JP2012028137A - Connector having rear holder integrated cover - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to improve the simplification and efficiency of assembling a rear holder integrated cover to a connector housing.
A rear holder integrated cover 2 has flexibility in a pair of cover members 23 each having a plate-like member having an L-shaped (saddle-shaped) tip portion facing each other and a base end portion 23a of the cover member 23. A pair of belt-like support members 25 connected via a hinge portion 24; an engagement portion 23c that engages with each other when the L-shaped tip ends overlap each other by swinging the cover member around the hinge portion; A locking protrusion 29 protruding from the surface of the base end portion of the member, and a retaining portion 28 for retaining the plurality of terminal fittings 3 formed at the base end portion of the cover member so as to correspond to the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 12. And a pair of space portions 13a into which the base end portions of the support member and the cover member are slidably inserted along the terminal accommodating chamber 12 from the rear end to a pair of opposed outer edge portions of the housing 11, respectively. , Lock projection on the inner wall of the space There is formed with an opening 13b for engagement.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector provided with a rear holder integrated cover, specifically, a rear holder for preventing a plurality of terminal fittings housed in the connector housing, and a cover for protecting an electric wire drawn from the connector housing. It is related with the connector which integrated.

  For example, a connector used for a wire harness of an automobile is often used in a form in which the connectors are connected to each other. For example, a plurality of terminal accommodation chambers in which a plurality of terminal fittings each having a terminal connected to a mating terminal and a wire connecting portion are accommodated are arranged in the connector housing. Terminal fittings are inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers from the insertion opening opened at the rear end of the connector housing. In order to prevent the terminal fittings housed in the terminal accommodating chamber from coming out before and after the insertion of the terminal fittings, a rear holder for preventing the removal is generally attached. Further, in order to protect the electric wire drawn from the rear end of the connector housing, a cover for protecting the electric wire is attached to the rear end of the connector housing after the rear holder is attached. Specifically, the assembly process includes the first step of presetting (temporarily assembling) the rear holder to the connector housing, the second step of inserting the terminal fitting into the terminal accommodating chamber via the rear holder, and setting the rear holder (this assembling). A third step for making the terminal metal fitting effective and a fourth step for attaching a cover for protecting the wires are required. Therefore, there has been a demand for shortening the assembly process of the rear holder and cover.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, it is proposed that the rear holder and the cover are integrated to shorten the third process for setting the rear holder and the fourth process for mounting the wire protection cover to one process. . Specifically, a rear holder integrated with a cap-shaped cover that covers the entire wire lead-out part of the connector housing, and a locking part for retaining the protrusion protruding from the inner bottom surface of the cover corresponding to the terminal accommodating chamber A cover has been proposed. According to this, after inserting the terminal fittings into the terminal housing chamber of the connector housing and arranging the bundle of the drawn wires, the retaining part for locking is inserted into the connector simply by attaching the rear holder integrated cover. Therefore, it is possible to realize the prevention of removal of the terminal fitting and the protection of the electric wire in one process.

JP-A-7-153521

However, according to the rear holder integrated cover described in Patent Document 1, when attaching the rear holder, it is necessary to insert the retaining portion for retaining the connector into the terminal housing chamber of the connector while scraping the bundle of the lead wires. There is room for improvement in the simplification and efficiency of the assembly of the integrated cover.
The problem to be solved by the present invention is to further simplify and improve the work of assembling the rear holder integrated cover to the connector housing in the connector including the rear holder integrated cover.

  In the present invention, a plurality of terminal fittings having a terminal connected to a mating terminal and a wire connecting portion, a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers in which the plurality of terminal fittings are accommodated, are arranged and the plurality of terminal fittings are inserted. A rectangular tube-shaped connector housing having an opening formed at the rear end, a rear holder portion that is connected to the rear end of the connector housing, and that protects the electric wire drawn out from the connector housing. And a connector including a rear holder integrated cover.

  In particular, in order to solve the above-described problem, the rear holder integrated cover of the present invention includes a pair of cover members each having a plate-like member having a distal end bent in a bowl shape and a base end portion of the pair of cover members. A pair of belt-like support members connected to each other via a flexible hinge portion and the pair of cover members are swung around the hinge portion to engage with each other when the tip portion overlaps. The plurality of engaging portions, the locking protrusions protruding from the surfaces of the base end portions of the pair of cover members, and the plurality of terminal portions formed on the base end portions of the pair of cover members so as to correspond to the terminal receiving chambers The connector housing is formed with a pair of opposing outer edges from the rear end along the terminal accommodating chamber, and is connected to the base of the support member and the cover member. Each end is sliding A pair of space to be freely inserted, the locking projection on the inner wall of the space portion is characterized by comprising formed and a engaged portion to be engaged.

  The rear holder integrated cover of the present invention configured as described above can be easily assembled to the connector as follows. First, the pair of support members of the rear holder integrated cover are inserted into the pair of space portions from the rear end of the connector housing. At this time, the base end portions of the pair of cover members are not inserted into the space portion of the connector housing, and the pair of cover members are held on the outside of the connector housing via the hinge portions, for example, in an open state of 180 °. . In this state, the terminal fitting to which the electric wire is connected from the rear end of the connector housing is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber. Then, the pair of cover members are closed to each other and the end portions bent in a bowl shape are overlapped to engage the engaging portion (preset). At that time, the bundle of electric wires drawn out from the connector housing is drawn out from openings formed on both side surfaces of the pair of closed cover members. In addition, the locking member for retaining the terminal fitting is swayed together with the base end portions of the pair of cover members around the hinge portion, and a position corresponding to the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers at a position where the pair of cover members are closed. Preset.

  Next, by pushing the base end portion of the rear holder integrated cover into the space portion of the connector housing, the locking projection formed on the base end portion engages with the negative engagement portion formed on the wall of the space portion, The rear holder integrated cover is fixed to the connector housing (set). At this set position, the retaining locking portion comes into contact with, for example, the rear end of the terminal fitting accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber and acts as a terminal retaining stopper. Thus, according to the rear holder integrated cover of the present invention, the work for assembling to the connector housing is simple and the assembling work can be made efficient.

  Further, the rear holder integrated cover of the present invention is further provided with positioning protrusions formed on the outer surface on the base end side with respect to the locking protrusions of the pair of cover members, and the connector housing includes The rear holder integrated cover can be formed with a positioning locking portion with which the positioning protrusion abuts at a predetermined position inserted into the connector housing. According to this, it is possible to prevent the rear holder integrated cover from being excessively pushed into the connector housing, and it is possible to appropriately hold the position of the locking member for retaining the terminal fitting. In addition, the positioning projection is tapered, and the positioning latching portion is tapered so that the positioning projection is inserted, thereby positioning the rear housing integrated cover to the connector housing. The workability can be further improved.

  According to the present invention, the work of assembling the rear holder integrated cover to the connector housing can be further simplified and made efficient.

It is the perspective view of one Embodiment of the connector provided with the rear holder integrated cover of this invention, and the perspective view of the terminal metal fitting to which the electric wire assembled | attached to the connector was connected. It is a figure explaining the structure and assembly | attachment procedure to the connector of the rear holder integrated cover of embodiment of FIG. 1, (a) is a side view of the assembly | attachment initial state of a rear holder integrated cover, (b) is the preset state of a rear holder integrated cover (C) is sectional drawing which expanded and showed a part of set state of a rear holder integrated cover. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the assembly completion state of the connector of embodiment of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the assembly | attachment completion state of the connector of embodiment of FIG.

  Hereinafter, the connector provided with the rear holder integrated cover of the present invention will be described based on the embodiments. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a connector having a rear holder integrated cover according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a connector 1 and a rear holder integrated cover 2 assembled to the connector 1. A plurality of terminal fittings 3 to which electric wires are connected to 1 are mounted.

  The connector 1 has a rectangular tube-shaped housing 11 made of resin or the like. In the drawing of the housing 11, openings 12 a corresponding to the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 12 are arranged in a row on the front end surface on the left front side. A cover connecting portion 13 for mounting the rear holder integrated cover 2 is provided at the rear end portion of the housing 11. Although not shown in FIG. 1, an opening for inserting the terminal fitting 3 into the terminal accommodating chamber 12 is formed on the rear end surface of the housing 11. In addition, the outer surface of the housing 11 is formed with grooves, protrusions, engagement protrusions, engagement recesses, and the like for mating with a mating connector (not shown).

  The terminal fitting 3 has a terminal 31 connected to a mating terminal housed in a mating connector (not shown) and an electric wire connecting portion 32, and one end of the electric wire is connected to the terminal connecting portion 32. In addition, although the terminal 31 of this Embodiment has shown the example of the female terminal, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is applicable also to a male terminal.

  The rear holder integrated cover 2 is formed by integrating a rear holder portion 21 for preventing the terminal fitting 3 from coming off and a cover portion 22 for protecting the electric wire drawn from the housing 11. The cover part 22 is comprised from a pair of cover member 23 which makes the plate-shaped member which has the L-shaped front-end | tip part bent in the saddle shape mutually oppose. As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of belt-like support members 25 are connected to base end portions 23 a of the pair of cover members 23 via flexible hinge portions 24, respectively. The pair of support members 25 are formed so as to be freely slidable and insertable into the space 13 a formed in the cover coupling portion 13 of the housing 11. That is, as shown in FIG. 2C, a pair of space portions formed along the terminal accommodating chamber 12 from the rear end along a pair of outer edge portions (upper and lower side surfaces in the figure) of the housing 11. 13a, the support member 25 and the base end part 23a of the cover member 23 are slidably inserted.

  The tip portions 23b of the pair of cover members 23 are bent into a bowl shape, and are formed with the bowl shapes facing each other. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, an engaging portion 23c having an opening at the tip of one tip portion 23b is formed, and a locking protrusion (which is locked to the opening of the engaging portion 23c at the tip of the other tip portion 23b). (Not shown) is formed. Thus, as shown by the arrow 26 in FIG. 2A, when the pair of cover members 23 are swung around the hinge portion 24, a part of the tip portion 23b overlaps and the opening of the engaging portion 23c is illustrated. A locking projection not shown engages. Thus, when the front ends of the pair of cover members 23 are closed, a space 27 having a rectangular cross section is formed on the rear end side of the housing 11. The space 27 is open on both side surfaces of the cover member 23.

  On the other hand, on the end surface of the base end portion 23 a of the pair of cover members 23, a retaining portion 28 for preventing the terminal fitting 3 formed corresponding to the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 12 is formed. In the example of FIG. 1, the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 12 are formed in two upper and lower stages, and the terminal accommodating chamber 12 is not formed in the central portion of the upper stage but is formed separately on both sides. Correspondingly, the upper cover member 23 is formed with retaining stoppers 28 only on both sides of the base end portion 23a, but the lower cover member 23 has a base end (not shown). A retaining portion 28 for retaining is formed over the entire width of the portion 23a.

  Further, the base end portions 23a of the pair of cover members 23 are respectively formed with locking projections 29 that protrude from the outer surfaces of both end portions in the width direction and have a tapered cross section. On the other hand, an opening 13 b as an engaged portion is formed on the wall surface of the space portion 13 a formed in the cover connecting portion 13 of the housing 11 so as to face the locking projection 29. In addition, positioning projections 35 each having a trapezoidal cross section are formed to protrude from the side surfaces of both end portions in the width direction of the base end portion 23a of the pair of cover members 23. A positioning locking portion 36 with which the positioning projection 35 abuts is formed on the side surface. As a result, the positioning projection 35 abuts against the positioning locking portion 36 at a predetermined position where the rear holder integrated cover 2 is inserted into the housing 11, and the insertion front end is restricted. Further, it is preferable that the positioning projection 35 is tapered and the positioning locking portion 36 is tapered to match this. Thereby, the positioning workability when the rear holder integrated cover 2 is attached to the housing 11 can be further improved.

  Next, a procedure for attaching the rear holder integrated cover 2 according to the embodiment configured as described above to the connector 1 will be described. First, the pair of support members 25 of the rear holder integrated cover 2 are inserted into the pair of space portions 13 a from the cover connecting portion 13 of the housing 11. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2A, the base end portions 23 a of the pair of cover members 23 are not inserted into the space portion 13 a of the housing 11, and are 180 ° outward from the housing 11 via the hinge portions 24. Keep it open. In this state, the terminal fitting 3 to which the electric wire is connected from the rear end of the housing 11 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 12. Then, the pair of cover members 23 are swayed in the direction of the arrow 26 in FIG. 2A to close each other and overlap the hook-shaped tip portion 23b to engage the engaging portion 23c (preset). At that time, as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, the bundle of electric wires 33 drawn out from the housing 11 is fed from either one of the openings formed on both side surfaces of the space 27 of the pair of closed cover members 23. It can be pulled out. In addition, the retaining locking portion 28 of the terminal fitting 3 is swayed together with the base end portions 23a of the pair of cover members 23 around the hinge portion 24, and a plurality of terminals are disposed at the position where the pair of cover members 23 are closed. It is preset at a position corresponding to the storage chamber 12.

  Next, the base end portion 23 a of the rear holder integrated cover 2 is pushed into the space portion 13 a of the cover connecting portion 13. As a result, the locking projection 29 formed on the base end portion 23a is fitted into the opening 13b formed on the wall of the space portion 13a, and the rear holder integrated cover 2 is fixed to the housing 11 (set). At this set position, the retaining locking portion 28 abuts on, for example, the rear end of the terminal fitting 3 accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 12 to act as a terminal retaining stopper.

  As described above, according to the rear holder integrated cover 2 of the present embodiment, the work of assembling to the housing 11 is simple and the assembling work can be made efficient.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 2 Rear holder integrated cover 3 Terminal metal fitting 11 Housing 13 Cover connection part 21 Rear holder part 22 Cover part 23 Cover member 24 Hinge part 25 Support member 27 Space 28 Retaining prevention part 29 Locking protrusion 35 Positioning protrusion 36 Positioning person 36 Positioning person Stop

Claims (2)

A plurality of terminal fittings having a terminal connected to the mating terminal and a wire connecting portion, a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers for accommodating the plurality of terminal fittings, and an opening into which the plurality of terminal fittings are inserted is a rear end A rectangular cylindrical connector housing, a rear holder portion connected to the rear end of the connector housing to prevent the terminal fitting from being pulled out, and a cover portion for protecting the electric wire drawn from the connector housing are integrated. In the connector comprising the rear holder integrated cover,
The rear holder integrated cover is a belt-like shape in which a pair of cover members each having a tip portion facing each other and a base end portion of the pair of cover members connected to each other via a flexible hinge portion. A pair of support members, an engagement portion that engages with each other when the pair of cover members are swung around the hinge portion and the distal end portions overlap each other, and surfaces of the base end portions of the pair of cover members And a locking projection for retaining the plurality of terminal fittings formed corresponding to the plurality of terminal accommodating chambers at base end portions of the pair of cover members. The connector housing has a pair of space portions into which the base end portions of the support member and the cover member are slidably inserted along the terminal accommodating chamber from a rear end to a pair of opposed outer edge portions, respectively. , The inner wall of the space Connector, wherein the locking projection is formed by a engaged portion to be engaged. In the connector according to claim 1,
The rear holder integrated cover is further provided with positioning protrusions formed on an outer surface of the pair of cover members on the distal end side than the locking protrusions,
The connector housing is characterized in that the rear holder integrated cover is formed with a positioning locking portion with which the positioning protrusion abuts at a predetermined position inserted into the connector housing.

Images