JP5056379B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector that regulates rattling due to vibrations of a vehicle such as an automobile including when traveling and has excellent connection reliability between both male and female terminals in both connector housings.

  In a connector that performs electrical connection, external electronic devices may malfunction due to the radiation of noise generated from the connector. For this reason, it is necessary to prevent radiation of noise generated from the connector. As a countermeasure, a housing which is an outer case of the connector is made of a conductive material such as aluminum, and the terminal which is a connecting portion is covered with this housing, thereby reducing radiation noise generated from the connector.

  On the other hand, when the housing is made of a conductive material such as aluminum or an insulating material such as resin, it is often performed by injection molding in consideration of mass productivity and cost reduction. In this case, since the housing has a thin wall shape, slight warping may occur at the time of molding, and when the connectors are fitted, the housings may interfere with each other and the fitting resistance may increase. In order to reduce this fitting resistance, it is necessary to provide a predetermined clearance in both housings.

  Further, when injection molding is performed, it is necessary to provide a draft in the mold of the injection molding machine, so that a clearance is generated between the housings when the molded housings are fitted together.

  When a predetermined clearance is generated in both housings of the connector, there is a possibility that both housings may rattle in the direction perpendicular to the fitting due to external vibration in a state where the connectors are fitted. Further, when rattling occurs in both housings due to vibration, the terminals accommodated in the inner housing also move. The terminal of the connector holds the other terminal due to the contact force (spring force) of the spring of one terminal, but if a force greater than the contact force of the spring is applied due to large vibration, the terminal It becomes difficult to hold. For this reason, the terminal moves, contact failure occurs due to terminal wear, and the contact resistance increases. For this reason, the terminal may generate heat.

  On the other hand, when a conductive material such as aluminum is used for the outer housing, it is necessary to separately connect the inner housing and the outer housing, which are made of an insulating material such as a resin that houses terminals and has insulating performance, using screws. is there.

  If the inner housing or the outer housing is provided with a locking portion to couple the two housings, the two housings can be coupled at low cost. In this case, it is possible to suppress the movement of the inner housing by the locking portion with respect to the fitting direction of the connector, but the effect by the locking portion is small and firmly fixed with respect to the fitting orthogonal direction. Is difficult, there may be a backlash between the inner housing and the outer housing. In such a state, if vibration is applied when the vehicle is running, the housing and the terminal move due to the vibration, as described above, so that contact failure occurs due to terminal wear, contact resistance increases, and the terminal generates heat. Resulting in. If the contact force of the terminal is designed to be a very large force in consideration of vibration during vehicle travel, the terminal insertion force increases (and therefore the fitting resistance also increases), and the terminal surface plating is scraped. A problem occurs.

  On the other hand, when the inner housing and the outer housing are connected with screws, the two housings can be firmly connected, but not only the number of parts increases, but also the tightening management of screws and the increase in assembly man-hours occur. Cost increases. Moreover, since it is necessary to provide a space for a screw in the connector, the size of the connector becomes large, and miniaturization becomes difficult.

  In addition, as described in Patent Document 1, in order to regulate the connector fitting direction and the fitting orthogonal direction of both connector housings, the connector is mutually connected to the inner housing of the male connector housing. An inner ring and an outer ring to be combined with each other and a waterproof spring packing for supporting the inner ring are provided. The inner ring and the outer ring are respectively formed with inclined surfaces that abut against the other ring, and the outer ring is formed. It has been proposed that the ring protrudes from the front end surface of the inner ring, and the inner wall of the female connector housing is brought into contact with the front end surface of the outer ring when the two connector housings are fitted. Inner ring and outer ring with inclined surfaces that come into contact with the Ku, the manufacturing cost is increased.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-19287

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a connector that can regulate the play in the connector fitting direction and the fitting orthogonal direction, and can reduce the number of parts and the manufacturing cost. The purpose is to do.

To achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a male connector having an inner housing for housing a male terminal for electrical connection and an outer housing for housing the inner housing. When,
A female connector having an inner housing for holding the male terminal by spring force and accommodating a female terminal for electrical connection; and an outer housing for accommodating the inner housing;
A fitting member for fitting the male connector and the female connector;
In the connector having a predetermined clearance between the outer housing of the male connector and the outer housing of the female connector when the male connector and the female connector are fitted.
When the male connector and the female connector are fitted, the inner member housing of the male connector and the inner housing of the female connector are in surface contact with each other and the restricting member made of an elastic material is the outer housing of the male connector or the female connector. Disposed in the outer housing of the
The above-mentioned rattling member is provided with an engagement portion that is engaged and fixed to an engagement receiving portion provided in an inner housing of either the male connector or the female connector,
A locking portion having a tapered shape with a diameter increasing from the inner housing side of the male connector or the inner housing side of the female connector to which the rattle restricting member is disposed toward the shading restricting member side is the engagement. And the maximum diameter portion of the locking portion is formed on the inner housing of the male connector or the inner member of the female connector on which the lower member is disposed. It is larger than the diameter of the hole for engaging with the engaging portion .

The invention according to claim 2 is the connector according to claim 1, wherein said resilient material is characterized in that as the material used Shore A hardness of 10 to 70.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the first or second aspect , a thin shaft portion having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the engaging portion is projected from the tip of the engaging portion. And

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is only necessary to provide a regulating member inside one of the outer housings, and the connector fitting direction can be achieved with a simple structure by closely contacting the inner and outer regulating members with the surface contact. In addition, it is possible to regulate rattling in the direction perpendicular to the fitting, and the number of parts is small, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.
Further, the locking portion having a tapered shape with a diameter increasing from the inner housing side of the male connector or the female housing inner side of the female connector, in which the above-described rattling regulating member is disposed, toward the above-mentioned rattling regulating member side, The ratchet restricting member provided on the inner housing of the male connector or the inner housing of the female connector is formed in the engaging portion, and the maximum diameter portion of the locking portion is provided with the shading restricting member. Therefore, even if the male connector and the female connector are inserted and removed, the rattling restricting member does not fall out of the inner housing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the elastic material is a material having a Shore A hardness of 10 or more and 70 or less , the inner and outer housings are brought into contact with or tightly contacted with the inner member by elastic deformation of the inner member. Therefore, it is possible to sufficiently suppress rattling in the connector fitting direction and the fitting orthogonal direction.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a connector 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a fitting state of the connector 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional perspective view of a female connector 1b, and FIG. These are perspective views which show the principal part of the male connector 1a.

  In these drawings, a connector 1 is an electrical connection component applied to a portion where a vehicle such as an automobile generates vibrations. A vehicle vibration during traveling of the vehicle, a motor such as HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle), EV (Electric Vehicle), and the like The vibration of the connector 1 due to the vibration when the inverter is driven and the forced vibration from the engine is suppressed by restricting the play of the outer housings 7 and 8 of the connector 1, and both male and female ends in the inner housings 5 and 6 are suppressed. This improves the reliability of connection between the children 2 and 3.

  The connector 1 is configured by fitting a male connector 1a and a female connector 1b via a backlash regulating member 4. Specifically, the male connector 1a and the female connector 1b that are engaged with each other to form the connector 1 have inner housings 5 and 6 made of an insulating material for accommodating the terminals 2 and 3, respectively, and the inner housings 5 and 6 And the outer housings 7 and 8 made of a conductive material that accommodates the inner housing 5 and the regulating member 4 that is in surface contact with the inner housings 5 and 6 when the connector is fitted. It is provided and configured. As shown in FIG. 4, the restriction member 4 is preferably made of one member. This is because the process of setting the rattling restricting member 4 on the base end portion 2a of the inner housing 5 can be simplified.

  The male connector 1a includes an outer housing 7 that is a connector case, a male terminal 2, an inner housing 5 that insulates and stores the male terminal 2, and a rattling restriction member 4. The male outer housing 7 is a conductive material such as aluminum, the inner housing 5 is an insulating material such as a resin, preferably PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), the male terminal 2 is a conductive material such as a copper alloy, Each is made of an elastic material such as silicon rubber.

  The female connector 1b includes an outer housing 8, which is a connector case, a female terminal 3, an inner housing 6 that insulates and stores the female terminal 3, and an inner that prevents the female terminal 3 from falling off the inner housing 6 in the fitting direction. Plate 11, ground contact 12 that contacts outer housing 7 of male connector 1 a, ferrule 15 that contacts shield 14 and outer housing 8 of cable 13 and electrically connects both, and waterproof performance when the connector is fitted A waterproof seal 16 that seals between the outer housings 7 and 8, a wire seal 17 that waterproofs between the cable 13 and the rear cylindrical portion 8 b of the outer housing 8, and prevents the wire seal 17 from coming off. A triple tail plate 18 mounted on the end of the rear cylindrical portion 8b and a connector fit A lever 20 which at assisting the insertion, fixing members for fixing the lever 20 clarified the fitting state of the connector 1: and a (CPA Connector Position Assurance) 21 Prefecture. The fitting member for fitting the male connector 1a and the female connector 1b is mainly composed of the lever 20 and the fixing member 21.

  The female outer housing 8 is aluminum, the inner housing 6, the inner plate 11, the tail plate 18, the lever 20 and the fixing member 21 are resin, for example, PBT, the female terminal 3, the ferrule 15, and the ground contact 12 are copper alloy, and a waterproof seal 16. The wire seal 17 is made of silicon rubber.

  The connector 1 in the illustrated example has a plurality of, for example, three male terminals 2 in parallel on the male connector 1a side, and a plurality of, for example, three female terminals 3 in parallel on the female connector 1b side corresponding to these male terminals 2. is doing. The outer housing 8 of the female connector 1b includes a flat cylindrical front cylindrical portion 8a and a plurality of parallel rear cylindrical portions 8b into which a plurality of, for example, three cables 13 corresponding to the female terminals 3 are inserted. Are integrated.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cable 13 includes a core wire 13a that is a conductor, an inner insulating plastic 13b that covers the core wire 13a, a shield (mesh tube) 14 that covers the inner insulating plastic 13b, and the shield 14 It consists of a coaxial cable having an outer insulating plastic 13c to be covered. The front end side of the shield 14 is folded back so as to cover the outer peripheral surface of the front end side of the outer insulating plastic 13 c, and the rear cylindrical portion 8 b of the outer housing 8 is electrically connected to the shield 14 via the ferrule 15. Yes.

  The core wire 13 a is electrically connected to the female terminal 3. The female terminal 3 is accommodated in the inner housing 6 of the female connector 1b, and an insertion port having a U-shaped cross section for inserting the U-shaped base end 2a of the male terminal 2 into the distal end portion of the inner housing 6. 22 is formed (see FIG. 3). A ground contact 12 that contacts the extending end 23 of the rear tubular portion 8b is attached to the inner housing 6, and a part of the inner surface of the outer housing 7 of the male connector 1a comes into contact with the ground contact 12. ing.

  The female terminal 3 is pressed against the inner surface of the base end 2a having a U-shaped cross section of the male terminal 2 by a spring force due to the V-shaped structure of the female terminal 3. The outer housing 8 and the inner housing 6 in the female connector 1b are connected to the inner housing 6 with respect to a pair of upper and lower recesses 24 formed in the extending end 23 of the rear cylindrical portion 8b of the outer housing 8 as shown in FIG. The upper and lower pair of convex portions 25 formed are coupled by engaging with each other.

  On the other hand, the inner housing 5 of the male connector 1a is inserted into the flat cylindrical outer housing 7 from one opening as shown in FIG. 2 or 4, and is locked to the inner peripheral wall step portion 26 on the other opening side. The flange portion 27 extends toward the other opening portion of the outer housing 7 from the flange portion 27 and protrudes from the upper and lower surfaces of the inner peripheral wall near the opening portion. A plurality of, for example, three engaging hook portions 30 are formed on the upper and lower sides. Thereby, the outer housing 7 and the inner housing 5 are combined.

  The male terminal 2 projects forward (in the left direction in FIG. 2) from the inner housing 5, and the base end portion 2 a of the male terminal 2 is rearward from the rear end surface of the flange portion 27 formed at the rear end of the inner housing 5. Projecting in the right direction in FIG. The rattling regulating member 4 is formed in a flat plate shape parallel to the rear end surface of the flange portion 27 of the inner housing 5, and the rattling regulating member 4 has a male terminal 2 protruding from the rear end surface of the flange portion 27. An opening 31 through which the base end portion 2a is inserted is formed.

  The rattling restriction member 4 has an engagement portion for fixing the restriction member 4 engaged (fitted) with a hole 32 which is an engagement receiving portion provided in one inner housing 5. A protruding shaft portion 33 is provided. The projecting shaft portion 33 is preferably formed of the same elastic material as that of the back regulating member 4, for example, silicon rubber. In the illustrated example, a plurality (for example, eight) of a pair of upper and lower hole portions 32 penetrating through the flange portion 27 of the inner housing 5 in the front-rear direction are provided at appropriate intervals in the left-right longitudinal direction. The protruding shaft portion 33 protrudes from the front end surface of the flat plate-shaped regulating member 4 that is long in the left-right direction, corresponding to the hole portion 32.

  The protruding shaft portion 33 is preferably provided with a tapered or umbrella-shaped locking portion 34. In the present embodiment, the tapered or umbrella-like locking portion 34 has an axially symmetric shape, and is tapered from the large diameter portion, which is the largest diameter portion, to the diameter of the protruding shaft portion 33 in one direction. The diameter is small. A step portion of approximately 90 ° is provided at the boundary between the large diameter portion on the other direction side of the locking portion 34 and the protruding shaft portion 33. Further, the diameter of the large diameter portion of the locking portion 34 is larger than the diameter of the hole portion 32. For example, when the hole diameter of the hole portion 32 is 2 mm, the outer diameter of the large diameter portion of the locking portion 24 is 2.2 mm, which is larger than the hole diameter of the hole portion 32. Note that the shape of the locking portion 34 does not have to be axisymmetric, and may be any structure as long as the large diameter portion is caught by the hole 32. With this configuration, the protruding shaft 33 can be prevented from being pulled out (detached) from the hole 32.

  In the state where the front end surface of the rattling restricting member 4 is in contact with the rear end surface of the flange portion 27 of the inner housing 5, the large-diameter portion of the locking portion 34 is fitted into the hole portion 32 so that The protruding shaft portion 33 can be prevented from being pulled out (detached). Or the large diameter part of the latching | locking part 34 passes the hole part 32, and the level | step-difference part with the projecting shaft part 33 of the latching | locking part 34 is latched by the front-end surface of the flange part 27 (it catches). May be. Further, a leading thin shaft portion 33a having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the projecting shaft portion 33 is projected at the tip of the projecting shaft portion 33 so that the projecting shaft portion 33 can be easily fitted into the hole 32. It is preferable in that it can be combined.

  The lever 20 is supported so as to be swingable (rotatable) in the front-rear direction via support shafts 35 projecting from both sides of the front cylindrical portion 8a of the female-side outer housing 8, and the lever 20 is When rotating from the forward-turned position (see FIG. 1) to the backward-turned position (see FIGS. 2 and 3), the engaging groove 20a of the lever 20 is formed on the support shaft 36 projecting on both sides of the male outer housing 7. By engaging, the support shaft 36 is assisted in a direction to approach the support shaft 35. The fixing member 21 is formed in a hook shape, and is provided in a projecting portion 37 projecting from the upper rear end portion of the front cylindrical portion 8a of the female outer housing 8 so as to be movable back and forth, and is in a backwardly tilted position. The lever 20 is locked by engaging the fixing member 21 with the lever 20.

  According to the connector 1 having the above-described configuration, the male connector 1a and the female connector 1b that are fitted to each other have the inner housings 5 and 6 made of an insulating material for accommodating the terminals 2 and 3, respectively, and the inner housings 5 and 6 The outer housings 7 and 8 are made of a conductive material that accommodates the inner housing, and the inner member of one outer housing 7 is in contact with the inner housings 5 and 6 when the connector is fitted. 4 is provided, it is only necessary to provide one rattling restricting member inside one outer housing, and the inner housings 5 and 6 are simply structured by being in close contact with the rattling restricting member 4 by surface contact. Thus, rattling in the connector fitting direction and the fitting orthogonal direction can be restricted, and the number of parts is small and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  In other words, the restriction member 4 between the male and female inner housings 5 and 6 and between the male and female inner housings 5 and 6 and the outer housings 7 and 8 in the fitting direction and the orthogonal direction of fitting when the connector is fitted. It becomes a close contact state and can be firmly fixed. Moreover, the reduction of the above-mentioned backlash can be achieved with only one backlash regulating member 4 and the shape change of the male and female connectors 1a and 1b can be very little, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the above-mentioned regulating member 4 is made of an elastic material having a Shore A hardness of 10 or more and 70 or less. For example, if silicon rubber (Shore A hardness 38 degrees) with a thickness of 1.5 mm is used for the regulating member 4, the rattling regulating member 4 can be sufficiently elastically deformed. Both inner housings 5 and 6 can be contacted or brought into close contact with each other without gaps, and play in the connector fitting direction and the fitting orthogonal direction can be sufficiently suppressed. The reason why the Shore A hardness is 10 or more and 70 or less is that it is difficult to mold rubber when the Shore A hardness is less than 10, and when the Shore A hardness is more than 70, the rubber cannot be elastically deformed sufficiently. . Moreover, since the inner housings 5 and 6 are resin molded products, it is necessary to provide a dimensional margin (range). Although this size margin (difference) becomes a cause of rattling, by ensuring a sufficient amount of elastic deformation of the rattling regulating member 4, the inner housings 5 and 6 and the rattling regulating member 4 can be connected when the connector is fitted. It can prevent rattling from close contact.

  When the inner housings 5 and 6 are made of an insulating material such as resin and the outer housings 7 and 8 are made of a conductive material such as aluminum, it is necessary to secure a clearance in consideration of rattling between the inner housings 5 and 6 and the outer housings 7 and 8. However, regardless of this clearance, it is possible to suppress rattling in the connector fitting direction and the fitting orthogonal direction by the above-described rattling regulating member 4.

  Further, the above-described rattling member 4 includes an engaging portion, for example, a protruding shaft portion, for fixing the engaging member provided in one inner housing 5, for example, the hole 32. Since 33 is provided, there is no possibility that the regulating member 4 that has been repeatedly inserted and withdrawn from both the male and female connectors 1a and 1b will drop off from the inner housing 5, and the above-described effects can be obtained at all times, and reliability is improved. Can be planned. In this case, the protruding shaft portion 33 is provided with a tapered or umbrella-shaped locking portion 34, the hole diameter of the hole portion 32 is 2 mm, for example, and the outer diameter of the large diameter portion of the locking portion 34 is larger than the hole diameter of the hole portion 32. Therefore, once the locking portion 34 is inserted into the hole 32 of the inner housing 5, it cannot be pulled out unless a large force causing elastic deformation is applied to the silicon rubber. Therefore, even if the connector is inserted and removed, the rattling regulating member 4 does not fall out of the inner housing 5 and can always exhibit performance.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. . For example, both the inner housing and the outer housing may be made of an insulating material such as resin. In this case, there is no need to consider rattling between the inner housing and the outer housing, but in order to reduce the fitting resistance when the connector is fitted. It is necessary to provide a predetermined clearance, and rattling in the connector fitting direction and the fitting orthogonal direction can be suppressed by the regulating member regardless of the clearance.

1 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the fitting state of a connector. It is a cross-sectional perspective view of a female connector. It is a perspective view which shows the principal part of a male connector.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 1a Male connector 1b Female connector 2, 3 Terminal 4 Cover regulating member 5, 6 Inner housing 7, 8 Outer housing 20 Lever (fitting member)
21 Fixing member (fitting member)
32 hole (engagement receiving part)
33 Projection shaft (engagement part)

Claims (3)

A male connector having an inner housing for housing a male terminal for electrical connection, and an outer housing for housing the inner housing;
A female connector having an inner housing for holding the male terminal by spring force and accommodating a female terminal for electrical connection; and an outer housing for accommodating the inner housing;
A fitting member for fitting the male connector and the female connector;
In the connector having a predetermined clearance between the outer housing of the male connector and the outer housing of the female connector when the male connector and the female connector are fitted.
When the male connector and the female connector are fitted, the inner member housing of the male connector and the inner housing of the female connector are in surface contact with each other and the restricting member made of an elastic material is the outer housing of the male connector or the female connector. Disposed in the outer housing of the
The above-mentioned rattling member is provided with an engagement portion that is engaged and fixed to an engagement receiving portion provided in an inner housing of either the male connector or the female connector,
A locking portion having a tapered shape with a diameter increasing from the inner housing side of the male connector or the inner housing side of the female connector to which the rattle restricting member is disposed toward the shading restricting member side is the engagement. And the maximum diameter portion of the locking portion is formed on the inner housing of the male connector or the inner member of the female connector on which the lower member is disposed. The connector characterized by being larger than the diameter of the hole for engaging with an engaging part .   The connector according to claim 1, wherein the elastic material is a material having a Shore A hardness of 10 or more and 70 or less. 3. The connector according to claim 1, wherein a thin shaft portion having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the engaging portion is projected from the tip of the engaging portion.

Images