JP2001126822A - Connector support structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector support structure, which has a reduced parts, can be produced at reduced processes, and can be prevented from generating short-circuiting due to broken wire coating. SOLUTION: The connector support structure has a connector 4 in which a terminal 5 is received in a terminal receiving chamber 6 disposed in a connector housing 7, and which has a concave portion 12 extended from the outer surface of the connector housing 7 to the terminal receiving chamber 6. Also, it has a bracket 3 having a convex portion 16 that is fitted with the concave portion 12, thereby positioning the connector 4 and combining the connector 4 with the bracket 3. Moreover, the convex portion 16 is engaged with the terminal 5 so that the terminal 5 is drawn out from the connector housing 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector support structure, and more particularly, to providing a connector support structure which can reduce the number of parts and is excellent in assemblability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a sun visor is provided at the upper end of a front window of a driver's seat or a passenger's seat of an automobile. Depending on the type of sun visor, for example, a visor is provided with a vanity mirror, and another is provided with a lamp so that it can be used even at night.

A sun visor provided with such a lamp has, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, a bracket 101 for fixing the sun visor (not shown) to a vehicle body at the tip of a fixed shaft 102, and the bracket 101
Is fixed to the vehicle body. And
Through the fixed shaft 102, the shaft tip 102
A connector 104 that is connected to a mating connector of a wire harness routed in the vehicle body is attached to a leading end of a lead wire 103 that is led out from a.

[0004] The connector 104 comprises a connector housing 106 for accommodating a terminal 105 fixed to the end of the lead wire 103, and the terminal 105 connected to the connector housing 1.
06 so as not to accidentally escape, and
And a double locking spacer 107 as a lance for detecting the non-engagement state of the above. Double locking spacer 107
Are mounted in a spacer mounting hole 108 penetrating the terminal receiving chamber of the connector housing 106, and the terminal 105
Are prevented from falling out of the connector housing 106 and the terminals 105 are connected to the connector housing 10.
6 serves to detect whether or not it is stored at a predetermined position.

As shown in FIG. 11, the sun visor constructed as described above is attached to the vehicle body by connecting a mating connector 111 of a wire harness arranged in a space between an inner panel 109 and an outer panel 110 of the vehicle body. Then, after fitting and connecting the connector 104 connected to the sun visor, the bracket 101 is attached and fixed to a mounting hole of the inner panel 109.

[0006]

However, in the above configuration, the number of components constituting the connector 104 is large, such as the necessity of the double locking spacer 107, so that the number of assembly steps is increased. Also, a lead wire 103 is provided between the shaft tip 102a of the fixed shaft 102 and the connector 104.
When the bracket 101 is attached to the inner panel 109, there is a possibility that the lead wire 103 may be caught and break the insulating coating to cause a short circuit.

Accordingly, the present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the number of assembling steps, and also to prevent a short circuit due to a broken wire covering. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector supporting structure that can be used.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector supporting structure in which a terminal is accommodated in a terminal accommodating chamber provided in a connector housing.
A connector having a concave portion extending from the outer surface of the connector housing to a position reaching the terminal accommodating chamber; and a bracket having a convex portion that fits into the concave portion to position and combine the connector. And

A connector having a concave portion extending from the outer surface of the connector housing to a position reaching the terminal accommodating chamber is fitted to the convex portion provided on the bracket by fitting the concave portion.
The connector is easily combined with the bracket. That is, the connector can be combined with the bracket by a simple operation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the connector supporting structure according to the first aspect, wherein the protrusion is engaged with the terminal.

The projection of the bracket that fits into the recess formed in the connector housing engages with the terminal accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber, thereby preventing the terminal from being removed from the connector housing. For this reason, the conventionally required double locking spacer becomes unnecessary, and the number of connector parts can be reduced. In addition, the protrusion functions as a so-called secondary locking lance that detects whether the terminal is housed in a predetermined position of the terminal housing chamber 6.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector supporting structure according to the first or second aspect, wherein the bracket is provided on a distal end side of a fixed shaft supporting a sun visor. Is fixed to
A lead wire led out from inside the fixed shaft is connected to the terminal.

[0013] Since the lead wire led out from inside the fixed shaft is connected to the terminal of the connector combined with the bracket, the lead wire is hardly exposed to the outside and has no extra length. For this reason, when the bracket is attached to a vehicle body such as an automobile, the lead wire is sandwiched between the bracket and the vehicle body, and occurrence of a short circuit due to a break in the insulation coating of the lead wire is avoided.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a specific embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a bracket for fixing a sun visor provided at the upper end of a front window of a driver's seat or a passenger's seat to a vehicle body, for example, and connected to a lamp provided on the sun visor. This is applied to a connector support structure in which a connector attached to the end of a lead wire is united.

[Connector Support Structure] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the connector support structure according to the present embodiment includes a bracket 3 attached to the tip of a fixed shaft 2 supporting a sun visor 1, and a bracket 3 And a connector 4 which is combined with the connector 4.

<Construction of Connector> As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the connector 4 has a terminal 5 and a connector housing 7 having a terminal accommodating chamber 6 for accommodating the terminal 5. It is combined with a bracket 3 described later and is integrated with the bracket 3.

As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal 5 is press-fitted and housed in a terminal accommodating chamber 6 formed in the connector housing 7, and is connected to a lead wire 8 led out from the sun visor 1 and a vehicle body. The mating terminals of the mating connector of the wired wire harness (both are not shown) are respectively connected. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 or 5, one end 5a of the terminal 5 is connected to a lamp provided in the sun visor 1 and inserted into the fixed shaft 2 and led out from the shaft tip 2a. One end of the lead wire 8 is swaged, and the other end 5b of the terminal 5 is connected to a mating terminal of a mating connector.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the connector housing 7 is formed by integrally molding an insulating resin material, and a terminal accommodating chamber 6 for accommodating the terminal 5 is provided.
A lead wire guide groove 9 for guiding a lead wire 8 led out from the shaft tip 2a to the terminal accommodating chamber 6, and a connector fitting hole 10 for inserting and fitting the mating connector.
And a lance 11 for preventing the terminal 5 housed in the terminal housing chamber 6 from coming off.

The terminal accommodating chamber 6 accommodates the terminal 5 therein so as to press-fit the terminal 5 therein. A lance 11 functioning as a primary locking lance for detecting the state of insertion of the terminal 5 into the terminal housing chamber 6 is provided in the terminal housing chamber 6 to prevent the terminal 5 from coming off. It is formed in a state.

The lead wire guide groove 9 is formed on the distal end side of the connector housing 7, and is accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 6 with the lead wire 8 led out from the shaft distal end 2a facing the inside. The terminal 5 is guided to one end 5a. The connector fitting hole 10 is formed on the rear end side of the connector housing 7, and a mating connector is inserted and fitted therein to connect the mating terminal to the other end 5 b of the terminal 5. I try to make it.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the connector housing 7 is provided with a concave portion 12 which is combined with a convex portion 16 formed on the bracket 3 to be described later and is integrated with the bracket 3. I have. The concave portion 12 is formed so as to slide into the convex portion 16 from a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the convex portion 16 projects, and the opening width of the outer surface 7a of the connector housing 7 gradually becomes smaller. It is formed as a so-called wedge-shaped dent that forms an inverted trapezoidal shape that spreads in the direction. A part 12a of the concave portion 12 is further formed inward, and reaches a position reaching the terminal accommodating chamber 6 in which the terminal 5 is accommodated.

As shown in FIG. 6 (c), the concave portion 12 is formed by cutting out a part of one side surface 7b of the connector housing 7, and is provided near the other side surface 7c facing the one side surface 7b. It is formed up to the position reaching the part. In other words, the recess 12 is not formed over the entire width of the connector housing 7.

<Structure of Bracket> Bracket 3
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a main body 13, a fixing member 14 for fixing the main body 13 to an inner panel of the vehicle body, a shaft fixing portion 15 for press-fitting and fixing the fixed shaft 2, The connector housing 7 includes a convex portion 16 which fits into and is integrated with the concave portion 12 formed in the connector housing 7.

The fixing member 14 is provided in the vicinity of each vertex of the main body 13 having a substantially triangular shape. The fixing member 14 has a portion on the base end side formed as a substantially cylindrical body having a larger diameter than other portions, and bisects the cylindrical body in the height direction from the distal end to the base end. Has a slit 17 formed as described above. For this reason, the fixing member 14 is configured such that the distal end side of the bisected semicircular arc portion is displaced in the elastic region with the base end side as a fulcrum. Therefore, when the fixing member 14 is inserted into a bracket fixing hole (not shown) having a diameter slightly smaller than the large diameter portion of the fixing member 14 formed on the inner panel, the semicircular arc portion is formed. Displacement prevents the fixing member 14 from falling out of the bracket fixing hole.

As shown in FIG. 8, the shaft fixing portion 15 is provided substantially at the center of the main body portion 13 and has a shaft fixing hole 1 through which the fixed shaft 2 is inserted and fixed.
8 at its center. The fixed shaft 2 is
It is fixed to the shaft fixing portion 15 by being inserted into the shaft fixing hole 18 and press-fitted.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the convex portion 16 is provided with the concave portion 1 formed on the connector housing 7.
2 is provided at the tip of a connector support member 19 protruding from the bracket 3 as a convex shape that fits into the bracket 3. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the tip portion 16 a of the convex portion 16 is fitted into a part 12 a of the concave portion 12, and engages with the terminal 5 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 6. 5 is prevented from falling out of the connector housing 7. That is, the convex portion 16 has a function of preventing the terminal 5 from coming out of the connector housing 7 in addition to a function of integrating the connector 4 with the bracket 3 and integrating the same. Also, the tip 16a of the projection 16
Also functions as a so-called secondary locking lance for detecting whether or not the terminal 5 is housed at a predetermined position in the terminal housing chamber 6.

<Attaching Method of Connector to Bracket> To attach the connector 4 configured as described above to the bracket 3, a lead wire led out from the shaft tip 2a of the fixed shaft 2 as shown in FIG. The connector 4 housing the terminal 5 connected to the connector 8 is slid from the direction substantially perpendicular to the projecting direction with respect to the protrusion 16 formed at the tip of the connector support member 19 of the bracket 3, The concave portion 12 of the connector housing 7 is fitted into the convex portion 16.

Then, as shown in FIG.
When the recess 12 is fitted into the bracket 3, the connector 4 is united and integrated with the bracket 3. Further, the tip 16a of the projection 16 is fitted into a part 12a of the recess 12, and the tip 16a is engaged with the terminal 5 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 6, whereby the connector of the terminal 5 is connected. Prevention of removal from the housing 7 is prevented.

As described above, if the connector 4 is integrated with the bracket 3 to be integrated, the double locking spacer conventionally required becomes unnecessary, the number of components of the connector can be reduced, and the shaft tip of the fixed shaft 2 can be reduced. The lead 8 led out from 2a is hardly exposed to the outside, and the lead 8 is sandwiched between the bracket 3 and the vehicle body, so that the occurrence of a short circuit due to a break in the insulation coating is avoided. In addition, since the connector 4 is integrated with the bracket 3 to be integrated, the work of assembling the vehicle body becomes easy, and the work of fitting the mating connector of the wire harness arranged on the vehicle body with the connector 4 is simplified. The occurrence of abnormal noise can be suppressed by eliminating the backlash between the connector 4 and the vehicle body.

As described above, a specific embodiment to which the present invention is applied has been described. However, the present invention can be variously modified without being limited to the above-described embodiment.

The shape of the convex portion 16 formed on the bracket 3 and the shape of the concave portion 12 formed on the connector housing 7 to be fitted thereto are not particularly limited to the shapes shown in the above embodiment.

[0033]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above and has the following effects.

According to the connector support structure of the present invention, the connector having the concave portion extending from the outer surface of the connector housing to the terminal receiving chamber is fitted to the convex portion provided on the bracket. Only by this, the connector can be easily combined with the bracket.

According to the connector support structure of the second aspect, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, the projection of the bracket that fits into the recess formed in the connector housing is accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber. In this case, the terminal is prevented from coming off from the connector housing, and the double locking spacer which has been required conventionally becomes unnecessary, and the number of components of the connector can be reduced. The projection functions as a secondary locking lance for detecting whether the terminal is accommodated in a predetermined position of the terminal accommodation chamber.

According to the connector supporting structure of the third aspect, in addition to the effects of the first or second aspect of the invention, the lead wire led out from inside the fixed shaft is connected to the terminal of the connector combined with the bracket. Therefore, the lead wire is hardly exposed to the outside and has no extra length. Therefore, when the bracket is attached to a vehicle body such as an automobile, it is possible to avoid an accident such that the lead wire is sandwiched between the bracket and the vehicle body, the insulation coating of the lead wire is broken, and a short circuit occurs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state in which a support structure for a connector according to an embodiment is attached to a sun visor.

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a connector support structure of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the connector support structure showing a state in which the connector is combined with the bracket, partially broken away.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the connector support structure, partially broken away, showing a state before the connector is combined with the bracket.

FIG. 6 shows a connector, wherein (a) is a front view,
(B) is a sectional view, and (c) is a plan view.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the connector.

FIG. 8 shows a bracket, wherein (a) is a plan view,
(B) is a sectional view, and (c) is a front view.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing a state where a bracket is attached to a tip of a fixed shaft.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing a conventional connector support structure.

FIG. 11 is a side view, partially broken away, showing a conventional connector support structure, in which a bracket is fixed to a vehicle body and connected to a mating connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sun visor 2 Fixed shaft 3 Bracket 4 Connector 5 Terminal 6 Terminal accommodating chamber 7 Connector housing 8 Lead wire 12 Concave part 12a Part of a concave part 16 Convex part 16a Tip of convex part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A connector in which a terminal is accommodated in a terminal accommodating chamber provided in a connector housing, and a connector is formed having a concave portion extending from an outer surface of the connector housing to a position reaching the terminal accommodating chamber. And a bracket having a projection for positioning and combining the connector. 2. The connector support structure according to claim 1, wherein said convex portion engages with said terminal. 3. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the bracket is provided on a tip side of a fixed shaft that supports a sun visor and is fixed to a vehicle body, and a lead wire drawn from inside the fixed shaft is connected to the terminal. Claim 1 or 2
3. The connector support structure according to 1.