JPH11329604A - Manufacture of connector and contact piece used for it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector which, when an inspection voltage is applied to the disengaged connector, can prevent an excessive current from flowing into the connector, and to provide a manufacturing method of a contact piece used for the connector. SOLUTION: A contact piece 27 is composed of two contact pieces 29 for a short circuit integrally formed on a base 30, and a contact piece 29 for grounding connected to the base through a chip resistor 31. Tip end sides of contact pieces 28 and 29 are folded back to the base 30 side in a U-shape, and are made elastically deformable by the U-shaped bending parts in the direction coming into contact with and parting from the base 30. Moreover, the tip ends of the contact pieces 28 and 29 are further bent to the base 30 side to respectively form contact parts 28A and 29A which come in contact with a tab.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector and a method for manufacturing a contact piece used for the connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 15 schematically shows a controlled circuit 100 and a connector 101 connected to the controlled circuit 100. The controlled circuit 100 includes two circuit wires 102A and 102B and a ground circuit wire 103.
And each of the electric wires 102A, 102B, 10
A terminal 104 is provided at the tip of 3. Further, a short-circuit terminal 105 is provided inside the connector 101. The connector 101 is provided with a mating connector (not shown) that can be fitted. When the mating connector and the connector 101 are in a non-fitting state, the short-circuit terminal 105 has three terminals 104. Are short-circuited to each other.

[0003]

The connector 101 will now be described.
Is in a non-fitting state, the voltmeter 10 is connected to the voltmeter 10 using the two electric wires 102A and 103 connected to the connector 101.
6 may need to be performed. For convenience of explanation, the voltmeter 106 and the electric wires 102A, 103
Let the points that contact with point A and point B be respectively. Also,
The point where the short-circuit piece at the center of the short-circuit terminal 105 branches is defined as point D. Further, among the currents flowing between the ADs, those flowing through the controlled circuit 100 are denoted by C2, and those flowing directly through the connector 101 without passing through the controlled circuit 100 are denoted by C1.
And

At the time of inspection by the voltmeter 106, AB
When a predetermined voltage is applied therebetween, the terminals 104 in the connector 101 are short-circuited to each other by the short-circuit terminal 105. On the other hand, the controlled circuit 100 is configured to have a predetermined resistance value. For this reason, between AD, C1 flows excessively compared with C2, and excessive heat is generated in the connector 101.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to prevent an excessive current from flowing into a connector when a test voltage is applied to a certain connector when the connector is not fitted. And a method of manufacturing a contact piece used for the connector.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector for connecting a control circuit and a controlled circuit, wherein the connector is not connected to a mating connector. In the connector housing, a short-circuiting contact piece for short-circuiting a terminal fitting connected to the controlled circuit is provided in the connector housing, and the ground circuit of the control circuit and the ground circuit of the controlled circuit are connected to the connector housing. And a ground terminal contact piece for contacting the ground terminal, and the short circuit connected to the ground circuit and the controlled circuit is provided between the ground circuit of the controlled circuit and the shorting contact piece. A high-resistance portion for limiting the flow of the inspection current flowing between the contact piece and the test piece.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the high resistance portion is constituted by a chip resistor, and the chip resistor is connected to the short-circuit contact piece and the ground terminal contact piece. It is characterized by being soldered in a bridging state therebetween.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a contact piece for use in a connector according to the second aspect, wherein the short-circuiting contact piece and the ground terminal contact piece are connected to each other. Are integrally extended side by side from the same carrier, and the chip resistor is soldered in a bridging state between the ground terminal contact piece and the short-circuit contact piece adjacent thereto. I do.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a contact piece for use in a connector according to the first aspect, wherein the short-circuiting contact piece and the ground terminal contact piece are connected to each other. Are formed integrally, and a resistance film as the high resistance portion is formed at a contact portion of the ground terminal contact piece with the ground terminal.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a voltage is applied between the ground circuit and the controlled circuit for inspection, the inspection current is limited by the high resistance portion. Therefore, a high current does not flow in the connector housing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the high resistance portion is formed by using the chip resistor, the entire connector can be formed without increasing the size.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the contact piece can be easily manufactured using the chip register.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the resistance film may be formed on the surface of the contact piece for the ground terminal, the manufacture is easy.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the following description, both male and female connectors 1,
The side on which the surfaces 35 start fitting with each other is the front side. FIG.
3 is an exploded perspective view of the male and female connectors 1 and 35. FIG. The male connector 1 and the female connector 35 on the right side of the drawing are provided with male and female connector housings 2 and 3, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 2, the male connector 1 is connected to the controlled circuit 6, while the female connector 35 is connected to the control circuit 36. 6, 36 are connected.

The female connector housing 3 is provided with three cavities 4, and a female terminal fitting 5 is mounted in each of the cavities 4. The covered electric wire W is connected to the female terminal fitting 5. One of the female terminal fittings 5 is a ground terminal 42 connected to a ground circuit 37 on the control circuit 36 side. The female connector housing 3 is provided with a retainer 7 for retaining and retaining the female terminal fitting 5. Further, on the upper surface of the female connector housing 3, a cantilever-shaped deformable lock piece 8 is provided, and locks with the male connector housing 2. At the rear of the upper surface of the lock piece 8, a push-in portion 8A protrudes. Further, a pair of overhangs 13 are provided on both sides of the lock piece 8. A guide surface 13A is formed at the front end of the overhang portion 13 on the lower surface side.

The male connector housing 2 is provided with three cavities 9 in which male terminal fittings 10 are mounted. These three male terminal fittings 10
One of them is a ground terminal 43 connected to the ground circuit 38 of the controlled circuit 6. The cavity 9 is open front and rear, and the rear side is a terminal insertion hole 9B.
The opening on the front side is formed as a tab insertion hole 9A communicating with the hood portion 11 described later, and the tab 10A of the male terminal fitting 10 is inserted. Further, a covered electric wire W is connected to the male terminal fitting 10.

At the front of the male connector housing 2, a hood portion 11 capable of accommodating the female connector housing 3 is provided in a protruding manner. The inner space of the hood portion 11 is largely divided into upper and lower portions, and a housing accommodating space 12 for accommodating the lower female connector housing 3, respectively.
And the upper member housing space 18. First, two springs 17 are accommodated in the member accommodating space 18, and thereafter, the half-fitting preventing member 16 is accommodated. When the half-fitting prevention member 16 is pushed inward by the pushing portion 8A of the lock piece 8 during the fitting operation of the two connector housings 2 and 3, when the two connector housings 2 and 3 are assembled in their normal positions, The spring 17 pushes it forward again. The housing housing space 12 and the member housing space 18
A slide piece 19 protrudes from both left and right sides at a boundary portion between the two. The slide piece 19 is protruded toward the inside of the hood portion 11 and then hangs downward.
It is formed in an L-shaped cross section. Further, the projecting portions 20 having the guide surfaces 20A and 20B formed on the upper front side and the lower rear side, respectively, protrude downward. The hood portion 11 of the two guide surfaces 20A and 20B
When the female connector housing 3 is fitted, the guide surface 20A of the projecting portion 13
Then, the lock piece 8 is bent upward and deformed. Further, when the male and female connector housings 2 and 3 are pushed into the proper fitting position, the lock piece 8 returns to the lower guide surface 20B on the rear lower side of the projection 20 and passes through the lower side of the projection 20. It will be a guide when you let them.

In the lower rear portion of the male connector housing 2, a retainer mounting hole 14 is formed in the left outer wall so as to penetrate the inside of the male connector housing 2 from side to side. A retainer 15 is provided for retaining the retainer 10. The retainer 15 has a retaining piece 15A protruding from the male terminal fitting 10 and a lid piece 15 for closing the retainer mounting hole 14 at one end.
B is provided. Also, male connector housing 2
A pair of shaft portions 21 is protrudingly provided on the left and right side portions on the upper rear side of the vehicle. A cover 22 is attached to the shaft 21. The cover 22 is attached to the male connector housing 2 so as to be rotatable up and down about the shaft portion 21 as a rotation center.

At the rear of the male connector housing 2, a conical projection 24 is projected, and a cover pressing spring 23 is attached here. This cover pressing spring 23
Always urges the pressing portion 22A at the rear of the cover 22 upward, whereby the front end of the cover 22 is pressed downward, and the front end portion of the male connector housing 2 is covered. A retainer retaining piece 25 is hung behind the left wall surface of the cover 22. When the cover 22 reaches the closed position, the retainer retaining piece 25 is located outside the retainer mounting hole 14 and the cover piece of the retainer 15 is provided. 15B is stopped.

In the male connector housing 2, a contact piece mounting portion 26 is formed in the back wall of the hood 11 above the tab insertion hole 9A. This contact piece mounting portion 26
, A contact piece 27 is attached. (In the following, when the term “contact piece 27” is used, as shown in FIG. 8,
This shows two short-circuit contact pieces 28 and one ground contact piece 29 that are integrally connected. As shown in FIG. 8, the contact piece 27 includes two short-circuit contact pieces 28 formed integrally with the base 30 and a chip register 31 (a “high-resistance part” of the present invention) with respect to the base 30. And a contact piece 29 for grounding connected via the The contact pieces 27 contact the tabs 10A of the three male terminal fittings 10 and electrically connect the male terminal fittings 10 when the male and female connector housings 2 and 3 are not fitted. Is what you do. The distal ends of the contact pieces 28 and 29 are folded back in a U-shape toward the base 30, and the U-shaped flexures 34 allow the distal ends of the contact pieces 28 and 29 to approach and separate from the base 30. It is elastically deformable. Further, the tips of the contact pieces 28 and 29 are further bent toward the base 30 side, and the bent portions are
The contact portions 28A and 29A contact the tab 10A.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 to FIG.
7 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the short-circuiting contact piece 28 and the grounding contact piece 29 are integrally extended from the same carrier 32 side by side. That is, the central portion of the base 30 of the short-circuiting contact piece 28 is connected to the carrier 32 by the connecting piece 33, while the grounding contact piece 29 is spaced apart from the carrier 32 by a predetermined distance beside the short-circuiting contact piece 28. It is connected to. Such a pair of short-circuiting contact pieces 28 and grounding contact pieces 29 are formed in a plurality at predetermined intervals along the length direction of the carrier 32.

Next, as shown in FIG.
The chip register 31 is attached by soldering between the base 30 of FIG. 8 and the ground contact piece 29 in a bridge state. Further, the chip register 31 is molded with a resin 44 as shown in FIG.

The tips of the contact pieces 28 and 29 are slightly bent to form contact portions 28A and 29A.
Is bent inward to form a U-shaped flexure 34 (see FIGS. 6 and 7).

After the contact piece 27 is formed along the length of the carrier 32 in this manner, the connecting portion between the carrier 32 and the contact piece 27 is cut off to complete the manufacture of the contact piece 27 (FIG. 8). See). In this manner, the contact piece 27 can be easily manufactured using the chip register 31.

Next, the operation and effect of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIGS. FIG. 9 is a side sectional view of the male and female connectors 1 and 35 in a non-fitting state. In this state, each contact piece 28, 29 is a tab 10A of the corresponding male terminal fitting 10.
Is in contact with

In this state, as shown in FIG. 2, the ground terminal 43 housed in the male connector 1 and one of the two male terminal fittings 10 (the male connector 1). The voltmeter 39 is brought into contact with the electric wire W connected to the electric wire W and the electric wire W connected to the electric wire W, respectively, to perform the inspection (FIG. 2).
A point and B point in). When the voltage of the voltmeter 39 is applied, the inspection current is limited by the chip resistor 31, so that a high current does not flow inside the male connector housing 2.

In order to fit the connectors 1 and 35, first, the pressing portion 22A of the cover 22 of the male connector 1 is pressed, the front of the cover 22 is turned upward, and the hood 11 is opened. State. In this state, the fitting operation of the male and female connectors 1 and 35 is started. When the female connector housing 3 enters the hood 11 of the male connector housing 2, the lock pieces 8 provided on the female connector housing 3 engage with the guide surfaces 13 </ b> A, 20 </ b> A formed on the overhang 13 and the protrusion 20. Is deformed upwardly by the contact (see FIG. 10). Further, the pushing portion 8A of the lock piece 8 pushes the half-fit prevention member 16 to the back side.
At this time, in the housing accommodating space 12, the male and female terminal fittings 5, 10 have started to be connected. Also, since the upper end of the front surface of the female connector housing 3 pushes up the tip portions of the contact pieces 28 and 29 upward, the contact piece 27 and the male terminal fitting 1 are pressed.
0 is separated.

Further, when the fitting operation proceeds and the female connector 35 is pushed into a predetermined position of the hood 11, the lock piece 8 and the projection 20 are disengaged, and the lock piece 8 returns. Deform. Also, the pushing projection 8 of the lock piece 8
The contact between A and the half-fitting prevention member 16 is released, and the half-fitting prevention member 16 is pushed back to the normal position by the spring 17. At this time, since the contact with the female connector housing 3 is released at the lower front end of the cover 22, the cover 22 is rotated to a predetermined position by the cover pressing spring 23, and the female connector 35 is Will be accommodated.

Further, since the high resistance portion is formed by using the chip register 31, the male connector 1 can be formed without increasing the size.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a method of manufacturing the contact piece 50 used in the connector according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. The contact piece 50 of the present embodiment is used in place of the contact piece 27 in the male connector 1 described in the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 12, the contact piece 50 has two short-circuit contact pieces 51 and one ground terminal contact piece 52 integrally formed in an E-shape. . Contact part 52A at the tip of ground terminal contact piece 52 on the right side in the figure
Contacts the ground terminal 43. The contact portion 52A is formed by applying a resistance film 53 (corresponding to a high resistance portion of the present invention) to the surface of the ground terminal contact piece 52 (see FIG. 13). The ground terminal 43 and the ground terminal contact piece 52 are electrically connected via this resistance film.

The production of the contact piece 50 is completed by folding back the distal ends of the short-circuit contact piece 51 and the ground terminal contact piece 52 of the contact piece 50 thus formed (FIG. 1).
4).

According to this embodiment, since the contact portion 52A as a high-resistance portion is formed by forming a resistive film on the surface of the ground terminal contact piece 52, the manufacture of the contact piece 50 is facilitated. .

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the following ones are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. (1) In the present embodiment, the number of shorting contact pieces is two, but according to the present invention, the number is not limited thereto and may be three or more. (2) In the present embodiment, the control circuit and the female connector are connected, and the controlled circuit and the male connector are connected. According to the present invention, the combination may be reversed, the control circuit and the male connector may be connected, and the controlled circuit and the female connector may be connected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a connector according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a connection state between a connector and a circuit.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a contact piece connected to a carrier for manufacturing the contact piece used in the connector.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view when a chip register is soldered between a short-circuiting contact piece and a ground terminal contact piece in a process of manufacturing the contact piece.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view when a chip register is molded in a step of manufacturing a contact piece.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the tip ends of the short-circuiting contact piece and the ground terminal contact piece are folded back in a process of manufacturing the contact piece.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state before a contact piece is separated from a carrier.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a completed contact piece.

FIG. 9 is a side cross-sectional view before fitting the male and female connectors.

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view of the male and female connectors in the middle of fitting.

FIG. 11 is a side sectional view when the male and female connectors are fitted.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a contact piece according to a second embodiment before the contact piece is bent.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged sectional view of a contact portion of a contact piece for a ground terminal.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a contact piece.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional connection state between a connector and a controlled circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Male connector (connector) 2 ... Male connector housing 3 ... Female connector housing 5 ... Female terminal metal fitting 6 ... Controlled circuit 10 ... Male terminal metal fitting 27, 50 ... Contact piece 28, 51 ... Short circuit contact Pieces 29, 52: Contact piece for ground terminal 31: Chip resistor (high resistance portion) 32: Carrier 34: U-shaped flexure 35: Female connector (mating connector) 36: Control circuit 37, 38 ... Earth circuit 42, 43: ground terminal 53: resistive film (high resistance part)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A connector for connecting a control circuit and a controlled circuit, wherein a short-circuit contact piece for short-circuiting a terminal fitting connected to the controlled circuit when not mated with a mating connector is provided in the connector housing. An earth terminal for connecting an earth circuit of the control circuit and an earth circuit of the controlled circuit to the connector housing;
And a contact piece for an earth terminal that is in contact with the earth terminal. Between the earth circuit of the controlled circuit and the contact piece for short-circuit, the earth circuit and the contact piece for short-circuit connected to the controlled circuit are connected. A connector provided with a high-resistance portion for limiting a test current flowing therebetween. 2. The high resistance portion is formed of a chip resistor, and the chip resistor is soldered in a bridging state between the short-circuit contact piece and the ground terminal contact piece. Item 7. The connector according to Item 1. 3. A method of manufacturing a contact piece used for a connector according to claim 2, wherein the short-circuiting contact piece and the ground terminal contact piece are integrally arranged side by side from the same carrier. A method of manufacturing a contact piece, which is extended and solders the chip register in a bridge state between the ground terminal contact piece and the short-circuit contact piece adjacent thereto. 4. The method for manufacturing a contact piece used for a connector according to claim 1, wherein the short-circuit contact piece and the ground terminal contact piece are integrally formed, and the ground terminal contact piece is formed. A method for manufacturing a contact piece, wherein a resistance film as the high resistance part is formed at a contact part of the piece with the ground terminal.