Crimp terminal, connection structural body, connector, wire harness, method of manufacturing crimp terminal, and method of manufacturing connection structural body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9281574-B2
Application number	US-201414520466-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2014
Priority date	Aug 7, 2012
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

A crimp terminal includes a pressure-bonding section to which at least a conductor tip of an insulated wire is connected by pressure bonding, the insulated wire in which a conductor is covered with an insulating cover and an insulating cover on a tip side is peeled to expose the conductor to obtain the conductor tip, and a terminal connection section to which another connection terminal is allowed to be connected. The terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section are configured as different parts, and a connection section in which the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section are connected in series in the order named from a tip side to a rear side in a long length direction is configured.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A crimp terminal comprising:
a pressure-bonding section with which at least a conductor tip of an insulated wire is connected by pressure bonding, the insulated wire in which a conductor is covered with an insulating cover and the insulating cover on a tip side is peeled to expose the conductor to obtain the conductor tip; and
a terminal connection section to which another connection terminal is allowed to be connected, wherein
the pressure-bonding section is configured such that
a plate material forms a sectional hollow shape, and the plate material in the sectional hollow shape is welded in a longitudinal direction,
on a one-end side of the pressure-bonding section in the longitudinal direction in the sectional hollow shape, a sealing portion that seals the sectional hollow shape to planarly superpose the plate material is arranged, and
welding is performed in a width direction between both ends of the sealing portion in the longitudinal direction,
the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section are configured as different parts, and
a welding connection section in which the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section are connected by welding in series in the order named from the tip side to a rear side in the longitudinal direction is configured.

2. The crimp terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
the welding is performed by fiber laser welding.

3. The crimp terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
at facing portions where the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section face each other, orthogonal direction facing surfaces facing each other in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to both the longitudinal direction and the width direction are formed, and
the welding connection section is formed such that the orthogonal direction facing surfaces of the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section are superposed on each other and the superposed orthogonal direction facing surfaces are welded to each other.

4. The crimp terminal according to claim 3 , wherein
in the pressure-bonding section, a through hole that penetrates a base material configuring the pressure-bonding section in a thickness direction is formed to make the conductor tip that is pressure-bonded by the pressure-bonding section visible from the outside.

5. The crimp terminal according to claim 4 , wherein
of the pressure-bonding section in a pressure-bonding state in the circumferential direction, the facing portion facing the terminal connection section is set as the orthogonal direction facing surface, and
the through hole is arranged in the orthogonal direction facing surface of the pressure-bonding section.

6. The crimp terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
at the facing portions where the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section face each other, longitudinal direction facing ends facing each other in the longitudinal direction are formed, and
the welding connection section is formed such that the longitudinal direction facing ends of the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section are made to abut against each other and the abutted longitudinal direction facing ends are welded to each other.

7. The crimp terminal according to claim 6 , wherein
at the facing portions where the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section face each other, the longitudinal direction facing surfaces each having a facing area larger than a facing area between the longitudinal direction facing ends are formed, and
the welding connection section is formed such that the longitudinal direction facing surfaces of the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section are made to abut against each other and the abutted longitudinal direction facing surfaces are welded to each other.

8. The crimp terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
at the facing portions where the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section face each other, a latching section that latches the facing portions with each other in a facing state is formed, and
the welding connection section is formed in a latching state in which the facing portions are latched with each other by the latching section.

9. The crimp terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
the conductor is made of an aluminum-based material, and
at least the pressure-bonding section of the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section is made of a copper-based material.

10. A connection structural body wherein
the insulated wire and the crimp terminal are connected to each other by the pressure-bonding section in the crimp terminal according to claim 1 .

11. A connector wherein
the crimp terminal according to claim 1 is arranged in a connector housing.

12. A wire harness wherein
the crimp terminal of the connection structural body according to claim 10 is arranged in plural in a connector housing.

13. A method of manufacturing a crimp terminal, the crimp terminal comprising:
a pressure-bonding section with which at least a conductor tip of an insulated wire is connected by pressure bonding, the insulated wire in which a conductor is covered with an insulating cover and the insulating cover on a tip side is peeled to expose the conductor to obtain the conductor tip, and
a terminal connection section to which another connection terminal is allowed to be connected, the method comprising:
bending a plate material to configure a sectional hollow shape, and performing shape processing on a one-end side of the sectional hollow shape in a longitudinal direction to have a sealing shape that seals the sectional hollow shape to planarly superpose the plate material,
welding ends of the plate material configuring the sectional hollow shape to each other in the longitudinal direction,
performing welding in a width direction between both ends in the longitudinal direction of a sealing portion processed to have the sealing shape to configure the pressure-bonding section,
arranging the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section that are configured as different parts in series in the order named from the tip side to a rear side in a longitudinal direction, and
a welding step of integrally welding the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section to each other in a state in which the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section are connected to each other.

14. The method of manufacturing a crimp terminal according to claim 13 , wherein
welding for integrally connecting the terminal connection section and the pressure-bonding section to each other and welding performed in the width direction between both the ends of the sealing portion in the longitudinal direction are performed at a time.

15. The method of manufacturing a crimp terminal according to claim 13 , wherein
the welding step is performed by fiber laser welding.

16. The method of manufacturing a crimp terminal according to claim 15 , wherein
in the welding step in which longitudinal direction facing ends facing each other in a longitudinal direction are made to abut against each other at facing portions where the pressure-bonding section and the terminal connection section face each other and the abutted longitudinal direction facing ends are welded to each other,
the longitudinal direction facing ends are irradiated with the laser from at least one side of the longitudinal direction in the state in which the longitudinal direction facing ends are made to abut against each other, and
welding

Assignees

• Furukawa Electric Co Ltd
• Furukawa Automotive Sys Inc
• Furukawa Automotive Sys Inc

Inventors

• Kawamura Yukihiro
• TONOIKE Takashi
• Yagi Saburo

Classifications

• H01R4/70

  Insulation of connections (end caps H01R4/22) · CPC title

• H01R13/11

  Resilient sockets (carrying separate resilient parts H01R13/15) · CPC title

• H01R4/029 Primary

  Welded connections (H01R4/021 - H01R4/028 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01R43/005

  for making dustproof, splashproof, drip-proof, waterproof, or flameproof connection, coupling, or casing · CPC title

• Y10T29/49213

  Metal · CPC title