JP5915474B2 - Connector and connector manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a connector and a method for manufacturing the connector .

  In Patent Document 1, a terminal accommodating chamber is formed in a housing, a lance that can be elastically deformed is formed on an inner wall of the terminal accommodating chamber, and a terminal fitting inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber is retained by a locking action of the lance. A connector is disclosed. In this connector, when recycling the terminal fittings and the wires connected to the terminal fittings, the lances are elastically bent in the direction of disengagement from the terminal fittings, and the terminal fittings are placed outside the terminal housing chamber while maintaining this state. Extraction work is performed.

JP 2012-146519 A

In the connector described above, when removing the terminal fitting, it is necessary to perform an operation of elastically deflecting the lance using a removal jig. Therefore, there is a problem that work is troublesome and workability in the recycling process is not good.
In recent years, awareness of environmental issues has been increasing. Therefore, recycling technology that takes into account not only convenience in removing terminal fittings but also environmental destruction measures is required.
The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recycling technology that takes into consideration measures for environmental destruction.

As means for achieving the above object, the present invention provides:
A housing having a terminal accommodating chamber formed therein;
A terminal fitting inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber;
The terminal is integrally formed with the housing, and is capable of elastically bending in a direction of extending from an inner wall surface of the terminal accommodating chamber into the insertion path of the terminal fitting and retracting out of the insertion path of the terminal fitting, A lance for retaining the terminal fitting by locking to the terminal fitting inserted in the storage chamber;
It is made of a material containing biodegradable plastic, and is integrally formed in a region on the opposite side of the lance across the terminal fitting, of the inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber, and the wall thickness is at least substantially equal to the locking margin of the lance It is characterized by the fact that it has an inner wall constituent part having the same dimensions.

  According to this configuration, when recycling the terminal fittings and the electric wires connected to the terminal fittings, the terminal fittings inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers are kept in a state where they are prevented from being pulled out by the locking portions. Biodegradation of inner wall constituent parts made of decomposable plastic by microorganisms. Then, since the shape of the inner wall constituent portion cannot be maintained as a rigid body, the terminal fitting in the terminal accommodating chamber can be released from the locking portion by moving in a direction away from the locking portion. . The terminal fitting released from the locking with the locking portion may be extracted outside the terminal accommodating chamber. According to the present invention, since the troublesome work for releasing the locking between the locking portion and the terminal fitting is unnecessary, the workability of the recycling process is good. In addition, the inner wall components made of biodegradable plastics can be decomposed into carbon dioxide and water using microorganisms, so that they are more natural than the petroleum-derived plastics that remain semipermanently. Less burden.

Sectional drawing showing the state which has removed the terminal metal fitting with the lance in Example 1 Sectional view showing the state in which the inner wall component is biodegraded and the terminal fitting is released from locking by the lance XX sectional view of FIG.

The connector of the present invention
The locking portion is a lance that is integrally formed with the housing so as to be along the inner wall of the terminal accommodating chamber, and is capable of elastic bending in a direction of retreating out of the insertion path of the terminal fitting.
The formation range of the inner wall constituent portion may be limited to a region excluding a region where the lance is formed in the inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber.
According to this configuration, the region where the lance is formed in the inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber can be formed of petroleum-based plastic having a molding dimensional accuracy superior to that of biodegradable plastic. Excellent in reliability.

<Example 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The connector 10 according to the present embodiment includes a plastic housing 11 and a terminal fitting 34 that forms a conductive path 30. In the following description, in the front-rear direction, the left side of FIGS.

  A terminal accommodating chamber 12 extending in the front-rear direction is formed inside the housing 11. A front end portion of the terminal accommodating chamber 12 is covered with a front wall 13, and a through-type tab insertion opening for inserting a tab (not shown) of a male counterpart terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber 12 on the front wall 13. 14 is formed. The rear end portion of the terminal accommodating chamber 12 is opened as a terminal insertion port 15 for allowing the terminal fitting 34 to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 12 from the rear of the housing 11.

  At a position near the front end of the terminal accommodating chamber 12, a lance having a cantilever shape extending forward (in the same direction as the insertion direction of the terminal fitting 34 with respect to the terminal accommodating chamber 12) along the inner wall surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 12. 16 (the locking portion which is a constituent element of the present invention) is integrally formed. The lance 16 can be elastically bent in the vertical direction (direction intersecting the insertion direction of the terminal fitting 34 with respect to the terminal accommodating chamber 12). The lance 16 is configured by integrally forming an elastic bending portion 17 elongated in the front-rear direction and a locking projection 18 protruding toward the inside of the terminal accommodating chamber 12 from a position near the front end of the elastic bending portion 17. .

  When the lance 16 is in a free state where it is not elastically bent, the lance 16 is in the locked position. As shown by a solid line in FIG. 1, when the lance 16 is in the locking position, the elastic bending portion 17 is retracted out of the insertion path of the terminal fitting 34, but the locking projection 18 is Advance into the insertion path. Further, as indicated by an imaginary line in FIG. 1, the lance 16 retreats both the elastic bending portion 17 and the locking protrusion 18 out of the insertion path of the terminal fitting 34 and releases the locking with the terminal fitting 34. It is possible to bend elastically to the stop release position.

  The housing 11 is configured by integrating the first component 19 and the second component 22 by two-color molding. The first structural body 19 is made of petroleum-derived polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). Structurally, the first structural body 19 includes an outer wall of the housing 11, an upper wall portion 20 (inner wall portion) that forms the upper surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 12, a lance 16, and both left and right side surfaces of the terminal accommodating chamber 12. The left and right side wall portions 21 (inner wall portions) to be formed are formed.

  The second component 22 is made from a biodegradable plastic whose main component (matrix) is polylactic acid (PLA) produced from biological resources (biomass) such as corn and sugarcane, etc., which are rich in starch and sugar. Become. Structurally, the 2nd structure 22 has comprised the lower wall part 23 (inner wall structure part which is a structural requirement of this invention) which forms the lower surface of the terminal storage chamber 12. As shown in FIG. The lower wall portion 23 constitutes a region on the opposite side of the lance 16 (region facing the lance 16) across the terminal fitting 34 in the inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber 12.

  The wall thickness dimension T of this lower wall portion 23 (the direction parallel to the elastic deflection direction of the lance 16 and the dimension in the increasing / decreasing direction of the locking margin E between the terminal fitting 34 and the lance 16) is the locking margin of the lance 16. The dimension is larger than E (at least approximately the same dimension as the locking allowance E of the lance 16). Further, the formation range in the width direction of the lower wall portion 23 (the direction intersecting both the insertion direction of the terminal fitting 34 and the elastic deflection direction of the lance 16) extends over the entire width region of the terminal accommodating chamber 12.

  The conductive path 30 includes an electric wire 31 and a terminal fitting 34. The electric wire 31 is composed of a single core wire in which a conductor 32 is surrounded by an insulating coating 33. The terminal fitting 34 is formed in an elongated shape in the front-rear direction as a whole. A square tube portion 35 is formed at the front end portion of the terminal fitting 34, and a known crimping portion 37 having an open barrel shape is formed at the rear end portion of the terminal fitting 34. A locking hole 36 for locking with the lance 16 is formed in the upper plate portion constituting the rectangular tube portion 35. The crimping portion 37 is connected to the front end portion of the electric wire 31 by crimping.

  The terminal fitting 34 (front end portion of the conductive path 30) is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 12 from the rear of the housing 11. In the process of inserting the terminal fitting 34, the square tube portion 35 abuts on the locking projection 18, so that the lance 16 is elastically bent from the locking position to the locking release position (direction away from the terminal fitting 34). When the terminal fitting 34 is inserted to the normal position in the terminal accommodating chamber 12, the lance 16 is elastically returned to the locking position, and the locking projection 18 enters the locking hole 36 as shown in FIG. It becomes. In this state, when a rearward pulling force (external force in the extraction direction) is applied to the electric wire 31, the hole edge of the locking hole 36 is locked (contacted) with the locking protrusion 18 so that the lance 16 is The displacement restricting function is exhibited, and the terminal fitting 34 is held in a state where displacement in the extraction direction is restricted.

  When recycling the terminal fittings 34 and the electric wires 31 constituting the conductive path 30, the connector 10 is buried in the medium while the terminal fittings 34 in the terminal accommodating chamber 12 are kept from being removed by the locking of the lance 16. You can leave it alone. The medium may be ordinary compost in which microorganisms live, but is preferably compost mixed with a liquid agent containing nutrients for promoting the growth and activation of microorganisms.

  When a predetermined time elapses after the connector 10 is embedded in the culture medium, microorganisms enter the terminal accommodating chamber 12 and biodegrade the lower wall portion 23 made of biodegradable plastic, so that the lower wall portion 23 is shaped as a rigid body. Thus, the portion where the lower wall portion 23 exists (that is, the region on the opposite side of the lance 16 across the terminal fitting 34 of the inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber 12) becomes a gap. In this state, if the terminal fitting 34 in the terminal accommodating chamber 12 is moved downward so as to be separated from the lance 16, the locking with the lance 16 can be released. The terminal fitting 34 released from the engagement with the lance 16 may be extracted outside the terminal accommodating chamber 12.

  According to the present embodiment, since it is not necessary to perform a troublesome work using a jig in order to unlock the lance 16 and the terminal fitting 34, the workability of the recycling process is good. In addition, since the lower wall portion 23 made of biodegradable plastic can be decomposed into carbon dioxide and water using microorganisms, compared to petroleum-derived plastic that remains semipermanently, it is less susceptible to the natural environment. There is little burden. Therefore, according to the connector 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a recycling technique that takes into consideration measures for environmental destruction.

  Further, in the connector 10 of this embodiment, the lance 16 for retaining the terminal fitting 34 is integrally formed with the housing 11 along the inner wall of the terminal accommodating chamber 12, and retracts out of the insertion path of the terminal fitting 34. Elastic deformation in the direction is possible, and the formation range of the lower wall portion 23 is limited to a region excluding the region where the lance 16 is formed in the inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber 12. And the area | region in which the lance 16 is formed among the inner wall parts of the terminal storage chamber 12 is formed using the polybutylene terephthalate which is a petroleum-type plastic excellent in molding dimensional accuracy rather than a biodegradable plastic. Therefore, the forming accuracy of the lance 16 is high, and the reliability of the retaining function by the lance 16 is excellent.

<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) In the above examples, polylactic acid was used as the biodegradable plastic, but not limited to polylactic acid, polycaprolactone (PLC), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyglycolic acid (PGA), modified polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), casein, modified starch and the like can be used.
(2) In the above embodiment, bioplastic derived from biological resources (biomass) was used as the biodegradable plastic, but not limited to this, including biodegradable plastic derived from petroleum (for example, PET copolymer). It may be .
( 3 ) In the above embodiment, there is only one locking portion to be locked to one terminal fitting, but a plurality of locking portions (for example, an inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber are integrally formed with one terminal fitting. And an elastically bendable lance and a retainer that can be displaced relative to the housing. In this case, it is necessary to align the positions of the plurality of locking portions in a region opposite to the inner wall constituting portion with the terminal fitting interposed therebetween.
( 4 ) In the above embodiment, the case where the terminal fitting is a female terminal having a square tube portion at the front end has been described. However, the present invention is a male fitting having a long and narrow tab at the front end. It can also be applied to terminals.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Connector 11 ... Housing 12 ... Terminal storage chamber 16 ... Lance (locking part)
23 ... Lower wall (inner wall component)
34 ... Terminal fitting

Claims (3)

A housing having a terminal accommodating chamber formed therein;
A terminal fitting inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber;
The terminal is integrally formed with the housing, and is capable of elastically bending in a direction of extending from an inner wall surface of the terminal accommodating chamber into the insertion path of the terminal fitting and retracting out of the insertion path of the terminal fitting, A lance for retaining the terminal fitting by locking to the terminal fitting inserted in the storage chamber;
It is made of a material containing biodegradable plastic, and is integrally formed in a region on the opposite side of the lance across the terminal fitting, of the inner wall portion of the terminal accommodating chamber, and the wall thickness is at least substantially equal to the locking margin of the lance A connector comprising an inner wall constituent part having the same dimensions. Formation range before Symbol inner wall structure section, the connector according to claim 1, characterized in that it is limited to the area except the lance is formed of the inner wall portion of the terminal receiving chamber.   A method of manufacturing the connector according to claim 1 or claim 2,
  The manufacturing method of the connector which shape | molds the said inner wall structure part integrally in the inner wall part of the said terminal storage chamber by two-color molding.

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