JPH1032030A - Female terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a plastic deformation even though the spring length of contact pieces is short, and to improve the contacting reliability, by connecting the contact pieces to a metal plate, by torsion parts formed by punching near the roots of the contact pieces which are formed by punching the metal plate and the like. SOLUTION: In this female terminal 1, plural contact pieces 4 are formed by punching a metal plate 2, and applying a bending process, and furthermore, punching holes 5 are punched near the roots of the contact pieces 4, so as to form torsion parts 6. In this case, the left side and the right side contact pieces 4 and 4 opposing each other at the position where one side is slipped to the outer side, are bent upward to make the width W of their tips a little smaller than the thickness h of a male terminal 20. The contact pieces 4 are connected to the metal plate 2 by the torsion parts 6 formed at a specific width. And the female terminal 1 is insert-formed in a connector housing 10. When the male terminal 20 is inserted between the tips of the contact pieces 4 and 4 at the left side and the right side, the contact pieces 4 are rotated by making their roots as the center, because W<h, and an elastic force mainly by the torsions is applied to the male terminal 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a female terminal to which a mating male terminal (tab terminal) is fitted and connected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a female terminal to which a tab terminal is fitted and connected, for example, the one shown in FIG. 4 is known (see British Patent No. 1,108,005). This female terminal 10
0 denotes an upper plate 101 and a lower plate 102 facing the upper plate 101
Are formed into a substantially U-shaped cross section by punching and bending a single metal plate. Also, upper plate 1
01 includes a plurality of contact pieces 1 protruding toward the lower plate 102.
03 is formed by cutting and raising, while the lower plate 102 is formed by cutting and raising a plurality of contact pieces 104 protruding toward the upper plate 101. The bent terminal 106 of the female terminal 100 has a tab terminal 111 of the mating connector 110.
A plurality of tab terminal fitting openings 105 wider than the thickness of the tab terminal are formed. Then, the tab terminal 1 of the mating connector 110
11 is the upper plate 101 through the opening 105 of the female terminal 110.
Between the contact piece 103 and the contact piece 104 of the lower plate 102, and comes into contact with the contact piece 103 and the contact piece 104 with a predetermined contact pressure.

[0003]

However, in the conventional female terminal 100, the upper plate 10 of the female terminal 100 is not provided.
The spring length of the contact piece 103 and the contact piece 104 cut and raised from each of the first and lower sides 102 is short. For this reason, when the tab terminal 111 of the mating connector 110 is fitted and connected, the bending stress value of the root of each of the contact piece 103 and the contact piece 104 increases, and the root may be plastically deformed. There was a problem.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a contact piece which is formed by punching and bending a metal flat plate when the mating male terminal is fitted and connected, even if the spring length of the contact piece is short. An object of the present invention is to provide a female terminal with high contact reliability without plastic deformation.

[0005]

The female terminal according to the present invention comprises:
A metal plate portion, a contact piece formed by punching and bending the metal plate portion, for contact with a mating male terminal, and a contact piece formed by punching out the vicinity of the base of the contact piece and the contact piece with the metal And a torsion portion connected to the plate portion, wherein the torsion portion is twisted when the mating male terminal contacts the contact piece.

The female terminal includes a metal plate portion, a plurality of contact pieces formed by punching and bending the metal plate portion from both left and right sides toward the center, and contacting with the mating male terminal. Left and right 1 formed by punching the vicinity of the base of the piece and connecting the contact piece to the metal plate portion
A pair of torsion portions, wherein the contact pieces extend toward the center two by two from each of the pair of left and right torsion portions, and both of the contact pieces on one side are more than both of the contact pieces on the other side. It is characterized by being located on the outside. According to this, space saving in the vicinity of the contact piece of the female terminal is achieved, and the right and left balance of the contact piece is improved, so that a proper contact force with the mating male terminal is guaranteed.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B show an embodiment of a female terminal of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view showing a state in which the female terminal is insert-molded in a housing, FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along line 1B-1B of FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the female terminal shown in FIG.
The state immediately after punching out the metal plate part is shown.

In these figures, a female terminal 1 has a plurality of contact pieces 4 of a metal plate portion 2 and a mating terminal 20 formed by punching and bending the metal plate portion 2.
And a torsion portion 6 formed by punching the vicinity of the base of the contact piece 4.

Immediately after the metal plate portion 2 is punched out, the contact pieces 4 are formed at the center of each of two torsion portions 6, 6 formed on both left and right sides (right and left sides in FIG. 2), as shown in FIG. Extending towards. A punched hole 3 is formed substantially at the center of the metal plate 2. The right contact piece 4 in FIG.
4 is located outside (upper and lower sides in FIG. 2) of the left contact pieces 4 and 4. Then, as shown in FIG. 1B, these contact pieces 4 are raised upward such that the width W between the tips of the right and left contact pieces 4, 4 is slightly smaller than the thickness h of the mating male terminal 20. Bendable.

The torsion portion 6 is formed by punching the right and left rear portions of the bases of the right and left contact pieces 4 and 4 and is continuous at a predetermined same width in the vertical direction of the metal plate portion 2 (vertical direction in FIG. 2). The contact pieces 4 are connected to the metal plate 2. A punched hole 5 is formed at the left and right rear of the torsion portion 6.

The female terminal 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), the housing 10 is insert-molded and fixed in a housing 10 (for example, a housing of a connector used in an anti-lock brake system of an automobile). The metal plate portion 2 has a connection portion (not shown) to the outside, and for example, connects between the solenoid and the outside by contact with the male terminal 20.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the mating male terminal 20 (for example, a solenoid tab terminal) is formed through the punched hole 3 from the back side of the female terminal 1 (the lower side in FIG. 1B). It is inserted between the tips of the contact pieces 4 and 4 on both sides, and contacts these contact pieces 4 and 4. At this time, since the width W between the tip portions of the right and left contact pieces 4 and 4 is smaller than the thickness h of the mating male terminal 20, the contact pieces 4 and 4 rotate around the root portion and the left and right torsion portions 6 and 6 are rotated. Generates torsional stress. For this reason,
On the mating male terminal 20, not the elastic force due to the bending of the contact pieces 4, 4 but the elastic force due to the torsion of the torsion portion 6 mainly acts. Therefore, even when the spring lengths of the contact pieces 4 and 4 are short, the stress on the roots of the contact pieces 4 and 4 when the mating male terminal 20 is fitted and connected is small, and the roots can be plastically deformed. Properties are extremely small, and the contact pieces 4, 4
The contact reliability with the mating male terminal 20 can be increased.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a female terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention, showing a state immediately after punching a metal plate portion.

In FIG. 3, a female terminal 51 has a plurality of contact pieces 5 of a metal plate 52 and a mating male terminal formed by punching and bending the metal plate 52.
4 and a torsion portion 56 formed by punching the vicinity of the base of the contact piece 54.

The difference between the female terminal 51 in FIG. 3 and the female terminal 1 in FIG. 1 is that the contact piece 54 has four torsion portions 56, 56, 56,
6 extend one by one toward the center. These contact pieces 54 are bent upward (in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 3) so as to receive a mating male terminal (not shown). According to this, a mating male terminal having a substantially rectangular or circular cross section (not shown)
And the four contact pieces 54, 54, 54, 54 come into contact with the mating male terminal. Male terminal is contact piece 5
4, when contacted, like the female terminal 1 in FIG.
Since the elastic force due to the torsion of the torsion portion 56 mainly acts on the mating male terminal, the stress on the root portion of the contact piece 54 is small, and the possibility that this root portion is plastically deformed is extremely small.

[0016]

According to the present invention, when the mating male terminal comes into contact with the contact piece, the torsion formed by punching out the vicinity of the base of the contact piece is twisted, so that the mating male terminal comes into contact with the contact piece. Then, the elastic force due to the torsion of the torsion portion acts on the mating male terminal. Therefore, even when the spring length of the contact piece formed by punching and bending a metal flat plate is short, when the mating male terminal is fitted and connected, the contact piece is not plastically deformed. Therefore, the contact reliability of the contact piece with the mating male terminal can be increased. For this reason, the length of the contact piece itself of the female terminal can be shortened, and downsizing is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B show an embodiment of a female terminal of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view showing a state where the female terminal is insert-molded in a housing, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along line 1B-1B of FIG. It is.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the female terminal shown in FIG. 1, showing a state immediately after punching a metal plate portion.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another embodiment of the female terminal of the present invention, showing a state immediately after punching a metal plate portion.

4A and 4B show a conventional female terminal, wherein FIG. 4A is a plan view showing a state where a mating male terminal is fitted and connected to the female terminal, and FIG.
FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along line 4B-4B of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Female terminal 2 Metal plate part 4 Contact piece 6 Torsion part 20 Mating male terminal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A metal plate portion, a contact piece formed by punching and bending the metal plate portion with a mating male terminal, and formed by punching the vicinity of the base of the contact piece, and A twisted portion for connecting a contact piece to the metal plate portion, wherein the twisted portion is twisted when the mating male terminal comes into contact with the contact piece.