JP2569153Y2 - Lamp unit connection structure - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connection structure between a lamp unit mounted on a vehicle body panel and a lamp connector of a wire harness.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional connection structure between a lamp unit mounted on a vehicle body panel and a lamp connector of a wire harness is shown in FIGS.

[0003] A lamp mounting opening 2 is formed in the vehicle body panel 1, and a sub panel 3 is provided behind the lamp mounting opening 2. A terminal connector portion 5 is provided on a rear surface 4a of the lamp unit 4, and the lamp unit 4 is attached to the vehicle body panel 1 by screws 6. In this mounting state, the rear surface 4a of the lamp unit 4 is inserted into the opening 2, and the terminal connector portion 5 is protected by the sub panel 3. The lamp connector 8 of the wire harness 7 is connected to the terminal connector 5 of the lamp unit 4 attached to the vehicle body panel 1.

[0004] In a vehicle assembly line, there are many cases where a wire harness 7 is pre-arranged in a vehicle cabin in a pre-process and a lamp unit 4 is attached to the vehicle body panel 1 in a post-process. In the wiring process, only the lamp connector 8 is arranged near the lamp mounting opening 2, and the connection between the lamp connector 8 and the terminal connector portion 5 is performed when the lamp unit 4 is mounted on the vehicle body panel 1.

[0005]

Generally, the work of connecting the wire harness 7 to the vehicle body side unit and the like together with the wiring work of the wire harness 7 are better in workability, and the connection forgetting is reduced and the reliability is reduced. The nature becomes high.

However, in the manufacturing process in which the lamp unit 4 is mounted after the wiring harness 7 is routed, the lamp connector 8 and the terminal connector portion 5 cannot be connected when the wiring harness 7 is routed. It is difficult to improve performance and reliability. If the wiring harness 7 is routed after the lamp unit 4 is mounted, the wiring work and the connection work can be performed in the same process. However, after the units and the like are provided on the vehicle body panel 7, the wiring harness 7 Since the wiring work becomes difficult, there is a possibility that the assembling workability may be reduced.

[0007] The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem.
After installing the wiring harness, simply attach the lamp unit to the vehicle body panel, no special connection work is required,
An object of the present invention is to provide a lamp unit connection structure that can connect a lamp unit and a wire harness.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a terminal connector portion of a lamp unit mounted on a lamp mounting opening of a vehicle body panel is connected to a lamp connector of a wire harness via a relay connector. A connection structure of a lamp unit to be connected, wherein a sub-panel is provided behind the vehicle body panel, and a relay connector mounting opening facing the lamp mounting opening is provided in the sub-panel,
The relay connector is mounted in the relay connector mounting opening, the relay connector having a lamp contact portion for connecting a terminal connector portion of the lamp unit, and a harness contact portion for connecting a lamp connector of the wire harness, and The connection between the terminal connector portion and the lamp contact portion is an elastic movable connection.

[0009]

When the wiring harness is wired, the lamp connector of the wiring harness is connected to the harness contact portion of the relay connector, and when the lamp unit is attached after the wiring harness is routed, the terminal connector of the relay connector and the lamp unit are connected. The lamp contact portion is connected, and the lamp unit is connected to the wire harness via the relay connector. At this time, since the terminal connector portion and the lamp contact portion are elastically movable, even if there is an error in the mounting position of the lamp unit, the error can be allowed and the two can be connected.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a connection state of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state before connection of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of FIG. Is
The same reference numerals are given and the description is omitted.

A relay connector mounting opening 9 is formed in the sub-panel 3 provided behind the vehicle body panel 1 so as to face the lamp mounting opening 2 of the vehicle body panel 1. A relay connector 10 for connecting the terminal connector portion 5 of the first embodiment and the lamp connector 8 of the wire harness 7 is attached.

The lamp unit 4 is provided with a terminal connector portion 5 protruding from the rear surface 4a, and the terminal connector portion 5 is formed with a terminal accommodating chamber 11 in which a male terminal 12 is provided.

In the lamp connector 8 of the wire harness 7, a fitting recess 14 projecting from the female terminal 13 is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape. A stop 15 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, a lamp contact portion 16 connected to the lamp unit 4 is provided on one side of the relay connector 10, and a harness contact portion 17 connected to the wire harness 7 is provided on the other side. A flange portion 18 is formed between the contact portions 16 and 17.

In the relay connector 10 on the lamp contact portion 16 side, a housing recess 35 which is smaller in outer diameter by a predetermined amount than the terminal connector portion 5 of the lamp unit 4 and is capable of housing the terminal connector portion 5 is formed. On the outer peripheral surface 10a of the relay connector on the side of the harness contact portion 17, a locking projection 1 engageable with the flexible locking portion 15 of the lamp connector 8.
9 are provided. Upper and lower two mounting holes 20 are formed in the flange portion 18.
And is fixed to the sub-panel 3 by the mounting screw 21. When mounting to the sub panel 3, the relay connector 1
The 0 lamp contact portion 16 is located on the vehicle body panel 1 side, and the harness contact portion 17 is located on the vehicle interior side.

A relay connection terminal 22 is inserted through the inside of the relay connector 10, and both ends of the relay connection terminal 22 project from both end surfaces of the lamp contact portion 16 and the harness contact portion 17, respectively. The tip of the relay connection terminal 22 protruding from the harness contact portion 17 is fitted into the female terminal 13 of the lamp connector 8,
As a result, the lamp connector 8 and the relay connector 10 are connected.

At the end of the relay connection terminal 22 protruding from the lamp contact portion 16, a spring contact portion 23 is provided.
Is provided. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the spring contact portion 23 includes a cylindrical portion 24 extending from the relay connection terminal 22, a disk-shaped terminal contact portion 25 provided at the tip of the cylindrical portion 24, and a cylindrical portion. It comprises a spring 26 disposed between the terminal 24 and the terminal contact part 25 and a substantially columnar sliding part 27 slidable in the hollow part 24 a in the cylindrical part 24.

A terminal contact surface 25a that can contact the male terminal 12 of the lamp unit 4 is formed on an open surface on one end side of the terminal contact portion 25, corresponding to the tip position of the male terminal 12.
On the other end side, a screw portion 25b is protruded. The outer diameter of the terminal contact surface 25a is the
Is formed larger than the outer diameter of the male terminal 12 so as to allow this even if it is slightly displaced. From one end of the sliding portion 27, a substantially cylindrical mounting portion 27a having a smaller diameter than the outer diameter of the sliding portion 27 is extended, and a screw portion 25b of the terminal contact portion 25 is provided on an open end face of the mounting portion 27a. Are formed in the screw holes 27b. An insertion hole 24b is formed in the end face of the cylindrical portion 24 to prevent the sliding portion 27 from being inserted and allow the mounting portion 27a to be inserted. A spring 26 is provided on the outer periphery of the mounting portion 27a protruding from the through hole 24b. In this state, the terminal contact portion 25 is screwed to the tip of the mounting portion 27. As a result, the terminal contact portion 25 can move in the sliding direction of the sliding portion 27, and an elastic restoring force from the spring 26 is applied to the moved terminal contact portion 25.

The assembling of the lamp unit 4 in the vehicle body assembly and manufacturing line is performed by arranging a wire harness 7 in a previous process.
This is performed in a procedure of attaching the lamp unit 4 to the vehicle body panel 1 in a later process.

In the step of arranging the wire harness 7, the wire harness 7 is arranged, and the relay connector 10 is screwed to the sub-panel 3. Then, the lamp connector 8 of the wire harness 7 is connected to the relay connector 10. To connect the two, the lamp connector 8 is pressed toward the relay connector 10, the relay connection terminal 22 is fitted into the female terminal 13, and the flexible locking portion 15 of the lamp connector 8 is connected to the relay connector 10. This is performed by locking to the locking projection 19. This allows
Both can be connected with one touch.

In the step of mounting the lamp unit 4, the lamp unit 4 is mounted at a predetermined position on the vehicle body panel 1. When the lamp unit 4 is attached, the tip of the terminal connector portion 5 of the lamp unit 4 is
8 and the male terminal 12 of the terminal connector portion 5 contacts the corresponding terminal contact surface 25a. When the male terminal 12 comes into contact with the terminal contact surface 25a, the terminal connector 5 of the lamp unit 4 is connected to the lamp connector 8 of the wire harness 7 from the terminal contact portion 25 via the relay connection terminal 22 and the female terminal 13. Is done. That is, the lamp unit 4 can be connected to the wire harness 7 only by attaching the lamp unit 4.

At this time, the terminal contact portion 25 is moved by being pressed by the male terminal 12, and the spring 2 is attached to the terminal contact portion 25.
Since the elastic force due to 6 is applied, the contact state between the terminal contact portion 25 and the male terminal 12 can be favorably maintained. Further, since the spring 26 serves as an elastic movable connection between the terminal contact portion 25 and the male terminal 12, even if there is an error between the positions in the front-rear direction, this is allowed and a good connection state is established. be able to. On the other hand, in the left-right direction and the front-back direction, the outer diameter of the terminal contact surface 25a is formed larger than the outer diameter of the male terminal 12, so that the error can be allowed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, if the lamp connector 8 is connected to the relay connector 10 when the wire harness 7 is routed, no special connection work is required when the lamp unit 4 is mounted. Since the wire harness 7 and the lamp unit 4 can be connected, the workability of assembly and the reliability of the product are improved.

The male terminal 12 of the lamp unit 4
And the terminal contact portion 25 of the relay connector 10 are elastically movable contact, so that even if there is some error in the mounting position of the lamp unit 4, this can be allowed and the two can be connected.

Further, since the connection work between the lamp unit 4 and the wire harness 7 is not particularly required at the time of mounting the lamp unit 4, the assembling process of the lamp unit 4 can be easily automated.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
And FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the relay connector of the present embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a view showing a state where the relay connector of FIG. 7 is attached to a sub panel.

The relay connector 28 shown in FIG. 7 is a so-called movable type connector, and has a lamp contact portion 29 on one side and a harness contact portion 30 on the other side. The outer periphery of the relay connector 28 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape, and four elastic protrusions 31 are provided on its outer peripheral surface. On the other hand, the relay connector mounting opening 33 of the sub-panel 3 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape slightly larger than the outer periphery of the relay connector 28, and inside the relay connector mounting opening 33,
A groove 32 for receiving and locking the elastic projection 31 is provided.

In this embodiment, the relay connector 28 is attached to the sub-panel 3 by locking the elastic projection 31 in the groove 32, and the other operations are performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. As a result, the relay connector 28 becomes movable within the relay connector mounting opening 33, and the lamp contact portion 29 makes an elastic movable connection with the terminal connector portion 5 of the lamp unit 4, so that the same effect as in the first embodiment is obtained. Obtainable.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the lamp unit and the wire harness can be connected only by attaching the lamp unit to the vehicle body panel after the wiring harness is routed. Product reliability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part showing a connection state of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state before connection in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the relay connector.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a spring contact portion.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a spring contact portion.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another relay connector.

8 is a diagram showing a state in which the relay connector of FIG. 7 is attached to a sub panel.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a conventional state before connection.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional state before connection.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a conventional connection state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Body panel 2 Lamp mounting opening 3 Subpanel 4 Lamp unit 5 Terminal connector part 7 Wire harness 8 Lamp connector 9 Relay connector mounting opening 10 Relay connector 16 Lamp contact part 17 Harness contact part

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A connection structure of a lamp unit for connecting a terminal connector portion of a lamp unit to a lamp mounting opening of a vehicle body panel to a lamp connector of a wire harness via a relay connector, wherein the lamp unit has a rear side. A relay panel mounting opening facing the lamp mounting opening in the sub panel; mounting the relay connector in the relay connector mounting opening; the relay connector connecting a terminal connector portion of the lamp unit. A lamp unit having a contact portion and a harness contact portion for connecting a lamp connector of the wire harness, and wherein the connection between the terminal connector portion and the lamp contact portion is an elastic movable connection. Construction.