JPH08138795A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable automation of operations without depending on wire diameters by molding a waterproofing body from a resin around connecting terminals and around the space between wires, and inserting the connecting terminals into a connector housing via a waterproofing seal. CONSTITUTION: A waterproofing body 18 is molded around the connecting terminals 17 of a terminal assembly 25 and around a wire 16 using a mold. The terminals 17 are inserted into the wire through holes 26 of a waterproofing seal 15 made of an elastic material such as rubber, with the outer peripheral surface of the waterproofing body 18 intimately fitted onto the inner peripheral surface of each hole 26. Next, the waterproofing seal 15 is intimately contacted with the inner surface of the circumferential wall of a connector housing 14, together with the terminal assembly 25. Then a doubly-locking retainer 13 is fitted onto the inner surface of the circumferential wall of the housing 14 to complete installation of the terminal assembly 25 an the housing 14. Therefore, buckling of the wire during the work of attaching the waterproofing body to the wire is prevented, and operations can be simplified.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a waterproof connector used for connecting electric wires.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a conventional waterproof connector structure used for waterproofly connecting a large number of electric wires arranged on a vehicle body has a structure as shown in FIGS. There is.

That is, reference numeral 1 is a connector housing having a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 2, and the connection terminals 3 can be inserted into the respective terminal accommodating chambers 2.

An electric wire 4 is connected to each connection terminal 3, and a waterproof plug 5 is attached in the vicinity of the terminal connection portion of the electric wire 4, and the connection terminal 3 is placed in the terminal accommodating chamber 2 of the connector housing 1 together with the waterproof plug 5. When inserted, the waterproof plug 5 comes into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 2 to ensure waterproofness. The connection terminals 3 inserted into the respective terminal accommodating chambers 2 are locked by a locking lance 6 so as not to be pulled out.

Reference numeral 7 is a front holder that is inserted from the front of the connector housing 1 to detect (prevent) a half-inserted state (defective insertion) of the connection terminal, and 8 is mounted from the rear of the connector housing 1 to provide waterproofing. The retainer is a double locking retainer for preventing the half-inserted state of the connection terminal by pushing the rear end surface of the stopper 5 into the connector housing.

[0006]

However, in the conventional waterproof connector having such a structure, the waterproof plug 5 having a size corresponding to the thickness of the electric wire 4 is selected and used. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare waterproof plugs of various sizes in advance corresponding to the electric wires of various thicknesses to be used, which causes an increase in the types of waterproof plugs. There was a problem that it took time to work.

Further, in the waterproof connector having the above structure, particularly when the thin electric wire 4 is connected to the connection terminal 3, when the connection terminal is inserted into the connector housing together with the electric wire, the waterproof plug 5 and the terminal accommodating chamber inner wall are separated. The electric wire 4 will buckle due to friction between the wires, making insertion work difficult.

Further, in the conventional example, the waterproof plug 5 is sandwiched between the connection terminals by utilizing the wire crimping portion provided on the connection terminal. Therefore, the connection terminal is exclusively used for sandwiching the waterproof plug 5. It must have a structure, and connection terminals of various shapes (structures) cannot be applied to waterproof connectors.

Further, in the conventional example, it is known that the retainer 8 is used as the double locking means of the connection terminal as shown in the figure, but the double locking means by the retainer 8 is attached to the retainer 8. Since the structure is such that the tip of the protruding piece 9 provided presses the rear end surface of the waterproof plug 5 that is an elastic body, the operation of completely inserting (pressing) the connection terminal 3 into the terminal accommodating chamber 2 is unstable. However, there are problems such as low reliability as a double stop structure.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art. A waterproof structure is provided around a connecting terminal to be inserted in a connector housing and between electric wires connected to the connecting terminal. Form the body by resin molding means,
A waterproof connector having a structure in which the connection terminal and an electric wire are inserted into a connector housing through a waterproof seal that is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the waterproof body. According to this, the electric wire and the electric wire are provided. Since the waterproof body applied to the wire connecting portion of the terminal to be connected is formed by the resin molding means, the waterproof body having a constant outer diameter (size) does not depend on the thickness of the wire. It is in close contact with the connection terminals, and the connection terminals are integrally formed continuously at a set interval, which allows the work of forming (mounting) the waterproof body on the wires and terminals and inserting the terminals into the connector housing. It can be expected to have features such as automation.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

3 and 4, the waterproof connector 11 of the present embodiment has a connector housing 14 integrally having a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 12 and a retainer 13 for double locking, and a terminal insertion side of the connector housing 14. It is composed of a waterproof seal 15 which is tightly fitted in the opening, and a connection terminal 17 which is inserted into each of the above-mentioned terminal accommodating chambers 12 and which is connected with an electric wire 16.

A waterproof body 18 is integrally provided on the connection terminal 17 and the electric wire inserted into the connector housing 14. The molding of the waterproof body 18 will be described below with reference to FIG.

Reference numerals 19 and 20 are a pair of molds,
Before the mold dies 19 and 20 are closed, a plurality of connection terminals 17 to which the electric wires 16 having a desired thickness are connected in advance are arranged and set. Therefore, the molds 19 and 20 are closed, and the molds 19 and 2 are closed by this mold closing.
The packings 21 and 22 provided inside 0 are the electric wires 1
The wire 6 is held in close contact with the wire 16.

Then, from the gate 23, for example, the melting point is 155.
By injecting a nylon-based resin having a temperature of around 0 ° C., the waterproof body 18 is formed in close contact with the peripheral surfaces of the electric wire 16 and the connection terminal 17.

Further, in this embodiment, the waterproof body 18 adhered to each electric wire and connection terminal by the collar portion 24 of the waterproof body 18 itself.
Are connected to each other and are formed into a terminal group 25 including one block of a plurality of connection terminals.

Next, the assembly of the connector housing and the connection terminals will be described. A terminal group 25 is formed by molding the waterproof body 18 on the peripheral surfaces of the plurality of connection terminals 17 and the electric wires 16 using the mold. Each connection terminal 17 is inserted into each wire insertion hole 26 provided in the waterproof seal 15 formed of an elastic material such as rubber, and the outer peripheral surface of the waterproof body 18 is brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the wire insertion hole 26. Mating.
Next, the waterproof seal 15 is fitted into the opening of the connector housing 14 together with the terminal group 25.
The outer peripheral surface of the connector is brought into close contact with the inner surface of the peripheral wall of the connector housing 14, and the double locking retainer 13 is then fitted to the inner surface of the peripheral wall of the connector housing 14, whereby the insertion of the terminal group into the connector housing is completed.

Thus, in this embodiment, the electric wire 16
Around the connecting terminal 17 and the waterproof body 1 by molding means.
Since 8 is adhered and fixed, it is possible to prevent the electric wire from buckling when the waterproof body is attached to the electric wire. Further, since the waterproof body is molded by molding the plurality of connection terminals and the electric wires at once, the mounting work of the waterproof body can be extremely simplified. Further, since the waterproof body 18 is formed by the molding means, the waterproof body 18 is brought into close contact with electric wires of all thicknesses regardless of the thickness of the electric wire. The outer diameter is uniform and the electric wire 16
Waterproof seal of a single shape, regardless of the thickness of 1
5 and the connector housing, a waterproof body having excellent watertightness can be obtained, whereby a connector having excellent waterproofness can be obtained.

Further, in the present embodiment, since a plurality of electric wires and a group of connecting terminals are formed as a group, the number of steps for assembling can be reduced and the automatic assembling can be facilitated. Further, in this embodiment, the brim portion 24 is formed integrally with the waterproof body 18 by a hard resin type molding material such as nylon resin.
Since the end face of the brim portion 24 made of this hard resin can be pushed by the double locking retainer 13 to push the terminal group 25 into the connector housing 14, the terminal group 25 can be securely inserted into the connector housing. The semi-inserted (incompletely inserted) state of the group 25 can be effectively prevented, and the reliability of assembly and the stabilization of production quality can be improved.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the waterproof body 18 is adhered and fixed around the electric wire 16 and the connection terminal 17 by the molding means, the buckling of the electric wire when the waterproof body is attached to the electric wire. Can be prevented. Also waterproof body 1
Since 8 is formed by the molding means, this waterproof body 18 is brought into close contact with electric wires of all thicknesses regardless of the thickness of the electric wire. The outer diameter is uniform, and a waterproof body having excellent watertightness can be obtained with respect to the waterproof seal 15 having a single shape and the connector housing without being influenced by the thickness of the electric wire 16. As a result, the connector having excellent waterproofness can be obtained. Is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the structure of a conventional waterproof connector.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of a conventional waterproof connector.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of an exploded structure showing the waterproof connector of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a waterproof connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view when molding the waterproof body according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Waterproof connector 12 ... Terminal accommodating chamber 13 ... Double locking retainer 14 ... Connector housing 15 ... Waterproof seal 16 ... Electric wire 17 ... Connection terminal 18 ... Waterproof body 19 ... Mold type 20 ... Mold type 21 ... Packing 22 ... Packing 23 ... Gate 24 ... Collar 25 ... Terminal group 26 ... Wire insertion hole

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A waterproof body (18) is formed by resin molding means on a connection terminal (17) to be inserted into a connector housing (14) and an outer peripheral surface of a connection portion with an electric wire connected to the connection terminal. Then, the connection terminal and the electric wire are inserted into the connector housing through a waterproof seal (15) which is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the waterproof body (18).