JP2001006799A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a closure film stretched at an electric wire inserting hole from tearing off and adhering to a terminal metal fitting. SOLUTION: A lump type rubber plug 30 provided at the back surface of a female housing is formed with an electric wire inserting hole 31 at each position corresponding to a cavity of the female housing. A closure film 60 is integrally stretched at the back end of the electric wire inserting hole 31. The closure film 60 has a groove 61 cut into a cruciform shape on a relatively thick circular portion. The thick portion is a reinforcing portion 62 reinforcing a connection with an opening edge on the deep side of the electric wire inserting hole 31. When a female side terminal metal fitting is penetrated through the electric wire inserting hole 31, a portion of the closure member 60 is not torn off as a piece because the closure film 60 tears from the groove 61 and raptures by spreading in all directions while a periphery edge of the reinforcing portion 62 is connected to the opening edge of the electric wire inserting hole 31.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collective waterproof connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a multi-pole connector, for example, a collective waterproof connector has been adopted because of its excellent workability of mounting a rubber plug. In this connector, a rubber plug having a size large enough to cover all the cavities and having a wire insertion hole provided at each position corresponding to each cavity is arranged on the rear surface of the connector housing having the cavity formed therein. The terminal fitting is penetrated through the rubber stopper and accommodated in the cavity while being elastically spread, and after the terminal fitting has passed, the inner surface of the wire insertion hole is brought into close contact with the outer periphery of the wire, thereby obtaining a seal.

In this type of connector, terminal cavities may not be accommodated in some cavities, that is, the cavities may be used in an empty room. In this case, an electric wire corresponding to the empty cavity in the rubber stopper is used. The insertion hole needs to be closed. Generally, such an electric wire insertion hole was closed with a dummy plug.
The dummy plug must be prepared as a separate member from the rubber plug, and if the number of electric wire insertion holes to be closed is large, the closing operation is troublesome.

In order to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 4-76269 has proposed a conventional technology. In this device, a closing film is stretched on the back end side of the electric wire insertion hole formed in the rubber stopper, and the terminal fittings are housed in the cavity through the electric wire insertion hole while breaking the closing film, and one side becomes empty. In the wire insertion holes corresponding to the cavities, the closing film is left and kept closed.

[0005]

However, in the case where the closing film is simply stretched as in the prior art, when the terminal film is torn, the closing film is cut off from the rim of the wire insertion hole, and the fragments are attached. In this state, the terminal fitting is accommodated in the cavity, and depending on the location of the debris, there is a possibility that a contact failure may occur between the terminal fitting and the terminal fitting. The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent a closing film stretched in an electric wire insertion hole from being torn and adhered to a terminal fitting.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems As means for achieving the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is provided on a rear surface of a connector housing provided with a plurality of cavities for accommodating terminal fittings fixed to terminals of electric wires. Is a waterproof connector having a size capable of covering all the cavities, and a rubber plug having an electric wire insertion hole formed at each position corresponding to each cavity and capable of closely adhering to the outer periphery of the electric wire. A closing film that can be broken by the terminal fitting is integrally formed in the insertion hole, and a reinforcing portion that reinforces a connection state with the inner periphery of the electric wire insertion hole is formed on a periphery of the closing film. It has the characteristic that it has a configuration. A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, a projection functioning to cut the closing film is formed at a tip of the terminal fitting.

[0007]

<Operation and effect of the invention><Invention of claim 1> When the terminal fitting is inserted into the electric wire insertion hole of the rubber plug, the closing film stretched there is broken, but the reinforcing portion is provided on the periphery of the closing film. Is formed, the peripheral edge remains connected to the inner periphery of the wire insertion hole only by being cut off mainly at the center side of the closing membrane, and is not cut off as fragments. As a result, fragments of the closing film are not accommodated in the cavity while adhering to the terminal fittings, thereby preventing a contact failure with the counterpart terminal fittings from occurring. <Invention of Claim 2> The closing film is more smoothly torn by the projection provided at the tip of the terminal fitting. Thus, the work of inserting the terminal fitting can be performed more easily.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, a waterproof joint connector is illustrated, and as shown in FIG. 1, a female connector housing 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as “female housing”) and a plurality of female terminal fittings 2 are generally used.
A plurality of female terminal fittings 20 are short-circuited by a bus bar 52 in a predetermined short-circuit pattern, and are formed by a rubber stopper 30; A seal is to be removed.

The female housing 10 is formed in a flat block shape from a synthetic resin material, and a plurality of cavities 11 penetrating in the front-rear direction are formed inside the female housing 10 in two upper and lower stages. As shown in FIG. 2, on the rear end face of the female housing 10, two holding projections 12 projecting rearward from both left and right ends, and two deformation regulating projections 13 projecting rearward from a position therebetween are formed. ing.

The female terminal fitting 20 is formed by pressing a conductive metal plate, and has an elastic contact piece 22 on the front end side.
(See FIG. 9). A box-shaped connection portion 21 having therein the inside is formed, and a barrel portion 23 on the rear end side is caulked and crimped to the end of the electric wire 25. The female terminal fitting 20 is inserted into the corresponding cavity 11 from the rear through the rubber stopper holder 40 and the rubber stopper 30 as described later in detail, and engages with the lance 15 provided in the cavity 11. It is stopped and housed in a state where it cannot be removed.

On the rear surface of the female housing 10, a rubber stopper 30 is provided. As shown in FIG. 3, the rubber stopper 30 is of a collective type, and as shown in FIG. 3, is formed in a horizontally long oval and thick plate shape so as to abut on the entire rear surface of the female housing 10. A plurality of wire insertion holes 31 are formed in the rubber plug 30 at positions corresponding to the cavities 11 described above. 32 are formed.
In addition, fitting holes 34 and 35 for penetrating the holding protrusions 12 and the deformation restricting protrusions 13 of the female housing 10 are formed in the rubber stopper 30, and the outer periphery thereof has
On the inner periphery of the cap 55, there are formed three strips of lips 37 which can be elastically adhered.

A rubber plug holder 40 is further provided on the rear surface of the rubber plug 30. As shown in FIG. 4, the rubber plug holder 40 is made of a synthetic resin material. Is also formed in the shape of a horizontally long, oblong thick plate that is slightly smaller. In the rubber stopper holder 40, insertion holes 41 of the plurality of female terminal fittings 20 are formed in a penetrating manner at positions corresponding to the cavities 11 and the electric wire insertion holes 31 described above. A stopper hole 42 is formed in the rubber plug holder 40 at a position corresponding to the holding projection 12 of the female housing 10, and a locking portion 43 is formed on the inner wall of the rubber stopper holder 40 in a stepped manner. A regulating hole 44 is formed at a position matching the deformation regulating protrusion 13.

That is, on the rear surface of the female housing 10, first, a rubber stopper 30 is fitted in the fitting holes 34, 35 of the holding projection 12.
And the deformation restricting projection 13 are inserted therethrough to be temporarily assembled. Subsequently, a rubber stopper holder 40 is provided on the rear surface of the rubber stopper 30 with a retaining hole 42.
Is applied to the holding projection 12 while the regulating hole 44 is fitted to the deformation regulating projection 13. When the rubber stopper holder 40 is properly applied, the tip of the deformation restricting projection 13 is engaged with the engaging portion 43 of the retaining hole 42, and the rubber stopper holder 40 is attached to the female housing 10 so as not to be detached. Stopper 3
0 is held in a state of being sandwiched between the female housing 10 and the rubber stopper holder 40.

The bus bar body 50 is formed by integrating a holder 51 made of synthetic resin and a bus bar 52 made of conductive metal by insert molding. The holding body 51 includes upper and lower cylindrical portions 53, and the bus bar body 50 includes the upper and lower cylindrical portions 5.
At 3, the upper and lower cavities 11 of the female housing 10 are individually fitted so as to cover the 11 rows of rows, and can be held at a temporary locking position and a full locking position deeper than the temporary locking position. When the bus bar body 50 is at the temporary locking position,
The bus bar 52 disposed in the cylindrical portion 53 is
The bus bar 52 and the female terminal fittings 20 can be connected to each other when they are retracted so as not to be in contact with the female terminal fittings 20 inserted in the connector 1 and move to the final locking position.

The cap 55 is formed of a synthetic resin material in the shape of a bottomed cylinder with an oblong front, and has a rubber stopper 30 and a rubber stopper holder 4.
The female housing 10 and the bus bar body 50 fitted to the female housing 10 can be mounted so as to cover the female housing 10. At the opening edge of the cap 55,
A lock hole 56 to be locked to the lock projection 46 of the rubber plug holder 40 is formed, and the lip 37 on the outer peripheral side of the rubber plug 30 elastically adheres to the inner peripheral surface in a region near the opening edge. It is possible.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a closing film 60 is integrally provided at the back end of each electric wire insertion hole 31 formed in the rubber plug 30. More specifically, the closing film 60 has a cross-shaped groove 61 in a relatively thick circular portion.
Are cut off, and the thick portion serves as a reinforcing portion 62 that reinforces a connection state between the electric wire insertion hole 31 and the back edge. In the female terminal fitting 20, as shown in FIG. 7, a mountain-shaped projection 27 having a sharp tip protrudes from the front edges of the left and right side walls of the connection portion 21.

This embodiment has the above-described structure,
Subsequently, the operation will be described. When assembling,
As described above, the rubber stopper 3 is attached to the rear surface of the female housing 10.
When the rubber plug 30 is fitted on the rear surface and the rubber plug holder 40 is fitted on the rear surface, the rubber plug 30 is assembled so as to be sandwiched between the female housing 10 and the rubber plug holder 40 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, on the front side of the female housing 10, the bus bar body 50 is assembled at a temporary locking position (not shown in FIG. 8).

From this state, the female terminal fitting 20 fixed to the end of the electric wire 25 is inserted into the insertion opening 41 of the rubber plug holder 40 as shown by the arrow in FIG. Subsequently, the female terminal fitting 20 enters the wire insertion hole 31 while elastically expanding the wire insertion hole 31, and the left and right protrusions 27 provided at the distal end of the connection portion 21 abut against the closing film 60. In this case, the tip of the protrusion 27 comes to pierce both ends of the lateral groove 61A of the closing membrane 60, and when the female terminal fitting 20 is further pushed in, the wedge is driven into by the protrusion 27 so that the lateral groove 61A is formed. The female terminal fitting 20 is cut off, and subsequently the vertical groove 61B is also cut off, and the reinforcing portion 62 is broken so as to open in all directions.

When the female terminal fitting 20 is inserted into the cavity 11 to the proper position, it is locked by the lance 15 so as not to come off, as shown in the lower part of FIG. The lip 32 is deformed by restoring and comes into close contact with the outer periphery of the electric wire 25. If there is a cavity 11 into which the female terminal fitting 20 is not inserted, the cavity 11
The closing film 60 of the electric wire insertion hole 31 corresponding to the above is left without being broken.

When all of the female terminal fittings 20 to be accommodated are inserted into the corresponding cavities 11, the bus bar 50
Is pushed from the temporary locking position to the final locking position, the female terminal fitting 20 is connected to the corresponding bus bar 52 and short-circuited in a predetermined pattern. Finally, the cap 55 is assembled so as to cover the female housing 10 and the bus bar body 50.
In a state where the cap 55 is assembled, as shown in FIG. 9, water is prevented from entering into the cap 55 through a gap between the inner circumference of the cap 55 and the outer circumference of the rubber plug 30 by the lip 37 on the outer circumference of the rubber plug 30. . In addition, regarding the inundation from the rear surface of the rubber stopper 30, the lip 32 on the inner surface of the electric wire insertion hole 31 is used.
Is tightly fitted to the outer periphery of the electric wire 25 and the inner periphery of the fitting holes 34 and 35 is tightly fitted to the outer periphery of the holding projection 12 and the deformation regulating projection 13. In the portion corresponding to the above, water is prevented by the closing film 60 stretched in advance in the electric wire insertion hole 31.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
The closing film 60 stretched in the electric wire insertion hole 31 of the rubber stopper 30 is
Since the groove 61 is cut in a cross shape in a relatively thick portion, when the female terminal fitting 20 is pushed and broken, it is torn from the groove 61 so that the reinforcing portion 62 is formed.
Is broken so as to spread in all directions while being connected to the rim of the electric wire insertion hole 31, so that a part of the closing film 60 is not cut off as fragments. As a result, the closing membrane 6
The female-side terminal fitting 20 is not accommodated in the cavity 11 in a state where the fragments of 0 are adhered, and the occurrence of poor contact with the mating bus bar 52 is prevented.

Further, the front edge of the connecting portion 21 of the female terminal fitting 20 is formed with a mountain-shaped projection 27 having a sharpened tip, so that the projection 27 drives a wedge into the groove 61, ie, the closing film 60. And the resistance at the time of insertion of the female terminal fitting 20 is small, so that the insertion operation can be easily performed.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) The shape of the groove cut into the closing film is not limited to the cross shape illustrated in the above-described embodiment, but in essence, may be a shape that is easily torn in accordance with the shape of the terminal fitting to enter. (2) The present invention is not limited to the joint connector exemplified in the above embodiment, and can be similarly applied to a type in which housings housing male and female terminal fittings are fitted to each other. (3) Further, the present invention can be applied to a male waterproof connector.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall exploded perspective view according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view of a female housing.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of a rubber stopper.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the rubber stopper holder.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged rear view of a portion where a wire insertion hole is formed in a rubber stopper.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a female terminal fitting crimped to an electric wire.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state before the female terminal fitting is inserted.

FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view when the connector is completely assembled.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Female housing (connector housing) 11 ... Cavity 20 ... Female side terminal fitting (terminal fitting) 21 ... Connection part 25 ... Electric wire 27 ... Projection 30 ... Rubber plug 31 ... Electric wire insertion hole 60 ... Closing membrane 61 ... Groove 61A ... Lateral groove 61B: vertical groove 62: reinforcement

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rear surface of a connector housing provided with a plurality of cavities for accommodating terminal fittings fixed to ends of electric wires has a size enough to cover all cavities, and is provided at each position corresponding to each cavity. In a waterproof connector provided with a rubber plug formed with an electric wire insertion hole that can be in close contact with the outer periphery of the electric wire, a closing film that can be broken by the terminal fitting is integrally formed in each of the electric wire insertion holes, A waterproof connector characterized in that a reinforcing portion for reinforcing a connection state with the inner periphery of the electric wire insertion hole is formed on a peripheral edge of the closing film. 2. The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein a projection that functions to cut the closing film is formed at a tip of the terminal fitting.