JP2003079027A - Junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply change the shape of a junction box conforming to an on- vehicle mounting space. SOLUTION: The junction box comprises: a base circuit that connects a circuit housed in the junction box to an external circuit; a base module equipped with the base circuit that is divided into a fuse connection circuit and/or a relay connection circuit; and a fuse/relay module equipped with the fuse connection circuit and/or the relay connection circuit. The junction box is formed by connecting these modules and assembling an electronic control unit thereto and, by changing connecting positions of the modules and the electronic control unit, thus obtaining the shape of the junction box conforming to the on-vehicle space.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a junction box for an automobile, and more particularly, to changing the outer shape of the junction box in accordance with the arrangement space.

[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. 13 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. The upper case 2 is provided with a connector accommodating portion 2a, a relay accommodating portion 2b, and a fuse accommodating portion 2c, and a connector 6, a relay 7, and a fuse 8 are attached to these accommodating portions and project from these terminals and the bus bar. It is connected to the tab directly or 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 required circuit shape. This bus bar and the terminal of the wire terminal of the wire harness that serves as an external circuit are connected via a connector.The terminal of the wire terminal is inserted into the cavity of the connector, and this connector is formed on the outer surface of the case of the junction box. When fitted in the housing portion, the tab formed on the bus bar or the relay terminal connected to the tab and the terminal of the electric wire terminal in the connector are fitted together.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional junction box, the internal structure is very complicated. Further, with the rapid increase in electrical equipment, the number of internal circuits increases, and fuses and relays are increased. The number of mounting parts such as connectors has increased, and the length, width, and thickness of the rectangular junction box are increasing. As described above, when the junction box becomes large, a large mounting space is required. On the other hand, on the vehicle side, because of the addition of various functions, securing of indoor space, etc., the mounting space for electrical junction boxes and other electrical equipment, including the junction box, has become smaller, and the size of the junction box increases. Mounting can be very difficult.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional junction box 1, since the bus bar is stamped into a circuit shape and formed, it is necessary to re-form the bus bar when the circuit is changed, and the die cost for forming the bus bar is very high. , There is a problem that it is not possible to flexibly respond to circuit changes. In addition, the yield of the conductive metal plate used as the bus bar material is very poor, and the cost is high. Furthermore, since the connector, fuse and relay are connected to the bus bar that is the internal circuit, if the specifications change that changes the connection between the fuse and the relay and the internal circuit, the entire internal circuit must be changed. As a result, there is a problem that the circuit change cannot be easily dealt with.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. Basically, the junction box can be made thinner, and the junction box can be formed in a shape corresponding to the mounting space, so that the junction box can be mounted freely on a vehicle. The main issue is to raise the degree. Furthermore, by using a busbar that can be shared in the junction box with a good yield and can be directly connected to the busbar and the electric wire of the wire harness without a connector, the cost of parts can be reduced, the number of working steps can be reduced, etc. The challenge is to Furthermore, if there is a change in the circuit connected to the fuse, relay, connector,
Another challenge is to be able to easily change the junction box without changing it.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a base circuit section for connecting a circuit accommodated in a junction box to an external circuit, and a fuse connection circuit section and / or a relay connection circuit section. Split into
A base module provided with a base circuit part and a fuse / relay module provided with the fuse connection circuit part and / or the relay connection circuit part described above are combined, and conductors in the module are connected to assemble a junction box. In the base module, the vertical busbars in the X-direction are arranged in parallel inside the case, and the outer surface of the case corresponding to the position of the vertical busbars has a cavity for connecting an external electric wire terminal. A plurality of electric wire connection blocks juxtaposed in the Y direction are provided in a plurality of rows, and a plurality of connector accommodating portions are provided.
The vertical busbars and the 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 a required crossing position to form a required circuit, and The connector housing the terminal of the wire end is fitted in the connector housing part, and the terminal is fitted to the vertical bus bar to form the required circuit, and the wire connecting block and the connector part of the base module case are provided. A junction box is provided in which a fuse relay module mounting area is provided on the side of the basic area, and the mounting area and the basic area can be converted into the same plane arrangement or orthogonal arrangement.

According to the above construction, first, a circuit for connecting electric wires of an external circuit via a connector (base circuit) is conventionally used.
While the bus bar is formed without dividing the circuit connecting the circuit with the fuse and the relay, in the present invention, the base module having the base circuit and the fuse module having the fuse and the relay are provided. It is possible to adapt the junction box to the mounting space by dividing the relay box into modules and connecting the modules to each other to change the coupling mode of the modules.

Further, recently, there is a tendency to mount or incorporate an electronic control unit in a junction box, so that a base module, fuse / relay module,
The connection form of the electronic control unit can be changed. For example, the vehicle mounting space is L-shaped space, T
-Shaped space, inverted T-shaped space, space with long vertical space and narrow width, conversely space with narrow vertical space and wide width, corresponding to these mounting spaces, base module,
The shape of the junction box is changed by combining the fuse and relay module and the electronic control unit.

Specifically, the base module is vertically arranged, and the electronic control unit is attached to one surface side, the lower end or the upper end of the case of the basic region. Alternatively, the base module is vertically arranged, the wire connection blocks are provided on both sides of the case in the basic area, and the connector accommodating portion is provided on at least one surface, and the fuse / relay mounting area is located above or below the one side surface. The fuse / relay module is mounted on and the electronic control unit is mounted on the other side. Alternatively, the basic area of the base module is vertically arranged, and the fuse / relay module mounting portion is bent in the orthogonal direction from the upper end or the lower end of the base module to mount the fuse / relay module. An electronic control unit is installed. The basic area of the base module may be horizontally placed horizontally, and the fuse / relay module may be bent in the orthogonal direction from one end to be arranged vertically. In that case, the electronic control unit may be used as a base depending on the mounting space. Attach to the bottom of the module or the side of the fuse and relay module.

In the present invention, the strip-shaped vertical bus bars are arranged in parallel as the internal circuit of the base module, so that the base module can be made thin. These vertical busbars are positioned and held in the grooves arranged side by side on the inner surface of the upper case or the lower case, and the above-mentioned electric wire connection block is provided in the upper case to directly connect to the electric wires without a connector, and are also connected in the automobile assembly line. A connector accommodating part is provided for the wire harness so that the connector can be fitted later. In this way, since it is connected to many wires of the wire harness without a connector and only the wires of the minimum necessary wire harness are connected with the connector, the number of parts is reduced.
Accordingly, the space can be reduced and the size can be reduced. Further, the strip-shaped vertical bus bar can increase the yield of the conductive metal plate to 100%, and the conventional vertical bus bar has been subjected to the forming process, but the vertical bus bar of the present invention does not require the forming process. It can be automatically assembled inside at once.

The vertical bus bar constituting the base circuit of the base module and the circuit of the fuse relay module are connected by connecting the tip of the bus bar in the fuse relay module and the vertical bus bar. In this connection mode, the terminal formed at the tip of the bus bar of the fuse / relay module is formed as a pressure contact terminal provided with a pressure contact slot, and the pressure contact slot of the pressure contact terminal is inserted into the vertical bus bar so that the connection is made by one-touch connection. It is preferable that Alternatively, they may be connected by welding. In this way, by connecting the vertical busbar of the base module and the busbar of the fuse / relay module, the conductors between the modules can be connected, so even if the coupling mode of the module is changed, the bent shape of the tip of the busbar of the fuse / relay module is changed. You can easily adapt by simply changing.

Further, the electronic control unit is housed in a case, the case is coupled to a required outer surface side of the case of the base module, and the vertical bus bar in the base module is connected to a board of the electronic control unit via a relay bus bar or the like. It is connected to the printed conductor formed on.

As described above, the modules are modularized and the modules are combined to assemble the junction box. Therefore, if the specifications of the fuse connection circuit and the relay connection circuit are changed, only these fuse / relay modules need to be changed. Well, it is possible to easily respond to changes in specifications. On the contrary, when only the connection circuit with the external electric wire is changed, it is only necessary to change the connection position of the electric wire connected to the vertical bus bar of the base module. it can. The fuse module including the fuse connection circuit unit and the relay module including the relay connection circuit unit may be divided.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 9 show the first embodiment, and the entire outer shape of a junction box 100 connected to a wire harness for an automobile has a substantially inverted T shape. 10 is a vertically arranged base module, 11 is a fuse relay module arranged above the base module 10, 1
Reference numeral 8 denotes an electronic control unit (ECU) case that is placed in a flat manner so as to be orthogonal to the lower portion of the base module 10.

The base module 10 will be described in the case of being placed flat as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. In the case consisting of an upper case 12 and a lower case 14, a number of strip-shaped vertical bus bars 13 in the X direction are provided inside the case. It is housed in parallel. The vertical bus bar 13 constitutes a base circuit, and an electric wire connection block 15 provided in the upper case 12
As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal 20 of the electric wire w is directly inserted into each of the cavities 16 and is directly connected to the vertical bus bar 13. A fuse / relay module 11 is mounted on the lower case 14 of the base module 10.

More specifically, the upper case 12 of the base module 10 has the upper surface shape shown in FIG. 2 and the lower surface shape shown in FIG. 3. One side of the upper surface has a plurality of wire connection blocks over substantially the entire length in the length direction. 15 are projected in parallel rows. The electric wire connection block 15 in each row has a large number of cavities 16 that are terminal insertion portions arranged in parallel in the Y direction. Further, a plurality of connector accommodating portions 17 are provided on one side of the electric wire connection block 15 so as to project.

As shown schematically in FIG. 3, the inner surface of the upper case 12 is provided with a plurality of narrow grooves 12a for fixing the vertical bus bars 13 arranged in parallel. Each of these grooves 12a is continuous by sandwiching the bottom opening of the cavity 16 of the wire connection block 15 and the bottom opening of the connector accommodating portion 17, and the vertical bus bar 13 is inserted into each groove 12a for positioning and holding. The groove for positioning and holding the vertical bus bar 13 may be provided on the lower case side.

As shown in FIG. 6, the vertical bus bar 13 inserted and fixed in each groove 12a and arranged in the X direction and the terminal 20 of the electric wire terminal inserted in the cavity 16 juxtaposed in the Y direction are arranged in the XY directions. Are arranged in a grid pattern, and the bus bar 13 and the terminals 20 are connected at a required position to form a required circuit. As shown in FIG. 5 (B), the terminal 20 crimped to the wire end to be inserted into each cavity 16 is provided with a pair of holding pieces 20a, and the vertical bus bar 13 is held by the pair of holding pieces 20a of the terminal 20. Connected.

As shown in FIG. 7, the connector accommodating portion 17 provided in the upper case 12 is fitted with the connector 30 into which the terminal of the wire end is inserted and locked, and the lock claw 30a outside the connector 30 and the connector accommodating portion. The lock claw 17a on the inner wall of the portion 17 is lock-coupled. The connector 30 is provided with a vertical busbar insertion groove 30b so that the vertical busbar 13 is inserted into the connector, and the terminals 31 in the connector are connected to the vertical busbar 1.
It is sandwiched between 3 and connected.

The lower case 14 has a mounting portion 22 projecting from one side (upper side in FIG. 1) of the basic area Z1 fitted with the upper case 12 and serving as a mounting area Z2 of the fuse / relay module. Similar to the upper case 12, a connector accommodating portion 17 'is provided in the basic area Z1 at a position corresponding to the parallel portion of the vertical bus bar 13.

The fuse / relay module mounting portion 22 is provided with a connector accommodating portion 23 and a terminal hole 24. In FIG. 1, a case 25 of the fuse / relay module 11 is assembled on the right side surface of the fuse / relay module mounting portion 22. While projecting the terminal accommodating portion 26 that fits into the terminal hole 24 in the case 25,
A relay accommodating portion 27 and a fuse accommodating portion 28 are provided on the opposite side.

The fuse / relay module mounting portion 2
As shown in FIG. 8, an insulating plate 36 is provided between the case 2 and the case 25.
The fuse relay relay bus bar 40 is fixed to the insulating plate 36, and the bus bar 40 is provided at one end with a terminal 40a composed of a clamping piece bent upward (downward in FIG. 1) and clamped to the vertical bus bar 13. Thus, the vertical bus bar 13 of the internal circuit of the base module 10 and the bus bar 40 of the fuse / relay module 12 are connected. The other end of the bus bar 40 is bent to provide a terminal 40b composed of a sandwiching piece at the tip, and a fuse accommodating portion 28, a relay accommodating portion 27, a relay 50 to be inserted into the connector accommodating portion, a fuse 60, a power connector (not shown). ) Terminal is connected.

Further, an electronic control unit 18 is attached to the lower end surface of the base module 10. As shown in FIG. 9, the electronic control unit 18 accommodates the printed circuit board 55 inside the case 56, and connects the conductor of the printed circuit board 55 to the bus bar 13 extending from the base module 10 via the relay bus bar 57. There is. The base module 10 and the electronic control unit 18 are coupled to each other by a lock claw 58 between the peripheral wall of the lower case 14 of the base module 10 and the case 56 of the electronic control unit 18, and a locked frame for locking the lock claw 58. 59 and 59 are projected, and these are locked and coupled.

In the junction box 100 having the above structure, the vertical bus bar 13 is arranged in parallel in the upper case 12 and the lower case 14 and accommodated therein to assemble the base module 10. Therefore, as shown in FIG. Has a substantially inverted T shape. Therefore, a space having a size corresponding to the width D1 of the ECU case 18 is provided in the lower portion, and the junction box 100 can be formed in a shape suitable for arranging the junction box 100 in a space having a narrow upper portion. In addition, the base circuit and fuse
Since the relay connection circuit portion is divided and the internal circuits are efficiently arranged, the front-rear length D2 and the vertical height D3 can be reduced. Moreover, since the electronic control unit 18 is orthogonally arranged in the lower portion, the vertical height D3 does not increase,
In particular, when the vehicle mounting space is an inverted T-shaped space, the outer shape of the junction box 100 can be adapted.

Further, in the base module 10, since the terminals of the electric wire terminals are connected to both sides of the vertical bus bar so that both sides can be connected to the external circuit, the base module can be made thin and closely connected to the external circuit. You can Further, the terminals 20 of the electric wires w arranged in parallel to the base module 10 can be connected to the vertical bus bar 13 only by directly and collectively inserting into the cavities 16 of the electric wire connection blocks 15 on both sides. Further, the terminal 30 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 accommodating portions 17 and 17 '.

Further, the junction box 100
Then, the circuit can be easily changed by changing the connection position between each electric wire w and the vertical bus bar 13. Moreover, since the base module 10 and the fuse relay module 11 are separated and the fuse relay bus bar 40 of the fuse relay module 11 is connected to the vertical bus bar 13, the connection form of the base circuit and the external electric wire is reduced. Fuse relay module 11 if only changed
Can be shared. Similarly, if only the fuse connection circuit of the fuse / relay module 11 is changed, the base module 10 can be shared.

FIG. 10 shows a junction box 100 of the second embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the electronic control unit 18 is attached to one side surface of the fuse / relay module mounting portion 22 above the base module 10. The case 25 of the fuse relay module 11 and the case 56 of the electronic control unit 18, which are connected to the other side surface of the mounting portion 22 of the fuse relay module, are lock-connected. Further, the bus bar of the fuse / relay module 11 or the bus bar of the base module 10 is extended into the electronic control unit 18 and connected to the conductor of the printed circuit board.

When the junction box 100 has the above-mentioned shape, the thickness D1 is large, but the vertical height D3 is small, and the front-rear length D2 is the same as in the first embodiment. Therefore, it is possible to suitably cope with the case where the vehicle mounting space does not have a vertical height.

FIG. 11 shows a junction box 100 of the third embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the base module 10 has the wire connection block 15 and the connector accommodating portion 17 only on the lower case 14 side, and the electronic control unit 18 is attached to this portion without providing the upper case. That is, the electric wire connection side has only one surface, and the other surface is used as a mounting space for the electronic control unit 18. The electronic control unit 18 mounted on one surface of the base module 10 is housed in the lower part of the fuse / relay module 11 mounted in the upper part.

In the case of the above-described coupling form, although the vertical height D3 is large, the thickness D1 can be minimized, and the shape is suitable when the vehicle mounting space is small.

FIG. 12 shows the junction box 100 of the fourth embodiment. The difference from the third embodiment is that the basic region Z1 of the base module 10 is vertically arranged, and the mounting portion 22 serving as the mounting region Z2 of the fuse / relay module is bent at a right angle from its upper end to form an inverted L shape. It is a point.

In the present embodiment, the lower case 14 of the base module 10 has the fuse / relay module mounting portion 22 in the basic area Z1 in which the upper case 12 having the wire connection block 15 and the connector accommodating portion 17 is assembled in advance. It is formed in the orthogonal direction. Vertical bus bar 13 of base module 10 and fuse relay module 1
12C, the bus bar 40 of the fuse relay module 11 is bent at the upper edge of the vertical bus bar 13, and the pressure contact terminal 40a at the tip thereof is pressure connected.

The lower case 14 of the base module 10 is hinged to the basic area Z1 and the fuse / relay module mounting area Z2 so that they can be converted into the same straight edge direction and the orthogonal direction, and locked at each position. It may be configured to be connectable. Further, although the base module is vertically arranged in each of the above embodiments, the base module may be horizontally arranged and the fuse / relay module may be vertically connected to one side portion of the base module.

[0036]

As is clear from the above description, the junction box of the present invention is divided into a base module, a fuse / relay module, and an electronic control unit, and these are combined and assembled. It can be easily changed according to. In particular,
Since the vertical bus bars are arranged in parallel as an internal circuit in the base module, it is possible to reduce the thickness. In addition, since the base circuit that connects to the external wire of the wire harness and the circuit that connects the fuse and relay are separated, the internal circuit inside the junction box can have a simple configuration. The module and the fuse relay module can be made thinner. As a result, even if the space for mounting the junction box in the vehicle is narrowed or the device is arranged near the mounting space, the shape of the junction box can be changed according to the position of the device, so that the junction box Mounting is not difficult.

Further, while versatile strip-shaped vertical bus bars are used in parallel as an internal circuit, an electric wire connection block in which the cavities are arranged in parallel is projectingly provided in the case, and the terminal of the electric wire is directly inserted into each of the cavities. Since it is connected to the vertical bus bar, it is possible to reduce the process of assembling the electric wire and the connector and the number of parts. Moreover, since the strip-shaped vertical bus bar is used without being bent by the forming process as in the past, the strip-shaped vertical bus bars are used in parallel with each other inside the case, and the yield of the conductive metal plate is 100%. In addition, the forming process can be omitted, and moreover, the automatic assembly can be performed at once in the case.

Further, the internal circuit of the junction box is divided into a base circuit part connected to the external circuit and a fuse connection circuit part and / or a relay connection circuit part, and a base module having a base circuit part, and the fuse described above. A fuse module equipped with a connection circuit section and / or a relay module equipped with the above relay connection circuit section is provided, and a junction box is assembled from these modules. Therefore, if the specifications of the fuse connection circuit section and the relay connection circuit section are changed, It is only necessary to change these fuse modules and relay modules, and it is possible to easily cope with changes in specifications. On the contrary, when only the connection circuit with the external electric wire is changed, it is only necessary to change the connection position of the electric wire connected to the vertical bus bar of the base module. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a junction box according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a side view.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an upper case.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a vertical bus bar is attached to the inner surface side of the upper case.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the base module and the fuse relay module of FIG. 1 in a horizontal state.

5A is a cross-sectional view showing a connection state of an electric wire to an electric wire connection block, and FIG. 5B is a perspective view showing a connection state of a terminal of an electric wire terminal and a vertical bus bar.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a connection state between a circuit of the base module and an external circuit.

FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a connector to which an electric wire is connected, and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the connector is fitted in the connector housing portion of the junction box.

FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the base module.

FIG. 9 is a main-portion cross-sectional view showing a connection state between a base module and an electronic control unit.

FIG. 10 shows a second embodiment, (A) is a perspective view,
(B) is a side view.

FIG. 11 shows a third embodiment, (A) is a perspective view,
(B) is a side view.

FIG. 12 shows a fourth embodiment, (A) is a perspective view,
(B) is a side view, (C) is a schematic diagram showing the connection of the vertical bus bar of the base module and the bus bar of the fuse relay module.

FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional junction box.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 junction box 10 base module 11 Fuse module 13 Vertical bus bar 15 Electric wire connection block 16 cavities 17 Connector housing 18 Electronic control unit 20 terminals 22 Fuse module mounting part 30 connectors 40 Fuse Relay Module Bus Bar

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tatsuya Tsunoda             Sumitomo Den 1-14 Nishi-Suehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture             Sozo Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5G361 BA02 BB01 BC01

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A circuit housed in a junction box is divided into a base circuit section for connecting to an external circuit and a fuse connection circuit section and / or a relay connection circuit section,
A base module provided with a base circuit part and a fuse / relay module provided with the fuse connection circuit part and / or the relay connection circuit part described above are combined, and conductors in the module are connected to assemble a junction box. The base module accommodates the strip-shaped vertical bus bars in the X direction in a parallel arrangement inside the case, and has a cavity for connecting an external electric wire terminal on the outer surface of the case at the position where the vertical bus bars are arranged. A plurality of electric wire connection blocks juxtaposed in the Y direction are provided in a plurality of rows, a plurality of connector accommodating portions are provided, and the vertical bus bars and the cavities of the electric wire connection blocks arranged in the orthogonal direction are arranged in a XY grid. As a shape, the vertical bus bar and the electric wire are connected at a required crossing position to form a required circuit, and The connector accommodating the connector accommodating the terminal of the electric wire terminal is fitted, the terminal is fitted to the vertical bus bar to form a required circuit, and the electric wire connecting block and the connector portion of the case of the base module are formed. A junction box in which a fuse / relay module mounting area is provided on the side of the provided basic area, and the mounting area and the basic area can be converted into the same plane arrangement or orthogonal arrangement. 2. The junction box according to claim 1, wherein the base module is arranged vertically, and an electronic control unit is attached to one surface side, a lower end or an upper end of the case of the basic region. 3. The base module is vertically arranged, the wire connection block and / or the connector accommodating portion is provided on both sides of the case of the basic area, and the fuse / relay mounting area is located above or below the one side surface. The junction box according to claim 1, wherein the fuse / relay module is mounted on the other side, and the electronic control unit is assembled on the other side. 4. The base area of the base module is vertically arranged, and the fuse
2. The junction box according to claim 1, wherein the mounting portion of the relay module is bent in a direction orthogonal to the fuse relay module, and the electronic control unit is mounted on one surface of the basic area. 5. The one end of the vertical bus bar in the base module is connected to a terminal formed by bending the end of the bus bar arranged in the fuse relay module. The junction box according to item 1.