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EP-2922151-B1 - CONNECTOR

EP2922151B1EP 2922151 B1EP2922151 B1EP 2922151B1EP-2922151-B1

Inventors

  • TAKANE, TORU

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20150316

Claims (11)

  1. A connector system (1), comprising: a flat conductor (3) including a first connection (8) on a front side in an insertion direction (Y) of a flat conductor body (3b), the flat conductor body (3b) provided with a conductive line (3c) between flat insulation substrates (3d), and a second connection (9) including a conductive member (3a) stacked on one surface of one of the insulation substrates (3d) of the flat conductor body (3b) such that the second connection (9) is formed with a plate thickness that is greater than that of the first connection (8); and a housing (4) that forms a housing portion (4f) for the flat conductor (3); a first terminal (5) that is retained by the housing (4) and that is connected to the flat conductor (3); and a second terminal (7) that is retained by the housing (4) and that is connected to the flat conductor (3), wherein; the housing portion (4f) includes a first space (4f1) in which the first terminal (5) is disposed and that is connected to the first connection (8), and a second space (4f2) in which the second terminal (7) is disposed and that is connected to the second connection (9); the second space (4f2) capable of housing the second connection (9) is formed larger than the first space (4f1) in a plate thickness direction of the flat conductor (3) by a thickness that is equivalent to or greater than the thickness of the conductive member (3a); the housing (4) includes an elastic lock piece (11) that is locked to the flat conductor (3), the elastic lock piece (11) includes, an operation portion (11a) that is exposed to an outside of the housing (4) and that is provided along an outer surface of the housing (4), an elastic arm (11b) that extends towards an inside of the housing (4) from the sides of the two end portions of the operation portion (11a) and that is elastically displaced in the thickness direction of the flat conductor (3) when a press operation is performed on the operation portion (11a), a lock protrusion (11c) that is locked to the flat conductor (3), a bent portion (11d) formed in a U-shape; and a fixed portion (11e) that is fixed to the housing (4), the fixed portion (11e) being formed continuously from the bent portion (11d) and being formed so as to bend towards the side of the housing (4) in a longitudinal direction (X) of the housing (4), the elastic lock piece (11) being structured so that all of the portions from after the operation portion (11a), that is, the elastic arm (11b), the lock protrusion (11c), the bent portion (11d), and the fixed portion (11e) are positioned within the housing (4) and are formed so that there are no portions that protrude to the outside in the height direction (Z) of the housing (4), lock portions (11f) are provided on the upper side of the fixed portions (11e) and are fixed to fixing grooves provided in the housing portion (4f) of the housing (4).
  2. The connector system (1) according to Claim 1, wherein the elastic lock piece (11) includes a plurality of lock protrusions (11c) that are locked to the flat conductor (3) at positions that are different from each other in a width direction of the flat conductor (3) and a single operation portion (11a) , the single operation portion (11a) being pressed so as to displace the plurality of lock protrusions (11c) in the thickness direction of the flat conductor (3) so that the locked state with the flat conductor (3) is cancelled.
  3. The connector system (1) according to either Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the housing (4) includes a wall (4d) that forms the housing portion (4f) and a metal reinforcement member (6) that is fitted along the wall (4d).
  4. The connector system (1) according to Claim 3, wherein the second terminal (7) is provided by partially extending the reinforcement member (6) into the second space (4f2).
  5. The connector system (1) according to either Claim 3 or Claim 4, wherein the reinforcement member (6) includes a fixed portion (6d) that is positioned on the bottom surface of the housing (4) opposing a circuit board (2) and that is soldered to the circuit board (2).
  6. The connector system (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the flat conductor (3) includes an edge portion (10a) that extends in a width direction of the flat conductor (3), and the elastic lock piece (11) is locked to the edge portion (10a).
  7. The connector system (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein the lock protrusion (11c) is provided in the elastic arm (11b) and is capable of being attached to and detached from the flat conductor (3) when the elastic arm (11b) is elastically displaced.
  8. The connector system (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the operation portion (11a) is provided so as to oppose the outer surface of the housing (4) and a recess (4g) into which the operation portion (11a) is elastically displaced is provided in the outer surface of the housing (4).
  9. The connector system (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 8, wherein the operation portion (11a) elastically displaces along the outer surface of the housing (4).
  10. The connector system (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein the connector system (1) is mounted on a circuit board (2) and the insertion direction is parallel with respect to a surface of the circuit board (2).
  11. The connector system (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein the connector system (1) is mounted on a circuit board (2) and the insertion direction is orthogonal with respect to a surface of the circuit board (2).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present disclosure relates to a connector that conductively connects a flat conductor and a circuit board to each other. 2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, a connector used in an electronic device is mounted on a circuit board and conductively connects a flexible printed circuit (FPC), a flexible flat cable (FFC), or the like (referred to as a "flat conductor" in the present description and the claims) and a circuit board to each other. Since such a connector can connect a unit, such as a computer or a liquid crystal display, in the system and a circuit board to each other in various forms, the connector is installed in many electronic devices. In recent years, electronic components have become highly functional and multifunctional and the amount of data transmitted has increased; accordingly, flat conductors that are capable of high-speed transmission of signals of higher frequencies are used. Accordingly, measures against electromagnetic interference (EMI) such as noise generated by the flat conductor are awaited. As an example of a flat conductor that has employed such a measure, there is a flat conductor (hereinafter, referred to as a "flat conductor including a plate" in the present description) on which a conductive member such as a ground plate grounded to the ground terminal provided in the connector is stacked, and, typically, a special connector is used for such a flat conductor (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-347021, for example). EP 2 493 023 A2 describes an electrical connector comprising a housing provided with an opening through which a flat circuit device is inserted into the housing, a plurality of conductive contacts arranged on the housing for contacting with connecting terminals on the flat circuit device in the housing, and a shell member mounted on the housing and provided therein with a holding portion for holding the flat circuit device in the housing. WO 2006/026036 A1 describes an electrical connector which is provided for mounting on a printed circuit board and for terminating a flat electrical circuit. The connector includes a dielectric housing for mounting on a printed circuit board and having an opening at a front portion thereof for receiving an end of the flat circuit. US 2011/189879 A1 describes an electrical connector to be disposed on a circuit board and including a housing with two sidewalls, a plurality of first terminals, and a plurality of second terminals. The first terminals and the second terminals are attached to the one and the other of the sidewalls, respectively, and are situated near a bottom portion of the housing. US 2006/154508 A1 describes an electrical connector which is provided for terminating a flat electrical circuit. The connector includes a dielectric housing having an opening for receiving an end of the flat circuit. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Incidentally, the difference between a typical flat conductor and a flat conductor including a plate is, in many cases, whether there is a conductive member such as a ground plate stacked thereon. Accordingly, it is desirable that a single connector can be used for both a typical flat conductor and a flat conductor including a plate rather than separately using a connector for a typical flat conductor and a connector for a flat conductor including a plate since there will be various advantages on the user side and on the manufacturer side, such as reduction in manufacturing cost and elimination of the need to select an adapting connector. One way to allow a single connector to be used for both conductors is to use a flat conductor including a plate for the typical flat conductor. The reason for the above is that a flat conductor including a plate is formed thicker than a typical flat conductor by the thickness of the conductive member; accordingly, the housing portion inside the connector that receives the flat conductor including a plate is also formed with a space that is large compared with a space of a housing portion of a connector for a typical flat conductor. However, when a typical flat conductor is fitted therein, a gap will be created between the flat conductor and an inner wall of the housing portion and the fitting state will be unstable. In such a case, the gap may be eliminated by adhering a tape to the flat conductor, for example; however, the tape adhering work needs to be done manually, which is labor consuming and inefficient. The present disclosure has been made to overcome the above problem. In other words, an object of the disclosure is to provide a connector that can be used both for a typical flat conductor and for a flat conductor including a plate and that has high connection reliability. The present disclosure achieving the above object is configured as below. The present disclosure is a connector system according to claim 1. If the entire housing portion were to have a size that is capa