JP3459026B2 - Branch 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 a branch connection box equipped with pressure contact terminals for connecting electric wires.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A branch connection box provided with pressure contact terminals for connecting electric wires is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-30222 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4222.
The technology described in Japanese Patent No. 123071 is available. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an example of such a branch connection box,
A plurality of (five in FIG. 7) electric wire insertion holes 2 penetrating in the direction of the arrow X are provided on the upper side of the case 1 of the branch connection box A, and the base line 3 is inserted into each electric wire insertion hole 2. Through hole 2
A plurality of (five in FIG. 7) electric wire insertion holes 4 penetrating in the Y direction substantially perpendicular to the arrow X are provided below the electric wires, and the branch wires 5 are inserted into the electric wire insertion holes 4, respectively.

A terminal insertion hole 6 intersecting with the wire insertion holes 2 and 4 is provided on the upper surface of the case 1 of the branch connection box A, and the pressure contact terminal 7 inserted into the terminal insertion hole 6 is a connecting wall 7a. The connecting wall 7a and the bending walls 7b that are bent at substantially right angles form a U-shaped cross section, and the lower end of the bending wall 7b projects downward (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Connecting wall 7
At the lower end of a and the lower ends of both the bent walls 7b, a concave pressure contact portion 8 is formed.
a and 8b are provided, and the tips of the concave pressure contact portions 8a and 8b are formed into sharp knife edges.

Therefore, when the pressure contact terminal 7 is inserted into the terminal insertion hole 6, the concave pressure contact portion 8a of the connecting wall 7a penetrates the coating of the base wire 3 in the wire insertion hole 2 and contacts the conductor portion of the base wire 3. Since the concave pressure contact portion 8b of the bent wall 7b penetrates the coating of the branch wire 5 and contacts the conductor portion of the branch wire 5, the base line 3 and the branch wire 5 are electrically connected via the pressure contact terminal 7. (See FIG. 9). The terminal insertion holes 6 are provided at positions where the electric wire insertion holes 2 and 4 intersect, and the base line 3 and the branch line 5 to be electrically connected are provided.
The pressure contact terminal 7 is inserted into the terminal insertion hole 6 at the intersection point.

At the end of the upper surface of the case 1 of the junction box A,
The cover 9 is extended via a thin hinge, two engaging pieces 10 projecting at right angles to the ends of the cover 9 are provided with square holes 11, and the side surface of the case 1 is provided with an engaging projection 12. The cover 9 is placed on the upper surface of the case 1 to cover the pressure contact terminal 7,
When the square hole 11 of the engagement piece 10 is engaged with the engagement protrusion 12, the cover 9 is held in the closed state.

In such a branch connection box A, a pressure contact terminal 7 is placed in the terminal insertion hole 6 at the intersection of the base line 3 and the branch line 5 to be electrically connected.
It is convenient because the base line 3 and the branch line 5 can be electrically connected by a simple operation of inserting the, but a plurality of the base lines 3 are arranged on the same plane, and the plurality of branch lines 5 are arranged on the same plane below. Therefore, there is a problem that the electrical connection between one base line 3 and the branch line 5 hinders the electrical connection between the other base lines 3. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when one base line 3 and five branch lines 5 are electrically connected, the terminal insertion holes 6 arranged on the other four base lines 3'cannot be used. The wide area of the branch junction box A becomes an unusable dead space.

In order to avoid such a problem, as shown in FIG. 11, there is a branch connection box in which a plurality of electric wires are not arranged in a plane of the same level and a height difference is provided (actual flat 1-6.
6759). Branch junction box A shown in FIG.
₁ is a step-like stepped portion 13a, 13 on the upper surface of the main body 13.
b, 13c are provided, and the pressure contact terminals 14 are inserted into a plurality of (four in FIG. 11) terminal insertion holes that penetrate the stepped portions 13a, 13b, 13c.

A substantially Z-shaped refraction portion 15 is formed on one side (upper side in FIG. 11) of the pressure contact terminal 14, and the refraction portion 15 is formed.
A concave pressure contact portion 16 is provided at the tip of the tab, and the tab 17 formed on the other side projects into an opening (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the main body 12. Since the refraction portion 15 is placed on the step portions 13a, 13b, 13c having a height difference, the electric wires 18 electrically connected to the press contact portion 16 do not interfere with each other. After attaching the electric wire 18, cover the main body 12 with the cover 19,
The rectangular hole 20 provided on the side surface of the cover 19 is engaged with the engaging projection 21 protruding from the side surface of the main body to fix the cover 19.

[0009]

In this branch connection box A ₁ , since the pressure contact terminals 14 provided on the main body 13 are provided with a height difference, the electric wire 19 connected to the pressure contact terminals 14 on one step portion is Although there is no interference with the pressure contact terminals 14 on the other step portions, the entire upper surface of the main body 13 can be effectively utilized, and there are advantages that the number of electrical connection points between the pressure contact terminals 14 and the electric wires 19 can be increased. Wire 19 and crimp terminal 1
Since the electric wire arranging work for connecting with 4 must be manually carried out one by one, there is a problem of inefficiency.

Further, since the electric wire connection work is performed in the final assembly work, there is a problem that the stock period of electric wires and the like becomes long and the stock quantity increases. An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and while utilizing the effect of avoiding interference between an electric wire and another pressure contact terminal by providing a height difference in the pressure contact terminal, the electric wire is efficiently used, and the final assembling work is awaited. It is intended to provide a branch connection box that can be sub-assembled into a case in a split state without being.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a branch connection box of the present invention is provided with a plurality of step-like joining surfaces on both front and back surfaces, and a plurality of terminals are provided on each of the joining surfaces on the front side. An electric wire fixing groove that intersects with the plurality of terminal insertion holes is provided in the middle case having the insertion holes, and
Each of the upper case and the lower case , in which the electric wire is fixed in the wire fixing groove and has a superposed surface that overlaps with the bonding surfaces of the front and back surfaces
The stepped portion is provided with an electric wire insertion hole that intersects the electric wires at a substantially predetermined height difference, and the connecting electric wire is fixed to the electric wire insertion hole and fitted in the terminal insertion hole. The pressure contact terminal is provided with a pressure contact portion that is electrically connected to the electric wire and the connection electric wire.

[0012]

The invention according to claim 2 is the same as claim 1.
In the mounted junction box, the pressure contact terminal , an upper pressure contact portion that is electrically connected to the conductor portion of the connection wire of the upper case,
A lower press-contact portion is provided for electrically connecting to a conductor portion of a connecting wire of the lower case, and an arm protruding from a side surface of an intermediate portion of the press-connecting terminal is electrically connected to a conductor portion of an electric wire fixed to the middle case. it characterized in that the contact portion is provided.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a branch connection box B, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of the branch connection box B. is there. As shown in FIG. 1, the case of the branch connection box B includes a middle case 25, an upper case 26, and a lower case 27.
On the front surface (the upper surface in FIG. 1) of the middle case 25, a plurality of joining surfaces 28a to 28e that are stepwise raised toward the right by a predetermined dimension are arranged, and on the back surface, only the predetermined dimension toward the right. Joint surfaces 29a to 29e that become higher stepwise
Are arranged.

Since the joint surfaces 28a to 28e have the same shape and the same structure except that the heights of the surfaces are different, only the joint surface 28a will be described. A plurality of (seven in the present embodiment) terminal insertion holes 30 are provided on the surface of the joint surface 28a at substantially equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the joint surface 28a. The terminal insertion hole 30 has a slit-shaped through-hole portion 30a penetrating from the front surface to the back surface of the joint surface 28a, and a shallow-slit-shaped arm insertion portion that is bent and extends at substantially right angles from both ends of the upper portion of the through-hole portion 30a. 30b and arm insertion part 30
It is composed of a bottomed tip hole portion 30c extending downward from the tip of b, and has a U-shaped opening on the joint surface 28a (see FIG. 4).

An electric wire fixing groove 31 is provided on the surface of the joint surface 28a so as to penetrate in the longitudinal direction of the joint surface 28a, and the electric wire fixing groove 31 intersects with the tip end hole portion 30c of each terminal insertion hole 30. The bottom surface 31a of the wire fixing groove 31 has a tip hole portion 30.
It is shallower than the bottom surface of c, the groove width of the wire fixing groove 31 is narrower than the width of the tip hole portion 30c, and has a width dimension slightly smaller than the diameter of the base wire 32 which is a covered electric wire (V-V cross section of FIG. (See FIG. 5). Therefore, the base line 32 inserted into the electric wire fixing groove 31 is sandwiched between both inner wall surfaces of the electric wire fixing groove 31 (see FIG. 6, which is a WW cross section of FIG. 4).

A pressure contact terminal 33 fitted in the terminal insertion hole 30.
Is composed of a vertically long plate-like connecting piece 33a, and an arm 33b which is bent and protruded from both sides of the connecting piece 33a at a substantially right angle and whose tip extends slightly downward. An upper pressure contact portion 34 is formed on the upper end of the connection piece 33a, and a lower pressure contact portion 3 is formed on the lower end.
5 is formed, and an intermediate pressure contact portion 36 provided at the lower end of the tip of the arm 33b is formed. The upper pressure contact portion 34, the lower pressure contact portion 35, and the intermediate pressure contact portion 36 are formed in a concave shape, and the concave peripheral edge portion is formed in a knife edge.

The lower surface of the upper case 26 is provided with stepped overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e which respectively overlap the joining surfaces 28a to 28e of the middle case 25, and the upper surface of the upper case 26 is
Stepped portions 38a having the same number of steps as the overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e
38e is formed. Each overlapping surface 37a to 37e is provided with a recess (not shown) facing the terminal insertion hole 30 of the middle case, and the upper connection wire 40 is inserted into the connection wire insertion hole 39 penetrating from the recess to the left side of the upper case 26. Is inserted and fixed.

The end of each upper connecting wire 40 is exposed in the recess of each overlapping surface 37a-37e, and the wiring height of each upper connecting wire 40 is a predetermined dimension with respect to each overlapping surface 37a-37e. In a high position. Therefore, each upper connecting electric wire 40 has a height corresponding to the overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e, and the upper connecting electric wires 40 do not interfere with each other.

The upper surface of the lower case 27 is provided with stepwise overlapping surfaces 41a to 41e which overlap the joining surfaces 29a to 29e of the middle case 25, and the lower surface of the lower case 27 is
The same number of stepped step portions 42a to 41e as the overlapping surfaces 41a to 41e
42e is formed. Each of the overlapping surfaces 41a to 41e is provided with a recess 43 facing the terminal insertion hole 30 of the middle case, and the lower side is connected to a connection wire insertion hole (not shown) penetrating from the recess 43 to the right side of the lower case 27. The electric wire 44 is inserted and fixed. The lower connecting electric wire 44 also overlaps the overlapping surface 41a.
It has a height corresponding to 41e, and the lower connecting electric wire 44 does not interfere.

The connection of the base line 32 and the connecting electric wires 40 and 44 by the branch connection box B constructed as described above is performed as follows. The base wire 32 is inserted and fixed in the wire fixing groove 31 of the middle case 25, and the upper connecting wire 40 and the lower connecting wire 44
The pressure contact terminal 33 is inserted at a position where it is electrically connected to. As a result, the intermediate pressure contact portion 36 of the pressure contact terminal 33 is electrically connected to the conductor portion of the base line 32 (see FIG. 3).

In the upper case 26, only the upper connecting wire 40 connected to the base wire 32 is inserted and fixed in the connecting wire insertion hole 39, and in the lower case 27, only the lower connecting wire 44 connecting to the base wire 32 is inserted. Insert into the hole and secure. At this time, there is no interference between the upper connecting wires 40 and the lower connecting wires 44.

When the upper case 26 is stacked on the middle case 25 by the operation of stacking the middle case 25 on the lower case 27, the upper pressure contact portion 34 of the pressure contact terminal 33 is electrically connected to the conductor portion of the upper connection electric wire 40. Then, the lower pressure contact portion 35 is electrically connected to the conductor portion of the upper connection electric wire 40 (see FIG. 3). Thus, the electrical connection is completed only by assembling the cases 25, 26 and 27.

[0024]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects. (1) Since the upper connecting wires of the upper case are wired with a predetermined height difference, even if the number of upper connecting wires and the number of electrical connection points are large, they do not interfere with each other. Similarly, the lower connecting electric wires of the lower case do not interfere with each other even if the number of wirings and the number of electric connecting points are large. (2) Even if the number of wires and the number of electrical connection points are large, they do not interfere with each other, so it is easy to increase or decrease the number of electrical connection points.When the branch circuit is an optional circuit,
An optional circuit can be easily added in the final assembly process of the wire harness. (3) Since the electric connection of electric wires is automatically made collectively by simply stacking the upper case, middle case and lower case,
The inefficient manual work of wire connection, which was performed when assembling the case, is not required at all, and the wire connection is made efficient.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a branch connection box of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of a branch connection box.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an essential part for explaining the connection between the pressure contact terminal and the electric wire by assembling the case.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of relevant parts around the terminal insertion hole of the middle case.

5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line WW of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional example of a branch connection box.

8 is a perspective view of a pressure contact terminal used in the branch connection box of FIG. 7. FIG.

9 is a perspective view of a connecting portion between the pressure contact terminal and the electric wire in FIG.

10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a problem of the branch junction box of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing another conventional example of the branch connection box.

[Explanation of symbols]

B branch connection box 25 Medium case 26 Upper case 27 Lower case 28a to 28e Bonding surface 30 terminal insertion hole 31 Wire fixing groove 32 electric wires (base line) 33 Pressure contact terminal 34 Upper pressure contact part 35 Lower pressure contact part 36 Intermediate pressure contact part 37a-37e Overlapping surface 39 Connection wire insertion hole 40 Upper connection wire 41a-41e Overlapping surface 44 Lower connection wire

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-78641 (JP, A) JP-A-3-266376 (JP, A) JP-A-9-27356 (JP, A) JP-A-9- 102333 (JP, A) Actual Kaihei 6-62468 (JP, U) Japanese Patent Publication No. 40-20818 (JP, B1) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 4/24

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of step-like joining surfaces are formed on both front and back surfaces, and a plurality of terminal insertion holes are provided on each of the joining surfaces on the front side.
The case in which is provided, together with the wire fixing groove intersecting the plurality of terminal insertion holes are provided, the electric <br/> line electric wire fixing groove is fixed, overlapping each bonding surface of the front and back surfaces polymerization An electric wire insertion hole is provided in each of the stepped portions of the upper case and the lower case having a surface so as to intersect each electric wire at a substantially predetermined height difference.
At the same time, a connection electric wire is fixed to the electric wire insertion hole, and a press-contact terminal fitted into the terminal insertion hole is provided with a press-contact portion for electrically connecting the electric wire and the connection electric wire. box. 2. The press contact terminal is provided with an upper press contact portion electrically connected to a conductor portion of a connection wire of the upper case and a lower pressure contact portion electrically connected to a conductor portion of a connection wire of the lower case, On the arm protruding from the side surface of the middle part of the pressure contact terminal,
Branch connection box according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate pressure portion electrically connected to the conductor portion of the wire to be fixed in said casing is provided.