JP2014165048A - Joint bus bar and joint connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a joint bus bar which allows for joint connection and wire-to-wire connection of a wire simultaneously and independently.SOLUTION: A chain-like joint bus bar has a plurality of branch terminals, at a joint, protruding in parallel at intervals, where each branch terminal includes a pair of continuous spring pieces bent in J-shape while facing each other. Between arcuate electrical connections being brought into elastic contact while matching the orientation of the spring pieces, the tub of a male terminal for connection with a wire terminal is penetrated thus achieving joint connected. The tip of the tub is of the arcuate electrical connections penetrated and projected the arcuate electrical connections and projected therefrom is fitted to a female terminal for connection with other wire terminal thus achieving wire-to-wire connection.

Description

  The present invention relates to a joint bus bar and a joint connector that accommodates the joint bus bar, and in particular, enables various circuit connections between wires of a wire harness arranged in an automobile.

A large number of wire harnesses are wired in an automobile, and as a circuit connection of the wires of the wire harness, a circuit connection is made between wires constituting one wire harness and a wire is connected between wires of another wire harness. Connections may be made, and there are mainly the following forms (1) to (3) as connection forms of the wires of the wire harness.
(1) In a so-called wire-to-wire (hereinafter referred to as WtoW) connection for connecting wires of different wire harnesses, the terminal of one end of the electric wire is accommodated and locked in the female connector, and the terminal of the other end of the electric wire is connected. The male connector is housed and locked, and the male and female connectors are male and female fitted to each other and the terminals connected to both wire terminals are electrically connected.
(2) A terminal connected to a plurality of wire terminals of one wire harness is inserted and locked into a joint connector containing a joint bus bar, and a plurality of wire circuits are jointly connected through the joint bus bar.
(3) The WtoW connection in (1) and the joint connection in (2) are performed in combination to jointly connect a plurality of electric wires in the same wire harness and to make WtoW connections with the wires of other wire harnesses.
In the case of a large wire harness, the WtoW connection of (1) and (3) may be performed between wires in the same wire harness, and the joint connection of (2) may be performed between wires of different wire harnesses. is there.

  In order to perform the circuit connection (3), a joint connector 100 shown in FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-263096. The joint connector 100 accommodates a symmetric H-shaped bus bar 102 (joint bus bar) in a connector housing 101, male connectors 103 and 104 are fitted to the joint connector 100 from both sides, and the male connectors 103 and 104 are accommodated. The terminal female terminals 105 and 106 of the stopped electric wires W1 and W2 are fitted and connected by a joint and WtoW.

JP-A-7-263096

In the joint connector of Patent Document 1, since the H-shaped joint bus bar 102 is accommodated, the two electric wires inserted and locked in the same-stage cavities on the male connector 103 side and the 104 side are connected to each other by the joint and WtoW. It can only be connected. Therefore, there is a problem that cannot be used when it is desired to joint an electric wire inserted and locked in a cavity of a different level of the male connector and three or more electric wires of the same level.
Moreover, among the electric wires connected to the male connectors 103 and 104, there is a problem that cannot be used when an electric wire that is desired to be connected only by WtoW without being joined with another electric wire is included.

  In the former case, another joint connector is required, and in the latter case, another WtoW dedicated connector is required. Thus, in the joint connector which accommodated the joint bus bar of patent document 1, there exists a problem which cannot respond to the circuit connection of various electric wires with one joint connector.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, improve the joint member accommodated in the joint connector, and enable circuit connection of various electric wires only by using one joint connector.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention is a joint bus bar that is previously accommodated in a joint connector, and has a chain shape in which a plurality of branch terminal portions are protruded in parallel at intervals in the joint portion,
Each of the branch terminal portions includes a pair of spring pieces bent in a J-shape that are continuous with the joint portion, and is arranged between arc-shaped electrical contact portions that are elastically contacted by facing the spring pieces. The tab of the male terminal connected to the electric wire terminal is allowed to pass through the joint, and the tip of the tab protruding through the branch terminal portion is fitted with the female terminal connected to another electric wire terminal. We provide joint bus bars that can be connected to wire-to-wire.

  The joint bus bar is integrally formed by punching a conductive metal plate and then integrally forming it, and each branch terminal part protruding from the joint part is electrically connected by penetrating the tab of the male terminal connected to the wire terminal Therefore, the male terminal tab can be fitted and connected to the female terminal of the counterpart electric wire terminal through the branch terminal portion of the joint bus bar, thereby enabling both joint connection and WtoW connection. In the case where circuits for joint connection are provided side by side, the counterpart terminal for WtoW connection is not accommodated in the counterpart connector fitted to the joint connector, and an empty cavity may be provided. In addition, in the case where a circuit that performs only WtoW connection with the wire of the counterpart connector and does not perform joint connection is provided in parallel, the branch terminal portion of the joint bus bar is not disposed in the terminal accommodating chamber of the joint connector corresponding to the wire. Good.

  The joint bus bar of the present invention has a locking piece projecting from the joint portion, and the locking piece is locked to a lance protruding from the housing of the joint connector and locked in the housing. In this state, the branch terminal portions are set so as to be arranged at positions corresponding to the terminal accommodating chambers in the housing.

  In the joint bus bar of the present invention, a joint portion in which a plurality of the branch terminal portions are arranged side by side is provided in the upper and lower stages via an intermediate connecting portion, and the branch terminal portion provided in the joint portion extends from the joint portion to one side. It is preferable to be bent.

As a second invention, a joint connector for accommodating the joint bus bar of the first invention,
The connector main body provided with a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers is provided with a hood portion for fitting the connector on the side opposite to the electric wire insertion side, and along one end outer surface of the connector main body portion continuous with the hood portion. The joint bus bar according to any one of items 3 is disposed,
Inserting and locking the male terminal connected to the electric wire terminal in the terminal accommodating chamber of the connector main body part, and making the tab of the male terminal long, jointing through each branch terminal part of the joint bus bar, There is provided a joint connector configured to be electrically connected by wire-to-wire with a female terminal of an electric wire terminal housed and locked in a connector fitted to the hood portion.

  The joint terminal of the joint bus bar is not arranged in a part of the terminal accommodating chamber, and the male terminal is fitted and connected to the female terminal in the connector that is fitted to the hood without being connected to the branch terminal. It is good also as a structure which can arrange the connection circuit only of a wire-to-wire connection, without connecting joint.

  As described above, the joint bus bar according to the present invention has a configuration in which a plurality of electric wires can be joint-connected, and the joint-connected electric wires can be connected to other electric wires that are not joint-connected. Therefore, by accommodating the joint bus bar in the joint connector, it is possible to perform both joint connection and WtoW connection of the electric wires, and it is possible to reduce the number of parts, assembling work, and the like. In addition, various circuit connections can be realized by a joint connector that accommodates the joint bus bar.

It is a front view which shows the embodiment of this invention and shows the wire harness which mounts | wears with the joint connector which accommodated the joint bus bar of this invention. The joint connector is shown, (A) is a perspective view, (B) is a sectional view, and (C) is a left side view. The joint bus bar is shown, (A) is a plan view, (B) is a perspective view, and (C) is a schematic front view. The manufacturing process of the said joint bus bar is shown, (A) is an expanded view of the electroconductive metal plate which forms a joint bus bar, (B) is explanatory drawing which shows the formation method of a branch terminal part. 4 is a view illustrating a state where a joint bus bar is accommodated in the joint connector. It is drawing which shows the male terminal of the electric wire terminal inserted in the terminal storage chamber of the said joint connector. It is a perspective view which shows an assembly | attachment process, (A) is a perspective view which shows the state which inserts a joint bus bar to a joint connector, (B) is a perspective view which shows the joint connector which inserted the joint bus bar, (C) is a joint connector. It is a perspective view which shows the state which connects an electric wire and a connector. (A) is sectional drawing which shows the state electrically connected through the joint bus bar in a joint connector, (B) shows that the electric wire inserted in each terminal accommodating chamber of a joint connector is joint-connected or / and WtoW-connected. It is explanatory drawing shown. The 1st modification of this invention is shown, (A) is a perspective view of the joint bus bar inserted in a joint connector, (B) is explanatory drawing of the connection form of the electric wire inserted in each terminal storage chamber of a joint connector. The 2nd modification of this invention is shown, (A) is a perspective view of the joint bus bar inserted in a joint connector, (B) is explanatory drawing of the connection form of the electric wire inserted in each terminal storage chamber of a joint connector. The 3rd modification of this invention is shown, (A) is a perspective view of the joint bus bar inserted in a joint connector, (B) is explanatory drawing of the connection form of the electric wire inserted in each terminal storage chamber of a joint connector. (A) (B) (C) is drawing which shows a prior art example.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A wire harness 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a large-sized wire harness routed in an automobile, and the joint connector 2 of the present invention is connected to a terminal of a branch line 1C branched from the trunk line 1A of the wire harness 1. A connector 3 connected to another branch line 1D branched from another part of the trunk line 1A is fitted to the joint connector 2. The branch line 1D that connects the connector 3 that is fitted and connected to the joint connector 2 may be an electric wire of another wire harness.

The branch line 1C is composed of a plurality of electric wires w1 to w12, and the branch line 1D is composed of a plurality of electric wires w21 to w28. These electric wires can be connected to the circuit in the following three patterns (1) to (3).
(1) The wires of the branch line 1C are joint-connected, and the joint-connected wires are WtoW connected to the wire of the branch line 1D.
(2) One electric wire of the branch wire 1C and one electric wire of the branch wire 1D are WtoW connected.
(3) While the electric wires of the branch line 1C are joint-connected, the electric wires of the branch line 1D are not connected. Therefore, the number of wires of the branch line 1D is four less than the number of wires of the branch line 1C.
In the present embodiment, as described later, (1) and (3) are performed, and the circuit connection only for WtoW connection of (2) is not performed.

  As shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, the joint connector 2 accommodates and locks the joint bus bar 6 shown in FIG. 3 in the connector housing 5 in advance. The basic structure of the connector housing 5 is a male connector housing. The connector main body 5a shown on the left side in the drawing is provided with a plurality of rows (6 rows in this embodiment) of terminal accommodating chambers (cavities) 8 in two upper and lower stages, a total of 12 With individual cavities. In the drawing, a hood portion 5b for fitting with a mating connector is provided on the right side so as to protrude from the outer peripheral wall of the connector main body portion 5a.

  3 is formed in a chain shape by punching the conductive metal plate 6P shown in FIG. 4 and then bending it. The basic shape is provided with branch terminal portions 10a and 10b that are connected to terminals of terminals of the electric wires w inserted into all the terminal accommodating chambers 8 of the connector housing 5, and unnecessary branch terminal portions 10a and 10b are cut out according to the circuit connection form. Therefore, it is used in common.

  The joint bus bar 6 has a plurality of (six) branch terminal portions 10a connected to the upper stage side by an upper joint portion 11a. Similarly, a plurality of (six) branch terminal portions 10b are connected to the lower stage side by a lower joint portion 11b. The upper branch terminal portion 10a and the lower branch terminal portion 10b are connected by an intermediate connecting portion 12 at the middle in the length direction.

  Specifically, the upper and lower joint portions 11a and 11b of the joint bus bar 6 are arranged on the outer end surface on the hood portion side of the connector main body portion 5a. As shown in FIG. 4A, the conductive metal plate 6P is cut so as to form the branch terminal portions 10a and 10b, and the cut and raised pieces 13a and 13b corresponding to the terminal accommodating chamber 8 are provided. . These cut and raised pieces 13a and 13b are bent at a folding line indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 4B to form a J shape, and arcuate spring pieces 14a and 14b that are vertically opposed to each other are formed. Female terminal-like branch terminal portions 10a and 10b made of pieces 14a and 14b are formed. As will be described later, these branch terminal portions 10a and 10b can be electrically connected by inserting a plate-shaped male terminal 18 described later between the spring pieces 14a and 14b.

  As described above, the upper and lower joint portions 11a and 11b provided with the six branch terminal portions 10a and 10b are connected by the intermediate connection portion 12 provided in the center portion in the length direction to form a required circuit pattern. If necessary, only the necessary parts are removed. If it is not necessary to excise, it may not be excised.

  Moreover, the locking piece 15 (15a-15d) is provided in the width direction both sides of joint part 11a, 11b. Each locking piece 15 is provided with a protruding portion in the opposite direction to the protruding portion in the same direction as the branch terminal portions 10a and 10b, and is provided with a keyhole-shaped locking hole 15k at the tip of the protruding portion in the opposite direction. The lance 9 protruding from the inside 8 can be locked.

  One joint bus bar 6 provided with six branch terminal portions 10a, 10b in the upper and lower joint portions 11a, 11b is accommodated in the joint connector 2 as shown in FIG. The main body 5a is inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 8 at the four corners, and the locking holes 15k are inserted into and locked in the lances 9 to be housed and fixed in advance.

  Each tip opening 8h of the terminal accommodating chamber 8 of the connector main body 5 of the joint connector 2 serves as a terminal insertion opening for the electric wire terminal, and the male terminal 18 shown in FIG. 6 connected to the terminals of the electric wires w1 to w12 of the branch line 1C is inserted. ing.

  The male terminal 18 is formed by forming a wire crimping portion comprising an insulation coating barrel 18a and a core wire barrel 18b and a rectangular electric contact portion 18c (hereinafter referred to as a tab 18c) protruding from the core wire barrel 18b from a conductive metal plate. ing. The tab 18c is longer than the tab of a male terminal that is widely used. By being made long in this way, the terminal body chamber 8a of the connector main body 5a penetrates into the hood portion 5b and projects into the terminal housing chamber of the female connector 3 of the branch line 1D fitted into the hood portion 5b. The length is to be.

Next, a circuit connection method of the branch wires 1C and 1D through the joint connector 2 will be described.
In the joint connector 2 that accommodates the joint bus bar 6 in advance, the male terminals 18 that are crimp-connected to the terminals of all the electric wires w1 to w12 of the branch line 1C are inserted into all the terminal accommodating chambers 8 of the connector main body 5a. As shown in FIG. 8A, the male terminal 18 is a portion protruding from each terminal accommodating chamber 8 to the hood portion 5b, and between the upper and lower spring pieces 14a, 14b of the branch terminal portions 10a, 10b of the joint bus bar 6. At that time, the joint bus bar 6 and the male terminal 18 are electrically connected, and all the wires w1 to w12 of the branch wire 1C are joint-connected by the joint bus bar 6.

The female connector 3 connected to the end of the branch line 1D is fitted into the hood portion 5b of the joint connector 2. The male terminal 18 protruding from the hood portion 5b is fitted into the female terminal 19 of the terminal of the electric wires w21 to w28 inserted in the terminal accommodating chamber of the female connector 3, and is WtoW connected. Thereby, the electric wires w1 to w8 of the branch line 1C joint-connected by the joint bus bar 6 are WtoW connected to the electric wires w21 to w28 of the branch line 1D.
On the other hand, since the female terminals of the wire terminal of the branch line 1D are not inserted into the four terminal accommodating chambers in the female connector 3, the wires w9 to w12 of the branch line 1C are merely joint-connected to the wires w1 to w8. WtoW connection is not established with the branch line 1D.

As described above, since the joint bus bar 6 has a shape in which the branch terminal portions 10a and 10b corresponding to all the terminal accommodating chambers 8 of the joint connector 2 are provided, the circuit connection pattern includes a combination of joint connection and WtoW connection, There are two patterns with only joint connection.
However, by changing the shape of the joint bus bar 6 and the arrangement position in the joint connector 2, only the WtoW connection can be added, and various circuit connection patterns can be realized.

9A and 9B show a first modification.
In the first modification, the total number of branch terminal portions 10a and 10b of the joint bus bar 6 is six, and these branch terminal portions are arranged at locations corresponding to the three upper and lower terminal accommodating chambers on one side of the joint connector 2. However, the joint bus bar 6 is not arranged on the other side.
As a result, the joint connection of the branch line 1C electric wire and the circuit connection form for connecting the branch line 1D electric wire and the WtoW connection, the circuit connection form for simply connecting the branch line 1C and 1D electric wire WtoW, and the joint connection of the branch line 1C electric wire It is possible to realize three patterns of circuit connection forms using only one joint connector 2.

10A and 10B show a second modification.
In the second modified example, the joint bus bar is divided into two, and two joint bus bars 6-1 and 6-1 are provided in which a total of six branch terminal portions 10a and 10b are provided in three upper and lower stages in each row. The joint bus bar 6-1 is accommodated in the joint connector 2, and two first and second groups for joint connection and WtoW connection are provided.
In addition, only one joint bus bar 6-1 is accommodated in the joint connector 2, and the joint bus bar 6-1 is not disposed in the six terminal accommodating chambers 8, and the branch wires 1C and 1D are connected by WtoW. Also good.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show a third modification.
In the third modified example, the joint bus bar is further separated in the upper and lower stages, and four joint bus bars 6-3 are provided in which three branch terminal portions arranged in parallel in the same row are continued at the joint portion. The four joint bus bars 6-3 are housed and locked in the joint connector 2, and the group that performs both joint connection and WtoW connection is divided into four groups.

Further, the female terminals 19 may be housed and locked in all the terminal housing chambers of the connector 3, and all the branch wires 1C and 1D may be joint-connected and WtoW-connected.
Furthermore, the joint bus bar 6 is not disposed in the joint connector 2, and all the electric wires of the branch lines 1C and 1D are WtoW connected to each other, and can be used in a circuit configuration in which no joint connection is made.
Furthermore, the joint bus bar 6 is accommodated in the joint connector 2, but the connector 3 connected to the branch line 1D is not fitted, and can be used only for joint connection of the electric wire of the branch line 1C.

  Thus, when the male terminal 18 having a long tab as an electrical contact portion is connected to the electric wire of the branch line 1C connected to the joint connector 2 using the joint connector 2 and the joint bus bar 6, the branch lines 1C and 1D are connected. Various circuit connection patterns of electric wires can be realized.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the locking piece provided on the joint bus bar is not limited to the configuration in which the locking piece protrudes into the terminal accommodating chamber and is latched to the lance provided in the terminal accommodating chamber. It is good also as a structure which bends and latches with the lance provided in the inner surface of this food | hood part 5b.

1 Wire harness 1A Trunk line 1C, 1D Branch line 2 Joint connector 3 Connector (female connector)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 Connector housing 5a Connector main-body part 5b Hood part 6 Joint bus bar 8 Terminal storage chamber 9 Lance 10a, 10b Branch terminal part 11a, 11b Joint part 12 Intermediate | middle connection part 15 Locking piece 18 Male terminal

Claims (5)

It is a joint bus bar that is accommodated in advance in the joint connector, and has a chain shape in which a plurality of branch terminal portions are projected in parallel at intervals in the joint portion,
Each of the branch terminal portions includes a pair of spring pieces bent in a J-shape that are continuous with the joint portion, and is arranged between arc-shaped electrical contact portions that are elastically contacted by facing the spring pieces. The tab of the male terminal connected to the electric wire terminal is allowed to pass through the joint, and the tip of the tab protruding through the branch terminal portion is fitted with the female terminal connected to another electric wire terminal. Joint bus bar that can be connected to wire-to-wire.   Each of the branch terminal portions is connected to the lance projecting on the lance projecting on the housing of the joint connector. The joint bus bar according to claim 1, wherein the joint bus bar is set so as to be disposed at a position corresponding to each terminal accommodating chamber in the housing.   2. A joint portion in which a plurality of the branch terminal portions are arranged side by side is provided in an upper and lower stage via an intermediate connecting portion, and the branch terminal portion provided in the joint portion is provided by being bent from the joint portion to one side. Or the joint bus-bar of Claim 2. A joint connector for housing the joint bus bar according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The connector main body provided with a plurality of terminal receiving chambers on the side opposite to the electric wire insertion side of the connector main body, and a connector internal fitting hood is provided along the outer surface of one end of the connector main body continuous to the hood. The joint bus bar according to any one of claims 3 to 3,
Inserting and locking the male terminal connected to the electric wire terminal in the terminal accommodating chamber of the connector main body part, and making the tab of the male terminal long, jointing through each branch terminal part of the joint bus bar, A joint connector configured to be electrically connected by wire-to-wire with a female terminal of an electric wire terminal housed and locked in a connector fitted to the hood portion. The joint terminal of the joint bus bar is not arranged in a part of the terminal accommodating chamber, and the male terminal is fitted and connected to the female terminal in the connector that is fitted to the hood without being connected to the branch terminal. The joint connector according to claim 4, wherein a connection circuit of only wire-to-wire connection can be provided side by side without joint connection.

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