JP2009295322A - Female terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a female terminal alleviating insertion force of a male terminal and restraining its swinging. <P>SOLUTION: The female terminal is structured of a square cylindrical part 4 having a space 5 for a male tab 16 to be inserted into, and an elastic tongue piece 3 extended from an insertion-side edge of the male tab 16 at a bottom face of the square cylindrical part 4 and folded back into the space 5 for pressing the male tab 16 inserted into the space 5 in a direction opposed to the bottom face of the square cylindrical part 4. The elastic tongue piece 3, especially, includes a heaped part 17 formed for its tip to be folded toward a bottom face side of the square cylindrical part 4 and in contact with the male tab 16, with a concave part 18 formed at a part of the heaped part 17. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a female terminal.

  Conventionally, for example, when connecting wire harnesses of automobiles to each other, a metal male terminal and a female terminal are respectively accommodated in respective housings made of synthetic resin, and both the harnesses are electrically connected by fitting both terminals. It is known to connect to.

  For example, as described in Patent Document 1, the female terminal is configured by folding back a plate-like member continuously provided from the male terminal insertion side of the bottom wall surface of the cylindrical member having a space into which the male terminal is inserted into the space. It is known that a spring contact is formed and a male terminal is sandwiched and fitted between the spring contact and the top wall surface. Furthermore, it is known that a plate-like member serving as a spring contact is formed with a contact portion that bulges toward the top wall surface and contacts a male terminal.

JP 2002-246094 A

  However, the structure of the female terminal described in Patent Document 1 does not consider reducing the insertion force when inserting the male terminal.

  That is, by forming a contact portion that bulges toward the top wall surface on the plate-like member that serves as a spring contact of the female terminal, when inserting the male terminal, the tip of the male terminal is caught by this bulging portion. There is a risk of large peaks in the insertion force coming into contact.

  On the other hand, in such a female terminal, it is also conceivable to suppress the peak of the insertion force due to the catch by flattening without forming the bulging contact portion on the spring contact. However, in this case, in the process of inserting the male terminal into the female terminal, since the contact area between the male terminal and the spring contact is large, the insertion force increases.

  In addition, the contact area between the spring contact and the male terminal in the mated state after the male terminal is inserted is large, and the force acting on the unit area of the male terminal is dispersed. There is a risk that the head swing in the left-right direction is likely to occur. For example, in a vibration environment such as in an automobile, such a swing may adversely affect reliability.

  Then, this invention makes it a subject to implement | achieve the female terminal which reduces the insertion force of a male terminal and suppresses the oscillation of a male terminal.

  The female terminal of the present invention extends from the insertion side edge of the male terminal on one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion having a space into which the male terminal is inserted, and is folded back into the space. And an elastic tongue that presses the male terminal inserted into the square tube portion in a direction opposite to one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion. In particular, the elastic tongue piece has a tip portion on the one surface side of the rectangular tube-shaped portion. A chevron is formed that is bent to contact the male terminal, and a recess is formed in a part of the chevron.

  That is, the elastic tongue piece of the female terminal according to the present invention basically extends from the insertion side edge of the male terminal on one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion, is folded back into the space, and forms a chevron. Since the portion is bent and the shape that causes the tip of the male terminal to be caught when the male terminal is inserted is not formed, the peak of the insertion force can be suppressed. In addition, by forming a recess in a portion of the chevron, the contact area between the male terminal and the elastic tongue piece is reduced in the process of inserting the male terminal into the female terminal, so that the insertion force can be reduced. Further, in the fitted state after the male terminal is inserted, the contact area between the elastic tongue piece and the male terminal is smaller than in the case where the recess is not formed. Thereby, since the force acting on the unit area of the male terminal is difficult to disperse, the swinging in the front-rear and left-right directions with respect to the insertion direction of the male terminal can be suppressed.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the female terminal which reduces the insertion force of a male terminal and suppresses the oscillation of a male terminal is realizable.

  Embodiments of a female terminal and its chain terminal to which the present invention is applied will be described below. In the following description, the same functional parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a female terminal according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a developed state of the female terminal piece.

  The female terminal 1 of the present embodiment is configured to include a crimping portion 2, an elastic tongue piece 3, a rectangular tube-shaped portion 4, a space 5, and the like. It is formed by subjecting a female terminal piece of a metal plate having a desired shape to a necessary bending process.

  The crimping part 2 has a function of crimping and connecting the electric wire 6 and is formed by bending the crimping part region 7 of FIG. More specifically, the crimping area 7 includes a fixing piece 8 and a crimping piece 9, and is fixed so as to wrap the electric wire 6 with the fixing piece 8, and the electric wire 6 in the fixed state is fixed with the crimping piece 9. It is designed to be crimped so that it wraps around.

  The rectangular tubular portion 4 extending in the axial direction with the crimping portion 2 as a base portion is bent into a substantially rectangular tubular shape in this embodiment, and the space 5 into which, for example, a male tab of a mating terminal (male terminal) is inserted is a shaft. It is formed in the direction. 1 indicates the insertion direction of the male tab.

  The elastic tongue 3 extends from the insertion side edge of the male terminal on one surface (for example, the bottom surface) of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4 and is folded back into the space 5. Therefore, elastic deformation is possible using the folded portion as a fulcrum, and the male terminal inserted into the space 5 is pressed in a direction (for example, the top surface direction) opposite to one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4. The terminal is clamped. Detailed configurations of the elastic tongue piece 3 and the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4 will be described later.

  In the present embodiment, the rectangular tubular portion 4 is a substantially rectangular tubular shape, but is not limited to this, and can be formed in a polygonal shape.

  The rectangular tubular portion 4 has a cylindrical piece 14 extending in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction from both side ends with the base surface 10 as a center so that an appropriate clamping gap is provided between the elastic piece 3 and the cylindrical piece 14. In addition, it is bent so as to cover the elastic tongue piece 3, and the side surface of one cylindrical piece 14 is formed to be overlapped with the side surface of the other cylindrical piece 14.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the female terminal piece 15 before bending, the base side of the crimping area 7 is connected to the side edge of the long band-like carrier 13. In FIG. 2, a state in which one female terminal piece before bending is connected to the carrier 13 is shown. However, the female terminal piece 15 is formed on the side edge of the carrier 13 along the longitudinal direction of the carrier 13. A plurality of chain terminals are formed in parallel so as to be substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction to form a chain terminal. Here, the adjacent female terminal pieces 15 are arranged at a predetermined pitch with a predetermined interval.

  Next, the structure of the elastic tongue piece 3 and the rectangular tube-shaped part 4 will be described in detail. FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the characteristic part of the female terminal of this embodiment. 4 is a front view of the female terminal of this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the female terminal in FIG. In FIG. 3, the top surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4 is omitted for easy understanding of the characteristic portion of the female terminal.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the elastic tongue piece 3 extends from the insertion side edge of the male terminal on one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4 and is folded back into the space 5. The angle portion 17 is formed by being bent to the one surface side. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the angled portion 17 contacts the male tab 16 when the male tab 16 is inserted and in the fitted state after the insertion, and presses the male tab 16 with an elastic force. Further, a concave portion 18 is formed in a part of the mountain-shaped portion 17, in the present embodiment, in the approximate center in the width direction of the elastic tongue piece 3.

  Next, the operation and effect when the male tab 16 of the male terminal is inserted into the female terminal 1 of the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the male tab 16 is formed in a rectangular cross-sectional shape with the width direction (the left-right direction in the figure) in the same direction as the width direction of the elastic tongue piece 3 as a longitudinal direction. When the male tab 16 is inserted into the space 5, the elastic tongue piece 3 is pushed down to be bent. Here, the elastic tongue piece 3 of the female terminal of the present embodiment is basically extended from the insertion side edge of the male terminal on one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4 and folded back into the space 5 and the angle portion 17. In this structure, the tip is bent so that the tip of the male tab 16 is caught when the male tab 16 is inserted, so that the peak of the insertion force can be suppressed.

  Further, after the insertion process of the male tab 16 and the insertion of the male tab 16, the elastic repulsive force of the elastic tongue piece 3 is urged upward on the male tab 16. For this reason, the male tab 16 is pressed against the fixed contact 19 whose upper surface is fixed to the top surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4. Here, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, since the concave portion 18 is formed in the central portion of the mountain-shaped portion 17 of the elastic tongue piece 3, the contact between the elastic tongue piece 3 and the male tab 16 is the contact portion. 20, the contact area is smaller than when the recess 18 is not formed. Thereby, in the process which inserts the male tab 16 in a female terminal, since the contact area of the male tab 16 and the elastic tongue piece 3 becomes small, insertion force can be reduced. Further, if the elastic tongue 3 and the male tab 16 are under the same contact load in the fitted state after the male tab 16 is inserted, the force acting on the unit area of the male tab 16 is difficult to disperse. The swinging in the front-rear and left-right directions with respect to the insertion direction of the male terminal can be suppressed.

  In addition, it is conceivable to form a hole or a slit instead of forming the recess 18, but in this case, the spring property, that is, the elastic force of the elastic tongue piece 3 is lowered, and it becomes difficult to obtain a target contact load. .

  Next, a second embodiment of the female terminal according to the present invention will be described. Since the present embodiment is different from the first embodiment only in the structure of the elastic tongue piece, description of other parts is omitted.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining the characteristic part of the female terminal of this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a front view of the female terminal of this embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the female terminal in FIG. In FIG. 6, the top surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4 is omitted for easy understanding of the characteristic portion of the female terminal.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the elastic tongue piece 3 is extended from the insertion side edge of the male terminal on one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion 4 and folded back into the space 5, and the tip portion thereof is further square tube-shaped portion 4. Are formed on one surface side, and a concave portion 18 is formed at each end portion of the elastic tongue piece 3 in the width direction.

  The operation when the male tab 16 is inserted according to this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. According to the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, it is possible to suppress the tip of the tab from being caught by the elastic tongue 3 when the male tab 16 is inserted, and to suppress the peak of the insertion force.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 7, since the recessed part 18 is formed in the both ends of the mountain-shaped part 17 of the elastic tongue piece 3, the contact with the elastic tongue piece 3 and the male tab 16 arises in the contact part 20, and a contact area Is smaller than the case where the recess 18 is not formed. Thereby, in the process which inserts the male tab 16 in a female terminal, since the contact area of the male tab 16 and the elastic tongue piece 3 becomes small, insertion force can be reduced. Further, if the elastic tongue 3 and the male tab 16 are under the same contact load in the fitted state after the male tab 16 is inserted, the force acting on the unit area of the male tab 16 is more difficult to disperse. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the swinging in the front-rear and left-right directions with respect to the insertion direction of the male terminal.

It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the female terminal of 1st Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the expansion | deployment state of the female terminal piece of 1st Example. It is a perspective view explaining the characteristic part of the female terminal of 1st Example. It is a front view of the female terminal of 1st Example. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view in the broken line of the female terminal of FIG. It is a perspective view explaining the characteristic part of the female terminal of 2nd Example. It is a front view of the female terminal of 2nd Example. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view in the broken line of the female terminal of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Female terminal 3 Elastic tongue piece 4 Square cylindrical part 5 Space 13 Carrier 15 Female terminal piece 16 Male tab 17 Mountain-shaped part 18 Recessed part 20 Contact part

Claims (1)

A rectangular tube-shaped portion having a space into which a male terminal is inserted, and extending from the insertion side edge of the male terminal on one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion, folded back into the space, and inserted into the space An elastic tongue that presses the male terminal in a direction opposite to one surface of the rectangular tube-shaped portion,
The elastic tongue piece is formed such that a tip portion is bent to one surface side of the rectangular tube-shaped portion to form a chevron portion that contacts the male terminal, and a concave portion is formed in a part of the chevron portion. Female terminal.

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