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JP-7855106-B2 - Connectors, and contacts and housings for connectors.

JP7855106B2JP 7855106 B2JP7855106 B2JP 7855106B2JP-7855106-B2

Inventors

  • 植松 紀行
  • 古平 善彦

Assignees

  • ＴＥ Ｃｏｎｎｅｃｔｉｖｉｔｙ Ｊａｐａｎ合同会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20250321

Claims (13)

  1. A connector comprising a housing having contacts and a through-hole inner space capable of accommodating the contacts, The contact comprises a contact portion that protrudes outward from the open end of the housing and can contact the opposing electronic substrate, and a spring portion that is continuous with the contact portion and has a meandering shape, and is provided in the inner space of the housing in a preloaded state. The contact portion is movable vertically in the direction of the long axis of the contact via the open end of the housing. The spring portion of the contact in the preloaded state and the inner forming surface that forms the inner space of the housing are able to contact each other at at least two contact portions that are at different height levels in the longitudinal direction of the contact. The at least two contact portions are the portions in which the meandering spring portion contacts the inner forming surface of the housing, and the housing is a preload receiving portion that receives the spring portion, and the at least two contact portions include a first contact portion and a second contact portion. A connector in which, in a cross-sectional view, the first contact portion is the contact portion at the highest height level, and the second contact portion is at a lower height level than the first contact portion.
  2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein, with respect to the position of the open end, the first contact portion is located proximal to the open end, while the second contact portion is located distal to the open end.
  3. The connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first contact portion and the second contact portion are positioned on either side of the center line of the contact along the long axis direction.
  4. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least the first contact portion is located outside the contour line of the open end.
  5. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, in a cross-sectional view, the spring portion is continuous from only one side of the contact portion, and the other side of the contact portion is separated from the inner surface of the housing.
  6. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the second contact portion is a contact portion located at the next lowest height level after the first contact portion.
  7. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the thickness dimensions of the housing at at least two contact portions are different from each other.
  8. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein three or more of the contact portions serving as preload receiving portions are provided.
  9. The connector according to claim 8, dependent on claim 3, wherein the three or more contact portions are alternately positioned on both sides with respect to the center line along the long axis of the contact.
  10. The connector according to claim 8 or 9, wherein, in a cross-sectional view, the width dimension of the meandering spring portion gradually increases as the height level of the contact portion decreases.
  11. The connector according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein, in cross-sectional view, the inner surface of the housing has a stepped structure.
  12. A contact for a connector, It can be housed in a housing with a through-hole interior space. It comprises a contact portion that can come into contact with the other electronic substrate, a spring portion that is continuous with the contact portion and has a meandering shape , and a block portion that is continuous with the spring portion . The contact is provided in the inner space of the housing in a preloaded state. The contact portion is movable vertically in the direction of the long axis of the contact via the open end of the housing. The spring portion of the preloaded contact is capable of contacting the inner forming surface that forms the inner space of the housing in at least two local regions that are at different height levels in the longitudinal direction. The inner forming surface is capable of contacting the spring portion of the preloaded contact at at least two locations, and the thickness dimensions of the housing having these at least two contact portions differ from each other with respect to the position of the open end of the housing. The at least two local regions are regions in which the meandering spring portion contacts the inner forming surface of the housing, and include a first local region and a second local region. In a cross-sectional view, the first local region is able to contact the inner forming surface of the housing at the highest height level, and the second local region is at a lower height level than the first local region . One side of the spring portion is continuous with the contact portion, while the other side of the spring portion is continuous with the block portion having a locking portion that can be locked onto the inner forming surface. In the contact, in the longitudinal axis direction of the contact, the curved portion of the spring portion closest to the block portion is positioned inward compared to the other curved portions .
  13. The contact according to claim 12, wherein, in a cross-sectional view, the width dimension of the meandering spring portion gradually increases as the height level of the local area that can contact the inner surface of the housing decreases.

Description

This disclosure relates to connectors, as well as contacts and housings for connectors. Conventional methods for electrically connecting electronic substrates via connectors have been known. A connector comprises contacts and a housing. The contacts may include a contact portion capable of contacting the other electronic substrate and a spring portion with a meandering shape. The housing may include an inner space that accommodates the contacts and has an open end from which the contacts can move vertically along their longitudinal axis. Patent documents 1 and 2 describe a configuration in which extending portions are formed from both ends of the contact portion, respectively, so as to be able to contact the inner forming surface that forms the inner space located on the open end side of the housing, and both extending portions are at the same height level in the longitudinal axis direction of the contact. Special Publication No. 10-510947Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-162592 Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the connector of this disclosure as seen from the top.Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the connector of this disclosure as seen from the bottom side.Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view showing the connector of this disclosure, with a portion of its internal cross-sectional structure visible.Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the connector of this disclosure.Figure 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the contact portion between the contacts and housing of the connector of this disclosure.Figure 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the insertion of the contact into the inner space of the housing over time.Figure 7 is a schematic perspective view showing the contact before preloading.Figure 8 is a schematic perspective view showing the contact after preloading is complete.Figure 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the connector of this disclosure. The connectors, contacts, and housings for the connectors described herein will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings. The various elements in the drawings are provided schematically and illustratively for the purpose of understanding this disclosure, and their appearance, dimensional ratios, etc., may differ from those of the actual objects. [Overall connector configuration] First, the overall configuration of the connector of this disclosure will be described. Then, the distinctive features of the connector of this disclosure will be described. Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the connector of this disclosure as seen from the top. Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the connector of this disclosure as seen from the bottom. Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of the connector of this disclosure with a portion of the internal cross-sectional structure visible. Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the connector of this disclosure. As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the connector 100 of this disclosure comprises an integrally assembled contact 10 and housing 20. The housing 20 has a through-internal space 23 capable of accommodating the contact 10 in cross-sectional view (see Figure 4). Here, "accommodates" refers to a state in which all of the components of the contact 10, such as the spring portion and block portion, and at least a portion of the contact portion, are accommodated before and after the contact portion of the contact 10 is pressed against the pad of the opposing electronic substrate, as described later. Here, "through-internal space" refers to a spatial region having two mutually opposing openings at each end, where the contact portion located on one side of the contact and the connecting portion located on the other side are configured to protrude from these two openings, respectively. The inner space 23 is formed by the inner forming surface 27. The inner forming surface 27 can be a substantially straight line parallel to the long axis A of the contact 10 (or the direction of the center line L or L1 along the long axis A of the contact 10) (see Figures 4, 5, and 9) in cross-sectional view. The housing 20 can take on a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as an overall structure (see Figure 1). In this case, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the top surface 21 can be, for example, 5 mm to 100 mm, preferably 10 mm to 50 mm, for example 15 mm. The thickness can be, for example, 2 mm to 20 mm, preferably 3 mm to 10 mm, for example 5 mm. Note that the vertical and horizontal dimensions do not need to be the same. The housing 20 of this disclosure may include an insulating resin material. While not particularly limited, the housing 20 may include at least one thermosetting resin material selected from the group consisting of, for example, phenolic resin, epoxy resin, silicone resin, and unsaturated polyester resin. The contact 10 of this disclosure comprises a contact portion 11, a spring port