JP2000077142A - Joint connector and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve reliability in a slip off preventing function and to reduce working man-hours. SOLUTION: A housing 10 is formed with press fitting holes 13 in its front face, while each joint terminal 20 comprises chain terminals such that plural terminal parts 22 are projected in parallel from a side edge of a slender carrier 21. At the time of assembling, the joint terminals 20 are press fitted to the press fitted holes 13 with the terminal parts 22 held by a jig 25. Because the assembling work of the joint terminals 20 to the housing 10 is only one process, i.e., a press fitting process of the joint terminals 20 into the press fitting holes 13, a working efficiency is improved. Besides, because the joint terminal 20 comprises the chain terminals, the number of the terminal parts 22 of one joint terminal 20 arbitrarily can be set by appropriately changing cutting positions of the carrier 21, so that can be flexibly corresponded with respect to plural joint patterns.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a joint connector and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional joint connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-277180. In this configuration, a joint terminal having a plurality of terminal portions is assembled into a mounting hole formed on a front surface of a resin housing, and the terminal portions protrude forward of the housing.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional joint connector, as a means for preventing the assembled joint terminal from coming off, a barbed-shaped stopper formed on the joint terminal is press-fitted into the housing, and both sides of the stopper are provided. Are made to bite into the inner wall of the housing to prevent removal. However, since the inner wall to which the protrusion bites is a portion after being cut by the protrusion at the time of press-fitting, there is a possibility that the protrusion of the protrusion with respect to the inner wall may be insufficient. Also, a plurality of joint terminals are arranged adjacent to each other in the housing in a proximity state. For this reason, there has been a situation that a leak easily occurs between adjacent joint terminals.
The invention of claim 1 of the present application aims at improving the reliability of the retaining function, and the invention of claim 3 aims at preventing leakage between adjacent joint terminals.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a resin housing having a press-fitting hole formed therein, and a joint terminal having a plurality of terminals, wherein the joint terminal is press-fitted into the press-fitting hole. In this case, the terminal portion is a joint connector assembled in a form protruding from the housing, and a sliding contact surface of the press-fitting hole with the joint terminal has an inner dimension of a press-fitting space of the joint terminal. The ribs to be smaller than the thickness are formed along the press-fit direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the joint terminal has a plurality of terminal portions projecting in parallel from one side edge of the elongated carrier, and each terminal portion is connected to each terminal portion from the other side edge. The housing is formed of a chain terminal having corresponding positioning protrusions protruding in parallel, and a positioning hole is formed in the housing for positioning and inserting each positioning protrusion in the carrier length direction. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that a press-fitting hole is formed in a front surface of a resin housing, and the joint terminal is a chain terminal formed by projecting a plurality of terminal portions in parallel from side edges of an elongated carrier. By press-fitting the joint terminal into the press-fitting hole while bringing the jig holding the terminal portion close to the front surface of the housing,
A method of manufacturing a joint connector in which the terminal portion is projected from a front surface of the housing, wherein a bite projecting from a position which is a boundary between adjacent joint terminals on a surface of the jig facing the housing. When the joint terminal is press-fitted into the press-fitting hole on the structure in which the projection is formed, the biting projection bites into the front surface of the housing, so that the periphery of the biting portion, the gap between the adjacent joint terminals. It is configured to form a rising portion to enter.

[0006]

When the joint terminal is press-fitted into the press-fitting hole, the rib is crushed and deformed and adheres strongly to the surface of the joint terminal. The frictional resistance between the two restricts the joint terminal from coming off. Is done. Since the retaining of the joint terminal uses the friction caused by the surface pressing, the reliability of the retaining is higher as compared with the case where the retaining portion having a bite-like shape having a relatively shallow bite is press-fitted. Moreover, since the ribs are formed along the press-fitting direction, the dynamic frictional resistance at the time of press-fitting is suppressed to a relatively small value, and the press-fitting resistance can be reduced.

[Invention of claim 2] By inserting the positioning protrusion into the positioning hole, the width of the joint terminal is positioned, and the joint terminal can be securely mounted at a predetermined position. [Invention of claim 3] A protrusion is formed on the front surface of the housing by forming a biting projection on the jig, and the protrusion is made to enter the gap between the adjacent joint terminals. The area where the metals face each other in a bare state between the terminals is reduced, and a leak hardly occurs between the joint terminals.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The joint connector JC of the present embodiment is one in which the housing 10 and the joint terminal 20 are integrated. The housing 10 is made of a synthetic resin material and has a main body 11 for holding the joint terminal 20.
And a hood 12 in the form of a rectangular tube protruding forward from the main body 11. The main body 11 has two upper and lower press-fitting holes 13 that are elongated in the left-right direction (horizontal direction) on the front surface (the rear end surface of the hood 12). The press-fit hole 13 has a predetermined depth dimension, and its height dimension is set smaller than the opening width and the depth. In addition, the opening edge of the press-fitting hole 13 is a tapered guiding slope 14 over all sides of up, down, left and right.

Further, a plurality of positioning holes 15 extending in the front-rear direction (press-fitting direction of the joint terminal 20) are formed in the back of each press-fitting hole 13 at regular intervals in the left-right direction. The positioning hole 15 is provided in the main body 1.
No opening at the rear end of 1. The upper and lower surfaces of the positioning hole 15 and the upper and lower surfaces of the press-fit hole 13 are joint terminals 2
Numeral 0 denotes sliding contact surfaces 13A and 15A which are in sliding contact with each other. The sliding contact surfaces 13A and 15A of the positioning hole 15 and the press-fitting hole 13 are continuous in a plane. And these sliding contact surfaces 1
Each of the positioning holes 15 has a substantially semicircular cross-section rib 16 extending from the back end position of the positioning hole 15 in the front-rear direction (press-fitting direction) and reaching the guiding slope 14 at the opening edge of the press-fitting hole 13. It is formed every time.

[0010] The joint terminal 20 is a chain terminal obtained by stamping a metal plate with a press. The chain terminal is formed by projecting a large number of elongated terminal portions 22 from one side edge of a long strip-shaped carrier 21 in parallel at regular intervals in a right angle direction, and the other (terminal portion 22) of the carrier 21. A positioning projection 23 is formed in a direction perpendicular to the carrier 21 from a position corresponding to each terminal portion 22 on a side edge of the joint terminal 20 (the side opposite to the terminal).
Is obtained by cutting the carrier 21 of this chain terminal at an appropriate position. Note that the arrangement pitch of the positioning projections 23 is
The dimensions are the same as the arrangement pitch of the positioning holes 15 of the housing 10. In the case of this embodiment, three joint terminals 20 are attached to one press-fitting hole 13 (see FIG. 8), and the joint terminal 20 arranged at the center has three terminal portions 22 and positioning protrusions 23, The joint terminals 20 on both sides have four terminal portions 22 and positioning protrusions 23. The cutting position of the carrier 21 is set between the adjacent terminal portions 22 (position deviated from the circular pilot hole 24 formed at a position corresponding to each terminal portion 22 in the carrier 21), and the carrier piece (FIG. Carrier 2 formed after removing (not shown)
The space between the two is narrow at the side edge of the carrier 21 and wide at the center in the width direction of the carrier 21.

The width of the carrier 21 of the joint terminal 20 is set to be equal to or smaller than the depth of the press-fit hole 13 of the housing 10.
The length dimension of the positioning projection 23 is set to be the same as or smaller than the depth dimension of the positioning hole 15, and the width dimension of the positioning projection 23 is set to be the same as or smaller than the width dimension of the positioning hole 15. ing. Carrier 2
1 and the positioning projection 23 have the same thickness, and the thickness dimension is larger than the distance between the upper and lower ribs 16 formed in the positioning hole 15 and the press-fitting hole 13 and the rib 16
The upper and lower sliding contact surfaces 13A in an area where no
The size is set smaller than the interval between 15A.

Next, the joint connector J of the present embodiment will be described.
The assembly of C will be described. At the time of assembly, a jig 25 is used. The jig 25 is capable of moving forward and backward with respect to the fixed housing 10 from the front, and has a size capable of entering the hood portion 12.
A plurality of holding holes 2 corresponding to the positioning holes 15 of the housing 10 are provided on a surface of the jig 25 facing the housing 10.
6 are formed, and each terminal portion 22 of the joint terminal 20 is inserted into each holding hole 26. Thereby, the joint terminal 20 is held by the jig 25. still,
In the holding state, the carrier 21 and the positioning protrusion 23 of the joint terminal 20 protrude from the front surface of the jig 25. When the jig 25 is moved closer to the housing 10 from such a state, first, the positioning protrusions 23 are press-fitted into the press-fitting holes 13 and further press-fitted into the positioning holes 15. When the positioning projection 23 starts to press-fit the positioning hole 15, the carrier 21 is pressed into the press-fit hole 13. Then, when the jig 25 advances to a predetermined position, the side edge of the carrier 21 on the side of the positioning protrusion 23 abuts on the rear end face of the press-fitting hole 13, and the joint terminal 20 is positioned relative to the housing 10 in the depth direction. When the positioning projections 23 are inserted into the positioning holes 15, the joint terminals 20 are positioned with respect to the housing 10 in the width direction (the length direction of the carrier 21).
A predetermined gap is secured between them. Further, during the press-fitting, the upper and lower surfaces of the positioning projection 23 and the carrier 21 are in sliding contact with the rib 16 while causing the rib 16 to undergo crushing deformation. When the press-fitting is completed, the frictional resistance due to the crushing deformation of the rib 16 causes the joint terminal 20. Is regulated. Therefore, when the jig 25 is retracted after the press-fitting, the terminal portion 22 is pulled out from the holding hole 26 of the jig 25. When the jig 25 is removed, the joint terminal 20 is connected to the housing 10 with the terminal portion 22 protruding into the hood portion 12.
Assembled in Thus, the assembly of the joint connector JC of the present embodiment is completed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the housing 10 and the joint terminal 20 are assembled, only one step of press-fitting the joint terminal 20 into the press-fitting hole 13 is required, so that work efficiency is high. Also,
Since the joint terminal 20 is a chain terminal, it is possible to simply change the cutting position of the carrier 21 as needed.
The number of terminal portions 22 of one joint terminal 20 can be set arbitrarily, and it is possible to flexibly cope with a plurality of joint patterns. Further, the press-fit hole 13
The rib 16 is formed in the positioning hole 15 and the joint terminal 20 is press-fitted into the press-fitting hole 13 so that the rib 16 is crushed and deformed and adheres strongly to the surface of the joint terminal 20. Thus, the joint terminal 20 can be reliably prevented from coming off. That is, the reliability of the stopper is higher than that in the case of press-fitting a barbed stopper having a relatively shallow bite margin. Moreover, since the ribs 16 are formed along the press-fitting direction, the dynamic frictional resistance at the time of press-fitting is suppressed to a relatively small value, and the press-fitting resistance is reduced. Further, since the positioning hole 15 is formed in the depth of the press-fitting hole 13 and the positioning protrusion 23 is inserted therein, the positioning of the joint terminal 20 in the width direction (the length direction of the carrier 21) is performed, and the predetermined position is obtained. The joint terminal 20 can be securely attached, and the contact between the adjacent joint terminals 20 can be reliably prevented. Further, in the case of a joint connector (not shown) in which the joint terminal 20 is penetrated from the rear of the housing 10 to the front and the rear is prevented from being pulled out by the lid, the lid is formed integrally with or separate from the housing. And the number of parts increases, and the pressing force received from the mating terminal (not shown) when mating with the mating connector (not shown) increases. There is a problem that the lid sometimes comes off and the joint terminal comes off backward. However, since the joint connector JC of the present embodiment press-fits the joint terminal 20 from the front, there is no possibility of the joint terminal 20 coming out rearward, and a lid for preventing the joint terminal 20 from coming off is not required.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the joint connector of the present embodiment, a jig 45 for holding the joint terminal 40 is provided with a means for preventing leakage between the adjacent joint terminals 40 when the jig 45 is attached to the housing 30. Housing 3
Numeral 0 has a plurality of elongated press-fit holes 31 on its front surface, and the positioning protrusions 43 of the joint terminal 40 are press-fitted into the press-fit holes 31. On the other hand, jig 4
5 has a carrier holding hole 46 for inserting the carrier 41 and the terminal portion 42 of the joint terminal 40 and a terminal holding hole 4 for inserting the terminal portion 42.
7 are formed continuously. That is, a plurality of terminal portion holding holes 47 are opened in the inner end surface of the continuous carrier holding hole 46 having a slit shape. These holding holes 4
When the joint terminal 40 is inserted into each of the joints 47, the side edge of the carrier 41 on the side of the positioning protrusion 43 is substantially flush with the front surface of the jig 45, and the positioning protrusion 43 protrudes from the front surface of the jig 45. Become like Well, jig 45
A pair of conical biting projections 48 projecting forward from the vicinity of the edge of the carrier holding hole 46 are formed at the boundary between adjacent joint terminals 40 in the front surface of the front surface. The biting projection 48 bites into the front end surface of the housing 30 when the joint terminal 40 is pressed into the housing 30. The portion of the carrier holding hole 46 sandwiched between the two biting projections 48 is a space S provided between the carriers 41 of the adjacent joint terminals 40.

When the joint terminal 40 is held by the jig 45 and the jig 45 approaches the housing 30, the positioning projection 43 is pressed into the press-fit hole 31 of the housing 30. Then, after the biting projection 48 reaches the front end face of the housing 30, the biting projection 48 bites into the front surface of the housing 30 and is deformed so that the periphery of the biting portion rises forward (FIG. 11).
See). Then, a part of the raised portion enters into the gap S between the carriers 41 of the carrier holding hole, and becomes the protruding portion 32 which is elongated and protrudes so as to stand between the carriers 41. After this, the jig 45
Is removed, the carrier 41 and the terminal portion 42 come out of the holding holes 46 and 47, the joint terminal 40 is integrated with the housing 30, and the assembly of the housing 30 and the joint terminal 40 is completed.

In the second embodiment, the bite protrusion 48 formed on the jig 45 is cut into the front surface of the housing 30 so that the carriers 4 of the adjacent joint terminals 40 are formed.
Since the raised portion 32 is formed between the joint terminals 40, the area where the metals directly correspond to each other between the adjacent joint terminals 40 is reduced, and the leak hardly occurs between the joint terminals 40. I have. [Other Embodiments] The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above with reference to the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

(1) In the above embodiment, the positioning projection is formed on the side edge of the joint terminal opposite to the terminal portion of the carrier, but according to the present invention, the positioning projection is not provided, and only the carrier is press-fitted into the press-fitting hole. You may make it. (2) In the above embodiment, both the positioning protrusion and the carrier are press-fitted into the press-fitting hole, but according to the present invention, only the positioning protrusion may be press-fitted into the press-fitting hole.
In this case, the function of the positioning hole can be combined with the press-fitting hole.

(3) In the above embodiment, the rib is formed in the press-fitting hole along the press-fitting direction. However, according to the present invention, the rib may not be formed. (4) In the joint terminal of the above embodiment,
A retaining piece may be formed on the side edge of the positioning protrusion, and the retaining piece may be cut into the inner wall of the press-fitting hole to prevent the retaining piece. (5) In the above embodiment, the upper and lower ribs are formed two by two, but according to the present invention, only one of the upper and lower ribs may be formed. In this case, the ribs of the adjacent press-fitting holes may be provided in a staggered manner in which the ribs are staggered up and down.

(6) In the above embodiment, a protrusion may be formed at a position corresponding to the pilot hole in the press-fitting hole, and the protrusion may be cut into the pilot hole to prevent the joint terminal from being removed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a state before a joint terminal is assembled to a housing in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state where the joint terminal is assembled to a housing in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a state where the joint terminal is assembled to the housing in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a housing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged front view of the housing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a press-fit hole and a positioning hole according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view showing a press-fit hole and a positioning hole according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a joint terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a state where a joint terminal is held by a jig in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state before the housing and the joint terminal are assembled in the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state where a joint terminal is assembled to a housing in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a partial horizontal sectional view showing a housing to which a joint terminal is attached in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 JC ... joint connector 10 ... housing 13 ... press-fitting hole 13A ... sliding contact surface 15 ... positioning hole 15A ... sliding contact surface 16 ... rib 20 ... joint terminal 21 ... carrier 22 ... terminal portion 23 ... positioning protrusion 30 ... housing 31 ... press-fitting hole. 32 ... swelling part 40 ... joint terminal 41 ... carrier 42 ... terminal part 43 ... positioning projection 45 ... jig 48 ... biting projection

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A resin housing having a press-fitting hole formed therein, and a joint terminal having a plurality of terminal portions, wherein the terminal portion protrudes from the housing by press-fitting the joint terminal into the press-fitting hole. The joint connector assembled in the form described above, wherein a rib for reducing an inner dimension of the press-fitting space to be smaller than a thickness of the joint terminal is provided on a sliding contact surface of the press-fitting hole with the joint terminal along a press-fitting direction. A joint connector characterized in that it is formed by: 2. A joint terminal comprising: a plurality of terminal portions projecting in parallel from one side edge of an elongated carrier; and positioning projections corresponding to the terminal portions projecting in parallel from the other side edge. The joint connector according to claim 1, comprising a chain terminal, wherein a positioning hole is formed in the housing to insert each positioning protrusion while positioning the positioning protrusion in a carrier length direction. 3. A press-fit hole is formed in a front surface of a resin housing, and the joint terminal is a chain terminal formed by projecting a plurality of terminal portions in parallel from side edges of an elongated carrier. A method of manufacturing a joint connector in a form in which the terminal portion protrudes from the front surface of the housing by press-fitting the joint terminal into the press-fitting hole while bringing the jig holding the terminal portion close to the front surface of the housing. In the jig, on a surface facing the housing, a biting projection protruding from a position that is a boundary between adjacent joint terminals is formed, and then the joint terminal is press-fitted into the press-fitting hole. At this time, the biting projection bites into the front surface of the housing, so that it is adjacent to the periphery of the biting portion. Method for producing a joint connector and forming the embossment entering into the gap of the joint terminal.