The invention relates to a cable mounting member.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-155892 describes a crimping terminal to be crimped to a cable that includes a core and an insulation coating surrounding the core. This crimping terminal includes a first standing portion of an overlap type and a second standing portion of a non-overlap type. The first and second standing portions are crimped respectively to the insulation coating of the cable.
A pulling force may act on the cable having the crimping terminal crimped thereto and may cause the insulation coating to elongate and slip relative to the core inside. However, a cable holding force by the crimping terminal of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-155892 may be reduced if the insulation coating slips relative to the core.
The cable mounting member described in this specification was completed based on the above situation and aims to assure a sufficient cable holding force.
A cable mounting member in accordance with this specification is to be mounted on a cable that includes a core and an insulation coating surrounding the core. The cable mounting member includes a first holding portion held in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating, a second holding portion spaced from the first holding portion along an axial direction of the cable via a first slit held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating, and a deflectable and deformable first coupling in a part between the first and second holding portions where the first slit is absent and coupling the first and second holding portions.
According to this configuration, the first and second holding portions hold the cable by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating at different positions in the direction along the axial direction of the cable. A pulling force on the cable causes the first coupling to deflect and deform so that the cable between the first and second holding portions can bend locally. This causes a frictional force between the core and the insulation coating to increase at a position where the cable is bent and makes the insulation coating difficult to slip relative to the core. Thus, a cable holding force by the cable mounting member remains high.
A terminal that is crimped to the cable with a strong force to restrict slippage of the insulation coating relative to the core may change an impedance of the cable and may affect transmission performance. However, the cable of this disclosure is bent locally and can be held even if the terminal is not crimped to the cable with a strong force. Thus, the deterioration of transmission performance due to an impedance change of the cable can be suppressed.
The cable mounting member may further have a third holding portion spaced from the first and second holding portions along the axial direction of the cable via a second slit for holding the cable by contacting the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating. A deflectable and deformable second coupling may be in a part between the second and third holding portions where the second slit is absent and may couple the second and third holding portions. The second coupling is offset from the first coupling in a circumferential direction of the cable. With this arrangement, a force to pull the cable will deflect the first and second couplings so that the cable can bend locally at plural positions. Thus, the insulation coating is less likely to slip relative to the core, and a reduction of a cable holding force by the cable mounting member is suppressed further.
The cable mounting member may further include two barrel pieces that define the first holding portion, the second holding portion and the first coupling. The barrel pieces include an overlap in which a tip side of one barrel piece overlaps on a tip side of the other barrel piece, and the first coupling may be provided in the overlap. With this arrangement, the strength of the first coupling is enhanced by a thickness of the overlap so that the width of the first coupling can be reduced and the first coupling can be made flexible while enhancing the strength thereof.
The cable may be an unshielded twist pair cable (hereafter a UTP cable) including a twisted pair cable as the core and the insulation coating collectively surrounding the twisted pair cable. The UTP cable has no shield layer. Thus, friction between the twisted pair cable and the insulation coating is small as compared to an STP cable or the like having a shield layer, and the UTP cable has a property that the insulation coating easily slips relative to the twisted pair cable. Thus, a frictional force between the twisted pair cable and the insulation coating can be increased by locally bending the UTP cable having such a property. Thus, the insulation coating becomes less likely to slip relative to the core and a reduction of the cable holding force by the cable mounting member can be suppressed.
A cable mounting member with cable includes the above-described cable mounting member and the cable having the cable mounting member mounted thereon.
A housing may be provided to accommodate the cable mounting member. The cable mounting member may include a locked portion, and the housing may include a locking portion that engages the locked portion to restrict movement of the cable mounting member. Thus, a force generated on the cable can be received by the housing and will not affect a connected part to a mating terminal or the like.
A first embodiment is described with reference to
(Connector 10)
As shown in
(Cable Mounting Member with Cable 20)
As shown in
(Cable 21)
The cable 21 is a UTP cable (Unshielded Twist Pair cable) with a twisted pair cable 22 and an insulation coating 24 collectively surrounding the twisted pair cable 22. No shield layer is provided between the twisted pair cable 22 and the insulation coating 24.
The twisted pair cable 22 is constituted by twisting two cores 23, each of which has a metal conductor covered by an insulating layer. The end part of the cable 21 has the insulation coating 24 removed to expose the cores 23, and end parts of the exposed cores 23 have the insulating layers removed to expose the conductor parts to be connected to terminals 26. As shown in
(Cable Mounting Member 30)
As shown in
The bottom plate 31 and the barrel pieces 32 include a first holding portion 34 for holding the cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating 24 of the cable 21 and a second holding portion 35 for holding the cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating 24 of the cable 21 at a position different from the first holding portion 34 in a direction along an axial direction (X axis direction) of the cable 21. Further, the barrel pieces 32 include deflectable and deformable first couplings 37 coupling the first and second holding portions 34, 35.
The first slit 33 is formed between the first and second holding portions 34, 35. The first couplings 37 are provided on sides of the respective barrel pieces 32 closer to the tips than the first slit 33. As shown in
The extending portion 39 includes a flat plate 39A connected to a front end part of the bottom plate 31 and extending in the lateral direction, and folded portions 39B folded at both end edge parts of the flat plate 39A. Front and rear ends of the folded portions 39B define locked portions 40 to be locked by locking portions 55A of the housing 50 and have an R shape.
(Housing 50)
The housing 50 is made of insulating synthetic resin and includes a body 51 and a cover 60 for covering an open side of the body 51, as shown in
Side walls of the body 51 have rectangular cutouts 55 that receive the folded portions 39B of the cable mounting member 30. Front and rear end parts of each cutout 55 define the locking portions 55A for restricting a movement of the cable mounting member 30 in the front-rear direction by locking the locking portions 40. Engaged protrusions 57 and a guide recess 58 are formed on the outer surface of each of the side walls of the body 51. The cover 60 is a rectangular plate and includes engaging claws 61 for holding the cover 60 in a closed state by engaging the engaged protrusions 57 and a plate-like guide projection 62 to be inserted and guided in the guide recess 58 on side edges thereof. Each engaging claw 61 has a deflectable and deformable plate with an inwardly projecting a claw that is locked to a step of the engaged protrusion 57.
On the other hand,
Specifically, the cable mounting member 30 of this embodiment is mounted on the cable 21 including the cores 23 and the insulation coating 24 surrounding the cores 23, and includes the first holding portion 34 for holding the cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating 24, the second holding portion 35 provided at the position different from the first holding portion in the direction along the axial direction of the cable 21 via the first slit 33 for holding the cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating 24, and the deflectable and deformable first couplings 37 provided in the parts between the first and second holding portions 34, 35 where the first slit 33 is absent and coupling the first and second holding portions 34, 35.
As shown in
Further, if the terminals 26 are crimped to the cable 21 with a strong force to restrict the slip of the insulation coating 24 relative to the cores 23, an impedance of the cable 21 may change to affect transmission performance. However, according to this embodiment, the cable 21 can be held even if the terminals 26 are not crimped to the cable 21 with a strong force, and deterioration of transmission performance due to an impedance change of the cable 21 can be suppressed.
The cable mounting member 30 includes the two barrel pieces 32 having the first holding portion 34, the second holding portion 35 and the first couplings 37. The barrel pieces 32 include the overlaps 36 where the tip side of one barrel piece 32 is overlapped with the tip side of the other barrel piece 32, and the first couplings 37 are provided in the overlaps 36. With this arrangement, the strength of the first couplings 37 is enhanced by the thicknesses of the overlaps 36 so that the widths of the first coupling portions 37 can be reduced and the first couplings 37 can be easily made flexible while enhancing the strength thereof.
Further, the cable 21 is the UTP cable including the twisted pair cable 22 as the cores 23 and the insulation coating 24 collectively surrounding the twisted pair cable 22. The UTP cable has no shield layer. Thus, friction between the twisted pair cable 22 and the insulation coating 24 is small as compared to a STP cable (Shielded twist Pair cable) having a shield layer, and the UTP cable has a property that the insulation coating 24 easily slips relative to the twisted pair cable 22. According to the above configuration, a frictional force between the twisted pair cable 22 and the insulation coating 24 can be increased by locally bending the cable 21. Thus, the insulation coating 24 becomes less likely to slip relative to the cores 23 and a reduction of the holding force to hold the cable 21 by the cable mounting member 30 can be suppressed.
Further, the housing 50 accommodates the cable mounting member 30. The cable mounting member 30 includes the locked portions 40, and the housing 50 includes the locking portions 55A for restricting a movement of the cable mounting member 30 by locking the locked portions 40. With this arrangement, a force generated on the cable 21 can be received by the housing 50. Thus, the force generated on the cable 21 can be prevented from affecting connected parts to the mating terminals or the like.
A second embodiment is described with reference to
Front ends 71A, 71A of a barrel pieces 71 of a cable mounting member 70 mounted on an end part of a cable 21 butt against each other (O-crimp), as shown in
A third embodiment is described with reference to
A bottom plate portion and a pair of barrel pieces of a cable mounting member 80 of the third embodiment include a first holding portion 34 for holding a cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of an insulation coating 24 of the cable 21, a second holding portion 35 for holding the cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating 24 of the cable 21 at a position different from the first holding portion 34 in a direction along an axial direction of the cable 21, and a third holding portion 81 for holding the cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating 24 of the cable 21 at a position different from the first and second holding portions 34, 35 in the direction along the axial direction of the cable 21. Further, the barrel pieces include a deflectable and deformable first coupling 37 coupling the first and second holding portions 34, 35 and a deflectable and deformable second coupling 82 coupling the second and third holding portions 35, 81.
A first slit 33 and a second slit 84 are formed between the first and second holding portions 34, 35 and between the second and third holding portions 35, 81. The second coupling 82 is formed at an opposite position (position at an angle of 180°) to the first coupling portion 37 in a circumferential direction. Specifically, the second coupling 82 is formed at the same position (angle) as an extending portion 39 in the circumferential direction.
According to the third embodiment, the cable mounting member 80 includes the third holding portion 81 provided at the position different from the first and second holding portions 34, 35 in the direction along the axial direction of the cable 21 via the second slit 84 for holding the cable 21 by being held in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the insulation coating 24 and the deflectable and deformable second coupling portion 82 provided in a part between the second and third holding portions 35, 81 where the second slit 84 is absent and coupling the second and third holding portions 35, 81, and the second coupling portion 82 is provided at the position different from the first coupling portion 37 in the circumferential direction of the cable 21. With this arrangement, if a force F1 in a direction to pull the cable 21 is generated, the first and second coupling portions 37, 82 are deflected as shown in
Note that, without being limited to this, a bottom plate and two barrel pieces of a cable mounting member 90 may include a first holding portion 34, a second holding portion 35, a third holding portion 81 and a fourth holding portion 91, the barrel pieces may include a deflectable and deformable first coupling 92 coupling the first and second holding portions 34, 35, a deflectable and deformable second coupling 93 coupling the second and third holding portions 35, 81, and a deflectable and deformable third coupling 94 coupling the third and fourth holding portions 81, 91 as shown in
The invention is not limited to the above described and illustrated embodiments. For example, the following embodiments also are included in the scope of the invention.
The cable mounting member 30 may be formed into a terminal. The cable mounting member may be a female terminal with a box-shaped terminal connecting portion to be connected to a mating male terminal, and the cable mounting member may be integral to the terminals 26.
Although the cable mounting member 30 is of an open barrel type including the bottom plate portion 31 and the two barrel pieces 32, there is no limitation to this. For example, the cable mounting member may be of a closed barrel type to be caulked and crimped to the cable 21 inserted into a hollow cylindrical tubular portion.
Edges configured to bite into the insulation coating 24 may be provided on inner surfaces of the barrel pieces 32.
The cable 21 is not limited to the UTP cable. For example, the cable 21 may be a STP cable or a cable other than those for communication.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-220326 | Nov 2016 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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3320574 | Tuchel | May 1967 | A |
3549787 | Churla, Jr. | Dec 1970 | A |
6059616 | Bluemmel | May 2000 | A |
9184541 | Miyamoto | Nov 2015 | B2 |
10103469 | Humphrey | Oct 2018 | B1 |
20150079825 | Miyamoto | Mar 2015 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2012-155892 | Aug 2012 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20180138601 A1 | May 2018 | US |