JP3720232B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a connector having a contact protection function.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a conventional connector, as shown in FIG. 4, a female connector 1 and a male connector 2 are fitted and connected to each other. The female connector 1 houses and fixes a male connection terminal 4 in a female connector housing 3. The male connection terminal 4 is arranged so that the tip end portion 4 </ b> A protrudes into the hood portion 3 </ b> A of the female connector housing 3.
[0003]
On the other hand, the male connector 2 houses and fixes the female connection terminals 6 in the male connector housing 5. The female connection terminal 6 has a tip formed in a cylindrical shape so that the tip 4A of the male connection terminal 4 can be inserted. A contact spring piece 6 </ b> A is formed at the tip of the female connection terminal 6 so as to be folded back obliquely backward in the in-cylinder space.
[0004]
In the connector having such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 4, when the female connector 1 and the male connector 2 are fitted, the distal end portion 4 </ b> A of the male connection terminal 4 is inserted from the distal end of the female connection terminal 6. Electrical connection is made in contact with the piece 6A.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described connector, when the female connector 1 and the male connector 2 are fitted in the conductive state, the front end portion 4A of the male connection terminal 4 and the front end of the female connection terminal 6 contact each other first. There was a problem that arc discharge occurred in the part and the contact part was deteriorated or damaged. Also, when the connector connection state is released, the tip 4A of the male connection terminal 4 and the tip of the female connection terminal 6 are finally separated from each other, so that arc discharge occurs in this part, and the contact part is deteriorated or broken. There is a problem.
[0006]
When the contact portion is deteriorated or damaged in this manner, electrical continuity at the contact portion between the male and female connection terminals 4 and 6 cannot be obtained satisfactorily, resulting in a problem that the reliability of the connector is lowered.
[0007]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a connection terminal having a contact protection function capable of protecting the front ends of both connection terminals by preventing deterioration and breakage of the connection terminals connected to each other.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector provided with a connection terminal that makes electrical connection by contact with each other in each of a pair of connector housings that are fitted to each other. A terminal is provided, and an arc discharge spring is provided on the other connector housing, and the dummy terminal and the arc discharge spring precede the contact between the connection terminals when the pair of connector housings are fitted together. And when the connection between the pair of connector housings is released, the contact between the connection terminals is released and then the contact is released . With the fitting, after the connection terminals come into contact with each other, the arc discharge spring and the other connector housing Wherein the projection to cut off electrically and the connection terminal provided on the ring is formed.
[0009]
In the invention according to claim 1 having such a configuration, the dummy terminal and the arc are connected before the connection terminals provided in one connector housing and the other connector housing come into contact with each other when the pair of connector housings are fitted. Since the discharge spring comes into contact, it is possible to prevent arc discharge from occurring between the connection terminals.
Further, in the present invention, after the connection terminals come into contact with each other when the pair of connector housings are fitted together, the arc discharge spring is separated from the connection terminals by the protrusions provided on one of the connector housings to electrically Blocked. For this reason, the unnecessary contact with respect to the connection terminal of the other connector housing can be eliminated, and the reliability of the connector can be further improved .
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the details of the connector according to the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the drawings. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the connector of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an arc discharge spring, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dummy terminal.
[0013]
Reference numeral 10 in FIG. 1 denotes a connector. The connector 10 includes a female connector 11 and a male connector 12. The female connector 11 houses and fixes a male connection terminal 15 in a female connector housing 14 in which a fitting hood portion 13 is formed on the front end side. An arc discharge spring 20 that is in contact with the side surface of the male connection terminal 15 is fixed in the female connector housing 14. The male connector 12 accommodates and arranges female connection terminals 17 in a male connector housing 16 whose front end is fitted to the hood portion 13 of the female connector housing 14. A dummy terminal 23 is held in the male connector housing 16 via a wall portion 16E on the side of the female connection terminal 17.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 1, the male connection terminal 15 includes a male connection terminal main body 18 supported by the female connector housing 14 and a contact protrusion 19 protruding from the front end of the male connection terminal main body 18. A plurality of pairs of electric wire holding pieces 21 for holding the electric wires 26 are formed at the rear part of the male connection terminal main body 18.
[0015]
The female connector housing 14 that accommodates the male connection terminal 15 having such a structure has a terminal accommodating space 14A therein, and accommodates the male connection terminal main body 18 of the male connection terminal 15 in the terminal accommodating space 14A. Yes. The contact protrusion 19 of the male connection terminal 15 protrudes into the hood portion 13 through the intermediate wall portion 14B that defines the terminal accommodating space 14A and the space in the hood portion 13.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 1, the arc discharge spring 20 is disposed along the inner bottom and inner walls of the hood 13 toward the opening edge of the hood 13 and is fixed by insert molding.
[0017]
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the arc discharge spring 20 is insert-molded and fixed to the contact curved portion 20 </ b> A that contacts the peripheral surface of the contact projection 19 of the male connection terminal 15 and the inner bottom portion of the hood portion 13. And a contact plate portion 20 </ b> C that contacts the dummy terminal 23. A bent portion 20D that guides the distal end portion 23A of the dummy terminal 23 is formed at the distal end portion of the contact plate portion 20C.
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 1, the male connector housing 16 has a front wall portion 16 </ b> A formed on the front end surface, and is configured to insert and hold the female connection terminals 17 from the rear end side. A projection guide hole 16B penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed in the center of the front wall portion 16A. A notch 16G is formed in the outer wall 16F facing the wall 16E at the peripheral edge of the front wall 16A, and the tip 23A of the dummy terminal 23 is disposed in the notch 16G. Yes. The dummy terminal 23 is disposed outside the wall portion 16E of the male connector housing 16.
[0019]
Further, around the protrusion guide hole 16B of the front wall portion 16A of the male connector housing 16, it is inserted between the contact curved portion 20A of the arc discharge spring 20 and the contact protrusion 19 during fitting. A release protrusion 16H that releases the contact between the curved contact portion 20A and the contact protrusion 19 is provided.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 3, the dummy terminal 23 includes a tip end portion 23 </ b> A that contacts the contact plate portion 20 </ b> C of the arc discharge spring 20 and an electric wire holding portion 23 </ b> B. A dummy wiring 28 is connected and fixed to the electric wire holding portion 23B.
[0021]
Further, the female connection terminal 17 is formed with a contact spring 25 as a contact portion that is folded inward on the periphery of the front end opening of the female connection terminal main body 22. The contact spring 25 comes into contact with the contact protrusion 19 when the male and female connectors 11 and 12 are fitted.
[0022]
The dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20 come into contact before the contact between the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25 when the male and female connectors 11 and 12 are fitted. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the arc discharge spring 20 protrudes forward from the contact protrusion 19 and the dummy terminal 23 is also disposed forward from the front end of the female connection terminal 17. When 11 and 12 are fitted, the contact between the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25 comes into contact. When the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25 are completely in contact with each other, the contact curved portion 20A that has been in contact with the contact protrusion 19 is separated by the release protrusion 16H. The contact portion is eliminated and connection reliability is improved.
[0023]
Conversely, when the fitting between the female connector 11 and the male connector 12 is released, the contact between the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25 is released (separated), and then the dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20 are released. Contact with is released. Note that when the contact between the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25 is released (separated), the release protrusion 16H is separated from the contact curved portion 20A, so that the contact curved portion 20A again contacts the contact protrusion 19. They are in contact with each other, and arc discharge is not generated between the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25.
[0024]
In the connector 10 having such a configuration, when the female connector 11 and the male connector 12 are fitted, the contact protrusion 19 protruding into the hood portion 13 of the female connector housing 14 is formed on the front wall portion 16A of the male connector housing 16. The protrusion guide hole 16B is inserted. At this time, prior to the contact between the contact protrusion 19 and the contact spring 25, the dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20 come into contact with each other.
[0025]
Therefore, since the arc discharge is performed between the dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20, no arc discharge occurs when the contact protrusion 19, which is the original contact portion, and the contact spring 23 contact each other. The contact protrusions 19 and the contact springs 23 can be prevented from being deteriorated or damaged by arc discharge. Further, the dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20 are deteriorated or damaged by the arc discharge. However, since the dummy terminal 23 and the arc discharge spring 20 are not original contact portions, no problem occurs even if they are deteriorated.
[0026]
In this embodiment, by providing the male and female connector housings 14 and 16 with the arc discharge spring 20 and the dummy terminals 23, a connector having a contact protection structure can be realized. For this reason, the durability and reliability of the connector 10 can be improved.
[0027]
Although the embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications accompanying the gist of the configuration are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the dummy terminal 23 is disposed so as to protrude forward from the front end of the female connection terminal main body 22, but the dummy terminal 23 is set to a position approximately equal to the front end of the female connection terminal main body 22, The other arc discharge spring 20 may be set so as to protrude forward from the contact protrusion 19.
[0028]
In the embodiment described above, the arc discharge spring 20 is insert-molded in the female connector housing 14, but may be fixed by other fixing means.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the connection terminals provided in one connector housing and the other connector housing come into contact with each other as the pair of connector housings are fitted. Furthermore, since the dummy terminal and the arc discharge spring are in contact with each other, it is possible to prevent arc discharge from occurring between the connection terminals. Therefore, it is possible to realize a highly reliable connector by preventing the connection terminal from being deteriorated or damaged.
In addition, according to the present invention, unstable and unnecessary contact with the connection terminal of the other connector housing can be eliminated, and the reliability of the connector can be further improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a connector according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an arc discharge spring according to the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a dummy terminal according to the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional connector.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Connector 14 Female connector housing 15 Male connection terminal 16 Male connector housing 16H Release protrusion 17 Female connection terminal 20 Arc discharge spring 23 Dummy terminal 28 Dummy wiring

Claims (1)

In each of the pair of connector housings that are fitted to each other, in a connector having a connection terminal that makes electrical connection in contact with each other,
A dummy terminal to which a dummy wiring is connected is provided on one of the connector housings, and an arc discharge spring is provided on the other connector housing, and the pair of connector housings includes the dummy terminal and the arc discharge spring. the contact prior to contact between the connection terminals when fitted, and the contact after the contact between the connection terminal is released when the fitting of the pair of connector housings is released is released, further wherein When the connection terminals come into contact with each other in connection with the pair of connector housings, the arc discharge spring and the connection terminals provided in the other connector housing are electrically connected to one connector housing. A connector characterized in that a projection for blocking is formed .

Images