JPH07302638A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide is connector in reduced manufacturing processes at a reduced mold manufacturing cost without excessive deviation of an elastic contact piece by setting an engaging portion higher than the upper surface of a lance. CONSTITUTION:A contact piece 40 of a male connector is inserted into a cylindrical portion 32 of a connector 20 through an opening 27. In this case, it is possible to prevent the reduction of restoring force of the contact piece 33 due to its excessive deviation or breakage of a stress of a root beyond a limit since an engaging portion 35 is set higher than the upper surface of a lance 28 even if the contact piece 40 is inserted slantwise downward from upward into the cylindrical portion 32 through the opening 27 and pressing force downward from upward is exerted on an elastic contact piece 33. Because the contact piece 33 cannot be deviated further upward or downward, the contact piece 40 advances at the upper surface of the contact piece 33 so as to be guided to a suitable position inside the cylindrical portion 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector used in a wire harness for an automobile, and more particularly to a connector having improved damage prevention performance due to excessive deformation of elastic contact pieces.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a connector of this type, FIG.
And what is shown in FIG. 4 is known. In these figures, the symbol A is a connector. This connector A is configured to include a female type electrical connector A1 and a male type connector housing 9 in which the electrical connector A1 is arranged. The electrical connector A1 has a bottom plate portion 1 and side plate portions 2 and 2 erected from both side portions of the bottom plate portion 1 by bending a metal piece having conductivity.
Top plate portions 3 and 3 bent inward from the side plate portions 2 and 2.
And a resilient contact piece 5 folded back from the tip of the bottom plate portion 1 is provided inside the tubular portion 4, and a contact plate portion 3a facing the resilient contact piece 5 is provided on the lower side. It is formed on the top plate 3 by stamping. An insulation barrel 7 and a wire barrel 8 are provided at the rear end of the cable 6 for fixing the jacket 6a of the cable 6 and the conductor 6b drawn from the cable 6 in a crimped state.

As shown in FIG. 3, the male connector housing 9 is made of an electrically insulating material, and a terminal accommodating chamber 10 for accommodating the electrical connector A1 in an inserted state is formed therein. A lance 11 is provided so as to project into the terminal storage chamber 10. By inserting the electrical connector A1 into the terminal housing chamber 10 of the male connector housing 9, the lance 11 of the terminal housing chamber 10 engages with the lance engagement hole 12 of the bottom plate 1 of the electrical connector A1. It is designed so that they will not come off. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the engaging portion 14 located in front of the lance engaging hole portion 12 of the bottom plate portion 1 comes into contact with the lance 11 during engagement to ensure the engagement. And the engaging portion 14
Is curved upward to increase its strength. In this case, the engaging portion 14 is formed by bending the bottom plate portion 1, and has a shape that protrudes upward in a substantially U-shaped cross section with a height slightly lower than the height of the upper surface of the lance 11. The rear end surface of the substantially U-shape is adapted to engage with the lance 11.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, reference numeral 13 is a tip portion of a male terminal formed by rolling a metal plate into a flat pin shape, and the tip portion 13 of the male terminal is an electrical connector. A
It is inserted between the elastic contact piece 5 and the contact plate portion 3a of the tubular portion 4 of No. 1 so as to be electrically connected.

By the way, in the connector A, when the tip portion 13 of the male terminal is inserted between the elastic contact piece 5 and the contact plate portion 3a, the elastic contact piece 5 bends downward, and the elastic contact piece 5 is The reaction force pushes the tip portion 13 of the male terminal upward (in the direction of the contact plate portion 3a), whereby the electrical connection between the both 13 and A is secured. Therefore, connector A
On the other hand, the tip portion 13 of the male terminal is inserted obliquely,
When another thick tool or the like is accidentally inserted, the elastic contact piece 5 is excessively deformed, and the elastic contact piece 5 is not used during the subsequent use.
Of the elastic contact piece 5 may be damaged or the stress at the root may exceed its limit.

Therefore, as a connector for suppressing excessive deformation of the elastic contact piece, in the case of the above-mentioned case, conventionally,
5 and 6 are known (since the configuration of the male connector housing used in these connectors is the same as that of the male connector housing 9 shown in FIG. 3, the configuration shown in FIG. And not shown in FIG. 6.). The connector B shown in FIG. 5 has the protrusion 15 raised from the rear edge of the lance engagement hole 12 of the bottom plate 1 by about 90 degrees. In the above case, the elastic contact piece 5 is By abutting on the protrusion 15, further downward displacement is suppressed and stress is prevented from being applied to the root of the elastic contact piece 5.

The connector C shown in FIG. 6 has projections 16 and 16 which are raised by about 180 degrees from both side edges of the lance engagement hole 12 of the bottom plate 1 (lower end portions of the both side plates 2 and 2). ,
Similar to the connector B, in the above case, the elastic contact piece 5 abuts on the projections 16 and 16 so that further displacement is suppressed and the elastic contact piece 5 is prevented from being broken. is there.

[0008]

In order to manufacture the electrical connectors B1 and C1 of the connectors B and C as described above, first, a strip-shaped metal plate is formed into a shape as shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. Punch each, and then each protrusion 1
It was necessary to assemble the electrical connectors B1 and C1 after the three steps of bending 5, 16, and 16 and pressing up to bend the engaging portion 14. In this case, since the electrical connectors B1 and C1 have the protrusions 15, 16 and 16, respectively, the protrusions 15 and 1 are
There is a problem in that the steps of starting up 6 and 16 are indispensable, and the number of manufacturing steps is large, which causes an increase in manufacturing cost.

Further, since the electric connectors B1 and C1 have the projections 15, 16 and 16 as described above, when the lance engagement hole 12 is punched out from the bottom plate 1 in the punching step, It is necessary to punch out the protrusions 15, 16 and 16 respectively, so that the shape of the die for punching out the lance engaging hole 12 becomes complicated (the peripheral length of the die blade becomes long. ), There was a problem that the manufacturing cost of the mold increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the elastic contact piece is excessively displaced even when the male terminal is obliquely inserted or another thick tool or the like is mistakenly inserted. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector that does not have many manufacturing steps and does not require a die manufacturing cost.

[0011]

A connector according to claim 1 comprises a male connector housing and an electric connector inserted and arranged in the male connector housing, wherein the male connector housing has an internal portion. Has a lance engaged with the electrical connector, the electrical connector is a tubular portion,
An elastic contact piece projecting from the tip of the bottom plate portion of the tubular portion and folded back toward the inside of the tubular portion; and a front end of a lance engagement hole formed in the bottom plate portion on the bottom plate portion. And an engaging portion that is bent so as to project toward the upper side, the electric connector engages the lance in the lance engaging hole portion, and the engaging portion is provided with the engaging portion. Is inserted into the male connector housing by engaging with,
In a connector in which another electric connector is inserted into the tubular portion to electrically connect with the other electric connector, the height of the engaging portion is set higher than the height of the upper surface of the lance. It is characterized by that.

[0012]

In the connector according to the present invention, since the height of the engaging portion is set higher than the height of the upper surface of the lance, the other electric connector is inserted obliquely or is mistakenly inserted. When another thick tool or the like is inserted, the elastic contact piece comes into contact with the engaging portion and is not displaced further downward.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a connector according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 20 is a connector according to the present embodiment. The connector 20 includes a male connector housing 21 and a male connector housing 21.
The electrical connector 22 is inserted and arranged in the inside.

The male connector housing 21 is made of a synthetic resin in the shape of a rectangular tube, and the inside thereof is a terminal accommodating chamber 23, and the bottom wall 24 thereof has an electrical connector 22 mounted thereon. A mounting wall 25 to be placed is formed, front wall portions 26, 26 are formed on the front end side thereof, and openings 27 are formed in the front wall portions 26, 26. Further, the bottom wall portion 24 is formed with a lance 28 extending obliquely upward and forward.
The lance 28 has its front end side elastically deformable in the vertical direction, and an engaging stepped portion 28a for engaging with a rear end surface 39 of an engaging portion 35 described later is formed on the upper portion thereof. Has been done.

The electrical connector 22 is formed by bending a metal piece having conductivity, and has a bottom plate portion 29 and a bottom plate portion 29 on its tip end side.
Side plate portions 30, which are raised from both sides of the bottom plate portion 29,
30 and top plates 31, 31 which are bent inwardly from the both side plates 30, 30 and are vertically stacked above the bottom plate 29. The bottom plate 29 and the side plates 30, 30 are provided. Cylindrical part 3 surrounded by and top plate parts 31, 31
2 and an elastic contact piece 33 formed so as to project at the tip of the bottom plate portion 29 and folded back toward the rear inside the tubular portion 32.
It is configured to include and. The top plate 31 facing the elastic contact piece 33 has a contact plate 31a formed by stamping at a position facing the elastic contact piece 33. In addition, the cable 5 is provided on the rear end side of the electrical connector 22.
An insulation barrel 51 and a wire barrel 52 for fixing the outer sheath 50a of 0 and the conductor 50b drawn from the cable 50 in a caulked state are provided.

An engaging hole 34 (lance engaging hole portion) for engaging the lance 28 is formed in the bottom plate portion 29, and the lance 28 is provided on the front end side of the engaging hole 34.
An engaging portion 35 for engaging with is formed. As shown in FIG. 2, the engaging portion 35 is formed by bending the bottom plate portion 29, has a shape protruding upward in a substantially U-shaped cross section, and has side wall portions 36, 36 and a front portion. Wall 37 (see FIG. 1)
And the upper wall portion 38, and the rear end face 39 is
It has a generally U-shaped end face.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, in a state where the electric connector 22 is inserted and arranged in the male connector housing 21 as described below, the height of the engaging portion 35 is the same as that of the lance 28. It is set higher than the height of the top surface.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, both side wall portions 36 of the engaging portion 35,
The width H between 36 is smaller than the width h of the lance 28 in order to provide a contact margin with the lance 28. Also,
As shown in FIG. 1, the rear end surface 39 of the engagement portion 35 is adapted to engage with the engagement step portion 28 a of the lance 28. Then, the electrical connector 22 is inserted and arranged in the male connector housing 21 by engaging the lance 28 in the engaging hole 34 and engaging the engaging portion 35 with the lance 28. There is.

Next, the method of use and the operation of this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 1B, the connector 2
The contact 40 of the male connector is inserted from the opening 27 into the cylindrical portion 32 of 0. In this case, in the present embodiment, the contact 40 of the male connector is inserted from the opening 27 into the tubular portion 32 obliquely from above to below, and the elastic contact piece 3 is inserted.
Even when a pressing force from above to below is applied to 3, the height of the engaging portion 35 is set to be higher than the height of the upper surface of the lance 28, so that the elastic contact piece 33 does not move. When the elastic contact piece 33 comes into contact with the joint portion 35 and is excessively displaced, the restoring force of the elastic contact piece 33 is not impaired, and the stress at the root does not exceed the limit and is broken. And
Since the elastic contact piece 33 does not move downward any more,
The contact 40 of the male connector advances on the upper surface of the elastic contact piece 33 and is guided to an appropriate position in the tubular portion 32.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7C, when another thick tool 41 is accidentally inserted into the cylindrical portion 32 instead of the contact 40 of the male connector. Similarly, the elastic contact piece 33, which is displaced downward, has the engaging portion 3 similarly.
Since the elastic contact piece 33 abuts on the elastic contact piece 5, the elastic contact piece 33 is not further displaced downward, and the restoring force of the elastic contact piece 33 is not impaired or destroyed. In this case, since the elastic contact piece 33 is not displaced further downward, a sufficient space for inserting the tool 41 cannot be formed between the upper surface of the elastic contact piece 33 and the lower surface of the contact plate portion 31a, and the tool is Since 41 does not enter the inside of the tubular portion 32 anymore, the user can know that the tool 41 is an incorrect tool.

Next, a method of manufacturing the electrical connector 22 applied to the connector 20 of this embodiment will be described. First, a predetermined shape is punched out from a strip-shaped metal plate with a mold. In this case, although not shown in the drawings, for the following reason, it suffices to punch out a substantially similar shape to that in the case of manufacturing the electrical connector A1 of the conventional example (see FIGS. 3 and 4). Next, in order to bend (bend) the engaging portion 35 to the above-described predetermined height, the press is pushed up. After these two steps, the electrical connector 22 is assembled to complete the manufacturing.

In the electrical connector 22 of the present embodiment, the projection 15 formed to suppress the excessive displacement of the elastic contact piece 5 in the electrical connectors B1 and C1 of the conventional example described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. , 16, 16 are not provided, it is possible to reduce the number of manufacturing steps in manufacturing the electrical connector 22 and to reduce the cost for manufacturing the mold. That is, in the electrical connector 22, the excessive displacement of the elastic contact piece 33 is suppressed, and the engaging portion 14 which is already formed by the electrical connector A1 of the conventional example (see FIGS. 3 and 4).
Since it is realized by making the height of (35) higher than the height of the upper surface of the lance 11 (28), when the electric connector 22 is manufactured, the projections 15 of the electric connectors B1 and C1, Of course, the step of starting up the parts corresponding to 16 and 16 is not necessary, and also in the step of punching out the engagement hole 34 from the metal plate (bottom plate part 29), the protrusion 1 is formed.
It is not necessary to punch out portions corresponding to 5, 16, 16 (in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the lance engaging hole portion 12 having a complicated shape is punched out, whereas in this embodiment, a simple rectangle is used. Therefore, the shape of the die for punching out the engagement hole 34 becomes simple (the peripheral length of the die blade becomes short), and the die cost can be reduced. .

Further, FIG. 1, FIG. 5 (b) and FIG. 6 (b)
As shown in FIG. 5, in the electrical connectors B1 and C1 of the conventional example, the protrusions 15, 16 and 16 are provided in the lance engagement hole 12 respectively to suppress the excessive displacement of the elastic contact piece 33 (5). In the present embodiment, the engaging portion 35 is provided on the front end side of the engaging hole 34, while the rear edge portion and both side edge portions are provided. Has the following advantages. That is, the protrusions 15, 1
Paying attention to the positions at which 6, 16 and the engaging portion 35 are respectively formed, the elastic contact pieces 5, 3 of both 15, 16, 16, 35 are formed.
Comparing the distances from the root of No. 3, the former 15, 16,
Since the latter 35 is closer than 16 the elastic contact piece 33
As a means for suppressing the excessive displacement of the above, even if the height thereof is set lower than that of the former 15, 16, 16, it is possible to achieve the object.

Further, of the former 15, 16 and 16, in particular, the protrusion 15 abuts the lower surface of the elastic contact piece 5 at a position far from the root of the elastic contact piece 5, so that the elastic contact piece 5 has Although the tip end portion is prevented from being excessively displaced by the protrusion portion 15, the protrusion portion 15 is provided near the middle portion of the elastic contact piece 5.
Since it does not come into contact with the elastic contact piece 5, it may bend downward only in the vicinity of the intermediate portion, impairing the restoring force of the elastic contact piece 5, but in the engagement portion 35 of the present embodiment, the elastic contact piece 33 has a root portion. Since they abut at close positions, there is no such drawback.

In this embodiment, the engaging portion 3
Although the shape of No. 5 is formed to have a substantially U-shaped cross section, the shape of the engaging portion is not limited to this in the present invention. For example, it may have various shapes such as protruding upward in a dome shape.

[0025]

According to the connector of the present invention, a male connector housing and an electric connector inserted and arranged in the male connector housing are provided, and the male connector housing is provided with the male connector housing inside thereof. The electrical connector has a lance that engages with the electrical connector, and the electrical connector is formed by projecting from a tubular portion and a tip of a bottom plate portion of the tubular portion, and is elastically folded back toward the inside of the tubular portion. The electrical connector includes a contact piece and an engagement portion formed on the bottom plate portion so as to be located at a front end side of a lance engagement hole formed on the bottom plate portion and bent to project upward. Engages the lance in the lance engaging hole, and engages the engaging part with the lance to be inserted and arranged in the male connector housing, and another electric connector is provided in the tubular part. It is inserted to make electrical connection with the other electrical connector. In the connector, since the height of the engaging portion is set higher than the height of the upper surface of the lance, the other electric connector is obliquely inserted, or another thick tool or the like is inserted by mistake. In this case, when the elastic contact piece comes into contact with the engaging portion, the elastic contact piece is not further displaced downward, and the restoring force of the elastic contact piece is impaired or the elastic contact piece is broken. The effect that can effectively prevent is obtained.

According to the connector of the first aspect,
In order to suppress the excessive displacement of the elastic contact piece, the bottom plate portion is bent to form the engagement portion, and the height of the engagement portion is set higher than the height of the upper surface of the lance. In addition to the above-mentioned conventional example, the step of raising the protruding portion is not required when manufacturing the connector, and the protruding portion is left when the metal plate is pressed. As a result, it is not necessary to manufacture a mold having a long peripheral length of the mold blade that matches a complicated shape as much as possible, and the effect that the mold manufacturing cost is low is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of a connector according to the present invention, FIG. 1B shows a state in which another electric connector is inserted in FIG. 1A, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which another thick tool is inserted by mistake.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front vertical sectional view showing a conventional connector.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the connector.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an electrical connector of another conventional connector, in which (a) is a side sectional view and (b) is a front vertical sectional view.

6A and 6B are views showing an electric connector of another conventional connector, in which FIG. 6A is a side sectional view and FIG. 6B is a front vertical sectional view.

7 is a development view showing the electrical connector of FIG.

8 is a development view showing the electrical connector of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 ... Connector, 21 ... Male connector housing, 22
... electrical connector, 28 ... lance, 29 ... bottom plate part, 32 ... cylindrical part, 33 ... elastic contact piece, 34 ... engaging hole (lance engaging hole), 35 ... engaging part, 40 ... male connector Contact (other electrical connector)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A male connector housing (21) and an electrical connector (22) inserted and arranged in the male connector housing (21), wherein the male connector housing (21) has an internal portion. Has a lance (28) for engaging with the electrical connector (22), the electrical connector (22) having a tubular portion (32) and a bottom plate portion (29) of the tubular portion (32). An elastic contact piece (33) that is formed to project at the tip and is folded back toward the rear in the tubular portion (32), and a lance formed on the bottom plate portion (29) on the bottom plate portion (29). An engaging portion (35) which is positioned on the front end side of the engaging hole portion (34) and is bent so as to project upward, and the electric connector (22) has the lance engaging hole portion ( 34)
The lance (28) is engaged therein, and the engaging portion (35) is engaged with the lance (28) so as to be inserted and arranged in the male connector housing (21). In the connector (20) in which the other electric connector (40) is inserted into the other part (32) to electrically connect to the other electric connector (40), the height of the engagement portion (35) is A connector (20) characterized by being set higher than the height of the upper surface of the lance (28).