JP5760690B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector constituting an electric circuit by being fitted to a standby connector.

  As this type of connector, for example, a connector described in Patent Document 1 below is known. This connector is a connector called by name such as a service plug, and includes a protective part such as a fuse for protecting an electric circuit from a large current exceeding the rating, a housing provided with a housing space for accommodating the protective part, and a housing And a cover for covering the entrance of the accommodation space. The protective component includes a pair of terminal portions. When the protective component is accommodated in the accommodating space, the lance provided inside the accommodating space is fitted into the lance hole of the terminal portion to be locked, thereby protecting the protective member. Is fixed to the housing.

JP 2009-37778 A

  However, in the connector described above, it is necessary to provide a lance hole in the terminal portion, which may increase the manufacturing cost of the protective member. Further, since the protective member is fixed to the housing even when the cover is not attached to the housing, there is a possibility that the user forgets to attach the cover. Moreover, since it is necessary to provide a lance in the housing, the size of the housing may increase. Furthermore, when replacing the protective member, it is necessary to remove the lance from the lance hole using a jig or the like, so that the replacement workability is poor.

  The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to prevent forgetting to attach a cover, downsize a housing, and improve workability of replacing a protective member.

The technology disclosed in the present specification is a connector that configures an electric circuit by fitting with a standby-side connector, and includes a protective member that protects the electric circuit, and a housing that has an accommodating space for accommodating the protective member, And a cover that covers the entrance of the housing space in the housing, and the protective member is sandwiched between the cover and the housing and fixed in the housing space by assembling the cover in a locked state with respect to the housing. Have As the protective member, a fuse, a relay, or the like can be used. An example of the electric circuit is a power supply circuit connected to a battery.

  According to such a configuration, since the protective member is sandwiched between the cover and the housing and is fixed in the accommodation space, it is possible to prevent forgetting to attach the cover. Further, since it is not necessary to provide a holding portion for holding the protective member in the housing, the housing can be reduced in size, and it is not necessary to provide the protective member with a notch or the like to be engaged with the holding portion. The manufacturing cost of the member can be reduced. Furthermore, when exchanging the protective member, the protective member can be removed from the housing space simply by removing the cover from the housing, so that the exchange workability is good.

As an embodiment of the connector disclosed by this specification , the following structures are preferable.
The protective member includes a main body portion and a pair of terminal portions provided on both sides of the main body portion. When the cover is assembled to the housing, the terminal portion is sandwiched between the cover and the housing. Good.
According to such a configuration, since the protective member is fixed by sandwiching the terminal portion, the performance of the main body portion is not adversely affected.

The terminal portion may include a mounting portion that extends in a direction that intersects the direction in which the cover is assembled to the housing, and the mounting portion may be sandwiched between the cover and the housing when the cover is assembled to the housing.
According to such a configuration, the protective member can be fixed in the accommodation space by sandwiching the mounting portion between the cover and the housing.

A cover is good also as a structure provided with the cover main body which covers the main-body part of a protection member, and a pair of pushing part which pushes in both terminal parts.
According to such a structure, both terminal parts can be pushed in by both pushing parts, for example by putting a finger on a cover main body.

In a state where the cover is assembled to the housing, both mounting portions of both terminal portions may be sandwiched between the pressing portions and the housing. In that case, it is good also as a structure by which the whole region of both mounting parts is pinched | interposed by both pushing parts and a housing.
According to such a configuration, since the entire area of both mounting parts can be sandwiched between the pressing parts and the housing, the protective member can be stably fixed in the accommodation space.

A lever used for connecting to an electric circuit and a shaft section having a circular cross section for pivotally supporting the lever are provided, and the shaft section is composed of a half body on the housing side and a half body on the cover side. It is good also as a structure.
According to such a configuration, in a state in which the lever is pivotally supported on the shaft portion, the half on the housing side and the half on the cover side cannot be separated, so that the cover can be prevented from being easily detached from the housing.

  According to the present invention, forgetting to attach a cover can be prevented, the housing can be downsized, and the replacement workability of the protective member can be improved.

Plan view of service plug in embodiment 1 AA line sectional view in FIG. Front view of service plug BB sectional view in FIG. CC sectional view in FIG. Bottom view of service plug DD sectional view in FIG. EE sectional view in FIG. FF sectional view in FIG. Sectional view showing a state where the service plug is shallowly fitted to the standby connector at the initial position Sectional drawing which showed the state in the middle of rotating a lever toward an engagement position from an initial position Sectional view showing the lever rotated to the mating position The front view which showed the state before mounting | wearing with the lever in Embodiment 2 in an assembly position. Front view showing the state after mounting the lever in the assembly position Front view showing the lever rotated from the assembled position to the initial position Front view showing the lever rotated from the initial position to the mating position Front view of service plug in embodiment 3 Front view showing a state where the lever is assembled to the service plug and rotated to the initial position. GG sectional view in FIG.

<Embodiment 1>
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings of FIGS. A service plug (an example of the “connector” of the present invention) 10 according to the present embodiment is incorporated in a power supply circuit for supplying power to an electric device from a battery mounted on a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle. A standby connector 50 shown in FIG. 10 is provided on the vehicle side, and a power supply circuit is configured by fitting the service plug 10 into the standby connector 50. The service plug 10 is a device that is removed from the standby-side connector 50 and puts the power supply circuit in a non-energized state when performing maintenance of the electrical equipment.

  First, the configuration of the standby connector 50 will be described. The standby-side connector 50 has a standby-side housing 51 made of synthetic resin, and a pair of terminal accommodating portions 52, 52 are formed in the standby-side housing 51 as shown in FIG. The standby terminal 60 can be accommodated inside the terminal accommodating portion 52. A lance 53 is provided on the inner wall of the terminal accommodating portion 52 to hold the standby side terminal 60 in the terminal accommodating portion 52 in a retaining state. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a pair of cam pins 56, 56 are provided on both front and rear surfaces of the standby-side housing 51.

  As shown in FIG. 10, an elastic contact piece 61 having a substantially chevron shape is provided inside the standby side terminal 60. The elastic contact piece 61 is disposed on the upper portion of the substrate portion 62 and is provided so as to be elastically deformable. In addition, a wire barrel portion 63 is provided at the lower portion of the substrate portion 62, and the wire barrel portion 63 is crimped to the core wire exposed at the end of the electric wire W connected to the battery.

  Between the standby side terminals 60, 60 in the standby side housing 51, an interlock connector portion 54 in which a pair of interlock terminals 64, 64 are accommodated is provided. As shown in FIG. 8, a retainer 55 is assembled inside the interlock connector portion 54. The retainer 55 is further pushed in from the temporary locking position shown in FIG. As a result, both interlock terminals 64, 64 can be held in a state of being prevented from coming off.

  Next, the configuration of the service plug 10 will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the service plug 10 includes a plug-side housing 11 made of a synthetic resin, a fuse 20, a cover 30, and a lever 40. The plug-side housing 11 is provided with a mounting recess 12 in which a fuse 20 is mounted. The mounting recess 12 is configured to open upward.

  The plug-side housing 11 is provided with a small hood portion 13 in which a short terminal 17 is press-fitted and held. The small hood portion 13 is configured to open downward, and a pair of contact portions 17A and 17A of the short terminal 17 are accommodated in the internal space of the small hood portion 13. A press-fitting hole 14 into which the press-fitting part 17B of the short terminal 17 is press-fitted is recessed in the back wall of the small hood part 13. The short terminal 20 is configured such that both contact portions 17A and 17A are connected by a press-fit portion 17B so as to be conductive.

  A pair of large hood portions 15, 15 are provided on the left and right sides of the mounting recess 12 in the plug-side housing 11. The large hood portion 15 is configured to open downward. The lower end of the large hood portion 15 is located below the lower end of the small hood portion 13. A slit 16 is provided in the inner wall of the large hood portion 15 so as to penetrate in the vertical direction. The opening edge on the mounting recess 12 side in the upper end opening of the slit 16 is provided in a tapered shape.

  The fuse 20 includes a cylindrical main body portion 21 made of a synthetic resin containing a fusible body (not shown) and a pair of terminal portions 22 made of a conductive metal plate. Each terminal portion 22 is connected to both left and right ends of the main body portion 21 and is connected to each other through the fusible body. The terminal portion 22 includes a first connecting portion 22A connected to the end portion of the main body portion 21, a mounting portion 22B extending in the axial direction of the main body portion 21 from the lower end of the first connecting portion 22A, and an extending end of the mounting portion 22B. The second connecting portion 22C extends downward from the portion. The terminal portion 22 has a crank shape in which both connecting portions 22A and 22C extend in opposite directions with the mounting portion 22B as a center.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cover 30 is made of synthetic resin, and as shown in FIG. And a pair of outer wall portions 33, 33 extending downward from the peripheral edges of the pushing portions 32, 32. The outer wall portion 33 is configured to cover the upper end portion of the large hood portion 15 of the plug-side housing 11. At the upper end portion of the large hood portion 15, a pedestal portion 19 that supports the mounting portion 22 </ b> B of the fuse 20 accommodated in the mounting recess 12 is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the outer wall portion 33 is provided with a lock portion 34. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the outer surface of the upper end portion of the large hood portion 15 is provided with a locking protrusion 18 that fits into the locking hole of the lock portion 34 and holds the cover 30 on the plug-side housing 11. Yes. As shown in FIG. 1, two lock portions 34 are provided in each push-in portion 32, and a total of four lock portions 34 are arranged at the four corners of the cover 30.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the state where the cover 30 is assembled to the plug-side housing 11 in a locked state, the housing space S in which the fuse 20 is housed is constituted by the inner surface of the cover body 31 and the inner surface of the mounting recess 12. In the housing space S, the main body 21 of the fuse 20 is housed in a floating state. At this time, almost the entire region of the mounting portion 22B of the terminal portion 22 is sandwiched between the pushing portion 32 of the cover 30 and the pedestal portion 19, whereby the fuse 20 is fixed in the accommodation space S. Moreover, the terminal part 22 penetrates the slit 16 in the up-down direction, enters the large hood part 15, and is arranged in a form protruding forward. Each terminal portion 22, 22 passes through each slit 16, 16, so that each terminal portion 22, 22 is mounted in a positioning state on each large hood portion 15, 15, and the main body portion 21 is positioned in a mounting recess 12. Installed.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the service plug 10 includes a lever 40, and the lever 40 is pivotally supported by a pair of shaft portions P and P so as to be rotatable. Each shaft portion P includes a housing-side half P1 provided on the plug-side housing 11 and a cover-side half P2 provided on the cover 30. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the lever 40 is provided with a shaft hole 41, and the lever 40 rotates with respect to the plug-side housing 11 by fitting the shaft portion P into the shaft hole 41. It is pivotally supported. Furthermore, since both the halves P1 and P2 are integrally held by the shaft hole 41, the shaft portion P is fixed so as not to be divided, and the cover 30 is held by the plug-side housing 11.

  The lever 40 includes a pair of cam plates 42 provided with a shaft hole 41 and an operation portion 43 that is substantially gate-shaped and connected to both cam plates 42. As shown in FIG. 4, a lever lock portion 44 is provided on the cam plate 42. The lever lock portion 44 can be locked to the outer surface of the housing 11 when the lever 40 is assembled at the initial position shown in FIG. Accordingly, the lever 40 is not unexpectedly rotated to the fitting position shown in FIG. 12, but is held at the initial position.

  A cam groove 45 is provided in the cam plate 42. As shown in FIG. 3, the cam groove 45 forms an arc shape from the lower end of the cam plate 42 at the initial position and approaches the shaft hole 41. When the cam pin 56 is inserted into the inlet of the cam groove 45 and the lever 40 at the initial position is rotated to the fitting position by holding the operation portion 43, the engagement between the cam pin 56 and the cam groove 45 is performed as shown in FIG. Due to the cam action, the service plug 10 is drawn toward the standby side connector 50, and the service plug 10 and the standby side connector 50 are brought into a normal fitting state as shown in FIG.

  In the fitting process of the service plug 10 and the standby connector 50, first, as shown in FIG. 10, both terminal portions 22 and 22 of the fuse 20 and both elastic contact pieces 61 and 61 of both standby terminals 60 and 60 are connected. After the contact, as shown in FIG. 11, both interlock terminals 64 and 64 and the short terminal 17 start to contact each other. When both interlock terminals 64 and 64 are connected by the short terminal 17 so as to be conductive, the interlock is released and the power supply circuit becomes conductive. Therefore, it is possible to restrict the occurrence of a malfunction due to a large current flowing at the start of contact between both terminal portions 22 and 22 and both elastic contact pieces 61 and 61.

  The present embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation will be described subsequently. First, a method for attaching the fuse 20 will be described. When the fuse 20 is mounted in the mounting recess 12 of the plug-side housing 11, both terminal portions 22, 22 are inserted into the slits 16, 16 to position the fuse 20 with respect to the plug-side housing 11. When the fuse 20 is mounted in the mounting recess 12, the mounting portion 22 </ b> B of the terminal portion 22 is supported by the base portion 19 of the large hood portion 15.

  Next, when a finger is placed on the upper surface of the cover main body 31 and the cover 30 is pushed toward the plug-side housing 11, the lock portions 34 are fitted in the locking protrusions 18 in a locked state, and the cover 30 is plugged on the plug side. The housing 11 is assembled in a locked state. At this time, the mounting portion 22B of the terminal portion 22 is sandwiched from above and below by the pedestal portion 19 of the large hood portion 15 and the pushing portion 32 of the cover 30, so that the fuse 20 is fixed in a floating state in the accommodation space S. The

  Further, when replacing the fuse 20 with a new one by cutting the fuse 20 or the like, it is necessary to remove the cover 30 from the plug-side housing 11. Therefore, although it is necessary to release the locks of the lock portions 34 and the lock protrusions 18, these lock portions are arranged to face the outside of the service plug 10, so that the lock release jig is used. Easy to release. Then, when the cover 30 is removed from the plug-side housing 11, the pushing by the pushing portion 32 is released, and the fuse 20 can be removed from the mounting recess 12 as it is. Thereafter, the new fuse 20 is set in the mounting recess 12 and the cover 30 is attached again, whereby the replacement operation of the fuse 20 is completed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the fuse 20 is fixed in the accommodation space S, the mounting portion 22B is sandwiched between the pedestal portion 19 and the pushing portion 32 of the large hood portion 15. 30 is attached to the plug-side housing 11, and forgetting to attach the cover 30 can be prevented. At that time, since the entire region of the mounting portion 22B is sandwiched, the fuse 20 can be firmly and stably fixed in the accommodation space S. In addition to fixing the cover 30 by the lock portions 34, the halves P1 and P2 can be held by the shaft hole 41 so as not to be separated, so that the cover 30 can be fixed more firmly. That is, it is possible to detect forgetting to attach the cover 30 when the lever 40 is attached.

<Embodiment 2>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings of FIGS. As shown in FIG. 13, the service plug 110 according to the present embodiment is an improved assembly workability of the lever 140, and other configurations, operations, and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment. The same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment are used for the same configurations as those in the first embodiment, and the codes corresponding to those in the first embodiment plus 100 are used for the configurations corresponding to the first embodiment. In FIG. 13 to FIG. 16, the small hood is omitted.

  The shaft portion P3 that pivotally supports the lever 140 is formed into a columnar shape having an oblong cross section formed in a horizontally long shape by being thinned so that the facing portions thereof are parallel to each other. The shaft portion P3 includes a housing side half P4 provided on the plug side housing 111 and a cover side half P5 provided on the cover 130. The housing-side half P4 and the cover-side housing P5 are formed by dividing the shaft portion P3 into two by a cutting line extending in the longitudinal direction. A pair of hooking portions P6 and P6 are formed to protrude in the longitudinal direction on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the shaft portion P3.

  The cam plate 142 of the lever 140 is provided with a slit 146 that is cut out linearly from the peripheral edge toward the shaft hole 141. The width dimension of the slit 146 is set to be substantially the same as the dimension of the shaft portion P3 in the width direction (direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction). For this reason, when the lever 140 is rotated from the assembly position shown in FIG. 14, the shaft portion P3 cannot pass through the slit 146, and the lever 140 can be prevented from being detached from the shaft portion P3. A bearing portion 147 that slidably supports the hooking portions P6 and P6 of the shaft portion P3 is provided on the peripheral edge portion of the shaft hole 141 located at the back end of the slit 146. For this reason, the shaft portion P3 and the shaft hole 141 are held in the assembled state by the bearing portion 147.

  Specifically, the shaft portion P3 enters the slit 146 from the state shown in FIG. 3 and is set at the back end (shaft hole 141 shown in FIG. 14), and then the lever 140 is rotated, so that FIG. As shown, the hooking portions P6 and P6 are hooked on the bearing portion 147. As a result, the lever 140 is assembled to the plug-side housing 111 at the initial position. When the service plug 110 is fitted to the standby connector 50, the lever 140 is rotated from the state in which the service plug 110 is shallowly fitted to the standby connector 50 to the fitting position shown in FIG. Then, the service plug 110 and the stand-by connector 50 are brought into a normal fitting state.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the lever 140 is assembled to the shaft portion P3, whereby the plug-side housing 111 and the cover 130 are held inseparable. In addition, forgetting to attach the cover 130 can be detected by assembling the lever 140. Furthermore, in addition to facilitating the assembly operation of the lever 140 to the shaft portion P3, the operation of removing the lever 140 from the shaft portion P3 is also facilitated, so that the fuse 20 can be easily replaced.

<Embodiment 3>
Next, Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings of FIGS. As shown in FIG. 17, the service plug 210 according to the present embodiment is configured integrally without dividing the shaft portion P7, and the other configurations, operations, and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment. Therefore, the same reference numerals as those of the first embodiment are used for the same configuration as the first embodiment, and the codes corresponding to those of the first embodiment are added with the codes of the first embodiment plus 200. .

  As shown in FIG. 19, the shaft portion P7 is provided integrally with the plug-side housing 211. A pair of shaft portions P7 are disposed on both sides of the mounting recess 212. The opening edge of the cover 230 is fitted between the shaft portion P7 and the outer surface of the mounting recess 212. For this reason, when replacing the fuse 20, it is not necessary to remove the lever 40 from the shaft portion P7, and the fuse 20 can be replaced while the lever 40 is mounted on the shaft portion P7. Can be easily.

<Other embodiments>
The technology disclosed in the present specification is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings, and includes, for example, the following various aspects .
(1) In the embodiment described above by sandwiching the terminal portions 22 of the fuse 20 by the cover and the plug-side housing, but secures the fuse 20 in the housing space S, the cover and the plug-side body portion 21 of the fuses 20 You may make it pinch | interpose with a housing.

(2) Although in the above embodiments so as to sandwich the both terminals 22 and 22 by the cover and the plug-side housing, may be sandwiched only terminal portion 22 of the hand. Further, a part of the mounting portion 22B of the terminal portion 22 may be sandwiched between the cover and the plug-side housing.

(3) Although in the above embodiment exemplifies the service plug with the lever, or as a service plug is not provided with the lever.
(4) Although an example a shaft portion comprising a half of the first embodiment and the 2 is the same shape housing side halves and the cover-side shaft portion by combining the halves of different shapes May be configured.

10, 110, 210 ... Service plug (connector)
11, 111, 211 ... plug side housing 20 ... fuse (protective member)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 ... Main-body part 22 ... Terminal part 22B ... Mounting part 30, 130, 230 ... Cover 32, 132, 232 ... Push-in part 40, 140, 240 ... Lever 50 ... Standby side connector P, P3, P7 ... Shaft part P1, P4 ... Housing side halves P2, P5 ... Cover side halves

Claims (6)

It is a connector that constitutes an electric circuit by fitting with a standby connector,
A protective member for protecting the electrical circuit;
A housing having an accommodating space for accommodating the protective member;
A cover for covering the entrance of the housing space in the housing,
The protective member includes a main body portion and a terminal portion connected to an end portion of the main body portion, and the terminal portion extends in a direction intersecting with an assembly direction of the cover with respect to the housing. A connecting portion extending in the assembly direction,
The cover is configured to include a cover main body that covers the main body portion of the protection member, and a pushing portion that extends from an opening edge of the cover main body in a direction crossing the assembly direction,
The housing includes a pedestal portion that supports the mounting portion of the terminal portion, and a slit that penetrates downward from an upper surface of the pedestal portion and into which the connection portion of the terminal portion is inserted downward. And
When the cover is assembled to the housing in a locked state, the mounting portion of the terminal portion is sandwiched between the lower surface of the pushing portion of the cover and the upper surface of the pedestal portion of the housing. Thus, the connector is fixed in the housing space. It is a connector that constitutes an electric circuit by fitting with a standby connector,
A protective member for protecting the electrical circuit;
A housing having an accommodating space for accommodating the protective member;
A cover for covering the entrance of the housing space in the housing,
The protective member is sandwiched between the cover and the housing and fixed in the accommodation space by assembling the cover in a locked state with respect to the housing.
A lever used to connect to the electrical circuit;
A shaft section having a circular cross section for pivotally supporting the lever,
The shaft portion is composed of a halved body on the housing side and a halved body on the cover side, and a columnar shape with an oblong cross section formed in a horizontally long shape by thinning the opposing portions so as to be parallel Connector characterized by being.   The connector according to claim 1, wherein the protection member includes a main body portion and a pair of terminal portions connected to both ends of the main body portion. The cover includes a cover body for covering the main body portion of the protective member, the connector according to 請 Motomeko 3 you, characterized in that it is constituted by a pair of push portions pushing the pair of terminal portions . In a state where the cover is assembled to the housing connector according to claim 4, characterized in that each mounting portion of the pair of terminal portions is sandwiched by said housing and said pair of indentation. In a state where the cover is assembled to the housing connector according to claim 5, characterized in that the entire area of the each mounting portion is sandwiched by said housing and said pair of indentation.

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