JP3458817B2 - 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 junction box containing a busbar and a flexible printed board which are connected to each other in a case body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vehicle such as an automobile, an electric connection box for electrically connecting various electric components has been used. In this kind of electrical junction box, a circuit-shaped metal plate called a bus bar and a flexible printed circuit board (FPC: Flexible Printed Circuit Board) are provided inside the case body.
And are housed. As a method of connecting the terminal of the bus bar and the conductive portion of the flexible printed board, the terminal and the conductive portion are overlapped with each other, and the overlapped portion is spot-welded or soldered. Alternatively, as another connection method, the overlapping parts of the terminals and the conductive parts are held in contact with each other by the holding metal fittings which are separate from the case body.

[0003]

However, the method of spot welding or soldering for connecting the bus bar and the flexible printed circuit board has a problem that the cost is high and it is not suitable for mass production. Further, when using the holding metal fitting, there is a problem that the number of parts is increased and the manufacturing cost is increased. In addition, since the bus bar and the flexible printed circuit board are connected to each other by the holding metal fittings and then assembled to the case body, there is a problem that it takes time to assemble the bus bar and the flexible printed circuit board.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electric machine capable of easily connecting a bus bar and a flexible printed circuit board , although the cost is low. To provide a junction box.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the invention as set forth in claim 1, an electric machine in which a bus bar and a flexible printed circuit board electrically connected to each other are housed in a case body. In the connection box, with the plurality of bus bars
A plurality of insulating plates made of synthetic resin are laminated alternately, and the terminals provided on each of the bus bars are insulated from each other.
Insulation plate that is bent in the stacking direction and is located in the bottom layer
Is bent along the terminal of the bus bar at the end of the
Shape the insertion part that extends to almost the same position as the tip of the terminal.
Made of synthetic resin on which the flexible printed circuit board is placed
How to stack the bus bar and the insulating plate on the end of the insulating base material of
Form the insertion part that is bent in the same direction as
Folding of a flexible printed circuit board that is bent along the recess
To expose the conductive portion in the bending portion, the two insertion portion sandwiched write non <br/> clamping member, integrally formed in the case body, the clamping
Insert both insertion parts into the holding member from the same direction.
Thus, the gist is that the terminal and the conductive portion are held in contact with each other.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electric junction box according to the first aspect, the holding member is a pair of projecting pieces arranged so as to face each other with a predetermined gap, At least one of the two protruding pieces has an inclined surface on the inner surface of the tip end portion in which the distance between the protruding pieces becomes narrower toward the direction in which the bus bar and the flexible printed circuit board are inserted. And

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electric junction box according to the second aspect, the bus bar and the flexible print are provided on an outer surface of one of the two protruding pieces.
The gist of the invention is that reinforcing ribs are provided so as to prevent the respective projecting pieces from tilting outward when the board is sandwiched between the projecting pieces.

The "action" of the present invention will be described below. According to the invention described in claim 1, when the terminal provided on the bus bar and the conductive portion provided on the flexible printed circuit board are sandwiched inside the sandwiching member, the terminal and the conductive portion contact each other. Then, the bus bar and the flexible printed circuit board are electrically connected.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the terminal provided on the bus bar and the conductive portion provided on the flexible printed board are inserted between the projecting pieces, the bus bar or the flexible print is inserted. The board can be inserted smoothly.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, even when the terminal provided on the bus bar and the conductive portion provided on the flexible printed circuit board are inserted between the projecting pieces, the reinforcing rib The presence prevents the prongs from leaning outward. Therefore, it becomes possible to connect the terminal of the bus bar and the conductive portion of the flexible printed board with high contact pressure.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electrical junction box 10
The case body 11 is provided with a box-shaped lower case 12, and a box-shaped upper case 13 with a lid is detachably attached to the upper part thereof. In the case body 11, a plurality of insulating plates 14 made of synthetic resin and flat busbars 15 are housed in a state of being alternately laminated.

A terminal 15a is formed at an end of each bus bar 15, and the terminal 15a is formed by the insulating plate 14 and the bus bar 15.
Is bent along the stacking direction. An insertion portion 14a bent along the terminal 15a of the bus bar 15 is formed at the end of the insulating plate 14 located in the lowermost layer. The tip of this insertion portion 14a extends to almost the same position as the tip of each terminal 15a.

A flexible printed circuit board 17 as a wiring member is provided in the case body 11, and the flexible printed circuit board 17 is obtained by bonding a polyimide film and a conductor pattern made of copper foil with an adhesive. It is provided on the upper surface of the insulating base material 18 made of synthetic resin. Insulating base material 18
The ends of the upper and lower sides, that is, the insulating plate 14 and the bus.
The insertion portion 18a is formed so as to be bent along the same direction as the stacking direction of the bars 15 . The flexible printed board 17 is bent along the insertion portion 18a, and a part of the conductor pattern is exposed at the bent portion.
That is, in this embodiment, the exposed portion serves as the conductive portion 17a of the flexible printed board 17.

[0015] upper surface of the lower case 12, protrusion 20 and 21 of the clamping member disposed so as to face each other at a predetermined distance are projected. The forming material of the lower case 12 and each of the protruding pieces 20 and 21 is a synthetic resin, and they are integrally formed. And both projecting pieces 20, 2
The terminals 15a of the bus bar 15 and the conductive portion 17a of the flexible printed circuit board 17 are sandwiched between the two, so that both 15a and 17a are in contact with each other. By this contact, the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed circuit board 17 are electrically connected. In addition, since the vicinity of the central portion of the terminal 15a is curved, the terminal 15a elastically contacts the conductive portion 17a.

Inclined surfaces 20a and 21a are formed on the inner surfaces of the tips of the projections 20 and 21, respectively. This inclined surface 20
Due to the existence of a and 21a, the tip portions of the protruding pieces 20 and 21 are
It is thinner than the base end. More specifically, due to the inclined surfaces 20a and 21a, the distance between the protruding pieces 20 and 21 becomes narrower toward the direction in which the terminal 15a and the conductive portion 17a are inserted (lower side in FIG. 2).

In the electric connection box 10 having the above-described structure, the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed circuit board 17 are connected as follows. First, the insertion portion 18 a formed on the insulating base material 18 is sandwiched between the protrusions 20 and 21. As a result, the conductive portion 17a of the flexible printed board 17 is arranged between the protruding pieces 20 and 21. Then, the insertion portion 14a formed on the insulating plate 14 is attached to the protruding pieces 20, 21.
When it is sandwiched between the terminals, the terminal 15a of the bus bar 15 is brought into contact with the conductive portion 17a already arranged. That is,
The terminal 15a and the conductive portion 17a are held in contact with each other by being sandwiched by the projecting pieces 20 and 21. By this contact, the conductor pattern of the flexible printed board 17 and the bus bar 15 are electrically connected.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. (1) The terminal 15a formed on the bus bar 15 and the conductive portion 17a of the flexible printed circuit board 17 form the case body 11
The terminal 15a and the conductive portion 17a are brought into contact with each other by being sandwiched between the projecting pieces 20 and 21 integrally formed with each other.
That is, the terminal 15a and the conductive portion 17a can be brought into contact with each other without performing troublesome spot welding or soldering. Therefore, the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed circuit board 17 can be easily connected to each other at low cost.

(2) Since the protrusions 20 and 21 are integrally formed on the upper surface of the lower case 12, the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed board 17 can be assembled and connected at the same time. it can. Therefore, the number of steps for assembling the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed board 17 can be reduced, and the cost can be further reduced.

(3) Since the inclined surfaces 20a and 21a are formed on the inner surfaces of the tips of the projections 20 and 21, the distance between the tips of the projections 20 and 21 is wide. Therefore, even if the inserting direction of the inserting portion 18a of the insulating base material 18 is slightly inclined, the inserting portion 18a can be smoothly inserted while being guided by the inclined surfaces 20a and 21a.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described focusing on the points different from the first embodiment.

Now, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the reinforcing ribs 25 are provided on the outer side surfaces of the respective projecting pieces 20, 21.
Are projected respectively. The material forming the reinforcing ribs 25 is synthetic resin, and the lower case 12 and the protrusions 20,
21 is formed integrally. Two of the reinforcing ribs 25 are provided for each of the projecting pieces 20 and 21, and the reinforcing ribs 25 are arranged at both ends of each of the projecting pieces 20 and 21.

Also in this second embodiment, the same effect as that of the above-described first embodiment can be exhibited. In particular, in this embodiment, since the reinforcing ribs 25 are provided on the projecting pieces 20 and 21, even if the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed board 17 are sandwiched between the projecting pieces 20 and 21, It is possible to reliably prevent the protruding pieces 20 and 21 from bending outward. Therefore, a high contact pressure between the terminal 15a of the bus bar 15 and the conductive portion 17a of the flexible printed board 17 can be reliably obtained. As a result, a poor electrical connection between the terminal 15a and the conductive portion 17a can be almost eliminated, and the reliability can be improved.

Further, since each reinforcing rib 25 is formed integrally with the lower case 12 and the projecting pieces 20 and 21, the troublesome work of assembling the small reinforcing rib 25 can be eliminated. Further, the two reinforcing ribs 25 are provided on each of the protrusions 20,
Since the protrusions 2 are provided at both ends of the protrusion 21, when the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed circuit board 17 are inserted, the protrusions 2
It is possible to further prevent 0 and 21 from bending outward.

The embodiment of the present invention may be modified as follows. -As shown in FIG. 4, you may integrally form the insertion part 14a of the insulating plate 14 in the lowermost layer, and the one projecting piece 20. With this configuration, the bus bar 15 and the flexible printed board 17 can be connected to each other only by inserting the flexible printed board 17 between the projecting pieces 20 and 21.

In the above-described embodiment, the inclined surfaces 20a and 21a are formed at the tips of the protrusions 20 and 21, respectively. In addition to this structure, the inclined surfaces 20a and 21a may be formed on only one of the protrusions 20 and 21. Alternatively,
Both inclined surfaces 20a and 21a may be omitted.

The protrusions 20 and 21 may be changed to arbitrary shapes as long as the terminals 15 a of the bus bar 15 and the conductive portion 17 a of the flexible printed board 17 are sandwiched therebetween. For example,
It may be changed to a shape like a connector housing, that is, a rectangular tube shape.

In the above-described embodiment, the flexible printed board 17 is electrically connected to the bus bar 15. Instead of the flexible printed board 17, for example, a rigid printed circuit board (PCB Printed Circuit Board) or a bus bar may be used.

Next, in addition to the technical ideas described in the claims, the technical ideas grasped by the above-described embodiments will be listed below. (1) according to claim 1, wherein the clamping member is a pair of projecting pieces disposed so as to face each other with a predetermined interval, either one at least of the two projecting pieces are bus bar terminal and soluble in An electrical junction box characterized in that it is thicker toward the insertion direction of a conductive portion of a flexible printed circuit board .

(2) In claims 1 to 3, the flexibility
The printed circuit board is either a printed circuit board or a bus bar. (3) The electric junction box according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of the reinforcing ribs are provided and are integrally formed with the sandwiching member and the case body.

(4) In a method of connecting electrical components in which the bus bar housed in the case body and the flexible printed board are connected to each other, the terminals provided on the bus bar and the flexible printed board are provided. A method for connecting electrical equipment, characterized in that the terminal and the conductive portion are brought into contact with each other by sandwiching the obtained conductive portion inside a sandwiching member formed integrally with the case body.

(5) In an electric connection box in which a bus bar and a flexible printed circuit board which are electrically connected to each other are housed in a case body, terminals provided on the bus bar and flexible terminals are provided.
And a conductive portion provided on the flexible printed circuit board are sandwiched and arranged inside a sandwiching member integrally formed on the case body, and the terminal and the conductive portion are brought into contact with each other.

[0033]

As described above in detail, according to the invention described in claim 1, the cost is low, though it is low.
The bus bar and the flexible printed board can be easily connected.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the terminal provided on the bus bar or the conductive portion provided on the flexible printed board can be smoothly inserted between the projecting pieces. According to the third aspect of the invention, the terminal provided on the bus bar and the conductive portion provided on the flexible printed circuit board can be connected with high contact pressure, so that the reliability can be improved. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the inside of the electric junction box.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the inside of an electrical junction box of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Case body, 15 ... Bus bar, 14 ... Insulation plate, 1
4a ... insertion portion, 15a ... terminal, 17 ... flexible printed circuit board, 17a ... conductive portion, 18 ... insulating substrate, 18a ... difference
Nesting portion, 20 , 21 ... Projecting piece (holding member), 20a, 2
1a ... inclined surface, 25 ... reinforcing ribs.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-202109 (JP, A) Fukukaihei 1-142169 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H02G 3/16 H01R 9/03 H01R 12/28 H05K 7/12

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bus bar and allowed to be electrically connected to each other
In an electrical junction box in which a flexible printed circuit board and a case body are housed, a plurality of bus bars and a synthetic resin are used.
A number of insulating plates are alternately stacked, and the terminals provided on the bus bar are arranged along the stacking direction of the bus bar and the insulating plate.
The bus bar at the end of the insulation plate located at the bottom.
Is bent along the terminal of the
Form a plug part that extends to the same position, and
The end of the insulating base made of synthetic resin on which the lint substrate is placed
And bend it in the same direction as the stacking direction of the bus bar and the insulating plate.
To form the inserted part and fold along this part.
Conductive parts are provided on the bent parts of the flexible printed circuit board.
Exposed, said write-free clamping member sandwiching both insertion portion, integrally formed in the case body, wherein both a difference in the clamping member
By inserting the plug-in part from the same direction,
And an electric junction box in which the conductive portion is held in contact . 2. The sandwiching member is a pair of projecting pieces arranged so as to be opposed to each other at a predetermined interval, and at least one of the projecting pieces is provided with the bus bar on the inner surface of the tip portion. 2. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, further comprising an inclined surface in which the distance between the projecting pieces becomes narrower toward the direction in which the flexible printed circuit board is inserted. 3. When the bus bar and the flexible printed circuit board are sandwiched between the projecting pieces on the outer surface of one of the two projecting pieces, the projecting pieces are inclined outward. The electric connection box according to claim 2, wherein a reinforcing rib for preventing the electric connection is provided in a protruding manner.