JP2006066208A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid deterioration of workability at the time of inserting terminal fittings and wires into a rubber plug in one lot. <P>SOLUTION: The housing seal part 25 formed at the front of a wire seal part 24 is engaged with a groove 30 and thereby, the housing seal part 25 is elastically deformed and the spacing between the outer circumference of the housing seal part 25 and the inner circumference of the groove 30 is sealed. At this time, the wire seal part 24 is not elastically deformed, therefore position shifting does not arise in each of wire insertion holes 26. Thereby, the work of inserting the female side terminal fitting 12 into the cavity 15 by penetrating through the wire insertion hole 26 can be carried out smoothly. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a waterproof connector using a batch type rubber stopper.

Conventionally, what was described in following patent document 1 is known as an example of this kind of waterproof connector. In this case, the collective rubber plug is accommodated in the accommodating recess on the rear end surface of the connector housing, and the wire connected to the terminal fitting is inserted into the insertion hole of the collective rubber plug so that the outer periphery of the collective rubber plug and the inner periphery of the accommodating recess are inserted. And between the inner periphery of each insertion hole and the outer periphery of the electric wire.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-21989

  When assembling the waterproof connector described above, the batch rubber plug is first housed in the housing recess, and then the terminal fitting and wire are inserted through the batch rubber plug and inserted into the cavity in the connector housing. However, when the collective rubber plug is accommodated in the accommodating recess, the collective rubber plug is already elastically bent inward in the plane direction.

  However, when the collective rubber plug is elastically deformed, the plurality of insertion holes formed in the collective rubber plug may be displaced with respect to the cavity. Then, the resistance when inserting the terminal fitting and the electric wire into the insertion hole is increased, and the workability of insertion may be deteriorated.

  The present invention has been completed based on the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to avoid workability deterioration when inserting a terminal fitting and an electric wire through a batch rubber plug.

  As a means for achieving the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a receiving recess is provided on the rear surface of the connector housing provided with a plurality of cavities in which terminal fittings fixed to the ends of the electric wires are accommodated, and spans all the cavities. In the waterproof connector in which the collective rubber plug having an opening for the wire insertion hole corresponding to each of the cavities is accommodated in the housing recess, the rubber plug is inserted into the wire insertion hole. The outer periphery of the electric wire and the inner periphery of the electric wire insertion hole are elastically in close contact with each other, and a wire seal portion that seals between the electric wire and the rubber plug, and an inner periphery of the accommodating recess It comprises a housing seal portion that seals between the housing recess and the rubber plug by being in close contact, and the wire seal portion and the housing seal portion are displaced in the thickness direction of the rubber plug. Characterized in that it is formed in a state.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a rubber plug holder for pressing the rubber plug is assembled to the rear surface of the rubber plug, and the rubber plug holder or the receiving recess is the A support wall is disposed on a surface facing the wire seal portion.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the housing seal portion is formed at a front portion of the wire seal portion and is formed so as to protrude to an outer peripheral side of the wire seal portion. A stepped surface is formed on the inner periphery of the housing seal portion, and a groove portion that can be fitted to the housing seal portion is formed in the housing recess at a position corresponding to the housing seal portion. The rear end edge of the wall portion constituting the inner peripheral portion of the groove portion is in contact with the stepped surface to restrict the wire seal portion from being bent and deformed so as to fall into the housing seal portion. It is characterized by.

<Invention of Claim 1>
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the housing seal portion is elastically deformed and is elastically brought into close contact with the inner wall of the housing recess, whereby the space between the housing recess and the rubber plug is sealed.

  Since the housing seal portion and the wire seal portion are formed in a state shifted in the thickness direction of the rubber plug, even if the housing seal portion is elastically deformed, the wire seal portion is not elastically deformed. Thereby, since it can prevent that the position of an electric wire insertion hole shifts, the workability fall at the time of inserting a terminal metal fitting and an electric wire in a rubber stopper can be avoided.

<Invention of Claim 2>
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the side wall of the wire seal portion can be positioned by the support wall.

<Invention of Claim 3>
According to the invention of claim 3, when the housing seal portion is inserted into the groove portion and elastically deformed, the housing seal portion is elastically brought into close contact with the inner periphery of the groove portion, thereby sealing between the housing recess and the rubber stopper.

  Further, when the terminal fitting and the electric wire are inserted into the wire insertion hole of the wire seal portion, the rear end edge of the wall portion constituting the inner peripheral portion of the groove portion even if the wire seal portion is pushed forward by the terminal fitting and the electric wire. However, by contacting the step surface formed on the inner peripheral surface of the housing seal portion, the wire seal portion can be prevented from being bent and deformed so as to fall into the housing seal portion.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the waterproof connector 10 of the present embodiment includes a female terminal fitting 12 (corresponding to the terminal fitting in claim 1) accommodated in a connector housing 11 and a package arranged in the connector housing 11. A seal is taken by a rubber plug 13 of the mold. In the following description, the left side in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the connector housing 11 is formed in a block shape from a synthetic resin material, and a plurality of cavities 15 extending in the front-rear direction are formed inside the outer cylinder portion 40 side by side in the width direction. The formed inner cylinder part 41 is formed. In each cavity 15, the female terminal fitting 12 is received by a lance 16 provided in the cavity 15 so as to be prevented from coming off. As shown in FIG. 6, the female terminal fitting 12 is formed by pressing a conductive metal plate, and has a box shape with an elastic contact piece (not shown) inside on the front end side. The connecting portion 19 is formed, and the barrel portion 20 on the rear end side is caulked and crimped to the end of the electric wire 21.

  The gap between the inner cylinder portion 41 and the outer cylinder portion 40 becomes a fitting space with a mating connector housing (not shown). An accommodation concave portion 14 for accommodating the rubber plug 13 is formed at the rear end portion of the inner cylinder portion 41 so as to open rearward and extend over the entrances of all the cavities 15. Further, an inner peripheral wall 42 (corresponding to a wall portion in claim 3) is formed so as to protrude from the rear end portion of the inner cylinder portion 41 so as to protrude into the housing recess. In addition, an outer peripheral wall 43 is disposed outside the inner peripheral wall 42 with the groove portion 30 held around the entire periphery. In this embodiment, the outer peripheral wall 43 is more rearward than the inner peripheral wall 42. It is formed to extend. At the rear end portion of the outer surface of the outer peripheral wall 43, there are provided three lock projections 18 for locking a rubber plug holder 22, which will be described later, as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a batch type rubber stopper 13 is accommodated in the accommodating recess 14. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the rubber plug 13 includes a wire seal portion 24 and a housing seal portion 25 formed in a state where the wire seal portion 24 is displaced with respect to the thickness direction of the rubber plug 13. Consists of.

  The wire seal portion 24 is formed in a horizontally long thick plate shape so as to cover the rear surface of all the cavities 15. An electric wire insertion hole 26 is passed through the wire seal portion 24 at each position corresponding to each cavity 15 of the connector housing 11. On the inner peripheral surface of each electric wire insertion hole 26, there are provided two lips 27 in the figure that can elastically adhere to the outer peripheral surface of the electric wire 21.

  The housing seal portion 25 is formed at the front portion of the wire seal portion 24 and is formed so as to protrude to the outer peripheral side of the wire seal portion 24. As a result, an inner step surface 44 (corresponding to a step surface in claim 3) and an outer step surface 45 are formed at the boundary between the wire seal portion 24 and the housing seal portion 25. Note that the thickness of the housing seal portion 25 and the thickness of the wire seal portion 24 are substantially equal.

  The housing seal portion 25 is formed so as to be fitted into the groove portion 30 of the connector housing 11. The outer peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface of the housing seal portion 25 are provided with two lips 28 shown in the figure that can be elastically adhered to the groove portion 30. At this time, when the housing seal portion 25 is fitted into the groove portion 30, the housing seal portion 25 is elastically deformed, but in this embodiment, the housing seal portion 25 and the wire seal portion 24 are formed so as to be shifted in the thickness direction. The influence on the wire seal portion 24 is cut off.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the length L from the front end of the housing seal portion 25 to the inner stepped surface 44 is such that the rear end edge of the inner peripheral wall 42 is located when the housing seal portion 25 is inserted into the groove portion 30. It is set so as to come into contact with the inner step surface 44 from the front. When the housing seal portion 25 is fitted into the groove portion 30 and the rear end edge of the inner peripheral wall 42 is in contact with the inner step surface 44 from the front, the rear end of the wire seal portion 24 and the inner cylinder portion 41 It is formed so that the rear end of the outer peripheral wall 43 is substantially flush (see FIGS. 1 and 6).

  As shown in FIG. 1, a rubber plug holder 22 is attached from behind the rubber plug 13. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the rubber stopper holder 22 is formed of a synthetic resin material in a cap shape that opens forward. A window hole 23 into which the female terminal fitting 12 can be inserted is formed in the rear wall of the rubber plug holder 22 so as to open in a rectangular shape at a position corresponding to the cavity 15 and the wire insertion hole 26. A tapered surface 17 for guiding the lock projection 18 is formed at a position corresponding to the lock projection 18 of the connector housing 11 at the front end of the side wall of the rubber plug holder 22. A locking portion 46 for locking with the lock protrusion 18 is formed behind the tapered surface 17. Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the support wall 32 is provided on the inner side surface (the surface facing the wire seal portion 24) of the rear wall of the rubber plug holder 22 so as to surround the outer periphery of the wire seal portion 24. Projecting forward. In other words, the support wall 32 allows simple regulation of the lateral displacement of the wire seal portion 24. Further, a gap is formed between the support wall 32 and the wire seal portion 24 to allow expansion of the electric wire insertion hole 26 located at the end of the wire seal portion 24.

  In the state where the rubber plug 13 is accommodated in the accommodating recess 14, the housing seal portion 25 is formed so as to protrude to the outer peripheral side of the wire seal portion 24, so that the outer peripheral wall 43 and the wire seal portion 24 are A gap is formed between them, and the thickness dimension T of the support wall 32 is set so that the support wall 32 is accommodated in the gap (see FIG. 2). Further, the height H of the support wall 32 is set so that the front end of the support wall 32 comes into contact with the outer step surface 45 from the rear when the rubber plug holder 22 is attached to the connector housing 11 (FIG. 2). reference).

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When the waterproof connector 10 is assembled, first, the housing seal portion 25 of the rubber plug 13 is inserted into the groove portion 30 formed in the housing recess 14 of the connector housing 11 as shown by the arrow in FIG. The lip 28 of the housing seal portion 25 is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the groove portion 30 while being elastically compressed, and the space between the outer periphery of the housing seal portion 25 and the inner periphery of the groove portion 30 is sealed in a watertight state. Further, the rear end edge of the inner peripheral wall 42 comes into contact with the inner step surface 44 of the housing seal portion 25 from the front. At this time, as described above, since the housing seal portion 25 and the wire seal portion 24 are formed in a state shifted in the thickness direction of the rubber plug 13, the wire seal portion 24 is not elastically deformed. Accordingly, the electric wire insertion holes 26 are not displaced with respect to the cavities 15 of the connector housing 11 corresponding thereto.

  Subsequently, when the rubber plug holder 22 is assembled to the connector housing 11 from the rear of the rubber plug 13 as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2, the lock projection 18 comes into contact with the tapered surface 17 from the front. When the rubber plug holder 22 is further pushed forward, the lock projection 18 gets over the taper surface 17 and locks with a locking portion 46 formed on the side wall of the rubber plug holder 22, whereby the rubber plug holder 22 is connected to the connector housing. 11 is assembled. In this state, the inner surface of the rear wall of the rubber plug holder 22 contacts the rear end of the outer peripheral wall 43 and the rear end of the wire seal portion from the rear, and the front end of the support wall 32 contacts the outer step surface 45 from the rear. Thus, the rubber stopper 13 can be prevented from coming off.

  When the rubber plug holder 22 is assembled to the connector housing 11, the support wall 32 is accommodated in a gap formed between the outer peripheral wall 43 and the wire seal portion 24 (see FIGS. 1 and 6). Further, the support wall 32 surrounds the outer periphery of the wire seal portion 24, thereby positioning the wire seal portion 24 to the side.

  From this state, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 6, when the female terminal fitting 12 fixed to the end of the electric wire 21 is inserted into the window hole 23 of the rubber plug holder 22, the female terminal fitting 12 continues to insert the electric wire. When the hole 26 is elastically widened, passes through the hole 26 and enters the cavity 15 and is inserted to a proper position, the hole 26 is locked by the lance 16, and the inner periphery of the wire insertion hole 26 is locked. The lip 27 is restored and deformed so as to be in close contact with the outer periphery of the electric wire 21 so that the space between the electric wire insertion hole 26 and the electric wire 21 is sealed in a watertight state. At this time, since the inner step surface 44 of the housing seal portion 25 and the rear end edge of the inner peripheral wall 42 are in contact with each other, the wire seal portion 24 is pushed forward by the female terminal fitting 12 and the electric wire 21, and the housing It is possible to prevent bending and deformation so as to fall into the seal portion 25.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the housing seal portion 25 formed at the front portion of the wire seal portion 24 is fitted into the groove portion 30, whereby the housing seal portion 25 is elastically deformed, and the housing seal portion 25. Between the outer periphery of the groove and the inner periphery of the groove 30. At this time, since the wire seal portion 24 is not elastically deformed, the electric wire insertion holes 26 are not displaced. Thereby, the operation | work which inserts the female side metal fitting 12 in the electric wire penetration hole 26, and inserts it in the cavity 15 can be performed smoothly.

  In addition, since the support wall 32 is arranged so as to surround the outer periphery of the wire seal portion 24, the wire seal portion 24 can be positioned laterally.

  Further, since the inner step surface 44 of the housing seal portion 25 and the rear end edge of the inner peripheral wall 42 are in contact, the wire seal portion is inserted when the female terminal fitting 12 and the electric wire 21 are inserted into the electric wire insertion hole 26. 24 can be prevented from being deformed by being pushed forward by the female terminal fitting 12 and the electric wire 21 so as to fall into the housing seal portion 25.

<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 this embodiment, the housing seal portion 25 is formed so as to protrude to the outer peripheral side of the wire seal portion 24, and the inner step surface 44 is formed at the boundary portion between the wire seal portion 24 and the housing seal portion 25. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the inner step surface 44 or the outer step surface 45 may not be formed at the boundary between the wire seal portion 24 and the housing seal portion 25. Good.

  (2) In the present embodiment, the support wall 32 is provided on the inner side surface of the rear wall of the rubber plug holder 22, but the present invention is not limited to this. Regardless, the rubber plug holder 22 may not be provided.

  (3) In the present embodiment, the inner step surface 44 is formed on the inner periphery of the housing seal portion 25, and the groove portion 30 for fitting the housing seal portion 25 is formed in the housing recess 14. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the inner step surface 44 may not be formed on the inner periphery of the housing seal portion 25, and the groove portion 30 may not be formed in the housing recess 14.

  (4) In this embodiment, the housing seal portion 25 is formed at the front portion of the wire seal portion 24. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the housing seal portion 25 is formed at the rear portion of the wire seal portion 24. It is good also as a structure.

  (5) Furthermore, when the housing seal part 25 is formed in the rear part of the wire seal part 24, it is good also as a structure by which a support wall is distribute | arranged to the surface facing the wire seal part 24 among the accommodation recessed parts 14. FIG.

  (6) In this embodiment, although the example applied to the female connector provided with the female side terminal metal fitting 12 was demonstrated, you may apply this invention to the male connector provided with the male side terminal metal fitting.

Plan sectional drawing of the use condition of the waterproof connector concerning one embodiment of the present invention Plan sectional view showing a state before the connector housing, rubber plug, and rubber plug holder are assembled. Rear view of connector housing Front view of rubber stopper holder Front view of rubber stopper Flat cross-sectional view showing the female terminal fitting inserted into the waterproof connector

Explanation of symbols

11 ... Connector housing 12 ... Female terminal fitting (terminal fitting)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Rubber plug 14 ... Housing recessed part 15 ... Cavity 21 ... Electric wire 22 ... Rubber plug holder 24 ... Wire seal part 25 ... Housing seal part 26 ... Electric wire insertion hole 30 ... Groove part 32 ... Support wall 42 ... Inner peripheral wall (wall part)
44 ... Inner step surface (step surface)

Claims (3)

On the rear surface of the connector housing provided with a plurality of cavities in which terminal fittings fixed to the ends of the electric wires are accommodated, accommodating recesses are provided across the entrances of all the cavities, and electric wires corresponding to the respective cavities are provided in the accommodating recesses. In a waterproof connector containing a batch type rubber stopper with an insertion hole,
The rubber plug is a wire seal that seals between the electric wire and the rubber plug by elastically adhering the outer periphery of the electric wire inserted into the electric wire insertion hole and the inner periphery of the electric wire insertion hole. A housing seal portion that seals between the housing recess and the rubber plug by elastically contacting the inner periphery of the housing and the housing recess,
The waterproof connector, wherein the wire seal portion and the housing seal portion are formed in a state shifted in a thickness direction of the rubber plug. A rubber plug holder for holding the rubber plug is assembled to the rear surface of the rubber plug,
2. The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein a support wall is disposed on a surface of the rubber plug holder or the housing recess facing the wire seal portion. 3. The housing seal portion is formed at the front portion of the wire seal portion, and is formed to protrude to the outer peripheral side of the wire seal portion,
A step surface is formed on the inner periphery of the housing seal portion,
A groove portion that can be fitted to the housing seal portion is formed in the housing recess at a position corresponding to the housing seal portion,
The rear end edge of the wall portion constituting the inner peripheral portion of the groove portion is in contact with the stepped surface, thereby restricting the wire seal portion from being bent and deformed so as to fall into the housing seal portion. The waterproof connector according to claim 1 or 2.

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