JP2012099294A - Fit detection type connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fit detection type connector which has high connection detecting accuracy of a connector comprising a plug and a receptacle, and is effective for miniaturizing the plug and the receptacle.SOLUTION: A connector is provided with a switch part for detecting a fitting condition of a receptacle and a plug. Any one housing of a receptacle housing for the receptacle and a plug housing for the plug has an arm-like lock part projecting toward a fitting direction. The lock part has a lock claw, which can be elastically deformed in an inward and outward direction orthogonal to the fitting direction and projects in an outward direction. The other housing has a locked part to be locked with an insertion hole of the lock claw by elastically returning the lock claw inserted in the insertion hole in the outward direction inside the housing. The switch part provided inside the other housing comprises a stationary piece and a movable piece having elasticity. When the lock claw is locked with the locked part, the movable piece is pressed in the outward direction, and the switch is switched on/off.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector having a switch function for detecting a fitting state in a connector that is electrically connected by fitting a plug and a socket.

In the connector that is electrically connected by fitting the plug and the socket, when the terminals are fitted and connected in a state where the voltage is applied to the plug terminal or the socket terminal, a leak occurs during this connection, A connector having a switch portion for detecting a fitting state between terminals is known in order to prevent an insulating portion from being generated in a contact portion or a problem from occurring in a circuit board.
For example, FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show a structural example of a conventional connector.
In FIG. 8, when the socket housing 111 of the socket 110 and the plug housing 121 of the plug 120 are fitted and connected, a switch portion including a fixed piece 131 and a movable piece 132 is formed in the plug housing 121, and the socket terminal The movable piece 132 is pressed outward by the side wall of the insulating wall 111a that accommodates 115 to separate the contact point with the fixed piece 131.
The enlarged view is shown in FIG.
Connect and the socket terminals 115 and plug terminals 125, short tip of the insulating walls 111a in the fitting movement are connected dimension L ₁ to comes into contact with the movable piece 132, fitting with an incomplete The contact 132a between the fixed piece 131 and the movable piece 132 is separated.
Further, as shown in FIG. 9B, when the movable piece 132 is pressed downward at the tip of the insulating wall 111a, the switch is switched while the plug terminal 125 and the socket terminal 115 are connected and moved. not only it is impossible to ensure a sufficient connection dimension L _2, since the switch is switched during movement of the terminal, a portion of the plurality of terminals when the socket 110 is as fitted obliquely to the plug 120 There was also a problem that the switch was switched before connecting.

Patent Document 1 discloses a connector having a structure in which a movable contact piece comes into contact with and is separated from a fixed contact piece by a restoring displacement of the lock member when the lock member is engaged with a member to be locked.
However, the connector switch structure disclosed in the same publication has a structure in which the pressed portion of the movable contact piece protrudes to the outside of the housing and is exposed to the outside. There is a risk that the switch will change before the match.
Furthermore, the movable piece exposed to the outside may be deformed unintentionally or the elastic restoring force may be lost.

JP 2007-258012 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a fitting detection type connector that has high connection detection accuracy of a connector composed of a plug and a socket and is effective in reducing the size of the plug and the socket.

The connector according to the present invention is a connector provided with a switch portion for detecting a fitting state between a socket and a plug, and one of the socket housing of the socket and the plug housing of the plug is fitted. An arm-like lock portion protruding toward the mating direction, the lock portion being elastically deformable in the inner and outer directions perpendicular to the fitting direction, and having a lock claw protruding in the outer direction, The housing has an insertion hole for the lock claw and a locked portion that is locked by elastic return of the lock claw inserted into the insertion hole to the outside, and the switch portion is the other side. A fixed piece and a movable piece having elasticity, and when the lock claw is locked to the locked portion, the movable piece is pressed outwardly to switch the switch. Characterized in that the switch is ON / OFF.
Here, the switch part having inside the housing means that the contact part of the switch part is not exposed to the outside of the housing.

In the present invention, the lock claw may include a restoration assisting member made of an elastic material that assists in elastic return in the outward direction.
Alternatively, the switch may be switched on / off only in a state where the socket terminal of the socket and the plug terminal of the plug are fitted and connected.

  In the present invention, in a mode in which the switch is switched ON / OFF by pressing the movable piece outward, the movable piece is in elastic contact with the fixed piece before the plug and socket are fitted, When the socket is fitted, when the lock claw elastically returns to the outside, the movable piece is pressed outside, and the contact is separated, and conversely, the fixed piece and the movable piece are separated from each other before fitting. When the movable piece is pressed to the outside by the lock claw, the movable piece comes into contact with the fixed piece, thereby switching ON / OFF.

  The connector according to the present invention has an arm-shaped lock portion protruding toward the fitting direction in one of the plug housing and the socket housing, and the other housing is inserted with a lock claw of the lock portion. Since the insertion hole is provided inside the other housing, a switch portion for detecting the fitting state of the plug and socket can also be provided inside the other housing. The switch part intentionally touches something and prevents the ON / OFF state from being switched before the plug and socket are fitted.

Also, since the lock claw provided on the arm-shaped lock part provided on one housing is engaged with the locked part provided on the other housing, the switch part is switched ON / OFF. The movable piece is pressed outward at the same time as the fitting connection between the plug terminal and the socket terminal is completed or slightly later than that, the contact is separated from the fixed piece, or the contact is in contact with this fixed piece, By setting so that a voltage is applied between the plug terminal and the socket terminal by switching the switch section, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of leakage.
Also, when removing the fitting between the plug and the socket, the lock part is pressed inward to release the lock claw from the locked part. Since the movable piece also moves inward, the fitting between the plug and the socket cannot be removed unless the switch portion is switched securely.
In addition, the lock claw is provided with a restoration assisting member, so that the fitting between the plug and the socket is made stronger, and the switch part ON / OFF switching when the plug is inserted into the socket is made more reliable. can do.

The structural example of the connector which concerns on this invention is shown, (a) is the state before fitting of a socket and a plug, (b) is the state in the middle of fitting, (c) is the state where the switch part switched by completion of fitting. Each is shown. The enlarged view of a switch part is shown, (a) is in the middle of fitting of a plug and a socket, (b) shows the state which switches a switch part by completion of fitting. The operation of pressing the lock portion provided on the socket inward and releasing the fitting between the plug and the socket is shown. (A) is the state which pressed the lock release part of both sides inside, (b) shows the enlarged view of the switch part in that case. The example of a component structure of a switch part is shown. (A) shows the positional relationship between the fixed piece and the movable piece, and (b) shows a state where the fixed piece and the movable piece are separated. The lock claw is inserted into the lock hole, and the switch part is switched. (A) is before fitting of a plug and a socket, (b) shows after fitting. The perspective view of the fitting surface of a plug and a socket is shown. (A) shows a socket, (b) shows a plug. The state which incorporates a fixed piece and a movable piece from the back surface (surface on the opposite side to a fitting direction) of a plug is shown. (A) shows a state in which a fixed piece is incorporated, (c) shows a state in which a movable piece is incorporated, before the switch part is incorporated in the socket. The structural example of the conventional connector is shown. The structural example of the switch part of the conventional connector is shown.

A structural example of the connector according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
This embodiment is an example in which a lock claw is provided in the socket, and a lock claw insertion hole and a switch portion are provided in the plug. However, the structure of the socket and the plug may be reversed and is not limited to this embodiment. Absent.

As shown in FIG. 1, the socket 10 is formed with a tubular insulating wall 11 a inside an insulating resin socket housing 11, and a socket terminal 15 connected to the tip of the cable 14 is accommodated inside.
As shown in FIG. 6A, the socket housing 11 has arm-shaped lock portions 12 and 13 on both sides of the side portion.
The arm-shaped lock portions 12 and 13 protrude from the side of the socket housing 11 in the fitting direction to the plug 20, and have lock claws 12a and 13a protruding outward near the tip portion.
The lock portions 12 and 13 are elastically deformed in the inner and outer directions perpendicular to the fitting direction with the base portions 12d and 13d of the socket housing 11 as fulcrums.
Lock release portions 12b and 13b are provided between the root portions 12d and 13d and the lock claws 12a and 13a. When the lock release portions are pressed inward, the lock is released.
The lock claws 12a and 13a are formed at the front end side in the fitting direction with inclined surfaces 12c and 13c inclined inward in the fitting direction, and the lock claws 12a and 13a are inserted into the insertion holes 22 and 23 of the plug 20, which will be described later. Guide the insertion direction.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the plug 20 has a plug terminal 25 and insertion holes 22 and 23 for the lock claws 12a and 13a inside a plug housing 21 made of an insulating resin.
The insertion holes 22 and 23 have sliding contact wall portions 22a and 23a located on the inner side of the projecting tip portions on the outer side in the left and right direction of the lock claws 12a and 13a in the released state of the socket 10 before fitting. , 13a are inserted into the insertion holes 22, 23, as shown in FIG. 1B, the lock portions 12, 13 are pressed inward by the sliding contact wall portions 22a, 23a and elastically deformed.
Of the insertion holes 22 and 23 on both sides, at least one of the insertion holes 22 has a locked portion 22b in which the sliding contact wall portion 22a is notched on the back side, and further on the back side in the fitting direction and the plug housing 21. The switch housing portion 24 is provided inside the housing.
The switch housing portion 24 includes a switch portion 30 including a conductive fixed piece 31 and a movable piece 32.
When the plug 20 is assembled, the four round pin-shaped plug terminals 25 are inserted into holes for receiving the plug terminals 25 from the back surface of the plug housing 12 in a state where a cable (not shown) is assembled.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the structure of the switch part 30, and FIG. 7 shows an assembling procedure into the plug housing 21.
The fixed piece 31 has a contact portion 31a. In this embodiment, the base portions 31b and 31c are bent into an L shape, and a locking portion 31d having an arrow-shaped claw portion is formed on the base portion 31c. As shown in FIG. 4, the plug housing 21 can be assembled simply by being inserted into the L-shaped receiving portion 26 provided on the back surface of the plug housing 21.
The movable piece 32 is formed with a contact portion 32a bent in a U-shape so as to wrap around the fixed piece 31 from the back surface side, and further, a pressed portion 32b is provided on the tip side thereof so as to be elastically deformable.
By comprising in this way, a favorable elastic characteristic can be acquired, suppressing the dimension of the fitting direction of the movable piece 32. FIG.
The movable piece 32 also has a lance piece 32d and can be incorporated simply by being inserted into the accommodating portion 27 provided on the back surface of the plug housing 21 as shown in FIG.

When the socket 10 and the plug 20 are to be fitted as shown in FIG. 1B, the lock claws 12a and 13a advance while being elastically deformed inward along the insertion holes 22 and 23, and the lock claws 12a and 13a. When it comes to be located in the to-be-latched parts 22b and 23b, as shown in FIG.1 (c), the lock claws 12a and 13a will elastically return outside so that it may latch to the to-be-latched parts 22b and 23b.
An enlarged view of this state is shown in FIG. 2, and the positional relationship between the movable piece 32 and the pressed portion 32b is shown in FIG.
Since the outer front end portion of the lock claw 12a presses the pressed portion 32b of the movable piece 32 to the outside, it is elastically deformed and the contact portions 32a and 31a are separated.
As a result, the switch unit 30 is switched from ON to OFF while sufficiently securing the connection timing (the connection dimension L is long) between the socket terminal 15 and the plug terminal 25, and the socket terminal 15 and the plug terminal 25 are detected by detecting this. The circuit can be set up to be electrically connected.

In this embodiment, the restoration assisting member 16 bent in a U shape is attached between the arm-shaped lock portions 12 and 13 and the insulating wall 11a.
Since the arm-shaped lock portion needs to be insulative, it is resin-molded.
Therefore, in order to reinforce the elastic force of the resin, the leaf spring is bent into a U shape, one side piece 16a is fixed to the outer side surface of the insulating wall 11a, and the other side piece 16b is contacted to the inner side 12e of the lock claw 12a. Touched.

On the contrary, when the fitting connection between the socket 20 and the plug 10 is released, as shown in FIG. 3, when the locking portions 12b and 13b are pressed inward in the direction of the arrow with the pressing force f, 12a and 13a are elastically deformed inward and separated from the locked portions 22b and 23b.
At the same time, the pressed portion 32 b of the movable piece 32 is elastically restored inward, so that the contact portion 32 a contacts the contact portion 31 a of the fixed piece 31.
Therefore, the socket 10 cannot be pulled out from the plug 20 unless the switch of the switch unit 30 is switched.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Socket 11 Socket housing 12 Lock part 12a Lock claw 12b Lock release part 15 Socket terminal 16 Restoration auxiliary member 20 Plug 21 Plug housing 22 Insertion hole 22b Locked part 24 Switch accommodating part 25 Plug terminal 30 Switch part 31 Fixed piece 32 Movable Fragment

Claims (3)

A connector having a switch portion for detecting a fitting state between a socket and a plug,
Of the socket housing of the socket and the plug housing of the plug, one of the housings has an arm-shaped lock portion protruding toward the fitting direction,
The lock part is elastically deformable in an inner and outer direction perpendicular to the fitting direction, and has a lock claw protruding in the outer direction,
The other housing has a locked portion that is locked by an elastic return of the lock claw inserted into the insertion hole of the lock claw and the lock claw inserted into the insertion hole to the outside direction inside the housing,
The switch part has an inner side of the other housing, and includes a fixed piece and a movable piece having elasticity, and when the lock claw is locked to the locked portion, the movable piece is pressed outward. A fitting detection type connector characterized by switching ON / OFF of a switch.   The fitting detection type connector according to claim 1, wherein the lock claw includes a restoration assisting member made of an elastic material that assists in elastic recovery in the outward direction.   3. The fitting detection type connector according to claim 1, wherein switching of the switch is allowed only when the socket terminal of the socket and the plug terminal of the plug are fitted and connected.

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