JP2956741B2 - Automotive wiring equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wiring device for a motor vehicle, and more particularly to a device for easily connecting a wiring harness disposed on an instrument panel to electrical components to improve productivity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a wire harness has a structure in which a branch line is derived from a trunk line portion where a large number of electric wires are bundled.
Electrical connection to various electrical components is made by female or male connectors provided at the end of the branch line. Such a female,
In the connection method using male connectors, where a large number of switches and meters are concentrated, such as the instrument panel of a car, there are numerous connectors, making the connection complicated and requiring a large occupied space. It will be.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, a high-density multi-pole connector K having a large number of terminal accommodating chambers has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-145673). However, in such a high-density multi-pole connector K, since the number of terminals to be accommodated is extremely large, fitting and removal with a mating connector (not shown) are performed by tightening bolts a. There is a drawback in that a tool must be used and the workability of the fitting process is extremely poor. Further, in a part such as an instrument panel, there is a problem that the accommodation space and the operation area are small, so that application becomes extremely difficult.

On the other hand, the adoption of a connector having a reduced insertion / removal force using mechanical means such as a lever requires a space for accommodating mechanical parts such as a lever. There is a problem that the conversion cannot be achieved.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wiring apparatus for an automobile having good workability in a fitting step and easy assembling to a vehicle. Make it an issue.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a wire harness in which one of a pair of connectors to be fitted together is connected, and an electrical component in which the other connector and the electrical component are arranged. A storage case, comprising a coupling member for fixing the electrical component storage case to a structure,
A guide groove is formed in the coupling member, the one connector is mounted with the fitting part facing upward, the electrical component storage case is provided with a fitting part, and the other connector is fitted with the fitting part downward. By engaging the engaging portion in the guide groove, the pair of connectors are fitted to each other, and the wire harness and the electrical component storage case are locked to the structure via the coupling member. It is characterized by the following.

It is preferable that the engaging portion of the electrical component storage case is formed by a set of two rollers.

[0008]

According to the present invention, since the other connector attached to the electrical component storage case is fitted from above one connector attached to the connecting member, the connectors can be fitted together. it is possible to use the weight of the electrical equipment container case, engagement of the connector fitting and the electrical equipment container case a slight fitting force becomes possible, the structure of such connections and the instrument panel of a wire harness and electrical equipment The work of assembling the body is facilitated, and the productivity is improved.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an automobile wiring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, separated from an instrument panel P of the automobile. The automobile wiring device shown in FIG. 1 includes a wire harness 1, an electrical component storage case 2, and a coupling member 3 for fixing these to an instrument panel P. To connect the wire harness 1 and the electrical component storage case 2, one connector 4 constituting a pair of connectors that are fitted to each other is connected to the wire harness 1, and the other connector 5 is connected to the electrical component storage case 2. (See FIG. 2). A relay board 6 is provided at a predetermined position on the wire harness 1.
One connector 4 is attached to the relay board 6.

The relay board 6 includes an instrument panel P
The connector 4 is mounted at a predetermined position of the coupling member 3 fixed to the connector 4 with the fitting portion 4a of one connector 4 facing upward. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of female terminals 8 are accommodated in the connector 4, and are respectively connected to electric wires 9 constituting the wire harness 1.

The electrical component storage case 2 is formed in a frame shape by molding a synthetic resin material. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of various electrical components 10 are stored therein, and a fitting portion 5a is provided on a rear portion 2a. The other connector 5 with a downward facing is mounted. In the connector 5, a plurality of male terminals 11 to be fitted with the female terminals 8 are accommodated.
Is connected to the electric wire 12 that conducts to The fitting portion 5a of the connector 5 forms a rake portion 5b to form the connector 4a.
It is easy to fit with.

As shown in FIG. 4, the outer wall 2b on both sides of the electrical component storage case 2 is provided with two sets of engaging portions 13 each composed of two rollers 14, 14 '. The rollers 14 and 14 ′ are provided on the rotating shaft 14 fitted on the bearing plate 15.
a, 14a 'are small rollers that can rotate around the axis, the rotating shaft 14a of one roller 14 is fixed to the outer wall 2b of the electrical component storage case 2, and the rotating shaft 14a' of the other roller 14 'is It is provided so as to be slidable in a slit 16 formed on the outer wall 2b of the electrical component storage case 2.

The connecting member 3 is formed in a plate shape, and is fixed to the instrument panel P so as to oppose both sides of the electrical component storage case mounting portion 17 of the instrument panel P.
As shown in FIG. 5, an L-shaped guide groove 18 for introducing the engaging portion 13 of the electrical component storage case 2 is formed in the coupling member 3.

To mount the electrical component storage case 2 on the instrument panel P, as shown in FIG.
The rollers 14, 14 'of the engaging portion 13 are engaged with the guide grooves 18 of the connector 4, and as shown in FIG.
a and the fitting portion 5a of the connector 5 are aligned with each other.
By pressing down the electrical component storage case 2 along the arrow as shown by the arrow, the roller 14 of the engaging portion 13 is brought into contact with the lower end portion 18a of the guide groove 18, and as shown in FIGS. Is locked. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the appearance in which the electrical component storage case 2 is mounted on the instrument panel P.

When the connector 4 and the connector 5 are fitted,
Since the weight of the electrical component storage case 2 is added and the fitting can be surely performed with a small fitting force, the fitting can be easily performed even when the number of poles of the connector is large. For example, the total weight of the electrical component storage case 2 including the electrical component 10 is 12 kgf, and the fitting force between the connector 4 and the connector 5 is 2 kgf.
If the insertion force F is 0 kgf, the insertion force F is 20 kgf of the entire electrical component storage case 2, so that F = 20 kgf−12 kgf = 8 kgf.
Can be implemented.

In the case where maintenance of the electrical component 10 occurs, the electrical components 10 are individually removed from the electrical component storage case 2 to reduce the weight of the electrical component storage case 2. By raising 2,
The connector 5 can be easily removed from the connector 4.

In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which a pair of rollers 14, 14 'is used for the engaging portion 13 of the electrical component storage case, but the number of rollers of the engaging portion 13 may be one. Also, a protrusion may be formed on the outer wall on both sides of the electrical component storage case without using a rotating roller to serve as an engagement portion.

[0018]

According to the present invention, since the weight of the electrical component storage case can be utilized when fitting the connectors, the connector can be fitted and the electrical component storage case can be locked with a small fitting force. As a result, the work of connecting the wire harness to the electrical components and the work of assembling the structure such as the instrument panel become easy, and the assemblability and productivity are remarkably improved. Further, since the fitting force between the connectors is reduced, it is possible to increase the number of poles of the connector, thereby improving the wiring density and reducing the size and weight of components.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a wiring device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention separated from an instrument panel of the vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the automotive wiring device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a pair of connectors of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an engaging portion provided in the electrical component storage case of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a guide groove of the structure of FIG. 2;

6 is an explanatory view of a step of locking the electrical component storage case of FIG. 2 to a coupling member.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing positions of connectors in the process of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the electrical component storage case of FIG. 2 is locked by a coupling member.

9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the connectors are fitted to each other in the state shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an appearance in which an electrical component storage case is mounted on the instrument panel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a main part of a conventional multipolar connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P Instrument panel 1 Wire harness 2 Electrical component storage case 3 Coupling member 4 One connector 4a Fitting portion 5 The other connector 5a Fitting portion 10 Electrical component 13 Engaging portion 14, 14 'Roller 18 Guide groove

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-164646 (JP, A) JP-A-5-276636 (JP, A) JP-A-4-78636 (JP, A) JP-A-1-164646 212636 (JP, A) JP-A-2-82469 (JP, A) JP-A-6-49229 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01R 13/73 H01R 136 / 52 B60R 16/02

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A wiring harness to which one connector of a pair of mating connectors is connected, an electrical component storage case provided with the other connector and an electrical component, and a connection for fixing the electrical component storage case to a structure. Consisting of components,
A guide groove is formed in the coupling member, the one connector is mounted with the fitting part facing upward, the electrical component storage case is provided with a fitting part, and the other connector is fitted with the fitting part downward. By engaging the engaging portion with the guide groove, the pair of connectors are fitted to each other, and the wire harness and the electrical component storage case are locked to the structure via the coupling member. A wiring device for automobiles, characterized in that: 2. The wiring device for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion of the electrical component storage case is formed by a pair of rollers.