JP2005158278A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure insertion operability of a female terminal fitting without enlarging a connector while regulating excessive bending of the female metal fitting. <P>SOLUTION: In the case another member such as a male terminal fitting 50 out of order in the fitting direction push the extended end 13A of an elastic pressing piece 13, and displace it into the direction to separate it from a receiving plate part 11, the extended end 13A of the elastic pressing piece 13 is regulated from displacement beyond the elastic limit by a regulating protrusion 45 of the excessive bending regulating member 40. Because it is not necessary that a stopper protruding between the elastic pressing pieces is installed as conventional, the female terminal fitting 10 or a female side cavity 25 does not become large in the width direction, and the large-sizing of the connector is not necessary in the width direction. Furthermore, when the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the female side cavity 25, because the female side cavity 25 is expanded by removing the excessive bending regulating member 40, the insertion operability is securable. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector provided with a female terminal fitting.

  As an example of the connector, there is one having a female terminal fitting called a faston type. This female terminal metal fitting is composed of a pair of flat receiving plate portions with the ends of the electric wires connected to the rear, and a pair of bent up in a substantially semicircular shape rising from both side edges of the front portion of the receiving plate portion toward the center. And an elastic pressing piece. When the female terminal fitting and the mating male terminal fitting are fitted, the male terminal fitting is inserted between the receiving plate portion and the extended ends of both elastic pressing pieces facing the receiving plate portion. It is. At this time, by pressing with the male terminal fitting, the elastic pressing piece is bent and deformed so as to separate the extended end from the receiving plate portion, and the male terminal fitting is pinched by the elastic restoring force of the elastic pressing piece. It becomes a state. As a result, the female terminal fitting and the male terminal fitting are fitted so as to be electrically conductive with a predetermined contact pressure.

  In this type of female terminal fitting, when the fitting direction of the male terminal fitting is out of order, the elastic pressing piece may bend excessively beyond its elastic limit. If the elastic pressing piece is bent excessively, the contact pressure between the two terminal fittings cannot be sufficiently obtained when the male terminal fitting is properly fitted.

Conventionally, there exists what was described in the following patent document 1 as an example of the countermeasure. As shown in FIG. 10, a female terminal fitting 5 having a receiving plate portion 3 and a pair of elastic pressing pieces 4 is accommodated in a cavity 2 provided in the connector housing 1. A stopper 6 is formed on the inner wall of the cavity 2 so as to protrude between the pair of elastic pressing pieces 4 so as to face the receiving plate portion 3. When the extension end 4A is pressed and displaced in the direction away from the receiving plate portion 3, when the displacement reaches a certain level, the male terminal fitting 7 and the extension end 4A of the elastic pressing piece 4 are The displacement is restricted as described above.
JP-A-8-315893

  However, in the structure as described above, since the stopper 6 protrudes between the elastic pressing pieces 4, a large gap must be provided between the elastic pressing pieces 4. There was a problem that the width dimension of the cavity 2 was increased, leading to an increase in the size of the entire connector.

Further, as another countermeasure, as shown in FIG. 11, the gap between the inner wall of the cavity 2 and the female terminal fitting 5 is reduced, thereby restricting excessive bending of the elastic pressing piece 4 by the inner wall of the cavity 2. Means are also conceivable. However, in this case, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to insert the female terminal fitting 5 into the cavity 2 and workability is deteriorated.
The present invention has been completed based on the above situation, and it is possible to restrict the excessive bending of the female terminal fitting and to ensure the insertion workability of the female terminal fitting without increasing the size of the connector. An object is to provide a simple connector.

  As a means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 includes a female terminal fitting having a receiving plate portion and elastic pressing pieces that are bent and extended from both side edges of the receiving plate portion to the center side, A connector housing having a cavity capable of accommodating the female terminal fitting, and both ends by elastically clamping the male terminal fitting between the extended end of the elastic pressing piece and the receiving plate portion. In the structure in which the child metal fitting is performed, an excessive deflection restricting member can be attached to the front surface of the connector housing, and the excessive deflection restricting member enters the respective cavities and the elastic pressing member. It is characterized in that there is provided a restricting protrusion capable of restricting the amount of displacement of the elastic pressing piece in the direction away from the receiving plate part to a certain level or less by contacting the piece.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a flexible deformable lance that engages with the female terminal fitting is formed in the cavity, and the restricting protrusion is a bent of the lance. It is characterized by entering into the space and restricting deformation of the lance in the unlocking direction.

<Invention of Claim 1>
For example, when another member such as a male terminal fitting with a misaligned direction presses the extended end of the elastic pressing piece and displaces it in a direction away from the receiving plate part, the elastic pressing piece is restrained by the restricting projection of the excessive deflection restricting member. The extension end is restricted from being displaced beyond the elastic limit. Since it is not necessary to provide a stopper protruding between the elastic pressing pieces as in the prior art, the female terminal fitting and the cavity do not increase in the width direction, and the connector does not need to be enlarged in the width direction. Further, when inserting the female terminal fitting into the cavity, by removing the excessive deflection regulating member, the cavity is expanded, so that the insertion workability can be ensured.

<Invention of Claim 2>
Since the female terminal fitting can be double-locked by the restricting protrusion of the excessive deflection restricting member, the number of parts is reduced compared to the case where a member for double-locking the female terminal fitting is provided separately, The structure can be simplified.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the connector C of this embodiment includes a connector housing 20 (hereinafter referred to as a housing), a plurality of female terminal fittings 10 and a plurality of male terminal fittings 16 (see FIG. 6) housed in the housing 20. ) And an excessive deflection regulating member 40 that can be attached to and detached from the housing 20. In the following description, the side (left side in FIG. 1) on which the housing 20 is fitted with the mating connector (not shown) is referred to as the front.

The female terminal fitting 10 includes a flat and long receiving plate portion 11, a wire crimping portion 12 formed at the rear portion of the receiving plate portion 11, and a pair of elastic pressing pieces formed at the front portion of the receiving plate portion 11. 13.
The electric wire crimping portion 12 includes a wire barrel 12A and an insulation barrel 12B that rise one by one from both side edges of the rear portion of the receiving plate portion 11, and the core wire of the electric wire 14 is crimped to the wire barrel 12A and the insulation barrel 12B. The sheath of the electric wire 14 is pressure-bonded.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the elastic pressing piece 13 is symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axis of the female terminal fitting 10, rises from both side edges at the front portion of the receiving plate portion 11, and toward the center in the width direction. It has a shape extending so as to be bent into a substantially semicircular arc shape. The extending end 13A of the elastic pressing piece 13 is opposed to the receiving plate portion 11 at a predetermined interval and substantially vertically, and is engaged with the mating male terminal fitting 50 (see FIG. 8). In a free state that is not broken, the distance between the extending end 13 </ b> A of the elastic pressing piece 13 and the receiving plate portion 11 is set to be slightly smaller than the thickness of the mating male terminal fitting 50.

  A tab-shaped male terminal fitting 50 is inserted into the space between the extending end 13 </ b> A of the elastic pressing piece 13 and the receiving plate portion 11. When the male terminal fitting 50 is inserted, the elastic pressing piece 13 is pushed up by the male terminal fitting 50 at its extended end 13A and is bent and deformed away from the receiving plate portion 11. The male terminal fitting 50 is clamped between the extension end 13A of the elastic pressing piece 13 and the receiving plate portion 11 by the elastic restoring force of the elastic pressing piece 13 generated by this elastic bending, and the male terminal fitting 50 The female terminal fitting 10 is connected to be electrically conductive. On the other hand, the male terminal fitting 16 accommodated in the housing 20 together with the female terminal fitting 10 includes a wire crimping portion 17 to which the terminal portion of the electric wire 14 is connected at the rear portion, as shown in FIG. A tab portion 18 connected to a female terminal fitting (not shown) is provided.

  The housing 20 is made of synthetic resin and includes a horizontally long box-shaped main body portion 21 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. A hood-like fitting portion opened forward at the front end of the main body portion 21. 22 is provided, and a mating connector (not shown) provided with a male terminal fitting 50 can be fitted inside the fitting portion 22. Further, a mounting portion 23 having a mounting hole 23A is provided at the rear end of the main body portion 21 so as to protrude vertically.

The main body portion 21 is formed with a total of four male cavities 24 (see also FIG. 6) that can accommodate the male terminal fitting 16 on the left side when viewed from the front, arranged in two upper and lower stages, and the female terminal fitting on the right side. A total of four female cavities 25 capable of accommodating 10 are formed in two vertical rows.
A tab insertion hole 27 through which the tab portion 18 of the male terminal fitting 16 can be inserted is opened at the front end of each male cavity 24. A lance 28 that can be bent and deformed is formed inside the male cavity 24, and the lance 28 can be locked to the male terminal fitting 16 in a state of being prevented from coming off.

  A front wall 30 is provided at the front end of each female-side cavity 25 to be a front stop of the female terminal fitting 1, and an opening 31 is formed in each front wall 30. Each opening 31 is formed with a wide terminal insertion portion 31 </ b> A in the horizontal direction near the center in the vertical direction of the main body portion 21, and a mating male terminal fitting 50 can be inserted therethrough. Further, in the front part of the main body part 21, insertion along the front-rear direction extending from the opening 31 to the vicinity of the center of each female cavity 25 is inserted into the upper part of the upper female cavity 25 and the lower part of the lower female cavity 25. A groove 32 is formed, and a restricting protrusion 45 of an excessive deflection restricting member 40 described later can be inserted therein. At the rear end position of the insertion groove 32 in each female cavity 25, a cantilever lance 33 projects in a diagonally forward direction. The front end portion of the lance 33 has a substantially triangular pyramid shape that expands forward, and the front surface of the lance 33 is a substantially triangular locking surface 33A that is substantially vertically cut. The locking surface 33A is a female surface. It can be locked to the rear end of the elastic pressing piece 13 in the terminal fitting 10 in a retaining state. Further, a locking projection 34 is formed on the locking surface 33A of the lance 33 so as to protrude forward at a position near the insertion groove 32. The distal end portion of the lance 33 including the locked projection 34 can be bent and deformed into a bending space S that is a part of the insertion groove 32.

  The excessive deflection restricting member 40 is also made of synthetic resin, and includes a flat front wall 41 as shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5. On the other hand, a mounting recess 36 that is recessed in a rectangular shape is formed in a substantially right half region corresponding to the female cavity 25 on the front surface of the main body 21, and the front wall 41 is excessively fitted into the mounting recess 36. A deflection regulating member 40 is attached to the housing 20. Further, a total of four terminal insertion holes 42 into which the male terminal fittings 50 can be inserted are formed in the front wall 41 at positions corresponding to the terminal insertion portions 31 </ b> A of the main body portion 21. The inner peripheral surface of each terminal insertion hole 42 has a tapered shape inclined toward the inside.

  On the rear surface of the front wall 41, a plate-like lock piece 43 is provided projecting rearward at a central position in the left-right direction near both upper and lower ends. Each lock piece 43 can be bent and deformed in the vertical direction, and a lock hole 43A is formed along the length direction thereof. On the other hand, in the main body portion 21 of the housing 20, an insertion hole 37 penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed at a position sandwiched between the left and right female cavities 25, and a lock protrusion 38 is formed therein. When the excessive deflection regulating member 40 is mounted on the housing 20, the lock piece 43 is inserted into the insertion hole 37, and the lock protrusion 38 engages with the lock hole 43 </ b> A of the lock piece 43, so that the excessive deflection regulating member 40 is It is supposed to be locked.

  Further, on the rear surface of the front wall 41, flat regulation protrusions 45 are formed so as to protrude rearward along the left and right sides of the lock piece 43. On the inner surface side of the upper and lower restricting protrusions 45, tapered surfaces 45A are formed along the left and right edges. As shown in FIG. 8, the restricting protrusion 45 is inserted into the insertion groove 32 of the housing 20 by fitting the tapered left and right side end portions into the concave side walls of the insertion groove 32. Then, by inserting the restricting protrusion 45 into the insertion groove 32, the female cavity 25 is narrowed in the height direction. In other words, in the state where the restriction protrusion 45 is inserted into the insertion groove 32 rather than the clearance between the female terminal fitting 10 and the inner wall of the female side cavity 25 when the restriction protrusion 45 is not inserted into the insertion groove 32. The clearance between the female terminal fitting 10 and the inner wall of the female-side cavity 25 and the restricting projection 45 is set to be smaller, and the rattling of the female terminal fitting 10 is achieved by inserting the restricting projection 45. Are now regulated. Further, the tip of the restricting projection 45 enters the bending space S of the lance 33 and is in a state of being locked to the locked protrusion 34, whereby the bending deformation of the lance 33 in the unlocking direction is restricted. It is like that.

The present embodiment has the above configuration, and the operation thereof will be described next.
The female terminal fitting 10 and the male terminal fitting 16 crimped to the end of the electric wire 14 are inserted into the cavities 24 and 25 of the housing 20 from the rear. When the male terminal fitting 16 is inserted to a normal depth position where the tab portion 18 protrudes into the fitting portion 22, the lance 28 is locked and the male terminal fitting 16 is prevented from coming off.
In the middle of inserting the female terminal fitting 10 into the female cavity 25, the front end of the elastic pressing piece 13 comes into contact with the rear surface of the lance 33, and the lance 33 is pushed toward the bending space S while being bent and deformed. When the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted to a proper depth position where the front end of the elastic pressing piece 13 contacts the front wall 30, the elastic pressing piece 13 passes through the tip of the lance 33, so that the lance 33 is restored and deformed. Thus, the locking surface 33 </ b> A engages with the rear end of the elastic pressing piece 13. At the stage of inserting the female terminal fitting 10 into the female side cavity 25, the housing 20 is not mounted with the excessive deflection restricting member 40, so that the inner wall and the female terminal fitting 10 are formed at the front portion of the female side cavity 25. There is sufficient clearance between them to facilitate the insertion operation.

  When all the female terminal fittings 10 and the male terminal fittings 16 are attached to the housing 20, the excessive deflection regulating member 40 is subsequently attached to the front surface of the main body portion 21. The excessive bending restricting member 40 is pushed in while inserting each lock piece 43 into the insertion hole 37 and inserting each restricting protrusion 45 into the insertion groove 32. When the front ends of the lock pieces 43 abut against the lock protrusions 38 in the insertion holes 37, the lock pieces 43 are bent and deformed in the approaching direction. Then, the front wall 41 of the over-deflection restricting member 40 fits into the mounting recess 36 and the over-deflection restricting member reaches a proper mounting position that is flush with the front end face of the main body 21 (the back end face of the fitting part 22). When 40 is pushed in, the lock piece 43 is restored and deformed, and the lock protrusion 38 is engaged in the lock hole 43A, and the excessive deflection regulating member 40 is locked. Along with this, the tip of the restricting projection 45 enters the bending space S of the lance 33 and engages with the locked protrusion 34 to restrict the bending deformation of the lance 33, thereby preventing the female terminal fitting 10 from coming off. Double locked to state. Thus, the assembly of the connector C is completed. In this state, since there is a slight clearance between the female terminal fitting 10 and the inner wall of the regulating projection 45 and the female cavity 25, the elastic pressing piece 13 is allowed to be slightly bent and deformed, and the female terminal fitting 10 The relatively large rattling is prevented.

  Subsequently, when a mating connector (not shown) is fitted into the fitting portion 22 of the housing 20, the mating male terminal fitting 50 is elastic with the receiving plate portion 11 of the female terminal fitting 10 as shown by a chain line in FIG. 8. The pressing piece 13 is inserted between the extending end 13A. Then, the elastic pressing piece 13 is elastically bent so as to displace the extending end 13A upward, and the male terminal fitting 50 is pinched between the elastic pressing piece 13 and the receiving plate portion 11 by the elastic restoring force. The In this state, the elastic deflection amount of the elastic pressing piece 13 is within the elastic limit range.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 9, when the male terminal fitting 50 is inserted in a posture inclined so as to press the tip against the extending end 13 </ b> A of the elastic pressing piece 13, the male terminal fitting 50 is elastic. The extending end 13A of the pressing piece 13 is pushed up more than the displacement amount in the normal fitting state. However, since the displacement of the elastic pressing piece 13 is restricted by the restricting protrusion 45 of the excessive deflection restricting member 40 while the displacement amount of the extending end 13A is within the range of the elastic limit of the elastic pressing piece 13, it is more than that. The male terminal fitting 50 can no longer push up the extension end 13A, thereby preventing the elastic pressing piece 13 from being excessively bent beyond its elastic limit.
Therefore, when the male terminal fitting 50 is subsequently fitted with the female terminal fitting 10 in a normal state, the elastic restoring force of the elastic pressing piece 13 is sufficiently exerted, and the male terminal fitting 50 is elastically pressed. The extension end 13 </ b> A of the piece 13 and the receiving plate portion 11 are connected with a contact pressure having an appropriate size.

In this way, by restricting the excessive elastic deflection of the elastic pressing piece 13, the contact pressure between the male terminal fitting 50 and the female terminal fitting 10 is prevented from being lowered. As a result, there is no possibility that the amount of heat generated at the contact portion of both the terminal fittings 10 and 50 will remarkably increase or the current supply efficiency will decrease.
Even when a foreign object other than the male terminal fitting 50 is inserted from the terminal insertion hole 42 and the elastic pressing piece 13 is forced to bend, the elastic pressing piece 13 is similarly restricted by the excessively protruding restricting member 40. It is possible to prevent the elastic pressing piece 13 from being bent excessively beyond the elastic limit by coming into contact with 45.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, for example, another member such as the male terminal fitting 50 whose fitting direction is out of order pushes the extended end 13A of the elastic pressing piece 13 and displaces it in the direction away from the receiving plate portion 11. In this case, the restricting protrusion 45 of the excessive deflection restricting member 40 restricts the extension end 13A of the elastic pressing piece 13 from being displaced beyond the elastic limit. Since it is not necessary to provide a stopper protruding between the elastic pressing pieces as in the prior art, the female terminal fitting 10 and the female-side cavity 25 do not increase in the width direction, and the connector does not need to be enlarged in the width direction. Further, when the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the female side cavity 25, the female side cavity 25 is expanded by removing the excessive deflection regulating member 40, so that the insertion workability can be ensured.

  Moreover, since the female terminal metal fitting 10 can be double-locked by the restricting protrusion 45 of the over-deflection restricting member 40, compared with a case where a member for double-locking the female terminal metal fitting 10 is provided separately. The number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention, and further, within the scope not departing from the gist of the invention other than the following. Various modifications can be made.
(1) In the above embodiment, the female terminal fitting is double-locked by the excessive deflection regulating member. However, according to the present invention, the female terminal fitting may not be double-locked, or excessively It is good also as a structure which double-locks a female terminal metal fitting using another member instead of a bending control member.

Exploded side sectional view of the connector of this embodiment Front view of female terminal fitting Front view of housing Front view of excessive deflection regulating member Plan view of excessive deflection regulating member Cross section of connector Side cross-sectional view of connector Partial enlarged sectional view showing the inside of the cavity into which the restriction protrusion is inserted Partial expanded sectional view which shows the state by which excessive bending of the female terminal metal fitting was controlled Front sectional view of conventional example Front sectional view showing another conventional example

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Female terminal metal fitting 11 ... Receiving plate part 13 ... Elastic pressing piece 13A ... Extension end 20 ... Connector housing 25 ... Female side cavity 33 ... Lance 40 ... Excessive bending restriction member 45 ... Restriction protrusion C ... Connector S ... Lance of lance Deflection space

Claims (2)

A female terminal fitting having a receiving plate portion and an elastic pressing piece that is bent and extended from both side edges of the receiving plate portion to the center side, and a connector housing having a cavity capable of accommodating the female terminal fitting. The fitting of both the terminal fittings is performed by elastically clamping the male terminal fitting between the extended end of the elastic pressing piece and the receiving plate part,
An excessive deflection regulating member can be mounted on the front surface of the connector housing, and the excessive deflection regulating member enters the respective cavities and comes into contact with the elastic pressing piece to thereby receive the elastic pressing piece. A connector having a restricting protrusion capable of restricting a displacement amount in a direction away from the portion to a certain value or less. A flexible deformable lance that engages with the female terminal fitting is formed in the cavity, and the restricting protrusion enters the deflecting space of the lance and restricts deformation of the lance in the unlocking direction. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the connector is configured as described above.

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