Electrical connectors – Including or for use with tape cable – With mating connection region formed by bared cable
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-20
2001-01-09
Abrams, Neil (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Including or for use with tape cable
With mating connection region formed by bared cable
Reexamination Certificate
active
06171137
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector for fixing a flexible substrate thereon and connecting the flexible substrate to contacts assembled into the connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a connector has been required to be able to connect a flexible substrate to contacts in a higher density, to be formed in a smaller size, and to have higher operability and reliability. For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-82427 and Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 6-77186 have suggested a connector for connecting a flexible substrate or flat cable to contacts.
FIGS. 1A
to
1
C are cross-sectional views of the connector suggested in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-82427, illustrating steps of inserting a flat cable thereto.
The illustrated connector
101
is comprised of a housing
102
which is upwardly open, a plurality of first contacts
103
a
assembled into the housing
102
from a front side (a right side in
FIG. 1A
) of the housing
102
, a plurality of second contacts
103
b
assembled into the housing
102
from a rear side (a left side in
FIG. 1A
) of the housing
102
, and a lever
108
rotatably supported above the housing
102
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 1A
, each of the first contacts
103
a
has an extension
104
a
extending towards the rear side of the housing
102
, a contact
106
a
formed on the extension
104
a
in the vicinity of a distal end thereof for making electrical contact with a flat cable
109
(see FIG.
1
C), and a lead terminal portion
105
a
extending in an opposite direction to the extension
104
a.
As illustrated in
FIG. 1B
, each of the second contacts
103
b
has an extension
104
b
extending towards the front side of the housing
102
, a contact
106
b
formed on the extension
104
b
at a distal end thereof for making electrical contact with the flat cable
109
, a lead terminal portion
105
b
extending in an opposite direction to the extension
104
b,
and a support portion
107
b
extending towards the front side of the housing
102
above the extension
104
b.
The lever
108
is carried at the support portion
107
b
for rotation. The lever
108
is designed to compress and thus fix the flat cable
109
onto the housing
102
at a certain rotation angle, as illustrated in FIG.
1
C. Lines connecting a rotational center
110
of the lever
108
to both the contacts
106
a
and
106
b
make an isosceles triangle.
FIG. 2
illustrates the connector suggested in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 6-77186. The illustrated connector
201
is comprised of a housing
202
which is open upwardly, a plurality of contacts
203
, and a lever
210
for compressing and fixing a flexible substrate
209
onto a later mentioned U-shaped contact member
205
of the contacts
203
. Each of the contacts
203
has a support portion
204
for supporting the lever
210
for rotation, a U-shaped contact member
205
onto which the flexible substrate
209
is compressed, a contact
208
formed on the U-shaped contact member
205
at a distal end thereof, a lead terminal portion
206
for electrically connecting the flexible substrate
209
to an external element (not illustrated), and an arm portion
207
for connecting the support portion
204
, the U-shaped contact member
205
, and the lead terminal portion
206
together.
The contacts
203
are assembled into the housing
202
from a rear side (a left side in
FIG. 2
) of the housing
202
. The lever
210
is designed to be rotatable about a tip end of the support portion
204
of the contacts
203
. The lever
210
is formed with a raised portion
211
, which is situated outside a line connecting a center of the tip end of the support portion
204
to the contact
208
of the contacts
203
when the lever
210
is in a position illustrated in
FIG. 2
, and situated inside the line when the lever
210
rotates to such a position that the flexible substrate
209
is compressed onto the U-shaped contact member
205
by the lever
210
.
FIG. 3A
is a graph showing a force exerted when the flat cable
109
is compressed onto the housing
102
by the lever
108
in the connector
101
illustrated in
FIGS. 1A
to
1
C. Now, an angle formed between the lever
108
and the flexible substrate
109
is represented with “&thgr;”.
FIG. 3A
shows a relation between a force F exerted on the flexible substrate
109
by the lever
108
and an angle (90°−&thgr;).
An origin O of the graph shows that the angle &thgr;is equal to 90 degrees, that is, the lever
108
stands upright, as illustrated in FIG.
1
A. After the lever
108
starts rotation, the lever
108
makes contact with the flexible substrate
109
and begins compressing the flexible substrate
109
onto the housing
102
at the point A. Then, the force F gradually increases as the lever
108
rotates. The force F is maximized at the point B.
FIG. 3B
illustrates that the lever
108
makes the angle &thgr; with the flexible substrate
109
and exerts the maximum force F
max
on the flexible substrate
109
. Then, the force F gradually decreases as the lever
108
rotates, and finally becomes equal to F
end
at the point C when the lever
108
finishes rotation, as illustrated in
FIG. 3C. A
self-locking force S defined as a difference between the forces F
max
and F
end
keeps the flexible substrate
109
compressed by the lever
108
.
The above-mentioned relation between the force F and the rotation angle &thgr; of the lever
108
is established also in the connector illustrated in FIG.
2
.
As mentioned above, the flexible cable
109
is compressed onto the housing
102
with the force F. However, the connector
101
is accompanied with a problem that the force F expected to be as high as possible for fixing the flexible cable
109
cannot be maximized when the lever
108
finishes rotation as illustrated in FIG.
3
C. The same problem is paused in the connector
201
illustrated in FIG.
2
.
The reason why such a problem is caused is as follows. As illustrated in
FIG. 3A
, the force F is maximized at the point B when the lever
108
is still rotating, and finally becomes equal to F
end
which is smaller than F
max
. The conventional connectors
101
and
201
are designed to fix the flexible substrate
109
and
209
with the contact force F, and exert the maximum contact force F
max
on the flexible substrates
109
and
209
when the levers
108
and
210
are still in rotation. Hence, suppose that a maximum force which the flexible substrate
109
and
209
allow to receive is equal to the maximum contact force F
max
, the force F
end
obtained when the levers
108
and
210
finish rotation thereof is smaller than the force F
max
. For this reason, the above-mentioned problem is paused.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector which is capable of setting a maximum contact force which a flexible substrate allows to receive, at a time when a lever finishes rotation thereof to thereby fix the flexible substrate onto a housing.
There is provided a connector for connecting a flexible substrate to a plurality of contacts, including (a) a housing into which a flexible substrate is inserted, (b) a plurality of contacts assembled to the housing, and (c) a lever rotatably supported above the housing, the lever being formed with a first outer surface and a second outer surface, the first outer surface making contact only with the flexible substrate for compressing the flexible substrate onto the housing and the second outer surface making contact only with the housing for fixing the lever in a stationary position relative to the housing.
There is further provided a connector for connecting a flexible substrate to a plurality of contacts, including (a) a housing having a first plane on which a flexible substrate is supported and a second plane having a greater height than the first plane, (b) a plurality of contacts assembled to the housing, and (c) a lever rotatably supported above the hous
Abrams Neil
Hayes, Soloway, Hennessey, Grossman & Hage
Nasri Javaid
NEC Corporation
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