JPS6348146Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention relates to a structure for protecting exposed terminals of electrical components.
In particular, the present invention relates to a structure for protecting the terminals of the electrical components exposed on the outer surface of the printed circuit board when the electrical components are attached to the flexible printed circuit board.

[Conventional technology]

An example of a flexible printed circuit board with electrical components attached thereto is an instrument panel 1 provided on an instrument panel of a vehicle, as shown in FIG. 8, for example. This instrument panel 1 has a speedometer 2
Various instruments such as a combination meter 3 and valves associated with these instruments are incorporated and are electrically operated. Traditionally, in order to make electrical wiring for these various electrical components as simple as possible and to use space effectively, the method of mounting electrical components on a printed circuit board has often been adopted. At this time, a conventional example of a protection structure for electrical components exposed on the outer surface of a printed circuit board is shown in FIG. 9, for example.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the meter housing on which the meter etc. are attached, seen from the rear. As shown in this figure, the rear wall 5 of the meter housing 4 has its position regulated by appropriate means. printed circuit board 6
A speedometer 2, a valve 7, and other electrical components are mounted on the printed circuit board 6 at appropriate locations, and connection terminals 8 for electrically connecting these electrical components are mounted. If the terminal 8 for electrical circuit connection exposed on the outer surface of this printed circuit board 6 is left exposed as it is,
To prevent malfunctions due to contact with other parts or poor contact due to dust, the upper part of the terminal 8 is covered with a separate protector 9 to protect the terminal from direct exposure to the outside. I did it. The protector 9 is made of an insulating material such as a soft resin sheet or a molded resin plate, and is fixed to the printed circuit board 6 with screws 10 or the like.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, in the conventional protection structure described above, the protector 9 is provided as a separate part from the printed circuit board 6 and is attached to the outer surface of the printed circuit board 6, so the number of parts increases accordingly. In addition to the problems of increased manufacturing costs, the installation work of preparing separate parts was also troublesome.

Therefore, the technical problem of the present invention is to reduce the manufacturing cost by reducing the number of parts and to simplify the protective structure.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention has been developed by using a flexible printed circuit board that has approximately the same shape as the exposed terminal surface and has electrical circuits of the electrical components printed on the exposed terminal surface of a housing that houses various electrical components. A board is arranged and fixed, a part of this flexible printed circuit board is cut and raised to form a first folded piece, and a second folded piece is cut and raised on this first folded piece, and a second folded piece is cut and raised on this first folded piece. 2 folded pieces and the first
The method is to cover the exposed terminals of the electrical components with the remaining part of the folded piece.

[Effect]

According to the above-mentioned means, by forming folded pieces on the flexible printed circuit board in correspondence with the exposed terminals of the electrical components housed in the housing, the exposed terminals can be reliably covered and protected.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention in a perspective view of a vehicle instrument panel seen from the rear of a meter housing. In this embodiment, some of the electrical components housed in the meter housing 4, such as the rear part of the speedometer 2, the valve 7, and the terminal 8 for electrical connection, protrude from the rear wall 5 of the meter housing 4. A terminal exposed surface is formed on the rear wall 5. Further, on the rear wall 5, a flexible printed circuit board 11 having substantially the same shape as the rear wall 5 and having electrical circuits of electrical components printed thereon is disposed. A rectangular first folded piece 12 is formed on this flexible printed circuit board 11 and is cut and raised inward along the rear peripheral edge of the speedometer 2 that protrudes from one end of the rear wall 5. A second folded piece 13 is formed on the first folded piece 12 by cutting it up toward the terminal 8 side while leaving the peripheral edge of the first folded piece 12. The upper part of the terminal 8 can be covered and hidden. The folded tips of the first folded piece 12 and the second folded piece 13 are fixed to the flexible printed circuit board 11, and the fixing means thereof may include, for example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Even if a locking projection 14 is integrally provided on the rear wall 5 of the meter housing 4 and the locking projection 14 is fitted and fixed into the slit 15 formed at the tip of the flexible printed circuit board 11 and the folded pieces 12 and 13. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the clip 16 having a locking shaft 17 can be used to secure the clip 16, or as shown in FIGS. Locking piece 1
8 may be provided, and this locking piece 18 may be inserted into a locking groove 19 formed in the flexible printed circuit board 11 and fixed. The flexible printed circuit board 11 has a three-layer structure in which a circuit is formed using copper foil on a base film such as polyester, and the circuit is further coated with an insulating film, but the folding pieces 12 and 13 are Consists of base film only.

Therefore, in this embodiment, by using the two folded pieces 12 and 13, it is possible to reliably cover and protect the group of terminals 8 that are far away from the first cut and raised portion of the flexible printed circuit board 11. It will be possible.

FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which most of the terminals 8 are concentrated in the approximate center of the rear wall 5 of the meter housing 4, but one terminal 8' is located between these terminals. This is an example where the location is far away. In this case, as in the previous embodiment, first cut and raise the portion corresponding to the speedometer 2 to form the first folded piece 12;
While covering most of the terminal 8 with the first folded piece 12, a rectangular second folded piece 20 facing the isolated terminal 8' is cut and raised.
The terminal 8' is covered by the folded piece 20.

Therefore, in this embodiment, both the first folded piece 12 and the second folded piece 20 cover and protect the terminals 8 and 8'.

Although the above-described protective structure is an example for a vehicle instrument panel, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned example, but can be widely applied to flexible printed circuit boards on which electrical components are mounted.

(Effects) As explained above, according to the exposed terminal protection structure for electrical components according to the present invention, the first folded piece and the second folded piece are formed on a part of the flexible printed circuit board on which the electrical component is mounted. Since the folded piece covers the exposed terminal of the electrical component, there is no need to prepare a separate part as a protector for the exposed terminal as in the conventional case, and the number of parts is reduced, thereby reducing manufacturing costs. In addition to this, we were able to simplify the protection structure.

Further, by utilizing the flexibility of the flexible printed circuit board, the first folding piece and the second folding piece can be freely set in accordance with the arrangement position of the exposed terminal.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the exposed terminal protection structure for electrical components according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 6 are explanatory diagrams showing each fixing means of the folding piece, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing another embodiment, FIG. 8 is a front view showing an instrument panel of a vehicle, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional exposed terminal protection structure for electrical components. 4...Meter housing, 5...Rear surface (terminal exposed surface), 6, 11...Flexible printed circuit board, 8,
8'...terminal, 12...first folded piece, 13, 20...
Second folded piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A flexible printed circuit board having substantially the same shape as the exposed terminal surface and on which the electrical circuits of the electrical components are printed is arranged and fixed on the terminal exposed surface of a housing that houses various electrical components, and one part of this flexible printed circuit board is A first folded piece is formed by cutting and raising a second folded piece, and a second folded piece is cut and raised on this first folded piece, and the remaining portions of this second folded piece and the first folded piece are A structure for protecting exposed terminals of electrical components, characterized in that the exposed terminals of the electrical components are covered.