JP2015220061A - Contact connection structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contact connection structure capable of reducing contact resistance not only without enlarging a terminal but also extremely complicating it.SOLUTION: A contact connection structure includes: an elastic flexible part 3 in which an indent part 4 is projected and a plated layer is formed on the outer surface; and a tab part 11 in which the plated layer is formed on the outer surface. In a terminal insertion process, the indent part 4 of the elastic flexible part 3 slides on the contact surface of the tab part 11, and at a terminal insertion completion position, the indent part 4 comes into contact with the contact surface of the tab part 11. The indent part 4 has a top surface 5 in contact with the tab part 11, and on the top surface 5 is formed on the surface having a rough surface roughness. On the contact surface of the tab part 11, a region where at least the indent part 4 of a terminal insertion completion position is located is formed on the surface 12 having the rough surface roughness.

Description

  The present invention relates to a contact connection structure that performs electrical connection between a first terminal and a second terminal.

  5 and 6 show a female terminal and a male terminal to which a conventional contact connection structure is applied (see Patent Document 1 as a similar technique). As shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, the female terminal 51 includes a rectangular box portion 52 and an elastic bending portion 53 that is provided integrally with the box portion 52 and disposed in the box portion 52. Have. The elastic bending portion 53 is provided with an indent portion 54 that protrudes toward the bottom surface side. The indented portion 54 has a substantially spherical outer peripheral surface, and the center vertex is located at the lowest position.

  As shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 8, the male terminal 60 has a flat tab portion 61.

  In the above configuration, when the tab portion 61 of the male terminal 60 is inserted into the box portion 52 of the female terminal 51 in the position of FIG. 5, the elastic bending portion 53 is deformed and the insertion of the tab portion 61 is allowed. In the insertion process of the tab part 61, the indent part 54 of the elastic bending part 53 slides on the contact surface of the tab part 61, and in the terminal insertion completion position, as shown in FIGS. The contact surface of the indent part 54 and the tab part 61 contacts. At the terminal insertion completion position, the indented portion 54 of the female terminal 51 and the contact surface of the tab portion 61 of the male terminal 60 are in electrical contact with each other using the bending return force of the elastic bending portion 53 as a contact load.

JP 2007-280825 A

  However, in the conventional structure, the indented portion 54 of the female terminal 51 has a substantially spherical shape, and comes into contact with the tab portion 61 of the male terminal 60 only at the apex portion of the outer peripheral surface of the indented portion 54. Therefore, the apparent contact surface E2 (Contact surface diameter D2) is small. Further, both contact surfaces are not substantially in contact with each other in the entire region of the apparent contact surface E2 (contact surface diameter D2). Of the apparent contact surface E2, only the surface (true contact surface A) where the plated layers actually contact each other is responsible for electrical conduction. The apparent contact surface E2 is hatched for clarity in FIG.

  In the conventional example, since the contact surfaces of the indent portion 54 and the tab portion 61 are both smooth surfaces, both contact surfaces are surfaces with less unevenness. As described above, the contact between the surfaces with less unevenness does not promote the destruction of the oxide film, and there are few contact points (the true contact surface A) between the plating layers. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10B, the number of true contact surfaces A within the range of the apparent contact surface E2 is reduced. That is, in the conventional example, the apparent contact surface E2 is small and the number of the true contact surfaces A in the apparent contact surface E2 is small, so that the contact resistance is increased.

  Here, in order to reduce the contact resistance by increasing the apparent contact surface diameter, the bending return force (contact load) of the elastic bending portion 53 is increased or the contact portion (indent portion 54) is enlarged. However, the terminals 51 and 60 are enlarged or complicated.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a contact connection structure capable of reducing contact resistance without increasing the size of a terminal or making it as complex as possible.

  The present invention includes a first contact portion having an indented portion projecting and having a plated layer formed on an outer surface thereof, and a second contact portion having a plated layer formed on an outer surface thereof. A contact connection structure in which the indent portion of the contact portion slides on the contact surface of the second contact portion and the indent portion contacts the contact surface of the second contact portion at a terminal insertion completion position, and the indent The portion has a top surface that contacts the second contact portion, and the top surface is formed on a surface having a rough surface, and is a contact surface of the second contact portion, and at least terminal insertion In the contact connection structure, the region where the indent portion at the completion position is located is formed on a surface having a rough surface.

  The indent portion includes a cylindrical shape.

  According to the present invention, the outer diameter of the top surface of the indent portion becomes the apparent contact surface diameter, and the apparent contact surface diameter is larger than that of the conventional example. Further, both the top surface of the indent portion and the contact surface of the second contact portion are formed with a large number of convex shapes depending on the surface roughness, and the destruction of the oxide film is promoted by the large number of convex shapes. As a result, the number of contact points between the plating layers increases, so that the contact surface of the indent portion and the second contact portion has more true contact surfaces between the indent portion and the second contact portion than when both surfaces are smooth. Become. As described above, the contact resistance can be reduced without increasing the size of the terminal or making it as complex as possible.

It is sectional drawing of the female terminal and male terminal which show one Embodiment of this invention before a terminal connection. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a cross-sectional view of a female terminal and a male terminal in a terminal connection state, (b) is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a contact connection point, (c) is an apparent contact surface and true contact It is a figure which shows a surface. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a perspective view of an indent portion of a female terminal, (b) is a plan view of a main part of a contact portion of a male terminal, and (c) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of (b). FIG. (A) is a perspective view of the indent part which concerns on a 1st modification, (b) is a perspective view of the indent part which concerns on a 2nd modification, (c) is a perspective view of the indent part which concerns on a 3rd modification. It is a sectional view of a female terminal and a male terminal before showing a conventional example and connecting a terminal. It is a sectional view of a female terminal and a male terminal in a terminal connected state, showing a conventional example. A prior art example is shown, (a) is a principal part side view of the contact part of a female terminal, (b) is C arrow directional view of (a). A prior art example is shown, (a) is a principal part side view of the contact part of a male terminal, (b) is a principal part top view of the contact part of a male terminal. It is a principal part side view of a contact connection part which shows a prior art example. A prior art example is shown, (a) The figure which shows an apparent contact surface, (b) is a figure which shows a true contact surface.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention. The contact connection structure according to the present invention is applied between the female terminal as the first terminal and the male terminal as the second terminal. This will be described below.

  The female terminal 1 is disposed in a terminal accommodating chamber in a female connector housing (not shown). The female terminal 1 is formed by bending a conductive metal (for example, copper alloy) punched into a predetermined shape. A tin-plated layer (not shown) is formed on the outer surface of the female terminal 1 from the viewpoint of improving connection reliability in a high-temperature environment and improving corrosion resistance in a corrosive environment. An oxide film (not shown) is formed on the surface of the tin plating layer after reflow treatment or the like.

  The female terminal 1 includes a rectangular box part 2 having an opening in the front where the male terminal 10 is inserted, and an elastic bending part 3 that extends from the upper surface part of the box part 2 and is disposed in the box part 2. Have. The elastic bending portion 3 is provided with an indent portion 4 protruding toward the bottom surface side. As shown in FIGS. 2B, 2 </ b> C, and 3 </ b> A, the indent portion 4 has a columnar shape, and the top surface 5 is located at the lowest position. The top surface 5 is a surface with which the tab portion 11 described below comes into contact, and is formed on a surface with a rough surface. The degree of surface roughness is Ra (arithmetic mean roughness)> 0.1 μm.

  The indent portion 4 can be shifted upward by the bending deformation of the bending deformation portion 3. In the female terminal 1, the elastic deflection portion 3 and the bottom surface portion 2 a of the box portion 2 form a first contact portion.

  The male terminal 10 is disposed in a terminal accommodating chamber in a male connector housing (not shown). The male terminal 10 is formed by bending a conductive metal (for example, copper alloy) punched into a predetermined shape. A tin-plated layer (not shown) is formed on the outer surface of the male terminal 10 from the viewpoint of improving connection reliability in a high temperature environment and improving corrosion resistance in a corrosive environment. An oxide film (not shown) is formed on the surface of the tin plating layer after reflow treatment or the like.

  The male terminal 10 has a flat tab portion 11. As for the male terminal 10, the tab part 11 forms the 2nd contact part. The upper surface side (contact surface side) of the tab portion 11 is formed on a surface 12 having a rough surface, that is, an uneven surface in a region where the indent portion 4 is located at the terminal insertion completion position. The degree of surface roughness is Ra (arithmetic mean roughness)> 0.1 μm.

  In the above configuration, when the female connector housing (not shown) and the male connector housing (not shown) are mated, the tab portion 11 of the male terminal 10 is connected to the box portion 2 of the female terminal 1 in the mating process. Inserted. Then, first, the tip of the tab portion 11 comes into contact with the elastic bending portion 3, and when the insertion further proceeds from this contact portion, the elastic bending portion 3 is bent and deformed, and insertion of the tab portion 11 is allowed. In the insertion process (terminal insertion process) of the tab part 11, the indent part 4 of the elastic bending part 3 slides on the contact surface of the tab part 11. At the terminal insertion completion position (connector mating completion position), as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), the top surface 5 of the indent portion 4 is a tab portion with the bending return force of the elastic bending portion 3 as a contact load. 11 contact surfaces.

  In this contact connection structure, the indent portion 4 has a top surface 5 that comes into contact with the tab portion 11, and the top surface 5 is formed on a surface having a rough surface and is a contact surface of the tab portion 11. And the area | region where the indent part 4 of a terminal insertion completion position is located is formed in the surface 12 with a rough surface roughness. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2C, the outer diameter of the top surface 5 of the indent portion 4 becomes the apparent contact surface diameter D1, and the apparent contact surface diameter D1 is larger than the conventional one. Further, both the top surface 5 of the indent portion 4 and the contact surface of the tab portion 11 are formed with a number of convex shapes depending on the surface roughness, and the destruction of the oxide film is promoted by the number of convex shapes. . Since tin oozes out from the oxide film breakage point and the contact points (ohmic points) between the tin platings increase, the contact surface of the indented portion 4 and the tab portion 11 is compared to the case where both surfaces are smooth, The true contact surface A between the indent portion 4 and the tab portion 11 increases. As described above, the contact resistance can be reduced without increasing the size of the female terminal 1 and the male terminal 10 or complicating them as much as possible.

  In this embodiment, the rough surface 12 is formed only in the region where the indent portion 4 at the terminal insertion completion position is located in the contact surface of the tab portion 11, but the contact surface of the tab portion 11. Of these, it may be formed over the entire region where the indented portion 4 slides or over the entire contact surface of the tab portion 11. If formed in this way, the surface of the top surface 5 of the indent portion 4 and the contact surface of the tab portion 11 slide on the surfaces having rough surfaces in the entire area where the contact surface slides. And preferred.

  4A to 4C show indent portions 4A, 4B, and 4C according to first to third modifications. 4A of the 1st modification of Fig.4 (a) is truncated cone shape. The top surface 5 is circular as in the above embodiment. The indent portion 4B of the second modified example in FIG. 4B has a quadrangular prism shape. The top surface 5 is a quadrangle. 4C of the 3rd modification of FIG.4 (c) is a quadrangular pyramid frustum shape. The top surface 5 is a quadrangle. Each top surface 5 is formed on a surface having a rough surface.

  In the indented portions 4A to 4C of the respective modified examples, the same operations and effects as those of the above embodiment can be obtained.

  The shape of the indented portions 4, 4 </ b> A to 4 </ b> C is not limited to the above-described embodiment and each modified example, and may be a shape having the top surface 5.

1 Female terminal (1st terminal)
2a Bottom part (first contact part)
3 Elastic flexure (first contact)
4, 4A to 4C Indented portion 5 Top surface 10 Male terminal (second terminal)
11 Tab part (second contact part)
12 Surface with rough surface

Claims (2)

A first contact portion having an indented portion projecting and having a plating layer formed on the outer surface; and a second contact portion having a plating layer formed on the outer surface; and in the terminal insertion process, the first contact portion The indented part slides on the contact surface of the second contact part, and at the terminal insertion completion position, the indented part is a contact connection structure that contacts the contact surface of the second contact part,
The indent portion has a top surface in contact with the second contact portion, and the top surface is formed on a surface having a rough surface,
The contact connection structure according to claim 1, wherein at least a region where the indent portion at a terminal insertion completion position is located on a contact surface of the second contact portion is formed on a surface having a rough surface. The contact connection structure according to claim 1,
The indent portion has a cylindrical shape, and is a contact connection structure.

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