JP6080502B2 - Valve socket - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a bulb socket for mounting a bulb on a lamp housing.

  In the vehicular lamp, a wedge base bulb without a base is used as a light source bulb. The wedge base bulb is configured such that a part of a bulb portion made of glass is used as a base portion, and an electrode that is electrically connected to a filament built in the bulb portion is disposed in the base portion. In the wedge base valve, when the base portion is inserted into the valve socket, an electrode extending in the base portion contacts a contact provided in the valve socket, and electrical connection is made (Patent Document 1).

JP 2001-15233 A

  FIG. 3 shows the valve socket and its mounting hole described in Patent Document 1. The socket body 11 of the valve socket 10 is attached to and detached from the socket mounting hole 41 by the bayonet portion 14. The bayonet portion 14 is formed with a plurality of locking projections 112 projecting in the radial direction and tongue-shaped sandwiching pieces 115 to 118 extending in the radial direction. After inserting the locking projection 112 into the locking groove 42 arranged at the periphery of the socket mounting hole 41, the valve socket 10 is rotated with respect to the socket mounting hole 41, so that the locking projection 112 and the sandwiching pieces 115 to 118 are rotated. The wall is sandwiched from both sides and the valve socket is fixed.

  In the valve socket described in Patent Document 1, the sandwiching pieces 115 to 118 have a cantilever spring structure in which each root is connected to the socket body. In the sandwiching piece having such a structure, stress concentration tends to occur at the root of the sandwiching piece when the valve socket is mounted, and cracking may occur near the root of the sandwiching piece particularly when assembled in a low temperature environment.

  In addition, there is a desire to connect the connector connecting part and the valve mounting part in an L shape to secure the space behind the valve socket. However, when a linear holding piece is used, the holding piece and the socket mounting hole There is a possibility that insects may enter from there.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a valve socket having a structure that can relieve stress concentration on an elastic piece when the valve socket is attached.

  An aspect of the present invention is a valve socket that has a valve mounting portion into which a valve is inserted and a connector connection portion into which an external connector is inserted, and is attached to an attachment hole provided in a lamp housing. The connector connecting portion is disposed so as to extend from the valve mounting portion in a substantially right angle direction, and the valve mounting portion has a circular flange extending in the radial direction and an engagement piece protruding in the radial direction on the outer surface. The circular flange includes an arc-shaped elastic piece separated from an inner diameter side by an arc-shaped slit extending in the circumferential direction of the circular flange, and a linear elastic piece defined by a linear slit extending in the radial direction of the circular flange. And having. When the valve socket is observed from the direction orthogonal to the surface of the circular flange, the circular flange and the connector are configured to sandwich the opening edge of the mounting hole with the arc-shaped elastic piece and the linear elastic piece and the engaging piece. The linear elastic piece is located at the portion where the connecting portion overlaps, and the arc-shaped elastic piece is located at the other portion.

  According to this aspect, at least in the arc-shaped elastic piece having a double-supported spring structure, stress at the time of mounting the valve socket is dispersed at both ends of the elastic piece, so that stress concentration can be relaxed and cracking can be suppressed. Further, in the portion overlapping the connector connecting portion, the linear slit defining the linear elastic piece and the extending direction of the connector connecting portion are equal, and these portions can be formed with a sliding mold. Therefore, a valve socket in which the valve mounting portion and the connector connecting portion are L-shaped can be obtained.

  You may further provide the shielding piece which hides the notch into which an engagement piece is penetrated when inserting a valve socket in an attachment hole after completion of attachment of a valve socket. The shielding piece may be provided in the arc-shaped slit so as to extend in a direction in which the valve socket is rotated when the valve socket is attached.

  According to this aspect, since the gap between the bulb socket and the mounting hole is hidden by the shielding piece, it is possible to prevent insects from entering the lamp housing through the gap.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the valve socket of the structure which can ease the stress concentration to an elastic piece at the time of attachment of a valve socket is provided.

(A) is a top view of the valve socket which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, (b) is a side view of a valve socket. It is a figure which shows an example of a valve socket and its attachment hole. It is a figure which shows the valve socket and its attachment hole which concern on a prior art.

  FIG. 1A is a plan view of a valve socket 50 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a side view of the valve socket 50.

  The valve socket 50 is formed integrally with a valve mounting portion 54 into which a wedge base valve (not shown) is inserted and a connector connection portion 58 into which an external connector for supplying power to the wedge base valve is inserted. The main body is made of synthetic resin. The valve mounting portion 54 and the connector connecting portion 58 have a rectangular tube-shaped outer shape that is suitable for a valve or a connector. A contact piece 30 that holds the wedge base valve and contacts the lead portion of the wedge base valve and a metal piece 31 that sandwiches the wedge base valve are inserted into the valve mounting portion 54. This contact piece extends to the connector connecting portion 58 and becomes a contact piece that comes into contact with the external connector.

  In the valve socket 50, the connector connecting portion 58 is arranged so as to extend in a substantially right angle direction with respect to the valve mounting portion 54, and when viewed from the side surface, it has a substantially L-shaped appearance as a whole (FIG. 1 ( b)). With the bulb socket 50 having such a structure, the mounting direction of the connector can be bent at right angles to the mounting direction of the wedge base valve, so that the length of the lamp housing in the front-rear direction can be shortened. .

  A circular flange 64 extending in the radial direction of the mounting portion 54 is integrally formed on the outer surface of the valve mounting portion 54. The circular flange 64 has a substantially disk shape as a whole.

  Arc-shaped slits 65 </ b> A and 65 </ b> B extending in the circumferential direction of the circular flange 64 are formed on the outer peripheral portion of the circular flange 64. Arc-shaped elastic pieces 66A and 66B separated from the inner diameter side of the circular flange 64 are formed by the slits 65A and 65B. The rear surfaces of the arc-shaped elastic pieces 66A, 66B, that is, the surface on the connector connecting portion side are thin except for both ends, thereby giving the arc-shaped elastic pieces a great flexibility. That is, the arc-shaped elastic pieces 66A and 66B have a double-supported spring structure in which both ends thereof are supported. By adopting such a double-supported spring structure, the stress at the time of mounting the valve socket can be distributed to both ends of the arc-shaped elastic piece, the stress concentration can be relaxed, and cracking can be suppressed.

  Contact protrusions 67A and 67B are formed on the upper surfaces of the arc-shaped elastic pieces 66A and 66B, that is, on the valve mounting portion side. The contact protrusions 67A and 67B are preferably provided near the center of the arc-shaped elastic pieces 66A and 66B.

  Four engagement pieces 82 to 85 are formed on the outer surface of the valve mounting portion 54 so as to protrude in the radial direction at positions spaced upward from the circular flange 64. On the side of the engaging pieces 82 to 85 facing the circular flange 64, inclined surfaces are formed, the distance from the circular flange 64 increasing toward the tip (FIG. 1B). An inclined surface 83a of the engaging piece 83 and an inclined surface 84a of the engaging piece 84 are depicted). The engaging pieces 82 to 85 are preferably arranged at equal intervals by 90 degrees apart from each other in the circumferential direction.

  The engaging pieces 84 and 85 are formed with claw portions 84b and 85b at the rear ends of the inclined surfaces. As will be described later, the recesses provided in the mounting holes of the valve socket and the claws engage with each other so that the rotation of the valve socket 50 is restricted and fixed to the mounting holes.

  As can be seen from FIG. 1A, the arc-shaped elastic pieces 66 </ b> A and 66 </ b> B are arranged at positions that do not overlap with the extending direction of the connector connecting portion 58. The reason for this is to prevent interference between the mold part forming the arc-shaped elastic piece and the mold part forming the connector connecting portion 58.

  However, when the arc-shaped elastic pieces 66A and 66B are simply provided at a place where the connector connecting portion 58 does not exist, the force for fixing the mounting holes to the mounting holes acts asymmetrically on the valve socket, resulting in a poor balance. Therefore, two linear slits 68A and 68B extending in the extending direction of the connector connecting portion 58, that is, in the radial direction of the circular flange 64 are formed, and thereby the linear elastic piece separated from other portions of the other circular flange. 70 is defined. A contact protrusion 71 is formed at a position corresponding to the outer periphery of the circular flange 64 at the tip of the linear elastic piece 70. By providing the linear elastic piece 70, the valve socket can be pressed at three points together with the arc-shaped elastic piece 66, so that the fixing force acts symmetrically. The contact protrusions 67A, 67B, 71 on each elastic piece are desirably arranged at equal intervals 120 degrees apart from each other in the circumferential direction.

  By preparing a mold that slides in the direction in which the connector connecting portion 58 and the linear elastic piece 70 extend, the L-shaped valve socket 50 can be molded with the mold without using a punching mold. Become.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the valve socket 50 and its mounting hole 100.

  As shown in the drawing, the mounting hole 100 is basically circular, but notches 102 to 105 are formed at positions corresponding to the engaging pieces 82 to 85 protruding from the outer surface of the valve mounting portion 54. Has been. In the notches 104 and 105, inclined surfaces 104a and 105a corresponding to the inclined surfaces 84a and 85a of the engaging pieces 84 and 85 are also formed. In addition, recessed portions 124 and 125 that engage with the claw portions 84b and 85b of the engaging pieces 84 and 85 are also formed at positions slightly separated from the notches 104 and 105 in the circumferential direction.

  A method of attaching the valve socket 50 to the mounting hole 100 will be described. First, the valve mounting part side of the valve socket 50 is inserted from below the mounting hole 100. At this time, the engaging pieces 82 to 85 protruding from the valve mounting portion 54 are inserted into the corresponding notches 102 to 105 of the mounting hole 100.

  With the circular flange 64 pressed, the valve socket 50 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. Then, the inclined surface 84 a of the engagement piece 84 slides on the inclined surface 104 a of the notch 104, and the inclined surface 85 a of the engagement piece 85 slides on the inclined surface 105 a of the notch 105. Then, the claw portion 84 b of the engagement piece 84 engages with the recess 124, and the claw portion 85 b of the engagement piece 85 engages with the recess 125. As a result, the arc-shaped elastic pieces 66 </ b> A and 66 </ b> B and the linear elastic piece 70 are slightly bent backward (downward in FIG. 2), and the contact protrusions 67 </ b> A, 67 </ b> B and 71 on the elastic pieces It will be in the state pressed against the opening edge. Thus, the opening edge of the mounting hole is sandwiched from both the upper and lower sides by the engaging pieces 82 to 85 provided on the outer surface of the valve mounting portion 54 and the elastic pieces 66A, 66B, 70 provided on the circular flange 64. The valve socket is fixed.

  As described above, after mounting the valve socket 50 in the mounting hole 100, the notches 103 to 105 for inserting the engaging pieces 82 to 85 are in a state where there are gaps when observed from the connector connecting portion side. become. If such a gap is left, insects may enter the lamp housing through the gap. In order to prevent this, the circular flange 64 of the valve socket 50 is provided with shielding pieces 93 to 95 for concealing the notches. The shielding pieces 93 to 95 are arranged so as to extend in the rotation direction of the valve socket in the arc-shaped slits 65A and 65B, and are located at an equal distance in the circumferential direction from the corresponding engagement pieces 83 to 85 (note that The shielding piece is not provided for the engaging piece 82. The notch 102 through which the engaging piece 82 is inserted is shielded by the connector connecting portion 58). This distance is equal to the distance by which the valve socket 50 is rotated to attach the valve socket 50 to the mounting hole 100. Moreover, the shielding pieces 93 to 95 are made slightly larger than the projected area of the corresponding engaging pieces 83 to 85 on the plan view. Since notches 103-105 are completely covered by these shielding pieces 93-95, it is possible to prevent insects from entering the lamp housing through the gap.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications such as design changes can be added based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. The configuration shown in each figure is for explaining an example, and any configuration that can achieve the same function can be changed as appropriate, and the same effect can be obtained.

  50 Valve socket, 54 Valve mounting part, 58 Connector connection part, 64 Circular flange, 65A, 65B Arc slit, 66A, 66B Arc elastic piece, 67A, 67B Contact protrusion, 68A, 68B Linear slit, 70 Linear Shaped elastic piece, 71 contact projection, 82-85 engagement piece, 83a, 84a inclined surface, 84a, 84b claw part, 93-95 shielding piece, 100 mounting hole.

Claims (1)

A valve socket having a bulb mounting portion into which a bulb is inserted and a connector connecting portion into which an external connector is inserted, and being attached to a mounting hole provided in a lamp housing;
The connector connecting portion is arranged so as to extend in a substantially right angle direction from the valve mounting portion,
The valve mounting portion has a circular flange extending in the radial direction and an engagement piece protruding in the radial direction on the outer surface,
The circular flange includes an arc-shaped elastic piece separated from an inner diameter side by an arc-shaped slit extending in a circumferential direction of the circular flange, and a linear elastic force defined by a linear slit extending in the radial direction of the circular flange. And having a piece,
The arcuate elastic piece and the linear elastic piece and the engagement piece are configured to sandwich the opening edge of the mounting hole,
When the valve socket is observed from a direction orthogonal to the surface of the circular flange, the linear elastic piece is located in a portion where the circular flange and the connector connecting portion overlap, and the arc-shaped elastic piece is located in the other portion. Is located,
A shielding piece for concealing a notch through which the engagement piece is inserted when the valve socket is inserted into the mounting hole after the valve socket is completely installed ;
The valve socket, wherein the shielding piece is provided in the arc-shaped slit so as to extend in a direction in which the valve socket is rotated when the valve socket is attached .

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