JPH0729756U - Female terminal fittings for connectors - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To prevent the elastic contact piece folded back in two places from getting set. [Structure] Elastic contact piece 1 provided in the hollow of cylindrical fitting portion 2
0 has a stopper 16 that extends the tip of the extended end portion 15 and is bent upward. When the elastic contact piece 10 is elastically deformed, the stopper 16 comes into contact with the lower surface of the extending portion 12 while the amount of bending is within the range of the elastic limit, so that the elastic contact piece 10 is excessively bent beyond the elastic limit. Prevent. As a result, it is possible to prevent the proper spring characteristic of the elastic contact piece 10 from being lost due to the settling caused by excessive bending of the elastic contact piece 10 beyond the elastic limit.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a female terminal fitting for a connector, which has a tubular fitting portion having an open end, and in which a mating male terminal fitting is fitted into the fitting portion for connection.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 For connectors used to connect electric wires, a male terminal fitting is attached to one of a pair of connectors that connect to each other, and a female terminal fitting is attached to the other connector. The male and female terminal fittings are electrically connected by fitting the male terminal fittings into the section.

In this female terminal fitting, a thin plate is bent to form a cylindrical tubular fitting portion, and at the same time, a gentle arc is drawn from the tip opening of the tubular fitting portion into the hollow and folded back. An elastic contact piece provided with elasticity is provided at the folded portion. As an example thereof, the invention shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-26979 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the one shown in FIG. 5 are known. In these female terminal fittings 50, a portion in which an elastic contact piece 53 is elongated from an opening 52 at the tip of the tubular fitting portion 51 is provided by bending it into the hollow and extending it rearward. The male and female terminal fittings are brought into contact with each other by pinching the terminal fitting with the inner wall 54 of the tubular fitting portion 51.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, it is also known that the elastic contact piece 53 is further provided with a second folding back portion 57 which is folded back in a gentle arc. In this manner, the elastic contact piece 53 that is folded back in two places exhibits elasticity in both the first folded portion 56 in the opening 52 of the tubular fitting portion 51 and the second folded portion 57 at the extended end. When inserting the male terminal fitting, the insertion pressure is small and easy to insert.Once it is inserted, the contact pressure is high and the contact reliability is high. There is.

Here, since the elastic contact piece 53 imparts elasticity by bending the plate material, a foreign material (for example, the tip of a driver) thicker than the male terminal fitting is inserted, and the male terminal is inserted. If an excessive bending force that exceeds the elastic limit of the metal fitting is applied, such as when the metal fitting is inserted in an oblique direction, the metal fitting will be set and the proper spring characteristic will be lost. In order to prevent such fatigue, the elastic contact piece 53 is conventionally provided with a stopper. In the structure shown in FIG. 4, a stopper 60 is provided by bending and hanging a protruding piece provided on a side portion of the elastic contact piece 53, and the lower end portion of the stopper 60 abuts the lower surface of the tubular fitting portion. .

In addition, in the structure shown in FIG. 5, a protruding piece is formed by cutting out a part of the wall portion facing the back side of the elastic contact piece 53, and the protruding piece is made to correspond to the back surface of the elastic contact piece 53. The stopper 61 is bent to the upper side.

[0007]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the former stopper 60 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, as shown in FIG. 4, the elastic contact piece projects laterally by the bending margin δ corresponding to the plate thickness. For this reason, within the limited lateral width of the tubular fitting portion, it is necessary to provide the elastic contact piece 53 in a plate width narrow at least by the bending margin 2δ, and it becomes impossible to obtain a large elastic force. . In addition, in Fig. 4, if the bending margin δ is to be bent so that it does not project to the side, it becomes necessary to make a cut in the width direction of the bending margin δ and fold it, and obtain a slightly larger elastic force. Will not be possible. For this reason, it was not possible to apply the elastic contact piece because the elastic force required for the elastic contact piece could not be obtained, especially for a small-sized object.

Further, when the stopper 61 shown in FIG. 5, that is, the stopper in which a part of the wall is cut out is applied to the elastic contact piece 53 provided with the first and second folded portions 56 and 57 shown in FIG. The tubular fitting part became fragile and could not be applied to a particularly small one.

The present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and in an elastic contact piece that is folded back in two places, the rigidity of the tubular fitting portion and the spring property of the elastic contact piece are impaired. It is an object of the present invention to provide a female terminal fitting provided with a stopper that can prevent the settling.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 According to this invention, the elastic contact piece includes a first folded-back portion that extends from the wall portion of the tubular fitting portion and is folded back into the hollow portion of the tubular fitting portion to provide elasticity, and an extension end thereof. Is folded back further inward to provide elasticity, and the extension end from the second folded portion faces the back side between the first folded portion and the second folded portion and is folded. A stopper that bends to regulate the amount of elastic bending of the elastic contact piece is provided.

[0011]

[Action]

 In this invention, the elastic contact piece extending from the wall portion of the tubular fitting portion and folded back into the tubular fitting portion through the first folding portion is further folded back at the extending end to the second folding portion. Elasticity is also imparted to the return portion, so that the insertion pressure is small when the male terminal fitting is inserted, and a high contact pressure is obtained for the inserted male terminal fitting. In addition, a stopper provided with an extending end from the second folded-back portion facing the back side between the first folded-back portion and the second folded-back portion is provided. Even when a large pressing force is applied, the back side between the first folding part and the second folding part abuts against this stopper and regulates the amount of bending within the elastic limit of the first folding part to ensure elasticity. The contact piece is prevented from getting healed. Also, the stopper is provided by bending it from the extension end from the second folding portion, and in order to provide the stopper, a tubular shape or a notch is provided in the elastic contact piece, or the lateral width of the elastic contact piece is narrowed. The rigidity of the fitting part and the spring property of the elastic contact piece are not impaired.

[0012]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, the elastic contact piece has the first folded-back portion extending from the wall portion of the tubular fitting portion and folded back into the hollow of the tubular fitting portion to impart elasticity. And a second folding part whose extension end is further folded back inward to give elasticity, and an extension end from the second folding part is the back side between the first folding part and the second folding part. Since there is a stopper that is bent so as to face the elastic contact piece and regulates the amount of elastic bending of the elastic contact piece, it is possible to prevent fatigue without impairing the rigidity of the cylindrical fitting part and the spring property of the elastic contact piece. It can be a terminal fitting.

[0013]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, an embodiment embodying the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The female terminal fitting 1 of this embodiment is inserted into the cavity B of the connector housing A, and is fitted into the tab C of the male terminal fitting mounted on the mating connector housing (not shown) so as to be electrically connected. Has been done. The female terminal fitting 1 is formed by punching a metal plate made of a conductive thin plate into a predetermined shape and bending a predetermined portion. The portion on the tip end side is a tubular fitting portion 2 having a rectangular cross section as a whole, and the tip end thereof is opened to the outside to serve as an insertion port 3 for the tab C.

Inside the hollow of the tubular fitting portion 2, there is provided an elastic contact piece 10 extending from the lower wall portion 4 in the figure and integrated with the female terminal fitting 1. The elastic contact piece 10 has a constant width that is slightly narrower than the width of the inner space of the tubular fitting portion 2, and is the same as the first folding portion 11 that is folded backward from the leading edge of the lower wall portion 4. , An extending portion 12 extending slightly obliquely upward and rearward from the first folding portion 11 and having a projection 13 for a contact in the middle thereof, and a second folding portion folded downward from an end edge of the extending portion 12 14 and an extended end portion 15 that extends further from the second folded portion 14 toward the tip side. In the free state of the elastic contact piece 10, between the projection 13 of the elastic contact piece 10 and the upper wall portion 5 of the tubular fitting portion 2 in the figure, the thickness dimension of the tab C of the male terminal fitting is There is a slight gap between them. The elastic contact piece 10 is integrally provided with a stopper 16 that further extends the tip of the extending end portion 15 and is bent upward. The stopper 16 forms a substantially right angle with the extending portion 12, and when the elastic contact piece 10 is in a free state, the tip of the stopper 16 faces the back surface (lower surface) of the extending portion 12 with a predetermined gap.

A lance hole 6 for fitting a lance D provided on the connector housing A is formed behind the elastic contact piece 10 of the lower wall portion 4 in the figure, and the female terminal is formed. When the metal fitting 1 is inserted into the cavity B, the lance D is fitted into the lance hole 6 so that the female terminal metal fitting 1 is held in the cavity B so as not to come off. Further, a core wire, which is exposed by peeling off the coating of an electric wire (not shown), is fixed to a portion 7 on the rear side of the tubular fitting portion 2.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When the tab C of the male terminal fitting is fitted into the tubular fitting portion 2 of the female terminal fitting 1, as the tab C pushes between the elastic contact piece 10 and the upper wall portion 5, the elastic contact is made. The extension portion 12 of the piece 10 is pushed down by the tab C. During this time, the first folded-back portion 11 of the elastic contact piece 10 elastically bends while increasing its bending curvature, and the tip of the extended end portion 15 abuts the lower wall portion 4 so that the second The folded-back portion 14 also elastically bends while increasing the bending rate of bending, and exhibits elasticity in both of them. When inserting the male terminal metal fitting, the insertion pressure is small and it is easy to insert. In the case of, contact with high contact pressure and high contact reliability can be obtained.

If the tab C of the male terminal fitting is inserted with a large inclination, the foreign matter such as the tip of a screwdriver which is thicker than the tab C of the male terminal fitting is cylindrically fitted. When it is inserted into the portion 2, a large bending force acts on the first folded portion 11, but the tip of the stopper 16 comes into contact with the back surface of the extended portion 12 within the elastic limit of the first folded portion. The amount of bending is regulated within the range in which 11 elastically deforms. Therefore, the elastic contact piece 10 is prevented from being permanently deformed. Further, in this embodiment, since the stopper 16 is provided so that the stopper 16 abuts at the substantially middle portion between the first folded portion 11 and the second folded portion 14, not only the first folded portion 11 but also the second folded portion 11. Excessive bending of the portion 14 is also restricted. Regarding the state of the extended end portion 15 at this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the entire extended end portion 15 may be in close contact with the lower wall portion 4, or the extended end portion 15 may be formed. Only the tip may contact the lower wall, and the stopper 16 has the same function of preventing the elastic contact piece 10 from being excessively elastically deformed in any state.

As described above, the stopper 16 prevents the elastic contact piece 10 from being deformed while the bending amount of the folded portions 11, 14 of the elastic contact piece 10 is within the elastic limit. It is possible to surely prevent the situation where the excessive bending of the elastic contact piece 10 causes the settling, which results in the sag of the elastic contact piece 10.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 Partially cutaway side view

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state where the stopper functions.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway side view of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Female terminal fitting 2 ... Cylindrical fitting part 4 ... Wall part 10 ... Elastic contact piece 11 ... 1st folding | returning part 14 ... 2nd folding | returning part 16 ... Stopper

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A female connector for use, wherein an elastic contact piece is provided in a tubular fitting portion having an open end, and a male terminal fitting is fitted in the tubular fitting portion, and the male terminal fitting is pressed by the elastic contact piece. In the terminal fitting, the elastic contact piece includes a first folded-back portion that extends from the wall portion of the tubular fitting portion and is folded back into the hollow of the tubular fitting portion to impart elasticity, and the extension thereof. The second folded-back portion having the projecting end folded back inwardly to give elasticity, and the extending end from the second folded-back portion faces the back side between the first folded-back portion and the second folded-back portion. A female terminal fitting for a connector, which is provided with a stopper which is bent to regulate an elastic bending amount of the elastic contact piece.