JPH03291875A - Low insertion/extraction force multi-pole electrical connector assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To pull out and/or insert an electric connector with ease by sliding a terminal presser plate with a lever member rotated, and thereby pressing the contact plate of a female terminal against the tab of the male terminal so as to be brought into contact with each other by the use of its pressing projection. CONSTITUTION:When a male housing A is coupled in a case body section 16 of a female housing B, the receiving pin 14 of a terminal presser plate C is introduced in by means of a pin guiding frame 17 and a pin guiding groove 18. When a lever 22 is rotated in the T direction with the lever handle 26 of a lever member D pushed up, a short arm section 25 is engaged with the pin 14 so that the pin is pushed down. This thereby moves the pressing projection of the presser plate C to the side of an elastic contact plate. By this constitution, any force is hardly required at the time of initial coupling of both the housings with each other, and an elastic connector furnished with multi-poles can thereby be pulled out and/or inserted with ease.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention utilizes the principle of leverage to connect female and male terminals when fitting a pair of opposing housings, which is mainly used for connecting electrical wiring in automobiles. The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly that utilizes small force.

[Conventional technology]

As a technique for fitting a pair of housings or fitting and connecting female and male terminals with a small force, as shown in FIG. A female terminal 52 provided with an elastic contact plate 54 is housed in parallel in a housing (not shown), and a lock pin is inserted through an opening provided in a side wall of the housing perpendicularly to the terminal shaft, and the lock pin A structure is known in which the elastic contact plate 54 is pressed and brought into elastic contact with the tab 51 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-27631).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned prior art, the locking pin is a separate part from the housing, and since it is inserted when the female and male housings are fitted together, there is a risk that it will be lost, and the workability is also poor.

Furthermore, since the lock pin is inserted from the side of the terminal, the insertion force increases as the number of pins increases as the lock pin is inserted deeper, and manual insertion is limited in the number of pins, making it unsuitable for increasing the number of pins.

The present invention has been made focusing on the above problems,
To provide a multi-pole electrical connector assembly which is convenient to handle without fear of losing parts, and which allows fitting and connection of female, a-housing or female and male terminals with low insertion/extraction force even when the number of pins increases. The task is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned problems, the low insertion/extraction force multipolar electrical connector assembly of the present invention accommodates a plurality of female terminals in parallel, as described in claim (1). a male housing that accommodates a corresponding male terminal, a terminal holding plate that is slidable in the axial direction of the terminal with respect to the male housing, and a lever that is rotatably provided on the outer surface of the female housing. The female terminal includes a box-shaped tab receiving part that receives the tab of the male terminal, and an elastic contact plate formed on the side wall of the tab receiving part, and the terminal holding plate is made of the elastic contact plate. It is provided with a pressing projection against the plate and a receiving pin that engages with the operating portion of the lever member, and after the female housing is fitted, the operating portion and the receiving pin are engaged by rotation of the lever member. The terminal holding plate is moved along the axial direction of the terminal toward the elastic contact plate, so that the pressing protrusion presses the elastic contact plate to the tab side of the male terminal to bring it into contact.

[For production]

According to the present invention, almost no force is required to fit the female and male housings, and the contact between the female and male terminals is achieved by sliding the terminal holding plate by rotating the lever member using the lever principle, and pressing the This is done by pressing the elastic contact plate of the female terminal against the tab of the male terminal with a protrusion, and because a large acting force can be obtained with a small force on the action part of the lever member, the insertion/extraction force is low even when the number of poles increases. It is suitable for multi-pole connectors.

Hereinafter, the above configuration and operation will be specifically explained with reference to drawings showing examples.

〔Example〕

In Figure 1, A is a male housing made of synthetic resin, B is a female housing, C is a terminal holding plate slidably provided on male housing A, and D is rotatably provided on female housing B. The lever member is shown.

Multiple terminal housing chambers 1 in male housing A and female housing B
and 1' accommodate a known female terminal 52 and male terminal 50, respectively, as shown in FIG. 6, and are locked by flexible locking arms 2 and 2' to prevent them from coming off backwards. .

The male housing A shown in this embodiment is constructed by joining two split housings 3 and 3' of the same structure, as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C.

The split housing 3 (3') has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 1 that open upward and downward are arranged in parallel along its longitudinal direction. One side surface 3a serving as the mating surface of the split housing 3 (3') has a guide recess 4 for the terminal holding plate C formed in the center thereof, and a concave portion 4 communicating with each terminal accommodating chamber 1 in the upper part. An opening 5 is formed continuously with the guide recess 4.

Furthermore, at the four corners of the split housing 3 (3'), there are four members for removably locking and fixing these parts, namely, a locking piece 6 having a locking protrusion 6a, and a locking part having a locking hole 7a. 7. A fixed arm 8 and a key-shaped projection 9 are formed, and the fixed arm 8 is provided with a notch 8a for guiding the insertion of the key-shaped projection 9 and a circular fitting groove 8b.

The locking piece 6 and the locking part 7 are attached to two split housings 3.3'
A key-shaped protrusion 9 and a fixed arm 8 are formed at the upper ends of the left and right end walls 3b and 3c so as to face each other when they are brought together and face each other. is formed. The locking piece 6, the fixed arm 8, and its notch 8a are provided perpendicularly to the engagement surface 3a, and the key-shaped projection 9
is inclined downward. Furthermore, the protruding length of the locking piece 6 and the fixed arm 8 is such that when the two split housings 3゜3' are assembled together, a guide passage 10 is left for the ear piece 13 of the terminal holding plate C, which will be described later. It is determined as follows.

The terminal holding plate C made of synthetic resin has a plurality of pressing protrusions 12 protruding from both sides of the upper end of the plate body 11 at the same pitch as the openings 5, as shown in FIG. It is formed by projecting ear pieces 13 having receiving pins 14 on both sides.

The pressing protrusion 12 is connected to the elastic contact plate 54 (seventh) of the female terminal 52.
(see figure), and is formed shorter than the length of the opening 5.

To assemble the male housing A, insert the key-shaped protrusion 9 of one of the split housings 3, 3' into the fitting groove 8b from the notch 8a of the other fixed arm 8, as shown in FIG. 2a. Turn both housings 3, 3 slightly in the direction of arrow R as shown.
', and attach the terminal holding plate C from above to both housings 3.
, 3', and connect both housings 3, 3' as shown in Fig. 2C.
When 3' is closed, one locking piece 6 engages with the other locking portion 7, and is locked and fixed by the engagement between the locking protrusion 6a and the locking hole 7a.

When assembling, each terminal housing chamber 1 of both housings 3, 3'
The female terminal 52 is inserted and locked in advance as shown in FIG.

In the assembled male housing A, as shown in FIG. is the guide recess 4 of both housings 3, 3'.
, 4, and the pressing protrusions 12 are located in the openings 5, respectively.

Therefore, the terminal holding plate C can be slid up and down as shown by the arrow S (within the difference in length between the opening 5 and the pressing protrusion 12).

As shown in FIG. 3, the female housing B has a sleeve portion 16 that fits and receives the male housing A in the upper half of the housing body 15. , a pin guide frame 17 and a pin guide groove 18 are provided for the receiving pin 14 of the terminal holding plate C.

Further, a lever storage portion 19 is recessed with a step between the left and right end walls of the housing portion 16 and the housing body 15,
A shaft pin 20 for pivotally supporting a lever 22, which will be described later, is provided at the lower part of the storage portion 19, and a locking protrusion 21 is provided at the upper end.

The lever member 2 is connected to the lever handle 2 by connecting the pair of levers 22 to the lever handle 2.
The lever 22 is formed as a U-shaped frame body connected by 6, and the lever 22 has a long arm part 24 and a short arm part 25 provided substantially perpendicularly to each other with a fulcrum part 23 having a shaft hole in between.

As shown in FIG. 1, this lever member is constructed by rotatably supporting a fulcrum part 23 by shaft pins 20 on both sides of the sleeve part 16, and by turning the lever handle 26 in the direction of the arrow T. The lever 22 is locked by the locking protrusion 21 and housed in the lever storage portion 19, and the lever handle 26 is mounted with the lever handle 26 crossing the opening of the sleeve portion 16.

Next, the fitting and connection of the female and male housings and the female and a terminals will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 4a, with the lever member unlocked, the male housing A is inserted into the sleeve portion 16 of the female housing B. The receiving pin 14 of the terminal holding plate C, which is slidably inserted into the male housing A, is attached to the pin guide frame 17.
and the pin guide groove 18 allows the pin to be smoothly introduced.

At this time, the tab 51 of the male terminal 50 enters into the tab receiving portion 53 of the female terminal 52, as shown in FIG. 5a, but is not in contact with the elastic contact plate 54? Or just a slight contact.

Therefore, almost no force is required to insert the female and male housings A and B, and the insertion can be carried out easily.

In this state, when the lever bundle 26 of the lever member is pushed and the lever 22 is turned in the direction of the arrow T, the short arm part 25, which is the action part of the lever 22, engages with the receiving pin 14 of the terminal holding plate C, and Press down as indicated by line U. As a result, the pressing protrusion 12 of the terminal holding plate C makes an elastic contact Fi5 in the opening 5 (see FIGS. 2a and b) as shown by the arrow U in FIG. 5a.
Move to the 4th side.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the pivoting operation of the lever member is completed and the levers 22 on both sides are engaged with the locking protrusions 21 and locked.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 51 and the connection of the female and male terminals 50, 52 is achieved.

Since the lever 22 can obtain a large force at the action part (25) by selecting the ratio of the long arm part 24 and the short arm part 25,
The lever member can be operated with a small force, and even if the number of female and male terminals 50, 52 increases, it can be handled satisfactorily.

In this way, the female and male housings can be fitted together and the male and female terminals can be connected with small force.

Further, as is clear from FIG. 4, since the lever handle 26 of the lever member supports the male housing A from the rear side, there is no fear of it coming off the female housing B.

In addition, by providing the short arm part 25' as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 3 to face the short arm part 25 at an appropriate angle, the terminal holding plate C can be slid in the opposite direction The female and male terminals 50, 52 can be disconnected.

In the above, an example has been described in which the male housing A is assembled with two split housings 3 and 3' having the same structure, but both can be molded integrally. In that case, the terminal holding plate C may be inserted from the front or side of the terminal accommodating chamber 1 (for example, an insertion window may be provided in the side wall of the male housing).

Figures 7a''-c show other embodiments of the invention.

In this embodiment, the other housing of the male housing A' that is fitted with the split housing 3 is formed as a cover 27 of the terminal holding plate C', and the terminal holding plate C' is provided only on one side of the upper end of the plate body 11. A pressing protrusion 12 is provided. The cover 27 has a locking piece 6 of the split housing 3.
The locking portion 7′ corresponding to the locking portion 7, the fixed arm 8, and the keyed protrusion 9, the locking piece 6′, the keyed protrusion 9′, and the fixed arm 8′
By providing this, it can be assembled in the same way as the split housing 3' (see Figure 2 a''-c).
.

As will be readily understood from the embodiments of FIGS. 7a-'-c and FIGS. 1-3, the electrical connector assembly of the present invention can be modified in various ways, including
The number of male terminals 52,50) can be greatly increased or decreased.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, almost no force is required for the initial fitting of the female and m housings.

The male terminals can also be connected using the principle of leverage with a small force, and the difficulty of insertion and removal caused by the increase in the number of electrical connectors can be solved.

Further, since the lever member is rotatably provided in the female housing, there is no fear of losing it unlike in conventional lock bins, and workability is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the low insertion/extraction force multi-polar electrical connector of the present invention in a separated state; Fig. 2 a"-c is a perspective view showing the assembly process of the same male housing; Fig. 3 is the female of Fig. 1. Exploded perspective view of the housing, Figure 4a
, b are explanatory diagrams showing how to operate the lever member shown in FIG. 1, respectively. FIGS. VI
7a-7c are perspective views showing an assembly process of a male housing showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a conventional example of female and male terminals. A, A'...Male housing, B...Female housing, c, c'...Terminal holding plate, D...Lever member, 12...Press projection, 14...Receiving bottle, 21
Locking protrusion, 22... Lever, 25... Short arm part (acting part), 27... Cover, 50... Male terminal, 51...
...Tab, 52...Female terminal, 53...Tab receiving part,
54...Elastic contact plate. Figure 4 (b) Figure 4 (b) Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A male housing housing multiple female terminals in parallel;
It consists of a female housing that accommodates a corresponding male terminal, a terminal holding plate that is slidable in the axial direction of the terminal with respect to the male housing, and a lever member that is rotatably provided on the outer surface of the female housing. The female terminal includes a box-shaped tab receiving part that receives the tab of the male terminal, and an elastic contact plate formed on a side wall of the tab receiving part, and the terminal holding plate has a pressing projection against the elastic contact plate. and a receiving pin that engages with the operating part of the lever member, and after the female and male housings are fitted, the operating part and the receiving pin engage with each other by rotation of the lever member, and the terminal holding plate is held in place of the terminal. A low insertion/extraction force multipolar electrical connector assembly, characterized in that the pressing protrusion presses the elastic contact plate into contact with the tab side of the male terminal by moving the elastic contact plate side along the axial direction. (2) The low insertion/extraction force multipolar electrical connector assembly according to claim (1), wherein a locking means is provided between the female housing and the lever member.