JP-2026075537-A - female terminal

JP2026075537AJP 2026075537 AJP2026075537 AJP 2026075537AJP-2026075537-A

Abstract

[Problem] To disclose a female terminal that can achieve both an increased contact area with the male terminal and the ability to follow the displacement of the male terminal. [Solution] The female terminal 10 has a male terminal mounting portion 14 at one end which is electrically connected to a male terminal 12, and a connecting portion 16 at the other end which is electrically connected to another member, and comprises a terminal body 18 formed from a first metal plate and a contact member 20 formed from a second metal plate which is thinner than the first metal plate and assembled to the male terminal mounting portion 14, the contact member 20 having a holding plate portion 34 which is held by the male terminal mounting portion 14 and a strip-shaped contact spring piece 42 whose base end portion 36 is cantilevered relative to the holding plate portion 34 and whose tip portion 38 is provided with a contact 40 which is pressed against the male terminal 12, the width dimension W1 of the tip portion 38 of the contact spring piece 42 is larger than the width dimension W2 of the base end portion 36. [Selection Diagram] Figure 2

Inventors

西島誠道
兼松佑多
塚本有哉
西尾修也
逢澤勝彦
杉浦朋典
井田恭平

Assignees

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

Dates

Publication Date: 20260508
Application Date: 20241022

Claims (4)

A terminal body formed from a first metal plate has a male terminal mounting portion at one end that is electrically connected to a male terminal, and a connecting portion at the other end that is electrically connected to another member, The device comprises a contact member formed from a second metal plate that is thinner than the first metal plate and assembled to the male terminal mounting portion, The contact member comprises a retaining plate portion held by the male terminal mounting portion, and a strip-shaped contact spring piece whose base end is cantilevered relative to the retaining plate portion and whose tip is provided with a contact that presses against the male terminal. A female terminal in which the width dimension of the tip portion of the contact spring piece is larger than the width dimension of the base portion.
A pair of the aforementioned contact spring pieces are arranged in parallel in the width direction of the contact spring pieces, The female terminal according to claim 1, wherein the base end of each contact spring piece is notched on the side edge that is separated from the adjacent contact spring piece, so that the width dimension of the base end of each contact spring piece is smaller than the width dimension of the tip of each contact spring piece.
The female terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the length of the tip portion of the contact spring piece is greater than or equal to the length of the base portion.
The male terminal mounting portion has a rectangular cylindrical shape, The contact member comprises a contact spring piece positioned on the upper wall side of the male terminal mounting portion and a contact spring piece positioned on the lower wall side of the male terminal mounting portion. A gap for inserting a male terminal is formed between the contact spring piece on the upper wall side and the contact spring piece on the lower wall side. The device has a contact pressure spring that clamps the tip of the contact spring piece on the upper wall side and the tip of the contact spring piece on the lower wall side in opposing directions. The female terminal according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the contact pressure spring biases the tips of the male terminals toward each other when the male terminal is pressed into the male terminal insertion gap.

Description

This disclosure relates to a female terminal. Patent Document 1 discloses a female terminal constructed by combining a terminal body made of a thick conductive material with a contact member made of a thin conductive material. By forming the terminal body and contact member from conductive materials of different thicknesses, the current capacity required by high currents can be accommodated by increasing the thickness of the terminal body, while the conformability of the contact member to the male terminal can be ensured by reducing the thickness of the contact member. This allows for handling high currents while suppressing an overall increase in the size of the female terminal. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2024-21632 Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the female terminal according to Embodiment 1.Figure 2 is a plan view of the female terminal shown in Figure 1.Figure 3 is a front view of the female terminal shown in Figure 1.Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in Figure 2.Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line V-V in Figure 4.Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of the female terminal shown in Figure 1.Figure 7 is a perspective view of the contact members constituting the female terminal shown in Figure 1, viewed from the rear side.Figure 8 is a perspective view of the contact pressure spring that constitutes the female terminal shown in Figure 1, viewed from the rear side.Figure 9 is a perspective view showing the female terminal according to Embodiment 2.Figure 10 is a perspective view showing the female terminal according to Embodiment 3. <Description of Embodiments in this Disclosure> First, embodiments of this disclosure will be listed and described. The female terminal in this disclosure is (1) A terminal body formed from a first metal plate, having a male terminal mounting portion at one end that is electrically connected to a male terminal and a connecting portion at the other end that is electrically connected to another member, and a contact member formed from a second metal plate that is thinner than the first metal plate and assembled to the male terminal mounting portion, wherein the contact member has a retaining plate portion that is held by the male terminal mounting portion and a strip-shaped contact spring piece whose base end is cantilevered relative to the retaining plate portion and which has a contact at its tip that is pressed against the male terminal, wherein the width dimension of the tip of the contact spring piece is larger than the width dimension of the base end. According to the female terminal of this disclosure, by combining a terminal body with a thick plate thickness with a contact member with a thin plate thickness, a female terminal is provided that can accommodate the current capacity required by, for example, high currents, while ensuring the contact member's ability to follow the male terminal. In this female terminal, the tip portion where the contact is provided, which is cantilevered and held in the retaining plate portion of the contact member, has a larger width dimension than the base portion held in the retaining plate portion. This allows the radius R in the width direction of the contact to be set to be large by utilizing the large width dimension of the tip portion of the contact spring piece. As a result, a large contact area of the contact to the male terminal can be secured, and the contact electrical resistance can be kept low. In addition, since the width dimension of the base portion of the contact spring piece cantilevered and held in the retaining plate portion is smaller than the width dimension of the tip portion, the increase in rigidity of the contact spring piece can be suppressed and flexibility can be maintained compared to the case where the overall width dimension of the contact spring piece is large. That is, by cleverly utilizing the base portion with a smaller width dimension, the ability of the contact spring piece to follow the displacement of the male terminal can be ensured. Therefore, we can provide a female terminal that achieves both an increased contact area with the male terminal and the ability to follow the displacement of the male terminal. (2) In the above (1), it is preferable that the pair of contact spring pieces are arranged in parallel in the width direction of the contact spring pieces, and the base end of each contact spring piece is notched on the side edge that separates it from the adjacent contact spring piece, so that the width dimension of the base end of each contact spring piece is smaller than the width dimension of the tip of each contact spring piece. When the pair of contact spring pieces are arranged in parallel in the width direction, the width dimension of the base end is reduced by notching the side edge of the base end that is on the outside (the side that separates it from the adjacent contact spring piece) in the parallel direction. As a result, the inn