JP4353433B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector for retaining a female contact in a hole of a housing by a retainer.

  Conventionally, a connector including a terminal fitting (female contact), a housing, and a retainer is known (see Patent Document 1 below).

  The terminal fitting has a main body portion (contact portion) that can be conductively connected to the mating male terminal (male contact) and a press-contact portion (connection portion) that can press-connect an electric wire (cable).

  The housing has a plurality of cavities (holes). Each of the plurality of cavities receives the terminal fitting from the rear of the housing.

  A retainer mounting hole (hole) in which the retainer can be mounted from below is provided on the lower surface of the housing.

The retainer is mounted in the retainer mounting hole, engages with the rear end of the main body of the terminal fitting, and locks the terminal fitting in the cavity.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-7384 (see paragraphs 0015 to 0017, FIG. 1)

  In the connector described above, the retainer mounted in the retainer mounting hole may be loosened by vibration or external force, the female connector and the retainer may be disengaged, and the female connector may fall off the housing. In particular, connectors mounted on automobiles often receive vibrations and external forces, and the retainers are easy to loosen.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, The subject is providing the connector which can prevent the looseness of a retainer.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention of claim 1 includes a female contact having a connection part coupled to a cable, a contact part for receiving a male contact, a housing having a hole into which the female contact is inserted, A connector having a retainer inserted into a hole formed in the housing so as to be substantially perpendicular to the hole and preventing the female contact inserted into the hole from being inserted into at least the hole of the housing. An escape hole is formed in the retainer for letting the contact part of the female contact made to the front side of the housing, and a receiving part for receiving a front end side part of the male contact inserted into the contact part of the female contact It is formed in a retainer.

  As described above, when the male contact is inserted into the contact portion of the female contact, the tip side portion of the male contact enters the receiving portion of the retainer. As a result, the retainer is locked by the male contact.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the first aspect, the receiving portion is a through hole through which a distal end side portion of the male contact inserted into the contact portion of the female contact is released to the connection portion side. It is characterized by.

  Since the receiving part is a through hole as described above, the tip side portion of the male contact can be released to the connection part side of the female contact. Therefore, the contact stroke between the female contact and the male contact can be increased by increasing the length of the male contact.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the second aspect, the center axis of the contact portion and the center axis of the connection portion parallel to the contact portion are shifted in a direction substantially perpendicular to the center axis. To do.

  As described above, since the central axis of the contact portion and the central axis of the connection portion parallel to this are displaced in a direction substantially perpendicular to the central axis, the tip side portion and the connection portion of the male contact that has passed through the contact portion Interference can be avoided. As a result, it is possible to secure a space for receiving the distal end portion of the male contact between the contact portion and the connection portion while maintaining the strength of the female contact.

  As described above, according to the connector of the present invention, the retainer can be prevented from loosening.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 is a cross-sectional view showing a fitting state between a female connector and a male connector according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a broken cross-sectional view showing a contact state between the female contact and the male contact shown in FIG. 3A is a perspective view when the retainer shown in FIG. 1 is viewed obliquely from the front, FIG. 3B is a perspective view when one end of the retainer shown in FIG. 1 is cut from the front, and FIG. 3C is FIG. 4A is a perspective view when the retainer shown in FIG. 4 is viewed obliquely from the rear, FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of the female connector during assembly, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the female connector in the assembled state. In FIGS. 1, 2, 4A and 4B, the female contact 3 is depicted as a broken sectional view.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the female connector 1 is connected to a male connector 21 mounted on a printed board (not shown).

  The male connector 21 includes a plurality of male contacts 23 and a housing 25.

  The male contact 23 has a substantially L-shaped pin shape, and includes a contact portion 23a, a fixing portion 23b, a press-fit portion 23c, and a coupling portion 23d. The length of the contact part 23a is longer than the contact part of the normal male contact, and is longer than the length of the contact part 33 of the female contact 3 described later. The fixing portion 23b is continuous with the contact portion 23a. The press-fit portion 23c is press-fitted into the through hole of the printed board. The coupling part 34 couples the fixing part 23b and the press-fit part 23c. For example, brass is suitable as a material for the male contact 23.

  The housing 25 has a substantially casing shape, and includes a receiving portion 25a and a plurality (22 in this embodiment) of through holes 25b. The receiving portion 25 a receives the male connector 1. The through hole 25b is formed in the rear wall 25c of the housing 25, and receives and holds the fixing portion 23b of the male contact 23. Half of the 22 through holes 25b are arranged at a constant pitch above the rear wall 25c of the housing 25, and the other half are arranged at the same pitch below the rear wall 25c of the housing 25. As a material of the housing 25, for example, SPS (syndiotactic polyethylene) containing 30% glass is suitable.

  The male connector 1 includes a plurality of female contacts 3, a housing 5, and a retainer 7.

  The female contact 3 has a connection part 31, a contact part 33, and a coupling part 34 as shown in FIG. The female contact 3 is formed by punching and bending one conductive metal plate. As a material of the female contact 3, for example, a copper alloy is suitable.

  The connection part 31 is electrically connected to the cable 9. The connection part 31 has the covering crimping part 31a and the core wire crimping part 31b. The cross-sectional shapes of the cover crimping portion 31a and the core wire crimping portion 31b are substantially heart-shaped. The central axis S1 of the cover crimping portion 31a and the central axis S2 of the contact portion 33 parallel to this are shifted in a direction substantially perpendicular to the central axes S1 and S2.

  The contact portion 33 has a substantially rectangular tube shape and accepts the contact portion 33 of the male contact 21. The contact portion 33 includes a first elastic contact piece 33a, a second elastic contact piece 33b, an elastic piece 33c, and a cut and raised piece 33d. The first elastic contact piece 33a extends obliquely from the upper surface of the contact portion 33 (based on the posture of the female contact 3 shown in FIG. 1) toward the central axis S2 of the contact portion 33. The second elastic contact piece 33b extends substantially parallel to the central axis S2, and cooperates with the first elastic contact piece 33a to sandwich the male contact 23 from above and below. The elastic piece 33c extends along the first elastic contact piece 33a and is elastically deformed integrally with the first elastic contact piece 33a. The cut and raised piece 33d is cut and raised so as to protrude obliquely downward from the lower surface of the contact portion 33.

  The coupling part 34 couples the connection part 31 and the contact part 33. The cross-sectional shape of the coupling portion 34 is substantially an inverted U shape, and a notch 34 a is formed in the lower portion of the coupling portion 34.

  The housing 5 has a substantially casing shape, and has a plurality (22 in this embodiment) of contact insertion holes (holes) 51 and retainer insertion holes (holes) 52. Half of the 22 contact insertion holes 51 are arranged at a constant pitch at the top of the housing 5, and the other half are arranged at the same pitch at the bottom of the housing 5. The female contact 3 is inserted into the contact insertion hole 51 from the rear surface of the housing 5. The retainer insertion hole 52 is formed on the lower surface of the housing 5 so as to be substantially orthogonal to the plurality of contact insertion holes 51. The retainer 7 is inserted into the retainer insertion hole 52 from below the housing 5.

  A plurality of lances 55 are formed on the lower wall 53 and the partition wall 54 of the housing 5. The lance 55 has a cantilever shape and can be elastically deformed. A part of the lance 55 slightly protrudes into the contact insertion hole 51.

  A plurality of male contact insertion holes 56 (the same number as the male contacts 23) are formed on the front surface of the housing 5. The male contact insertion hole 56 communicates with the contact insertion hole 51.

  As the material of the housing 5, PBT (polypropylene terephthalate) is suitable.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the retainer 7 has a plurality (same number as the female contacts 3) escape holes 71 and a plurality (same number as the male contacts 23) of through holes (receiving portions) 72. The escape holes 71 are formed at equal intervals in the upper part of the retainer 7. The escape hole 71 allows the contact portion 33 of the female contact 3 inserted into the contact insertion hole 51 during assembly of the female connector 1 to escape to the front side of the housing 5. The through holes 72 are formed at equal intervals in the lower part of the retainer 7. The through holes 72 are adjacent to the escape holes 71, and the number of the through holes 72 is the same as the number of the escape holes 71. The through hole 72 allows the distal end portion of the contact portion 23a of the male contact 23 inserted into the contact portion 33 of the female contact 3 to escape to the connection portion 31 side. The inner hole of the through hole 72 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the contact portion 23a.

  A first protrusion 73, a second protrusion 74, and a third protrusion 75 are formed on both side surfaces of the retainer 7, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 3C, two fourth protrusions 76 and two holes 77 are formed on the back surface of the retainer 7. The fourth protrusion 76 and the hole 77 are adjacent to each other.

  As a material for the retainer 7, for example, 30% glass-filled PBT (polypropylene terephthalate) is suitable.

  In order to assemble the female connector 1, the cable 9 is connected to the female contact 3 in advance. In order to connect the cable 9 to the female contact 3, first, the covering 9a at one end of the cable 9 is cut off to expose the core wire 9b (see FIG. 2). Next, while passing the core wire 9b through the core wire crimping portion 31b, one end portion of the coating 9a is passed through the coating caulking portion 31a. Thereafter, the core crimping portion 31b and the covering crimping portion 31a are caulked. Thus, the cable 9 is connected to the connection part 31.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4A, the retainer 7 is inserted into the retainer insertion hole 52 of the housing 5. When almost half of the retainer 7 is inserted (state shown in FIG. 4A), the first protrusion 73 is fitted into a fitting hole (not shown) formed in the inner surface of the retainer insertion hole 52. In this state, the escape hole 71 of the retainer 7 coincides with the lower contact insertion hole 51, so the retainer 7 does not block the middle of the contact insertion hole 51. Further, the upper wall 78 of the retainer 7 does not reach the upper contact insertion hole 51.

  Thereafter, the female contact 3 is inserted into the contact insertion hole 51. When the female contact 3 is inserted to a predetermined position, the cut and raised piece 33 d of the female contact 3 engages with the lance 55 of the housing 5, and the female contact 3 is locked to the housing 5.

  When all the female contacts 3 have been inserted into the contact insertion holes 51, the retainer 7 is pushed in. As a result, the first protrusion 73 comes out of the fitting hole, and instead the second protrusion 74 fits into the fitting hole, and the third protrusion 75 is press-fitted into the retainer insertion hole 52. The protrusion 76 engages with the inner surface of the contact insertion hole 51.

  As a result, the retainer 7 is locked to the housing 5 and the assembly work of the female connector 1 is completed.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 4B, the upper wall 78 of the retainer 7 is fitted into the notch 34 a of the coupling portion 34 of the upper female contact 3, and the partition wall 79 of the retainer 7 is the coupling portion of the lower female contact 3. It fits in the 34 notch 34a. The female contact 3 cannot be removed from the contact insertion hole 51 by the retainer 7.

  By passing the contact portion 23 a of the male contact 23 through the escape hole 71 and the through hole 72 of the retainer 7, that is, the wall portion constituting a part of the escape hole 71 and the through hole 72 is formed by the female contact 3 and the male contact 23. Because of the sandwiched configuration, the retainer 7 will not loosen.

  In this embodiment, as described above, the contact portion 23a of the male contact 23 is passed through the through hole 72 of the retainer 7, and the center axis S1 of the connection portion 31 is eccentric to the center axis S2 of the contact portion 33. As a result, the space for receiving the contact portion 23a of the male contact 23 is secured, so that the retainer 7 can be prevented from loosening while the strength of the coupling portion 34 is maintained.

  Further, in this embodiment, the through hole 72 for allowing the distal end portion of the male contact 21 inserted into the contact portion 33 of the female contact 3 as the receiving portion to escape to the connection portion 31 side is employed. Contact stroke between the first elastic contact piece 33a and the second elastic contact piece 33b of the contact part 33 of the female contact 3 from the tip of the contact part 23a of the male contact 23 when the connectors 1 and 21 are fitted together. The distance to the contact) becomes longer and the contact reliability is improved.

  A non-through hole may be adopted as the receiving portion instead of the through hole 72. That is, the tip portion of the male contact 3 does not necessarily have to penetrate the retainer 7.

  Further, it is not always necessary to decenter the connection part 31 with respect to the contact part 33.

  In this embodiment, the retainer 7 is provided with the third protrusion 75 and the fourth protrusion 76, and the fitting holes corresponding to these are provided in the housing 5, but this structure is not necessarily adopted.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a fitting state between a female connector and a male connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a broken sectional view showing a contact state between the female contact and the male contact shown in FIG. FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the retainer shown in FIG. 1 when viewed obliquely from the front. FIG. 3B is a perspective view of the retainer shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from an obliquely front side in a state where one end thereof is cut. FIG. 3C is a perspective view of the retainer shown in FIG. 1 when viewed obliquely from the rear. FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of the female connector during assembly. FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the female connector in an assembled state.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Female connector 3 Female contact 31 Connection part 33 Contact part 5 Housing 51 Contact insertion hole (hole)
52 Retainer insertion hole (hole)
7 Retainer
71 Relief hole 72 Through hole (receiving part)
9 Cable 21 Male connector 23 Male contact

Claims (3)

A female contact having a connection portion coupled to the cable and a contact portion for receiving the male contact;
A housing having a hole into which the female contact is inserted;
A connector comprising: a retainer that is inserted into a hole formed in the housing so as to be substantially orthogonal to the hole, and that prevents the female contact inserted into the hole from coming off;
An escape hole is formed in the retainer for allowing at least the contact portion of the female contact inserted into the hole of the housing to escape to the front side of the housing.
The connector, wherein the retainer is formed in the retainer to receive the distal end portion of the male contact inserted into the contact portion of the female contact.   The connector according to claim 1, wherein the receiving portion is a through hole through which a distal end portion of the male contact inserted into the contact portion of the female contact is released to the connection portion side.   The connector according to claim 2, wherein a center axis of the contact portion and a center axis of the connection portion parallel to the contact portion are shifted in a direction substantially orthogonal to the center axis.

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