JP3685046B2 - Junction box - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a junction box connected to an automobile wire harness, and particularly to an improvement of a connection structure with a fuse.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Recently, with the rapid increase in electrical components mounted on automobiles, the number of circuits housed in junction boxes has increased rapidly, and branch circuits are formed at a high density. It has become very expensive.
[0003]
In order to reduce the thickness of the junction box as well as to easily cope with circuit changes and to reduce the number of assembly steps, the present applicant has previously proposed a junction box 1 as shown in FIG. Proposed in the issue.
[0004]
The junction box 1 is divided into a connector connection circuit portion (base circuit portion), a fuse connection circuit portion, and a relay connection circuit portion, and is separately provided as a connector module 2, a fuse module 3, and a relay module 4, and these modules 2, 3 and 4 are incorporated in a case consisting of a lower case 5 and an upper case 6.
Each of the modules 2, 3, and 4 has a configuration in which bus bars 2b, 3b, and 4b are caulked and fixed on the insulating substrates 2a, 3a, and 4a, and the bus bars 2b, 3b, and 4b are connected to the insulating substrates 2a, 3a, and 4a. It is set as the structure which protruded from the periphery and was mutually connected by welding.
[0005]
When the junction box is divided into the connector module, the fuse module, and the relay module as described above, the connector connection circuit, the fuse connection circuit, and the relay connection circuit are divided so that the bus bar tabs do not overlap. Multi-layering is suppressed and the junction box can be made thinner. In addition, each bus bar can be easily routed, so that each bus bar area can be reduced. As a result, even if the bus bars are divided, the overall bus bar area can be reduced, and an increase in the junction box area can be suppressed. it can.
Furthermore, if there is a specification change in each connector circuit, fuse circuit, and relay circuit, it is only necessary to change these corresponding modules, the specification change can be easily handled, and the circuit change can be easily handled. .
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, if the circuit in the junction box is divided into the connector connection circuit, the fuse connection circuit, and the relay connection circuit, and each is modularized, there is a great merit as described above.
However, the electrical connection between the modules is because the bus bars of the fuse module and the relay module are welded and connected to the bus bar of the connector module, so that there is a problem that the number of welding points is very large and the work is troublesome. Further, in welding between bus bars, there is a problem that the bus bars are likely to warp due to thermal strain during welding.
Further, since a large current flows in the power supply circuit of the fuse, there is a problem that a space for heat dissipation is required depending on the circuit configuration, and the junction box cannot be sufficiently downsized.
[0007]
Furthermore, depending on the circuit shape, it cannot be formed in the same layer, and therefore, there is a problem that the number of stacked bus bar layers increases. That is, as shown in FIG. 13A, there are connector circuits C1 and C2 connected to the connectors 7A and 7B of the connector module 2, and the circuits C1 and C2 are connected to the fuse 8 of the fuse module of the side arrangement. If the connector circuits C1 and C2 of the connector module 2 are not on different layers, they cannot be routed and the number of layers will increase.
[0008]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is intended to simplify the configuration of the bus bar, reduce the number of welds, improve the circuit configuration, and reduce the size of the junction box.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention divides an internal circuit provided in a case of a junction box mounted on an automobile into a conductor connected to a connector, a conductor connected to a fuse, and a conductor connected to a relay, and these conductors As a relay module having a circuit board for fixing a connector, a connector module having a circuit board for connector connection, a fuse module having a circuit board for fuse connection, and a circuit board for relay connection Provided separately,
In the case, the fuse module is arranged adjacent to the side of the connector module and the relay module is arranged above the connector module.
The conductor of the connector module is composed of a single core wire (bare wire) that is wired in parallel to one surface of the insulating substrate, and a strip-shaped bus bar that is parallel to the other surface of the insulating substrate in a direction orthogonal to the single core wire. circuit board is configured such that by welding through an opening bored in an insulating substrate at a predetermined intersection a single core wire and a bus bar that is cross-arranged to form a required circuit, vertically stacking a plurality of said circuit board,
Also, bus bars connected to the power supply side are juxtaposed in the lowermost layer of the connector module, the tips of these bus bars protrude from one end edge of the circuit board to be laminated, and a pressure contact tab having a pressure contact slot in the projecting portion Form the
The fuse module is arranged on the side where the pressure contact tab protrudes , and the conductor of the fuse module is a bus bar, which is divided into a fuse power supply side input bus bar and a fuse load side output bus bar. The terminal of the connector module is press-fitted into the press-contact slot of the press-contact tab of the bus bar of the connector module, and is provided with a tab with a press-contact slot on the load-side output bus bar, and is press-connected to the single core wire of the connector module,
Further, the conductor of the relay module is a bus bar, the other end of the bus bar connected to the relay terminal is refracted to provide a press contact terminal at the tip, and the press contact terminal is press connected to the intermediate portion of the single core wire of the connector module. We provide a junction box characterized by
[0010]
As described above, a fuse power supply circuit conventionally requires a large bus bar area because a large current flows, and generates heat when a current flows through the circuit. It was an impediment to downsizing the junction box. However, in the present invention, paying attention to the fact that the connector module can have a larger bus bar area, the power supply circuit of the fuse, which increases the bus bar occupancy, is constituted by the connector module and is arranged in the lowermost layer of the connector module. Thereby, the fuse module part can be miniaturized. Further, the arrangement at the lowermost layer does not hinder the circuit arrangement of the connector module, and the heat dissipation of the power supply circuit of the fuse is improved, and the problem of the heat dissipation space is solved.
[0011]
Attach the fuse to the fuse module placed on one side of the box with the power input terminal on the bottom and the load output terminal on the top.
The load-side output terminal is connected with a pressure-welded slot tab at one end of the bus bar attached to the fuse module, and is provided with a pressure-welded slot tab at the other end of the bus bar, so as to be connected to the single core wire of the connector module. I am letting.
[0012]
As described above, instead of joining the welds provided at the end of the bus bar and welding one point at a time, the power supply side input terminal of the fuse is press-fitted into the press contact slot of the press contact tab of the bus bar of the connector module, and the bus bar of the fuse module The load side output terminal of the fuse is press-fitted into the press-contact slot of the press-contact tab and press-connected. As a result, the number of welded connections can be greatly reduced, the number of processing steps can be reduced, and workability can be improved. In addition, since the connection is by pressure contact, it is possible to easily cope with circuit changes.
[0013]
Conventionally, a conductor is formed by punching a conductive metal plate in accordance with the circuit shape of the bus bar, but in the present invention, a strip-shaped bus bar and a single core wire (bare wire) are used. And a single core wire (bare wire) are arranged in a cross and welded through an opening of the insulating substrate at a required crossing position to form a required circuit. Thus, since the bus bar has a strip shape, there is almost no loss of the conductive metal plate, and the yield can be greatly improved. Further, when a circuit change occurs, it can be dealt with only by changing the connecting crossing position, and it is not necessary to change the conductive material itself. Therefore, it is possible to easily deal with the circuit change without increasing the cost.
[0014]
When a single core wire (bare wire) is used as described above, it is not necessary to peel off the insulation coating at the welding position with the bus bar, and the workability is excellent.
In addition, the welding of the bare wire and the bus bar is most preferably from the viewpoint of resistance welding, but may be soldering, ultrasonic welding, or laser welding.
[0015]
In the above junction box, when the connector module, fuse module, and relay module are assembled to the upper case, the lower case, and the side case, the connector connecting portion of the connector module is the connector housing portion provided in the lower case and the connector provided in the side case. The fuse mounting part is positioned in the side opening between the upper case and the lower case, and the relay mounting part is positioned in the opening formed on the upper surface of the upper case. Moreover, when accommodating an electronic control unit (ECU), it arrange | positions above a connector module and accommodates in an upper case.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of components constituting a junction box 10 connected to an automobile wire harness, and FIGS. 2 to 4 show sectional views in an assembled state.
[0017]
In FIG. 1, 11 is a connector module, 12 is a fuse module, 13 is a relay module, 14 is a lower case, 15 is an upper case, 16 is an intermediate case, 17 and 18 are side cases, and 19 is an electronic control unit.
[0018]
Each of the above components is assembled on the lower case 14 by placing the connector module 11, the intermediate case 16, and the electronic control unit 19 in this order, covering the upper case 15 and the side cases 17, 18. The relay module 13 is disposed above one side of the connector module 11, and the relay 40 of the relay module 13 is exposed to an opening 15 a provided on one side of the upper case 15. In addition, the fuse module 12 is assembled to one end of the connector module 11 and exposed to the side opening between the lower case 14 and the upper case 15.
The side cases 17 and 18 are respectively provided with connector accommodating portions 17a and 18a in a line.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 5, the connector module 11 has a single-core wire (bare wire) 21 made of a copper single-core wire on one surface (lower surface in the figure) made of a thin plate made of an insulating resin at a constant pitch in the X direction. In addition to the parallel wiring, long and narrow bus bars 22 in a strip shape are arranged in parallel in the Y direction at a constant pitch on the other surface (upper surface) of the insulating substrate 20. Therefore, the single core wire 21 and the bus bar 22 are in a state of being arranged in a cross via the insulating substrate 20.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 5B, the insulating substrate 20 has an opening 20a formed in advance at a required intersection position between the single core wire 21 and the bus bar 22. The single core wire 21 is bent to the bus bar 22 at a position corresponding to the opening 20a, the bus bar 22 and the single core wire 21 are joined through the opening 20a, and resistance welding is performed in this state. The necessary circuit is formed.
[0021]
A circuit board 100 (100A to 100C) having a configuration in which a single core wire 21 and a bus bar 22 are wired and connected at a required position with the insulating substrate 20 interposed therebetween, as shown in FIG. 25 are stacked in three layers up and down.
In the connector module 11, a conductive metal having a circuit shape similar to that of the prior art is formed on the lowermost lower layer of the first circuit board 100A via an insulating plate 25 as shown in FIG. A bus bar 26 connected to the power supply side formed by punching a plate is disposed.
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of press contact tabs 26 a for connecting fuses arranged in the same direction as the single core wire 21 are formed at one end of the bus bar 26. The front ends of the pressure contact tabs 26a protrude from one end edge of the circuit board, and a pressure contact slot 26b is formed for pressure connection with the terminal of the fuse.
[0022]
The three circuit boards 100 are provided with tabs 22a that project the bus bars 22 from both ends in the width direction of the insulating substrate 20, and refract the projected tips into an L shape, and these tabs 22a. Projecting into the connector housing portions 17a, 18a of the side cases 17, 18.
[0023]
The three-layer circuit body 100 (100A to 100C) is formed by the method shown in FIG.
That is, a rib (not shown) protruding from one surface of the insulating substrate 20 is inserted into the hole formed in the bus bar 22 and then crimped to fix the bus bar 22 to the insulating substrate 20 in parallel.
Next, the three insulating substrates 20 are arranged in a line with a required gap. At that time, the directions are alternately changed with the adjoining bus bar adhering surface as the reverse direction.
Next, the single core wire 21 is continuously wired in parallel to the other surface of the insulating substrate 20. At this time, since the bus bar fixing surfaces are alternately reversed as described above, the single-core wires 21 are alternately directed to the upper surface in the circuit body 100A, the lower surface in the next circuit body 100B, and the upper surface in the circuit body 100C. Changed and continuous wiring. Since a gap is provided between the insulating substrates 20 arranged in a row, only the single core wires 21 are wired in parallel in this gap portion. Further, both ends of the single core wire 21 protrude from the tip of the insulating substrate 20.
Next, the bus bar 22 and the single core wire 21 are resistance-welded through the opening 20 a of the insulating substrate 20. In this way, in the three circuit bodies 100A to 100C, the bus bar 22 and the single core wire 21 are connected to form a required circuit.
Thereafter, the single core wires 21 wired in the gaps between the insulating substrates 20 are bent and bent in the direction indicated by the arrows in FIG. 7 so that the circuit bodies 100A to 100C are stacked one above the other.
In addition, the non-conduction part of the said single core wire which carried out the continuous wiring is cut off after lamination | stacking or before lamination | stacking.
[0024]
In the laminated state, the circuit body 100 is formed in which the single core wire 21 is disposed on the lower surface and the bus bar 22 is disposed on the upper surface with the insulating substrate 20 interposed therebetween. In the adjacent circuit bodies 100A and 100B, the single core wire 21 and the bus bar 22 are opposed to each other, and therefore an insulating plate 25 is interposed therebetween.
[0025]
In the connector module 11, as described above, the pressure contact tab 26a of the bus bar 26 for connecting the fuse protrudes in parallel in the lowermost layer of one side end (left end in FIG. 1) of the connector module 11, and the pressure contact The tab 26a is provided with a pressure contact slot 26b. When assembled to the lower case 14, the pressure contact tab 26 a is arranged and held in the partition portion 14 b formed at the left end of the lower case 14. The single core wire 21 of each circuit board 100 that is continuously wired is located above the pressure contact tab 26a.
[0026]
The fuse module 12 is disposed on one side of the box on the side of the bus bar 26 from which the pressure contact tab 26a protrudes (the left end side of the connector module 11). As shown in FIG. 8, the fuse module 12 includes an insulating substrate 30 in which a large number of fuse accommodating portions 31 (31a, 31b) are arranged side by side and are formed in two upper and lower stages.
[0027]
Inside the insulating substrate 30, as shown in FIG. 9, a pair of pressure contact terminals on the power supply side and the load side projecting into the upper fuse housing portions 31a and projecting into the lower fuse housing portions 31b. A bus bar 33 having a load-side press contact terminal to be formed at one end is molded. These bus bars 33 are L-shaped, one end of which protrudes into the fuse accommodating portions 31a and 31b, the other end protrudes to the upper surface of the single core wire 21 of the connector module, and press contact slots 33a and 33b are provided at both ends. ing. The pressure contact slot 33b of the bus bar 33 protruding upward from the required single core wire 21 is press-connected to the single core wire 21, while the press contact slot 33a protruding into the fuse accommodating portion 31a, 31b is press-connected to the fuse terminal. ing. In the lower fuse accommodating portion 31b, the pressure contact terminal on the power source side is composed of the pressure contact tab 26a of the bus bar.
[0028]
In the fuse module 12, a fuse 35 is inserted into each of the fuse accommodating portions 31 a and 31 b, and the load-side output terminal 35 a is positioned above the pair of terminals of the fuse 35, and one end of the bus bar 33 attached to the fuse module 12. The pressure input slot 35a is press-fitted into a press-contact connection, the power input terminal 35b is positioned below, and the press-fit slot 26b of the press-contact tab 26a of the lowermost bus bar 26 is press-fitted and connected.
[0029]
Further, the other ends of some of the bus bars 33 are refracted in the opposite direction, and the tip 33c thereof is in direct pressure contact with the terminal 41c of the bus bar 41 of the relay module 13 as shown in FIG.
[0030]
The relay module 13, 10, as shown in FIG. 11, has molded the bus bar 41 in the insulating substrate 42, it is placed the main body portion of the relay 40 on the surface of the insulating substrate 42, the relay 40 terminals 40a Is inserted into the openings 42 a and 41 a formed in the insulating substrate 42 and the bus bar 41 and welded with solder 43.
One end side of the bus bar 41 welded to the terminal 40a of the relay 40 is refracted to form a press contact terminal 41b at the tip thereof, and the press contact terminal 41b is press connected to the single core wire 21. Further, a part of the bus bar 41 is in direct pressure contact with the bus bar 33 of the fuse module 12 as described above.
[0031]
The electronic control unit 19 has the electronic component 51 mounted on the lower surface of the substrate 50, is placed on the pillars 53 protruding from the four corners of the intermediate case 16, and communicates with the upper surface of the pillar 53 and the substrate 50. Screws 54 are screwed into and fixed to the screw holes 53a, 50a. In this state, the electronic component 51 is positioned in the space between the substrate 50 and the intermediate case 16.
A conductor printed on the board 50 is juxtaposed at one end edge, and the upper end of the vertical vertical bus bar-like relay terminal 56 and the conductor are directly connected via an ECU connector or not via a connector. In addition, a press contact terminal is formed at the lower end of the relay terminal 56 and is connected to the single core wire 21 of the connector module 11 by press contact.
[0032]
In the junction box 10 composed of the above components, the connector module 11, the intermediate case 16, and the electronic control unit 19 are sequentially arranged on the lower case 14 as described above, and the conductor of the electronic control unit 19 is connected to the connector via the relay terminal 56. The module 11 is in pressure contact with the single core wire 21. Also, the fuse module 12 is assembled to one side of the connector module 11, one end of the bus bar 33 is press-connected to the single core wire 21 of the connector module 11, and the relay module 13 is assembled to the upper portion of the bus bar 33. The pressure contact terminals 41 are press-connected to the single core wire 21 of the connector module 11.
[0033]
In the junction box 10 having the above configuration, first, a bus bar 26 for fuse connection is disposed on the lowermost layer of the connector module 11, and a tab 26a for pressure contact is provided so as to protrude in parallel from one end edge of the circuit board. . As a result, the fuse power supply circuit can be provided in the lowermost layer, the heat dissipation of the fuse power supply circuit is improved, the thermal problem is solved, and the junction box can be downsized.
[0034]
Further, since the conductor of the connector module 11 is formed by cross-wiring the strip-shaped bus bar 22 and the single core wire 21 and welding at a required crossing position, the bus bar is made to correspond to the circuit shape as in the prior art. There is no need to punch out the plate, so that the yield of the metal plate used as the bus bar material can be greatly improved. In addition, the circuit can be changed simply by changing the welding position between the bus bar 22 and the single core wire 21.
[0035]
Further, the conductor of the connector module 11 and the conductor of the fuse module 12 and the relay module 13 are connected to the single core wire 21 and each terminal of the connector module 11 instead of joining and welding the welded portion provided at the end of the bus bar. A pressure contact slot provided at the end of the bus bar of the fuse module 12 and the relay module 13 is pressure contact connected. As a result, the number of welded connections can be greatly reduced, and workability can be improved.
[0036]
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 13B, when the circuit C1 of the connector module 11 is connected to the connectors 7A ′ and 7B ′ on both sides and connected to the fuse 35 therebetween, a similar circuit C2 exists. However, the conductors of the connector module 11 are formed by strip-shaped bus bars 22, these bus bars 22 are connected to the single core wires 21 in the orthogonal direction via the insulating substrate 20, and the single core wires are connected to the fuses 35. A circuit can be formed with a single circuit body, and the number of stacked layers can be reduced to reduce the thickness.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
As is clear from the above description, according to the junction box of the present invention, the power supply circuit of the fuse that increases the bus bar occupancy is arranged in the lowermost layer of the connector module. Thereby, the heat dissipation of the power supply circuit of the fuse is improved, the thermal problem is solved, and the size of the junction box can be reduced.
[0038]
In addition, if the connection between the conductors of the connector module, fuse module, and relay module is performed by pressure welding using a pressure welding tab with a pressure welding slot instead of welding the welded portion of the bus bar, the number of welding steps can be greatly reduced. Thus, workability can be improved and production cost can be reduced.
[0039]
Furthermore, if any of the connector module, fuse module, or relay module is changed, only the corresponding module needs to be changed, and it is not necessary to change the overall configuration of the junction box, so the specification can be changed quickly and inexpensively. It can be made to correspond.
[0040]
Furthermore, in the connector module with the largest number of circuits and the most circuit changes, a single core wire and a strip-shaped bus bar are used as conductors to form a cross and welded at the cross position to form a circuit. The bus bar can be a strip, which can greatly reduce the cost and can easily cope with a circuit change only by changing the connection position with the single core wire.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view of a junction box according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the junction box in an assembled state.
3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.
4A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4B is a plan view showing a lowermost bus bar.
FIGS. 5A and 5B show a connector module, in which FIG. 5A is a schematic perspective view, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the entire connector module.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a method for forming a connector module.
FIG. 8 is a side view of the junction module on the fuse module mounting side.
9A is a partial cross-sectional view of a fuse module mounting portion, and FIG. 9B is a schematic exploded perspective view.
FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a relay module mounting portion.
11A is a cross-sectional view of a relay module mounting portion, FIG. 11B is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a connection state between a relay and a bus bar in the relay module, and FIG. 11C is a connection state between the bus bar and the single core wire of the relay module; (D) is a perspective view which shows the connection state of the bus bar of a relay module, and the bus bar of a fuse module.
FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional junction box.
FIGS. 13A and 13B are explanatory views showing a comparison between a conventional example and the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Junction box 11 Connector module 12 Fuse module 13 Relay module 14 Lower case 15 Upper case 16 Intermediate case 17, 18 Side case 19 Electronic control unit 20 Insulation board 21 Single core wire 22, 26 Bus bar 26a Pressure contact tab 26b Pressure contact slot 33, 41 Bus bar 33a, 33b Pressure contact slot 35 Fuse 35a Load side output terminal 35b Power source side input terminal 40 Relay 100 (100A to 100C) Circuit body

Claims (1)

A circuit board in which an internal circuit provided in the case of a junction box mounted on an automobile is divided into a conductor connected to a connector, a conductor connected to a fuse, and a conductor connected to a relay, and these conductors are fixed to separate insulating substrates. Provided separately as a connector module having a circuit board for connector connection, a fuse module having a circuit board for fuse connection, and a relay module having a circuit board for relay connection,
In the case, the fuse module is arranged adjacent to the side of the connector module and the relay module is arranged above the connector module.
The conductor of the connector module comprises a single core wire (bare wire) wired in parallel on one surface of the insulating substrate, and a strip-shaped bus bar arranged in parallel to the single core wire on the other surface of the insulating substrate , circuit board is configured such that by welding through an opening bored in an insulating substrate at a predetermined intersection a single core wire and a bus bar that is cross-arranged to form a required circuit, vertically stacking a plurality of said circuit board,
Also, bus bars connected to the power supply side are juxtaposed on the lowermost layer of the connector module, the tips of these bus bars protrude from one end edge of the circuit board to be laminated, and a pressure contact tab provided with a pressure contact slot in the projecting portion Form the
The fuse module is arranged on the side where the pressure contact tab protrudes , and the fuse module conductor is a bus bar, divided into a fuse power supply side input bus bar and a fuse load side output bus bar, and a fuse power input bus bar. The terminal of the connector module is press-fitted into a pressure-contact slot of a pressure-contact tab of the bus bar of the connector module, and is provided with a tab with a pressure-contact slot on the load-side output bus bar, and is pressure-connected to the single core wire of the connector module,
Further, the conductor of the relay module is a bus bar, the other end of the bus bar connected to the relay terminal is refracted to provide a press contact terminal at the tip, and the press contact terminal is press connected to the intermediate portion of the single core wire of the connector module. A junction box characterized by

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