JP2002367708A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector that can be made small size. SOLUTION: A lance 32 having a pair of locking protrusions 32B capable of bending transformation in the cavities on both sides is formed on the partition wall 23A between the cavities 23 arranged in parallel. When the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted in one of the cavities 23, the lance 32 is bent and deformed inside the neighboring cavity 23 and received in the lance-receiving part 18 of the female terminal fitting 10 inserted in the cavity 23. When the female terminal fitting 10 reaches the regular position, the lance 32 is deformed to be restored and the locking protrusion 32B is locked to the jaw part 17 of the female terminal fitting 10. Since the lance is structured to be bent inside the neighboring cavity 23, the array pitch of the cavities 23 can be made smaller than the prior art and, thereby, the connector housing 20 can be made small size.

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 terminal fittings 2 can be inserted are provided in a connector housing 1 in two vertically arranged stages, and a partition wall 4 between the upper and lower cavities 3 or an upper wall of the connector housing 1 is provided. A lance 6 projects from the cavity 5 into the lower cavity 3. When the terminal fitting 2 is inserted into the cavity 3, the lance 6 is bent and deformed into a bending space 7 provided above the lance 6, and the terminal fitting 2 is inserted to a normal position, and the lance 6 is returned and deformed, and the terminal fitting 2 is deformed.
, The terminal fitting 2 is prevented from coming off.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned connector, when the arrangement pitch of the cavities 3 in the vertical direction is viewed, the vertical dimension of the terminal fitting 2, the lance 6, its bending space 7, and the partition wall 4 is approximately determined. Minutes are added. In order to reduce the arrangement pitch of the cavities 3 due to a demand for miniaturization, for example, a lance 6
It is conceivable to reduce the vertical dimension of the bending space 7. However, when the lance 6 is made thin, the bending rigidity of the lance 6 becomes small, and the locking force with respect to the terminal fitting 2 decreases. Further, when the bending space 7 is made smaller, the amount of bending deformation of the lance 6 becomes smaller, and the locking force with respect to the terminal fitting 2 also decreases. In any case, there is a limit. Therefore, means for further downsizing is required. Was. 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.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector housing in which a plurality of cavities in which terminal fittings can be inserted in a forward direction are formed. A partition between a pair of adjacent cavities has a locking projection that can be locked from the rear side with respect to a terminal fitting inserted into one of the cavities, and a lance that can bend and deform into the other cavity is formed. The terminal fitting is characterized in that a lance receiving portion capable of receiving the bending deformation of the lance is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the lance has a pair of locking projections which can be locked to terminal fittings inserted into both adjacent cavities. And it is characterized in that it can be bent and deformed in both the cavities.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the connector housing according to the second aspect, wherein the connector housing is locked from both sides in the bending direction with respect to the lance, thereby restricting bending deformation in both directions. It is characterized in that a retainer provided with a regulating portion is attached.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the terminal fitting is inserted into one of the cavities, the lance is bent and deformed into the adjacent cavity. At this time, when the terminal fitting is mounted in the adjacent cavity, the lance is bent and deformed while being received by the lance receiving portion of the terminal fitting. As described above, since the lance is bent into the adjacent cavity, the arrangement pitch of the cavities can be reduced and the connector housing can be downsized.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the lances of a pair of adjacent cavities are integrated, and the size of the connector housing can be reduced as compared with a case where a pair of lances are separately provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the bending restricting pieces of the retainer are locked on the left and right sides of the lance, the bending deformation to the left and right cavities is restricted, so that the terminal fittings inserted into both cavities can be formed. Both are double locked.

[0010]

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 male terminal fittings, and as shown in FIGS. A female connector housing 20 to which the side terminal fitting 10 is mounted, 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 the front (left side in FIG. 1), and the vertical direction is based on FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the female terminal fitting 10 is formed by punching a single conductive metal plate into a predetermined shape and then bending the conductive metal plate. It has a rectangular tube portion 11 connected to the male tab of the terminal fitting, and a barrel portion 12 at the rear end side 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. It is crimped. Similarly, the insulation barrel 14 includes a pair of caulking pieces, and the covered portion of the electric wire W is caulked from above by these.

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 elastically contacts to be electrically connected to the male terminal fitting. It is supposed to be. A pair of stabilizers 16 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-rear direction. In addition, the rectangular tube portion 11 projects in a stepped manner above a portion on the rear side, and the rear end edge is a jaw portion 17. The concave space behind the jaw portion 17 is a lance receiving portion 18,
The lance receiving portion 18 can receive a part of lances 31 and 32 described later.

The female connector housing 20 is made of a synthetic resin material. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, 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, there are provided two cavities 23 into which the female terminal fittings 10 can be inserted, two in the lateral direction along the front-rear direction, and two in the vertical direction.
At the rear end of each cavity 23, a terminal insertion opening 24 for inserting the female terminal fitting 10 is opened. The arrangement pitch of the cavities 23 arranged on the left and right is determined by the female terminal fitting 10.
And the width of the partition 23A between the two cavities 23 are added. The terminal mounting portion 21 has a rectangular portion 25 having a substantially square cross section in the outer shape of a portion protruding from the inner surface of the hood portion 22. Is protruding. These protruding portions 26 are shaped so as to cover substantially the lower half of the front end portion of the female terminal fitting 10 inserted into the two cavities 23 arranged on the left and right, and the upper half is open. At the front end of the protruding portion 26, a front wall 27 is formed at the front end of the female terminal fitting 10, and this front wall 27 is formed by a tab insertion hole through which a male tab of the male terminal fitting can be inserted. Of the lower part. As shown in FIG. 3, a guide groove 28 into which the stabilizer 16 of the female terminal fitting 10 can enter is formed on the ceiling surface of each cavity 23 along the front-rear direction.

On the side surface of each cavity 23, two types of lances 31 and 32 for preventing the female terminal fitting 10 from coming off are provided inside the square portion 25, respectively. The lances 31 provided on the left side surface of the left cavity 23 and the right side surface of the right cavity 23 when viewed from the front have a vertical plate-like portion 31A extending forward, and this plate-like portion 31A Is capable of laterally bending and deforming into a bending space 33 provided outside the cavity 23 in the width direction. A locking projection 31B protrudes toward the inside of the cavity 23 at a position near the lower end of the plate-like portion 31A, and the locking projection 31B is a lance receiving portion of the female terminal fitting 10 described above. 18 and can be locked to the jaw portion 17 from behind. A gently inclined surface is formed on the rear surface side of the locking projection 31B. When the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted, the lance 31 is bent in a direction in which the inclined surface comes into contact with the female terminal fitting 10. Is to be guided to.

A lance 32 is provided in a partition 23A between the cavities 23 arranged on the left and right. This lance 3
2 is a vertical plate-like portion 32A extending forward.
The plate-shaped portion 31A has a thickness substantially the same as or slightly smaller than that of the partition wall 23A, and can be bent and deformed laterally into the cavities 23 on the left and right sides.
A pair of locking projections 32B projecting into the cavities 23 on the left and right sides are provided at positions near the lower end of the plate-like portion 32A.
Each locking projection 32B can enter the lance receiving portion 18 of the female terminal fitting 10 and can be locked to the jaw portion 17 from behind. Further, a gentle slope is formed on the rear surface side of the locking projection 32B, and the female terminal fitting 10 is formed.
Is inserted, the lance 32 is bent in the direction in which the inclined surface comes into contact with the female terminal fitting 10, that is, the adjacent cavity 2.
3 to be guided.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, the retainer 40 is also formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape from a synthetic resin material, and a pair of through holes 41 penetrating back and forth is provided. Each of the through-holes 41 can be attached to the female connector housing 20 by fitting the protruding portions 26 into the respective through-holes 41. The ceiling wall of the through hole 41 covers the upper half of the front part of the cavity 23, and a front wall 42 is formed at the front end thereof.
The upper half of the tab insertion opening through which the male tab can be inserted is aligned with the front wall 27 of the protruding portion 26 when it is attached to the female connector housing 20 at a final locking position to be described later. . In the ceiling surface of each through hole 41, a guide groove 43 in which the stabilizer 16 of the female terminal fitting 10 can enter is formed along the front-rear direction.

At the rear end of the retainer 40, a flexure restricting piece 44 (corresponding to a "flexure restricting portion" of the present invention) formed as a pair of left and right pairs is provided correspondingly to each of the lances 31 and 32. It protrudes toward. One set of the bending restricting pieces 44 sandwiches the upper portions of the plate-shaped portions of the lances 31 and 32 corresponding thereto and locks the lances 31 and 32 from both left and right sides so that the bending deformation in both directions can be restricted. It has become. The retainer 40 is fixed to the female connector housing 20 by a positioning means (not shown) in which the deflection restricting piece 44 restricts the deflection of the lances 31 and 32 (see FIGS. 8 and 9). Can be held at two positions: a temporary locking position (see FIG. 5), which retracts forward from the full locking position and allows the lances 31 and 32 to bend.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. In order to mount the female terminal fitting 10 on the female connector housing 20, the retainer 40 is first assembled at a temporary locking position as shown in FIG. It is inserted into one cavity 23 (here, the cavity 23 on the left side when viewed from the front). The front end of the rectangular tube portion 11 is the locking projection 31 of the left and right lances 31, 32.
As shown in FIG. 5, when the bumps B and 32B are abutted, the lance 31 is bent and deformed so as to open laterally into the bending space 33 and the lance 32 into the adjacent cavity 23.

When the female terminal fitting 10 reaches a proper position where it abuts on the front wall 27, the locking projections 31B and 32B of the lances 31 and 32 exceed the rectangular tube 11 as shown in FIG. The lances 31 and 32 are deformed to return, and the locking projections 31B and 32B enter the lance receiving portion 18 and are locked to the jaw portion 17 from behind. Thereby, the female terminal fitting 1
0 is temporarily locked.

Subsequently, the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the other one of the cavities 23 arranged on the left and right (the right cavity 23 when viewed from the front). Square tube part 1
The front end of the locking projections 31B of the left and right lances 31, 32,
32B, as shown in FIG.
Is bent into a bending space 33, and one lance 32 is bent and deformed into the adjacent cavity 23, and is received in the lance receiving portion 18 of the female terminal fitting 10 inserted in the cavity 23.

When the female terminal fitting 10 reaches the normal position during insertion, the lances 31 and 32 return and deform, and the locking projections 31B and 32B enter the lance receiving portion 18 and the jaw portion. 17 from behind. After attaching the female terminal fittings 10 to all the cavities 23 in this manner, the retainer 40 is pushed backward, and the retainer 40 is held at the final locking position as shown in FIG. The female terminal fitting 10 is double-locked by locking from both left and right sides so as to sandwich the pin 32, thereby restricting bending deformation to both left and right. Thus, the assembly of the female connector is completed. In the connector of the present embodiment, since the lances 31 and 32 are arranged on the side surfaces of the cavity 23, the female connector housing 20 is downsized in the vertical direction. In addition, one female terminal fitting 10
Is locked by the pair of lances 31, 32, so that the locking force is improved.

In the above-mentioned process, the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the adjacent cavity 23 without being noticed in a half-inserted state in which the female terminal fitting 10 is not inserted to the proper position (as shown in FIG. 5). If another female terminal fitting 10 is to be inserted, the female terminal fitting 10 is
The operator cannot know that the female terminal fitting 10 of the adjacent cavity 23 is in a half-inserted state because the lance 32 collides with the bent lance 32 and cannot be inserted any further. Can be. Also,
If the female terminal fitting 10 still remains in the half-inserted state, when the retainer 40 is to be moved to the final locking position, the bending restricting piece 44 abuts against the tips of the lances 31 and 32. , The movement of the retainer 40 is restricted, so that the worker can know that the operator is in the half-inserted state.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into one of the cavities 23, the lance 32 is bent and deformed into the adjacent cavity 23. At this time, if the female terminal fitting 10 is mounted in the adjacent cavity 23, the lance 32 is connected to the female terminal fitting 1.
It is bent and deformed while being received by the lance receiving portion 18 of zero. As described above, since the lance 32 is bent into the adjacent cavity 23, the arrangement pitch of the cavities 23 can be smaller than that of the conventional one, and the connector housing can be downsized. In the present embodiment, the arrangement pitch of the cavities 23 arranged on the left and right is approximately the sum of the width of the female terminal fitting 10 and the width of the partition wall 23A. Also, when another female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the adjacent cavity 23 in a half-inserted state where the female terminal fitting 10 does not reach the proper position, the female terminal fitting 10 is bent and deformed into the cavity 23. By interfering with the lance 32, the insertion is restricted, and it is possible to detect that the female terminal fitting 10 of the adjacent cavity 23 is in a half-inserted state.

The lance 32 is provided with a pair of locking projections 32B on the left and right sides and can bend and deform into the cavities 23 on both sides. The female connector housing 20 can be made smaller than in the case where it is provided. Further, the deflection regulating piece 44 of the retainer 40 is
The female terminal fittings 10 inserted into the two cavities 23 are double-locked together by being locked on the left and right sides of the 2 and restricting the bending deformation to the left and right cavities 23.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited by the above-described embodiments. For example, the followings 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) In the above embodiment, one terminal fitting is locked by a pair of lances, but according to the present invention,
One terminal fitting may be locked by one lance. (3) In the above-described embodiment, the lances that bend into the cavities on both the left and right sides and lock the pair of terminal fittings are shown. However, according to the present invention, one lance bends and deforms into only one cavity. Alternatively, only the terminal fitting inserted into the other cavity may be locked. (4) In the above-described embodiment, the lance of the type that bends and deforms in the horizontal direction and locks the terminal fitting from the side is shown. However, according to the present invention, the lance deforms and deforms in the vertical direction. The terminal fitting may be locked from above or below.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an exploded plan sectional view of the connector.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the connector housing.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a retainer.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state where one female terminal fitting is being inserted.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state where one female terminal fitting is inserted to a normal position.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state where the other female terminal fitting is being inserted.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state where assembly of the connector has been completed.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the assembly of the connector is completed.

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

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Female terminal fitting (terminal fitting) 18 ... Lance receiving part 20 ... Female connector housing (connector housing) 23 ... Cavity 23A ... Partition wall 32 ... Lance 32B ... Locking protrusion 40 ... Retainer 44 ... Deflection regulating piece (deflection) Regulatory department)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────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 EE02 EE14 FF08 FF13 GG24 GG31 GG32 RR04

Claims (3)

[Claims] A connector housing in which a plurality of cavities into which terminal fittings can be inserted in a forward direction is formed.
A partition between a pair of adjacent cavities has a locking projection that can be locked from the rear side with respect to a terminal fitting inserted into one of the cavities, and a lance that can bend and deform into the other cavity is formed. The terminal fitting is provided with a lance receiving portion capable of receiving bending deformation of the lance. 2. The lance has a pair of locking projections each capable of locking with a terminal fitting inserted into both adjacent cavities, and is capable of being bent and deformed in both of the cavities. The connector according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A retainer having a flexure restricting portion for restricting flexure deformation in both directions by attaching to the lance from both sides in the flexure direction is attached to the connector housing. The connector according to claim 2.