Patent Publication Number: US-8992249-B2

Title: Shielded connector

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of PCT application No. PCT/JP2012/058012, which was filed on Mar. 27, 2012 based on Japanese Patent Application (No. P2011-079572) filed on Mar. 31, 2011, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a shielded connector which connects an external cable to a circuit in a shield case of a device. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
       FIG. 8  shows the shielded connector of a prior example. A shielded connector  100  is disclosed in JP-A-2002-373737. 
     The shielded connector  100  is a connector by which external cables  110  are connected to a circuit in a shield case  103  of a device carried in an automobile or the like. 
     The shielded connector  100  includes cable-side connection terminals  120  which are crimped and connected to the distal ends of the external cables  110 , a resin housing  130  which accommodates and holds the cable-side connection terminals  120 , a shield shell  140  which holds the resin housing  130  and is fixed to the shield case  103  by screw members, and a packing  150  which seals a space between the shielded connector  100  and the shield case  103 . 
     The cable-side connection terminal  120 , as shown in  FIG. 8 , includes a tongue-shaped terminal part  121  at one end and includes an electric wire crimping part  122  at the other end. The tongue-shaped terminal part  121 , as shown in  FIG. 8 , is a part which is connected to a tongue-shaped terminal  104  of the circuit in the shield case  103  by the screw members  105 ,  106 . The electric wire crimping part  122  is a part which is crimped and connected to an end of the external cable  110 . 
     The resin housing  130  is molded, and is integrally formed to accommodate the cable-side connection terminals  120 . The external shape of the resin housing  130  is columnar so that the resin housing  130  can be inserted into a connector insertion hole  107  which penetrates the shield case  103 . A packing installing groove  131  into which the packing  150  is installed is formed at the periphery of the resin housing  130  as a circle around the periphery. 
     The shield shell  140  includes a pipe-like shell body  141  which holds a base end  130   a  of the resin housing  130  which accommodates the ends of the external cables  110 , and a case-fixing flange part  142  which is provided to be extended to be flange-shaped from the end of the shell body  141  at the side of the shield case  103 . The case-fixing flange part  142  abuts against the outer surface of the shield case  103  in a face contact state, and is screw-fixed to the shield case  103  by a bolt  108 . When the case-fixing flange part  142  is screw-fixed to the shield case  103 , the shielded connector  100  is fixed to the shield case  103 . 
     The packing  150  is a ring-shaped packing which is installed into the packing installing groove  131  of the resin housing  130 . The packing  150  blocks the gap between the inner peripheral surface of the connector insertion hole  107  and the outer peripheral surface of the resin housing  130 , and thus seals the space between the shielded connector  100  and the shield case  103 . 
     However, since the shielded connector  100  disclosed in JP-A-2002-373737 is so constructed that the ring-shaped packing  150  is equipped on the outer peripheral surface of the resin housing  130  which is inserted into the connector insertion hole  107 , and the ring-shaped packing  150  is closely contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the connector insertion hole  107  to seal the space between the shielded connector  100  and the shield case  103 , if the external cables  110  are attached to and detached from the shield case  103  repeatedly, the packing  150  is easy to be damaged due to the sliding movement of the resin housing  130  in the connector insertion hole  107 , and the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case  103  may be decreased. 
     If the dimension of the attached part of the shield case  103 , such as the arrangement of screw holes  109  in the shield case  103  to which the bolt  108  is screwed, or the shape or the dimension of the connector insertion hole  107 , is changed, in response to the change, not only the design of the shield shell  140  but also the design of the resin housing  130  and the packing  150  which are both closely fitted with the connector insertion hole  107  need to be changed. That is, when the dimension of the attached part of the shield case  103  is changed, the designs of a large number of the components need to be changed. Therefore, there is a problem that much labor is necessary for product development in response to the change of the dimension of the attached part of the shield case. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Thus, an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and provide a shielded connector so that even if the external cables are attached to and detached from the shield case repeatedly, the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case will not be decreased, and product development in response to the change of the dimension of the attached part of the shield case can be easily performed. 
     The above-mentioned object of the invention is achieved by the following constructions. 
     (1) There is provided a shielded connector which connects an external cable to a circuit in a shield case of a device, the shielded connector comprising: 
     a device-side connector which is fixed to the shield case; and 
     a cable-side connector which is attached to an end of the external cable and is fitted to the device-side connector, 
     wherein the device-side connector includes:
         a device-side connection terminal which has one end connected to the circuit in the shield case and the other end fitted to a connection terminal of the cable-side connector;   a device-side resin housing which accommodates and holds the device-side connection terminal and can be fitted to the cable-side connector;   a device-side shield shell which holds the device-side resin housing and has a case-fixing flange part which is fixed to an outer surface of the shield case by a screw in a face contact state; and   a first packing which is pressed onto the outer surface of the shield case when the case-fixing flange part is fixed to the shield case by the screw to seal a space between device-side connector and the shield case;       

     wherein the device-side shield shell has a mating shell fixing part which is fastened to a cable-side shield shell provided on the cable-side connector to electrically connect the device-side shield shell and the cable-side shield shell; and 
     wherein the mating shell fixing part is fastened to the cable-side shield shell by a second screw in a direction being the same as an extending direction of the first screw which fastens the case-fixing flange part to the shield case. 
     (2) The shielded connector according to the above (1), wherein the device-side shield shell has a thick part which is formed in thick shape so as to protrude to an outer side of the shield case beyond the projecting height of the first screw, which fastens the case-fixing flange parts to the shield case, and functions as a hood part to accommodate a fitting part of the cable-side connector; and 
     wherein the mating shell fixing part is provided on the thick part. 
     According to the construction of the above (1), the shielded connector includes a device-side connector which is fixed to the shield case, and a cable-side connector which is attached to the end of the external cable and is fitted to the device-side connector. Therefore, attaching and detaching the external cable to/from the shield case are realized by attaching and detaching the cable-side connector to/from the device-side connector. 
     In other words, when the external cable is attached to or detached from the shield case, the device-side connector may be maintained to be fixed to the shield case, and even if the external cable is attached to and detached from the shield case repeatedly, the first packing which seals the space between the device-side connector and the shield case will no be influenced at all. 
     Therefore, the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case will not decrease even if the external cables are attached to and detached from the shield case repeatedly. 
     Besides, since the space between the shield case and the device-side connector is sealed by the first packing which is clamped between the case-fixing flange part of the shield shell and the outer surface of the shield case, the device-side resin housing can be loosely fitted in the connector insertion hole at the shield case, and the dimension precision of the external shape of the device-side resin housing will not influence the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case. 
     Therefore, if the dimension of the attached part of the shield case is changed, in response to the change, only the design of the shield shell which is attached to the shield case needs to be changed, but the dimension of the part of the device-side resin housing that is coupled with the shield shell can be maintained as before. 
     Therefore, when the dimension of the attached part of the shield case side is changed, in response to the change, the designs of the components only need to be changed slightly, so that product development in response to the change of the dimension of the attached part of the shield case can be easily performed. 
     According to the construction of the above (2), since the thick part provided on the shield shell also serves as the hood part which accommodates the distal end of the cable-side connector, it is not necessary to form a hood part, which accommodates the distal end of the cable-side connector, at the device-side resin housing, so that the construction of the device-side resin housing can be simplified. 
     Furthermore, since the mating shell fixing part is equipped at the thick part, an enough length is ensured for the screw hole as the mating shell fixing part, and the connecting strength in screw-connecting can be improved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of the shielded connector of a first embodiment according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of a device-side connector shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of a cable-side connector shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the device-side connector of another embodiment according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view which shows the device-side connector shown in  FIG. 4  is fixed to a shield case. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view which shows a section of part of the device-side connector and the shield case shown in  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 7  is a longitudinal sectional view of the device-side connector and the shield case shown in  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 8  is a longitudinal sectional view of a traditional shielded connector. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     Preferred embodiments of the shielded connector according to the present invention are described in detail with reference to the figures as follows. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 3 , a shielded connector  1  of this embodiment is a connector which connects external cables  20  to a circuit in a shield case  10  of a device carried in an automobile or the like. 
     The shielded connector  1  of this embodiment includes a device-side connector  30  which is fixed to the shield case  10 , and a cable-side connector  40  which is attached to ends of the external cables  20  and is fitted and connected to the device-side connector  30 . 
     The shield case  10  is provided with a connector insertion hole  11  and connector fixing screw holes  12  to attach the device-side connector  30  to the shield case  10 . The connector insertion hole  11  is an opening through which a device-side resin housing  32  of the device-side connector  30 , to be described below, is inserted. The screw holes  12  are screw holes into which bolts  361  by which a device-side shield shell  33  of the device-side connector  30 , to be described below, is fastened are screwed. The screw holes  12  are equipped at two places positioned diagonally at the outer periphery the connector insertion hole  11 . 
     The external cables  20  are electric wires which transmit and receive signals or supply electric power to devices (not shown in the figure) carried in an automobile or the like. A tubular braid  45 , which electromagnetically shields the area around the external cables  20 , covers the external cables  20  which are connected to the cable-side connector  40 . 
     The device-side connector  30 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , includes device-side connection terminals  31 , the device-side resin housing  32 , the device-side shield shell  33 , a first packing  34 , a second packing  35  and terminal sealing rings  36 . 
     The device-side connection terminals  31  which are made of a metal plate include circuit connecting parts  311  at one end and tongue-shaped terminal parts  312  at the other end respectively. The circuit connecting parts  311  are electrically connected to terminals of the circuit in the device (not shown in the figure) by a screw. The tongue-shaped terminal parts  312  are parts to which connection terminals at the side of the cable-side connector  40  is fitted and connected. 
     The device-side resin housing  32  includes a cylindrical terminal accommodating part  321  which accommodates and holds the device-side connection terminals  31 , and a housing flange part  322  which is formed into a flange shape at the periphery of the cylindrical terminal accommodating part  321 . The cylindrical terminal accommodating part  321  is set to be smaller than the connector insertion hole  11  to be loosely fitted in the connector insertion hole  11 . The housing flange part  322  is set to be larger than the connector insertion hole  11  so that the housing flange part  322  may not be inserted through the connector insertion hole  11 . 
     The device-side resin housing  32  has locking pieces  323  to be coupled with the device-side shield shell  33  to be described below. The device-side resin housing  32  may be fitted and connected to the cable-side connector  40  to be described below when coupled with the device-side shield shell  33 . 
     The device-side shield shell  33  is made of conductive material, and has locking parts  331  to which the locking pieces  323  of the device-side resin housing  32  are locked. When the locking pieces  323  are locked to the locking parts  331 , the device-side shield shell  33  holds the device-side resin housing  32  and electromagnetically shields the area around the device-side resin housing  32 . 
     The device-side shield shell  33  further includes case-fixing flange parts  333  which are screw-fixed to the outer surface of the shield case  10  in a face contact state, and mating shell fixing parts  334 . 
     The case-fixing flange parts  333 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , are screw-fixed to the shield case  10  by the bolts  361  which are screwed into the screw holes  12 . 
     The mating shell fixing parts  334  are screw holes by which the cable-side connector  40  is screw-fixed. While the device-side connector  30  is fitted and connected to the cable-side connector  40 , the mating shell fixing parts  334  are fastened to a cable-side shield shell  43  (refer to  FIG. 3 ) to be described below which the cable-side connector  40  is equipped with so that the device-side shield shell  33  is conductively coupled with the cable-side shield shell  43 . 
     In this embodiment, the mating shell fixing parts  334  are equipped at a thick part  336  which is positioned at the inner side of the case-fixing flange parts  333 . 
     The thick part  336  is formed to be thick, and protrudes to the outer side of the shield case  10  beyond the projecting height of the bolts  361  which are screw members that connect the case-fixing flange parts  333  and the shield case  10 . 
     Furthermore, a fitting part accommodating hole  337  are formed to penetrate the central part of the thick part  336 . The fitting part accommodating hole  337  is a hole which accommodates a cylindrical terminal accommodating part  421  of a cable-side resin housing  42 , which is to be described below, of the cable-side connector  40 . Since the fitting part accommodating hole  337  is equipped, the thick part  336  functions as a hood part to accommodate a fitting part of the cable-side connector  40 . 
     In this embodiment, the mating shell fixing parts  334  are equipped at the thick part  336 . The depth of the screw holes as the mating shell fixing parts  334  is set so that the screw holes do not penetrate the thick part  336 . 
     The first packing  34  is attached to the rear surface of the outer circumferential edge of the housing flange part  322  of the device-side resin housing  32  to face the outer surface of the shield case  10 . 
     The first packing  34  is pressed onto the outer surface (the circumferential part of the connector insertion hole  11 ) of the shield case  10  when the case-fixing flange parts  333  of the device-side shield shell  33  are screw-fixed to the shield case  10 , and seals the space between the device-side connector  30  and the shield case  10 . 
     The second packing  35  is attached to be fitted to the outer periphery of the cylindrical terminal accommodating part  321  at the front surface side of the outer circumferential edge of the housing flange part  322  of the device-side resin housing  32  to face the device-side shield shell  33 . 
     The second packing  35  is clamped between the housing flange part  322  of the device-side resin housing  32  and the device-side shield shell  33 , and seals the space between the device-side resin housing  32  and the device-side shield shell  33 . 
     The terminal sealing rings  36  are fitted to the tongue-shaped terminal parts  312  of the device-side connection terminals  31  which are held in the cylindrical terminal accommodating part  321  to prevent water from invading into the shield case  10  along the tongue-shaped terminal parts  312 . 
     Then, the construction of the cable-side connector  40  which is fitted and connected to the device-side connector  30  is described based on  FIG. 3 . 
     The cable-side connector  40 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , includes cable-side connection terminals  41 , a cable-side resin housing  42  which accommodates and holds the cable-side connection terminals  41 , a cable-side shield shell  43  which accommodates and holds the cable-side resin housing  42  and can be screw-fixed to the device-side shield shell  33  of the device-side connector  30 , a tubular braid  45  which covers around the external cables  20  which are connected to the cable-side connection terminals  41 , a braid fixing ring  46  which fixes the tubular braid  45  to the cable-side shield shell  43 , rubber stoppers  47  which are installed to the external cables  20  which are connected to the cable-side connection terminals  41 , electric wire holders  48  which are installed to the external cables  20  at the rear side of the rubber stoppers  47 , and a third packing  49 . 
     The cable-side connection terminal  41  includes a terminal fitting part  411  which is fitted to the tongue-shaped terminal part  312  of the device-side connection terminal  31  at one end, and includes an electric wire crimping part  412  which are crimped and connected to the external cable  20  at the other end. 
     The cable-side resin housing  42  includes a cylindrical terminal accommodating part  421  which accommodates the cable-side connection terminals  41 , and a housing flange part  422  which is formed into a flange shape at the periphery of the cylindrical terminal accommodating part  421 . 
     The cable-side shield shell  43  includes a cylindrical part  431  which accommodates the rear end part of the cylindrical terminal accommodating part  421  and a connector coupling flange part  432  which is formed into a flange shape at the front end of the cylindrical part  431 . The connector coupling flange part  432  abuts against the thick part  336  of the device-side shield shell  33  and is screw-fixed to the mating shell fixing parts  334 . When the connector coupling flange part  432  is screw-fixed to the mating shell fixing parts  334 , the cable-side connector  40  is coupled with the device-side connector  30 . 
     The tubular braid  45  covers the peripheries of the external cables  20  which extend to the rear side of the cable-side shield shell  43  and electromagnetically shields the area around the external cables  20 . A distal end  45   a  of the braid  45  is formed into a cylindrical shape to be externally fitted to the cylindrical part  431  of the cable-side shield shell  43 . 
     The braid fixing ring  46  fastens the tubular braid  45 , which is externally fitted to the cylindrical part  431  of the cable-side shield shell  43 , to the cylindrical part  431  so that the tubular braid  45  is connected to the shield shell  43 . 
     When the cable-side connection terminals  41  are inserted into terminal accommodation holes formed at the cylindrical terminal accommodating part  421 , the rubber stoppers  47  are closely fitted to the terminal accommodation holes to prevent water from invading into the terminal accommodating hole side along the external cables  20 . 
     The electric wire holders  48  are held in the cylindrical part  431  while fitted and installed to the external cables  20 , and regulate the displacement of the external cables  20  in the cylindrical part  431 . 
     The third packing  49  is clamped between the housing flange part  422  of the cable-side resin housing  42  and the connector coupling flange part  432  of the cable-side shield shell  43  and seals the space between the cable-side resin housing  42  and the cable-side shield shell  43 . 
     The shielded connector  1  of the first embodiment is described above. The shielded connector  1  includes the device-side connector  30  which is fixed to the shield case  10  and the cable-side connector  40  which is attached to the ends of the external cables  20  and is fitted and connected to the device-side connector  30 . Therefore, attaching and detaching the external cables  20  to/from the shield case  10  are realized by attaching and detaching the cable-side connector  40  to/from the device-side connector  30 . 
     In other words, when the external cables  20  are attached to or detached from the shield case  10 , the device-side connector  30  may be maintained to be fixed to the shield case  10 , and even if the external cables  20  are attached to and detached from the shield case  10  repeatedly, the first packing  34  which seals the space between the device-side connector  30  and the shield case  10  will no be influenced at all. 
     Therefore, the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case  10  will not decrease even if the external cables  20  are attached to and detached from the shield case  10  repeatedly. 
     Besides, for the shielded connector  1  of the first embodiment described above, since the space between the shield case  10  and the device-side connector  30  is sealed by the first packing  34  which is clamped between the case-fixing flange parts  333  of the device-side shield shell  33  and the outer surface of the shield case  10 , the device-side resin housing  32  can be loosely fitted in the connector insertion hole  11  at the shield case  10 , and the dimension precision of the external shape of the device-side resin housing  32  will not influence the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case  10 . 
     Therefore, if the dimension of the attached part of the shield case  10  is changed, in response to the change, only the design of the device-side shield shell  33  which is attached to the shield case  10  needs to be changed, but the dimension of the part of the device-side resin housing  32  that is coupled with the shield shell can be maintained as before. 
     Therefore, when the dimension of the attached part of the shield case  10  is changed, in response to the change, the designs of the components only need to be changed slightly, so that product development in response to the change of the dimension of the attached part of the shield case  10  can be easily performed. 
     Furthermore, for the shielded connector  1  of the first embodiment described above, since the thick part  336  equipped at the device-side shield shell  33  also serves as the hood part which accommodates the distal end of the cable-side connector  40 , it is not necessary to form a hood part, which accommodates the distal end of the cable-side connector  40 , at the device-side resin housing  32 , so that the construction of the device-side resin housing  32  can be simplified. 
     Furthermore, since the mating shell fixing parts  334  are equipped at the thick part  336 , an enough length (depth) is ensured for the screw holes as the mating shell fixing parts  334  and the connecting strength between the device-side connector  30  and the cable-side connector  40  which are screw-connected can be improved. 
       FIGS. 4 to 7  show a second embodiment of the device-side connector of the shielded connector according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the device-side connector according to the present invention,  FIG. 5  is a perspective view which shows that the device-side connector shown in  FIG. 4  is fixed to the shield case,  FIG. 6  is a perspective view which shows a section of part of the device-side connector and the shield case shown in  FIG. 5 , and  FIG. 7  is a longitudinal sectional view of the device-side connector and the shield case shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     A device-side connector  30 A of the second embodiment is different from the connector  30  of the first embodiment in that a device-side shield shell  33 A, into which part of the device-side shield shell  33  is changed, is adopted instead of the device-side shield shell  33  of the first embodiment. 
     In the device-side shield shell  33 A, the shape of the case-fixing flange parts  333  is changed in response to a change of the arrangement of the screw holes  12  in the shield case  10 . 
     All components of the device-side connector  30 A except the device-side shield shell  33 A may be the same as those of the first embodiment. 
     As can be seen from the second embodiment, for the shielded connector of the present invention, when the dimension of the attached part of the shield case  10  is changed, in response to the change, the components only need to be changed slightly, so that product development in response to the change of the dimension of the attached part of the shield case  10  can be easily performed. 
     The present invention is not restricted to the above-described embodiments, and suitable modifications, improvements and the like can be made. Moreover, the materials, shapes, dimensions, numbers, installation places, and the like of the components in the above embodiments are arbitrarily set as far as the invention can be attained, and not particularly restricted. 
     According to the shielded connector of the present invention, when the external cables are attached to or detached from the shield case, the device-side connector may be maintained to be fixed to the shield case, and even if the external cables are attached to and detached from the shield case repeatedly, the first packing which seals the space between the device-side connector and the shield case will not be influenced at all. 
     Therefore, the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case will not decrease even if the external cables are attached to and detached from the shield case repeatedly. 
     In addition, if the dimension of the attached part of the shield case side is changed, in response to the change, only the design of the shield shell which is attached to the shield case needs to be changed, but the dimension of the part of the device-side resin housing that is coupled with the shield shell can be maintained as before. 
     Therefore, when the dimension of the attached part of the shield case side is changed, in response to the change, the designs of the components only need to be changed slightly, so that product development in response to the change of the dimension of the attached part of the shield case can be easily performed.