JP2784367B2 - Electrical junction box - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric connection box used for wiring and connection of a wire harness in an automobile or the like, and in particular, to absorb a joint (branch connection) in the wire harness into the electric connection box. F as a component of the circuit
The present invention relates to an improvement of an electric junction box using a PC.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a conventional electric junction box. 1 is an upper cover constituting an electric junction box,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a lower cover, and a plurality of receptacles 3 'are arranged on the upper cover 1, and a plurality of terminals T are attached to each of the receptacles 3'. Each receptacle 3 'is provided corresponding to an external connector (not shown).

As a component of an internal circuit of the electric junction box, a flexible printed wiring board (hereinafter referred to as FPC) formed by forming a wiring pattern 12 'on the surface of a flexible insulating base material 10 such as a polyester sheet. 11 'is used. In the wiring pattern 12 ', lands 13 (see FIG. 10) such as through holes are formed at positions corresponding to the arrangement of the terminals T.
Electrical connection is made by joining the connection portions of the corresponding terminals by a method such as soldering.

FIG. 10 shows a wiring pattern 1 of the FPC 11 '.
2A shows a specific example, and shows the arrangement of lands 13 corresponding to the terminal arrangements shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C and wiring patterns 12 'connecting the lands 13 to each other. The internal connection shown in the wiring diagram of FIG. Note that the arrangement position of the lands 13 in FIG. 10 and the terminal T in FIG.
The terminal code attached to each terminal T is referred to. Normally, the wiring pattern 12 'is arranged so as to bypass the area where the lands 13 are arranged, so that the outer shape of the FPC 11' is larger than the terminal arrangement as shown in FIG.
The protruding portion of the PC 11 'is folded back as shown in FIG. 8 and accommodated in the lower cover 2, thereby preventing the outer shape of the electric connection box from becoming large.

An FPC 11 "shown in FIG. 11 is another example in which the terminal arrangement is the same as that shown in FIG. 7 and the internal connection is different from that of the FPC 11" shown in FIG. The internal connection is made, and a branch of the input / output different from the above example is obtained.

[0006]

In the configuration according to the prior art described above, the internal connection of the electric junction box and the wiring pattern of the FPC have a one-to-one correspondence. Therefore, separate FPCs each having a dedicated circuit pattern are required according to the difference between them, and if any part of the circuit is changed, it is necessary to manufacture a completely new FPC. This has the disadvantage that the types of components become enormous and the production, inventory management, and assembly work increase in cost due to complicated operations. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks by enabling use of an FPC having a common wiring pattern irrespective of a difference in internal connection and facilitating change of internal connection.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a plurality of terminals for connection with an external connector as described in claim 1, and as a component of an internal circuit. In an electric junction box using a flexible printed wiring board (hereinafter abbreviated as FPC), a plurality of FPCs having the same wiring pattern are arranged in a multilayered manner, and one end of the wiring pattern of each FPC is connected to a corresponding terminal. The other end of the wiring pattern is folded back and overlapped with the wiring pattern surface outside so that the wiring patterns overlapping with each other are connected to each other, and a punched portion is provided at a desired portion of the end of the FPC to form another. Not to be connected to the wiring pattern of the FPC
Is characterized in that a connection portion for branch connection between desired terminals is provided in the wiring pattern. The wiring pattern of each layer is formed by cutting and removing a part of a pattern of the same type, which has a parallel line shape (claim 2).

[0008]

According to the above arrangement, the FPC is formed by simply cutting and removing unnecessary portions from the original FPC having the same type of wiring pattern with a punch or a cutter. On the other hand, the internal connection can be changed by a simple means of changing the position of the connection part between the terminals and the position of the punched part in the FPC interlayer connection.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electric junction box according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same components as those in the conventional example will be described using the same reference numerals. Reference numeral A denotes an electric connection box, which is an upper cover 1, a lower cover 2, and receptacles 3a, 3b, 3 arranged in an opening 1a of the upper cover 1 constituting a box body.
c ("3" in a representative case), a plurality of terminals T fixed to each receptacle 3, and FPCs 11a, 11b, 1 having wiring patterns 12 for interconnecting the terminals T.
1c ("11" when represented as a representative).

As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal T is fixed through the hole 24 at the bottom of the receptacle 3 by appropriate means such as press-fitting or prevention of slipping-out by a locking claw. An elastic contact portion 7 formed by bending the lower half portion is provided, and the elastic contact portion 7 is elastically contacted with the wiring pattern 12 of the FPC 11 to perform electrical connection. It is formed as follows.

[0011] A holding groove 16 for the FPC 11 is formed in a base portion of each of the receptacles 3 housed inside the box, and one end of each of the FPCs 11a, 11b, and 11c is connected to the receptacle 3a, 3b, and 3c. The FPC 11 is fixed to the receptacle 3 by being inserted into the holding groove 16 and press-fitting a pressing plate 17 made of a hard material and a spacer 18 having an appropriate thickness into the back surface of each FPC 11.
At the same time, the wiring pattern 12 is pressed against the elastic contact portion 7 to make an electrical connection.

With the above configuration, the FPCs 11a, 11
The wiring patterns 12b, 11c are electrically connected to the terminals T belonging to the receptacles 3a, 3b, 3c, respectively. When the receptacles 3 are arranged at predetermined positions on the upper cover 1, the FPCs 11a, 11b, 11c will be stacked in this order in multiple layers.

The internal connection between terminals according to the present invention is configured as follows. FIGS. 4A to 4C show each FPC 11
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the wiring pattern of FIG. FPC 11a, 1
1b and 11c respectively have receptacles 3a, 3b,
The wiring pattern 12 corresponding to the terminal T group belonging to 3c
They are formed in parallel straight lines at equal intervals, and the contact positions between the elastic contact portions 7 of the corresponding terminals and the wiring patterns 12 are indicated by black circles in the figure.

However, in practice, the FPCs 11b and 11c use the portion between the cutting line 20 and the end portion 15, and the upper part of the FPC 11b and 11c above the cutting line 20 is drawn for the following description. In this case, it is cut and removed at the cutting line 20.

The portions of the regions indicated by the black circles of the FPCs 11 are inserted and fixed in the holding grooves 16 of the corresponding receptacles 3, and when the respective receptacles 3 are arranged at predetermined positions on the upper cover 1, the FPCs 11a and 11b , 11c are stacked in this order in multiple layers, and the cutting lines 20 are aligned so that the ends 15 are aligned.
To the end 15 are determined.

Note that the positions of the terminals indicated by white circles in the figure are for reference only, and in practice, this position is
If the PC does not exist or is covered by another FPC,
No electrical connection is made between the terminal and the wiring pattern.

Each of the FPCs 11 has its end 15 bent at the bending line 22 so that the surface on which the wiring pattern 12 is formed is turned outward, and the folded portions are superimposed on each other, so that the electrical connection of the corresponding wiring pattern between the FPC layers is obtained. Connection is made. However, for a wiring pattern that does not perform interlayer connection, a punched portion 21 is formed at the end 15 at the wiring pattern 12 by an appropriate means such as a punch or a cutter.

In the FPC 11 of the intermediate layer, the punched portion 2
When 1 is provided, the corresponding wiring patterns 12 in the upper and lower layers jump over the FPC 11 in the intermediate layer and are connected to each other.

That is, by providing an appropriate punching portion 21 at the end 15 of each FPC 11, a mutual branch connection of the terminals T arranged in the direction in which the receptacles 3 are arranged is achieved.

On the other hand, the branch connection between the terminals arranged in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement of the receptacles 3 is made by a connecting portion 23 connecting between different wiring patterns 12 on the same FPC 11 in FIG. This connecting part 23 is F
Instead of being formed as the wiring pattern 12 on the PC 11, the wiring pattern is formed by a known means such as conduction between the desired wiring patterns 12, 12 by soldering.

That is, the connecting portion 23 is connected to the wiring pattern 12
By providing them at appropriate positions between each other, an arbitrary electrical connection between terminals arranged in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement of the receptacles 3 is formed.

FPCs 11a, 11b and 11c shown in FIG.
The result of the internal connection consisting of the contact point between the wiring pattern 12 and the elastic contact portion 7 of the terminal T, the arrangement of the connecting portion 23 and the punching portion 21 in the above is the input / output branch shown in the wiring diagram of FIG. However, for the comparison between the arrangement position of the elastic contact portions 7 of the terminals in FIG. 4 and the terminals T in FIG. 2, the terminal symbols attached to each terminal T in FIG. 7 are referred to.

FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c) show a wiring pattern 12 having the same terminal arrangement as that of FIG. 4, but having different internal connections, contact points with the terminal elastic contact portions 7, a connecting portion 23 and a punching portion 2.
1 shows an arrangement. When FIG. 5 is compared with FIG. 4, the arrangement of the contact points with the wiring pattern 12 and the terminal elastic contact portion 7 is the same, but the arrangement of the punching portion 21 and the connecting portion 23 is different, and the FPCs 11a ′, When the configurations of 11b 'and 11c' are used, the internal connection shown in the wiring diagram of FIG.
An input / output branch different from that in FIG. 2 is obtained.

As shown in the examples of FIGS. 4 and 5, in the present invention, a plurality of FPCs 11 divided and assigned to each receptacle are used. And a shape obtained by cutting and removing the same type of wiring pattern as the original by a cutting line 20 set at an appropriate position corresponding to the receptacle 3. Thus, the internal connection can be changed by a simple means of changing the arrangement of the connecting portion 23 and the punching portion 21 without changing the wiring pattern 12.

The following embodiments are also within the scope of the present invention. (1) As a component of the internal circuit, a bus bar formed by punching a thin metal plate, for example, may be used in addition to the FPC. (2) The layout shape of the wiring patterns in each layer is not limited to equal intervals, parallel, straight lines, etc. In essence, any shape may be used as long as it can be obtained by cutting and removing a part of the FPC having the same shape wiring pattern. In the case of an equidistant, parallel, straight line pattern, for example, by cutting and using a long strip of FPC having a predetermined length, the utilization rate of the material is improved. (3) The means for connecting the terminal and the wiring pattern may be means other than elastic contact of the bent portion, for example, soldering with a through hole. (4) The means for connecting the layers of the FPC may be means other than bending and overlapping the ends, for example, soldering with through holes. (5) The FPC may be assigned to each of the terminal groups appropriately divided into a plurality of groups, instead of being divided and assigned to each receptacle. (6) In the embodiment, the case where the number of the receptacles is three is described, but the number can be increased or decreased as needed. (7) In the embodiment, the case where the receptacle is disposed on the upper cover has been described, but the receptacle may be disposed on both the upper cover and the lower cover.

[0026]

According to the present invention, an FPC used for an internal circuit of an electric junction box is formed by simply cutting and removing an unnecessary portion from an original FPC having the same type of wiring pattern with a punch or a cutter. In response to various input / output branch requests, the internal connection can be changed by a simple means of changing the position of the terminal connection portion and the position of the punched portion in the FPC interlayer interconnection. In the application of, there is no need to create a dedicated FPC for each circuit specification according to differences in vehicle type, specifications, grades, etc., reducing the number of types of parts, manufacturing, inventory management,
The cost saving effect based on the simplification of the assembly work is great.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electric junction box showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a wiring diagram showing one example of an internal circuit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a wiring diagram showing another example of the internal circuit of FIG. 1;

4 (a) to 4 (c) are development views showing FPC wiring patterns corresponding to the internal circuit of FIG. 2, respectively.

5 (a) to 5 (c) are developed views each showing an FPC wiring pattern corresponding to the internal circuit of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a connection structure between a terminal and an FPC in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 7A to 7C are explanatory diagrams showing the relationship between the arrangement of terminals in the receptacle of FIG. 1 and the terminal symbols.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional electric junction box.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional receptacle and an FPC.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing an example of a wiring pattern of a conventional FPC.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing another example of the wiring pattern of the conventional FPC.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper cover 2 Lower cover 3, 3a-3c receptacle 7 Elastic contact part 11a-11c FPC 12 Wiring pattern 20 Cutting line 21 Punching part 22 Bending line 23 Connecting part T terminal

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An electric connection box having a plurality of terminals for connection with an external connector and using a flexible printed wiring board (hereinafter abbreviated as FPC) as a component of an internal circuit has the same wiring pattern. A plurality of FPCs are arranged in multiple layers, one end of a wiring pattern of each FPC is connected to a corresponding terminal, and the other end of the wiring pattern is overlapped by folding back with the wiring pattern surface outside. Matching wiring patterns are connected,
By providing a punched portion at a desired portion at the end of the FPC, it is prevented from being mutually connected to a wiring pattern of another FPC, and a connecting portion for branch connection between desired terminals is provided in the wiring pattern of the FPC. An electric junction box characterized by the above. 2. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the wiring pattern of each layer of the FPC has a shape obtained by cutting and removing a part of the same parallel linear pattern. 3. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein a bent portion is provided at a portion of the terminal connected to the wiring pattern, and electrical connection is made by contact of the terminal with the wiring pattern due to elasticity of the bent portion. Connection box.