JP2003087935A - Junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size of, and enhance the density of, a junction box. SOLUTION: Wire connection blocks 15 wherein strip-shaped vertical bus bars 13 are arranged in the X direction with a small pitch and a large number of cavities 16 are arranged in the Y-direction is installed on the outer face of a case in positions corresponding to the vertical bus bars 13 are installed in a base module 10. Part of the case of the base module 10 is mounted with a fuse relay module 11, and fuse bus bars 62 are fixed on the insulating plate 61 thereof. The ends of the fuse bus bars 62 on one side are connected as input portions 63 with a power line. A plurality of output portions 64 are branched from the other ends of the input portions 63, and fuse portions 62a, small in width, are placed at midpoints in the output portions 64, and the ends thereof are connected with the vertical bus bars 13.

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 reduces the pitch between the vertical bus bars. , The size of the junction box is reduced by using a plate-type fuse integrated with the bus bar.

[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.

A junction box for an automobile 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.

In the case of using a vertical bus bar 5'in which the conductive metal plate is formed into a strip shape and bent along the circuit shape as shown in FIG. 14, instead of the method of placing the bus bar on the insulating plate in a plane. There is also.

[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. 13, since the bus bar is stamped into a circuit shape to be formed, it is not possible to flexibly cope with the circuit change, and there is a problem that the number of layers of the circuit is increased and the junction box 1 becomes large. . In addition, the yield of the conductive metal plate used as the bus bar material is very low, which causes a cost increase.

Further, when the vertical bus bar 5'shown in FIG. 14 is used, the yield is improved because the conductive metal plate is used as a strip shape, but one bus bar is formed and bent into a desired circuit shape. Since it has to be inserted between the grooves or the guide protrusions in the case 2 ', it requires a lot of work, and since the bent bus bars are arranged so as not to come into contact with each other, there is a problem that they cannot be arranged at high density.

In addition, since the junction box shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 also has a structure in which a connector, a fuse and a relay are connected to a bus bar which is an internal circuit, a specification change occurs in which the connection between the fuse and the relay and the internal circuit is changed. 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, as shown in FIG. 13, the normal fuse 8 is a fuse body embedded in a resin body 8a, and a separate one in which two tabs 8b are protruded from the fuse portion is attached to the fuse accommodating portion 2c. The bus bars 5A to 5D are connected.
Therefore, the fuse accommodating portion 2c and the fuse 8 themselves largely protrude to the outside of the upper case 2, which is a factor that hinders the miniaturization of the entire junction box 1.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and uses a vertical bus bar having a high yield as a bus bar to be housed in a junction box so that the vertical bus bar can be arranged at a high density and a fuse is formed into a plate. The problem is to reduce the size and increase the density of the junction box by using.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an internal circuit of a junction box,
A base circuit part connected to an external circuit and a fuse / relay connection circuit part are divided into a base module having the base circuit part and a fuse / relay module having the fuse / relay connection circuit part. Are combined to assemble a junction box,
The base module accommodates the vertical bus bars in the X direction arranged in parallel inside the case, and a large number of cavities for connecting external electric wire terminals are arranged in the Y direction on the outer surface of the case at the position where the vertical bus bars are arranged. A plurality of provided electric wire connection blocks are provided in a projecting manner, and the vertical busbars and the cavities for electric wire insertion 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 desired crossing positions. The fuse relay module is mounted on a part of the case of the base module, and the fuse relay module has a fuse busbar fixed on an insulating plate. While one end side of is used as an input section and its tip is connected to the power line,
A junction box is provided in which a plurality of output sections are branched from the other end of the input section, a narrow fuse section is provided in the middle of these output sections, and the tip end is connected to the vertical bus bar.

The vertical bus bars arranged inside the base module are housed and held in grooves provided in parallel in the upper case or the lower case of the base module, and the pitch between the grooves is made small. The vertical bus bar housed and held in the groove is inserted through the bottom surface of the cavity of the electric wire connection block, and the clamping piece of the terminal inserted into the cavity is clamped to connect the vertical bus bar from above (and / or below). ing.

In the fuse / relay module, the fuse is a plate-type integrated fuse in which a fuse portion is provided in the middle of the output portion of a fuse / bus bar fixed on an insulating plate. Therefore, unlike the conventional separate-type fuse, it is not necessary to provide a fuse accommodating portion in the case portion, and the fuse itself is not arranged so as to project to the outside, which can greatly contribute to downsizing of the entire junction box. Moreover, since the fuses are integrated as a module, it is not necessary to individually attach the fuses, and the workability of assembling the junction box can be improved.

Specifically, for connecting the tip of the output portion of the fuse / bus bar and the vertical bus bar, one of the bus bars is provided with a pressure contact slot, and the other bus bar is inserted into the pressure contact slot for pressure contact connection. Alternatively, they are connected via a relay terminal provided with pressure contact slots at both ends. Therefore, at the same time that the fuse / relay module is assembled to the base module, each bus bar of the fuse and the relay can be easily connected to a required vertical bus bar of the base module.

The tip of the output portion of the fuse / bus bar and the vertical bus bar may be connected by welding. With this configuration, the pressure contact structure for connecting the bus bars to each other is not required, and the structure of the bus bars can be simplified.

More specifically, a tab is provided at the tip of the input portion of the fuse / bus bar, and the terminal connected to the power supply line terminal is matingly connected with the terminal. As a result, the structure for supplying power from the outside to the fuse / relay module can be simplified.

Further, since strip-shaped vertical bus bars are used as the internal circuit of the junction box and are arranged in parallel inside the case, the yield of conductive metal plates is 10%.
The forming process can be omitted, and the forming process can be omitted, and moreover, the automatic assembling can be performed at once in the case.

Further, the junction box of the present invention is provided with a base module having a base circuit section connected to an external circuit, and a fuse / relay module having a fuse connection circuit section and / or a relay connection circuit section. Since the junction box is assembled from the module, if the specifications of the fuse connection circuit section and the relay connection circuit section are changed, only the fuse module and the relay module need be changed, and the specification change can be easily dealt with. 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.

[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, and 18 is an ECU case.

As shown in FIG. 2, the base module 10 accommodates a number of vertical bus bars 13 in the X-direction in parallel inside a case consisting of an upper case 12 and a lower case 14. The vertical bus bar 13 constitutes a base circuit, and as shown in FIG. 5, the terminal 20 of the electric wire W is directly inserted into each cavity 16 of the electric wire connection block 15 provided in the upper case 12 to directly connect with the vertical bus bar 13. Connected. 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 the vertical bus bars 13 arranged in parallel, and has a narrow width and an equal pitch. These grooves 12a are continuous with the bottom opening of the cavity 16 of the wire connection block 15 and the bottom opening of the connector accommodating portion 17 sandwiched therebetween, 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 well.

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 and the lower case 14 omitted, but the terminal 2 of the electric wire terminal to be inserted into the vertical bus bar 13 arranged in the X direction and the cavity 16 juxtaposed in the Y direction.
0s are arranged in a grid pattern in the XY direction, and the vertical bus bar 13 and the terminal 20 are connected at a required position to form a required circuit.

The fuse and relay module 11 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
5 and a plate fuse 60 arranged between them. As shown in FIG. 8, a relay bus bar 40 is installed between the fuse / relay module installation portion 22 and the case 25, and the relay bus bar 40 is provided with a terminal portion 40a bent upward. As shown in FIG. 5, the press contact slot 40a-1 of the terminal portion 40a is press contacted to the vertical bus bar 13 to connect the vertical bus bar 13 of the internal circuit of the base module 10 and the relay bus bar 40.

The plate fuse 60 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (A) and (B), fuses and
A large number of bus bars 62 are arranged in parallel in the Y direction and fixed so that the distance between the fuse and bus bars 62 corresponds to the distance between the vertical bus bars 13 of the base module 10. And
One end of the fuse / bus bar 62 is connected to each other, and a power source tab 63a for connecting the tip of the fuse / bus bar 62 to the power source connector is started as the power source input portion 63 and is introduced into the connector accommodating portion 23. Terminal T connected to
And male and female mating connections are possible. On the other hand, the other end of the fuse / bus bar 62 that branches into a plurality is the output section 64,
A narrow fuse portion 62a, which is made of a zinc alloy and blows when an overcurrent of a required current value or more is applied, is integrally provided in the intermediate path of the output portion 64. Insulation plate 61
A through hole 61a is formed in a corresponding portion of the fuse portion 62a so that the fuse portion 62a does not directly contact the insulating plate 61. The tip of the output portion 64 is bent from the end of the insulating plate 61 and the intermediate position to the opposite surface side so as to project, and the press contact slot 64a is formed to press contact with the required vertical bus bar 13 of the base module 10. It is possible to connect. As shown in FIG. 12 (A), the pressure contact slot for pressure contact connection with the vertical bus bar 13 is formed by raising the tip of the vertical bus bar 13 and pressing the pressure contact slot 6 there.
4b may be formed. Furthermore, FIG.
As shown in (B), between the fuse / bus bar 62 and the vertical bus bar 13, pressure contact slots 65a and 65b are provided at both ends.
You may make it pressure-connect between both via the relay terminal 65 provided with. In this case, by using the relay terminal 65, it is possible to connect to the vertical bus bar 13 at a distant position, and it is possible to increase the degree of freedom in changing the circuit. Alternatively, the vertical bus bar 13 and the fuse bus bar 62 may be face-to-face welded together by spot welding or the like.

As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal 20 crimped to the end of the wire to be inserted into each of the cavities 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. Further, the terminal 20 is provided with a locking recess 20c at a position between the core barrel 20b and the sandwiching piece 20a.

As shown in FIGS. 10 (A) and 10 (B), a connector 30 in which a terminal of an electric wire terminal is inserted and locked is fitted into the connector accommodating portion 17 provided in the upper case 12, and the outside of the connector 30 is fitted. Lock claw 30a and connector housing 1
The lock claw 17a on the inner wall of 7 is lock-coupled. A vertical bus bar insertion groove 30b is provided in the connector 30 so that the vertical bus bar 13 is inserted into the connector, and the terminal 3 in the connector is inserted.
1 is clamped and connected to the vertical bus bar 13.

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 section 22 projecting from one end of the fitting section 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.

Further, E is provided on the bottom of the base module 10.
The CU case 18 is assembled, the printed circuit board 55 is housed inside the ECU case 18, and the conductor of the printed circuit board 55 is connected to the bus bar 40 extending toward the base module 10.

In the junction box 100 having the above structure, the vertical bus bar 13 is arranged in the upper case 12 and the lower case 14 in parallel and accommodated therein to assemble the base module 10, and the base module 10 is arranged in parallel. The terminal 20 of the electric wire W can be connected to the vertical bus bar 13 only by directly and collectively inserting it into the cavity 16 of the electric wire connection block 15 of the upper case 12. Also, the connector 30 of the wire harness terminal
Is also fitted into the connector accommodating portion 17, the connector 3
The terminal 31 in 0 can be connected to the vertical bus bar 13.

Further, the power supply line and the ground line, which are thick electric wires, are not directly connected to the vertical bus bar 13 which is an internal circuit through the cavity 16 of the base module 10, but to the connector accommodating portion 23 of the fuse / relay module 11. Vertical busbar 1 via fuse busbar 62
3, the electric wire inserted into the cavity 16 of the base module 10 is only a small electric wire, and the terminal 20 that press-contacts with the vertical bus bar 13 has only a small size. Moreover, they can be arranged in parallel at an equal pitch.

Further, since the fuse is incorporated in the fuse / relay module 11 as the plate fuse 60, a separate fuse is not required and it is not necessary to provide a fuse accommodating portion for receiving the fuse in the case. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size of the junction box 100 and increase the density of the internal circuit, and even if the vertical bus bars 13 have an equal pitch, even if a specification change such as a layout change of the connector accommodating portion 17 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 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 bus bar 62 of the fuse relay module 11 is connected to the vertical bus bar 13, there is a change in the connection form between the base circuit and the external electric wire. In this case, the fuse relay module 11 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.

The power supply line and the ground line, which are the thick electric wires, are connected to the bus bar by directly inserting large terminals into a 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.

[0035]

As is clear from the above description, in the junction box of the present invention, since the fuse portion uses the plate fuse integrally incorporated in the path of the fuse / bus bar, a separate fuse is attached. Since it is not necessary to provide a fuse accommodating portion in the case, the overall size can be reduced and the degree of freedom in arranging the components on the case surface can be improved. Further, since the fuse can be incorporated only by assembling the fuse / relay module into the base module, the assembling workability can be improved as compared with the conventional case where a separate fuse is separately attached. .

Further, it is possible to connect the thin electric wires, which constitute most of all the electric wires, to the vertical bus bar in the junction box without a connector, so that it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the number of working steps. In addition, since the strip-shaped vertical bus bar is used as the internal circuit of the junction box, the yield of the conductive metal plate can be 100% and the forming process can be omitted. You can

Further, the internal circuit of the junction box is divided into a base circuit section connected to the external circuit and a fuse connection circuit section and / or a relay connection circuit section, and a base module provided with the base circuit section and the fuse are provided. 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. 11A is a perspective view showing a plate fuse,
(B) is a diagram showing a connection state with a vertical bus bar.

12A and 12B are perspective views showing a modification of the connection form of the plate fuse and the vertical bus bar.

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

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a vertical bus bar.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 junction box 10 base module 11 Fuse relay module 12 upper case 12a groove 13 Vertical bus bar 14 lower case 15 Electric wire connection block 16 cavities 17 Connector housing 18 ECU case 20 terminals 20c locking recess 22 Fuse and relay module installation section 25 cases 30 connectors 30b Bus bar insertion groove 40 relay bus bar 60 plate fuse 61 Insulation plate 62 Hughes busbar 62a fuse part 63 Input section 64 Output section 64a, 64b Pressure welding slot

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An internal circuit of a junction box,
A base circuit part connected to an external circuit and a fuse / relay connection circuit part are divided into a base module having the base circuit part and a fuse / relay module having the fuse / relay connection circuit part. The junction box is assembled by assembling the above, and the base module accommodates the vertical bus bars in the X direction in a parallel arrangement inside the case, and at the outer surface of the case at the position where the vertical bus bars are arranged, the external electric wire is attached. A plurality of electric wire connection blocks, each having a plurality of terminal connection cavities arranged side by side in the Y direction, are provided in a protruding manner, and the vertical bus bars and the electric wire insertion cavities arranged in the orthogonal direction are formed into a lattice shape in the XY direction to form a vertical bus bar. And the electric wire are connected at the required intersections to form the required circuit, while the upper part of the case of the base module above Fuse
The fuse / relay module is equipped with a fuse / bus bar fixed on an insulating plate, one end side of the fuse / bus bar is used as an input part, and its tip is connected to a power supply line, while the other part of the input part is mounted. A junction box in which a plurality of output parts are branched from an end, a narrow width fuse part is provided in the middle of these output parts, and the end is connected to the vertical bus bar. 2. The connection between the output end of the fuse / bus bar and the vertical bus bar is such that one of the bus bars is provided with a pressure contact slot and the other bus bar is inserted into the pressure contact slot for pressure contact connection, or both ends are connected. The junction box according to claim 1, wherein the junction box is connected via a relay terminal provided with a press contact slot. 3. The junction box according to claim 1, wherein the tip of the output portion of the fuse / bus bar and the vertical bus bar are connected by welding. 4. The junction according to claim 1, wherein a tab is provided at the tip of the input portion of the fuse / bus bar, and the terminal connected to the power supply line terminal is matingly connected with the terminal. box.