JP2017117623A - connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a contact abutment-type connector adaptable to high-current applications by using a simple structure.SOLUTION: A connector 10 comprises: a housing 30 provided with an opening 41 into which a plate-like contact 53 provided on a mating terminal 51 can enter along its plate thickness direction; a bus bar 11 housed in the housing 30 in a posture opposing to the plate-like contact 53 of the mating terminal 51 and in such a manner that a part thereof in the length direction is directed to the opening 41; and a ring-shaped, diagonally-wound coil spring 20 with conductivity which is fitted to the outer periphery of a portion 16, of the bus bar 11, directed to the opening 41.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The technology disclosed in this specification relates to a connector, and more particularly, to a connector of a type in which electrical connection is established by bringing opposing contacts into contact with each other.

  As an example of this type of connector, a power feeding device described in Patent Document 1 below is known. In the female junction, a fixed inner end plate and a movable outer end plate are arranged to face each other, a coil spring is mounted between the both end plates, and a plate spring member is provided on the outer end plate. The leaf spring member is provided with a female contact that forms an oblique posture in which elastic deformation is easy by bending one end side protruding outward from the outer end plate. Then, when the mating male side junction approaches, the male side contact provided on the same male side junction hits the female side contact, pushes the outer end plate while elastically compressing the coil spring, and the female side contact itself They are brought into contact with each other while being elastically deformed to be electrically connected. In particular, this structure is expected to have a wiping effect between male and female contacts.

JP 2002-274290 A

However, the above prior art is difficult to apply to high current applications for the following reasons. In other words, in the prior art, the cord wire is connected to the other end of the leaf spring member, passed through the inside of the coil spring, and then pulled out to the outside of the female junction. Therefore, the wire diameter of the cord wire is limited. Is not suitable for large current applications. In addition, in the case of a large current application, it is necessary to increase the plate thickness of the leaf spring member. However, the rigidity of the female contact on one end side of the leaf spring member is increased and the elastic deformation cannot be freely performed. .
The technology disclosed in this specification has been completed based on the above-described circumstances, and the object thereof can be applied to a large current application with a simple structure in a contact contact type connector. It is in place.

  The connector disclosed in this specification includes a housing provided with an opening through which a plate-like contact portion provided on a mating terminal can enter along the thickness direction of the mating terminal, and the plate-like contact portion of the mating terminal; The bus bar accommodated in the housing in a form facing the opening and a part in the length direction facing the opening, and conductivity mounted on the outer periphery of the portion of the bus bar facing the opening And a ring-shaped diagonally wound coil spring.

When the plate-like contact portion of the mating terminal approaches the bus bar through the opening of the housing, the substantially half-circumferential portion on the side facing the plate-like contact portion of the ring-shaped diagonally wound connector spring attached to the bus bar is It is sandwiched in the radial direction between the plate-shaped contact parts, that is, it is elastically deformed so that the diagonally wound coil springs of approximately the same half circumference are crushed while changing the degree of inclination, and the plate-shaped contact of the bus bar and the other party by its restoring elasticity By contacting the part, electrical connection between the bus bar and the mating terminal is taken.
In constructing the above conductive structure, there is no restriction on the thickness of the bus bar, the thickness of another bus bar that is a conductor connected to the bus bar, or the wire diameter of the electric wire. It can also be applied to applications. Compared with the prior art, the structure is simple, and particularly when the oblique coil spring is disposed, it is only necessary to mount it on the outer periphery of the bus bar, so that the assembly workability is excellent.

The following configuration may also be used.
One end of the bus bar is a mounting end to which the oblique coil spring is mounted, while the other end of the bus bar is a connection end with a conductor such as another bus bar or an electric wire, The corner of the mounting end is rounded.
The slant winding coil spring is fitted and mounted from one end of the bus bar opposite to the side where the conductor is connected. Especially, the corner of the mounting end is rounded, so it is smoother without being caught. Can be installed.

In the portion of the bus bar that faces the opening, a positioning portion that restricts the oblique coil spring from moving in the length direction of the bus bar is provided.
The slanted coil spring can be securely mounted at the regular mounting position on the bus bar.

The positioning portion is a notch formed in a side edge of the bus bar.
The slant winding coil spring can be positioned with a simple structure such as forming a notch, and is excellent in material removal when manufacturing a bus bar.

  According to the technology disclosed in this specification, the contact contact type connector can be applied to a large current application with a simple structure.

Front view longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the state before the fitting of the connector which concerns on embodiment Side view longitudinal section III-III sectional view of FIG. Front view longitudinal sectional view showing the connector mating completion state Side view longitudinal section

<Embodiment>
The embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a power supply device between a PCU (Power Control Unit) and a motor installed in an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle is illustrated, and as shown in FIG. A connector 10 (hereinafter referred to as connector 10) and a motor side connector 50 (hereinafter referred to as mating connector 50) are provided.

  First, the mating connector 50 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mating connector 50 includes a mating terminal 51 made of an L-shaped bus bar and a mating housing 55 to which the mating terminal 51 is attached. The mating terminal 51 is made of, for example, a copper plate, and has a shape in which a plate-shaped contact portion 53 is bent at a right angle at the upper end of a band-shaped terminal body 52. A connection hole 54 for connecting to another bus bar (not shown) is formed at the lower end of the terminal body 52.

The mating housing 55 functions as a so-called terminal block, is formed in a generally block shape from a synthetic resin material, and a receiving table 56 is projected from a position near the left end on the upper surface.
The mating terminal 51 is integrally mounted on the mating housing 55 by insert molding. Specifically, the plate-like contact portion 53 is placed on the cradle 56, and the terminal body 52 is positioned below the mating housing 55. The lower end portion of the housing 55 is mounted so as to protrude from the lower surface of the counterpart housing 55.
The mating housing 55 is attached to a motor case (not shown) so as to protrude from the upper surface thereof.

  The connector 10 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the connector 10 includes a bus bar 11, a ring-shaped oblique coil spring 20 attached to the bus bar 11, and a housing 30 to which the bus bar 11 and the oblique coil spring 20 are attached. It is composed of

The bus bar 11 is formed by bending a copper plate strip at a right angle at a substantially central length position, so that both sides are formed in an L shape having approximately the same length, and one side (vertical side) side is another bus bar (not shown). ), And the other side (lateral side) is the terminal connection 15 connected to the mating terminal 51.
A connecting hole 13 for connecting to another bus bar (not shown; an example of a conductor) is formed at the distal end portion of the conductor connecting portion 12, and a locking hole is provided at a substantially central length position. 14 is formed.

A ring-shaped diagonally wound coil spring 20 is mounted on the mounting portion 16 that is set at a position near the tip of the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11.
The diagonally wound coil spring 20 has a coil portion 21 formed by spirally winding a metal wire having excellent conductivity. However, unlike a general coil spring, as shown in FIG. The coil part 21 is formed by winding the surface so as to be inclined in advance with respect to the axis of the coil part 21, and the coil part 21 is bent into a ring shape and both ends are connected by welding or the like. The ring-shaped oblique winding coil spring 20 is formed.

  When a load is applied to the coil portion 21 so as to sandwich the coil portion 21 in the radial direction, the winding surface of each coil 22 is further inclined with respect to the axis of the coil portion 21. When collapsed, the coil part 21 is compressed so that the height dimension (dimension in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the coil part 21) becomes smaller. In particular, the load / deflection characteristic shows a nonlinear characteristic having a region in which the change in the spring load is kept small even if the displacement amount of the coil portion 21 (the displacement amount of the height of the coil portion 21) is changed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the mounting portion 16 in the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11 is formed with notches 17 having a predetermined length on both side edges, and the mounting portion 16 itself is narrow. The notch 17 functions as a positioning portion that restricts the diagonally wound coil spring 20 from moving along the length direction on the terminal connecting portion 15 when the obliquely wound coil spring 20 is fitted. In addition, roundness 18 is attached to both corners of the tip of the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11.

Next, the housing 30 will be described. The housing 30 is made of synthetic resin, and is formed by integrally connecting an upper housing 31U and a lower housing 31L as shown in FIGS.
The upper housing 31U is formed in a block shape having an L shape in a front view in which a protruding portion 32 is formed to rise at a right end portion. A mounting groove 33 in which the terminal connecting portion 15 of the bus bar 11 is mounted is formed on the lower surface of the upper housing 31U.

  The position of the mounting groove 33 formed on the lower surface of the upper housing 31U near the left end on the ceiling surface, specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the mounting portion in the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11 accommodated in the mounting groove 33 As will be described later, an accommodation recess 34 for accommodating the upper half-circumferential portion (upper half-circumference portion 25U) of the diagonally wound coil spring 20 attached to the attachment portion 16 of the terminal connection portion 15 is formed at a position opposed to 16. Has been.

  An insertion groove 36 through which the conductor connecting portion 12 of the bus bar 11 is inserted is formed in the right end portion of the mounting groove 33 on the lower surface of the upper housing 31U so as to penetrate the protruding portion 32 upward. . The insertion groove 36 has a predetermined height region at the lower end thereof formed at a narrow interval substantially equal to the plate thickness of the conductor connecting portion 12, while the upper position is formed at a wide interval. On one wall surface (left side in FIG. 1) of the wide interval region of the insertion groove 36, a lance 38 that elastically engages with the engagement hole 14 formed in the conductor connecting portion 12 is formed.

  The lower housing 31L has a relatively flat block shape, and a deep recess 40 is formed over a wide area near the left end on the upper surface thereof. The cradle 56 of the mating housing 55 and the plate-like contact portion 53 of the mating terminal 51 placed on the cradle 56 (including the upper end of the terminal body 52) can enter the bottom wall of the recess 40. An opening 41 is formed. Guide walls 42 are formed to rise at both left and right edges of the opening 41.

The present embodiment has the structure described above, and the operation thereof will be described subsequently.
The connector 10 is assembled as follows. First, the ring-shaped oblique coil spring 20 is attached to the attachment portion 16 in the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11. The diagonally wound coil spring 20 is fitted from the tip end side of the terminal connecting portion 15, and the fitting is completed when it is fitted into the notch 17 of the mounting portion 16. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the diagonally wound coil spring 20 forms an oval ring and is mounted around the narrow mounting portion 16 in the terminal connection portion 15.

  Thus, the conductor connection part 12 of the bus bar 11 to which the diagonally wound coil spring 20 is mounted is inserted from below into the insertion groove 36 formed in the upper housing 31U. When the conductor connecting portion 12 is pushed up by a predetermined amount along the insertion groove 36, the lance 38 is elastically locked to the locking hole 14, as shown in FIG. The terminal connection portion 15 is mounted at the center width position in the mounting groove 33, and the upper half peripheral portion 25 U of the oblique coil spring 20 is received in the receiving recess 34.

  Next, the upper surface of the lower housing 31L is overlapped and joined to the lower surface of the upper housing 31U. At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, the left and right side edge portions of the recess 40 on the upper surface of the lower housing 31L are positioned so as to receive the left and right end portions of the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11, and The lower half circumference portion (lower half circumference portion 25L) of the oblique coil spring 20 attached to the attachment portion 16 enters the upper position in the recess 40 and faces the opening 41.

The connector 10 assembled in this way is attached to the PCU case, and another bus bar arranged in the PCU is connected to the protruding end protruding from the upper surface of the protruding portion 32 of the upper housing 31U in the conductor connecting portion 12 of the bus bar 11. Is done. On the other hand, the mating connector 50 is attached to the motor case, and the lower end portion of the terminal body 52 of the mating terminal 51 is connected to a bus bar arranged on the motor.
In the initial state, the connector 10 and the mating connector 50 face each other up and down with a predetermined distance therebetween, as shown in FIGS.

  For example, when the PCU is approached to the motor from the initial state and the connector 10 is fitted to the mating connector 50, the plate-like contact portion 53 of the mating terminal 51 provided on the mating connector 50 is The connector 10 enters the recess 40 through the opening 41 of the housing 30 and gradually approaches the lower half circumferential portion 25L of the diagonally wound coil spring 20 mounted on the mounting portion 16 of the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11. Press.

  When the mating connector 50 approaches a predetermined amount, that is, when both the connectors 10 and 50 are fitted in a normal amount, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the diagonally wound coil spring mounted on the mounting portion 16 of the terminal connection portion 15. The lower half circumferential portion 25L (mainly a straight portion) 20 is sandwiched vertically between the mounting portion 16 of the terminal connection portion 15 and the plate-like contact portion 53 of the mating terminal 51, that is, the lower half circumference of the oblique coil spring 20 The portion 25L is elastically deformed so that each coil 22 is further crushed while being tilted, and the connector 25 is brought into contact with the mounting portion 16 of the bus bar 11 and the plate-like contact portion 53 of the mating terminal 51 by its restoring elasticity. The electrical connection between the ten bus bars 11 and the mating terminal 51 of the mating connector 50 is taken.

  More specifically, the terminal connection part 15 (mounting part 16) of the bus bar 11 and the plate-like contact part 53 of the mating terminal 51 are elastically contracted in the height direction (of the coil part 21) to provide a restoring elasticity. It has a configuration in which it is connected via the lower half peripheral portion 25L of the provided obliquely wound coil spring 20. As described above, the diagonally wound coil spring 20 has a non-linear characteristic of load / deflection. Therefore, there is an error in the relative advancement amount of the mating connector 50, and the lower half peripheral portion 25L of the diagonally wound coil spring 20 Even if there is an error in the amount of deformation, the load, that is, the restoring elasticity does not change so much, and a stable contact pressure is received and the conductivity is excellent.

  In addition, when the lower half circumferential portion 25L of the diagonally wound coil spring 20 contacts the terminal connection portion 15 (mounting portion 16) of the bus bar 11 and the plate-like contact portion 53 of the mating terminal 51, the lower half circumference is actually. Each coil 22 constituting the portion 25L comes into contact with each other, that is, contacts at multiple points, so that the contact resistance is reduced, which can also contribute to the improvement of conductivity.

  With the fitting and detachment of the connectors 10 and 50, the lower half peripheral portion 25L of the helically wound coil spring 20 is elastically contracted in the height direction (see FIG. 5) and the form returned to the natural state (FIG. 2). In this case, the contact point of each coil 22 in the lower half circumferential portion 25L of the diagonally wound coil spring 20 is on the terminal connection portion 15 (mounting portion 16) of the bus bar 11 or the counterpart. Since it slides or rotates while rubbing on the plate-like contact portion 53 of the terminal 51, a so-called wiping effect can be obtained, and the foreign matter adhering to the contact point can be removed to reduce the contact resistance.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when an electrical connection is made between the connector 10 and the mating connector 50, the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11 provided in the connector 10 and the mating connector provided in the mating connector 50 are used. A structure is adopted in which the plate-like contact portion 53 of the metal fitting 51 is abutted against each other while the oblique coiled coil spring 20 (lower half circumferential portion 25L) interposed is elastically contracted. This structure is not limited by the thickness of the bus bar 11 provided in the connector 10 or the thickness of other bus bars connected to the bus bar 11, so that it can be applied to large capacity applications. Can do.

  The connector 10 is configured with a small number of parts such as a bus bar 11, a ring-shaped oblique coil spring 20, and a two-piece housing 30 (upper housing 31U and lower housing 31L). Further, when the connector 10 is assembled, it is only necessary to mount the ring-shaped oblique coil spring 20 on the bus bar 11 and then mount the bus bar 11 in the housing 30 so as to be sandwiched between the upper and lower housings 31U and 31L. The process can be easily stopped. Thus, the connector 10 can be manufactured at a low cost.

  In disposing the diagonally wound coil spring 20, it is only necessary to externally fit the ring-shaped obliquely wound coil spring 20 from the tip of the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11, and to the corner of the tip of the terminal connection portion 15. Since the round 18 is provided, it can be smoothly fitted without being caught, and the work of arranging the oblique coil spring 20 and the work of assembling the connector 10 can be performed efficiently.

  The mounting portion 16 in the terminal connection portion 15 of the bus bar 11 is formed with notches 17 on both side edges, and the ring-shaped diagonally wound coil spring 20 is fitted around the notch 17 around the mounting portion 16. It is installed. Thereby, the mounting position of the diagonally wound coil spring 20 is positioned so as not to shift in the length direction of the terminal connecting portion 15, and as a result, the lower half peripheral portion 25 </ b> L of the diagonally wound coil spring 20 is always mounted on the bus bar 11. It is possible to accurately pinch between the portion 16 and the plate-like contact portion 53 of the mating terminal 51.

<Other embodiments>
The technology disclosed in the present specification is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope.
(1) In the said embodiment, although another bus bar was illustrated as a conductor connected to the bus bar with which the connector was equipped, an electric wire may be sufficient. The electric wire is not limited by the wire diameter, and can be used for a large current.
(2) The positioning portion for restricting the ring-shaped oblique winding coil spring from moving in the length direction of the bus bar is not limited to the structure in which notches are formed on both side edges of the bus bar exemplified in the above embodiment. On the contrary, a structure in which a pair of protrusions are formed on both side edges at intervals in the length direction may be used.
(3) The positioning portion of the diagonally wound coil spring is not necessarily required, and those that do not include the positioning portion are also included in the technical scope.

10 ... PCU side connector (connector)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Bus bar 12 ... Conductor connection part 15 ... Terminal connection part 16 ... Mounting part 17 ... Notch 18 ... Roundness 20 ... Diagonal coil spring 25L ... Lower half circumference part 30 ... Housing 41 ... Opening part 51 ... Mating terminal 53 ... Board Contact

Claims (4)

A housing provided with an opening through which the plate-like contact portion provided on the mating terminal can enter along its thickness direction;
A bus bar housed in the housing in a posture facing the plate-like contact portion of the mating terminal and having a portion in the length direction facing the opening,
A ring-shaped diagonally wound coil spring having electrical conductivity attached to the outer periphery of the portion facing the opening in the bus bar;
With connector. One end of the bus bar is a mounting end to which the oblique coil spring is mounted, while the other end of the bus bar is a connection end with a conductor such as another bus bar or an electric wire, The connector according to claim 1, wherein a corner portion of the mounting end is rounded. 3. The connector according to claim 1, wherein a positioning portion that restricts the diagonally wound coil spring from moving in the length direction of the bus bar is provided at a portion of the bus bar facing the opening. 4. . The connector according to claim 3, wherein the positioning portion is a notch formed in a side edge of the bus bar.

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