Patent Publication Number: US-9431758-B2

Title: Connector with grommet

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     A technology disclosed by this specification relates to a connector with grommet. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     U.S. Pat. No. 8,257,101 discloses a vehicle-side connector with a grommet for surrounding and protecting a wire drawn out backward from a housing. The vehicle-side connector has a vehicle-side terminal inserted from behind into a terminal accommodating portion in the housing. A retainer is mounted into the housing from behind and holds the terminal accommodating portion so as not to come out backward. The wire is inserted through the grommet and the grommet is mounted to the housing from behind to protect the wire. However, the wire drawn out backward from the housing may be pulled in a direction oblique to a proper draw-out direction. The grommet is bent together with the wire and an excessive force may be applied to a wire connecting portion connected to the wire in the vehicle-side terminal. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to prevent an excessive force to be applied to a wire connecting portion connected to the wire in the vehicle-side terminal. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a connector with grommet. The connector has at least one terminal-fitted wire that has a terminal with a wire connecting portion connected to a wire. The connector also has a housing in which the terminal-fitted wire is mounted and a retainer with at least one wire holding portion arranged substantially along the wire connecting portion. A grommet at least partly surrounds and protects the retainer and the terminal. An outer surface of the grommet has a mounting portion that is provided circumferentially to intersect the wire holding portion, and at least one tying member is mounted on the grommet by being mounted substantially along the mounting portion in an annular manner. 
     The rigidity of the grommet is improved by the wire holding portion and the tying member mounted on the grommet. Thus, the wire is less likely to bend in the grommet even if the wire is pulled oblique to a proper draw-out direction. For example, if the wire is pulled away from the wire holding portion, a force pulling the wire is transmitted to the wire holding portion via the tying member and the wire holding portion holds on to suppress bending of the wire. In addition, the wire holding portion is arranged along the wire connecting portion. Thus, the application of an excessive force to the wire connecting portion can be prevented. 
     Note that a method for directly fixing the wire to the wire holding portion by the tying member is also conceivable to suppress bending of the wire. However, this method, requires the wire to be fixed with the grommet flipped after the grommet is mounted on the wire in advance. Thus, an operation is difficult. In contrast, the invention mounts the tying member to the mounting portion with the grommet mounted on the housing instead of mounting the tying member on the wire holding portion. Thus, the tying member is mounted easily. 
     The wire connecting portion may extend in a direction perpendicular to a mounting direction of the terminal-fitted wire into the housing. If an attempt is made to bend the wire at a right angle, it is expected that a load is applied to the wire connecting portion due to a bending reaction force of the wire. However, the wire is not be bent in accordance with the invention, and therefore a load is not applied to the wire connecting portion. 
     The retainer may include a plate-like retainer main body with which the terminal intersects, and the wire holding portion may project in a draw-out direction of the wire from a peripheral edge of the retainer main body. Thus, a load applied to the wire holding portion can be distributed to the retainer main body. 
     The wire holding portion may be arranged along an inner surface of the grommet. If the inner surface of the grommet and the wire holding portion are not in contact, the wire can bend until the inner surface of the grommet contacts the wire holding portion. However, according to the above configuration, the wire holding portion holds on to suppress bending of the wire from the start of pulling the wire. 
     The mounting portion may be a recess recessed toward an inner surface from the outer surface of the grommet, and an outer surface of the tying member mounted in the mounting portion may be aligned flush with the outer surface of the grommet or may be formed not to exceed the outer surface of the grommet. Accordingly, other wires and the like are not caught by the tying member since the tying member does not project out from the outer surface of the grommet. 
     There may be plural wires having different diameters, and thin wires having a relatively small outer diameter may be fixed to the wire holding portion. According to such a configuration, the thin wires can be fixed reliably to the wire holding portion. 
     The wire holding portion may include a wire fixing portion provided with a through hole through which a tying band is passed, and the thin wires may be fixed to the wire holding portion by passing the tying band through the through hole and winding the thin wires onto the wire fixing portion. Thus, the tying band is not detached from the wire fixing portion and the thin wires can be fixed firmly to the wire fixing portion since the thin wires are wound onto the wire fixing portion by passing the tying band through the through hole. 
     These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings. Even though embodiments are described separately, single features may be combined to additional embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a rear view of a connector with grommet in a first embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a section along A-A of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a rear view of a retainer. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a grommet when viewed obliquely from behind. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the grommet when viewed obliquely from front. 
         FIG. 6  is a rear view of a retainer of a second embodiment in use. 
         FIG. 7  is a side view showing the used state of the retainer. 
         FIG. 8  is a section, corresponding to  FIG. 2 , showing a state where a tying band is passed through a through hole. 
         FIG. 9  is a rear view of the retainer. 
         FIG. 10  is a front view of the retainer. 
         FIG. 11  is an enlarged perspective view of a part of a wire fixing portion. 
         FIG. 12  is an enlarged perspective view showing a state where low-voltage wires are fixed to the wire fixing portion by the tying band. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A first embodiment is described with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 5 . A connector  10  in this embodiment is a connector with grommet including a housing  30  shown in  FIG. 1 , a retainer  50  shown in  FIG. 3  and a grommet  70  shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . The connector  10  is a vehicle-side connector mounted, for example, on a body of an automotive vehicle such as an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle or the like and called as an inlet in some cases. Further, although not shown, the connector  10  is, for example, connected to a battery mounted in the automotive vehicle and the battery is charged by connecting a charging connector provided in a charger from the front. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the housing  30  includes a flange  31  mounted and fixed to the body of the vehicle by bolts. As shown in  FIG. 2 , terminal-fitted wires  40  are mounted into the housing  30  from behind. The terminal-fitted wire  40  includes an L-shaped terminal  41  and a wire W. The terminals  41  include power supply terminals, a ground terminal and signal terminals and each terminal includes a wire connecting portion  42  to which the wire W is connected. The wire connecting portion  42  is a crimping portion of a closed barrel type to be crimped to a core exposed at an end part of the wire W. Note that the wires W includes high-voltage wires W to be connected to the power supply terminals and low-voltage wires W 2  to be connected to the signal terminals, and the low-voltage wires W 2  have a smaller outer diameter than the high-voltage wires W 1 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , the retainer  50  includes a retainer main body  51  substantially circular in a plan view and two peripheral walls  52  projecting back (toward a front side with respect to the plane of  FIG. 3 ) from a peripheral edge of the retainer main body  51 . The retainer main body  51  has terminal fixing portions  53  to which the terminals  41  are to be fixed. The terminal fixing portions  53  are substantially U-shaped openings formed in upper and lower stages and open radially outwardly of the retainer main body  51 . Back parts of the terminal fixing portions  53  have a constricted shape. The terminal  41  is fixed to the terminal fixing portion  53  in a posture intersecting the retainer main body  51  by being surrounded over half the circumference or more by this constricted part. 
     The peripheral wall  52  includes locking portions  54  to be locked to the housing  30 . On the other hand, the housing  30  includes locking projections to be locked to the locking portions  54  although not shown. A terminal-fitted retainer is formed by assembling the terminal-fitted wires  40  with the retainer  50  in advance, and the locking portions  54  are locked to the corresponding locking projections to fix the retainer  50  to the housing  30  by assembling the terminal-fitted retainer with the housing  30 . Further, the terminals  41  are accommodated into unillustrated cavities of the housing  30  from behind and retained by the terminal fixing portions  53 . 
     A substantially U-shaped wire holding portion  55  extends down from a lower part of the retainer main body  51  and is aligned substantially perpendicular to a mounting direction of the terminal-fitted wires  40  into the housing  30 . The wire holding portion  55  includes two leg portions  56  and a coupling  57  that couples the legs  56 . The legs  56  are coupled to parts of the peripheral edge of the retainer main body  51  arranged at opposite left and right sides of the terminal fixing portion  53 L in the center of the lower stage. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the grommet  70  includes a circular lid  71 , a tubular portion  72  projecting down from the lid  71  and two pipes  73 A,  73 B forked at a lower end part of the tubular portion  72 . The first pipe  73 A is cylindrical and extending down with a substantially constant diameter, and the second pipe  73 B has a tapered conical shape with a smaller diameter toward a lower side. Upper ends of the pipes  73 A and  73 B have substantially the same diameter, whereas the lower end of the second pipe  73 B has a smaller diameter than the first pipe  73 A. The interiors of the lid  71 , the tubular portion  72  and the pipes  73 A,  73 B communicate with each other. The retainer main body  51  of the retainer  50  can be accommodated into the lid-like portion  71 . Further, an inner diameter of the lid-like portion  71  is substantially equal to an outer diameter of the retainer main body  51 . Thus, when the grommet  70  is mounted on the housing  30 , the retainer main body  51  of the retainer  50  and horizontal parts of the terminals  41  intersecting with the retainer main body  51  are surrounded and protected by the lid  71 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the wire connecting portions  42  of the terminals  41 , the wires W extending e.g. substantially downwardly from the wire connecting portions  42  and the wire holding portion  55  of the retainer  50  at least partly are accommodated in the tubular portion  72 . In this way, the wire connecting portion(s)  42  of the terminal(s)  41 , the wire(s) W and the wire holding portion  55  of the retainer  50  at least partly are surrounded and protected by the tubular portion  72 . Furthermore, further downward parts of the wires W are surrounded and protected by the pipe-like portions  73 A,  73 B. Specifically, as shown in  FIG. 1 , a plurality of high-voltage wires W 1  particularly are bundled at one position and inserted into the one (e.g. left) pipe-like portion  73 A in  FIG. 1  and a plurality of low-voltage wires W 2  are bundled at one position and inserted into the other (e.g. right) pipe-like portion  73 B in  FIG. 1 . 
     An inner surface  72 I of the tubular portion  72  is arranged along a front surface  55 F of the wire holding portion  55 . Thus, the inner surface  72 I of the tubular portion  72  and the front surface  55 F of the wire holding portion  55  are substantially in contact. On the other hand, a mounting portion  74  in which an annular tie band  80  is to be mounted is provided circumferentially on an outer surface of the tubular portion  72 . The mounting portion  74  is recessed toward an inner surface side from the outer surface of the tubular portion  72 . Specifically, the tubular portion  72  is constricted at the position of the mounting portion  74 . A thickness of the tie band  80  and a depth of the mounting portion  74  are equal. Thus, an outer surface of the tie band  80  mounted in the mounting portion  74  is flush with the outer surface of the tubular portion  72 . 
     A lower part  72 L of the tubular portion  72  below the mounting portion  74  is thicker than an upper part  72 U. Further, the upper part  72 U of the tubular portion  72  and the mounting portion  74  are connected via a step, and the mounting portion  74  has a smaller diameter than the upper part  72 U of the tubular portion  72 . On the other hand, the wire holding portion  55  includes a step  58  in conformity with the step shape of the tubular portion  72 . In this way, an upper part  55 U of the wire holding portion  55  above the step  58  is in contact with the upper part  72 U of the tubular portion  72  and a lower part  55 L of the wire holding portion  55  below the step  58  is in contact with the lower part  72 L of the tubular portion  72 . 
     The wire connecting portions  42  of the terminals  41  in the lower stage are at the same height as the mounting portion  74 , and those of the terminals  41  in the upper stage are above the mounting portion  74 . Further, the tie band  80  mounted in the mounting portion  74  is perpendicular to the wire holding portion  55 . Thus, regardless of in which direction the tie band  80  is moved such as due to the swinging of the wires W, the tie band  80  certainly interferes with the wire holding portion  55  and the swinging of the wires W is prevented. 
     If the wires W are pulled back (leftward in  FIG. 2 ), the pipes  73 A,  73 B are bent forwardly by the wires W, but the lower part  72 L of the tubular portion  72  holds on. Thus, the bending of the wires W in the tubular portion  72  is suppressed to a certain extent. However, if the wires W are pulled back with a strong force, the lower part  72 L of the tubular portion  72  is pulled back by being dragged by the pipes  73 A,  73 B and the tie band  80  is likely to be pulled back. Here, a backward movement of the tie band  80  is suppressed by the wire holding portion  55 , the upper part  72 U of the tubular portion  72  is not pulled backwardly and the bending of the wires W accommodated in the tubular portion  72  is suppressed. Thus, an excessive force is not applied to the wire connecting portions  42  connected to the wires W. 
     The wire holding portion  55  prevents the grommet  70  from being detached from the housing  30  when the wires W are pulled. Further, the lid  71  can be flipped while the tubular portion  72  is hooked to the wire holding portion  55  in mounting the grommet  70  on the housing  30 , the grommet  70  is mounted easily on the housing  30 . 
     The wire holding portion  55  and the tie band  80  mounted on the grommet  70  improve the rigidity of the grommet  70 . Thus, bending of the wires in the grommet  70  is suppressed even if the wires W are pulled oblique to a proper draw-out direction. For example, a force to pull the wires W away from the wire holding portion  55  is transmitted to the wire holding portion  55  via the tie band  80  and the wire holding portion  55  holds on to suppress bending of the wires W. In addition, the wire holding portion  55  is arranged along the wire connecting portions  42 , and prevents application of excessive force to the wire connecting portions  42 . 
     A method for directly fixing the wires W to the wire holding portion  55  by the tie band  80  is also conceivable to suppress bending of the wires W. However, in this method, the wires W need to be fixed with the grommet  70  flipped after the grommet  70  is mounted on the wires W in advance. Thus, an operation is difficult. However, in the above configuration, the tie band  80  is mounted into the mounting portion  74  with the grommet  70  mounted on the housing  30  instead of mounting the tie band  80  on the wire holding portion  55 . Thus, the tie band  80  is mounted easily. 
     The wire connecting portions  42  may extend perpendicular to the mounting direction of the terminal-fitted wires  40  into the housing  30 . 
     If an attempt is made to bend the wires W e.g. at a right angle, it is expected that a load is applied to the wire connecting portions  42  due to a bending reaction force of the wires W. In that respect, according to the above configuration, a load is not applied to the wire connecting portions  42  due to the bending reaction force of the wires W since the wires W need not be bent. 
     The retainer  50  may have the plate-like retainer main body  51  that intersects the terminals  41  and the wire holding portion  55  may extend in the draw-out direction of the wires W from the periphery of the retainer main body  51 . Thus, a load applied to the wire holding portion  55  can be distributed to the retainer main body  51 . 
     The wire holding portion  55  may be arranged along the inner surface of the grommet  70 . 
     If the inner surface of the grommet  70  and the wire holding portion  55  are not in contact, the bending of the wires W is permitted until the inner surface of the grommet  70  contacts the wire holding portion  55 . However, according to the above configuration, the wire holding portion  55  holds on to suppress the bending of the wires W from the start of pulling the wires W. 
     The mounting portion  74  may be a recess recessed toward the inner surface side from the outer surface of the grommet  70  and the outer surface of the tie band  80  mounted in the mounting portion  74  may be substantially flush with or inward of the outer surface of the grommet  70 . Accordingly, other wires and the like are not caught by the tie band  80 . 
     A second embodiment is described with reference to  FIGS. 6 to 12 . A connector  110  of the second embodiment has a retainer that differs from the first embodiment. However, the remainder of the configuration is substantially the same as the first embodiment. Thus, elements of the second embodiment that are the same as the first embodiment are not described again and merely are identified by the same reference numbers. 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , wires W include at least two high-voltage wires W 1  and two low-voltage wires W 2 . On the other hand, terminals  41  include power supply terminals  41 A, a ground terminal  41 B and signal terminals  41 C. Left and right power supply terminals  41 A are arranged in an upper stage, one ground terminal  41 B is arranged in a lower stage and left and right signal terminals  41 C are arranged in a middle stage. 
     Three high-voltage wires W 1  are provided as shown and the power supply terminals  41 A and the ground terminal  41 B are connected respectively to the high-voltage wires W 1 . Further, two low-voltage wires W 2  are provided as shown and signal terminals  41 C are connected respectively to the low-voltage wires W 2 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , the low-voltage wires W 2  are arranged on a foremost side near a flange  31 , and the high-voltage wire W 1  connected to the ground terminal  41 B and the high-voltage wires W 1  connected to the power supply terminals  41  are arranged side by side in this order behind the low-voltage wires W 2 . 
     The connector  110  has a retainer  150  with a wire holding portion  155  that differs from the wire holding portion  55  of the first embodiment. The wire holding portion  155  extends down from a lower part of a retainer main body  51  and is perpendicular to a mounting direction of terminal-fitted wires  40  into a housing  30 . The wire holding portion  155  includes a U-shaped portion  158  that projects down from the lower part of the retainer main body  51  and a wire fixing portion  159  that extends down from the U-shaped portion  158 . The U-shaped portion  158  includes two legs  156  and a coupling  157  that couples the legs  156 . The legs  156  are coupled to parts of a peripheral edge of the retainer main body  51  at opposite left and right sides of a terminal fixing portion  53 L in the center of the lower stage. 
     The wire fixing portion  159  is about half as wide as the coupling  157 , and extends down from a right half of the coupling  157 . The wire fixing portion  159  includes a winding portion  160  that is on a lower part of the wire fixing portion  159  and is wider than the wire fixing portion  159 . Further, a straight reinforcing rib  161  extends down from the leg  156  located above the wire fixing portion  159 . The reinforcing rib  161  is at a right end position of the wire fixing portion  159  in a lateral direction while being located in a center of the winding portion  160 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 11 , the winding portion  160  has a through hole  162  through which a tying band  81  is passed. The through hole  162  is on a part of the reinforcing rib  161  coupled to the winding portion  160  and is arranged on a mounting side (front side with respect to the plane of  FIG. 10 ) of the retainer  150  into the housing  30 , as shown in  FIG. 10 . As shown in  FIG. 12 , the two low-voltage wires W 2  are arranged on opposite left and right sides of the reinforcing rib  161  along the winding portion  160  and the tying band  81  is passed through the through hole  162  and wound to fix the low-voltage wires W 2  to the winding portion  160  and the reinforcing rib  161 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the low-voltage wires W 2  are arranged along the wire fixing portion  159  and the winding portion  160  and at a position distant from the back surface of a grommet  70 . Thus, if the low-voltage wires W 2  are not held onto the wire holding portion  155  as in the first embodiment, the low-voltage wires W 2  are pulled back and bent at a considerable angle until the pulling of the low-voltage wires W 2  is suppressed by a tie band  80  and a pulling force is applied to the wire connecting portions  42  of the signal terminals  41 C. However, the low-voltage wires W 2  are fixed directly to the winding portion  160 . Thus, the pulling force is not applied to a side above the winding portion  160 , i.e. not applied to the wire connecting portions  42  of the signal terminals  41 C. Further, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the winding portion  160  is below the tie band  80 . Thus, pulling of the low-voltage wires W 2  is suppressed by the tying band  81  before being suppressed by the tie band  80  and a pulling force is not applied to the wire connecting portions  42  of the signal terminals  41 C. Note that a case where the high-voltage wires W 1  are pulled back is not described since it is the same as in the first embodiment. 
     As described above, the wires W have different outer diameters and the thin wires are fixed to the wire holding portion  155 . Thus, the thin wires are fixed reliably to the wire holding portion  155 . 
     Further, the wire holding portion  155  may include the wire fixing portion  159  provided with the through hole  162  through which the tying band  81  is passed, and the thin wires may be fixed to the wire holding portion  155  by passing the tying band  81  through the through hole  162  and winding the thin wires onto the wire fixing portion  159 . Thus, the tying band  81  is not detached from the wire fixing portion  159  and the thin wires are fixed firmly to the wire fixing portion  159  since the tying band  81  is passed through the through hole  162  and the thin wires are wound onto the wire fixing portion  159 . 
     The technology disclosed in this specification is not limited to the above described embodiment. For example, the following modes are also included. 
     The tie band  80  is flush with the outer surface of the grommet  70  in the above embodiments, but another mode may be adopted if the outer surface of the tie band  80  does not exceed the outer surface of the grommet  70 . 
     The terminal  41  need not be L-shaped. 
     The terminals  41  intersect the retainer main body  51  in the above embodiments, but a plate-like retainer main body may retain the terminals by being arranged behind the terminals and locking rear ends of the terminals from behind. 
     The wire holding portion  55  contacts the inner surface of the grommet  70  in the first embodiment, but a tiny clearance may be present between the wire holding portion  155  and the inner surface of the grommet  70  as in the second embodiment. 
     Although the mounting portion  74  is a recess in the tubular portion  72  in the above embodiments, but may be flush with the outer surface of the tubular portion. 
     The low-voltage wires W 2  are not fixed directly to the wire holding portion  55  in the first embodiment, but they may be fixed directly to the wire holding portion  55  using the tying band  81  or the like also in the first embodiment. 
     The low-voltage wires W 2  are fixed to the wire fixing portion  159  by winding the tying band  81  onto the winding portion  160  in the second embodiment. However, a lid coupled to a lateral side of the wire fixing portion  159  via a hinge may be rotated toward the wire fixing portion  159  and locked to fix the low-voltage wires W 2 . 
     Although the low-voltage wires W 2  are illustrated as the thin wires in the second embodiment, the thin wires have only to have a relatively small diameter and are not determined based on voltage. 
     REFERENCE SIGNS 
     
         
           10 ,  110  . . . connector (connector with grommet) 
           30  . . . housing 
           40  . . . terminal-fitted wire 
           41  . . . terminal 
           42  . . . wire connecting portion 
           50 ,  150  . . . retainer 
           51  . . . retainer main body 
           55  . . . wire holding portion 
           70  . . . grommet 
           72 I . . . inner surface (of tubular portion) 
           74  . . . mounting portion 
           80  . . . tie band (tying member) 
           81  . . . tying band 
           155  . . . wire holding portion 
           159  . . . wire fixing portion 
           160  . . . winding portion 
           162  . . . through hole 
         W . . . wire 
         W 2  . . . low-voltage wire (thin wire)