JP2001076816A - Connector incomplete engagement preventing structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an incomplete engagement preventing structure capable of increasing freedom of bus bar disposition. SOLUTION: In this incomplete engagement preventing structure, a freely rotatable lock cover 25 to be engaged with a connector 22 is disposed at a position where it interferes with a cowl side trim 35 of a car body in a non- engagement condition. The lock member 25 is disposed at a position where it interferes with the coal side trim 35 of the car body in the non-engagement condition with the connector 22, an electric connection box 10 in this condition cannot be installed or fixed to the car body because it collides with the cowl side trim 35. In the case where the electric connection box 10 is preliminarily fixed to the car body, the cowl side trim 25 cannot be assembled in the car body. Incomplete engagement of the connector 22 or engagement failure of the lock member 25 can thus be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector half-fitting prevention structure, and more particularly to a connector half-fitting prevention structure capable of detecting a half-fitting state of a connector fitted to an electric connection box.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to detect a half-fit state of a connector,
For example, what is described in JP-A-9-213415 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. First and second connector fitting portions 61 and 62 are attached to the electrical connection box 60 at a predetermined interval. A lock cover 64 for double locking for preventing the connector 66 from coming out of the connector 66 fitted to the first connector fitting portion 61 is swingable via a pin 65. Is provided. When the first and second connectors 66 and 67 are fitted to the first and second connector fitting portions 61 and 62, first, the first connector 66 is fitted to the first connector fitting portion 61. After the fitting, the lock cover 64 is turned in the closing direction of the arrow to be locked to the first connector 66. Thereby, the first connector 66 is prevented from coming out of the first connector fitting portion 61.
Thereafter, the second connector 67 is connected to the second connector fitting portion 6.
2 is fitted.

When the first connector 66 is in a half-fitted state, the lock cover 64 cannot engage with the first connector 66, so that the urging force of the spring 68 which urges in the opening direction is used. Is placed in an initial state in which the second connector fitting portion 62 is closed. Therefore, even if an attempt is made to fit the second connector 67 into the second connector fitting portion 62, the lock cover 64 cannot hinder the fitting. Therefore, the half-fitted state of the first connector 66 can be detected based on the locked state of the lock cover 64. The configuration in which the mounting order of the first connector 66 and the second connector 67 is regulated is effective when applied to an airbag connector of a vehicle. By adopting the above configuration, it is possible to reliably prevent the connector from being half-fitted or to forget to engage the lock cover, and at the same time, to regulate the fitting order of the connectors.

[0004]

However, in such a connector half-fitting prevention structure, the separation distance between the first connector fitting portion 61 and the second connector fitting portion 62 is as follows.
Since the second connector fitting portion 62 must be disposed within the swing range of the lock cover 64 with respect to the first connector fitting portion 61, the first and second connector fitting portions 6 are not provided.
The degree of freedom in the arrangement of the bus bars protruding at 1, 62 was narrow, and the design contents were restricted.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide a connector half-fitting prevention structure that can increase the degree of freedom in arranging bus bars.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a connector half-fitting preventing structure according to the present invention, wherein a lock piece rotatably formed and engageable with a mating connector is disengaged. It is arranged at a position where it interferes with a mounted member of a vehicle body.

When the lock piece is disengaged from the connector, the lock piece is disposed at a position where the lock piece interferes with a member to be mounted on the vehicle body. Can not be mounted in contact with Further, when the electric connection box is fixed to the vehicle body in advance, the mounted member cannot be assembled to the vehicle body. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the connector from being half-fitted or forgetting to engage the lock piece without reducing the degree of freedom in arranging the bus bar as in the related art.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a connector half-fitting prevention structure according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electric connection box applied to an embodiment of a connector half-fitting prevention structure according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of a half-fitting prevention structure in which a lock piece is engaged, FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a state of a half-fitting prevention structure of a connector before fitting of a connector, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a state after the connector is fitted in the connector half-fitting prevention structure according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electrical junction box 10 incorporates an insulation plate 14 and a fuse block 16 between a main cover 11 and an under cover 12, and the present invention is applied to a portion of the electrical junction box 10 which hits a side wall of the electrical junction box 10. And a connector fitting portion 21 serving as a connector half-fitting prevention structure 20 according to (1), and the engine control unit 30 disposed on the lower surface of the under cover 12 is covered with an engine control unit cover 32. The connector fitting portion 21 includes the under cover 1
A connection terminal group (not shown) extending from the bus bar 13 arranged on the base 2 protrudes to allow a connector 22 (see FIG. 3) inserted from the horizontal direction to be fitted.

The connector half-fitting prevention structure 20 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, a lock piece 25 (hereinafter, referred to as a “lock cover 25”) that is rotatably pivoted via a pin 24 to a side wall 21 a of a connector fitting portion 21 formed on a side wall of the electric connection box 10. ). The lock cover 25 is in the lock position (the connector engagement state in FIG. 3).
And the unlocked position (the connector disengaged state in FIG. 2) can be arbitrarily selected, but is usually urged to the unlocked position by a spring (not shown).

The connector fitting portion 21 is formed in a female type to which the mating connector 22 is fitted.
Is designed to prevent accidental detachment from the electric connection box 10 by engaging with the rear end of the connector 22, and is suitable for application to an airbag circuit of a vehicle as an example.

The lock cover 25 has a cover 26 formed on the front end side for engaging with the rear end of the connector 22.
Lock claws 27 are formed on both sides of the cover 26, and are biased to the unlock position by a spring (not shown). As shown in FIG. 3, when the lock cover 25 is turned to the lock position, the lock claws 27
The lock cover 25 is held in the locked position by being inserted into the locking frame 28 formed in 1b.

When the lock cover 25 is disengaged from the connector 22, as shown in FIG. 4, when the electric connection box 10 provided with the lock cover 25 is attached to the vehicle body, It is arranged at a position where it interferes with the cowl side trim 35 previously attached to the vehicle body as an attachment member. Therefore, the electric connection box 10 in which the connector 22 is fitted has the connector 22 in a semi-fitted state or the lock cover 25.
If the electric connection box 10 is in the forgotten engagement state, the electric connection box 10 cannot be attached to the vehicle body, so that these half-fitted state or forgotten engagement state can be detected.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the lock cover 25 is provided with the connector 22 correctly inserted into the electric connection box 10.
When the electric connection box 10 is in the engaged state, the electric connection box 10 can be attached to the vehicle body without interfering with the cowl side trim 35. Therefore, it is easily determined that the connector 22 is in the half-fitted state or the lock cover 25 is not forgotten to be engaged.

Next, the operation of the connector half-fitting prevention structure according to the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the lock cover 25 is placed at the unlock position, and the connector 22 is fitted into the connector fitting portion 21 as shown by the arrow A. At this time, since the lock cover 25 is located at the unlock position, the connector fitting portion 21
At the position retracted from the fitting opening. Therefore, the connector 22 can be easily fitted into the connector fitting portion 21.

After the connector 22 is fitted into the connector fitting portion 21, the lock cover 25 is rotated in the direction of arrow B to
, The lock claw 27 is inserted into the locking frame 28.
Thereby, the cover 26 covers the connector 22 and the connector 2
Prevent escape of 2. In addition, the locking claw 27 is
, The lock cover 25 is held in the lock position.

In this state, the electric connection box 10 is attached to the vehicle body. At this time, since the lock cover 25 is locked at the lock position, it does not interfere with the cowl side trim 35 previously attached to the vehicle body. Therefore, the electric connection box 10 can be attached to a predetermined position of the vehicle body.

On the other hand, the connector 22 is
When the connector 22 is fitted, it is conceivable that the connector 22 is in a partially fitted state where the insertion of the connector 22 is insufficient. In such a case, the lock cover 25 is left in a disengaged state in contact with the connector 22. Therefore, if the electric connection box 10 is mounted on the vehicle in this state, the lock cover interferes with the cowl side trim 35, and the electric connection box 10 cannot be mounted on the vehicle. Note that the same operation is performed even when the lock cover 25 is forgotten to be engaged.

As described above, the lock cover 25 is arranged at a position where it interferes with the cowl side trim 35 when it is not engaged. Therefore, the connector 2
2 is completely inserted, and the lock cover 25 is
Since the lock cover 25 interferes with the cowl side trim 35 except when the lock cover 25 is engaged, the half-fitted state of the connector 22 or forgetting to engage the lock cover 25 can be easily detected.

In the above embodiment, the electric connection box 10 fitted with the connector is attached to the vehicle body to which the cowl side trim 35 is attached in advance. Connection box 10
After the connector 22 is fitted to the cowl side trim 3
5 may be attached to the vehicle body. In this case, if the connector 22 is in the half-fitted state or the lock cover 25 is in the state of being forgotten to be locked, the lock cover 25 in the non-engaged state at this time will be In order to prevent attachment, the above aspects can likewise be detected.

In the above-described embodiment, the member to be mounted on the vehicle body is described as the cowl side trim 35. However, similar effects can be obtained by applying a member to be mounted on the vehicle body other than the cowl side trim 35. . Furthermore, the connector fitting portion 21 has been described with an example of a connector connected to an airbag circuit, but the present invention may be applied to a connector connected to other devices.

[0022]

As described above, according to the connector half-fitting prevention structure of the present invention, when the lock cover is disengaged, the mounted member of the vehicle body interferes with this. The half-fitted state of the connector and forgetting to lock the lock cover can be easily detected, and the occurrence of these states can be prevented. Further, unlike the related art, the connector fitting portion does not need to be arranged within the swing range of the lock cover, so that the restriction on the arrangement of the bus bar is eliminated, and the degree of freedom in design can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electric connection box applied to an embodiment of a connector half-fitting prevention structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the lock cover in FIG. 1 in a disengaged state.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part in an engaged state of a lock cover in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state before fitting of the connector in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state after fitting of the connector in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional connector half-fitting prevention structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electrical connection box 20 Connector half-fitting prevention structure 21 Connector fitting part 22 Connector 25 Lock cover (Lock piece) 35 Cowling side trim (Mounted member)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A half-fitting prevention of a connector, wherein a lock piece rotatably formed and engageable with a mating connector is arranged at a position where the lock piece interferes with a mounted member of a vehicle body in a non-engaged state. Construction.