JP2005176581A - Electric connection box for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To deal with different specifications using a small number of types of FFC forming the internal circuit of an electric connection box for automobile. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of FFCs each arranged with conductors 13 and 16 in parallel at an interval and covered with resin films 12, 14, 15 and 16 on the opposite surfaces are provided. Required parts of the conductors 13 and 16 of the FFC are cut previously depending on a circuit pattern. At the circuit connecting part 27, resin films 12 and 17 are stripped on one side and the conductors 13 and 16 are exposed and a through hole 22 is bored at the circuit connecting part 27. The conductors 13 and 16 are arranged to intersect perpendicularly by laying the FFCs in layers, the circuit connecting parts are stacked vertically and the exposed parts of the conductors 13 and 16 are arranged on the upper and lower surfaces. A rivet 24 is passed through a through hole 22 at the circuit connecting part from one side and coupled to a rivet washer 23 on the other side thus making electrical connection. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electric junction box for automobiles, and more particularly, to an electric junction box for automobiles in which a flat circuit body is formed as an internal circuit of an automobile electrical junction box.

  Conventionally, a bus bar obtained by punching a conductive metal plate into a required circuit shape has been used for an internal circuit of an electrical junction box on which electrical components such as a relay, fuse, and connector for an automobile are mounted. In the electrical junction box 1 disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-58136, etc., the flexible printed circuit boards 5 and 6 are used for signal wiring through which a weak current flows. I am trying.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11, the electrical junction box 1 includes a bus bar laminated body 4, a first flexible printed circuit board 5, and an upper case 2 and a lower case 3 that form housings such as relays. The second flexible printed circuit board 6 and the printed circuit board 7 are accommodated to form a required circuit. The first flexible printed circuit board 5 and the second flexible printed circuit board 6 are formed by forming conductors 5a and 6a made of fine wires in a required circuit pattern and laminating both surfaces with a resin film, and connecting terminal portions 5b and 6b from the edges. In the center of the circuit, connection pads 5c and 6c for electrically connecting the conductors 5a and 6a of the flexible printed boards 5 and 6 to be laminated are provided.

However, since the first and second flexible printed boards 5 and 6 need to form the conductors 5a and 6a in a required circuit pattern, it is necessary to prepare a flexible printed board corresponding to each vehicle type and specification. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, when a system design of an electric system in an automobile is performed, an FFC is designed for each specification through circuit design, and a die for FFC manufacturing is designed for each specification. And after manufacturing and manufacturing FFC for every specification, each FFC is joined, a required circuit is formed, and it has assembled | attached to the case of the electrical junction box. In other words, there are problems that the design process and the manufacturing process increase as well as the manufacturing cost and the management cost increase due to the wide variety of FFCs.
JP 2002-58136 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to enable a flat circuit body forming an internal circuit of an automobile electrical connection box to be compatible with different specifications with a small variety.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention comprises a plurality of flat circuit bodies in which conductors are arranged in parallel at intervals and both surfaces are covered with a resin film, and the required portions of the conductors of these flat circuit bodies are provided. It is cut in advance according to the circuit pattern, and the resin film on the one surface side is peeled off at the circuit connection part and the conductor is exposed, and a through hole is formed in the circuit connection part,
The flat circuit bodies are laminated as a set of two sheets, the conductors are arranged orthogonally or in parallel, the circuit connection portions are stacked vertically, and the exposed portions of the conductors are disposed on both upper and lower surfaces. The rivets or bolts are passed through the through-holes from one side and mechanically coupled to rivet washers or nuts placed on the exposed conductors on the other side to electrically connect the conductors of the upper and lower flat circuit bodies. An electrical junction box for automobiles is provided.

  With the above configuration, it is only necessary to prepare at least one type of flat circuit body in which a plurality of conductors are arranged in parallel and coated on both sides with a resin film, which improves versatility and reduces management costs. Can be reduced. Further, since the conductor of the flat circuit body is cut in advance according to the vehicle type, specifications, etc., a high-density and space-efficient circuit can be formed. Furthermore, the conductors of the laminated flat circuit bodies are arranged so as to be orthogonal or parallel to each other, and rivets are inserted into the through holes of the circuit connecting portion and are joined by rivet washers from the opposite side. Since the circuit connection between different layers is performed, the circuit connection portion can be easily formed without requiring a large-scale device, and the device cost can be reduced and the workability can be improved. Become. In the present invention, the flat circuit body is preferably flexible.

  The plurality of flat circuit bodies are made of one kind of the same shape, and the conductors are cut and the through holes are formed by pressing or laser processing.

  If it is set as the said structure, if what is stocked beforehand as a flat circuit body is made into one kind, versatility will improve drastically. Also, an NC control program for controlling the position of a laser beam or a press die can be obtained by performing a process of cutting a conductor for circuit formation or a process of drilling a through hole for attaching a rivet by pressing or laser processing. It is possible to easily cope with specification changes simply by changing.

  The flat circuit body is provided with the conductor projecting from the outer edge of the insulating film, leaving the connection portion with the other circuit, while the non-connection portion with the other circuit is cut and removed. .

  With the above configuration, as a flat circuit body stocked in advance, it is sufficient to prepare one type in which the ends of all the conductors are projected from the outer edge of the insulating film, thereby improving versatility. Management costs can be reduced. Further, even when the location of the connection portion with another circuit differs depending on the specification, it can be flexibly dealt with by simply selecting and changing the non-connection portion to be cut and removed.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, various circuit patterns can be formed simply by preparing one type of flat circuit body in advance. And a flexible circuit body can be formed. Further, since the conductor of the flat circuit body is cut in advance according to the vehicle type, specifications, etc., a high-density and space-efficient circuit can be formed. Furthermore, circuit formation work is performed because rivets and the like are inserted into through-holes in the circuit connection portions of the conductors of the stacked flat circuit bodies and connected from opposite sides by rivet washers or the like to connect different layers. Can be easily performed without requiring large-scale equipment such as a welding apparatus.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The electric junction box for automobiles of the present embodiment is applied to the electric junction box 1 shown in FIG. 11, and instead of the first and second flexible printed boards 5 and 6, an FFC (Flexible Flat Flat) serving as a flat circuit body is used. Cable) FFC laminate 30 obtained by processing and laminating 10 and 11 is used. Therefore, the overall configuration of the electrical junction box is the same as that shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the two FFCs 10 and 11 are made of one kind of the same shape, and are covered with resin films 12, 14, 15, and 17 on both sides of conductors 13 and 16 that are arranged in parallel at intervals. Are insulated. At this time, both end portions of the conductors 13 and 16 are projected from the outer end edges of the insulating films 12, 14, 15 and 17 of the FFCs 10 and 11 as connection portions 13 a and 16 a. The conductors 13 and 16 have a thickness of 50 μm to 500 μm, preferably 100 μm to 300 μm.

  Then, in order to cut a required portion of the conductor 13 of these FFCs 10 and 11 in accordance with a required circuit pattern, circuit cutting portions 18 and 19 are drilled as shown in FIG. 2 by using laser processing or pressing. At the same time, the connection portion 13a with other circuits (for example, a bus bar circuit or other printed circuit board circuit) in the electrical connection box is left, while the conductors 13 and 16 that are non-connection portions that do not need to be connected to the other circuits. The ends are cut and removed to form processed FFCs 10 ′ and 11 ′.

  Next, two FFCs 10 and 11 are stacked so that the conductors 13 and 16 are orthogonal to each other, and electrical connection between the upper conductor 13 and the lower conductor 16 is necessary to form a required circuit pattern. In the circuit connecting portion 27, which is a special place, the resin films 12 and 17 are peeled off in a circular shape as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B by being sandwiched by ultrasonic heads (not shown) from both sides of the laminated state. The exposed portions 20 and 21 of the conductors 13 and 16 are provided. Then, a through hole 22 having a diameter smaller than the exposed diameter is formed in the center of the exposed portions 20 and 21 of the circuit connecting portion 27 by press working (or laser processing).

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a rivet washer 23 made of a conductive material having a central hole 23a is disposed in the exposed portion 20 on one surface side, while a shaft portion is disposed on the exposed portion 21 on the other surface side. A shaft portion 24a of a rivet 24 made of a conductive material having a head 24b and a head 24b is inserted. Then, the rivet washer 23 and the head 24b of the rivet 24 are pressed and sandwiched by the press heads 25 and 26, and the rivet 24 and the rivet washer 23 are mechanically coupled. That is, since the rivet 24 is electrically connected to the lower conductor 16 and the rivet washer 23 is electrically connected to the upper rivet washer 23, the different-layer conductors 13 and 16 are electrically connected to each other at the electrical connection portion 27. It becomes.

  In the present embodiment, the upper conductor 13 and the lower conductor 16 are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other, but they may be arranged in parallel. Further, instead of using the rivet 24 and the rivet washer 23, bolts and nuts made of a conductive material may be used.

With the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 5A, since the circuit cutting portions 18 and 19 are provided, even if it is necessary to add the connection portion 16a (for example, the terminal d4 in the figure), the wiring It is not necessary to increase the space, and the degree of freedom of the connecting portion 16a (terminal) position is improved. In addition, the expansion margin area A of the circuit can be increased, and the terminal arrangement B can be determined flexibly even when the terminal assignment of other circuits is determined.
Specifically, when the circuit cutting part is not provided as in the reference example of FIG. 6, when the terminal d4 is added, a new wiring space is required separately from the line of the terminal d3, and the arrangement of the additional terminals is restricted. Will occur. As a result, the expansion margin area A ′ of the circuit is also reduced, and there is a drawback in that it is easily affected by the terminal arrangement of the other circuits facing each other. However, according to the present invention shown in FIG. 5, such problems can be reduced, and it is possible to increase the density of the circuit and improve the flexibility of the circuit as described above.

  Further, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 7, when the system design of the electric system in the automobile is performed, the FFC laminate 30 is designed for each specification through the circuit design, and the FFCs 10 and 11 are designed. The FFC laminate 30 can be manufactured and bonded using the common FFCs 10 and 11 simply by changing the NC control program for performing the above process. Therefore, the design process and the manufacturing process are reduced by one type of FFCs 10 and 11, and the manufacturing cost and the management cost can be suppressed.

FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is that ultrasonic welding is used instead of connecting the conductors 13 and 16 of different layers by the rivet 24 and the rivet washer 23.
In other words, the ultrasonic wave heads 31 and 32 sandwich the processed FFCs 10 ′ and 11 ′ from above and below with the ultrasonic heads 31 and 32, and the upper surface side resin film 12 and the lower surface side resin film 17 are removed by ultrasonic vibration. 13 and 16 are welded together. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is that instead of connecting the conductors 13 and 16 of different layers by the rivet 24 and the rivet washer 23, resistance welding is used.
That is, the resin film 12 on the upper surface side and the resin film 17 on the lower surface side are removed in advance by press working on the circuit connection portion 27 in which the processed FFCs 10 ′ and 11 ′ are laminated, and then the resistance welding heads 33 and 34 from above and below. The sandwiching conductors 13 and 16 are welded together. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 10 shows a fourth embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is that the welding is performed by laser welding instead of connecting the conductors 13 and 16 of different layers by the rivet 24 and the rivet washer 23.
That is, the resin film 12 on the upper surface side and the resin film 17 on the lower surface side are removed in advance by press working on the circuit connection portion 27 in which the processed FFCs 10 ′ and 11 ′ are laminated, and then the laser generator 35 disposed above is removed. The conductors 13 and 16 are joined and welded to each other by irradiation with the laser beam L. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  In each of the above embodiments, FFC (Flexible Flat Cable) is used, but the flat circuit body of the present invention includes a Flexible Flat Circuit, a Flexible Flat Wire, a flexible flat circuit body, and the like.

It is a perspective view before processing of FFC of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view after processing of FFC of a 1st embodiment. (A) is a principal part perspective view of the state by which the through-hole was formed in FFC after lamination | stacking of 1st Embodiment, (B) is principal part sectional drawing. (A) (B) is principal part sectional drawing which shows the rivet mounting | wearing to FFC of 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the circuit pattern of FFC of 1st Embodiment. It is a reference schematic diagram which shows the circuit pattern of FFC. It is a flowchart explaining a design and manufacturing process. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the circuit formation of FFC of 2nd Embodiment. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the circuit formation of FFC of 3rd Embodiment. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the circuit formation of FFC of 4th Embodiment. It is a disassembled perspective view of the electrical junction box of a prior art example. (A) (B) is a top view which shows the flexible printed circuit board of a prior art example. It is a flowchart explaining the design and manufacturing process of a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

10, 11 FFC
10 ', 11' processing FFC
12, 14, 15, 16 Resin film 13, 16 Conductor 13a, 16a Connection part 18, 19 Circuit cutting part 20, 21 Exposed part 22 Through hole 23 Rivet washer 24 Rivet 27 Circuit connection part 30 FFC laminate 31, 32 Ultrasonic wave Heads 33 and 34 Resistance welding head 35 Laser generator L Laser

Claims (3)

A plurality of flat circuit bodies, in which conductors are arranged in parallel at intervals and covered on both sides with a resin film, required portions of the conductors of these flat circuit bodies are cut in advance according to the circuit pattern, and In the circuit connection part, the resin film on one side is peeled off and the conductor is exposed, and the circuit connection part has a through hole,
The flat circuit bodies are laminated as a set of two sheets, the conductors are arranged orthogonally or in parallel, the circuit connection portions are stacked vertically, and the exposed portions of the conductors are disposed on both upper and lower surfaces. The rivets or bolts are passed through the through-holes from one side and mechanically coupled to rivet washers or nuts placed on the exposed conductors on the other side to electrically connect the conductors of the upper and lower flat circuit bodies. An electrical junction box for automobiles.   The automobile electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of flat circuit bodies are made of one kind of the same shape, and the cutting of the conductor and the formation of the through hole are performed by pressing or laser processing.   The flat circuit body is provided with the conductor projecting from the outer edge of the insulating film, leaving the connection portion with the other circuit, while the non-connection portion with the other circuit is cut and removed. The electric junction box for automobiles according to claim 1 or 2.

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