US-12620740-B2 - Connector connecting an electric wire to a substrate

Abstract

A connector includes a first insulator having a recess portion, a second insulator having a protrusion portion, and a contact, the contact including a mounting portion mounted on a substrate, a first retained portion retained by the first insulator, a second retained portion retained by the second insulator, a deformable joint portion, and a connection portion connected to a conductive portion of the substrate, the first retained portion including a recessed bent portion accommodated in the recess portion, the first insulator and the second insulator being fitted to each other such that a conductor portion of an electric wire is sandwiched between the recessed bent portion of the first retained portion and the protrusion portion of the second insulator, the conductor portion of the electric wire making contact with the recessed bent portion to be electrically connected to the conductive portion of the substrate via the contact.

Inventors

• Kenta Ashibu

Assignees

• JAPAN AVIATION ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY, LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20230720

Priority Date

20220926

Claims (11)

1. 1 . A connector connecting a conductor portion of an electric wire to a conductive portion exposed on a surface of a substrate, the connector comprising: a first insulator disposed on the surface of the substrate and having a recess portion; a second insulator disposed to be able to be fitted to the first insulator and having a protrusion portion corresponding to the recess portion; and a contact having conductivity and retained by both the first insulator and the second insulator, the contact including: a mounting portion situated at one end of the contact and mounted on the substrate; a first retained portion situated to be adjacent to the mounting portion and retained by the first insulator; a second retained portion situated at the other end of the contact and retained by the second insulator; a joint portion joining together the first retained portion and the second retained portion and being deformable; and a connection portion electrically connected to the conductive portion of the substrate, wherein the first retained portion includes a recessed bent portion that is accommodated in the recess portion and extends along an inner surface of the recess portion, the first insulator and the second insulator are fitted to each other such that the conductor portion of the electric wire is sandwiched between the recessed bent portion of the contact and the protrusion portion of the second insulator, and the conductor portion of the electric wire makes contact with the recessed bent portion between the recess portion and the protrusion portion, whereby the conductor portion of the electric wire is electrically connected to the conductive portion of the substrate via the contact.
2. 2 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the conductor portion of the electric wire and the recessed bent portion of the contact make contact with each other with a predetermined contact pressure between an inner lateral surface of the recess portion and an outer lateral surface of the protrusion portion.
3. 3 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the joint portion of the contact is curved in a U-shape in a fitting state where the first insulator is fitted with the second insulator.
4. 4 . The connector according to claim 3 , wherein the joint portion has an inspection hole that penetrates the contact in a thickness direction of the contact and allows visual check of a tip of the conductor portion of the electric wire.
5. 5 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the first insulator includes a projection portion projecting toward the surface of the substrate, a depression is formed at the surface of the substrate, and the first insulator is disposed on the surface of the substrate with the projection portion being accommodated in the depression.
6. 6 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the second retained portion of the contact includes a protruding bent portion extending along an outer surface of the protrusion portion, and the conductor portion of the electric wire is sandwiched between the recessed bent portion and the protruding bent portion of the contact and makes contact with both the recessed bent portion and the protruding bent portion.
7. 7 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the connection portion is disposed in the joint portion.
8. 8 . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the contact is formed in the first insulator and the second insulator by insert molding.
9. 9 . The connector according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of the contacts aligned in a predetermined alignment direction and each retained by both the first insulator and the second insulator, wherein the conductor portions of a plurality of the electric wires are electrically connected to a plurality of the conductive portions of the substrate via the plurality of the contacts.
10. 10 . The connector according to claim 9 , comprising a lock mechanism used to maintain a fitting state between the first insulator and the second insulator.
11. 11 . The connector according to claim 10 , wherein the lock mechanism is composed of a locking portion disposed in the first insulator and a locked portion disposed in the second insulator.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a connector, particularly to a connector connecting a conductor portion of an electric wire to a conductive portion exposed on a surface of a substrate. In recent years, attention has been drawn to so-called smart clothes that can obtain user's biological data such as the heart rate and the body temperature only by being worn by the user. Such smart clothes have an electrode disposed at a measurement site and constituted of a flexible conductor, and when a wearable device serving as a measurement device is electrically connected to the electrode, biological data can be transmitted to the wearable device. The electrode and the wearable device can be interconnected by, for instance, use of a connector connected to the flexible conductor. However, when the wearable device is situated away from the measurement site, it is necessary to provide an electric circuit connecting the electrode disposed at the measurement site to the place where the connector is attached, and if such an electric circuit is formed from a flexible conductor, this causes higher electric resistance and higher cost. To connect an electrode constituted of a flexible conductor to a wearable device by use of an electric wire that has low electric resistance and is inexpensive, it has been desired to develop a small-sized connector connecting the electric wire to the flexible conductor disposed on a garment. For instance, JP 2007-214087 A discloses a connector shown in FIG. 21 as a connector used for connecting an electric wire to a flexible conductor. This connector includes a first connector 2 connected to an end of a substrate 1 and a second connector 4 attached to tips of electric wires 3, and the electric wires 3 can be connected to a flexible conductor of the substrate 1 by fitting the second connector 4 to the first connector 2. However, the first connector 2 and the second connector 4 that are separately attached to the end of the substrate 1 and the tips of the electric wires 3 need to be fitted to each other in order to connect the electric wires 3 to the flexible conductor of the substrate 1, and this causes a larger size of a device; and there is a separatable connection portion between the first connector 2 and the second connector 4, which impairs the reliability of electric connection. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to overcome the conventional problems as above and aims at providing a connector that can have a small size while reliably connecting a conductor portion of an electric wire to a conductive portion exposed on a surface of a substrate. A connector according to the present invention is one connecting a conductor portion of an electric wire to a conductive portion exposed on a surface of a substrate, the connector comprising: a first insulator disposed on the surface of the substrate and having a recess portion;a second insulator disposed to be able to be fitted to the first insulator and having a protrusion portion corresponding to the recess portion; anda contact having conductivity and retained by both the first insulator and the second insulator,the contact including: a mounting portion situated at one end of the contact and mounted on the substrate;a first retained portion situated to be adjacent to the mounting portion and retained by the first insulator;a second retained portion situated at the other end of the contact and retained by the second insulator;a joint portion joining together the first retained portion and the second retained portion and being deformable; anda connection portion electrically connected to the conductive portion of the substrate, wherein the first retained portion includes a recessed bent portion that is accommodated in the recess portion and extends along an inner surface of the recess portion,the first insulator and the second insulator are fitted to each other such that the conductor portion of the electric wire is sandwiched between the recessed bent portion of the contact and the protrusion portion of the second insulator, andthe conductor portion of the electric wire makes contact with the recessed bent portion between the recess portion and the protrusion portion, whereby the conductor portion of the electric wire is electrically connected to the conductive portion of the substrate via the contact. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a connector according to Embodiment 1 which is mounted on a substrate and to which a plurality of coated electric wires are connected. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the connector according to Embodiment 1 with a first insulator and a second insulator being developed. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the connector according to Embodiment 1 with the first insulator and the second insulator being developed. FIG. 4 is a bottom view showing the connector according to Embodiment 1 with the first insulator and the