JP4195909B2 - Busbar connection device and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a bus bar connecting device and a method for manufacturing the same.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A bus bar connecting device for connecting to a bus bar for high current is known.
This bus bar connecting device is inserted into a dovetail groove formed on the opposing surface of the wall portion, and a bus bar connecting portion having a U-shaped cross section having a pair of wall portions facing each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar. And a band contact that is elastically brought into contact with the surface of the bus bar inserted between the wall portions. For example, an electric wire to be connected to another device is attached to the bus bar connecting portion.
[0003]
In such a bus bar connecting device, by inserting the bus bar between the wall portions, the band contact inserted in the dovetail groove and the bus bar are brought into pressure contact by the spring force of the band contact. As a result, the bus bar and the bus bar connecting portion are electrically and mechanically connected via the band contact, and the electric wire attached to the bus bar connecting portion and the bus bar can be conducted.
[0004]
In the bus bar connecting device, a metal material having a relatively large thickness is used in order to pass a large current. In other words, the bus bar connecting device includes two wall members forming the pair of wall portions and a connecting member sandwiched between the wall members.
[0005]
These three members are each machined to precisely form a joint surface. In addition, a dovetail groove is formed on one side surface of the pair of wall members by milling or the like at a position opposed to each other when assembled. Further, each of these members is precisely formed with a positioning hole. These members are assembled in a positioning state with each other by positioning pins and further integrated by being brazed.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In recent years, such bus bars have been used for lower currents. Such a bus bar for low current is thinner than the bus bar for large current and has a relatively good workability, so that it is formed into a desired shape or is drilled. Then, it is generally fixed to a substrate or the like by screwing or the like. However, even in such a low current bus bar, it is convenient if there is a bus bar connecting device as in the case of a high current bus bar.
[0007]
However, the circuit using such a bus bar for low current is required to be smaller and lighter than a bus bar for large current because the bus bar itself is thin. For this reason, the bus bar connecting device is also required to be reduced in size and weight. In addition, since it may be used as a consumer component such as a circuit component of an automobile or the like, it is also important to reduce the product cost.
[0008]
However, like the above-mentioned bus bar connection device for large current, after cutting three parts, milling the dovetail groove for band contact, forming pin holes, and assembling to the positioning state with positioning pins, In the bus bar connecting device integrated by attaching, it is difficult to reduce the size and weight while reducing the product cost. That is, in order to ensure the strength of the bus bar connection device, the connection strength of the connection members that connect the wall members must be maintained, and in order to maintain the accuracy of the bus bar connection device, the size of the connection member is reduced. There is a limit to achieving it. In addition, the cutting of the miniaturized wall member and connection member is precise, and a special cutting machine must be used, and the manufacturing cost cannot be reduced. Furthermore, it is conceivable to process these wall members and connection members from a single base material as, for example, a single piece by a wire cut processing apparatus, but the manufacturing cost cannot be reduced.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a small and light busbar connection device with an extremely low product cost.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a bus bar connecting device that is mechanically and electrically connected to the bus bar by arranging the bus bar in a sandwiched state, and has a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar. A bus bar connecting portion made of a sheet metal bent into a substantially U-shaped cross section so as to have a pair of substantially parallel wall portions that are opened and opposed to each other, and is disposed on at least one facing surface of the wall portion, and between these wall portions And a bus contact that is press-contacted to the bus bar inserted into the bus bar, and the bus bar connecting portion has a dovetail groove that accommodates the band contact on the facing surface of the wall portion.
In the above-described bus bar connecting device, it is effective if the dovetail groove is defined by a bent portion formed by bending the sheet metal constituting the wall portion at an acute angle.
[0011]
Furthermore, the present invention is a method of manufacturing a bus bar connecting device that is mechanically and electrically connected to the bus bar by arranging the bus bar in a sandwiched state, and is opposed to each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar. And forming a bus bar connecting portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section consisting of a pair of substantially parallel wall portions and a connecting portion connecting these wall portions by bending a series of sheet metal, and at least one of the wall portions Between the wall portions by bending the connecting portion disposed on one end side of the wall portion so as to have an acute angle with respect to the wall portion, and bending the other end side of the wall portion with an acute angle with respect to the wall portion. A manufacturing method of a bus bar connecting device is proposed in which a dovetail groove is formed to accommodate a band contact pressed against a busbar inserted into the dovetail bar, and the band contact is inserted into the dovetail groove.
[0012]
In this manufacturing method, before the sheet metal is bent, the sheet metal may be bent so that a notch that becomes a groove wall of the dovetail groove is formed in a portion that becomes the connection portion.
Further, after inserting the band contact into the dovetail groove, the end of the dovetail groove may be caulked.
[0013]
[Action]
According to the bus bar connecting device according to the present invention, the bus bar connecting part arranged in a sandwiched state of the bus bar is configured by a sheet metal bent in a U-shaped cross section, so that precise cutting and assembling work is unnecessary. Manufacturing costs can be kept low. Moreover, since the connection part which connects wall parts is also comprised integrally with a wall part, it is possible to achieve size reduction and weight reduction, maintaining required intensity | strength.
[0014]
In this case, if the dovetail groove that accommodates the band contact is defined by a bent portion formed by bending the sheet metal constituting the wall portion at an acute angle, the dovetail groove is formed on the opposite surface of the wall portion without performing a cutting operation. Can be formed. As a result, the bus bar connecting portion can be formed only by pressing, and the number of processing steps can be reduced, so that the manufacturing cost can be kept low.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a bus bar connecting device and a manufacturing method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the bus bar connection device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a bus bar connection portion 2 formed by bending a single sheet metal P, and a band contact 3 attached to the bus bar connection portion 2. It is composed of
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 2, the bus bar connecting portion 2 includes a pair of substantially parallel wall portions 2a and 2b facing each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bars 4 and 5 to be connected, and these walls. From the connection part 2c which connects the part 2a, 2b in the one end side, it forms in cross-sectional substantially U shape. Of the wall portions 2a and 2b, one end of the wall portion 2a opposite to the connection portion 2c (hereinafter referred to as the front end side) has an edge facing the inside of the U-shaped busbar connection portion 2. Thus, a first bent portion 7 is formed which forms one groove wall 6a of the dovetail groove 6 which will be described later.
[0017]
The connecting portion 2c is bent in a mountain shape toward the inner side of the U-shaped bus bar connecting portion 2 at the approximate center of the pair of wall portions 2a, 2b. The second bent portion 8 is formed to form the other groove wall 6b.
Note that chamfered portions 2d and 2e that facilitate the insertion of the bus bars 4 and 5 are provided at the distal end portion of the bus bar connecting portion 2.
[0018]
The dovetail groove 6 is formed along the longitudinal direction of the connecting portion 2c so that the first bent portion 7 and the second bent portion 8 described above are both groove walls 6a and 6b. Yes. The dovetail groove 6 has a uniform cross-sectional shape so that the band contact 3 can be inserted in the longitudinal direction. The maximum groove width dimension of the dovetail groove 6 is set to be slightly larger than the maximum width dimension of the band contact 3. The maximum groove width dimension of the dovetail groove 6 is set to be the same as the maximum width dimension of the band contact 3 or slightly smaller than the band contact 3 so that the band contact 3 can be inserted with being slightly compressed in the width direction. May be.
[0019]
The minimum width dimension of the dovetail groove 6 is set sufficiently smaller than the maximum groove width dimension of the band contact 3 at the upper end position of the groove wall 6 a formed by the first bent portion 7. Thereby, the dovetail groove 6 allows only the movement of the band contact 3 accommodated in the inside thereof in the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 6 and prohibits the movement of the dovetail groove 6 in the depth direction. It has become.
[0020]
Further, the height dimension of the groove wall 6a on the distal end side of the wall portion 2a formed by the first bent portion 7 is such that the top portion of the groove wall 6a and the wall portion on the other side of the bus bar connecting portion 2 The distance between 2b is set to be slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bars 4 and 5 to be inserted. The height of the groove wall 6 a is set so that the band contact 3 accommodated in the dovetail groove 6 protrudes outward in the depth direction of the dovetail groove 6. Thus, when the bus bars 4 and 5 are inserted between the pair of wall portions 2a and 2b of the bus bar connecting portion 2, the bus bars 4 and 5 are inserted while elastically deforming the band contact 3, It is held in a sandwiched state with the side wall 2b.
[0021]
At this time, the band contact 3 is deformed by the bus bars 4 and 5 by the maximum protrusion height to the outside of the dovetail groove 6, but in this case as well, plastic deformation does not occur in the band contact 3. As described above, the protruding amount is set to be arranged in the elastic deformation region. The band contact 3 and the bus bars 4 and 5 are electrically and mechanically connected by the elastic force of the elastically deformed band contact 3, and the bus bars 4 and 5 are electrically and mechanically connected to each other. To be connected to.
[0022]
Further, the bus bar connecting portion 2 is caulked at both longitudinal ends of the first bent portion 7 of the portion surrounded by the chain line A in FIG. 1 after the band contact 3 is inserted into the groove 6. This prevents the band contact 3 inserted in the dovetail groove 6 from coming out of the dovetail groove 6 in the longitudinal direction.
The band contact 3 can be of any shape and material as long as it satisfies the above dimensional conditions.
[0023]
A method for manufacturing the bus bar connecting apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described below.
First, the bus bar connecting portion 2 is bent by pressing. In this bending process, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the first bent portion 7 is formed by bending one edge of a sheet metal P at an acute angle. Thereby, one groove wall 6a of the dovetail groove 6 is formed. Next, the center part of the sheet metal P is folded in half, and the center part is further folded into a mountain shape (FIG. 3C). Thereby, two wall parts 2a and 2b parallel to each other, a connection part 2c that connects these wall parts 2a and 2b, and a second bent part 8 that is formed by bending the connection part 2c into a mountain shape. Will be formed. The first and second bent portions 7 and 8 form a groove 6 on the inner side of one wall portion 2a.
[0024]
Next, the band contact 3 formed in a predetermined dimension is inserted into the dovetail groove 6 of the bus bar connecting portion 2. Thereby, the band contact 3 is in a state in which the movement of the dovetail groove 6 in the depth direction is prohibited and is accommodated in the groove 6.
Then, the dovetail groove 6 is caulked by plastically deforming both ends of the first bent portion 7 in the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 6 using, for example, jigs (not shown). Thereby, the movement of the band contact 3 along the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 6 is prohibited, and the band contact 3 is prevented from falling off the bus bar connecting portion 2.
[0025]
According to the bus bar connection device 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, the bus bar connection portion 2 is configured by bending the sheet metal P, and therefore, a reduction in size and weight can be achieved. In this case, since the dovetail groove 6 that accommodates the band contact 3 is formed at the same time as the bending process, the conventional cutting process is unnecessary, the manufacturing cost is reduced, and the accuracy is improved. The busbar connection device 1 having a high height can be easily configured.
In the above-described embodiment, the second bent portion 8 is formed at one end of both the wall portions 2a and 2b by forming the connecting portion in a mountain shape. Therefore, it goes without saying that the second bent portion 8 may be formed only on the wall portion 2a on the side where the band contact 3 is inserted.
[0026]
Next, a bus bar connection device 10 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
The bus bar connection device 10 according to the present embodiment is different from the bus bar connection device 1 according to the first embodiment in the structure of the bus bar connection portion 11.
In the present embodiment, portions having the same configuration as those of the bus bar connection device 1 according to the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description will be simplified.
[0027]
That is, the bus bar connecting portion 11 of the bus bar connecting device 10 according to the present embodiment is pressed at a position to be the groove wall 6b on the connecting portion 11a side of the dovetail groove 6 as shown in FIG. By processing, two grooves 12 having a triangular cross section are formed. As a result, at the time of bending, the sheet metal P is bent along the notch 12, and the inner surface of the notch 12 becomes the groove wall 6 b on the connection portion 11 a side of the dovetail groove 6, and the first bent portion 7 The groove 6 is formed between the groove wall 6a on the leading end side thus formed.
[0028]
According to the bus bar connection device 10 configured as described above, the bending process of bending the connection portion 11a into a mountain shape is not necessary as compared with the bus bar connection device 1 according to the first embodiment. This bending process has a disadvantage that it is difficult to obtain accuracy because it is provided with a plurality of bending portions that are relatively close to each other. However, according to the present embodiment, the bending portion of the connecting portion 11a is reduced. Thus, the bus bar connecting portion 11 with higher accuracy can be manufactured. In addition, although the bus bar connection part 11 of this embodiment formed the notch 12 by press work, it may replace with this and may form the notch 12 by cutting. In this case, since the cutting process can be performed in the unfolded state before the sheet metal P is bent, it can be processed extremely easily and accurately, and can be performed without increasing the product cost.
[0029]
In the bus bar connecting devices 1 and 10 according to the first and second embodiments, the bending is performed so that the groove 6 is formed in one of the two wall portions 2a and 2b facing each other with a parallel interval. Although the bus bar connecting portions 2 and 11 are disclosed, instead, the dovetail grooves 6 are formed on the opposing surfaces of the two wall portions 2a and 2b, and the band contacts 3 are accommodated in the dovetail grooves 6, respectively. You may decide.
[0030]
Further, by forming the notch 12 partially in the longitudinal direction of the dovetail groove 6, the dovetail groove 6 may be terminated at an intermediate position in the longitudinal direction. As a result, the movement of the band contact 3 inserted in the dovetail groove 6 in the longitudinal direction is stopped at the end position of the notch 12, so that the function of preventing the band contact 3 from shifting can be achieved.
Further, the bus bar (not shown) may be configured by integrally forming the bus bar connecting devices 1 and 11 according to the above embodiment at one end of the bus bar.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, the bus bar connection device according to the present invention is a device in which a band contact is inserted into a groove of a bus bar connection portion formed by bending a sheet metal. In addition, a bus bar for a relatively low current can be accurately connected. In addition, since the groove can be formed without cutting the inside of the U-shaped bus bar connection part, it can be manufactured very easily, the product cost can be reduced, and mass production can be performed. Has the advantage.
[0032]
Further, there is an advantage that after the band contact is accommodated, the both ends of the groove are caulked to prevent the band contact from dropping and to improve the reliability of the product.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a bus bar connection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the bus bar connection device of FIG. 1;
3 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process for explaining a method of manufacturing the bus bar connection device of FIG. 1; FIG.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing a bus bar connection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram showing a manufacturing process for explaining a method of manufacturing the bus bar connection device of FIG. 4; FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 10 Busbar connecting device 2, 11 Busbar connecting portion 2a, 2b Wall portion 2c Connecting portion 3 Band contact 4, 5 Busbar 6 Groove 7, 8 Bent portion 12 Cutting P Sheet metal

Claims (5)

A bus bar connecting device mechanically and electrically connected to the bus bar by arranging the bus bar in a sandwiched state,
A bus bar connecting portion made of a sheet metal bent in a substantially U-shaped cross section so as to have a pair of substantially parallel wall portions facing each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar, and at least one opposing surface of the wall portion And a band contact pressed against a bus bar inserted between these wall portions,
The bus bar connecting device, wherein the bus bar connecting portion includes a dovetail groove for accommodating a band contact on the facing surface of the wall portion. 2. The bus bar connecting device according to claim 1, wherein the dovetail groove is defined by a bent portion formed by bending a sheet metal constituting the wall portion at an acute angle. A bus bar connecting device manufacturing method for mechanically and electrically connecting the bus bar to the bus bar by arranging the bus bar in a sandwiched state,
A bus bar connection portion having a substantially U-shaped cross section consisting of a pair of substantially parallel wall portions facing each other with a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the bus bar, and a connection portion connecting these wall portions, While forming by bending,
Bending the connecting portion disposed on one end side of at least one of the wall portions so as to have an acute angle with respect to the wall portion, and bending the other end side of the wall portion with an acute angle with respect to the wall portion. By forming a dovetail groove for accommodating a band contact pressed against a bus bar inserted between the wall portions,
A bus bar connecting device manufacturing method, wherein the band contact is inserted into the dovetail groove. 4. The method of manufacturing a bus bar connecting device according to claim 3, wherein the sheet metal is bent before the sheet metal is bent so that a notch that becomes the groove wall of the dovetail groove is formed in the portion that becomes the connection portion. . 5. The method of manufacturing a bus bar connection device according to claim 3, wherein an end of the dovetail groove is caulked after the band contact is inserted into the dovetail groove.

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