JP2009211932A - Locking mechanism and lock method of connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make sure to determine whether or not a protrusion for locking installed at a lock lever is completely thrusted into a lock hole of the counterpart connector. <P>SOLUTION: The connector 1 is inserted into a fitting hole 9 of the counterpart connector 3, and the protrusion 7f for locking of the lock lever 7 of the connector 1 enters the inside and is engaged with the lock hole 9c of the counterpart connector 3. In this state, by pushing further the chip part 7b of the lock lever 7, an engaging protrusion 7i of the lock lever 7 enters the inside and is engaged with a recess part 5c of the connector 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector locking mechanism and a locking method in which a housing is integrally provided with a lock lever.

As a locking mechanism for the connector that is inserted into the mating hole of the mating connector and mated, an elastically deformable lock lever provided integrally with the housing of the connector is provided in the mating hole of the mating connector. 2. Description of the Related Art A lock protrusion (lock claw) that can be engaged with and disengaged from a lock hole is known.
JP-A-6-267611

  However, in the conventional locking mechanism described above, when the connector is inserted into the mating connector's fitting hole, it cannot be reliably determined whether the locking projection has completely entered the mating connector's locking hole, It is in a situation where poor fitting is likely to occur.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to reliably determine whether or not the locking protrusion provided on the lock lever has completely entered the lock hole of the mating connector.

  According to the present invention, a lock lever provided integrally with a connector housing via a first curved portion on one end side includes a first protrusion that engages with a lock hole of a mating connector. A second protrusion that is provided on a surface facing the housing on the other end opposite to the first curved portion with the first protrusion as a boundary, and that engages with an engaging portion provided on the housing; Between the two protrusions and the first protrusion, an elastically deformable second bending portion that curves so as to protrude toward the housing side is provided.

  According to the present invention, in a state where the first protrusion of the lock lever is engaged with the lock hole of the mating connector, the second protrusion is further engaged with the engaging portion of the housing. Accordingly, it can be reliably determined whether or not the first protrusion of the lock lever has completely entered the lock hole of the mating connector.

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

  1A is a perspective view of a connector 1 showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a side view of the connector 1, and FIG. 2 is one side of a mating connector 3 before mating with the connector 1. It is a perspective view containing a part. The connector 1 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 5 and a lock lever 7, which are inserted into a fitting hole 9 provided in the mating connector 3 to be fitted. At that time, a male terminal 13 provided in the fitting hole 9 of the mating connector 3 is fitted to a female terminal (not shown) accommodated in the terminal accommodating hole 11 of the housing 5 so that the connectors are electrically connected to each other. A conductive connection state is established.

  The fitting hole 9 forms a part of the front end side (opening side) by protruding the wall portion from the end surface 4a of the housing 4 of the mating connector 3, and the housing insertion portion 9a into which the housing 5 is inserted. And an arm insertion portion 9b that is formed continuously at the top of the housing insertion portion 9a and into which the lock lever 7 is inserted. A guide projection 9a1 extends along the insertion direction of the connector 1 on the bottom surface of the housing insertion portion 9a, and correspondingly, the lower surface of the housing 5 of the connector 1 engages with the guide projection 9a1. Thus, a guide groove 5p to be guided is provided.

  The lock lever 7 is positioned substantially at the center in the width direction of the housing 5 and is opposed to the upper surface 5 a, and the base end portion 7 a is connected to the upper surface 5 a on the front end portion 5 b side of the housing 5. It is integrated. The base end portion 7a of the lock lever 7 has a through hole 7a1 for providing appropriate elasticity at the center portion, and a pair is provided on both sides thereof.

  The lock lever 7 described above has a first curved portion 7c that can be elastically deformed so that the base end portion 7a side, which is one end side, protrudes outward, and the first curved portion 7c to the distal end portion 7b. An extending portion 7 d that extends toward the side and is substantially parallel to the upper surface 5 a of the housing 5 is provided. In other words, the connector 1 is integrally provided with the lock lever 7 with respect to the housing 5 via a first curved portion 7c that is elastically deformable provided on one end side.

  An end in the extending direction of the extending portion 7d is bent toward the housing 5 at the bent portion 7e, and a locking protrusion 7f as a first protrusion is formed on the extending portion 7d in the vicinity of the bent portion 7e. Provided. The locking projection 7f is formed on the inner wall 9d (see FIG. 3) of the wall portion of the arm insertion portion 9b of the fitting hole 9 when the connector 1 is inserted and fitted into the fitting hole 9 of the mating connector 3. The lock hole 9c is provided and engaged from the inside.

  On the further distal end 7b side of the bent portion 7e, there is provided an elastically deformable second bending portion 7g that curves so as to protrude toward the housing 5 opposite to the first bending portion 7c. An inclined portion 7h that extends from the curved portion 7g toward the distal end portion 7b and is inclined so as to be gradually separated from the housing 5 is provided.

  An engaging protrusion 7i as a second protrusion is provided on the housing 5 side of the inclined portion 7h. That is, the engaging protrusion 7i is provided on a surface facing the housing 5 on the other end opposite to the first curved portion 7c with the locking protrusion 7f as a boundary. The engaging protrusion 7i and the locking protrusion 7i The second bending portion 7g described above is provided on the lock lever 7 between 7f.

  A concave portion 5c as an engaging portion is provided at a position substantially corresponding to the engaging protrusion 7i from the end portion 5b side of the upper surface 5a which is the surface of the housing 5 facing the lock lever 7. The concave portion 5c is formed continuously below the through hole 7a1 of the base end portion 7a. At the end portion of the housing 5 opposite to the end portion 5b, as shown in FIG. The engagement projection 5i of the lock lever 7 is engaged with the engagement surface 5d while entering the recess 5c.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 3A described later, in a state before the connector 1 is fitted to the mating connector 3, the engagement protrusion 7i is in contact with the upper end corner of the engagement surface 5d. It has become.

  Next, the operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 3A, the connector 1 is moved from the state in which the end portion 5b of the housing 5 is opposed to the fitting hole 9 of the mating connector 3 to the fitting hole 9 as shown in FIG. When inserted, the lock projection 7f of the lock lever 7 is pushed by the inner wall 9d of the wall portion of the arm insertion portion 9b of the fitting hole 9, and the first bending portion 7c is further bent and elastically deformed in the bending direction. . At this time, since the engaging protrusion 7i is in contact with the upper end corner of the engaging surface 5d on the housing 5 side, the second bending portion 7g is further bent in the bending direction, and the inclined portion 7h is shown in FIG. 3 (a) is further inclined.

  When the connector 1 is further pushed in from the state of FIG. 3A, the locking projection 7f enters and engages with the lock hole 9c as shown in FIG. 4A. In this state, the curved shape of the first bending portion 7c of the lock lever 7 is almost restored, but the engagement protrusion 7i is in contact with the upper end corner of the engagement surface 5d as in FIG. Remains. At this time, the end portion 5 b of the housing 5 of the connector 1 substantially comes into contact with the end surface 9 e on the back side of the fitting hole 9.

  4A, when the distal end portion 7b of the lock lever 7 is pushed in the insertion direction (left direction in FIG. 4) of the connector 1 as indicated by an arrow A, the lock lever 7 is The second bending portion 7g is elastically deformed so as to bend in the direction opposite to the bending direction, and the engaging protrusion 7i enters the recess 5c of the housing 5 as shown in FIG. In this state, the engagement protrusion 7i is in a state where its rear surface 7i1 is pressed against the engagement surface 5d by the restoring force of the second curved portion 7g.

  Thus, in this embodiment, in a state where the locking projection 7f enters the lock hole 9c and is locked, the distal end portion 7b of the lock lever 7 is further pushed into the engagement projection 7i into the recess 5c to be engaged. . Here, in the state in which the engaging protrusion 7i is engaged with the recess 5c, the locking protrusion 7f has already entered the lock hole 9c, and therefore the locking protrusion 7f is pushed by the pressing operation on the distal end portion 7b of the lock lever 7 described above. Can be reliably determined whether or not it has entered the lock hole 9c of the mating connector 3, and poor fitting can be suppressed.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the locking projection 7f is positioned just before the lock hole 9c and is in a poorly fitted state, the engaging projection 7i is also positioned immediately before the recess 5c and engaged. Therefore, the fitting failure in this case can be easily confirmed visually.

  In the poorly fitting state of FIG. 5, the fitting state as shown in FIG. 4B can be obtained by pushing the lock lever 7 in the same manner as in FIG.

  On the other hand, conventionally, when the locking projection enters the lock hole, the user hears the sound when the lock lever returns from the elastically deformed state, visually confirms the position of the locking projection, Judgment is based on the positional relationship with the mating connector.

  However, when listening to the first sound, it is necessary to specify the sound, so it may be difficult to hear depending on the surrounding environment, and it may be assumed that it has been heard, so the determination cannot be made reliably. In addition, the poor fitting state is a state in which the locked state is not reached slightly, so the second and third determination methods cannot improve the accuracy, and the fitting state is reliably determined. It is not easy.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the engaging portion with which the engaging protrusion 7i engages is the recess 5c, so that it is only necessary to provide a groove-shaped cut portion on the upper surface 5a of the housing 5, particularly this cut portion. Since the recess 5c partially overlaps with the position where the through hole 7a1 of the base end portion 7a is formed when the housing 5 is resin-molded (the end 5b side), the recess 5c and the through hole 7a1 are connected to the connector 1 In addition, a part of the mold in the case of molding by punching in the above-described insertion direction can also be used, and it can be easily manufactured without complicating the mold structure, and can contribute to weight reduction.

(A) is a perspective view of the connector which shows one Embodiment of this invention, (b) is a side view of a connector. It is a perspective view which shows a part of connector and the other party connector before a fitting. It is an operation explanatory view showing connector fitting operation, (a) is a state where the connector is opposed to the fitting hole of the mating connector, (b) is in the middle of fitting the connector into the mating hole of the mating connector Each state is shown. FIGS. 4A and 4B are operation explanatory views showing the fitting operation of the connector, where FIG. 5A shows a state in which the locking protrusion has entered the lock hole, and FIG. 5B shows a state in which the engagement protrusion has entered the recess and the fitting has been completed. It is side surface sectional drawing which shows a fitting failure state.

Explanation of symbols

3 Mating connector 5 Housing 5c Recessed portion of housing (engagement portion)
7 Lock lever 7a Lock lever base end (one end of the lock lever)
7b Tip of the lock lever (the other end of the lock lever)
7c First bent portion of the lock lever 7f Locking protrusion of the lock lever (first protrusion of the lock lever)
7g Second curved portion of the lock lever 7i Engaging protrusion of the lock lever (second protrusion of the lock lever)
9 Mating hole of mating connector 9c Locking hole of mating connector 9d Inner wall of mating hole

Claims (4)

  With respect to the housing of the connector, a lock lever is integrally provided via a first curved portion that is elastically deformable provided on one end side, and this lock lever is provided on the surface opposite to the housing to be connected to the mating connector. A first projection that engages with the lock hole, and a surface facing the housing on the other end opposite to the first curved portion with the first projection as a boundary. A second protrusion that engages with the engaging portion, and an elastic deformation that curves between the second protrusion and the first protrusion so as to protrude toward the housing side opposite to the first bending portion. A connector locking mechanism, comprising: a second bending portion that is possible.   The mating connector is provided with a fitting hole for inserting and fitting the connector housing, the locking hole is provided in the inner wall of the fitting hole, the connector is inserted into the fitting hole, With the first protrusion engaged with the lock hole, the other end of the lock lever is pushed in the insertion direction, so that the second bending portion is bent in the direction opposite to the bending direction and elastically deformed. The connector locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the second protrusion engages with an engaging portion of the housing.   3. The connector locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion of the housing with which the second protrusion is engaged is a recess provided on a surface of the housing. 4.   A first protrusion of a lock lever that is integrally provided so as to be elastically deformable via a first curved portion on one end side with respect to the housing by inserting the housing of the connector into the fitting hole of the mating connector. Is a connector locking method that engages and locks a lock hole provided in the inner wall of the fitting hole, and the other end side of the lock lever with the first protrusion engaged with the lock hole Is pushed in the insertion direction, and is provided in the vicinity of the other end, and an elastically deformable second bending portion that curves so as to protrude toward the housing side opposite to the first bending portion, Bending in a direction opposite to the bending direction and elastically deforming, the second protrusion provided on the other end opposite to the first protrusion with respect to the second bending portion of the lock lever is provided on the housing. A connector characterized by being engaged with a joint Locking method of data.

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