JP2018014300A - connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector excellent in reliability of electrical connection.SOLUTION: A connector 10 includes a female terminal 50 having a cylindrical electric connection part 51, and a female housing 20 having a terminal housing chamber 21 in which the female terminal 50 is housed. When the connector 10 is fitted to a mating connector 70, a male terminal 90 of the mating connector 70 is pushed into the electric connection part 51 of the female terminal 50, and conducted. The electric connection part 51 has a spring piece 53 coming into elastic contact with the inserted male terminal 90, the female housing 20 has a lance 23 fitting in a locking hole 55 formed in the female terminal 50 housed in the terminal housing chamber 21, and the lance 23 is placed on the opposite side to the male terminal 90 inserted into the electric connection part 51 for the spring piece 53, and presses the spring piece 53 to the male terminal 90 side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector fitted to a mating connector.

  In a connector having a female terminal provided with a main spring piece that comes into contact with a male terminal, an auxiliary spring piece is formed on the outer surface side of the main spring piece so as to extend in a cantilever shape toward the front. There is known a connector in which the bulging portion is provided at the base end portion to improve the rigidity of the auxiliary spring piece, and the main spring piece is reinforced to increase the contact pressure with respect to the male terminal (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-1003003 A

  However, in the reinforcing piece formed on the terminal itself, there is a limit to the reinforcement of the main spring piece. That is, when the connector is further downsized and the female terminal is also downsized, it is difficult to sufficiently reinforce the main spring piece simply by providing the reinforcing piece, and the reliability of electrical connection is reduced due to a decrease in contact pressure with the male terminal. There was a possibility that the property would be lowered.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the situation mentioned above, The objective is to provide the connector excellent in the reliability of electrical connection.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the connector according to the present invention is characterized by the following (1) to (3).
(1) A male terminal of the mating connector is provided by including a female terminal having a cylindrical electrical connection portion and a housing having a terminal accommodating chamber in which the female terminal is accommodated, and being fitted to the mating connector. A connector in which a terminal is inserted into the electrical connection portion of the female terminal and conducted,
The electrical connection portion has a spring piece that elastically contacts the inserted male terminal,
The housing has a flexible locking piece that fits into a locking hole formed in the female terminal housed in the terminal housing chamber and locks the female terminal;
The flexible locking piece is disposed on the opposite side to the male terminal inserted into the electrical connecting portion with respect to the spring piece, and presses the spring piece to the male terminal side. .
(2) The female terminal protrudes toward the spring piece on the opposite side of the male terminal inserted into the electrical connection portion of the spring piece and presses the spring piece toward the male terminal. It has a press part. The connector as described in said (1) characterized by the above-mentioned.
(3) The connector according to (1) or (2), further including a retainer that is attached to the housing and that locks the female terminal housed in the terminal housing chamber.

In the connector having the configuration (1), when the male terminal is inserted into the electrical connection portion of the female terminal by fitting with the mating connector, the spring piece elastically contacts the male terminal, so that the male terminal and the female The terminal is electrically connected. At this time, the spring piece is pressed toward the male terminal by the flexible locking piece that enters the locking hole of the female terminal and locks the female terminal. Thereby, the spring piece comes into contact with the male terminal by the contact pressure obtained by applying the pressing force of the flexible locking piece to its own elastic force, and the reliability of the electrical connection is improved.
In the connector having the configuration (2), the spring piece is pressed toward the male terminal side by the pressing portion, so that the contact pressure of the spring piece to the male terminal can be further increased.
In the connector having the configuration (3), the female terminal accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber of the housing is doubly locked by the flexible locking piece and the retainer. Therefore, the female terminal can be reliably prevented from coming off from the terminal accommodating chamber.
Further, for example, when the connector is fitted to the mating connector, the housing is inclined with respect to the mating housing so that the flexible locking piece is engaged from the locking hole by the male terminal via the spring piece. Even if the female terminal is pressed in the stop release direction, the female terminal is locked by the retainer, so that the female terminal can be prevented from coming off from the housing.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the connector excellent in the reliability of electrical connection can be provided.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through a mode for carrying out the invention described below (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) with reference to the accompanying drawings. .

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connector and a mating connector according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the mating connector and the connector fitted together. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the connector according to the present embodiment. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the connector in FIG. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the connector housing. 6 is a BB cross-sectional view of the mating connector in FIG. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 2 during the fitting of the connector according to the present embodiment to the mating connector. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 2 in a state where the connector according to the present embodiment is fitted to the mating connector.

Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the connector 10 and the mating connector 70 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a partially broken perspective view of the mating connector 70 and the connector 10 fitted to each other.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the connector 10 according to this embodiment is fitted to a mating connector 70.
The connector 10 has a front end side that is the front side in the mating direction with the mating connector 70 as the fitting portion 13, and the mating connector 70 is a fitting that opens at the front end side that is the front side in the mating direction with the connector 10. A joint recess 73 is provided. Then, the connector 10 is connected to the mating connector 70 by fitting the mating portion 13 of the connector 10 into the mating recess 73 of the mating connector 70.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the connector 10 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the connector 10 in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the connector 10 includes a female terminal 50 having a cylindrical electrical connection portion 51, a female housing 20 that is a housing having a terminal accommodating chamber 21 in which the female terminal 50 is accommodated, and terminals. And a retainer 40 for locking the female terminal 50 accommodated in the accommodation chamber 21.

  The female housing 20 is molded from an electrically insulating resin, and the distal end side is a fitting portion 13. The female housing 20 has a plurality (four in this embodiment) of terminal accommodating chambers 21. The terminal accommodating chambers 21 are formed along the fitting direction with the mating connector 70 and are arranged in a line in the width direction of the female housing 20. Each terminal accommodating chamber 21 has an opening 22 on the distal end side of the female housing 20.

  Each terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the female housing 20 has a lance 23 that is a flexible locking piece projecting inward of the terminal accommodating chamber 21 from one side surface. The lance 23 is formed in a cantilever shape extending forward, and the tip side thereof enters the terminal accommodating chamber 21. The lance 23 has a locking step 24 on the terminal accommodating chamber 21 side at the tip. A space 25 is formed in the female housing 20 on the lance 23 side (lower side in the figure) of the opening 22 on the tip side, and on the opposite side of the lance 23 from the terminal accommodating chamber 21, a space portion is formed. A flexible space 25 a made up of a part of 25 is provided.

  The female housing 20 is formed with engaging recesses 26 reaching the terminal accommodating chambers 21 at the lower portion on the lance 23 side. Further, the female housing 20 has mounting recesses 27 formed on both side surfaces including both sides of the engagement recesses 26. And the temporary latching protrusion 28 and this latching protrusion 29 are formed in the formation location of the mounting | wearing recessed part 27 of the female housing 20 in an order from the downward side.

  The female housing 20 has a lock arm 31 and a guide groove 32. The lock arm 31 is provided at the center position in the width direction on the surface (upper surface in the drawing) opposite to the surface where the engagement recess 26 of the female housing 20 is formed. The lock arm 31 is connected to the front end side of the female housing 20 and extends to the rear end side along the fitting direction with the mating connector 70. The lock arm 31 is formed with a lock claw 33 protruding upward in the vicinity of the rear end thereof. The lock arm 31 is formed with a pressing portion 35 at its rear end. The lock arm 31 is elastically deformed toward the terminal accommodating chamber 21 by the pressing portion 35 being pressed toward the female housing 20. The guide grooves 32 are formed on both sides of the lock arm 31 along the front-rear direction of the female housing 20.

  The retainer 40 is formed from an electrically insulating resin, and includes a pair of side plates 41 and a locking block 42 provided between the side plates 41. The side plate 41 has a locking portion 43 that protrudes toward the opposite side at the upper edge. The retainer 40 is attached to the female housing 20 from the side of the engaging recess 26 (downward in the drawing). The retainer 40 is mounted on the female housing 20 so that the side plate 41 is fitted into the mounting recess 27 of the female housing 20. As a result, the locking block 42 of the retainer 40 is fitted into the engaging recess 26.

  As described above, the retainer 40 attached to the female housing 20 is attached in a temporarily locked state in which the locking portion 43 of the side plate 41 is locked to the temporary locking protrusion 28. In this temporarily locked state, the locking block 42 fitted in the engagement recess 26 does not protrude into the terminal accommodating chamber 21. When the retainer 40 is pushed into the female housing 20 from this temporarily locked state, the locking portion 43 of the side plate 41 is mounted in the fully locked state where the locking portion 29 is locked. In this fully locked state, a part of the locking block 42 fitted in the engaging recess 26 is in a state of protruding into the terminal accommodating chamber 21.

  The female terminal 50 is produced in a shape elongated in the front-rear direction, for example, by subjecting a conductive metal plate such as copper or copper alloy punched into a predetermined shape to bending. A rectangular tube-shaped electrical connection portion 51 is formed on the distal end side of the female terminal 50, and a crimping portion 61 to which the electric wire 60 is crimped and connected is formed on the rear end side. The crimping portion 61 is conductively connected by crimping the end of the electric wire 60 covering the periphery of the conductor 65 with the jacket 66. The crimping part 61 has a conductor crimping part 62 and a covering crimping part 63. The conductor crimping portion 62 is crimped to the conductor 65 exposed from the jacket 66, and the coating crimping portion 63 is crimped to the jacket 66.

  A bottom plate portion 52 and a spring piece 53 are superimposed on the bottom of the electrical connection portion 51. The spring piece 53 superimposed on the upper portion of the bottom plate portion 52 is formed in a forward cantilever shape. The spring piece 53 is gradually extended inward of the electrical connection portion 51 toward the front, and a contact point 54 that bulges upward is formed at a tip portion thereof. A locking hole 55 is formed in the bottom plate portion 52 of the electrical connection portion 51. The rear edge of the locking hole 55 is a pressing portion 56 projecting toward the spring piece 53, and the spring piece 53 has its base end pushed upward by the pressing portion 56. By being pressed, it is supported, and as a result, it is gradually inclined upwards toward the front. In addition, two contact protrusions 58 project inward of the electrical connection portion 51 on the upper plate portion 57 constituting the upper portion of the electrical connection portion 51. These contact protrusions 58 are arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction. The contact 54 of the spring piece 53 is disposed between the contact protrusions 58.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in order to attach the female terminal 50 to the female housing 20, first, the retainer 40 attached to the female housing 20 is temporarily locked. In this state, the female terminal 50 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the female housing 20 from the rear end side. At this time, the female terminal 50 enters the terminal accommodating chamber 21 without interfering with the retainer 40.

  As described above, when the female terminal 50 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 21, the lance 23 of the female housing 20 is pressed downward by the electrical connection portion 51 of the female terminal 50, and is elastically deformed so as to bend toward the flexible space 25a.

  When the female terminal 50 is further inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 21, when the locking hole 55 of the electrical connection portion 51 reaches the distal end position of the lance 23, the pressure on the lance 23 is released and the lance that has been elastically deformed is released. 23 is restored, and the tip of the lance 23 is fitted into the locking hole 55. And the latching step part 24 of the lance 23 is latched by the edge part of the front side of the latching hole 55, and the removal from the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the female terminal 50 is made | formed. Thereby, the female terminal 50 is held in a state of being accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 21.

  When the female terminal 50 is accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 21, the retainer 40 is pushed into the female housing 20 side to be in a fully locked state. In this way, when the retainer 40 is brought into the main locking state, a part of the locking block 42 of the retainer 40 protrudes into the terminal accommodating chamber 21 and is disposed on the rear end side of the electrical connection portion 51 of the female terminal 50. . Thereby, the female terminal 50 is prevented from being detached from the terminal accommodating chamber 21 by the locking block 42 of the retainer 40 together with the lance 23.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the mating connector 70 is a device-side connector provided in various devices, and includes a male housing 80 and a male terminal 90. The male housing 80 is molded from an electrically insulating resin and is formed integrally with the case of the device. The male housing 80 may be a separate body attached to the case of the device. The male housing 80 is formed in a concave shape in sectional view having a rear wall portion 81 and a peripheral wall portion 82 extending from the periphery of the rear wall portion 81 to one side. The peripheral wall portion 82 includes a bottom surface portion 83 that forms a bottom surface, a side surface portion 84 that forms a side surface, and an upper surface portion 85 that forms an upper surface. The male housing 80 constitutes a fitting recess 73 that is open on the side opposite to the rear wall 81, and the fitting portion 13 of the female housing 20 is fitted into the fitting recess 73.

  A pair of guide protrusions 86 are formed on the upper surface 85 of the male housing 80 on the inner surface side (see FIG. 1). The guide ridges 86 are formed at intervals in the width direction and extend along the front-rear direction of the male housing 80. Further, the upper surface 85 of the male housing 80 is formed with a locking protrusion 87 protruding inward at the edge on the opening side.

  The male terminal 90 is made of a conductive metal material such as copper or a copper alloy, and is formed in a tab shape. A plurality of male terminals 90 are provided, and each male terminal 90 is fixed to the rear wall portion 81 of the male housing 80. The male terminals 90 are integrally provided by insert molding in a state in which the male terminals 90 are arranged in a line at the same pitch as the female terminals 50 of the connector 10, for example. The male terminal 90 may be fixed to the rear wall portion 81 by being press-fitted into a press-fitting hole formed in the rear wall portion 81. The male terminal 90 is inserted into the electrical connection portion 51 of the female terminal 50 of the connector 10 that is fitted in the fitting recess 73 and is conductively connected.

Next, the case where the connector 10 is fitted to the mating connector 70 will be described.
7 and 8 are views for explaining a fitting process of the connector 10 according to the present embodiment to the mating connector, and are respectively CC cross-sectional views of FIG.

  In order to fit the connector 10 to the mating connector 70, the tip of the female housing 20 of the connector 10 is brought close to the tip of the male housing 80 of the mating connector 70. Then, the fitting portion 13 of the female housing 20 is inserted into the fitting recess 73 of the male housing 80. Then, the guide protrusion 86 of the male housing 80 enters the guide groove 32 of the female housing 20, and the connector 10 is guided in the fitting direction with respect to the mating connector 70.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in this state, when the female housing 20 is inserted into the male housing 80, the male terminal 90 of the male housing 80 is electrically connected to the female terminal 50 from the opening 22 on the distal end side of the female housing 20. It is inserted into the portion 51 and enters between the contact 54 of the spring piece 53 and the contact protrusion 58 on the front side of the upper plate portion 57.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the female housing 20 is further inserted into the male housing 80, the male terminal 90 is further inserted into the electrical connecting portion 51, so that the spring piece 53 is pushed down and elastically deforms downward. As a result, the spring piece 53 elastically contacts the male terminal 90. Thereby, in the electrical connection portion 51, the male terminal 90 is sandwiched between the front and rear contact protrusions 58 of the upper plate portion 57 and the contact 54 of the spring piece 53 by the elastic force of the elastically deformed spring piece 53. The female terminal 50 and the male terminal 90 are electrically connected.

  At this time, the spring piece 53 bent downward is brought into contact with the lance 23 entering the locking hole 55. Thereby, in the electrical connection part 51 of the female terminal 50, the spring piece 53 is pressed by the lance 23 toward the male terminal 90 side. Therefore, the spring piece 53 comes into contact with the male terminal 90 by a contact pressure obtained by applying a pressing force composed of the elastic force of the lance 23 to its own elastic force.

  As described above, when the female housing 20 of the connector 10 is inserted into the male housing 80 of the mating connector 70, the lock claw 33 of the lock arm 31 of the female housing 20 engages the locking protrusion 87 of the male housing 80. Thereby, the fitting state of the connector 10 and the counterpart connector 70 is maintained.

  In order to release the fitting of the connector 10 to the mating connector 70, the pressing portion 35 at the rear end of the lock arm 31 is pressed. Then, the entire lock arm 31 is elastically deformed so as to be bent, and the lock claw 33 of the lock arm 31 is removed from the locking projection 87 and the lock is released.

  When the connector 10 is pulled away from the mating connector 70 in this state, the fitting portion 13 of the female housing 20 is pulled out from the fitting recess 73 of the male housing 80. Thereby, the male terminal 90 is pulled out from the electrical connection part 51 of the female terminal 50, and the electrical connection between the female terminal 50 and the male terminal 90 is released.

  As described above, according to the connector 10 according to the present embodiment, when the male terminal 90 is inserted into the electrical connection portion 51 of the female terminal 50 by fitting into the mating connector 70, the spring piece 53 is The male terminal 90 and the female terminal 50 are electrically connected by elastic contact with the male terminal 90. At this time, the spring piece 53 enters the locking hole 55 of the female terminal 50 and is pressed toward the male terminal 90 by the lance 23 that locks the female terminal 50. Thereby, the spring piece 53 comes into contact with the male terminal 90 by the contact pressure obtained by applying the pressing force of the lance 23 to its own elastic force, and the reliability of the electrical connection is improved.

  Further, in the connector 10 of the present embodiment, the spring piece 53 is directed toward the male terminal 90 side by the pressing portion 56 provided on the opposite side of the male terminal 90 inserted into the electrical connection portion 51 with respect to the spring piece 53. Therefore, the contact pressure of the spring piece 53 to the male terminal 90 can be further increased.

  In addition, since the connector 10 of the present embodiment includes the retainer 40 that locks the female terminal 50 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 21, the female terminal 50 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the female housing 20 is The lance 23 and the retainer 40 are double-locked. Therefore, the female terminal 50 can be reliably prevented from coming off from the terminal accommodating chamber 21.

Furthermore, for example, when fitting the connector 10 to the mating connector 70, the female housing 20 is tilted and fitted to the male housing 80, so that the lance 23 is engaged by the male terminal 90 via the spring piece 53. Even if the female terminal 50 is pressed from the stop hole 55 in the unlocking direction, the female terminal 50 is locked by the retainer 40, so that the female terminal 50 can be prevented from coming off from the female housing 20.
Therefore, according to the connector 10 of the said embodiment, the connector excellent in the reliability of electrical connection can be provided.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimensions, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and are not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

Here, the features of the embodiment of the connector according to the present invention described above are briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] to [3], respectively.
[1] A female terminal (50) having a cylindrical electrical connection portion (51), and a housing (female housing 20) having a terminal accommodating chamber (21) in which the female terminal (50) is accommodated, By mating with the mating connector (70), the male terminal (90) of the mating connector (70) is inserted into the electrical connection portion (51) of the female terminal (50) to be conducted. A connector,
The electrical connection part (51) has a spring piece (53) that elastically contacts the inserted male terminal (90),
The housing (female housing 20) is fitted into a locking hole (55) formed in the female terminal (50) housed in the terminal housing chamber (21) to lock the female terminal (50). A flexible locking piece (lance 23)
The flexible locking piece (lance 23) is arranged on the opposite side to the male terminal (90) inserted into the electrical connection part (51) with respect to the spring piece (53), and the spring piece ( 53) is pressed to the male terminal (90) side. The connector (10).
[2] The female terminal (50) protrudes toward the spring piece (53) on the opposite side of the male terminal (90) inserted into the electrical connection portion (51) of the spring piece (53). The connector (10) according to [1] above, further comprising a pressing portion (56) that is provided and presses the spring piece (53) toward the male terminal (90).
[3] The retainer (40) mounted on the housing (female housing 20) and locking the female terminal (50) accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber (21). Or the connector (10) as described in [2].

10: Connector 20: Female housing (housing)
21: Terminal accommodating chamber 23: Lance (flexible locking piece)
40: Retainer 50: Female terminal 51: Electrical connection portion 53: Spring piece 55: Locking hole 56: Pressing portion 70: Mating connector 90: Male terminal

Claims (3)

A female terminal having a cylindrical electrical connection portion, and a housing having a terminal accommodating chamber in which the female terminal is accommodated, and the male terminal of the mating connector is fitted with the mating connector. It is a connector that is inserted into the electrical connection part of the female terminal and made conductive,
The electrical connection portion has a spring piece that elastically contacts the inserted male terminal,
The housing has a flexible locking piece that fits into a locking hole formed in the female terminal housed in the terminal housing chamber and locks the female terminal;
The flexible locking piece is disposed on the opposite side to the male terminal inserted into the electrical connecting portion with respect to the spring piece, and presses the spring piece to the male terminal side. . The female terminal has a pressing portion that protrudes toward the spring piece side and presses the spring piece toward the male terminal side on the opposite side of the male terminal inserted into the electrical connection portion of the spring piece. The connector according to claim 1, further comprising: The connector according to claim 1, further comprising a retainer that is attached to the housing and that locks the female terminal housed in the terminal housing chamber.

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