JP2002319446A - Terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively prevent the connecting part of both terminals from melting by suppressing arc discharge when a male terminal and a female terminal are separated. SOLUTION: This is the terminal 2 to supply electricity by being jointed with the other terminal 4, and a site (male tab) 3 with which the other terminal 4 is jointed is constituted of plural materials 3a to 3d of different electroconductivities, and a region of the site from which the other terminal 4 is separated later is made of a material having a lower electroconductivity than that of the region where the other terminal 4 is separated earlier.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal configured to insert a male tab of a male terminal into a fitting portion of a female terminal so as to connect both terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a male tab of a male terminal is inserted into a fitting portion of a female terminal at a connection portion of a vehicle harness or the like, and the male tab is pressed into contact with an elastic tongue provided at the fitting portion. By doing so, a harness or the like fixed to the male terminal and the female terminal is electrically connected.

For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a fixed contact 5 with which one surface (upper surface) of the male tab 3 contacts a fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2 into which the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is inserted. The fixed contact 5 and an elastic tongue 6 facing each other with a predetermined initial clearance therebetween are provided, and the male tab 3 is inserted between the fixed contact 5 and the elastic tongue 6 to elastically deform the elastic tongue 6. In this state, the other side (lower surface) of the male tab 3 is attached to the elastic tongue 6.
, The harness fixed to the female terminal 2 and the harness fixed to the male terminal 4 are electrically connected.

[0004]

When the terminal provided with the female terminal 2 and the male terminal 4 is applied to a connection portion of a vehicle harness or the like, maintenance and inspection of electric equipment mounted on the vehicle is performed. In addition, it is necessary to release the connection between the terminals 2 and 4. When the two terminals 2 and 4 are detached in a state where the current of the battery mounted on the vehicle is supplied to the vehicle-mounted device, the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is moved from the elastic tongue piece 6 of the female terminal 2. At the moment of separation, there is a problem that an arc discharge is generated between the male tab 3 and the elastic tongue 6 to melt the terminals 2 and 4.

When the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is pulled out of the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2, the arc discharge is generated as the electric energy stored in the connection between the two terminals 2 and 4 increases. The electric energy stored in the connection portion tends to be higher as the voltage of the vehicle-mounted battery is higher. That is, the electric energy E stored at the connection between the terminals 2 and 4 is proportional to the voltage value V and the current value I between the terminals 2 and 4, as shown in the following equation (1). Since the value V is a value corresponding to the voltage of the on-vehicle battery, the higher the voltage of the on-vehicle battery, the greater the electric energy E becomes, and the more easily high-energy arc discharge occurs. E = ∫V · Idt (1)

In recent years, the voltage of a vehicle-mounted battery has been increased in order to reduce the wire diameter of the harness and reduce its weight by reducing the value of current supplied through the vehicle harness. Have been done. Therefore, when the connection state of the terminals 2 and 4 is detached, the voltage value between the terminals 2 and 4 increases, and a high-energy arc discharge occurs, and the connection between the terminals 2 and 4 is reduced. There is a problem that the two terminals 2 and 4 cannot be reused because they are easily melted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when a male terminal and a female terminal are detached from each other, a connection portion between the two terminals is melted due to an arc discharge. It is an object of the present invention to provide a terminal capable of effectively preventing the above.

[0008]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A terminal that can be energized by being coupled to the other terminal, wherein a portion to which the other terminal is joined is formed of a plurality of materials having different conductivity, and the other terminal is detached later The region of the above portion is made of a material having lower conductivity than the region from which the other terminal is detached first.

According to the above structure, the contact portion of the other terminal is changed from the region made of the highly conductive material to the material made of the low conductive material in accordance with the operation of detaching the connection between the terminal and the other terminal. Therefore, in the initial stage of the detachment operation, the electric resistance between both terminals becomes a small value, and a good energized state is maintained. In the final stage of the desorption operation, the electric resistance between the two terminals is increased, and the energy supplied to the arc generation at the connection between the two terminals is correspondingly reduced, whereby the arc is reduced. The occurrence of discharge is effectively suppressed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a male terminal having a male tab fitted into a fitting portion of a female terminal, wherein the male tab is made of a plurality of materials having different conductivity.
The area of the male tab that detaches from the fitting part of the female terminal later is made of a material having lower conductivity than the area that detaches first from the fitting part of the female terminal.

According to the above configuration, the contact portion of the male tab with respect to the fitting portion of the female terminal is changed from the region made of a highly conductive material in accordance with the operation of detaching the connection between the female terminal and the male terminal. At the final stage of the desorption operation, the electric resistance between the two terminals increases, and the electric current is correspondingly supplied to the arc generation at the connection between the two terminals at the final stage of the desorption operation. When the energy is sufficiently reduced, the occurrence of arc discharge is effectively suppressed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a female terminal provided with a fixed contact to which the male tab is pressed and an elastic tongue at a fitting portion of the female terminal into which the male tab of the male terminal is fitted. ,
The fixed contact and the elastic tongue are made of a plurality of materials having different conductivity, and the area of the fixed contact and the elastic tongue from which the male tab is detached later is compared with the area where the male tab is detached first. And is made of a material having low conductivity.

[0013] According to the above configuration, in accordance with the operation of detaching the coupling state between the female terminal and the male terminal, the fixed contact with which the male tab comes into contact and the contact portion of the elastic tongue are made of a material having high conductivity. In the final stage of the desorption operation, the electric resistance between the two terminals increases, and a corresponding arc is generated at the connection between the two terminals. When the energy supplied to the electrode is sufficiently reduced, the occurrence of arc discharge is effectively suppressed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal which can be energized by being connected to the other terminal, wherein a plurality of types of plating layers having different conductivity are provided at a portion where the other terminal is joined. And a plating layer having a lower conductivity than that of a region where the other terminal first detaches is formed in a region of the above-mentioned portion where the other terminal detaches later.

According to the above structure, the contact portion of the other terminal is moved from the region where the highly conductive plating layer is formed, in accordance with the operation of detaching the connection state between the terminal and the other terminal. Therefore, in the initial stage of the desorption operation, the electric resistance between both terminals becomes a small value, and a good energized state is maintained. In the final stage of the desorption operation, the electric resistance between the two terminals is increased, and the energy supplied to the arc generation at the connection between the two terminals is correspondingly reduced, whereby the arc is reduced. The occurrence of discharge is effectively suppressed.

[0016]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a terminal according to the present invention. The terminal has a female terminal 2 provided with a cylindrical fitting portion 1 and a male terminal 4 provided with a male tab 3 inserted into the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2. The harness fixed to the rear end of the female terminal 2 and the harness fixed to the rear end of the male terminal 4 are obtained by inserting the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 into the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2. Are electrically connected to each other.

The male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is made of a plurality of materials 3a to 3d having different conductivity, and a region where the bonding state with the female terminal 2 is detached later is formed by the bonding with the female terminal 2. It is made of a material having lower conductivity than the region where the state is separated first.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the highly conductive materials 3a to 3d are arranged in order from the base end side and connected to each other by means of brazing or the like to form a flat plate. The shape member 3A is formed. Then, after the flat member 3A is roll-formed and smoothed, the flat member 3A is cut into a width dimension corresponding to the male tab 3, so that the most conductive material 3a is disposed on the base end side. At the same time, the male tab 3 on which the materials 3b to 3d having lower conductivity are sequentially arranged toward the tip side is formed.

The most conductive material 3a disposed on the base end side of the male tab 3 has a front-rear dimension set to be at least half the entire length of the male tab 3 as shown in FIG. In a state where the two terminals 2 and 4 are connected, the contact portion 7 of the elastic tongue piece 6 comes into contact with the base end region of the male tab 3 made of the material 3a having the highest conductivity. Further, the type of the material forming the male tab 3 is not particularly limited, and may be two or more.

In the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2, a fixed contact 5 is provided on the lower surface of the top plate portion, and an elastic tongue 6 opposed to the fixed contact 5 with a predetermined initial clearance therebetween. Is provided above the bottom wall. The elastic tongue 6 is formed by, for example, bending a plate-like member connected to the bottom wall of the fitting portion 1 obliquely upward, and has a contact portion bulging toward the fixed contact 5 on its upper surface. 7 are provided.

In the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 3, when the two terminals 2 and 4 are connected, when the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is inserted into the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2, When the elastic tongue 6 is pressed down by the base 3, the base end region of the male tab 3 made of the material 3 a having the highest conductivity is pressed against the contact portion 7 of the elastic tongue 6, whereby the two terminals are connected. 2 and 4 are electrically coupled and maintained in a good conduction state.

When detaching the connection between the two terminals 2 and 4, the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is moved outward from the inside of the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2 as shown in FIG. The contact portions of the male tabs 3 contacting the contact portions 7 of the elastic tongue pieces 6 are sequentially changed from the region made of the material 3a having the highest conductivity to the materials 3b to 3d having lower conductivity in accordance with the To the region consisting of At the moment when the connection state of the terminals 2 and 4 is released, as shown in FIG. 5, the tip of the male tab 3, that is, the region made of the material 3d having the lowest conductivity is
From the state in which the fixed contact 5 and the elastic tongue piece 6 of the female terminal 2 are in contact with each other, the male tab 3 shifts to the detached state in which the male tab 3 is pulled out of the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2.

As described above, the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is inserted into the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2 and the two terminals 2 and 4 are connected to each other. The area of the male tab 3 which is made of a plurality of materials 3a to 3d having different properties and which detaches from the fitting part 1 of the female terminal 2 later is detached from the fitting part 1 of the female terminal 2 first. Since it is made of a material having lower conductivity than the region, even when an operation of detaching the connection state of the two terminals 2 and 4 is performed in a state where the harness connected by the two terminals 2 and 4 is energized. There is an advantage that the occurrence of arc discharge between the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 and the fitting portion 1 of the female terminal 2 can be effectively prevented.

That is, when the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is pulled out of the fitting portion 2 of the female terminal 2 to disengage the connection state of the two terminals 2 and 4, the contact portion 7 of the elastic tongue piece 6 is removed. The contact portion of the male tab 3 contacting the material 3 is the material 3 having the highest conductivity.
materials 3b to 3d in order from the region consisting of
, The electric resistance between the two terminals 2 and 4 increases, and the two terminals 2 and 4 correspond to this.
The energy supplied to the arc generation between the connections of No. 4 will gradually decrease.

Therefore, by making the electric energy (E = 両 V · Idt) stored in the connection portion of the two terminals 2 and 4 sufficiently small at the moment when the connection state of the two terminals 2 and 4 is disconnected. In addition, the occurrence of arc discharge can be suppressed, and the erosion of the terminals 2 and 4, for example, the deformation and deterioration of the male tab 3 and the elastic tongue 6 can be effectively prevented with a simple configuration. it can. For this reason, the terminals 2 and 4 can be reused as many times as possible, and each time the connection state of the terminals 2 and 4 is detached during maintenance or inspection of an electric device mounted on a vehicle. There is an advantage that complicated work such as replacement of a damaged terminal is not required.

In the above-described embodiment, materials 3a to 3d having high conductivity are arranged in order from the base end side and connected to each other by means such as brazing the side portions.
A material 3a having the highest conductivity is disposed on the base end side, and the material 3 having a lower conductivity is sequentially arranged toward the tip end side.
Although an example has been described in which the male tab 3 provided with b to 3d is formed, the specific configuration of the male tab 3 is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a tip of a highly conductive material 3a is covered with a material 3b having a lower conductivity than the material 3a, and a tip of the next conductive material 3a is covered with the material 3b. After covering the low material 3c and covering the distal end with the least conductive material 3d, these are roll-formed and flattened, so that the base material side as shown in FIG. The material 3B for the male tab in which the material 3a having the highest conductivity is exposed and the materials 3b to 3d having the lowest conductivity are sequentially exposed toward the tip end side may be formed.
By cutting the male tab material 3B into a width dimension corresponding to the male tab 3, the material 3a having the highest conductivity is provided on the base end side, and sequentially as it reaches the tip end side. The male tab 3 on which the low conductive materials 3b to 3d are disposed is formed.

Further, instead of the above embodiment in which a plurality of types of materials are combined as described above, a plating layer made of a plurality of types of materials having different conductivity is formed on the surface of the male tab 3 and When the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is pulled out from the fitting portion 2 of the terminal 2 to disengage the connection state of the two terminals 2 and 4, the male tab detached from the contact portion 7 of the elastic tongue piece 6 later. The area of the male tab 3 (the rear end side area of the male tab 3) where the conductivity of the plating layer formed in the area 3 (the front end side area of the male tab 3) is removed from the contact portion 7 first. The structure may be set to a value higher than the conductivity of the plating layer formed on the substrate.

Even in the case of the above construction, the electric resistance between the two terminals 2 and 4 is increased and the electric current is supplied to the arc between the connecting portions of the two terminals 2 and 4 when the above-mentioned coupling state is separated. Energy can be gradually reduced. Therefore, at the moment when the connection state of the terminals 2 and 4 is detached, the electric energy stored in the connection portion of the terminals 2 and 4 is sufficiently reduced, so that the terminals 2 and 4 are reduced.
It is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of arc discharge with a simple configuration at the time of desorption.

In the above embodiment, at least the surface portion of the male tab 3 is made of a plurality of materials having different conductivity, and the area of the female terminal 2 which is detached from the fitting portion 1 later is defined as the female terminal 2. Although the description has been given of the example in which the contact portion of the female terminal 1 with which the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is in contact with the male terminal 4 is made of a material having a lower conductivity than the region which is first detached from the fitting portion 1, The male tab 3 is made of a plurality of materials having different conductivity, and the contact area where the male tab 3 is detached later is made of a material having lower conductivity than the area where the male tab 3 is detached first. The structure may be modified.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the fixed contact 5 and the elastic tongue 6 provided on the fitting portion 1 are made of a plurality of materials 5a to 5d and 6a to 6d having different conductivity. The area where the male tab 3 is detached first (see FIG. 9), that is, the area on the front side of the fixed contact 5 and the area on the free end side of the elastic tongue piece 6 are separated by the male tab 3 first. (See FIG. 8), that is, a structure formed of a material having lower conductivity than the material forming the region on the rear side of the fixed contact 5 and the region on the base end side of the elastic tongue 6 may be used.

Even in the case of the above configuration, the male tab 3 of the male terminal 4 is pulled out from the fitting portion 2 of the female terminal 2 and the connection state of the two terminals 2 and 4 is removed.
By sequentially increasing the electric resistance between the two terminals 2 and 4 and gradually reducing the energy supplied to the arc generation between the connecting portions of the two terminals 2 and 4, The occurrence of arc discharge can be effectively prevented with a simple configuration.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a terminal which can be energized by being coupled to the other terminal, a portion to which the other terminal is joined is formed of a plurality of materials having different conductivity. And the region where the other terminal detaches later is made of a material having lower conductivity than the region where the other terminal detaches first, so that the harness connected by both terminals is energized. Therefore, even in the case where the operation of detaching the connection state of the both terminals is performed, the occurrence of arc discharge between the both terminals is suppressed, and the erosion of the both terminals is effectively reduced with a simple configuration. There is an advantage that it can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a specific configuration of a material for forming a male tab.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a connection state of terminals.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a process of pulling out a male tab.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the male tab is pulled out.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a manufacturing process of a material for forming a male tab.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a specific configuration of a material for forming a male tab.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a process of pulling out the male tab.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a conventional example of a terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fitting part 2 Female terminal 3 Male tab 4 Male terminal 5 Fixed contact 6 Elastic tongue

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Nei Saito 1-7-10 Kikuzumi, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi Auto Network Engineering Laboratory Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A terminal which can be energized by being coupled to another terminal, wherein a portion to which the other terminal is joined is made of a plurality of materials having different conductivity, and the other terminal is connected to the other terminal. Wherein the region of the portion from which the second terminal detaches later is made of a material having lower conductivity than the region from which the other terminal first detaches. 2. A male terminal having a male tab fitted into a fitting portion of a female terminal, wherein the male tab is made of a plurality of materials having different conductivity, and is formed from a fitting portion of the female terminal. A terminal, wherein the area of the male tab detached later is made of a material having lower conductivity than the area detached first from the fitting portion of the female terminal. 3. A female terminal in which a fixed contact and an elastic tongue for pressing the male tab are provided at a fitting portion of the female terminal into which the male tab of the male terminal is inserted. The tongue is made of a plurality of materials having different conductivity, and the area of the fixed contact and the elastic tongue where the male tab later detaches is less conductive than the area where the male tab detaches first. A terminal comprising a material. 4. A terminal which can be energized by being coupled to the other terminal, wherein a plurality of types of plating layers having different conductivity are formed at a portion where the other terminal is joined. A terminal, wherein a plating layer having lower conductivity is formed in a region of the portion where the terminal is detached later than in a region where the other terminal detaches first.