Patent Application
20050118867
The invention relates to a connector housing and processes for making a connector housing.
Connector housings are used to hold a socket contact into which a pin contact may be pushed. To improve introduction of the pin contact into an introduction opening, the connector housing has, arranged around the introduction opening, delimiting surfaces which are inclined in the direction of the center of the introduction opening. The socket contact is secured by a latching hook to prevent its being withdrawn from the connector housing.
DE 196 00 236 A1 discloses a housing element of an electrical connector. The housing element has a body with passages provided to receive a contact member. Further provided is a locking key which is provided with protuberances for engagement in slots which open into the passages. The protuberances have a width corresponding to the dimension of the apertures, which extend over the entire width of the passages. The protuberances are lengthened to form bosses. The contact member is made in the form of a socket contact whereof the plug receiving region has associated with it a plug opening in the housing. The plug opening is surrounded by delimiting surfaces. In the region of the plug opening, the housing body is made in one piece. To hold the socket contact, a lug is provided as a latching hook which latches into a corresponding latching slot in the socket contact when the socket contact is pushed into the housing.
In many cases, the housings are made from synthetic material by an injection molding process. When the housing is made, it is necessary for the latching hook to be shaped in the housing using a mold. It is moreover necessary to form between the latching hook and the housing wall a receiving space into which the latching hook can spring back when a contact is pushed in. To remove the mold once the shaping procedure is complete a sufficiently large opening has to be made in the housing. In the case of small housings, it may be that there is no surface available large enough for the opening to be provided.
To solve this problem, French patent application FR 2 706 687 A1 proposes a two-part housing in which some of the delimiting surfaces for the plug opening of the housing are formed by a separate plug receiving part. In this way, it becomes possible to make the housing separately from the plug receiving part. This allows a large opening for the mold to be provided, and this opening is at least partly closed by the plug receiving part in the mounted condition. Thus, the housing, together with the latching hook, can be removed from the mold without problems. The plug receiving part is then pushed into the corresponding opening in the housing. The plug openings each have four delimiting surfaces which taper conically inwards. Three of the delimiting surfaces are formed by the housing. The fourth delimiting surface is formed by the plug receiving part. The plug receiving part moreover has a blocking element which is pushed into a free space between the movable latching hook and the housing. This means that the latching hook is held in a latched position. The process described for making a connector housing is relatively complicated.
In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a connector housing and a process for making a connector housing by means of which a latching hook can be shaped even if the connector housing is small and has little surface available for providing the mold.
The connector housing has a base part and a pivoting part which each form part of the delimiting surface of the opening to the contact chamber, with the delimiting surfaces of the pivoting part and the housing abutting against one another by way of abutment surfaces, and with the housing base and the pivoting part being made in one piece. In this way it becomes possible to make the contact housing by an injection molding process, with the pivoting part located in an open position during manufacture. In the open position, sufficient space is available between the pivoting part and the housing for the mold in order to shape the latching hook. After removal from the mold, the pivoting part is moved into the closed position and an insertion opening to the contact chamber is made, with four delimiting surfaces. The insertion opening can be made relatively small because of the manufacturing process.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the mold opening for receiving the mold is made outside the opening to the contact chamber, so that there is greater flexibility in the design of the contact housing. The contact housings and the manufacturing processes described make it possible to shape contact housings with a latching hook even though the contact housing has no surface available sufficient for an opening for providing the mold.
The invention will be explained below in more detail with reference to the figures, in which:
The connector housing 1 is substantially made from an insulating material and is preferably made from synthetic material by an injection molding process. The connector housing 1 has a base part 2 and a pivoting part 3 connected to the base part 2. The base part 2 includes a base plate 20 having a plurality of walls 9 which are arranged perpendicular to the base plate 20, a respective contact chamber 15 being formed between each two walls 9. Constructed on a front side 21 of the base part 2 are U-shaped delimiting surfaces 6, each having three delimiting surface portions. In each case, two delimiting surface portions are arranged parallel to one another and in front of a respective wall 9. A third delimiting surface portion connects the two parallel delimiting surface portions. The delimiting surface 6 delimits on three sides an opening which, in the example illustrated, is constructed as an insertion opening 5.
Arranged between two walls 9, above a contact chamber 15, is a respective latching hook 10 which is connected to a housing top 22 (
The base plate 20 is connected to the housing top 22 by way of outside walls 26. The outside walls 26 have on their outside latching lugs 11 which are arranged laterally with respect to the front side 21 in the upper region of the outside walls 26. Between an outside wall 26 and the nearest wall 9, a contact chamber 15 is constructed.
The pivoting part 3 is constructed in the form of a hinged flap. In the closed position of the pivoting part 3, the bearing surfaces 27 of the pivoting part 3 lie on the second bearing surfaces 28 of the base part 2. During pivoting of the pivoting part 3, the latching arms 12 come over the latching lugs 11 and latch into corresponding latching recesses 13 below the latching lugs 11. This means that the pivoting part 3 is held in the closed position by way of a latch-type holding arrangement, as illustrated in
The base part 2 has, opposite the insertion openings 5, socket contact introduction openings 16 for the feeding in of socket contacts 17 (
In the embodiment illustrated, the connector housing 1 is made from synthetic material with glass fibers. The glass fibers are provided to increase the rigidity of the connector housing 1. As a result of using the glass fibers, the synthetic material may be bent in the region of the connection wall 4 predominantly just after removal of the connector housing 1 from the molds of the injection molding process, that is to say when it is the not yet fully cured condition. After curing, the connection wall 4 is no longer sufficiently resilient because of the combination of synthetic material and glass fibers selected, and if the pivoting part 3 were pivoted into the closed position or out of the closed position the connection wall 4 would break.
Instead of this embodiment, however, it is also possible to use a synthetic material without any glass fiber content, which is flexible in the uncured condition after the molding procedure and makes it possible to pivot the pivoting part 3 into the closed position and keeps the pivoting part 3 in the closed position in the cured condition. Depending on the desired function, it is also possible to use a mold material which remains flexible even in the cured condition in the region of the connection wall 4 because of a correspondingly low thickness D of the connection wall.
Depending on the embodiment, the latching lugs 11 and latching arms 12 may also be dispensed with. In an exemplary embodiment, the connector housing 1 is made from a fiber-reinforced synthetic material. The fiber-reinforced synthetic material provides the possibility of moving the pivoting part 3 from the open position into the closed position while it is in the as yet uncured condition after the injection molding process. Once the synthetic material has cured, the latter has the required rigidity to hold the pivoting part 3. The rigidity of the mold material is particularly advantageous if the pivoting part 3 has a delimiting surface that serves to guide a contact pin. For example, the pivoting part 3 may comprise synthetic material having a high glass fiber content, making the connection wall 4 flexible only in the uncured condition. If, in the uncured condition of the connection wall 4, the pivoting part 3 is moved from the open position into the closed position and held in the closed position until the connector housing 1 has cured, then the pivoting part 3 remains in the closed position once the synthetic material has cured without any latch-type holding being required.
The socket contact 17 has a contact region which is opened in the direction of the insertion opening 5. A pin contact can be pushed into the contact region 32 through the insertion opening 5. Instead of the socket contact 17, a plug contact may alternatively be arranged in the contact chamber as a contact and held by the latching hook 10.
The opening 8 may be used for example to reach under the latching hook 10 with an appropriately shaped tool and to raise it up. Thus, the blocking surface 30 of the latching hook 10 releases the second blocking surface 31 of the socket contact 17 so that the socket contact can be withdrawn from the socket contact introduction opening 16.
Depending on the geometry of the connector housing 1 that is used, bearing surfaces 27, 28 may also be constructed in other regions, outside the insertion opening 5. For example, the bearing surfaces 27, 28 may also be constructed in the cover plate 23 between the front panel 24 and the latching hooks 10, with the pivoting part 3 taking the form of a cover. However, other geometries of the pivoting part 3 are also possible. Thus, the position of the mold opening 37 may also be selected as a function of the structure of the connector housing.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03023585.7 | Oct 2003 | EP | regional |
