JP2005123098A - Joint connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve an assembling property of a joint connector to be manufactured at a low cost, as to one for a wire harness loaded on a automobile or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The joint connector is structured of a plurality of connection terminals 10 connected to a plurality of wires 50, a housing 20 to house them, a retainer 30 fitted to the housing 20, and a spring piece 40 arranged between the housing 20 and the retainer 30. With the connection terminals 10, connecting parts 11 are housed in a terminal container 21 and other parts are loaded on terminal rest parts 22. A spring piece 40 is arranged with elastic contact pieces 43 in a contact state with wire connecting parts 12. The retainer 30 is fitted to the housing 20 so as to cover its terminal rest parts 22. The elastic contact pieces 43 of the spring piece 40 are arranged between the housing 20 and the retainer 30 in a state pressed toward the wire connecting parts 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a joint connector for a wire harness mounted on an automobile or the like, and more particularly to a joint connector that has high handleability and ease of assembly and can be manufactured at low cost.

  Conventionally, as a joint connector used for connecting a wire harness of an automobile or the like, a large number of connection terminals connected to each wire of the wire harness are accommodated in a housing, and these connection terminals are short-circuited by a bus bar or the like. One that interconnects to form a branch circuit is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 30675570 (page 3-4, FIG. 1-6)

  However, in the joint connector described in Patent Document 1, since the contact piece for connecting to the bus bar is formed by folding the tip of the terminal, when the wire harness is sub-assembled and attached to the housing, the terminals are contact piece portions. If the wires are entangled with each other or the wires of the wire harness are sandwiched in the gap between the terminal and the contact piece, the handleability is not good, and the work of attaching the terminal to the housing may be complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a joint connector that has good handleability and good assemblability and can be manufactured at low cost.

  In the first joint connector according to the present invention, the connecting portion connected to the mating connection terminal is formed on the distal end side, and the electric wire connecting portion connected to the core wire of the electric wire and the electric wire fixing portion for fixing and holding the electric wire on the proximal end side. A plurality of formed connection terminals, a housing for accommodating the plurality of connection terminals in a predetermined arrangement state with at least the wire connection portion exposed, and wires of the plurality of connection terminals exposed from the housing A short-circuit member having an elastic contact piece that short-circuits the connecting portions by elastic contact, and a retainer that supports the short-circuit member and is fixed to the housing.

  In the second joint connector according to the present invention, the connection portion connected to the counterpart connection terminal is formed on the distal end side, and the electric wire connection portion connected to the core wire of the electric wire on the proximal end side and the electric wire fixing portion for fixing and holding the electric wire are provided. A plurality of connection terminals formed, and a plurality of terminal accommodation chambers for accommodating the connection portions of the plurality of connection terminals in a predetermined arrangement state, and at least the wire connection portions are provided on the rear end sides of the plurality of terminal accommodation chambers. A housing in which a terminal receiving portion that receives the back side of the base end side of the plurality of connection terminals in an exposed state is formed, and an elastic contact piece that short-circuits the wire connection portions of the plurality of connection terminals exposed from the housing. A short-circuit member having a retainer that is fixed to the housing so as to cover the terminal receiving portion and supports the short-circuit member in a state in which the elastic contact piece of the short-circuit member is pressed against the wire connection portion. And wherein the Rukoto.

  In addition, the short-circuit member of this joint connector may be integrally provided in the retainer by press-fitting or insert molding, for example.

  The retainer preferably has a plurality of positioning projections for positioning and supporting the short-circuit member, for example, and the short-circuit member preferably has a plurality of positioning recesses into which the plurality of positioning projections are fitted.

  And the housing has, for example, an isolation wall portion formed of a ridge extending in the insertion direction of the plurality of connection terminals into the terminal accommodating chamber between the adjacent terminal receiving portions, and when the retainer is attached to the housing, It is good to have the isolation protrusion which has an end surface which contact | abuts the end surface of an isolation wall part in the position corresponding to an isolation wall part.

According to the present invention, for the structure in which the connection terminals accommodated in the housing are short-circuited by the short-circuit member having the elastic contact piece supported by the retainer, the wire harness including the plurality of electric wires to which the connection terminals are attached is sub-assembled. When attached to the housing, the connection terminals are not entangled with each other and the electric wires are not sandwiched between the connection terminals as in the prior art, and the handling and assembly of the joint connector can be improved.
In addition, since a general-purpose connection terminal can be used instead of a connection terminal having a special shape on which contact pieces are formed as in the prior art, it can be manufactured at low cost.
Furthermore, since the short-circuit member has a structure in which the wire connecting portion having the thinnest thickness is short-circuited, the overall thickness can be reduced, and the size can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a joint connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing a state in which this joint connector and another connector are fitted, and FIG. 3 is this joint connector. FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing a spring piece of the joint connector, and FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view of the joint connector.
As shown in FIG. 1, the joint connector 1 includes, for example, a plurality of metal connection terminals 10 (see FIG. 3) respectively connected to a plurality of electric wires 50, and a resin molded member in which the plurality of connection terminals 10 are accommodated. , A retainer 30 made of the same resin-molded member attached to the housing 20, and a spring piece 40 as a metal short-circuit member disposed between the housing 20 and the retainer 30 (see FIG. 3). It consists of and.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the plurality of connection terminals 10 include a cylindrical connection portion 11 that is connected to a counterpart connection terminal (not shown) in this example, and an electric wire 50 in which the core wire 51 is exposed (exposed) at the terminal portion. A wire connecting portion 12 connected to the core wire 51 by crimping, a wire fixing portion 13 for fixing and holding the electric wire 50 by caulking or the like, and a band plate for connecting the connecting portion 11, the wire connecting portion 12 and the wire fixing portion 13 The belt plate portion 14 having a shape is provided. In addition, the connection part 11 of the connection terminal 10 may be not in a cylindrical shape but in a band plate shape continuous from the band plate part 14.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the housing 20 has, for example, a plurality of terminal housing chambers formed in a row shape that accommodates the connection portions 11 of the plurality of connecting terminals 10 in a predetermined arrangement state, A shelf-like terminal receiver that receives the back side of the strip plate portion 14 of the connection terminal 10 at the rear end side of the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 21 and supports at least the wire connection portion 12 in an exposed state when the retainer 30 is not attached. It has a structure in which the portion 22 is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 5, terminal lance portions 21 a made of elastic pieces for locking and fixing the received connection terminals 10 are formed in the plurality of terminal storage chambers 21 of the housing 20. On the back side of the connecting portion 11 of the terminal 10, a lance engaging hole portion 11a that engages with the terminal lance portion 21a is formed. Since the terminal lance portion 21a and the lance engagement hole portion 11a allow the connection portion 11 of the connection terminal 10 to be securely locked and fixed in the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the housing 20, the mating connector as shown in FIG. It is possible to reliably avoid the connection portion 11 of the connection terminal 10 from being detached from the terminal accommodating chamber 21 and being shifted to the terminal receiving portion 22 side when connected to the counterpart connection terminal accommodated in 90. Here, the mating state between the mating connector 90 and the joint connector 1 is, for example, that the elastic engagement piece 27 having the projecting portion 28 formed on the housing 20 of the joint connector 1 and the projecting portion 28 formed on the mating connector 90. It is hold | maintained by engaging the engaging claw 91 which has an edge part to engage.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of terminal receiving portions 22 of the housing 20 are formed corresponding to the rear end side of each terminal accommodating chamber 21 in this example, and adjacent to the plurality of terminal receiving portions 22. Isolation formed by protrusions extending in the insertion direction of the connection terminal 10 into the terminal accommodating chamber 21 for preventing the adjacent connection terminals 10 from being unintentionally short-circuited between the terminal receiving portions 22 to be performed. A wall portion 23 is formed.

  On the other hand, the retainer 30 is attached to the housing 20 so as to cover the terminal receiving part 22 of the housing 20, and together with the terminal receiving part 22, the short-circuiting space part 26 communicating with the terminal receiving chambers 21 on the rear end side of the plurality of terminal receiving chambers 21. (See FIG. 5). The surface of the retainer 30 that faces the terminal receiving portion 22 has an end surface that has an end surface that contacts the end surface of the isolation wall portion 23 at a position corresponding to the isolation wall portion 23 of the housing 20 when the retainer 30 is attached to the housing 20. Article 31 is formed. A plurality of positioning projections 32 (see FIG. 5) that fit into the plurality of positioning recesses 41 formed in the spring piece 40 are formed on the surface of the retainer 30 that faces the spring piece 40.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the spring piece 40 disposed between the housing 20 and the retainer 30 forms a plurality of slits 42 by punching or the like in a metal plate and cuts and raises the positioning recess 41 in this example. And one end side is bent to form an elastic contact piece 43 that comes into contact with, for example, the wire connection portion 12 of the predetermined connection terminal 10 out of the connection terminals 10 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the housing 20. Consists of structure. The spring piece 40 in this example is formed with a plurality of elastic contact pieces 43 that come into contact with the wire connection portions 12 of all the connection terminals 10 so as to short-circuit all the connection terminals 10 accommodated in the terminal accommodation chamber 21. It consists of the shape which continued integrally on the edge part side.

  The housing 20 and the retainer 30 are fitted into a fitting recess 24 formed on a part of the rear end side of the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the housing 20 and a fitting recess 24 formed on the front end side of the retainer 30. The fitting protrusion 33 is fitted together, and the engagement protrusion 34 formed at the side end of the housing 20 and the engagement hole 34 that engages with the engagement protrusion 25 formed at the side end of the retainer 30 are provided. The engaging piece portion 35 is positioned and integrally attached with the engaging piece portion 35.

  In the joint connector 1 configured as described above, the connection portion 11 of the connection terminal 10 connected to the electric wire 50 is accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the housing 20, and the elastic contact piece 43 is provided in the electric wire connection portion 12 of the connection terminal 10. The elastic contact piece 43 of the spring piece 40 is pressed against the wire connection portion 12 of the connection terminal 10 in the short-circuit space 26 simply by arranging the spring piece 40 in the contact state and attaching the retainer 30 to the housing 20. The connection terminals 10 accommodated in the housing 20 can be short-circuited. Since the connection terminals 10 are not specially shaped like the conventional ones, the connection terminals 10 are not entangled with each other and the electric wires 50 are not caught when accommodated in the housing 20, and the assemblability of the joint connector 1 is improved. As a result, the handling property of the joint connector 1 can be improved. Further, since the spring piece 40 can be easily disposed on or removed from the joint connector 1, it can be used as a joint connector or as a normal connector corresponding to the presence or absence of branching. And versatility can be improved. Furthermore, since the spring piece 40 is disposed between the housing 20 and the retainer 30, various forms of branching can be easily handled by appropriately changing the formation mode of the elastic contact piece 43 of the spring piece 40. Is possible. Moreover, since the spring piece 40 has a structure in which the wire connecting portion 12 having the smallest thickness among the respective portions of the connection terminal 10 is short-circuited, the entire thickness of the joint connector 1 can be reduced, and the size can be reduced. .

  As shown in FIG. 2, the joint connector 1 is a so-called plug connector, and the mating connector 90 is a so-called receptacle connector. However, there is no problem even if both the structures are reversed. Further, the spring piece 40 is disposed between the housing 20 and the retainer 30 as a separate member. For example, the spring piece 40 is integrally provided by being press-fitted into the retainer 30 or insert-molded. It may consist of. In this case, since the connection terminal 10 can be short-circuited only by attaching the retainer 30 including the spring piece 40 to the housing 20, the assemblability of the joint connector 1 can be further improved.

  The present invention can be used for various applications for electrical connection including branch connection.

It is an appearance perspective view showing a joint connector concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows a mode that the joint connector and the other connector were fitted. It is a disassembled perspective view of the joint connector. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the spring piece of the joint connector. It is a partial cross section figure of the joint connector.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Joint connector, 10 ... Connection terminal, 11 ... Connection part, 11a ... Lance engagement hole part, 12 ... Electric wire connection part, 13 ... Electric wire fixing part, 14 ... Strip board part, 20 ... Housing, 21 ... Terminal accommodation chamber 21a ... terminal lance part, 22 ... terminal receiving part, 23 ... isolation wall part, 24 ... fitting recess, 25 ... engagement projection, 26 ... short-circuit space part, 27 ... elastic engagement piece, 28 ... projection part, 30 ...... Retainer, 31 ... isolating ridge, 32 ... positioning projection, 33 ... fitting projection, 34 ... engagement hole, 35 ... engagement piece, 40 ... spring piece, 41 ... positioning depression, 42 ... slit, 43 ... elastic contact piece, 50 ... electric wire, 51 ... core wire.

Claims (5)

A plurality of connection terminals in which a connection portion connected to the counterpart connection terminal is formed on the distal end side and an electric wire connection portion connected to the core wire of the electric wire and an electric wire fixing portion for fixing and holding the electric wire are formed on the proximal end side;
A housing for accommodating the plurality of connection terminals in a predetermined arrangement state with at least the electric wire connection portion exposed;
A short-circuit member having an elastic contact piece that short-circuits between the wire connection portions of the plurality of connection terminals exposed from the housing by elastic contact;
A joint connector comprising: a retainer that supports the short-circuit member and is fixed to the housing. A plurality of connection terminals in which a connection portion connected to the counterpart connection terminal is formed on the distal end side and an electric wire connection portion connected to the core wire of the electric wire and an electric wire fixing portion for fixing and holding the electric wire are formed on the proximal end side;
The plurality of connection terminals having a plurality of terminal accommodation chambers for accommodating the connection portions of the plurality of connection terminals in a predetermined arrangement state, with at least the wire connection portions exposed at the rear end side of the plurality of terminal accommodation chambers. A housing in which a terminal receiving portion for receiving the back side of the base end side is formed;
A short-circuit member having an elastic contact piece for short-circuiting between the wire connection portions of the plurality of connection terminals exposed from the housing;
A joint connector comprising: a retainer that is fixed to the housing so as to cover the terminal receiving portion and supports the short-circuit member in a state where the elastic contact piece of the short-circuit member is pressed against the wire connection portion. .   The joint connector according to claim 2, wherein the short-circuit member is integrally provided in the retainer by press-fitting or insert molding. The retainer has a plurality of positioning projections for positioning and supporting the short-circuit member, and the short-circuit member has a plurality of positioning recesses into which the plurality of positioning projections are fitted. The joint connector according to 2 or 3. The housing has an isolation wall portion formed of a ridge extending in the insertion direction of the plurality of connection terminals into the terminal accommodating chamber between the adjacent terminal receiving portions, and the retainer is attached to the housing. 5. The joint connector according to claim 2, further comprising: an isolation ridge having an end surface that abuts on an end surface of the isolation wall portion at a position corresponding to the isolation wall portion.

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