JP3457166B2 - Half mating prevention connector - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention, when left in a semi-fitted state, separates the connectors from each other by the repulsive force of the elastic member and easily releases the mated male and female connectors. The present invention relates to a half-fitting prevention connector that can be separated from each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various types of half-fitting prevention connectors have been known. For example, JP-A-9-237
The half-fitting prevention connector disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 653 is known. The half-fitting prevention connector 51 shown in FIGS. 7 to 11 is provided with a terminal accommodating chamber 57 into which a connecting terminal is inserted and held in a lower portion of a housing 53a of a male connector 53 having a female terminal therein, and which serves as a lock member described later. An accommodation space 55 for inserting and holding the slide lock member 65 is provided. A pair of upper and lower guide grooves 61 and 62 serving as a support mechanism 60 are provided on both sides of the accommodation space 55, and the upper guide groove 6 provided above the guide grooves 61 and 62.
The front end portion of 2 is provided with a flexible tapered surface for inserting the slide lock member 65 in the fitting direction. Further, a slide lock engaging portion 62a for preventing the slide lock member 65 from coming off is provided, and a halfway engagement preventing lock stopper 58 is provided at the front end portion of the lower guide groove 61 so as to project inward. . The opening 5 is formed in the ceiling of the housing 53a forming the upper part of the accommodation space 55.
6 is provided.

Further, the slide lock member 65 has a disengagement projection 66 for moving the slide lock member 65 rearward when the fitting is released.
And the housing 53 on both end surfaces near the detachment protrusion 66.
A slide stopper 69 that is fitted into the upper guide groove 62 in a and is locked by the slide lock locking portion 62a is provided as a part of the support mechanism 60. Further, a spring accommodating chamber 68 for accommodating a compression spring 67 as an elastic member is provided on the rear side, and support protrusions 70 fitted into the lower guide grooves 61 are provided on both side end faces in the vicinity of the spring accommodating chamber 68.
It is provided as a part of.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the female connector 52 incorporating a male terminal is provided with a terminal accommodating chamber 76 in which a connecting terminal is inserted and held in a female housing 52a.
A flexible plate-shaped lock arm 71 is formed in the upper part, and guide side walls 75 are vertically provided on both side walls thereof. Further, at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the lock arm 71, a housing lock 72 locked by the slide lock member 65, a halfway fitting prevention lock 74 at a side end near the housing lock, and a rearward fitting lock. A lock release protrusion 73 is provided for pressing downward when releasing the engagement.

In the above-described half-fitting prevention connector 51, first, as shown in FIG. 7, with the compression spring 67 accommodated in the spring accommodating chamber 68 of the slide lock member 65, the slide stopper 69 is inserted into the upper guide groove 62. Is inserted, the support protrusion 70 is inserted into the lower guide groove 61, and the slide lock member 65 is assembled in the housing 53a. Figure 9
The male connector 53 and the female connector 52 are fitted together as shown in FIG. That is, when the female connector 52 is pushed in the direction of arrow A, the tip of the housing lock 72 of the lock arm 71 contacts the pressing end surface 65 a at the front end of the slide lock member 65. Then, when the female connector 52 is further pushed in, the slide lock member 65 is moved in the direction of the arrow B, and the halfway fitting prevention lock 74 passes over the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper 58. In this passing state, even if the lock arm 71 tries to bend downward, the half-fitting prevention lock 74 contacts the upper surface of the half-fitting prevention lock stopper 58 and cannot be bent.

Further, when the female connector 52 is pushed in against the repulsive force of the compression spring 67 from this state, the half-fitting prevention lock 74 completely passes over the half-fitting prevention lock stopper 58 and the compression spring 67's By increasing the repulsive force, the pressing end surface 65a of the slide lock member 65 is
Moves over the tapered surface of the tip of the housing lock 72 while bending the lock arm 71 downward. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, by returning in the direction of arrow C, the housing lock 72 is locked to the lower portion of the slide lock member 65, and the fitting of the male connector 53 and the female connector 52 is completed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 11, a male connector 53 is provided.
When the fitting state between the female connector 52 and the female connector 52 is released, when a pressing force is applied to the lock release protrusion 73 on the lock arm 71 from the direction of the arrow D, the lock arm 71 bends downward to lock the housing lock 72. The state is released. Then, in the pressed state, the detachment protrusion 66 on the slide lock member 65 is pulled in the direction of arrow E, so that the push end surface 65a (see FIG. 9) of the slide lock member 65 is moved to the female connector 52.
Over the housing lock 72 of the lock arm 71
Returns to its original position due to its elasticity, and the female connector 52 is pushed by the compression spring 67 and easily separated from the male connector 53.

[0008]

However, although the half-fitting prevention connector 51 can prevent half-fitting, both hands are used to separate the male and female connectors 52 and 53 in the fitted state. The release protrusion 66 must be pulled in the fitting direction against the biasing force of the compression spring 67 while pressing the lock release protrusion 73 downward to release the locking state of the slide lock member 65 from the housing protrusion 72.
This operation requires pulling the detaching protrusion 66 in the fitting direction while compressing the compression spring 67, and pulling the female connector 52 in the anti-fitting direction with the other hand while holding the male connector 53. There was a problem that it was not good.

The object of the present invention was made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to prevent the connectors from being half-fitted to each other and to easily perform the detaching work with a simple structure. To provide.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problems relating to the present invention include:
A half-fitting prevention connector for preventing half-fitting of the female and male connectors from each other by the repulsive force of an elastic member housed in the housing of one male connector, which is slidably housed in the housing in the fitting direction. A half-fitting prevention connector including a slide lock member that locks the female connector in the housing by the action of the elastic member, and a support mechanism that slidably supports the slide lock member in the housing A flexible lock arm is provided on the housing of the female connector, and a housing lock that is locked to the slide lock member is provided on an upper portion of the lock arm and a side portion of the lock arm near the housing lock. There is a halfway mating prevention lock,
A half-fitting prevention connector, characterized in that a half-fitting prevention lock stopper is provided at a front end portion of a storage space for holding the slide lock member and the elastic member, the stopper being capable of bending and moving outwardly. Can be resolved. Further, in the above-mentioned half-fitting prevention connector, it is possible to solve the problem by providing an inclined surface on the rear end surface of the half-fitting prevention lock stopper.

According to the half-fitting prevention connector having the above-mentioned structure, the housing lock is provided when the male and female connectors are fitted to each other.
When pushing the slide lock member in the fitting direction against the biasing force of the elastic member, the repulsive force of the elastic member locks when the halfway mating prevention lock passes past the halfway mating prevention lock stopper. It becomes larger than the shape-retaining force of the arm, the lock arm bends, and the slide lock member returns to its original position by utilizing the repulsive force of the elastic member, so that a complete fitting state is achieved. Therefore, if the half-engagement prevention lock of the lock arm is released before passing the half-fitting prevention lock stopper, the repulsive force of the elastic member pulls the male and female connectors away from each other in the separating direction, resulting in the half-fitted state of the connectors. Is prevented. In addition, the bending of the lock arm during halfway mating is reliably prevented by the halfway mating prevention lock and the halfway mating prevention lock stopper, and the lock arm can flex only when fully mated, ensuring the half mated state. Can be prevented. Therefore, a highly reliable half-fitting prevention connector can be obtained.

When the mating state of the male and female connectors is released, the housing lock is slid and locked simply by pulling the male and female connectors away from each other while pushing the lock release projection downward to bend the lock arm. While being released from the locked state with the member, the intermediate fitting prevention lock contacts the rear end surface of the intermediate fitting prevention lock stopper, and then the intermediate fitting prevention lock stopper is expanded outwardly. pass. At this time, if the rear end surface of the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper has an inclined surface, the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper can be smoothly spread.
Therefore, the force for bending the half-fitting prevention lock stopper outward is much smaller than the force for compressing the elastic member to move the slide lock member in the fitting direction. Can be easily separated with a small force. Therefore, the work of releasing the fitted state of the male and female connectors is facilitated, and the work efficiency can be improved.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view showing a completed fitting state of the male and female connectors in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a main part in FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged H-H cross-sectional view, FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing a disengaged state in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view in FIG. 2, and FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the half-fitting prevention connector 1
Is provided with a terminal accommodating chamber 7 in which a female terminal is inserted and held in a housing 3a of a male connector 3 including a female terminal, and an accommodating space 5 for inserting and holding a slide lock member 15 described later is provided in an upper portion. ing. A pair of upper and lower guide grooves 1 as a support mechanism 10 are provided on both sides of the accommodation space 5.
1, 12 are provided. Among them, the front end portion of the upper guide groove 12 provided above has a flexible taper surface for inserting and locking the slide lock member 15 in the fitting direction to prevent the slide lock member 15 from coming off. A slide lock engaging portion 12a is provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the lower guide groove 11 has an inclined surface 8a at the lower end of the rear surface at the front end thereof, which is supported by the bending arm 8b and can be bent outwardly so as to prevent the intermediate fitting prevention lock stopper 8. Is projected inside. Since a gap δ is provided between the outer surface of the half-fitting prevention stopper 8 and the inner surface of the side wall of the housing 3a, this gap δ is the maximum lateral deflection of the half-fitting prevention stopper 8. It becomes the amount. And accommodation space 5
The opening 6 is formed in the ceiling of the housing 3a forming the upper part of the
Is provided.

Further, the slide lock member 15 shown in FIG.
Is a display protrusion 1 for displaying the progress of fitting on the upper surface.
6 and the housing 3a on both end faces near the display protrusion.
A slide stopper 19 is provided as a part of the support mechanism 10 that is fitted into the upper guide groove 12 inside and is locked by the slide lock locking portion 12a. Further, a spring accommodating chamber 18 for accommodating a compression spring 17 as an elastic member is provided on the rear side, and both side end faces near the spring accommodating chamber are supported as a part of a supporting mechanism 10 fitted into the lower guide groove 11. A protrusion 20 is provided.

Further, the female connector 2 is provided with a terminal accommodating chamber 26 in which a male terminal is inserted and held in the housing 2a, and a flexible plate-like lock arm 2 is provided on an upper portion of the housing 2a.
1 is formed. Further, at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the lock arm 21, a housing lock 22 having a tapered surface 22a to be locked by the slide lock member 15 is provided, and an intermediate fitting prevention lock 24 is provided at a side end portion near the housing lock. A lock release protrusion 23 is provided on the rear side for pressing downward when releasing the fitted state.

In the above-described half-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present embodiment, first, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the compression spring 1 is placed in the spring accommodating chamber 18 of the slide lock member 15.
7 is accommodated, the slide stopper 19 is fitted into the upper guide groove 12, and the support protrusion 2 is inserted into the lower guide groove 11.
When 0 is inserted, the slide lock member 15 is assembled in the housing 3a. Next, the male connector 3 and the female connector 2 are fitted together. That is, when the female connector 2 is pushed in the direction of arrow A, the housing lock 22 of the lock arm 21
Is the pressing end surface 15a at the front end of the slide lock member 15.
And the slide lock member 15 is moved in the direction of arrow B, and the halfway fitting prevention lock 24 is positioned on the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper 8. In this state, even if the lock arm 21 tries to bend downward, the half-fitting prevention lock 24 is locked by the half-fitting prevention lock stopper 8.
It is in contact with the upper surface of the and cannot bend.

Further, when the female connector 2 is pushed in against the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 from this state, the half-fitting prevention lock 24 passes over the half-fitting prevention lock stopper 8 as shown in FIG. As the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 increases, the pressing end surface 15a of the slide lock member 15 rides over the tapered surface 22a of the housing lock 22 while bending the lock arm 21 downward. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the slide lock member 15 is returned in the direction of the arrow C so that the housing lock 22 is locked to the lower portion of the slide lock member 15, and the fitting of the male connector 3 and the female connector 2 is completed. .

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, when the male connector 3 and the female connector 2 are released from the fitted state,
When a pressing force is applied to the lock release projection 23 on the lock arm 21 from the direction of arrow D, the lock arm 21 bends downward, and the locked state of the housing lock 22 is released.
Then, in the pressed state, the female connector 2 is pulled in the anti-fitting direction, that is, the arrow F direction, so that the slide lock member 15
The housing lock 22 of the female connector 2 slips under the pressing end surface 15a of the. Then, after the front surface of the half-fitting prevention lock 24 of the lock arm 21 contacts the inclined surface 8a of the half-fitting lock stopper 8, the bending arm 8b is bent to move the half-fitting lock stopper 8 outward. The female connector 2 is easily detached from the male connector 3 with a small force because it slips through while flexing and moving.

According to the half-fitting prevention connector 1 having the above-described structure, the housing lock 22 pushes the slide lock member 15 against the biasing force of the compression spring 17 in the fitting direction when the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are fitted together. go. When the half-fitting prevention lock 24 completely passes over the half-fitting prevention lock stopper 8, the repulsive force of the compression spring 17 is also larger than the shape holding force of the lock arm 21, so that the lock arm 21 moves downward. Bend. Then, the pressing end surface 15a of the slide lock member 15 rides over the tapered surface 22a of the housing lock 22 and returns to the original position, that is, the front end surface of the housing 3a by the repulsive force of the compression spring 17, and the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are completely fitted. It becomes a combined state. Therefore, if the halfway engagement prevention lock 24 of the lock arm 21 is released before it completely passes over the halfway engagement prevention lock stopper 8,
The repulsive force of the compression spring 17 separates the male and female connectors 2 and 3 from each other. That is, the bending of the lock arm 21 at the time of half-fitting is surely prevented by the half-fitting prevention lock 24 and the half-fitting prevention lock stopper 8, and the lock arm can be bent only at the time of complete mating. It is possible to reliably prevent the halfway fitted state of the three.

When the mating state of the male and female connectors 2, 3 is released, the male and female connectors 2, 3 are pushed while pushing the lock releasing projection 23 downward to bend the lock arm 21.
The housing lock 22 is released from the locked state with the slide lock member 15 only by pulling away in the opposite fitting direction.
Then, after the halfway fitting prevention lock 24 comes into contact with the inclined surface 8a of the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper 8, the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper is pushed outward and passed.
Therefore, the male and female connectors 2 and 3 in the fitted state can be easily separated from each other with a small force. That is, the force for bending the bending arm 8b to bend the half-fitting prevention lock stopper 8 in the outward direction causes the compression spring 67 to move in order to move the slide lock member 15 in the fitting direction as in the conventional example described above. It is much smaller than the compressing force. Therefore,
The work for releasing the fitted state of the male and female connectors 2, 3 is facilitated, and the work efficiency can be improved.

Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various embodiments are possible. For example, in the present embodiment, the inclined surface 8a is formed on the intermediate fitting prevention lock stopper 8, but it may be formed on the intermediate fitting prevention lock 24. Also,
The bending movement of the stopper 8 for preventing halfway fitting is performed by the bending arm 8.
Although b is performed by bending, it may be configured so that the coil spring and the guide groove of the halfway engagement preventing lock 8 are provided for the bending movement. Further, in this embodiment, the housing 3a of the male connector 3 is provided with the opening 6, and the slide lock member 15 is provided with the display protrusion 1.
6, the half-fitting prevention connector 1 of the present invention is provided.
Even if it does not exist, it does not matter functionally. However,
If so, there is an advantage that it is possible to visually check whether the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are in the fitted state or the semi-fitted state by the position of the display protrusion 16.

[0023]

As described above, according to the half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention, the flexible lock arm is provided on the housing of the female connector, and the slide lock member is locked on the upper part of the lock arm. A half-fitting prevention lock protruding to the side of the housing lock and a lock arm in the vicinity of the housing lock is provided at the front end portion of the accommodation space for holding the slide lock member and the elastic member in the outward direction. An interlocking prevention lock stopper is provided so that it can be flexibly moved. In addition, an inclined surface is provided on the rear end surface of the intermediate fitting prevention lock stopper.

Therefore, when the male and female connectors are fitted to each other, the housing lock pushes the slide lock member against the biasing force of the elastic member in the fitting direction, and the halfway fitting prevention lock passes through the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper. Then, the lock arm bends, and the slide lock member returns to its original position by utilizing the repulsive force of the elastic member, so that the slide lock member is completely fitted. Therefore, the bending of the lock arm at the time of halfway mating is reliably prevented by the halfway mating prevention lock and the halfway mating prevention lock stopper, and the lock arm can flex only at the time of complete mating. Therefore, a highly reliable half-fitting prevention connector can be obtained.

When the mating state of the male and female connectors is released, the housing lock is slid and locked simply by pulling the male and female connectors away from each other while pushing the lock release projection downward to bend the lock arm. The locked state of the member is released. At this time, the half-fitting prevention lock abuts the rear end surface of the half-fitting prevention lock stopper, pushes the half-fitting prevention lock stopper outward, and passes through. At this time, if the rear end surface of the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper has an inclined surface, the halfway fitting prevention lock stopper can be smoothly spread. Therefore, the male and female connectors can be easily separated from the fitted state with a small force, and the work efficiency of releasing the fitted state can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of a half-fitting prevention connector of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a completed fitting state of the male and female connectors in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of a main portion HH of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing a disengaged state in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross section in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a horizontal section in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a male connector of a conventional half-fitting prevention connector.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a female connector of a conventional half-fitting prevention connector.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which the conventional half-fitting prevention connector is being fitted.

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a completed fitting state in FIG.

FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory view showing a mating released state in FIG. 10;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Half mating prevention connector 2 female connector 3 Female connector 8 Stopper for midway mating prevention lock 8a inclined surface 8b flexible arm 10 Support mechanism 11 Lower guide groove (support mechanism) 12 Upper guide groove (support mechanism) 15 Slide lock member 16 Display protrusion 17 Compression spring (elastic member) 19 Slide stopper (support mechanism) 20 Support protrusion (support mechanism) 21 lock arm 22 Housing lock 23 Lock release protrusion 24 Midway mating prevention lock

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 13/64 H01R 13/639

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A half-fitting prevention for preventing a half-way mating of the male and female connectors by a repulsive force of an elastic member housed in a housing of one male connector of the pair of male and female connectors matingly connected to each other. A connector, a slide lock member that is slidably accommodated in the housing in the fitting direction, and locks the female connector in the housing by the action of the elastic member; and the slide lock member in the housing. A half-fitting prevention connector including a support mechanism that slidably supports the slide lock member on the housing of the female connector, and the flexible lock arm is provided on the lock arm. There is a housing lock to be stopped and a halfway fitting prevention lock protruding to the side of the lock arm near the housing lock. A half-fitting prevention connector, wherein a half-fitting prevention lock stopper is provided at a front end portion of a housing space for holding the ride lock member and the elastic member, the stopper being capable of bending and moving outwardly. 2. The half-fitting prevention connector according to claim 1, wherein the half-fitting prevention lock stopper has an inclined surface on a rear end surface thereof.