JP2583264Y2 - 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 a lever type connector for engaging and disengaging a connector by a cam action.
In particular, the present invention relates to a device in which the shape of the cam receiving projection is devised.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A connector of this kind is connected with a small force.
It has the advantage that it can be disconnected, and is particularly applied to multi-pole connectors. The basic principle is based on the leverage of the lever. For example, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-62772 is schematically shown in FIG. Configuration.

[0003] In the figure, a female connector housing 1 in which a female terminal is incorporated is shown on the upper side, and a male connector housing 2 in which a male terminal is incorporated is shown on the lower side. It can be inserted into the hood portion 2a of the male connector housing 2. A lever 4 having a cam groove 3 for performing "lever action" is rotatably provided on the male connector housing 2, and a cam receiving projection 6 is provided on a cover 5 placed on the female connector housing 1 side.
Is provided.

When the connectors 1 and 2 are connected, as shown in FIG. 1B, the cam receiving projection 6 of the cover 5 attached to the female connector housing 1 is first inserted into the cam groove 3 of the lever 4. Thereafter, the lever 4 is turned in the direction of the arrow. Then, the side edge 3a of the cam groove 3, which is located on the upper side in FIG. 3C, presses the cam receiving projection 6 downward, so that the cover 5 is pushed downward in the figure, and the terminals of both connectors are connected. The female connector housing 1 is inserted into the hood portion 2a of the male connector housing 2 overcoming the insertion resistance of the group.

Conversely, to release the connector from the state shown in FIG. 1D, the lever 4 is rotated in the reverse direction. Then, the side edge 3b of the cam groove 3 located on the lower side in the figure pushes up the cam receiving projection 6 from below, thereby overcoming the pull-out resistance caused by the frictional force between the male and female terminals. As a result, the female connector housing 1 is pulled out of the male connector housing 2.

[0006]

In general, in this type of construction, if the inclination of the portion of the side edge of the cam groove that contacts the cam receiving projection is the same, the female connector housing 1 is not required. The magnitude of the operating force required to raise and lower
Obviously, it is determined by the lever ratio. This lever ratio is, as shown in FIG. 7, the distance L between the point of force (the tip of the lever 4) and the fulcrum (the center of the support shaft 7 of the lever 4).
1 and the distance L2 between the point of action (the center of the cam receiving projection 6) and the fulcrum. The smaller the distance L2, the greater the downward force F2 acting on the point of action. it can. Therefore, in designing a lever-type connector of this type, the dimensions of the lever 4 and the connector housings 1 and 2 are set so that the maximum lever ratio is obtained under the restriction of a predetermined specification.

However, in the conventional structure, the cam receiving projection 6 has a simple columnar shape, and therefore, there is a problem that a sufficient lever ratio as designed cannot be obtained. The reason is as follows. Since the female connector housing 1 is fitted into and removed from the hood portion 2a of the male connector housing 2, a predetermined clearance is provided between the female connector housing 1 and the inner wall of the hood portion 2a. For this reason, for example, when the lever 4 is rotated to connect the connectors, the female connector housing 1 is pushed by the left side edge 3a of the lever 4 as shown in FIG. Escape displacement. Then, as is clear from the analysis diagram shown in FIG. 9, the distance L22 between the fulcrum and the fulcrum after the clearance displacement becomes longer than the design value L21, so that the lever ratio becomes large and A large operation resistance acts.

In order to avoid this, it may be considered that the position of the cam receiving projection 6 should be provided to be shifted to the left by the clearance displacement in advance. However, in this case, when the lever 4 is rotated to detach the connector, the female connector housing 1 escapes and displaces in a direction opposite to the direction shown in FIG. 8, so that the lever ratio becomes large when the connector is detached. Operation resistance will increase.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. Therefore, the object of the present invention is to make it possible to operate the lever with a light operating force even if one of the connector housings is displaced by the rotation operation of the lever. An object of the present invention is to provide a lever-type connector capable of performing an operation.

[0010]

The lever-type connector according to the present invention has a lever rotatably provided on one of the two connector housings and is engaged with an arcuate cam groove formed on the lever on the other side. The cam receiving protrusion is provided by pivoting the lever in the connecting direction and obliquely pressing the connecting receiving portion of the cam receiving protrusion with one inner edge of the cam groove. To the center of rotation of the lever to couple the two connectors together, and rotate the lever in the disengagement direction to tilt the disengagement receiving portion of the cam receiving projection at the other inner edge of the cam groove. , The cam receiving protrusion is separated from the center of rotation so that the two connectors are separated from each other, and a clearance is provided between the two connector housings along the coupling / removal direction. Wherein the coupling receiving portion is displaced in a direction opposite to the escape direction of the cam receiving protrusion side connector housing during the coupling operation with respect to a coupling / disengaging direction line passing through the rotation center of the lever. The detachment receiving portion is formed at a position displaced to the side opposite to the escape direction of the cam receiving protruding portion side connector housing at the time of the detaching operation with respect to the regular coupling and detaching direction line. Have.

[0011]

When the lever is rotated in the coupling direction of the connector, one inner edge of the cam groove presses the coupling receiving portion of the cam receiving projection to move the connector housing in the coupling direction. At this time, since the inner edge portion presses the coupling receiving portion obliquely, the connector housing on the side of the cam receiving protruding portion is displaced by clearance in a direction intersecting the coupling direction.

Conversely, when the lever is turned in the detaching direction of the connector, the other inner edge of the cam groove obliquely presses the detaching receiving portion, and the connector housing moves in the detaching direction. Also in this case, the connector housing on the cam receiving protrusion side escapes and displaces due to the clearance in a direction intersecting the detaching direction.

However, since the coupling receiving portion is displaced from the normal coupling / disconnecting direction line passing through the center of rotation of the lever in a direction opposite to the direction of the escape displacement when the cam receiving projection side connector housing is coupled. When the connector housing escapes and displaces, the coupling receiving portion approaches the above-mentioned normal coupling / disengaging direction line, and the distance between the coupling receiving portion and the center of rotation of the lever is shortened, thereby reducing the lever ratio. Similarly, when the connector housing escapes and displaces at the time of detachment, the distance between the detachment receiving portion and the rotation center becomes short, and the lever ratio becomes small.

[0014]

As described above, according to the lever type connector of the present invention, even if there is a situation where one of the connector housings is displaced by the rotation operation of the lever,
There is an effect that the connection / disconnection operation of the connector can be performed with a small operation force by reducing the lever ratio.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The overall structure is as shown in FIG. 5, in which a male connector housing 11 to which a male terminal (not shown) is attached is drawn on the lower side, and a female connector housing 12 to which a female terminal (not shown) is attached is drawn on the upper side. I have.

A cover 13 is provided on the upper portion of the female connector housing 12 to cover the entire upper surface thereof. The cover 13 is engaged with the female connector housing 12 by an engagement mechanism 13a, and a cam receiving projection 17, which will be described in detail later, is laterally protruded from the side wall at the center in the left-right direction in FIG. ing.

On the other hand, the male connector housing 11 has a rectangular hood portion 18 whose upper surface is open. The hood portion 18 is capable of inserting the female connector housing 12 and the female connector housing 12 is
8 has a predetermined clearance between itself and the female connector housing 12 so that it can move freely in the connecting / disconnecting direction. Each outer wall of the hood portion 18 has a lever support shaft 19 located at the center in the left-right direction of the hood portion 18.
Are protruded laterally, and the lever 14 is attached thereto. The lever 14 has a two-leg shape, and the upper ends of the left and right legs 15 are connected by a bridge portion 14a.
A bearing hole 20 into which the lever support shaft 19 is fitted in each leg 15
And a cam groove 16 are formed. The cam groove 16 is formed in an arc shape with the bearing hole 20 side inward, and has an upper end opened. When the female connector housing 12 is inserted into the hood 18 of the male connector housing 11,
The cam receiving projection 17 of the cover 13 enters the cam groove 16 from the opening 16c. In this state, when the lever 14 is rotated in a state where the cam receiving projection 17 on the female connector housing 12 side and the cam groove 16 are engaged, the cam groove 16
The side edge of the cover presses or pushes up the cam receiving projection 17, and the cam action displaces the cover 13 and thus the female connector housing 12 with respect to the male connector housing 11, thereby connecting and disconnecting both connectors. Can be made.

Now, the cam receiving projection 17 provided on the cover 13 will be described in detail. This is non-circular, unlike the prior art, as shown in FIG.
Specifically, one side and the other, which are vertically divided cylinders, are shifted from each other in opposite directions, and the upper half part (the coupling receiving part, which is a component of the present invention) in the figure is on the left side. , The lower half portion (removal receiving portion, which is a component of the present invention) is shifted to the right. As a result, the point at which the inner edge 16a on the left side of the cam groove 16 comes into contact when the lever 14 is rotated in the connecting direction of the connector (the direction of the arrow A in the figure) is the female connector housing. 12 are shifted to the left by G1 from the center line X in the left-right direction (regular connection / disconnection direction line which is a constituent element of the present invention). The displacement G1 is determined in consideration of the clearance C1 provided between the female connector housing 12 and the right inner wall of the hood portion 18 and the play of the support portion of the lever 14. Although not shown, a point at which the right inner edge portion 16b of the cam groove 16 comes into contact when the lever 14 is rotated in a connector detaching direction (a direction opposite to the arrow A in the drawing) (that is, a detachment-side contact point) ) Is also shifted by a predetermined amount to the right from the center line X, and the amount of shift is also limited by the clearance C2 provided between the female connector housing 12 and the left inner wall of the hood portion 18 and the supporting portion of the lever 14. Is determined in consideration of

To connect the connectors in the above configuration, the female connector housing 12 is inserted into the hood portion 18 of the male connector housing 11, and the lever 14 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in the figure. Then, the connection side contact point PC of the cam receiving projection 17 which has entered the cam groove 16 is pressed down by contacting the left edge 16a of the cam groove 16, and the cover 13 and, consequently, the female connector housing 12 are moved by the leverage. It is pushed down to go deeper into 18.
Now, the lever ratio of the “lever action” at this time will be considered. As described above, the lever ratio is determined according to the ratio of the distance L1 between the force point and the fulcrum to the distance L2 between the action point and the fulcrum. In this embodiment, the point of force corresponds to the tip of the lever 14, the fulcrum corresponds to the center of the bearing hole 20, and the point of action is the connection side contact point Pc between the cam receiving projection 17 and the inner edge of the cam groove 16. Is equivalent to Distance L between force point and fulcrum
Since 1 is considered to have sufficient rigidity of the lever 14, it does not change during the connection of the connector and can be treated as constant. For the other distance L2, the position of the bearing hole 20 of the lever 14 does not change.
It depends on the position of the point of action. Here, the cam receiving projection 1
7 is in contact with the cam groove 16 on an arcuate surface, so that the cam groove 1
The position of the contact point Pc between the cam 6 and the cam receiving projection 17 is determined by the lever 1
It should move along the arcuate surface with the rotation of 4. However, the amount of change in the lateral direction is actually extremely small and can be ignored. Therefore, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that the action point always exists at the center O of the upper half of the cam receiving projection 17.

When the insertion resistance is extremely small at the beginning of insertion of the female connector housing 12, the female connector housing 12 is located at the center of the hood portion 18, with the clearances C1 and C2 left on both the left and right sides. At this time, the action point for determining the magnitude of the lever ratio is at a position shifted leftward from the center of the male connector housing 11 as shown in FIG. However, when the insertion resistance increases, the force applied to the lever 14 also increases, so that the lateral component force received by the cam receiving projection 17 from the left edge 16a of the cam groove 16 also increases. As shown in (B), the escaping portion 18 is displaced to the right until it comes into contact with the right inner wall of the hood portion 18. Then
Since the cam receiving projection 17 is also displaced to the right at the same time, the action point O that determines the magnitude of the lever ratio moves to the right, and becomes approximately the center of the male connector housing 11 in the left-right direction. When the action point O moves to the right side, the distance between the fulcrum P of the lever 14 and the action point O decreases from L21 to L20, as is apparent from the analysis diagram shown in FIG. This means
Since this means that the lever ratio becomes smaller, the lever 14
Female connector housing 1 even if a small operating force is applied to
2 can be pushed down strongly.

Conversely, when the connector is disconnected, the lever 14 is rotated in the direction opposite to the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, but in this case, the right side edge portion 16 of the cam groove 16 is rotated.
b pushes up the cam receiving projection 17, and the cover 13 and, consequently, the female connector housing 12
Raised from inside. At this time, when a strong operating force is not applied to the lever 14, the detachment side contact point of the cam receiving projection 17 is located on the right side of the center line X, but when the force applied to the lever 14 increases, Since the lateral component force received by the cam receiving projection 17 from the right edge 16b of the cam groove 16 becomes large, the female connector housing 1
Although not shown, 2 is displaced to the right until it comes into contact with the left inner wall of the hood portion 18. Therefore, although the direction is the reverse of the direction when the connector is connected, the lever 1
4, the distance between the fulcrum and the point of action is reduced, the lever ratio is reduced, and the female connector housing 12
Can be pushed up strongly.

As described above, in this embodiment, the cam receiving projection 1
7 are provided in advance so as to be separated from each other in the respective directions of the escape displacements when the female connector housing 12 is connected and disconnected when the female connector housing 12 is connected to and disconnected from the female connector housing 12. When the escape displacement occurs, the lever ratio becomes small. As a result, the female connector housing 12 can be moved up and down with a small operation force in any of the connection and detachment operations.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. The cam receiving projection may be provided not on the cover of the female connector housing but on the female connector housing itself. And a cam receiving projection may be provided on the male connector housing side. In short, the present invention can be widely applied to a connector of the type that performs coupling and disengagement using the leverage action of a lever.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a lever-type connector according to an embodiment of the present invention in a detached state.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the joining process.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view showing a main part.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a change in lever ratio at the time of connector connection;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the entire lever connector according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional lever-type connector.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view of a conventional lever-type connector.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged side view showing a state at the time of coupling in a conventional example.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a change in lever ratio at the time of coupling in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 male connector housing 12 female connector housing 14 lever 16 cam groove 17 cam projection

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Fukamachi 1-14 Nishisuehirocho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-6-333637 (JP, A) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01R 13/62-13/629

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A lever is provided rotatably on one of two connector housings, and a cam receiving projection is provided on the other side for engaging with an arcuate cam groove formed on the lever, and the lever is connected. The cam receiving projection is pulled toward the center of rotation of the lever by pressing the coupling receiving portion of the cam receiving projection obliquely at one inner edge of the cam groove. By connecting the connector, the lever is pivoted in the disengagement direction, and the disengagement receiving portion of the cam receiving protruding portion is obliquely pressed by the other inner edge portion of the cam groove, so that the cam receiving protruding portion is formed. The connector is detached from the center of rotation so that both connectors are detached, and a clearance is provided between the connector housings in the coupling / removal direction. The cam receiving protrusion side connector housing is formed at a position displaced to the side opposite to the escape direction of the connector housing at the time of the connecting operation with respect to a normal connecting / disconnecting direction line passing through the rotation center of the lever, and A lever-type connector formed at a position displaced in a direction opposite to a relief direction of the cam receiving projection side connector housing at the time of a detaching operation with respect to the regular coupling / disconnecting direction line.