JP7306885B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to connectors.

As the connector described above, for example, the one described in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. In the connector disclosed in Patent Document 1, a side retainer is attached to the connector housing. The side retainer is provided with a lance for engaging the terminal, thereby preventing the terminal from coming off. In addition, the side retainer disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with an inclined surface that pushes the terminal forward into the terminal receiving chamber when the terminal is attached to the connector housing, in order to prevent the terminal from rattling.

JP 2017-54674 A

However, the connector described in Patent Document 1 described above has a problem that the lance has a weak holding force because the lance is engaged with the terminal only at one point.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector capable of improving the holding force of the lance.

In order to achieve the above object, a connector according to the present invention is characterized by the following [1].
[1]
a connector housing having a terminal accommodating chamber formed therein;
a terminal accommodated in the terminal accommodation chamber;
a retainer attached to the connector housing from a crossing direction crossing a direction in which the terminals are mated with mating terminals;
The retainer is pushed by the terminal and bent to allow the terminal to move to the normal position when the terminal is not in the normal position, and restores to the tip when the terminal is in the normal position. is provided with a cantilever-like lance that engages with the terminal,
The lance is provided with a guide portion that pushes the terminal to the normal position in accordance with the movement of the retainer in the cross direction when the terminal is not at the normal position,
The terminal is provided with a guide receiving portion that is pushed out by the guide portion ,
One of the guide portion of the lance and the guide receiving portion of the terminal comprises a projection, and the other comprises a groove into which the projection is inserted,
At least one of the protrusion and the groove extends obliquely with respect to the intersecting direction,
be a connector .

According to the connector having the configuration [1], the lance is provided with a guide portion for pushing out the terminal. Thereby, in addition to the normal locking by the lance, locking by the guide portion is also possible. In addition, since it is possible to lock while being biased by the lance, it is possible to improve the holding force of the lance.

Furthermore, according to the connector having the configuration [ 1 ], the guide portion of the lance and the guide receiving portion of the terminal are formed of projections or grooves. Therefore, the configurations of the guide portion of the lance and the guide receiving portion of the terminal can be simplified.

According to the connector of the present invention, it is possible to provide a connector in which the holding force of the lance is improved.

The present invention has been briefly described above. Furthermore, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading the following detailed description of the invention (hereinafter referred to as "embodiment") with reference to the accompanying drawings. .

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view showing one embodiment of the connector of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the side retainer shown in FIG. 1 taken along the line II. FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a female terminal. 4A and 4B are a schematic front view and a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the connector in the middle of inserting the side retainer. 5A and 5B are a schematic front view and a schematic partial cross-sectional view of the connector when the side retainer is completely attached. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining how the projection of the side retainer shown in FIG. 1 pushes the terminal to a normal position.

Specific embodiments relating to the present invention will be described below with reference to each drawing.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the connector 1 includes a synthetic resin cylindrical connector housing 2 having a terminal accommodating chamber 21 formed therein, terminals 3 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 21, and a connector housing. 2 is further equipped with a side retainer 4 (retainer). The side retainer 4 is attached to the connector housing 2 from a crossing direction crossing the mating direction of the terminal 3 and the mating terminal (not shown) to retain the terminal 3 .

In the following description, the fitting direction is defined as the front-rear direction X, the crossing direction is defined as the width direction Y, and the direction perpendicular to both the front-rear direction X and the width direction Y is defined as the vertical direction Z. In the front-rear direction X, the side of the connector 1 approaching the mating terminal is defined as the front side, and the side away from the mating terminal is defined as the rear side.

As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, the connector housing 2 includes a tubular inner housing 22, a tubular outer housing (not shown) surrounding the outer peripheral surface of the inner housing 22 with a gap therebetween, have The inner housing 22 is formed to protrude forward from the front end surface of the outer housing. A side retainer 4 is attached to the portion projecting from the outer housing.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a terminal accommodating chamber 21 is provided inside the inner housing 22 . In this embodiment, an example in which one terminal accommodating chamber 21 is provided is described for the sake of simplicity of explanation, but the present invention is not limited to this. A plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 21 may be provided. The terminal receiving chamber 21 is opened to the outside through an insertion opening 221 formed in the front end portion of the inner housing 22 , and a mating terminal is inserted through the insertion opening 221 .

The terminal 3 is a terminal fitting that is crimped and connected to an end of an electric wire (not shown). As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal 3 is formed with a rectangular tubular electrical contact portion 31 electrically connected to a mating terminal. A cut-and-raised portion 311 is provided on the peripheral wall of the electrical contact 31 portion. This cut-and-raised portion 311 is engaged with the tip of a lance 422 provided on the side retainer 4, as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 3 , a groove portion 312 (guide receiving portion) is provided along the width direction Y in the peripheral wall of the electrical contact portion 31 .

In this embodiment, the groove portion 312 is formed through the peripheral wall of the electrical contact portion 31 . The groove portion 312 extends to both ends in the width direction Y of the electrical contact portion 31, and both ends in the width direction Y are opened. When the side retainer 4 is attached to the inner housing 22, protrusions 422A (guides) provided on the side retainer 4, which will be described later, are inserted into the groove 312 through openings provided at both ends of the groove 312 in the width direction Y. be. As shown in FIG. 4, when the terminals 3 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chambers 21 are not in their normal positions, the side surfaces of the grooves 312 are pushed out by the projections 422A due to the movement in the width direction Y when the side retainer 4 is attached. As a result, the terminal 3 is pushed forward to the normal position.

The normal position is a position where the cut-and-raised portion 311 of the terminal 3 is located forward of the tip of the lance 422 of the side retainer 4, and the cut-and-raised portion 311 and the tip of the lance 422 are engaged. When not in the normal position, the cut-and-raised portion 311 of the terminal 3 is located behind the tip of the lance 422 of the side retainer 4, and the cut-and-raised portion 311 and the tip of the lance 422 cannot be engaged.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the electrical contact portion 31 is electrically connected to the mating terminal by pressing the mating terminal inserted therein. In addition, the terminal 3 includes a pair of conductor crimping portions 32 for crimping and crimping the conductor exposed from the insulating coating of the wire terminal behind the electrical contact portion 31, and a pair of crimping portions for crimping by crimping the insulating coating of the wire terminal. and a wire crimping portion 33 .

The side retainer 4 is made of synthetic resin. As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, the side retainer 4 includes an upper plate 41 and a lower plate 42 that face each other in the vertical direction Z, and side plates that connect the ends of the upper plate 41 and the lower plate 42 on one side in the width direction Y. 43 , and the cross section with an opening 44 on the other side in the width direction Y is formed in a U shape. The side retainer 4 is mounted such that the inner housing 22 is inserted through the opening 44 and the inner housing 22 is sandwiched between the upper plate 41 and the lower plate 42 in the vertical direction Z. As shown in FIG.

An engaging portion 411 that engages with the inner housing 22 is provided at the end of the upper plate 41 on the side of the opening 44 . The locking portion 411 is provided so as to protrude downward from the end of the upper plate 41 on the side of the opening 44 . Further, the lower plate 42 is provided with a rail portion 421 that guides the movement of the side retainer 4 in the width direction Y, and a lance 422 that engages the cut-and-raised portion 311 of the terminal 3 .

The rail portion 421 is provided from one end to the other end in the width direction Y of the lower plate 42 . The rail portion 421 is formed with a groove portion 421A extending in the width direction Y and opening forward and on the side of the opening 44 in the width direction Y. As shown in FIG. When the inner housing 22 is inserted into the opening 44 of the side retainer 4, the front side edge 222 of the inner housing 22 is inserted through the opening of the groove 421A on the side of the opening 44 in the width direction Y, as shown in FIGS. be. Thereby, the movement of the side retainer 4 in the width direction Y can be guided.

The lance 422 is provided on the rear side of the rail portion 421 and is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 21 through an opening 223 provided on the bottom surface of the inner housing 22 . The lance 422 is formed in a cantilever shape with a rear end in the front-rear direction X fixed to the lower plate 42 and a front end in the front-rear direction X serving as a free end. The tip of the lance 422 is bent in the vertical direction Z, and as shown in FIG. allow to move. Further, the lance 422 is restored when the terminal 3 is in the normal position, and the tip thereof is engaged with the cut-and-raised portion 311 of the terminal 3 .

A protrusion 422A is formed on the upper surface of the lance 422 to push out the terminal 3 to the normal position in accordance with the movement of the side retainer 4 in the width direction Y when the terminal 3 is not in the normal position. As shown in FIG. 2, the projecting portion 422A extends obliquely with respect to the width direction Y from one end to the other end in the width direction Y of the lower plate 42 . More specifically, the projecting portion 422A is inclined with respect to the width direction Y so as to approach the front side in the front-rear direction X with increasing distance from the opening 44 . As a result, when the side retainer 4 is moved in the width direction Y, the projecting portion 422A of the lance 422 pushes the front side surface of the groove portion 421A of the terminal 3 to push the terminal 3 to the normal position. In this embodiment, the width W1 of the projection 422A in the front-rear direction X is set to be narrower than the width W2 (FIG. 3) of the groove 421A in the front-rear direction X. As shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of attaching the side retainer 4 to the connector housing 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG. First, the terminal 3 to which the electric wire is connected is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 21 of the connector housing 2 . Subsequently, the inner housing 22 is inserted through the opening 44 of the side retainer 4 . At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the front side edge portion 222 of the inner housing 22 is inserted into the groove portion 421A provided in the rail portion 421 of the side retainer 4, and the lance 422 extends from the opening portion 223 into the terminal accommodating chamber 21. inserted. When the inner housing 22 is further inserted into the side retainer 4, the lance 422 reaches the terminal 3, and as shown in FIG. A projection 422A of 422 is inserted.

At this time, if the terminal 3 is not in the normal position, the cut-and-raised portion 311 is positioned behind the tip of the lance 422 as shown in FIG. As a result, the lance 422 is pushed down by the cut-and-raised portion 311 . If the terminal is not in the normal position, the front side surface of the groove 312 is located behind the end of the protrusion 422A away from the opening 44, as shown in FIG. 6A. Therefore, when the side retainer 4 is moved in the width direction Y so as to further insert the inner housing 22, the front side surface of the groove portion 312 is locked to the projection portion 422A.

4 and 6A, as the side retainer 4 moves in the width direction Y, the projection 422A of the lance 422 pushes forward the front side surface of the groove 312 of the terminal 3, thereby Push 3 towards normal position. When the inner housing 22 is further inserted into the side retainer 4 and locked by the locking portion 411 provided on the side retainer 4, the lance 422 is engaged as shown in FIGS. The terminal 3 is pushed out to the normal position by the provided protrusion 422A. At this time, the cut-and-raised portion 311 is located on the tip side of the tip of the lance 422, and the lance 422 is restored so that the tip of the lance 422 and the cut-and-raised portion 311 are locked. In addition, since the lance 422 is restored when the terminal 3 is in the normal position, the protrusion 422A provided on the lance 422 and the groove 312 of the terminal 3 are engaged more deeply.

According to the above-described embodiment, the lance 422 provided on the side retainer 4 has a protrusion that pushes the terminal 3 to the normal position in accordance with the movement of the side retainer 4 in the width direction Y when the terminal 3 is not at the normal position. A portion 422A is provided, and the terminal 3 is provided with a groove portion 312 pushed out by the protrusion 422A. Thereby, in addition to normal locking by the lance 422, locking by the projection 422A is also possible. In addition, since it is possible to lock while being biased by the lance 422, the holding force of the lance 422 can be improved.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the guide portion of the lance 422 is composed of the projection portion 422A, and the guide receiving portion of the terminal 3 is composed of the groove portion 312. As shown in FIG. The configuration of the guide portion of the lance 422 and the guide receiving portion of the terminal 3 can be simplified.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified, improved, etc. as appropriate. In addition, the material, shape, size, number, location, etc. of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

According to the above-described embodiment, the guide receiving portion of the terminal 3 is configured by the groove portion 312, but the present invention is not limited to this. The guide receiving portion of the terminal 3 may have any shape as long as it is pushed out by the projection 422A provided on the lance 422, and may be configured by a stepped portion or the like.

According to the above-described embodiment, the guide portion of the lance 422 is composed of the projection portion 422A, and the guide receiving portion of the terminal 3 is composed of the groove portion 312, but the present invention is not limited to this. The guide portion of the lance 422 may be composed of a groove, and the guide receiving portion of the terminal may be composed of a projection inserted into the groove.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, only the protrusion 422A of the protrusion 422A and the groove 312 extends obliquely with respect to the width direction Y, but this is not the only option. Only the groove portion 312 may extend obliquely with respect to the width direction Y, or both the projection portion 422A and the groove portion 312 may obliquely extend with respect to the width direction Y.

Here, the features of the embodiments of the connector according to the present invention described above are summarized and listed briefly in [1] to [2] below.
[1]
a connector housing (2) having a terminal accommodating chamber (21) formed therein;
a terminal (3) housed in the terminal housing chamber (21);
a retainer (4) attached to the connector housing (2) from a crossing direction (Y) crossing a mating direction (X) of the terminal (3) with the mating terminal,
The retainer (4) is pushed by the terminal (3) and bent to allow the terminal (3) to move to the normal position when the terminal (3) is not in the normal position. A cantilever-like lance (422) is provided which restores when (3) is in the normal position and whose tip is engaged with the terminal (3),
The lance (422) pushes the terminal (3) to the normal position according to the movement of the retainer (4) in the cross direction (Y) when the terminal (3) is not in the normal position. A guide portion (422A) is provided,
The terminal (3) is provided with a guide receiving portion (312) that is pushed out by the guide portion (422A).
Connector (1).
[2]
In the connector (1) according to [1],
One of the guide portion of the lance (422) and the guide receiving portion of the terminal is composed of a protrusion (422A), and the other is composed of a groove (312) into which the protrusion (422A) is inserted,
At least one of the protrusion (422A) and the groove (312) is formed to extend obliquely with respect to the cross direction (Y),
Connector (1).

1 connector 2 connector housing 3 terminal 4 side retainer (retainer)
21 terminal housing chamber 312 groove portion (guide receiving portion)
422 lance 422A projection (guide)
X front-back direction (mating direction)
Y width direction (cross direction)

Claims (1)

a connector housing having a terminal accommodating chamber formed therein;
a terminal accommodated in the terminal accommodation chamber;
a retainer attached to the connector housing from a crossing direction crossing a direction in which the terminals are mated with mating terminals;
The retainer is pushed by the terminal and bent to allow the terminal to move to the normal position when the terminal is not in the normal position, and restores to the tip when the terminal is in the normal position. is provided with a cantilever-like lance that engages with the terminal,
The lance is provided with a guide portion that pushes the terminal to the normal position in accordance with the movement of the retainer in the cross direction when the terminal is not at the normal position,
The terminal is provided with a guide receiving portion that is pushed out by the guide portion ,
One of the guide portion of the lance and the guide receiving portion of the terminal comprises a projection, and the other comprises a groove into which the projection is inserted,
At least one of the protrusion and the groove extends obliquely with respect to the intersecting direction,
connector.

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