JP2002078157A - Electric junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric junction box capable of preventing upsizing a body casing. SOLUTION: A connection terminal 12b protruded to the outside of the body casing C is formed on a part of the first flexible printed board 12. The connector terminal 12b is disposed in the vicinity of an insertion port in a connector mounting part 40 when assembling an upper casing and a lower case. Insertion of a detachable connector 41 in the connector mounting part 40 leads to folding of the connection terminal 12b of the first flexible printed board 12 in the connector mounting part 40 so as to make an electric connection.

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 mounted on, for example, an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In this type of electric connection box, the case body is composed of an upper case and a lower case. The upper case accommodates a bus bar laminate in which bus bars and insulating plates are alternately laminated, and the lower case accommodates a rigid printed circuit board. The bus bar is formed by stamping a single metal plate, and a part of the bus bar is bent toward the upper case by a press device, and a tab terminal is formed at an end of the bus bar. The tab terminals are inserted and arranged in a connector mounting portion formed in the upper case in which the bus bar laminate is accommodated, and a connector is externally inserted into the connector mounting portion to achieve electrical connection.

[0003]

However, in a conventional electrical junction box, if a connector mounting portion is to be provided in a lower case in which a printed circuit board is housed, the tab terminals of the bus bar must be bent to the opposite side (the lower case side). No. Therefore, the printed circuit board becomes an obstacle, and the tab terminal cannot be inserted and arranged in the connector mounting portion. For this reason, the location where the connector mounting portion is provided is limited to the upper case in which the bus bar laminate is housed.
Therefore, since a fuse, a relay, and the like are also arranged in the case in which the bus bar laminate is housed, it is difficult to secure the space when the number of connector mounting portions is increased due to a design change or the like. As a result, an increase in the size of the entire electric junction box cannot be avoided.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electric connection box capable of preventing a main body case from being enlarged.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a main body case is constituted by a first case having a plurality of types of electric component mounting portions and a second case mountable to the first case. An electrical connection box accommodating a busbar laminate in which busbars and insulating plates are alternately laminated in the first case, and a rigid printed circuit board in which electrical components are mounted in the second case; A flexible printed circuit board is accommodated in the connector case, a part of the flexible printed circuit board is protruded to the outside of the main body case, and the protruding portion is used as a connection terminal portion. By placing the connector near the connector insertion port and inserting the connector into the connector mounting section, the connection end of the flexible printed circuit board is placed in the connector mounting section. Parts and summarized in that the so folded to.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electrical connection box according to the first aspect, the connector mounting portion is arranged at an outer edge of the second case. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electrical junction box according to the first or second aspect, a connector insertion port of the connector mounting portion is formed in a side portion of the second case.

Hereinafter, the "action" of the present invention will be described. According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, since the flexible printed board is freely bendable, it is easy to arrange the connection terminal portion near the connector insertion port without being affected by the position of the printed board. Therefore, it is possible to arrange the connector mounting portion in the second case, instead of intensively arranging the connector mounting portion in the first case where the electrical components are mounted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the entire electric connection box from being enlarged.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in an electric junction box for a vehicle will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electric junction box 1
An upper case 2 as a case and a lower case 3 as a second case are provided. On the upper surface of the upper case 2, there are formed a connector mounting portion 4 for attaching and detaching a plurality of connectors, a fuse attaching portion 5 for attaching and detaching a plurality of fuses, and a relay attaching portion 6 for attaching and detaching a plurality of relays. The connector mounting section 4 and the fuse mounting section 5 constitute an electrical component mounting section. In the present embodiment, the upper case 2 will be described as an upward direction, and the lower case 3 will be described as a downward direction.

[0010] Connector mounting portions 40 are also formed on both sides (only one side is shown in FIG. 1) of the lower case 3. The connector mounting section 40 has a connector insertion port 40 a at an outer end thereof, and the connector insertion port 40 a is opened on the same surface as the side surface of the lower case 3. A connector 41 can be attached to the connector insertion opening 40a from the side of the lower case 3.

The upper case 2 and the lower case 3 are formed so as to be fitted to each other. When the two cases 2 and 3 are fitted, a main body case C having an internal space is formed. In the main body case C, the bus bar laminate 1 is provided.
1, a first flexible printed board 12, a second flexible printed board 13, and a printed board 14 are accommodated. More specifically, the bus bar laminate 11 is housed in the upper case 2, and the substrates 12 to 14 are housed in the lower case 3.

[0012] As shown in FIG.
Is constituted by alternately laminating a plurality of bus bars 7 made of a conductive metal plate material formed in a predetermined shape and insulating plates 8 made of synthetic resin. A part of the bus bar 7 is bent to form a bus bar terminal 11a.

As also shown in FIG. 2, the first and second flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 are made of copper foil patterns 12a and 1 as conductor circuits formed in a predetermined shape.
3a is covered with a resin sheet. The second flexible printed board 13 is formed smaller than the first flexible printed board. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 are accommodated in a state of being superposed.
That is, the flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 have a two-layer structure. 4 and 5, the configuration of the bus bar laminate 11 is shown in a simplified manner.

A plurality of connection terminals 12b and 13b are formed at predetermined locations on the flexible printed boards 12 and 13, respectively. A plurality of copper foil patterns 12a, 13a are provided in these connection terminal portions 12b, 13b, respectively. The resin sheet on one side of each connection terminal portion 12b, 13b is peeled off, and the copper foil patterns 12a, 13a are exposed.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of connection pads 12c and 13c are formed at predetermined positions of the flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 as connection portions. These connection pads 12c and 13c are
It is formed by peeling off a part of the resin sheet covering a and 13a. That is, each connection pad 1
2c, 13c are flexible printed circuit boards 12, 1
3 is formed by the copper foil patterns 12a and 13a exposed on the surface of No.3. In this embodiment, each connection pad 1
2c and 13c have a substantially rectangular shape. The connection pads 12c and 13c are formed in a state of being aligned on a straight line, and have a positional relationship corresponding to each other. For more information,
The connection pads 12c and 13c are juxtaposed so that their long sides are parallel to each other. That is, each connection pad 12c,
13c is formed in a part of the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13. In other words, the copper foil patterns 12a, 13 of the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13
a is formed so that the connection pads 12c and 13c can be formed in a state of being aligned on a straight line.

The connection pads 12c and 13c are formed close to each other, and some of them are formed at equal intervals. As shown in FIG.
c, 13c, the closest connection pad 12c, 1
The distance L between 3c is set to be 5.0 mm. The corresponding connection pads 12c and 13c are electrically connected to each other by welding using a welding method such as ultrasonic welding. In the present embodiment, the copper foil patterns 12a and 13a of the flexible printed circuit boards 12 and 13 are set to have a thickness of about 0.1 mm and a width of about 2 mm so that a current of up to 6 amperes can flow. ing.

The bus bar laminated body 11 configured as described above
The flexible printed boards 12 and 13 are accommodated in the electric junction box 1 so that the bus bar laminate 11 is the uppermost layer (upper case 2 side). The first flexible printed circuit board 12 is accommodated in the electric connection box 1 such that the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is an intermediate layer and the second flexible printed circuit board 13 is a lowermost layer (lower case 3 side). That is, each of the flexible printed boards 12 and 13 is arranged in close contact with a surface of the bus bar laminate 11 where the bus bar terminals 11a are not formed. Further, a printed circuit board 14 is disposed further below the second flexible printed circuit board 13. In the present embodiment, the printed circuit board 14 functions as an ECU unit that performs electronic control of the engine and the like, and includes various electronic components such as a CPU and a ROM.

By the way, the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is placed on the lower case 3 when housed in the electric junction box 1. At this time, the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is connected to each connection terminal 1 by a step 3a as a positioning section provided on the upper edge of the side wall of the lower case 3.
2b is located.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 are fitted together, each connection terminal portion 12b is bent by the side wall of the upper case 2 and the side wall of the lower case 3, and is sandwiched between both side walls. Is done. Thereby, each connection terminal part 12b is arranged in the corresponding connector mounting part 40.
More specifically, it is arranged so as to close a part of the connector insertion opening 40a formed in the connector mounting portion 40. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, in a state where the connector 41 is mounted on the connector mounting portion 40, each connection terminal portion 12 b of the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is folded into the connector mounting portion 40, thereby forming the first flexible printed circuit board 12. The printed circuit board 12 and the connector 41 are electrically connected.

As shown in FIG. 5, one of the connection terminals 13b of the second flexible printed circuit board 13
It is bent so as to contact a conductor pattern (not shown) wired on the printed board 14. The connection terminal portion 18b and the printed circuit board 14 are sandwiched and held by the connection clip 21. For this reason, the connection terminal portion 13b is electrically connected to the conductor pattern of the printed board 14. That is, the second flexible printed board 13 and the printed board 14 are electrically connected.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, one of the connection terminals 13b of the second flexible printed circuit board 13 is connected to a board connection portion 11b formed on the bus bar laminated body 11.
It is bent so that it contacts. The board connecting portion 11b is formed by bending a part of the bus bar constituting the bus bar laminated body 11 downward, and the bus bar is formed at a position corresponding to the copper foil pattern 13a of the connection terminal portion 13b. . The connection terminal portion 13b and the board connection portion 11b are sandwiched and held by the connection clip 21. For this reason, the connection terminal 13b and the board connection 11b are electrically connected. That is, the second flexible printed board 13 and the bus bar laminate 11 are electrically connected.

When the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit is changed in the electric connection box 1 of the present embodiment, for example, a third flexible printed circuit board 31 as shown in FIG. 2C is used. The third flexible printed circuit board 31 is the same as the second flexible printed circuit board 13.
It is formed in a size substantially equal to. On the third flexible printed board 31, a copper foil pattern 31a having a pattern shape different from that of the copper foil pattern 13a of the second flexible printed board 13 is formed. Further, two connection terminal portions 31b are formed on the third flexible printed board 31 at positions different from the connection terminal portions 13b of the second flexible printed board 13. The third flexible printed board 31 has connection pads 31c formed at locations corresponding to the connection pads 12c of the first flexible printed board 12, respectively. The copper foil pattern 31a of the flexible printed circuit board 31 is also 6
Thickness of about 0.1 to allow amperage
mm and width are set to about 2 mm.

The third flexible printed circuit board 31 thus constructed is replaced with the second flexible printed circuit board 13.
Used in place of That is, the third flexible printed board 31 is used as a sub-board, and the first flexible printed board 12 and the third flexible printed board 31 form a connector connection circuit. Thereby, the connector connection circuit has a different circuit configuration.

Next, how to assemble the electric junction box 11 configured as described above will be described. As shown in FIG.
Each printed circuit board 12 to 14 is accommodated in the lower case 3, and the connection terminal portion 1 of the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is provided.
The upper case 2 is mounted on the lower case 3 in a state where 2b is engaged with the step 3a. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the connection terminal portion 12 b is bent downward by 90 ° about the base end thereof, and is sandwiched between the lower edge of the upper case 2 and the upper edge of the lower case 3.
At this time, since the connection terminal portion 12b is engaged with the step portion 3a formed in the lower case 3, there is no positional displacement in the horizontal direction. The connection terminal portion 12b is arranged so as to cover a part of the connector insertion port 40a of each connector mounting portion 40.

As shown in FIG. 9, the connector insertion port 40a
When the connector 41 is inserted into the connector mounting portion 40 via the connector, the connection terminal portion 12b of the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is folded into the connector mounting portion 40. As a result, the terminal exposed to the outside of the connector 41 and the copper foil pattern 12a provided on the connection terminal portion 12b make electrical contact.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. (1) A connection terminal portion 12 b protruding outside the main body case C is provided on a part of the first flexible printed circuit board 12.
Are formed. When the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 are assembled, the connection terminal portion 12b is arranged near the insertion opening of the connector mounting portion 40. When the detachable connector 41 is inserted into the connector mounting portion 40, the connection terminal portion 12b of the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is folded into the connector mounting portion 40, so that electrical connection is achieved. I have. Therefore, the connector mounting portions 40 can be provided not only in the upper case 2 but also in the lower case 3, so that the connector mounting portions 4 and 40 are not concentrated only on the upper case 2. As a result, it is not necessary to secure an installation space for the connector mounting portion 40 in the upper case 2, so that the entire electric connection box 1 can be prevented from being enlarged.

(2) A step 3 is provided at the upper edge of the lower case 3.
The connection terminal 12b of the first flexible printed circuit board 12 is engaged with the step 3a. Then, in this state, the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 are assembled. Therefore, the first flexible printed circuit board 12 can be prevented from being displaced in the horizontal direction, and each connection terminal portion 12b can be bent to a position facing the connector insertion port 40a of each connector mounting portion 40. As a result, the connector 41 is
, The electrical connection can be reliably established, and high reliability can be maintained.

(3) The connector insertion port 40a of the connector mounting section 40 is formed integrally with the side wall of the lower case 3. Therefore, for example, when the connector mounting portion 40 is turned upward, the lower case 3 is inserted into the lower case 3 by the depth thereof, and the lower case 3 is lengthened in the up-down direction by the amount of the insertion. Therefore, the effect can be exerted when the size of the electrical junction box 1 in the vertical direction is limited due to differences in grades and specifications of vehicle types.

(4) Second flexible printed circuit board 13
Can be changed to the third flexible printed circuit board 31 to change the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit. That is, the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit can be changed by selectively using the second and third flexible printed boards 13 and 31. In other words, in order to change the circuit configuration, the bus bar laminate 11
In addition, there is no need to change the configuration of the first flexible printed circuit board 12. Therefore, the circuit configuration of the connector connection circuit can be easily changed.

Moreover, the connection pads 13c, 31c of the second and third flexible printed circuit boards 13, 31 are connected to the connection pads 12c of the first flexible printed circuit board 12, respectively.
Is formed at a position corresponding to. Therefore, each connection pad 12c of the first flexible printed board 12 and each connection pad 13c of the second flexible printed board 13
Alternatively, the connection pads 31c of the third flexible printed board 31 can be easily associated with each other. Therefore,
The connection pads 12c, 13c or the connection pads 12
Electrical connection between c and 31c can be easily made.

(5) First Flexible Printed Circuit Board 12
The connection pads 12c and the connection pads 13c, 31c of the second and third flexible printed circuit boards 31 are electrically connected by welding. For this reason,
Electrical connection between the two substrates 12, 13, 31 can be easily made.

(6) Each connection pad 12c, 13c, 31
c is the flexible printed circuit board 12, 13,
31 are provided in a concentrated manner at predetermined positions. For this reason,
It is not necessary to form the second and third flexible printed boards 13 and 31 larger than necessary. That is, when the connection pads 12c of the first flexible printed board 12 are discretely formed on the entire board 12, the second
And the third flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31
It is necessary that the connection pads 13c and 31c be formed in a size corresponding to the size of the flexible printed circuit board 12 and corresponding portions. However, in the present embodiment, since each connection pad 12c is formed concentrated at a predetermined location, the second and third flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31 are formed by the first and second flexible printed circuit boards 13 and 31.
It can be formed smaller than the flexible printed circuit board 12.

(7) Since the connection pads 12c and 13c are provided in a row, positioning of the welding machine with respect to the connection pads 12c and 13c can be easily performed. In particular, in the present embodiment, the connection pads 12c and 13c are formed in a state of being aligned on a straight line. For this reason, each connection pad 12c and each connection pad 13c or each connection pad 3
1c can be easily associated with each other.

The embodiment of the present invention may be modified as follows. In the above embodiment, the connector mounting portion 40 is provided on the side wall of the lower case 3, but may be provided on the bottom surface of the lower case 3. In this case, the connector 41 is attached to and detached from the connector mounting section 40 along the vertical direction.

In the above embodiment, the first flexible printed circuit board 1 is assembled by assembling the two cases 2 and 3.
The second connection terminal portion 12b is bent.
The connection terminal portion 12b may be bent at a right angle in advance.

In the above-described embodiment, the second and third connection pads 13c and 31c are provided at positions corresponding to all the connection pads 12c of the first flexible printed circuit board 12.
The flexible printed boards 13 and 31 are used as sub-boards. However, the sub-substrate is not limited to the second and third flexible printed boards 13 and 31, but may be applied as long as connection pads are provided at positions corresponding to at least a part of each connection pad 12c.

The fourth flexible printed circuit board 32 and the fifth flexible printed circuit board 33 provided with connection pads 32a and 33a at locations corresponding to a part of each connection pad 12c may be used as sub-boards. That is, a connector connection circuit may be configured by three or more flexible printed boards 12, 32, and 33.

Each flexible printed circuit board 12, 1
The 3 and 31 connection pads 12c, 13c and 31c do not necessarily have to be arranged on a straight line. By doing so, the degree of freedom of the pattern shape of each of the copper foil patterns 12a, 13a, 31a can be increased.

Each flexible printed circuit board 12, 1
3, 31 connection pads 12c, 13c, 31c
Not limited to ultrasonic welding, electrical connection may be performed by another welding method such as resistance welding or laser welding. Further, the two connection pads 12c, 13c, 31c are not limited to welding,
For example, connection may be made by soldering using cream solder. In this case, the connection pads 12c, 13
The connection circuit is changed depending on whether or not soldering is performed between c and 31c.

In the above embodiment, the copper foil pattern 1 of the first to third flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13, 31 is
2a, 13a, and 31a are set so that a current of 6 amperes or less can be supplied. However, the copper foil patterns 12a, 1
The thickness and width of 3a and 31a may be changed so that a current of 6 amperes or more can be passed. Further, the maximum energizing current may be set to 6 amps or less.

In the above embodiment, a part of the connector connection circuit is constituted by the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13, 31. However, the entire connector connection circuit or a part of the fuse connection circuit or the relay connection circuit may be configured by the flexible printed circuit boards 12, 13, and 31.

In the above embodiment, each of the flexible printed boards 12 and 13 is arranged below the bus bar laminate 11. However, each flexible printed circuit board 1
2 and 13 may be arranged on the upper layer of the bus bar laminate 11. However, in this case, each flexible printed circuit board 1
Desirably, 2 and 13 are arranged in regions where the bus bar terminals 11a are not formed.

In the above embodiment, the upper case 2
Although the side is described as upward and the lower case 3 side as downward, when assembling the electric junction box 1 to a vehicle, for example, the upper case 2 may be located below and the lower case 3 may be located above. Further, the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 may be assembled to the vehicle such that the side walls of the lower case 3 face upward, that is, the electric connection box 1 is rotated by 90 °. That is, the electric connection box 1 is
May be assembled in any direction.

Next, in addition to the technical ideas described in the claims, the technical ideas grasped by the above-described embodiment will be listed below. (1) In any one of claims 1 to 3, when the first case and the second case are mounted, the connection terminal portion of the flexible printed board is bent while being sandwiched between the two cases. Characteristic electrical junction box.

(2) In any one of claims 1 to 3, a positioning portion (step portion 3a) for positioning the connection terminal portion at a predetermined position is formed in the case accommodating the flexible printed circuit board. An electrical junction box characterized by the following.

[0046]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
The main body case can be prevented from becoming large.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

2A is a plan view of a base board housed in the electric junction box of the embodiment, FIG. 2B is a plan view of a sub-board housed in the electric junction box, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a modification.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary plan view of the electric junction box according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view when the upper case and the lower case are assembled.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view following the operation in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view following the operation in FIG. 8;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... electric junction box, 2 ... upper case (first case),
3 lower case (second case), 4 connector mounting section (electrical component mounting section), 5 fuse mounting section (electrical component mounting section), 6 relay relay section, 7 busbar, 8 insulating plate,
Reference numeral 11: bus bar laminate, 12b: connection terminal portion, 13: second flexible printed circuit board, 14: printed circuit board, 4
0: Connector mounting portion, 40a: Connector insertion port, 41:
connector.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5E023 AA04 AA16 AA30 BB02 BB23 BB25 DD22 EE22 EE23 HH01 HH30 5E344 AA10 AA12 AA15 BB02 BB04 CC25 CD40 DD09 EE12 5G361 BA01 BA04

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A main body case comprising a first case having a plurality of types of electric component mounting portions and a second case mountable on the first case, wherein bus bars and insulating plates are alternately provided on the first case. An electrical connection box accommodating the laminated bus bar laminate and a rigid printed circuit board in which electrical components are mounted in the second case, wherein the flexible printed circuit board is accommodated in the main body case; Is projected outside the main body case, the projected portion is used as a connection terminal portion, and the connection terminal portion is arranged near a connector insertion opening of a connector mounting portion provided in the second case, and a connector is mounted on the connector mounting portion. By inserting the connection terminal portion of the flexible printed circuit board into the connector mounting portion. Care junction box. 2. The electric connection box according to claim 1, wherein the connector mounting portion is disposed at an outer edge of the second case. 3. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein a connector insertion opening of the connector mounting portion is formed on a side portion of the second case.