JPH07282917A - Flexible flat cable connector - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] By achieving a zero insertion force structure without using a slider, the number of steps for inserting a flexible flat cable into a housing is reduced, and both cost reduction and improvement in insertion workability are achieved. . A flexible flat cable connector (6) for connecting a flexible flat cable (1) integrally provided with a reinforcing plate (2) on the upper surface of the insertion side, the insulation having an empty space (7) for inserting the flexible flat cable (1). Elastic housing 8, a plurality of contacts 10 having free ends 10a disposed in a plurality of groove portions 9 formed in parallel in the housing 8, and an elastic upper surface of the flexible flat cable 1 when the insertion is completed. And a lock member 11 for pressing and holding it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an insertion force used for connecting a flexible flat cable such as a flexible printed circuit board (Flexible printed circuit board or so-called FPC) which constitutes an internal circuit of a VTR, a mobile phone, a camera or the like. The present invention relates to a zero structure flexible flat cable connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a connector for a flexible flat cable having a zero insertion force structure (so-called ZIF structure) of the above-mentioned example, there is a structure described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-87862.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of movable contacts 52 are arranged side by side in a case 51 having an insulating property, and a slider 54 having an operation piece 53 along the upper surface of the movable contacts 52 is provided. An FPC 55 insertion hole 56 is opened in the slider 54, and the FPC 55 inserted in the hole 56 is inserted.
Accordingly, when the above-mentioned slider 54 is pushed leftward in the drawing, the protrusion for releasing the pressing force on the free end 52a of the movable contact 52 to bring the free end 52a into contact with the FPC 55. A flexible flat cable connector 57 is formed at the tip of the operation piece 53 of the slider 54.

According to this conventional configuration, there is an advantage that a zero insertion force structure can be achieved, but there are the following problems. In other words, to connect the FPC55, first of all, FP
It is necessary to insert the C55 into the hole portion 56 of the slider 54 and push the slider 54 into the housing 51 after the insertion, which requires two steps for inserting the FPC 55, which increases the number of insertion steps. There is a problem that automation of FPC55 insertion becomes difficult.

In addition, since it is necessary to separately form the slider 54 with respect to the housing 51, the structure is complicated and the manufacturing cost is increased, as a matter of course.
Due to the insufficient insertion of the FPC 55 into the lower surface of the operation piece 53 of the above, the circuit elements formed on the FPC 55 and the movable contact 5 are
There was a problem that a poor contact with the 2 tends to occur.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention achieves a zero insertion force structure (so-called ZIF structure) without using a slider, so that the number of steps of inserting a flexible flaky cable into a housing is increased. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector for a flexible flat cable that can reduce the cost and achieve both cost reduction and improvement of insertion workability.

According to the invention of claim 2 of the present invention, in addition to the object of the invention of claim 1, the flexible flat cable is inserted from an oblique direction and then rotated by using the insertion tip side as a fulcrum. The flexible flat cable connector has a structure in which the insertion of the flexible flat cable is completed, and the workability of inserting the flexible flat cable can be further improved, and the insertion of the flexible flat cable can be automated. For the purpose of provision.

In addition to the object of the invention described in claim 1 or 2, the invention according to claim 3 of the present invention provides a flexible flat cable by providing the free end of the contactor with a flexible spring property in a predetermined direction. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector for a flexible flat cable, which enables good contact between the circuit element and the contactor of the flexible flat cable without wear of the cable during insertion and removal.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention, in addition to the object of the invention of claim 1, 2 or 3, a hold down portion is provided on a lock member for elastically pressing and holding the upper surface of the flexible flat cable. It is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible flat cable connector which can be simplified in structure and can be reduced in cost by being integrally formed.

The invention according to claim 5 of the present invention, together with the object of the invention according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4,
By using a reinforcing plate made of high-strength material and by adopting a unique retaining structure, it is possible to secure the contact force of the flexible flat cable with respect to the contact and to prevent disconnection and insufficient insertion after inserting the cable. An object of the present invention is to provide a flexible flat cable connector that can be designed.

[0011]

The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a flexible flat cable connector for connecting a flexible flat cable in which a reinforcing plate is integrally disposed on an insertion side upper surface, An insulative housing having a space for inserting a flexible flat cable, a plurality of contacts having free ends arranged in a plurality of groove portions formed in parallel in the housing, and the flexible flat when the insertion is completed. A connector for a flexible flat cable including a lock member that elastically presses and holds the upper surface of the cable.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention, the insertion space of the flexible flat cable is shaped to allow the insertion of the flexible flat cable from an oblique direction. And a top surface of the flexible flat cable rotated in the free end direction of the contact with the insertion tip side as a fulcrum is a flexible flat cable connector elastically pressed and held by the lock member. And

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the structure of the first or second aspect of the invention, each free end of the plurality of contacts has a direction toward the inner bottom of the groove and after insertion is completed. The flexible flat cable connector is configured to have a flexible spring property in the direction of the flexible flat cable.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first, second or third aspect of the present invention, the lock member is integrally formed with a hold-down portion which is attached to a substrate during mounting. It is a connector for flexible flat cables.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the structure of the first, second, third or fourth aspect of the invention,
The reinforcing plate is made of a high-strength material, the reinforcing plate and the flexible flacket cable insertion side is wide,
The lead-out side is formed to be narrow, and the step portion of the wide portion and the narrow portion is
The flexible flat cable connector is set as an abutting portion that abuts a retaining portion formed integrally with the housing.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the flexible flat cable is inserted into the void of the insulative housing, and when the insertion is completed, the flexible flat cable is integrally provided on the insertion side upper surface. When the reinforcing plate is elastically pressed and held by the above-mentioned lock member, the circuit element of the flexible flat cable can be connected to the free ends of the contacts located in the plurality of groove portions provided in parallel in the housing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
When a flexible flat cable is obliquely inserted into the cable insertion space of the housing and the flexible flat cable is rotated toward the free end of the contact using the insertion tip side as a fulcrum, the flexible flat cable is reinforced. The plate is elastically held by the above-mentioned locking member so that the circuit element of the flexible flat cable can be connected to the free ends of the contacts.

According to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention,
Each free end of the plurality of contacts described above is biased in a direction away from the inner bottom direction of the groove portion by a flexible spring property when the flexible flat cable is not inserted, and the flexible flat cable is inserted with the insertion operation of the flexible flat cable. After the free end of the contact is displaced toward the inner bottom of the groove, after the insertion of the flexible flat cable is completed, the free end of the contact is restored toward the flexible flat cable at the insertion completion position by the restoring force. Contact with the circuit elements of the flexible flat cable.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention,
When the connector is mounted on the board, it can be mounted on the board by, for example, soldering means using the hold-down portion integrally formed with the lock member.

According to the invention of claim 5 of the present invention,
Since the reinforcing plate is made of a high-strength material, not only the strength of the reinforcing plate can be improved but also the rigidity of the flexible flat cable reinforced by the reinforcing plate can be secured. Further, the reinforcing plate and the flexible flat cable have a wide insertion side and a narrow extraction side, and the step portions of the wide portion and the narrow portion are in contact with the retaining portion of the housing. Since this setting is made, the contact portion comes into contact with the retaining portion to retain the flexible flat cable.

[0021]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a zero insertion force structure (so-called ZIF structure) can be achieved without using a slider. Since pushing operation is unnecessary,
The number of steps of inserting the flexible flat cable into the housing can be reduced, and there is an effect that both cost reduction and improvement in insertion workability can be achieved.

According to the invention of claim 2 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, since the flexible flat cable can be inserted from an oblique direction, a sufficiently wide insertion direction space (operation space for insertion) is generally ensured for a microminiature connector. And the flexibility of the insertion operation is improved.

In addition, when the flexible flat cable inserted from an oblique direction is rotated about the insertion tip side as a fulcrum, the insertion of the flexible flat cable is completed, so that it is compared with the insertion workability in the case of using the conventional slider. Then, such workability can be further improved, and since a complicated operation is not required at the time of insertion, the insertion can be automated.

According to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1 or 2, since the free end of the contactor has a flexible spring property in the prescribed direction described above, the flexible flat cable is worn when the cable is inserted or removed. In addition, there is an effect that the circuit element of the flexible flat cable and the free end of the contact can be satisfactorily brought into contact with each other by the flexible spring property.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3, since the hold down portion is formed integrally with the lock member, there is no need to provide a separate hold down member,
It is possible to reduce the number of parts, simplify the structure, and reduce the cost.

According to the invention of claim 5 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, since the reinforcing plate is made of a high-strength material, it is possible to secure the contact force of the flexible flat cable with respect to the contactor. In addition, since the above-mentioned abutting portion formed on the reinforcing plate and the flexible flat cable comes into contact with the retaining portion on the housing side to perform retaining, it is possible to prevent the detachment after the flexible flat cable is inserted, and At the time of insertion, there is an effect that insufficient insertion can be prevented.

[0027]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The drawings show a connector for a flexible flat cable, and in FIGS. 1 and 2, a flexible printed wiring board (Flex
Abbreviation of ible printed circles, abbreviated to FPC at the end below.) A reinforcing plate 2 made of high-strength material such as glass epoxy, metal, engineering plastic (so-called engineering plastic) is integrally bonded and fixed on the upper surface of the insertion side of 1. ing.

Here, the reinforcing plate 2 and the FPC 1 described above are formed with a wide width on the insertion side and a narrow width on the lead-out side as shown in FIG. The step portion between the narrow portion 3 and the narrow portion 4 is set as the contact portion 5.

FP in which the above-mentioned reinforcing plate 2 is integrally arranged
The connector 6 for connecting C1 is provided with the above-mentioned empty space 7 for inserting the FPC 1 and is formed in a substantially box-shaped housing 8 made of an insulating material such as a synthetic resin, and is provided in parallel with the above-mentioned housing 8 to be recessed. The plurality of (six in this embodiment) groove portions 9 ... And the same number of conductive contacts 10 having the free ends 10a thereof arranged, and the upper surface of the FPC 1 when the insertion is completed, that is, the reinforcing plate 2 And a metal lock member 11 for elastically pressing and holding the lock member.

The above-mentioned housing 8 is provided with a lower housing 8L and an upper housing 8U which are integrally formed. The upper housing 8U is set to have a length from the rear end to the central portion of the lower housing 8L, and the height of the lower housing 8L. Is set to a height lower than the top deck surface of the upper housing 8U, and an opening 12 communicating with the above-mentioned insertion space 7 is formed between these housings 8L and 8U, so that the insertion space 7 On the other hand, the FPC 1 is formed so that it can be inserted from an oblique direction.

Further, the lower housing 8L is formed with a lead-out portion 13 for leading out the above-mentioned narrow portion 4, and the above-mentioned contact portions 5 are brought into contact with both sides of the lead-out portion 13 to prevent coming off. The retaining portions 14, 14 for achieving the above are integrally formed upright.

Further, on the lower surface of the above-mentioned upper housing 8U, there is formed a tapered portion 15 having a tapered shape so as not to obstruct the oblique insertion of the FPC 1.

By the way, the lock member 11 which elastically presses and holds the upper surface of the FPC 1 which is rotated downward in the direction of the free end 10a of the contactor 10 with the insertion tip side of the FPC 1 as a fulcrum is continuously provided. A hold-down portion 17 bent downward through the portion 16 and a press-fitting piece 18 bent upward in a generally gate system are integrally formed, and the press-fitting piece 18 is press-fitted and fixed to a predetermined portion of the housing 8. is doing.

Here, the above-mentioned hold-down portion 17 is a mounting portion used as a soldering portion when the connector 6 is mounted on the board, and the upper lock member 11 is a fulcrum portion of the continuous portion 16 on the base end side. It is configured such that it can be elastically displaced in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

The above-mentioned lock member 11 constructed so as to be displaceable in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 has a horizontal top deck portion 11a and a first slant portion 1 which inclines toward the lower inside.
1b and the second slant portion 11 which is inclined toward the lower outside
c and a curvature portion 11d (so-called rounded portion) that connects these slant portions 11b and 11c in a continuous manner are integrally formed.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned contact 10 has the above-mentioned free end 1.
0a and a surface mount portion 10b projecting rearward from the rear end of the housing 8, and the free end 10a described above is directed toward the inner bottom of the groove 9 as shown by an arrow in FIG.
It is configured to have a flexible spring property in one direction, that is, in the vertical direction in FIG.

With respect to the connector 6 thus constructed, F
In order to connect the PC 1, first, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the FPC 1 is inserted into the insertion space 7 of the connector 6 through the opening 12 of the connector 6 from diagonally above to diagonally below, and the FPC 1 is placed on the upper surface. When the FPC 1 to which the reinforcing plate 2 is integrally bonded and fixed is pivoted downward on the insertion tip side of the FPC 1, the FPC 1 can be inserted and connected as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

That is, when the reinforcing plate 2 gets over the first slant portion 11b and the curved portion 11d of the lock member 11 by the turning operation of the FPC 1, the lock member 11 is locked.
Is displaced outward with a fulcrum portion 19 on the base end side of the connecting portion 16 as a fulcrum, and the above-mentioned reinforcing plate 2 is bent by the curvature portion 11 of the lock member 11.
When the lock member 11 has passed over d, the lock member 11 is displaced inward with the fulcrum portion 19 as a fulcrum, and the FPC for completion of the guiding is completed.
1 and the upper surfaces of the reinforcing plate 2 are elastically pressed and held by the second slant portion 11c of the lock member 11 as shown in FIGS.

On the other hand, the free end 10a of the contact 10 is shown in FIG.
As is apparent from FIG. 4, after the FPC 1 is inserted and rotated, the groove 9 is displaced toward the inner bottom portion, and after the FPC 1 is completely inserted, the restoring force restores the FPC 1 in the direction of the FPC 1 shown in FIG. Contact the element.

Since a zero insertion force structure (a so-called ZIF structure) can be achieved without using a slider in this way, the number of steps of inserting the FPC 1 into the housing 8 can be increased by eliminating the conventional slider pushing operation. It is possible to reduce the cost, and it is possible to achieve both cost reduction and improved insertion workability.

Further, since the FPC 1 can be inserted from an oblique direction, it is possible to secure a sufficiently wide space in the insertion direction (operation space for insertion) for the connector 6 having a very small size, and the flexibility of the insertion operation is improved. To do.

Moreover, the FPC 1 inserted from an oblique direction
When the insertion tip side is rotated as a fulcrum, the FPC1
Since the insertion of the FPC1 is completed, the workability can be further improved as compared with the insertion workability when the conventional slider is used, and a complicated operation is not required when inserting the FPC1. , Insertion automation can be enabled.

In addition, the free end 10a of the contact 10 described above.
Has a flexible spring property in the predetermined direction described above,
When the FPC1 is inserted and removed, the circuit elements and the like of the FPC1 are not worn, and the circuit elements of the FPC1 and the contact 10
With the above-mentioned flexible spring property, the free end 10a can be satisfactorily contacted.

Further, since the hold-down portion 17 is formed integrally with the above-mentioned lock member 11, it is not necessary to provide a separate hold-down member, and the number of parts can be reduced, the structure can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced. is there.

Furthermore, since the above-mentioned reinforcing plate 2 is made of a high-strength material (glass epoxy, metal, engineering plastic, etc.), the FPC 1 for the contactor 10 is made.
The contact force of the FPC can be ensured, and the abutting portion 5 formed on the reinforcing plate 2 and the FPC 1 comes into contact with the retaining portion 14 on the housing 8 side to prevent retaining.
1 It is possible to prevent the slip-out after the insertion, and at the time of insertion, it is possible to prevent the insufficient insertion of the FPC 1 due to the rigidity of the reinforcing plate 2 described above.

In the correspondence between the configuration of the present invention and the above-described embodiment, the flexible flat cable of the present invention corresponds to the FPC1 of the embodiment, and similarly, the high-strength material is glass epoxy, metal, engineering plastic. However, the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flexible flat cable connector of the present invention when an FPC is inserted.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the flexible flat cable connector of the present invention when FPC insertion is completed.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a conventional connector having a zero insertion force structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... FPC 2 ... Reinforcement plate 3 ... Wide part 4 ... Narrow part 5 ... Abutting part 6 ... Connector 7 ... Insertion space 8 ... Housing 9 ... Groove part 10 ... Contact 10a ... Free end 11 ... Lock member 14 ... Detachment prevention part 17 ... Hold down part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A flexible flat cable connector for connecting a flexible flat cable having a reinforcing plate integrally provided on an upper surface of the insertion side, the insulating housing having a cavity for inserting the flexible flat cable. And a plurality of contacts having free ends arranged in a plurality of groove portions provided in parallel in the housing, and a lock member for elastically pressing and holding the upper surface of the flexible flat cable when insertion is completed. Flexible flat cable connector. 2. The insertion space of the flexible flat cable is formed in a shape that allows the flexible flat cable to be inserted from an oblique direction, and is rotated in the free end direction of the contactor with the insertion tip side as a fulcrum. The flexible flat cable connector according to claim 1, wherein an upper surface of the flexible flat cable is elastically pressed and held by the lock member. 3. The free end of each of the plurality of contacts has a flexible spring property toward the inner bottom of the groove and toward the flexible flat cable after the insertion is completed. Flexible flat cable connector. 4. The hold-down portion, which is attached to the substrate at the time of mounting, is integrally formed on the lock member.
The connector for flexible flat cable described in 2 or 3. 5. The reinforcing plate is made of a high-strength material, and the reinforcing plate and the flexible flaky cable are formed with a wide insertion side and a narrow extraction side to form a wide portion and a narrow portion. 5. The flexible flat cable connector according to claim 1, wherein the step portion is set as an abutting portion that abuts a retaining portion integrally formed with the housing.