Patent Grant
10122112
This application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/JP2015/054499, filed on Feb. 18, 2015, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-028906, filed Feb. 18, 2014, both of which are incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to connectors electrically connected to connection targets.
There are known connectors which are provided with connector terminals having a front terminal that comes into contact with a connection target such as an FPC or a plug connector and a rear terminal that comes into contact with the connection target subsequent to connection of the front terminal. The connector terminals are housed in a housing of the connector, and the front terminal and the rear terminal each have a contact portion having a contact edge that comes into press contact with a connection target. The housing has an insertion port for the connection target and a mating chamber in which the connector terminal comes into contact with the connection target inserted from the insertion port. Each contact portion protrudes into the mating chamber from a slit which is formed as an opening of a terminal housing groove disposed on the inner wall of the mating chamber so that the contact portion comes into contact with a connection target inserted from the insertion port (see Patent Literature 1 as an example).
In manufacturing of the connector terminals, the shapes may slightly vary or the assembly positions may be displaced. This may cause the distal end of the contact portion of the rear terminal to protrude from the slit and abut the connection target during mating, leading to buckling or breaking in a mating chamber. In order to prevent such problems, the contact portion of the front terminal may be disposed to cover the upper side of the distal end of the contact portion of the rear terminal which faces the insertion port of the housing to achieve a prevention effect to a certain extent, since insertion of the connection target can be first accommodated by the contact portion of the front terminal and then by the contact portion of the rear terminal (see the first embodiment of Patent Literature 1). In order to further improve the prevention effect, a terminal structure has been proposed which has a gap in the contact portion of the front terminal so as to house the distal end of the contact portion of the rear terminal (see the second embodiment of Patent Literature 1 as disclosure of a similar structure). Use of the above connector terminal may limit the position of the distal end of the contact portion of the rear terminal to the inside of the gap of the front terminal. This configuration can reduce abutting of the connection target. Accordingly, the above problem of the contact portion of the rear terminal protruding into the mating chamber can be eliminated in a reliable manner.
However, as seen in the connector of the second embodiment of Patent Literature 1, if the rear terminal is hooked and is displaced in the same direction as the front terminal when the contact portion of the front terminal is displaced, the rear terminal is also displaced by the front terminal. This causes a problem that the insertion of the front terminal becomes unsmooth during insertion of the connection target, thereby deteriorating insertion properties.
Moreover, in order to achieve reliable contact of the contact portion of the front terminal and the contact portion of the rear terminal to the connection target, increased contact pressure of the contact portion of the front terminal and the contact portion of the rear terminal is necessary. However, if the front terminal and the rear terminal come into contact with each other, their contact pressure are affected by each other.
In addition, since the front terminal and the rear terminal are typically rounded to remove burr on the cut edge, a thickness of the edge is usually smaller than the thickness of the original terminal material. As a result, when the contact portion of the front terminal comes into contact with the contact portion of the rear terminal, the edge of the front terminal overlaps the edge of the rear terminal, causing the front terminal to be stucked in the terminal housing groove. This causes a problem that the contact portion of the front terminal and the contact portion of the rear terminal may fail to appropriately establish electric connection to the connection target.
The present invention has been made in light of the aforementioned conventional art. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector which is provided with connector terminals which include a plurality of terminals that are configured to be in contact with a connection target and achieves reliable contact with the connection target while preventing the plurality of terminals from being in contact with each other when the plurality of terminals come into contact with the connection target and are displaced by the connection target.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention is configured as follows.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a connector is provided which includes a housing and a connector terminal, the connector terminal including: a front terminal including a contact portion that comes into contact with a connection target inserted from an insertion port of the housing and an elastic piece that supports the contact portion in a displaceable manner; and a rear terminal including a contact portion that comes into contact with a connection target subsequent to the contact portion of the front terminal and an elastic piece that supports the contact portion in a displaceable manner, wherein the rear terminal includes a contact that is disposed on the contact portion and comes into contact with a connection target inserted from the insertion port, and the elastic piece has a displacement fulcrum which is located at a position closer to the connection target inserted in the housing than to the contact is.
The rear terminal of the present invention includes a contact that is disposed on the contact portion and comes into contact with a connection target inserted from the insertion port, and the elastic piece has a displacement fulcrum which is located at a position closer to the connection target inserted in the housing than to the contact is. Accordingly, as the elastic piece rotates in a downwardly inclined direction about the displacement fulcrum, the contact portion of the rear terminal is rotatably displaced to the obliquely lower side. As a result, the contact portion of the rear terminal is displaced away from the contact portion of the front terminal. Since the rear terminal is displaced in the above manner, the front terminal and the rear terminal can be prevented from being in contact with each other in the mating process in which they are in contact with the connection target even if they are disposed in the same terminal housing groove, and can be in contact with the connection target in a reliable manner.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the front terminal may include a contact that comes into contact with a connection target inserted from the insertion port, and the contact may be located at a position closer to the connection target inserted in the housing than the displacement fulcrum of the elastic piece is.
In the front terminal of the present invention, the contact that comes into contact with a connection target inserted from the insertion port is located at a position closer to the connection target inserted in the housing than the displacement fulcrum of the elastic piece is. Accordingly, as the elastic piece rotates in an upwardly inclined direction about the displacement fulcrum, the contact portion of the front terminal is rotatably displaced to the obliquely upper side. As a result, the contact portion of the front terminal is displaced away from the contact portion of the rear terminal. Further, since the rear terminal rotates in a downwardly inclined direction, while the front terminal rotates in an upwardly inclined direction, the contact portion of the rear terminal and the contact portion of the front terminal moves away from each other. That is, the contact portions move in mutually different directions. Accordingly, the front terminal and the rear terminal can be ensured so as not to come into contact with each other.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the front terminal includes a gap between the contact portion and the elastic piece so as to house an end of the contact portion of the rear terminal which faces the insertion port.
With this configuration, the position of the distal end of the contact portion of the rear terminal can be limited to the inside of the gap. Since the distal end of the contact portion of the rear terminal does not protrude toward the connection target from the front terminal, a problem such as bending or buckling of the rear terminal caused by the connection target abutting during mating does not occur. The gap may be provided as a recess between the contact portion of the rear terminal and the elastic piece.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the contact of the rear terminal may be a portion of an edge from a contact position that is initially in contact with a connection target inserted from the insertion port to a contact position that is in contact with the connection target at a regular mating position.
Since the contact of the rear terminal may be provided as the edge portion, the aforementioned rotation operation of the rear terminal can be achieved when the edge portion comes into contact with a connection target member.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the contact of the rear terminal may be a portion of an edge from a contact position that is initially in contact with a connection target inserted from the insertion port to a contact position that is in contact with the connection target at a regular mating position.
Since the contact of the front terminal may be provided as the edge portion, the aforementioned rotation operation of the front terminal can be achieved when the edge portion comes into contact with a connection target member.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the contact of the front terminal and the contact of the rear terminal may be displaced in different directions without being in contact with each other while the contact of the front terminal and the contact of the rear terminal are in contact with a connection target.
Since the contact of the front terminal and the contact of the rear terminal may be displaced in different directions without being in contact with each other while the contact of the front terminal and the contact of the rear terminal are in contact with a connection target, a reliable electric connection can be achieved while preventing the contact portions from being in contact with each other.
According to the connector of the present invention, the connector terminal can be prevented from being easily bent or buckled when pressed by the connection target. Furthermore, since the front terminal of the connector terminal and the connection target of the rear terminal are not in contact with each other in the mating process in which they are in contact with the connection target, the contacts of the terminals can be in contact with the connection target in a reliable manner. Accordingly, a connector with high connection reliability can be provided.
With reference to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. The following embodiments describe an example of a socket connector 1 that is matingly connected to a plug connector 2 for substrate-to-substrate connection. In the following embodiments, the same reference numbers refer to the same configurations in order to prevent duplicated explanation.
Further, as shown in
As shown in
[Housing]
The housing 4 is made of an insulative resin and has a substantially cuboid shape. Further, the housing 4 includes slit-shaped terminal housing grooves 4a that house the connector terminals 3, and a fixation hole 4b that fixes the connector terminals 3. A plurality of terminal housing grooves 4a are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction X of the connector 1 so that each connector terminal 3 is housed in the corresponding terminal housing groove 4a.
Further, the housing 4 has an insertion port 4c for the plug connector 2 and a mating chamber 4d that communicates with the insertion port 4c. The mating chamber 4d communicates with the terminal housing grooves 4a for the connector terminals 3. The inner wall 4e of the mating chamber 4d has slits 4e1 so that contact portions 8b, 9b of the connector terminals 3, which will be described later, partially protrude through the slits 4e1. Accordingly, the connector terminals 3 are electrically connected to the plug terminal 5 of the plug connector 2 in the mating chamber 4d.
[Connector Terminal]
The connector terminal 3 of the present embodiment is a punched terminal formed by press punching a plate-shaped conductive metal. The connector terminals 3, which are housed in the terminal housing grooves 4a, are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction X of the connector 1. As shown in
[Substrate Connecting Section]
The substrate connecting section 6 is disposed on an end of the connector terminal 3 so as to be connected to the substrate P. Further, the connector terminal 3 is mounted so that a plate surface is parallel to the short direction Y of the housing 4. The connector terminals 3 are disposed to be opposed to each other with the mating chamber 4d of the housing 4 therebetween. The substrate connecting section 6 downwardly protrudes so as to support the housing 4 with a gap between the housing 4 and the substrate P while the fixing piece 10 is fixed to the housing 4.
[Proximal End]
As shown in
[Front Terminal]
As shown in
[Rear Terminal]
The rear terminal 9 is disposed adjacent to the front terminal 8, and extends upward from the proximal end 7. As shown in
The contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 is disposed on the distal end of the elastic arm 9a on the lower side of the contact portion 8b of the front terminal 8. The contact portion 9b has a contact edge 9A. The contact edge 9A is disposed on one of three sides of the contact portion 9b formed in a substantially triangular shape, which is an edge facing the plug connector 2 in a mating position. This edge is inclined to a virtual line L2 which extends in an insertion direction of the plug connector 2. Further, the contact edge 9A includes a rear contact 9b1. The rear contact 9b1 protrudes from the slit 4e1 on the inner wall 4e of the housing 4 so as to be in press contact with the plug terminal 2 in the mating chamber 4d. The rear contact 9b1 is disposed on the edge of a portion of the contact edge 9A protruding from the slit 4e1. More specifically, the rear contact 9b1 is a portion of the edge from the contact position that is initially in contact with the plug connector 2 which is inserted into the insertion port 4c to the contact position which is in contact with the plug connector 2 in a regular mating position. The rear contact 9b1 is in press contact with the terminal surface 2a of the plug terminal 5 in the mating chamber 4d. A mating contact 9b2 is disposed on a lower end of the rear contact 9b1 so as to be in contact with the plug terminal 5. The mating contact 9b2 protrudes from the slit 4e1 on the inner wall 4e of the housing 4 so as to be in contact with the terminal surface 5a of the plug terminal 5 in the mating chamber 4d at a regular contact position.
Further, a distal end 9b3 of the contact portion 9b is formed in a chevron shape protruding upward. A height position of the distal end 9b3 is provided higher than the lower end of the contact portion 8b of the front terminal 8 so that the distal end 9b3 is housed in the gap 11. With this configuration, the position of the distal end 9b3 is limited in the gap 11. Accordingly, the distal end 9b3 of the rear terminal 9 does not protrude from the terminal housing groove 4a into the mating chamber 4d of the housing 4, thereby preventing the distal end 9b3 of the rear terminal 9 from being bent or buckled toward inside of the mating chamber 4d by the plug connector 2 abutting during mating. Further, since the distal end 9b3 of the contact portion 9b is housed in the gap 11, an increased spring length of the elastic arm 9a can be achieved in a narrow space of the housing 4.
When the connector terminal 3 is subject to an external force during mounting on the housing 4, the elastic arm 9a of the rear terminal 9 may be bent from a continuous portion to the proximal end 7 toward the mating chamber 4d. However, according to the connector terminal 3 of the present embodiment, even if such a failure occurs, the distal end 9b3 of the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 comes into contact with the contact portion 8b of the front terminal 8. Accordingly, occurrence of a failure of protruding of the contact portion 9b into the mating chamber 4d can be prevented. This can prevent mating failure due to buckling or bending of the rear terminal 9 into the mating chamber 4d caused by the plug connector 2 abutting the distal end 9b3 of the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 during mating. Further, if the rear terminal 9 comes into contact with the plug connector 2 and is displaced, there may be a case where a failure may occur in which the rear terminal 9 comes into contact with the front terminal 8. However, it is possible to avoid a large problem due to buckling or bending of the rear terminal 9 into the mating chamber 4d caused by the plug connector 2 abutting the distal end 9b3 of the rear terminal 9 which protrudes into the mating chamber 4d during mating. Accordingly, contact by the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 can be ensured.
The contact pressure of the rear terminal 9 is set higher than the contact pressure of the front terminal 8. This relation of the contact pressure can be achieved, for example, by narrowing the interval between the mating contacts 9b2, 9b2 of the rear terminals 9, 9 of the connector terminals 5, 5 which are opposed in the housing 4 with the mating chamber 4d interposed therebetween compared with the interval between the mating contacts 8b2, 8b2 of the front terminals 8, 8. Further, with this configuration, the rear terminals 9 can be disposed closer to the plug connector 2 in a mating state than the front terminals 8 is. Accordingly, the contact edges 9A or the mating contacts 9b2 of the rear terminals 9 which are disposed in the mating chamber 4d at deeper positions in the insertion direction of the plug connector 2 can be reliably brought into contact with the plug connector 2. Further, the spring constant of the rear terminal 9 is also set higher than the spring constant of the front terminal 8. Accordingly, the rear terminal 9 is ensured to be in contact of with the plug connector 2, thereby further improving connection reliability of the rear terminal 9.
[Foreign Substance Removing Function of Front Terminal]
As the plug connector 2 mates with the connector 1, the plug terminal 5 and the connector terminal 3 are electrically connected. However, there may be a case where a foreign substance such as substrate residue or dust is attached on the terminal surface 5a of the plug terminal 5. In this case, when the rear contact 9b1 comes into contact with the terminal surface 5a of the plug terminal 5, a foreign substance is caught between the rear contact 9b1 and the terminal surface 5a of the plug terminal 5, leading to unstable electric connection between the rear contact 9b1 and the plug terminal 5.
On the other hand, according to the connector 1 of the present embodiment, the front contact 8b1 of the front terminal 8 is disposed on the upper side of the rear contact 9b1 as shown in
[Contact Prevention Structure of Rear Terminal and Front Terminal]
In this embodiment, the front contact 8b1 of the front terminal 8 in a non-mating state is disposed at a position closer to the plug terminal 5 in a mating position than a displacement fulcrum 8c of the elastic arm 8a is in the front and rear direction Y. Accordingly, the elastic arm 8a is formed to be inclined from the connecting portion connected to the proximal end 7 to the distal end in a mating direction with the plug terminal 5. Further, when the plug terminal 5 is in press contact with the front contact 8b1 of the front terminal 8 during mating of the plug connector 2 and the connector 1, the elastic arm 8a is rotated in an upright direction (indicated by the arrow L1 in
On the other hand, a displacement fulcrum 9c located at the root of the elastic arm 9a of the rear terminal 9 in a non-mating state is disposed at a position closer to the plug terminal 5 in a mating position than the rear contact 9b1 is in the front and rear direction Y. Accordingly, a straight line connecting the displacement fulcrum 9c and the rear contact 9b1 (which is not shown in the figure) is inclined toward the front terminal 8 in a direction indicated by the arrow L2 (
Since the contact portion 8b of the front terminal 8 is displaced to the obliquely upper side and the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 is displaced to the obliquely lower side, the distal end 9b3 of the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 can be escaped from the gap 11 of the front terminal 8 without touching the front terminal 8. Then, the contact portion 8b of the front terminal 8 and the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 are connected to the plug terminal 5 in a state of being displaced away from each other.
Further, in the present embodiment, the insertion direction of the plug connector 2 is the down direction of the connector 1. When the plug connector 2 is inserted, the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 is displaced to the obliquely lower side. That is, when an operator inserts the plug connector 2 into the connector 1, he/she applies a pressing force in the down direction of the up and down direction Z to insert the plug connector 2 into the connector 1. Here, the rear terminal 9 does not resist the pressing force from the plug connector 2 and is displaced downward in the insertion direction of the plug connector 2. As a result, the operator can smoothly perform a mating operation with reduced resistance applied in insertion of the plug connector 2 into the connector 1.
According to the connector 1 of the present embodiment, even if the rear terminal 9 is pressed and displaced by the plug connector 2, the rear terminal 9 can be prevented from being easily in contact with the elastic arm 8a of the front terminal 8. Therefore, the connector terminal 3 can be prevented from being easily bent or buckled when pressed by the plug connector 2. In addition to that, since the contact pressure of the rear terminal 9 can be easily maintained, the connector 1 with high connection reliability can be provided.
In the first embodiment, an example has been described in which the displacement fulcrum 9c of the elastic arm 9a of the rear terminal 9 is located closer to the plug connector 2 in the mating position than the rear contact 9b1 of the contact portion 9b which is in press contact with the plug connector 2 is. On the other hand, as shown in
In the above embodiments, an example has been described in which the elastic arm 9a of the rear terminal 9 includes the bent portion 9a1. On the other hand, the elastic arm 9a of the rear terminal 9 may not necessarily include the bent portion 9a1 and may be formed in a substantially straight shape. In this case, although a spring length of the elastic arm 9a is decreased compared with that having the bent portion 9a1, the material cost for the connector terminal 3 can be reduced since it does not have a long spring length.
In the above embodiments, an example has been described in which the gap 11 is provided between the rear edge 8b3 and the elastic arm 8a of the front terminal 8, and the height position of the distal end 9b3 of the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 is provided higher than the lower end of the contact portion 8b of the front terminal 8 so that the distal end 9b3 of the contact portion 9b of the rear terminal 9 is housed in the gap 11. However, as shown in sub-figure (a) of
Further, as shown in sub-figure (b) of
Moreover, an angle θ1 of the rear contact 9b1 of the rear terminal 9 to the virtual line L2 which is along the insertion direction of the plug connector 2 can be set smaller than an angle θ2 of the front contact 8b1 of the front terminal 8 to the virtual line L3 (
In the above embodiments, an example has been described in which the distal end 9b3 does not come into contact with the front terminal 8 and protrude into the mating chamber 4d even if the rear terminal 9 deforms due to manufacturing reasons. On the other hand, if there is no need of accommodating such a problem, the front terminal 8 may be provided so as to be in contact with the rear terminal 9 (as an example, see sub-figure (b) of
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-028906 | Feb 2014 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2015/054499 | 2/18/2015 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2015/125839 | 8/27/2015 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170054241 A1 | Feb 2017 | US |
