WO2015012079A1

WO2015012079A1 - Connector terminal for automobile

Info

Publication number: WO2015012079A1
Application number: PCT/JP2014/067732
Authority: WO
Inventors: 照善宗像; 齋藤　寧; 古川　欣吾
Original assignee: 株式会社オートネットワーク技術研究所; 住友電装株式会社; 住友電気工業株式会社
Priority date: 2013-07-24
Filing date: 2014-07-03
Publication date: 2015-01-29
Also published as: JP2015026444A

Abstract

Provided is a connector terminal for an automobile that uses a Cu-Fe alloy, which can reduce material costs, and that has excellent bendability. The connector terminal (1) for an automobile has a terminal part (4) and a wire connection part (2), and also has a joining part (5) and a spring part (6) as bent parts which are obtained by bending a terminal intermediate body (1A), which is formed by performing blanking processing on a Cu-Fe alloy plate in a shape for a terminal expansion body. For the bent part, the line direction of a fold line crosses the direction of rolling for the alloy plate, and the angle of intersection of the direction of the line and the direction of rolling is in a range of 30 - 60°.

Description

Automotive connector terminals

The present invention relates to a terminal used for a connector mounted on an automobile, and more particularly to a connector terminal suitably used for a connector of a wire harness mounted on an automobile.

Conventionally, a copper alloy obtained by adding a small amount (about several percent) of metal to Cu is used for connector terminals. The copper alloy is expensive because a material having a high Cu concentration is used. Therefore, it was thought that the cost of the material can be reduced if Fe is added as a metal element that is cheaper than the metal.

As a terminal material, a material obtained by adding other metal elements to Cu is known (see Patent Documents 1 to 3). For example, the alloys described in

Patent Documents

1 and 2 are multiphase alloys obtained by extracting a Cr crystal second phase in a Cu matrix, and the second phase is dispersed in a fiber shape.

In addition, the multiphase alloy described in Patent Document 3 describes Fe as an additive element that becomes the second phase. The additive element of the second phase contains 7% or more and 20% or less.

Conventionally, a connector terminal made of a Cu alloy having a large Cu content, for example, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), uses an alloy plate (rolled plate material) 110 made of a plate material formed by rolling a Cu alloy. A terminal intermediate body 120 (120A, 120B) that is punched and pressed into a shape is formed, and a predetermined portion of the terminal intermediate body 120 is bent and pressed, so that the terminal shape of the connector terminal 100 shown in FIG. It is known to form (see, for example, Patent Document 4).

According to the terminal stripping method, the spring characteristics in the rolling direction (LD) of the alloy plate 110 are different from the spring characteristics in the traverse direction (TD) orthogonal to the rolling direction, so that depending on the required terminal spring characteristics. In this case, the planing direction is selected.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-8166 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-140267 Japanese Patent No. 4446479 JP 2000-68027 A

When the terminal intermediate body is stripped from the rolled plate material into a terminal development shape, generally, as shown in the terminal intermediate body 120B of FIG. 7A, the terminal intermediate body is bent along the rolling direction (LD) of the alloy plate 110. The plate is cut so that the fold line T becomes the main. The spring portion 102 is folded back in the direction along the traverse direction (TD) by the fold line L. Further, as in the case of the terminal intermediate body 120A, the plate may be cut so that the fold line L in the case of folding along the traverse direction (TD) orthogonal to the rolling direction is main. The spring portion 102 in this case is folded back in the direction along the rolling direction (LD) by the folding line T.

By bending the bending lines of the terminal

intermediate bodies

120A and 120B, as shown in FIG. 7B, a female terminal 100 having a box-shaped periphery and having a tongue-like terminal spring portion inside is obtained. . The spring portion 102 is bent so that the alloy plate is folded over 90 °, and the box-shaped portion 103 is bent about 90 °.

Incidentally, when the above Cu—Fe alloy is used as a terminal material, the material anisotropy becomes a problem. In an alloy plate obtained by rolling a Cu—Fe alloy in which Fe is added to Cu in order to reduce the material cost, Fe particles extend in a fiber shape in the rolling direction (LD). As a result, the alloy plate has a smaller elongation in the traverse direction (TD) than the conventional terminal material.

It has been found that it is extremely difficult to form the spring portion 102 by bending the spring portion 102 of the terminal intermediate body 120B by 90 ° or more in the TD direction along the fold line L. Further, in the case of the terminal intermediate 120A, the spring portion 102 may be bent along the fold line T, but the box-shaped portion 103 is formed by bending approximately 90 ° in the TD direction. It is difficult. The connector terminal using the Cu—Fe alloy has a problem that the workability of the bending process is poor.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, and to provide a connector terminal for an automobile using a Cu—Fe alloy capable of reducing material cost and having good bending workability. It is to provide.

In order to solve the above problems, the automobile connector terminal of the present invention is
A connector terminal having a bent portion obtained by bending a terminal intermediate body having a terminal portion and an electric wire connecting portion, wherein a Cu-Fe alloy plate is punched and cut into the shape of a terminal expansion body;
The bending portion is a direction in which the line direction of the bending line intersects the rolling direction of the alloy sheet, and the intersection angle between the line direction and the rolling direction is within a range of 30 to 60 °. To do.

In the automobile connector terminal, the crossing angle is preferably approximately 45 °.

In the automobile connector terminal, the Cu—Fe alloy is preferably an alloy containing Fe in a range of 20 to 50% by mass and the balance being Cu.

The automobile connector terminal preferably includes a bent portion in which the bent angle of the bent portion is in a range of approximately 90 to 180 °.

In the connector terminal for automobiles, the terminal intermediate body is formed by stripping the alloy plate into a shape in which a plurality of terminal deployment bodies are connected at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction of the carrier portion. It is preferable that the rolling direction and the longitudinal direction of the carrier part intersect with each other, and the intersecting angle between the rolling direction of the alloy plate and the longitudinal direction of the carrier part is within a range of 30 to 60 °. .

The connector terminal for automobiles of the present invention has a bent portion in which a terminal intermediate body obtained by punching a Cu—Fe alloy plate manufactured through a rolling process into a developed terminal shape has a bent portion. Therefore, since Cu, which is less expensive than Cu, is added to the Cu—Fe alloy, the material cost can be reduced.

Furthermore, the automobile connector terminal of the present invention is bent so that the line direction of the bent line of the bent portion intersects the rolling direction of the alloy plate, and the line direction of the bent line and the alloy When the crossing angle in the rolling direction of the plate is in the range of 30 to 60 °, it is possible to avoid bending in the direction of small elongation of the Cu—Fe alloy and to bend in the direction of large elongation. Thus, an automobile connector terminal having good bending workability can be obtained. That is, when the line direction of the fold line of the bent portion is parallel to the rolling direction (crossing angle is 0 °) or traverse direction (crossing angle is 90 °), the Cu—Fe alloy is particularly elongated in that direction. Since it is small, bending is difficult, but the present invention can solve such a problem.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a female terminal as an example of the connector terminal of the present invention. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a Cu—Fe alloy plate. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example in which a Cu-Fe alloy plate is cut into the shape of a terminal deployment body. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a connector terminal when a plurality of connector terminals are formed in a state of being connected to the carrier portion. FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining a method of removing the connector terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 7A is a plan view for explaining a conventional connector terminal plate removing method, and FIG. 7B is an external perspective view of a connector terminal formed by using the developed body of FIG. It is.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The automobile connector terminal of the present invention (hereinafter also referred to as a connector terminal) is a terminal used for a male-female fitting type connector comprising a male connector and a female connector. A male terminal is used for the male connector, and a female terminal is used for the female connector. The connector terminal of the present invention may be formed in any shape of a male terminal and a female terminal.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a female terminal as an example of the connector terminal of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the female terminal 1 includes a terminal portion 2 and a wire connecting portion 3. The terminal portion 2 is formed as a square tubular fitting portion 5. The fitting portion 5 is surrounded by a bottom plate 51, left and

right side plates

52 and 53, and a ceiling plate 54, and the front is open. Inside the fitting portion 5, a spring portion 6 is formed that is folded back in a U shape from the front end of the fitting portion and passes through the male terminal and contacts the fitting portion 5. In the present invention, for convenience, the terminal portion 2 side of the left connector terminal in FIG. 1 is referred to as the front, the right wire connecting portion 3 side in the drawing is referred to as the rear, the lower side in the drawing is referred to as the lower side, and the upper side in the drawing is referred to as the upper side.

The electric wire connection part 3 is comprised from the

barrel parts

31 and 32 which stand up from both sides, as shown in FIG. The barrel portion 31 is crimped to the conductor of the electric wire. The barrel portion 32 is crimped to a wire covering material.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a Cu—Fe alloy plate, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example in which the Cu—Fe alloy plate is cut into the shape of a terminal deployment body. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the female terminal 1 shown in FIG. 1 is formed by punching using a Cu—Fe alloy plate (hereinafter also abbreviated as an alloy plate) 10 manufactured through a rolling process. Thus, a terminal intermediate body 1A cut into the shape of a terminal deployment body is obtained, and the terminal intermediate body 1A is bent to be assembled into a predetermined terminal shape. As shown in FIG. 3, the alloy plate 10 is rolled in a direction (rolling direction) indicated by an arrow LD. In FIG. 3, the direction indicated by the arrow TD is the direction orthogonal to the rolling direction.

The Cu—Fe alloy plate preferably contains 20 to 50% by mass of Fe and the balance is made of Cu. A terminal having high strength can be obtained when the Fe content of the alloy plate is 20% by mass or more. Moreover, the effect which reduces material cost by making Fe content high content becomes large. Further, when the Fe content of the alloy plate is 50% by mass or less, terminal formability, corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity and the like are good.

In the Cu—Fe alloy, Fe particles are present as particles in the order of microns in Cu, and the Fe particles are stretched into fibers by rolling, whereby the fiber dispersion is strengthened. Therefore, the workability is greatly reduced as compared with a Corson-based copper alloy, brass or the like conventionally used as a terminal material for automobile connectors. For example, a material such as brass can be strength-adjusted by work hardening, so that terminal molding is sufficiently possible even if the bending line is cut so that it is parallel and perpendicular to the rolling direction.

As shown in FIG. 4, a plate intermediate is taken out from the alloy plate 10 as a terminal intermediate 1 </ b> A having a developed female terminal shape by a punching press. The terminal intermediate 1A is bent into a valley fold along a fold line 1b and folded back to a predetermined angle within a range of more than 90 ° to less than 180 ° to form the spring portion 6. In addition, the terminal intermediate body 1A is bent at approximately 90 ° into the valley folds at the

folding lines

1c, 1d, 1e, and 1f to form the rectangular tubular fitting portion 5. A terminal portion 2 having a spring portion 6 is formed inside the fitting portion 5. The ceiling board 54 is in a state where two ceiling boards overlap and overlap each other. A male terminal portion is inserted into the fitting portion 5 so that the male terminal is sandwiched between the spring portion 6 and the ceiling plate 54 of the fitting portion so as to be electrically connected.

When the fitting portion 5 is bent along the

bending lines

1d and 1e, the

barrels

31 and 32 are also erected from the bottom plate 51, and the wire connecting portion 3 is formed simultaneously with the terminal portion 2. In the female terminal 1, a rectangular tubular fitting portion 5 and a spring portion 6 formed by bending the terminal intermediate body 1A correspond to the bent portion of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the alloy plate 10 is cut into the shape of a terminal deployment body, the line direction of the terminal fold line S and the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate 10 intersect each other. This means that the line direction S of the fold line does not correspond to either the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate or the traverse direction TD orthogonal to the rolling direction of the alloy plate. Furthermore, the intersecting angle between the line direction S of the fold line and the rolling direction LD of the alloy sheet is in the range of 30 to 60 °.

For example, in the terminal intermediate 1A shown in FIG. 4, the plate is cut so that the crossing angle θ1 between the line direction S1b of the bending line 1b for forming the spring portion 6 and the rolling direction LD is 45 °. In the present invention, the crossing angle θ between the line direction S and the rolling direction LD is an acute angle among the crossing angles formed by the line direction S and the rolling direction LD.

As shown in FIG. 4, the fold lines 1c to 1f of the terminal intermediate 1A for forming the fitting portion 5 are formed in parallel to each other. The fold lines 1c to 1f are perpendicular to the fold line 1b of the spring portion. Therefore, the crossing angle θ2 between the line direction S1c of the bending lines 1c to 1f and the rolling direction LD is 45 °.

In the present invention, the crossing angle θ at which the line direction S of the fold line of the bent portion intersects the rolling direction LD of the alloy sheet is in the range of 30 to 60 °. Within this range, the Cu—Fe alloy plate can be stripped so that the elongation is increased, the anisotropy of the fold line is reduced, and the workability of the bending process of the terminal intermediate is reduced. It becomes good. The preferred intersection angle θ is approximately 45 °. In this case, it is possible to bend in the direction in which the elongation is maximized, and it is possible to minimize the anisotropy, and the workability is most excellent.

Experimental Example The test method and results were tested for the relationship between the rolling direction and elongation by changing the angle of the tensile direction (intersection angle between the LD direction and the tensile direction) with respect to the rolling direction (LD direction) of the Cu-Fe alloy. It is shown below.

〔Test method〕
Tensile strength, 0.2% proof stress, elongation at break, Young's modulus, using a test piece cut from a Cu-Fe alloy plate containing 20% by mass of Fe at a different angle with respect to the rolling direction. Was measured and evaluated for processability. As the test piece, seven points that were cut so that the crossing angle θ was 0 °, 15 °, 30 °, 45 °, 60 °, 75 °, and 90 ° were used. The test results are shown in Table 1.

The above tests were conducted in accordance with JIS Z 2241 “Metal material tensile test method”.

The evaluation of the workability of the specimen was judged by elongation. In general, if the elongation at break is 20% or more, it is easy to perform a bending process, so that the workability is good (◯) when the elongation is 20% or more, and the one with the maximum elongation is the best ( ◎), and those having an elongation of less than 20% were defined as defective (x).

As a result of the test, as shown in Table 1, when the crossing angle was in the range of 30 ° to 60 °, the breaking elongation was 20% or more and the workability was good. In particular, when the crossing angle was 45 °, the elongation at break was a maximum of 23%, and the workability was the best. On the other hand, when the crossing angles were 0 °, 15 °, 75 °, and 90 °, the elongation at break was less than 20%, and the workability was poor.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a connector terminal when a plurality of connector terminals are formed in a state of being connected to the carrier portion, and FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining the connector terminal plate removing method of FIG. is there. As shown in FIG. 5, the connector terminal 1 may be formed in a state where a plurality of connector terminal bodies 11 are connected in the longitudinal direction of the carrier portion 12 at a predetermined interval.

In the case of the connector terminal shown in FIG. 5, as shown in FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 6, as a terminal intermediate 1 </ b> B in which a plurality of terminal expansion bodies 11 </ b> A are connected to the alloy plate 10 in the longitudinal direction of the carrier portion 12 at a predetermined interval. Is done.

The terminal intermediate body 1B shown in FIG. 6 is punched and punched into a shape where the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate 10 and the longitudinal direction C of the carrier portion intersect. The crossing angle θ3 between the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate 10 and the longitudinal direction C of the carrier portion 1B is preferably within a range of 30 to 60 °, and more preferably 45 °.

As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal deployment body 11 </ b> A connected to the carrier portion 12 is connected so that the terminal fitting direction D is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction C of the carrier portion 12. The terminal intermediate 1B is stripped so that the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate 10 and the terminal fitting direction D intersect.

When the crossing angle θ3 between the longitudinal direction C of the carrier portion 12 and the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate is formed within a range of 30 to 60 °, the longitudinal direction C of the carrier portion 12 and the terminal fitting direction D are connected so as to be orthogonal. Therefore, the intersection angle θ4 is the same as the intersection angle θ2 in FIG. 4, and the intersection angle θ3 is the same as θ1 in FIG. The crossing angles θ1, θ2 between the line directions S1b, S1c of the bending lines 1b-1e of each terminal deployment body 11A and the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate 10 can be set within a range of 30-60 °.

Similarly to the above, when the crossing angle θ3 of the longitudinal direction C of the carrier portion 12 and the rolling direction LD of the alloy plate 10 is formed at 45 °, the crossing angles of the line directions S1b and S1c of the folding lines 1b to 1e and the rolling direction LD θ1 and θ2 are 45 °.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

A connector terminal having a bent portion obtained by bending a terminal intermediate body having a terminal portion and an electric wire connecting portion, wherein a Cu-Fe alloy plate is punched and cut into the shape of a terminal expansion body;
The bending portion is a direction in which a line direction of a bending line intersects a rolling direction of the alloy sheet, and an intersection angle between the line direction and the rolling direction is in a range of 30 ° to 60 °. Automotive connector terminals.
The automobile connector terminal according to claim 1, wherein the crossing angle is approximately 45 °.
3. The connector terminal for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein the Cu—Fe alloy contains Fe in a range of 20 to 50% by mass and the balance is Cu.
The automobile connector terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a bent portion in which a bending angle of the bent portion is in a range of approximately 90 ° to 180 °.
The terminal intermediate body is obtained by removing a plurality of the terminal expansion bodies from the alloy plate in a shape connected at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction of the carrier part,
Plated in a shape where the rolling direction of the alloy plate and the longitudinal direction of the carrier part intersect,
The automobile connector terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an intersection angle between a rolling direction of the alloy plate and a longitudinal direction of the carrier portion is within a range of 30 to 60 °.