JPH11339874A - Female terminal bracket - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure a designated contact pressure, even if a tab and an elastic contact piece are laterally shifted. SOLUTION: A contact protuberance 20 ranging in a width direction while having a fixed height is formed in the contact area being in contact with a tab T on an elastic contact piece 16. Accordingly, the contact surface Ta being in contact with the elastic contact piece 16 on the tab T is curved, and even if the tab T is relatively shifted in its width direction against the elastic contact piece 16, a quantity of elastic deflection of the elastic contact piece 16 is kept at a fixed quantity, and a normal contact pressure is secured between the tab T and the elastic contact piece 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a female terminal fitting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A female terminal fitting is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-409.
No. 88 is disclosed. The female terminal fitting includes a box-shaped fitting part having an open front surface, and a resiliently deformable resilient contact piece folded back from a lower edge of a front end of the fitting part. An embossed portion that rises in an arc shape when viewed from the front is formed. A tab of the male terminal fitting is fitted into the fitting portion of the female terminal fitting, and the tab makes a line contact with the embossed portion at a predetermined contact pressure while elastically bending the elastic contact piece, thereby having both male and female terminal fittings. Can be conducted.

[0003]

In recent years, there has been a demand for miniaturization of terminal fittings. In the case where the tabs of the male terminal fittings are formed by folding both side edges inward, the size of the tabs must be reduced. As shown in FIG. 5, the lower surface 1a on the side opposite to the turn of the tab 1 has an overall curved shape, and the lowermost point 1p of the lower surface 1a of the tab 1 and the uppermost point 2p of the embossed portion 2 are aligned. In this state, line contact (point contact when viewed from the front) comes to occur. However, the tab 1 and the embossed part 2
Is a contact between curved surfaces, so that the tab 1 is easily shifted in the width direction with respect to the elastic contact piece 3. When the lateral displacement occurs, as shown in FIG. 6, the tab 1 and the embossed portion 2 come into contact with each other on the slopes. In this state, the elastic bending amount of the elastic contact piece 3 is smaller than the normal bending amount. The predetermined contact pressure cannot be secured. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to ensure a predetermined contact pressure even when the tab and the elastic contact piece are laterally displaced.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a female terminal fitting provided with an elastic contact piece which elastically bends and contacts a tab of a male terminal fitting, wherein the tab of the elastic contact piece is provided. In the contact region with the contact projection, a contact projection continuously formed at a constant height in the width direction is formed. The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1, a contact portion of the contact projection with the tab has a chevron shape capable of point contact with the tab in a side view. .

[0005] The invention of claim 3 is claim 1 or claim 2.
The present invention is characterized in that the contact projection is formed by partially tapping out the elastic contact piece.

[0006]

<Effects and Effects of the Invention><Invention of claim 1> Since the elastic contact piece has a contact projection with a fixed height, the contact surface of the tab with the elastic contact piece is curved, and the tab is formed. Even if is displaced relative to the elastic contact piece in the width direction, the amount of elastic deformation of the elastic contact piece is kept constant, and a regular contact pressure is secured between the tab and the elastic contact piece. You.

<Embodiment of Claim 2> Since the elastic contact piece makes point contact with the tab at the top edge when viewed from the side, the contact form with the tab is point contact or line contact. As a result, a higher contact pressure can be ensured as compared with the case of surface contact. <Invention of claim 3> Since the contact protrusion is formed by partial beating, deformation of the elastic contact piece hardly occurs. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the contact pressure from being changed due to the deformation of the elastic contact piece.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The female terminal fitting 10 of the present embodiment has a barrel portion 11 for crimping an electric wire (not shown) formed at a rear end portion, and a square tubular fitting portion 12 formed at a front end portion. I have. The fitting portion 12 is opened forward, and the tab T of the male terminal fitting is inserted into the fitting portion 12 from the front (left side in FIG. 2) from this opening portion. The fitting portion 12 includes a bottom plate portion 13, a side wall portion 14 rising from both right and left side edges of the bottom plate portion 13, and an upper surface plate portion 15 in which the upper end edges of both side wall portions 14 are horizontally bent and closely overlapped. Become.

From the front edge of the bottom plate portion 13, an elastic contact piece 16 which is folded back into the fitting portion 12 is connected. The elastic contact piece 16 is bent in a mountain shape when viewed from the side, and an extended end (returned end) of the elastic contact piece 16 is in elastic contact with the bottom plate 13 on the upper surface. The elastic contact piece 16 is elastically bent so as to be crushed while expanding and deforming the top of the mountain. At a position slightly forward of the top of the elastic contact piece 16, a part of the bottom plate portion 13 is cut and raised upward and bent to form an excessively bending restricting projection 17.
Is formed, and when the elastic contact piece 16 abuts on the excessive deflection restricting projection 17 from above, the elastic contact piece 16 is restricted from excessive deflection exceeding its elastic limit. The opening of the bottom plate portion 13 formed by the formation of the excessive bending restricting projection 17 is provided with a retaining lance (not shown) provided on the housing when the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the housing (not shown). It is a retaining hole 18 to be engaged.
Further, a flat pressing portion 19 facing the elastic contact piece 16 is formed on the lower plate portion of the two-layered upper surface plate portion 15 by beating a part of the lower plate portion downward. The tab T is elastically pinched between them.

A contact projection 20 is formed on the elastic contact piece 16 by partially tapping it from the top to the front thereof. The contact protrusion 20 has a trapezoidal shape when viewed from the front side, and the upper surface of the contact protrusion 20 has a flat inclined surface inclined forward and downward. And
The top of the chevron at the rear end of the contact projection 20 when viewed from the side (a portion corresponding to the top of the elastic contact piece 16) has a constant height in the width direction when viewed from the front. This is a top edge portion 20A of a chevron-shaped cross section extending linearly in the width direction (the left-right direction in FIGS. 1 and 4). The top of the top edge 20A comes into point contact with the lower surface Ta of the tab T when viewed from the side. Top edge 2 in a state where tab T is not fitted
The interval between 0A and the holding portion 19 is set to be smaller by a predetermined dimension than the thickness dimension of the tab T. By appropriately setting this interval, the amount of elastic deformation of the elastic contact piece 16 when the tab T is fitted becomes an appropriate amount, and furthermore, the elastic contact piece 16 (the contact projection 20) and the tab T The contact pressure becomes appropriate.

The tab T is formed by bending an elongated plate material inwardly to the upper surface side symmetrically on both side edges. When the width dimension is sufficiently large with respect to the plate thickness, a flat area is secured on the lower surface of the formed tab T, but the tab T of the present embodiment is downsized. Therefore, the width dimension is set relatively small with respect to the plate thickness, and as a result, as shown in FIG.
Has a curved shape. In addition, the above-mentioned top edge 20
The interval between A and the holding portion 19 is set in consideration of this curved shape. That is, the height from the lowermost position of the curved lower surface Ta of the tab T to the uppermost position of the folded end Tb of the tab T is defined as the thickness of the tab T, and the interval smaller than this size is equal to the top edge 20A and the pressing portion. 19 and the interval size.

Regarding the width of the tab T and the inner width of the fitting portion 12, the fitting resistance increases when the tab T and the side wall portion 14 of the fitting portion 12 come into contact with each other. The width is made smaller than the inner width of the joint portion 12 so that a gap in the width direction is provided between them. Also, in order to share parts, instead of using female terminal fittings of a size compatible with the tab T,
A female terminal fitting one size larger than the fitting size may be combined, and in such a case, the gap in the width direction between the tab T and the fitting portion 12 is further increased.

In such a case, due to an error in assembling the terminal fitting and the housing, the tab T is moved in the width direction from the center position, which is a regular contact position with the fitting portion 12 (elastic contact piece 16). There is a risk of deviation. However, in the present embodiment, since the top edge portion 20A with which the tab T comes into contact has a constant height in the width direction, the distance between the top edge portion 20A and the pressing portion 19 is constant in the width direction. Therefore, the amount of elastic deformation of the elastic contact piece 16 when the tab T is laterally shifted remains the same as the amount of elastic deformation when the tab T is in contact with the top edge portion 20A at the regular center position. Thus, according to the present embodiment,
Since the contact area of the tab T on the elastic contact piece 16 is the top edge 20A having a constant height in the width direction, the tab T
Does not fluctuate in the width direction, the contact pressure between the elastic contact piece 16 and the tab T is kept constant. Further, since the elastic contact piece 16 comes into contact with the tab T at the highest point 20A at the highest point when viewed from the side, the contact form with the tab T is point contact or line contact, Compared to contact,
High contact pressure can be ensured. Further, in the present embodiment, since the contact protrusion 20 is formed by partially beating the elastic contact piece 16, the elastic contact piece 16 is formed.
Is less likely to occur, whereby it is possible to prevent the contact pressure from being deviated due to the deformation of the elastic contact piece 16.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above with reference to the drawings, and can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a female terminal fitting of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a partial horizontal sectional view of the female terminal fitting of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the female terminal fitting of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway front view showing a state in which a tab is fitted to the female terminal fitting of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state in which a tab is shifted laterally in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Female terminal fitting 16 ... Elastic contact piece 20 ... Contact protrusion 20A ... Top edge part T ... Tab

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A female terminal fitting provided with an elastic contact piece that elastically bends and contacts a tab of a male terminal fitting, wherein a contact area of the elastic contact piece with the tab is constant in a width direction. A female terminal fitting having a contact projection formed continuously at a height. 2. The female terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein a contact portion of the contact projection with the tab has a chevron shape capable of making point contact with the tab in a side view. 3. The female terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the contact projection is formed by partially tapping the elastic contact piece.