KR20220046996A - A method for manufacturing terminals of electric vehicle connectors - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a terminal, used for charging an electric vehicle, from a metallic round bar. The method according to the present invention comprises: an insert part molding process of molding an insert part (10) in order to be fixated during injection molding on one side of a conductive metal round bar; and a cylinder shape molding step of making a cylindrical portion (14) at a contact end in contact with a male terminal by forming a hole (12) with a certain depth on the opposite side of the insert part (10). The method, after that, further includes: an elastic arm molding step of forming a plurality of elastic arms (18a, 18b) by forming a plurality of slits (16) in the cylindrical portion (14); and an elastic arm pressing step of, by pressing distal portions of the elastic arms (18a, 18b) to the inner side, making the distal portions of the elastic arms (18a, 18b) retract to the inner side so as to come the distal portions thereof in contact with adjacent elastic arms. The present invention can optimize the entire processes.

Description

A method for manufacturing a connector terminal for charging an electric vehicle {A method for manufacturing terminals of electric vehicle connectors}

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a connector terminal for charging an electric vehicle, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a female terminal of a connector that can be stably maintained in combination with a terminal by cutting and molding a cylindrical material is about

In addition to the distribution of electric vehicles in recent years, it can be said that various connectors for charging electric vehicles are being developed. These connectors have a female terminal and a means for electrical contact, respectively, and are in a state in which electricity can be supplied as they are coupled to each other. According to the current method of manufacturing such a terminal, a predetermined shape of a female terminal and a male terminal are made from a metal material, and the shape is heat-treated after being mounted on a predetermined jig.

However, according to such a conventional terminal manufacturing method, the overall manufacturing process is complicated due to final shape forming using a jig and heat treatment like the jig. As such, in the manufacture of the terminal, it can be said that it is desirable to be able to firmly maintain the state of being coupled to the counterpart, for example, the terminal.

An object of the present invention in consideration of this point is to provide a method of manufacturing an electric vehicle connector that can be performed by cutting as a whole, thereby simplifying the process as much as possible.

It can be said that another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a female terminal configured to maintain a solid coupling state with the male terminal.

The manufacturing method of the present invention for achieving this object is an insert part molding process of molding an insert part to be fixed during injection molding on one side of a conductive metal round bar, and by molding a hole of a certain depth on the opposite side of the insert part , and a cylindrical shape forming process for making a cylindrical part at the contact end in contact with the means. And thereafter, by forming a plurality of slits in the cylindrical portion, the elastic arm forming process of forming the plurality of elastic arms is performed. After this elastic arm forming process, the elastic arm pressing process in which the end of the elastic arm is pressed inwardly so that the end of the elastic arm is in contact with the adjacent elastic arm is performed.

And, according to an embodiment of the elastic arm pressing process, a pressing roller that presses the part while rotating together by rotation by contact with the elastic arm is used at the root of the elastic arm.

According to the manufacturing method of the present invention constituted by the above processes, it can be seen that all processes are constituted by a series of cutting processes as a whole. Therefore, since a completely different process is not added, it can be seen that all operations can be completed in a machine capable of cutting, thereby optimizing the overall process.

And the female terminal manufactured by the method of the present invention elastically clamps the means while the means are inserted inside. That is, a plurality of elastic pieces are formed by the plurality of slits formed at the ends in contact with the means, and the plurality of elastic pieces are manufactured in a state of being concave inward. Therefore, the female terminal produced according to the present invention can be expected to have the advantage of being able to maintain a state in which the means are firmly held while the means are accommodated inside.

1 is an exemplary view showing a method of manufacturing a terminal according to the present invention.

Next, based on the embodiment shown in the drawings, the present invention will be described in more detail. The processing of the metallic material described below is carried out by cutting, for example, while the object to be processed is rotated in a state fixed to the chuck, the object is cut with a tool such as a bite or a drill for cutting to complete the terminal will be done

As shown in (a), the manufacturing method of the present invention starts with preparing a metallic round bar having electrical conductivity. And then, in the process (b), the insert part 10 having a shape protruding to the outside is formed by processing a metallic round bar. The insert part 10 is a part that is inserted and fixed when the synthetic resin connector including the same is injection-molded after the terminal is manufactured.

When the processing of the insert part 10 to be inserted into the injection-molded connector is completed in this way, in the process (c), the opposite end of the insert part 10 (hereinafter, this end is the part that receives the means, so it is called the contact end. The process of forming the hole 12 of a predetermined depth in) proceeds. The forming of the hole 12 may be performed by, for example, cutting using a drill as a tool. And by forming such a hole (12), it can be said that the contact end is substantially processed to have a cylindrical shape (14).

In the following (d) process, a process of making one cylindrical shape 14 forming the contact end of the terminal into a plurality of elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b is performed. That is, by forming a plurality of (four in the illustrated embodiment) slits 16 with respect to the cylindrical shape 12, a plurality of elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b (four in the illustrated embodiment) are made. will be. The elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b made through such a process maintain a state parallel to the round bar, or may spread outward due to residual stress during processing.

However, in order to make electrical contact by entering between the plurality of elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b and stably maintaining this contact state, it is preferable to maintain the end of the elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b in an elevated state to some extent. and this state is shown in (e). In this way, the ends of the elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b are closed so that the ends of each of the elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b are processed to the extent that they come into contact with the adjacent ones.

The processing in this (e) process is performed as follows. The semi-finished product having the elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b is rotated as shown by the arrow in a state of being clamped in the processing device, and in this state, the root portions 19 of the elastic contact pieces 18a and 18b are rotated. The pressure roller 20 is brought into contact. At this time, it can be said that the pressure roller 20 is preferably set in a direction to rotate together when in contact with the rotating semi-finished product.

When the force of the pressure roller 20 is applied, the plurality of elastic arms 18a and 18b are each uniformly deformed inwardly. That is, until the ends of the elastic arms 18a and 18b come into contact with the adjacent elastic arms 18a and 18b, the respective elastic arms 18a and 18b are deformed to retract inward. It can be said that the elastic arms 18a and 18b are deformed in this way to have an elastic force that more firmly clamps the means inserted therein.

The terminal made by the process as described above is actually a female terminal, and as described above, the elastic arm formed at the end has elastic force in a state that is deformed inward. Therefore, since the means entering between the plurality of elastic arms 18a and 18b can be more firmly clamped with this elastic force, it is expected that the electrical connection state can be stably maintained.

Various modifications will be possible for those skilled in the art within the scope of the basic technical spirit of the present invention as described above, of course, and the protection scope of the present invention should be interpreted based on what is described in the claims. It can also be said that it is natural for the purpose of the provisions of the Patent Act.

10 ..... Insert part
12 ..... hole
14 ..... Cylindrical
16 ..... slit
18a, 18b ..... Resilient arm
19 ..... Root part
20 ..... Pressing roller

Claims (2)

Insert part molding process of molding the insert part 10 to be fixed during injection molding on one side of the conductive metal round bar;
A cylindrical shape forming process of forming a hole 12 of a certain depth on the opposite side of the insert portion 10 to make a cylindrical portion 14 at the contact end contacting the means;
an elastic arm forming process of forming a plurality of elastic arms (18a, 18b) by forming a plurality of slits (16) in the cylindrical portion (14); And
Electricity comprising an elastic arm pressing process in which the ends of the elastic arms 18a and 18b are retracted inwardly so that the ends of the elastic arms 18a and 18b come into contact with the adjacent elastic arms by pressing the ends of the elastic arms 18a and 18b inward. A method of manufacturing a connector terminal for a vehicle.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of pressing the elastic arm comprises:
A method of manufacturing a connector terminal for an electric vehicle using a pressure roller (20) that presses the root portion (19) of an elastic arm while rotating with the elastic arm by contact with the elastic arm.

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