JP5910520B2 - Lever type connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a lever-type connector.

  Conventionally, the thing of the following patent document 1 is known as an example of a lever-type connector. This is a housing in which a terminal fitting connected to the end of an electric wire is inserted and accommodated from the rear, and is provided on one side of the housing so as to be pivotable in the front-rear direction, and is pivoted from an initial position to a fitting position. A lever that allows the mating housing to be fitted, a locking piece that is elastically displaceable on the pivot end of the lever, and a position protruding from the rear surface of the housing on one side of the housing. Provided, and when the lever is turned to the mating position, the lock piece is elastically locked to the lock portion so that the lever is held in the mating position, and is provided on the lock piece. By pulling up the released release part and forcibly elastically displacing the lock piece, the locking of the lock part is released, and the lever is allowed to rotate toward the initial position.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-297481

In the conventional structure, when the electric wire drawn out from the rear surface of the housing is pulled toward the lock portion, for example, the middle position of the electric wire hits the release portion of the lock piece locked to the lock portion, and pushes it up. There is a possibility that the lock may be released without elastically displacing the lock piece.
The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to prevent the lever from being inadvertently unlocked by the electric wire.

  The present invention includes a housing in which a terminal fitting connected to an end of an electric wire is inserted and accommodated from the rear, and is provided so as to be pivotable in the front-rear direction on one side of the housing and is rotated from an initial position to an end position. A lever that engages with the mating housing during the operation, a lock portion provided at a position protruding from the rear surface of the housing on the one side surface of the housing, and the lever engageable with the lock portion An elastically displaceable lock piece provided on the lever, and when the lever is rotated to the end position, the lock piece elastically engages with the lock portion so that the lever The lock part is held in position, and the lock part is forcibly elastically displaced by pulling up the release part provided on the lock piece to release the lock on the lock part, In a lever-type connector that is allowed to rotate to the initial position side, an interference portion that can interfere with the electric wire when the electric wire drawn out from the rear surface of the housing is pulled toward the lock portion. And when the electric wire comes into contact with the release part through interference with the interference part, the release part is pressed in the locking direction.

  If the wire drawn from the rear surface of the housing is pulled toward the lock part, it will be bent by interfering with the interference part, and even if it hits the release part provided on the lock piece, it will engage the release part. By pressing in the stop direction, the lock piece is held in a locked state with respect to the lock portion. The lock is prevented from being inadvertently released by the pulled electric wire.

It is good also as following structures.
The interference portion protrudes from the rear surface of the housing.
Further, the interference portion is formed on the lever.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the lever from being inadvertently released by the electric wire.

The rear view of the female housing which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention Longitudinal sectional view of male and female connectors before mating Longitudinal section when mating is complete Longitudinal section showing the state where unlocking is blocked Partial enlarged view of FIG.

<Embodiment>
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a male connector MC and a female connector FC that are fitted to each other are provided, and the female connector FC corresponds to the lever-type connector of the present invention.
Hereinafter, description will be made assuming that the fitting surface side of each connector MC, FC is the front, and the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG.

First, the mating male connector MC will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the male connector MC is a device-side connector, and is formed by integrally projecting a small hood portion 12 having a horizontally long rectangular shape from a peripheral wall of a device case 11 made of synthetic resin. A male housing 10 is formed. From the rear of the small hood portion 12 of the male housing 10, a plurality of male terminals 15 having a dove shape are aligned and protruded.
Cam pins (not shown) are erected on the left and right side surfaces of the small hood portion 12.

Next, the female connector FC will be described. The female connector FC includes a female housing 30 made of synthetic resin, a female terminal 20 accommodated in the female housing 30, and a lever 50 made of synthetic resin that assists in mating / detaching with the mating male housing 10. I have.
The female terminal 20 has a connecting portion 21 connected to the male terminal 15 at the front end, and the barrel 22 provided at the rear end is caulked so that the rubber plug 25 and the terminal of the electric wire w can be used. It is connected.

  The female housing 30 is formed so as to cover a terminal accommodating portion 31 that can be fitted in the small hood portion 12 of the male housing 10 with a clearance, and a front most part of the terminal accommodating portion 31. And a large hood portion 32 having an opening. The large hood portion 32 can be fitted almost tightly on the outer periphery of the small hood portion 12 of the male housing 10.

The terminal accommodating part 31 is integrally assembled as a separate piece with the front wall part 31A. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of cavities 35 are formed in the terminal accommodating portion 31 in an arrangement corresponding to the male terminals 15 described above. The female terminals 20 connected to the ends of the electric wires w are inserted into the cavities 35 from the rear, and are primarily locked by a resin lance 36 provided on the bottom surface of the cavities 35 and are secondarily locked by a retainer 37. By doing so, it is double-prevented and accommodated. At the same time, the rubber plug 25 is tightly fitted to the entrance of the cavity 35.
A seal ring 38 is fitted to the base portion of the front portion of the terminal accommodating portion 31 that protrudes into the large hood portion 32, and is prevented from being detached by the front wall portion 31 </ b> A and the retainer 37.

  A lever 50 is attached to the female housing 30. The lever 50 is made of a synthetic resin, and is formed in a gate shape in which the distal ends of a pair of left and right arm portions 51 having a plate shape are connected by an operation portion 52 as shown in FIG. The lever 50 is mounted so as to straddle the female housing 30, and is rotatably supported by support shafts 40 protruding from the left and right side surfaces of the large hood portion 32. Details are shown in FIG. It can rotate between the initial position and the end position shown in FIG.

  A cam groove 54 having a predetermined curved shape is formed on the inner surface of the arm portion 51 of the lever 50, and the cam pins standing on the left and right side surfaces of the small hood portion 12 of the male housing 10 are the large hood portion. The cam groove 54 can be fitted through an escape groove 41 formed by cutting the left and right side walls 32. When the lever 50 is in the initial position described above, as shown in FIG. 2, the inlet 54A of the cam groove 54 opens forward, and the male housing 10 and the male housing 10 and 30 are fitted together. The cam pin on the side can be introduced into the cam groove 54.

A lever side lock portion 55 is set at the central portion of the operation portion 52 of the lever 50 in the lateral width direction so as to lock the lever 50 at the end position, and a lock piece 56 is provided on the lever side lock portion 55. . The lock piece 56 is formed so as to be cantilevered elastically with a lock groove 57 therebetween. When the lever 50 reaches the end position, as shown in FIG. 3, the lock piece 56 takes a posture of projecting obliquely downward to the rear.
A housing-side lock portion 45 that engages with the lever-side lock portion 55 projects from the center portion in the lateral width direction at the upper edge of the rear surface of the female housing 30. The housing-side lock portion 45 is formed with a protrusion 46 that can be fitted into the lock groove 57 of the lock piece 56 described above.

Specifically, when both the housings 10 and 30 are properly fitted, that is, when the lever 50 is rotated to the end position as shown in FIG. 3, the lever side lock portion 55 hits the housing side lock portion 45, At this time, the lock piece 56 passes through the protrusion 46 while being elastically bent, and is locked by fitting the protrusion 46 into the lock groove 57.
On the other hand, a release portion 58 that can be hooked with a finger is formed at the tip of the lock piece 56, and the protrusion 46 is formed by forcibly elastically bending the release portion 58 in the direction in which the lock piece 56 is pulled up. The lock is released through the lock groove 57 and the lever 50 is allowed to rotate toward the initial position.

  Now, on the rear surface of the female housing 30, when the electric wire w (particularly the small-diameter electric wire w) drawn out from the cavity 35 is pulled upward as shown in FIG. 4, it interferes with the pulled electric wire w. A plate 48 is formed to protrude. As shown in FIG. 1, the interference plate 48 is slightly less than 1/3 of the lateral width of the female housing 30 at a central portion in the lateral width direction on the rear surface of the female housing 30 and slightly above the formation region of the cavity 35. And projecting in a horizontal posture toward the rear. The protruding length of the interference plate 48 is set to a length that protrudes to a position where the protruding end substantially coincides with the rear end of the housing side lock portion 45.

The protruding length of the interference plate 48 is set as follows. When the electric wire w is pulled upward from the state shown in FIG. 3, if the interference plate 48 is not provided, the electric wire w directly contacts the release portion 58 of the lock piece 56 and locks while lifting the release portion 58. There is a risk that the piece 56 is elastically bent in the unlocking direction.
On the other hand, when the interference plate 48 is formed, as shown in FIG. 4, the middle position of the pulled-up electric wire w bends so that the protruding end of the interference plate 48 hits the protruding end and the tip of the electric wire w rises. However, even if it hits the lock piece 56, the lock piece 56 is pressed against the release portion 58 of the lock piece 56 in a standing posture.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the pressing force P acts on the release portion 58 from the electric wire w. However, the component force Pa that holds the release portion 58 in the locking direction is increased by the amount of the electric wire w rising. Works. Here, as the protruding length of the interference plate 48 increases, the electric wire w rises steeply and a large component force Pa is obtained. However, as the protruding length of the interference plate 48 increases, the female housing 30 becomes larger. In addition, the strength of the interference plate 48 itself tends to decrease.
Therefore, in the interference plate 48 of the present embodiment, when the electric wire w after being bent so as to stand up against the interference plate 48 is pressed against the release portion 58, at least the component force Pa that is pressed against the release portion 58 in the locking direction. It is formed with a projecting length sufficient to bend with a gradient that can act.

The operation of this embodiment will be described. When fitting the male and female connectors MC and FC, the lever 50 is attached to the female housing 30 at the initial position, and the female housing 30 is fitted to the male housing 10 in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. Let At the beginning of the fitting, the cam pin on the male housing 10 side is introduced into the cam groove 54 formed in the arm portion 51 of the lever 50. Next, when the lever 50 is rotated in the clockwise direction in the drawing by placing a finger on the operation portion 52, the female housing 30 is drawn toward the male housing 10 by the cam action between the cam pin and the cam groove 54. And is gradually fitted.
When the lever 50 is rotated to the end position, as shown in FIG. 3, the lever 50 is locked by fitting the protrusion 46 into the lock groove 57 of the lock piece 56, so that both the housings 10, 30 are moved. It is held in a normal fitting state.

  Here, the electric wire w pulled out from the rear surface of the female housing 30 may be pulled upward as shown by the arrow in FIG. In that case, as shown in FIG. 4, the middle position of the pulled-up electric wire w hits the protruding end of the interference plate 48, and is pulled up in a bent state so that the tip rises. Even if the electric wire w is pressed against the release portion 58 of the lock piece 56, the wire w is pressed against the release portion 58 in a steeply rising form. The component Pa to be pressed is applied, whereby the lock piece 56 is held, that is, the lever 50 is held locked. Therefore, the lever 50 is prevented from unnecessarily rotating toward the initial position.

  When the male and female connectors MC, FC are to be detached for maintenance or the like, if the finger is put on the release portion 58 and the lock piece 56 is forcibly pulled up from the state shown in FIG. Is released from the lock groove 57 and the lock is released. Subsequently, when the lever 50 is rotated toward the initial position, the female housing 30 is gradually detached from the male housing 10 due to the cam action between the cam pin and the cam groove 54. When the housing 30 is pulled rearward, the female connector FC is detached from the male connector MC while the cam pin is pulled out from the cam groove 54.

  According to the present embodiment, since the interference plate 48 is formed to protrude with a predetermined protruding length at a position below the housing-side lock portion 45 on the rear surface of the female housing 30, the interference plate 48 is pulled out from the rear surface of the female housing 30. Even when the electric wire w is pulled upward toward the housing side lock portion 45, it is bent by interference with the interference plate 48, and after that, even if it hits the release portion 58 provided on the lock piece 56, the release portion The lock piece 56 is held in a state of being locked to the protrusion 46 of the housing side lock portion 45. As a result, it is prevented that the lock is inadvertently released by the pulled electric wire w, and consequently the lever 50 is prevented from unnecessarily rotating toward the initial position.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) The arrangement position of the interference plate (interference part) can be appropriately selected according to conditions such as the position of the housing side lock part.
(2) Although the case where the interference part is provided on the housing side is illustrated in the above embodiment, it may be provided on the operation part side of the lever.
(3) The present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a lever is mounted on the male housing side.

w ... Electric wire 10 ... Male housing (mating housing)
20 ... Female terminal (terminal fitting)
30 ... Female housing (housing)
45 ... Housing side lock part 46 ... Projection (lock part)
48 ... Interference plate (interference part)
50 ... Lever 52 ... Operation part 55 ... Lever side lock part 56 ... Locking piece 58 ... Release part

Claims (3)

A housing in which a terminal fitting connected to the end of the electric wire is inserted and accommodated from behind;
A lever that is provided so as to be pivotable in the front-rear direction on one side surface of the housing and that engages with the counterpart housing while being rotated from the initial position to the terminal position;
A lock portion provided at a position protruding from the rear surface of the housing on the one side surface of the housing;
An elastically displaceable lock piece provided on the lever so as to be engageable with the lock portion,
When the lever is rotated to the end position, the lock piece is elastically locked to the lock portion, so that the lever is held at the end position, and the release portion provided on the lock piece is pulled up. In the lever-type connector, the lock piece is forcibly elastically displaced to release the lock on the lock portion, and the lever is allowed to rotate toward the initial position side.
When the electric wire drawn out from the rear surface of the housing is pulled toward the lock portion, an interference portion capable of interfering with the electric wire is provided, and the release portion is provided via the interference with the interference portion. The lever-type connector is characterized in that when it comes into contact with the connector, the release portion is pressed in the locking direction. The lever-type connector according to claim 1, wherein the interference portion is formed to protrude from a rear surface of the housing. The lever type connector according to claim 1, wherein the interference portion is formed on the lever.

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