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EP-4002605-B1 - ELECTRICAL CONNECTION STRUCTURE

EP4002605B1EP 4002605 B1EP4002605 B1EP 4002605B1EP-4002605-B1

Inventors

  • MATSUMOTO, HIROYUKI
  • HAYAKAWA, YOSHINORI
  • IZAWA, KAZUYA

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20211104

Claims (4)

  1. An electrical connection structure (1) comprising: a base member (2); a connector (3) being mounted to the base member (2) to be electrically connected thereto; and a mating connector (4) to be fitted/separated in a fitting/separating direction (D1) with respect to the connector (3) and to be electrically connected to the connector (3) by being fitted thereto, wherein the electrical connection structure (1) comprises a half-fitting detecting mechanism (10) to detect whether the mating connector (4) is fitted in a normal fitting state; the half-fitting detecting mechanism (10) includes: a half-fitting detecting portion (31) being provided in the connector (3); and a short-circuiting member (41) being electrically conductive and provided in the mating connector (4), wherein the half-fitting detecting portion (31) includes: an electrically conductive member (311) being electrically connected to the base member (2) to be in contact with the short-circuiting member (41) of the mating connector (4) to electrically connect the short-circuiting member (41) and the base member (2); and an inspecting member (312) being electrically conductive, having a contact part (312a) to be in contact with the short-circuiting member (41), and being provided in a non-contact state with respect to the electrically conductive member (311); wherein the half-fitting detecting portion (31) allows a half-fitting state to be detected by the short-circuiting member (41) being in non-contact with the inspecting member (312) when the mating connector (4) is fitted to the connector (3) in the half-fitting state, wherein the electrically conductive member (311) has an engaging portion (311a) to engage with a mating engaging portion (41a) of the short-circuiting member (41) to suppress separating of the mating connector (4), wherein the inspecting member (312) short-circuits with the electrically conductive member (311) via the short-circuiting member (41) by the mating engaging portion (41a) being engaged with the engaging portion (311a) and being in contact with the contact part (312a) and the short-circuiting member (41) being in contact with the electrically conductive member (311) when the mating connector (4) is fitted to the connector (3) in the normal fitting state, and wherein the inspecting member (312) and the electrically conductive member (311) are short circuited via the short-circuiting member (41) in the normal fitting state, and the inspecting member (312) and the electrically conductive member (311) are not short-circuited in the half-fitting state, characterised in that the inspecting member (312) extends along the fitting/separating direction (D1), and an end on the fitting direction (D11) side of the inspecting member (312) is electrically connected to the base member (2).
  2. The electrical connection structure (1) according to claim 1, wherein the electrically conductive member (311) makes up at least a part of a fitting portion (32) to be fitted to the mating connector (4).
  3. The electrical connection structure (1) according to claim 1, wherein a contact portion of the contact part (312a) and the mating engaging portion (41a) and a contact portion of the electrically conductive member (311) and the short-circuiting member (41) are separated by a distance along the fitting/ separating direction (D1) when they are in the normal fitting state and separated by a distance along a height direction (D3), wherein the height direction is perpendicular to the fitting/separating direction (D1) and perpendicular to a surface (2a) of the base member (2).
  4. The electrical connection structure (1) according to claim 1, wherein the contact part (312a) is provided at an edge on the separating direction (D12) side of the inspecting member (312), wherein the electrically conductive member (311) has: a through hole (311b) being provided so as to be positioned on an inner surface of a housing (30) of the connector (3) and being provided in correspondence with the contact part (312a); and an abutting portion (311c) to abut on the short-circuiting member (41), on at least one of the fitting direction (D11) side and the separating direction (D12) side with respect to the through hole (311b), wherein the short-circuiting member (41) is a cantilevered elastic member extending in the fitting/separating direction (D1), wherein the short-circuiting member (41) has a short-circuiting portion (41c) on at least one of the fitting direction (D11) side and the separating direction (D12) side with respect to the mating engaging portion (41a), which short-circuiting portion (41c) is to abut on the abutting portion (311c) in the normal fitting state, wherein the mating engaging portion (41a) is in sliding contact with the electrically conductive member (311) on the separating direction (D12) side with respect to the through hole (311b) by the short-circuiting member (41) being pressed against the electrically conductive member (311) to be elastically deformed when the mating connector (4) moves in the fitting direction (D11) to be fitted to the connector (3), and the inspecting member (312) short-circuits with the electrically conductive member (311) via the short-circuiting member (41) by the mating engaging portion (41a) being elastically restored so as to be positioned in the through hole (311b) to be in contact with the contact part (312a) and the short-circuiting portion (41c) being in contact with the abutting portion (311c) when the mating connector (4) is fitted to the connector in an normal fitting state.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates to an electrical connection structure as defined in the appended claims. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In an electrical connection structure using connectors, generally, a connector and a mating connector are electrically connected to each other by the connector and the mating connector being fitted thereto. A state in which the connector and the mating connector are not fitted to each other in a normal fitting state, such as connector and the mating connector being fitted to each other in a fitting length being slightly shorter than a regular fitting length, for example, is called a half-fitting state. In the half-fitting state, the connector and the mating connector receive an undesirable influence such as a reduction in the electrical connection reliability. However, the half-fitting state can be indistinguishable from the normal fitting state in appearance. Thus, a connector that can detect the half-fitting state is called for. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-040746 discloses an electrical connection structure comprising a board; a connector mounted to the board; and a mating connector to be fitted to the connector, wherein the electrical connection structure comprises a half-fitting detecting mechanism to electrically detect whether the connector and the mating connector are fitted to each other in a regular fitting position. In the electrical connection structure of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-040746, the half-fitting detecting mechanism is made up of a half-fitting detecting portion provided in the connector and an electrically conductive short-circuiting member provided in the mating connector. The half-fitting detecting portion is made up of a pair of electrically conductive inspecting members being arranged at a distance. The pair of inspecting members is configured to be in an insulating state when the mating connector is not arranged in the regular fitting position in the connector and to be in a state of being short-circuited via the inspecting member of the mating connector when the mating connector is arranged in the regular fitting position. According to the electrical connection structure of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-040746, whether the mating connector is not fitted to the connector in the half-fitting state can be electrically detected in accordance with the presence/absence of short circuiting of the pair of inspecting members. JP 4 717733 B2 (MOLEX INC) 6 July 2011 discusses a fitting detection connector. JP 2006 179254 A (SHARP KK) 6 July 2006 discusses means for detecting incomplete connection of a connector for connecting of a printed wiring board, functional unit cable, etc between printed wiring boards which comprise an electronic device. WO 2008/150523 A2 (MOLEX INC [US]; NIITSU TOSHIHIRO [JP]; HASEGAWA YUICHI [JP]) 11 December 2008 discusses a wire-to-board connector with detect capabilities and discloses the preamble of claim 1. JP 2 939851 B2 (MOLEX INC) 25 August 1999 discusses improvements to an electrical connector which has a fitting connection recognition function. JP H07 42057 U 21 July 1995 discusses a lock detection structure. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Various aspects and features of the present disclosure are defined in the appended claims In an electrical connection structure using connectors, generally, a connector and a mating connector being engaged with each other in a normal fitting state causes the connector and the mating connector being separated from each other to be suppressed and an electrical connection to be held. According to the electrical connection structure of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-040746, a mating connector is provided with a mating engaging portion being separate from a short-circuiting member and to be engaged with a connector. Thus, the short-circuiting member being deformed in a direction away from a board with respect to a regular position due to an initial failure, for example, can produce an erroneous detection result that the short-circuiting member and a pair of inspecting members are short circuited and the mating connector is in a normal fitting state despite it being in a half-fitting state in which the mating engaging portion is not engaged with the connector. Then, in view of such problems as described above, an object of the disclosure is to provide an electrical connection structure that can reliably detect a half-fitting state. An electrical connection structure according to the invention is defined in claim 1. In one embodiment, the electrically conductive member can make up at least a part of a fitting portion to be fitted to the mating connector. In one embodiment, a contact portion of the contact part and the mating engaging portion and a contact portion of the electrically conductive member and the short-circuiting member can be lined up at a distance along the fitting/separating direction when they are in