JP2011054433A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance waterproofing performance of a waterproof connector. <P>SOLUTION: A waterproof connector 10 includes a housing 20, in which an electric-wire lead-out part 25 for leading out an electric wire 30 is formed at the rear end; a rubber plug 40, fitted on the outer periphery of the electric wire 30 and elastically in contact with the inner wall of the electric-wire lead-out part 25; and an electric-wire holder 50, that is located and mounted behind the rubber plug 40 at the rear end, where the electric-wire lead-out part 25 is formed of the housing 20 so as to regulate the radial movement of the electric wire led out from the electric-wire lead-out part 25. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a waterproof connector.

  Waterproof connectors that perform waterproofing using rubber plugs are widely known. For example, in the following patent document, a connector is waterproofed by housing a rubber plug in a housing recess formed at the rear end of the housing, and bringing the rubber plug into close contact with both the inner wall of the housing recess and the outer periphery of the electric wire. is doing.

JP 2003-77583 A

  In order to improve the waterproof performance of the rubber plug, it is preferable that the rubber plug is uniformly adhered to the electric wire in the circumferential direction. On the other hand, when the electric wire drawn out from the housing is pulled in the radial direction with any beat, the rubber plug is greatly deformed in the drawn direction. For this reason, the method of tightly adhering the rubber plug to the electric wire becomes nonuniform in each portion in the circumferential direction, and the sealing performance may be deteriorated.

In particular, in recent years, there is a tendency to use an aluminum wire having a core wire made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy for the purpose of weight reduction in place of a copper electric wire. In general, aluminum wires lack flexibility and are easily plastically deformed compared to copper wires. For this reason, when such an aluminum wire is pulled and deformed, the rubber plug is intimately adhered to the aluminum wire (in some cases, a gap is partially formed), and a countermeasure has been desired.
The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to improve the waterproof performance of a waterproof connector.

  The waterproof connector according to the present invention includes a housing in which a wire lead-out portion for pulling out a wire is formed at the rear end, a seal member that is fitted on the outer periphery of the wire and elastically contacts the inner wall of the wire lead-out portion, A movement restricting member that is attached to a rear end portion of the housing where the wire lead-out portion is formed and positioned behind the seal member and restricts movement of the electric wire drawn out from the wire lead-out portion in the radial direction; .

  If it does in this way, even if the electric wire pulled out from the housing is pulled by radial direction, a movement control member will control the movement to the radial direction of an electric wire. Therefore, a force that causes the electric wire to be displaced in the radial direction does not act on the portion of the electric wire that precedes the movement restricting member, and the electric wire maintains a straight linear shape. For this reason, the seal member does not deform at all, and maintains a state of being in close contact with the outer periphery of the electric wire, so that a good waterproof performance can be exhibited.

As an embodiment of the present invention, the following configuration is preferable.
The movement restriction member includes a base formed with an insertion hole through which the electric wire is inserted, and a restriction protrusion provided on the hole wall of the insertion hole and abutting against the electric wire passing through the hole.
A plurality of the restriction protrusions are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the hole wall of the insertion hole.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to reduce the resistance when the electric wire is passed through the insertion hole, and even if the electric wire is pulled in any radial direction, the movement of the electric wire accompanying it is regulated. it can.

  According to the present invention, the waterproof performance of the waterproof connector can be enhanced.

The disassembled perspective view of the waterproof connector in Embodiment 1 Front view of waterproof connector Top view of waterproof connector The figure which shows the shape of the insertion hole formed in the electric wire holder Horizontal cross section of waterproof connector Horizontal sectional view of waterproof connector in embodiment 2 The exploded perspective view of the waterproof connector in Embodiment 3 Horizontal cross section of waterproof connector

<Embodiment 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
The waterproof connector 10 is mainly composed of a housing 20, an electric wire 30, a rubber plug (corresponding to “seal member” of the present invention) 40, and an electric wire holder (corresponding to “movement restriction member” of the present invention) 50. ing. In the following description, the left side of FIG. 2 (the mating surface side with respect to the mating connector) will be referred to as the front side, and the right side of FIG.

  The housing 20 is made of synthetic resin and has a block shape. A cavity 23 is formed on the front side of the housing 20, and a wire lead-out portion 25 is formed on the rear end. The cavity 23 functions as a storage chamber for storing a terminal fitting (not shown) attached to the tip of the electric wire 30. In the present embodiment, two cavities 23 are formed in the width direction of the housing 20, and two electric wires 30 are attached to the housing 20.

  The wire lead portion 25 is recessed in the rear end surface 21 of the housing 20. The electric wire drawing portion 25 communicates with each cavity 23 and is configured such that the electric wires 30 are drawn to the rear of the housing through the electric wire drawing portion 25.

  The electric wire 30 has a structure in which a core wire is formed by a twisted wire obtained by twisting a plurality of strands made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the periphery of the core wire is covered with an insulating coating made of synthetic resin.

  The rubber plug 40 has a horizontally long plate shape that is long in the width direction of the housing 20. The rubber stopper 40 is provided with a pair of insertion holes 42. The insertion holes 42 correspond to the cavities 23 formed in the housing 20 and are configured to be inserted through the electric wires 30. The diameters of these insertion holes 42 are set to be slightly narrower than the outer diameter of the electric wire 30, and the rubber plug 40 is in close contact with the electric wire 30.

  The rubber plug 40 is configured to be accommodated from the rear side with respect to the wire lead-out portion 25. The rubber plug 40 has a shape that is slightly larger than the wire lead-out portion 25 and is configured to be accommodated in a slightly compressed state with respect to the wire lead-out portion 25. From the above, when the rubber plug 40 is housed in the wire lead-out portion 25, the rubber plug 40 is in close contact with both the inner wall of the wire lead-out portion 25 and the wire 30 and seals the rear portion of the housing 20. ing.

  The rubber plug 40 described above is set to have a thickness equal to or less than the depth of the wire lead-out portion 25 and can be accommodated inside the wire lead-out portion 25.

  The electric wire holder 50 is made of synthetic resin, and includes a base portion 51 facing the rear end surface 21 of the housing 20 and a side wall portion 61 formed on the outer periphery of the base portion 51. Similar to the rubber plug 40, the base 51 has a horizontally long shape that is long in the width direction of the housing 20. The base 51 is provided with a pair of insertion holes 53.

  The insertion holes 53 correspond to the cavities 23 formed in the housing 20 and are configured such that the electric wires 30 are inserted therethrough. As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of restricting protrusions 55 are formed in the insertion hole 53 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction (in this embodiment, four at 90 degree intervals). These restricting protrusions 55 protrude from the hole wall of the insertion hole 53 toward the hole center and come into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the electric wire 30 passing through the hole. With such a setting, the movement of the electric wire 30 passing through the hole in the radial direction (the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 4) can be restricted by the restriction protrusion 55.

  Four side walls 61 are formed corresponding to the four outer peripheral walls of the housing 20. And as shown in FIG. 1, the lock piece 65 is formed in the side wall part 61 located in the both sides of the width direction among the side wall parts 61 of the electric wire holder 50, respectively. The lock piece 65 can be bent by slits 66 formed at both upper and lower portions thereof, and a lock hole 65A is formed at the center. On the other hand, lock protrusions 27 are formed on the outer peripheral walls on both sides in the width direction of the housing 20 so as to correspond to the lock holes 65A.

  The electric wire holder 50 is attached to the housing 20 from the rear side, and the lock piece 65 on the holder 50 side is locked to the lock protrusion 27 on the housing 20 side, so that the electric wire holder 50 is fixed to the housing 20. ing.

  Next, an example of the assembly procedure of the waterproof connector 10 will be described. In order to assemble the waterproof connector 10, first, the electric wire 30 is passed through the insertion holes 53 and 43 of the electric wire holder 50 and the rubber plug 40, respectively. Thereafter, a terminal fitting (not shown) is caulked and fixed to the tip of the electric wire 30. Then, after fixing the terminal fitting to the tip of the electric wire 30, the electric wire 30 is inserted into the housing 20 from the rear, and each terminal fitting fixed to the tip of the electric wire 30 is accommodated in the cavity of the housing 20.

  Then, following the mounting operation of the electric wire 30 described above, the rubber plug 40 is accommodated in the electric wire drawing portion 25 of the housing 20, and then the electric wire holder 50 is put on the rear end portion of the housing 20 from the rear, and the electric wire holder 50. Each locking piece 65 formed on the side wall portion 61 is engaged with the locking protrusion 27 of the housing 20. Thus, the electric wire holder 50 is fixed to the rear end portion of the housing 20, and the assembly of the waterproof connector 10 is completed.

  Note that the assembly procedure described here is merely an example. For example, the rubber plug 40 is accommodated in advance with respect to the wire lead-out portion 25 of the housing 20, and a terminal fitting is inserted into the insertion hole 43 of the rubber plug 40. The electric wire 30 may be assembled to the housing 20 while pushing the attached electric wire 30.

  Next, the operation of the waterproof connector 10 will be described. This has a structure in which the movement of the electric wire 30 drawn from the housing 20 in the radial direction is restricted by the electric wire holder 50 attached to the rear end portion of the housing 20. Therefore, even if the electric wire 30 is pulled in the radial direction (downward in the drawing) as shown in FIG. 5, a force that displaces the electric wire in the radial direction does not act on the portion beyond the electric wire holder 50. The electric wire 30 maintains a straight linear shape. Therefore, the rubber plug 40 is not deformed at all and is kept in close contact with the outer periphery of the electric wire 30, so that it is possible to exhibit good waterproof performance.

  Moreover, in this thing, the structure which controls the movement with respect to the radial direction of the electric wire 30 is taken by making the front-end | tip of the control protrusion 55 formed in the insertion hole 53 of the electric wire holder 50 contact the electric wire 30. If it does in this way, since the contact area with respect to the electric wire 30 will not become so large, resistance when passing the electric wire 30 through the insertion hole 53 of the electric wire holder 50 will become small, and the electric wire 30 can be assembled | attached with respect to the electric wire holder 50 smoothly. .

  In addition, since the control protrusion 55 is formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, even if the electric wire 30 is pulled in any direction in the radial direction, the movement of the electric wire 30 associated therewith can be restricted.

  In this case, when the electric wire holder 50 is fixed to the housing 20, the base 51 closes the electric wire drawing portion 25 of the housing 20. For this reason, the wire stopper 50 can be used to restrict the movement of the wire 30 and prevent the rubber plug 40 from coming off.

<Embodiment 2>
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the electric wire holder includes only the base portion 51, and the base portion 51 is fitted to the electric wire drawing portion 25 of the housing 20. Even in this case, the base 51 can be fixed to the housing 20 although it is necessary to prevent the cable 30 from being detached. Therefore, the restriction protrusion 55 of the insertion hole 53 formed in the base 51 is similar to that of the first embodiment. It is possible to restrict the movement in the radial direction.

  In the second embodiment, since the other parts except the electric wire holder are the same as those in the first embodiment, these parts are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment and the description thereof is omitted.

<Embodiment 3>
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the first exemplary embodiment, the waterproof connector 10 is illustrated in which the two electric wires 30 are pulled out from the electric wire drawing portion 25 in a lump, and the two electric wires 30 are collectively sealed by the rubber plug 40 accommodated therein ( A so-called batch seal type waterproof connector).

  In the third embodiment, a tubular wire lead-out portion 70 is formed corresponding to each wire 30 at the rear portion of the housing constituting the waterproof connector. And each rubber | gum plug 75 is accommodated in the inside of each electric wire extraction part 70, respectively, and it has the structure which seals between each electric wire extraction part 70 and each electric wire 30 by each rubber | gum plug 75 (what is called individual seal | sticker). Type waterproof connector). In FIG. 7, only the wire lead-out portion 70 is shown in the housing constituting the waterproof connector.

  And in this thing, it is set as the structure which attaches the electric wire holder 80 corresponding to each electric wire drawer | drawing-out part 70 separately, and controls the movement of each electric wire 30 by each electric wire holder 80 separately.

  The electric wire holder 80 has the same basic configuration as the electric wire holder 50 illustrated in the first embodiment, and includes a base portion 81 in which an insertion hole 83 through which the electric wire 30 is inserted is formed. The base 81 has a hexagonal shape, and a pair of side wall portions 91 are formed on both upper and lower edges.

  Each side wall portion 91 is formed with a lock hole 91 </ b> A, and is locked to a lock protrusion 77 formed at a position near the outer peripheral rear end of the wire lead-out portion 70. The electric wire holder 50 can be fixed.

  A plurality (four in this embodiment) of restricting projections 85 are formed in the insertion hole 83 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. These restricting projections 85 protrude from the hole wall of the insertion hole 83 toward the hole center, and come into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the electric wire 30 passing through the hole. With such a setting, the movement of the electric wire 30 passing through the hole in the radial direction can be restricted by the restriction protrusion 85.

  In this embodiment, the rear end of the rubber plug 75 is separated from the position P where the restricting protrusion 85 presses the electric wire 30 by a certain distance D. In other words, the length of the wire lead-out portion 70 is set to be somewhat longer so as to achieve such a setting. With such a setting, the rubber plug 75 is less susceptible to the deformation of the electric wire 30 as the distance increases, so that the waterproof performance is further enhanced.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  (1) In the first embodiment, the movement of the electric wire is restricted by bringing the restriction protrusion 55 formed in the insertion hole 53 of the base portion 51 into contact with the electric wire 30 passing through the hole. The present invention only needs to be able to restrict the movement of the electric wire 30 in the radial direction. For example, the insertion hole 53 has the same diameter as the electric wire 30 or a slightly narrower diameter than the electric wire 30, and is inserted into the outer periphery of the electric wire 30. Of course, it is also good as a configuration for restricting the movement of the electric wire by contacting the hole wall itself.

  (2) In the second embodiment, the base part (electric wire holder) 51 and the rubber plug 40 are shown as separate parts. However, the base part 51 and the rubber plug 40 can be integrated by two-color molding. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Waterproof connector 20 ... Housing 25 ... Electric wire extraction part 30 ... Electric wire 40 ... Rubber plug (equivalent to the "seal member" of this invention)
50 ... Electric wire holder (corresponding to "movement restricting member" of the present invention)
53 ... Insertion hole 55 ... Restriction protrusion

Claims (3)

A housing in which a wire lead-out portion for drawing out the wire is formed at the rear end;
A seal member that is fitted to the outer periphery of the electric wire and elastically contacts the inner wall of the electric wire lead portion;
A movement restricting member that is attached to the rear end of the housing where the wire lead-out portion is formed and is positioned behind the seal member and restricts the movement of the wire drawn from the wire lead-out portion in the radial direction. And waterproof connector with. The movement restricting member is
A base formed with an insertion hole through which the electric wire is inserted;
The waterproof connector according to claim 1, further comprising a restriction protrusion provided on a hole wall of the insertion hole and abutting against an electric wire passing through the hole.   The waterproof connector according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of the restriction protrusions are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the hole wall of the insertion hole.

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