JP2013089421A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector capable of reducing connector insertion force without lowering contact reliability.SOLUTION: A connector 11 includes a first housing 15 housing a male terminal 13, and a second housing 19 housing a female terminal 17 into which the male terminal 13 is inserted. The female terminal 17 has an electric connection part 67 in a square cylinder shape into which the male terminal 13 is inserted and an elastic contact piece 71 arranged in the electric connection part 67. The elastic contact piece 71 has a terminal contact part 73 coming into elastic contact with the male terminal 13 inserted into the electric connection part 67, and an engagement piece part 75 extended from the terminal contact part 73 to outside the electric connection part along a connector fitting direction. An engagement part 43 projected from the first housing 15 in parallel with the male terminal 13 engages an engagement piece part 75 in connector fitting, and then the terminal contact part 73 in elastic contact with the male terminal 13 is energized and pressed against the male terminal 13.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector including a male housing that accommodates a male terminal and a female housing that accommodates a rectangular tubular female terminal into which the male terminal is inserted.

Some connectors improve connection reliability and reduce connector insertion force.
A connector 501 shown in FIG. 5 detachably holds a dummy tab 505 in a female connector housing 503 and detachably holds a dummy spring 509 in a male connector housing 507 (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The dummy tab 505 is held by a tab holding wall 513 formed in the hood portion 511 of the female connector housing 503. When the male connection terminal 515 and the female connection terminal 517 are connected, an arc discharge is generated by the contact between the dummy tab 505 and the dummy spring 509 prior to the contact between the contact protrusion 519 and the contact spring 521, and the male contact terminal 515 is the original contact portion. The connection terminal 515 and the female connection terminal 517 are prevented from being deteriorated or damaged by arc discharge, and the reliability of the connector is improved.

  In the wire connection connector 525 shown in FIG. 6, the core wire 539 of the connection wire 537 is inserted between the fixed contact 533 of the contact 531 and the leaf spring contact 535 accommodated in the contact accommodation hole 529 of the housing 527. After that, the slider 541 is slid in the direction of the arrow in the drawing and inserted into the housing 527, and the core wire 539 of the connecting wire 537 is pressed and held between the fixed contact 533 and the leaf spring contact 535 to maintain the connection ( For example, see Patent Document 2).

  According to the wire connecting connector 525, the insertion gap 545 is formed between the contact piece 543 and the leaf spring contact 535 before the slider 541 is inserted into the housing 527. The core wire 539 can be inserted without resistance.

JP 2001-250610 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-48573

  By the way, there exists a connector provided with the male housing which accommodated the male terminal, and the female housing which accommodated the rectangular tube-shaped female terminal in which a male terminal is inserted in a connector. In this type of connector, when both the male terminal and the female terminal are locked by lances formed in the respective terminal accommodating chambers, each terminal has a clearance that allows a small amount of movement. This clearance absorbs misalignment between the terminals that occurs during terminal fitting, and acts in a direction that reduces the increase in insertion force.

  However, if the male terminal fitting is press-fitted and locked in the male housing or is insert-molded in the male housing, the displacement-absorbing action between the terminals is reduced, and the insertion force of the connector may be increased. On the other hand, if the contact load of the elastic contact piece of the female terminal fitting is reduced in order to reduce the insertion force of the connector, the electrical connection reliability is lowered.

  Further, when the slider 541 separate from the housing 527 is provided like the wire connection connector 525 shown in FIG. 6, the number of parts increases, the product cost increases, and the parts management becomes complicated. Further, in the wire connecting connector 525, in order to eliminate insertion resistance, a large insertion gap 545 that does not interfere with the core wire 539 is formed between the contact piece 543 and the leaf spring contact 535. For this reason, the amount of displacement of the leaf spring contactor 535 must be increased. If the leaf spring contactor 535 is deformed, a sufficient contact state cannot be obtained, and contact reliability may be reduced. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector that can reduce the connector insertion force without lowering the electrical connection reliability.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configuration.
(1) A connector including a first housing that accommodates a male terminal and a second housing that accommodates a female terminal into which the male terminal is inserted, wherein the female terminal is a corner into which the male terminal is inserted. A terminal contact portion having a cylindrical electrical connection portion and an elastic contact piece disposed in the electrical connection portion, the elastic contact piece elastically contacting the male terminal inserted in the electrical connection portion; And an engagement piece portion extending outward from the terminal contact portion along the connector fitting direction and extending outward from the electrical connection portion, and projecting in parallel with the male terminal in the first housing. The connector is characterized in that the terminal contact portion elastically contacting the male terminal is pressed and urged against the male terminal by engaging the mating protrusion with the engaging piece when the connector is fitted. .

  According to the connector configured as described in (1) above, the elastic contact piece that elastically contacts the male terminal by engaging the engaging protrusion in the first housing with the engaging piece portion of the elastic contact piece when the connector is fitted. The terminal contact portion is pressed against the male terminal. Therefore, the contact load when the terminal contact portion comes into contact with the male terminal can be reduced by reducing the elastic biasing force of the elastic contact piece itself without reducing the contact reliability. As a result, the connector insertion force at the time of connector fitting can be reduced.

(2) The connector according to (1), wherein the engagement piece portion is located in front of the terminal contact portion in the insertion direction of the female terminal.

  According to the connector configured as described in (2) above, since the engaging piece is disposed in front of the terminal contact portion in the insertion direction, the engaging protrusion to be brought into contact with the engaging piece immediately before completion of connector fitting. Can be formed shorter than the case where the engagement piece portion is disposed behind the terminal contact portion.

  According to the connector according to the present invention, the connector insertion force can be reduced without reducing the connection reliability.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, 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 disassembled perspective view of the connector which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the female terminal shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing just after the fitting start of the connector shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing after completion of fitting of the connector shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the connector which improved the conventional contact reliability. It is sectional drawing of the connector for electric wire connection which reduced the conventional insertion force.

Hereinafter, a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the connector 11 according to this embodiment includes a first housing 15 that houses a male terminal 13 (see FIG. 3) and a second housing 19 that houses a female terminal 17 into which the male terminal 13 is inserted. With. In the following description, the sides of the first housing 15 and the second housing 19 that are engaged with each other are referred to as the front.

The first housing 15 is formed of an insulating synthetic resin material, and is formed in a rectangular box shape in which the insertion opening 21 of the second housing 19 is formed on the front surface. The inside of the first housing 15 is an insertion space 23 opened by the insertion opening 21.
A pair of misconnection prevention ribs 27 are formed on the arm-facing inner wall 25 of the insertion space 23 so as to be separated from each other along the connector fitting direction. These erroneous connection prevention ribs 27 are engaged with the pair of erroneous connection prevention grooves 29 of the second housing 19 so that erroneous insertion of the second housing 19 (such as insertion in an upside down orientation) is regulated. It has become.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the arm-facing inner wall 25, a locking projection 31 is provided between a pair of erroneous connection prevention ribs 27. The locking protrusion 31 locks the arm engaging portion 35 formed on the lock arm 33 of the second housing 19.
A rear wall 37 is formed on the back side of the insertion space 23, and the rear wall 37 covers almost the entire area behind the insertion space 23. A male terminal 13 made of a conductive metal is passed through the rear wall 37.
The male terminal 13 serves as a tab portion 39 that penetrates the rear wall 37 and is disposed in the insertion space 23 as an electrical contact portion. The tab portion 39 is formed in a narrow strip shape having a uniform width and a tapered portion 41 formed at the tip. In the present embodiment, three male terminals 13 are provided side by side in the front and back direction in FIG. The male terminal 13 is fixed to the rear wall 37 by press-fitting or insert formation. That is, the clearance which can adjust the terminal relative position at the time of connector fitting is not formed.

The rear wall 37 is provided with an engaging protrusion 43 that protrudes in parallel with the male terminal 13 toward the insertion space 23. The engaging protrusion 43 is integrally formed with the rear wall 37 and protrudes with a protrusion length that is approximately half that of the male terminal 13. On the lower surface side of the front end of the engagement protrusion 43, a front end inclined surface 45 having a tapered front end is formed. The engagement protrusion 43 is provided corresponding to each male terminal 13. Accordingly, in the present embodiment, three engagement protrusions 43 are provided side by side in the front and back direction in FIG.
The rear portion of the first housing 15 is attached and fixed to a device body (not shown), a circuit board or the like, and the male terminal 13 is connected to a circuit (not shown) of the device body.

  On the other hand, the second housing 19 is formed of an insulating synthetic resin material, and has three female terminal insertion openings 49 for inserting the female terminals 17 on the rear surface. As shown in FIG. 3, three female terminal accommodating chambers 51 opened by respective female terminal insertion openings 49 are formed inside the second housing 19. The female terminal storage chamber 51 is provided with a lance 53 having a proximal end continuous to the second housing 19 and a free end at the distal end. The lance 53 is used to prevent the female terminal 17 inserted into the female terminal storage chamber 51 from coming off. The lance locking portion 57 on the distal end side is locked to the locking portion 55 to restrict the female terminal 17 from coming off.

  On the outer surface of the second housing 19, the lock arm 33 and a pair of erroneous connection preventing grooves 29 are disposed. As shown in FIG. 3, the lock arm 33 is formed so that the base end side is continuous with the front wall portion 59 of the second housing 19. The front wall portion 59 has a male terminal insertion port 61 that communicates with the female terminal accommodating chamber 51 and receives the male terminal 13. On the front wall portion 59, an engagement protrusion entrance 63 is opened on the opposite side of the lock arm 33 across the male terminal insertion opening 61. The engagement protrusion entrance 63 is connected to the inner space 65 of the second housing 19. When the first housing 15 and the second housing 19 are fitted into the inner space portion 65, the engaging protrusion 43 is inserted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the female terminal 17 is made of a conductive metal, and has a rectangular tube-like electrical connection portion 67 into which the male terminal 13 is inserted, and an electric wire 80 extending from the rear end of the electrical connection portion 67. An electric wire caulking portion 76 to be crimped and a retaining portion 55 for retaining are provided.
The electric wire crimping portion 76 includes a conductor crimping piece 76 a that crimps and conducts the conductor of the electric wire 80, and a covering crimping piece 76 b that fixes the electric wire 80 by crimping to the covering portion of the electric wire 80.

  An engagement piece through hole 69 is formed on one outer surface of the electrical connection portion 67. As shown in FIG. 3, an elastic contact piece 71 is disposed inside the electrical connection portion 67. The elastic contact piece 71 is formed as a part of the developed shape of the electrical connection portion 67. The elastic contact piece 71 includes a terminal contact portion 73 on the proximal end side that elastically contacts the male terminal 13 inserted in the electrical connection portion 67, and the electrical connection portion 67 outward from the terminal contact portion 73 along the connector fitting direction. And an engagement piece 75 on the distal end side that extends toward the end. The engagement piece 75 passes through the engagement piece through hole 69 and protrudes outward from the electrical connection portion 67. The engaging piece portion 75 is located in front of the terminal contact portion 73 in the insertion direction of the female terminal 17.

  When the first housing 15 and the second housing 19 are fitted, the engaging piece portion 75 interferes with the engaging protrusion 43 provided on the rear wall 37 of the first housing 15. The tip end side of the terminal contact portion 73 is formed by being bent into a substantially S shape. That is, the front end of the engagement piece 75 is formed as a convex curved surface so as to slide smoothly with the front end inclined surface 45 of the engagement protrusion 43. The elastic contact piece 71 having the engagement piece portion 75 protruding outward is pressed against the engagement protrusion 43 so that the terminal contact portion 73 is inward of the female terminal receiving chamber 51. It is moved with elastic deformation.

  In the female terminal 17 of the present embodiment, the elastic contact piece 71 is formed from the same sheet metal base plate as the electrical connection portion 67. The electrical connection portion 67 is formed in a rectangular tube shape by bending a sheet metal base plate. The engagement piece portion 75 of the elastic contact piece 71 formed on a part of the sheet metal base plate is bent so as to penetrate the engagement piece through hole 69. The elastic contact piece 71 may be formed separately from the electrical connection portion 67 and then fixed to the electrical connection portion 67 by laser welding or the like.

Next, the operation of the connector 11 having the above configuration will be described.
In the connector 11 of the present embodiment, the engaging protrusion 43 that protrudes in parallel with the male terminal 13 in the insertion space 23 (see FIG. 3) of the first housing 15 has an engaging piece 75 immediately before the completion of connector fitting. Interfere with.

  However, as shown in FIG. 3, the engagement protrusion 43 of the first housing 15 does not interfere with the engagement piece portion 75 of the elastic contact piece 71 at the start of connector fitting. Therefore, during the period from when the connector fitting is started until the tip of the engagement protrusion 43 reaches the engagement piece portion 75, the terminal contact portion 73 is moved by the small elastic biasing force of the elastic contact piece 71 itself. Elastically contacts the tab portion 39. Therefore, the force required for deformation of the elastic contact piece 71 when the male terminal 13 is inserted into the electrical connection portion 67 is small. That is, the insertion resistance is hardly increased. Thereby, connector fitting with low insertion force is realized.

  Then, immediately before the completion of connector fitting, the tip inclined surface 45 of the engagement protrusion 43 abuts on the engagement piece portion 75 of the elastic contact piece 71. At this time, an inertia force in the insertion direction with a low insertion force works, and the resistance due to the engagement protrusion 43 coming into contact with the engagement piece portion 75 is reduced. When the connector fitting further proceeds in a state where the engagement protrusion 43 is in contact with the engagement piece portion 75, the engagement piece portion 75 is pressed by the engagement protrusion 43 as shown in FIG. The terminal contact portion 73 of the piece 71 is pressed against the male terminal 13. Since the terminal contact portion 73 is already in contact with the male terminal 13, the amount of displacement of the terminal contact portion 73 can be small.

Thereby, the elastic urging force of the elastic contact piece 71 itself can be reduced without reducing the contact reliability, and the contact load when the terminal contact portion 73 contacts the male terminal 13 can be reduced.
Further, since the engagement piece portion 75 is disposed in front of the terminal contact portion 73 in the insertion direction, the engagement protrusion 43 to be brought into contact with the engagement piece portion 75 immediately before the completion of the connector fitting is the engagement piece portion. Compared with the case where 75 is arrange | positioned behind the terminal contact part 73, it can form short.
In the connector 11, since the engaging protrusion 43 is formed integrally with the first housing 15, the number of parts and the assembling cost are not increased, and parts management is not complicated.

Therefore, according to the connector 11 which concerns on this embodiment, connector insertion force can be reduced, without reducing contact reliability.
In addition, the connector of 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 ... Male terminal 15 ... 1st housing 17 ... Female terminal 19 ... 2nd housing 43 ... Engagement protrusion 67 ... Electrical connection part 71 ... Elastic contact piece 73 ... Terminal contact part 75 ... Engagement piece part

Claims (2)

A connector comprising a first housing that contains a male terminal, and a second housing that contains a female terminal into which the male terminal is inserted,
The female terminal has a rectangular tube-shaped electrical connection part into which the male terminal is inserted, and an elastic contact piece disposed in the electrical connection part,
The elastic contact piece is a terminal contact portion that elastically contacts the male terminal inserted into the electrical connection portion, and a member that extends outward from the terminal contact portion along the connector fitting direction. Having a piece part,
The terminal contact portion that elastically contacts the male terminal by engaging an engagement protrusion, which is provided in parallel with the male terminal in the first housing, engages with the engagement piece when the connector is fitted. A connector, wherein the connector is urged against the male terminal. The connector according to claim 1,
The connector is characterized in that the engaging piece portion is positioned in front of the terminal contact portion in the insertion direction of the female terminal.

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