JP3399291B2 - Electrical junction box - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric junction box for housing electric circuits and electronic components. 2. Description of the Related Art An electric junction box installed in an automobile is used as a connection branch point of various wiring circuits such as a wire harness and a variety of electric circuits and electronic parts for the automobile. [0003] Generally, an electric junction box is mounted in an engine room of an automobile. At this time, various electric connection boxes as a junction box, a relay box, a fuse box and the like are individually mounted. [0004] By the way, in order to mount the various electric junction boxes individually, it is necessary to increase the space for mounting the electric junction boxes in the engine room. However, in the engine room, not only the engine body, but also drive-related parts such as a cooling device such as a radiator and an intake device such as an air cleaner are mounted preferentially. Since the mounting space of the engine room is limited, it may be difficult to mount various electric connection boxes individually depending on the type of vehicle. As a result, there is a problem in that the layout of each component is limited, and the design TAT (Turn Around Time) increases. [0005] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electric junction box which can be mounted in a small space. According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mounting means which can be mounted below an overhanging portion in an engine room of an automobile ,
The mounting means has a plurality of housings in the shape of a box with an open side.
Compartments, at least one of which has a bottom
It consists of a box-shaped case with an open surface, and the other storage
It consists of a box-shaped case with an open top,
The storage part with an open surface and the storage part with an open top
The overhang is provided for
The gist of the present invention is that it is configured to be mountable at a lower part of a portion having a shape . In the embodiments of the invention described below, the “mounting means” described in the claims or the means for solving the problems comprises a lower case 12. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the electric connection box 10 includes an upper case 11 and a lower case 1.
2, junction block 13, relay block 15
It is composed of The upper case 11 has a box shape with an open lower surface. The lower case 12 is integrally formed of a junction block housing portion 12a having an open upper surface and a relay block housing portion 12b having an open lower surface. A junction block 13 having a plurality of electronic components 14 such as a circuit breaker mounted on the upper surface is accommodated in the junction block accommodation section 12a. The relay block housing portion 12b has a plurality of relays 16 on its upper surface.
Is accommodated therein. In addition, through holes 17 are provided on the outer side surfaces of the junction block housing portion 12a and the relay block housing portion 12b, respectively.
Each of the mounting portions 17 and 18 having a and 18b is formed. Next, the mounting position of the electric junction box 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the automobile 21 with the hood omitted, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the left direction of the drawing is the front, and the right direction of the drawing is the rear. An electric connection box 10 and an engine 23 are mounted inside an engine room 22 of the vehicle body 21. Various other components are mounted in the engine room, but are omitted here. A side fender 24 projects from the opening of the engine room 22 to receive the hood 26. Generally, the side fenders 24 are overhanging, and a space directly below the side fenders 24 is a dead space. Therefore, in the related art, since maintenance is difficult, components and the like are not mounted in the dead space. In the engine room 22, a tire house 25 projects. The electric connection box 10 is mounted in front of the tire house 25. At this time, the relay case 12b of the lower case 12 is mounted so as to be directly below the side fender 24. That is, the electric connection box 1
Part of 0 is placed in the dead space. The mounting portion 17 is attached to the engine room 22 by the bolts 19.
The mounting portion 18 is mounted on the inner surface of the side fender 24. Thus, the electric connection box 10 is fixed in the engine room 22. According to the electric junction box 10 configured as described above, the following operations and effects can be obtained. When the electric connection box 10 is mounted in the engine room 22, the relay block accommodating portion 12 b is mounted using a dead space in the engine room 22. The relay block 15 is attached to the relay block housing 12b from below. Therefore, relay block 1
At the time of maintenance of 5, the relay block 15 may be pulled out from the relay block housing portion 12b. That is, maintenance can be easily performed even if the relay block housing portion is arranged in the dead space. Therefore, the dead space can be effectively used, and the electric connection box 10 can be mounted in a small space. A junction block 13 and a relay block 15 are housed in the electric junction box 10. Therefore, it is not necessary to individually form an upper case and a lower case. Therefore, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and the number of parts can be reduced, so that the management cost can be reduced. In the lower case 12, the opening surface of the junction block accommodating portion 12a and the opening surface of the relay block accommodating portion 12b face opposite sides. Therefore, compared to a configuration in which the opening surfaces face in the same direction,
The strength of the lower case 12 is increased. Therefore, deformation of the lower case 12 can be prevented. The above embodiment may be modified as follows, and the same operation and effect can be obtained in such a case. In the above embodiment, the electric connection box 10 is mounted using the dead space of the side fender 24.
This is not limited to the dead space of the side fender 24. If a dead space is created by other components mounted in the engine room, the electric connection box 10 may be mounted using the dead space. In the above embodiment, the lower case 12
2, the junction block 13 is accommodated in the junction block accommodating portion 12a having an open upper surface, and the relay block 15 is accommodated in the relay block accommodating portion 12b having an open lower surface. This may be reversely accommodated. Further, the present invention is not limited to housing the junction block 13 and the relay block 15, but may house a fuse block or an electronic control unit (ECU). In the above embodiment, the lower case 12
Although two housing portions are formed in the first embodiment, three or more housing portions may be formed, and the above components may be housed therein. In the above embodiment, the junction block accommodating portion 12a and the relay block accommodating portion 12b are integrally formed in the lower case 12, but they may be formed to be detachable. By doing so, the number of combinations of junction boxes, relay boxes, fuse boxes, and the like can be increased. While the embodiments have been described above, technical ideas other than the claims that can be grasped from each embodiment will be described below together with their effects. -The electric connection box according to claim 1 , wherein each of the housing portions is detachably formed. In this way, the number of combinations of junction boxes, relay boxes, fuse boxes and the like can be increased. According to the first aspect of the present invention, since it can be mounted on an overhanging portion in an engine room of an automobile, it can be mounted in a small space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a mounting position of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2; [Description of Signs] 10 ... electric junction box, 11 ... upper case, 12 ... lower case, 12a ... junction block housing part, 1
2b: relay block housing, 13: junction block, 15: relay block.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60R 16/02 610

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] A mounting means which can be mounted below an overhanging portion in an engine room of an automobile , wherein the mounting means has a box having an open surface. Multiple housings
Compartments, at least one of which has a bottom
It consists of a box-shaped case with an open surface, and the other storage
It consists of a box-shaped case with an open top,
The storage part with an open surface and the storage part with an open top
The overhang is provided for
An electrical junction box that can be mounted at the bottom of the section .