JP2002367705A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector that is capable of achieving small size while securing locking force of a lance to the terminal fitting. SOLUTION: A Lance 29 of a nearly L-shaped cross section, which has an upper wall 29A along the horizontal direction and a side wall 29B along the vertical direction of the female connector housing 20, is formed at the front part of a cavity 23. Since the lance 29 bends in an inclined direction to the extending direction (vertical direction or horizontal direction) of the cavity 23, the dimensions of the space necessary for bending in the vertical direction and horizontal direction of the female connector housing 20 can be made small compared to the bending deformation amount of the lance along the bending direction. Thereby, the connector can be made small by making small the array pitch of the cavity 23, while securing locking force of the lance to the female terminal fitting 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a connector provided with a lance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of a connector provided with a lance in a connector housing, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-325814.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-205,099 is known. This is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of cavities 3 into which the terminal fittings 2 can be inserted
Lances 4 are provided on the upper surface side of each cavity 3 and can be bent and deformed into a bending space 5 provided further above. When the terminal fitting 2 is inserted into the cavity 3, the lance 4 is bent and deformed into the bending space 5, and the terminal fitting 2 is inserted to a proper position, and the lance 4 is returned and deformed and locked to the terminal fitting 2. The terminal fitting 2 is retained.

[0003]

In recent years, there has been a demand for downsizing of the connector. However, in order to downsize the connector as described above, for example, the thickness of the lance 4 is reduced, and the bending space 5 is also reduced. By making it smaller,
It is conceivable to reduce the arrangement pitch of the cavities 3. However, when the thickness of the lance 4 is reduced,
Is easily bent, so that the terminal fitting 2 is easily pulled out.
In addition, since the amount of bending deformation of the lance 4 is small, that is, the hooking margin is small, the terminal fitting 2 is also easily pulled out, and a sufficient locking force cannot be obtained. In addition, by providing the lance on the side surface of the cavity and flexing and deforming it in the horizontal direction, it is conceivable to reduce the size in the vertical direction. However, the size is naturally increased in the horizontal direction. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector that can be downsized while securing a locking force of a lance to a terminal fitting.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector having a plurality of cavities into which terminal fittings can be inserted. An inner peripheral surface has a locking portion that can be locked to the terminal fitting, and can be bent and deformed in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the terminal fitting is inserted and oblique to a direction in which the cavities are arranged. It has a feature in that a large lance is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the lance extends along a direction in which the terminal fitting is inserted, and has a cross section that is parallel to a direction in which the cavities are arranged and a direction orthogonal thereto. Is characterized by having a substantially L-shape along the line.

A third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the second aspect, the lance is arranged at a corner of the cavity along a shape of the corner.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the third aspect, the lance also serves as a peripheral wall surrounding the cavity.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the lance is bent in a direction oblique to the direction in which the cavities are arranged (vertically or horizontally), the amount of bending deformation along the direction in which the lance is bent. As compared with the above, the size of the required bending space in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction of the connector housing can be reduced. Therefore, the connector can be miniaturized by reducing the arrangement pitch of the cavities while securing the locking force to the terminal fitting.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the cross section of the lance is substantially L-shaped along the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the cavities are arranged, that is, along the vertical and horizontal directions,
The flexural rigidity of the entire lance is increased. Therefore, even if the wall surface in the vertical or horizontal direction is made thinner, the locking force is ensured, so that the size can be further reduced in the vertical and horizontal directions.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a dead space is likely to occur in a region of the peripheral wall surrounding the cavity in a diagonal direction with respect to the cavity, but a lance having a substantially L-shaped cross section is formed at the corner of the cavity. By arranging the lance in the direction along the shape of the corner, the lance can be bent to the diagonal region, and the space can be used efficiently.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the lance also serves as the peripheral wall surrounding the cavity, the size of the connector can be reduced as compared with the conventional case where the lance and the flexible space are formed inside the peripheral wall of the cavity. be able to.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The connector of the present embodiment is a female connector that can be fitted to a male connector housing (not shown) having a male terminal fitting, and as shown in FIG. The female connector housing 20 to which the female terminal 10 is attached and a retainer 40 for double-locking the female terminal fitting 10 are provided. In the following description, the direction in which the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the female connector housing 20 is defined as the front.

The female terminal fitting 10 is, as shown in FIG.
It is formed by punching one conductive metal plate into a predetermined shape, and then bending the punched metal plate. The front end has a square tubular portion 11 connected to the male tab of the male terminal fitting, and the rear end has It has a barrel portion 12 to which the terminal of the electric wire W is connected. The barrel portion 12 includes a wire barrel 13 and an insulation barrel 14 at the front and back, and the wire barrel 13 includes a pair of caulking pieces extending from both left and right ends of the bottom plate, and the core portion of the electric wire W is thereby arranged from above. It is crimped. Similarly, the insulation barrel 14 includes a pair of caulking pieces, and the covered portion of the electric wire W and the rubber plug 15 fitted around the portion are caulked from above.

The rectangular tube portion 11 has an elastic contact piece inside, and when the male tab is inserted from the opening on the front surface, the elastic contact piece makes elastic contact and is electrically connected to the male terminal fitting. It is supposed to be. A pair of stabilizers 16 </ b> A and 16 </ b> B for insertion guide are provided on the upper surface of the rectangular tube portion 11 so that the central portion in the width direction protrudes at an interval in the front and rear.
Further, the front and rear stabilizers 16 are provided on the upper surface of the rectangular tube portion 11.
A lance entry recess 17 is formed between A and 16B, and a lance 29 to be described later enters into the lance entry recess 17 so as to be engaged with the front edge of the lance entry recess 17 and the rear end edge of the front stabilizer 16A. I have.

The female connector housing 20 is made of a synthetic resin material. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the male connector housing is fitted around the front half of the terminal mounting portion 21 which is elongated in the front-rear direction. A substantially rectangular cylindrical hood portion 22 is formed. Inside the terminal mounting portion 21, two cavities 23 in which the female terminal fittings 10 can be inserted in the front-rear direction are provided two in the horizontal direction and two in the vertical direction. The “direction” may be any of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction), and a terminal insertion port 24 for inserting the female terminal fitting 10 is opened at the rear end of each cavity 23. The terminal mounting portion 21 is a square portion 25 having a substantially square cross section from the back surface of the hood portion 22 to the vicinity of the center in the front-rear direction. A protruding portion 26 is elongated and protrudes forward. These protruding portions 26 are formed so as to cover substantially the lower half of the front end portion of the female terminal fitting 10 inserted into each cavity 23, and the front end thereof has a front wall which stops the front of the female terminal fitting 10. The front wall 27 forms the lower half of the hole edge of the tab insertion opening through which the male tab of the male terminal fitting can be inserted. Also,
The female terminal fitting 1 described above is provided on the ceiling surface of each cavity 23.
A guide groove 28 into which the 0 stabilizers 16A and 16B can enter is formed along the front-rear direction.

From the front end of the square portion 25, each cavity 2
A lance 29 for preventing the female terminal fitting 10 from coming off is provided protruding above the protruding portion 26 for every three. Lance 29
Extends forward about half the length of the projecting portion 26, and as shown in FIG.
The upper wall 29A along the horizontal direction and the side wall 2 along the vertical direction
9B and a substantially L-shaped section. The lance 29 is disposed at the upper right corner when viewed from the front of the cavity 23, in a direction along the shape of the corner. On the upper wall 29A of the lance 29, the guide groove 28 is formed continuously to the tip. Also, the tip of the upper wall 29A is
The locking portion 31 protrudes inside the cavity 23, and the locking portion 31 can enter the lance entry recess 17 of the female terminal fitting 10 and be locked to each other. The upper wall 29A and the side wall 29B of the lance 29 are formed thin as a whole, and the locking portion 31 at the tip thereof can be bent and deformed in an oblique direction (upper right direction) as described later in detail. Further, the lance 29 also serves as a peripheral wall surrounding the cavity 23. For example, the space above the lance 29 at the lower left position in FIG. 3 communicates with the cavity 23 at the upper left position without interposing any other wall surface. The space on the right side of the lance 29 communicates with the cavity 23 at the lower right position without interposing other wall surfaces.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the retainer 40 is also formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape from a synthetic resin material, and a through hole 41 penetrating back and forth is provided at a position corresponding to each cavity 23. And the protrusion 26 is formed in the through hole 41.
Can be attached to the front of the square portion 25 so as to be fitted. A front wall 42 is formed above the front end of each through-hole 41. The front wall 42 is formed on the front wall of the projection 26 when the retainer 40 is attached to the female connector housing 20 at a final locking position described later. The upper half of the hole of the tab insertion opening through which the male tab can be inserted is formed in alignment with 27. In addition, a bending restricting portion 44 for restricting bending is provided on the ceiling surface of the through hole 41 above the locking portion 31 of the lance 29.
The lance 2 is provided on the rear side of the deflection regulating portion 44.
9 to allow deflection. Retainer 4
The reference numeral 0 denotes a position where the deflection restricting portion 44 restricts the deflection of the lance 29 with respect to the female connector housing 20 by a positioning means (not shown). The lance 29 can be held at two positions, that is, a temporary locking position (see FIG. 5) where the lance 29 is allowed to bend forward and bend.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. In order to attach the female terminal fitting 10 to the female connector housing 20, the retainer 40 is first held in the temporary locking position as shown in FIG.
From above into the cavity 23. When the female terminal fitting 10 is advanced, the front and rear stabilizers 16A and 16B are sequentially fitted into the guide grooves 28, and the insertion posture of the female terminal fitting 10 is stabilized. When the front end of the rectangular tube portion 11 abuts against the upper wall 29A of the lance 29, and the front stabilizer 16A enters the lower side of the upper wall 29A, the upper wall 29
Since A is pressed upward while the side wall 29B is formed at the side end, the tip of the lance 29 is twisted clockwise as viewed from the front as shown in the lower left position of FIG. As a result, the entire body bends and deforms in an oblique direction (upper right direction).

When the female terminal fitting 10 reaches the proper position where it abuts on the front wall 27, the stabilizer 16A moves beyond the locking portion 31 of the lance 29, as shown in FIG.
Is deformed and the locking portion 31 is moved into the lance entry recess 17.
The female terminal fitting 10 is temporarily locked by being inserted into the front edge portion and the stabilizer 16A (the state shown in the lower right position in FIG. 3).

After the female terminal fittings 10 have been mounted in all the cavities 23, the retainer 40 is subsequently pushed rearward to hold the retainer 40 at the final locking position as shown in FIG. 44 advances to a position above the locking portion 31 of each lance 29 and its bending is regulated, whereby the female terminal fitting 10 is double locked.
Thus, the assembly of the female connector is completed. In the course of the above operation, any of the female terminal fittings 10
When the retainer 40 is in a half-inserted state where it does not reach the proper position by mistake, when the retainer 40 is to be moved to the final locking position, as shown in FIG.
Since the movement of the retainer 40 is restricted by abutting on the locking portion 31 of the ninth, the operator can know that it is in the half-inserted state.

When the female terminal fitting 10 is to be removed, first, the retainer 40 is removed from the female connector housing 20, and as shown in FIG. And the lance 29 is bent obliquely to release the locking. Then, when the electric wire W is pulled backward, the female terminal fitting 10 is pulled out from the cavity 23. Since the lance 29 also serves as a peripheral wall surrounding the cavity 23, its periphery is largely open, so that the unlocking operation is easy.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the lance 29 is bent in a direction oblique to the direction in which the cavities 23 are arranged (vertically or horizontally). Compared with the amount of deformation, the required size of the bending space in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction of the female connector housing 20 can be reduced. Accordingly, the connector pitch can be reduced by reducing the arrangement pitch of the cavities 23 while securing the locking force to the female terminal fitting 10.

The cross section of the lance 29 is
Are substantially L-shaped along the direction in which the lances are arranged and the direction orthogonal thereto, that is, in the vertical and horizontal directions, the bending rigidity of the entire lance 29 is increased. Therefore, even if the wall surface in the vertical or horizontal direction is made thinner, the locking force is ensured, so that the size can be further reduced in the vertical and horizontal directions.

Further, in general, a dead space is likely to be generated in a region of the peripheral wall surrounding the cavity in a diagonal direction with respect to the cavity. By arranging the lances 29 in a direction along the shape of the lance 29, the lance 29 can be bent toward its diagonal region, and the space can be used efficiently.

Further, since the lance 29 also serves as a peripheral wall surrounding the cavity 23, the lance 29 and the flexible space are formed inside the peripheral wall of the cavity as in the related art.
The connector can be downsized.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited by the above-described embodiments, and, for example, those described below are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. (1) The present invention can also be applied to a male connector provided with a male terminal fitting. (2) The lance may have a shape other than the L-shaped cross section. For example, a normal lance as shown in the conventional example may be formed so as to be inclined so as to bend obliquely with respect to the direction in which the cavities are arranged. (3) The lance may be formed inside a peripheral wall surrounding the cavity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded longitudinal sectional view of a connector according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the connector housing.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged front view of a connector housing illustrating an operation of a lance.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a retainer.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the lance is flexed and deformed.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the lance is locked to the female terminal fitting.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where the retainer is assembled at a final locking position.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state when a half-insertion state is detected.

FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a process of performing a pull-out operation of the female terminal fitting by a jig.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a conventional connector.

[Description of Signs] 10: Female terminal fitting (terminal fitting) 20: Female connector housing (connector housing) 23: Cavity 29: Lance 31: Locking portion

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Ryotaro Ishikawa 1-114 Nishisuehirocho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd. (72) Inventor Osamu Kawase 1-114, Nishisuehirocho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Inc. F-term (reference) 5E087 EE14 FF08 GG14 GG24 RR04 RR05 RR06 RR36

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A connector housing having a plurality of cavities into which terminal fittings can be inserted, the connector housing having a locking portion on an inner peripheral surface of the cavity, the locking portion being capable of being locked to the terminal fittings. A connector provided with a lance that can bend and deform in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which a metal fitting is inserted and oblique to an arrangement direction of the cavities. 2. The lance extends in a direction in which the terminal fitting is inserted, and has a substantially L-shaped cross section along a direction in which the cavities are arranged and a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the cavities are arranged. The connector of claim 1, wherein 3. The connector according to claim 2, wherein the lance is disposed at a corner of the cavity along a shape of the corner. 4. The connector according to claim 3, wherein the lance also serves as a peripheral wall surrounding the cavity.