JP5116867B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector.

  Conventionally, there is known a connector with a display function including a housing, a terminal unit, a shield member, and two light guides (see Patent Document 1 below).

  The housing has a bottom plate portion and a side wall portion. A light guide accommodating portion for accommodating the light guide is formed at a connecting portion between the bottom plate portion and the side wall portion. The light guide housing portion extends in the fitting direction of the connector with a display function with respect to the mating connector. One end of the light guide housing portion reaches the front surface of the housing, and the other end of the light guide housing portion reaches the bottom surface of the housing. Therefore, the front end of the light guide housing part opens at the front surface of the housing, and the rear end of the light guide housing part opens at the bottom surface of the housing.

  The terminal unit includes a unit main body portion, a terminal support portion, a plurality of terminals, a plurality of connection pins, and a plurality of conductive wires. The unit main body is formed of an insulating material such as a synthetic resin and is substantially square. The terminal support part is bowl-shaped and protrudes from the upper part of the front surface of the unit body part. The terminal is bent substantially in a V shape. One end of the terminal is supported by the terminal support, and the other end of the terminal is supported by the unit main body. The connection pin is supported by the unit main body and protrudes from the bottom surface of the unit main body. The connection pins are inserted into the through holes of the printed circuit board and are electrically connected. The conductive wire electrically connects the terminal and the connection pin. The terminal unit is accommodated in the housing between both side walls, and is fixed to the housing.

  The shield member is made of metal and covers the housing and the terminal unit. A light guide opening facing the opening at one end of the light guide housing portion is formed on the front surface of the shield member.

  The light guide has a substantially prismatic shape and is accommodated in the light guide accommodating portion. At the rear end portion in the longitudinal direction of the light guide, a recess is formed for accommodating an LED, which is a light source mounted on a printed circuit board. The LED is housed in the recess of the light guide through the opening at the rear end of the light guide housing portion when the connector with a display function is mounted on the printed circuit board.

  The LED emits light, for example, when a connector with a display function is connected to the mating connector, or when a signal is flowing through the connector with a display function and the mating connector. The light emitted from the LED enters the concave portion of the light guide and is emitted from the front end surface in the longitudinal direction of the light guide. Thereby, it can detect that the connector with a display function and the other party connector were connected, or it can detect that the signal is flowing.

JP 2007-287350 A

  In the above-described connector, light is emitted from the front end surface in the longitudinal direction of the prismatic light guide, so that the area where the light is emitted is small and the visibility is poor.

  This invention is made in view of such a situation, The subject is providing the connector which is easy to visually recognize the light from a light source.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the connector of the invention of claim 1 is provided with a contact, a housing that holds the contact, and a thin-walled portion that is provided in the housing and transmits light from the light source forward in the fitting direction of the housing. It is characterized by having.

  As described above, since the housing includes a thin portion that transmits light from the light source forward in the fitting direction of the housing, the thin portion shines.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector mounting method comprising reflow soldering the connector according to the first aspect to a printed circuit board.

  According to this invention, it is easy to visually recognize light from the light source.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state where a film of a connector of a reference example for facilitating understanding of an embodiment of the present invention is removed. FIG. 2A is a front view showing a state where the film of the connector shown in FIG. 1 is mounted. FIG. 2B is a plan view of the connector shown in FIG. 2A. 2C is a side view of the connector shown in FIG. 2A. 2D is a cross-sectional view taken along line IID-IID of the connector shown in FIG. 2A. 2E is a perspective view of the connector shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4A is a front view of the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 4B is a plan view of the connector. FIG. 4C is a side view of the connector. 4D is a cross-sectional view taken along line IVD-IVD shown in FIG. 4A. 4E is a perspective view of the connector viewed from a direction different from that in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state where a film 9 is removed from a connector 201 of a reference example for facilitating understanding of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2A is a front view showing a state where a film of the connector shown in FIG. 2B is a plan view of the connector shown in FIG. 2A, FIG. 2C is a side view of the connector shown in FIG. 2A, FIG. 2D is a cross-sectional view of the connector shown in FIG. 2A along the line IVD-IVD, and FIG. It is a perspective view of the connector shown.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A to 2E, the connector 201 includes a plurality of contacts 3, a housing 5, a frame 8, a film (translucent portion) 9, and a shield member 11.

  The contact 3 has a contact portion 3a, a terminal portion 3b, and a connecting portion (not shown), and is made of metal. The contact portion 3a contacts a mating contact of a mating connector (not shown). The terminal portion 3b is soldered to a terminal pad (not shown) of the printed board 20. The connecting portion connects the contact portion 3a and the terminal portion 3b.

  The housing 5 has a housing main body 51 and a contact portion holding portion 52, and is formed of an insulating material. The housing body 51 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. A connecting portion of the contact 3 is embedded in the housing body 51. The contact portion holding portion 52 is coupled to the upper portion of the front surface (surface on the mating connector side) of the housing body 51. The contact portion holding portion 52 extends in the fitting direction D with the mating connector of the housing 5. The contact part holding part 52 holds the contact parts 3a of the plurality of contacts 3 at equal intervals. A locking protrusion (not shown) is formed at the rear end of the housing body 51 in the fitting direction D.

  The frame 8 includes a first cylindrical portion 81, a second cylindrical portion 82, and a connecting portion (not shown) (see FIG. 2D), and is formed of white LCP (liquid crystal polymer). The second cylindrical portion 82 is slightly larger than the shield member 11, surrounds the outer peripheral surface of the shield member 11, and the frame 8 can be attached to and detached from the shield member 11. The first tubular portion 81 surrounds the outer peripheral surface of the second tubular portion 82 via the tubular space G. The 1st cylindrical part 81 and the 2nd cylindrical part 82 are connected by the connection part (not shown). The shape of the connecting portion is a shape that does not block the light from the LED 21 as much as possible.

  The first tubular portion 81 has a first tubular portion main body 811 and a protruding portion 812. A notch 811a is formed in the lower portion on the rear end side in the fitting direction D of the first tubular portion 811. The notch 811 a communicates with the cylindrical space G. When the frame 8 is disposed at a predetermined position on the printed board 20, the LED 21 is accommodated in the notch 811a. The protruding portion 812 is coupled to the lower portion of the first tubular portion main body 811 on the front end side in the fitting direction. Thereby, the area of the front surface in the fitting direction of the frame 8 is increased.

  A plurality of recesses (not shown) extending in the fitting direction D are formed on the inner wall surface of the second cylindrical portion 82. These concave portions are concave portions for avoiding contact with the invitation portion 112 of the shield member 11 in order to make the frame 8 detachable from the shield member 11 from the front in the fitting direction D.

  The film 9 is white and translucent, and suitable materials include LCP and polyimide. The film 9 is fixed to the front end in the fitting direction D of the frame 8.

  The shield member 11 has a shield member main body 111 and a plurality of invitation portions 112, and is made of metal.

  The shield member main body 111 is substantially cylindrical. The cross-sectional shape of the shield member main body 111 is substantially D-shaped. A leg portion 111 a is formed at the lower portion of the shield member main body 111 on the rear end side in the fitting direction D. A notch (not shown) is formed in the upper part on the rear end side in the fitting direction D of the shield member main body 111. This notch receives and locks the locking projection of the housing 5. Accordingly, the housing 5 is accurately positioned with respect to the shield member 11 in the fitting direction D.

  A claw (not shown) and a rear wall (not shown) are provided on both sides of the rear end in the fitting direction D of the shield member main body 111. The claws are bent toward the housing body 51 after the housing 5 is accommodated in the shield member 11. Thereby, the housing 5 is fixed to the shield member 11.

  The plurality of invitation portions 112 are formed at the front end in the fitting direction D of the shield member main body 111. The invitation part 112 invites the mating connector into the shield member main body 111.

  Since the frame 8 is formed of LCP or the like of a heat resistant material, the connector 201 can be soldered to the printed circuit board 20 by a reflow soldering method with the frame 8 attached to the shield member 11.

  When the LED 21 is turned on or blinks, the light of the LED 21 is reflected (diffusely reflected) by the inner peripheral surface of the first cylindrical portion 81 and the outer peripheral surface of the second cylindrical portion 82, and the fitting direction of the frame 8 through the cylindrical space G D is guided forward and passes through the film 9. At this time, the film 9 shines in a ring shape.

  According to this reference example, the light emitted from the LED 21 can be easily visually recognized. In addition, by making the frame 8 from a heat-resistant material, the connector 201 with the frame 8 attached can be soldered to the printed circuit board 20 by a reflow soldering method.

  3 is a perspective view of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4A is a front view of the connector shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 4B is a plan view of the connector, FIG. 4C is a side view of the connector, and FIG. Sectional drawing which follows the VID-VID line | wire shown to 4A, FIG. 4E is the perspective view which looked at the same connector from the direction different from FIG.

  Portions common to the above-described reference example are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. Only the main differences from the above-described reference example will be described below.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4A to 4E, the connector 301 includes a plurality of contacts 3, a housing 305, and a shield member 11.

  The housing 305 includes a housing main body 51 ′ and a contact portion holding portion 52. A circular thin portion 351b is formed at the rear end portion in the fitting direction D of the housing body 51 ′. The thickness of the thin portion 351b is set to be thin enough to transmit the light of the LED 21 '.

  The structure of the housing main body 51 ′ of the housing 305 of the connector 301 of this embodiment is substantially the same as the structure of the housing main body 51 of the housing 5 of the connector 201 of the reference example. The former housing body 51 'has a thin portion 351b, whereas the latter housing body 51 differs only in that there is no thin portion 351b.

  The light emission direction of the LED 21 ′ is parallel to the mounting surface 20 a of the printed board 20.

  The connector 301 is mounted on the printed circuit board 20 by reflow soldering.

  When the LED 21 ′ is turned on or blinks, the light from the LED 21 ′ is transmitted forward in the fitting direction D through the thin portion 351 b of the housing 305. When the connector 301 is viewed from the front in the fitting direction D, the thin portion 351b shines in a circle.

  According to this embodiment, the same effects as the reference example can be obtained, and the thin portion 351b can be formed corresponding to the size of the housing 305, so that the light emitting portion (thin portion 351b) can be enlarged.

  In the above-described embodiment, the shield member 11 is provided, but the shield member 11 may be omitted.

  Further, the contact 301 can be reflow soldered to the printed circuit board 20.

201, 301 Connector 3 Contact 5,305 Housing 351b Thin part 8 Frame 9 Film (translucent part)
20 Printed circuit board 21, 21 'LED (light source)
D Fitting direction G Cylindrical space

Claims (2)

Contacts,
A housing holding the contact;
And a thin-walled portion that is provided in the housing and transmits light from the light source forward in the fitting direction of the housing.   A connector mounting method comprising reflow soldering the connector according to claim 1 to a printed circuit board.

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