JP2011228140A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector capable of reducing fitting failure and improving assembling workability of a spacer.SOLUTION: A connector housing 10 is constituted by an inner housing 10A and an outer housing 10B, and the inner housing 10A comprises a terminal housing chamber 12, a spacer housing chamber 13 crossing with the terminal housing chamber 12 from the side, and a spacer 20 inserted and fitted in the spacer housing chamber 13. The outer housing 10B is formed of a tubular peripheral wall 15 and a bottom wall 16 closing a rear end of the peripheral wall 15. While the spacer 20 is temporarily locked in the spacer housing chamber 13, the inner housing 10A is housed in the outer housing 10B, and a terminal metal fitting 30 is inserted in the terminal housing chamber 12. The spacer 20 is moved to a final locking position, and the terminal metal fitting 30 is engaged with the spacer 20 and held in the terminal housing chamber 12.

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector that uses a spacer to prevent a terminal fitting from falling off a housing.

  Conventionally, connectors described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 have been proposed as connectors that engage a terminal metal piece with a spacer that slides in a housing and prevent the terminal metal piece from falling off the housing.

  The connector 101 of Patent Document 1 includes a terminal housing chamber 112 in which a plurality of terminal fittings (not shown) are respectively housed in a connector housing 110. In addition, the connector housing 110 is provided with a spacer housing portion 113 that intersects the terminal housing chamber 112 and opens on the side surface of the connector housing 110. A spacer 120 is inserted into the spacer accommodating portion 113, and a terminal fitting is engaged with the inserted spacer 120, thereby preventing the spacer accommodating portion 113 from falling off the terminal accommodating chamber 112.

  When the terminal fitting is accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 112, first, the spacer 120 is inserted into the spacer accommodating portion 113 through the spacer insertion opening 113 a that opens in the side surface of the connector housing 110, and the temporary housing set in the spacer accommodating portion 113 is inserted. Temporarily hold in the locking position. Next, after inserting the terminal fitting into the terminal accommodating chamber 112, the spacer 120 is moved to the main locking position, and the terminal fitting is locked to the spacer 120.

  Similarly to the connector 101 of Patent Document 1, the connector 201 of Patent Document 2 includes a terminal housing chamber 212 in which a plurality of terminal fittings 230 are housed in the connector housing 210. The connector housing 210 is provided with a spacer housing chamber 213 that opens to the side of the connector housing 210 while intersecting the terminal housing chamber 212. The spacer 220 is inserted into the spacer accommodating chamber 213, and the terminal fitting 230 is engaged with the inserted spacer 220, thereby preventing the terminal accommodating chamber 212 from falling off.

  As a recent trend of connectors, miniaturization and consolidation of terminal fittings are required, and it is very difficult to provide a lance structure for locking and holding the terminal fittings in the terminal accommodating chamber. Therefore, as in the above-described conventional connector, a technique of locking and holding the terminal fitting in the terminal accommodating chamber using a spacer is widely used.

JP 2000-252000 A JP 2003-272750 A

  By the way, in the conventional connector described above, since the spacer insertion port of the spacer accommodating chamber is opened on the side surface of the connector housing, dust and dirt enter from the spacer insertion port, and the connector housing and the counterpart housing (not shown) There was a risk of causing poor fitting. In addition, since the temporary locking position is set at a position deeper from the spacer insertion port, an operation error occurs in which the spacer cannot be locked at the temporary locking position and is pushed to the final locking position. There was a problem that the nature was bad.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector that can reduce poor fitting and improve the workability of spacer assembly.

  In the first aspect of the invention, the connector housing includes an inner housing and an outer housing, and the inner housing inserts the terminal fitting into the terminal receiving chamber, and the terminal receiving chamber into which the terminal fitting is inserted. A spacer accommodating chamber intersecting the terminal accommodating chamber from the side with respect to the direction, and a spacer inserted into the spacer accommodating chamber, the outer housing having a cylindrical peripheral wall, and a rear end of the peripheral wall A bottom wall that closes the side, an inner wall that is formed by the peripheral wall and the bottom wall, in which the inner housing is housed, and the spacer is inserted to a predetermined position in the spacer housing chamber, In a temporarily locked state, the inner housing is housed in the inner housing chamber, the terminal fitting is inserted into the terminal housing chamber through the bottom wall, the spacer is further inserted, and the spacer housing is inserted. In this engagement sealed state in the room, the terminal fitting engages and the spacer, the terminal fitting is characterized in that it is held in the terminal accommodating chamber.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the connector according to the first aspect of the present invention, the connector further comprises a sealing material sandwiched between a rear end surface of the inner housing and the bottom wall of the outer housing.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since there is no opening on the side surface of the outer housing, it is difficult for dust and dirt to enter the connector housing. Since it is possible to remove dust and dirt, poor fitting can be reduced.

  Further, by assembling the inner housing to the outer housing in a state where the spacer is temporarily locked, erroneous assembly of the spacer can be prevented, and the workability of assembling the spacer can be improved.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the opening is not provided on the side surface of the outer housing, and the sealing material is disposed in the part deep from the opening end of the outer housing, so that dust and dirt adhere to the sealing material. In addition to being prevented, it is possible to prevent the sealing material from being damaged, so that high waterproof reliability can be exhibited.

1 is a front view of a connector housing according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1, showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 1 in a state in which the spacer is temporarily locked according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1 in a state where the spacer is permanently locked according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1 in a state in which the connector housing is fitted to the mating housing according to the embodiment of the present invention. The conventional connector housing is shown, (a) is sectional drawing which shows the state which latched the spacer temporarily, (b) is sectional drawing which shows the state which temporarily latched the spacer. The conventional connector is shown, (a) is sectional drawing which shows the state which latched the spacer temporarily, (b) is sectional drawing which shows the state which latched the spacer permanently.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a front view of a connector housing, FIG. 2 is an exploded sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 1 in a state where the spacer is fully locked, and FIG. It is sectional drawing along the II-II line | wire of FIG. 1 in the combined state.

  The female connector 2 constituting the connector 1 of the present embodiment is composed of a connector housing 10, a spacer 20, and a terminal fitting 30.

  The connector housing 10 includes an inner housing 10A, an outer housing 10B, and a seal material 40.

  The inner housing 10A includes a terminal accommodating chamber 12 into which a plurality of terminal fittings 30 are inserted into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped body portion 11, a spacer accommodating chamber 13 into which a spacer 20 is inserted, and a locking arm 14. Is provided. The terminal accommodating chamber 12 is formed as a simple through-hole so that the terminal fitting 30 can be inserted from the rear end side to the front end side. The spacer accommodating chamber 13 is formed so as to intersect the terminal accommodating chamber 12 from the side with respect to the direction in which the terminal fitting 30 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 12. The locking arm 14 extends rearward at the rear end of the inner housing 10A, and a locking projection 14a is provided at the tip.

  The spacer 20 inserted and fitted into the spacer housing chamber 13 is configured to be locked and held at the temporary locking position and the main locking position set in the spacer housing chamber 13. The spacer 20 is provided with a terminal insertion hole 21 through which the terminal fitting 30 is inserted.

  The outer housing 10B is composed of a cylindrical peripheral wall 15 and a bottom wall 16 that closes the rear end side of the peripheral wall 15, and the inner housing 10A accommodates an internal space formed by the peripheral wall 15 and the bottom wall 16. The inner storage chamber 17 is set. Further, the bottom wall 16 can be engaged with a locking projection 14a provided at the tip of the locking arm 14 while the bottom through hole 18 through which the terminal fitting 30 passes and the locking arm 14 of the inner housing 10A are inserted. The engagement receiving part 19 formed in is formed.

  The terminal fitting 30 includes a locking portion 31, and the terminal fitting 30 is held in the terminal accommodating chamber 12 by the locking portion 31 engaging with the spacer 20 displaced to the main locking position.

  The sealing material 40 is integrally formed on the inner surface side of the bottom wall 16 of the outer housing 10B by molding an elastic flexible material. Further, the sealing material 40 is formed with a through hole 41 through which the terminal fitting 30 passes and an arm hole 42 into which the locking arm 14 of the inner housing 10A is inserted.

  In the above configuration, as a procedure for assembling the female connector 2, first, the spacer 20 is assembled to the inner housing 10 </ b> A and held at the temporary locking position. Next, the front end of the locking arm 14 is inserted through the through hole 41 of the sealing material 40 and the bottom through hole 18 of the outer housing 10B, and between the rear end surface 11a of the inner housing 10A and the bottom wall 16 of the outer housing 10B. In addition, the locking projection 14 a at the tip is engaged with the engagement receiving portion 19 in a state where the sealing material 40 is compressed and held.

  The spacer 20 is inserted into the outer housing 10B from the outer surface side of the bottom wall 16 while being held in the temporarily locked position, and the terminal fitting 30 is disposed in the terminal accommodating chamber 12 through the bottom through hole 18 and the through hole 41. . Next, in a state where the terminal fitting 30 is disposed in the terminal accommodating chamber 12, the spacer 20 is moved from the temporary locking position to the final locking position, the spacer 20 is engaged with the terminal fitting 30, and the terminal fitting 30 is moved. Holding in the terminal accommodating chamber 12, the assembly of the female connector 2 is completed.

  Then, by inserting the mating housing 3 into the space formed between the inner housing 10A and the outer housing 10B, the sealing material 40 is brought into close contact with the open end inner surface 3a of the mating housing 3, and the connector housing 10 Watertightness with the counterpart housing 3 is exhibited.

  As described above, according to the connector 1 of the present embodiment, the inner housing 10A is assembled to the outer housing 10B in a state where the spacer 20 is temporarily locked. Occurrence of an operation error that pushes in to the position can be prevented, and the assembly workability of the spacer 20 can be improved.

  In addition, since the opening is not provided on the side surface of the outer housing 10B, and the sealing material 40 is disposed in a portion deep from the opening end of the outer housing 10B, adhesion of dust and dirt to the sealing material 40 is prevented. In addition, even when dust or dirt adheres to the sealing material 40, the dust or dirt can be easily removed by removing the inner housing 10A. Thereby, the fitting failure between the connector housing 10 and the mating housing 3 can be prevented, and the sealing material 40 can be prevented from being damaged, so that high waterproof reliability can be exhibited.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Connector 10 ... Connector housing 10A ... Inner housing 10B ... Outer housing 11a ... Rear end surface of inner housing 12 ... Terminal accommodating chamber 13 ... Spacer accommodating chamber 15 ... Peripheral wall 16 ... Bottom wall 17 ... Inner accommodating chamber 20 ... Spacer 30 ... Terminal Metal fitting 40 ... Sealing material

Claims (2)

The connector housing is composed of an inner housing and an outer housing,
The inner housing is
A terminal accommodating chamber into which a terminal fitting is inserted;
A spacer accommodating chamber that intersects the terminal accommodating chamber from the side with respect to the direction in which the terminal fitting is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber;
A spacer inserted into the spacer accommodating chamber,
The outer housing is
A peripheral wall having a cylindrical shape;
A bottom wall for closing the rear end side of the peripheral wall;
An inner housing chamber formed by the peripheral wall and the bottom wall, in which the inner housing is housed;
The spacer is inserted to a predetermined position in the spacer accommodating chamber and is temporarily locked, and is accommodated in the inner accommodating chamber together with the inner housing,
The terminal fitting is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber through the bottom wall;
The connector is characterized in that the terminal fitting is engaged with the spacer in a state where the spacer is further inserted and locked in the spacer accommodating chamber, and the terminal fitting is held in the terminal accommodating chamber. . The connector according to claim 1, wherein
A connector comprising: a sealing material sandwiched between a rear end surface of the inner housing and the bottom wall of the outer housing.

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