JP2008041315A - Female terminal metal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a female terminal metal fitting capable of suppressing an increase in the insertion resistance of a tab. <P>SOLUTION: The female terminal metal fitting 10 has an approximately box-like main body 11 with an insertion port 14 opened on a front surface so as to insert the tab 71 of an opposite male terminal metal fitting 70, and is electrically connected to the tab 71 entering the main body 11 through the insertion port 14. An introduction part 15 to the tab 71 enlarged to the front surface is formed at an opening edge of the insertion port 14. A plurality of strips of projections 36 which are extended in the insertion direction of the tab 71 and can be in contact with the tab 71 are formed in a circumferential direction on the introduction part 15 of the main body 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a female terminal fitting.

Generally, a female terminal fitting has a box-shaped main body portion into which a tab of a mating male terminal fitting is inserted through an insertion opening opened on the front surface, and an elastic contact piece provided in the main body portion elastically contacts the tab. By doing so, it is electrically connected to the male terminal fitting (see, for example, Patent Document 1). A tapered lead-in portion that is widened toward the front surface is formed at the opening of the insertion opening in the main-body portion, and the tab is smoothly drawn into the main-body portion along the lead-in portion. The female terminal fitting is accommodated in the female connector, and the male terminal fitting is accommodated in the male connector, and the connection operation of both the terminal fittings proceeds with the fitting operation of both the connectors. In addition, the surface of the female terminal fitting is plated so as to prevent corrosion and improve contact reliability.
JP 2003-346958 A

  By the way, as shown in FIG. 7, when the fitting operation of both the connectors is advanced while the tab 2 is inclined from the normal posture, the tip of the tab 2 scrapes the surface 3 of the female terminal fitting such as the lead-in portion. Then, the plating is peeled off, which becomes the plating scraps 4 and is caught between the tab 2 and the surface 3, and as a result, the insertion resistance of the tab 2 is increased.

  The present invention has been completed based on the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to suppress an increase in tab insertion resistance.

  As means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 comprises a substantially box-shaped main body portion having an insertion port into which a tab of a mating male terminal fitting can be inserted at one end, and through the insertion port. A female terminal fitting electrically connected to the tab entering into the main body, and having a leading portion for the tab expanded toward the front surface at an opening edge of the insertion port, The guiding portion of the main body is characterized in that a plurality of protrusions extending in the insertion direction of the tab and capable of contacting the tab are formed in the circumferential direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, an elastic contact piece extending from the substrate portion of the main body portion and elastically contacting the tab is disposed in the main body portion. The protrusion is characterized in that it is formed in a region excluding at least the front end region of the substrate portion of the opening edge of the insertion port.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, a plating layer is formed on a surface of the guiding portion in the main body, and the entire protrusion has a thickness of the plating layer. It is characterized by being formed in a range.

<Invention of Claim 1>
When the tab of the mating male terminal fitting is inserted into the main body portion from the insertion port, the tab enters the main body portion while contacting the plurality of protrusions formed in the guiding portion of the insertion port. In this case, if the tab is tilted from the normal posture, the tab will not scrape the surface of the protruding portion to remove the plating on the protruding portion, but will not cut to the area other than the protruding portion. . Therefore, the amount of plating scraps can be made smaller than before, and the increase in tab insertion resistance due to plating scraps can be suppressed. In addition, since the protruding portion extends in the insertion direction of the tab, the insertion posture of the tab can be restricted from deviating from the axial direction, and the insertion stability is improved.

<Invention of Claim 2>
Since the protrusion is formed in a region excluding at least the front end region of the substrate portion where the elastic contact piece extends from the opening edge portion of the insertion port, the tip of the tab hits the front end region of the substrate portion. When the insertion operation of the tab is restricted due to an abnormal posture, it does not hit the tab and is efficiently provided at a necessary location.
<Invention of Claim 3>
Since the entire protrusion is formed within the thickness range of the plating layer, even if the entire protrusion is scraped off by the tab, the plating layer remains. Therefore, even after the tab is inserted into the main body, the contact state between the tab and the plating layer can be reliably established, and the contact reliability can be further improved.

<Embodiment 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The female terminal fitting 10 of the present embodiment is formed by pressing a conductive metal plate, and is accommodated in a female connector (not shown). The mating male terminal fitting 70 is formed by, for example, pressing a metal plate having high conductivity, and is accommodated in a male connector (not shown). In the following description, the connection surface side (fitting surface side of both connectors) of both terminal fittings 10 and 70 is the front.
As shown in FIG. 4, a tab 71 having a predetermined length is formed at the front portion of the male terminal fitting 70. The tab 71 has a flat shape in the width direction, and a tapered surface 72 for guide is formed in a tapered shape at the tip.

  The female terminal fitting 10 is comprised from the main-body part 11 and the barrel parts 12 and 13 of the back as shown in FIG. The barrel parts 12 and 13 are provided with a wire barrel 12 for crimping a terminal core wire of an electric wire (not shown) at a position near the main body part 11, and an insulation barrel 13 for caulking the terminal sheath of the electric wire is provided behind the barrel 12 and 13. .

  The main body 11 is formed in a rectangular tube shape as a whole, and an insertion port 14 through which the tab 71 of the male terminal fitting 70 can be inserted is opened on the front surface. At the opening edge portion of the insertion opening 14 in the front surface portion of the main body portion 11, a lead-in portion 15 that expands in a tapered shape toward the front surface is formed by knocking out with a flat surface, and the tab 71 is formed by the lead-in portion 15. The main body 11 is smoothly guided. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the main body 11 includes a substrate portion 16 (which constitutes a ceiling wall in the drawing), a counter plate portion 17 (which constitutes a bottom wall in the drawing), and a pair of left and right side plate portions 18. These are sequentially bent and assembled into a box shape having a substantially square cross section. From one of the side plate portions 18, a pair of upper and lower stabilizers 19 are formed on the same axis in the height direction (vertical direction). A guide groove is formed in the cavity on the female connector side (not shown) corresponding to the stabilizer 19, and when the stabilizer 19 is fitted into the guide groove, the insertion posture of the female terminal fitting 10 is stabilized and erroneous insertion is performed. Is to be prevented. A lock hole 21 is formed on the side of the substrate portion 16 as the stabilizer 19 is cut and raised, and a lance formed on the inner wall of the cavity is elastically fitted into the lock hole 21, so that the female terminal fitting 10 is removed from the cavity. It is designed to prevent it from coming off.

  Further, a protective wall 22 is formed upright at the front edge of the substrate portion 16, and the upper end portion of the insertion port 14 is partially closed by the protective wall 22. The protective wall 22 plays a role of protecting an elastic contact piece 23 disposed in the main body 11 described later by preventing the tab 71 or foreign matter from entering the main body 11 from being in a normal posture. A protruding piece 24 is formed on one side edge of the protective wall 22 so that the protruding piece 24 is engaged with a notch 25 recessed in the opening edge of the main body 11 in a hooked state. It is possible to avoid the protective wall 22 from falling or deforming due to the collision with the tab 71 or the like. The guiding portion 15 in the main body portion 11 is formed in a region of the opening edge portion of the insertion port 14 excluding a substantially L-shaped region extending from the front end of the substrate portion 16 to the cutout portion 25.

  An elastic contact piece 23 is disposed in the main body 11. The elastic contact piece 23 is a core part that establishes an electrical connection with the male terminal fitting 70, and can be cantilevered and deformed forward from the rear end edge of the base plate part 16 as a base end. It has been extended. Specifically, the elastic contact piece 23 is connected to the rear end edge of the base plate portion 16 integrally with the elastic main body portion 26 extending obliquely forward and the tab 71 formed at the apex portion at the tip of the elastic main body portion 26. A contact portion 27; a folded portion 28 formed by inclining to the substrate portion 16 side after being inclined from the contact portion 27; and a leg portion 29 formed to extend obliquely upward and rearward from the folded portion 28. Consists of. The base end portion of the elastic main body portion 26 is folded back from the rear end edge of the substrate portion 16 so as to be in close contact with the base portion 31 protruding from the substrate portion 16 in a raised state. The folded portion 28 has an inclined surface that is inclined from the contact portion 27 and faces the insertion port 14, and when the tab 71 enters the main body portion 11 in a misaligned state, The tab 71 can be guided to the contact portion 27 by sliding contact. Further, the distal end portion of the leg portion 29 is a contact portion 32 that comes into contact with the inner surface of the substrate portion 16 so that the spring force of the elastic contact piece 23 is received here.

The contact portion 27 has a projecting curved surface shape when knocked toward the substrate portion 16 side. A pedestal 33 having a dome shape elongated in the front-rear direction is formed on the opposing plate portion 17 so as to protrude into the main body 11, and an insertion path for the tab 71 is formed between the cradle 33 and the contact portion 27. ing. When the elastic contact piece 23 is in a natural state, the distance between the contact portion 27 and the cradle 33 is set slightly smaller than the thickness of the tab 71. Therefore, when the tab 71 is inserted between the contact portion 27 and the cradle 33, the tab 71 is elastically sandwiched between the contact portion 27 and the cradle 33 while the elastic body portion 26 is bent. It becomes. In addition, since the contact part 27 exists in the position close | similar to the insertion port 14 of the main-body part 11, the early contact with the tab 71 is attained and it is possible to suppress the front-back length dimension small.
A pair of left and right engaging pieces 34 are formed to protrude laterally at a position near the top of the elastic contact piece 23. The corresponding side plate portion 18 is formed with an engagement hole 35 through which the engagement piece 34 enters. The engagement piece 34 is always loosely fitted in the engagement hole 35, and when the elastic main body 26 is excessively bent and deformed, it abuts against the hole edge of the engagement hole 35 and restricts further bending operation. Is.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of protrusions 36, specifically, a plurality of protrusions 36, extend in the front-rear direction (the insertion direction of the tab 71) and are formed on the guiding portion 15 of the insertion opening 14 in the main body 11. ing. The projecting portion 36 is generally mountain-shaped in cross section and has a pointed tip shape, and is formed over the entire circumference of the guiding portion 15. The protrusions 36 are intermittently formed between a large number of muscle grooves 37 cut in the front-rear direction while being parallel to the guiding portion 15. Here, the protruding portion 36 is formed from the front end of the opposing plate portion 17 to the side plate portions 18 so as to correspond to the formation region of the guide portion 15, and the notch portion 25 is provided in the side plate portions 18. The side plate 18 is formed up to the position of the notch 25, and the side plate 18 where the notch 25 is not provided is formed up to a position near the substrate 16. It is wrong.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the height of the protrusion 36 is smaller than the thickness of the plating layer 41 made of tin plating or the like formed on the base material layer 44 on the surface of the guiding portion 15. In other words, the protrusion 36 is composed of the plating layer 41, and the whole is contained in the plating layer 41. The protruding portion 36 can be brought into contact with the tab 71 inserted into the main body portion 11 in a substantially point contact state and a line contact state. On the other hand, the tab 71 corresponds to the muscle groove 37 by being supported by the protruding portion 36. At the position, it floats and is not in contact with the groove bottom of the muscle groove 37. In the lead-in portion 15, the protrusions 36 and the streak grooves 37 are alternately and continuously arranged in the circumferential direction, whereby a concavo-convex pattern is formed.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the female terminal fitting 10 is accommodated in the female connector, and the male terminal fitting 70 is accommodated in the male connector. In this state, the two connectors are fitted together. As the fitting proceeds, as shown in FIG. 3, the tab 71 of the male terminal fitting 70 enters the main body 11 of the female terminal fitting 10 through the insertion port 14, and the tab 71 bends the elastic contact piece 23. While being deformed, it divides between the cradle 33 and enters. Thereafter, when the connectors are properly fitted to each other, the tab 71 is elastically sandwiched between the contact portion 27 and the cradle 33 as shown in FIGS. 11 and thus the corresponding male and female terminal fittings 10, 70 are electrically connected. During the insertion of the tab 71, the tab 71 and the protrusion 36 can be slidably contacted with each other in a point contact state or a line contact state, as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, if the tab 71 is in an oblique posture with respect to the normal posture (in the illustrated case, the horizontal posture) due to a dimensional error or the like, the tip portion of the tab 71 abuts against the guiding portion 15 in a twisted state. In some cases, the tip of the tab 71 stabs obliquely into the protrusion 36 and the surface of the protrusion 36 (plating layer 41) is scraped off. However, the plating scrap is only generated at the position corresponding to the protrusion 36 in the guiding portion 15, and is not generated at the position corresponding to the streak 37, and the amount of scrap can be suppressed as much as before. . In addition, the plating scraps can fall into the streak groove 37 and can be prevented from biting between the tab 71 and the protrusion 36. In addition, even if the tab 71 is in the normal posture, plating dust is generated somewhat.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by restricting the contact portion of the guide portion 15 with the tab 71 to the projection portion 36, the region other than the projection portion 36 in the guide portion 15 can be defined on the tab 71. Since the tip is not scraped, the amount of plating scrap can be reduced compared with the case where the tab 71 scrapes the entire guiding portion 15, and the increase in insertion resistance of the tab 71 due to the plating scrap is suppressed. be able to. In addition, since the protrusion 36 extends along the front-rear direction, the insertion posture of the tab 71 can be prevented from swinging.

Further, since the protrusion 36 is formed in a region excluding the front end region of the substrate portion 16 corresponding to the elastic contact piece 23 in the opening edge portion of the insertion port 14 in the main body portion 11, the tip end of the tab 71. The tab 71 does not act so as to be guided into the main body 11 when taking an abnormal posture such that the butt hits the front end of the protective wall or the substrate portion 16. That is, the protrusion 36 is efficiently provided at a necessary location.
Furthermore, since the entire protrusion 36 is formed within the thickness range of the plating layer 41, even if the entire protrusion 36 is scraped off by the tab 71, the plating layer 41 remains. Even after the tab 71 is inserted into the main body 11, the contact state between the tab 71 and the plating layer 41 can be reliably established. As a result, the contact reliability between the two terminal fittings 10 and 70 can be further improved.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) In the said embodiment, although the projection part was formed over the whole invitation part, according to this invention, a projection part may be formed only in a part of induction part.
(2) In the above embodiment, the protrusion is formed in the region of the opening edge of the insertion opening except for the front end region of the substrate portion. However, according to the present invention, the protrusion is the opening edge of the insertion opening. It may be formed over the entire circumference.
(3) According to the present invention, it is sufficient that the protrusion is provided at a position where a tab that is not in a normal posture can be contacted. For example, in addition to the guiding portion, the front end inclined surface of the cradle (inclination on the insertion port side) Surface).

Side sectional view of the female terminal fitting of this embodiment Front view of female terminal fitting Main part enlarged side sectional view which shows the state which the front-end | tip of the tab started to enter into a main-body part from an insertion port The principal part expanded side sectional view which shows the state in which the tab was inserted in the main-body part with regular depth The front view which shows the state where the tab was similarly inserted in the main-body part Main part enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing a state where the tab and the projecting part come into contact with each other Conventional perspective view of tab and female terminal fitting

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Female terminal metal fitting 14 ... Insertion port 15 ... Lead-in part 16 ... Board | substrate part 17 ... Opposite board part 22 ... Protection wall 23 ... Elastic contact piece 27 ... Contact part 33 ... Base 36 ... Protrusion part

Claims (3)

The insertion port includes a substantially box-shaped main body having an insertion port into which a tab of a mating male terminal fitting can be inserted at one end, and is electrically connected to the tab that enters the main body through the insertion port. A female terminal fitting in which a leading portion for the tab expanded toward the front surface is formed at the opening edge of
A female terminal fitting, wherein a plurality of protrusions extending in the insertion direction of the tab and capable of contacting the tab are formed in the guiding portion of the main body in the circumferential direction. In the main body, an elastic contact piece extending from the substrate portion of the main body and being elastically contactable with the tab is disposed,
2. The female terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is formed in a region excluding at least a front end region of the substrate portion in an opening edge portion of the insertion opening. The plating layer is formed in the surface of the said guiding part in the said main-body part, The whole said projection part is formed in the thickness range of the said plating layer, The Claim 1 or Claim 2 characterized by the above-mentioned. Female terminal fittings.

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