JP4842857B2 - Terminal fixing structure and in-vehicle branch connector having the terminal fixing structure - Google Patents

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a terminal fixing structure and an in-vehicle branch connection connector having the terminal fixing structure, and more particularly, to a branch connection connector having a branch connection part for branching a branch line from a trunk line of a communication network such as an in-vehicle LAN. The terminal can be easily passed through and fixed to an element made of an insulating magnetic material that alleviates transmission waveform distortion generated in the branch connection portion.

  In a communication network such as an in-vehicle network, when a signal is transmitted from one communication device to another communication device, there is a problem that the transmission waveform is distorted due to electrical or magnetic noise and affects communication. This waveform distortion occurs mainly due to signal reflection caused by impedance mismatch, and it is inevitable that impedance mismatch will occur at the branch point of the communication line and the connection point with the board accommodated in the communication device. It was. For this reason, various techniques for improving waveform distortion at a branch point or a connection point with a communication device have been proposed.

  For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-76886 (Patent Document 1), as shown in FIG. 9, the distortion of the transmission waveform is improved by passing the terminal 2 accommodated in the connector housing 1 through the cylindrical ferrite core 3. ing.

However, in Patent Document 1, since the ferrite core 3 is positioned and fixed by filling the connector housing 1 with the resin 4, there is a problem that a work process for molding is required and productivity is not good.
In addition, if the ferrite core 3 moves during the molding operation, the relative positions of the terminals 2 and the ferrite core 3 differ from terminal to terminal, and the transmission waveform distortion improvement performance cannot be made uniform. There is also.

JP-A-6-76886

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the first is to allow a terminal to be easily positioned and fixed in a through hole provided in an element made of an insulating magnetic material that functions as a filter material or the like. As an issue. In addition, in the branch connection connector interposed between the trunk line and the branch line of the in-vehicle communication network, the terminal itself can be easily positioned and fixed in the through hole of the filter material such as a ferrite core for improving the distortion of the transmission waveform. The second problem is to make the distortion improvement performance of the transmission waveform uniform.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the first invention as follows:
A terminal fixing structure that allows a terminal to be fixed in a through hole formed in an element made of an insulating magnetic material,
The terminal is provided with a through-hole fixing portion having an elastic projection piece protruding in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft portion main body in a part of the shaft portion main body having a narrow flat plate shape or a round bar shape, The shape along the inner surface of the through hole of the element,
By elastically contacting the elastic protrusion piece with the inner surface of the through hole of the element, the terminal is fixed to the through hole of the element , and
Provided is a terminal fixing structure, wherein the terminal is provided with a vertical bending protrusion for positioning to be in contact with the opening edge of the through hole of the element at a position opened by a required dimension from the through hole fixing portion. is doing.

  According to the above configuration, when the terminal is fixed through the through hole provided in the element made of an insulating magnetic material capable of improving the transmission waveform distortion, the elastic projection piece provided in the terminal is brought into elastic contact with the inner surface of the through hole of the element. It can be fixed directly with a simple structure. This eliminates the need for a molding operation for fixing the element as in the conventional example, and can improve productivity. In addition, since the terminal and the element are directly fixed by the elastic projection piece provided on the terminal, there is no backlash of the element, and all the terminals can be arranged at the same position with respect to the through hole of the element. The waveform distortion improvement effect can be made uniform at all terminals.

In the through hole fixing portion of the terminal, a pair of the elastic projection pieces protrudes from the shaft body, and the pair of elastic projection pieces are in elastic contact with the inner peripheral surface of the through hole of the element. Is preferred.
According to the above-described configuration, the pair of elastic protruding pieces projecting from the shaft portion of the terminal is in elastic contact with the through hole of the element, so that the terminal is sandwiched from both sides by the inner peripheral surface of the through hole of the element. Therefore, the terminal and the element can be fixed in a stable state.

The through-holes of the element are circular, and the pair of elastic protrusions of the terminal have an arc shape that curves in the proximity direction to each other or an arc shape that curves in the opposite direction to the S shape, It is preferable that the outer peripheral surface is elastically contacted along the inner peripheral surface of the through hole of the element.
According to the above configuration, the arc-shaped elastic projection piece provided on the terminal is bent according to the diameter of the circular through hole of the element, and the outer peripheral surface of the elastic projection piece is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the through hole. Thus, the terminal and the element can be fixed.

The element is a filter material made of ferrite or the like, the terminal is made of a copper-based metal, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the terminal is larger than the thermal expansion coefficient of the element, and the tip of the elastic projection piece of the terminal is It is preferable to have a shape that extends while sliding along the inner surface of the through hole of the element.
According to the above configuration, when the ambient temperature rises, the elastic protruding piece of the terminal extends along the inner peripheral surface of the through hole without applying a large load to the element. It is possible to prevent the device from being destroyed.
In addition, as a filter material for penetrating and fixing the terminal in the through hole, permalloy or the like whose surface is insulated in addition to ferrite can be used.

The terminal is provided with a vertical bending protrusion for positioning that is in contact with the opening edge of the through hole of the element, at a position that is a required dimension from the through hole fixing portion.
According to the above configuration, the position of the element in the terminal axis direction can be regulated by the vertical bending protrusion for positioning, and the terminal and the element can be fixed in a more stable state.

Moreover, this invention is as 2nd invention,
A vehicle-mounted branch connection connector having a fixing structure of the terminal,
The terminal interposed between the trunk line for communication and the branch line branched from the trunk line and branch-connected to the conductor connected to the trunk line is fixed to a through hole formed in a filter material such as a ferrite core, and the terminal An in-vehicle branch connection connector is provided in which the protruding side of the connector is connected to a terminal connected to the branch line.

  According to the on-vehicle branch connection connector having the above-described configuration, since the terminal forming the branch connection portion is passed through the element made of a magnetic material, the element absorbs the magnetic field generated in the vicinity of the branch connection portion and converts it into heat. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the high frequency component increased due to the impedance mismatch of the branch portion, and to improve the distortion of the transmission waveform that is likely to occur at the branch connection portion.

  As described above, according to the terminal fixing structure of the present invention, an element made of an insulating magnetic material that functions as a filter material for improving distortion of a transmission waveform and a terminal are provided with an elastic protruding piece provided on the terminal. It can be directly fixed by a simple structure elastically contacting the inner surface of the through hole of the element. Thereby, since there is no backlash of an element and all the terminals can be arranged at the same position with respect to the through hole of the element, the distortion improvement effect of the transmission waveform can be made uniform at all the terminals.

Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to embodiments of the present invention.
The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 is a branch connector that branches and connects a trunk line of an in-vehicle communication network and a plurality of branch lines. The terminal connected to the trunk line side is fixed to the element made of a ferrite core, and the terminal is connected to the branch line. It is connected to the terminal on the side.
That is, the branch connection connector 10 forms a branch portion where a branch line branches from a main line in an in-vehicle LAN that performs CAN communication (differential transmission method), and forms a differential transmission line as shown in FIG. The connector 30 (30A, 30B) connected to the terminal of the twisted pair electric wire 40 (40A, 40B) to be fitted is connected.

  The connector housing 11 made of a resin molded product of the branch connector 10 has a box shape with an opening at one end. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bus bar housing portion 11 a extending in the left-right direction X is vertically moved to the back end side. On the other hand, the mating connector fitting portion 11b is provided on the opening end side, and the bus bar housing portion 11a and the connector fitting portion 11b are communicated with each other. Further, a locking groove 11c for locking and fixing the bus bar 20 is provided on the inner surface of the bus bar accommodating portion 11a, while a locking groove for locking and fixing the mating connector 30 on the inner surface of the opening end side of the connector fitting portion 11b. A locking groove 11e for locking and fixing 11d and an inner case 22 described later is provided.

The bus bar 20 accommodated in the bus bar accommodating portion 11a of the connector housing 11 is made of a copper-based metal, and a plurality of terminals 20b are projected at intervals in the length direction of the long joint portion 20a.
The terminal 20b is provided with a through-hole fixing portion 20e having an elastic protrusion piece 20d protruding in a direction perpendicular to the shaft portion 20c on a part of the base portion side of the thin plate-like shaft portion body 20c. . As shown in FIG. 4, the elastic projection piece 20d protrudes oppositely from both sides of the shaft body 20b, and the pair of elastic projection pieces 20d has an arc shape that curves in the opposite direction. It is shaped like a letter.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the joint portion 20 a of the bus bar 20 is bent at a plurality of locations at intervals in the length direction, and alternately provided valley portions 20 a-1 and mountain portions 20 a-2. While the terminal 20b protrudes from the valley 20a-1, a vertical bending protrusion 20f bent in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the shaft body 20c is provided on the terminal protruding side of the peak 20a-2.
Further, locking projections 20 g are provided at both ends in the length direction (X direction) of the joint portion 20 a of the bus bar 20, and the locking projections 20 g are formed in the locking grooves 11 c provided in the bus bar housing portion 11 a of the connector housing 11. The joint 20a of the bus bar 20 is locked and fixed in the bus bar accommodating portion 11a, and the terminal 20b protrudes into the connector fitting portion 11b.
The shaft body 20c may have a round bar shape.

  A filter material 21 (element) made of ferrite, which is an insulating magnetic material, is fixed to the through hole fixing portion 20 e of the bus bar 20. The filter material 21 has a rectangular plate shape, and a plurality of circular terminal holes 21 a are formed at positions corresponding to the terminals 20 b of the bus bar 20. As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal hole 21a is provided with a step portion 21a-1 at the center in the axial direction, one side from the step portion 21a-1 being a large diameter portion 21a-2, and the other side being a small diameter portion 21a. -3.

The terminal 20b of the bus bar 20 is inserted into the through hole 21a of the filter material 21 from the small diameter portion 21a-3 side, the elastic projection piece 20d of the through hole fixing portion 20e is reduced in diameter, and passed through the small diameter portion 21a-3. The terminal 20b of the bus bar 20 and the filter material 21 are fixed by elastically contacting the outer surface of the elastic protrusion piece 20d along the inner surface of the large diameter portion 21a-2.
At this time, the base-side end surface of the elastic protrusion piece 20d abuts on the stepped portion 21a-1 of the through hole 21a of the filter material 21, and the movement of the filter material 21 in the terminal tip direction is restricted, and the vertical direction of the bus bar 20 The bending projection 20f abuts against the opening edge of the through hole 21a of the filter material 21, and the movement of the filter material 21 in the terminal base portion direction is restricted. Thereby, the filter material 21 is fixed to the through-hole fixing portion 20e in a state in which it cannot move in the axial direction of the terminal 20b.

  The connector fitting portion 11b of the connector housing 11 further accommodates an inner case 22 that partitions the connector fitting portion 11b into a plurality of spaces. As shown in FIG. 2, the inner case 22 has both side walls 22a connected by a bottom wall 22b, a plurality of partition walls 22c projecting from the bottom wall, and a plurality of connector fitting portions 11b are formed by the partition walls 22c. It is divided into. Further, the terminal 20 b is passed through the through hole 22 d drilled in the bottom wall 22 a of the inner case 22, and the locking claw 22 e provided on the outer surface of the both side walls 22 a is provided in the connector fitting portion 11 b of the connector housing 11. The inner case 22 is fixed in the connector housing 11 by being locked in the locking groove 11e.

As shown in FIG. 3, the connector 30 (30 </ b> A, 30 </ b> B) fitted to the connector fitting portion 11 b of the branch connection connector 10 has two terminal accommodating chambers 31 a arranged in parallel in the vertical direction Y on the connector housing 31. ing. As described above, the connector 30 is connected to the terminal of the twisted pair electric wire 40 constituting the differential transmission line, and the upper terminal accommodating chamber 31a-1 has the first communication line 41A (CAN_H) of the twisted pair electric wire 40. While the terminal 42A connected to the terminal is inserted and locked, the terminal 42B connected to the terminal of the second communication line 41B (CAN_L) of the twisted pair electric wire 40 is inserted and locked in the lower terminal accommodating chamber 31a-2. ing.
Further, on the outer surface of the connector housing 31, a locking claw 31 b that locks in a locking groove 11 d provided in the connector housing 11 of the branch connection connector 10 is projected.

  In this embodiment, connectors 30A and 30B connected to the terminals of two pairs of twisted pair electric wires 40A constituting a trunk line of a communication circuit and two sets of twisted pair electric wires 40B constituting branch lines are connected to a connector fitting portion 11b of the branch connection connector 10. Respectively. At this time, the terminals 42A and 42B of the connector 30 are respectively male and female fitted and connected to the terminals 20b of the bus bar 20 in the branch connector 10, and the first communication lines 41A and the second communication lines 41B of the twisted pair electric wires 40 are respectively connected to the bus bars. 20 is connected.

Next, a method for manufacturing the branch connector 10 will be described.
First, the terminal 20b of the bus bar 20 is passed through the through hole 21a of the filter material 21, and the elastic projection piece 20d of the through hole fixing portion 20e is brought into elastic contact with the inner surface of the through hole 21a, so that the filter material 21 is connected to the terminal 20b of the bus bar 20. Secure to.
Next, the fixed bus bar 20 and the filter material 21 are inserted from the opening end side of the connector housing 11, and the joint portion 20a of the bus bar 20 is inserted and locked into the bus bar accommodating portion 11a.
Finally, the inner case 22 is inserted and locked into the connector fitting portion 11 b of the connector housing 11.

  In the branch connection connector 10 connected to the connectors 30A and 30B, the terminal 20b of the bus bar 20 forming the branch connection portion is passed through the filter material 21 made of a magnetic material. Therefore, the filter material 21 is generated in the vicinity of the branch connection portion. The high frequency component increased due to the impedance mismatch at the branch portion can be reduced, and the distortion of the transmission waveform that easily occurs at the branch connection portion can be improved.

In addition, since the elastic projection piece 20d protruding from the terminal 20b of the bus bar 20 is brought into elastic contact along the inner surface of the through hole 21a of the filter material 21, the terminal 20b and the filter material 21 are directly fixed. The filter material 21 can be disposed at a predetermined position in the connector housing 11 with a simple structure without using a member. Thus, since the terminal 20b and the filter material 21 are directly fixed, each terminal 20b can be arranged at the same position with respect to each through hole 21a of the filter material 21, so that the distortion improvement effect of the transmission waveform can be improved for all terminals. 20b can be made uniform.
Further, since the filter member 21 is prevented from moving in the axial direction of the terminal 20b by the elastic protrusion piece 20d and the vertical bending protrusion 20f, the filter member 21 can be held without rattling and has sufficient impact resistance. Can be granted.

The copper-based metal bus bar 20 has a larger coefficient of thermal expansion than the ferrite filter material 21, but the ambient temperature is high because the elastic protrusion 20 d is placed along the inner surface of the through hole 21 a of the filter material 21. Even if the elastic projection piece 20d is thermally expanded, the tip of the elastic projection piece 20d extends while sliding on the inner surface of the through hole 21a. Therefore, the filter material 21 is not subjected to a large load due to the expansion of the elastic protrusion piece 20d, and the filter material 21 can be prevented from being destroyed.
Further, since the joint portion 20a of the bus bar 20 is bent to provide the valley portion 20a-1 and the peak portion 20a-2, the expansion of the joint portion 20a in the length direction during the thermal expansion of the bus bar 20 causes the valley portion 20a-1. And the mountain portion 20a-2. Thereby, it can prevent that the space | interval of the terminal 20b protruded at intervals in the length direction of the joint part 20a changes with thermal expansion, and a big load is not applied to the filter material 21. FIG.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of terminals 20b are passed through one filter material 21, but the filter material 21 may be provided individually for each terminal 20b.
Moreover, in this embodiment, since the twisted pair electric wire 40 which comprises a differential transmission line is connected to the branch connection connector 10, the bus bar 20 is arrange | positioned in two steps in the connector housing 11, but other than a pair electric wire. When connecting the electric wires, the bus bars may be arranged in the connector housing 11 in one or more stages.

  Further, the elastic protrusion piece 20d provided on the bus bar 20 is not limited to the S-shape as described above, and as shown in FIG. 7A, the pair of elastic protrusion pieces 20d may be curved in a direction close to each other. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7B, an arc-shaped elastic projection piece 20d may be provided so as to protrude from only one of the terminals 20b. Even when the elastic protrusions 20d are curved in the direction approaching each other as shown in FIG. 7A, a gap is provided between the tips of the elastic protrusions 20d so that they can be expanded during thermal expansion. .

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the arc-shaped elastic protrusion piece 20d may be reduced in diameter toward the terminal tip side. According to this configuration, the elastic projection piece 20d can be easily inserted into the through hole 21a of the filter material 21 even from the small diameter portion 21a-3 side.

  The communication line branch connection structure of the present invention is suitably used for communication circuits such as in-vehicle LAN, OA (Office Automation), and FA (Factory Automation).

It is drawing which shows the branch connection connector of embodiment of this invention, and the connector connected to this branch connection connector. It is sectional drawing of a branch connection connector. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which connected the other party connector to the branch connection connector. It is an AA line sectional view showing the state where the elastic projection piece was brought into elastic contact with the inner surface of the through hole of the filter material. It is BB sectional drawing which shows the state which fixed the terminal and the filter material. It is drawing which shows a bus-bar. (A) is drawing which shows the 1st modification of embodiment, (B) is a figure which shows the 2nd modification of embodiment. It is drawing which shows the 3rd modification of embodiment of this invention. It is drawing which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Branch connector 11 Connector housing 20 Bus bar 20a Joint part 20b Terminal 20c Shaft part main body 20d Elastic protrusion piece 20e Through-hole fixing | fixed part 20f Vertical bending protrusion 21 Filter material 21a Through-hole

Claims (5)

A terminal fixing structure that allows a terminal to be fixed in a through hole formed in an element made of an insulating magnetic material,
The terminal is provided with a through-hole fixing portion having an elastic projection piece protruding in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft portion main body in a part of the shaft portion main body having a narrow flat plate shape or a round bar shape, The shape along the inner surface of the through hole of the element,
By elastically contacting the elastic protrusion piece with the inner surface of the through hole of the element, the terminal is fixed to the through hole of the element , and
The terminal fixing structure is characterized in that the terminal is provided with a vertical bending protrusion for positioning that abuts on an opening edge of the through hole of the element at a position opened by a required dimension from the through hole fixing portion .   The pair of elastic projection pieces projecting from the shaft main body at the through hole fixing portion of the terminal, and the pair of elastic projection pieces are in elastic contact with the inner peripheral surface of the through hole of the element. Item 2. A terminal fixing structure according to Item 1.   The through-holes of the element are circular, and the pair of elastic protrusions of the terminal have an arc shape that curves in the proximity direction to each other or an arc shape that curves in the opposite direction to the S shape, The terminal fixing structure according to claim 2, wherein the outer peripheral surface is elastically contacted along the inner peripheral surface of the through hole of the element. The element is a filter material made of ferrite , the terminal is made of a copper-based metal, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the terminal is larger than the thermal expansion coefficient of the element. The terminal fixing structure according to claim 1, wherein the terminal fixing structure is configured to extend while sliding in contact with an inner surface of the through hole. A vehicle-mounted branch connection connector comprising the terminal fixing structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The terminal interposed between the trunk line for communication and the branch line branched from the trunk line and branch-connected to the conductor connected to the trunk line is fixed to a through hole formed in the element made of a ferrite core filter material. An in-vehicle branch connection connector, wherein a protruding side of the terminal is connected to a terminal connected to the branch line .

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