This invention relates to a connector for mounting an electronic component such as a relay and a timer or serving as a terminal table itself, as well as a method of connecting lead lines for such an electrical connector.
Electrical connectors for mounting an electronic component such as a relay are usually provided with a plurality of terminals which are mutually connected with lead lines. After one end part of each lead line is affixed to a terminal and pressed into the connector, the other end part of the lead line is soldered to another terminal affixed to the connector. Some connectors are structured with terminals formed with a series of plate materials such that lead lines are dispensed with. Japanese Patent Publications Tokkai 9-163555 and 8-223741, for example, disclose connectors adapted to connect lead lines with terminals by compression, that is, by using compression terminals and pressing lead lines into them such that their cover layers are torn and removed.
Methods of using lead lines to connect between terminals are troublesome because a cumbersome soldering work is required whenever a lead line is to be connected and their work efficiency is accordingly low. Another problem with these methods is that the lead line is subjected to a tensile force at the time of the soldering work such that a load force is applied to the compressed section and hence that the condition of the connection is adversely affected.
If the connector is formed with a series of planar materials, as explained above, each planar material must be designed in a different shape such that they can be disposed inside the connector in a mutually non-contacting manner. Since these planar materials are produced by press working or stamping, many expensive molds must be provided and this affects the cost of production adversely.
When compression terminals are used in a connector, furthermore, they must be positioned within a limited small space inside the connector for inserting lead lines thereinto. Workability of such an operation is very poor. Since the lead lines cannot be bent too gently within the narrow space inside the connector, it is difficult to keep them in a sufficiently dependably connected condition with respect to the compression terminal. In fact, compression terminals have not generally been used for the connection within a small space such as inside an electrical connector.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an electrical connector of a simple structure adapted to connect lead lines to terminals by compression so as to obtain a dependably connected condition.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method of connecting lead lines for such a connector.
An electrical connector embodying this invention may be characterized as comprising lead lines each having a core line and a cover layer therearound, connection terminals each having a clamped part and being affixed to one end of a corresponding one of these lead lines at the clamped part, compression terminals each having the other end of a corresponding one of the lead lines pressed thereinto so as to remove the cover layer and to electrically connect with the core line at the other end, and a main body containing the lead lines, the connection terminals and the compression terminals, the main body having guide members for contacting the cover layers of the lead lines and reducing loads onto the clamped parts as the lead lines are pressed into the compression terminals. With a connector thus structured, the terminals can be electrically connected merely by affixing connection terminals each attached to a lead line and compression terminals to the main body of the connector and pressing each of the lead lines into a corresponding one of the compression terminals. As the lead lines are thus pressed into the compression terminals, the cover layers of the lead lines come to contact the guide members such that the load force acting on the clamped part of each connection terminal can be reduced. Thus, the condition of connections is not adversely affected and the electrical connection can be established although the available space inside the connector is limited. Indentations may be preferably provided to these guide members at upper edge parts for positioning the lead lines in a mutually aligned manner. In this manner, a plurality of lead lines can be pressed into the compression terminals and hence workability can be improved.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the compression terminals has an entry position defined therethrough at which the corresponding lead line is pressed thereinto, the compression terminals are set to the main body such that some of the compression terminals are upper terminals each having the entry position on a higher step and the others of the compression terminals are lower terminals each having the entry position on a lower step different from the upper step, some of these guide members are first guide members each corresponding to one of the upper terminals and the others are second guide members each corresponding to one of the lower terminals, each of the first guide members contacts at an upper edge part a corresponding one of the lead lines pressed into a corresponding one of the upper terminals. This serves to reduce the load force on the associated one of the connection terminal, and each of the lead lines pressed into a corresponding one of the lower terminals is guided between a corresponding one of mutually adjacent pairs of the first guide members. In this manner, the narrow interior space of the main body can be efficiently utilized even if there are many lead lines and terminals.
It is further preferable to produce each of the compression terminals by pressing an electrically conductive planar material so as to have an attachment part with a slit that serves to have one end of a lead line pressed therethrough and an insertion part for being pressed into the main body. The cover layer is thereby removed and the core line becomes electrically connected with the compression terminal. The planar material preferably has a thickness greater than the width of the slit such that the compression terminal and the core line contact each other over a specified sufficiently large contact area therebetween. It is preferable still further that the compression terminals be made of a material with electrical conductivity greater than 40% IACS and percentage of stress relaxation less than 5%.
A method according to this invention of electrically connecting a plurality of lead lines each to a pair of terminals affixed to a main body of such an electrical connector as described above may be characterized as comprising the steps of affixing one of end parts of each of the lead lines to a clamped part of a connection terminal, affixing these connection and compression terminals to the main body, and pressing each of the other end parts of the lead lines into corresponding one of the compression terminals simultaneously by contacting guide members to the cover layers of the lead lines so as to reduce loads on the clamped part and remove a portion of the cover layer and directly contact the core line with the compression terminal. These lead lines may be pressed into the connection terminals simultaneously together by pressing the compression terminals from both sides while the lead lines are in guided condition, being supported by guiding members. Thus, the work efficiency can be significantly improved.