JPH10177878A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector capable of detecting normal fitting. SOLUTION: A spring member 26 and a bending lock piece 21 are formed in a female connector housing 20, and a locking part 12 is formed in a male connector housing 10. In the fitting process of the connector housings 10, 20, in the semi-fitting state, the bending lock piece 21 is bent and engaged with the rear end of the spring member 26, then moved, and the spring member 26 is elastically shrunk between a striking part and rear end of itself. On reaching the normal fitting, the bending lock piece 21 returns to the position locked to the locking part 12, at the same time, is unlocked from the spring member 26, and the spring member 26 is extended and deformed by the elastically returning force. By the extending deformation of the spring member 26, the normal fitting is detected.

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 that a pair of connector housings are properly fitted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a connector in which a pair of connector housings are fitted, a locking means for locking both connector housings in a fitted state is provided. The locking means has an elastic locking piece formed on one connector housing and a locking projection formed on the other connector housing. When the two connector housings are fitted, the elastic engaging pieces are elastically bent and engaged. When it gets over the stop protrusion and reaches the regular fitting, the elastic engagement piece elastically returns and locks with the locking protrusion,
Thus, both connector housings are locked in the detachment-restricted state.

[0003]

However, the state of engagement between the two connector housings and the state of engagement between the elastic locking pieces and the locking projections cannot usually be confirmed visually. Therefore, for example, when the fitting resistance suddenly increases in the middle of fitting, the operator mistakenly thinks that the fitting has been performed properly and stops the work. As a result, there is a possibility that both connector housings may remain half-fitted.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector capable of detecting that the connector has been properly fitted.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, one of a pair of connector housings which can be fitted has a flexible locking piece formed on one side and a locking portion provided on the other, and the pair of connector housings is provided. In the fitting process of the above, after passing through the semi-fitting state in which the bending locking piece is bent and passes through the locking portion,
In the connector in which the pair of connector housings is locked in a properly fitted state by the restoration locking piece being displaced and being locked on the locking portion, the bending locking piece is displaced integrally with the bending locking piece. And a striking portion provided on the other connector housing so as to face the catching portion, and in the half-fitted state, is elastically deformed between the catching portion and the striking portion. In addition, a spring member is provided, which is configured to expand and deform when the hook portion is disengaged in the normal fitting state, and that the normal fitting is detected when the spring member is expanded and deformed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, in a state where the spring member is expanded and deformed, an extended portion of the spring member is moved in a direction in which the flexible locking piece comes off the locking portion. It is characterized in that it is located so as to regulate the bending deformation. The invention of claim 3 is claim 1
Alternatively, the invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the spring member is constituted by a compression coil spring extending elongated along the flexible locking piece.

[0007]

Actions and effects of the present invention

<Claim 1> In the process of fitting the two connector housings, in the half-fitted state, the bent locking piece is bent so that the hook portion engages with the spring member, and the spring member is in contact with the abutting portion. Is elastically deformed. When the mating state is reached, the flexible locking pieces are restored and displaced and locked to the locking portions, thereby locking the two connector housings in the detachment-restricted state, and the hooking portions are disengaged from the spring member and the springs are released. The member expands and deforms due to its elastic restoring force. That is, it is possible to determine whether or not regular fitting has been achieved based on the expansion and contraction state of the spring member. In addition, when the fitting operation is stopped in the half-fitted state, the two connector housings move in the separating direction due to the elastic restoring force of the spring member.

In a locked state in which the two connector housings are properly fitted to each other and the flexible locking pieces are locked to the locking portions, the flexible locking pieces are locked by contacting the extended spring members. Departure from the part is regulated. That is, since the double lock state is established, both connector housings are securely locked. <Claim 3> Since the spring member is constituted by a compression coil spring that extends elongated along the flexible locking piece, it is possible to reduce the size compared to a spring member that is bulky in the lateral and vertical directions of the flexible locking piece. Become.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The connector according to the present embodiment includes a male connector housing 10 provided with a male terminal fitting (not shown), a female connector housing 20 provided with a female terminal fitting (not shown), and both connector housings 10 and 20 being regular. Locking means comprising a flexible locking piece 21 and a locking portion 12 for locking in a fitted state, and detecting means for detecting that the connector housings 10, 20 are properly fitted. Is done. The male connector housing 10 has a hood 11 protruding forward,
The female connector housing 20 is fitted into the hood portion 11. A locking portion 12 protruding downward is formed on the ceiling surface of the hood portion 11. Locking part 1
The rear surface (left surface in the figure) of FIG. 2 is a locking surface 12A on which the bending locking piece 21 is locked in the normal fitting state, and the locking surface 12A is provided on both connector housings 10, 2.
0 is formed at right angles to the fitting direction. In addition, the lower surface of the locking portion 12 is bent in a half-fitted state,
And a pressing surface 12B for bending the bent locking piece 21 downward. The pressing surface 12B is slightly inclined so that the front is lowered, so that the pressing surface 12B and the flexible locking piece 21 come into contact with each other over a wide area. A relief recess 13 is formed on the front side of the locking portion 12 of the hood portion 11 to avoid interference with the operation portion 24 of the flexible locking piece 21.

On the other hand, a flexible locking piece 21 is formed on the upper surface of the female connector housing 20. Flexure locking piece 21
At its front end, it is supported by a pair of left and right legs 22 and extends rearward in a cantilever manner so that it can be elastically bent downward (in a direction approaching the upper surface of the female connector housing 20). On the upper surface of the flexible locking piece 21, a protruding portion 23 that can be engaged with the locking portion 12 is formed. This protrusion 2
3 is a locking surface 23 which is engaged with the locking surface 12A of the locking portion 12 in the normal fitting state.
A, the connector housings 10, 20 are locked in a properly fitted state by the engagement between the locking surfaces 12A, 23A. Similarly, an operation portion 24 for releasing the lock by bending the flexible locking piece 21 to be disengaged from the locking portion 12 is formed on the upper surface of the flexible locking piece 21.

A front surface of the projecting portion 23 is a guiding surface for bending the locking piece 21 downward by engaging with the front edge of the locking portion 12 during the fitting process of the connector housings 10 and 20. 23B. This guide surface 23B
Is set at an angle close to a right angle with respect to the fitting direction of the connector housings 10 and 20, so that the flexible locking pieces 2
A large fitting operation force is required to deflect 1.
The inclination angle of the guide surface 23B is set such that the magnitude of the operating force required to flex the flexure locking piece 21 is larger than the magnitude of the fitting resistance caused by the fitting operation of the male and female terminal fittings and the like. Is set. Such a locking means is what is called an inertial lock, and if the bending and locking piece 21 is pushed firmly until it bends, the pushing momentum immediately brings the normal fitting state.

Next, detection means for detecting that the connector housings 10, 20 have been properly fitted will be described. The detecting means includes the abutting part 15, the hook part 25, and the spring member 26. The abutment portion 15 is provided in the male connector housing 10, has an elongated shape parallel to the fitting direction of the two connector housings 10, 20, and projects forward in the hood portion 11.
When the two connector housings 10 and 20 are fitted together, the abutting portions 15 pass through between the pair of legs 22 that support the flexure locking pieces 21 and protrude into a spring accommodating portion 27 described later. . The hook portion 25 is integrally formed so as to protrude downward from the rear end (the right end portion in the figure) of the flexible locking piece 21. When the bending locking piece 21 bends, the hook 25 is displaced downward so as to face the abutment 15.

On the upper surface of the female connector housing 20, a spring member 26 composed of a compression coil spring elongated in the fitting direction is accommodated in a spring accommodating portion 27 formed so as to be hidden under the flexible locking piece 21. It is provided in a state. The spring accommodating portion 27 includes a pair of guide walls 27A for restricting the guide of the spring member 26 in the left-right direction, and both guide walls 27A.
And a pair of eaves 27B that protrude inward from the upper edge of the spring member 26 to regulate the lifting of the spring member 26. In the spring accommodating portion 27, a pair of front and rear sliders 28A, 28B is allowed to be displaced in the front-rear direction. A pair of front stoppers 27C is formed at the front end of the spring housing portion 27 by projecting the front ends of both guide walls 27A inward.
By locking the front slider 28A to the front stopper 27C, the spring member 26 is prevented from coming out of the spring housing 27 forward. A gap is provided between the front stoppers 27C to allow the abutting portion 15 to pass therethrough. A rear stopper 27 </ b> D is formed at the rear end of the spring housing 27 so as to protrude from the upper surface of the female connector housing 20. By locking the rear slider 28B with the rear stopper 27D, the spring member 26 is prevented from coming out of the spring housing portion 27 rearward.

The front slider 28A is temporarily held at a position where it comes into contact with the front stopper 27C by a not-shown temporary locking means such as a projection and a recess provided on the side surface and the inner surface of the guide wall 27A. And this front slider 28A
Is temporarily held between the rear slider 28B and the rear stopper 27D, and the rear end surface of the rear slider 28B is located slightly forward of the front surface of the hook 25. Is set to The above-mentioned abutting portion 15 and the temporarily held front slider 28A
With respect to the positional relationship with the connector housings 10,
After the engaging portion 12 and the protruding portion 23 of the flexible engaging piece 21 are engaged in the fitting process of
A is set so as to hit A. Further, at a position corresponding to the hook portion 25, an entry portion 27E for allowing the hook portion 25 to enter the inside of the spring housing portion 27 by notching a part of the pair of eave portions 27B is formed. .

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. When the two connector housings 10 and 20 are fitted together, the guide surface 23 of the flexible locking piece 21 is initially fitted.
When a strong fitting operation force is applied from the state in which B engages with the locking portion 12, the protruding portion 23 bends below the locking portion 12 and bends, and the locking piece 21 bends downward as shown in FIG. The hook portion 25 enters the spring housing portion 27 and the rear slider 28
It is located behind B. At this time, the abutting portion 15 and the front slider 28A have not yet contacted. When the fitting is further continued, the abutting portion 15 enters the spring accommodating portion 27 and abuts on the front slider 28A, and as the fitting proceeds, the temporary holding of the front slider 28A is released, as shown in FIG. Then, the spring member 26 is elastically deformed between the abutting portion 15 and the hook portion 25. And both connector housings 10, 2
As shown in FIG. 6, when the reference numeral 0 reaches the normal fitting state, the protruding portion 23 is disengaged from the locking portion 12 and the locking piece 21 is displaced upward by its elastic restoring force.
A and 23A are engaged with each other, whereby the connector housings 10 and 20 are locked in a properly fitted state. Along with this, the hooking portion 25 is caused by the elastic return of the bending locking piece 21.
Is disengaged from the rear slider 28B, and the spring member 26 that has been elastically contracted with the abutting portion 15 is expanded and deformed by its elastic restoring force. In this state, the rear end of the spring member 26 that has been extended and deformed protrudes rearward from the bending engagement piece 21.
The presence of the spring member 26 can be visually confirmed from the gap between the eaves 27B. As a result, it can be seen that the connector housings 10, 20 have been properly fitted.

If the fitting operation of the connector housings 10 and 20 is stopped before reaching the regular fitting, that is, the fitting operation is stopped in a half-fitted state as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. The connector housings 10 and 20 are displaced away from each other by the elastic restoring force of the spring member 26 elastically deformed between the hook portion 25 and the abutment portion 15. Thereby, both connector housings 10, 20
It can be seen that did not reach the regular fitting state. Further, when the spring member 26 is kept elastic and not displaced so that the two connector housings 10 and 20 are separated from each other, the spring member 26 bends and remains hidden under the locking piece 21. . Accordingly, unlike the case where the connector housings are normally fitted, the spring member 26 cannot be visually observed from the gap of the eaves portion 27B, and it can be seen that the connector housings 10 and 20 are in a half-fitted state.

The above-mentioned fitting operation should be performed with the bending and locking piece 21 kept in a natural state, but a large operation force is required because the inertial lock structure is employed. Therefore, it is conceivable that the worker performs the fitting operation in a state where the bending locking piece 21 is bent to reduce the operation force. In this way, the bending locking piece 21 passes through the guide surface 23B without abutting on the locking portion 12, so that only a small operating force is required. When the size suddenly increases, there is a possibility that the operator may mistakenly think that the proper fitting state has been reached and stop the operation halfway. However, even in this case, since the spring member 26 remains elastic as long as the connector housings 10 and 20 are in the half-fitted state, it is possible to detect that the connector housing is in the half-fitted state.

When the two connector housings 10 and 20 are separated from each other, first, as shown in FIG.
0 is inserted into the spring accommodating portion 27 from the rear, and the rear slider 28B is pushed to a position forward of the hooking portion 25 to elastically deform the spring member 26. In this state, the operation unit 24
Is pressed to bend the locking piece 21 so that the hook 2
5 is made to enter the spring accommodating portion 27. After this, the jig 30
Is pulled out, the rear slider 28 </ b> B is hooked on the hook 25 by the elastic restoring force of the spring member 26. After that, operation unit 2
4, the connector housings 10 and 20 may be separated while maintaining the state in which the rear slider 28B is brought into contact with the hook portion 25. Accordingly, the spring member 26
Is extended, and the front slider 28A returns to a state where it is temporarily held at the front end position of the spring accommodating portion 27.

As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to determine whether the connector housings 10 and 20 are properly fitted by visually checking the expansion and contraction state of the spring member 26. The state is prevented from remaining. In the normal fitting state, the extended spring member 26 is located below the hooking portion 25, and the hooking portion 25 abuts on the upper surface of the spring member 26, so that the bending locking piece 2 is bent.
1 is restricted. Therefore, the bending locking piece 2
The unlocking of the lock 1 from the locking portion 12 is restricted. That is, in the present embodiment, since the double lock structure is configured, the reliability of the lock operation is high. Further, in the present embodiment, the spring member 26 is formed by a compression coil spring extending elongated along the flexible locking piece 21, so that the spring member is provided so as to be bulky in the lateral direction and the vertical direction of the flexible locking piece 21. Compared to this, the size is reduced.

The hook 25 is formed with a chamfer 25A to prevent the slider 28B from being caught on the hook 25 and cannot be pushed when the rear slider 28B is pushed by the jig 30. I have. Thereby, the unlocking operation by the jig 30 can be performed smoothly. <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. Various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

(1) In the above embodiment, the spring member is provided on the side of the female connector housing provided with the bending engagement piece, but according to the present invention, the spring member may be provided on the male connector housing. (2) In the above embodiment, the compression coil spring is used as the spring member. However, according to the present invention, for example, a torsion coil spring or a leaf spring may be used. In the case of a torsion coil spring, both ends of the arm portion at both ends may be engaged with the hook portion and the abutment portion. In the case of a leaf spring, it may be bent into, for example, a U-shape and both ends thereof may be engaged with the hook portion and the abutting portion.

(3) In the above embodiment, a connector having a so-called inertial lock mechanism has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the inertial lock mechanism. It can also be applied to a connector provided with a lock mechanism.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state before both connector housings are fitted in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view showing a state before both connector housings are fitted.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state before both connector housings are fitted.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which a bending locking piece is bent and engaged with a spring member in a fitting process.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which a spring member is elastically contracted in a fitting process.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which a spring member is stretched and deformed by regular fitting.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which a spring is elastically contracted for unlocking in a regular fitting state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Male connector housing 12 ... Locking part 15 ... Abutment part 20 ... Female connector housing 21 ... Flexure locking piece 25 ... Hook part 26 ... Spring member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A connector according to claim 1, wherein one of the pair of connector housings is provided with a flexure locking piece on one side and a locking section is provided on the other of said connector housings. After passing through the locking portion while being bent, the bent locking piece is restored and displaced and locked to the locking portion, so that the pair of connector housings is locked in the properly fitted state. A hook formed so as to be integrally displaced to the bending engagement piece, a butting portion provided on the other connector housing so as to face the hook, and the half-fitted state. A spring member that is elastically deformed between the hooking portion and the abutting portion and that expands and deforms when the hooking portion is disengaged in the normal fitting state, and that the spring member is expanded and deformed. Connector being characterized in that a configuration for detecting that engaged Tadashihama. 2. In a state where the spring member is expanded and deformed,
The connector according to claim 1, wherein the extension portion of the spring member is located so as to restrict the bending deformation of the bending locking piece in a direction away from the locking portion. 3. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the spring member is constituted by a compression coil spring extending elongated along the flexible locking piece.