JP2008071628A - Connector for wire harness, fixing structure of connector for wire harness, and fixing method of connector for wire harness - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector for a wire harness capable of downsizing and fixing to a wire harness main body in stable condition. <P>SOLUTION: The connector for the wire harness has unit connectors C1-C3 having an insulating housing 20 to support a plurality of connector terminals 10, 10 and flexible wiring material 30 to electrically connect the connector terminals 10 of each unit connectors C1-C3. The conductor 32 of the flexible wiring material 32 and a specific connector terminal 10 are electrically connected in a state crossing each other, and a hood 22 having a shape so to surround a jointing portion to the connector terminal of the mating connector is installed at the insulating housing 20. A guiding part 24 which guides a binding band 40 capable of fixing each unit connectors C1-C3 in a lot to the wire harness main body 50 by fastening to the wire harness main body, while winding each unit connectors C1-C3 around the wire harness main body 50, is installed at the hood 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wire harness connector fixed in a wound state around a wire harness routed in an automobile or the like.

As the wire harness connector as described above, Patent Document 1 includes a plurality of unit connectors and a flexible wiring material for electrically connecting the connector terminals of these unit connectors, and is provided in the flexible wiring material. In addition, electrical connection is made in a state where the conductor and the connector terminal cross each other, and each unit connector can be wound around the wire harness body while being bent and deformed by the flexible wiring material. . If this wire harness connector is used, the electric wires connected to the connector can be interconnected by a simple operation of simply connecting an appropriate connector on the wire harness side to each unit connector.
JP 2006-136116 A

  However, in the connector described in Patent Document 1, each unit connector is wrapped around and fixed to the wire harness body with an adhesive tape as shown in FIG. If it is going to couple | bond together, an adhesive tape may loosen and a unit connector may move to the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of a flexible wiring material. And if a unit connector moves in this way, a stress may generate | occur | produce in the connection part of the connector terminal of a unit connector and a flexible wiring material, and a connection failure may arise. On the other hand, in order to solve this problem, if a sufficient amount of tape is wound around the unit connector to suppress the movement of the unit connector, the unit connector must be enlarged by the amount corresponding to the tape. There is.

  In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a wire harness connector that can be miniaturized and can be stably fixed to a wire harness body.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a wire harness connector attached to a wire harness, a plurality of unit connectors having a plurality of connector terminals and an insulating housing for holding these connector terminals, and these A flexible wiring material for electrically connecting the connector terminals of the unit connector, and the flexible wiring material is arranged in a plane in a posture parallel to each other, and the specific connector terminal of the connector terminals A plurality of conductors that are electrically connected in a state of intersecting with the connector terminals, and a flat insulating layer that covers and integrates these conductors, and the insulating housing includes the connector terminals. A hood having a shape surrounding a portion that can be coupled to the connector terminal of the mating connector, and a hood provided on the hood. By tightening the connector around the wire harness body and tightening it to the wire harness body side, the unit band can be collectively fixed to the wire harness body to guide the binding band in the longitudinal direction of the flexible wiring member. A wire harness connector comprising a guide portion is provided.

  According to such a configuration, since the connector terminals of each unit connector are electrically connected to each other via the flexible wiring material, the counterpart connectors can be connected to each other by simply connecting an appropriate counterpart connector to each unit connector. It becomes possible to make an electrical connection. Moreover, since the guide part which can guide a binding band is provided in the food | hood of an insulating housing, if a binding band is guided to this guide part, this binding band will be connected to each unit connector, suppressing the positional deviation of a binding band. Can be easily wrapped around And by tightening each unit connector toward the center in the radial direction, that is, the wire harness body side by the binding band wound in this way, each unit connector can be tied to the wire harness body, so that the conventional tape winding As described above, the relative movement of the unit connectors due to the looseness of the tape can be suppressed, and a stable fixing force can be secured. That is, according to this configuration, it is possible to stably fix the unit connector to the wire harness body while reducing the size of the hood portion where the guide portion is provided and the unit connector. In particular, this guide is provided in a hood that surrounds the connector terminal portion that can be coupled to the connector terminal of the mating connector, and the binding band is configured to fix this hood, so that the connector terminal when the connector is coupled It is possible to effectively suppress the occurrence of stress at the connection portion between the flexible wiring material and the flexible wiring material.

  Further, in the present invention, the guide part restricts the binding band guided by the guide part from moving in the width direction of the binding band and in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the flexible wiring material. It is preferable to provide a width direction restricting portion having a shape (claim 2).

  According to such a configuration, the binding band wound around the unit connector is restrained from moving relative to the insulating housing in the width direction of the binding band, and further, adjacent unit connectors are connected to each other in the width direction. Since relative movement in the direction is suppressed, the unit connector can be fixed more stably. In particular, since it is possible to reliably suppress the movement of each unit connector during connector connection, it is possible to more reliably suppress the occurrence of stress at the connection portion between the connector terminal and the flexible wiring material.

  Further, in the present invention, the guide portion has a shape that regulates movement of the binding band guided by the guide portion in a vertical direction of the binding band and in a direction away from the hood of the insulating housing. It is preferable to have the up-down direction control part which has (Claim 3).

  According to such a configuration, since the movement of the binding band in the vertical direction is suppressed, the binding band can be prevented from being detached from the insulating housing, and the unit connector can be fixed more stably. become.

  According to the wire harness connector as described above, the unit harnesses are collectively bundled by tightening the unit connectors around the wire harness body and tightening the unit harnesses to the wire harness body side. A binding band that can be fixed to the wire harness is guided by the guide portion, and the unit connectors are wound around the wire harness body in a posture aligned with the circumferential direction of the wire harness body with bending deformation of the flexible wiring member. In addition, it is possible to realize a fixing structure that is fixed to the wire harness body collectively by the binding band (claim 4).

  If the unit connector can be fixed to the wire harness body in a lump using the binding band in this way, a stable fixing force can be obtained without wrapping the adhesive tape around the unit connector many times like conventional tape winding. It becomes possible to secure.

  As the wire harness connector fixing structure, each unit connector has a cover attached to the insulating housing so as to cover a portion where the connector terminal and the conductor of the flexible wiring material are connected, It is preferable that the cover of each unit connector is fixed to the wire harness main body collectively with an adhesive tape.

  According to such a configuration, the hood and the insulating housing of the unit connector are fixed by the binding band, and the cover of the unit connector is fixed by the adhesive tape. It can be fixed to the harness body.

  In addition, as a fixing method for fixing the wire harness connector to the wire harness body, a binding band guiding process for guiding the binding band to the guide portion of each unit connector, and each unit connector to which the binding band is guided are provided. A winding step of winding the flexible wiring member in a circumferentially arranged posture with bending deformation of the flexible wiring member, and a binding step of fixing the unit connectors to the wire harness body collectively by the binding band It is preferable to use a fixing method including a tape fixing step in which the periphery of the cover of each unit connector fixed by the binding band is fixed together with an adhesive tape.

  According to this method, since the binding band is first guided to the guide portion in the binding band guide process and each unit connector is wound around the wire harness body in the winding process, the binding band is wound around the wire harness body. It can be easily wound around the unit connector. In addition, the unit connectors are fixed together with the binding band in the binding process, and the periphery of the cover is fixed together with the adhesive tape in the tape fixing process, so that the unit connector is more stable by fixing with the binding band and the tape winding. Can be fixed to the wire harness body. In particular, the tape is fixed after the bundling process, and the adhesive tape can be wound with the unit connector being sufficiently wrapped around the wire harness body by batch fixing with the bundling band. It can be surely suppressed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wire harness connector that can be miniaturized and can be stably fixed to the wire harness body.

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

  FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a wire harness connector according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the wire harness connector, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are wound around the wire harness connector. FIG. 5 is a top view and a front view showing an example of a binding band to be obtained, FIG. 5 is a front view when the wire harness connector is fixed to the wire harness body, and FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG.

  The wire harness connector 1 has three unit connectors C1, C2, and C3, and these unit connectors C1 to C3 are integrally connected and electrically connected to each other.

  Each of the unit connectors C1 to C3 includes a plurality of (in the illustrated example, five) pin-shaped connector terminals 10 as shown in FIG. 2, an insulating housing 20 that holds these connector terminals 10, and a flexible wiring member 30. And a cover 26.

  The plurality of connector terminals 10 are arranged in a posture parallel to each other in a direction substantially orthogonal to the axial direction thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, the axial front portion (right side portion in the figure) of the connector terminal 10 included in each unit connector is electrically connectable with the mating connector terminal connected to the wire harness body 50. The tab 12 and the rear portion in the axial direction (the left portion in the figure) is a wiring member connecting portion 14 connected to the flexible wiring member 30. A wide flange 16 is formed between the electrical connection tab 12 and the wiring member connection 14. These connector terminals 10 are held by the insulating housing 20 in a state of being arranged in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction.

  In the present invention, it does not matter whether the specific shape of each connector terminal or male and female is different. These elements may be set arbitrarily according to the location where the connector is used.

  Each insulating housing 20 has a hood 22 and a terminal holding portion 25. The hood 22 has a shape that extends forward (right side in FIG. 2) and surrounds the electrical connection tab 12 of the connector terminals 10. The hood 22 is formed so that the connector housing of the mating connector can enter.

  As shown in FIG. 1, guide portions 24 are provided above the hood 22. The guide portion 24 guides a binding band 40 described later in the longitudinal direction of the flexible wiring member 30 across the unit connectors C1 to C3. The guide portion 24 includes a width direction restricting portion 24a that is provided before and after the connector terminal 10 in the axial direction and protrudes upward, and a vertical direction restricting portion 24b that connects the upper surface of the width direction restricting portion 24a. The width direction restricting portion 24a restricts the movement of the binding band 40 inserted through the guide portion 24 in the width direction (the axial direction of the connector terminal 10 and the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the flexible wiring member 30). . On the other hand, the vertical direction restricting portion 24b restricts the vertical movement of the binding band 40. As described above, the width direction restricting portion 24 a restricts the movement of the binding band 40 in the width direction so that the binding band 40 does not come off the hood 22. Furthermore, the width direction restricting portion 24a restricts relative movement in the width direction (axial direction of the connector terminal 10) of each adjacent unit connector by restricting movement in the width direction of the binding band 40 as described above. Yes. Further, the vertical direction restricting portion 24b restricts the unit connectors from moving relative to each other by restricting the binding band 40 guided by the guide portion 24 from being detached from the hood 22. In particular, here, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the width direction restricting portion on the front side in the axial direction and the width direction restricting portion on the rear side of the connector terminal 10 of the width direction restricting portion 24 a In the direction perpendicular to the direction, they are provided at positions shifted from each other in the front-rear direction, so that the binding band 40 is more easily inserted.

  The terminal holding part 25 is formed integrally with the hood 22. This terminal holding part 25 is for holding each connector terminal 10. Each connector terminal 10 is press-fitted perpendicularly to the terminal holding portion 25, and its axial intermediate portion is held by the terminal holding portion 25. Specifically, the connector terminals 10 so that the electrical connection tab 12 of each connector terminal 10 protrudes into the hood 22 and the wiring member connection portion 14 of each connector terminal 10 protrudes into the cover 26. 10, the vicinity of the flange portion 16 is held by the terminal holding portion 25.

  The flexible wiring member 30 is a thin flat wiring member provided with five conductors 32 as shown in FIG. 2 and an insulating layer 34 covering these conductors 32.

  Each of the conductors 32 has a flat and thin shape (for example, a flat shape), and is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction in a parallel posture. Then, the insulating layer 34 is formed so as to cover these conductors 32 from both the front and back sides, so that the whole is integrated and can be bent and deformed in the thickness direction. . The flexible wiring member 30 is held by a flexible wiring member holding portion (not shown) provided in the insulating housing 20.

  Windows 34a penetrating the insulating layer 34 are formed at appropriate positions of the insulating layer 34 on both the front and back sides. These windows 34a are formed at positions where the respective conductors 32 intersect with the wiring member connecting portions 14 of the connector terminals 10 to be connected to these conductors 32, and the respective conductors 32 are formed at the positions where the windows 34a are formed. Is partially exposed outside the insulating layer 34. And the conductor 32 and the wiring material connection part 14 are mutually welded and electrically connected in this crossing position. In this welding and electrical connection, for example, one electrode of a pair of welding electrodes is applied to each conductor 32 through a window 34 a provided in the flexible wiring member 30, and the other electrode is connected to the inner space of the cover 26. It can be realized by a method in which a necessary voltage is applied between the two electrodes through the wiring material connecting portion 14 at the intersection.

  In the present invention, the specific structure of the flexible wiring member 30 is not limited. For example, the flexible wiring member 30 may be a flexible printed circuit (FPC), a ribbon electric wire, or a simple arrangement of a plurality of insulated electric wires. However, the flat wiring material as described above has an advantage that its structure is simple and easy to handle.

  The cover 26 is for protecting a connection portion between the wiring material connecting portion 14 of the connector terminal 10 and the conductor 32 of the flexible wiring material 30. The cover 26 has a shape that covers a portion where the connector terminal 10 and the flexible wiring member 30 intersect from both the connector terminal 10 side and the flexible wiring member 30 side. The cover 26 is detachably attached to the hood 22 of the insulating housing 20 to prevent water or the like from entering the connecting portion between the wiring member connecting portion 14 and the conductor 32.

  Next, an example of the binding band 40 inserted through the guide portion 24 provided on the hood 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

  The binding band 40 is for fixing the unit connectors C1 to C3 to the wire harness body 50 at a time. The binding band 40 is a flexible member made of resin or the like. As shown in FIG. 3, the binding band 40 is provided with locking grooves 40a formed at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction. Further, a locking portion 44 having a locking projection 44a locked to the locking groove 40a is provided at one end in the longitudinal direction. According to such a binding band 40, the binding band 40 is wound around the object to be bound, and then the other end 42 in the longitudinal direction of the binding band 40 is inserted into the locking portion 44 to engage with the locking groove 40a. The object provided inside the binding band 40 can be easily bound by a simple method of engaging the stop protrusion 44a. In particular, the locking groove 40a has such a shape that the locking projection 44a can move only in one direction, and the binding band 40 once engaged is not easily loosened.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the binding band 40 is inserted through the guide portion 24 and wound around the hood 22 of each unit connector. Each unit connector is fastened to the center in the radial direction by the engagement of the locking groove 40 a and the locking projection 44 a and is tied to the wire harness body 50. In this way, the unit connector that is bound to the wire harness main body 50 while being pressed is suppressed not only in the radial direction but also in the circumferential direction.

  Next, a fixing method for fixing the wire harness connector 1 to the wire harness body 50 will be described. This fixing method includes the following steps.

1) Binding band guide step In this step, the binding band 40 is guided to each guide portion 24 of the unit connector. Specifically, the binding band 40 is inserted through a portion surrounded by the width direction restricting portion 24a and the vertical direction restricting portion 24b of the guide portion 24.

2) Winding step In this step, each unit connector is wound around the wire harness body 50 while the flexible wiring member 30 is bent and deformed. At this time, the binding band 40 inserted through the guide portion 24 is also bent and deformed along with the bending deformation of the flexible wiring member 30.

3) Bundling Step In this step, first, the end 42 of the binding band 40 is inserted into the locking portion 44 of the binding band 40. Next, the end portion 42 is pulled while engaging the locking projection 44a and the locking groove 40a, and each unit connector is tightened to the radial center, that is, the wire harness body side. Then, each unit connector is tied and fixed to the wire harness main body 50 by pulling until the end portion 42 does not move. Thereafter, unnecessary portions from the locking portion 44 to the end portion 42 are cut off.

4) Tape Fixing Step In this step, as shown in FIG. 6, the adhesive tape 60 is wound around the cover 26 of each unit connector wound around the wire harness body 50.

  Each unit connector fixed to the wire harness main body 50 as described above is connected to a connector (not shown) connected to the wire harness main body 50 so that the connectors can be electrically connected to each other. become.

  In the wire harness connector 1 shown above, each unit connector is fastened to the center side in the radial direction by the binding band 40, that is, the wire harness body 50 side and tied to the periphery of the wire harness body 50. In addition, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the unit connector is relatively moved due to the looseness of the tape, and it is possible to fix each unit connector more stably. In particular, the binding band 40 can be stably fixed around the hood 22 by providing the guide portion 24.

  In addition, with conventional tape winding, it is necessary to wind a sufficient amount of adhesive tape to ensure a sufficient fixing force, which makes it difficult to reduce the size of the portion around which the adhesive tape is wound. In the wire harness connector 1, since the binding band 40 can be used as described above, the hood 22 can be downsized. That is, according to this wire harness connector 1, it is possible to provide a connector that can be stably fixed to the wire harness body 50 while miniaturizing the hood 22 and thus each unit connector.

  In particular, since the hood 22 portion into which the mating connector is inserted is fixed by the binding band 40, when the mating connector is coupled to each unit connector, stress is generated at the connecting portion between the flexible wiring member 30 and the connector terminal 10. Can be effectively suppressed.

  Further, if the guide portion 24 is provided with a width direction restricting portion 24a for restricting movement of the binding band 40 in the width direction and a vertical direction restricting portion 24b for restricting movement of the binding band 40 in the vertical direction, the binding band 40 is displaced. Since the relative movement of each unit connector can be suppressed, the unit connector can be fixed in a more stable state.

  Further, in addition to fixing with the binding band 40, if the periphery of the cover 26 of the unit connector is wrapped with the adhesive tape 60, more stable fixing is possible.

  In particular, if the tape fixing process using the adhesive tape 60 is performed after the binding process of fixing the unit connector by the binding band 40, each unit connector is sufficiently wound around the wire harness body 50 by the binding band 40. Since the adhesive tape 60 can be wound in a state, the adhesive tape 60 can be wound without loosening.

  Here, the shape of the binding band 40 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and any shape can be used as long as the unit connector can be fastened to the wire harness main body 50 side and fixed to the wire harness main body 50 collectively.

  Moreover, the shape of the guide part 24 provided in the unit connector is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be, for example, a groove formed on the upper surface of the hood 22.

  The quantity of unit connectors and connector terminals 10 is not limited to the above.

  Moreover, although the case where each unit connector was couple | bonded with the connector connected to the wire harness main body 50 was shown in the said embodiment, it may couple | bond with the connector guide | induced from wire harnesses other than the above, for example.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a wire harness connector according to the present invention. It is a partial cross section figure of the connector for wire harnesses shown in FIG. It is a top view which shows the binding band wound around the connector for wire harnesses shown in FIG. It is a side view which shows the binding band wound around the connector for wire harnesses shown in FIG. It is a front view at the time of fixing the connector for wire harnesses shown in FIG. 1 to the wire harness main body. It is a side view at the time of fixing the connector for wire harnesses shown in FIG. 1 to the wire harness main body.

Explanation of symbols

C1, C2, C3 Unit connector 1 Connector for wire harness 10 Connector terminal 20 Insulating housing 22 Hood 24 Guide portion 24a Width direction restriction portion 24b Vertical direction restriction portion 26 Cover 30 Flexible wiring material 32 Conductor 40 Binding band 50 Wire harness body 60 Adhesive tape

Claims (6)

A wire harness connector attached to a wire harness,
A plurality of unit connectors having a plurality of connector terminals and an insulating housing for holding these connector terminals;
With a flexible wiring material for electrically connecting the connector terminals of these unit connectors,
The flexible wiring material is arranged in a plane in a posture parallel to each other, and a plurality of conductors electrically connected to a specific connector terminal of the connector terminals in a state of intersecting with the connector terminal, and A flat insulating layer that covers and integrates the conductor of
The insulating housing includes a hood having a shape surrounding a portion of the connector terminal that can be coupled to a connector terminal of a counterpart connector, and the hood is provided on the hood, and the unit connectors are wound around the wire harness body. It has a guide part for guiding the binding band that can be fixed to the wire harness main body in a lump in the longitudinal direction of the flexible wiring material by tightening the unit connector to the wire harness main body side while being attached. Connector for wire harness. The wire harness connector according to claim 1,
The width direction in which the guide portion has a shape that restricts the binding band guided by the guide portion from moving in the width direction of the binding band and in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the flexible wiring material. A wire harness connector comprising a restriction portion. The wire harness connector according to claim 1 or 2,
The guide portion has a shape that restricts the binding band guided by the guide portion from moving in the vertical direction of the binding band in a direction away from the hood of the insulating housing. A wire harness connector comprising: A wire harness connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the wire harness connector is fixed to the wire harness body,
When the unit connectors are wound around the wire harness body and tightened to the wire harness body side, a binding band capable of fixing the unit connectors to the wire harness body together is guided to the guide portion. And
The unit connectors are wound around the wire harness body in a posture aligned in the circumferential direction of the wire harness body with bending deformation of the flexible wiring member, and are collectively bundled on the wire harness body by the binding band. A structure for fixing a connector for a wire harness, wherein the connector is fixed. The wire harness connector according to claim 4, wherein the wire harness connector is fixed to the wire harness body.
Each unit connector has a cover attached to the insulating housing so as to cover a portion where the connector terminal and the conductor of the flexible wiring material are connected.
A wire harness connector fixing structure, wherein the cover of each unit connector is fixed to the wire harness body together by an adhesive tape. A wire harness connector fixing method for fixing the wire harness connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3 to the wire harness body,
A binding band guide step for guiding the binding band to the guide portion of each unit connector;
A winding step of winding each unit connector guided with the binding band in a posture aligned with the wire harness body in a circumferential direction with bending deformation of the flexible wiring member;
A bundling step of fixing the unit connectors to the wire harness body collectively by the bundling band;
A method of fixing a connector for a wire harness, comprising: a tape fixing step of fixing the periphery of the cover of each unit connector fixed by the binding band together with an adhesive tape.

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