JPH0735324Y2 - Low insertion force multi-pole connector - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a low insertion force multi-pole connector for connecting and connecting a female connector housing accommodating a large number of terminals and a male connector housing with a small force.

"Prior Art" The connectors used to connect the electric circuits of automobiles are becoming multipolar as the number of electrical components increases and the sophistication of electric circuits increases. In order to mutually connect, the connection resistance between the contact portions of the terminal group becomes large, so that a large insertion force is required for the connection.

Therefore, as a means for reducing the insertion force at the time of coupling the above multipolar connector, there is proposed a low insertion force connector disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-99788.

That is, in this low insertion force connector, a rotating lever having a pinion portion provided on the outer periphery of a fulcrum portion is attached to one of a female connector housing and a male connector housing which are mutually coupled, and at the other connector housing, a rack which meshes with the pinion portion. By providing a portion and rotating the rotary lever in a direction different from the coupling direction of the connector housing, the coupling force is amplified and the male and female connector housings are coupled with a small insertion force.

[Problems to be solved by the device] In the above-mentioned known low insertion force multipolar connector, although the insertion force is amplified by the rotation lever of the lever body, and there is a temporary low insertion force action, the rotation of the rotation lever The direction is different from the insertion direction of the connector housing, and in addition, the pair of connector housings are held in a temporarily fitted state, and the rotary lever is rotationally operated in a direction different from the coupling direction for insertion operation. Since this is a joining operation, a holding operation is often required, and there is a problem that the joining operability is extremely poor.

Further, during the coupling operation, a rotation space for the rotary lever is required around the connector, and there is a drawback that it is not suitable for electrical wiring of an automobile, which is often limited to a narrow peripheral space.

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional means.

"Means for Solving the Problems" The low insertion force multi-pole connector of the present invention which solves the above technical problems is "a pair of female connector housings accommodating a terminal group and a front half portion of a male connector housing are fitted to each other. In a multipolar connector for coupling connection, one of a female connector housing and a male connector housing has "a pinion of a" helical gear "rotatably supported" and "a helical tooth" and engages with the pinion, And, provided with a slide rack piece which is slidable in the coupling direction of the connector housing and whose rear end projects from its own connector housing, and the other connector housing has "helical teeth" and engages with the pinion, And a fixed rack portion "which allows the pinion to roll, and slides the slide rack piece,
It has a structure for connecting and connecting a pair of connector housings ".

"Operation" The low insertion force multi-pole connector of the present invention configured as described above is
When a pair of male and female connector housings are made to face each other and a slide rack piece projecting to the rear of one is pushed in, the sliding movement of the slide rack piece causes the pinion engaged with the slide rack piece to rotate and the pinion to move to the other side. Since it rolls on the fixed rack portion by engaging with the fixed rack portion of the connector housing, the pair of connector housings are moved close to each other in the coupling direction by the sliding force of the slide rack pieces.

Then, at the time of the close operation, the slide rack piece and the fixed rack piece engage with each other on both sides of the single-body pinion, and the pinion rolls and moves on the fixed rack portion. Therefore, "the pinion is a single-rope moving pulley. , The fixed rack portion is a rope on the fixed end wound around the moving pulley, the slide rack piece functions as a hoisting side rope wound around the moving pulley, and the sliding force applied to the slide rack piece is It is amplified and transmitted as a forward force of the pinion, a large coupling force is generated between the pair of connector housings, and they are coupled and connected with a low insertion force. That is, the pinion in the low insertion force multi-pole connector of the present invention has not only a simple rotation transmission but also a unique action that the pinion itself functions to increase the coupling force.

Then, by simply pushing and sliding the slide rack pieces in the coupling direction of the pair of connector housings, the low insertion force coupling is achieved, the coupling operation becomes extremely easy, and the special operation space around the connector is unnecessary. become.

"Example" Hereinafter, it demonstrates in detail based on an Example. First, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 showing a first embodiment of the present invention, a female connector housing 1 accommodating a female terminal group (not shown),
In a multipolar connector in which the first half of the male connector housing 2 accommodating a male terminal group (not shown) is fitted and coupled and connected, inside one male connector housing 2,
The pinion 3 of the "helical gear" is rotatably supported, and has a "helical tooth" 13 to engage with the upper side of the pinion 3 to project the rear end 4 from the housing rear wall 10, and
A slide rack piece 5 is provided that is slidably mounted in the same direction as its own coupling direction (arrow A in the drawing).
Further, when the male and female connector housings 1 and 2 face each other in the other female connector housing 1 in the fitting posture,
A fixed rack portion 6 having "helical teeth" 13 and engaged with the lower side of the pinion 3 is integrally fixed, and the pinion 3 and the fixed rack portion 6 face the front opening of each connector housing. It is arranged.

For details, refer to FIG. 1 (B). The pinion 3 and the slide rack piece 5 are separate members formed by resin molding similarly to the male connector housing 2, of which the pinion 3 is a “helical gear”. , Is rotatably supported by a supporting portion 7 provided in the central cavity of the male connector housing 2, and
The bearing shaft 8 is supported in a direction orthogonal to the connecting direction A. Also, the slide rack piece 5 has "helical teeth" 13 that mesh with the pinion 3 as shown in FIG. 1 (D), and is inserted from the rear into a slide groove 9 also formed above the central cavity. When fitted, it engages with the upper side of the pinion 3 and slides in the same direction as the coupling direction A, and the rear end 4 is projected from the housing rear wall 10 at the slide dead center position, and the projection amount is approximately the same length as the required slide stroke. Has become.

Further, the pinion 3 of this embodiment is provided with a positioning projection 12 with which the front end of the slide rack piece 5 at the rear dead center position abuts.
It is formed on the outer periphery of the pinion 3.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the male and female connector housings 1 and 2 are opposed to each other and are temporarily mated as shown in FIG. 2A (a state in which the male and female connector housings are only inserted at their tip portions and the male and female terminals are not mated). Then, the pinion 3 engages with the front end of the fixed rack section 6, and then the slide rack piece 5 is pushed in with a fingertip to slide the pinion 3 and at the same time, the pinion 3 is rotated and rolled on the engaged fixed rack section 6. Three
A forward force F ₂ is applied, as in the FIG. 2 (B), pushing the slide rack piece 5 until dead center position, so as to couple the male and female connector housings 1 and 2 to normal posture. Reference numeral 11 in the drawing denotes a locking projection that engages with a locking portion in the connector housing 2 to prevent the slide rack piece 5 from retracting when the slide rack piece 5 is pushed to the front dead center.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 as described above, "the pinion 3 is a single-rope-moving sheave A shown in FIG. 2 (C), and the fixed rack portion 6 is wound around the moving sheave-A. B, the slide rack piece 5 functions as "the rope C on the winding side of the moving pulley A", and the "pinion 3 and the fixed rack portion 6"
And a slide rack piece 5 "constitute a moving rope mechanism for hanging a single rope, so that the slide rack piece 5 has a sliding force F ₁ (the rope winding force F ₁ of the moving pulley mechanism).
Is given, a large forward force F ₂ (the pulling force F ₂ of the moving pulley A of the moving pulley mechanism) is generated in the pinion 3 and F ₂ =
Due to the relationship of 2F ₁ (theoretical value), the male and female connector housings 1 and 2 are accurately coupled and connected by a small insertion force.

Then, the connecting and connecting operation can be achieved simply by pushing the slide rack piece 5 projecting to the rear of one of the connector housings in the connecting direction of the connector housings, so that it can be simply and accurately performed as "snap" with only the fingertip of one hand. In addition, the operability is remarkably improved as a multi-pole connector for automobiles that requires no special operation space and requires simple and accurate coupling work in a narrow space.

Further, in the low insertion force multipolar connector of the embodiment of FIG. 1, the pinion 3 for transmitting the forward force F ₂ is a “helical gear”, and the slide rack piece 5 and the fixed rack portion 6 are also the pinion 3. Due to the "helical teeth" configuration that meshes with each other, the effective tooth width (the tooth width of the rotation direction cross section) in the same module tooth becomes thicker than the spur gear in proportion to the inclination angle of the helical teeth, and the transmission force is increased. Get higher

Therefore, the pinion 3 and the slide rack 5 / fixed rack portion 6 for obtaining the same forward force F ₂ need only have a width narrower than that of the spur gear configuration, and in order to meet the needs for downsizing and weight reduction of the connector. The advantage is that the connector can be connected with low insertion force.

Further, since the pinion 3 of this embodiment is provided with the above-mentioned positioning projection 12, the slide rack piece and the pinion 3 are provided.
When engaging with each other, if the tip of the slide rack piece 5 is pressed against the positioning projection 12 and pushed in, the pinion 3 and the slide rack piece 5 can be simply and accurately engaged in a normal posture.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. That is, the second embodiment shows an embodiment for further improving the action of the low insertion force of the first embodiment, and the pinion 3 has a "helical gear" as shown in FIG. 3 (C). "
, And the teeth and the large diameter pinion section 3A of the radius R ₁ which is formed integrally with the same rotating shaft 8 is constituted by a small-diameter pinion portion 3B of the radius R _2, helical diameter pinion section 3A " The small-diameter pinion portion 3B meshes with the fixed rack portion 6 having the "helical teeth" 13 as well as the slide rack piece 5 having the "13". That is, the pinion 3 has a large-diameter pinion portion on the same vertical cross section (a cross section in the diametrical direction of the pinion 3 is called a vertical cross section) orthogonal to the axis of the pinion 3 (the axis of the rotary shaft 8).
3A and a small diameter pinion part 3B are present, and the pinion 3 has a pinion structure in which the thickness of the pinion 3 is as thin as possible.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 3, the advance amount of the pinion 3 with respect to the same slide amount of the slide rack piece 5 is smaller than that of the embodiment of FIG. 1, but the diameter ratio of “R ₁ : R ₂ ” is the same. By this, the forward force F ₂ of the pinion 3 is further amplified,
For example, in the case of "R ₁ : R ₂ = 2: 1", the relationship of F ₂ = 3F ₁ is obtained,
The male and female connector housings 1 and 2 can be connected by a lower insertion force.

"Effects of the device" As explained above, the low insertion force multi-pole connector of the present invention has a low insertion force and does not require the conventional holding operation.
In addition to being able to connect and connect easily and accurately, it has excellent connecting operability that does not require a special peripheral space for connecting operation. Wire harness forming line, automobile assembly line, and
Improvement of connection workability of multi-pole connector at the time of repair and inspection of an actual vehicle, and further, it is achieved by satisfying the needs for downsizing and weight saving of the connector without increasing the size of the connector. effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1: A low insertion force multipolar connector of a first embodiment of the present invention, (A) is a perspective view thereof, (B) is a perspective view of its constituent members, (C) is a front view thereof, and (D). Is a bottom view of the slide rack piece, FIGS. 2 (A) and (B): a front view showing the working state of the embodiment of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 (C): an explanatory view of the working principle of the embodiment of FIG. 1, 3 (A) and (B): a front view showing a low insertion force multipolar connector according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 (C) is a perspective view of a pinion according to the second embodiment. Female connector housing, 2: Male connector housing, 3: Pinion, 3A: Large diameter pinion part, 3B: Small diameter pinion part, 5: Slide rack piece, 6: Fixed rack part, 7: Bearing part, 9: Slide groove, 10 : Housing rear wall, 12: Positioning protrusion, 13: Helical teeth, A: Moving pulley

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A multipolar connector in which a pair of female connector housings accommodating a group of terminals and male connector housings are fitted and connected to each other in the front half of the connector group. One connector housing is "rotatably supported" Has a “gear pinion” and a “helical tooth” and engages with the pinion,
Also, a slide rack piece is provided which is slidable in the coupling direction of the connector housing and whose rear end projects from its own connector housing. The other connector housing has a "helical tooth" and engages with the pinion. And a structure in which a fixed rack portion that allows the pinion to roll is provided, and the pair of connector housings are coupled and connected by sliding the slide rack piece. 2. A pinion having a large-diameter pinion portion and a small-diameter pinion portion on the same vertical cross section orthogonal to the axis of the pinion, the large-diameter pinion portion meshes with a slide rack piece, and the small-diameter pinion portion is fixed. The low insertion force multi-pole connector according to claim (1), wherein the utility model is registered so as to be engaged with the rack portion. 3. A utility model registration claim (1) or (2), characterized in that a "positioning protrusion" for contacting the front end of the slide rack piece at the rear dead center position is formed on the outer periphery of the pinion. The low insertion force multi-pole connector described in the item.