JP5393138B2 - Earth connection structure and lighting fixture - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to, for example, a ground connection structure for a terminal block, and more particularly to a ground connection structure for a terminal block attached to a mounting plate such as a chassis of a lighting fixture or the like.

  In the prior art, the elastic conductive plate tongue protruding from the mounting surface of the terminal block is mounted (inserted) into a punched hole formed (formed) in the chassis of the instrument body, so that the elastic conductive plate tongue of the chassis and the terminal block is mounted. There is a structure in which a piece is electrically connected (see Patent Document 1).

In another example of the prior art, a terminal for grounding is provided in the terminal block, the terminal for grounding is tapped for screws, the chassis part of the instrument body is sandwiched, and the tapped part of the grounding terminal is used. There is a structure in which the chassis and the ground terminal of the terminal block are electrically connected by fixing with screws (Patent Document 2).
No. 7-47807 Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-54692

  However, in the structure in which the elastic conductive plate tongue protruding from the mounting surface of the terminal block is mounted (inserted) into the punched hole processed (formed) in the chassis of the instrument body, the terminal block is mounted on the chassis, The tongue piece protrudes from the punched hole to the outer shell of the instrument body. For this reason, at the time of assembling or constructing the lighting fixture, the protruding tongue piece may cause damage such as scratches on the construction surface of other parts and ceiling materials. Further, when there is a convex portion or the like on the corresponding construction surface when the instrument body is attached, the protruding tongue piece may be pushed by the convex portion, and the conduction between the chassis and the tongue piece may become unstable.

  Also, in the structure in which the chassis part of the instrument body and the tapped part of the ground terminal of the terminal block are screwed with screws, there are no tongues or the like protruding on the outer shell of the instrument body, but for grounding (earth connection) Screws are always required, and tapping for screw mounting is required on the grounding terminal incorporated in the terminal block. For this reason, the manufacturing cost of a lighting fixture etc. will go up. Moreover, in such a structure, since the grounding cannot be confirmed visually, there is a problem that the grounding stability is lacking.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, for example, and can obtain a stable and reliable grounding in a lighting fixture or the like, and can be manufactured without adding parts such as screws. An object of the present invention is to provide a lighting fixture or the like having a ground connection structure with reduced costs.

The ground connection structure according to the present invention is a ground connection structure of a terminal block attached to a mounting plate,
The terminal block is
A ground tongue protruding from a mounting surface attached to the mounting plate;
The mounting plate is
Forming an opening into which the ground tongue is inserted, and an opening peripheral portion connected to the ground tongue;
It is formed so as to cover at least the tip of the ground tongue inserted into the opening, and includes a protection part for protecting the ground tongue.

  The ground connection structure according to the present invention is a ground connection structure of a terminal block attached to a mounting plate, wherein the terminal block includes a ground tongue protruding from a mounting surface attached to the mounting plate, Forming an opening into which the ground tongue piece is inserted, and forming an opening peripheral portion connected to the ground tongue piece and ground, and covering at least a tip of the ground tongue piece inserted into the opening, Since the protective portion for protecting the ground tongue is provided, there is an effect that a reliable and stable ground connection can be obtained without adding parts such as screws in the ground connection between the mounting plate and the terminal block. In addition, there is an effect that there is no risk of damaging other parts, the ceiling construction surface and the like by the ground tongue piece during assembly or construction.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a terminal block 1 and a chassis 7 (mounting plate) according to Embodiment 1, and is a perspective view showing a state before fitting. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state after the terminal block 1 and the chassis 7 (mounting plate) according to Embodiment 1 are fitted. FIG. 3 is a front view of the terminal block 1 according to the first embodiment. The structure of the terminal block 1 and the chassis 7 (mounting plate) according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The terminal block 1 is a component that supplies power to a lighting fixture or the like by inserting an indoor wiring. Moreover, the terminal block 1 is also a component which takes earth | ground, such as a lighting fixture, from indoor wiring simultaneously with electric power feeding. For example, the terminal block 1 is provided in a lighting device that lights a lamp mounted on a lighting fixture. If the input voltage of the luminaire exceeds 150V, it must be grounded.

  The terminal block 1 includes a power supply hole 12 for connecting indoor wiring on the front surface (upper surface) and a ground wire hole 11 for connecting a ground wire (see FIG. 3). The terminal block 1 is provided with a fixture internal wiring hole 13 for supplying power to the inside of a lighting fixture or the like on the side surface (see FIG. 1). The terminal block 1 supplies the power supplied from the external power source or the like by the indoor wiring connected to the power supply hole 12 to the inside of the lighting fixture by the fixture internal wiring connected to the fixture internal wiring hole 13. Further, the terminal block 1 is grounded to a lighting fixture body (chassis 7 or the like) by a ground connection structure described later, and is grounded by a ground wire connected to the ground wire hole 11.

  The terminal block 1 is attached to a chassis 7 (attachment plate) such as a lighting fixture. The terminal block 1 includes an attachment claw 2 on an attachment surface 14 that is a surface attached to the chassis 7. Further, the chassis 7 is formed with a mounting hole 3 into which the mounting claw 2 is inserted and locked. When the terminal block 1 is attached to the chassis 7, the attachment claw 2 is engaged with the attachment hole 3 of the chassis 7 to be locked and fixed to the chassis 7. For example, the mounting claw 2 can be elastically deformed (elastically moved). When the mounting claw 2 is inserted into the mounting hole 3, the claw portion is caught by the edge of the mounting hole 3 by the elastic force, and is locked and fixed. Further, although it can be attached to the chassis 7 (attachment plate) with screws or the like, the number of parts can be reduced by attaching with the attachment claws 2 of the terminal block 1 as shown in FIG.

  The terminal block 1 includes a ground tongue piece 5 protruding from the mounting surface 14. As shown in FIG. 2, the ground tongue piece 5 is formed continuously with the ground piece 4. The ground piece 4 is a part that is formed of a conductive plate and is connected to a ground wire inserted into a ground wire hole for grounding. The ground tongue piece 5 is an end of the ground piece 4 on the mounting surface 14 side. The ground tongue 5 is formed with a notch 51 cut out in the vertical direction from the tip (see FIG. 1). The ground tongue piece 5 has a cutout portion 51, thereby having elasticity in the width direction of the ground tongue piece 5 as described later.

  When the terminal block 1 is mounted on the chassis 7 (an example of the mounting plate), the mounting surface 14 of the terminal block 1 abuts as described above. The chassis 7 includes a mounting hole 3 that fits into the mounting claw 2 provided on the mounting surface 14 of the terminal block 1. The chassis 7 includes an opening 80 into which the ground tongue piece 5 is inserted when the terminal block 1 is attached, an opening peripheral portion 8 which is the periphery of the opening 80 and is connected to the ground tongue piece 5, and an opening 80. And a protection unit 10 that protects the ground tongue 5 so as to cover at least the tip of the ground tongue 5 inserted into the ground.

  The protection part 10 is formed in a bridge shape in the opening 80 continuously from a part of the opening peripheral part 8. That is, it has a shape like a bridge spanning the opening 80. Of the peripheral edge 8 that forms the opening 80, the peripheral edge where the protective part 10 continues is called a continuous part 91, and the sheared part where the protective part 10 is not continuous is called a shearing part 9. The continuous portion 91 is a pair of sides (edges) that face each other in the opening 80. The shearing part 9 is a side (edge) adjacent to the continuous part 91, and is a pair of sides (edges) facing each other in the opening 80.

  The protection part 10, the opening 80, and the opening peripheral part 8 in the present embodiment are formed by, for example, metal plate squeezing. First, in the chassis 7, two cuts are provided substantially in parallel with the position where the opening 80 becomes the shearing portion 9. This notch is formed by shearing, and the metal part without coating is exposed on the shearing surface of the shearing part 9. The width of the two cuts is equal to or greater than the width of the continuous portion 91 (that is, the width L1 of the protective portion 10).

  After the cut is formed, the portion sandwiched between the two cuts is subjected to a squeezing process (extrusion process) from the surface of the chassis 7 on the side opposite to the surface on which the protective portion 10 projects. The surface of the chassis 7 on which the protective portion 10 projects (hereinafter referred to as the chassis projecting surface 71) is a surface (chassis mounting surface) that comes into contact with the mounting surface 14 of the terminal block 1 when the terminal block 1 is mounted on the chassis 7. 72) (see FIG. 2).

  Thereby, the protection part 10 is extruded from the surface (chassis protrusion surface 71) by which the protection part 10 of the chassis 7 protrudes, and is formed in a bridge shape. As for the shape of the protection part 10, the cross section of the shearing part 9 direction is substantially trapezoidal. The cross-sectional shape of the protective portion 10 in the direction of the shearing portion 9 is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a semicircular shape, a semi-oval shape, a rectangular shape, a polygonal shape, or the like depending on variations in deep drawing. Further, the height L2 (see FIG. 2) of the protection portion 10 needs to be set to a height such that the tip 52 of the ground tongue piece 5 does not contact the ceiling surface of the protection portion 10. The reason for this will be described later.

  FIG. 4 is a view of the portion C in FIG. 2 as viewed from the direction A in FIG. 1 with the terminal block 1 attached to the chassis 7. FIG. 5 is a view of the portion C in FIG. 2 as viewed from the direction B in FIG. 1 with the terminal block 1 attached to the chassis 7. The details of the ground connection structure of the terminal block 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the ground tongue 5 has a tongue shape that gradually narrows toward the tip 52. The ground tongue piece 5 is formed with a cutout portion 51 cut out in the vertical direction from the tip 52. In the present embodiment, one (one) cutout portion 51 is provided in the vertical direction at the approximate center of the ground tongue piece 5, but for example, on both sides of the approximate center of the ground tongue piece 5 in the vertical direction. Two notches may be provided. Or you may provide two or more notch parts.

  By providing this notch 51, the ground tongue 5 has elasticity in the width direction of the tongue. Since the ground tongue piece 5 has elasticity in the width direction of the tongue piece, when the ground tongue piece 5 is inserted into the opening 80, it is shorter than the width of the tongue piece (the width L4 of the non-thinned portion of the ground tongue piece 5). Even the opening width (L1) can be press-fitted by shrinking in the tongue piece width direction. For this reason, the opening width L1 of the opening 80 needs to be formed slightly shorter than the tongue piece width L4 of the ground tongue piece 5 (the width of the non-thinned portion of the ground tongue piece 5).

  When the ground tongue piece 5 is press-fitted into the opening 80, the tongue piece side surfaces 53 on both sides come into pressure contact with the opening peripheral edge portion 8 by elastic force that tends to extend in the width direction of the tongue piece. As shown in FIG. 4, in the contact portion 81 between the tongue piece side surface 53 and the opening peripheral edge portion 8, the elastic force of the ground tongue piece 5 acts in the direction of the arrows D <b> 1 and D <b> 2, Is in pressure contact.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the opening peripheral edge 8 in contact with the tongue piece side surface 53 is a shearing portion 9. Therefore, the tongue piece side surface 53 and the shearing portion 9 of the opening peripheral edge portion 8 are in pressure contact with each other, so that the ground tongue piece 5 and the chassis 7 are electrically connected. Moreover, since the tongue piece side surface 53 and the shearing part 9 of the opening peripheral part 8 are press-contacted, conduction | electrical_connection can be obtained reliably.

  In the present embodiment, the ground tongue piece 5 is inserted into the opening 80 in such a direction that the tongue piece side surface 53 of the ground tongue piece 5 is pressed against the shearing portion 90. 53 may be inserted into the opening 80 in such a direction as to be in pressure contact with the continuous portion 91. In that case, the paint of the continuous part 91 part which press-contacts with the tongue piece side surface 53 is peeled off, and it is set as a metal part. Moreover, you may make it peel the coating of the continuous part 91 by the tongue piece side surface 53 in the case of press-fit by press-fitting. In this case, it is necessary to design the shape of the ground tongue piece 5 and the shape of the protective portion 10 so that the ground tongue piece 5 does not contact the inner surface of the protective portion 10.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the protection unit 10 is formed so as to cover the tip 52 of the ground tongue piece 5. The distance L3 between the tip 52 of the ground tongue piece 5 and the inner surface of the protection unit upper surface portion 101 is preferably set to a predetermined distance so that the tip 52 does not contact the protection unit upper surface portion 101. If the upper surface portion 101 of the protective part comes into contact with the tip 52, the ground tongue 5 may be pushed toward the inside of the terminal block 1, and the ground connection between the ground tongue 5 and the chassis 7 may become unstable. Because there is.

  The ground tongue piece 5 according to the present embodiment has a structure in which the cutout portion 51 is provided to provide elasticity in the tongue piece width direction, but any structure having elasticity in the tongue piece width direction may be used. Not limited to this. For example, you may make it provide elasticity in the width direction of a tongue piece by providing a folding part in the vertical direction of a ground tongue piece. In addition, a cut may be provided in the vertical direction of the ground tongue piece so that the tongue pieces on both sides overlap and slide so as to provide elasticity in the width direction of the tongue piece. Further, at least a part of the ground piece 4 may be configured like a thread cutting scissors, and the tip portion of the scissors may be a ground tongue piece so as to have elasticity in the width direction of the tongue piece.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating variations (a) and (b) of the shape of the protection unit 10 according to the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 6A, the bridge portion of the protection portion 110 is continuous from the continuous portion 91 of the chassis 7 to the protection portion side surface portion 102, the protection portion upper surface portion 101, and the protection portion side surface portion 103 facing the protection portion side surface portion 102. Is formed. The front end of the protective part side surface part 103 is not continuous to the chassis 7 but is formed only up to part D, and a bridge opening 104 is formed between the protective part side part 103 and the chassis 7. As described above, since the protection portion 110 in FIG. 6A includes the bridge opening 104, maintenance of the tongue piece surface and the like of the ground tongue piece 5 is easy.

  FIG. 6B shows a protective part 120 formed by performing a deep drawing process (extrusion process) without providing the shearing part 9 around the opening 80. That is, the protection part 120 has a shape that covers the entire opening 80 into which the ground tongue piece 5 is inserted so as to cover the bowl. Since the protection part 120 has a shape that covers the entire opening 80, there is no possibility that the ground tongue piece 5 is deformed, moved, or damaged by other parts or other equipment. Further, the ground tongue piece 5 does not cause deformation, movement, or damage to other parts or other equipment. At this time, since the shearing portion 9 is not formed in the opening peripheral edge portion 8, it is necessary to remove the coating on the portion where the tongue piece side surface 53 of the ground tongue piece 5 is pressed. Alternatively, the ground tongue piece 5 may be press-fitted into the opening 80 so that the coating of the continuous portion 91 is peeled off at the tongue piece side surface 53 during the press-fitting.

  As described above, according to the ground connection structure of the first embodiment, the ground tongue piece 5 does not protrude from the outer shell of the lighting fixture, so that damage to other parts due to the edge of the ground tongue piece 5 is prevented. be able to. Moreover, even if there is a convex portion or the like on the construction surface of the lighting fixture or the like, the ground tongue piece 5 can be protected, so that the grounding function (ground connection function) between the terminal block 1 and the lighting fixture main body is not impaired.

  Further, according to the ground connection structure of the first embodiment, the manufacturing cost can be reduced because the ground terminal and the chassis of the instrument main body are not grounded by using additional parts such as screws.

  The ground connection structure according to the present embodiment can be applied to a lighting fixture including a lighting device. The lighting device mounted on the lighting fixture is provided with a terminal block. The terminal block is attached to the chassis of the fixture body (or lighting device) of the lighting fixture. At that time, by applying the present embodiment, the lighting fixture can be provided with a ground connection structure that is highly reliable and safe and inexpensive to manufacture.

It is a figure which shows the terminal block 1 which concerns on Embodiment 1, and the chassis 7 (mounting board), and is a perspective view which shows the state before fitting. It is sectional drawing which shows the state after the terminal block 1 which concerns on Embodiment 1, and the chassis 7 (attachment board) fit. 3 is a front view of the terminal block 1 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a view of a portion C in FIG. 2 as viewed from a direction A in FIG. 1 in a state where the terminal block 1 is attached to the chassis 7. FIG. 3 is a view of a portion C in FIG. 2 as viewed from a direction B in FIG. 1 in a state where the terminal block 1 is attached to the chassis 7. It is a figure which shows the variation (a) (b) of the shape of the protection part 10 in this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  1 terminal block, 2 mounting claws, 3 mounting holes, 4 ground pieces, 5 ground tongue pieces, 7 chassis, 8 peripheral edge of the opening, 9 shearing portion, 10 protection portion, 11 ground wire hole, 12 power supply hole, 13 instrument internal wiring Hole, 14 Mounting surface, 51 Notch, 52 Tip, 53 Tongue side, 80 Open, 81 Contact, 91 Continuous, 101 Protection top, 102,103 Protection side, 104 Bridge opening, 110, 120 Protection part.

Claims (3)

In the ground connection structure of the terminal block attached to the mounting plate,
The terminal block is
A ground tongue protruding from a mounting surface attached to the mounting plate;
The mounting plate is
Forming an opening into which the ground tongue is inserted, and an opening peripheral portion connected to the ground tongue;
A protection part that is formed so as to cover at least the tip of the ground tongue inserted into the opening and protects the ground tongue ;
The protective part is
A ground connection structure characterized by being formed in a bridge shape in the opening continuously from a part of the peripheral edge of the opening . The ground tongue piece is
The ground connection structure according to claim 1, further comprising a cutout portion cut out in a vertical direction from the tip, wherein both side surfaces are pressed into contact with the peripheral edge portion of the opening. A lighting device;
Luminaire and a ground connection structure according to claim 1 or 2.

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