JP3505974B2 - 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 connector provided with a wire cover.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a connector equipped with an electric wire cover,
There is one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-36242. As shown in FIG. 9, this type of connector 1 has a structure in which a rear surface of a connector housing 2 in which a terminal fitting (not shown) is housed is attached so as to cover an electric wire cover 3. From the rear surface of the connector housing 2, electric wires 4 connected to the respective terminal fittings extend in a substantially right-angled direction, and these electric wires 4 are bundled inside the electric wire cover 3 and bent at a substantially right angle to open the electric wire cover 3. From the connector housing 2 in the direction along the back surface thereof. The connector 1 is used for a wire harness of an automobile and penetrates through a connector through hole H of a panel that separates a vehicle compartment and an engine room. At this time, the connector 1 is in a state in which it is not fitted with a mating connector (not shown), and the connector housing 2
Through the connector through hole H in a posture along the back surface of the wire, that is, with the lead-out direction of the electric wire 4 oriented parallel to the through direction.

[0003]

The connector through hole H is
Since it is desirable to make the opening area as small as possible for reasons such as sound insulation, it is a circular hole having the minimum diameter necessary for the connector 1 to penetrate. However, if the opening of the connector through hole H is made small in this way, the connector housing 2 and the electric wire cover 3 are easily caught at the opening edge of the connector through hole H when the connector 1 is penetrated, and therefore the workability is not good. There was a problem. As a countermeasure,
It is conceivable to reduce the protruding size of the electric wire cover 3 from the rear surface of the connector housing 2 to reduce the size of the entire connector. However, in this case, the electric wire 4 is always largely bent in the electric wire cover 3. Therefore, the terminal fitting in the connector housing 2 becomes slanted, which causes a problem such as a trouble in fitting with the terminal fitting of the mating connector. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to improve workability when penetrating a connector through hole.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector housing having an electric wire extending from a rear surface thereof, and an electric wire cover provided so as to cover the rear surface of the connector housing. A connector that is bent inside a cover and led out in a direction along a back surface of the connector housing, wherein the wire cover is a connector that penetrates through a connector through hole in the same direction as the lead-out direction of the wire. The connector housing is configured so that it can be displaced relative to the back surface in the contact and separation directions.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the electric wire cover is displaced in a direction away from the rear surface of the connector housing by an elastic restoring force in a bent portion of the electric wire. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, elastic bending means that elastically bends as the electric wire cover approaches the connector housing is provided.

[0006]

[Operation and effect of the invention]

<Invention of Claim 1> When the connector of the present invention is penetrated through the connector through hole, if the electric wire cover is brought close to the back surface of the connector housing, the connector is temporarily miniaturized and the opening edge of the connector through hole is formed. Since the gap between and becomes wider, it is less likely to be caught and workability at the time of penetration is improved. Also, when the wire cover approaches the connector housing, the amount of bending of the wire inside the wire cover increases, but once the wire cover has penetrated, the wire cover can be separated from the connector housing to restore the wire to a less bent state. Can be made. That is, since the increase in the bending amount of the electric wire is only a temporary phenomenon, it is possible to avoid the problem caused by the continuation of the largely bent state.

<Invention of Claim 2> When the connector is penetrated through the connector through hole, the electric wire cover is brought close to the connector housing while elastically bending the electric wire, and the electric wire cover is pressed by hand to maintain the approaching state. After the penetration, if the pressing force of the hand is released, the electric wire cover automatically separates from the connector housing by the elastic restoring force of the electric wire. The workability is good because it is not necessary to separate the wire cover from the connector housing.

<Invention of Claim 3> When the connector is penetrated through the connector through hole, the electric wire cover is brought close to the connector housing while elastically bending the elastic bending means, and pressed by hand to maintain the approaching state. After the penetration, if the pressing force of the hand is released, the electric wire cover is automatically separated from the connector housing by the elastic restoring force of the elastic bending means. The workability is good because it is not necessary to separate the wire cover from the connector housing. Further, when the elastic restoring force of the electric wire is added, the function of automatically separating the electric wire cover from the connector housing is further improved.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

<First Embodiment> A first preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The connector 10 of the present embodiment is configured to include a connector housing 11, an electric wire cover 12, and a lever 13, and is formed on a panel that separates a vehicle compartment from an engine compartment in a state before being fitted to a mating connector. It is adapted to be penetrated by a circular connector through hole H. A lever 13 is rotatably supported on both left and right end surfaces of the connector housing 11, and the lever 13
When the lever 13 is rotated with the cam groove (not shown) and the cam pin of the mating connector (not shown) engaged,
The mating connector is pulled toward the connector 10 and fitted. A lock portion 14 extending to the back side (obliquely leftward in FIG. 1) is formed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the connector housing 11, and the claw portion of the lever 13 is attached to the lock portion 14 in a state where both connectors 10 are fitted. When 15 is locked, rotation of the lever 13 in the returning direction is restricted,
Therefore, both connectors are locked in the fitted state.

A plurality of terminal fittings (not shown) are housed inside the connector housing 11, and the electric wires 16 connected to the respective terminal fittings are attached to the rear surface of the connector housing 11 (on the left side in FIGS. 3 to 5). The surface) extends almost at right angles. A fitting groove 17 that is lowered stepwise is formed on the outer peripheral edge of the back surface of the connector housing 11, and the wire cover 12 is fitted into the fitting groove 17. An area inside the fitting groove 17 on the back surface of the connector housing 11 is a wire extension surface 18. Further, the plate-shaped portion outside the fitting groove 17 is the peripheral wall portion 1.
The outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall portion 19 is formed with four locking projections 21 that can be engaged with the locking pieces 20 of the wire cover 12. The engagement of the locking protrusion 21 and the locking piece 20 restricts the detachment of the wire cover 12 from the connector housing 11.

Further, four receiving recesses 23 for accommodating the elastic bending pieces (elastic bending means which is a constituent feature of the present invention) 22 of the electric wire cover 12 are formed on the inner end surface of the fitting groove 17. . The four receiving recesses 23 are arranged on both left and right sides of the lock portion 14. Furthermore, the peripheral wall portion 19
Notches 24 are formed on both left and right sides of each locking protrusion 21 in FIG. By providing the cutout portion 24, interference between the peripheral wall portion 19 and the locking piece 20 is avoided when the electric wire cover 12 approaches the connector housing 11 as described later.

The wire cover 12 is a connector housing 1.
It is attached so as to cover the back of 1. Wire cover 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a box-like shape in which a surface corresponding to the connector housing 11 is opened over the entire surface, and an electric wire lead-out portion that extends in an eaves-like elongated shape in parallel with the back surface of the connector housing 11 at either one of left and right ends 25 are formed. A locking piece 20 corresponding to the locking projection 21 of the connector housing 11 is formed on the outer surface of the wire cover 12. Locking piece 2
No. 0 extends from the outer surface of the electric wire cover 12 toward the connector housing 11 side in a cantilevered plate shape, and a locking hole 26 capable of engaging with the locking projection 21 is formed in the central portion thereof. There is.

The wire cover 12 is positioned by placing its opening edge along the inner circumference of the fitting groove 17, and is attached to the connector housing 11 while moving in parallel in a fixed posture. In the mounted state, the plurality of electric wires 16 extending from the back surface of the connector housing 11 are bent in a substantially right-angled direction inside the electric wire cover 12, and extend in a direction substantially parallel to the back surface of the connector housing 11 along the electric wire lead-out portion 25. And is led out of the wire cover 12 from here. The lead-out direction of the electric wire 16 is the same as the penetrating direction of the connector 10 into the connector through hole H. The electric wire 16 presses the inner surface of the electric wire cover 12 due to its elastic restoring force, so that the electric wire cover 12 is always
Is urged in a direction away from the connector housing 11. On the other hand, the wire cover 12 has the locking hole 26.
By locking the edge of the hole to the locking projection 21, the separation from the connector housing 11 is regulated, and thus the electric wire cover 12 is prevented from being separated from the connector housing 11.

When the locking hole 26 and the locking projection 21 are locked, a predetermined gap S is secured between the opening edge of the wire cover 12 and the rear end surface of the fitting groove 17 of the connector housing 11. Has been done. That is, the wire cover 12 is allowed to come closer to the connector housing 11 than in the state where the locking hole 26 and the locking projection 21 are locked. Further, on the opening edge of the electric wire cover 12, four elastic bending pieces 22 that are accommodated in the receiving recesses 23 of the connector housing 11 are formed. The elastic bending piece 22 has an elongated shape extending toward the connector housing 11 as a whole, and its extending end portion is slightly bent outward. The tip of the elastic bending piece 22 is in contact with the rear end surface of the receiving recess 23 in a state where the locking hole 26 and the locking projection 21 are locked.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the connector 10 is normally held in a state where the wire cover 12 is locked between the locking hole 26 and the locking projection 21, that is, at a position farthest from the rear surface of the connector housing 11. In this state, the gap between the edge of the connector through hole H and the connector 10 is very small. Therefore, if it is attempted to pass through the connector through hole H as it is, the connector 10 is easily caught by the edge of the connector, and the workability is poor. Therefore, when the connector 10 is passed through the connector through hole H, the connector 10 is grasped by hand and the wire cover 12 and the connector housing 11 are brought close to each other. When the electric wire cover 12 is brought close to the connector housing 11 in this manner, the connector 10 is temporarily downsized, so that the gap between the edge of the connector through hole H and the connector 10 becomes wider than in the state of FIG. 4 ( (See FIG. 5), the possibility that the connector 10 is caught on the edge of the connector through hole H is reduced. Therefore, the penetration work can be easily performed.

The wire cover 12 is attached to the connector housing 11
The electric wire 16 is pushed by the electric wire cover 12 as the electric wire 16 is moved closer to
Elastic restoring force, that is, the urging force that acts on the wire cover 12 from the wire 16 in the direction of separating from the connector housing 11 increases. Further, in the elastic bending piece 22, the bent portion 2 is abutted against the inner end surface of the receiving concave portion 23.
Since the bending angle of 2A becomes large, this elastic bending piece 22
Elastic restoring force, that is, from the elastic bending piece 22 to the electric wire cover 12
On the other hand, the urging force acting in the direction away from the connector housing 11 increases.

Therefore, when the hand is separated from the connector 10 after penetrating the connector 10, the electric wire cover 12 is quickly separated from the connector housing 11 by the elastic restoring force of the electric wire 16 and the elastic bending piece 22, and the locking hole is formed. 26 and the locking projection 21 return to the locked state. Along with this, the bending radius of bending of the electric wire 16 in the electric wire cover 12 increases, and the bending stress generated in the electric wire 16 is reduced. That is, the increase in the bending amount of the electric wire 16 in the electric wire cover 12 is only a temporary phenomenon during the penetration work. Therefore, unlike the structure in which the electric wire cover cannot be connected to and detached from the connector housing and the electric wire is excessively bent as a means for improving the penetrating workability, the orientation of the terminal fitting (not shown) becomes slanted and There is no risk of problems such as interference with the fitting of the terminal fittings and deterioration of the sealing performance of the waterproof rubber plug (not shown) mounted between the connector housing 11 and the terminal fittings.

When the electric wire cover 12 approaches or separates from the connector housing 11, the outer surface of the electric wire cover 12 is guided by the inner surface of the peripheral wall portion 19, so that the electric wire cover 12 is positioned with respect to the connector housing 11. It is possible to perform parallel movement while maintaining a constant posture without tilting or twisting, thereby stabilizing the displacement operation. <Second Embodiment> Next, a second preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, means for separating the wire cover from the connector housing has a configuration different from that of the first embodiment. Since the other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the same configurations, and the description of the structure, operation, and effect is omitted. In the first embodiment, as means for separating the wire cover 12 from the connector housing 11, the elastic restoring force of the wire 16 and the elastic bending piece 22 are used.
Although the urging force due to both of the elastic restoring force of the electric wire 16 is used, the connector 30 of the second embodiment does not include means corresponding to the elastic bending piece 22, and only the elastic restoring force of the electric wire 16 is used. Is separated from the connector housing 31. Therefore, the connector housing 31 is not provided with means corresponding to the receiving recess 23 into which the elastic bending piece 22 is fitted. Also in the connector 30 of the second embodiment, when the electric wire cover 32 is manually brought close to the connector housing 31 when passing through the connector through hole H, the penetrating work can be easily performed. Further, after penetration, the wire cover 32 is automatically separated from the connector housing 31 by the elastic restoring force of the wire 16 when the hand is released, so that the bending stress of the wire 16 is only temporarily increased.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition to the above, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the mating connector was applied to a lever-type connector that is fitted by rotating the lever, but the present invention can also be applied to a connector that does not include a lever.

(2) In the first embodiment, the elastic bending piece is provided only on the electric wire cover, but according to the present invention, the elastic bending piece may be provided on both the electric wire cover and the connector housing, or only on the connector housing. . (3) In the first embodiment, the elastic bending means is formed integrally with the electric wire cover, but according to the present invention, a component separate from both the electric wire cover and the connector housing can be used as the elastic bending means. (4) In the above embodiment, the electric wire cover is automatically separated from the connector by the elastic restoring force of the electric wire or the elastic restoring force of the elastic bending means, but according to the present invention, the electric wire cover is manually operated to the connector housing. May be separated from.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connector according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the electric wire cover according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the electric wire cover is separated from the rear surface of the connector housing in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the electric wire cover is brought close to the back surface of the connector housing in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an electric wire cover according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the wire cover is separated from the rear surface of the connector housing in the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the electric wire cover is brought close to the back surface of the connector housing in the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

H ... Connector through hole 10 ... Connector 11 ... Connector housing 12 ... Wire cover 16 ... Electric wire 22 ... Elastic bending piece (elastic bending means) 30 ... Connector 31 ... Connector housing 32 ... Electric wire cover

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 13/56

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A back surface of the connector housing, comprising: a connector housing having an electric wire extending from the back surface; and a wire cover provided so as to cover the back surface of the connector housing, wherein the electric wire is bent inside the wire cover. A connector that extends in a direction along with, wherein the connector penetrates through the connector through hole in the same direction as the lead-out direction of the electric wire, wherein the electric wire cover is in a contacting / separating direction with respect to a back surface of the connector housing. A connector characterized by being capable of relative displacement. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the electric wire cover is configured to be displaced in a direction away from a rear surface of the connector housing by an elastic restoring force in a bent portion of the electric wire. 3. An elastic bending means for elastically bending as the electric wire cover approaches the connector housing is provided.
Connector described.