JP2013143278A - Flexible conductor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid falling of a part of a conductor part to reduce electric resistance in connection between flexible conductors.SOLUTION: A flexible conductor includes a conductive part 20 formed by overlapping a plurality of block parts 13 sectioned into the respective folds 11, 12 like bellows by alternately performing mountain folds and valley folds to a conductive metal thin plate 10, and both ends of the bellows-like conductive part are made into connection parts for energization, respectively.

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible conductor in which a conductor portion is formed using a metal thin plate.

For example, a flexible conductor is electrically connected to a power supply side and a power reception side electrical device or member that are to be conductively connected to each other while absorbing thermal stress, vibration, or positional error between them, or allowing relative movement. It is a connection terminal used for the case of doing.
In some cases, the movable conductor is used by connecting ends of a plurality of conductors to extend the distance that can be electrically connected.

Conventionally, as a flexible conductor as described above, one having terminal portions crimped to both ends of a conductor portion made of a tin-plated copper braid (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 below) has been used.
In addition, as a flexible conductor made of a thin metal plate, a conductor having a conductor portion formed by rolling a copper foil into a roll shape and flattening it has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 3 below).

JP 2008-041330 A JP 2008-043331 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-214107

  However, in a flexible conductor using a conductor portion made of the tin-plated copper braid, a part of the braid may fall off depending on the use situation, and the drop braid may cause a short circuit at the dropout location.

  In addition, when a flexible conductor using a conductor portion in which a copper foil roll is flattened is connected to each other at the end portion, conduction is performed with only one plane of the end portion of each conductor portion in contact with each other. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure a wide contact area, and resistance may be generated at the contact portion.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a flexible conductor capable of reducing the electrical resistance when the flexible conductors are connected without causing a part of the conductor portion to drop off.

  The flexible conductor of the present invention is provided with a conductive portion in which a plurality of divided sections divided in folds are overlapped in a bellows shape by alternately performing mountain folds and valley folds on a conductive metal thin plate, Both end portions of the bellows-like conductive portion are used as connection portions for energization.

In this way, the flexible conductor of the present invention comprising a conductive portion obtained by bending a conductive metal thin plate can avoid the occurrence of partial dropout such as a braided material and prevent the occurrence of a short circuit around it. It becomes possible to do.
In addition, since this flexible conductor has a structure in which a plurality of partition portions are stacked in a bellows shape, when the flexible conductors are connected to each other, at the end of each conductive portion, from the conductive metal thin plate. It is possible to alternately overlap the partition portions, and more surfaces can be brought into contact as compared with the case where only the side surfaces of the conductive portions are brought into contact with each other. For this reason, a contact area can be ensured wider than before, and it becomes possible to reduce the electrical resistance at the time of connection of flexible conductors.

  Further, in the present invention, it is preferable that a through hole for attachment or connection formed through the plurality of partition portions is formed in the connection portion.

In this way, by forming a through hole in the connection portion, when connecting the flexible conductors, the flexible conductors are securely connected by inserting and fixing a fastener such as a screw into the through hole. It becomes possible to do.
Further, in the case of connecting the flexible conductors, contact between the flexible conductors can be achieved by inserting or fitting the fasteners into the mutual through-holes in a state in which the plurality of partition portions of the connection portions are alternately overlapped. The area can be increased.

  Furthermore, the present invention preferably has a restraining tool that can be attached to an intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the conductive portion and that holds the plurality of partition portions in a bundle.

In the present invention, since the conductive portion is formed by bending a conductive metal thin plate into a bellows shape, each partition portion swells due to restoring force by being provided with a restraining tool that bundles and holds a plurality of partition portions. It is possible to prevent the conductive portion from contacting other members.
Moreover, since the several division part of the electroconductive part is bundled and put together, it is easy to carry and handle.

  Furthermore, the present invention preferably includes a connector that can be attached to the connection portion and bundles and holds the plurality of partition portions.

  With the above configuration, in order to connect the flexible conductors, when the partition portions of the respective flexible conductors are alternately overlapped, the connecting tool bundles and holds the plurality of partition portions. It becomes possible to increase the adhesion of the flat surface and further reduce the electrical resistance during connection. Moreover, it becomes possible to hold | maintain the connection state of each flexible conductor effectively by this connection tool.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, it is desirable to form a fold with respect to the conductive metal thin plate along the longitudinal direction of the conductive portion.

  In the case of the said structure, it will be in the state in which the crease | fold of the mountain fold and the valley fold was located in a line along the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of an electroconductive part. For this reason, when connecting the flexible conductors, simply connecting the connecting portions of the flexible conductors up and down causes the valley folds in the connecting portions of the lower flexible conductor to be connected to the upper flexible conductor. It becomes a tray for the folds of the valley fold, and other partition portions can be easily introduced into the gaps between the partition portions, so that the workability at the time of connection can be improved.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, it is desirable to form a fold with respect to the conductive metal thin plate along a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the conductive portion.

For example, for a strip-shaped conductive metal sheet wider than the flexible conductor, mountain fold folds and valley fold folds are alternately formed in the longitudinal direction at the same interval as the length of the flexible conductor. Thus, a wide bellows-like structure is formed. Then, by cutting this for each width of the flexible conductor, it is possible to easily form a plurality of conductive portions of the flexible conductor.
Thus, in the case of the said structure, it becomes possible to provide a flexible conductor with easy mass production.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a flexible conductor capable of preventing the occurrence of a short circuit around the conductive portion due to partial dropout and reducing the electrical resistance when connecting the flexible conductors. It is possible to provide.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the manufacturing method and structure of the flexible conductor which is 1st Embodiment, FIG. 1 (A) shows the crease | fold formed in an electroconductive metal thin plate, FIG.1 (B) folds in the shape of a bellows. FIG. 1C shows a state in which the conductive portion is equipped with a restraining tool. It is a perspective view which shows the attachment state of a flexible conductor. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation | work process which connects the edge parts of two flexible conductors, FIG. 3 (A) shows the state before the connection of two flexible conductors, and FIG. 3 (B) connects with a connection part. The operation | work which attaches a tool is shown and FIG.3 (C) shows the state after a connection. FIG. 4A is a view of the connecting portion of the two flexible conductors as viewed from the longitudinal direction of the conductive portion, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing the state in which the connecting tool is attached to the connecting portion of the two flexible conductors. It is the figure seen from the longitudinal direction of the part. It is a perspective view of the flexible conductor which is 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the crease | fold formed in an electroconductive metal thin plate. FIG. 7A is a perspective view showing a state before the flexible conductors according to the third embodiment are connected, and FIG. 7B is a state where two flexible conductors are arranged for connection. It is a top view. It is a figure which shows the crease | fold formed in an electroconductive metal thin plate. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example for forming an electroconductive part from an electroconductive metal thin plate.

[First Embodiment]
The flexible conductor 1 which is the 1st Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated based on FIGS. 1-4. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the manufacturing method and structure of the flexible conductor 1.
The flexible conductor 1 includes a bellows-like conductive part 20 that conducts current between one end and the other end in the longitudinal direction, and a restraining tool 30 that restrains and holds the bellows-like conductive part 20. .

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the conductive portion 20 is formed with a plurality of fold-fold folds 11 and valley-fold folds 12 alternately on the conductive metal thin plate 10 at regular intervals. In this example, three fold folds 11 and two valley folds 12 are formed, but the number thereof is arbitrary. For example, if the current flowing through the flexible conductor 1 is large, the wider conductive metal thin plate 10 can be accommodated by bending it with more folds. Further, the interval between the mountain fold crease 11 and the valley fold crease 12 coincides with the width (direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction) of the conductive portion 20 after completion.

The conductive metal thin plate 10 is a good conductor metal foil, and for example, a copper foil or an aluminum foil can be used. Here, as the conductive metal thin plate 10, an electrolytic copper foil capable of obtaining a uniform thickness is used.
Here, assuming that one plane defined by the mountain fold crease 11 or the valley fold crease 12 is a partition portion 13, the conductive metal thin plate 10 includes the number of the mountain fold folds 11 + the number of valley folds 12 The number +1 partition section 13 is formed. Then, as shown in FIG. 1B, a conductive portion 20 is formed in a state where these six partition portions 13 are stacked in a bellows shape.

Only the conductive part 20 can be used as a flexible conductor. However, since the conductive portion 20 is formed by bending the conductive metal thin plate 10, the bellows structure may be opened by its elastic restoring force.
For this reason, as shown in FIG. 1 (C), a restraining tool 30 that restrains the conductive portion 20 in a state where the conductive portion 20 is inserted into a rectangular through hole is attached to the middle position in the longitudinal direction of the conductive portion 20. Is restrained from opening.
The restraint 30 is formed by molding a synthetic resin that is an insulator.
The restraint is not limited to the rectangular frame shape as described above. For example, it may be formed in a U shape and hold the conductive portion 20 between the openings, or formed in a U shape. And you may form from the clip-shaped elastic body which shrink | contracts toward the inner side of the opening part.

Further, both end portions of the conductive portion 20 are formed with through-holes 21 for attaching the flexible conductor 1 or connecting the flexible conductors 1 that penetrate the six partition portions 13 at the same position. Yes.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the flexible conductor 1 is attached to an attachment position such as an electrode using the through hole 21. Thus, since the through-hole 21 is formed so as to penetrate all the partition parts 13, for example, the bolt 101 as a fastener can be inserted to fix the conductive part 20 in a fastened state. Thus, the conductive part 20 has a structure advantageous for mounting.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an operation process for connecting the ends of the two flexible conductors 1, 1.
As shown in FIG. 3A, one end of one flexible conductor 1 is overlapped from above one end of the other flexible conductor 1.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 4A, a valley in the upper flexible conductor 1 is interposed between a pair of partition portions 13 and 13 on both sides of each fold 12 in the valley fold in the lower flexible conductor 1. A pair of partition parts 13 and 13 which become both sides of each fold line 12 are made to enter. As a result, the lower surfaces of the six partition portions 13 of the one flexible conductor 1 are individually in contact with the upper surfaces of the six partition portions 13 of the other flexible conductor 1.

In the above state, as shown in FIGS. 3 (B) and 4 (B), a clip-like connector 40 that clamps the connection ends of the two flexible conductors 1 from the outside is used. Twelve compartments 13 are bundled and held. The connector 40 has a U-shaped cross section, and a pair of fitting claws 41 and 41 that are fitted into the through holes 21 of the partition portions 13 are provided to face each other on the inner side.
And the connection tool 40 holds the connection tool 40 so that it does not come off from the connection part of each flexible conductor 1 and 1 by the fitting claws 41 and 41 fitting to each through-hole 21, and is flexible. The conductors 1 and 1 are fixed so as not to be pulled out.
The connector 40 has elasticity that contracts toward the inside of the U-shape. For example, the connector 40 is made of a synthetic resin that is an elastic and insulating material. Alternatively, a coupling member may be formed by forming an insulating resin film on the surface of a metallic member having a spring property.

As described above, in the flexible conductor 1, since the conductive portion 20 is formed by bending the conductive metal thin plate 10, unlike the case where a braided material is used, the conductive portion is not partially dropped during flexible deformation. It is possible to avoid this, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a short circuit due to the dropping piece.
In addition, since the flexible conductor 1 has a structure in which the conductive portion 20 is formed by overlapping a plurality of partition portions 13 in a bellows shape, when the two flexible conductors 1 and 1 are connected, the conductive portions 20 and 20 of each other are connected. As shown in FIG. 4A described above, the surfaces of the partition portions 13 can be brought into contact with each other, and when the flexible conductors 1 and 1 are connected due to the expansion of the contact area. It is possible to reduce the electrical resistance.
Moreover, since the electrical resistance at the time of connection can be reduced in this way, it is possible to further reduce the overlap margin of the flexible conductors 1 (the overlap width of the end portions in the longitudinal direction of the flexible conductor 1). Become.
Moreover, since the electrical resistance at the time of connection can be reduced, it becomes possible to connect the more flexible conductors 1 continuously and to comprise a power distribution path.

In addition, the conductive portion 20 has a bellows shape by repeating mountain folds and valley folds with respect to the conductive metal thin plate 10, and has a shape in which peaks and valleys are arranged in the width direction. When connecting, the valley of the conductive portion 20 of the lower flexible conductor 1 can be flexed by simply overlapping the end of the other flexible conductor 1 on the end of one flexible conductor 1 from above. Since the valley of the conductive part 20 of the conductor 1 is guided inward and the upper and lower conductor parts 20 and 20 are naturally in contact with each other on the surface, the connecting operation can be easily performed.
Moreover, since the through-hole 21 which penetrates all the division parts 13 superimposed on the edge part of the electroconductive part 20 is formed, it becomes possible to perform the attachment operation | work and the connection operation | work of the flexible conductor 1 easily. .
Moreover, since the connection tool 40 is a U-shaped body having elasticity, the connection state is maintained only by sandwiching the connection part between the flexible conductors 1 with the connection tool 40. In particular, since the fitting claws 41 and 41 are formed in the connector 40, it is possible to fit into the above-described through hole 21 and strengthen the connected state. Moreover, since the coupling tool 40 is clamped in the direction in which the partition sections 13 overlap, the partition sections 13 can be brought into closer contact with each other, current conduction can be improved, and the electrical resistance of the connection section can be further reduced. It becomes possible.
Furthermore, since the flexible conductor 1 has the restraint 30 attached to the intermediate part of the conductive part 20, the bellows-like conductive part 20 can be prevented from expanding due to restoring force, and the flexible conductor 1 can be made compact. Is possible. Moreover, it is possible to prevent a short circuit from occurring due to the conductive portion 20 swelling and contacting the surroundings.

[Second Embodiment]
A perspective view of a flexible conductor 1A according to a second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG.
This flexible conductor 1A differs from the flexible conductor 1 only in that one end of the conductive portion 20A is bifurcated. In addition, about this flexible conductor 1A, about the structure same as the flexible conductor 1, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and description is abbreviate | omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, the conductive portion 20 </ b> A is formed with a plurality of mountain fold folds 11 and valley fold folds 12 alternately at regular intervals with respect to the conductive metal thin plate 10 </ b> A. In this example, six fold folds 11 and five valley folds 12 are formed.
A cut 14A is formed along the fold 12 at one end of the valley fold 12 located in the middle of the width direction (vertical direction in FIG. 6) of the conductive metal thin plate 10A. .
Therefore, when the conductive metal thin plate 10A is bent into a bellows shape according to the folds 11 and 12, a conductive portion 20A is formed in which one end portion is bifurcated by the cut 14A. And the flexible conductor 1A is formed by bundling the conductive portion 20A with the restraining tool 30.
As described above, the flexible conductor 1A is divided into two parts at one end, which is suitable for flowing current from two places to one place or flowing current from one place to two places.
In addition, the number of cuts 14A for the conductive metal thin plate 10A may be increased to branch one end of the conductive portion 20A into a larger number. Moreover, the cut | interruption 14A may be formed in the both ends with respect to 10 A of electroconductive metal plates, and the both ends of 20 A of electroconductive parts may be branched.

[Third Embodiment]
A flexible conductor 1B according to a third embodiment of the invention will be described. FIG. 7A is a perspective view showing the connection work of the two flexible conductors 1B and 1B, and FIG. 7B is a plan view.
The flexible conductor 1B is different from the flexible conductor 1 in the formation direction of the fold when the conductive portion 20B is formed from the conductive thin metal plate 10B, and is otherwise the same. Therefore, the same components as those of the flexible conductor 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals in the flexible conductor 1B, and the description thereof is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 8, the conductive portion 20B of the flexible conductor 1B is a mountain along a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the strip-shaped conductive metal thin plate 10B having the same width as that of the conductive portion 20B. A plurality of fold folds 11B and valley fold folds 12B are alternately formed at regular intervals. At this time, the processing is performed so that the interval between the mountain fold crease 11B and the valley fold crease 12B coincides with the length of the conductive portion 20 after completion.
That is, the conductive portion 20B of the flexible conductor 1B has the conductive metal thin plate 10B folded back at the both ends thereof by the respective folds 11B and 12B. Even in such a structure, the plurality of partition portions 13B are formed. It can be set as the state which piled up in the shape of a bellows.

When the flexible conductors 1B are connected to each other, the partition portions 13B of the other flexible conductor 1B are inserted between the partition portions 13B of the one flexible conductor 1B, and the positions of the through holes 21 are set to each other. In the combined state, it is fixed by the connecting tool 40 (not shown in FIG. 7).
In the case of this flexible conductor 1B, when the flexible conductors 1 are connected to each other as shown in FIG. 3, one conductive portion 20 cannot be placed on the other conductor portion 20, but the other effects Is the same as the flexible conductor 1.

The conductive portion 20B of the flexible conductor 1B is not limited to the method of folding the conductive metal thin plate 10B having the same width as the conductive portion 20B into a bellows shape. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the conductive metal thin plate 10C having a width (for example, several to several tens of times) larger than the width of the conductive portion 20B is folded into a bellows shape, and cut into the width of the conductive portion 20B. 20B may be manufactured.
That is, the conductive metal sheet 10C having a width larger than that of the conductive portion 20B is formed at the same interval as the length of the conductive portion 20B to form the mountain fold fold 11B and the valley fold fold 12B, and the conductive metal folded in a bellows shape. The thin plate 10C is cut out with the width of the conductive portion 20B.
In the case of this method, a plurality of conductive portions 20B can be manufactured from the conductive metal thin plate 10C folded in a bellows shape, so that high productivity can be obtained.

1, 1A, 1B Flexible conductor 10, 10A, 10B, 10C Conductive metal thin plate 11, 11B Mountain fold 12, 12B Valley fold 13, 13B Partition 14A Cut 20, 20A, 20B Conductor 21 Through hole 30 restraint tool 40 coupling tool 41 fitting claw

Claims (6)

For the conductive metal thin plate, by alternately performing mountain folds and valley folds, the conductive metal thin plate is provided with a conductive portion in which a plurality of partitioned portions partitioned in each fold are superposed in a bellows shape,
A flexible conductor characterized in that both end portions of the bellows-like conductive portion are connection portions for energization.   The flexible conductor according to claim 1, wherein a through hole for attachment or connection formed through the plurality of partition portions is formed in the connection portion of the conductive portion.   3. The flexible conductor according to claim 1, further comprising a restraining tool that can be attached to an intermediate position in a longitudinal direction of the conductive portion and bundles and holds the plurality of partition portions.   The flexible conductor according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a connecting tool that can be attached to a connection portion of the conductive portion and bundles and holds the plurality of partition portions.   The flexible conductor according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a fold with respect to the conductive metal thin plate is formed along a longitudinal direction of the conductive portion.   The flexible conductor according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a fold with respect to the conductive metal thin plate is formed along a direction orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the conductive portion.

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