JP2003257531A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lance having a large retaining power while restraining its bending. <P>SOLUTION: The lance 30 is of a straddle mount shape with a locking part 32 fitted on the top face of an arm 31 supported at both ends, of which, a front arm part 31a in front of the locking part 32 is forked and formed thin and a rear arm part 31B in the rear formed thick. When a female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into a cavity 21, the lance 30 is first bent and deformed so that the front arm part 31A and the locking part 32 make a flat V shape, and then, the locking part 32 bends and deforms from a front downward posture to almost a horizontal posture with the vicinity of its joint with the front arm part 31A as a fulcrum, as it is pulled and tied down by the front arm part 31A, and the female terminal fitting is allowed to pass the locking part 32. Here, a total bending volume of the lance 30 is suppressed low. When a force in a direction of falling off is applied to the female terminal fitting 10, the thicker rear arm part 31B generates high retention. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector having a lance for locking a terminal fitting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of connector has a structure in which a cavity is formed in a connector housing, and a side wall of the connector is provided with a flexible deformable lance. When a terminal fitting is inserted from the rear into the cavity. When the lance is pushed in while being bent and deformed from the middle, and reaches the normal position, the lance is restored and deformed, and is retained by the terminal fitting while being retained. Here, in recent years, there has been an urgent demand for reducing the height of such a connector. Therefore, the applicant of the present application has replaced the conventional one using a cantilever type lance (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-325814 etc.) with both ends. I proposed the one that adopted the lance (Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-18382).
3).

More specifically, this double-ended lance is
Arms are provided on both front and rear sides of the locking part that is hooked on the terminal fitting, and both arms are supported on the wall surface of the cavity.When the same hooking depth is set for the terminal fitting, the conventional cantilever is used. Compared with the one that flexibly deforms in a shape, especially the one that has a protrusion for unlocking at the tip, the bending space that escapes the bending of the lance is suppressed small, and it has the advantage that the height of the connector housing can be reduced. It is a thing.

[0004]

On the other hand, even in such a two-sided lance, there is a case where the holding force is required to be further increased. To do this, the wall thickness of the lance (thickness in the direction of catching depth) should be increased, but this also increases the amount of bending, which hinders the reduction of the bending angle, which was not easily adopted. The present invention was completed in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a lance that can hold a large holding force while suppressing the amount of bending.

[0005]

As a means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 is such that a terminal fitting is inserted from the rear into a cavity formed in a connector housing, and one side wall of the cavity is formed. In a connector in which a flexible deformable lance provided to prevent rearward disengagement, the lance is provided with arm portions on both front and rear sides of an engaging portion that engages with the terminal fitting. It is formed in a double-sided shape supported on the wall surface of the cavity, and the rear arm portion of the both arm portions is thick and the front arm portion mainly secures a retaining force for retaining. The feature is that the portion is formed to be thin so as to mainly function to pull the locking portion and regulate the amount of bending thereof.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the surface of the front arm portion facing the cavity side is pressed by a releasing jig to bend and deform the lance. It has a feature in that. The invention of claim 3 relates to claim 1 or claim 2.
The surface of the rear arm portion opposite to the cavity is formed so as to project toward the bending region side of the locking portion.

[0007]

When the terminal fitting is inserted and passes through the locking portion of the lance, the lance is deformed so that the locking portion is sunk while bending the front arm portion. When deformed to some extent, the front arm part pulls the locking part so that it is prevented from sinking and deforms so as to change the inclination around the joint with the front arm part as a fulcrum and pass the terminal metal fitting. . The total amount of bending can be kept small compared to the case where the entire arm portion is made thicker by taking advantage of the double-ended function of suppressing the amount of bending of the lance. On the other hand, if a force is applied to the terminal
The function to receive the force is mainly from the locking portion to the rear arm portion, and since the rear arm portion is thick, a high holding force can be obtained. That is, it is possible to achieve a low profile of the connector housing by further suppressing the amount of bending while maintaining a large retaining force for retaining.

<Invention of Claim 2> The operation surface that functions to release the locking state with the terminal fitting by forcibly bending and deforming the lance by the release jig is provided in the thin front arm portion. Since it is formed by using the surface on the cavity side, the structure of the unlocking portion can be simply put together. <Invention of Claim 3> Since the thickness of the rear arm portion is increased by utilizing a so-called dead space such as a bending area, it is possible to prevent the height of the connector housing from being hindered.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
Through 8 will be described. In this embodiment, a female connector is shown as an example. As shown in FIG. 1, a female terminal fitting 10 is housed in a connector housing 20 (hereinafter, simply referred to as a housing).
In the following, the left side of FIG. The female side terminal fitting 10 has a rectangular tube-shaped connecting portion 11 connected to the tab of the mating male side terminal fitting at the tip, and the barrel 12 provided at the rear end side is caulked to the end of the electric wire W. It is crimped. A locked portion 13 is formed by cutting and raising at a position slightly behind the tip of the lower surface of the connection portion 11, and a recess 14 is further formed behind the locked portion 13.

The housing 20 is made of synthetic resin, and a cavity 21 facing the front-rear direction capable of accommodating the female-side terminal fitting 10 is formed inside the housing 20 in two steps. The front wall 22 of each cavity 21 has a terminal insertion port 2 into which a tab of a mating male terminal fitting can be inserted.
3 is opened. A lance 30 is provided at a position on the tip end side of the bottom wall 25 of each cavity 21 for temporarily locking the normally inserted female side terminal fitting 10 in a retaining shape. The bottom wall 25 of the upper cavity 21 also serves as the ceiling wall of the lower cavity 21, and the bottom wall 25 of the lower cavity 21 is an outer wall.

The structure of the forming portion of the lance 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, taking the upper side as an example.
The lance 30 roughly has a cantilevered arm 31 whose front and rear ends are supported, and a locking portion capable of being locked to the locked portion 13 of the female terminal fitting 10 on the upper surface of the arm 31. 32
Are formed. The arm 31 is, as shown in FIG.
The cavity 21 has a width dimension slightly smaller than the width dimension of the cavity 21, and as will be described later in detail, the cavity 21 is bent and deformed in the vertical direction. On the other hand, below the position where the arm 31 is formed on the bottom wall 25, an opening groove that opens to the ceiling surface of the lower cavity 21 is formed, and inside this opening groove, a bending space that allows the lance 30 to bend and deform. It is 33.

A concave groove 34 is formed in the center of the upper surface of the arm 31 in the width direction, and a locking portion 32 is formed in the groove bottom substantially at the center of the groove bottom in the longitudinal direction.
The locking portion 32 has a height dimension that slightly protrudes from the upper surface of the arm 31, in other words, the locked portion 1 of the female terminal fitting 10.
It is formed in such a size that it can be locked at almost the entire height from 3 to the recess 14. The front surface of the locking portion 32 is a locking surface 36 that locks from the locked portion 13 to the front edge of the recess 14, and is formed in an overhang shape with the upper end inclined forward. On the other hand, the rear surface of the locking portion 32 is a guide surface 37 having a downward slope toward the rear.

The front end side of the arm 31 (hereinafter, the front arm portion 3
1A), the central portion in the width direction in which the concave groove 34 is formed penetrates the front wall 22 and is opened forward. In other words, the front arm portion 31A has a bifurcated shape.
It is connected to 2. The opening of the front wall 22 is the lance 3
It is a jig insertion port 39 for inserting a releasing jig (not shown) for forcibly bending and deforming 0. Further, the groove bottom in front of the locking portion 32 is an operation surface 40 that is pushed down by the release jig, and the stepped portion at the front end of the operation surface 40 is a tapered guide surface 41.

On the other hand, on the rear end side of the arm 31 (hereinafter referred to as the rear arm portion 31B), as shown in FIG. 2, the entire width of the lower surface gradually descends to reach the lower surface of the bottom wall 25, that is, It becomes thick and the entire width is connected to the bottom wall 25. In short, the rear arm portion 31B has a high bending rigidity because it is thick and the entire width is connected to the bottom wall 25, while the front arm portion 31A is thin and bifurcated to form the front wall 22. Since it is connected to, the structure has low bending rigidity.

As shown in FIG. 3, C surfaces 43 are formed at both corners of the lower surface of the arm 31 of the lance 30.
On both side surfaces of the opening groove formed in the bottom wall 25, a bending restriction portion 44 is formed to project against the C surface 43 to prevent the lance 30 from excessively bending and deforming.
The shape of the lance 30 of the lower cavity 21 is the same as that of the upper lance 30 described above. Further, a retainer insertion opening 46 is formed behind the lance 30 on the bottom surface of the housing 20 so as to pass through the upper and lower cavities 21 and into which the retainer 45 is inserted. The retainer 45 is formed with a retaining portion 47 that can be engaged with the jaw portion 15 of the female terminal fitting 10 in two steps, and each retaining portion 47 retreats below the corresponding cavity 21 to form a cavity. From the temporary locking position that allows the female terminal fitting 10 to be inserted into and removed from the
Each retaining portion 47 can be pushed and mounted toward the main locking position where the retaining portion 47 projects into the corresponding cavity 21 from below.

This embodiment has the structure as described above,
Next, the operation will be described. In assembling the connector, the retainer 45 is inserted into the retainer insertion port 46, held at the temporary locking position as shown in FIG. 1, and the female terminal fitting 10 is inserted into the cavity 21 from the rear in such a state. When the female terminal fitting 10 is pushed in,
As shown in FIG. 5, the leading edge of the connecting portion 11 contacts the guide surface 37 of the locking portion 32 of the lance 30. When further pushed in from this state, as shown in FIG.
In 0, the front arm portion 31A and the locking portion 32 are flexibly deformed so as to form a shallow V shape, and the connecting portion 11 passes through the upper surface of the locking portion 32.

When the locking portion 13 of the locking lance 30 is pushed in continuously, the locking portion 13 is attached to the upper surface of the locking portion 32 beyond the guide surface 37.
As shown in FIG. 7, since the locking portion 32 is pulled and constrained by the front arm portion 31A when the vehicle is riding, the locking portion 32 is mainly located near the joint with the front arm portion 31A. Is used as a fulcrum, and is bent and deformed so as to take a substantially horizontal posture from the front-down posture, and is allowed to pass through the locking portion 32. At this time, the lower surface of the formation position of the locking portion 32 reaches the lower surface position of the bottom wall 25, but only slightly lowers from the position of the V-shaped bottom when deformed into the shallow V-shape shown in FIG. Can be fastened.

When the female terminal fitting 10 is pushed into the normal position where it hits the front wall 22 of the cavity 21, the locked portion 1
3 passes through the locking portion 32 of the lance 30, the lance 30 is restored and deformed to the original posture so that the locking surface 36 of the locking portion 32 moves from the locked portion 13 to the recess 14 as shown in FIG. It is locked over the front edge of, and is temporarily locked in the pull-out direction. here,
When a force in the pull-out direction is applied to the female-side terminal fitting 10, the function to receive the force is mainly from the engaging portion 32 to the rear arm portion 31B, and the rear arm portion 31B has a thick wall. Therefore, high holding power can be obtained.

All the female side terminal fittings 10 are cavities 2.
When the retainer 45 is pushed into the main locking position as shown by the arrow in FIG. 8 after it is inserted into the inside 1, the retaining portion 47 projects into the corresponding cavity 21, and the jaw portion 15 of the female-side terminal fitting 10 is inserted. And the female terminal fitting 10 is in a so-called double-locked state. On the other hand, in the case of removing the female terminal fitting 10 from the housing 20 for maintenance or the like, after returning the retainer 45 from the main locking position to the temporary locking position shown in FIG. 8, the jig is inserted into the front wall 22 of the cavity 21. When the release jig is inserted from the opening 39 and the operating surface 40 is pressed to push down the lance 30, the locking of the female terminal fitting 10 with respect to the locked portion 13 and the concave portion 14 is released, so that the electric wire W continues. The female-side terminal fitting 10 can be pulled out from the cavity 21 by pulling while holding.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
The shape of the lance 30 is such that the rear arm portion 31B is thick and the front arm portion 31A is relatively thin, so that the lance 3
In addition to making use of the double-ended function of suppressing the flexure amount of 0, the total flexure amount can be kept even smaller than in the case where the total length of the arm 31 is thick. On the other hand, when a force in the pull-out direction is applied to the female-side terminal fitting 10, it is mainly from the locking portion 32 to the rear arm portion 31B that functions to receive the force. By using meat, high holding power can be obtained. That is, it is possible to achieve a low profile of the housing 20 by further suppressing the amount of bending of the lance 30 while taking a large retaining force for preventing the female terminal fitting 10 from coming off.

Since the portion which is pressed by the releasing jig to release the engagement with the female terminal fitting 10 is provided by using the thin front arm portion 31A, the structure of the engagement releasing portion is simplified. Can be put together. Further, when the rear arm portion 31B is made thick, a so-called dead space such as the bending space 33 of the lance 30 is used, which does not hinder the height reduction of the housing 20.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition to the above, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) The front arm portion does not necessarily have to have a bifurcated shape as long as it is formed thinly, and such a thing is also included in the technical scope of the present invention. (2) The present invention can be similarly applied to a male connector that houses a male terminal fitting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view before insertion of a female-side terminal fitting according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view showing a formation portion of a lance.

3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a formation portion of a lance.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which the female-side terminal fitting is in contact with the locking portion of the lance.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which the locked portion of the female terminal fitting passes through the guide surface of the locking portion of the lance.

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which the locked portion of the female-side terminal fitting passes over the upper surface of the lance beyond the guide surface.

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state where the insertion of the female-side terminal fitting is completed.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Female terminal fitting (terminal fitting) 11 ... Connection part 13 ... Locked part 20 ... Connector housing 21 ... Cavity 30 ... Lance 31 ... Arm 31A ... Front arm part 31B ... rear arm 32 ... Locking part 33 ... Bending space (bending region) 39 ... Jig insertion slot 40 ... Operation surface

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hideto Nakamura             Sumitomo Den 1-14 Nishi-Suehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture             Sozo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kenji Tsuji             Sumitomo Den 1-14 Nishi-Suehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture             Sozo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yuichi Nankou             Sumitomo Den 1-14 Nishi-Suehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture             Sozo Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5E087 EE14 FF13 GG15 GG35 RR06                       RR26

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A connector, in which a terminal fitting is inserted from the rear into a cavity formed in a connector housing, and a liable and deformable lance provided on one side wall of the cavity is used to prevent the connector from coming off backward. The lance is provided with arm portions on both front and rear sides of a locking portion that locks with the terminal fitting, and both arm portions are formed in a cantilever shape supported by the wall surface of the cavity, and the both arm portions are provided. Of these, the rear arm part mainly functions to thicken the retaining force for retaining, and the front arm part mainly functions to pull the locking part to regulate the amount of bending. A connector characterized by being formed as thin as possible. 2. The surface of the front arm portion facing the cavity side is an operation surface that is pressed by a release jig to flexibly deform the lance. connector. 3. The surface of the rear arm portion opposite to the cavity is formed so as to project toward the bending region of the locking portion. connector.