JP2015122182A - Lever type electric connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lever type connector which prevents incorrect assembly of an electric wire cover while preventing limitations from being imposed on a direction that an electric wire is drawn.SOLUTION: In a lever type connector 10, a lever 70 is attached to an electric wire cover 40 so as to rotate between a fitting start position and a fitting completion position and the electric wire cover 40 is assembled to a housing 20. A lever side interference structure 76 is provided at the lever 70, and a housing side interference structure 27 is provided at the housing 20. An interference structure, which prevents the electric wire cover 40, in which the lever 70 is placed at the fitting start position, from being assembled to the housing 20 in an incorrect direction, is formed by the lever side interference structure 76 and the housing side interference structure 27.

Description

  The present invention relates to a lever-type electrical connector that can prevent erroneous assembly of a wire cover to a housing.

A multipolar electrical connector (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a connector) requires a large force when fitting and releasing the connectors. For this reason, a lever-type connector that uses the boosting effect of the lever to engage and release the mating connector is used. The lever-type connector is supported by one housing of a pair of connectors that are fitted to each other so that the lever can reciprocate. A typical lever is a U-shaped member having a pair of arms and a connecting beam for connecting the arms to each other, and the lever can be properly inserted by inserting fulcrum holes provided in both arms into a fulcrum shaft provided in the housing. Rolling and reversing are supported freely.
The lever-type connector usually includes a connector housing, a lever, and an electric wire cover, and the electric wire cover is assembled in a normal direction with respect to the connector housing. Then, the mating operation is completed when the lever is abutted against the mating connector in a state where the lever is placed at the mating start position and is rotated to the mating completion position.

  Since the lever type connector seems to be able to be assembled to the housing by reversing the electric wire cover in the direction opposite to the normal direction, there is a possibility that the electric wire cover is attached in the wrong direction. That is, for example, there is a case where the electric wire cover is likely to be assembled so that the electric wire is drawn out to the left, although the electric wire is drawn out in the right direction. Therefore, Patent Document 1 proposes to provide a misassembly prevention protrusion that protrudes from the electric wire cover so as to prevent the electric wire cover from being erroneously assembled by contacting the lever. Since the misassembly prevention protrusion protrudes outward from the outer surfaces of the connector housing and the lever, it absorbs an external impact and also serves as a buffer member for the connector housing.

JP 2012-28029 A

The lever-type connector proposed in Patent Document 1 can prevent the electric wire cover from being erroneously assembled, but the direction in which the electric wire is drawn out is limited to one direction. That is, in Patent Document 1, for example, when the normal direction is to pull out the electric wire, it is possible to prevent erroneous assembly of pulling out the left direction. Can not. Although the restriction | limiting of the direction which pulls out this electric wire is mentioned later in detail, it is because the structure which prevents an incorrect assembly | attachment is provided between the lever and the electric wire cover.
Then, an object of this invention is to provide the lever type connector which can prevent the incorrect assembly | attachment of an electric wire cover, without being restrict | limited to the direction which pulls out an electric wire.

For this purpose, the lever-type connector of the present invention is such that an electric wire cover on which a lever is rotatably mounted between a mating start position and a mating completion position is assembled to a housing. An interference structure is provided between the housings to prevent the wire cover, in which the lever is placed at a position when the wire cover is assembled to the housing, from being assembled to the housing in an incorrect direction.
In the lever type connector of the present invention, the interference structure is provided between the lever and the housing. Therefore, even if the wire cover is reversed and assembled to the housing, the relative position of the start of fitting of the lever with respect to the housing is the same as before reversal without being obstructed by the interference structure. Rotation operation can be performed. Therefore, the lever-type connector of the present invention can prevent erroneous assembly of the wire cover without being restricted in the direction in which the wire is pulled out.

  In the lever-type connector of the present invention, the interference structure provided between the lever and the housing is provided on the lever side structure in which the diameter around the rotation axis of the lever is selectively enlarged, and on the housing portion corresponding to the lever side structure. And a housing side structure protruding from the periphery.

  In the lever-type connector of the present invention, the wire cover has a specified direction of drawing out the wire, and can be assembled to the housing by reversing the direction of drawing out the wire. The lever can be installed in the direction of drawing out the wire. It is preferable that the wire cover is mounted in a corresponding direction.

  According to the lever type connector of the present invention, even if the electric wire cover is reversely assembled in the wrong direction, the electric wire cover is prevented from being erroneously assembled due to interference between the lever and the housing. Moreover, according to the lever-type connector of the present invention, an interference structure is provided between the lever and the housing to prevent erroneous assembly, so that the direction of the wire cover can be reversed and assembled to the housing. Without being restricted, it is possible to prevent erroneous assembly of the wire cover.

It is a perspective view which shows the lever type connector of this embodiment, and has shown the state isolate | separated from the other party connector. FIG. 1 shows the lever-type connector of FIG. 1, which is assembled with a mating connector and shows a state where fitting is started. It is the lever type connector of FIG. 1, Comprising: The state of fitting completion is shown. It is a front view which shows progress which the lever-type connector of FIG. 1 fits with the other party connector. It is a lever type connector of Drawing 1, and shows signs that an electric wire cover was assembled wrongly. FIGS. 1 to 5 are perspective views showing the lever-type connector of the present embodiment in which the electric wire cover is reversed and attached, wherein (a) shows a state where fitting is started, and (b) shows a state where fitting is completed. (C) has shown the state which attached the electric wire cover incorrectly. It is a figure which shows a mode that the electric wire cover of the lever-type connector of FIG. 1 is assembled | attached to a housing.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
In this embodiment, the connector 10 and the mating connector 90 are fitted via a slider 50 provided in the connector 10. In addition, the mating connector 90 is drawn by extracting a portion related to the fitting.

  The connector 10 includes a housing 20, a pair of sliders 50, an electric wire cover 40, and a lever 70. These are all produced by injection molding a resin. In the connector 10, the side on which the slider 50 is inserted into the housing 20 (the side on which the slider 50 is drawn in FIG. 1) is defined as the front.

[Housing 20]
As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 20 includes a fitting portion 21 having a substantially rectangular shape. The fitting portion 21 holds a terminal fitting (not shown) and is provided with a cavity that is a gap for receiving the mating connector 90. This cavity is open to the lower surface side of the fitting portion 21 in the figure.
On both sides of the fitting portion 21 in the width direction, a pair of slider receiving grooves 25 for receiving the slider 50 are formed penetrating in the front-rear direction. The slider 50 slides in the slider receiving groove 25 in the front-rear direction in accordance with the operation of the lever 70.
The fitting portion 21 is provided with a meshing chamber 26 that accommodates a part of the support disk 72 of the lever 70 and is connected to the slider receiving groove 25 inside corresponding to each slider receiving groove 25. A rack (not shown) formed on the slider 50 meshes with the gear 75 of the lever 70 inside the meshing chamber 26. The fitting portion 21 includes a housing side interference structure 27 (hereinafter simply referred to as an interference structure 27) adjacent to the engagement chamber 26. The interference structure 27 includes a protrusion in which the upper edge of the fitting portion 21 of the housing 20 protrudes from the periphery. The interference structure 27 interferes with a lever side interference structure 76 of the lever 70 (hereinafter simply referred to as an interference structure 76) when the electric wire cover 40 to which the lever 70 is attached is assembled to the housing 20 in an incorrect direction. The cover 40 is prevented from being assembled to the housing 20 by mistake.

[Electric wire cover 40]
As shown in FIG. 1, an electric wire cover 40 is attached to the upper part of the housing 20. The wire cover 40 is detachably fixed to the housing 20. An electric wire (not shown) connected to each terminal fitting (not shown) is drawn out from the side of the electric wire guard 40a provided integrally with the electric wire cover 40.
In FIG. 1, support shafts 41 that support the lever 70 are provided on both side surfaces of the wire cover 40. Further, rotation restricting protrusions 42 a and 42 b are provided on both side surfaces of the wire cover 40 to restrict the lever 70 from rotating excessively by being locked with the lever 70. On both side surfaces of the wire cover 40, protrusions 44a and 44b are provided for temporarily locking the lever 70 at the fitting start position. When the lever 70 placed at the mating start position is pushed toward the mating completion position, the lever 70 gets over the protrusions 44a and 44b and then rotates toward the mating completion position. Further, locks 43a and 43b are provided on the upper surface of the wire cover 40 for locking the lever 70 at the position where the fitting is completed.
In addition to being able to be mounted on the housing 20 in the right direction shown in FIG. 1, the wire cover 40 can be mounted on the housing 20 by being reversed in the direction opposite to that shown in FIG. 1 as shown in FIG. Have been made. When the electric wire cover 40 is attached in the direction of FIG. 1, the lever 70 is temporarily locked at the fitting start position by the protrusion 44a hidden in the lever 70, and when pressed in the counterclockwise direction, the protrusion 44a. If it is moved over to the position where the fitting is completed, it is locked to the lock 43b. When the wire cover 40 is attached in the direction of FIG. 6, the lever 70 is temporarily locked at the fitting start position by the protrusion 44b hidden behind the lever 70, and when pressed in the counterclockwise direction, the protrusion 44b. When it is moved to the position where the fitting is completed, the lock 43a is engaged.

[Slider 50]
The pair of sliders 50 is inserted into the pair of slider receiving grooves 25 provided on both side surfaces of the fitting portion 21 from the front side of the housing 20, and the fitting start position shown in FIG. It is provided so as to be capable of linearly reciprocating between the position shown in FIG. The slider 50 has a substantially rectangular shape so as to be received in each slider receiving groove 25 of the housing 20.
A rack (not shown) is formed on the upper end surface of the slider 50. This rack meshes with the gear 75 of the lever 70 when each slider 50 moves between the position where the fitting is started and the position where the fitting is completed with respect to the housing 20 in each slider receiving groove 25.

  Further, the slider 50 is provided with a cam groove 51 into which the boss 93 provided on the mating connector 90 is inserted and engaged with the mating connector 90, and the slider 50 moves from the mating start position to the mating completion position. Then, the boss 93 provided on the mating connector 90 moves inside the cam groove 51, whereby the mating connector 90 is pulled into the housing 20 and fitted. Three independent cam grooves 51 are formed corresponding to the bosses 93.

[Lever 70]
The lever 70 is a U-shaped member that includes a pair of arms 71, a support disk 72 provided on one end side of each arm 71, and a connecting beam 73 that connects the other end side of the pair of arms 71. .
A support hole into which the support shaft 41 of the wire cover 40 is inserted is provided at the center of the support disc 72. By inserting the support hole into the support shaft 41, the lever 70 can be reciprocally rotated with the support shaft 41 as the rotation axis with respect to the wire cover 40 while the lever 70 is supported by the wire cover 40.
A gear 75 that meshes with the rack of the slider 50 received in the fitting portion 21 is provided on the outer periphery of the support disc 72. When the lever 70 is rotated from the fitting start position to the fitting completion position, the slider 50 is moved from the fitting start position to the fitting completion position (fitting position) by the cooperation of the gear 75 and the rack (not shown). ).

  The lever 70 is provided with an interference structure 76 adjacent to one end of the gear 75 in which a diameter of a part of the support disk 72 is selectively enlarged compared to the other part. The interference structure 76 causes the wire cover 40 to be erroneously assembled to the housing 20 by interfering with the interference structure 27 of the housing 20 when the wire cover 40 to which the lever 70 is attached is mistakenly assembled to the housing 20. Is prevented.

[Mating connector 90]
Although the mating connector 90 is described in a simplified manner, the mating connector 90 includes a housing 91 having a fitting portion 92 at the top. The fitting portion 92 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape, and cylindrical bosses 93 functioning as cam followers are provided on both side surfaces thereof. Three bosses 93 are provided on one side surface corresponding to the cam groove of the slider 50. A plurality of terminal fittings are accommodated and held in the cavity 94 of the fitting portion 92 although not shown. This terminal fitting is connected to the terminal fitting held by the connector 10 when the connector 10 and the mating connector 90 are fitted.

[Connecting procedure of connector 10]
Hereinafter, a procedure for fitting the connector 10 and the mating connector 90 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the description here, it is assumed that the electric wire cover 40 is assembled to the housing 20 in a normal direction in which the electric wires are drawn rightward.
First, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the electric wire cover 40 is placed in a position where the fitting is completed until it is assembled to the housing 20, and is locked by the lock 43b. ing. This fitting completion position corresponds to the “position where the electric wire cover is assembled to the housing” in the present invention. Until this time, the slider 50 is pulled into the slider receiving groove 25. As shown in FIG. 7B, when the electric wire cover 40 is assembled to the housing 20 as shown in FIG. 7B, the lever 70 is pushed clockwise in FIG. Rotate to the fitting start position shown in a).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4A, the connector 10 with the wire cover 40 already assembled to the housing 20 and the mating connector 90 are aligned and face each other. At this time, the lever 70 placed at the fitting start position is restricted from rotating beyond the fitting start position when the arm 71 abuts against the rotation restricting protrusion 42 a, and the arm 71 is attached to the wire cover 40. The rotation toward the position where the fitting is completed is restricted by being temporarily locked to the protrusion 44a. Further, when the wire cover 40 is assembled to the housing 20 in a normal orientation, any part of the lever 70 does not interfere with the interference structure 27 of the housing 20.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4B, the fitting portion 92 of the mating connector 90 is inserted into the fitting portion 21 of the connector 10 (housing 20). When the fitting portion 92 is inserted deeply into the fitting portion 21, the boss 93 of the fitting portion 92 is inserted into the cam groove 51 of the slider 50, and the gear 75 of the lever 70 is a rack whose illustration of the slider 50 is omitted. The gears are ready to perform the fitting operation.

  Next, after operating the connecting beam 73 to release the temporary locking with the protrusion 44a, the lever 70 is pushed to the position where the fitting is completed by pushing the connecting beam 73 toward the position where the fitting is completed. Rotate counterclockwise. In the course of this operation, the slider 75 moves rightward in the figure as the gear 75 is sequentially meshed with the rack. With this operation, the boss 93 moves to the back of the cam groove 51 of the slider 50, whereby the fitting portion 92 of the mating connector 90 is drawn to the back of the fitting portion 21, and FIG. 3 and FIG. As shown, the mating is complete. The lever 70 moves to the position where the fitting is completed, and the connection beam 73 is locked by the lock 43b, so that the rotation toward the position where the fitting is started is restricted.

  In the process in which the lever 70 rotates from the fitting start position to the fitting completion position, there is no portion that interferes with the interference structure 76 in the range of the trajectory where the interference structure 76 moves. Is not restrained.

  In order to disengage the connector 10 and the mating connector 90 that have been fitted for maintenance and inspection, the locking of the connecting beam 73 and the lock 43b of the lever 70 is released, and then the lever 70 is started to be fitted. Rotate clockwise to the position of.

  Now, it is assumed that the electric wire cover 40 is assembled to the housing 20 so that the electric wire is pulled out in the left direction, contrary to the normal direction. At this time, it is assumed that the lever 70 is attached to the wire cover 40 and placed at a position where the fitting is completed. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, since the interference structure 76 hits the interference structure 27, the electric wire cover 40 remains inclined and cannot be pushed into the housing 20 to the proper position. Therefore, the operator can detect that the electric wire cover 40 is erroneously assembled to the housing 20 at this time.

  In the above description, it is assumed that the right direction is drawn out of the electric wire and the wrong direction is drawn out to the left side. It can also be set to the wrong direction to pull out in the right direction. That is, the connector 10 can draw out the electric wires in both directions. However, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, it is assumed that the direction in which the lever 70 is attached to the wire cover 40 is reversed.

  As shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the electric wire is pulled out to the left, the position of the fitting start of the lever 70 is the same as that when the electric wire is pulled out to the right. By doing so, even if the electric wire cover 40 is reversed and attached, if the lever 70 is rotated counterclockwise, the slider 50 is drawn into the housing 20 and, as shown in FIG. 90 can be fitted.

  Even if the wire cover 40 is mistakenly assembled to the housing 20 so as to be pulled out to the right even though the wire is pulled out to the left in the normal direction, as shown in FIG. Since 76 abuts against the interference structure 27, the electric wire cover 40 remains inclined and cannot be pushed into the housing 20 to the proper position. Therefore, the operator can detect that the electric wire cover 40 is erroneously assembled to the housing 20 at this time.

Hereinafter, the effect which the connector 10 of this embodiment has is demonstrated.
First, in the connector 10, even if the electric wire cover 40 with the lever 70 mounted at the position where the fitting is started is erroneously assembled to the housing 20, the interference structure 76 and the interference structure 27 interfere with each other, and the electric wire cover 40 is inclined. You can't push in any further. Therefore, the worker can easily detect that he / she is trying to assemble.

Next, the connector 10 can pull out the electric wires bidirectionally by reversing the direction in which the electric wire cover 40 is attached to the housing 20. Moreover, it is possible to detect that the electric wire cover 40 is erroneously assembled to the housing 20 regardless of whether the electric wire is drawn rightward or when the electric wire is drawn leftward.
In the lever-type connector 10 of this embodiment, an interference structure including an interference structure 76 and an interference structure 27 is provided between the lever 70 and the housing 20. Therefore, as can be seen from a comparison between FIGS. 4A and 4B and FIG. 6A, even if the direction of the wire cover 40 is reversed and assembled to the housing 20, it is not hindered by the interference structure. The relative position of the start of fitting of the lever 70 with respect to the housing 20 can be made the same as before the reversal, and the rotation operation for fitting can be performed. Therefore, the connector 10 can prevent erroneous assembly of the wire cover without being restricted in the direction in which the wire is drawn out.
Assuming that an interference structure is provided between the lever 70 and the wire cover 40, when the wire cover 40 is reversed and assembled to the housing 20, the interference structure obstructs the rotation operation for fitting the lever 70. .

  The connector 10 of the present embodiment is valuable in that the above effect is achieved by using the housing 20, the wire cover 40, and the lever 70 having the same specifications. That is, since it is not necessary to prepare a wire cover or a lever 70 having specifications according to the direction in which the wire is drawn out, a connector that can be used for bidirectional drawing of the wire and can detect erroneous assembly of the wire cover is provided at low cost. be able to.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on preferable embodiment, unless it deviates from the main point of this invention, the structure quoted in the said embodiment can be selected or it can change suitably to another structure.
In the present embodiment, the connector 10 that realizes the mating with the mating connector 90 using the slider 50 has been described. However, the present invention is applied to a lever-type connector that mates with the mating connector by giving the lever a cam function. You can also.
Further, as the interference structure between the housing 20 and the lever 70, the housing-side interference structure 27 protruding upward from the upper edge of the fitting portion 21 and the diameter of a part of the support disk 72 of the lever 70 are selectively enlarged. Lever side interference structure. However, the interference structure provided between the housing 20 and the lever 70 is not limited to this. For example, while providing a protrusion that protrudes in the axial direction (width direction) from the surface of the support disk 72, a protrusion that interferes with this protrusion can be provided in the fitting portion 21, and so on as long as the purpose can be achieved, The shape and installation position of the interference structure are arbitrary. However, since the interference structure of the present embodiment falls within the range of the connector 10 in the width direction, it is effective in the case of the connector 10 that is required to be downsized.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Connector 20 Housing 21 Fitting part 25 Slider receiving groove 26 Engagement chamber 27 Housing side interference structure 40 Electric wire cover 40a Electric wire guard 41 Support shaft 42a, 42b Rotation restriction protrusion 43a, 43b Lock 44a, 44b Projection 50 Slider 51 Rack 70 Lever 71 Arm 72 Support disk 73 Connecting beam 75 Gear 76 Lever side interference structure 90 Mating connector 91 Housing 92 Fitting portion 93 Boss 94 Cavity

Claims (3)

A lever-type electrical connector in which an electric wire cover on which a lever is rotatably mounted between a fitting start position and a fitting completion position is assembled to a housing,
Between the lever and the housing,
An interference structure is provided for preventing the wire cover, in which the lever is placed at a position when the wire cover is assembled to the housing, from being assembled to the housing in an incorrect orientation.
A lever-type electrical connector characterized by that. The interference structure provided between the lever and the housing is:
A lever side structure in which a diameter around a rotation axis of the lever is selectively enlarged;
A housing side structure that is provided in a portion of the housing corresponding to the lever side structure and protrudes from the periphery;
The lever type electrical connector according to claim 1. The wire cover is
The direction of the wire drawer is specified,
The housing can be assembled by reversing the direction of drawing out the wire,
The lever is
It is attached to the wire cover in an orientation corresponding to the orientation of the wire drawing.
The lever type electrical connector according to claim 1 or 2.

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