This specification relates to a connector with cover.
A conventional structure for sealing a clearance between end parts of a wire and a connector housing uses a rubber plug as a sealing member. A cover for covering wires drawn out from a connector housing may be mounted on a connector of this type. The wire cover guides and draws out the wires pulled out rearward from the connector housing while protecting the wires (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-81655).
There is a need for a connector to suppress deformation of sealing members and to ensure waterproofing when wires need to be bent near the rear end of the connector housing due to an insufficient wiring space or when an external force is applied to pull the wires.
A connector with cover disclosed by this specification includes: a wire, a connector housing configured to hold an end of the wire, a sealing member mounted on the wire and configured to seal a clearance between the connector housing and the wire, and a cover assembled with the connector housing and configured to cover the wire. The connector housing has a wire pull-out surface, and a cavity is open in the wire pull-out surface. The cavity is configured to accommodate the end of the wire and the sealing member inside. The sealing member has a wire draw-out surface and includes a wire insertion hole that is open in the wire draw-out surface. The wire is inserted into the wire insertion hole. The cover includes a cover body that is configured to cover the wire, and a guide that extends from the cover body. The guide is configured to contact the wire draw-out surface and guide the wire.
According to the above configuration, the guide is in contact with the wire draw-out surface and holds the sealing member at a proper insertion position in the cavity. An external force applied to the wire may pull the wire in a direction separating from the cavity. However, the guide presses the sealing member and holds the sealing member at the proper position. In this way, a waterproof function is ensured.
The guide may include two holding walls aligned perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface and configured to sandwich and hold the wire. The holding walls hold the wire perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface at a position adjacent to the wire pull-out surface. A conventional connector has a cover with no holding wall, and a wire drawn out from such a connector housing may be bent to extend obliquely to a wire pull-out surface. Hence, there is a concern that the conventional sealing member will deform and follow the wire. However, the holding wall of the cover of this disclosure holds the wire perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface. Thus, the sealing member will not deform and will not reduce the waterproof function.
The conventional connector with a cover that has no holding wall requires the wire to be pulled out straight for a certain length from the connector housing to suppress deformation of the sealing member. In contrast, the holding walls hold wire perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface in the above configuration. In this way, the sealing member will not deform even if the wire is bent at a position adjacent to the holding walls. In this way, the cover can be smaller.
The holding wall may include a contact edge configured to contact the wire draw-out surface, an end edge extending at an angle to the contact edge and a tapered portion extending obliquely from the end edge to the contact edge on a corner defined by the contact edge and the end edge. The sealing member may deviate slightly from the proper insertion position in the cavity. However, the tapered portion will guide and push the slightly misaligned sealing member into the cavity as the cover is assembled with the connector housing. Thus, the position of the slightly misaligned sealing member is corrected to the proper insertion position. Further, a sealing member that is misaligned a relatively large amount will interfere with the holding walls and will prevent the cover from being assembled with the connector housing. Accordingly, the holding walls correct the position of a slightly misaligned sealing member to the proper insertion position or detect a misalignment that is too large to correct.
The cover may include a first and second covers to be assembled with each other. The first cover may include the guide having the holding walls and locks extending toward the second cover from the holding walls. The second cover may include lock receiving portions to be engaged with the locks. According to this configuration, even if an external force acts on the holding walls, the deflection of the holding walls away from each other is avoided by the engagement of the locks with the lock receiving portions. In this way, the wire reliably is held perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface.
The holding wall may include a retaining portion projecting toward the holding walls and configured to retain the wire. According to this configuration, the retaining portion prevents separation of the wire from between the holding walls so that the wire is held perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface.
One holding wall may include plural retaining portions and the wires may be held between adjacent retaining portions. Accordingly, plural wires can be held between the two holding walls by increasing the number of the retaining portions. Thus, a case where wires drawn out from the connector housing are arranged in rows can be coped with.
The retaining portion may be a leaf spring-like retaining spring. According to this configuration, the amount of deflection of the retaining spring changes according to an outer diameter of the wire held between the pair of holding walls. Thus, a size change of the wire held in the connector housing can be coped with to a certain extent.
According to the connector with cover disclosed by this specification, it is possible to suppress deformation of the sealing member and to ensure a waterproof function.
A specific example of the connector disclosed by this specification is described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the invention is not limited to these illustrations and is intended to be represented by claims and include all changes in the scope of claims and in the meaning and scope of equivalents.
An embodiment is described with reference to
[Wires 10 and Rubber Plugs 20]
Terminal fittings are crimped respectively to the wires 10 and the rubber plug 20 is mounted on an end of each of the wires 10. As shown in
[Connector Housing 30]
The connector housing 30 is made of synthetic resin and includes, as shown in
The receptacle 31 includes a back wall 32 in the form of a rectangular plate and a peripheral wall 33 in the form of a rectangular tube extending from the peripheral edge of the back wall 32.
As shown in
[Cover 40]
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The lower cover 51 includes locking projections 58, and the upper cover 61 includes locking pieces 64 engage the locking projections 58.
As shown in
The holding wall 73 has a contact edge 73A and an extending end edge 73B (equivalent to an end edge). As shown in
Each of the guides 71 comes into contact with the wire draw-out surface 20F of the rubber plug 20 and guides the wire 10 when the cover 40 is assembled with the connector housing 30. As shown in
[Assembling of Connector with Cover 1]
In assembling the connector with cover, the wires 10 are first mounted into the connector housing 30 as shown in
Subsequently, the cover 40 is assembled with the connector housing 30 having the wires 10 mounted therein.
First, as shown in
Subsequently, as shown in
With the assembling of the connector with cover 1 completed, the wires 10 drawn out from the wire holding portion 34 are covered by the cover 40. The wires 10 are bent along the L shape of the main tube 42 and drawn out from the draw-out portion 43.
Further, as shown in
Further, the rubber plug 20 may deviate from the proper insertion position in the cavity 35 due to an error in the insertion amount of the wire 10 into the cavity 35, an error in the mounted position of the rubber plug 20 on the wire 10 or the like when the wire 10 is mounted into the connector housing 30. However, the holding walls 73 include the tapered portions 73C. If a positional deviation amount of the rubber plug 20 is relatively small, the rubber plug 20 is guided by the tapered portions 73C and pushed into the cavity 35 when the lower cover 51 is assembled with the connector housing 30. In this way, the position of the rubber plug 20 is corrected to the proper insertion position. Further, if the positional deviation amount of the rubber plug 20 is relatively large, the rubber plug 20 interferes with the holding walls 73 and the lower cover 51 cannot be assembled with the connector housing 30. As just described, the holding walls 73 function to correct the position of the rubber plug 20 to the proper insertion position in the cavity 35 or detect an insertion failure.
As shown in
Further, with the conventional connector with cover including no holding wall, the wires are required to be pulled out straight a certain length from the connector housing to suppress the deformation of the rubber plugs. However, in this embodiment, the holding walls 73 hold the wires 10 perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface 34F1 at positions adjacent to the wire pull-out surface 34F1, as shown in
As described above, according to this embodiment, the connector with cover 1 includes the wires 10, the connector housing 30 configured to hold the ends of the wires 10, the rubber plugs 20 configured to seal the clearances between the connector housing 30 and the wires 10 by being mounted on the wires 10 and the cover 40 configured to cover the wires 10 by being assembled with the connector housing 30. The connector housing 30 has the wire pull-out surface 34F1 and includes the cavities 35 open in the wire pull-out surface 34F1 and configured to accommodate the ends of the wires 10 and the rubber plugs 20 inside. The rubber plug 20 has the wire draw-out surface 20F and includes the wire insertion hole 21 open in the wire draw-out surface 20F, the wire 10 being inserted into the wire insertion hole 21. The cover 40 includes the cover body 41 configured to cover the wires 10 and the guides 71 extending from the lower cover 51 constituting the cover body 41 and configured to contact the wire draw-out surfaces 20F and guide the wires 10. Accordingly, the rubber plugs 20 are positioned properly in the cavities 35 by the contact of the guides 71 with the wire draw-out surfaces 20F. Even if the wire 10 is pulled in a direction separating from the cavity 35 by a certain external force applied to the wire 10, the rubber plug 20 is pushed by the guide 71 and held at the proper position. In this way, the waterproof function is ensured.
Further, the guide 71 includes the two holding walls 73 disposed perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface 34F1 and configured to sandwich and hold the wire 10. According to this configuration, the wire 10 is held perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface 34F1 at the position adjacent to the wire pull-out surface 34F1. Here, if the wires 10 drawn out from the connector housing 30 are bent, the wires 10 extend obliquely to the wire pull-out surface 34F1 and there is a concern about a reduction of the waterproof function due to the deformation of the rubber plugs 20, following the wires 10. However, in the configuration of this embodiment, the holding walls 73 hold the wires 10 perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface 34F1. In this way, a reduction of the waterproof function due to the deformation of the rubber plugs 20 is avoided.
Further, with the conventional connector with cover including no holding wall 73, the wires are required to be pulled out straight a certain length from the connector housing to suppress the deformation of the sealing members. However, since the wires 10 are held perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface 34F1 by the holding walls 73 in the configuration of this embodiment, the deformation of the rubber plugs 20 can be avoided even if the wires 10 are bent at positions adjacent to the holding walls 73. In this way, the cover 40 is reduced in size.
Further, the holding wall 73 includes the contact edge 73A configured to contact the wire draw-out surface 20F, the extending end edge 73B extending perpendicular to the contact edge 73A, and the tapered portion 73C extending obliquely from the extending end edge 73B to the contact edge 73A on the corner part defined by the contact edge 73A and the extending end edge 73B. Accordingly, if the positional deviation amount of the rubber plug 20 from the proper insertion position in the cavity 35 is relatively small, the rubber plug 20 is guided by the tapered portions 73C and pushed into the cavity 35 when the cover 40 is assembled with the connector housing 30. In this way, the position of the rubber plug 20 is corrected to the proper insertion position. Further, if the positional deviation amount of the rubber plug 20 from the proper insertion position in the cavity 35 is relatively large, the rubber plug 20 interferes with the holding walls 73 and the cover 40 cannot be assembled with the connector housing 30. As just described, the guide 71 functions to correct the position of the rubber plug 20 to the proper insertion position in the cavity 35 or detect an insertion failure.
Next, a first modification is described with reference to
A cover 110 includes the lower cover 111 and the upper cover 115 to be assembled with the lower cover 111 as in the above embodiment. The lower cover 111 includes the guides 112 extending from a bottom wall 53. As shown in
The upper main tube portion 116 of the upper cover 115 includes the locking holes 117 for receiving the locks 114 as shown in
This modification has functions and effects similar to those of the above embodiment are achieved. Further, with the lower cover 111 and the upper cover 115 assembled with each other, the tips of the locks 114 are inserted in the locking holes 117 as shown in
A second modification is described with reference to
A guide 211 provided in a lower cover 210 includes a supporting column 212, two holding walls 213 and retaining claws 214 (equivalent to a retaining portion) respectively extending from the tips of the holding walls 213, as shown in
When the lower cover 210 is assembled with the connector housing 30, the wires 10 are fit respectively into the guides 211 as shown in
This modification has functions and effects similar to those of the above embodiment. Further, the guide 212 includes the retaining claws 214 that interfere with the wire 10 if the wire 10 is urged in a direction (upper direction of
A third modification is described with reference to
A guide 310 includes two holding walls 311 and retaining claws 31 (equivalent to retaining portions) extending from each of the holding walls 311. Each of the holding walls 311 projects from a bottom wall 53. As in the above embodiment, the holding walls 311 are perpendicular to a wire pull-out surface 34F1. The retaining claw 314 projects toward the paired mating holding wall 311 from an extending end of the holding wall 311. One holding wall 311 includes two retaining claws 312. One of the two retaining claws 312 is arranged at an intermediate position between the extending end of the holding wall 311 and the bottom wall 53, and the other is arranged on the extending end of the holding wall 312. An interval between the bottom wall 53 and the one retaining claw 312 and an interval between the one retaining claw 312 and the other retaining claw 312 are substantially equal to an outer diameter of a wire 10.
Two wires 10 extending from a connector housing 30 are held by one guide portion 310. One wire 10 is held between the bottom wall 53 and the one retaining claws 312 and another wire 10 is held between the one retaining claws 312 and the other retaining claws 312.
This modification has functions and effects similar to those of the above embodiment. Further, one holding wall 311 includes two retaining claws 312. One wire 10 is held between the bottom wall 53 and the one retaining claws 312, and the other wire 10 is held between the one retaining claws 312 and the other retaining claws 312. Accordingly, a case where there are two rows of the wires 10 drawn out from the connector housing 30 and arranged along the bottom wall 53 can also be coped with.
A fourth modification is described with reference to
A guide 410 includes a supporting column 411, two holding walls 412 and retaining springs 413 (equivalent to a retaining portion) respectively extending from the tips of the pair of holding walls 412. The supporting column 411 projects from a bottom wall 53. Each of the holding walls 412 projects from the bottom wall 53 farther than the supporting column 411. As in the above embodiment, the holding walls 412 are arranged across the supporting column 411 in a posture perpendicular to a wire pull-out surface 34F1. The retaining spring 413 is a leaf spring-like part projecting toward the bottom wall 53 from an extending end of the holding wall 412. The retaining spring 413 is inclined with respect to the holding wall 412 to approach the mating holding wall 412 with distance from the extending end of the holding wall 412, and deflectable in a direction toward and away from the holding wall 412. An interval between the holding walls 412 is somewhat larger than an outer diameter of a wire 10 and smaller than an outer diameter of a rubber plug 20.
This modification has functions and effects similar to those of the above embodiment. Further, the retaining springs 413 prevent separation of the wire 10 from between the holding walls 412. In this way, the wires 10 reliably are held perpendicular to the wire pull-out surface 34F1. Further, the amount of deflection of the retaining springs 413 changes according to the outer diameter of the wire 10 held between the holding walls 412 so that a size change of the wires held in the connector housing can be coped with to a certain extent.
Although each of the guides 71 has the two holding walls 73 in the above embodiment, one holding wall arranged between adjacent wires may be shared by two adjacent guides.
Although one retaining claw 214 extends from one holding wall 213 in the second modification and two retaining claws 312 extend from one holding wall 311 in the third modification, a case where wires are arranged in three or more rows can be coped with by increasing the number of retaining portions projecting from one holding wall.
The retaining portion may be provided on only one of the holding walls.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2019-046831 | Mar 2019 | JP | national |