JPH0414779A - Low insertion force connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a low insertion force connector by making a female terminal come contact with a male terminal by rolling friction. CONSTITUTION:When a male housing 4 is inserted into a female housing 2, and an insertion portion 30 enters between a first roller 25 and a second roller 27, and the second roller 27 is displaced downward against the force of a spring piece 26 to make the portion 30 to be inserted. The insertion force of a male terminal 29 into a female terminal 21 is therefore caused by a rolling contact so that the insertion force of the male terminal 29 is small and so can be reduced comparing with the previous connectors.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention is used for connecting circuits in, for example, automobile wire harnesses, and is particularly suitable for use in large connectors or multi-pole connectors through which large currents flow. Regarding insertion force connectors.

"Prior Art" Conventionally, there are connectors shown in FIGS. 11 to 14 as examples of connectors. When a male housing 4 holding a female terminal 3 is inserted into a female housing 2 holding a male terminal 1, a stopper provided on an elastic piece 6 of the male housing 4 is attached to an engaging portion 5 of the female housing 2. 7 comes into contact with each other, the elastic piece 6 is displaced and the engagement hole 5a formed in the engagement portion 5 is closed.
The stop flange 7 is inserted into the elastic piece 6 and the elastic piece 6 is restored, and the stopper 7 of the engaging portion No. 5 is locked. At this time, the male terminal 1 of the female housing 2 is inserted into the female terminal 3 of the male housing 4 and connected. , the male housing 4 is locked in a fitted state to the female housing 2. and,
An engaging portion 5 having an engaging hole 5a and an elastic piece 6 having a stopper 7 constitute a sliding mechanism. 8 is a lance for fixing the female terminal 3 to the male housing 4, 9 is an electric wire crimped and connected to the female terminal 3, 1
0 is a lance for fixing the male terminal 1 to the female housing 2, and 11 is an electric wire connected to the male terminal 1 by caulking.

In such a connector, the connecting portion 3a of the female terminal 3 into which the male terminal 1 is inserted generally has a
When the male terminal 1 and the female terminal 3 are connected, the connecting portion 3a applies a certain contact pressure to the male terminal due to its spring property, and the connection between the male terminal 1 and the female terminal 3 is electrically established. It is also designed to be mechanically good.

13 is a perspective view showing the state before the male terminal 1 and the female terminal 3 are connected, and FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the state after the male terminal 1 and the female terminal 3 are connected.

By the way, when the female terminal 1 is inserted into the female terminal 3 to make a connection, the insertion amount of the male terminal 1 into the female terminal 3 becomes a certain constant insertion amount. Due to the springiness of the male housing 4, the insertion force of the male housing 4 into the female housing 2 increases, and once the insertion amount exceeds the above-mentioned certain amount, the insertion is maintained at an almost constant level due to the frictional force of the contact surface between the male terminal 1 and the female terminal 3. It is known that force is generated.

"Problem to be Solved by the Invention" However, in the connector as described above, when the male housing 4 is inserted into the female housing 2, the amount of insertion of the male terminal 1 into the female terminal 3 is a certain constant amount. Up to this point, as the amount of insertion of the male terminal 1 into the female terminal 3 increases, the insertion force of the male to the female housing 2 increases, so the male housing 4 is inserted into the female housing 2, and the male terminal 1 and the female There was a problem in that the wire no-nest assembly performed by connecting the terminal 3 was difficult.

In particular, when the number of connector pins is large (the more the connector is inserted into the female housing 2), the insertion force of the housing 4 is also increased.
For example, if the insertion force of a male housing into a pair of female housings is 2 kg f, the insertion force of a 10-pole connector is F =
2x 10=20kg f is required.

In addition, in connectors through which a large current flows, the contact area between the female terminal and the male terminal must be large, so the contact pressure between the female terminal and the male terminal becomes large. Even just making a connection with the connector requires a large insertion force (especially in the case of a multi-pole connector through which a large current flows), a large force is required to insert the male housing into the female housing.

Therefore, when pushing the male housing into the female housing, an excessive force may be applied in a prying direction, resulting in damage to the contact areas between the female housing and the male housing and between the female terminal and the male terminal. The above-mentioned assembly has the problem of deteriorating workability.

An object of the present invention is to provide a low insertion force connector that solves the above-mentioned problems of conventional connectors.

"Means for Solving the Problems" In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a female housing has a male terminal held therein, a male housing has a female terminal held therein and is removably fitted into the female housing, and when the female housing and the male housing are fitted together, the male housing A connector in which a terminal and a female terminal are connected to each other so as to be freely removable, and a cylindrical terminal housing provided on the tip side of the female terminal and into which the male terminal is removably inserted, and a cylindrical terminal housing having an outer periphery inside the terminal housing. A first rolling element having a curved surface with a smooth outer periphery and provided protrudingly on one of the opposing walls of the terminal housing, and a second rolling element having a curved surface with a smooth outer periphery that can move toward and away from the first rolling element. Until the insertion of the male terminal into the female terminal is about to end, the male terminal is inserted into the female terminal only by opening the first rolling element and the second rolling element. The rolling element is biased and held in a pressed state, and when the male terminal is about to finish inserting the male terminal into the female terminal, it has a spring property that presses only the tip side of the male terminal against the insertion part of the male terminal into the female terminal. and a spring piece.

"Operation" According to the above configuration, when the male housing is inserted into the female housing, the tip side insertion part of the male terminal is inserted between the first rolling element and the second rolling element, and the first rolling element is inserted until the end of insertion. The distal end insertion portion of the male terminal is held between the moving body and the second rolling body with the second rolling body being pressed, and the frictional force between them is minimized so that the male terminal is inserted with low insertion force into the female terminal. Just before the end of the insertion of the male terminal into the female terminal, the tip side of the spring piece is pressed against the male terminal insertion portion into the female terminal, and the female terminal and the male terminal are inserted in a state in which they are securely in contact with each other.

Therefore, the insertion force required when inserting the male housing into the female housing is reduced, and the work efficiency when assembling the wire harness is improved.

``Example'' An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. In this embodiment, parts with the same names as those in the conventional example are given the same reference numerals, and a description of some of them will be omitted.

A cylindrical terminal housing (conductor) 22 extending in the length direction of the female terminal 21 is integrally provided on the tip side of the female terminal 21 (on the opposite side of the electric wire 9).

A hole 23 is formed in the middle part of the upper plate 22a of the terminal housing 22, and a bearing plate 24 is provided extending upward at the middle upper part of each side wall of the terminal housing 22. A first roller (a first rolling element whose outer periphery is a smooth curved surface) 25 is rotatably supported between these bearing plates 24,24. The first roller 25 is made of metal and has a shaft 25a made of a conductor integrally formed at both ends thereof.

Further, the terminal housing 22 has this terminal housing 22
An inwardly extending spring piece 26 is provided. This spring piece 26 has a lower plate 22b of the terminal housing 22 connected to the female terminal 21.
The female terminal 22 is extended toward the tip side, then folded back at the folded part 26a at the tip of the female terminal 22, and extended into the terminal housing 22. It has a spring property and can be displaced in an oscillating manner using the folded part 26a as a fulcrum. It is done like this.

In the middle part of the spring piece 23, a second roller (a second rolling element with a smooth outer periphery and a curved surface) 27 is provided in the same way as the front S first roller 25.
is rotatably provided. The second roller 27 is made of metal and has shafts 27a integrally made of a conductor at both ends thereof. The second roller 27 is rotatably supported by bearing plates 28 provided on both sides of the spring piece 26 and extending upward.

The second roller 27 is movable toward and away from the first roller 25. Further, the distance between the first roller 25 and the second roller 27 is slightly narrower than the plate thickness A shown in FIG. 2 of the insertion portion 30 on the tip side of the male terminal 29 when the spring piece 26 is free. It is done like this.

Further, the terminal housing 22 is positioned within the male housing 4 by locking the rear end side of the terminal housing 22 of the lower plate 22b with a lance 31 provided on the male housing 4.

Note that the tip wall of the male housing 4 (the recess 2 of the female housing)
An insertion hole 4a into which an insertion portion 30 of the male terminal 29 is inserted is formed in the wall facing the bottom of the hole 4a.

On the other hand, in the middle of the insertion part 30, there is a groove 30a on both sides of the insertion part 30 in the thickness direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2).
, 30b are formed, whereby the thin plate portion 3 is attached to the insertion portion 30.
2 is formed. Tapered surfaces 30c, 30c are formed on the distal ends of the insertion portions of the grooves 30a, 30b.

Next, the operation of the low insertion force connector configured as described above will be explained.

When the female housing 2 and the male housing 4 are separated, the second roller 27 is close to the first roller 25, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, and these first rollers 25. The distance between the second rollers 27 is the plate thickness A of the insertion portion 30 of the male terminal 29.
The spacing is narrower. In this state, when the male housing 4 is inserted into the female housing 2, the insertion is about to end (as described later, when the first roller 25 is fitted into the groove 30a and the second roller 27 is fitted into the groove 30b) Up to this point, the insertion portion 30 is inserted into the first roller 25 and the second roller through the insertion hole 4a.
The second roller 27 is inserted between the rollers 27 by pressing the second roller 27 downward and bending the spring piece 26 downward against the force, as shown in FIG. At this time, the second roller 27 is pressed against the insertion portion 30 by the spring force of the spring piece 26, and the first roller 27 is pressed against the insertion portion 30.
The insertion portion 30 is pressed against the rollers 25. Therefore, the female terminal 21 and the male terminal 29 are reliably connected. At this time, the insertion portion 30 is attached to the upper plate 22H of the terminal housing 22.
does not come into contact with each other, so that the spring piece 26 does not come into contact with the insertion portion 30. Therefore, the insertion force of the male terminal 29 into the female terminal 21 is small because the contact between the female terminal 21 and the male terminal 29 is a rolling contact, and is reduced compared to a conventional connector.

Therefore, the insertion force required when inserting the male housing 4 into the female housing 2 is reduced, and the workability when assembling the wire harness is improved.

In this state, the male housing 4 is continuously inserted into the female housing 2, and the insertion N30 advances to the back of the terminal housing 22 (on the wire 9 side), and just before the end of this insertion, the insertion N30 is shown in FIG. As shown, the first roller 25 is fitted into the groove 30a, the second roller 27 is fitted into the groove 30b, and the thin plate portion 32 of the insertion portion 30 is attached to the tip side of the second roller 27 of the spring piece 26. The distal end side portion is pressed by the springiness of the spring piece 26 and comes into contact with it, and the insertion portion 30 is pressed against the upper plate 22a of the terminal housing 22.

Therefore, insertion of the male housing 4 into the female housing 2 is completed in a state where the male terminal 29 is securely in contact with the female terminal 21 with a large contact area.

Further, in this embodiment, when the male housing 4 is about to be inserted into the female housing 2, the spring piece 26 is pressed against the insertion portion 30 as described above, and the insertion portion 30 is pressed against the upper plate 22a. The insertion portion 30 is the spring piece 26. Upper plate 2
Since it slides slightly relative to 2a, it is possible to prevent the lack of cleaning of the oxide film on the surface of the terminal (scratching of the # coated film) (as described above in the first embodiment).

In addition, in the revised embodiment, the insertion part 30 of the male terminal 29
Although the thin plate portion 32 is formed by providing the grooves 30a and 30b in the insertion portion 30 of the male terminal 29, the thin plate portion 32 is not limited thereto.
As shown in FIG.
At the same time, the tip end side of the second roller 27 of the spring piece 41 is formed into a substantially two-shape, and the step IIIB of the insertion portion 40 shown in FIG. The second roller 27 is pressed against the parallel portion 40b on the distal end side of the inclined surface 40a of the insertion portion 40 without the spring piece 41 coming into contact with the insertion portion 40 until just before the end of insertion of the male terminal; The second roller 27 is sequentially pressed against the inclined surface 40a and the lower surface 40c of the insertion portion 40 on the rear side ('1 fastening 11 side) of the inclined surface 40a, and the second roller 27 is pressed by the spring property of the spring piece 41. The distal end side portion may be pressed against the distal parallel portion 40bl of the insertion portion 40 by the rollers 27.

In this case, due to the insertion force of the male housing 4 into the female housing 2, the first
Roll 25. Only the second roller 27 is pressed, and the frictional force acting between them becomes rolling friction, so it becomes smaller.
Just before the insertion of the male housing 4 into the female housing 2 is complete, the tip of the spring piece 41 is pressed against the insertion portion 40, so that the male terminal 29 is securely in contact with the female terminal 21 with a large contact area, and the female The insertion of the male housing 4 into the housing 2 is completed.

Also in this embodiment, just before the insertion of the male housing 4 into the female housing 2 is complete, the insertion portion 30 slides against the spring piece 26 with the spring piece 41 being pressed against the insertion portion 40, so that the terminal surface The lack of cleaning (shaving off the oxide film) of the oxide film can be prevented (above, the second embodiment).

In addition, the above-mentioned No. 1. In the second embodiment, a case has been described in which the connecting terminal has one stage and one pole, but the case is not limited to this. For example, the connecting terminal can have multiple poles, such as a connector with two stages and multiple poles. In the connector, the insertion force of each male terminal 29 into each female terminal 21 is extremely low and the contact area of each terminal is relatively large, so the insertion force when connecting the connector is reduced compared to conventional connectors, and the connector The present invention can be widely applied as a connector that provides reliable connection and allows a large current to flow.

"Effects of the Invention" According to the present invention, there is provided a female housing that holds a male terminal therein, a male housing that holds a female terminal therein and is removably fitted into the female housing, and the female housing. In a connector in which the male terminal and the female terminal are removably connected when the male terminal and the male housing are fitted together, a tube provided on the tip side of the female terminal and into which the male terminal is removably inserted. a first rolling element having a smooth outer periphery and a curved surface provided on one of the opposing walls of the terminal/% housing with an outer periphery protruding into the terminal housing; A second rolling element whose outer periphery is a smooth curved surface is supported so as to be able to approach and move away from it, and until the male terminal is almost finished inserting the male terminal into the female terminal, the rolling element is supported only between the first rolling element and the second rolling element. The insertion portion of the male terminal into the female terminal is held in a state where the second rolling element is biased and pressed against the insertion portion, and when the male terminal is about to finish inserting the male terminal into the female terminal, When inserting the male housing into the female housing, the first end of the female terminal is pressed until the end of insertion. Since the insertion part of the male terminal is inserted between the rolling element and the second rolling element with it being pressed against only the first rolling element and the second rolling element, the contact between the female terminal and the male terminal is caused by rolling friction. Therefore, the insertion force when inserting the male housing into the female housing can be significantly reduced.

Finally, when the male housing is about to be inserted into the female housing, the spring piece is pressed against the insertion part of the male terminal due to its spring properties, so the female terminal and the male terminal can be reliably connected. Since the contact area between the insertion part and the spring piece can be made relatively large, the present invention can also be applied to connectors through which large currents flow, and this makes it easier to assemble the wire harness. can be significantly improved.

In addition, even in connectors with multi-pole connection terminals, the insertion force of each male terminal into each female terminal is low and extremely small, and the connection between each female terminal and male terminal is reliable, so the present invention can be applied. It is possible to achieve a sufficiently low insertion force connection effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 7 show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing the male housing inserted into the female housing, and FIG. Figure 3 is a side sectional view of the main parts of the female terminal and male terminal, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the main parts of the female terminal, and Figures 5 to 7 are the female terminals. 8 to 10 show a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 shows the first roller,
A sectional side view of the main part showing the state where the male terminal is inserted between the second rollers, FIG. 9 is a sectional side view showing the state where the second roller is in contact with the inclined surface of the male terminal, and FIG. 10 is a sectional side view of the male terminal. 11 to 14 show an example of a conventional connector, and FIG. 11 is a side sectional view of a male housing holding a female terminal, and FIG. The figure is a side sectional view of the female housing holding the male terminal, FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view of the female terminal and male terminal, and FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the female terminal and male terminal in a connected state. be. 2...Female housing, 4...Male housing,
21...Female terminal, 22...Terminal housing,
25...First roller (first rolling element), 26.41
... Spring piece, 27 ... Second roller (second rolling element), 29 ... Male terminal, 30.40 ...
- Insertion part, 32...Thin plate part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A female housing (2) in which a male terminal (29) is held.
), a male housing (4) that holds a female terminal (21) therein and is removably fitted into the female housing; A connector to which a cylindrical terminal housing (22) is provided on the tip side of the female terminal and into which the male terminal is removably inserted; A first member provided on one of the opposing walls of the terminal housing and having a smooth outer periphery and a curved surface.
A rolling element (25) and a second rolling element (27) having a smooth outer circumference are supported so as to be able to approach and move away from the first rolling element. 1st
An insertion portion (30, 40) for inserting the male terminal into the female terminal is held between the rolling element and the second rolling element with the second rolling element biased and pressed against the insertion portion; It is characterized by comprising a spring piece (26, 41) having a spring property that presses only its tip side against the insertion part of the male terminal into the female terminal just before the end of insertion of the male terminal into the female terminal. Low insertion force connector.