JP2000058187A - Electrical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electrical connector that allows electric terminals to be arbitrarily arranged and that has a simple structure. SOLUTION: This electrical connector has a housing 30 for receiving multiple electric terminals 10 individually connected to multiple wires 4, and a sealing member 110 to collectively waterproof the multiple wires 4 mounted to the housing 30. A cap member 90 to prevent the sealing member 110 from coming off from the housing 30 is provided, and the cap member 90 has a connector latch 92 to mutually lock with a mating pin header after being fitted to the mating heads.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to an electrical connector having a sealing member for sealing a wire and a cap member.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,350 discloses a sealed or waterproof receptacle and plug connector assembly suitable for use in terminating a plurality of wires on a printed circuit board. are doing. The plug-type connector includes a front housing, a rear housing, a plurality of terminals held between the two housings, and a sealing member disposed at the rear of the rear housing for sealing wires connected to these terminals. Having. The mating receptacle-type connector is screwed to each other via a hole formed in the rear housing of the plug connector after fitting. Further, the seal member is prevented from falling off by another member arranged from the rear in the rear housing.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art, it is necessary to use another member to lock the connectors, and to prevent the seal member from coming off. Required components. Therefore, there are many parts and man-hours for assembly, and it has been difficult to automate the assembly.

[0004] Further, it is generally known that a housing for holding a terminal is provided with a latch for maintaining engagement with a mating connector.
The latch was caught during assembly, which was an obstacle to handling.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a seal-type electric connector which seals and accommodates an electric terminal connected to a wire, and which has a small number of parts which can be easily assembled automatically. To provide.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a housing for accommodating a plurality of electric terminals connected to a plurality of wires, respectively, and a seal member mounted on the housing and collectively waterproofing the plurality of wires. The seal type electrical connector having a cap member for retaining the seal member from the housing, the cap member integrally having a connector / latch for latching and fixing with a mating connector. Is what you do.

Preferably, the cap is received at the rear of the housing within an enclosure provided at the rear of the housing.

The cap has a plurality of fastening members,
It is preferable that the cap is fixed to the housing by engaging the retaining member with a protrusion provided on the enclosure.

[0009]

According to the electric connector of the present invention, there is further provided a cap member for preventing the seal member from coming off from the housing. Since the cap member integrally has a connector / latch for latching and fixing with a mating connector, Has the effect of

That is, the housing itself does not need to be provided with a latch that engages with the mating connector. When assembling a seal member or the like to the housing by an automatic device, the latch does not hinder the assembling work, and the automatic assembling operation is not performed. This is advantageous in that a waterproof electrical connector can be obtained easily.

In addition to the fact that automatic assembly is possible,
An effect is obtained that an electrical connector having a small number of parts and easy to assemble can be obtained.

[0012]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector assembly using the electrical connector of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the electrical connector (receptacle type connector) of FIG. 1 in a completely assembled state.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a plastic part and an elastic seal member of the receptacle type connector.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the same parts as those shown in FIG. 3, but showing the opposite side of each component.

FIG. 5 is an exploded sectional view showing parts of the connector shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the final assembled state of the connector, with the secondary lock fitting the resilient latch into a pocket formed in the secondary lock.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a receptacle type terminal employed in the receptacle type connector.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, an electrical connector 6 with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a seal between a plurality of conductor interconnects in a densely packed row. It is intended to be used to perform
The sealed connector assembly 2 should be used for conductors at any free location, not the total number of terminal locations within the housing. Seal integrity is achieved for each of the electrical conductors, such as wires, and even if all locations within the connector are not filled with terminals 10, the integrity of the seal is maintained for each individual wire. , And along individual circuits. An electrical connector or receptacle-type connector 6 is employed for mating with a mating connector or an enclosed pin header 8. The electrical terminals 10 are mounted in a plurality of rows within the electrical connector 6. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the terminals 10 are mounted in three rows, the center row of which is staggered relative to the outer two rows of terminal positions. The terminal 10 is attached to the wire 4 and can be fitted with a pin 20 which is stamped and formed into a cylindrical shape or a tubular shape. The terminals 10 are arranged in an insulating housing 30 and the pins 20 are arranged in a header housing 140 of the pin header 8.

Each of the terminals 10 includes a plurality of contact springs 12 as shown in FIG. 7, the contact springs 12 being cantilevered in a tubular or barrel-shaped contact area 14. It is in the form of In a preferred embodiment of the invention, these contact springs 12 extend forward from the rear to the front of the barrel-shaped contact area 14. Shoulder 15 is barrel-shaped contact area
A waist section 16 formed at the rear of the body 14 and having a reduced outer diameter
Is formed between the barrel contact area 14 and the stabilization area 17,
The stabilization zone 17 has an outer diameter approximately equal to the outer diameter of the barrel contact zone 14. The barrel shoulder 15 forms a well-defined shoulder between the barrel contact area 14 and the waist area 16. A conventional wire crimping section 18 is located near the cylindrical stabilizing section 17 and an insulation crimping section 19 having a conventional winding structure is located at the rear of the terminal 10. When the terminal 10 is crimped, when the crimped terminal 10 is inserted through the elastic seal, the elastic seal is inserted so as not to be damaged. Each terminal 10 is crimped to the stripped end of wire 4 in a conventional manner.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the terminal 10 is disposed in an insulating housing 30 having an insulating base 32, through which a plurality of openings or cavities extend. It is located in the column corresponding to the arrangement of the terminal positions. These openings or cavities 36 form a means for arranging the terminals in three alternating rows, the rows comprising a plurality of opposing end walls 38 of the insulating housing 30 (see FIG. 2). It extends between and extends parallel to the plurality of opposing side walls (see FIG. 2). Housing 30
Has a fitting surface 34, which is in the shape of a square fitting enclosure formed by a plurality of opposed end walls and a plurality of opposed side walls. The end wall 38 and the side wall 40 forming the fitting enclosure project forward from the base 32 of the insulating housing. The insulating housing 30 opens forward from the insulating housing base 32 within the enclosure defined by the end walls 38 and the side walls 40. A plurality of grooves 46 are provided in each side wall 40.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the grooves 46 in the upper side wall 40 are spaced apart from the grooves 46 in the lower side wall 40 by different distances. Therefore, the groove 46 imparts directionality to the fitting enclosure formed on the fitting surface 34 of the insulating housing 30.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an insulating housing / enclosure 42 is disposed at the rear end of the insulating housing 30 and protrudes rearward from the insulating housing base 32. The housing / enclosure 42 extends beyond the side wall 40 and the end wall.
It projects beyond 38 so that the mating envelope has a smaller outer diameter than the housing and enclosure 42. A shoulder is formed at the joint between the end wall 38 and the side wall 40 forming the fitting envelope and the housing / enclosure 42. Also, the housing
A plurality of grooves 48 are formed in the surrounding body 42 near the rear end 44 of the 30. Further, in order to give directionality to the housing / enclosure 42, grooves on opposing walls of the housing / enclosure 42 are arranged in different forms on the upper wall and the bottom wall of the enclosure 42.

A cap 90 is received within the enclosure 42 at the rear of the insulating housing 30. Cap 90
Has both a sealing cap used in connection with the conductor seal 110 and a hooking mechanism for securing the connector 6 to a mating connector such as a pin header 8. The cap 90 has a plurality of fastening members 91 which are used to secure the cap 90 to the insulating housing 30 and to secure the conductor seal 110 within the insulating housing enclosure 42. Can be engaged with the projections 43 on the outside of the device. The cap 90 also has a connector latch 92 that projects forwardly from the upper edge of the cap 90 and beyond the enclosure 42 to secure the electrical connector 6 to the mating header 8. It is protruding. By locating this connector latch 92 on the cap 90, the insulating housing 30 can be more easily operated by an automatic device. This is because the connector latch 92 is out of the way.

The resilient seal 110 used to provide a complete seal around the individual conductors or wires 4
Consists of a single piece of collective seal formed of a conventional elastic material. The seal 110 has a plurality of holes 114, each hole
114 is dimensioned to receive the wire 4 and to achieve the integrity of the seal therewith. The seal 110 also has a peripheral sealing rib 112 to achieve the integrity of the seal with the inner surface of the enclosure 42. Seal 110 comprises a conventional collective seal to achieve the integrity of the seal between a plurality of individually independent conductors. The seal 110 is located within the enclosure 42 and each independent hole 114 will be aligned with the opening or cavity in the insulating housing 30 and the pocket 62 of the secondary lock 60.

In addition to the conductor seal 110, the connector 6
Has a peripheral interface seal 100,
Are arranged on a boundary surface where the connector 6 and the pin header 8 fit together. As shown in FIG.
Is disposed between the secondary lock 60 and the enclosure 42 on the insulating housing 30.

The components including the receptacle type connector 6 can be assembled in a predetermined fitting state before insertion of the wire 4 terminated by the receptacle type terminal 10. The secondary lock 60 can be fixed to the fitting surface of the insulating housing 30 at the first position by the two-position holding means. In this first position, the hook finger 85A will engage the inner shoulder 84 and be located between the inner shoulder 84 and the outer shoulder 88. The interface seal 100 will be positioned in an enclosing state against the connector side wall 40 and end wall 38 prior to assembly of the secondary lock 60 on the mating surface of the insulating housing 30. Base plate 74 placed on the outside of side wall 40
Will serve to hold the interface seal 100 on the exterior of the housing 30. Seal 10
The 0 can be inserted into the housing-enclosure 42 and the cap 90 can be secured to the housing-enclosure 42.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector assembly using the electrical connector of the present invention.

2 is a perspective view of the electrical connector (receptacle type connector) of FIG. 1 in a completely assembled state.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a plastic part and an elastic seal member of the receptacle type connector.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the same parts as those shown in FIG. 3, but showing the opposite surface of each component.

FIG. 5 is an exploded sectional view showing parts of the connector shown in FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the connector in a final assembled state, with the secondary lock fitting the resilient latch into a pocket formed in the secondary lock.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a receptacle terminal used in the receptacle connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Wire 6 Electric connector 10 Electric terminal 30 Housing 90 Cap member 92 Connector / latch 110 Seal member

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on front page (72) Inventor Allen F. Vanderstif United States 48103 Michigan, USA Rochester Hills Timberly Drive 440 (72) Inventor Robert Graham Landergan United States of America North Carolina 27284 Carnersville Brookroad Road 1665

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sealed electrical connector comprising: a housing accommodating a plurality of electric terminals respectively connected to a plurality of wires; and a seal member mounted on the housing and collectively waterproofing the plurality of wires. The electrical connector according to claim 1, further comprising a cap member for retaining the seal member from the housing, wherein the cap member integrally has a connector latch for latching and fixing with a mating connector.