JPH08339862A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent the worsening of sealability between an insertion fitting hole of a grommet and a mounting pin of a housing. CONSTITUTION: A recessed part (dividing part) 8C is formed between an outer surface lip part 8B and an inner surface lip part 8A, in the internal periphery of an insertion fitting hole 8. When an outer side surface of a side wall part 7 of a grommet 3 is pulled, while spreading the recessed part 8C in an axial direction, the outer surface lip part 8B is elastically deformed so as to spread to be separated from a mounting pin 5, but the inner surface lip part 8A holds a condition in adhesion to the mounting pin 5, to ensure a seal in this inner surface lip part 8A.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector for sealing using a grommet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A panel mounting type connector is known as this type of connector. This is a structure in which the connector housing of the male connector is attached to the panel, and the female connector is fitted into the hood portion of the connector housing, and the portion of the female connector connector housing protruding from the hood portion is made of rubber. The grommet is attached to the panel, and the grommet is closely attached to the panel in a state where the peripheral edge of the grommet surrounds the hood portion to provide a waterproof seal.

By the way, when the peripheral edge of the grommet is strongly pressed against the panel, the peripheral edge of the grommet is flipped up and lifted from the panel, so that the sealing property may be impaired. Therefore, in order to avoid such turning up on the grommet, a grommet cover (made of resin is formed with a flange edge protruding on the periphery of the grommet and a shallow dish shape having a side wall on the periphery from the back of the grommet. ) Was fitted, and the flange edge of the grommet was pressed by the opening edge.

However, in the above structure, the grommet cover is simply fitted to the grommet,
When the female connector is pushed toward the male connector with extremely strong force, even the grommet cover that holds down the flange edge of the grommet is deformed by the strong push-up force from the panel, and the grommet opening edge turns up. Could not be effectively blocked. In the panel-mounting type, bolts are sometimes used when fitting the male and female connectors, and when a strong pushing force acts by tightening the bolts, the above-mentioned problems cannot be solved by the conventional structure.

To cope with this, for example, a locking pin is provided on the connector housing side, and an engaging hole for fitting the locking pin is provided in the grommet cover so that the locking pin of the connector housing can be mounted when the grommet cover is mounted. It is conceivable to adopt a configuration in which the gear is engaged with the engagement hole of the grommet cover. This is because it seems effective in preventing deformation of the grommet cover.

[0006]

However, in such a case, there is a new concern as follows. That is, for example, when the grommet cover 23 is attached, the back surface portion of the grommet 22 may be pulled as shown by the arrow Y in FIG. 5, but in this case, as shown in the same figure, the side wall portion The fitting hole 25 expands due to the elastic deformation of 24, and the inner peripheral surface of the fitting hole 25 and the mounting pin 2
A gap is formed between the outer peripheral surface of 6 and the sealing performance.

The present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to prevent deterioration of the sealing performance between the fitting hole of the grommet and the mounting pin of the housing.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a housing, a mounting pin projecting from the housing, an elastic grommet that can be mounted on the housing, and a mounting pin that can be fitted to the grommet are provided. A connector having a formed fitting through hole, wherein the outer periphery of the mounting pin and the inner circumference of the fitting hole are sealed by the elastic force of the grommet. It is characterized in that a division portion is formed which is divided into a plurality of regions capable of elastic bending independent of each other.

The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1, the dividing portion is constituted by forming a circumferential recess in the inner periphery of the fitting hole.

[0010]

According to the present invention, when the grommet is elastically deformed, the divided portion expands in the axial direction on the inner circumference of the fitting hole, and a part of the divided region is elastically bent. Then, it is separated from the outer periphery of the mounting pin, and the other region is kept in close contact with the outer periphery of the mounting pin.

[0011]

According to the present invention, even if the grommet is elastically deformed, a part of the inner circumference of the fitting hole is always kept in close contact with the outer circumference of the mounting pin. It is possible to prevent the deterioration of the sealing property between them.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The connector 1 of this embodiment is
A resin housing 2, a rubber grommet 3 mounted so as to cover the back surface (top surface in the figure) of the housing 2, and a resin grommet cover 4 mounted so as to cover the grommet 3 from the back surface side. And is configured. The connector 1 is provided with a hood portion F of a mating connector C which is previously attached to the fitting hole H of the panel P.
It is designed to fit inside.

The housing 2 is capable of accommodating a terminal fitting (not shown) therein, and its back side is open for drawing out an electric wire (not shown) connected to the terminal fitting. A mounting pin 5 is formed on the outer side surface of the housing 2 so as to project outward (direction in FIG. 1) from a position close to the back surface thereof.

The grommet 3 is composed of a back surface portion 6 which covers the back surface of the housing 2, and a side wall portion 7 which is formed downward along the outer peripheral edge of the back surface portion 6 along the entire circumference.
The side wall 7 of the grommet 3 is formed with a fitting hole 8 penetrating from its inner surface to its outer surface in correspondence with the mounting pin 5. An inner lip portion 8A that bulges inward over the entire circumference is formed on the inner circumference of the fitting hole 8 at a position on the inner surface side in the axial direction (side closer to the outer surface of the housing 2). An outer lip portion 8B that bulges inward over the entire circumference is formed at a position closer to the outer surface in the axial direction than the inner lip portion 8A. Both of these lip portions 8A, 8
The minimum inner diameter dimension of B in the state not fitted to the mounting pin 5 is set smaller than the outer diameter dimension of the mounting hole.

Further, both the inner and outer lip portions 8 in the axial direction
A concave portion (divided portion which is a constituent feature of the present invention) 8C having an arcuate cross section is formed between A and 8B. By this recess 8C, the inner circumference of the fitting hole 8 is divided into an area in which the inner lip portion 8A is formed and an area in which the outer lip portion 8B is formed in the axial direction. This 2
The two regions can elastically bend independently of each other while expanding the recess 8C in the axial direction. The maximum inner diameter of the recess 8C in the non-fitted state with the mounting pin 5 is set to be larger than the outer diameter of the mounting pin 5.

An annular housing pressing lip portion 9 is formed along the edge of the fitting hole 8 on the inner surface of the side wall portion 7 facing the housing 2. The housing pressing lip portion 9 elastically bends so that the grommet 3 is crushed when the grommet 3 is mounted on the housing 2, and the housing 2 is pressed.
It is designed to be pressed against the outer surface of the.

The side wall 7 of the grommet 3 is provided with a seal portion 10 at the front end edge (lower end edge in the figure) over the entire circumference. When the connector 1 of this embodiment is fitted into the mating connector C, the seal portion 10 is adhered in a state of being elastically bent along the periphery of the fitting hole H in the panel P, and thus the fitting hole H is formed. The gap between the housing and the housing 2 is waterproofed.

The grommet cover 4 and the back surface 11 of the grommet 3 which can be adhered to the back surface 6 of the grommet 3 from the outside and the grommet 3 are attached.
And a side wall portion 12 that can be adhered to the side wall portion 7 from the outside. The side wall portion 12 of the grommet cover 4 is formed with a mounting hole 13 penetrating from the inner surface to the outer surface thereof in correspondence with the mounting pin 5. Grommet cover 4
The mounting pin 5 is engaged with the mounting hole 13 to maintain the mounting state on the housing 2. In this state, the grommet 3 is sandwiched between the housing 2 and the grommet cover 4, and thus mounted on the housing 2. Held in.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
With the grommet 3 attached to the housing 2, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the inner lip portion 8A and the outer lip portion 8B on the inner periphery of the fitting hole 8 are elastically adhered to the outer periphery of the mounting pin 5 in a deformed state so as to be crushed. Waterproofing is provided between the circumference and the outer circumference of the mounting pin 5. Further, the housing pressing lip portion 9 is also elastically bent and comes into close contact with the housing 2, and waterproofing is also achieved in this portion. Since the inner wall portion of the fitting hole 8 is pushed in the radial contraction direction by the elastic bending of the housing pressing lip portion 9, the inner lip portion 8A has a stronger adhesion to the mounting pin 5. In this state, the recess 8C has a gap with the outer periphery of the mounting pin 5.

From this state, for example, the grommet cover 4
When the rear part 11 is in contact with the rear part 6 of the grommet 3 and is slid parallel to the rear part 6 in the right direction in the figure, the rear part 6 of the grommet 3 is attached to the grommet 3. Due to the friction with the cover 4, it is pulled in the direction indicated by the arrow X in FIG. in this case,
The outer surface of the side wall portion 7 of the grommet 3 is pulled upward with a bending corner portion, which is a boundary with the back surface portion 7, as a center, so that a hole edge portion outside the fitting hole 8 of the grommet 3 is widened. Is elastically deformed.

As a result, the inside of the fitting hole 8 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the portion where the outer lip portion 8B is formed is radially deformed while being displaced outward in the axial direction, while the portion where the inner lip portion 8A is formed is in close contact with the outer periphery of the mounting pin 5. The concave portion 8C is deformed so as to expand in the axial direction by the deformation of the outer lip portion 8B. As a result, the outer lip portion 8B is separated from the outer periphery of the mounting pin 5, so that the sealing performance is lost in this portion, but the inner lip portion 8A remains elastically adhered to the outer periphery of the mounting pin 5, The sealing function in this part does not deteriorate. Further, the housing pressing lip portion 9 is the housing 2
Since the state of being closely adhered to is maintained, the sealing property at this portion does not deteriorate.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the outer surface side of the side wall portion 7 of the grommet 3 is pulled in the surface direction, a part of the inner circumference of the fitting hole 8 is located on the outer circumference of the mounting pin 5. Since the state of close contact is maintained, deterioration of the sealing property between the fitting hole 8 and the mounting pin 5 is prevented.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition to the above, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

(1) In the above embodiment, the case where the divided portion is formed by the concave portion 8C having an arcuate cross section has been described.
According to the present invention, the dividing portion can be configured by other means such as a slit orthogonal to the axis of the fitting hole.

(2) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the connector is applied to the panel P is explained, but the present invention can be applied to a connector other than the panel-mounting type.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view showing a state in which a fitting hole is removed from a mounting pin.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a state in which a fitting hole is fitted to a mounting pin.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a state where the fitting hole is elastically deformed.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged sectional view for explaining a problem when the fitting hole is elastically deformed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Connector 2 ... Housing 3 ... Grommet 5 ... Mounting pin 8 ... Fitting hole 8C ... Recessed portion (divided portion)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A housing, a mounting pin formed so as to project from the housing, an elastic grommet that can be mounted on the housing, and a fitting hole formed in the grommet so that the mounting pin can be fitted therein. In the connector in which the outer circumference of the mounting pin and the inner circumference of the fitting through hole are sealed by the elastic force of the grommet, the fitting through hole has elastic properties such that the inner circumferential walls of the fitting through hole are independent from each other in the axial direction. A connector characterized in that a dividing portion is formed which divides into a plurality of regions capable of bending. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the split portion is formed by forming a circumferential recess in the inner periphery of the fitting hole.