JPH0546165B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in a wiring harness interconnection device that has a large number of branch conductive paths formed by busbar arrangement and is used to connect wiring harness wires to form a branch circuit configuration. It is something.

A wiring harness for car body wiring requires a large number of branch circuits in the middle, and branch conductive paths corresponding to the branch circuits of the wiring harness are consolidated and formed on a wiring board by arranging bus bars. 2. Description of the Related Art Wiring harness interconnection devices (hereinafter simply referred to as interconnection devices) that connect harness wires to centrally configure required branch circuits are known.

On the other hand, in order to perform the functions of each branch circuit, the wiring harness arranges elements necessary for each branch circuit, that is, a group of functional parts such as relays, diodes, capacitors, and timers, and incorporates these circuits into the branch circuit. There is a need.

Therefore, these functional components are collected for each branch circuit and housed in a casing, and the casing is attached to an interconnection device and incorporated in the middle of the busbar conductive path, or, for example, a time control unit, a power window timer, a power For window controls and the like, a structure is used in which necessary functional parts are individually grouped and installed in a distributed manner on the vehicle body, and are connected to the interconnection device via a wiring harness.

However, as automobiles have become more sophisticated in recent years, the number of branch circuits in wiring harnesses has increased.
In addition, there is a growing tendency to incorporate an extremely large number of functional components into each branch circuit, and there is a demand for further compactness and miniaturization of the entire wiring harness system including interconnection devices.

Furthermore, according to the method for incorporating functional parts described above, mechanical elements for switch-on/off functions such as relays and control elements for control functions such as timers and controllers may coexist in the same group, and are compared to mechanical elements. There is a maintenance difficulty in that the control element, which has a much longer lifespan, must be replaced at the same time as the mechanical element, which has a shorter lifespan.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned technological trends, and is a novel interconnection device that configures a compact wiring harness system that corresponds to the increasing quality of automobiles and that can effectively maintain functional parts. The purpose is to provide.

That is, the present invention, which achieves the above objectives, groups the functional parts to be incorporated into the branch circuit of the wiring harness into two types, a mechanical element group and a control element group, and integrates the functional parts into two types, a mechanical element group and a control element group, and places each element group on a different printed wiring board. The printed wiring boards of the mechanical element group are attached to the upper surface of the interconnection device, and the printed wiring boards of the control element group are attached to the lower surface of the interconnection device. The gist is a structure in which a conductive path is connected to a branch conductive path of the interconnection device, and a functional component circuit is incorporated into the branch circuit of the wiring harness. Note that the term "mechanical element" as used herein refers to an element that performs electrical functions such as opening/closing or relaying an electrical circuit by mechanical force (operating force) or by using electrical force via mechanical force. It refers to the parts that perform the function.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on the drawings of the embodiment.

In FIGS. 1 to 3 showing one embodiment, an interconnection device 1 of the present invention is integrally formed with an upper case 3 coupled to a plate-shaped wiring board 2 made of an insulating material. A known bus bar is arranged to centrally form branch circuits necessary for the wiring harness, and the end of the bus bar is connected to the wiring board 2.
It becomes an upright tab-shaped contact portion 5 (partially shown) and protrudes from the upper case 3 or below the wiring board 2, and connects to the conductive path of the printed wiring board or the electric wire of the wiring harness, which will be described later. 1
It is configured to be connected to the connector 17 at the 8th end. A storage section 7A is formed on the upper surface of the upper case 3 to store a printed wiring board 6A.
The storage section 7A has a rectangular shape with a bottom that receives the printed wiring board 6A from above, and is surrounded by a frame section 11, and a terminal storage chamber 13 partitioned by a partition wall 12 is arranged in parallel at the front bottom. . On the other hand, printed wiring board 6A
8A is a mechanical element such as a relay that constitutes a mechanical part among the functional parts in the wiring harness.
Only the groups are stratified and arranged densely on the top surface, and on the back side, as shown in A in Figure 1,
A conductive path 9 of the mechanical element 8A is printed and wired, and terminals 10 are attached to the edge and arranged in parallel on one side edge of the printed wiring board 6A, and are electrically connected to the conductive path 9. The terminal 10 and the bus bar end are connected as follows. That is, with reference to FIG.
In the terminal accommodating chamber 13, a tab-shaped contact portion 5 at the end of the bus bar 4 on the wiring board 2 protrudes from a through hole 24 of the upper case 3, and a relay terminal 25 is inserted into the tab-shaped contact portion 5. It is worn. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the printed wiring board 6A is inserted from above the storage part 7A, and when it is slid slightly forward, the terminals arranged in parallel on one side edge of the printed wiring board 6A can be seen as shown in FIG. 1
0 is the relay terminal 25 in each storage chamber 13
The conductive path 9 of the printed wiring board 6A is connected to the bus bar 4, and the functional component circuit of the mechanical element 8A group is incorporated into the branch circuit of the bus bar 4. Note that the printed wiring board 6A is inserted using the notch 15 provided on its side edge.
The locking protrusions 14 on the side edge of the storage chamber 7A are engaged to allow insertion, and then the pair of locking protrusions 14 are engaged.
It is configured to be clamped and held by the holder and to be able to be attached and detached freely.

Incidentally, on the upper surface of the upper case 3, fuse insertion portions 20 for each branch circuit are centrally provided.
A bipedal fuse 21 is inserted. Additionally, there is a connector insertion part 19 having a protruding tab-shaped contact part 5, which receives the connector 17 at the end of the electric wire 18, and connects the branch circuit by the bus bar 4 to the wiring harness. In addition, 16A in Fig. 1 is
This is a cover body for the storage section 7A, and after the printed wiring board 6A is inserted, it is placed over the mechanical elements 8A to protect them. Reference numerals 22 and 23 in the figure are a housing housing an external relay that requires periodic replacement, and an insertion portion thereof.

On the other hand, the back side of the wiring board 2 is as shown in FIG.
A storage section 7B is formed surrounded by a frame section 11, and of the necessary functional parts of the wiring harness, only a group of control elements 8B such as a controller and a timer constituting a control section are stored in the storage section 7B. For example, by using the construction method of an automatic electronic component mounting system, the printed wiring board 6B that is densely arranged is received, the conductive path of the printed wiring board 6B is connected to the tab-shaped contact portion 5 at the end of the bus bar 4, and the control element 8B is connected to the conductive path of the printed wiring board 6B. The conductive paths of the group are configured to be incorporated into the branch circuit of the bus bar 4. Therefore, the storage section 7B and the printed wiring board 6B are the same as the storage section 7A and the printed wiring board 6A.
The housing part 7B is partitioned by a partition wall 12 on one side edge, and has a relay terminal 25.
The printed wiring board 6B has a conductive path similar to that of the printed wiring board 6A on its back surface, and terminals 10 are arranged in parallel on one edge of the printed wiring board 6B. The conductive path and the bus bar 4 are connected by the connection configuration shown in FIG.

Furthermore, a tab-shaped terminal 27 is provided on the other side edge of the printed wiring board 6B and is electrically connected to the conductive path on the back surface.
Further, tab-shaped contact portions 5 at the ends of the bus bars 4 are intensively provided upright on the wiring board 2 in contact with the side edge of the storage portion 7B. Then, when the printed wiring board 6B is inserted into the storage portion 7B, the tab-shaped terminal 27 and the tab-shaped contact portion 5
are gathered together to form a group, and a common connector 17
It is designed so that it can be connected to the electric wire 18 by inserting it. That is, after the printed wiring board 6B is inserted into the storage section 7B, the cover body 16B is placed over the storage section 7B for protecting the group of control elements 8B. A recess 28 is provided at the edge of the cover body 6B, and the tab-shaped terminal 27 on the printed wiring board 6B protrudes from a through-hole 29 formed in the recess 28 of the covered cover body 16B. It serves as a receiving frame for the connector 17 and the connector 17 is inserted therein. A portion of the conductive path of the printed wiring board 6B is directly connected to the electric wire 18 of the wiring harness via the connector 17.

As described above, the control element 8 by the printed wiring board 6B
The functional component circuits of group B are connected to the circuits of the mechanical element 8A group of the printed wiring board 6A via the bus bar 4, or are connected to the connector 17. The functional component circuits of printed wiring boards 6A and 6B are as follows:
It is incorporated into the branch circuit of the wiring harness.

According to the above interconnection device of the present invention, the functional parts group to be incorporated into the branch circuit of the wiring harness are arranged centrally on the printed wiring board of the interconnection device, and the functional parts group includes the control element group and the mechanism. They are stratified into two types of element groups and integrated into different printed wiring boards 6A and 6B, respectively, and these are three-dimensionally mounted on the upper and lower surfaces of the wiring board 2 on which bus bars are arranged to form branch conductive paths. It will be worn. Therefore, the wiring harness system can be made more compact and smaller than the conventional structure in which functional parts are grouped into unit electrical components, installed separately on the vehicle body, and connected to the wiring harness. .

Furthermore, because the above-mentioned layered structure of the functional parts groups is integrated into multiple printed wiring boards, the degree of freedom in the overall arrangement of interconnection devices increases, making it possible to select a more compact shape. .

Furthermore, mechanical elements that are frequently replaced are arranged on the top surface of the interconnection device along with other replacement parts such as fuses, and control elements that require much longer replacement cycles are housed on the bottom surface of the interconnection device. Therefore, their maintenance is extremely easy to perform, and in synchronization with the replacement of mechanical elements, it is possible to relieve losses caused by replacing and discarding useful control elements.

As described above, the present invention has the useful effect of meeting the need for more compact wiring harness systems as automobiles become more sophisticated, and further improving the effective use of functional parts and the convenience of maintenance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1: A perspective view showing the top part of an interconnection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2: A perspective view showing a bottom part of the embodiment of Fig. 1, Fig. 3: Printing of the embodiment of Fig. 1. The front view which shows the connection part of the conductive path of a wiring board, and a bus bar. Main symbols, 1: interconnection device, 2: wiring board,
3: Upper case, 4: Bus bar, 5: Tab-shaped contact part, 6A, 6B: Printed wiring board, 7A, 7B:
Storage part, 8A: Mechanical element, 8B: Control element, 9:
Conductive path, 10: Terminal, 12: Partition wall, 13: Accommodation chamber, 16A, 16B: Cover body, 17: Connector, 18: Electric wire, 19: Connector insertion part, 25:
Relay terminal, 27: Tab-shaped terminal, 28: Recessed portion of cover body.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Consists of a combination of a wiring board on which a group of branch conductive paths is formed by arranging bus bars, and a printed wiring board on which a group of functional parts is arranged, and the group of functional parts is layered into a group of mechanical elements and a group of control elements. are arranged on different printed wiring boards, and the printed wiring boards of the mechanical element group are attached to the upper surface of the wiring board, and the printed wiring boards of the control element group are attached to the lower surface of the wiring board, A wiring harness interconnection device characterized by a structure in which the functional component circuits of the two types of printed wiring boards are incorporated and connected to branch circuits of the wiring harness.