JP3312201B2 - Connector slider mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slider mechanism for operating the mating and unmating of a connector, and more particularly, to the mating and unmating of a connector installed inside a housing which is not accessible to the fingers of an operator. The present invention relates to a slider mechanism for operating from outside.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The essential points of a ball lock connector described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-35844 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an unfitted state, and FIG.
Shows cross-sectional views in the fitted state.

The ball lock connector is a male connector 10
And a female connector 20.

The male connector 10 is fixed to an end of an electric wire (not shown) and is concentric with the male connector housing 11 while being fixed to a cylindrical male connector housing 11 fixed to a device (not shown) by a flange 12. And a male terminal 13 which is fixedly supported. An engagement groove 14 having a semicircular cross section capable of engaging with a plurality of lock balls 29 of the female connector 20 is provided on the outer periphery of the front end portion of the male connector housing 11.
Are formed over the entire circumference.

The female connector 20 can be gripped and handled by an operator, and is fixed to a cylindrical female connector housing 21 at the end of the electric wire W and is concentrically fixed in the female connector housing 21. Female terminal 22
And a ball lock mechanism. The male connector housing 1 is provided on the outer periphery of the front end of the female connector housing 21.
1 are fitted, and the male terminal 13 and the female terminal 22 are connected accordingly.

The ball lock mechanism includes a cylindrical fitting portion 25, lock balls 29, a cylindrical lock operation member 30, and a cylindrical lock release member 35. The cylindrical fitting portion 25 is provided concentrically with a space capable of accommodating the male connector housing 11 between the female connector housing 21 and the outer periphery of the female connector housing 21. 21 and a threaded part 26 on the outer periphery of the cylindrical fitting part 25.
Is fixed to the female connector housing 21 by screwing the cap 27 from behind.

[0007] A plurality of ball support holes 28 are formed in the cylindrical fitting portion 25 at the inner periphery and the outer periphery thereof at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction. A lock ball 29 is provided in each ball support hole 28. It is housed so as to be movable in the radial direction. Since the diameter of each lock ball 29 is larger than the thickness of the cylindrical fitting portion 25, each lock ball 29 always projects to at least one of the inner peripheral side and the outer peripheral side of the cylindrical fitting portion 25. I have.

Each lock ball 29 has a cylindrical fitting 25
The male and female connectors 1
0 and 20 are engaged with the engagement grooves 14 of the male connector housing 11 in a state where the male and female connectors 1 and 2 are fitted together.
0 and 20 are locked in the release restriction state. Further, when each lock ball 29 is displaced to the outer peripheral side from this locked state and the engagement with the male connector housing 11 is released, the disengagement of the male and female connectors 10, 20 is allowed.

Since the inner diameter of each ball support hole 28 on the inner peripheral side is smaller than the diameter of each lock ball 29, the passage of each lock ball 29 to the inner peripheral side is restricted. Assembly can be easily performed.

The cylindrical locking member 30 can move in the front-rear direction while contacting the outer periphery of the cylindrical fitting portion 25.
And it is fitted in a state of being urged forward by the lock spring 31. In a state where the cylindrical lock operation member 30 is moved forward by the urging force of the lock spring 31 and is in the lock position where it abuts against the stopper 32 fitted on the outer periphery of the cylindrical fitting portion 25, the cylindrical lock operation member 30 The inner peripheral pressing surface 33 abuts against each lock ball 29 and holds each lock ball 29 in an engagement state with the engagement groove 14 of the male connector housing 11.

When the cylindrical lock operating member 30 is slid rearward against the lock spring 31 to reach the unlocked position, a semicircular shape formed over the entire inner circumference of the cylindrical lock operating member 30 is formed. Cross section relief groove 3
4 is aligned with each ball support hole 28. As a result, each lock ball 29 is allowed to be displaced in the direction of releasing the engagement with the male connector housing 11. When each lock ball 29 is fitted in the escape groove 34, the movement of the cylindrical lock operation member 30 to the lock position side is regulated, and the cylindrical lock operation member 30 is held at the lock release position.

The cylindrical unlocking member 35 can move in the front-rear direction while contacting the inner periphery of the cylindrical fitting portion 25.
Further, it is fitted in a state of being urged forward by the lock release spring 36. Cylindrical unlocking member 35
Is moved forward by the bias of the lock release spring 36 to lock the locking portion 37 of the cylindrical unlocking member 35 with the stopper 38 of the cylindrical fitting portion 25. The outer peripheral surface of the lock release member 35
Each lock ball 29 is held in a state in which it comes into contact with each lock ball 29 and disengages from the male connector housing 11.

Since the front end of the cylindrical unlocking member 35 is formed as a smooth curved surface from the outer peripheral surface to the front end surface, each lock ball 29 projects toward the inner peripheral side of the cylindrical fitting portion 25. When the cylindrical unlocking member 35 moves from the rear position to the front in the state described above, the lock balls 29 are smoothly pushed outward by the curved surface of the cylindrical unlocking member 35.

The cylindrical unlocking member 35 is pushed rearward from the unlocking position by the front end of the male connector housing 11 as the male and female connectors 10, 20 are fitted. When the cylindrical unlocking member 35 is pushed rearward in this manner, the abutment of the lock balls 29 from the inner peripheral side with the lock balls 29 is released, so that the lock balls 29 can engage with the male connector housing 11. Movement to the inner circumference side is allowed.

The operation of the ball lock mechanism will be described. In the state of FIG. 6 in which the male and female connectors 10, 20 are separated,
Cylindrical lock operation member 30 and cylindrical lock release member 3
5 are both in the unlocked position. When the female connector 20 is fitted to the male connector 10 from this state, the male connector housing 11 enters between the female connector housing 21 and the cylindrical fitting portion 25 and pushes the cylindrical unlocking member 35 to move backward. Let it. When the male and female connectors 10 and 20 are fitted, the engagement groove 14 is aligned with each ball support hole 28, and each lock ball 29 is biased by a lock spring 31 so that the groove edge of the escape groove 34 of the cylindrical lock operation member 30. , And moves to the inner peripheral side to engage with the engagement groove 14.
At the same time, the cylindrical lock operation member 30 is moved to the front unlock position by the lock spring 31 and holds each lock ball 29 in the engagement state with the engagement groove 14.
Therefore, as shown in FIG.
0 and 20 are locked in the fitted state.

When the female connector 20 is detached from the male connector 10, the operation of gripping the female connector 20 and pulling the female connector 20 away from the male connector 10 is performed, and at the same time, the cylindrical fingers are held by the fingers gripping the female connector 20. An operation of pulling the shape lock operation member 30 in the same direction against the bias of the lock spring 31 is performed. Then, since the relief groove 34 of the cylindrical lock operation member 30 is aligned with each ball support hole 28, each lock ball 29 is allowed to move to the outer peripheral side, so that the male and female connectors 10, 20 release the lock. can do. Then, as the male connector housing 11 comes off from between the female connector housing 21 and the cylindrical fitting portion 25, each lock ball 29 is pushed out from the engagement groove 14 to the outer peripheral side by the groove edge of the engagement groove 14. Into the escape groove 34. After this, male connector housing 1
Each lock ball 29 is held in a state of being fitted into the escape groove 34 by the outer peripheral surface of the front end portion 1 and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical unlocking member 35 which moves forward by the urging of the unlocking spring 36. .

[0017]

In a conventional ball lock connector, a female connector or a cylindrical locking member is directly gripped and operated by an operator's finger when fitting and disengaging. Therefore, the ball lock connector cannot be operated in a narrow place where the finger of the operator cannot reach.

Therefore, the present invention improves on the drawbacks of the conventional ball lock connector, so that the connector installed in a place where the operator's finger cannot reach can be operated from a remote place, and is simple and convenient. It is an object of the present invention to provide a slider mechanism for a connector.

[0019]

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.

1. In a slider mechanism for fitting and disengaging both male and female connectors such as a cable connector and a board, the slider mechanism includes a slider main body and a slider operation section, and the slider operation section includes a shaft, A cylindrical body that slidably holds in a direction,
A plurality of lock balls held in a plurality of holding holes provided in the cylindrical body so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the shaft, and A spring that constantly biases the shaft so as to protrude from the holding holes, wherein the shaft is provided with a groove that prevents the lock balls from protruding from the holding holes of the tubular body. , The slider operation
The parts are the respective lock balls and the respective holding holes of the tubular body.
And is detachably attached to the slide body by the
The tubular body is composed of an inner tubular body and an outer tubular body.
The shaft is provided with a flange, and the spring is
One end surface of the inner cylindrical body and the
Between the spring and the spring.
By pushing the shaft in its longitudinal direction
Each lock ball enters the groove of the shaft, and
The slider operating portion and the slider body are engaged with each other,
The slider body moves in one direction and the male and female connectors
When the shaft is engaged and the shaft is released, the slide
The slider operation part and the slider body are locked,
By pulling the outer cylindrical body, the slider body is turned
A slider mechanism of the connector which moves in the direction and the male and female connectors are disconnected.

2. The diameter of the insertion hole provided in the slider body through which the cylindrical body is inserted is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical body and smaller than the diameter between the maximum projecting points of the lock balls. 2. The slider mechanism of the connector according to the above item 1.

[0022]

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A slider mechanism of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, a cable connector 3 is attached to each of two frames 2 of the housing 1. A state is shown in which the board 4 has not yet been fitted to the upper cable connector 3, but the board 4 has already been fitted to the lower cable connector 3. Since the projecting portion 4A of the substrate 4 and the projecting portion 5A of the slider body 5 are engaged with each other, when the substrate 4 is fitted to and detached from the cable connector 3, the substrate 4 moves integrally with the slider body 5. . When the inner cylinder 6A of the slider operation unit 6 is inserted into the bottomed hole 5B provided on the right side of the slider body 5 and the slider operation unit 6 is pushed to the left, the substrate 4 moves through the slider body 5 to the left. It moves and fits into the cable connector 3. The operation of detaching the board 4 from the cable connector 3 will be described later.

The operation of inserting and removing the slider operation section 6 with respect to the slider body 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. The left-right direction in FIG. 2 is shown opposite to the left-right direction in FIG.

The slider operation section 6 includes an inner cylinder 6A, an outer cylinder 6B fixed to the inner cylinder 6A, a shaft 6C penetrating the inner and outer cylinders 6A and the outer cylinder 6B, and a number provided around the inner cylinder 6A. A lock ball 6D fitted in each of the holding holes 6A1, and a coil spring 6E mounted between the flange 6C1 of the shaft 6C and one end surface of the inner cylinder 6A.
Consists of As shown in FIG. 2, each lock ball 6D can slightly protrude from each holding hole 6A1, but cannot escape from each holding hole 6A1 to the outside of the inner cylinder 6A. Each lock ball 6D is shown in FIG.
When the shaft 6C moves, it can enter the groove 6C2 of the shaft 6C as shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows that each lock ball 6D has a shaft 6
C shows a locked state, in which the lock balls 6 protruding from the two opposing holding holes 6A1 at this time.
Let b be the diameter between the largest projecting points of D. FIG. 3 shows a state where each lock ball 6D is not locked by the shaft 6C, and the outer diameter of the inner cylinder 6A is a.

As shown in FIG. 4, the diameter of the bottomed hole 5B provided in the slider body 5 is denoted by c, and the slider body 5
Let d be the diameter of the insertion hole 5C1 provided in the plate 5C mounted on one end side of. The magnitude relation between the dimensions a to d is c>b>d> a.

The movement of the slider body 5 by operating the slider operation section 6 will be described. First, in the state of FIG. 2, when the left end of the shaft 6C is pushed rightward by the fingertip while resisting the expanding force of the coil spring 6E, the state of FIG. 3 is reached. At this time, each lock ball 6D can enter the groove 6C2 from the outer peripheral surface of the shaft 6C. Next, in the state of FIG. 3, since each lock ball 6D does not protrude from each holding hole 6A1, when the shaft 6C is pushed rightward, the inner cylinder 6A is inserted through the plate 5C as shown in FIG. The slider body 5 can be inserted into the bottomed hole 5B of the slider body 5 through the hole 5C1. When the left end of the shaft 6C is further pushed rightward in FIG.
The right end of C moves the slider body 5 rightward in FIG. 4 (leftward in FIG. 1). Then, since the protrusion 5A of the slider body 5 and the protrusion 4A of the substrate 4 are engaged, the substrate 4 is fitted to the cable connector 3.

When the fingertip is released from the left end of the shaft 6C, the shaft 6C is restored from the state of FIG. 4 to the state of FIG. 5 by the expanding force of the coil spring 6E. At this time, each lock ball 6D protrudes from each holding hole 6A1. FIG.
In this state, when the outer cylinder 6B is pinched with the fingertip and moved leftward, the slider body 5 moves leftward (rightward in FIG. 1) because b> d. Therefore, the substrate 4
Is detached from the cable connector 3.

It should be noted that the inner cylinder 6A in the present embodiment is
The design of both the outer cylinder 6B and the outer cylinder 6B can be changed to a square cylinder. Further, the plate 5C can be formed integrally with the slider body 5.

[0032]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following advantages.

1. Since the operation of fitting the male and female connectors such as the cable connector and the board only requires pushing the slider operating part into the slider body, and the operation of detaching the male and female connectors only requires pulling the slider operating part.
The operation is simple and convenient.

2. Since the complicated production of providing the locking mechanism on both the male and female connectors is not performed, the cost of the connector is reduced.

[0035] 3. A large number of connectors can be operated by a single slider operation section, thereby reducing the number of components.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a state in which a cable connector using a slider mechanism of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention is fitted and detached from a board.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a locked state of a slider operation unit in the slider mechanism of the connector according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an unlocked state of a slider operation unit in the slider mechanism of the connector according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a slider operating portion of the slider mechanism of the connector according to the embodiment of the present invention is inserted into the slider body.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a fingertip is separated from a shaft after a slider operation unit in the slider mechanism of the connector according to the embodiment of the present invention is inserted into the slider body.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an unfit state of a conventional ball lock connector.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a fitted state of a conventional ball lock connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 housing 2 frame 3 cable connector 4 board 4A protrusion 5 slider body 5A protrusion 5B bottomed hole 5C plate 5C1 insertion hole 6 slider operation portion 6A inner cylinder 6A1 holding hole 6B outer cylinder 6C shaft 6C1 flange 6C2 groove 6D lock ball 6E coil spring

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-251136 (JP, A) JP-A-1-182199 (JP, A) JP-A-9-174608 (JP, A) 166984 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 13/629 H01R 12/04 H01R 43/26 H05K 1/14

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A slider mechanism for engaging and disengaging a male and a female connector, wherein the slider mechanism comprises a slider body and a slider operating section, wherein the slider operating section is configured to move a shaft and the shaft in a longitudinal direction thereof. And a plurality of lock balls movably held in a plurality of holding holes provided in the cylindrical body in a direction orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the shaft. And a spring that constantly urges the shaft so that the lock balls protrude from the holding holes of the tubular body. The shaft includes the lock balls and the respective lock balls of the tubular body. A groove is provided so as not to protrude from the holding hole, and the slider operation portion is provided in front of each of the lock balls.
The holding body is attached to the slide body by the holding holes of the cylindrical body.
The tubular body is detachably mounted, and the tubular body includes an inner tubular body and an outer tubular body.
Wherein the shaft is provided with a flange,
The spring is a coil spring, and
Attached between one end surface of the cylindrical body and the flange,
Move the shaft in its length direction against the resistance of the spring.
Each rock ball is pushed in
The slider operating part and the slide
The slider body is engaged, and the slider body moves in one direction.
The male and female connectors are mated to push the shaft.
When released, the slider operation unit and the slider body
Is in a locked state, and by pulling the outer cylindrical body,
When the slider body moves in the opposite direction, the male and female connectors
A slider mechanism for a connector, wherein the connector is disengaged . 2. A diameter of an insertion hole provided in the slider body through which the cylindrical body is inserted is larger than a diameter of the cylindrical body and larger than a diameter between maximum projecting points of the lock balls. The slider mechanism for a connector according to claim 1, wherein the slider mechanism is small.