JP4314106B2 - Female terminal - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a female terminal used for electrical connection, for example, a terminal such as a connector, and more particularly to a female terminal having a cylindrical connection portion that accommodates a tongue-like elastic contact piece.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, female terminals that are used while being housed and held in a housing of an electrical connector (hereinafter referred to as a connector) have a rectangular tube-like connecting portion that accommodates a tongue-like (so-called bellows type) elastic contact piece inside. Are known. This connector is inserted and fitted into the connector of the female terminal by being inserted into the connector of the other terminal holding the male terminal having a rod-shaped connecting portion in the housing, and electrical connection is made. Made. At this time, the connection part of the male terminal is electrically connected in contact with the female terminal by being sandwiched between the inner wall of the connection part of the female terminal and the elastic contact piece arranged in the connection part. . In other words, by inserting the male terminal connection part into the female terminal connection part, the elastic contact piece is pushed downward, and the distal end part is restored to its original position with the base end part as a fulcrum. Utilizing the repulsive force (spring elastic force) to be applied, it contacts the male terminal connection, and plays an important role in terms of connection reliability to ensure reliable electrical connection. . Such an elastic contact piece is usually formed integrally with the connecting portion by punching and bending a metal plate.

  As described above, in such a female terminal, since the elastic contact piece plays an important role in terms of connection reliability, the spring elastic force must always be maintained at a predetermined level or higher in the usage state. In particular, a high-strength elastic contact piece is required when used in an environment in which vibrations frequently occur, such as automobiles, airplanes, and trains, and in applications that require a long-term connection guarantee. Therefore, as the elastic contact piece used in such a specific use environment, the one in which the strength is improved by forming double tongue-like elastic contact pieces is currently used.

  By the way, with recent downsizing of electronic devices, miniaturization of circuit boards mounted on the electronic devices and about connectors used for electrical connection thereof is also progressing. However, in the female terminal having the structure as described above, particularly in the female terminal used in the specific usage environment, the double elastic contact pieces prevent miniaturization.

  Even in the case of a female terminal using a single tongue-shaped elastic contact piece, the strength of the base end portion of the elastic contact piece is reduced by reducing the size of the elastic contact piece in order to reduce the size. Therefore, there is a possibility that sufficient spring elastic force cannot be exhibited. This is the same when the thickness of the elastic contact piece is reduced to reduce the size, and it is necessary to have a structure that can maintain sufficient strength even if the elastic contact piece is reduced in size.

Therefore, as described in Patent Document 1, if the tongue-shaped elastic contact piece is bent in a substantially U-shaped cross section over the longitudinal direction, the rigidity is improved, and the base end portion of the elastic contact piece The spring elastic force can be maintained even when the size is reduced.
JP 2000-231956 A

  However, when the elastic contact piece is formed to be bent in a substantially U-shaped cross section over the longitudinal direction as described above, the rigidity is improved over the entire length, and the bending like a spring is lost. The elastic force cannot be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of the current state of the art, and provides an elastic contact piece capable of improving the strength of the base end portion and maintaining an appropriate spring elastic force even when downsized. The purpose is to do.

  As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the inventor bent (curved) the base end portion of the elastic contact piece into a substantially U-shaped cross section, and formed both side walls forming the above substantially U-shaped cross section. When it is formed so as to spread in the horizontal direction toward the distal end and connected to the contact portion of the flat distal end, the strength of the proximal end against the vertical stress can be remarkably improved and It has been found that the bending dimension can be maintained moderately and a sufficient spring elastic force can be maintained.

  That is, the present invention is a female terminal having a cylindrical connecting portion that is electrically connected to a male terminal and accommodates an elastic contact piece therein, and the elastic contact piece is formed in a substantially U-shaped cross section. And a rear end portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section extending from the front end edge of the base end portion, and both side walls forming the substantially U-shaped cross section are horizontally directed toward the distal end. And a contact portion formed in a shape of a side view as viewed from the side after extending planarly from the leading edge of the flange and being bent downward. This relates to the female terminal.

  According to this female terminal, since the base end portion of the elastic contact piece has a substantially U-shaped cross section, the entire length of the base end portion in the width direction can be increased, and the strength of the elastic contact piece can be greatly improved. . Therefore, even when the elastic contact piece is downsized, the spring elastic force of the distal end portion with the base end portion as a fulcrum can be maintained appropriately, and the female terminal can be downsized. In addition, since both side walls forming a substantially U-shaped cross section of the base end portion of the elastic contact piece are connected to the flat contact portion so as to spread horizontally toward the tip, An appropriate spring elastic force can be exhibited without hindering the bending.

  Furthermore, since the base end portion having a substantially U-shaped cross-section of the elastic contact piece can be accommodated in a portion having a relatively large storage space at the inner rear end portion of the connection portion, even if the size of the connection portion is reduced, the elastic contact The piece can be accommodated in the connecting portion, and the size can be reduced while maintaining the strength of the elastic contact piece.

  In addition, the present invention is a female terminal having a cylindrical connection portion having an elastic contact piece therein, which is electrically connected to a male terminal, and the elastic contact piece has a width dimension from a rear end portion to a front end portion. Is a female terminal characterized in that it is in the form of a tongue piece formed by bending the rear end portion side of the plate piece reduced continuously or stepwise into a substantially U-shaped cross section.

  According to this female terminal, similarly to the above, the strength of the rear end portion of the elastic contact piece can be improved and the spring elastic force of the front end portion can be maintained. Since the section modulus is reduced continuously or stepwise over the part, the strength of the elastic contact piece can be remarkably improved, and even if it is a small elastic contact piece, the rear end is used as a fulcrum. A drop in the spring elastic force at the tip can be further prevented.

  Furthermore, in these female terminals of the present invention, the width dimension of the elastic contact piece may be formed substantially uniformly over the entire length. By doing in this way, the width dimension of a cylindrical contact part can be made small and an elastic contact piece can be accommodated, and size reduction of a female terminal can be further promoted.

  Furthermore, in the female terminal of the present invention, the connecting portion has a rectangular tube shape, and when the distal end portion of the male terminal is inserted into the connecting portion, the distal end portion of the male terminal is interposed between the elastic contact piece. You may form the upper wall of the said connection part which has an inner wall surface to narrow down by making a plate piece double. By doing so, the strength of the connection part of the female terminal can be further improved by making the upper wall having a higher load than other parts when connected to the male terminal into a double structure, which is useful in harsh usage environments. Can be a female terminal.

  In addition, as a shape of the cylindrical connection part of the female terminal of this invention, it can be set as a square tube shape, a cylindrical shape, etc., for example. Moreover, the elastic contact piece may be accommodated so that the tip end portion extends in any direction in the cylindrical connection portion.

  According to the present invention, even if the elastic contact piece is miniaturized, the strength against the stress can be extremely improved and the bending dimension of the tip can be maintained, so that an appropriate spring elastic force can be maintained over a long period of time, and the male terminal Therefore, the small female terminal with high connection reliability can be provided.

  The features of the present invention will be described in more detail below by showing the best mode for carrying out the present invention.

  1 to 3 show the general shape of the female terminal 1 using the elastic contact piece 17 of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows a perspective view with a part cut away in order to explain the inside of the connecting portion 10 of the female terminal 1. The female terminal 1 has, at the front portion, a connecting portion 10 having a substantially rectangular tube shape opened in both front and rear directions, which accommodates and connects a rod-shaped (thin wire plate-shaped) connecting portion of a male terminal which is an electrically connected counterpart. The crimping part 30 which crimps and connects the edge part of an electric wire is provided in the rear part, and the connection part 10 and the crimping | compression-bonding part 30 are connected by the 1st connection part 20. FIG.

  The connection part 10 is formed in a substantially rectangular tube shape surrounded by the upper wall part 11, the right wall part 12, the bottom wall part 13 and the left wall part 14, and the front part of the connection part 10 is a male for inserting the connection part of the male terminal. It is opened as a terminal insertion port 18.

  An inner wall portion 15 for contact that contacts the connecting portion of the male terminal when the connecting portion of the male terminal is inserted into the connecting portion 10. The upper wall is formed inside the upper wall portion 11 so as to overlap therewith. Is provided. On the side edge of the inner wall portion for contact 15, an elongated rectangular projection piece 15 a protruding from the middle portion is provided, and this projection piece 15 a is formed at the boundary between the upper wall portion 11 and the right wall portion 12. The bent portion is engaged with a window portion 19 provided by cutting out a middle portion in the front-rear direction in a slit shape without protruding from the window portion 19. Further, at the rear end edge of the upper wall portion 11, for example, when the female terminal 1 is accommodated and held in the female housing of the female connector, an engaging projection portion 11 b that is used by engaging with the lance protrudes. Further, a raised portion 15b that contacts the inner wall portion 15 for contact while holding the connecting portion of the male terminal is stamped into the connecting portion 10.

  An elastic contact piece 17 is provided on the inner side of the bottom wall portion 13 facing the contact inner wall portion 15 so as to rise upward and forward from the rear end portion of the bottom wall portion 13 (see FIG. 4). The elastic contact piece 17 includes a contact portion 17a that holds and connects a connecting portion of a male terminal with a protruding portion 15b of the contact inner wall portion 15 at the front end, and a rear end of the contact inner wall portion 15 at a rear end portion. A base end portion 17c connected to the edge via the connecting piece 16, and a flange portion 17b connecting the contact portion 17a and the base end portion 17c to the middle portion are formed into a tongue-like elongated plate piece shape as a whole. ing. And the base end part 17c becomes a fixed end with respect to the connection part 10, and the contact part 17a of the front end is made into the cantilever piece made into the free end, and it is set as the structure which has spring elasticity.

  In addition, an introduction piece 13 a for guiding the connection portion of the male terminal between the inner wall portion 15 for contact and the elastic contact piece 17 is bent upward at the distal end portion of the bottom wall portion 13 to the male terminal insertion port 18. It is provided to face. Further, a protrusion 13 b is formed so as to protrude in the connecting portion 10 at a position corresponding to the lower side of the elastic contact piece 17 and protrudes in front of the center portion of the bottom wall portion 13. When the male terminal connection portion is inserted into the connection portion 10 of the female terminal 1, the protrusion portion 13 b is deformed by pressing down the tip end portion of the elastic contact piece 17 to contact the bottom wall portion 13. It is to prevent.

  The first connecting portion 20 extends from the rear end edge of the bottom wall portion 13 and the side wall portions 12 and 14 of the connecting portion 10 to the rear in a substantially U-shaped cross section. Is connected to the front edge of the first crimping portion 31. Further, the height dimension of the first connecting portion 20 is made smaller than the height dimension of the connecting portion 10.

  The crimping portion 30 is a cross section in which a pair of crimping pieces 31a and 31a for crimping so as to hold the exposed core wire by peeling off the tip end portion of the electric wire extend upward from both side edges of the bottom wall. A substantially U-shaped first crimping portion 31 and a pair of crimping pieces 33a, 33a for crimping so as to hold the end of the outer sheath tube of the electric wire are provided so as to extend upward from both side edges of the bottom wall. The second crimping portion 33 having a substantially U-shaped cross section and the second connecting portion 32 having a generally U-shaped cross section for connecting the first crimping portion 31 and the bottom of the second crimping portion 33 are provided. The first crimping portion 31 is pressed so that the lower surface is slightly higher than the lower surface of the connecting portion 10, and the upper edge in the height direction (the upper ends of the pair of crimping pieces 31 a and 31 a) is connected. The position is slightly lower than the upper surface of the part 10, and the height dimension thereof is slightly smaller than the height dimension of the connection part 10 and larger than the height dimension of the first coupling part 20. A direction in which two elongate grooves 31b and 31b are formed on the bottom surface of the first crimping portion 31 so that the core wire is properly engaged when the core wire of the electric wire is crimped to improve the crimping strength, and perpendicular to the length direction of the female terminal. Are juxtaposed by pressing. Further, the second crimping portion 33 is provided such that its lower surface is located on the same plane as the lower surface of the connection portion 10, and its upper edge (the upper ends of the pair of crimping pieces 33 a and 33 a) is the upper surface of the connection portion 10. It is provided at a slightly higher position.

  Next, the elastic contact piece 17 will be described more specifically. FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the elastic contact piece 17. The elastic contact piece 17 includes the contact portion 17a, the flange portion 17b, and the base end portion 17c as described above, and has a substantially uniform width when viewed from the top as a whole.

  The base end portion 17c has a substantially U-shaped cross section formed by bending a substantially rectangular plate piece into a curved shape, and one side edge of the base end portion 17c is connected to the contact inner wall portion 15 via a substantially rectangular connection piece 16. It is connected and held at the rear edge. The flange portion 17b extends from the front end edge of the base end portion 17c and is connected to the contact portion, and is formed so that the width dimension gradually decreases from the base end portion 17c side to the contact portion 17a side. And has a substantially U-shaped cross section at a portion connected to the front end edge of the base end portion 17c, and an upper surface is substantially flat at a portion connected to the rear end edge of the connection portion 17a. By being bent in the shape of a letter, the width dimension when viewed from above is substantially uniform. That is, the flange portion 17b is formed so that both side walls forming a substantially U-shaped cross section continuously spread in the horizontal direction from the rear end portion to the distal end portion (from the base end portion 17c side to the contact portion 17a side). The cross-sectional area is continuously reduced toward the tip, and the section modulus is reduced. The contact portion 17a is bent from the front end edge of the flange portion 17b and extends upward and forward, then is bent again and extends downward and forward, and has a generally letter shape in side view.

  Thus, the elastic contact piece 17 has a structure in which both side walls forming a substantially U-shaped cross section of the base end portion 17c are connected to the distal end portion (contact portion 17a) so as to continuously spread in the horizontal direction. Note that both side walls forming a substantially U-shaped cross section of the base end portion 17c may be connected to the tip end portion (contact portion 17a) so as to intermittently spread in the horizontal direction. The piece 17 should just have the middle part of the structure which spreads from a rear end part to a front-end | tip part to a horizontal direction from cross-sectional substantially U shape to a substantially planar shape. Further, in the above description, the flange portion 17b is provided with its cross-sectional area continuously reduced toward its tip, but may be provided with its cross-sectional area being reduced intermittently.

  FIG. 6 shows a terminal forming plate member 50 for forming the female terminal 1. The terminal forming plate member 50 is formed by being connected to the belt-like bar 40 at a predetermined interval by punching out a single conductive plate member made of a conductive metal material such as copper or copper alloy by pressing.

  In the terminal forming plate member 50, a substantially rectangular portion serving as the connecting portion 10 is formed on the tip side, and the upper wall portion 11, the right side wall portion 12, the bottom wall portion 13, the left side wall portion 14, and the contact inner wall. Each of the long and substantially rectangular plate pieces to be the portion 15 is formed in a planar shape by connecting the long side edges thereof, and further connected to the long side rear end side edge of the inner wall portion 15 for contact. A rectangular connecting piece 16 and an elongated, substantially elongated elastic contact piece 17 connected to the side edge on the opposite side of the connecting piece and connected to the rear end side edge (side edge of the base end portion 17c). A rectangular plate piece is formed.

  A slit-shaped window 19 is formed at the center of the boundary between the upper wall 11 and the right wall 12. Cutout portions 13c and 13d are formed to face each other at the boundary tip portion between the right wall portion 12 and the bottom wall portion 13 and at the boundary tip portion between the bottom wall portion 13 and the left wall portion 14, respectively. An introduction piece 13 a protrudes from the tip of the bottom wall portion 13. Further, a projecting piece 15 a that protrudes toward the elastic contact piece 17 is provided at the central portion of the longitudinal side edge of the contact inner wall portion 15.

  Further, in the terminal forming plate member 50, a portion that becomes the crimping portion 30 is formed on the rear end side, and the central portion of the front end edge is connected to the connecting portion 10 via a plate piece that becomes the first connecting portion 20. Are connected to the rear end edges of the bottom wall portion 13 and the left and right side wall portions 12, 14. The portion to be the crimping portion 30 is formed in a planar shape as a plate piece to be a first rectangular crimping portion 31, a second crimping portion 33, and a second coupling portion 32 that connects them.

  And this board | plate material 50 for terminal formation can be shape | molded in the female terminal 1 as follows, for example. First, a predetermined portion (along the broken lines g to n in FIG. 6) is stamped, bent, and dimpled by press forming, and an engagement protrusion 11b and a bottom wall are formed at the rear end of the upper wall 11. A protruding portion 13b is formed at the center of the portion 13, a guide piece 13a is bent at the tip of the bottom wall 13, and a contact portion 17a at the tip of the elastic contact piece 17 is bent into a U-shape. The flange portion 17b and the base end portion 17c of the elastic contact piece 17 are bent and formed, and the pair of grooves 31b and 31b are dimple-formed in the first pressure-bonding portion 31, thereby forming a predetermined shape. Next, bending is performed according to a predetermined procedure along predetermined folding lines a to f, and then separated from the strip-shaped bar 40 to form the female terminal 1.

  In this way, the female terminal 1 formed in a predetermined shape is mounted on the upper surface side of the crimping portion 30 with an electric wire in which the outer covering tube at the tip portion has been peeled in advance to expose the core wire. After a pair of crimping pieces 31a, 31a of the crimping portion 31 and a pair of crimping pieces 33a, 33a of the second crimping portion 33 are connected to the electric wire by caulking, a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers are formed in a honeycomb shape, for example. The female housing can be accommodated and held in each terminal housing chamber of the female housing.

  The female terminal of the present invention described above has a structure in which an electric wire is crimped and connected. However, in the present invention, the electric terminal may be connected by pressure welding. For example, instead of the crimping portion 30, a notch portion may be formed in the plate piece to provide a bird's beak-shaped pressure contact portion and press-fit an electric wire from above to make a pressure contact structure.

  The present invention is useful for miniaturization of a female terminal used for electrical connection in an environment where vibration frequently occurs, such as a control circuit mounted on an automobile or the like.

It is the perspective view which looked at the female terminal of this invention from (1) front, and (2) the perspective view seen from back. It is (1) top view, (2) left side view, (3) bottom view, and (4) right side view of the female terminal of the present invention. It is a front view of the female terminal of the present invention. It is a partially cutaway perspective view for demonstrating the inside of the connection part of the female terminal of this invention. It is a perspective view of the elastic contact piece used for the female terminal of this invention. It is an expanded view (plan view of the plate material for terminal formation) of the female terminal of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Female terminal 10 Connection part 17 Elastic contact piece 17a Contact part 17b Gutter part 17c Base end part 30 Crimp part

Claims (2)

It is a female terminal provided with a cylindrical connection part in which an elastic contact piece is housed and electrically connected to a male terminal,
The elastic contact piece has a base end portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section and a rear end portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section extending from a distal end edge of the base end portion. The side wall forming the side wall is formed so that it extends horizontally toward the tip, and is extended downward from the front edge of the hook and then bent downward to form a side view. A contact portion formed in a shape ,
The elastic contact piece has a tongue-like shape formed by bending a rear end portion side of a plate piece whose width dimension is continuously or stepwise reduced from a rear end portion to a front end portion into a substantially U-shaped cross section. female terminals, characterized in that it. The connecting portion into which the tip of the male terminal is inserted is a rectangular tube,
The elastic contact piece and the upper wall of the connection portion have an inner wall surface that narrows the tip of the male terminal, and the upper wall of the connection portion forms a double plate. The female terminal according to claim 1.

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