JP2003133003A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect whether the operation of a slider is correct or not. SOLUTION: In the process moving of the slider 30 from an initial position to a fitting position, in a state that the slider 30 does not reach a normal fitting position and both connectors 10, 40 are in a half-fitting, a detecting member 39 is kept to stay in a waiting position, and in a state that the slider 30 reaches the fitting position and both connectors 10, 40 are normally fit, the detecting member 39 is displaced in the detecting position. Therefore, based on the displacement of the detecting member 39 to the detecting position, the moving position of the slider 30, or the fitting state of the connectors 10, 40 can be detected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a connector having improved fitting operability, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-3191921. This is because one connector is provided with a slider that can move in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction, and a cam groove that is oblique to both the moving direction and the fitting direction is formed in the slider, and the other slider is formed. The connector has a structure in which a cam pin that engages with the cam groove is provided.

At the time of fitting, the cam pins are engaged with the entrance of the cam groove by shallowly fitting both connectors,
The slider is moved from that state, and the two connectors are pulled toward each other by the cam action of the engagement between the cam groove and the cam pin. In this way, by utilizing the cam action accompanying the movement of the slider, both connectors can be easily and surely fitted even if the operating force applied to the slider is small.

[0004]

Even in the case where the connectors are fitted to each other by using the slider as described above, the friction resistance between the terminal fittings increases as the number of poles of the terminal fittings increases. Even so, some operating power is required. When the operating force to be applied to the slider becomes large in this way, the operator does not completely move the lever to the proper fitting position, and the slider is moved to the normal fitting position in spite of the fact that the two connectors are half fitted. There is a concern that the operation will be terminated halfway.

In this case, if the position where the slider has been operated is far away from the regular fitting position, it can be easily visually identified, but the slider remains at the position immediately before the regular fitting position. In this case, it is difficult to visually determine whether the slider has been moved to the regular fitting position. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to detect whether or not the slider is properly operated.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the first connector of the first and second connectors that can be fitted to the first connector has the two connectors between the initial position and the fitting position. Is provided with a slider that can move linearly in a direction intersecting with the fitting direction of the slider, and this slider is provided with a cam groove oblique to both the moving direction of the slider and the fitting direction of the connector. A cam pin that is engageable with the cam groove is provided in the second connector, and as the slider moves from the initial position toward the fitting position, the cam groove engages with the cam pin. In the one in which both connectors are brought into a fitted state by the action,
In the process of moving the detection member capable of displacing between the standby position and the detection position and the slider from the initial position to the fitting position, when the slider does not reach the fitting position, The detection member is retained at the standby position, and a movement detection unit that allows displacement of the detection member to the detection position only when the slider reaches the fitting position is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the detection member is provided in the first connector, a recess is formed in the slider, and when the slider does not reach the fitting position. , The recess is at a position not corresponding to the detection member, and the detection member at the standby position interferes with the slider to restrict displacement to the detection position, and the slider is fitted. When the position is reached, the recess moves to a position corresponding to the detection member, and is fitted into the recess as the detection member is displaced to the detection position.

The invention of claim 3 relates to claim 1 or claim 2.
In the invention described above, the detection member is arranged at a position such that the operation portion of the slider comes close to the detection member when the slider moves to the fitting position.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the detection member can be displaced from the standby position to the detection position when the slider reaches the regular fitting position, whereas the slider is properly fitted. Since the displacement of the detection member from the standby position to the detection position is restricted in the state of the half-fitting position immediately before the position, the slider is determined based on whether the detection member can be displaced to the detection position. It is possible to detect the moving position of.

[Invention of Claim 2] When the slider is moved to the regular fitting position and the detection member is displaced to the detection position and fitted in the recess, the initial position of the slider is caused by the engagement of the detection member and the recess. The return movement to the position side is restricted, and the fitting position is locked. [Invention of Claim 3] When the slider is moved to the fitting position, the operating portion of the slider approaches the detection member. Therefore, after the operation of the slider, the operation can be shifted to the operation of displacing the detection member without significantly moving the hand or the finger attached to the operation portion, which is excellent in workability.

[0011]

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 includes a first connector 10 and a second connector 40 that can be fitted and separated from each other, and a slider 30 provided on the first connector 10. In the following description, the left side in FIG. 1 will be referred to as the front side. The first connector 10 includes a housing 11 having a plurality of cavities 12 formed therein, and an electric wire cover 16 that is assembled so as to cover the housing 11 from above. A terminal fitting (not shown) is inserted into each cavity 12 from above, and an electric wire (not shown) connected to each terminal fitting is led out from the upper surface (back surface) of the first connector 10. The derived electric wire is the electric wire cover 1
It is configured to be bent laterally inside 6 and extend rearward (rightward in FIG. 1) from the wire cover 16.

On the lower surface of the housing 11 (a surface for fitting with the second connector 40), there is formed a fitting groove 13 that opens in a rectangular shape so as to surround the formation region of all the cavities 12, and the fitting groove 13 is formed. The hood portion 41 of the second connector 40 is adapted to be fitted in from below. Further, a pair of left and right guide slits 14 having a vertically long cross section, which are open at both front and rear surfaces of the housing 11, are formed inside the housing 11 so as to be adjacent to the outside of the fitting groove 13 and communicate with the fitting groove 13. There is. Furthermore, in the housing 11,
A pair of left and right lever accommodating grooves 15 opening on the upper surface of the housing 11 are formed so as to be adjacent to the outside of the guide slit 14 and communicate with the guide slit 14.

The lever 20 has a configuration in which a pair of left and right plate-like arm portions 22 extend from the rotation operation portion 21, and is rotatably supported with respect to the wire cover 16. Also, the lever 2 is attached to the arm portion 22 from its outer peripheral edge.
An interlocking groove 24 extending in the radial direction toward the center of rotation of 0 is formed. When the electric wire cover 16 is assembled to the housing 11, part of the arm portion 22 is located in the lever accommodating groove 1.
It is housed in 5. The slider 30 includes a pair of left and right movable plates 31 extending in the front-rear direction, and the front ends of the pair of left and right movable plates 31 arranged in a plate-shaped operation portion 3.
The movable plate 31 has a shape connected by two, and is inserted into the guide slit 14 from the front. The slider 30 slides the movable plate 31 in the guide slit 14 and moves in the front-back direction between an initial position (see FIG. 1) and a fitting position rearward of the initial position (see FIG. 4). (First
It is linearly slidable in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction of the connector 10 and the second connector 40.

The movable plate 31 of the slider 30 is provided with a pair of front and rear cam grooves 34 extending linearly in an oblique direction with respect to both the moving direction of the slider 30 and the fitting direction of both connectors 10 and 40. Has been done. This cam groove 34
Has an upward slope toward the front, and its rear end is opened at the lower edge of the movable plate 31 as an inlet. An elastic locking piece 35 is formed on the upper edge of the rear end of the movable plate 31, and the slider 30 is locked by locking the elastic locking piece 35 to the locking portion 14a of the upper wall of the guide slit 14. It is designed to be held in the initial position.

With the slider 30 in the initial position,
The operation portion 32 is located at a position away from the front end surface of the housing 11 to the front, and the operation portion 32 is substantially in contact with the front end surface of the housing 11 when the slider 30 is in the fitting position. Further, when the slider 30 is in the initial position, the inlet of the cam groove 34 corresponds to the guide hole 19 that communicates with the lower surface of the guide slit 14 to the lower surface of the housing 11. Further, of the upper edge of the movable plate 31, a region extending from its front end (a continuous portion with the operation portion 32) to a substantially central position is
It is a displacement regulating edge portion 37 (movement detecting means which is a constituent feature of the present invention) parallel to the moving direction of the slider 30. Similarly, in the movable plate 31, a concave portion 38 (movement detecting means which is a constituent feature of the present invention) located near the operation portion 32 at the front end thereof is opened in the displacement regulating edge portion 37 (upper edge) of the movable plate. It is formed in the shape. An interlocking pin 33 that can engage with the interlocking groove 24 of the lever 20 is formed on the movable plate 31.

The electric wire cover 16 is provided with a detecting member 3
9 is guided by the guide groove 17 of the electric wire cover 16 between the standby position (see FIGS. 1 to 3) and the detection position below the standby position (see FIG. 4) while moving in the vertical direction (slider). It is provided so that it can be displaced in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of 30). The detection member 39 is arranged so as to be located near the operation portion 32 when the front end portion of the wire cover 16, that is, the slider 30 is in the fitting position. Further, when the detecting member 39 is in the standby position, the lower end surface of the detecting member 39 is positioned at the same height as the movement restricting edge portion 37 of the slider 30 or slightly higher than that. . Further, the lower end portion of the detection member 39 is dimensioned to be fitted into the recess 38 of the slider 30 without backlash in the front-rear direction.

The second connector 40 has a rectangular tubular hood portion 41 protruding upward, and the hood portion 41 is adapted to be fitted into the fitting groove 13 of the first connector 10 from below. There is. Further, a pair of front and rear cam pins 42 protruding outward are formed on both left and right side walls of the hood portion 41, and the hood portion 41 is fitted into the fitting groove 1 of these cam pins 42.
3, the guide hole 19 of the first connector 10
It is designed to enter inside.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When assembling the two connectors 10 and 40, first, the lever 20 supported by the electric wire cover 16 is held at the initial position, and the inlet of the interlocking groove 24 of the arm portion 22 is directed downward, that is, the electric wire cover 16 with respect to the housing 11. Leave it open in the same direction as the mounting direction. Further, the slider 30 is held at the initial position in the housing 11, and the detection member 39 is held at the standby position in the wire cover 16.

When the electric wire cover 16 is assembled to the housing 11 in such a state, the arm portion 22 moves into the lever receiving groove 15
And the inlet of the interlocking groove 24 is inserted into the slider 30.
It is fitted with the interlocking pin 33 (see FIG. 1). At this time,
The detection member 39 corresponds to a position behind the recess 38 in the movement regulation edge portion 37 of the slider 30. After that, when the hood portion 41 of the second connector 40 is fitted into the fitting groove 13 from below, the cam pin 42 passes through the guide hole 19 and enters the inlet of the cam groove 34 of the slider 30 (see FIG. 1). .

After that, the slider 30 in the initial position is moved toward the fitting position (see FIG. 2). At this time,
The slider 30 is pushed rearward, that is, toward the housing 11, with a hand or a finger directed to the operation portion 32. This slider 30
Along with the movement, the cam action is exerted by the engagement between the cam groove 34 and the cam pin 42, and the two connectors 10 and 40 are pulled toward each other to reach the normal fitting state. Slider 30
When is pushed to the regular fitting position, the recess 38 is located directly below the detection member 39 as shown in FIG. 4, so that the detection member 39 in the standby position is displaced downward toward the detection position. It becomes possible. In addition, the slider 3
The operation unit 32 of 0 is close to the detection member of the wire cover 16. Therefore, the hands and fingers attached to the operation unit 32 are slightly moved diagonally upward and rearward to reach the detection member 39, and the detection member 39 is pushed down to the detection position. When the detection member 39 is pushed down, the lower end of the detection member 39 is fitted into the recess 38 without backlash in the front-rear direction, so that the slider 30 is locked in a state in which the initial position side, that is, the forward movement is restricted. Further, since the slider 30 is locked at the fitting position, both connectors 10 and 40 are locked in the properly fitted state.

On the other hand, if the pushing operation of the slider 30 is finished halfway before reaching the regular fitting position, both connectors 10 and 40 remain in the semi-fitting state. In this half-fitted state, as shown in FIG. 3, the concave portion 38 is at the position deviated forward with respect to the detection member 39,
The lower end portion of the detection member 39 at the standby position interferes with the movement regulation edge portion 37 from above. Therefore, the detection member 39 cannot be pushed down to the detection position.

Although it may be difficult to operate the slider 30 depending on the installation conditions of the connector, in this case, the lever 20 can be used as the operating means. That is,
When a hand or a finger is placed on the rotation operation portion 21 of the lever 20 and the rotation operation portion 21 is operated to be displaced substantially forward above the wire cover 16, the lever 20 rotates to the fitting position. As a result, the inner wall of the interlocking groove 24 has the interlocking pin 33.
In order to push, the slider 30 is slid from the initial position to the fitting position. Also in this case, the cam action is exerted by the engagement of the cam groove 34 and the cam pin 42 with the movement of the slider 30, and the two connectors 10 and 40 are fitted together.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the detecting member 39 can be displaced from the standby position to the detecting position when the slider 30 reaches the regular fitting position, whereas the slider 30 is normal. In the state of being in the half-fitting position immediately before the fitting position, the displacement of the detection member 39 from the standby position to the detection position is restricted. Therefore, it is determined whether the detection member 39 can be displaced to the detection position. Based on this, it is possible to detect the moving position of the slider 30, and thus the fitted state of both connectors 10, 40.

Further, the slider 30 is moved to the proper fitting position, the detecting member 39 is displaced to the detecting position, and the recess 3 is formed.
In the state in which the slider 30 is fitted in 8, the slider 30 is restrained from returning to the initial position side by the engagement of the detection member 39 and the recess 38, and is locked in the fitted position. In this way, the slider 3
Since the detection member 39, which is a means for detecting the moving position of 0, and the recess 38 also serve as means for locking the slider 30 at the fitting position, no dedicated locking means for locking the slider at the fitting position is provided. I'm done.

When the slider 30 is moved to the fitting position, the operating portion 32 of the slider 30 is moved to the detecting member 3 by the operating portion 32.
9 is approaching. Therefore, after the fitting operation of the slider 30, it is possible to shift to the operation of displacing the detection member 39 without significantly moving the hand or the finger attached to the operation portion 32, which is excellent in workability. [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. Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

(1) In the above embodiment, the slider is moved in the direction orthogonal to the fitting direction of both connectors, but according to the present invention, the moving direction of the slider is relative to the fitting direction of both connectors. It may be diagonal. (2) In the above embodiment, the detection member is provided on the first connector, and the detection member is locked to the slider. However, according to the present invention, the detection member is provided on the slider and the detection member is It may be locked to the first connector or the second connector.

(3) In the above embodiment, the detection member is arranged on the first connector provided with the slider. However, according to the present invention, the detection member may be arranged on the second connector not provided with the slider. Good. (4) In the above embodiment, the lever that rotates in conjunction with the slider is provided, but according to the present invention, the lever is not provided,
The connector may be fitted only by operating the slider.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which a slider is at an initial position and a cam groove and a cam pin are engaged with each other in Embodiment 1.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which both connectors are being fitted together as the slider moves.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a half-fitted state in which the slider has moved to a position just before a regular mating position.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state where the slider is moved to a regular fitting position and the detection member is displaced to the detection position.

[Figure 5] Rear view of the wire cover and lever

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view of the housing.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the housing.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the slider.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a slider.

FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a support structure of a detection member.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... First connector 30 ... Slider 32 ... Operation unit 34 ... Cam groove 37 ... Movement restriction edge (movement detection means) 38 ... Recessed portion (movement detection means) 39 ... Detection member 40 ... Second connector 42 ... Cam pin

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first connector of the first and second connectors that can be fitted to the first connector, between an initial position and a fitting position,
A slider is provided which is capable of moving straight in a direction intersecting the fitting direction of the both connectors, and the slider has a cam groove formed obliquely to both the moving direction of the slider and the fitting direction of the connector. And a cam pin engageable with the cam groove is provided in the second connector, and as the slider moves from the initial position toward the fitting position, the engagement between the cam groove and the cam pin is increased. In the case where the two connectors are brought into a fitted state by a cam action due to engagement, a detection member capable of being displaced between a standby position and a detection position, and the slider from the initial position to the fitting position. In the process of moving to the position, the detection member is retained at the standby position when the slider does not reach the fitting position,
A connector comprising: a movement detection unit that allows displacement of the detection member to the detection position only when the slider reaches the fitting position. 2. The detection member is provided in the first connector, a recess is formed in the slider, and the recess does not correspond to the detection member when the slider does not reach the fitting position. And the displacement of the detection member at the standby position to the detection position is restricted by interfering with the slider, and when the slider reaches the fitting position, the recessed portion causes the detection member to move. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the connector is configured to move to a position corresponding to and to be fitted into the recess as the detection member is displaced to the detection position. 3. The detecting member is arranged at a position such that an operating portion of the slider comes close to the detecting member when the slider moves to the fitting position. Alternatively, the connector according to claim 2.