JPH05166560A - Connection terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide connection terminals for small terminal pitches by integrally forming a wire crimping portion provided at one end of each connection terminal to which wire harness is connected and contact springs each of which forces a wire into elastic contact with the other end of each terminal. CONSTITUTION:A connection terminal 2 comprises a conductor crimp barrel 4 for fixing the covered wire 14 of a wire harness terminal from the upper end toward the lower end of a base 3, a conductor crimp barrel 6 for fixing the conductor 14a of the wire 14, and first 8 and second 10 springs which are pressed into contact with a cable to which wire harness is connected and which are curved from the base 3, the barrels and the springs being integrated together. The spring 8 is formed by curving the lower end portion of the base 3 into a roughly circular form and is so formed that the circular face of the spring 8 is located on the lower end face of the terminal 2. The spring 10 is formed by cutting the lower end circular face of the spring 8 outward and curving it circularly. To fix the terminal 2 to the inside of a connector housing, a rectangular lock hole 12 is formed in the base 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connection terminal for connecting a terminal crimped to an electric wire in a direction perpendicular to a conductive material,
In particular, it is suitable for being attached to a terminal of a wire harness that is vertically connected to a horizontal conductive wire or a bus bar housed in a branch connection box or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of connection terminal, there are a method generally used for connector connection as shown in FIG. 9 and a pressure contact method as shown in FIG. In the method of FIG. 9, for example, the bus bar 33 installed horizontally in the branch connection box is provided.
Is formed inside the connection terminal 32 by externally fitting the connection terminal 32 from the axial direction of the connection terminal 30 to the connection terminal 30 such as a male tab formed by bending the tip of the connection terminal in the vertical direction. The contact spring portion 34 is elastically brought into contact with the side surface of the mating terminal 32.

On the other hand, in the pressure contact method shown in FIG. 10, for example, the lower end of the connecting terminal 36 attached from above in the vertical direction with respect to the conductive wire 38 laid in the horizontal direction is cut out to make a contact portion 36a with the conductive wire 38. The contact portion 36a is slightly expanded to both sides by pressing and connecting the connection terminal 36 to the conductive wire 38 almost vertically, and the biasing force of the expanded contact portion 36a causes the conductive wire 38 The connection terminal 36 is in elastic contact with the side surface.

[0004]

However, in any of the above-mentioned methods, the contacting force of the connecting terminals is applied in the horizontal direction substantially perpendicular to the mounting direction of the connecting terminals which are mounted vertically to the conductive material. It is configured to be pressed against the side surface of the material, and elastic contact is maintained by this pressing force. Since the connection terminal is required to have a width W so that the elastically contacting spring portion can exhibit sufficient performance, the distance between adjacent terminals needs to take a sufficient space in the horizontal direction in consideration of this point. There is. As a result, it was very difficult to reduce the terminal pitch P in the contact surface direction between the connection terminal and the mating terminal or the conductive wire as desired. Further, for this reason, there is a limit in the branch junction box even if the outer space is reduced by narrowing the connector terminal pitch.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and provides a connection terminal capable of maintaining a sufficient elastic contact pressure and narrowing the terminal pitch. It is an object.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a connection terminal for contacting a conductive material forming a circuit, wherein a wire crimping portion is provided on one end side which is a wire harness connection side. On the other hand, a contact spring portion for elastically contacting the conductive material is integrally formed on the tip end surface on the other end side and electrically connected.

Preferably, the contact spring portion formed on the tip end surface is formed into a circular arc shape by cutting and raising a first spring portion whose tip is curved in an arc shape and the arc surface of the first spring portion. It is preferable that the second spring portion is provided so as to project and the second spring portion is elastically brought into contact with the conductive material. In addition, an engaging portion with the connector housing may be provided between the wire crimping portion and the contact spring portion at the tip.

[0008]

In the connection terminal of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, since the tip end surface of one end of the connection terminal makes elastic contact with the conductive material, the terminal pitch dimension is substantially the same as the width dimension required by the terminal. The terminal pitch can be made narrower than before.

Further, since the spring portion has the two-stage spring structure including the first spring portion and the second spring portion formed on the first spring portion, the variation in the insertion force of the connection terminal into the housing is small, and The looseness of the connection terminals in the housing can be sufficiently absorbed, and stable elastic contact can be obtained.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the connection terminal 2 according to the present invention includes a coated crimping barrel 4 for fixing the coated wire 14 of the wire harness terminal from the upper end to the lower end of the substrate portion 3, and the coated wire. 14 core wire 14a
The core wire crimping barrel 6 for fixing the core wire, the first spring portion 8 and the second spring portion 10 which are pressed against the conductive wire 16 to which the wire harness is connected are bent and integrally formed from the substrate portion 3.
The first spring portion 8 is formed by curving the lower end portion of the substrate portion 3 into a substantially arcuate shape.
It is arranged so that the arcuate surface of the spring portion 8 is located. The second spring portion 10 is formed by cutting and raising the central portion of the lower end arc surface of the first spring portion 8 outward and bending it in an arc shape. In order to fix the connection terminal 2 inside the connector housing, a substantially rectangular locking hole 12 is formed in the middle of the board portion 3.

The covered electric wire 14 of the wire harness terminal, which is connected to the conductive wire, has a first spring portion 8 with respect to the connection terminal 2.
And from the opposite side of the second spring portion 10 to the coated crimp barrel 4,
The core wire 14a is inserted into the core wire crimping barrel 6 and crimped. This connection terminal 2 is then inserted and fixed in a connector housing housed inside a branch connection box or the like.

FIG. 3 shows a connector housing 18 in which the connection terminal 2 is accommodated, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the housing 18. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the connector housing 18 is formed with a vertical terminal accommodating chamber 18a in which the plurality of connection terminals 2 are accommodated in parallel, and each terminal accommodating chamber 18a has an inward direction. A locking piece 18b is formed to project toward. The connection terminal 2 inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 18a from above is fixed inside the connector housing 18 by the engagement piece 18b engaging with the engagement hole 12 of the connection terminal 2.

The branch connection box 20 shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 in which the connector housing 18 is housed comprises an upper casing 22 and a lower casing 24 which are fitted to each other.
The upper casing 22 has a plurality of housing accommodating portions 22a.
And a plurality of conductive wires 26 are formed on the lower casing 24.
Are wired horizontally. These conductive wires 26 are attached to the housing accommodating portion 22a.
8 are arranged at positions corresponding to the respective terminal accommodating chambers 18a at intervals.

As shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of connection terminals 2 are provided.
The connector housing 18 in which the
0 upper casing 22 is inserted. When the insertion is completed, the connection terminal 2 abuts against the conductive wire 26 arranged in the lower casing 24 and is pressed. At this time, since the locking piece 18b formed inside the connector housing 18 and the locking hole 12 formed in the connection terminal 2 are engaged with each other, the first screw portion 8 formed at the tip of the connection terminal 2 is engaged. And the second screw part 1
By the action of 0, the connection terminal 2 elastically contacts the conductive wire 26 laid in the horizontal direction from above in the vertical direction, and this state is maintained.

Here, there is some clearance between the locking piece 18b of the connector housing 18 and the locking hole 12 of the connection terminal 2, and when the connection terminal 2 and the conductive wire 26 are not in contact with each other, the connection terminal 2 There is play in the insertion direction of. However, since the connection terminal 2 according to the present invention adopts the two-step spring structure in which the cut-and-raised piece 10 is formed in the first spring portion 8 and the cut-and-raised piece 10 is used as the second spring portion, both of them have sufficient play. Can be absorbed into.

Further, this play varies due to the connection terminal 2, and if the play is to be absorbed only by the first screw portion 8, the spring deflection must be made large,
In the case of the minimum play, the insertion force may increase, but due to the deflection of the two springs 8 and 10 due to the adoption of the two-stage spring structure, the insertion force of the connection terminal 2 is averaged and the connection terminal 2 A stable elastic contact between the conductive wire 26 and the conductive wire 26 is maintained.

Further, the conductive wire 2 is formed on the lower end surface of the second spring portion 10.
6, the width W of the connection terminals 2 need not be unnecessarily increased, and the pitch P between the terminals arranged in parallel can be narrowed.

The conductive wire 16 in the above embodiment may be a conductive material such as a bus bar. In this case, the male tab that has been formed so far on the tip of the bus bar is unnecessary.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the spring portion formed at one end of the connection terminal is elastically brought into contact with the conductive wire at its longitudinal end face, and the direction and the direction in which the elastic contact pressure acts are set. Since they are made to substantially coincide with each other, the terminal pitch dimension can be narrowed, and further, the branch connection box or the like which requires connection terminals can be downsized.

Further, since the spring portion has a two-step spring structure including the first spring portion formed in an arc shape and the second spring portion formed by cutting and raising a part thereof, stable elastic contact can be obtained. At the same time, the force of inserting the connection terminal into the connector housing is averaged.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connection terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the connection terminal of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a connector housing in which the connection terminal of FIG. 1 is housed.

4 is a partial cross-sectional view of a connector housing accommodating the connection terminal of FIG.

5 is a perspective view of a branch box in which the connector housing of FIG. 3 is accommodated.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the branch junction box of FIG.

7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the branch junction box of FIG.

8 is a cross-sectional view showing a fitted state of the connector housing of FIG. 3 and the branch connection box of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view of a connection terminal showing a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a front view of a connection terminal showing another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Connection Terminals 4 and 6 Crimping Barrel 8 First Spring Part 10 Second Spring Part 12 Locking Hole 14 Coated Wire 16 Core Wire 18 Connector Housing 18a Terminal Storage Chamber 18b Locking Piece 20 Branch Connection Box 26 Conductive Wire

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A connection terminal for contacting a conductive material forming a circuit, wherein a wire crimping portion is provided on one end side that is a wire harness connection side, and a tip end surface on the other end side is elastically contacted with the conductive material. A connection terminal characterized in that a contact spring portion is integrally formed and electrically connected. 2. The contact spring portion formed on the tip end surface protrudes in an arc shape by cutting and raising a first spring portion having a tip curved in an arc shape and the arc surface of the first spring portion. The connection terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a second spring portion provided so as to elastically contact the second spring portion with the conductive material. 3. The connection terminal according to claim 1, wherein an engaging portion for engaging with the connector housing is provided between the wire crimping portion and the contact spring portion at the tip.