CN110661154B

CN110661154B - Cutter assembly for manufacturing electric terminal

Info

Publication number: CN110661154B
Application number: CN201910813489.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张云杰; 瞿楠峰; 王涛
Original assignee: Ampov Connector System Nantong Co ltd
Current assignee: Ampov Connector System Nantong Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-08-30
Filing date: 2019-08-30
Publication date: 2020-08-18
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-30
Also published as: CN110661154A

Abstract

The invention discloses a cutter assembly for manufacturing an electrical terminal. The cutter assembly is used for crimping the cable to the electric terminal, the electric terminal comprises a hoop and a contact, the cutter assembly is used for crimping the cable between the hoop and the contact to achieve electric connection of the electric terminal and the cable, the cutter assembly is provided with a plurality of blades, each blade is provided with a crimping surface used for being crimped to the outer surface of the hoop and a side portion extending from the crimping surface and far away from the crimping surface, a gap is reserved between the crimping surfaces of the adjacent blades, after the hoop is crimped, the portion, corresponding to the gap, of the hoop protrudes out of the outer surface of the hoop to form a convex edge, the blades are provided with limiting bosses on at least one side portion, and the limiting bosses play a role in limiting formation of the convex edge in the crimping process. The size of the convex edge can be effectively controlled by adopting the cutter component to manufacture the electric terminal, and the yield is improved.

Description

Cutter assembly for manufacturing electric terminal

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of electrical terminal manufacturing, and more particularly, to a cutter assembly for manufacturing an electrical terminal.

Background

In the field of vehicle manufacturing, FAKRA connectors are widely used. FAKRA is the automotive standards Committee of the German institute for standardization. FAKRA connectors have standardized keying and locking systems that meet the high functionality and security requirements of automotive applications by defining the ability of the connectors to mate with one another according to FAKRA standards.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of crimping an electrical terminal of a FAKRA connector using a conventional knife assembly. As shown in fig. 5, the cutter assembly includes four blades that are equispaced about the longitudinal axis of the electrical terminal. Fig. 5 shows the final state of the blade assembly in crimping the electrical terminal, wherein a gap is left between adjacent blades, and the outer ferrule of the electrical terminal is inwardly contracted by the crimping force of the blades, thereby forming a corresponding ridge at the gap.

However, when the cutter assembly is used for crimping the ferrule, the shapes and the sizes of the four convex edges cannot be accurately controlled, the phenomenon that the size of a terminal finished product exceeds the specification easily occurs, and the defective rate is high. Therefore, there is still a need for an improved blade assembly that improves the quality of terminal production.

Disclosure of Invention

To overcome the deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a cutter assembly for crimping a cable to an electrical terminal, the electrical terminal including a ferrule and a contact, the blade assembly for crimping the cable between the ferrule and the contact to effect electrical connection of the electrical terminal to the electrical cable, the cutter assembly having a plurality of blades, each blade having a crimping surface for crimping to the outer surface of the ferrule and a side extending from the crimping surface away from the crimping surface, a void being left between the crimping surfaces of adjacent blades, when the hoop is pressed, the part of the hoop corresponding to the gap protrudes out of the outer surface of the hoop to form a convex edge, the blade is provided with a limiting boss on at least one side part, and the limiting boss plays a role in limiting the formation of the convex edge in the crimping process.

According to an aspect of the invention, the stop boss forms a first stop portion extending transversely to the side portion and radially further away from the central axis of the ferrule with respect to the crimping surface.

According to another aspect of the invention, the retaining boss forms a second retaining portion, and the blade assembly is configured to move the plurality of blades synchronously in a radial direction radial to an axial direction of the terminal, and the second retaining portion abuts another side portion of an adjacent one of the blades opposite to the side portion when the blades reach a crimping position for crimping the ferrule onto the contact.

According to another aspect of the invention, the side part where the limiting boss is located, the first limiting part and the side part of the adjacent blade are surrounded to form a convex edge limiting space.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, each of the blades is provided with a limit projection, and the shape and position of each of the limit projections on the side of each of the blades are the same.

According to another aspect of the invention, two opposite side parts of one blade of two adjacent blades are symmetrically provided with corresponding limiting bosses, and the other blade is not provided with the limiting bosses.

By adopting the cutter component, the limiting lug boss is arranged on the blade, so that the shape, size and position of the convex edge formed on the crimped terminal hoop can be accurately controlled in the crimping process, and the finished product rate of the terminal is improved.

Drawings

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description of exemplary embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a perspective view of an electrical terminal manufactured using a cutter assembly according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of an electrical terminal manufactured using the cutter assembly according to the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a perspective schematic view of a knife assembly crimping electrical terminals in accordance with the present invention during manufacture.

Figure 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a cutter assembly crimped electrical terminal according to the present invention during manufacture.

Fig. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of a prior art knife assembly crimping electrical terminal.

List of reference numerals

1 tool assembly

10 blade

11 crimping surface

121 first position-limiting part

122 second position-limiting part

20 electric terminal

22 contact

23 hoop

27 insulator

28 center conductor

231 convex edge

232 outer surface

233 convex edge spacing space

30 electric cable

Detailed Description

The present invention is further described in the following description with reference to specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein the details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, but it is apparent that the present invention can be embodied in many other forms different from those described herein, and it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be implemented in many different forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Fig. 1 and 2 show a perspective view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, of an electrical terminal 20 manufactured with a tool assembly 1 according to the invention. The electrical terminal 20 is an electrical terminal 20 employed in a conventional FAKRA standard connector, the electrical terminal 20 being connected to a cable 30.

As shown in fig. 1, the electrical terminal 20 has a first end for electrical communication with a mating terminal in a mating connector and a second end for crimping the cable 30. Next, as can be seen from the sectional view of a portion of the terminal 20 shown in fig. 2 connected to the electric cable 30, the electric terminal 20 includes the contact 22 on the inner core side and the ferrule 23 on the outside, and the braid of the electric cable is crimped between the ferrule 23 and the contact 22. Further, an insulator 27 is provided inside the contact 22, and the inner layer of the insulator 27 is a center conductor. The ferrule 23 has a plurality of protrusions 231 protruding outwards, in the preferred embodiment, the number of the protrusions 231 is four, and two adjacent protrusions 231 are distributed on the ferrule 23 at intervals of 90 degrees around the axis of the contact 22.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the crimping of the contact 22, cable and ferrule 23 is accomplished by the knife assembly 1 shown in figure 3. The ferrule 23 is tubular, the ferrule 23 having a first diameter prior to crimping, the ferrule 23 radially contracting to form a second diameter less than the first diameter as the knife assembly 1 applies a crimping force on the ferrule, and the ridges 231 are correspondingly formed.

Next, the cutter assembly 1 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to fig. 3 and 4.

The cutter assembly 1 according to the present invention has a plurality of blades 10, and in the preferred embodiment, the number of blades 10 is four. The blade 10 of the cutter assembly 1 is movable in a radial direction (as indicated by arrow R in fig. 3) relative to the central axis a of the terminal 20 by a drive means (not shown). When the cutter member 1 is in the final crimping position, the electric cable 30 is crimped between the ferrule 23 and the contact 22, and the convex ridge 231 is formed on the ferrule 23.

Each blade 10 has a crimping end, each towards the electrical terminal 20 to perform a crimping action, and opposite sides extending away from the crimping end (generally in a radial direction). As shown in fig. 4, at the crimping end of the blades 10, each blade 10 has a crimping surface 11 and a stop boss. During crimping, the crimping surface 11 will be in direct face contact with the outer surface 232 of the ferrule 23 of the electrical terminal 20. And a limit boss is formed on at least one side of the blade 10 to limit the formation of the ridge 231 during the crimping process.

More specifically, the crimping surface 11 of each insert 10 is a concave arcuate surface that extends through an arc of less than 90 degrees. The curvature of the arcuate surface substantially conforms to the curvature of the outer surface 232 of the ferrule 23 of the electrical terminal 20. as can be seen in fig. 4, the crimping surface 11 of the blade 10 is in face contact with a portion of the cylindrical outer surface 232 of the ferrule 23, while a gap is left between two adjacent crimping surfaces 11. In the preferred embodiment, the four blades 10 have the same arcuate surfaces, while in the final crimping position, the plurality of gaps between each adjacent pair of crimping surfaces are substantially equal in size.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, each blade 10 is formed with a stop boss extending from the side of the blade 10 generally transverse to the radial direction towards the adjacent blade. Preferably, the stop boss is an integrally formed part of the blade 10. Each of the position-restricting bosses has a first position-restricting portion 121 and a second position-restricting portion 122. The first stopper portion 121 is radially farther from the central axis a of the ferrule 23 than the crimping surface 11 in the radial direction with respect to the central axis a.

The second stopper portion 122 of the stopper boss extends substantially in the radial direction, and serves to restrict the position between the adjacent blades 10. Specifically, when the blade 10 reaches the final crimping position, it is preferable that the second stopper portion 122 abuts against the other side portion of the adjacent blade 10 opposite to the side portion thereof on which the stopper boss is provided, so that the side portion of the stopper boss and the other side portions of the first stopper portion 121 and the adjacent blade 10 enclose the convex edge stopper space 233, thereby defining the shape, size, and distribution position of the convex edge 231 formed by crimping. As shown in fig. 4, the convex ridge 231 is formed in an arch shape, and the highest point of the arch-shaped convex ridge 231 is in contact with the first stopper portion 121 at the crimping final position.

It should be noted that other variations of the insert 10 in the knife assembly 1 are possible within the scope of the invention. In an alternative embodiment, in the cutter assembly 1, two adjacent blades 10 are provided with two limit bosses one, that is, two opposite sides of the blade 10 are symmetrically provided with the limit bosses, and the other is not provided with the limit bosses. When the blades 10 are pressed against the outer surface 232 of the ferrule 23, the limit bosses on one blade 10 are respectively abutted against the side portions of the adjacent blades 10 on both sides, thereby forming the ridge limit spaces 233.

Further, the number of blades in each cutter assembly is also not limited to 4, and for example, 3 blades may be provided.

In the preferred embodiment shown in fig. 4, the first position-limiting portion 121 of the position-limiting boss is planar. In other alternative embodiments, the first position-limiting portion 121 may be formed as a concave arched surface, so that the outer surface of the formed convex ridge may be formed more precisely.

With the cutter assembly according to the present invention, the blade 10 is provided with the limit boss, so that the shape, size and position of the protruding edge 231 formed on the ferrule 23 of the terminal 20 to be crimped can be precisely controlled during the crimping process, thereby improving the yield of the terminal 20.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the invention, and variations and modifications may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, any modification, equivalent change and modification of the above embodiments according to the technical essence of the present invention are within the protection scope defined by the claims of the present invention, unless the technical essence of the present invention departs from the content of the present invention.

Claims

1. A knife assembly for crimping an electrical cable to an electrical terminal, the electrical terminal including a ferrule and a contact, the knife assembly for crimping a cable between the ferrule and the contact to effect electrical connection of the electrical terminal to the electrical cable,

the blade assembly having a plurality of blades configured to move synchronously in a radial direction radial to an axial direction of the terminal, each blade having a crimping surface for crimping to an outer surface of the ferrule and a side portion extending from the crimping surface away from the crimping surface, a space being left between the crimping surfaces of adjacent blades, a portion of the ferrule corresponding to the space protruding from the outer surface of the ferrule to form a convex ridge when the ferrule is crimped, the crimping surface being a length of a concave arc surface,

the blade is integrally formed with a limit boss on at least one of the side portions, the limit boss forms a first limit portion and a second limit portion,

the first stopper portion extends transversely to the side portion and is radially farther from the center axis of the ferrule with respect to the crimping surface,

when the plurality of blades reach a pressing position for pressing the ferrule onto the contact, the second limiting part abuts against the other side part of the adjacent blade opposite to the side part and not provided with the limiting boss,

therefore, the limiting lug boss plays a role in limiting the formation of the lug ridge in the crimping process.

2. The cutter assembly of claim 1, wherein the second limit stop extends generally in a radial direction.

3. The cutter assembly according to claim 1, wherein a side portion where the limiting boss is located, the first limiting portion and the side portion of the adjacent one of the blades are surrounded to form a ridge limiting space.

4. A cutter assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each said blade is provided with a stop boss, the shape and location of each said stop boss on the side of each said blade being the same.

5. A cutter assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, of two adjacent blades, the opposite side portions of one blade are symmetrically provided with the corresponding limit projections, and the other blade is not provided with the limit projections.