The present invention relates to a harness component.
A harness component described in Patent Document 1 includes a male connector to be mounted on one side in a thickness direction of a circuit board and a female connector connected to the male connector.
The male connector includes male terminals to be electrically connected to through holes of the circuit board and a male housing made of electrically insulating resin or the like for accommodating the male terminals. The male housing includes a connector fitting portion in the form of a bottomed tube open toward a side opposite to the circuit board. The female connector is fit into the connector fitting portion through the open side. Further, the male terminals are press-fit into a bottom wall of the connector fitting portion from the open side, and electrical contact portions, which are parts of the male terminals, project inside the connector fitting portion.
By fitting the female connector into the connector fitting portion of the male connector, the electrical contact portions and female terminals of the female connector are electrically connected.
Patent Document 1: JP 2002-216870 A
The female connector is thought to include the female terminals to be electrically connected to the male terminals and an electrically insulating female housing for accommodating the female terminals. However, in this case, two housing members, i.e. the male housing and the female housing, need to be connected in the harness component described in patent literature 1, which tends to cause an increase in the number of components and enlargement.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problem and aims to provide a harness component capable of reducing the number of components and miniaturization.
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a harness component with a plurality of male terminals to be connected to a circuit board, a housing including a plurality of insertion holes, the respective male terminals being inserted through the insertion holes, and a plurality of terminal accommodation holes communicating with the respective insertion holes, the terminal accommodation holes including openings on sides opposite to the insertion holes, a plurality of female terminals to be inserted and arranged in the respective terminal accommodation holes through the respective openings, the female terminal contacting each male terminal while applying a resilient force in a direction intersecting an axial direction of the terminal accommodation hole, and a plurality of wires electrically connected to the respective female terminals.
In the harness component of the above aspect, the male terminal is inserted into each insertion hole of the housing and the female terminal is inserted into each of the plurality of terminal accommodation holes formed in the housing. Therefore, an increase in the number of the housing can be prevented and a reduction in the number of components and miniaturization are easily realized.
Further, the male terminal and the female terminal are connected in each terminal accommodation hole. Thus, the male terminal and the female terminal are easily positioned with respect to the housing by inserting the male terminal into the terminal accommodation hole through the insertion hole and inserting the female terminal into the terminal accommodation hole through the opening. Further, since the plurality of female terminals are inserted one by one into the respective terminal accommodation holes of the housing and connected to the male terminals, the rattling of the female terminal in mounting the female terminal into the housing is prevented. Therefore, the productivity of the harness component is easily improved.
Further, the female terminal contacts each male terminal while applying the resilient force in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the terminal accommodation hole. Thus, the male terminal and the female terminal can slide against each other in the axial direction. Therefore, even if the wire connected to the female terminal is pulled, this pulling force hardly acts on a joined part of the male terminal and the circuit board since the female terminal and the male terminal slide. Hence, the connectivity of the male terminals and the circuit board is easily improved.
As described above, according to the above aspect, it is possible to provide a harness component capable of reducing the number of components and miniaturization.
An embodiment of a harness component is described using
The harness component 1 of this embodiment includes a plurality of male terminals 2, a housing 3, a plurality of female terminals 4 and a plurality of wires 5 as shown in
As shown in
The plurality of female terminals 4 are inserted and arranged in the respective terminal accommodation holes 32 through the respective openings 321. The female terminal 4 contacts each male terminal 2 while applying a resilient force in a direction intersecting an axial direction X of the terminal accommodation hole 32. The plurality of wires 5 are electrically connected to the respective female terminals 4.
This embodiment is described in detail below.
Hereinafter, the axial direction of the terminal accommodation hole 32 is referred to as an X direction. In the X direction, a side in the terminal accommodation hole 32 where the opening 321 is formed is referred to as an X1 side and a side in the terminal accommodation hole 32 where the insertion hole 31 is formed is referred to as an X2 side.
The harness component 1 electrically relays the circuit board 11 and an unillustrated electronic device such as a control device by connecting parts of the plurality of male terminals 2 projecting from the housing 3 to the circuit board 11 and connecting the plurality of wires 5 connected to the respective female terminals 4 to the electronic device.
The housing 3 is made of electrically insulating resin. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The male terminal 2 is press-fit into the insertion hole 31 of the housing 3 from the X2 side, and the female terminal 4 is inserted into the terminal accommodation hole 32 through the opening 321 of the housing 3. That is, a mounting direction of the male terminal 2 into the housing 3 (direction toward the X1 side) and a mounting direction of the female terminal 4 into the housing 3 (direction toward the X2 side) are opposite e.
As shown in
As shown in
When the female terminal 4 is inserted to the predetermined position of the terminal accommodation hole 32 as shown in
As shown in
When the retainer 34 is at a partial locking position with respect to the housing 3 as shown in
As shown in
The insertion holes 341 are formed to have such a diameter that the female terminals 4 can be inserted in the X direction. When the retainer 34 is at the partial locking position with respect to the housing 3 as shown in
By pushing the retainer 34 at the partial locking position toward a back side of the retainer arrangement portion 301 of the housing 3 as shown in
Further, as shown in
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The resilient contact piece 413 is configured to be resiliently deflectable in the Z direction. When the male terminal 2 is inserted into the tubular portion 41, the resilient contact piece 413 is pushed by this male terminal 2 to be deflected toward the side opposite to the raised portion 412 in the Z direction. In this way, the male terminal 2 is resiliently sandwiched between the raised portion 412 and the resilient contact piece 413. The male terminal 2 is configured to be slidable in the X direction with respect to the tubular portion 41 in a state resiliently sandwiched between the raised portion 412 and the resilient contact piece 413. That is, the male terminal 2 is not fixed to the tubular portion 41.
As shown in
As shown in
Next, functions and effects of this embodiment are described.
In the harness component 1 of this embodiment, the male terminal 2 is inserted through each insertion hole 31 of the housing 3 and the female terminal 4 is inserted into each of the plurality of terminal accommodation holes 32 formed in the housing 3. Thus, an increase in the number of the housing 3 can be prevented and a reduction in the number of components and miniaturization are easily realized.
Further, the male terminal 2 and the female terminal 4 are connected in each terminal accommodation hole 32. Thus, the male terminal 2 and the female terminal 4 are easily positioned with respect to the housing 3 by inserting the male terminal 2 into the terminal accommodation hole 32 through the insertion hole 31 and inserting the female terminal 4 into the terminal accommodation hole 32 through the opening 321. Further, since the plurality of female terminals 4 are inserted one by one into the respective terminal accommodation holes 32 of the housing 3 and connected to the male terminals 2, the rattling of the female terminal 4 in mounting the female terminal 4 into the housing 3 is prevented. Therefore, the productivity of the harness component 1 is easily improved.
Further, the female terminal 4 contacts each male terminal 2 while applying a resilient force in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the terminal accommodation hole 32. Thus, the male terminal 2 and the female terminal 4 can slide against each other in the X direction. Therefore, even if the wire 5 connected to the female terminal 4 is pulled, this pulling force hardly acts on a joined part of the male terminal 2 and the circuit board 11 since the female terminal 4 and the male terminal 2 slide. Hence, the connectivity of the male terminals 2 and the circuit board 211 is easily improved.
Further, the male terminal 2 is press-fit into the insertion hole 31 of the housing 3 from a side in the terminal accommodation hole 32 opposite to a side where the opening 321 is formed, and the female terminal 4 is inserted into the terminal accommodation hole 32 through the opening 321 of the housing 3. That is, the mounting direction of the male terminal 2 into the housing 3 (direction toward the X1 side) and the mounting direction of the female terminal 4 into the housing 3 (direction toward the X2 side) are opposite. Thus, in assembling the harness component 1, it is possible to press-fit the male terminals 2 into the insertion holes 31 and subsequently mount the female terminals 4 into the terminal accommodation holes 32 through the openings 321 as shown in
Further, the outer terminal portion 21 of the male terminal 2 projecting from the insertion hole 31 toward the side opposite to the opening 321 includes the crank portion 211 bent in the direction intersecting the X direction and stretchable in the thickness direction of the circuit board 11. Thus, for example, even if an external force is applied to the harness component 1 connected to the circuit board 11, the generation of a stress in the joined part of the outer terminal portion 21 and the circuit board 11 can be suppressed by the crank portion 211 stretching in the X direction.
Here, the crank portions 211 have a bent shape. Thus, for example, if the housing 3 is manufactured by insert molding with the male terminals 2 arranged inside a mold for the housing 3, the crank portions 211 serve as obstacles and it is difficult to remove the mold when the mold is removed after molding. Thus, the mold needs to be provided with a special structure such as a slide mechanism and the productivity of the entire harness component 1 is reduced. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the male terminals 2 are fixed to the housing 3 by press-fitting. Thus, a reduction in the productivity of the harness component 1 caused by providing the male terminals 2 with the crank portions 211 can be suppressed.
Further, the housing 3 integrally includes the housing engaging portions 33 to be engaged with the circuit board 11. Thus, the male terminals 2 and the circuit board 11 can be joined such as by soldering after the housing 3 is engaged with the circuit board 11 at the housing engaging portions 33 and relative positions of the housing 3 and the circuit board 11 are fixed. Furthermore, since the housing 3 integrally includes the housing engaging portions 33, the number of components is not increased even if the housing engaging portions 33 are provided.
Further, the retainer 34 is locked in the housing 3. The retainer 34 allows the female terminals 4 to be mounted into and withdrawn from the terminal accommodation holes 32 of the housing 3 when being located at the partial locking position with respect to the housing 3, and retains the female terminals 4 inserted into the terminal accommodation holes 32 when being at the full locking position with respect to the housing 3. Therefore, the detachment of the female terminals 4 from the housing 3 is easily suppressed even in a configuration for holding both the male terminals 2 and the female terminals 4 by one housing 3.
Further, the outer terminal portion 21 of the male terminal 2 to be soldered to the circuit board 11 has a convex polygonal or circular cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the outer terminal portion 21. Thus, the formation of voids in solder can be prevented, for example, as compared to the case where the outer terminal portion 21 is formed as a tab-like terminal formed by bending a plate-like metal member to have a U-shaped cross-section. That is, if the outer terminal portion 21 is formed into a tab shape, air remains in a space surrounded by the outer terminal portion 21 having a U-shaped cross-section and voids are easily formed in the solder. On the other hand, by forming the outer terminal portion 21 to have a convex polygonal or circular cross-section, there is no space surrounded by the outer terminal portion 21 in the cross-section of the outer terminal portion 21 orthogonal to the X direction, wherefore the formation of voids in the solder can be suppressed.
As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a harness component capable of reducing the number of components and miniaturization.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be applied to various embodiments without departing from the gist thereof.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2018-234260 | Dec 2018 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2019/047535 | 12/5/2019 | WO | 00 |