JP7615977B2 - Drive unit - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a drive device.

Conventionally, a drive device in which a motor and a control unit are integrally provided is known.

For example, in the drive device disclosed in Patent Document 1, the connector provided on the cover member has connector terminals for power supply and signals that extend in the axial direction. The connector terminals are press-fit terminals that can be elastically deformed, and are press-fitted into conductive connection parts provided on the substrate.

Patent No. 6443055

In the drive device of Patent Document 1, when the cover member is brought close to the frame member and assembled, it can be easily assembled by a press-fit connection that does not require soldering. Since soldering is not required, high temperature heating is not necessary, and energy consumption and _CO2 emissions are reduced. In addition, the prohibited area on the board where elements cannot be mounted due to soldering is reduced, and the effective mounting area is increased. However, Patent Document 1 only discloses a configuration in which there is only one board and the connector terminal is directly connected to the board.

In contrast, there is a configuration in which two or more boards are arranged in a hierarchical structure within the control unit. In the following of this specification, the board that is closest to the connector among the two or more boards is referred to as the "end board", and the one or more boards other than the end board are referred to as the "general board". For example, in a drive device equipped with two boards, an inverter circuit that passes current through the motor windings is mounted on the general board. Components such as a filter circuit and a communication driver are mounted on the end board. The general board and the end board are connected by inter-board terminals.

In such a two-board configuration, in addition to connecting the connector terminals to the end board, it is necessary to connect inter-board terminals between the end board and the general board. Furthermore, in a configuration with three or more boards, it is necessary to connect inter-board terminals between the general boards. Patent Document 1 does not mention the connection of inter-board terminals.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a drive device that has two or more boards and that can optimally realize press-fit connections of terminals between boards.

The drive device according to the present invention is constructed integrally with a motor (80) including a stator (860) and a rotor (865), and a control unit (10) that is provided on one axial side of the motor and drives and controls the motor. This drive device includes a metal motor frame (840), two or more boards, a resin connector housing (50), a plurality of connector terminals (45), a plurality of board-to-board terminals (43), one or more resin board-to-board terminal binders (63), and one or more pressure-receiving supports (637, 77).

The motor frame is provided at the end of the motor on the control unit side in the axial direction. The two or more boards are provided in a hierarchical manner on the opposite side of the motor frame from the motor, and include an end board (33) provided on the side furthest from the motor frame, and one or more general boards (31) other than the end board. The two or more boards are mounted with electronic components that make up the control unit.

The connector housing is a cylindrical member with a bottom, having a top plate portion (561) facing the end board, and an outer tube portion (562) that extends from the outer edge of the top plate portion toward the motor and has an end fixed to the motor or motor frame. The connector housing has one or more connectors (57, 58) on the top plate portion, with their openings facing away from the end board.

One end of each of the multiple connector terminals is electrically connected to the end board by a press-fit method, and the other end is exposed at the frontage of the connector. The multiple inter-board terminals are electrically connected by a press-fit method between the general board and the end board, and between the general boards when there are two or more general boards.

The board-to-board terminal binder holds the middle portions of multiple board-to-board terminals so as to bundle adjacent board-to-board terminals together.

The pressure support is provided between the general board and the end board, and between the general boards when there are two or more general boards, and abuts against the surface of the opposing board to receive the load applied during assembly.

In the present invention, both ends of multiple inter-board terminals bound with an inter-board terminal binder are press-fit connected to the boards by a press-fit method while a press-fit load is applied by a pressure-receiving support provided between the boards. Therefore, in a drive device equipped with two or more boards, a press-fit connection with small dimensional variation and stable quality can be efficiently realized.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electric power steering device to which a drive device is applied; FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a motor unit of the drive device. FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of an arrow III in FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a control unit according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view taken along the V arrow in FIG. 4 . 1A is a plan view of a connector terminal binder; FIG. 1B is a plan view of an end board; FIG. 2A is a plan view of an inter-board terminal binder according to one embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a plan view of a general board. FIG. 13 is a plan view of an inter-board terminal binder according to another embodiment. 7(a) and 8 are development views of the board-to-board terminal binder as viewed in the direction of the arrow IX. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a control unit according to a second embodiment. FIG. 7 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 5 of a control unit according to a third embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a control unit according to a reference embodiment. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the end board, showing the mounting positions of board-to-board connection components.

Below, several embodiments of the drive device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the several embodiments, substantially the same configurations are given the same reference numerals and the description will be omitted. The first to third embodiments are collectively referred to as "the present embodiment". The drive device of this embodiment is applied, for example, as a steering assist motor of an electric power steering device, and the motor and the control unit that drives and controls the motor are configured as one unit.

[Configuration of electric power steering device]
The schematic configuration of an electric power steering device 99 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Although a rack-assist type electric power steering device is illustrated in Fig. 1, a drive unit 800 of this embodiment is similarly applicable to a column-assist type electric power steering device. A steering system 90 including the electric power steering device 99 includes a steering wheel 91, a steering shaft 92, a pinion gear 96, a rack shaft 97, wheels 98, the electric power steering device 99, and the like.

A torque sensor 93 that detects steering torque is provided on a steering shaft 92 to which a steering wheel 91 is connected. A pinion gear 96 that meshes with a rack shaft 97 is provided at the end of the steering shaft 92. When the driver turns the steering wheel 91, the rotational motion of the steering shaft 92 is converted into linear motion of the rack shaft 97 by the pinion gear 96. A pair of wheels 98 connected to both ends of the rack shaft 97 are steered to an angle that corresponds to the amount of displacement of the rack shaft 97.

The electric power steering device 99 includes a drive device 800 in which the motor 80 and the control unit 10 are integrated, and a reduction gear 89 that reduces the rotation of the motor 80 and transmits it to the rack shaft 97. The motor 80 is a two-system three-phase brushless motor having two sets of three-phase windings. The control unit 10 has at least a "two-system drive" configuration that can supply power to the two sets of three-phase windings by two systems of inverter circuits. The motor 80 outputs steering assist torque by being supplied with three-phase AC power converted from DC power by the inverter circuit of the control unit 10.

The vehicle system connector 57 of the control unit 10 is supplied with DC power from a vehicle power supply 905, and also inputs and outputs communication signals to and from a vehicle communication network ("CAN" in the figure) 906. A sensor signal detected by a torque sensor 93 is input to the signal system connector 58 via a harness 94. In this way, the vehicle system connector 57 and the signal system connector 58 are configured as connectors with different openings.

[Configuration of driving device]
The overall configuration of the drive device 800 will be described with reference to Figures 2 and 3. The direction parallel to the rotation axis O of the motor 80 shown in Figure 2 is referred to as the "axial direction", and the view seen from the upper side of Figure 2 in the axial direction is referred to as the plan view. The control unit 10 is provided on one side of the motor 80 in the axial direction. In other words, the drive device 800 has a so-called "mechanically and electrically integrated" configuration.

The motor 80 has a motor case 830, a motor frame 840, a stator 860, a rotor 865, etc. The motor case 830 is formed in a generally bottomed cylindrical shape consisting of a bottom portion 831 and a cylindrical portion 832, and the control unit 10 is provided on the opening side. A groove forming wall 834 with a thin plate thickness is formed on the opening side end of the cylindrical portion 832 via a stepped portion 833.

The stator 860 is fixed to the inside of the cylindrical portion 832 of the motor case 830, and has three-phase motor windings 880 wound around it. A rotating magnetic field is formed in the stator 860 by controlling the supply of electricity to the motor windings 880 by the control unit 10. The rotor 865 is provided inside the stator 50, and a shaft 870 is fixed to the center. The shaft 870 is rotatably supported by a front bearing 871 held by the bottom 831 of the motor case 830, and a rear bearing 872 held by the motor frame 840.

The rotor 865 has multiple permanent magnets 867 attached to the outer periphery of the rotor core 866. The rotor 865 rotates around the shaft 870 due to the rotating magnetic field formed in the stator 860. A sensor magnet 875 for detecting the rotation angle is attached to the end of the shaft 870 on the control unit 10 side.

The motor frame 840 is made of an aluminum alloy or the like, and has a frame portion 841, a flange portion 842, a heat sink 845, etc. The frame portion 841 is press-fitted into the inside of the motor case 830. The flange portion 842 formed on the outer periphery of the frame portion 841 abuts against a step portion 833 of the motor case 830. A seal groove 843 filled with adhesive is formed in an annular space defined by the outer wall of the frame portion 841, the surface of the flange portion 842 facing the control unit 10, and the inner wall of the groove forming wall 834 of the motor case 830.

The connector housing 50 is made of a resin material such as PBT and has a bottomed cylindrical shape with a top plate portion 561 and an outer cylinder portion 562. A ring-shaped protrusion 563 that protrudes in the axial direction is formed at the tip of the outer cylinder portion 562. The outer cylinder portion 562 is fixed to the motor 80 or the motor frame 840 by inserting the protrusion 563 into the seal groove 843. The top plate portion 561 is provided with connectors 57 and 58 with their openings facing away from the motor 80.

Figure 3 shows an example of the arrangement of connectors 57, 58. Note that although Figure 3 is a view seen in the direction of arrow III in Figure 2, it is not drawn to the same scale as Figure 2, but to the same scale as Figures 6(a), (b), and 7(a), (b), which are plan views of the components inside the control unit 10. The x-axis is defined as the horizontal direction in Figure 3, and the y-axis is defined as the vertical direction. The x-axis and y-axis are referenced in the illustration of the board-to-board terminal binder 63 and the connector terminal binder 65.

The vehicle connector 57 and the signal connector 58 may be provided in two sets for redundancy as shown in FIG. 3, or in other arrangements, a single set may be provided. The configuration in which two sets of connectors 57, 58 are provided is mainly used in a "fully dual-system" drive device in which two inverter circuits are connected to separate power sources and various signals are redundantly input and output. On the other hand, in a "dual-system" drive device in which two inverter circuits are connected in parallel to a common power source and various signals are shared between the systems, a single set of connectors is mainly provided. In this embodiment, matters for each system are not mentioned, so in FIG. 3, the connectors for the two systems are not distinguished from each other and are given the same reference numerals "57" and "58".

The vehicle connector 57 is provided with two power terminals 45p including a positive power terminal connected to the positive pole of the vehicle power supply 905 and a ground terminal connected to ground, and five communication terminals 45c, for example, connected to a vehicle communication network 906 such as a CAN. The power terminal 45p, through which a large current flows, has a connection portion with the harness formed in a rectangular column shape. The signal connector 58 is provided with six sensor terminals 45s, for example, connected to the harness 94 from the torque sensor 93. The symbols "45p", "45c", and "45c" indicating the type of connector terminal 45 are used only in FIG. 3. In FIG. 4 and subsequent figures, the terminals are uniformly referred to as "connector terminals 45" without distinction of use.

The connector housing 50 contains two or more circuit boards on which the electronic components that make up the control unit 10 are mounted. The two or more circuit boards are arranged in a hierarchical manner on the side of the motor frame 840 opposite the motor 80 (the upper side in Figure 2).

The configuration of the control unit in each embodiment will be explained in order. The reference numbers for the control units in the first to third embodiments have the embodiment number added as the third digit following "10". The first to third embodiments include two boards. Configurations including three or more boards will be mentioned as other embodiments.

First Embodiment
The configuration of the control unit 101 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 4 to 9. Figure 4 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the entire unit, and Figure 5 shows an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of the area surrounded by the two-dot chain line in Figure 4, as viewed from the V direction arrow. Figures 6(a), (b), 7(a), and (b) show plan views of the connector terminal binder 65, the end board 33, the inter-board terminal binder 63, and the general board 31, respectively. Figure 8 shows a plan view of the inter-board terminal binder 63 of another embodiment, and Figure 9 shows a development view of the inter-board terminal binder 63.

As shown in FIG. 4, two boards are provided, in that order from the motor frame 840 side: a general board 31 and an end board 33. In this specification, the names are distinguished solely by the arrangement of the boards, regardless of the functions of the electronic components mounted on the boards. The board provided on the side furthest from the motor frame 840, i.e., the board closest to the connectors 57 and 58, is called the "end board," and one or more boards other than the end board are called "general boards."

In the first to third embodiments, which include two boards, one general board 31 and one end board 33 are provided. For example, an inverter circuit that energizes the motor windings 42 is mounted on the general board 31. Components such as a filter circuit and a communication driver are mounted on the end board 33.

As shown in FIG. 7(b), the general board 31 has a screw hole 341 and a motor terminal hole 342. The general board 31 is fixed to the motor frame 840 with a screw 41, and a motor terminal 42 that is connected to the motor winding 880 is connected to the general board 31.

As shown in Figures 6(b) and 7(b), the general board 31 and the end board 33 have inter-board terminal holes 343 formed at positions along the outer periphery. A plurality of inter-board terminals 43 are electrically connected between the general board 31 and the end board 33 by a press-fit method. Of the many inter-board terminals 43, only three inter-board terminals 43 on each side are shown in Figure 4. Also, as shown in Figure 6(b), the end board 33 has connector terminal holes 345 formed toward the center corresponding to the four connectors 57, 58.

In other words, when projected in the axial direction of the motor 80, the multiple board-to-board terminals 43 are arranged in a region radially outward from the multiple connector terminals 45. Because the connectors 57, 58 are provided near the center of the top plate portion 561 of the connector housing 50, the multiple connector terminals 45 are necessarily arranged in the central region. Therefore, by arranging the multiple board-to-board terminals 43 in a region radially outward, the mounting space of the boards 31, 33 can be used effectively.

One end of the connector terminal 45 is electrically connected to the end board 33 by a press-fit method, and the other end is exposed at the opening of the connectors 57, 58. In this embodiment, the configuration in which the multiple connector terminals 45 are inserted through the bottom of the opening of the connectors 57, 58 is not limited. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 4, etc., the multiple connector terminals 45 are not inserted or outsert molded into the connector housing 50 before the control unit 101 is assembled, and are separated from the connector housing 50. Therefore, the multiple connector terminals 45 are first connected at one end to the end board 33, and then exposed at the opening of the connectors 57, 58 in the final assembly process. In FIG. 4, five connector terminals 45 are shown in the vehicle system connector 57 and two connector terminals 45 are shown in the signal system connector 58 according to the cross-sectional line in FIG. 3.

Figure 5 shows an example of the configuration of electrical connection between the inter-board terminal 43 and the general board 31 and end board 33 by the press-fit method. The same applies to the connection point between one end of the connector terminal 45 and the end board 33. In the following specification, when it is self-evident that "connection between the terminal and the board" means an electrical connection, the word "electrical" will be omitted as appropriate. The terminal holes 343 of the general board 31 and the end board 33 are provided with connection parts 38 such as via holes. The connection parts 38 are electrically connected to the connection parts of electronic components and other terminals via conductive patterns, bus bars, etc. (not shown).

The press-fit connection is achieved by pressing the press-fit portion 48, which is elastically deformable and formed at the end of the inter-board terminal 43, into the terminal hole 345. The shape of the press-fit portion 48, which has a through hole formed at the end of the terminal, is disclosed in Figures 6 and 7 of Patent Document 1 (Patent Publication No. 6443055, corresponding US Publication: US10424991B2).

In a configuration in which the terminals 43 and the substrates 31, 33 are electrically connected by press-fit connection, no soldering is required, so high-temperature heating is not necessary, reducing energy consumption and _CO2 emissions. In addition, the prohibited areas on the substrates 31, 33 where elements cannot be mounted due to soldering become smaller, increasing the effective mounting area.

The resin inter-board terminal binder 63 holds the middle portions of the multiple inter-board terminals 43 so as to bundle the multiple adjacent inter-board terminals 43. By bundling the multiple inter-board terminals 43 with the inter-board terminal binder 63, the relative positional accuracy of the multiple inter-board terminals 43 is ensured.

Here, multiple inter-board terminals 43 adjacent to each other within a specific range are defined as "a group of inter-board terminals." For example, in Figures 6(b) and 7(b), multiple inter-board terminals 43 arranged along the left periphery of the end board 33 and general board 31 form "one group of inter-board terminals." Additionally, multiple inter-board terminals 43 arranged along the right periphery of the end board 33 and general board 31 form "another group of inter-board terminals."

The inter-board terminal binder 63R of one embodiment shown in FIG. 7(a) is formed as an annular integral part, and bundles two groups of inter-board terminals 43. The inter-board terminal binders 63A and 63B of another embodiment shown in FIG. 8 are formed by dividing them into two parts in the circumferential direction, and each bundles a group of inter-board terminals 43. In FIG. 9, the reference numerals of the inter-board terminal binders 63R, 63A, and 63B of each embodiment are collectively written as "63". As shown in FIG. 9, the inter-board terminal binder 63 has, for example, a pin header type configuration.

As shown in Figures 4, 5, 9, etc., the inter-board terminal binder 63 has integrally formed pressure-receiving ribs 637 that protrude from the surfaces of the body portion 635 on the general board 31 side and the end board 33 side toward both boards 31, 33. The pressure-receiving ribs 637 abut against the surfaces of the opposing boards 31, 33 and function as "pressure-receiving supports" that receive the load applied during assembly.

As shown in FIG. 5, the height Hs between both ends of the pressure-receiving rib 637 is set to be equal to the distance from the upper surface 312 of the general substrate 31 to the lower surface 332 of the end substrate 33. As shown on the left side of FIG. 5, a pair of pressure-receiving ribs 637 abutting both substrates 31, 33 may be provided at the same position when viewed in axial projection. Alternatively, as shown on the right side of FIG. 5, the pressure-receiving ribs 637 abutting both substrates 31, 33 may be provided at different positions when viewed in axial projection. In the example shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, pressure-receiving ribs 637 are provided at a total of four locations on both circumferential sides of each group of inter-substrate terminals 43.

As shown in FIG. 6(a), the resin connector terminal binder 65 holds the middle portion of the connector terminals 45 so as to bundle a group of connector terminals 45 corresponding to each connector 57, 58. A thickness hole 649 may be provided in the excess thickness portion. The connector terminal binder 65 bundles the connector terminals 45, thereby ensuring the relative positional accuracy of the connector terminals 45. The connector terminal binder 65 illustrated in FIG. 6(a) is composed of two connector terminal binders 65h1, 65h2. Each connector terminal binder 65h1, 65h2 commonly bundles the connector terminals 45 corresponding to the adjacent vehicle system connector 57 and signal system connector 58 for each system. In addition, four connector terminal binders may be provided so as to bundle the connector terminals 45 for each vehicle system connector 57 and signal system connector 58 of each system. Alternatively, one connector terminal binder 65 may commonly bundle all the connector terminals 45 of the two systems.

Returning to FIG. 4, the resin connector housing 50 has a bottomed cylindrical shape with an outer tube portion 562 extending from the outer edge of a top plate portion 561 facing the end board 33 toward the motor 80. A protrusion 563 formed at the tip of the outer tube portion 562 is inserted into an annular seal groove 843 filled with adhesive. When the connector housing 50 is assembled, a load receiving portion 564 provided at the end of the outer tube portion 562 abuts against the frame outer edge portion 844 of the motor frame 840.

As described above with reference to FIG. 3, the top plate portion 561 is provided with connectors 57, 58 whose openings face the opposite side to the end board 33. At the bottom of the openings of the connectors 57, 58, for example, terminal insertion holes 54 are formed into which the connector terminals 45 can be inserted with a gap fit. Even if there are gaps on the outer periphery of the connector terminals 45, there is no risk of water or foreign objects entering when the harness is inserted into the connectors 57, 58.

As described above, in the first embodiment, the pressure-receiving rib 637 formed integrally with the inter-board terminal binder 63 functions as a "pressure-receiving support provided between the boards 31, 33." In a state in which the pressure-receiving rib 637 receives a press-fit load, both ends of the multiple inter-board terminals 43 bound by the inter-board terminal binder 63 are press-fit connected to the boards 31, 33 by a press-fit method. Therefore, in the drive device 800 having a two-board configuration, a press-fit connection with small dimensional variation and stable quality can be efficiently realized.

In addition, the pressure-receiving rib 637, which functions as a pressure-receiving support, is integrally formed with the board-to-board terminal binder 63, which reduces the number of parts and assembly steps.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment, adjacent connector terminals 45 are bound together by a connector terminal binder 65, improving relative positional accuracy, making it easier to assemble the connector housing 50 using a blind connection.

In addition, a load receiving portion 564 is provided at the end of the outer tube portion 562 of the connector housing 50. This prevents stress from concentrating on the connection between the connector terminal 45 and the end substrate 33 when the connector housing 50 is assembled.

Second Embodiment
Next, the control unit 102 of the second embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 10. In the second embodiment, the same configuration as the pressure-receiving rib 637 of the inter-board terminal binder 63 is also applied to the connector terminal binder 65. The connector terminal binder 65 is integrally formed with a restricting rib 657 that protrudes from the surfaces of the body portion 655 on the end board 33 side and the top plate portion 561 side toward the end board 33 and the top plate portion 561. The restricting rib 657 abuts against the opposing surfaces of the end board 33 and the top plate portion 561 to restrict the assembly position of the connector housing 50. The height between both ends of the restricting rib 657 is set to be equal to the distance from the upper surface of the end board 33 to the lower surface of the top plate portion 561.

Here, in a configuration in which the connector terminals 45 are fitted into the terminal insertion holes 54 with a clearance fit, the load applied when assembling the connector housing 50 is relatively low. Therefore, the function of the restricting rib 657 is mainly to restrict the assembly position of the connector housing 50, rather than to bear the load applied during assembly. In the second embodiment, the restricting rib 657 is provided on the connector terminal binder 65, so that the connector housing 50 can be easily and accurately assembled in a blind connection.

Third Embodiment
A control unit 103 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 11. In the third embodiment, one or more pressure-receiving supports 77 are provided separately from the inter-board terminal binder 63. The pressure-receiving supports 77 come into contact with the surfaces of the opposing boards 31, 33 and receive the load applied during assembly. The height Hs of the pressure-receiving supports 77 is set to be equal to the distance from the upper surface 312 of the general board 31 to the lower surface 332 of the end board 33. For example, the pressure-receiving supports 77 are disposed around the inter-board terminal binder 63. The pressure-receiving supports 77 may be made of metal or resin, and the method of fixing the pressure-receiving supports 77 to the boards 31, 33 may be set as appropriate.

In the third embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, both ends of a plurality of inter-board terminals 43 bound by an inter-board terminal binder 63 are press-fit connected to the boards 31 and 33 by a press-fit method while receiving a press-fit load from a pressure-receiving support 77 provided between the boards 31 and 33. Therefore, in the drive device 800 having a two-board configuration, a press-fit connection with small dimensional variation and stable quality can be efficiently realized. In addition, because of the simple columnar shape, it is easily adaptable to changes in the inter-board dimensions of the control unit.

(Reference form)
A control unit 108 according to the reference embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 12 and 13. In the reference embodiment, a commercially available board-to-board (BtoB) connector 71 is used as a configuration for electrically connecting the general board 31 and the end board 33 without soldering, instead of the press-fit type board-to-board terminal 43. Figure 12 shows a state before connection in which the board-to-board connection parts attached to the boards 31 and 33 are separated.

The lower component 711 of the board-to-board connector 71 is surface-mounted on the upper surface 312 of the general board 31, and the upper component 713 is attached to the lower surface 332 of the end board 33. A number of pins 714 of the upper component 713 are inserted through holes in the end board 33 and electrically connected to a pattern (not shown) on the upper surface 333.

As shown in FIG. 13, the board-to-board connector 71 is disposed in a radially outer region of the connector terminals 45 when projected in the axial direction of the motor 80, similar to the board-to-board terminals 43 in the first embodiment and the like. The type and number of board-to-board connection parts 71 are selected according to the number of available pins, ratings, etc.

Even in the configuration using the board-to-board connector 71 as in the reference embodiment, the terminals and the board are electrically connected without soldering, so high temperature heating is not required, reducing energy consumption and _CO2 emissions. In addition, the prohibited areas on the boards 31 and 33 where elements cannot be mounted due to soldering are reduced, increasing the effective mounting area.

Other Embodiments
(a) The number of general boards is not limited to one, and two or more may be provided in layers. When there are two or more general boards, a plurality of inter-board terminals 43 are electrically connected between the general boards by a press-fit method. An inter-board terminal binder 63 is provided between the general boards to bundle the plurality of inter-board terminals 43 connected therebetween. Furthermore, a pressure-receiving rib 637 formed integrally with the inter-board terminal binder 63, or a separate pressure-receiving support 77 is provided between the general boards.

In a configuration with two or more general boards, they are assembled one by one in order, starting from the bottom general board closest to the motor frame 840 to the top general board located directly below the end board 33. In the assembly process for each stage, both ends of the multiple inter-board terminals 43 bound by the inter-board terminal binder 63 are press-fit connected to the boards in a press-fit manner while receiving a press-fit load from the pressure-receiving rib 637 or pressure-receiving support 77. This makes it possible to efficiently achieve press-fit connections with little dimensional variation and stable quality.

(b) There may be one or more connectors provided on the top plate portion 561 of the connector housing 50. The number of connectors and the use of each connector terminal are not limited to the examples in the above embodiment, and may be set appropriately according to needs.

(c) The connection shape of the press-fit method is not limited to the one illustrated in the figures of the above embodiment. For example, as disclosed in Figures 10 to 12 of Patent Document 1, a pair of opposing claws may be in elastic contact with the side surface of the terminal.

(d) In addition to the example shown in FIG. 4, the connector terminals 45 may be inserted through the bottom of the opening of the connectors 57, 58 by inserting or outsert-molding the connector terminals 45 into the connector housing 50 before the control unit 101 is assembled. In this case, the connector terminals 45 are already bundled together, so there is no need to provide a connector terminal binder 65.

(e) The drive device 800 of the present invention may be used not only as a steering assist motor for an electric power steering device, but also as a reaction motor or steering motor for a steer-by-wire system, or as a drive device for any other motor.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

10 (101-103) ... control unit,
31 ... general substrate, 33 ... end substrate,
43 ... inter-board terminal, 45 ... connector terminal,
50: Connector housing,
561: top plate portion, 562: outer cylinder portion,
57, 58...Connector,
637: Pressure-receiving rib (pressure-receiving support), 77: Pressure-receiving support,
80: motor; 860: stator; 865: rotor.

Claims (5)

A drive device comprising a motor (80) including a stator (860) and a rotor (865), and a control unit (10) provided on one side of the motor in the axial direction for controlling the motor, the drive device being integrally configured,
a metal motor frame (840) provided at an axial end of the motor on the control unit side;
two or more boards on which electronic components constituting the control unit are mounted, the two or more boards including an end board (33) provided on the side opposite to the motor frame and furthest from the motor frame, and one or more general boards (31) other than the end board, the two or more boards being provided in layers on the side opposite to the motor frame and on which electronic components constituting the control unit are mounted;
a resin connector housing (50) having a bottomed tubular shape including a top plate portion (561) facing the end board and an outer tubular portion (562) extending from an outer edge of the top plate portion toward the motor and having an end fixed to the motor or the motor frame, the top plate portion having one or more connectors (57, 58) with an opening facing the opposite side to the end board;
A plurality of connector terminals (45) each having one end electrically connected to the end board by a press-fit method and the other end exposed to an opening of the connector;
a plurality of inter-board terminals (43) electrically connected by a press-fit method between the general board and the end board, and between the general boards when the number of the general boards is two or more;
one or more resin inter-board terminal binders (63) for holding intermediate portions of the inter-board terminals so as to bundle the adjacent inter-board terminals;
One or more pressure-receiving supports (637, 77) are provided between the general board and the end board, and between the general boards when the number of the general boards is two or more, and are in contact with the surfaces of the boards facing each other to receive a load applied during assembly;
A drive unit comprising: The drive device according to claim 1, wherein the board-to-board terminal binder is integrally formed with a pressure-receiving rib (637) that functions as the pressure-receiving support. The drive device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising one or more resin connector terminal binders (65) that hold intermediate portions of the connector terminals so as to bundle the adjacent connector terminals. The drive device according to claim 3, wherein the connector terminal binder is integrally formed with a restricting rib (657) that abuts against the opposing surfaces of the end board and the top plate portion and restricts the assembly position of the connector housing. The drive unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the connector housing has a load receiving portion (564) at the end of the outer tube portion that abuts against the motor frame.

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