JPH06349543A - Electrical connector with protective cover - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide an electrical connector with a protective cover that securely fixes the protective cover on the housing and improves the operability of the protective cover when the connector is inserted and removed. The electric connector 30 is constructed by inserting a terminal guard 32, which is a flat plate-shaped protective cover, into an opening 34 provided on one side surface of a housing 31 in which a connection terminal 35 is inserted into a terminal accommodating chamber 33. Has been formed. A guide groove 36 for slidably inserting the terminal guard 32 is formed at a side edge of the opening 34. On the other hand, the terminal guard 32 as a protective cover
A pair of flexible dogleg-shaped spring arms 38 are integrally provided on a side end surface of the cover body 37 of the cover main body 37, and locking protrusions fitted into the guide grooves 36 are provided at opposite side end edges. The piece 37a is formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of an electric connector provided with a protective cover which is inserted into a connector fitting member having an electric contact portion and protects a contact piece of a connection terminal. The present invention relates to a structure for mounting on a connector housing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electric connection in electric wiring of automobiles,
That is, various connectors are widely used for connecting electric wires to each other and connecting electric wires to a conductive plate such as a printed wiring board. When wires are connected to each other, female and male terminals are generally fitted together, or when pressure-bonded terminals are used.When connecting wires to conductive plates, connect terminals with contact pieces. Electrical connection is made by inserting the connector inserted in the accommodation chamber into a connector fitting portion provided in an electric component unit or the like in which a conductive plate such as a printed wiring board is arranged on the inner wall surface. .

As a conventional electric connector used for connecting the electric wire and the conductive plate, a cover for protecting a contact piece is disclosed in a connector housing (hereinafter simply referred to as a housing) in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1-117079. An electrical connector with a protective cover provided on the side wall surface is disclosed. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the electrical connector is composed of a housing 1 and a protective cover 2. The upper part of the terminal accommodating chamber 3 of the housing 1 is opened to form an opening 4 for accommodating the terminal. The tongue piece 5 which is a contact piece of the connection terminal inserted in the chamber 3 is exposed. Then, a flat plate-shaped protective cover 2 is inserted from the rear of the housing 1 into the insertion groove 6 provided inside the side wall of the housing 1 to open and close the opening 4.

That is, when the protective cover 2 is inserted into the housing 1 and moved forward from the open position 2a where the opening 4 is opened, the protective cover 2 is located below the front edge 8 of the upper wall 7. The locking projection 11 interferes with the guide surface 13 of the chevron projection 12 near the rear end of the protective cover 2, and the upper wall 7 near the locking projection 11 is elastically deformed upward, and when further advanced, the chevron shape is formed. The protrusion 12 rides over the locking protrusion 11 and is engaged with the closed position 2b.

Further, there is an electric connector with a protective cover disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-3675 as one in which the protective cover is integrally molded with a housing. As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the electric connector 20 has a housing 21 in which a terminal insertion portion 23 is formed by a plurality of partition walls 22 and a contact piece 24 a, and is fitted inside the terminal insertion portion 23. Connection terminal 24 to be attached. Guide grooves 26 for guiding a protective cover 27, which will be described later, are formed on both side edges of the upper surface of the housing 21, and the protective cover 27 covers the housing 21.
It is integrally connected by a flexible connecting portion 29 which is expended from the back portion 28 of the. Also, the housing 2
In the central part of the upper surface of 1, the groove 3 for dropping the connecting part 29 is formed.
0 is formed.

The protective cover 27 is provided on the housing 21.
The connection terminal 24 and the contact piece 24a inserted into the housing 21 are protected by being inserted into the guide groove 26 from behind. By inserting the electric connector 20 into the concave portion 13 provided in the case 12, the protective cover 27 is pushed and pushed back by the peripheral edge of the concave portion 13 and is exposed by the movement of the protective cover 27. Further, the contact piece 24a comes into contact with the conductive plate 15 to establish an electrical connection with the connection terminal 24. Also,
When the electric connector 20 is pulled out from the recess 13, the protective cover 27 moves again onto the contact piece 24a by the elastic force of the connecting portion 29 to protect the connection terminal 24.

[0007]

However, in the first conventional example, the closed state of the protective cover 2 on the housing 1 can be confirmed, and the housing 1 can be securely fixed to the housing 1. Since the protective cover 2 moves due to the elastic deformation of the housing upper wall 7 provided with the locking protrusion during the fitting, the fitting requires a force, and the protective cover 2 during the fitting is unstable and may be loosened. It may cause sound. Further, in the second conventional example, the protective cover 27
Since it is integrated with the housing 21, the assembly work process can be reduced and parts management is easy, but the groove 30 for the connecting portion 29 is provided.
Is wasted, the protective cover 27 is loose at the connecting portion 29 formed in one center portion, and it is not possible to smoothly insert and remove the connector.

The object of the present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an electric appliance with a protective cover for surely fixing the protective cover on the housing and improving the operability of the protective cover when the connector is inserted and removed. To provide a connector.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the above object of the present invention, a flat plate-like protective cover made of an insulating material for protecting connection terminals housed in a housing is provided on one side wall surface of the housing. Is slidably assembled in a groove provided on the side edge of the opening, and is removably fitted into a connector fitting member having an electric contact portion on the inner wall surface for contacting the connection terminal. In the electrical connector with a protective cover, at least one spring arm having flexibility is provided on a side end surface of the protective cover.

Further, the above object is achieved by the spring arm being expandable and contractable in a horizontal plane, and a bent portion of the spring arm abutting a side edge of the opening of the housing.

[0011]

In the electrical connector with a protective cover according to the present invention, at least one spring arm having flexibility is provided on the side end surface of the protective cover, the spring arm is extendable / contractible in a horizontal plane, and the bent portion of the spring arm is By contacting the side edge of the opening of the housing, the protective cover can be securely held in the opening of the housing in a slidable state, and the protective cover can be moved smoothly when the connector is inserted or removed. it can.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electrical connector with a protective cover according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 is a perspective view showing a state before a protective cover is attached to a housing, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state before fitting a connector into a fitting case.
4 is a plan view showing a state in which the connector is fitted in the fitting case, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electric connector 30 includes a housing 3 in which a connection terminal 35 is fitted in a terminal accommodating chamber 33.
It is formed by inserting the terminal guard 32, which is a flat plate-shaped protective cover, into the opening 34 provided on one side surface of the terminal 1. The housing 31 has a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 3.
3 is provided, and a plurality of connection terminals 35 are fitted and inserted. A contact piece 35a for contacting a conductive plate such as a printed wiring board for electrical connection is integrally formed on the connection terminal 35 so as to be exposed from the opening 34.
Further, the terminal guard 3 is provided on the side edge of the opening 34.
A guide groove 36 for slidably inserting 2 is formed.

On the other hand, a pair of flexible dogleg-shaped spring arms 38 are integrally provided on the side end surface of the cover body 37 of the terminal guard 32 as a protective cover, and the opposite side edges are opposed to each other. Has a locking projection 37a which is fitted into the guide groove 36. Further, a partition rib 39 is provided on the lower surface of the terminal guard 32 to prevent the cover body 37 from being bent downward by a pressing force from above.
Are formed. In the free state before the terminal guard 32 is assembled, the bent portion 3 of the spring arm 38 is
8a is the bending angle θ ₀ , the width D ₀ between the both bent portions 38a is wider than the lateral width D of the cover body 37 (D ₀ > D), and the leg length L ₀ is from the edge of the cover body 37 to the tip. is there.
To assemble the terminal guard 32 to the housing 31, the locking projection 37a is inserted from above the opening 34 through the insertion step 31a provided at the side edge of the opening 34, and the spring arm 38 is moved. The bent portion 38a is held by coming into contact with the side end surface of the opening 34.

As shown in FIG. 2, the connection terminal 35 having the contact piece 35a is locked by the locking lance 31a formed in the terminal accommodating chamber 33 of the housing 31. And
By inserting the terminal guard 32 from above the contact piece 35a exposed in the opening 34, the contact piece 35a is protected by the cover body 37.

Next, fitting of the electrical connector and the electrical component unit will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 shows a state before the electric connector 30 is fitted in the fitting concave portion 41 provided on the side wall of the electrical component unit. In the state where the terminal guard 32 covers the contact piece 35a of the connection terminal 35, The spring arm 38 is provided on the upper surface of the housing 31.
When the locking projection piece 37a is inserted into the guide groove 36, the spring arm 38 having the bending angle θ ₀ is further bent to bend the bending angle θ 0.
₁ (θ ₁ <θ ₀ ) and the width D ₁ (D ₁ <D ₀ ) between both bent portions 38 a equal to the lateral width D of the cover body 37, the end of the spring arm is abutted against the opening-side end face 31 a. The portion 38b has a leg length L ₁ (L ₁ <L ₁ <
L ₀ ), the terminal guard 32 is brought into contact with the locking projection 3 provided on both side edges of the cover body 37.
7a and the bending portion 38a of the spring arm 38 elastically support the terminal guard 32 at the four points, so that the terminal guard 32 is securely held in the housing opening 34.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a state after the fitting. When the electric connector 30 is inserted into the fitting concave portion 41 of the connector fitting portion 40 provided in the electrical component unit, The front end portion of the cover body 37 of the terminal guard 32 contacts the upper side wall surface of the connector fitting portion 40.
Then, when further pushed in, the locking projection 37a of the cover body 37 slides in the guide groove 36, and the terminal guard 32 is pushed rearward and moved, so that the engagement recess formed in the fitting recess 41 is formed. An engagement protrusion 31c provided on the side wall of the housing is fitted and fixed to the receiving portion 41a. As a result, the conductive plate 40a formed in the fitting recess 41 comes into contact with the contact piece 35a of the connection terminal 35 to achieve electrical connection. At this time, in the spring arm 38 of the terminal guard 32, the bending angle θ ₂ (θ ₂ <θ ₂ <θ ₂ <θ ₁ while the both bending portions 38 a are in contact with the opening-side end face 31 a.
θ ₁ ) and bends and slides toward the rear end face 31b of the opening, and the tip end 38b of the spring arm 38 comes into surface contact with the rear end face 31b of the opening in the state of leg length L ₂ (L ₂ <L ₁ ). . Therefore, the terminal guard 32 is securely held behind the opening by the stronger elastic action of the spring arm 38.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the spring arm. The spring arm 38 of the above embodiment is bent inwardly in the direction opposite to the shape of the spring arm 38 and is formed into an arc-shaped tip portion 48a.
Is held in contact with the opening side end surface 31a and the opening rear end surface 31b.

[0019]

As described above, in the electrical connector with a protective cover according to the present invention, at least one spring arm having flexibility that can expand and contract in a horizontal plane is provided on the side end surface of the protective cover, and the spring arm is bent. By contacting the edge of the housing with the opening side edge, the protective cover can be securely held in the opening, and smooth movement is possible, which improves workability when the connector is inserted and removed. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electric connector with a protective cover that is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state before the connector is fitted in the fitting case.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which a connector is fitted in a fitting case.

5 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an electric connector with a protective cover that is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an electric connector with a protective cover of a first conventional example.

8 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an electric connector with a protective cover of a second conventional example.

10 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an electric connector of a second conventional example is fitted in a case.

[Explanation of symbols]

30 electrical connector 31 connector housing 32 terminal guard (protective cover) 33 terminal accommodating chamber 34 opening 35a terminal contact piece 36 guide groove 37 cover body 37a locking protrusion 38 spring arm 38a bent portion D cover body lateral width D _{0 to} D ₁ leg theta ₀ through? ₂ bending angle of the width L ₀ ~L ₂ spring arms between the bent portion of the spring arm

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A flat plate-shaped protective cover made of an insulating material for protecting the connection terminals housed in the connector housing is provided at a side edge of an opening provided on one side wall surface of the connector housing. An electric connector with a protective cover, which is slidably assembled in a groove portion and is removably fitted into a connector fitting member having an electric contact portion that contacts the connection terminal on an inner wall surface, At least 1 having flexibility on the side end surface of the
An electrical connector with a protective cover, which is provided with two spring arms. 2. The electrical connector with a protective cover according to claim 1, wherein the spring arm is extendable / contractible in a horizontal plane, and a bent portion of the spring arm abuts a side edge of the opening of the connector housing.