JP2010055930A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a waterproof connector capable of preventing water from entering a housing while the same sealing material can be used for preventing water intrusion from outer peripheries of a covered electric wire and a flat cable. <P>SOLUTION: The waterproof connector includes a rear holder 4 mounted on a rear end of a housing and a sealing material 6 that is held by the rear holder 4 and seals an outer periphery of a wiring material. The rear holder 4 and the sealing material 6 are divided vertically into two parts, with the center of the wiring material as a boundary. A holder member 4a and a holder member 4b which have been divided are formed integrally, with a sealing member 6a and a sealing member 6b which have been divided, respectively. Recesses 9a and 9b for a covered wire to receive a covered electric wire and recesses 10a and 10b for a flat wire to receive a flat cable are provided on the sides of divided surfaces of the sealing members 6a and 6b, and the recesses 9a and 9b for a covered wire and the recesses 10a and 10b for a flat wire are arranged side by side along a terminal insertion direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a waterproof connector used in an automobile or the like, and more particularly to a waterproof connector that prevents water from entering a housing by sealing the outer periphery of a wiring material connected to a terminal in the housing with a sealing material.

  A conventional waterproof connector of this type is disclosed in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. 11, the waterproof connector 100 includes a housing 101, a cover 103 connected to the housing 101 via a hinge 102, a flat cable 104 sandwiched between the housing 101 and the cover 103, and an elastic material. And a sealing material 105 that seals the outer periphery of the flat cable 104.

  According to the above configuration, the seal material 105 is elastically deformed by inserting one end of the flat cable 104 into the housing 101 and mounting the seal material 105 on the outer periphery of the flat cable 104 and then pinching with the housing 101 and the cover 103. Since the outer periphery of the flat cable 104 is sealed, it is possible to prevent water from entering the housing 101 through the outer periphery of the flat cable 104.

  Further, as a related to this type of prior art, there is a connection structure between a flat cable and an electric wire disclosed in Patent Document 2. As shown in FIG. 12, this conventional connection structure 110 includes a sealing material 112 attached to the outer periphery of a general covered electric wire 111 having a circular cross section, and other sealing materials attached to the outer periphery of the flat cable 113. 114, and a connecting portion between the covered electric wire 111 and the flat cable 113 is molded with an insulating resin 115.

  According to the above configuration, the connecting portions of the covered electric wire 111 and the flat cable 113 are molded with the insulating resin 115, so that the sealing materials 112 and 114 are elastically compressed to seal the outer circumferences of the covered electric wire 111 and the flat cable 113, respectively. Therefore, water can be prevented from entering the connecting portion of the covered electric wire 111 and the flat cable 113.

  As another conventional example, as shown in FIG. 13, a sealing material 122 and a rear grid 123 are sequentially attached to the rear end of the housing 121, and the outer periphery of a plurality of the covered wires 124 arranged in parallel is sealed with the sealing material 122. Also mentioned.

According to the above configuration, the outer circumferences of the plurality of covered electric wires 124 arranged in parallel are sealed with the sealing material 122, respectively, so that it is possible to prevent water from entering the housing 121 through the outer circumference of the covered electric wires 124.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-25686 JP 2000-348791 A

  However, the waterproof connector 100 of Patent Document 1 is effective in securing waterproofness by sealing the outer periphery of the flat cable 104 with the sealing material 105 among the wiring materials.

  The connection structure 110 of Patent Document 2 can be applied to the case where the covered electric wire 111 and the flat cable 113 are connected to each other. However, the covered electric wire and the flat cable are shared and connected to the terminals in the housing. In some cases, there is a problem that it cannot respond.

  Further, in the other conventional example shown in FIG. 13, there is a considerable gap between the outer periphery of the covered wire 124 and the inner periphery of the rear grid 123. Therefore, as shown in FIG. When bent in the direction, the covered electric wire 124 moves in the rear grid 123 and presses the sealing material 122 to elastically deform. As a result, a gap G is generated between the covered electric wire 124 and the sealing material 122. There is a risk that the housing 121 may be submerged in water and the waterproofness is impaired. Similarly, the attachment position of the covered electric wire 124 is shifted due to vibration or the like, and a gap is likely to be generated between the sealing material 122 and the like.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and can reliably prevent water from entering the housing, and can be the same in order to prevent water from entering around the outer periphery of the covered electric wire and the flat cable having different cross-sectional shapes. It is an object of the present invention to provide a waterproof connector that can be handled with a sealing material.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a housing containing a terminal accommodating chamber for accommodating a terminal, a rear holder mounted on the rear end side of the housing in the terminal insertion direction, and a wiring held by the rear holder and connected to the terminal. A waterproof connector having a sealing material for sealing the outer periphery of the material, wherein the rear holder is connected to the first holder member and the second holder member along the terminal insertion direction with the center line of the wiring material as a boundary. The covered wire is divided and divided into two parts along the terminal insertion direction along the terminal insertion direction with the center line of the wiring member as a boundary, and has a semicircular cross section and receives a covered wire A concave portion and a flat wire concave portion having a rectangular cross section and receiving a flat cable are arranged side by side along the terminal insertion direction on the dividing surface side of the first seal member and the second seal member. To.

  Invention of Claim 2 is the waterproof connector of Claim 1, Comprising: The covered wire control part which consists of a recessed part along the external shape of the said covered electric wire in the rear-end part of the said rear holder, and the external shape of the said flat cable And a flat wire restricting portion formed of a recess along the line.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the outer circumferences of the covered electric wire and the flat cable can be sealed by the covered wire concave portion having a semicircular cross section and the flat wire concave portion having a rectangular cross section provided in the pair of divided sealing members. The same sealing member can be used to prevent water infiltration on the outer periphery of the covered electric wire and the flat cable having different cross-sectional shapes, and the outer periphery of the covered electric wire is sealed by elastically pressing the covered electric wire and the flat cable. Thus, it is possible to reliably prevent water from entering the housing.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the attachment position of the covered electric wire and the flat cable from being displaced due to vibration or the like and to generate a gap between the sealing member and the covered electric wire protruding from the rear ends of the pair of holder members Even when an external force is applied in a direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the flat cable, the bending operation of the covered electric wire and the flat cable can be restricted to prevent a gap from being generated between the sealing members. It is possible to improve the waterproofness of the water and more reliably prevent water from entering the housing.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 10 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a waterproof connector, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a divided state of a rear holder and a sealing material, and FIG. 3 is an assembled state of the rear holder and the sealing material. 4 is a rear view seen from the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is an assembled perspective view of a waterproof connector to which a covered electric wire is connected, and FIG. 6 is an assembled state of a rear holder and a sealing material sandwiching the covered electric wire. 7 is a rear view seen from the direction of arrow C in FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is an assembled perspective view of a waterproof connector to which a flat cable is connected, and FIG. 9 is an assembled state of a rear holder and a sealing material sandwiching the flat cable. FIG. 10 is a rear view seen from the direction of arrow D in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 10, the waterproof connector 1 of the present application includes a housing 3 that houses a terminal accommodating chamber 2 that accommodates terminals (not shown), and a terminal insertion direction of the housing 3 (the arrow direction in FIG. 1). ) A resin rear holder 4 mounted on the rear end side, and a mat seal 6 as an elastic seal member that is held by the rear holder 4 and seals the outer periphery of the wiring member 5 connected to the terminal. . As the wiring member 5, a general covered electric wire 7 having a circular cross section and a flat cable 8 can be connected. The flat cable 8 is FFC (Flexible / Flat / Cable) or FPC (Flexible / Print / Circuit). It is.

  The rear holder 4 and the mat seal 6 are respectively a first holder member 4a and a second holder member 4b, and a first seal member 6a and a second seal in the vertical direction along the terminal insertion direction with the center line L of the wiring member 5 as a boundary. The first holder member 4a and the second holder member 4b which are divided into two members 6b are integrally formed via a hinge portion 4c.

  The pair of seal members 6a and 6b are each formed of a substantially flat elastic member. Two of the seal members 6a and 6b are arranged side by side, and are connected in parallel to the covered wire recesses 9a and 9b having semicircular cross sections extending in the terminal insertion direction, respectively, and the covered wire recesses 9a and 9b, Flat wire recesses 10a and 10b having a rectangular cross section extending in the width direction are provided, and the covered wire recesses 9a and 9b and the flat wire recesses 10a and 10b are disposed on the rear end side and the front end side, respectively, in the terminal insertion direction. ing. The space that can be formed inside by combining the divided surfaces of the seal members 6a and 6b facing each other is set to be slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the covered electric wire 7 and the height and width dimensions of the flat cable 8. As a result, the outer surfaces of the covered electric wires 7 are received by the sealing members 6a and 6b by combining the two with the divided surfaces of the sealing members 6a and 6b facing each other and receiving the two covered electric wires 7 in the covered wire recesses 9a and 9b. The flat cable 8 can be sealed and the outer periphery of the flat cable 8 can be sealed by receiving the flat cable 8 in the flat wire recesses 10a and 10b. As described above, when the two covered wires 7 are received in the covered wire recesses 9a and 9b of the seal members 6a and 6b, the front end sides of the seal members 6a and 6b are pressed by the covered wires 7, so that they are elastically deformed. . Similarly, when the flat cable 8 is received in the flat wire recesses 10a and 10b of the seal members 6a and 6b as described above, the rear end sides of the seal members 6a and 6b are pressed by the flat cable 8 and thus elastically deform.

  The pair of holder members 4a and 4b are connected to each other by an integrally provided hinge portion 4c. When the hinge portion 4c is bent, the second holder member 4b is 180 degrees in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. It can be assembled to the first holder member 4a in a state where the divided surfaces face each other. The second holder member 4b includes a projection 4d that protrudes in the opposite direction to the hinge portion 4c. The first holder member 4a is a locking portion 4e that is locked to the projection 4d when the holder members 4a and 4b are combined with each other. It has. A through hole 11 through which the covered electric wire 7 and the flat cable 8 pass is provided at the rear ends of the holder members 4a and 4b in the terminal insertion direction, and the position of the covered electric wire 7 is regulated by the edge of the through hole 11. A covered wire restricting portion 12 and a flat wire restricting portion 13 that restricts the position of the flat cable 8 are configured. The covered wire restricting portion 12 has a circular cross section along the outer shape of the covered electric wire 7, and the diameter thereof is set slightly larger than the outer diameter of the covered electric wire 7, while the flat wire restricting portion 13 is formed of the flat cable 8. It has a rectangular cross section along the outer shape, and its height and width are set slightly larger than the height and width of the flat cable 8.

  In the above configuration, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, when two covered electric wires 7 are used in parallel, the first holder in a state where the pair of holder members 4 a and 4 b and the seal members 6 a and 6 b are divided. After the member 4a is mounted on the rear end of the housing 3, the positions of the two covered wires 7 are restricted by the covered wire restricting portion 12 of the first holder member 4a, and the lower half of each covered wire 7 is attached. It receives in the recessed part 9a of the 1st seal member 6a. Next, when the second holder member 4b is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 2 and is assembled to the first holder member 4a in a state where the divided surfaces face each other, the second holder member 4b is locked. The portion 4e is locked to the protrusion 4d of the first holder member 4a. As a result, the seal members 6a and 6b are held in a state where the pair of holder members 4a and 4b are assembled with each other, and the upper half of the two covered electric wires 7 is received in the recess 9b of the second seal member 6b. The two covered electric wires 7 are elastically pinched by the sealing members 6a and 6b, respectively, and the outer periphery of the covered electric wire 7 is sealed.

  At this time, since the positions of the two covered electric wires 7 are regulated by the covered wire restricting portions 12 of the pair of holder members 4a and 4b, the attachment positions of the covered electric wires 7 are shifted due to vibration or the like, and the sealing members 6a, It can suppress that a clearance gap produces between 6b. Further, when an external force is applied to the covered wire 7 protruding from the rear ends of the pair of holder members 4a and 4b in a direction perpendicular to the extending direction, the gap between the covered wire restricting portion 12 of the holder members 4a and 4b and the covered wire 7 Is relatively small, and the bending operation of the covered electric wire 7 is restricted when the covered electric wire 7 abuts against the covered wire restricting portion 12, and in this case as well, the generation of a gap between the sealing members 6a and 6b can be suppressed. .

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, when the flat cable 8 is used, the first holder member 4 a is connected to the rear end of the housing 3 in a state where the pair of holder members 4 a and 4 b and the seal members 6 a and 6 b are divided. After the mounting, the flat cable restricting portion 13 of the first holder member 4a restricts the position of the flat cable 8 for positioning, and the lower half of the flat cable 8 is received in the concave portion 10a of the first seal member 6a. Next, when the second holder member 4b is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 2 and is assembled to the first holder member 4a in a state where the divided surfaces face each other, the second holder member 4b is locked. The portion 4e is locked to the protrusion 4d of the first holder member 4a. As a result, the seal members 6a and 6b are held in a state where the pair of holder members 4a and 4b are assembled with each other, and the upper half of the flat cable 8 is received in the recess 10b of the second seal member 6b. The flat cable 8 is elastically clamped by 6a and 6b, respectively, and the outer periphery of the flat cable 8 is sealed.

  At this time, the position of the flat cable 8 is regulated by the flat wire restricting portion 13 of the pair of holder members 4a and 4b, so that the mounting position of the flat cable 8 is shifted due to vibration or the like, and the seal members 6a and 6b are in contact with each other. It can suppress that a clearance gap arises between them. Further, when an external force is applied to the flat cable 8 protruding from the rear ends of the pair of holder members 4a and 4b in a direction perpendicular to the extending direction, the gap between the flat wire restricting portion 13 of the holder members 4a and 4b and the flat cable 8 Is relatively small, and the bending operation of the flat cable 8 is restricted by the flat cable 8 coming into contact with the flat wire restricting portion 13, so that in this case as well, the occurrence of a gap between the sealing members 6a and 6b can be suppressed. .

  According to the above configuration, the covered electric wire 7 and the flat cable 8 are formed by the semicircular cross-section covered wire recesses 9a and 9b and the rectangular cross-section flat wire recesses 10a and 10b provided in the pair of divided seal members 6a and 6b. Since the outer peripheries can be sealed, the same sealing members 6a and 6b can be used to prevent infiltration on the outer peripheries of the covered electric wires 7 and the flat cables 8 having different cross-sectional shapes.

  Moreover, according to the said structure, the covered electric wire 7 and the flat cable 8 are elastically pinched, and the outer periphery of the covered electric wire 7 is sealed, and the water immersion in the housing 3 can be prevented reliably. Further, it is possible to prevent the attachment positions of the covered electric wire 7 and the flat cable 8 from being shifted due to vibration or the like and to generate a gap between the sealing members 6a and 6b, and to cover the rear ends of the pair of holder members 4a and 4b. Even when an external force is applied to the electric wire 7 and the flat cable 8 in a direction perpendicular to the extending direction, the bending operation of the covered electric wire 7 and the flat cable 8 can be restricted to prevent a gap from being generated between the sealing members 6a and 6b. Therefore, the waterproofness in the outer periphery of the covered electric wire 7 and the flat cable 8 can be improved, and the water immersion in the housing 3 can be prevented more reliably.

1 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is an exploded perspective view of a waterproof connector. FIG. It is a perspective view which shows one Embodiment of this invention and shows the division | segmentation state of a rear holder and a sealing material. It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of this invention and shows the assembly state of a rear holder and a sealing material. It is the rear view which showed one Embodiment of this invention and was seen from the direction of the arrow B of FIG. It is an assembly perspective view of the waterproof connector which showed one Embodiment of this invention and connected the covered electric wire. It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of this invention and shows the assembly state of the rear holder and sealing material which pinches | interposes a covered electric wire. It is the rear view which showed one Embodiment of this invention and was seen from the direction of arrow C of FIG. It is an assembly perspective view of the waterproof connector which showed one Embodiment of this invention and connected the flat cable. It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of this invention and shows the assembly state of the rear holder and sealing material which pinches | interposes a flat cable. FIG. 10 is a rear view showing the embodiment of the present invention as seen from the direction of arrow D in FIG. 9. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the waterproof connector of a prior art example. It is sectional drawing which shows the connection structure of a flat cable and an electric wire. It is sectional drawing which shows the waterproof connector of another prior art example, (a) is sectional drawing which shows the attachment state of two covered electric wires, (b) is sectional drawing which shows the state by which one covered electric wire was bent. .

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Waterproof connector 2 ... Terminal accommodation chamber 3 ... Housing 4 ... Rear holder 4a ... 1st holder member 4b ... 2nd holder member 5 ... Wiring material 6 ... Mat seal (sealing material)
6a ... 1st seal member 6b ... 2nd seal member 7 ... Covered electric wire (wiring material)
8. Flat cable (wiring material)
9a, 9b ... Coated wire recess 10a, 10b ... Flat wire recess 12 ... Coated wire regulating part 13 ... Flat wire regulating part

Claims (2)

A housing containing a terminal accommodating chamber for accommodating a terminal, a rear holder mounted on the rear end side of the housing in the terminal insertion direction, and an outer periphery of a wiring member held by the rear holder and connected to the terminal are sealed. A waterproof connector provided with a sealing material,
The rear holder is divided into a first holder member and a second holder member along the terminal insertion direction with the center line of the wiring member as a boundary,
The sealing material is divided into two parts along the terminal insertion direction from the center line of the wiring material into a first sealing member and a second sealing member,
A covered wire recess having a semicircular cross section for receiving a covered wire;
A waterproof connector having a flat wire recess having a rectangular cross section and receiving a flat cable, and arranged side by side along the terminal insertion direction on the divided surface side of the first seal member and the second seal member . The waterproof connector according to claim 1,
In the rear end of the rear holder, a covered wire restricting portion made of a recess along the outer shape of the covered electric wire and a flat wire restricting portion made of a recess along the outer shape of the flat cable are provided. Waterproof connector.

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