JP2013045726A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector capable of increasing a holding force while a spacer is in a final locking state.SOLUTION: A connector 11 comprises: a connector housing 13 having a terminal housing chamber; a terminal fitting housed in and locked with the terminal housing chamber; and a spacer 15 mounted to and temporarily and finally locked with a spacer mounting hole 19 traversing the terminal housing chamber. The spacer 15 has: a first locking protrusion 29 projecting outward in a longitudinal direction of a straddle mounted flexible arm 51 provided on a spacer side wall 27; and a second locking protrusion 31 projecting backward in a spacer insertion direction. The connector housing inner wall 21 comprises: a temporary engagement part 37 engaged with the first locking protrusion 29 during temporary locking; a final locking part 43 engaged with it during final locking; and a pressing part 53 for displacing the first protrusion 29 in an engagement direction by pressing and energizing the second locking protrusion 31 to flex the flexible arm 51 when the first locking protrusion 29 is finally locked with the final locking part 43.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector provided with a spacer to be mounted on a housing.

The connector is mounted in a temporarily locked state with respect to the connector housing. After the terminal fitting is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber in the temporarily locked state, the assembly is completed by setting the spacer to the fully locked state. Those are known (for example, see Patent Document 1).
This type of connector 501 shown in FIG. 11 includes a connector housing 503, a plurality of terminal fittings (not shown) received and locked in a plurality of terminal receiving chambers 505 formed in the connector housing 503, and two terminal fittings. And a spacer 507 for heavyly locking. The connector housing 503 is formed with a spacer mounting hole 509 for mounting the spacer 507. The spacer mounting hole 509 is formed so as to cross the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 505. On the left and right housing side walls 511 of the connector housing 503, a part of the housing side wall 511 is thinned to form a locking portion 513 for the spacer 507.

  The locking portion 513 has a space 515 generated by thinning the housing side wall 511, a temporary locking portion 517 and a main locking portion 519 formed on the lower wall side. The temporary locking portion 517 and the main locking portion 519 are formed in a substantially chevron shape, and a locking state is formed when the locking protrusion 521 of the spacer 507 falls in the valley portion. The locking projection 521 falls over the temporary locking portion 517 and the main locking portion 519 of the connector housing 503 and falls into these troughs when the both-side-supported spacer side wall 520 (both-end flexible arm) is bent. I get caught in. By this catching, the spacer 507 is temporarily locked or permanently locked.

  Further, Patent Document 2 and the like disclose a connector 527 having a spacer 525 shown in FIG. The connector housing 529 is provided with a slide groove 531, a spacer locking surface 533, and a spacer locking projection 535. The spacer locking surface 533 overlaps the orthogonal surface 539 of the temporary locking protrusion 537 of the spacer 525 when the spacer 525 is positioned at the temporary locking position, and locks the spacer 525 to the connector housing 529. The spacer locking protrusion 535 is provided with two first tapered surfaces 541 and a second tapered surface 543. As shown in FIG. 12B, the second tapered surface 543 overlaps with the main locking slope 545 of the spacer 525 when the spacer 525 is positioned at the main locking position, and locks the spacer 525 at the main locking position. To do. The main locking slope 545 is formed on a second locking arm 547 (both-end flexible arm) provided on the spacer 525 as a double-supported beam.

JP 2009-123570 A JP 2010-118150 A

  However, in the connector 501 described above, the locking projection 521 is formed on the spacer wall 520 having a doubly supported beam shape. For this reason, it has been difficult for the locking projection 521 to increase the engagement with the main locking portion 519 and improve the main locking holding force with the spacer 507. Similarly, in the connector 527, the main locking inclined surface 545 is formed on the doubly-supported second locking arm 547. Therefore, it is difficult to improve the main locking holding force with the spacer 525.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said condition, The objective is to provide the connector which can increase the retention strength in the final locking state of a spacer.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configuration.
(1) A connector housing having a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers extending in the front-rear direction at least in the left-right direction, a terminal fitting accommodated and locked in the terminal accommodating chamber, and a spacer mounted so as to cross the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers And a spacer that is temporarily and fully locked by being mounted in the hole, wherein the spacer protrudes outward in the left-right direction of the both-end flexible arm provided on the spacer side wall. A protrusion, and a second locking protrusion that protrudes outward in the left-right direction of the double-sided flexible arm on the rear side in the spacer insertion direction from the first locking protrusion, and the inner wall of the connector housing has A temporary engagement portion that engages when the first locking projection is temporarily locked, a main locking portion that engages when the first locking projection is locked, and the first locking projection that is engaged with the main locking portion. When the second locking projection is pressed and urged when stopped A connector comprising: a pressing portion that displaces the first locking protrusion in the engaging direction by bending the doubly-supported flexible arm.

  According to the connector configured as described in (1) above, when the spacer is permanently locked, the second locking protrusion is pressed by the pressing portion, and the double-sided flexible arm provided with the second locking protrusion is provided. Bends inward in the left-right direction. When the both-end flexible arm is bent inward in the left-right direction, the first locking projection provided at an appropriate position of the both-end flexible arm is displaced in the engagement direction, and the first locking projection is finally locked. The hanging cost and the hanging force for the part increase. Further, when the spacer is pressed by the pressing portion, rattling in the direction orthogonal to the spacer insertion direction of the spacer is suppressed.

(2) The connector according to (1) above, wherein the pressing portion is the temporary engagement portion.

  According to the connector having the configuration (2), the temporary engagement portion provided on the inner wall of the connector housing for temporarily locking the spacer to the connector housing also serves as the pressing portion, and the structure is simple. Thus, formation becomes easy.

(3) The connector according to the above (1) or (2), wherein the protrusion locking surface of the first locking protrusion and the main engagement surface of the main locking portion are surfaces in the final locking state. A connector characterized in that an inclination angle is set so as to come into contact.

  According to the connector having the above configuration (3), in the final locking state, the first locking projection and the main locking portion are in surface contact with each other, thereby increasing the contact friction, thereby further increasing the main locking holding force. Can be increased.

  According to the connector of the present invention, the holding force of the spacer in the final locking state can be increased.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Furthermore, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through a mode for carrying out the invention described below (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) with reference to the accompanying drawings. .

It is a perspective view of the connector housing of the connector concerning one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of the connector housing shown in FIG. 1. It is the A section enlarged view of FIG. It is a perspective view of the spacer of the connector concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is the B section enlarged front view of FIG. (A) is a front view of the connector which inserted the spacer in the temporary locking position, (b) is a side view of (a). FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of the connector shown in FIG. It is the C section enlarged view of FIG. (A) is sectional drawing of the both-ends flexible arm used as this latching, (b) is the principal part enlarged view. It is a principal part enlarged view of the connector which concerns on a comparative example. It is sectional drawing after this latching of the conventional connector in which the latching protrusion is formed in the side wall of a doubly-supported spacer. (A) is a cross-sectional view of a conventional connector in which the main locking slope is formed on a doubly-supported beam-like second locking arm, and (b) is a cross-sectional view after the main locking. .

Hereinafter, a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The connector 11 (see FIG. 6) is provided with a spacer 15 (see FIG. 4) for improving the terminal holding force in the connector housing 13 shown in FIG.
FIG. 1 shows only the connector housing 13 without the spacer 15 attached thereto. The connector housing 13 is formed of an insulating resin for insulating the accommodated terminal fitting (not shown) from other circuits. The connector housing 13 is formed with a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 17 extending at least in the left-right direction (the width direction of the terminal fitting) in order to accommodate the terminal fitting.

  The terminal accommodating chamber 17 is formed with a lance (not shown) that is an elastic flexible piece that is locked to the terminal fitting to prevent the terminal fitting from falling off. Since only the lance locked to the terminal fitting does not provide sufficient locking force for the terminal fitting, the terminal holding force is improved by mounting the spacer 15 and double-locking the terminal fitting.

  The spacer 15 is inserted into the connector housing 13 from below in FIG. 2 and is in the mounted state shown in FIG. The spacer 15 is attached before the terminal fitting is attached to the connector housing 13. The spacer 15 before the terminal fitting is attached becomes a temporary locking position described later. After the terminal fitting is mounted in this state, the spacer 15 is moved to the connector housing 13 to the final locking position.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the connector housing 13 has a spacer mounting hole 19 formed so as to cross the terminal accommodating chamber 17 at a substantially central portion in the insertion direction of the terminal fitting. The spacer mounting hole 19 is sandwiched between the connector housing inner walls 21 on the left and right sides of the connector housing 13.

  The spacer 15 is formed in a thin block shape in the front-rear direction of the connector housing 13, and a plurality of terminal insertion openings 23 penetrating in the thickness direction (terminal fitting insertion direction) are formed vertically and horizontally according to the terminal accommodating chamber 17. Has been. The spacer 15 is inserted into the spacer mounting hole 19 (see FIG. 2) from below the connector housing 13 shown in FIG. That is, it is inserted across the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 17. The spacer 15 attached to the connector housing 13 makes the terminal insertion opening 23 coincide with the terminal accommodating chamber 17, and the rear end portion 25 rearward in the spacer insertion direction is exposed (see FIG. 6A). The spacer 15 has spacer side walls 27 on the left and right sides of the rear end portion 25.

  The spacer 15 is mounted in the spacer mounting hole 19 and is temporarily locked and permanently locked depending on the insertion position. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the spacer side wall 27 has a first locking protrusion 29 protruding outward in the left-right direction, and outward in the left-right direction on the rear side in the spacer insertion direction from the first locking protrusion 29. A protruding second locking protrusion 31 is formed. In the present embodiment, the first locking protrusion 29 is disposed in front of the second locking protrusion 31 in the spacer insertion direction (upward in FIG. 5), but the arrangement is not limited to this.

  In the first locking projection 29, the front side of the spacer insertion direction is the projection front inclined surface 33, and the opposite side is the projection locking surface 35. Further, the second locking protrusion 31 is formed to have a smaller cross-sectional mountain shape than the first locking protrusion 29. The first locking protrusions 29 and the second locking protrusions 31 are arranged on the same straight line in the spacer insertion direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the first locking protrusion 29 and the second locking protrusion 31 are formed on the same spacer side wall 27. The spacer side wall 27 is slightly deformable. That is, when the second locking projection 31 is pressed from the connector housing inner wall 21, the first locking projection 29 is displaced by the pressing force.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a temporary engagement portion 37 protrudes into the spacer mounting hole 19 on the inner wall 21 of the connector housing sandwiching the spacer mounting hole 19. The temporary engagement portion 37 is engaged when the first locking projection 29 is temporarily locked. In the temporary engagement portion 37, the rear side in the spacer insertion direction is a temporary engagement portion inclined surface 39, and the front side in the spacer insertion direction is a temporary engagement portion vertical surface 41. Further, a main locking portion 43 is formed in front of the temporary engagement portion 37 in the spacer insertion direction. The main locking portion 43 is engaged when the first locking protrusion 29 is fully locked. The main locking portion 43 is formed in a mountain-shaped cross section in which the front in the spacer insertion direction is the main engagement surface 45 and the rear in the spacer insertion direction is the main locking portion rear slope 47.

  The connector housing inner wall 21 forms a temporary locking recess 49 between the temporary engaging portion 37 and the main locking portion 43. The spacer 15 is in a temporary locking position in which the first locking protrusion 29 is disposed in the temporary locking recess 49 and can move in the insertion direction and the movement is restricted in the opposite direction. Further, the spacer 15 becomes the final locking position when the first locking projection 29 gets over the main locking portion 43 from the temporary locking position and moves forward of the main locking portion 43 in the spacer insertion direction. The first locking projection 29 that has reached the final locking position can return to the temporary locking position again because the main locking portion 43 is formed in a mountain-shaped cross section. However, the spacer 15 that has returned to the temporary locking position has the protrusion locking surface 35 of the first locking protrusion 29 abuts against the temporary engagement portion vertical surface 41 of the temporary engagement portion 37, thereby Further withdrawal is regulated. That is, the connector 11 holds the spacer 15 in the connector housing 13 in this state and can be transported. In the present embodiment, since the first locking protrusion 29 hits the protrusion locking surface 35 that is inclined with respect to the temporary engaging portion vertical surface 41, the spacer 15 is further detached from the temporary locking position. It becomes a possible regulation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, in the spacer 15, the first locking projection 29 and the second locking projection 31 protrude outward in the left-right direction from the both-end supported flexible arm 51 provided on the spacer side wall 27. It is formed in this way. Here, the left-right direction is a direction orthogonal to the spacer insertion direction.
As shown in FIG. 8, the doubly-supported flexible arm 51 is a wall portion that is continuously supported at one end by the spacer side wall 27 and at the other end by the rear end portion 25 of the spacer 15 and is thinner than the spacer side wall 27. is there. That is, the double-sided flexible arm 51 is more easily elastically deformed than the spacer side wall 27.

  On the inner wall 21 of the connector housing, a pressing portion 53 is formed at a position facing the second locking projection 31 when the spacer 15 reaches the final locking position. The pressing portion 53 presses and biases the second locking projection 31 when the first locking projection 29 is fully locked to the main locking portion 43 (see FIG. 9). 51 is bent. Thereby, the pressing part 53 acts to displace the first locking protrusion 29 in the engaging direction.

  In the present embodiment, the pressing portion 53 is the temporary engagement portion 37 described above. That is, the temporary engagement portion 37 provided for temporarily locking the spacer 15 to the connector housing 13 also serves as the pressing portion 53. Therefore, the structure including the pressing portion 53 is simplified and the formation is easy.

  The temporary engagement portion 37, which is the pressing portion 53, locks the first locking protrusion 29 when the spacer 15 is temporarily locked, but presses the second locking protrusion 31 when the spacer 15 is fully locked. As a result, the double-supported flexible arm 51 is deformed when the second locking projection 31 is pressed. This deformation displaces the first locking protrusion 29 in the engaging direction. The displacement in the engaging direction is either one of the positional displacement and the positional displacement of the first locking protrusion 29 in the direction of promoting the engagement, or both. The positional displacement is a displacement in which almost the entire first locking protrusion 29 moves in a direction that promotes locking. The posture displacement is a displacement in which the first locking projection 29 is inclined (for example, rotated) in a direction that promotes locking at substantially the same position.

  In order to displace the first locking protrusion 29 in the engaging direction, a displacement promoting portion 55 is formed in the double-sided flexible arm 51. The displacement promoting portion 55 can be formed, for example, as a thin portion 57 (fragile portion) in which the formation surface of the first locking projection 29 or the opposite side surface is thinned. Since the thin-walled portion 57 is formed in the double-supported flexible arm 51, when the second locking projection 31 is pressed from the connector housing inner wall 21, the thin-walled portion 57 is locally deformed. When the doubly-supported flexible arm 51 is curved in an arc shape, if the first locking projection 29 is provided at the end of the curved portion, it can be tilted in a direction that promotes locking.

  In addition, although not shown in the figure, the displacement promoting part 55 is formed by bending the both-ends flexible arm 51 in advance in a direction approaching the inner wall 21 of the connector housing (in a R shape). May be. In other words. The length of the both-end flexible arm 51 is formed long. Thereby, when the 2nd latching protrusion 31 is pressed and the both-ends flexible arm 51 curves in the reverse direction, it becomes possible to largely displace the 1st latching protrusion 29 to an engagement direction.

Next, the operation of the connector 11 having the above configuration will be described.
In the connector 11, the spacer 15 is inserted into the spacer mounting hole 19 before the terminal fitting is mounted. As shown in FIG. 6, when the spacer 15 is inserted into the spacer mounting hole 19, first, the first locking protrusion 29 rides on the temporary engagement portion slope 39 of the temporary engagement portion 37 shown in FIG. 8. After that, it engages with the temporary engagement portion vertical surface 41. That is, the spacer 15 is held at the temporary locking position by the first locking protrusion 29 engaging with the temporary locking recess 49 (see FIG. 3).

  The connector 11 is transported with the spacer 15 in the temporary locking position. Then, the terminal fittings are mounted in the respective terminal accommodating chambers 17 at this temporary locking position. After the terminal fitting is mounted, the spacer 15 is moved to the final locking position in order to improve the holding strength of the terminal fitting.

  When the spacer 15 starts to move from the temporary locking position to the main locking position, the first locking protrusion 29 shown in FIG. 8 rides on the main locking portion rear slope 47 of the main locking portion 43. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9, the main engagement surface 45 is engaged and the main engagement position is reached. Thereby, the mounting of the spacer 15 to the connector housing 13 is completed. In this main locking position, since the first locking projection 29 is locked to the main engagement surface 45, it is possible to move backward on the main engagement surface 45. As a result, the spacer 15 can be released from the final locking position to the temporary locking position.

  By the way, the conventional connector 11 is such that in this fully locked state, the projection locking surface 35 of the first locking projection 29 is the tip of the main engagement surface 45 of the main locking portion 43 as shown in FIG. It was locked to the side. The holding force decreases as the protrusion locking surface 35 and the main engagement surface 45 become parallel to the removal direction of the spacer 15. That is, the holding force improves as the inclination locking angle θ of the protrusion locking surface 35 lies down (decreases) with respect to the straight line 59 in the withdrawal direction.

  In the connector 11 according to the present embodiment, the second locking projection 31 of the spacer 15 shown in FIG. 9 is pressed by the temporary engagement portion 37 provided on the inner wall 21 of the connector 15 at the final locking position of the spacer 15. That is, when the spacer 15 is fully locked, the second locking protrusion 31 is pressed by the pressing portion 53, and the doubly-supported flexible arm 51 provided with the second locking protrusion 31 is inward in the left-right direction. Bend. When the both-end flexible arm 51 is bent inward, the first locking projections 29 provided at appropriate positions of the both-end flexible arm 51 are displaced in the engaging direction. That is, the inclination locking angle of the protrusion locking surface 35 lies with respect to the straight line 59 in the withdrawal direction. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 9, the tip end of the projection locking surface 35 is locked to the skirt 61 of the main engagement surface 45, and the projection locking surface 35 and the main engagement surface 45 are in surface contact. Increase contact friction. As a result, the engagement margin and the engagement force of the first engagement protrusion 29 with respect to the main engagement portion 43 increase, and the main engagement retention force increases. Further, when the spacer 15 is pressed by the pressing portion 53 from both sides in the left-right direction, rattling in the direction orthogonal to the spacer insertion direction of the spacer 15 is suppressed.

  Therefore, according to the connector 11 according to the present embodiment, when the spacer 15 is permanently locked, the second locking protrusion 31 is pressed by the pressing portion 53, and the second locking protrusion 31 is provided. The both-end flexible arm 51 bends inward in the left-right direction. When the both-end flexible arm 51 bends inward in the left-right direction, the first locking projection 29 provided at an appropriate position of the both-end flexible arm 51 is displaced in the engaging direction, and the first locking projection 29 The engagement allowance and engagement force with respect to the main locking portion 43 increase, and the holding force of the spacer 15 in the main locking state can be increased.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimensions, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and are not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Connector 13 ... Connector housing 15 ... Spacer 17 ... Terminal accommodation chamber 19 ... Spacer mounting hole 21 ... Connector housing inner wall (inner wall of connector housing)
27 ... Spacer side wall 29 ... first locking projection 31 ... second locking projection 35 ... projection locking surface 37 ... temporary engagement portion 43 ... main locking portion 45 ... main engagement surface 51 ... both end flexible Arm 53 ... Pressing part 57 ... Thin part

Claims (3)

A connector housing having a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers extending in the front-rear direction at least in the left-right direction;
A terminal fitting that is housed and locked in the terminal housing chamber;
A spacer mounted in a spacer mounting hole formed so as to cross the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers and temporarily locked and permanently locked;
The spacer includes a first locking projection that protrudes outward in the left-right direction of a both-end flexible arm provided on the side wall of the spacer, and the both-end flexible arm on the rear side in the spacer insertion direction from the first locking projection. A second locking projection protruding outward in the left-right direction,
The inner wall of the connector housing has a temporary engagement portion with which the first locking projection is engaged during temporary locking, a main locking portion with which the first locking projection is engaged during final locking, and the first locking projection. When the main locking portion is finally locked, the second locking protrusion is pressed and biased to bend the both-end flexible arm, thereby displacing the first locking protrusion in the engaging direction. A pressing part to be
A connector comprising: The connector according to claim 1,
The connector, wherein the pressing portion is the temporary engagement portion. The connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein
The connector is characterized in that the inclination angle is set so that the protrusion engaging surface of the first engaging protrusion and the main engaging surface of the main engaging portion are in surface contact with each other in the final engaging state.

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