JP2014120352A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a waterproof connector backlash of which can be prevented without complicating the structure, and with no difficulty of design.SOLUTION: When a waterproof connector 10 and a mating connector 100 are fitted, a mating hood 110 enters between a fitting cylindrical portion 22 and the housing body 21 from forward, and a seal ring 60 is held elastically between the hood 110 and the housing body 21. The seal ring 60 has a seal lip 62 which is collapsed by adhering elastically to the inner peripheral surface of the hood 110 on the opening side when fitting, and a backlash filling portion 64 located forward of the seal lip 62, and filling the gap to the hood 110 by abutting against the inner peripheral surface of the hood 110 on the rear side in the front and rear direction when fitting.

Description

  The present invention relates to a waterproof connector.

  The waterproof connector disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a block-shaped housing body, an annular seal ring that is fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the housing body, and a tubular fitting tube portion that surrounds the periphery of the housing body. Yes. When the waterproof connector is fitted to the mating connector, the mating hood part enters between the housing body and the fitting tube part, and the seal ring is elastically sandwiched between the hood part and the housing body. By doing so, between the two connectors is sealed in a liquid-tight manner.

  The seal ring is configured with a front-rear length that can be in close contact with the inner peripheral surface on the opening side of the hood portion. Further, a front retainer is attached to the housing body from the front, and the peripheral wall of the attached front retainer is positioned in front of the seal ring, so that the seal ring is prevented from coming off from the housing body. Furthermore, when both the connectors are deeply fitted by pressing the pressing member, the inner peripheral surface of the back side of the hood portion and the outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall of the front retainer are in close contact with each other, and rattling between the two connectors is achieved. Can be suppressed.

Japanese Patent No. 4461379

  By the way, in the above case, since a pressing member is separately required, there is a situation that the entire configuration is complicated. In addition, since both the front retainer and the hood are made of resin, there is a situation in which it is difficult to design because the wrap allowance when both abut against each other cannot be increased.

  The present invention has been completed based on the above-described circumstances, and provides a waterproof connector that can prevent rattling without complicating the configuration and without design difficulties. For the purpose.

  The present invention comprises a block-shaped housing body, an annular seal ring that is fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the housing body, and a tubular fitting tube portion that surrounds the periphery of the housing body. , The mating hood part enters from the front between the fitting tube part and the housing body, and the seal ring is elastically interposed between the hood part and the housing body. A waterproof connector to be sandwiched, wherein the seal ring is positioned forward of the seal lip and a seal lip that is elastically brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface on the opening side of the hood portion when fitted. Further, it has a feature in that it has a backlash filling portion that fills a gap with the hood portion by contacting the inner peripheral surface on the back side of the hood portion along the front-rear direction at the time of fitting.

  When the seal lip is brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface on the opening side of the hood portion and crushed, the connector is liquid-tightly sealed. Moreover, since the gap | interval with a food | hood part is filled when a backlash | puffing part contacts the inner peripheral surface of the back | inner side of a food | hood part along the front-back direction, rattling between both connectors is suppressed. In this case, since the structure for preventing rattling between the two connectors is formed in the seal ring together with the seal structure, the configuration is simplified as compared to the case where the rattling preventing structure is provided separately from the seal ring. Further, since the backlash portion is provided on the elastic seal ring, strict dimensional management is not required when setting the lapping margin with the hood portion, and the design difficulty is eliminated.

It is a front view of the waterproof connector which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is a top view of a waterproof connector. It is sectional drawing of a waterproof connector. It is a front view of a connector housing. It is a front view of a front member. It is a top view of a front member. It is a front view of a seal ring. It is a top view of a seal ring. It is a side view of a seal ring. It is a rear view of a seal ring.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown below.
The seal lip is provided around an annular seal body that is externally fitted to the housing body, and the backlash portion projects forward from a plurality of circumferentially spaced positions at the front end of the seal body. Has been. Thereby, the contact resistance at the time of a hood part sliding with a seal ring at the time of a fitting is suppressed small, and favorable workability | operativity is ensured.

A front member is attached to the housing body from the front, and the front member is formed with a pressing portion that covers the pressed portion formed on the backlash portion from the outside when mounted on the housing body. Yes. Since the pressed portion of the front member covers the pressed portion of the loosely packed portion, a situation where the loosely packed portion is dragged and wound around the hood portion during the fitting process is avoided.
The front member has a bending restricting piece that enters a bending space of a bendable lance that prevents a terminal fitting inserted in the housing main body from being detached when the front member is attached to the housing main body. That is, since the front member also functions as a retainer, the configuration is further simplified.

<Example 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The waterproof connector 10 according to the first embodiment can be fitted to the mating connector 100, and includes a connector housing 20, a front member 40, a seal ring 60, and a terminal fitting 90. In the following description, in the front-rear direction, the fitting surface side with respect to the mating connector 100 is the front.

  The mating connector 100 includes a hood portion 110 made of synthetic resin. As shown in FIG. 3, the hood portion 110 has a substantially rectangular tube shape that opens forward, and a male tab 210 of the mating terminal fitting 200 projects from the inside.

  The connector housing 20 is made of synthetic resin, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a block-shaped housing main body 21, a cylindrical fitting cylindrical portion 22 surrounding the housing main body 21, and a fitting cylindrical portion 22 and a housing portion 21 located between the housing main body 21 and a connecting portion 23 for connecting the two. A fitting space 24 into which the hood part 110 can enter is opened between the fitting cylinder part 22 and the housing main body 21 and in front of the connecting part 23.

  A plurality of cavities 25 are formed in the housing body 21 so as to extend in the front-rear direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the cavities 25 are arranged in a row in the width direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a deflectable lance 26 is formed on the upper surface of the inner wall of each cavity 25 so as to protrude forward. A terminal fitting 90 is inserted into the cavity 25, and the normally inserted terminal fitting 90 is elastically locked to the lance 26 and is prevented from coming off into the cavity 25.

  The terminal fitting 90 is integrally formed by bending a conductive metal plate or the like, and as shown in FIG. 3, a cylindrical terminal body 91, a wire barrel 92 located behind the terminal body 91, and a wire barrel And an insulation barrel 93 located at the rear of 92. A flexible elastic contact piece 94 is provided in the terminal main body 91. When the male tab 210 of the mating terminal fitting 200 is inserted into the terminal body 91 when the connectors 10 and 100 are fitted together, the male tab 210 comes into contact with the elastic contact piece 94 and the terminal fittings 90 and 200 are electrically connected. Connected.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the wire barrel 92 is crimped and connected to the core wire 320 exposed by removing the coating 310 at the terminal portion of the electric wire 300. The insulation barrel 93 is crimped and connected to a rubber plug 400 that is externally fitted to the covering 310 at the end of the electric wire 300. When the terminal fitting 90 is properly inserted into the cavity 25, the rubber plug 400 is elastically adhered to the inner peripheral surface of the cavity 25 and the inside of the housing body 21 is sealed in a liquid-tight manner.

  Further, a lock arm 27 is connected to the upper surface of the housing body 21 as shown in FIG. The lock arm 27 can be bent and deformed in the vertical direction, and when engaging with the mating connector 100, the locking portion (not shown) in the hood portion 110 is elastically locked to fit both the connectors 10 and 100 together. Plays the role of maintaining state. As shown in FIG. 2, an opening 28 is cut out in the upper wall of the fitting cylinder portion 22 at a portion facing the lock arm 27, and the lock arm 27 is made visible through the opening 28. Yes.

  The front member 40 is made of a synthetic resin, is configured as a cap-shaped plate material, and is attached to the housing body 21 from the front as shown in FIG. Specifically, the front member 40 includes a front wall portion 41 that covers the front surface of the housing main body 21 and a peripheral wall portion 42 (see FIG. 6) that protrudes rearward from the outer peripheral edge of the front wall portion 41. . As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of through holes 43 are formed at positions in the front wall portion 41 that communicate with the cavities 25. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, when the front member 40 is properly attached to the housing main body 21, the tower portion 29 that defines the lower half of the cavity 25 in the housing main body 21 is fitted in each through hole 43. Thus, the front end opening of the cavity 25 faces the front surface of the front member 40.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a deflection regulating piece 44 is formed on the rear surface of the front wall portion 41 so as to protrude. When the front member 40 is properly attached to the housing body 21, the bending restricting piece 44 enters the corresponding bending space of the lance 26, and the bending operation of the lance 26 is restricted. It is designed to be securely retained.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of opening holes 45 are formed above each through hole 43 in the front wall portion 41. Each opening hole 45 is located in front of the deflection regulating piece 44 and is configured to open to the front surface of the front wall portion 41. With the front member 40 properly attached to the housing body 21, a jig (not shown) is inserted into each opening hole 45 from the front, and the conduction state of the terminal fitting 90 can be inspected by this jig. Yes.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the peripheral wall portion 42 has an escape recess 46. The relief recess 46 is formed in a groove shape that extends in the front-rear direction and opens at the rear end of the peripheral wall portion 42, and has an interval of approximately 90 degrees between the central portion in the height direction and the central portion in the width direction of the peripheral wall portion 42. Are arranged. A plurality of pressing portions 47 extending in the front-rear direction along both side edges of each relief recess 46 are formed on the outer surface of the peripheral wall portion 42. Each pressing portion 47 is configured to project into each escape recess 46 so as to cover both side edges in the corresponding escape recess 46 from the outside. As shown in FIG. 3, a later-described loosely-filled portion 64 of the seal ring 60 enters and escapes into the escape recess 46, and the pressing portion 47 is moved to the pressed-down portion 66 of the loosely-filled portion 64, described later. It is designed to cover.

  Next, the seal ring 60 will be described. The seal ring 60 is made of rubber such as silicon rubber, and has a substantially square annular seal body 61 that is long in the width direction as shown in FIG. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, a step 31 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the housing body 21 in front of the connecting portion 23, and the seal body 61 of the seal ring 60 is displaced rearward by the step 31. In a state where the pressure is restricted, it is fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the front region of the housing main body 21 that is lowered by a step 31.

  As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a plurality of seal lips 62 are formed around the outer peripheral surface of the seal body 61 in the front-rear direction. When the seal ring 60 is fitted on the outer peripheral surface of the housing main body 21 and the hood part 110 enters the fitting space 24 of the connector housing 20 from the front as the connectors 10 and 100 are fitted, each seal lip 62 is moved to the hood. The connector 110 is elastically brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface on the opening side and crushed, whereby the connectors 10 and 100 are sealed in a liquid-tight manner.

  A plurality of projecting pieces 63 are formed at the rear end of the seal body 61. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, each projecting piece 63 is configured to project laterally and rearward from both ends in the height direction of both side edges of the seal body 61. When the connectors 10 and 100 are fitted together, the opening edge of the front end of the hood portion 110 is elastically brought into contact with and held by the protruding piece 63.

  Further, at the front end of the seal body 61, a backlash portion 64 is formed to protrude forward at a position different from each protruding piece 63 in the circumferential direction. As shown in FIG. 8, each backlash filling portion 64 is configured to extend substantially straight rearward, and as shown in FIG. 7, approximately 90 at the center in the height direction and the center in the width direction of the front end of the seal body 61. They are arranged at intervals of degrees. Specifically, the backpacking portion 64 includes a thick backlashing main body 65 extending over the entire length in the front-rear direction and a thin pressed portion 66 extending along both side edges of the backlashing main body 65. Yes.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the loosely packed main body 65 has a rear end portion 67 that gradually increases in thickness from the front end of the seal main body 61 toward the front, and a substantially constant thickness from the rear end portion 67 toward the front. The intermediate portion 68 extends and the front end portion 69 gradually becomes thinner from the intermediate portion 68 toward the front. For this reason, the backlash filling main body 65 has a higher rigidity than the seal main body 61 side and has a structure that is difficult to deform.

  The inner surface of the loosely packed main body 65 is flat along the front-rear direction, and is continuous with the inner surface of the seal main body 61. In addition, the outer surface of the intermediate portion 68 is also flat along the front-rear direction, while the outer surface of the rear end portion 67 is increased in diameter toward the front, and the outer surface of the front end portion 69 is tapered toward the front. The diameter is reduced to a shape. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the protruding amount of the backlashing main body 65 located on both ends in the width direction at the front end of the seal body 61 is made larger than the protruding amount of the backlashing main body 65 located on both sides in the height direction. Yes.

  The pressed portion 66 has an inner surface that is flush with the inner surfaces of the seal body 61 and the backlash filling body 65. And the to-be-pressed part 66 is made into the strip-shaped form extended in the front-back direction, and is provided in the side edge of the backpacking main body 65 over the full length.

Next, the operation of the waterproof connector 10 according to this embodiment will be described.
In assembly, the seal ring 60 is attached to the housing body 21 from the front through the fitting space 24. When the seal ring 60 is normally attached to the housing body 21, the front ends of the backlash portions 64 are positioned near the front end of the housing body 21 (see FIG. 3).

  A terminal fitting 90 with an electric wire 300 is inserted into each cavity 25 of the housing body 21 from the rear. The terminal fitting 90 normally inserted in each cavity 25 is temporarily prevented by the lance 26 from coming off.

  Subsequently, the front member 40 is attached to the housing body 21 from the front. When the front member 40 is properly attached to the housing main body 21, the front wall portion 41 covers the front side of the housing main body 21, and the bending restricting piece 44 enters the bending space of the lance 26 and the bending operation of the lance 26 is performed. Thus, the terminal fitting 90 is secondarily prevented from coming off (see FIG. 3).

  Further, the peripheral wall portion 42 of the front member 40 is disposed so as to be able to come into contact with the front end of the seal body 61, thereby preventing the seal ring 60 from coming off forward. Further, the loosely packed main body 65 enters the escape recess 46 of the peripheral wall portion 42 and is released, and the pressing portion 47 of the peripheral wall portion 42 covers the pressed portion 66 from the outside, and the lifting of the pressed portion 66 is restricted. . At this time, the outer surface of the intermediate portion 68 of the loosely packed main body 65 is exposed outside the outer surface of the peripheral wall portion 42 and is disposed so as to protrude into the fitting space 24 (see FIG. 3).

  Next, the connector housing 20 is fitted to the mating connector 100. In the fitting process, the hood portion 110 enters the fitting space 24 of the connector housing 20 and slides the loosely packed main body 65. However, when the pressed portion 66 is pressed against the pressing portion 47, the backlash is reduced. The positional fluctuation of the stuffing portion 64 is suppressed, and the backlash stuffing portion 64 is prevented from being dragged to the moving hood portion 110. Thus, when the connector housing 20 is properly fitted to the mating connector 100, the terminal fitting 90 is conductively connected to the male tab 210 of the mating terminal fitting 200 in a normal state (see FIG. 3).

  Further, in the normal fitting state, the seal lips 62 are elastically adhered to the inner peripheral surface on the opening side of the hood portion 110 to seal between the connectors 10 and 100. Furthermore, in the normal fitting state, the outer surface of the intermediate portion 68 of the backpacking main body 65 abuts along the front-rear direction at a plurality of positions spaced in the circumferential direction on the inner peripheral surface on the back side of the hood portion 110. Therefore, even if vibration is generated around the connectors 10 and 100 in a properly fitted state, the hood portion 110 can be prevented from being tilted with respect to the housing body 21 following the vibration. The rattling between the connectors 10 and 100 is also suppressed.

  As described above, when the seal lip 62 is brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface on the opening side of the hood portion 110 and crushed, the gap between the connectors 10 and 100 is liquid-tightly sealed. Further, the backlash portion 64 abuts the inner peripheral surface of the back side of the hood portion 110 along the front-rear direction, so that a gap with the hood portion 110 is filled, and rattling between the connectors 10 and 100 is suppressed. It is done. In this case, since a structure for preventing rattling between the connectors 10 and 100 is formed in the seal ring 60 together with the seal structure (seal lip 62), the rattling preventing structure is provided separately from the seal ring 60. Rather, the configuration is simplified. In addition, since the loosely stuffed portion 64 is provided on the elastic seal ring 60, strict dimensional management is not required when setting a lapping allowance with the hood portion 110, and design difficulties are eliminated.

  In addition, the backlash stuffing portion 64 is configured to protrude forward from a plurality of circumferentially spaced positions at the front end of the seal body 61, so that when the hood portion 110 slides with the seal ring 60 during fitting. Contact resistance is kept small, and good workability is ensured.

  Further, when the front member 40 is mounted on the housing main body 21, the pressing portion 47 of the front member 40 covers the pressed portion 66 of the backlashing portion 64. The situation where 64 is dragged and wound around the hood part 110 is avoided. Moreover, since the front member 40 also serves as a retainer mechanism, the configuration is further simplified.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following aspects are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) The backlash filling portion may have a cylindrical shape that covers the entire outer peripheral surface of the housing body.
(2) In some cases, the front member may not have a function of retaining the terminal fitting (retainer mechanism).
(3) The inner peripheral surface of the seal lip may be provided with an inner seal lip that is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the electric wire coating and is crushed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Waterproof connector 20 ... Connector housing 21 ... Housing main body 22 ... Fitting cylinder part 26 ... Lance 40 ... Front member 42 ... Peripheral wall part 44 ... Deflection restricting piece 47 ... Holding part 60 ... Seal ring 61 ... Seal main body 62 ... Seal lip 64 ... Backlash filling portion 65 ... Backlash filling main body 66 ... Pressed portion 90 ... Terminal fitting 100 ... Mating connector 110 ... Hood portion 300 ... Electric wire

Claims (4)

A block-shaped housing body, an annular seal ring that is fitted to the outer peripheral surface of the housing body, and a tubular fitting tube portion that surrounds the periphery of the housing body, and is fitted to a mating connector Accordingly, a mating hood part enters from the front between the fitting tube part and the housing body, and the seal ring is elastically sandwiched between the hood part and the housing body. A connector,
The seal ring is positioned in front of the seal lip, and a seal lip that is elastically in close contact with the inner peripheral surface on the opening side of the hood portion when fitted, and located behind the hood portion when fitted. A waterproof connector comprising: a backpacking portion that fills a gap with the hood portion by contacting the inner peripheral surface of the side along the front-rear direction.   The seal lip is provided around an annular seal body that is externally fitted to the housing body, and the backlash portion projects forward from a plurality of circumferentially spaced positions at the front end of the seal body. The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein the waterproof connector is provided.   A front member is attached to the housing body from the front, and the front member is formed with a pressing portion that covers the pressed portion formed on the backlash portion from the outside when mounted on the housing body. The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein the waterproof connector is provided.   The front member has a bending restricting piece that enters a bending space of a bendable lance that prevents a terminal fitting inserted into the housing main body from being detached when the front member is attached to the housing main body. The waterproof connector according to claim 3.

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