WO2011021298A1

WO2011021298A1 - Female terminal fitting

Info

Publication number: WO2011021298A1
Application number: PCT/JP2009/064590
Authority: WO
Inventors: 敏一吉田
Original assignee: 行田電線株式会社
Priority date: 2009-08-20
Filing date: 2009-08-20
Publication date: 2011-02-24

Abstract

A female terminal fitting provided with an insertion opening which has good shape stability, firmly holding a male terminal fitting with an appropriate holding force, and capable of making contact with the male terminal fitting with reduced contact resistance. A female terminal fitting (1) is provided with cantilever-shaped entrance-side sections (43) extending from the base ends thereof which are on the front end side of the fitting, and also with cantilever-shaped rear-side sections (44) located on the far side from the front end side and extending from the base ends thereof which are on the rear end side of the fitting. The entrance-side sections (43) and the rear-side sections (44) are formed by punching holes (4) in a body tube section (11) such that the entrance-side and rear-side sections (43, 44) are arranged in the body tube section (11) in the circumferential direction thereof. The body tube section (11) is formed by rolling an electrically conductive thin metal plate material. The holes (4) are located at positions appropriately spaced from an insertion opening (13) of the body tube section (11) and have an H-shape or a shape in which H-shapes continue. The free end side of the entrance-side and rear-side sections (43, 44) is bent inward of the body tube section (11) to form male-terminal holding sections (51) of the entrance side and male-terminal holding sections (52) of the far side.

Description

Female terminal bracket

The present invention relates to a terminal fitting incorporated in a connector or other connection device for electrically connecting a power cable or a communication cable, and more specifically, a male terminal fitting whose tip is formed in a substantially rod shape or a substantially cylindrical shape. It is related with the substantially cylindrical female terminal metal fitting which can be inserted.

As a terminal structure for electrically connecting a power line, a communication line or the like, a substantially cylindrical female terminal fitting (also referred to as a socket terminal, hereinafter referred to as “female terminal fitting”) is provided inside the above-described terminal structure. A terminal structure in which a male terminal fitting (also referred to as a pin terminal, hereinafter referred to as “male terminal fitting”) having a substantially rod shape or a substantially cylindrical shape that is slightly thinner than a female terminal fitting is widely used. . A female terminal fitting in this type of terminal structure has an axial slit formed at the end of an elongated cylindrical body made of a conductive material having appropriate elasticity, as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, for example. In general, a plurality of them are formed, the tip portion is divided in the circumferential direction, and the divided pieces are bent to form a tip-shaped tulip-shaped insertion port. The split piece formed at the tip end portion of the cylindrical body is bent in a tapered shape, and at the most tip end portion, a welcome taper extending outward is formed in order to easily attract the tip end of the male terminal fitting. For example, in the waterproof connector disclosed in Patent Documents 4 and 5 and the like, the present applicant also uses the above-described tip-shaped tulip-shaped female terminal fitting for the receptacle-side terminal paired with the plug.

JP-A-63-102182 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-325811 JP 2004-139797 A JP 2003-346970 A JP 2004-158427 A

In the conventional cracked tulip-shaped female terminal fitting as described above, the tip of the cylindrical body constituting the female terminal fitting is divided by a slit, and the divided piece formed thereby is an intermediate portion of the cylindrical body It is held in a cantilever shape from the tip to the tip. The resistance force when the male terminal metal fitting is inserted into the female terminal metal fitting and the clamping force after the insertion depend on the bending elastic force of the divided piece of the female terminal metal fitting. However, since the insertion port surrounded by the free ends of the split pieces is the most easily deformed portion of the entire female terminal fitting, it is important to properly adjust and maintain the resistance and clamping force. Not easy. In addition, if the front shape of the insertion slot is slightly distorted with respect to the axis of the female terminal fitting, the male terminal fitting will be caught by the female terminal fitting insertion slot when the male terminal fitting is inserted. There is also a possibility that the insertion port of the metal fitting is deformed, or the contact state between the inserted male terminal fitting and the female terminal fitting is deteriorated.

Also, in this type of terminal structure, particularly when the current value is high, it is extremely important to suppress the heat generation at the portion where the terminal fittings are in contact with each other. In order to suppress the heat generation at the terminal contact portion, it is desirable to select a material having a conductor resistance as small as possible for the terminal fitting and to reduce the contact resistance by increasing the contact area between the terminal fittings as much as possible in terms of shape. However, the contact portions between the terminal fittings are strictly point contacts, and it is practically difficult to expand the individual contact portions to the state of line contact or surface contact. Therefore, we want to increase the number of contact points as much as possible. However, in the case of the conventional cracked tulip-shaped female terminal fitting, the contact portion with the male terminal fitting is limited only around the insertion opening, so that the contact resistance There is also a limit to reducing this.

Therefore, the present invention is particularly excellent in shape stability around the insertion slot, and the male terminal fitting is firmly inserted by matching the female terminal fitting and the shaft center, and is securely held with an appropriate clamping force. The present invention provides a female terminal fitting that can increase the number of contact points with the male terminal fitting as compared with the conventional case and reduce the contact resistance.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the female terminal fitting of the present invention comprises a main body cylinder portion and a plurality of punched pieces formed by punching the punching portion into the main body cylinder portion, and the main body cylinder portion. Is formed by winding a conductive thin metal plate material into a cylindrical shape having a uniform inner diameter, and its leading edge serves as an insertion port for fitting a male terminal fitting, and the punching portion is formed on the main body cylindrical portion. A plurality of positions, which are receded from the tip by an appropriate distance, are punched at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction of the main body cylindrical portion, and each punched portion has two or more longitudinal slits extending in the axial direction of the main body cylindrical portion. An H-shape consisting of a short slit connecting the vicinity of the middle of the longitudinal slit in the circumferential direction of the main body cylinder portion, or a shape in which a plurality of the H-shapes are continuous, and adjacent to the location where each of the punched portions is formed. Cut out in a cantilevered fashion by two matching long and short slits Further, a punched piece on the inlet side with the front end side as the base end and a punched piece on the back side with the rear end side as the base end are formed, respectively, and the punched piece on the inlet side is free on the rear end side. While the end is bent so as to approach the axial center side, a male terminal holding portion on the inlet side is formed by forming a folded portion outward on the rear end edge, while the punched piece on the back side is It is bent so that the free end on the front end side approaches the axial center side, and a male terminal holding portion on the back side is formed by forming an outward folding portion at the front end edge.

In this configuration, that is, by winding a conductive thin metal plate into a cylindrical shape with a uniform inner diameter, a main body cylinder portion having an insertion port for fitting a male terminal fitting into the distal end edge is formed, The main body cylinder part is composed of two or more longitudinal slits extending in the axial direction of the main body cylinder part and a short slit connecting the vicinity of the middle of the longitudinal slits in the circumferential direction at a position retracted by an appropriate distance from the insertion port. A punched portion having a shape of H shape or a plurality of continuous H shapes is punched at a plurality of positions at an appropriate interval in the circumferential direction of the main body cylinder portion, so that two adjacent long slits and short slits cut each other. A punched piece on the inlet side with the front end as the base end and a punched piece on the back side with the rear end side as the base end are formed, and the free end side of each punched piece is the main body. It is bent to the inside of the tube part and is attached to the free edge of each punched piece. By turning portion is formed into male terminal holding portions on the inlet side of the male terminal holding portions and the rear side is also characterized as being formed respectively.

In the female terminal fitting of the present invention configured as described above, the insertion opening formed at the distal end mouth edge of the main body cylindrical portion does not have a tip-like tulip shape like the conventional female terminal fitting, but in the circumferential direction. It becomes a continuous cylindrical shape without a break. Therefore, the strength and shape stability of the insertion port are excellent, the center of the insertion port is not distorted with respect to the axial center of the main body cylinder part, and the insertion port is not affected even if the tip of the male terminal fitting comes into contact with the insertion port. It becomes difficult to deform.

Then, by punching a punched portion having an H shape or a plurality of continuous H shapes at a position retracted from the distal end edge of the main body tube portion, the leading end side is the base end of the punched portion. The punching piece and the punching piece having the rear end side as the base end are formed so that the free ends of the punching piece abut each other. These punched pieces are bent in a taper shape to the inside of the main body cylinder portion, whereby an inlet-side male terminal holding portion and a back-side male terminal holding portion are formed.

First, the tip of the male terminal fitting inserted into the insertion slot is in contact with the male terminal clamping portion on the inlet side that is bent so as to narrow toward the back side, and the tip of the male terminal fitting is placed on the axis of the female terminal fitting. Invited to match. Further, the pushed-in male terminal fitting is also sandwiched by the male terminal clamping portion on the back side that is bent so as to narrow toward the entrance side, and the axis of the male terminal fitting and the axis of the female terminal fitting match. To be held.

Each punched piece formed in the punched portion is bent toward the inside of the main body cylinder portion, and each free end serves as a contact point for elastically holding the peripheral surface of the male terminal fitting. When the shape of the punched portion is, for example, a shape in which two H shapes are arranged side by side, four punched pieces are formed per punched portion, and these constitute four contact points. . As described above, according to the present invention, a large number of contact points can be formed at once by punching with a press die, which is extremely efficient in terms of manufacturing cost.

Furthermore, the female terminal fitting of the present invention is characterized in that the short slit in the punched portion is formed to be biased toward the tip side from the middle point in the length direction of the long slit.

According to this configuration, the punched piece on the inlet side is shorter than the punched piece on the back side. Therefore, if the material and thickness of the thin metal plate material constituting the main body cylinder part are uniform, the male terminal clamping part on the inlet side formed by bending the short punched piece bends the long punched piece. The contact pressure with respect to the male terminal fitting becomes larger than that of the male terminal clamping portion on the back side formed. As a result, when the tip of the male terminal fitting first contacts the male terminal clamping portion on the inlet side, the tip of the male terminal fitting is easily guided to the axis of the female terminal fitting.

Furthermore, the female terminal fitting of the present invention is characterized in that the punched piece on the back side is bent so that the free end is closer to the axial side than the punched piece on the inlet side.

According to this configuration, since the male terminal holding portion on the back side is narrower than the male terminal holding portion on the inlet side, the male terminal metal fittings as a whole do not wobble compared to the case where the back side is wider than the inlet side. In addition, it can be clamped firmly. However, if the back-side male terminal clamping portion is too narrow, the insertion resistance of the male terminal fitting becomes too large, and therefore it is preferable to balance appropriately.

In addition, by combining this configuration with the above-described configuration in which the punched piece on the inlet side is shorter than the punched piece on the back side, the insertion resistance of the male terminal fitting is increased on the inlet side and lower on the back side. Thus, in addition to facilitating the insertion of the male terminal fitting, the male terminal fitting is smoothly guided to the shaft center, and the clamped state of the inserted male terminal fitting is stabilized as a whole.

Furthermore, the female terminal fitting of the present invention is characterized in that the front end edge of the main body cylinder portion is bent inward over the entire circumference.

According to this configuration, the portion bent inward serves as a reinforcing rib to improve the strength of the insertion opening. Moreover, since the outer peripheral edge of the insertion opening is rounded, safety against contact and the like is also increased.

The female terminal fitting of the present invention has a cylindrical shape with an unbroken insertion opening formed at the end edge of the main body cylinder portion, so that the strength of the insertion opening is high and the shape stability is excellent. Therefore, the insertion port does not become distorted with respect to the axis of the main body cylinder portion, and it is easy to prevent the insertion port from being deformed by the tip of the male terminal fitting coming into contact with the insertion port.

Further, the female terminal fitting of the present invention is formed by punching a punched portion having a H-shape or a plurality of continuous H-shapes at a position retreated from the distal end edge of the main body cylinder portion, and the distal end side is the base end. And a punched piece with the rear end side as the base end, and by bending them in a taper shape to the inside of the main body cylinder part, the male terminal clamping part on the inlet side and the back side Since the male terminal clamping portion is formed, the male terminal fitting is firmly clamped in a preferable posture in which its axis is aligned with the axis of the female terminal fitting. At the same time, since the male terminal fitting and the female terminal fitting come into contact with each other through a large number of contact points, the contact resistance between the terminals is reduced, and heat generation is easily suppressed.

In addition, the female terminal fitting of the present invention forms a main body cylinder portion by punching a punched portion having a shape of H or a plurality of continuous H shapes on a conductive thin metal plate, and winding the punched portion. Therefore, a large number of contact points can be formed by a small number of punching steps, which is economical.

It is the perspective view which showed the whole shape of the female terminal metal fitting which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the state which fitted the said female terminal metal fitting and the male terminal metal fitting. It is a side view of the punching part vicinity in the said female terminal metal fitting. It is an axial direction longitudinal cross-sectional view of the punching part vicinity in the said female terminal metal fitting. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the female terminal fitting at the AA position in FIG. 3. It is an expanded view of the said female terminal metal fitting.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. 1 to 5 show an embodiment of the female terminal fitting 1 of the present invention. The female terminal fitting 1 is provided on the receptacle side of a waterproof connector configured as a pair of a plug and a receptacle (socket), for example, and is provided with a mating thin rod-like or cylindrical male terminal fitting provided on the other plug side. 2 are fitted to each other. FIG. 2 is a view showing only a terminal portion in an embodiment configured as a pair of such a plug and a receptacle, omitting an outer shell body surrounding each terminal. However, as long as the outer diameter and length of the fitted male terminal fitting 2 match the inner diameter and length of the female terminal fitting 1, the detailed apparatus configuration of the counterpart is not particularly limited.

The female terminal fitting 1 is formed by winding a conductive thin metal plate into an elongated cylindrical shape. The female terminal fitting 1 includes a main body cylindrical portion 11 having a uniform inner diameter into which the male terminal fitting 2 is inserted and a caulking joint portion 12 extending to the rear end side. The caulking joint 12 sandwiches the conductor (stranded wire) 31 of the cable 3 inside the joining piece raised so as to form a substantially U shape when viewed from the rear end side, and crimps the joining piece to the conductor 31. Thus, the cable 3 is caulked and joined.

In the following description, for both the female terminal fitting 1 and the male terminal fitting 2, the side that mates with the counterpart is referred to as the “tip side” or “entrance side (only for the female terminal)” and the opposite side. (The side connected to the cable 3) is referred to as "rear end side" or "back side (same as above)".

The front end edge of the main body cylinder portion 11 is an insertion port 13 for inserting the male terminal fitting 2. A reinforcing rib 14 formed by bending the tip end edge inward is formed on the inner side of the tip end edge. The reinforcing ribs 14 increase the strength of the insertion port 13 to make it difficult to deform the insertion port 13, and round the outer peripheral edge of the insertion port 13 to contribute to improving safety against contact.

A plurality of punched portions 4 are formed at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction of the main body cylinder portion 11 at a position in the main body cylinder portion 11 that is retracted by an appropriate distance from the insertion port 13. The punching portion 4 includes a plurality of longitudinal slits 41 extending in the axial direction of the main body cylindrical portion 11 and a short slit 42 connecting the vicinity of the middle of the longitudinal slit 41 in the circumferential direction of the main body cylindrical portion 11. H-shape, or a plurality of the H-shapes are integrally formed. The punching portion 4 in the illustrated form has a shape in which two H-shapes are formed by crossing one short slit 42 with three long slits 41, and this punching portion 4 is a main body cylinder. Four portions are formed along the circumferential direction of the portion 11.

Each punched portion 4 is formed with a plurality of punched

pieces

43 and 44 cut out in a cantilever manner by two adjacent longitudinal slits 41 and short slits 42. Near the front end of the main body cylinder portion 11, an inlet-side punched piece 43 with the front end side as a base end is formed, and near the rear end of the main body cylinder portion 11, a rear side with a rear end side as a base end is formed. Punched pieces 44 are formed, and face each other so that the free ends of each other are abutted across the short slit 42. In the illustrated embodiment, two punching pieces 43 on the inlet side and two punching pieces 44 on the back side are formed in one punching portion 4.

The punched piece 43 on the inlet side is bent obliquely so that the free end on the rear end side approaches the axial center side of the main body cylinder portion 11, and only a minute portion on the rear end edge is turned outward. It has become. A portion surrounded by the plurality of inlet-side punched pieces 43 constitutes an inlet-side male terminal holding portion 51 that narrows toward the back side.

On the other hand, the punched piece 44 on the back side is bent obliquely so that the free end on the front end side approaches the axial center side of the main body cylindrical portion 11, and only a minute part at the front end edge is turned outward. It has become. A portion surrounded by the plurality of back side punching pieces 44 constitutes a back side male terminal holding portion 52 that becomes wider toward the back side.

When the male terminal fitting 2 is inserted into such a female terminal fitting 1, the tip of the male terminal fitting 2 that has passed through the insertion port 13 comes into contact with the male terminal holding portion 51 on the inlet side that narrows toward the back side. However, the tip of the male terminal fitting 2 is guided so as to match the axis of the female terminal fitting 1. And when the front-end | tip of the male terminal metal fitting 2 passes the male terminal clamping part 51 by the side of an entrance, a surrounding surface is elastically clamped by the male terminal clamping part 51 by the side of an entrance. When the male terminal fitting 2 is further pushed in, the tip of the male terminal fitting 2 advances to the inside of the male terminal holding portion 52 on the back side while pushing the folded portion 46 of the male terminal holding portion 52 on the back side, and the peripheral surface thereof is on the back side. It is also elastically clamped by the male terminal clamping part 52.

In the illustrated form, eight punching pieces 43 on the inlet side constituting the male terminal clamping portion 51 on the inlet side and the rear side constituting the male terminal clamping portion 52 on the back side are formed on the peripheral surface of the male terminal fitting 2. Since eight punched pieces 44 are in contact with each other, 16 contact points are formed in total.

When the detailed dimensional relationship of each part which concerns on an example form with reference to FIG. 4 is seen, the short slit 42 in the punching part 4 will be slightly biased to the front end side rather than the intermediate point in the length direction of the long slit 41. Is formed. Accordingly, the length L1 of the punched piece 43 on the inlet side is slightly shorter than the length L2 of the punched piece 44 on the back side. In this case, the contact pressure with respect to the male terminal fitting 2 is larger in the male terminal clamping portion 51 on the inlet side than in the male terminal clamping portion 52 on the back side, so that the tip of the male terminal fitting 2 is clamped on the male terminal clamping side on the inlet side. It is convenient for guiding along the portion 51 to the axial center of the female terminal fitting 1.

Further, the inner diameter D1 of the insertion port 13 is gradually narrowed gradually from the narrowest diameter D2 of the male terminal clamping portion 51 on the inlet side to the narrowest diameter D3 of the male terminal clamping portion 52 on the back side. Has been. Thereby, the male terminal metal fitting 2 can be firmly clamped so as not to wobble as a whole.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the thin metal plate material constituting the female terminal fitting 1 of the present invention. Concave and convex

engaging portions

15 and 16 are appropriately formed on the side edge portion that is abutted when the thin metal plate is wound into a cylindrical shape. The female terminal fitting 1 is formed by punching a plurality of punched portions 4 in a thin metal plate material by punching with a press die and then winding the punched portions 4. By adopting the punched portion 4 having a shape of H shape or a plurality of continuous H shapes, a plurality of punched

pieces

43 and 44 can be formed in one punched portion 4. Therefore, for example, compared to a form in which a simple U-shaped punched piece is formed and cut up, the manufacturing cost is extremely efficient.

The female terminal fitting 1 of the present invention can be widely used for a male-female fitting type terminal structure in various power line and communication line connection devices.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Female terminal metal fitting 11 Main body cylinder part 13 Insertion slot 14 Reinforcement rib 2 Male terminal metal fitting 4 Punching part 41 Long slit 42 Short slit 43 Punching piece 44 on the entrance side Punching piece 45 on the back side Folding part 46 Folding part 51 Male terminal clamping part 52 on the entrance side Male terminal clamping part on the back side

Claims

A main body cylinder portion, and a plurality of punched pieces formed by punching the punching portion into the main body cylinder portion;
The main body cylinder portion is formed by winding a conductive thin metal plate material into a cylindrical shape with a uniform inner diameter, and its front end edge serves as an insertion port for inserting a male terminal fitting,
The punched portions are punched at a plurality of positions at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction of the main body cylindrical portion at a position retracted by an appropriate distance from the tip of the main body cylindrical portion. H-shape consisting of two or more longitudinal slits extending in the direction and a short slit connecting the vicinity of the middle of the longitudinal slit in the circumferential direction of the main body cylinder part, or a plurality of continuous H-shapes,
In the place where each punched portion is formed, a punched piece on the inlet side with the front end as the base end, which is cut out in a cantilevered manner by two adjacent long slits and short slits, and a rear end A punched piece on the back side with the side as the base end is formed,
The punched piece on the inlet side is bent so that the free end on the rear end side approaches the axial center side, and a male terminal holding portion on the inlet side is formed by forming an outward folding portion on the rear end edge. While formed
The back side punched piece is bent so that the free end on the front end side approaches the axial center side, and a folded portion to the outside is formed at the front end edge to form a male terminal holding portion on the back side A female terminal fitting.
By winding the conductive metal thin plate material into a cylindrical shape with a uniform inner diameter, a main body cylinder portion having an insertion port for inserting a male terminal fitting into the tip end edge is formed,
The main body cylinder part is composed of two or more longitudinal slits extending in the axial direction of the main body cylinder part and a short slit connecting the vicinity of the middle of the longitudinal slits in the circumferential direction at a position retracted by an appropriate distance from the insertion port. A punched portion having a shape of H shape or a plurality of continuous H shapes is punched at a plurality of positions at an appropriate interval in the circumferential direction of the main body cylinder portion, so that two adjacent long slits and short slits cut each other. A punched piece on the inlet side with the distal end side as the base end, and a punched piece on the back side with the rear end side as the base end, formed in a hand-held shape,
The free end side of each punched piece is bent to the inside of the main body cylinder portion, and the outward folded portion is formed at the free end edge of each punched piece, so that the male terminal clamping portion and the back side on the inlet side are formed. Female terminal metal fittings, each having a male terminal clamping portion on the side.
In the female terminal fitting according to claim 1 or 2,
A female terminal fitting, wherein a short slit in a punched portion is formed to be biased toward a tip side from an intermediate point in a length direction of a long slit.
The female terminal fitting according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A female terminal fitting, wherein a punched piece on the back side is bent so that a free end thereof is closer to the axial center side than a punched piece on the inlet side.
The female terminal fitting according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A female terminal fitting, wherein a front end edge of a main body cylinder portion is bent inward over the entire circumference.