JP6419061B2 - Board-mounted electrical connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical connector attached to a circuit board.

Conventionally, for example, in Patent Document 1, a frame-shaped member is provided so as to surround terminals and other parts of an electrical connector soldered to a circuit board, and a molten resin material is potted inside the frame-shaped member. It has been proposed to seal.
Patent Document 2 proposes an electrical connector including a weir member that can be potted from different directions.
According to Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, since the terminal of the electrical connector and other components are sealed with the potting material, for example, even if the device on which the circuit board is mounted is submerged, the terminal is surrounded around the terminal. It is possible to prevent the entry of water and the occurrence of an electrical short circuit in the terminals and other parts.

JP 2002-271002 A JP 2012-54025 A

The potting material is desired to maintain the terminal etc. in a sealed state from the start of use until the end of use, but if the potting material breaks and allows moisture to enter from the outside, The intended purpose cannot be fulfilled.
An external force is assumed as a cause of breakage of the potting material. As this external force, there is a case where a tension is applied to a harness connected to a mating connector to be fitted to the electrical connector. An external force is applied to pull the connector forward.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a board-mounted electrical connector that can prevent the potting material from being damaged by an external force after the start of use.

A board-mounted electrical connector according to the present invention includes a housing that holds a terminal, a potting case that is disposed on a side where the terminal extends from the housing, and a potting region that is formed between the housing and the potting case. .
The housing according to the present invention has a pair of first potting walls extending rearward at a predetermined distance from each other, and the potting case is a pair of second potting walls inscribed or circumscribed with each of the pair of first potting walls. And a rear wall connecting the pair of second potting walls on the rear side, and restraining relative movement in the front-rear direction of the housing and the potting case between the first potting wall and the second potting wall It comprises a part.

  In the electrical connector of the present invention, the pair of first potting walls of the housing are inscribed or circumscribed with the pair of first potting walls of the housing, and the housing is disposed between the first potting wall and the second potting wall. A restraining portion for restraining relative movement of the potting case in the front-rear direction is provided. Therefore, even if an external force that pulls the housing forward acts, the potting case is also pulled together with the housing. As a result, there is no relative displacement between the housing and the potting case, so that no external force is applied to the potting existing in the potting region, and the potting material can be prevented from being damaged.

In the electrical connector of the present invention, a pair of second potting walls are inscribed in the pair of first potting walls, and a terminal alignment portion for aligning a plurality of terminals held in the housing is formed integrally with the potting case. It is preferable to do.
By forming the terminal alignment part integrally with the potting case, the tine part of the terminal can be inserted into the terminal alignment part simply by assembling the potting case to the housing. Note that the second potting wall is inscribed in the first potting wall in order to integrally form the terminal alignment portion.

The electrical connector according to the present invention includes a pair of second potting walls and a bottom floor extending in the horizontal direction and connected to the rear wall, the terminal alignment portion being supported between the pair of second potting walls, and It is preferable that a resin passage penetrating the front and back of the bottom floor is formed in the periphery.
This bottom floor is provided to prevent the potted resin material from reaching the circuit board more than necessary. However, in order to ensure electrical insulation of the terminal between the terminal alignment portion and the circuit board, a resin passage is provided, and the resin material is filled between the terminal alignment portion and the circuit board through this passage.

In the electrical connector of the present invention, it is preferable that the housing and the potting case have a common board mounting portion that is mounted on the circuit board.
For example, when attaching an electrical connector to a circuit board by screwing, the screwing work load is reduced by using a common screwing location compared to screwing the housing and potting case individually to the circuit board. Can be halved.

In the electrical connector of the present invention, the restraining portion is formed by either one of the first potting wall and the second potting wall, the guide groove extending in the height direction formed in one of the first potting wall and the second potting wall. It is preferable to provide a guide strip extending in the height direction, which is formed on the other of the two and inserted into the guide groove.
By providing the guide groove and the guide strip, in addition to restraining the relative movement of the housing and the potting case in the front-rear direction, when the potting case is assembled to the housing, it can be assembled while positioning each other.

In the electrical connector according to the present invention, the first potting wall of the housing and the second potting wall of the potting case are provided with locking portions that are locked in the height direction on the rear side of the guide groove and the guide strip. It is preferable.
As described above, if the movement of the housing and the potting case in the height direction is restricted, it is possible to prevent the potting from being damaged due to the positional deviation between the housing and the potting case in the height direction.

  According to the electrical connector of the present invention, even if the housing is pulled forward, the potting case is also pulled forward together with the housing, so there is no relative displacement between the housing and the potting case, and the potting region It is possible to prevent the potting material existing in the glass from being damaged.

It is a perspective view which shows the board-mounted electrical connector which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and is the figure seen from the upper surface side. It is a perspective view which shows the board-mounted electrical connector which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and is the figure seen from the bottom face side. It is a figure which shows the housing of the electric connector of FIG. 1 alone, (a) is a front view, (b) is a top view, (c) is a side view, (d) is a IIId-IIId line arrow view of (b). Sectional drawing and (e) are bottom views. It is a figure which shows the potting case of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 alone, (a) is a front view, (b) is a top view, (c) is a side view, (d) is a bottom view. It is a perspective view which shows a mode that the electrical connector of FIG. 1 is attached to a board | substrate. It is a top view which shows a mode that the electric connector of FIG. 1 was potted.

Hereinafter, a board-mounted electrical connector 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
An electrical connector 1 according to this embodiment is attached to a circuit board 3 (see FIG. 5), and electrically connects a circuit formed on the circuit board 3 and a mating connector. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electrical connector 1 includes a housing 10 that holds terminals 5 that are responsible for electrical connection, and a potting case 20 that is disposed on the side where the terminals 5 extend from the housing 10. In addition, a potting region 7 is formed between the housing 10 and the potting case 20. The electrical connector 1 is a male connector that holds a male terminal 5 that the housing 10 holds.

As shown in FIG. 5, the electrical connector 1 is attached to the circuit board 3 after the housing 10 and the potting case 20 are assembled to each other, and then melted into a potting region 7 formed on the circuit board 3. A potting material is formed by introducing and curing. The electrical connector 1 has a structure in which the potting material is not easily damaged even if an external force is applied after the electrical connector 1 is attached to the circuit board 3 and starts to be used. Hereinafter, after describing the configuration of the electrical connector 1, the effects of the electrical connector 1 will be described.
In the electrical connector 1, the side on which the circuit board 3 is disposed is down and the opposite side is up. In the electrical connector 1, the side on which a mating connector (not shown) is fitted is defined as the front, and the side from which the terminal 5 is pulled out is defined as the rear. This definition is applied not only to the present embodiment but also to the present invention.

[Housing 10]
The housing 10 holding the plurality of terminals 5 is integrally formed by injection molding an electrically insulating resin material.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the housing 10 includes a fitting hood 11 to which a mating connector (not shown) is fitted on the front side. Inside the fitting hood 11, a receiving space 12 (FIGS. 3A and 3B) having a front end opened is formed. The mating connector is fitted into the electrical connector 1 by being inserted into the receiving space 12.

The housing 10 includes a pair of first potting walls 13 that extend rearward from the fitting hood 11. The first potting walls 13 are formed substantially parallel to each other at a predetermined interval.
The first potting wall 13 forms a potting region 7 together with the second potting wall 21 of the potting case 20. Between the pair of first potting walls 13, the terminals 5 drawn from the housing 10 are arranged. The first potting wall 13 is set so that the length (L1) extending rearward is slightly longer than the length of the horizontal portion 5H of the terminal 5 extending rearward. The position is set slightly higher than the upper end of the vertical portion 5V of the terminal 5.

The first potting wall 13 includes a guide groove 15 and a locking piece 16 on each of the inner wall surfaces 14 facing each other.
The guide groove 15 is a groove having a rectangular opening cross section penetrating in the height direction of the first potting wall 13. When the potting case 20 is assembled, the locking piece 16 is locked with the locking piece 25 of the potting case 20.
The guide strip 24 of the potting case 20 is inserted into the guide groove 15 without any gap, and the locking piece 16 is locked to the locking piece 25, so that the housing 10 and the potting case 20 are positioned at appropriate positions. It is assembled and secured.
Moreover, as shown in FIG.3 (e), the 1st potting wall 13 is formed with the screw hole 18 for fixing the electric connector 1 to the circuit board 3 by screwing in each lower surface 17. FIG. One of the screw holes 18 is formed near the front end of the lower surface 17, and the other is formed near the rear end of the lower surface 17.

  A terminal holding wall 19 is formed at the boundary between the fitting hood 11 and the first potting wall 13 (FIG. 3D). Many electrical connectors hold a terminal in a housing by press-fitting the terminal into a holding hole provided in a holding wall. However, the electrical connector 1 of this embodiment holds the terminal 5 on the terminal holding wall 19 by insert molding the terminal 5 at the same time as the housing 10 is injection molded. This prevents a gap from being formed between each terminal 5 and the terminal holding wall 19 and prevents the filled molten resin material from leaking from the potting region 7 to the receiving space 12 of the fitting hood 11. This is to prevent it. However, the insert molding of the terminal 5 is a preferable form in the present invention, and the present invention does not prevent the holding of the terminal 5 by press-fitting.

  As shown in FIG. 3, each of the terminals 5 has an L-shape comprising a horizontal portion 5H parallel to the circuit board 3 and a vertical portion 5V bent at a right angle from the end of the horizontal portion 5H. ing. In the present embodiment, the terminals 5 are arranged such that the horizontal portion 5H is the terminal 51 in the inner row closest to the circuit board 3, the horizontal portion 5H is the terminal 53 in the outer row farthest from the circuit board 3, and the horizontal portion 5H is the terminal 51 and the terminal. And an intermediate row of terminals 52 disposed between 53. Note that the length of the horizontal portion 5H and the length of the vertical portion 5V are the shortest in the terminal 51 in the inner row and the largest in the terminal 53 in the outer row. The terminals 51 in the inner row, the terminals 52 in the middle row, and the terminals 53 in the outer row are arranged with the same pitch and the same phase. However, the phases can be shifted by, for example, a half pitch in the arrangement direction.

[Potting case 20]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the potting case 20 is integrally formed by partitioning the potting region 7 together with the housing 10 and injection molding an electrically insulating resin.
As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, the potting case 20 has a U-shaped (or C-shaped) shape in plan view, and is formed substantially parallel to each other with a predetermined interval therebetween. A pair of second potting walls 21 and a rear wall 23 connecting the second potting walls 21 at one end on the rear side.
The projecting length (L2) of the second potting wall 21 from the rear wall 23 is substantially equal to the length (L1) of the first potting wall 13 of the housing 10, and the height (H2) is also the first potting. It is equivalent to the height (H1) of the wall 13. The distance between the outer wall surfaces 22 of the pair of second potting walls 21 is such that the second potting wall 21 can be inserted between the first potting walls 13 of the housing 10 with almost no gap.

The second potting wall 21 includes a guide strip 24 and a locking piece 25 on each of the outer wall surfaces 22 facing each other.
The guide strip 24 is a protrusion having a rectangular cross section that extends in the height direction of the second potting wall 21. As described above, the locking piece 25 is locked to the locking piece 16 to constitute a locking portion.
The guide strip 24 is inserted into the guide groove 15 of the housing 10 without any gap, and the locking piece 25 is locked to the locking piece 16 so that the housing 10 and the potting case 20 are assembled at an appropriate position. And is prevented from coming off.

The potting case 20 includes, on the lower surface side, a bottom floor 26 that continues to the rear wall 23 and the second potting wall 21 and extends in the horizontal direction, and a tine plate 28 that is formed at a substantially central portion of the bottom floor 26. Yes. The tine plate 28 functioning as a terminal alignment portion is supported between a pair of second potting walls 21, and slit-like resin passages 27 penetrating the front and back of the bottom floor 26 are provided before and after the tine plate 28. It is provided and supported at both ends by the bottom floor 26. In the tine plate 28, a plurality of holding holes 29 through which the respective vertical portions 5V of the plurality of terminals 5 are inserted are formed through the front and back surfaces.
Fixing pieces 30 are provided at substantially four corners of the bottom floor 26 so as to protrude outward in the plane direction, and screw holes 31 for fixing the electrical connector 1 to the circuit board 3 by screwing are provided in each fixing piece 30. Is formed. When the potting case 20 is assembled to the housing 10, the respective screw holes 31 are formed so as to coincide with the screw holes 18 of the housing 10, and a common board mounting portion when screwed to the circuit board 3. Configure.

[Assembly procedure]
Assembly of the housing 10 and the potting case 20 is performed as follows. Since the terminal 5 is insert-molded together with the housing 10, the housing 10 and the terminal 5 are already assembled.
The potting case 20 is positioned below the first potting wall 13 of the housing 10. This positioning is performed so that the guide strip 24 of the potting case 20 is inserted into the guide groove 15 of the housing 10. The positioning of the housing 10 and the potting case 20 can also be performed by aligning the locking piece 25 of the potting case 20 with the locking piece 16.
After the positioning, the potting case 20 is pushed upward with respect to the housing 10. When the potting case 20 is pushed in until the locking piece 16 and the locking piece 25 are locked to each other and reach the locked state, the assembly of the housing 10 and the potting case 20 is completed.
In the process of pushing the potting case 20 to the assembly completion position, each of the plurality of terminals 5 held by the housing 10 is inserted into the corresponding holding hole 29 of the tine plate 28, whereby the terminals 5 penetrating the bottom floor 26. The vertical portion 5V is aligned at the desired regular position.

Next, the electrical connector 1 which is an assembly of the housing 10 and the potting case 20 is fixed to the circuit board 3. As shown in FIG. 5, the fixing to the circuit board 3 is performed by screwing the screw 9 into the screw hole 31 of the potting case 20 and the screw hole 18 of the housing 10 through the circuit board 3. That is, in the electrical connector 1, both the housing 10 and the potting case 20 which are component parts are screwed to the circuit board 3.
The tips of the vertical portions 5V of the terminals 5 that are aligned at desired positions by the tine plate 28 are inserted into the corresponding holding holes of the circuit board 3.
When the electrical connector 1 is attached to the circuit board 3, a resin reservoir 33 is formed between the circuit board 3 and the tine plate 28. The resin reservoir 33 is a gap between the two. The resin material flows into the resin reservoir 33 through the resin passage 27, thereby ensuring electrical insulation between the plurality of vertical portions 5V between the circuit board 3 and the tine plate 28.

When the electrical connector 1 is fixed to the circuit board 3, as shown in FIG. 6, the potting region 7 is filled with a molten resin material to be the potting material P. The filling is performed until the potting area 7 is filled with the scraping.
Since the molten resin material has an appropriate fluidity, it flows inside the potting region 7 and is filled between the terminals 5 and 5. In this way, the potting material is filled in the potting region 7 above the circuit board 3 without a gap.
Once the required amount of molten resin has been potted in the potting region 7, the electrical connector 1 is left stationary until the resin is cured.

[Effect]
Next, the effect of the electrical connector 1 will be described.
In the electrical connector 1, an insulating resin is potted in the potting region 7, and the terminal 5 drawn out from the housing 10 is accommodated in the potting region 7 except for a portion inserted through the circuit board 3. Therefore, since it is possible to prevent moisture from entering the potting region 7 from the outside, it is possible to prevent the terminals 5 from being electrically short-circuited even if the electrical connector 1 is submerged.

  The electrical connector 1 can be attached to the circuit board 3 as an assembly of the housing 10 and the potting case 20. In particular, the electrical connector 1 does not attach the housing 10 and the potting case 20 to the circuit board 3 separately, but fastens the screws to the screw holes 18 and the screw holes 31 that constitute a common board mounting portion. And the potting case 20 can be attached to the circuit board 3 at the same time. Therefore, the burden of the work of attaching the electrical connector 1 to the circuit board 3 is small when the electrical connector 1 is supplied.

  Next, in the electrical connector 1, the first potting wall 13 and the second potting wall 21 are overlapped on both sides in the width direction of the potting region 7, and the first groove 15 is formed in the guide groove 15 formed in the first potting wall 13. A guide strip 24 formed on the two potting wall 21 is inserted. As a result, the housing 10 and the potting case 20 are restrained from moving relative to each other in the front-rear direction. Therefore, even if an external force pulling forward acts on the housing 10, the potting case 20 is also pulled together with the housing 10. There is no relative displacement between the potting case 20 and the potting case 20. Therefore, the potting material present in the potting region 7 can maintain a healthy state even when an external force is applied.

Here, the guide groove 15 and the guide strip 24 constitute a restraining portion that restrains relative movement of the housing 10 and the potting case 20 in the front-rear direction, and as a positioning guide when the potting case 20 is assembled to the housing 10. In addition, the melted resin material P potted in the potting region 7 becomes an obstacle to leakage to the outside.
Not only the guide groove 15 and the guide strip 24 but also the locking piece 16 and the locking piece 25 have the function of causing the molten resin to leak. The locking piece 16 and the locking piece 25 are present behind the combination of the guide groove 15 and the guide strip 24. Therefore, since the molten resin to be leaked passes through the combination of the guide groove 15 and the guide strip 24 and reaches the combination of the locking piece 16 and the locking piece 25, The possibility that the molten resin reaches the combination of the stop pieces 25 is extremely low.

  Next, in the electrical connector 1, the tine plate 28 is formed integrally with the potting case 20. Therefore, the plurality of terminals 5 can be aligned at predetermined positions simply by assembling the potting case 20 to the housing 10 holding the terminals 5.

  The tine plate 28 is supported at both ends between the pair of second potting walls 21, and a resin passage 27 penetrating the front and back of the bottom floor 26 is formed around the tine plate 28. Therefore, if the potting region 7 is filled with the molten resin, the molten resin enters between the circuit board 3 and the tine plate 28 via the resin passage 27 and a plurality of protrusions projecting from the tine plate 28 toward the circuit board 3. Insulation of the vertical portion 5V can be ensured. On the other hand, if the resin passage 27 is excluded, the potting region 7 is partitioned by the bottom floor 26, so that the resin does not leak to the circuit board 3 except for the necessary region.

  The electrical connector 1 has the second potting wall 21 inscribed in the first potting wall 13 and overlapped over a considerable length, so that the rigidity in the width direction can be increased. The dimensions in the front-rear direction can be reduced.

As described above, the present invention has been described based on the preferred embodiments. However, the configuration described in the above embodiments can be selected or changed to other configurations as appropriate without departing from the gist of the present invention. is there.
In the present invention, the specific structures of the housing 10 and the potting case 20 are arbitrary. For example, the housing 10 having one fitting hood 11 is taken as an example. However, a housing having a plurality of fitting hoods may be used. it can. In this case, the number of first potting walls 13 corresponding to the number of fitting hoods is provided, and the same applies to the potting region 7.

Further, the first potting wall 13 and the second potting wall 21 of the present embodiment are substantially parallel to each other. However, when the housing 10 and the potting case 20 are assembled, the first potting wall 13 and the second potting wall 21 slide with each other, and the first potting wall 13 and the second potting wall 21 may be inscribed or circumscribed. If possible, it is not limited to parallel.
In the present embodiment, the first potting wall 13 and the second potting wall 21 are inscribed. However, a form in which the second potting wall 21 circumscribes the first potting wall 13 can also be adopted. However, when the tine plate 28 is formed integrally with the potting case 20 as in this embodiment, it is necessary to adopt a form in which the second potting wall 21 is inscribed in the first potting wall 13.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electrical connector 3 Circuit board 5,51,52,53 Terminal 5H Horizontal part 5V Vertical part 7 Potting area 10 Housing 11 Fit hood 12 Receiving space 13 First potting wall 14 Inner wall surface 15 Guide groove 16 Locking protrusion 17 Lower surface 18 Screw hole 19 Terminal holding wall 20 Potting case 21 Second potting wall 22 Outer wall surface 23 Rear wall 24 Guide strip 25 Locking protrusion 26 Bottom floor 27 Resin passage 28 Tine plate 29 Holding hole 30 Fixing piece 31 Screw hole 33 Resin reservoir

Claims (6)

A housing for holding a terminal;
A potting case disposed on the side where the terminal extends from the housing;
A potting region formed between the housing and the potting case, and an electrical connector attached to a circuit board,
The housing has a pair of first potting walls extending rearward at a predetermined interval from each other,
The potting case has a pair of second potting walls that are inscribed or circumscribed with each of the pair of first potting walls, and a rear wall that connects the pair of second potting walls on the rear side,
Between the first potting wall and the second potting wall, provided with a restraining portion for restraining relative movement in the front-rear direction of the housing and the potting case,
A board-mounted electrical connector characterized by that. The pair of second potting walls are inscribed in each of the pair of first potting walls,
The potting case is integrally formed with a terminal alignment portion for aligning a plurality of the terminals.
The electrical connector according to claim 1. A bottom floor extending in a horizontal direction connected to a pair of the second potting wall and the rear wall;
The terminal alignment portion is supported between a pair of the second potting walls, and a resin passage penetrating the front and back of the bottom floor is formed around the terminal alignment portion.
The electrical connector according to claim 2. The housing and the potting case include a common board mounting portion that is attached to the circuit board.
The electrical connector as described in any one of Claims 1-3. The restraining portion is
A guide groove extending in the height direction, formed on one of the first potting wall and the second potting wall;
A guide strip that is formed on the other of the first potting wall and the second potting wall and that is inserted into the guide groove and extends in the height direction.
The electrical connector as described in any one of Claims 1-4. Between the first potting wall and the second potting wall, on the rear side of the guide groove and the guide strip, provided with a locking portion that is locked in the height direction.
The electrical connector according to claim 5.