumferential direction. The elastic contact pieces 64 are preferably provided at least three locations at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.
The elastic contact pieces 64 each include a base end part 641 on the outer circumferential surface of the flange part 42, an inclination part 642 extending diagonally downward at the outer side from the lower end of the base end part 641, and a contact part 643 formed at the tip of the inclination part 642. The elastic contact pieces 64 are each formed into the shape of a cantilever plate spring.
The respective elastic contact pieces 64 are set so that their horizontal protrusion distance is larger than a gap between the outer circumferential surface of the flange part 42 of the movable housing body and the inner circumferential surface of the socket fixing shell 5. Even when the movable housing body moves on the socket fixing housing 3, any of the elastic contact pieces 64 is constantly in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the socket fixing shell 5 at a contact pressure equal to or more than a prescribed contact pressure.
The socket movable shell 6 is assembled to the socket movable housing 4 in such a way that the positions of the avoidance recess parts 46 formed on the outer circumferential surface of the flange part 42 of the socket movable housing 4 match the positions of the respective elastic contact pieces 64.
The avoidance recess parts 46 each have a width (circumferential width) wider than the width of the elastic contact pieces 64, and a diametric depth sufficient enough to ensure deformation of the elastic contact pieces 64. This prevents interference between the elastic contact pieces 64 and the flange part 42 when the elastic contact pieces 64 are elastically deformed.
As shown in
The width, height, and depth of the floating recess parts 34 are secured, in consideration of maximum displacement in design, so that the elastic contact pieces 64 do not come into contact with the socket fixing housing 3 even when the elastic contact pieces 64 are displaced by the maximum displacement and elastically deformed.
In addition, circular arc-shaped notch parts 341 are formed so as to be oriented in a diagonal direction, at the upper edges of the wall parts of the floating recess parts 34 that are on the side of the contact housing part 31. The notch parts 341 ensure that the elastic contact pieces 64 do not interfere with the socket fixing housing 3 even when the movable housing body moves.
As shown in
The outer circumferential wall part 51 is formed into a cylindrical shape that is higher, by the thickness of the flange part 42 (the flange part 42 and the upper face covering part 62) of the movable housing body, than the thickness of the socket fixing housing 3 in a cylindrical axis direction and that is approximately equal in diameter to the socket fixing housing 3.
The upper face shielding part 52 has an opening part 54 at the center in the radial direction, the opening part 54 being larger in diameter than the housing main body 41 of the movable housing body and smaller in diameter than the flange part 42.
The socket fixing shell 5 is electrically connected (GND connected) to a mounting board by soldering the board connection parts 53 to a pattern on the mounting board that is a support body.
The socket fixing shell 5 is made to cover the flange part 42 and the socket fixing housing 3 from their upper face side, while the housing main body 41 of the movable housing body projects from the opening part 54, so that the flange part 42 of the movable housing body is movably housed in between the end face of the socket movable housing 4 and the upper face shielding part 52.
In addition, when the socket fixing shell 5 is assembled, each of the elastic contact pieces 64 of the movable housing body comes into contact with an inner circumferential surface of the outer circumferential wall part 51 of the socket fixing shell 5. As a result, the inner circumferential surface of the outer circumferential wall part 51 presses each of the elastic contact pieces 64 inward, so that the movable housing body is centered at approximately the center of the socket fixing housing 3.
In the connector with a floating mechanism configured as above, when a plug and the socket 1 are interconnected, the movable housing body is movably supported on the socket fixing housing 3 via the floating spring body 7, and moves together with the socket center contact 2. Accordingly, even when axial deviation with respect to the plug occurs in any of the front-rear direction and the right-left direction (xy directions) at the time of interconnection, the axial deviation is automatically adjusted. As a result, the plug center contact is inserted into the contact insertion hole 45 of the movable housing body, and the plug center contact and the socket center contact 2 are connected.
At this time, since the socket fixing shell 5 is connected to the ground, and the respective elastic contact pieces 64 that constitute the shell connecting unit put the socket fixing shell 5 and the socket movable shell 6 in a constantly conductive state, the entire socket 1 that receives insertion of the plug center contact is covered with the socket movable shell 6 and the socket fixing shell 5 that are connected to the ground almost without any gap, and high EMC characteristics can thus be obtained.
Specifically, when the plug and the socket 1 are connected without misalignment as shown in
In this state, as shown in
On the other hand, when a large misalignment occurs between the plug and the socket 1 in the x direction and the y direction as shown in
In this case, even when the elastic contact pieces 64 on the opposite side of the displacement direction are detached from the inner circumferential surface of the socket fixing shell 5, at least the elastic contact pieces 64 at two locations remain in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the socket fixing shell 5, and conduction between the socket movable shell 6 and the socket fixing shell 5 is thus constantly maintained.
In the case of floating as shown in
In the above-described examples, the case where the shell connecting unit is constituted of the plurality of elastic contact pieces 64 that are radially projecting from the outer circumferential part of the socket movable shell 6 has been described. However, the aspect of the shell connecting unit is not limited to this. For example, a spring piece projecting from an inner circumferential part of the socket fixing shell 5 toward the socket movable shell 6 may be used, or a coil spring made of a conductive material may be interposed between the outer circumferential surface of the socket movable shell 6 (flange outer circumference covering part 63) and the inner circumferential surface of the socket fixing shell 5.
In addition, the shell connecting unit may be configured to allow sliding while the upper face covering part 62 that covers the upper face of the flange part 42 is in contact with the upper face shielding part 52 of the socket fixing shell 5.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-160706 | Oct 2022 | JP | national |
