JP3307340B2 - Circuit board and electrical junction box containing the circuit board - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a circuit board and an electric connection box provided with the circuit board, and more particularly, to a circuit board comprising a bus bar and a terminal board connected to the bus bar as an internal circuit of the electric connection box. It is provided.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a circuit board constituting an internal circuit of an electric junction box such as a junction box for an automobile, an electric wire such as a single-core wire is laid along an electric circuit on an insulating plate. There is a case where a press contact method in which a press contact terminal is driven into the circuit and a press contact is used, or a bus bar formed by punching a conductive metal plate into a circuit shape using a mold is used.

[0003]

In the case where a pressure welding system is used for the configuration of the internal circuit, recently, the number of circuits to be accommodated in the electric connection box is rapidly increasing due to the rapid increase of electrical components, and electric wires are laid. Since the shape of the insulating plate is complicated, it takes time to wire the wires and process the insulating plate, and there is a problem that the manufacturing cost increases.

Further, when a bus bar is used as an internal circuit, a punching die must be manufactured according to the circuit, so that it is not possible to easily cope with a circuit change, and it is costly to manufacture the die. There is. In addition, there are many portions that are not used after the punching, and the yield of the conductive metal plate as a material is poor, which causes an increase in cost. Further, due to a rapid increase of circuits accommodated in the electric junction box, 7 to 8 bus bars in the horizontal direction must be stacked and arranged in many layers with an insulating plate interposed therebetween, and the cost tends to be enormous. .

To solve the above problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-13 / 1981
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 0989 proposes a circuit board 2 housed in an electric junction box shown in FIGS. 11 (A) and 11 (B).
Insulating sheets 1a and 1b are laminated on both sides of the conductive member 3 formed by punching out a punched portion 3a of the conductive metal plate to form a grid, and unnecessary portions 3b of the circuit are cut to form a circuit. An electric wire is connected to the periphery to connect to an external circuit.

With the above configuration, the circuit is formed by cutting the unnecessary portion 3b, so that it is easy to cope with a circuit change. However, the circuit is formed by punching, and the punched portion 3a is formed.
However, there is a problem that the yield of the conductive metal plate is not improved. Furthermore, when connecting to an external circuit, since connection is performed by connecting electric wires, it is not possible to directly connect a press-contact terminal or the like to the conductive member 3, and furthermore, the connection of the electric wires is structurally difficult.
Since it is limited to the peripheral portion of the conductive member 3, there is a problem that the inner portion of the conductive member 3 and the external circuit cannot be directly connected, resulting in a complicated and inefficient connection.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has as its first object to reduce the cost of forming an internal circuit in an electric junction box. Also,
A second object is to be able to easily respond to changes in the internal circuit. Further, it is a third object of the present invention to efficiently connect to an external circuit or the like, and to easily cope with a change in the connection position or the number of connections to the external circuit or the like.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is based on the following object. First, strip-shaped bus bars of the same shape are superimposed in a grid in a horizontal state, and the intersections are electrically connected. For joining the conductive material from which unnecessary portions have been cut off to the front and back surfaces of the conductive material, and for inserting the terminal plate through holes, the through holes of the other layers of the terminal plate, and the conductive material of the other layer. An insulating film having a hole cut out, and a terminal plate having one end connected to the conductive material through the insertion hole of the terminal plate and having an external connection terminal portion or a relay connection terminal portion provided at the other end. And a circuit board provided with:

When the conductive material is formed of strip-shaped bus bars of the same shape, the material can be shared, and the material yield is improved without waste. further,
Conventionally, a punching process using a mold used for forming a bus bar becomes unnecessary, and the cost for forming a circuit can be significantly reduced. In addition, by overlapping the bus bars in a grid and cutting unnecessary portions on the circuit to form a conductive material, a required circuit can be easily formed, and the circuit can be easily changed.

On the other hand, connection to an external circuit or the like is performed by directly connecting and fixing the terminal plate to the conductive material.
The terminal plate and the conductive material can be directly connected without interposing an electric wire or the like. In addition, since the connection portion of the terminal board is not limited to the periphery of the conductive material and can be connected to all portions of the conductive material, complicated connection due to the interposition of electric wires and the like can be eliminated, and efficient connection can be performed. It is possible to easily cope with a change in a connection portion and the number of connections with a circuit. Further, the terminal plate has a tab as an external connection terminal portion at the end opposite to the driving side, and is inserted and fixed inside a connector provided in an upper case or the like for connection with a fuse or the like. A conductive material or the like to which the terminal plate is connected and fixed can be held inside the electric connection box.

[0011] The terminal plate for relay connection has a press contact blade as a relay connection terminal portion at an end opposite to the driving side,
An electric wire such as a single core wire for circuit relay is pressed against the press contact blade. The above-mentioned external circuit and the terminal board for relay connection can be connected and fixed from both front and back surfaces of the conductive material.

The conductive material constituted by the bus bar may be provided with a driving hole and a through-hole of the terminal plate, and the driving hole of the terminal plate makes the connection between the terminal plate and the conductive material more secure. To fit the terminal board. On the other hand, the through-hole allows the terminal board to pass through.For example, when the circuit boards are stacked, the terminal board projecting above the lower circuit board passes through the upper circuit board to receive the connector of the upper case. Used when inserted into a part. If the conductive material in the portion through which the terminal plate passes is deleted as an unnecessary portion on the circuit, the terminal plate passes through only the through hole of the insulating film without providing a through hole in the conductive material.

The intersections of the bus bars overlapped in a grid are joined by welding, welding or caulking, and one end of the terminal plate is connected and fixed to the bus bar by soldering, caulking, welding or welding. Is preferred. In other words, by joining the bus bars in a grid pattern and covering both surfaces with an insulating film, the joining at the intersections of the bus bars is secured, but by joining the intersections of the bus bars by welding or the like as described above. ,
The junction at the intersections becomes stronger, and the reliability of the circuit can be improved. Note that a through hole may be provided at the intersection, a rivet may be inserted, and the rivet may be joined by caulking or may be bolted.

The connection between the terminal plate and the bus bar is performed by soldering or the like, so that the connection can be securely fixed. Further, a driving hole for the terminal plate is provided in the bus bar, and the terminal plate is driven into the bus bar. After fitting, soldering etc.,
You may make it connect and fix more firmly to a bus bar. Also, after bending the shape of the terminal plate into an L shape,
One surface of the shape may be connected and fixed to the bus bar by welding, welding, or the like, or a through hole may be formed in one surface of the terminal plate and the connection portion of the bus bar, and the connection may be fixed by rivet caulking or bolting.

Further, the conductive material covered with the insulating film is vertically stacked, and the conductive materials of the upper and lower adjacent layers are welded or welded through the cut joint holes of the insulating film to be conductive. Is preferred. In order to cope with the increase in the number of circuits, it is necessary to laminate circuit boards,
Since the conductive material is coated on both sides with a resin insulating film, there is no problem such as short circuit even if it is directly adjacent to the top and bottom without the interposition of the insulating plate, and the height at the time of lamination can be suppressed. it can. Furthermore, the connection of the conductive materials of different layers uses another member or the like by cutting the insulating film of the upper and lower layers, respectively, and providing a joining hole, and welding or welding the upper and lower conductive materials with the joining hole. And can be easily joined. Note that the upper and lower conductive materials may be joined by providing a through hole at the joint portion and caulking with rivets or bolting.

In the strip-shaped bus bars arranged in parallel in the vertical and horizontal directions, the pitch arranged in the vertical direction and the pitch arranged in the horizontal direction correspond to the terminal hole pitch of the fuse, relay and connector. . For example, a part of the bus bars arranged in parallel in the vertical direction corresponds to the pitch of the fuse, the remaining bus bars in the vertical direction correspond to the pitch of the relay, and a part of the bus bars arranged in the horizontal direction corresponds to a small connector terminal hole. It corresponds to the pitch, partly corresponds to the medium pitch, and the rest corresponds to the large pitch.

As described above, if the pitch of the bus bars arranged in the grid in the vertical and horizontal directions is made to correspond to the pitch of the terminal holes of the fuse, relay and connector connected via the terminal plate, the terminals connected to these bus bars can be obtained. Tabs on the other end of the plate can be directly connected to fuses, relays and connectors.

Further, the present invention provides an electric junction box containing the above circuit board. In this electric connection box, a bus bar for power supply connection is arranged, a plurality of the circuit boards are stacked and arranged, a through hole is formed in the conductive material, and a through hole is formed in the resin film, respectively. It is preferable to connect the terminal plate connected and fixed to the conductive material to an external terminal of an external circuit through a through hole or the like.

In the above-mentioned electric junction box, a plurality of vertical bus bars and horizontal bus bars are arranged in parallel at a required pitch and overlap each other, and the intersections of these vertical bus bars and horizontal bus bars are welded or the like. Joining, cutting out unnecessary parts and covering the front and back surfaces with an insulating film, or cutting out unnecessary parts after covering with an insulating film. After that, cut the portion corresponding to the connection location of the terminal plate of the insulating film, and connect and fix the terminal plate to a conductive material to produce a circuit board,
The circuit board is housed and assembled in a case including a lower case and an upper case.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A show a circuit board 10 according to the present invention, in which an insulating film 11 is coated on both sides of a conductive material 12. The conductive material 12 is constituted by vertically arranging a bus bar 13 and a bus bar 14 in the same shape and a strip shape in parallel to each other and superposing them in a lattice shape, and an intersection 12a of the bus bar 13 and the bus bar 14 is formed.
Are joined by welding. In the conductive material 12, unnecessary portions on the circuit are cut off, and the driving holes 12b of the terminal plate are formed.
Are provided, and the terminal boards 15 and 21 are driven into the driving holes 12b to be pressed and fixed to form the circuit board 10.

FIG. 2B shows circuit boards 10A and 10B which are stacked one above the other, and the upper and lower conductive members 12A and 12A.
2B is joined by welding at the contact 20 through the joining hole 11d of the insulating film 11. The circuit board 10 (1
0A, 10B), as shown in FIG.
A busbar 18 for power supply connection, which is stacked and housed inside the case of an electric connection box comprising
Are also stacked to assemble the electrical junction box.

FIGS. 4 to 8 show a method of manufacturing the circuit board 10.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The vertical and horizontal bus bars 13 and 14 constituting the conductive material 12 are formed by cutting a strip-shaped conductive metal plate having the same width and the same shape into a predetermined length. 4, a vertical bus bar 13 shown in the X direction is shown.
And the horizontal bus bars 14 shown in the Y direction are arranged in parallel at the same pitch.

As shown in FIG. 8, the pitch P1 of a part of the horizontal bus bar 14 'is adjusted to the pitch of the fuse terminals, and the remaining pitch P2 is adjusted to the relay terminals. Some of the pitches P3 match the small pitch of the connector terminal holes, while the other
Is set to the middle pitch of the connector terminal hole, and the remaining pitch P
5 may be adapted to the large pitch of the connector terminal holes.

The vertical bus bars 13 and 14 arranged in parallel as described above are overlapped in a horizontal state, and as shown in FIG. 5, the intersections 12a are welded and joined in a grid, and the bus bars 13 and the bus bars 14 are joined together. The conductive material 12 is formed so as to ensure conduction at the intersection 12a. The joining of the intersection 12a may be performed by welding other than welding, and a through hole may be provided in the intersection 12a, a rivet may be inserted, the rivet may be caulked and joined, or the intersection may be bolted. . Further, when the intersection portion 12a can be reliably brought into contact with the lattice shape by the insulating film 11, which will be described later, it is not necessary to particularly join by the welding or the like.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, a rectangular insulating film 11 made of resin is coated on both the front and back surfaces of the grid-like conductive material 12 formed by the bus bar 13 and the bus bar 14, and the surface of the conductive material 12 is formed. Is insulated. Then, when the conductive material 12 is laminated, the joining holes 1
1d is cut from the insulating film 11, and an insertion hole 11b is also cut and provided at a location where the terminal plate is connected and fixed. The cutting of the insertion hole 11b is performed simultaneously with the formation of a later-described driving hole 12b of the conductive material 12.
May be omitted because it is also punched.

In the conductive material 12 covered with the insulating film 11, unnecessary portions on the circuit are cut out together with the insulating film 11 by a press or a punch to form a conductive material 1.
2 is formed in a desired circuit. Note that the above-mentioned unnecessary portions may be cut off before the conductive material 12 is covered with the insulating film 11.

Further, in the conductive material 12, a punching hole 12b and a through hole 12c of a terminal layer of another layer at the time of lamination are punched and formed at a place where a terminal plate for connecting an external circuit is connected. ing. Since the insulating film 11 is also punched out at the same time as the formation of the through hole 12c, a through hole 11c is formed at a position corresponding to the insulating film 11 in the through hole 12c. When the cut portion of the conductive material 12 is punched, only the through hole 11 c is formed on the insulating film 11. The size of the driving hole 12b is preferably set to be equal to or less than the cross-sectional area of a driving portion of the terminal plate 15 described later, that is, a size of a so-called intermediate fit or close fit.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the terminal plate 15 is driven into the driving holes 12b of the conductive material 12, and
And the conductive material 12 around the driving hole 12b are securely connected and fixed by soldering from both surfaces or one surface of the conductive material 12. When the terminal plate 15 is driven, it is preferable that the tip of the terminal plate 15 is protruded from the back surface of the conductive material 12 and the protruding portion is soldered. Further, in addition to fixing by soldering as described above, the terminal plate 15 is driven so that the front end of the terminal plate 15 protrudes from the back surface of the driving surface of the conductive material 12,
The connection and fixing may be performed by caulking by deforming the projecting portion of the terminal plate 15 to be flat, or may be performed by welding or welding. If the fitting by driving is strong, soldering after the driving and fitting may be omitted.

The terminal plate 15 has a flat plate shape, and has a tab 15a on one end side which becomes a male terminal when connected to an external circuit. The terminal plate 15 can be driven from both the front and back surfaces of the conductive material 12, and is protruded from the surface of the conductive material 12 that has been driven. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the shape of the driving side of the terminal plate 15 may be cut off on both sides.
The depth of the conductive material 12 can be limited.

For relaying the internal circuit, a relay terminal plate 21 provided with a pressure contact blade 21a on one end side is also made of a conductive material 12.
And the circuit board 10 is manufactured by being connected and fixed to the conductive material 12 in the same manner as the terminal plate 15. The driving side of the relay terminal plate 21 may be as shown in FIG.

A required number of circuit boards 10 manufactured as described above (two in 10A and 10B in this embodiment) are manufactured, and the circuit boards 10 are mounted on a lower case 16 as shown in FIG.
A and 10B are vertically stacked and accommodated. Since the circuit boards 10A and 10B are covered with the conductive material 12 with the insulating film 11, there is no problem even if they are directly stacked one above the other. At the time of this lamination, as shown in FIG. 2B, pressure is applied to the conductive materials 12A and 12B of the vertically adjacent layers from above and below through the cut bonding holes 11d of the insulating film 11 by a clamp or the like to bring them into contact with each other. 20 are formed, and the contact 20 is welded to join the upper and lower conductive members 12A and 12B to ensure conduction. The welding is preferably performed by resistance welding or the like. Further, the joining may be performed by welding, and furthermore, a through hole may be provided in the contact 20, and the joining may be performed by caulking or bolting with rivets.

At the time of the lamination, the terminal board 15 of the lower circuit board 10A protrudes upward through the through-holes 11c and the through-holes 12c of the upper circuit board 10B, and the relay terminal board 21 is also connected to the upper circuit board 10B. Through the through hole 11c and the through hole 12c, is press-connected to the upper conductive material 12B, thereby connecting the conductors of the circuit boards 10A and 10B in the middle. Further, the terminal board 15 of the upper circuit board 10B is projected downward through the through hole 11c and the through hole 12c of the lower circuit board 10A, and is projected to the terminal hole of the connector accommodating portion provided in the lower case 16. .

A bus bar 18 for power supply connection is laminated above the upper circuit board 10B with an insulating space.
A tab 18a for connecting to an external terminal (not shown) connected to the power supply side is provided on the bus bar 18 so as to be bent upward, and a press-contact plate portion 18c formed with a press-contact blade 18b at its tip is provided for being bent downward, It is in pressure contact with the conductive material 12 of the circuit board 10B.

As described above, after the circuit boards 10A and 10B and the bus bar 18 are stacked on the lower case 16,
The terminal plate 15 covering the upper case 17 and projecting upward is inserted into and protruded from the terminal holes of the connector, the relay, and the fuse accommodating portion provided in the upper case 17, and the terminal plate 15 is fixed by the insertion. Circuit boards 10A and 10B are held inside the case. In this state, the upper case 17 and the lower case 16 are locked and fixed, and the assembly of the electric connection box is completed.

As a modification of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, terminal plates 15 'and 21' bent into an L shape are inserted into insulating films 11 'through insertion holes 11b' of the terminal plates.
The terminal plate is welded and fixed to the conductive material 12 'having no driving hole. The terminal plate 15 'is welded by making one surface of the L-shape a welding surface and abutting on the upper surface of the conductive material over a wide area, so that welding can be easily performed and the contact is ensured. Spot welding or the like is suitable for this welding. Also,
The connection may be fixed by welding, and furthermore, the terminal plate 15 ′
A connection hole may be provided by providing a through hole in the L shape and caulking or bolting a rivet. The other parts than those described above have the same configuration as that of the present embodiment, and form an electric connection box.

[0036]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, as an internal circuit of an electric junction box, a bus bar is superposed in a grid pattern to form a conductive material, thereby achieving a conventional internal circuit. In comparison, the circuit fabrication cost can be reduced. In addition, the conductive material is cut off unnecessary parts on the circuit of the bus bar superimposed in a lattice shape to form a circuit, and the terminal board is connected and fixed to the conductive material and connected to an external circuit, so the circuit change In addition, it is possible to easily cope with a change in the connection position and the number of connections to the external circuit, and to achieve more efficient connection with the external circuit.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a circuit board of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a circuit board of the present invention, wherein FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of a single unit, and FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the electric junction box of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a method for manufacturing a conductive material of a circuit board according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a grid-shaped conductive material of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a method for manufacturing a circuit board of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a terminal board is connected and fixed in the circuit board of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating a method for manufacturing another conductive material of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a terminal plate is fitted to the conductive material of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a modification of the present invention, showing a state in which a terminal plate is connected and fixed to a circuit board.

11A and 11B show a conventional example, in which FIG. 11A is a partially sectional perspective view showing a circuit board, and FIG. 11B is a schematic plan view showing a cut-out state of an unnecessary portion of a circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Circuit board 11 Insulating film 12 Conductive material 13, 14 Bus bar 15, 21 Terminal board 16 Lower case 17 Upper case 18 Bus bar

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A conductive material in which strip busbars of the same shape are superposed in a lattice shape in a horizontal state, an intersection portion is conducted, and an unnecessary portion is cut off on a circuit. An insulating film, which is coated on both front and back surfaces, has a through hole of the terminal plate, a through hole of the terminal plate of another layer, and a hole for joining with a conductive material of another layer being cut, and the through hole of the terminal plate; And a terminal plate having one end connected and fixed to the conductive material and the other end provided with an external connection terminal portion or a relay connection terminal portion. 2. An intersection of the bus bars overlapped in a grid is welded, welded, or caulked, and one end of the terminal plate is connected to the bus bar by soldering, caulking, welding, or welding. The circuit board according to claim 1, being fixed. 3. The conductive material covered with the insulating film is vertically stacked, and the conductive material of the upper and lower adjacent layers is welded or welded through cut holes of the insulating film to conduct. The circuit board according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The strip-shaped bus bars, which are arranged in parallel in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively, the pitch arranged in the vertical direction and the pitch arranged in the horizontal direction correspond to the terminal hole pitch of the fuse, the relay and the connector. Claim 1
The circuit board according to claim 3. 5. An electric junction box containing the circuit board according to claim 1. 6. The electric connection box according to claim 5, wherein a bus bar for connecting a power supply is stacked together with the circuit board.