Electricity: measuring and testing – Fault detecting in electric circuits and of electric components – Of individual circuit component or element
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-21
2001-11-13
Metjahic, Safet (Department: 2858)
Electricity: measuring and testing
Fault detecting in electric circuits and of electric components
Of individual circuit component or element
C324S072500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06316951
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection unit of a connector inspection apparatus.
2. Description of Background Information
In general, a connector used for an electric wiring system such as a wire harness or the subassembly (hereinafter generally called “wire assembly”) which, in general, forms a wire harness includes a plurality of cavities in a molded resin housing, with a metal terminal connected with wires being inserted within the cavities.
Among such connectors, there are known connectors of a so-called “front holder type”.
FIG. 5
shows a partially broken away perspective view of a known front holder type connector C which is an object of testing by the present invention, and
FIG. 6
is an exploded sectional schematic view of FIG.
5
.
As shown in these drawings, this type of connector C is integrally formed with a hollow housing
1
, the inner periphery of the housing at the one end being open in one end opening area. The other end includes a boss member
2
projecting into an opening area
1
A of the other end of housing
1
. A seal ring
3
is inserted into the opening area
1
A of housing
1
, and a box-type front holder
4
covering one end side terminal surface of boss member
2
is introduced into the opening area
1
A.
A cavity
2
A is formed in boss member
2
and is connected with a plurality of terminal-fitted wires with the terminal-fitted wires being inserted which are not illustrated here. An inspection unit is generally used in inspecting the electrical wiring and connection condition, etc. of the connector C and includes a connector holder which holds connector C as an inspection object. The inspection unit has a block body on which probe pins are mounted that correspond to the metal terminals of a connector being held in the inspection unit, and the probe pins in general make contact with each metal terminal of the connector held in the inspection unit.
In this case, when the connector C to be inspected is a front holder type as mentioned above, it is necessary to conduct an inspection for continuity of each terminal, and to inspect for the presence of the front holder
4
. Therefore, a conventional inspection element (a so-called “2-probe pin”) having a switching finction is provided on the inspection unit in the inspection apparatus, which allows inspection to be made for the presence of the front holder
4
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above-described inspection unit includes an inspection element which is merely mounted to project into contact with a front holder to inspect for the presence of the front holder. However, no inspection was conducted of the mounting condition of the front holder. In addition, when the inspection unit is accessed to a connector and the probe pins attempt to contact each metal terminal, if the front holder is improperly mounted, the front holder and the inspection element contact each other at a position shifted from the normal contact position, which might result in possible damage to one or the other.
The present invention was made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and an objective of the present invention is to provide an inspection unit of a connector inspection apparatus which will not only inspect simply the presence of the front holder, but will also inspect for failure in the mounting condition of the front holder in carrying out the inspection of connectors of a front holder type, and can avoid any problems caused by a mounting failure of the front holder.
The present invention provides a solution to the above-mentioned problem, and according to one aspect of the invention, includes an inspection unit of a connector inspection apparatus in combination with a connector. The connector includes a hollow housing, a boss member integrally formed inside the periphery of the housing and having partitioned cavities for the insertion terminals. One end of the boss member opens inside an opening on one side of the housing while the other end projects from an opening on the other side of the housing.
The connector further includes a box-type front holder which covers one side terminal area of the boss member. The inspection unit is mounted on a connector inspection apparatus for inspection of a front holder type connector on which a plurality of terminal-fitted wires is mounted by inserting a metal terminal of each terminal-fitted wire from the other side of the boss member. The inspection unit is relatively movable between an inspecting position for inspecting the connector by accessing the connector and a released position which detachably releases the connector from the connector inspection apparatus by moving away from the inspection position.
The inspection unit further includes a block body relatively displaceable between an inspection position and a released position for a connector held by the connector inspection apparatus, and a slider relatively and displaceably mounted on the block body for relative displacement in a direction toward and away from the connector. At least one probe pin is mounted on the slider for inspecting the continuity of metal terminals of the connector, and a biasing mechanism is mounted between the block body and the slider for biasing the slider toward a connector which becomes a subject of inspection.
An inspection element, having a switching finction to be connected by a biasing force weaker than the biasing mechanism, projects toward a connector side and is mounted on the slider and is engaged with the front holder of a connector during inspection.
A contact area controls the displacement of the slider so as to interrupt the connection with the metal terminals ofthe probe pin, by making contact with the front holder after connecting the inspection element during relative access of the block body and the connector to the inspection position in the case where the slider is integrally formed and the front holder is subjected to a mounting failure.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a connector is held by a connector inspection apparatus, relatively accessing a block body and the connector with an inspection element which inspects the presence of a probe pin for inspecting a metal terminal and a front holder in carrying out the checking of the connector, continuity inspection and inspection for the presence of the front holder can be achieved in the same manner as the conventional apparatus. At the same time, even if the front holder exhibits a mounting failure, an inspection element is first connected and then a contact area makes contact with the contact area. Therefore, the slider which is formed integrally with the contact area is controlled to relatively access the connector under conditions against the biasing force of a biasing mechanism, which makes a probe pin held by the slider difficult to connect with the metal terminal. As a result, the inspection element becomes connected while all of the probe pins become disconnected, which makes inspection of mounting failures of the front holder possible.
In another aspect of the present invention, an inspection unit for a connector inspection apparatus is provided that includes a block body relatively displaceable between an inspection position for a connector held by the inspection unit and a position spaced therefrom, a slider mounted on the block body for relative movement in a direction toward and away from the connector, at least one probe pin mounted on the slider for inspecting the continuity of metal terminals of the connector, and an inspection element mounted on the slider for detecting the presence of a front holder for terminals of the connector.
In another aspect of the invention, the inspection element of the inspection unit includes a spring biased switching element which projects outwardly from the slider and is biased toward the inspection position of the connector. The inspection unit may also include a biasing mechanism for biasing the slider toward the connector to be inspected, and the biasing mechanism may includes a spr
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Metjahic Safet
Nguyen Vincent Q.
Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd.
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