JP2024117958A - Floating connector - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a floating connector that suppresses impedance changes caused by floating and provides stable high frequency performance.SOLUTION: A floating connector 3 includes an insulator 9 in a plug that can move in the connection axial direction relative to a reference position of the outer conductor, and an expandable central conductor 4 having a movable contact portion 10 that moves in conjunction with the insulator 9, such that the positions of the movable contact portion 10 and the insulator 9 relative to the central conductor 2a of the socket are kept constant regardless of fluctuations in the relative positions of outer conductors 5, 6 in the connection axial direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

The present invention relates to a coaxial connector used for connecting electronic devices to coaxial cables or between electronic devices, and relates to a connector with a floating mechanism that provides excellent connectivity between the plug and socket.

The socket of this type of coaxial connector has a socket-side center conductor located in the center of the socket, a socket-side shell located on the outside of the socket-side center conductor, and a socket-side insulator interposed between the socket-side center conductor and the socket-side shell. When connecting to a plug, it is necessary that both the socket-side center conductor and the socket-side shell are properly connected to the mating plug-side center conductor and plug-side shell.

When connecting the plug and socket, the relative positions of the plug and socket to be connected may deviate from the design value in the axial direction due to factors such as the position of the board housed in the case and the mounting tolerances between the plug and case, and even in such cases, a reliable connection is required.

Therefore, conventionally, the socket-side insulator is placed at the back of the socket-side shell, and the plug-fitting side of the socket-side shell is provided with a margin to absorb misalignment in the axial direction (connection direction), allowing for errors from the design value in the axial direction and always maintaining the connection between the plug and socket.

In other words, if the relative positions of the plug and socket are farther away than the design value, the gap between the axial end face of the plug side insulator and the axial end face of the socket side insulator becomes larger, and if the relative positions of the plug and socket are closer than the design value, the gap between the axial end face of the plug side insulator and the axial end face of the socket side insulator becomes smaller.

JP 2003-29749 A

However, in the conventional technology described above, an air layer with a lower dielectric constant than the resin that constitutes the insulator is formed in the gap between the axial end face of the plug-side insulator and the axial end face of the socket-side insulator. Therefore, when the size of the gap between the axial end face of the plug-side insulator and the axial end face of the socket-side insulator varies depending on the relative axial positional relationship between the plug and socket, as shown in Figure 11, a large difference occurs in impedance and reflection characteristics depending on the amount of floating, resulting in unstable high-frequency performance.

In view of these conventional problems, the present invention was made with the aim of providing a connector with a floating mechanism that suppresses changes in impedance due to floating and provides stable high-frequency performance.

The feature of the invention described in claim 1 for solving the above-mentioned problems of the prior art is that in a connector with a floating mechanism in which the plug and socket to be connected each have a central conductor and a cylindrical outer conductor arranged on the outside of the central conductor, and the fluctuation of the relative positions of the outer conductors in the connection axis direction during connection is allowed within a predetermined range, one of the plug or the socket has an insulator that can move in the connection axis direction relative to the reference position of the outer conductor, and an expandable central conductor having a movable contact part that moves in conjunction with the insulator, and the position of the movable contact part and the insulator with respect to the central conductor of the other of the plug or socket is kept constant regardless of the fluctuation of the relative positions of the outer conductors in the connection axis direction.

The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, the insulator is slidably held within the outer conductor, and the movable contact portion is held by the insulator.

The invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, the outer conductor comprises a shell body fixed to the substrate, a movable shell slidably fitted into the shell body, and a biasing means for biasing the movable shell toward the opposing side, and the insulator is held by the movable shell.

The invention described in claim 4 is characterized in that, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, a resin board-side insulator is provided at the board-side end of the other of the plug or socket, and the movable contact portion abuts against a connection pattern on the board that constitutes the central conductor of the other of the plug or socket through a contact insertion hole that penetrates the board-side insulator.

The connector with floating mechanism according to the present invention has the configuration described in claim 1, which suppresses impedance changes caused by floating and provides stable high-frequency performance.

In addition, by providing the configuration described in claim 2 in this invention, the movable contact portion of the central conductor and the insulator that holds it operate integrally with respect to the outer conductor, and the positions of the movable contact portion and the insulator can be stably maintained constant with respect to the mating contact, thereby suppressing changes in impedance.

Furthermore, by providing the configuration described in claim 3, the present invention can be adapted to the form of the mating connector, improving the freedom of design.

Furthermore, in the present invention, by providing the configuration of claim 4, the overall height of the connector can be reduced.

1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a connector with a floating mechanism according to the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the plug. FIG. FIG. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the socket with the board-side insulator removed. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the socket taken along line AA of FIG. 1A is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the connected state of the connector with floating mechanism of the above-mentioned connector, in which (a) shows a state in which the distance between the boards is maintained at the design value, (b) shows a state in which the distance between the boards is narrower than the design value, and (c) shows a state in which the distance between the boards is wider than the design value. 6 is a graph showing the difference in high-frequency characteristics due to differences in the mating position in the z-axis direction of the above connector with a floating mechanism. 11A and 11B are longitudinal cross-sectional views showing another embodiment of a connector with a floating mechanism according to the present invention, in which FIG. 11A shows a state in which the inter-board distance is narrower than the design value, and FIG. 11 is a graph showing the difference in high frequency characteristics due to differences in the mating position in the z-axis direction of a conventional connector with a floating mechanism.

Next, an embodiment of a connector with a floating mechanism according to the present invention will be described based on the examples shown in Figures 1 to 9. In the figures, reference numerals 1 and 2 indicate substrates, and reference numeral 3 indicates a connector with a floating mechanism consisting of a coaxial connector that connects substrates 1 and 2.

As shown in Figures 1 and 7, the connector 3 with floating mechanism is composed of a plug 7 and a socket 8 each having a central conductor 4, 2a and a cylindrical outer conductor 5, 6 arranged on the outside of the central conductor 4, 2a. When the plug 7 and the socket 8 are connected, the relative positions of the outer conductors 5, 6 in the connection axis direction (z direction) are allowed to vary within a predetermined range.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the plug 7 includes a cylindrical outer conductor (hereinafter referred to as the plug outer conductor 5) made of a conductive metal material, an insulator 9 housed in the plug outer conductor 5 so as to be movable in the connection axial direction, an expandable central conductor 4 having a movable contact portion 10 that moves in conjunction with the insulator 9, and a bottom insulator 11 that closes the opening of the plug outer conductor 5 on the substrate 1 side.

As shown in FIG. 2, the external conductor 5 is integrally formed by punching and bending a conductive metal sheet material, and includes a rectangular cylindrical conductor housing 12 with both ends open, stopper pieces 13, 13 protruding inward from one end of the conductor housing 12 (the end on the socket 8 side), and multiple board connection pieces 14, 14 extending outward from the other end of the conductor housing 12 (the end on the board 1 side). An expandable central conductor 4 held by an insulator 9 is incorporated into the board 1 side opening of the conductor housing 12, and the bottom is closed by a bottom insulator 11.

The insulator 9 is integrally formed from insulating resin and includes a cylindrical conductor fitting portion 9a that fits into a predetermined position of the movable contact portion 10, and a rectangular sliding flange portion 9b that protrudes outward from one end of the conductor fitting portion 9a. The sliding flange portion 9b is slidably fitted into the conductor housing 12, and the movable contact portion 10 held by the insulator 9 moves relative to the reference position of the external conductor 5 in conjunction with the sliding of the insulator 9. The reference position of the external conductor 5 can be set to any position on the conductor housing 12.

The insulator 9 is also fitted with stopper pieces 13, 13 that protrude inward from the socket 8 end of the conductor housing 12 to prevent the sliding flange portion 9b from coming loose, so that the movable contact portion 10 held by the insulator 9 does not protrude beyond a certain point.

As shown in FIG. 3, the expandable central conductor 4 is housed in a cylindrical movable contact portion 10 made of conductive metal material, which is made of a conductive metal material and has a pogo pin 16 biased in the extrusion direction by a coil spring 15, and is freely inserted and removed. The tip of the pressure contact pin portion 16b of the pogo pin 16 protrudes from the tip of the movable contact portion 10, and the movable contact portion 10 and the pogo pin 16 move relative to each other, allowing the pogo pin 16 to expand and contract.

The pogo pin 16 is made of a conductive metal material and has a piston portion 16a slidably held in the bottomed cylindrical movable contact portion 10, and a pressure contact pin portion 16b protruding from one end of the piston portion 16a, so that the pressure contact pin portion 16b moves in and out of the movable contact portion 10 through an opening.

The pogo pin 16 has a bias cut surface that is inclined in the axial direction on the end surface of the piston portion 16a opposite the pressure contact pin portion 16b, and this bias cut surface is pressed by the coil spring 15 to generate a component force in a direction perpendicular to the pressing direction, so that the peripheral surface of the pogo pin 16 is constantly pressed against the inner surface of the movable contact portion 10, and electricity is passed from the pogo pin 16 through the movable contact portion 10.

The movable contact portion 10 is formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom, with an opening through which the pressure contact pin portion 16b is inserted at one end and the piston portion 16a cannot escape, and the contact 10a bulges out from the closed other end surface.

The outer periphery of the movable contact portion 10 is integrally provided with a retaining flange 10b at a predetermined axial distance from the contact 10a, and the bottom of the insulator 9 fitted from the contact side abuts against this retaining flange 10b, so that the insulator 9 is fixed at a position at a predetermined axial distance from the contact 10a.

The bottom insulator 11 is made of insulating resin and is rectangular with a pin insertion hole 11a in the center, and the tip of the pressure-contact pin portion 16b contacts the connection pattern 1a on the substrate 1 through the pin insertion hole 11a.

The plug 7 thus constructed has the board connection pieces 14, 14 fixed to the GND pattern 1b, 1b of the board 1 by soldering or the like, and the tip of the pressure contact pin portion 16b comes into contact with the connection pattern 1a on the board 1 through the pin insertion hole 11a, so that the movable contact portion 10 is biased by the coil spring 15 by applying a reaction force to the board 1 via the pressure contact pin portion 16b, and the sliding flange portion 9b comes into contact with the stopper pieces 13, 13, so that the pressure contact pin portion 16b comes into contact with the connection pattern 1a of the board 1 with a certain contact pressure or more, and the movable contact portion 10 held by the insulator 9 protrudes from the end of the conductor housing 12 so that it can be pushed in.

As shown in Figures 4 to 7, the socket 8 comprises a rectangular cylindrical resin housing 20, a rectangular cylindrical external conductor (hereinafter referred to as the socket external conductor 6) that is movably held within the resin housing 20, and a board-side insulator 21 that closes the bottom of the resin housing 20, with the socket external conductor 6 and board-side insulator 21 assembled into the resin housing 20 from the bottom side.

The resin housing 20 is made of insulating resin material and is formed into a rectangular tube surrounded by side walls on all four sides, and recesses 20a, 20a are formed at the bottom of each side wall, exposing the board connection pieces 24, 24 of the socket external conductor 6.

In addition, fixing grooves 20b, 20b that open to the bottom of the recess 20a are formed on the inner side of each side wall, and avoidance grooves 20c that are narrower than the fixing grooves 20b, 20b are formed inside the fixing grooves 20b, 20b.

The socket external conductor 6 is formed as a single unit by punching and bending a conductive metal sheet material, and includes an external conductor body 22 in the shape of a rectangular tube with both ends open, guide pieces 23, 23 extending diagonally outward from each of the four edges of one opening of the external conductor body 22, and a number of board connection pieces 24, 24 supported by the edge of the other opening of the external conductor body 22.

The external conductor body 22 is formed in a rectangular tube shape that is one size smaller than the inside of the housing, that is, the outer surfaces of the side plates arranged on all four sides are sized to create a swingable gap 25 between them and the inner surface of the opposing resin housing 20, and is capable of moving in two mutually perpendicular directions (x and y directions) that are perpendicular to the connection axis direction (z axis direction) within the housing.

The side plates of the external conductor body 22 are formed with cantilever spring-like elastic contact pieces 22a, 22a that protrude inward, and the elastic contact pieces 22a, 22a come into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the plug external conductor 5 fitted inside, so that both external conductors 5, 6 are electrically connected to each other.

The board connection pieces 24, 24 are provided with a plate-shaped press-in portion 24a that is press-fitted into a fixing groove 20b formed in the bottom of each side wall of the housing, a connection portion 24b that extends perpendicularly outward from one end (lower end) of the press-in portion 24a and is connected to the GND pattern 2b on the board 2, and an oscillating spring portion 24c that connects the press-in portion 24a to the external conductor body 22 through the avoidance groove 20c.

The oscillating spring portion 24c is formed in a U-shape, with one end supported on the upper edge of the press-fit portion 24a and the other end supported on the lower edge of the external conductor body 22, so that each side plate of the external conductor body 22 is supported in an oscillating manner on the side wall of the resin housing 20 that it faces.

The board-side insulator 21 is formed as a rectangular plate with a contact insertion hole 21a that passes through the center, and when connected to the plug 7, the movable contact portion 10 comes into contact with the connection pattern on the board 1 that constitutes the central conductor 1a of the socket 8 through the contact insertion hole 21a.

When the connector 3 with floating mechanism configured in this way is connected to the plug 7 and socket 8, as shown in Figures 8 (a) to (c), the conductor housing 12 of the plug 7 is fitted into the external conductor body 22 of the socket 8, connecting the two external conductors 5, 6, and the tip of the movable contact portion 10 contacts the connection pattern 2a on the board 1 that constitutes the central conductor on the socket 8 side through the contact insertion hole 21a, and the movable contact portion 10 held by the insulator 9 is pushed into the conductor housing 12 against the biasing force of the coil spring 15, and electrical continuity is established between the connection patterns 1a, 2a of the two boards 1, 2 via the expandable central conductor 4.

In addition, in this connector 3 with floating mechanism, if the relative positions of the plug 7 and socket 8 to be connected deviate from the design value in the z-axis direction due to the mounting tolerance of the boards 1 and 2 relative to the electronic device, the mating position in the z-axis direction between the conductor housing 12 of the plug 7 and the external conductor body 22 of the socket 8 changes, and the amount of pressing of the movable contact portion 10 into the conductor housing 12 varies, thereby absorbing the deviation in the z-axis direction and allowing for the error from the design value that occurs in the axial direction.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8(b), when the relative positions of the plug 7 and the socket 8 are closer than the design value, the fitting range between the conductor housing 12 of the plug 7 and the external conductor body 22 of the socket 8 becomes larger, and the amount of pressing of the movable contact portion 10 into the conductor housing 12 becomes larger. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 8(c), when the relative positions of the plug 7 and the socket 8 are farther than the design value, the fitting range between the conductor housing 12 of the plug 7 and the external conductor body 22 of the socket 8 becomes smaller, and the amount of pressing of the movable contact portion 10 into the conductor housing 12 becomes smaller.

On the other hand, in this connector 3 with a floating mechanism, regardless of the change in the relative position of the outer conductors 5, 6 in the connection axial direction, the position A of the movable contact portion 10 and the insulator 9 relative to the central conductor 2a on the socket 8 side is always kept constant, so the arrangement of the air layers with different dielectric constants and the insulator 9 arranged around the central conductor 2a is always kept constant, and changes in impedance due to floating can be suppressed.

Therefore, in this connector 3 with a floating mechanism, as shown in Figure 9, there is no difference in impedance or reflection characteristics depending on the amount of floating, and stable high-frequency performance can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, the movable contact portion 10 is held by the insulator 9 that is slidably held within the outer conductor 5. However, the movable contact portion 10 may move in conjunction with the insulator 9, and may have a structure such as that shown in FIG. 10. The same components as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and will not be described.

In this embodiment, the outer conductor 30 is provided with a shell body 31 fixed to the substrate 1, a movable shell 32 slidably fitted into the shell body 31, and a biasing means 33 such as a coil spring that biases the movable shell 32 toward the mating side (socket side). The insulator 9 is held by the movable shell 32 and moves in conjunction with the movable contact portion 10.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 10(a) and 10(b), when the distance between the substrates 1 and 2 changes and the movable shell 32 holding the insulator 9 moves relative to the shell body 31, the movable contact 10 moves in conjunction with this, so that the position A of the movable contact 10 and the insulator 9 relative to the central conductor 2a on the socket 8 side is always kept constant.

The form of the expandable central conductor 4 is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but can also be a leaf spring structure formed by pressing a conductive metal plate.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Substrate 2 Substrate 3 Connector with floating mechanism 4 Expandable central conductor 5 Outer conductor for plug 6 Outer conductor for socket 7 Plug 8 Socket 9 Insulator 10 Movable contact portion 11 Bottom insulator 12 Conductor housing 13 Stopper piece 14 Substrate connection piece 15 Coil spring 16 Pogo pin 20 Resin housing 21 Substrate-side insulator 22 Outer conductor main body 23 Guide piece 24 Substrate connection piece 25 Gap 30 Outer conductor 31 Shell main body 32 Movable shell 33 Urging means

Claims (4)

A connector with a floating mechanism in which a plug and a socket to be connected to each other each have a central conductor and a cylindrical outer conductor arranged on the outside of the central conductor, and the relative positions of the outer conductors in the connection axial direction are allowed to vary within a predetermined range when connected,
Either the plug or the socket includes an insulator that is movable in a connection axial direction relative to a reference position of the outer conductor, and an expandable central conductor having a movable contact portion that moves in conjunction with the insulator,
A connector with a floating mechanism characterized in that the positions of the movable contact portion and the insulator relative to the central conductor of the other of the plug or socket are kept constant regardless of fluctuations in the relative positions of the outer conductors in the connection axial direction. The connector with a floating mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the insulator is slidably held within the outer conductor, and the movable contact portion is held by the insulator. The connector with floating mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the outer conductor comprises a shell body fixed to the substrate, a movable shell slidably fitted with the shell body, and a biasing means for biasing the movable shell toward the mating direction, and the insulator is held by the movable shell. The connector with floating mechanism according to claim 1, which is provided with a resin board-side insulator at the board-side end of the other of the plug or socket, and the movable contact portion abuts against a connection pattern on the board that constitutes the central conductor of the other of the plug or socket through a contact insertion hole that penetrates the board-side insulator.

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