JPH0652918A - Electric contactor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the insertion force of a contact, increase contact pressure, and also realize miniaturization, by utilizing the rotation and elastic deformation of a tubular high elastic spring. CONSTITUTION:A receptacle type contactor, engagedly contacted with the tab contact 45 of a partner connector, is mounted on a boxlike part 20 work-formed by folding a conductive metallic plate, so that a high elastic tubular spring 40 can cross orthogonally to the insertion direction of the tab contact 45 and can be rotatable. The insertion of the partner tab contact 45 causes the tusular spring 40 to be rotated and also to be deformed by a high elastic modulus to pushedly press intensely the contact 45 to the conductive metallic part of the boxlike part inside. Consequently insertion force can be reduced and also large contact pressure can be obtained with sliding friction eliminated when the contact is inserted. Moreover shortening an overall length becomes possible to realize miniaturization.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electrical contacts, and more particularly to receptacle type electrical contacts for electrical connectors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A receptacle (female) type contact having a box-shaped portion that comes into contact with a tab (or flat blade-shaped) contact in an electric connector used in a power circuit having a relatively large current capacity or an automobile. Is widely used.

In such a box-shaped receptacle-type electric contact, generally, a cantilever-like structure integrally formed with a box-shaped portion extending from the bottom surface or the top surface toward the mating surface side and the mating tab contact insertion direction. It has elastic contact pieces. A mating tab contact is inserted between this elastic contact piece and the mating inner wall surface of the box-shaped part,
A tab contact is sandwiched between the free end of the elastic contact piece and the inner wall surface to establish electrical contact.

In the conventional electric contactor or receptacle contact having such a cantilevered elastic contact piece, it is necessary to sufficiently lower the insertion force and achieve a good contact pressure (normal force). In particular, this is an indispensable characteristic for contacts of multi-pole electrical connectors. For that purpose, it is necessary to select and use a material having good electrical and physical properties (generally, a copper alloy such as brass, phosphor bronze, beryllium copper, etc.) and to make the dimension of the elastic contact piece sufficiently long. Got elasticity.

Various attempts have been made to develop electric contacts with relatively low insertion force and large contact pressure. For example, the actual Kaisho 60
-110930 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-22937 disclose such electrical contacts.

The former electric contactor has a cantilever-shaped main contact arm formed by folding back the bottom surface from the front to the rear, and the bottom surface of the main contact arm is cut and raised to a free end portion of the main contact arm under a normal condition. And a cantilever-shaped auxiliary elastic arm facing each other with a gap provided therebetween. By using such two main arms and auxiliary arms, the main arm mainly acts at the time of insertion to provide a low insertion force, and at the time of contact, both arms have a substantially double-supported beam structure and a sufficient contact pressure. Is added to the tab contact.

On the other hand, in the latter, two contact arms of different shapes extending rearward from the front end are configured to substantially contact at the front end (fixed end) and the rear end (free end). With this configuration, an attempt is made to approach the ideal characteristics of the electric contact described above.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional electric contactor, the main body portion of the electric contactor including the box-shaped portion and the elastic contact piece are integrally made of a metal plate by using the same material. It is formed by punching and bending. Therefore,
It is difficult to obtain the ideal characteristics, and it is necessary to increase the elasticity by increasing the size (length) of the elastic contact piece in order to realize a reduction in insertion force. Insufficient for electrical contact of connector.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a small electric contact having a low insertion force and a high contact pressure characteristic.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the electric contact of the present invention has a box-shaped portion of a conductive metal plate and a tubular shape formed separately from the box-shaped portion. With high elasticity spring.

The shaft of this cylindrical spring member is mounted so as to be rotatable or rollable in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the electric contactor or the inserting direction of the mating tab contact. Therefore, when the tab contact is inserted, the tubular spring rotates and deforms due to its high elastic modulus, so that the conventional sliding or sliding friction does not substantially exist, and the inserting force is significantly reduced. Further, when the tab contact is completely inserted, the tubular spring presses the tab contact against the inner wall of the box-shaped portion, so that a sufficiently large contact pressure can be obtained. In particular, by selecting the material and structure of the tubular spring, it is possible to make a mating contact with a tab contact having a wide range of thickness as compared with a conventional electric contactor.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the electric contact of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of an electric contactor of the present invention. Electrical contacts in this particular embodiment
The box-shaped portion 20 and the crimping connection portion 30 for the wire (indicated by reference numeral 50 in FIG. 2) 10 are integrally formed by bending a conductive metal plate such as a copper alloy. Further, the electric contact 10 is provided with a hollow cylindrical spring 40 which is a separate body as shown in FIG.

The box-shaped portion 20 and the wire crimp connection portion 30 are preferably formed of a metal plate of copper alloy such as brass. Box-shaped part
20 has an upper wall 21, a bottom wall 22, and left and right side walls 23, 24.
In the electrical contact 10 of this specific embodiment, the mating tab contact is bent obliquely upward and rearward from the bottom surface of the front end opening of the box-shaped portion 20 (a part thereof is indicated by reference numeral 45 in FIG. 2). To form the guide surface 25 of. Further, the upper wall 21 is formed with, for example, two inwardly-pressed embosses 26 extending in the front-rear direction to form a contact surface with a mating tab contact. The box-shaped portion 20 of the electric contact 10 is bent and connected to the upper wall 21 above the right side wall 24, for example.

Between the right and left side walls 23 and 24 of the box-shaped portion 20, a separate elastic cylindrical spring 40 having good creep characteristics, such as beryllium copper, is arranged. As can be understood from the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2, the tubular spring 40 has a length substantially equal to the dimension between the left and right side walls 23 and 24 and smaller than the dimension between the inner surface of the emboss 26 of the upper wall 21 and the inner surface of the bottom wall 22. It has a small diameter. As a result, the box-shaped part
When the mating tab contact is inserted from the front opening of 20, the tubular spring 40 rolls backward and is bent downward,
The tab contact 45 is press-fitted to the inner surface of the embossing 26. By selecting the cylindrical spring 40 to have the above-described size, the cylindrical spring 40 can be rotated while being maintained in the longitudinal direction of the electric contact 10, that is, the direction orthogonal to the inserting direction of the tab contact 45. However, the left and right sidewalls of the box-shaped portion 20 are arranged so that the tubular spring 40 does not slide down from the rear of the box-shaped portion 20 and stays within a predetermined range.
At least one cut-and-raised piece 27 is formed on 23 and 24.
The tubular spring 40 is preferably used, for example, by cutting a long tubular body into a predetermined length.

The wire crimp connection 30 of the electrical contact 10 may be of conventional construction and may include a pair of wire barrels 32 and 1.
It has a pair of insulation barrels 34, which are crimped or crimped to the conducting wire portion 52 and the insulating jacket portion 54 of the wire 50, respectively, using a suitable crimping tool (see FIG. 2). Of course, in the electric contactor of the present invention, the wire connecting portion may be a pressure contact type having a well-known pressure contact slot.

It is not essential that the tubular spring 40 has a circular cross section as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3 (A), it may be formed of a thin metal plate having a spiral spring 40 'in cross section, or as shown in FIG. 3 (B), a C-shape having a slit 42 in its longitudinal (axial) direction. It may be a spring 40 ″. The material is preferably electrically conductive, but it is not essential that the material is electrically conductive, and a suitable plastic material or elastomer material having high elasticity may be used.

FIG. 4 shows an electric contact 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a side view shown with a partial longitudinal section of 0 '. This electric contactor 10 'is similar to the electric contactor 10 of FIG. 1, but the main difference is that it extends along the bottom wall 22 by, for example, folding back the forward extension of the bottom wall 22 of the box-like portion 20'. This is the point where the wavy portion 28 is formed. The front end portion 28a of the wavy portion 28 extends obliquely upward and has the same function as the guide portion 25 of the tab contact 45 shown in FIG. The intermediate portion 28b becomes a concave portion, and the cylindrical spring 40 is placed thereon in a rollable manner. The rear part 28c rises again upward. By using the wavy portion 28, the cylindrical spring 40 remains in the intermediate portion 28b of the wavy portion 28 and is rotatable. Therefore, the effects of low insertion force and high contact pressure can be obtained similarly to the electric contactor 10 of the first embodiment. Incidentally, in the electric contactor 10 'of the second embodiment, even if the tubular spring 40 has a relatively low elasticity, good performance can be obtained by cooperating with the elasticity of the corrugated portion 28.

In the electric contact 10 'of the second embodiment,
It has manufacturing advantages over the electrical contact 10 of the first embodiment. That is, the tubular spring 40 is attached to the box-shaped portion 20 'of the electric contactor 10'.
It is possible to perform the attachment in a process different from the bending process of the box-shaped portion 20 '. In other words, the tubular spring 40 has a box-shaped portion.
After the formation of 20 ', it is possible to insert the box-shaped portion 20' by pushing it in through the opening at the front end or the rear end.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, an electric contact 10 '' of the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. This electric contactor 10 '' is also similar to the electric contacts 10 and 10 'of the other embodiments described above, and a tube having a rotating shaft in the box-shaped portion 20''in the direction orthogonal to the inserting direction of the mating tab contact 45. It has a leaf spring 40. However, the characteristic of this electric contactor 10 '' is that the bottom wall of the box-shaped part 20 'is
The guide portion 25 of the tab contact 45 is provided at the front end of 22 and a stopper 29 facing the front end is cut and raised from the bottom wall 22 at the rear end.

With this structure, the tubular spring 40 is provided with the box-shaped portion 20 ''.
Can be inserted (or press-fitted) from the front end or the rear end after the formation. Further, the tubular spring 40 has a guide portion 25 and a stopper 29.
It can be freely rotated between. As a result, it becomes unnecessary to form the cut-and-raised pieces 27 for restricting the movement of the tubular spring 40 on the side walls 23 and 24 of the box-shaped portion 20 as in the electric contact 10 of the first embodiment.

The preferred embodiment of the electric contact of the present invention has been described above. However, the electric contact of the present invention is characterized in that a substantially cylindrical spring having a large elasticity is mounted in the box-shaped portion so as to be rotatable or rollable. Therefore, it should be understood that the present invention should not be limited to only the embodiment as long as it has the structural features of the present invention, and various modifications and changes can be made according to the application.

[0023]

According to the electric contactor of the present invention, since the elastic cylindrical spring capable of rolling like a roller is used, the electric contactor can be compared with the conventional electric contactor using the cantilever spring or the elastic contact arm. Therefore, extremely low insertion force can be realized. Moreover, since the cylindrical spring can be selected from the material having the optimum elastic characteristics, which is different from the body of the electric contactor including the box-shaped portion, excellent normal force or contact pressure can be obtained between both contacts. In other words, it is possible to obtain an ideal electric contact having both the mutually contradictory characteristics of low insertion force and high contact pressure, which have been difficult in the past.

Further, an important effect of the electric contactor of the present invention is that the total length can be sufficiently shortened as compared with the conventional electric contactor using the cantilever contact arm.
That is, the electric contactor can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of an electric contactor of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a partial vertical cross section in which a mating tab contact is inserted and connected to the electric contact of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a modified example of a cylindrical spring used in the electric contact of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a partial longitudinal section of a second embodiment of the electric contactor of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of the electric contactor of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 10 ', 10' 'Electrical contact 20, 20', 20 '' Box 30 Wire connection 40, 40 ', 40' 'Cylindrical spring 45 Tab contact 50 Wire

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A receptacle-type electric contact for receiving a mating contact in a substantially box-shaped part formed by bending a conductive metal plate, wherein an axis orthogonal to an inserting direction of the mating contact is provided in the box-shaped part. An electric contact, characterized in that a highly elastic tubular spring having the above is mounted.