JP2003070124A - Junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve bus bars accommodated in a junction box. SOLUTION: The inside of a case comprising an upper case and a lower case, wherein a rectangular longitudinal bus-bars in the X direction formed by aluminum and/or zinc are accommodated being arranged in parallel. A plurality of rows of electric wire connection blocks in which a large number of cavities for external electric wire terminal connection are juxtaposed in the Y direction, are protrusively provided on the outer surface of the lower case and/or the upper case disposed in the arranging positions of the longitudinal bus bars. The inside surface of the case in respective rows of the electric wire connection blocks is made an opening to span the longitudinal bus bars. The longitudinal bus bars arranged in the orthogonal direction and the cavity of the electric wire connection block are made in a grid shape in the X-Y direction, whereby the longitudinal bus bars and the electric wires are connected at a desired intersecting positions to form a desired circuit.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automobile junction box, and more particularly to a vertical bus bar as an internal circuit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, with the rapid increase in electrical components mounted on automobiles, the number of circuits contained in automobile electrical junction boxes, especially junction boxes, has increased rapidly to form branch circuits with high density. Moreover, the number of parts is extremely large, and the number of assembling steps is also very large.

In the junction box 1 shown in FIG. 7 of the automobile electrical junction box, bus bars 5A to 5D are laminated between the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 with insulating plates 4A to 4E interposed therebetween. Above upper case 2
The connector accommodating portion 2a, the relay accommodating portion 2b, and the fuse accommodating portion 2c are provided, and the connector 6, the relay 7, and the fuse 8 are mounted in these accommodating portions, and these terminals and the tabs protruding from the bus bar are directly or It is connected via a relay terminal. There is also a case where the lower case 3 is also provided with a connector accommodating portion 3a and the tab 5a of the bus bar is projected so as to be connected to the connector. The bus bars 5A to 5D fixed to the insulating plates 4A to 4E are formed by punching a conductive metal plate into a desired circuit shape.

Further, instead of the bus bars 5A to 5D,
As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the vertical bus bar 5 ′ may be housed inside the case 2 ′ (3 ′). The vertical bus bar 5'is formed by forming a band-shaped conductive metal material to give a required bent shape.

Further, in the case of both the horizontally arranged horizontal bus bar of FIG. 7 and the vertically arranged vertical bus bar of FIG.
The bus bar is made of copper or copper alloy due to its electrical conductivity.

[0006]

As described above, since the bus bar is made of copper or a copper alloy, copper has a large specific gravity. Therefore, as the amount of bus bar increases, the weight of the junction box increases, and At this time, the number of busbars increases due to high-density wiring, and the increase in the weight of the junction box becomes a problem. Also, when trying to provide a circuit protection function such as a fuse in the junction box, copper has a low electric resistivity and it is difficult to produce the fuse characteristics.Therefore, a fuse as a separate component is provided and a fuse accommodating portion is provided in the junction box. , It is necessary to connect the bus bar and the fuse.

Further, in the flat-positioned bus bar shown in FIG. 7, the bus bar is formed by punching it into a circuit shape. Therefore, when the circuit is changed, it is necessary to re-form the bus bar.
There is a problem that the die cost for forming the bus bar is very high, and it is not possible to flexibly cope with circuit changes. In addition, the yield of the conductive metal plate used as the bus bar material is very low, which causes a cost increase. On the other hand, when the vertical bus bar 5'shown in FIG. 8 is used, the forming process is performed according to the circuit shape, so that there is a problem that the processing cost is high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. As a bus bar to be housed in a junction box, the weight of the bus bar can be reduced, the yield is good, and a vertical bus bar with high routing efficiency is used. An object of the present invention is to provide a junction box that does not require a fuse as a separate member and can easily cope with circuit changes.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a vertical array of vertical bus bars made of aluminum and / or zinc in a parallel arrangement inside a case consisting of an upper case and a lower case. And a plurality of rows of wire connection blocks, each having a plurality of cavities for connecting external wire terminals arranged in parallel in the Y direction, are provided on the outer surface of the lower case and / or the upper case at the position where the vertical bus bar is arranged. The vertical busbars are bridged with the case inner surface side of each row of the electric wire connection block as an opening, and the vertical busbars and the cavities of the electric wire connection blocks arranged in the orthogonal direction are formed in a grid shape in the XY direction, and Providing a junction box characterized by connecting a vertical bus bar and an electric wire at a required crossing position to form a required circuit. It is.

As described above, in the present invention, aluminum and / or zinc is used instead of copper as the busbar forming material. The conductivity of aluminum is about 60% of that of copper, but regarding the specific gravity, aluminum is 2.7, copper is 8.9, and aluminum is about 1/3 of copper. Therefore, if the bus bar made of copper has a cross-sectional area of 5 mm ² , the bus bar made of aluminum needs to have a cross-sectional area of 8.33 mm ² in order to obtain the same energization amount as the bus bar made of copper. When the copper bus bar and the aluminum bus bar have the same length, the weight difference is as follows. That is, when the length of the bus bar is 100 mm, the copper bus bar has a size of 100 mm × 5 mm ² = 50.
It becomes 0 mm ³ , and when multiplied by the specific gravity of copper, it becomes 4.45 g for a copper bus bar. On the other hand, in the case of an aluminum bus bar, it becomes 100 × 8.33 mm ² = 830 mm ³ , and when the specific gravity of aluminum is applied, it becomes 2.24 g. In this way, when the bus bars having the same amount of electricity and the same length are used, the weight of the aluminum bus bar is approximately half the weight of the copper bus bar, and the weight can be reduced by half.

In the case of a zinc bus bar, zinc has a lower conductivity than aluminum, in other words, it has a high electric resistivity. Therefore, a fusing function is added to a part of the vertical bus bar by providing a fusing part having a narrow width part. It becomes possible to do. In addition, since zinc has a low melting point of 419 ° C. and is easily melted and suitable for circuit protection, it is preferable to use a zinc bus bar for adding a fuse function. Busbar has a melting point of 6
It is not suitable as a bus bar material that adds a fuse function because it is difficult to melt at 60 ° C. Therefore, zinc is used instead of aluminum as the bus bar material to which the fuse function is added.

The vertical busbars housed in the upper case and the lower case are held and arranged in grooves formed on the inner surface of the upper case side or the lower case side, and these vertical busbars are arranged in the Y direction of the electric wire connection block on these vertical busbars. By inserting the terminal of the electric wire terminal into the cavity and connecting it to the vertical bus bar, a required circuit can be formed and the circuit can be easily changed. Since a plurality of electric wire connection blocks in which cavities are arranged in parallel in the Y direction are provided in the X direction, a plurality of electric wires can be connected to the vertical bus bar of the same circuit. By providing a pair of holding pieces at the terminals of the electric wire terminals and holding the upper portion and / or the lower portion by the holding pieces with the vertical bus bar, electrical connection can be made with one touch.

The electric wire connection block is formed in either the upper case or the lower case, and the other side is provided with a connector accommodating portion, and the case inner surface side of the connector accommodating portion is formed as an opening, and the electric wire connecting block is bridged to the opening. Terminals in the connector that fit into the connector housing are connected to the vertical bus bar from the side opposite to the wire connection side. With the above configuration, the electric wire can be directly connected to the lower end edge of the vertical bus bar and the electric wire in the connector can be connected to the upper end edge, so that the vertical bus bar can be effectively used, and from this point also, the junction box can be downsized.

The vertical bus bar is made of zinc, and a narrow fusing portion is provided in a part of the vertical bus bar to add a fuse function. That is, all the vertical bus bars arranged inside the case may be zinc vertical bus bars, and a fusing part formed in a narrow width portion may be provided on one end side of these bus bars. Alternatively, a vertical bus bar made of aluminum and a vertical bus bar made of zinc may be used together as the vertical bus bar, and a vertical bus bar made of zinc may be used for a circuit requiring a fusing part.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show an entire junction box 100 connected to a wire harness for an automobile according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The junction box 100 is made of aluminum and has a strip shape in the X direction inside the lower case 10 and the upper case 11. The vertical bus bars 13 are arranged in parallel and accommodated.

A groove 10a for holding a vertical bus bar is formed in parallel on the inner surface side of the lower case 10, and a vertical bus bar 12 to be inserted into the groove 10a is positioned and fixed. As shown in FIG. 2, on the outer surface of the lower case 10, two wire connection blocks 15 are provided so as to protrude over substantially the entire length in the Y direction, and the wire connection blocks 15 in each row are provided with cavities 16 in parallel in the Y direction. The two sets are adjacent to each other. In other words, four rows of cavities in the Y direction are provided.

The vertical bus bar 13 housed and held in the groove 10a is positioned and fixed in the longitudinal direction, and the lower end edge 13a in the longitudinal direction is exposed at the upper surface opening 15a of the wire connection block 15 of the lower case 10. . Further, the upper end edges 13b of the vertical bus bars 13 are exposed at the lower surface opening of the connector accommodating portion 17 protruding from the outer surface of the upper case 11 side. The vertical bus bar 13 and each row of the electric wire connection block 15 are arranged in a grid pattern in the XY direction, and the terminal 20 of the electric wire w inserted and locked in the cavity 16 and the vertical bus bar 13 are arranged at a required intersecting position. Directly connected to form the required circuit.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the terminal 20 includes a pair of holding pieces 20a, and the lower end edge 13a of the vertical bus bar 13 exposed in the upper opening 15a of the cavity 16 is held by the holding pieces 20a to be connected. ing. The electric wires directly inserted into the cavity 16 are a wire harness electric wire group to be connected before the junction box is attached to the vehicle body.

The connector accommodating portion 17 protruding from the upper case 11 is connected to the end of the wire group of the wire harness which is connected to the junction box when the vehicle body is mounted.
The connector 30 shown in FIG. A lock claw 30a is provided on the outer side of the connector 30, and the connector accommodating portion 1
The lock claw 17a on the inner wall of 7 is lock-coupled. The connector 30 is provided with a vertical busbar insertion groove 30b so that the upper edge 13b of the vertical busbar 13 is inserted into the connector, and the terminal 31 in the connector is sandwiched between the vertical busbars 13 for connection.

In the junction box having the above structure, the terminal 20 of the electric wire w is connected to the electric wire connection block 1 on the side of the lower case 10 with respect to the vertical bus bar 13 housed in parallel in the upper case 11 and the lower case 10.
It can be connected to the vertical bus bar 13 only by directly inserting it into the cavity 16 of No. 5 at once. Moreover, the terminal 31 in the connector 30 can be connected to the vertical bus bar 13 only by fitting the connector 30 of the wire harness terminal into the connector housing portion 17.

Further, since the vertical bus bar 13 is made of aluminum, the weight of the bus bar can be reduced by about half as compared with the case of using the copper bus bar, as described above.
The weight of the junction box can be significantly reduced.

Further, since the electric wire can be directly connected to the lower end edge of the vertical bus bar 13 and the electric wire in the connector can be connected to the upper end edge, the vertical bus bar can be effectively used, and from this point also, the junction box can be downsized. Furthermore, if there is a circuit change, it is only necessary to change the connection position of the electric wire to the vertical bus bar, so that it can be easily handled. Moreover, since the strip-shaped vertical bus bar is used, the yield of the material can be improved and the conventional vertical bus bar is required for the flat-laid bus bar punched into the circuit shape described in the conventional example. Forming processing can be eliminated, and material cost and processing cost can be reduced.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment, in which a vertical bus bar 1 is provided.
3'is made of zinc, and the vertical bus bar 13 'made of zinc is different from the first embodiment in that a fusing portion 13c formed of an S-shaped narrow width portion is formed on one end side. To do. Others are the same as those in the first embodiment, and therefore, the same reference numerals are given and the description thereof will be omitted.

When the vertical bus bar 13 'is made of zinc as described above, zinc has a high electric resistivity, and therefore the fusing part 13c is formed.
Can be provided, and this fusing part 13c is formed when the zinc is punched by a press. The shape of the fusing part is S
The shape is not limited to the letter shape, and may be one linear narrow portion.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment, which is different from the first and second embodiments in that a vertical bus bar 13 made of aluminum and a vertical bus bar 13 'made of zinc are used together as the vertical bus bar. Is. In this way, when the aluminum and zinc vertical bus bars are used together, the zinc vertical bus bar 13 'provided with the fusing part 13c' is used for the circuit requiring circuit protection, and the other circuits are made of aluminum. The circuit is formed by the vertical bus bar 13 made of aluminum.

[0026]

As apparent from the above description, in the junction box of the present invention, aluminum is used in place of copper or copper alloy conventionally used as a bus bar, so that the weight can be reduced. Further, when the bus bar is made of zinc, it is possible to form a narrow fusing part to have a circuit protection function, and therefore it is not necessary to mount a separate fuse and connect it to the bus bar.

The aluminum or / and zinc busbars are accommodated as strip-shaped vertical busbars arranged in parallel inside the case, and the terminals of the electric wire terminals are directly connected to the vertical busbars or the electric wires in the connector are connected. Since the terminals of the terminal are connected by one-touch, the connection work between the internal circuit and the external circuit becomes very simple. Moreover, the circuit can be easily changed by simply changing the connection position.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a junction box according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a lower case of the junction box of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a connection state between a terminal of an electric wire terminal and a bus bar.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a connector to which an electric wire is connected, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the connector is fitted in a connector housing portion of a junction box.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional junction box.

FIG. 8 shows another conventional junction box,
(A) is a plan view and (B) is a perspective view of a vertical bus bar housed in the junction box.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 junction box 10 lower case 11 upper case 13 Aluminum vertical busbar Vertical busbar made of 13 'zinc 13c fusing part 12a groove 15 Electric wire connection block 16 cavities 17 Connector housing 20 terminals 20a clamping piece 30 connectors

Continued front page    F term (reference) 5E077 BB02 BB18 BB23 DD14 JJ20                       JJ30                 5G361 BA02 BB01 BC03

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An X-direction strip-shaped vertical bus bar made of aluminum and / or zinc is accommodated in a parallel arrangement inside a case consisting of an upper case and a lower case, and the vertical bus bar is arranged at a position where the vertical bus bar is arranged. On the outer surface of the lower case and / or the upper case, a plurality of rows of electric wire connection blocks having a plurality of cavities for connecting external electric wire terminals arranged in parallel in the Y direction are provided in a protruding manner, and the inner side of the case of each row of the electric wire connection blocks is formed as an opening. The vertical busbars are bridged, and the vertical busbars and cavities of the electric wire connection blocks arranged in the orthogonal direction are formed into a grid shape in the XY direction, and the vertical busbars and the electric wires are connected at required crossing positions. Junction box characterized by forming a circuit of. 2. The electric wire connection block is formed on either the upper case or the lower case, and
A connector accommodating portion is provided on the other side, the case inner surface side of the connector accommodating portion is formed as an opening, and the vertical bus bar spanning the opening is fitted into the connector accommodating portion from the side opposite to the wire connection side. The junction box according to claim 1, wherein terminals in the connector are connected. 3. The junction box according to claim 1, wherein the vertical bus bar is made of zinc, and a fusing function is added by providing a narrow fusing part in a part of the vertical bus bar. 4. A vertical bus bar made of aluminum and a vertical bus bar made of zinc are used together as the vertical bus bar.
The junction box according to claim 3, wherein a vertical bus bar made of zinc is used for a circuit requiring a fusing part.