JP4379367B2 - Electrical junction box - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical junction box. Specifically, a connector for connecting with an internal circuit material of a case body is temporarily placed inside the lower cover and fixed to the lower surface of the case body by bolting from the case body side. is there.

  Conventionally, in an electrical junction box mounted on an automobile, the circuit material housed in the case and the multipolar connector connected to the wire terminal are attached by bolting using an impact wrench to reduce the operating force during connector connection work. There is something to plan.

  As this type of electrical junction box, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-148224 (Patent Document 1) provides an electrical junction box 1 shown in FIG. The electrical connection box 1 is formed by passing bolts B through through holes 2a, 3a and 4a provided in the upper case 2, the lower case 3 and the multipolar connector 4, respectively, and fastening the connector 4 with a nut embedded in the connector 4. It is fixed in the connector housing 3b on the lower surface of the lower case 3.

  However, the electrical connection box 1 provided in Patent Document 1 does not have a structure in which the connector 4 can be temporarily locked to the connector housing 3b until the connector 4 is bolted to the case. There is a problem in that the worker must hold the accommodated connector 4 by hand while tightening the bolt, and the connector 4 is easily displaced and the bolting operation becomes complicated and the working efficiency is deteriorated.

  On the other hand, in the electrical junction box provided in US Pat. No. 6,077,102 (Patent Document 2), a connector that is attached to the lower part of the main body case (connector housing) of the connector to protect the electric wire connected to the connector housing. A lock part is provided on the cover, and the lock part is temporarily locked to the lower cover side. When the connector is bolted to the case main body side, the lock with the lower cover side is released.

However, it is not preferable to provide a lock mechanism with the lower cover on the connector cover that is attached to the lower part of the connector housing and protects the electric wires because the strength of the connector cover is lower than that of the connector housing.
In addition, after the connector is tightened and fixed to the case body with bolts, the lock on the lower cover side is released, but the terminal housed in the case body is inserted and locked in the terminal housing chamber of the connector. Therefore, assuming that the bolts are loosened or the bolts are loosened due to external shock vibration after a lapse of time, the connector and the lower cover can be unlocked. This is not preferable in terms of connection reliability of the connector.

JP-A-8-148224 US Pat. No. 6,077,102

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has a configuration in which a lock mechanism is provided on the connector cover and a mechanism for temporarily holding the connector cover in the lower cover is eliminated, and the connector is temporarily held in the lower cover until the connector is bolted to the case body. with the connector is configured to be locked to the lower cover side after being fixed by bolting to the case main body side, and it is an object to improve the connection reliability of the connector.
Another object is to add a mechanism for guiding the connector when the connector is bolted so that the terminal on the case body side can be accurately inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber of the connector.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a lower cover in which a connector is temporarily placed inside a case main body of an electrical junction box in which circuit materials are accommodated, and a nut fixed to the connector. In the electrical connection box for fixing the connector to the lower surface of the case body by penetrating the bolt from above the case body and tightening the bolt,
While providing a slide piece that protrudes downward from the lower end of the outer surface of at least two opposing sides of the rectangular connector housing of the connector, a temporary holding claw protrudes outwardly from the lower end of the slide piece,
A guide piece projecting upward is provided at a position facing the outer surface side of the slide piece from the bottom wall adjacent to the side wall of the lower cover, and a locking claw is projected inwardly at the upper end of the guide piece.
Before the connector is bolted , the temporary holding claw of the slide piece of the connector gets over the locking claw at the upper end of the guide piece of the lower cover and pushes it to the bottom wall side, and then the temporary holding claw of the lower end of the slide piece The outer surface of the guide piece is pressed against the inner surface of the lower portion of the guide piece and temporarily held,
At the time of bolting the connector, the outer surface of the temporary holding claw is raised while being in sliding contact with the inner surface of the guide piece, and the upper surface of the temporary holding claw is locked to the lower surface of the locking claw of the guide piece at the bolt fastening completion position. An electrical junction box is provided.

According to the above configuration, until the connector is bolted, the outer surface of the temporary holding claw at the lower end of the slide piece provided at least in a position opposite to the connector housing itself is pressed against the inner surface of the guide piece provided on the lower cover. Retained. Therefore, the connector can be temporarily held in the normal position in the lower cover before the connector is bolted to the case body.
When the connector is bolted to the case main body, the connector is positioned at a normal position, and the bolt can be surely passed through a nut embedded in the connector to facilitate the bolting operation.
Furthermore, even if the connector temporarily placed in the lower cover is moved in the pulling direction when the temporary holding claw is released from the guide piece due to impact or vibration, the temporary holding claw is not attached to the locking claw at the upper end of the guide piece. By being locked, the connector can be prevented from falling off the lower cover.

In addition, when tightening the bolt, the outer surface of the temporary holding claw slidably contacts the inner surface of the guide piece and the connector rises straight up without tilting, so that the bolt is not inserted obliquely with respect to the connector nut. The terminal on the case body side can be accurately inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber, and deformation of the terminal can be prevented.
Furthermore, at the bolt fastening completion position, the upper surface of the temporary holding claw of the slide piece is held in a locked state on the lower surface of the locking claw of the guide piece. At that time, the connector is fixed in the center part with bolts, and the temporary holding claw is locked to the locking claw of the guide piece at the outer peripheral position, so that it is stable even when subjected to vibration or impact. Can hold the connector. Furthermore, even if the fastening of the bolt may be loosened, the locking claw and the temporary holding claw can be used to hold the bolt in the normal position, and the connection reliability of the connector can be improved.

From the viewpoint of raising the temporary holding claw provided at the lower end of the slide piece while slidably contacting the guide piece at the time of bolt fastening, it is preferable that the contact surface is an arcuate surface that makes point contact and that the overall shape is a triangular cross section.
On the other hand, from the viewpoint of enhancing the temporary holding function before fastening the bolt, the contact surface may be a vertical surface and may be in surface contact with the guide piece.

A plurality of the connectors are accommodated inside the lower cover, and the guide pieces are provided at positions facing the slide pieces of each connector.
According to the above configuration, even when there are a plurality of connectors to be bolted and fixed to the case body, the connectors are temporarily placed at a predetermined position of the lower cover, and the temporary holding claws are pressed against the guide pieces and positioned. Therefore, if the case body is placed on the connector temporarily placed in the lower cover and each bolt is tightened, each connector can be bolted and fixed to a predetermined location on the case body without positioning. Can do.

It is preferable that the guide piece is provided with a reinforcing rib that connects a lower outer surface adjacent to a locking claw at an upper end of the guide piece and a side wall of the lower cover.
According to the above-described configuration, the reinforcing ribs that connect the outer surface of the guide piece and the side wall of the lower cover make it difficult for the guide piece to be bent outward, that is, toward the side wall of the lower cover. Therefore, even if the guide piece is pressed by a temporary holding claw provided on the slide piece of the connector, it does not bend or bend, and the connector is temporarily locked in place without being displaced in the horizontal direction. be able to.
Further, even after the completion of the bolt fastening, it is possible to prevent the guide piece from being bent outward and the engagement between the locking claw and the slide piece temporary holding claw being released.

It is preferable that the slide piece protruding from the connector housing protrudes from the lower end of the housing and is abutted and supported on the outer surface of the connector cover that is locked to the lower portion of the connector housing.
If the connector cover is attached to the connector housing as described above, the group of wires connected to the connector housing can be accommodated inside the lower cover without being disassembled, and can be accommodated inside the lower cover. When tightening, each connector can be smoothly fastened to the case body without tangling with the wire group of the adjacent connector.
In addition, since the inner surface of the connector slide piece is supported by contacting the outer surface of the connector cover, when the connector is temporarily placed inside the lower cover and the temporary holding claw of the slide piece is pressed against the guide piece, the slide piece Can be prevented from being bent or broken, and the connector can be held in a regular temporary holding position. Furthermore, even in the bolt fastening completion state, it is possible to prevent the slide piece from being bent inward and the engagement between the slide piece temporary holding claw and the guide piece locking claw being released.

  As described above, according to the present invention, until the connector is bolted, the outer surface of the temporary holding claw provided on the slide piece protruding from the connector housing (connector body) is the inner surface of the guide piece provided on the lower cover. Since the connector is pressed, the connector can be held in the normal position inside the lower cover. In addition, even if the connector temporarily placed in the lower cover is moved away from the lower cover due to impact or vibration, the temporary holding claw is locked with the lower surface of the locking claw provided at the upper end of the guide piece of the lower cover. The connector can be prevented from falling off the lower cover.

Further, when the connector is bolted to the case body, the connector is positioned at the normal position of the lower cover, so that the bolt can be surely penetrated through the nut fixed to the connector to facilitate the bolting operation. .
Furthermore, when the bolt is tightened, the outer surface of the temporary holding claw is in sliding contact with the inner surface of the guide piece, and the connector rises straight up without tilting, so that the bolt is not inserted obliquely with respect to the connector nut. Can be fixed to the case body at a predetermined angle. Therefore, the connection reliability of the connector can be improved without causing deformation or damage to the terminal on the main body case side inserted into the terminal receiving hole of the connector.
Furthermore, even after the connector is bolted to the case body, the temporary holding claw of the connector is held in a locked state with the locking claw of the guide piece of the lower cover, so that the connector is more securely fixed to the body case. be able to.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, an electrical junction box 10 includes a case body 11 having an internal circuit, three multipolar connectors 30 fastened and fixed to the lower surface of the case body 11 with bolts 20, and the multipolar connector 30. A lower cover 18 that is temporarily placed and an upper cover 17 that covers the upper portion of the case body 11 are configured.

As shown in FIG. 2, the case body 11 includes an upper case 12 and a lower case 13, and a bus bar (circuit material) 14 formed by punching a conductive metal plate into the case body 11 into a required shape. The laminated body 16 which laminated | stacked the insulating board 15 alternately is accommodated.
The lower case 13 is provided with connector housing portions 13a by projecting square frame portions 13b projecting downward at three locations.
A bolt insertion cylinder 13c that protrudes toward the case main body is protruded from the central portion on the upper surface side of the connector housing portion 13a and communicates with a bolt hole 12a provided in the upper case 12.
The bolt 20 is passed through the bolt hole 12a and the bolt insertion cylinder 13c communicated from above, and the lower side of the bolt 20 protrudes into the connector housing portion 13a.

  Further, the front end of the bus bar 14 is bent downward to provide a tab (not shown), and the tab is projected into the connector housing portion 13a through the terminal hole 13d provided in the lower case 13. A tab (not shown) formed by bending upward on the bus bar 14 is connected to a fuse accommodating part 12b of the upper case 12 or a fuse accommodated in the relay accommodating part 12c, or a terminal of a relay (not shown). .

The connector 30 has a connector cover 32 locked to a lower portion of a connector housing 31 (hereinafter referred to as a connector main body) provided with a multipolar terminal accommodating chamber. When the connector 30 is bolted to the case body in the terminal housing chamber, a tab standing from the bus bar 14 in the case body 11 is inserted, and the terminal of the wire terminal inserted and locked in the terminal housing chamber Mating and connecting.
A bolt insertion part 31a penetrating vertically is provided at the approximate center of the connector main body 31, and a nut 33 is embedded below the bolt insertion part 31a. An electric wire outlet 32a is provided on the side wall of the connector cover 32, and an electric wire (not shown) connected to the connector 30 is drawn out through the electric wire outlet 32a.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the connector main body 31 has a quadrangular shape and is provided with slide pieces 31c that protrude downward from the outer surfaces of two opposing sides. The slide pieces 31c abut against the outer surface of the connector cover 32, 32 so as not to bend inward. A temporary holding claw 31d protrudes outward from the lower end of the slide piece 31c. The temporary holding claw 31d has a generally triangular cross section, and the upper surfaces 31d-1 and 31d-2 are inclined surfaces, while the outer surface tip protruding in a V shape is an arc surface 31d-3. The front end of the outer surface may be a vertical plane.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 3, the lower cover 18 is provided with a guide piece 18c protruding upward from a bottom wall 18b adjacent to the side wall 18a at a position facing the slide piece 31c, and an upper end of the guide piece 18c. A locking claw 18d is projected inwardly. The locking claw 18d has an upper surface 18d-1 as an inclined surface, and a lower surface 18d-2 as a horizontal surface.
The guide piece 18c connects the lower outer surface adjacent to the locking claw 18d at the upper end and the side wall 18a of the lower cover 18 by a reinforcing rib 18e. Further, a positioning frame 18f is provided from the bottom wall between the lower ends of the adjacent guide pieces 18d so that the plurality of connectors 30 can be arranged at predetermined positions by the positioning frame 18f. In the present embodiment, three connectors 30 can be arranged in the lower cover 18.

Next, assembly of the electrical junction box having the above structure will be described.
Before the case main body 11 is bolted, the connector 30 is accommodated in the lower cover 18 in a temporarily placed state, as shown in FIGS.
At that time, each connector 30 is pushed to the bottom wall side by the temporary holding claw 31d of the slide piece 31 getting over the locking claw 18d at the upper end of the guide piece 18c of the lower cover 18. In this state, it is partially surrounded by the positioning frame 18f, and the outer surface 31d-3 of the temporary holding claw 31d is pressed against the lower side portion of the guide piece 18c so as to be pressed, and the connector 30 is temporarily held. The Thus, the connector 30 is temporarily held at the normal position. Therefore, even if an impact or vibration is applied and the connector 30 moves in the pulling direction on the upper end opening side of the lower cover 18, the upper surface 31d-1 of the temporary holding claw 31d and the lower surface 18d-2 of the locking claw 18d of the guide piece are The contact 30 prevents the connector 30 from falling off.

  In this state, when the lower cover 18 is disposed at a normal position on the lower surface side of the lower case 13 of the case main body 11, the bolt 20 penetrating the case main body 11 and the bolt insertion portion 30 a of the connector 30 in the lower cover 18 are disposed to face each other. The

Next, when the bolt 20 is bolted using an impact wrench (not shown), the bolt 20 is screwed into the nut 33 in the connector main body 31, and the outer surface 31d-3 of the temporary holding claw 31d is in sliding contact with the guide piece 18c. However, the connector 30 rises.
At the bolt fastening completion position, as shown in FIG. 4B, the upper surface 31d-1 of the temporary holding claw 31d is locked to the lower surface 18d-2 of the locking claw 18d of the guide piece 18c.

  When the connector 30 is inserted to the normal position of the connector housing portion 13a of the case body 11, the tab of the bus bar 14 protruding into the connector housing portion 13a is inserted into the terminal housing chamber through the terminal hole of the connector 30, and the female terminal Connected to terminal.

According to the above configuration, until the connector 30 is bolted to the case body 11, the outer surface 31 d-3 of the temporary holding claw 31 d provided on the slide piece 31 c of the connector body 31 is the inner surface of the guide piece 18 c provided on the lower cover 18. The connector 30 is not displaced in the horizontal direction until the bolt is tightened. Therefore, when the connector 30 is bolted to the case body 11, the connector 30 can be positioned at a normal position, and the bolt 20 can be surely passed through the nut 33 fixed to the connector 30 to facilitate the bolting operation. it can.
In addition, before the bolts are tightened, when the impact or vibration is applied to the connector 30 temporarily placed in the lower cover 18 and moves in the pulling direction with respect to the lower cover 18, the upper surface 31d-1 of the temporary holding claw 31d and the locking claw The lower surface 18d-2 of 18d is locked, and the connector 30 can be prevented from falling off the lower cover 18.

In addition, when the bolt is fastened, the outer surface 31d-3 of the temporary holding claw 31d is in sliding contact with the inner surface of the guide piece 18c, and the connector 30 is lifted straight up without being inclined. The connector 30 can be fixed to the case body 11 at a predetermined angle without being inserted obliquely. Therefore, the terminal of the bus bar on the case body side can be accurately inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber of the connector body 31.
Furthermore, in the bolt fastening completion position, the upper surface 31d-1 of the temporary holding claw 31d of the slide piece 31c is locked to the lower surface 18d-2 of the locking claw 18d of the guide piece 18c. The looseness of the connector 30 in the tightened and fixed state can be prevented, and even if the bolt is loosened, the connector 30 can be held on the lower surface of the case body, and the connection reliability of the connector can be improved.

It is a disassembled perspective view of the electrical junction box of the embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing of the electrical-connection box of an assembly | attachment state. It is a top view which shows the state which accommodated the connector in the lower cover. (A) (B) is drawing which shows the process of bolting and fixing a connector to a case main body, (c) is an enlarged view which shows the temporary holding nail | claw of the lower end of a slide piece. It is drawing which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electrical junction box 11 Case main body 12 Upper case 13 Lower case 13a Connector accommodating part 14 Bus bar 15 Insulation board 18 Lower cover 18c Guide piece 18d Locking claw 18e Reinforcement rib 20 Bolt 30 Connector 31 Connector housing (connector main body)
31c Slide piece 31d Temporary holding claw 32 Connector cover 33 Nut

Claims (4)

A lower cover having a connector temporarily placed therein is disposed below the case body of the electrical junction box in which the circuit material is accommodated, and a bolt is penetrated from above the case body with respect to a nut fixed to the connector. In an electrical junction box that is bolted to fix the connector to the lower surface of the case body,
While providing a slide piece that protrudes downward from the lower end of the outer surface of at least two opposing sides of the rectangular connector housing of the connector, a temporary holding claw protrudes outwardly from the lower end of the slide piece,
A guide piece projecting upward is provided at a position facing the outer surface side of the slide piece from the bottom wall adjacent to the side wall of the lower cover, and a locking claw is projected inwardly at the upper end of the guide piece.
Before the connector is bolted , the temporary holding claw of the slide piece of the connector gets over the locking claw at the upper end of the guide piece of the lower cover and pushes it to the bottom wall side, and then the temporary holding claw of the lower end of the slide piece The outer surface of the guide piece is pressed against the inner surface of the lower portion of the guide piece and temporarily held,
At the time of bolting the connector, the outer surface of the temporary holding claw is raised while being in sliding contact with the inner surface of the guide piece, and the upper surface of the temporary holding claw is locked to the lower surface of the locking claw of the guide piece at the bolt fastening completion position. An electrical junction box.   The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of connectors are accommodated in the lower cover, and the guide pieces are provided at positions facing the slide pieces of the connector housings.   The electrical connection box according to claim 1, wherein the guide piece is provided with a reinforcing rib that connects a lower outer surface adjacent to a locking claw at an upper end of the guide piece and a side wall of the lower cover.   4. The slide piece protruding from the connector housing protrudes from a lower end of the connector housing and is abutted and supported on an outer surface of a connector cover that is locked to a lower portion of the connector housing. The electrical junction box according to item 1.

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