JP2003308913A - Female side terminal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a female side terminal fitting in which reinforcement of protection and down-sizing of an elastic piece are made, and in which augmentation of impedance is suppressed to cope with high-frequency formation and in which the whole connector is downsized to cope with a high integration. <P>SOLUTION: Protecting frames 11a, 11b to protect an elastic piece 6a are formed in a closed ring state or a box state provided with an opening into which the male side terminal fitting is enabled to be inserted, and arranged and installed so as to surround a tip region of an elastic piece. By this, the protruding amount of the protecting members 4a, 4b can be made to only the necessary amount for protecting the elastic piece 6a, and the downsizing of the female side terminal fittings 1a, 1b can be carried out and unconformity of impedance is prevented from occurring by suppressing augmentation of impedance. Furthermore, because the tip region of the elastic piece is not exposed, a contact, a catch or the like of the elastic piece 6a and foreign materials disappear, and the reinforcement of protection of the elastic piece 6a is made. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a female terminal fitting, and more particularly, to shortening the terminal length while strengthening protection of an elastic piece forming an electrical connection with the male terminal fitting, thereby increasing the impedance. The present invention relates to a female terminal metal fitting of a connector that can be suppressed and can be downsized.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as electronic parts and ICs (integrated circuits) built into electric devices of automobiles such as car navigation systems have become higher in performance and higher in function, a printed circuit board for control mounted thereon has been developed. The electric signal transmitted to the circuit has been increased in speed (increased in frequency), and the wiring pattern has been increased in the board pattern of the printed board to increase the density.
Generally, high-frequency compatible shielded cables and shielded connectors are used to transmit such high-frequency electrical signals, but with the increasing frequency of transmitted electrical signals, these wiring members, that is, shielded cables. There is also an increasing demand for high-frequency compatible miniaturization of shielded connectors for relay connections.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a general assembling structure of a shielded cable for transmitting a high frequency signal and a shielded connector.

As shown in FIG. 3, a coaxial cable, for example, is widely used as a shielded cable for transmitting electric signals. The coaxial cable 31 includes a signal conductor 34, which is a bundle of a single or a plurality of metal element wires as a transmission path for electric signals and the like arranged in a central portion, and a plurality of elements that cover the outer periphery of the signal conductor 34 without a gap. The shield conductor 35 has a braided wire structure in which a wire is braided, and includes a signal conductor 34 and a shield conductor 3.
An insulator 36 is interposed between the five conductors 5, and the outer circumference of the shield conductor 35 is covered with an insulating sheath 37 to form a coaxial structure. The shield conductor 35 electromagnetically shields the signal conductor 34 by covering the outer periphery of the signal conductor 34 with no space.

The shielded connector for relaying the coaxial cable is a signal conductor 34 of the coaxial cable 31.
An inner conductor terminal (Fig. 3) that is connected to
Shows a mode in which a female side terminal fitting 30 described later is used), an outer conductor terminal 32 that is connected to the shield conductor 35 of the coaxial cable 31 and covers the outer circumference of the inner conductor terminal to electromagnetically shield them. A dielectric 33 having a predetermined permittivity provided between the inner conductor terminal and the outer conductor terminal 32.
With. As a result, the insulator 36 of the coaxial cable terminal is
The signal conductor 34 and the shield conductor 35, which are exposed by stripping off the sheath 37, are electrically relayed individually.

In order to reliably transmit a high frequency signal, it is necessary to match the impedances of the transmission lines and the connectors in the circuit. This is because, for example, if the impedances of the shielded cable and the shielded connector in the circuit are not matched, problems such as a decrease in transmission efficiency due to signal reflection and occurrence of crosstalk due to noise occur at the mismatched portion. . Since these problems are more likely to occur as the frequency becomes higher, the importance of eliminating the impedance mismatch is increasing as the frequency of the transmission signal becomes higher.

Therefore, as for the female terminal fitting used for the inner conductor terminal for relay connection of the coaxial cable, as a protection portion structure capable of transmitting a high frequency signal while strengthening the protection of the elastic piece, for example, FIG. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 200
The structure described in 0-21471 is developed.

In the structure described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-21471, the female terminal fitting is formed by bending a conductive metal plate, and the elastic contact piece elastically connectable to the male terminal fitting is exposed to the outside. Is a female terminal fitting that can be inserted into the cylindrical housing portion, and a protective frame 53 for protecting the elastic contact piece 54 on the tip side of the elastic contact piece 54. And the protective portion is formed in a closed ring shape having a communication hole capable of receiving the female side terminal.

Then, the bottom surface of the body of the female terminal fitting 30 is extended, and a frame piece 52 is further extended from the tip of the extended arm member 57 to the left and right to form a substantially T-shape, and the protective frame pieces 52 are provided at two positions respectively. It is bent and raised inwardly and the ends of both are abutted to form a closed annular protective frame 53.

By thus forming the protective frame 53 having a closed ring shape, the protection of the elastic contact piece 54 is strengthened, while the male side inner conductor terminal of the elastic contact piece 54 is formed in front of the tip of the elastic contact piece 54. Secure a bending space during insertion. Then, by suppressing the size of the protective frame 53 to a minimum, the deterioration of the high frequency characteristics is suppressed to such an extent that it does not hinder practical use.

[0011]

However, the structure described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-21471 has the following problems.

The first problem is that the length of the female terminal fitting 30 cannot be shortened. As shown in FIG. 4A, since the female-side terminal fitting 30 is integrally formed from a plate-shaped conductor, in order to form the protective frame piece 55 and the elastic contact piece 54,
At the stage of the developed view, the protective frame piece 55 is arranged in front of the elastic contact piece 54 and must be cut out at a position where they do not overlap and interfere with each other, and in the metal working of the female side terminal fitting 30, the elastic contact piece 54 is used. Since it is also necessary to process and provide tolerances, the protective frame piece 52 is elastically contacted with the elastic contact piece 54 by the necessary amount.
It is necessary to form it at a position projecting from the tip of the above, and as a result, a gap for M shown in FIG.

Further, the female side terminal fitting 30 is configured to electrically connect with the male side terminal fitting by urging and fixing the male side terminal fitting (not shown) by a pair of elastic contact pieces 54 facing each other from the outside. , The elastic contact piece 54 is curved toward the inside facing each other, and in order to smoothly insert the male side metal terminal during assembly, the male side metal terminal guide portion 56 is formed by bending the tip toward the outside. It is formed.
Therefore, the elastic contact piece 54 is bent so that the tip end position is shifted to the root side and the apparent length is shorter than in the stage of the development view, and the gap between the elastic contact piece 54 and the protective member 45 is in the gap M. The amount of shift is further added, and the amount of protrusion of the protective frame 53 apparently increases.

For the above reason, it is impossible to reduce the protrusion amount of the protective member 58 from the tip of the elastic contact piece 54 after the bending, and it is difficult to miniaturize the connector as the circuit is highly integrated.

Although it is possible to shorten the length of the female-side terminal fitting 30 by narrowing the width of the protective frame piece 53, if it is too thin, the strength of the protective frame 53 decreases and it functions as a protective member. There is also a risk of not doing so. In particular, since the absolute strength of the female-side terminal fitting 30 is reduced due to the size reduction, it is extremely important to secure the strength of the protective frame 52 for protecting the elastic contact piece 54.

The second problem is that the protrusion of the protective frame 52 increases the impedance, making it impossible to achieve impedance matching in the circuit. FIG.
2 is a schematic side view showing an assembling structure of a female side terminal fitting 30 and a male side terminal fitting 60 having a configuration described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 21471, in which a protective frame 53 and an arm portion 57 are hatched in the figure. The constituted protective member 58 projects beyond the tip of the elastic contact piece 54 toward the male terminal fitting 60 side. Therefore, when a high-frequency current flows through both the terminal fittings 30 and 60, the current flows from the male terminal fitting 60 to the elastic contact piece 54 of the female terminal fitting 30 in the shortest path, and hardly flows into the protective member 58 (= (The electric field density is low.) The female side terminal fitting 30 in the section has the same effect as the outer diameter of the terminal becomes smaller than the apparent outer diameter of the terminal, but the impedance is increased.

Further, in the structure described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-21471, since the protective frame 53 is located at the position projecting from the tip of the elastic contact piece 54, the elastic contact piece 54 is exposed, and foreign matter comes into contact or is caught. Therefore, it cannot be said that the elastic piece is sufficiently protected because it may be deformed and damaged beyond the permissible limit of elastic deformation. It is necessary to strengthen it.

In view of the above circumstances, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to reduce the length of the terminal fitting and suppress the increase of impedance while strengthening the protection of the elastic piece at the connecting portion of the female side terminal fitting. Another object of the present invention is to provide a female terminal fitting for a shielded connector which can cope with high frequency of a transmission signal and can be miniaturized as a whole of the shielded connector having a female terminal fitting built therein to cope with high integration.

[0019]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the protective structure of the female terminal fitting according to claim 1 is integrally formed from a plate-shaped conductor, and the mating male terminal fitting is formed. Is a female-side terminal fitting formed with a connecting portion including an elastic piece that can be elastically joined with, and a protection frame that protects the elastic piece is disposed so as to surround a tip end region of the elastic piece, The gist of the invention is that the protective frame is formed in a closed ring shape or a box shape having an opening through which the male side terminal fitting can be inserted.

With such a structure, it is not necessary to dispose the tip of the protective portion so as to project more than the tip of the elastic piece, and the terminal length can be shortened as compared with the conventional female side terminal fitting, and the overall size of the shielded connector can be reduced. Can be achieved. Further, since the connection between the elastic piece and the male side terminal is configured at the tip portion of the female side terminal fitting, the protruding amount of the protective frame and the arm portion supporting the protective frame can be reduced, so that the portion where the impedance changes is shortened. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of defects due to impedance mismatch. Further, since the protective frame is disposed in a closed ring shape so as to surround the tip end region of the elastic piece, contact of foreign matter to the tip of the elastic piece, catching, etc. are prevented, and further, since the protective frame limits the deformation amount of the elastic piece, Prevents deformation and damage beyond the limit of elastic deformation.

Further, in this case, the protective frame formed on the elastic piece protecting member is formed in a closed ring shape, and the protective frame arranged in the tip end region of the elastic piece is formed in a closed ring shape. The tip end protection member for protecting the tip end of the elastic piece is projected from the protection frame, or the protection frame arranged in the tip end region of the elastic piece is a male terminal. A male side terminal metal fitting insertion hole through which a metal fitting can be inserted is provided, and a front surface protection member disposed on the male side terminal metal fitting side of the tip of the elastic piece, and extending from an edge of the front surface protection member, It is preferable that the elastic piece includes a side surface protection member formed so as to surround a side circumference of the piece, and that the piece is disposed so as to cover the elastic piece tip end region.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment according to the present invention. And (b) shows a perspective view after folding and forming. In addition, the broken line in the developed view of (a) of each figure is a bending line for bending formation, and the broken line with a small pitch indicates a valley fold and the broken line with a large pitch indicates a mountain fold.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the female terminal fitting 1
Reference symbols a and 1b are formed by cutting a plate-shaped conductor into a predetermined shape and bending it to integrally form a shielded cable core wire crimping portion 2 that constitutes an electrical connection with a shielded cable, and is not shown. It is provided with a connecting portion 3 that constitutes an electrical connection with the male-side terminal fitting, and protective members 4a and 4b that physically protect the connecting portion 3.

Since the first and second embodiments differ only in the form of the protective members 4a and 4b, common structures are designated by the same reference numerals. Further, when there are a plurality of identical structures, any one of them will be denoted by a representative symbol.

First, the shielded cable core crimping portion 2 and the connecting portion 3 common to both embodiments will be described. The shielded cable core crimping portion 2 is formed by extending from one side of the connecting portion main body 7 and includes a pair of crimping pieces 5 crimped and connected to the signal conductor of the shielded cable. And the crimping piece 5
Is caulked in a form of wrapping a signal conductor (not shown) from the outside to crimp and fix the signal conductor, thereby forming an electrical connection between the female terminal fitting and the signal conductor of the shielded cable.

The connecting portion 3 includes a connecting portion main body 7 and the connecting portion main body 7.
The shield cable core wire crimping portion 2 is provided with a pair of tongue-shaped elastic pieces 6a extending in a direction opposite to the shield cable core wire crimping portion 2 from one side where the shield cable core wire crimping portion 2 is not formed. Then, the two bending lines d on the connecting portion main body 7 are bent to erect the connecting portion 3 and form a pair of opposing side walls.
Further, both elastic pieces 6a are curved inwardly facing each other at the bending line b to form a narrow gap on the tip side of the elastic pieces 6a, and a male-side terminal fitting (not shown) inserted between the opposing elastic pieces 6a. Is biased inward and fixed to form an electrical connection. Further, the male side terminal guide portion 6b is formed by bending the tip of the elastic piece 6a so as to spread outward along the bending line c so that the male side terminal fitting can be smoothly inserted during the assembling operation.

Next, the protective member 4 in each of the embodiments
A and 4b will be described. The protection member 4a in the first embodiment has an arm portion 8 extending in the same direction as the elastic piece 6a from between the elastic pieces 6a of the connecting portion body 7 at the stage of the development view of FIG. And a protective frame piece 9 extending from the tip of the arm portion 8 to the left and right, and is formed in a substantially T shape.
Furthermore, the elastic pieces 6 are formed at the ends of both the protective frame pieces 9 after bending and forming.
A tip protection member 10 for protecting the tip region of a is provided so as to project toward the base of the arm 8. A preferred amount of protrusion of the tip protection member 10 will be described later.

In the bending formation, first, the arm portion 8 extending from the connecting portion main body 7 is folded back by 180 ° in the direction opposite to the direction in which the connecting portion 3 is bent and bent along the folding line a. As shown in FIG. 1, the folding line a is preferably at a position shifted by a certain amount L (hereinafter, the folding amount L) from the edge of the protective frame piece 9 on the base side of the arm 8. Arm 8
When is folded back along the folding line a, the arm portion 8 and the protective frame piece 9 extending the length L from the folding line a toward the tip end and the protective frame piece 9 have the fold line a as the axis of symmetry and the base side of the arm portion 8. Move to the mirror surface. As a result, the folding line a is located at the tip of the arm portion 8, the protective frame piece 9 is superposed on the elastic piece 6a in the vicinity of the bending line c of the male side terminal metal fitting guiding portion 12, and the protective member 4a as a whole is in the arm portion 8. Has a substantially cross shape protruding from the protective frame piece 9 by the folding amount L. The tip protection member 10 projectingly provided at the tip of the protection frame piece 9 changes the direction in which it projects by folding back by 180 °, which is the same as the extending direction of the arm 8.

From this state, the protective frame piece 9 is bent at the bending line e,
By bending and raising the two 90 ° connecting portions 3 in the same direction at the two positions of f and abutting the tips of both protective frame pieces 9,
A substantially rectangular closed annular protection frame 11a surrounding the elastic piece 6a after being formed by bending is formed. Of the respective sides of the protective frame 11a, the front end protection member 10 integrally projects from the side between the two folding lines f to f formed by abutting the front ends of the protective frame pieces 9, and is constituted by the arm portion 8. From the side between the two folding lines e to e, the folding line a is the tip and the folding amount L is
Only the arm portion 8 projects to form the tip protection member.

The amount of protrusion of the tip protecting member 10 is preferably set to be substantially the same as the amount of protrusion of the tip protecting member 12 when the protective frame 11a is bent and formed. That is, in the development view of FIG. 1A, it is preferable that the extension line AA ′ of the folding line a and the tip of the tip protection member 10 are substantially aligned with each other.

With this structure, the protective frame 11
a prevents foreign matter from coming into contact with the elastic piece 6a from the periphery of the terminal, and the two sides formed between the bending lines e to f of the protective frame 11a limit the amount of bending deformation of the elastic piece 6a to limit the elastic piece 6a. To prevent damage. Further, since the front end protection members 10 and 12 projecting from the protective frame 11a are formed so as to sandwich the front end of the elastic piece 6a from two opposite sides, the elastic piece 6a.
It is also possible to prevent foreign matter from coming into contact with or being caught at the tip of the and damage it, and the protection of the elastic piece 6a can be enhanced as compared with the conventional structure in which the elastic piece is exposed.

It should be noted that the fold-back line a is bent at the connecting portion 3
By doing so toward the outer peripheral surface side of the terminal opposite to the side where the bending is caused, it is possible to avoid the interference between the protective frame piece 9 and the elastic piece 6a during bending formation. That is, when the arm portion 8 is bent back in the same direction as the connection portion and the arm portion 8 is folded back first, the protection frame piece 9 is superposed on the bending side surface of the tip end region of the elastic piece 6a, and the connection portion is bent and bent. If this is done first, the tips of the elastic pieces 6a interfere with each other, making it difficult to form them by bending. Further, when the arm portion 8 is bent and bent in the same direction as the connecting portion 3, the arm portion 8 exists outside the outer peripheral surface of the protective frame 11a to form a protruding portion, so that the protective frame 11a itself may be damaged by foreign matter or the like. It may be damaged. Therefore, by folding back toward the outer peripheral surface side opposite to the connecting portion 3, the bending and forming becomes easy, and
It is possible to prevent foreign matter from being caught, without providing a convex portion on the outer peripheral surface of the protective frame 11a. In this case, the arm portion 8 is bent along the bending lines j and k so that the outer peripheral surface of the protective frame 11a and the outer surface of the arm portion 8 are aligned to be smooth.

In this case, the protrusion amount of the tip protection members 10, 12 from the side of the protection frame 11a is such that the tip of the elastic piece 6a contacts the foreign matter even when the tip of the protection frame 11a is in contact with the foreign matter. It does not need to be, and the necessary minimum protrusion amount that can secure the bending deformation space at the time of inserting the male side metal terminal fitting, for example, the tip of the tip protecting members 10 and 12 is the male side metal terminal guiding portion 6b of the elastic piece 6a. It is desirable that the female terminal metal fitting 1a be located at substantially the same position as or slightly projecting from the tip of the female terminal fitting 1a.

For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), the extension line AA 'of the folding line a is located at the position where it overlaps with the tip of the male side terminal metal fitting guiding portion 6b of the elastic piece 6a at the stage of development. Must be or be located on the root side. As described above, the elastic piece 6a is bent inward at the bending line b for fixing the male terminal fitting, and the male terminal fitting guiding portion 6b is formed.
The outward bending at the bending line (c) for the formation of the sheet reduces the apparent length as compared with the stage of the development view, and the male side terminal metal fitting guiding portion 6b of the elastic piece 6a is correspondingly shortened.
This is because the tip of moves to the base side. In the developed view, when the tip end position of the elastic piece 6a is located on the base side of the extension line AA ', the tip protection members 10 and 12 are already in the tip end of the elastic piece 6a at the stage where bending is not performed. It is more prominent.

In the present embodiment, since the tip protection member 12 is formed by folding back the arm 8 at the folding position a, the protection frame piece 9 is folded from the folding line a at the stage of development.
The arm portion 8 has a length of the folding amount L to the rear side position, and is necessary for processing between the tip of the male side metal terminal guide portion 6b of the elastic piece 6a and the protective frame piece 9. Alternatively, the fold line a is set at an arbitrary optimum position without interfering with the tip of the protective frame piece 9 and the tip of the elastic piece 6a while ensuring a gap required for providing the tolerance, and the male side terminal fitting of the elastic piece 6a is set. It is possible to cut out by setting a necessary distance to a position shifted from the tip position of the guiding portion 6b.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the protrusion amount of the tip protecting members 10 and 12 can be set to the optimum value according to the length of the elastic piece 6a.
Further, unlike the conventional example, the width of the protective frame piece 9 is different from that of the female terminal fitting 1
Since it does not affect the length of a, the length of the female-side terminal fitting 1a does not increase even if a width is provided to provide the necessary strength for protecting the tip of the elastic piece 6a. For this reason, the length of the elastic piece 6a is kept to a conventional level, and a sufficient and sufficient length for the construction of reliable electrical connection with the male side terminal fitting and the strength of the protective frame necessary for protecting the elastic piece 6a are secured. At the same time, the overall size of the terminal fitting can be reduced. Also, the electrical connection with the male side terminal fitting moves to the front of the terminal, and the protective member 4
Since the protrusion amount of a can be reduced, the protection member 4
It is possible to suppress an increase in impedance due to the protrusion of a.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the overlapping position of the protective frame 11a and the elastic piece 6a can be arbitrarily set by setting the folding back amount L, it is formed between the bending lines e to f of the protective frame 11a. The two sides located in the direction of the bending deformation of the elastic piece 6a when the side terminal metal fitting is inserted are where the mutual distance between both elastic pieces 6a after bending is the smallest, for example, as described above, the male side terminal guiding portion 6b. By forming it in the vicinity of the bending line c so as to be overlapped with each other, it is possible to secure the bending space of the elastic piece 6a without being interfered by the two sides. If the bending space of the elastic piece 6a cannot be sufficiently secured only by adjusting the folding amount L, a portion that interferes with the bending space of the elastic piece 6a on the two sides formed between the bending lines e to f is cut out, etc. And avoid interference.

Further, by forming a tapered taper surface 17 on the opening side of the protective frame 11a, the taper surface 17 is smoothly inserted into the dielectric 33 when the shield connector as shown in FIG. 3 is assembled as an inner conductor terminal. Therefore, the operability of assembling can be improved, and the damage of the female side terminal fitting 1a at the time of assembling can be prevented.

Next, a protective member structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 2A, the protective member 4b according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes an arm portion 8 extending in the distal direction from the connecting portion main body 7 and the arm portion 8 at the stage of the developed view. A front surface protection member 13 extending from the tip of the front side through which the male side terminal insertion hole 16 extends, and side surface protection members 14 and 15 extending from three sides which are not joined to the arm portion 8 of the front surface protection member 13. The protection member 4b is formed in a substantially cross shape as a whole.

Then, the front surface protection member 13 is bent 90 ° to the same side as the connecting portion 3 to stand upright on the front surface of the tip of the elastic piece 6a and side surface protection members 14, 15 extending from the edge of the front surface protection member 13. Are bent lines h, i
Then, bend 90 ° toward the base side of the arm 8. As a result, the front surface protection member 13, the side surface protection members 14 and 15 and the arm portion 8 form a box-shaped substantially rectangular protection frame 11b in which the front surface protection member 13 is likened to the bottom surface, and the box is formed in the tip end region of the elastic piece 6a. The protective frame 11b in the shape of a circle is covered.

With this structure, the elastic piece 6a is formed.
The tip area of the box is a box-shaped protection frame 1 from 5 sides except the root side.
Since the elastic piece 6a is surrounded by 1b, the tip of the elastic piece 6a does not come into contact with or be caught by foreign matter, and damage is prevented. Further, since the protection frame 11b is formed in a box-shaped three-dimensional shape in which each edge of the front surface protection member 13 is bent and raised, the strength of the protection frame 11b itself is increased as compared with the case where it is protected by a simple bent and bent flat plate. The protection is strengthened.

In order to protect the tip of the elastic piece 6a and reduce the size of the terminal and suppress the increase in impedance,
At the position where the protective frame 11b is formed, the front side protection member 13 after bending and the male side terminal metal fitting guiding portion 6b of the elastic piece 6a are formed.
It is desirable to suppress the length of the arm portion 8 so that the gap between the distal end of the arm portion 8 and the tip of the arm portion 8 becomes the minimum amount necessary to secure the bending deformation of the elastic piece 6a when the male terminal fitting is inserted.

Therefore, similarly to the first embodiment of the present invention, in consideration of the shift amount of the tip end position due to the bending formation of the elastic piece 6a, the front protection member 13 and the arm portion 8 at the position where it is bent up are taken into consideration. It is necessary to set the position of the bending line g. For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, the extension line BB ′ of the bending line g is substantially the same as the tip of the male side terminal metal fitting guiding portion 6b of the elastic piece 6a. It is desirable to position it at or at the root side.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the side surface protection member 1
5 is preferably formed only at a position and a width necessary for protecting the tip of the elastic piece 6a after bending, and the side surface protection member 15 may not be formed over the entire length of the edge of the front surface protection member 13. With such a configuration, while providing a gap between the side surface protection member 14 and the elastic piece 6a at the stage of the development view, which is necessary for processing or for providing a tolerance,
The bending line g can be shifted without interference between the tip side surface protection portion 15 and the elastic piece 6a, and the length of the arm portion 8 can be suppressed to the necessary minimum length.

Even when the side surface protection portion 15 is extended from the range over the entire length of the edge of the front surface protection portion 13, the amount of protrusion from the edge of the front surface protection member 13 is limited to the required length. Also, the boundary line between the front surface protection portion and the arm portion 8 can be shifted to the base side without interfering with the tip of the elastic piece 6a. In this case, the side surface protection member 14
By forming a hole or the like near the bending line g of the elastic piece 6a for avoiding the interference of the bending deformation of the tip end of the elastic piece 6a, it is possible to avoid the interference due to the bending deformation when the male side terminal fitting is inserted after the bending is formed. It is also possible to secure a deformation space.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the amount of protrusion from the tip of the elastic piece 6a is the total of the minimum gap required to secure the bending space and the thickness of the plate-shaped conductor. In the same manner as in the first embodiment, the length of the elastic piece 6a is kept to be the same as that of the conventional one, and the length sufficient to ensure a reliable electrical connection with the male side terminal fitting is ensured. The overall size of the terminal fitting can be reduced compared to the example. Moreover, since the electrical connection with the male side terminal fitting moves to the front of the terminal, it is possible to suppress an increase in impedance due to the protrusion of the protection member 4b.

Furthermore, when the shield connector as shown in FIG. 3 is assembled as an inner conductor terminal, the side face protection member 15 and the arm portion 8 are bent from the front face protection member 13 toward the rear portion to the edge of the front face protection member 13. Since all of the bending lines g, h, and i have a constant curvature, there is no need to provide a guide surface on the protective frame as in the configuration described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-21471, and the inside of the dielectric 33 is smooth. It is possible to prevent the breakage of the female-side terminal fitting 1b at the time of assembling while improving the operability of assembling.

In the step of terminal processing for connecting the above-mentioned connector to the shielded cable, i) peeling the shielded cable end to expose the signal conductor and the shield conductor (invert the shield conductor on the sheath if necessary), i
The process is i) crimp-connecting the female-side terminal fitting to be the inner conductor terminal to the signal conductor, and iii) crimp-connecting the outer conductor terminal to the shield conductor, which is the same process as conventionally performed.

[0049]

As described above, according to the inner conductor terminal protection portion structure of the present invention, the protection frame, which conventionally has to be arranged so as to project forward of the elastic piece, covers the periphery of the tip of the elastic piece. Can be arranged as follows. As a result, the inner conductor terminal can be miniaturized, the shield connector as a whole can be miniaturized, the protection of the elastic piece can be strengthened, and the electrical connection part moves to the front of the terminal, so that the increase in impedance is suppressed and the impedance mismatch. Can be resolved. That is, the reflection and radiation of the signal by the protective member are reduced, and it can be applied to the transmission of a higher frequency electric signal. Further, the terminal length can be shortened without shortening the length of the elastic piece that constitutes the electrical connection with the male side terminal fitting, and even if the size is reduced, reliable electrical connection and sufficient protection of the terminal can be achieved. The miniaturization of the connector also makes it possible to cope with high integration of the circuit.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the protective frame piece can be cut out at the position moved forward by the amount of folding back, so that the protective frame piece and the tip of the elastic piece do not interfere with each other, and Both can secure a necessary and sufficient length. After the bending is formed, the tip of the elastic piece is protected by the tip protecting portion, and the elastic frame can be prevented from being deformed more than necessary. Furthermore, since the protective frame itself is formed at a position where it does not interfere with the tip of the elastic piece, it is possible to secure a bending space for the elastic piece when inserting the male side terminal, as well as a gap between the conventional elastic piece tip and the protective frame and protection. The length can be shortened by the total length of the frame in the front-rear direction, and the increase in impedance can be suppressed and the terminal can be downsized.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the protective frame piece 15 does not need to be largely stretched at the stage of the development view before being cut out from the plate-shaped conductor, the protective frame piece 15 and the elastic piece are not necessary. The necessary and sufficient length of the elastic piece can be secured without the tip of the 6a interfering. After the bending, the front and side surfaces of the tip of the elastic piece are surrounded by the front surface protection portion and the protective frame, so that the elastic piece can be sufficiently protected. Furthermore, since each side of the front protection part is bent and bent up, the protection part itself becomes stronger and the edges of each side of the protection frame become smoother than when protected with only a flat plate-shaped front protection part. As a result, JP-A-2000-21471
As in the case of the protective frame described in Japanese Patent Publication, smooth insertion into the dielectric body is possible without providing guide surfaces on each side of the protective frame. Also, the amount of protrusion of the protective frame to the front from the tip of the elastic piece is
It is possible to make only the minimum gap and the thickness of the conductor necessary for the bending deformation of the elastic piece when the male side terminal is inserted, and it is possible to downsize the shield connector.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope of the present invention. is there. For example, in the above-described embodiment of claim 2, a structure in which the protective member arm portion is folded back downward is shown for facilitating bending formation, but a structure in which the protective member arm portion is folded back upward may be used. Further, in the present embodiment, the inner conductor terminal of the female connector in the connection structure of the cable connectors has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, the application other than the connection of the cable connectors, for example, a connector for a board to be fixedly connected to a printed circuit board or the like. It is also applicable to the connection of a cable connector connected to a cable.

The order in which the elastic pieces 6a and the protective frames 11a and 11b are bent and formed in each of the above-mentioned embodiments is for convenience of explanation, and the order of bending and formation in actual production is not shown. However, as long as the above-mentioned form can be obtained, the order of bending and forming does not matter.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are views showing a first embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 1A is a development view before forming a warp bend, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view in a state where the bend is formed.

2A and 2B are views showing a second embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 2A is a development view before forming the fold, and FIG. 2B is a perspective view in a state where the fold is formed.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an assembly structure of a conventional general shielded connector.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional female terminal fitting,
(A) is a development view before bending and forming, (b) is a perspective view after bending and forming. is there.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a connection state between a conventional female terminal fitting and a male terminal fitting.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a Female-side terminal metal fitting 1b in 1st Embodiment Female-side terminal metal fitting 2 in 2nd Embodiment Wire cable core wire part connection part 3 Connection part 4a Protection member of the female-side terminal metal fitting in 1st Embodiment 4b Protective member 5 for female terminal fitting in the second embodiment 5 Crimping piece 6a Elastic piece body 6b Male terminal fitting guide part 7 for elastic piece Connection body 8 Arm part 9 for protective member Protective frame piece 10 for protective member Protective member tip protection member 11a Protective frame 11b for female terminal fitting in the first embodiment 11b Protective frame 12 for female terminal fitting in the second embodiment Tip protection member 13 in the first embodiment 13 Second Front protection member 14 in the second embodiment Side protection member 15 in the second embodiment Side protection member 16 in the second embodiment Male side terminal insertion hole 17 Female in the first embodiment Guide surface 30 of the protective frame of the terminal fitting 30 Conventional female terminal fitting 31 serving as an inner conductor terminal 31 Coaxial cable 32 Outer conductor terminal 33 Dielectric 34 Signal conductor 35 of coaxial cable Shield conductor 36 of coaxial cable 36 Insulator 37 of coaxial cable Coaxial Cable sheath 52 Conventional closed annular protection frame piece 53 Conventional closed annular protection frame 54 Elastic contact piece 55 Connection portion 56 Male side terminal fitting guide portion 57 of elastic piece Arm portion 58 of protection member Protection member 60 Male side terminal fitting 61 Connection part 62 of male side terminal fittings Electrical connection point AA ′ between male side terminal fittings and female side terminal fittings Extension line a of folding line a a Folding line b of arm portion in the first embodiment Root of elastic piece Fold line BB ′ of fold line c, extension line c of fold line g, fold line for forming male-side terminal guiding part d, bend-up fold line for forming connection part e, protection in the first embodiment Bending line f for forming f Folding line for forming protective frame g in the first embodiment g Bending line for front surface protection member h in the second embodiment h Bending line i for side surface protection member in the second embodiment i Second Bending line j of the side surface protection member in the embodiment j Bending line k of the arm portion in the first embodiment k Bending line L of the arm portion in the first embodiment L Position shift of the folding line in the first embodiment Amount (folded back amount) M Gap between the tip of the elastic piece and the protective frame piece on the development view in the conventional example

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Norifumi Yoshida             1-7-10 Kikuzumi, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi             Auto Network Technical Laboratory Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tomoki Kawamura             1-7-10 Kikuzumi, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi             Auto Network Technical Laboratory Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5E021 FA09 FB11 FC07 FC32 LA15                       LA21

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A female-side terminal fitting, which is integrally formed from a plate-shaped conductor and has a connecting portion provided with an elastic piece that can be elastically joined to a mating male-side terminal fitting. A protective frame for protecting the piece is arranged so as to surround a tip end region of the elastic piece, and the protective frame is formed in a closed ring shape or a box shape having an opening through which the male side terminal fitting can be inserted. Female terminal fittings characterized by. 2. A protective frame disposed in a tip end region of the elastic piece is formed in a closed ring shape, and a tip protection member for protecting the tip of the elastic piece is provided in a protruding manner on the protective frame. The female terminal fitting according to claim 1. 3. The protective frame disposed in the tip end region of the elastic piece has a male terminal fitting insertion hole through which a male terminal fitting can be inserted, and a male terminal fitting at the tip of the elastic piece. And a side surface protection member extending from an edge of the front surface protection member and formed so as to surround a side circumference of the elastic piece, and covers the tip end region of the elastic piece. The female-side terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the female-side terminal fitting is arranged in a form.