JP4762690B2 - Electrical junction box - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to the technical field of an electrical junction box incorporating a board and a connector, and in particular, a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) having a reliable means for connecting a board and a connector regardless of soldering. The present invention relates to an electrical junction box with a built-in card edge connector.

In a conventional automobile board type junction box (electrical connection box), it is common to connect a board and a connector terminal by soldering and fix the connector to the board by screwing or the like. An example of connection between a conventional board and a connector is shown in FIG. In the figure, a substrate 101 and a terminal 103 of a connector 102 are connected by a through hole 104 and soldered 105 is applied.

In the conventional connection by soldering as shown in FIG. 10, the problem that lead contained in the solder has an adverse effect on the environment has been raised.

Under such circumstances, lead-free solder has already been developed. However, since the melting point of lead-free solder suitable for practical use is high, the following problems occur.
(1) Improvement of heat resistance of electronic components (2) Shortening of life of tools used for soldering (3) Increase of time to reach melting point

 (1) is a problem that it is necessary to improve heat resistance so that an electronic component mounted on a substrate can withstand a high temperature when connected by lead-free solder. Moreover, (2) is a problem that the tool used for soldering has a short service life due to high temperature.

Further, (3) is a problem that it takes time to reach a high melting point, and the fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission during that time increase, which adversely affects the environment.

In order to solve the above problems, connection means that does not use solder has been conventionally devised. As one of connection means not using solder, for example, there is a card edge connection disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.

In Patent Document 1, a holding projection is provided at a position in contact with the substrate of the terminal fitting, a holding hole is provided in the substrate, and the holding projection is fitted into the holding hole so that the substrate is held by the connector. Yes.

Moreover, the connection means of the board | substrate and connector currently disclosed by patent document 2 is applied to electronic devices, such as a computer, and the connector is provided with the C-shaped contact. When the tip of the substrate is inserted into the opening of the C-shaped contact, it can be inserted with almost no contact pressure on the substrate, and then the substrate is rotated to reduce the contact pressure between the substrate and the contact. I try to put it on. Note that there is no description of the pressure contact surface between the substrate and the contact.
JP 2000-188145 A Japanese Patent No. 2845686

However, in the connection means between the board and the connector described in Patent Document 1, when the board is inserted into the connector, the holding projection provided on the terminal may damage the board. Further, when applied to an electric junction box of an automobile, there is a problem that the fitting between the holding projection and the holding hole is easily removed due to vibration of the automobile.

Moreover, although the conventional card edge system of patent document 2 is applicable to a computer, a household appliance, etc., there existed the following problems and it was difficult to apply to the electrical junction box of a motor vehicle.

Although not described in Patent Document 2, the C-shaped contact used in Patent Document 2 has an electrical contact point with the substrate as small as one point on one side of the substrate, and the contact area is extremely narrow in a dot shape. Is the feature. Therefore, there is a problem that it is not suitable for a terminal of a power supply connector having a high current value.

In addition, since there is a strong need for miniaturization of an electrical connection box mounted on an automobile, there is a strong demand for the application of a multi-pole connector that allows a large number of connections to a board with a single connector. However, the contact of the conventional card edge connector is configured to contact only the front end of the substrate, and cannot be configured to contact the inner surface of the substrate.

In addition, the electrical junction box mounted on a car with a lot of vibrations requires high mechanical reliability, but the conventional card edge connection has a problem that it is difficult to ensure high reliability. It was. In particular, the C-shaped contact used in Patent Document 2 has a problem that an instantaneous interruption occurs due to vibration because there is only one contact point.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve these problems, and provides a ZIF card edge connector built-in electrical connection box provided with a highly reliable connection means between a board and a connector without using soldering. For the purpose.

A first aspect of the electrical junction box of the present invention is an electrical junction box comprising a board, a connector having a terminal connected to the board, and a case for housing the board and the connector, wherein the terminal Is provided with an asymmetric U-shaped contact having one side that forms a substantially U-shape at one end and that is directed to the inside of the opening at a predetermined angle and longer than the other side. The substrate is inserted into the contact in a posture in which no contact pressure is applied to the substrate, and when the connector is rotated to be in a horizontal state, the substrate is contacted by applying a predetermined contact pressure, and the connector is The other end of the terminal held by the case, two terminals are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction, and the two are arranged in a horizontal direction as a set, inserted into the connector, the predetermined angle Same angle as before The width of the opening at the insertion angle is wider than the width of the substrate, the horizontal direction is the contact angle of the substrate, and the width of the opening at the contact angle is larger than the width of the substrate. It is characterized by a narrow configuration .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the electrical junction box, wherein the contact includes a folded portion having a predetermined length with a tip portion folded inward.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the connector includes one or more other terminals provided with contacts having different shapes, and the contacts having the different shapes are bent at 90 degrees with respect to the other terminals and face each other. A side surface portion and a contact portion that is further folded back at the tip of the side surface portion and whose deformation is restricted at the upper end of the side surface portion, and the height of the side surface portion is such that the contact portion contacts the substrate with a predetermined contact pressure. The electrical connection box is characterized in that the length is determined.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the connector, the two or more other terminals are arranged in the vertical direction, and the contact portion of the another shape contact provided in the another terminal is in contact with the substrate. The height of a side part is adjusted for every said another terminal, It is an electrical junction box characterized by the above-mentioned.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the connector includes a pair of protrusions on each of two opposing side surfaces, and the case includes two for fitting with the protrusions. An electrical junction box having a predetermined number of grooves as one set.

As described above, according to the present invention, a board can be inserted without applying contact pressure to the opening of the contact by providing a substantially U-shaped contact at the tip of the connector terminal. It is possible to provide an electrical junction box that can connect the substrate and the contact with contact pressure and can hold the connector in the case.

The substantially U-shaped contact is suitable as a power connector for an automobile having a high current value because the contact area with the substrate can be made longer in the longitudinal direction of the terminal. Further, since the substantially U-shaped contact can be connected to both surfaces of the substrate, the electrical reliability can be greatly improved by increasing the number of electrical contacts.

Further, the two terminals arranged in the connector housing in the vertical direction are arranged in the horizontal direction parallel to the board to connect the two terminals to the board in the horizontal direction. Can do. That is, the terminal arrangement arranged vertically in two stages can be converted into an arrangement in the horizontal direction, and a connection structure suitable for the substrate can be obtained.

In the electrical junction box of the present invention, it is also possible to connect the terminal of the built-in connector to the surface inside the end portion of the substrate. That is, the terminal can be extended from the end of the substrate to the inside, and the contact provided at the tip of the terminal can be brought into contact with the substrate with a predetermined contact pressure. However, the contact surface of the terminal with the substrate in this case is one side.

In addition, the electrical junction box of the present invention has a structure that can be connected to the board and fixed to the case side only by assembling the connector to the case side. For this reason, it is possible to obtain an effect that labor saving can be achieved in the assembly of the electric junction box, as well as the reduction of the material cost and the processing cost due to the solderless.

Furthermore, in the electrical junction box of the present invention, it is possible to connect two connectors to the board at the same time, and since both ends of the board are held by the connector, heat generated from the board is easily generated in the air. A high heat dissipation effect such as release is also obtained.

In the electrical junction box of the present invention, since solder is not used for the connection between the substrate and the connector terminal, there is no possibility of adversely affecting the environment.

With reference to the drawings, the configuration of the electrical junction box in a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. In addition, about each structural part which has the same function, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and shown for simplification of illustration and description.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a schematic configuration of an electrical junction box 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The electrical junction box 1 includes a substrate 4 and connectors 5 (5a, 5b) inside an upper case 2 and a lower case 3.

The connector 5 has a plurality of terminals 11 mounted on a connector housing 12, and contacts 13 are provided at the tips of the terminals 11. Both ends of the substrate 4 are fixed by being inserted into the respective contacts 13 of the connectors 5a and 5b.

In the electrical junction box 1 of the present invention, the substrate 4 and the connectors 5a and 5b are connected by card edge connection by the ZIF method. That is, when both ends of the board 4 are inserted into the respective contacts 13 of the connectors 5a and 5b, the board 4 can be inserted without applying a contact pressure to each end, and in a state where the connectors 5a and 5b are fixed after the insertion, Appropriate contact pressure is applied to the contact portion between the contact 4 and the contact 13.

The detailed structure of the connector 5 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the connector 5. The terminals 11 a and 11 b are arranged in the vertical direction, and a plurality of groups are arranged in the horizontal direction with the terminals 11 a and 11 b as one set, and are attached to the connector housing 12. The terminals 11a and 11b are each provided with a contact 13 at the tip.

The shapes of the terminal 11 and the contact 13 will be described with reference to FIG. The terminals 11a and 11b are press-molded integrally with the contacts 13a and 13b, respectively, into shapes as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, and are bent by 90 degrees at the respective bent portions 14a and 14b. It is formed into a shape as shown in FIGS.

When the terminals 11a and 11b are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 3E, the contact 13a connected to the terminal 11a and the contact 13b connected to the terminal 11b are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction. . As a result, the terminals 11 a and 11 b arranged in the vertical direction are connected to each other in the plane direction of the substrate 4 through the respective contacts 13.

Next, a method for connecting the substrate 4 and the connector 5 will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 4A, in order to insert the board into the connectors 5a and 5b, the connectors 5a and 5b are inclined by a predetermined angle θ. As shown in FIG. 2, the contacts 13a and 13b of the terminals disposed on the connectors 5a and 5b have a substantially U-shaped opening width at an angle θ (for example, 15 ° to 75 °). The width w1 is the widest, and the width w2 is formed in the horizontal direction.

Since the width w1 is set to be larger than the thickness of the substrate 4, no contact pressure is applied between the contacts 13a and 13b and the substrate 4 in the state shown in FIG. Therefore, even if the connector 5a or 5b is a multipolar connector having a plurality of terminals 11a and 11b, the board can be inserted without applying contact pressure. Since the width w1 is larger than the thickness of the substrate 4, the angle at which the connectors 5a and 5b are tilted does not have to be exactly θ, and an angle close to θ is sufficient. That is, the tolerance of the angle at the time of board insertion is large, and since it can cope with a wide angle, board insertion can be performed easily.

After the substrate 4 is inserted into the connectors 5a and 5b inclined by the angle θ, the connectors 5a and 5b are pushed downward as shown in FIG. When the horizontal width w2 of the opening of the contact 13 shown in FIG. 2 is made smaller than the thickness of the substrate 4, the contact surface between the substrate 4 and the contacts 13a and 13b when the state shown in FIG. It is possible to apply a predetermined contact pressure to. In this case, to what extent w2 is made smaller than the thickness of the substrate 4 depends on the required contact pressure.

Since the substrate 4 can be inserted without applying contact pressure to the connectors 5a and 5b, there is no possibility of damaging the substrate at the time of insertion. Further, when the connectors 5a and 5b are brought into the state shown in FIGS. 4A to 4B, the position where the substrate 4 and the contact 13 first contact and the position where the substrate 4 finally contacts in the state shown in FIG. 4B. There is a slight shift. However, since the contact surface is thereby cleaned and the oxide film formed on the contact surface is removed, a good intermetallic bond effect can be obtained.
Further, in the state shown in FIG. 4B, a moment to constantly return to the state shown in FIG. 4A is applied to the substrate 4 and the contact 13. That is, the contact pressure between the substrate 4 and the contact 13 includes a force due to the moment of returning rotation as well as a force due to the difference between the thickness of the substrate 4 and w2, and thus a connection structure with higher reliability is achieved.

By forming the contact 13 (13a, 13b) in a substantially U-shape as shown in FIG. 2, the two tips of the contact 13 can be brought into contact with both surfaces of the substrate 4, respectively. Thereby, both the terminals 11a and 11b can be connected to both surfaces of the substrate, and the electrical contacts can be increased to greatly improve the electrical reliability.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the contact 13 is provided with a folded portion having a predetermined length in which a tip portion is folded inside a substantially U-shape. By providing such a folded portion, the length of the contact portion between the substrate and the contact can be easily increased, so that it can be used for a power supply connector through which a large current flows.

The electrical junction box according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a schematic configuration of the electrical junction box 21 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In addition to the terminal 11 having the contact 13, the electrical connection box 21 of the present embodiment incorporates a connector 22 having terminals 25 and 26 having contacts 23 and 24 having different shapes, respectively.

The terminals 25 and 26 are arranged vertically below the terminal 11. Of course, it may be below the terminal 11 but not in the same plane. Also, the terminals 25 and 26 are made longer than the terminal 11 so that the contacts 23 and 24 are in contact with the inner surface of the substrate 4. As shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, since the terminals 25 and 26 can be arranged in the vertical direction in addition to the terminals 11a and 11b, it is possible to arrange a plurality of terminals on the connector 22 in multiple stages, and to make electrical connection It is possible to reduce the size of the box 21, particularly to reduce the size in the width direction.

The shapes of the terminal 25 and the contact 23 will be described with reference to FIG. The terminal 25 is press-molded integrally with the contact 23 into a shape as shown in FIG. Next, it is bent vertically so that the side portions 31 and 32 face each other. Further, the contact part 33 is bent so that the tip part makes one rotation. And the blade | wing part 34 provided near the front-end | tip of the contact part 33 is fitted to the notch part 35 provided in the edge of the side parts 31 and 32. FIG. That is, when the contact portion is pressed in contact with the substrate, the blade portion 34 is in contact with the notch portion 35, so that deformation is restricted and a predetermined spring characteristic can be generated.

Further, in the terminal 25 and the contact 23 formed as described above, the contact portion 33 can be in contact with the substrate 4 with an appropriate contact pressure by adjusting the height of the side surface portions 31 and 32. Become. The contact 24 connected to the terminal 26 is one in which the height of the side portions 31 and 32 is further increased so that the contact pressure with the substrate 4 is appropriate.

A method for connecting the substrate 4 and the connector 22 will be described with reference to FIG. Similarly to the first embodiment of the present invention, in the electrical junction box 21 of the present embodiment, the connector 22 is inclined by a predetermined angle in order to insert the substrate 4 into the connector 22.

Next, the board 4 is inserted into the connector 22 inclined by the predetermined angle, and then, as shown in FIG. 7 (b), the connector 22 is pushed downward to bring each into a horizontal state. As a result, a predetermined contact pressure is applied to the contact surface between the substrate 4 and the contact 13, and a predetermined contact pressure is also applied between the substrate 4 and the contacts 23 and 24.

In the electrical junction box 21 of the present embodiment, a predetermined contact pressure can be applied between the substrate 4 and the contacts 13, 23, and 24. Therefore, the electrical connection box 21 can be reliably connected even if there is vibration of the automobile. Further, as described in the first embodiment, the position where the substrate 4 and the contacts 13, 23 and 24 first contact each other and the position where they finally contact in the state shown in FIG. A good effect is also obtained that the oxide film formed on the contact surface is removed.
Further, in the state shown in FIG. 7B, a moment that always tries to return to the state shown in FIG. 7A is applied to the substrate 4 and the contact 13. In other words, the contact pressure between the substrate 4 and the contact 13 always generates a force due to a moment as well as a force with respect to the thickness of the substrate 4, thus providing a more reliable connection structure.

Next, a method of fixing the board and the connector built in the electrical junction box of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the electrical connection box 1 of the first embodiment will be described. However, the same can be applied to the electrical connection box 21 of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view for explaining a method of fixing the substrate 4 and the connector 5 to the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 in the electrical junction box 1 of the first embodiment. FIG. 8 shows an example in which the fuse holder 50 is connected to the substrate 4 in addition to the connector 5.

As described with reference to FIG. 4, both ends of the substrate 4 are inserted into the contacts 13 of the connector 5 inclined by a predetermined angle θ, and then the substrate 4 is fixed by horizontally leveling the connector 5. At this time, the connector 5 is configured to be fixed to the side wall 41 of the lower case 3.

That is, two protrusions 42 and 43 are provided on the left and right side surfaces of the connector 5, and two grooves 44 and 45 are provided on the side walls 41 on both sides of the lower case 3. Then, the connector 5 is fixed to the side wall 41 by fitting the protrusion 42 into the groove 44 and fitting the protrusion 43 into the groove 45.

A method for fitting the protrusions 42 and 43 into the grooves 44 and 45 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. In the figure, the protrusion 42 is inserted to the position of the bent portion 46 of the groove 44 while the connector 5 is inclined by a predetermined angle θ. Next, the connector 5 is pushed down until the bottom surface of the connector 5 reaches the bottom surface of the lower case 3 while fitting the protrusion 43 into the groove 45.

When the bottom surface of the connector 5 reaches the bottom surface of the lower case 3, the connector 5 becomes horizontal, and the protrusions 42 and 43 reach the deepest portions 47 and 48 of the groove portions 44 and 45, respectively. It is also possible to provide valleys at the deepest part 48 of the groove part 45 and the deepest part 47 of the groove part 44 so that the protrusions 43 and 42 are fitted more strongly at the valley part.

In the above, the embodiment in which the connector 5 is fixed to the two side walls 41 facing each other has been described. However, when the length of the connector 5 is shorter than the interval between the two side walls 41, the rib 49 indicated by the broken line in FIG. Can be provided between the two side walls 41, and the connector 5 can be fixed between the one side wall 41 and the rib 49. Alternatively, two or more ribs 49 may be provided, and the connector 5 may be fixed between two adjacent ribs 49.

The protrusions 42 and 43 can be provided at the same height on the side surface of the connector 5, but the protrusion 42 can be provided at a position lower than the protrusion 43 as shown in FIG. 9. In this case, only the protrusion 42 is inserted into the groove 44 first, and the connector 5 can be rotated around the protrusion 42 to be in a horizontal state.

As described above, after the connector 5 is fixed by fitting the protrusions 42 and 43 into the grooves 44 and 45, the upper case 2 is brought into close contact with the lower case 3, so that the connector 5 moves upward and protrudes. The portions 42 and 43 are prevented from coming out of the groove portions 44 and 45.

In addition, the description in this Embodiment shows an example of the electrical junction box based on this invention, and is not limited to this. The detailed configuration and detailed operation of the electrical junction box 1 in the present embodiment can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a schematic configuration of an electrical junction box 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the detailed structure of the connector 5. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the shapes of the terminal 11 and the contact 13. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are plan views showing the press-formed shape, FIGS. 3 (c) and 3 (d) are perspective views showing the shape bent 90 degrees at the bent portion, and FIG. e) is a perspective view showing a state in which two terminals are combined. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method for connecting the substrate 4 and the connector 5. FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the board is inserted into the connectors 5a and 5b, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the connectors 5a and 5b are pushed down and leveled. . FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a schematic configuration of the electrical junction box 21 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the shapes of the press-molded terminals 25 and contacts 23. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method for connecting the substrate 4 and the connector 22. FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a board is inserted into the connector 22, and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the connector 22 is pushed down and leveled. FIG. 8 is a perspective view for explaining a method of fixing the substrate 4 and the connector 5 to the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 in the electrical junction box 1 of the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating in detail a method for fitting the protrusions 32 and 33 into the grooves 34 and 35, respectively. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of connection between a conventional board and a connector, which has been performed using soldering.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,21 ... Electric junction box 2 ... Upper case 3 ... Lower case 4 ... Board | substrate 5, 22 ... Connector 11, 25, 26 ... Terminal 12 ... Connector housing 13, 23 24 ... Contact 14 ... Bending part 31, 32 ... Side part 33 ... Contact part 34 ... Vane part 35 ... Notch part 41 ... Side wall 42,43 ... Projection 44, 45 ... groove 46 ... bent portion 47, 48 ... deepest portion 49 ... rib 50 ... fuse holder 101 ... substrate 102 ... connector 103 ... terminal 104 ... through hole 105 ... soldering

Claims (5)

An electrical connection box comprising a board, a connector having terminals connected to the board, and a case for housing the board and the connector,
The terminal has an asymmetrical U-shaped contact in which one side forming an approximately U-shape is formed on one end side so as to face the inside of the opening at a predetermined angle and be longer than the other side. With
The substrate is inserted into the contact in a posture in which no contact pressure is applied to the substrate, and when the connector is rotated to be in a horizontal state, the substrate is contacted by applying a predetermined contact pressure, and the connector is Held in the case,
At the other end of the terminal, two terminals are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction, and the two terminals are arranged in the horizontal direction as a set, and inserted into the connector ,
The same angle as the predetermined angle is the insertion angle of the substrate, the width of the opening at the insertion angle is wider than the width of the substrate, the horizontal direction is the contact angle of the substrate, and the opening at the contact angle. The electrical connection box is characterized in that the width of the portion is narrower than the width of the substrate . The electrical connection box according to claim 1, wherein the contact includes a folded portion having a predetermined length with a tip portion folded inward. The connector comprises one or more other terminals with different shaped contacts,
The contact having the different shape has two side portions that are bent by 90 degrees with respect to the other terminal and opposed to each other, and a contact portion that is folded back at the tip of the side portion and whose deformation is restricted at the upper end of the side portion. And
The electrical junction box according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the height of the side surface is determined so that the contact portion contacts the substrate with a predetermined contact pressure. The connector has two or more different terminals arranged in a vertical direction,
According to claim 3, characterized in that the contact portion of the contact of the further shape provided in said another terminal so as to be in contact with the substrate, the height of the side portion is adjusted for each of the different terminals Electrical junction box. The connector includes a pair of protrusions on each of two opposing side surfaces,
The electric case according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the case includes a predetermined number of grooves each having two sets for fitting with the protrusions. Connection box.

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