JPH11154578A - Manufacture of pressure contact terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently manufacture many kinds of pressure contact terminals, to improve the working efficiency of installing these pressure contact terminals in a connector, and to reduce a cost of a branch connection box. SOLUTION: A method includes (1) a process of forming a pressure contact terminal chain body 10 by chaining standard pressure contact terminals 10A and 10B composed of a pair of pressure contact parts 11a and 11b and tab parts 12a and 12b so as to stand side by side in a plurality by continuing the mutual tab parts 12a and 12b by punching a metallic plate, (2) a process of connecting the respective tab parts 12a and 12b of the pressure contact terminal chain body 10 by a resin material 20, (3) a process of forming many kinds of pressure contact terminals standing in a line in order of being installed in a connector part by cutting an unnecessary place of the pressure contact terminal chain body 10 and (4) a process of forming many kinds of pressure contact terminals installed in the same connector part into a part by cutting the resin material 20 by the same connector part unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing various types of press contact terminals to be attached to a connector of a branch junction box. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a press-connecting terminal, which can improve the efficiency of mounting work on a connector and can reduce the cost of a branch connection box.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a branch connection box has been used to branch-connect a plurality of electric wires constituting a wire harness with each other. As a conventional branch junction box, for example, there is one proposed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-36965. FIG.
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the conventional branch junction box, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a state where the branch junction box is assembled.

In these drawings, a conventional branch junction box 1 is shown.
00 is mainly composed of the upper case 110 and the lower case 1
It consists of 20. On the back side of the upper case 110 and on the front side of the lower case 120, there are provided wire housing grooves 111, 121 for holding and holding a plurality of wires 140 drawn out from a wire harness (not shown) by upper and lower halves.

On the front side of the upper case 110, rectangular frame-shaped connector portions (female connectors) 112, 112, 1
12 and 112 are integrally formed, and each connector portion 112
The tab portions 132 of the various types of press contact terminals 130A, 130B, 130C inserted from the back side of the upper case 110 protrude.

[0005] Each press contact terminal 130A, 130B, 130C
Is composed of a press contact portion 131 having a U-shaped slot cut out, and one or more tab portions 132. Pressing part 1
Numeral 31 is press-connected to a predetermined electric wire 140 requiring branch connection inside the upper case 110 and the lower case 120.

Each connector (male connector) 210, 21 of another wire harness 200 is attached to each connector portion 112, 112, 112, 112 of such a branch connection box 100.
0, 210, 210, the pressure contact terminal 1
A predetermined electric wire 140 forming the wire harness and a predetermined electric wire 220 forming another wire harness 200 are branched and connected via 30A, 130B, and 130C.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 150 denotes a lid,
After connecting the respective connectors 210 of the other wire harnesses 200 to the respective connector portions 112 of the branch connection box 100, the connectors are covered on these.

[0008]

However, in the conventional branch connection box described above, there are various types of press contact terminals 130A, 130B, 130C having different numbers of poles of the tab portion 132, and although not shown, the tab portion 132 having two or more forks. Since the joint terminals made only of the different types were separately manufactured by press dies having different shapes, there was a problem that the manufacturing efficiency was poor.

Also, separate and independent press contact terminals must be attached to the connector portion one by one, and there is a problem that the work efficiency of attaching these press contact terminals to the connector portion is poor.

Further, it is costly to prepare the same number of press dies as the types of the press contact terminals and the like, and it is costly to attach separate press contact terminals one by one to the connector portion. There was a problem that it became expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to efficiently manufacture various types of press contact terminals and to improve the efficiency of attaching these press contact terminals to a connector. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a press contact terminal that can reduce the cost of a branch connection box.

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a press contact terminal, comprising the steps of: manufacturing a plurality of types of press contact terminals to be attached to a connector portion of a branch connection box; (1) A plurality of standard pressure contact terminals each formed by stamping out a metal plate and having one pressure contact portion and one or two or more tab portions, by successively connecting the tab portions to each other, thereby forming a series of pressure contact terminal chains. (2) Step of connecting each tab portion of the press-contact terminal chain with a resin material (3) Cutting unnecessary portions of the press-contact terminal chain, and arranging various types in order of being attached to the connector portion Forming a pressure contact terminal (4) cutting the resin material in units of the one connector unit;
This is a procedure including a process of integrating various types of press contact terminals attached to the same connector portion into one component.

According to such a method, various types of press contact terminals can be efficiently manufactured with a single press die.
Further, since various types of press contact terminals attached to the same connector portion can be integrated into one component, various types of press contact terminals integrated into one component can be efficiently attached to the connector portion. As a result, the cost of the branch junction box can be significantly reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a press contact terminal, which includes a step of insert-molding various types of press contact terminals into a single component into the connector portion. According to such a method, it is possible to easily and surely attach various types of press contact terminals made into one component to the connector portion by insert molding.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a press contact terminal, wherein the press contact terminal chain has a structure in which a plurality of standard press contact terminals each comprising a pair of press contact portions and a tab portion are linked side by side. The lengths of the tab portions are alternately changed while aligning the tip positions of the tab portions.

According to such a method, various types of press contact terminals having different lengths of the tab portion can be efficiently manufactured with a single press die. In addition, since the adjacent pressure contact portions of the pressure contact terminal chain can be alternately positioned, a number of standard pressure contact terminals can be provided side by side at a narrow pitch, and more pressure contact terminals can be manufactured at once. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a press contact terminal, wherein press contact portions constituting the press contact terminal chain are connected to each other,
A feed hole for moving the press contact terminal chain at a constant pitch is formed in the continuous portion.

According to such a method, after the press contact terminal chain is pressed, the feed claws provided in the press contact terminal manufacturing apparatus are inserted into the feed holes, whereby the press contact terminal chain is continuously moved. Can be done. Also, while intermittently moving the press contact terminal chain at a constant pitch,
For example, it is possible to cut an unnecessary portion of the press-contact terminal chain in the step (3) and cut the resin material in the step (4).

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a method for manufacturing a press contact terminal according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing each step of the method for manufacturing a press contact terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
(A), (b), (c) is explanatory drawing which shows the main process of the manufacturing method of the said press contact terminal. Further, FIG. 3A is a perspective view showing various types of press-connecting terminals integrated into one component, and FIG. 3B is a perspective view of a main part of a branch connection box to which the various types of press-contact terminals integrated into one component are attached. FIG.

In FIG. 1, in the method for manufacturing a press contact terminal according to this embodiment, first, a reel material (a metal plate wound around a reel) is supplied to a press working machine (not shown) (S).
1). Next, the supplied reel material is sheared by the press machine to form a press contact terminal chain 10 as shown in FIG. 2A (S2).

Here, the press contact terminal chain 10 is provided with two types of standard press contact terminals 10A and 10B comprising a pair of press contact portions 11a and 11b and tab portions 12a and 12b.
Are alternately arranged side by side.

The pitch P of the standard pressure contact terminals 10A and 10B
Is the same as the pitch between female terminals of a connector (male connector) of a wire harness (not shown) that is fitted to the connector portion (female connector) 4 of the branch connection box 1 shown in FIG.

The tab portion 12b of the standard pressure contact terminal 10B is longer than the tab portion 12a of the standard pressure contact terminal 10A.
The end positions of both tabs 12a and 12b are aligned,
1a and the press contact portion 11b are alternately arranged.

Each of the standard pressure contact terminals 10A and 10B has a connecting portion 13a for connecting the tab portions 12a and 12b and a connecting portion 1 for connecting the press contact portion 11b of each standard pressure contact terminal 10B.
3b.

In the step S4 to be described later, the connecting portion 13a is connected to various types of press-connecting terminals (including joint terminals) 1 including the separation or connection of the standard press-connecting terminals 10A and 10B.
When separating 0A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E... From each other, they are cut as unnecessary portions (FIG. 2C).
reference).

Further, two or more pole tabs 12a, 12b...
When the press contact terminals 10C, 10D, 10E,... Having the above are formed, the connecting portions 13a are left as they are without being cut, and the plurality of tab portions 12a, 12b. .

On the other hand, a feed hole 14b is formed in the connecting portion 13b, and by inserting a feed claw (not shown) into the feed hole 14b, the press contact terminal chain 10 is intermittently or intermittently arranged at a constant pitch. Is moving.

More specifically, the press contact chain 10 is continuously moved between steps S2 to S3 and S4. In each of the following steps S4 and S5, cutting of unnecessary portions and the like is performed while intermittently moving the press-contact terminal chain 10 at a constant pitch.

Next, a molding machine not shown in FIG.
A belt-shaped resin material 20 as shown in (b) is outsert molded to the press-contact terminal chain 10, and all the tab portions 12a,
Are connected to each other (S3).

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, unnecessary portions of the press contact terminal chain 10 are cut while moving the press contact terminal chain 10 at a constant pitch, and the connector portion 4 (FIG. 3B ) Are formed (S4). Various types of press contact terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E...

Here, the unnecessary portions of the press-contact terminal chain 10 are defined as unnecessary press-contact portions 11a, 11b and a connecting portion 13a for forming predetermined press-contact terminals 10A, 10B,.
Refers to all the connecting portions 13b.

By cutting and removing the unnecessary press contact portions 11a and 11b, the positions of the press contact portions 11a and 11b and the tab portion 1 are removed.
Various types of press contact terminals 10 having different numbers of poles 2a, 12b,.
A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E ... can be formed. Further, by cutting and removing unnecessary connecting portions 13a and 13b, these various types of press contact terminals 10A,
10B, 10C, 10D, 10E... Can be separated from each other.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), the resin material 20 is cut in units of one connector portion 4 (see FIG. 3 (b)), and various types of press contact terminals 10A attached to the same connector portion 4 are cut. , 10B,... Are made into one component (S5). In the following, various types of press contact terminals 10A, 10B,...

Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), each of the press contact portions 11a, 11b of the various types of press contact terminals 30 made into one component.
Is bent (S6) to correspond to the configuration of the branch connection box 1 shown in FIG.

Next, in the step of molding the branch connection box 1 shown in FIG. 3B, various types of press contact terminals 30 made into one piece are set in a mold (not shown), and the press contact terminals 30 are connected to the connector portion 4. Insert molding and mounting (S7).

The branch connection box 1 according to the present embodiment comprises an upper case 2 and a lower case 3, each of which has a half connector part 4. Therefore, at the time of molding each of the upper case 2 and the lower case 3, various types of press contact terminals 30 made into one component are insert-molded into the half connector part 4.

According to the method of manufacturing the press contact terminal of the present embodiment including the steps S1 to S7, various press contact terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D,
10E ... can be produced efficiently. Also, various types of press contact terminals 10 attached to the same connector portion 4
A, 10B,... Can be made into one component with the resin material 20, so that various types of press contact terminals 30 made into one component can be efficiently attached to the connector portion 4 by insert molding. As a result, the cost of the branch junction box 1 can be significantly reduced.

Further, it is possible to manufacture various types of press contact terminals 10A, 10B... Having different lengths of the tab portions 12a, 12b, and to position the adjacent press contact portions 11a, 11b of the press contact terminal chain 10 alternately. , So many standard pressure contact terminals 10A, 10
B can be provided side by side, and more pressure contact terminals 1
0A, 10B... Can be manufactured at one time.

The method of manufacturing the press contact terminal of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the configuration of the crimp terminal chain 10 is not limited to that of the above embodiment, and various standard crimp terminals including one crimp portion and one or more tab portions may be used depending on the type of crimp terminal required. A plurality of side-by-side chained configurations can be used.

[0040]

As described above, according to the method for manufacturing a press contact terminal of the present invention, various types of press contact terminals can be efficiently produced, and the efficiency of attaching these press contact terminals to a connector is improved. Therefore, the cost of the branch junction box can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing each step of a method for manufacturing a press contact terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 (a), 2 (b) and 2 (c) are explanatory views showing main steps of a method of manufacturing the press contact terminal.

FIG. 3 (a) is a perspective view showing various types of press-connecting terminals integrated into one component, and FIG. 3 (b) is an essential diagram of the branch connection box to which the various types of press-contact terminals integrated into one component are attached. It is a part perspective view.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional branch connection box.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a state where the above-described conventional branch connection box is assembled.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Branch connection box 2 Upper case 3 Lower case 4 Connector part 10 Chain of press contact terminals 10A, 10B Standard press contact terminals (Press contact terminals) 10C, 10D Press contact terminals 10E Press contact terminals (joint terminals) 11a, 11b Press contact portions 12a, 12b Tab portions 13a , 13b Connecting portion 14b Feed hole 20 Resin material

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing various types of insulation displacement terminals to be attached to a connector part of a branch junction box, comprising the following steps. (1) By punching a metal plate, a plurality of standard pressure contact terminals comprising one pressure contact portion and one or more tab portions are connected to each other so that the tab portions are connected to each other to form a pressure contact terminal chain in which a plurality of side-by-side chains are connected. Forming step (2) Step of connecting each tab portion of the press-contact terminal chain with a resin material (3) Cutting unnecessary portions of the press-contact terminal chain, and various types of press-welding arranged in the order of being attached to the connector portion A step of forming a terminal (4) cutting the resin material in units of the one connector part;
A process to integrate multiple types of insulation displacement terminals that can be attached to the same connector 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of insert-molding various types of press-fit terminals into one connector. 3. The pressure terminal chain has a structure in which a plurality of standard pressure terminals including a pair of pressure terminals and tab portions are arranged side by side, and a tip end position of each tab portion constituting these standard pressure terminals is determined. 3. The method for manufacturing a press contact terminal according to claim 1, wherein the lengths of the tab portions are alternately changed while being aligned. 4. A press-contact portion forming the press-contact terminal chain is made continuous with each other, and a feed hole for moving the press-contact terminal chain at a constant pitch is formed in the continuous portion. 4. The method for manufacturing a pressure contact terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 3.