JP2001250647A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector with a contact protection function with which end parts of both connecting terminals can be protected by preventing deterioration and breakage of the connecting terminal end parts that are connected with each other. SOLUTION: A dummy terminal 23 connected with a dummy wiring 28 is installed in the male connector housing 16, and a spring 20 for arc discharge is installed in the female connector housing 14, and also prior to the contact between the male connecting terminal 15 and the female connecting terminal 17 with each other, the dummy terminal 23 and the spring 20 for arc discharge come into a contact when the female connector housing 14 and the male connector housing 16 fit together, and at the release of the fitting between the female connector housing 14 and the male connector housing 16, the contact is released after the release of the contact between the male connecting terminal 15 and the female connecting terminal 17 with each other. Therefore, by generating arc discharge through the contact between the spring 20 for arc discharge and the dummy terminal 23 connected to the dummy wiring 28 prior to the contact between a contact projection 19 and a contact spring 25, the original contact part is prevented from being deteriorated and damaged by the arc discharge.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a connector having a contact protection function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional connector, as shown in FIG. 4, there is a connector in which a female connector 1 and a male connector 2 are fitted and connected to each other. The female connector 1 houses and fixes a male connection terminal 4 in a female connector housing 3.
The male connection terminal 4 is connected to the hood 3 of the female connector housing 3.
A is disposed so that the tip portion 4A protrudes into A.

On the other hand, the male connector 2 has a female connector terminal 6 housed and fixed in a male connector housing 5. The female connection terminal 6 has a cylindrical end, so that the distal end 4A of the male connection terminal 4 can be inserted therein. At the tip of the female connection terminal 6, a contact spring piece 6 </ b> A that is folded obliquely rearward into the in-cylinder space is formed.

In the connector having such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 4, when the female connector 1 and the male connector 2 are fitted, the distal end 4A of the male connection terminal 4 is inserted from the distal end of the female connection terminal 6. Thus, the electrical connection is made by contacting the contact spring piece 6A.

[0005]

However, in the above-described connector, when the female connector 1 and the male connector 2 are fitted in a conductive state, the distal end portion 4A of the male connection terminal 4 and the distal end of the female connection terminal 6 are connected. Since the first contact is made, there is a problem that an arc discharge occurs at the contact portion to deteriorate or break the contact portion. Also, when releasing the connection state of the connector, since the distal end 4A of the male connection terminal 4 and the distal end of the female connection terminal 6 are finally separated, an arc discharge occurs in this portion to deteriorate and damage the contact portion. There is a problem.

If the contact portions are deteriorated or damaged in this way, the electrical connection at the contact portions of the male and female connection terminals 4 and 6 cannot be made well, and the reliability of the connector is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a connection terminal having a contact protection function capable of preventing the end portions of the connection terminals connected to each other from being deteriorated or damaged to protect the end portions of both connection terminals.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a connector including a pair of connector housings to be fitted with each other, a connector having connection terminals for making an electrical connection by contacting each other, a dummy terminal in which a dummy wiring is connected to one of the connector housings, and Along with providing a spring for arc discharge in the connector housing, the dummy terminal and the spring for arc discharge come into contact with each other prior to contact between the connection terminals when the pair of connector housings are fitted, and When the fitting of the connector housing is released, the contact between the connection terminals is released, and then the contact is released.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, with the fitting of the pair of connector housings, the connection terminals provided on the one connector housing and the other connector housing are brought into contact with each other before the connection terminals contact each other. Since the terminal and the spring for arc discharge are in contact with each other, it is possible to prevent arc discharge from occurring between the connection terminals.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the first aspect, the connection terminals are brought into contact with the one connector housing as the pair of connector housings are fitted together. A projection is formed, which is configured to electrically disconnect the arc discharge spring and the connection terminal provided on the other connector housing later.

Therefore, according to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 1, after the connection terminals come into contact with each other with the fitting of the pair of connector housings,
The projection provided on one connector housing separates the spring for arc discharge from the connection terminal and is electrically cut off. For this reason, unnecessary contact with the connection terminal of the other connector housing can be eliminated, and the reliability of the connector can be further improved.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the connector according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the connector of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an arc discharge spring, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dummy terminal.

Reference numeral 10 in FIG. 1 indicates a connector. The connector 10 includes a female connector 11 and a male connector 12.
Consists of The female connector 11 accommodates and fixes the male connection terminal 15 in a female connector housing 14 having a fitting hood 13 formed on the front end side. Further, an arc discharge spring 20 that is in contact with the side surface of the male connection terminal 15 is fixed in the female connector housing 14. Male connector 1
2 is a hood portion 1 of the female connector housing 14 at the front end side.
The female connection terminal 17 is accommodated and arranged in a male connector housing 16 fitted into the connector housing 3. In the male connector housing 16, a wall portion 16E is provided beside the female connection terminal 17.
, The dummy terminal 23 is held.

The male connection terminal 15 is, as shown in FIG.
8 and a contact projection 19 protruding from the front end of the male connection terminal body 18. Note that a plurality of pairs of wire holding pieces 21 for holding the wires 26 are provided at the rear portion of the male connection terminal body 18.
Are formed.

The female connector housing 14 for accommodating the male connection terminal 15 having such a structure has a terminal accommodating space 1 therein.
4A, and the male connection terminal body 18 of the male connection terminal 15 is housed in the terminal housing space 14A. And
The contact protrusion 19 of the male connection terminal 15 is provided in the terminal accommodation space 14A.
And protrudes into the hood portion 13 through an intermediate wall portion 14 </ b> B defining the space inside the hood portion 13.

As shown in FIG. 1, the arc discharge spring 20 is disposed along the inner bottom and the inner wall of the hood 13 toward the opening edge of the hood 13 and is fixed by insert molding. I have.

As shown in FIG. 2, the arc discharge spring 20 is formed by insert molding at a contact curved portion 20A which contacts the peripheral surface of the contact projection 19 of the male connection terminal 15, and at an inner bottom of the hood portion 13. And a contact plate 20C that contacts the dummy terminal 23. In addition, the tip 2 of the dummy terminal 23 is provided at the tip of the contact plate 20C.
A bent portion 20D for guiding 3A is formed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the male connector housing 16 has a front wall portion 16A formed on a front end face, and is adapted to insert and hold the female connection terminal 17 from the rear end side. At the center of the front wall 16A, a projection guide hole 16B penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed. Also, the front wall 16A
A notch 16G is formed in the outer wall 16F facing the wall portion 16E at the peripheral edge of the notch 16G, and the notch 16G is arranged so that the tip portion 23A of the dummy terminal 23 is located. The dummy terminals 23 are arranged outside the wall 16E of the male connector housing 16.

Further, around the projection guide hole 16B of the front wall portion 16A of the male connector housing 16, it is inserted between the contact bending portion 20A of the arc discharge spring 20 and the contact projection 19 at the time of fitting. A release protrusion 16H for releasing the contact between the contact curved portion 20A and the contact protrusion 19 is provided in a protruding manner.

As shown in FIG. 3, the dummy terminal 23 includes a tip 23A that comes into contact with the contact plate 20C of the spring 20 for arc discharge, and a wire holding portion 23B. Wire holding part 2
A dummy wiring 28 is connected and fixed to 3B.

The female connection terminal 17 has a contact spring 25 as a contact portion that is folded inward at the periphery of the front end opening of the female connection terminal body 22. The contact spring 25 comes into contact with the contact projection 19 when the male and female connectors 11 and 12 are fitted.

The dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20 come into contact before the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25 come into contact when the male and female connectors 11 and 12 are fitted. I have. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the arc discharge spring 20 projects forward from the contact protrusion 19, and the dummy terminal 23 is also arranged so as to project forward from the front end of the female connection terminal 17. When the fittings 11 and 12 are fitted, they come into contact before the contact between the contact projection 19 and the contact spring 25. When the contact projection 19 and the contact spring 25 come into complete contact with each other, the contact curved portion 20A that has been in contact with the contact projection 19 is separated by the release projection 16H, so that the male connection terminal 15 is unstable and unnecessary. And the reliability of the connection is improved.

Conversely, when the fitting between the female connector 11 and the male connector 12 is released, the contact projection 19 and the contact spring 2
5, after the contact with (separated from) the dummy terminal 2
3 and the spring 20 for arc discharge are released. When the contact between the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25 is released (separated), the release protrusion 16H is separated from the contact curved portion 20A.
A is in contact with the contact projection 19 again, so that no arc discharge occurs between the contact projection 19 and the contact spring 25.

In the connector 10 having such a configuration, when the female connector 11 and the male connector 12 are fitted together, the contact projection 19 protruding into the hood portion 13 of the female connector housing 14 is formed on the front wall of the male connector housing 16. It is inserted into the projection guide hole 16B of the portion 16A. At this time, contact protrusion 1
Prior to contact between the contact spring 9 and the contact spring 25, the dummy terminal 23 and the spring for arc discharge 20 come into contact with each other.

Therefore, since arc discharge occurs between the dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20, when the contact projection 19, which is the original contact portion, and the contact spring 23 come into contact, the arc discharge is generated. This prevents the contact projections 19 and the contact springs 23 from being deteriorated or damaged by arc discharge. The dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20 are deteriorated or damaged by the arc discharge. However, since the dummy terminal 23 is not an original contact portion, no problem occurs even if the deterioration occurs.

In this embodiment, by providing the male and female connector housings 14 and 16 with the arc discharge springs 20 and the dummy terminals 23, a connector having a contact protection structure can be realized. Therefore, the durability and reliability of the connector 10 can be improved.

Although the embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications accompanying the gist of the configuration are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the dummy terminal 23 is disposed so as to protrude forward from the front end of the female connection terminal main body 22. However, the dummy terminal 23 is set at a position similar to the front end of the female connection terminal main body 22, The other arc discharge spring 20 may be set so as to protrude forward from the contact protrusion 19.

In the above-described embodiment, the arc discharge spring 20 is insert-molded in the female connector housing 14, but may be fixed by other fixing means.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the connection terminals provided on one connector housing and the other connector housing with the fitting of the pair of connector housings. Before the contact, the dummy terminal and the spring for arc discharge come into contact,
The occurrence of arc discharge between the connection terminals can be prevented. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the connection terminals from being deteriorated or damaged, and to realize a highly reliable connector.

According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, unstable and unnecessary contact with the connection terminal of the other connector housing can be eliminated, and the reliability of the connector can be reduced. It can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an arc discharge spring according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a dummy terminal of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Connector 14 Female connector housing 15 Male connection terminal 16 Male connector housing 16H Release projection 17 Female connection terminal 20 Spring for arc discharge 23 Dummy terminal 28 Dummy wiring

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A connector comprising a pair of connector housings which are fitted with each other and having connection terminals for making an electrical connection by contacting each other, wherein a dummy terminal having a dummy wiring connected to one of the connector housings is provided. And the other connector housing is provided with an arc discharge spring, and the dummy terminal and the arc discharge spring come into contact with each other prior to contact between the connection terminals when the pair of connector housings are fitted. A connector characterized in that when the connection between the pair of connector housings is released, the contact is released after the contact between the connection terminals is released. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the connection terminal is brought into contact with the one connector housing after the connection terminals are brought into contact with the pair of connector housings. A connector formed with a projection for electrically blocking the connection terminal provided on the other connector housing.