JPH11204202A - Incomplete fitting preventive connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an incomplete fitting preventive connector in which incomplete fitting of connectors to each other is prevented, and in which removal work is facilitated in simple structure. SOLUTION: An incomplete fitting preventive stopper 8 is provided in a male connector 3 at a forward end part of a support mechanism 10 of a slide lock member 15 including a slidable elastic member 17 to energize in a counter fitting direction, and a flexible lock arm 21 having a housing lock 22 to be locked to a slide lock member 15, a pair of slits 25 formed from both sides of the housing lock 22 backward, and incomplete fitting preventive protrusions 24 on both side surfaces to pass over the incomplete fitting preventive stopper 8 at the time of fitting is provided on an upper surface of a female connector 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector in which a female member and a male connector are separated in a separating direction by a repulsive force of an elastic member in a half-fitted state, and both male and female connectors are securely locked in a completely fitted state. The present invention relates to a semi-fitting prevention connector that facilitates detachment of male and female connectors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of half-fitting prevention connectors have been known. For example, JP-A-9-237
A half-fitting prevention connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 653 is known. The conventional half-fitting prevention connector 51 shown in FIGS. 5 to 9 includes a terminal receiving chamber 57 for inserting and holding a female terminal in a lower portion of a housing 53a of a male connector 53 having a female terminal therein, and an upper portion described later. Space 5 for inserting and holding a slide lock member 65 as a lock member to be locked
5 are provided. A pair of upper and lower guide grooves 61 and 62 serving as a support mechanism 60 are provided on both sides of the housing space 55. The front end of the upper guide groove 62 has a tapered surface for inserting and holding the slide lock member 65 in the fitting direction, and a slide lock engagement portion 62a for preventing the slide lock member 65 from coming off. ing. A stopper 58 for preventing halfway fitting is provided at the front end of the lower guide groove 61 so as to protrude inward, and an opening 56 is provided in a housing 53 a forming an upper part of the accommodation space 55. .

The slide lock member 65 has a detachment protrusion 66 for moving the slide lock member 65 rearward when the fitting is released.
The housing 5 is provided on both side end surfaces near the detachment protrusion 66.
Slide stopper 69 which is inserted into the upper guide groove 62 in 3a and locked by the slide lock locking portion 62a.
Are provided as a part of the support mechanism 60. A spring accommodating chamber 68 for accommodating a compression spring 67 as an elastic member is provided on the rear side, and a support protrusion 70 to be inserted into the lower guide groove 61 is provided on both side end surfaces near the spring accommodating chamber 68.
0 is provided as a part.

As shown in FIG. 6, a female connector 52 having a male terminal therein has a terminal housing chamber 76 for inserting and holding a male terminal in a female housing 52a.
A flexible plate-shaped lock arm 71 is formed on the upper part a, and a guide side wall 75 is vertically provided on both side walls thereof. Further, at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the lock arm 71, a housing lock 72 that is locked by the slide lock member 65, a half-fit prevention protrusion 74 at a side end near the housing lock 72, and a rearward fit. A lock release projection 73 is provided for pressing downward when releasing the engagement.

The above-described half-fitting prevention connector 51 of the conventional example
First, as shown in FIG. 5, the slide stopper 69 is fitted into the upper guide groove 62 with the compression spring 67 accommodated in the spring accommodation chamber 68 of the slide lock member 65, and the lower stopper guide groove 61 is inserted into the lower guide groove 61. The slide lock member 65 is inserted into the housing 53 by inserting the support protrusion 70.
a.

[0006] Then, as shown in FIG.
And the male connector 53 are fitted. That is, the female connector 52
Is pushed in the direction of arrow A, the distal end of the housing lock 72 of the lock arm 71 comes into contact with the pressing end surface 65a of the front end of the slide lock member 65 to move the slide lock member 65 in the direction of arrow B, and the halfway preventing protrusion 74 Pass over the halfway preventing stopper 58. During this passage, even if the lock arm 71 attempts to bend downward, it cannot be bent because the halfway fitting prevention projection 74 is in contact with the upper surface of the halfway fitting prevention stopper 58. At this stage, the male and female connectors 52 and 53 are in a half-fitted state, and when the hand for pushing the female connector 52 is released, a strong repulsive force of the compression spring 67 is applied to the housing lock 72 by the pressing end face 6.
Since the female connector 52 is working through the connector 5a, the female connector 52 is separated in the anti-fitting direction.

In this state, when the female connector 52 is further pushed in against the repulsive force of the compression spring 67, the halfway fitting prevention projection 74 completely passes through the halfway fitting prevention stopper 58, and the compression spring 67 rebounds. As the force increases, the pressing end surface 65a of the slide lock member 65 moves over the inclined surface at the tip of the housing lock 72 while bending the lock arm 71 downward. Therefore, the housing lock 72 is locked to the lower portion of the slide lock member 65 by returning in the direction of arrow C as shown in FIG. 8, and the female connector 52 and the male connector 53 are completely fitted.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, in order to release the fitted state between the female connector 52 and the male connector 53, when a pressing force is applied to the lock release projection 73 on the lock arm 71 in the direction of arrow D, the lock is released. When the arm 71 bends downward, the locked state of the housing lock 72 is released. And
The release projection 6 on the slide lock member 15 in the pressed state
6 in the direction of arrow E, the slide lock member 6
The pressing end surface 65a of the fifth connector 5 rides over the housing lock 72 of the female connector 52, the lock arm 71 returns to its original state by elasticity, and the female connector 52 is easily pushed off by the compression spring 67 and detached from the male connector 53.

[0009]

However, the half-fitting prevention connector 51 can prevent half-fitting. However, in order to release the male / female connectors 52 and 53 in the fitted state, it is necessary to use both hands. The release protrusion 66 is moved in the anti-fitting direction against the urging force of the compression spring 67 while pressing the lock release protrusion 73 downward. That is, the housing lock 72 must be released from the locked state with the slide lock member 65 by pulling the slide lock member 65 in the direction E of FIG. This operation involves moving the detaching projection 66 in the anti-fitting direction while compressing the compression spring 67, and pulling the female connector 52 in the anti-fitting direction with the other hand while holding the male connector 53. However, there is a problem that the detaching operation is very difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a half-fitting preventing connector which prevents the connectors from being half-fitted with each other and which has a simple structure and can be easily detached. It is in.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a male / female connector which is housed in a housing of one male connector of a pair of male / female connectors which are fitted and connected to each other. An elastic member that prevents the female connector from sliding, and a slide lock member that is slidably accommodated in the housing in the fitting direction and locks the female connector to be fitted into the housing. And a support mechanism for slidably supporting the female connector, wherein the housing of the female connector includes a flexible lock arm, and is locked to the upper portion of the lock arm by the slide lock member. A housing lock, and a halfway fitting prevention protrusion protruding from a side portion of the lock arm near the housing lock. A stopper for preventing halfway fitting is provided at a front end of the accommodation space for holding the member, and a pair of slits are provided along the fitting direction behind the lock arm, and the lock arm between the slits is provided. The problem can be solved by a semi-mating prevention connector characterized in that an unlocking projection is provided on the upper surface of the rear portion.

[0012] In the half-fitting prevention connector,
Preferably, the semi-mating prevention connector is provided with an outer projection higher than the unlocking projection on both sides of the unlocking projection on the rear upper surface of the lock arm outside the slit. can do.

[0013] In the half-fitting prevention connector,
Preferably, the slit is provided rearward from both sides of a center portion of the housing lock in the front-rear direction on the lock arm, and the housing lock and the slide lock are pressed by pressing the lock release projection downward. The half-fitting prevention connector characterized in that the locked state of the member is released can be solved more effectively.

According to the half-fitting prevention connector having the above-described configuration, the housing lock is engaged when the male and female connectors are mated with each other.
When the slide lock member is pushed in the fitting direction against the urging force of the elastic member, the repulsive force of the elastic member is changed to the lock arm when the halfway fitting prevention projection passes through the halfway fitting prevention stopper. And the lock arm is bent, and the slide lock member returns to the original position by using the repulsive force of the elastic member, whereby a completely fitted state is achieved.
Therefore, if the lock arm is released before the halfway fitting prevention protrusion passes through the halfway fitting prevention stopper, the male and female connectors are pushed back in the separating direction by the repulsive force of the elastic member. In addition, the bending of the lock arm at the time of halfway fitting is reliably prevented by the halfway fitting prevention protrusion and the halfway fitting prevention stopper,
The lock arm can bend only at the time of complete fitting, so that halfway fitting can be reliably prevented.

In order to release the mating state between the male and female connectors, the male and female connectors are merely pulled in the anti-mating direction while pressing the unlocking projection downward to bend the lock arm between the pair of slits. The housing lock is released from the locked state with the slide lock member, and the halfway fitting prevention protrusion can pass through the halfway fitting prevention stopper without bending the lock arm outside the slit. Therefore, the male and female connectors can be easily detached from the fitted state with a small force. That is, there is no need to move the slide lock member in the anti-fitting direction against the repulsive force of the elastic member, and the force for bending only the lock arm between the slits is far greater than the force for bending the entire lock arm. Because it is small. Therefore, the work of detaching the male and female connectors is facilitated, and the working efficiency can be improved.

Further, since the outer projection is higher than the unlocking projection, only the unlocking projection is pressed by an unexpected collision of foreign matter, so that the connection state of the mated male and female connector is not released. Reliability can be improved.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the half-fitting prevention connector according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of the half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the female connector in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the female connector in FIG.
FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing a state at the time of releasing the fitting in FIG.

The half-fitting prevention connector 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a terminal accommodating chamber 7 for inserting and holding a female terminal in a lower part of a housing 3a of a male connector 3 having a female terminal therein, and a lock described later on an upper part. An accommodation space 5 for inserting and holding a slide lock member 15 as a member is provided. On both sides of the storage space 5, one upper and lower
A pair of guide grooves 11 and 12 are provided. Among them, a slide lock engaging portion 12a is provided at the front end of the upper guide groove 12 provided above, which has a tapered surface for engaging the slide lock member 15 and prevents the slide lock member 15 from coming off. ing. Also, the lower guide groove 1
A stopper 8 for preventing halfway fitting is provided at the front end of the housing 1, and an opening 6 is provided at an upper part of the housing 3 a forming an upper part of the accommodation space 5.

The slide lock member 15 has a display protrusion 16 on the upper surface for indicating the progress of the fitting, and is inserted into the upper guide groove 12 in the housing 3a on both side end surfaces near the display protrusion. And the slide lock engaging portion 12
A slide stopper 19 is provided as a part of the support mechanism 10 which is locked to a. A spring accommodating chamber 18 for accommodating a compression spring 17 as an elastic member is provided at the rear, and a support protrusion as a part of a support mechanism 10 which is inserted into the lower guide groove 11 on both side end surfaces near the spring accommodating chamber 18. 20 are provided.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the female connector 2 has a terminal accommodating chamber 26 in which a male terminal is inserted and held in a housing 2a, and a flexible plate-shaped member is provided above the housing 2a. A lock arm 21 is formed. Further, at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the lock arm 21, a housing lock 22, which is locked to the slide lock member 15 and has an inclined surface 22a at the front end, and laterally protrudes from a side end near the housing lock. An intermediate fitting prevention projection 24 is provided. Further, a pair of slits 2 are provided rearward from both sides in the front-rear direction center portion of the housing lock 22.
5 and 25 are provided on the lock arm 21, and a lock release projection 23 which is operated when the connector is disconnected is provided on the upper surface of the rear part of the lock arm 21 between the pair of slits. In addition, an outer protrusion 27 that is taller than the lock release protrusion 23 is provided on the upper surface of the rear part of the lock arm 21 outside the pair of slits 25, 25.

In the above-described half-fitting prevention connector 1 according to the present embodiment, first, as shown in FIG. 1, the compression spring 17 is accommodated in the spring accommodation chamber 18 of the slide lock member 15, and The slide lock member 15 is slidably mounted in the housing 3a by fitting the slide stopper 19 into the upper guide groove 12 and fitting the support protrusion 20 into the lower guide groove 11. Next, the female connector 2 and the male connector 3 are fitted. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, when the female connector 2 is pushed in the fitting direction of the male connector 3, the tip of the housing lock 22 of the lock arm 21 is pressed against the pressing end face 1 of the front end of the slide lock member 15.
5a, the slide lock member 15
a While being moved rearward, the halfway fitting prevention protrusion 24 is located on the halfway fitting prevention stopper 8.

In this state, for example, the lock arm 2
Even if 1 attempts to bend downward, it cannot bend downward because the halfway fit prevention protrusion 24 is in contact with the upper surface of the halfway fit prevention stopper 8. That is, a pair of slits 25, 25
Is provided rearward from the central portion of the housing lock 22, so that even if the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 becomes strong and presses the inclined surface 22a, only the housing lock 22 is pushed down while leaving the halfway prevention protrusion 24. Because they cannot do it.

In this state, when the female connector 2 is further pushed in against the repulsive force of the compression spring 17, the halfway fitting prevention projection 24 passes through the halfway fitting prevention stopper 8, and
As the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 increases, the contact force between the pressing end surface 15a of the slide lock member 15 and the inclined surface 22a increases, and the housing lock 22 is bent while the lock arm 21 is bent downward together with the halfway fitting prevention protrusion 24.
Over the inclined surface 22a. Therefore, when the slide lock member 15 returns to the anti-fitting direction, the housing lock 22 is locked at the lower part of the slide lock member 15, and the fitting between the female connector 2 and the male connector 3 is completed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, when releasing the mating state between the female connector 2 and the male connector 3, when a pressing force is applied to the unlocking projection 23 on the lock arm 21 in the direction D, the lock is released. The locked state of the housing lock 22 is released by bending the portion of the arm 21 sandwiched between the slits 25 downward. Then, in the pressed state, the female connector 2 is pulled in the anti-fitting direction, that is, in the direction of arrow F, so that the housing lock 22 of the female connector 2 slips under the pressed end surface 15a of the slide lock member 15 and the lock arm 2
The halfway fitting prevention projection 24 passes through the guide groove 11 without passing through the halfway fitting locking stopper 8.

Therefore, the female connector 2 can be released from the locked state with the male connector 3 with a small force, and can be easily detached. Even if the upper surface of the housing lock 22 is not completely lower than the lower surface of the pressing end surface 15a of the slide lock member 15, if the rear end portion of the housing lock 22 is slightly lower than the pressing end surface 15a, the female connector 2 can be By being pulled in the anti-fitting direction, it can be pushed down by the pressing end surface 15a and can go under.

As described above, according to the half-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present embodiment, the housing lock 22 causes the slide lock member 15 to resist the urging force of the compression spring 17 when the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are fitted to each other. And pushed into the housing 3a of the male connector 3. At this time, the halfway fitting prevention protrusion 2
The repulsive force of the compression spring 17 is large enough to deflect the lock arm 21 downward when the pin 4 completely passes over the stopper 8 for preventing halfway engagement.

Accordingly, the lock arm 21 bends downward, and the pressing end face 15a of the slide lock member 15 rides over the pressing end face 22a of the housing lock 22, and the resilient force of the compression spring 17 returns to its original position, that is, the front end face of the housing 3a. And the housing lock 22 is locked. As a result, the male and female connectors 2, 3 are completely fitted. In addition, the pair of slits 25, 25
Of the compression spring 17
Therefore, even if the downward component force of the pressing force presses the inclined surface 22a, it is impossible to push down only the housing lock 22 except the halfway prevention protrusion 24.

Further, if the push-in force is released before the halfway fitting prevention projection 24 of the lock arm 21 completely passes over the halfway fitting prevention stopper 8 during the fitting of the male and female connectors 2, 3, the compression The male and female connectors 2, 3 are pushed back in the separating direction by the repulsive force of the spring 17. For more information,
The bending of the lock arm 21 at the time of halfway fitting is reliably prevented by the halfway fitting prevention projection 24 and the halfway fitting prevention stopper 8, and the lock arm can be bent only at the time of complete fitting,
Midway fitting can be reliably prevented. Therefore, the highly reliable male and female connectors 2 and 3 can be obtained.

When releasing the mating state between the male and female connectors 2 and 3, the lock release projection 23 is pressed downward to lock the lock arm 21 sandwiched between the pair of slits 25.
By simply pulling the male and female connectors 2 and 3 apart in the anti-fitting direction while flexing, the locked state between the housing lock 22 and the slide lock member 15 is released. At this time, the halfway fitting prevention protrusion 24 passes through the guide groove 11 on the halfway fitting prevention stopper 8 without bending.

Therefore, the male and female connectors 2, 3 can be released from the fitted state with a small force by a small force, and the work of detaching the male and female connectors 2, 3 can be performed easily and reliably. That is, the force that presses the lock release projection 23 and deflects the lock arm 21 portion sandwiched between the slits 25 is smaller than the force that deflects the entire lock arm 21. In addition, since the force for compressing the compression spring 67 is not required to move the slide lock member in the anti-fitting direction as in the above-described conventional example, the work of detaching the male and female connectors 2 and 3 becomes easy, and the work efficiency is improved. Can be improved.

Further, since the outer projection 27 is taller than the unlocking projection 23, only the unlocking projection 23 is pressed by an accidental collision of a foreign substance so that the fitting state of the male and female connectors 2, 3 is released. There is nothing. Therefore, the highly reliable male and female connectors 2 and 3 can be obtained.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various embodiments are possible. For example, in the present embodiment, an opening 6 is provided in the housing 3a of the male connector 3,
Although the slide lock member 15 is provided with the display projection 16, the half-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present invention can be functionally functional without the opening 6 and the display projection 16. However, if present, there is an advantage that whether the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are in the fitted state or in the halfway fitted state can be detected by the position of the display projection 16.

[0033]

As described above, according to the half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention, the housing of the female connector has a flexible lock arm, and is locked on the slide lock member above the lock arm. A housing lock and a halfway fitting prevention protrusion protruding from a side of a lock arm near the housing lock, and a halfway fitting prevention stopper at a front end of a housing space for holding the slide lock member and the elastic member; A pair of slits are provided along the fitting direction behind the lock arm, and a lock release projection is provided on the upper surface of the rear part of the lock arm between the slits.

In the half-fitting prevention connector,
Preferably, outer projections higher than the unlocking projections are provided on both sides of the unlocking projections on the upper surface of the rear part of the lock arm outside the slit. Further, in the half-fitting prevention connector, preferably, a slit is provided rearward from both sides of a center portion in the front-rear direction of the housing lock on the lock arm, and the lock is released by pressing the lock release projection downward. And the locked state of the slide lock member is released.

Therefore, when the housing lock pushes the slide lock member in the fitting direction against the urging force of the elastic member when the male and female connectors are fitted to each other, the halfway fitting prevention projection is provided with the halfway fitting preventing projection. When passing through the stopper, the repulsive force of the elastic member deflects the lock arm, and the slide lock member returns to the original position by utilizing the repulsive force of the elastic member, so that the slide lock member is completely fitted. Therefore, when the locking operation of the lock arm is stopped before passing through the stopper for preventing the halfway fitting, the male and female connectors are pushed back in the separating direction by the repulsive force of the elastic member. The combined state can be reliably prevented.

In order to release the mating state between the male and female connectors, the male and female connectors are simply pulled in the anti-mating direction while pressing the unlocking projection downward to bend the lock arm between the pair of slits. The locked state between the housing lock and the slide lock member is released, and the halfway fitting prevention projection can pass over the halfway fitting prevention stopper without bending the lock arm outside the slit. Therefore, it is not necessary to move the slide lock member in the anti-fitting direction, and the force for bending only the lock arm between the slits is much smaller than the force for bending the entire lock arm. The fitted state can be easily released with a small force. Therefore, the work of detaching the male and female connectors is facilitated, and the working efficiency can be improved. Furthermore, since the outer projection is taller than the unlocking projection, unexpected collision of foreign matter does not push only the unlocking projection and disconnect the mating male and female connectors, thereby improving the reliability of the male and female connectors. It can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a half-fitting prevention connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the female connector in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the female connector in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing a state at the time of disengagement in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a configuration example of a conventional male connector.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a conventional female connector.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which the male and female connectors in FIGS. 5 and 6 are being fitted.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view showing a state where the fitting of the male and female connectors in FIGS. 5 and 6 is completed.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view showing a start state of releasing the mating of the male and female connectors in FIGS. 5 and 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 half-fit prevention connector 2 female connector 2 a housing 3 female connector 3 a housing 5 housing space 6 opening 8 halfway mating prevention stopper 10 support mechanism 11 lower guide groove (support mechanism) 12 upper guide groove (support mechanism) 15 slide Lock member 16 Display protrusion 17 Compression spring (elastic member) 19 Slide stopper (support mechanism) 20 Support protrusion (support mechanism) 21 Lock arm 22 Housing lock 23 Lock release protrusion 24 Midway fitting prevention protrusion 25 Slit 27 Outside protrusion

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pair of male and female connectors, which are fitted and connected to each other, are housed in a housing of one male connector,
An elastic member that prevents the male and female connectors from being fitted halfway; a slide lock member that is slidably received in the housing in the fitting direction and locks the female connector of the mating partner in the housing; And a support mechanism for slidably supporting the slide lock member within the housing. The semi-fitting prevention connector, wherein the housing of the female connector includes a flexible lock arm, and an upper portion of the lock arm. A housing lock engaged with the slide lock member, and a halfway fitting prevention protrusion protruding from a side portion of the lock arm near the housing lock, for holding the slide lock member and the elastic member. A stopper is provided at the front end of the accommodation space for preventing a halfway fit, and a pair of slits are provided along the fitting direction behind the lock arm. Both half-fitting prevention connector, characterized in that the lock release projection on the rear upper surface of the lock arm between the slit is provided. 2. The half-fit according to claim 1, wherein outer protrusions higher than the unlocking protrusions are provided on both sides of the unlocking protrusions on the rear upper surface of the lock arm outside the slit. Prevention connector. 3. The slit is provided rearward from both sides of a center part of the housing lock in the front-rear direction on the lock arm, and the lock is formed by pressing the lock release projection downward. The half-fitting prevention connector according to claim 1, wherein the locked state of the slide lock member is released.