JPH0676883A - Low-insertion force connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a low-insertion force connector capable of being easily coupled when merely thrust without requiring a lever action and easily positioned. CONSTITUTION:A protruded press section 4 provided on a harness substrate 1 and inserted into a male connector 3 and a pair of connected lever sections 8, 9 having a floating node section 7 for the protruded press section 4 at the middle section are pivotally supported at both ends in the male connector 3. A low-insertion force connector is constituted of a drive link 6 formed with a claw section 14 on one slidable lever section 9 having a long shaft hole 13 for one support shaft 12 and a female connector having a coupling section against the claw section 14. The protruded press section 4 is arranged to be freely coupled in the male connector 3, and the protruded press section 4 and the floating node section 7 of the drive link 6 are connected to be freely coupled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a low insertion force connector which does not require a lever operation and which can be easily fitted by simply pushing it in and can be easily aligned.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows a conventional low insertion force connector described in JP-A-60-254576. The low insertion force connector 32 is for inserting a female connector 35 into a male connector 34 provided on a substrate 33 by lever operation. On both sides of the male connector 34, a guide wall 36 is provided upright on the board 33, and an engaging groove 38 for a lever 37 is provided on the guide wall 36. The levers 37 are axially provided on both sides of the female connector 35, and the tips of the levers are bent at a right angle so that the engaging claw portions 3 for engaging with the engaging grooves 38.
9 is set. Then, by rotating the lever 37 in the direction of arrow a, the female connector 35 is pulled toward the male connector 34 by the lever action, and the terminals 41 connected to the electric wire 40 are connected to each other.

The connection by the lever operation is required as the number of terminals 41 is increased, but at the same time, there is a problem that a large external space is required and the lever operation is troublesome. In particular, FIG. 11 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-20
3122), the harness substrate 43 accompanying the flattening of the electric wire (wire harness) 42 of the automobile in recent years.
In the connector connection, the lever operation is difficult because the connector is assembled in a narrow space in the vehicle, and an appropriate position deviation absorbing mechanism 44 is required.

The positional deviation absorbing mechanism 44 includes a pin 45 provided upright on the harness board 43, a housing 47 having an engaging hole 46 for holding the pin 45 in a loose fit, and the housing 47 on the harness board 43. The coil spring 48 is elastically supported. However, in the harness board connector 49, the positional deviation absorbing mechanism 44 is
However, there is no low insertion force mechanism that can be accommodated in a small space, and the problem of deterioration of insertability due to multipoles still remains.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above points, the present invention provides a connector structure capable of simultaneously solving the positional deviation absorption and the low insertion force at the time of fitting a connector in a harness board assembled in a narrow space. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a protrusion pressing portion which is provided in a harness board or the like and is inserted into a male connector, and a floating node portion for the protrusion pressing portion. A pair of connected lever portions of the lever portion are pivotally supported in the male connector at both ends, and a pawl portion is formed on one of the lever portions that is slidable with an elongated shaft hole for one support shaft. And a first structure constituted by a female connector having an engaging portion with respect to the claw portion, and provided on a harness board or the like, and having an engaging window and inserted into the male connector. A protruding pressing portion and a movable support shaft loosely fitted in the engagement window are provided at one end of one lever portion, and a long shaft hole and a claw portion for the fixed support shaft in the male connector are provided in the lever portion. A drive link provided at the other end of the housing and an arc-shaped guide groove for the movable support shaft are provided on the housing. A male connector formed on, employing respectively a second structure formed by a female connector having an engaging portion for claw portion. Further, in the first structure, the protruding pressing portion may be arranged in the male connector in a loose fit, or the protruding pressing portion and the floating node portion of the drive link may be connected in a loose fit.

[0007]

In the first structure, the protruding pressing portion such as the harness board pushes the floating node portion of the drive link to swing the pair of lever portions when the connector is fitted. Here, the outer part is
Within the range of the shaft hole, it extends outward and swings in the counter-pushing direction, and the claw portion pulls the female connector to fit it. Further, by connecting the protruding pressing portion and the floating node portion of the drive link, the connector can be detached with low force by the reverse operation. Further, by assembling the projecting pressing portion and the male connector or the projecting pressing portion and the drive link into the loose fitting, the positional deviation at the time of fitting the connector is absorbed.

In the second structure, when the connector is fitted, the movable support shaft of the drive link is pressed by the edge of the engaging window of the protruding pressing portion and moves along the arc-shaped guide groove of the male connector. , The elongated shaft hole is slid along the fixed support shaft in the protruding direction of the claw while swinging the drive link around the fixed support shaft as a fulcrum. As a result, the claw portion engages with the engaging concave portion of the female connector to draw the female connector into close fitting. The movable support shaft moves in the engagement window in the connector orthogonal direction. Further, by moving the movable support shaft in the connector fitting direction within the engagement window, it is possible to absorb the positional deviation when the connector is fitted.

[0009]

1 is an exploded perspective view showing a first embodiment of a low insertion force connector according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line A--A of FIG. 1 showing the male connector side. In the figure, 1 is a harness board in which a wire harness 2 is vertically inserted, and 3 is a pair of projecting pressing portions 4, which are provided at the tip of the harness board 1.
A male connector 4 which is loosely engaged with 4 is a mating female connector (FIG. 1).

Inside the male connector 3, as shown in FIG.
A pair of drive links 6 and 6 are provided symmetrically. The drive link 6 includes a pair of V-shaped lever portions 8 and 9 having a circular floating node portion 7 for the protruding pressing portion 4 in the center and a tension coil spring 10 for returning that connects the lever portions 8 and 9. Consists of and
Both levers 8 and 9 are pivotally supported at the center of the floating node 7, and the tip end of the inner short lever 8 and the tip of the outer long lever 9 are pivotally supported by the connector housing 11. .

The long lever portion 9 has an elongated shaft hole 13 slidable with respect to the support shaft 12, and a thin claw portion 14 is provided at the tip of the long lever portion 9. . Then, the long lever portion 9 can apply a large force to the claw portion 14 by the action of the lever with the support shaft 12 as a fulcrum. The claw portion 14 projects outward from the window portion 16 of the housing side wall 15 as shown in FIG. On the inner wall of the mating female connector 5, an opening tapered surface 17 for guiding the claw portion 14 and an engaging groove 18 for hooking are provided.

The drive link 6 is, as shown in FIG. 3 (b),
Compared to the single link 19 in (a), the shaft hole 1 for the spindle 12
3 is slid out to the outside, and the mating female connector 5 can be easily hooked by the claw portion 14. Figure (a)
With the single link 19, the hook 20 becomes insufficient because the claw portion 20 only rotates on the arc.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a lock projection for temporarily locking the drive link. Further, the floating node portion 7 formed at the base end of the long lever portion 9 of the drive link 6 is located opposite to the tip of the protruding pressing portion 4 of the harness substrate 1 and can drive the link when the connector is disconnected. Is connected to the protruding pressing portion 4 in order to

FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) show the connecting mechanism 29, which slides in the fan-shaped frame portion 22 provided in the floating node portion 7 and the lateral groove 23 provided in the protruding pressing portion 4. And a roller 24 that is pivotally supported. The frame portion 22
Can be loosely fitted on the roller 24 and can freely move on the roller 24 by the rotation of the node portion 7 associated with the swing of the link 6, and further can be moved left and right by sliding the roller 24 in the lateral groove 23. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the frame portion 22 has a protruding pressing portion 4
In the center groove 25, the front and rear are loosely supported by a gap 26. Therefore, the male connector 3 supporting the drive link 6 is allowed to move forward, backward, leftward, and rightward with respect to the protruding pressing portion 4, and it is possible to absorb the positional deviation at the time of fitting with the mating female connector 5.

5 to 6 show the state in which the low insertion connector is fitted. Here, the protruding pressing portion 4 of the harness substrate 1 is loosely inserted in the male connector housing 11 through a large gap 27 in the front, rear, left, and right. Therefore,
When the drive link 6 and the protruding pressing portion 4 are not connected,
It is possible to exert an unprecedentedly large positional deviation absorbing effect. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the opening taper portion 17 ′ of the female connector 5 may be provided so as to be capable of expanding outward via a hinge 28.

By pushing the floating joint portion 7 of the drive link 6 by the projecting pressing portion 4, the floating joint portion 7 is displaced in the pressing direction, and both the leverage portions 8 and 9 of the drive link 6 are substantially V-shaped. To swing and reverse into an inverted V shape. Along with this, the female connector 5
The claw portion 14 engaged with the engaging groove 18 moves in the counter-pressing direction, that is, toward the harness board 1 side, and pulls the female connector 5 toward the male connector 3 side for fitting. Further, when the connectors 3 and 5 are to be disconnected, the connection mechanism 29 can be used to disconnect the connectors 3 and 5 with a low force by the reverse action.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view showing a second embodiment of the low insertion force connector according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along line DD thereof. Whereas the first embodiment uses the pair of long and short leverages 8 and 9 as the drive link 6, in the present embodiment, one leverage 50 constitutes a single drive link 51.
To produce the same effect.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, a rectangular engaging window 54 is provided at the tip of each of the left and right protruding pressing portions 53, 53 protruding from the harness board 52, and each engaging window 54 has a corresponding one. The base end of the lever portion 50 of the book is rotatably supported by a movable support shaft 55. As shown in FIG. 8, the tip end of the protruding pressing portion 53 has a vertical groove 56 for inserting a lever portion, and the front and rear walls 5 of the vertical groove 56.
The engagement windows 54, 54 are formed in 7, 57. A pair of the movable support shafts 55 project to both sides of the lever portion 50, penetrate the engaging window 54, and form the arc-shaped guide groove 5 of the male connector 58.
9 is engaged. The guide groove 59 is formed on the front and rear walls 57, 5
7 are formed on the inner walls 60, 60 of the housing facing each other, and extend in the connector fitting direction and curve outward as shown in FIG.

An elongated shaft hole 62 for the fixed support shaft 61 in the male connector 58 is formed in the distal end of the lever portion 50 by cutting out in the longitudinal direction of the lever portion, and a female connector 63 is provided in front of the shaft hole 62. A claw portion 65 for the engagement hole 64 is provided. The claw portion 65
Is located in the window 67 of the housing side wall 66 when the connector is not fitted.

Then, as shown in the left half of FIG. 7, the lower end edge 54a of the engagement window 54 pushes the movable support shaft 55 to move it along the arc-shaped guide groove 59 when fitting the connector. As a result, the drive link 51 rotates about the fixed support shaft 61 at the tip end as a fulcrum, and the elongated shaft hole 62 is slidably contacted with the fixed support shaft 61 so that the claw portion 65 projects from the window portion 67. As shown in the drawing, the claw portion 65 pulls the female connector 63 toward the fitting direction. The movable fulcrum 55 moves in the engagement window 54 in the bending direction of the guide groove 59, and moves in the connector fitting direction to absorb backlash (positional deviation) during connector fitting.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, a connector for a harness board or the like can be smoothly fitted into and disengaged from a mating connector with a low force and without displacement by only one pressing operation without operating a lever. Therefore, the connector can be easily and surely connected in a small space such as a vehicle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a first embodiment of a low insertion force connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1 showing the male connector side as well.

FIG. 3 shows the action of the drive link, (a) is a single link,
(b) is a composite link of the embodiment.

4A and 4B show a connecting mechanism of a drive link and a harness substrate, FIG. 4A is a plan view, and FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state where a low insertion force connector is fitted.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state where they are also fitted together.

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the low insertion force connector according to the present invention (left half is before fitting, right half is after fitting).

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG.

9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a conventional low insertion connector.

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional harness board connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,52 Harness board 3,58 Male connector 4,53 Projection pressing part 5,63 Female connector 6,51 Drive link 7 Floating node part 8,9,50 Lever part 13,62 Shaft hole 14,65 Claw part 18 Engagement Groove 54 Engaging window 55 Movable support shaft 59 Guide groove 61 Fixed support shaft

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A male pushing connector to be inserted into a male connector provided on a harness board and a pair of linked levers having a floating node portion for the projecting pushing member at an intermediate portion are provided at both ends of the male connector. It has a drive link that is supported in the connector and has a long shaft hole for one of the support shafts and is slidable on one side to form a claw part in the lever part, and an engaging part for the claw part. A low insertion force connector comprising a female connector. 2. The low insertion force connector according to claim 1, wherein the protruding pressing portion is loosely fitted in the male connector. 3. The low insertion force connector according to claim 1, wherein the protruding pressing portion and the floating node portion of the drive link are loosely connected to each other. 4. A protruding pressing portion which is provided on a harness substrate or the like and has an engaging window to be inserted into a male connector, and a movable support shaft which is loosely fitted in the engaging window at one end of one lever portion. Drive shaft having a long shaft hole and a claw portion for the fixed support shaft in the male connector at the other end of the lever part, and an arc-shaped guide groove for the movable support shaft in the housing. A low insertion force connector comprising the formed male connector and a female connector having an engaging portion for the claw portion.