JP2003077590A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector of small-sized construction. SOLUTION: When the fitting operation of two connector housings 10 and 20 is interrupted in a semi-fitted condition, an energizing spring 40 exerts its resilient elongation force accumulated therein to push back the male side connector housing 10 and makes a resilient restitution in such a way as elongating forward, which causes the two housings 10 and 20 to separate forcedly to enable sensing of the semi-fitted condition. Because a pressing part 14 to give a pressing force to the spring 40 is positioned behind the forefront of a hood 11, the construction is made smaller in a portion corresponding to the dimension from the forefront of the hood 11 to the pressing part 14 than a conventional connector in which the energizing spring is pressed by the forefront of the hood.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector having a half-fitting detection function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a connector having a half-fitting detection function, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-113390. This is one in which a biasing spring is provided on the female connector housing of the pair of male and female connector housings. The hood portion of the connector housing pushes the front end portion of the urging spring rearward, whereby the urging spring is elastically contracted and the urging force is stored.

When both connector housings have reached the proper fitting state, the rearward restriction of the rear end portion of the biasing spring is released, and the biasing spring elastically returns so as to extend rearward,
The urging force stored in the urging spring is released. Also,
When the fitting work is interrupted in the semi-fitted state, the biasing spring is forced by the biasing force stored in the biasing spring itself.
The male connector housings are elastically restored so as to extend forward while pushing back, and as a result, both connector housings are forcibly separated. The fitted state of both connector housings can be detected by the presence / absence of this forced disengagement operation.

[0004]

In the above conventional connector, the front end of the hood portion of the male connector housing abuts the front end of the biasing spring as a means for pushing the front end of the biasing spring. Therefore, when both connector housings are properly fitted, the hood portion of the male connector housing and the extended biasing spring are arranged in series,
There is a problem that the connector becomes large in the fitting direction of both connector housings.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to miniaturize a connector.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a male connector housing having a hood portion, a female connector housing fitted to the hood portion, and a female connector housing provided on the female connector housing. Engagement of both connector housings with an urging spring that allows elastic expansion and contraction in the same direction as the fitting direction of the connector housing and the front end portion of which is pushed backward by the male connector housing. In the process, the rear end portion of the biasing spring is regulated to retreat, and in the state where both connector housings are properly fitted, the rearward regulation means for releasing the rearward regulation to the rear end portion of the biasing spring is provided, In the process of fitting both connector housings, the biasing spring whose rear end is restricted to retract and whose front end is pressed by the male connector housing is elastically compressed. The elastic extension force is stored to store the elastic extension force, and in a state where both connector housings are properly fitted, the urging spring whose rear end regulation is released is extended backward to release the elastic extension force. In the above connector, the hood portion is provided with a pressing portion that applies a pressing force to the front end portion of the biasing spring, and is located rearward of the front end of the hood portion.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the front end of the biasing spring is in direct contact with the pressing portion.

[0008]

[Advantageous Effects of the Invention] [Invention of claim 1] When the fitting work of both connector housings is interrupted in the semi-fitted state, the biasing spring is elastically stretched by the biasing spring. By the force, the male connector housings are elastically returned so as to extend forward while pushing back, and as a result, both connector housings are forcibly disengaged, so that both connector housings are in the half-fitted state. You can see that

Since the pressing portion for applying a pressing force to the biasing spring is arranged at a position rearward of the front end of the hood portion, as compared with the conventional connector for pressing the biasing spring at the front end of the hood portion, The connector of the present invention is downsized by the dimension from the front end of the hood portion to the pressing portion. [Invention of Claim 2] Since the front end of the biasing spring directly abuts against the pressing portion, the front end side portion of the biasing spring is aligned and overlaps in the region from the front end of the hood portion to the front end of the pressing portion. It becomes a state. Therefore, in comparison with the conventional connector in which the hood portion and the urging spring are arranged in series with their front end portions in contact with each other, in the connector of the present invention, the length of the overlapping portion in which the urging spring and the hood portion are lined up is overlapped. It is downsized by that amount.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The connector of the present embodiment has a half-fitting detection function, and is capable of being mated with and disengaged from each other by a male-side connector housing 10 and a female-side connector housing 20, and
And a biasing spring 40. The male-side connector housing 10 is directly connected to an electric device, has a tubular hood portion 11 that opens forward, and has a structure in which a male terminal fitting 12 is housed in the hood portion 11.
A lock protrusion 13 is formed on the upper surface of the hood portion 11 at a position slightly rearward of the front end thereof. Similarly, the pressing portion 14 is formed on the upper surface of the hood portion 11 so as to be located rearward of the front end of the hood portion 11. The pressing portions 14 have a rib shape in the front-rear direction, and a pair of left and right portions are provided so as to sandwich the lock protrusion 13.

The female connector housing 20 comprises a housing body 21 in which the female terminal fittings 22 are housed, and a cylindrical fitting portion 23 surrounding the housing body 21. The front half of the housing body 21 is a hood. The tubular fitting portion 23 is fitted inside the portion 11 and is fitted outside the hood portion 11. The upper surface wall of the tubular fitting portion 23 is bulged upward in an arch shape, and a housing space for housing the urging spring 40 and the spring holder 30 is provided below the bulged arch-shaped upper surface wall. 24 are configured.

On the upper surface of the housing body 21, a lock claw 25 extending cantilevered forward and downward at the front end is provided.
A lock arm 25 of a well-known form in which A is formed and which can be elastically displaced in the vertical direction is provided so as to face the accommodation space 24, and the lock claw 25A of the lock arm 25 locks the hood portion 11. By locking to the protrusion 13, both connector housings 10 and 20 are held in a fitted state. A spring holder 30 that straddles the lock arm 25 is provided in the accommodation space 24 in the front-back direction between the front end position (see FIGS. 1 to 3) and the rear end position (see FIG. 5) in the accommodation space 24. It is provided so as to be movable in the direction (parallel to the fitting / removing direction of both connector housings 10 and 20). Spring holder 30 retracted to the rear end position
The upper and lower retaining projections 31 are locked to the stoppers 26 of the female connector housing 20 so that the accommodation space 2
It is restricted to move backward from No. 4. Further, the spring holder 30 always has its front end portion in the accommodation space 24.
It is held at the front end position in a state of being brought into front stop by abutting against the front stop wall 24F at the front end.

At both left and right ends of the spring holder 30,
A pair of elastic restricting pieces 32 (retracting restricting means which is a constituent feature of the present invention) are formed so as to extend forward in a cantilever manner and have a downward restricting claw 32A formed at the front end. The rear surface of the restricting claw 32A has a release slope 32 that is close to a right angle with respect to the fitting / removing directions of the two connector housings 10 and 20.
It is S. On the other hand, on the upper surface of the housing body 21, a pair of left and right regulating projections 27 (retraction regulating means which is a constituent of the present invention) is formed so as to correspond to the regulating claw 32A. Spring holder 30 held at the front end position
By locking the elastic restricting piece 32 from the front with respect to the restricting protrusion 27, the backward movement is restricted. When the pressing force applied to the spring holder 30 from the front becomes a certain amount or more, the elastic restricting piece 32 is elastically deflected by the steep slope of the release slope 32S and disengages from the restricting projection 27, so that the spring restricting portion 32 To move to.

The spring holder 30 includes the lock arm 2
5 has a pair of left and right spring accommodating portions 33, and each spring accommodating portion 33 has a biasing spring 40 formed of a compression coil spring in the front-back direction (both connector housings 10,
It is accommodated so that it can be elastically compressed in a direction parallel to the fitting / removing direction of 20. The biasing spring 40 accommodated in the spring accommodating portion 33 always has its front end abutted against the front stop portion 34 at the front end of the spring accommodating portion 33, and its rear end retracts from the rear end of the spring accommodating portion 33. By abutting against the restriction portion 35,
It is in a slightly compressed state.

Further, on the front end surface and the lower surface of the spring accommodating portion 33, the inner portion of the biasing spring 40 (the side corresponding to the lock arm 25) is exposed to the front and the lower side of the spring accommodating portion 33, and the pressing portion is provided. The notch 14 is notched to allow the pressing of the front end of the urging spring 40 while entering the accommodation space 24. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When fitting both connector housings 10 and 20 in the detached state, first, as shown in FIG. 2, the hood portion 11 of the male side connector housing 10 and the housing body 21 of the female side connector housing 20 are cylindrically fitted. It fits shallowly in the gap with the portion 23, and the pressing portion 14 is brought into contact with the front end of the biasing spring 40.
At this time, the spring holder 30 and the rear end portion of the biasing spring 40 at the front end position are provided with the elastic restriction piece 32 and the restriction protrusion 27.
By being engaged with the female connector housing 20, the female connector housing 20 is held in a state of being restricted from moving backward.

From this state, the female connector housing 2
When 0 is pushed into the male connector housing 10 side, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
Is elastically contracted because its front end is pressed by the pressing portion 14, and an elastic extension force is stored in this biasing spring 40.
Since the elastic extension force stored in the urging spring 40 during the fitting process is smaller than the locking force between the elastic regulation piece 32 and the regulation projection 27, which is mainly caused by the bending rigidity of the elastic regulation piece 32. The spring holder 30 remains held at the front end position, and the rear end of the biasing spring 40 remains retracted.

Now, when the fitting work is interrupted in the middle of the fitting (half fitting in which normal fitting is not achieved),
The biasing spring 40 elastically returns so as to extend forward by the elastic stretching force stored in itself, and the front end of the biasing spring 40 in contact with the pressing portion 14 has the male connector housing 10. Will be pushed back relatively. That is,
Both connector housings 10 and 20 are forcibly removed. It can be understood that the both connector housings 10 and 20 were in the half-fitted state by the forcibly detaching operation of the both connector housings 10 and 20.

When both connector housings 10 and 20 are properly fitted without interrupting the fitting work, the elastic extension force stored in the biasing spring 40 immediately before the normal fitting is reached. Since the size is larger than the locking force between the elastic restriction piece 32 and the restriction protrusion 27, as shown in FIG.
Is elastically bent and disengaged from the restriction protrusion 27, and the backward restriction state of the rear end portions of the spring holder 30 and the biasing spring 40 is released. Then, the spring holder 30 moves rearward by the elastic extension force of the urging spring 40 to reach the rear end position, and the elastic extension force stored in the urging spring 40 is released (see FIG. 5).

The lock arm 25 and the lock protrusion 13 perform a lock function by a well-known operation. That is, in the process of fitting both connector housings 10 and 20, the lock arm 25 elastically bends upward due to the interference between the lock claw 25A and the lock protrusion 13 (see FIG. 3). When both connector housings 10 and 20 are properly fitted, the lock claw 25A rides over the lock projection 13, so that the lock arm 25 elastically returns and the lock claw 25A is locked to the lock projection 13, and thus both The connector housings 10 and 20 are locked in the fitted state (FIG. 5).
See).

When the connector housings 10 and 20 in the properly fitted state are separated, the spring holder 30 is moved from the state shown in FIG. 5 to the front end position. During this time, the rear end of the biasing spring 40, the front end of which is in contact with the pressing portion 14, advances together with the spring holder 30, so that the biasing spring 40 is elastically compressed to store an elastic extension force.
In this state, when the lock arm 25 is released and the lock claw 25A is disengaged from the lock protrusion 13, the elastic extension force of the biasing spring 40 causes the both connector housings 1 to move.
0 and 20 are forcibly separated from each other to be in a separated state.

As described above, in this embodiment, the pressing portion 14 for applying the pressing force to the biasing spring 40 is the hood portion 1.
Since the connector is arranged at a position rearward of the front end of No. 1, as compared with the conventional connector that presses the biasing spring at the front end of the hood portion, the connector of the present embodiment has the front end of the hood portion 11 to the pressing portion 14. It is downsized by the size of. Further, since the front end of the biasing spring 40 directly abuts on the pressing portion 14, the front end side portion of the biasing spring 40 is aligned and overlaps in the region from the front end of the hood portion 11 to the front end of the pressing portion 14. (See FIG. 2). Therefore, in comparison with the conventional connector in which the hood portion and the urging spring are arranged in series with their front end portions in contact with each other, in the connector of the present embodiment, the urging spring 40 and the hood portion 11 are arranged and overlapped. It is miniaturized by the length of the part.

[Other Embodiments] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition to the above, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the front end of the return spring is abutted against the front end of the pressing portion so that the return spring and the pressing portion are arranged in series. However, according to the present invention, the slider is provided with the front stop portion. The front end of the return spring may be brought into contact with the front end of the return spring, and the pressed portion located rearward of the front end of the return spring may be provided so that the pressed portion comes into contact with the pressing portion. With this configuration, the dimension in which the biasing spring and the hood portion are lined up increases by the dimension between the front stop portion and the pressed portion, and the connector can be further downsized accordingly.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the front end of the hood portion is located in front of the rear end of the biasing spring when the biasing spring is extended. The front end of the hood portion may be located further rearward than the rear end of the biasing spring with the spring extended. (3) In the above embodiment, the biasing spring was brought into direct contact with the pressing portion. However, according to the present invention, the front end of the return spring is brought into contact with the front blind portion provided on the slider, and the front blind portion is brought into contact therewith. May be brought into contact with the pressing portion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which both connector housings are separated in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a biasing spring abuts a pressing portion during a process of fitting both connector housings.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a biasing spring is elastically contracted during the fitting process of both connector housings.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the backward restriction of the biasing spring is released during the fitting process of both connector housings.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which both connector housings are fitted and the elastic extension force of the bias spring is released.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a male connector housing.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a male connector housing.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a female connector housing.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a female connector housing.

[Explanation of symbols] 10 ... Male side connector housing 11 ... Hood section 14 ... Pressing part 20 ... Female side connector housing 27 ... Regulation protrusion (retraction regulation means) 32 ... Elastic restriction piece (retraction restriction means) 40 ... biasing spring

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Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A male-side connector housing having a hood portion, a female-side connector housing fitted to the hood portion, and an elastic member provided on the female-side connector housing in the same direction as the fitting direction of both connector housings. An urging spring which is capable of expansion and contraction and whose front end is pressed backward by the male side connector housing and a rear end of the urging spring during the fitting process of both connector housings. When the two connector housings are properly fitted, the device further comprises a retreat restricting means for releasing the retreat restriction for the rear end portion of the urging spring when the both connector housings are properly fitted. The urging spring whose front end is pressed by the male connector housing is elastically contracted to store an elastic extension force. With the connector housing properly fitted, in the connector in which the biasing spring that has been released from the backward restriction with respect to the rear end portion extends backward to release the elastic extension force, the hood portion is The connector is characterized in that a pressing portion that applies a pressing force to the front end portion of the biasing spring is provided rearward of the front end of the hood portion. 2. The front end of the biasing spring is configured to directly contact the pressing portion.
Connector described.