JPH10321297A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect half-fitting by employing an energizing force of a spring and to carry out releasing operation from the energizing force of the spring in the normally fitted state without installing an arm-like displacement part. SOLUTION: Since the displacement direction of a movable member 24 which is displaced as to generate an energizing force in a spring member 22 is made inclined to the fitting directions of both connector housings 10, 20, a pushing part 15 to push the movable member 24 is not required to displace the member in the direction at right angles to the fitting directions. Consequently, as compared with a case that an arm-like displacement part is installed instead of the pushing part 15, the shape of the female side connector housing 10 can be simplified.

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 half-fit detection mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 8 and 9 show a conventional connector provided with a half-fitting detecting mechanism. This is because the arm 3 is in the middle of fitting the two connector housings 1 and 2 together.
Is deflected upward by the guide 4 and pushes the movable member 5 to elastically compress the spring 6, and the elastic restoring force of the spring 6 causes the urging force in the detaching direction to be applied to both the connector housings 1, 2.
Is given to Therefore, when the fitting operation is stopped in the half-fitted state, both connector housings 1 and 2 are largely displaced in the disengagement direction, whereby it is easily detected that the half-fitted state. When both connector housings 1 and 2 are properly mated,
The arm 3 separates from the guide 4 and returns to the lower position by the elastic restoring force of the arm 3 itself, and also detaches from the movable member 5, so that the elastic force of the spring 6 does not act on the arm 3.
By releasing the engagement between the arm 3 and the spring 6, the connector housings 1 and 2 are released from the bias by the spring.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional connector, the half-fitting detecting function is exerted by using the biasing force of the spring 6 and is released from the biasing of the spring 6 in the normal fitting state. The movable member 5 for generating a biasing force on the spring 6 is displaced in parallel with the fitting direction of the connector housings 1 and 2, and the position of engagement with the movable member 5 and the position of disengagement from the movable member 5 are determined. A cantilevered arm 3 capable of displacement between the arms 3 is provided. However, providing such a cantilevered arm 3 causes the shape of the connector housing 1 to be complicated, which causes an increase in cost. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and detects the half-fitting by using the biasing force of the spring and releases the bias from the spring in the normal fitting state. It is intended to be able to perform without providing.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, while a pair of connector housings are being fitted, a biasing force is applied between the two connector housings in a detaching direction by a spring member, and the pair of connector housings are properly fitted. In this state, a half-fit detection means is provided to release the connector housings from the biasing force of the spring member. In the connector configured to detect the mating, the half-mating detecting means is provided in one connector housing, and displaces along a path oblique to a mating direction with the other connector housing. A movable member that is enabled and urged toward the other connector housing by the spring member, and is fixed to the other connector housing. In the middle of fitting, the movable member is slid in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction and pushed to generate a biasing force in the disengagement direction by the spring member, and a normal fitting state is reached. And a pushing portion for removing the bias by the spring member when the movable member comes off in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the pushing portion is formed on an outer surface of the other connector housing and the fitting direction of the movable member pushed by the pushing portion is provided. The sliding direction in the direction orthogonal to the direction is set to the outside, and when the movable member comes off the pushing portion, the sliding member is moved inward by the elastic restoring force of the spring member.

[0006]

Actions and effects of the present invention

<Invention of Claim 1> When the fitting operation is interrupted in the half-fitted state, the two connector housings are largely displaced in the separating direction by the urging force of the spring member generated by the movement of the movable member, whereby the half-fitting The state is easily detected. When the two connector housings reach the normal fitting state, the movable members are disengaged from the pushing portions, so that the two connector housings are released from the urging in the detaching direction by the spring members. Since the displacement direction of the movable member that displaces so as to generate an urging force on the spring member is inclined with respect to the fitting direction, the pushing portion that pushes the movable member is in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction. It does not need to be displaced. Therefore, the shape of the connector housing can be simplified as compared with the case where an arm-shaped displacement portion is provided instead of the pushing portion.

<Invention of Claim 2> During the fitting, the movable member pushed by the pushing portion is displaced to the outside, but the displacement to the outside is only a temporary phenomenon. Then, the movable member moves inward. Since there is no need to provide a space inside the connector housing for displacing the movable member in the direction orthogonal to the fitting direction during the fitting, the size of the connector housing can be reduced.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

<First Embodiment> Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The connector according to the present embodiment includes a male connector housing (the other connector housing which is a component of the present invention) 10 and a female connector housing (one connector housing which is a component of the present invention) which can be fitted together. Consists of The male connector housing 10 is formed integrally with a case of an electric device (not shown), and accommodates a terminal main body (not shown) of a male terminal fitting therein. This male connector housing 10
A hood portion 11 is formed to protrude forward in the shape of a square tube, and an elongated tab 12 at the front end of the male terminal fitting projects in the hood portion 11 in parallel with the fitting direction of the connector housings 10 and 20. I have. On the upper surface of the hood 11,
A relief recess 13 is formed by cutting out from the front edge toward the rear (left side in FIGS. 2 to 7). In this relief recess 13, both connector housings 10, 2 are provided.
The receiving projection 27 of the movable member 24, which will be described later, enters during the fitting of the zero. Similarly, an escape hole 14 is formed in the upper surface of the hood 11 by cutting out from the rear end of the hood 11 to a position just before the escape recess 13. The receiving projection 27 enters the escape hole 14 in a state where the connector housings 10 and 20 are properly fitted.

The relief recess 13 in the hood 11
A pressing portion (semi-fitting detecting means, which is a constituent feature of the present invention) 15 fixed to the hood portion 11 is provided between the hood portion 11 and the escape hole 14. The front surface (the surface facing the female connector housing 20) of the pressing portion 15 is a pressing surface 15A orthogonal to the fitting direction of the connector housings 10, 20. The pressing surface 15A abuts the receiving projection 27 during the fitting, and moves the movable member 24 rearward (to the right in FIGS. 2 to 7). The upper surface of the pushing portion 15 is an inclined surface 15B that descends rearward. The inclined surface 15B is set so as to be parallel to a displacement direction of a movable member 24, which will be described later.
5 does not have to be caught.

A female terminal fitting (not shown) is accommodated in the female connector housing 20 so as to correspond to the tab 12. At the rear end of the female connector housing 20, a pair of box-shaped spring housing portions 21 protruding outward from both left and right outer surfaces are formed. The upper and lower surfaces of the spring accommodating portion 21 are connected to both connector housings 10 and 20.
And the front surface thereof is opened obliquely forward and downward in parallel with the inclination direction, and a compression coil spring is formed inside the spring accommodating portion 21. The rear part of the spring member (semi-fitting detecting means, which is a component of the present invention) 22 is housed. In addition, guide projections 23 are formed on the outer surfaces of the two spring housing portions 21, respectively.

The female connector housing 20 is provided with a frame-shaped movable member (semi-fit detection means, which is a constituent feature of the present invention) 24, which surrounds the upper surface and the left and right side surfaces. A pair of box-shaped spring housing portions 25 projecting outward are formed at the rear ends of both side surfaces of the movable member 24. The upper surface and the lower surface inside the spring accommodating portion 25 are inclined so as to incline forward with respect to the fitting direction of the connector housings 10 and 20, and the rear surface is opened in the same direction as the inclined direction. The front portion of the spring member 22 is housed in the spring housing portion 25.

The spring accommodating portion 2 formed on the movable member 24
5 is fitted so as to cover the spring accommodating portion 21 formed on the female connector housing 20 and to be relatively movable along the inclined directions of the upper and lower surfaces. Spring member 2 in the space surrounded by
2 are housed in an elasticized state. A guide groove 26 is formed on the side surface of the spring accommodating portion 25 of the movable member 24 and is parallel to the inclination directions of the upper and lower surfaces, and the guide protrusion 23 is fitted into the guide groove 26. Therefore, the rear end of the guide groove 26 is always in contact with the guide protrusion 23 due to the elastic restoring force of the spring member 22, that is, the movable member 24 is in front of the female connector housing 20 (see FIGS. 7 left). From this state,
When the movable member 24 receives a pressing force from the front, the movable member 24 is displaced obliquely rearward and upward with respect to the fitting direction of the connector housings 10 and 20 while elastically compressing the spring member 22. I have. A receiving protrusion 27 is formed on the upper surface of the movable member 24 to protrude inward (downward in FIGS. 2 to 7) from the front end position. This receiving projection 27
Has a receiving surface 27A orthogonal to the fitting direction of the connector housings 10 and 20.
A is engaged. The lower surface of the receiving projection 27 is a forwardly inclined surface 27 </ b> B, and its inclination angle is set to be parallel to the inclined surface 15 </ b> B of the pushing portion 15.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
When the female connector housing 20 is fitted to the male connector housing 10, the hood 11 is
4 and the female connector housing 20, the receiving projection 27 enters the escape recess 13, and
As shown in the figure, the receiving surface 27A of the receiving projection 27 and the pressing portion 1
5 is in contact with the pressing surface 15A over almost the entire height region. From this state, the female connector housing 20
As the movable member 24 is further prevented from further moving forward by the engagement between the receiving surface 27A and the pressing surface 15A, the movable member 24 moves rearward relative to the female connector housing 20. It becomes displaced. This movable member 24
Since the relative displacement direction is inclined with respect to the fitting direction, the movable member 24 is gradually displaced upward with respect to the pushing portion 15. Along with this, the receiving surface 27A slides along the pressing surface 15A, and the margin of engagement between the two surfaces 15A, 27A decreases (see FIG. 5).

In this fitting state, the movable member 24 is relatively displaced with respect to the female connector housing 20 so that the spring member 22 is elastically compressed.
The movable member 24 is moved forward with respect to the female connector housing 20 by the elastic restoring force of the male connector housing 20 (the male connector housing 1).
(Direction toward 0). This urging force acts on the male connector housing 10 via the pushing portion 15, so that both the male and female connector housings 1 are formed.
A biasing force in the detaching direction by the spring member 22 is applied between 0 and 20. Therefore, when the fitting operation is interrupted in the middle of the fitting, the female connector housing 20 is displaced so as to be largely separated from the male connector housing 10, and this large displacement operation causes the half-fitted state. Is detected.

When the connector housings 10 and 20 reach a normal fitting state, as shown in FIG.
A is disengaged from the upper end of the pressing surface 15A, and the movable member 24 moves forward by the elastic restoring force of the spring member 22. At this time, since the inclined surfaces 15B and 27B parallel to the displacement direction of the movable member 24 are formed on the receiving protrusion 27 and the pressing portion 15, the receiving protrusion 27 does not need to be caught on the pressing portion 15.
The movable member 24 that returns is the female connector housing 20.
7 is displaced forward and simultaneously downward.
As shown in (1), the receiving projection 27 enters the escape hole 14, and the receiving projection 27 and the pushing portion 15 overlap each other.

In this state, the receiving protrusion 27 is
And the elastic restoring force of the spring member 22 is applied to both the spring housing portions 21 and 25 of the female connector housing 20 and the movable member 24.
Male connector housing 1
The force of the spring member 22 does not act on zero. Therefore, both connector housings 10 and 20 are released from the bias in the detaching direction by the spring member 22. As described above, in the present embodiment, the displacement direction of the movable member 24 that is displaced so as to generate an urging force on the spring member 22 is oblique to the fitting direction of the connector housings 10 and 20.
Accordingly, the pushing portion 15 for pushing the movable member 24 does not need to be displaced in a direction perpendicular to the fitting direction, and the pushing portion 15 has a triangular projecting shape and has a male side. It is formed so as not to be displaced with respect to the connector housing 10. Therefore, the shape of the male connector housing 10 is simplified as compared with a case where the movable member is displaced in parallel with the fitting direction and an arm-shaped displacement portion is provided instead of the pushing portion 15.

A movable member 24 is provided so as to cover the female connector housing 20 from above.
In the fitting process, the movable member 24 is connected to the female connector housing 2.
After being once displaced above 0, it is made to return to the lower side at the time of regular fitting. Therefore, the movable member 2
There is no need to provide a space inside the female connector housing 20 for displacing the connector connector 4 in the direction orthogonal to the fitting direction, and the female connector housing 20 can be reduced in size. In addition, when the movable member 24 is moved downward, the receiving protrusion 27 of the movable member 24 and the pushing portion 15 are located in the same height region.
The height of the female connector housing 20 is reduced as compared with the case where the pusher 7 and the pusher 15 are positioned at different heights.

<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) In the above embodiment, the movable member is provided so as to cover the pushing portion from the outside and to be displaced outward with being pushed to the retracted position. It may be arranged inside the pushing portion and displaced inward as it is pushed toward the retreat position.

(2) In the above embodiment, the spring member and the movable member are provided on the female connector housing, and the pushing portion is formed on the male connector housing. However, according to the present invention, the spring member and the movable member are connected on the male side. The pressing portion may be formed on the female connector housing while being provided on the connector housing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a female connector housing according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state in which both connector housings are detached.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state in which both connector housings are detached.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which both connector housings are being fitted.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a biasing force in a detaching direction is applied during the fitting of the two connector housings.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state immediately before a transition from half mating to regular mating during the mating of both connector housings.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a state in which both connector housings are properly fitted.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a state in which a biasing force in a detaching direction is applied to both connector housings in a conventional example.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where both connector housings are properly fitted in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10: Male connector housing (other connector housing) 15: Pushing portion (half-fit detection means) 20: Female connector housing (one connector housing) 22: Spring member (semi-fit detection means) 24: movable Member (Semi-fitting detection means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] When a pair of connector housings are being fitted, a biasing force is applied between the two connector housings in a detaching direction by a spring member. A half-fitting detecting means for releasing the urging is provided so that when the fitting operation is interrupted in the middle of the fitting, the two connector housings are displaced in the disengaging direction to detect the half-fitting. In the connector, the half-fitting detecting means is provided in one connector housing, is displaceable along a path oblique to a fitting direction with the other connector housing, and is provided by the spring member. A movable member biased toward the other connector housing; and a fixed member provided on the other connector housing. By pushing the movable member while sliding it in a direction perpendicular to the fitting direction, a biasing force is generated in the disengagement direction by the spring member. A pusher for removing the urging force of the spring member by coming off in a direction orthogonal to the connector. 2. The pressing portion is formed on an outer surface of the other connector housing, and a sliding direction of the movable member pushed by the pressing portion in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction is set to the outside. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein when the movable member is disengaged from the pushing portion, the movable member is moved inward by an elastic restoring force of the spring member.