JP5622312B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector in which a terminal holding chamber is provided with a cantilevered flexible locking piece, and a terminal fitting inserted into the terminal receiving chamber is locked to a free end thereof.

  In a connector in which the flexible locking piece is locked to the terminal fitting and held in the terminal accommodating chamber, the rigidity of the flexible locking piece is reduced due to downsizing, so there is a concern that the reliability of the function of holding the terminal fitting is lowered. Is done. For example, there is a connector disclosed in Patent Document 1 in order to solve such a problem. In the connector shown in FIG. 7, the front end side of the flexible locking piece (also referred to as “lance”) 501 is a narrow-width portion 503, and the remaining portion is gradually widened toward the base end. A tapered portion 505 is used. A reinforcing bead 507 is formed at the center in the width direction on the lower surface of the lance 501, that is, the surface facing the bending space.

  The reinforcing bead 507 has a width substantially equal to the equal width portion 503 of the lance 501, and forms a terminal accommodating chamber from the lance 501, starting from a position slightly behind the starting end position of the tapered portion 505 of the lance 501. It is formed to extend rearward on the outer surface of the lower surface wall 511 of the cavity 509. The base end side that becomes the fulcrum of the lance 501 is wide, and the reinforcement bead 507 can also be wide, so that high rigidity can be obtained, and the reliability of the function of retaining the terminal by obtaining a large resilience is improved. It is done. Further, the width of the reinforcing bead 507 can be changed over a wide range, and the rigidity of the lance 501 can be adjusted over a wide range.

JP 2007-220354 A

  In recent years, in a connector, a flexible locking piece has a problem in that its terminal holding force is reduced as the connector size is reduced. A reduction in the lance size means a decrease in the holding force as it is, so that both miniaturization and maintenance of the holding force are problems. The conventional connector described above is provided with the reinforcing bead 507 to improve the holding force against the decrease in the lance holding force due to the downsizing, but a new problem that the resistance force at the time of inserting the terminal increases arises. An increase in resistance at the time of inserting a terminal not only deteriorates workability, but also includes a problem that confirmation at the time of locking becomes difficult to understand.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector that does not cause an increase in resistance force at the time of insertion while improving the holding strength of the terminal fitting against the decrease in the lance holding force due to downsizing. There is to do.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configuration.
(1) A flexible latch for locking the terminal fitting inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber into a free end, the base end of which is supported in a cantilevered manner on the bottom wall of the terminal accommodating chamber for accommodating the terminal fitting. A connector comprising a piece, wherein the flexible locking piece comprises a flexible part near the free end and a fixed part near the base end,
If both sides of the fixed portion of the flexible locking piece are connected to the left and right side walls of the terminal accommodating chamber by a pair of wing-shaped connecting portions symmetrically left and right , and the flexible locking piece is deformed, A connector characterized in that the connecting portion and the side wall cooperate to generate a synthetic elastic restoring force .

  According to this connector, in addition to the elasticity in the bending direction with the base end connected to the bottom wall as the center, the connecting portion connected to the side wall is also elastic as the flexible locking piece is displaced. The structure is deformed. By setting it as such a structure, the stress concentration in a base end can be disperse | distributed to a side wall. Simply put, the same effect as adding a spring member can be obtained. Therefore, compared to simply increasing the cross-sectional area of the flexible locking piece and increasing the rigidity, which is difficult to deform, it suppresses an increase in resistance during insertion and improves the return to the original position and maintains it. It becomes possible to improve the property.

Furthermore, since both sides of the flexible locking piece are connected to the left and right side walls by a pair of connecting portions symmetrically left and right, a spring added to the flexible locking piece by the connecting portion when the terminal fitting is inserted. Therefore, the free end of the flexible locking piece that is elastically restored can be securely locked to the terminal fitting without any inclination displacement or the like occurring at the free end.

  According to the connector according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a connector that does not cause an increase in resistance force when a terminal is inserted while improving the holding force of the terminal fitting against a decrease in lance holding force due to downsizing.

It is the perspective view which notched a part of connector concerning the present invention. It is an external appearance perspective view of the connector shown in FIG. It is a top view of the vicinity of a flexible locking piece. (A) is AA sectional drawing of FIG. 3, (b) is a principal part enlarged view of the part enclosed with the square frame. It is sectional drawing of the terminal storage chamber in which the terminal metal fitting was inserted. (A) The front view which looked at the flexible locking piece before a deformation | transformation from the opposite direction to the insertion direction of a terminal metal fitting, (b) is the flexible locking piece after a deformation | transformation seen from the opposite direction to the insertion direction of a terminal metal fitting. FIG. (A) is a top view of the conventional connector, (b) is a principal part enlarged view of the part enclosed with the round frame.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view in which a part of the connector according to the present invention is cut out, and FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the connector shown in FIG.
In the connector 11 according to the present embodiment, a plurality of terminal receiving openings 15 for receiving male terminals of a mating connector (not shown) are opened on one end face in the longitudinal direction of a connector housing 13 formed in a rectangular parallelepiped. The terminal receiving port 15 communicates with each of the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 17 defined in the connector housing 13. In this specification, for convenience of explanation, the terminal receiving port 15 of the connector 11 is referred to as the front, and the opposite side is referred to as the rear.

3 is a plan view of the vicinity of the flexible locking piece 19, FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3, FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of a main part surrounded by the rectangular frame, and FIG. It is sectional drawing of the terminal accommodating chamber 17 in which the terminal metal fitting 21 was inserted.
The terminal accommodating chamber 17 is partitioned from the lower terminal accommodating chamber 17 by a bottom wall 23. A female terminal fitting 21 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 17 from a terminal mounting opening 25 that opens at the rear of the connector housing 13. The female terminal fitting 21 is an example, and the terminal fitting 21 may be male. A flexible locking piece 19 projects into the space in which the terminal fitting 21 is mounted. The flexible locking piece 19 is formed integrally with the connector housing 13 from a synthetic resin material. The flexible locking piece 19 having the base end 27 connected to the bottom wall 23 has a free end 29 at the tip. The flexible locking piece 19 can be elastically deformed by supporting the base end 27 in a cantilever manner on the bottom wall 23. A retreat space 17 a is formed between the bottom of the flexible locking piece 19 and the bottom wall 23.

  The flexible locking piece 19 has a convex portion 31 formed on the upper surface in the vicinity of the free end 29. As for the convex part 31, the rear part becomes the inclined surface 33 and the front part becomes the latching | locking part 35. FIG. When the terminal fitting 21 is inserted, the inclined surface 33 strikes the electrical contact portion tip 37 (see FIG. 5) of the terminal fitting 21 and generates a component force that pushes the flexible locking piece 19 into the retracting space 17a. When the flexible locking piece 19 is elastically restored and returns to the original position, the locking portion 35 is locked in the locking hole 39 (see FIG. 5) of the terminal fitting 21 and is moved to the rear of the terminal fitting 21. Regulate the withdrawal of.

  Thus, when the terminal fitting 21 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 17, the flexible locking piece 19 is deformed in the direction in which the free end 29 is retracted from the terminal accommodating chamber 17 around the base end 27. The flexible locking piece 19 includes a flexible portion 41 near the free end and a fixing portion 43 near the base end. Here, the fixing portion 43 is connected to the side wall 45 of the terminal accommodating chamber 17. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the fixing portion 43 is connected to the left and right side walls 45 via the wing-like connecting portion 47 protruding from the left and right. The connecting portion 47 is formed integrally with the flexible locking piece 19 and the side wall 45 when the connector housing 13 is formed. The connecting portion 47 itself deforms with the deformation of the flexible locking piece 19, but also transmits the stress at the time of deformation to the side wall 45. The side wall 45 is also made of a synthetic resin material that is integrally molded and is not a perfect rigid body. Therefore, the side wall 45 is deformed not a little by receiving stress from the connecting portion 47.

  When the terminal fitting 21 is inserted and the flexible locking piece 19 is deformed, a part of the stress of the flexible locking piece 19 is transmitted to the connecting portion 47 and also to the side wall 45. These stresses are consumed as energy for sequentially deforming the flexible locking piece 19, the connecting portion 47, and the side wall 45 and disappear. At this time, any deformation of the connecting portion 47 and the side wall 45 due to the stress transmitted from the flexible locking piece 19 is within the elastic range. That is, the flexible locking piece 19, the connecting portion 47, and the side wall 45 are configured to approximate a link structure having an elastic restoring property. If the flexible locking piece 19 is deformed, the connecting portion 47 and the side wall 45 cooperate to generate a synthetic elastic restoring force.

  Due to this elastic restoring force, the flexible locking piece 19 can have good returnability. In other words, the spring property is maintained and there is no deterioration in returnability due to sag. That is, the yield point is located away from the elastic limit. As a result, when the rigidity is simply increased, the return point is improved and the retention property is improved as compared with the flexible locking piece 19 in which the yield point is easily located near the elastic limit.

  In the present embodiment, both sides of the flexible locking piece 19 are connected to the left and right side walls 45 by a pair of connecting portions 47 symmetrically. When the terminal fitting 21 is inserted, the spring property added to the flexible locking piece 19 by the connecting portion 47 is equally applied to the left and right of the flexible locking piece 19. As a result, the free end 29 is not tilted and the like, and the free end 29 of the flexible locking piece 19 that is elastically restored can be securely locked to the terminal fitting 21.

Next, the operation of the connector 11 having the above configuration will be described.
FIG. 6A is a front view of the flexible locking piece 19 before deformation viewed from the side opposite to the insertion direction of the terminal fitting 21, and FIG. 6B is the insertion of the terminal fitting 21 after deformation of the flexible locking piece 19. It is the front view seen from the direction and the opposite side.
When the terminal fitting 21 is mounted, when the terminal fitting 21 is inserted from the terminal mounting port 25 at the rear of the connector housing 13, the tip of the terminal fitting 21 comes into contact with the inclined surface 33 of the flexible locking piece 19. When the terminal fitting 21 is further inserted, the flexible locking piece 19 pressed on the inclined surface 33 is flexed and elastically deformed by the force F in the direction in which the free end 29 moves to the retracting space 17a.

  The flexible locking piece 19 is deformed around the base end 27. At this time, the connecting portion 47 connected to the fixing portion 43 is also deformed by the displacement of the flexible locking piece 19. When the terminal fitting 21 is inserted, the flexible locking piece 19 is bent by the amount of displacement necessary for insertion of the terminal fitting 21, and the stress is transmitted to the base end 27 of the flexible locking piece 19. Unlike the conventional structure in which only the base end 27 is connected to the bottom wall 23, the flexible locking piece 19 is connected to the side wall 45 via the connecting portion 47. Thus, the transmitted stress is not directly applied only to the bottom wall, but is also transmitted to the side wall 45. Further, since the side wall 45 is not a perfect rigid body, the reaction force generated in the flexible locking piece 19 is dispersed by bending a small amount, and the terminal is inserted with a lower insertion force than the conventional flexible locking piece 19. The metal fitting 21 can be inserted.

  When the terminal fitting 21 is inserted to a predetermined position, the locking hole 39 coincides with the locking portion 35, the flexible locking piece 19 returns to the original position by the elastic restoring force, and the terminal fitting 21 is moved to the locking portion. 35 is in a locked state where it has entered the locking hole 39. The terminal fitting 21 with the locking portion 35 locked in the locking hole 39 is restricted from being detached from the rear portion of the connector housing 13.

  In order to improve the holding force, it is necessary to increase the lance size. At this time, by increasing the lance size, the resistance force against the bending of the lance is also increased, and the insertion force is also increased. In this configuration, by dividing the flexible locking piece 19 into the flexible portion 41 and the fixing portion 43, the return performance can be improved without increasing the rigidity as the substantial performance of the flexible locking piece 19. By increasing the rigidity, it is possible to suppress an increase in insertion resistance when securing properties are secured.

  As described above, in the connector 11, in addition to the elasticity in the bending direction centered on the base end 27 connected to the bottom wall 23, the flexible locking piece 19 also includes the connecting portion 47 connected to the side wall 45. With the structure that is elastically deformed with the displacement of the piece 19, the stress concentration at the base end 27 can be distributed to the side wall 45, and the same effect as adding a spring member can be obtained. Therefore, compared to simply increasing the cross-sectional area of the flexible locking piece 19 and increasing the rigidity that is difficult to deform, the return to the original position is improved while suppressing an increase in resistance during insertion, Retention can be improved.

  Therefore, according to the connector 11 according to the present embodiment, the connector 11 that does not cause an increase in the resistance force at the time of inserting the terminal is obtained while improving the holding force of the terminal fitting 21 against the decrease in the lance holding force due to downsizing. be able to.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Connector 17 Terminal accommodating chamber 19 Flexible locking piece 21 Terminal metal fitting 23 Bottom wall 27 Base end 29 Free end 41 Flexible part 43 Fixing part 45 Side wall 47 Connection part

Claims (1)

A base end is supported in a cantilevered manner on the bottom wall of the terminal accommodating chamber that accommodates the terminal fitting, and is provided with a flexible locking piece that is elastically deformable and engages the terminal fitting inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber at the free end. In the connector, wherein the flexible locking piece comprises a flexible portion near the free end and a fixed portion near the base end,
If both sides of the fixed portion of the flexible locking piece are connected to the left and right side walls of the terminal accommodating chamber by a pair of wing-shaped connecting portions symmetrically left and right , and the flexible locking piece is deformed, A connector characterized in that the connecting portion and the side wall cooperate to generate a synthetic elastic restoring force .

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