JP2024078952A - Waterproof terminal block - Google Patents

Abstract

A waterproof terminal block is provided that can absorb dimensional tolerances due to the individual phases of a plurality of annular seal portions of a packing, and can improve waterproofing and ease of assembly.
[Solution] The waterproof terminal block 1 comprises a housing 10, a plurality of terminals 40 which are inserted and attached into a plurality of terminal insertion holes 13 of the housing 10, a gasket 20, and a holder 30 which is fitted into a holder fitting recess 18 to hold the gasket 20, and the gasket 20 is formed integrally by connecting the upper ends 22a of a plurality of annular sealing portions 21 with elastic connecting portions 24 which expand and contract, and when the plurality of terminals 40, the gasket 20 and the holder 30 are assembled to the housing 10, the elastic connecting portions 24 of the gasket 20 expand and contract to absorb the effects of dimensional tolerances due to each phase of the plurality of terminals 40 and the plurality of annular sealing portions 21 of the gasket 20, thereby sealing the plurality of terminals 40 to each of the plurality of annular sealing portions 21 of the gasket 20.
[Selected figure] Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to a waterproof terminal block.

One such type of waterproof terminal block is described in Patent Document 1. The waterproof terminal block described in Patent Document 1 has a housing in which multiple terminal insertion holes are formed, through which terminals are inserted. Then, in each hole formed in the upper part of the multiple terminal insertion holes, a packing is fitted as a sealing member having multiple annular sealing parts that seal between each of the connection plate parts of the multiple terminals and the terminal insertion holes, and this packing is held by a holder that is attached to the housing.

JP 2021-163719 A

The conventional waterproof terminal block uses a packing in which multiple annular seal parts are connected at the top to form an integrated unit. For this reason, when sealing multiple multi-pole terminals for each seal part (each phase), with a packing in which each seal part is connected to each other, the effect of the dimensional tolerance of each phase cannot be ignored for other phases, and there is a risk of poor sealing and waterproofing. Furthermore, if a packing is provided separately for each phase, there is a risk of problems such as increased assembly man-hours and forgetting to insert parts or inserting them twice.

The present invention was made in consideration of the problems inherent in the conventional technology. The object of the present invention is to provide a waterproof terminal block that can absorb the dimensional tolerances of the various phases of the multiple annular seal portions of the packing, and can improve waterproofing and ease of assembly.

The waterproof terminal block according to the present invention has a housing having a plurality of packing fitting recesses and a holder fitting recess that are partitioned by a plurality of terminal insertion holes and a partition wall from the bottom to the top, a plurality of terminals that are inserted and attached to the plurality of terminal insertion holes, and a plurality of annular seal portions into which the plurality of terminals are inserted and sealed, the plurality of annular seal portions have packings as sealing members that are fitted into the plurality of packing fitting recesses, and a plurality of annular terminal insertion portions that are partitioned by a separation portion, and the lower sides of the plurality of annular terminal insertion portions are fitted into the plurality of annular seal portions. and a holder in which the upper sides of the multiple annular terminal insertion portions are fitted into the holder fitting recesses, and the packing is integrally formed by connecting the upper ends of the multiple annular seal portions with elastic connecting portions that expand and contract, and when the multiple terminals, the packing, and the holder are assembled to the housing, the elastic connecting portions of the packing expand and contract to absorb the effects of dimensional tolerances due to the respective phases of the multiple terminals and the multiple annular seal portions of the packing, thereby sealing the multiple terminals to the multiple annular seal portions of the packing.

The present invention provides a waterproof terminal block that can absorb the dimensional tolerances of each phase of the multiple annular sealing parts of the packing, improving waterproofing and ease of assembly.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a waterproof terminal block according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the waterproof terminal block. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a packing used in the waterproof terminal block. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which the dimensional tolerances of each of the multiple annular seal portions of the packing are absorbed. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

The following describes in detail the waterproof terminal block according to an embodiment of the present invention using the drawings.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a waterproof terminal block according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the waterproof terminal block. Figure 3 is a plan view of a packing used in the waterproof terminal block. Figure 4 is a front view of the packing. Figure 5 is a plan view showing the state in which the dimensional tolerances of each phase of the multiple annular seal portions of the packing have been absorbed. Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in Figure 1.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the waterproof terminal block 1 according to this embodiment includes a synthetic resin housing 10, a gasket 20 as a sealing member, a synthetic resin holder 30, and three terminals 40. The waterproof terminal block 1 is mounted on a mounting body (not shown), such as a case for a drive motor device mounted on an electric vehicle.

As shown in Figures 2 and 6, the housing 10 has three terminal insertion holes 13 from bottom to top, three gasket fitting recesses 14 each having a lower portion 15 and an upper portion 16 separated by a partition wall 17, and a holder fitting recess 18.

As shown in FIG. 6, the three terminal insertion holes 13 are formed in parallel at equal intervals between both side surfaces 10a, 10a of the housing 10 so that the terminals 40 can be inserted therethrough in the vertical direction.

As shown in FIG. 6, the lower portions 15 of the three packing fitting recesses 14 are partitioned by partition walls 17, and are each formed with an elliptical cross-section at the upper edge of the terminal insertion hole 13 via a stepped elliptical portion. Furthermore, the upper portions 16 of the three packing fitting recesses 14 are each formed with a rectangular cross-section at the upper edge of the lower portions 15 via a stepped portion.

As shown in FIG. 2, the holder fitting recess 18 is formed to a size that allows the gasket 20 to be fitted between the front wall 11 and the rear wall 12 of the housing 10. The front wall 11 is formed with a rectangular locking hole 11a for locking the locking protrusion 33 of the holder 30 fitted into the holder fitting recess 18.

1 and 2, the packing 20 is fitted into the packing fitting recess 14 of the housing 10 from above. The packing 20 is molded from a flexible resin material such as rubber, and has three annular seal portions 21 into which the terminals 40 are inserted and sealed. The three annular seal portions 21 have a rectangular annular frame portion 22, an elliptical annular portion 23 integrally formed on the lower side of the frame portion 22 into which the terminals 40 are inserted and sealed, and three elastic connecting portions 24 connecting both sides between the upper ends 22a, 22a of adjacent frame portions 22. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the packing 20 is integrally formed by connecting the upper ends 22a, 22a of adjacent rectangular annular frame portions 22 by the three elastic connecting portions 24 located in pairs on both sides. More specifically, as shown in Figures 3 and 5, the upper ends 22a of the rectangular annular frame portions 22 of adjacent annular seal portions 21 are connected together by a pair of elastic connecting portions 24, 24 that are substantially U-shaped and have protruding portions facing each other, forming an integral unit. As shown in Figure 6, the rectangular annular frame portions 22 of the annular seal portions 21 are fitted into the upper portion 16 of the packing fitting recess 14, and the elliptical annular portion 23 is fitted into the lower portion 15 of the packing fitting recess 14.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the elliptical annular portion 23 of the annular seal portion 21 of the packing 20 has an outer lip portion 25 on the outer peripheral surface 23a that is in close contact with the lower portion 15 of the packing fitting recess 14 of the housing 10, and an inner lip portion 26 on the inner peripheral surface 23b that is in close contact with the terminal 40. The packing 20 having three annular seal portions 21 uses a packing in which multiple annular seal portions 21 are connected by elastic connecting portions 24, and the third elastic connecting portion 24 shown in Figures 3 and 4 is cut to form three annular seal portions 21.

1, 2, and 6, the holder 30 is made of synthetic resin and formed into a rectangular tube shape. The holder 30 is partitioned by the upper separation convex portion 32a and the lower separation concave portion 32b of the separation portion 32, and has three annular terminal insertion portions 31 arranged in parallel into which the terminals 40 are inserted. As shown in FIG. 6, the lower side (the lower separation concave portion 32b side) of the annular terminal insertion portion 31 is fitted into the rectangular annular frame portion 22 of the annular seal portion 21, and the upper side (the upper separation convex portion 32a) of the annular terminal insertion portion 31 is fitted into the holder fitting concave portion 18 to hold the packing 20. As shown in FIG. 2, a locking protrusion 33 is formed on the front surface 30b of the holder 30 to be engaged with and disengaged from the rectangular locking hole 11a formed in the front wall 11 of the housing 10. The state in which the holder 30 is fitted into the holder fitting recess 18 of the housing 10 and holds the packing 20 is maintained by the locking protrusion 33 being locked into the locking hole 11a.

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminals 40 that are inserted and attached into the three terminal insertion holes 13 of the housing 10 are made of a conductive metal material such as copper or a copper alloy, and are plate-shaped bus bars. The top and bottom ends of this plate-shaped terminal 40 are connection parts 41, 42 in which connection holes 41a, 42a are formed. Note that a description of how the terminals 40 are fixed is omitted.

According to this embodiment, when the terminals 40, packing 20, and holder 30 are assembled to the housing 10, the approximately U-shaped elastic connecting portion 24 connecting the annular seal portions 21 of the packing 20 expands and contracts. In other words, the distance between the U-shaped portions of the elastic connecting portion 24 between the annular seal portions 21, 21 located on the right side of FIG. 5 narrows and shrinks, and the distance between the U-shaped portions of the elastic connecting portion 24 between the annular seal portions 21, 21 located on the left side of FIG. 5 expands and expands. This expansion and contraction of the elastic connecting portion 24 can absorb the dimensional tolerances due to the phases of the three terminals 40 and the three annular seal portions 21.

As shown in Figures 1 and 6, when the waterproof terminal block 1 is assembled, the elliptical annular portion 23 of the annular seal portion 21 of the packing 20 is fitted and pressed into the lower portion 15 of the packing fitting recess 14 of the housing 10, and the terminal 40 is fitted and pressed into the elliptical annular portion 23. This press-fitting brings the outer lip portion 25 of the elliptical annular portion 23 into close contact with the lower portion 15 of the packing fitting recess 14, and the inner lip portion 26 into close contact with the terminal 40, achieving high waterproofing.

In this way, the elastic connecting portions 24 between the annular seal portions 21 of the packing 20 expand and contract when the waterproof terminal block 1 is assembled, so that the effect of the dimensional tolerances of the terminals 40 and the annular seal portions 21 can be resolved for each phase, improving the robustness (sturdiness) of the waterproof function. This improved robustness allows the crushing allowance of the packing 20 to be smaller than that of the conventional structure in which multiple phases are integrated, reducing the insertion force of the terminals 40, etc., and preventing the packing 20 from falling, getting caught, or being torn off due to terminal insertion. As a result, the waterproofness and ease of assembly of the waterproof terminal block 1 can be further improved.

Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present embodiment is not limited to these, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present embodiment.

That is, according to the above embodiment, the packing has three annular seal portions, but two or four or more annular seal portions may be provided.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the terminals are formed in a straight plate shape, but they may be bent in an L-shape.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 waterproof terminal block 10 housing 13 terminal insertion hole 14 packing fitting recess 17 bulkhead 18 holder fitting recess 20 packing (sealing member)
21 Annular seal portion 22a Upper end 23a Outer peripheral surface 23b Inner peripheral surface 24 Elastic connection portion 25 Outer lip portion 26 Inner lip portion 30 Holder 31 Annular terminal insertion portion 32 Separation portion 40 Terminal

Claims (3)

a housing having a plurality of terminal insertion holes and a plurality of packing fitting recesses and a holder fitting recess partitioned by partition walls from a lower side to an upper side;
A plurality of terminals to be inserted and mounted in the plurality of terminal insertion holes;
a packing as a sealing member having a plurality of annular seal portions into which the plurality of terminals are inserted and sealed, the plurality of annular seal portions being fitted into the plurality of packing fitting recesses;
a holder having a plurality of annular terminal insertion portions partitioned by separation portions, lower sides of the plurality of annular terminal insertion portions being fitted into the plurality of annular seal portions and upper sides of the plurality of annular terminal insertion portions being fitted into the holder fitting recesses;
Equipped with
The packing is integrally formed by connecting upper end sides of the plurality of annular seal portions with elastic connecting portions that expand and contract,
When the multiple terminals, the gasket, and the holder are assembled to the housing, the elastic connecting portion of the gasket expands and contracts to absorb the effects of dimensional tolerances due to each phase of the multiple terminals and the multiple annular sealing portions of the gasket, thereby sealing the multiple terminals in each of the multiple annular sealing portions of the gasket. The waterproof terminal block according to claim 1, wherein the upper end sides of the adjacent annular seal parts are connected by a pair of elastic connecting parts having a substantially U-shape with protrusions facing each other. The waterproof terminal block according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of annular seal portions of the packing have outer lip portions on their outer circumferential surfaces that fit closely to the plurality of packing fitting recesses of the housing, and inner lip portions on their inner circumferential surfaces that fit closely to the plurality of terminals.

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