JP2017010732A - connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector which prevents rattling of terminals and has a small insertion load of terminals.SOLUTION: The connector comprises a terminal body portion 17, a conductor connecting portion 21 formed thicker than the terminal main body portion and connected with a conductor 19, terminals 13a to 13c each having a transition portion 23 having a thickness varying from the terminal body 21 to the conductor connecting portion 17, and a housing 9 in which a through hole 37 through which the terminal body portion 17 is inserted, the housing 9 being formed in the front wall 35 of the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c in which the terminal is accommodated. A cushioning material 43 having elasticity is interposed in a gap formed between the inner surfaces of the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c and the transition portion 23.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector.

  Conventionally, as a structure for holding a terminal housed in a connector, the terminal is held at a predetermined position in the terminal housing chamber by bringing the terminal housed in the terminal housing chamber of the housing into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the terminal housing chamber. The structure is known. In Patent Document 1, a through-hole is provided in the front wall of the terminal accommodating chamber so that the terminal main body portion of the male terminal is inserted, and the terminal side edge between the electric wire connecting portion to which the electric wire of the terminal is connected and the terminal main body portion. The structure which hold | maintains a terminal in a terminal storage chamber is disclosed by raising a pair of standing piece to V shape, and making the front-end | tip part of each rising piece press the inner surface of a terminal storage chamber, respectively. .

JP-A-6-1962128

  However, in Patent Document 1, when the connector is assembled, the pair of rising pieces are pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating chamber, and therefore the friction between the terminal and the terminal accommodating chamber is increased. As the insertion load (insertion resistance) increases, the workability may be reduced.

  In this case, the insertion load of the terminal can be reduced by providing a gap between the terminal and the inner peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating chamber, but if such a gap is provided around the terminal, the terminal accommodating chamber The terminal is rattled internally. As a result, when the terminal vibrates with the vibration of the connector, the plating on the surface of the terminal may be worn, leading to poor conduction.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a problem, and makes it a subject to provide a connector with small insertion load of a terminal while preventing the backlash of a terminal.

  In order to solve the above problems, the connector of the present invention has a terminal body part, a conductor connection part formed thicker than the terminal body part, connected to a conductor, and connected between the terminal body and the conductor connection part. A terminal having a transition portion, and a housing having a through-hole through which the terminal body portion is inserted formed in a front wall of the terminal housing chamber in which the terminal is housed, and an inner surface of the terminal housing chamber A cushioning material having elasticity is interposed in a gap formed between the transition portion and the transition portion.

  According to this, since it is not necessary to press the terminal directly against the inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber, it is possible to reduce friction when inserting the terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber. Further, by providing a buffer material between the inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber and the transition portion, for example, when the buffer material is inserted together with the terminal, the buffer material can be positioned in the insertion path of the terminal. The insertion resistance can be reduced. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the insertion load of the terminal. Moreover, since the terminal accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber is supported by the terminal accommodating chamber in such a manner that it is pressed by the cushioning material, it is possible to prevent the terminal from rattling and to prevent the terminal from vibrating.

  In this case, it is preferable that the cushioning material is formed in an annular shape covering the transition portion, and has an inner peripheral surface whose opening cross section gradually increases from one end to the other end. According to this, when the cushioning material is mounted from the distal end side of the terminal and inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber, the cushioning material is locked to the terminal, and the cushioning material can be prevented from being detached from the terminal. Further, since the cushioning material extends along the terminal due to friction between the cushioning material and the terminal accommodating chamber, the cushioning material is extended along the gap between the terminal and the terminal accommodating chamber, and the holding force of the terminal can be increased.

  Moreover, it is preferable that a buffer material has an inner surface corresponding to the outer surface of a transition part. According to this, since the adhesiveness between the transition portion of the terminal and the buffer material can be increased and the gap between the transition portion and the terminal accommodating chamber can be reliably filled with the buffer material, the holding force of the terminal can be further increased. .

  Further, it is preferable that a part of the terminal in the axial direction is in contact with the inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber. According to this, since the terminal can be supported by the inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber, the holding force of the terminal can be further increased. Moreover, since the area | region where a terminal contact | abuts to a terminal storage chamber is a part of axial direction, the increase in the insertion load of a terminal can be reduced.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while preventing the backlash of a terminal, the connector with a small insertion load of a terminal can be provided.

It is a fragmentary sectional view of the connector to which the present invention is applied. It is an external appearance perspective view of the terminal before mounting | wearing with a shock absorbing material. It is an external appearance perspective view of the terminal with which the shock absorbing material was mounted | worn. (A) is AA arrow sectional drawing of a shock absorbing material, (b) is BB arrow sectional drawing.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The connector 1 of this embodiment is attached to the inside of the wall 5 of the electric device 3 mounted on the vehicle, and is for connecting an electric wire or the like to the electric device 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the electrical device 3 has a rectangular connector mounting hole 7 formed in a container wall 5 facing a terminal block (not shown) provided in the electrical device 3. The connector 1 is connected to the terminal block of the electrical device 3 and is disposed so as to face the outside from the connector mounting hole 7. In the present embodiment, the connector 1 is described as a male connector, but may be a female connector. Hereinafter, the axial direction of the connector 1 is indicated by an arrow X with the front-rear direction, and the direction connected to the mating connector is the front. The width direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the connector 1 is indicated by an arrow Y.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the connector 1 of this embodiment has male terminals 13a to 13c accommodated in terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c formed in a connector housing 9 made of synthetic resin. Each of the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c is partitioned by the partition wall 15 and arranged in parallel in the width direction. Although only the front of the connector housing 9 is shown in FIG. 1, openings of the terminal accommodating chambers 11 a to 11 c for inserting the male terminals 13 a to 13 c are formed behind the connector housing 9 (not shown). Is done.

As shown in FIG. 2, the male terminals 13 a to 13 c of the present embodiment are formed by pressing a conductive metal plate material, and are connected to a mating terminal (female terminal), a terminal main body portion 17, and a terminal main body. The conductor connection part 21 is formed thicker than the part, and the conductor (braid 19) is connected by crimping, and the transition part 23 is connected between the terminal body part 17 and the conductor connection part 21 and changes in thickness. 2 and 3 show the male terminal 13a, the same applies to the other male terminals 13b and 13c.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal main body 17 is formed by arranging both end surfaces of a metal plate rounded into a cylindrical shape so as to face each other in a slit shape in the axial direction. The front end portion of the terminal main body portion 17 has a conical tapered shape. A substantially conical columnar insulating protrusion 25 is attached to the front end of the terminal body 17 (FIG. 1). The conductor connecting portion 21 is formed so as to wrap one end side of the braid 19 by caulking a pair of crimping pieces 27 extending in the left-right width direction into an arc shape. In the present embodiment, the braid 19 is bundled into two, but the form of the braid 19 is not limited to this. Moreover, it can replace with the braiding 19 and an electric wire can also be used.

  The transition portion 23 is formed in a flat cylindrical shape whose width dimension gradually increases toward the rear. Both side surfaces in the width direction of the transition portion 23 have tapered inclined surfaces that are widened toward the rear. The dimension in the thickness direction perpendicular to the width direction of the transition portion 23 is substantially uniform over the axial direction. It should be noted that both side surfaces of the transition portion 23 in the width direction may be formed in a curved shape as long as they widen backward.

  An external connection terminal 29 is connected to the male terminals 13a to 13c via the braid 19 respectively. The external connection terminal 29 is formed by pressing a conductive metal plate having a longitudinal direction in the front-rear direction, and a pair of crimping pieces 31 extending in the left-right width direction are formed at the front end portion. The other end of the braid 19 is crimped by crimping 31 in an arc shape. A mounting hole 33 through which a screw member (for example, a bolt) for fixing to the terminal block in the electric device 3 is inserted is formed at the rear end portion of the external connection terminal 29.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the connector housing 9 is formed with a through hole 37 through which the terminal main body portion 17 of each male terminal 13 a to 13 c is inserted in the front wall 35 of each terminal accommodating chamber 11 a to 11 c.

  In each of the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c, a space 39 having a rectangular cross section extending rearward from the front wall 35 is formed. The internal dimension between the pair of side surfaces 41 facing each other in the width direction of each space portion 39 is set such that both side surfaces of the conductor connecting portion 21 of each of the male terminals 13a to 13c can contact each other. Each of the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c is formed in a stepped shape from the space 39 toward the rear, and has a cross-sectional area that increases toward a rear opening (not shown). The left and right terminal accommodating chambers 11a and 11c have a larger cross-sectional area behind the space 39 than the central terminal accommodating chamber 11b.

  The male terminals 13a to 13c inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c from the rear are respectively inserted into the through holes 37 and exposed to the outside of the connector 1 through the through holes 37. As shown in FIG. 1, the male terminals 13 a to 13 c inserted up to the set positions of the terminal accommodating chambers 11 a to 11 c are in contact with the peripheral edge (front wall 35) of the through hole 39 at the front end of the transition portion 23. At this time, the front end portions of both side surfaces in the width direction of the conductor connection portion 21 are in contact with the pair of side surfaces 41. Accordingly, the movement of the male terminals 13 a to 13 c in the insertion direction is restricted, and the terminal main body portion 17 protruding from the through hole 39 is positioned inside the connector mounting hole 7 of the electric device 3.

  The male terminals 13a and 13c accommodated in the terminal accommodating chambers 11a and 11c are respectively arranged with the braid 19 bent outward in the width direction, and the male terminals 13b accommodated in the central terminal accommodating chamber 11b are arranged in the braid 19. Is extended and arranged in the axial direction.

  By the way, in such a configuration of the connector 1, in order to hold the male terminals 13 a to 13 c in the terminal accommodating chambers 11 a to 11 c without rattling, for example, between the through hole 37 of the front wall 35 and the terminal main body portion 17. It is conceivable to set the clearance small. However, in such a case, the friction when inserting the terminal main body portion 17 into the through hole 37 is increased, the insertion load of each male terminal 13a to 13c is increased, and the workability may be reduced.

  On the other hand, the male terminals 13a to 13c are supported by the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c because the front end portions in the width direction of the conductor connecting portion 21 are in contact with the pair of side surfaces 41 of the space portion 41. Since only a part of the axial direction of the male terminals 13a to 13c is supported by the pair of side surfaces 41, it is insufficient to prevent the male terminals 13a to 13c from rattling. In this regard, in order to reliably prevent the play of the male terminals 13a to 13c, it is conceivable to extend the contact area between the conductor connecting portion 21 and the pair of side surfaces 41 in the axial direction. When the distance becomes the lower limit value of the tolerance, the insertion load of the male terminals 13a to 13c becomes very large.

  Hereinafter, the characteristic part of this invention which solves such a problem is demonstrated.

  In the present embodiment, in each of the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c, as shown in FIG. 1, a gap formed between the inner surface of the space portion 39 and the transition portion 23 of the male terminals 13a to 13c, that is, the space portion 39. An annular cushioning material 43 having elasticity is provided in an annular region surrounded by the inner surface, the transition portion 23 and the front wall 35. The cushioning material 43 is pressed by the inner surface of the space portion 39 and the transition portion 23 of the male terminals 13a to 13c, respectively, and is preferably compressed so as to be further pressed by the front wall 35. The buffer material 43 is made of synthetic rubber, but can also be made of an elastomer or the like as long as it has elasticity.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cushioning material 43 of the present embodiment is formed by having a through hole 45 in a hexahedral (cuboid) block. In the natural state, the cushioning material 43 has substantially the same outer dimension as the inner dimension (YZ direction) of the space 39 of the terminal accommodating chamber 11a. As shown in FIG. 3, the cushioning material 43 in which the male terminal 13 a is inserted is mounted and held in a manner that covers the transition portion 23.

  The through hole 47 of the cushioning material 43 is formed to have an inner peripheral surface whose opening cross section gradually increases from one end to the other end, and corresponds to the outer peripheral surface of the transition portion 23 of the male terminal 13a ( A substantially similar inner peripheral surface). That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, the inner circumferential surface of the cushioning material 43 is formed with an AA arrow cross section having a cut surface in the thickness direction orthogonal to the width direction, substantially parallel to the axial direction, As shown in FIG. 4B, the cross section taken along the line B-B with the width direction as the cut surface has a tapered inclined surface 47 whose opening cross section gradually increases from the front to the rear in the axial direction. Formed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the buffer material 43 has the front end surface 49 positioned on the side opposite to the male terminal 13a, and the terminal main body portion 17 of the male terminal 13a is inserted from the through hole 45 on the rear end surface 51 side. The cushioning material 43 in which the terminal main body portion 17 is inserted is locked to the male terminals 13 a to 13 c in such a manner that the inclined surfaces 47 abut on both side surfaces of the transition portion 23 in the width direction. Thereby, the buffer material 43 is restricted from rotating with respect to the male terminal 13a. An insulating protrusion 25 is attached to the terminal body 17 of the male terminal 13a.

  Next, the operation of assembling the male terminal 13a to the connector 1 will be described. The male terminal 13 a to which the buffer material 43 is attached is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 11 a of the connector housing 9. In the male terminal 13 a inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 11 a, the insulating protrusion 25 and the terminal main body portion 17 are inserted into the through hole 37 of the front wall 35. The front end portion of the transition portion 23 abuts on the peripheral edge (front wall 35) of the through hole 37, and the front end portions of both end surfaces in the width direction of the conductor connection portion 21 abut on the pair of side surfaces 41. Thereby, the movement of the insertion direction of the male terminal 13a is restricted, and the male terminal 13a is positioned at the normal position of the terminal accommodating chamber 11a. The male terminal 13a is locked to a lance (not shown) of the connector housing 9 extending to the terminal accommodating chamber 11a, and is prevented from coming out backward.

  On the other hand, the cushioning material 43 of the present embodiment tries to move relative to the insertion direction due to friction with the inner peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 11a in the process of being inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 11a together with the male terminal 13a. To do. However, since the opening cross section of the through hole 45 is greatly formed rearward in the cushioning material 43 of this embodiment, the transition portion 23 and the terminal accommodating chamber 11a remain engaged with the transition portion 23 of the male terminal 13a. It is elastically deformed along the transition portion 23 so as to fill a gap with the inner peripheral surface of the inner peripheral surface of the inner peripheral surface of the inner terminal surface of the terminal 13a and the terminal accommodating chamber 11a. Thereby, since the male terminal 13a is supported by the terminal accommodating chamber 11a with the appearance pressed by the buffer material 43, there is no backlash and vibration can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to suppress wear of the plating of the male terminal 13a and wear of the contact between the male terminal 13a and the mating terminal.

  In the present embodiment, immediately before the insertion of the male terminal 13a stops, the conductor connecting portion 21 of the male terminal 13a comes into contact with the pair of side surfaces 41, so that the male terminal 13 and the inner peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 11a are in contact with each other. Friction can be minimized. Further, by attaching the buffer material 43 to the transition portion 23 of the male terminal 13a, the buffer material 43 can be positioned in the insertion path of the male terminal 13a, and the insertion resistance of the buffer material 43 can be reduced. . Therefore, it is possible to reduce the insertion resistance of the male terminal 13a to which the buffer material 43 is attached.

  In the present embodiment, the buffer material 43 comes into contact with the front wall 35 when the male terminal 13a is inserted into the normal position of the terminal accommodating chamber 11a. That is, the buffer material 43 is compressed from the front in addition to the width direction. Thereby, since the retention strength of the male terminal 13a by the buffer material 43 can be enhanced, it is possible to reliably prevent the male terminal 13a from being loose.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the front-end part of the conductor connection part 21 of the male terminal 13a is made to contact | abut to a pair of side surface 41 of the terminal storage chamber 11a, the male terminal 13a can be hold | maintained in a wider range, As a result, the holding force of the male terminal 13a can be further increased, and the play of the male terminal 13a can be prevented more reliably.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present embodiment is merely an example of the present invention, and can be changed or modified within the scope of the claims.

  For example, in the present embodiment, the example in which the cushioning material 43 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c in a state where the cushioning material 43 is mounted on the male terminals 13a to 13c has been described. However, the cushioning material 43 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 11a to 11c in advance. It is also possible to insert the male terminals 13a to 13c later after assembling at a predetermined position. Moreover, if the buffer material 43 is interposed in the clearance gap between the transition part 23 of the male terminals 13a-13c and the inner peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating chambers 11a-11c, it will be hold | maintained in the position away from the front wall 35. Also good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 9 Connector housing 11a-11c Terminal accommodating chamber 13a-13c Male terminal 17 Terminal main-body part 19 Braiding (conductor)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Conductor connection part 23 Transition part 35 Front wall 37 Through-hole 39 Space part 41 Side surface 43 Buffer material 45 Through-hole

Claims (4)

A terminal body portion, a conductor connecting portion formed thicker than the terminal body portion and connected to a conductor, and a transition portion that changes in thickness between the terminal body and the conductor connecting portion. A terminal,
A front wall of a terminal accommodating chamber in which the terminal is accommodated, and a housing in which a through hole through which the terminal main body portion is inserted is formed;
A connector in which a cushioning material having elasticity is interposed in a gap formed between the inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber and the transition portion.   The connector according to claim 1, wherein the cushioning material is formed in an annular shape covering the transition portion, and has an inner peripheral surface whose opening cross section gradually increases from one end to the other end.   The connector according to claim 2, wherein the buffer material has an inner surface corresponding to an outer surface of the transition portion.   The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a part of the terminal in the axial direction is in contact with an inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber.

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