JP2018195449A - Male terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent damage to a female terminal on the other side even if prying fitting occurs.SOLUTION: A male terminal 10 includes: a cylindrical male side body portion 20 extending in the front-rear direction; and a spherical portion 30 projecting forward from a front-end portion of the male side body portion 20. The spherical portion 30 is constituted by a plurality of tongue piece portions 32 projecting forward from the front-end portion of the male side body portion 20. The plurality of tongue piece portions 32 are thinned toward the distal end and curved inwardly in a spherical shape. The slit portion 34 between the pair of adjacent tongue piece portions 32 is accommodated in the spherical portion 30.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The technique disclosed by this specification is related with a male terminal.

  As an example of a conventional male terminal, a male terminal described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-141129 (the following Patent Document 1) is known. The male terminal is formed by pressing and bending a metal plate material, and is a square tube portion that extends in the front-rear direction to form a square tube shape, and an elongated tab that is formed by folding the metal plate material into a two-layer shape. The connection part which connects a tab and the front-end part of a square tube part, and the electric wire crimping part extended back from the rear-end part of a square tube part are provided.

  The female terminal fitted to the male terminal includes a rectangular tube-shaped female-side main body that opens in the front-rear direction, an elastic contact piece that is provided inside the female-side main body and elastically contacts the male terminal, and a female And an electric wire connecting portion extending rearward from the rear end portion of the side main body portion.

  When the male terminal tab is inserted into the female main body, the male terminal tab elastically contacts the elastic contact piece inside the female main body, and the male and female terminals are electrically connected. .

JP 2002-141129 A

  However, the tab of the conventional male terminal is thin toward the tip and has a sharp shape. For this reason, when the tab of the male terminal is inserted into the female main body, if the pinch fitting occurs, the elastic contact piece inside the female main body will be plastically deformed and the female terminal will be damaged. There was a problem.

The male terminal disclosed in the present specification is a male terminal including a cylindrical male main body portion extending in the front-rear direction and a spherical portion protruding forward from a front end portion of the male main body portion, The spherical portion is composed of a plurality of tongue pieces projecting forward from the front end portion of the male side main body portion, and the plurality of tongue pieces are thinned toward the tip and are spheres directed inward. It is curved into a shape, and a slit portion between a pair of adjacent tongue pieces is accommodated in the spherical portion.
The female terminal fitted to the male terminal includes, for example, a box-shaped female main body and an elastic contact piece that is provided inside the female main body and elastically contacts the male main body. Shall. Here, inserting the female side main body part in a state where the male side main body part is inclined is referred to as “squeeze fitting”. When the twist fitting is generated, the spherical portion at the tip of the male main body portion strongly hits the elastic contact piece of the female main body portion. However, since the spherical portion is composed of a plurality of tongue pieces, and the tongue pieces are curved in a spherical shape toward the inside, the impact applied to the elastic contact pieces is dispersed and relaxed over a wide range. For this reason, the elastic contact piece is prevented from being plastically deformed due to the squeeze fit, so that the female terminal can be prevented from being damaged by the squeeze fit.
In addition, when the slit formed between a pair of adjacent tongue pieces does not fit in the spherical part but extends to the male main body, it is positioned on the male main body when a snug fitting occurs. The male main body is inserted into the female main body while the side edge of the slit portion and the elastic contact piece slide strongly. Thereby, an elastic contact piece will be damaged. However, if the slit part is housed in the spherical part as in the above configuration, the side body edge of the slit part and the elastic contact piece do not slide even if a twist fit occurs, and the male main body part Is inserted into the female-side main body. Therefore, damage to the female terminal can be prevented.

Moreover, it is good also as the front-end | tip part of the said some tongue piece part mutually contacting.
For example, when the tip portions of the tongue pieces are not in contact with each other, when the twist fitting occurs, for example, when the tip of the tongue pieces strongly hits the elastic contact piece of the female terminal, There is a possibility that the elastic contact piece enters between the tip portions and the elastic contact piece is deformed. However, the elastic contact pieces can be prevented from being deformed by bringing the tip portions of the plurality of tongue pieces into contact with each other as described above.

The number of the plurality of tongue pieces may be three.
When the number of the tongue pieces is increased, the strength of the tongue pieces is reduced. Therefore, when the tongue pieces strongly hit the elastic contact piece of the female terminal, the tongue pieces may be deformed. On the other hand, when the number of tongue pieces is two, the load applied when drawing the tongue pieces into a spherical shape needs to be applied more than in the case of three tongue pieces, Processing cost increases. Accordingly, the optimum number of tongue pieces is three.

  According to the male terminal disclosed in the present specification, it is possible to prevent the counterpart female terminal from being damaged even if the twist fitting is generated.

Right side view of the charging connector Perspective view of male terminal Top view of male terminal Right side view of male terminal Front view of male terminal

<Embodiment>
The present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
The male terminal 10 of this embodiment is used for the charging connector 1 which charges EV etc., as shown in FIG. The charging connector 1 includes a housing 80, a male terminal 10, and a retainer 90. In the following description, the X direction in FIGS. 1 to 5 is the front and the Z direction is the upper.

  The male terminal 10 is formed by pressing and bending a metal sheet metal, and includes a male-side main body portion 20, a spherical portion 30, and a wire connecting portion 40 as shown in FIG. The male side main body 20 has a cylindrical shape extending in the front-rear direction. A pair of mating surfaces 22 is formed on the upper side of the male-side main body 20 by combining the end surfaces of both ends of the sheet metal.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the spherical portion 30 protrudes forward from the front end portion of the male main body portion 20. The spherical portion 30 is composed of three tongue pieces 32. The tongue piece portion 32 is narrowed toward the tip, and is curved in a spherical shape toward the inside. The tip portions of the three tongue pieces 32 are in contact with each other. A slit portion 34 is formed between the side edges of the pair of adjacent tongue pieces 32. The slit portion 34 is accommodated in the spherical portion 30 and, as shown in FIG. 5, is accommodated within the outer diameter of the male main body portion 20 in front view. Thus, the reason why the number of the tongue pieces 32 is three is that the strength of the tongue pieces 32 decreases as the number of the tongue pieces 32 increases. The number of tongue pieces 32 is not set to two because the load applied to the tongue pieces 32 when the tongue pieces 32 are drawn into a spherical shape is set to three. This is because the processing cost increases as compared to the case.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the electric wire connecting portion 40 is a so-called open barrel type, and is formed to extend rearward from the rear end portion of the male-side main body portion 20. The core wire of the electric wire 41 is fixed to the electric wire connecting portion 40 by crimping.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a locking piece 50 is provided on the rear side of the male-side main body 20 so as to protrude outward in the radial direction and form a plate shape. As shown in FIG. 1, a cylindrical sleeve 70 is attached to the male terminal 10. A lock hole 71 is opened in the front portion of the sleeve 70. The lock hole 71 is opened at a position corresponding to the lock piece 50 of the male terminal 10, and the lock piece 50 of the male terminal 10 is inserted into the lock hole 71 of the sleeve 70. Thereby, the sleeve 70 is fixed to the male terminal 10.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 80 has a cylindrical shape, and a cavity 81 is provided in the housing 80 so as to penetrate in the front-rear direction. The male terminal 10 is inserted into the cavity 81. The front end surface of the sleeve 70 is in contact with the front wall 82 protruding radially inward from the inner peripheral surface of the cavity 81, so that the male terminal 10 is prevented from being pulled forward.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the retainer 90 is mounted from the rear of the housing 80 and includes a retainer main body 91 having a plate shape. The retainer body 91 is provided with a wire insertion hole 92 through which the wire 41 connected to the male terminal 10 is inserted. The rear end surface of the sleeve 70 is brought into contact with the opening edge of the electric wire insertion hole 92 to prevent the male terminal 10 from coming out backward.

  A female terminal (not shown) includes a rectangular tube-shaped female main body that opens in the front-rear direction, and an elastic contact piece that is provided inside the female main body and elastically contacts the male terminal 10. The female terminal is provided inside a charging inlet (not shown).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
The charging connector 1 is connected to a charging inlet (not shown). Thereby, the male terminal 10 of the charging connector 1 is fitted to a female terminal (not shown). At this time, when the male terminal 10 is fitted to the female terminal in a tilted state, a so-called twist fitting is obtained.

  When the twist fitting occurs, first, the tip portions of the three tongue pieces 32 at the tip of the male terminal 10 strongly contact the elastic contact piece. However, since the tips of the three tongue pieces 32 are closed in contact with each other, the elastic contact pieces enter the tips of the three tongue pieces 32 and the elastic contact pieces are prevented from being deformed.

  Next, the outer surface of the tongue piece portion 32 of the male terminal 10 strongly contacts the elastic contact piece of the female terminal. However, since the tongue piece portion 32 is formed in a spherical shape, the impact applied to the elastic contact piece is Alleviated. For this reason, the elastic contact piece is prevented from being plastically deformed and damaged by the tight fitting.

  Next, the male main body 20 is inserted into the female main body while the male main body 20 and the elastic contact piece slide strongly. At this time, since the slit portion 34 is accommodated in the spherical portion 30 and within the outer diameter of the male main body portion 20 in a front view, the side edge of the tongue piece portion 32 and the elastic contact piece are slid. It doesn't move. This prevents the elastic contact piece from being damaged.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the female terminal fitted to the male terminal 10 is provided, for example, inside the box-shaped female-side main body portion and the female-side main body portion. It shall be provided with the elastic contact piece which contacts elastically. Here, the fact that the male main body 20 is inserted into the female main body while the male main body 20 is tilted is referred to as “fitting”. When the twist fitting is generated, the spherical portion 30 at the tip of the male side main body portion 20 strongly hits the elastic contact piece of the female side main body portion. However, since the spherical portion 30 is composed of a plurality of tongue pieces 32 and the tongue pieces 32 are curved in a spherical shape toward the inside, the impact applied to the elastic contact pieces is dispersed and relaxed over a wide range. . For this reason, the elastic contact piece is prevented from being plastically deformed due to the squeeze fit, so that the female terminal can be prevented from being damaged by the squeeze fit.
Further, when the slit portion 34 formed between the pair of adjacent tongue pieces 32 does not fit in the spherical portion 30 but extends to the male side main body portion 20, The male main body 20 is inserted into the female main body while the side edge of the slit portion 34 located in the side main body 20 and the elastic contact piece slide strongly. Thereby, an elastic contact piece will be damaged. However, when the slit portion 34 is housed in the spherical portion 30 as in the above configuration, the side edge of the slit portion 34 and the elastic contact piece do not slide even if the twist fitting occurs. The male main body 20 is inserted into the female main body. Therefore, damage to the female terminal can be prevented.

  Further, for example, when the tip portions of the tongue piece portions 32 are not in contact with each other, when the twist fitting occurs, for example, when the tip portion of the tongue piece portion 32 strongly hits the elastic contact piece of the female terminal, There is a possibility that the elastic contact piece may enter between the tip portions of the tongue piece portion 32 and the elastic contact piece may be deformed. However, the elastic contact pieces can be prevented from being deformed by bringing the tip portions of the plurality of tongue pieces 32 into contact with each other as described above.

  Further, when the number of the tongue pieces 32 is increased, the strength of the tongue pieces 32 is reduced. Therefore, when the tongue pieces 32 strongly hit the elastic contact pieces of the female terminals, the tongue pieces 32 may be deformed. is there. On the other hand, when the number of the tongue pieces 32 is two, the load applied when the tongue pieces 32 are drawn into a spherical shape needs to be applied more than in the case where there are three tongue pieces 32. This increases the processing cost. Therefore, the optimum number of tongue pieces 32 is three.

<Other embodiments>
The technology disclosed in the present specification is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings, and includes, for example, the following various aspects.
(1) Although the male terminal 10 of the present embodiment is used for the charging connector 1 for charging EV and the like, it may be used for a connector used for other purposes.
(2) In the male terminal 10 of the present embodiment, the number of the tongue pieces 32 is three, but the number of the tongue pieces 32 may be two, or four or more.
(3) In the male terminal 10 of the present embodiment, the tip portions of the three tongue pieces 32 are in contact with each other, but the tip portions may not be in contact with each other.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Male terminal 20 ... Male side main-body part 30 ... Spherical part 32 ... Tongue piece part 34 ... Slit part

Claims (3)

A male terminal comprising a cylindrical male main body extending in the front-rear direction and a spherical portion protruding forward from the front end of the male main body,
The spherical portion is composed of a plurality of tongue pieces projecting forward from the front end portion of the male main body portion, and the plurality of tongue pieces are narrowed toward the tip and directed inward. It is curved into a spherical shape,
The slit between the pair of adjacent tongue pieces is a male terminal that is accommodated in the spherical portion.   The male terminal according to claim 1, wherein tips of the plurality of tongue pieces are in contact with each other.   The male terminal according to claim 1, wherein the number of the plurality of tongue pieces is three.

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