CN103875132B - waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

A waterproof connector, comprising: a housing on which an opening is formed and in which a terminal connected to an electric wire is accommodated; a gasket mounted in the opening of the housing and through which the electric wire is inserted; a gasket holder that is engaged with the opening of the housing by an engagement structure that prevents the gasket from falling off the housing, and through which the electric wire is inserted; and an engagement reinforcement portion provided on one of the housing and the gasket holder and configured to reinforce engagement of the engagement structure. According to the waterproof connector, the retention of the gasket in the housing can be improved.

Description

waterproof connector

technical field

The invention relates to a waterproof connector.

Background technique

Patent Document 1 (PLT1) listed below discloses one of the prior art waterproof connectors. The waterproof connector disclosed in PLT 1 includes a housing, a gasket, and a terminal holder (gasket holder). An opening is formed on the case, and terminals connected with electric wires are accommodated in the case. Wires are inserted through the gasket, and the gasket is installed into the opening of the housing to seal the housing. The electric wires are also inserted through the terminal holder, and the terminal holder is fixed at the opening of the housing by engaging structures (detent claws and detent holes) to prevent the terminal holder from falling off from the housing.

In the waterproof connector described above, the locking claw is provided on the terminal holder, and the locking hole is provided on the housing. The terminal holder is inserted into the housing until the locking claw and the locking hole engage with each other. Then, the gasket is held by being surrounded by the cover plate of the terminal holder and the protruding plate and support protrusion of the housing. As a result, the case is sealed by the gasket.

reference list

patent documents

PTL1: U.S. Patent No. 5,836,788 (based on priority filing of Japanese Patent Application No. H7-228167 [Gazette No. H9-73948])

Contents of the invention

technical problem

However, in the above-mentioned waterproof connector, the engagement between the locking claw and the locking hole may become loose. If external force is applied to the connector via the wires, the looseness may cause the terminal holder to come off from the housing. In this case, the gasket cannot be tightly held in the housing, so that the sealing may become insufficient.

An object of the present invention is to provide a waterproof connector capable of improving the locking of the gasket in the housing.

solution to the problem

One aspect of the present invention provides a waterproof connector including: a case on which an opening is formed and a terminal connected to an electric wire is accommodated in the case; a gasket mounted to the In the opening of the housing, and the wire is inserted through the gasket; the gasket retainer, the gasket retainer is engaged with the opening of the housing through an engaging structure to prevent the gasket from The housing comes off, and the electric wire is inserted through the gasket holder; and an engagement reinforcing portion provided on one of the housing and the gasket holder and configured to reinforce the gasket holder. Jointing of joint structures.

According to this aspect, the engagement reinforcing portion is provided on one of the housing and the gasket holder, thereby preventing loosening of the engagement structure and thereby making it possible to prevent undesired disengagement of the engagement structure due to external force. Undesired detachment of the gasket holder from the housing is thus prevented and thus the locking of the gasket in the housing can be improved.

Here, it is preferable that the engaging structure includes a first engaging portion provided on the gasket holder; and a second engaging portion provided on the housing; The first joint portion has a first surface facing in a direction opposite to the joint direction of the gasket holder and the housing; the second joint portion has a second surface facing a direction opposite to a detachment direction of the gasket holder from the housing; and the engagement reinforcing portion is formed as a biasing portion that biases the housing and the gasket holder. The other, thereby biasing the gasket retainer toward the disengagement direction.

According to this aspect, the engagement reinforcement portion is formed as a biasing portion that biases the other of the housing and the gasket holder to bias the gasket holder toward the disengagement direction, so that the first and second can be stably engaged. A joint between two surfaces (first and second joint). As a result, loosening of the joining structure is further prevented and thus the detenting of the gasket in the housing can be effectively improved.

In addition, it is further preferable that the biasing portion is provided on the gasket holder as a protrusion protruding toward the joining direction.

According to this aspect, it is possible to enhance the engagement of the engagement structure with a simple structure without making a large design change to the gasket holder.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a waterproof connector according to one embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a housing in the waterproof connector.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a gasket in a waterproof connector.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a gasket retainer in a waterproof connector.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing a joint structure in the waterproof connector; (a) shows a first joint part and (b) shows a second joint part.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view showing a joint reinforcing portion in the waterproof connector.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged plan view showing an assembled state of the waterproof connector in which the housing and the joint reinforcing portion are in contact with each other.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing the joint structure in an assembled state.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the waterproof connector in an assembled state.

10 is a perspective view for explaining the assembly process of the waterproof connector; (a) shows a state where the gasket is to be installed in the housing, (b) shows a state where the gasket is installed in the housing, and (c) shows a state where the gasket holder is about to be engaged with the housing.

detailed description

An embodiment of the waterproof connector 1 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 , the waterproof connector 1 includes: a housing 5 , a gasket 7 , and a gasket holder 11 . An opening 3 (see FIG. 10( a )) is formed on the case 5, and accommodates a terminal (not visible in FIG. 1 ) connected to an electric wire (not shown in the figure) in the case 5 . The wires are inserted through the gasket 7 , and the gasket 7 is fitted into the opening 3 of the housing 5 to seal the housing 5 . The electric wire is also inserted through the gasket holder 11, and the gasket holder 11 is fixed at the opening 3 of the housing 5 by a pair of engaging structures 9 (see FIG. 10 (c)) so as to prevent the gasket 7 from coming out of the housing 5. fall off.

As shown in FIGS. 10( c ) and 5 , the pair of engagement structures 9 are provided on the housing 5 and the gasket holder 11 . Each engaging structure 9 includes: a first engaging portion (engaging claw) 19 provided on the gasket holder 11 and a second engaging portion (engaging protrusion) 21 provided on the housing 5 . Note that only one of the pair of joints is visible in Figure 10(c). In addition, as shown in FIGS. 10( c ) and 6 , a joint reinforcing portion 13 (biasing portion [protrusion] 23 ) is provided on the gasket holder 11 to reinforce the joint of the joint structure 9 .

As explained above, each engagement structure 9 includes: the engagement claw 19 on the gasket holder 11 and the engagement protrusion 21 on the housing 5 . As shown in FIG. 5( a), the engagement pawl 19 on the gasket holder 11 includes a first surface 15 facing in the direction opposite to the direction of engagement of the gasket holder 11 with the housing 5 ( See arrows in Figure 8). As shown in Fig. 5 (b), the engagement projection 21 on the housing 5 includes a second surface 17 that faces toward the disengagement direction of the gasket holder 11 from the housing 5 (see Fig. 8 in opposite directions of the arrows in ) (ie, the engagement direction and the disengagement direction face opposite directions to each other).

As shown in FIG. 6 , each engagement reinforcing portion 13 is formed as a biasing portion (biasing protrusion) 23 . The biasing protrusion 23 on the gasket holder 11 is a protrusion protruding toward the direction of engagement of the gasket holder 11 with the housing 5 . Therefore, when the housing 5 and the gasket holder 11 are engaged with each other, the biasing protrusion 23 biases the gasket holder 11 toward the disengagement direction (see arrow in FIG. 7 ) of the gasket holder 11 from the housing 5 . The engagement reinforcing portion 13 (biasing protrusion 23 ) will be described in detail later.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 10( a ), the housing 5 is formed to have a box-like shape, and includes a connection end 25 and a terminal cavity 27 . A connection end 25 is opened at one end of the housing 5 , and another connector (not shown) is to be connected to the connection end 25 . The opening 3 described above is the other open end of the casing 5 . Additionally, a lever 29 (see FIG. 1 ) is rotatably attached to a support pivot 31 on the housing 5 . Lever 29 is used to support the connection of other connectors to connection end 25 .

The terminals are installed into the housing 5 through the opening 3 . The mounted terminals are individually held in the terminal cavities 27 .

The terminal cavities 27 are aligned along the width direction of the housing 5 and arranged in two rows in the height direction of the housing 5 . When other connectors are connected to the connection end 25 of the waterproof connector 1, the terminals in the other connectors are electrically connected with the terminals in the terminal cavities 27, respectively. A gasket 7 is fitted into the opening 3 of the housing 5 so as to seal the housing 5 .

The gasket 7 shown in FIG. 3 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and its outer peripheral profile is formed to have a profile similar to the inner peripheral shape of the opening 3 of the housing 5 . In addition, sealing holes 33 are formed on the gasket 7, and electric wires are inserted through the sealing holes 33, respectively. Of course, the number of sealing holes 33 is equal to the number of terminal cavities 27 of the housing 5 . The outer peripheral profile of the gasket 7 is made larger than the inner peripheral shape of the opening 3 of the housing 5 . Therefore, when the gasket 7 is inserted into the opening 3 (see FIGS. 10( a ) and 10 ( b )), its outer peripheral contour closely fits the inner periphery of the opening 3 to seal the housing 5 . The gasket 7 is prevented from coming off from the housing 5 by the gasket holder 11 .

The gasket holder 11 shown in FIG. 4 is attached to the housing 5 so as to close the opening 3 (see FIG. 10( c )). In addition, insertion holes 35 are formed on the gasket holder 11 , and electric wires are also inserted through the insertion holes 35 , respectively. Of course, the number of insertion holes 35 is equal to the number of the terminal cavities 27 of the housing 5 or the number of sealing holes 33 on the gasket 7 . The gasket holder 11 is fixed with the housing 5 by the pair of engaging structures 9 .

Engagement structures 9 are provided on both sides of the housing 5 and the gasket holder 11, and each engagement structure 9 is constituted by an engagement claw 19 and an engagement protrusion 21 (see FIG. 10(c)). The engagement claw 19 is formed as a barbed protrusion and can be elastically bent outward along the width direction of the housing 5 and the gasket holder 11 (see FIGS. 4 and 5( a )). In addition, the engagement claw 19 has the first surface 15 as the engagement surface explained above. The first surface 15 engages with the second surface 17 of the engaging protrusion 21 (see FIG. 8 ).

The engaging protrusion 21 has a concave portion opened outward in the width direction (see FIGS. 2 and 5( b )). In addition, the engaging protrusion 21 has the second surface 17 as the other engaging surface explained above. The second surface 17 is a surface of one side wall of the recess. The second surface 17 is engaged with the first surface 15 of the engagement claw 19 (see FIG. 8 ). When the first and second surfaces 15 and 17 are engaged with each other, the gasket holder 11 can be prevented from coming off from the housing 5 .

During the engagement of the gasket holder 11 with the housing 5 , the engaging claw(s) 19 are bent outward and go over the end of the engaging protrusion(s) 21 . When the claw portion (one or more) of the engagement claw (one or more) 19 contacts the concave portion (one or more) of the engagement protrusion (one or more) 21, the engagement claw (one or more) 19 Bending back due to its elastic recovery. As a result, the first and second surfaces 15 and 17 engage each other and thereby limit the movement of the gasket holder 11 relative to the housing 5 . This engagement between the engagement claw(s) 19 and the engagement nose(s) 21 (between the first and second surfaces 15 and 17 ) is reinforced by the engagement reinforcement 13 .

As explained above, each engagement reinforcing portion 13 is formed as the biasing protrusion 23 provided on the packing holder 11 , and protrudes from the end surface of the packing holder 11 toward the housing 5 . In other words, the biasing protrusion 23 protrudes toward an annular end surface surrounding the opening 3 of the housing 5 (surface opposite to the gasket holder 11 ). When the gasket holder 11 is engaged with the housing 5, the biasing protrusion 23 is in contact with the surface opposite to the housing 5, so that the gasket holder 11 faces a certain direction due to the biasing protrusion 23 (see the arrow in FIG. 7 ). Bias to disengage the gasket retainer 11 from the housing 5 .

Note that each protruding length of the biasing protrusion 23 is set to a length that does not interfere with the engagement between the engaging claw 19 and the engaging protrusion 21 (between the first and second surfaces 15 and 17 ). In other words, each protruding length of the biasing protrusion 23 is set to a length that does not prevent the engagement between the engagement pawl 19 and the engagement protrusion 21 (between the first and second surfaces 15 and 17 ). A total of eight biasing protrusions 23 (engagement reinforcing portions 13 ) are provided. As shown in FIG. 10( c ) and FIG. 4 , four of the biasing protrusions 23 are aligned in the width direction on the upper portion of the gasket holder 11 . And the remaining four of the biasing protrusions 23 are aligned in the width direction on the lower portion of the gasket holder 11 (two of them are not visible in FIG. 10( c )).

Since the biasing protrusion 23 is in contact with the surface opposite to the housing 5 when the gasket holder 11 is engaged with the housing 5, a biasing force is applied to the gasket holder 11 in a certain direction (see the arrow in FIG. 7 ). The gasket holder 11 is detached from the housing 5 . Therefore, a biasing force is also applied to the engaging structure 9 (see the arrow in FIG. 8 ), so that the first and second surfaces 15 and 17 are stably engaged with each other and thereby the loosening of the engaging structure 9 can be prevented.

According to the above-described waterproof connector 1 in which the engagement of the engagement structure 9 is strengthened, even if an external force is applied to the wire harness 37 (a bundle of electric wires drawn from the gasket holder 11: see FIG. 9 ) to pull the gasket holder 11 , the loosening of the engagement structure 9 is also prevented and thereby the sealing gasket holder 11 can be prevented from coming off from the housing 5 . Owing to this loosening prevention of the joint structure 9 by the joint reinforcement 13 , the holding stability of the gasket holder 11 by the housing 5 is reinforced and thus the stability against external forces can be improved.

When assembling the waterproof connector 1 , the gasket 7 is first installed in the opening 3 of the housing 5 . The gasket 7 is set inside the opening 3 so that its outer peripheral contour closely fits the inner periphery of the opening 3 . Then, the opening 3 is closed by the gasket holder 11 so that the gasket 7 is held between the housing 5 and the gasket holder 11 . Through the engagement structure 9 , the gasket holder 11 is stably engaged with the housing 5 . In this way, the assembly of the waterproof connector 1 is completed.

According to the waterproof connector 1 according to the present embodiment, the engagement reinforcing portion 13 is provided on the gasket holder 11 in order to reinforce the engagement of the engaging structure 9 so that loosening of the engaging structure 9 can be prevented by the engaging reinforcing portion 13 . Therefore, undesired disengagement of the engagement structure 9 due to an external force can be prevented.

Since the waterproof connector 1 can prevent the gasket holder 11 from falling off from the housing 5, the holding stability of the gasket 7 relative to the housing 5 can be improved.

In addition, the engagement reinforcement portion 13 is formed as a biasing portion [protrusion] 23 that biases the gasket holder 11 toward the direction of detachment of the gasket holder 11 from the housing 5 (see arrows in FIGS. 7 and 8 ). Since the biasing portion 23 biases the gasket holder 11, the engagement of the first surface 15 on the engagement claw 19 and the second surface 17 on the engagement protrusion 21 is enhanced. Therefore, loosening of the engagement structure 9 is prevented and thus the gasket holder 11 can be stably held by the housing 5 .

Furthermore, the biasing portion 23 is formed to protrude toward the surface opposite to the housing 5 , so that the engagement of the engaging structure 9 can be reinforced by a simple structure without making a large design change to the gasket holder 11 .

Note that although the engagement reinforcing portion 13 is provided on the gasket holder 11 in the waterproof connector 1 according to the present embodiment, the engagement reinforcing portion(s) may be provided on the housing 5 .

In addition, in the waterproof connector 1 according to the present embodiment, the joint reinforcing portion 13 is formed as the biasing portion 23 that reinforces the joint of the first and second surfaces 15 and 17 of the joint structure 9 . However, the joint reinforcement(s) 13 may take another configuration suitable for the configuration of the joint structure(s) 9 .

Furthermore, the engagement structure 9 can also take various configurations. For example, the engaging structure 9 may have a modified configuration in which an additional supporting portion is provided outside the engaging claw (first engaging portion) 19 in order to enhance the backward bending force (holding effect) of the engaging claw (first engaging portion) 19 force). Alternatively, the engagement structure 9 can have another configuration in which the engagement structure is formed by a press-in rod and a press-in hole. Here, the rod and the hole can be further provided with an anti-pull-out structure. As an example of the pull-out prevention structure, a circumferential convex rib may be formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rod, and a circumferential concave groove (or, a circumferential barb on the outer peripheral surface of the rod) may be formed on the inner peripheral surface of the hole. ribs, and circumferential engagement grooves on the inner peripheral surface of the hole).

Furthermore, in the waterproof connector 1 according to the present embodiment, the biasing portion(s) 23 are formed as protrusions protruding toward the detachment direction of the housing 5 from the packing holder 11 . However, the biasing portion may be formed as an elastic member (for example, a spring) for biasing the gasket holder 11 .

The entire contents of Japanese Patent Application 2011-186878 (filed on Aug. 30, 2011) are incorporated herein by reference.

Although the invention has been described above by reference to certain embodiments of the invention, the invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Modifications and variations of the above-described embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art in view of the above teachings.

Claims (3)

1. a water-proof connector, including:

Housing, forms opening on the housing and accommodates the end being connected with electric wire in this housing Son；

Sealing gasket, this sealing gasket is installed in the described opening of described housing, and described electric wire It is inserted through this sealing gasket；

Sealing gasket keeper, this sealing gasket keeper is described by connected structure and described housing Opening engages to prevent described sealing gasket from coming off from described housing, and described electric wire to be inserted through this close Packing keeper；And

Multiple joint ribs, this joint rib is formed as biasing portion and is arranged on described shell On in body and described sealing gasket keeper one, and it is configured to strengthen described connected structure Joint,

Described biasing portion is formed towards another in described housing and described sealing gasket keeper Prominent projection, by with described housing and described sealing gasket keeper in described in another connects Touch thus bias described housing and institute at described sealing gasket keeper from the direction that described housing departs from State in sealing gasket keeper described another, and arrange around described opening.

Water-proof connector the most according to claim 1, wherein

Described water-proof connector includes pair of engaging structure,

On a side being arranged on described opening in the pair of connected structure, the pair of Another in connected structure is arranged on the opposite side of described opening,

Each described connected structure includes: the first junction surface, and this first junction surface is arranged on described On sealing gasket keeper；And second junction surface, this second junction surface is arranged on the housing,

Described first junction surface has first surface, and this first surface keeps towards described sealing gasket The rightabout of the direction of engagement of device and described housing,

Described second junction surface has second surface, and this second surface keeps towards described sealing gasket Device from the rightabout of the off-direction of described housing, and

Described biasing portion is arranged between the pair of connected structure.

Water-proof connector the most according to claim 2, wherein

Each described biasing portion is arranged on described sealing gasket keeper.