JP2012038430A - Terminal and joint connector - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a terminal capable of realizing material cost reduction by reducing the number of components of a joint connector, and a joint connector using the terminal.
A terminal connecting piece 3a, a terminal connecting piece 3b, a spring piece 4a formed by bending a part of the terminal connecting piece 3a toward the tip of a bus bar constituting terminal 2A, and one of the terminal connecting pieces 3b. And a spring piece 4b formed by bending the portion toward the tip of the bus bar constituting terminal 2A, the terminal connecting piece 3a and the spring piece 4a sandwiching a part of the bus bar constituting terminal 2B, and the terminal connecting piece 3b The spring piece 4b holds a part of the bus bar constituting terminal 2C.
[Selection] Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a joint connector for electrically connecting terminals attached to terminals of a plurality of electric wires, and more particularly to a terminal used for the joint connector.

  Conventionally, joint connectors have been widely used to connect electric wires used in a common circuit system such as an earth line. FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing such a conventional joint connector. The joint connector 51 is a connector used to electrically connect terminals 53 formed at the ends of a plurality of electric wires 52 branched from a vehicle-mounted wire harness, for example. The joint connector 51 includes, as main components, a housing 54, a bus bar 55 as a connecting conductor to which a terminal 53 of the electric wire 52 is connected, and a plug member 56 that closes one end of the housing 54. In addition, the terminal 53 of the electric wire 52 is formed in a box shape, for example, and has a female electrical contact portion 57 connected to the bus bar 55 and an electric wire crimping portion 58 to which a conductor wire of the electric wire 57 is crimped. It is general.

  Specifically, the housing 54 is a resin-molded member made of an insulating material. On the inner wall of the housing 54, as shown in FIG. 9, as shown in FIG. The plug member accommodating portion 61 is integrally formed along the longitudinal direction of the housing 54. The terminal accommodating portion 60 has a plurality of, in the illustrated example, five terminal accommodating chambers 62 arranged in parallel in the width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the housing 54. Each terminal accommodating chamber 62 has a terminal insertion port 63 that opens to one end side in the longitudinal direction of the housing 54, and the terminal 53 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 62 through the terminal insertion port 63.

  Each terminal accommodating chamber 62 has a first chamber 65 set in a shape in which a waterproof rubber plug 64 mounted in the vicinity of the wire crimping portion 58 of the terminal 53 can be fitted in close contact with the electric power of the terminal 53. The contact portion 57 includes a second chamber 66 connected to the bus bar 55.

  The bus bar 55 integrally includes a base portion 67 extending in the width direction of the housing 54 and a plurality of male fitting portions (for example, pin shapes) 68 protruding from the base portion 67 in the longitudinal direction of the housing 54. A plurality of grooves 69 corresponding to the respective second chambers 66 are formed in the conductor holding portion 59 of the housing 54, and the fitting portions 68 are press-fitted into these grooves 69, respectively. It is held by the holding unit 59. After the terminal 53 is guided into the second chamber 66 of the corresponding terminal accommodating chamber 62, the female electrical contact portion 57 is fitted with the male fitting portion 68.

JP 2010-40263 A

The conventional joint connector 51 described above has the following problems to be solved.
That is, the conventional joint connector 51 is attached to the bus bar 55 and each fitting portion (contactor) 68 of the bus bar 55 in order to connect the terminals of a plurality of wires to a common circuit system such as an earth line. This requires three parts, namely, the female terminal 53 and the housing 54 that simultaneously accommodates and holds the bus bar 55 and the female terminal 53, and therefore there is a limit to the cost reduction based on the number of parts. In addition, the material yield of the conductive metal plate is poor due to the shape of the bus bar 55, and there is a disadvantage that there is a limit to the reduction of material cost.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the situation mentioned above, The objective is to provide the joint connector using the terminal which can implement | achieve the reduction of the material cost by the number reduction of the components of a joint connector, and the terminal. It is in.

In order to achieve the above-described object, a terminal according to the present invention is characterized by the following (1) and (2).
(1) A terminal used in a joint connector for electrically connecting terminals of a plurality of electric wires,
The bottom wall,
A first side wall standing upright from one of widthwise ends of the bottom wall;
A second side wall standing up from the other end in the width direction of the bottom wall;
A first spring piece formed by bending a portion of the first side wall toward the tip of the terminal that contacts the counterpart terminal;
A second spring piece formed by bending a part of the second side wall toward the tip of the terminal that contacts the counterpart terminal;
With
The first side wall and the first spring piece sandwich a part of the first mating terminal,
The second side wall and the second spring piece sandwich a part of the second mating terminal,
thing.
(2) A terminal configured as described in (1) above,
The first spring piece is bent so that the first spring piece is located between the first side wall and the second side wall;
The second spring piece is bent so that the second spring piece is located between the first side wall and the second side wall;
The surface of the first spring piece opposite to the surface facing the first side wall and the surface of the second spring piece opposite to the surface facing the second side wall are the first side wall. And the first spring piece sandwiched a part of the first mating terminal, and the second side wall and the second spring piece sandwiched a part of the second mating terminal. Sometimes contact,
thing.

According to the terminal of (1), the terminals facing each other are in elastic contact with each other, and a predetermined contact pressure is maintained. Therefore, it is not necessary to use the bus bar for the joint connector. As a result, the material cost can be reduced by reducing the number of components of the joint connector.
Further, according to the terminal (2), the side walls of the adjacent terminals are sandwiched between the springs and are elastically and firmly sandwiched.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the joint connector according to the present invention is characterized by the following (3).
The first terminal according to the above (2) or (3);
The second terminal according to (2) or (3) above;
A housing having a first terminal storage chamber for storing the first terminal, and a second terminal storage chamber for storing the second terminal;
With
The first terminal is inserted into the first terminal storage chamber from a terminal insertion opening opened on one surface of the housing,
The second terminal is inserted into the second terminal storage chamber from a terminal insertion opening opened on the other surface of the housing located on the surface opposite to the one surface,
The first terminal storage chamber and the second terminal storage chamber communicate with each other at the tip of the first terminal and the tip of the second terminal;
The first side wall and the first spring piece in the first terminal sandwich the first side wall in the second terminal;
The first side wall and the first spring piece of the second terminal sandwich the first side wall of the first terminal;
thing.

  According to the joint connector (3), the terminals facing each other are in elastic contact with each other, and a predetermined contact pressure is maintained. Therefore, it is not necessary to use the bus bar for the joint connector. As a result, the material cost can be reduced by reducing the number of components of the joint connector.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily configure a bus bar constituting terminal that also serves as a terminal for connecting a terminal of an electric wire by press working, and it is possible to realize a reduction in the number of parts and a reduction in material cost due to this.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through the modes for carrying out the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is a top view which shows the housing of the joint connector concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the bus-bar structure terminal of the joint connector concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of the bus-bar structure terminal shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the IV-IV line of the bus-bar structure terminal shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the VV line | wire of the bus-bar structure terminal shown in FIG. It is a top view of the principal part which shows the connection structure of the bus-bar structure terminal shown in FIG. It is a top view of the electroconductive metal plate used for manufacture of the bus-bar structure terminal shown in FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the conventional joint connector. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the joint connector shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, a joint connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The joint connector A of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is formed by housing six bus bar constituting terminals 2 in a housing 1 made of synthetic resin or the like. In the housing 1, terminal accommodating chambers 1 a for accommodating the bus bar constituting terminals 2 are formed by the number of the bus bar constituting terminals 2. The bus bar constituting terminals 2 are inserted into the two terminal accommodating chambers 1a from the terminal insertion port 1b opened on one surface of the housing 1, and the other four terminal accommodating chambers 1a are connected to the other surface of the housing 1 (described above). The bus bar constituting terminal 2 is inserted from the terminal insertion opening 1b opened on the surface opposite to the one surface of the housing 1).

  Two bus bar constituting terminals 2 are housed in the housing 1 from the one side of the housing 1 and four from the other side facing the one side. Here, one terminal on one surface side and two terminals on the other surface side are taken as a set, and these terminals are electrically and mechanically connected to each other, and are electrically maintained at the same potential such as a ground potential. It is like that. Further, two sets of these three bus bar constituting terminals 2 are accommodated in the housing 1 in FIG. The housing 1 has a storage structure capable of storing the bus bar constituent terminals 2 independently, but the vicinity of the intermediate portion between the one surface and the other surface, that is, the vicinity of the front end of the bus bar constituent terminal 2 inserted from different directions, The terminal accommodating chambers 1a communicate with each other so that the terminals of the bus bar constituting terminals 2 can be in contact with each other.

  2 to 5 specifically show the configuration of the bus bar constituting terminal 2. The bus bar constituting terminal 2 is cut into a rectangular shape or a rectangular shape by, for example, pressing a conductive metal plate, and is further substantially U-shaped so that the two side walls stand up from the end in the width direction of the bottom wall 7. Is bent. Two side walls that are bent in a U-shape and face each other are a terminal connection piece 3, a corrugated spring piece that has a groove formed in a part of the terminal connection piece 3 and is bent toward the tip of the bus bar constituting terminal 2. 4. A barrel 5 for caulking the core wire (conductive wire) end of the electric wire end and a barrel 6 for caulking the insulating sheath of the electric wire end are integrally provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, each spring piece 4 is bent in a direction approaching each other. As a result, each spring piece 4 is located between the terminal connection pieces 3. There are a convex portion p that gently protrudes on the side facing each other, and a convex portion q that protrudes gently on the terminal connection piece 3 side, and among these, the convex portions p elastically contact (interfere) with each other. Yes. Thus, when the convex parts p contact, it can prevent that the spring piece 4 leaves | separates from the terminal connection piece 3 more than necessary. As a result, as will be described in detail later, as shown in FIG. 6, the terminal connection pieces 3a and 3d of the bus bar constituting terminals 2A and 2B adjacent to each other are sandwiched between the spring pieces 4a and 4d and elastically and firmly sandwiched. The The protrusions q may be in contact with the inner surface of the terminal connection piece 3 or may be kept at a narrower distance than the thickness of the terminal connection piece 3. In addition, a rectangular notch 8 that opens to one end of the bus bar constituent terminal 2 is formed in the bottom wall 7 of the bus bar constituent terminal 2 at a portion where the spring piece 4 is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the bus bar constituting terminals 2 formed in this way are individually provided in the terminal storage chamber 1a from the both side surfaces (the upper side surface and the lower side surface in FIG. 1) of the housing 1 through the terminal insertion port 1b. Inserted into. As shown in FIG. 6, the center of the housing 1 communicates at the center as described above, and the front ends of the bus bar constituting terminals of the bus bar constituting terminals 2 inserted from the opposite side surfaces of the housing 1 are electrically connected to each other as shown in FIG. Mechanically connectable.

  That is, when three bus bar constituent terminals 2 are connected, bus bar constituent terminals 2A, 2B, and 2C are prepared as three bus bar constituent terminals, the spring pieces 4a and 4b of the bus bar constituent terminal 2A, and these spring pieces. Between the terminal connection pieces 3a and 3b facing each other 4a and 4b, the terminal connection piece 3d of the terminal connection pieces 3c and 3d of the bus bar constituting terminal 2B and the terminal connecting piece 3e of the bus bar constituting terminal 2C, The terminal connection piece 3e of 3f is inserted in the direction shown by the arrow R in FIG. Thereby, the terminal connection piece 3a of the bus bar constituent terminal 2A is inserted between the terminal connection piece 3d of the terminal connection pieces 3c and 3d of the bus bar constituent terminal 2B and the spring piece 4d of the spring pieces 4c and 4d. Pinched. The terminal connection piece 3b of the bus bar constituting terminal 2A is inserted between the terminal connecting piece 3e of the terminal connecting pieces 3e and 3f of the bus bar constituting terminal 2C and the spring piece 4e of the spring pieces 4e and 4f, It is pinched.

  As a result, the terminal connecting pieces 3a, 3d of the bus bar constituting terminals 2A, 2B, 2C adjacent to each other are elastically pressed and supported by being sandwiched between the spring pieces 4a, 4d, while the terminal connecting pieces 3b, 3e in contact with each other are It is sandwiched between the spring pieces 4b and 4e and is elastically supported by pressure. Accordingly, these three bus bar constituting terminals 2A, 2B, and 2C are electrically connected to each other and are electrically and mechanically connected so as to maintain the same potential such as the ground potential. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the three bus bar constituting terminals 2A, 2B, 2C are housed in two sets in one housing 1, thereby constituting one joint connector. In addition, it is arbitrary to install three or more sets of bus bar constituting terminals 2A, 2B, and 2C according to the size of the housing 1 as a set of three.

  Moreover, since the terminal connection pieces 3a and 3d of the bus bar constituent terminals 2A and 2B and the terminal connection pieces 3b and 3e of the bus bar constituent terminals 2A and 2C are in surface contact with each other, the contact area can be increased. As a result, a transmission path with good electrical performance can be secured between the bus bar constituent terminal 2A and the bus bar constituent terminal 2B and between the bus bar constituent terminal 2A and the bus bar constituent terminal 2C.

Next, the manufacturing procedure of the bus bar constituting terminal 2 constituting the joint connector A will be described.
First, for the manufacture of the bus bar constituting terminal 2, a rectangular conductive metal plate 11 is prepared, and each of the conductive metal plate 11 is disposed at both ends of the conductive metal plate 11 in the width direction near the central portion in the longitudinal direction. A pair of L-shaped grooves 12 having one end positioned therein, a central portion in the width direction of the conductive metal plate 11, and a notch 8 in which one end in the longitudinal direction of the conductive metal plate 11 is cut out; An electric wire holding part forming piece (barrel) 5 which is located at the other end in the longitudinal direction of the conductive metal plate 11 and is positioned at both ends in the width direction of the conductive metal plate 11 and caulking the core wire of the electric wire terminal; A covering portion holding piece (barrel) 6 for caulking the insulating covering of the wire terminal portion is formed by press working.

  Subsequently, two regions B surrounded by imaginary fold lines 11 connecting the both ends of the conductive metal plate 11 in the width direction and the other ends of the L-shaped cut grooves 12 are formed by the press working. After that, as shown in FIG. Then, in the direction of arrow S shown in FIG. 7, the spring piece forming region B surrounded by the fold line 11 and the L-shaped cut groove 12 overlaps the front side of the conductive metal plate 11 at the fold line 11. Bend it. Thereby, the spring piece 4 is configured.

  Next, between the notch 8 of the conductive metal plate 11 and the region B surrounded by the L-shaped cut groove 12 and the bending line 11, both ends of the conductive metal plate 11 in the width direction. The conductive metal plate 11 is bent in the direction of the arrow T so that the spring pieces 4 are in contact with each other along a virtual fold line 12 that is parallel to the portion, thereby forming the bus bar constituting terminal 2. Further, the plurality of bus bar constituting terminals 2 constructed in this way are accommodated in the housing 1 at predetermined intervals from both side surfaces of the housing 1 as described above, and the accommodated bus bar constituting terminals 2 are shown in FIG. As shown in the above, the contact is made by utilizing the elastic force of each spring piece 4 in the bus bar constituting bus bar constituting terminal 2. Thereby, the joint connector which has the some bus-bar structure terminal 2 is completed.

  And the bus-bar structure terminal 2 of the joint connector A manufactured in this way is equipped with the function as a terminal and the function as a bus bar simultaneously. Since such a terminal is obtained by pressing a conductive metal plate, the structure and assembly process are simplified, and the effect that the material cost can be greatly reduced is obtained.

  As described above, in the joint connector according to the present embodiment, the conductive metal plate 11 having the L-shaped cut groove 12, the notch 8, and the electric wire holding portion forming piece (barrel) 5 obtained by press working is bent on the bending line l1. To form the spring piece 4, and the conductive metal plate 11 having the spring piece 4 is bent so that the spring piece forming regions B are in contact with each other to form the bus bar constituting terminal 2, which is housed inside from both sides of the housing 1. The plurality of bus bar constituting terminals 2 are brought into pressure contact with each other by utilizing the elastic force of the spring pieces 4. Thereby, the joint connector A having a plurality of bus bar constituting terminals 2 is completed. Thereby, the structure of the joint connector A which has the some bus-bar structure terminal 2 can be simplified, and also reduction of material cost by reduction of a number of parts is attained.

1 Housing 2, 2A, 2B, 2C Busbar constituting terminal 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f Terminal connecting piece 4, 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f Spring piece 5 Barrel (formation of electric wire holding part) Piece)
6 Barrel (covering piece)
11 Conductive metal plate 12 Cut groove A Joint connector B Spring piece formation area

Claims (3)

A terminal used in a joint connector for electrically connecting terminals of a plurality of electric wires,
The bottom wall,
A first side wall standing upright from one of widthwise ends of the bottom wall;
A second side wall standing up from the other end in the width direction of the bottom wall;
A first spring piece formed by bending a portion of the first side wall toward the tip of the terminal that contacts the counterpart terminal;
A second spring piece formed by bending a part of the second side wall toward the tip of the terminal that contacts the counterpart terminal;
With
The first side wall and the first spring piece sandwich a part of the first mating terminal,
The second side wall and the second spring piece sandwich a part of the second mating terminal,
A terminal characterized by that. The first spring piece is bent so that the first spring piece is located between the first side wall and the second side wall;
The second spring piece is bent so that the second spring piece is located between the first side wall and the second side wall;
The surface opposite to the surface facing the first side wall of the first spring piece and the surface opposite to the surface facing the second side wall of the second spring piece are the first side wall. And the first spring piece sandwiched a part of the first mating terminal, and the second side wall and the second spring piece sandwiched a part of the second mating terminal. Sometimes contact,
A terminal characterized by that. The first terminal according to claim 2 or 3,
The second terminal according to claim 2 or 3,
A housing having a first terminal storage chamber for storing the first terminal, and a second terminal storage chamber for storing the second terminal;
With
The first terminal is inserted into the first terminal storage chamber from a terminal insertion opening opened on one surface of the housing,
The second terminal is inserted into the second terminal storage chamber from a terminal insertion opening opened on the other surface of the housing located on the surface opposite to the one surface,
The first terminal storage chamber and the second terminal storage chamber communicate with each other at the tip of the first terminal and the tip of the second terminal;
The first side wall and the first spring piece in the first terminal sandwich the first side wall in the second terminal;
The first side wall and the first spring piece of the second terminal sandwich the first side wall of the first terminal;
A joint connector characterized by that.