JP7464488B2 - Resin Structure - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a resin structure.

Conventionally, resin structures have been proposed that are constructed by assembling multiple resin bodies together, such as electrical connection boxes (e.g., relay boxes) mounted on vehicles. For example, in one conventional electrical connection box, a lid body having a shape corresponding to an opening is attached to close the opening of a box-shaped main body that stores electronic components, etc. (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Patent No. 5088090 Japanese Patent No. 4605143

Depending on the specifications of the electrical junction box, the inside of the main body of the electrical junction box may be divided into multiple regions, and the openings of each region may be closed using multiple lids corresponding to each of the regions. For example, from the viewpoint of improving the maintainability of the electrical junction box, each region may be designed so that one region mainly stores relays and the other region mainly stores fuses. However, when the electrical junction box is divided into multiple regions and each region is closed with a lid in this manner, the watertightness of the boundary between adjacent regions generally decreases compared to when there is no such boundary. It is not limited to electrical junction boxes, and in resin structures having multiple internal regions, the watertightness of the boundary between adjacent regions decreases in the same manner as described above. Therefore, when providing multiple regions in a resin structure as described above, it is desirable to increase the watertightness, especially at the boundary.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a resin structure that has excellent water-stopping properties between multiple regions provided in the resin structure.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the resin structure according to the present invention is characterized by the following [1] and [2].
[1]
A resin structure comprising: a box-shaped main body divided into a plurality of regions; and a plurality of lid bodies attached to the main body so as to cover each of the plurality of regions,
The body includes:
a first partition wall extending to separate a pair of adjacent regions;
The lid covering one of the pair of regions is
a second partition wall provided on an edge portion of the cover body so as to extend along the first partition wall; and a locking portion provided on the second partition wall,
The lid covering the other of the pair of regions is
a third partition wall provided on an edge portion of the lid body so as to extend along the first partition wall; and a locked portion provided on the third partition wall and corresponding to the locking portion,
When the main body and the plurality of lid bodies are assembled,
The engaging portion and the engaged portion are engaged with each other, and the second partition wall and the third partition wall are arranged to overlap each other to form a multi-layer wall structure.
It is a resin structure.
[2]
In the resin structure according to the above-mentioned [1],
The first partition wall is
a recessed drainage groove extending along the first partition wall is disposed on an inner side of the resin structure relative to the multilayer wall structure formed by the second partition wall and the third partition wall;
It is a resin structure.

According to the resin structure of the above-mentioned [1], when the main body and the multiple lids constituting the resin structure are assembled, the second partition wall of one of the multiple lids and the third partition wall of the other of the multiple lids overlap to form a multi-layer wall structure (so-called labyrinth-like structure). This multi-layer wall structure makes the creeping distance longer than when the second partition wall and the third partition wall are simply butted together, thereby making it possible to suppress water from entering the inside of the resin structure from the boundary between adjacent regions (especially the gap between the second partition wall and the third partition wall, etc.). Furthermore, the multiple lids can be fixed to each other by engaging the locking portion of the second partition wall with the locked portion of the third partition wall. This makes it possible to omit the locking structure that should be provided on the first partition wall compared to when both lids are engaged separately with the first partition wall of the main body. This allows the internal space of the main body to be expanded by the amount that the locking structure can be omitted, thereby improving the storage performance of the resin structure. Therefore, the resin structure of this configuration has excellent water-tightness between the multiple regions provided in the resin structure, even without using water-tight parts such as packing.

As another effect, if both lids are not attached to the main body, the locking portion and the locked portion will not engage with each other, so by checking whether the engagement is properly performed, it is possible to detect whether the lids have been left attached. In addition, both lids and the main body can be fixed together using, for example, a locking structure provided on the peripheral wall of the main body.

According to the resin structure of the configuration [2] above, the concave drainage groove provided in the first partition wall is positioned on the inner side of the resin structure relative to the multilayer wall structure formed by the second partition wall and the third partition wall. Therefore, even if there is a small gap between the second partition wall and the third partition wall, for example, when water enters the resin structure through the gap, the water can be collected by the drainage groove, thereby preventing the water from spreading inside the resin structure. Therefore, the resin structure of this configuration can further substantially improve the water-stopping properties between multiple regions.

In this way, the present invention can provide a resin structure that has excellent water-tightness between multiple areas provided in an electrical connection box.

The present invention has been briefly described above. The details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading the following detailed description of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a resin structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the resin structure shown in FIG. 1 in a state in which the main body, the first lid body, and the second lid body are separated. 3 is an oblique view showing a cross section corresponding to a portion of the A-A cross section in FIG. 1, where FIG. 3(a) shows the main body, the first lid body, and the second lid body separated, and FIG. 3(b) shows the first lid body and the second lid body assembled to the main body. FIG. 4 is a front view of the cross section shown in FIG. 5(a) is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 4, and FIG. 5(b) is an enlarged perspective view of an end portion of the cross-section shown in FIG. 5(a).

<Embodiment>
Hereinafter, a resin structure 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. The resin structure 1 is typically a relay box (electrical junction box) that is mounted on a vehicle and houses electronic components such as a relay.

1 and 2, the resin structure 1 includes a main body 2 in which electronic components such as relays (and other components, not shown) are housed, a first cover 3 attached to the upper end of the main body 2 so as to close the upper opening of a first region R1 (see FIG. 2, described later) inside the main body 2, and a second cover 4 attached to the upper end of the main body 2 so as to close the upper opening of a second region R2 (see FIG. 2, described later) inside the main body 2. Each of the main body 2, the first cover 3, and the second cover 4 is a resin molded body. The resin structure 1 may also have a resin molded body (a so-called lower cover, not shown) attached to the lower end of the main body 2 so as to close the lower opening of the main body 2. Each of the members constituting the resin structure 1 will be described below in order.

First, the main body 2 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the main body 2 has a cylindrical peripheral wall 11 that has a predetermined shape when viewed from the top-bottom direction and extends in the vertical direction. The inside of the main body 2 surrounded by the peripheral wall 11 is divided into a first region R1 and a second region R2 by a flat first partition wall 12 that crosses the inside of the main body 2 in a predetermined direction and extends in the vertical direction. In this example, each of the first region R1 and the second region R2 accommodates electronic components such as relays (and other components, not shown). Hereinafter, the portion of the peripheral wall 11 that surrounds the first region R1 may be referred to as the first peripheral wall 13, and the portion that surrounds the second region R2 may be referred to as the second peripheral wall 14.

For ease of explanation, the following definitions are used, as shown in FIG. 3 etc.: "partition direction", "front-rear direction", "up-down direction", "front", "rear", "up" and "down". The "partition direction", "front-rear direction" and "up-down direction" are mutually perpendicular. When the resin structure 1 is mounted on a vehicle, the "up-down direction" corresponds to the up-down direction of the vehicle. The "partition direction" corresponds to the specified direction in which the first partition wall 12 crosses the inside of the main body 2, and the "front-rear direction" corresponds to the plate thickness direction of the first partition wall 12.

As shown in FIG. 2, the upper edge of the first partition wall 12 is located above the upper edge of the peripheral wall 11. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the upper edge of the first partition wall 12 is provided with a pair of ridges 18, 19 that extend parallel to the partition direction and are spaced apart in the front-to-rear direction. As a result, a drain groove 15 that opens upward, is recessed downward, and extends in the partition direction is formed between the pair of ridges 18, 19. As shown in FIG. 5(a), the bottom surface 15a of the drain groove 15 extends horizontally over the entire partition direction in this example.

As shown in FIG. 2, an engagement portion 16 is provided at a predetermined circumferential location (one location in this example) on the first peripheral wall 13. The engagement portion 16 will engage with an engagement portion 24 (described later) of the first lid body 3. As shown in FIG. 2, engagement portions 17 are provided at multiple predetermined circumferential locations (three locations in this example) on the second peripheral wall 14. The multiple engagement portions 17 will engage with multiple engagement portions 44 (described later) of the second lid body 4.

Next, the first cover 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the first cover 3 integrally comprises a peripheral wall 21 that extends in the vertical direction and has a shape corresponding to the first peripheral wall 13 of the main body 2 when viewed from the vertical direction, a second partition wall 22 that extends in the partition direction corresponding to the first partition wall 12 and also extends in the vertical direction so as to connect both circumferential ends of the peripheral wall 21, and a top wall portion 23 that closes the upper end opening surrounded by the peripheral wall 21 and the second partition wall 22. An engagement portion 24 that can engage with the engagement portion 16 is provided at a location (one location) of the peripheral wall 21 in the circumferential direction that corresponds to the engagement portion 16 of the main body 2.

As shown in FIG. 3(a), a lower end horizontal wall portion 25 is formed at the lower end of the flat portion extending in the partition direction of the second partition wall 22, protruding rearward and extending in the partition direction. Both ends of the lower end horizontal wall portion 25 in the partition direction are connected to the peripheral wall 21 (see FIG. 5(a)). As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a lower end vertical wall portion 27 is provided from the rear end edge extending in the partition direction of the lower end horizontal wall portion 25, protruding downward and extending in the partition direction.

2 and 3, the lower end vertical wall portion 27 is cut out at a number of predetermined locations (two locations in this example) in the partition direction of the lower end vertical wall portion 27, and a rectangular cantilever-shaped locking piece 29 having a rectangular opening 31 and extending downward from the lower end horizontal wall portion 25 is provided in place of the lower end vertical wall portion 27. The locking piece 29 is elastically deformable in the front-rear direction within a predetermined range. The lower end edge portion 32 of the locking piece 29 extending in the partition direction adjacent to the lower end edge of the opening 31 is locked to a locking projection 49 (described later) of the second lid body 4 (see also FIG. 3(b)).

Next, the second cover 4 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the second cover 4 integrally includes a peripheral wall 41 that extends in the vertical direction and has a shape corresponding to the second peripheral wall 14 of the main body 2 when viewed from the vertical direction, a top wall portion 42 that closes the upper end opening surrounded by the peripheral wall 41, and a third partition wall 43 that protrudes upward from a front end edge of the top wall portion 42 that extends in the partition direction corresponding to the first partition wall 12 and extends in the partition direction. Engagement portions 44 that can engage with the engagement portions 17 are provided at multiple locations (three locations) in the circumferential direction of the peripheral wall 41 that correspond to the multiple engagement portions 17 of the main body 2.

As shown in FIG. 3(a), an upper end horizontal wall portion 45 is formed at the upper end of the flat portion extending in the partition direction of the third partition wall 43, protruding forward and extending in the partition direction. At a plurality of locations (two locations) of the upper end horizontal wall portion 45 in the partition direction corresponding to the plurality of locking pieces 29 of the first cover body 3, a recess 45a is formed with an upper surface recessed downward and a lower surface protruding downward. The recess 45a is provided to prevent interference between the lower end edge 32 of the locking piece 29 and the upper end horizontal wall portion 45 (see FIG. 3(b)). An upper end vertical wall portion 48 is formed from the front end edge extending in the partition direction of the upper end horizontal wall portion 45, protruding upward and extending in the partition direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, a locking projection 49 that protrudes rearward and extends in the partition direction is formed on each of the rear end surfaces of the upper vertical wall portion 48 at multiple locations (two locations) corresponding to the multiple locking pieces 29 of the first lid body 3 in the partition direction. A chamfered surface 51 is formed in the upper and rear corners of the locking projection 49 along the partition direction. The above describes each of the components that make up the resin structure 1.

Next, the procedure for assembling the first lid 3 and the second lid 4 to the main body 2 will be described. First, the second lid 4 is assembled to the main body 2. For this purpose, the main body 2 and the second lid 4 are positioned so that the second lid 4 is located above the second region R2 of the main body 2. Next, the main body 2 and the second lid 4 are brought closer to each other in the vertical direction, and the second lid 4 is assembled to the main body 2 so that the peripheral wall 41 of the second lid 4 overlaps the outside of the second peripheral wall 14 of the main body 2, the third partition wall 43 overlaps the rear side of the first partition wall 12, and the escape portion 45a of the upper end horizontal wall portion 45 of the third partition wall 43 is placed (abuts) on the upper end surface of the protrusion 19 of the first partition wall 12 (see Figures 3(b) and 4).

When the second lid 4 has been attached to the main body 2, the multiple engagement portions 17 of the main body 2 engage with the multiple engagement portions 44 of the second lid 4, preventing separation of the main body 2 and the second lid 4 in the vertical direction (see FIG. 1).

Next, the first lid 3 is assembled to the main body 2 after the second lid 4 has been assembled. For this purpose, the main body 2 and the first lid 3 are first positioned so that the first lid 3 is located above the first region R1 of the main body 2. Next, the main body 2 and the first lid 3 are brought closer to each other in the vertical direction, and the first lid 3 is assembled to the main body 2 so that the peripheral wall 21 of the first lid 3 overlaps with the outside of the first peripheral wall 13 of the main body 2, the lower end vertical wall portion 27 of the second partition wall 22 overlaps with the rear side of the upper end vertical wall portion 48 of the third partition wall 43, and the lower end horizontal wall portion 25 of the second partition wall 22 is placed (abuts) on the upper end surface of the upper end vertical wall portion 48 (see FIG. 3(b) and FIG. 4).

Just before the first lid 3 is completely attached to the main body 2, the chamfered surface 51 of the locking projection 49 of the second lid 4 presses against the lower edge 32 of the locking piece 29 of the first lid 3, causing the locking piece 29 to temporarily elastically deform backward. Thereafter, the locking projection 49 climbs over the lower edge 32, causing the locking piece 29 to elastically return forward, and the locking projection 49 enters the opening 31 of the locking piece 29, causing the lower edge 32 of the locking piece 29 to engage with the locking projection 49 (see Figures 3(b) and 4).

When the first lid 3 has been attached to the main body 2, the multiple locking pieces 29 of the first lid 3 engage with the multiple locking projections 49 of the second lid 4, and the engagement portion 16 of the main body 2 engages with the engagement portion 24 of the first lid 3, preventing separation of the main body 2 and the first lid 3 in the vertical direction (see FIG. 1). This completes the assembly of the first lid 3 and the second lid 4 to the main body 2, and the resin structure 1 shown in FIG. 1 is obtained.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the first lid 3 and the second lid 4 are completely assembled to the main body 2, the third partition 43 overlaps the rear side of the first partition 12 (the outside side of the resin structure 1), and the lower end vertical wall portion 27 of the second partition 22 overlaps the rear side of the upper end vertical wall portion 48 of the third partition 43 (the outside side of the resin structure 1), forming a so-called double wall structure (a so-called labyrinth-like structure) at the location separating the adjacent first region R1 and second region R2. This makes the creepage distance longer than when the first partition 12, the second partition 22, and the third partition 43 are simply butted together.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the drain groove 15 provided at the upper edge of the first partition wall 12 is located forward (inside the resin structure 1) of the lower end vertical wall portion 27 of the second partition wall 22 and the upper end vertical wall portion 48 of the third partition wall 43, which constitute the double-layered wall structure. Therefore, even if a gap exists between the lower end vertical wall portion 27 and the upper end vertical wall portion 48 during high-pressure cleaning of a vehicle equipped with the resin structure 1 and water infiltrates into the resin structure 1 through the gap, the infiltrated water is collected by the drain groove 15 and drained to the outside of the resin structure 1 along the bottom surface 15a of the drain groove 15, as shown by the white arrows in FIG. 5(a) and FIG. 5(b).

<Action and Effects>
As described above, according to the resin structure 1 of this embodiment, when the main body 2 and the plurality of lids 3 and 4 constituting the resin structure 1 are assembled, the lower end vertical wall portion 27 of the second partition wall 22 of the first lid 3 and the upper end vertical wall portion 48 of the third partition wall 43 of the second lid 4 overlap with each other to form a two-layer wall structure (so-called labyrinth-like structure). This structure makes the creeping distance longer than when the second partition wall 22 and the third partition wall 43 are simply butted together, and can strongly prevent water from entering the inside of the resin structure 1 through the gap between the second partition wall 22 and the third partition wall 43 (i.e., between the adjacent regions R1 and R2 of the main body). Furthermore, the first and second lids 3 and 4 can be fixed to each other by the engagement of the locking piece 29 of the second partition wall 22 and the locking projection 49 of the third partition wall 43. This makes it possible to omit the locking structure compared to a case where the first and second lids 3, 4 are provided with locking structures, each of which is engaged with the first partition wall 12 of the main body 2. This makes it possible to expand the internal space of the main body 2 by the amount that the locking structure can be omitted, thereby improving the storage performance of the resin structure 1. Therefore, the resin structure 1 according to this embodiment has excellent water-tightness between the multiple regions R1, R2 provided in the resin structure 1, even without using water-tight parts such as packings.

Furthermore, according to the resin structure 1 of this embodiment, the recessed drain groove 15 provided in the first partition wall 12 is positioned inside the resin structure 1 relative to the gap between the lower end vertical wall portion 27 of the second partition wall 22 and the upper end vertical wall portion 48 of the third partition wall 43 that constitute the multi-layer wall structure. Therefore, even if water enters the inside of the resin structure 1 through the gap between the walls, the water can be collected by the drain groove 15, thereby preventing the water from spreading inside the resin structure 1. Therefore, the resin structure 1 of this embodiment can further substantially improve the water-stopping property between the multiple regions R1 and R2.

<Other forms>
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be adopted within the scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and appropriate modifications, improvements, etc. are possible. In addition, the material, shape, size, number, arrangement location, etc. of each component in the above-described embodiments are arbitrary as long as they can demonstrate the present invention, and are not limited.

In the above embodiment, the inside of the main body 2 is divided into two regions R1 and R2 by a single first partition wall 12, and the double-wall structure formed by the lower end vertical wall portion 27 of the second partition wall 22 and the upper end vertical wall portion 48 of the third partition wall 43 is formed only at one location corresponding to the first partition wall 12. In contrast, the inside of the main body 2 may be divided into three or more regions by multiple first partition walls, and the above double-wall structure may be formed at multiple locations corresponding to the multiple first partition walls.

Here, the features of the above-described embodiment of the resin structure 1 according to the present invention will be briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] and [2].
[1]
A resin structure (1) comprising: a box-shaped main body (2) divided into a plurality of regions (R1, R2); and a plurality of lid bodies (3, 4) assembled to the main body (2) so as to cover each of the plurality of regions (R1, R2),
The main body (2) is
A first partition wall (12) is provided so as to separate a pair of adjacent regions (R1, R2),
The lid (3) covering one of the pair of regions (R1) is
a second partition wall (22) provided on an edge of the lid body (3) so as to extend along the first partition wall (12), and a locking portion (29) provided on the second partition wall (22);
The lid (4) covering the other of the pair of regions (R2) is
a third partition wall (43) provided on the edge of the cover body (4) so as to extend along the first partition wall (12); and a latched portion (49) provided on the third partition wall (43) and corresponding to the latch portion (29),
When the main body (2) and the plurality of lid bodies (3, 4) are assembled,
The engaging portion (29) and the engaged portion (49) are engaged with each other, and the second partition wall (22) and the third partition wall (43) are arranged so as to overlap each other to form a multi-layer wall structure.
Resin structure (1).
[2]
In the resin structure (1) according to the above [1],
The first partition wall (12) is
a concave drain groove (15) extending along the first partition wall (12) is provided on the inner side of the resin structure (1) relative to the multilayer wall structure formed by the second partition wall (22) and the third partition wall (43);
Resin structure (1).

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 resin structure 2 main body 3 first lid (one lid)
4 Second lid body (the other lid body)
12 First partition wall 15 Drain groove 22 Second partition wall 29 Locking piece (locking portion)
43 Third partition wall 49 Locking projection (locked portion)
R1 Region R2 Region

Claims (2)

A resin structure comprising: a box-shaped main body divided into a plurality of regions; and a plurality of lid bodies attached to the main body so as to cover each of the plurality of regions,
The body includes:
a first partition wall extending to separate a pair of adjacent regions;
The lid covering one of the pair of regions is
a second partition wall provided on an edge portion of the cover body so as to extend along the first partition wall; and a locking portion provided on the second partition wall,
The lid covering the other of the pair of regions is
a third partition wall provided on an edge portion of the lid body so as to extend along the first partition wall; and a locked portion provided on the third partition wall and corresponding to the locking portion,
When the main body and the plurality of lid bodies are assembled,
The engaging portion and the engaged portion are engaged with each other, and the second partition wall and the third partition wall are arranged to overlap each other to form a multi-layer wall structure.
Resin structure. The resin structure according to claim 1 ,
The first partition wall is
a recessed drainage groove extending along the first partition wall is disposed on an inner side of the resin structure relative to the multilayer wall structure formed by the second partition wall and the third partition wall;
Resin structure.

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