JPH0368511B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial applications The present invention relates to a connector for connecting an electric circuit.

PRIOR TECHNOLOGY An electrical connection terminal is inserted into a terminal accommodating chamber in a housing from the rear, and a stopper provided near the front end of the terminal accommodating chamber stops the terminal from advancing, and the terminal is inserted diagonally forward from the side wall of the terminal accommodating chamber. Connectors are known in which a protruding flexible terminal locking arm prevents the terminals from retracting.

Such a connector is constructed as shown in FIG. 7, and when the terminal 1 is inserted from the rear of the housing 2, the terminal 1 is bent upward by pushing up the locking arm 3, moves forward, and comes into contact with the stopper 2a. Upon contact, the locking arm 3 returns downward due to its elasticity, so that the rear shoulder 1a of the terminal 1 is supported by the locking arm 3. A connector with such a structure has the advantage of being simple in structure and easy to assemble, but it also has the problem of easily producing products with incomplete insertion.

In other words, when the elasticity of the locking arm is strong, the insertion resistance of the terminal is large, and the operator may misunderstand that the terminal has been inserted to the end and stop insertion halfway. When the lock is weak, there is no sense of moderation when locking, and locking cannot be confirmed, so when the lock is felt to be in contact with the stopper, insertion may be stopped while the lock is still shallow. If such a connector with incompletely inserted terminals is assembled into a device or the like, failures may occur such as the connector falling off when connected to a mating connector terminal or disconnecting during use.

Therefore, various connector structures have been proposed to prevent the connector from becoming unlatched, but all of these have often resulted in an increase in the number of parts or a complicated structure, leading to an increase in cost.

Problems to be Solved Under the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention seeks to provide a structure of a connector that can securely achieve ergonomic locking during assembly and will not produce defective products. It is something.

Means for Solving the Problems An object of the present invention is to enable a terminal to be locked in a housing by a locking arm, and to provide a protrusion on either one of the terminal and the housing.
The other connector is provided with a pinch portion that comes into contact with the protrusion and generates insertion resistance when the terminal is inserted into the housing. The terminal position where the deflection takes the maximum value is closer to the terminal insertion opening of the housing than the terminal position where the protrusion and the pinch part start contact; The locking arm is in an unlatched state, and the terminal position where the protrusion and the pinch portion are released from contact when the terminal is further inserted is the position where the deflection of the locking arm is at its maximum value. and a terminal position where the terminal is locked to the locking arm, and the insertion resistance between the protrusion and the pinch portion is greater than the insertion resistance between the terminal and the locking arm. This is achieved by doing.

In such connectors, the locking arms for locking the terminals may be of conventional and known types. The locking arm may be provided on the housing side or on the terminal side.

Further, the protrusion for generating insertion resistance when inserting the terminal may be provided on the terminal side or the housing side, or may be provided on both sides. The position where the protrusion is provided is also not particularly limited. The shape of the protrusion may be simply that it is higher than the surrounding wall surface, or may be in the form of a cantilever beam or a double beam. In some cases, it may have a similar shape to the locking arm. A more desirable form is one in which either the terminal or the housing is provided with a protrusion, the other is provided with a guide groove for the protrusion, and a portion of the guide groove is formed with a pinch portion or the like for generating insertion resistance. can be adopted.

Moreover, there is no problem in providing a plurality of such protrusions.

Further explanation will be given below based on an example.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the connector of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a terminal, which can be inserted into a terminal accommodating chamber 2b in the housing 2 from the rear. A locking arm 3 projects diagonally forward from the inner wall surface of the terminal storage chamber 2b, and a stopper 2a is formed at the front end to lock the rear shoulder 1a and front edge 1b of the terminal 1, respectively. Thereby, the terminal 1 can be fixed within the housing chamber 2b.

A protrusion 4 formed by press working is provided on the side surface of the terminal 1. Moreover, grooves 5a and 5b into which the protrusion 4 can enter are provided on the inner wall of the terminal accommodating chamber 2b, and a pinch portion 6 with a cut groove is formed between the grooves 5a and 5b. When the terminal 1 is inserted into the terminal housing chamber 2b, the protrusion 4 advances in the groove 5a, the upper part of the front edge 1b of the terminal moves forward while bending the locking arm 3 upward, and then the protrusion 4 moves into the groove. 5
It reaches the end of point a and rides on the pinch part 6, but it advances further and comes to be settled in the groove 5b. On this occasion,
Of course, at least either the side wall of the terminal 1 or the side wall of the housing has flexibility.

When assembling a connector with such a structure, the terminal 1 has an insertion resistance F ₁ due to the locking arm 3,
It receives resistance from both the projection 4 and the insertion resistance F ₂ caused by the pinch portion 6. This relationship is shown in FIG. 2, where the insertion resistance _F1 increases from A when the front edge 1b of the terminal 1 comes into contact with the lower surface of the locking arm 3, and reaches a peak.
After passing through F ₁ ', there is a frictional resistance between the upper surface of the terminal 1 and the lower surface of the locking arm 3 and between the lower surface of the terminal 1 and the lower wall surface of the terminal housing chamber, and the locking of the terminal 1 is completed B It lasts until In addition, the insertion resistance F ₂ increases after F ₁ , its peak F ₂ ′ appears after the peak F ₁ ′, and after passing the peak F ₂ ′ it decreases rapidly. and reaches zero. The resultant force F of these insertion resistances F ₁ and F ₂ changes as shown in the graph, with a peak F ₁₁ at the position corresponding to the peak F ₁ ′ and a peak F ₂₂ at the position corresponding to the peak F ₂ ′. have. The value of the peak _F22 of the insertion resistance due to the protrusion is larger than the value of the peak _F11 of the insertion resistance due to the locking arm, and after reaching the peak _F22 , it rapidly decreases.

When an assembly worker assembles the connector of the present invention, he or she initially feels a peak of insertion resistance _F11 ;
In this case, it is clear that the terminal has not yet been inserted, and as the terminal is pushed in further, the next insertion resistance peak _F22 appears. When the assembly worker presses in with even more force, the resistance suddenly decreases, so there is no time to adjust the force, and the excess force causes the terminal to butt against the stopper, achieving complete locking.

Furthermore, if insertion is interrupted before the insertion resistance peak F ₂₂ appears, the protrusion 4 stops in front of the pinch portion 6, as shown in FIG. However, the terminal 1 does not come into contact with the mating terminal 7, and incomplete insertion can be easily detected by a continuity test.

Embodiment 2 Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this example, a locking protrusion 15 is provided on the inner wall of the terminal accommodating chamber of the housing 12 in place of the locking arm, and a locking arm 13 is provided on the terminal 11. The protrusion 14 provided on the side surface of the terminal 11 and the pinch portion 16 provided on the inner wall surface of the housing 12 are each constructed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

The functions of each component when assembling the connector of this example are also similar to those of the first embodiment.

The connector of the present invention having the above-described structure can be constructed in the same manner whether it is a single pole or a multi-pole connector. The same can be applied to

Effects of the Invention As explained above, the connector of the present invention has a simple but special structure, which prevents the assembling worker from making work errors, thereby achieving reliable fitting of the terminals. Furthermore, in the case of incomplete mating, it is clear that the insertion is insufficient, so
It is possible to provide a highly reliable connector that can be reliably detected during product inspection and does not cause accidents such as terminal disconnection.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a structural diagram of an example of the connector of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing changes in insertion resistance during assembly of the connector of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the same connector in an incompletely fitted state. FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of another example of the connector of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view thereof. 6th
The figure is an example of a multi-polar housing to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the structure of a conventional connector.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A terminal can be locked in a housing by a locking arm, and a projection is provided on one of the terminal and the housing, and a projection is provided on the other when the terminal is inserted into the housing. The connector is provided with pinch parts that come into contact and generate insertion resistance, and the terminal position where the locking arm is deflected to its maximum value by the terminal when the terminal is inserted into the housing is located at the protrusion. and the pinch part are closer to the terminal insertion opening of the housing than the terminal position where they start contact, and when the protrusion and the pinch part are in contact, the locking arm is in an unlatched state, - When the terminal is further inserted, the terminal position where the protrusion and the pinch part are released from contact is the terminal position where the locking arm has the maximum deflection, and the terminal position where the terminal is at the locking arm. The connector is located midway between a terminal position to be locked, and further configured such that insertion resistance between the protrusion and the pinch portion is greater than insertion resistance between the terminal and the locking arm.