JP2011072095A - Joint box for automobile use - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a joint box that houses connector joints in one place to enhance connection workability. <P>SOLUTION: A joint box 1 has multiple kinds of connectors, connected to electric wires wired in a vehicle, inserted thereinto. The connectors include: pairs of W/W connectors in which terminals connected to electric wire terminals are inserted and anchored, JC connectors that join together terminals connected to multiple electric wire terminals through a joint terminal, and W/W-JC connectors that connect the paired joint terminals of joint members to the terminals of the paired W/W connectors. A partitioning wall 5 is provided in a housing 2 to provide housing portions for the W/W connectors, JC connectors, and W/W-JC connectors. At the same time, the JC connectors and the joint members connected with the JC joints of the W/W-JC connectors are housed there. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle joint box. More specifically, the present invention accommodates a plurality of types of connectors connected to a wire harness arranged in a vehicle and connects the connectors of the wire harness together in one place.

Conventionally, as a connector for connecting electric wires, first, terminals T of the electric wire terminals inserted and locked to the pair of connectors C1 and C2 shown in FIGS. There is a so-called Wire to Wire connector (hereinafter referred to as a W / W connector) for connecting the electric wires in a one-to-one relationship.
Secondly, there is a joint connector (hereinafter referred to as a JC connector) for connecting terminals T of a plurality of wire terminals inserted and locked to one connector C3 shown in FIG.
Third, a joint member J is interposed between a pair of connectors C4 and terminals T1 and T2 inserted and locked to the connector C5 shown in FIG. 8, and joint terminals Jt1 and Jt2 projecting from both sides of the joint member J are provided. There is a connector (hereinafter referred to as a W / W-JC connector).

  The electric wires to be wired to the automobile are assembled as a wire harness for each part of the automobile, and the connectors to which these wire harnesses are attached are fitted and connected in the assembly line of the automobile. For example, a plurality of connectors connected to an engine room harness arranged in an engine room are connected to a plurality of connectors connected to an instrument panel harness (hereinafter abbreviated as instrument panel harness) on an automobile assembly line.

For example, as schematically shown in FIG. 9, the engine room harness 100 and the instrument panel harness 120 are connected via the W / W connectors C1 and C2 at the position P1, and further the engine room harness at the position P1 ′. The electric wire connected to the W / W-JC connector C4 on the 100 side is connected to the W / W-JC connector C5, and the electric wire of the instrument harness 120 is connected to the JC connector C3 at the position P3. And it connects with the electric wire of the engine room harness 100 to connector C1 and C4 in the position of P2.
As described above, since the connector connection locations are dispersed at the plurality of positions P1 to P3, it takes time to connect the connector in the automobile assembly line, and the fixing work for fixing the connecting connector to the vehicle body or the like is also troublesome. There is a problem that takes. Furthermore, the installation space of a connector connection part is needed in several places.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-257564 provides a connector holder 130 shown in FIG. 10 as one that collectively accommodates a plurality of connectors connected to the terminal of the wire harness described above. The connector holder 130 can receive and hold a plurality of connectors by locking a plurality of connector mounting portions 130a provided on the inner surface side with a locking portion provided on the outer surface of the connector.

  However, the connector holder 130 only accommodates and holds a plurality of connectors on the bottom wall of the holder, so that another connector can be fitted to the connector accommodated and held in the connector holder 130 from the bottom wall side. is not. Therefore, as described above, the connector connected to the other wire harness cannot be fitted and connected from the bottom wall side or the like while the connector connected to the one wire harness is accommodated in the connector holder 130.

JP 2003-257564 A

  The present invention solves the problem that the connecting portions of the connector are dispersed and troubles in connecting the connector and fixing the connector to the vehicle body or the like, and the W / W connector, the JC connector, and the W / W-JC connector. The challenge is to be able to connect all at once.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a joint box into which a plurality of types of connectors connected to electric wires arranged in a vehicle are inserted,
The plurality of types of connectors are a pair of W / W connectors in which terminals connected to the wire terminals are inserted and locked, a JC connector that joints terminals connected to the plurality of wire terminals via joint terminals, and a pair. It consists of a W / W-JC connector that connects the terminals of the W / W connector via the joint terminals of the joint member,
A partition wall is provided in the housing to provide a receiving portion for the W / W connector, JC connector, and W / W-JC connector, and a joint member connected to the JC connector and the W / W-JC connector is received. An in-vehicle joint box is provided.

  As described above, the W / W connector, the JC connector, and the W / W-JC connector that have been conventionally connected at dispersed positions are accommodated in one joint box, and the W / W connector accommodated in the joint box. The other party's W / W connector can be fitted and connected. In this way, by combining the connector connection portions that have been dispersed in the past into one joint box, there is no need for trouble in connector connection work, and it is only necessary to fix the joint box to the vehicle body or the like. There is an advantage that fixing work does not take much time.

As a joint member to be connected to the JC connector and the W / W-JC connector, a printed circuit board having a joint terminal projecting from a joint circuit is accommodated in the housing, and the printed circuit board is connected to the W / W from the accommodating part of the JC connector. It arrange | positions over the accommodating part of a W-JC connector.
The printed board may be attached by fitting a part of the joint box to the bottom opening and fitting the print into the bottom opening, or insert molding at the time of molding the joint box. In the case of insert molding, the portion connected to the JC connector fixes the bottom surface and side surface of the printed circuit board to the bottom wall of the joint box and the like, and the upper surface from which the joint terminal protrudes protrudes into the housing portion of the JC connector. Further, the printed circuit board at a position corresponding to the W / W-JC connector housing portion is fixed to the joint box on the side surface, and the joint terminals are projected from the W / W-JC connector housing portion.
As described above, by using the joint circuit of the printed circuit board, the joint circuit connected to the JC connector can be easily connected to the W / W-JC connector side. Further, the joint circuit connected to the W / W-JC connector and the joint circuit connected to the JC connector may be separated, and the joint circuit can be easily formed according to the design.
In addition, it replaces with a printed circuit board as a joint member, a joint bus bar may be used, and this joint bus bar may be molded to a connector.

The electric wires connected through the plurality of types of connectors are electric wires of two different types of wire harnesses arranged in the vehicle, and the W / W connector and the W / W-JC connector connected to one wire harness are connected to the other. And a W / W connector connected to the wire harness, and the JC connector is connected to at least one of the wire harnesses.
Specifically, for example, one or more W / W connectors and W / W-JC connectors are connected to the engine room harness, and one or more W / W connectors and JC connectors are connected to the instrument panel harness. The connector on the engine room harness side and the connector on the instrument panel harness side are connected inside.

  The two types of wire harnesses are connected in an automobile assembly line, and a plurality of the connectors to be connected to one of the wire harnesses are pre-fitted in the housing portion in the housing, while the other is connected to the other wire harness. The plurality of connectors are preliminarily fitted into a connector unit, and the connectors are connected to each other by fitting the connector unit into a housing portion in the housing.

  Specifically, in the wire harness assembly line, the plurality of connectors of the instrument panel harness are stored in the joint box in advance, and in the automobile assembly line, the plurality of connectors of the engine room harness are inserted into the joint box, It is connected to the connector of the instrument panel harness that has been put in first. At that time, if a plurality of connectors to be connected in the automobile assembly line are collectively accommodated and held in one connector unit as described above, it is only necessary to insert one connector unit into the joint box. Attaching work is improved once, and workability can be further improved.

It is preferable that a lever-type connector unit is provided by rotatably attaching a lever to the housing of the connector unit.
As described above, since a plurality of connectors are accommodated in the connector unit, a large connector insertion force is required when the connector unit is inserted into the joint box and fitted and connected to the mating connector. Therefore, if it is set as a lever type connector unit, insertion force will increase by rotating a lever, and a worker's burden can be reduced.

A cassette for fixing and interconnecting a clamp for locking the vehicle body or other members is provided on the outer surface of the housing.
As described above, when the clamp for locking the vehicle body or the cassette for fixing / coupling is provided in the joint box, the joint box can be fixed easily.

  As described above, in the in-vehicle joint box of the present invention, the W / W connector, the JC connector, and the W / W-JC connector, which are conventionally distributed and connected to each other, are collectively accommodated, and the accommodation state Since the connector can be fitted and connected to the mating connector, connector connection workability can be improved. In addition, a plurality of connector installation spaces required in a distributed arrangement can be provided in one place, and fixing workability can be improved because the connector can be fixed to the vehicle body or the like at the one place.

It is the schematic which shows embodiment of this invention and shows the arrangement position of a joint box. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the connector connected to the said joint box. The said joint box is shown, (A) is a top view, (B) is a bottom view. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the state which accommodated the connector in the said joint box. (A) is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. 3, (B) is the sectional view on the BB line of FIG. 3, (C) is the sectional view on the CC line of FIG. (A) and (B) are drawings which show a W / W connector. It is drawing which shows a JC connector. It is drawing which shows a W / W-JC connector. It is the schematic which shows the connector connection location of the conventional engine room harness and instrument panel harness. It is a perspective view of the connector holder made into a prior art example.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a joint box of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 5 show a joint box according to the first embodiment.

  The joint box 1 is arranged at a connecting portion between wire harnesses routed in the automobile. As shown in FIG. 1, the joint box 1 of the present embodiment is disposed at a connection location between an engine room harness 50 and an instrument panel harness (hereinafter abbreviated as instrument panel harness) 60.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the joint box 1 is provided with a partition wall 5 inside a housing 2 made of a single resin molded product, and is provided with a storage portion that serves as an insertion fitting portion for a plurality of connectors. The printed circuit board 3 provided with a joint circuit is accommodated in the interior of the housing, and a plurality of joint terminals 4 project from the bottom surface to the housing part from the joint circuit of the printed circuit board 3.

There are three types of connectors (1), (2), and (3) shown in FIGS.
(1) A so-called “Wire to Wire connector that connects terminals connected to the ends of each electric wire to each other by connectors.
(2) A joint connector that jointly connects all terminals connected to a plurality of wire terminals. Hereinafter, it is referred to as a JC connector.
(3) A connector in which joint terminals protruding from both surfaces of a joint member are inserted into terminals inserted and locked in a pair of connectors, and terminals for W / W connection are jointed. Hereinafter, it is referred to as a W / W-JC connector.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the joint box 1 is provided with an insertion fitting portion 10 of a lever-type connector unit 30 that is partitioned by a partition wall 5 and provided on one side, and the partition wall 5 on the other side. The insertion fitting parts 11 and 12 of the JC connector are provided. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3A, the insertion opening 10a, 11a, 12a of the insertion fitting portion 10, 11, 12 is provided on one surface 1x of the joint box 1.

The lever-type connector unit 30 has four connector housing portions 30a, 30b, 30c, and 30d arranged in the front-rear and left-right directions.
The connector housing portions 30a and 30c are housing portions for the W / W connectors 20 and 22, respectively. The connector housing portions 30d and 30b serve as housing portions for the W / W-JC connectors 29 and 21.

On the other surface 1y side of the joint box 1, W / W connector insertion fitting portions 13 and 15 are provided so as to face the insertion fitting portion 10, and as shown in FIG. Insertion openings 13a and 15a of these insertion fitting portions 13 and 15 are provided.
W / W connectors 25 and 27 are inserted into the insertion openings 13a and 15a, respectively, and the W / W connector 25 is fitted and connected to the W / W connector 20, and the W / W connector 27 is connected to the W / W connector 22. The W / W connection portion is fitted and connected.

Inside the housing 2 of the joint box 1, the area extending from the bottom surface of the insertion fitting portions 11, 12 of the JC connectors 23, 24 to the bottom surface of the W / W-JC connectors 21, 29 has a rectangular shape in plan view. The printed circuit board 3 is accommodated.
Joint terminals 4a and 4b are provided protruding from the printed circuit board 3 to the terminals of the JC connectors 23 and 24, respectively. In addition, joint terminals 4c and 4d connected to the terminals of the W / W-JC connectors 29 and 21 are provided in a protruding manner.
As shown in FIG. 4, the joint terminal 4a protrudes from a joint circuit continuous with the joint circuit of the JC connector 23 in this embodiment.
The plurality of terminals of the W / W-JC connectors 21 and 29 are not necessarily connected to the terminals of the joint connector, and may be connected to joint terminals protruding from another joint circuit provided on the printed circuit board 3. Good.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the lever-type connector unit 30 that accommodates the W / W connectors 20 and 22 and the W / W-JC connectors 21 and 29 in advance is a lever type in order to increase the insertion force. Both sides of a U-shaped frame-shaped lever 32 are rotatably attached by pins 33 to the opposite outer surfaces. On the other hand, guide grooves (not shown) that engage with both side portions of the lever 32 are provided on the inner surface of the opposing peripheral wall of the insertion fitting portion 1a of the joint box 1, and the lever 32 is rotated in the clockwise direction in the drawing to be a lever type. The connector unit 30 can be inserted into the insertion fitting portion 10 of the joint box 1 at a predetermined depth.

The lever-type connector unit 30 to be inserted from the insertion opening on the one surface 1x of the joint box 1 is connected in advance to the engine room harness 50. Therefore, the W / W connectors 20 and 22 and the W / W-JC connectors 21 and 29 in the lever-type connector unit 30 are connected to electric wires constituting the engine room harness 50.
The JC connectors 23 and 24 inserted from the insertion opening on the one surface 1x of the joint box 1 and the W / W connectors 25 and 27 inserted from the insertion opening on the other surface 1y are connected to electric wires constituting the instrument panel harness 60.

As shown in FIG. 4, a clamp 40 for locking the vehicle body projects from the outer surface of the housing 2 of the joint box 1. The clamp 40 may be integrally formed with the housing 2 or may be inserted and fixed in a clamp mounting hole provided in the housing 2. The clamp 40 itself has a well-known shape, and a locking blade 40b protrudes in a folded shape from the tip of a shaft portion 40a protruding from the outer surface of the housing 2, and a locking step 40c is provided at the tip. The clamp 40 inserts a locking blade 40b into a locking hole (not shown) provided in the vehicle body of the automobile, and locks and fixes the locking step 40c to the periphery of the locking hole.
Instead of directly fixing to the vehicle body via the clamp 40, a fixing cassette may be provided on the outer surface of the housing 2, and the fixing cassette may be fixed to the outer surface of the case of another electrical connection box mounted on the periphery. Good. Furthermore, when there are many connectors to be accommodated, a plurality of joint boxes 1 may be provided, and the fixing cassette may be used to connect these joint boxes to each other.

Below, the insertion / connection operation | work of each said connector inserted in the joint box 1 is demonstrated.
The W / W connectors 25 and 27 and the JC connectors 23 and 24 connected to the instrument panel harness 60 are inserted and fitted in advance into the joint box 1 in a wire harness assembly line. In this state, as shown in FIG. 5A, the terminals of the plurality of electric wire terminals connected to the JC connectors 23 and 24 are jointed via the joint terminals 4a and 4b of the printed circuit board 3, respectively.

  On the other hand, since the instrument panel harness 60 and the engine room harness 50 are connected in the automobile assembly line, the lever-type connector unit 30 connected to the engine room harness 50 is inserted in the joint box 1 using a lever in the automobile assembly line. The fitting portion 1a is inserted and fitted together.

  In the fitted state, the W / W connectors 20 and 22 accommodated in the lever-type connector unit 30 are fitted with the W / W connectors 25 and 27 on the instrument panel harness 60 side inserted in advance. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5C, the terminals of the wire terminals of the W / W connectors 25 and 27 and the terminals of the wire terminals of the W / W connectors 20 and 22 are fitted and connected. The electric wire on the side and the electric wire on the engine room harness 50 side are electrically connected one-on-one.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, the W / W-JC connectors 29 and 21 in the lever-type connector unit 30 are connected to the joint terminals 4c and 4d of the printed circuit board 3, and the electric wire on the instrument panel harness 60 side and the engine The electric wire on the room harness 50 side is electrically connected through a joint circuit.

In this embodiment, for example, the W / W connector 25 on the instrument panel harness 60 side is connected to the headlight cleaner switch and the headlight level switch via an electric wire, and the W / W connector 20 of the engine room harness 60 is connected to the headlight cleaner, It is connected to the headlight via an electric wire.
The W / W connector 27 is connected to a wiper switch, is fitted and connected to the W / W connector 22 on the engine room harness 50 side, and is connected to an electric wire forming a wiper motor circuit.
The JC connector 23 is connected to a JC connector 24 on the same instrument panel side via a joint circuit, and conducts a signal line of the ECU.
The JC connector 23 or 24 is connected to the headlamp cleaner switch, and is connected to the electric wire forming the headlamp cleaner circuit of the W / W-JC connector 29 or 21 on the engine room side via the joint terminal 4 of the printed circuit board 3. Yes.
In addition, the destination device of the electric wire connected to the connector connected to the instrument panel harness 60 and the connector connected to the engine room harness 50 is not limited to the device.

As described above, the joint box 1 of the present invention collectively accommodates the connectors connected to the wire terminals that need to be electrically connected between the engine room harness 50 and the instrument panel harness 60, and has three types of electrical connection configurations. The W / W connector, the W / W-JC connector, and the JC connector that are different from each other are fitted and electrically connected.
As described above, since the connectors to be fitted and connected between the engine room harness 50 and the instrument panel harness 60 are collected in one joint box 1, the connector installation portions are not dispersed at a plurality of locations, and the connector connection workability is improved. be able to.

  In addition, since the plurality of connectors to be connected in the automobile assembly line are all integrated into the lever-type connector unit 30, the lever-type connector unit is inserted and fitted into the joint box 1 by a single insertion operation, and the connector on the instrument panel harness side. And can be connected to the joint terminals on the printed circuit board. Moreover, since the lever-type connector unit 30 is inserted into the joint box 1 by lever operation, the insertion force of the lever-type connector unit 30 that accommodates a plurality of connectors together can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the connectors that are inserted and fitted into the joint box 1 in the automobile assembly line may be inserted into the joint box without being accommodated in the lever-type connector unit 30 in advance. Good. In addition, it is preferable to provide the lever type connector unit from the point that connector connection work can be performed collectively.
The connector unit is not necessarily a lever type, but is preferably a lever type from the viewpoint of reducing the insertion force of the connector unit.

  Furthermore, in the said embodiment, although it is set as the joint terminal which protruded from the printed circuit board which accommodated the terminal of an electric wire terminal in the joint box, the joint bus bar is accommodated in a joint box, May be jointed.

Furthermore, the number of W / W connectors, JC connectors, and W / W-JC connectors housed in the joint box is not limited to the above embodiment.
And in the said embodiment, it is set as the structure which uses a joint box for the connection part of an instrument panel harness and an engine room harness. The joint box 1 can be suitably provided also in the connection part of a site | part.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Joint box 2 Housing 3 Printed circuit board 4 Joint terminal 5 Partition wall 10-15 Insertion fitting part 10a-15a Insertion opening 20, 22, 25, 27 W / W connector 21, 29 W / W-JC connector 23, 24 JC connector 30 Lever type connector unit 50 Engine room harness 60 Instrument panel harness

Claims (6)

A joint box into which a plurality of types of connectors connected to electric wires arranged in a vehicle are inserted,
The plurality of types of connectors are a pair of W / W connectors in which terminals connected to the wire terminals are inserted and locked, a JC connector that joints terminals connected to the plurality of wire terminals via joint terminals, and a pair. It consists of a W / W-JC connector that connects a joint terminal paired with a joint member to a W / W connector terminal,
A joint member for providing a partition wall in the housing to provide a receiving portion for the W / W connector, JC connector, and W / W-JC connector, and to connect to the JC connecting portion of the JC connector and the W / W-JC connector. An in-vehicle joint box characterized by being housed.   A printed circuit board having a joint terminal projecting from a joint circuit is accommodated in the housing as the joint member, and the printed circuit board is disposed from the accommodating part of the JC connector to the accommodating part of the W / W-JC connector. Item 2. A joint box for vehicle use according to Item 1.   The electric wires to be connected through the plurality of types of connectors are electric wires of two different types of wire harnesses arranged in the vehicle. The W / W connector to be connected to one of the wire harnesses and the W / W-JC connector W The in-vehicle use according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the / W connection portion is fitted to a W / W connector connected to the other wire harness, and the JC connector is connected to at least one of the wire harnesses. Joint box.   The two types of wire harnesses are connected in an automobile assembly line, and a plurality of the connectors to be connected to one of the wire harnesses are pre-fitted into a housing portion in the housing, while being connected to the other wire harness. 4. The in-vehicle joint box according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of connectors are fitted in a connector unit in advance, and the connectors are connected to each other by fitting the connector unit into a housing portion in the housing.   The in-vehicle joint box according to claim 4, wherein a lever is rotatably attached to the housing of the connector unit to form a lever-type connector unit.   The in-vehicle joint box according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a cassette for fixing and interconnecting a clamp for locking the vehicle body or another member is provided on an outer surface of the housing.

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