JP2002078149A - Method for changing specification of electric junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for changing a specification of an electric junction box by which the circuit configuration of a connection circuit can be easily changed. SOLUTION: A plurality of connection pads 12C disposed in a straight line are formed at a predetermined position on the first flexible printed board 12. In the second and third flexible printed boards 13 and 31, connection pads 13c and 31c are formed at positions corresponding to the pads 12c of the first flexible printed board 12, respectively. The second and third flexible print boards 13 and 31 are provided with copper foil patterns 13a and 31a constructed of different traces. By selectively using either of the second or third flexible print board 13 or 31, the connection pad 13c or 31c on the selected flexible printed board 13 or 31 is electrically connected to the connection pad 12c on the first flexible print board 12 so as to change the circuit configuration.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for changing specifications of an electric junction box mounted on an automobile, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, electric components such as relays, fuses and connectors for automobiles are mounted in a vehicle while being housed in an electric junction box. Above all, in an electric connection box in which a bus bar is housed, various electric components are in a state of being electrically connected to a connection circuit formed by the bus bar.

Conventionally, in such an electric connection box, a connection circuit of various electric components is constituted by a bus bar laminate in which a plurality of bus bars are laminated via an insulating base material. That is, in the electrical connection box that houses the relay, the fuse, and the connector, one busbar laminate formed by mixing the relay connection circuit, the fuse connection circuit, and the connector connection circuit is housed.

[0004]

By the way, such an electric junction box may be commonly used for vehicles of different types and grades by changing the circuit configuration of each connection circuit. However, in the conventional electrical junction box,
In order to change the circuit configuration of the connection circuit, it is necessary to change the configuration itself of the bus bar laminate. Therefore, it is difficult and complicated to change the circuit configuration of the connection circuit.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for changing the specifications of an electric junction box which can easily change the circuit configuration.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a first case provided with a plurality of types of electric component mounting portions, and a first case fitted to the first case is provided. A second case constituting a box body, a bus bar laminate obtained by laminating a bus bar and an insulating base material in the cases,
What is claimed is: 1. A method for changing the specification of an electric connection box, comprising a plurality of flexible printed circuit boards each having a conductor circuit and a connecting part and electrically connecting the connecting parts, wherein one of the flexible printed circuit boards is provided. A base substrate, and another flexible printed board as a sub-substrate, as the sub-substrate, having the connection portion at a location corresponding to the connection portion of the base substrate, and each of the conductors formed in a different pattern By preparing a plurality of types of flexible printed circuit boards having a circuit, selectively using one or more of these sub-boards, and electrically connecting the selected sub-board to the base substrate, The gist is that the configuration is changed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method for changing the specifications of the electric junction box according to the second aspect, the connection portion of the base board and the connection portion of the sub-board are electrically connected to each other by welding. The gist is that you have done it.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method for changing the specification of the electric junction box according to the first or second aspect, it is preferable that each of the connecting portions is provided at a predetermined location. Make a summary.

The "action" of the present invention will be described below. According to the first aspect of the present invention, the circuit configuration is changed by selectively electrically connecting one or more of the sub-boards to the base board. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the entire circuit when changing the circuit configuration. Therefore, the circuit configuration can be easily changed. In addition, the connection portion of the sub-board is provided at a position corresponding to the connection portion of the base substrate. For this reason, the connection part of the base substrate and the connection part of the sub-substrate can be easily corresponded,
The electrical connection between the two is also facilitated.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the connecting portion of the base substrate and the connecting portion of the sub-substrate are electrically connected by welding. For this reason, electrical connection between both substrates can be easily performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since each connecting portion is provided in a concentrated manner at a predetermined location, it is possible to prevent the sub-board from becoming unnecessarily large.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in an electric junction box for a vehicle will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electric junction box 1
An upper case 2 as a case and a lower case 3 as a second case are provided. On the upper surface of the upper case 2, there are formed a connector mounting portion 4 for attaching and detaching a plurality of connectors, a fuse attaching portion 5 for attaching and detaching a plurality of fuses, and a relay attaching portion 6 for attaching and detaching a plurality of relays. These mounting portions 4 to 6 are formed so that corresponding connectors, fuses and relays can be mounted from above the upper case 2. Also, on the upper surface of the lower case 3,
A connector mounting part 4 is formed. The connector mounting section 4 is formed so that a corresponding connector can be mounted from the side of the lower case 3. These cases 2 and 3 are formed so as to be fitted to each other. When the two cases 2 and 3 are fitted, a box having an internal space is formed. In the present embodiment, the upper case 2 will be described as an upward direction, and the lower case 3 will be described as a downward direction.

The electrical connection box 1 houses a bus bar laminate 11, a first flexible printed circuit board 12, a second flexible printed circuit board 13, and a printed circuit board 14.

The bus bar laminate 11 is formed by alternately laminating a plurality of bus bars each formed of a conductive metal plate formed in a predetermined shape and an insulating base made of synthetic resin. On the upper surface of the bus bar laminate 11,
A plurality of busbar terminals 11a projecting upward are formed. These bus bar terminals 11a are connected to the bus bar laminate 1
1 is formed by bending a part of the bus bar, and is formed at a position corresponding to each of the mounting portions 4 to 6 formed on the upper case 2.

As also shown in FIG. 2, the first and second flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 are formed of copper foil patterns 12a as conductor circuits formed in a predetermined shape.
13a is covered with a resin sheet. The second flexible printed board 13 is formed smaller than the first flexible printed board. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 are accommodated in a state of being superposed.
That is, the flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 have a two-layer structure. 4 and 5, the configuration of the bus bar laminate 11 is shown in a simplified manner.

A plurality of connection terminals 12b and 13b are formed at predetermined locations on each of the flexible printed boards 12 and 13. A plurality of copper foil patterns 12a, 13a are provided in these connection terminal portions 12b, 13b, respectively. The resin sheet on one side of each connection terminal portion 12b, 13b is peeled off, and the copper foil patterns 12a, 13a are exposed.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of connection pads 12c and 13c are formed at predetermined locations on the flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 as connection portions.
These connection pads 12c and 13c are
It is formed by peeling off a part of the resin sheet covering a and 13a. That is, each connection pad 1
2c, 13c are flexible printed circuit boards 12, 1
3 is formed by the copper foil patterns 12a and 13a exposed on the surface of No.3. In this embodiment, each connection pad 1
2c and 13c have a substantially rectangular shape. The connection pads 12c and 13c are formed in a state of being aligned on a straight line, and have a positional relationship corresponding to each other. For more information,
The connection pads 12c and 13c are juxtaposed so that their long sides are parallel to each other. That is, each connection pad 12c,
13c is formed in a part of the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13. In other words, the copper foil patterns 12a, 13 of the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13
a is formed so that the connection pads 12c and 13c can be formed in a state of being aligned on a straight line.

The connection pads 12c and 13c are formed close to each other, and some of them are formed at equal intervals. As shown in FIG.
2c, 13c, the closest connection pad 12c,
The distance L between 13c is set to be 5.0 mm or less (about 3.0 mm in the present embodiment). And
The corresponding connection pads 12c and 13c are electrically connected to each other by welding by a welding method such as ultrasonic welding. In this embodiment, the copper foil patterns 12a, 13a of the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13 are used.
“a” is set to have a thickness of about 0.1 mm and a width of about 2 mm so that a current of 10 amps at the maximum can be passed.

The bus bar laminated body 11 thus configured
The flexible printed boards 12 and 13 are accommodated in the electric junction box 1 so that the bus bar laminate 11 is the uppermost layer (upper case 2 side). The first flexible printed circuit board 12 is accommodated in the electric connection box 1 such that the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is an intermediate layer and the second flexible printed circuit board 13 is a lowermost layer (lower case 3 side). That is, each of the flexible printed boards 12 and 13 is arranged in close contact with a surface of the bus bar laminate 11 where the bus bar terminals 11a are not formed. Further, a printed circuit board 14 is arranged further below the second flexible printed circuit board 13. In this embodiment, the printed circuit board 14 is provided with an ECU that performs electronic control of the engine and the like.
It functions as a unit and includes various electronic components such as a CPU and a ROM.

By the way, the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is placed on the lower case 3 when housed in the electric junction box 1. At this time, the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is arranged such that each connection terminal portion 12b is located on a step 3a provided on the upper edge of the side wall of the lower case 3. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, when the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 are fitted together,
b is bent by the side wall of the upper case 2 and the side wall of the lower case 3, and is sandwiched between both side walls. This allows
Each connection terminal section 12b is arranged on the corresponding connector mounting section 4. That is, in the present embodiment, a part of the connector connection circuit connected to the connector mounted on the connector mounting unit 4 is a part of the first and second flexible printed circuit boards 1.
2 and 13.

The second flexible printed circuit board 13
One of the connection terminal portions 13b is bent so as to come into contact with a conductor pattern (not shown) wired on the printed circuit board 14, as shown in FIG. And
The connection terminal 18 b and the printed board 14 are sandwiched and held by the connection clip 21. For this reason, the connection terminal portion 13b is electrically connected to the conductor pattern of the printed board 14. That is, the second flexible printed board 13 and the printed board 14 are electrically connected.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, one of the connection terminals 13b of the second flexible printed circuit board 13 is connected to a board connection portion 11b formed on the bus bar laminate 11.
It is bent so that it contacts. The board connecting portion 11b is formed by bending a part of the bus bar constituting the bus bar laminated body 11 downward, and the bus bar is formed at a position corresponding to the copper foil pattern 13a of the connection terminal portion 13b. . The connection terminal portion 13b and the board connection portion 11b are sandwiched and held by the connection clip 21. For this reason, the connection terminal 13b and the board connection 11b are electrically connected. That is, the second flexible printed board 13 and the bus bar laminate 11 are electrically connected.

When changing the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit in the electric connection box 1 of the present embodiment, for example, a third flexible printed circuit board 31 as shown in FIG. 2C is used. The third flexible printed circuit board 31 is the same as the second flexible printed circuit board 13.
It is formed in a size substantially equal to. On the third flexible printed board 31, a copper foil pattern 31a having a pattern shape different from that of the copper foil pattern 13a of the second flexible printed board 13 is formed. Further, two connection terminal portions 31b are formed on the third flexible printed board 31 at positions different from the connection terminal portions 13b of the second flexible printed board 13. The third flexible printed board 31 has connection pads 31c formed at locations corresponding to the connection pads 12c of the first flexible printed board 12, respectively. In addition, the copper foil pattern 31a of this flexible printed board 31
The thickness is set to about 0.1 mm and the width is set to about 2 mm so that a current of 10 amps can be passed.

The third flexible printed circuit board 31 thus constructed is replaced with the second flexible printed circuit board 13.
Used in place of That is, the third flexible printed board 31 is used as a sub-board, and the first flexible printed board 12 and the third flexible printed board 31 form a connector connection circuit. Thereby, the connector connection circuit has a different circuit configuration.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. (1) By changing the second flexible printed board 13 to the third flexible printed board 31, the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit can be changed. That is, the second and third flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31
Can selectively change the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit. In other words, it is not necessary to change the configurations of the bus bar laminate 11 and the first flexible printed circuit board 12 in order to change the circuit configuration.
Therefore, the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit can be easily changed.

The connection pads 13c and 31c of the second and third flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31 are connected to the connection pads 12c of the first flexible printed circuit board 12 respectively.
Is formed at a position corresponding to. Therefore, each connection pad 12c of the first flexible printed board 12 and each connection pad 13c of the second flexible printed board 13
Alternatively, the connection pads 31c of the third flexible printed board 31 can be easily associated with each other. Therefore, electrical connection between the connection pads 12c and 13c or between the connection pads 12c and 31c can be easily performed.

(2) First Flexible Printed Circuit Board 12
The connection pads 12c and the connection pads 13c, 31c of the second and third flexible printed circuit boards 31 are electrically connected by welding. For this reason,
Electrical connection between the two substrates 12, 13, 31 can be easily made.

(3) Each connection pad 12c, 13c, 31
c is the flexible printed circuit board 12, 13,
31 are provided in a concentrated manner at predetermined positions. For this reason,
It is not necessary to form the second and third flexible printed boards 13 and 31 larger than necessary. That is, when the connection pads 12c of the first flexible printed board 12 are discretely formed on the entire board 12, the second
And the third flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31
It is necessary that the connection pads 13c and 31c be formed in a size corresponding to the size of the flexible printed circuit board 12 and corresponding portions. However, in the present embodiment, since each connection pad 12c is formed concentrated at a predetermined location, the second and third flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31 are formed by the first and second flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31.
It can be formed smaller than the flexible printed circuit board 12.

(4) Since the connection pads 12c and 13c are provided in a row, positioning of the welding machine with respect to the connection pads 12c and 13c can be easily performed. In particular, in the present embodiment, the connection pads 12c and 13c are formed in a state of being aligned on a straight line. For this reason, each connection pad 12c can easily correspond to each connection pad 13c or each connection pad 31c.

(5) Adjacent connection pads 12c, 13
c, 31c, the closest connection pad 12c, 1
The distance L between 3c and 31c is set to 5.0 mm or less. Therefore, each of the connection pads 12c, 13c, 31c
Can be set high.

The embodiment of the present invention may be modified as follows. -In the said embodiment, the 2nd and 3rd flexible printed circuit board 13, 31 which has the connection pad 13c, 31c in the position corresponding to all the connection pads 12c of the 1st flexible printed circuit board 12 is used as a sub board | substrate.
However, the sub-substrate is not limited to the second and third flexible printed boards 13 and 31, but may be applied as long as connection pads are provided at positions corresponding to at least a part of each connection pad 12c.

For example, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
The fourth flexible printed circuit board 32 and the fifth flexible printed circuit board 33 having the connection pads 32a and 33a at locations corresponding to a part of each connection pad 12c may be used as a sub-board. That is, a connector connection circuit may be configured by three or more flexible printed boards 12, 32, and 33.

Each flexible printed circuit board 12, 1
The 3 and 31 connection pads 12c, 13c and 31c do not necessarily have to be arranged on a straight line. By doing so, the degree of freedom of the pattern shape of each of the copper foil patterns 12a, 13a, 31a can be increased.

Each flexible printed circuit board 12, 1
3, 31 connection pads 12c, 13c, 31c
Not limited to ultrasonic welding, electrical connection may be performed by another welding method such as resistance welding or laser welding. Further, the connection pads 12c, 13c, and 31c may be connected to each other by soldering using, for example, cream solder instead of welding. In this case, the connection pads 12c, 1
The connection circuit is changed depending on whether or not the 3c and 31c are to be soldered.

In the above embodiment, the copper foil pattern 1 of the first to third flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13, 31 is
2a, 13a and 31a are set so that a current of 10 amperes or less can be supplied. However, the copper foil patterns 12a,
The thickness and width of 13a and 31a may be changed so that a current of 10 amperes or more can be passed. Further, the maximum energizing current may be set to 10 amps or less.

In the above embodiment, a part of the connector connection circuit is constituted by the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13, 31. However, the entire connector connection circuit or a part of the fuse connection circuit or the relay connection circuit may be configured by the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13, and 31.

In the above embodiment, each of the flexible printed boards 12 and 13 is arranged below the bus bar laminate 11. However, each flexible printed circuit board 1
2 and 13 may be arranged on the upper layer of the bus bar laminate 11. However, in this case, each flexible printed circuit board 1
Desirably, 2 and 13 are arranged in regions where the bus bar terminals 11a are not formed.

In the above embodiment, the upper case 2
Although the side is described as upward and the lower case 3 side as downward, when assembling the electric junction box 1 to a vehicle, for example, the upper case 2 may be located below and the lower case 3 may be located above. Alternatively, the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 may be assembled to a vehicle such that the side walls of the lower case 3 face upward, that is, the electric connection box 1 is rotated by 90 °. That is, the electric connection box 1 is
3 may be assembled in any direction.

Next, in addition to the technical ideas described in the claims, the technical ideas grasped by the above-described embodiments will be listed below. (1) In the method for changing specifications of an electric junction box according to any one of claims 1 to 3, each of the connection portions is provided in a row. According to the invention described in the technical concept (1), each connection portion can be easily associated with each other.

(2) Claims 1 to 3, Technical idea (1)
In the method for changing specifications of an electrical junction box according to any one of the above, the distance between the closest ones of the connection pads is set to 5.0 mm or less. According to the invention described in the technical concept (2), the density of the connection pads can be increased, and the sub-substrate can be formed smaller.

(3) In the method for changing the specification of an electric junction box according to any one of claims 1 to 3, and technical ideas (1) and (2), the sub-board is set smaller than the base board. is being done.

(4) A first case having a connector mounting portion, a fuse mounting portion, and a relay mounting portion, and a second case fitted to the first case to form a box body, and a bus bar is provided in these cases. And a bus bar laminated body that constitutes a circuit wired to each mounting portion by laminating an insulating base material, a conductor circuit and a plurality of connection pads, respectively, and the connection portions are electrically connected to each other. A method for changing the specifications of an electric connection box that accommodates two flexible printed boards of different sizes that constitute a part of a connector connection circuit wired to a connector mounting portion, wherein the large size of each of the flexible printed boards is One as a base substrate, and a small flexible printed circuit board as a sub-substrate. And a plurality of types of flexible printed circuit boards each having the connection pad at a location corresponding to each other in a one-to-one relationship, and having the conductor circuits formed in different patterns. The circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit is changed by selectively using the substrate and by connecting the selected connection pads of the sub-substrate to the connection pads of the base substrate and electrically connecting them.

[0044]

As described in detail above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the circuit configuration can be easily changed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, electrical connection between the two substrates can be easily performed. According to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to prevent the sub-board from becoming unnecessarily large.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an electric junction box used in an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a plan view of a base board housed in the electric junction box of the embodiment, FIG. 2B is a plan view of a sub-board housed in the electric junction box, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a modification.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary plan view of the electric junction box according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a plan view schematically showing a base substrate and a sub-substrate according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electrical connection box, 2 ... Upper case as 1st case, 3 ... Lower case as 2nd case, 4 ... Connector mounting part, 5 ... Fuse mounting part, 6 ... Relay mounting part, 11
... busbar laminate, 11a ... busbar terminal, 12 ... first flexible printed circuit board as base substrate, 13 ...
Second flexible printed circuit board as sub-board, 12
a, 13a: copper foil pattern as a conductor circuit, 12b,
13b ... connection terminal portion, 12c, 13c ... connection pad, 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes a printed board, 31 denotes a third flexible printed board as a sub board, 32 denotes a fourth flexible printed board as a sub board, and 33 denotes a fifth flexible printed board as a sub board.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (Reference) H05K 1/14 H01R 23/68 HF term (Reference) 5E023 AA16 BB23 CC02 FF03 HH30 5E077 BB32 BB38 CC02 DD03 JJ30 5E085 BB09 BB19 CC03 DD03 HH11 JJ50 5E344 AA02 AA12 AA22 BB02 BB05 CC23 DD01 EE30 5G361 BA01 BA04 BB01

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first case having a plurality of types of electrical component mounting portions, and a second case which is fitted to the first case to form a box body, wherein a bus bar and an insulating base are provided in the cases. A method for changing the specifications of an electric connection box containing a bus bar laminate formed by laminating, a plurality of flexible printed circuit boards each including a conductor circuit and a connection portion and electrically connecting the connection portions, One of the flexible printed boards is used as a base board, and the other flexible printed board is used as a sub board. As the sub board, the connecting section is provided at a position corresponding to a connecting section of the base board, and Prepare a plurality of types of the flexible printed circuit boards each having the conductive circuit configured in a different pattern, and select one or more of the sub-boards Using, by the selected sub-board electrically connected to the base substrate,
A method for changing specifications of an electric junction box, wherein a circuit configuration is changed. 2. The method according to claim 2, wherein the connection portion of the base board and the connection portion of the sub-board are electrically connected by welding. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the connection portions is provided at a predetermined location.