JP2003348734A - Electric connection box - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent lowering of mountability of a connector, by enabling itself to prevent the wall face provided in a housing for mounting from leaning. <P>SOLUTION: A body 14 of a connection box is provided with a housing 6 for mounting wherein a connector 15 is to be inserted, and a guide wall 20A made of synthetic resin, which guides the insertion of the connector when inserting the connector 15 into the housing 16 for mounting, is provided inside the housing 16 for mounting. A thin part, which extends along a bent region, is formed at a corner part formed at a part of the guide wall 20A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric junction box mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in this type of electric junction box, a plurality of mounting housings 51 are provided on a junction box body.
Is provided, and a connector 52 is detachably attached to the mounting housing 51. When inserting the connector 52 into the mounting housing 51, if the insertion posture is inclined,
Connection hole 5 having terminal (not shown) provided in connector 52
The connection terminal 54 of the mounting housing 51 is pinched and connected to 2a while being twisted. As a result, the connection terminal 54 on the mounting housing 51 side and the terminal on the partner side have poor contact.

Therefore, a guide wall 55 is provided upright in the mounting housing 51 so as to insert the connector 52 into the mounting housing 51 while guiding the connector 52. According to this configuration, when the connector 52 is inserted into the mounting housing 51, the guide wall 55 is inserted into the narrow groove 57 formed in the connector 52, whereby the insertion posture of the connector 52 is regulated. I have.

[0004]

The guide wall 55 is injection-molded with a thermoplastic resin so as to have a constant thickness. As shown in FIG.
6, the thickness T of the corner portion 56 becomes thicker than the thickness t of the other portion, so that the resin amount in this portion is large, and the corner portion 56 and the other portion are cooled. There is a difference in cure time. Therefore, in the process of curing the guide wall 55, a contraction force acts on the corner portion 56 side where the curing time is slow (in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 9), and when the guide wall 55 is completely cured, the guide wall 55 is 56 inward. As a result, when the connector 52 is inserted into the mounting housing 51, the guide wall 55 is not easily inserted into the narrow groove 57, and the mountability of the connector 52 deteriorates.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to such problems existing in the prior art. The purpose is
It is an object of the present invention to prevent the guide wall from tilting, thereby preventing the connector from being deteriorated in the mountability.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a mounting housing into which a connector is inserted is provided in a connection box main body, and when the connector is inserted into the mounting housing, In an electrical junction box provided with a guide wall made of a synthetic resin for guiding insertion of a connector inside the mounting housing, a thin portion extending along a bending region is provided at a corner formed at a part of the guide wall. It is assumed that it has been established.

[0007] According to this configuration, during cooling after the guide wall is injection-molded, the time for cooling and hardening near the corner can be shortened. That is, cooling and hardening in the vicinity of the corner portion can be performed in substantially the same time as in other portions or in a shorter time. Therefore, since the contraction force that causes the guide wall to bend does not act in the process of hardening the corner portion, the guide wall is prevented from being warped inward while the guide wall is completely hardened.

(Invention of Claim 2) In the invention of Claim 2, in the electrical junction box of Claim 1, the guide wall is formed in a U-shape as a whole by two right-angled corner portions. The gist is that the thin portion is located inside the corner portion.

According to this structure, since the entire shape of the guide wall is formed in a U-shape, the inner surface of the guide wall having the thin portion can be formed by the nest provided in the molding die. It is. Therefore, in order to additionally form a thin portion on an existing guide wall having no thin portion, it is only necessary to replace the nest forming the portion where the thin portion exists. Therefore,
Since it is not necessary to significantly improve the molding die for forming the guide wall, it is possible to suppress an increase in the manufacturing cost of the electric junction box.

(Invention of claim 3) In the invention of claim 3, in the electrical junction box of claim 1 or 2, the side wall of the guide wall is provided with reinforcing ribs perpendicular to the surface. It is assumed that it is provided.

According to this configuration, the guide wall is prevented from being warped and deformed by the reinforcing rib.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the connection box main body 14 of the electric connection box 11 includes a lower case 12 made of a synthetic resin and an upper case 13 made of a synthetic resin that is mounted so as to close the opening thereof. Electrical functional components such as a relay 18 and a fuse 19 are detachably mounted on the upper case 13.

A connector 15 is provided on the upper case 13.
A mounting housing 16 in the shape of a square frame on which the mounting member 16 is mounted is formed. Inside the mounting housing 16, the connection box body 1 is provided.
A plurality of connection terminals 17 obtained by bending a part of the bus bar provided in the inside 4 are inserted and arranged from the inside of the upper case 13. When the connector 15 is mounted on the mounting housing 16, the connection terminal 17 and the connector 1
5 are electrically connected to terminals (not shown) provided in the connection holes 15a.

The connection terminal 17 is located on the upper case 13 at a position located inside the mounting housing 16.
, A plurality of guide walls 20A and 20B are erected. When the connector 15 is inserted into the mounting housing 16, the guide walls 20 </ b> A and 20 </ b> B become narrow grooves 21 (shown in FIG. 2) formed on the end surface of the connector 15.
, The insertion of the connector 15 is guided. Accordingly, the connector 15 is prevented from being inserted into the mounting housing 16 at an angle, and the terminal provided on the connector 15 and the connection terminal 17 provided on the mounting housing 16 can be connected without twisting. Become.

The guide wall 20A shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 is formed integrally with the upper case 13 by a synthetic resin material. The guide wall 20A has two corners 2 at right angles.
3 and is formed in a U-shape as a whole. In this embodiment, a guide wall 20 is provided in each mounting housing 16.
A and 20B are provided, and there is a linear guide wall 20B in addition to the U-shaped guide wall 20. In the following description, the U-shaped guide wall 20A will be mainly described.

A groove 2 extending along the height direction, which is a bending area, is provided inside the two corners 23 of the guide wall 20A.
6 are formed respectively. Due to the presence of the groove 26, the corner 23 has a thin portion 24 which is thinner than the other portions. The two groove portions 26 are arranged in a positional relationship where their openings face each other. Groove 2
The depth of 6 is １ ／ to 1 of the thickness of the guide wall 20A.
It is preferable to set about / 3. This is because if the groove 26 is further deepened, it becomes difficult to secure the strength of the guide wall 20A.

The direction in which the groove 26 is cut out can be changed as follows. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, both grooves 26 can be formed so that their openings face the same direction. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to form both grooves 26 such that their openings face the diagonal of the corner.

A reinforcing rib 2 is provided on the outer surface of each guide wall 20A.
5, the reinforcing ribs 25 are orthogonal to the outer surface of the guide wall 20A, and have the same height as the height of the guide wall 20A. By providing the reinforcing rib 25, the strength of the guide wall 20A is improved, and it is possible to prevent the guide wall 20A from inclining inward. Although not shown, the reinforcing ribs 25
The thin portion 24 described above is provided at the boundary between the
Can be formed along the height direction of the guide wall 20A.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. Corner 2 of guide wall 20A
3 has a thin portion 24 extending along the height direction thereof. Thereby, at the time of cooling after the guide wall 20A is injection-molded, the time for cooling and hardening the corner portion 23 can be reduced. That is, the corner portion 23
And other parts can be cooled and hardened in substantially the same time, or in a shorter time than other parts. Therefore, since the corner portion 23 is formed so as to be a right angle as designed, it is possible to prevent the opposite wall portion 20a of the guide wall 20A from inclining (in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 5). Therefore, when the connector 15 is inserted into the mounting housing 16, the guide wall 20 </ b> A is easily inserted into the narrow groove 21, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in the mountability of the connector 15.

In the case where the thin portion 24 is formed outside the corner portion 23, the mold for forming the guide wall 20A has to be greatly improved, whereas the inside of the corner portion 23 of the guide wall 20A has to be improved. Because the thin portion 24 is located at
It is only necessary to change the nest of the injection mold (not shown). Therefore, even when the thin portion 24 is additionally formed on the existing guide wall 20 </ b> A having no thin portion 24, it is possible to suppress an increase in the manufacturing cost of the electric connection box 11.

Further, since the reinforcing ribs 25 are provided on the outer surface of the guide wall 20A, three walls intersect at this portion. Therefore, it is possible to further prevent the opposing wall portion 20a of the guide wall 20A from inclining after injection molding.

[0022]

According to the present invention, the guide wall provided on the mounting housing can be prevented from tilting.
It is possible to prevent a decrease in the mountability of the connector.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric junction box according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a connector connected to the electric connection box.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a mounting housing into which a connector is inserted.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of a guide wall.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a guide wall.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a guide wall showing a modification.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a guide wall showing a modified example different from FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a part of an electric connection box according to the related art.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view showing a corner portion of a guide wall according to the related art.

[Description of Signs] 11 ... electric junction box, 14 ... junction box main body, 15 ... connector, 16 ... mounting housing, 20A, 20B ... guide wall, 23 ... corner part, 24 ... thin part, 25 ... reinforcement rib.

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    F term (reference) 4E352 BB02 BB15 DD02 DD04 DD05                       DD10 DR26 DR37 DR40                 4E360 CA02 CA08 EA03 GA07                 5E021 FA05 FA09 FB07 FB20 FC31                       FC32 HA07                 5G361 BB01 BC01 BC03

Claims (3)

[Claims] A mounting housing into which a connector is inserted is provided in a connection box body, and a guide wall made of synthetic resin is provided inside the mounting housing to guide insertion of the connector when the connector is inserted into the mounting housing. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein a thin portion extending along a bent region is provided in a corner formed in a part of the guide wall. 2. The guide wall according to claim 1, wherein the guide wall is entirely formed in a U-shape by two right-angled corners, and the thin-walled portion is located inside the corners. Electrical junction box. 3. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein a reinforcing rib perpendicular to the guide wall is provided on a side surface of the guide wall.