JP2008172890A - Electric connection box - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric connection box in which a mounting body detachably provided to a main body can be easily mounted to the main body and can prevent rattling of the mounting body after the mounting body is mounted to the main body. <P>SOLUTION: The electric connection box 1 includes the main body 2 and an ECU 3 which is rotatably and detachably mounted to the main body 2 via hinges 8. The hinges 8 include axial parts 72 provided to the ECU 3 and bearing parts 6 provided to the main body 2 and rotatably accommodating the axial parts 72. The bearing parts 6 include an abutting surface 65 not in contact with the axial parts 72 until the rotating ECU 3 is mounted to the main body 2, but in contact with the axial parts 72 when the rotating ECU 3 is mounted to the main body 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical junction box that includes a main body and an attachment body attached to the main body, and one end sides of the main body and the attachment body are attached to be rotatable and detachable via hinges.

  A vehicle as a moving body is generally equipped with various electronic devices such as lamps such as a head lamp and a tail lamp, motors such as a starter motor and an air conditioner motor. In order to supply electric power to these electronic devices, automobiles have junction blocks arranged at appropriate locations. The junction block is configured by integrating various electric circuit units such as a large number of fuses and relays.

  Note that the junction block may include a fuse, a relay, a bus bar, and the like, and thus is also referred to as a fuse block, a relay box, or a generic name, an electrical connection box. In the present specification, the above-described fuse block, relay box, and junction block are collectively referred to as an electrical junction box.

  The electrical junction box accommodates the electrical components such as the relays and fuses described above and a circuit board on which the electrical components are mounted. Furthermore, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) including a circuit board for controlling the electrical components is accommodated (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, an ECU manufactured as a separate part may be assembled to the main body of the electrical junction box. By making the ECU a separate part, it is possible to improve the maintainability when the ECU fails. In this case, the main body and the ECU each include a connector mounted on the circuit board. Each connector includes a terminal fitting. When the connectors are fitted and the terminal fittings are connected to each other, the circuit boards are connected to each other, and a control signal or the like from the ECU is transmitted to the main body.

The ECU as a separate part is attached to the main body by, for example, a hinge or a lock (for example, see Patent Document 2). The hinge includes a hook connected to one end of the ECU, and a hook receiving recess that is connected to one end of the main body and rotatably and detachably receives the hook. The lock includes a lock arm connected to the other end of the ECU, and a lock arm insertion hole connected to the other end of the main body and engageable with the lock arm. The electrical connection box hooks the hook into the hook receiving recess, rotates the ECU in the direction of approaching the main body from the hook, and fixes the ECU to the main body by engaging the lock arm with the lock arm insertion hole.
JP 2006-187052 A JP-A-9-163552

  In the electrical junction box described in Patent Document 2 and the like described above, a clearance (gap) is set in advance between the ECU and the main body in consideration of workability problems and manufacturing errors. There was a problem that rattling would occur after being attached to.

  Moreover, since the electrical junction box described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 2 and the like is attached to the main body while rotating the ECU with the hinge as a starting point, the clearance is larger than that of the electrical junction box that is installed by bringing the ECU and the main body linearly close to each other. There was a problem that it was necessary to take a large, and that would increase the wobble.

  Such rattling can be dealt with by, for example, attaching the ECU to the main body and then fixing both with screws. In this case, however, the number of parts and work man-hours are increased. Will cause serious problems.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to easily attach the attachment body provided detachably to the main body to the main body, and prevent the rattling from occurring after the attachment body is attached to the main body. It is to provide an electrical junction box.

  In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the electrical junction box according to claim 1 includes a main body and an attachment body attached to the main body, and one end of the main body and the attachment body. In an electrical junction box in which the sides are pivotably and detachably attached via a hinge, the hinge is provided on one of the main body and the attachment body, and is provided on the other, and A bearing portion that accommodates the shaft portion and pivotally supports the shaft portion, and the bearing portion does not contact the shaft portion until the rotating attachment body is attached to the main body. In addition, the rotating attachment body includes a contact portion that contacts the shaft portion when the attachment body is attached to the main body.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electric junction box according to the first aspect, the bearing portion includes a guide portion that guides the shaft portion to the contact portion.

  An electrical junction box according to a third aspect of the present invention is the electrical junction box according to the first or second aspect, wherein the main body and the attachment body each include a circuit board on which a connector is mounted. The contact portion is in contact with the shaft portion when the connectors are fitted to each other.

  According to the electrical junction box of the present invention described in claim 1, the bearing portion does not contact the shaft portion until the mounting body is attached to the main body, and contacts the shaft portion when the mounting body is attached to the main body. A contact portion is provided. For this reason, the attachment body easily rotates until the attachment body is attached to the main body, and when the attachment body is attached to the main body, the shaft portion comes into contact with the contact portion and is fixed, thereby fixing the attachment body.

  According to the electric junction box of the present invention as set forth in claim 2, the bearing portion includes the guide portion for guiding the shaft portion to the contact portion. For this reason, when the attachment body is attached to the main body, the shaft portion is easily guided to the contact portion.

  According to the electrical junction box of the present invention described in claim 3, the main body and the attachment body include the circuit boards on which the connectors are mounted, and the abutting portion is at a timing when the connectors are fitted to each other. Abuts the shaft. For this reason, the shaft portion is fixed to the bearing portion, so that the fitting between the connectors is not hindered.

  As described above, in the first aspect of the present invention, the bearing portion does not contact the shaft portion until the mounting body is attached to the main body, and contacts the shaft portion when the mounting body is attached to the main body. A contact portion is provided. For this reason, the attachment body easily rotates until the attachment body is attached to the main body, and when the attachment body is attached to the main body, the shaft portion comes into contact with the contact portion and is fixed to fix the attachment body. Therefore, the attachment body can be easily attached to the main body, and rattling between the attachment body and the main body can be prevented.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the bearing portion includes a guide portion that guides the shaft portion to the contact portion. For this reason, when the attachment body is attached to the main body, the shaft portion is easily guided to the contact portion. Therefore, the attachment body can be easily attached to the main body, and the shaft portion and the bearing portion can be easily fixed.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the main body and the attachment body each include a circuit board having a connector mounted therein, and the contact portion contacts the shaft portion at a timing when the connectors are fitted to each other. For this reason, the shaft portion is fixed to the bearing portion, so that the fitting between the connectors is not hindered. Therefore, when fitting the connectors together, it is possible to cope with manufacturing errors or assembly intersections of the terminal fittings, and the attachment body and the main body can be fixed by reliably fitting the connectors together.

  Hereinafter, an electrical junction box according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. An electrical junction box 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is fixed to a panel or the like constituting a car body of an automobile, and electrically connects various electronic devices mounted on the automobile according to a predetermined pattern. To do.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the electrical junction box 1 rotates a main body 2, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 3 as an attachment body attached to the main body 2, and the main body 2 and the ECU 3. A hinge 8 that is freely and detachably attached, and a fixing portion 9 that fixes the main body 2 and the ECU 3 to each other are provided.

  The main body 2 includes a housing 20 made of an insulating synthetic resin or the like, and a circuit board 21 (FIGS. 6 to 8) attached to the housing 20.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, the housing 20 includes a mounting surface 2a formed in a square plate shape, and a block-shaped connecting portion 26 connected to one end of the mounting surface 2a, that is, one outer edge of the mounting surface 2a. The other end of the mounting surface 2a, that is, the mounting surface 2a, the outer edge facing the connecting portion 26, and the standing wall 2c, and the outer edge positioned between the connecting portion 26 of the mounting surface 2a and the standing wall 2c. And a guide wall 2f erected from above.

  The connecting portion 26 extends in a direction orthogonal to the planar direction of the mounting surface 2a and is connected to an outer surface 26e that intersects the other end of the mounting surface 2a and an end portion of the outer surface 26e that is located above the mounting surface 2a in FIG. And an outer surface 26a extending in parallel with the plane direction of the mounting surface 2a.

  The guide wall 2f is erected from the outer edge of the mounting surface 2a toward the upper side of the mounting surface 2a in FIG. 1 and is disposed along a direction orthogonal to the plane direction of the mounting surface 2a.

  The circuit board 21 is a known circuit board on which a relay, a fuse, and the like are mounted. As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the circuit board 21 is arranged on the lower side of the mounting surface 2a in FIG. 6 in a direction parallel to the mounting surface 2a. The circuit board 21 is mounted with a connector 24 for electrical connection with a circuit board 31 (to be described later) of the ECU 3.

  The connector 24 is connected to a circuit pattern formed on the circuit board 21 and has a rod-shaped male terminal 22 erected toward the mounting surface 2a, and a synthetic resin that is formed in a cylindrical shape and surrounds the male terminal 22 And a connector housing 23 made of metal. The connector 24 is inserted into a through-hole provided in the mounting surface 2a, and a part of the connector 24 protrudes above the mounting surface 2a in FIG.

  The ECU 3 includes a housing 30 made of an insulating synthetic resin or the like, and a circuit board 31 (FIGS. 6 to 8) accommodated in the housing 30.

  The housing 30 includes an upper surface 3a formed in a square plate shape substantially the same shape as the mounting surface 2a described above, side surfaces 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f erected from the outer edges of the upper surface 3a, and an interval between the upper surface 3a. And a lower surface 3b that is opposed to the upper surface 3a of the side surfaces 3c, 3d, 3e, and 3f. The housing 30 is formed in a flat box shape and has a space for accommodating the circuit board 31 therein. The housing 30 is attached to the main body 2 such that the lower surface 3b contacts the mounting surface 2a and the side surface 3f contacts the guide wall 2f (FIGS. 3 and 4).

  The circuit board 31 is a well-known circuit board on which a control circuit for controlling relays, fuses and the like mounted on the circuit board 21 of the main body 2 is mounted. As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the circuit board 31 is accommodated in the housing 30 in a direction parallel to the upper surface 3 a and the lower surface 3 b of the housing 30. The circuit board 31 is mounted with a connector 34 for electrically connecting to the circuit board 21 of the main body 2 described above.

  The connector 34 is connected to the circuit pattern formed on the circuit board 31 and has a cylindrical female terminal 32 erected toward the lower surface 3b, and a synthetic resin that is formed in a cylindrical shape and accommodates the female terminal 32. And a connector housing 33 made of metal. Further, a through hole is formed in a portion of the lower surface 3b facing the connector 34, and the connector 24 described above is inserted into the through hole and fitted with the connector 34. In the present specification, the term “fitting” means that the male terminal 22 is inserted into the female terminal 32 and electrically connected thereto.

  The hinge 8 includes a rotating portion 7 provided at one end of the ECU 3 and a bearing portion 6 provided at one end of the main body 2.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the rotating portion 7 is erected from the side surface 3 e and extends in a direction away from the side surface 3 c, and is provided at the tip of the shaft foot 71, and the side surface 3 d and the side surface 3 f face each other. And a shaft portion 72 extending in the direction. A pair of rotating parts 7 are provided in the ECU 3. One rotating portion 7 is provided at an end portion on the side surface 3d side in the longitudinal direction of the side surface 3e. The other rotating portion 7 is disposed at the end of the side surface 3e on the side surface 3f side in the longitudinal direction. The pair of rotating portions 7 extend in a direction in which the shaft portions 72 approach each other. That is, the side surface 3e described above constitutes one end of the ECU 3 as an attachment body described in the claims, and the side surface 3c constitutes the other end of the ECU 3 as an attachment body.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, the bearing portion 6 is provided in the connecting portion 26 and has an accommodating recess 60 that positions the rotating portion 7 inside, and a shaft portion 72 that is disposed when the rotating portion 7 rotates. A first restricting wall 61 and a second restricting wall 62 that restrict disengagement. A pair of bearing portions 6 are provided on the connecting portion 26 of the main body 2, and are disposed at both ends of the connecting portion 26 so as to correspond to the pair of rotating portions 7.

  The housing recess 60 is a space extending from the outer surface 26e of the connecting portion 26 in a direction away from the standing wall 2c. The housing recess 60 opens in two directions, the outer surface 26e and the outer surface 26a. The housing recess 60 includes a locking protrusion 64.

  As shown in FIG. 10 and the like, the locking projection 64 is provided so as to protrude from the inner surface 60a of the housing recess 60 located inside the main body 2 in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9 and the like, the locking protrusion 64 is provided along the width direction of the inner surface 60a (the left-right direction in FIG. 9). The locking protrusion 64 has a substantially trapezoidal cross-section in the direction orthogonal to the width direction of the inner surface 60a. The locking protrusion 64 is provided near the second restriction wall 62 (outer surface 26 a) of the inner surface 60 a and is formed so that one end is continuous with the second restriction wall 62. The locking protrusion 64 includes a contact surface 65 as a contact portion and a guide surface 66 as a guide portion.

  The contact surface 65 is an outer surface on the one end side (near the second restriction wall 62) of the locking projection 64. The contact surface 65 is provided from the height at which the upper end (upper side in FIG. 12) of the outer surface 72a of the shaft portion 72 is located at the time when the connectors 24 and 34 start to be fitted to each other. The contact surface 65 is provided so as to be parallel to the inner surface 60a and the inner surface 60b facing the inner surface 60a. The distance between the contact surfaces 65 provided on each of the pair of bearing portions 6 is set to be slightly larger than the distance between the outer surfaces 72 a provided on each of the pair of rotating portions 7.

  The guide surface 66 is an outer surface on the other end side (side away from the second restriction wall 62) of the locking projection 64. The guide surface 66 is provided continuously to the end of the contact surface 65 that is away from the second restriction wall 62. The guide surface 66 is a tapered surface that is inclined so as to approach the inner surface 60a as the distance from the end portion increases.

  The locking protrusion 64 having the above-described configuration is disposed in the vicinity of the shaft portion 72 when the rotating portion 7 is inserted into the housing recess 60. At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, the outer surface 72a of the shaft portion 72 is opposed to the inner surface 60a.

  Then, as the shaft portion 72 rotates in the housing recess 60, the outer surface 72 a gradually faces the guide surface 66. Further, when the shaft portion 72 is rotated and the connectors 24 and 34 start to be fitted to each other, the outer surface 72a starts to contact the contact surface 65 as shown in FIG. At this time, the shaft 72 is slightly bent toward the side away from the inner surface 60a, but is guided smoothly to the contact surface 65 without being caught because of the guide surface 66.

  When the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2 and the connectors 24 and 34 are fitted to each other, most of the outer surface 72a comes into contact with the contact surface 65 as shown in FIG. The shaft portion 72 generates an elastic restoring force in a direction approaching the inner surface 60 a and is stably fixed without rattling in the housing recess 60.

  The “timing at which the connectors are mated with each other” described in the claims refers to the time when the connectors 24 and 34 start to mat with each other (this embodiment), the time when the mating is completed, Between the two time points. That is, the contact surface 65 does not contact the outer surface 72a when the connectors 24 and 34 are not in contact with each other.

  The first regulating wall 61 is formed in a plate shape and is disposed on the same plane as the outer surface 26e, and is disposed so as to partially close the opening surface of the housing recess 60 on the outer surface 26e side. The first regulating wall 61 is disposed so as to block the inside of the main body 2 and the outer surface 26a side in FIG. The first restriction wall 61 restricts the shaft portion 72 positioned in the housing recess 60 when the rotating shaft 7 is rotated from coming out of the housing recess 60 from the opening surface.

  The second restriction wall 62 is formed in a plate shape and is disposed on the same plane as the outer surface 26a, and is disposed so as to partially close the opening surface of the housing recess 60 on the outer surface 26a side. The second restricting wall 62 is arranged in such a manner as to close the inside of the main body 2 in FIG. The second restricting wall 62 restricts the shaft portion 72 positioned in the housing recess 60 when the rotating shaft 7 is rotated from coming out of the housing recess 60 from the opening surface.

  The fixing portion 9 includes a lock arm 5 provided continuously from the side surface 3c, and a lock 4 provided continuously from the standing wall 2c and engageable with the lock arm 5. The lock arm 5 and the lock 4 are engaged with each other at the same time as the lower surface 3b of the ECU 3 abuts against the mounting surface 2a of the main body 2 to fix the ECU 3 and the main body 2 to each other.

  As shown in FIGS. 2, 6, 9, and 10, the electric junction box 1 having the above-described configuration has the shaft portion 72 toward the inner side of the housing recess 60 in a state where the ECU 3 is inclined with respect to the mounting surface 2 a. The rotating portion 7 is positioned in the housing recess 60 by sliding on the mounting surface 2a.

  Then, in a state where the rotating portion 7 is intruded into the housing recess 60 until the side surface 3e of the ECU 3 abuts against the first restriction wall 61, as shown in FIGS. Then, the ECU 3 is rotated so that the other end side, that is, the side surface 3c side of the ECU 3 is brought close to the mounting surface 2a. Then, the connectors 24 and 34 start to fit each other (FIG. 7), and the outer surface 72a of the shaft portion 72 starts to contact the contact surface 65 as described above (FIG. 12).

  When the ECU 3 is further rotated, the lower surface 3b of the ECU 3 is overlapped with the mounting surface 2a as shown in FIG. 8, and the lock arm 5 and the lock 4 are engaged with each other to fix the ECU 3 to the main body 2. . That is, the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2. Further, in this state, the shaft portion 72 is restricted from coming out of the housing recess 60 by the first restriction wall 61 and the second restriction wall 62. At the same time as the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the shaft portion 72 comes into contact with the contact surface 65 to prevent rattling between the ECU 3 and the main body 2. At the same time that the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2, the connectors 24 and 34 are fitted to each other, and the circuit boards 21 and 31 are electrically connected to each other.

  According to the present embodiment, the bearing portion 6 includes the contact surface 65 that does not contact the shaft portion 72 until the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2 and contacts the shaft portion 72 when the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2. ing. Therefore, the ECU 3 easily rotates until the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2, and when the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2, the shaft portion 72 contacts and is fixed to the contact surface 65, and the ECU 3 is fixed. Therefore, the ECU 3 can be easily attached to the main body 2 and rattling between the ECU 3 and the main body 2 can be prevented.

  The bearing portion 6 includes a guide surface 66 that guides the shaft portion 72 to the contact surface 65. For this reason, when the ECU 3 is attached to the main body 2, the shaft portion 72 is easily guided to the contact surface 65. Therefore, the ECU 3 can be easily attached to the main body 2 and the shaft portion 72 and the bearing portion 6 can be easily fixed.

  The main body 2 and the ECU 3 include circuit boards 21 and 31 in which the connectors 24 and 34 are mounted, and the contact surface 65 contacts the shaft portion 72 at a timing when the connectors 24 and 34 are fitted to each other. . For this reason, the shaft portion 72 is fixed to the bearing portion 6 so that the fitting between the connectors 24 and 34 is not hindered. Accordingly, when the connectors 24 and 34 are fitted together, it is possible to cope with manufacturing errors or assembly intersections of the terminal fittings 22 and 32, and the connectors 24 and 34 are securely fitted to each other so that the ECU 3 and the main body 2 Can be fixed.

  In addition, since the electric junction box 1 can reliably prevent rattling between the ECU 3 and the main body 2 as described above, the terminals 22 and 32 of the connectors 24 and 34 can be prevented from being worn and the terminals 22 and 32 can be connected to each other. Connection reliability, that is, connection reliability between the circuit boards 21 and 31 can be ensured.

  In the above-described embodiment, the rotating unit 7 is provided at one end of the ECU 3, and the bearing unit 6 is provided at one end of the main body 2. However, in the present invention, the rotating part 7 may be provided at one end of the main body 2 and the bearing part 6 may be provided at one end of the ECU 3.

  In the above-described embodiment, the ECU 3 is described as an example of the attachment body. However, the attachment body of the present invention is not limited to this, and any case other than the ECU 3 may be used as long as it is a case, a part, or the like attached to the main body 2. It may be a thing. Further, the main body and the attachment body of the present invention do not necessarily have a circuit board or a connector.

  In addition, embodiment mentioned above only showed the typical form of this invention, and this invention is not limited to embodiment. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is a perspective view which shows the electrical junction box concerning one embodiment of this invention, and is a figure which shows the state which the main body and the attachment body isolate | separated from each other. It is a perspective view which shows the process in which the attachment body of the electrical-connection box shown by FIG. 1 is attached to a main body. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the attachment body shown in FIG. 2 is attached to the main body. FIG. 4 is a front view of the electrical junction box shown in FIG. 3. It is a perspective view which shows the attachment body of the electrical-connection box shown by FIG. It is sectional drawing which cut the electric junction box of the state shown by FIG. 2 along the KK line | wire in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which the attachment body of the electrical-connection box of the state shown by FIG. 2 was further brought close to the main body. It is sectional drawing along the KK line in FIG. It is sectional drawing which expands and shows the B section of the electrical-connection box shown by FIG. It is sectional drawing along the AA line in FIG. It is sectional drawing which expands and shows the D section of the electrical-connection box shown by FIG. It is sectional drawing along CC line in FIG. It is sectional drawing which expands and shows the F section of the electrical-connection box shown by FIG. It is sectional drawing along the EE line in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Electrical Junction Box 2 Body 3 ECU (Mounting Body)
6 Bearing portion 8 Hinge 21, 31 Circuit board 24, 34 Connector 65 Contact surface (contact portion)
66 Guide surface (guide part)
72 Shaft

Claims (3)

In an electrical junction box comprising a main body and an attachment body attached to the main body, wherein one end sides of the main body and the attachment body are rotatably and detachably attached via a hinge,
The hinge includes a shaft portion provided on one of the main body and the attachment body, and a bearing portion provided on the other side and receiving the shaft portion and pivotally supporting the shaft portion.
The bearing portion does not contact the shaft portion until the rotating attachment body is attached to the main body, and when the rotating attachment body is attached to the main body, the shaft portion is in contact with the shaft portion. An electrical junction box comprising an abutting portion in contact with the electrical junction box.   The electrical connection box according to claim 1, wherein the bearing portion includes a guide portion that guides the shaft portion to the contact portion. The main body and the attachment body each include a circuit board having a connector mounted therein,
The electrical connection box according to claim 1, wherein the contact portion contacts the shaft portion at a timing when the connectors are fitted to each other.

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