JPH0355034B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a connector that does not loosen due to mechanical vibrations or changes in temperature or pressure. especially,
The present invention provides an improved connector that can be attached and detached with a simple operation, is constructed with a small number of parts, and is inexpensive and highly reliable.

[Prior Art] A high degree of reliability is required of connectors used in places such as vehicles, aircraft, and robots where mechanical vibrations and environmental conditions change significantly.

These connectors typically have a plug inserted into the receptacle and are screwed into the receptacle by a coupling ring that rotates about the axis of the connector. However, even if these screws are firmly secured, they may loosen due to vibrations, etc.
This eventually led to poor contact with the connector.

Connectors for solving these problems are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publications No. 59-8033 and 8034, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-13679, etc. For example, what is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-8033 is ``a receptacle device including a receptacle shell, a plug shell, a connecting nut screwed onto the plug-shell, and a locking nut keyed to the connecting nut.'' coupling ring
a plug device having a hanging; and electrical contact elements directed within the shell of the receptacle and plug for electrical engagement and disengagement;
an electrical connector having a coupling ring housing and a locking location on the receptacle shell for removably retaining the contact element in an engaged relationship; a device for audibly displaying a positional relationship between the coupling hanging and the inner annular groove and the detent member having arcuate elasticity within the annular groove; and the shell of the plug and the detent member. a device for restricting relative rotational movement between the detent members, the detent member having a radially outwardly facing end, and the annular grooves having spaced apart pairs of radially outwardly facing ends. a recess located and selectively receiving the end, such that when the hanging is rotated to a fully locked engaged position, the end is pushed out of one set of recesses and into a second set of recesses; A connector characterized in that the connector is forcibly engaged with the recess of the set by emitting a sound. ”.

The connector disclosed herein is characterized in that when the end of the arc-shaped elastic detent member is forcibly rotated, it is pushed out of one set of recesses and into a second set of recesses. It makes a sound when it is forced into engagement and the hanging is completely fixed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] For example, as is clear from the claims, detailed description of the invention, and drawings of Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-8033, one problem is that the number of component parts is extremely large. There is a problem.

Furthermore, some of these component parts are not suitable for press working or processing using molds such as castings or molds, which causes high costs and limits the range of use.

For example, the shell of the plug and the connecting nut have threads for screwing into each other, and these threads cannot be manufactured by pressing or molding. Further, the recessed portion for receiving the radially outward end of the arc-shaped detent member cannot be manufactured by press working or working using a mold. There were such major problems in processing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and includes a receptacle shell having a keyway and a fixing land, and a plurality of recesses parallel to the key axis. A plug shell having a detent concave portion, a coupling ring having a detent key groove and a taper land having a tapered portion for coupling the two, and a detent having a detent convex portion and a detent key for detent action. - The structure includes a spring ring, a back-up ring for holding down the detent spring ring, and a retainer ring for stopping both rings from slipping out.

[Operation] Insert the detent spring ring and backup ring into the plug shell, and
Cover the coupling ring from above the shell, fit the retainer ring into the coupling ring after the backup ring, integrate the coupling ring and plug shell, and insert the plug shell using the key of the plug shell as a guide using the keyway of the receptacle shell. death,
When the coupler is rotated to the right by a predetermined angle, the detent key is fitted into the detent keyway of the coupler, and the detent convex part of the detent spring ring, which rotates with the rotation of the coupler, is recessed parallel to the axis of the plug shell. It comes off from the detent recess and fits into the next detent recess and is fixed. Due to this rotation, the taper land of the coupling ring engages its tapered portion with the end surface of the fixing land of the receptacle shell and slides, while the plug does not rotate due to the action of the coupling ring, key, and keyway.・Advance the shell to completely connect the connectors incorporated in the receptacle shell and the plug shell.

When the detent convex portion fits into the next detent concave portion, a sound is generated and a reaction occurs.

To remove the plug shell from this state, rotate it to the left by a predetermined angle. At the start of this rotation, a slightly larger force is required to remove the detent protrusion from the detent recess. This force generates a reaction. When the predetermined angle of rotation is completed, the plug shell fits into the detent recess and generates a sound and reaction, and the plug shell can be removed from the receptacle shell together with the coupling ring. Since the connector cannot be removed without applying such a slight rotational force, the connector will not loosen due to vibrations or the like.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention is shown in an exploded perspective view in FIG.

Reference numeral 10 designates a receptacle shell into which a socket contact insert having a number of socket contacts, which is a first connector means not shown, is inserted. This receptacle shell 10 shows three fixing lands 11, a master keyway 12, four keyways 13, a mounting flange 14, and a mounting hole 15.

50 is a plug shell into which a number of pin contact inserts, which are second connector means not shown here, are inserted. This plug shell 50 includes a master key 51 for fitting into the master key groove 12, four keys 52 for fitting into the four key grooves 13, and a plug shell 50.
Plug flange 55 surrounding the circumference of shell 50
and four detent recesses 53 located at four equal parts on the circumference, which are recessed from the surrounding surface parallel to the axis in the plug flange 55, and It also has two rotation stops 54 protruding forward.

30 is a coupling ring, plug shell 5
0, making the plug shell 50 removable from the receptacle shell 10. This coupling ring 30 has, on its inner surface, a tapered land 31 having a circular arc shape in the circumferential direction having a tapered portion 32, two detent keyways 33 provided on the rear inner surface parallel to the axis, and a detent keyway 33 on the shaft. a parallel protrusion 34 protruding backward from its inner surface;
It has a retainer ring groove 35 provided on the circumference of its rear inner surface.

70 is a detent spring ring, which is located between two detent protrusions 71 that protrude forward in parallel to its axis and equally divides the circumference, and the two detent protrusions 7; It has two detent keys 72 projecting in the direction of the outer circumference of the ring.

A back-up ring 81 holds down the detent spring ring 70 from behind, and a retainer ring 85 is fitted into the retainer ring groove 35 of the coupling ring 30 to prevent the back-up ring 81 from jumping out to the rear.

The function of each of these elements is that the receptacle shell 10 and the plug shell 50 are coupled together 3.
The state before mating by 0 and the receptacle
A half-fitted state in which the plug shell 50 is inserted into the shell 10 but the coupling ring 30 is not rotated, and a half-fitted state in which the coupling ring 30 is rotated at a predetermined angle to fix the receptacle shell 10 and the plug shell 50. and the second mated state, respectively.
This will be explained using Figures A, B, and C, Figures 3A and B, and Figures 4A and B.

FIG. 2A shows a partially sectional side view of the state before mating, and the receptacle shell 10 includes:
A socket contact insert 102 having a number of socket contacts 106 is incorporated. Plug shell 50 has many sockets and
A large number of pins for fitting into the contact 106.
A pin contact insert 101 with contacts 105 is installed. 82 is a gasket which is a ring-shaped elastic body such as rubber;
99 is a panel to which the flange 14 is attached through the attachment hole 15. Section A-A and cross-sectional view are the second
In Figure B, a cross-sectional view of section DD is shown in Figure 2C, a.

In FIG. 2B, when the coupling 30 is rotated 90° in the direction of arrow 121, that is, clockwise when viewed from the right direction in FIG. This shows that it hits the stop 54 and stops.

FIG. 2C a shows how the detent protrusions 71 of the detent spring ring 70 fit into the first set of detent recesses 53. From this figure, the detent spring ring 70 is held down by the back-up ring 81 and the back-up
It can be seen that the ring 81 is held down by the retainer ring 85 so that it does not fly out to the rear (to the right in the drawing). Cross section E-E is shown in Figure 2Cb. This figure shows that the detent key 72 is fitted into the detent keyway 33 on the inner surface of the coupling ring 30, and when the coupling ring 30 is forcibly rotated, the detent spring ring 70 also rotates with it. be understood.

FIG. 3A is a partial side cross-sectional view showing a half-fitted state, and please pay particular attention to the relationship between the fixing land 11 shown by a dotted line and the tapered land 31 also shown by a dotted line. When the coupling ring 30 is rotated, the taper land 31 moves downward in the drawing, so the upper left corner of the fixing land 11 in the drawing is the taper land 31.
It slides while meshing with the tapered portion 32 of , and reaches the tapered land flat portion 36 that follows there. This operation causes the coupling ring 30 and the plug shell 50 fixed thereto to move to the left in the drawing, allowing complete engagement. A cross-sectional view at section B--B is shown in FIG. 3B. This diagram shows the master
Even if the key 51 is fitted into the master keyway 12 and the four keys 52 are fitted into the keyway 13, and the coupling ring 30 is rotated in the direction of arrow 121 or in the opposite direction, the plug shell 50 indicates no rotation. Furthermore, since there is no overlap between the fixing land 11 and the tapered land 31, this shows that the plug shell 50 can be inserted or removed from the receptacle shell 10 in this state.

FIG. 4A is a partial side sectional view showing the fitted state, in which the coupling 30 is rotated clockwise when viewed from the right side of the figure, that is, from the rear of the plug shell 50. During this rotation,
The tapered portion 32 of the tapered land 31 indicated by a dotted line in the figure is similar to the fixing land 11 also indicated by a dotted line.
The plug shell 50 is pushed to the left and the taper land plane part 36 of the taper land 31 comes into contact with the fixing land 11, and the leftward movement of the plug shell 50 is completely completed. The detent protrusion 71 shown by the dotted line fits into the second set of detent recesses 53 shown by the dotted line to generate sound and transmit a reaction. This results in multiple pin contacts 105, multiple socket contacts 105, and multiple socket contacts 10.
The fitting with 6 is completed. A cross-sectional view at section CC is shown in Figure 4B. This figure shows the relative relationship between the fixing land 11 and the tapered land 31, and the portion of the fixing land 11d indicated by the dotted line is in meshing contact with the tapered land 31.
This indicates that the plug shell 50 cannot be removed in this state.

The force required to insert the plug shell 50 into the receptacle shell 10 during the process from the pre-mated state shown in FIGS. 2A, B, and C to the half-mated state shown in FIGS. 3A and B is as follows: It's not a big thing. However, from the half-fitted state, the 4th A and B
In order to achieve the fitted state shown in the figure, the greater the number of pin contacts 105 and socket contacts 106, the greater the force required to insert them. Since the large force in this process is obtained by the relative rotational movement of the tapered portion 32 and the fixing land 11, only a small force is required to rotate the coupling ring 30.

When removing the plug shell, the operations described above are reversed. That is, when the plug shell 50 is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise when viewed from the right side of FIG.
The state will be half-fitted as shown in the figure. At the start of this rotation, a slightly larger force is required to remove the detent protrusion 71 from the second set of detent recesses 53. After rotating 90 degrees, the detent protrusions 71 fit into the first set of detent recesses 53, producing sound and transmitting a reaction, as shown in FIG. 3A. In this state, as shown in FIG. 3B, there is no overlap between the receptacle shell 10 and the coupling ring 30, so the plug shell 5
0 can be removed.

In the above description, it is also possible to provide the master key 51 on the receptacle 10 side and the master keyway 12 on the coupling 30 side. The same applies to the key 52 and the keyway 13. Similarly, it is also possible to interchange the positions of the fixing land 11 and the tapered land 31. Further, a saver portion may also be provided on the side of the fixing land 11.
From the position shown in FIG. 4A, the gasket 82 is inserted into the receptacle where the tip of the plug shell 50 faces.
It will be clear that it may also be provided inside the shell 10.

FIG. 5 shows another modification of the embodiment of the invention described above. The detent recess 53 shown in FIG. 2C a may be formed into an arc-shaped detent recess 53R as shown in FIG. 5 a. Further, the detent convex portion 71 may also be configured such that a detent wheel 73, which is a rotatable cylindrical ring, is supported by a detent wheel shaft 74 provided on the detent spring ring 70, as shown in FIG. 5B. Furthermore, the detent convex portion 55 and the detent concave portion 75 may have shapes as shown in FIG. 5c. The detent spring ring 70 shown in FIG. 1 has a warped shape (see FIG. 2C, a) with respect to the line connecting the two detent protrusions 71, but this is shown in FIG. 5, d. It is also possible to replace the flat detent spring ring 70b as shown with a wave spring ring 76 in the form of a corrugated ring to further reinforce the spring force. Alternatively, a coil spring may be used in place of the wave spring ring 76.

Since the detent convex portion 71 protrudes in the direction parallel to the axis, the detent recess 53 can also be recessed in the direction parallel to the axis, reducing the outermost diameter dimension of the plaque shell 50 and the coupling ring 30. be able to.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, a connector for preventing loosening of the connector due to vibration etc. can be realized in an easy-to-manufacture shape with a small number of parts and at low cost. Because it can be provided, the effect is extremely large.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2A is a partial side sectional view showing a state before fitting, and Fig. 2B is a sectional view taken along section A-A in Fig. 2A. , FIG. 2C is the cross section D- in FIG. 2A.
3A is a partial side sectional view showing a half-fitted state; FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along section B-B in FIG. 3A; FIG. 4A is a partial side sectional view showing a fitted state. 4B is a sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. 4A, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view and a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 10... Receptacle shell, 11... Fixing land, 12... Master keyway, 13...
Keyway, 14...Flange, 15...Mounting hole, 3
0...Couple ring, 31...Taper land,
32...Tapered part, 33...Detent keyway,
34...Rotating protrusion, 35...Retainer ring groove, 36...Tapered land plane part, 50...Plug shell, 51...Master key, 52...
... Key, 53 ... Detent recess, 54 ... Rotation stopper, 55 ... Plug flange, 70 ... Detent spring ring, 71 ... Detent protrusion, 72
... Detent key, 73 ... Detent wheel, 74
... Dedent wheel axle, 75 ... Detent recess, 76
... Wave spring, ring, 81 ... Backup ring, 82 ... Gasket, 85 ... Retainer.
Ring, 99... Panel, 101... Insert for pin contact, 102... Insert for socket contact, 105... Pin contact, 106... Socket contact.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. At least one arcuate first land means 11 on the outer surface of the receptacle circumference, and at least one arcuate first land means 11 on the inner surface of the receptacle circumference parallel to the axis.
a receptacle shell means 10 for incorporating the first connector means, having a first key means 12 for rotationally engaging and advancing the first land means on the inner surface of the circumference of the coupling ring; at least one arcuate second land means 31;
at least one rotary projection 34; a retainer ring groove 35 on the rear circumference of the inner surface of the coupling circumference; and at least one Denant key groove 33 parallel to the axis on the inner surface of the coupling circumference. a second key means 5 for engaging at least one said first key means on the outer surface of the circumference of the plug;
1, a plug flange means 55 arranged around the outer surface of the circumference of the plug, a rotation stop means 54 for limiting the rotation range of the rotary protrusion provided on the plug flange means,
a recessed part in the direction parallel to the axis in the plug flange means, which indicates the start and end points of the rotation range provided in the flange means, and requires a constant rotational force to escape from the start and end points; at least one set of first detent means 53, one of the rearwardly projecting recesses parallel to the axis; Plug shell means 5 for incorporating connector means of
0 and the plug from the rear of the coupling means.
a second detent means 71 which is formed to insert a shell means and fit into one of the recess and the projection of the first detent means; A ring-shaped detent spring ring means 70 having a detent key 72 for fitting into the detent keyway and rotating together with the coupling means.
and ring-shaped back-up means 81 for pressing the detent spring ring means from the rear. 2. The detent spring ring means is located between a planar ring-shaped plate having the second detent means and the detent key, and the planar ring-shaped plate and the back-up means, 2. The loosening prevention connector according to claim 1, which comprises a corrugated spring ring for applying spring pressure to a ring-shaped plate. 3. The detent spring ring means is located between a planar ring-shaped plate having the second detent means and the detent key, and the planar ring-shaped plate and the back-up means. A coil for applying spring pressure to a ring-shaped plate.
The loosening prevention connector according to claim 1, which is connected to a spring. 4. The loosening prevention connector according to claim 1, wherein the second detent means is a rotatable cylindrical ring.