Electrical connectors – With selectable circuit – e.g. – plug board – Including three or more contacts adapted to be selectively...
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-06
2004-06-29
Nasri, Javaid H. (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With selectable circuit, e.g., plug board
Including three or more contacts adapted to be selectively...
C439S715000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06755664
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a joint receiving connector for receiving a joint of a wire harness, and a method for manufacturing the same.
FIGS. 12
,
13
and
14
show such a joint receiving connector.
In
FIG. 12
, an electric junction box
101
is constructed to have an upper case
102
and a lower case
103
made of synthetic resin. There are formed in the upper case
102
, a plurality of housings
106
each of which is adapted to be connected with a terminal connector
105
of a wire harness
104
. Moreover, there are formed a plurality of slits
107
in the lower case
103
.
Into the slits
107
, there are inserted longitudinal bus bars
108
having electrical conductivity for receiving the joint, and a plurality of tabs
109
continuously formed on the longitudinal bus bars
108
are adapted to project into the housings
106
via a plurality of through holes
110
. The upper case
102
and the lower case
103
are so designed as to be integrated with each other by way of engagement between locked portions
111
formed on the upper case
102
and locking hooks
112
formed on the lower case
103
, so that a plurality of the longitudinal bus bars
108
can be clamped between these upper case
102
and the lower case
103
.
In
FIGS. 13 and 14
, both an upper surface
121
a
and a lower surface
121
b
of a connector housing
121
are designed as joining faces. There are formed housing lock projections
122
in forward areas of the upper joining face
121
a
. There are also formed housing lock grooves
123
on the lower joining face
121
b
corresponding thereto.
The connector housing
121
has a plurality of terminal cavities
125
which are partitioned by respective cavity walls
124
. In the respective terminal cavities
125
, a plurality of crimp terminals
126
are respectively contained in a state engaged with fitting holes
121
c.
Each of the crimp terminals
126
is constructed to have a wire crimping portion
126
a
to which an electric wire W is crimped, a locked portion (not shown) to be locked to the connector housing
121
, a tab portion
126
c
adapted to project from the upper joining face
121
a
, and a tab contact
126
d
to which the tab portion
126
c
inserted from the lower joining face
121
b
is brought into contact.
A coupling part
128
couples two laterally adjacent crimp terminals
126
to each other. A cut-out
129
is formed in each of the cavity walls
124
so that the coupling part
128
is adapted to couple the adjacent crimp terminals
126
to each other astride the cut-out
129
.
On the basis of the above described structure, operation of mounting the terminals to the connector housing
121
, and coupling operation between the connector housings
121
will be described.
The crimp terminals
126
are inserted into a plurality of the terminal cavities
125
of the connector housing
121
from back faces thereof. When the crimp terminals
126
have been respectively inserted up to mounting positions, the locked portions (not shown) of the crimp terminals
126
are engaged with the connector housing
121
. Then, by conducting treatments such as crimping the electric wires W to the wire crimping portions
126
a
of the crimp terminals
126
and so on, the electric wires W and the crimp terminals
126
are connected with each other.
Subsequently, by moving the connector housings
121
in such a direction that the joining faces
121
a
and
121
b
of the two connector housings
121
may come close to each other, positional alignment of the housing lock projections
122
and the housing lock grooves
123
is performed. After then, by further moving the connector housings
121
in the direction in which the joining faces
121
a
and
121
b
of both the connector housings
121
may come close to each other, the joining faces
121
a
and
121
b
are joined to each other, so that the housing lock and the coupling operation are completed.
On this occasion, along with the movement of both the connector housings
121
to the coupled position, the tab portions
126
c
of the crimp terminals
126
in the lower connector housing
121
are introduced into the upper connector housing
121
through the fitting holes
121
c
, to be brought into contact with the tab contacts
126
d
of the respective crimp terminals
126
in the upper connector housing
121
. It is to be noted that in case where the upper and lower crimp terminals
126
are not intended to be electrically connected, folding work for folding the tab portions
126
c
should be conducted in advance.
As described above, by laminatedly coupling the connector housings
121
, a joint connector assembly
130
is constructed. This joint connector assembly
130
is constructed in such a manner that the vertically adjacent crimp terminals
126
and the laterally adjacent crimp terminals
126
can be electrically interconnected, according to requirement.
In the above electrical junction box
101
, the arrangement of the connectors is previously fixed, and therefore, upon receiving a joint of a wire harness, arrangement adaptation has to be performed in the wire harness side to match with the requirement predetermined in the junction box side. Consequently, productivity of the wire harness cannot be enhanced.
In addition, the joint connector assembly
130
cannot be provided with such a function as complying with the arranging requirements of the wire harness side.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an economical joint receiving connector having a function capable of complying with the arranging requirements of the wire harness side, and a method for manufacturing the same.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided A connector assembly for receiving a plurality of mating connectors each provided with a wire harness, comprising:
a plurality of subassemblies, each provided with a first internal space and a second internal space which are defined by an internal partition wall, and conductive tabs piercing the partition wall so as to project into both of the first internal space and the second internal space, the subassemblies being stacked one on another;
a plurality of connectors, each of which is inserted into the first internal space of an associated one of the subassemblies;
a plurality of terminals, provided in each of the connectors to be electrically connected to the conductive tabs; and
at least one electric wire, a first end of which is connected to one of the terminals which is provided in one of the connectors, and a second end of which is connected to another one of the terminals which is provided in another one of the connectors,
wherein each of the mating connector is inserted into the second internal space of an associated one of the subassemblies, to be electrically connected to the conductive tabs.
Preferably, the connectors connected by the electric wire is so selected as to match with a wire arranging requirement of the wire harness.
In such a configuration, it is capable of complying with the arranging requirements of the wire harness, so as to contribute to enhancement of the productivity of the wire harness. Moreover, alteration of the arrangement can be easily made, irrespective of conditions such as vehicle grade, shipment destination or the like, so that needless circuits can be decreased, and that the cost can be cut down.
Preferably, the terminals includes a chained terminal which electrically connects adjacent ones of the terminals.
Here, it is preferable that a position at which the chained terminal is provided is so selected as to match with an wire arranging requirement of the wire harness.
In such a configuration, variation of arrangement of the terminals in compliance with the arranging requirements of the wire harness can be increased. It is also advantageous that needless circuits can be decreased.
Preferably, each of the subassemblies is provided with an engaging member which engages with a stacked one of the subassemblies.
In such a configuration, the stack
Mori Shigeki
Sakamoto Masami
Nasri Javaid H.
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
Yazaki -Corporation
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