JP3477082B2 - Electrical junction box - Google Patents

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 used for interconnection of wire harnesses in vehicles,
In particular, it aims to make an electric junction box equipped with a functional circuit thin and compact.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electric junction box generally has a case in which a wiring board such as a bus bar circuit board is housed, and a connector for wire harness connection is externally provided together with a fuse block and a relay block. It is used by mounting it on the vehicle body panel such as a dashboard, and is mainly used to turn the circuit on and off and simplify the wiring form of the wire harness. On the other hand, electronic components such as airbags, navigators, air conditioners, and audios are increasing in number to improve the safety and habitability of vehicles. The tendency to use it together with the junction box is increasing.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a connection structure between such an electric junction box (J / B) and an electronic unit (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-137428). In the figure, 50 is an electronic unit and 60 is an electrical junction box. Electronic unit 50
Is a printed circuit board 51 incorporating the above functional circuit, which is mounted in upper and lower cases 52 and 53 via elastic members 54 so as to be movable in an arbitrary direction within a plane as shown by an arrow P. A J / B connecting connector 57 is mounted on the board 51 together with a plurality of electronic components 55 and 56.

On the other hand, the electric junction box 60 accommodates a busbar circuit board 64 composed of a plurality of busbars 62 and an insulating substrate 63 inside a case 61, and has a plurality of wire harness coupling connectors (not shown) on its peripheral wall. There is. Further, the J / B connecting connector 5 is provided on the upper surface 61a of the case 61.
7 is provided with a unit connection connector 65, and a relay connector 66 is provided on the lower surface 61b so that the relay 67 can be attached and detached from the outside. In addition, 62a is a tab-shaped connector terminal led from the bus bar 62,
Is an L-shaped mounting piece formed integrally with the case 61,
The horizontal plate portion 68a serves as a mounting surface for a vehicle body panel (not shown), and the wire harness coupling connector is provided orthogonal to the mounting surface.

The connection structure between the electric junction box 60 and the electronic unit 50 is formed by stacking the two together and connecting the J / B connector 57.
And the unit connecting connector 65 are fitted together.
In this case, the thickness h ₁ of the electronic unit 50 is determined by the maximum size of the components (electronic component 55, connector 57, etc.) mounted on the internal printed circuit board 51, and the electrical connection box 6
The thickness h _{2 of} 0 is the number of layers of the bus bar circuit 64 and the relay 67.
It is decided by the height. Therefore, since the total thickness h is the thickness h ₁ and the sum of the thickness h ₂ of the electric connection box 60 of the electronic unit 50 (h ₁ + h _2), the wire harness for coupling in the electrical connection box as described above Even if the connector and the relay are provided on different surfaces of the case, the total thickness h cannot be made thinner, and it is difficult to make the device thinner and smaller.

FIG. 5 shows another conventional example of an electric junction box (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-308066). In this electric connection box 70, a printed circuit board 72 incorporating a functional circuit is arranged on the lower side of a case 71, an electric wire 73 constituting the circuit is installed on the upper side, and a housing 74 is provided on the peripheral wall of the case 71. By accommodating the connection terminal 75 connected to 72 and the connection terminal 76 connected to the electric wire 73 together in the housing 74 to form the common connector 77, the common connector 77 connects the printed circuit board 72 and the electric wire 73, respectively. It is designed to be connectable.

In the electric junction box 70 having an internal circuit consisting of the printed circuit board 72 and the electric wires 73 in FIG. 5, it is possible to cope with an increase in the amount of current to be applied and the number of circuits, and to fuse the circuit protection member and the relay of the control member. When it is necessary to increase the number of components, a bus bar is used as shown in FIG. 6 because it is easy to form a fuse or a connecting means for an external connector.

In the electric junction box 80 shown in FIG.
The printed circuit board 82 is arranged on the side of the lower case 81a of the No. 1 and the group of L-shaped connection terminals 83 is housed in the housing 84 of the peripheral wall of the case to form the connector 85. An electric wire 86 is installed on the upper case 81b side, and a group of L-shaped connection terminals 87 is also provided on the housing 84 'of the peripheral wall of the case.
Enclosed therein forms a connector 85 '.

The above is the same construction as the electric junction box 70, but in the electric junction box 80, an electric wire 86 and a bus bar 89 are provided in parallel on the upper case 81b side so as to sandwich the insulating substrate 88 from above and below. There is. That is, the L-type connection terminal 8
The pressure contact terminal portion 87a of 7 is the terminal insertion hole 88 of the insulating substrate 88.
An electric wire 86 is pressed against a slot (not shown) which penetrates a and projects upward.

On the other hand, the bus bar 89 is disposed on the lower surface of the insulating substrate 88, has a tab-shaped connector terminal 90 at one end, and a press-connecting terminal 91 and a fuse terminal 92 are erected in series at the other end. ing. Connector terminal 90 at one end
Is housed in a housing 84 ″ on the peripheral wall of the case to form a connector 85 ″ for power supply connection, and the pressure contact terminal 91 on the other end side is formed.
The fuse terminals 92 are protruded from the terminal insertion holes 88a above the insulating substrate 88 and are press-fitted and fixed. The electric wire 86 is inserted into the slot (not shown) of the press-connecting terminal 91.
Are connected by pressure contact, and the tab-shaped connection terminal 93a of the fuse 93 is press-fitted and connected to the pair of elastic holding pieces 92a, 92a of the fuse terminal 92. Reference numeral 94 is a fuse insertion hole provided in the ceiling wall of the upper case 81b.

Incidentally, in FIG. 6, a portion in which the connection terminal 83 of the printed board 82 and the connection terminal 87 of the electric wire 86 are accommodated in one housing to form a common connector is omitted to avoid complication of the drawing. is there.

The lower case 81a of the electrical junction box 80 of FIG.
On the side, a large number of electronic components (not shown) such as resistors, capacitors, small relays, and LSIs are arranged and mounted in the space on the upper surface side of the printed circuit board 82, so that the space is effectively used. On the other hand, on the upper case 81b side, since the electric wire 86 is located on the upper surface side of the insulating substrate 88 and is supported from the lower side by the pressure contact terminal portion 87a, the lower surface side of the insulating substrate 88 is thin. The space S indicated by diagonal lines is left as an unused space which is not used, and the thickness of the electric junction box 80 is increased accordingly.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has a small amount of wasted space so that it can be easily installed in a limited narrow space of an automobile, and can be made thin and compact. An object of the present invention is to provide an electric junction box provided with a functional circuit having a suitable structure.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electric junction box according to claim 1 of the present invention has a printed circuit board arranged on the lower side of a case and an electric wire parallel to the printed circuit board on the upper side. and bus bars disposed through the insulating substrate, the
The case includes a case body and is orthogonal to the printed circuit board.
On the peripheral wall of the case body, two upper and lower cutout windows to which the wire harness coupling connector is attached are opened, and
To the peripheral wall of the case body perpendicular to the printed board, the printed circuit board, mounting the wire harness coupling connector to be connected to an internal circuit such as the bus bars and electrical lines,
An electric connection box comprising a connector connected to the printed circuit board in a lower cutout window, and an electric wire and a connector connected to the busbar in an upper cutout window , wherein the electric wire is the printed wiring board. It is characterized in that it is arranged facing the substrate. In the structure in which the bus bar is arranged on one surface of the insulating substrate and the electric wire is arranged on the other surface, and the printed board is arranged above and below the case, the electric wires are arranged facing each other facing the printed board. As shown in FIG. 6, the useless space on the lower surface side (printed circuit board side) of the insulating substrate can be eliminated, and the thickness of the entire electric junction box can be reduced accordingly, which facilitates installation and installation work in a narrow space of an automobile. Become.

The electrical connection box according to claim 2 is the electric connection box according to claim 1, wherein the case, said case body having a combined was and the insole of the insulating substrate, on which are mounted above and below a cover and a lower cover, and the printed circuit board facing the lower side electric wire on the lower surface of the insole is disposed, this <br/> and wherein an upper surface of the insole busbar is disposed Is characterized by. Since the case main body that forms the outer shell of the electric connection box is provided with an insole, which is also used as an insulating substrate for vertically arranging the bus bar and the electric wire, an insulating plate for arranging a plurality of bus bars or electric wires. Can be omitted, and the thickness of the electrical junction box can be reduced accordingly. Further, since the bus bar and the electric wire are arranged inside the case in a process of assembling the electric connection box and are protected from the outside, there is no damage due to contact with other equipment and the management is easy. The electric junction box according to claim 3 is the claim 2.
In the mounted electrical junction box, the fitting recess facing the cutout window
Is provided on the insole. Claim 4
The electric connection box according to claim 3 is the electric connection box according to claim 3.
Position the connector housing in the mating recess.
It is characterized by being done.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION One example of an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
Or, it demonstrates with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electric connection box showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an essential part in an assembled state of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B) are respectively for the electric wire of FIG. It is an expansion perspective view of a portion of a connection terminal and a bus bar. In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes an electrical junction box, which is provided with a box-shaped case body 2 made of a synthetic resin insulator, an upper cover 3 and a lower cover 4. And electrical junction box 1
The lower cover 4 is the first mounting surface for the vehicle body panel.
The surface and the upper cover 3 on the opposite side thereof form a second surface, and various connectors 10 to 13 and a relay 16 which will be described later are provided on the peripheral wall of the case body 2 which is a surface other than the first and second surfaces.

An insole 5 which also serves as an insulating substrate is formed inside the case body 2, and a plurality of bus bars 6 ₁ , 6 ₂ having a desired pattern are formed on the upper surface of the insole 5 (in the case shown as a representative). 6) and a plurality of electric wires 7 forming an internal circuit on the lower surface side, and the insole 5 and the lower cover 4
A printed circuit board 8 constituting a functional circuit and a plurality of electronic components 9 (9 ₁ , 9 ₂ ...) Mounted on the printed circuit board 8 are housed in a space between the and.

The upper cover 3 has a plurality of fuse insertion holes 14
Is provided so that the fuse 15 can be directly connected to the bus bar 6 from the outside. Reference numeral 16 is a relay mounted on the relay connector 11. In addition, 17
Is a bus bar mounting groove provided in the insole 5, and 18 is a terminal insertion hole.
The pressure contact terminal portion 24b of No. 4 and the like are inserted.

On the peripheral wall of the case body 2, a plurality of cutout windows 19 (19 ₁ , 19 ₂ ...) And 20 (20 ₁ , 20 ₁
20 ₂ ...) has been established. The lower cutout window 20 has a connector 10 (10 ₁ ,
10 ₂ ...) In the upper cutout window 19, a connector 11 for relay, a connector 12 connected to the electric wire 7 and a connector 13 (1 connected to the bus bar 6).
3 ₁ , 13 ₂ ...) are attached to these connectors 1
Each of 0, 12 and 13 constitutes a wire harness coupling connector that is connected to an external wire harness (not shown). The peripheral wall of the case body 2 is composed of side walls 2a and 2a 'which face each other in the longitudinal direction and end walls 2b and 2b' on both ends thereof. The printed circuit board 8 is provided in the lower cutout window 20 ₁ of the front side wall 2a. A connector 10 _1, which is a direct-attached connector, is attached.

The housing 10a of the connector 10 ₁ is fixed to the printed board 8 by a known means such as a screw (not shown). One male terminal portion 21a of the L-shaped connection terminal 21 is previously housed and fixed in the housing 10a,
The other conductor connecting portion 21b penetrates the hole 8a of the printed board 8 and projects to the lower surface, and is connected and fixed to the land of the circuit conductor (not shown) by soldering 22.

The end wall 2b intersecting the side wall 2a has
Notched windows 19 ₁ , 19 ₂ and 19 ₃ are provided on the upper side and a notched window 20 ₂ is provided on the lower side, and the notched window 19 on the upper side is provided.
_A relay connector 11 is attached to each of ₁ and 19 ₂ , a connector 12 is attached to a cutout window 19 ₃ and a connector 10 ₂ is attached to a cutout window 20 ₂ on the lower stage side.

In the cutout windows 19 ₁ and 19 ₂ on the upper stage side, a fitting recess 23 is provided in the insole 5 so as to face the window, whereby the housing 11a of the connector 11 is positioned. Similar to the case of the housing 10a, one of the female connector terminal portions 24a of the L-shaped connecting terminal 24 is previously housed and fixed in the upper and lower stages of the housing 11a, and the other pressure contact terminal portion 24b is provided. The electric wire 7 is press-fitted and fixed downward in the terminal insertion hole 18 of the insole 5, and the electric wire 7 is connected by pressure welding to the slot 24c at the tip protruding to the lower surface.

The other notch window 19 ₃ does not have the fitting recess 23, and the housing 12a of the connector 12 is directly placed on the upper surface of the insole 5 which is an insulating substrate. The connection terminal 24 'of the connector 12 is the same as the connection terminal 24, except that the female connector terminal portion 24a is replaced with the male connector terminal portion 24a'.
Is connected by pressure welding.

In the case of the connector 11 for the relay, the housing 11a is positioned in the fitting recess 23 and the connection terminal 2 is used.
By press-fitting and fixing to the insole 5 of 4, the attachment to the case body 2 is easy and firmly fixed.

On the other hand, cutout windows 19 ₄ and 19 ₅ are formed on the upper side of the end wall 2b 'opposite to the end wall 2b, and cutout windows 19 ₆ are formed on the upper side of the rear side wall 2a'. Cage,
Fitting recesses 23 are also formed in the cutout windows 19 _{4 to} 19 ₆ , respectively, and connectors 13 _{1 to} 13 ₃ connected to the bus bar 6 are mounted therein. Each connector 13 _{1 to} 13
_{The third} housing 13a is positioned in the fitting recess 23 in the same manner as described above, and the connector terminal 25 at the end of each bus bar 6 is accommodated and fixed therein.

That is, each bus bar 6 is disposed in the bus bar mounting groove 17 of the insole 5, has a tab-shaped connector terminal 25 formed at one end, and has the other end corresponding to the circuit configuration. Any one of the fuse terminal 26 (26 '), the pressure contact terminal 27, and the connector terminal 25 is connected.

In the illustrated example, the bus bar 6 ₁ is a bus bar for power supply distribution, has a connector terminal 25 at one end, and a plurality of fuse terminals 26 standing upright at a predetermined interval on the side edge on the other end side. Has been done. Each fuse terminal 26 is composed of a pair of elastic holding pieces 26a, and a total of three pieces are provided in this embodiment. Further, bus bars 6 _{2-6 4} each have a connector pin 25 at one end, the fuse terminal 26 to the other end '
And a pressure contact terminal 27 is formed downward in the middle of the bus bar ₄ by branching.

The connector terminals 25 at one end of each of the bus bars 6 _{1 to} 6 ₄ are located in the fitting recess 23 of the housing 1.
3a is inserted and fixed in the housing through the terminal insertion hole 13c of the back wall 13b, and a plurality of fuse terminals 2 are provided on the other end side.
A fuse mounting portion 28 is formed such that 6 and 26 'face each other. Further, protruding on the lower surface from the terminal insertion holes 18 of the pressure contact terminal 27 insole 5 of the bus bar 6 _4, the wire 7 is pressed to the slot 27a. Note that the other busbar groups 6 for the connectors 13 ₂ and 13 ₃ are also formed in the same manner as the busbars 6 _{1 to} 6 ₄ depending on the circuit configuration thereof, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of capacitors 9 ₁ , resistors 9 ₂ and 9 ₃ , electronic components 9 such as a diode 9 ₄ and an IC 9 ₅ are mounted on the front surface of the printed circuit board 8, and the back surface thereof is mounted on the back surface. A wiring pattern (not shown) is provided. Resistor 9 ₃ such heat-generating devices are provided upright mounting plate 29 of the heat sink also serves on the printed circuit board 8, preferably be fixed thereto. The printed circuit board 8 and the electronic parts 9 constitute a conventional so-called functional circuit.

Further, the printed circuit board 8, straight long interlayer connection terminals 30 are erected. Interlayer connection terminal 30
Includes a printed circuit board 8 is for connecting the bus bar 6 or wire 7, <br/> Ru pressure contact terminal portion 30a which having a slot on the upper end side, and when the lower end of the connecting terminal 21 Similarly conductor connecting portion (not shown) is formed, the conductor connection section, the conductor connecting portion 21b as well as the printed circuit board 8
Connected to the desired wiring pattern.

Next, the assembly of the electric junction box will be described. First, in the case main body 2, the bus bars 6 ₁ , 6 ₂ , 6 ₃ , which correspond to the bus bar mounting grooves 17 of the insole 5,
6 ₄ ... arranged groups, for example, the pressure contact terminal 27 has been made with the bus bar 6 ₄ protrudes from the terminal insertion hole 18 on the lower surface, to press-fitting. It is preferable that each bus bar 6 is securely fixed to the bus bar mounting groove 17 by fitting or adhesive.

Next, the relay connector 11 and the connector 12 to be connected to the electric wire 7 are mounted in the cutout windows 19 _{1 to} 19 ₃ in the peripheral wall of the case main body 2, and each of the connecting terminals 24, The press contact terminal portion 24b of 24 'is projected from the terminal insertion hole 18 to the lower surface and fixed by press fitting. The housing 13a of the connector 13 is attached to the cutout windows 19 _{4 to} 19 ₆ after fixing the bus bar 6 in the bus bar mounting groove 17 and fixing the connector terminal 25.
By inserting the terminal into the terminal insertion hole 13c of the housing 13a or for each housing 13a.
It is performed by inserting the bus bar 5 after inserting the bus bar 5.

Next, the electric wire 7 is wired and the printed circuit board 8
Together with this, a circuit and a signal circuit through which a relatively small current flows are formed. That is, on the lower surface of the insole 5, the pressure contact terminal portions 24 b of the aforementioned large number of connection terminals 24, 24 ′ and the pressure contact terminals 27 of the bus bar 6 project from the terminal insertion holes 18. Therefore, the wire 7 is routed between these slots 24c and 27a by using a wiring head (not shown, see Japanese Patent No. 2505924) that can travel in the X-Y axis to form a desired circuit pattern. To do. In the process of disposing the bus bar 6 and the electric wire 7, the bus bar 6 and the electric wire 7 are housed and protected inside the case body 2 and protected from the outside. Therefore, there is no damage due to contact with other equipment, and management such as transportation and storage becomes easy.

Next, the printed circuit board 8 having a plurality of electronic components 9 mounted thereon is placed on the lower cover 4, and after connecting with the required bus bar 6 or electric wire 7 by the interlayer connection terminal 30, the case body 2 is connected. Assemble and fix with screws. As a result, the lower cutout window 20 (20 ₁ , 20
₂ ...), the connectors 10 of the printed circuit board 8 are fitted and fixed.

Finally, the relay 16 is connected to the relay connector 11, and a fuse is attached to the fuse mounting portion 28 consisting of the fuse terminals 26 and 26 'of the bus bar 6 at the upper opening of the case body 2. After connecting 15, the upper cover 3 is covered and fixed by locking means or screwing having a known structure, whereby the assembly is completed.
The presence or absence of the fuse 15 can be easily confirmed through the fuse inspection hole 14. The relay 16 may be connected after the upper cover 3 is attached, and the fuse 15 may be connected from the fuse insertion port 14 of the upper cover.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. In the structure in which the bus bar is arranged on one surface of the insulating substrate and the electric wire is arranged on the other surface, and the printed board is arranged above and below the case, the electric wires are arranged facing each other facing the printed board. It is possible to eliminate a wasteful space on the lower surface side (printed circuit board side) of the insulating substrate as shown in FIG. 6, and to reduce the thickness of the electric junction box as a whole, thereby facilitating the placement and mounting work in a narrow space of an automobile. (Claim 1).

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the case main body forming the outer shell of the electric junction box is provided with the inner bottom, which is also used as an insulating substrate for vertically arranging the bus bar and the electric wire, a plurality of them are used. The insulating plate for arranging the bus bar or the electric wire can be omitted, and the thickness of the electric connection box can be reduced. Further, since the bus bar and the electric wire are arranged inside the case in a process of assembling the electric connection box and are protected from the outside, there is no damage due to contact with other equipment and the management is easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electric junction box showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts in the assembled state of FIG.

3A and 3B are enlarged perspective views of a connecting terminal 24 (24 ') for electric wire and bus bars 6 _{1 to} 6 ₄ of FIG. 1, respectively.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example of an electrical junction box.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of another conventional example of the electrical junction box.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of another conventional example of the electrical junction box.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 electrical connection box 2 case body 3 top cover 4 the lower cover 5 insole 6,6 _1-4 bus bar 7 wire 8 printed circuit board 10, _{10, 2,} 12, 13, 13 _1-4 Waiyaha
Connector for connector ( connector ) 10a, 11a, 12a, 13a Housing 11 Connector for relay (connector) 15 Fuse 16 Relay 19, 19 _1-6 , 20 , 20, ₁ , ₂ Cutout window 21 , 24 , 24 'Connection terminal 23 Fitting concave portion 25 Connector terminal 26, 26 'Fuse terminal 27 Pressure contact terminal 28 Fuse mounting portion

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H02G 3/16 H05K 5/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printed circuit board is arranged under the case,
An electric wire and a bus bar are arranged on the upper side in parallel with the printed circuit board via an insulating substrate, and the case has a case body.
For example, the peripheral wall of the case body perpendicular to the 該Pu lint substrate,
Opened upper and lower two-stage notch window of the wire harness coupling connector is mounted, and, on the peripheral wall of the case body perpendicular to the printed board, the printed circuit board, is connected to the internal circuit such as the bus bars and electrical lines that only mounting the wire harness coupling connector, in the lower part of the notch windows, the purine
An electric connection box comprising a connector connected to a printed circuit board and an electric wire and a connector connected to the bus bar in an upper cutout window , wherein the electric wire is disposed facing the printed circuit board. An electrical connection box characterized by being made . 2. The case includes the case body that also serves as the insulating substrate and has an insole, and an upper cover and a lower cover that are mounted above and below the case body, and the electric wires are arranged on a lower surface of the insole. Is installed to face the printed circuit board on the lower side,
The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein the bus bar is provided on an upper surface of the insole. 3. The electric junction box according to claim 2, wherein a fitting recess facing the cutout window is provided in the insole. 4. The electric junction box according to claim 3, wherein the housing of the connector is positioned in the fitting recess.