1. Field of the Invention
This specification relates to a connector that prevents backlash between male and female housings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-166046 discloses a waterproof connector configured to prevent backlash between male and female housings. The male housing accommodates male terminals and is shaped to include a receptacle in which tip parts of the male terminals are located. The female housing is shaped such that a cover is formed around a terminal accommodating portion for accommodating female terminals. Further, a packing is fit on the outer periphery of a base end side of the terminal accommodating portion of the female housing and a front wall is fit and retained on the front surface of the terminal accommodating portion.
The male and female housings are configured such that the terminal accommodating portion of the female housing is fit into the receptacle of the mating male housing while the cover is fit outside the receptacle. The male and female terminals are connected when the male and female housings are connected properly, and sealing is provided between the two housings by the packing being resiliently compressed between the terminal accommodating portion and the receptacle.
A backlash preventing structure includes a backlash preventing rib and a fitting groove. The backlash preventing rib has a chevron-shaped cross-section and is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the front wall member to extend in a front-back direction. The fitting groove has a trapezoidal cross-section narrower than the backlash preventing rib and is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle of the male housing. Backlash is prevented by opposite skirt portions of the backlash preventing rib and opening edges of the fitting groove squeezing each other.
In the above conventional technique, backlash between the male and female housings is prevented by the backlash preventing structure set between the male housing and the front wall fit on the female housing, i.e. prevented via another member. Thus, considering the presence of a clearance between the female housing and the front wall, backlash between the male and female housings may be insufficiently prevented and, eventually, it may not be possible to suppress fine sliding abrasion between the male and female terminal fittings sufficiently.
A connector disclosed by this specification is completed based on the above situation and reliably prevents backlash between male and female housings.
This specification is directed to a connector with a male housing, a female housing and a front wall. The male housing includes a forwardly open receptacle and is configured such that a male terminal is accommodated therein while projecting into the receptacle. The female housing includes a terminal accommodating portion having a cavity for accommodating a female terminal and is fittable into the receptacle. The front wall is mounted on a front surface of the terminal accommodating portion and is configured to provide a terminal insertion hole through which the male terminal is to be inserted and that communicates with the cavity. A fitting projection extends in a front-back direction on an inner peripheral surface of the receptacle in the male housing. A fitting groove is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion in the female housing, and the fitting projection is insertable therein from the front. A backlash preventing rib is formed on the inner surface of the fitting groove and extends in the front-back direction to be squeezed between an inner surface of the fitting groove and an outer surface of the fitting projection. The front wall is formed with an escaping groove configured to allow the fitting projection to be passed therethrough with a clearance and inserted into the fitting groove.
When the male and female housings are connected, the fitting projection formed on the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle of the male housing is passed through the escaping groove formed in the front wall and is inserted from the front into the fitting groove formed on the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion of the female housing. As the fitting projection is inserted, the backlash preventing rib formed on the inner surface of the fitting groove is squeezed, thereby preventing backlash.
Backlash between the male housing and the terminal accommodating portion of the female housing is prevented directly, and fine sliding abrasion between the male and female terminal fittings accommodated in them can be suppressed more reliably.
The terminal accommodating portion of the female housing may include a cover to be fit to an outer periphery of the receptacle of the male housing. A seal ring may be mounted on the outer periphery of the base end side of the terminal accommodating portion and may be compressed resiliently between an outer periphery of a base end side of the terminal accommodating portion and an inner periphery of the receptacle. The front wall may double as a ring presser configured to prevent the fall of the seal ring.
A force may ac to open the receptacle when the fitting projection squeezes the backlash preventing rib to prevent backlash. However, such an opening force is suppressed by the cover. Thus, the backlash preventing rib is squeezed more reliably and, eventually, backlash is prevented more reliably.
At least either one of the backlash preventing rib and the squeezing surface of the fitting projection for squeezing the backlash preventing rib may be tapered to become gradually taller from a tip side toward a rear end side in a connecting direction. As the connection of the male and female housings proceeds, the backlash preventing rib gradually becomes more squeezed. As compared to the case where the backlash preventing rib is squeezed by a predetermined amount from the beginning, a connecting operation of the male and female housings is performed smoothly so that a good connection feeling can be obtained.
According to the connector disclosed by this specification, it is possible to reliably prevent backlash between male and female housings.
An embodiment is described with reference to
In this embodiment, a waterproof connector of a type to be directly connected to a device is illustrated. As shown in
The male housing 10 is formed integrally on a wall surface of a device case made of synthetic resin and includes a receptacle 11 open forward, as shown in
Two tab-shaped male terminals 15 project from the back surface of the receptacle 11 while being laterally spaced apart and arranged side by side. The tip of each male terminal 15 projects to a position a little closer to the back surface than a center of the receptacle 11 in a depth direction. A vertically extending short partition 12 is formed between the male terminals 15.
Left and right protection walls 14 stand on the upper surface of the receptacle 11 and extending in the front-back direction. A lock protrusion 13 is formed between the protection walls 14 and is to be engaged with a lock arm 45 of the female housing 40 to be described later. Further, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The lock arm 45 is arranged from the inside of the arch 44 to the area behind the arch 44. As shown in
Further, as shown in
The terminal accommodating portion 42 of the housing main body 41 is formed into a tower that is long in the front-back direction and is to be fit into the receptacle 11 of the male housing 10 with a predetermined clearance therebetween, and the tip surface thereof is located at a position retracted by a predetermined dimension from the opening edge of the cover 43. The terminal accommodating portion 42 has two cavities 50 that extend in the front-back direction. The cavities are formed side by side at the same interval as the male terminals 15 in the mating male housing 10, and the female terminals 30 are to be accommodated in the cavities 50. As shown in
As described above, since the tip surface of the terminal accommodating portion 42 is retracted to be behind the opening edge of the cover 43, an upper half of a front end part of the cavity 50 is open due to a missing front wall and peripheral wall as shown in
A locking lance 57 is provided at the ceiling surface of each cavity 50 for resiliently locking a locking portion 33 formed on the upper surface of the connecting portion 31 of the female terminal 30. The locking lance 57 is cantilevered forward, and a tip side thereof is resiliently deflectable toward a deflection permitting space 57A.
The front wall 70 is formed separately from the housing main body 41 and is fit on the front surface of the terminal accommodating portion 42. As shown in
As shown in
Further, two left and right fit-in holes 76 are open on the front wall portion 71 and receive the extending walls 53 that extend from the terminal accommodating portion 42.
As shown in
A seal ring 58 is fit on the outer peripheral surface of the base end side of the terminal accommodating portion 42 and is compressed resiliently between the outer peripheral surface of a base end side of the terminal accommodating portion 42 and the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle 11 of the mating male housing 10. The front wall 70 also functions to retain the seal ring 58.
As shown in
The front wall 70 is mounted and locked at the full holding position, as described above. Thus, the front surface of the front wall portion 71 of the front wall 70 is aligned substantially with the position of the opening edge of the cover 43, and the auxiliary walls 75 formed on the rear surface of the front wall portion 71 are arranged to cover spaces above the extending walls 53, as shown in
The female terminal 30 is inserted into the cavity 50 from behind while resiliently displacing the locking lance 57 with the front wall 70 mounted at the temporary holding position. The insertion is stopped when the front surface of the connecting portion contacts the front wall of the extending wall 53, and the locking lance 57 is restored and displaced to be locked to the locking portion 33 so that the female terminal 30 is primarily locked. The front wall 70 then is pushed to the full holding position and locked to form the properly shaped cavities 50ef. The female terminals 30 then are accommodated properly in the cavities 50, and the deflection restricting pieces 77 enter the deflection permitting spaces 57A above the locking lances 57 to restrict the resilient deflection of the locking lances 57, and hence to achieve an indirect double locking of the female terminal 30.
Further, the rear edge of the tubular portion 72 reaches the front surface of the seal ring 58 fit on the outer peripheral surface of the base end side of the terminal accommodating portion 42 to prevent the seal ring 58 from coming out forward.
Next, a backlash preventing structure is described.
As shown in
The fitting projections 20 are right below or above the male terminals 15 and extend from the back surface of the receptacle 11 to the positions of the tips of the male terminals 15 while having a predetermined height, as shown in
A substantially half area on an extending end side of the fitting projection 20 defines a squeezing portion 21, and the top surface and both left and right side surfaces of this squeezing portion 21 define squeezing surfaces 22. Each squeezing surface 22 is tapered.
On the other hand, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Further, second backlash preventing ribs 62 extending in the front-back direction and to be squeezed between the guide walls 17 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle 11 of the male housing 10 and the bottom surfaces (groove bottom surfaces) and both left and right side surfaces of the three guide grooves 47 provided on the inner peripheral surface of the cover 43 of the female housing 40 are formed on these bottom surfaces and left and right side surfaces as shown in
Next, functions of this embodiment are described.
The female housing 40 is assembled in the manner described above. The description of this assembling is briefly repeated. The female terminal 30 fixed to the end of the wire W together with the rubber plug 35 is inserted from behind into each cavity 50 of the female housing 40 with the seal ring 58 mounted and the front wall 70 mounted at the temporary holding position. When being pushed to a proper position, the female terminal 30 is locked primarily by the locking lance 57 and the rubber plug 35 is mounted at the entrance of the cavity 50. Subsequently, the front wall 70 is pushed to and locked at the full holding position. Mounting the front wall 70 at the full holding position forms the cavities 50 with a proper shape so that the rectangular terminal insertion hole 55 is open on the front surface. The female terminals 30 are accommodated properly in these cavities 50 and the deflection restricting pieces 77 enter the deflection permitting spaces 57A to restrict the resilient deflection of the locking lances 57, thereby indirectly locking the female terminal 30 doubly.
Simultaneously, the escaping grooves 80 provided on the front wall 70 are arranged to be connected before the fitting grooves 60 formed in the terminal accommodating portion 42.
The assembled female housing 40 is connected to the mating male housing 10, as indicated by an arrow in
As the connection proceeds, the upper and lower fitting projections 20 formed on the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle 11 of the male housing 10 are inserted into the fitting grooves 60 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion 42 from the front, as shown in
As the connection proceeds, the tip of the lock arm 45 moves onto the lock protrusion 13 and the lock arm 45 is pushed while being deflected and displaced. When the front surface of the front wall 70 of the female housing 40 is pushed to a proper position to contact the back surface of the receptacle 11 of the male housing 10, the male terminals 15 are inserted by a proper amount into the connecting portions 31 of the corresponding female terminals 30 through the terminal insertion holes 55. Thus, the male and female terminal fittings 15, 30 are connected electrically to each other. Additionally, the lock hole 45A of the lock arm 45 passes the lock protrusion 13, as shown in
In such a state, the first backlash preventing ribs 61 provided on the inner surfaces of the fitting grooves 60 of the terminal accommodating portion 42 in the female housing 40 are squeezed by the squeezing surfaces 22 of the fitting projections 20 provided on the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle 11 of the mating male housing 10, as shown in
Simultaneously, the guide walls 17 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle 11 of the male housing 10 squeeze the second backlash preventing ribs 62 in the guide grooves 47 provided on the inner peripheral surface of the cover 43 of the female housing 40, as shown in
As described above, backlash between the male housing 10 and the terminal accommodating portion 42 of the female housing 40 is prevented directly and fine sliding abrasion between the male and female terminal fittings 15, 30 accommodated in them can be suppressed more reliably.
A force may act to open the receptacle 11 of the male housing 10 when the fitting projections 20 squeeze the first backlash preventing ribs 61 to prevent backlash. However, such an opening is suppressed by the cover 43 of the female housing 40. Thus, the first backlash preventing ribs 61 are squeezed more reliably and, eventually, backlash is prevented more reliably.
The first backlash preventing ribs 61 provided in the fitting grooves 60 of the female housing 40 and the squeezing surfaces 22 of the fitting projections 20 for squeezing the first backlash preventing ribs 61 are tapered to become gradually taller from the tip side toward the rear end side in the connecting direction. Thus, the first backlash preventing ribs 61 are squeezed more gradually as the connection of the male and female housings 10, 40 proceeds. As compared to the case where the first backlash preventing ribs 61 are squeezed by a predetermined amount from the beginning, the connecting operation of the male and female housings 10, 40 is performed smoothly, and a good connection feeling can be obtained.
The invention is not limited to the above described and illustrated embodiment. For example, the following embodiments also are included.
The number of the pairs of the fitting projection and the fitting groove provided with the backlash preventing ribs and the arranged positions thereof are not limited to those illustrated in the above embodiment and can be appropriately selected.
The number and positions of the backlash preventing ribs provided on the inner surfaces of the fitting grooves are also not limited to those illustrated in the above embodiment and can be appropriately selected.
Although both the squeezing surfaces of the fitting projections and the backlash preventing ribs are tapered in the above embodiment, only one of them may be tapered or none may be tapered.
The front wall part of the cavity may be structured to be formed by the front wall portion of the front wall over the entire circumference. In this case, the terminal insertion hole is formed only in the front wall portion of the front wall.
The backlash preventing structure provided between the guide walls on the outer periphery of the male housing and the guide grooves on the inner periphery of the female housing may be omitted.
Although the waterproof connector is illustrated in the above embodiment, application to non-waterproof connectors is also similarly possible.
Although the connector of the type to be directly connected to the device is illustrated in the above embodiment, application to wire-to-wire connectors in which male and female housings are both connected to ends of harnesses is also similarly possible.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2014-104398 | May 2014 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2015/062925 | 4/30/2015 | WO | 00 |