Electric connector, unit for covering its connected part between two terminals, storage cell and bus bar equipped with them

• US 20060264108A1
• Filed: 05/16/2006
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company), YKK Corporation
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company), YKK Corporation
• Inventors: Sasaki, Shuji, Yamamoto, Koichi, Kawahara, Makoto, Yasuda, Norifumi, Hasegawa, Kenji, Okada, Tomoyuki, Katoh, Hisashi, Oobayashi, Munemasa, Shimamori, Masato
• Granted Patent: US 7,381,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/627
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 11/289 characterised by the shape or the structure of the battery post
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/622 Screw-ring or screw-casing H01R13/623 takes precedence

Abstract

An electric connector of the snap-in-fitting system comprises a couple of male and female connector members both made of an electrically-conductive material. The female connector member has a female engaging part or outer ring part for snap-in-fitting and the male connector member has a male engaging part or outer ring part to be fitted in and engaged with the female engaging part by snap-in-fitting. The interaction part in snap-in-fitting of the male engaging part and the female engaging part is an inclined engaging surface and adapted to apply load to the female engaging part so as to always urge the female engaging part outward. Preferably, the inclined engaging surface is a tapered surface convergent toward the male connector member side. Such an electric connector of the snap-in-fitting system is useful for the connection of a storage power supply unit of an electric vehicle and of a battery unit of a portable type electronic device, particularly an ultra capacitor or a storage cell (capacitor cell) of a battery.

Claims

1. An electric connector comprising a couple of male and female connector members both made of an electrically-conductive material, wherein said female connector member has a female engaging part for snap-in-fitting and said male connector member has a male engaging part to be fitted in and engaged with the said female engaging part by snap-in-fitting, and wherein an interaction part in snap-in-fitting of said male engaging part and said female engaging part is an inclined engaging surface and adapted to apply load to the female engaging part so as to always urge the female engaging part outward.

2. The electric connector according to claim 1, wherein said inclined engaging surface is a tapered surface convergent toward the male connector member side.

3. The electric connector according to claim 1, wherein said electric connector is a connector for storage cells, and wherein said male connector member and said female connector member have an attachment part for attaching to a terminal, respectively.

4. The electric connector according to claim 3, wherein said male connector member comprises a base part having an inner hole which allows a terminal to be inserted therein, a female screw part formed in an inner circumferential surface around the inner hole, and the male engaging part standing from said base part so as to surround said inner hole, and wherein said female connector member comprises a base part having an inner hole which allows a terminal to be inserted therein, a female screw part formed in an inner circumferential surface around the inner hole, and the female engaging part standing from said base part so as to surround said inner hole.

5. The electric connector according to claim 4, wherein at least one of said male connector member and said female connector member has an inner ring part standing from an inner circumferential edge around said inner hole of said base part, and said female screw part is formed in an inner circumferential surface of said inner ring part.

6. The electric connector according to claim 5, wherein said inner ring part has a slit or a groove portion on which said female screw part is not engraved.

7. The electric connector according to claim 6, wherein at least one of said male connector member and said female connector member has a knob part formed on an upper end of said inner ring part so as to extend from said groove portion outward in the radial direction of said inner ring part.

8. The electric connector according to claim 5, wherein said inner circumferential surface of said inner ring part has a diameter decreasing from said base part toward an upper end thereof.

9. The electric connector according to claim 4, wherein said base part of at least one of said male connector member and said female connector member has a hole portion formed outside of said engaging part.

10. The electric connector according to claim 4, wherein said base part of at least one of said male connector member and said female connector member has a plurality of nail pieces projecting outward in the radial direction and formed in an outer edge thereof.

11. The electric connector according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said female connector member and said male connector member has a Ni plating layer and a Cu—

Sn plating layer formed sequentially in the order mentioned on a copper-based base material, respectively.

12. The electric connector according to claim 11, further having a Sn plating layer formed on said Cu—

Sn plating layer.

16. An apparatus for connecting terminals to be electrically connected by snap-in-fitting, which comprises:

a pair of terminals,

an electric connector set forth in claim 1, and

a cover unit set forth in claim 13 for a connected part between terminals,

wherein a male cover member and a female cover member of said cover unit are attached to respective terminals in the state of being nipped between either of said terminals and either of a male connector member or a female connector member of said electric connector.

17. A storage cell comprising a pair of terminals for inputting and outputting electric power and an electric connector set forth in claim 1, wherein a male connector member of said electric connector is attached to one terminal and a female connector member of said electric connector is attached to the other terminal.

19. A storage module comprising:

two or more storage cells, each having a pair of terminals for inputting and outputting electric power, for storing and discharging electric power through said terminals, and

electric connectors set forth in claim 1 attached to said terminals,

wherein said storage cells are adapted to be electrically connected to each other simultaneously with the fixation of relative positions of said respective terminals by said connector.

20. The storage module according to claim 19, wherein said storage cells have respective circumferential wall parts which define a connection space containing said terminals by surrounding the terminals at their side positions when two storage cells having respective terminals in opposed to each other come to close, and said connector lies in the closed connection space when said terminals are electrically connected to each other by said connector.

22. A storage apparatus equipped with a plurality of storage modules set forth in claim 19.

28. A bus bar comprising a bus bar plate and an electric connector set forth in claim 1, wherein said electric connector has a male connector member fixedly secured to one end portion of said bus bar plate and a female connector member fixedly secured to the other end portion of said bus bar plate.

13. A unit for covering a connected part between terminals electrically connected by snap-in-fitting, which comprises a couple of male and female cover members each having a base plate containing an opening in the center thereof and a circumferential wall part of a predetermined height standing from the periphery thereof, wherein the circumferential wall part of said male cover member is adapted to be guided into the circumferential wall part of said female cover member.

14. The unit according to claim 13, wherein said circumferential wall part of said male cover member is adapted to be fitted in the circumferential wall part of said female cover member to effect snap-in-fitting.

15. The unit according to claim 13, wherein said circumferential wall part of at least one of the male and female cover members has a thickness so designed as to be thick on the base end side rather than the upper end side.

18. The storage cell according to claim 17, further comprising a cover unit set forth in claim 13 for a connected part between terminals, wherein a male cover member and a female cover member of said cover unit are attached to respective terminals in the state of being nipped between either of said terminals and either of the male connector member or the female connector member of said connector.

21. The storage module according to claim 19, further comprising a cover unit set forth in claim 13 for a connected part between terminals, wherein a male cover member and a female cover member of said cover unit are attached to respective terminals in the state of being nipped between either of said terminals and either of a male connector member or a female connector member of said connector.

23. A connection structure of storage cells comprising:

storage cells having terminals at respective ends;

a male connector member to be attached to one terminal of the storage cell and having an outer ring part and an inner ring part formed inside this outer ring part; and

a female connector member to be attached to the other terminal of the storage cell and having an outer ring part and an inner ring part formed inside this outer ring part;

wherein said male connector member and said female connector member are connected to each other by abutting an end face of the inner ring part of said male connector faced to the axial direction thereof and an end face of the inner ring part of said female connector member faced to the axial direction thereof to each other and press-fitting an outer circumferential surface of the outer ring part of said male connector member and an inner circumferential surface of the outer ring part of said female connector member to each other.

24. The connection structure of storage cells according to claim 23, wherein said male connector member and said female connector member have screw parts formed in inner circumferential surfaces of respective inner ring parts thereof, respectively, and a plurality of nail pieces projecting outward in the radial direction formed in outer peripheral edges of respective outer ring parts thereof, respectively, said nail pieces being an engaging portion of a predetermined tool to be used in the fastening of the screw parts.

25. The connection structure of storage cells according to claim 24, wherein the number of nail pieces of said male connector member is different from the number of nail pieces of said female connector member.

26. The connection structure of storage cells according to claim 24, wherein said nail pieces of said male connector member and/or said female connector member have a shape curved so as to be gradually raised in the radial direction and come close to the other party connector member.

27. The connection structure of storage cells according to claim 23, further comprising a washer which comprises a disk-like base part, a circumferential wall part formed along a peripheral edge thereof, and a collar extending outward in the radial direction from a top end of said circumferential wall part, wherein said washer is interposed and fastened between at least one of said male connector member and said female connector member and the terminal of said storage cell.