JP3403323B2 - Rotating connector - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary connector that connects two members that rotate relative to each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A rotary connector is used when connecting two members that rotate relative to each other. For example, a rotary connector for an airbag system mounted on a steering device of an automobile is widely known. In this rotary connector, a fixed case and a rotary case are assembled so as to be rotatable relative to each other, and a plurality of electric conductors are covered with an insulator in a ring-shaped space formed inside to form a band-shaped transmission called a flexible flat cable. The wire is housed in a spiral shape. At this time, in the flat cable, the connection terminals are electrically connected to the electric conductors at both ends, and the electric conductors are protruded by a predetermined length, and the connecting portions are integrally molded with the synthetic resin. A terminal is formed.

[0003] Typically, the first terminal to the outer end of the flat cable, and a second terminal pixels respectively formed at the inner end, after each terminal is attached to the rotating case or fixed case, the terminal protecting part Ru is fixed are assembled in each case <br/>.

[0004]

By the way, the above-mentioned terminal protection component is designed to protect the end portion of the flat cable, and when the connector is connected to each terminal of the flat cable, the terminal has a rotating case or a fixed case due to the insertion force of the connector. It plays the role of preventing you from coming off. For this reason, the flat cable requires a double labor for fixing the terminals to the rotating case or the fixed case, that is, mounting the terminals and fixing the terminals by the terminal protection parts, and a lot of man-hours are required for assembling the rotary connector. . Further, since the rotary connector requires terminal protection parts in addition to the flat cable when assembled, the number of parts increases, which is not preferable in terms of manufacturing cost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and the terminal formed at the end of the band-shaped transmission line can be easily rotated without increasing the number of parts or the number of working steps. An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary connector that can be locked to a fixed case.

[0006]

In the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a fixed case and a rotating case which are assembled so as to be rotatable relative to each other and have an annular space formed therein.
And a flexible band-shaped transmission line that is housed by being spirally wound in the space and has a plurality of electric conductors covered with an insulator.
And provided at both ends of the strip-shaped transmission line, respectively.
By the corresponding side ends of Jo transmission line, it to each electric conductor
Re electrically has a connection connection terminal, a first and a second terminal formed by integrally molded by synthetic resin in a state in which these connecting terminals is protruded a predetermined length, the fixed Ke
It is formed on the base and the rotating case respectively, and
Connector and the corresponding terminal, and insert the connector
Hollow first and second for connecting to the connection terminal of the corresponding terminal
And a second connection post, wherein each of the terminals is
When the end is attached to the corresponding side connection post, the corresponding side contact
A locking portion that locks to the connecting post, wherein the locking portion is
Longer than the protruding length of the connecting terminal in the protruding direction of the connecting terminal
The connector extended and inserted into the mating connection post.
The locked state is held by the switch .

[0007] Also preferably, the forming the first terminal to the inner end by winding said strip transmission line spirally provided inversion preventing member of the belt-shaped transmission line in one piece.

[0008]

When the first and second terminals are integrally formed with the locking portions for locking these terminals to the rotating case or the fixed case, the rotary connector increases the number of parts of the first and second terminals. And can be easily locked to the rotating case or fixed case without increasing the number of work steps.
And when the connector of the external wire is connected to the terminal
It is possible to make it difficult for the terminal to come off.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
It will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Rotating connector 1
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, has a rotating case 2, a fixed case 4, a base plate 6 and a flat cable 8, and the fixed case 4 and the base plate 6 form a fixed case. In the rotary connector 1, a rotary case 2, a fixed case 4 and a base plate 6 are assembled so as to be rotatable relative to each other, and an annular space S formed inside these (see FIG. 2).
The flat cable 8 is spirally wound and housed.

The rotating case 2 is formed with a flange 2b extending outward in the radial direction at the upper part of the inner cylinder shaft portion 2a, and a rotating member, for example, a steering column is inserted into the inner cylinder shaft portion 2a to be attached to the steering column. It is installed. Flange 2b
A connection post 3 is integrally formed with the first end 10 of the flat cable 8 which will be described later and is connected to the connectors 20 and 21 (see FIG. 6) of the external electric wire. The connection post 3 has a rectangular cylindrical peripheral wall 3a formed by protruding upward from the flange 2b and a partition wall 3b, and locking holes 3c (see FIG. 4) are formed in the peripheral walls 3a located at both ends in the longitudinal direction. Are formed. In addition, the rotating case 2 has an opening 2c in which a first terminal 10, which will be described later, is inserted and formed in a portion of the flange 2b where the connection post 3 is formed.

The fixed case 4 is a case which holds the rotary case 2 rotatably by sandwiching the rotary case 2 between the fixed case 4 and the base plate 6 and assembling them together.
A flange 4b that slightly extends inward is formed on the upper portion of the outer cylinder 4a, and a locking portion 4c that is open downward is formed on the side surface so as to project radially outward. A second end 15 of the flat cable 8 to be described later is inserted and locked in the locking portion 4c, and locking holes (not shown) configured similarly to the locking holes 3c are formed on both sides in the longitudinal direction. There is. Also,
The locking portion 4c has a molded portion 1 of the second terminal 15 described later.
An engaging portion (not shown) with which the engaging protrusion 16a (see FIG. 5B) formed on the engaging member 6 engages is provided.

The base plate 6 has a rotating case 2 at the center.
The ring-shaped plate member is formed with an engagement hole 6a with which the inner cylindrical shaft portion 2a is engaged, and an insertion wall 6b is formed on one side so as to project downward. When the rotating case 2, the fixed case 4 and the base plate 6 are combined, the insertion wall 6b forms a square cylindrical connection post that is configured in the same manner as the connection post 3 with the locking portion 4c and the insertion wall 6b. To do.

The flat cable 8 is a flexible transmission line formed by covering a plurality of parallel rectangular electric conductors 8a with an insulator 8b such as polyester (see FIG. 5 (b)). A first terminal 10 and a second terminal 15 are formed. The first terminal 10 is formed on the inner end of the flat cable 8 wound in a spiral shape, and has a mold portion 11, a locking portion 12, and an end support 13, as shown in FIG.

The mold portion 11 is formed into a shape bent at a right angle, and one end of each electric conductor 8 of the flat cable 8 is formed.
The other end of the connection terminal 14 electrically connected to a has a length L1.
(See FIG. 4) It is made to protrude and is integrally molded with synthetic resin such as polyacetal. In the mold part 11,
A locking projection (not shown) is provided at a position of the second terminal 15 corresponding to a locking projection 16a (described later), engages with a locking portion (not shown) provided on the connection post 3, and together with a locking hook 12a described later. The withdrawal of the first terminal 10 from the connection post 3 is prevented.

On the other hand, the locking portion 12 is formed integrally with the molding portion 11 and has two locking hooks 12a.
Each locking hook 12a has a length L2 as shown in FIG.
Is the protruding length L1 of the connecting terminal 14 from the molded portion 11.
Is set longer (L1 <L2), engages with the locking hole 3c formed in the connection post 3, and locks the first terminal 10 to the rotating case 2.

The end support 13 prevents over-rotation and prevents the inner end side of the flat cable 8 from reversing and buckling when attempting to over-rotate the rotating case 2 in the direction in which the flat cable 8 is loosened. Is a synthetic resin tongue-shaped member. Here, the second terminal 15 includes the locking portion 17
Is locked to the fixed case 4 and the end support 1
Since the configuration is the same as that of the first terminal 10 except that the third terminal 10 does not have the third component, detailed description will be omitted by assigning the corresponding reference numerals to corresponding components.

The rotary connector 1 is constructed as described above and assembled in the following manner. First, the rotating case 2 and the fixed case 4 are assembled by engaging the outer edge of the flange 2b and the inner edge of the flange 4b. Next, the first end 10 of the flat cable 8 wound in a spiral shape is inserted into the opening 2c of the rotating case 2 from below. Then, in the first terminal 10, the locking protrusion of the mold part 11 is provided on the connection post 3, and the locking hooks 12 a of the locking part 12 engage with the locking holes 3 c, respectively. Then, it is locked to the connection post 3.

Next, the second terminal 1 of the flat cable 8
5 is inserted into the locking portion 4c of the fixed case 4 from below. Then, the second terminal 15 has the locking protrusion 16 of the mold portion 16.
a is engaged with the engaging portion, and each engaging hook 17a of the engaging portion 17 is engaged with the engaging hole, and is engaged with the engaging portion 4c of the fixed case 4. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the connection terminal 18 projects below the base plate 6 by the length L1.

After that, the base plate 6 is assembled from below the rotary case 2 and the fixed case 4, and the rotary connector 1
The assembly of is completed. At this time, flat cable 8
Is so that the rotating case 2 rotates equally with respect to the fixed case 4 in the left and right directions of the winding tightening direction and the winding loosening direction.
The intermediate state is adjusted and the rotation of both cases is regulated by a regulation member or the like.

The rotary connector 1 assembled in this way
When used, the external electric wire connectors 20 and 21 are connected to the first terminal 10 and the second terminal 15. At this time, regarding the first terminal 10, for example, the length L2 of the locking hook 12a is set to be longer than the length L1 of the connection terminal 14 protruding from the molded portion 11 (L1 <L2). Therefore, the rotary connector 1 connects the connector 20 to the connection post 3
6, the outer wall of the connector 20 is inserted between the locking hook 12a of the first terminal 10 and the partition wall 3b to lock the locking hook 12a with the locking hole 3c, as shown in FIG. The connector 20 is connected to the connection terminal 14 while pressing to.

Therefore, the rotary connector 1 is connected to the connector 20.
It does not come off due to the insertion force of the above into the connection post 3.
This is the same when connecting the connector of the external electric wire to the second terminal 15. In addition, the rotary connector 1 can easily install the first terminal 10 and the second terminal 15 formed at the end portion of the flat cable 8 without increasing the number of parts and the number of working steps. It can be locked to the connection post 3 or the locking portion 4c of the fixed case 4.

Moreover, since the first terminal 10 has the end support 13, it prevents the rotating case 2 from excessively rotating in the winding loosening direction, and the flat cable 8 caused by buckling.
It is also possible to prevent damage to.

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the terminal formed at the end of the strip-shaped transmission line can be easily rotated or fixed without increasing the number of parts or man-hours. the it is possible to provide a rotary connector capable engaged, when connecting the external electric wire connector terminal, to be in so that the end edge is hardly deviated
You can

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the rotating case tries to over-rotate in the winding loosening direction in which the band-shaped transmission line is wound around the fixed case side, the rotation is restricted by the reversal prevention member and at the same time the over-rotation is caused. Damage caused by the belt-shaped transmission line being inverted and buckled is prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a rotary connector of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the rotary connector of FIG. 1 taken along line II-II.

3 is a sectional view of the rotary connector of FIG. 1 taken along line III-III.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a rotating case and a connection post.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a first end of the band-shaped transmission line (a).
FIG. 6B is a perspective view showing the second terminal.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a case where a connector of an external electric wire is connected to a first end of a rotary connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 rotating connector 2 rotating cases 2a Inner cylinder shaft 2b flange 2c opening 3 connection posts 3a Perimeter wall 3b partition 3c Locking hole 4 fixed case 4a Outer cylinder 4b flange 4c Locking part 6 base plate 6a Engagement hole 6b Insertion wall 8 flat cable (band transmission line) 8a electrical conductor 8b insulator 10 First terminal 11 Mold part 12 Locking part 12a Locking hook 13 End support 14 connection terminals 15 Second terminal 16 Mold part 16a Locking protrusion 17 Locking part 17a Locking hook 18 connection terminals 20, 21 External wire connector S annular space

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60R 16/02 675 B62D 1/04 H01R 35/04

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A relatively rotatably mounted a fixed case and rotating case an annular space is formed inside, is accommodated wound spirally before Symbol space, a plurality of electrical conductors with an insulator The covered flexible band-shaped transmission line and the band-shaped transmission line provided at both ends of the band-shaped transmission line, respectively.
At the corresponding side end of the transmission line, respectively electrostatic each electrical conductor
Has a gas-connected connection terminals, and first and second terminal formed by integrally molded by synthetic resin in a state in which these connecting terminals, predetermined by projecting length, the stationary case and the rotary case Each formed on the outside
Insert the connector of the electric wire and the corresponding side terminal into the connector
Inside to connect the connector to the connection terminal of the corresponding side terminal
Empty first and second connection posts, wherein each of the terminals is attached to the corresponding connection post.
Has a locking part that locks to the corresponding connection post.
And, the locking portion, the connecting terminal protruding direction of the connecting terminal
Longer than the protruding length of the
A rotary connector, characterized in that a locked state is held by the attached connector. 2. The first end is formed at an inner end of the band-shaped transmission line spirally wound, and an inversion prevention member for the band-shaped transmission line is integrally provided. Rotating connector.