JP2825144B2 - Sheet type connector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector mainly used for electric wiring of an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a wire harness has a structure in which a branch line is derived from a trunk line portion where a large number of electric wires are bundled.
Electrical connection to various electrical components is made by female or male connectors provided at the end of the branch line. Such a female,
In the connection method using male connectors, where a large number of switches and meters are concentrated, such as in the instrument panel of a car, there are numerous connectors and the connection is complicated and requires a large occupied space. It will be.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, a high-density multipolar connector K having a large number of terminal accommodating chambers has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-145573). However, in such a high-density multi-pole connector K, since the number of terminals to be accommodated is extremely large, fitting and removal with a mating connector (not shown) are performed by tightening bolts a. There is a drawback in that a tool must be used and the workability of the fitting process is extremely poor. Further, in a part such as an instrument panel, there is a problem that the accommodation space and the operation area are small, so that application becomes extremely difficult.

On the other hand, adopting a connector in which the insertion / removal force is reduced by using mechanical means such as a lever requires a space for accommodating mechanical parts such as a lever, so that it is difficult to reduce the thickness of a coupling part including the connector. In particular, there is a problem that cannot be applied to thin electric wiring such as a flat wire harness.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has a small insertion / extraction force, excellent workability in a fitting process, multi-polarization, weight reduction, and thinning. It is an object to provide a sheet-type connector suitable for a flat wire harness.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plate-like body having a plurality of terminals fitted and removed from each other, and a plurality of corresponding other terminals. and an insulating sheet having flexibility is disposed, respectively the conductor connection portions of the conductor connecting portion and the other terminal of one terminal
The conductors constituting the circuit such as a flat wire harness are connected, and the electrical contact portion of one terminal and the electrical contact portion of the other terminal are sequentially fitted by bending of a flexible insulating sheet ,
Characterized in that as can be removed. One terminal is a female terminal having a conductor connection portion having a slot for wire press-fitting and a female electrical contact portion, and the other terminal is
It is preferable that the male terminal is provided with a conductor connection part having a fixing holding piece and a male electric contact part (claim 2).

[0007]

According to the sheet type connector of the present invention, one terminal provided on the plate-like body is fitted with the other terminal provided on the flexible insulating sheet. by utilizing the flexibility of the sheet, bending of this
In this case, the other terminals can be individually fitted to the one terminal one by one. Even when a large number of terminals are provided, all the terminals can be fitted with a small fitting force by sequentially fitting the terminals. Can be combined. On the other hand, when removing the fitted terminals from each other, the removal can be easily performed by performing the reverse operation, so that the number of the fitted terminals can be significantly increased. In addition, since it is easy to arbitrarily change by the flexibility of the insulating sheet, it is easy to adapt to the shape of the plate-like body provided with the terminal on the other side,
It is compatible with various types of wire harnesses, and can be made thinner and lighter.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state where a sheet type connector A according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a main wire harness W and a sub-wire harness W '. The sheet-type connector A includes a plate-like body 1 constituting a relay board P of a main wire harness W, and an insulating sheet 2 provided at an end of a sub-wire harness W 'branched from the main wire harness W.

The plate-like body 1 has a substrate 3 formed by molding a synthetic resin material, and a cover 4 for covering the substrate 3.
A plurality of terminal insertion holes 5 and terminal fixing protrusions 6 are provided upright on the substrate 3 adjacent to the terminal insertion holes 5. The plurality of female terminals 7 are inserted into and fixed to the terminal fixing projections 6.

On the substrate 3 of the plate-like body 1, side walls 3a are provided at both edges, and thick portions 3b are formed at four corners. Lock holes 8 for locking the cover 4 are provided in the side wall 3a, and positioning holes 9 are formed in the thick portions 3b at the four corners. The cover 4 is provided with lock hooks 10 at both edges thereof, and engages with the lock holes 8 of the board 3 to lock the board 3 and the cover 4 to protect the female terminal 7 housed therein. Like that.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the female terminal 7 is formed by bending a conductive metal plate. The female terminal 7 is formed of four elastic pieces in an outer frame 7a. Electrical connection 11
And a conductor connection portion 7b coupled to the outer frame portion 7a is provided with a slot 12 for wire pressure welding. Also, the outer frame portion 7a
As shown in FIG. 4, a terminal locking portion 7c having a tongue piece 13 formed by cutting and raising a part of the conductor connection portion 7b is provided between the terminal connection portion 7b and the conductor connection portion 7b. This terminal locking part 7
c is inserted into the terminal fixing projection 6 of the substrate 3 to fix the female terminal 7 to the substrate 3, and an electric wire constituting the main wire harness W is pressed into the slot 12 of the conductor connection portion 7b to form a circuit. I have to.

FIG. 5 shows a male terminal 1 fitted with a female terminal 7.
4 is a perspective view of FIG. The male terminal 14 is formed by pressing a conductive metal plate, and has a male electrical contact portion 16 protruding from the center of a rectangular conductor connection portion 15. On opposite edges of the conductor connection portion 15 , standing holding pieces 17, 17 and connection tongue pieces 18, 18 hanging from the edge adjacent to the holding piece 17 are formed.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the conductor 19 constituting the sub-wire harness W '. As shown in FIG. 6, the conductor 19 is formed by forming an insulating layer 21 made of a synthetic resin material around a ribbon-shaped conductor 20. A portion connecting the male terminal 14 is peeled off from the insulating layer 21. A terminal connection portion 19a exposing the conductor 20 is formed.

To connect the male terminal 14 to the conductor 19,
The male terminal 14 is placed on the terminal connecting portion 19a, and the conductor 20 and the conductor connecting portion 15 of the male terminal 14 are brought into contact with each other, and the connecting tongue piece 18 is bent as shown in FIG. To press against the conductor 20.

After the above steps are repeated and the male terminals 14 are connected to predetermined positions of the conductors 19 constituting the sub-wire harness W ', as shown in FIG. Is fixed. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the electrical contact portion 16 of the male terminal 14 and the fixing holding pieces 17, 17 are inserted into predetermined positions of the insulating sheet 2, and the fixing holding pieces 17 are crimped to form the insulating sheet. Each male terminal 14 is fixed to the sheet 2. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, a protective sheet 22 is adhered to the lowermost layer for insulation and protection of the male terminal 14, and fixing pins 23 as shown in FIG. , 23 '.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a case where the insulating sheets 2 on which the male terminals 14 are mounted in parallel as described above are laminated in two layers. Such lamination is not limited to two layers, and three or more layers can be formed as necessary.

Next, a process of fitting the female terminal 7 of the plate-like body 1 with the male terminal 14 of the insulating sheet 2 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 11 and FIG.
The fixing pin 23 at the end of the insulating sheet 2 is
Insert Then, while bending the insulating sheet 2 in the direction of the arrow, the male terminals 14 of the insulating sheet 2 are fitted to the female terminals 7 of the plate-like body 1 one by one or one by one in a row. After the fitting of 14 is completed, the fixing pin 23 'is inserted into the remaining positioning hole 9 to fix the insulating sheet 2 and the plate-like body 1 together.

When the insulating sheet 2 is detached from the plate-like body 1, the above steps are performed in reverse. That is, the fixing pins 23 at the end of the insulating sheet 2 are removed from the positioning holes 9 of the plate 1, and then the male terminals 14 are sequentially removed one by one or one by one so that the insulating sheet 2 is peeled off from the plate 1. What is necessary is just to pull out from the female terminal 7.

In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which a flat conductor is used as the conductor of the sub-wire harness W '. In the case of a wire harness using a so-called electric wire as the conductor, FIG. A male terminal 24 as shown in FIG. The male terminal 24 includes a male electrical contact portion 25 and a conductor connection portion 26 similarly to the male terminal 14 described above.
The male terminal 1 is provided in the conductor connecting portion 26.
4 instead of the connecting tongue piece 18 of FIG.
Is provided. The wire and the male terminal 24 are connected by press-fitting the wire constituting the wire harness into the slot 28. 29 is a fixing holding piece.

[0020]

According to the sheet-type connector of the present invention, one terminal provided on the plate-like body is fitted with the other terminal provided on the flexible insulating sheet. By using the insulating property of the insulating sheet and bending it, the terminals can be sequentially fitted and removed, and even when a large number of terminals are provided, all terminals can be fitted with a small insertion / extraction force. , And can be removed, which is suitable for multipolarization of the connector. In addition, since it is easy to arbitrarily change by the flexibility of the insulating sheet, it is easy to adapt to the shape of the plate-like body on which the terminal on the other side is arranged, and it can correspond to various types of wire harnesses, and also has a connector and a wire harness. And has a great advantage that it is suitable for a flat wire harness.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a sheet connector according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a wire harness.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the plate-like body of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of the female terminal of FIG. 2 in a cutaway manner.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the female terminal of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the male terminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conductor constituting the sub-wire harness of FIG. 1;

7 is a perspective view showing a state where the male terminal of FIG. 5 is crimped to the conductor of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a step of fixing the male terminal of FIG. 7 to an insulating sheet.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a state in which male terminals are mounted in parallel on the insulating sheet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state in which the insulating sheets of FIG. 9 are laminated in two layers.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a step of fitting the female terminal and the male terminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing a step of fitting the female terminal and the male terminal of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a male terminal showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing a main part of a conventional multipolar connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A sheet-type connector 1 plate-like body 2 insulating sheet 7 female terminal 7b conductor connection part 11 electrical contact part 12 slot 14 male terminal 15 conductor connection part 16 electrical contact part 17 fixing holding piece 19 conductor 24 male terminal 25 electricity Contact part 26 Conductor connection part 29 Holding piece for fixing

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A terminal having a plate-like body provided with a plurality of one terminals to be fitted and removed from each other and a flexible insulating sheet provided with a plurality of corresponding other terminals. And the other terminal's conductor connection
The conductors constituting the circuit such as a flat wire harness are connected, and the electrical contact portion of one terminal and the electrical contact portion of the other terminal are sequentially fitted by bending of a flexible insulating sheet ,
A sheet type connector characterized in that it can be removed. 2. One terminal is a female terminal having a conductor connection portion having a slot for press-fitting an electric wire and a female electrical contact portion, and the other terminal has a holding piece for fixing to the insulating sheet. The sheet-type connector according to claim 1, wherein the connector is a male terminal including a conductor connection portion and a male electrical contact portion.