JP2003079031A - Junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To downsize and density a junction box having a built-in ECU. SOLUTION: The junction box is configured such that: an ECU case having the built-in ECU is sandwiched by an upper case and a lower case and assembled therein; a string-shaped first vertical busbar in the X direction and a string- shaped second busbar in the X direction are housed in the upper case and the lower case, respectively; a plurality of wire connection blocks, which arrange in a row a number of cavities for external power terminal connections in Y directions, are projected at the external surface of the case in a position where the first and second vertical busbars are disposed; a required circuit is formed by connecting the first and second vertical busbars and wires at prescribed cross points, with the first and second vertical busbars disposed in the orthogonal direction and the cavities of the wire connection blocks latticed in the X-Y directions; and connecting parts to external circuits are provided at the cases of upper and lower sides that sandwich the ECU case.

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 a strip-shaped vertical bus bar which is housed in parallel as a bus bar used for an internal circuit and has a small pitch between the vertical bus bars. In addition to downsizing the junction box, an ECU (electronic control unit) can be incorporated.

[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.

An automobile junction box is usually constructed as shown in FIG. In the junction box 1, bus bars 5A to 5D are stacked and arranged between upper case 2 and lower case 3 with insulating plates 4A to 4E interposed. The upper case 2 is provided with a connector accommodating portion 2a, a relay accommodating portion 2b, and a fuse accommodating portion 2c, and the connector 6, the relay 7, and the fuse 8 are provided in these accommodating portions.
Are attached to connect these terminals to the tabs protruding from the bus bar directly or via relay terminals.
Further, the lower case 3 is also provided with a connector accommodating portion 3a,
In some cases, the tab 5a of the bus bar is projected to connect 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 junction box case. When fitted to the portion, the tab formed on the bus bar or the relay terminal connected to the tab is fitted to the terminal of the wire end in the connector.

Instead of the above method of placing the bus bar on the insulating plate in a plane, as shown in FIG. 12, a conductive metal plate was formed into a strip shape inside the case 2'and bent along the circuit shape. The vertical bus bar 5'may be used in some cases.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As shown in FIG.
In the conventional junction box, since its internal circuit and the external circuit of the wire harness are connected via the connector, there is a problem that connection work between the connector and the wire harness is required and the number of parts is increased.

Further, in the junction box 1 shown in FIG. 11, since the bus bar is stamped into a circuit shape and formed, it is not possible to flexibly cope with circuit changes, and there is a problem that the number of layers of the circuit increases and the size of the junction box 1 increases. . In addition, the yield of the conductive metal plate used as the bus bar material is very low, which causes a cost increase. When the vertical bus bar 5'shown in FIG. 12 is used, the yield is improved because the conductive metal plate is used as a strip shape, but each bus bar formed and bent into a required circuit shape is in the case. Since it has to be inserted between the grooves or the guide protrusions, it takes a lot of work and there is a problem that it cannot be arranged at a high density because the bent bus bars are arranged so as not to come into contact with each other.

Further, since the junction box shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 is also configured to connect a connector, a fuse and a relay to a bus bar which is an internal circuit, there is a change in specifications that changes the connection between the fuse and the relay and the internal circuit. In that case, the entire internal circuit has to be changed, and there is a problem that the circuit change cannot be easily dealt with. Further, since the above-mentioned conventional junction box has a complicated bus bar structure, when a unit component such as an ECU is to be incorporated in the junction box, there is no room for installation space and the connection with the ECU can be handled easily. Due to the difficulty, it was impossible to integrate the ECU into one body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to incorporate an ECU in a junction box to achieve miniaturization, high density, and high functionality of the junction box.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, an ECU case having a built-in ECU is sandwiched and assembled between an upper case and a lower case, and a strip in the X direction is provided inside the upper case. -Shaped first vertical busbars, the strip-shaped second vertical busbars in the X direction are arranged in parallel inside the lower case, and are housed on the outer surface of the case at the positions where the first and second vertical busbars are arranged. A plurality of electric wire connection blocks in which a plurality of cavities for connecting external electric wire terminals are juxtaposed in the Y direction and arranged in an orthogonal direction,
X the second vertical bus bar and the cavity of the wire connection block.
Provided is a junction box characterized in that the first and second vertical bus bars and electric wires are connected at a required crossing position to form a required circuit as a lattice in the -Y direction.

First and second arrangements inside the upper and lower cases
The vertical bus bar is housed and held in a groove provided in parallel with the case, and the pitch between the grooves is made small. The vertical bus bar accommodated and held in the groove is inserted through the cavity bottom surface of the electric wire connection block, and the pinching piece of the terminal inserted into the cavity is connected to the first and second vertical bus bars from above (and / or below). It is clamped and connected.

With the above structure, the ECU can be integrated with the junction box as a unit, and the junction box can be made highly functional. The ECU and other modules can also be connected with a simple structure via a vertical bus bar or the like.

Further, in the junction box having the above structure, about 90% of fine electric wires can be connected to the vertical bus bar in the junction box without a connector, and the work of connecting electric wires can be eliminated and the number of parts can be reduced. It is possible to reduce. In addition, strip-shaped vertical busbars are used as the internal circuit of the junction box, and they are arranged in parallel inside the case. Therefore, the yield of the conductive metal plate can be 100%, and the forming process can be omitted. Automatic assembly can be performed.

The circuits of the upper case and the lower case are base circuits connected to the external circuit and the ECU.
A base module including the base circuit section and a fuse connection circuit section and / or a relay connection circuit section, and a fuse / relay including the fuse connection circuit section and / or the relay connection circuit section. Modules are provided, and a junction box is assembled by connecting these modules and connecting conductors that are internal circuits in each module, and a connector housing is provided in the upper case and / or the lower case of the base module. A connector is fitted in the connector accommodating portion to connect the terminal of the electric wire terminal in the connector to the first vertical bus bar and / or the second vertical bus bar.

With the above construction, even if the number of connection points with the connector of the wire harness is increased due to the higher function of the junction box, the connection points can be set up and down with the ECU in between. It is possible to prevent the area of the connection part of the module from increasing and contribute to miniaturization in the plane direction.

It is necessary to connect a thick electric wire such as a power supply wire or an earth wire to the internal circuit of the junction box.
The terminal attached to the thick electric wire has a large size. Therefore, if this large terminal is connected to the vertical busbar, the pitch of the vertical busbars arranged in parallel becomes large and the junction box becomes large. 90% of the wires connected to the internal circuit of the junction box
The degree is a small current electric wire (so-called thin electric wire) connected to the load side with a small current. Since the terminals connected to the ends of these small-diameter electric wires are small in size, if the pitch of the vertical bus bars is matched with the terminals of this small size, the junction box can be downsized or the density can be increased. Therefore, in the present invention, as described above, the large terminal of the thick electric wire is not directly connected to the vertical bus bar, but only the small terminal of the thin electric wire is connected to the vertical bus bar, and the height of the vertical bus bar is increased. Achieved a density arrangement. The thick electric wires are collected on the fuse module side and connected to the vertical bus bar of the base module via the bus bar inside the fuse module. This allows
It is possible to connect thick electric wires to the vertical busbars while reducing the arrangement pitch of the vertical busbars.

Further, it is necessary to connect the junction box to a connector connected to a wire harness terminal in an automobile assembly line or the like to connect an internal circuit. Therefore, the base module is also provided with a connector accommodating portion so that the first and second vertical bus bars can be connected to the terminals in the connector. At that time, if the pitch of the vertical bus bar is unified to a certain narrow pitch according to the small terminals of the small electric wire, the pitch of the terminal holes of the connector connected to the electric wire can also be made small and the connector It can also be integrated.

Further, when the junction box is formed by assembling the base module and the fuse / relay module, if the specifications of the fuse connection circuit section and the relay connection circuit section are changed, only these fuse module and relay module need to be changed. Therefore, 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 sufficient to change the connection position of the electric wire connected to the vertical bus bar of the base module.
Even in this case, it is possible to easily cope with the circuit change.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show a junction box 100 connected to an automobile wire harness.
Is a base module, 11 is a fuse relay module, 18 is an ECU case, and 110 is a lower case.

As shown in FIG. 2, the base module 10 accommodates a number of strip-shaped first vertical bus bars 13 in the X direction in parallel in an upper case consisting of an upper case 12 and a lower case 14. The first vertical bus bar 13
Is a base circuit, and each of the cavities 16 of the electric wire connection block 15 provided in the upper case 12 is provided with a pair of holding pieces 20a as shown in FIG.
Is directly inserted and the first vertical bus bar 13 is sandwiched by the pair of sandwiching pieces 20a, thereby directly connecting with. The fuse / relay module 11 is mounted on one side of the lower case 14 of the base module 10.

More specifically, the base module 10 is shown in FIG.
The upper surface shape shown in FIG. 2 and the lower surface shape shown in FIG. On one side of the upper surface, a plurality of electric wire connection blocks 15 are projected in parallel rows over substantially the entire length in the length direction, and the electric wire connection blocks 15 in each row have a large number of cavities 16 serving as terminal insertion portions in the Y direction. They are installed side by side. 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. 6, the inner surface of the upper case is provided with a large number of grooves 12a for fixing a large number of first vertical bus bars 13 arranged side by side and having a narrow width and an equal pitch. . Each of these grooves 12a is formed by the electric wire connection block 1
5 bottom opening of cavity 16 and connector housing 1
The bottom opening of 7 is sandwiched in series to form the first groove 12a.
The vertical bus bar 13 is inserted and positioned and held.

The vertical bus bar 13 inserted and fixed in each groove 12a is a continuous strip-shaped vertical bus bar 13-1.
In some cases, this is divided and a plurality of vertical bus bars 13-2 are continuously formed with a gap. FIG. 7 is a view seen from below with the ECU case 18, the lower case 14, and the lower case 110 omitted, and the first vertical bus bar 1 in the X direction is shown.
3 and the terminals 20 of the electric wire terminals to be inserted into the cavities 16 juxtaposed in the Y direction are arranged in a grid pattern in the XY direction,
The vertical bus bar 13 and the terminal 20 are connected at a required position to form a required circuit.

The above fuse / relay module installation section 2
Between the case 2 and the case 25, a bus bar 40 for fuse relay is installed as shown in FIG. 8, and one end of the bus bar 40 is provided with a terminal portion 40a bent upward, and as shown in FIG. , The pressure contact slot 40a-1 of the terminal portion 40a is pressure-contact connected to the vertical bus bar 13, and the base module 1
The first vertical bus bar 13 of the internal circuit of 0 and the bus bar 40 of the fuse relay module 11 are connected. The other end of the bus bar 40 is bent to form a tab 40b, and the fuse accommodating portion 28, the relay accommodating portion 27, the connector accommodating portion 2
It is connected to the relay, the fuse, and the terminal of the power supply connector that are inserted in 3.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the thick electric wire is connected to the bus bar 40 in the connector accommodating portion 23 through the connector.
The first vertical bus bar 13 in the base module 10 is connected to the first vertical bus bar 13 by adjusting the pitch with the bus bar 40.

As shown in FIG. 10, 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 on the outside of the connector 30 and the connector 30. The lock claw 17a on the inner wall of the housing portion 17 is lock-coupled. The connector 30 is provided with a vertical busbar insertion groove 30b to provide the first vertical busbar 13
Is inserted into the connector, and the terminal 31 in the connector is sandwiched between the vertical bus bars 13 for connection.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the lower case 14 fitted with the upper case is provided with a fuse / relay module installation portion 22 projecting from one end of the fitting portion with the upper case 12. ing. The fuse / relay module installation portion 22 is provided with a connector accommodating portion 23 and a terminal hole 24. The case 25 of the fuse / relay module 11 is assembled under the fuse / relay module installation portion 22. Case 2
5, the terminal accommodating portion 26 that fits into the terminal hole 24 is projected upward, and the relay accommodating portion 27 and the fuse accommodating portion 28 are protruded downward.

In addition, an EC is provided at the bottom of the base module 10.
The U case 18 is assembled, the printed circuit board 55 is accommodated inside the ECU case 18, and the conductor of the printed circuit board 55 is connected to the bus bar 40 extending to the base module 10 side.

The lower case 110 is the base module 10.
Similarly to the above, a base circuit portion is provided, and the ECU case 18 is attached to the lower surface of the ECU case 18 so as to sandwich the ECU case 18 from above and below with the base module 10.
Similar to the upper case 12, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of strip-shaped second vertical bus bars 113 in the X direction are accommodated in the lower case 110 in parallel. Lower case 1
The inner surface of 10 has a groove 12 formed in the upper case 12.
Similar to a, a groove (not shown) for fixing the second vertical bus bar 113 is juxtaposed (not shown). Further, as in the upper case 12, a plurality of electric wire connection blocks 115 are projected in parallel rows over substantially the entire length in the length direction on one side of the lower surface of the lower case 110, and the electric wire connection blocks 115 in each row are A large number of cavities 116 that serve as terminal insertion portions are arranged in parallel in the Y direction. Further, a plurality of connector accommodating portions 117 are provided on one side of the electric wire connection block 115 so as to project.

The lower case 110 constructed as described above
Similar to the upper case 12, has a function of connecting to an external wire harness and having a function of connecting to the fuse / relay module 11 via the second vertical bus bar 113. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the second vertical bus bar 1
The tip of 13 is connected to one end of the flat-positioned bus bar 40 of the fuse / relay module 11 so that power can be distributed. The bus bar 40 is connected to the power supply connector via a fuse attached to the fuse accommodating portion 28. Further, the bus bar 40 of the fuse relay module 11 connected to the second vertical bus bar 113 is connected to the vertical bus bar 13 in the upper case 12 arranged on the upper side via a fuse.

In the junction box 100 having the above structure, the first vertical bus bar 13 on the upper case side is arranged in parallel in the upper case 12 and the lower case 14 and accommodated therein to assemble the base module 10. On the other hand, the terminal 2 of the electric wire W arranged in parallel
0 can be connected to the first vertical bus bar 13 by simply inserting the 0 directly into the cavity 16 of the wire connection block 15 of the upper case 12. Further, the terminal 31 in the connector 30 can be connected to the first vertical bus bar 13 only by fitting the connector 30 of the wire harness terminal into the connector accommodating portion 17. In addition, by connecting the terminal 20 of the electric wire W and the connector 30 of the wire harness terminal, which are also arranged in parallel, to the cavity 116 of the lower case 110 attached to the lower surface of the ECU case 18 and the connector housing 117, Second vertical bus bar 11
3 can be connected.

The power supply line and the ground line, which are thick electric wires, are directly connected to the first vertical bus bar 13 and the second vertical bus bar 113, which are internal circuits, through the cavities 16 and 116 of the base module 10 and the lower case 110. Instead of connecting to the tab 40b of the bus bar 40 in the fusible link housing 23 of the fuse relay module 11, the first vertical bus bar 13 and the second vertical bus bar 113 are connected via the bus bar 40. Cavity 1 of module 10 and lower case 110
Since the electric wires to be inserted into 6, 116 are only small electric wires, and the terminals 20 that are in pressure contact with the first vertical bus bar 13 and the second vertical bus bar 113 are of small size, the first vertical bus bar 13 and the second vertical bus bar 13 The bus bars 113 can be arranged in parallel at a narrow pitch and an equal pitch.

Therefore, the junction box 10
0 and the internal circuit can be made denser, and the first vertical busbars 13 and the second vertical busbars 113 have an equal pitch, so that the connector accommodating portions 17, 11 can be formed.
Even if a specification change such as a layout change of 7 occurs, it is not necessary to change the pitch of the bus bar insertion groove 30b of the connector 30 connected to the electric wire, and the connector can be shared.

The junction box 100 having the above structure
Then, the circuit can be easily changed only by changing the connection position between each electric wire W and the first vertical bus bar 13 and the second vertical bus bar 113. In addition, the base module 10 and the fuse relay module 11 are separated from each other, and the bus bar 40 for the fuse relay of the fuse relay module 11 is separated.
Is connected to the vertical bus bar 13 and the second vertical bus bar 113, the fuse / relay module 11 can be shared only when the connection form between the base circuit and the external electric wire is changed. Similarly, if only the fuse connection circuit of the fuse / relay module 11 is changed, the base module 10 can be shared.

It should be noted that the power wires and ground wires which are the thick wires are connected to the bus bar by directly inserting large terminals into the cavity provided in the fuse / relay module 11 without using a connector. You may. Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and by not connecting the power supply line and the ground line, which are thick electric wires, to the base module, it is sufficient if the vertical bus bars can be arranged at equal pitches and narrow pitches. The wire and the ground wire may be connected to the vertical bus bar by a conductive material other than the bus bar. Further, the fuse / relay module may be formed separately instead of being integrated.

[0036]

As is apparent from the above description, in the junction box of the present invention, the ECU is attached to the lower portion of the base module, and the conductor of the ECU is connected to the vertical bus bar or / and the fuse / relay module. , The ECU can be integrated as a part of the junction box, and the junction box can be made highly functional.

Further, since the lower surface of the ECU case is provided with the second vertical bus bar and the lower case having the wire connection block and / or the connector accommodating portion is provided on the outer surface, the ECU case is sandwiched between the upper and lower surfaces. Can be disposed, and even if the number of connection points with the connector of the wire harness increases, the connection portions can be vertically distributed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an increase in the area of the connection portion of the base module on the upper surface, and increase the degree of freedom in handling the wire harness to be connected.

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. 1 is a perspective view of a junction box according to an embodiment of the present invention seen from an upper surface side.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the junction box of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the junction box of FIG. 1 viewed from the lower side.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the junction box of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a connection state between a terminal of an electric wire terminal and a bus bar.

FIG. 6 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. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a circuit connection state when the inside of the junction box is viewed from the lower side.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a junction box.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an essential part of the connection state of the bus bar and the vertical bus bar as viewed from the lower side.

FIG. 10A is a perspective view of a connector to which an electric wire is connected, and FIG. 10B is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the connector is fitted in the connector housing portion of the junction box.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a conventional junction box.

12A and 12B are drawings showing another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 junction box 10 base module 11 Fuse relay module 12 upper case 12a groove 13 First vertical bus bar 14 lower case 15 Electric wire connection block 16 cavities 17 Connector housing 18 ECU case 20 terminals 22 Fuse relay module installation section 25 cases 30 connectors 30b Bus bar insertion groove 40 busbar 110 lower case 113 Second vertical bus bar 115 Electric wire connection block 116 cavity 117 Connector housing

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An ECU case having a built-in ECU is sandwiched and assembled between an upper case and a lower case, a strip-shaped first vertical bus bar in the X direction is provided inside the upper case, and an X direction is provided inside the lower case. The strip-shaped second vertical bus bars are accommodated in parallel, and a large number of cavities for connecting external electric wire terminals are juxtaposed in the Y direction on the outer surface of the case at the positions where the first and second vertical bus bars are arranged. The above-mentioned first, in which a plurality of electric wire connection blocks are projected and arranged in the orthogonal direction,
X the second vertical bus bar and the cavity of the wire connection block.
A junction box characterized by forming a required circuit by connecting the first and second vertical busbars and electric wires at required intersections in a lattice shape in the -Y direction. 2. The circuit of the upper case and the lower case is a base circuit section connected to an external circuit and an ECU, and the base circuit section and the fuse connection circuit section and / or the relay connection circuit section are divided, and the base is formed. A base module provided with a circuit section and a fuse / relay module provided with the fuse connection circuit section and / or the relay connection circuit section are provided, and these modules are coupled to each other and conductors to be an internal circuit in each module are connected. A junction box is assembled, a connector accommodating portion is provided in an upper case and / or a lower case of the base module, and a connector is fitted into the connector accommodating portion to connect the terminal of the electric wire terminal in the connector and the first case. The vertical bus bar and / or the second vertical bus bar are connected. Turbocharger down action box.