JP5561054B2 - Method of plating crimp terminals connected to the end of the wire - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for plating a crimp terminal connected to a wire end.

A crimp terminal is widely used as a terminal connected to an electric wire terminal. As shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C, the crimp terminal 1 is formed by punching a conductive metal plate and then bending it, so that the electrical contact portion 2 is brought into contact with a conductive material such as a mating terminal. A core barrel 3 and an insulating coating barrel 4 which are continuously U-shaped in cross section are provided. The core wire barrel 3 peels off the insulation coating 11 at the end of the electric wire 10 to expose the core wire 12. The exposed core wire 12 is placed on the bottom 3 a of the core wire barrel 3, and both side portions 3 b and 3 c are attached to the core wire 12. On the other hand, it is crimped so as to cover from both sides. The same applies to the insulation coating barrel 4, and at the same time as the core wire barrel 3 is crimped and crimped, it is crimped and crimped to the insulation coating 11 of the electric wire 10.
The illustrated crimp terminal 1 is a round terminal to be bolted, and the electrical contact portion 2 is formed of an annular flat plate, and a through hole 2a serving as a bolt hole is provided at the center. In addition, the crimp terminal 1 includes a male terminal having an electric contact portion in a rectangular flat plate shape and a female terminal in which the electric contact portion is bent in a box shape. In some cases, only the core wire barrel 3 is provided and the insulation coating barrel is not provided.

  Since the crimp terminal 1 is crimped by crimping the core wire barrel 3 to the exposed core wire 12 of the electric wire 10, the electrical conductivity between the crimp terminal and the electric wire can be secured. In order to improve the connection reliability and protect the core wire 12, the terminal crimping portion may be subjected to solder plating.

Conventionally, when solder-plating a terminal crimping portion, as shown in FIG. 8, a soldering iron 101 is applied to a core wire barrel 3 that is crimped and crimped to a core wire and heated to 300 ° C. to 380 ° C. The core wire barrel 3 is solder-plated by contacting the wire 3 with the wire solder 102 for 4 to 7 seconds.
However, in the case of the solder plating method, the heat is transmitted from the heated crimp terminal to the insulating coating 11 of the electric wire 10, and a high temperature of 300 ° C. to 380 ° C. is generated in the vicinity of the peeling end of the insulating coating 11, and the F portion of the insulating coating 11 is heated. There is a problem of melting and deformation. Further, there is a problem that variations are likely to occur in the area to be solder plated.

Instead of solder plating with thread solder using the soldering iron, as shown in FIG. 9, the electric wire 10 is suspended downward, the crimp terminal 1 is submerged in the static solder bath 105, and the molten solder is 4-7. A dipping dip plating method in which the second contact is applied to the solder plating is also used.
In this dove dipping plating method, while the solder is pulled up from the static solder bath 105, the excess solder is removed by the centrifugal force generated by the operator's hand shake, and the residual protrusion 60 protruding from the lowermost end is also removed. However, when the hand is shaken, the solder that has spread evenly on the surface of the terminal also varies due to the centrifugal force caused by the hand, and there is a problem that irregularities are likely to occur on the surface of the solder.

In addition, when plating the crimping | compression-bonding part of the terminal connected to the electric wire and improving electrical connection reliability, the above-described problem occurs. However, conventionally, a method for solving the problem has not been proposed.
As a plating method for terminals, there is a method of soldering terminals to a circuit pattern of a printed circuit board described in JP-A-2002-9424.

  Moreover, when solder-plating the terminal crimping part connected to the electric wire, it is preferable that the solder be lead-free solder. However, since lead-free solder has a high surface tension, the solder surface tends to swell and may cause a problem when mated with a counterpart terminal.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-9424

As described above, when plating is performed on the crimp connection portion of the crimp terminal connected to the end of the electric wire, the following problems are occurring.
(1) Variation occurs in the plating area;
(2) Melting occurs in the insulating coating;
(3) Variation in plating thickness occurs when excess plating is removed by hand shaking:
In addition, when solder plating is performed, there is a problem of containing lead, and when lead-free solder is used, there is a problem that the solder surface rises.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a plating method that forms a high-quality plating layer with a uniform thickness while plating without using solder and lead-free solder. Yes.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides:
A jet plating apparatus, and a masking apparatus disposed above the jet plating apparatus,
The jet plating apparatus projects a cylindrical base part from the periphery of an opening provided in the upper cover of a storage tank storing molten tin, and blows up the molten tin in the base part.
The masking device includes a terminal fixing base for fixing a terminal on a lower surface, and a masking plate attached to the lower surface of the terminal fixing base. The masking plate is connected to an outer periphery of the terminal fixing base via an outer peripheral plate portion. A closing plate portion and a side wall projecting from a peripheral edge of the opening of the closing plate portion provided with an opening for exposing a plating portion, the closing plate portion being mounted on an upper cover of the jet plating apparatus; ,
The insulation coating of the wire terminal is peeled to expose the core wire, and the core wire barrel continuously provided to the electrical contact portion of the crimp terminal is crimped and crimped to the exposed core wire,
On the terminal fixing base of the masking device installed above the jet plating apparatus, the core wire barrel crimping portion of the crimping terminal crimped to the electric wire is horizontally disposed downward, and only the core wire barrel crimping portion or from the core barrel crimping portion. up to the tip of the electrical contacts is positioned in the aperture of the masking plate provided in the lower portion of the terminal fixing base is exposed downward,
An opening of the masking plate is aligned with a base part of a jet plating tank disposed below the masking plate , tin is blown into the base part, and the terminal crimping part is plated by a jet plating process of 100% tin , and Providing a method for plating a crimp terminal connected to a wire terminal, characterized in that heat conduction is suppressed without bringing the closing plate portion of the jet plating apparatus into contact with the insulating coating of the wire connected to the terminal. Yes.

When the crimp terminal has an insulation coating barrel, the insulation coating barrel is crimped and crimped simultaneously with the core wire barrel crimping.
According to the plating method, since only the core wire barrel crimping part to be plated or the core wire barrel crimping part to the tip of the electrical contact part is positioned at the opening of the masking plate, there is no variation in the plating area and the plating part Adjacent parts (insulation coating barrel crimping part and insulation coating part of the wire adjacent to the barrel crimping part if there is a continuous insulation barrel on the core wire barrel) are masked so that molten tin does not adhere and insulation The coating is not damaged. Moreover, since jet plating is performed, the quality can be improved by making the plating layer a uniform thickness and making the surface a smooth surface without unevenness.
Furthermore, since the plating of 100% tin is performed, the problems that occur when using solder or lead-free solder can be solved. And tin has the physical property which can reduce a contact resistance with the other party conductive material including the other party terminal, and can ensure favorable electrical contact.

In some cases, the insulation coating is peeled off in the middle of the length direction of the electric wire to expose the core wire, the core wire from which the insulation coating of the other electric wire terminal is peeled is overlapped with the intermediate exposed core wire, and the splice connection is made with the intermediate crimp terminal. , as before SL crimp portion of the intermediate crimping terminal, it may be tinned by positioning the opening of the masking plate.

  As described above, according to the method of plating a crimp terminal connected to an electric wire of the present invention, a plating region can be specified, and a plating layer can be formed with a uniform thickness and a smooth surface. Further, it is possible to prevent the insulating coating adjacent to the plated portion from being damaged. Furthermore, since the plating is tin plating, it is possible to reduce the contact resistance with the counterpart terminal to be electrically connected and the counterpart conductive material to ensure good electrical connectivity.

The crimp terminal connected to the electric wire terminal of 1st Embodiment is shown, (A) is a top view, (B) is a front view, (C) is the III-III sectional view taken on the line of (B), (D) is (B) 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV. The plating apparatus used by 1st Embodiment is shown, (A) is a principal part disassembled perspective view of the state which raised the masking apparatus from the jet plating apparatus, (B) is the state which mounted the masking apparatus on the jet plating apparatus. The principal part cross-sectional perspective view and (C) are bottom views of the masking device. The crimp terminal connected to the electric wire terminal of a reference 2nd embodiment is shown, (A) is a top view and (B) is a front view. The plating apparatus used in the reference second embodiment is shown, in which (A) is a cross-sectional perspective view of the main part before the crimp terminal is dipped, and (B) is a cross-sectional perspective view of the main part when the crimp terminal is dipped. The terminal fixing plate used by reference 2nd Embodiment is shown, (A) is a perspective view, (B) is a side view, (C) is a rear view. It is a perspective view which shows reference 3rd Embodiment. (A)-(C) are drawings which show the crimp terminal connected to an electric wire terminal. (A) (B) is drawing which shows the state currently soldered using the conventional thread solder. It is drawing which shows the state where the conventional dove immersion is soldering.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The crimp terminal used in the embodiment is the crimp terminal 1 of the round terminal shown in FIG. 7, and has a core barrel 3 and an insulating coating barrel 4 that are continuously U-shaped in the lower part of the neck of the electrical contact portion 2. It is said. The electric wire connected to the crimping terminal 1 is an electric wire 10 to be wired to an automobile or a motorcycle. The round terminal crimping terminal 1 connected to the terminal of the electric wire 10 is bolted to a vehicle body panel (not shown) and attached to the vehicle body panel. It shall be grounded.

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention .
In the first embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D, a tin plating 30A is applied only to a crimped crimping portion (core barrel crimping portion A) of the crimping terminal 1 made of a round terminal by the core wire barrel 3. Yes.

In the first embodiment, a jet plating apparatus 20 shown in FIG. 2 and a masking apparatus 21 disposed above the apparatus are used.
The masking device 21 covers the crimp terminal 1 and the electric wire terminal 10 in a state where the crimp terminal 1 is fixed to the terminal fixing base 22 and the flat terminal fixing base 22 that fixes the crimp terminal 1 connected to the terminal of the electric wire 10. And a masking plate 23. Bolts B are passed through the bolt holes 2 a of the electrical contact portion 2 of the crimp terminal 1 through the terminal fixing base 22 and screwed into screw holes provided in the terminal fixing base 22.
The masking plate 23 includes a closing plate portion 23a and an outer peripheral plate portion 23b which are lower surfaces in the drawing. After fixing the crimp terminal 1 to the terminal fixing base 22, the outer peripheral plate portion 23b faces downward on the lower surface side of the terminal fixing base 22. It is to be fixed. On the masking plate 23, both side walls 23d and 23e surrounding an opening 23c that exposes only a portion where the core wire barrel 3 of the crimp terminal 1 is crimped and crimped to the core wire 12 of the electric wire 10 (hereinafter referred to as a core wire barrel crimp portion A). Are provided so as to cover the electrical contact portion 2 on the distal end side of the crimp terminal 1 and the insulation coating barrel 4 adjacent to the core barrel crimping portion A and the insulation coating 11 of the electric wire 10.

  The jet plating apparatus 20 uses a storage tank 26 of a conventionally used jet solder apparatus, and stores molten tin 30 instead of molten solder in the storage tank 26. A square tube-shaped base part 27 is projected from the periphery of an opening 28 a provided in the center of the upper cover 28 of the storage tank 26, and the molten tin 30 is blown up in the base part 27.

  The base part 27 protrudes into an opening 23c surrounded by the outer peripheral plate part 23b and both side walls 23d and 23e of the masking device 21, and is shown in FIG. 2 by a thick solid line J in the upper end frame 27a. In addition, only the core wire barrel crimping part A is enclosed. Moreover, the upper cover 28 from which the cap part 27 protrudes has a box shape, and the insulation coating 11 of the electric wire 10 is prevented from being heated by the heat of the molten tin in the storage tank 26.

Next, a plating method using the plating apparatus will be described.
The insulation coating 11 is peeled off at the end of the electric wire 10 to expose the core wire 12, and the core wire barrel 3 of the crimp terminal 1 is crimped and crimped to the core wire 12 and the insulation coating barrel 4 is crimped to the insulation coating 11.
Next, the end of the electric wire 10 to which the crimp terminal 1 is crimped is placed on the terminal fixing base 22 of the masking device 21, and the bolt B is passed through the through hole of the electrical contact portion 2 and fixed to the terminal fixing base 22.
A masking plate 23 is put on the terminal fixing base 22 to which the crimp terminal 1 is fixed, and the core wire barrel crimping part A is positioned in the opening 23c of the masking plate 23.

Next, the masking device 21 is lowered, the closing plate portion 23 a on the lower surface of the masking plate 23 is mounted on the upper surface of the upper cover 28 of the jet plating device 20, and the base portion 27 is inserted into the opening 23 c of the masking plate 23. The core wire barrel crimping part A is surrounded by the upper end frame 27 a of the base part 27. In the core wire barrel crimping part A surrounded by the base part 27, the boundary part between both side pieces 3b, 3c of the core wire barrel 3 is located at the center of the lower surface.
The exposed core wire 12 of the electric wire 10 located between the core wire barrel 3 and the insulation coating barrel 4 is positioned in the gap between the outer surface of the base portion 27 and the side wall 23e surrounding the opening 23c. A crimping portion with the insulating coating barrel 4 is positioned outside the base portion 27 and covered with a masking plate 23.

  Thereafter, the melted tin 30 in the jet plating apparatus 20 is jetted in the cap portion 27 and blown upward, and the melted tin 30 is attached to the exposed core barrel crimping portion A and plated. The temperature of the molten tin to be jetted is 300 ° C. to 380 ° C., and the discharge time (blowing time) is 3 to 5 seconds. At the time of plating, the core wire barrel crimping part A faces the jet side and positions the boundary part between the both side pieces 3b and 3c of the core wire barrel 3, so that the core wire 12 not covered by the core wire barrel 3 is located at the boundary, The surface of the core wire 12 can also be tin-plated.

When the molten tin 30 is jetted, the jetted tin 30 does not scatter to the outside from the base part 27, and the region J to be plated can be clearly defined by the base part 27, and therefore, shown in FIGS. Thus, only the core wire barrel crimping part A can be tin-plated automatically by the jet plating apparatus. Therefore, the surface of the tin plating layer 30A can be made a smooth surface without unevenness and the plating thickness can be made uniform, and a highly accurate plating layer can be formed, compared with the case of plating by brushing by an operator. .
On the other hand, since the molten molten tin does not adhere to the insulating coating 11 adjacent to the electrical contact portion 2 of the crimping terminal 1 sandwiching the core wire crimping portion, the insulating coating 11 is not damaged by heating. Further, since the closing plate portion 23a on the lower surface of the masking plate 23 is not brought into contact with the molten tin that is jetted, the heat conduction to the non-plated electrical contact portion 2 and the insulating coating 11 is suppressed, and also from this point, damage due to heating is generated. Can be prevented.

  In particular, since the tin plating layer 30A is provided in the portion where the core wire 12 by the core wire barrel is crimped and crimped, the contact resistance with the counterpart conductor can be reduced, and the reliability of the electrical connectivity can be increased and exposed. Core wire protection can also be achieved. In addition, there is no environmental problem that occurs when solder or lead-free solder is used.

3 to 5 show a reference second embodiment .
In the reference second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a tin-plated layer is also formed on the surface of the core wire barrel crimping portion A and the electrical contact portion 2, and the continuous portion 6 with the core wire barrel 3 at the neck portion of the electrical contact portion 2. 30A is provided.

In the second reference embodiment, the wire 10 is crimped and crimped to the core wire barrel 3 of the crimp terminal 1 and the insulation coating barrel 4 to the insulation coating 11, respectively, and suspended from the core wire barrel crimping portion A. The tip of the electrical contact part 2 is submerged in the cap part 51 of the static plating apparatus 50 from above and is plated by a so-called dipping method. The method will be described in detail below.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a dove-immersed terminal fixing plate 55 for fixing the end of the electric wire 10 connected to the crimp terminal 1 is provided, and a terminal origin position adjusting plate 56 is disposed on the lower end back surface of the terminal fixing plate 55. 57 is connected.

The terminal fixing plate 55 is provided with a pair of left and right clamping pieces 55a and 55b and 55c and 55d at the lowermost end and the upper position, respectively, and these clamping pieces 55a to 55d are screwed from the back side and fixed according to the wire diameter. I can do it. And the magnet 58 which fixes the terminal origin position adjustment plate 56 to the back part is attached.
The terminal origin position adjusting plate 56 is made of iron and is L-shaped, and a horizontal plate 56b protrudes from the lower end of the vertical plate 56a. When the electric wire 10 is fixed to the terminal fixing plate 55, the vertical plate 56a is continuously dropped from the terminal fixing plate 55, and the lower end of the electric contact portion 2 of the crimp terminal 1 is abutted against the horizontal plate 56b. The lower end portions of the insulating coating 11 adjacent to the crimping portion between the insulating coating barrel 4 and the insulating coating 11 on the upper end side of the crimp terminal 1 can be clamped and fixed by the holding pieces 55a and 55b on the side.

As shown in FIG. 5A, after the electric wire 10 is fixed to the terminal fixing plate 55, the terminal origin position adjusting plate 56 is turned upward on the back side with the rotation shaft 57 as a fulcrum as shown in FIG. 5B. It is rotated and magnetized by a magnet 58 provided on the back side of the terminal fixing plate 55 and held at the terminal origin position adjusting plate 56.
In this state, the crimp terminal 1 connected to the electric wire 10 from the lower end of the terminal fixing plate 55 is suspended. At that time, the crimping portion AA with the insulating coating barrel 4 is also hung by projecting downward from the lower end of the terminal fixing plate 55.

  The static plating apparatus 50 shown in FIG. 4 is the same as the structure of the jet plating apparatus 20 of the first embodiment, except that the molten tin 30 in the base 51 is not jetted and the liquid level is raised. Other configurations including the upper cover 28 are substantially the same as the jet plating apparatus 20.

The crimp terminal 1 hung from the lower end of the electric wire 10 fixed to the terminal fixing plate 55 is inserted into the base 51 of the static plating apparatus 50 and submerged.
At that time, since the molten tin 30 liquid level is set as the upper end position of the base 51, the crimp terminal 1 is connected to the core wire from the lower end of the lowermost electrical contact part 2 of the crimp terminal 1, as shown in FIG. The barrel crimping part A and the core wire 12a between the crimping part of the core wire barrel crimping part A and the insulation coating barrel 4 are immersed in the molten tin 30, but the crimping part AA of the insulation coating barrel 4 is not soaked.

The molten tin 30 in the base 51 is 300 ° C. to 380 ° C. as in the first embodiment, and the dipping time is 3 to 5 seconds. The core wire barrel crimping part A and the electrical contact part 2 excluding the insulation coating barrel 4 of the crimp terminal 1 are tin-plated with a uniform thickness by the dove dipping plating. For the benefit of the advantages and plated crimp terminal on the working of the plating method of Reference second embodiment is similar to the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 6 shows a reference third embodiment.
The reference third embodiment relates to a post-processing method in the case where the crimp terminal is suspended in the base portion 51 of the static plating apparatus 50 in the reference second embodiment and is subjected to dipping soaking.
As described above, when the crimping terminal 1 connected to the end of the electric wire 10 is suspended and submerged in the base part 51 to be immersed and plated, the crimping terminal 1 is pulled up from the base part 51 after the required time has elapsed. The molten tin 30 adhering to the surface of the crimp terminal 1 at the time of pulling out flows down by its own weight.

  Although the excess molten tin flows down, the residue of molten tin protrudes in an acute angle shape at the center of the lower end of the electrical contact portion 2 which is the lowermost end, and the residue protrusion 60 described in the conventional example is generated. Since it is necessary to remove this residue protrusion 60, in this embodiment, when the lowermost end of the crimp terminal 1 comes out of the base part 51, as shown in FIG. The flux 80 is applied to the molten tin residue protrusion 60 generated on the lower end surface of the crimp terminal 1.

  When the flux 80 is applied to the residue protrusion 60, the residue protrusion 60 undergoes a steam explosion due to the water contained in the flux 80. Thereby, the residue protrusion 60 blows off, and the residue protrusion 60 is removed from the tip of the electrical contact portion 2.

  Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 9, the residual protrusion 60 is removed by hand shaking. However, when the hand is shaken, there is a problem that unevenness is generated on the plating surface and the surface is not smooth and the quality is deteriorated. If the method of applying the flux to the surface and crushing and removing the residue protrusions can be used, the residue protrusions can be removed without affecting other application surfaces, and high quality can be maintained.

The application of the flux to the residue protrusion 60 is not limited to the method using the heat-resistant brush, and the flux may be applied to the residue protrusion 60 by another appropriate method.
Furthermore, like the said 1st Embodiment, after giving tin plating only to the core wire crimping | compression-bonding part A, the crimping terminal connected to the electric wire terminal is supported downward as a lower end, From the lower end of the electrical contact part of this crimping terminal Even when the caulking crimping portion of the core wire barrel is immersed in the plating tank and is soaked in the dove, it is preferable to remove the residual protrusion by applying the flux as in the third embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Crimp terminal 2 Electrical contact part 3 Core wire barrel 4 Insulation coating barrel 10 Electric wire 11 Insulation coating 12 Core wire 20 Jet plating device 21 Masking device 23 Masking plate 23c Opening 27 Base part 30 Tin 30A Tin plating layer 70 Heat-resistant brush 80 Flux A Core wire barrel Crimping part

Claims (1)

A jet plating apparatus, and a masking apparatus disposed above the jet plating apparatus,
The jet plating apparatus projects a cylindrical base part from the periphery of an opening provided in the upper cover of a storage tank storing molten tin, and blows up the molten tin in the base part.
The masking device includes a terminal fixing base for fixing a terminal on a lower surface, and a masking plate attached to the lower surface of the terminal fixing base. The masking plate is connected to an outer periphery of the terminal fixing base via an outer peripheral plate portion. A closing plate portion and a side wall projecting from a peripheral edge of the opening of the closing plate portion provided with an opening for exposing a plating portion, the closing plate portion being mounted on an upper cover of the jet plating apparatus; ,
The insulation coating of the wire terminal is peeled to expose the core wire, and the core wire barrel continuously provided to the electrical contact portion of the crimp terminal is crimped and crimped to the exposed core wire,
On the terminal fixing base of the masking device installed above the jet plating apparatus, the core wire barrel crimping portion of the crimping terminal crimped to the electric wire is horizontally disposed downward, and only the core wire barrel crimping portion or from the core barrel crimping portion. up to the tip of the electrical contacts is positioned in the aperture of the masking plate provided in the lower portion of the terminal fixing base is exposed downward,
An opening of the masking plate is aligned with a base part of a jet plating tank disposed below the masking plate , tin is blown into the base part, and the terminal crimping part is plated by a jet plating process of 100% tin , and A method of plating a crimp terminal connected to an electric wire terminal, wherein heat conduction is suppressed without bringing the closing plate portion of the jet plating apparatus into contact with the insulating coating of the electric wire connected to the terminal.

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