Substrate mount type terminal

Details Substrate mount type terminal Substrate mount type terminal

2001-01-25

2002-08-27

Gandhi, Jayprakash N. (Department: 2841)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C361S752000, C361S803000, C174S13800J, C439S084000, C439S943000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06442036

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate mount type terminal used for the coupling between a vehicle-mounted electronic unit and a joint box in the wiring with in an automobile, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in order to couple an electronic unit and a joint box of an automobile, two kinds of techniques explained bellow have been put to practical use and actually used.
According to the first prior art, as shown in
FIG. 12
, a plurality of terminals are housed and disposed within a housing and integrated in a predetermined arrangement state thereby to form a connector
100
. The connector
100
is attached to an electronic unit side and a connector at the end portions of wire harnesses drawn from a joint box side is coupled to the connector
100
.
According to the second prior art, as shown in
FIG. 13
, a plurality of female terminals
115
are mounted on the substrate
110
of an electronic unit side in a predetermined arrangement state. A connector of wire harness side is coupled to the female terminals
115
thus arranged on the substrate
110
.
Each of the female terminals
115
is arranged in a manner that a pair of pin-shaped lead portions
117
are provided so as to elect at the lower portions of a cylindrical terminal main body portion
116
into which a corresponding male terminal is inserted and coupled therewith. Each of the lead portions
117
is inserted into a through hole
110
a
formed at the substrate
110
. Then, the lower end portion of each of the lead portions
117
protruded from the lower portion of the substrate,
110
is soldered on a predetermined wiring pattern formed on the substrate
110
. Thus, each of the female terminals
115
is electrically coupled to the wiring pattern and also fixed to and mounted on the substrate
110
.
According to the second prior art, since the predetermined arrangement and posture of the female terminals is held by directly mounting and fixing each of the female terminals
115
on and to the substrate
110
, there is an advantage that the housing of the connector
100
employed in the first prior art can be eliminated.
However, in the case of the second prior art, in a provisional mounting state where the lead portions
117
of each of the female terminals
115
have been inserted into the through hole
110
a
of the substrate
110
but the lead portions
117
have not been soldered on the wiring pattern yet, each of the female terminals
115
is apt to move freely with respect to the substrate
110
. Thus, there arises a problem that in case where other members contact to the female terminals
115
at the time of conveying the substrate
110
, for example, the alignment of the respective female terminals
115
can not be held in a constant state.
Further, when the respective lead portions
117
are soldered on the wiring pattern, the female terminals
115
also freely move due to the surface tension etc. of the fused solder, so that the alignment of the respective female terminals
115
may also not be held in a constant state.
Furthermore, even in the state where the respective lead portions
117
have been soldered on the wiring pattern, a sufficient fixing force can not be obtained only from the soldering. For example, when the substrate
110
having the female terminals
115
mounted thereon is housed within the casing of the electronic unit, the female terminals
115
may contact to the casing etc., so that it is difficult to keep the alignment of the respective female terminals
115
in a constant state.
In this respect, in order to maintain constant the alignment state of the respective female terminals
115
, it may be possible to employ such a method of using a housing for maintaining constant the alignment state of the respective female terminals
115
or a method of using a jig for adjusting the alignment. However, the former method is not suitable since the advantage of the second prior art that the connector housing used in the first prior art can be eliminated is spoiled. Further, the latter method is not suitable since a process of adjusting the alignment is required in addition to the process of mounting the female terminals on the substrate and so the fabricating process of the terminal becomes complicated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a substrate mount type terminal which can maintain predetermined posture on a substrate as possible.
In order to attain the aforesaid object, the substrate mount type terminal according to a first aspect of the invention is arranged in a manner that in the substrate mount type terminal to be mounted on a substrate in which an attachment hole is formed, the substrate mount type terminal includes:
a terminal main body portion at which a coupling portion capable of being coupled to a coupled terminal in a fitting manner is formed at one end side thereof and an attachment base portion capable of being inserted into the attachment hole is formed at the other end side thereof;
a projection portion formed so as to protrude outward at an end portion of the terminal main body portion on the attachment base portion side; and
an engagement portion formed so as to protrude outward at a position of a side portion of the attachment base portion which is away from the projection portion to the coupling portion side by a distance enabling the substrate being sandwiched between the projection portion and the engagement portion.
In a second aspect of the invention, the terminal main body portion may be formed by a member of an almost cylindrical shape which can be inserted into the attachment hole of the substrate and one end side thereof is opened, and the coupling portion is formed as a female coupling portion in a manner that an extended piece extended from the opened end side of the terminal main body portion is turned down toward inside to thereby form a tongue piece for contacting to the coupled terminal side of male type.
Further, in a third aspect of the invention, the engagement portion maybe formed as an engagement piece which extends along insertion direction of the attachment base portion into the attachment hole portion and has a guide edge portion extending a to outside toward a direction opposite to the insertion direction.
Alternatively, in a fourth aspect of the invention, the engagement portion may be formed as an elastic engagement piece which is arranged in a manner that a side plate portion of the attachment base portion is cut and raised outward while remaining the coupling portion side as a coupling base portion and which elastically contacts to a peripheral edge portion of the attachment hole in a state that the terminal is mounted on the substrate.
In this case, in a fifth aspect of the invention, a portion of the side plate portion of the attachment base portion surrounding the elastic engagement piece is cut off at its periphery while remaining a part thereof thereby to form an elastic piece which can elastically deform freely within the cut area.
Further, in a sixth aspect of the invention, in place of arranging the engagement portion so as to protrude outward at the position of the side portion of the attachment base portion which is away from the projection portion to the coupling portion side by the distance enabling the substrate being sandwiched between the projection portion and the engagement portion, the engagement portion maybe arranged in a manner that the engagement portion is formed so as to protrude outward at a position of the side portion of the attachment base portion capable of contacting with pressure to an inner peripheral portion of the attachment hole in a state that the projection portion abuts against other surface of the substrate at a peripheral edge portion of the attachment hole.
Further, in a seventh aspect of the invention, the projection portion may be formed as a projection piece which is disposed along other surface side of the substrate and capable of being soldered to a printed wiring for

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