JPH10214653A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a low insertion force connector using a lever when fitting the connector to prevent half-fitting in a simple structure. SOLUTION: A lever member C having a cam groove 22 is rotatably provided in a female housing B, and a cam pin 4 is provided in a male housing A. The lever member C is rotated in a definite direction to provide fitting between both housings. A stopper 19 is provided in the female housing B to prevent rotational movement of the lever member C in an initial state of fitting. When an external force is applied to release the stopper 19, the fitting is completed by its inertia.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a low-insertion-force connector (hereinafter abbreviated as LIF connector) using a lever for fitting a connector, the half-fitting being prevented with a simple structure. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional LIF connector for preventing half-fitting, a rotating piece is provided on one of a pair of housings fitted with each other, and a spring is interposed between the rotating piece and one housing. There is a device provided with a latch means for locking the fitted housings.
-295767). This is such that when the two housings are fitted, after reaching a predetermined intermediate fitting state, the rotating piece is rotated by the action of the spring so that the fitting of the two housings is completed. .

The LIF connector will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, a female housing 50 has a rotating piece 51 provided rotatably about a rotating shaft 52. FIG. . The rotating piece 51 includes a guide pin 54 together with an engaging pin 53, and a spring 55 is interposed between the rotating piece 51 and the housing 50. The housing 50
Are provided with a window hole 56 for the engaging pin 53 and a guide groove 57 for the guide pin 54. On the other hand, the male housing 60 is provided with a latch groove 61 that engages with the engagement pin 53.

FIG. 13 shows a state in which the two housings are fitted to each other. The rotating piece 51 is urged clockwise by a spring 55, but the engaging pin 53 is brought into contact with the end of the window 56 by a stop action. It is in the rest position. When the male housing 60 is inserted into the female housing 50 at this position, the engaging pin 53 is only engaged with the latch groove 61, and the rotating piece 51 does not yet rotate. Further, the housing 60
Is inserted, the spring 55 and the rotation shaft 52 of the rotation piece 51 are on the same line as shown in FIG. Since the spring 55 contracts from this state, the turning piece 51 receives a force to turn in the counterclockwise direction, and the turning piece 51 turns in the counterclockwise direction without applying a force from outside. That is, the connection between the two housings 50 and 60 is completed.

[0005]

In the conventional LIF connector, the rotating piece 51 is turned and the two housings 50,
A strong spring (spring 55) is required to complete the connection of the housing 60. At the initial stage of fitting, a force for fitting the two housings is required in addition to a force for extending the spring. Strength increases. Also, the mounting of the spring increases the number of parts and the number of assembly steps, which not only increases the manufacturing cost but also increases the size of the connector.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a connector capable of reliably preventing half-fitting without increasing the number of parts and the number of assembling steps or increasing the size of the connector. That is the task.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a lever member having a cam groove in one of a pair of housings which are fitted to face each other. The lever member is provided rotatably and the other housing is provided with a cam pin engaged with the cam groove, and the pair of housings is fitted shallowly and the cam pin and the cam groove are engaged with each other. In a connector in which both housings are fitted by rotating in a certain direction,
A stopper is provided on the one housing to prevent the lever member from rotating in the fixed direction in the initial state of the fitting, and when an external force exceeding the stopper is applied to the lever member, the lever member is fitted by inertia. Was adopted.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, provision is made for provisional locking means for preventing initial rotation only by providing a stopper on one of the housings to which the lever member is rotatably mounted, and to mount this stopper. By applying an external force exceeding this, the two housings are completely fitted by their inertia, so that half-fitting is prevented, and the contraction force of the strong spring (spring 55) of the conventional LIF connector is reduced by the inertia of the lever. Take over. That is, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to use a spring, which is a separate component, in order to completely fit the pair of connector housings. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in the number of parts and assembly steps and an increase in cost. Further, since no spring is required, it is not necessary to secure a space for mounting the housing in the housing, and the size of the housing can be suppressed.

As set forth in claim 2, the stopper is provided so as to project from an elastic support piece formed through a slit in the one housing, and the lever member is provided so as to project from the elastic support piece. Since there is an engaging side edge that comes into contact with the spring, a spring as a separate component is not required.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the one housing is provided with a lock arm having a locking projection, and the lever member is provided with a detent which engages with the lock arm when the pair of housings are completely fitted. Because it consists of
The two housings and the lever member are locked at the same time when the two housings are completely fitted.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A specific example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG.
A is a male housing made of a synthetic resin insulator, B is a female housing, and a lever member C for fitting and disengaging the male housing A is rotatably provided in the housing B. ing.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the male housing A, and FIG.
4 is a right side view, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. FIG.
4, the male housing A has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with front and rear openings, and a wide recess 2 is formed in the center of the upper side wall 1a, and a narrow recess 3 is formed in the lower side wall 1b. Further, a cam pin 4 is provided on each of the left and right side walls 1c, and a semicircular flange 4a is provided at the tip of the pin on the fitting side of the housing A. Inside the housing A, a plurality of terminal receiving chambers 5 are arranged in four stages in the upper and lower stages. A flexible locking arm 6 extending forward is formed in each of the accommodation chambers integrally from the inner wall, and a locking projection 6a at the tip of the flexible locking arm 6 is engaged with a locking hole 7a of the female terminal 7 inserted thereinto, thereby allowing a rearward movement. Has been blocked.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the female housing B, and FIG.
7 is a right side view, and FIG. 7 is Y in a state where the lever member of FIG. 5 is omitted.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line -Y. The female housing B has a hood 9 for receiving the male housing A at the front of the housing body 8. The housing main body 8 has a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 10 corresponding to the terminal accommodating chambers 5 therein, and each accommodating chamber is provided with a flexible locking arm 11 having a locking projection 11a as described above. Then, the inserted male terminal 12 is locked.

The hood 9 has recesses (projections toward the inside of the hood) 13 and 14 of upper and lower side walls 9a and 9b corresponding to the recesses 2 and 3 of the male housing A, respectively. 9c is provided with a pin guide groove 15 for moving the cam pin 4 forward and backward. A lock arm 16 having flexibility and elasticity with respect to the lever member C is provided in the upper concave portion 13.
Is provided. The lock arm 16 extends forward through a rear rising base 16a, and a pair of locking projections 16b are juxtaposed on the upper surface of the distal end. Furthermore, left and right side walls 9
c, an elastic supporting piece 18 is formed below the intermediate portion of the pin guide groove 15 through two slits 17.
8 has a short prismatic stopper 19 for the lever member C.
And a shaft pin 20 for supporting the lever member C is protruded near the end of the pin guide groove 15.

The lever member C is formed in a gate shape by a pair of levers 21 and 21 having a cam groove 22 and a handle 23 connecting the free ends thereof. That is, the base end 21a of the lever 21 has a shaft hole and is rotatably supported by the shaft pins 20 on the left and right side walls of the housing B.
The lower edge 21b abuts against and is supported by the stopper 19, and the handle 23 is normally upright away from the upper side wall of the housing B.

One end of the cam groove 22 is opened as an inclined side edge 21 d in front of the lever 21, and the other end is formed as an inclined groove ending near the shaft pin 20. A wide flange guide groove 24 is formed stepwise with respect to the flange 4a. It is preferable to provide a long pin guide slope 22b for picking up the cam pin 4 above the opening end 22a of the cam groove 22, and to provide a bridge 25 for reinforcing the opening of the cam groove 22 on the outer surface. A detent 26 is provided on the inner surface of the handle 23 to engage with the locking projection 16b of the lock arm 16.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11, the operation of fitting and disengaging the housings A and B will be described. 8, the housings A and B are opposed to each other, and the lever member C is in an upright state with the lower end side edge 21b of the lever 21 abutting against the stopper 19. Next, as shown in FIG. 9, when the male housing A is inserted into the hood 9 of the female housing B,
The cam pin 4 is positioned between the entrance of the pin guide groove 15 and the cam groove 22.
Into the opening end 22a portion of the opening. At this time, the female terminal 7 and the male terminal 12 are in a state of non-contact or just before contact.

Then, as shown in FIG. 10, when the lever member C is rotated in the direction of the arrow P with a strong force, the housing A is drawn toward the housing B by the engagement between the cam pin 4 and the cam groove 22, and FIG. Thus, the fitting of the housings A and B is completed. As a result, the female and male terminals 7 and 12 come into complete contact with each other, and the detent 26 of the handle 23 engages with the locking projection 16b of the lock arm 16 so that the lever member C and the housing A. B is locked.

In FIG. 9, the lower edge 21 of the lever 21 is shown.
b is in contact with and supported by the stopper 19, the rotation of the lever member C is prevented, and with a small force, the arrow P in FIG.
No rotation in the direction. Therefore, when a strong force is applied, the stopper 19 receives a strong downward force from the lower edge 21b.
It is twisted while being recessed in the hood 9 by the slit 17 of the strip. As a result, the stopper 19 tilts in the direction in which the force acts, and eventually the inner surface of the lever 21 rides on the stopper 19, and the lever member C rotates at a stroke by the momentum, and the handle portion 2
3 reaches the upper wall surface of the housing B, and the engagement with the lock arm 16 completes the fitting. Thus, when an external force exceeding the stopper 19 is applied to the lever member C, the lever member C momentarily rotates due to its inertia,
The fitting is completed without stopping in the half-fitted state.

In order to release the housings A and B from each other and to separate them, the locking arm 16 is pushed down to the housing B side in FIG.
6 and release the lever member C in the direction opposite to the arrow P. The male housing A is separated from the female housing B by a mechanism reverse to that of FIGS. When the lever member C returns to the state shown in FIG. 9, the stopper 19 returns to the original state from the state recessed toward the hood 9 via the elastic supporting piece 18.

At the time of initial fitting of the housings A and B, the upper and lower side walls 1a and 1b of one of the housings A have wide and narrow recesses 2 and 3, respectively, and correspond to the other housing B. Since there are the concave portions 13 and 14 (see FIG. 1), it is possible to prevent the forcible fitting upside down and position each other, and the cam pins 4 face the open ends 22a of the cam grooves 22,
The lever member C can be operated smoothly. Further, when the lever member C is rotated, the flange 4a of the cam pin 4 is hooked on the step between the cam groove 22 and the flange guide groove 24, so that the cam pin 4 does not come off the cam groove 22.

In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the stopper 19 and the lower end side edge 21b of the lever 21 are in planar contact with each other so that a large inertia is obtained for the lever member C, and a large force is required for the lever 21 to ride on. . However, when the number of poles of the connector (the number of terminals such as the female terminal 7 and the male terminal 12) is relatively small and a large force is not required for fitting, a taper may be provided on the inner surface of the lower edge 21b or a stopper may be provided. By forming the end face of the end face 19 into a curved surface such as a hemisphere and taking in line contact and point contact, it is possible to adjust the external force required for riding the stopper 19 or the magnitude of the obtained inertia.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the connector in which the pair of housings are fitted by turning the lever, the turning of the lever member is performed using inertia, so that half-fitting can be reliably prevented, and the number of parts and the number of parts can be reduced. An increase in the number of assembly steps and an increase in the size of the connector can be suppressed (claim 1).

A stopper for generating an inertial force on the lever member protrudes from an elastic support piece formed through a slit in one of the housings, and the stopper protrudes from the elastic support piece on the lever member. Since there is an engaging side edge that comes into contact with the lever member, a spring as a separate component is not required for the lever member (claim 2). Further, a lock arm having a locking projection is provided on one housing, and a detent is provided on the lever member for engaging the lock arm when the pair of housings are completely fitted. At the same time, both housings and the lever member are locked (claim 3).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a separated state of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the male housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a right side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the female housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a right side view of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG. 5 with the lever member omitted.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the connector of FIG. 1 before fitting.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the connector of FIG. 1 in a fitting start state.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the same fitting state.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the fitting completion state.

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a conventional LIF connector.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a fitting start state of the LIF connector of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a plan view similarly showing a fitted state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List A male housing B female housing C lever member 4 cam pin 8 housing body 9 hood 15 pin guide groove 16 lock arm 16a locking projection 17 slit 18 elastic support piece 19 stopper 21 lever 22 cam groove 23 grip portion 26 detent

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A lever member having a cam groove is rotatably provided on one of a pair of housings fitted to face each other.
The other housing is provided with a cam pin that engages with the cam groove, and the pair of housings is fitted shallowly and the lever member is rotated in a fixed direction in an initial fitting state in which the cam pin and the cam groove are engaged. A connector that fits both housings by providing a stopper that prevents rotation of the lever member in the fixed direction in the one of the housings in the initial state of fitting, and an external member that goes over the stopper on the lever member. A connector characterized in that when a force is applied, the fitting is completed by its inertia. 2. The engaging member according to claim 1, wherein said stopper projects from an elastic support piece formed through a slit in said one housing, and said lever member has an engagement side edge that abuts against a stopper projecting from said elastic support piece. The connector according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The lock arm having a locking projection provided on the one housing, and a detent engaged with the lock arm when the pair of housings are completely fitted is provided on the lever member. 2. The connector according to 2.