JP3285308B2 - Half mating prevention 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 male / female pair of half-fitting prevention connectors having a half-fitting prevention function used in an electric system of an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of half-fitting prevention connectors have been known. For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-819
One disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 67 is known. The conventional half-fitting prevention connector 51 shown in FIG. 8 has a male pin contact 52 and a female socket contact 5 inside.
The compression spring 56 urged in the anti-fitting direction is attached to one female connector 55 of the pair of female / male connectors 55, 54 provided with the connector 3, and is locked across both the female / male connectors 55, 54. A mechanism 57 is provided.

[0003] The other male connector 54 is surrounded by a top plate 58, a bottom plate 59 and a side plate 60, has a box shape opened front and rear, and accommodates a plurality of pin contacts 52 therein. The female connector 55 is provided so as to be able to be fitted therein, and the plurality of socket contacts 53 accommodated in the female connector 55 are fitted with the pin contacts 52 to be electrically connected. A cut is provided in the center of the side plate 60 on both sides, and a flexible locking piece 61 as a part of the lock mechanism 57 is formed integrally with the side plate 60 forward in the cut. I have. This locking piece 6
The front end of 1 is disposed slightly behind the front end of the side plate 60. A locking claw 62 is provided at the front end of the locking piece 61 so as to project inward.

Further, a spring accommodating portion 63 for supporting and accommodating the rear end of the compression spring 56 is provided on both sides of the one female connector 55. And the spring accommodating portion 63
Inside, a spring guide rod 64 is provided so as to protrude in the fitting direction. On the outer periphery of the female connector 55, a box-shaped movable cover 65 opened front and rear is provided so as to be slidable back and forth. Spring housings 66 are provided on both sides of the movable cover 65 so as to cover the outer periphery of the spring housing 63. The front end of the compression spring 56 urges the front end of the spring housing 66 forward. Locking grooves 70 as locking mechanisms 57 are provided on both side plates of the female connector 55. The long hole 6 provided on the top plate of the movable cover 65
The projections 68 provided on the top plate of the female connector 55 and the female connector 55 regulate the forward sliding of the movable cover 65 by the urging force of the compression spring 56.

When the pair of female / male connectors 55 and 54 are fitted to each other, the half-fitting prevention connector 51 having the above configuration
First, after the front portion of the female connector 55 is fitted into the male connector 54, the locking claw 62 rides on the side plate 69 of the female connector 55 while bending the locking piece 61 outward. Then, the distal end of the locking piece 61 and the locking claw 62 come into contact with the front end surface of the spring accommodating portion 66, so that the movable cover 65 is moved backward while compressing the compression spring 56.

Then, a pair of female / male connectors 55, 54
Is further compressed, the compression spring 56 is further compressed, the locking claw 62 is locked in the locking groove 70, the bending of the locking piece 61 returns to its original state, and the front end of the locking piece 61 Is removed from the front end face of the spring housing 66. Then, when the pressing force for fitting the connector is loosened or released, the movable cover 65 is returned to the original position by the urging force of the compression spring 56, and the female / male connectors 55, 54 are completely fitted. become.
At the same time, the pin contact 52 and the socket contact 53
Are also completely fitted. Since the outer surface of the side plate 60 is in contact with the inner surface of the spring accommodating portion 66, the locking piece 61 cannot be bent outward. Therefore, the locking claw 6
2 does not come off from the locking groove 70, and the female / male connectors 55 and 54 are completely locked by the lock mechanism 57.

However, before the locking claws 62 of the locking mechanism 57 are locked in the locking grooves 70, that is, the pair of female / male connectors 5.
In the half-fitted state, when the pressing force at the time of fitting is loosened or released, it is pushed back by the urging force of the compression spring 56, so that the half-fitted state is prevented.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional half-fitting prevention connector 51, the male connector 54 is often fixed to the vehicle body side, and is a hard synthetic resin such as glass-containing resin with low flexibility. Since the locking piece 61 is often made of a material, the locking piece 61 of the locking mechanism 57 bends outward each time the pair of female / male connectors 55 and 54 are fitted and connected. Since the compression spring 56 is compressed by pressing the front end surface of the spring accommodating portion 66 of the movable cover 65, there is a concern that fatigue failure may occur if the operation is repeatedly performed, and there is a problem that reliability is low.

In order to release the pair of female / male connectors 55, 54 which are fitted and connected, the locking piece is pulled while pulling the movable cover 65 backward from the female connector 55 against the urging force of the compression spring 56. Since the locking pawl 62 must be separated from the locking groove 70 by bending the 61, there is a problem that workability is poor. On the other hand, when the movable cover 65 is pressed backward by an unexpected external force, the locking claw 62 is disengaged from the locking groove 70 and the fitting of the female / male connectors 55 and 54 is released. Further, since the spring accommodating portions are required on both sides, there is a problem that the size is large and is not suitable for a small connector for connecting a small number of male and female contacts. In addition, it is not preferable to provide a flexible locking piece in the male connector on the vehicle body side, and a housing structure as simple as possible is demanded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to prevent a pair of female and male connectors from being left in a half-fitted state when mated and connected, and to destroy a lock mechanism. And the work at the time of release is easy,
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a semi-fitting prevention connector capable of reducing the size of a housing.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a semi-mating prevention connector according to claim 1, wherein a pair of female and male connectors each having an appropriate number of male and female contacts therein are fitted and locked. Locking mechanism, a sliding member that slides on the outer surface of one of the housings of the female and male connectors, and a semi-fitting prevention connector including an elastic member that urges the sliding body in an anti-fitting direction. A lock mechanism having one lock member in the front and a flexible lock arm formed on the outer surface of the one housing, and the one lock member on the front outer surface of the other housing of the female / male connector. The other lock member of the lock mechanism to be locked and a contact portion with which the front end of the slide body abuts are provided, and the slide body has flexibility, and Flexible below, Serial slidably disposed between one of the housing outer surface and said locking arm inner surface, prior to said sliding body
An inclined surface is provided on the lock arm side.
Serial that you have locked the engagement hole is provided in the contact portion can be solved by half-fitting prevention connector according to claim.

According to the half-fitting prevention connector having the above structure,
The female / male connector is prevented from being left in a half-fitted state by the elastic member biased in the anti-fitting direction, and the male connector is brought into contact with the other lock member of the lock mechanism and the sliding body. Since it has a simple structure with no flexible portion just provided with the abutting portion, it can be manufactured with a highly durable hard synthetic resin and can be easily reduced in size. In addition, to release the female / male connector from the completely fitted state, it is sufficient to pull the sliding body backward and press the other lock member inward, so that workability during maintenance etc. should be improved. Can be. Further, even if the rear end of the sliding body is pushed rearward by an unexpected external force, the frictional force acts on the lock mechanism by the elastic member, so that the female / male connector is fitted unless the other lock member is pressed inward artificially. Is not canceled, and safety can be improved.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a half-fitting prevention connector according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a half-fitting prevention connector according to the present invention having a partial cross section, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a lock arm and a sliding body in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the male connector in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 5 to 7 are operation explanatory diagrams in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a half-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present embodiment has a pair of female and male connectors each having a female socket contact 2 and a male pin contact 3 in a housing. A lock mechanism 6 for locking the female and male connectors 4 and 5; a slide lock 10 which is a sliding body capable of sliding on the outer surface of the female housing 9 of the female connector 4; The compression spring 11 is an elastic member that urges the lock 10 in the anti-fitting direction. The locking mechanism 6 includes a locking claw 7 which is a locking member provided at a front end of a lock arm 12 which is flexibly provided on an outer surface of the female housing 9, and a locking claw 7 provided on an outer surface of a front end of the male housing 13. Locking gate plate 8 which is a locking member of
It consists of

Also, as shown in FIG.
Numeral 0 is slidably held between the outer surface of the female housing 9 and the lower surface of the lock arm 12, has flexibility at least in the front, and has a flexible space in the front upper surface on the lock arm 12 side. An inclined surface 16 is provided for securing the same.
Further, a contact portion 15 is provided near the front end of the slide lock 10.
Is provided with an engagement hole 17 which engages with the hole. Also, on both sides of the slide lock 10, the root 1 of the lock arm 12 is provided.
A lock projection 19 is provided to be locked to the lock receiving portion 12b of 2a, and a finger contact recess 14 having a sawtooth cross section for release is provided near the rear end of the upper surface.

The locking claw 7 of the lock arm 12 has an inclined upper surface 7a on its upper surface for smoothly locking to the locking gate plate 8 at the time of fitting with the mating male connector 5, and a slide lock. 10 is provided with a lower inclined surface 7b for further securing upward flexibility of the front portion. Further, the compression spring 11 is provided on the lock arm 1 on the rear outer surface of the female housing 9.
The slide-lock-side spring receiving recess which is housed in the housing-side spring-receiving recess 9 a provided at a position corresponding to the lower part of the slide lock 2 and partially accommodates the lower surface of the slide lock 10. 10a is provided.

As shown in FIG. 3, a packing 18a is mounted on the outer periphery of the portion surrounding the socket contact 2 of the female housing 9, and a rubber plug 18b is mounted on the electric wire W at the rear end of the socket contact 2. , Male housing 1
3 to prevent water or the like from entering the socket contact 2 and the pin contact 3 by being sandwiched between the male housing 13 and the inner peripheral surface thereof. As shown in FIG. 4, on the outer surface of the male housing 13 on the locking gate plate 8 side, a front end of the slide lock 10 is abutted, and a contact portion 15 for locking the engaging hole 17 is provided. I have. This contact part 15
The front and rear surfaces in the fitting direction are formed to be inclined in consideration of the fitting and releasing properties of the connectors.

In this embodiment having the above-described configuration,
The fitting operation of the half-fitting prevention connector 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the slide lock 10 is inserted from the front side of the lock arm 12 and the slide lock 10 is inserted.
The locking projections 19 on both sides of the lock arm 12
It is set by being locked by the locking receiving portion 12b provided in the 2a. The female / male connectors 4 and 5 are pressed against each other with their front end faces facing each other, whereby the mutual fitting is started. As shown in FIG. 5, when the mutual fitting proceeds, the locking claw 7 goes under the locking gate plate 8 and the lock arm 1
2 is bent downward, so that the slide lock 10 moves forward while sliding on the male housing 13 while being pressed downward in the figure via the inclined surface 16, and the front end is brought into contact with the contact portion 15. .

When the female housing 9 is further pushed forward, the slide lock 10 is prevented from moving forward.
As the lock arm 12 moves forward, the compression spring 11 is compressed. At this time, when the forward pressing force of the female housing 9 is loosened or released, the female housing 9 is pushed rearward by the urging force of the compression spring 11, so that it is possible to immediately detect that the female housing 9 is in an incompletely fitted state. it can. Therefore, the half-fitted state of the female / male connectors 4 and 5 is reliably prevented, so that the reliability of the half-fitted connector can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when the female and male connectors 4 and 5 are fitted, the locking claw 7 comes out at the rear edge of the locking gate plate 8, so that the bending of the lock arm 12 is restored. Returning to the state, the lower surface is separated from the inclined surface 16. And female housing 9
Of the slide lock 10 is bent upward by the urging force of the compression spring 11 so that the contact portion 15
Get over. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the engagement hole 17 is locked in the contact portion 15, the bending of the slide lock 10 returns to the original state, and the female housing 9 is slightly returned by the compression spring 11 to return to the female / male housing. 9 and 13 are completely fitted by the lock mechanism 6. Slide lock 1 in this state
0 is pushed back by an unexpected external force, the compression spring 11
, The frictional force of the lock mechanism 6 increases. Therefore, the fitting of the female / male connectors 4 and 5 is not released unless the locking claw 7 is artificially pressed downward. Therefore,
Further, a highly reliable half-fitting prevention connector can be obtained.

In order to release the fitting of the female / male connectors 4 and 5, first, when the finger contact concave portion 14 of the slide lock 10 is pulled backward, the locking hole 17 comes off the contact portion 15.
The front end of the slide lock 10 is in contact with the rear end of the contact portion 15. Then, if the locking pawl 7 is pressed downward to release the locking with the locking gate plate 8, the fitting of the female / male connectors 4 and 5 is easily released by the urging force of the compression spring 6. This release operation can be easily performed by one worker, and the operation efficiency can be improved.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the female / male connectors 4 and 5 are prevented from being left in a half-fitted state by the compression spring 6 urged in the anti-fitting direction. At the same time, the male housing 13 made of a hard synthetic resin has a simple housing structure without a portion that bends during fitting or unmating work, so that the reliability and durability of the semi-fitting prevention connector are improved, The size of the housing can be reduced.

[0023]

As described above, according to the half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention, one lock member of the lock mechanism is provided at the front and a flexible lock arm formed on the outer surface of one housing. A lock member for locking one lock member on a front outer surface of the other housing of the female / male connector, and a contact portion with which a front end of the sliding body is contacted. The moving body has flexibility, is flexible below one of the lock members, and is slidably disposed between the outer surface of the one housing and the inner surface of the lock arm. Therefore, the female / male connector is prevented from being left in a half-fitted state by the elastic member biased in the anti-fitting direction, and the male connector abuts on the other lock member of the lock mechanism and the sliding member. Since the abutting portion is provided, the housing has a simple housing structure and has no flexible parts, so that the durability is excellent and the size of the housing can be easily reduced. Therefore, the reliability of the half-fitting prevention connector can be improved.

In addition, the inclined surface is provided on the lock arm side of the sliding body and the engagement hole is provided to be engaged with the contact portion, so that the slide body can be easily bent to the lock arm side. In addition, the connector can be smoothly fitted, and the sliding body can be reliably held by the engagement hole being locked to the contact portion.

In order to release the female / male connector from the completely fitted state, it is sufficient to pull the sliding body backward and then press the other lock member inward, so that the release work during maintenance can be easily performed. And workability can be improved. Further, even if the rear end of the sliding body is pushed backward by an unexpected external force, the frictional force acts on the lock mechanism by the elastic member, so that the female / male connector is fitted unless the other lock member is artificially pressed inward. Is not released. Therefore, the reliability of the half-fitting prevention connector can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a lock arm and a sliding body of the female connector in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the female connector in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the male connector in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view showing a fitting start state in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view showing a fitting halfway state in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view showing a fitting completed state in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a conventional half-fitting prevention connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Half-fitting prevention connector 2 Socket contact 3 Pin contact 4 Female connector 5 Male connector 6 Lock mechanism 7 Locking claw (Lock member) 8 Lock gate plate (Lock member) 9 Female housing (One housing) 10 Slide lock (Sliding) (Moving body) 11 compression spring (elastic member) 12 lock arm 13 male housing (other housing) 15 contact portion 16 inclined surface 17 engagement hole

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A locking mechanism for fitting and locking a pair of female and male connectors each having an appropriate number of male and female contacts therein, and a slide sliding on one housing outer surface of the female and male connectors. A semi-fitting prevention connector comprising a moving body and an elastic member for urging the sliding body in an anti-fitting direction, the connector having one lock member of the lock mechanism in the front and being formed on an outer surface of the one housing. A front end of the sliding body, and a flexible lock arm, the other lock member of the lock mechanism that locks the one lock member on the front outer surface of the other housing of the female / male connector. And the sliding body has flexibility and is flexible below the one lock member, and slides between the one housing outer surface and the lock arm inner surface. Placed in possible The inclined surface is provided et the locking arm side of the sliding body forward
And an engagement hole to be locked to the contact portion is provided.
Is a semi-mating prevention connector.