JP2005129390A - Relay terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a relay terminal in which the deformation of an elastic contact member in a female terminal caused by prizing or the like at the time of insertion of a male terminal can be prevented, and stable contact pressure can be obtained between the terminals, thereby improving contact stability of the terminals. <P>SOLUTION: This relay terminal has at a top and a bottom barrel shape female terminals 12 having a mutually facing substrate 15 and a top plate 18 and side plates 19 on both sides, and in which each female terminal 12 receives each male terminal 32a, 40a, and by making the male terminals 32a, 40a contact with an elastic contact member 17 provided in the female terminal 12, the mutually facing male terminals 32a, 40a are electrically relay-connected. A buffer 20 for absorbing positional displacements of the male terminals 32a, 40a is provided at the linking portion of the substrate 15 which makes the female terminals 12, 12 conductive at the top and bottom. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention is applied to an electrical junction box such as a junction box that interconnects wire harnesses, and includes a male terminal that is erected at the end of a bus bar and a male terminal that is derived from an electrical component such as a relay or a fuse. The present invention relates to a relay terminal for electrical connection.

  Electrical connection boxes such as fuse boxes, relay boxes, junction boxes, etc. are generally housed in a case in which a bus bar wiring board made up of a plurality of bus bars and an insulating substrate that supports them is stacked as required. A fuse mounting portion, a relay mounting portion, a wire harness connecting connector mounting portion, and the like are provided on the outer surface. A tab-shaped male terminal is formed upright on the bus bar, and the tab-shaped male terminal is led out from electrical components such as a fuse and a relay. Both male terminals are formed in opposite directions and are connected to each other via a relay terminal.

  A conventional example related to this type of relay terminal is shown in FIG. 5 (Patent Document 1). This conventional example is fixed to a terminal accommodating chamber of a synthetic resin housing (not shown), and stable electrical connection is performed between the male terminal and the relay terminal without causing the male terminal (not shown) to drop off. The elastic contact piece 53 and the contact plate portion 54 are provided to face each other in the two symmetrical female terminal portions 52, and each contact plate portion 54 is used to lock the male terminal. The protrusion 54a is provided.

  The relay terminal 50 is formed by punching from a conductive substrate and bending it, and includes a male terminal receiving cylinder portion 51 having openings at both ends. The male terminal receiving cylinder part 51 has two female terminal parts 52 and 52 on the upper and lower sides. Each female terminal portion 52 has an outer wall formed of a substrate 51a, a top plate 51b, and side plates 51c on both sides.

  The substrate 51a of each female terminal portion 52 is provided with an elastic contact piece 53 that is raised in a mountain shape in the middle in the longitudinal direction, and the top plate 51b is punched inward so as to face each elastic contact piece 53. A contact plate portion 54 is formed. When male terminals facing each other are inserted in opposite directions into the respective female terminal portions 52, the respective male terminals are sandwiched between the top portion 53a of the elastic contact piece 53 and the contact plate portion 54 so as to be electrically connected. Yes.

  As another conventional example, the one disclosed in FIG. 6 is known. The relay terminal 60 is applied to an electrical junction box, and is used to relay-connect the bus bar male terminal 63a and the relay male terminal 63b (FIG. 7). The relay terminal 60 is different from the relay terminal 50 of the conventional example in that the upper and lower female terminal portions 61 are not formed in communication but are formed independently. Each female terminal portion 61 is connected up and down via an intermediate portion 62 a of the substrate 62.

When the relay terminal 60 is used in the vertical direction, the insertion force of the male terminals 63a and 63b is likely to cause deformation such as buckling in the intermediate portion 62a of the substrate 62. Reinforcing portions 62b are formed so as to improve cross-sectional performance and improve bending rigidity. For this reason, the relay terminal 60 is prevented from being bent and deformed from the intermediate portion 62a when the male terminal is inserted.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-63702 (page 2-3, FIG. 3)

However, the conventional relay terminals 50 and 50 have the following problems to be solved.
In the first conventional example, the upper and lower female terminal portions 52, 52 communicate with each other to form the cylindrical male terminal receiving cylindrical portion 51. Therefore, the bending rigidity of the male terminal receiving cylindrical portion 51 is high, and Even if the male terminal inserted in the opposite direction is misaligned or angularly misaligned, the male terminal receiving tube portion 51 is not deformed and the misalignment or the like is not absorbed, and on the contrary, the male terminal is deformed. There was a problem. When the male terminal is deformed and bent, the female terminal portion 52 is twisted by the bent male terminal, the elastic contact piece 53 in the female terminal portion 52 is crushed, and the contact pressure between the male terminal and the relay terminal is increased. There was a concern that the contact state would deteriorate and the reliability of the electrical connection would be impaired.

  In the second conventional example, since the upper and lower female terminal portions 61 and 61 are connected via the thin substrate 62, the bending rigidity is lower than that of the relay terminal 50 of the first conventional example. However, since the reinforcing portion 62b is formed at the connecting portion, the connecting portion is not easily bent. Therefore, in the same manner as in the first conventional example, when the male terminals 63a and 63b inserted in opposite directions are misaligned or angularly displaced, the male terminals 63a and 63b are deformed to cause female terminals. There has been a problem that the elastic contact piece 65 in the portion 61 is plastically deformed or the contact state between the male terminal and the relay terminal is impaired (FIG. 7).

  The above problems can be solved to some extent by managing the dimensional errors and assembly errors of the male terminals, but they cannot be completely solved, increasing the part cost and the ease of part assembly. There were other problems that made it worse. For this reason, there is a need for a relay terminal that can easily absorb dimensional errors and the like, and can improve contact stability, even if dimensional errors and assembly errors on the male terminal side are not thoroughly performed. It was done.

  In view of the above-described points, the present invention can prevent deformation of the elastic contact piece in the female terminal portion due to twisting when the male terminal is inserted, and can obtain a stable contact pressure between the terminals. It is an object of the present invention to provide a relay terminal capable of improving the contact stability between the terminals.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elastic contact piece provided on the female terminal portion, wherein the female terminal portion is provided on the substrate and each female terminal portion receives the male terminal. In the relay terminal that electrically connects the male terminals facing each other by bringing the male terminals into contact with each other, the position of the male terminal is connected to the connecting portion of the substrate that electrically connects the upper and lower female terminal portions. A buffer portion for absorbing the shift is provided.

  According to the said structure, the buffer part deform | transforms with the force resulting from the position shift of a male terminal, and the position shift of male terminals is absorbed. When there is no position shift between the male terminals, the male terminals are relay-connected without deformation of the buffer portion. Here, the positional deviation refers to misalignment or angular deviation between male terminals.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the relay terminal according to the first aspect, the buffer portion is formed narrower than other portions of the substrate.

  According to the said structure, the cross-sectional performance of a buffer part falls and a relay terminal becomes easy to bend in arbitrary directions in the cross section orthogonal to the insertion direction of a male terminal from a buffer part.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the relay terminal according to the first or second aspect, the buffer portion is formed thinner than other portions of the substrate.

  According to the said structure, the cross-sectional performance of a buffer part falls and a relay terminal becomes easy to bend | bend in a plate | board thickness direction from a buffer part.

  As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the buffer portion is provided between the upper and lower female terminal portions, the displacement of the male terminals is absorbed by the deformation of the buffer portion. Is done. Therefore, it is possible to prevent deformation of the elastic contact piece due to a kink or the like when inserting the male terminal, and it is possible to obtain a stable contact pressure between the terminals, thereby improving the contact stability between the terminals.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the buffer portion is narrow and narrow in the middle, the cross-sectional performance of the buffer portion is reduced, and the relay terminal is within the cross section perpendicular to the insertion direction of the male terminal from the buffer portion. It becomes easy to bend in any direction. Therefore, the positional deviation between the male terminals is absorbed by the bending of the buffer portion, and the contact stability between the terminals can be improved.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the buffer portion is formed thinner than the plate thickness of the substrate, the cross-sectional performance of the buffer portion is lowered, and the relay terminal is easily bent from the buffer portion in the plate thickness direction. Become. For this reason, misalignment between the male terminals facing each other is absorbed by the bending of the buffer portion, and deformation on the male terminal side or contact state between the male terminal and the relay terminal is prevented from being damaged. The Therefore, the contact stability between terminals can be improved.

  Specific examples of embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a relay terminal according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a modification of the relay terminal.

  The relay terminals 10, 10 ′ are applied to a junction box 30 that connects wire harnesses to each other, and are led out from a tab-like male terminal 32 a erected at the end of a bus bar 32 that is an internal circuit conductor, and a relay 40. It is an intermediate connection member for electrically connecting the tab-shaped male terminal 40a.

  Such relay terminals 10 and 10 'are manufactured in a pressing process. The pressing process includes punching, bending, etc., and a conductive substrate such as beryllium-copper is sent in order between each of the upper and lower press molds in order, and at the end of the process. The finished product is discharged. That is, the relay terminals 10 and 10 'are formed by simply passing the conductive substrate through the press machine, so that the relay terminals 10 and 10' having the shapes shown in FIGS.

  The relay terminals 10 and 10 'shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 are applied to the junction box 30 connected to the main ECU of the hybrid vehicle. FIG. 4 shows a partially exploded perspective view of the junction box 30. The jack box 30 includes an insulating resin case body (not shown) in which wiring boards 31 constituting an internal circuit are stacked in two upper and lower layers (only the upper layer is shown) and a lower surface of the case body (not shown). The lower cover and the upper cover 35 covering the upper surface of the case body are configured.

  The case main body includes a middle lower cover to which a lower wiring board is assembled and a middle upper cover to which an upper wiring board 31 is assembled. Each wiring board 31 includes a bus bar 32 that is punched from a conductive substrate to form an internal circuit, and an insulating substrate 33. At the end of the bus bar 32, the male terminal 32 a is bent upward at a position corresponding to the male terminal 40 a led out from the relay 40.

  The upper cover 35 is molded from a synthetic resin material. The upper surface 35a has a relay 40, a fuse (not shown), an inverter wire harness (not shown), and an interlock service plug (not shown). ) And the like are formed, respectively. Reference numeral 36 is a relay mounting portion, reference numeral 37 is a fuse mounting portion, reference numeral 38 is an inverter wire harness mounting portion, and reference numeral 39 is a service plug mounting portion. In each relay 40, four male terminals 40 a are led downward at positions corresponding to the male terminals 32 a of the bus bar 32.

  A relay terminal mounting portion (not shown) is formed on the lower surface of the upper cover 35. The relay terminal 10 (the relay terminal 10 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 4) is temporarily locked to the relay terminal mounting portion in advance, and the case body is covered with the upper cover 35, whereby the relay terminal 10 is connected to the bus bar 32. To the male terminal 32a.

  The eight relay terminals 10,..., 10 are located between the bus bar 32 and the relay 40, and the bus bar 32 and the male terminals 32 a and 40 a of the relay 40 are connected to each other via the relay terminal 10. It is like that. By connecting the bus bar 32 and the relay 40 to each other, the power source current from the battery and the signal current from various sensors are branched.

  The relay terminals 10, 10 ′ of the present embodiment can prevent deformation of the elastic contact piece 17 due to twisting when the male terminal 32 a of the bus bar 32 and the male terminal 40 a of the relay 40 are inserted, and stable contact pressure. Thus, the contact stability between the male terminal and the relay terminal can be improved, and the cylindrical female terminal portion 12 having the opposing substrate 15 and top plate 18 and the side plates 19 on both sides is provided. The female terminals 12 receive the male terminals 32a and 40a, respectively, and the male terminals 32a and 40a are brought into contact with the elastic contact pieces 17 provided on the female terminals 12 so that the male terminals 32a face each other. , 40a are electrically connected to each other, and the positions of the male terminals 32a, 40a are connected to the connecting portion of the substrate 15 that electrically connects the upper and lower female terminal portions 12, 12. Buffer parts 20 and 20 'for absorbing the displacement are provided. In order to reduce the cross-sectional performance of the buffer parts 20 and 20' so as to be easily deformed, the buffer part 20 is formed on the substrate 15. It is effective to form narrower than the other parts or to form thinner than the other parts of the substrate 15.

  Below, the structure of the relay terminal 10 of this embodiment and its effect | action are demonstrated in detail. The relay terminal 10 is a female-female terminal formed by punching and bending a conductive substrate. The relay terminal 10 includes a substrate 15 that forms a front wall, side plates 19 that are formed by bending both sides of the substrate 15 in an unfolded state at 90 °, and a free end side of the side plate 19 that is bent at 90 °. A rectangular tube-shaped female terminal portion 12 formed of the top plate 18 formed in this manner is provided above and below the substrate 15. The male terminal 40a of the relay 40 is inserted from the upper end opening 12a of the upper female terminal portion 12, and the male terminal 32a of the bus bar 32 is inserted from the lower end opening 12b of the lower female terminal portion 12. (FIG. 2).

  Here, for convenience of explanation of the present invention, the concepts of the front-rear direction, the up-down direction, and the left-right direction are defined as follows. The front-rear direction refers to the thickness direction of the substrate 15, and the front side is the substrate 15 side and the rear side is the top plate 18 side. The vertical direction refers to the insertion direction of the male terminals 32a, 40a. The upper side is the side where the male terminal 40a of the relay 40 is inserted, and the lower side is the side where the male terminal 32a of the bus bar 32 is inserted. The left-right direction refers to the width direction of the substrate 15. Since the left and right are symmetric, the left and right are not distinguished. 1 to 4 show a state in which the relay terminal 10 is oriented vertically, the relay terminal 10 may be oriented sideways in actual use.

  The extended portions at both the upper and lower ends of the substrate 15 are folded back in a U-turn shape from the insertion side of the male terminals 32a and 40a to the back end side of the female terminal portion 12 via the bent portion 17a, thereby forming the elastic contact piece 17. Yes. The distal end side of the elastic contact piece 17 is folded back inward before the back end of the female terminal portion 12, and the first terminal contact portion 17 b facing the substrate 15 is bent downward and convex. An intermediate portion between the base side and the tip side of the elastic contact piece 17 faces the top plate 18 and is inclined so as to approach the top plate 18 toward the tip side. Further, a second terminal contact portion 17c is formed at the intermediate portion.

  A narrow buffer portion 20 that connects the upper and lower female terminal portions 12 and 12 is formed in an intermediate portion of the substrate 15. The buffer portion 20 has a reduced cross-sectional performance and a weaker strength than other portions of the substrate 15. For this reason, when the male terminals 32a and 40a having a misalignment or angular misalignment are inserted into the female terminal portion 12 in opposite directions, the buffer portion 20 is deformed so as to absorb misalignment or angular misalignment, Thereby, the relay terminal 10 is not twisted by the male terminals 32a and 40a, the deformation of the elastic contact piece 17 is prevented, and the contact stability of the terminal connection is increased.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the opposite male terminals 32a and 40a have a misalignment δ, a couple having the same magnitude and opposite direction is generated in the relay terminal 10, and this couple is absorbed by the buffer portion. Therefore, the buffer 20 is deformed by an amount corresponding to the misalignment δ. The buffer portion 20 can be deformed corresponding to misalignment in an arbitrary direction within a cross section orthogonal to the insertion direction of the male terminals 32a and 40a. Further, the buffer portion 20 can be deformed by an amount corresponding to the angular deviation even when the male terminals 32a and 40a are inserted obliquely. Accordingly, misalignment and angular misalignment of the opposing male terminals 32a, 40a are absorbed by the buffer portion 20, and the contact pressure due to deformation of the elastic contact piece 17 is prevented from being lowered, so that contact stability is improved. It has become.

  Although the top plate 18 has a flat plate shape as a whole, the intermediate portion may be punched inward to form an indent (dent). The deepest part of the indent can be formed flat, linear, or dot-like, for example. When the indent is formed in a line or dot, the contact pressure between terminals is increased, the insulating oxide film generated on the terminal surface is destroyed, the contact resistance is lowered, and the contact stability is improved. The effect is demonstrated. The punching process is performed in a post-process following the punching process in the press process.

  FIG. 3 shows a modification of the relay terminal 10 shown in FIG. The relay terminal 10 'is different from the relay terminal 10 in that the buffer portion 20' is formed in the same width as the substrate 15 and is formed thin. Other configurations are the same as those of the relay terminal 10. For this reason, in the same manner as the relay terminal 10, the relay terminal 10 ′ has a reduced cross-sectional performance and a weak strength. The buffer portion 20 ′ can be thinned by forging, rolling, or the like before the punching process in the pressing process.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the low-rigidity buffer portions 20 and 20 'are formed between the upper and lower female terminal portions 12 and 12, the buffer portion 20' is deformed. Thus, misalignment such as misalignment or angular misalignment between the male terminals 32a and 40a is absorbed, a stable contact pressure is obtained between the terminals, and contact stability between the terminals is enhanced.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the main point of this invention, it can deform | transform and implement variously. For example, the following modifications can be made.
(1) In order to reduce the cross-sectional area of the connection part of the board | substrate 15 which connects the upper and lower female terminal parts 12 and 12, a hole part may be formed in a connection part or a notch part may be formed in a connection part. Is possible.

1 shows an embodiment of a relay terminal according to the present invention, wherein (a) is a plan view of the relay terminal, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of (a). FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where opposing male terminals having misalignment are inserted into the relay terminal illustrated in FIG. 1. It is sectional drawing which shows the modification of the relay terminal shown in FIG. It is a partial exploded perspective view of a junction box to which a relay terminal according to the present invention is applied. It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the conventional relay terminal. It is sectional drawing which shows another example of the conventional relay terminal. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where opposite male terminals are inserted in opposite directions to the relay terminal shown in FIG. 6.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10 'relay terminal 12 female terminal portion 15 substrate 17 elastic contact piece 18 top plate 20, 20' buffer portion 32a, 40a male terminal

Claims (3)

A female terminal portion is provided on the board at the top and bottom, each female terminal portion receives a male terminal, and the male terminal is brought into contact with an elastic contact piece provided on the female terminal portion so that the male terminals facing each other are In the relay terminal that is to be electrically relayed,
The relay terminal according to claim 1, wherein a buffer portion that absorbs misalignment of the male terminal is provided at a connecting portion of the substrate that conducts the upper and lower female terminal portions.   The relay terminal according to claim 1, wherein the buffer portion is formed narrower than other portions of the substrate.   The relay terminal according to claim 1, wherein the buffer portion is formed thinner than other portions of the substrate.

Images