JPH09289059A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector which is split in order to reduce fitting forces and which achieves simplification of detection of a fitted state. SOLUTION: A female housing 2 is split into a main housing 3 and an auxiliary housing 4, the auxiliary housing 4 being assembled into a storage space 9 in the main housing 3 in such a way as to move freely and to be temporarily locked in a position ahead along a fitting direction. Only the main housing 3 is fitted with a short-circuit terminal 36, which is interlocked with a lock arm 27 via a detecting terminal 7a to detect a fitted state. When the female housing 2 is inserted into a male housing 1, the auxiliary housing 4 is first fitted, and when the housing 4 is fitted in a normal position the temporary locking is undone to start fitting the main housing 3 into a position. When the main housing 3 is fitted in a normal position, it is locked into place in a slip-off preventive state by the lock arm 27, and the detecting terminal 7a comes into contact with the short circuit terminal 36 to electrically detect the fitted state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a split type connector having a fitting detection function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the connectors used for automobile wire harnesses have tended to have more and more poles. However, in such a multipole connector, if a male and female connector housing is attempted to be mated at one time, great mating force is required. Will be needed.
Conventionally, as a workaround, a so-called split type connector has been used in which one of the connector housings is divided into a plurality of pieces and the fitting force is reduced by sequentially fitting them into the mating connector housing. . On the other hand, particularly in an important circuit such as an airbag circuit, a short-circuit terminal or the like is used to detect whether or not the connector is properly fitted.

[0003]

However, if the split connector is used to detect the above-mentioned fitting, it is necessary to provide a short-circuit terminal for each split housing and perform the detection work for each of the split housings. However, there was a problem that increased the cost and complexity of the work, leading to high cost. The present invention was completed in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector that is of a split type in order to reduce the mating force, and yet realizes simplification of mating detection. And

[0004]

As a means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 is provided with male and female connector housings, each of which is equipped with a group of terminal fittings. In a connector that is divided into two parts and can be fitted into a plurality of housing parts in the other connector housing, a fitting permitting means that allows fitting of the latter divided housing only after the former divided housing is properly fitted. And a fitting detecting means for detecting whether or not the divided housing is properly fitted to the final divided housing.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the connector housing on the divided side is configured such that the sub housing is movable in the main housing along a fitting direction with the mating connector housing. The auxiliary housing is provisionally lockable with the auxiliary housing being forward in the fitting direction, and the fitting permitting means releases the temporary lock only after the auxiliary housing is properly fitted. The main housing has a function of permitting fitting, and the main housing is provided with the fitting detecting means.

[0006]

Function and Effect of the Invention

<Invention of Claim 1> When the divided housings are sequentially fitted, the latter divided housings can be fitted only after the former divided housings are properly fitted. Therefore, when the final split housings are mated, all the split housings before that are properly fitted, and if the fitted state of the final split housings is detected, all the split housings will be detected. The fitting state of can be detected at one time.
That is, since it is only necessary to provide the fitting detecting means in the final divided housing, the number of parts can be reduced, and the detecting operation can be simplified, which in turn can reduce the cost.

<Invention of Claim 2> When the connector housing is pushed in, the sub-housing is first fitted, and when it is properly fitted, the main housing is fitted while moving relatively. When the main housing is fitted, the sub-housing has already been fitted properly, and if the fitting state of the main housing is detected, the fitting states of both housings can be detected at once. Since it is only necessary to provide the fitting detection means in the main housing, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and simplify the detection work, and to reduce the cost. Further, since the main housing and the sub-housing can be assembled in a temporarily locked state, an excellent handling effect can be obtained.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, a PC
1 illustrates a B connector, and as shown in FIG. 1, a male connector housing 1 connected to a printed wiring board.
(Hereinafter, simply referred to as a male housing) and a female connector housing 2 (hereinafter, simply referred to as a female housing) to be fitted therein, the female housing 2 further includes a main housing 3 and a sub housing 4. It is divided.

The male housing 1 is formed of a synthetic resin material in the shape of a box having an open front surface on the fitting side, and a flange 6 is formed on the entire outer peripheral surface on the front end side. When viewed from the front, the inside of the male housing 1 is divided into two regions, substantially right and left. In each region, one end of each of the six L-shaped male terminal fittings 7 is arranged in two rows and three stages. Are aligned with and projected from the back side. As shown in FIG. 7, the other end of each male terminal metal fitting 7 penetrates an alignment plate 8 projecting from the bottom of the rear surface of the male housing 1 and projects downward to connect to a contact of a printed wiring board (not shown). It is possible. Of the male terminal fittings 7, the uppermost two male terminal fittings in the right area serve as detection terminals 7a for fitting detection, which will be described later in detail.

The female housing 2 is also made of a synthetic resin material and is composed of the main housing 3 and the sub housing 4 as described above. The main housing 3 is formed in a block shape that can be fitted into the male housing 1 described above, and one side in the width direction (the other side in FIG. 1) accommodates the sub housing 4 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction. A storage space 9 for opening is provided on both front and rear sides. On the other hand, in the lower part of the front side of the main housing 3, four cavities 10 are formed in an array, and each cavity 10 has a female terminal fitting 12 fixed to the end of an electric wire 11 (see FIG. 2). , And each of the female terminal fittings 12 can be individually fitted and connected to the four lower male terminal fittings 7 in the right region of the male housing 1. A mounting space 35 for mounting the short-circuit terminal 36 is provided above the portion where the cavity 10 is provided, and the ceiling surface thereof is for locking the main housing 3 and the male housing 1 in a fitted state. The lock arms 27 are provided, which will be described later.

The sub-housing 4 is formed in a block shape that can be fitted into the storage space 9 of the main housing 3 described above. Six cavities 10 are formed in line in the sub-housing 4, and female terminal fittings 12 also fixed to the ends of the electric wires 11 are housed therein. These female terminal fittings 12 are The six male terminal fittings 7 on the left side of the male housing 1 can be individually fitted and connected.

A lock piece 14 is provided on a side wall 9a of the main housing 3 opposite to the side where the cavity 10 is provided, as shown in FIG. The lock piece 14 is provided in the sub housing 4 when the two housings 3 and 4 are properly fitted in the male housing 1 as described later.
Functions to hold the main housing 3 in a retaining state. That is, the lock piece 14 is provided with the hook portion 15 at its tip, is protruded rearward from the front edge side of the side wall 9a, and is provided so as to be flexibly deformable outward. When the front surfaces of the main housing 3 and the sub housing 4 are aligned with each other, the lock piece 14
The hook portion 15 at the front end of the sub housing 4 is locked to the notch portion 16 formed on the rear surface of the sub housing 4 (see FIG. 6), so that the sub housing 4 can be locked in a rearward retaining state.

As shown in FIG. 2, the side wall 9b of the housing space 9 of the main housing 3 on which the cavity 10 is provided extends along the front edge (right side in FIG. 2) at a substantially central height position. Thus, a mountain-shaped locking projection 18 is formed. On the other hand, a guide groove 19 in the front-rear direction is formed on the side surface of the auxiliary housing 4 corresponding to the side wall 9b, and a locking piece 20 is formed on the front end side surface of the guide groove 19. ing. The locking piece 20 has a mountain-shaped projection 21 which is engageable with the locking projection 18 at the tip and is provided so as to project rearward, and the tip is on the bottom surface side of the guide groove 19. It is elastically bendable and deformable toward.

The sub housing 4 is the main housing 3
2, the lock piece 14 is flexibly deformed and is inserted from the rear surface side, and the locking piece 20 is further flexed and pushed in. As shown in FIG. When it protrudes from the front of the
The projection 21 of the locking piece 20 is locked by the locking projection 18, so that the locking piece 20 is provisionally assembled in a state in which it is prevented from slipping out to the rear surface side. Therefore, the main housing 3 and the sub housing 4 can be integrally fitted in the male housing 1.

The male housing 1 is formed with a protruding piece 23 which can be fitted into the guide groove 19 of the sub housing 4. The projecting piece 23 is formed so as to project from the inner surface at a position between the left and right regions, and a bending prevention portion 24 protruding toward the right region is formed at the tip thereof. Further, the space behind the flexure preventing portion 24 constitutes a flexural deformation space 25 that allows the locking piece 20 to flexibly deform.

More specifically, when the sub-housing 4 is fitted in the region on the left side of the male housing 1, as shown in FIG. As the bending prevention portion 24 corresponds to the back side of the locking piece 20 while relatively moving in along the guide groove 19 while being dipped therein, the bending deformation is prevented. On the other hand, when the sub-housing 4 is fitted to the inner surface of the male housing 1, that is, to the normal position, as shown in FIG. 4, the bending prevention portion 24 comes out forward of the tip of the locking piece 20 and locks. It is set to allow the piece 20 to flex and deform toward the flexural deformation space 25.

The lock structure between the main housing 3 and the male housing 1 is as follows. A lock arm 27 is provided on the ceiling surface of the mounting space 35 of the short-circuit terminal 36 in the main housing 3. This lock arm 27
It is provided so as to extend from the front edge of the main housing 3 toward the rear edge side, and as shown in FIG. 7, the tip side on which the pressing operation portion 28 is formed can be flexibly deformed toward the inside of the mounting space 35. There is. In addition, a locking projection 29 having an inclined surface 30 on the front side is formed at the center of the upper surface of the lock arm 27 in the longitudinal direction.

On the other hand, in the portion of the upper surface of the male housing 1 into which the above-mentioned lock arm 27 is fitted, from the front edge which is the fitting end edge to just before the collar 6, and from the rear surface of the collar 6 to the rear thereof. A fitting groove 32 into which the locking projection 29 of the lock arm 27 can be fitted is cut across the region. A portion of the fitting groove 32 that projects to the front of the collar 6 serves as an abutment portion 33 that abuts the locking projection 29.

That is, when the main housing 3 is fitted into the male housing 1, the abutment portion 33 comes into abutment with the inclined surface 30 of the locking projection 29 during the fitting, so that as shown in FIG. When the lock arm 27 is pushed into the mounting space 35 side while being bent and deformed, and the main housing 3 is fitted to the inner surface of the male housing 1, that is, to the regular position, the locking projection 29.
9 reaches the rear of the collar 6, and as shown in FIG. 9, the lock arm 27 is restored and deformed by the restoring elastic force while fitting the locking projection 29 into the fitting groove 32, and the locking projection 29 of the collar 6 moves. By being locked on the rear surface, it is locked in a retaining state. In addition, from the locked state described above, the pressing operation unit 28
When is pressed to bend the lock arm 27, the locking projection 2
Since the locking of 9 is released, the fitting can be released by pulling it out as it is.

Next, the structure of the electrical fitting detecting portion which works in conjunction with the locking operation of the main housing 3 will be described. In the mounting space 35 of the main housing 3, the short-circuit terminal 3
6 is attached. This short-circuit terminal 36
2 are spaced apart from each other as shown in FIG.
Connection plate 3 also serving as a mounting portion on the base end side of the elastic contact piece 37 of the book
8 is crossed over, and the pressed portion 39 rises at the tips of both elastic contact pieces 37. As shown in FIG. 7, the short-circuit terminal 36 is attached by inserting the connection plate 38 into the attachment groove 41 formed in the bottom portion of the front edge of the attachment space 35, and each elastic contact piece 37.
Has a tilted posture in which the front end side is gradually inclined upward toward the rear, and the front end side is elastically deformable and deformable downward. Then, when the main housing 3 is fitted into the male housing 1, the two detection terminals 7a provided in the male housing 1 can respectively enter toward the upper surface of the tip of the elastic contact piece 37. Has become.

Further, on the upper surface side of both the detection terminals 7a, the receiving plate 4 for restricting the upward bending deformation of the detection terminals 7a.
2 is formed so as to project from the back surface. On one side of the mounting space 35, a guide plate 43 for guiding the receiving plate 42 along the lower surface side is formed so as to be folded back from the front edge toward the rear edge side. More specifically, when the main housing 3 is fitted close to the inner surface of the male housing 1, the detection terminal 7a enters the mounting space 35 until it can come into contact with the elastic contact piece 37. At that time, FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the lock arm 27 is bent and deformed downward, and the elastic contact piece 37 is bent and deformed downward by pressing the pressed portion 39, so that the detection terminal 7a and the elastic contact piece 37 are deformed.
Hasn't touched yet. However, as shown in FIG. 9, when the main housing 3 is properly fitted and the lock arm 27 is restored to its original shape, the elastic contact piece 37 is restored and deformed by removing the pressing force on the elastic contact piece 37. The setting is such that the corresponding detection terminal 7a is sandwiched and pressed against the receiving plate 42.

This embodiment has the above-described structure,
Subsequently, the operation will be described. First, the short-circuit terminal 36 is mounted in the mounting space 35 in the main housing 3 of the female housing 2, and the sub-housing 4 is housed in the housing space 9. As shown in FIG. Assemble in the protruding temporary locking state. The female housing 2 assembled in this way is pushed into the mating male housing 1.

When pushed in to a certain extent, as shown in FIG. 3, the protruding piece 23 on the male housing 1 side is bent by the bending prevention portion 2.
4 is made to go into the back side of the locking piece 20 and relatively enters along the guide groove 19. During that time, since the bending prevention portion 24 corresponds to the back side of the locking piece 20, the bending deformation is blocked, so that the locking piece 20 is pushed by the locking ridge 18 as it is and the sub-housing 4 is in the preceding state. The male and female terminal fittings 12, which are fitted to the left area of the male housing 1,
7 are fitted together.

When the pushing is further advanced, as shown in FIG. 4, the sub-housing 4 reaches the inner surface of the left side region and is fitted in the regular position. At this time, the bending prevention portion 24 is pulled out further forward than the tip of the locking piece 20, and the locking piece 20 is flexibly deformable toward the bending deformation space 25, that is, the temporary locking is released. . It should be noted that the male terminal fitting 7 in the right region starts to fit into the female terminal fitting 12 on the main housing 3 side, but a little fitting force is not required to reach the entrance.

When the main housing 3 is further pushed in from the state shown in FIG. 4, as shown in FIG.
Is pressed to bend and deform the locking piece 20 to the side of the bending deformation space 25, the main housing 3 is pushed while moving with respect to the sub housing 4, and the corresponding male and female terminal fittings 12, 7 are deeply fitted to each other. . When the main housing 3 is pushed in in this way, as shown in FIG. 8, the mounting space 35 is provided until the detection terminal 7a can contact the elastic contact piece 37 of the short-circuit terminal 36.
The lock arm 27 bends and deforms toward the mounting space 35 as described above, and the pressed portion 39 is pressed and the elastic contact piece 37 bends and deforms downward. Therefore, the detection terminal 7a and the elastic contact piece 37 are not yet in contact with each other. When the locking projection 18 of the main housing 3 exceeds the projection 21 of the locking piece 20, the locking piece 2
0 is restored to its original form.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6, when the main housing 3 reaches the inner surface of the male housing 1 and is properly fitted, the lock arm 27 is locked by the restoring elasticity as shown in FIG. By fitting the groove 29 into the fitting groove 32 and performing restoration deformation, the locking projection 29 is locked to the rear surface of the collar 6,
It is locked in a state that prevents it from coming off. Also, as shown in FIG.
Hook 15 of the lock piece 14 provided in the main housing 3.
However, the auxiliary housing 4 is fitted into the notch 16 on the rear surface of the auxiliary housing 4, and the auxiliary housing 4 is locked with respect to the main housing 3 in a retaining state.

When the main housing 3 is properly fitted and the lock arm 27 is restored to its original shape as shown in FIG. 9, the pressing force of the short-circuit terminal 36 against the elastic contact piece 37 is removed so that the elastic force is restored. The contact piece 37 is also restored and deformed, and is pressed against the receiving plate 42 with the corresponding detection terminal 7a interposed therebetween. As a result, both detection terminals 7a are short-circuited via the short-circuit terminal 36, and it is detected that the main housing 3 is properly fitted.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
Since the sub housing 4 and the main housing 3 are sequentially fitted to the male housing 1, the fitting operation can be performed with a low fitting force. In addition, when the main housing 3 is fitted, the sub-housing 4 has already been fitted properly, and after that, if only the fitting of the main housing 3 is detected, the fitted state of both housings 3 and 4 is detected. Can be detected at once. That is, the short-circuit terminal 36 is connected to the main housing 3
Since the number of parts can be reduced because it is only necessary to provide the sensor in one place, and the detection work can be performed quickly at only one place, the cost can be reduced. Further, since the main housing 3 and the sub-housing 4 can be assembled in a temporarily locked state, they are excellent in handling during transportation and fitting.

<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, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

(1) In the above embodiment, the connector of the type in which the main housing and the sub-housing can be integrally fitted in a temporary assembled state is illustrated, but the present invention separates the divided connector housings one by one. It can be similarly applied to a mating type connector. (2) Further, the number of divided connector housings is arbitrary, which is two or more. (3) Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to connectors other than the PCB connector, and the male housing side may be divided contrary to the above embodiment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the male and female housings before fitting.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the auxiliary housing at the start of fitting.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a sub housing is properly fitted.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the main housing is being fitted.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a state where the main housing is properly fitted.

FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway side view showing the structure of a fitting detection portion.

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway side view when the main housing is in a semi-fitted state.

FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway side view showing a state where the main housing is properly fitted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Male-side connector housing 2 ... Female-side connector housing 3 ... Main housing 4 ... Sub-housing 7 ... Male terminal metal fitting 7a ... Detection terminal 9 ... Storage space 12 ... Female terminal metal fitting 18 ... Locking protrusion 20 ... Locking piece 21 ... Projection 23 ... Projection piece 24 ... Bending prevention part 25 ... Bending deformation space 27 ... Lock arm 36 ... Short-circuit terminal

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A connector comprising a male and female connector housing, each of which is equipped with a group of terminal fittings, wherein any one of the connector housings is divided into a plurality of parts, which can be fitted into a plurality of accommodating portions of the other connector housing. In (1), there is provided a fitting permitting means that allows fitting of the latter split housing only after the former split housing is properly fitted, and whether or not the last split housing is properly fitted. A connector characterized by being provided with a fitting detecting means for detecting 2. The connector housing on the divided side is provided in a main housing such that a sub housing is movable along a mating direction with a mating connector housing.
Moreover, the sub-housing can be temporarily locked in a state of being ahead of the front in the fitting direction, and the fitting permitting means releases the temporary locking only after the sub-housing is properly fitted to the main housing. Function to allow the mating of
The connector according to claim 1, wherein the fitting detection means is provided in the main housing.