This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, particularly, to a connector for terminating a flat circuit, such as a flat flexible circuit, a flexible printed circuit or other flat electrical cable.
A wide variety of electrical connectors have been designed for terminating flat cables or circuits, such as flat flexible cables, flexible printed circuits or the like. A typical connector for flat circuits includes a dielectric housing molded of plastic material, for instance. The housing has an elongated opening or slot for receiving an end of the flat circuit which has generally parallel, laterally spaced conductors exposed across the end. A plurality of terminals are mounted in the housing and are spaced laterally along the slot, with contact portions of the terminals engageable with the laterally spaced conductors of the flat circuit. An actuator often is movably mounted on the housing for movement between a first position whereat the flat circuit is freely insertable into the slot and a second position whereat the actuator clamps the circuit in the housing and biases the circuit against the contact portions of the terminals.
One of the problems with flat circuit connectors of the character described above, is that when an excessive withdrawal force is placed or pulled on the flat circuit, the actuator can possibly rotate and inadvertently release the flat circuit from the connector. The present invention is directed to solving this and other problems of the prior art.
Examples of such prior art flat circuit connectors are shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-190,360; Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-45,581; and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open 3-103,578.
An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new and improved electrical connector for terminating a flat electrical circuit, such as connecting a flat electrical circuit to a printed circuit board.
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the connector includes a dielectric housing having an opening for receiving an end of the flat circuit. A plurality of terminals are mounted on the housing in a side-by-side array and are spaced along the opening. At least some of the terminals comprise flexible contact terminals which have mounting sections for fixing the terminal in the dielectric housing. Each such terminal includes a tail section projecting from one end of the mounting section outside the housing for connection to an appropriate circuit trace on the printed circuit board. A flexible contact arm projects from an opposite end of the mounting section into the opening. An actuator section is disposed between the flexible contact arm and the mounting section. An actuator is movably mounted on the housing for movement between and open position allowing the flat circuit to be inserted into the opening and a closed position in engagement with the actuator portions of the flexible contact terminals to bias the flexible contact arms into engagement with the flat circuit.
According to one aspect of the invention, other of said terminals comprise pivot/cam terminals having pivot means to mount the actuator for pivotal movement between the open and closed positions. The pivot/cam terminals have a cam surface for engaging a cam portion of the actuator to provide a back-up as the cam portion biases the flexible contact arms against the flat circuit. In the preferred embodiment, the pivot means of the pivot/cam terminals comprise a pivot socket for receiving the cam portion of the actuator and pivotally mounting the actuator for movement between the open and closed positions.
According to another aspect of the invention, the pivot socket of each pivot/cam terminal has an open mouth to allow the cam portion of the actuator to be inserted thereinto when the actuator is assembled to the housing in its open position. The terminals which have the flexible contact arms include blocking portions to prevent the cam portion of the actuator from pulling out of the pivot socket when the actuator is in its closed position. In the preferred embodiment, the cam portion has a narrow dimension in cross-section and a wide dimension generally perpendicular to the narrow dimension. Therefore, the narrow dimension can pass through the mouth of the pivot socket when the actuator is in its open position. The blocking portions of the flexible contact terminals prevent the wide dimension from moving out of the mouth when the actuator is in its closed position.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the flexible contact arms of the flexible contact terminals engage one side of the flat circuit. The pivot/cam terminals include generally rigid contact arms for engaging an opposite side of the flat circuit, along with tail portions for connection to appropriate circuit traces on the printed circuit board. In the preferred embodiment, the pivot/cam terminals are rigidly mounted at a bottom of the housing such that the rigid contact arms are engageable with a bottom side of the flat circuit. The flexible contact terminals are mounted on the housing with the flexible contact arms located at a top of the housing for engaging a top side of the flat circuit.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The features of this invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with its objects and the advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements in the figures and in which:
a is a front-to-rear vertical section through a flat circuit connector according to a first embodiment of the invention, with the actuator in its open position and showing one of the flexible contact terminals;
b is a view similar to that of
a and 2b are views similar to that of
a-18b are sequential views showing the operation of the connector in conjunction with a flat circuit;
Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to
Generally, a plurality of terminals are mounted on housing 26 in a side-by-side array and are spaced along opening 28. Specifically, and referring to
Referring to
Referring to
a-18b show the sequence of operation of flat circuit connector 22 in conjunction with an inserted flat circuit 24. Specifically,
When flat circuit 24 is fully inserted into abutment with the front edges of the pivot/cam sections 38e, actuator 30 is pivoted downwardly in the direction of arrows “E” as shown in
Actuator 30 is pivoted downwardly until it reaches its closed position shown in
It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics thereof. The present examples and embodiments, therefore, are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003-356043 | Oct 2003 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US2004/033636 | 10/12/2004 | WO | 00 | 12/19/2006 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2005/038992 | 4/28/2005 | WO | A |
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