JP2012099270A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector capable of fitting plural kinds of opposite connectors.SOLUTION: A connector 1 comprises: a terminal fitting; a housing 19 for housing the terminal fitting; and a lock member 29. The lock member 29 comprises: a side plate part 30 mounted to the housing 19; an engagement hole 34, with which lock projections 6 and 11b of opposite connectors 2 and 3 are engaged; an engagement hole part 31 arranged on an inner side of the housing 19 than the side plate part 30; an elastic connection part 32 connecting the mounting part 30 and the engagement hole 31 and elastically deforming them so as to change a relative position of the engagement hole part 31 to the mounting part 30; and an operation part 33 communicated with the engagement hole part 32 at a position away from the elastic connection part 32 and extending outward of the housing 19 from the engagement hole 31.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector that fits into a mating connector.

  A wide variety of electronic devices are mounted on a vehicle as a moving body. In the automobile, a wire harness is routed to transmit electric power, a control signal, and the like to the electronic device. The wire harness includes a plurality of electric wires. The electric wire is a so-called covered electric wire including a conductive core wire and an insulating covering portion that covers the core wire.

  Further, the electronic device described above is provided with a connector (see, for example, Patent Document 1) into which a connector (hereinafter referred to as a mating connector) provided at the end of the wire harness is fitted. This type of connector includes a terminal fitting attached to the printed wiring board of the electronic device, an insulating housing that houses the terminal fitting and is attached to the printed wiring board, and a shield that is made of metal and covers the housing With a shell.

  The conventional connector disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 is fitted to the above-mentioned mating connector by engaging the locking projection of the mating connector with a locking hole provided in the housing or the shield shell. Then, the above-described wire harness is connected to the electronic device.

Japanese Patent No. 4522144

  The conventional connector shown in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 and the like can only be fitted to one type of other connector because the lock holes provided in the housing and the shield shell are fixed. However, in the automobile described above, it is desired to reduce the types of components to be mounted. Of course, in the connector described above, it is desired to be fitted with a plurality of types of mating connectors.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector that can be fitted to a plurality of types of mating connectors.

  In order to solve the problems and achieve the object, the connector of the present invention according to claim 1 is a connector provided with a housing into which a mating connector enters, a mounting portion attached to the housing, and the mating connector An engaging hole is provided to engage the locking projection, and the engaging hole disposed on the inner side of the housing than the mounting portion is connected to the mounting portion and the engaging hole portion and is elastic. It is characterized by comprising a lock member having an elastic connecting part that can change the relative position of the engagement hole part with respect to the attachment part by being deformed.

  A connector according to a second aspect of the present invention is the connector according to the first aspect, wherein the lock member is made of metal and is formed separately from the housing.

  The connector according to a third aspect of the present invention is the connector according to the first or second aspect, further comprising a shield member made of metal and covering the housing, wherein the lock member is integrated with the shield member. It is characterized by being configured.

  The connector according to claim 4 is the connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lock member is connected to a position spaced apart from the elastic coupling portion of the engagement hole portion, and An operation portion extending from the engagement hole portion toward the outside of the housing is further provided.

  A connector according to a fifth aspect is the connector according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, further comprising a terminal fitting accommodated in the housing.

  According to the connector of the present invention described in claim 1, since the elastic connecting portion of the lock member can change the relative position of the mounting portion and the engaging hole portion, the mating connector to be fitted into the housing Depending on the shape, the position of the engagement hole of the engagement hole can be changed as appropriate.

  In addition, since the engagement hole portion is disposed inside the housing relative to the attachment portion, the lock protrusion of the mating connector that is sufficiently smaller than the space inside the housing can be engaged with the engagement hole.

  According to the connector of the present invention described in claim 2, since the lock member is made of metal, the elastic coupling portion can reliably change the relative position between the mounting portion and the engagement hole portion. be able to.

  According to the connector of the present invention described in claim 3, since the lock member is provided integrally with the shield shell, an increase in the number of parts can be prevented.

  According to the connector of the present invention as set forth in claim 4, since the lock member is provided with the operation portion extending from the engagement hole portion to the outside of the housing, the engagement hole portion can be operated by operating the operation portion. The relative position with respect to the mounting portion can be easily changed.

  According to the connector of the present invention described in claim 5, since the terminal fitting is further provided, it can be electrically connected to the terminal fitting of the mating connector.

  As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the position of the engagement hole of the engagement hole portion can be appropriately changed depending on the shape of the mating connector fitted into the housing. Can be mated with a mating connector of the size.

  In addition, since the locking protrusion of the mating connector that is sufficiently smaller than the space inside the housing can be engaged with the engaging hole, it can be fitted with mating connectors of various sizes.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the elastic connecting portion can surely change the relative positions of the mounting portion and the engaging hole portion, the connector of the other type has a plurality of sizes. It can be reliably fitted.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, an increase in the number of parts can be prevented, so that an increase in cost can be prevented.

  Since the relative position with respect to the attachment part of an engagement hole part can be easily changed by operating an operation part, this invention of Claim 4 can be easily isolate | separated from the other party connector. .

  Since the present invention described in claim 5 further includes a terminal fitting, it can be electrically connected to the terminal fitting of the mating connector.

It is a perspective view of the connector concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which decomposes | disassembles and shows the connector shown by FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a lock portion of a shield shell of the connector shown in FIG. 2. It is sectional drawing which follows the IV-IV line in FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a first mating connector that fits into the connector shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second mating connector that fits into the connector shown in FIG. 1. It is sectional drawing of the lock | rock part of a shield shell when the connector of the 1st other party is fitted to the connector shown by FIG. It is sectional drawing of the lock | rock part of a shield shell when the connector of the 2nd other party is fitted to the connector shown by FIG.

  A connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The connector 1 shown in FIG. 1 or the like can be fitted to either the first mating connector 2 shown in FIG. 5 or the second mating connector 3 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the first mating connector 2 includes a connector housing 4 and a plurality of mating terminal fittings 5 attached to the connector housing 4. The connector housing 4 is made of, for example, an insulating synthetic resin. The mating terminal fitting 5 is made of metal and held in the connector housing 4 by a plurality. The mating terminal fitting 5 is held by the connector housing 4 with one end thereof exposed to the outside of the connector housing 4. Further, on both end faces 4 a in the width direction X of the connector housing 4, convex lock protrusions 6 are provided from both the end faces 4 a.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the second mating connector 3 includes a hard substrate 7 and a flexible flat cable (hereinafter referred to as FFC) 8 as an electric wire with a terminal attached to the substrate 7. I have. The substrate 7 is formed in a rectangular planar shape. The FFC 8 includes a plurality of parallel conductors 9 spaced apart from each other and an insulating film 10 covering the conductors 9. As for FFC8, the insulating film 10 of the terminal is removed and the conductor 9 is exposed. These exposed conductors 9 form counterpart terminal fittings.

  The front end surface of the substrate 7 is linearly formed along a direction intersecting (orthogonal in the illustrated example) with respect to the longitudinal direction of the conductor 9 of the FFC 8. Further, on both edges in the width direction X of the substrate 7, concave portions 11 that are concave from both edges are provided. A portion 11b on the outer side in the width direction X from the bottom surface 11a of the concave portion 11 of the substrate 7 and on the front end side of the FFC 8 is a lock protrusion. For this reason, the part 11b mentioned above is formed in a convex shape from the bottom face 11a mentioned above. Further, the distance between both end faces 4 a of the first mating connector 2 is formed larger than the distance between the bottom surfaces 11 a of the second mating connector 3. For this reason, the second mating connector 3 is sufficiently smaller than the space inside the housing 19.

  The connector 1 is attached to a printed circuit board 15 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the printed wiring board 15 includes a substrate 16 made of an insulating synthetic resin, and a conductor pattern 17 (partially shown in FIG. 1) formed on the surface of the substrate 16. . The conductor pattern 17 is made of, for example, a conductive metal such as copper, and is formed in a thin film shape. The conductor pattern 17 is affixed to the surface of the substrate 16. The conductor pattern 17 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a known earth circuit.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the connector 1 includes a plurality of terminal fittings 18, an insulating housing 19 that houses the plurality of terminal fittings 18, and a shield shell as a shielding member that is made of a metal that covers the housing 19. 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal fitting 18 is made of a conductive metal, and when viewed from the side, an L-shaped terminal main body 21 and a connecting portion 22 having one end connected to the terminal main body 21 are integrated. In preparation. The terminal main body 21 extends substantially linearly and has one end bent toward the inside of the housing 19, and the terminal main body 21 is connected to the other end of the electric contact portion 23 and substantially to the electric contact portion 23. And a connecting portion 24 extending orthogonally and linearly. The connecting portion 22 is connected to the end of the connecting portion 24 on the side away from the electrical contact portion 23 and is orthogonal to the connecting portion 24. The terminal fitting 18 is accommodated in the housing 19 in a state where the electrical contact portion 23, the connecting portion 24 and the connecting portion 22 are parallel to each other and spaced apart from each other. Further, the terminal fitting 18 is disposed on the conductor pattern 17 in which the electrical contact portion 23 is arranged in parallel with the inner surface 28 of the housing 19 and the connection portion 22 is connected to electronic components that control various signals of the printed wiring board 15. It is attached by brazing using solder or the like. In the terminal fitting 1, when the mating connectors 2 and 3 are fitted to the connector 1, the electrical contact portion 23 is connected to the connector housing 19 of the connector 2 of the first mating connector 2 or the board of the second mating connector 3. 16 is sandwiched between the inner surface 28 of the housing 19 to position the relative positions of the mating connectors 2 and 3 with respect to the housing 19, and the electric contact portion 23 is connected to the terminal fitting 5 of the first mating connector 2. And it contacts with the conductor 9 of the connector 3 of the second counterpart and is electrically connected thereto.

  A direction in which a plurality of terminal fittings 18 are arranged and parallel to the surface of the printed wiring board 15 is hereinafter referred to as a width direction X, and is orthogonal to the width direction X and is a substrate 16 of the printed wiring board 15. Hereinafter, the direction that can be orthogonal to the surface is referred to as the thickness direction Z, and the direction orthogonal to both the width direction X and the thickness direction Z is referred to as the depth direction Y.

  The housing 19 is made of an insulating synthetic resin and has a frame shape. The housing 19 accommodates the terminal fittings 18 with a space therebetween in the width direction X. The housing 19 is attached to the substrate 16 of the printed wiring board 15. The counterpart connector 2, 3 enters the housing 19 from the front side in FIGS. 1 and 2.

  The shield shell 20 is obtained by bending a sheet metal. That is, the shield shell 20 is made of metal. As shown in FIG. 2, the shield shell 20 is integrally provided with a frame-shaped shell body 25, a plurality of ground circuit connection pieces 26, two ground circuit connection portions 27, and a lock portion 29 as a lock member. ing.

  The shell body 25 is superimposed on the outer surface of the housing 19 and attached to the housing 19 in a state of covering the housing 19. The ground circuit connecting pieces 26 are provided at intervals in the width direction X and extend from the edge of the shell body 25 toward the printed wiring board 15, that is, toward the outside of the shell body 25. The ground circuit connection piece 26 is attached to the conductor pattern 17 connected to the ground circuit of the printed wiring board 15 by brazing using solder or the like. The ground circuit connection portion 27 extends from both edges in the width direction X of the shell body 25 toward the printed wiring board 15, that is, toward the outside of the shell body 25. The earth circuit connection portion 27 is attached to the conductor pattern 17 connected to the earth circuit of the printed wiring board 15 by brazing using solder or the like.

  In the illustrated example, two lock portions 29 are provided. The lock portion 29 is configured separately from the housing 19 by forming the shield shell 20. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lock portion 29 is spaced from the side plate portion 30 and the side plate portion 30 as a mounting portion integrally provided on the wall 25 a of the edge in the width direction X of the shell body 25. The engaging hole 31 provided on the side of the engaging hole 31 and the edge of the side plate 30 away from the mating connectors 2 and 3 and the edge of the side plate 30 away from the mating connectors 2 and 3. The elastic connecting portion 32 and the operation portion 33 connected to the edge of the engaging hole portion 31 near the mating connectors 2 and 3 are integrally provided.

  The side plate portion 30 is formed integrally with the above-described wall 25 a of the shell main body 25, and is attached to the housing 19 via the shell main body 25. The engaging hole 31 is formed in a flat plate shape along both the depth direction Y and the thickness direction Z. When the shell body 25 is attached to the housing 19, the engagement hole portion 31 is disposed inside the housing 19 with respect to the side plate portion 30. Further, when the shell main body 25 is attached to the housing 19, the engaging hole portion 31 is disposed inside the housing 19 rather than the outer wall of the housing 19. A rectangular engagement hole 34 is provided in the center of the engagement hole 31. The locking projection 6 of the first mating connector 2 and the portion 11b of the second mating connector 3 enter the engaging hole 34 so that they can be engaged. In addition, the dimension of the depth direction Y and the thickness direction Z of the engagement hole 34 is formed larger than the dimension of the depth direction Y and the thickness direction Z of the lock protrusion 6 and the part 11b.

  The elastic connecting part 32 connects the side plate part 30 and the engaging hole part 31 by being connected to the aforementioned edge of the side plate part 30 and the engaging hole part 31. The elastic connecting portion 32 is elastically deformable. The elastic connecting portion 32 can change the relative position of the engagement hole portion 31 with respect to the side plate portion 30 by being elastically deformed. Further, in the neutral state in which the elastic connecting portion 32 is not elastically deformed, the housing 19 gradually moves as the engaging hole 31 is moved away from the elastic connecting portion 32, that is, as the mating connectors 2 and 3 are approached. Positioned to face inward.

  The operation portion 33 is connected to the edge of the engagement hole portion 31 near the mating connectors 2 and 3. For this reason, the operation part 33 is continued to the position spaced apart from the elastic connection part 32 of the engagement hole part 31. The operation portion 33 extends from the engagement hole portion 31 toward the outside of the housing 19, and a tip portion thereof protrudes outside the housing 19.

  Further, in the two lock portions 29 described above, the distance between the elastic connecting portions 32 is smaller than the distance between the end surfaces 4a of the first mating connector 2 described above, and the concave portion of the second mating connector 3 described above. 11 is formed to be larger than the distance between the bottom surfaces 11a.

  In the connector 1 having the configuration described above, the lock portion 29 described above includes the elastic coupling portion 32, and the lock protrusion 6 of the first mating connector 2 and the second mating connector are inserted into the engagement hole 34 of the engagement hole portion 31. 3 can be engaged with both the above-described portions 11b, so that both the first mating connector 2 and the second mating connector 3 can be fitted. When the connector 1 having the above-described configuration is fitted with the first mating connector 2, the distance between the end faces 4a is larger than the distance between the elastic connecting portions 32 as shown in FIG. The elastic coupling part 32 is elastically deformed so that the part 31 is directed to the outside of the housing 19 as it approaches the mating connector 1. Further, when the connector 1 having the above-described configuration is fitted to the second mating connector 3, the distance between the bottom surfaces 11a is smaller than the interval between the elastic connecting portions 32 as shown in FIG. Even if the above-described portion 11b forming the lock protrusion 6 intrudes into 34, the elastic connecting portion 32 is maintained in a neutral state where it is not elastically deformed.

  According to the present embodiment, since the elastic connecting portion 32 of the lock portion 29 can change the relative position between the side plate portion 30 and the engaging hole portion 31, the mating connector 2 that fits into the housing 19 can be used. The position of the engagement hole 34 of the engagement hole portion 31 can be appropriately changed according to the shape of 3. For this reason, it can be fitted with the mating connectors 2 and 3 of a plurality of sizes.

  Further, since the engagement hole portion 31 is disposed inside the housing 19 relative to the side plate portion 30, the portion 11 b as the lock protrusion of the second mating connector 3 that is sufficiently smaller than the space inside the housing 19. Can also be engaged with the engagement hole 34. Therefore, it can be mated with mating connectors 2 and 3 of various sizes.

  Since the lock portion 29 is made of metal, the elastic connecting portion 32 can reliably change the relative position between the side plate portion 30 and the engagement hole portion 31. Therefore, since the elastic connection part 32 can change reliably the relative position of the side-plate part 30 and the engagement hole part 31, it is more reliable with the other types of connector 2 and 3 of the magnitude | size of multiple types. Can be fitted.

  Further, since the lock portion 29 is provided integrally with the shield shell 20, an increase in the number of parts can be prevented. Therefore, an increase in the cost of the connector 1 can be prevented.

  Since the operation portion 33 extending from the engagement hole portion 31 to the outside of the housing 19 is provided in the lock portion 29, the operation portion 33 is operated to make the engagement hole portion 31 relative to the side plate portion 30. The position can be easily changed. Therefore, the connector 1 can be easily separated from the mating connectors 2 and 3.

  Furthermore, since the connector 1 includes the terminal fitting 18, it can be electrically connected to the terminal fitting of the mating connectors 2 and 3.

  In the above-described embodiment, only an example in which the connector 1 and the second mating connector 2 are fitted to the connector 1 is shown. However, in the present invention, not only the first mating connector 2 and the second mating connector 3 described above, but the elastic connecting portion is elastically deformed and the relative position of the engagement hole portion 31 with respect to the side plate portion 30. Of course, another connector (not shown) may be fitted into the engagement hole 34 as long as the lock projection 6 can be engaged in the engagement hole 34.

  In the above-described embodiment, the lock portion 29 is provided integrally with the shield shell 20 as a lock member. However, in the present invention, the lock portion 29 may be provided separately from the shield shell 20 or may be provided integrally with the housing 19. Moreover, you may comprise the lock | rock part 29 with materials other than metals, such as a synthetic resin. In the above-described embodiment, the FFC 8 is shown as the electric wire of the connector 3 of the second counterpart, but in the present invention, a flexible printed circuit (hereinafter referred to as FPC) or a round cross section is used in addition to the FFC 8 as the electric wire. You may use the type | mold covered electric wire.

  In addition, embodiment mentioned above only showed the typical form of this invention, and this invention is not limited to embodiment. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 2 1st other party connector 3 2nd other party connector 6 Lock protrusion 11b part (lock protrusion)
18 Terminal fitting 19 Housing 20 Shield shell (shield member)
29 Locking part (locking member)
30 Side plate (mounting part)
31 Engagement hole part 32 Elastic connection part 33 Operation part 34 Engagement hole

Claims (5)

In a connector with a housing into which the mating connector enters,
A mounting portion that is attached to the housing; an engagement hole that is engaged with a locking projection of the mating connector; and an engagement hole portion that is disposed inside the housing relative to the mounting portion; And a locking member provided with an elastic connecting part that connects the engaging hole part and elastically deforms to change a relative position of the engaging hole part with respect to the mounting part. Characteristic connector.   The connector according to claim 1, wherein the lock member is made of metal and is formed separately from the housing. A shield member made of metal and covering the housing;
The connector according to claim 1, wherein the lock member is integrally formed with the shield member.   The lock member further includes an operation portion that is connected to a position spaced apart from the elastic coupling portion of the engagement hole portion and extends from the engagement hole portion toward the outside of the housing. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a terminal fitting accommodated in the housing.

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