JPH0662408U - Connector holding structure for vehicle lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To simplify the connector connection work when assembling the lamp to the vehicle body panel. [Structure] One of a connector 5 held by a lamp and a connector 6 held by a vehicle body panel 2, for example, a connector 6, has an inner edge of a connector holding hole 21 formed on the upper and lower side surfaces thereof and opened in the vehicle body panel 2. An elastic piece 64 having a lance 65 engaged with the lance 65, and an abutting piece 66 projecting from a part of the connector 6 so as to face the lance 65 are provided. By sandwiching the peripheral portion of the connector holding hole 21 with the lance 65 and the abutting piece 66, the connector 6 is elastically held in the vertical direction in the connector holding hole 21 and movably held in the left and right directions. . As a result, both connectors 5, 6
Even if the positional deviation is large, if the connector 6 is set at an arbitrary left and right position in the connector holding hole 21 in advance, the two connectors 5 and 6 can be aligned to face each other and a good fitting can be achieved.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a connector holding structure, and more particularly to a structure for holding a connector used in a vehicle lamp on a lamp or a vehicle body panel.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Generally, in a lighting device such as an automobile, it is necessary to attach the lighting device itself to a vehicle body panel and at the same time electrically connect the lighting device to the vehicle body side. To facilitate this electrical connection, a connector has been conventionally used, and the connector connected to the lamp and the vehicle-body-side connector connected to the on-vehicle battery are fitted together to make the electrical connection. What has been proposed is proposed. When assembling a lamp that uses such a connector to a vehicle body, insert the connector that is connected to the lamp into the hole that was previously opened in the vehicle body panel, and then fit the connector on the vehicle body side to this connector. It is necessary to hold the fitted connector on the vehicle body panel or other parts and then attach the lamp to the vehicle body panel using a means such as a bolt.

In such a conventional vehicular lamp, in the total number of man-hours of the mounting process of mounting the lamp to the vehicle body panel, the proportion of the process of connecting the connector is more than the process required for mounting the lamp. However, there is a problem that the work of assembling the lamp becomes complicated by the process of connecting the connector. For this reason, the applicant of the present application has previously disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-22948 that when the lamp is attached to the vehicle body, the connector on the lamp side is fitted to the connector on the vehicle body side at the same time to reduce the connector connecting process. We propose a connector holding structure that simplifies the work. In this proposed configuration, the connector is elastically held in the up / down direction and the left / right direction with respect to the holding body such as the lamp or the vehicle body panel. By moving against the force and automatically aligning the other connector, it is possible to fit both connectors at the same time as mounting the lamp on the vehicle body panel.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 With this proposed configuration, the top, bottom, left, and right positions of one connector are always fixed to elastically supported positions, so it is extremely effective when the amount of displacement between both connectors is very small. When it is difficult to automatically fit both connectors due to the relatively large displacement of the connectors, that is, it is necessary to roughly align one connector with the other connector in advance. In such cases, it is difficult to fix one connector at its arbitrary position. For this reason, it is necessary to manually move one connector up and down, left and right, and attach the lamp while holding it at that position, which is one obstacle to the simplification of the work. Has become. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a connector holding structure that can further simplify the connector connection work when attaching a lamp.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 According to the connector holding structure of the present invention, one of the connector held by the lamp and the connector held by the vehicle body panel is formed on the upper, lower, left, or right side surfaces of the connector and is installed in the holding body of the lamp, the vehicle body panel, or the like. The elastic piece has a lance that engages with the inner edge of the connector holding hole, and the abutting piece that projects from a part of the connector so as to face the lance. A peripheral portion of the connector holding hole is sandwiched, and the connector holding hole is elastically held in the vertical or horizontal direction and is held movably in the horizontal or vertical direction.

[0006]

【Example】

 Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an assembled state, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an overall structure of a vehicle lamp having the connector holding structure of FIG. is there. In these drawings, 1 is a lamp, and 2 is a vehicle body panel to which the lamp is attached. The lamp 1 shows an example in which it is attached to the vehicle body panel 2 with a stud bolt 3, and the stud bolt 3 protruding from the rear surface of the body 11 of the lamp 1 is inserted into the hole of the vehicle body panel 2 and a nut is used. It can be assembled by tightening with 4. A connector, here a male connector 5, is attached to the rear surface of the lamp body 11 of the lamp 1. A female connector 6 is held at the position of the vehicle body panel 2 corresponding to the male connector 5. Here, the male connector 5 is fixedly held with respect to the lamp body 11, but the female connector 6 is held in the connector holding hole 21 opened in the vehicle body panel 2. Within the size range of, the vehicle body panel 2 can be moved vertically and horizontally in the plane direction.

The male connector 5 has a plurality of male terminals 52 internally fixed in a required arrangement in a rectangular connector housing 51 and connected to a cord 53. Further, the connector housing 51 is inserted into the rectangular tubular support tube 12 provided in the lamp body 11 so that the male terminal 52 is oriented in the vertical direction with respect to the vehicle body panel 2, and a screw (not shown) or the like is used. It is integrally fixed to the support cylinder 12. A circular flange 54 is integrally formed at a position near the tip of the connector housing 51, and the rubber packing 7 is fitted to the flange 54. Further, notches 55 are formed at upper and lower portions of the tip end portion of the connector housing 51 protruding from the flange 54, as escape portions for elastic pieces provided on the female connector 6 as described later.

As shown in the rear view of FIG. 4, the rubber packing 7 is formed in an annular shape having a conical cross section, and has an inner diameter portion 71 in which an annular groove is fitted into the flange 54 from the outside. 72 is formed. An annular rib 74 is integrally formed on the outer surface of the peripheral portion 73, and radial ribs 75 are integrally formed at a plurality of circumferential positions of the annular rib 74 up to the inner diameter portion 71. The ribs 74 and the radiating ribs 75 increase the elastic force of the rubber packing 7, especially in the peripheral portion 73. As will be described later, when the male connector 5 is fitted to the female connector 6, the rubber packing 7 has a peripheral portion 73 of the rubber packing elastically contacting the vehicle body panel 2 and the inside of the male connector 5 and the vehicle body panel 2. Has the function of waterproofing between and.

On the other hand, the female connector 6 has a connector housing 61 formed in a rectangular tube shape that can be fitted into the front end portion of the connector housing 51 of the male connector 5. Inside, female terminals 62 arranged corresponding to the male terminals 52 are internally fixed and connected to the cord 63. Further, elastic pieces 64 each having a predetermined width are projected toward the back side from the upper and lower surfaces of the connector housing 61, and these elastic pieces 64 are spread outward as the tips of the elastic pieces 64 move to the back side. In addition, a lance 65 is formed at the tip. Further, on the back surface of the connector housing 61, there are integrally formed abutting pieces 66 that are paired at both lateral positions of the elastic piece 64 and project in the vertical direction. The ends of these abutting pieces 66 are larger than the lances 65 of the elastic pieces 64 in the outer shape and are slightly bent toward the front of the connector housing 61. The distance between the surface facing the contact piece 66 is set to be slightly smaller than the thickness of the vehicle body panel 2.

The rectangular connector holding hole 21 provided in the vehicle body panel 2 is set to be larger than the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the connector housing 61 of the female connector 6 and smaller than the external dimensions of the end of the abutting piece 66. Has been done. Then, on the upper and lower sides of the connector holding hole 21, concave side portions 22 having a width dimension larger than the width dimension of the elastic piece 64 are formed.

In this configuration, when the lamp 1 is attached to the vehicle body panel 2, the female connector 6 as a vehicle body side connector is previously fitted into the connector holding hole 21 of the vehicle body panel 2 as shown in FIG. Keep it. That is, when the front side portion of the connector housing 61 of the female connector 6 is inserted into the connector holding hole 21 from the inner surface side of the vehicle body panel 2, the elastic piece 64 is elastically deformed inward and the concave side of the connector holding hole 21 is inserted. Over the portion 22, the lance 65 is engaged with the inner edge of the connector holding hole 21 in the concave portion 22. At the same time, the abutting piece 66 abuts against the back surface of the vehicle body panel 2 around the connector holding hole 21. As a result, the vehicle body panel 2 is sandwiched between the lance 65 and the abutting piece 66 in the plate thickness direction, and as a result, the female connector 6 has a connector holding hole with the connector housing 61 penetrating the vehicle body panel 2. It is held in 21.

Next, with the lamp 1 having the male connector 5 attached thereto aligned with the vehicle body panel 2, the lamp 1 is pushed in from the front of the vehicle body panel 2 and the stud bolt 3 is attached to the vehicle body panel 2. When the female connector 5 is inserted into the mounting hole, the female connector 5 is simultaneously fitted to the male connector 6 held by the vehicle body panel 2. Then, the nut 1 is screwed and fastened to the stud bolt 3 so that the lamp 1 can be attached to the vehicle body panel 2, and at the same time, the electrical connection by both connectors 5 and 6 is completed. Therefore, the lamp can be attached and the connector can be fitted by a so-called one-touch operation, and the assembling work of the lamp can be simplified.

At this time, the female connector 6 is held in the connector holding hole 21 with the elastic body 64 and the contact piece 66 sandwiching the vehicle body panel 2 in the plate thickness direction. In the direction, the upper and lower elastic pieces 64 hold the connector holding hole 21 at a substantially central position. On the other hand, in the left-right direction, the elastic piece 64 is held at an arbitrary position within the movable range of the concave side portion 22. Therefore, when attaching the lamp, even if the male connector 5 and the female connector 6 are slightly displaced from each other, the elastic piece 64 bends so that the female connector 6 is inserted into the connector holding hole 21. Is moved in the vertical direction, and the vertical position of the female connector 6 with respect to the male connector 5 is corrected by this movement. Moreover, since the lateral dimension of the concave side portion 22 of the connector holding hole 21 is larger than the width dimension of the elastic piece 64, the elastic piece 64 moves in the lateral direction within the concave side portion 22 within the range of this size difference. In addition, the female connector 6 can be moved in the left-right direction in the connector holding hole 21, and the left-right position of the female connector 6 with respect to the male connector 5 is corrected by this movement. As a result, the female connector 6 is moved vertically and horizontally corresponding to the male connector 5, whereby the two connectors 5 and 6 face each other, and proper fitting of the two is possible.

Further, since the female connector 6 is held in the connector holding hole 21 in the left-right direction by not being held by the elastic piece 64, the female connector 6 is fixed in the connector holding hole 21 at a substantially central position in the left-right direction. However, the left-right position can be set to an arbitrary position in the connector holding hole 21. For this reason, even if the positional displacement of both connectors in the left-right direction is large, by setting the female connector 6 to an appropriate position in the connector holding hole 21 in the left-right direction, the opposing positions of the both connectors 5, 6 are displaced. Therefore, it is possible to automatically fit both connectors with each other, and it is possible to further simplify the above-described operation of assembling the lamp.

When both connectors 5 and 6 are fitted, the peripheral portion 73 of the rubber packing 7 fitted and supported by the male connector 5 is elastically contacted with the surface of the vehicle body panel 2 around the connector holding hole 21. Thus, the body panel 2 and the male connector 5 are hermetically sealed to prevent water from the outside of the body panel from entering the fitting portions of both connectors. In this case, since the rubber packing 7 is integrally formed with the annular rib 74 and the radiating rib 75, these ribs enhance the shape-holding force of the rubber packing and warp the peripheral portion 73 of the rubber packing 7. This can be prevented and the sealing effect can be enhanced.

Here, in the above-described embodiment, the concave side portion 22 is provided in the connector holding hole 21, and the elastic piece 64 is engaged with the concave side portion 22, but the connector holding hole is not provided. May be formed in a rectangular shape, and the elastic pieces may be engaged with the upper and lower inner edges thereof. Further, although the elastic pieces 64 are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the female connector 6, the elastic pieces may be provided on the left and right surfaces. In this case, the abutting piece is formed in the left-right direction, and the concave piece portion formed in the connector holding hole is also formed in the left-right side position. Further, a plurality of elastic pieces may be provided on each side of the connector. In the above-described embodiment, the elastic piece and the contact piece are formed integrally with the connector housing of the female connector, but these are formed separately from the connector housing as an elastic support frame or the like, and then the elastic support is formed. The connector housing may be integrally attached to the frame. Further, the configuration of both connectors may be reversed, the female connector may be fixedly provided on the vehicle body panel, and the male connector may be movable with respect to the lamp body.

[0017]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, an elastic piece having a lance on one of the upper and lower sides or left and right side surfaces of the connector on the side of the lamp and the connector on the side of the body panel, and a contact piece facing the lance are provided. The connector is configured to be held in the holding hole by sandwiching the peripheral part of the connector holding hole with the contact piece, and the connector is elastically held in the connector holding hole in the vertical or horizontal direction and is movable in the horizontal or vertical direction. Since it is configured to be retained, the retained connector is automatically aligned with the opposing connector, and it is possible to easily perform good fitting of both connectors. Also, since the connectors can be moved left and right or up and down, the positions of the connectors can be moved in advance even if the displacement of both connectors is large, and the mating of both connectors is made easier. It will be possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of a main part of a connector holding structure of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a connector portion of the connector holding structure of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a vehicular lamp to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a rear structure of a rubber packing.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view from the front side showing a holding state of the female connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Lighting Fixture 2 Body Panel 5 Male Connector (Connector on Lamp Side) 6 Female Connector (Connector on Vehicle Side) 7 Rubber Packing 21 Connector Holding Hole 22 Recessed Side 51 Connector Housing 54 Flange 61 Connector Housing 64 Elastic Piece 65 Lance 66 Impact Contact Piece 74 Annular rib 75 Radiating rib

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A vehicular lamp in which a connector held by a lamp and a connector that can be fitted to the connector are held in a vehicle body panel, the lamp is attached to the vehicle body panel, and both connectors are fitted to each other. In the connector holding structure, an elastic piece having a lance formed on one of the upper, lower, left and right side surfaces of the connector and engaging with an inner edge of a connector holding hole formed in a holding body such as the lamp or a vehicle body panel. , An abutting piece projecting from a part of the connector so as to face the lance, the peripheral portion of the connector holding hole being sandwiched between the lance and the abutting piece, and the connector holding hole can be moved vertically or horizontally. A connector holding structure for a vehicular lamp, wherein the connector holding structure is elastically held in a predetermined direction and is held so as to be movable in the left and right directions or in the up and down directions.