JPH1055836A - Female terminal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase contact pressure for a male terminal fitting. SOLUTION: An insertion part 10 has a pair of elastic contact pieces 12 capable of clamping a male terminal fitting C. Also, elastic auxiliary pieces 45 are cut and raised from a protective cover B for concealing the insertion part 10, so as to correspond to the end of each elastic contact piece 12. When the elastic contact pieces 12 are flexed and deformed along an expanding direction, according to the insertion of the male terminal fitting C, the ends of the elastic contact pieces 12 come in contact with the elastic auxiliary pieces 45 and energized along a direction opposite to a flexing and deforming direction. As a result, the male terminal fitting C is strongly clamped, due not only to an elastic force from the elastic contact pieces 12, but also an elastic force acting from the elastic auxiliary pieces 45.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a female terminal fitting assembled to a connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A female terminal fitting disclosed in FIGS. 9 and 10 is known as this type of female terminal fitting. The female terminal fitting includes a terminal body 1 formed by bending a conductive metal sheet, and a stainless steel protective cover 2 covering the terminal body 1. The terminal body 1 has an insertion portion 3 into which a male terminal metal fitting (not shown) as a mating terminal metal fitting is inserted, and a barrel portion 4 to which a terminal of an electric wire can be connected by caulking at the rear end of the insertion portion 3. It is shaped. Further, the insertion portion 3 is provided with a pair of resilient contact pieces 6 formed by extending a side wall 5 which is disposed opposite to both left and right sides (upper and lower sides in FIG. 10) and extends in a longitudinal direction forward. The male terminal fittings are inserted between the elastic contact pieces 6 so as to be pushed out.

[0003]

The elastic force of the elastic contact piece is determined by the thickness of the base portion.
Therefore, if the thickness of the thin metal sheet, which is a molding material, is reduced in order to reduce the size of the terminal fittings, the elastic force of the elastic contact pieces decreases, and the contact pressure on the male terminal fittings cannot be sufficiently secured. there were. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a female terminal fitting having a pair of elastic contact pieces and capable of increasing the contact pressure.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a female terminal fitting according to claim 1 extends in the insertion direction of the male terminal fitting and accompanies the insertion of the male terminal fitting. In a female terminal fitting having a pair of elastic contact pieces that are depressed by the male terminal fittings and bend and deform in a direction in which they expand, and a protective cover that covers each of the elastic contact pieces, the protective cover includes It is characterized in that an elastic auxiliary piece is provided outside the piece and urges each elastic contact piece in a direction opposite to the direction of deformation when the male terminal fitting is inserted.

[0005] The female terminal fitting according to the second aspect is the first aspect.
In the female terminal fitting according to the present invention, the elastic auxiliary piece is cut and raised inward from the insertion side of the protective cover with respect to the male terminal fitting, and abuts the end of the elastic contact piece on the insertion side with respect to the male terminal fitting. The feature is that it is set to.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a female terminal fitting is provided.
Alternatively, in the female terminal fitting according to claim 2, the protective cover has a cylindrical shape that can be fitted into each elastic contact piece from the insertion side of the male terminal fitting, and is disposed outside each elastic contact piece. It is characterized in that the distance between the elastic auxiliary pieces is set to a size such that the elastic auxiliary pieces do not contact the elastic contact pieces when the protective cover is fitted into each elastic contact piece.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the male terminal fitting is inserted, the elastic contact piece is pressed by the male terminal fitting and bends in the expanding direction. At this time, the elastic contact piece is urged by the elastic auxiliary piece provided on the protective cover in the direction opposite to the bending deformation direction. Therefore, the contact pressure on the male terminal fitting is increased.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the end of the elastic contact piece on the insertion side with respect to the male terminal fitting is urged by the elastic auxiliary piece in the direction opposite to the bending deformation direction. Therefore, the elastic contact piece can be more efficiently urged in the direction opposite to the deformation direction than the base part of the elastic contact piece is urged, and the contact pressure against the male terminal fitting is increased with a small urging force. be able to.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in order to mount the protective cover, the protective cover may be fitted from the insertion side of the male terminal fitting into the elastic contact piece. Further, at this time, interference between the elastic auxiliary piece and the elastic contact piece can be avoided. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the elastic auxiliary piece and the elastic contact piece from contacting each other and being deformed when the protective cover is attached.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment embodying a female terminal fitting of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The female terminal fitting of this embodiment is shown in FIGS.
As shown in (1), the terminal body A is formed by bending a conductive metal sheet (for example, a copper alloy sheet) and a stainless steel protective cover B that covers the terminal body A.

The terminal body A includes an insertion portion 10 into which a male terminal fitting C (see FIG. 7), which is a mating terminal fitting, is inserted, and a barrel portion 20 to which a terminal of an electric wire is crimped.
0 is connected continuously. The barrel portion 20 includes a wire barrel 21 for caulking a core wire stripped from a covering end of the electric wire, and an insulation barrel 22 connected to the rear end of the wire barrel 21 for caulking the covering end of the electric wire. A pair of caulking pieces 21 for both barrels 21 and 22
a and 22a are formed to protrude upward, and the caulking pieces 21a and 22a are caulked so as to wrap the core wire or the covering end of the electric wire.

The insertion section 10 has a rectangular tubular section 11 at the rear end (the end on the side connected to the connecting section 30), and the left and right side walls of the tubular section 11 are projected forward. A pair of resilient contact pieces 12 capable of sandwiching the male terminal fitting C is formed. The pair of elastic contact pieces 12 are formed in a shape that is bent in a tapered shape and then has a widened tip.
In addition, the bottom plate of the cylindrical portion 11 also projects forward together with the elastic contact piece 12, thereby forming a guide piece 13,
A protective cover B described later is fitted along the guide piece 13.

The connecting portion 30 is formed in a groove shape from the rear end of the insertion portion 10 to the front end of the barrel portion 20, and a pair of stabilizers 31 is provided on both right and left side walls so as to protrude upward.

As shown in the left side of FIG. 4, the protective cover B is formed by bending a thin metal plate made of stainless steel into a rectangular tube shape, and its length is slightly longer than the length of the insertion portion 10. , The inner diameter is set slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 11. That is, the protective cover B provides a flexible space between the insertion portion 10 and the elastic contact piece 12 while providing the guide piece 1.
3 and can be fitted from the front end side.

A lance 41 is formed on the upper surface of the protective cover B so as to be cut and raised from the front end side.
Further, a part of the right side wall (the side wall on the near side in FIG. 4) of the protective cover B projects slightly higher than the upper surface, and
4 is formed, and the bending space of the lance 41 formed below the lance 41 is closed from the right side. Protective cover B
On the front end side, the opening edge is bent inward, and an insertion port 42 for inserting the male terminal fitting C is formed therein. On the rear end side of the protection cover B, a pair of fixing pieces 43 are cut out on both left and right side walls, and the protection cover B is fitted into the insertion portion 10 from the outside on the left and right side walls of the connecting portion 30. The protection cover B is fixed by overlapping and bending the fixing piece 43 inward (see FIG. 5).

Further, in the protective cover B, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, elastic supporting pieces 4 are provided at the front end portions of the left and right side walls.
5 are cut and raised so as to be opposed and flexibly deformable. That is, the elastic auxiliary piece 45 is formed by cutting and raising inward from the front end side at the outer portion of the distal end portion of each elastic contact piece 12 with the protective cover B fitted into the insertion portion 10. In the cut-and-raised state, the protruding end of the elastic auxiliary piece 45 (the right end in FIG. 3) does not contact the distal end of the elastic contact piece 12 and is inserted with the insertion of the male terminal fitting C. When the elastic contact piece 12 bends and deforms, it comes into contact with it. Further, the dimension of the narrowest portion between the elastic auxiliary pieces 45 is set wider than the dimension between the leading edge formed in the expanded shape of each elastic contact piece 12, and the protective cover B The elastic auxiliary piece 45 and the elastic contact piece 12 do not interfere with each other when fitted into the insertion portion 10 from the distal end side.

FIG. 6 shows a state where the female terminal fitting is assembled to the connector housing 50. In the connector housing 50, cavities 51 are vertically arranged side by side, and a rear end side of each cavity 51 is provided with a terminal mounting port 51a for mounting the female terminal fitting, and a front end side is provided with a male. Terminal insertion opening 5 for inserting side terminal fitting C
1b. A locking portion 52 is cut out on the outer inner wall surface in each cavity 51, and a lance 41 of a female terminal fitting assembled into the cavity 51 through a terminal assembly opening 51a is formed therein. It is designed to engage. That is, each of the female terminal fittings is assembled to the cavity 51 in a state where the bottom faces each other.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.
When the male connector is connected to the connector to which the female terminal fitting has been assembled, the male terminal fitting C is inserted between the elastic contact pieces 12 through the insertion opening 42 of the protective cover B. Then, the elastic contact piece 12 is moved from the state of FIG.
Is deformed outward so as to be pushed and spread with the insertion of the. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the elastic auxiliary piece 45 abuts on the protective cover B, and thereafter, the elastic auxiliary piece 45
At the same time, it bends and deforms. Therefore, the elastic contact piece 12 is urged by the elastic auxiliary piece 45 in the direction opposite to the bending and deforming direction, and in a state where the male terminal fitting C is inserted into a regular position, the male terminal fitting C becomes the elastic contact piece 12. With its own elasticity,
It is strongly pinched by the elastic force acting from the elastic auxiliary piece 45.

As described above, in this embodiment, the elastic auxiliary piece 4
5, the elastic contact piece 12 is urged in the direction opposite to the direction of bending deformation, so that the male terminal fitting C can be strongly clamped by the elastic contact piece 12, and contact with the male terminal fitting C can be made. Pressure can be increased. In particular, the present embodiment can increase the contact pressure without increasing the plate thickness, and is therefore effective in reducing the size of the female terminal fitting. In addition, since the distal end portion of the elastic contact piece 12 is bent by the elastic auxiliary piece 45 and urged in the direction opposite to the direction of deformation,
The elastic contact piece 12 can be efficiently urged in the direction opposite to the direction of the deformation as compared with the case where the base portion of the elastic contact piece 12 is urged, so that the contact with the male terminal fitting C can be made with a small urging force. Pressure can be increased.

Furthermore, when the protective cover B is fitted into the insertion section 10 from the distal end side, interference between the elastic auxiliary piece 45 and the elastic contact piece 12 can be avoided. The contact piece 12 is prevented from being deformed by the contact with the elastic auxiliary piece 45.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be modified as follows, for example, and these embodiments also belong to the technical scope of the present invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the protective cover B is made of stainless steel, but may be made of copper, aluminum, or the like.

(2) In the above embodiment, the elastic auxiliary piece 4
5 is cut and raised from the front end side (the insertion side of the male terminal fitting), but may be formed by cutting and raising from the rear end side (the barrel portion side).

(3) In the above embodiment, the protective cover B
Was previously formed into a cylindrical shape, and was configured to be fitted into the insertion portion 10 from the distal end side. However, the protective cover was formed with the bottom surface opened, and fitted into the insertion portion from above. After mounting, the bottom surface may be bent. In addition, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded side sectional view showing the entirety of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing a state of being assembled to a connector housing in the same embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan sectional view showing the elastic contact piece before the male terminal fitting is inserted in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a plan sectional view showing the elastic contact piece after the male terminal fitting is inserted in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a side sectional view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a plan sectional view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12: Elastic contact piece 45: Elastic auxiliary piece B: Protective cover C: Male terminal fitting

Claims (3)

[Claims] A pair of elastic contact pieces that extend along the insertion direction of the male terminal fitting and are deformed in a direction of being expanded by being pushed by the male terminal fitting with the insertion of the male terminal fitting; A female terminal fitting provided with a protective cover for covering the respective elastic contact pieces, wherein the protective cover is disposed outside the respective elastic contact pieces, and the respective elastic contact pieces are inserted when the male terminal fitting is inserted. A female terminal fitting provided with an elastic auxiliary piece for urging the elastic member in a direction opposite to the bending deformation direction. 2. The female terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein
The elastic auxiliary piece is formed so as to be cut and raised from the insertion side of the protective cover to the male terminal fitting, and is set so as to contact an end of the elastic contact piece on the insertion side with respect to the male terminal fitting. A female terminal fitting. 3. The female terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the protective cover has a cylindrical shape capable of being fitted into each of the elastic contact pieces from an insertion side of the male terminal fitting. The distance between the respective elastic auxiliary pieces arranged outside the respective elastic contact pieces is set to a size such that the elastic auxiliary piece does not contact the elastic contact piece when the protective cover is fitted into each of the elastic contact pieces. A female terminal fitting characterized by being made.