JP7675974B2 - Terminals and Chain Terminals - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to terminals and chain terminals.

The terminal disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a protrusion extending in the axial direction and a protruding portion (protruding piece) protruding in the width direction from the protruding portion. A connection portion that is electrically connected to a mating terminal is formed at the tip of the protrusion. The protruding portion has a straight portion along the width direction on one end face opposite the side where the connection portion is located. The straight portion of the protruding portion is pressed by a jig when the terminal is assembled into a housing. This type of terminal is also disclosed in Patent Document 2.

JP 2020-140807 A (Figure 2) JP 2005-44788 A (FIG. 5)

Incidentally, although not specifically shown in the above Patent Documents 1 and 2, when a terminal 100 includes a terminal body 111 and a protruding portion 116 that protrudes in the width direction from the terminal body 111 as shown in the reference example of Fig. 5, a processing R (indicated by the symbol R in Fig. 5) is generally formed at a connecting corner (neck portion) between the terminal body 111 and the protruding portion 116. However, when the terminal 100 is small, the range of the processing R that occupies one end surface 122 of the protruding portion 116 becomes relatively large. For this reason, it is necessary to strictly manage the attachment accuracy of the jig 160 that presses the one end surface 122 of the protruding portion 116 to the terminal 100.
In response to this, a structure can be adopted in which a recess 72 (see reference numeral 72 in Figs. 2 and 3 of Patent Document 1) is formed at the connecting corner portion between the side surface of the terminal body 111 and the protruding portion 116, and the processing R is retreated to the inside of the terminal body 111 by the recess 72. If the processing R is not on the outside, the jig 160 can be brought closer to the side surface of the terminal body 111, improving the operability of the jig. However, when the recess 72 is formed on the side surface of the terminal body 111, the terminal body 111 becomes thinner by the depth of the recess 72, and therefore, in the case of a small terminal 100, there is a concern that the strength of the recess 72 of the terminal body 111 will decrease.

Therefore, the present disclosure aims to provide a terminal and a chain terminal that prevent the strength of the terminal body from decreasing.

The terminal of the present disclosure comprises a terminal body extending in the axial direction and a protruding portion protruding outward from the terminal body in a width direction intersecting the axial direction, the terminal body having a body side surface facing outward in the width direction and an electrical connection portion located on one side of the protruding portion in the axial direction, the protruding portion having a recessed portion recessed in the axial direction on one end surface facing the other side in the axial direction, and the recessed portion having a side portion along the body side surface of the terminal body.

This disclosure makes it possible to provide a terminal that prevents the strength of the terminal body from decreasing.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a terminal according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a chain terminal. FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view of a portion where one end face of the protruding portion is pressed by a jig. FIG. 4 is a side view of the terminal mounted in the housing. FIG. 5 is a reference diagram for explaining the conventional problems.

[Description of the embodiments of the present disclosure]
First, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be listed and described.
The terminal of the present disclosure is
(1) A terminal body extending in an axial direction and a protruding portion protruding outward from the terminal body in a width direction intersecting the axial direction, the terminal body having a body side surface facing outward in the width direction and an electrical connection portion located on one side of the axial direction relative to the protruding portion, the protruding portion having a recess that is recessed in the axial direction on one end face facing the other side in the axial direction, and the recess having a side portion that runs along the body side surface of the terminal body.
According to the above configuration, one end face of the protruding portion can be pressed with a jig to connect the connection portion to a connection object such as a circuit board. Since one end face of the protruding portion has a recess, and the recess has a side face along the main body side face of the terminal body, no processing R is formed at the connecting corner between the main body side face of the terminal body and the one end face of the protruding portion. Therefore, the protruding portion can be pressed in a state in which the jig can contact the main body side face of the terminal body. As a result, the jig can be easily attached to the terminal, and the assembly stability of the terminal to the connection object can be improved. Moreover, since no recess is formed on the main body side face of the terminal body, and the width dimension of the terminal body is not reduced by the recess, the strength of the terminal body can be prevented from decreasing.

(2) It is preferable that the one end face of the protruding portion has a straight surface portion along the width direction at an outer end portion in the width direction, excluding the recessed portion.
According to the above configuration, the straight surface portion of the protruding portion can be pressed with a jig, so that the ease of assembling the terminal to the connection object can be further improved.

(3) The recess may have an inclined surface on the opposite side of the side surface in the width direction, the inclined surface inclining in a direction away from the side surface toward the other side in the axial direction.
According to the above configuration, the recess can be formed in the protruding portion with high accuracy.

(4) A chained terminal in which the terminals described in any one of (1) to (3) above are connected in a line in the width direction, wherein a thin-walled portion that is thinner than the protrusion portion is formed between the protrusion portions of the terminals adjacent in the width direction, and the terminals adjacent in the width direction are connected to each other via the thin-walled portions.
According to the above-mentioned configuration, the thin-walled portion formed between the terminals adjacent in the width direction can be cut to obtain each terminal separately. Since the cut width can be reduced by the amount of the thin-walled portion, it is possible to accommodate small terminals and ensure the flatness of the terminals.

(5) The thin portion may be formed so as to extend over the entire length of the protruding portion in the axial direction.
According to the above configuration, the cutting portion can be cut over the entire axial length of the protruding portion, resulting in excellent workability.

[Details of the embodiment of the present disclosure]
Specific examples of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to these examples, but is defined by the claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims.

<Embodiment 1>
The terminal 10 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure is obtained by cutting the chained terminal 50 shown in Fig. 2. The chained terminal 50 is obtained by punching a metal plate. The terminal 10 is connected to a circuit board 90 as a connection target in a state where it is attached to a housing 81 of a connector 80 as shown in Fig. 4.
In the following description, the up-down direction corresponds to the up-down direction in each figure. The left-right direction corresponds to the left-right direction in Fig. 3. The front-rear direction is the thickness direction of the paper surface in Fig. 3, and corresponds to the left-right direction in Fig. 4. In this specification, the up-down direction is synonymous with the axial direction (the length direction of the terminal 10), and the left-right direction is synonymous with the width direction.

(Terminal)
As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the terminal 10 has a terminal body 11 extending in the up-down direction. The terminal body 11 has a pair of body side surfaces 12 facing in the left-right direction. The body side surfaces 12 are plate thickness portions of the terminal body 11 and are arranged along the up-down direction. The body side surfaces 12 are orthogonal to a front surface 13 and a rear surface 17 (see Figure 4) of the terminal body 11, respectively. The front surface 13 and the rear surface 17 of the terminal body 11 are arranged along the up-down direction and the left-right direction and form the plate surfaces of the terminal body 11.

The terminal body 11 has a connection portion 14 at its lower end. The connection portion 14 has a shape that is elastically deformable in the left-right direction, and has a pair of beam portions 15 that bulge out in a curved shape on both the left and right sides. Each beam portion 15 elastically contacts the inner surface of a connection hole 91 of the circuit board 90, and is electrically connected to a conductive portion (not shown) formed in the connection hole 91.

The terminal 10 has a pair of protruding portions 16 protruding from the terminal body 11 on both the left and right sides above the connection portion 14 .
The protruding portion 16 is in the form of a rectangular plate and has a front surface 18 and a rear surface 19 (see FIG. 4 ). The front surface 18 and the rear surface 19 of the protruding portion 16 are arranged along the up-down direction and the left-right direction and form the plate surface of the protruding portion 16. The front surface 18 and the rear surface 19 of the protruding portion 16 are continuous with the front surface 13 and the rear surface 17 of the terminal body 11, respectively, without any step.

The left and right end faces 21 of the overhanging portion 16 (the right end face of the right overhanging portion 16 and the left end face of the left overhanging portion 16), the upper end face of the overhanging portion 16 (hereinafter referred to as one end face 22), and the lower end face 23 of the overhanging portion 16 are arranged along the front-to-rear direction (the plate thickness direction of the overhanging portion 16). The left and right end faces 21 of the overhanging portion 16 are surfaces facing to the left and right sides and are arranged along the up-down direction. The lower end face 23 of the overhanging portion 16 is a surface facing downward and has a curved shape that curves toward the connection portion 14 side.

One end surface 22 of the protruding portion 16 faces upward and has a recess 24 at the inner end in the width direction on the terminal body 11 side, and a straight surface portion 25 at the outer end in the width direction on the side away from the terminal body 11.

The recess 24 has a U-shaped cross section that is recessed downward at one end surface 22 of the overhang 16. The recess 24 is formed by cutting out the entire thickness of the overhang 16 in the front-to-rear direction. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the recess 24 has a side portion 26 along the main body side surface 12 of the terminal body 11, a sloped surface portion 27 that faces the side portion 26 on the outer side in the width direction of the side portion 26, and a bottom surface portion 28 that connects the side portion 26 and the sloped surface portion 27 in a curved shape at the lower end.

The side surface portion 26 is arranged to extend vertically along the side surface 12 of the main body. The inclined surface portion 27 is arranged to be inclined in a direction away from the side surface portion 26 as it moves upward from the bottom surface portion 28. The radius of curvature of the bottom surface portion 28 is made sufficiently smaller than the radius of curvature of the curved shape at the lower end surface 23 of the protruding portion 16.

The straight surface portion 25 is disposed along the left-right direction on one end surface 22 of the protruding portion 16, and is formed to be sufficiently longer in the left-right direction than the width of the upper end opening of the recess 24. The straight surface portion 25 is disposed at the same height on each protruding portion 16.

(chained terminal)
As shown in Fig. 2, the chained terminal 50 is formed by connecting a plurality of terminals 10 in the left-right direction. In Fig. 2, only two terminals 10 are shown, and terminals connected in the same arrangement pattern on both sides of the two terminals 10 are omitted.

The chained terminal 50 has a thin-walled portion 51 between the protruding portions 16 of the terminals 10 adjacent in the left-right direction, which is thinner in the front-rear direction than the protruding portions 16. The terminals 10 adjacent in the left-right direction are connected to each other via the thin-walled portion 51. The protruding portions 16 and thin-walled portions 51 of each terminal 10 are connected in a strip-like shape in the left-right direction together with the corresponding portions of the terminal body 11 to form the carrier 52 of the chained terminal 50.

A groove 53 with a rectangular cross section is formed on the front and rear surfaces of the carrier 52. The groove 53 extends in the vertical direction and opens on the upper and lower end surfaces of the carrier 52. The thin-walled portion 51 is formed between the opposing grooves 53 on the front and rear of the carrier 52.

The terminal 10 is formed by cutting the thin-walled portion 51 from the carrier 52. The left and right end faces 21 of the protruding portion 16 are cut surfaces exposed by the cutting of the thin-walled portion 51. The vertical dimension of the thin-walled portion 51 is the same as the vertical dimension of the protruding portion 16. The thickness of the thin-walled portion 51 in the front-to-rear direction is half the thickness of the protruding portion 16 in the front-to-rear direction and is the same as the width dimension of the thin-walled portion 51 in the left-to-right direction. In other words, the cutting width when cutting the carrier 52 corresponds to the thickness of the thin-walled portion 51 in the front-to-rear direction. Therefore, compared to cutting the portion corresponding to the protruding portion 16, the cutting width can be made smaller by the amount of the thin-walled portion 51, making it possible to accommodate a small terminal 10. In addition, since the thin-walled portion 51 is cut, the cutting force is less likely to be transmitted to the protruding portion 16, and deformation of the protruding portion 16 can be avoided.

(connector)
The connector 80 is a board connector mounted on a circuit board 90, and includes a plurality of terminals 10 and a housing 81 made of synthetic resin, as shown in Fig. 4. The terminals 10 are bent midway in the length direction to form an L-shape overall. The horizontal portions of the terminals 10 penetrate the back wall 82 of the housing 81 and are positioned so as to protrude into a hood portion 83. The vertical portions of the terminals 10 are exposed on the outside of the housing 81, and the connection portions 14 located on the lower end side are inserted into connection holes 91 of the circuit board 90 to be connected.

(Method of connecting the terminal to the connection object)
When inserting the connection portion 14 of the terminal 10 into the connection hole 91 of the circuit board 90, a jig 60 is applied to one end surface 22 of the protruding portion 16, as shown in Fig. 3. The jig 60 has a pressing surface 61 that contacts the one end surface 22 of the protruding portion 16, and an opposing surface 62 that is perpendicular to the pressing surface 61 and faces the main body side surface 12 of the terminal main body 11. The pressing surface 61 is disposed along the left-right direction. The opposing surface 62 is disposed along the up-down direction. The terminal main body 11 is disposed so as to be sandwiched between the pair of opposing surfaces 62 in the left-right direction.

With the lower end of the terminal body 11 shallowly inserted into the connection hole 91, the terminal 10 receives a pressing force applied from the pressing surface 61 of the jig 60 to one end surface 22 of the protruding portion 16, and is displaced downward with elastic deformation of the connection portion 14. When the pressing action of the jig 60 stops, the displacement of the terminal 10 also stops, and the connection portion 14 is inserted to the normal depth into the connection hole 91 and electrically connected to the conductive portion.

In the case of the first embodiment, a recess 24 is provided on one end surface 22 of the protruding portion 16, and the side surface portion 26 of the recess 24 is formed so as to be recessed downward along the main body side surface 12 of the terminal body 11. Therefore, no processing R (see FIG. 5) is formed at the connecting corner portion between the one end surface 22 of the protruding portion 16 and the main body side surface 12 of the terminal body 11. Therefore, the opposing surface 62 of the jig 60 can approach a position where it can contact the main body side surface 12 of the terminal body 11, and the pressing surface 61 of the jig 60 can contact the straight surface portion 25 along the left-right direction, thereby realizing a state in which the terminal 10 is appropriately pressed downward. As a result, it is no longer necessary to strictly manage the attachment of the jig 60 to the terminal 10, and the adjustment of the jig 60 becomes easier. In addition, the assembly stability of the terminal 10 to the circuit board 90 can be improved.

In particular, in this embodiment 1, the recess 24 is provided in the protruding portion 16, and the width dimension of the terminal body 11 is not reduced by the recess 24. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the strength of the terminal body 11 from decreasing.

In addition, the pressing surface 61 of the jig 60 contacts the straight surface portion 25 of the protruding portion 16 in the left-right direction, and the terminal 10 is displaced downward and connected to the circuit board 90, so that the pressing force of the jig 60 can be directly transmitted to the terminal 10, further improving the assembling of the terminal 10.

Furthermore, since the recess 24 has a slope 27 that slopes upward away from the side surface 26, the recess 24 can be formed accurately in the protrusion 16 even in a small terminal 10.

[Other embodiments of the present disclosure]
The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.
In the first embodiment, the side surface of the recess is formed to extend straight along the axial direction. However, in another embodiment, the side surface of the recess may be formed to extend in a curved shape.
In the first embodiment, the axial direction is the vertical direction, which is the direction of gravity. However, in another embodiment, the width direction may be the vertical direction, which is the direction of gravity. Note that the vertical direction is not limited to the strict direction of gravity, and may be inclined with respect to the direction of gravity within an allowable range.
In the first embodiment, the connection portion has an elastically deformable shape, but in other embodiments, the connection portion may be a rigid portion that is soldered to the circuit board.
In the first embodiment, the connection portion is a portion connected to a conductive portion of a circuit board. However, in another embodiment, the connection portion may be a portion electrically connected to a mating terminal. In this case, the protruding portion may be configured to be assembled to the housing.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10...Terminal 11...Terminal body 12...Body side surface 13...Front surface of terminal body 14...Connection portion 15...Beam portion 16...Protruding portion 17...Rear surface of terminal body 18...Front surface of protruding portion 19...Rear surface of protruding portion 21...Left and right end surfaces of protruding portion 22...One end surface 23...Lower end surface of protruding portion 24...Recess 25...Straight surface portion 26...Side surface portion 27...Sloped surface portion 28...Bottom surface portion 50...Linked terminal 51...Thin portion 52...Carrier 53...Groove 60...Jig 61...Pressing surface 62...Opposite surface 72...(shown in conventional reference drawing) Recess 80...Connector 81...Housing 82...Rear wall 83...Hood portion 90...Circuit board 91...Connection hole 100...(shown in conventional reference drawing) Terminal 111... (shown in the conventional reference drawing) terminal body 116... (shown in the conventional reference drawing) extension portion 122... (shown in the conventional reference drawing) one end surface 160... (shown in the conventional reference drawing) jig R... (shown in the conventional reference drawing) processing R

Claims (5)

The terminal body includes a terminal body extending in an axial direction, and a protruding portion protruding outward from the terminal body in a width direction intersecting the axial direction,
the terminal body has a body side surface along the axial direction facing outward in the width direction, and an electrical connection portion located on one side in the axial direction relative to the protruding portion,
the protruding portion has a recess that is recessed in the axial direction at an inner end portion in the width direction that is on the side of the terminal body and faces the other side in the axial direction,
The recess has a side surface portion along the main body side surface of the terminal body and a bottom surface portion curvedly connected to the side surface portion at one end in the axial direction,
an end surface of the protruding portion facing one side in the axial direction has a curved shape that is curved toward the connection portion at a position where the end surface overlaps with the bottom surface portion when viewed in the axial direction ,
A terminal, wherein the radius of curvature of the curved surface of the end face of the protruding portion facing one side in the axial direction is greater than the radius of curvature of the curved surface of the bottom surface portion . The terminal according to claim 1, wherein the one end face of the protruding portion has a straight surface portion along the width direction at the outer end in the width direction, which is a portion excluding the recess. The terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the recess has a sloped surface on the opposite side of the side surface in the width direction, the sloped surface inclining away from the side surface as it approaches the other side in the axial direction. A chained terminal in which the terminals according to any one of claims 1 to 3 are connected in a line in the width direction,
Between the protruding portions of the terminals adjacent in the width direction, a thin-walled portion is formed that is thinner than the protruding portion,
The terminals adjacent to each other in the width direction are connected to each other via the thin-walled portion. The chain terminal according to claim 4, wherein the thin-walled portion is formed to extend over the entire axial length of the protruding portion.

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