JPS6182687A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to connectors, and more particularly to new and improved flexible connectors useful for various precision electronic circuits.

(Prior art) With the miniaturization of solid-state circuits, the demand for small connectors with narrow contact terminal spacing has increased, and the demand for small connectors with narrow contact terminal spacing has also increased, and this has also increased in use in portable devices, automobile dash boards, electronic desk calculators, electronic watches, etc. that have become popular in recent years. There is an increasing demand for connectors with high resistance to shock and vibration in display circuits of various precision electronic devices. As connectors that meet these demands, connectors using conductive rubber materials have been proposed, and such conductive rubber materials are usually molded from silicone rubber mixed with carbon or metal powder to give it conductivity. ing. Connectors made of conductive rubber material are highly resistant to shock and vibration, and can be varied over a wide range in size, shape, conductivity, and contact spacing, while being highly reproducible. It has the advantage of being good.

Conventionally, one embodiment of a connector using the above-mentioned conductive rubber material is constituted by layers in which conductive and non-conductive silicone rubbers are alternately arranged. The so-called zebra pattern (the conductive silicone rubber is blackened due to the addition of carbon black as a conductivity imparting agent, and the silicone rubber itself is pale gray, non-conductive silicone rubber, making it look like stripes on a horse) This type of connector is known and is extremely useful as a connector for liquid crystal displays and printed wiring boards.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the surfaces of this zebra-patterned connector are all smooth.

Although this has a moderate cushioning property, it is difficult to achieve uniform contact with the liquid crystal unit or printed wiring board, and sometimes poor contact occurs, impeding the conductivity of the circuit, and the spacing between the contact terminals is narrow. However, this has the major disadvantage of often causing leakage phenomena in high humidity environments.This is also due to the combination of conductive rubber and insulating rubber, that is, rubber-rubber, which makes it easy to bend when installed, and The disadvantages are that it is necessary to prepare a special holder with a fitting shape, and that it bounces too much, requiring careful attention to pick it up when loading.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a connector having a new and improved structure that eliminates the drawbacks of the zebra pattern connectors described above, in which at least one side has flexibility. conductive members and heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating members are laminated alternately and in multiple layers, and the heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating members are shrunk in a plane substantially perpendicular to the lamination direction to protrude. The present invention is characterized in that the conductive member is used as a contact terminal.

To explain this, as mentioned above, the connector of the present invention has a zebra pattern in which conductive members and insulating members are arranged alternately. After integration, the conductive member layer is simply heated to cause thermal contraction, so that the layer of the conductive member protrudes like a peak from the circumferential surface of the connector. Therefore, when the connector of the present invention is actually used, only the peak-shaped conductive member comes into contact with the liquid crystal unit or printed circuit board, etc., which is a disadvantage of conventional products with smooth surfaces. The poor contact that had been caused by this method is eliminated, and the leakage characteristics are also significantly improved.

To explain this in more detail, first, the heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating member of the connector of the present invention is made of a straight resin such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, polyacrylic, or a heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating material such as a block or graft copolymer. It is said to be a heat-shrinkable thermoplastic resin member made by stretching a plastic resin or a blend resin thereof.

On the other hand, the conductive member serving as the contact terminal is suitably made of various synthetic rubbers or plastics containing a conductivity-imparting agent, particularly silicone rubber. This conductive silicone rubber is prepared by adding, for example, raw silicone rubber, a conductivity imparting agent such as powdered or fibrous carbon filler, graphite filler, or metal filler, and a vulcanizing agent such as dicumyl peroxide or di-t-butyl peroxide. , 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-di(t
A conductive silicone rubber compound obtained by adding ester, benzoyl peroxide, t-butylbenzoate, etc. to (butylperoxy) and kneading is formed into a sheet shape, and then heated and pressurized. It will be done.

In addition, as an example of the connector of the present invention, an insulating member made of a heat-shrinkable thermoplastic wire covering member and a carbon blur 2
The connector, which is made by alternately arranging conductive members made of silicone rubber, is easy to mass produce and mechanically process, and has good electrical properties, so it does not come into contact with other parts during use. It has excellent advantages such as there is no danger of corroding them.

Next, an example of the method for manufacturing the connector of the present invention will be described. First, in the first step, a large number of heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating members and conductive members, each of which has been formed into a sheet shape, are alternately laminated. Integrate to obtain a block-like body.

The sheet-shaped heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating material used here may be either uniaxially stretched or biaxially stretched, which can be selected depending on the usage of the connector, but laminated At this time, the sheet needs to have its stretching direction aligned in a certain direction in a plane perpendicular to the lamination direction. In addition, the thickness of the sheet-shaped bodies used here determines the contact terminals and the contact terminal spacing of the connector, so when preparing these sheet-shaped bodies, it is necessary to pay careful attention to the thickness. be. Furthermore, in laminating and integrating, the sheet-like bodies may be laminated and integrated using a suitable adhesive depending on the type of their constituent materials.

The block-like body obtained as described above is then
In the process, the sheets are cut in the stacking direction to obtain a connector prototype of the desired shape. That is, for example, if the above-mentioned block-shaped body is cut along a plane in the 81 calendar direction, a sheet-like body or a plate-like body in which conductive members and heat-shrinkable insulating members are arranged in stripes can be obtained. If the block-shaped body is cut into a prismatic column shape in the stacking direction, a rod-shaped body in which conductive members and heat-shrinkable members are alternately arranged in the length direction is obtained. Incidentally, since the material cut out in this step becomes the prototype of the connector, the dimensions of the cut may be determined depending on the manner in which the connector is used.

In the third step, the connector prototype obtained in the second step is heat-treated to shrink the heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating member, and this heat shrinkage causes the layer of the insulating member to dent.
A connector according to the present invention is obtained in which the conductive member layer protrudes like a peak.

In addition to the manufacturing method described above, the connector according to the present invention can be manufactured by
For example, a heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating member and a conductive member are each formed in advance into a shape corresponding to the prototype of the connector described above, and then laminated and integrated.

It can also be produced simply by heat treatment.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, in the connector according to the present invention, the calendar of the conductive member serving as the contact terminal is in a peak-shaped state that stands out from the calendar of the insulating member. Compared to conventional products of this kind in which the layer of non-conductive material is arranged on the same smooth surface, the contact properties are much better, and at the same time the creepage between the contact terminals in the connector according to the present invention is improved. Since the distance is much greater than that of conventional products with the same contact terminal spacing, its leakage characteristics are significantly improved and its practical value is therefore great.

Example 1 Commercially available heat-shrinkable Toughprene tube (styrenic resin Toughprene A manufactured by Asahi Kasei Corporation was extruded into a tube shape, circumferentially-axially stretched, stretching ratio 2.0, wall thickness 1.0 m5t)
) was cut open in the axial direction, and then trimmed into 100 mm squares to prepare a heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulation sheet. In addition, 100 parts of a conductive silicone rubber compound (KE3701U, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) was mixed with 3 parts of a vulcanizing agent (C-3, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.), and formed into a sheet with a thickness of 1.0 mm. Thereafter, an unvulcanized conductive sheet was prepared by cutting it into a square of 100 layers x 100 squares, and the heat-shrinkable insulating sheet tt and 12 conductive sheets were combined in the stretching direction of the heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating sheet. Align and stack alternately,
Then, this vX layer was heated in a mold at 160"0, 1.2K.
After heat treatment for 1 hour under the conditions of g/cm'
) was obtained. Next, the block-like body was cut one after another in the stacking direction to obtain a striped sheet-like body (96+s intestine×
Cut out this striped pattern sheet and make a connector prototype (23 pins x 5 layers x 2).
■) Obtained.

Finally, when the prototype of the connector was heat-treated at 200°C for 5 minutes, the insulating part was heat-shrinked and recessed in a plane perpendicular to the stacking direction, and the conductive part was exposed in peaks. A square bar-shaped connector according to the present invention is obtained.

Example 2 3 parts of Ca-Zn stabilizer CZ-10 (trade name, manufactured by Sakai Chemical Co., Ltd.) was blended with 100 parts of tbi-ized polyethylene φ Dynelac (trade name, manufactured by Osaka Soda Co., Ltd.), and the mixture was calendered to a thickness of 2 ml. After forming the sheet into a sheet, it was biaxially stretched at a stretching ratio of 2.0), and then cut into 100 mm x 100 squares to prepare a heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating sheet with a thickness of 1.

Next, 11 sheets of the heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulation sheet) and 12 unvulcanized conductive sheets similar to those in Example 1 were alternately laminated in alignment in the stretching direction of the heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulation sheet,
Next, this laminate was heated at 160"C, 1.5Kg/cr
After heat and pressure treatment for 1 hour under n' conditions, the mixture was cooled to room temperature to obtain a block-like body. Next, the block-shaped body was cut one after another in the direction of lamination, and then cut again in the direction perpendicular to the direction of lamination to form a connector prototype (23 x 5
Finally, when the prototype of this connector was heat-treated at 200℃ for 5 minutes, the entire circumferential surface of the insulating part was heat-shrinked and dented, and the conductive part stood out in a ring shape. A rod-shaped connector of the present invention was obtained.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A conductive member, at least one of which is flexible, and a heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating member are laminated and integrated in multiple layers, and the heat-shrinkable thermoplastic insulating member is stacked on a surface substantially perpendicular to the lamination direction. A connector characterized in that the conductive member that is contracted inward and protruded serves as a contact terminal.