JP2014089810A - Terminal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a terminal fitting which can cope with an aluminum wire while securing electrical connectivity with a counterpart side terminal.SOLUTION: A terminal fitting 1 is connected to an aluminum wire 50 having a core wire 51 made from aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and has a terminal body 10 and a spring member 40. The terminal body 10 has a barrel part 30 connected to the core wire 51 and a cylinder part 20 connected to the counterpart side terminal. The spring member 40 is attached to the cylinder part 20, is deformed by a fitting operation with the counterpart side terminal, and is electrically connected to the counterpart side terminal by an elastic restoring force. The terminal body 10 is formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the spring member 40 is formed of iron or an iron alloy.

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal fitting.

In recent years, from the viewpoint of weight reduction of vehicles, there has been a demand for weight reduction of wire materials, and demand for so-called aluminum wires in which an aluminum or aluminum alloy core wire is covered with an insulating coating is increasing.
As a terminal provided at the end of such an aluminum electric wire, there is a demand to use a terminal formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy from the viewpoint of preventing electrolytic corrosion.

JP 2007-305356 A

  By the way, when the terminal is of a female type, an elastically deformable spring piece is often used as a contact portion that contacts the mating terminal. When the mating terminal is fitted, the spring piece is elastically deformed and comes into contact with the mating terminal with a predetermined contact pressure by an elastic restoring force. Thereby, electrical connectivity with the counterpart terminal is ensured.

  However, when terminal fittings are made of relatively soft metal such as aluminum or aluminum alloy, the electrical connection with the mating terminal is insufficient due to insufficient spring force. Is concerned.

  This invention is completed based on the above situations, Comprising: It aims at providing the terminal metal fitting corresponding to an aluminum electric wire, ensuring electrical connectivity with the other party terminal.

  The terminal fitting of the present invention is a terminal fitting connected to an electric wire having a core wire made of aluminum or aluminum alloy, the terminal main body having a wire connecting portion connected to the core wire, and the terminal main body arranged in the terminal main body. An elastic member that is deformed by a mating operation with the mating terminal and is electrically connected to the mating terminal by an elastic restoring force, and the terminal body is formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, The elastic member is formed of iron or an iron alloy.

  According to said structure, since a terminal main body is a product made from aluminum or aluminum alloy, it is hard to produce an electrolytic corrosion in the junction part with the core wire in an aluminum electric wire. On the other hand, iron or an iron alloy is used as the elastic member. Since this iron and iron alloy are more elastic than aluminum and aluminum alloy, the elastic restoring force of the elastic member can ensure a sufficient contact pressure against the mating terminal and ensure electrical connectivity. it can. Furthermore, since iron and iron alloys have a small potential difference with aluminum, even if they are joined with aluminum or aluminum alloys, electrolytic corrosion is unlikely to occur. For this reason, if these materials are used for an elastic member, generation | occurrence | production of the electrolytic corrosion in a junction part with a terminal main body can be suppressed.

The elastic member may be a contact member that is formed separately from the terminal body and contacts the mating terminal when the mating terminal is fitted.
According to said structure, the terminal metal fitting which can respond to an aluminum electric wire can be provided with a simple manufacturing process, ensuring electrical connectivity with the other party terminal.

  The terminal body is formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and includes a contact member that comes into contact with the mating terminal when the mating terminal is fitted, and the elastic member is connected to the mating terminal in the contact member. It may be provided on the surface opposite to the contact side and urge the contact member toward the counterpart terminal.

  According to said structure, the contact member which contacts directly with the other party terminal is formed with aluminum or aluminum alloy with small electrical resistance. Accordingly, current flows mainly through the contact member when energized, and the amount of heat generated is small even when a large amount of current flows. On the other hand, an elastic member having a high elastic force is provided on the surface of the contact member opposite to the side in contact with the counterpart terminal, and the contact member is urged toward the counterpart terminal. Thereby, the contact pressure with respect to the other party terminal can fully be ensured, and electrical connectivity can be ensured.

  The terminal fitting may be a female terminal fitting provided with a cylindrical portion capable of receiving the mating terminal therein, and the elastic member provided inside the cylindrical portion.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the terminal metal fitting which can respond to an aluminum electric wire can be provided, ensuring the electrical connectivity with the other party terminal.

Side sectional view of terminal fitting in embodiment 1 The expanded view of the cylinder part in the terminal metal fitting of Embodiment 1 Side sectional view of the terminal fitting in the second embodiment Exploded view of the cylindrical portion of the terminal fitting of the second embodiment

<Embodiment 1>
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, the sectional side view of the terminal metal fitting 1 of this embodiment was shown.

  The terminal fitting 1 is of a female type and is connected to a terminal of an aluminum electric wire 50 in which a core wire 51 made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy is covered with an insulating coating 52, and fitted with a mating male terminal fitting. It is. In the following description, the side where the tab of the male terminal fitting is inserted in the terminal fitting 1 will be described as the front side.

  The terminal fitting 1 includes a terminal main body 10 and a spring member 40 (corresponding to an elastic member or a contact member) assembled to the terminal main body 10.

  The terminal body 10 is formed in a shape elongated in the front-rear direction by bending a terminal body piece 10E obtained by punching a plate material made of aluminum or aluminum alloy into a predetermined shape. A rectangular tube portion 20 into which a tab of a male terminal fitting is inserted is formed in a substantially first half region of the terminal body 10, and a barrel portion 30 (corresponding to a wire connecting portion) to which an aluminum electric wire 50 is caulked is formed in a substantially second half region. ) Is formed.

  The cylindrical portion 20 has a rectangular tube shape elongated in the front-rear direction, and includes a bottom wall 21, a pair of side walls 22 raised from both side edges of the bottom wall 21, and rising ends of the pair of side walls 22. A ceiling wall 23 that extends and is arranged to face the bottom wall 21 is provided. A terminal insertion port 24 into which a tab of a male terminal fitting can be inserted is opened on the front surface of the cylindrical portion 20.

  The barrel portion 30 includes a bottom plate 31 extending rearward from the rear end of the bottom wall 21 in the cylindrical portion 20, and a pair of wire barrel portions 32 and an insulation barrel portion 33 protruding from both side edges of the bottom plate 31. ing. The wire barrel portion 32 and the insulation barrel portion 33 are caulked to the core wire 51 and the insulating coating 52 of the aluminum electric wire 50 placed on the bottom plate 31, and are bent and deformed so as to enclose the core wire 51 and the insulating coating 52. .

  A spring member 40 formed separately from the terminal body 10 is disposed inside the cylindrical portion 20 in a state where it is assembled. The spring member 40 is formed by bending a spring element piece 40E obtained by punching a plate material made of iron or an iron alloy into a predetermined shape. The spring member 40 includes a substrate portion 41 stacked on the bottom wall 21 of the cylindrical portion 20 and an elastic contact piece 42 connected to the substrate portion 41.

  In addition, when using an iron alloy as a material of the spring member 40, for example, carbon steel, weather resistant steel, or stainless steel can be preferably used. For example, Fe-18Cr alloy, Fe-12Cr alloy, Fe-8Cr Alloys, iron alloys used as weather-resistant hot rolled steel materials specified in JIS G3114, ferritic stainless steels such as SUS405, SUS410L, SUS430, and SUS434, martensitic stainless steels such as SUS403, SUS410, SUS416, and SUS431, SUS301, SUS304, Examples include austenitic stainless steel such as SUS305. Of these, weathering steel and ferritic stainless steel having a corrosion potential close to that of an aluminum or aluminum alloy core wire are preferred.

  The substrate portion 41 is formed in an elongated plate shape having substantially the same width as the bottom wall 21 of the cylindrical portion 20. The elastic contact piece 42 is formed by folding back a portion extending forward from the front edge of the substrate portion 41 to the rear. The elastic contact piece 42 is bent into a mountain shape in which the first half portion gradually rises toward the rear, and the second half portion gradually falls as it goes rearward. It is set as the contact part 43 which contacts.

  On the side edges of the substrate portion 41, locking pieces 44 are provided so as to protrude laterally. On the other hand, in the cylindrical portion 20 of the terminal body 10, locking holes 25 are opened at positions where the spring members 40 are aligned with the locking pieces 44 when the spring members 40 are assembled. The spring member 40 is fixed to the cylindrical portion 20 by entering and being locked into the hole 25.

  FIG. 2 shows a development view of a portion of the terminal body piece 10E that forms the cylindrical portion 20 and a spring piece 40E that forms the spring member 40.

  The portion of the terminal body piece 10E that forms the cylindrical portion 20 has a bottom wall 21 positioned in front of the bottom plate 31 in the barrel portion 30, and side walls 22 are connected to both side edges of the bottom wall 21, respectively. In FIG. 22, a ceiling wall 23 is connected to the side edge opposite to the side connected to the bottom wall 21.

  On the other hand, the spring element piece 40E has a configuration in which the elastic contact piece 42 is formed so as to extend substantially straight forward from the front end edge of the base plate portion 41 as a base end.

  When the spring member 40 is assembled to the cylindrical portion 20, first, the spring element piece 40 </ b> E is bent along a broken line indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 to form the spring member 40. Next, the spring member 40 is placed on the terminal main body piece 10 </ b> E so that the substrate portion 41 overlaps the inner surface of the bottom wall 21. At this time, the positions of the locking piece 44 and the locking hole 25 are matched. Next, the terminal main body piece 10E is bent along a broken line indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 and processed into a cylindrical shape. At this time, the locking piece 44 enters the locking hole 25 and the spring member 40 is fixed to the cylindrical portion 20. The ceiling wall 23 has a double plate structure in which metal plates respectively extended from the pair of side walls 22 are laminated.

  When fitting the terminal fitting 1 configured as described above with the male terminal fitting, the tab of the male terminal fitting is inserted from the terminal insertion port 24 of the cylindrical portion 20. When the tab enters the inside of the cylindrical portion 20, the tip of the tab hits the contact portion 43 of the elastic contact piece 42 and elastically deforms the elastic contact piece 42 downward. In a state where the tab is inserted to the normal position, the tab is elastically sandwiched between the contact portion 43 and the inner side surface of the ceiling wall 23 by the elastic restoring force of the elastic contact piece 42. The metal fitting 1 is electrically connected.

  Here, since the spring member 40 is formed of iron or an iron alloy and has an elastic force that can sufficiently ensure contact with the tab of the male terminal fitting, the terminal fitting 1 and the mating terminal fitting The electrical connection can be made stable. On the other hand, since iron or an iron alloy has a small potential difference with aluminum, even if it is brought into contact with aluminum or an aluminum alloy, electrolytic corrosion is unlikely to occur. For this reason, generation | occurrence | production of the electrolytic corrosion in the contact part of the spring member 40 and the terminal main body 10 can be suppressed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the terminal fitting 1 is connected to the aluminum electric wire 50 including the core wire 51 made of aluminum or aluminum alloy, and includes the terminal main body 10 and the spring member 40. The terminal body 10 includes a barrel portion 30 connected to the core wire 51 and a cylindrical portion 20 connected to the counterpart terminal. Moreover, the spring member 40 is assembled | attached to the cylinder part 20, is deform | transformed by fitting operation | movement with the other party terminal, and is electrically connected with the other party terminal by an elastic restoring force. The terminal body 10 is made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the spring member 40 is made of iron or an iron alloy.

  According to said structure, since the terminal main body 10 is a product made from aluminum or aluminum alloy, it is hard to produce an electrolytic corrosion in a junction part with the core wire 51. FIG. On the other hand, iron or an iron alloy is used as the spring member 40. Here, the elasticity of the iron and the iron alloy is high enough that when the spring is formed, the contact pressure against the mating terminal can be sufficiently secured by the elastic restoring force. Therefore, by forming the spring member 40 from these materials, it is possible to ensure electrical connectivity to the mating terminal. Furthermore, since iron and iron alloys have a small potential difference with aluminum, even if they are joined with aluminum or aluminum alloys, electrolytic corrosion is unlikely to occur. For this reason, if these materials are used for the spring member 40, generation | occurrence | production of the electrolytic corrosion in a junction part with the terminal main body 10 can be suppressed. From the above, the terminal fitting 1 can be made compatible with an aluminum electric wire while ensuring electrical connectivity with the counterpart terminal.

  In the present embodiment, the spring member 40 is formed separately from the terminal body 10 and is assembled to the cylindrical portion 20 so as to come into contact with the mating terminal when the mating terminal is fitted. ing. By setting it as such a structure, the terminal metal fitting 1 which can respond to an aluminum electric wire can be provided, ensuring electrical connectivity with the other party terminal with a simple manufacturing process.

<Embodiment 2>
Next, Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. In FIG. 3, the sectional side view of the terminal metal fitting 60 of this embodiment was shown.

  The terminal fitting 60 is of a female type, and is connected to the end of an aluminum electric wire 50 in which a core wire 51 made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy is covered with an insulating coating 52 as in the first embodiment. It is fitted with the terminal fitting. In the following description, the side where the tab of the male terminal fitting is inserted in the terminal fitting 60 will be described as the front side.

  The terminal fitting 60 includes a terminal main body 70 and an auxiliary spring member 90 (corresponding to an elastic member) assembled to the terminal main body 70.

  The terminal body 70 is formed into a shape elongated in the front-rear direction by bending a terminal body piece 70E obtained by punching a plate made of aluminum or aluminum alloy into a predetermined shape. A rectangular tube portion 80 into which a tab of a male terminal fitting is inserted is formed in a substantially first half region of the terminal body 70, and a barrel portion 30 (corresponding to a wire connecting portion) to which an aluminum electric wire 50 is caulked in a substantially second half region. ) Is formed. In addition, since the structure of the barrel part 30 is the same as that of 1st Embodiment, it attaches | subjects the same code | symbol and abbreviate | omits description.

  The cylindrical portion 80 has a rectangular tube shape elongated in the front-rear direction, and includes a bottom wall 81, a pair of side walls 82 raised from both side edges in the width direction of the bottom wall 81, and rising ends of the pair of side walls 82. A ceiling wall 83 that extends and is arranged to face the bottom wall 81 is provided. A terminal insertion port 84 into which a tab of a male terminal fitting can be inserted is opened on the front surface of the cylindrical portion 80.

  A main body side elastic contact piece 85 (corresponding to a contact member) is formed inside the cylindrical portion 80. The main body-side elastic contact piece 85 is formed by folding back a portion extending forward from the front edge of the bottom wall 81 to the rear. The main body side elastic contact piece 85 is bent into a mountain shape in which the front half part gradually rises toward the rear and the latter half part gently falls as it goes rearward. The contact portion 86 is in contact with the tab.

  An auxiliary spring member 90 formed separately from the terminal body 70 is assembled in the cylindrical portion 80. The auxiliary spring member 90 is formed by bending a spring element 40E obtained by punching a plate material made of iron or iron alloy into a predetermined shape. The auxiliary spring member 90 is connected to the base plate portion 91 stacked on the bottom wall 81 of the cylindrical portion 80 and the base plate portion 91 so as to follow the surface of the main body side elastic contact piece 85 facing the bottom wall 81. And an auxiliary elastic contact piece 92 disposed on the surface.

  In addition, when using an iron alloy as a material of the auxiliary spring member 90, for example, carbon steel, weather resistant steel, or stainless steel can be preferably used. For example, Fe-18Cr alloy, Fe-12Cr alloy, Fe-- 8Cr alloy, iron alloy used as a weather resistant hot rolled steel specified in JIS G3114, ferritic stainless steel such as SUS405, SUS410L, SUS430, SUS434, martensitic stainless steel such as SUS403, SUS410, SUS416, SUS431, SUS301, SUS304 Examples thereof include austenitic stainless steel such as SUS305. Of these, weathering steel and ferritic stainless steel having a corrosion potential close to that of an aluminum or aluminum alloy core wire are preferred.

  The substrate portion 91 is formed in an elongated plate shape having substantially the same width as the bottom wall 81 of the cylindrical portion 80. The auxiliary elastic contact piece 92 is formed by folding back a portion extending forward from the front edge of the substrate portion 91 to the rear. The auxiliary elastic contact piece 92 is bent into a mountain shape along the main body side elastic contact piece 85, and in the state of being attached to the cylindrical portion 80, the position of the peak portion of the mountain is the contact point of the main body side elastic contact piece 85. Aligned with the portion 86.

  At the side edges of the substrate portion 91, locking pieces 93 are provided so as to protrude sideways. On the other hand, when the auxiliary spring member 90 is assembled in the cylindrical portion 80 of the terminal main body 70, the locking holes 87 are opened at positions that are aligned with the locking pieces 93, respectively. The auxiliary spring member 90 is fixed with respect to the cylindrical portion 80 by entering and locking the hole 87.

  FIG. 2 shows a development view of the portion of the terminal body piece 70E that forms the cylindrical portion 80 and the auxiliary spring piece 90E that forms the auxiliary spring member 90.

  The portion of the terminal body piece 70E that forms the cylindrical portion 80 has a bottom wall 81 positioned in front of the bottom plate 31 in the barrel portion 30, and side walls 82 are connected to both side edges of the bottom wall 81, respectively. The ceiling wall 83 is connected to the side edge opposite to the side connected to the bottom wall 81 in 82. The main body side elastic contact piece 85 is formed so as to extend almost straight forward from the front end edge of the bottom wall 81 as a base end.

  On the other hand, the auxiliary spring piece 90E has a configuration in which the auxiliary elastic contact piece 92 is formed to extend substantially straight forward from the front end edge of the base plate portion 91 as a base end.

  When the auxiliary spring member 90 is assembled to the cylindrical portion 80, first, the auxiliary spring element 90 </ b> E is bent along a broken line indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 to form the auxiliary spring member 90. Next, the auxiliary spring member 90 is placed on the terminal body piece 70 </ b> E so that the board portion 91 overlaps the inner surface of the bottom wall 81. At this time, the positions of the locking piece 93 and the locking hole 87 are matched. Next, the terminal main body piece 70E is bent along a broken line shown by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 to fold the main body side elastic contact piece 85, and form the cylindrical portion 80 by the bottom wall 81, the side wall 82, and the ceiling wall 83. To do. At this time, the locking piece 93 enters the locking hole 87, and the auxiliary spring member 90 is fixed to the cylindrical portion 80. The ceiling wall 83 has a double plate structure in which metal plates extending from the pair of side walls 82 are stacked.

  When fitting the terminal fitting 60 configured as described above with the male terminal fitting, the tab of the male terminal fitting is inserted from the terminal insertion port 84 of the cylindrical portion 80. When the tab enters the inside of the cylindrical portion 80, the tip of the tab abuts against the contact portion 86 of the main body side elastic contact piece 85 and elastically deforms the main body side elastic contact piece 85 downward. At this time, the auxiliary elastic contact piece 92 is also pressed by the main body side elastic contact piece 85 to be elastically deformed downward. In a state where the tab is inserted to the normal position, the main body side elastic contact piece 85 tries to elastically recover.

  By the way, the terminal main body 10 is made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and therefore the main body side elastic contact piece 85 is also formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy. Here, aluminum and aluminum alloys are relatively soft materials among metals. Therefore, there is a concern that the main body side elastic contact piece 85 formed of these materials is not sufficiently springy.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the auxiliary spring member 90 is assembled to the cylindrical portion 80. The auxiliary spring member 90 is made of iron or an iron alloy and has sufficient elastic force. The elastic restoring force of the auxiliary elastic contact piece 92 urges the main body side elastic contact piece 85 toward the tab side, and assists the elastic recovery of the main body side elastic contact piece 85. Thereby, the main body side elastic contact piece 85 contacts the tab with sufficient elastic force. The tab is elastically sandwiched between the contact portion 86 and the ceiling wall 83 of the cylindrical portion 80 by this elastic restoring force. Thereby, the tab and the terminal fitting 60 are electrically connected.

  On the other hand, since iron or an iron alloy has a small potential difference from aluminum, even if it is joined to aluminum or an aluminum alloy, electrolytic corrosion is unlikely to occur. For this reason, generation | occurrence | production of the electric corrosion in the contact part of the auxiliary spring member 90 and the terminal main body 70 can be suppressed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the terminal fitting 60 is connected to the aluminum electric wire 50 including the core wire 51 made of aluminum or aluminum alloy, and the barrel portion 30 connected to the core wire 51; The terminal main body 70 provided with the cylinder part 80 connected with the other party terminal is provided. The cylindrical portion 80 is provided with a body-side elastic contact piece 85 that comes into contact with the mating terminal when the mating terminal is fitted, and further, a side that contacts the mating terminal in the body-side elastic contact piece 85. An auxiliary spring member 90 is provided on the opposite surface. The auxiliary spring member 90 is deformed by a fitting operation with the mating terminal, and biases the main body side elastic contact piece 85 toward the mating terminal side by an elastic restoring force. The terminal body 70 and the body-side elastic contact piece 85 are formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the auxiliary spring member 90 is formed of iron or an iron alloy.

  According to said structure, the terminal metal fitting 60 can make it compatible with an aluminum electric wire, ensuring electrical connectivity with the other party terminal similarly to 1st Embodiment.

  In addition, the main body side elastic contact piece 85 that is in direct contact with the mating terminal is formed of aluminum or aluminum alloy having a low electric resistance. Therefore, current flows mainly to the main body side elastic contact piece 85 during energization, and even when a large amount of current flows, the amount of heat generation is small. On the other hand, an auxiliary spring member 90 having a high elastic force is provided on the surface of the main body side elastic contact piece 85 opposite to the side in contact with the counterpart terminal, and the main body side elastic contact piece 85 is attached to the counterpart terminal side. It is fast. Thereby, the contact pressure with respect to the other party terminal can fully be ensured, and electrical connectivity can be ensured.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) In the above embodiment, the locking piece 44 of the spring member 40 or the locking piece 98 of the auxiliary spring member 90 is locked to the locking holes 25 and 87 of the cylindrical portions 20 and 80. However, there is no restriction | limiting in particular in the latching structure of the elastic member with respect to a terminal connection part, What kind of structure may be sufficient.

(2) In the above embodiment, the tab of the mating terminal is sandwiched between the elastic contact piece 42 or the main body side elastic contact piece 85 and the ceiling walls 23 and 83 of the cylindrical portions 20 and 80. This structure is not limited to the above embodiment, and the present invention can also be applied to, for example, a type of terminal fitting in which a tab or pin of a mating terminal is sandwiched by a plurality of elastic members provided inside the cylindrical portion.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 60 ... Terminal metal fittings 10, 70 ... Terminal main body 20, 80 ... Tube part 30 ... Barrel part (electric wire connection part)
40 ... Spring member (elastic member, contact member)
85 ... elastic contact piece on the main body side (contact member)
90 ... auxiliary spring member (elastic member)

Claims (4)

A terminal fitting connected to an electric wire having a core wire made of aluminum or aluminum alloy,
A terminal body comprising a wire connecting portion connected to the core wire;
An elastic member disposed in the terminal body, deformed by a mating operation with the mating terminal, and electrically connected to the mating terminal by an elastic restoring force;
While the terminal body is formed of aluminum or aluminum alloy,
A terminal fitting in which the elastic member is formed of iron or an iron alloy.   2. The terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a contact member that is formed separately from the terminal body and contacts the mating terminal when the mating terminal is fitted. The terminal body is formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and includes a contact member that comes into contact with the mating terminal when the mating terminal is fitted.
The said elastic member is provided in the surface on the opposite side to the side which contacts the said other party terminal in the said contact member, and urges | biases the said contact member to the said other party terminal side. Terminal fitting.   The said terminal metal fitting is provided with the cylinder part which can receive the other party terminal inside, and the said elastic member is a female terminal metal fitting provided in the inside of the said cylinder part. The terminal fitting described in 1.

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