JP2010225358A - Joint connector - Google Patents

Abstract

A joint connector capable of realizing various joint patterns at low cost is provided.
A joint connector includes a female connector housing and a male connector housing. In the female connector housing 30, a plurality of female terminals 20 are disposed and a plurality of cavities 32 are formed. The female terminal 20 is disposed across two or more cavities 32. Further, in each of the cavities 32, the protruding portions 22 included in the plurality of female terminals 20 are exposed. On the other hand, the male connector housing 36 includes a plurality of male terminals. The male terminal includes a tab portion 41 that can be inserted into the cavity 32. The tab portion 41 contacts at least any two of the protruding portions 22 of the plurality of female terminals 20 exposed in the cavity 32 and electrically connects the female terminals 20.
[Selection] Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to a configuration of a joint connector for branching or connecting an electric circuit of a wire harness at a predetermined position.

  This type of joint connector includes a male connector having a plurality of male terminals and a female connector having a plurality of female terminals. For example, when a female connector is provided at an end portion of an electric wire drawn out from a wire harness, by fitting a male connector in which male terminals are short-circuited to the female connector, predetermined female terminals are Configured to be shorted. Thereby, the electric circuit of a wire harness can be branched or connected.

  Such joint connectors are disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3. Patent Document 1 discloses a connector including a branch terminal having a structure in which a plurality of tab terminals are connected by a substrate portion. The connector disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a male connector, and when a female connector connected to an electric wire of a wire harness is fitted thereto, a predetermined female terminal is short-circuited by a branch terminal. As a result, the electrical circuit of the wire harness connected to the female terminal can be branched and connected at a predetermined position.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a printed circuit for short-circuiting between male terminals (tabs) in order to cope with an increase in the number of terminals accommodated in one connector housing and a complicated pattern of short-circuiting between terminals. A joint connector using a substrate is disclosed. Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which male terminals (tabs) are provided on both sides of a connector housing. By fitting two female connector housings from both sides to this connector housing, it is possible to short-circuit between predetermined female terminals provided in the two female connector housings.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a configuration in which a joint bar is formed by cutting a bus bar having terminals formed in a chain shape into a predetermined number of poles.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-44481 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-311223 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-73938

  When branching and connecting the electrical circuit of the wire harness using the joint connector, the joint pattern (pattern for short-circuiting the terminals) varies depending on the specifications of the wire harness. In the conventional joint connector, when changing the joint pattern in accordance with the specification of the wire harness, it is necessary to change the branch terminal or the printed circuit board to another specification or to cut a predetermined position of the bus bar. For this reason, the number of parts or the number of processes increased, and the cost increased.

  This invention is made in view of the above situation, The objective is to provide the joint connector which can implement | achieve various joint patterns at low cost.

Means and effects for solving the problems

  The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above. Next, means for solving the problems and the effects thereof will be described.

  According to an aspect of the present invention, a joint connector including a female connector housing and a male connector housing and configured as follows is provided. That is, the female connector housing is provided with a plurality of female terminals and a plurality of cavities. The female terminal is disposed across two or more of the cavities. Moreover, the protrusion part with which the said several female terminal is exposed in each said cavity. Meanwhile, the male connector housing includes a plurality of male terminals. The male terminal includes a tab portion that can be inserted into the cavity. And the said tab part contacts at least any two among the protrusion parts of the said several female terminal exposed in the said cavity, and electrically connects between the said female terminals.

  Thereby, since a male terminal can be connected with respect to the female terminal arrange | positioned ranging over several cavities, the several male terminal inserted in the different cavity can be electrically connected. Further, by changing the shape of the tab portion, it can be selected which of the plurality of female terminal protrusions exposed in the cavity is connected to the male terminal. That is, the joint pattern can be changed by changing the shape on the male terminal side. In addition, by preparing male terminals with different tab shapes in advance, various joint patterns can be used without cutting the bus bar or preparing a different specification bus bar or board as in the conventional configuration. Can respond. Further, when changing the joint pattern in this way, the female connector side does not need to be changed. Therefore, it is possible to share parts with joint connectors having different joint patterns, and the cost can be reduced.

  The joint connector is preferably configured as follows. That is, a receiving groove having a U-shaped cross section is formed in the female terminal by the protruding portion. And the said receiving groove can fit the said tab part.

  Thereby, since the said protrusion part and the said tab part can contact so that a tab part may be pinched | interposed by a protrusion part, the reliability of the electrical connection of a female terminal and a male terminal can be improved.

  The joint connector is preferably configured as follows. That is, the cavities are formed in a substantially quadrangular prism shape, and are arranged in a matrix form in the vertical and horizontal directions. The female terminals are arranged at intersections of a square grid-like partition wall that partitions the cavities. The protrusion protrudes at each corner of the quadrangular columnar cavity.

  Thereby, it is possible to form a joint connector that electrically connects a plurality of male terminals inserted into a predetermined cavity among adjacent upper, lower, left and right cavities. Specifically, by using male terminals of various shapes such as a straight shape, a U shape, a crank shape, a τ shape, an H shape, etc., as a cross-sectional shape cut by a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the tab portion, Predetermined female terminals exposed in the cavity can be connected. Further, by preparing several types of tab portions as described above, it is possible to cope with various joint patterns.

  In the joint connector, among the plurality of female terminals protruding into the same cavity, predetermined female terminals are electrically connected by the male terminal, and other female terminals are not electrically connected. It is preferable.

  Thus, by selectively connecting the male terminals to the plurality of female terminals protruding into the same cavity, the plurality of male terminals inserted into different cavities can be electrically connected according to a desired joint pattern. Can be connected.

1 is an external perspective view of a joint connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. The external perspective view of a male terminal. (A) The external appearance perspective view which mainly showed the front side of the female connector, (b) The external perspective view which mainly showed the back side of the female connector. (A) The exploded perspective view of the female connector which mainly showed the front side, (b) The exploded perspective view of the female connector which mainly showed the back side. The back top view of a female connector housing. The external appearance perspective view of a female terminal. (A) Plan sectional drawing which showed the mode of the joint connector when the male connector and the female connector were fitted, (b) Plan sectional drawing cut | disconnected by the plane different from (a). The external appearance perspective view which shows the variation of the shape of the tab part of a male terminal. The plane sectional view of the joint connector at the time of using the male terminal which has a tab part of another shape. The plane sectional view of the joint connector concerning a modification.

  Next, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the joint connector 1 of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the male terminal 40.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the joint connector 1 includes a male connector 2 and a female connector 3.

  The male connector 2 includes a male connector housing 36 and a plurality of male terminals 40.

  The male connector housing 36 is disposed at the ends of the plurality of electric wires 37 and is formed in a rectangular tube shape having an open end on the side opposite to the side where the electric wires 37 are present. The electric wire 37 is drawn from, for example, a wire harness routed in an automobile, and constitutes a part of an electric circuit. In addition, in the conventional joint connector, although the structure by which a female connector is arrange | positioned at the wire harness side was common, in this embodiment, the male connector is arrange | positioned at the wire harness side as mentioned above.

  The male connector housing 36 holds the male terminal 40 inside the rectangular tube. As shown in FIG. 1, the male terminals 40 are arranged in a matrix form vertically and horizontally.

  An external perspective view of the male terminal 40 is shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). The male terminal 40 is formed by bending a metal plate and includes a tab portion 41, a wire barrel 42, and an insulation barrel 43 as shown in the figure. In each of FIGS. 2A and 2B, the left side view is the male terminal 40 viewed from the wire barrel 42 side, and the right side view is the male terminal 40 viewed from the tab portion 41 side. It is.

  The tab portion 41 is formed in a flat plate shape projecting in the longitudinal direction (that is, a cross-sectional shape cut by a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is linear). As shown in FIG. 1, the male terminal 40 is arranged inside the male connector housing 36 such that the longitudinal direction of the tab portion 41 faces the opening end side of the male connector housing 36. The male terminal 40 is provided with a plurality of variations in which the shape of the tab portion 41 is different. For example, in the male terminal 40a shown in FIG. 2A, a flat tab portion 41a is formed on the lower side of the drawing, and in the male terminal 40b shown in FIG. 2B, the flat tab portion 41b is formed on the upper side of the drawing. Has been. The effect obtained by providing variations in the shape of the tab portion 41 will be described later.

  The wire barrel 42 and the insulation barrel 43 are formed on the side opposite to the tab portion 41. The wire barrel 42 is for crimping the male terminal 40 to a conductor (not shown) of the electric wire 37, whereby the conductor of the electric wire 37 and the tab portion 41 are electrically connected. The insulation barrel 43 is for fixing the male terminal 40 to the insulator covering the outside of the conductor, thereby preventing the male terminal 40 from being detached from the electric wire 37.

  The female connector 3 includes a female connector housing 30. The female connector housing 30 is formed in a quadrangular prism shape corresponding to the shape of the opening of the male connector housing 36, and is configured to be fitted into the rectangular male connector housing 36. . The female connector housing 30 is formed with a plurality of cavities 32. Each cavity 32 is formed corresponding to the male terminal 40, and when the female connector housing 30 is fitted to the male connector housing 36 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Forty tab portions 41 are configured to be inserted. In the following description, the direction in which the tab portion 41 is inserted into the cavity 32 may be referred to as “terminal insertion direction”.

  The female connector housing 30 holds a plurality of female terminals (not shown in FIG. 1) therein, and is configured such that a part of the female terminals is exposed inside the cavity 32. The female terminal is configured to be electrically connectable to the tab portion 41 by contacting the tab portion 41 inserted into the cavity 32. Further, the female terminal is arranged across the plurality of cavities 32. Thereby, it becomes possible to short-circuit between the tab parts 41 inserted in the adjacent cavity 32 with a female terminal, and the electric circuit of the electric wire 37 can be connected or branched.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the female connector 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. 3A is an external perspective view mainly showing the front side of the female connector 3, and FIG. 3B is an external perspective view mainly showing the back side of the female connector 3. As shown in FIG. 4A is an exploded perspective view of the female connector 3 mainly showing the front side, and FIG. 4B is an exploded perspective view of the female connector 3 mainly showing the back side. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the female connector 3 includes a back cover 10, a female connector housing 30, and female terminals 20.

  The back cover 10 has a cover fixing claw 11. By engaging this cover fixing claw 11 with a cover fixing groove 31 formed in the female connector housing 30, the back cover 10 can be fixed to the back side of the female connector housing 30. Thereby, while protecting the back side of the female connector 3, it can prevent that the female terminal 20 slips out from the female terminal accommodating part 33 (after-mentioned) to the back side.

  The female connector housing 30 is made of resin and has a quadrangular prism shape as described above. As shown in FIG. 4, the female connector housing 30 has a plurality of cavities 32 on the front side and a plurality of female terminal accommodating portions 33 on the back side.

  As described above, the plurality of cavities 32 are formed corresponding to the male terminals 40 of the male connector 2. Specifically, the respective cavities 32 are arranged in a matrix shape in the vertical and horizontal directions, and are formed to be elongated in the terminal insertion direction so that the male terminals 40 can be inserted into the respective cavities 32. Further, the cavities 32 are formed in a substantially quadrangular prism shape by being partitioned from each other by partition walls formed in a square lattice shape (a grid pattern).

  The female terminal accommodating portion 33 is a hole formed in a direction parallel to the terminal insertion direction, and is formed so that the female terminal 20 can be inserted from the back side of the female connector housing 30. The female terminal accommodating portion 33 communicates with the cavity 32. Accordingly, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a part of the female terminal 20 inserted into the female terminal accommodating portion 33 from the back side of the female connector housing 30 is exposed in the cavity 32. FIG. 5 shows a plan view of the female connector housing 30 as viewed from the back side. In the drawing, the position of the cavity 32 formed on the front side of the female connector housing 30 is drawn with a dotted line. As shown in FIG. 5, each female terminal accommodating part 33 is formed in the position corresponding to the intersection of the square grid-like partition walls which partition each cavity 32. As shown in FIG.

  Each female terminal accommodating portion 33 is formed with a removal preventing portion accommodating groove 34 for accommodating a removal preventing portion 21 (described later) included in the female terminal 20.

  Next, the female terminal 20 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of the female terminal 20. The female terminal 20 is formed by bending a metal plate, and has a drop prevention portion 21 and a protrusion 22 as shown in FIG.

  The protruding portion 22 protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the female terminal 20 and is formed along the longitudinal direction. The female terminal 20 has a plurality of protruding portions 22, and a groove portion (receiving groove) 23 is formed by two adjacent protruding portions 22. The groove portion 23 is formed such that a cross-sectional shape cut along a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the female terminal 20 is a U-shape (U-shape).

  The female terminal 20 is configured to be accommodated in the female terminal accommodating portion 33. When the female terminal 20 is accommodated in the female terminal accommodating portion 33, the female terminal 20 is inserted into the female terminal accommodating portion 33 such that the longitudinal direction of the female terminal 20 coincides with the terminal insertion direction. Thereby, the said protrusion part 22 and the groove part 23 can be made into the state arrange | positioned along the terminal insertion direction.

  Further, when the female terminal 20 is accommodated in the female terminal accommodating portion 33, the removal preventing portion 21 is accommodated in the removal preventing portion accommodating groove 34. Thereby, the back side of female connector housing 30 becomes flat, and back cover 10 can be attached now.

  Next, a description will be given with reference to FIG. FIG. 7A is a plan cross-sectional view showing a state in which the male connector 2 and the female connector 3 are fitted, and FIG. 7B is a plan cross-sectional view cut along a plane different from FIG. .

  As described above, the female terminal accommodating portion 33 is formed at a position corresponding to the intersection of the partition walls that partition the cavity 32. When the female terminal 20 is accommodated in the female terminal accommodating portion 33, the female terminal 20 is arranged at the intersection of the partition walls as shown in FIG. That is, the female terminal 20 is disposed across a plurality of adjacent cavities 32. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, a part of the female terminal 20 (more specifically, a part of the protrusion 22 and the groove 23) is exposed in the adjacent cavity 32. It is configured.

  The protrusion 22 exposed in the cavity 32 can contact the tab portion 41 inserted in the cavity 32. Thereby, the female terminal 20 and the tab part 41 are electrically connected.

  Further, as described above, in the present embodiment, a groove portion 23 having a U-shaped cross section is formed by the protruding portion 22, and the female terminal 20 is disposed so that the groove portion 23 is along the terminal insertion direction. With this configuration, when the tab portion 41 is inserted into the cavity 32, the tab portion 41 is fitted into the groove portion 23, and the tab portion 41 is inserted in contact with the groove portion 23 so as to slide. That is, since the two protruding portions 22 can contact the tab portion 41 so as to sandwich the tab portion 41, the electrical connection between the female terminal 20 and the tab portion 41 can be further ensured.

  With the above configuration, the tab portions 41 inserted into adjacent cavities can be electrically connected via the female terminal 20. Therefore, the male connector 40 can be short-circuited by the joint connector 1 of this embodiment, and the connection or branch of the electric circuit of a wire harness is realizable.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 6 etc., the female terminal 20 of the some shape from which the number of the groove parts 23 differs is prepared. For example, two groove portions 23 are formed in the female terminals 20 b and 20 c arranged across the two cavities 32, and one groove portion 23 is exposed in each of the two cavities 32. In addition, four groove portions 23 are formed in the female terminal 20 d disposed across the four cavities 32, and one groove portion 23 is exposed in each of the four cavities 32.

  With the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 7, the protruding portions 22 (and the groove portions 23) of the four different female terminals 20 are exposed inside each cavity 32. Moreover, each protrusion part 22 (each groove part 23) is arrange | positioned in the vicinity of four corners (four corner | angular parts) of a square columnar cavity. Accordingly, when viewed from a certain cavity 32, the tab portions 41 inserted into the adjacent cavities 32 are electrically connected by the female terminals 20 in the case of the cavities 32 adjacent to each other in the up, down, left, and right directions of FIG. Can be connected to. Further, the electrical connection between the cavities 32 can be formed in a chain by the tab portions 41 and the female terminals 20 being alternately connected. Therefore, by interposing the plurality of tab portions 41 and the female terminals 20 in between, it is possible to form a pattern for electrically connecting the tab portions 41 inserted into the cavities 32 at separate positions.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 6 etc., the female terminal 20a in which only one groove 23 is formed is prepared. The female terminal 20 a is disposed at a position that does not extend over the plurality of cavities 32, and the groove 23 of the female terminal 20 a is exposed only within one cavity 32. Thus, there may be a female terminal 20a that is not involved in a short circuit between the male terminals 40. The groove portion 23 formed in the female terminal 20 a has only a function of holding the tab portion 41 inserted into the cavity 32.

  On the other hand, as described above, the male terminal 40 is provided with variations of the male terminal 40a in which the tab portion 41a is formed on the lower side and the male terminal 40b in which the tab portion 41b is formed on the upper side. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, when the tab portion 41a formed on the lower side is inserted into the cavity 32, the female terminal 20 on the lower right side of the drawing and the female terminal 20 on the lower left side in FIG. The tab portion 41 a does not contact the upper right female terminal 20 and the upper left female terminal 20. When the tab portion 41 b formed on the upper side is inserted into the cavity 32, the upper right female terminal 20 and the upper left female terminal 20 are connected, and the lower right female terminal 20 and the lower left female terminal 20 are connected. Does not touch.

  That is, by changing the shape of the tab portion 41, it is possible to select which of the four female terminals 20 exposed in one cavity 32 is to be connected. Therefore, the short-circuit pattern (joint pattern) between the male terminals 40 can be arbitrarily changed by changing the arrangement pattern of the male terminals 40a and 40b. Further, even when the joint pattern is changed as described above, there is no need to change anything on the female connector 3 side, so that the parts can be shared.

  Furthermore, in addition to the male terminals 40a and 40b having the flat tab portions 41a and 41b, if the male terminal 40 having the tab portions 41 having various shapes is prepared, the combination of the male terminals 40 is changed. By doing so, the design of the joint pattern can be performed more freely. An example of the male terminal 40 provided with the tab portion 41 having such another shape is shown in FIG. 8A and 8B show male terminals 40c and 40d having tab portions 41c and 41d in which a cross-sectional shape cut by a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is formed in a crank shape. . FIG. 8C and FIG. 8D show male terminals 40e and 40f having tab portions 41e and 41f having a U-shaped (U-shaped) cross-sectional shape. Further, as shown in FIG. 8 (e), a male terminal 40g having a tab portion 41g having a cross-sectional shape formed in a τ shape, or a cross-sectional shape formed in an H shape as shown in FIG. 8 (f). A male terminal 40h having a tab portion 41h may be used.

  As an example, FIG. 9 shows a plan sectional view of the joint connector 1 when the male terminals 40c and 40d shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B are used. As shown in the figure, the tab portion 41c has the upper left female terminal 20 and the lower right female terminal 20 in the cavity 32, and the tab portion 41d has the upper right female terminal 20 and the lower left female terminal 20 in the cavity 32, respectively. Connected. Thus, by using the male terminal 40 having the tab portions 41 having different shapes, different joint patterns can be easily formed.

  In FIG. 7, only the plate-like tab portions 41a and 41b are used, and in FIG. 9, only the crank-like tab portions 41c and 41d are used. However, it is not necessary to limit the type of the tab portion 41 in this way. Of course, various joint patterns can be made by using together the male terminal 40 having the tab portions 41 of various shapes such as the tab portions 41a to 41h. Moreover, since a plurality of patterns can be realized simply by changing the combination of the male terminals 40 in this way, it is possible to reduce the cost by using common parts.

  As described above, the joint connector 1 of this embodiment includes the female connector housing 30 and the male connector housing 36. In the female connector housing 30, a plurality of female terminals 20 are disposed and a plurality of cavities 32 are formed. The female terminal 20 is disposed across two or more cavities 32. Further, in each of the cavities 32, the protruding portions 22 included in the plurality of female terminals 20 are exposed. On the other hand, the male connector housing 36 includes a plurality of male terminals 40. The male terminal 40 includes a tab portion 41 that can be inserted into the cavity 32. The tab portion 41 contacts at least any two of the protruding portions 22 of the plurality of female terminals 20 exposed in the cavity 32 and electrically connects the female terminals 20.

  Thereby, since the male terminal 40 can be connected to the female terminal 20 arranged across the plurality of cavities 32, the plurality of male terminals 40 inserted into the different cavities 32 are electrically connected to each other. Can do. Further, by changing the shape of the tab portion 41, it is possible to select which of the protruding portions 22 of the plurality of female terminals 20 exposed in the cavity 32 to which the male terminal 40 is connected. . That is, the joint pattern can be changed by changing the shape on the male terminal 40 side. In addition, by preparing male terminals 40 with different shapes of tabs 41 in advance, various joints can be used without cutting the bus bar or preparing a different specification bus bar or board as in the conventional configuration. It can correspond to a pattern. Further, when the joint pattern is changed in this way, the female connector 3 does not need to be changed. Therefore, it is possible to share parts with joint connectors having different joint patterns, and the cost can be reduced.

  Moreover, the joint connector 1 of this embodiment is comprised as follows. That is, the female terminal 20 is formed with a groove portion 23 having a U-shaped cross section by the protruding portion 22. The groove portion 23 can be fitted with the tab portion 41.

  Thereby, since the said protrusion part 22 and the said tab part 41 can contact so that the tab part 41 may be pinched | interposed by the protrusion part 22, the reliability of the electrical connection of the female terminal 20 and the male terminal 40 can be improved. .

  Moreover, the joint connector 1 of this embodiment is comprised as follows. That is, the cavities 32 are formed in a substantially quadrangular prism shape, and are arranged in a matrix form in the vertical and horizontal directions. The female terminals 20 are arranged at the intersections of the square grid-like partition walls that partition the cavities 32. The protruding portion 22 protrudes at each corner of the quadrangular columnar cavity 32.

  Thereby, the joint connector which electrically connects between the some male terminals 40 inserted in the predetermined | prescribed cavity 32 among the upper, lower, right and left cavities 32 can be formed. Specifically, the male terminals 40 having various shapes such as a straight shape, a U shape, a crank shape, a τ shape, and an H shape are used as the cross-sectional shape cut along a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the tab portion 41. Thus, the predetermined female terminals 20 exposed in the cavity 32 can be connected. Moreover, by preparing several types of tab portions 41 as described above, various joint patterns can be supported.

  Moreover, in the joint connector 1 of this embodiment, among the plurality of female terminals 20 protruding into the same cavity 32, predetermined female terminals 20 are electrically connected by the male terminals 40, and other female terminals are connected. The 20 is not electrically connected.

  In this way, by selectively connecting the male terminal 40 to the plurality of female terminals 20 protruding into the same cavity 32, the plurality of male terminals 40 inserted into different cavities 32 can be connected to each other at a desired joint. Electrical connection can be made according to the pattern.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the above configuration can be modified as follows, for example.

  The groove 23 may not be formed between the protrusions 22 included in the female terminal 20. As an example, FIG. 10 shows a configuration in which a receiving groove is formed between the female terminal 20 and the female connector housing 30. In the modified example of FIG. 10, the female terminal 20 and the tab portion 41 are electrically connected by sandwiching the tab portion 41 between the female terminal 20 and the female connector housing 30. By comprising in this way, the shape of the female terminal 20 can be simplified and manufacturing cost can be reduced. However, the configuration in which the tab portion 41 is sandwiched by the groove portion 23 having a U-shaped cross section formed between the two protruding portions 22 is superior in terms of fitting reliability (reliability of electrical connection). be able to.

  In the above embodiment, the male connector 2 is connected to the female connector 3 from one direction. However, the male connector 2 may be connected from both sides with the female connector housing 30 as a through-hole. That is, the male connector housing 36 can be fitted from the back side of the female connector housing 30 by forming a hole through which the tab portion 41 is inserted in the back cover 10. If comprised in this way, a more complicated joint pattern can be formed and the variation of a joint pattern can be increased.

  The number and arrangement of the male terminals 40 and the cavities 32 are not limited to the configuration shown in the drawings, and the male connector housing 36 and the female connector housing 30 having appropriate shapes can be used according to the specifications of the wire harness.

  The male terminal 40 is not necessarily connected to the conductor of the electric wire 37 and may be a dummy. In this case, the tab portion 41 included in the dummy male terminal 40 has only a role as a bus bar for short-circuiting the other male terminals 40 to each other.

  Further, depending on the specifications of the wire harness, the male terminal 40 may not be disposed at a specific position (the tab portion 41 is not inserted into the specific cavity 32).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Joint connector 2 Male connector 3 Female connector 20 Female terminal 22 Projection part 23 Groove part (receiving groove)
30 Female connector housing 32 Cavity 36 Male connector housing 40 Male terminal 41 Tab part

Claims (4)

A female connector housing;
A male connector housing;
A joint connector comprising:
In the female connector housing, a plurality of female terminals are arranged, and a plurality of cavities are formed,
The female terminal is disposed between two or more of the cavities;
In each of the cavities, the protrusions included in the plurality of female terminals are exposed,
The male connector housing includes a plurality of male terminals,
The male terminal includes a tab portion that can be inserted into the cavity.
The tab portion contacts at least any two of the plurality of female terminal protrusions exposed in the cavity and electrically connects the female terminals. . The joint connector according to claim 1,
The female terminal has a U-shaped receiving groove formed by the protruding portion,
The joint connector is characterized in that the tab portion can fit the tab portion. The joint connector according to claim 1 or 2,
The cavity is formed in a substantially quadrangular prism shape, and is arranged in a matrix shape vertically and horizontally,
The female terminal is arranged at the intersection of a square lattice partition wall that partitions the cavities,
The protrusion is protruded at each corner of the square columnar cavity. The joint connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Among the plurality of female terminals projecting into the same cavity, a predetermined female terminal is electrically connected by the male terminal, and the other female terminals are not electrically connected. .

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