JP2002237359A - Connector equipment having mating display mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To discriminate not-completion or completion of a mating clearly when mating a male connector 10 and a female connector 12. SOLUTION: A mating display piece 2 is formed to the male connector 10 as turnable centering on an axial pin 24. A locking frame 30 is formed in a tip part of the male connector 10, and the tip part 22a of the mating display piece 22 is located in the backside of the locking frame 30. An elastic arm 38 which passes the inner side of above locking frame 30 is formed in the female connector 12, and a locking protrusion 40 is formed in the middle of the outside of the elastic arm 38. As mating the female connector 12 closer to the male connector 10, the elastic arm 38 is elastically deformed by pressing the locking protrusion 40 with the locking frame 30. When the elastic arm 38 returns to an original state by elastic restoring force upon completion of the mating, the mating display piece 22 is deformed to a mating completion position for a moment.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector device used for electric wiring of an automobile or the like, and more particularly to a connector device provided with a fitting display mechanism for displaying that the fitting of a connector is completed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional connector device with a fitting display mechanism causes a display component such as a display piece to rotate or linearly move in a process of fitting a male connector and a female connector, thereby causing the display component to be rotated. The fitted state is displayed according to the position (JP-A-9-274968, JP-A-9-245890, JP-A-11-224759, etc.). In other words, the conventional fitting display mechanism detects a change in the relative position between the male connector and the female connector,
The displacement of the display component is replaced by the displacement of the display component. Therefore, the displacement of the display component gradually progresses as the fitting of the two connectors progresses.

[0003]

Incidentally, the fitting force when the male connector and the female connector are actually fitted tends to become maximum immediately before the fitting of both connectors is completed.
This is because the elastic locking arm is elastically deformed in the process of mating the two connectors, and the force required for the elastic deformation is maximized immediately before reaching the locked state (fitted state). The pushing distance from the state immediately before the completion of the fitting of the two connectors to the completion of the fitting is extremely small (1 mm or less in a normal connector device). Therefore, it is difficult for the worker to judge whether the fitting is completed immediately before the fitting is completed or not.
An operator may erroneously recognize the increase in the fitting force as the completion of the fitting.

In order to prevent this misidentification, a fitting display mechanism is provided. However, in the conventional fitting display mechanism, as described above, the displacement of the display component is accompanied by the progress of fitting between the two connectors. Since the process proceeds gradually, the difference between the position of the display component immediately before the completion of the fitting and the position of the display component at the time of the completion of the fitting is small. For this reason, it is difficult to clearly determine the time immediately before the completion of the fitting and the time the completion of the fitting by visual inspection or the like.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector device with a fitting display mechanism capable of clearly discriminating between the time immediately before the completion of fitting and the time when the fitting is completed.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A connector device according to the present invention includes a first connector and a second connector which are fitted to each other, wherein the first connector moves from a non-fitted position to a mated position. It has a displaceable fitting indicating piece, and the second connector is elastically deformed by the first connector in a connector fitting process, and is released from the first connector when the fitting is completed, and is in an original state. The fitting display piece has an elastic restoring force when the elastic arm returns to the original state when the fitting is completed. Characterized by being displaced.

Further, in the connector device according to the present invention, the first connector has a spring for positioning the fitting display piece at a non-fitting position, and the spring pressure of this spring is the elastic restoring force of the elastic arm. It is preferable that the setting is weaker.

Further, in the connector device according to the present invention, the first connector is a male connector, the second connector is a female connector, and a housing of the male connector is provided at a tip portion when the connector is fitted. The fitting display piece is incorporated in the housing such that a contact point with the elastic arm is located on the rear side of the locking frame portion, the locking frame portion having an inner surface through which the outer surface of the elastic arm passes. The elastic arm of the female connector has a locking projection on the outer surface, and when the locking projection is pressed by the locking frame during the connector fitting process, the elastic arm is elastically deformed. It is preferable that the elastic arm be returned to the original state by being released from the stop frame portion.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
(A) is a state before fitting, (B) is a state immediately before completion of fitting,
(C) is a state where the fitting is completed. In the figure, 10 is a male connector and 12 is a female connector. The housing 14 of the male connector 10 has a fitting space 16 for receiving the female connector 12, and a male terminal 18 projects into the fitting space 16.
The outer end side of the male terminal 18 is connected to the printed circuit board 20. That is, the illustrated example is a case where the male connector 10 is mounted on the printed circuit board 20, but the male connector 10 may be attached to another member such as a device housing.

The male connector 10 has a fitting indication piece 22 incorporated in a part 21 in which a part of the peripheral wall of the fitting space 16 is cut out. The fitting display piece 22 is attached to the housing 14 by a shaft pin 24, and is rotatable about the shaft pin 24. Further, a leaf spring 26 that applies a spring pressure so as to push the distal end side of the fitting display piece 22 toward the fitting space 16 is attached to the housing 14. Further, the housing 14 has a stopper 28 on the side opposite to the portion where the leaf spring 26 presses the fitting display piece 22 with the shaft pin 24 in the middle. This stopper 28
The fitting display piece 22, which is pushed by the leaf spring 26 and tends to rotate clockwise in the figure, is pressed, and the tip end (contact point with an elastic arm described later) 22 a of the fitting display piece 22 is This is a portion located at substantially the same level as the inner surface of the peripheral wall.

An engaging frame 30 is formed in the housing 14 at the end of the notch 21. The tip 22a of the fitting display piece 22 is located behind the locking frame 30. The rear end surface of the locking frame 30 is formed perpendicular to the connector fitting direction. The rear end side of the fitting display piece 22 extends rearward of the housing 14, and the rear end serves as a display section 22b for displaying whether the fitting is not completed or completed. Male connector 10
A hole 34 for visually recognizing the display portion 22b of the fitting display piece 22 is formed in the wall 32 of the housing in which the is stored.

On the other hand, a female terminal (not shown) is accommodated in the female connector 12, and an electric wire 36 is connected to the female terminal.
In the housing of the female connector 12, an elastic arm 38 long in the connector fitting direction is formed at a position corresponding to the locking frame 30 of the male connector 10. The elastic arm 38 has a fixed end on the distal end side of the female connector 12 and a free end on the rear end side, and has a locking projection 40 formed on the outer surface of the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction. The locking projection 40 has an inclined surface on the front end side of the female connector 12 and a surface perpendicular to the connector fitting direction on the rear end side.

In the state before fitting shown in FIG. 1A, the display portion 22b of the fitting display piece 22 is displaced from the position of the hole 34, and the display portion 22b cannot be visually recognized from the hole 34. When the female connector 12 is inserted into the fitting space 14 of the male connector 10 from the state shown in FIG. 3A, the fitting between the male terminal 18 and the female terminal progresses, and the locking protrusion of the elastic arm 38 in the middle. The elastic arm 38 is elastically deformed because 40 is pressed by the locking frame 30. (B) is a locking projection
In this state, the entirety 40 enters the inside of the locking frame 30 and the elastic arm 38 is largely elastically deformed. At this time, the largest fitting force is required. However, even if mating progresses to this stage,
The orientation of the fitting display piece 22 has not changed at all from that before fitting. That is, (B) is a state immediately before the completion of the fitting, but even in this state, the display portion 22B of the fitting display piece 22 cannot be visually recognized from the hole 34.

When the female connector 12 is slightly pushed in from the state shown in FIG. 2B, the fitting between the male connector 10 and the female connector 12 is completed as shown in FIG. Since the elastic arm 38 passes through 30, the elastic arm 38 instantaneously returns to the state before the elastic deformation by its own elastic restoring force. As a result, the distal end portion 22a of the fitting display piece 22 is pushed up by the locking projection 40 (the spring pressure of the leaf spring 26 is set to be smaller than the elastic restoring force of the elastic arm 38), and the fitting display piece 22 moves counterclockwise. The display unit 22b is rotated in the direction, and the display unit 22b comes to the position of the hole 34. Therefore, the worker can determine from the hole 34 that the fitting has been completed when the display portion 22b is visible, and can determine that the fitting has not been completed when the display portion 22b is not visible. In particular, this fitting display mechanism does not rotate (displace) the fitting display piece 22 until immediately before the fitting is completed, and the instantaneous elastic restoring force when the elastic arm 38 returns to the original state when the fitting is completed is performed. In addition, since the fitting display piece 22 is displaced from the non-fitting position to the fitting completion position, the state immediately before the fitting is completed (fitting is not completed) and the state of the fitting completion are clear. Can be determined.

When the elastic arm 38 is in the state (C), the locking projection 40 and the locking frame 30 are engaged, so that the male connector 10 and the female connector 12 cannot be pulled out (the fitted state is maintained). ). To release the mating between the male connector 10 and the female connector 12, when the elastic arm 38 is elastically deformed by pressing the free end of the elastic arm 38 of the female connector 12 with a finger or the like, the locking projection 40 and the locking frame Since the engagement of the connector 30 can be released, the female connector 12 may be pulled out in this state. When the elastic arm 38 is elastically deformed, the fitting display piece 22 returns to the non-fitting position by the force of the leaf spring 26.

In the above embodiment, the male connector has the locking frame portion and the female connector has the elastic arm. However, the relationship may be reversed. Instead of a leaf spring, a coil spring, a spring utilizing the elasticity of rubber, or the like can be used.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the position of the fitting indicating piece does not change until immediately before the fitting of the two connectors is completed, and the position of the fitting indicating piece is changed from the unfitted position at the moment when the fitting is completed. Since it is configured to be displaced to the fitting completion position, there is no possibility that the state immediately before the completion of the fitting is mistaken for the completion of the fitting, and the completion of the fitting can be clearly confirmed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B show one embodiment of a connector device with a fitting display mechanism according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a sectional view before fitting, FIG. 1B is a sectional view just before fitting is completed, and FIG. Is a sectional view at the time of completion of fitting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Male connector 12: Female connector 14: Housing 16: Fitting space 18: Male terminal 20: Printed circuit board 22: Fitting display piece 22a: Tip (contact with elastic arm 38) 22b: Display part 24: Shaft Pin 26: Leaf spring 28: Stopper 30: Locking frame 32: Housing wall 34: Hole 36: Electric wire 38: Elastic arm 40: Locking projection

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A connector device comprising a first connector and a second connector that are fitted to each other, wherein the first connector is displaceable from a non-fitted position to a mated position. The second connector has an elastic arm that is elastically deformed by the first connector in a connector fitting process, and is released from the first connector when the fitting is completed and returns to the original state. The fitting display piece has an elastic restoring force when the elastic arm returns to the original state when the fitting is completed, and is displaced from the fitting non-completion position to the fitting completed position. A connector device with a fitting display mechanism. 2. The first connector according to claim 1, further comprising: a spring for positioning the fitting display piece at a non-fitting position, wherein a spring pressure of the spring is set to be smaller than an elastic restoring force of the elastic arm. The connector device with a fitting display mechanism according to claim 1. 3. The first connector is a male connector, and the second connector is a female connector. A housing of the male connector is provided at a distal end thereof with an outer surface of an elastic arm passing through the inside when the connector is fitted. A stop frame portion, wherein the fitting display piece is incorporated in the housing such that a contact point with the elastic arm is located behind the locking frame portion, and the elastic arm of the female connector is locked to an outer surface. Has protrusions,
The elastic arm is elastically deformed by the locking projection being pressed by the locking frame portion during the connector fitting process, and is released from the locking frame portion when the connector fitting is completed. The connector device with a fitting display mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connector device is configured to return to the state of (1).