JP2007287615A - Metal terminal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a metal terminal fitting improved in holding force and prevented in terminal deformation to respond to a downsizing trend. <P>SOLUTION: When a thin-plate metal is folded from its base wall 22 with a lance hole 21 formed so as to erect a pair of peripheral walls 23, 24, each end of the pair of peripheral walls 23, 24 abuts against the other to form a joint part 26 to form a square cylinder connecting part 2, so that the base wall 22 has no joint part 26, and therefore, the width of the lance hole 21 can be enlarged up to an outer dimension of the terminal fitting, and in addition, the terminal fitting is prevented from deforming due to the joint part 26. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal fitting to be inserted into a terminal accommodating chamber in a connector housing.

  The conventional terminal fitting 101 shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 is a female terminal fitting, and has a rectangular tube-like connecting portion 102 into which a mating male terminal fitting is inserted. The connecting portion 102 is formed in a rectangular tube shape by bending a conductive thin metal plate. The connecting portion 102 includes a bottom wall 103, a pair of side walls 104 erected from the bottom wall 103, a ceiling wall 105, a lance hole 106 formed in the ceiling wall 105, and a lance hanging portion 107. is doing.

  When the connecting portion 102 is inserted into the insertion hole 121 in the connector housing 120, the lance 122 in the connector housing 120 enters the lance hole 106, and the lance 122 extends outward from the edge of the lance hole 106 and the ceiling wall 105. The terminal fitting 101 is held in a state of being prevented from being detached from the connector housing 120 by being locked by the lance hanging portion 107 protruding toward the front.

  As described above, the terminal fitting 101 and the connector housing 120 need to be held with a certain force or more, and the holding force depends on the height and width of the lance 122 and the height and width of the lance hanging portion 107 of the terminal fitting 101. It was decided. Therefore, since the holding force is applied to the lance hanging portion 107, it is necessary to provide the connecting portion 108 where the thin metal plates overlap to ensure the strength.

Moreover, the connector shown in Patent Document 1 forms a relief portion in a form in which the inner surface of the side wall is recessed in a region corresponding to the lance hole in the side wall of the terminal metal fitting, and the lance hole has both right and left side edges. By making the width dimension to enter the escape portion, the opening width of the lance hole is widened to secure a large locking margin between the lance hole and the lance.
JP 2003-77574 A

  However, if it is necessary to provide a connecting portion like the terminal fitting described above, there is a problem that the width of the hooking portion is reduced and a sufficient holding force cannot be obtained. Further, like the connector of Patent Document 1, it is possible to widen the opening of the lance hole by providing a relief portion. However, if the material pressure of the thin metal plate forming the terminal fitting is thin, Patent Document 1 connector could not cope. In particular, in recent years, terminal fittings have been miniaturized, and it has been necessary to deal with small terminal fittings.

  Therefore, in view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal metal fitting that can improve the holding power of the terminal metal fitting, prevent terminal deformation, and cope with downsizing.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a terminal fitting according to claim 1 made according to the present invention is provided on a connecting portion formed by bending a conductive thin metal plate into a rectangular tube shape and a housing into which the connecting portion is inserted. And a lance hole formed in the connection portion so as to engage with the lance, wherein the connection portion is erected from the base wall on which the lance hole is formed, and the connection It has a pair of surrounding walls which form a part, and the matching part which combined each of the edge part of said pair of surrounding walls, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  According to the terminal metal fitting of the present invention described in claim 1, when the thin metal plate is bent so that the pair of peripheral walls are erected from the base wall in which the lance hole is formed, each of the end portions of the pair of peripheral walls is provided. Since a mating portion is formed by abutting and a connecting portion having a rectangular tube shape is formed, since the mating portion is not formed on the base wall, the width of the lance hole can be expanded to the outer width of the terminal fitting, and The deformation of the terminal fitting can be prevented by the mating portion.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the terminal fitting according to the first aspect, the pair of peripheral walls are formed such that the mating portion is positioned on a side wall of the connection portion.

  According to the terminal fitting of the present invention described in claim 2 above, since the end portions of the pair of peripheral walls abut each other at the position of the side wall of the connecting portion to form the mating portion, the terminal deformation can be further prevented. Can do.

  As described above, according to the terminal fitting of the present invention described in claim 1, since the mating portion of the thin metal plate is formed on the peripheral wall not provided with the lance hole, the width of the lance hole is set to the terminal fitting. The contact area with the lance can be increased by extending to the outer width of the lance, and the strength of the terminal fitting can be improved by the mating portion. Therefore, the holding power of the terminal fitting can be improved and the terminal deformation can be prevented to cope with the miniaturization of the terminal fitting.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, since the end portions of the pair of peripheral walls abut each other at the position of the side wall of the connection portion to form a mating portion, Since the deformation of the terminal can be further prevented, the increase in the thickness of the side wall can be prevented, and the terminal fitting can be further miniaturized.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a terminal fitting according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings of FIGS.

  1 to 3, the terminal fitting 1 of the present invention is a female terminal fitting, and is held in a state in which a rectangular tube-like connection portion 2 into which a mating male terminal fitting is inserted and a covered electric wire are pressed against each other. And an electric wire holding part 3 to be electrically connected.

  The connecting portion 2 is formed in a rectangular tube shape by bending a conductive thin metal plate 4 shown in FIG. The connecting portion 2 includes a lance hole 21, a base wall 22, a pair of side walls 23 and 24, an opposing wall 25, and a mating portion 26. The connecting portion 2 is formed in a hollow box shape by the base wall 22, the pair of side walls 23 and 24, and the opposing wall 25, and their plate thickness is substantially uniform. An end face on the front side of the connecting portion 2 has an opening 27, and a male tab (not shown) provided on the mating male terminal fitting is inserted through the opening 27 to be connected. And the contact piece 28 whose width | variety is narrower than the base wall 22 provided in the connection part 2 and the said male tab are the structures which are electrically connected.

  The lance hole 21 is provided in the connection portion 2 so as to engage with the lance 52 provided in the connector housing 5 in a state where the lance hole 21 is inserted into the insertion hole 51 of the connector housing 5 into which the connection portion 2 is inserted. . The lance hole 21 is engaged with a lance 52 that has entered the lance hole 21, thereby preventing the connecting portion 2 from coming out of the insertion hole 51. As shown in FIG. 4, the lance hole 21 is provided so as to extend from the base wall 22 to the side walls 23 and 24.

  The base wall 22 is formed in a substantially rectangular plate shape, and is a ceiling wall in the best mode. When the base wall 22 is inserted into the insertion hole 51 of the connector housing 50, the lance hole 21 is formed at a position corresponding to the lance 52 inside the base wall 22. A guide piece 29 is provided on the outer surface of the base wall 22 so as to protrude upward. The guide piece 29 guides to a normal position in the insertion hole 51 of the connector housing 5.

  The side wall 23 is erected so that one side thereof is orthogonal to the base wall 22 from one side of the base wall 22 and the other side is orthogonal to the opposing wall 25. The side wall 24 has a first side wall 24a and a second side wall 24b. The first side wall 24 a is erected so as to be orthogonal to the base wall 22 from the other side of the base wall 22. The second side wall 24 b is erected from the facing wall 25 so as to be orthogonal to the facing wall 25. The end portions of the first side wall 24 a and the second side wall 24 b are abutted to form the side wall 24. That is, the abutting portion is the mating portion 26.

  The facing wall 25 is formed to have substantially the same size as the base wall 22, and is formed so as to be connected to the side wall 23 and the side wall 24 b and to face the base wall 22. The facing wall 25 is continuous with the base 31 of the electric wire holding part 3. The base 31 has a pair of first holding pieces 32 and a pair of second holding pieces 33. And in the state in which the electric wire was mounted in the base 31, each of the 1st holding piece 32 and the 2nd holding piece 33 is bent, and the electric wire holding part 3 becomes a structure which hold | maintains an electric wire.

  Thus, one peripheral wall is formed by the first side wall 24a, and the other peripheral wall is formed by bending the side wall 23, the opposing wall 25, and the second side wall 24b. Therefore, since the mating portion 26 can be formed on the side wall 24, the lance hole 22 can be enlarged up to the entire width of the connecting portion 2.

  Next, an example of assembly of the terminal fitting 1 having the above-described configuration will be described below.

  The terminal fitting 1 is subjected to primary processing by punching the metal thin plate 4 into a predetermined shape shown in FIG. 4, and is subjected to secondary processing by bending a predetermined portion. In addition, as for the metal thin plate 4, the part corresponding to the connection part 2 is divided by bending line 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D. A plurality of thin metal plates 4 are connected by a connecting portion 41.

  First, the contact piece 28 is bent inside the connecting portion 2 and processed into a predetermined shape. The first side wall 24a and the side wall 23, the opposing wall 25, and the second side wall 24b are bent from both outer sides of the base wall 22 by being bent at bending lines 4A and 4B on both outer sides (vertical direction in FIG. 4) of the base wall 22. Is standing. Then, the second side wall 24b is erected from the side wall 23 and the second side wall 24b from the opposite wall 25 by bending at the bending lines 4C and 4D. As a result, the rectangular tube-shaped connecting portion 2 is formed in a state where the end portions of the first side wall 24a and the second side wall 24b, that is, both end portions of the metal thin plate 4 are abutted.

  When the connecting portion 2 of the terminal fitting 1 thus formed is inserted into the insertion hole 51 of the connector housing 5, the lance hole 21 is engaged with the inserted lance 52 and the terminal fitting 1 is held in the insertion hole 51. It will be in the state. And since the lance hole 21 has become large to the whole width of the connection part 2, since the engagement area with the lance 52 has increased, the holding area has increased compared with the past. Therefore, the holding force can be improved.

  According to the terminal fitting 1 described above, since the mating portion 26 of the thin metal plate 4 is formed on the peripheral wall where the lance hole 21 is not provided, the width of the lance hole 21 is set to the width of the connecting portion 2 of the terminal fitting 1. The contact area with the lance 52 can be increased by extending to the outer width, and the strength of the terminal fitting 1 can be improved by the mating portion 26. Therefore, the holding power of the terminal fitting 1 can be improved and the terminal deformation can be prevented to cope with the miniaturization of the terminal fitting.

  Further, since the end portions of the first side surface 24a and the second side surface 24b are abutted at the position of the side wall 24 of the connecting portion 2 to form the mating portion 26, the terminal deformation can be further prevented. Thus, the thickness of the side wall 24 can be prevented from increasing, and the terminal fitting 1 can be further miniaturized.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the mating portion 26 is near the center of the side wall 24 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various forms can be adopted. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the abutted portion of the side wall 24 and the opposing wall 25 can be used as the mating portion 26. In addition, although the contact piece 28 is abbreviate | omitted in FIG. 6, the basic composition is the same as what was mentioned above. The mating portion 26 can also be positioned on the side wall 23, the opposing wall 25, or the like.

  In addition, embodiment mentioned above only showed the typical form of this invention, and this invention is not limited to embodiment. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the connection part of the terminal metal fitting of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the arrow direction which passes along the straight line XX in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the whole terminal metal fitting of FIG. It is an expanded view of the terminal metal fitting of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating insertion of the terminal metal fitting to a connector housing. It is sectional drawing which shows the other example of the connection part in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the connection part of the conventional terminal metal fitting. It is sectional drawing of the arrow direction which passes along the straight line YY in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating insertion of the terminal metal fitting to the conventional connector housing.

Explanation of symbols

1 Terminal fitting 2 Connection part 21 Lance hole 22 Base wall 23 Side wall (peripheral wall)
24 side wall (peripheral wall)
25 Opposite wall (surrounding wall)
26 Matching section

Claims (2)

A connecting portion formed into a rectangular tube shape by bending a conductive thin metal plate, and a lance hole formed in the connecting portion so as to engage with a lance provided in a housing into which the connecting portion is inserted. In the terminal fitting that has
A base wall in which the connection portion forms the lance hole; a pair of peripheral walls that are erected from the base wall and form the connection portion; and a mating portion that combines the ends of the pair of peripheral walls; The terminal metal fitting characterized by having.   The terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the pair of peripheral walls are formed so that the mating portion is positioned on a side wall of the connection portion.

Images