JPH10172671A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the extent of the pushing in quantity of a detection member high at first without projecting the member out of a housing. SOLUTION: A detection member 15 is installed in the upper face of a lock piece 7 in a manner the member 15 can move back and forth. A dome 33 into which the detection member 15 is to be butted in the case the lock piece 7 is slantingly moved is formed in a female housing F and a cam face 35 is formed in the dome. When the detection member 15 is installed at an initial position, the front end of the detection member 15 is made to face to the lower end of the cam face 35 and the rear end is in the same plane as the rear face of the female housing F. When the lock piece 7 is slantingly moved by fitting both housings F, M, the detection member 15 once moves backward on the lock piece 7 while being guided by the cam face 35. When the fitting is properly carried out, the pushing operation of the detection member 15 is made possible by the turning back movement of the lock piece 7 and since the detection member 15 once moves backward, the extent of the pushing-in of the detection member 15 is made to be large.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector having a function of detecting a fitted state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to detect a fitted state of a housing, a device utilizing a tilting operation of a lock piece for locking the housings has been proposed. Specifically, the lock piece is provided with a detection member that can advance along the lock piece, and the housing on the side where the lock piece is provided is provided with a protruding position at a position corresponding to the outside of the tilt end of the lock piece. This department is provided. When the housing is in the half-fitted state, the lock piece rides on the mating locking part and is tilted, so that when the detecting member is pushed in, it hits the abutting part, and the half-fitting is detected. And
On the other hand, if the two housings are properly fitted, the locking member is locked to the locking portion while passing through the locking portion and returning to the original position, so that the detection member can be pushed in. It is.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned structure, especially when the connector is small, the amount by which the detecting member can be pushed in is limited due to reasons such as the inability of a finger to enter, so that the proper fitting state is obtained. However, there is a problem that the so-called answer is not so good even if it can be detected. On the other hand, in order to increase the pushing amount of the detecting member, it is conceivable that the detecting member is attached in a state where the rear end side of the detecting member is lengthened so as to protrude from the rear surface of the housing in advance. Inadvertently, the detection member may be pushed in and the detection function may not be performed.

[0004] The connector of the present invention has been completed based on the above-described circumstances, and its purpose is to prevent the detecting member in the fitted state from unnecessarily protruding from the housing and increase the pushing amount thereof. There is to take.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a lock piece that can be elastically tilted is provided on one of a pair of housings fitted to each other. The locking piece is tilted by passing through a locking portion provided on the mating housing as the two housings are fitted, and then returns when the two housings are properly fitted, and the locking piece is locked. By being locked to the part,
In a connector in which both housings are locked in a proper fitting state, the lock piece is provided with a detection member that can advance along the lock piece and can be temporarily held at a predetermined initial position, When the lock piece is in the tilted posture, the housing on the side provided with the lock piece protrudes relatively to the advance path of the detection member to restrict its advance, and when the lock piece is in the original posture, the detection member advances. Is provided, and this restriction unit includes:
It is characterized in that a configuration is provided in which a cam function is provided that engages with the detecting member at the initial position in accordance with the tilting operation of the lock piece and retreats the detection member along the lock piece.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when the detection member is mounted at the initial position, a rear end of the detection member is retracted inside a rear surface of the housing,
It is characterized in that it is configured to protrude from the rear surface of the housing for the first time by retreating.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the detecting member can be advanced directly below the restricting portion, and the detecting member is locked at the advanced position in a retaining state. It is characterized in that it is configured to be provided with a locking means.

[0008]

Actions and effects of the present invention

<Invention of Claim 1> When the two housings are fitted, the lock piece tilts, and the tip of the detection member provided there comes into contact with the regulation portion, and the detection member is locked by the cam function of the regulation portion. Retreat once from the initial position on one side. This state is still a half-fitted state, and even if the detection member is pushed in, the pushing is regulated by hitting the restricting portion, whereby half-fitting can be detected. When the two housings are properly fitted, the lock piece returns to the original position. When the detection member is pushed in this state, the detection member can be pushed in without being disturbed by the restricting portion. However, since the detection member is once retracted from the initial position, it can be pushed in greatly. That is, according to the present invention, the detection member can be largely pushed in at the time of regular fitting, so that it is possible to perform a tactile and easy-to-understand detection. In addition, since the detection member can be initially mounted without being unnecessarily protruded from the housing, it can be prevented from being accidentally pushed in.

<Invention of Claim 2> The detecting member is retracted inside the housing at the time of mounting, and protrudes to the rear surface side of the housing only when the detecting member is driven backward with the fitting operation of the two housings. Inadvertent pushing of the detection member is more reliably prevented. Further, by visually checking that the detection member protrudes from the rear surface of the housing, it is possible to detect half-fitting.

<Invention of Claim 3> Since the detecting member is advanced and held just below the regulating portion, the detecting member is sandwiched between the regulating portion and the locking piece, and the locking piece is inadvertently tilted. Is prevented, and a double lock can be performed.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The connector of this embodiment employs an inertial lock system, and as shown in FIG. 1, a male connector housing M (hereinafter simply referred to as a male housing) and a female connector housing F ( (Hereinafter simply referred to as a female housing). In the following, in each of the housings M and F, the fitting surface side is referred to as a front surface.

The male housing M has a substantially rectangular cylindrical shape with a bottom provided with a fitting recess 1 on the front surface, and two male terminal fittings (not shown) extend laterally from the back surface of the fitting recess 1. It is projected side by side. One female housing F has a hood 4 formed at the front end side of the main body 3 so that the male housing M can be fitted inside the main housing 3.
As shown in FIG. 2, two cavities 5 are formed side by side, and a female terminal fitting (not shown) is housed in each cavity 5 so as to be fitted and connectable to a corresponding male terminal fitting. ing.

An inertia lock mechanism is provided between the housings M and F. Therefore, a lock piece 7 is provided at the center in the width direction on the upper surface of the female housing F. The lock piece 7 is elongated in the front-rear direction and has a short, gate-shaped cross section. The lower edges of the left and right side walls at the substantially central portion in the length direction are integrated with the main body 3 via the fulcrum 8. , And can swing in a seesaw shape about the fulcrum portion 8. As shown in FIG. 5, the upper surface of the hood portion 4 is cut out over substantially the entire width.
The front end side of the lock piece 7 enters the notch groove 4A.

The front end side of the lock piece 7 is closed, so that a hook 9 for locking is formed. On the upper surface of the rear end of the lock piece 7, a stepped portion 10 which is higher by one step is formed. On the other hand, a lock piece 7 is provided on the upper surface of the male housing M.
A pair of guide walls 12 facing in the front-rear direction for guiding the insertion of the lock pieces are provided upright. The contact surface between the locking portion 13 and the hook portion 9 is formed substantially vertically, thereby constituting an inertial lock mechanism.

That is, the female housing F is replaced with the male housing M
And the hook 9 of the lock piece 7 is
After hitting the locking part 13
The female member F is pushed upward and swings in a clockwise direction (see FIG. 2). When the hook 9 is properly fitted, the hook 9 goes over the locking portion 13, so that the lock piece 7 is restored to the original position and the hook 9 is locked on the rear surface of the locking portion 13, thereby being locked. (See FIG. 3).

Even with the inertial lock type as described above, the hook 9 of the lock piece 7 may be left in a semi-fitted state while riding on the locking portion 13 as shown in FIG. In order to detect such a half-fitted state, the lock piece 7 of the female housing F is provided with a detection member 15 formed as a separate piece.

The detecting member 15 has an overall length slightly longer than the lock piece 7, and includes a wide plate-shaped main body 16 as shown in FIGS. The front end surface of the main body 16 is an upwardly inclined surface 17. At the central portion in the width direction of the main body 16, a raised portion 19 is formed on the upper surface on the rear end side, and along the both sides thereof, the side wall 18 extends from a position at a predetermined dimension from the front end to the rear end. At the rear end, a push portion 21 having a wide width and a high height is formed at the rear end.
The pushing portion 21 is for pushing the detecting member 15 as described later.

A pair of leg pieces 23 having a hook-like shape with an inward cross section are formed on the left and right side edges on the lower surface of the main body 16 over a predetermined region in the center in the length direction. Also, on the left and right side edges on the upper surface of the lock piece 7,
As shown in FIG. 5, the rail 2 has a hook-like shape with an outward section.
4 are formed. Therefore, the detection member 15 is
As shown in FIG. 8, the lower surface of the main body 16 is placed on the stepped portion 10 at the rear end of the lock piece 7, and both leg pieces 23 are fitted so as to hold the rail 24. It is designed to be freely slidable along the vertical direction.

A holding portion 26 is formed at the center of the lower surface of the main body 16 in the width direction of the detecting member 15. As shown in FIG. 7, two ridges 27 and 28 are formed on the lower surface of the holding portion 26. The front ridge 27 has a triangular cross section, and the rear ridge 28 has a trapezoidal cross section. A locking recess 29 is formed between the two ridges 27 and 28. On the other hand, on the upper surface of the lock piece 7, as shown in FIG. 1, a mountain-shaped locking projection 31 that can be fitted into the locking recess 29 is formed. As shown in FIG.
The state where 1 is fitted and locked in the locking recess 29 is the initial position of the detection member 15, and at this time, the tip of the detection member 15 projects forward by a predetermined distance from the tip of the lock piece 7,
The rear end is set to be flush with the rear surface of the female housing F.

On the other hand, on the upper surface of the hood portion 4, a lock piece 7 is provided.
A gate-shaped dome 33 is formed so as to cover the upper part of the front position. As shown in FIG. 1, the ceiling surface of the dome 33 is at the same height position as the upper surface on the distal end side of the main body 16 when the detection member 15 is attached to the lock piece 7 in the original posture. A groove 34 having a width substantially the same as that of the main body 16 of the detection member 15 is formed by cutting out a rear edge side of the ceiling portion of the dome 33, and a rear end surface of the groove 34 is formed by an inclined surface at the tip of the detection member 15. The cam surface 35 is inclined at substantially the same inclination as that of the cam 17. Then, when the detection member 15 is mounted at the initial position on the lock piece 7 in the original posture, the upper end of the inclined surface 17 at the tip of the detection member 15 is set to face the lower end of the cam surface 35.

The present embodiment has the above structure,
Subsequently, the operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the detection member 15 is mounted at an initial position with respect to the lock piece 7 in the original posture. When the detection member 15 is at the initial position,
As described above, the upper end of the inclined surface 17 at the tip is
It faces the lower end of 5. Then, the female housing F is pushed into the male housing M as shown by the arrow in FIG.

When the female housing F is pushed in, the hook 9 of the lock piece 7 hits the locking portion 13 and then rides on the locking portion 13 as shown in FIG. Swing clockwise. Accordingly, the detecting member 15
Also, the distal end rides on the cam surface 35 while being integrally displaced, and is guided by the cam surface 35 so that the locking projection 31 is disengaged from the locking concave portion 29 and is driven backward on the lock piece 7.

Subsequently, the female housing F is pushed into the normal position by the inertial force, and as shown in FIG. 3, the hook 9 of the lock piece 7 goes over the locking portion 13, so that the lock piece 7 is restored to the original posture. The hook 9 is locked by being locked to the rear surface of the locking portion 13. During this time, the detection member 15 is
Is retracted until it falls to the front of the front mountain portion 27, and in a state where it is properly fitted, the rear end of the detection member 15 projects from the rear surface of the female housing F by the dimension s as shown in FIG. Become.

Finally, a finger is applied to the pushing portion 21 to push the detecting member 15 in. Since the lock piece 7 has returned to the original posture and the main body 16 of the detection member 15 is also located on the lower surface side of the ceiling surface of the dome 33, the locking projection 31 connects the two peaks 27, 28. As shown in FIG. 4, the tip of the detection member 15 is inserted into the lower surface of the ceiling surface of the dome 33 as shown in FIG. The detection member 15 has a lock piece 7 at its rear end.
Is pushed down to a position that matches the rear end, and the stroke of the pushing is S, which is almost doubled, for example, as compared with the case where it is pushed in from the initial position shown in FIG.

When the detection member 15 reaches the predetermined pushing position, the locking projection 31 falls down behind the rear mountain portion 28 and is locked, so that the detection member 15 is prevented from coming off. . At this time, the tip of the detection member 15 is
The locking piece 7 is prevented from inadvertently swinging, and is double locked.

In the above-described housing fitting operation, if the two housings M and F are not properly fitted and are left in a half-fitted state, as shown in FIG. The hook portion 9 has taken a posture of swinging clockwise while riding on the locking portion 13. At this time, as described above, since the rear end of the detection member 15 protrudes from the rear surface of the female housing F, the half-fitting is detected by visually observing the rear end. Further, since the tip of the detection member 15 corresponds to the cam surface 35, when the pressing operation of the detection member 15 is performed,
The contact with the cam surface 35 restricts the pushing, whereby the half-fitting is also detected.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
Since the detection member 15 is temporarily retracted in the middle of the fitting operation, when the detection member 15 is pushed in to detect the normal fitting, the detection member 15 can be largely pushed. Therefore, it is possible to perform a tactile and easy-to-understand detection. Moreover, when the detection member 15 is attached to the initial position, the detection member 15 is in the state of being housed in the rear surface of the female housing F, and therefore there is no possibility that the pushing operation is performed carelessly.

Also, the half-fitting can be detected by visually observing that the rear end of the detecting member 15 protrudes from the rear surface of the female housing F, and by reliably restricting the pressing of the detecting member 15. can do. Further, after the detection member 15 is pushed in after the regular fitting, the lock piece 7 is pressed.
Inadvertent swinging is prevented and double locking can be achieved.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) Although it is possible to adopt a structure in which the detection member does not easily come off due to frictional engagement with the lock piece, if the detection member moves to the retracted position, a means for positively holding the detection member is provided. It may be provided.

(2) Similarly, a means for locking the detection member from moving further forward from the pushed-in position may be provided. (3) The present invention is not limited to the inertial lock illustrated in the above embodiment, but can be similarly applied to a normal lock type. (4) The present invention is not limited to the seesaw-type lock piece, and can be similarly applied to an apparatus having an arm-type lock piece provided to bend and deform in a cantilever shape.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a state before fitting of a housing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a half-fitted state.

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of a properly fitted state.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a state where a detection member is pushed in.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the female housing before the detection member is mounted.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a detection member.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view thereof.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the female housing on which the detection member is mounted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 F ... Female housing M ... Male housing 7 ... Lock piece 9 ... Hook section 13 ... Locking section 15 ... Detection member 23 ... Leg piece 24 ... Rail 28 ... (rear side) crest (locking means) 29 ... Lock Recess 31 ... Locking projection 33 ... Dome (restriction) 35 ... Cam surface

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A resiliently tiltable lock piece is provided on one of a pair of housings fitted to each other, and the lock piece is provided on a mating housing as the two housings are fitted. The housing is tilted by passing through the locking portion, moves backward when both housings are properly fitted, and is locked by the locking portion, so that both housings are locked in a properly fitted state. In the connector described above, the lock piece is provided with a detection member that can advance along the lock piece and can be temporarily held at a predetermined initial position, and the housing on the side where the lock piece is provided includes:
When the lock piece is in the tilted position, the detection member protrudes relatively to the advance path of the detection member to restrict its advance, and when the lock piece is in the original position, there is provided a restriction portion that allows the detection member to advance. A connector having a cam function for engaging the detecting member at the initial position with the tilting operation of the lock piece and retreating the detection member along the lock piece. 2. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein, when the detection member is mounted at the initial position, a rear end thereof is set to be retracted inside a rear surface of the housing, and protrude from the rear surface of the housing for the first time by retreating. The connector according to claim 1. 3. The device according to claim 2, wherein said detecting member is capable of advancing directly below said restricting portion, and is provided with locking means for locking said detecting member in a retracted state at the advanced position. The connector according to claim 1 or claim 2.