Electrical female terminal
AssigneeDelphi International Operations Luxembourg S.A.R.L.
InventorsGerard Mulot, Arnaud Duquesne, Dominique Rozet
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Abstract
An electrical female terminal, manufactured from a single metal sheet, comprising a crimping portion and a contact portion adapted to mate with a corresponding male terminal to be inserted therein, the contact portion comprising an outer frame having a top wall, a bottom wall parallel and opposed to the top wall, and two side walls, an inner frame encased in the outer frame, a first elastic contact member extending from the inner frame, and bearing on an inner portion of the bottom wall, a second elastic contact member extending from the inner frame and bearing on an inner portion of the top wall. The first and second elastic contact members have a convex shape oriented toward one another.
Claims13
An electrical female terminal, manufactured from a single metal sheet, comprising a crimping portion and a contact portion adapted to mate with a corresponding male terminal to be inserted therein in a front portion of the contact portion, the contact portion comprising:
- an outer frame having a top wall, a bottom wall parallel and opposed to the top wall, and two side walls perpendicular to and joining the top and bottom walls;
- an inner frame encased in a rear portion of the outer frame;
- a first elastic contact member extending from the inner frame, and bearing on an inner portion of the bottom wall;
- a second elastic contact member extending from the inner frame and bearing on an inner portion of the top wall, and
- a locking lance adapted to lock the terminal in a housing and a protective wall adapted to protect the locking lance against mechanical damage, wherein the first and second elastic contact members have a convex shape oriented toward one another.
A method for manufacturing an electrical female terminal having a crimping portion and a contact portion adapted to mate with a corresponding male terminal to be inserted therein in a front portion of the contact portion, wherein an outer frame of the contact portion has a top wall, a bottom wall parallel and opposed to the top wall, and two side walls perpendicular to and joining the top and bottom walls, wherein an inner frame of the contact portion is encased in a rear portion of the outer frame, wherein a first elastic contact member of the contact portion extends from the inner frame and bears on an inner portion of the bottom wall and a second elastic contact member of the contact portion extends from the inner frame and bears on an inner portion of the top wall, and wherein the first and second elastic contact members have a convex shape oriented toward one another, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a flat metal sheet extending in a plane comprising a longitudinal axis and a transversal axis, the flat metal sheet comprising a first blank portion to be folded to provide the contact portion and a second blank portion to be folded to provide the crimping portion, the first blank portion comprising:
- a first strip extending along the longitudinal axis, having a first base portion,
- a second strip extending along the longitudinal axis, having a second base portion,
- a third strip extending along the transversal axis and joining the first base portion and second base portion,
- a generally rectangular shaped main portion;
- laterally folding the first, second and third strips to form the first and second elastic contact members and the inner frame of the electrical female terminal;
- laterally folding the inner frame onto the generally rectangular shaped main portion;
- laterally folding the generally rectangular shaped main portion around the inner frame to form the outer frame;
- and
- folding the second blank portion to form the crimping portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.