JP2014203699A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a strength of a functional part from being reduced in a connector comprising a front retainer including the functional part which moves into a bending space of a lance.SOLUTION: A connector comprises: a terminal fitting 50 which elastically bends a lance 20 into a bending space 24 in a process of insertion into a terminal housing chamber 13 and is stopped by locking the elastically recovered lance 20 when regularly inserted; a front retainer 30 which is assembled with a terminal housing part 11 from a front side; a peripheral wall part 32 (wall part) which configures the front retainer 30 and covers an outer peripheral surface of the terminal housing part 11 in the state where the front retainer 30 is assembled with the terminal housing part 11; and a functional part 37 which configures the front retainer 30 and moves into the bending space 24 from a front side of the terminal housing part 11 in the state where the front retainer 30 is assembled with the terminal housing part 11, while protruding from an inner peripheral surface of the peripheral wall part 32.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a connector that inserts a terminal fitting into a terminal accommodating chamber formed in the terminal accommodating portion, engages a lance formed in the terminal accommodating portion with the terminal fitting, and prevents the terminal fitting from being removed. Yes. A bending space for elastically bending the lance so as to retract from the terminal fitting in the process of inserting the terminal fitting is formed in the terminal receiving portion in a form opened to the front end surface of the terminal receiving portion.

  In this type of connector, it is possible to apply a form in which the front retainer is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion from the front. When the front retainer is assembled after the terminal fitting is inserted and the functional portion formed on the front retainer is caused to enter the bending space, the elastic deformation of the lance can be restricted and the terminal fitting can be reliably prevented from being removed. Further, when the front retainer is assembled with the terminal fitting half-inserted and the lance elastically bent, the presence of the half-inserted terminal fitting can be detected by the functional unit interfering with the lance.

JP 2004-296182 A

In the connector as described above, since the bending space is opened only to the front end surface of the terminal accommodating portion, the functional portion has a form protruding independently in a column shape so as to correspond to each bending space. Therefore, when the approach stroke of the functional part with respect to the flexure space becomes long, the protruding dimension of the functional part increases correspondingly, and the strength of the functional part decreases.
The present invention has been completed on the basis of the above circumstances, and aims to prevent a decrease in strength of a functional part in a connector including a front retainer having a functional part that enters a bending space of a lance. To do.

The connector of the present invention
A housing having a terminal accommodating portion;
A terminal accommodating chamber formed in the terminal accommodating portion;
An elastically deflectable lance formed on the inner wall of the terminal accommodating chamber;
A bending space formed in the terminal accommodating portion and open to the front end surface and the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion, and into which the lance that is elastically bent enters,
A terminal fitting that is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber, elastically deflects the lance into the bending space in the insertion process, and is retained by the locking of the lance that is elastically restored when inserted normally;
A front retainer assembled from the front with respect to the terminal accommodating portion;
Configuring the front retainer, and a wall portion covering the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion in a state where the front retainer is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion;
The front retainer is configured to protrude from the inner peripheral surface of the wall portion, and in the state where the front retainer is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion, the function of entering the bending space from the front of the terminal accommodating portion. And has a feature.

  According to this configuration, since the functional portion is connected to the wall portion, the strength of the functional portion can be kept high even when the front and rear approach stroke of the functional portion with respect to the bending space is long.

Front view of the connector of Example 1 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the front retainer is held at a temporary locking position and the terminal fitting is properly inserted by cutting along the line AA in FIG. Sectional view showing the state in which the terminal fitting is properly inserted and the front retainer is held at the main locking position, cut along line AA in FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a lance is elastically bent in the process of inserting a terminal fitting, taken along line AA in FIG. Front view of housing BB sectional view of FIG. Front view of front retainer Rear view of front retainer CC sectional view of FIG. DD sectional view of FIG. Sectional view showing the process of removing the terminal fitting by elastically bending the lance to the unlocking position with the release jig

The connector of the present invention
The terminal fitting is adapted to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber from the rear of the terminal accommodating portion;
The protruding direction of the functional part from the inner peripheral surface of the wall part may be a direction intersecting the front-rear direction.
According to this configuration, even if the functional unit interferes with the terminal accommodating portion, buckling deformation of the functional unit can be prevented.
The connector of the present invention
A release jig is inserted into the terminal accommodating portion and communicates with the bending space and opens at the front end surface of the terminal accommodating portion to bend the lance toward the bending space from the front of the terminal accommodating portion. A jig insertion space is formed,
The opening width of the jig insertion space may be wider than the opening width of the bending space.
According to this configuration, since the jig insertion space is wider than the bending space and the lance, a release jig having a large width dimension and high strength can be used as the release jig. Also, by making the bending space narrower than the jig insertion space, the release jig inserted into the jig insertion space is prevented from being displaced illegally toward the outer peripheral surface side of the terminal accommodating part, so the release to the lance is released. The operation can be performed reliably.

<Example 1>
A first embodiment embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The connector according to the first embodiment includes a housing 10, a front retainer 30, and a terminal fitting 50. In the following description, with respect to the front-rear direction, the left side of FIGS.

  The housing 10 is made of synthetic resin, and as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a terminal housing portion 11 that is long in the front-rear direction and a cylindrical fitting portion 12 that surrounds the terminal housing portion 11 are integrally formed. Is done. As shown in FIG. 5, a pair of left and right terminal accommodating chambers 13 that are elongated in the front-rear direction are formed in the terminal accommodating portion 11. Of the wall portions constituting the inner wall surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 13, the outer wall surface of the terminal accommodating portion 11 is constituted except for the partition wall 14 that partitions the left and right terminal accommodating chambers 13.

  A pair of left and right elongated in the front-rear direction (a direction parallel to the assembly direction of the front retainer 30 with respect to the terminal accommodating portion 11) on the upper surface wall 15 (on the side opposite to the lance 20 described later) of the outer walls of the terminal accommodating portion 11. A relief groove is formed. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the front end edge of one escape groove functions as a temporary locking locking edge 16. As shown in FIG. 3, the front end edge of the other escape groove functions as a main locking locking edge 17.

  Each terminal accommodating chamber 13 is provided with a lance 20 for retaining the terminal fitting 50. The lance 20 has a main body 21 in a form that cantilevered forward along a lower surface wall 18 (a wall portion perpendicular to the partition wall 14) of the terminal accommodating chamber 13, and a front end of the upper surface of the main body 21. The retaining protrusion 22 is formed integrally with a protrusion protruding upward (from the terminal accommodating chamber 13 side) from a nearby region. A region in front of the retaining projection 22 in the main body 21 is a jig receiving portion 23.

  The upper surface of the lance 20 faces the terminal accommodating chamber 13, and the lower surface of the lance 20 faces the external space of the terminal accommodating portion 11. The lance 20 is always kept in the locked position as shown in FIGS. When the terminal fitting 50 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 13 and when the unlocking operation is performed by the releasing jig 60, the lance 20 is positioned more than the locking position as shown in FIGS. It can be elastically displaced to the unlocking position which is the outer surface of the accommodating part 11.

  As shown in FIGS. 2-6, the area | region below the lance 20 among the terminal accommodating parts 11 becomes the bending space 24 for accept | permitting that the lance 20 elastically displaces to a latch release position. A front end side region of the bending space 24 (region where the jig receiving portion 23 enters when the lance 20 is elastically bent to the unlocking position) is open to the outer peripheral surface (lower surface) of the terminal accommodating portion 11.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the region in front of the lance 20 and the region in front of the bending space 24 in the terminal accommodating portion 11 become a die cutting space 25 for molding the lance 20 and the bending space 24. ing. The die cutting space 25 is open to the front end surface of the terminal accommodating portion 11 and the outer peripheral surface (lower surface) of the terminal accommodating portion 11. Therefore, the bending space 24 is opened to the front end surface of the terminal accommodating portion 11 through the die cutting space 25.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, a region corresponding to the bending space 24 in the vertical direction in the die-cutting space 25 is a narrow space 26 set to have the same width dimension as the bending space 24. Further, in the height direction (vertical direction) of the die-cutting space 25, a region corresponding to the jig receiving portion 23 of the lance 20 is a jig insertion space 27 having a larger width dimension than the bending space 24 and the narrow space 26. It has become. In the jig insertion space 27, a release jig 60 having a strip shape is inserted from the front of the terminal fitting 50 (see FIG. 11). Since the jig insertion space 27 is wider than the bending space 24, the width dimension of the release jig 60 is larger than the width dimension of the lance 20 and the bending space 24. Therefore, the release jig 60 has high strength.

  The front retainer 30 is made of synthetic resin, and, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 10, a front wall portion 31 and a peripheral wall portion 32 that extends in a cylindrical shape from the outer periphery of the front wall portion 31 to the rear. The wall portion described) is integrally formed. Therefore, the front retainer 30 has a bottomed cylindrical shape opened rearward as a whole. In the front wall portion 31, a pair of left and right tab insertion ports 33 corresponding to the terminal accommodating chamber 13 are formed through the front retainer 30 in a state where the front retainer 30 is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion 11. The tab (not shown) of the mating terminal inserted from the tab insertion port 33 is connected to the terminal fitting 50 in the terminal accommodating chamber 13.

  The upper wall portion 34 constituting the peripheral wall portion 32 is formed with a combined locking projection 35 and a temporary dedicated locking projection 36 that protrude downward from the inner surface thereof. The dual-purpose locking projections 35 and the temporary dedicated locking projections 36 are spaced apart from each other in the front-rear direction, and are also spaced from each other in the left-right direction. As will be described later, the combined locking projection 35 has a function of holding the front retainer 30 in the temporary locking position and a function of holding the front retainer 30 in the final locking position. The temporary dedicated locking projection 36 has a function of holding the front retainer 30 in the temporary locking position.

  As shown in FIGS. 8 and 10, a pair of right and left functional portions 37 that are extended rearward from the front wall portion 31 are integrally formed inside the front retainer 30. The functional part 37 is continued to the lower wall part 40 which comprises the surrounding wall part 32 over the full length. That is, the functional part 37 extends from the front wall part 31 and protrudes from the lower wall part 40 at the same time. Since the functional part 37 is reinforced by being connected to the lower wall part 40, the strength is higher than that of the case where the functional part 37 is elongated and protrudes in a rod shape continuously to the front wall part 31 only.

  The functional unit 37 includes a narrow portion 38 that is directly connected to the lower wall portion 40, and a wide portion 39 that is continuous to the upper end edge of the narrow portion 38. The narrow portion 38 enters the narrow space 26 and the bending space 24 of the die cutting space 25. The wide portion 39 has a shape that protrudes to the left and right sides from the narrow portion 38. The wide portion 39 enters the jig insertion space 27 and the bending space 24 of the die cutting space 25. Further, on the upper surface of the wide portion 39, a terminal support portion 41 that protrudes directly from the terminal accommodating chamber 13 and supports the front end portion of the terminal fitting 50 from below is formed.

  The front retainer 30 is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion 11 so as to cover the peripheral wall portion 32 from the front. The assembled front retainer 30 is held at the temporary locking position and the final locking position. In the state where the front retainer 30 is in the temporary locking position, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the dual-purpose locking projection 35 abuts against the front wall 29 of the terminal accommodating portion 11 from the front, and the temporary dedicated locking projection. 36 abuts against the locking edge 16 for temporary locking from behind, and the front retainer 30 is held at the temporary locking position by the locking action of these two contacts.

  In a state where the front retainer 30 is in the temporary locking position, the front end side portion of the front retainer 30 protrudes forward from the housing 10 (terminal accommodating portion 11), and the rear end side portion of the functional portion 37 is the die cutting space 25. However, the rear end of the functional portion 37 is at a position retracted forward from the front end (extending end) of the lance 20. That is, the functional unit 37 is in a position retracted forward with respect to the bending space 24. Therefore, in a state where the front retainer 30 is in the temporary locking position, the lance 20 can be elastically displaced from the locking position to the locking release position.

  In a state where the front retainer 30 is in the final locking position, the entire front retainer 30 is accommodated inside the housing 10 as shown in FIG. The front wall 31 abuts against the front wall 29 from the front, and the dual-purpose locking projection 35 abuts against the main locking locking edge 17 from the rear. Due to the stopping action, the front retainer 30 is held in the final locking position. Further, when the functional part 37 enters the bending space 24, the elastic displacement of the lance 20 to the unlocking position is restricted.

  As shown in FIGS. 2-4, the terminal metal fitting 50 is formed in the elongate shape in the front-back direction as a whole. A front end portion of the terminal fitting 50 is a square tube portion 51, and an electric wire 53 is connected to a wire crimping portion 52 at the rear end portion of the terminal fitting 50. The terminal fitting 50 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 13 from the rear.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described. When assembling the terminal fitting 50 to the housing 10, first, the front retainer 30 is assembled to the housing 10 and held at the temporary locking position. In this state, the terminal fitting 50 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 13 from the rear of the housing 10. In the insertion process, as shown in FIG. 4, the square tube portion 51 interferes with the retaining protrusion 22, whereby the lance 20 is elastically displaced from the locking position to the locking release position and advances into the bending space 24. .

  When the terminal fitting 50 reaches the proper insertion position, as shown in FIG. 2, the square tube portion 51 passes through the retaining protrusion 22, so that the lance 20 is elastically returned to the locking position and the retaining protrusion 22. Is locked to the rear end of the rectangular tube portion 51. By this locking action, the terminal fitting 50 is prevented from being pulled out. In a state in which the terminal fitting 50 is properly inserted, the terminal support portion 41 of the functional portion 37 located at the front end portion of the terminal accommodating chamber 13 supports the front end portion of the rectangular tube portion 51 of the terminal fitting 50 from below. At this time, the function part 37 exhibits a function as means for supporting the front end part of the terminal fitting 50.

  After the insertion of the terminal fitting 50 is completed, the front retainer 30 is pushed and moved to the final locking position. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the functional portion 37 enters the bending space 24 and restricts the elastic displacement of the lance 20 to the unlocking position, so that the terminal fitting 50 is reliably secured. That is, the function unit 37 functions as a means for improving the reliability of preventing the terminal fitting 50 from being removed. Further, in a state where the front retainer 30 is moved to the main locking position, the terminal support portion 41 of the functional portion 37 supports the rectangular tube portion 51 of the terminal fitting 50 from the bottom over almost the entire length. Functions as a means for supporting the front end portion of the terminal fitting 50.

  Further, when the front retainer 30 is to be moved to the final locking position while the terminal fitting 50 is half inserted, the rear end of the functional unit 37 is moved before the front retainer 30 reaches the final locking position. , It strikes against the front end of the lance 20 that has advanced into the bending space 24. Because of this contact, the front retainer 30 cannot be pushed any further, and the presence of the terminal fitting 50 in the half-inserted state can be detected by this pushing restriction. That is, in this case, the functional unit 37 functions as a means for detecting the half-inserted state of the terminal fitting 50.

  When removing the terminal fitting 50 inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 13, first, the front retainer 30 is completely removed from the housing 10 to expose the front end face of the terminal accommodating portion 11. Thereby, the jig insertion space 27 of the die cutting space 25 is opened to the front end face of the terminal accommodating portion 11. Thereafter, a release jig 60 for bending the lance 20 to the unlocking position is inserted into the jig insertion space 27 from the front of the terminal accommodating portion 11.

  At this time, since the narrow space 26 communicates with the lower side of the jig insertion space 27, there is a concern that the release jig 60 enters the narrow space 26 and the locking release operation with respect to the lance 20 cannot be performed. The However, since the width dimension of the release jig 60 is set to be larger than the width dimension of the narrow space 26, the release jig 60 does not enter the narrow space 26.

  After the release jig 60 is inserted into the jig insertion space 27, the release jig 60 is operated, and the jig receiving portion 23 of the lance 20 is pushed down at the tip of the release jig 60 as shown in FIG. Then, since the retaining protrusion 22 is disengaged downward from the rectangular tube portion 51, the locked state of the lance 20 to the terminal fitting 50 is released, and the terminal fitting 50 can be moved in the removing direction. Thereafter, the terminal fitting 50 can be removed from the terminal accommodating chamber 13 by pulling the electric wire 53 backward while maintaining the unlocking state by the releasing jig 60.

  In the first embodiment, the terminal accommodating portion 11 is formed with a bending space 24 that is open to the front end surface and the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion 11 and into which the lance 20 that is elastically bent enters. The front retainer 30 assembled from the front with respect to the terminal accommodating portion 11 includes a peripheral wall portion 32 that covers the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion 11 in a state where the front retainer 30 is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion 11, and an inner portion of the peripheral wall portion 32. In a state of protruding from the peripheral surface and the front retainer 30 is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion 11, a functional portion 37 that enters the bending space 24 from the front of the terminal accommodating portion 11 is formed. According to this configuration, since the functional part 37 is connected to the peripheral wall part 32, the strength of the functional part 37 can be kept high even when the front and rear entry stroke of the functional part 37 with respect to the bending space 24 is long. Moreover, the protruding direction of the functional part 37 from the inner peripheral surface of the peripheral wall part 32 is parallel to the front-rear direction (the insertion direction of the terminal fitting 50 with respect to the terminal accommodating chamber 13 and the assembling direction of the front retainer 30 with respect to the terminal accommodating part 11). Therefore, even if the functional part 37 interferes with the terminal accommodating part 11 from the front, there is no possibility that the functional part 37 is buckled and deformed.

  Further, a release jig that communicates with the bending space 24 and opens at the front end surface of the terminal accommodating portion 11 in the terminal accommodating portion 11 and deflects the lance 20 from the front of the terminal accommodating portion 11 toward the deflecting space 24. A jig insertion space 27 into which 60 is entered is formed. The opening width of the jig insertion space 27 is wider than the opening width of the bending space 24. According to this configuration, since the jig insertion space 27 is wider than the bending space 24 and the lance 20, the release jig 60 having a large width dimension and high strength can be used. Further, by making the bending space 24 narrower than the jig insertion space 27, the release jig 60 inserted into the jig insertion space 27 is prevented from being illegally displaced toward the outer peripheral surface side of the terminal accommodating portion 11. Therefore, the release operation with respect to the lance 20 can be performed reliably.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) In the said Example, although the wall part (peripheral wall part) which is a formation base body of a function part is the form which surrounds the outer periphery of a terminal accommodating part over a perimeter, a wall part is an outer periphery of a terminal accommodating part. The form which covers only a part of may be sufficient.
(2) In the above embodiment, the jig insertion space is wider than the bending space, but the width of the jig insertion space may be the same width as the bending space or may be narrower than the bending space. .
(3) Although the number of terminal accommodating chambers is two in the above embodiment, the number of terminal accommodating chambers may be three or more.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Housing 11 ... Terminal accommodating part 13 ... Terminal accommodating chamber 20 ... Lance 24 ... Deflection space 27 ... Jig insertion space 30 ... Front retainer 32 ... Peripheral wall part (wall part)
37 ... Functional part 50 ... Terminal fitting 60 ... Release jig

Claims (3)

A housing having a terminal accommodating portion;
A terminal accommodating chamber formed in the terminal accommodating portion;
An elastically deflectable lance formed on the inner wall of the terminal accommodating chamber;
A bending space formed in the terminal accommodating portion and open to the front end surface and the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion, and into which the lance that is elastically bent enters,
A terminal fitting that is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber, elastically deflects the lance into the bending space in the insertion process, and is retained by the locking of the lance that is elastically restored when inserted normally;
A front retainer assembled from the front with respect to the terminal accommodating portion;
Configuring the front retainer, and a wall portion covering the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion in a state where the front retainer is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion;
The front retainer is configured to protrude from the inner peripheral surface of the wall portion, and in the state where the front retainer is assembled to the terminal accommodating portion, the function of entering the bending space from the front of the terminal accommodating portion. And a connector. The terminal fitting is adapted to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber from the rear of the terminal accommodating portion;
The connector according to claim 1, wherein a protruding direction of the functional part from an inner peripheral surface of the wall part is a direction intersecting with the front-rear direction. A release jig is inserted into the terminal accommodating portion and communicates with the bending space and opens at the front end surface of the terminal accommodating portion to bend the lance toward the bending space from the front of the terminal accommodating portion. A jig insertion space is formed,
The connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an opening width of the jig insertion space is wider than an opening width of the bending space.

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