JPH1079273A - Multi-stage connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the fixing operation of housing with each other and a housing to a cover by introducing such a structure that the engagement part of housings with each other or detention part of housing with cover at the front extremity of the connector does not protrude to outside. SOLUTION: The first 37 and the second housing 39 are provided with an opening 45 where a terminal accommodating chamber 49 is exposed. An engagement projection 51 is provided on the oversurface of each housing 37/39 at its foremost extremity and is engaged with an engagement hole formed at the rear surface of the second housing 39 and an engagement hole 55 formed in a cover 41. An upper engaging pawl 57 is formed in the side wall upper part of each housing 37/39 at its tail and is detained with a lower engaging pawl 59 formed at the rear surface of the second housing 39 and a lower engaging pawl 61 formed at the cover 41. The cover 41 is equipped at its oversurface with an erroneous coupling preventing rib 65 and a locking piece 63.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a housing, in which an opening for exposing a terminal accommodating chamber is formed on one surface of a housing, and the housings are closed so that the opening is closed by the other surface of another housing. The present invention relates to a multi-stage connector that is configured so as to be overlapped and to close an opening with a cover in a position where the opening is not closed by another housing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional multi-stage connector described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-115252. In this multi-stage connector, the male connector 1 includes two housings 3 and 5 and a cover 7. The two housings 3 and 5 each have an opening formed on the upper surface, and the terminal accommodating chambers 13 and 1 in which the terminal fittings 9 and 11 are accommodated.
5 is exposed. The housings 3 and 5 and the cover 7 are integrated by ultrasonic welding or the like in a state where they are overlapped so as to cover the openings of the housings 3 and 5.

On the other hand, the female connector 17 comprises a housing body 19 and a hood 21, and the housing body 19
The two housings 23 and 25 and the cover 27 are integrated by ultrasonic welding or the like, and furthermore, the hood 21 is inserted into the integrated housing body 19 until the hood 21 abuts against the stopper flange 29, and both are ultrasonically welded. It is integrated by welding.

The terminal fittings 9 and 11 on the male connector 1 come into contact with pin terminals (not shown) housed in the terminal receiving chambers 31 and 33 of the housings 23 and 25 on the female connector 17 side when fitted with the female connector 17. Electrical continuity is achieved. A lock arm 35 is provided on the cover 7 of the male connector 1, and when the male connector 1 is inserted into the hood 21, a lock projection 3 formed on the upper surface of the lock arm 35 is provided.
5a is locked by a locking recess (not shown) on the hood 21 side, and both connectors 1 and 17 are fixed to each other.

[0005]

However, in the conventional multi-stage connector described above, both the male connector 1 and the housing body 19 of the female connector 17 have, for example, the housings 3, 5 and the cover when viewed from the male connector 1 side. Since the members 7 are fixed to each other by ultrasonic welding, the fixing operation is troublesome. Instead of welding and fixing, it is conceivable that the fixing work can be facilitated by attaching and detaching by a locking portion including a locking claw and a locking concave portion. In this case, the terminal fittings 9 and 11 are formed by a housing. Since it is housed in the housing 3, 5, the housing 3, 5 can be provided on both sides in the width direction or easily protrude to the outside. In the case of such a shape, the shape of the hood 21 is complicated in accordance with the above-mentioned protruding locking portion, or the protruding locking portion is pulled to the peripheral portion before being inserted into the hood 21 during the assembly work. The workability will be degraded, for example, it will come off.

Therefore, the present invention is designed to facilitate the fixing operation between the housings or the housing and the cover by forming the engaging portions between the housings at the front end side of the connector or the engaging portions between the housing and the cover so as not to protrude outside. It is intended to be.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an opening for exposing a terminal accommodating chamber is formed on one surface of a housing, and this opening is formed on the other surface of another housing. In a multi-stage connector configured such that the housings overlap each other so as to be closed at the surface and the opening at a position where the opening is not closed by another housing is closed by the cover, the housings are engaged with each other. And an engaging portion for engaging the housing and the cover are provided on the connector front end side and the connector rear end side on the side to be mated with the mating connector, respectively. Are provided on one side of the surfaces of the housings or the housing and the cover facing each other, and are provided on the other side. Is inserted it is constituted that consists of the engaging hole that engages.

According to the multi-stage connector having such a configuration,
Since the housings or the housing and the cover are engaged and fixed by the engaging portions provided respectively on the front end side and the rear end side of the connector, the fixing operation is easy, and
Since the engaging portion on the front end side of the connector is constituted by an engaging projection provided on one side of the mutually facing surfaces of the housings or the housing and the cover and an engaging hole provided on the other side. When the surfaces facing each other are overlapped by the engagement of these two, not only the front end side engaging portion does not protrude outside but also the exposed portion is minimized.

[0009] Further, at the time of mating with the mating connector, an erroneous connection preventing rib which engages only with a regular mating connector to be mated so that the connectors can be mated with each other. The cover and the housing can be standardized by providing the locking means for locking and fixing the cover and the housing separately from the cover side, and the number of poles of the connector can be expanded by combining the standardized cover and housing. The number of mold starting points is reduced.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a multi-stage connector showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the multi-stage connector in an assembled state, FIG. 3 is a left side view of FIG. 3 is a right side view of FIG. The multi-stage connector shown in FIG. 1 is a male connector, and includes a first housing 37, a second housing 39, and a cover 41. 1st, 2nd
The housings 37 and 39 have substantially the same structure as each other,
An insertion port 43 into which the male terminal of the female connector (not shown) is inserted is formed at the front end face, and an opening 45 is formed at the rear side of the connector on the upper surface which is one face. The formation of the opening 45 exposes the plurality of terminal housing chambers 49 partitioned by the partition wall 47 to the outside.

A press contact terminal T indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 is accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 49, and the covered electric wire W is pressed into the accommodated press contact terminal T using a press contact jig. Then, the coating of the covered electric wire W is cut by the press contact blade of the press contact terminal T, and the inner core wire is brought into contact with the press contact blade to achieve electrical conduction.

On the upper surface of the first and second housings 37 and 39 on the front end side of the connector, four engagement projections 51 are provided, respectively.
Is formed, and the engagement protrusion 51 of the second housing 37 is formed.
An engagement hole 53 (see FIG. 2) into which the engagement protrusion 51 of the first housing 37 engages is formed on the rear surface (the lower surface in FIG. 1) corresponding to. An engagement hole 55 into which the engagement protrusion 51 of the first housing 39 engages is formed on the front end side of the connector of the cover 41. The engagement protrusion 51 and the engagement holes 53 and 55 constitute an engagement portion on the front end side of the connector.
9 is formed at a position shifted laterally of the connector in the width direction.

As shown in FIG. 4, an upper engaging claw 57 is formed above the rear end of the side wall of the opening 45 of each of the first and second housings 37 and 39. A lower engaging claw 59 that engages with the upper engaging claw 57 of the first housing 37 is formed on the back surface (the lower surface in FIG. 1) corresponding to the upper engaging claw 57. Further, lower engaging claws 61 that engage with the upper engaging claws 57 of the second housing 39 are formed at both ends in the width direction on the rear end side of the connector of the cover 41. The above-mentioned upper engagement claw 57 and lower engagement claw 59, 61
Constitutes an engagement portion on the rear end side of the connector.

A lock piece 63 is provided on the upper surface of the central portion in the width direction of the cover 41 as lock means for locking and fixing when mating with a mating female connector. As shown in FIG. 2, the lock piece 63 is connected to the main body side of the cover 41 by a connection portion 63a, and the pressing operation portion 63b on the distal end side can be elastically deformed and moved up and down with the connection portion 63a as a fulcrum. , Lock claw 63 provided on the center upper surface
c engages with the mating female connector.

Further, on the upper surface of both sides in the width direction of the cover 41, when mating with the mating connector, only the regular mating connector to be mated is engaged so that the connectors can be mated with each other. A misconnection prevention rib 65 is provided. The mis-connection prevention rib 65 is formed of a ridge extending along the connector fitting direction, and the mating connector is, as shown in FIG. 5, a hood portion into which the assembled male connector of FIG. 2 is inserted. 67
And a concave groove 69 into which the misconnection prevention rib 65 is inserted and engaged is provided on the inner surface of the hood portion 67. In addition, a concave portion 71 and the like are formed in the upper inner surface of the hood portion 67 in accordance with the shape of the lock piece 63 and the like between the two misconnection preventing ribs 65 in the cover 41.

In the multi-stage connector shown in FIG. 1, the second housing 39 is connected to the first housing 37 as shown in FIG.
The cover 41 is overlapped with the second housing 39 so as to cover the opening 45.

At this time, on the front end side of the connector, the engagement projection 51 of the first housing 37 is engaged with the engagement hole 53 of the second housing 39, and the engagement projection 51 of the second housing 39 is engaged with the cover 41. The engagement holes 55 are respectively engaged and fixed. On the other hand, on the connector rear end side, the upper engagement claw 57 of the first housing 37 is engaged with the lower engagement claw 59 of the second housing 39, and the upper engagement claw 57 of the second housing 39 is engaged with the lower engagement claw of the cover 41. The dowels 61 are engaged and fixed respectively. Thereby, the first and second housings 37, 3
9 and the cover 41 are connected to each other to complete the assembly of the male-side multi-stage connector.

In the above-described multi-stage connector, the front end side is an engaging portion comprising an engaging projection 51 and engaging holes 53, 55, and the rear end side is an engaging portion comprising an upper engaging portion 57 and lower engaging portions 59, 61. The parts are engaged and fixed, respectively, so that the work is easier than the conventional work of fixing by ultrasonic welding. Also,
As for the front end side engaging portion, the engaging projection 51 is
3 and 55, there is no projecting portion to the outside, and the engaging hole 55
Since only the tip of the engagement protrusion 51 inserted into the engagement hole 55 is used, it is not necessary to complicate the shape of the hood portion 67 of the mating connector according to the engagement portion. Deterioration in workability, such as being hooked and detached from the peripheral portion before fitting with the mating connector, is prevented, and the appearance quality is also improved.

The first and second housings 37, 3
Since the mis-connection preventing rib 65 and the lock piece 63 are provided on the side of the cover 41 separate from the cover 41, the cover 41 and the housing 3 are provided.
7 and 39 can be standardized, and the number of poles of the connector can be expanded by combining the standardized cover 41 and housings 37 and 39 (for example, as shown in FIG. 6 corresponding to FIG. 3, without using the second housing 39 of FIG. 1). , The cover 41 is attached to the first housing 37), the number of mold start points can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

The mis-connection preventing rib 65 of the cover 41 and the concave groove 69 of the hood 67 can be appropriately changed as shown in FIGS. .

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the housings or the housing and the cover are engaged and fixed by the engaging portions provided on the front end side and the rear end side of the connector. Therefore, the fixing work is easy, and the engaging portion on the front end side of the connector is provided on one side of the surfaces of the housings or the surface where the housing and the cover face each other, and on the other side. When the surfaces facing each other are overlapped by the engagement of these two, not only the engaging portion on the front end side does not protrude outside but also minimize the exposed portion. In addition, the provision of the engaging portion prevents the shape of the mating connector from being complicated, and the locking portion on the front end side is hooked and disengaged from the peripheral portion before the fitting with the mating connector during the assembly work. Such as Work of the deterioration is prevented, appearance quality is also improved.

Further, by providing the mis-connection preventing rib and the locking means on the cover side separate from the housing, the cover and the housing can be standardized, and the number of poles of the connector can be expanded by combining the standardized cover and housing. The number of mold start points can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a multi-stage connector showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the multi-stage connector of FIG. 1 in an assembled state.

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

FIG. 4 is a right side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a hood portion of a mating connector with respect to the multi-stage connector of FIG. 1;

6 is a front view of the connector corresponding to FIG. 3 when the second housing in FIG. 1 is not used.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing another example of the shape of the misconnection prevention rib of the cover and the concave groove of the hood.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing still another example of the shape of the misconnection prevention rib of the cover and the concave groove of the hood.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing still another example of the shape of the misconnection prevention rib of the cover and the concave groove of the hood portion.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional multi-stage connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 37 First housing 39 Second housing 41 Cover 45 Opening 49 Terminal accommodating chamber 51 Engagement projection (engagement part) 53, 55 Engagement hole (engagement part) 57 Upper engagement claw (engagement part) 59 , 61 Lower engaging claw (engaging portion) 63 Lock piece (Locking means) 65 Misconnection prevention rib 67 Hood portion 69 Recessed groove

Claims (3)

[Claims] An opening for exposing a terminal accommodating chamber is formed in one surface of a housing, and the housings are overlapped so that the opening is closed by the other surface of another housing. In a multi-stage connector configured so that an opening is closed by a cover with respect to a housing in a position where the housing is not closed by another housing, an engaging portion that engages the housings and an engagement that engages the housing and the cover Parts are provided on the connector front end side on the side fitted with the mating connector and on the connector rear end side, respectively, and the engagement part on the connector front end side is a surface where the housings or the housing and the cover face each other. And an engagement hole provided on the other side and into which the engagement projection is inserted and engaged. Multi-stage connector. 2. An erroneous connection preventing rib which engages only with a regular mating connector to be mated with the cover when mating with the mating connector so that the connectors can be mated with each other; 2. The multi-stage connector according to claim 1, further comprising a locking means for locking the connectors at times. 3. The mis-connection prevention rib is formed on the surface of the cover by a ridge extending along the fitting direction of the connector, and the mating connector is inserted with the cover attached to the housing. It has a hood part, and on the inner surface of this hood part,
3. The multi-stage connector according to claim 2, wherein a concave groove into which the mis-connection preventing rib is inserted and engaged is provided.