JPS5841747Y2 - Connector housing locking mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a locking mechanism for fitting a male connector housing into a female connector housing housing a plurality of terminal fittings.

As shown in FIG. 1, this type of conventional locking mechanism has a locking protrusion 2 provided on a male connector housing 1 that engages in a locking slit 5 of a locking elastic arm 4 provided on a female connector housing 3. or as shown in FIG. 2, the locking protrusion 7 of the locking elastic arm 6 provided on the male connector housing 1 is connected to the locking hole 9 of the locking member 8 provided on the female connector housing 3.
There are various embodiments, such as those that engage with the locking elastic arms 4 and 6, but in all of these embodiments, the elastic locking arms 4 and 6 are connected from the bending fulcrum to the tip (
Since the distance between the locking protrusion 2 and the position of the abutment or locking protrusion 7 is relatively large, the locking elastic arm 4°6 is bent by the action of a relatively small external force, but on the other hand, the restoring force is small.

Therefore, even if the wire connection operation is stopped before the male and female connector housings 1 and 3 are inserted into the fully mated state where the locking mechanism works, the incompletely mated state is often maintained. .

By the way, even in this incompletely fitted state, the terminal fittings of both the male and female connector housings 1 and 3 are in a contact state for the time being, although they are incompletely connected, so that current can be supplied.

Therefore, if this incompletely mated state is mistakenly assumed to be a completely mated state and is used as is, the terminal metal fittings will generate heat due to the incomplete connection, and both the male and female connector housings 1 and 3 may be unexpectedly damaged due to the locking mechanism not working. It has the disadvantage of leaving the country.

Focusing on the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention automatically retracts the male connector housing in the opposite direction to the insertion direction into the female connector housing when the male and female connector housings are incompletely fitted. The purpose of this is to notify the operator that the fitting is incomplete and to encourage the operator to connect the wires correctly.

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

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 indicates a male connector housing made of synthetic resin, and reference numeral 3 indicates a female connector housing made of synthetic resin.

The male connector housing 1 has a female connector housing 3.
A locking elastic arm 12 consisting of a sloped part 10 having a large rising angle upwardly to the right from a point P on the upper surface near the fitting end face as a base point, and a horizontal part 11 continuous thereto is integrally molded,
The horizontal part 11 has a locking protrusion 13 and a lock release pressing part 1.
4 are integrally molded.

The female connector housing 3 has a male connector housing 1
A locking member 16 having a hole 15 through which the locking elastic arm 12 is inserted and removed on the upper surface of the fitting end surface thereof, and which engages with the locking protrusion 13 is integrally molded. An inclined portion 17 having the same shape as the inclined portion 10 of the elastic locking arm 12 is formed on the lower side of the front end of the locking member 16 .

Next, the manner in which the male connector housing 1 configured in this manner is inserted into the female connector housing 3, locked, and unlocked will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8. .

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the male connector housing 1 is completely separated from the female connector housing 3.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the male connector housing 1 is inserted into the female connector housing 3, and the terminal fittings housed in each connector housing are connected, although incompletely.

In this case, the sloped portion 10 of the locking elastic arm 12 is connected to the sloped portion 17 of the locking member 16 of the female connector housing 3.
The inclined part 10 is bent downward with this contact point as the point of force application and the base point P as the fulcrum, but the distance between the base point P and the contact point of the inclined part 17 (the point of force application) is Slope part 1 because it is short
The deflection restoring force of 0 is large.

Therefore, when the insertion operation is stopped in this mated state, the male connector housing 1 is automatically repulsed and retreated in the pulling direction due to the large bending restoring force of the inclined portion 10.
This will notify the operator that the mating state is not complete and require the operator to perform the correct insertion operation again.

FIG. 6 shows a state close to complete fitting.

In this case, the horizontal portion 11 of the elastic locking arm 12 comes into contact with the locking member 16 at point Q and is pushed down, but by the time this fitted state is reached, the free end R of the horizontal portion 11 has become male. Since it is in contact with the top surface of the connector housing 1, the horizontal portion 11 is displaced downward using the free end R as a fulcrum, and the free end portion comes into contact with the top surface of the male connector housing 1 as shown in the figure. It is forced into a deflected state similar to a Z-shape.

At this time, a large restoring force due to the forcible bending of the horizontal portion 11 assists the insertion of the male connector housing 1.

FIG. 7 shows the fully fitted and locked state.

In this case, due to the flexural restoring force of the locking elastic arm 12, (
The inclined portion 10 is a locking member 16 of the female connector housing 3.
), the locking protrusion 13 engages with the locking member 16 to complete locking, and the free end R of the horizontal portion 11 is brought into contact with the top surface of the male connector housing 1. be.

FIG. 8 shows a state in which both the male and female connector housings 1 and 3 are unlocked.

In this case, by pressing down the lock release pressing part 14, the locking elastic arm 12 moves the free end R of the horizontal part 11.
serves as a fulcrum and is easily deformed to release the engagement between the locking protrusion 13 and the locking member 16, and the male connector housing 1
Pull out from the female connector housing 3.

At this time, when the locking protrusion 13 passes through the locking member 16 and reaches the state shown in FIG. The pulling operation of the male connector housing 1 is automatically performed due to the large restoring force.

As described above, according to the locking mechanism of the present invention, the locking elastic arm 12 has a point P on its inclined part 10 and a point P on its horizontal part 11.
There are two bending fulcrums with point R as the fulcrum, and due to the large bending restoring force of the inclined portion 10 with point P as the fulcrum, the male and female connector housings 1 and 3 are The connector housing 1 is automatically repulsed and retreated in the direction in which it is pulled out from the female connector housing 3, thereby eliminating any incompletely mated state, and in a state close to complete mating, the point R
The restoring force of the horizontal part 11 using the point R as the fulcrum assists the horizontal part 11 to be fully engaged, and also smoothes the deformation of the horizontal part 11 when the locking elastic arm 12 is unlocked using the point R as the fulcrum. Therefore, the fitting and disconnecting operations of both the male and female connector housings can be performed easily and accurately.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 show perspective views of conventional connector housings. FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a connector housing equipped with the locking mechanism of the present invention, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are side views showing the fitting process. Figure 7 is a side view of the fully mated and locked state;
The figure is a side view of the unlocked state (Figs. 4 to 8 are shown enlarged for explanation). 1...Male connector housing, 3...
Female connector housing, 10... Inclined portion, 11
...Horizontal part, 12...Elastic arm for locking,
13... Locking protrusion, 14... Lock release pressing part, 15... Locking hole, 16...
-Locking member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] For locking, it consists of an inclined part facing rearward with a large rising angle starting from the upper surface near the end face that fits into the female connector housing, and a horizontal part continuous with this and having a locking protrusion and a pressing part for unlocking. A male connector housing having an elastic arm integrally molded therein, and a locking member that presses the inclined part of the locking elastic arm and engages with a locking protrusion on the upper surface of the end surface that fits into the male connector housing are integrally molded. a female connector housing, and the inclined portion of the male connector housing is
When mating with the female connector housing, it cooperates with the locking member to eliminate incomplete mating, and also displaces the free end of the horizontal part continuous with the slope part so as to come into contact with the upper surface of the male connector housing, thereby ensuring complete mating. A locking mechanism for a connector housing, characterized by having a function of pulling the connector housing into a mating state.