JP5877554B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector.

  Conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 15, 16, and 17, a housing 904, a terminal 912 mounted in the housing 904, and a shunt contact that is mounted in the housing 904 and engages when the insertion into the housing 904 is completed. An electrical connector including 914 is known (see Patent Document 1 below). 15, 16, and 17 correspond to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 of Patent Document 1 below.

  The electrical connector further includes a locking protrusion 928 that extends into the cavity 910. The locking projection 928 is disposed in the vicinity of the free end 934 of the lance 930. The lance 930 is provided in the housing 904.

  As shown in FIG. 17, when the terminal 912 is not inserted into the cavity 910, the free end 944 of the shunt contact 914 is in contact with the free end 934 of the lance 930.

  As shown in FIG. 15, when the terminal 912 is inserted into the cavity 910, the lance 930 is elastically deformed because the terminal 912 pushes up the lock projection 928, and the free end 934 of the lance 930 pushes up the free end 944 of the shunt contact 914. Therefore, the spring arm 940 of the shunt contact 914 is elastically deformed. At this time, the contact portion 918 of the terminal 912 and the contact protrusion 946 of the shunt contact 914 are separated.

  As shown in FIG. 16, when the insertion of the terminal 912 into the cavity 910 is completed, the locking projection 928 of the lance 930 engages with the notch 922 of the terminal 912, the lance 930 returns to the state before deformation, and the shunt contact 914 The contact protrusion 946 contacts the contact portion 918 of the terminal 912. When the contact protrusion 946 contacts the terminal 912, adjacent terminals 912 are short-circuited via the shunt contact 914.

  When the insertion of the terminal 912 into the cavity 910 is complete, the free end 944 of the shunt contact 914 is located above the free end 934 of the lance 930 and the contact projection 946 of the spring arm 940 of the shunt contact 914 and the free end of the lance 930 934 are arranged along the front-rear direction of the housing 904, and the contact projection 946 of the spring arm 940 and the free end 934 of the lance 930 are close to each other (see FIG. 16).

  When a mating connector (not shown) is fitted to this electrical connector, the mating connector enters the cavity 950 of the housing 904, and the spring arm 940 of the shunt contact 914 is biased by the biasing means (not shown) of the mating connector, The contact protrusion 946 of the spring arm 940 moves away from the terminal 912.

Special table 2001-511299 gazette

  As described above, when the insertion of the terminal 912 into the cavity 910 is complete, the free end 944 of the shunt contact 914 is positioned above the free end 934 of the lance 930 and the contact projection 946 of the spring arm 940 of the shunt contact 914 The free end 934 of the lance 930 is aligned along the front-rear direction of the housing 904, and the contact protrusion 946 of the spring arm 940 and the free end 934 of the lance 930 are close to each other (see FIG. 16).

  Therefore, in order to separate the contact protrusion 946 of the spring arm 940 from the terminal 912, the tip of the biasing means of the mating connector must reach the vicinity of the free end 934 of the lance 930.

  However, the free end 934 of the lance 930 may be damaged if the length of the biasing means of the mating connector is larger than the design value due to, for example, manufacturing errors.

  This invention is made in view of such a situation, and the subject is to make a connector low-profile while preventing damage to a lock part.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a housing that holds a plurality of contacts and the contacts that are held by the housing and are adjacent to each other when the mating connector is not fitted to the housing. And a short-circuit member in which a short-circuit between the contacts is released by a short-circuit releasing projection of the counterpart connector when the counterpart connector is fitted into the housing. A contact housing portion in which the plurality of contacts are respectively inserted from the rear of the housing, a short-circuit member housing portion disposed below or above the contact housing portion, and the contact housing portion Engaged with the contact inserted in the housing and the housing of the contact Of and an elastically deformable locking portion for preventing the escape backward, the locking portion is a cantilever shape extending obliquely from said short-circuit member receiving portion to the contact housing, the short-circuit member is wherein disposed in front of the locking portion, the short circuit member has a contact portion in contact with the contacts adjacent the ends of the contact portion of said lock portion and the end portion of the lock portion of the contact portion DOO is, are arranged along the longitudinal direction of approximately the housing at a predetermined interval, before when the length of the Kitan fault releasing projection portion exceeds a predetermined value, the the short releasing projection portion A surface leading to the short-circuit member accommodating portion is formed in the lock portion, and when the short-circuit member accommodating portion is disposed below the contact accommodating portion, the guiding surface is on a lower surface of the lock portion, and the short-circuit member Accommodating part accommodates the contact When the disposed above, wherein the guiding surface is on an upper surface of the locking portion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the first aspect, the guiding surface is positioned on an insertion track of the short-circuit releasing projection when the mating connector is fitted into the housing. It is characterized by.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the first or second aspect , the end of the lock portion on the contact portion side engages with the contact when the contact is inserted into the contact accommodating portion. It is characterized by a notched part of a bowl shape.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the third aspect, when the tip of the notch is pointed in a wedge shape and the notch engages with the contact, the tip of the notch Is in contact with the surface of the contact.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the contact is a socket type that accepts a pin-type contact of the mating connector.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent damage to the lock portion and reduce the height of the connector.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of a part of the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the positional relationship between the contact of the connector shown in FIG. 1 and the short-circuit member. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the short-circuit member of the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the short-circuit member of the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the contact of the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the contact of the connector shown in FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a part of the connector showing a state in the middle of inserting the contact into the housing of the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view of the connector showing a state in the middle of fitting the mating connector to the connector shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a part of the connector showing a state in which the mating connector is fitted to the connector shown in FIG. 1 and the short circuit state of the contact is released. 12 is a perspective view of the mating connector of the connector shown in FIG. 13 is a front view of a part of the mating connector shown in FIG. FIG. 14 is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the mating connector shown in FIG. 12 as viewed obliquely from the front. FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional connector, showing a state in the middle of inserting a terminal into the cavity of the housing. FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the connector shown in FIG. 15 and shows a state where the insertion of the terminals is completed. FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of the connector shown in FIG. 15 in a state where the terminals are not inserted into the cavity of the housing.

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

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the connector 10 includes a housing 13 and a short-circuit member 15.

  The housing 13 is fitted with the housing 23 of the mating connector 20 (see FIG. 12).

  The short-circuit member 15 shorts adjacent contacts 11 when the housing 23 of the mating connector 20 is not fitted to the housing 13 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). A cable 18 is connected to the contact 11 (see FIG. 4), and the cable 18 is connected to an airbag ignition device (not shown). Further, when the mating connector 20 is fitted into the housing 13, the short-circuit member 15 releases the short circuit of the adjacent contact 11 by the short-circuit releasing projection 231 of the mating connector 20 (see FIG. 11).

  The housing 13 includes a plurality of contact accommodating portions 131, a plurality of short-circuit portion accommodating portions 132, and a plurality of lock portions 133.

  The plurality of contact accommodating portions 131 are disposed in the lower portion of the housing 13 along the left-right direction DR. The contact accommodating portion 131 extends along the front-rear direction DF of the housing 13. A plurality of contacts 11 are accommodated in the contact accommodating portion 131.

  The plurality of short-circuit portion accommodating portions 132 are disposed below the contact accommodating portion 131 and extend in the front-rear direction DF of the housing 13. The short-circuit member accommodating portion 132 accommodates the short-circuit member 15. Further, the short-circuit member 15 is positioned in front of the lock portion 133. The short-circuit portion accommodating portion 132 communicates with the contact accommodating portion 131.

  The lock portion 133 has a cantilever shape extending obliquely from the short-circuit member housing portion 132 to the contact housing portion 131. The fixed end of the lock part 133 is supported by the inner wall of the rear part of the short-circuit member accommodating part 132. The lock part 133 engages with the contact 11 inserted into the contact accommodating part 131 from the rear side of the housing 13, and prevents the contact 11 from coming back to the rear side of the housing 13. The contact portion 153 side end of the lock portion 133 has a hook-shaped notch portion 133a that engages with the rear edge portion of the bottom surface portion of the rectangular tube portion 111a of the contact 11 when the contact 11 is inserted into the contact accommodating portion 131. It has become.

  The tip of the notch 133a of the lock part 133 is pointed like a wedge. When the notch 133a of the lock part 133 is engaged with the rear edge of the bottom surface of the rectangular tube 111a of the contact 11, the tip of the notch 133a is the bottom of the rectangular tube 111a of the contact 11 (the surface of the contact 11). ) (See FIG. 4). At this time, a guide surface (leading surface) 133 b of the lock portion 133 facing the short-circuit member housing portion 132 is inclined with respect to the front-rear direction DF of the housing 13. The guide surface 133 b of the lock portion 133 is positioned on the insertion track of the short-circuit releasing projection 231 when the mating connector 20 is fitted into the housing 13.

  A retainer main body accommodating portion 135 is formed at the rear portion of the housing 13 so as to be orthogonal to the contact accommodating portion 131. A retainer body 171 of the retainer 17 described later is housed in the retainer body housing portion 135. In addition, a stopper housing portion 136 is formed on the bottom surface of the housing 13. The stopper portion accommodating portion 136 is connected to the retainer main body accommodating portion 135. The stopper portion 172 of the retainer 17 is accommodated in the stopper portion accommodating portion 136.

  A hole 134 is formed in the front surface portion 13 a of the housing 13 so as to face the contact accommodating portion 131. The hole 134 has an invitation surface 134a.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the short-circuit member 15 has one fixed portion 151, a pair of spring portions 152, and a pair of contact portions 153. The fixing portion 151 is substantially plate-shaped and is press-fitted into the short-circuit portion accommodating portion 132 of the housing 13. The spring portion 152 is substantially J-shaped and continues to the fixed portion 151. The contact portion 153 has a substantially arc shape and continues to the spring portion 152. The contact portion 153 is urged by the square tube portion 111a of the contact 11 accommodated in the contact accommodating portion 131 by the urging force of the spring portion 152 (see FIG. 4).

  When the contact 11 is accommodated in the contact accommodating portion 131 (see FIG. 4), the lock portion 133 side end portion of the contact portion 153 of the short-circuit member 15 and the contact portion 153 side end portion (notch portion 133a) of the lock portion 133 are defined. They are arranged substantially along the front-rear direction DF with a predetermined gap G (see FIG. 10).

  The retainer 17 has a retainer main body 171 and a stopper portion 172. The retainer main body 171 is accommodated in the retainer main body accommodating portion 135 so as to be movable in the height direction DH of the housing 13. The retainer main body 171 has a lock position (position where the stopper portion 172 is accommodated in the stopper portion accommodating portion 136, see FIG. 10) and a temporary fixing position (the contact accommodating portion 131 and the hole 171 a extend along the longitudinal direction DF of the housing 13. It is possible to move between the line-up position (see FIG. 4). The retainer body 171 is formed with a plurality of holes 171a (see FIG. 4) for allowing the contacts 11 to pass therethrough. The hole 171a faces the contact accommodating part 131 when the retainer main body 171 is in the temporary fixing position (see FIGS. 4 and 9). The stopper portion 172 continues to the lower end of the retainer body 171. The stopper portion 172 is accommodated in the stopper portion accommodating portion 136 when the retainer main body 171 is in the locked position (see FIGS. 10 and 11).

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the contact 11 is a socket type. The contact 11 has a socket part 111, a connection part 112, and a connection part 113. The socket part 111 has a rectangular tube part 111 a and a contact part 114. The pin contact 21 of the mating connector 20 is inserted into the rectangular tube portion 111a. The contact portion 114 is provided in the rectangular tube portion 111a and includes a main contact portion 114a, a sub contact portion 114b, and a connecting portion 114c. The main contact portion 114 a contacts the pin contact 21 inserted into the socket portion 111. The sub-contact portion 114 b receives the main contact portion 114 a that is bent by contacting the pin contact 21, and presses the main contact portion 114 a against the pin contact 21. The cable 18 is connected to the connection part 112. The connection part 113 connects the socket part 111 and the connection part 112. The connecting portion 113 has a stopper piece 113a and a protruding piece 113b. The stopper piece 113a and the protruding piece 113b protrude downward from the bottom surface of the rectangular tube portion 111a of the socket portion 111. The stopper piece 113a and the protruding piece 113b are inserted into a groove (not shown) formed in the housing 13. The connecting part 114 c connects the main contact part 114 a and the sub contact part 114 b to the rectangular tube part 111 a of the socket part 111.

  As shown in FIGS. 12 and 11, the mating connector 20 includes a plurality of pin contacts 21 and a housing 23.

  The pin contacts 21 are arranged at equal intervals in the left-right direction of the housing 23.

  The housing 23 receives the two connectors 10. A plurality of short-circuit releasing projections 231 are formed on the housing 23. One short-circuit releasing projection 231 is positioned below the two adjacent pin contacts 21 (see FIGS. 13 and 14).

  To assemble the connector 10, the short-circuit member 15 may be press-fitted into the short-circuit member accommodating portion 132 from the front of the housing 13 (see FIG. 9). The retainer 17 is mounted on the housing 13 in advance.

  Next, an example of how to use the connector 10 will be described.

  First, the retainer 17 is set to the temporary fixing position, and the contact 11 connected with the cable 18 is inserted into the contact accommodating portion 131 from the rear of the housing 13 (see FIG. 9). At this time, the lock portion 133 is pushed by the bottom surface of the rectangular tube portion 111a of the contact 11 and bent downward. Therefore, the contact 11 can be inserted into the contact accommodating portion 131 without being obstructed by the lock portion 133.

  When the contact 11 is inserted into the contact accommodating part 131 and the rectangular tube part 111a of the contact 11 gets over the lock part 133 (see FIG. 4), the lock part 133 repels upward, and the notch part 133a of the lock part 133 has a corner. It catches on the rear edge part of the bottom face part of the cylinder part 111a. As a result, the contact 11 is locked by the lock portion 133 and the rearward movement of the housing 11 of the contact 11 is prevented.

  Thereafter, the retainer 17 is slid to the lock position. When the contact 11 is completely inserted into the contact accommodating portion 131 of the housing 13, the two spring portions 152 of the short-circuit member 15 are elastically deformed, and the two contact portions 153 are the bottom surfaces of the rectangular tube portions 111 a of the adjacent contacts 11. Are contacted at a constant contact pressure, and adjacent contacts 11 are short-circuited. Unless this short-circuit state is released, the airbag ignition device does not operate. Therefore, even if a signal is mistakenly applied to one of the short-circuited contacts, the airbag ignition device does not operate.

  As shown in FIG. 9, when the contact 11 is not completely inserted into the contact accommodating portion 131, the stopper piece 113 a of the contact 11 is in the retainer main body accommodating portion 135. Therefore, even if the operator tries to move the retainer 17 to the lock position, the retainer 17 cannot be moved, so that the operator notices that the contact 11 is not completely inserted into the contact accommodating portion 131. Further, when the contact 11 is not completely inserted into the contact accommodating portion 131, the stopper portion 172 of the retainer 17 is not accommodated in the stopper portion accommodating portion 136, and the stopper portion 172 protrudes from the bottom surface of the housing 13 ( (See FIG. 9). Therefore, even if the operator tries to fit the mating connector 20 into the housing 13 of the connector 10, the housing 23 (see FIG. 10) of the mating connector 20 abuts against the stopper portion 172. It is noticed that it is not completely inserted into the receiving part 131.

  When the connector 10 is fitted to the mating connector 20, the pin contact 21 of the mating connector 20 is inserted into the socket portion 111 of the contact 11 through the hole 134 of the housing 13 of the connector 10, as shown in FIG. The lock release piece 231 of the side connector 20 is inserted into the short-circuit member accommodating portion 132 of the housing 13.

  When the connector 10 is completely fitted to the mating connector 20, the pin contact 21 contacts the main contact portion 114a of the contact 11, pushes the main contact portion 114a downward, and the main contact portion 114a contacts the sub contact portion 114b. Push down. As a result, a return force is generated in the main contact portion 114a and the sub contact portion 114b, and the main contact portion 114a strongly contacts the pin contact 21 by the return force (see FIG. 11).

  Further, the short-circuit releasing projection 231 of the mating connector 20 enters between the contact portion 153 of the short-circuit member 15 and the rectangular tube portion 111a of the contact 11, and the short-circuit state of the adjacent contact 11 is released.

  According to the connector 10 of this embodiment, even if the short-circuit releasing projection 231 is longer than a design value due to, for example, a manufacturing error, the end of the contact portion 153 of the short-circuit member 15 on the side of the lock portion 133 and the notch portion of the lock portion 133 133a are arranged substantially along the front-rear direction DF of the housing 13 with a predetermined gap G, so that the short-circuit releasing projection 231 can be prevented from hitting the lock portion 133, and the lock portion 133 can be damaged. Can be prevented.

  If the length of the short-circuit releasing projection 231 of the mating connector 20 is a predetermined value (when the mating connector 20 and the connector 10 are fitted, the tip of the short-circuit releasing projection 231 is the notch 133 a of the lock portion 133. The guide surface 133b of the lock portion 133 guides the distal end portion of the short-circuit releasing projection portion 231 to the short-circuit member accommodating portion 132 even if the short-circuit releasing projection portion 231 is not exceeded. Therefore, damage to the lock part 133 is reliably avoided. Further, the short-circuit releasing projection 231 is also prevented.

  Further, the contact 11 is disposed along the left-right direction DR of the housing 13, the short-circuit member 15 is disposed below the contact 11, the lock portion 133 side end of the contact portion 153 of the short-circuit member 15, and the notch portion of the lock portion 133. 133a are arranged substantially along the front-rear direction DF of the housing 13, so that the space that allows the elastic deformation of the lock portion 133 and the space that accommodates the short-circuit member 15 do not overlap in the height direction DH of the housing 13. I was able to. Therefore, the height of the connector 10 can be reduced.

  Further, the lock part 133 side end of the contact part 153 of the short-circuit member 15 and the notch part 133a of the lock part 133 are arranged substantially along the front-rear direction DF of the housing 13 with a predetermined gap G, and the short-circuit member 15 and the lock part 15 are locked. Since the contact portion 133 is not interfered with each other, even if the contact 11 is inserted obliquely into the contact accommodating portion 131 and the lock portion 133 is greatly elastically deformed, the movement of the lock portion 133 is the spring portion of the short-circuit member 15. No transmission to 152. Therefore, since the lock portion 133 is largely elastically deformed, the spring portion 152 of the short-circuit member 15 can be prevented from being plastically deformed, and the spring characteristics of the spring portion 152 are not easily changed.

  In the above-described embodiment, the short-circuit member 15 is inserted from the front of the housing 13, but the short-circuit member 15 may be inserted from the rear of the housing 13.

  In the above-described embodiment, the short-circuit member 15 is press-fitted into the short-circuit member housing portion 132, but the method of fixing the short-circuit member 15 to the housing 13 is not limited to press-fitting.

  In the above-described embodiment, the contact 11 is a socket type that accepts the pin contact 21 of the mating connector 20, but the contact 11 is not limited to the socket type and may be a pin type.

  In the above-described embodiment, the short-circuit member accommodating portion 132 is disposed below the contact accommodating portion 131, but the short-circuit member accommodating portion 132 may be disposed above the contact accommodating portion 131.

  10: Connector, 11: Contact, 111: Socket part, 111a: Square tube part, 112: Connection part, 113: Connection part, 113a: Stopper piece, 113b: Projection piece, 114: Contact part, 114a: Main contact part, 114b: sub-contact portion, 114c: connecting portion, 13: housing, 13a: front surface, 131: contact housing portion, 132: short-circuit member housing portion, 133: lock portion, 133a: notch portion, 133b: guide surface (leading surface) 134: Hole, 134a: Invitation surface, 135: Retainer main body accommodating portion, 136: Stopper portion accommodating portion, 15: Short-circuit member, 151: Fixing portion, 152: Spring portion, 153: Contact portion, 17: Retainer, 171: Retainer body, 171a: hole, 172: stopper, 18: cable, 20: mating connector, 21: pin contact, 23: housing, 2 1: short releasing projection portion, G: a predetermined interval, DR: left-right direction, DF: longitudinal direction, DH: height.

Claims (5)

A housing for holding a plurality of contacts;
When the mating connector is not fitted in the housing, the adjacent contacts are short-circuited, and when the mating connector is fitted in the housing, a short-circuit releasing protrusion of the mating connector In the connector provided with a short-circuit member that is released from the short-circuit between the contacts by the part,
The housing is
A contact accommodating portion that is disposed along the left-right direction of the housing, and in which the plurality of contacts are respectively inserted from the rear of the housing;
A short-circuit member accommodating portion disposed below or above the contact accommodating portion;
An elastically deformable lock portion that engages with the contact inserted into the contact accommodating portion and prevents the contact from being pulled backward from the housing;
The lock portion is in a cantilever shape extending obliquely from the short-circuit member housing portion to the contact housing portion,
The short-circuit member is disposed in front of the lock portion;
The short-circuit member has a contact portion that contacts the adjacent contact;
An end portion of the contact portion on the lock portion side and an end portion of the lock portion on the contact portion side are arranged substantially along the front-rear direction of the housing at a predetermined interval,
Before when the length of the Kitan fault releasing projection portion exceeds a predetermined value, a surface for guiding the short releasing projection portion to the short-circuit member receiving portion is formed in the locking portion,
When the short-circuit member accommodating portion is disposed below the contact accommodating portion, the leading surface is on the lower surface of the lock portion,
When the short-circuit member accommodating portion is disposed above the contact accommodating portion, the guiding surface is on the upper surface of the lock portion . The connector according to claim 1 , wherein the guiding surface is located on an insertion track of the short-circuit releasing projection when the mating connector is fitted into the housing. End of the contact portion of the locking portion when said contact is inserted into the contact housing, according to claim 1 or, wherein it is in the notch of the hook to be engaged with the contact 2. The connector according to 2 . The tip of the notch is pointed like a wedge,
The connector according to claim 3 , wherein when the notch is engaged with the contact, the tip of the notch is in contact with the surface of the contact. The connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the contact is a socket type that accepts a pin-type contact of the mating connector.

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