JP2012059438A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure connection reliability between a wire and a terminal fitting.SOLUTION: A waterproof connector includes: a connector housing 20 having a cavity 23; a terminal fitting 60 inserted into the cavity 23; and a seal member 90 adhered tightly to the terminal fitting 60. The terminal fitting 60 includes a body part connected to a mating terminal fitting and a wire connection part 62 connected to a core wire 82 at a terminal part of a wire 80. The seal member 90 is adhered tightly to the wire connection part 62 while covering the core wire 82.

Description

  The present invention relates to a waterproof connector.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a conventional waterproof connector. This waterproof connector includes a connector housing having a plurality of cavities and terminal fittings inserted into the cavities. An accommodation recess is formed in the rear end surface of the connector housing, and a seal member is fitted and inserted into the accommodation recess from behind. The seal member is formed with a plurality of through holes corresponding to the cavities.

  The terminal fitting has an electric wire connection part connected to the terminal part of an electric wire. Here, when the seal member is assembled to the connector housing, the outer peripheral surface of the seal member is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the housing recess. In this state, when the terminal fitting is inserted into the cavity from the through hole of the seal member, the inner peripheral surface of the through hole of the seal member is brought into close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the wire covering. Thereby, the inside of the connector housing is sealed in a liquid-tight manner.

JP 2000-150057 A

  By the way, in a state where the terminal fitting is inserted into the cavity, the electric wire connecting portion is exposed, and thus water or the like may adhere to the connecting portion between the electric wire connecting portion and the core wire. As a result, connection reliability between the electric wire and the terminal fitting may be impaired.

  This invention is completed based on the above situations, Comprising: It aims at ensuring the connection reliability of an electric wire and a terminal metal fitting.

  As means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a waterproofing device comprising a connector housing having a cavity, a terminal fitting inserted into the cavity, and a seal member closely contacting the terminal fitting. The connector is characterized in that the terminal fitting has an electric wire connecting portion connected to a core wire at an end portion of an electric wire, and the seal member is in close contact with the electric wire connecting portion while covering the core wire. Have.

  The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1, the outer peripheral surface of the seal member is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the connector housing.

  A third aspect of the present invention is the one according to the first or second aspect, wherein the wire barrel is caulked to the core wire, and the insulation barrel is caulked to the covering of the electric wire or the rubber material fitted to the covering. The terminal fitting has a cylindrical main body part and a connecting part connected to both the main body part and the wire connecting part, and the seal member extends from the connecting part to the insulation barrel. It is characterized by being in close contact with the range.

  The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 3, the insulation barrel is caulked to the rubber material, and the rubber material is constituted by a rubber tube.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the connector housing is constituted by first and second connector housings that can be divided in the insertion direction of the terminal fitting, The seal member is accommodated in the first connector housing in a state of being prevented from being detached, and the first and second connector housings are combined with each other from that state.

<Invention of Claim 1>
Since the sealing member is in close contact with the wire connecting portion while covering the core wire, the connecting portion between the wire connecting portion and the core wire is sealed in a liquid-tight manner. As a result, connection reliability between the electric wire and the terminal fitting is ensured.

<Invention of Claim 2>
Since the outer peripheral surface of the seal member is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the connector housing, the inside of the connector housing is also liquid-tightly sealed. In this case, since it is not necessary to provide a waterproof means different from the seal member, the configuration is simplified.

<Invention of Claim 3>
Since the seal member is in close contact with the range extending from the connecting portion to the insulation barrel, water can be more reliably prevented from entering between the wire connecting portion and the core wire.

<Invention of Claim 4>
Since the rubber material is composed of a rubber tube, an increase in the size of the rubber material is avoided, and the waterproof property by the seal member is supplemented.

<Invention of Claim 5>
Since the seal member is accommodated in the first connector housing in a retaining state, and the first and second connector housings are united with each other from that state, the seal member is securely held in the connector housing. In addition, since a dedicated pressing member that restricts the seal member from coming out of the connector housing is not required, the connector can be downsized in the insertion direction of the terminal fitting.

2 is a cross-sectional view of the connector according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the state just before uniting the 1st connector housing which accommodated the sealing member with the 2nd connector housing. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which united the 1st connector housing which accommodated the sealing member in the 2nd connector housing. It is sectional drawing which shows the state immediately before inserting a terminal metal fitting in the 1st, 2nd connector housing in a united state. It is a front view of a connector housing. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a connector according to Embodiment 2. FIG.

<Embodiment 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The connector 10 according to the first embodiment includes a connector housing 20, a terminal fitting 60 accommodated in the connector housing 20, and a seal member 90 that is in close contact with the terminal fitting 60. The connector housing 20 can be fitted into a mating connector housing (not shown), and the terminal fitting 60 is connected to a mating terminal fitting (not shown) accommodated in the mating connector housing as the two connector housings are fitted. Is done. In the following description, in the front-rear direction, the fitting surface side with respect to the mating connector housing is the front.

  The terminal fitting 60 is integrally formed by bending a conductive metal plate of copper or copper alloy. As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal fitting 60 includes a cylindrical terminal connection portion 61, an open barrel-shaped wire connection portion 62 located behind the terminal connection portion 61, and the terminal connection portion 61 and the wire connection portion 62. It has the connection part 63 which is located in and continues to both. The terminal connecting portion 61 can be connected to a mating terminal fitting inside thereof.

  The wire connecting portion 61 includes a wire barrel 64 and an insulation barrel 65 located behind the wire barrel 64. The wire barrel 64 is caulked to the core wire 82 exposed at the end portion of the electric wire 80, and the insulation barrel 65 is caulked to the covering 81 at the end portion of the electric wire 80. Here, the electric wire 80 includes a core wire 82 made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy and a coating 81 made of an insulating resin covering the periphery thereof. The core wire 82 is exposed by removing the covering 81 at the terminal portion of the electric wire 80.

  The connector housing 20 is made of a synthetic resin and has a generally rectangular block shape as a whole. As shown in FIG. The connector housing 20 has a plurality of cavities 23 extending in the front-rear direction, and a substantially second half portion (hereinafter referred to as a first cavity 24) of each cavity 23 is formed in the first connector housing 21. A front half (hereinafter referred to as a second cavity 25) is formed in the second connector housing 22. The illustrated cavities 23 are arranged in two steps in the height direction and in a plurality of rows in the width direction.

  The second connector housing 22 constitutes a substantially front half of the connector housing 20, and a lock arm 26 is formed at the center in the width direction on the upper surface thereof. The lock arm 26 is configured to protrude in a cantilevered manner from the upper front end of the second connector housing 22 toward the rear. On the upper surface of the lock arm 26, a lock portion 27 is formed so as to protrude at substantially the same longitudinal position as the rear end of the second connector housing 22. When the two connector housings are properly fitted, the lock portion 27 elastically locks the lock receiving portion (not shown) of the mating connector housing, whereby the two connector housings are held in the fitted state.

  At the rear end portion of the lock arm 26, a release operation portion 28 that is pressed when releasing the locked state is formed at a higher position. The release operation portion 28 is disposed behind the rear end of the second connector housing 22 and at substantially the same front-rear position as the rear end of the first connector housing 21 in the combined state.

  A lance 29 is formed on the upper surface of the inner wall of the second cavity 25 of the second connector housing 22. The lance 29 is configured to project in a cantilevered manner from the root portion at the rear end of the second connector housing 22 toward the front, and can be bent and deformed in the vertical direction (height direction) with the root portion as a fulcrum. Yes. At the tip of the lance 29, a locking portion 30 is formed protruding downward. When the terminal fitting 60 is properly inserted into the cavity 23, the lance 29 is bent, and then the locking portion 30 locks the upper wall of the terminal fitting 60 so that the terminal fitting 60 is pulled out into the cavity 23. Stopped.

  The rear end surface of the second connector housing 22 is a second contact surface 31 that can contact the front end surface of the seal member 90. The second contact surface 31 includes a rear end surface of the root portion of the lance 29 and is arranged so as to stand up and down. Further, a step portion 32 having a substantially L-shaped cross section is formed by cutting out at the peripheral edge portion of the rear end surface of the second connector housing 22. The front end edge of the first connector housing 21 is fitted to the stepped portion 32 in a positioning state when the two connector housings are fitted.

  The first connector housing 21 constitutes a substantially second half portion of the connector housing 20, and the second connector housing 22 is connected to the front thereof. On the front end surface of the first connector housing 21, an accommodation recess 33 that can accommodate the seal member 90 in a state in which the seal member 90 is prevented from being opened is formed. The housing recess 33 is formed by cutting out the partition wall 34 between the adjacent first cavities 24 and the upper surface of the inner wall of the upper first cavity 24. The rear end surfaces of the partition wall 34 and the upper surface of the inner wall of the first cavity 24 are first contact surfaces 35 that can contact the rear end surface of the seal member 90. The first contact surface 35 is arranged so as to stand up and down substantially in parallel with the second contact surface 31. The formation range of the first cavity 24 is substantially limited only to the rear end opening of the first connector housing 21 by the housing recess 33. Further, the first and second connector housings 21 and 22 are formed with locking means (not shown) for holding them in a combined state.

  The seal member 90 is made of a gel-like soft elastic material such as silicon gel, for example. And the sealing member 90 does not have the shape of a square block which fits in the accommodating recess 33 almost tightly, and has both front and rear end faces that are cut in the height direction. Further, as will be described later, the wire connecting portion 62 of the terminal fitting 60 is inserted into the seal member 90 in a penetrating state. The seal member 90 is inserted from the front into the housing recess 33 of the first connector housing 21 in a single state, and the rear end surface of the seal member 90 comes into contact with the first contact surface 35 of the housing recess 33 so that the seal member 90 is prevented from coming off in the housing recess 33. Kept in a state.

The connector 10 according to the present embodiment has the above-described structure, and the assembly method will be described next.
First, as shown in FIG. 2, the seal member 90 is inserted into the housing recess 33 of the first connector housing 21. When the seal member 90 is inserted into the housing recess 33 at a normal depth, the rear end surface of the seal member 90 is brought into close contact with the first contact surface 35 and the outer peripheral surface of the seal member 90 is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the housing recess 33. Close contact.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, the first and second connector housings 21 and 22 are combined with each other so that the front end surface of the first connector housing 21 and the rear end surface of the second connector housing 22 abut each other. . Then, the front end edge of the first connector housing 21 is fitted into the stepped portion 32 of the second connector housing 22, and the first and second connector housings 21 and 22 are held in the disengagement restricted state by the locking means. Further, the front end surface of the seal member 90 is in close contact with the first contact surface 35. Thereby, the assembly of the connector housing 20 is completed, and the seal member 90 is held in a positioned state in the connector housing 20.

  Subsequently, the terminal fitting 60 is inserted into the cavity 23 of the connector housing 20. After the terminal fitting 60 is passed through the first cavity 24, the terminal fitting 60 is penetrated so as to tear the seal member 90, is further pushed in, enters the second cavity 25, and is inserted to the normal position. Is locked in the retaining state. As shown in FIG. 1, in a state where the terminal fitting 60 is normally inserted into the cavity 23, the seal member 90 is in close contact with a range from the connecting portion 63 to the insulation barrel 65 in the terminal fitting 60, and the core wire 82 and The cover 81 is in close contact with the periphery of the terminal portion.

  As described above, the periphery of the connection portion between the wire barrel 64 and the core wire 82 is kept waterproof by the seal member 90. For this reason, even if water enters the cavity 23, the water is prevented from adhering to the core wire 82. As a result, the occurrence of electrolytic corrosion between the core wire 82 and the wire barrel 64 is prevented.

  Thus, according to this embodiment, since the sealing member 90 covers the core wire 82 and is in close contact with the wire connection portion 62, the connection portion between the wire connection portion 62 and the core wire 82 is sealed in a liquid-tight manner. Therefore, connection reliability between the electric wire 80 and the terminal fitting 60 is ensured.

  Further, since the outer peripheral surface of the seal member 90 is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the housing recess 33 of the first connector housing 21, the inside of the connector housing 20 is sealed in a liquid-tight manner. In this case, since it is not necessary to provide a waterproof means different from the seal member 90, the configuration is simplified.

  Further, since the seal member 90 is in close contact with the range from the connecting portion 63 to the insulation barrel 65 in the terminal fitting 60, water can be more reliably prevented from entering between the electric wire connecting portion 62 and the core wire 82. The

  Furthermore, since the seal member 90 is housed in the housing recess 33 of the first connector housing 21 in a retaining state, and the first and second connector housings 21 and 22 are joined together from this state, the seal member is contained in the connector housing 20. 90 is securely held. In addition, since a dedicated pressing member assembled from the rear to the connector housing 20 is not required to restrict the seal member 90 from coming out of the connector housing 20, the connector housing 20 can be reduced in size in the front-rear direction.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 6 shows a connector 10A according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a rubber material 50 is provided between the terminal fitting 60 and the electric wire 80. Others are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same components as those of the first embodiment, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

  The rubber material 50 is made of rubber such as silicon rubber and is configured as a circular rubber tube that is elongated in the front-rear direction. The rubber material 50 is fitted into the covering 81 at the terminal portion of the electric wire 80 and is caulked to the insulation barrel 65 in this state. In the illustrated case, the thickness of the rubber material 50 is made thinner than the thickness of the insulation barrel 65.

  Here, when the terminal fitting 60 is properly inserted into the cavity 23, the rubber material 50 enters the inside of the seal member 90 together with the insulation barrel 65. Thereby, the outer peripheral surface of the rubber member 50 is brought into close contact with the seal member 90 except for the crimping portion and the rear end portion with the insulation barrel 65.

  According to the second embodiment, since the rubber material 50 is composed of a rubber tube, an increase in the size of the rubber material 50 is avoided, and consequently an increase in the size of the insulation barrel 65 is avoided. Further, the rubber member 50 supplements the waterproof property of the seal member 90.

<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) The seal member may be a batch type rubber stopper having a plurality of terminal contact holes corresponding to each cavity. In this case, the wire connection portion of the terminal fitting is inserted and adhered into the terminal contact hole.
(2) The seal member may be an individual rubber plug that is inserted into each cavity and has a terminal contact hole. In this case, the wire connection portion of the terminal fitting is inserted and adhered into the terminal contact hole.
(3) The aspect in which an insulation barrel is not closely_contact | adhered to a sealing member may be sufficient.
(4) The copper wire may have a core wire made of copper or a copper alloy.
(5) The terminal fitting may be a male terminal fitting having a male tab protruding from the front portion of the terminal connecting portion.
(6) The connector housing may be an integral type that cannot be separated from the first and second connector housings.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 10A ... Connector 20 ... Connector housing 21 ... 1st connector housing 22 ... 2nd connector housing 23 ... Cavity 50 ... Rubber material 60 ... Terminal metal fitting 62 ... Electric wire connection part 63 ... Connection part 64 ... Wire barrel 65 ... Insulation barrel 80 ... Electric wire 82 ... Core wire 90 ... Sealing member

Claims (5)

A connector housing having a cavity;
A terminal fitting inserted into the cavity;
A waterproof connector provided with a sealing member closely attached to the terminal fitting,
The terminal fitting has a wire connecting portion connected to the core wire at the end of the wire;
The waterproof connector, wherein the seal member is in close contact with the wire connecting portion while covering the core wire.   The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein an outer peripheral surface of the seal member is in close contact with an inner peripheral surface of the connector housing.   The electric wire connecting portion includes a wire barrel that is caulked to the core wire, and an insulation barrel that is caulked to a covering of the electric wire or a rubber material fitted to the covering, and the terminal fitting is a cylindrical shape. The main body part and a connecting part connected to both the main body part and the electric wire connecting part are provided, and the seal member is in close contact with the range extending from the connecting part to the insulation barrel. Waterproof connector.   The waterproof connector according to claim 3, wherein the insulation barrel is caulked to the rubber material, and the rubber material is formed of a rubber tube.   The connector housing is composed of first and second connector housings that can be divided in the insertion direction of the terminal fitting, and the seal member is housed in the first connector housing in a retaining state, from which the first, The waterproof connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second connector housings are combined with each other.

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