JP2013243051A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve workability when a housing is fitted.SOLUTION: A connector comprises: a ring-like looseness filling member 20 that is integrally and movably mounted to a first housing 10, whose outer periphery is opposed to an inner periphery of a fitting recess 34 while the first housing 10 is fitted with the fitting recess 34, and whose front end is in elastic contact with a deep end face 34a of the fitting recess 34; and a restraining section 22 that is formed at a front end of the looseness filling member 20 in a traveling direction into the fitting recess 34, is retreated to a position at which it can be opposed an inner periphery of the fitting recess 34 in a non-contact manner while a pressing force is not received from a front part, and is elastically displaced toward an outer periphery when the pressing force is applied from the front part.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector.

  In Patent Literature 1, an elastic body fitted to the outer periphery of the first housing by fitting the first housing to which the first terminal fitting is attached and the second housing to which the second terminal fitting is attached, A connector is disclosed that prevents backlash between both housings by pressing against the inner periphery of the hood portion of the housing.

JP 2010-080106 A

In the connector described above, the elastic body is elastically slidably contacted with the inner periphery of the hood portion from the start to the completion of the fitting between the first housing and the second housing. Therefore, the frictional resistance between the elastic body and the hood portion continues from the start to the completion of the fitting, and improvement in workability is desired.
The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to improve workability when fitting a housing.

As means for achieving the above object, the present invention provides:
In the connector for connecting the first terminal fitting of the first housing and the second terminal fitting of the second housing by fitting the fitting recesses of the first housing and the second housing,
When the first housing and the fitting recess are fitted to each other, the outer peripheral surface is opposed to the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess, and the front end is the fitting. A ring-shaped backlash filling member configured to elastically contact the back end surface of the recess;
A position that is formed at a front end portion in the approaching direction into the fitting concave portion of the loosely stuffing member and can face the inner peripheral surface of the fitting concave portion in a non-contact manner without receiving a pressing force from the front. It is characterized in that it is provided with a restricting portion that is elastically displaced toward the outer peripheral side when receiving a pressing force from the front.

  According to this configuration, in the process of entering the first housing and the backpacking member into the fitting recess, the restricting portion does not receive a pressing force from the front and does not contact the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess. Since it is retracted to a position where it can face, no sliding resistance is generated between the restricting portion and the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess. When the fitting between the first housing and the fitting recess is completed, the restricting portion receives a pressing force from the front by abutting against the back end surface of the fitting recess, so that it is elastically displaced toward the outer peripheral side, and the inside of the fitting recess Elastically abuts against the peripheral surface. The space between the housings is loosened by the elastic pressing of the restricting portion. In the present invention, in the process of entering the first housing into the fitting recess, there is almost no frictional resistance between the regulating portion and the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess, so that the workability when fitting the housing is excellent. ing.

Sectional drawing showing the state before fitting both housings in Example 1 Cross-sectional view showing the fitting process of both housings The partial expanded sectional view showing the state which assembled the backlash filling member in the 1st housing Partial enlarged sectional view showing a state in which the restricting portion is in contact with the back end surface of the fitting recess in the fitting process of both housings Sectional view showing the state where both housings are mated Partial enlarged sectional view showing a state where both housings are fitted and the restricting portion is elastically displaced. Front view of loose packing AA line sectional view of FIG. Front view of the backlash filling member of Example 2 BB sectional view of FIG. Front view of the backlash filling member of Example 3 CC sectional view of FIG.

The connector of the present invention
The backlash filling member has a main body portion fixed to the first housing, and the restriction portion is
It is good also as a form connected with the front end of the said main-body part via the hinge part.
According to this configuration, since the restricting portion swings via the hinge portion when abutting against the back end surface of the fitting recess, the amount of elastic displacement is larger than in the case where the restricting portion is simply crushed and deformed. Thereby, the pressing force of the restricting portion with respect to the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess is increased, and the reliability of the backlash filling function is excellent.

<Example 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the connector according to the first embodiment includes a first housing 10 made of synthetic resin, a first terminal fitting 14, a rubber backpacking member 20, and a synthetic resin first connector 10. 2 housing 30 and a second terminal fitting 33 are provided. In the state in which the first housing 10 and the second housing 30 are fitted, the connector is configured so that both the housings 10 and 30 are in the front-rear direction (direction parallel to the fitting / removing direction of the both housings 10 and 30), the up-down direction, and the left-right direction. It has both a function for filling back and forth in the three-dimensional direction and a waterproof function.

  The first housing 10 integrally includes a terminal accommodating portion 11 having a vertically long block shape and a cylindrical fitting portion 12 surrounding the terminal accommodating portion 11 extending forward from the outer periphery of the rear end portion of the terminal accommodating portion 11. It is set as the formed structure. A plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 13 are formed in the terminal accommodating portion 11, and a plurality of female first terminal fittings 14 are inserted into each terminal accommodating chamber 13 from the rear. An individual rubber plug 15 is fixed to the rear end portion of the first terminal fitting 14, and the individual rubber plug 15 waterproofs the entrance (rear end portion) of the terminal accommodating chamber 13. A connecting portion 16 having a flange shape is formed on the rear end portion of the terminal accommodating portion 11, and the rear end portion of the tubular fitting portion 12 is connected to the outer peripheral edge of the connecting portion 16. A pair of upper and lower mounting holes 17 are formed in the connecting portion 16.

  A loosely packed member 20 having a waterproof function is attached to the outer periphery of the terminal accommodating portion 11. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the backlash filling member 20 has a ring-like (substantially rectangular tube-like) main body 21 and a front end of the main body 21 (the left end in FIGS. 1 to 6 and 8). The restriction part 22 connected via the hinge part 23 is formed integrally. On the inner peripheral surface of the rear end portion of the main body portion 21 is formed an inner peripheral lip portion 24 that protrudes in a rib shape over the entire circumference, and on the outer peripheral surface of the rear end portion of the main body portion 21 on the entire circumference. An outer peripheral lip portion 25 that protrudes in a rib shape is formed. The inner peripheral lip portion 24 and the outer peripheral lip portion 25 constitute a seal function portion 26. A pair of attachment portions 27 are formed on two upper and lower edges on the short side of the rear end edge of the main body 21.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the backlashing member 20 is assembled so as to be able to move integrally with the first housing 10 by passing the attachment portion 27 through the attachment hole 17 and locking it. In a state in which the backlash filling member 20 is assembled to the first housing 10, the main body portion 21 surrounds the outer periphery of the terminal accommodating portion 11 in a state of being in close contact with the entire periphery. Further, in the front-rear direction, the main body portion 21 surrounds the terminal accommodating portion 11 over a region extending from the front end of the terminal accommodating portion 11 to the connecting portion 16. Further, the inner peripheral lip portion 24 can be in close contact with the outer periphery of the terminal accommodating portion 11.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the restricting portion 22 has a ring shape (substantially rectangular tube shape) like the main body portion 21, and is connected to the front end edge of the main body portion 21 via a hinge portion 23. The hinge portion 23 also has a ring shape (substantially rectangular tube shape) like the main body portion 21 and the restriction portion 22. That is, the restricting portion 22 is connected to the main body portion 21 via the hinge portion 23 over the entire circumference. As shown by a solid line in FIG. 3, the inner peripheral surface of the hinge portion 23 is connected to the inner peripheral surface of the main body portion 21 in a flush manner. The thickness dimension of the hinge part 23 in the radial direction is smaller than the thickness dimension of the main body part 21 in the radial direction. Therefore, the outer peripheral surface of the hinge portion 23 is located on the radially inner side with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the main body portion 21. Further, at the front end portion of the main body portion 21, the outer peripheral surface 21a is inclined at an angle of about 45 ° with respect to the front-rear direction. That is, the front end portion of the main body portion 21 has a wedge-shaped cross section that gradually decreases in thickness toward the front.

  The cross-sectional shape cut at right angles to the circumferential direction of the restricting portion 22 forms a substantially right triangle. All of the three vertices of the triangle constituting the cross-sectional shape of the restricting portion 22 have an arc shape. The inner surface 22a (front surface) of the restricting portion 22 is inclined at an angle of about 45 ° with respect to the front-rear direction and extends radially outward toward the front. The outer surface 22 b of the restricting portion 22 is substantially parallel to the outer surface of the main body portion 21 and is substantially parallel to the fitting direction of both the housings 10 and 30. The rear surface 22c of the restricting portion 22 is substantially perpendicular to the front-rear direction. Therefore, the restricting portion 22 has a wedge-shaped cross section such that the thickness gradually decreases toward the front.

  The restricting portion 22 is connected to the hinge portion 23 at the apex where the inner surface and the rear surface are connected at an acute angle. In a state where the restricting portion 22 is not elastically deformed, a groove portion 28 for allowing elastic displacement of the restricting portion 22 is provided on the entire circumference between the rear surface 22c of the restricting portion 22 and the tapered outer surface 21a of the main body portion 21. It is formed over. When the restricting portion 22 receives a pressing force from the front, as shown by an imaginary line in FIG. 3, the restricting portion 22 elastically displaces radially outward with the hinge portion 23 as a fulcrum, and enters the groove portion 28. Yes. When the restricting portion 22 is elastically displaced, when no other member is present on the outer peripheral side of the restricting portion 22 and no pressing force acts on the restricting portion 22 from the outer peripheral side, the tip end portion of the restricting portion 22 It protrudes outward from the outer periphery of the main body 21 over the entire area.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the second housing 30 includes a terminal holding portion 31 and a substantially rectangular tube-shaped hood portion 32 that extends forward (rightward in FIG. 1) from the outer peripheral edge of the terminal holding portion 31. Is formed. A plurality of male second terminal fittings 33 are attached to the terminal holding portion 31 in a penetrating manner, and a tab at the tip of the second terminal fitting 33 is surrounded by a hood portion 32. The hollow portion of the hood portion 32 is a fitting recess 34 for accommodating the terminal accommodating portion 11 of the first housing 10. As the terminal accommodating portion 11 enters the fitting recess 34, both the housings 10 and 30 are brought into a fitted state.

  In a state in which both housings 10 and 30 are fitted, the hood portion 32 enters between the outer periphery of the backpacking member 20 (terminal accommodating portion 11) and the inner periphery of the cylindrical fitting portion 12, and the outer peripheral lip portion 25. However, the inner peripheral lip 24 is elastically adhered to the outer peripheral surface of the rear end portion of the terminal accommodating portion 11 while being elastically adhered to a position near the opening of the inner circumferential surface of the hood portion 32. . The seal function part 26 seals the gap between the outer periphery of the terminal accommodating part 11 and the inner periphery of the hood part 32 in a liquid-tight manner.

  In the fitting process of both the housings 10 and 30, the terminal accommodating portion 11 and the backlash filling member 20 enter the fitting recess 34 with the front end portion facing forward. Since the restricting portion 22 is formed at the front end portion of the backlashing member 20, the restricting portion 22 is in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34, and both housings 10, 30 are caused by frictional resistance generated by the sliding contact. There is a concern that this may interfere with the mating operation. In addition, there is a concern that the outer periphery of the main body 21 is slidably contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34 to cause frictional resistance.

  However, since the restricting portion 22 is not elastically displaced (elastically deformed) in a state where it does not receive a pressing force from the front, the restricting portion 22 is elastic until the front end of the restricting portion 22 hits the back end surface 34a of the fitting recess 34. Does not displace. As shown in FIG. 7, the main body portion 21 and the restricting portion 22 of the loosely stuffing member 20 have a vertically long and substantially rectangular tube shape. As shown in FIG. 8, in the state where the restricting portion 22 is not elastically displaced, the height dimension Ha (vertical dimension) of the restricting portion 22 is larger than the outer peripheral lip portion 25 in the outer periphery of the main body portion 21. Is substantially the same as the height dimension Hb of the front region (strictly speaking, the height dimension Ha of the restricting portion 22 is slightly larger than the height dimension Hb of the main body portion 21). It is smaller than the circumference height. Further, the width direction (lateral direction) dimension (not shown) of the restricting portion 22 is substantially the same as the width direction dimension of the region in front of the outer peripheral lip portion 25 in the outer periphery of the main body portion 21 (strictly speaking, The width dimension of the restricting portion 22 is slightly larger than the width dimension of the main body portion 21) and is smaller than the width dimension of the inner periphery of the fitting recess 34. Therefore, no sliding resistance is generated between the outer surface of the restricting portion 22 and the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34 in the process of the backlashing member 20 entering the fitting recess 34, and No sliding resistance occurs between the outer surface and the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34.

  Then, at the end of the fitting of the housings 10 and 30, the front end of the restricting portion 22 comes into contact with the back end surface 34 a of the fitting recess 34 as shown in FIG. 4. When the fitting further proceeds from this state, the restricting portion 22 receives a pressing force from the back end surface 34a of the fitting concave portion 34, and as shown in FIG. 6, the hinge portion 23 is used as a fulcrum as shown in FIG. While being elastically displaced so as to be reversed backward, it is pressed against the back end surface 34a of the fitting recess 34 and is elastically deformed so as to be crushed forward and backward. Then, due to the elastic restoring force of the restricting portion 22, there is a backlash in the front-rear direction between the first housing 10 and the second housing 30. Furthermore, since the restricting portion 22 is elastically deformed so as to expand toward the outer periphery when the hinge portion 23 is reversed as a fulcrum, the portion of the restricting portion 22 farthest from the hinge portion 23 is fitted over the entire circumference. It is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the recess 34. Thereby, since the restricting portion 22 is elastically deformed so as to be crushed in the vertical direction and the left and right direction over the entire circumference, the elastic restoring force of the restricting portion 22 causes the first housing 10 and the second housing 30 to be Backlash is also made in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction (radial direction).

  The connector of the present embodiment connects the first terminal fitting 14 and the second terminal fitting 33 by fitting the first housing 10 and the fitting recess 34 of the second housing 30. The connector is attached to the first housing 10 so as to be movable together. When the first housing 10 and the fitting recess 34 are fitted, the outer peripheral surface faces the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34 and the front end. The ring-shaped backpacking member 20 is provided so that the portion elastically contacts the back end surface of the fitting recess 34. Further, the front end portion of the backlash stuffing member 20 in the direction of entry into the fitting recess 34 can face the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34 in a non-contact manner in a state where no pressing force is applied from the front. A restricting portion 22 is formed that retracts to a position and elastically displaces to the outer periphery when it receives a pressing force from the front.

  In this connector, in the process of entering the first housing 10 and the backlash filling member 20 into the fitting recess 34, the restricting portion 22 does not receive a pressing force from the front, and is against the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34. Since it is retracted to a position where it can be opposed without contact, no sliding resistance occurs between the restricting portion 22 and the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34. When the fitting of the first housing 10 and the fitting recess 34 is completed, the restricting portion 22 receives a pressing force from the front by contacting the back end surface 34a of the fitting recess 34, so that it is elastically displaced toward the outer peripheral side, It elastically contacts the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34. Due to the elastic pressing of the restricting portion 22, the space between the housings 10 and 30 is loosely packed. Thus, in this embodiment, in the process of entering the first housing 10 into the fitting recess 34, the frictional resistance hardly occurs between the restricting portion 22 and the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess 34, so that the housing is fitted. Excellent workability when combining.

  Further, in the connector of the present embodiment, the backpacking member 20 has a main body portion 21 that is fixed to the first housing 10, and the restriction portion 22 is connected to the front end of the main body portion 21 via the hinge portion 23. It has become. According to this configuration, since the restricting portion 22 swings via the hinge portion 23 when abutting against the back end surface of the fitting recess 34, the amount of elastic displacement is large compared to a case where the restricting portion 22 is simply crushed and deformed. Become. Thereby, the pressing force of the regulation part 22 with respect to the internal peripheral surface of the fitting recessed part 34 becomes high, and it is excellent in the reliability of the backlash filling function.

<Example 2>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the second embodiment, the restriction portion 41 and the hinge portion 42 of the backlash filling member 40 are configured differently from the first embodiment. Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the same configurations, and descriptions of the structure, operation, and effects are omitted.

  The restriction part 41 and the hinge part 42 of the second embodiment are divided into four in the circumferential direction. The two upper and lower restricting portions 41 and the hinge portion 42 are arranged in a straight region at the center in the width direction of the upper and lower two short side front edge portions of the main body portion 21. The two right and left restricting portions 41 and the hinge portion 42 are disposed in a straight region at the center in the height direction of the two left and right long side front edge portions of the main body portion 21. In the second embodiment, since the hinge part 42 is substantially straight, it is easy to reverse when the restricting part 41 is elastically displaced. Therefore, in a state where both the housings 10 and 30 are fitted, it is difficult to cause a situation in which the restricting portion 41 is simply crushed forward and backward without being inverted.

<Example 3>
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the third embodiment, the restricting portion 51 and the hinge portion 52 of the backlash filling member 50 are configured differently from the first embodiment. Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given to the same configurations, and descriptions of the structure, operation, and effects are omitted. The restriction part 51 and the hinge part 52 of the third embodiment are divided into four parts in the circumferential direction. The four restricting portions 51 and the hinge portion 52 are arranged at four corner portions of the front edge portion of the main body portion 21 where the long side portion and the short side portion are connected at a substantially right angle. That is, they are arranged diagonally.

<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 above-described embodiment, the restricting portion swings about the hinge portion as a fulcrum, but the restricting portion may be elastically displaced in a form other than swinging.
(2) In the above embodiment, the backpacking member has a waterproof function. However, the backpacking member may not have a waterproof function.
(3) Although the waterproof type connector has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention can also be applied to a non-waterproof type connector.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... 1st housing 14 ... 1st terminal metal fitting 20 ... Backlash filling member 21 ... Main-body part 22 ... Restriction part 23 ... Hinge part 30 ... 2nd housing 33 ... 2nd terminal metal fitting 34 ... Fitting recessed part 34a ... Fitting recessed part 34a Back end face 40, 50 ... Backlash filling member 41, 51 ... Restriction part 42, 52 ... Hinge part

Claims (2)

In the connector for connecting the first terminal fitting of the first housing and the second terminal fitting of the second housing by fitting the fitting recesses of the first housing and the second housing,
When the first housing and the fitting recess are fitted to each other, the outer peripheral surface is opposed to the inner peripheral surface of the fitting recess, and the front end is the fitting. A ring-shaped backlash filling member configured to elastically contact the back end surface of the recess;
A position that is formed at a front end portion in the approaching direction into the fitting concave portion of the loosely stuffing member and can face the inner peripheral surface of the fitting concave portion in a non-contact manner without receiving a pressing force from the front. And a restricting portion that elastically displaces toward the outer periphery when receiving a pressing force from the front.   2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the backlashing member has a main body portion fixed to the first housing, and the restriction portion is connected to a front end of the main body portion via a hinge portion. .

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