Patent Application
20240356257
This application claims priority to and the benefit of Italian Patent Application No. 102023000007560 filed Apr. 18, 2023, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to the technical field of electrical connectors. In particular, the present invention refers to a connector cover for an electrical connector suitable to receive a flexible flat cable (FFC) or a flexible printed circuit (FPC).
Electrical connectors suitable to receive FFC/FPC are commonly used, for example, in batteries for vehicles or similar devices.
These electrical connectors comprise a cover, that stays in an open position to allow the insertion of the FFC/FPC into the connector but that can also be brought to a lock position to fix the FFC/FPC in place for the welding of the FFC/FPC to the connector. Moreover, the trend for this kind of connectors is to have small dimensions, of the order of a few mm, better of the order of 5-10 mm, so as to fit also into small spaces.
One of the problems related to this kind of covers is to assure that the cover remains in an open position during transportation operations and while being handled during the assembly processes, avoiding an accidental and too-early closure before the FFC/FPC is in the right position to be welded to the connector. A further problem is to avoid an accidental and too-early closure, assuring at the same time the possibility to close the cover in a lock position, even when the connector has to be used in very small spaces.
In the state of the art related to this type of connectors movable covers are often employed. A movable cover is in a free open position, before the welding of the FFC/FPC to the connector and to allow the insertion of the FFC/FPC in the connector, and can be pivotally rotated to a closed position before the welding procedure. The problem of these covers is that accidental and too-early closure of same are not avoidable.
In some cases, the cover is in a fixed pre-lock position, before the welding of the FFC/FPC to the connector and to allow the insertion of the FFC/FPC in the connector and can be pivotally rotated to a lock position before the welding procedure. The problem of these covers is that in order to pivotally rotate the cover form the pre-lock position to the lock-position it is necessary to operate laterally on the connector, therefore the use of same into small spaces is not guaranteed.
Documents showing connectors with covers pivotally rotatable to a lock position according to the prior art are: EP 0926778 A2 and US 2002/0081883 A1.
The present invention relates to a connector cover for a FFC/FPC connector comprising at least one electric terminals array, wherein the cover is slidable along a sliding direction from a fixed pre-lock position, in which at least one FFC/FPC can be inserted into the cover connector along an insertion direction, to a fixed lock-position, in which the at least one
FFC/FPC is blocked into the connector and can thus be welded to the at least one electric terminals array of the connector.
In this way, an accidental and too early closure of the connector device can be efficiently avoided, even for very small connectors that needs to be mounted in small spaces. Moreover, a possible accidental and too early closure of the connector device is avoided without adding components to the connector device and assuring, in this way, the possibility to not increase the dimensions of same. Finally, since the cover is slidable from a pre-lock position to a lock position the use of the connector in small spaces can be also easily guaranteed.
According to a preferred embodiment, the cover comprises a main body and cover pins protruding from the main body, wherein the cover pins extend along the sliding direction. The cover pins can advantageously be configured to engage the cover in the pre-lock position and in the lock-position.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the cover pins comprise protruding hooks suitable to engage into the connector so as to fix the connector cover in the pre-lock position or in the lock-position. In particular, the hooks may be configured to alternatively fix the connector cover in the pre-lock position or in the lock-position.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the cover pins are elastically movable from an engaged position to an unengaged position. This is particularly advantageous because the movement of the pins is automatically controlled by exploiting the elasticity of same. In particular, the elastic force may tend to keep the cover pins in the engaged position. The user may act on the pins to disengage same, thus acting against the elastic force. Once the action of the user is stopped, the pins may automatically return into the engaged position by the action of the elastic force.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the main body comprises through-holes for reaching the cover pins so as to move the cover pins from an engaged position to an unengaged position. This allows further reducing the dimensions of the system. In particular, since the pins are reachable via through holes provided in the main body, there is no need to access the system from the sides, so that the lateral encumbrance of the system can be reduced.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the body further comprises welding holes, through which the at least one FFC/FPC can be welded to the at least one electric terminals array of the FFC/FPC connector. This allows optimizing the size of the system because no lateral access is needed to perform the welding operations.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the main body further comprises staple arms, extending into the sliding direction, to block the FFC/FPC so that it can be welded to the at least one electric terminals array of the connector, when the connector cover is in the lock position. In this way, the FFC/FPC is securely held into position during the welding operations.
The present invention further concerns a connector device comprising a FFC/FPC connector comprising at least one electric terminals array, and a connector cover according to any of the embodiments described above. Since the cover of the connector device is slidable along a sliding direction from a fixed pre-lock position to a fixed lock-position, the encumbrance of the device can be reduced.
According to a preferred embodiment, the connector comprises guiding holes suitable to receive the cover pins of the connector cover. The guiding holes may be configured to receive and guide the cover pins during sliding of the cover from the pre-lock position to the lock-position and vice versa.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the guiding holes further comprise a pre-lock recess, in which the protruding hook of the cover pin can engage when the connector cover is in the fixed pre-lock position and a locking recess, in which the protruding hook of the cover pin can engage when the connector cover is in the fixed lock position.
According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the FFC/FPC connector is a double row connector and the connector device accordingly comprises a second connector cover according to any of the embodiments described above. In particular, the connector device accordingly comprises two covers according to the present invention. The two covers are advantageously slidable along one and the same direction or along parallel directions. Nevertheless, in order to bring the two covers from the pre-lock position to the lock position and vice-versa, it may be necessary to slide the two covers along opposite ways.
According to a particularly advantageous embodiment, the two covers of the double row connector are identical. To have identical covers is, in fact, economically advantageous. The position of the cover pins and their protruding hooks can be designed to this purpose. Nevertheless, this is not mandatory and the two covers may be different.
The present invention further concerns a connector assembly comprising a connector device according to any of the embodiments described above and at least one FFC/FPC welded to the at least one electric terminals array of the FFC/FPC connector. The connector assembly according to the invention may advantageously be implemented into a battery for a vehicle or the like.
The present invention further concerns a connector kit comprising a connector device according to any of the embodiments described above and a locking tool suitable to allow the sliding of the cover along a sliding direction from the fixed pre-lock position to the fixed lockposition. The locking tool is advantageously configured to operate with the cover to bring the cover from the fixed pre-lock position to the fixed lock-position and, preferably, vice versa as well.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the locking tool comprises a locking tool main body and locking tool pins, wherein the locking tool pins are configured to allow the elastic movement of the cover pins from the engaged position to the unengaged position and/or vice versa. For example, the locking pins may be configured to allow the protruding hooks of the cover to slide from the pre-lock recess of the connector to the locking recess of the connector and/or vice versa.
The locking tool further comprises a pressing tool configured to push the connector cover so as to slide it along a sliding direction to the fixed lock-position. The pressing tool also presses the connector cover against the connector, so to have a zero gap state, when the FFC/FPC is welded to the corresponding electric terminals array.
The present invention further concerns a method to form a connector assembly comprising the following steps: providing a connector device according to any of the embodiments described above with the connector cover fixed in the pre-lock position; inserting a FFC/FPC into the connector so that it is in the right electrical contact position to be welded to the electric terminals of the connector; sliding the cover from the pre-lock position to the lock position, so as to block the FFC/FPC in the right electrical contact position to be welded to the electric terminals of the connector. The method may further comprise the step of welding the FFC/FPC.
The present invention will be described with reference to the attached figures in which the same reference numerals and/or signs indicate the same part and/or similar and/or corresponding parts of the machine.
In the following, the present invention is described with reference to particular embodiments as shown in the enclosed drawings. Nevertheless, the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described in the following detailed description and shown in the figures, but, instead, the embodiments described simply exemplify several aspects of the present invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.
Further modifications and variations of the present invention will be clear for the person skilled in the art. Therefore, the present description has to be considered as including all the modifications and/or variations of the present invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.
For simplicity, identical or corresponding components are indicated in the figures with the same reference numbers.
A FFC/FPC connector 100 according to the present invention is suitable to host at least one FFC/FPC 300 and comprises, therefore, at least one electric terminals array 101, suitable to put the FFC/FPC connector 100 in electrical contact with a corresponding FFC/FPC 300. The electric terminals array 101 is made of an electrical conductive material, for example a metallic material. The FFC/FPC 300 preferably comprises conductors trails, for example made of copper and/or aluminum. The FFC/FPC connector 100 comprises at least an insertion aperture 106, through which the FFC/FPC 300 can be inserted in the FFC/FPC connector 100.
The cover 200, applied on a FFC/FPC connector 100, according to the present invention, is slidable along a sliding direction Z (vertical in the figure) from a fixed pre-lock position PLP to a fixed lock position LP. In the fixed pre-lock position of the cover, a FFC/FPC 300 can be inserted into the FFC/FPC connector 100 along an insertion direction X. Moreover, if the cover is kept in this pre-lock position, the FFC/FPC 300 can also be removed from the connector. In the fixed lock position LP of the cover, the FFC/FPC 300 is blocked into the connector and can accordingly be welded to the electric terminals array 101 of the FFC/FPC connector 100.
Accordingly, with reference to the enclosed figures, Y is defined as the direction perpendicular both to the sliding direction Z and the insertion direction X and is referred to as connector plane direction. In this way a Cartesian reference system XYZ is defined, which will be conveniently used, in the following, to further describe the present invention.
The FFC/FPC connector 100 comprises guiding holes 102 parallel to the sliding direction Z, a pre-lock recess 103 and a lock recess 104, whose use will be better explained when describing more in detail the connector cover 200 shown in
The FFC/FPC connector 100 has a length along the connector plane direction Y, in function of the number of terminals in the electric terminals array 101, for example of the order of 22 mm. According to a preferred embodiment the number of terminals can be, for example, 10. The FFC/FPC connector 100 has a length along the insertion direction X, for example, of the order of 14.5 mm. The FFC/FPC connector 100 has a length along the sliding direction Z, for example, of the order of 6.7 mm.
The FFC/FPC connector 100 shown in
The two connector covers 200 are slidable along the sliding direction Z from a fixed pre-lock position PLP, in which the two FFC/FPC 300 can respectively be inserted into the FFC/FPC connector 100 along an insertion direction X, to a fixed lock position LP, in which the two FFC/FPC 300 are blocked into the connector and can thus be welded to the corresponding electric terminals array 101 of each connector half forming the double row FFC/FPC connector 100. The two connector covers 200, in
More in particular,
More in particular,
More in particular,
The connector cover 200 comprises a main body 201 and cover pins 202 protruding from the main body 201. The cover pins 202 extend along the sliding direction Z. The main body 201 extends parallel to the XY plane. Moreover, the cover pins 202 comprise protruding hooks 203 suitable to engage into the connector 100, so as to fix the connector cover 200 in the pre-lock position PLP or in the lock position LP. More in particular, the cover pins 202 can be inserted into the guiding holes 102 of the FFC/FPC connector 100 parallel to the sliding direction Z, and are elastically movable from an engaged position to an unengaged position. More specifically, the protruding hooks 203 have a profile so as to properly engage in the pre-lock recess 103 or in the lock recess 104 of the FFC/FPC connector 100, when the cover pins 202 are in an engaged position. This is better visible in
The main body 201 of the connector cover 200 further comprises through-holes 204 for reaching the cover pins 202, for example by means of a locking tool 400, as schematically shown in
The main body 201 further comprises welding holes 205, through which the FFC/FPC 300, properly inserted into the insertion aperture 106 of the FFC/FPC connector 100, can be welded to the electric terminals array 101 of the FFC/FPC connector 100.
The main body 201 further comprises staple arms 206, extending along the sliding direction Z and suitable to block the FFC/FPC 300 in position, so that it can be welded to the electric terminals array 101 of the connector 100, when the connector cover 200 is in the lock position LP.
More in particular,
The connector cover 200 comprises a cover main body 201 and cover pins 202. The cover pins 202 are inserted inside the guiding hole 102 of the FFC/FPC connector 100.
Each cover pin 202 ends with a protruding hook 203 which abuts toward the FFC/FPC connector 100, along the connector plane direction Y. The guiding hole 102 of the FFC/FPC connector 200 comprises a pre-lock recess 103 inside which the protruding hook 203 can engage. When the protruding hook 203 is inserted inside the pre-lock recess 103, the cover 200 is in the fixed pre-lock position PLP, from which it cannot accidentally move, excluding the possibility of an accidental and/or too early closure of the connector device. In fact, the connector cover 200 can slide to the fixed locked position LP only using a specific locking tool 400, as will be explained describing
The figure shows the cover pins 202 inserted into the guiding hole 102, with the protruding hook 203 engaged in the pre-lock recess 103. The connector cover 200 is accordingly fixed in the pre-lock position PLP.
This figure shows the connector device 1000 from above. In particular, the cover main body 201, the through-holes 204 and the welding holes 205 of the connector cover 200 are visible.
More in particular
More in particular the figures from 5A to 5C show the steps leading the connector cover 200 to slide from the fixed pre-lock position PLP to the fixed lock position LP.
Finally,
In the following, a method to form a connector assembly 2000 according to the present invention is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: providing a connector group 1000 according to the present invention with the cover 200 fixed in the pre-lock position PLP; inserting a FFC/FPC 300 into the connector 100 so that it is in the right electrical contact position to be welded to the electric terminals array 101 of the connector 100; sliding the cover 200 from the pre-lock position PLP to the lock position LP, so as to block the FFC/FPC 300 in the right electrical contact position to be welded to the electric terminals array 101 of the connector 100.
The method further comprises the step of using the locking tool 400 to elastically move the cover pins 202 from an engaged position to an unengaged position.
Finally the method further comprises the step of using the locking tool 400 to allow the sliding of the protruding hooks 203 of the cover pins 202 from the pre-lock position PLP to the lock position LP.
Even though the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments described above, it is clear to those skilled in the art that it is possible to make different modifications of the present invention in light of the teaching described above and in the appended claims, without departing from the scope of protection of the invention.
For example, even if a double row FFC/FPC connector has been shown in detail, the present invention is not limited to double row connectors, but comprises also single row connectors, i.e. connectors with a single cover according to the present invention. Moreover, even if the two covers of the double row connector have been shown as being identical, the present invention is not limited thereto and comprises also configurations of the double row connector with two different covers, for example with two covers according to different embodiments of the present invention, or with a cover according to an embodiment of the present invention and a cover not according to the present invention.
Moreover, the number of terminals of the electric terminals array and, consequently, the dimensions of the FFC/FPC connector can vary according to needs and are not limited to the examples described above.
Finally, those aspects that are considered known by those skilled in the art have not been described in order to avoid needlessly excessively obscuring the description of the invention.
Consequently, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but is only limited by the scope of protection of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102023000007560 | Apr 2023 | IT | national |
