JP3520677B2 - Female terminal fitting - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a female-side terminal fitting assembled to a connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As this type of female terminal fitting, the female terminal fitting disclosed in FIGS. 11 and 12 is known. This female-side terminal fitting is composed of a terminal main body 1 formed by bending a conductive thin metal plate, and a stainless steel protective cover 2 that covers the terminal main body 1. The terminal body 1 has an insertion portion 3 into which a male terminal metal fitting (not shown) that is a mating terminal metal fitting is inserted, and a barrel portion 4 to which a terminal of an electric wire can be caulked and connected is connected to a rear end of the insertion portion 3. It is shaped. further,
The insertion portion 3 has a pair of elastic contact pieces 6 and 6 formed by extending forward side walls 5 that are arranged on both left and right sides (upper and lower sides in FIG. 11) and extend in the lengthwise direction. The male terminal fitting is inserted between the elastic contact pieces 6 so as to be spread.

[0003]

However, if the both side walls are simply extended forward, the elastic force of the elastic contact piece will be determined by the plate thickness at the connecting portion with the side wall. In the case where the plate thickness is thin, it was not possible to secure sufficient contact pressure to the male side terminal fitting. In particular, as miniaturization of the connector is demanded, in order to miniaturize the female-side terminal fitting, there is no choice but to reduce the plate thickness of the female-side terminal fitting considerably. There is a risk that the contact pressure applied to the male terminal fittings may not be sufficiently secured with the female terminal fittings.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a female-side terminal metal fitting having an elastic contact piece capable of increasing the contact pressure.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 integrally has a barrel portion to which an electric wire is fixed and a contact portion capable of contacting a male terminal fitting on the mating side. A terminal main body, and a terminal metal fitting auxiliary member formed of a material having a higher elasticity than that of the terminal main body and integrated with the terminal main body, and having an elastic contact piece for pressing the mating male side terminal metal fitting against the contact portion. Be prepared and said
The terminal metal fitting auxiliary member should surround the contact part of the terminal body.
It is a fitted protective cover in the shape of a rectangular tube, and the elastic contact
The piece is a wall surface of the protective cover facing the contact portion.
It is characterized in that it is provided inside.

The invention of claim 2 is the same as that of claim 1.
The elastic contact piece is double provided . The invention of claim 3 is an electric wire
Contact the barrel and the male terminal fitting on the mating side
A terminal body that integrally has possible contact parts and this terminal book
The terminal body is made of a material that is more elastic than the body
It is integrated and the male terminal fitting on the other side is the contact
Terminal metal fitting auxiliary member having an elastic contact piece to be pressed against
And the elastic contact piece is provided in double.
It is characterized in that there.

[0007]

According to the invention of claim 1,
When the male-side terminal fitting is inserted into the female-side terminal fitting, the male-side terminal fitting is joined while being pressed against the contact portion by the elastic contact piece. Since the terminal metal fitting auxiliary member and its elastic contact piece are formed of a material having higher elasticity than the terminal body,
The contact pressure of the male side terminal fittings can be reliably obtained, and the connection of both terminal fittings is stable. In addition, the terminal metal fitting auxiliary member is a contact
Since it is a rectangular tubular protective cover that surrounds the
Protects the child body from contact with external foreign matter to prevent damage or malfunction.
It is possible to prevent harm. Moreover, the protection
Use the bar to apply the elasticity to the inside of the wall facing the contact.
Since the contact piece is formed, the elastic contact piece itself
Is also protected by the protective cover, and the elastic contact piece is
Prevents contact and damage or malfunction
It According to the invention of claim 2, the male terminal fitting is a double shell.
Female terminal gold while being pressed against the contact part by the sex contact piece
Contact with ingredients. Therefore, increase the contact pressure of the male terminal fitting.
It can be held, so the connection of both terminal fittings is cheaper
Set.

According to the invention of claim 3, the male terminal fitting is
When inserted into the female terminal fitting, the male terminal fitting makes elastic contact
The pieces are joined while being pressed against the contact points. Terminal gold
The tool auxiliary member and its elastic contact piece have higher elasticity than the terminal body.
Since it is formed of a material that has
The contact pressure can be reliably obtained, and the connection of both terminal fittings is safe.
Set. In addition, the male terminal fittings have double elastic contact pieces.
Contacts the female side metal terminal while being pressed against the contact
It For this reason, the contact pressure of the male terminal fitting should be kept strong.
As a result, the connection between both terminal fittings becomes more stable.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

<First Embodiment> A first embodiment of the female terminal fitting of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, the female side metal terminal 7 of the present embodiment has a terminal body A formed by bending a conductive metal thin plate (for example, a copper alloy thin plate), and the terminal body A.
And a protective cover B made of stainless steel for covering the above. The terminal body A connects a connecting portion 10 to which a male terminal metal fitting C (see FIG. 6), which is a mating terminal metal fitting, and a barrel portion 20 to which the end of the electric wire W is caulked, connected via a connecting portion 30. Consists of The barrel portion 20 is a wire barrel 21 for crimping the core wire X exposed from the coated end of the electric wire W.
And an insulation barrel 22 that is connected to the rear end side of the wire barrel 21 and crimps the coated end of the electric wire W. Each barrel 21, 22 has a pair of crimping pieces 21a,
22a has a shape projecting upward, and the caulking pieces 21a and 22a wrap the core wire X of the electric wire W or the covering end so as to caulk.

The connecting portion 10 has a pair of left and right side walls 13 facing each other, and the height of the side walls 13 is formed in a square groove shape having a height of about half the width of the bottom surface. A contact protrusion 11 (corresponding to a contact portion of the present invention) that contacts C is formed. The contact protrusion 11 is separated from the side wall 13 by two slits 12, 12 provided slightly inside the left and right side walls 13, and is formed by stamping so as to have a sloping front and back of a raised flat surface in the center. There is. A connecting portion 30 extends from the rear end of the connecting portion 10 to the front end of the barrel portion 20, and a fixing portion 31 for crimping the fixing piece 43 of the protective cover B is formed in a plate shape on the front half thereof, and thereafter A pair of stabilizers 32, 32 facing each other on the left and right sides are provided on the portion so as to project upward.

On the other hand, as shown on the left side of FIG. 1, the protective cover B is formed by bending a thin metal plate made of stainless steel into a rectangular tube shape, and its lengthwise dimension is slightly smaller than the length of the connecting portion 10. It is long and the inner diameter is set in a square shape according to the width of the bottom surface of the terminal body A. That is, the protective cover B can be fitted into the connecting portion 10 from the front end side so as to cover the connecting portion 10.

A rear portion of the ceiling surface of the protective cover B has a triple thickness, and an innermost surface thereof is provided with an elastic contact piece 44 which can be elastically deformed in the vertical direction from the rear end to the diagonally lower front. ing. The elastic contact piece 44 has a bent shape that is bent obliquely upward near the tip. Protective cover B
When is attached to the terminal main body A, the elastic contact piece 44 faces the contact protrusion 11 with a gap. This gap is thinner than the thickness of the male side terminal fitting C, and the male side terminal fitting C
When is inserted, the elastic contact piece 44 is elastically deformed, and the elastic contact piece 44 holds it while pressing it against the contact projection 11.

The outer surface of the ceiling surface is formed by cutting and raising the lance 41 outward from the tip side. Further, the right side wall (the side wall on the front side in FIG. 4) of the protective cover B projects slightly higher than the ceiling surface to form a protective wall 45, which is formed below by cutting and raising the lance 41. The flexible space of the lance 41 is closed from the right side. Further, the middle surface of the ceiling surface is an upper protective surface 46 that continues from the rear to the vicinity of the center of the protective cover B, and foreign matter enters the protective cover B from the opening portion where the outermost surface is cut and raised by the formation of the lance 41. Prevent from doing.

At the front end side of the protective cover B, the opening edge is bent inward, and an insertion port 42 for inserting the male side terminal fitting C is formed therein. At the rear end portion of the protective cover B, a pair of fixing pieces 43 is provided on both left and right side walls so as to project upward, and the fixing portion 31 of the connecting portion 30 is fitted with the protective cover B in the connecting portion 10. The protective cover B is fixed by bending the fixing piece 43 inward (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 7 shows a state in which the female terminal fitting 7 is assembled to the connector housing 50. In this connector housing 50, cavities 51 are arranged side by side in the lateral direction, and each cavity 51 has a terminal assembly port 51a for assembling the female terminal fitting 7 at the rear end side thereof and at the front end side thereof. Is provided with a terminal insertion port 51b for inserting the male side terminal fitting C. Further, a locking portion 52 is formed in a notch on an outer inner wall surface of each cavity 51, and the lance 41 of the female terminal fitting 7 assembled in the cavity 51 through the terminal assembling port 51a is formed therein. It is designed to engage. That is, the female-side terminal fittings 7 are assembled in the cavities 51 with their bottom surfaces facing each other.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
After assembling each female side metal terminal 7 into the connector housing 50, when the male and female connectors are combined, the male side metal terminal C
Is inserted into the insertion opening 42 of the protective cover B via the terminal insertion opening 51b of the connector housing 50, and further enters between the contact protrusion 11 of the terminal body A and the elastic contact piece 44 of the protective cover B. The male side terminal fitting C that has entered this gap is inserted into the back side by pushing up the elastic contact piece 44 upward.

Here, when the male side terminal fitting C is completely mounted, the elastic contact piece 44 is pushed by the male side terminal fitting C and flexibly deforms outward (see FIG. 6). The protective cover B provided with the elastic contact piece 44 is made of stainless steel having higher elasticity than the terminal body A. Therefore, the male side terminal fitting C is sandwiched by a stronger contact pressure than in the case where the elastic contact piece is formed by the terminal body A.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the elastic contact piece 44 is formed from the upper portion of the protective cover B, the following effects are obtained. Since the elastic contact piece 44 is made of stainless steel having higher elasticity than the terminal main body A, the contact pressure with respect to the male side terminal fitting C can be increased more than when the elastic contact piece is formed only by the terminal main body A. As a result, the contact pressure with respect to the male-side terminal fitting C can be increased without increasing the plate thickness of the terminal body A, which is useful for downsizing the terminal fitting.

Since the connecting cover 10 is fitted with a rectangular tubular protective cover B surrounding it, the terminal body A can be protected from contact with external foreign matter to prevent damage or functional failure. it can. It is possible to prevent the connecting portion 10 from being deformed by an external force. Moreover, since the protective cover B is used to form the elastic contact piece 44 inside the wall surface facing the connecting portion 10, the elastic contact piece 44 itself is also protected by the protective cover B, and the elastic contact piece 44 is formed. It is possible to prevent the electric wire or the like from coming into contact with and causing damage or functional failure.

Further, since stainless steel is resistant to rust and has excellent resistance, it is possible to reduce the fatigue of the elastic contact piece 44 due to long-term use, and it is also excellent in life resistance. Since the portion that conducts electricity with the male side terminal fitting C is the protruding contact protrusion 11, the conduction of this portion is ensured.

<Second Embodiment> A second embodiment of the female terminal fitting of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.
Will be described with reference to. The female-side terminal fitting 8 in the present embodiment also includes a terminal body 60 and a protective cover 70. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment lies in the structure of the elastic contact piece and the shape of the contact protrusion, and the other parts are the same as those in the first embodiment. The same reference numerals are given and the description is omitted.

The connecting portion 62 of the present embodiment is connected to the connecting portion 30 in the shape of an inverted container which is long in the front-rear direction. Connection part 62
The central part of the is a contact protrusion 61 (corresponding to the contact part of the present invention) that extends forward and backward and is slightly raised, so that the contact with the male side terminal fitting C is ensured. .

The ceiling surface of the protective cover 70 has a triple thickness, and the innermost surface thereof is provided with an elastic contact piece 71 which is elastically deformable in the vertical direction from the rear end to the diagonally lower front. The elastic contact piece 71 is bent obliquely upward at the tip portion. The outer surface (the middle surface of the triple thickness) is also an elastic auxiliary piece 72 that projects forward substantially parallel to the outer wall surface while keeping a slight distance from the rear end of the protective cover 70 to the elastic contact piece 71. ing. The elastic auxiliary piece 72 is the elastic contact piece 7.
It is slightly longer than 1 and has a protrusion 72a on the side close to the base end. The protrusion 72a corresponds to the vicinity of the middle of the elastic contact piece 71, and when the elastic contact piece 71 is elastically deformed upward, it immediately comes into contact with the protrusion 72a. From here, when the elastic contact piece 71 is further pushed upward, the elastic contact piece 71 opposes by the elastic force of the elastic auxiliary piece 72.

When the protective cover 70 is assembled to the terminal body 60, the elastic contact piece 71 faces the contact protrusion 61 with a space. This interval is set to be thinner than the thickness of the male side terminal fitting C, and when the male side terminal fitting C is joined, this is set by the combined force of the two elastic pieces of the elastic contact piece 71 and the elastic auxiliary piece 72. The contact protrusion 61 is pressed and held.

When the male connector is joined to the female connector in which the female terminal fitting 7 is assembled, the male terminal fitting C
However, like the first embodiment, it enters between the contact protrusion 61 and the elastic contact piece 71 via the insertion opening 42 of the protective cover 70. The male side terminal fitting C that has entered this gap is inserted into the back side while bending the elastic contact piece 71 upward. At this time, the elastic contact piece 71 abuts on the elastic auxiliary piece 72 to bend it upward. Then, the male side terminal fitting C is sandwiched by the pressure of the two members of the elastic contact piece 71 and the elastic auxiliary piece 72 (see FIG. 10).

As described above, also in this embodiment, the elastic cover piece 71 is provided on the protective cover 70, so that the first cover
Similar to the embodiment, the effect that the contact pressure with respect to the male side terminal fitting C can be increased is obtained. Moreover, in the case of the present embodiment, the elastic auxiliary piece 7 is attached to the elastic contact piece 71.
2 is formed, the male side metal terminal C is pressed against the connecting portion by the double elastic contact piece while the female side metal terminal 7 is pressed.
Contact with. Therefore, the male-side terminal fitting C can be pressed against the female-side terminal fitting 7 with a strong force, so that the connection between both terminal fittings becomes more stable. Further, since the elastic auxiliary piece 72 in this embodiment covers all the openings formed by the lance 41 provided on the upper surface of the protective cover 70,
Foreign matter is prevented from entering from above, and deformation of the elastic contact piece 71 and the female terminal fitting 7 is prevented.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be modified and implemented as follows, for example, and these embodiments also belong to the technical scope of the present invention. (1) In each of the above embodiments, the elastic contact piece is configured to be formed inside the protective cover. However, a terminal metal fitting auxiliary member having a base portion is formed on the elastic contact piece, and this is used as a connecting portion. It may be crimped. (2) In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the elastic contact piece is located above the connecting portion, but the terminal body is formed so that the connecting portion is located above, and the elastic contact piece is located below. It may be a structure. Alternatively, both may be arranged so as to face each other in the left-right direction.

(3) In each of the above embodiments, the connecting portion of the female-side terminal fitting is formed in a protruding shape, but it may be in a flat plate shape. (4) In each of the above embodiments, the elastic contact piece extends from the rear portion of the protective cover, but it may extend from the front portion.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing an entire first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view in which the protective cover of the same embodiment is assembled.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the whole of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view in which the protective cover of the same embodiment is assembled.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective sectional view showing a connecting portion in the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged side cross-sectional view showing a state in which a male terminal fitting is inserted in the same embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the connector housing is assembled in the same embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view in which the protective cover of the second embodiment is assembled.

FIG. 9 is a front sectional view showing a connection portion of the same embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged side cross-sectional view showing a state in which the male terminal fitting is inserted in the same embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a side sectional view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 12 is a plan sectional view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols] 11, 61 ... Contact protrusion (contact point) 20 ... Barrel part 44, 71 ... Elastic contact pieces 72 ... Elastic auxiliary piece (elastic contact piece) 7, 8 ... Female side terminal fitting 60, A ... Terminal body 70, B ... Protective cover (terminal metal auxiliary member) C ... Male side terminal fitting W ... electric wire

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 13/11 H01R 13/15 H01R 13/42

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A terminal body integrally having a barrel portion to which an electric wire is fixed and a contact portion capable of contacting a mating male side terminal fitting, and the terminal formed of a material having a higher elasticity than that of the terminal body. A terminal metal fitting auxiliary member having an elastic contact piece that is integrated with the main body and presses the mating male side metal terminal fitting against the contact portion, and the terminal metal fitting auxiliary member removes the contact portion of the terminal body.
A protective cover in the shape of a square tube that is fitted so that it
The elastic contact piece faces the contact portion of the protective cover.
The female terminal fitting is characterized in that it is provided inside the wall surface . 2. The female-side terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the elastic contact piece is double provided . 3. A barrel portion to which an electric wire is fixed and a mating member
A terminal that integrally has a contact part that can contact the male terminal fitting
It is made of a material that is more elastic than the body and this terminal body.
Is integrated with the terminal body and the male side of the other side
Has an elastic contact piece that presses the terminal fitting against the contact part
A female-side terminal fitting , comprising: a terminal fitting auxiliary member, wherein the elastic contact piece is double provided .