JPS6113352B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a waterproof connector used for connecting electrical wiring that requires waterproofing in automobiles and the like.

Conventionally, waterproof means for the fitting portions of female and male connector housings (hereinafter simply referred to as housings) in prevention connectors are classified into the following three types.
That is, as shown in FIG. 1, there is a rubber plug method in which a male housing 1 and a female housing 2 are molded with rubber and sealed by an annular protrusion 3 provided on the outer periphery of the male housing 1;
Male housing 1 and female housing 2 shown in Figure 2
There is a packing method in which a packing 4 is inserted into the front abutting portion of the male housing 1, and an O-ring method in which an O-ring 5 is arranged around the outer periphery of the male housing 1, as shown in FIG. However, the rubber stopper method cannot be expected to have a positive prevention effect, and the packing method is
Since a large insertion force is required to press the parts into contact with each other, the workability of connecting the housings is not favorable. Furthermore, the O-ring method is used when the amount of play in the mating part fluctuates due to variations in machining dimensions or changes over time. Each method has its own drawbacks, such as reduced waterproof performance and stricter dimensional control during processing.

The present invention was devised for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned difficulties, and provides a novel waterproof connector in which a bellows ring that can be expanded and contracted in the axial direction is inserted into the fitting portion.

Embodiments will be described below with reference to drawings. First, in FIGS. 4 to 7 showing one embodiment, the female housing 2
A circular hollow part 11 for receiving the male housing 1 is bored in the front, and the hollow part 11 has a stepped surface 12 with a reduced diameter at the rear of the hollow part 11. In addition, the male housing 1 has a slight front part that is connected to the hollow part 11.
It has a cylindrical shape that fits into the female housing 2, and the front end portion is provided with a small diameter part 14 whose diameter is reduced by a step surface 15. When the male and female housings 1 and 2 are fitted together, the front end of the small diameter part 14 becomes At the same time, the outer circumference of the stepped surface 15 of the male housing 1 loosely fits into the inner circumferential surface of the hollow part 11, and the outer circumferential surface of the small diameter part 14 and the hollow Part 11
The structure is such that a required gap is created between the inner circumferential surfaces of the two. On the other hand, the bellows ring 6 is thinly molded from an elastic material such as rubber or resin, and has a convex cross section in which the convex portions 8 and the concave portions 10 are connected by a diaphragm portion 9, and several pitches are connected in series. It is an endless ring shaped bellows body that can be expanded and contracted. As shown in FIG. 6, the diameters of the ridges 8 and troughs 10 are such that they are loosely inserted into the hollow part 11 of the female housing 2 in the free state and loosely fitted onto the small diameter part 14 of the male housing 1. is determined, and from the step surface 12 to the hollow part 1
It has a free length approximately equal to the length up to the entrance of No. 1. Note that the reference numeral 7 designates a waterproof cap that is inserted into the rear ends of the male and female housings 1 and 2.

The above bellows ring 6 is inserted into the hollow part 11 of the female housing 2 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and then the small diameter part 14 of the male housing 1 is fitted into the hollow part 11 as shown by the dotted line in FIG. The male and female housings 1 and 2 are connected to each other by inserting the male and female housings 1 and 2 to a desired position. Then, the bellows ring 6 is compressed in the axial direction (X direction in FIG. 6) between the stepped surfaces 12 and 15, and its length is gradually reduced and the shape is changed in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction (Y direction in FIG. 7). is expanded to come into sliding contact with the inner circumferential surface of the hollow portion 11 and the outer circumferential surface of the small diameter portion 14, and at the final position shown in FIG. perform an action. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, due to the compression of the bellows ring 6, the inclination angle θ between the septum 9 and the axis 6A of the bellows ring 6 changes, and the peak portion 8 changes its diameter in the Y direction in proportion to the change. bulges out and trough 10
decreases the diameter in the Y direction. Therefore, the bellows ring 6 is firmly pressed against each contact surface, and an effective waterproofing effect can be achieved.

In addition, in the above-mentioned structure, the bellows ring 6 is compressed in the hollow part 11, and the peak part 7 and the valley part 1
When a compressive drag force of 0 is generated, it is preferable that the diaphragm portion 9 not easily buckle and maintain the effective sealing action of the peaks 8 and troughs 10, and the diaphragm portion 9 needs to have considerable buckling rigidity. be. Further, the number of bellows pitches, the free tilt angle of the diaphragm portion 9, etc. are specifically determined by taking into account the insertion gap, compression stroke, required waterproof performance, etc.

Next, to illustrate another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 shows an inner side of the peak part 8 in which the bendability of the peak part 8 and the valley part 10 is improved so that the bellows ring 6 will not be deformed in a curved manner during compression. FIG. 9 shows an embodiment in which a notch 16 is provided at the outer corner of the trough portion 10, and FIG. 9 shows an embodiment in which the wall thickness of the intermediate portion is expanded to improve the buckling rigidity of the diaphragm portion 9. On the other hand, in FIGS. 10 and 11, the small spheres 17 are
An example of a deformed bellows ring 6 connected by 8 is shown,
The small spheres 17 are elastic solid spheres having a diameter of L/2 or more with respect to the gap L into which they are inserted, and when compressed, the small spheres 17 come into elastic contact with each other as shown in FIG. The contact points 19 and 20 act as the peaks 8 and troughs 10 of the bellows ring, respectively.

The waterproofing means for the fitting part with the above structure is such that when the amount of gap in the fitting part varies or fluctuates due to dimensional variations in the hollow part 11 and the small diameter part 14 or changes over time, the bellows ring 6 Due to its elastic properties, it expands and contracts in response to the above-mentioned variations. Therefore, the waterproof performance of the part is normally stable and maintained. Furthermore, the bellows shape with multiple pitches increases the number of sealing contacts, which has the effect of further improving waterproof performance compared to the conventional single sealing point structure. Further, when connecting the housings, the insertion resistance increases in proportion to the insertion amount, and the maximum insertion force at the final time does not become excessive, so there are advantages such as improved connection workability.

As described above, the present invention is useful in solving the conventional difficulties of waterproof connectors and stably maintaining positive waterproof performance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1, 2, and 3: Front sectional view showing the conventional basic structure of a waterproof connector, Figure 4: A perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5: Figure 4 showing the bellows ring of the embodiment. Partial perspective view, FIGS. 6 and 7: Partial sectional view showing the usage state of the embodiment in FIG. 4, FIGS.
Figure: Figure 10 is an explanatory diagram of the state of use of the bellows ring. Main symbols: 1: Male housing, 2: Female housing, 6: Bellows ring, 8: Mountain part, 9: Diaphragm part, 10:
Valley part, 11: Hollow part, 14: Small diameter part, 16: Notch, 17: Small sphere.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A waterproof connector characterized by a structure in which an axially expandable bellows ring is inserted into the gap between the mating parts of the male connector housing and the female connector housing.