JP6370693B2 - Connector terminal removal structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a terminal extraction structure for a connector, and more particularly to a terminal extraction structure for a connector capable of extracting terminals in a multi-pin connector.

  In some connectors for connecting electric wires, one of the housings made of synthetic resin is a male type and the other is a female type so that they are fitted to each other. These housings are provided with a structure that holds the terminal made of a conductive metal in a state in which the terminal is inserted. In such a connector, it is necessary to replace a terminal in which a defect is found by product inspection or the like, and there is one in which a terminal assembled in a housing can be removed.

  As a structure for preventing the terminal from coming off, a part of the wall of the terminal insertion hole provided in the housing is formed as a flexible elastic piece that can be deformed outward, and the terminal is inserted into the terminal insertion hole. There is a part of which is locked by an engaging projection provided on the elastic piece to prevent it from coming off. In that case, the elastic piece can be displaced outward by a tool, a jig, or the like, the engagement between the engagement protrusion and the terminal can be released, and the terminal can be extracted (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-297473 A

  On the other hand, miniaturization of electrical equipment in recent years demands miniaturization of connectors. Particularly, in a connector having a plurality of terminals arranged in multiple poles, the space between adjacent terminals becomes narrow due to miniaturization of the connector. For this reason, as the terminal pitch becomes narrower, the space for accessing the jig becomes smaller, and there arises a problem that it becomes difficult to remove the terminal.

  In view of the above background, it is an object of the present invention to facilitate the work of extracting terminals in a miniaturized multipolar connector.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a connector (1) having a plurality of terminals (2) and a housing (3) including a plurality of terminal insertion holes (11) for holding the plurality of terminals in parallel with each other. ) In which the housing is formed to form upper and lower walls (12) and a bottom wall (13) defining upper and lower surfaces of the terminal insertion hole, and left and right surfaces of the terminal insertion hole. A plurality of side wall portions (14) arranged in parallel, and the upper wall portion includes a pair of slits (22) extending along the pair of left and right side wall portions for each of the terminal insertion holes. And a strip-shaped piece (21) having a shape cut into a strip shape so as to be elastically deformable by the pair of slits, and the strip-shaped piece is provided to prevent the terminal inserted into the terminal insertion hole from slipping out. An engaging portion (21a) that engages with the terminal. And, on top of the side wall portion, wherein the recess communicating (24) is provided in said slit.

  According to this configuration, the terminal insertion hole is formed by the upper wall portion, the bottom wall portion, and the left and right side wall portions, and a band-shaped piece that can be elastically deformed is formed by the pair of slits provided in the upper wall portion. In the connector in which the terminal is prevented from coming off when the terminal inserted into the hole and the engaging portion provided in the strip are engaged with each other, a concave portion communicating with the slit is provided in the upper portion of the side wall portion. Thereby, the space for accessing a tool with respect to an engaging part can be ensured more widely by the width | variety of a slit, and a recessed part. Thereby, it is not necessary to widen the interval between the terminal insertion holes for the terminal extracting operation, and the narrow pitch of the connector can be promoted.

  In the above invention, the recess (24) may communicate with each of the slits (22) adjacent to each other with the side wall (14) interposed therebetween. According to this structure, the space for accessing a tool to an engaging part can be ensured more widely.

  Moreover, it is good for the part connected to the said slit of the said recessed part (24) to be provided below the said engaging part (21a) by the side view. According to this configuration, the tool can be accessed from the side with respect to the engaging portion, and the work of deforming the strip-like piece in the direction to release the engagement between the engaging portion and the terminal can be easily performed. .

  In addition, the terminal (2) has a head (2a) coupled to the mating terminal and a gripping part (2c) for fixing the electric wire, and the engaging part (21a) 2a) and the gripping part (2c) may be formed in a protruding shape that can enter. According to this configuration, a general crimp terminal having a head coupled to a counterpart terminal and a gripping part for fixing an electric wire has a relatively wide gap between the head and the gripping part. In addition, it is possible to prevent the terminal from coming off by inserting the engaging portion into the gap, and it is easy to secure a wide working space for accessing the engaging portion of the tool.

  The engaging portion (21a) has a downward inclined surface (21b) inclined backward with respect to the insertion direction of the terminal (2), and a part of the engaging portion (21a) communicating with the slit (22) of the concave portion (24). It is good if it overlaps with the slope (21b) in a side view. According to this configuration, the portion defined by the slope of the engaging portion in the portion communicating with the slit of the concave portion becomes a wider work space, and a tool other than the dedicated tool can be used as long as the space is accessible. It can also be used.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the recess for communicating with the slit is provided in the upper portion of the side wall portion, so that the space for accessing the tool to the engaging portion is wider by the width of the slit and the recess. Can be secured. Thereby, it is not necessary to widen the interval between the terminal insertion holes for the terminal extracting operation, and the narrow pitch of the connector can be promoted.

The perspective view which shows the connector with which this invention was applied Top view of the housing as seen in the direction of arrow II in FIG. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. The figure corresponding to FIG. 3 which shows the state by which the female terminal was inserted in the terminal insertion hole Partial perspective view showing the procedure for removing terminals (A) is an enlarged side view of the main part as seen in the direction of the arrow VIa in FIG. 5 showing the state in which the tip and claw of the tool are inserted into the recess, and (b) is VIb- in FIG. 6 (a). An enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part broken along the line VIb The figure corresponding to FIG. 4 which shows the state which displaced the strip | belt piece with the tool

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a connector 1 to which the present invention is applied. The connector 1 includes a female terminal 2 and a housing 3 that holds the female terminal 2, and is coupled to another pair of connectors that hold a male terminal (not shown). In the description using directions, the front, rear, left, and right directions indicated by arrows in FIG. 1 are used.

  2 is a top view of the housing 3 as seen in the direction of arrow II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a side sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. The housing 3 is a synthetic resin molded product, and includes a horizontally long main body 3a, a flange portion 3b formed larger in the vertical and horizontal directions than the main body 3a at a rear side portion of the main body 3a, and a flange portion 3b. And a thin plate-like tongue piece 3c extending forward along the lower surface of the main body 3a. The tongue piece 3c is used to prevent the connectors from coming off by engaging the male terminal side connector with an elastic restoring force.

  In the housing 3, seven terminal insertion holes 11 for inserting the female terminals 2 are arranged in parallel in the left-right direction in the illustrated example. In the illustrated example, a 7-pin type connector in which seven terminal insertion holes 11 are provided in parallel is shown, but the present invention can also be applied to other multi-pin type connectors and 1-pin type connectors.

  The terminal insertion hole 11 is provided so as to open on the rear surface of the flange portion 3b and the front surface of the main body 3a. The top, bottom, left, and right surfaces of the terminal insertion hole 11 are an upper wall portion 12 that forms the upper portion of the housing 3, a bottom wall portion 13 that forms the lower portion of the housing 3, and a side wall portion that separates adjacent terminal insertion holes 11 from each other. 14. In addition, although the side wall part used as the outer side of each terminal insertion hole 11 arrange | positioned at the both ends of a parallel direction consists of each side end wall part 3d formed in the right-and-left end of the housing 3, the side wall part of the terminal insertion hole 11 In the description as 14, the same treatment as that of the side wall portion 14 between the adjacent terminal insertion holes 11 is performed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the female terminal 2 has a rectangular tube-shaped head portion 2a into which the pin-shaped head portion of the male terminal is inserted and a crimping portion that crimps and fixes the core wire of the covered electric wire 4 2b and a grip portion 2c for gripping and fixing the coating of the electric wire 4 by caulking are provided in series in the insertion direction into the terminal insertion hole 11. These 2b and the grip part 2c constitute a leg part to which the electric wire 4 is coupled. The head portion 2a, the crimping portion 2b, and the grip portion 2c are cut out in a shape developed from a conductive metal plate, and are formed by bending appropriate places.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom wall 13 and the side wall 14 form a surface extending along the insertion direction of the female terminal 2 (the axis of the terminal insertion hole 11). The upper wall portion 12 has an inclined wall portion 12a inclined downward from the upper surface of the rear portion of the flange portion 3b at a portion corresponding to the flange portion 3b, and is parallel to the bottom wall portion 13 at a portion extending forward from the inclined wall portion 12a. In this way, the terminal insertion hole 11 is formed in a shape bent upward at the axial direction intermediate portion.

  By the top wall portion 12, the bottom wall portion 13, and the side wall portion 14 formed as described above, the terminal insertion hole 11 surrounds the head portion 2 a of the female terminal 2 at a portion corresponding to the main body 3 a with almost no gap. It is formed in a size, and is formed so as to expand rearward so as to allow the height of the grip portion 2c at a portion corresponding to the flange portion 3b.

  In addition, the upper wall portion 12 extends for each terminal insertion hole 11 along the side wall portions 14 on both the left and right sides of the terminal insertion hole 11 and extends between the intermediate portion of the inclined wall portion 12a and the vicinity of the front end of the main body 3a. A pair of slits 22 is provided. Note that the side wall 14 is provided with slits 22 on both sides thereof. In this way, the strips 22 provided for each terminal insertion hole 11 form the strips 21 for each terminal insertion hole 11 as shown in FIG.

  On the front end side of the terminal insertion hole 11 (the front end side in the insertion direction of the female terminal 2), a protruding wall portion 23 that protrudes by a predetermined amount from the bottom wall portion 13 and both side wall portions 14 is provided. The female terminal 2 inserted into the terminal insertion hole 11 from the rear end side of the housing 3 has a terminal insertion hole in the assembling work of the female terminal 2 to the housing 3 by the head portion 2a coming into contact with the protruding wall portion 23. 11 is regulated.

  FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing a state in which the female terminal 2 is inserted into the terminal insertion hole 11. As shown in the figure, on the lower surface (surface on the terminal insertion hole 11 side) of the strip-shaped piece 21, a head 2 a and a gripping part 2 c are provided to prevent the female terminal 2 inserted into the terminal insertion hole 11 from coming off. A projecting engaging portion 21a that protrudes downward is formed so as to enter the gap. The distance in the axial direction of the terminal insertion hole 11 between the projecting wall portion 23 and the engaging portion 21a may be such that the head portion 2a accommodated between the projecting wall portion 23 and the engaging portion 21a is not greatly rattled. . In the illustrated example, the height of the grip portion 2c that grips the coating of the electric wire 4 and the head portion 2a are substantially the same, and the height of the crimp portion 2b that crimps and fixes the core wire of the electric wire 4 is low. Therefore, the engaging portion 21a is configured to fit in the space between the head portion 2a and the grip portion 2c. In addition, when the height of the crimping | compression-bonding part 2b is high, what is necessary is just to make the shape of the engaging part 21a into the shape which enters into the clearance gap between the head 2a and the crimping | compression-bonding part 2b.

  The engaging portion 21a in the illustrated example is a portion parallel to the bottom surface of the bottom wall portion 13 in the upper wall portion 12 of the strip-shaped piece 21, and is provided in the vicinity of the bent portion with the inclined wall portion 12a. The engaging portion 21a has a surface that is substantially orthogonal to the axis of the terminal insertion hole 11 on the side that engages with the head portion 2a, and the protruding amount gradually decreases on the inclined wall portion 12a side and the inclined wall portion 12a. Is formed in a shape having a downward inclined surface 21b inclined backward.

  When the female terminal 2 is inserted into the terminal insertion hole 11 from the rear side of the housing 3, the head 2a comes into contact with the slope of the engaging portion 21a. In this state, the female terminal 2 is further pushed in. However, since the strip 21 is elastically deformed and bent upward with the inclined surface of the engaging portion 21a as a relative guide surface, the female terminal 2 is not subjected to large resistance. Can be inserted. When the entire length of the head 2a (the length in the axial direction) falls within the protruding wall portion 23 and the engaging portion 21a, the engaging portion 21a is disengaged from the upper surface of the head 2a, and the belt-like piece 21 is initialized by the elastic restoring force. Return to the state (FIG. 4). Thereby, the engaging part 21a descends behind the head part 2a, the rear end of the head part 2a and the engaging part 21a are engaged, and the female terminal 2 is prevented from coming off.

  The side wall portion 14 is provided with a concave portion 24 communicating with the slit 22 at an upper portion of the side portion of the engaging portion 21 a across the slit 22. The concave portion 24 is dug down from the upper surface of the side wall portion 14 toward the bottom wall portion 13 side, and is formed in a concave shape having a bottom surface parallel to the bottom wall portion 13 and both side surfaces orthogonal to the bottom surface and parallel to each other. Yes. The bottom surface of the recess 24 is located below the lower surface (surface on the bottom wall portion 13 side) of the engaging portion 21a in the initial state of the strip 21 and above the terminal crimping portion 2b. The shape of the recess 24 is not limited to the illustrated example, and may be a shape that communicates only with the slit 22 on one side, or a notch shape, a shape having a step that is one step lower than the upper surface, or the like. Shall be included.

  Next, an operation procedure when the female terminal 2 is removed from the connector 1 configured as described above will be described.

  The female terminal 2 can be pulled out rearward of the housing 3 by displacing the strip-shaped piece 21 upward and releasing the engagement of the engaging portion 21a with the head 2a. In order to release the locked state between the engaging portion 21a and the head portion 2a, for example, a tool having a needle-like tip portion is inserted from the side of the band-like piece 21 to the lower side so that the tip portion is raised. This is possible by displacing the strip-shaped piece 21 upward. However, in the case of the connector 1 having a narrow pitch between terminals such as 1.25 mm pitch in accordance with the recent miniaturization of electrical equipment, the width of the slit 22 provided on the side of the strip 21 is also large. Narrow. For this reason, it is difficult to secure the space for inserting the needle-like tip and displacing the belt-like piece 21 by the slit 22.

  As described above, the recess 24 is provided in the side wall portion 14 positioned between the adjacent terminal insertion holes 11, and the strip-shaped piece 21 is removed using the tool 31 as shown in FIG. 5 using the recess 24. Displace. The tool 31 may be formed of, for example, a pencil-shaped square bar as a shape that can be gripped and operated by hand. In the drawing, the tip portion 31a is shown, and the tip portion 31a is formed so as to protrude in the axial direction (longitudinal direction) of the tool 31 with a width that can be inserted into the recess 24 from above, and further at a substantially right angle at the protruding end. And a flat plate-like claw portion 31b having the same width. The cross-sectional shape of the tip of the claw portion 31b is sharply formed.

  Using the tool 31 formed in this way, first, the tip 31a is put into the recess 24 as shown by an arrow A in FIG. Since the slits 22 are provided on both sides of the side wall part 14, the combined length of the side wall part 14 and the width of each of the slits 22 on both sides of the tip part 31 a including the claw part 31 b. It can be secured as a space for performing the operation of inserting into the recess 24. Thereby, in the connector 1 having a narrow pitch, a space for accessing the tool 31 from the side of the strip 21 is widened, and the tip portion 31a and the claw portion 31b can be formed to a certain size. . When only the slit 22 is used as a space for access, it is necessary to make the tip of the tool thin and thin, which increases the processing cost. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in the machining accuracy of the tool 31.

  FIG. 6A is an enlarged side view of the main part showing a state in which the tip 31 a of the tool 31 is in contact with the bottom surface of the recess 24. 6A is a side view in the direction indicated by the arrow VIa in FIG. 5, and the distal end portion 31a is inserted into the concave portion 24 on one side of the strip-shaped piece 21 from which the female terminal 2 is pulled out. It is the figure which looked at the state through the recessed part 24 of the other side, and does not show the female terminal 2. In the illustrated example, the positional relationship between the concave portion 24 and the engaging portion 21a in a side view is such that the bottom surface of the concave portion 24 is located closer to the bottom wall portion 13 than the lower surface of the engaging portion 21a in the vertical direction. To do. Thus, a horizontally long slit-like gap into which a sharp thin plate-like claw portion 31b can be inserted is defined between the bottom surface of the recess 24 and the lower surface of the engaging portion 21a.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, the extended end of the claw portion 31b is below the engaging portion 21a in a state where the lower surface of the tip portion 31a inserted into the recessed portion 24 is in contact with the bottom surface of the recessed portion 24. Can be plugged in. In the state of FIG. 6 (b), the tool 31 is tilted as shown by the arrow B in the figure to raise the tip of the claw 31b with the bent portion of the tip 31a with the claw 31b as a fulcrum. With the tip portion of the portion 31b engaged with the engaging portion 21a, the engaging portion 21a can be lifted, and the middle portion of the strip 21 can be greatly displaced upward.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the engaging portion 21a can be completely detached from the locking position with respect to the head 2a. In this state, the electric wire 4 is connected to the rear of the housing 3 as shown by an arrow C in the figure. The female terminal 2 can be pulled out from the terminal insertion hole 11 by pulling the terminal.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6A, the slope 21b of the engaging portion 21a overlaps with a part of the recessed portion 24 and is provided so as to cross the recessed portion 24 obliquely in a side view. Thereby, a wide communication portion having a substantially triangular shape is defined between the corner portion of the concave portion 24 corresponding to the slope 21b and the slope 21b. A rod-shaped body 32 having a small diameter as shown by a two-dot chain line in the figure can be inserted into the substantially triangular communication portion defined by the inclined surface 21b of the concave portion 24, and thus the dedicated tool 31 as described above. Access to the engaging portion 21a is possible without using the connector, and the handleability of the connector 1 is improved.

  In this way, the recess 24 for inserting the tip end portion 31a of the tool 31 is provided on the side wall portion 14 provided to form the side surface of the terminal insertion hole 11 and to insulate adjacent ones from each other. Therefore, even when the width (gap) of the slit 22 extending on both sides of the strip 21 is narrow due to the narrow pitch, a wide space can be secured by the recess 24 and the work with the tool 31 can be easily performed. it can. In particular, by communicating with the slits 22 on both sides via the recess 24, not only the length in the thickness direction of the side wall 14 in the recess 24, but also a space that combines the widths of the slits 22 on both sides is secured. Even when the pitch is narrowed, a large working space can be secured.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments and can be easily understood by those skilled in the art. It is possible to make appropriate changes without departing from For example, in order to prevent the female terminal 2 from coming off, the engaging portion 21a protruding from the strip-shaped piece 21 is engaged with the head portion 2a by protruding into the gap between the head portion 2a and the grip portion 2c. The mold terminal 2 may be provided with a protrusion that protrudes toward the belt-like piece 21, and the belt-like piece 21 may be provided with a recess into which the protruding end of the protrusion can enter. Moreover, although the recessed part 24 was provided in the shape penetrated in the thickness direction of the wall of the side wall part 14, it is good also as the middle of the thickness direction of a wall, without making it penetrate. Even in this case, it is possible to secure a work space wider than the space formed only by the slits 22. Moreover, although the connector holding the female terminal 2 is shown in the illustrated example, the present invention can also be applied to a connector on the male terminal side. Moreover, although the example which arrange | positioned the several terminal insertion hole 11 in parallel with 1 step was shown, it is applicable also to the connector arrange | positioned in parallel by 2 steps | paragraphs, respectively. In that case, a recess may be provided on each of the upper and lower surfaces of the housing 3. In addition, all the components shown in the above embodiment are not necessarily essential, and can be appropriately selected without departing from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 2 Female terminal 2a Head 2c Holding part 3 Housing 11 Terminal insertion hole 12 Upper wall part 13 Bottom wall part 14 Side wall part 21 Strip | belt-shaped piece 21a Engagement part 21b Slope 24 Recessed part

Claims (5)

A connector terminal removal structure having a plurality of terminals and a housing having a plurality of terminal insertion holes for holding the plurality of terminals in parallel with each other,
The housing has an upper wall portion and a bottom wall portion that define upper and lower surfaces of the terminal insertion hole, and a plurality of side wall portions that are arranged in parallel with each other to form left and right surfaces of the terminal insertion hole,
The upper wall portion has a pair of slits extending along the pair of left and right side wall portions for each terminal insertion hole, and a strip shape cut into a strip shape so as to be elastically deformable by the pair of slits. A piece is provided,
The strip has an engaging portion that engages with the terminal in order to prevent the terminal inserted into the terminal insertion hole from coming off.
A connector terminal extraction structure, wherein a concave portion communicating with the slit is provided in an upper portion of the side wall portion.   2. The connector terminal removal structure according to claim 1, wherein the recess communicates with each of the slits adjacent to each other with the side wall portion interposed therebetween.   3. The connector terminal removal structure according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the concave portion that communicates with the slit is provided below the engagement portion in a side view. 4. The terminal has a head coupled to the counterpart terminal, and a gripping part for fixing the electric wire,
The said engaging part enters between the said head and the said holding part, and is formed in the protrusion shape engaged with the said head, The Claim 1 thru | or 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Terminal removal structure for connectors. The engaging portion has a downward slope inclined backward with respect to the insertion direction of the terminal,
5. The terminal removal structure for a connector according to claim 4, wherein a part of the recess communicating with the slit overlaps the slope in a side view.

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