JP2014054070A - Electric connection box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric connection box having a novel structure that allows surely preventing forgetting to attach a cover.SOLUTION: A conductive path 28 for conducting a power supply 22 and a running system circuit 26 is provided in a box body 12, and a conductive member supporting portion 30 supporting a conductive member 38 constituting a part of the conductive path 28 is further provided in a cover 14. By the cover 14 being attached to the box body 12, the conductive member 38 is connected to the conductive path 28.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical junction box mounted on an automobile or the like, and more particularly to an electrical junction box in which a cover is assembled to a box body on which electrical components are mounted.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an automobile or the like, an electric junction box is used for distributing electric power from a power source such as a battery to electric parts such as an electric circuit and a motor. For example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-288975 (Patent Document 1), the electrical junction box has a structure in which an electrical component mounting portion on which electrical components such as fuses and relays are mounted is provided on the box body. Has been.

  By the way, in recent years, due to the demand for downsizing of the electrical junction box, a large number of electrical components are mounted on the box body more closely, and the conductive paths connected to the electrical components are arranged with high density. ing. Therefore, when the box body gets wet due to rain water, vehicle washing, or the like, there is a higher risk of short circuiting. Further, in recent years, for the purpose of reducing the fuel consumption of automobiles, it has been studied to adopt a so-called aluminum electric wire using lightweight aluminum as an electric wire connected to an electric junction box. However, since aluminum wires have copper terminals connected to the aluminum wires, corrosion will occur at the contact points between the wires and terminals due to the difference in ionization tendency between aluminum and copper. It is likely to occur.

  Therefore, as shown in Patent Document 1, the electrical junction box is provided with a cover that covers the electrical component mounting portion of the box body, and the waterproofness of the box body is secured by attaching the cover to the box body. Is to be secured. However, fuses, relays, etc. provided in the electrical junction box may be replaced by ordinary users after removing the cover, and the box body may be forgotten and the box body may get wet. It was.

JP 2007-288975 A

  The present invention has been made in the background of the above-mentioned circumstances, and a problem to be solved is to provide an electrical junction box having a novel structure that can reliably prevent forgetting to attach a cover.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrical junction box in which a cover that covers the electrical component mounting portion is attached to a box body provided with an electrical component mounting portion. The cover is provided with a conductive member holding portion that holds a conductive member that constitutes a part of the conductive path that conducts between the power source and the traveling system circuit. The conductive member is connected to the conductive path of the box body by assembling the cover to the box body.

  In the present invention, a conductive member constituting a part of a conductive path connecting a power source such as a battery and the traveling system circuit is provided on the cover side. The traveling system circuit is an electrical circuit that is indispensable for the vehicle to travel, and refers to an electrical circuit in which the vehicle cannot travel when power is not supplied. The electrical circuit is a printed wiring board. The circuit provided in an electrical component is also included. For example, in the case of an automobile, an electric circuit such as an EFI (Electric Fuel Injection) circuit, an ECU (Engine Control Unit) circuit, and an ignition circuit, and an electric circuit provided in an electric component such as a starter are also included. Therefore, when the cover is not assembled to the box body, the conductive path that connects the power source and the traveling system circuit formed in the box body is divided, and the power supply to the traveling system circuit is cut off. Can not run. As a result, in order to enable the vehicle to travel, it is necessary to assemble the cover to the box body, and forgetting to attach the cover can be prevented. As a result, the waterproofness of the electrical junction box can be ensured.

  The conductive member is not particularly limited as long as it can constitute a conductive path, and may be a bus bar, a short pin, an electric wire, or a fuse, a relay, or the like. In addition, the specific structure of the conductive member holding portion provided in the cover is not limited as long as it can hold the conductive member on the cover. For example, a fuse or a relay as a conductive member is fitted and fixed. You may provide the attaching part to perform, or provide the bolt fixing | fixed part which bolts the bus bar etc. as a conduction | electrical_connection member. Alternatively, the conductive member may be integrally formed and fixed to the cover by insert molding or the like. In such a case, the molding material for the cover surrounding the conductive member is used as the conductive member holding portion. Furthermore, the number of conducting members held by the cover is not limited to one, and a plurality of conducting members may be used.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the conductive member is removably held by the conductive member holding portion.

  According to this aspect, the conducting member attached to the cover can be easily replaced. Therefore, for example, when a component that is supposed to be replaced, such as a fuse, is adopted as the conductive member, it can be suitably used.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, a fuse as the conductive member is held in the conductive member holding portion of the cover.

  According to this aspect, by using a fuse that is conventionally attached to and detached from the box body as the conduction member, the connection portion with the conduction member on the box body side is realized in the same shape as the conventional fuse mounting portion. Can be manufactured easily.

  In the present invention, the cover is provided with a conductive member that constitutes a part of the conductive path that connects the power circuit to the traveling system circuit that is essential for traveling of the vehicle. Thereby, when the cover is not assembled | attached to the box main body, driving | running | working of a vehicle can be made impossible. As a result, forgetting to attach the cover can be prevented, and the waterproofness of the electrical junction box can be ensured.

The disassembled perspective view of the electrical-connection box as one Embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the removal state and attachment state of the cover of the electrical-connection box shown in FIG. The principal part enlarged view of the conduction | electrical_connection member holding | maintenance part of the electrical-connection box shown in FIG.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  First, FIG. 1 shows an electrical junction box 10 as an embodiment of the present invention. The electrical connection box 10 is provided, for example, in an engine room of an automobile, and has a structure in which a cover 14 is assembled to the box body 12 from above.

  The box body 12 is provided with a plurality of fuse mounting portions 16 as electric component mounting portions arranged in a line. These fuse mounting portions 16 can adopt the same structure as that conventionally used for the fuse mounting portion. One fuse mounting portion 16a among the plurality of fuse mounting portions 16 is a conductive member connecting portion.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the box body 12 is provided with bus bars 18a, 18b, and 18c. One end of the bus bar 18a is connected to the electric wire 20a assembled to the box body 12 by the connecting portion 21, and the battery 22 as an electric power source provided outside the electric connecting box 10 and the electric via the electric wire 20a and the like. Connected. The other end of the bus bar 18a is formed in a terminal shape to which a lead portion 42a of a fuse 38, which will be described later, can be connected, and is disposed in the fuse mounting portion 16a.

  In addition, electric wires, such as the electric wire 20a and the electric wire 20b mentioned later, are assembled | attached to the box main body 12 from the downward direction. As the electric wires to be assembled to these box bodies 12, copper electric wires that have been widely used in the past may be used, but so-called aluminum electric wires whose core wires are made of aluminum can also be suitably used. By using the aluminum electric wire, it is possible to reduce the weight of the electric junction box 10 including the electric wire.

  On the other hand, one end of the bus bar 18 b is electrically connected to a starter relay 24 provided in the box body 12. The starter relay 24 is electrically connected to a bus bar 18 c provided on the box body 12. Further, the bus bar 18c is connected to the electric wire 20b assembled to the box body 12 by the connecting portion 25, and is electrically connected to the starter 26 that is a DC motor for starting the engine as a traveling system circuit via the electric wire 20b and the like. ing. Thereby, the bus bar 18b is electrically connected to the starter 26 via the starter relay 24, the bus bar 18c, the electric wire 20b, and the like. Note that an ignition switch 27 is connected to the starter relay 24. The other end portion of the bus bar 18b is formed in a terminal shape to which a lead portion 42b of a fuse 38, which will be described later, can be connected, and is disposed in the fuse mounting portion 16b.

  Thereby, the box main body 12 includes a bus bar 18a, 18b, 18c, and a starter relay 24, and a conductive path 28 that conducts the battery 22 and the starter 26 is formed. The end of the bus bar 18a and the end of the bus bar 18b are disposed in the fuse mounting portion 16a, so that the conductive path 28 is divided at the fuse mounting portion 16a.

  Note that the traveling system circuit that is electrically connected to the battery 22 through the conductive path 28 is an electrical circuit that is essential for traveling of the vehicle. When the power supply is cut off and cannot operate, the vehicle cannot travel. A circuit is adopted. For example, an electric circuit provided in an electric component such as the starter 26 may be used, or an EFI (Electric Fuel Injection) circuit, an ECU (Engine Control Unit) circuit, an ignition circuit, or the like may be used. However, for a so-called dark current circuit that requires constant power supply, an electric circuit other than the dark current circuit is preferably adopted because, for example, resetting of the memory of the ECU occurs when the power supply is cut off.

  On the other hand, the cover 14 is formed with an attachment portion 30 as a conducting member holding portion. The mounting portion 30 is formed in a column shape protruding from the inner surface of the upper wall 32 of the cover 14 toward the box body 12 and is integrally formed with the cover 14. As shown in FIG. 3, a fuse insertion hole 34 is formed at the protruding tip of the mounting portion 30. The fuse insertion hole 34 is formed to open only on one side surface of the mounting portion 30. A slit 36 extending along the fuse insertion hole 34 is formed at the projecting tip of the attachment portion 30, and the fuse insertion hole 34 is opened to the outside of the attachment portion 30 through the slit 36. The width dimension of the slit 36 is slightly larger than the plate thickness dimension of the lead portions 42a and 42b of the fuse 38 described later.

  And the main-body part 40 of the fuse 38 as a conduction member is inserted in the fuse insertion hole 34 from a horizontal direction. As a result, the main body portion 40 of the fuse 38 is locked at the peripheral edge of the opening of the slit 36 and is held by the mounting portion 30, and the lead portions 42 a and 42 b protrude from the mounting portion 30 through the slit 36.

  In addition, the cover 14 is assembled | attached to the box main body 12 using conventionally well-known various structures. For example, in this embodiment, the engagement frame 44 provided at an appropriate position of the cover 14 engages with the engagement protrusion 46 provided at a corresponding position of the box body 12, so that the cover 14 is It can be assembled to the box body 12. Thus, the cover 14 covers the fuse mounting portion 16 of the box body 12 from above, so that water is prevented.

  In the electrical junction box 10 having such a structure, as shown in FIG. 2A, the fuse 38 attached to the fuse attachment portion 16a is inserted into the fuse insertion hole 34 of the attachment portion 30 of the cover 14. And is held on the cover 14 side. In a state where the cover 14 is not assembled to the box body 12, the bus bar 18 a and the bus bar 18 b of the box body 12 are divided at the fuse mounting portion 16, so that the power supply from the battery 22 to the starter 26 is cut off. Is done. Therefore, even if the ignition switch 27 is turned on, the starter 26 cannot be driven and the engine cannot be started, so that the vehicle cannot travel.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the cover 14 is assembled to the box body 12, the fuse 38 held by the attachment portion 30 is attached to the fuse attachment portion 16, and the lead portion 42a is connected to the bus bar 18a. On the other hand, the lead part 42b is connected to the bus bar 18b. As a result, a part of the conductive path 28 is formed by the fuse 38, and the bus bar 18a and the bus bar 18b are electrically connected. Thereby, the battery 22 and the starter 26 are brought into conduction through the conductive path 28, and the starter 26 can be driven by turning on the ignition switch 27. As a result, the engine can be started and the vehicle can run.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the fuse 38 constituting a part of the conductive path 28 is provided on the cover 14 side, when the cover 14 is removed from the box body 12, the starter 26 is directed to. It is impossible to supply power to the vehicle, and the vehicle cannot travel. Therefore, since it is necessary to assemble the cover 14 to the box body 12 in order to enable the vehicle to travel, forgetting to attach the cover 14 can be prevented. Thereby, the box main body 12 can be prevented from being wet, and a short circuit or the like caused by the water can be prevented. And since the water | moisture content of the electric wires 20a and 20b can also be prevented, even when an aluminum electric wire is used for the electric wire 20a, the electric wire 20b, etc., the corrosion resulting from water proofing can be prevented.

  Further, a fuse 38 is used as a conductive member held by the cover 14. Thereby, on the box body 12 side, the connecting portion of the conductive member can be formed by forming the fuse mounting portion 16a having the same structure as the conventionally mounted fuse mounting portion, which is easily manufactured. I can do it. Since the fuse 38 is fixed by being inserted into the fuse insertion hole 34 of the attachment portion 30, it can be easily removed from the attachment portion 30 by being extracted from the fuse insertion hole 34. If the fuse 38 is blown by overcurrent, it can be easily replaced. Further, since the main body portion 40 of the fuse 38 is locked from below by the opening peripheral edge portion of the slit 36 of the mounting portion 30, when removing the cover 14 from the box main body 12, an effective removal force is applied to the fuse 38. It is possible to prevent the fuse 38 from being left in the fuse mounting portion 16a.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited by the specific description. For example, the conductive member may be a bus bar, a short pin, an electric wire, a relay, or the like. Further, the number of conducting members is not limited to one, and a plurality of conducting members can be provided on the cover.

  Furthermore, the concrete structure of the conducting member holding part that holds the conducting member can employ various structures according to the conducting member. For example, the bolt fixing part that bolts the conducting member to the cover is connected to the conducting member holding part. Alternatively, the conducting member may be integrally formed with the cover, and the cover forming material covering the conducting member may be used as the conducting member holding portion.

  Further, the conductive path provided in the box body is not limited to the bus bar, and may be, for example, an electric wire or a printed wiring.

10: Electrical connection box, 12: Box body, 14: Cover, 16: Fuse mounting part (electric part mounting part), 16a: Fuse mounting part (conduction member connection part), 18a, b, c: Bus bar, 20a, b : Electric wire, 22: Battery (power source), 24: Starter relay, 27: Ignition switch, 26: Starter (travel system circuit), 28: Conductive path, 30: Mounting part (conductive member holding part), 38: Fuse (conductive) Element)

Claims (3)

In the electrical junction box in which a cover covering the electrical component mounting part is attached to the box body provided with the electrical component mounting part,
While the box body is provided with a conductive path that connects the power source and the traveling system circuit,
The cover is provided with a conducting member holding portion that holds a conducting member that constitutes a part of a conducting path that conducts the power source and the traveling system circuit, and the cover is assembled to the box body, The electrical connection box, wherein the conductive member is connected to the conductive path of the box body. The electrical connection box according to claim 1, wherein the conductive member is detachably held by the conductive member holding portion. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein a fuse as the conductive member is held in the conductive member holding portion of the cover.

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