JP2009245634A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a terminal from rattling by reducing the number of manufacturing man-hours of a connector. <P>SOLUTION: The connector is formed by having a box-shaped connector housing 1, a cross section rectangular shape terminal housing chamber 1a formed on the connector housing 1, a female terminal 5 housed in the terminal housing chamber 1a in an insertable and detachable state, a locking lance 7 arranged by facing the terminal housing chamber 1a and regulating an escape of the terminal 5, and a pushing member 9 facing the locking lance 7 and arranged by facing the terminal housing chamber 1a and pushing the terminal 5 in an escape direction. The pushing member 9 formed by a member with elasticity and supported on the connector housing 1 in a cantilever state is arranged by extending in the insertion direction of the terminal 5, and formed by having a pointed head section 41 formed by projecting the tip inside the terminal housing chamber. The pointed head section 41 receives deformation force in a direction where the pushing member 9 is evacuated from the terminal housing chamber 1a by butting with a pointed head section 30 of the terminal in an insertion process of the terminal in the terminal housing chamber 1a, and is formed in a shape wherein the terminal 5 is pushed in the escape direction by the deformation force. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a technique for preventing rattling of a terminal accommodated in a connector housing.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a connector that connects a female terminal and a male terminal is used, for example, to electrically connect a wire harness mounted on an automobile or the like to an electric or electronic device. As such a connector, a connector housing, a terminal storage chamber formed in the connector housing, a terminal that is detachably stored in the terminal storage chamber, and a terminal storage chamber that is provided facing the terminal storage chamber are regulated for terminal escape. What is comprised with the latching lance which performs is known.

  By the way, if the mounted state of the female terminal housed in the connector housing is rattling, the female terminal slides against the male terminal, and the contact between the female terminal and the male terminal There is a problem that the wear of the connector or the conduction between the terminals becomes unstable and the reliability of the connector is impaired.

  Therefore, in order to prevent the rattling of the terminal, a rear holder having a terminal locking portion for restricting rearward movement of the terminal at the rear portion of the terminal storage chamber is provided separately from the connector housing, and the rear holder is provided with this rear holder. There is a technique in which the rear holder is urged forward by an arm portion made of an elastic member to urge the terminal forward, and the terminal is brought into contact with and restrained by a restricting portion provided at the front portion of the terminal housing chamber of the connector housing. It is disclosed. (For example, patent document 1).

JP-A-9-213399

  However, in the connector of Patent Document 1, since the rear holder is separate from the connector housing, the number of manufacturing steps increases.

  An object of the present invention is to reduce the number of manufacturing steps of a connector and prevent the rattling of a terminal.

  In order to solve the above problems, a connector according to the present invention faces a connector housing, a terminal storage chamber formed in the connector housing, a terminal that is detachably stored in the terminal storage chamber, and a terminal storage chamber. The locking lance is provided with a locking lance that restricts the escape of the terminal, and a pressing member that opposes the locking lance and faces the terminal storage chamber and presses the terminal in the escape direction. The rear end is cantilevered and supported by the connector housing and extends in the terminal insertion direction, and protrudes into the terminal storage chamber at the front end to restrict the movement of the terminal in the escape direction. The terminal is formed with a tip, and the terminal applies a pressing force in a direction in which the locking lance is retracted from the terminal storage chamber during insertion into the terminal storage chamber, and the terminal is pushed at a position beyond the tip of the locking lance. Release pressure and press The pressing member is formed by an elastic member, cantilevered by the connector housing, and is inserted in the terminal insertion direction. The tip is formed to have a tip that protrudes into the terminal storage chamber at the tip, and the tip contacts the tip of the terminal in the process of inserting the terminal into the terminal storage chamber. The pressing member is formed in a shape that receives a deformation force in a direction of retracting from the terminal storage chamber and presses the terminal in the escape direction by the deformation force.

  Since it did in this way, when a terminal is inserted in a terminal storage chamber, the latching part of a terminal will press a latching lance in the process, and it will deform | transform in the direction which a latching lance retracts. Next, the pressing force to the locking lance is released at a position where the locking portion of the terminal exceeds the tip of the locking lance. As a result, the locking lance is returned to the original position by the elastic force, and the locking portion of the terminal is locked to the distal end portion of the locking lance, thereby preventing the terminal from being escaped. On the other hand, when the distal end portion of the terminal comes into contact with the distal end portion of the pressing member, the distal end portion of the terminal presses the pressing member, and the pressing member is deformed in a direction of retreating from the terminal storage chamber. Due to this deformation, a force (restoring force) that the pressing member tries to return to the original shape acts on the terminal, and this force presses the terminal in the escape direction to move the terminal in the escape direction. Press against the tip of the locking lance. In this manner, since the terminal locking portion can be held in a state of being pressed against the front end of the locking lance, rattling of the terminal can be prevented. As a result, the number of manufacturing steps of the connector can be reduced and the rattling of the terminals can be prevented.

  In this case, if the pressing member is formed by providing two slits juxtaposed in the direction substantially orthogonal to the terminal insertion direction on the wall member of the connector housing, the manufacturing man-hour of the connector can be further reduced. Further, the tip of the pressing member has a configuration in which the surface abutting on the tip of the terminal has an inclined surface that is inclined so as to press the terminal in the escape direction by the deforming force. Can be a component force for pressing in the escape direction.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the manufacturing man-hour of a connector can be reduced and the rattling of a terminal can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B show the connector housing of the present embodiment, where FIG. 2A is a front view and FIG. 2B is a perspective view. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional perspective view showing the main part of the terminal of this embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the connector of the present embodiment is housed in a box-shaped connector housing 1, a terminal housing chamber 1 a having a rectangular cross section formed in the connector housing 1, and removably inserted in the terminal housing chamber 1 a. The female terminal 5 is provided, the locking lance 7 is provided facing the terminal storage chamber 1a and the escape of the terminal 5 is restricted, and is provided facing the terminal storage chamber 1a so as to face the locking lance 7. And a pressing member 9 that presses the terminal 5 in the escape direction.

  The connector housing 1 is formed of a synthetic resin and includes an upper wall portion 11 provided at the upper portion of the terminal storage chamber 1a and a bottom wall portion 12 provided at the bottom portion. The connector housing 1 is provided with an opening 13 having a rectangular cross section into which a male terminal (not shown) on the other side of the terminal 5 is inserted and an opening 14 into which a jig for removing the terminal 5 is inserted. Yes.

  The locking lance 7 is formed integrally with the connector housing 1, the rear end is cantilevered by the connector housing 1, and is provided so as to extend in the insertion direction of the terminal 5 (direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1). . Further, the locking lance 7 is provided with a tip portion 15 having a projection that protrudes into the terminal storage chamber 1a at the tip and restricts the movement of the terminal 5 in the escape direction (the direction opposite to the arrow in FIG. 1). Yes. A support surface 16 that supports the terminal 5 is formed at the distal end portion 15 of the locking lance 7. In addition, a locking surface 17 that is perpendicular to the insertion direction, a surface 18 that is continuous with the locking surface 17, and a surface 19 that is continuous with the surface 18 are formed on the protrusion of the distal end portion 15 of the locking lance 7.

  The terminal 5 is formed of a ductile conductive member (for example, copper) and is formed by pressing a plate-shaped conductive member. Specifically, the terminal 5 is extended to the bottom wall portions 21 and 22 provided in the lower portion, the side wall portions 23 extending on both sides of the bottom wall portions 21 and 22, and the upper portion of the side wall portion 23. The upper wall portions 25 and 26 are formed in a rectangular cylindrical shape. The cross-sectional shape of the rectangular cylindrical terminal 5 corresponds to the rectangular cross-sectional shape of the terminal storage chamber 1a. The terminal 5 is provided with an elastic contact piece 27 formed by bending to be connected to the bottom wall portion 21, and the upper wall portion 26 is provided with a terminal contact portion 29 formed by pressing. . When the mating male terminal is inserted from the opening 13 between the terminal contact portion 29 and the elastic contact piece portion 27 and contacts the terminal contact portion 29 and the elastic contact piece portion 27, the terminal 5 27 is elastically deformed and presses the male terminal with a predetermined contact pressure.

  In addition, an inclined surface 31 that is inclined at a predetermined angle so as to face an inclined surface 43 of the pressing member 9 described later is formed at the distal end portion 30 provided at the distal end of the terminal 5. A connection portion 32 to which an electric wire (not shown) is connected is provided. The bottom wall portion 21 of the terminal 5 is provided with a locking portion 33 that comes into contact with the distal end portion 15 of the locking lance 7. The locking portion 33 is formed with a locking surface 35 capable of contacting the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7 and a surface 36 parallel to the bottom surface of the terminal storage chamber 1a. That is, the terminal 5 abuts against the surfaces 18 and 19 of the locking lance 7 by the surface 36 in the process of inserting the terminal 5 into the terminal storage chamber 1a, and pushes the locking lance 7 away from the terminal storage chamber 1a. And the pressing force is released at a position where the locking surface 35 of the terminal 5 exceeds the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7.

  Next, the structure of the pressing member, which is a characteristic part of the present embodiment, will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in the drawing, the pressing member 9 forms two slits 39 arranged side by side in a direction substantially orthogonal to the insertion direction of the terminal 5 on the distal end side of the upper wall portion 11 (wall member) of the connector housing 1. Thus, the connector housing 1 is cantilevered and extended in the insertion direction of the terminal 5. At the distal end of the pressing member 9, a distal end portion 41 having a protrusion protruding into the terminal storage chamber 1a is provided. The protrusion of the tip portion 41 includes an inclined surface 43 formed by inclining at a predetermined angle in a direction away from the terminal 5 as it goes to the tip of the protrusion (downward in FIG. 1), a surface 45 connected to the inclined surface 43, and a surface An inclined surface 47 continuing to 45 is formed. That is, the inclined surface 43 of the pressing member 9 is in contact with the inclined surface 31 of the terminal 5 and presses the terminal 5 in the escape direction by the deformation force of the pressing member 9.

  Next, the operation when the terminals are mounted on the connector housing will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are operation explanatory views when terminals are mounted on the connector housing of this embodiment. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the terminal 5 is inserted into the terminal storage chamber 1a of the connector housing 1 in the direction of the arrow in the figure. In the process of inserting the terminal 5, the surface 36 of the terminal 5 abuts against and presses the surfaces 18 and 19 of the locking lance 7 and deforms in a direction in which the locking lance 7 retracts (downward in FIG. 2). Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the pressing force to the locking lance 7 is released at a position where the locking surface 35 of the terminal 5 exceeds the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7. When the pressing force to the locking lance 7 is released, the locking lance 7 returns to the original position by the elastic force. As a result, the locking surface 35 of the terminal 5 can be locked to the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7 in the escape direction.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, when the inclined surface 31 of the terminal 5 comes into contact with the inclined surface 43 of the pressing member 9, the inclined surface 31 of the terminal 5 presses the inclined surface 43 of the pressing member 9. Is deformed in the direction of retreating from the terminal storage chamber 1a (the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 4). Due to this deformation, a force (restoring force) that the pressing member 9 tries to return to the original shape acts on the terminal 5, and this force presses the terminal 5 in the escape direction to move the terminal 5 in the escape direction. 5, the locking surface 35 of the terminal 5 is brought into contact with the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7 and pressed in the escape direction.

  As described above, since the locking surface 35 of the terminal 5 is brought into contact with the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7 and pressed in the escape direction, the locking surface 35 of the terminal 5 and the locking lance 7 can be held. It is possible to prevent a gap from being formed between the locking surface 17 and the terminal 5 from being loose. Further, since the pressing member 9 can be formed by providing the slit 39 in the upper wall portion 11 which is a wall member of the connector housing 1, the man-hour for manufacturing the connector can be reduced.

  Further, the front end portion 41 of the pressing member 9 has an inclined surface 43 that is inclined so that the surface abutting on the front end portion 30 of the terminal 5 presses the terminal 5 in the escape direction by a restoring force. It can be set as the component force which presses the terminal 5 in the escape direction with the deformation | transformation force of the press member 9 by a simple shape. Moreover, if it is an inclined surface, since a terminal can be pressed in the escape direction, it is not necessary to make the processing accuracy of the inclined surface strict, and the manufacture of the connector can be facilitated.

  In the present embodiment, the tip portion 41 of the pressing member 9 is provided with an inclined surface 43, but the tip portion 41 is shaped so that the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7 has the locking surface 35 of the terminal 5. Any shape can be used as long as the tip 41 of the pressing member 9 abuts against the tip 30 of the terminal 5 when abutting, and a force can be applied to press the terminal 5 in the escape direction by the deformation force of the pressing member 9. Instead of the inclined surface 41, a curved surface can be formed. Moreover, although the angle of the inclined surface 31 of the terminal 5 of this embodiment is set so that it may oppose the inclined surface 43 of the press member 9, the front-end | tip part 30 of the terminal 5 is in the inclined surface 43 of the press member 9. Any shape can be used as long as it can abut, and the angle of the inclined surface 31 is not limited to this embodiment. Moreover, it can replace with the inclined surface 31, for example, can be made into a curved surface, and the inclined surface 31 does not need to be provided.

  The locking surface 35 of the terminal 5 and the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7 are provided perpendicular to the insertion direction, but the locking portion 33 of the terminal 5 and the distal end portion 15 of the locking lance 7 are Any shape that can abut against each other and restrict the movement of the terminal 5 in the escape direction can be used, and for example, an inclined surface or a curved surface can be formed.

  The pressing member 9 is provided to form a slit 39 on the distal end side of the upper wall portion 11 of the connector housing 1, but the pressing member 9 is connected to the locking surface 17 of the locking lance 7 on the terminal 5. Any device can be used as long as it can abut against the tip 30 of the terminal 5 when the locking surface 35 abuts and bias the terminal 5 in the escape direction. For example, it penetrates the tip of the upper wall 11 of the connector housing 1. A member having a rod-like or plate-like elasticity is inserted and inclined toward the terminal storage chamber 1a, and one end is fixed to the upper wall portion 11, and the other end is fixed to the terminal storage chamber 1a. You may project in the inside of.

It is sectional drawing of the connector of one Embodiment of this invention. It is the connector housing of this embodiment, (a) is a front view, (b) is a perspective view. It is a cross-sectional perspective view which shows the principal part of the terminal of this embodiment. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of attaching a terminal to a connector housing. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of attaching a terminal to a connector housing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector housing 1a Terminal storage chamber 5 Terminal 7 Locking lance 9 Press member 15, 30, 41 Tip part 17, 35 Locking surface 31, 43 Inclined surface 33 Locking part

Claims (3)

A connector housing; a terminal storage chamber formed in the connector housing; a terminal that is detachably stored in the terminal storage chamber; and a latch that is provided facing the terminal storage chamber and restricts the terminal from being removed. A lance, and a pressing member that is provided facing the terminal storage chamber so as to face the locking lance and presses the terminal in the escape direction,
The locking lance is formed of an elastic member, the rear end is cantilevered by the connector housing, is provided to extend in the insertion direction of the terminal, and protrudes to the inside of the terminal storage chamber at the tip. Formed with a tip that regulates the movement of the terminal in the escape direction,
The terminal applies a pressing force in a direction in which the locking lance is retracted from the terminal receiving chamber during the insertion process into the terminal receiving chamber, and the pressing force is released at a position beyond the tip of the locking lance. And formed with a locking portion that comes into contact with the tip of the locking lance from which the pressing force has been released,
The pressing member is formed of an elastic member, is cantilevered by the connector housing, is provided to extend in the insertion direction of the terminal, and is formed at the tip so as to protrude into the terminal storage chamber. A distal end portion is formed, and the distal end portion abuts on the distal end portion of the terminal during the insertion process of the terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber, and the deforming force in a direction for retracting the pressing member from the terminal accommodating chamber. The connector is formed into a shape that presses the terminal 5 in the escape direction by the deformation force. The connector according to claim 1,
The connector is characterized in that the pressing member is formed by providing two slits arranged in parallel in a direction substantially orthogonal to the insertion direction of the terminal on the wall member of the connector housing. The connector according to claim 1,
The connector is characterized in that the front end portion of the pressing member has an inclined surface that is inclined so that a surface that contacts the front end portion of the terminal presses the terminal in the escape direction by the deformation force.

Images