JP6191445B2 - Charging connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a charging connector that is used to charge a battery that is fitted to a vehicle-side connector and mounted on a vehicle.

  As an example of this type of charging connector, one described in Patent Document 1 below is known. This is equipped with a gun-shaped housing with a front housing fitted to the vehicle-side connector at the tip, and a lever that is long in the front-rear direction is swingable like a seesaw in the upper space of the housing. It is supported. Specifically, the lever has a lock claw that can be locked to a locked portion provided on the upper surface of the vehicle-side connector on the lower surface of the tip, and the lever is always oscillated and biased in the locking direction. In addition, a release button for swinging the lever in the unlocking direction is provided at the rear end, and the release button is arranged facing the release window opened on the upper surface of the housing. It has a structure.

  When charging, the front housing of the charging connector is fitted to the mating vehicle-side connector, and in detail, in the process of fitting the front housing to the vehicle-side connector, the lever is released against the urging force in the unlocking direction. When the lock claw passes over the locked part while swinging in the normal direction and the lock is properly fitted, the lock claw falls into the back of the locked part and is locked while the lever swings in the locking direction by the biasing force. The connectors are held in the fitted state, and the charging operation is performed. When the charging operation is completed, the release button is pressed to release the lock by swinging the lever in the lock release direction against the biasing force, and the charging connector is pulled away from the vehicle side connector. .

JP 2012-195214 A

By the way, during charging work, depending on the conditions at the work site and the like, rainwater may fall on the charging connector, but in the charging connector having the above structure, for example, the lower surface of the lock claw of the lever and the other vehicle side Moisture permeates into the gap between the upper surface of the connector behind the locked portion and the water may freeze when the work site is in a low temperature atmosphere such as in winter. In other words, the bottom surface of the lock claw is firmly frozen on the top surface of the vehicle-side connector, so when the release button is pressed at the end of charging and the lever is swung in the unlocking direction, The operation may be hindered.
The present invention has been completed based on the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to avoid an obstacle to unlocking due to freezing.

The present invention relates to a charging connector used for charging a battery mounted on a vehicle that is fitted to a vehicle-side connector, and a gun provided with a connector portion to be fitted to the vehicle-side connector at the tip. A casing having a shape is provided, and a lock arm which is long in the front-rear direction is supported in a swingable manner in a seesaw shape in the upper space in the casing, and is provided on the upper surface of the vehicle-side connector on the lower surface of the front end of the lock arm. The lock arm is provided with a latch portion that can be locked, and the lock arm is always urged to swing in the locking direction, and the lock arm is provided at the rear end of the lock arm. A release operation part for swinging in the unlocking direction is provided, the release operation part is arranged facing an operation hole opened in the upper surface of the casing, and the connector part is the vehicle. In the process of fitting into the connector, the lock arm moves over the locked portion while swinging the lock arm in the unlocking direction against the urging force, and the lock arm is attached when it is properly fitted. The latch portion is lowered and locked to the back surface of the locked portion while swinging in the locking direction by force, and the front corner portion on the lower surface of the latch portion is used as an R surface for the guide. The lower surface of the latch portion is formed behind the R surface and contacts the rear surface of the locked portion in a state where the latch portion is lowered and locked to the back surface of the locked portion. has a portion facing a contact or clearance, Oite the lower surface of the latch portion, wherein the abutment or portion facing a gap, characterized in that the recess is bored Have

  The surface area of the lower surface of the latch portion is reduced by the formation of the concave portion, and therefore, even if icing occurs between the lower surface of the latch portion and the upper surface of the vehicle-side connector, the mutual bonding area is reduced. As a result, when a swinging operation force in the unlocking direction is applied to the lock arm, the latch portion can be peeled relatively easily, and the charging connector can be pulled out smoothly.

The following configuration may also be used.
(1) While the lock arm is made of a synthetic resin, an upper surface of at least the lower surface of the latch portion in the locked portion is formed from a metal material.
While the upper surface of the locked portion is made of a metal material for reinforcement or the like, the lock arm is made of synthetic resin for the purpose of weight reduction or the like. When sliding over the upper surface of the locked portion and getting over, there is a possibility that the lower surface of the latch portion is scraped and resin residue is generated.
On the other hand, in the present invention, since the surface area of the lower surface of the latch portion is reduced, even if resin debris comes out, the amount of the resin debris is suppressed, and the resin debris penetrates into the connector portion and the mating vehicle-side connector. You can prevent it from happening.

(2) pre-Symbol recess is formed so as to be over the rear side of the R-plane.
Depending on conditions such as the structure of the locked portion, the R surface may be most easily scraped, but the amount of resin debris generated can be more effectively suppressed by reducing the surface area of the R surface.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid troubles in unlocking the lock arm due to freezing.

The side view which shows the state before fitting the connector for charge which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention to the vehicle side connector. Partial cutaway side view Side view of lock arm Same front view Bottom view Sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. VII-VII line enlarged sectional view of FIG. Partially cutaway partial side view showing an initial fitting state of the charging connector to the vehicle side connector Partial cutaway side view showing the state during the fitting Partially cutaway side view showing the completed fitting state Enlarged view of part XI in Figure 10

<Embodiment>
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the charging connector 10 of the present embodiment is provided at a terminal of a charging cable W connected to an external power source, and is fitted to a vehicle-side connector 40 provided in the vehicle and mounted on the vehicle. Used to charge a charged battery.
Below, in each connector 10 and 40, the fitting surface side is demonstrated as the front.

  First, the vehicle-side connector 40 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a power supply port provided with a male housing 41 made of a synthetic resin having a cylindrical hood portion 42 with a front opening, which is opened in the vehicle body. It is attached to face. In the male housing 41, a plurality of vehicle-side terminals (not shown) provided at the ends of the connection wires connected to the battery are accommodated in a form protruding into the hood portion 42.

A position near the front end of the upper surface of the hood portion 42 of the male housing 41 is engaged with a lock arm 20 provided on the charging connector 10 to be described later to hold both the connectors 10 and 40 in a fitted state. A locked portion 45 is formed to rise.
As shown in FIG. 2, the locked portion 45 is formed in a side chevron having a predetermined width, and the front side is a tapered guide surface 46, while the rear surface is a raised locking surface 47. It has become. A metal plate 50 is stretched by insert formation from the upper surface 48 to the locking surface 47 of the locked portion 45 for reinforcement.
A pair of guide walls 52 that guide the distal end side of the lock arm 20 are erected on both the left and right sides of the locked portion 45.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the charging connector 10 has a synthetic resin casing 11 having a cylindrical gun shape, and the vehicle-side connector 40 is fitted to the tip of the casing 11. The connector portion 15 is provided, and the charging cable W connected to the connector portion 15 is drawn from the rear end portion of the casing 11.

  Specifically, the casing 11 includes a pair of half-cases 12A and 12B (a base-side half case 12A and a cover-side half case 12B) that form a half cylinder. The upper and lower edges are joined together and a plurality of locations (four locations in the figure) are fastened with screws 13 so as to be integrally assembled into a cylindrical gun shape as described above.

The connector portion 15 includes a female housing 16 that can be fitted into the hood portion 42 of the male housing 41 of the vehicle-side connector 40 described above, and is connected to the terminal of the charging cable W in the female housing 16. A plurality of cable side terminals 17 are accommodated. Each cable-side terminal 17 is fitted and connected to the mating vehicle-side terminal as both connectors 10 and 40 are properly fitted.
The connector portion 15 is provided at the front end portion of the casing 11 in a form sandwiched between the two half cases 12 and 12B, and the charging cable W connected to the connector portion 15 passes through the casing 11 and then the casing 11. The rubber bush 18 fitted to the rear end portion of the rubber bush 18 passes through the rubber bush 18 and is pulled out while maintaining a watertight state.

A lock arm 20 for locking the connector portion 15 of the charging connector 10 and the counterpart vehicle-side connector 40 in a properly fitted state is accommodated in the upper position on the distal end side in the casing 11.
As shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the lock arm 20 has an elongated shape in the front-rear direction, and is locked to a locked portion 45 provided on the vehicle-side connector 40 on the lower surface of the tip portion. And a release operation portion 25 for swinging the lock arm 20 in the unlocking direction, as will be described later, on the upper surface of the rear end portion. It is formed in a raised form. An R surface 22 is formed at the front corner of the lower surface of the latch portion 21 for guiding.
An operation hole 19 into which the above-described release operation portion 25 of the lock arm 20 can be moved forward and backward is opened at a substantially central portion in the length direction and the width direction on the upper surface of the casing 11.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the lock arm 20, the front end side latch portion 21 protrudes from the front end of the casing 11 above the connector portion 15, and the rear end side release operation portion 25 is opened on the upper surface of the casing 11. In the form facing the operation hole 19, it is supported so as to be swingable like a seesaw around the shaft 26. The lock arm 20 is biased with a swinging force in the counterclockwise direction (locking direction) of FIG. ing.

  As will be described in detail later, when the connector portion 15 of the charging connector 10 is fitted to the vehicle-side connector 40, the lock arm 20 resists the urging force in the fitting process, and the unlocking direction (the timepiece of FIG. The latch portion 21 gets over the locked portion 45 while swinging in the rotation direction), and when the lock is properly fitted, the lock arm 20 swings in the locking direction by the urging force and the latch portion 21 is locked 45. It is designed to be depressed and locked to the back. At this time, the lower surface 21 </ b> A of the latch portion 21 is set to contact the surface 55 behind the locked portion 45 on the upper surface of the hood portion 42 (contact surface 55).

Here, on the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 formed on the distal end side of the lock arm 20, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, two left and right concave grooves 30 are formed in parallel with each other. Yes. Each concave groove 30 is formed in the central portion in the length direction on the lower surface 21 </ b> A of the latch portion 21, and in particular, the front end side extends to the rear side of the R surface 22.
Each concave groove 30 has a large depth (height) that reaches the vicinity of the upper surface of the distal end portion of the lock arm 20.

As shown in FIG. 2, the charging connector 10 of the present embodiment has a connector portion 15, a rubber bush 18, a lock arm 20, and the like that are mounted in advance on the base-side half case 12 </ b> A, and then the cover-side half case. 12B is fitted to the base-side halved case 12 so as to sandwich them, and is fastened with screws 13 at four places in the figure, thereby assembling into a cylindrical gun shape. When the assembly is completed, as described above, the connector portion 15 is provided at the front end portion of the casing 11, and the charging cable W connected to the connector portion 15 is maintained watertight from the rear end portion of the casing 11. Then pulled out.
A lock arm 20 is pivotally urged in the locking direction and pivotally supported on the upper side in the casing 11, and a latch portion 21 at the front end protrudes from the front end of the casing 11 and a release operation portion at the rear end. The configuration in which 25 faces the operation hole 19 is adopted.

The charging connector 10 having the above structure is used as follows.
When charging, the grip portion 10A of the charging connector 10 is gripped, and the connector portion 15 at the tip is fitted to the vehicle-side connector 40 (male housing 41) as shown by the arrows in FIGS. Is done. With the initial fitting, as shown in FIG. 8, the distal end portion of the lock arm 20 enters between the left and right guide walls 52 of the vehicle-side connector 40, and the R surface 22 of the latch portion 21 is locked. It is applied to the skirt portion of the guide surface 46 of the portion 45.

  Further, when the connector portion 15 is pushed in, the lock arm 20 is oscillated and displaced in the unlocking direction against the urging force of the compression coil spring 27, and as shown in FIG. Slidably contacts the guide surface 46, and the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 including the rear side of the R surface 22 slides with the upper surface of the locked portion 45 directed forward.

When both the connectors 10 and 40 are properly fitted, the latch portion 21 passes through the locked portion 45, so that the lock arm 20 is moved in the locking direction by the urging force of the compression coil spring 27 as shown in FIG. While swinging, the latch portion 21 falls into the back of the locked portion 45 and is locked. At this time, the lower surface 21 </ b> A of the latch portion 21 contacts the contact surface 55 behind the locked portion 45.
Thereby, both the connectors 10 and 40 are hold | maintained in a regular fitting state, and a charging operation is implemented in the state which concerns.

  When the charging operation is finished, when the release operation portion 25 protruding from the operation hole 19 is pressed as shown by the arrow x in FIG. 10 while grasping the grip portion 10A of the charging connector 10, the lock arm 20 is attached. By forcibly swinging in the unlocking direction against the force, the locking by the latch portion 21 is released, so that the charging connector 10 is subsequently pulled away from the vehicle-side connector 40.

  Here, during the above-described charging operation, depending on the conditions at the work site or the like, rainwater or the like may be left on the upper surface of the charging connector 10. In the charging connector 10 of the present embodiment, for example, As shown in detail in FIG. 11, the capillary phenomenon occurs in a narrow gap s formed between the lower surface 21 </ b> A of the latch portion 21 of the lock arm 20 and the contact surface 55 behind the locked portion 45 of the vehicle-side connector 40. Moisture infiltrates due to, for example, when the work site is in a low temperature atmosphere such as winter, there is a risk that the moisture will freeze. This means that the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 is frozen on the contact surface 55 of the vehicle-side connector 40.

  However, in this embodiment, since the two concave grooves 30 are formed in the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21, the surface area of the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 is reduced. Even if icing occurs with the contact surface 55 of the vehicle-side connector 40, the mutual bonding area is reduced. As a result, when the release operation portion 25 is pressed and a swing operation force in the unlocking direction is applied to the lock arm 20, the latch portion 21 can be peeled off from the contact surface 55 relatively easily. As a result, it is possible to smoothly pull out the charging connector 10.

Further, in the present embodiment, the metal plate 50 is stretched on the upper surface of the locked portion 45 provided in the vehicle-side connector 40 for the purpose of reinforcement, while the lock arm 20 is intended for weight reduction and the like. It is made of synthetic resin. With such a structure, for example, when the charging connector 10 is fitted, when the latch portion 21 of the lock arm 20 slides over the upper surface 48 (metal plate 50) of the locked portion 45, the latch portion 21 There is a possibility that the lower surface 21 </ b> A is shaved and resin residue is generated. When the charging connector 10 is released from the fitted state, the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 is elastically applied to the upper surface 48 (metal plate 50) of the locked portion 45 after the latch portion 21 is unlocked. When the charging connector 10 is pulled, the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 may be similarly shaved.
On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the surface area of the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 is reduced by forming the concave groove 30, even if the resin debris comes out, the amount of the resin debris is suppressed, and the resin debris is the connector portion. 15 and the other party's vehicle-side connector 40 are prevented from incurring problems.

Further, after the passage of time, in the vehicle-side connector 40, there is a concern that the upper end 46A (see FIG. 11) of the guide surface 46 of the locked portion 45 is worn and the tip end portion of the metal plate 50 is exposed. In that case, when the latch portion 21 of the lock arm 20 gets over the locked portion 45 while being pressed against the locked portion 45, the rear portion of the R surface 22 may be rubbed against the tip portion of the metal plate 50. is there.
On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the concave groove 30 formed on the lower surface 21A of the latch portion 21 extends to the rear portion of the R surface 22, the surface area of the rear portion of the R surface 22 is also reduced. Even if resin residue is generated, the amount is suppressed.

<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 addition to reducing the surface area of the lower surface of the latch portion, the concave portion formed on the lower surface of the latch portion of the lock arm also functions as a hole for preventing sink marks when the latch portion is molded. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape and number of the recesses can be arbitrarily selected according to conditions such as the shape of the latch portion.
(2) In the above embodiment, when the latch portion of the lock arm is locked to the locked portion, the lower surface of the latch portion is illustrated as contacting the upper surface of the hood portion behind the locked portion. The lower surface of the hood and the upper surface of the hood portion may be set to face each other with a gap in advance, and the present invention is similarly applicable to such a configuration.

( 3 ) Even if the lock arm is made of metal such as aluminum die-cast, it is considered that the lock arm can be unlocked due to icing on the lower surface side of the latch part. The present invention can be similarly applied to a metal product.
( 4 ) Regarding the locked portion of the vehicle side connector, a metal plate is stretched over the entire guide surface, upper surface and locking surface, or the entire locked portion is made of metal. If the upper surface where the lower surface of the latch portion is in sliding contact is formed of a metal material, there is a concern that the lower surface of the synthetic resin latch portion may be scraped. The present invention functions effectively with respect to all provided items.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Charging connector 11 ... Casing 15 ... Connector part 16 ... Female housing 19 ... Operation hole 20 ... Lock arm 21 ... Latch part 21A ... Lower surface (of the latch part 21) 22 ... R surface 25 ... Release operation part 26 ... Shaft 27 ... Compression coil spring 30 ... Concave groove (concave part)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 40 ... Vehicle side connector 41 ... Male housing 42 ... Hood part 45 ... Locked part 48 ... Upper surface of (locked part 45) 50 ... Metal plate (metal material)
55 ... Contact surface s ... Gap

Claims (3)

A charging connector used for charging a battery mounted on a vehicle by being fitted to a vehicle-side connector,
A casing having a gun shape provided with a connector portion fitted to the vehicle side connector at the tip is provided,
In the upper space in the casing, a long lock arm in the front-rear direction is supported so that it can swing like a seesaw,
A latch portion that can be locked to a locked portion provided on the upper surface of the vehicle-side connector is provided on the lower surface of the distal end of the lock arm, and the lock arm is always urged to swing in the locking direction. And
At the rear end of the lock arm, a release operation portion for swinging the lock arm in the unlocking direction is provided, and the release operation portion is provided in an operation hole opened on the upper surface of the casing. It is arranged in the face,
In the process of fitting the connector part to the vehicle-side connector, the latch part gets over the locked part while swinging the lock arm in the unlocking direction against the urging force,
In the case where the lock arm swings in the locking direction by the urging force when it is properly fitted, the latch part falls into the back of the locked part and is locked,
A front corner portion on the lower surface of the latch portion is formed as an R surface for guiding,
The lower surface of the latch portion is in contact with or behind the rear surface of the locked portion in a state where the latch portion is lowered and locked to the back surface of the locked portion, behind the R surface. And have opposing parts,
Oite the lower surface of the latch portion, wherein the abutment or portion facing a gap, charging connector, wherein a recess is drilled.   2. The charging connector according to claim 1, wherein the lock arm is made of a synthetic resin, and an upper surface of at least a lower surface of the latch portion in the locked portion is formed of a metal material. Charging connector according to claim 2, wherein the pre-Symbol recess, characterized in that it is formed so as to be over the rear side of the R-plane.

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