JPH06290826A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of electrical accident due to the intrusion of a foreign material to the inside. CONSTITUTION:When a female connector 50 is not connected, a cover plate 5 is locked with fall-out preventing projections 26 by the energizing of a coil spring 22, and held at a position for covering male terminals 12. The cover plate 15 is formed with terminal through holes 17 for passing through the male terminals 12, and these through holes 17 are closed in ordinary by tongue pieces 42 of a dust preventing rubber 40 to prevent the intrusion of dust and water.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector having improved electrical safety.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, electric vehicles equipped with a battery have been attracting attention due to social demands such as environment and energy, and some have already been put into practical use. Charging the battery is essential for these electric vehicles, so the battery and charger must be easily connected. Therefore, in the past, it has been general to connect the both by a connector, and the following configuration is considered as an example thereof.

That is, the vehicle side connector connected to the battery circuit is fixed to the vehicle body side, the flexible cable is led out from the charger side, and the charger side connector is provided at the tip thereof.
The vehicle-side connector has a plurality of, for example, male terminals arranged in an exposed state in the hood portion, and the charger-side connector has a female terminal that is connectable to the male terminals in the housing. The housing of the charger-side connector has a shape that can be inserted into the hood portion of the vehicle-side connector, and by inserting the housing into the hood portion of the vehicle-side connector, the terminal groups of both connectors are connected to each other and are electrically connected.

[0004]

However, in the above configuration, since the terminal is left exposed in the hood portion, an operator may touch the terminal or foreign matter may adhere to the male terminal, which may cause an electric problem. May cause a serious accident.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector capable of reliably preventing contact with a terminal and adhesion of foreign matter.

[0006]

A connector of the present invention comprises a terminal projectingly provided in a hood portion into which the other connector is inserted, and a lid plate having a terminal through hole through which the terminal can penetrate is provided. A holding means is provided in the hood so as to be movable in the insertion / removal direction of the other connector, and a holding means for holding the lid plate in a state where the terminal is pulled out from the terminal through hole and covers the opening end side of the hood. The terminal through hole is characterized in that the terminal through hole is configured to be openably and closably closed by a plurality of flexible tongue pieces extending from the periphery thereof or a large number of fibers.

[0007]

In the state where the mating connector is not inserted into the hood portion of the connector, the lid plate is held by the holding means so as to cover the terminal from the opening end side of the hood portion, and the finger is prevented from touching the terminal. It Further, in this state, the terminal is in a state of being pulled out from the terminal through hole, but since the terminal through hole is openably and closably closed by a plurality of flexible tongue pieces extending from the peripheral edge thereof or a large number of fibers, No fine foreign matter such as dust will enter through this terminal through hole.

On the other hand, when the mating connector is inserted into the hood portion, the connector pushes the lid plate into the back side of the hood portion, and the terminal protruding into the hood portion is inserted into the terminal through hole of the lid plate. While protruding relatively to the outer surface side of the lid plate, the terminal is connected to the terminal of the other connector. At this time, since the terminal through hole of the lid plate is openably and closably closed by a plurality of flexible tongue pieces or a large number of fibers extending from the peripheral edge of the lid plate, the terminal pushes the tongue piece or the fiber group without difficulty. Thus, it easily penetrates the terminal through hole.

[0009]

As described above, according to the connector of the present invention,
When the mating connector is not inserted, the terminal is kept covered by the cover plate from the opening end side of the hood portion, and it is possible to prevent the operator's finger or large foreign matter from entering the hood portion. Further, since the terminal through hole formed in the cover plate is also closed by the plurality of tongue pieces or the fiber group, it is possible to prevent foreign matter such as fine dust from entering from here.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an electric vehicle charging connector will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The connector 10 is attached to a vehicle body of an electric vehicle (not shown). The connector body 11 is formed by projecting a plurality of male terminals 12 in parallel with each other on a circular tip surface, and the tip surface of the connector body 11. The cylindrical hood portion 13 is formed on the side so as to surround the male terminal 12, and the male terminal 12 is provided in the hollow of the hood portion 13.
Circular lid plate 15 fitted so that it can move in parallel with
And a holding means 20 for urging the cover plate 15 toward the opening end side of the hood portion 13.

<Lid Plate 15> First, the lid plate 15 will be described. This has a disk shape having an outer diameter dimension that fits with the inner peripheral surface of the hood portion 13 with a very small gap, and a spring pressing portion 16 is provided at the central portion so as to project downward and A terminal through hole 17 is formed in a position surrounding the male terminal 12 so as to freely penetrate therethrough.

<Holding means 20> A spring accommodating hole 21 is formed in the center of the inner bottom surface of the hood portion 13 of the connector body 11.
Is formed, and the coil spring 22 is housed therein. The coil spring 22 is adapted to be compressed by the spring pressing portion 16 of the cover plate 15 when the cover plate 15 is fitted in the hood portion 13. Thus, the lid plate 15 is biased toward the open end of the hood portion 13.

On the inner periphery of the hood portion 13, there are formed retaining protrusions 26 at two locations near the opening end thereof. Cover plate 1
5 is fitted into the back side of the hood portion 13 by aligning the two cutouts 27 formed on the periphery of the cutout 27 with the both retaining projections 26, and the notch 27 is displaced in a predetermined direction from the retaining projection 26. It is relatively rotated and fitted.

The lid plate 15 fitted in this way has the outer peripheral edge of which engages with the retaining projection 26 so that the male terminal 12 can be pulled out from the terminal through hole 17 and the hood can be removed from the tip thereof. In the protective position on the opening end side of the portion 13, the hood portion 13 is prevented from moving toward the opening end side.

On the inner periphery of the hood portion 13, a positioning protrusion 31 which is elongated parallel to the male terminal 12 is located in the circumferential direction so as to be offset from both the retaining projections 26, and the tip of the protruding protrusion 31 is more than the retaining projection 26. It is formed at the back side of the portion 13. In the length direction of the male terminal 12, there is a space between the positioning protrusion 31 and the retaining protrusion 26 for the thickness dimension of the cover plate 15.

On the other hand, the hood portion 13 is provided on the periphery of the lid plate 15.
The positioning recess 32 is formed so as to fit with the positioning protrusion 31 of the positioning projection 32. The positioning recess 32 surrounds the positioning projection 31 when the notch 27 of the lid plate 15 is aligned with the retaining projection 26 of the hood 13. It is located so as to be displaced in the direction. Similarly, on the peripheral edge of the cover plate 15, an inner surface side detent protrusion 33 that protrudes inwardly adjacent to the positioning recess 32, and an outer surface that protrudes outward from a position deviated from the inner surface side detent protrusion 33 in the circumferential direction. Side stop protrusion 3
4 are formed.

When the cover plate 15 is located between the retaining projection 26 and the positioning projection 31 (protection position) in the lengthwise direction of the male terminal 12, and the positioning recess 32 is aligned with the positioning projection 31. The inner surface side detent protrusion 33 and the outer surface side detent protrusion 34 engage with the surfaces of the positioning protrusion 31 and one of the retaining protrusions 26 facing each other in the circumferential direction, whereby the cover plate 15 is hooded. Rotation in the circumferential direction with respect to the part 13 is prevented. These configurations constitute the holding means 20 that holds the cover plate 15 in a state in which the male terminal 12 is pulled out from the terminal through hole 17 and covers it from the opening end side of the hood portion 13.

<Dustproof Rubber 40> A dustproof rubber 40 made of a thin rubber plate is attached to the back side (lower side in the figure) of the lid plate 15 by, for example, bonding. The outer peripheral shape of the dustproof rubber 40 is the same as that of the cover plate 15, and an escape hole 41 for escaping the spring pressing portion 16 of the cover plate 15 is formed in the central portion. A plurality of cuts radially extending from the center of the cover plate 15 are formed at positions corresponding to the terminal through holes 17, and the cut plate has a substantially triangular shape. A plurality of tongue pieces 42 are formed to extend toward. Normally, this group of tongue pieces 42 extends straight as shown in FIG. 5 to close the terminal through hole 17.

<Female Connector 50> A female connector 50 for electrically connecting to the connector 10 is attached to the connector 10 having the above structure. This female connector 50 is provided, for example, at the tip of a charging cable led out from a charger (not shown), and has a circular female connector main body portion 51 having an outer diameter dimension which is fitted into the hood portion 13 almost tightly. , Female connector body 5
1 is provided with a female connector hood 52 surrounding the hood portion 13 with a space in which the hood portion 13 can be fitted. Female connector body 5
A female terminal that fits into the male terminal 12 and is in a connected state is provided inside the terminal 1.

In assembling the connector 10 having the above structure, first, the spring accommodating hole 21 of the connector body 11 is formed.
With the coil spring 22 stored in the
The coil spring 22 is elastically contracted by the spring pressing portion 16 so that the notches 27 of the cover plate 15 with the number 0 attached are aligned with the retaining projections 26 of the hood portion 13 as shown in FIG. While pushing it into the hood part 13,
The inner peripheral edge of the cover plate 15 is brought into contact with the positioning protrusion 31.

Next, the cover plate 15 is rotated counterclockwise as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2 to align the positioning recess 32 with the positioning projection 31 of the hood 13. Along with this, the inner surface side anti-rotation projection 33 of the lid plate 15 contacts the side surface of the positioning projection 31, and the outer surface side anti-rotation projection 34 passes through one of the retaining projections 26 to reach the side surface of the retaining projection 26. The state of contact is brought into the state shown in FIG.

As a result, the cover plate 15 becomes the male terminal 1.
At the protective position that covers 2 from the open end side of the hood portion 13, movement in the direction of coming out of the hood portion 13 is prevented. Further, if a force in the direction of the arrow a shown in FIG. 2B is applied to the cover plate 15, the inner surface side detent protrusion 33 of the cover plate 15 is provided.
Is abutted on the side surface of the positioning projection 31 of the hood portion 13 to restrict the rotation, and conversely, when a force in the direction of arrow b shown in FIG. Is brought into contact with the retaining projection 26 to restrict the rotation. Therefore,
The cover plate 15 has the terminal through hole 17 in the male terminal 12.
The rotation is blocked in the direction aligned with.

The connector 1 assembled in this way
As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, the male terminal 12 is kept in a state where the male terminal 12 is not exposed to the outside, so that a worker touches the male terminal 12 or foreign matter does not touch the male terminal 12. There is no fear of touching. Moreover,
Since the terminal through-hole 17 is closed by the tongue pieces 42 of the dustproof rubber 40, fine dust and raindrops will not pass through, and the risk of electrical accident such as deterioration of insulation can be surely eliminated. it can.

In this state, even if an external force acts and the lid plate 15 is pushed into the back side of the hood portion 13,
When the action of the external force disappears, the cover plate 15 returns to the protective position again by the elastic force of the coil spring 22 and covers the male terminal 12.

To connect the female connector 50 in this state, the female connector 50 may simply be inserted into the hood portion 13. Then, the female connector 50 enters the hood portion 13 while compressing the coil spring 22 and pushing the cover plate 15 to the inner side of the hood portion 13, and finally becomes the coupled state as shown in FIG. Connection is made.
At this time, the cover plate 15 in the protection position has the double-rotation preventing projections 33, 3 functioning as the positioning means as described above.
4 and the positioning protrusion 31 and the retaining projection 26 restrict the positioning, so that even if there is a situation in which the cover plate 15 is re-fitted from the state where the male terminal 12 is completely removed from the terminal through hole 17, the male terminal 12 is reinserted. The terminal 12 and the terminal through hole 17 are surely penetrated, and the cover plate 15 is pushed into the back side of the hood portion 13 without any trouble. Further, the tongue pieces 42 of the dustproof rubber 40 closing the terminal through hole 17 are easily elastically deformed by the male terminal 12 to be pushed open as shown in FIG. 6, so that the male terminal 12 can be easily penetrated. Tolerate.

When detaching the female connector 50, the female connector 50 may be pulled out from the hood portion 13. As the female connector 50 is pulled out, the male terminal 12 relatively comes out of the female terminal and the lid plate 1
5 moves toward the opening end side of the hood portion 13 while being in contact with the front end surface of the female connector 50 by the elastic force of the coil spring 22. Then, after the male terminal 12 is completely pulled out from the terminal through hole 17, the tongue pieces 42 of the dustproof rubber 40 return to the state of closing the terminal through hole 17 as shown in FIG. When the plate 15 comes into contact with the retaining protrusion 26, the plate 15 stops moving and returns to the protective position.

Thus, according to the embodiment, the female connector 5
For connection and disconnection of 0, hold the female connector 50 with one hand and insert it into the hood portion 13 of the connector 10 or the hood portion 1
It can be carried out by a simple operation of pulling it out from No. 3, and since the male terminal 12 is not exposed, it is extremely safe electrically. Since the terminal through hole 17 of the cover plate 15 is always closed by the tongue pieces 42 of the dustproof rubber 40, dust, raindrops, etc. may pass through the terminal through hole 17 and enter the hood portion 13. It can be surely prevented.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, but the following modifications are possible.

(1) In the above embodiment, the tongue piece 42 of the dustproof rubber 40 is configured to have a substantially triangular shape. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. A configuration in which a large number of types of tongue pieces 43 are formed may be used.

(2) Further, in order to close the terminal through hole 17 of the cover plate 15, the rubber film tongues 42 and 4 described above are used.
Not limited to 3, the flocked cylinder 44 provided with a large number of fibers extending toward the inner peripheral side may be provided on the cover plate 15 corresponding to the terminal through hole 17, as shown in FIG.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view showing a procedure for assembling the cover plate.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view when the connector is removed.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view when the connectors are connected.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view when the connector is removed.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view when the connector is connected.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a dustproof rubber showing a modified example of the tongue piece for closing the terminal through hole.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing an embodiment in which a terminal through hole is closed by a fiber group.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 ... Male terminal 13 ... Hood part 15 ... Lid plate 20 ... Holding means 22 ... Coil spring 40 ... Dust-proof rubber 42 ... Tongue piece 50 ... Female connector

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A connector having a terminal projectingly provided in a hood portion into which the other connector is inserted, wherein a lid plate having a terminal through hole through which the terminal can penetrate is inserted into the hood portion. And a holding means that is provided so as to be movable in the removal direction and that holds the lid plate in a state in which the terminal is pulled out from the terminal through hole and covers it from the opening end side of the hood portion.
The connector is characterized in that the terminal through hole is configured to be openably and closably closed by a plurality of flexible tongue pieces extending from a peripheral edge thereof or a large number of fibers.