JP2013008598A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a packing fixing structure of a waterproof connector, capable of improving workability of fixing packing and improving sealability of the packing.SOLUTION: The waterproof connector includes a cylindrical hood part 3 having an inner peripheral surface held at an interval from an outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical housing 1, and cylindrical packing 5 closely mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1, and is used by inserting an opposite housing distal end part of an opposite connector into between the outer peripheral surface of the packing 5 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood part 3 and closely attaching the packing 5 to the inner peripheral surface of the opposite housing distal end part. The hood part 3 has a level difference part 15 formed by widening the interval from the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 on the inner peripheral surface at the front in the insertion direction of the opposite housing distal end part, and a flange-like locking part 17 formed so as to be locked to the level difference part 15 of the hood part 3 is provided on the entire periphery or part of the outer peripheral surface of the packing 5.

Description

  The present invention relates to a waterproof connector, and more particularly, to a waterproof packing fixing structure that seals a fitting portion with a connector of a connection partner.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a sealing member is pressed against and adhered to a rear surface side of a cylindrical housing in which a plurality of terminals with electric wires are accommodated, and the electric wires drawn out from the housing are sealed. There has been proposed a waterproof connector that is watertightly held in a plurality of through holes of a member. Further, in this document, when such waterproof connectors are connected to each other, the fitting portion between the connectors is sealed with a waterproof packing in order to prevent water from entering the connecting portion between the terminals. Specifically, a cylindrical hood portion having an inner peripheral surface that is held at an interval from the outer peripheral surface of the housing of one connector is formed, and the waterproof packing is closely attached to the outer peripheral surface of the housing. By inserting the housing of the mating connector between the outer peripheral surface of the packing and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion, the packing is brought into close contact with the inner surface of the housing of the mating connector, and the fitting portion is waterproof-sealed. This prevents water from entering the connection between the terminals of the waterproof connector.

JP 2010-140876 A

  However, according to Patent Document 1, since the packing is not fixed, when the mating connector is fitted and detached in the maintenance work of the device and the connectors are connected or disconnected, the packing that is in close contact with the housing is Moves or twists when pulled in the connector insertion / removal direction. For this reason, when the packing is checked when the connectors are connected or disconnected, and the packing is moved or twisted, the packing is reattached, so that workability is poor.

  In order to solve such a problem, it is desirable to fix the packing to the waterproof connector. For example, a method of fixing the packing with an adhesive is conceivable, but the work is complicated because the adhesive is applied to the packing mounting position or the packing coated with the adhesive is mounted.

  On the other hand, a flange portion is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the housing of the waterproof connector, the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion is supported at the tip of the flange portion, and a plurality of through holes are formed in the flange portion. A method of fixing the packing by forming a hook-shaped locking projection inserted into the through hole and locked on the front end surface of the packing at a position corresponding to is considered. According to this, when the packing is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the housing, the packing locking projection is inserted into the through hole of the housing and locked to fix the packing, so that the packing is easier than using an adhesive. Can be fixed.

  However, if the packing protrusion is inserted into the through hole of the housing and locked to fix the packing, the following may occur. That is, when through holes are formed at intervals along the circumferential direction of the housing, and the locking protrusions of the packing are formed in accordance with the through holes, the mating connector is detached when the other connector is detached and the connectors are disconnected. The portion without the locking protrusion is pulled and deformed in the connector detaching direction. Due to this deformation, the position of the protruding lip formed on the seal surface of the packing is shifted in a wave shape due to the pulling force, and when the mating connector is fitted and the connectors are connected together in this shifted state, the surface pressure applied to the packing lip is increased. There is a risk that the sealing performance may be reduced due to variations.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to realize a packing fixing structure for a waterproof connector that can improve the workability of fixing the packing and can improve the sealing performance of the packing.

  In order to solve the above problems, a waterproof connector according to the present invention includes a cylindrical housing, a cylindrical hood portion having an inner peripheral surface that is held at an interval between the outer peripheral surface of the housing, and a housing A cylindrical packing that is mounted in close contact with the outer peripheral surface is provided, and the cylindrical counterpart housing tip of the mating connector is inserted between the outer periphery of the packing and the inner peripheral surface of the hood, In the waterproof connector that uses the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface of the packing in close contact with each other, the hood portion is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the front end of the mating housing in the insertion direction with the gap between the outer peripheral surface of the housing increased. The packing has a locking portion formed in a hook shape and capable of being locked to the stepped portion of the hood portion on the entire circumference or a part of the outer peripheral surface of the front end portion in the insertion direction. It is characterized by.

  According to this, when the packing was pushed in between the outer peripheral surface of the housing and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion with a cylindrical jig or the like, it was formed on the entire periphery of the outer peripheral surface of the packing at the step portion of the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion. Since the hook-shaped locking portion is locked, the entire circumference of the packing can be fixed to the waterproof connector. Therefore, even when the connectors are connected or disconnected, the lip shift caused by the packing being pulled and deformed in the fitting / removing direction of the connector can be suppressed, so that the sealing performance of the packing can be improved. That is, according to the packing fixing structure of the present invention, since the entire circumference of the packing can be fixed without using an adhesive, the fixing work of the packing is easy, and the shift of the lip of the seal surface of the packing can be suppressed. Sealability can be improved.

  If the packing can be fixed to such an extent that the connector does not deform in the fitting / removing direction, there is no need to form a locking portion on the entire circumference of the packing, and a locking portion having a shape with a part cut away on the entire circumference of the packing. It can be.

  Further, by forming the packing locking portion at a height corresponding to the distance between the outer peripheral surface of the housing and the inner peripheral surface of the hood at the step portion of the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion, the locking portion of the packing is formed on the step portion of the hood portion. Can be locked. In this case, the distance between the outer peripheral surface of the housing other than the stepped portion and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion is narrow with respect to the locking portion of the packing. Therefore, when installing the packing, the locking portion of the packing is slidably contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion and is pushed in while being bent and deformed, and is locked by being restored to the original state at the stepped portion. Friction between the inner peripheral surface of the hood part and the engaging part of the packing serves as resistance when the packing is mounted.

  Therefore, it is preferable to form an inclined surface that inclines toward the rear in the insertion direction at the locking portion of the packing, and press the inclined surface with a jig. According to this, since the pushing force by the jig can be divided in the direction to push down the locking portion by the inclined surface, the friction between the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion and the locking portion can be reduced, and the packing mounting workability Can be improved.

  Moreover, a protrusion can be formed on the inner peripheral surface at a position corresponding to the locking portion of the packing. According to this, the engaging portion of the packing outer peripheral surface is pushed up by the protrusion on the inner peripheral surface of the packing and can be pressed against the step portion of the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion, so that the packing can be firmly fixed.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the workability | operativity which fixes a packing can be improved, and the packing fixing structure of the waterproof connector which improved the sealing performance of the packing is realizable.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a waterproof connector according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the waterproof connector of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the state before packing of the waterproof connector of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is an enlarged view of the site | part enclosed by the square 18 of FIG. It is sectional drawing in the middle of packing installation of the waterproof connector of Embodiment 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing of the state in which the packing of FIG. 6 was mounted | worn. It is a top view which shows the modification of the waterproof connector of Embodiment 1. It is sectional drawing of the waterproof connector of Embodiment 2. It is sectional drawing of the waterproof connector of Embodiment 3.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments.
(Embodiment 1)
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the waterproof connector of Embodiment 1 is a cylindrical hood portion having an inner peripheral surface that is held with a space between the cylindrical housing 1 and the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1. 3 and a cylindrical packing 5 mounted in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1. The packing 5 is inserted between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 with a cylindrical jig 6.

  The housing 1 is made of, for example, resin and includes a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 7 in which a plurality of terminals are accommodated, respectively. The terminal accommodating chamber 7 is formed, for example, in a cylindrical shape having a rectangular cross section, and an opening into which a counterpart terminal to be connected is inserted is formed on the front surface side of the housing 1. Openings for inserting the respective terminals are formed in the. On the front side of the housing 1, a front holder 9 that guides the counterpart terminal into each terminal accommodating chamber 7 is mounted. On the back side of the housing 1, a sealing member is closely fixed by a rear holder (not shown). Thereby, for example, the electric wire drawn out from the terminal in the housing 1 is watertightly held in the through hole formed in the seal member, so that the waterproofness on the back surface side of the housing 1 can be secured.

  The hood portion 3 is a cylindrical member, and is formed integrally with the housing 1 by the same resin as the housing 1, for example. The inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 is formed so as to cover the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 with a space between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1. The distance between the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 and the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 is formed such that a cylindrical housing of a mating connector (not shown) can be inserted and fitted. On the outer peripheral surface of the hood portion 3, there is formed a lock portion 11 to which the engaging portion of the mating connector is fixed when the mating connector is fitted.

  The packing 5 is formed of an elastic material such as rubber, for example. The packing 5 is formed in a cylindrical shape along the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 so that the inner peripheral surface is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1. A plurality of protruding lips 13 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the packing 5. Each lip 13 is formed along the circumferential direction of the packing 5. Each lip 13 is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the front end portion of the housing when the housing front end portion of the mating connector is inserted and fitted between the outer peripheral surface of the packing 5 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3. It comes to adhere closely. Thereby, since the watertightness of the fitting part of the back surface side of a waterproof connector and the other party connector can be ensured, the penetration | invasion of the water to the connection part of the terminals of a waterproof connector can be prevented.

  The jig 6 is formed in a cylindrical shape that can be inserted between the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 and the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1. The front end surface of the jig 6 comes into contact with the hook-shaped base side of the locking portion 17 of the packing 5.

  Next, the characteristic configuration of the connector of the first embodiment will be described. The hood portion 3 has a step portion 15 formed on the inner peripheral surface in front of the mating connector in the insertion direction 20 so as to be widened from the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1. Further, the packing 5 includes a locking portion 17 that is formed in a bowl shape and can be locked to the step portion 15 of the hood portion 3, for example, on the entire outer peripheral surface of the front end portion in the insertion direction 20. That is, of the distance between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood part 3, the distance dimension 21 on the rear side in the insertion direction 20 with respect to the step part 15 is the height dimension 23 of the locking part 17 of the packing 5. It is formed smaller than. The front side in the insertion direction 20 is formed to be the same as or larger than the height dimension 23 of the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 by the step of the step portion 15. In addition, the arrow 22 of FIG. 4 is an arrow which shows the removal direction of a mating connector.

  An inclined surface 16 is formed at the end of the packing 5 on the side of the locking portion 17 by cutting off the corners of the inner peripheral surface. An inclined surface 19 corresponding to the cut-off portion of the packing 5 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1. As a result, when the packing 5 is inserted, the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 is easily deformed by the amount of the cut-off, and the packing 5 in the portion where the distance between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 is narrow. The insertion resistance is reduced. When the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 exceeds the step portion 15 of the hood portion 3, the inclined surface 19 of the housing 1 abuts against the inclined surface 16 of the packing 5 and presses the locking portion 17 toward the step portion 15. It is supposed to be.

  The mounting operation and the characteristic action of the waterproof connector packing configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. The front end surface of the jig 6 formed in a cylindrical shape is pressed against the base side of the back surface of the locking portion 17 of the packing 5, and the packing 5 is placed in the gap between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3. insert. At this time, when the distance between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 is narrower than the height of the locking portion 17 of the packing 5, the top of the locking portion 17 is the hood portion 3. The locking portion 17 is slidably brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface and is bent and deformed toward the rear side in the insertion direction 20. When the packing 5 is further pushed in with the jig 6 in the state of bending deformation and the locking portion 17 exceeds the stepped portion 15, the locking portion 17 enters the space expanded by the stepped portion 15, and the bending deformation is released. The stop 17 is restored to its original state. Thereby, the back surface of the locking portion 17 formed on the entire circumference of the packing 5 comes into contact with the step surface of the step portion 15, and the locking portion 17 is locked to the step portion 15. In other words, a concave portion is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 by the step portion 15 having a wider distance from the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1, and the engaging portion 17 of the packing 5 enters the concave portion 15 to enter the concave portion 15. The locking part 17 is locked. Further, since the inclined surface 19 of the housing 1 is in contact with the inclined surface 16 of the packing 5, the locking portion 17 can be fixed to the stepped portion 15, and the locking portion 17 can be prevented from being detached from the stepped portion 15.

  According to the fixing structure of the packing 5 of the present embodiment, the locking portion 17 that locks the packing 5 by locking with the step portion 15 on the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 is formed on the entire circumference of the packing 5. The entire circumference of the packing 5 can be fixed. Therefore, since the packing 5 is fixed all around, when the connection between the connectors is released, the packing 5 can be prevented from being deformed by the pulling of the packing 5 in the detaching direction 22 of the mating connector, and the lip 13 of the packing 5 can be prevented. Can be prevented from shifting. As a result, the variation in the surface pressure between the mating connector and the lip 13 caused by connecting the mating connector while the lip 13 is displaced can be suppressed, so that the water tightness of the fitting portion of the connector can be improved. Further, since the entire circumference of the packing 5 can be fixed without using an adhesive, the work for fixing the packing 5 is simple.

  If the packing 5 can be fixed to such an extent that the connector does not deform in the detaching direction 22, it is not necessary to form the locking portion 17 on the entire circumference of the packing 5. For example, the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 can be formed at an interval as shown at a position 31 in FIG. According to this, compared with the case where the latching | locking part 17 is formed in the perimeter of the packing 5, the insertion resistance of the packing 5 can be reduced.

  In the first embodiment, the hood portion 3 is formed integrally with the housing 1. However, the housing 1 and the hood portion 3 can be formed separately and the hood portion 3 can be attached to the housing 1.

(Embodiment 2)
The waterproof connector of Embodiment 2 is demonstrated using FIG. The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that a triangular surface having an inclined surface 33 inclined toward the rear in the insertion direction 20 of the mating connector on the rear surface in the insertion direction 20 of the locking portion 17 of the packing 5. This is the point at which the protrusion 35 is formed. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and description thereof is omitted.

  Here, the characteristic operation of the second embodiment will be described along the mounting work of the packing 5. As shown in FIG. 9A, the distance between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 other than the step portion 15 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 is narrower than the height of the locking portion 17 of the packing 5. Therefore, when the packing 5 is pushed between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3 by the jig 6, the engaging portion 17 of the packing 5 is slidably contacted with the hood portion 3 and the inner peripheral surface, and frictional force is generated. As a result, a large force is required to insert the packing 5. Therefore, in the second embodiment, an inclined surface 33 is formed on the surface of the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 with which the jig 6 abuts and is inclined in the direction away from the central axis of the packing 5 along the insertion direction. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9B, when an insertion force is applied to the packing 5 with the jig 6, the insertion force is divided by the inclined surface 33, and the component force in the direction 37 that pushes down the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 is reduced. Arise. Thereby, since the latching | locking part 17 is pushed down and the frictional resistance between the latching | locking part 17 and the food | hood part 3 can be reduced, the packing 5 can be inserted with a small force. Then, as shown in FIG. 9C, when the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 reaches the step portion 15 and the jig 6 is pulled out, the force to push down the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 is released, and the locking portion 17 is lifted in the direction of the arrow 39 and locked to the step portion 15, and the packing 5 is fixed.

  According to this, since the frictional resistance between the locking portion 17 and the hood portion 3 can be reduced, the insertion force for inserting the packing 5 increased by providing the packing 5 with the locking portion 17 can be reduced.

  Note that when the inclined surface 33 hits the stepped portion 15, the locking by the locking portion 17 is hindered, so the position where the inclined surface 33 is formed is set to a position that does not hit the stepped portion 15.

(Embodiment 3)
The waterproof connector of Embodiment 3 is demonstrated using FIG. The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a protrusion 41 is formed on the inner peripheral surface at a position corresponding to the locking portion 17 of the packing 5. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and description thereof is omitted.

  Here, the characteristic operation of the third embodiment will be described along the mounting work of the packing 5. As shown in FIG. 10A, the protrusion 41 of the packing 5 is, for example, a semicircular protrusion 41 protruding from the inner peripheral surface of the packing 5. The protrusion 41 pushes up the locking portion 17. In this state, as shown in FIG. 10B, the packing 5 is pushed in by the jig 6 in the direction of the arrow 43, and the packing 5 is inserted between the outer peripheral surface of the housing 1 and the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 3. Then, as shown in FIG. 10C, when the locking portion 17 of the packing 5 reaches the step portion 15, the protrusion 41 of the packing 5 that has been elastically deformed is restored, and the engagement of the packing 5 in the direction of the arrow 45 is restored. Push up the stop 17. Thereby, since the latching | locking part 17 of the packing 5 can be pressed against the level | step-difference part 15 of the hood part 3, the packing 5 can be fixed firmly. FIG. 10B shows the protrusion 41 for easy understanding of the position of the protrusion 41. However, the protrusion 41 is actually deformed by being elastically deformed.

1 Housing 3 Hood 5 Packing 15 Step
17 Locking portion 33 Inclined surface 41 Projection

Claims (3)

A cylindrical hood having an inner peripheral surface that is held with a space between the cylindrical housing and the outer peripheral surface of the housing, and a cylindrical packing that is mounted in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the housing A cylindrical mating housing tip of the mating connector is inserted between the outer circumferential surface of the packing and the inner circumferential surface of the hood, and an inner circumferential surface of the mating housing tip and an outer circumferential surface of the packing In a waterproof connector that is used in close contact,
The hood portion has a stepped portion formed on the inner peripheral surface of the front end of the counterpart housing in the insertion direction forward with an increased distance from the outer peripheral surface of the housing,
The packing has a locking portion formed in a hook shape and capable of being locked to a step portion of the hood portion on the entire circumference or a part of the outer peripheral surface of the front end portion in the insertion direction. Features a waterproof connector. The waterproof connector according to claim 1,
The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein the locking portion at the front end portion of the packing has an inclined surface inclined toward the rear in the insertion direction. The waterproof connector according to claim 1 or 2,
The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein a protrusion is formed at a position of an inner peripheral surface corresponding to the locking portion at the front end portion of the packing.

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