JP2001160446A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase a locking force by a retainer. SOLUTION: The retainer 40 is equipped with the first locking plate 42 crossing a cavity and the second locking plate 43 crossing the flexure space of a lance 23. On the bottom face of the first locking plate 42, to protrudingly install a locking part 45 that is lockable to a jaw part 15 of a male side terminal metal fitting 10, and on the top face of the second locking plate 43, to arrange a concave part 46 that permits flexural deformation of the lance 23 and a regulating part 47 that regulates flexural deformation next to it. When the retainer 40 is in a temporary locking position, the male side terminal metal fitting 10 lets the lance 23 flexure deform in a recess 46 and at the same time the fitting is inserted into the cavity. After the lance 23 is restored to the original state and is locked temporarily, by pushing the retainer 40 into the true locking position, the locking part 45 of the first locking plate 42 is locked to the rear face of the jaw part 15, and the regulating part 47 regulates the flexural deformation, entering beneath the lance 23, and the male side terminal metal fitting 10 is prevented to slip out triply.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a connector with a retainer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a connector provided with a retainer to further double-lock a terminal fitting inserted into a cavity and locked by a lance is roughly classified into a side retainer type and a front retainer type. . As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-151002, the side retainer type is such that a retainer is inserted from a side surface of a cavity and directly locked to a locked portion of a terminal fitting such as a jaw portion. One front retainer type is disclosed in
As disclosed in No. 26066 and the like, by injecting a retainer from the front surface of the cavity or the like toward the bending space of the lance and restricting the bending deformation of the lance, so-called double locking is indirectly performed. is there. Here, comparing the locking force of both retainers, it can be said that the side retainer is superior because it can be directly locked to the terminal fitting.For example, it is not necessary to open an opening on the side of the cavity like a waterproof connector. Except when there is a situation, a side retainer is often used.

[0003]

On the other hand, on the other hand, the miniaturization of the terminal fittings is being progressively advanced, and the smaller the terminal fittings, the more the possibility that the catch on the retainer is reduced. Nevertheless, a situation where the locking force became insufficient occurred. The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to increase the locking force of a retainer.

[0004]

As means for achieving the above object, according to the present invention, a cavity in which a terminal fitting can be inserted is provided in a connector housing, and a side wall of the cavity is provided on a side wall of the cavity. In a connector in which a lance that can be locked to a locked portion of the terminal fitting is provided so as to be able to bend and deform, a retainer insertion hole communicating with the cavity and a bending space of the lance is provided on a side surface of the connector housing. The retainer is formed in a direction intersecting with the insertion direction of the terminal fitting. The retainer insertion hole has a locking portion that can be locked behind another locked portion provided on the terminal fitting, and a bending space of the lance. The present invention is characterized in that a retainer having a bending restricting portion for restricting the deformation by entering the structure is configured to be insertable.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the retainer is configured such that the locking portion and the deflection restricting portion are connected to the cavity so as to allow the terminal fitting to be inserted into and removed from the cavity. The temporary holding position retracted to the side of the bending space and the locking position where the locking portion and the bending restriction portion protrude into the cavity and the bending space can be respectively held. However, it has features. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, a movable body integrally provided with a short terminal is mounted in the connector housing so as to be freely movable in the front-rear direction. Always comes into contact with a position ahead of the other locked portion of the terminal fitting through the window hole in the outer wall of the cavity, and when the movable body is retracted when it is properly fitted with the mating connector housing. It is configured to slip out of the window hole and slide on the outer wall of the cavity behind the other locked portion, wherein the retainer is provided for the short terminal of the outer wall of the cavity. It is characterized in that it is mounted flush with the sliding surface.

[0006]

<Operation and effect of the invention><Invention of claim 1> After the terminal fitting is inserted into the cavity and is primarily locked by the lance, when the retainer is inserted into the retainer insertion hole, the other locked portions of the terminal fitting are removed. The locking portion is locked rearward, and the bending restricting portion enters the bending space to restrict the bending deformation of the lance. In addition to directly locking to the terminal fittings, the lance is controlled to bend and deform indirectly, so that it is triple-locked, so that the terminal fittings can be firmly held in the state of being prevented from coming off. .

<Invention of claim 2> Since the terminal fitting can be inserted into and removed from the cavity while the retainer is attached to the temporary locking position, the work is easy. <Invention of Claim 3> When the short terminal slides and retreats on the outer wall of the cavity, it is possible to prevent the retainer from becoming an obstacle.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, a male connector with a short-circuit function is illustrated. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this connector is roughly divided into a male connector housing 20 (hereinafter referred to as a male housing).
And four male terminal fittings 10 shown housed in the male housing 20 and a retainer 40 for locking the male terminal fittings 10 in a retaining state.

The male terminal fitting 10 is, as shown in FIG.
A tab 12 protrudes from the tip of a box-shaped main body 11, and is fixed to the end of the electric wire 17 by caulking a barrel 13 provided at the rear end. A locking hole 14 (corresponding to a locked portion of the present invention) is opened on the lower surface of the main body 11, and a rear edge of the upper surface of the main body 11 called a jaw 15 is described in detail later. Thus, it is another locked portion of the present invention locked by the retainer 40.

The male housing 20 is made of synthetic resin,
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 7,
Four cavities 21 for accommodating the above-mentioned male terminal fittings 10 are formed side by side in the lateral direction, and a hood 22 into which a mating female connector housing (not shown) is fitted in the first half. Is formed. On the bottom surface on the front end side of each cavity 21, a lance 23 having a projection 24 formed on the upper surface is provided.
Is provided, and can be bent and deformed toward the lower bending space 25. Accordingly, the male terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the cavity 21 from the rear while bending the lance 23, and when the male terminal fitting 10 is inserted to the proper position, the lance 23 is restored and the projection 24 fits into the locking hole 14. As a result, the tab 12 is primarily locked and accommodated in a state where the tab 12 projects into the hood portion 22 (see FIG. 9).

On the upper side of the male housing 20, a lock mechanism for locking the female housing to a mating female housing and a fitting detecting mechanism are provided, but the details thereof are omitted. . On the other hand, the male housing 20 is provided with a function of holding the stored male terminal fittings 10 in a short-circuit state. A moving space 28 for the short terminal 27 is formed on the upper surface side of each cavity 21 described above. The short terminal 27 has a structure in which the base ends of four contact pieces 29 formed in a folded shape are connected by a connecting portion 30 and constitutes a part of a fitting detection mechanism and is slidable in the front-rear direction. Is mounted on a slider 32 provided in the apparatus.
The lance 2 on the upper wall 21A of each cavity 21
A window hole 31 is opened at a position corresponding to the upper side of 3.

Therefore, at first, the slider 32 is in the forward position shown in FIG.
The front end faces the cavity 21 from the window hole 31.
Then, as described above, the male terminal fitting 10 is
As shown in FIG. 9, each of the contact pieces 29 is inserted into the corresponding male terminal fitting 10.
The elastic contact with the upper surface of the main body portion 11 causes a short circuit between the male terminal fittings 10. On the other hand, when the mating female housing is fitted and reaches regular fitting, the slider 32 is moved to the rear position while being locked, whereby each contact piece 29 of the short terminal 27 comes out of the window hole 31 and the cavity is removed. The upper terminal 21 slides over the upper wall 21A and escapes to the vicinity of the rear end, whereby the short circuit between the male terminal fittings 10 is released.

Next, the structure of the mounting portion of the retainer 40 will be described. The retainer 40 is made of a synthetic resin material as shown in FIG.
4 is formed integrally with the shape shown in FIG. 4, and the first locking plate 42 is formed to extend sideways in a cantilever manner from the upper end of the vertical portion of the L-shaped connecting portion 41. A second locking plate 43 is formed to extend in the same direction in a cantilever manner from the distal end side of the horizontal portion. Further, the base end side of the lower surface of the second locking plate 43 is formed thick.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, an L-shaped retainer insertion hole 50 into which the retainer 40 is inserted is formed from one side surface (the left side surface as viewed from the front) of the male housing 20. It is formed so as to cross each cavity 21. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, at a position behind the window hole 31 in the upper wall 21 </ b> A of each cavity 21, in other words, at a position immediately after the jaw portion 15 when the male terminal fitting 10 is properly inserted, An insertion groove 51 through which the first locking plate 42 of the retainer 40 is inserted is formed. However, the first locking plate 42 is flush with the upper wall 21A of the cavity 21 without any step. The second locking plate 43 of the retainer 40 described above can be inserted from the bending space 25 of the lance 23 to the front thereof, and a thick portion 44 of the second locking plate 43 is provided on the lower surface of the bending space 25. A guide groove 52 to be inserted is formed.

On the lower surface of the first locking plate 42 of the retainer 40, four locking portions 45 that can be locked to the rear surface of the jaw portion 15 of the male terminal fitting 10 are formed at the same pitch as the cavity 21. ing. On the other hand, four concave portions 46 are formed on the rear edge side of the upper surface of the second locking plate 43 so as to be shifted from the locking portion 45 by a half pitch. These recesses 46 are
Is a space that allows bending deformation of the
The plate surface on the front side of FIG. 6 (left side in FIG. 4) serves as a restricting portion 47 for restricting the bending deformation of the lance 23, and the locking portion 45 described above.
It is designed to take a positional relationship that matches with.

In the thick portion 44 of the second locking plate 43 of the retainer 40, two locking projections 48A and 48B are provided on the rear surface (upper side in FIG. 3) at the base side in the extending direction. It is formed by opening. These locking projections 48A, 4
8B, as shown in the drawing, the rear locking projection 48B is formed to be shorter, and the rear surface is a tapered surface. On the other hand, from the groove wall on the rear side of the guide groove 52, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 11, two locking columns 53A and 53B that can be deformed and deformed are provided to protrude forward at a predetermined interval. ing.

Then, the retainer 4 is inserted into the retainer insertion hole 50.
0, first, as shown in FIG.
The retainer 40 is held in a state where the locking column 53A on the near side is sandwiched between 8A and 48B, and this is the temporary locking position of the retainer 40. The retainer 40 is further moved from this temporary locking position.
Is pushed in, as shown in FIG.
The retainer 40 is held in a state where both the locking projections 48A, 48B are sandwiched between A, 53B, and this is the final locking position of the retainer 40.

When the retainer 40 is in the temporary locking position, as shown in FIG.
7 and 8, as shown in FIGS.
Each locking portion 45 of the locking plate 42 is retracted to the front side in the width direction of the corresponding cavity 21, and the concave portion 46 of the second locking plate 43 corresponds to the bending space 25 of each lance 23. . On the other hand, when in the final locking position, as shown in FIG. 10, the connecting portion 41 is flush with the side surface of the male housing 20, and as shown in FIGS. The stop portions 45 enter the corresponding cavities 21, and the restriction portions 47 enter the corresponding bending spaces 25 of the corresponding lances 23 in the second locking plate 43.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. First, the retainer 40 is inserted into the retainer insertion hole 50 and assembled at the temporary locking position. In this state, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, each locking portion 45 of the first locking plate 42 is
Is retracted to the front side in the width direction of the
Correspond to the bending space 25 of each lance 23. When the male terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the corresponding cavity 21 in such a state, as shown in FIG.
The lance 23 is pushed in without interfering with the locking portion 45 of the locking plate 42, and is pushed from the middle while being bent and deformed toward the concave portion 46 of the second locking plate 43. Male terminal fitting 1
When the lance 23 is inserted to the normal position, the lance 23 is restored and deformed and the projection 24 is fitted into the locking hole 14 as shown in FIG.
The contact piece 29 of the short terminal 27 facing from the main body 11
, And the male terminal fittings 10 are short-circuited.

All the male terminal fittings 10 are in the cavity 2
When the retainer 40 has been inserted into the housing 1, the retainer 40 is pushed toward the final locking position. When the retainer 40 is pushed into the final locking position, the locking portion 45 of the first locking plate 42 enters the cavity 21 as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, and the jaw portion of the male terminal fitting 10. 15 on the rear surface. In addition, the restricting portion 47 of the second locking plate 43 enters the bending space 25 of the lance 23, the bending deformation of the lance 23 is restricted, and the male terminal fitting 10 is pulled out while bending the lance 23. Is prevented.

That is, the male terminal fitting 10 is
In addition, the retainer 40 is locked in a double or triple manner in a retaining state. When the male terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the cavity 21, there may be a case where the male terminal fitting 10 is not inserted to the proper position and is kept in a semi-inserted state. At this time, the rear end of the main body 11 of the male terminal fitting 10 remains at the position of the insertion groove 51 of the first locking plate 42, and the lance 23 is connected to the second locking plate 4.
The third concave portion 46 is in a deformed state. At this time, when the retainer 40 is pushed from the temporary locking position toward the final locking position, the locking portion 45 of the first locking plate 42 abuts on the main body 11 of the male terminal fitting 10, and The restricting portion 47 of the second locking plate 43 abuts against the deformed lance 23 to restrict the pushing. As a result, it is detected that there is the male terminal fitting 10 held in the half-inserted state. In particular, since half insertion is detected at two locations,
Detection can be performed more reliably.

When all the male terminal fittings 10 are properly inserted and locked by the retainer 40, the hood 2
A mating female housing is fitted into the housing 2. When it is properly fitted, it is locked in the fitted state and the slider 3
2 moves to the rear position by a spring elasticity (not shown), each contact piece 29 of the short terminal 27 comes out of the window hole 31 and slides backward on the upper wall 21A of the cavity 21 to escape, and each male terminal The short circuit between the metal fittings 10 is released. At this time, the first locking plate 42 inserted into the insertion groove 51 of the upper wall 21A of the cavity 21 in an intersecting manner is free of the upper wall 21A without unevenness.
Therefore, the short terminal 27 slides smoothly to the rear end position.

In some cases, it is necessary to remove the male terminal fitting 10 from the cavity 21 for maintenance or the like. In this case, after the fitting with the mating female housing is released, if the retainer 40 is strongly pulled forward using a jig or the like, the retainer 40 is returned from the final locking position to the temporary locking position. Then, the locking portion 45 of the first locking plate 42 retreats to the side of the cavity 21, and the restricting portion 47 of the second locking plate 43 retreats to the side of the bending space 25, so that the locking by the retainer 40 is performed. It will be released. If so,
A jig insertion opening 34 (FIG. 1) opened in front of the bending space 25.
If the lance 23 is forcibly bent and deformed by inserting a jig from the lance 23, the locking by the lance 23 is released.
Subsequently, the male terminal fitting 10 can be pulled out of the cavity 21 by pulling.

According to the present embodiment as described above,
When the retainer 40 is inserted into the final locking position, the first
The locking portion 45 of the locking plate 42 is the jaw portion 1 of the male terminal fitting 10.
In addition to directly locking to the rear surface of the lance 5, the restricting portion 47 of the second locking plate 43 restricts the bending deformation of the lance 23 and indirectly locks the male terminal fitting 10 so as to be triple-locked. Thus, the male terminal fitting 10 can be firmly held in the retaining state. Conversely, whether or not the male terminal fitting 10 has been inserted to the normal position can be detected at two locations, so that the half-insertion can be detected more reliably. Further, since the male terminal fitting 10 can be inserted into and removed from the cavity 21 while the retainer 40 is assembled at the temporary locking position, the work is easy.

<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) In the above embodiment, the case where the portion where the retainer is directly locked is the jaw portion is exemplified, but another portion such as a stabilizer may be used depending on the shape of the terminal fittings and the like. (2) The present invention is similarly applicable to a female connector for accommodating a female terminal fitting. (3) The present invention can be applied to a normal connector having no short terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a state before inserting a male terminal fitting according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a male housing and a retainer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a retainer.

FIG. 4 is a front view thereof.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the male housing in a state where the retainer is mounted in a temporary locking position.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the male terminal fitting is being inserted.

FIG. 7 is a front view thereof.

FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which a retainer is held at a final locking position.

FIG. 10 is a front view thereof.

FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Male terminal fitting 14 ... Locking hole (locked part) 15 ... Jaw part (other locked part) 20 ... Male housing 21 ... Cavity 21A ... Upper wall (of cavity 21) 23 ... Lance 25 ... Bending space 27 Short terminal 29 Contact piece 31 Window hole 40 Retainer 42 First locking plate 43 Second locking plate 45 Locking portion 46 Depressed portion 47 Regulatory portion 48A, 48B Locking protrusion 50: retainer insertion hole 51: insertion groove 53A, 53B: locking column

Claims (3)

[Claims] A cavity in which a terminal fitting can be inserted is provided in a connector housing, and a lance which can be locked to a locked portion of the terminal fitting is provided on a side wall of the cavity so as to be flexibly deformable. In the connector, a retainer insertion hole communicating with the cavity and the bending space of the lance is formed on a side surface of the connector housing in a direction intersecting with an insertion direction of the terminal fitting, and the terminal fitting is provided in the retainer insertion hole. A retainer having a locking portion that can be locked behind another locked portion provided in the lance, and a bending restricting portion that enters the bending space of the lance and restricts the bending deformation thereof can be inserted. Connector. 2. The provisionally locked position in which the retainer and the flexure restricting portion are retracted to the side of the cavity and the flexure space, respectively, so as to allow the terminal fitting to be inserted into and removed from the cavity. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the locking portion and the deflection restricting portion are capable of being held at a full locking position protruding into the cavity and the bending space, respectively. 3. 3. A movable body integrally provided with a short terminal is mounted inside the connector housing so as to be freely movable in the front-rear direction, and the short terminal always passes through the window hole in the outer wall of the cavity. When the movable body comes into contact with the mating connector housing and comes into contact with the position ahead of the other locked part, the movable body retreats, and the movable body comes out of the window hole and moves on the outer wall of the cavity. The retainer is slid backward from the locked portion, wherein the retainer is mounted flush with a sliding surface of the short terminal on an outer wall of the cavity. The connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connector is provided.