JP2000173352A - Joint connector and wire harness assembling method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the joint workability on a wire bundle, and to miniaturize the joint part. SOLUTION: This joint connector is formed of an annular or semi-annular first connector 11 and an annular or semi-annular second connector 21 having an inner peripheral surface 13 corresponding to the periphery of a wire bundle and capable of being fitted to each other in the axial direction. Terminal housing parts 15 for insertion of terminals 16 fitted to terminals of plural wires to be jointed are provided between the inner peripheral surface 13 and the outer peripheral surface 14 of the first connector in parallel with each other in the circumferential direction. On the other hand, the second connector 21 is provided with bus bars 24 for generating a short-circuit between the predetermined terminals 16 of the first connector 11, and in the condition that the first connector 11 and the second connector 21 are fitted to each other, the terminals 16 and the bus bars 24 are connected to each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a joint connector and a method of assembling a wire harness using the same, and more particularly to a joint connector which can be processed in a wire harness path without being unnecessarily enlarged. , To simplify the processing operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a wire harness for an automobile is assembled by combining a large number of electric wires, and when assembling, it is assembled by superimposing a small unit of pre-assembly which is individually pre-assembled in advance to form a predetermined form. . Therefore, when it is necessary to connect predetermined electric wires between different temporary bindings, FIG.
As shown in (A), take out the electric wire from each temporary binding,
Wires are connected to each other by resistance welding to form a splice portion 1, or wires are inserted and connected to a joint connector 2 having a short-circuit terminal. In this case, connection by resistance welding or insertion of a wire terminal into the joint connector 2 requires short wires to be connected in a limited space, resulting in poor workability. Moreover, after connection, FIG.
As shown in (B), a winding operation using a tape T is required to process the splice portion 1 and the joint connector 2 along the outer circumference of the wire bundle W. Further, particularly, the joint connector 2 has a remarkable protrusion even along the wire bundle W. Therefore, when the grommet G is required to be attached to the wire bundle W, And the joint connector 2 is caught, making the mounting operation extremely difficult.

In order to reduce the size of the joint, there is known a clip with a joint function described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-79948. As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of terminal accommodating portions 3a are juxtaposed in the circumferential direction on the outer periphery of the band 3 wound around the electric wire bundle W and connected to the electric wire Wa to be joined to the terminal accommodating portion 3a. The fitted terminal T is fitted and held. And between each terminal accommodation room 3a, the conductive thin plate 3
b and a predetermined distance T between the terminals via the conductive thin plate 3b.
Is to be electrically connected. Thereby, the electric wire Wa to be jointed can be compactly processed along the outer periphery of the electric wire bundle W, and the protrusion from the electric wire bundle W can be minimized.

[0004]

The processing of the joint portion by the clip having the joint function is shown in FIG.
Processing can be performed more compactly than that of B). However, the connection operation of the terminal T to be jointed is performed in the same manner as in the example of FIGS. The work of inserting the wire into the 3a is necessary, and there is a problem in workability.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to reduce the size of a joint portion and to improve the workability of joint processing.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided the present invention, wherein an inner peripheral surface corresponding to an outer periphery of a wire bundle to be mounted is provided and can be axially fitted to each other. A terminal comprising an annular or semi-annular first connector and a second connector, between the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface of the first connector, terminals to which a plurality of wire terminals to be jointed are inserted; The second connector is provided with a bus bar for short-circuiting predetermined terminals of the first connector while the receiving portions are arranged side by side in the circumferential direction, and the terminal is provided when the first connector and the second connector are fitted to each other. And a bus bar.

[0007] With the above configuration, the terminals of the electric wires to be jointed are inserted in advance into the terminal accommodating chambers of the first connector, and these can be easily arranged by aligning the inner peripheral surface with the predetermined position on the outer periphery of the electric wire bundle. it can. Next, the terminals to be jointed can be short-circuited by the bus bar by fitting the second connector having the short-circuit bus bar along the outer periphery of the wire bundle and fitting the first connector into the first connector. At that time, since the terminal can be inserted in the first connector in advance, there is no need to insert a terminal or the like during the joint processing. In addition, since the first and second connectors are arranged along the outer periphery of the wire bundle, the entire joint can be compactly processed.

[0008] The first connector and the second connector include:
It is preferable that the housing has an annular shape and is divided into a plurality of housings in the circumferential direction, and a locking means is provided between the divided housings so as to be united after being attached to the outer periphery of the wire bundle (claim 2). . With this configuration, the entire joint connector can be mounted on the concentric circle of the wire bundle, so that the wire harness is not inserted into the through-hole of the vehicle body panel, and the catch when the annular grommet is attached to the wire bundle is reduced. can do.

Preferably, the first connector is provided with a tongue which projects outward and is fixed to the bundle of wires by tape when the second connector is fitted to the first connector.
Therefore, the fitted first and second connectors can be stably and reliably fixed at predetermined positions on the outer circumference of the wire bundle by winding and fixing the tongue piece around the outer circumference of the wire bundle with tape.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for assembling a wire harness, wherein a predetermined electric wire is jointed using the joint connector according to the second aspect.
In each of the divided housings of the connector, a terminal of an electric wire terminal to be jointed is inserted in advance corresponding to each of a plurality of temporary bundles that are individually pre-assembled, and then,
The first connector is arranged at a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the wire bundle, and the divided housings are combined into a ring by locking means. Then, the second connector is arranged on the outer periphery of the wire bundle so as to face the first connector. At the same time, the divided housings are combined into a ring shape by the locking means, and thereafter, the first connector and the second connector are fitted along the axial direction to short-circuit predetermined terminals with the bus bar. A method for assembling a wire harness using a joint connector is provided.

According to the above method, joint processing between predetermined wires is easily performed at a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the wire bundle, and the joint portion is compactly formed without protruding more than necessary along the outer circumference of the wire bundle. Can be. Also, at the time of assembling the temporary binding, the terminals of the electric wire terminals to be jointed are inserted in advance into the respective housings of the divided first connector, so that each temporary binding by fitting the first connector and the second connector is performed. It is not necessary to insert the terminal later when jointing the electric wires between them, so that the workability can be improved.

Further, if a tongue piece for tape fixing is projected on the first connector, the tongue piece is taped to the outer periphery of the wire bundle, so that the entire joint connector can be fixed until the whole of the joint connector is tape-wrapped. Temporary fixing can be performed, and displacement of the joint connector can be prevented.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a joint connector 10 attached to a wire bundle W at a predetermined position of a wire harness W / H. The joint connector 10 has an annular first connector 11 and a second connector 21 that can be fitted to each other in the axial direction. It is composed of

The first connector 11 is composed of two housings 11a and 11b which are divided in a half-split shape, and a locking frame 12a protruding from one of the housings 11a at a joint portion.
And the locking frame 12 projecting from the other housing 11b.
The locking means 12 includes a locking claw 12b that is fitted into and locked by a. The inner peripheral surface 13 of the merged annular first connector 11 is set to an inner diameter corresponding to the outer diameter of the wire bundle W of the wire harness W / H to which the joint connector 10 is to be mounted. Between the inner peripheral surface 13 and the outer peripheral surface 14, terminals T attached to a plurality of wire terminals to be jointed are provided with a plurality of terminal accommodating portions 15 inserted from the front along the axial direction in the circumferential direction. Has been established.

In the terminal accommodating portion 15, a lance 15a is provided protruding from the lance hole 16a of the terminal 16 to prevent the inserted terminal 16 from coming off similarly to a normal connector. On the rear surface of the first connector 11, a receiving port 15b for inserting and connecting a bus bar 24, which will be described later, to a fitting portion 16b at the tip of the terminal 16 inserted into the terminal accommodating portion 15 is formed.

A thin plate-shaped tongue piece 17 projecting further rearward along the inner peripheral surface 13 is provided on the rear surface of the first connector 11.
Are protruded at two locations facing each other, and the tongue piece 17 is wound around the outer periphery of the wire bundle W with a tape T, so that the first connector 1
1 can be fixed to the wire bundle W.

The second connector 21 includes two housings 21a which are divided in half like the first connector 11,
21b and one housing 22 at the joint.
a and the other housing 21b
And a locking claw 22b which is fitted to and locked by the locking frame 22a. The housing 21a, 21b has a base 21c having an inner peripheral surface 23 substantially corresponding to the outer diameter of the wire bundle W of the wire harness W / H to which the joint connector 10 is to be mounted.
And a hood portion 21d which has a diameter larger than that of the base portion 21c and is extended to fit on the outer peripheral surface of the first connector 11. The hood portion 21d is formed with a notch 21e for avoiding interference with the locking means 12 at the time of fitting to the first connector 11, and for specifying a position where the second connector 21 is fitted to the first connector 11. .

In the hood 21d, the base 21
A comb-shaped bus bar 24 made of a metal plate connected to a position where the terminal 16 of the first connector 11 is to be short-circuited is pressed into c. The distal end of the bus bar 24 is arranged corresponding to the fitting portion 16 b of the terminal 16 housed in the terminal housing 15 of the first connector 11. This allows
As shown in FIG. 2, the second connector 21 is connected to the first connector 1.
1, the distal end of the bus bar 24 is inserted into the fitting portion 16 b of the terminal 16 to short-circuit predetermined terminals 16.

In the above embodiment, the housings 11a of the first connector 11 and the second connector 21 are provided.
11b and 21a21b are shown as being divided into two, but may be divided into three or more. In this case, in particular, the first connector 11
If the divided housings 11a and 11b are made to correspond to the temporary bindings of small units that have been individually pre-assembled in advance in the process of assembling the wire harness W / H, the temporary bindings during the joint operation can be provided. It is possible to eliminate the post-insertion terminal that straddles. On the other hand, when the number of electric wires to be jointed is small, the first connector 11 and the second connector 2
Only one of the one divided housings 11a and 21a may be used.

The joint connector 10 having the above configuration
In order to assemble the joint portion of the wire harness W / H by using the above, first, each of the divided housings 11a and 11b of the first connector 11 is separately provided in advance for each unit of the temporary binding that is separately pre-assembled. The terminal 16 of the electric wire terminal to be jointed is inserted in advance. Then, FIG.
As shown in (A), the first connector 11 is connected to the wire bundle W
Is arranged so as to cover a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the. And
Locking means 1 for each of the divided housings 11a and 11b
The second locking frame 12a is locked by fitting the locking claw 12b into the second locking frame 12a, and is united in a ring shape.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG.
The connector 21 is arranged on the outer periphery of the wire bundle W so as to face the first connector 11, and the housings 21 a and 21 b that are similarly divided are united annularly by the lock means 22. When the second connector 21 is fitted to the first connector 11 by moving it in the axial direction, the distal end of the bus bar 24 of the second connector 21 is inserted into a predetermined terminal 16 in the first connector 11. And are electrically connected. Thereby, the predetermined terminals 16 are short-circuited by the bus bar 24, so that a joint circuit can be formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, when the first connector 11 and the second connector 21 are fitted together, the tongue piece 17 projecting from the first connector 11 onto the outer periphery of the wire bundle W is removed. It is temporarily fixed by winding it around the wire bundle W with the tape T. Therefore, the joint connector 10
Is held at a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the wire bundle W until the other processes are completed and the whole is wound around the tape. In this manner, the joint processed by the joint connector 10 can be finished in a state in which it is hard to be caught, with only a uniform minimum thickness projecting concentrically on the wire bundle W. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when an annular grommet G attached to the partition between the vehicle interior and the engine room is attached to the wire bundle W having the joint portion, when the grommet G is expanded and inserted, It is hard to be caught on the joint connector 10 and the mounting workability can be improved.

In the above assembling process, an example is shown in which a pair of the first connector 11 and the second connector 21 is used. However, when the number of electric wires to be jointed is large, as shown in FIG. The connector 10 may be provided at two places.

[0024]

As is clear from the above description, according to the joint connector of the present invention and the method of assembling a wire harness using the same, the first connector into which the terminal to be jointed is inserted is connected to the wire bundle W. The joint processing can be performed by a simple operation of merely arranging the second connector disposed at a predetermined position on the outer periphery and facing the first connector. Therefore, the workability of the joint operation during the wire harness assembling operation can be improved. In addition, since the portion joined by the joint connector on the outer periphery of the wire bundle has a minimum annular protrusion along the concentric circle of the wire bundle, it can be used when wiring the wiring harness, and for other members such as grommets. At the time of mounting, it can be prevented from being caught.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a joint connector of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part in a state where a first connector and a second connector are fitted.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are diagrams showing an assembly process of a wire harness using the joint connector of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a wire harness to which the joint connector of the present invention is attached.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a wire harness to which a plurality of joint connectors are attached.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W Wire bundle W / H Wire harness T Tape 10 Joint connector 11 First connector 11a, 11b Housing 12 Locking means 13 Inner peripheral surface 14 Outer peripheral surface 15 Terminal housing 16 Terminal 17 Tongue piece 21 Second connector 21a, 21b Housing 22 Lock Means 23 Inner peripheral surface 24 Bus bar

Claims (4)

[Claims] The first connector has an annular or semi-annular first connector and a second connector which have an inner peripheral surface corresponding to an outer periphery of an electric wire bundle to be mounted and which can be axially fitted to each other. A terminal accommodating portion into which terminals attached to a plurality of wire terminals to be jointed are inserted in a circumferential direction between an inner peripheral surface and an outer peripheral surface of the second connector. A joint connector comprising a bus bar for short-circuiting predetermined terminals of one connector, wherein the terminal and the bus bar are connected when the first connector and the second connector are fitted. The first connector and the second connector are annular and are each divided into a plurality of housings in a circumferential direction, and the divided housings are united to each other after being attached to the outer periphery of the wire bundle. The joint connector according to claim 1, further comprising a lock unit. 3. The first connector is provided with a tongue which projects outward and is tape-fixed to an electric wire bundle when the first connector is fitted with the second connector. The joint connector according to 1. 4. A method for assembling a wire harness, wherein a predetermined electric wire is jointed using the joint connector according to claim 2, wherein each of the divided housings of the first connector is individually provided in advance. The terminal of the wire terminal to be jointed is inserted in correspondence with each of a plurality of temporary bundles to be pre-assembled, and then the first connector is arranged at a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the wire bundle and divided. The respective housings are combined in a ring shape by a lock means, and then the second connector is arranged on the outer periphery of the wire bundle so as to face the first connector, and the divided housings are combined in a ring shape by the lock means. A predetermined terminal is short-circuited by a bus bar by fitting the first connector and the second connector along the axial direction. Assembly method of wire harness using connector.