JP4014881B2 - Electrical connection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connection device for connecting a number of electric wires constituting a wire harness or the like to various connection patterns depending on applications.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a complicated electrical connection pattern is formed in an in-vehicle wiring of an automobile, an electrical connection box in which bus bars and insulating plates formed in a desired wiring pattern are alternately stacked is used. However, this type of electrical junction box is difficult to miniaturize. Therefore, in order to reduce the size of the electrical junction box, multiple layers of a plurality of wires arranged in a plane are stacked, and the wires are connected in a three-dimensional manner so that a complicated connection pattern can be formed. An apparatus has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-21413).
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the conventionally proposed electrical connection device attaches the press contact terminal to the wires arranged in a plane, pulls out the short bar to the side of the wire arranged from the press contact terminal, and connects the short bar to the side of the laminate. Since the structure is connected by an interlayer connection unit (FIG. 1 of the publication), the structure is complicated and the assembly is troublesome. In addition, it is also proposed to attach pressure contact terminals to wires arranged in a plane and to connect the pressure contact terminals between wires with a short bar (FIGS. 6 and 7). Since the distance between the wires cannot be reduced, there is a limit to miniaturization.
[0004]
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connection device that can be further downsized and easily assembled.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An electrical connection device according to the present invention comprises a male connector laminate in which a plurality of flat male connectors are laminated, and a female connector laminate in which a plurality of flat female connectors are laminated,
Each of the flat male connectors is composed of a plurality of male terminals arranged in a plane in a male housing, and each of the flat female connectors is arranged in a plurality of female terminals in a female housing. Made up of things
Each of the male terminals comprises a male contact at the distal end, a wire connecting portion at the proximal end, and a plurality of short bar penetrating portions at predetermined intervals in the terminal longitudinal direction at the intermediate portion,
Each of the female terminals comprises a female contact at the distal end, a wire connecting portion at the proximal end, and a plurality of short bar penetrating portions at predetermined intervals in the terminal longitudinal direction at the intermediate portion,
The male connector laminated body has a short bar that penetrates the short bar penetrating portion of the selected male terminal in the laminating direction to form a desired connection pattern, and the female connector laminated body is similarly selected. was through the short bar through portion of the female terminal in the stacking direction has a short bar to form the desired connection pattern,
In the male connector stack, the connection pattern of the male terminal of each layer, the connection pattern of the male terminal and the short bar, In the female connector stack, the connection pattern of the female terminal of each layer, the connection pattern of the female terminal and the short bar, Various connection patterns are obtained by combining the connection patterns of male and female terminals.
It is characterized by this.
[0006]
Since this electrical connection device has a short bar penetrating portion in the male terminal and female terminal attached to the end of the electric wire (that is, an interlayer connection can be made on the extension line of the electric wire), the distance between the electric wires arranged in a plane Can be made narrower and can be reduced in size and simplified in structure. Moreover, since the male connector laminated body connected between the layers and the female connector laminated body connected between the layers are connected by the male terminal and the female terminal, a complicated connection pattern can be configured.
[0007]
In the electrical connecting device of the present invention, at least a part of the short bars has a substantially U-shape so that the short bar penetrating portions of the male terminals or the short bar penetrating portions of the female terminals in different rows can be penetrated together. Preferably it is formed. When such a short bar is used, it is possible to cope with a more complicated connection pattern.
[0008]
In the electrical connection device of the present invention, the short bar penetrating portions of the male terminal and the female terminal are divided into a type that contacts the short bar and a type that does not contact, and a desired connection pattern is formed by combining these two types. It is preferable to form. Even with such a configuration, more complicated connection patterns can be handled.
[0009]
The electrical connection device according to the present invention is a short bar of a type in which an elastic contact piece is formed in a short bar penetrating portion of the male terminal and the female terminal short bar penetrating portion that is in contact with the short bar, and does not contact the short bar. It is preferable that the through-hole is formed with a hole through which the short bar passes without contact.
Specifically, an elastic contact piece is formed in advance in the short bar penetrating part, and when the connection with the short bar is necessary, the elastic contact piece is left as it is, and when the connection with the short bar is not necessary, the elastic contact piece is left. The contact piece may be excised. Thereby, the short bar penetration part which does not contact with the short bar penetration part which contacts with a short bar can be made easily, and a complicated connection pattern can be formed easily.
[0010]
In the electrical connection device of the present invention, the male terminal in the flat male connector is formed to have a connecting portion with the adjacent male terminal, and when the electrical connection with the adjacent male terminal is required, the connecting portion is When the electrical connection is not required, the connection part in the same layer is formed by disconnecting the connection part. Similarly, the female terminal in the flat female connector is connected to the adjacent female terminal. When the electrical connection with the adjacent female terminal is necessary, the connection portion is left as it is, and when the electrical connection is not necessary, the connection portion is disconnected, thereby connecting in the same layer. It is preferable to form a pattern.
[0011]
In this way, since a plurality of male terminals or female terminals for one layer can be manufactured from one metal plate as a connected product, the productivity is good, and if necessary, one layer can be separated by separating the connecting portion. The internal connection pattern can be easily formed.
[0012]
In the electrical connecting device of the present invention, each of the male terminals and female terminals, so short bar through portion is more provided at predetermined intervals in the terminal longitudinally of the flat male connector or a flat-type female connector Even when the number of layers increases and the connection pattern becomes complicated, it can be easily handled by properly using a plurality of short bar penetrating portions.
[0013]
In the electrical connection device of the present invention, among male terminals, a male terminal that does not need to be connected to a female terminal can cope with a more complicated connection pattern by cutting off the male contact.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0015]
Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is a male connector laminate, and 12 is a female connector laminate. The male connector laminated body 10 is obtained by laminating and integrating a plurality of flat male connectors 14, and the male connector laminated body 12 is obtained by laminating and integrating a plurality of flat female connectors 16. Reference numerals 18 and 20 denote lids on the flat male connector 14 and the flat female connector 16, respectively.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 2, the flat male connector 14 has a plurality of male terminals 24 arranged in a plane in a male housing 22. The male terminal 24 before being assembled into the male housing 22 is as shown in FIG. That is, each male terminal 24 has a male contact 26 at the distal end portion, a wire connecting portion 28 at the proximal end portion, and a short bar penetrating portion 30 at the intermediate portion. An electric wire 32 is connected to the electric wire connecting portion 28 by known means (pressure welding, crimping, etc.).
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 4, the short bar penetrating portion 30 is formed by cutting and raising both side walls of a metal plate having a substantially U-shaped cross section to form an elastic contact piece 34 and a hole 36 at the bottom. is there. A hole is also formed in the male housing 22 at a position corresponding to the short bar penetrating portion 30 of the male terminal 24. In this example, three short bar penetrating portions 30 are provided at predetermined intervals in the terminal longitudinal direction, but the number of short bar penetrating portions 30 is determined in consideration of the connection pattern, and is arbitrary. The
[0018]
Further, the male terminals 24 (in the same layer) in each flat male connector 14 are manufactured in a state of being connected to the adjacent male terminals 24 as shown in FIG. 38 is the connecting part. In order to form a desired connection pattern, when the electrical connection with the adjacent male terminal 24 is required, the connecting portion 38 is left as it is, and when the electrical connection is not required, the connecting portion 38 is disconnected. Reference numeral 40 denotes a portion where the connecting portion is cut off. In this way, a connection pattern is formed for each layer. In the example of FIG. 3, the connecting portion 38 is formed so as to connect the edges of the wire connecting portion 28, but the connecting portion 38 may be formed so as to connect the edges of the short bar penetrating portion 30.
[0019]
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the male connector laminate 10 has a short bar 42 that penetrates the short bar penetrating portion 30 of the male terminal 24 in the laminating direction. The short bar 42 short-circuits the short bar penetrating portion 30 of the male terminal 24 which is in the vertical relationship. The insertion position and length of the short bar 42 are appropriately selected so that a desired connection pattern is obtained.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 3, among the male terminals 24 arranged in the same layer, the male terminal 24 (second from the front in FIG. 3) that does not need to be connected to the female terminal (described later) is the male contact 26. Has been excised. By cutting off the male contacts 26 of some of the male terminals 24 in this way, a more complicated connection pattern can be formed when the male connector laminate 10 and the female connector laminate 12 are coupled.
[0021]
Next, the female connector laminate 12 will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the flat female connector 16 constituting the female connector laminate 12 has a plurality of female terminals 46 arranged in a plane in a female housing 44. A hole 48 into which the male contact 26 is inserted is formed in the front end surface of the female housing 44.
[0022]
The female terminal 46 before being incorporated into the female housing 44 is as shown in FIG. That is, each female terminal 46 has a female contact 50 at the distal end, a wire connecting portion 52 at the proximal end, and a short bar penetrating portion 54 at the intermediate portion. The structure of the electric wire connecting portion 52 and the short bar penetrating portion 54 is the same as that of the electric wire connecting portion 28 and the short bar penetrating portion 30 of the male terminal 24. An electric wire 56 on the female terminal 46 side is connected to the electric wire connecting portion 52. Note that a hole is formed in the female housing 44 at a position corresponding to the short bar penetrating portion 54 of the female terminal 46.
[0023]
The female terminals 46 (in the same layer) in each flat female connector 14 are also manufactured in a state of being connected to the adjacent female terminals 46 as shown in FIG. 58 is the connecting part. Also in this case, when the electrical connection with the adjacent female terminal 46 is necessary, the connecting portion 58 is left as it is, and when the electrical connection is not necessary, the connecting portion 58 is disconnected. 60 is the part which cut | disconnected the connection part. In this way, a connection pattern is formed for each layer. In the example of FIG. 6, the connecting portion 58 is formed so as to connect the edges of the electric wire connecting portion 52, but the connecting portion 58 may be formed so as to connect the edges of the short bar penetrating portion 54.
[0024]
As shown in FIG. 5, the female connector laminate 12 also has a short bar 62 that penetrates the short bar penetrating portion 54 of the female terminal 46 in the laminating direction. This short bar 62 also has the same function as the short bar 42 of the male connector laminate 10.
[0025]
The electrical connection device configured as described above includes the connection pattern of the male terminals 24 of each layer, the connection pattern of the male terminals 24 and the short bar 42, and the connection pattern of the female connector stack 12 in the male connector stack 10. Various complicated connection patterns can be obtained by combining the connection patterns of the female terminals 46 of each layer, the connection patterns of the female terminals 46 and the short bars 62, and the connection patterns of the male terminals 24 and the female terminals 46. Further, since the distance between the electric wires can be reduced, an extremely compact electric connecting device can be configured.
[0026]
Second Embodiment FIGS. 7 to 9 show another embodiment of the present invention. 7 to 9, the same parts as those in FIGS. 1 to 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. In this embodiment, the short bar penetrating portions 30 and 54 of the male terminal 24 and the female terminal 46 are separately made into a type that contacts the short bars 42 and 62 and a type that does not contact. Specifically, the elastic contact pieces 34 are formed in advance in all the short bar penetrating portions 30, 54, and when the connection with the short bars 42, 62 is necessary, the elastic contact pieces 34 are left as they are. When it is not necessary to connect to the elastic contact piece, the elastic contact piece is cut out (only a hole 36). In this way, it is possible to selectively short-circuit any male terminal 24 or female terminal 46 in a vertical relationship by penetrating one short bar 42 or 62, so that it is possible to cope with more complicated connection patterns. .
[0027]
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, a short bar 42 </ b> A formed in a substantially U-shape is used for a part of the short bars 42. 8, only the adjacent male terminals 24 or the adjacent female terminals 46 can be short-circuited. However, if the substantially U-shaped short bar 42A as described above is used, the adjacent male terminals Since the short bar penetrating portions 30 of the male terminals 24 in different rows can be penetrated together across 24, it is possible to cope with more complicated connection patterns. Although FIG. 9 shows only the male connector laminate 10, the female connector laminate can be configured similarly if necessary.
[0028]
Moreover, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the press contact terminal part 64 is formed in the electric wire connection parts 28 and 52 of the male terminal 24 and the female terminal 46 by cutting up from both side walls. If such a pressure contact terminal portion 64 is formed, the wires 32 and 56 can be easily pressure contacted to the wire connection portions 28 and 52 of the male terminal 24 and the female terminal 46, respectively.
[0029]
[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment, a case where the male housing and the female housing are formed and stacked for each layer is shown, but the male housing and the female housing are integrally formed in advance as a laminated body. It may be a thing.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a short bar penetrating portion is provided in the male terminal and the female terminal attached to the end portion of the electric wire, and the short bar penetrating portion is selectively short-circuited by the short bar. Since the connection pattern is formed, the distance between the electric wires can be narrowed, and a compact electric connection device can be obtained. In addition, since the number of parts is small and the structure is simple, an electrical connection device with good assembly workability can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an electrical connection device according to the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing a male connector laminate in the electrical connection apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.
3 is a perspective view showing an arrangement state of male terminals in a flat male connector in the male connector laminated body of FIG. 2. FIG.
4 is a cross-sectional view showing a short bar penetrating portion of the male terminal of FIG. 3. FIG.
5 is a perspective view showing a female connector laminated body in the electrical connection apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.
6 is a perspective view showing an arrangement state of female terminals in a flat female connector in the female connector laminate of FIG. 5. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the electrical connection device according to the present invention.
8A is a plan view of the electrical connection device of FIG. 7, FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 7A, and FIG. 8C is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of FIG.
9A is a cross-sectional view before inserting the short bar, and FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view after inserting the short bar.
[Explanation of symbols]
10: Male connector laminate
12: Female connector laminate
14: Flat male connector
16: Flat female connector
22: Male housing
24: Male terminal
26: Male contact
28: Electric wire connection
30: Short bar penetration
32: Electric wire
34: Elastic contact piece
36: Hole
38: Connecting part
40: Disconnection
42: Short bar
44: Female housing
46: Female terminal
50: Female contact
52: Electric wire connection
54: Short bar penetration
56: Electric wire
58: Connecting part
60: Disconnection
62: Short bar
64: Pressure contact part

Claims (4)

A male connector laminate (10) in which a plurality of flat type male connectors (14) are laminated, and a female connector laminate (12) in which a plurality of flat type female connectors (16) are laminated,
Each of the flat male connectors (14) includes a plurality of male terminals (24) arranged in a plane in a male housing (22), and each of the flat female connectors (16) includes a female housing. (44) consisting of a plurality of female terminals (46) arranged in a plane,
Each of the male terminals (24) has a male contact (26) at the tip, a wire connection (28) at the base, and a plurality of short bars passing through the middle at a predetermined interval in the terminal longitudinal direction. Consisting of part (30),
Each of the female terminals (46) has a female contact (50) at the distal end, a wire connecting portion (52) at the proximal end, and a plurality of short bars penetrating at a predetermined interval in the terminal longitudinal direction at the intermediate portion. Part (54)
The male connector laminate (10) has a short bar (42) that penetrates the short bar penetrating portion (30) of the selected male terminal (24) in the laminating direction to form a desired connection pattern. Similarly, the female connector laminate (12) also has a short bar (62) that penetrates the short bar penetrating portion (54) of the selected female terminal (46) in the laminating direction to form a desired connection pattern. and it is,
The connection pattern of the male terminals ( 24 ) of each layer in the male connector laminate ( 10 ), the connection pattern of the male terminals ( 24 ) and the short bar ( 42 ), and each layer in the female connector laminate ( 12 ) Various connection patterns are obtained by combining the connection pattern of the female terminal ( 46 ), the connection pattern of the female terminal ( 46 ) and the short bar ( 62 ), and the connection pattern of the male terminal ( 24 ) and the female terminal ( 46 ). ,
An electrical connection device characterized by that.   At least some of the short bars (42, 62) pass through the short bar penetration (30) of the male terminal (24) or the short bar penetration (54) of the female terminal (46) in different rows together. The electrical connection device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical connection device is formed in a substantially U shape so as to be able to. The short bar penetrating part (30, 54) of the male terminal (24) and female terminal (46) is divided into a type that contacts the short bar (42, 62) and a type that does not contact,
The short bar penetrating part ( 30 , 54 ) of the type that comes into contact with the short bar ( 42 , 62 ) has elastic contact pieces ( 34 ) that are formed by cutting both side walls of the short bar penetrating part ( 30 , 54 ) inward. Formed,
In the short bar penetrating part of the type that does not contact the short bar ( 42 , 62 ), a hole ( 36 ) through which the short bar penetrates without contact is formed.
The electrical connection device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical connection device is an electrical connection device. The electrical connection according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a male contact (26) of the male terminal (24) that is not required to be connected to the female terminal (46) is cut out of the male terminal (24). apparatus.

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