BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention

This disclosure relates to a connector, a connector position assurance member and a wiring harness.

Related Art

A connector composed of a male connector, a female connector to be connected to the male connector and a connector position assurance (CPA) member slidably mounted outside the female connector is known as an example of a conventional connector (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-064461). The CPA member includes a cantilevered CPA lock.

In the connector of this type, if the male and female connectors are connected, a female-side lock of the female connector rides over a male-side lock of the male connector for locking. If the CPA member is slid in a connecting direction in this state, the CPA lock rides over the female-side lock and the male-side lock. In this way, the connection of the male connector and the female connector is assured.

The above-described connector is provided with a connection releasing portion for releasing the connection of the female connector and the male connector. The female-side lock and the male-side lock are unlocked to release the connection of the male and female connectors by pushing the connection releasing portion when the CPA member is at a connection assurance release position for releasing the connection assurance. On the other hand, the CPA lock is arranged to cover the female-side lock when the CPA member is in a connection assurance state. Thus, a displacement of the female-side lock is suppressed by the CPA lock, and the locking of the female-side and male-side locks is maintained even if the connection releasing portion is pushed. However, in the conventional connector, if the connection releasing portion is pushed excessively even when the CPA member is in the connection assurance state, the CPA lock may be deflected. Thus, the female-side and male-side locks may be unlocked and the connection of the female and male connectors may be released.

The present disclosure aims to provide a connector, a connector position assurance member and a wiring harness capable of suppressing an unintended release of connector connection.

SUMMARY

A connector of this disclosure includes a housing to be connected to a mating housing, and a connector position assurance member for performing connection assurance of the housing and the mating housing. The connector position assurance member is mounted on the housing relatively displaceably between a connection assurance position where the connection assurance is performed and a connection assurance release position where the connection assurance is released with the housing and the mating housing properly connected. The connector position assurance member includes a body, a resiliently displaceable lock formed to project in a first direction from a first end part of the body and a push-in suppressing member formed to project in a second direction substantially opposite to the first direction from a second end part of the body. The housing includes a receptacle and a lock arm provided on an outer peripheral surface of the receptacle. The lock arm includes a locking portion to be locked to a projection of the mating housing and a connection releasing portion for displacing the locking portion by being pushed toward the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle. The lock is locked to the locking portion and the push-in suppressing member is arranged between the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle and the connection releasing portion with the connector position assurance member arranged at the connection assurance position.

Accordingly, if the connector position assurance member is arranged at the connection assurance position where the connection assurance of the housing and the mating housing is performed, the suppressing member of the connector position assurance member is arranged between the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle and the connection releasing portion. Thus, if the connection releasing portion is displaced toward the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle with the connector position assurance member arranged at the connection assurance position, the connection releasing portion contacts the suppressing member to suppress excessive pushing of the connection releasing portion. In this way, an unintended displacement of the locking portion of the lock arm is suppressed. Thus, the locking of the locking portion and the projection of the mating housing is not released unintendedly. As a result, it can be suitably suppressed that the connection of the housing and the mating housing is not released unintendedly.

The lock arm may include a base end portion formed to project outward from the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle and a lock arm body having a lengthwise intermediate part coupled to a projecting tip of the base end portion. The locking portion is formed on one lengthwise end part of the lock arm body and the connection releasing portion is formed on the other lengthwise end part of the lock arm body. A space is formed between the connection releasing portion and the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle with the connector position assurance member arranged at the connection assurance release position. The suppressing member is arranged at least partly in the space with the connector position assurance member arranged at the connection assurance position.

Accordingly, the space is formed between the connection releasing portion and the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle with the connector position assurance member arranged at the connection assurance release position. Specifically, the connection releasing portion is provided at a position separated from the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle. If the connection releasing portion is pushed toward the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle, i.e. if the connection releasing portion enters the space, the locking portion is displaced in a direction away from the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle with the base end portion as a fulcrum. However, the suppressing member is arranged in the space if the connector position assurance member at the connection assurance position. Thus, the entrance of the connection releasing portion into the space is suppressed. In this way, a displacement of the locking portion in the direction away from the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle can be suppressed.

The suppressing member may be arranged on an upper surface of the receptacle. The suppressing member is in the form of a frame substantially extending in a length direction of the connector position assurance member from an end part of the body. An inserting portion (particularly substantially in the form of a flat plate) is provided on a projecting tip of the suppressing member, an upper surface of the inserting portion is provided below that of the body, and the inserting portion is inserted at least partly between the upper surface of the receptacle and a lower surface of the connection releasing portion with the connector position assurance member arranged at the connection assurance position.

Accordingly, if the connector position assurance member is arranged at the connection assurance position, the inserting portion provided on the projecting tip part of the suppressing member is inserted between the upper surface of the receptacle and the lower surface of the connection releasing portion. In this way, the connection releasing portion cannot be pushed downwardly toward the upper surface of the receptacle.

The connector position assurance member may move in a sliding direction from the inserting portion toward the body when being displaced from the connection assurance release position to the connection assurance position, and an inclined surface inclined down or in from the projecting tip part toward an end part of the inserting portion on the side of the body is formed on the upper surface of the inserting portion.

Accordingly, the inclined surface inclined down or in toward the end part on the side of the body is formed on the upper surface of the inserting portion. Specifically, a part of the inserting portion to be inserted first between the upper surface of the receptacle and the lower surface of the connection releasing portion is formed on the inclined surface. In this way, the contact of the inserting portion with the connection releasing portion can be suppressed when inserting the inserting portion between the upper surface of the receptacle and the lower surface of the connection releasing portion. As a result, an unintended displacement of the connection releasing portion is suppressed.

The connector position assurance member may further include an operating portion (particularly substantially in the form of a flat plate) formed to project out from an outer surface of the projecting tip part of the suppressing member. Accordingly, the operating portion extending on a plane orthogonal to the sliding direction of the connector position assurance member is provided on the connector position assurance member. By pushing this operating portion in the sliding direction, the entire connector position assurance member can be moved in the sliding direction. As just described, the entire connector position assurance member can be moved in the sliding direction and the connector position assurance member can be displaced from the connection assurance release position to the connection assurance position by pushing the operating portion only in one direction. In this way, the operability of an operation of displacing the connector position assurance member to the connection assurance position can be improved.

The operating portion may extend over substantially an entire width orthogonal to the length direction of the connector position assurance member. According to this configuration, the operating portion has a wide surface area. Thus, the operating portion is pushed more easily in the sliding direction. In this way, the operation of displacing the connector position assurance member to the connection assurance position can be further improved.

The connector position assurance member further may include connecting portion(s) connecting widthwise end surface(s) of the suppressing member and widthwise end surface(s) of the operating portion. The housing further may include two side walls formed on the receptacle to at least partly sandwich the lock arm, and the connecting portions are arranged between the side walls. Accordingly, if the connector position assurance member is inclined in the width direction such as when the connector position assurance member moves along the sliding direction, the connecting portion can be brought into contact with the side wall. The contact of the connecting portion and the side wall prevents inclination of the connector position assurance member in the width direction.

The lock arm may be substantially in the form of a frame having an opening. An engaging portion projecting toward the receptacle is formed on a surface of the body facing toward the receptacle, and the connector position assurance member is mounted on the housing so that the engaging portion is fit at least partly into the opening. Accordingly, the engaging portion of the connector position assurance member is fit at least partly into the opening of the lock arm. Thus, the engaging portion moves in the opening when the connector position assurance member is displaced between the connection assurance release position and the connection assurance position. In this way, a movement of the engaging portion is guided by a frame part of the opening to prevent inclination of the connector position assurance member.

A connector position assurance member of the present disclosure is mounted or mountable on or to a housing of a connector to perform connection assurance of the housing and a mating housing and includes a body, a resiliently displaceable lock formed to project in a first direction from a first end part of the body, and a suppressing member formed to project in a second direction opposite to the first direction from a second end part of the body. Thus, the suppressing member includes an inserting portion substantially in the form of a flat plate, and an upper surface of the inserting portion is formed below that of the body. By mounting the above-described connector position assurance member on the housing, the inserting portion can be inserted at least partly between the outer peripheral surface of the receptacle and the lower surface of the connection releasing portion. In this way, an unintended release of the connector connection can be suppressed.

A wiring harness of the present disclosure includes any one of the above embodiments of a connector, and a wire connected to the connector. Accordingly, an unintended release of the connector connection can be suppressed in the wiring harness including the aforementioned connector and the wire.

Furthermore, a connector position assurance member of the present disclosure is mounted or mountable on or to a housing of a connector to perform connection assurance of the housing and a mating housing and includes a body, a resiliently displaceable lock portion formed to project in a first direction from a first end part of the body portion, and a suppressing member formed to project in a second direction opposite to the first direction from a second end part of the body portion, wherein the suppressing member includes an inserting portion substantially in the form of a flat plate, and an upper surface of the inserting portion is formed below that of the body.

According to the connector, connector position assurance member and wiring harness of the present disclosure, an effect of being able to suppress an unintended release of connector connection is achieved.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon reading the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. It should be understood that even though embodiments are described separately, single features may be combined to additional embodiments.

