JP4482391B2 - Busbar and terminal connection structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a connection structure between a bus bar and a terminal for connecting a tab terminal of an electrical component such as a relay and the tab terminal of the bus bar via a relay terminal or the like in an electrical connection box, for example.

  FIG. 5 shows one form of a conventional connection structure between a bus bar and a relay terminal.

  The relay terminal 1 is for connecting the tab terminal 10 of the relay 2 and the tab terminal 52 of the bus bar 51 to each other in the electrical junction box, and has the elastic contact piece 8 integrally inside the rectangular cylindrical portion, The elastic contact piece 8 has a short piece portion 16 that is folded back to the distal end side of the long piece portion 15, and the long piece portion 15 and the short piece portion 16 have contacts 15a and 16a, respectively.

  The tab terminal 10 of the relay 2 is inserted between the contact 15a of the long piece portion 15 and one inner wall surface 17 of the rectangular cylindrical portion 14, and the short piece portion 16 and the other inner wall surface 7 of the rectangular cylindrical portion 14 are connected. The tab terminal 52 of the bus bar 51 is inserted between them, and the tab terminals 10 and 52 are connected to each other via the elastic contact piece 8.

  The bus bar 51 is assembled in the electrical connection box as a bus bar wiring board (not shown), the relay terminal 1 is assembled in the electrical connection box while being inserted into the tab terminal 52 of the bus bar 51, and finally the relay 2 is connected to the electrical connection box. The tab terminal 10 of the relay 2 is inserted into the relay terminal while being mounted on the outside.

  Other than the above relay terminals, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3 disclose different forms.

  The relay terminal (not shown) of Patent Document 1 is formed by integrally forming a female electrical contact portion on one and the other of a long substrate portion, and each electrical contact portion has a pair of curved shapes (substantially glasses-like). ) Elastic piece.

  The relay terminal (not shown) of Patent Document 2 has a rectangular cylindrical portion on one side of the substrate portion, an elastic contact piece on the inside of the rectangular cylindrical portion, and a pair of curved shapes ( It has an elastic piece (substantially like glasses).

  In the relay terminal (not shown) of Patent Document 3, an inward elastic contact piece is integrally formed on both of a pair of opposing substrate portions, and the pair of substrate portions are connected by a connecting piece. Each tab terminal can be inserted between the elastic contact pieces.

A relay tab terminal is inserted and connected to one of the relay terminals, and a bus bar tab terminal in the electrical junction box is inserted and connected to the other of the relay terminals. In addition to relays, tab terminals for electrical parts such as fusible links and fuses can be inserted.
JP-A-8-149657 (FIGS. 1-4) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-260510 (FIG. 3) JP 2000-1193949 A (FIG. 1)

  However, in the above conventional connection structure of the bus bar and the relay terminal, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when a large error occurs in the assembly position of the tab terminal 52 of the bus bar 51 and the relay terminal 1 in the electrical connection box. When a large error occurs in the assembly position between the tab terminal 52 of the bus bar 51 and the tab terminal 10 of the relay 2, the elastic contact piece 8 in the relay terminal is strongly pressed by the tab terminal 52 of the bus bar 51 and deformed. However, there is a concern that electrical contact failure may occur.

  This problem is not limited to the relay terminal 1, and may occur in the same way when, for example, the tab terminal of the bus bar is inserted and connected to a female terminal having an elastic contact piece inside the rectangular cylindrical portion. The connection between the female terminal and the bus bar is not limited to the electrical junction box, and can be performed, for example, in connector connection between the control unit and the wire harness.

  In view of the above points, the present invention provides elasticity of the mating terminal even if there is a large misalignment between the tab terminal of the bus bar in the electrical junction box or the like and the mating terminal (relay terminal or electrical component terminal). It is an object of the present invention to provide a connection structure between a bus bar and a terminal that does not cause deformation, scratching, contact failure, or the like of a contact piece.

In order to achieve the above object, the bus bar and terminal connection structure according to claim 1 of the present invention is such that a tab terminal is formed upright on a bus bar horizontally arranged on an insulating substrate , and the tab terminal is relayed. is inserted and connected from one to the terminal, the connection structure of the bus bar to a terminal plate terminal of the electrical part is inserted and connected from the other to the relay terminal, the plate width of the tab terminal in the vicinity of the tab terminal launch base of the bus bar Notch portions are provided on both sides in the direction, and a narrow width portion of the tab terminal is formed between the notch portions on both sides, and when the plate-like terminal is displaced in the plate thickness direction with respect to the tab terminal, While the tab terminal portion between the tab terminal rising base portion and the notch portion is bent in an inclined manner in the plate thickness direction, the narrow portion is formed in a dogleg shape in a direction opposite to the inclined direction of the tab terminal portion. The tab terminal part that is bent and extends from the notch to the tip of the tab terminal There wherein the vertically positioned in parallel to the plate-like terminal.

With the above configuration, even when the tab terminal of the bus bar and the relay terminal are largely misaligned, the tab terminal is inserted into the narrow terminal and the tab terminal rising base as the tab terminal is inserted into the relay terminal. The tab terminal and the relay terminal are straightly connected without inclination while absorbing the displacement while being bent in the thickness direction. Thereby, excessive compression deformation exceeding the elastic limit of the elastic contact piece of the relay terminal is prevented. The relay terminal does not necessarily have an elastic contact piece, and in that case, the relay terminal is prevented from being scratched or deformed.

The bus bar and terminal connection structure according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the bus bar and terminal connection structure according to claim 1, the bending force of the narrow portion is weaker than the force of the elastic contact piece of the relay terminal. To do.

With the above configuration, when the tab terminal of the bus bar is inserted into the relay terminal, the tab terminal easily bends from the narrow part and compresses the elastic contact piece with an appropriate contact pressure while following the elastic contact piece of the relay terminal. To do.

The connection structure between the bus bar and the terminal according to claim 3 is the connection structure between the bus bar and the terminal according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the bus bar is disposed in the connection box body, and the pair of tab terminals are formed on the bus bar. disposed opposite direction, the electrical component from the outside of the junction box body is attached, the plate-like terminals facing the pair of plate-thickness direction of the electrical component is connected to the pair of relay terminals, In this case, each tab terminal is bent in two opposite directions at the narrow portion and the tab terminal rising base portion.

With the above configuration, even when an electrical component such as a relay is mounted in the electrical junction box, for example, the mounting position of the electrical component is shifted from the normal position, and the relay terminal is moved (shifted) in accordance with the tab terminal of the electrical component. The bus bar tab terminal flexibly bends in two places, the narrow width part and the tab terminal rising base part, and absorbs misalignment, so that the plate-like terminal ( tab terminal ) of the electrical component, the relay terminal, and the bus bar tab Three parts with the terminal make good electrical contact with appropriate contact pressure.
Although the cross-sectional area of the tab terminal is reduced by the narrow width portion and the energization current is limited, for example, a relay is used as an electrical component, and the tab terminal is suitable as a tab terminal for a circuit on the low power side (excitation side) of the relay. Since the tab terminal of the circuit on the high-power side (main circuit side) of the relay is positioned orthogonal to the tab terminal on the low-power side, the misalignment is easily absorbed by the shift in the plate width direction of the tab terminal on the high-power side.

According to the first aspect of the invention, since the bus bar absorbs the displacement of the relay terminals being bent in the thickness direction at two positions between the narrow portion and the tab terminal launch base, the relay terminal abrasion and elasticity It does not cause excessive deformation of the contact piece or scratches on the bus bar tab terminal, prevents contact failure between the bus bar tab terminal and the relay terminal, and makes a good connection even if there is a misalignment. Connection reliability is improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when inserting the tab terminal of the bus bar to the relay terminal, the tab terminal is easily bent by a small force from the narrow section along the resilient contact pieces of the relay terminals, wherein thereby The effect of the invention of item 1 is promoted.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the displacement of the position of the electrical connection box when the electrical component such as the relay is mounted is absorbed and the electrical connection is reliably performed, the reliability of the electrical connection of the electrical connection box is achieved. Will improve.

  FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a bus bar and terminal connection structure according to the present invention.

  As the terminal 1, a relay terminal (a counterpart terminal) for connecting the relay 2 and the bus bar 3 to each other is used. As shown in FIG. 2, the bus bar 3 is formed by extending a conductive metal plate in a strip shape, bending the terminal portion in a 90 ° direction to form a tab terminal 4, and constricting the portion near the bent portion of the tab terminal 4. The narrow width portion 5 is provided so that the tab terminal 4 can be easily bent from the narrow width portion 5. The bent portion 6 is also called a tab terminal rising base portion.

  Even when the positions of the relay terminal 1 and the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 are greatly shifted as shown in FIG. 1, the tab terminal 4 is bent from the narrow width portion 5 and is in surface contact along the inner wall surface 7 of the relay terminal 1. Since it is located in parallel, a large load is not applied to the elastic contact piece 8 of the relay terminal 1, and the elastic contact piece 8 exhibits good electrical contact.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the narrow width portion 5 of this example is configured by providing arc-shaped notches 9 symmetrically on both sides of the tab terminal 4 in the width direction. The width of the narrow width portion 5 is, for example, the width dimension of the tab terminal 4. It is set to about half or less. The shape of the notch 9 is not limited to an arc shape, and various shapes such as a rectangular shape, a triangular shape (V shape), and a slit shape can be appropriately set. It is also possible to provide the notch 9 on one side in the width direction of the tab terminal 4.

  It is also possible to provide a circular or rectangular hole (not shown) instead of the notch 9 at the center of the tab terminal 4 in the width direction so that the terminal portions on both sides of the hole can be bent. The narrow portion 5 is formed by the notch portion 9 and the hole portion, and the tab terminal 4 can be easily bent from the narrow portion 5 with a small force.

  The tab terminal 4 can be bent freely in the plate thickness direction with a weak force by the narrow width portion 5. The force required for the tab terminal 4 to bend from the narrow width portion 5 is set smaller than the force required for the elastic contact piece 8 of the relay terminal 1 to be largely bent. The force required to buckle the narrow width portion 5 is set larger than the force required to insert the tab terminal 4 along the elastic contact piece 8.

  As a result, even if the tab terminal 4 and the relay terminal 1 are misaligned or the tab terminal 4 and the tab terminal 10 of the electrical component 2 are misaligned, the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 is connected to the relay terminal 1 or the other side. The tab terminal 10 is inserted straight while being straightened (parallel) and reliably inserted, so that misalignment is absorbed and a reliable electrical connection is made.

  The narrow width portion 5 does not impart elasticity to the tab terminal 4, and the tab terminal 4 bent from the narrow width portion 5 does not elastically recover and maintains a straight (vertical in FIG. 1) posture. The tab terminal 4 is bent from the narrow width portion 5 and simultaneously bent from the bent portion (tab terminal rising base) 6 in an inclined manner in the plate thickness direction. It is preferable that the bending force (force required for bending) of the narrow width portion 5 is equal to or smaller than the bending force of the bending portion 6. Since the bent portion 6 is bent at a substantially right angle by molding, it can be bent with a force much smaller than the bending force of the bus bar body 11.

  The tab terminal 4 has a cross-sectional area of the narrow width portion 5 to define the magnitude (rating) of the energizing current. However, the tab terminal 4 is preferably used mainly at a site where the energizing current is small. For example, it is suitable as the tab terminal 4 that is connected to the tab terminal 10 on the excitation side (the side that energizes the coil) of the relay 2 via the relay terminal 1.

  In this example, the portion ahead of the bent portion 6 of the bus bar 3 is referred to as the tab terminal 4, but the portion beyond the narrow portion 5 may be regarded as the tab terminal 4. When the distance to the part 5 is long, the space from the bent part 6 to the narrow part 5 is also called a bus bar body. This is because the narrow width portion 5 is a portion that does not contact the elastic contact piece 8 or the inner wall surface 7 of the counterpart terminal 1 as a tab terminal. The tab terminal 4 is a part of the bus bar 3, and the portion of the bus bar 3 excluding the tab terminal 4 is called a bus bar body 11.

  It is preferable that the position of the narrow portion 5 substantially coincides with the base end (lower end) 12a of the relay terminal 1 in the inserted state of FIG. 1, so that the tab terminal with respect to the elastic contact piece 8 and the inner wall surface 7 of the relay terminal 1 can be obtained. 4 can be secured widely. The narrow width portion 5 is preferably located in the vicinity of the bent portion 6 of the bus bar 3, thereby minimizing the distance from the narrow width portion 5 to the bent portion 6, and assembling height of the relay terminal 1. That is, the height of the electrical junction box can be set low. Further, the narrow width portion 5 prevents interference between the inner end (edge) 12a of the side wall 12 of the relay terminal 1 and the side end face 4a of the tab terminal 4, and the tab terminal 4 can be swung in the plate width direction. The movement also absorbs the inclination of the tab terminal 4 in the plate width direction.

  It is not preferable that the narrow portion 5 penetrates deeply into the relay terminal 1 and contacts the elastic contact piece 8 or the inner wall surface 7, and does the position of the narrow portion 5 substantially coincide with the base end 12 a of the relay terminal 1? Or it is preferable that it is the position exposed to the outer side from the base end 12a.

  The relay terminal 1 in FIG. 1 is the same as that shown in the conventional example (FIG. 5), and has an elastic contact piece 8 that is folded back from one end of one side wall 7 inside the rectangular cylindrical portion 14, and is in elastic contact. The piece 8 has a short piece portion 16 that is folded back from the tip of the inclined long piece portion 15, and the tab terminal 10 of the relay 2 is inserted between the long piece portion 15 and one inner wall surface 17. The tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 is inserted between the inner wall surface 7 and the other inner wall surface 7.

  The shape of the relay terminal 1 is not restricted to this, For example, what was shown by patent documents 1-3 of a prior art example etc. can be used. Moreover, it can replace with the relay terminal 1 and the female terminal etc. which are mounted | worn in the connector of a wire harness (not shown) can also be used. The female terminal has an elastic contact piece.

  FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of an electrical connection box including the connection structure of the bus bar 3 and the relay terminal 1 described above.

  The electric junction box 18 is mounted on a hybrid electric vehicle, and includes an upper cover 19 and a lower cover 20, which are synthetic resin junction box bodies, two relays 2 mounted on the upper cover 19, and a lower cover. 20 is provided with a bus bar 21 and a bus bar wiring board 22 which are assembled on the upper side.

The bus bar 21 on the lower cover is mainly for a large positive pole current, and the bus bar 21 is formed with a tab terminal 24 standing vertically with respect to the tab terminal 23 on the main circuit side of each relay 2 in FIG. The bus bar 3 of the bus bar wiring board 22 assembled on the bus bar 24 is mainly of a negative pole, and the thin bus bar 3 is connected to the tab terminal (plate-like terminal) 10 of the low current side (excitation side) circuit of the relay 2 in FIG. The tab terminal 4 is formed so as to rise vertically, and the tab terminal 4 is provided with the narrow width portion 5. The tab terminal 4 is not limited to the terminal of the bus bar 3 and can be formed upright from one side end of the middle portion in the longitudinal direction.

  The relay terminal 1 is connected to the tab terminal 4, and the tab terminal of the relay 2 is connected to the relay terminal 1. A tab terminal 24 corresponding to the tab terminal 23 on the main circuit side of the relay 2 is raised and formed on the thick bus bar 25 of the bus bar wiring board 22. The bus bar wiring board 22 is mainly composed of a substrate 26 made of insulating resin and a plurality of bus bars 3 and 25 appropriately punched out from a conductive metal plate.

  In FIG. 3, reference numeral 27 is a small current fuse mounted on the lower cover, 28 is a terminal block for grounding on the upper cover side, 29 is a connector housing, 30 is a current sensor on the lower cover side, 31 is a service plug, and 32 is a large plug. A current fuse, 33 is a positive pole terminal block, 34 is a DC / DC converter terminal block, and 36 is a relay terminal for the tab terminal 23 on the main circuit side of the relay 2. The connector housing 29 and the terminals constitute a connector. The structure of the electric junction box 18 excluding the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 has been proposed in detail by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-364514.

  The bus bar wiring board 22 is mounted on the lower cover, the upper cover 19 is mounted from above, and the relay 2 is mounted from above. The relay terminals 1 and 36 are connected in advance to the tab terminals 4 and 24 of the bus bars 3, 22 and 25, and the tab terminals 10 and 23 of the relay 2 are connected to the relay terminals 1 and 36 through the slit-shaped hole 35 of the upper cover 19. Connected to. The relay terminals 1 and 36 are arranged or mounted below the hole 35 of the upper cover 19.

  When the relay terminal 1 is mounted in the terminal accommodating portion of the upper cover 19, the positional displacement between the relay terminal 1 and the tab terminal 4 due to the displacement of the position of the terminal accommodating portion and the position of the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 of the bus bar wiring board 22. Occurs. Further, when the position of the relay terminal 1 is defined by the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3, the positional deviation between the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 and the hole 35 of the upper cover 19, or the relay 2 attached to the upper cover 19. Due to the positional deviation between the tab terminal 10 and the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3, the positional deviation between the relay terminal 1 and the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 occurs when the relay is mounted.

  In any of these cases, the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 is easily bent from the narrow width portion 5 with a small force, and a reliable electrical connection is made following the tab terminal 10 and the relay terminal 1 of the relay 2.

  In FIG. 4, the assembling error in the arrangement direction (arrow A direction) of the pair of tab terminals 10 of the circuit on the low power side (excitation side) of the relay 2 is absorbed by the narrow width portion 5 of the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3. The tab terminal 23 on the main circuit side of the relay 2 is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the tab terminal 10 on the low power side, and the misalignment of the bus bars 22 and 25 in the direction of arrow A with respect to the tab terminal 24 is the plate width of the tab terminal 23. Since the tab terminal 24 is easily absorbed in the direction, it is not necessary to provide a bendable portion (narrow width portion).

  In the above embodiment, the relay 2 is used as an electrical component. However, instead of the relay 2, a tab terminal such as a fuse or a fusible link can be connected to the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 via the relay terminal 1. It is. Moreover, it is also possible to connect the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3 using a female terminal such as a connector instead of the relay terminal 1.

  Further, as the bendable portion of the tab terminal 4 of the bus bar 3, it is possible to provide a thin portion having the same plate width as the tab terminal 4 or a flexible portion having a cross-sectional waveform or a V-shaped cross section instead of the narrow width portion 5. . In this case, since the bendable portion has the same plate width as the tab terminal 4, a large current can be passed, and for example, the tab terminal 23 on the high power side (main circuit side) of the relay 2 is connected via the relay terminal. You can also

It is a longitudinal section showing one embodiment of a connection structure of a bus bar and a terminal concerning the present invention. It is a front view showing one embodiment of a tab terminal of a bus bar similarly. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the electrical-connection box containing the connection structure of a bus-bar and a terminal. It is a top view (bottom view) which shows one form of the relay with which an electrical junction box is mounted | worn. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows one form of the connection structure of the conventional bus bar and a terminal. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the problem of the connection structure of the conventional bus bar and a terminal.

Explanation of symbols

1 Relay terminal (mating terminal)
2 Relay (electrical parts)
3 Bus bar 4 Tab terminal 5 Narrow part (bendable part)
6 Bent part (tab terminal rising base)
8 Elastic contact piece 9 Notch 10 Tab terminal (plate terminal)
19 Upper cover (Junction box body)

Claims (3)

The tab terminal horizontally routed to bus bars are raised formed up perpendicularly to the insulating substrate, wherein the tab terminal is inserted connected from one to the relay terminal and the other plate-like terminals of the electric part is inserted connect to the relay terminal In the connection structure between the bus bar and the terminal , notches are provided on both sides of the tab terminal in the plate width direction in the vicinity of the tab terminal rising base of the bus bar , and the narrow portion of the tab terminal is provided between the notches on both sides. When the plate terminal is displaced in the plate thickness direction with respect to the tab terminal, the tab terminal portion between the tab terminal rising base and the notch is inclined in the plate thickness direction. While being bent, the narrow width portion is bent in a U shape in the direction opposite to the inclination direction of the tab terminal portion, and the tab terminal portion from the notch portion to the tip of the tab terminal is parallel to the plate-like terminal. connecting structure of the bus bar and the terminal, characterized in that positioned vertically The bus bar and terminal connection structure according to claim 1, wherein a bending force of the narrow portion is weaker than a force of an elastic contact piece of the relay terminal. The bus bar in the connection box body is arranged, a pair of the tab terminal to the bus bar is disposed to face the plate thickness direction, wherein the outside of the junction box body electrical parts are mounted, the electrical components The plate-like terminals opposed to each other in the thickness direction are connected to the pair of relay terminals, and at that time, each tab terminal is bent in two opposite directions at the narrow portion and the tab terminal rising base portion. The bus bar and terminal connection structure according to claim 1 or 2, wherein:

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