JPH10134856A - Terminal block connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a terminal block connector which can realize high reliability of electric connection with various wires to be connected, even when the connection and the connection release of wires are carried out many times. SOLUTION: The terminal block connector has the first housing 20 to house an electric terminal 60, and the second housing 30 provided slidable to the first housing 20. To the second housing 30, a wire housing cavity 31 is formed. After a wire W is provided in the wire housing cavity 31, a screw means 50 is operated, and the second housing 30 is slided relatively to the first housing 20 by the cooporation of the screw means 40 and 50, and thereby, the connection and the connection release of the wire W and the electric terminal 60 can be carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly, to a terminal block connector to which a conductive wire is connected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a need for a technique for intentionally blasting an airbag apparatus for disposal or inspection in an application related to an airbag apparatus used in an automobile. The terminal block used at this time is configured to be connected to or disconnected from a wire extending from the airbag device. For the insertion and removal of wires 1000 times or more in the terminal block, that is, for connection and disconnection with wires,
It is desired that a stable electrical connection with the connected wires be provided. JP-A-61-250976, JP-A-62-24575 and JP-A-60-7107.
Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a terminal having a spring property is connected to a wire as a terminal block connected to a wire to be inserted and withdrawn. However, according to the terminal having the spring property,
Since there is a possibility that the spring may be set or the spring may be deformed at the time of wire insertion / removal, it is difficult to guarantee a stable electrical connection after 1000 times of wire insertion / removal. In order to obtain a stable electric connection, it is preferable to adopt another structure, for example, a press-contact type structure.

An example of a conventional press contact type connector is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-70671. The disclosed connector has a first housing in which an electric terminal including a press-fitting slot is housed, and a second housing in which a wire housing cavity for housing an insulating wire is formed. Second
The housing is relatively movable with respect to the first housing, and is moved closer to the first housing after housing the insulated wire in the wire housing cavity. As a result, the insulating wire is press-fitted into the press-fitting slot of the electric terminal, and the interconnection between the insulating wire and the electric terminal is established.

However, the press-connecting connector disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-70671 is not intended for connecting and disconnecting a large number of wires, so that the first and second housings are relatively connected for connection and disconnection. It was difficult to move the terminal, and there was a possibility that the electric terminal could be damaged by an unreasonable operation.

Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and provides a terminal block connector capable of realizing highly reliable electrical connection with each connected wire even when connection and disconnection of the wire are performed many times. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises an electrical terminal including a slot, a first housing for housing the electrical terminal, and a wire slidably disposed with respect to the first housing for housing a wire. The second where the receiving cavity is provided
A screw means is provided on the first and second housings, and the first and second housings are relatively moved by operation of the screw means, and the wire housed in the wire housing cavity is A terminal block connector is provided, which is connected to and disconnected from the slot of an electric terminal.

Preferably, the screw means includes a nut member fixed to the first housing, and a bolt member rotatable with respect to the second housing so as not to come off in a height direction. The relative movement of the first and second housings may be operated. At this time, the bolt member includes an operation unit for receiving an operation force for rotation from outside.

Preferably, the first and second housings are formed of a ceramic material such as a machinable ceramic.

[0009] More preferably, the first and second housings are provided with guide portions for restricting the relative movement thereof to linear movement and restricting the movement in other directions. The guide section may be provided at a plurality of locations of the first and second housings. Further, when the guide portion is provided at a plurality of positions, at least one of them is preferably provided near the screw means.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A terminal block connector (hereinafter simply referred to as a terminal block) according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a terminal block, (a) is a plan view,
(B) is a front view, and (c) is a side view. FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are enlarged views of sections taken along lines AA, BB, and CC in FIG. Particularly, FIG. 3 shows the accommodated wires W together.

According to FIG. 1, the terminal block 10 has a first housing 20, a second housing 30 formed separately from the first housing 20, and a bolt member 50 attached to the second housing 30. Then, the first housing 20 and the second housing 30 can be relatively slid in the linear direction by the rotation of the bolt member 50. A specific configuration for sliding will be described later. The bolt member 50 is provided with an operation unit 51 for rotating operation.

In the second housing, a wire receiving cavity 31 formed in accordance with the outer diameter of a wire (not shown) to which the terminal block 10 is connected is provided on the side surface 30c. A pair of parallel slots 21 is provided in the end surfaces 20a and 20b of the first housing 20. The pair of slots 21 are provided on the end surfaces 30a, 30b of the second housing 30.
The post 33 formed at the second position is received. Thereby, the first guide portion 11 for guiding the relative sliding between the first housing 20 and the second housing 30 is configured. The first guide portion 11 also has an action of limiting the relative sliding amount of the first and second housings 20, 30.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 5, a more detailed structure of the terminal block 10 and a relative sliding of the first and second housings 20, 30 will be described. The first housing 20 accommodates the plurality of electric terminals 60 in the terminal accommodation cavity 25. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the electric terminal 60 has a tab-like portion 60a having a slot 61 in the center, and a crimping portion for crimping connection with a wire (not shown) connected to a power supply device or an inspection device or the like. (Conductor connection part) 60b. Further, the electric terminal 60 is connected to the first housing 2 on the tab-shaped portion 60a.
The lance 62 and the reverse terminal formed to be bent in a substantially right angle direction at one side end of the tab-like portion 60a so as to determine the direction of insertion when the electric terminal 60 is inserted into the terminal receiving cavity 25. It has a stopper 63. As shown in FIG. 4, the lance 62 is locked by a locking shoulder 25a formed in the terminal receiving cavity 25.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the first housing 20 includes a central portion 71 to which the nut member 40 engaged with the bolt member 50 is fixed by being prevented from rotating, and the electric terminal 6 described above.
0 has a terminal accommodating portion 72 and a side wall portion 73, and a pair of terminal accommodating portions 72 extend on both sides of the central portion 71 to form a bridge between the side wall 73 and the central portion 71. ing. As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal accommodating portion 72 has an outer shape expanding toward the bottom side, and forms an inclined surface 72a.

The second housing 30 as shown in FIGS.
Is a first housing capable of accommodating the central portion 71 of the first housing 20.
Second accommodation section 8 capable of accommodating accommodation section 81 and terminal accommodation section 72
And 2. The first housing portion 81 and the central portion 71, and the second housing portion 82 and the terminal housing portion 72 have substantially complementary shapes.
Therefore, the first housing part 81 and the center part 71, and the second housing part 82 and the housing part 72 are composed of the first and second housings 20, 30.
And second and third guide portions 12 and 13, respectively, which act to guide relative sliding of the first and second members. Also, the second housing 3
0 has a length substantially equal to the distance between the pair of side walls 73 of the first housing 20, and the end faces 30 a and 30 b are close to the side walls 73. Therefore, the end faces 30a, 30b and the side wall 73 constitute a fourth guide portion 14 that acts to guide the relative sliding of the first and second housings 20, 30.

Referring to FIG. 4, the second housing portion 82 of the second housing 20 includes an inclined portion 82a. The inclined portion 82a cooperates with the inclined surface 72a of the first housing 20 to act as a stopper for limiting the relative sliding of the first and second housings 20,30.

Further, as shown in FIG.
0 of the wire receiving cavity 31 extends from the side 30c to the side 3
It is formed so as to penetrate linearly toward 0d. An inclined guide surface 32 for guiding is formed on the wire insertion side of the wire receiving cavity 31.

The bolt member 50 is prevented from coming off in the height direction with respect to the second housing 30, and can be freely rotated. According to the preferred embodiment, the retaining support means is based on the metal ring 52 and the clip member 53, but various other configurations are applied.

The connection between the wire and the electric terminal 60 and the release thereof will be described below. The wire is inserted into the wire receiving cavity 31 from the side surface 30c when the first and second housings 20, 30 are at the relative positions shown in FIGS. The inserted wire is arranged so as to cross the second housing portion 82 of the second housing 30. Then, the second housing 30 is slid in the direction of the arrow P (see FIGS. 2 and 4) by rotating the bolt member 50 and cooperating with the nut member 40 attached to the first housing 20. As a result, the wire W enters the slot 61 of the electrical terminal 60 and reaches the electrical connection state shown in FIG. The wire W is gradually turned into the slot 6 by the rotation of the bolt member 50.
1, there is no possibility that an excessive stress is applied to the slot 61 and the electric terminal 60 is damaged. Conversely, when releasing the connection, the bolt member 50 is rotated in the opposite direction.
As a result, the second housing 30 is slid in the direction away from the first housing 20, that is, in the direction of the arrow Q (see FIGS. 2 and 4), so that the wire W is separated from the slot 61 of the electric terminal 60. Also in this case, since the wire W gradually separates from the slot 61 by the rotation of the bolt member 50, there is no possibility that the vicinity of the slot 61 of the electric terminal 60 is deformed.

In addition, as described above, the first and second housings 20 and 30 are provided with a plurality of guide portions, that is, the first to fourth guide portions 1 as means for guiding the relative sliding motion.
Since the first and second housings 20 and 30 are provided with 1, 12, 13, and 14, movements other than the sliding movement are almost completely restricted. Therefore, there is no concern that the second housing 30 and the electric terminal 60 interfere with each other and the electric terminal 60 is deformed during the relative sliding movement of the first and second housings 20 and 30,
This also guarantees the connection reliability with each of the multiple wires to be connected and disconnected. This effect is more reliable because the second guide portion 12, which is one of the plurality of guide portions, is located near the screw means, that is, the bolt member 50 and the nut material 40.

The first embodiment used in the preferred embodiment described above
The second housings 20 and 30 may be formed of a resin such as plastic, but more preferably formed of a hard material such as ceramic. Typical ceramic materials that can be used include machinable ceramics such as McCall (registered trademark of Corning Glass Works). By forming the first and second housings 20 and 30 from a hard material such as a ceramic,
Can be arranged at accurate positions, and even when the connection and disconnection of the wire are performed many times, highly reliable connection of each wire can be guaranteed.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of the electric terminals and the first housing. In this modification, the electric terminal 160 has a tab-like portion 160a including a slot 161 connected to a wire (not shown), a conductor connecting portion 160b for welding or soldering a wire connected to a power supply device or an inspection device, and an intermediate portion between the two. It has a wing part 160c projecting to both sides at the position. The first housing 120 is an upper housing 120.
a and the lower housing 120b. The upper housing 120a is the tab-like portion 16 of the electric terminal 160.
The lower housing 120b cooperates with the wings 160c of the electric terminal 160 to prevent the electric terminal 160 from moving downward. Act like. Accordingly, the electric terminal 160 is more firmly supported in the first housing 120, and the accurate position of the electric terminal 160 can be guaranteed.

Although the terminal block connector according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this does not limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes can be made by those skilled in the art.

[0025]

According to the terminal block connector of the present invention, the first
Also, since the relative sliding of the second housing is performed by operating the screw means, even when connecting and disconnecting the wire many times, the electric terminals are not deformed in the process of connection and disconnection, and the connection is performed. And highly reliable electrical connection with each of the wires.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B are diagrams showing a terminal block connector, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view, FIG. 1B is a front view, and FIG.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along a line AA in FIG. 1 (b).

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1 (a).

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line CC in FIG. 1 (b).

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 3, showing a connection state of wires;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing another embodiment of the first housing and the electric terminals used for the terminal block connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Terminal block connector 20, 120 1st housing 30 2nd housing 31 Wire accommodation cavity 40 Nut member (screw means) 50 Bolt member (screw means) 60, 160 Electric terminal 61 161 Slot W Wire

Claims (1)

[Claims] An electric terminal including a slot, a first housing for housing the electric terminal, and a second housing provided slidably with respect to the first housing and provided with a wire housing cavity for housing a wire. Wherein the first and second housings are provided with screw means, and the first and second housings are relatively moved by operation of the screw means, and the wires accommodated in the wire accommodation cavities are electrically connected to each other. A terminal block connector for connecting and disconnecting to and from the slot of a terminal.