JPH11162575A - Half mating prevention connector - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To prevent half-fitting of connectors,
A semi-mating prevention connector with a simple structure and easy removal. SOLUTION: The semi-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present invention includes an elastic member 17 for urging in a mating direction in a male connector 3 and a slide lock member 1 slidable in mating and mating directions.
5. A halfway fitting prevention locking stopper 8 having a front end portion capable of bending outward in a front end portion and an inclined surface 8a on a rear end surface.
Is provided. Further, a housing lock 22 locked to the slide lock member 15 on the upper surface of the female connector,
A lock arm 21 is provided on both side surfaces, the lock arm 21 having a halfway engagement prevention lock 24 which is passed over the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8 and locked.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector in which a connector is separated from each other by a repulsive force of an elastic member when the connector is left in a semi-fitted state, and a male and female connector in a completely fitted state is easily released. The present invention relates to a semi-fitting prevention connector that can be separated from the connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of half-fitting prevention connectors have been known. For example, JP-A-9-237
A half-fitting prevention connector disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 653 is known. The half-fitting prevention connector 51 shown in FIGS. 7 to 11 includes a terminal housing chamber 57 for inserting and holding a connection terminal in a lower part of a housing 53a of a male connector 53 having a female terminal therein, and an upper portion serving as a lock member described later. An accommodation space 55 for inserting and holding the slide lock member 65 is provided. On both sides of the housing space 55, a pair of upper and lower guide grooves 61 and 62 as a support mechanism 60 are provided, and an upper guide groove 6 provided in an upper portion thereof is provided.
The front end portion 2 has a flexible tapered surface for inserting the slide lock member 65 in the fitting direction. Further, a slide lock engaging portion 62a for preventing the slide lock member 65 from coming off is provided, and a stopper 58 for halfway fitting prevention lock is provided at the front end of the lower guide groove 61 so as to protrude inward. . An opening 5 is provided in the ceiling of the housing 53a forming the upper part of the accommodation space 55.
6 are provided.

The slide lock member 65 has a detachment protrusion 66 for moving the slide lock member 65 rearward when the fitting is released.
The housing 53 is provided on both end surfaces near the detachment protrusion 66.
A slide stopper 69 that is fitted into the upper guide groove 62 in FIG. 1A and locked by the slide lock locking portion 62 a is provided as a part of the support mechanism 60. A spring accommodating chamber 68 for accommodating a compression spring 67 as an elastic member is provided on the rear side, and a support protrusion 70 that is inserted into the lower guide groove 61 is provided on both side end surfaces near the spring accommodating chamber 68.
It is provided as a part of.

As shown in FIG. 8, a female connector 52 having a built-in male terminal has a terminal accommodating chamber 76 for inserting and holding a connection terminal in a female housing 52a.
A flexible plate-shaped lock arm 71 is formed at an upper part, and a guide side wall 75 is vertically provided on both side walls thereof. Further, at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the lock arm 71, a housing lock 72 that is locked by the slide lock member 65, a halfway prevention lock 74 at a side end near the housing lock, and a rearward fit. A lock release projection 73 is provided for pressing downward when releasing the engagement.

In the above-mentioned half-fitting prevention connector 51, first, as shown in FIG. 7, the slide stopper 69 is inserted into the upper guide groove 62 with the compression spring 67 accommodated in the spring accommodation chamber 68 of the slide lock member 65. The slide lock member 65 is assembled into the housing 53a by fitting the support protrusion 70 into the lower guide groove 61. FIG.
The male connector 53 and the female connector 52 are fitted as shown in FIG. That is, when the female connector 52 is pushed in the direction of arrow A, the distal end of the housing lock 72 of the lock arm 71 comes into contact with the pressing end surface 65 a of the front end of the slide lock member 65. When the female connector 52 is further pushed in, the slide lock member 65 is moved in the direction of arrow B, and the halfway engagement prevention lock 74 passes over the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 58. In this passing state, even if the lock arm 71 bends downward, the halfway fitting prevention lock 74 abuts on the upper surface of the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper 58 and cannot be bent.

Further, when the female connector 52 is pushed in from this state against the repulsive force of the compression spring 67, the halfway prevention lock 74 completely passes through the halfway prevention lock stopper 58, and the The pressing end face 65a of the slide lock member 65
Moves over the tapered surface at the tip of the housing lock 72 while bending the lock arm 71 downward. Therefore, the housing lock 72 is locked to the lower portion of the slide lock member 65 by returning in the direction of arrow C as shown in FIG. 10, and the fitting of the male connector 53 and the female connector 52 is completed.

Next, as shown in FIG.
In order to release the fitting state of the female connector 52 and the female connector 52, when a pressing force is applied to the unlocking projection 73 on the lock arm 71 in the direction of arrow D, the lock arm 71 bends downward and the locking of the housing lock 72 is performed. The state is released. Then, in the pressed state, the detachment protrusion 66 on the slide lock member 65 is pulled in the direction of arrow E, so that the pressed end surface 65a of the slide lock member 65 (see FIG. 9) is connected to the female connector 52.
Over the housing lock 72 of the lock arm 71
Is returned to its original state by elasticity, and the female connector 52 is easily released from the male connector 53 by being pressed by the compression spring 67.

[0008]

However, although the half-fitting prevention connector 51 can prevent half-fitting, it is necessary to use both hands to separate the male and female connectors 52, 53 in the fitted state. The release projection 66 must be pulled in the fitting direction against the urging force of the compression spring 67 while pressing the lock release projection 73 downward, and the locked state of the slide lock member 65 must be released from the housing projection 72.
This operation involves pulling the release projection 66 in the fitting direction while compressing the compression spring 67, and pulling the female connector 52 in the anti-fitting direction with the other hand while holding the male connector 53. There was a problem that the sex was not good.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a half-fitting prevention connector which can prevent half-fitting between connectors and can easily perform a detaching operation with a simple structure. Is to provide.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a female connector of a pair of male and female connectors which are fitted and connected to each other.
A half-fitting prevention connector for preventing half-fitting between the male and female connectors by a repulsive force of an elastic member housed in a housing of one of the male connectors, the half-fitting prevention connector being slidably housed in the housing in the fitting direction. A semi-fitting prevention connector comprising: a slide lock member for locking the female connector in the housing by the action of the elastic member; and a support mechanism for slidably supporting the slide lock member in the housing. , A flexible lock arm is provided on a housing of the female connector, and a housing lock locked to the slide lock member on an upper portion of the lock arm, and a protrusion protruding from a side of the lock arm near the housing lock. Halfway mating prevention lock is provided,
A semi-fitting prevention connector characterized in that a halfway fitting prevention locking stopper movably bent outward is provided at a front end of a storage space for holding the slide lock member and the elastic member. Can be solved. Further, in the half-fitting prevention connector, the problem can be solved by providing an inclined surface on the rear end surface of the halfway fitting prevention locking stopper.

According to the half-fitting prevention connector having the above-described configuration, the housing lock is provided when the male and female connectors are mated with each other.
When the slide lock member is pushed in the fitting direction against the urging force of the elastic member, the repulsive force of the elastic member is locked when the halfway mating prevention lock passes through the halfway mating prevention lock stopper. The lock arm flexes due to the force maintaining the shape of the arm, and the slide lock member returns to the original position by using the repulsive force of the elastic member, so that a completely fitted state is achieved. Therefore, if the lock arm's halfway engagement prevention lock is released before passing through the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper, the male and female connectors are pulled apart in the separating direction by the repulsive force of the elastic member, and the connectors are half-fitted with each other. Is prevented. In addition, the bending of the lock arm at the time of halfway fitting is reliably prevented by the halfway fitting prevention lock and the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper. Can be prevented. Therefore, a highly reliable half-fitting prevention connector can be obtained.

In order to release the mating state between the male and female connectors, the housing lock is simply slide-locked by pressing the unlocking projection downward to bend the lock arm and pulling the male and female connectors apart in the anti-mating direction. While being released from the locked state with the member, after the halfway fitting prevention lock abuts against the rear end face of the halfway fitting prevention locking stopper, the halfway fitting prevention locking stopper is pushed outward while expanding. pass. At this time, if the rear end surface of the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper has an inclined surface, the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper can be pushed and expanded smoothly.
Therefore, since the force for bending the halfway mating prevention lock stopper outward is much smaller than the force for compressing the elastic member to move the slide lock member in the mating direction, the male and female connectors are shifted from the mated state. It can be easily separated with a small force. Therefore, the work of releasing the fitted state of the male and female connectors is facilitated, and the working efficiency can be improved.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a half-fitting prevention connector according to the present invention. FIG. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a half-fitting prevention connector according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view showing a fitted state of the male and female connectors in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing a state of disengagement in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view in FIG. 2, and FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view in FIG.

[0014] As shown in FIG.
Is provided with a terminal accommodating chamber 7 for inserting and holding a female terminal in a lower portion of the housing 3a of the male connector 3 having a female terminal therein, and an accommodation space 5 for inserting and holding a slide lock member 15 described later is provided in an upper portion. ing. A pair of upper and lower guide grooves 1 as a support mechanism 10 is provided on both sides of the accommodation space 5.
1 and 12 are provided. Among them, the front end of the upper guide groove 12 provided above has a flexible tapered surface for inserting and locking the slide lock member 15 in the fitting direction to prevent the slide lock member 15 from coming off. A slide lock engaging portion 12a is provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the front end of the lower guide groove 11 has an inclined surface 8a at the lower part of the rear surface, and is supported by the bending arm 8b and is capable of bending outwardly to prevent the halfway fitting prevention locking stopper 8. Is protruded inward. Since the gap δ is provided between the outer surface of the halfway fitting prevention stopper 8 and the inner surface of the side wall of the housing 3a, the gap δ becomes the maximum bending of the halfway fitting prevention stopper 8 to the side. Amount. And the accommodation space 5
An opening 6 is provided in the ceiling of the housing 3a forming the upper part of the housing 3a.
Is provided.

The slide lock member 15 shown in FIG.
Is a display projection 1 for displaying the progress of fitting on the upper surface.
6 and housing 3a on both end surfaces near the display projection.
A slide stopper 19 is provided as a part of the support mechanism 10 which is inserted into the upper guide groove 12 and is locked by the slide lock locking portion 12a. A spring accommodating chamber 18 for accommodating a compression spring 17 as an elastic member is provided at the rear, and a support as a part of a support mechanism 10 that is inserted into the lower guide groove 11 on both side end surfaces near the spring accommodating chamber. A projection 20 is provided.

The female connector 2 has a terminal accommodating chamber 26 in which a male terminal is inserted and held in a housing 2a, and a flexible plate-shaped lock arm 2 is provided above the housing 2a.
1 is formed. Further, at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the lock arm 21, a housing lock 22 having a tapered surface 22a to be locked to the slide lock member 15, and a half-fit prevention lock 24 at a side end near the housing lock. A lock release projection 23 is provided at the rear to press downward when releasing the fitted state.

In the above-described half-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present embodiment, first, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the compression spring 1 is placed in the spring accommodation chamber 18 of the slide lock member 15.
The slide stopper 19 is fitted into the upper guide groove 12 in a state in which the support protrusion 7 is accommodated, and the support protrusion 2 is inserted into the lower guide groove 11.
When 0 is inserted, the slide lock member 15 is assembled in the housing 3a. Next, the male connector 3 and the female connector 2 are fitted. That is, when the female connector 2 is pushed in the direction of arrow A, the housing lock 22 of the lock arm 21 is pressed.
Is the pressing end surface 15a of the front end of the slide lock member 15.
, The slide lock member 15 is moved in the direction of arrow B, and the halfway engagement prevention lock 24 is positioned on the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8. In this state, even if the lock arm 21 attempts to bend downward, the halfway engagement prevention lock 24 becomes the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8.
And cannot be bent.

Further, when the female connector 2 is pushed in against the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 from this state, the halfway engagement prevention lock 24 passes through the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8 as shown in FIG. As the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 increases, the pressing end surface 15a of the slide lock member 15 gets over the tapered surface 22a of the housing lock 22 while bending the lock arm 21 downward. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the slide lock member 15 returns in the direction of arrow C, the housing lock 22 is locked at the lower portion of the slide lock member 15, and the fitting of the male connector 3 and the female connector 2 is completed. .

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, when the fitting state between the male connector 3 and the female connector 2 is released,
When a pressing force is applied to the lock release projection 23 on the lock arm 21 in the direction of arrow D, the lock arm 21 bends downward and the locked state of the housing lock 22 is released.
Then, by pulling the female connector 2 in the anti-fitting direction, that is, the direction of arrow F in the pressed state, the slide lock member 15
The housing lock 22 of the female connector 2 slips under the pressing end surface 15a. Then, after the front surface of the halfway prevention lock 24 of the lock arm 21 comes into contact with the inclined surface 8a of the halfway lock stopper 8, the bending arm 8b is bent to move the halfway lock stopper 8 outward. The female connector 2 is easily separated from the male connector 3 with a small force because the female connector 2 slips through while being bent.

According to the half-fitting prevention connector 1 having the above-described configuration, the housing lock 22 pushes the slide lock member 15 in the fitting direction against the urging force of the compression spring 17 when the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are fitted together. go. When the halfway engagement prevention lock 24 completely passes over the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8, the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 is larger than the shape holding force of the lock arm 21, so that the lock arm 21 is moved downward. Bend. Then, the pressing end surface 15a of the slide lock member 15 gets over the tapered surface 22a of the housing lock 22, and returns to the original position, that is, the front end surface of the housing 3a by the repulsive force of the compression spring 17, and the female and male connectors 2, 3 are completely fitted. It will be in the combined state. Therefore, if the hand is released before the halfway engagement prevention lock 24 of the lock arm 21 completely passes over the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8,
The resilient force of the compression spring 17 separates the male and female connectors 2 and 3 from each other. That is, the bending of the lock arm 21 at the time of halfway fitting is reliably prevented by the halfway fitting prevention lock 24 and the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper 8, and the lock arm can bend only at the time of complete fitting. The three-way half-fitting state can be reliably prevented.

When releasing the mating state between the male and female connectors 2 and 3, the lock release projection 23 is pressed downward to deflect the lock arm 21, and
The housing lock 22 is released from the locked state with the slide lock member 15 simply by pulling the housing lock 22 in the anti-fitting direction.
Then, after the halfway engagement prevention lock 24 comes into contact with the inclined surface 8a of the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8, the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper is pushed outward to pass through.
Therefore, the male and female connectors 2, 3 in the fitted state can be easily separated with a small force. That is, the force for bending the bending arm 8b to bend the halfway fitting prevention locking stopper 8 outwardly is caused by the compression spring 67 for moving the slide lock member 15 in the fitting direction as in the conventional example described above. Because it is much smaller than the compressing force. Therefore,
The work of releasing the fitted state of the male and female connectors 2 and 3 is facilitated, and the working efficiency can be improved.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various embodiments are possible. For example, in the present embodiment, the inclined surface 8a is formed in the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper 8, but may be formed in the halfway fitting prevention lock 24. Also,
The bending movement of the stopper 8 for preventing halfway mating is performed by the bending arm 8.
Although the bending is performed by b, the bending movement may be performed by providing a coil spring that is directed to the side and a guide groove of the halfway prevention lock stopper 8. In the present embodiment, the housing 3a of the male connector 3 is provided with the opening 6 and the slide lock member 15 is provided with the display protrusion 1.
6 is provided, but the half-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present invention is provided.
It is functionally acceptable even if there is no. However,
If there is, there is an advantage that whether the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are in the fitted state or the half-fitted state can be visually confirmed by the position of the display projection 16.

[0023]

As described above, according to the half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention, the flexible lock arm is provided on the housing of the female connector, and is engaged with the slide lock member above the lock arm. A halfway fitting prevention lock protruding from a side of the housing lock and a lock arm near the housing lock is provided, and is outwardly provided at a front end of a housing space for holding the slide lock member and the elastic member. A halfway-fitting locking stopper that can be flexibly moved is provided. The rear end surface of the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper has an inclined surface.

Therefore, when the male and female connectors are mated, the housing lock pushes the slide lock member in the mating direction against the urging force of the elastic member, and the halfway mating prevention lock passes through the halfway mating prevention lock stopper. As a result, the lock arm bends, and the slide lock member returns to the original position by using the repulsive force of the elastic member, so that the slide lock member is completely fitted. Therefore, the bending of the lock arm at the time of halfway fitting is reliably prevented by the halfway fitting prevention lock and the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper, and the lock arm can bend only at the time of complete fitting, so that the halfway fitting is ensured. And a highly reliable half-fitting prevention connector can be obtained.

In order to release the mating state between the male and female connectors, the housing lock can be slid by simply pulling the male and female connectors in the anti-mating direction while pressing the unlocking projection downward to deflect the lock arm. The member is released from the locked state. At this time, the halfway fitting prevention lock comes into contact with the rear end surface of the halfway fitting prevention locking stopper, and pushes the halfway fitting prevention locking stopper outward to pass through. At this time, if the rear end surface of the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper has an inclined surface, the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper can be pushed and expanded smoothly. Therefore, the male and female connectors can be easily separated from the fitted state with a small force, and the working efficiency for releasing the fitted state can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a half-fitting prevention connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state where the fitting of the male and female connectors in FIG. 1 is completed.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of an HH portion of a main part in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing a state of disengagement in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal section in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross section in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a male connector of a conventional half-fitting prevention connector.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a female connector of a conventional half-fitting prevention connector.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which a conventional half-fitting prevention connector is in the process of being fitted.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a fitting completed state in FIG. 9;

11 is an operation explanatory view showing a disengaged state in FIG. 10;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 semi-mating prevention connector 2 female connector 3 female connector 8 halfway prevention locking stopper 8a inclined surface 8b flexible arm 10 support mechanism 11 lower guide groove (support mechanism) 12 upper guide groove (support mechanism) 15 slide Lock member 16 Display protrusion 17 Compression spring (elastic member) 19 Slide stopper (support mechanism) 20 Support protrusion (support mechanism) 21 Lock arm 22 Housing lock 23 Lock release protrusion 24 Midway prevention lock

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A half-fitting prevention in which a reciprocating force of an elastic member housed in a housing of one male connector of a pair of male and female connectors fitted and connected to each other prevents halfway fitting of the female and male connectors. A connector which is slidably received in the housing in the fitting direction and locks the female connector in the housing by the action of the elastic member; And a supporting mechanism for slidably supporting the female connector, wherein a flexible lock arm is provided on a housing of the female connector, and a lock arm is provided above the lock arm with the slide lock member. A housing lock to be stopped, and a halfway prevention lock protruding from a side of the lock arm near the housing lock. A half-fitting prevention connector characterized in that a half-fitting prevention locking stopper capable of flexing and moving outward is provided at a front end of a housing space for holding a ride lock member and the elastic member. 2. The half-fit prevention connector according to claim 1, wherein a rear end face of the halfway prevention lock stopper has an inclined surface.