JPH0837719A - Electric connection box - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an inexpensive electric connection box in which electric wires can be wired easily and which has a simple structure and can simplify the wiring pattern of the wires. CONSTITUTION:A joint terminal 27 is integrally formed with an insulating board 12 held between cases 10 and 11 and electrical connecting sections are respectively provided at both end sections of the terminal 27. The electrical connecting sections are respectively extended into wiring grooves 13 and 14 formed on both surfaces of the board 12 and connected to electric wires 15 and 16 in press-contacting states.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric junction box for an automobile, and more specifically, to an electric circuit for centrally arranging electric circuits including a large number of fuses, relays, etc. to rationally perform branch connection of a wire harness. It is about the connection box.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electric connection boxes for automobiles have been replaced with conventional bus bars (formed by punching a conductive metal plate) in order to flexibly cope with design changes of internal circuits.
There is provided one in which an external input / output terminal and an electric wire are connected by a pressure contact terminal in a state where the electric wire is wired (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-120627, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-96820, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-166419). Etc.).

That is, in this type of electrical connection box, a crimp terminal is integrated at a predetermined position of an insulating plate housed in the case or inside thereof, and an electric wire laid in a predetermined pattern is pressure-connected to each pressure-contact terminal. Has become.

[0004]

However, in the above electric connection box, in order to press-connect the electric wire to the press-connecting terminal,
A wiring mold is required. This mold has wiring grooves according to the wiring pattern, and the more complicated the wiring pattern, the more expensive it becomes. Further, in the above-mentioned wiring work, it is necessary to temporarily wire the electric wire in the wiring groove formed in the mold according to the wiring pattern, and then transfer it from the mold to the case or the insulating plate. Cost and production cost.

In addition, when wiring the case or the insulating plate, it is necessary to prevent the electric wires from overlapping each other, which causes a problem that the wiring pattern must be complicated.
In this case, there is a limit in bending the electric wire in terms of strength, and the above problem becomes more remarkable as the number of electric wires to be wired increases. Therefore, in view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive electric junction box that can easily perform wiring and can simplify the wiring pattern with a simple configuration.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claim 1, a case and a wiring groove attached to the inside of the case and having both front and back surfaces are provided, and the wiring groove is provided at a required position. An insulating plate having a press-contact terminal driving portion having a large groove width, an electric wire inserted and held in a wiring groove of the insulating plate, an electric wire press-connecting portion at one end side, and an input / output terminal at the other end side. The electric wire inserted into and held in the wiring groove of the insulating plate, is driven by the press-connecting terminal driving portion to press-connect with the electric wire, and the output / input terminal portion is projected from the terminal hole provided on the outer wall of the case. And a joint terminal that is integrated with the insulating plate and that projects into the wiring grooves on both the front and back surfaces of the insulating plate and that has an electrical connection portion that is pressure-connected with an electric wire. It was done.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the joint terminal has a structure in which the electrical connection portion projects into two or more different wiring grooves on at least one surface of the insulating plate.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the electric connecting portion is composed of a contact portion having a width substantially equal to the outer diameter of the core wire and an inclined portion gradually expanding from the connecting portion toward the edge portion. It is a thing.

[0009]

According to the structure of the invention described in claim 1, the electric wires laid in the respective wiring grooves on the front and back surfaces of the insulating plate are electrically connected by the electric connecting portions of the joint terminals.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the electric wires are laid in the plurality of wiring grooves formed on at least one surface of the insulating plate, these electric wires are electrically connected to the respective electric connecting portions of the joint terminal. Connected.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the electric wire is laid in the wiring groove of the insulating plate, the electric wire is held by the inclined portion of the electric wire connecting portion. Then, when the electric wire is press-fitted, the electric wire is gradually cut from the insulating coating as it goes from the inclined portion to the contact portion, and the electric wire is brought into contact with the core wire at the contact portion to be electrically connected.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. 1 to 7 show an electric junction box according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the electric junction box includes a single thick insulating plate 1 inside an upper case 10 and a lower case 11.
2 is sandwiched. First and second wiring grooves 13 and 14 for holding and inserting electric wires are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the insulating plate 12 according to the wiring pattern, and the thin electric wire 15 and the thick electric wire are provided inside these wiring grooves 13 and 14. 16 is directly inserted by a wire feeder (not shown). This wiring groove 13, 1
4, the pressure contact portions 17a and 18a at one end of the pressure contact terminals 17 and 18 are press-fitted to the electric wires 15 and 16 held inside 4 to make pressure contact connection, and the input / output terminal portions at the other ends of these pressure contact terminals 17 and 18 are connected. 17b and 18b are projected from terminal holes 19 and 20 formed on the outer walls of the upper case 10 and the lower case 11, respectively.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper case 10 is provided with a step on the upper wall portion 10a at the lower end surface opening,
The fuse fitting part 21 on the power source side is formed to be one step higher, and the connector part 22 for fitting the connector connected to the electric wire on the load side is formed at a lower position.
1. The terminal holes 19 are formed on the inner surface surrounded by the peripheral wall of the connector portion 22, respectively.

On the other hand, the lower case 11 has an opening at the upper end surface, and a connector portion 23 for fitting a connector connected to an electric wire on the load side is projected from the lower wall portion 11a.
The terminal hole 20 is formed on the inner surface surrounded by the peripheral wall. The outer peripheral walls 10b and 11b of the upper case 10 and the lower case 11 are in contact with each other at their tip surfaces to form an electrical junction box.

As shown in FIG. 1, the insulating plate 12 is formed in such a shape that it just fits tightly into the internal space formed when the upper case 10 and the lower case 11 are in contact with each other. That is, the insulating plate 12 is the upper wall portion 10a of the upper case 10.
The stepped protrusion 12a is provided in the portion sandwiched between the fuse fitting portion 21 and the lower case 11 which are raised by one step, and this portion is made thicker than the other portions.

As shown in FIGS. 4B and 5, a first wiring groove 13 is provided on the side of the lower surface 12b of the insulating plate 12 which is in contact with the inner surface of the lower case 11, corresponding to the wiring pattern. The wiring groove 13 is for inserting a small electric wire through which a small current flows, and as shown in FIG. 5, the relationship between the diameter W1 of the small electric wire 15 and the width W2 of the first wiring groove 13 is set to W1 ≧ W2. ,
Moreover, the relationship between the depth H of the first wiring groove 13 and the wire diameter W1 is set to H ≧ W1 × 2. The depth H of the wiring groove 13 is not limited to the above relationship and may be larger than the wire diameter W1 but is preferably twice or more as described above.

The electric wire 15 to be inserted into the wiring groove 13 is also provided.
At the portion where the contact terminal 17 and the pressure contact terminal 17 are connected to each other, both side walls 13a and 13b of the wiring groove 13 are widened to form a pressure contact terminal driving portion 24 having a lower surface opening with the width W3 of the wiring groove. Also, FIG.
As shown in (A), a part of the first wiring groove 13 has a pressure contact terminal driving part 25 penetrating from the bottom surface thereof to the upper surface 12c of the insulating plate 12 and having an upper surface opening. The press contact terminal driving portion 25 does not extend to the lower surface 12b of the insulating plate 12, but extends from the upper surface 12c to an intermediate portion between the side walls 13a and 13b of the wiring groove 13. The pressure contact terminal driving portion 24 is provided in the lower case 1
The first terminal hole 20 and the press contact terminal driving portion 25 are provided at positions corresponding to the terminal hole 19 of the upper case 10.

As shown in FIGS. 4A and 5, the upper surface of the step-like protrusion 12a of the insulating plate 12 corresponding to the fuse fitting portion 21 corresponds to the wiring pattern to be connected to the fuse. The second wiring groove 14 is provided. The second wiring groove 14 is for inserting a thick electric wire through which a large current flows, and has a width W4 larger than that of the first wiring groove 13 for inserting a thin electric wire, and
The depth of the second wiring groove 14 is also deeper than that of the first wiring groove 13. At the portion connecting the thick electric wire 16 to be inserted into the second wiring groove 14 and the pressure contact terminal 18, the width of the side walls 14a and 14b of the second wiring groove 14 is widened to provide the pressure contact terminal driving portion 26.

As shown in FIG. 6, the second wiring groove 14 formed on the step-like protrusion 12a of the insulating plate 12 has a portion formed at a position corresponding to the first wiring groove 13 and is located there. A joint terminal 27 is integrally molded or press-fitted into the. The joint terminal 27 is made of a rectangular conductive plate material, and both ends thereof are cut out to form substantially U-shaped electric connection portions 28 a and 28 b. The electric connecting portion 28a on the one end side is for a thick electric wire, and the electric connecting portion 28b on the other end side is for a thin electric wire, which are formed to have substantially the same width as the outer diameters of the core wires of the electric wires 15 and 16, respectively.

A pressure contact terminal 1 for pressure contact with the thick electric wire 16
8. The press-contact terminal 17 press-contacting the thin electric wire 15 has the same shape as the conventional one, is made of a conductive metal plate, and has male input / output terminal parts 17b and 18b on one side and a bifurcated part on the other side. It has a shape having electric wire pressure contact portions 17a and 18a which are branched into two and which are provided with slots 17c and 18c in the center. The wire pressure contact portions 17a and 18a of the pressure contact terminals 17 and 18 are press-fitted into the pressure contact terminal driving portions 24, 25 and 26.

Next, a method for assembling the electrical junction box made of the above members will be described. First, with the lower surface of the insulating plate 12 facing upward, the fine electric wire 15 sent from the electric wire feeder is directly laid in the first wiring groove 13. At this time, the depth H of the first wiring groove 13 is set to be twice or more the depth of the electric wire 15, and moreover, the width W2 of the first wiring groove 13 is set to be slightly smaller than the diameter W1 of the electric wire 15 to form the electric wire. Since it is press-fitted, the first wiring groove 1
Even if the electric wire 15 inserted inside the wire 3 is bent, it can be securely held without rising from the first wiring groove 13. Further, the thin electric wire 15 has its insulating coating 15a cut by the electric connecting portion 28a of the joint terminal 27 integrated with the insulating plate 12 during wiring, and the core wire 15b contacts the joint terminal 27. In this wiring work, since the insulating plate 12 has few irregularities, the wire feeder can be moved smoothly at the same height, and the working state is stabilized.

Next, with the upper surface of the insulating plate 12 facing upward,
Similarly to the above, the thick electric wire 16 is directly laid in the second wiring groove 14 by an electric wire feeder. Also in the case of this thick electric wire 16, the electric wire is press-fitted by making the depth of the second wiring groove 14 deep and making the wiring groove width small, so that the electric wire 16 can be inserted and held while being prevented from floating. At this time, the thick electric wire 16
Cut the insulating coating 16a at the electrical connection portion 28b of the joint terminal 27 protruding into the second wiring groove 14,
By contacting b, the thick electric wire 16 and the thin electric wire 15
And are electrically connected to each other.

Subsequently, the pressure contact terminal 17 is pressed into the pressure contact terminal driving portion 24 with the lower surface 12b of the insulating plate 12 facing upward. At this time, by sandwiching the thin electric wire 15 in the slot 17c of the electric wire press contact portion 17a of the press contact terminal 17 and cutting the insulating coating, the press contact terminal 17 is electrically connected to the electric wire 15 and at the same time, the press contact terminal 17 is attached to the insulating plate 12. Install.

Similarly, the upper surface 12 of the insulating plate 12 is
With c facing upward, the press-connecting terminal 17 is press-fitted into the press-connecting terminal driving part 25 to connect with the fine electric wire 15, and the press-connecting terminal 18 is provided.
Is press-fitted into the press-connecting terminal driving portion 26 to connect the thick electric wire 16, and at the same time, the press-connecting terminals 17 and 18 are attached to the insulating plate 12.

As described above, the wiring grooves 13, 1 of the insulating plate 12
To the wires 15 and 16 wired in 4,
The upper case 10 and the lower case 11 are connected to the upper and lower surfaces of the insulating plate 12 in this state by press-connecting the upper and lower surfaces.
Since the wire is not attached, it is possible to confirm the quality of the pressure contact state of the electric wires 16 and 15.

After that, the upper case 10 and the lower case 11 are assembled with the insulating plate 12 interposed therebetween. This time,
Terminal hole 19 of fuse fitting portion 21 of upper case 10
The input / output terminal portion 18b of the press contact terminal 18 connected to the thick electric wire 16 is projected, and the input / output terminal portion 17b of the press contact terminal 17 connected to the thin electric wire 15 is projected from the terminal hole 19 of the connector portion 22. Further, the input / output terminal portion 17b of the press contact terminal 17 connected to the fine electric wire 15 is projected from the terminal hole 20 of the connector portion 23 of the lower case 11.

In the electric connection box assembled as described above, its internal circuit is composed of a power supply circuit and a load circuit, and is composed of a thin electric wire 15 and a thick electric wire 16 and pressure-bonded electric wires 17 and 18 connected to them. It is configured. That is, the power supply circuit is composed of the thick electric wire 16 and the pressure contact terminal 18 pressure-connected to the thick electric wire 16, and the terminal portion 18 of the pressure contact terminal 18 is provided.
b is a fuse 30 attached to the fuse fitting portion 21
(Shown in FIG. 2A).

On the other hand, the load circuit is composed of a fine electric wire 15 and a pressure contact terminal 17 which is pressure-connected to the fine electric wire 15.
The terminal portion 17b of the press contact terminal 17 has connector portions 22 and 23.
Is connected to a load side connector (not shown) that is fitted to. And the power supply circuit and the load circuit are the thin electric wires 15
And the core wires 15a and 16a of the thick electric wire 16 are electrically connected by joint terminals 27, respectively.

As described above, in the internal circuit of the electric junction box, the joint terminals 27 allow wiring of the electric wires 15 and 16 on the upper and lower surfaces of the insulating plate 12, respectively, so that the wiring grooves formed on the respective surfaces. The structure of 13 and 14, that is, the wiring pattern can be simplified.

Further, since the electric connection box does not use a bus bar but is composed entirely of electric wires and pressure contact terminals, it is possible to easily cope with circuit changes. In particular, in the case of a circuit for small current, which has many circuit changes, it is possible to easily cope with it by changing the wiring of the fine electric wire 15 or changing the mounting position of the press contact terminal 17. In addition, even if a change occurs in the large current circuit, the wiring of the thick electric wire 16 is changed,
Alternatively, it is possible to easily cope with this by changing the mounting position of the pressure contact terminal 18.

The structure of the joint terminal 27 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 6, but as shown in FIG.
With the conductive plate material in the planar shape, the electric connection portions 28a are formed at two positions on one end side, or as shown in FIG.
One end side may be bent so as to be orthogonal (in this case, the electric connection portion 28a may include one portion or two portions indicated by a two-dot chain line).
It may be a place. ), As shown in (c) of the figure, one end side may be bent so as to have a substantially U-shape (in this case, the electric connection portion 28a may be provided at two locations or at three locations including a portion indicated by a two-dot chain line). Good)), as shown in FIG.
Various structures such as different bending directions can be adopted. Further, the plurality of electrical connecting portions 28a may be provided not only on one end side but also on both sides.

Further, the electric connecting portions 28a, 28b
Although the opposite edges are made parallel by cutting out in a substantially U shape, it may be configured to gradually widen at one end side as shown in FIG. According to this, the wiring groove 13,
Even if the wires 15 and 16 are laid on the wire 14, the wires 15 and 16 do not protrude from the wiring grooves 13 and 14 at the electrical connection portions 28a and 28b, and the wires 15 and 16 are simply press-fitted to form the insulating coatings 15a and 16a. Can be cut smoothly.

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, in the invention described in claim 1, wiring grooves are formed on both front and back surfaces of the insulating plate, and the electric wires laid in both wiring grooves are electrically connected by joint terminals. Since the connection can be made, the wiring pattern formed on the insulating plate can be simplified, and the wiring of the electric wire can be easily performed. Also, when the pressure contact terminal is driven into the insulating plate, it is possible to make an electrical connection with the wire that has been laid, so there is no need for a conventional wiring mold, and there is no need for wire connection and the pressure contact between the pressure contact terminal and the wire. Since this can be done at the same time, it is possible to perform wiring at low cost while reducing the number of work steps.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the electric connecting portions of the joint terminals projecting into the wiring groove on at least one surface of the insulating plate are provided at a plurality of positions, it is possible to electrically connect a plurality of electric wires at one time. it can.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the electric connection portion is
Since it is composed of a contact part and an inclined part that spreads toward the edge from it, it is possible to prevent the insulating plate from protruding when laying the electric wire and to smoothly cut the insulation coating. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an electric junction box of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an upper case that constitutes an electrical junction box, (A) is a plan view, and (B) is a perspective view.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view showing a lower case that constitutes the electrical junction box.

FIG. 4 shows an insulating plate forming an electric junction box, (A)
Is a plan view and (B) is a bottom view.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an inserted state of an electric wire and a pressure contact terminal into an insulating plate.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional perspective view showing an inserted state of an electric wire and a pressure contact terminal into an insulating plate.

7 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are perspective views showing another embodiment of the joint terminal.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the electrical connecting portion of the joint terminal.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an internal circuit of a conventional electrical junction box.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Upper Case 11 Lower Case 12 Insulation Plate 12a Stepped Protrusion 12b Lower Surface (One Surface) 13 First Wiring Groove 14 Second Wiring Groove 15 Thin Wire 16 Heavy Wire 17, 18 Pressure Contact Terminal 17a, 18a Wire Pressure Contact Section 17b, 18b Output / input terminal portion 19, 20 Terminal hole 24, 25, 26 Pressure contact terminal driving portion 27 Joint terminal 28a, 28b Electrical connection portion W2 Width of first wiring groove W4 Width of second wiring groove

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Masami Kobayashi 1-14 Nishisuehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Sumitomo Wiring Systems Co., Ltd. (72) Nori Inoue 1-14 Nishisuehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Sumitomo Denso Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A case, and a wiring groove which is mounted in the case and is provided on both front and back surfaces,
An insulating plate having a press-contact terminal driving portion having a large groove width formed at a required portion of the wiring groove, an electric wire inserted and held in the wiring groove of the insulating plate, and an electric wire pressure-contacting portion at one end side, The output / input terminal portion is provided on the other end side, and the electric wire inserted and held in the wiring groove of the insulating plate is driven by the press-contact terminal driving portion to press-connect with the electric wire, and the input / output terminal portion is attached to the outer wall of the case. A press-connecting terminal protruding from a terminal hole provided in and connecting to an external circuit; and an electric connecting portion that is integrated with the insulating plate and protrudes into wiring grooves on both front and back surfaces of the insulating plate and press-connects with an electric wire. An electrical junction box characterized by having a joint terminal. 2. The electric connection box according to claim 1, wherein the joint terminal has a structure in which an electric connection portion projects into two or more wiring grooves different from each other on at least one surface of the insulating plate. 3. The electrical connection part is configured to include a contact part having a width substantially equal to the outer diameter of the core wire and an inclined part gradually expanding from the connection part toward the edge part. The electrical junction box according to item 1 or 2.