JP2574778Y2 - Lever connector - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a lever-type connector in which a connector is connected by leverage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A connector of this kind is connected with a small force.
It has an advantage that it can be detached, and is particularly applied to a multi-pole connector having 20 or more poles. The basic principle is based on the leverage of the lever.
What is publicly known in Japanese Patent No. 62772 is, for example, roughly constituted as follows.

As shown in FIG. 9, for example, a large number of male terminals are arranged in a male connector housing 1 on the insertion side, and a large number of female terminals are arranged in a female connector housing 2 on the insertion side. Then, the male connector housing 1 on the insertion side
Is provided with a lever 3 having a cam groove 3a for performing "lever action" so as to be rotatable.
On the side, an engaging projection 4a is provided on the cover 4 to be put on the cover.
Then, when the two connector housings 1 and 2 are connected, the engaging projection 4a of the cover 4 is engaged with the cam groove 3a of the lever 3 as shown in FIG. When the cover 4 is rotated, the cover 4 and thus the female connector housing 2 are displaced toward the male connector housing 1 by the cam action of the cam groove 3a, thereby connecting the two connectors. Further, generally, a lever lock mechanism for holding the lever 3 at a connection position shown in FIG. 4D is provided so that the connection state can be reliably maintained.

In this configuration, the cam groove 3 of the lever 3
a is such that a downward displacement force is exerted on the engaging projection 4a at any angle at which the lever 3 is rotated from the open position (FIG. 2B) to the coupling position (FIG. 2D). In addition, it has a smooth curve in which the curvature gradually changes according to the angle.

[0005]

[Problem to be solved by the invention] In such a configuration,
In order to disengage both connectors in the connected state, first, the lever lock mechanism is released to allow the lever 3 to rotate, and then an operation is performed by placing a finger on the tip of the lever 3 to cause this. .

However, such an operation does not automatically raise the lever 3 to a position where a finger is easily hooked even if the lever lock mechanism is unlocked.
While holding the connector housings 1 and 2 with one hand, it is necessary to pry open the lever 3 with the other finger, which is not something that can be performed with one hand. For this reason, there is a problem that it is extremely difficult to perform the connector detachment operation after the connector is incorporated in a narrow device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lever-type connector which can easily perform a detaching operation of the connector.

[0008]

The lever type connector according to the present invention has a lever rotatably provided on one of the connectors connected to each other, and has an arcuate cam portion formed on the lever on the other side. An engaging cam receiving portion is provided, and as the lever is rotated from the open position to the connecting position, the cam receiving portion engages with the connecting cam surface of the cam portion to bring the two connectors close to each other. Direction, the two connectors are connected to each other, and the cam receiving portion engages with the opening cam surface of the cam portion as the lever is rotated from the connection position to the open position. A connector for releasing the connector from the connection, and a lever lock portion for holding the lever at the connection position, wherein a return spring for biasing the lever toward the release position is provided. In the opening cam surface, an area where the cam receiving portion is engaged at the initial stage of the rotation of the lever from the coupling position to the opening position is the same curvature portion having a constant distance from the rotation center. The curvature portion is characterized in that the lever is allowed to move toward the open position by a predetermined angle by the bias of the return spring.

[0009]

When the lever is in the coupling position and the two connectors are coupled, the lever is urged toward the open position by the return spring, but is held in the coupling position by the lever lock portion.

In this state, when the engagement of the lever in the lever lock portion is released, the lever attempts to rotate toward the open position by the return spring. Here, in the case of a conventional lever-type connector, since the shape of the cam groove 3a of the lever 3 is set to be a smooth curve that always applies a downward displacement force to the engaging projection 4a, the lever 3 is Even when it is near the coupling position, it is in engagement with the cam groove 3a, and does not return to the opening position from the coupling position and rotate even when biased by the return spring toward the opening position.

On the other hand, according to the configuration of the present invention, since the cam portion of the lever is provided with a play area that allows the lever to return from the coupling position to the open position by a predetermined angle, the lever lock is formed. When the engagement of the lever in the portion is released, the lever is rotated back by a predetermined angle by the force of the return spring. As a result, the lever is slightly raised, and it is easy to put a finger on the lever and raise the lever.

[0012]

As described above, according to the lever-type connector of the present invention, when the lock in the lever lock portion is released, the lever naturally returns and rotates by a predetermined angle to easily put a finger on the lever. An excellent effect that the detaching operation of the connector becomes extremely easy is achieved.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The overall configuration is as shown in FIG. The right side of the figure shows a male connector housing 11 for mounting a male terminal (not shown), and the left side shows a female connector housing 12 for mounting a female terminal (not shown).

The female connector housing 12 is large enough to be inserted into the male connector housing 11,
A pair of cam receiving pins 13 serving as cam receiving portions are provided on both left and right side portions so as to protrude laterally (only one is shown).

On the other hand, a pair of guide grooves 15 are formed on both left and right sides of the male connector housing 11 so that the cam receiving pins 13 can enter the guide grooves 15 when the male connector housing 11 is inserted. A pair of support shafts 16 project laterally from both left and right sides of the male connector housing 11 (only one is shown), and a U-shaped lever 17 is rotatably supported here. As shown in FIG. 2, a cam groove 18 corresponding to a cam portion is formed on the back side (connector housing 11 side) of the lever 17, and when the male connector housing 11 is inserted, the cam receiving pin 13 is inserted and engaged therewith. can do. This cam groove 18
As will be described later in detail, the overall shape is an arc with a gradually changing curvature, and the lever 17 is turned from the “open position” shown in FIG. 1 to the “joined position” shown in FIG. Accordingly, the cam receiving pin 13 and, consequently, the female connector housing 12 are displaced toward the insertion side into the male connector housing 11 by the "cam action", thereby coupling the two connectors.

On the back side of the lever 17, one support shaft 1 is provided.
A spring accommodating recess 19 is formed at a position where 6 passes, and a return spring 20 formed by a “torsion coil spring” is accommodated therein. One end of the return spring 20 is connected to the receiving recess 19 and is formed by a locking groove 1.
9a, and the other end is a male connector housing 11
Are locked by locking projections (not shown) formed on the side wall portion of the horn. As a result, the lever 17 is always biased toward the “open position” by the return spring 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, a locking claw 22 is provided on the upper surface of the female connector housing 12 at a position sandwiched by side walls 21 via elastic legs 23 (see FIG. 5). The rear end of the locking claw 22 (left end in FIG. 5)
Is depressed, the elastic claw 22 bends and the locking claw 22
Elastically deforms so that the tip of the lens rises. A locking projection 24 for engaging with the locking claw 22 is provided at an intermediate portion of the lever 17 to form a lever lock portion 25 for holding the lever 17 at the “coupling position”.

The cam groove 18 of the lever 17 has a shape shown in detail in FIG. That is, the cam groove 18
Are provided with a pair of inner surfaces facing each other in an arcuate shape as a whole, and one inner surface makes strong contact with the cam receiving pin 13 when the female connector housing 12 is inserted, and this connector housing 12 is inserted into the male connector housing 11. (Hereinafter referred to as “insertion side cam surface (coupling cam surface which is a constituent feature of the present invention) 18A”), and the other inner surface strongly contacts the cam receiving pin 13 when the female connector housing 12 is detached. The lever connector housing 12 is displaced in a direction to come off from the male connector housing 11 (hereinafter, this is referred to as a "removing side cam surface (opening cam surface which is a constituent element of the present invention) 18B"). In this embodiment, a portion corresponding to the "open position" of the lever 17 of the detaching side cam surface 18B (an insertion port portion of the cam receiving pin 13).
And a portion corresponding to the "coupling position" of the lever 17 (the deepest portion of the cam receiving pin 13) has a characteristic shape, and the other portion has a continuous shape in which the curvature gradually changes. ing. That is, at the portion corresponding to the “open position” of the lever 17, the release side cam surface 18B is a flat portion 18B1. Thus, simply inserting the female connector housing 12 into the male connector housing 11 causes the cam receiving pin 13 to abut the flat portion 18B1 to prevent further insertion. In a portion corresponding to the “coupling position” of the lever 17, in a region between the lever 17 and the position returning to the “open position” by a predetermined angle θ, the release-side cam surface 18 B has the same curvature where the curvature is constant. The portion 18B2 is provided. As a result, a play area is formed in the lever 17 that allows the lever 17 to return from the “coupled position” to the “open position” by a predetermined angle θ.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described for the case where both connectors in the coupled state are disconnected. Now
It is assumed that the two connectors are in the coupled state as shown in FIG. 6 and the lever 17 is held at the “coupled position” by the lever lock portion 25. Even in this case, the return spring 20
The lever 17 is biased in the direction of the "open position".
However, the lever 17 is prevented from rotating in the "open position" direction by the holding function of the lever lock portion 25.

Here, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, a thumb is put on the rear end of the locking claw 22 of the lever lock portion 25, and this is pushed down. Then, the elastic leg portion 23 is bent and deformed, and the tip of the locking claw 22 is lifted.
7 is disengaged from the engagement projection 23. As a result, in this embodiment, the lever 17 is always urged in the “open position” direction by the return spring 20 and the lever 17 returns from the “coupling position” to the “open position” by a predetermined angle θ. As shown in FIG. 8, the lever 17 immediately returns to the return spring 20 due to the formation of an allowance play area.
With the force of, it returns by the angle θ and turns and stops. Therefore,
The lever 17 rises as shown by the solid line in the figure, and a gap is formed between the lever 17 and the upper surface of the male connector housing 11, so that a finger can be easily hooked on the lever 17 even with one-hand operation. . In this state, the release side cam surface 18B of the cam groove 18 is in pressure contact with the cam receiving pin 13 and a frictional force between the male and female terminals is acting in that state. If this is rotated by pulling, the cam receiving pin 13 of the male connector housing 11 is pushed up by the detaching side cam surface 18B of the cam groove 18, and the cam receiving pin 13 is displaced to the "open position" side and The female connector housing 12 is pulled out of the male connector housing 11 while the two terminals are separated.

As described above, in order to disconnect the connector in the present embodiment, first, the finger is put on the locking claw 22 to unlock the lever 17, so that the lever 17 naturally rises up. This may be caused by placing a finger on the lever 17 to cause this. Therefore, even if the connector is disposed in a narrow space inside the device, the connector can be detached with one hand, and work such as maintenance becomes extremely easy.

When connecting the connectors, the male connector housing 11 is inserted into the female connector housing 12 and the lever 17 is rotated in the direction of the "coupling position". May be engaged with the locking claw 22. As a result, the cam receiving pin 13 is displaced by the cam groove 18 of the lever 17 and the female connector housing 12 reaches the "coupling position", so that the operability at the time of connector coupling is not impaired at all.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, the following modifications are possible.

(A) In the above embodiment, the male connector housing 11 is provided with the lever 17 and the female connector housing 1
2 is provided with the cam receiving pin 13, but conversely, the female connector housing may be provided with a lever and the male connector housing may be provided with a cam receiving portion.

(B) In the above embodiment, the cam receiving pin 13 (cam receiving portion) is provided directly on the female connector housing 12. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the cam receiving pin 13 is provided so as to cover the connector housing. The cover may be provided with a cam receiving portion that engages with a cam groove of a lever provided in the other connector housing, and the cover and, consequently, the connector housing are displaced as the lever rotates.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a lever.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a turning process of a lever and a moving process of an engagement pin.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a lever lock unit.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same.

FIG. 6 is an overall perspective view showing the connector in a connected state;

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the process of the detaching operation.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the process of the detaching operation.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing a conventional lever-type connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Male connector housing 12 ... Female connector housing 13 ... Cam receiving pin (cam receiving part) 17 ... Lever 18 ... Cam groove (cam part) 20 ... Return spring 25 ... Lever lock part

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01R 13/62-13/639

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A lever is provided rotatably on one of the connectors coupled to each other, and a cam receiving portion is provided on the other side for engaging with an arcuate cam portion formed on the lever. Along with rotating from the open position to the coupling position, the cam receiving portion engages with the coupling cam surface of the cam portion to displace the two connectors in the approaching direction to couple both connectors, As the lever is rotated from the coupling position toward the release position, the cam receiving portion engages with an opening cam surface of the cam portion to release both connectors from the coupling, and A lever lock portion for holding a lever at the coupling position, wherein a return spring for urging the lever in the opening position direction is provided; The region where the cam receiving portion is engaged at the initial stage of rotation from the coupling position to the open position is the same curvature portion having a constant distance from the rotation center. In this curvature portion, the lever is provided with the return spring. A lever-type connector characterized in that it is allowed to move to an open position side by a predetermined angle by biasing.