JPH11354211A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably seize a fitting state. SOLUTION: In a fitting process of both housings 10, 20, fitting resistance is generated when a resistance arm 25 engages with the front end surface of the cylindrical fitting part 12 of the male side housing 10, and when fitting operation proceeds by force overcoming this fitting resistance, the resistance arm 25 elastically deflects to relieve the fitting resistance. At this time, an operator can perceive a moderate feeling by relief of the fitting resistance, and both housings are put in a normal fitting state by power of the fitting operation overcoming the fitting resistance. Since the resistance arm 25 is arranged independently of a lock arm 23, even if the lock arm 23 is deflected in the lock releasing direction at fitting time, the resistance arm 25 engages with the male side housing 10 to reliably generate the fitting resistance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When fitting housings of connectors to each other, an operator may misunderstand that the fitting operation has been completed when the fitting resistance generated between the terminals in the fitting process increases. However, in this case, the housing will remain in a half-fitted state. Therefore, in order to prevent the housing from remaining half-fitted, a mechanism called an inertial lock is used. This provides a mating resistance generating means for generating a mating resistance larger than the frictional resistance between the terminals in the mating process,
When the user overcomes the resistance caused by the mating resistance generating means and passes through the mating resistance generating area, it is determined that the worker has a sense of moderation due to the rapid relaxation of the mating resistance and the work has entered a normal completion state. In addition to being able to be certain, the two housings are brought into a properly fitted state by the momentum at the time of passing.

[0003] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
No. 220972. As shown in FIG. 7, this causes the lock arm 2 of the one housing 1 to bend and move over the engagement portion 4 of the other housing 3, and then the lock arm 2 is elastically returned to engage with the engagement portion 4. A coupling portion 5 is provided on a connector that locks the housings 1 and 3 in a mating state by mating, and as a fitting resistance generating means, the locking arm 2 is made hard to bend. Have been. Due to the difficulty of bending of the lock arm 2 by the connecting portion 5, the lock arm 2 becomes difficult to get over the engaging portion 4, and the difficulty of getting over becomes the fitting resistance of the inertial lock.

[0004]

In the structure in which the fitting resistance is increased by using the lock arm 2 as described above, a large force is required for the fitting operation. The fitting operation may be performed with the lock arm 2 bent in the unlocking direction. However, in this case, since the lock arm 2 does not come into contact with the engaging portion 4, no fitting resistance by the connecting portion 5 is generated. As a result, the inertial lock does not work, and it is difficult to determine the fitted state. .
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to reliably grasp a fitted state.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, one of a pair of housings that can be fitted with each other has a hood portion into which the other housing is fitted, and the other housing is engaged with the hood portion. A connector provided with a lock arm capable of elastically bending to lock both housings in a mated state by mating with each other, wherein the hood portion of the one housing is allowed to elastically deform independently of the lock arm. The resistance arm is formed so as to be able to engage with the front end surface of the other housing, and the resistance arm is engaged with the front end surface of the other housing during the fitting process of the two housings. A mating resistance is generated due to the elasticity of the resistance arm, and the other arm is connected to the other arm by a mating operation force that overcomes the mating resistance. It was constructed in which the connection resistance is alleviated by elastic deflection to dissociate direction from grayed front end surface.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a part of a peripheral wall constituting the hood is formed as the resistance arm. The invention of claim 3 is
In the invention according to claim 2, the protective arm is provided to cover the resistance arm from outside. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects of the invention, the resistance arms are arranged symmetrically. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, the fitting resistance generated by the engagement of the resistance arm with the other housing is generated by a locking operation of the lock arm. The configuration was set to be larger than the fitting resistance.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the process of fitting the two housings, the resistance arm is engaged with the front end surface of the other housing to generate a fitting resistance. When the fitting operation proceeds with a force that overcomes the fitting resistance, the resistance arm is elastically bent, and the fitting resistance is reduced. At this time, the worker can feel a sense of moderation by relaxing the fitting resistance, and a normal fitting state is reached by the strength of the fitting operation that has overcome the fitting resistance. Since the resistance arm is provided independently of the lock arm, even if the lock arm is bent in the unlocking direction during fitting, the resistance arm engages with the other housing to securely fit Resistance occurs. In addition, since the resistance arm is engaged with the front end surface of the other housing, it is not necessary to form a special engagement portion with the resistance arm in the other housing. Further, since the engagement position with the resistance arm in the other housing can be set at any position on the front end face, the arrangement of the resistance arm does not need to be restricted by the other housing. <Invention of Claim 2> Since a part of the peripheral wall part constituting the hood part is a resistance arm, compared with the case where the resistance arm is provided at a position further inside from the inner periphery of the hood part,
The size of the hood can be reduced.

<Invention of Claim 3> Since the resistance arm is composed of a part of the peripheral wall constituting the hood, the resistance arm is exposed to the outer peripheral surface of the hood as it is, but the protective arm is provided. Therefore, it is possible to prevent foreign substances from interfering with the resistance arm. <Invention of Claim 4> Since the resistance arms are arranged symmetrically, the fitting posture of the two housings is stabilized, and it is possible to prevent twisting or the like caused by the deviation of the posture. <Invention of claim 5> If a fitting operation force that overcomes the fitting resistance generated when the resistance arm is engaged with the other housing is applied, it is possible to overcome the fitting resistance caused by the locking operation of the lock arm. , The normal fitting state is reached without any trouble without being affected by the locking operation.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The connector according to the present embodiment includes a male housing 10 and a female housing 20 that can be fitted and detached from each other. The male housing 10 has a cylindrical fitting portion 12 formed so as to surround the male terminal fitting 11 protruding forward (shown in FIGS. 3 to 5). A part of the front end surface of the cylindrical fitting portion 12 is an engagement portion 12A with the resistance arm 25. A lock receiving portion 13 is formed on the upper surface of the cylindrical fitting portion 12 to lock the housings 10 and 20 in a fitted state in cooperation with the lock arm 23.

The female housing 20 has a cavity 21 for accommodating a female terminal fitting (not shown), and a hood portion 22 that covers the front half thereof and is opened forward is formed on the outer periphery. ing. The cylindrical fitting portion 12 of the male housing 10 is fitted into the hood portion 22 almost tightly. A portion of the hood portion 22 on the upper surface side is opened rearward, and a lock arm 23 extending in the front-rear direction so as to penetrate this opening portion 22B is provided at a leg 23A at the center in the length direction of the female side housing 20. It is tiltably supported on the upper surface. While the two housings 10 and 20 are being fitted together, the locking projection 23B at the front end of the lock arm 23 is provided.
Rides on the upper surface of the lock receiving portion 13 and reaches a regular fitting state, the locking protrusion 23B
The housings 10 and 20 are locked in a properly fitted state by engaging with the locking projections 23B and the locking receiving portions 13 by being elastically restored from the upper surface of the housing 10 and engaged with the locking projections 23B and the locking receiving portions 13. When releasing the lock between the housings 10 and 20, the operation unit 2 at the rear end of the lock arm 23 is used.
3C may be depressed to displace the lock projection 23B so as to be disengaged from the lock receiving portion 13. Further, a male housing 1 is provided on the inner periphery of the back end of the hood portion 22.
A seal ring 24 capable of closely contacting the outer peripheral surface of the housing 10 is mounted.
Waterproofing between 20 is achieved.

The hood section 22 includes both housings 1.
A pair of right and left resistance arms 25 are formed as means for surely bringing 0, 20 to the normal fitting state. That is, a pair of slits (not shown) are formed forward from the rear end surface at two positions shifted to the left and right sides from the upper surface of the peripheral wall portion 22A constituting the hood portion 22, and a portion between each pair of slits is formed. The resistance arm 25 is provided. The pair of resistance arms 25 are bilaterally symmetric, protrude rearward in a cantilever manner, and are allowed to elastically flex outward.

An abutting projection 25A is formed on the inner surface of each resistance arm 25.
A front surface (the left surface in FIGS. 3 to 6)
The angle is set close to a right angle to the fitting direction of 0,20. The abutment projection 25A projects from the inner peripheral surface of the hood 22 when viewed from the front (see FIG. 1).
When the cylindrical fitting portion 12 of the male housing 10 is fitted inside the hood portion 22, the front end surface of the cylindrical fitting portion 12 abuts against the front surface of the abutment projection 25A.

Further, a pair of left and right protective walls 26 is formed on the left and right sides of the upper surface of the hood 22, that is, in a region where the resistance arm 25 is formed, so as to cover the resistance arm 25 from the outside. I have. The protective wall 26 is provided with a radial gap between the protective arm 26 and the resistance arm 25, that is, the resistance arm 2.
5 is formed so that the bending space S is empty. Note that the protective wall portion 26 extends from the rear end of the hood portion 22 to the female housing 20.
The protective wall 26 extends to the rear end and is open to the outside. The front end of the protective wall 26 is not opened and is a wall that continues to the outer surface of the hood 22.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. When assembling the two housings 10 and 20, the fitting of the two housings 10 and 20 is started so that the cylindrical fitting portion 12 is arranged along the inner periphery of the hood portion 22. When the fitting is started, the resistance caused by the friction between the male terminal fitting 11 and the female terminal fitting (not shown) continues to be applied. Surface engaging part 1
2A abuts against the abutting projection 25A of the resistance arm 25 (see FIG. 4), and the fitting resistance instantaneously increases. Therefore, when the fitting operation force is increased, the pressing force from the cylindrical fitting portion 12 to the abutting projection 25A acts as a force for elastically bending the resistance arm 25 outward. And
When the fitting operation force exceeds the magnitude of the fitting resistance caused by the friction between the male terminal fitting 11 and the female terminal fitting, the resistance arm 25 elastically bends outward and the abutment projection 25A is fitted into the cylindrical shape. As a result, the fitting resistance is sharply reduced. The operator can feel a sense of moderation due to the sudden relaxation of the fitting resistance, and thereby knows that the inertial lock has functioned.

As described above, when the resistance of the fitting by the resistance arm 25 is abruptly reduced, the fitting of the two housings 10 and 20 progresses at once by the force of the fitting operation force, and a normal fitting state is reached. At this time, the fitting resistance increases again when the lock arm 23 gets over the locking projection 23B while being elastically bent, but the force required for the lock arm 23 to climb up is applied by the resistance arm 25. By setting the resistance to be smaller than the resistance, it is possible to prevent each operation from being hindered.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the resistance arm 25 bends independently of the lock arm 23, the operator bends the lock arm 23 in the unlocking direction in order to reduce the fitting resistance. Even if the fitting operation is performed in the state of being inserted, the inertial locking operation by the resistance arm 25 functions reliably. In the male housing 10, a part of the front end surface of the cylindrical fitting portion 12 is engaged with the resistance arm 25.
Since it is 2A, it is not necessary to specially form a dedicated engaging portion with the resistance arm 25 on the male side housing 10,
Further, the position selectable region of the resistance arm 25 extends over a wide range such as the entire front end surface of the cylindrical fitting portion 12. Therefore, the degree of freedom in designing the housings 10 and 20 is high. Further, since a part of the peripheral wall portion 22A constituting the hood portion 22 is the resistance arm 25, compared with the case where the resistance arm is provided at a position further inside from the inner periphery of the hood portion 22, the hood portion 22A is provided. Can be reduced in size. Further, the resistance arm 25 is connected to the peripheral wall 2 that constitutes the hood 22.
2A, the resistance arm 25 is exposed on the outer peripheral surface of the hood portion 22 as it is,
In the present embodiment, the protective wall 2 covers the resistance arm 25.
Because of the provision of 6, it is possible to prevent interference or the like of foreign matter from the outside with respect to the resistance arm 25.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the resistance arm protrudes rearward in a cantilever manner. However, according to the present invention, the resistance arm may protrude forward in a cantilever manner. (2) In the above embodiment, two resistance arms are provided. However, according to the present invention, one or three or more resistance arms may be provided.

(3) In the above embodiment, a part of the peripheral wall constituting the hood is a resistance arm, but according to the present invention, the resistance arm is provided at a position further inside than the inner periphery of the hood. Is also good. (4) In the above embodiment, the protection wall is provided outside the resistance arm. However, according to the present invention, the protection wall may not be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a female housing according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a female housing.

FIG. 3A is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where both housings are detached, and FIG. 3B is a partial sectional view showing a state where both housings are detached.

FIG. 4A is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state where both housings are being fitted. FIG. 4B is a partial cross-sectional view showing a state where both housings are being fitted.

5A is a longitudinal sectional view showing a fitted state of both housings. FIG. 5B is a partial sectional view showing a fitted state of both housings.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which a seal ring is removed from a female housing.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Male side housing 20 ... Female side housing 22 ... Hood part 23 ... Lock arm 25 ... Resistance arm 26 ... Protective wall part

Claims (5)

[Claims] A hood portion in which one of a pair of housings that can be fitted with each other is fitted, and the two housings are brought into a fitted state by being engaged with the other housing. A connector provided with a lock arm which is elastically flexible and capable of locking, a hood portion of the one housing is provided with a resistance arm which is allowed to be elastically flexible independently of the lock arm at a front end of the other housing. The resistance arm is engaged with the front end surface of the other housing during the fitting process of the two housings, so that the fitting resistance due to the elasticity of the resistance arm is reduced. The resistance arm is elastically deformed in the direction of disengagement from the other housing front end surface by the fitting operation force that is generated and overcomes the fitting resistance. Connector being characterized in that a configuration in which the connection resistance is reduced by. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein a part of a peripheral wall part forming the hood part is the resistance arm. 3. The connector according to claim 2, further comprising a protective wall covering the resistance arm from outside. 4. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the resistance arms are arranged symmetrically. 5. A fitting resistance generated by engagement of the resistance arm with the other housing is set to be larger than a fitting resistance generated by a locking operation of the lock arm. Claims 1 to 4
The connector according to any one of the above.