JP2000013970A - Bus-bar connector and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bus-bar connector capable of size and weight reduction and easy manufacturing. SOLUTION: Bus bars 4, 5 are connected mechanically or electrically by being arranged so as to be clamped. This bus-bar connector 1 is constituted of a bus-bar connection part 2 formed of a sheet metal bent into a U-shaped cross-section to have a pair of roughly parallel wall parts 2a, 2b facing each other at an interval slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bars 4, 5, and a band contact 3 disposed on at least one facing surface of the wall parts 2a, 2b and brought into pressure contact with the bus bars 4, 5 inserted in between the wall parts 2a, 2b. The bus-bar connection part 2 is formed with a dovetail groove 6 for storing the band contact 3 at the facing surface of the wall parts 2a, 2b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a busbar connection device and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A bus bar connecting device for connecting to a bus bar for a large current is known. This bus bar connecting device has a bus bar connecting portion having a U-shaped cross section having a pair of walls facing each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar, and is inserted into a dovetail groove formed on an opposing surface of the wall. And a band contact elastically brought into contact with the surface of the bus bar inserted between the walls.
For example, an electric wire connected to another device is attached to the busbar connection portion.

In such a bus bar connecting device, by inserting the bus bar between the wall portions, the band contact and the bus bar inserted into the dovetail groove are pressed against each other by the spring force of the band contact. as a result,
The bus bar and the bus bar connecting portion are electrically and mechanically connected via the band contact so that the electric wire attached to the bus bar connecting portion and the bus bar can be conducted.

In the busbar connection device, a metal material having a relatively large thickness is used in order to pass a large current. That is, this busbar connecting device is composed of two wall members forming the pair of wall portions and a connecting member sandwiched between these wall members.

[0005] These three members are machined to form a joint surface precisely. Further, grooves are formed on one side surface of the pair of wall members by milling or the like at positions opposed to each other when assembled. Furthermore, positioning holes are precisely formed in these members. These members are assembled in a mutually positioned state by a positioning pin, and further integrated by brazing.

[0006]

In recent years, such busbars have been used for lower currents. Such a busbar for low current is thinner than the busbar for large current and has relatively good workability. Then, it is generally fixed to a substrate or the like by screwing or the like. However, even in such a low current bus bar, it is convenient if there is a bus bar connection device as in the case of a large current bus bar.

However, a circuit using such a low-current busbar is required to be smaller and lighter than a large-current busbar because the busbar itself is thin. For this reason, the busbar connection device is also required to be reduced in size and weight. It is also conceivable to use it as a consumer component such as a circuit component of an automobile or the like, so it is also important to reduce the product cost.

However, like the above-described bus bar connecting device for a large current, three parts are cut, a dovetail groove for a band contact is milled, a pin hole is formed, and a positioning pin is assembled into a positioning state. It is difficult to reduce the product cost and reduce the size and weight of the bus bar connecting device that is integrated by brazing after brazing. That is, in order to secure the strength of the bus bar connecting device, the connection strength of the connecting member connecting the wall members must be maintained. Also, in order to maintain the accuracy of the bus bar connecting device, the connecting member must be small in size. There are limits to achieving this. Further, the cutting of the miniaturized wall member and the connecting member becomes precise, and a special cutting machine must be used, so that the manufacturing cost cannot be reduced. Further, it is conceivable to process these wall members and connecting members from one base material as an integral body by, for example, a wire cutting device, but the manufacturing cost cannot be reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a small and light busbar connecting device with extremely low product cost.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a busbar connecting device which is mechanically and electrically connected to a busbar by arranging the busbar in a sandwiched state, A busbar connecting portion made of a sheet metal bent to have a substantially U-shaped cross section so as to have a pair of substantially parallel walls facing each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the busbar, and at least one facing surface of the wall portion. A bus bar disposed on the bus bar and pressed into contact with a bus bar inserted between the wall portions, wherein the bus bar connecting portion includes a dovetail groove for receiving the band contact on the facing surface of the wall portion. A connecting device is proposed. In the busbar connection device, it is effective if the dovetail groove is defined by a bent portion formed by bending a sheet metal forming the wall portion at an acute angle.

Further, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a bus bar connecting device which is mechanically and electrically connected to a bus bar by arranging the bus bar in a sandwiching state, wherein the bus bar has a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar. A bus bar connecting portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section including a pair of substantially parallel wall portions facing each other and a connecting portion connecting these wall portions is formed by bending a series of sheet metals, and the wall portion is formed. By bending the connecting portion disposed at one end of at least one of the wall portions at an acute angle with respect to the wall portion, and bending the other end side of the wall portion at an acute angle with respect to the wall portion, A method of manufacturing a bus bar connection device for forming a dovetail groove for accommodating a band contact to be pressed against a bus bar inserted between walls, and inserting the band contact into the dovetail groove. It is draft.

In this manufacturing method, before the sheet metal is bent, a notch serving as a groove wall of the dovetail groove may be formed in the portion serving as the connection part by bending the sheet metal. After the band contact is inserted into the dovetail groove, the end of the dovetail groove may be swaged.

[0013]

According to the busbar connecting device of the present invention, since the busbar connecting portion for arranging the busbar in a sandwiched state is made of a sheet metal bent into a U-shaped cross section, precise cutting and assembling work are unnecessary. Therefore, the manufacturing cost can be kept low. In addition, since the connecting portion that connects the wall portions is formed integrally with the wall portion, it is possible to reduce the size and weight while maintaining the required strength.

In this case, if the dovetail for accommodating the band contact is defined by a bent portion formed by bending a sheet metal forming the wall portion at an acute angle, the opposing surface of the wall portion can be cut without performing a cutting operation. And a groove can be formed. As a result, the bus bar connecting portion can be formed only by the press working, and the number of processing steps can be reduced, so that the manufacturing cost can be suppressed.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A busbar connection device and a method of manufacturing the same according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the busbar connection device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a busbar connection portion 2 formed by bending one sheet metal P, and a band contact 3 attached to the busbar connection portion 2. It is composed of

As shown in FIG. 2, the bus bar connecting portion 2 has a pair of substantially parallel wall portions 2 opposed to each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bars 4 and 5 to be connected.
a, 2b and a connecting portion 2c connecting the wall portions 2a, 2b at one end side are formed in a substantially U-shaped cross section. An edge of one of the wall portions 2a and 2b, which is disposed on the opposite side (hereinafter, referred to as a distal end side) of the connection portion 2c, faces the inside of the U-shaped busbar connection portion 2. This forms a first bent portion 7 which forms one groove wall 6a of the dovetail groove 6 described later.

The connecting portion 2c is bent in the shape of a chevron toward the inside of the U-shaped bus bar connecting portion 2 substantially at the center of the pair of wall portions 2a and 2b. A second bent portion 8 forming the other groove wall 6b of the dovetail groove 6 is formed. Note that chamfered portions 2d and 2e for facilitating insertion of the bus bars 4 and 5 are provided at the tip of the bus bar connecting portion 2.

The dovetail groove 6 is provided with the first bent portion 7 described above.
The second bent portion 8 is formed along the longitudinal direction of the connecting portion 2c so that the groove portion 6a and the second bent portion 8 serve as both groove walls 6a and 6b. The dovetail groove 6 has a uniform cross-sectional shape so that the band contact 3 can be inserted in the longitudinal direction. The maximum groove width of the dovetail groove 6 is set slightly larger than the maximum width of the band contact 3.
The maximum groove width of the dovetail groove 6 is equal to the maximum width of the band contact 3, or
May be set slightly smaller than the band contact 3 so as to be able to be inserted while being slightly compressed in the width direction.

The minimum width of the dovetail groove 6 is set sufficiently smaller than the maximum groove width of the band contact 3 at the upper end position of the groove wall 6a formed by the first bent portion 7. I have. Thereby, the dovetail groove 6 allows only the movement of the band contact 3 accommodated therein in the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 6 and prohibits the movement of the dovetail groove 6 in the depth direction. Has become.

The height dimension of the groove wall 6a on the tip side of the wall portion 2a formed by the first bent portion 7 is as follows.
The distance between the top of the groove wall 6a and the wall 2b on the other side of the bus bar connecting portion 2 is determined by the size of the bus bar 4 to be inserted.
5 is set to be slightly larger than the thickness dimension. The height of the groove wall 6a is set so that the band contact 3 accommodated in the dovetail groove 6 projects outward in the depth direction of the dovetail groove 6. Thus, when the bus bars 4 and 5 are inserted between the pair of walls 2a and 2b of the bus bar connecting portion 2, the bus bars 4 and 5 are inserted while elastically deforming the band contact 3, and the bus bar 3 and the other are inserted. It is configured to be held in a sandwiched state with the side wall portion 2b.

At this time, the band contact 3 is deformed by the bus bars 4 and 5 at the maximum by the protruding height to the outside of the dovetail groove 6. Even in this case, the band contact 3 is plastically deformed. So that
The protrusion amount is set so as to be located within the elastic deformation range. The band contact 3 is electrically and mechanically connected to the bus bars 4 and 5 by the elastic force of the elastically deformed band contact 3, and the bus bars 4 and 5 are electrically and mechanically connected to each other. Is to be connected to.

Further, after inserting the band contact 3 into the dovetail groove 6, the bus bar connecting portion 2
The both ends in the longitudinal direction of the first bent portion 7 of the portion surrounded by are caulked. Thus, the band contact 3 inserted into the dovetail groove 6 is prevented from coming out of the dovetail groove 6 in the longitudinal direction. The band contact 3 may be of any shape and material as long as it satisfies the above dimensional conditions.

The busbar connecting device 1 configured as described above
The method for manufacturing the will be described below. First, the bus bar connecting portion 2 is bent by pressing. In this bending process, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a first bent portion 7 is formed by bending one edge of one sheet metal P at an acute angle. Thereby, the dovetail groove 6
Is formed. Next, the center of the sheet metal P is further bent into a chevron while being bent substantially in two (FIG. 3C). Thereby, the two parallel wall portions 2a and 2b, the connecting portion 2c connecting these wall portions 2a and 2b, and the second bent portion 8 formed by bending the connecting portion 2c into a mountain shape are formed. Will be formed. The first and second bent portions 7 and 8 form a groove 6 inside one wall portion 2a.

Next, the band contact 3 having a predetermined size is inserted into the dovetail groove 6 of the bus bar connecting portion 2. Accordingly, the band contact 3 is accommodated in the groove 6 in a state where the movement of the band contact 3 in the depth direction is prohibited. Thereafter, the dovetail groove 6 of the first bent portion 7 is formed.
The dovetail groove 6 is caulked by plastically deforming both end portions in the longitudinal direction of the above with, for example, a jig (not shown). Thereby, the movement of the band contact 3 along the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 6 is prohibited, and the band contact 3 is prevented from dropping off from the bus bar connecting portion 2.

According to the bus bar connecting device 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, since the bus bar connecting portion 2 is formed by bending the sheet metal P, the size and weight can be reduced. In this case, since the dovetail groove 6 for accommodating the band contact 3 is formed at the same time as the bending process, the conventional cutting process is unnecessary, the manufacturing cost is reduced, and the precision is reduced. The busbar connection device 1 having a high level can be easily configured. In addition,
In the above-described embodiment, the second bent portion 8 is formed at one end of both the wall portions 2a and 2b by forming the connection portion in a mountain shape, but this is for balance in press working. Yes, the wall 2 on the side where the band contact 3 is inserted
Needless to say, the second bent portion 8 may be formed only on the portion a.

Next, a bus bar connection device 10 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The busbar connection device 10 according to the present embodiment includes:
The structure of the bus bar connecting portion 11 is different from that of the bus bar connecting device 1 according to the first embodiment.
In the present embodiment, portions having the same configuration as the bus bar connection device 1 according to the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description will be simplified.

That is, prior to bending, the bus bar connecting portion 11 of the bus bar connecting device 10 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, becomes a groove wall 6b on the connecting portion 11a side of the dovetail groove 6, as shown in FIG. Further, two grooves 12 having a triangular cross section are formed by press working. As a result, at the time of bending, the sheet metal P is bent along the cut 12, and the inner surface of the cut 12 becomes the groove wall 6 b on the connecting portion 11 a side of the dovetail groove 6, and is formed by the first bent portion 7. The groove 6 which is located between the formed tip-side groove wall 6a
Is formed.

The busbar connecting device 1 thus configured
0, the busbar connection device 1 according to the first embodiment
In comparison with the above, the bending process for bending the connection portion 11a into a mountain shape becomes unnecessary. This bending process involves providing a plurality of bent portions that are relatively close to each other, and thus has a disadvantage that accuracy is difficult to be obtained. However, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the number of bent portions of the connection portion 11a. Thereby, the busbar connection part 11 with higher precision can be manufactured. In the bus bar connecting portion 11 of this embodiment, the cut 12 is formed by pressing, but the cut 12 may be formed by cutting instead. In this case, since the cutting process can be performed in an unfolded state before the sheet metal P is bent, it can be processed very easily and accurately, and can be performed without increasing the product cost.

In the busbar connecting devices 1 and 10 according to the first and second embodiments, the busbar connecting devices 1 and 10 are folded so as to form the groove 6 on one of the two opposing walls 2a and 2b with a parallel space therebetween. The bent busbar connecting portions 2 and 11 are disclosed. Instead, the dovetail grooves 6 are formed on both opposing surfaces of the two wall portions 2a and 2b, and the band contact 3 is formed in each dovetail groove 6. May be accommodated.

Further, the notch 12 may be formed partially in the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 6 so that the dovetail groove 6 terminates at an intermediate position in the longitudinal direction. As a result, the longitudinal movement of the band contact 3 inserted into the dovetail groove 6 is stopped at the end position of the cut 12,
The function of preventing the band contact 3 from shifting can be achieved. Further, a bus bar (not shown) may be configured by integrally forming the bus bar connection devices 1 and 11 according to the above-described embodiment at one end of the bus bar.

[0031]

As described in detail above, the bus bar connecting device according to the present invention has a very simple structure because a band contact is inserted into a groove of a bus bar connecting portion formed by bending a sheet metal. It is small and lightweight and can accurately connect a busbar for a relatively low current. Also, since there is a groove without cutting the inside of the U-shaped bus bar connecting portion, the groove can be formed, so that it can be manufactured extremely easily, the product cost can be reduced, and mass production can be performed. It has the advantage that.

Further, by caulking both ends of the groove after the band contact is accommodated, there is an advantage that the band contact can be prevented from falling off and the reliability of the product can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a bus bar connection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the bus bar connection device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a manufacturing process for describing a method of manufacturing the bus bar connection device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a bus bar connection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a manufacturing process for describing a method of manufacturing the bus bar connection device of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,10 busbar connecting device 2,11 busbar connecting portion 2a, 2b wall 2c connecting portion 3 band contact 4,5 busbar 6 dovetail groove 7,8 bent portion 12 cut P sheet metal

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kazuo Enomoto 3-1, Ekimae Honmachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa F-Terminal Japan FCI, Inc. F-term (reference) 5G365 AC01 BA03

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A busbar connection device that is mechanically and electrically connected to a busbar by arranging the busbar in a sandwiched state, wherein the busbar connection device is opposed to a substantially parallel busbar with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the busbar. A bus bar connecting portion made of a sheet metal bent into a substantially U-shape in cross section so as to have a pair of wall portions, and a bus bar disposed on at least one opposing surface of the wall portion and pressed against a bus bar inserted between these wall portions. A bus contact, wherein the bus bar connecting portion includes a dovetail groove for accommodating the band contact on the opposing surface of the wall portion. 2. The bus bar connecting device according to claim 1, wherein the dovetail groove is defined by a bent portion formed by bending a sheet metal forming the wall portion at an acute angle. 3. A method of manufacturing a bus bar connecting device that is mechanically and electrically connected to a bus bar by arranging the bus bar in a sandwiching state, wherein the bus bar is opposed to the bus bar with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar. A bus bar connecting portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section including a pair of substantially parallel wall portions and a connecting portion connecting these wall portions is formed by bending a series of sheet metals, and at least one of the wall portions is formed. Bending the connecting portion disposed on one end side so as to form an acute angle with respect to the wall portion, and
The other end of the wall is bent at an acute angle with respect to the wall to form a dovetail groove for accommodating a band contact pressed against a bus bar inserted between the wall portions. A method for manufacturing a bus bar connection device, comprising inserting the band contact into a bus bar. 4. The bus bar according to claim 3, wherein before the sheet metal is bent, a notch serving as a groove wall of the dovetail groove is formed in a portion serving as the connection portion by bending the sheet metal. Manufacturing method of connection device. 5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the end of the groove is caulked after the band contact is inserted into the groove.