JPH04144082A - Cam member and electric connector using same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the inserting force when a conductor to be contacted is inserted and connected, by installing a plurality of cam modules of the same shape having a slope in a location near the contacting part of a resilient contact piece of a connector housing. CONSTITUTION:A cam rail member 20 is provided at the bottom surface with cam surfaces 21a-21c in the complementary shape to the cam faces of cam modules 16a-16d of a cam member 10. The cam member 10 and cam rail member 20 are inserted between contact pieces 33, 34 of a connector housing 30 and held there, and the end of a circuit base board 40 provided with a contact pad 41 is inserted from a tapered opening 31. Therein the base part 12 of metal of the cam member 10 is pulled, and the cam rail member 20 is driven upward. Thereby the contacting parts 35, 36 of the contact pieces 33, 34 are moved apart from each other to enlarge the spacing, and the end of the base board 40 can be inserted with a low force.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cam member and an electrical connector using the same, particularly a low insertion force type electrical connector and a cam for an electrical connector that biases and drives the contacts of such an electrical connector. Regarding parts.

[Conventional technology]

Inserting and connecting a conductor to be contacted, such as a flat cable, circuit board, circuit card, IC (integrated circuit) device, etc., into an electrical connector that has a large number of contacts requires a large insertion force, making the work difficult. difficult or impossible. Therefore, so-called low insertion force type (LIF) or zero insertion force type (ZIF) electrical connectors have been proposed in order to reduce the insertion force when connecting these contacted conductors. Here, these LIFs and ZIFs are collectively referred to as low insertion force type.

Various types of low insertion force electrical connectors have been proposed depending on their uses. Examples of electrical connectors for multi-pin IC devices include JP-A-57-113567, JP-A-58-106774, JP-A-60-158577,
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 63-69496 and Utility Model Application No. 60-44376
There are numbers etc.

In these electrical connectors, the elastic socket portion of each contact is driven to open and close by a plate-shaped body having a cam surface that is operated by a lever or the like. That is, when inserting a conductor to be contacted, the socket portion is opened, a pin or the like can be easily inserted with low insertion force, and then the socket portion is closed to establish complete electrical contact.

In addition, examples of low insertion force type electrical connectors used for flat cables etc.
No. 4-1928, etc. Each contact used in these electrical connectors has a sufficiently wide conductor insertion opening under normal conditions due to its elasticity, but after insertion of the cable conductor, a sliding or hinged cover member with a cam surface is pressed down. Alternatively, by rotating the contactor, the contactor is pressed toward the cable conductor to make contact.

Furthermore, examples of low insertion force electrical connectors for circuit boards or circuit cards are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 189881-1981 and 1983-1989.
No. 80490, Utility Model No. 62-5576, Utility Model No. 62-
No. 5578, Utility Model Application No. 96281, Utility Model Application No. 1987-
It is disclosed in No. 96282 and Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 59-33681. These electrical connectors use a rod-like or plate-like cam member of integral or composite structure with a cam surface, and the cam member is slid by a lever, a knob, or the insertion force of the inserted circuit card itself. The contactor is configured to be moved to selectively contact contact conductors formed on a surface edge of a circuit board or circuit card.

That is, when inserting a circuit board or circuit card, each contact is separated from the conductor surface to be contacted to reduce the insertion force, and after insertion, the cam member is operated to increase the contact pressure to establish an electrical connection. .

[Problems to be solved by the present invention]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent electronic devices, particularly electronic application devices such as IC testers or measurement test devices, are becoming smaller, more densely packed, and more sophisticated. For this purpose, the device under test (D
The number of signal circuits to be interconnected between the UT) and the measurement circuit is several 1.
Generally, it is a transmission line for high frequency signals ranging from 0 to several 100. Electrical connectors used in such signal circuits are inevitably physically large, and a considerable amount of force is required to drive the cam member against the elasticity of such a large number of contacts. shall be. The above-mentioned conventional cam member made of a plus deck mold has problems in that it has insufficient strength and cannot be sufficiently miniaturized.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a contact drive cam member suitable for use in a low-insertion-force electrical connector having a large number of contacts as described above, and a low-insertion-force electrical connector using such a cam member. It is to be.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the cam member of the present invention, a flat metal base in which locking parts such as openings are formed at predetermined intervals, and a plurality of identically shaped cam surfaces that are fixed to the locking parts of the base by press-fitting or the like. cam module.

The surface of the cam member constructed in this manner is coated with, for example, Teflon to improve sliding properties. Also, an opening or handle is added to the end of the metal base so that tension can be applied by hand or by a hydraulic mechanism or the like for operation of the cam member.

Further, according to the electrical connector of the present invention, at least one row of contacts is arranged in the connector housing, and a plurality of cam modules are arranged in the locking portion of the metal base in proximity to the elastic contact portion of the contact as described above. A fixedly formed cam member is used to reduce the insertion force when inserting the contacted conductor.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the electrical connector and cam member of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a cam member 10 according to the present invention. The cam member 10 includes a flat and elongated base 12 of metal, preferably sheet steel. This base 12 has a plurality of mounting holes 1 arranged at approximately constant intervals and forming a locking part.
4a, 14b+ -9, +14n, and has an operation opening 15 at the front end. The width and thickness of the metal base 12 are determined by the required strength and the contact structure of the electrical connector used, particularly the contact row spacing. In this preferred embodiment, base 12 is 1 mm thick, approximately 4 mm wide, and approximately 240 mm long. Further, the mounting holes 14 have a diameter of about 2 mm, and the interval between adjacent mounting holes 14 is about 24 mm.

In each of the mounting holes 14a, 14b, ..., 14n of the base 12, a plurality of cam modules (or pieces) 16a, 16b, .
, , 16n are fixed. Although the cam modules 16 can be fixed to the base 12 by conventional fixing means, for example, a pair of short mounting legs 17 (see FIG. 2) may be integrally formed on the flat bottom surface of each cam module 16. It is preferable to press fit the mounting leg 17 into the mounting hole 14. The mounting leg 17 is at least partially larger than the mounting hole 14, but preferably has a polygonal shape such as a square. Each cam module 16 has an inclined cam surface 18 at the front and a flat top section 19 at the rear, as shown in the figure, or has, for example, a continuous surface in the form of a substantially logarithmic function whose inclination gradually becomes gentler from the front to the rear to reduce frictional resistance. Good too.

In FIG. 1, only one cam module 16a is shown at the base 12.
It is shown press-fitted into the mounting hole 14a. After all the cam modules 16 are press-fitted and fixed, it is preferable to apply a low frictional resistance layer such as Teflon to the surface. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, nine cam modules are fixed to one base 12 at substantially regular intervals.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a cam rail member 20 and the operation of both members 10, 20 for biasing and driving the contact portion of an electrical connector using the cam member 10 shown in FIG. 1 and described above. The cam rail member 20 has a substantially H-shaped end surface, and has a plurality of cam surfaces 21 on the bottom surface that are complementary to the cam (upper) surface of the cam member 10.
a, 21b,.

,, 21 n are formed. This cam surface 21 preferably has a continuous shape that changes, for example, on an exponential function.

The cam rail member 20 is preferably a mold made of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) containing fluorine (Teflon).

FIG. 2(A) shows a state in which the cam surfaces of the cam member 10 and the cam rail member 20 are fitted into each other, and FIG. 2(B) shows an end view at that time. FIG. 2(C) shows a state in which the cam surfaces of both members 10, 20 are shifted relative to each other, and FIG. 2(D) shows an end view in this state. As understood from the second [m(B) and (I)), the cam rail member 20 is approximately H as described above.
It has a contact driving protrusion 23 and 24 upward from both ends of the horizontal bar 22, and a lower central portion 25 of the horizontal bar 22.
It has a cam part.

As can be seen by comparing FIGS. 2(B) and 2(D), the height from the base 12 of the cam member 10 to the protrusion 23,24 is substantially the height of each cam module 16 of the cam member 10. It has been lifted by about twice as much.

In this particular example, this lift or vertical displacement is approximately 3 mm.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the cam member 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 3 is a schematic end view of the case where the cam rail member 20 is applied to an edge connector 50 for a circuit board (printed board).

As can be seen from the figure, there are a number of contacts (only two shown) 33, 34 within the bottom wall 32 of the connector housing 30.
are arranged in parallel to form opposing substantially C-shaped contact portions 35 and 36 near their free ends. The above-described cam member 10 and cam rail member 20 are inserted and held between these two rows of contacts 33 and 34 in a cooperative relationship.

The end of the circuit board (or circuit card) 40 is inserted through the tapered opening (or slot) 31 on the top surface of the connector housing 30 . Contactors 3 are provided at the ends of both sides of the circuit board 40.
Contact pads 41 and 42, which are conductors to be contacted, are formed in correspondence with the contact portions 35 and 36 of 3.34.

To insert and connect the circuit board 40 to the electrical connector 50, as described above, pull the metal base 12 of the cam member 10 in a direction perpendicular to the drawing of FIG.
is driven upward, that is, in a direction away from the bottom surface 32 of the connector housing 30.

As a result, the contact portions 35,36 of the contacts 33,34 move away from each other, increasing the distance between them, allowing the end of the circuit board 40 to be inserted with low insertion force.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the electrical connector of the present invention, which is an electrical connector for interconnection between a coaxial cable and a circuit board that can be used in a very high frequency signal path.

This electrical connector 60 has two rows of recesses 62a, 62b, 62c, .
63c,... A connector module 70 is inserted and held in each of the recesses 62 and 63. Each connector module 70 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-62 filed by the applicant of the present patent application.
It is similar to that disclosed in the No. 763 specification. That is, three strip-shaped conductors are fixed at regular intervals within a substantially rectangular parallelepiped insulating block 71, and an elastic contactor 72a is provided at the protruding end on the negative side.

72b and 72c are formed, and a substantially cylindrical socket 73 for a coaxial cable is formed on the other side.

The other side of the connector housing 61 has a groove 6 for inserting a circuit board.
4 is formed, and a connector module 70 is inserted into this groove 64.
The contact 72 protrudes, and the cam member 10 and the cam rail member 20 are inserted between them, similar to the case of FIG. 3. In addition, in the case of Fig. 4, the connector module 7
0 into the apertures 62,63 of the connector housing 60, thus providing electrical connectors for any number of signal paths.

Furthermore, since the recesses 62 and 63 in each row are staggered, and the signal contact 72a of the connector module 70 faces the ground contact 72b and 72c of the opposing connector module, signal leakage is also minimized.

The cam member of the present invention and the electrical connector using the same have been described above based on preferred embodiments. However, the present invention should not be limited to these specific embodiments, and it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. The cam module 16 may be fixed to the base 12 by welding or the like.The cam module is made of PP, which has good wear resistance, instead of metal.
It may be made of plastic mold such as S. Furthermore, the electrical connector may be used not only for circuit boards or cards, but also for flat cables, or for IC devices. Of course, the contactor may have various shapes that are biased and driven directly or indirectly by the cam member.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As can be understood from the above description, the cam member of the present invention and the electrical connector using the same exhibit various remarkable effects.

First, since the cam member is constructed by fixing cam modules to a metal base at predetermined intervals, it is small, particularly thin, and has sufficient strength. Since each cam module has the same shape, it can be formed uniformly over the entire length, and by fixing the desired number of cam modules using a base of the required length, various cam modules can be used without preparing a large number of different cam members. It is possible to deal with various uses and changes. Further, by forming the cam surface into a continuous curved surface, the cam operation can be performed smoothly with a relatively small force in combination with the coating with a layer having a low coefficient of friction.

Further, according to the electrical connector of the present invention, since the above-described cam member is used, a small, high-density electrical connector having a large number of contacts of several dozen or more can be obtained. If necessary, such electrical connectors can be arranged in a plurality of rows to drive each cam member at once, thereby further improving work efficiency.

Therefore, the electrical connector of the present invention is particularly suitable for application to small high-frequency connectors such as IC testers, which are often modified or expanded by customers or devices.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cam member according to the present invention, and FIG.
A) to (D) are side views and end views for explaining the operation of the cam member shown in FIG. 1 and the cam rail member that cooperates with the cam member, and FIG. 3 is an electric motor according to the present invention using the cam member shown in FIG. Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a modular electrical connector of the present invention using a connector module. 10, Cam member 12, Base 14
, , , Locking part 16 , , , Cam module 50
．． 60. , , Electrical connector 30 , 61 , , Connector housing 33
, 34. 72 , , elastic contacts 41 , 42
, , ,Contacted conductor

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A substantially flat metal base having a plurality of locking portions formed at approximately regular intervals, and a plurality of cam modules having substantially the same shape and having sloped surfaces and fixed to the locking portions of the base. A contact drive cam member comprising: (2) A connector housing having elastic contacts arranged in at least one row, and a plurality of cam modules disposed near the contact portions of the elastic contacts of the connector housing, and a plurality of cam modules arranged in the plurality of locking portions of the metal base. An electrical connector comprising: cam members fixed at intervals, and the cam member is operated to reduce insertion force when a contact conductor is inserted into contact with the elastic contactor.