The invention relates to a connector.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-176522 discloses a connector that includes a female housing attached with a short terminal and two female terminal fittings, and a male housing including a short-cancelling projection. When the housings are separated, the short terminal keeps the female terminal fittings in a short-circuiting state. When the housings are mated, the short-cancelling projection is placed between the short terminal and the female terminal fittings to cancel the short-circuiting of the female terminal fittings.
In a state where the short-circuiting of the female terminal fittings is cancelled by the short-cancelling projection, an elastic contact piece of the short terminal always presses the short-cancelling projection toward the female terminal fitting. Thus, the short-cancelling projection may be deform toward the female terminal fitting due to a creep phenomenon when the housings are separated for maintenance or the like. The deformed short-cancelling projection then could abut against the front face of the female housings during a subsequent mating attempt to prevent the housings from being mated smoothly.
The invention has been made in view of the situation described above. It is an objective of the invention to allow the housings to be mated smoothly even when the short-cancelling projection is deformed.
The invention relates to a connector that includes a first housing with two laterally arranged terminal fittings and a second housing that can be mated with and separated from the first housing. A short terminal is provided in the first housing and has elastic contact pieces that elastically contact and short circuit the terminal fittings when the first housing is being separated from the second housing. A short-cancelling projection is formed in the second housing and protrudes in the same direction as a direction in which the second housing is mated with the first housing The short-cancelling projection has a support configured to partition the elastic contact pieces when the first housing is being mated with the second housing. The short-cancelling projection further includes two plate-shaped insulating portions protruding from the support in opposite directions from each other. The plate-shaped insulating portions are configured to be placed between the elastic contact pieces and the terminal fittings to cancel the short circuiting of the terminal fittings when the first housing is mated with the second housing. A correction portion is formed on at least one of a protruding end of the support and a protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion. The correction portion is configured to abut the first housing and to displace the short-cancelling projection in a direction along which the short-cancelling projection approaches the short terminal.
When the housings are tried to be re-mated in a state where the depression force from the elastic contact piece causes the short-cancelling projection to deform abnormally in a direction away from the short terminal. However, the correction portion is abutted to the first housing and displaces the short-cancelling projection toward the short terminal. This prevents the short-cancelling projection from being abutted to the first housing and provides smooth mating of the housings.
The protruding end of the support may have a first correction portion inclined to approach the short terminal while extending toward a tip end in a protruding direction of the short-cancelling projection. The support is provided to partition two elastic contact pieces. Thus, the support can have a large size in the direction along which the elastic contact piece depresses the terminal fitting. This consequently can provide a large range within which the correction by the first correction portion can be achieved.
The tip end of the first correction portion may be provided beyond the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion in the protruding direction. This configuration allows the first correction portion to correct the shape of the short-cancelling projection prior to the abutment of the plate-shaped insulating portion to the first housing in a process of mating the housings.
The protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion may have a second correction portion inclined backward in the protruding direction of the short-cancelling projection while extending away from the support. The plate-shaped insulating portion is displaced in the plate thickness direction due to the depression by the elastic contact piece. The displacement amount increases in a direction toward the free end away from the support. The second correction portion provided at the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion is inclined backward in the protrusion direction of the short-cancelling projection while extending away from the support. This inclination allows, in a process of mating the housings, the second correction portion to be abutted consecutively to the first housing in an order from a region closer to the support in which the displacement amount is relatively small. This can prevent the plate-shaped insulating portion from being abutted to the first housing, thus allowing the housings to be mated securely.
The protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion may have a third correction portion that is inclined to approach the short terminal while extending toward the tip end in the protruding direction of the short-cancelling projection. This configuration allows the third correction portion to correct the short-cancelling projection after the correction of the short-cancelling projection by the first correction portion.
The third correction portion may be smoothly continuous to the first correction portion. According to this configuration, the correction operation by the first correction portion and the correction operation by the third correction portion can be performed without being interrupted for example.
The following section will describe the invention with reference to
The first housing 10 is made of synthetic resin and the entirety has a block-like shape as shown in
As shown in
The front face of the first housing 10 has a cancellation insertion inlet 17 opened to communicate with the upper end of the terminal storage space 14. As shown in
As shown in
Each terminal storage space 14 stores a short terminal 22 therein. The short terminal 22 is a single piece that includes a base 23 to fix the short terminal 22 while being positioned in the terminal storage space 14 and left and right elastic contact pieces 24 provided at the upper side of the base 23. The elastic contact pieces 24 can be deformed elastically in the up-and-down direction. The contact pieces 24 elastically contact the lower face of the square tube section 13 of the female terminal fittings 12 at the upper side thereof to short circuit these female terminal fittings 12.
The second housing 30 is made of synthetic resin and includes, as shown in
As shown in
Two plate-shaped insulating portions 37 have a plate-like shape cantilevered from the upper end of the support 36 to both sides in the left-and-right direction in a horizontal. Specifically, a region at the lower end of the support 36 has a rib-like shape that protrudes from the lower faces of both of the plate-shaped insulating portions 37. This rib-like protrusion of the support 36 functions to improve the bending rigidity of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 in the up-and-down direction (the plate thickness direction of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37). The plate-shaped insulating portion 37 is formed in a region in the front-and-rear direction that extends from the front face of the terminal retention portion 31 to a position at a slightly-rear side of the front end of the support 36. A major part of the upper face of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 except that the front end edge has a horizontal surface that is continuously flush to the upper face of the support 36.
The connector of this embodiment is used for an airbag circuit for an automobile. Thus, when the first housing 10 and the second housing 30 are separated (or in a not-mated state), the elastic contact pieces 24 are abutted elastically to the lower face of the square tube section 13 of the female terminal fittings 12 to allow the short terminal 22 to retain the female terminal fittings 12 in a short-circuit state. This consequently prevents the airbag from erroneously inflating. When the housings 10 and 30 are mated, the short circuiting of the female terminal fittings 12 is cancelled so that the airbag is operable.
When the short circuiting is cancelled, the short-cancelling projection 35 enters the terminal storage space 14 from the cancellation insertion inlet 17. Then, the plate-shaped insulating portions 37 pass the first opening 18 and the support 36 passes the second opening 19. Then, as shown in
As shown in
However, the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 always receives an elastic depression force (biasing force) upward (in the plate thickness direction of plate-shaped insulating portion 37) caused by the elastic restoring force exerted by the elastic contact piece 24 from below. This causes a risk where, when the housings 10 and 30 are mated for a long time, the synthetic resin-made short-cancelling projection 35 may be deformed to bow up and to move into the above gap due to a creep phenomenon. This deformation causes, as shown in
At the same time, as shown in
To solve this, the short-cancelling projection 35 has the first to third correction portions 41, 42, and 43 as shown in
The second correction portion 42 is formed at the front end edge of the plate-shaped insulating portions 37. The second correction portion 42 continues over the entire width in the left-and-right direction of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37. As shown in
The third correction portion 43 is continuous over the entire width region of the protrusion front end edge of the plate-shaped insulating portions 37 extending in the left-and-right direction. Similar to the first correction portion 41, the third correction portion 43 is inclined to lower the height while extending toward the tip end of the protrusion of the short-cancelling projection 35. The base end of the third correction portion 43 (an end closer to the support 36 in the left-and-right direction) is smoothly continuous to the first correction portion 41. Similar to the second correction portion 42, the third correction portion 43 is continuous over the entire width region of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37. Thus, the foremost tip end of the third correction portion 43 is at a position slightly rearward of the front end of the support 36 and the front end of the first correction portion 41 and slightly forward of the rear end of the first correction portion 41.
In a process of mating the housings 10 and 30 while the short-cancelling projection 35 is deformed up, as shown in
After the rear end of the first correction portion 41 reaches the opening upper edge 20, the entire support 36 is inserted into the first opening 18. Thus, a base end of the second correction portion 42 and the third correction portion 43 that is closer to the support 36 subsequently has a sliding contact with the opening upper edge 20. As described above, the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 is deformed up so that the free end side has the maximum displacement amount. The second correction portion 42 is inclined so that the free end is retracted. Thus, the second correction portion 42 and the third correction portion 43 have a sliding contact with the opening upper edge 20 (the first housing 10) at a position that gradually moves to the free end with the increase of the mating of the housings 10 and 30. Then, this displacement of the sliding contact position causes the gradual depression of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 downward, thus allowing the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 to enter the cancellation insertion inlet 17. This consequently allows both of the housings 10 and 30 to be mated normally.
The housings 10 and 30 are mated with the short-cancelling projection 35 being deformed, as shown in
The connector of this embodiment includes the first housing 10 in which the female terminal fittings 12 are stored laterally, the second housing 30 that can be mated with and separated from the first housing 10, and the short terminal 22 provided in the first housing 10. The short terminal 22 is configured to bring the elastic contact pieces 24 elastically into contact with the female terminal fittings 12 when the housings 10 and 30 are separated to thereby cause the female terminal fittings 12 to be short-circuited. The second housing 30 has the short-cancelling projection 35 protruding in the same direction as the direction along which the second housing 30 is mated with the first housing 10.
The support 36 the short-cancelling projection 35 is provided to partition the elastic contact pieces 24 while both of the housings 10 and 30 are mated. The plate-shaped insulating portions 37, which similarly constitute the short-cancelling projection 35 as in the support 36, protrudes from the support 36 in directions opposite to each other in the left-and-right direction. The plate-shaped insulating portions 37 are placed between the elastic contact pieces 24 and the female terminal fittings 12 while the housings 10 and 30 are being mated, thereby cancelling the short circuiting of the female terminal fitting 12.
The protruding end of the support 36 and the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portions 37 have the first to third correction portions 41, 42, and 43. These correction portions 41, 42, and 43 are configured, in a process of mating the housings 10 and 30, to abut the front face of the first housing 10 to thereby displace the short-cancelling projection 35 in a direction toward the short terminal 22. When both of the housings 10 and 30 are tried to be mated again while the short-cancelling projection 35 being abnormally deformed up by the depression force from the elastic contact piece 24 and away from the short terminal, the first to third correction portions 41, 42, and 43 abut the first housing 10 to displace the short-cancelling projection 35 toward the short terminal 22. This can consequently prevent the short-cancelling projection 35 from being abutted to the first housing 10, thus allowing both of the housings 10 and 30 to be mated smoothly.
The protruding end of the support 36 has the first correction portion 41 inclined down to approach the short terminal 22 while extending toward the tip end of the protrusion of the short-cancelling projection 35. The support 36 is provided to partition a pair of elastic contact pieces 24, thus allowing the support 36 to have a large size in the direction along which the terminal fitting is depressed by the elastic contact piece 24 (up-and-down direction). This can consequently provide a large range within which the correction by the first correction portion 41 can be performed (i.e., a range within which the first housing 10 has a sliding contact with the opening upper edge 20).
The tip end (front end) of the first correction portion 41 is provided at the tip end (or the front side) of the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37. This configuration allows, in a process of mating both of the housings 10 and 30, the first correction portion 41 to correct the inclined shape of the short-cancelling projection 35 prior to the abutment of the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 to the first housing 10.
The plate-shaped insulating portion 37 is displaced by the depression from the elastic contact piece 24 in the plate thickness direction (or in an upward direction) in a displacement amount that increases toward the free end side far from the support 36. In view of this, the protruding end of the pair of plate-shaped insulating portions 37 has the second correction portion 42 that is inclined backward in the protrusion direction of the short-cancelling projection 35 while extending away from the support 36. This inclination allows, in a process of mating the housings 10 and 30, the second correction portion 42 to be preferentially abutted to a region closer to the support portion 36 having a relatively-small displacement amount. This can consequently prevent the plate-shaped insulating portion 37 from being abutted to the first housing 10, thus securing allowing both of the housings 10 and 30 to be mated.
The protruding end of plate-shaped insulating portion 37 has the third correction portion 43 inclined to approach the short terminal 22 while extending toward the tip end of the protrusion of the short-cancelling projection 35. This configuration allows, after the correction of the short-cancelling projection 35 by the first correction portion 41, the third correction portion 43 to correct the short-cancelling projection 35. Furthermore, the third correction portion 43 smoothly continues to the first correction portion 41 and can provide the correction operation by the first correction portion 41 and the correction operation by the third correction portion 43 in a continuous manner without being interfered for example.
The invention is not limited to the embodiments described through the above description and drawings. Embodiments as described below, for example, also are included in the scope of the invention.
In the above embodiment, the correction portion was formed both at the protruding end of the support portion and at the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion. However, the correction portion also may be formed at any protruding end of those of the support portion and the plate-shaped insulating portion. Specifically, only any one or two correction portions of those of the first to third correction portions also may be formed.
In the above embodiment, the support portion has a rib-like shape protruding from the lower face of the plate-shaped insulating portion. However, the support portion also may have a plate-like shape having a substantially-right angle to the plate-shaped insulating portion.
In the above embodiment, the tip end of the first correction portion formed at the protruding end of the support portion is provided at the front side of the tip end of the plate-shaped insulating portion. However, the invention is not limited to this. The tip end of the first correction portion may be provided at the same position as that of the tip end of the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion (the second correction portion) or at the rear side of the tip end of the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion (the second correction portion).
In the above embodiment, the first correction portion and the second correction portion are continued smoothly. However, the first correction portion and the third correction portion also may be continuous in a step-like manner or with an angle or may be separated from each other.
In the above embodiment, the third correction portion is continuously formed over the entire width of the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion. However, the invention is not limited to this. The third correction portion also may be formed only in a region of the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion close to the support portion or may be formed at an end of the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion at the opposite side of the support portion or may be formed only at the center-side region in the width direction of the protruding end of the plate-shaped insulating portion.
10 First housing
12 Female terminal fitting
22 Short terminal
24 Elastic contact piece
30 Second housing
35
q Short-cancelling projection
36 Support portion
37 Plate-shaped insulating portion
41 First correction portion
42 Second correction portion
43 Third correction portion
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2015-249342 | Dec 2015 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2016/088307 | 12/22/2016 | WO | 00 |