JPH0594846A - Female contact terminal for electric connector - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] The purpose of the present invention is to allow a contact piece of a female contact terminal that accepts a male contact terminal to deform within the elastic range without exceeding the elastic range even if the male contact terminal is inserted and removed. And [Structure] Contact pieces 5, 5 in the insulating housing for receiving the male contact terminals of the mating connector from the front in the front part.
In a female contact terminal 1 having a contact portion 2 having a contact portion and a connection portion 3 for connecting an electric wire to a rear portion thereof, the contact pieces 5 and 5 are formed so that both side portions of an elongated metal plate stand upright and face each other. The restriction pieces 6 and 6 are provided outside the contact pieces 5 and 5 at a predetermined distance from the contact pieces 5 and 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to female contact terminals for electrical connectors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a female contact terminal accommodated in an insulating housing, a type shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings is known. This contact terminal 50 has a contact portion 5 on the front.
1 and has a connection portion 52 at the rear portion.

The contact portion 51 is formed by elongating both sides of a slender metal plate in the circumferential direction so as to face each other and form contact pieces 53, 53.
have. The contact pieces 53, 53 have a V-shape that is close to each other, and a throat portion 54 is formed in the narrow portion thereof. The contact pieces 53, 53 are separated from the bottom plate portion 55 of the metal plate with a groove and are connected only at the rear portion 56. Therefore, the two contact pieces 53, 53 facing each other are provided.
Allows elastic spacing with the rear part as a fixed point. Further, the bottom plate portion 55 is formed with an engaging piece 57 for engaging with the insulating housing to prevent the bottom plate portion from coming off by punching.

The wire connecting portion 52 is, for example, of a crimp type and has a crimping piece 58 for crimping the core wire of the cable and a fixing piece 59 for fixing the outer skin portion.

When using such a conventional female contact terminal, first, the end portion of the cable is peeled off by a predetermined amount to expose the core wire, and the core wire is crushed by crimping the crimping piece 58 and crimping the wire, The portion is fixed by crushing the fixing piece 59. The contact terminal with cable is mounted in the insulating housing, and the male contact terminal of the mating connector is connected to the contact piece 5 described above.
3, 53, and the throat portion 54 is elastically contacted and electrically connected.

[0006]

However, the above-mentioned known female contact terminal has a problem due to wire insertion and removal. In other words, when the user of the connector tries to insert the male contact terminal of the mating connector into the female contact terminal directly from the front when connecting with the mating connector, if it cannot be inserted smoothly, it will be twisted left and right while inserting. try to.

Then, the contact pieces 53, 53 are spread to the left and right, that is, in the directions away from each other. Both contact pieces 53, 5
Although 3 is elastically deformable in the above-mentioned direction, this is simply due to elastic contact with the counterpart male contact terminal, and therefore the amount of elastic deformation possible is naturally limited, and plastic deformation is likely to occur due to the bending. become. as a result,
When connecting the connector, continuity is impossible, contact resistance is excessively increased,
Contact failure due to heat generation and the like will occur.

The present invention solves such a problem, and is capable of elastically deforming within a predetermined range as in a conventional contact terminal and restricting the deformation when the limit of the above range is reached. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a female contact terminal.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the above object is to provide a contact portion in an insulating housing having a contact piece for receiving a male contact terminal of a mating connector from a front portion, and an electric wire for a rear portion. In a female contact terminal having a wire connecting portion for connecting the contact pieces, the contact pieces are formed so as to stand on opposite sides of a slender metal plate and face each other, and the contact pieces are provided outside the contact piece at a predetermined interval. This is achieved by the provision of the restriction piece.

[0010]

When the mating male contact terminal is inserted between the opposing contact pieces of the female contact terminal of the present invention, the opposing contact pieces are elastically contacted with the male contact terminal by expanding the interval thereof by a predetermined amount.

At this time, when the wire is inserted and removed, the contact piece is further expanded, and when it exceeds a predetermined amount, the contact piece comes into contact with the restriction piece and further deformation is prevented.

Thus, plastic deformation of the contact piece is prevented.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the female contact terminal of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a front view, FIG. 3 is a left side view, FIG. 4 is a right side view, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. ..

In the figure, the female contact terminal 1 of this embodiment is made by punching and bending a metal plate.

The contact terminal 1 has a contact portion 2 and a wire connection portion 3.

The contact portion 2 has a portion (see FIG. 5) formed by forming a metal plate into a double layer by leaving both sides of the metal plate upright and leaving the bottom plate portion 4 at the center and folding it inward. The inner plate is the contact piece 5, and the outer plate is the restriction piece 6.

The pair of contact pieces 5 facing each other are formed in a finger shape whose front end is a free end by a kerf extending rearward from the front end (left end in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the inner plate, and are arranged in the contact and separation directions with each other. It is elastically deformable. And the contact piece 5
Has a tapered inner portion at the front end, thereby forming a narrowed throat portion 7.

On the other hand, the restriction piece 6 is positioned substantially parallel to the contact piece 5 with a predetermined distance. When the pair of contact pieces 5 are deformed in a direction in which the contact pieces 5 are separated from each other, the predetermined interval is determined so as to prevent the deformation from exceeding the elastic region from behind. In addition, the rear portion of the restricting piece has a finger-shaped locking piece 1 whose rear end is a free end due to a forwardly extending cut groove 8 which is opened at an intermediate position of the contact portion.
1 is formed to prevent the contact terminal 1 from coming off when the contact terminal 1 is inserted into the housing. The wire connection portion 3 has a crimping piece 9 and a fixing piece 10. In the present invention, the connection part 3 is not a main part, and the connection type may be crimping, pressure welding, soldering or the like. In this embodiment, only a crimp type is shown as an example. The crimping piece 9 and the fixing piece 10 are the crimping piece 5 in the conventional female contact terminal shown in FIGS.
8. It may be the same as the fixing piece 59. Both of them are made by vertically forming both sides of a metal piece in a U shape.

The usage of the female contact terminal of this embodiment will be described below.

First, the core wire is exposed by contacting and separating the outer skin by a predetermined amount at the end of the cable (not shown) to be connected. After arranging this core wire portion on the crimping piece 9, the crimping pieces 9 are crushed inward with each other by an appropriate tool to crimp the core wire. At the same time, the outer skin portion is also fixed by crushing the fixing piece 10.

The contact terminal with cable thus formed is installed in the contact terminal hole of the insulating housing (not shown). The throat portion 7 of the contact portion 2 of the contact terminal faces the opening portion of the contact terminal hole of the housing.

When the male contact terminal of the mating connector (not shown) is inserted into the contact portion 2 of the female contact terminal 1 of this embodiment, the pair of contact pieces 5 become male contact terminals at the throat portion 7. When they come into contact with each other, they are expanded outwardly as they are inserted and elastically deform.

When the mating connector is connected, if the male contact terminal is squeezed and unplugged, the contact piece 5 tends to expand further outward. However, within the elastic deformation limit, the contact piece 5 contacts the restriction piece 6 and is prevented from further deformation. Thus, the contact piece 5 is prevented from plastic deformation.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the contact piece of the female contact terminal is always connected to the mating male contact terminal within the elastic deformation range, contact failure can be avoided and trouble of the connector can be prevented. As a result, it contributes to the improvement of the reliability of the device using the connector.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a female contact terminal as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the contact terminal of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a left side view of the contact terminal of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a right side view of the contact terminal of FIG.

5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional female contact terminal.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the contact terminal of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Female contact terminal 2 Contact part 3 Connection part 5 Contact piece 6 Control piece

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A female contact terminal in an insulating housing, having a contact portion having a contact piece for receiving a male contact terminal of a mating connector from the front in a front portion, and a connection portion for connecting an electric wire at a rear portion. In the electrical connector, the contact piece is formed so that both sides of the elongated metal plate stand upright and face each other, and a regulation piece is provided outside the contact piece at a predetermined distance from the contact piece. Female contact terminals for. 2. A metal plate is formed such that both side edges of the metal plate are erected and then folded back so as to be doubled so that a contact piece is substantially parallel to the inner plate and a restriction piece is substantially parallel to the outer plate. A female contact terminal for an electrical connector according to claim 1.