JP6258660B2 - Female terminal and connection structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a female terminal that engages with a male terminal by sandwiching the male terminal with contact pieces arranged to face each other.

  Conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1, a female connector having a configuration in which a female terminal is connected to an end portion of an electric wire constituting a wire harness or the like and the female terminal is accommodated in a housing is known. By fitting a male connector containing a male terminal into this female connector, the female terminal and the male terminal can be electrically connected.

  Here, the male terminal and the female terminal are known in various shapes. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a frame-shaped female terminal and an elongated male terminal that can be inserted into the frame. In patent document 2, the female terminal which has a comb-shaped member which opposes, and the flat male terminal are disclosed. In patent document 2, both terminals are engaged so that a male terminal is inserted | pinched between the comb-shaped members arrange | positioned facing. Moreover, although not described in Patent Document 2, hemispherical protrusions may be formed on the comb-like members at locations where they come into contact with the male terminals.

JP-A-8-213092 JP 2004-273462 A

  However, the hemispherical protrusion formed on the comb-like member has a small contact area with the male terminal (flat terminal 12) as shown by the thick line in FIG. Therefore, since the force which engages a female terminal and a male terminal concentrates on the said contact part, when inserting and extracting a male terminal by maintenance etc., a male terminal or a female terminal may be worn out and plating may peel off. Therefore, the conventional configuration has room for improvement in terms of wear during insertion / extraction.

  Furthermore, the position in the left-right direction of the projecting portions arranged facing each other vertically varies to some extent due to dimensional tolerances. Due to this variation, the contact portions may not overlap each other as shown in FIG. In this case, the male terminal cannot be stably held. As a result, mechanical connectivity and electrical connectivity can be unstable. Therefore, the conventional configuration has room for improvement in terms of stability of holding (contact pressure).

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its main purpose is to reduce the wear of the terminal during insertion / extraction in the female terminal that holds the male terminal with a comb-like member and holds the male terminal. An object of the present invention is to provide a configuration capable of stably holding a terminal.

Means and effects for solving the problems

  The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above. Next, means for solving the problems and the effects thereof will be described.

According to the 1st viewpoint of this invention, the female terminal of the following structures is provided. That is, this female terminal includes a crimping portion and a male terminal engaging portion. The said crimping | compression-bonding part is connected with the conductor of an electric wire. The male terminal engaging part is electrically connected to the crimping part and is composed of a plurality of sets of contact pieces arranged so as to face each other, by sandwiching the male terminal of the connection partner with the contact piece, It can be engaged with the male terminal. The contact pieces are arranged side by side in an arrangement direction that is perpendicular to the insertion / extraction direction of the male terminal and that is also perpendicular to the opposing direction of the contact pieces. A contact curved surface that is in surface contact with the male terminal is formed on a contact surface that is an inner side of the contact piece that is disposed to face the contact piece. When viewed in the insertion / removal direction of the male terminal, the corners on both sides of the curved surface for contact in the arrangement direction are formed with arc-shaped chamfers that prevent contact between the corner and the male terminal. The curvature radius of the chamfer is smaller than the curvature radius of the contact curved surface, and the curvature radius of the contact curved surface is 14 mm or more.

Thereby, since the contact area of a male terminal and a female terminal becomes large, since the force applied to a contact part disperse | distributes, the abrasion of the male terminal and female terminal at the time of insertion / extraction can be reduced. Furthermore, the contact area between the male terminal and the female terminal is increased, so that even if the formation position of the protruding portion is shifted in the left-right direction (the arrangement direction of the contact pieces) or the front-rear direction (insertion / removal direction), The terminal can be held stably. In addition, since the radius of curvature of the chamfer is smaller than the radius of curvature of the curved surface for contact, even if the male terminal is engaged with the female terminal in an inclined state, the male terminal should be in contact with the corner of the female terminal. Can be prevented. Therefore, since the male terminal and the female terminal are not in point contact, the male terminal can be stably held. Similarly, even if the female terminal is tilted, the male terminal can be stably held. Furthermore, when the curvature radius of the curved surface for contact is 14 mm or more, the female terminal can exhibit excellent wear resistance.

  In the female terminal, it is preferable that the distance between the contact pieces facing each other gradually increases as the male terminal engaging portion proceeds from the curved surface for contact to the opposite side of the crimping portion.

  This type of female terminal improves the workability of male terminal insertion work because the tip of the female terminal is open, but there is a concern that the male terminal may be inclined and inserted. However, since the female terminal of the present invention can prevent point contact even if the male terminal is slightly inclined, it can enjoy only the advantage that the workability of the insertion work is improved.

According to the 2nd viewpoint of this invention, the following structures are provided in the connection structure of a female terminal and a male terminal. That is, the female terminal includes a crimping portion and a male terminal connection portion. The said crimping | compression-bonding part is connected with the conductor of an electric wire. The male terminal connecting portion is electrically connected to the crimping portion, and is composed of a plurality of sets of contact pieces arranged to face each other, and the male terminal is sandwiched between the contact pieces so that the male terminal Is engaged. The contact pieces are arranged side by side in an arrangement direction that is perpendicular to the insertion / extraction direction of the male terminal and that is also perpendicular to the opposing direction of the contact pieces. A contact curved surface that is in surface contact with the male terminal is formed on a contact surface that is an inner side of the contact piece that is disposed to face the contact piece. When viewed in the insertion / removal direction of the male terminal , arc-shaped chamfers are formed at both corners of the contact curved surface in the arrangement direction, and the radius of curvature of the chamfer is the curvature of the contact curved surface. It is smaller than the radius, the male terminal is not in contact with the corner, and the curvature radius of the curved surface for contact is 14 mm or more.

Thereby, wear of the male terminal and the female terminal at the time of insertion / extraction can be reduced, and the male terminal can be stably held. In addition, since the radius of curvature of the chamfer is smaller than the radius of curvature of the curved surface for contact, even if the male terminal is engaged with the female terminal in an inclined state, the male terminal should be in contact with the corner of the female terminal. Can be prevented. Furthermore, when the curvature radius of the curved surface for contact is 14 mm or more, the female terminal can exhibit excellent wear resistance.

The figure which shows the female terminal and male terminal which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. The perspective view of the female terminal of this embodiment and a prior art example. The front view of the female terminal of this embodiment and a prior art example. The front view which compares the contact area of this embodiment and a prior art example when a protrusion part has shifted | deviated to the left-right direction. The front view which shows the contact area of this embodiment and a comparative example when a male terminal inclines and is inserted. The table | surface which shows the experimental result regarding the relationship between the curvature radius of the curved surface for contact, and abrasion resistance.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the connection structure 100 and the female terminal 20 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3A. In the following description, the directions shown in the drawings are used.

  The connection structure 100 according to this embodiment includes a male terminal 10 and a female terminal 20. A plurality of male terminals 10 are fixed to a male connector housing (not shown). A plurality of female terminals 20 are fixed to a female connector housing (not shown). And each male terminal 10 and female terminal 20 engage by engaging a male connector housing with a female connector housing. Hereinafter, the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20 will be described in detail.

  The male terminal 10 includes a crimping part 11 and a flat terminal 12.

  The crimp part 11 is crimped to the conductor part of the electric wire 1. Thereby, the electric wire 1 and the crimping | compression-bonding part 11 are connected electrically and mechanically.

  The flat terminal 12 is a metal flat plate electrically connected to the crimping part 11. An attachment hole is formed in the flat terminal 12, and the male terminal 10 is attached to the male connector housing using the attachment hole.

  The female terminal 20 includes a crimping part 21 and a male terminal engaging part 22.

  Similar to the crimping part 11, the crimping part 21 is crimped to the conductor part of the electric wire 2. Thereby, the electric wire 2 and the crimping | compression-bonding part 21 are electrically and mechanically connected.

  The male terminal engaging portion 22 is a member configured to be engageable with the flat terminal 12 of the male terminal 10. The male terminal engaging portion 22 is a metal member, and includes a mounting plate 31, a base portion 32, and a plurality of contact pieces 33.

  The mounting plate 31 is a flat plate-like member disposed below the contact piece 33. An attachment hole (not shown) is formed in the attachment plate 31, and the female terminal 20 is attached to the female connector housing using the attachment hole. Note that the mounting plate 31 may be disposed above the contact piece 33.

  The base portion 32 is a metal frame-like member disposed on the crimping portion 21 side. The base portion 32 is electrically connected to the crimping portion 21 (the electric wire 2). A contact piece 33 is formed from the base portion 32 toward the tip of the female terminal 20.

  The contact pieces 33 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction (arranged in a comb shape) and are arranged to face each other in the up-down direction. Hereinafter, the two contact pieces 33 arranged so as to face each other in the vertical direction may be referred to as “a set of contact pieces 33”. In the figure, three sets of contact pieces 33 are formed on the female terminal 20, but the number of sets of contact pieces 33 is arbitrary as long as it is two sets or more.

  The set of contact pieces 33 is configured to be elastically deformable in a direction away from each other. The contact piece 33 holds the flat terminal 12 by sandwiching the flat terminal 12 with this elastic force. Thereby, the male terminal 10 (electric wire 1) and the female terminal 20 (electric wire 2) can be electrically and mechanically connected.

  The arrangement interval of the pair of contact pieces 33 is the largest at the end portion on the base portion 32 side (the crimping portion 21 side), and gradually decreases as it approaches the tip. Then, after the arrangement interval exceeds the smallest position, the arrangement interval gradually increases as it approaches the tip. Projections 34 are formed at locations where the arrangement interval is the smallest.

  The protrusion 34 is formed for each contact piece 33. As shown in FIG. 3A, the protruding portion 34 is a portion that is formed on a contact surface that is an inner surface of the contact piece 33 and protrudes inward from the other. The protrusion part 34 of this embodiment is comprised from the curved surface 34a for contact, and the corner | angular part 34b.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the contact curved surface 34 a is configured to be able to contact the flat terminal 12 of the male terminal 10. The contact curved surface 34a is a curved surface having a relatively large radius of curvature.

  The corner portion 34b is a portion located at the boundary between the contact curved surface 34a and another contact surface. The corner 34b is formed at the end of the contact curved surface 34a so as to surround the contact curved surface 34a. The corner portion 34b is chamfered in an arc shape. The radius of curvature of the corner 34b is formed so as to be smaller than the radius of curvature of the contact curved surface 34a (so that the way of bending becomes steep). Thus, by forming the protrusion 34 from two types of portions having different curvature radii, the protrusion from the other contact surface is increased while increasing the curvature radius of the portion contacting the flat terminal 12 (the curved surface 34a for contact). 34 can be projected. In addition, the effect by having enlarged the curvature radius of the part which contacts the flat terminal 12 is mentioned later.

  Further, the contact curved surface 34a and the corner portion 34b may not have a constant radius of curvature, respectively, and may have a configuration in which the radius of curvature gradually changes.

  Next, with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, the conventional female terminal 50 will be briefly described, and the problems of the conventional female terminal 50 will be described. 2 (b), 3 (b), and 4 (b) are a perspective view, a front view, and a view showing a contact area of a conventional female terminal.

  The conventional female terminal 50 includes a crimping part 51 and a male terminal engaging part 52. The male terminal engaging portion 52 includes a mounting plate 61, a base portion 62, and a contact piece 63. A protrusion 64 is formed on the contact piece 63. Here, since the female terminal 50 has the same configuration as the female terminal 20 except for the shape of the protruding portion 64, only the protruding portion 64 will be described.

  The protrusion 64 has a hemispherical shape, and the radius of curvature is substantially constant. The radius of curvature of the protrusion 64 is considerably smaller than the radius of curvature of the contact curved surface 34a (the curve is steep). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4B, the contact area with the flat terminal 12 becomes very small (point contact). As a result, the following two problems exist.

  The first problem is wear of the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20. That is, if the contact area is small, the elastic force of the male terminal engaging portion 22 is concentrated on the portion, so that the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20 are worn when the male terminal 10 is inserted and removed. As a result, the plating formed on the surface may peel off.

  The second problem is the stability of holding the male terminal 10. If it demonstrates in detail, the formation position of the protrusion part 64 may shift | deviate in the left-right direction by a dimensional tolerance. In this case, if the contact area is small, the contact portions may not overlap in the left-right direction (the axis of the contact is displaced) (see FIG. 4B). As a result, the contact piece 33 cannot stably hold the flat terminal 12, and the mechanical connectivity and electrical connectivity may become unstable.

  Considering this point, the connection structure 100 of the present embodiment solves the above problem by holding the flat terminal 12 with the curved surface for contact 34a having a large curvature radius. This will be specifically described below.

  When the radius of curvature is large, the method of bending is gentle, so that the area of the contact portion between the flat terminal 12 and the protruding portion 34 is increased (not a point contact but a surface contact). Accordingly, since the elastic force of the male terminal engaging portion 22 is dispersed, wear of the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20 can be prevented.

  Further, since the area of the contact portion between the flat terminal 12 and the protruding portion 34 is increased, even if the formation position of the protruding portion 34 is shifted in the left-right direction due to dimensional tolerance, a part of the contact portion is left-right direction. It overlaps (the axes of the contacts are aligned) (see FIG. 4A). Thereby, the flat terminal 12 can be stably hold | maintained.

  In the above description, the case where the contact piece 33 is formed to be displaced in the left-right direction has been described. However, even if the contact piece 33 is formed to be displaced in the front-rear direction, the flat terminal 12 and the contact piece 33 are formed for the same reason. The flat terminal 12 can be stably held while preventing wear.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 5, the case where the flat terminal 12 of the male terminal 10 is inserted inclining in the left-right direction will be described.

  Although not shown in the drawings, the conventional example including the hemispherical protrusion 64 is a case where the flat terminal 12 is inclined and inserted because the contact area is small even when the flat terminal 12 is inserted in parallel. Has a small contact area and has the same two problems as described above.

  In this regard, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5A, even when the flat terminal 12 is inserted with an inclination, the contact curved surface 34a is a curved surface, so that the contact area is not a point contact. It can be made relatively large. Thereby, since a part of contact part has overlapped in the left-right direction, the flat terminal 12 can be hold | maintained comparatively stably. The same applies to the case where the contact piece 33 is inclined and formed not by the flat terminal 12 but by a dimensional tolerance during manufacture.

  Next, the relationship between the flat terminal 12 and the corner 34b of the protrusion 34 will be described. FIG. 5B is a comparative example in which a protruding portion 34x not having a chamfered corner is formed instead of the protruding portion 34 of the present embodiment. When the flat terminal 12 is inserted at an angle, when the corner is not arcuate as in the comparative example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the flat terminal 12 and the corner of the protrusion 34x are in contact with each other. There is a risk. In this case, the contact area becomes very small, and thus has the two problems described above.

  In this regard, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5A, the corner portion 34b is formed in an arc shape, so that the flat terminal 12 does not contact the corner portion 34b. Therefore, since the contact area does not become small, the above problem does not occur.

  Next, an experiment conducted by the applicants to confirm the effect of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a table showing experimental results regarding the relationship between the radius of curvature of the contact curved surface 34a and the wear resistance.

  In this experiment, the female terminals 20 having different contact radii of curvature on the contact curved surface 34a are each checked for the presence or absence of plating peeling when a predetermined member is sandwiched between the contact pieces 33 and slid 50 times. . The radius of curvature of the contact curved surface 34a of the female terminal 20 used in the experiment was from 1 mm to 16 mm, and the increment was 1 mm.

  In the table shown in FIG. 6, the left side shows the radius of curvature of the contact curved surface 34a, and the right side shows the level of wear resistance (specifically, the presence or absence of plating peeling). As a matter of course, the wear resistance is low when the plating is peeled off. From the table shown in FIG. 6, it can be seen that when the curvature radius of the contact curved surface 34 a is 14 mm or more, the plating is not peeled off and the wear resistance is high. Accordingly, the curvature radius of the contact curved surface 34a is preferably 14 mm or more.

  As described above, the female terminal 20 of the present embodiment includes the crimping portion 21 and the male terminal engaging portion 22. The crimp portion 21 is connected to the conductor of the electric wire 2. The male terminal engaging part 22 is electrically connected to the crimping part 21 and is composed of a plurality of sets of contact pieces 33 arranged so as to face each other. By sandwiching the male terminal 10 between the contact pieces 33, The male terminal 10 can be engaged. A contact curved surface 34 a that is in surface contact with the male terminal 10 is formed on the contact surface that is the inside of the contact piece 33 that is disposed so as to face the contact piece 33.

  Thereby, since the contact area of the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20 becomes large, since the force applied to a contact part disperse | distributes, the abrasion of the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20 at the time of insertion / extraction can be reduced. Further, the contact area between the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20 is increased, so that the male terminal 10 is stably held even when the formation position of the protruding portion 34 is shifted in the left-right direction or the front-rear direction. be able to.

  Further, in the female terminal 20 of this embodiment, an arcuate chamfer is formed at the end (corner portion 34b) of the contact curved surface 34a, and the curvature radius of the chamfer is the curvature radius of the contact curved surface. Smaller than.

  Thereby, even if it is a case where it engages with female terminal 20 in the state where male terminal 10 inclined, it can prevent male terminal 10 contacting corner part 34b of female terminal 20. Therefore, since the male terminal 10 and the female terminal 20 are not in point contact, the male terminal 10 can be stably held. Similarly, even if the female terminal 20 is formed to be inclined, the male terminal 10 can be stably held.

  Further, in the female terminal 20 of the present embodiment, the interval between the contact pieces 33 facing each other gradually increases as the male terminal engaging portion 22 proceeds from the curved surface for contact 34a to the opposite side of the crimping portion 21.

  This type of female terminal 20 is improved in workability of the insertion operation of the male terminal 10 because the tip of the female terminal 20 is open, but there is a concern that the male terminal 10 may be inserted at an angle. However, since the female terminal 20 of this embodiment can prevent point contact even if the male terminal 10 is slightly inclined, it can enjoy only the advantage that the workability of the insertion work is improved.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the above configuration can be modified as follows, for example.

  The female terminal 20 described above is an example, and components can be omitted, changed, or added. For example, the arrangement interval of the contact pieces 33 may be constant.

  Although the example which applies this invention to the male connector to which the some male terminal 10 is connected, and the female connector to which the some female terminal 20 is connected was demonstrated above, this invention is a structure using a male terminal and a female terminal. This connection structure can be widely applied.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Male terminal 12 Flat terminal 20 Female terminal 21 Crimp part 22 Male terminal engaging part 31 Mounting plate 32 Base part 33 Contact piece 34 Protruding part 34a Contact curved surface 34b Corner part 100 Connection structure

Claims (3)

A crimping part connected to the conductor of the wire;
It is electrically connected to the crimping portion and is composed of a plurality of sets of contact pieces arranged to face each other, and can be engaged with the male terminal by sandwiching the male terminal of the connection partner with the contact piece. A male terminal engaging portion;
With
The contact pieces are arranged side by side in an arrangement direction that is a direction perpendicular to the insertion / extraction direction of the male terminal and that is also a direction perpendicular to the facing direction of the contact pieces,
A contact curved surface that is in surface contact with the male terminal is formed on a contact surface that is an inner side of the contact piece that is disposed to face the contact piece,
When viewed in the insertion / removal direction of the male terminal, the corners on both sides of the curved surface for contact in the arrangement direction are formed with arc-shaped chamfers that prevent contact between the corner and the male terminal. The female terminal is characterized in that the radius of curvature of the chamfer is smaller than the radius of curvature of the curved surface for contact, and the radius of curvature of the curved surface for contact is 14 mm or more. The female terminal according to claim 1 ,
The female terminal engaging portion is characterized in that the interval between the contact pieces facing each other gradually increases as the male terminal engaging portion advances from the curved surface for contact toward the opposite side of the crimping portion. In connection structure of female terminal and male terminal,
The female terminal is
A crimping part connected to the conductor of the wire;
A male terminal that is electrically connected to the crimping portion and is composed of a plurality of sets of contact pieces arranged to face each other, and is engaged with the male terminal by sandwiching the male terminal with the contact piece. A connection,
With
The contact pieces are arranged side by side in an arrangement direction that is a direction perpendicular to the insertion / extraction direction of the male terminal and that is also a direction perpendicular to the facing direction of the contact pieces,
A contact curved surface that is in surface contact with the male terminal is formed on a contact surface that is an inner side of the contact piece that is disposed to face the contact piece,
When viewed in the insertion / removal direction of the male terminal , arc-shaped chamfers are formed at both corners of the contact curved surface in the arrangement direction, and the radius of curvature of the chamfer is the curvature of the contact curved surface. A connection structure, wherein the male terminal is not in contact with the corner, and the radius of curvature of the curved surface for contact is 14 mm or more.

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