Connector lock mechanism

Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Retaining means

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C439S354000, C439S353000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06179643

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector lock mechanism in which when a pair of male and female connectors are fitted together, connection terminals in the male connector are electrically connected respectively to connection terminals in the female connector. More particularly, the present invention relates to a connector lock mechanism having a mechanism for urging the male and female connectors in respective disengaging directions away from each other when the two connectors, each having the connection terminals received therein, are in a half-fitted condition.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-169986, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A pair of male and female connectors have heretofore been used for electrically connecting a plurality of wires. When the male and female connectors are fitted together, connection terminals, received in a housing of the male connector, contact connection terminals, received in a housing of the female connector, so that the former connection terminals are electrically connected to the latter connection terminals, respectively.
When the male and female connectors are incompletely or half fitted together, the electrical connection sometimes fails to be achieved. For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 10-41014 discloses male and female connectors which are disengaged from each other when the two connectors are in an incompletely-fitted or half-fitted condition, thereby preventing the male and female connectors from being kept in such a half-fitted condition.
In a connector lock mechanism
50
shown in
FIG. 8
, and also disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 10-41014, male connection terminals
52
are received in a female connector
51
, and female connection terminals
54
are received in a male connector
53
.
An elastic retaining piece portion
55
, formed on the male connector
53
, is engaged with an engagement projection
56
, formed on the female connector
51
, thereby locking the male and female connectors
53
and
51
to each other in a fitted condition.
The engagement projection
56
has a triangular cross-section defined by a gently-slanting surface
56
A and an abruptly-slanting surface
56
B. Therefore, when the two connectors
51
and
53
are in an incompletely-fitted or half-fitted condition, a distal end
55
A of the elastic retaining piece portion
55
slides down the gently-slanting surface because of its own restoring force, so that the two connectors
51
and
53
are separated from each other in their respective disengaging directions.
In contrast, when the two connectors
51
and
53
are completely fitted together, so that the male connection terminals
52
are electrically connected respectively to the female connection terminals
54
, the distal end
55
A of the elastic retaining piece portion
55
slides down the abruptly-slanting surface
56
B, and is completely engaged with the engagement projection
56
. As a result, the two connectors
51
and
53
are locked to each other in a positively-fitted condition.
In the above connector lock mechanism
50
, when the two connectors
51
and
53
are to be disengaged from each other, the distal end
55
A of the elastic retaining piece portion
55
is lifted out of engagement with the engagement projection
56
. However, the elastic retaining piece portion
55
can not be easily elastically deformed upwardly, and therefore the operation for canceling the fitted condition could not be easily carried out.
And besides, when a half-fitted condition is encountered, this is detected through the resilient force of the elastic retaining piece portion
55
. However, when the number of connection terminals increases, a large disengaging force is required, and when the angle of inclination of the gently-slanting surface
56
A is increased, there have been encountered problems that the connector becomes bulky in size and that the burden on the elastic retaining piece portion
55
increases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the above problems in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide a connector lock mechanism in which a fitted condition of a pair of connectors can be easily canceled, and a half-fitted condition can be precisely detected, and besides a compact design of the connector can be achieved.
To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector lock mechanism which comprises an elastic arm formed on one of a pair of connectors which are fittable to each other, the elastic arm being elastically deformed when the one of the pair of connectors is fitted into a fitting recess portion formed in the other one of the pair of connectors, the elastic arm including a pair of elastic piece portions which serve as opposite side portions of the elastic arm, a pair of engagement projections respectively formed on outer side surfaces of the elastic piece portions, wherein portions of the elastic piece portions, extending from the engagement projections in a connector fitting direction, are formed to be capable of easily elastically deforming inwardly, slanting push-out guide surfaces, on which the engagement projections slide when the one of the pair of connectors is fitted into and disengaged from the fitting recess portion, formed respectively on opposite inner side surfaces of the fitting recess portion, and engagement portions respectively formed on the opposite inner side surfaces of the fitting recess portion, the engagement portions retaining the engagement projections when the one of the pair of connectors is completely fitted in the fitting recess portion.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the connector lock mechanism may further comprises retaining projections respectively formed on the elastic piece portions, and a retaining portion retaining the retaining projections, the retaining portion being formed on an inner surface of the fitting recess portion of the other one of the pair of connectors.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the portions of the elastic piece portions, extending from the engagement projections in the connector fitting direction, may be thinner than portions of the elastic piece portions extending rearwardly from the engagement projections.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, respective length of the portions of the elastic piece portions, extending from the engagement projections in the connector fitting direction, may be larger than respective length of portions of the elastic piece portions extending rearwardly from the engagement projections.
Namely, each of the elastic piece portions may become narrower progressively from the rear portion, disposed rearwardly of the engagement projection, toward the front end thereof, or the length of that portion of the elastic piece portion, extending from the engagement projection to the front end thereof, may be larger than that portion of the elastic piece portion extending from the engagement projection to the rear end thereof. Alternatively, the two arrangements can be used in combination.
In the connector lock mechanism of the present invention, the amount of flexing (elastic deformation) of the elastic arm, disposed forwardly of the engagement projections, can be increased, and therefore the elastic piece portions receive pressing forces respectively from the push-out guide surfaces through the respective engagement projections, and also the retaining projections on the elastic arm receive a pressing force from the retaining portion. Therefore, until the two connectors are completely fitted together, the one connector receives a large disengaging force (acting in the disengaging direction) from the other connector, so that an incompletely-fitted or half-fitted condition of the two connectors can be precisely detected.
When the two connectors are completely fitted together, the retaining proj

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Connector lock mechanism does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Connector lock mechanism, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Connector lock mechanism will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2466340

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.