JP2005228555A - Female terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a female terminal in which a male tab can be inserted by a low insertion force and the male tab can be supported certainly. <P>SOLUTION: When the male tab 50 is inserted inside the box part 11 of a female terminal 10, the male tab 50 is energized toward the inner wall 12a of the box part 11 by a clipping member 20 which was separated in the beginning, and then is conducted. At this time, the top end 51 of the male tab 50 pushes down the action part 23 of the clipping member 20 provided in the deep side in insertion direction and, while moving the fulcrum 22 provided at the clipping member 20 toward the front side in insertion direction, moves the terminal contact part 21 of the clipping member 20 toward inside of the box part 11 and energizes it, thereby the male tab 50 is inserted by a low insertion force, and the male tab 50 can be supported certainly. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a female terminal, for example, a female terminal that conducts electricity by sandwiching a band-shaped male tab.

Conventionally, a female terminal 100 as shown in FIG. 8 is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
That is, the female terminal 100 has a box-shaped portion 110 and a wire connecting portion 130. The box-shaped part 110 has an upper wall 111, a bottom wall 113, and both side walls 114, and a protrusion 112 is provided on the inner surface of the upper wall 111 along the insertion direction.
The box-shaped portion 110 has a cantilever-like elastic contact piece 120 having one end (fixed end 121) fixed to the front end of the bottom wall 113 and the contact 122 formed at the other end. Another contact 123 is provided at the center of the contact piece 120. The elastic contact piece 120 has a protrusion 115 formed, for example, by being cut and raised on the side wall 114 at a position away from the contact 122 or the free end to the fixed end 121 side.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9A, when the male tab 140 is inserted into the female terminal 100, the male tab 140 is sandwiched between the protrusion 112 and the contact 123.
As shown in FIG. 9B, when the male tab 140 is fully inserted into the box-shaped portion 110, the contact 122 at the free end of the elastic contact piece 120 is pushed down by the male tab 140. Further, due to the engagement between the contact 122 and the bottom surface of the male tab 140, the elastic contact piece 120 acts like a lever with the projection 115 as a fulcrum.
Thereby, the contact 123 of the elastic contact piece 120 is bent upward and presses the bottom surface of the male tab 140.
JP-A-6-223665 (FIG. 1)

By the way, in such a female terminal 100, the insertion force when inserting the male tab 140 is a force that presses the contact 123 against the lower surface of the male tab 140 by displacing the contact 122.
However, since the distance between the fulcrum 115 and the contact 122 is small, a considerable force is required to press the contact 123 against the lower surface of the male tab 140 by displacing the contact 122. The inconvenience of increasing power was met.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a female terminal that can insert a male tab with a low insertion force and can reliably hold the male tab.

  1) In order to achieve the above-described object, a female terminal according to the present invention has a box portion that can accommodate a band-shaped male tab and a thickness of the male tab by urging the box toward the inner wall of the box portion. A female terminal provided between the inner wall and the inner wall along the direction, wherein the clamping piece is supported on the front side in the insertion direction of the male tab in the box portion and is located on the back side in the insertion direction. A terminal contact portion that extends inward of the box portion and can contact the male tab, and has a fulcrum that can slide relative to the box portion on the back side in the insertion direction of the terminal contact portion. And it has an action part which moves the terminal contact part to the male tab contact side of the box part by pushing in the insertion direction inside with the tip of the inserted male tab.

In the female terminal configured as described above, when the male tab is inserted into the box portion of the female terminal, the male tab is urged toward the inner wall of the box portion by the sandwiching piece to conduct.
At this time, the tip of the male tab presses the action part provided on the back side in the inserting direction of the holding piece, and the terminal contact part of the holding piece is moved while moving the fulcrum provided on the holding piece to the front side in the loading direction. Since the urging force is moved by moving it toward the male tab contact side of the box portion, the male tab can be securely held while being inserted with a low insertion force.

  2) Moreover, the female terminal concerning this invention provides the support part which protrudes in the width direction outer side of the said clamping piece in the said action part, and the said male tab inserted in the said box part carries in the said action part in the carrying-in direction. And a guide path for guiding the support portion to move the terminal contact portion to the male tab contact side of the box portion when the fulcrum is pressed to the front side in the loading direction. .

In the female terminal configured as described above, when the action portion is pressed and moved, the support portion that protrudes outward in the width direction of the holding piece moves along the guide path provided in the box portion. By doing this, the fulcrum is moved to the front side in the loading direction and the terminal contact portion is moved to the male tab contact side of the box portion.
As a result, the male contact inserted by pressing the terminal contact portion toward the inner wall of the box portion is pressed to conduct. For this reason, the male tab can be securely held while being inserted with a low insertion force.

  3) Further, the female terminal according to the present invention is characterized in that the guide path has an arc surface that guides the support portion in a substantially arc shape.

  In the female terminal configured as described above, when the action portion is pressed and moved, the support portion that protrudes outward in the width direction of the holding piece is substantially along the guide path provided in the box portion. Since it moves in an arc shape, the fulcrum can be moved to the front side in the loading direction and the terminal contact portion can be moved to the male tab contact side of the box portion.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to solve the problem that a large insertion force as in the prior art is necessary, and thereby it is possible to insert the male tab with a low insertion force and securely hold the male tab.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a female terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line II in FIG. 3, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line II-II in FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view cut at the position IV-IV in FIG. 3, FIGS. 5A to 5C are explanatory views showing the moving state of the support portion in the notch, and FIG. 6 is a female terminal. FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C are explanatory views showing a state in which the male tab is sandwiched.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a female terminal 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a box portion 11 that can accommodate a strip-shaped male tab 50 (see FIG. 7), and a bottom plate 12 that is an inner wall of the box portion 11. The holding piece 20 is provided to hold the male tab 50 between the inner wall 12a along the thickness direction by urging the inner tab 12a toward the inner wall 12a.
An opening 11a for inserting the male tab 50 is provided on the end surface (left side in FIG. 1) of the box portion 11 in the insertion direction. The bottom plate 12 has a first male tab receiver 15a and a second male tab receiver 15b for supporting and inserting the inserted male tab 50 from the lower side into the box portion 11 by cutting up. It is provided at predetermined intervals along the insertion direction so as to protrude.

The sandwiching piece 20 is supported by the inner surface 13a of the top plate 13 on the near side in the insertion direction of the male tab 50 in the box portion 11, and is provided extending to the back side in the loading direction (right side in FIG. 1).
The center portion of the holding piece 20 in the carry-in direction is bent down to form a terminal contact portion 21, and the back side in the carry-in direction of the terminal contact portion 21 is bent up to form a fulcrum 22 that can slide with respect to the box portion. Has been.
Further, the back side in the carry-in direction of the fulcrum 22 is bent down to form an action part 23. The action portion 23 is configured to slide the fulcrum 22 toward the front side in the loading direction by pressing the tip 51 of the inserted male tab 50 inward in the insertion direction, and to lower the terminal contact portion 21 into the box portion 11. It is.

In the action part 23, a support part 24 that protrudes outward in the width direction of the sandwiching piece 20 is provided.
On the other hand, the left and right side walls 14L and 14R of the box part 11 guide the movement of the support part 24 when the distal end 51 of the inserted male tab 50 presses and moves the action part 23 of the clamping piece 20. A notch 16 is provided as a guide path for this purpose.
Therefore, the support portion 24 can move in the notch 16 without dropping from the notch 16.

As shown in FIG. 5, the notch 16 has a substantially circular or vertically long elliptical shape, and has, for example, an arc surface 16a at the lower right portion of the ellipse.
Accordingly, when the action portion 23 is pressed by the male tab 50 in the state of FIG. 5A (see arrow A in FIG. 1), the support portion 24 of the action portion 23 is located on the back side in the carry-in direction as shown in FIG. Move to (right side in FIG. 5).
However, since the support portion 24 comes into contact with the arc surface 16a, as shown in FIG. 5C, the support portion 24 moves upward (upward in FIG. 5) along the arc surface 16a (arrow A in FIG. 1). .

As shown in FIG. 6, the female terminal 10 can be formed by cutting and bending a single metal plate 40.
First, a fixing portion 25 for fixing the clamping piece 20 to the top plate 13 is left at the front side end portion of the portion 41a corresponding to the clamping piece 20 with a full width and corresponds to the support portion 24 on the back side in the loading direction. The part to perform is left over the entire width, and the other part is preached with a certain width.
Then, the sandwiching piece 20 is formed by cutting the parts other than the fixing portion 25 from the metal plate 40. Next, a quarter elliptical cutout 16 is provided in a portion 41b corresponding to the left side wall 14L and a portion 41d corresponding to the right side wall 14R of the box portion 11.

In addition, a pair of cuts 42 are provided at the front end in the loading direction of the portion 41c corresponding to the bottom plate 12, and the first male tab receiver 15a is formed by pushing it inwardly (in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 6). A pair of cuts 43 are provided on the back side in the direction and pushed inward to form a second male tab receiver 15b.
Furthermore, a portion 41e corresponding to the top plate 13 of the box portion 11 is provided. Finally, the portion 41a corresponding to the sandwiching piece 20 is curved as shown in FIG. 1 to form the terminal contact portion 21, the fulcrum 22, and the action portion 23.
Then, the box part 11 is formed by bending the part 41 a corresponding to the sandwiching piece 20 inwardly into a rectangular tube shape and overlapping the part 41 e corresponding to the top plate 13 on the part 41 a corresponding to the sandwiching piece 20. When the metal plate 40 is bent into a rectangular tube shape, the left and right support portions 24 are placed in the notches 16.

Next, a process of inserting the male tab 50 into the box part 11 to achieve conduction will be described. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the male tab 50 is inserted into the box portion 11 from the opening 11a of the female terminal 10, the terminal contact portion 21 of the holding piece 20 and the first male tab receiver 15a of the bottom plate 12 are connected. Since the gap D0 is larger than the thickness T of the male tab 50, the male tab 50 is smoothly inserted into the box portion 11.
In the state where the male tab 50 is not inserted, the distal end 23a of the action portion 23 of the holding piece 20 is at least closer to the bottom plate 12 or on the bottom plate 12 than the upper surface of the second male tab receiver 15b. As a result, when the male tab 50 is inserted, the tip 51 of the male tab 50 comes into contact with the action portion 23 of the sandwiching piece 20 as shown in FIG. The tip 51 of the male tab 50 comes into contact with the action portion 23.

When the male tab 50 is further inserted, the action portion 23 is pushed forward as shown in FIG. 7C (arrow A in FIG. 1).
Thereby, when the support part 24 of the action part 23 moves in the direction of the arrow B in FIG. 1 along the arc surface 16a of the notch 16 (see FIG. 5B), the support part 24 moves to the back side in the loading direction. Since it is regulated by the arc surface 16a, the fulcrum 22 slides to the front side in the loading direction (arrow C in FIG. 1) due to the reaction. Since the near end of the holding piece 20 is fixed at the fixing portion 25, when the fulcrum 22 moves to the front side in the loading direction, the holding piece 20 expands and the terminal contact portion 21 descends (arrow D in FIG. 1). Thereby, the clamping piece 20 urges the male tab 50 toward the inner wall 12a side of the bottom plate 12 of the box part 11, and conducts between the first and second male tab receivers 15a and 15b.

As described above, according to the female terminal 10 described above, when the strip-shaped male tab 50 is inserted into the box portion 11 of the female terminal 10, the terminal contact portion 21 is not in contact with each other, so that it can be easily inserted with a low insertion force.
And by pressing the action part 23 of the clamping piece 20 with the male tab 50, it clamps between the terminal contact part 21 and the 1st and 2nd male tab receptacles 15a and 15b, Therefore It clamps reliably and is conductive. It can be performed. Moreover, the female terminal 10 can be created with a simple structure.

The female terminal of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and appropriate modifications and improvements can be made.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the quarter elliptical cutout is adopted as the guide path, but a quarter circular cutout may be used. Moreover, it is good also as an elliptical or circular curvilinear notch which has the predetermined width | variety which the support part 24 can move.
Further, the fulcrum 22 of the sandwiching piece 20 does not necessarily contact the inner surface 13a of the top plate 13 of the box portion 11 when the terminal contact portion 21 has a predetermined movement and a predetermined pressing force against the male tab 50. Also good.

It is sectional drawing which shows the female terminal concerning embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the II-II position in FIG. It is the end elevation seen from the III direction in FIG. It is the perspective view cut | disconnected in the IV-IV position in FIG. (A)-(C) are explanatory drawings which show the movement state of the support part in a notch. It is an expanded view of a female terminal. (A)-(C) are explanatory drawings which show the state which clamps a male tab. It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional female terminal. (A) And (B) is sectional drawing which shows a state when a male tab is inserted in the female terminal of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 Female terminal 11 Box 12a Inner wall 16 Notch (guideway)
16a Arc surface 20 Clamping piece 21 Terminal contact part 22 Support point 23 Action part 24 Support part 50 Male tab

Claims (3)

The female provided with the box part which can accommodate a strip | belt-shaped male tab, and the clamping piece which clamps the said male tab between the said inner walls along the thickness direction by urging | biasing toward the inner wall of the said box part A terminal,
The pinching piece is supported on the front side of the male tab in the insertion direction of the male tab in the box portion and extends on the back side in the insertion direction, and protrudes inward of the box portion to be able to contact the male tab A fulcrum that is slidable with respect to the box portion on the back side in the insertion direction of the terminal contact portion, and pressing the terminal contact portion inward in the insertion direction with the tip of the inserted male tab. A female terminal having an action part to be moved to a male tab contact side of the box part. The action portion is provided with a support portion protruding outward in the width direction of the sandwiching piece,
When the male tab inserted into the box portion presses the action portion in the loading direction, the fulcrum is moved to the front side in the loading direction and the terminal contact portion is moved to the male tab contact side of the box portion. The female terminal according to claim 1, wherein a guide path for guiding the support portion is provided.   The female terminal according to claim 2, wherein the guide path has an arc surface that guides the support portion in a substantially arc shape.

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