JP2000348816A - Waterproof connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate terminal fitting insertion and ensure high sealing performance. SOLUTION: A female housing 10 is composed of an inner housing 11 which has cavities 14 and an outer housing 12 into which the inner housing 11 can be fitted. At a rear wall 18 of the female housing 10, insertion openings 20 being associated with the cavities 14 are formed. In the outer housing 12, the inner housing 11 can be latched at a temporary latching position at which an accommodation space 33 with a specified depth dimension is formed between the inner housing 11 and the rear wall 18 and, behind the temporary latching position, at a main latching position at which the accommodation space 33 shrinks to almost half its initial volume. First the inner housing 11 is mounted at the temporary latching position, and then a first gel material 34 is accommodated in the accommodation space 33 in an almost natural state. As female-side terminal fittings 2 are inserted into the cavities 14 through the first gel material 34 in an uncompressed state so as to be fitted into the mate housing, the inner housing 11 is pushed into the main latching position so as to compress the first gel material 34.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collective waterproof connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a collective waterproof connector, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-266941 is known. In this connector, a large rubber stopper having a size enough to cover the cavity and having an electric wire insertion hole provided at each position corresponding to each cavity is arranged on the rear surface of the connector housing having the cavity formed therein. The terminal fitting penetrates the rubber plug and is housed in the cavity while elastically spreading the wire, and after the terminal fitting has passed, the inner surface of the wire insertion hole is brought into close contact with the outer periphery of the wire to remove the seal.

[0003]

However, in the conventional structure, the terminal fitting is forcibly passed through the wire insertion hole of the rubber plug as described above. If a stabilizer that protrudes from the terminal fittings, for example, functions to stabilize the insertion operation or the like, is protruded from the terminal fitting, the stabilizer may be damaged so as to cut the inner surface of the wire insertion hole, and the sealing performance may be reduced.
The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily perform an operation of inserting a terminal fitting and to secure a high sealing property.

[0004]

As means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 is directed to an inner housing having a plurality of cavities for accommodating terminal fittings fixed to the ends of electric wires; A connector housing comprising an outer housing into which an inner housing can be inserted from the front and an opening for inserting the terminal fitting corresponding to each of the cavities in the rear wall, a rear surface of the inner housing, and a rear wall of the outer housing; A gel material mounted between the inner housing and the inner housing, the rear surface of the inner housing having a space for accommodating the gel material between the inner housing and a rear wall of the outer housing; It is characterized in that it can be locked to the final locking position where the space is narrowed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, between the connector housing and a mating connector housing fitted with the connector housing, the two connector housings are assisted in fitting. A lever mechanism including a lever having a cam portion and a follower portion engaging with the cam portion is provided, and the lever is provided on one of the outer housing and the mating connector housing in the connector housing. The other is characterized in that the follower portion is provided. The invention of claim 3 provides claim 1 or claim 2.
In the one described in, between the mating surface of the inner housing and the mating connector housing facing each other,
It is characterized in that another gel material that can be compressed is interposed with the fitting operation of the two connector housings.

[0006]

When the inner housing is held at the temporary locking position, the gel material is mounted in the accommodation space between the rear surface and the rear wall of the outer housing. In such a state, the terminal fitting is inserted from the insertion opening of the outer housing, penetrates the gel material, and is housed in the corresponding cavity. Subsequently, when the inner housing is pushed into the final locking position, the gel material is compressed between the inner housing and the rear wall of the outer housing, and adheres around the electric wires. Since the terminal fittings need only be inserted into the non-compressed gel material, the insertion operation can be easily performed. By moving the inner housing to the final locking position, the gel material is compressed and high sealing properties can be obtained.

<Invention of Claim 2> When the lever is operated,
The outer housing and the mating housing of the connector housing are pulled toward each other, and the inner housing is shifted from the temporary locking position to the full locking position so as to be pushed from the mating connector housing. Since the inner housing can be moved to the full locking position by utilizing the operation of a lever used to assist the fitting of both connector housings, the operation of moving the inner housing to the full locking position can be performed easily and with a small force. be able to. <Invention of Claim 3> With the fitting operation of both connector housings using the lever, the waterproofing of the private room on the fitting surface side of the inner housing can also be performed.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 1, a female connector housing 10 (hereinafter, referred to as a female housing) and a male connector housing 40 (hereinafter, referred to as a male housing) that are fitted to each other.
And two gel materials 3 as a sealing member.
4,46 are equipped. In the following description, the fitting ends of the housings 10 and 40 will be described as front.

The female housing 10 is further divided into an inner housing 11 and an outer housing 12.
As shown in FIG. 2, the inner housing 11 is formed in a horizontally long block shape, and a plurality of cavities 14 into which the female terminal fitting 2 fixed to the terminal of the electric wire 1 can be inserted. , Which are divided into two upper and lower stages and aligned. A lance 15 is formed on the ceiling surface of each cavity 14 to lock the inserted female terminal fitting 2 in a retaining state, and a mating male terminal fitting 44 described later is fitted on the front surface. The terminal fitting inlet 16 is opened.

One of the outer housings 12 has a stepped rectangular large hood portion 1 on the front surface of a thick rear wall 18.
9 is formed, and the rear end side of the inner housing 11 can be fitted into the inside of the large hood portion 19. In the rear wall 18 of the outer housing 12, insertion holes 20 are formed at positions corresponding to the cavities 14 of the inner housing 11 so that the female terminal fittings 2 can be inserted.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pair of left and right guide plates 22 are provided from the inner surface of the rear wall 18 of the outer housing 12.
As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of guide holes 23 into which the above-mentioned guide plate 22 can be inserted are formed in the inner housing 11 so as to penetrate the front and rear surfaces. This guide hole 23 is formed slightly wider than the thickness of the guide plate 22, and the outer surface of each guide plate 22
The guide plate 22 is set so as to be in sliding contact with the outer wall surface, and the distal end side of the guide plate 22 can be bent and deformed inward in the guide hole 23.

FIG. 4 shows the outer surfaces of the two guide plates 22.
As shown in the figure, two temporary upper and lower temporary locking projections 25 each having a tapered front surface are formed at a position near the front end thereof, and a position between the two temporary locking projections 25 behind the predetermined dimension. A single final locking projection 26 having a tapered surface on the front side is also formed on the front side.

On the other hand, on the outer wall surface of both guide holes 23,
Three insertion grooves 28 and 29 facing in the front-rear direction are formed, and the upper and lower insertion grooves 28
The temporary locking projection 30 is formed at a predetermined position in the middle of both the insertion grooves 28 and can be locked to the temporary locking projection 25 with the rear surface side being a tapered surface. Further, the final locking projection 26 can enter the central insertion groove 29, and the rear side is tapered at a position rearward of the position where the temporary locking projection 30 is formed in the insertion groove 29. Locking projection 2
6 is formed with a final locking projection 31 that can be locked.

That is, when the inner housing 11 is inserted into the large hood portion 19 of the outer housing 12 from the front, and is pushed while the guide plate 22 is relatively advanced into the guide hole 23, first, the upper and lower two temporary Locking projection 25
The inner housing 11 is prevented from slipping into the temporary locking position shown in FIG. 8 by riding on the corresponding temporary locking projection 30 and passing therethrough and elastically locking the front surface of the temporary locking projection 30. Held in state. At this time, an accommodation space 33 having a predetermined depth dimension is formed between the rear surface 11B of the inner housing 11 and the rear wall 18 of the outer housing 12. In the accommodation space 33, the first gel material 34 can be almost tightly accommodated in a natural state.

The inner housing 11 can be further pushed in from the above-mentioned temporary engagement position. When the engagement step portion 36 formed on the upper surface hits the stepped portion 37 of the large hood portion 19, the pushing is stopped. You. This position is the final locking position (see FIG. 10), and here, the final locking projection 26 passes through the full locking projection 31 and is elastically locked to the front surface thereof, so that the locking state is prevented. Will be retained. As described above, when the inner housing 11 reaches the final locking position, the depth dimension of the accommodation space 33 is reduced to almost half.

The male housing 40 is used, for example, by being attached to a printed wiring board. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
It has a shape provided with. The small hood portion 42 is provided in the inner housing 11 of the female housing 10 described above.
Can be fitted almost tightly inside, and the small hood portion 4
2 itself can be fitted almost tightly inside the large hood 19.

In the male housing 40, a male terminal fitting 44 in the form of an L-shaped tab is mounted. The horizontal portion 44A of each male terminal fitting 44 projects into the small hood portion 42 at a position corresponding to each female terminal fitting 2 in two vertical steps, and each vertical portion 44B projects on the back surface of the base 41. After that, it hangs down in two rows before and after, and is connected to corresponding contacts on the printed wiring board.

As will be described later in detail, when the male and female housings 10 and 40 are properly fitted, the rear surface 42A of the small hood portion 42 and the female housing 10 are in a state where they have reached the final locking position. Front 11A of inner housing 11
A predetermined space can be opened between them. The second gel member 46 is mounted on the inner surface 42A of the small hood portion 42 of the male housing 40 in advance. In a natural state, the second gel material 46 has a thickness approximately twice as large as the final space between the back surface 42A of the small hood portion 42 and the front surface 11A of the inner housing 11.

The outer housing 12 of the female housing 10 is provided with a lever 50 for assisting the fitting of the male and female housings 10, 40. This lever 5
Reference numeral 0 denotes a shape in which the distal ends of a pair of L-shaped arms 51 are connected by an operation unit 52 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and is mounted so as to straddle the upper surface side of the outer housing 12. And a bearing hole 53 provided on the base end side of the arm 51.
Are fitted to shafts 54 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) protruding from the left and right side surfaces of the outer housing 12 and are rotatably supported. In detail, the operation unit 52 can rotate 90 degrees toward a standby position in which the operation unit 52 shown in FIG. 1 faces upward and a lock position in which the operation unit 52 faces rearward as shown in FIG. When it reaches, the lock portion 56 provided on the operation portion 52 is locked by being locked by a locking portion 57 protruding from the upper surface of the rear end of the outer housing 12.

As shown in FIG. 7, a cam groove 59 is formed on the inner surface of both arms 51 of the lever 50. When the lever 50 is at the above-mentioned standby position, the cam groove 59 is formed.
Is opened forward. on the other hand,
Follower pins 61 (see FIGS. 5 and 9) that can be engaged with the cam grooves 59 are set up on both left and right surfaces of the male housing 40. That is, when the male and female housings 10 and 40 are fitted, the follower pins 61 of the male housing 40
9 and the lever 50 is turned toward the lock position from this state, the cam groove 59 and the follower pin 6 are rotated.
1 and the male and female housings 10, 4
The force in the direction of drawing toward each other with respect to 0 is assisted. An escape groove 63 is formed on each of the left and right sides of the outer housing 12 of the female housing 10 for fitting and releasing the follower pin 61 described above.

This embodiment has a structure as described above,
Next, an example of an assembling procedure will be described. First, male housing 4
On the 0 side, as shown in FIG. 1, the second gel material 46 allows the male side terminal fitting 44 to penetrate and
It is attached to 2A. In this case, the second gel material 46 remains almost in a natural state.

On one female housing 10 side, the lever 5
0 is set to the standby position and the first gel material 3
4, the outer housing 1 while penetrating both guide plates 22.
2 is mounted on the front surface of the rear wall 18. Next, the inner housing 11 is inserted into the large hood portion 19 of the outer housing 12 from the front while allowing the guide plate 22 to enter the guide hole 23, and as described above, the temporary locking projection 25 is By locking to the front surface of the portion 30, the inner housing 11 is held at the temporary locking position in a state where it cannot be removed. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, a housing space 33 having a predetermined depth dimension is formed between the rear surface 11B of the inner housing 11 and the rear wall 18 of the outer housing 12. Therefore, the first gel material 34 is stored in the storage space 33 in a substantially natural state.

Next, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 8, the female terminal fitting 2 fixed to the end of the electric wire 1 is inserted into the corresponding insertion opening 20 of the rear wall 18 of the outer housing 12, and the first After penetrating the gel material 34, it is inserted into the cavity 14 located ahead of the gel material 34, and is housed by the lance 15 in a state where it cannot be removed. At this time, since the first gel member 34 is still in a substantially natural state, the female terminal fitting 2 penetrates through the first gel member 34 only by receiving a small resistance and receives the cavity 1.
4 is inserted.

When the accommodation of all the female terminal fittings 2 is completed, as shown by arrows in FIG.
40 is fitted. During the fitting, the follower pin 61 of the male housing 40 is inserted into the entrance 60 of the cam groove 59 of the lever 50.
Get into it. Subsequently, when the lever 50 is rotated toward the lock position, the cam action between the cam groove 59 and the follower pin 61 causes the male housing 40 and the female housing 1 to move.
The outer housing 12 at 0 is drawn toward each other.

As the fitting proceeds, the front surface 11A of the inner housing 11 in the female housing 10 is
After that, the second gel member 46 is compressed between the back surface 42A of the small hood portion 42 of the male housing 40 and the first gel member 34, and the inner housing 11 is Outer housing 12 from temporary locking position
Is pushed further into the back.

As shown in FIG. 10, when the lever 50 is turned to the locked position and locked, the fitting operation is completed, and the first gel member 34 is compressed to approximately half the thickness while the inner housing is compressed. 11 is a state where the main locking projection 26 is locked at the main locking position by being locked to the front surface of the main locking projection 31. As a result, the first gel material 34 is brought into close contact with the electric wire 1 drawn out of the cavity 14, and the seal on the rear surface side of the female housing 10 is removed.

On the other hand, the second gel member 46 is also provided with the back surface 42 A of the small hood portion 42 of the male housing 40 and the female housing 1.
0 is compressed to approximately half the thickness between the inner housing 11 and the front surface 11A. As a result, the seal between the male and female housings 10 and 40, more specifically, between the inner housing 11 and the small hood portion 42, around the male terminal fitting 44, and between the cavities 14 formed in the inner housing 11. Taken.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when waterproofing the rear side of the female housing 10,
Since the female terminal fitting 2 may be inserted into the first gel material 34 in an uncompressed state, the work of inserting the female terminal fitting 2 into the cavity 14 can be easily performed, and the first gel material 34 is fitted with the fitting operation of the housings 10 and 40. Are compressed to obtain high sealing properties.

The operation of moving the inner housing 11 to the final locking position in order to compress the first gel material 34 utilizes the operation of the lever 50 used to assist the fitting of the two housings 10 and 40. Since it is performed, it can be performed easily and with a small force. Further, the second gel material 46 is also mounted on the inner surface 42A of the small hood portion 42 of the male housing 40 facing the front surface 11A of the inner housing 11 in advance. Since the inner housing 11 can be compressed, waterproofing of the private room on the fitting surface side of the inner housing 11 can also be performed.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) In the above embodiment, a gel material is disposed on both front and rear surfaces of the inner housing for the purpose of, for example, waterproofing the private room on the fitting surface side. If it is sufficient to take a seal between them, the second gel material can be removed and such is within the scope of the present invention. (2) The present invention can be similarly applied to a waterproof connector of a type in which a lever is not provided and a fitting operation is simply performed by hand.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall exploded longitudinal sectional view according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the inner housing.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an outer housing.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a locking structure between an outer housing and an inner housing.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a male housing.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a lever.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view thereof.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view for explaining the insertion operation of the female terminal fitting.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of the male and female housings before fitting.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view when the fitting is completed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electric wire 2 ... Female terminal fitting 10 ... Female housing (connector housing) 11 ... Inner housing 12 ... Outer housing 14 ... Cavity 18 ... Rear wall 20 ... Insertion opening 33 ... Housing space 34 ... 1st gel material 40 ... Male housing (Mating connector housing) 46 ... second gel material 50 ... lever 59 ... cam groove 61 ... follower pin

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5E021 FA05 FA09 FA14 FA16 FB02 FB07 FC25 FC31 FC36 HB05 5E087 EE02 EE14 FF02 FF08 FF13 GG02 GG15 HH01 HH02 LL03 LL04 LL12 MM02 MM05 RR12 RR25

Claims (3)

[Claims] An inner housing provided with a plurality of cavities for accommodating terminal fittings fixed to the ends of electric wires, and said terminal fittings which can be inserted from the front from the front and correspond to said cavities on a rear wall. A connector housing comprising an outer housing having an insertion opening, and a gel material mounted between a rear surface of the inner housing and a rear wall of the outer housing,
The inner housing is locked at a temporary locking position having a housing space capable of housing the gel material between a rear surface of the inner housing and a rear surface wall of the outer housing, and at a full locking position where the housing space is narrowed. A waterproof connector characterized by being made possible. 2. A lever having a cam portion between the connector housing and a mating connector housing fitted with the connector housing to assist the fitting of the two connector housings, and engages with the cam portion. A lever mechanism including a follower portion is provided, and the lever is provided on one of the outer housing and the mating connector housing in the connector housing, and the follower portion is provided on the other. The waterproof connector according to claim 1, wherein 3. A gel material, which is compressible with the fitting operation of the two connector housings, is interposed between the facing fitting surfaces of the inner housing and the mating connector housing. The waterproof connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: