JPH11354172A - Electric connection box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance drainability of a pressure contact joint box. SOLUTION: Pressure contact terminals 12 provided with respective pressure- contacting blades downward are suspended in an upper wall of an upper case 11, electric wires W are pressure-contactingly connected to the terminals 12, a bottom wall 13 of a lower case 10 assembled to the upper case 11 is arranged with a desirable space S apart from the terminals 12 and the wires W, and drain ports 18 are provided in the bottom wall 13 of the lower case 10. The lower case 10 is formed of a hydrophilic resin.

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 and, more particularly, to a press-fit type joint box which can be used in an area where water is likely to splash, such as an engine room of a motorcycle or an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of press-fit type joint box has the structure shown in FIGS.
The joint box 5 of FIG. 15 fixes the press contact terminal 2 to the lower case 1, parallelly wires the electric wire w along the press contact blade 2 a formed upward of the press contact terminal 2, pushes down the electric wire w, and The insulation coating is cut by the press contact blade 2a to connect the core wire of the electric wire w to the press contact terminal. Then, the joint box 5 is assembled by covering the upper case 3 with the lower case 1 and locking it.

In a joint box 5 'shown in FIG. 16, a press-connecting terminal 2' is press-connected from above to a wire w wired to a wire wiring portion 1a 'of a box-shaped lower case 1' having an upper surface opening. 'To assemble the joint box 5'.

[0004]

In the joint box 5 shown in FIG. 15, since both sides in the insertion direction of the electric wire w are not sealed, and the upper case 3 has openings 3a on the upper surface and side surfaces. When the entire joint box is directly exposed to water, the structure is such that water easily penetrates into the box assembled by the lower case 1 and the upper case 3. When flooding occurs, a leak is likely to occur between the press contact terminals 2 inside the joint box 5, and therefore, when used in an engine room of a motorcycle or an automobile that is likely to be exposed to water, care should be taken that the surrounding structure does not get wet. Therefore, there is a problem that the design constraint is large.

On the other hand, in a joint box 5 'shown in FIG. 16, a portion through which the electric wire w is inserted is closed by a lower case 1' and an upper case 3 ', and openings are formed in the lower case 1' and the upper case 3 '. Since it is not provided, it has a structure that is difficult to be easily flooded even if it is splashed with water.

[0006] However, the electric wire w is inserted from the insertion portion 4 of the electric wire w sandwiched between the lower case 1 'and the upper case 3'.
It is not possible to completely prevent water droplets from being flooded along. When water drops enter the joint box 5 ', the inside of the joint box has a hermetic structure, so that water cannot be drained and water accumulates on the bottom surface of the lower case 1'. In this case, since the press contact terminal 2 'is in contact with the lower case 1', a leak occurs between the adjacent press contact terminals 2 '. Therefore, when this type of joint box 5 ′ is also used in an engine room of a motorcycle or an automobile, the same limitation as in FIG. 15 is received.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and does not cause a leak between terminals even when it is disposed in an engine room of a motorcycle or a car which is easily exposed to water, and has an electric connection with less design restrictions. The task is to provide boxes.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention hangs a pressure contact terminal having a pressure contact blade directed downward on an upper wall of an upper case, and press-connects an electric wire to the pressure contact terminal. On the other hand, the bottom wall of the lower case to be assembled to the upper case is arranged with a required gap from the press contact terminal and the electric wire, and a drain port is provided on the bottom wall of the lower case. Is provided.

As described above, when the press contact terminal and the electric wire connected to the press contact terminal are held on the upper case side and a required gap is provided between the lower case and the bottom wall, the upper case and the lower case are separated from each other. Even if water is generated inside the case assembled by the above, and water accumulates on the inner surface side of the bottom wall of the lower case, there is a gap, so that no leak is generated between the press contact terminals. In addition, since the drain port is provided on the bottom wall of the lower case, it is possible to prevent water that has entered the gap provided between the bottom surface of the lower case and the press contact terminal from accumulating, and as a result, it is possible to prevent leakage.

[0010] A boundary wall protrudes from the center of the inner surface of the bottom wall of the lower case, and one side is defined as a + side area and the other side is defined as a-side area. And a + side circuit constituted by an electric wire to be connected is arranged in the + side region, while a − side circuit is arranged in the − side region.

[0011] In the above configuration, if a boundary wall for partitioning the + side and the-side from the inner surface of the lower case bottom wall where water accumulates is provided so as to protrude, even if water suddenly accumulates on the inner surface of the lower case bottom wall,
The occurrence of a short circuit between the + side and the − side can be prevented.

The lower case is made of a resin having good hydrophilicity, such as nylon, preferably 66 nylon, so that water droplets collected on the lower surface of the lower case can be easily spread so that the lower case does not come into contact with the press contact terminal beyond the gap. I have.

Furthermore, from the inner surface of the bottom wall of the lower case,
An electric wire pressing piece is protruded, and an electric wire to be press-connected to a press-contact terminal suspended from the upper case is pressed from the lower case side. With this configuration, it is possible to reliably maintain a state where the electric wire is press-connected to the press-connecting terminal.

More specifically, the electric junction box comprising the joint box of the present invention has a substantially square frame shape in which the upper case is opened only at the lower surface and the upper wall and the side wall are closed.
A fitting groove for press-fitting and fixing the press contact terminal is provided on the inner surface of the upper wall, and a wire guide plate having a wire insertion groove provided in parallel at a required interval from the side wall is provided protruding from the inner surface of the upper wall, and While the lock pieces are provided at the corners, the lower case has a substantially rectangular frame shape with an upper surface opening, and the wire holding pieces protrude from the bottom wall and the boundary wall protrudes from the center of the lower case bottom wall, and Notches are provided on both sides of four corners of the peripheral wall surrounding the bottom wall, and notches reaching the bottom wall are formed at two opposing peripheral walls at intervals, and a portion where these notches contact the bottom wall is defined as a bottom wall. A lock that projects as a drain port for water that accumulates on the inner surface, and a lock frame for projecting a lock piece of the upper case into four corners, a lock hole on the lower surface of the lock frame, and a lock that protrudes from the lower end of the lock piece. The nails are locked.

Wires are wired to the upper case through the wire insertion grooves of the wire guide plate in a state where the press contact terminals are fitted and fixed, and the press contact terminals and the wires are press contacted in this state. In this state, the lower case is fitted inside the upper case. At the time of this inner fitting, the wire holding piece protruding from the lower case presses the wire to secure the crimp connection of the crimp terminal, and the side wall of the lower case is inserted between the wire guide plate and the side wall of the upper case. After the wire passing through the wire insertion groove of the guide plate is bent twice, it is drawn out from the lower end of the side wall of the upper case.

As described above, since the upper case does not have openings in the upper wall and the side wall, and has the side wall covering the lower end of the lower case, the upper case has a structure that is hardly flooded even if it is exposed to water. Further, since the electric wire is bent twice, water entering along the electric wire from the electric wire insertion portion falls by its own weight at the refraction portion, and it is difficult for the inside of the electric wire guide plate to be flooded. Further, since drain holes are provided on the bottom wall and the side wall of the lower case corresponding to the wire insertion portion, the flooded water can be discharged from these drain holes.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows the lower case 10 connected to the upper case 1.
1 shows a press-fit joint box in a state of being fitted inside, and a lower case 10 has a shape shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, an upper case 11 has a shape shown in FIGS. 7 to 11,
The press contact terminal 12 to be installed in the joint box is shown in FIG.
2 to 14.

The lower case 10 is molded from hydrophilic 66 nylon, has a substantially rectangular frame shape with an upper surface opening, and has a side wall 14 protruding from the outer periphery of the bottom wall 13. A boundary wall 15 protrudes upward from a central portion on the inner surface (upper surface) side of the bottom wall 13, and one half side of the lower case 10 is partitioned as a (+) side region, and the other half side is partitioned as a (−) side region. I have.

In each of the (+) side region and the (-) side region, a pair of electric wire pressing pieces 16 are protruded from the inner surface of the bottom wall 13 at intervals. These wire holding pieces 16 are provided with an arc-shaped concave portion 16a on the upper end surface thereof.
The electric wire to be connected to the press contact terminal is fitted to a.

Notches 14a extending from the upper end to the bottom wall 13 are provided on both sides of the four corners of the peripheral wall 14 surrounding the bottom wall 13. Further, cutouts 14c reaching the bottom wall from near the upper end to the bottom wall are formed in parallel at intervals on two peripheral walls 14b opposed to the boundary wall 15 in a direction orthogonal to the boundary wall 15, and a portion where the cutouts 14c and 14a are in contact with the bottom wall 13 is Drainage port 1 provided on the periphery of bottom wall 13
It is set to 8.

At the four corners between the notches 14a of the side wall 14, a lock frame portion 19 having a U-shaped cross section for inserting a lock piece to be described later of the upper case 11 is protruded.
9 is provided with a lock hole 19a on the lower surface.

The upper case 11 is made of PBT resin, and is opened only at the lower surface to open the upper wall 20 and the side wall 2.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a closed, substantially rectangular frame shape. The upper wall 20 has a two-step shape in which the outer peripheral portion is lowered one step, and the central upper step portion 20a is thick and has a fitting groove 25 for press-fitting and fixing the press-contact terminal 12. An electric wire guide plate 22 in which electric wire insertion grooves 22a are juxtaposed at a required interval from the inner surface side of the lower outer peripheral portion 20b of the upper wall 20 is provided. The wire guide plates 22 on the four sides leave a predetermined gap C with the side wall 21 of the upper case 11, and the side wall 14 of the lower case 10 is inserted into the gap C. Locking pieces 23 project from four corners of the side wall 21, and locking claws 23 a project from the lower ends of the locking pieces 23. The lock piece 23 is a lock frame 1 of the lower case 11.
9, the locking claw 23a is inserted and locked into the lock hole 19a, so that the upper case 11 and the lower case 10 are locked and connected.

The press contact terminal 12 press-fitted into the fitting groove 21 of the upper case 11 has a shape shown in FIGS. 12 to 14, and is formed by punching a conductive metal plate into a developed shape shown in FIG. It is bent to form a rectangular frame-shaped press contact terminal 12. Four sides 1 connected by connecting pieces 12a
A press contact blade 12c is provided at the center of the lower end of 2b.
The base 12d connected to the square frame by 2a is an embedded portion. The depth of the pressure contact blade 12c is the same on two opposing sides, and the two sides in the orthogonal direction are different, and two electric wires w are pressed against one pressure contact terminal 12 in the orthogonal direction. We are trying to join wires.

The insulation displacement terminal 12 and the electric wire w are connected to the insulation displacement terminal 12
Is attached to the upper case 11 and is press-connected to the electric wire w. That is, after the base 12 d of the press contact terminal 12 is press-fitted into the fitting groove 25 of the upper case 11, the electric wire w is passed through the electric wire insertion groove 22 a of the electric wire guide plate 22 and the press contact blade 12 c
Then, the insulating coating of the electric wire w is cut to make the core wire and the press contact blade 12c contact with each other, thereby connecting the electric wire w and the press contact terminal 12.

When attaching the press contact terminal 12 to the upper case 11 and when assembling with the lower case 10 (+)
At the part which becomes the side area, the pressure contact terminal connected to the electric wire of the + side circuit is attached so as to be arranged in the (+) side area, while the pressure contact terminal connected to the electric wire of the-side circuit is attached to the (−) side area. Attach so that it is arranged.

Next, the lower case 10 is assembled to the upper case 11. At this time, the side wall 14 of the lower case 10
Is inserted between the side wall 21 of the upper case 11 and the electric wire guide plate 22, the electric wire w drawn from the electric wire insertion groove 22 a of the electric wire guide plate 22 is bent upward, and then bent downward, and the upper case 11 is bent. It is pulled out from the lower end of the side wall 21. Further, the lock piece 23 is fitted into the lock frame portion 19, and the locking claw 23a is inserted and locked into the lock hole 19a to lock and connect the upper case 11 and the lower case 10.

In the thus assembled case, the wire pressing piece 16 protruding from the bottom wall of the lower case 10 is inserted into the rectangular frame-shaped press contact terminal 12, and the electric wire connected to the press contact terminal 12 is recessed at the distal end. The wire is pressed in a state fitted to 16 a, so that the electric wire is pushed into the press contact terminal 12. In addition, there is a gap S of a required height between the lower end of the press contact terminal 12 suspended from the upper case 11 and the bottom wall 13 of the lower case 10.

In the joint box having the above structure, four corners of the outer peripheral portion of the bottom wall 13 of the lower case 11 and two opposite
Since the drainage ports 18 are provided at intervals around the sides of the sides, even if the inside of the case is flooded and water droplets adhere to the press contact terminals 12, the water drops fall on the lower case bottom wall 13 and flow along the bottom wall 13. And is discharged to the outside through the drain port 18 on the periphery.

In particular, the lower case 11 is
Since it is molded with nylon, the water droplets that have fallen on the bottom wall 13 spread laterally along the bottom wall 13 and the height of the surface tension is low. In addition, since the press contact terminal 12 is held upward with a gap S between the press contact terminal 12 and the bottom wall 13, it is possible that a large amount of water enters the case suddenly and the press contact terminal 12 is immersed in water. In addition, it is possible to prevent a short circuit from occurring between the adjacent press contact terminals 12.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a press contact terminal for press contact with an electric wire is suspended from the upper case, and a required gap is secured from the bottom wall of the lower case. A drain port is provided on the bottom wall of the lower case, so that water that falls into the case and falls onto the bottom wall of the lower case is discharged to the outside from the drain port, preventing leaks from immersing the insulation displacement terminals in water. it can. Therefore, even in the case where the vehicle is disposed in the engine room of a motorcycle or an automobile where water is likely to be applied, there is no need to restrict the peripheral structure.

In particular, when the lower case is formed of 66 nylon or the like with a hydrophilic resin, the water droplets falling on the bottom wall of the lower case spread along the bottom wall, and the height of the water droplets can be reduced.
It is possible to prevent the pressure contact terminal disposed above from coming into contact with water droplets.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a fuse box according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a lower case of the fuse box.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a right side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an upper case of the fuse box.

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a right side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is a front view of a pressure contact terminal arranged in the fuse box.

FIG. 13 is a bottom view of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a development view of the press contact terminal.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a conventional example.

16A is a perspective view of another conventional example, and FIG. 16B is a cross-sectional view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Lower case 11 Upper case 12 Pressure contact terminal 13 Bottom wall 14 Side wall 15 Boundary wall 16 Wire holding piece 18 Drain outlet 20 Top wall 21 Side wall 22 Wire guide plate 22a Wire insertion groove 25 Fitting groove w Wire

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A pressure contact terminal having a pressure contact blade directed downward is hung on an upper wall of an upper case, and an electric wire is press-connected to the pressure contact terminal, and the bottom wall of a lower case to be assembled to the upper case is connected to the pressure contact terminal. An electric connection box, wherein a terminal and an electric wire are arranged with a predetermined gap, and a drain port is provided on a bottom wall of the lower case. 2. A pressure contact terminal suspended from an upper case, wherein a boundary wall is projected from a center portion of an inner surface of a bottom wall of the lower case, one side is defined as a + side area, and the other side is defined as a − side area. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein a positive circuit including a press-connecting terminal and an electric wire to be connected is disposed in the positive region, while a negative circuit is disposed in the negative region. 3. The lower case is made of a resin having good hydrophilicity, such as nylon, so that water droplets accumulated on the lower surface of the lower case are easily spread so that water does not come into contact with the press-contact terminal over a gap. The electrical junction box according to claim 2. 4. An electric wire presser is protruded from an inner surface of a bottom wall of the lower case, and an electric wire press-connected to a press-connecting terminal suspended from the upper case is pressed from the lower case side. 4. The electric connection box according to any one of items 3 to 5. 5. The upper case has a substantially rectangular frame shape in which only the lower surface is opened and the upper wall and the side wall are closed. A fitting groove for press-fitting and fixing a press-contact terminal is provided on the inner surface of the upper wall. An electric wire guide plate provided with electric wire insertion grooves at intervals is protruded from the inner surface of the upper wall, and a lock piece is provided at each corner of the side wall, while the lower case has a substantially square frame shape of an upper surface opening. An electric wire holding piece protrudes from the bottom wall, a boundary wall protrudes from the center of the lower case bottom wall, and notches are provided on both sides of four corners of the peripheral wall surrounding the bottom wall. A notch reaching the bottom wall is formed in the peripheral wall at intervals, a portion where the notch contacts the bottom wall is used as a drainage port for water accumulated on the inner surface of the bottom wall, and a lock frame for inserting lock pieces of the upper case into four corners. The lock frame is provided with a lock hole And, engaged the locking pawl projecting from the lower end of the locking piece electrical connection box according to any one of claims 1 to 4 has a configuration the joint box.