The present disclosure relates to a connector with a floating mechanism.
Many connectors for high-speed transmission are formed by press-fitting a plurality of contacts side by side into an opening portion of a housing made of electrically insulating resin. In this type of connector, when the contact has a shape formed by bending a piece of metal into an L-shape or an arc-shape, an impedance mismatch occurs between the bent portion and the linear portion other than the bent portion. As a document disclosing a technique suppressing the impedance mismatch of this type of connector, Patent Document 1 can be taken up. A connector for substrate connection disclosed in Patent Document 1 is composed of a socket-type first connector and a plug-type second connector fitted into the first connector. The first connector of this Document 1 includes a fixed housing, a floating housing, and a plurality of contacts bridged between these housings. The contact of the first connector has a first spring portion and a second spring portion extending in an inverted V-shape, and an inverted curved portion interposed between their upper ends, and a partition member made of an electrically insulating synthetic resin material is arranged between the inverted curved portions of adjacent contacts. According to the technique of Patent Document 1, due to the action of the partition member arranged between the inverted curved portions, the difference in impedance between the inverted curved portion and the other portion extending linearly is narrowed, and the impedance mismatch is suppressed.
However, in the case of the technique of Patent Document 1, there is a problem that although the impedance mismatch can be suppressed, due to the partition member between the inverted curved portions of the adjacent contacts, relative movement between the first connector and the second connector is regulated when fitting the second connector into the first connector, and it is difficult to smoothly perform floating, which is a movement absorbing errors in the attachment positions of the two connectors.
The present disclosure has been made in view of such a problem, and one of the objects is to provide a connector capable of smoothly performing floating while suppressing impedance mismatch.
In order to solve the above problems, a preferred aspect of the present disclosure is a connector including a receptacle unit mounted on a first substrate and a plug unit mounted on a second substrate and connected to the receptacle unit, and electrically connecting the first substrate and the second substrate by connecting the receptacle unit and the plug unit, wherein the receptacle unit may include: a fixed housing that is fixed to the substrate and has an opening portion penetrating through the fixed housing upward and downward; a floating housing accommodated in the opening portion of the fixed housing with a movable space apart; and a plurality of contacts that are bridged between the fixed housing and the floating housing, and have a first support piece portion supported by the fixed housing, a second support piece portion supported by the floating housing, and an elastically deformable elastic deformation portion interposed between these two support piece portions, the elastically deformable elastic deformation portion may have two linear portions extending along wall portions of the fixed housing and the floating housing facing the movable space, and a flexible portion between upper ends of the two linear portions, and portions opposed to the flexible portion in the wall portions may be curved following a shape of the flexible portion.
In this aspect, the contact may have a terminal portion connected to the first support piece portion and a contact point portion connected to the second support piece portion, the fixed housing may have first wall portions opposed to each other so as to surround the opening portion, the floating housing may have a slot into which the plug unit is inserted, the floating housing may be provided with a through hole penetrating from a bottom surface toward the inside of the slot, and the contact may be press-fitted into the fixed housing and the floating housing such that the contact point portion is protruded into the slot via the through hole and the elastic deformation portion is accommodated in the movable space.
Further, the first wall portions may be provided with a plurality of first slits, and the first support piece portion of the contact may be accommodated and supported in the first slit.
Further, the floating housing may have second wall portions constituting an inner circumferential surface of the slot, the second wall portions may be provided with a plurality of second slits, and the second support piece portion of the contact may be accommodated and supported in the second slit.
Further, the contacts in each column may be arranged in such an arrangement order that two contacts for ground and two contacts for signal are taken as one group and the two contacts for signal are accommodated between the two contacts for ground, and a conductive resin member connecting the contacts for ground may be fixed to a bottom portion of the floating housing.
Further, a bottom surface of the floating housing may be provided with a conductive resin member.
Further, the conductive resin member may have a lower plate portion and a convex portion protruding upward from a center of the lower plate portion, and the convex portion may be fitted in a groove provided on the bottom surface of the floating housing.
Further, the lower plate portion may have a shape in which four corners of a rectangular parallelepiped is protruded outward in a left-right direction, a pillar portion erecting upward may be provided at a tip end of the portion protruded outward, and the pillar portion may be in contact with two contacts for ground in a left side column and two contacts for ground in a right side column.
Further, holders may be provided at end portions on a front side and a rear side of an outer surface of the first wall portion, and an anchor plate may be mounted on the holder.
The present disclosure includes a receptacle unit mounted on a first substrate and a plug unit mounted on a second substrate and connected to the receptacle unit, and in a connector electrically connecting the first substrate and the second substrate by connecting the receptacle unit and the plug unit, the receptacle unit includes: a fixed housing fixed to the substrate and having an opening portion penetrating through the fixed housing upward and downward; a floating housing accommodated in the opening portion of the fixed housing with a movable space apart; and a plurality of contacts bridged between the fixed housing and the floating housing, and having a first support piece portion supported by the fixed housing, a second support piece portion supported by the floating housing, and an elastically deformable elastic deformation portion interposed between these two support piece portions, the elastically deformable elastic deformation portion has two linear portions extending along wall portions of the fixed housing and the floating housing facing the movable space, and a flexible portion between upper ends of the two linear portions, and portions opposed to the flexible portion in the wall portions are curved following a shape of the flexible portion. Thus, the wall portion of the fixed housing and the wall portion of the floating housing come to confront the flexible portion so as to cover the flexible portion, and variations in impedance between the flexible portion and other portions of the contact are reduced.
Further, the movement of floating housing is not restricted by portions opposed to the flexible portion in the wall portion of the fixed housing and the wall portion of the floating housing. Therefore, it is possible to provide a connector capable of smoothly performing floating while suppressing impedance mismatch of the contact.
Hereinafter, a connector 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is explained with reference to drawings. The connector 100 includes a receptacle unit 93 and a plug unit 97. The receptacle unit 93 is mounted on an electronic substrate, which is a first substrate. The plug unit 97 is mounted on an expansion board, which is a second substrate. By fitting a header 62 of the plug unit 97 into a slot 20 of the receptacle unit 93 and connecting the receptacle unit 93 and the plug unit 97, K (K is 144, for example) contacts 7-j (j=1 to K) of the plug unit 97 and K contacts 3-j (j=1 to K) of the receptacle unit 93 are electrically connected, respectively, and high-speed differential transmission of maximum number of Gbps due to PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulation) is made possible.
In the following description, a fitting direction of the plug unit 97 with respect to the receptacle unit 93 is appropriately referred to as a Z direction, one direction orthogonal to the Z direction is appropriately referred to as an X direction, and a direction orthogonal to both the Z direction and the Y direction is appropriately referred to as a Y direction. In addition, the +Z side may be referred to as an upper side, the −Z side may be referred to as a lower side, the +X side may be referred to as a front side, the −X side may be referred to as a rear side, the +Y side may be referred to as a left side, and the −Y side may be referred to as a right side. Further, among the contacts 3-j (j=1 to K) of the receptacle unit 93 and the contacts 7-j (j=1 to K) of the plug unit 97, letter (G) is attached to the contacts 3-j and contacts 7-j for ground of differential transmission, and letter (S) is attached to the contacts 3-j and contacts 7-j for signal to distinguish between them.
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The upper and left and right edges of the outer surfaces of the front and rear wall portions 11 of the fixed housing 1 protrude outward as convex portions 111. In the middle of the outer surface of the wall portion 11, there is a middle plate 112 extending upward and downward. A positioning boss 113 is provided at the center of the lower surface of the wall portion 11. This positioning boss 113 is fitted into a positioning hole of an electronic substrate when fixing the receptacle unit 93 to the electronic substrate.
Holders 121 for mounting the anchor plate 4 are provided at end portions on the front side and rear side of the outer surface of the left and right wall portions 12 of the fixed housing 1. A lower end side between the two holders 121 on the outer surface of the wall portion 12 protrudes outward as a convex portion 122.
The lower sides of the inner surfaces of the left and right wall portions 12 of the fixed housing 1 are respectively provided with a column of K/2 slits 17-j arranged in the front and rear. On the upper sides of the inner surfaces of the wall portions 12 on the left and right, there are curved portions 14 curved inward in a quarter arc-shape, and there are inner edge portions 15 parallel to the inner surfaces on the curved portions 14.
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The upper and left and right edges of the outer surfaces of the front and rear wall portions 21 of the floating housing 2 protrude outward as convex portions 211. The left and right lower ends of the convex portion 211 protrude outward.
The inner surfaces of the left and right wall portions 22 of the floating housing 2 are stepped surfaces in which the surface on the lower side protrudes with respect to the surface on the upper side. The lower sides of the inner surfaces of the left and right wall portions 22 of the floating housing 2 are respectively provided with a column of K/2 slits 26-j arranged in the front and rear. On the upper sides of the outer surfaces of the left and right wall portions 22, there are curved portions 24 curved outward in a quarter arc-shape, and there are outer edge portions 25 parallel to the outer surfaces on the curved portions 24.
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The contacts 3-j (j=1 to K) form a column of K/2 contacts 3-j on the left and a column of K/2 contacts 3-j on the right. As shown in
The tip end of the contact point portion 32 is bent into a doglegged shape. There are claw portions 361 and 371 protruding outward on the side surfaces of the support piece portion 36 and the support piece portion 37.
The elastic deformation portion 38 has a flexible portion 380 rounded in a semicircular shape, two linear portion 381 and linear portion 382 extending downward from both ends of the flexible portion 380, a connecting portion 386 bent toward the support piece portion 36 side at the lower end of the linear portion 381 and connected to the upper end of the support piece portion 36, and a connecting portion 387 bent toward the support piece portion 37 side at the lower end of the linear portion 382 and connected to the lower edge of the support piece portion 37. The elastic deformation portion 38 can be elastically deformed frontward, rearward, leftward, and rightward.
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The fixed housing 1, the floating housing 2, the contacts 3-j (j=1 to K), the anchor plate 4, and the conductive resin member 5 are combined as follows.
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The connecting portion 387 of the contact 3-j is in contact with the lower surface of the floating housing 2. The terminal portion 31 of the contact 3-j is exposed to the lower side of the lower surface of the fixed housing 1. The terminal portion 31 of the contact 3-j is soldered and fixed to the pad of the electronic substrate. Between the adjacent contacts 3-j, there is no partition of the electric insulating member, and only an air layer exists.
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The convex portion 53 of the conductive resin member 5 is fitted in the groove 230 of the bottom portion 23 of the floating housing 2. The two pillar portions 59 on the left side of the conductive resin member 5 are in contact with the two contacts 3-j (G) on the left side. The two pillar portions 59 on the right side of the conductive resin member 5 are in contact with the two contacts 3-j (G) on the right side. The four contacts 3-j (G) are electrically connected via the conductive resin member 5. The protruding portion 42 of the anchor plate 4 mounted on the holder 121 extends to the lower side of the lower surface of the fixed housing 1.
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The header 62 protrudes downward from the lower surface of the base portion 63. The left and right outer surfaces of the header 62 are each provided with a column of K/2 slits 66-j.
The slit 66-j on the left side has a U-shaped cross section surrounded by the right peripheral wall, the front peripheral wall, and the rear peripheral wall. The right side of the slit 66-j on the left side is open, and the front peripheral wall and the rear peripheral wall are opposed to each other. The slit 66-j on the right side has a U-shaped cross section surrounded by the left peripheral wall, the front peripheral wall, and the rear peripheral wall. The left side of the slit 66-j on the right side is open, and the front peripheral wall and the rear peripheral wall are opposed to each other.
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A positioning boss 613 is provided at the center of the front and rear end portions of the upper surface of the base portion 63. The positioning boss 613 is fitted into the positioning hole of the expansion board when fixing the plug unit 97 to the expansion board. The upper edges of the front and rear side surfaces of the base portion 63 expand outward as outer edge portions 631. The outer edge portion 631 is provided with a holder 632 for mounting the anchor plate 8.
A column of K/2 through holes 67-j arranged in the front and rear is provided on each of the left side and right side of the center of the base portion 63 in the Y direction. The through hole 67-j penetrates through the base portion 63 upward and downward. The through hole 67-j on the left side is communicated with the slit 66-j on the left side, and the through hole 67-j on the right side is communicated with the slit 66-j on the right side.
The through holes 67-j on the left side and right side have a rectangular cross section surrounded by the left peripheral wall, the right peripheral wall, the front peripheral wall, and the rear peripheral wall. The left peripheral wall and the right peripheral wall are opposed to each other, and the front peripheral wall and the rear peripheral wall are opposed to each other in the through holes 67-j on the left side and right side. The peripheral wall of the through hole 67-j is connected to the peripheral wall of the slit 66-j.
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The contacts 7-j (j=1 to K) form a column of K/2 contacts 7-j on the left and a column of K/2 contacts 7-j on the right. As shown in
There is a claw portion 720 protruding outward at a position away from the lower end toward the upper side on the side surface of the linear portion 72. The upper end of the linear portion 72 is slightly wider than the portion below it. Further, this wider portion is provided with a long hole 721.
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The housing 6, the contacts 7-j (j=1 to K), and the anchor plate 8 are combined as follows. The contacts 7-j (j=1 to K) are press-fitted into the housing 6 from the upper side. The linear portion 72 of the contact 7-j is inserted into the through hole 67-j, and its tip end side passes through the through hole 67-j and is held in the slit 66-j. The terminal portion 79 of the contact 7-j is exposed on the upper side of the upper surface of the housing 6. The terminal portion 79 of the contact 7-j is soldered and fixed to the pad of the expansion board.
The anchor plate 8 is mounted on the holder 632 of the housing 6. The protruding portion 83 of the anchor plate 8 extends to the upper side of the upper end of the housing 6. The linear portion 72 of the contact 7-j extends in a straight line along the through hole 67-j and the slit 66-j. The portion of the linear portion 72 where the claw portion 720 is located is supported by the holding portion 678 of the lower side, and the thicker upper end portion of the linear portion 72 is supported by the holding portion 679 of the upper side.
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The details of the configuration of the present embodiment are described above. The receptacle unit 93 of the connector 100 according to the present embodiment includes: a fixed housing 1 that is fixed to a substrate and has an opening portion 10 penetrating through the fixed housing 1 upward and downward; a floating housing 2 accommodated in the opening portion 10 of the fixed housing 1 with a movable space 101 and a movable space 102 apart; and a plurality of contacts 3-j (j=1 to K) that are bridged between the fixed housing 1 and the floating housing 2 and have a support piece portion 36 supported by the fixed housing 1, a support piece portion 37 supported by the floating housing 2, and an elastically deformable elastic deformation portion 38 interposed between these two support piece portions 36 and 37. The elastic deformation portion 38 has two linear portions 381 and 382 extending along a wall portion 12 and a wall portion 22 of the fixed housing 1 and floating housing 2 facing the movable space 102, and a flexible portion 380 between upper ends of the two linear portions 381 and 382, and portions opposed to the flexible portion 380 in the wall portion 12 and wall portion 22 are curved following the shape of the flexible portion 380. Thus, the wall portion 12 and the wall portion 22 come to confront the flexible portion 380 so as to cover the flexible portion 380, and variations in impedance between the flexible portion 380 and other portions of the contact 3-j are reduced. Further, the movement of the floating housing 2 is not restricted by portions opposed to the flexible portion 380 in the wall portions 12 and 22. Therefore, it is possible to provide a connector 100 capable of smoothly performing floating while suppressing impedance mismatch of the contact 3-j.
Although the embodiment of the present disclosure has been described above, the following modifications may be added to this embodiment.
This patent application claims priority from PCT Patent Application No. PCT/JP2020/032908 filed Aug. 31, 2020. This patent application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2020/032908 | 8/31/2020 | WO |