Connector fitting structure

Abstract

To provide a connector fitting structure capable of preventing a packing from falling off or being displaced. [Solution] A connector fitting structure (10) includes a male connector (12) and a female connector (11) that are fitted to each other. A packing (2) is attached to the female housing (6) of the female connector (11). The packing (2) has an annular portion (21) attached to the outer circumferential surface of the main body portion (60) and in front of the flange portion (73), and a locking portion (22) that is continuous with the annular portion (21) and locks into an opening (62) of the flange portion (73). The annular portion (21) seals between the outer circumferential surface of the main body portion (60) and the inner circumferential surface of a tubular portion (80) of the male housing (8). The locking portion (22) has an insertion portion that extends rearward from the rear end of the annular portion (21) and is inserted into the opening (62), and a protrusion that protrudes from the rear end of the insertion portion toward the inside of the annular portion (21) and is positioned rearward of the flange portion (73).

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a connector fitting structure having a male connector and a female connector that are fitted together. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In a mating structure between a male connector and a female connector, a connector mating structure is known in which a packing is used to seal between the male housing and the female housing.

[0003] In the connector fitting structure disclosed in Patent Document 1, the female housing has a main body that houses female terminals, and an annular packing is attached to the outer peripheral surface of this main body. The male housing has a tubular portion that receives the main body of the female housing. When the male connector and female connector are mated, the packing seals the gap between the outer peripheral surface of the main body of the female housing and the inner peripheral surface of the tubular portion of the male housing. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-7493 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In the connector fitting structure of Patent Document 1, the direction in which the packing is attached to the main body of the female housing is the same as the direction in which the male and female connectors are fitted and removed. Therefore, when the male and female connectors are removed from each other, the frictional force generated between the cylindrical part of the male housing and the packing pulls the packing, causing the packing to fall off the main body or become misaligned.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a connector fitting structure that can prevent the packing from falling off or shifting out of position. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention is a connector fitting structure comprising a male connector and a female connector that are fitted to each other, the male connector comprising a male terminal and a male housing having a tubular portion surrounding one end of the male terminal, the female connector comprising a female terminal, a female housing, and a gasket, the female housing having a main body portion that accommodates the female terminal and whose front half is inserted into the tubular portion, and a flange portion that is formed in a flange-like shape on the outer surface of the main body portion and has an opening, the gasket having an annular portion that is attached to the outer surface of the main body portion and in front of the flange portion and seals between the outer surface of the main body portion and the inner surface of the tubular portion, and a locking portion that is connected to the annular portion and locks into the opening. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a connector fitting structure that can prevent the packing from falling off or shifting out of position. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a front view of a female connector that constitutes a connector fitting structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the female connector of FIG. 1. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a view showing only the female housing of FIG. 3. [Figure 5] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing only the packing of FIG. 3. [Figure 6] 4 is a diagram showing the mated state of the female connector and male connector of FIG. 3. FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of part C in FIG. 6. [Figure 8]2 is a diagram showing the mated state of the female connector and male connector of FIG. 1, and is a diagram showing the mated state in a cross section taken along line BB in FIG. [Figure 9] 7 is a diagram showing the state when the female connector and the male connector in FIG. 6 are being separated. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of part D in FIG. 9. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] A connector fitting structure according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0011] As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the connector fitting structure 10 includes a male connector 12 and a female connector 11 that are fitted together.

[0012] In this specification, the side of male connector 12 facing female connector 11 in the mating direction with female connector 11 is referred to as the "front," and the opposite side is referred to as the "rear." Similarly, the side of female connector 11 facing male connector 12 in the mating direction with male connector 12 is referred to as the "front," and the opposite side is referred to as the "rear."

[0013] The male connector 12 includes a plurality of male terminals 18 and a male housing 8.

[0014] Each male terminal 18 has a rod-like shape with the portion positioned inside the male housing 8 extending straight, and the portion positioned outside the male housing 8 bent at a right angle, forming an L-shape overall.

[0015] The male housing 8 is made of insulating synthetic resin and integrally includes a terminal holding portion 81 that holds multiple male terminals 18 and a tubular portion 80 that surrounds one end of the male terminals 18.

[0016] The cylindrical portion 80 is open at the front and closed at the rear by a terminal holding portion 81. The cylindrical portion 80 receives the main body portion 60 of the female housing 6. A locking portion 89 that engages with the female housing 6 and a locking portion 85 that engages with the outer housing 3 are formed on the outer surface of the cylindrical portion 80.

[0017] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the female connector 11 includes a plurality of female terminals 15, a shorting terminal 4, a female housing 6, a front retainer 5, an outer housing 3, a spring 16, and a packing 2.

[0018] Each female terminal 15 is connected to an end of an electric wire 13. A rubber stopper 14 is attached to the end of the electric wire 13. The rubber stopper 14 seals the gap between the electric wire 13 and a wall that forms a female terminal accommodating chamber 61 (described later). Each female terminal 15 has a rectangular cylindrical portion that can receive one end of a male terminal 18, and a spring piece provided inside the rectangular cylindrical portion.

[0019] The shorting terminal 4 comes into contact with two adjacent female terminals 15 when the male connector 12 and the female connector 11 are not mated, thereby shorting these female terminals 15 together. When the male connector 12 and the female connector 11 are mated, a part of the male housing 8 enters between the shorting terminal 4 and the two female terminals 15, so that the shorting terminal 4 is no longer in contact with the two female terminals 15. This releases the shorted state of the two female terminals 15.

[0020] The female housing 6 is made of insulating synthetic resin and integrally includes a main body 60, a flange 73, a lower plate 74, a spring accommodating chamber 66, and an upper plate 67, as shown in Figures 2 and 4.

[0021] The main body 60 has a female terminal accommodating chamber 61 that accommodates the female terminal 15, a lance 63 that engages with the female terminal 15, and a shorting terminal accommodating chamber 64 that accommodates the shorting terminal 4. The lance 63 is cantilevered from the wall that constitutes the female terminal accommodating chamber 61, and its free end engages with the rear end of the rectangular tube portion of the female terminal 15 to prevent the female terminal 15 from coming out. The main body 60 has a rectangular parallelepiped outer shape and a rectangular shape when viewed from the front. The front half of the main body 60 is inserted into the tube portion 80.

[0022] The flange portion 73 is formed in a flange shape on the outer peripheral surface of the main body portion 60. Two openings 62 are formed in the flange portion 73 to engage with locking portions 22 (described later) of the packing 2. The openings 62 are formed by cutting out a square shape from the flange portion 73, and the openings 62 are open in three directions: in front of the flange portion 73, at the rear, and toward the outer housing 3 (downward).

[0023] 4 and 8, the lower plate portion 74 is provided below the main body portion 60 and extends rearward from the lower end of the flange portion 73. A locking portion 75 that engages with the outer housing 3 is formed on the lower plate portion 74. In this example, the two openings 62 are formed in a portion of the flange portion 73 that is located below the main body portion 60. Further, openings that are continuous with the openings 62 are formed on the lower plate portion 74.

[0024] The spring accommodating chamber 66 accommodates the rear half of the spring 16. The spring accommodating chamber 66 is connected to both the left and right side surfaces of the main body 60.

[0025] The upper plate portion 67 is provided above the main body portion 60. The upper plate portion 67 is formed with a protrusion 68 positioned in a through-hole 38 (described later) of the outer housing 3, and a locking portion 69 that engages with a locking portion 89 of the male housing 8.

[0026] The terms indicating directions, such as "below the main body 60," "above the main body 60," and "both left and right sides of the main body 60," are used for the convenience of explaining the structure of the invention and are based on the direction of the paper on which the drawings are drawn. Therefore, the terms indicating directions do not necessarily have to coincide with the directions when the female connector 11 is actually used.

[0027] The front retainer 5 is made of insulating synthetic resin. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the front retainer 5 integrally includes a front wall 51 positioned in front of the front end face 60a of the main body 60, a peripheral wall 50 positioned on the outer periphery of the main body 60, and a restricting portion 53 disposed inside the peripheral wall 50 and restricting the deflection of the lance 63.

[0028] After the female terminal 15 is inserted into the female terminal accommodating chamber 61 and the lance 63 engages with the female terminal 15, the restricting portion 53 is positioned in the deflection space of the lance 63 as shown in Fig. 3 to restrict deflection of the lance 63. This maintains the state in which the lance 63 engages with the female terminal 15, preventing the female terminal 15 from coming loose.

[0029] The front retainer 5 is attached to the main body 60 so as to be movable back and forth between an allowance position where the restricting portion 53 allows the lance 63 to bend and a restriction position where the restricting portion 53 restricts the lance 63 from beingnd.

[0030] The outer housing 3 is made of insulating synthetic resin and is formed in a cylindrical shape. The outer housing 3 integrally includes an outer housing main body 30 that houses the female housing 6 and a spring accommodating chamber 36.

[0031] The outer housing main body 30 positions the tubular portion 80 of the male housing 8 and the packing 2 between itself and the main body 60. The outer housing main body 30 is formed with a through hole 38 in which the protrusion 68 of the female housing 6 is positioned, and a lock hole 35 in which the lock portion 75 of the female housing 6 and the lock portion 85 of the male housing 8 are engaged.

[0032] The spring accommodating chamber 36 accommodates the front half of the spring 16. The spring 16, whose front half is accommodated in the spring accommodating chamber 36 of the outer housing 3 and whose rear half is accommodated in the spring accommodating chamber 66 of the female housing 6, biases the female housing 6 rearward relative to the outer housing 3.

[0033] 2 and 5, the packing 2 has an annular portion 21 and two locking portions 22 connected to the annular portion 21. The two locking portions 22 are provided at an interval in the circumferential direction of the annular portion 21.

[0034] The annular portion 21 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the main body portion 60 and in front of the flange portion 73. A lip portion 21a is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the annular portion 21. The annular portion 21 is compressed by the outer peripheral surface of the main body portion 60 and the inner peripheral surface of the tubular portion 80, causing it to elastically deform, thereby forming a seal between the outer peripheral surface of the main body portion 60 and the inner peripheral surface of the tubular portion 80.

[0035] The locking portion 22 is a portion that locks into the opening 62 of the flange 73. The locking portion 22 has an insertion portion 22a that extends rearward from the rear end of the annular portion 21 and is inserted into the opening 62, and a protrusion 22b that protrudes from the rear end of the insertion portion 22a toward the inside of the annular portion 21 (toward the main body 60). As shown in FIG. 7, the protrusion 22b is positioned rearward of the flange 73 and faces a rear surface 73a of the flange 73.

[0036] Such a packing 2 is attached to the female housing 6 from the front of the main body 60 before the front retainer 5 is attached to the main body 60. After the packing 2 is attached to the female housing 6, the front retainer 5 is attached to an allowable position on the main body 60. In this state, the female terminal 15 is inserted into the female terminal accommodating chamber 61, and after the lance 63 engages with the female terminal 15, the front retainer 5 is moved to a restricted position on the main body 60.

[0037] The outer housing main body 30 abuts against the lower end of the flange 73 and the lower plate 74. That is, the insertion portion 22a is positioned between the outer housing main body 30 and the inner surface of the opening 62. As shown in Fig. 10, the clearance dimension G between the insertion portion 22a and the outer housing main body 30 is smaller than the protruding length W of the protruding portion 22b. The protruding length W of the protruding portion 22b from the insertion portion 22a is the amount by which the protruding portion 22b engages with the flange 73 (the edge of the opening 62), and this engagement amount W is larger than the clearance dimension G.

[0038] 9 and 10, during the separation operation to release the mating of male connector 12 and female connector 11, the packing 2 is pulled in the removal direction by the frictional force generated between tubular portion 60 and annular portion 21. However, at this time, protrusion 22b catches on rear surface 73a (edge ​​of opening 62) of flange 73, so that locking portion 22 does not come off opening 62. Furthermore, because clearance dimension G is formed to be smaller than protrusion length W of protrusion 22b, the locking state of locking portion 22 in opening 62 can be reliably maintained.

[0039] In this way, in the connector fitting structure 10, the packing 2 can be prevented from falling off or becoming displaced from the female housing 6.

[0040] The above-described embodiment merely shows a typical form of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. In other words, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the gist of the present invention. As long as such modifications still include the configuration of the present invention, they are of course included in the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 2 Gasket 6 female housing 8 Male housing 10 Connector fitting structure 11 female connector 12 male connectors 15 female terminal 18 male terminal 21 Circular section 22 Locking portion 60 Main body 62 Opening 73 Tsuba 80 Cylinder part

Claims

1. A male connector and a female connector that are mated with each other are provided, The male connector includes a male terminal and a male housing having a cylindrical portion surrounding one end of the male terminal, The female connector includes a female terminal, a female housing, and a packing. the female housing includes a main body portion that accommodates the female terminal and has a front half portion that is inserted into the cylindrical portion, and a flange portion that is formed in a flange shape on an outer circumferential surface of the main body portion and has an opening formed therein; The packing has an annular portion attached to the outer peripheral surface of the main body portion and in front of the flange portion to seal between the outer peripheral surface of the main body portion and the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion, and a locking portion connected to the annular portion and locked to the opening. A connector fitting structure characterized by:

2. The locking portion has an insertion portion that extends rearward from the rear end of the annular portion and is inserted into the opening, and a protrusion that protrudes from the rear end of the insertion portion toward the inside of the annular portion and is positioned rearward of the flange portion.

2. The connector fitting structure according to claim 1.

3. The female connector includes an outer housing that accommodates the female housing and positions the tubular portion and the packing between the outer housing and the main body portion.

3. The connector fitting structure according to claim 2.

4. The opening is open to three sides, i.e., to the front and rear of the flange portion and toward the outer housing, The outer housing has the insertion portion positioned between it and the flange portion, The clearance dimension between the insertion portion and the outer housing is smaller than the protruding length of the protrusion.

4. The connector fitting structure according to claim 3.

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