JPH10321320A - Electric connector assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably support a slider to a housing, and reduce dispersion of a flexible base board to the the possible minimum level when the slider and the flexible base board are inserted into a mating connector by arranging a support member to regulate a movement except for the inserting direction of the slider to the mating connector, in the housing. SOLUTION: A housing 10 having terminals 15 of plural rows is arranged from respective wall surfaces 11 of upper and lower housings 18 and 19. Both ends of a flexible base board 20 where plural electrically conductive passages are formed on a surface are connected to the terminals 15 of the housing 10. A slier 30 to contact the electrically conductive passages with contact rows by being inserted between the contact rows of a mating connector, is inserted between both ends connected to the terminals 15 of the flexible base board 20. A pair of support members 40 are arranged so as to sandwich the housing 10 from the vertical direction, and a movement in the direction except for the inserting direction of the slider 30 to the mating connector is restricted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly for connecting to a so-called PC card containing a memory card, a hard disk drive and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an electrical connector assembly of this type, for example, one shown in FIG.
-264240). The electrical connector assembly 100 includes an upper housing 101 and a lower housing 102, a housing 107 in which the upper and lower housings 101, 102 are fixed by metal plates 105, 106, and a wall surface 101a of each of the upper housing 101 and the lower housing 102. A plurality of rows of terminals 103 protruding from 102a;
104, a flexible substrate 110 having both ends connected to these terminals 103 and 104 and a large number of conductive paths 111 formed on the surface, and both ends connected to the terminals 103 and 104 of the flexible substrate 110 bent in a substantially U-shape. And a slider 120 interposed therebetween. on the other hand,
Mating connector 13 that mates with electrical connector assembly 100
0 is the flexible board 1 of the electrical connector assembly 100
A housing 131 having a recess 132 for receiving the slider 10 together with the slider 120;
And a conductive path 111 of the flexible substrate 110.
And a plurality of contacts 133 that come into contact with the contact.
Here, the slider 120 is mounted on the flexible substrate 110.
Insertion portion 121 inserted between both ends of the
1 and a pressing operation portion 122 having a substantially flat surface and being provided substantially orthogonal to the substrate 1. In order to bring the conductive path 111 of the flexible substrate 110 into contact with the contact 133, the flexible substrate 11
0 is inserted into the concave portion 132, and then the pressing operation portion 122 of the slider 120 is moved downward to achieve the contact.

[0003]

However, in this conventional electrical connector assembly 100, the slider 1
20 is only inserted through the flexible substrate 110 having both ends attached to the wall surfaces 101a and 102a of the housing 107, and is not supported by the members other than the flexible substrate 110 at all. Therefore, the slider 120 is connected to the mating connector 130.
When the flexible board 110 is inserted into the recess 132 of the mating connector 130, there is a problem that the flexible board 110 is unstable and varies when the flexible board 110 is inserted into the recess 132 of the mating connector 130. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly which reliably supports a slider with respect to a housing and minimizes variations in a flexible substrate when the slider and the flexible substrate are inserted into a mating connector. It is in.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An electrical connector assembly according to the present invention includes a housing having a plurality of rows of terminals protruding from a wall, two ends connected to the terminals of the housing, and a plurality of conductive paths formed on the surface. A formed flexible board, a slider inserted between the both ends of the flexible board, inserted between the contact rows of the mating connector together with the flexible board to contact the conductive paths with the contact rows, and attached to the housing. And a support member for restricting movement of the slider in a direction other than the direction of insertion into the mating connector.

The support member is provided with a rectangular opening extending in a direction of insertion into the mating connector.
It is preferable to provide a substantially L-shaped support projection inserted into the rectangular opening.

Further, the supporting member includes an upper holding piece bent from an upper end of the base wall and a pair of lower holding pieces bent from both lower sides of the base wall, the holding piece holding the housing from above and below. The pair of lower holding pieces are placed on a sub-board, and the upper holding piece is formed by screwing a mounting screw passing through the sub-board, the pair of lower holding pieces, and the housing. It is more effective to have a female screw portion to be combined.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a plan view of the electrical connector assembly of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a right side view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a left side view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG.

In these figures, the electrical connector assembly 1 comprises an upper housing 18 and a lower housing 19, and the upper and lower housings 18, 19 have respective wall surfaces 11,
A housing 10 having a plurality of rows of terminals 15 protruding from the housing 11, both ends of which are connected to the terminals 15 of the housing 10,
A row of contacts 83a and 83b of a mating connector 80 (see FIG. 7) is inserted between the flexible board 20 having a plurality of conductive paths (not shown) formed on its surface and both ends of the flexible board 20 connected to the terminals 15. The conductive path is inserted together with the flexible substrate 20 between the contacts 83a, 83
The slider 30 that contacts the row 3b and the upper housing 18
And a pair of support members 40, 40 attached so as to sandwich the housing 10 including the lower housing 19 from above and below, and restricting movement of the slider 30 in a direction other than the insertion direction A into the mating connector 80. ing.

An upper frame 13 and a lower frame 14 formed by punching and bending a metal plate are attached to the upper and lower surfaces of the housing 10, and P and P are provided in the upper frame 13 and the lower frame 14, respectively.
A C card (not shown) is inserted. These PC cards are inserted from the rear side (the upper side in FIG. 1) of the upper frame 13 and the lower frame 14 and connected to the terminals 15 provided on the upper housing 18 and the lower housing 19. One side of the upper frame 13 and the lower frame 14
A card ejection mechanism 50 for ejecting the PC card inserted into the lower frame 14 and connected to the terminal 15 is provided.

4A and 4B show the slider, FIG. 4A is a front view of the slider, FIG. 4B is a bottom view of the slider, and FIG. 4C is a left side view of the slider. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the slider 30 is formed by punching and bending a metal plate. The slider 30 includes a flat plate-shaped cross section 31 on which the flexible board 20 lies, and a cross section of the cross section 31. A substantially L-shaped support projection 34 having a protrusion 34a extending outward from both ends and a detachment prevention portion 34b extending forward (downward in FIG. 1) from the protrusion 34a is provided. A pair of stoppers 32, 32 extending forward are formed at both ends on the front side of the substrate crossing portion 31 so as to protrude. When the slider 30 is inserted between the rows of the contacts 83a, 83b of the mating connector 80, the stoppers 32, 32 contact the bottom of the flexible substrate receiving opening 82 of the housing 81 of the mating contact 80 and function as a stopper for the slider 30. . On the other hand, a pair of contact pieces 35a, 35b with which the wall surface 11 (see FIG. 2) of the housing 10 comes into contact when the mating connector 80 is inserted between the contact rows are provided upside down on both rear ends of the board cross section 31. It is bent and formed. Since the pair of contact pieces 35a and 35b are bent upside down, the housing 10 is
a, 35b, the slider 30
Will not rotate or fall. Also, the contact piece 35
Auxiliary contacting pieces 36a and 36b are formed on the inside of each of the contacting pieces 35a and 35b so as to be auxiliary when the housing 10 contacts each of the contacting pieces 35a and 35b. Further, a contact portion 33 that contacts the contact piece 21 (see FIG. 1) of the flexible board 20 when the slider 30 is pulled out from between the contact rows of the mating connector 80 is provided on both sides of the approximate center of the slider 30 in the front-rear direction. 33 is formed to protrude upward. By forming the contact portions 33, no load is applied to both ends of the flexible board 20 connected to the terminal 15 when the slider 30 is pulled out from the mating connector 80.

FIG. 5 shows a support member on one side (left side in FIG. 1), wherein (A) is a front view of the support member, (B) is a plan view of the support member, and (C) is a right side surface of the support member. FIG.
The support member 40 on the other side (right side in FIG. 1) has a symmetrical structure with the support member on one side shown in FIG. 1 to 5, a support member 40 on one side is formed by punching and bending a metal plate, and a support piece 42 extending forward from a base wall 41 is provided. A rectangular opening 43 extending in the insertion direction A (see FIG. 2) into 80 is formed. The substantially L-shaped support protrusion 34 formed on the slider 30 is inserted into the rectangular opening 43. The projection 3 of the support projection 34 in a state where it is inserted into the rectangular opening 43
As shown in FIG. 2, 4a penetrates between the upper and lower walls of the rectangular opening 43, thereby restricting the movement of the slider 30 in the vertical direction (the direction other than the insertion direction A into the mating connector 80). For this reason, the flexible board 20 into which the slider 30 is inserted does not vary, and the mating connector 80 can be easily inserted between the contact rows. Further, when inserted into the rectangular opening 43, the detachment preventing portion 34b of the support projection 34 is located outside the support piece 42 as shown in FIG.
The slider 30 is reliably prevented from coming off the support member 40 when the slider 30 is inserted. The support member 40 holds the upper housing 18 and the lower housing 19 from above and below. The upper holding piece 44 is bent inward from the upper end of the base wall 41 (to the right in FIG. 1), and both lower sides of the base wall 41. Pair of lower holding pieces 45, 45 bent inward from
have. The mounting plate 13 bent from the upper frame 13 is provided between the upper holding piece 44 and the upper housing 18.
a is fitted, and between the lower holding piece 45 and the lower housing 19, the mounting plate portion 14 bent from the lower frame 14.
a is fitted, and in this state, the support member 40 is
0 is attached. The lower holding piece 45 is the same as that shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, the upper holding plate 44 is formed with a female thread 46 on the sub-board 70. The female screw portion 46 includes a sub-board 70, a pair of lower holding pieces 45, 45, the mounting plate portion 14 of the lower frame 14.
a, mounting screws 60 passing through the lower housing 19, the upper housing 18, and the mounting plate 13a of the upper frame 13 are screwed. Also, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
A mounting bracket 16 is provided on the side walls of the third and lower frames 14, and a mounting screw 60 that passes through the sub-board 70 is also screwed into the mounting screw portion 17 of the mounting bracket 16. Thus, the electrical connector assembly 100 is mounted and fixed on the sub-board 70. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 47 denotes a stopper bent inward from the base wall 41.
Abuts against the side surface of the housing 10 when the support member 40 is attached to the housing 10.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a mating connector 80 to be fitted with the electrical connector assembly 1. As shown in FIG. 7, a mating connector 80 includes a housing 81 having a flexible board receiving opening 82 for receiving the slider 30 and the flexible board 20, and a first contact 83a and a second contact 83b arranged along the longitudinal direction of the housing 81. And a contact pair comprising: The mating connector 80 is mounted and fixed on the main board 90. Note that the insertion direction A of the slider 30 is
Although it is horizontal, it does not have to be horizontal.

When the slider 30 of the electric connector assembly 1 shown in FIG. 6 fixed on the sub-board 70 is inserted between the rows of contacts 83a and 83b of the mating connector 80 together with the flexible board 20, the flexible board 20
When the conductive path formed on the slider comes into contact with the contacts 83a and 83b and the slider 30 is pulled out between the rows of the contacts 83a and 83b of the mating connector 80 together with the flexible substrate 20, the contact between the conductive path and the contacts 83a and 83b is released. Is done.

[0015]

According to the electrical connector assembly of the first aspect, since the support member is provided on the housing and regulates the movement of the slider in a direction other than the direction in which the slider is inserted into the mating connector, the support member is provided. The slider is reliably supported by the housing, and the variation of the flexible substrate when the slider and the flexible substrate are inserted into the mating connector can be minimized, so that the flexible substrate can be easily inserted into the mating connector.

According to the electrical connector assembly of the present invention, the support member has a rectangular opening extending in the direction of insertion into the mating connector, and the slider has a substantially L-shaped support projection inserted into the rectangular opening. Is provided, it is possible to reliably prevent the slider from being detached from the support member when the slider is inserted into the mating connector.

Further, according to the electrical connector assembly of the third aspect, the supporting member can not only hold the housing with the upper holding piece and the pair of lower holding pieces, but also can attach the mounting screw to the sub-board, one pair. The electric connector assembly can be attached and fixed to the sub-board by screwing the female connector of the upper holding plate through the lower holding plate and the housing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an electrical connector assembly of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a left side view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a slider, (A) is a front view of the slider,
(B) is a bottom view of the slider, and (C) is a left side view of the slider.

5A and 5B show a support member on one side, FIG. 5A is a front view of the support member, FIG. 5B is a plan view of the support member, and FIG. 5C is a right side view of the support member.

FIG. 6 is a right side view showing a state where the electric connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 is mounted and fixed on a sub-board.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a state where the mating connector is mounted and fixed on the main board. However, the contact is not sectioned.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state before a conventional electric connector assembly is fitted to a mating connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric connector assembly 10 Housing 11 Wall surface 15 Terminal 20 Flexible board 30 Slider 34 Support projection 40 Support member 43 Rectangular opening 44 Upper holding piece 45 Lower holding piece 46 Female thread part 60 Mounting screw 70 Sub-board

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A housing having a plurality of rows of terminals projecting from a wall surface, a flexible substrate having both ends connected to the terminals of the housing and having a plurality of conductive paths formed on a surface thereof, between the both ends of the flexible substrate. And a slider that is inserted between the contact rows of the mating connector together with the flexible substrate to contact the conductive path with the contacts; and a direction attached to the housing and other than the direction in which the slider is inserted into the mating connector. An electrical connector assembly comprising: a support member that restricts movement of the electrical connector. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the support member has a rectangular opening extending in a direction of insertion into the mating connector.
2. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 1, further comprising a substantially L-shaped support protrusion inserted into said rectangular opening. 3. An upper holding piece bent from an upper end of a base wall and a support member bent from both lower sides of the base wall, the support member holding the housing from above and below.
A pair of lower holding pieces, the lower holding pieces being placed on a sub-board, and the upper holding pieces being attached to the sub-board,
The electrical connector assembly according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a female thread portion into which a mounting screw passing through the pair of lower holding pieces and the housing is screwed.