JP7779124B2 - chassis - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a housing constructed by connecting walls.

Distribution boards and other devices equipped with certain electrical equipment are configured with a box-shaped housing. A known configuration for such housings is to line up and connect two or more wall bodies on the same plane or in perpendicular directions. A configuration for connecting walls in this manner is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

Patent Document 1 connects two wall bodies via a sheath member. One side of the wall body has a bent portion, and the leading edge of the bent portion is bent at an acute angle toward the wall body to form an engaging edge. The sheath member has a predetermined length and is formed with a cross section that is roughly arrow-shaped. The sheath member has two parallel edge portions that protrude from a sheath portion that has a roughly triangular insertion hole, maintaining a gap.

In Patent Document 1, when connecting two wall bodies, the two bent portions are placed in contact with each other so that the locking edges are back-to-back. In this state, the locking edges are inserted into the insertion holes of the sheath member, and the sheath member is attached across the two bent portions. In this way, the parallel edge portions hold the bent portions together, connecting the two wall bodies and maintaining the two bent portions in contact with each other.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-65068

In Patent Document 1, when the sheath member is attached, not only does the inner surface of the sheath come into contact with the locking edge, but the two parallel edge portions and the bent portion also come into surface contact and rub against each other. This increases frictional resistance when attaching (inserting) the sheath member, which increases the workload required to attach the sheath member and ultimately connect the two wall bodies.

Here, if the parallel edge portions are separated from the bent portion, the frictional resistance when attaching the sheath member can be reduced, but there is a problem in that the contact pressure between the two parallel edge portions sandwiched by the sheath member is reduced, resulting in insufficient strength to connect the two wall bodies. As such, there is a trade-off between minimizing the increase in workload and ensuring sufficient wall body connection strength, but the inventors have devised an invention that achieves both of these effects simultaneously.

The present invention was made in consideration of these circumstances, and aims to provide a housing that can effectively demonstrate the connecting strength of two wall bodies and minimize the burden of connecting them.

A housing according to one aspect of the present invention is a housing that is configured by a plurality of wall bodies, and at least two adjacent wall bodies are connected via a connector, and the wall bodies include a main surface portion that forms the outer peripheral surface of the housing, a joint surface portion that has a base end on the outer edge side of the surface direction of the main surface portion and a tip end on the inside or outside of the housing, and a protruding surface portion that protrudes from the tip side of the joint surface portion in a direction facing the main surface portion, and the connector is configured to connect a first forming body along a surface opposite to the main surface portion of the protruding surface portion and a protruding surface portion of the first forming body when the joint surface portions of the two walls are in contact with each other and the protruding surface portions of each wall are lined up. the first forming body is formed from a single, substantially flat, plate-like body; the second forming body is formed from a single, substantially flat, plate-like body; the protruding surface portion is formed from a plurality of second forming bodies, each of which is provided with a pair of second forming bodies and facing the main surface portion from both sides in the arrangement direction of the protruding surface portion; and the protruding surface portion is formed from a pair of third forming bodies that are respectively provided on the pair of second forming bodies and sandwich the first forming body and the protruding surface portion therebetween; a gap is formed between the tips of the pair of third forming bodies that is larger than twice the thickness of the joining surface portion; the distance between the inner surfaces of the first forming body and the third forming body is set to be approximately the same as the thickness of the protruding surface portion; the distance between the inner surfaces of the pair of second forming bodies is set to be approximately the same as the length in the arrangement direction of the protruding surface portion when the two are lined up; and the first forming body is formed from a single, substantially flat, plate-like body .

According to the present invention, the pair of third forming bodies can be positioned away from the joint surface portions that overlap in the thickness direction. This prevents the third forming body from rubbing against the joint surface portions and experiencing frictional resistance when attaching the connector. This allows the connector to be attached with less force, minimizing the workload involved in connecting the wall bodies. Furthermore, because the first and third forming bodies sandwich the protruding surface portions in the thickness direction, and the pair of second forming bodies sandwich the two protruding surface portions in the juxtaposition direction, it is possible to restrict relative displacement of the two wall bodies in two directions. This allows the two joint surface portions to be in stable contact, thereby effectively connecting the two wall bodies. Thus, in this invention, by configuring the connector to include the first through third forming bodies, it is possible to simultaneously achieve the trade-off between reducing the workload and providing sufficient connecting strength for the wall bodies.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a housing according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a connection structure of a wall body in the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 2. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams of two wall bodies according to the embodiment as viewed from the inside. FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a model of the connector of the embodiment for comparison, and FIG. 5B is a diagram showing a model of the sheath member of Patent Document 1 for comparison. 10 is a schematic plan view illustrating a connection structure of a wall body according to a modified example. FIG.

A housing according to one embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention. For the sake of clarity, some components may be omitted from the following figures. Furthermore, in the following description, unless otherwise specified, "up," "down," "left," "right," "front," and "rear" refer to the directions indicated by arrows in each figure. However, the orientation of each component is merely an example, and can be changed to any orientation.

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a housing according to an embodiment. The housing 10 shown in Figure 1 has a predetermined storage space inside, and stores predetermined electrical equipment such as a distribution board, control panel, or circuit breaker (not shown) within the storage space. The housing 10 is constructed by connecting multiple panel-shaped walls. More specifically, the housing 10 has an upper wall 11, a lower wall 12, and multiple side walls 20 provided between the upper wall 11 and the lower wall 12. In this embodiment, multiple side walls 20 (four in Figure 1) are provided side by side on both the front and rear sides of the upper wall 11 and the lower wall 12. Each of the walls 11, 12, and 20 is not particularly limited, but can be formed from a metal plate such as a steel plate.

Next, the connection structure of two adjacent side walls 20 in the left-right direction will be described. Here, as a representative example, the connection structure of the portion surrounded by the two-dot chain line in Figure 1 will be described with reference to Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view illustrating the connection structure of the walls in this embodiment. Figure 3 is a plan view of Figure 2.

The side wall 20 is formed by bending the vertically extending end into a roughly U-shape. The side wall 20 has a main surface portion 21, a joint surface portion 22, and a protruding surface portion 23.

The main surface portion 21 is arranged parallel to the vertical and horizontal directions and forms the outer peripheral surface of the housing 10 (see Figure 1). The main surface portion 21 has a rectangular shape that is roughly the same as the planar shape of the side wall body 20, and has two long sides that extend vertically on both the left and right sides.

The joint surface portion 22 is formed to protrude rearward (inward of the housing 10) from the outer edge that forms the long side of the main surface portion 21. Therefore, the joint surface portion 22 has a base end on the outer edge side of the main surface portion 21 and a tip end on the inside of the housing 10. The joint surface portion 22 is oriented in a direction that is approximately perpendicular to the main surface portion 21.

The protruding surface portion 23 protrudes from the tip side of the joining surface portion 22 in a direction facing the rear surface (inner surface) of the main surface portion 21. In other words, the protruding surface portion 23 is connected to the tip of the joining surface portion 22 and is arranged a predetermined distance behind the main surface portion 21. The protruding surface portion 23 has a base end at the tip side of the joining surface portion 22 and a tip on the left-right opposite side of the base end. The protruding surface portion 23 is oriented in a direction that is approximately perpendicular to the joining surface portion 22.

Two side walls 20 adjacent in the left-right direction are arranged so that their main surface portions 21 are flush with each other and their joint surfaces 22 are in contact with each other. In this state, the protruding surface portions 23 of the two side walls 20 are flush with each other so that they are in the same position in the front-to-back direction, and are aligned in the left-to-right direction. In this state, a connector 30 is attached across the two side walls 20.

The connector 30 comprises a single first forming body 31, a pair of second forming bodies 32, and a pair of third forming bodies 33. Each of the forming bodies 31-33 that make up the connector 30 is formed as a substantially flat plate-like or strip-like body, without any bent or curved shape. The connector 30 extends in the vertical direction (a predetermined linear direction) and is formed so that its cross-sectional shape is uniform in this extension direction. In this embodiment, the connector 30 has a rectangular shape whose width in the left-right direction is approximately twice its width in the front-to-back direction when viewed from above.

The connector 30 can be formed, for example, by cutting a long member formed by extrusion molding to a predetermined length, by injection molding, or by bending a single plate member. The connector 30 is made of metal such as aluminum, stainless steel, or spring steel, or an appropriate resin material, and is designed to be elastically deformable when an external force is intentionally applied.

When the connector 30 is attached to the side wall 20, the first forming body 31 is positioned along the rear surface, i.e., the surface opposite the main surface 21, of the two protruding surface portions 23 that are aligned to the left and right.

The pair of second forming bodies 32 are formed adjacent to both sides of the first forming body 31 in the left-right direction (the direction in which the protruding surface portions 23 are aligned). The pair of second forming bodies 32 are formed so as to extend from both left-right ends of the first forming body 31 toward the main surface portion 21, which is located forward. The second forming bodies 32 have base ends at both left-right ends of the first forming body 31 and have a tip end at the front (toward the main surface portion 21). The angle between the second forming body 32 and the first forming body 31 is set to be approximately a right angle.

The third forming bodies 33 are connected to the respective tips of the pair of second forming bodies 32 and are provided in pairs on the left and right. The pair of third forming bodies 33 extend toward each other in the left-right direction and are positioned in front of the first forming body 31. The third forming body 33 has a base end on the tip side of the second forming body 32 and a tip on the opposite side of the base end in the left-right direction. The angle between the third forming body 33 and the second forming body 32 is set to be approximately a right angle.

The front surface of the first forming body 31 and the rear surface of the third forming body 33 are opposing surfaces that face each other in the front-to-rear direction, and the distance D between these opposing surfaces is set to be approximately the same as the thickness t of the protruding surface portion 23 (see Figure 3). This allows the first forming body 31 and the pair of third forming bodies 33 to sandwich the protruding surface portion 23 from the front-to-rear direction, preventing the two side wall bodies 20 from moving relative to each other in the front-to-rear direction.

Furthermore, the length L1 in the left-right direction (the direction in which the two protruding surface portions 23 are arranged side by side) and the distance L2 between the inner surfaces of the pair of second forming bodies 32 are set to be approximately the same (see Figure 3). This allows the pair of second forming bodies 32 to sandwich the protruding surface portion 23 from the left and right, and prevents the two side wall bodies 20 from moving relative to each other in the left-right direction.

A gap 35 is formed between the tips of the pair of third forming bodies 33. Two joining surface portions 22 are arranged in the gap 35, and the tips of the third forming bodies 33 and the joining surface portions 22 are spaced apart and not in contact with each other. Therefore, the width of the gap 35 in the left-right direction is greater than twice the thickness of the joining surface portions 22.

Figures 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams of two wall bodies in this embodiment, viewed from the inside. As shown in Figures 4A and 4B, in the side wall body 20, the joint surface portion 22 and the protruding surface portion 23 extend along the entire outer edge of the long side of the main surface portion 21 in the vertical direction. In addition, the joint surface portions 22 of two side wall bodies 20 adjacent in the horizontal direction are in contact with each other and are connected via a connector 30.

In Figure 4A, a separate connector 30 is provided at each end of the joining surface portion 22 and the protruding surface portion 23 in the vertical direction (the extension direction of the joining surface portion 22 and the protruding surface portion 23). Also in the same figure, a separate connector 30 is provided at the middle portion of the joining surface portion 22 and the protruding surface portion 23 in the vertical direction, separate from the connectors 30 at both ends, for a total of three connectors 30 provided between two adjacent side wall bodies 20. In this way, two side wall bodies 20 can be connected via multiple connectors 30.

The use of three connectors 30 as shown in Figure 4A is one example and may be modified. For example, the connector 30 in the vertical middle section may be omitted, leaving only two connectors 30 at both vertical ends. Furthermore, in addition to the two connectors 30 at both vertical ends, multiple connectors 30 may be provided at predetermined intervals, resulting in a total of four or more connectors 30, or as shown in Figure 4B, connectors 30 may be provided across almost the entire vertical length of the joining surface portion 22 and the protruding surface portion 23. The vertical length, attachment position, and number of connectors 30 may be modified as desired depending on various conditions, such as the size, weight, thickness, etc. of the side wall body 20, as well as the intended use of the housing 10.

Next, the method for connecting two adjacent side wall bodies 20 using the connector 30 will be described below. First, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the protruding surface portions 23 of the two side wall bodies 20 are aligned in the front-to-rear direction, and the joining surface portions 22 are arranged so that they are in surface contact with each other. This results in the two protruding surface portions 23 being lined up side by side, and in this state, the two lined up protruding surface portions 23 are inserted into the space surrounded by the forming bodies 31 to 33 of the connector 30.

At this time, the tip of the protruding surface portion 23 rubs against the inner surface of the second forming body 32, and both the front and rear surfaces of the protruding surface portion 23 rub against the inner surfaces of the first forming body 31 and third forming body 33, creating frictional resistance when the connector 30 is inserted. Because the pair of third forming bodies 33 are spaced apart from the joining surface portion 22 during insertion, frictional resistance caused by the third forming bodies 33 rubbing against the joining surface portion 22 can be avoided. This allows the connector 30 to be attached with less intentional force applied when inserting the protruding surface portion 23 into the connector 30, minimizing the workload involved in connecting the side wall bodies 20.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the connector 30 can be attached across two adjacent side wall bodies 20 to connect them while suppressing an increase in the workload as described above. By attaching the connector 30, the first forming body 31 and the third forming body 33 sandwich the protruding surface portion 23 in the front-to-back direction (thickness direction), thereby restricting relative displacement of the two side wall bodies 20 in the front-to-back direction. Furthermore, the pair of second forming bodies 32 can sandwich the protruding surface portion 23 in the left-to-right direction, restricting relative displacement of the two side wall bodies 20 in the left-to-right direction. In this way, by restricting relative displacement in two-dimensional directions parallel to the horizontal direction, the two joining surfaces 22 can be maintained in stable and strong contact, thereby effectively demonstrating the connecting strength of the two side wall bodies 20.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, by configuring the connector 30 as described above, it is possible to simultaneously reduce the workload involved in attaching the connector 30, which is a trade-off, and ensure the connecting strength of the side wall body 20.

In addition, because the connector 30 has a predetermined length in the vertical direction, it is possible to ensure a wide vertical range in which the connector 30 can restrict the relative displacement of the two side wall bodies 20. This allows for stronger contact between the two joining surfaces 22, and better maintains the connection strength between the two side wall bodies 20.

In addition, because the protruding surface portions 23 are oriented at approximately right angles to the joining surface portion 22, the two protruding surface portions 23 can be aligned on the same plane, facilitating the process of inserting the protruding surface portions 23 into the connector 30.

In the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the sheath member is formed in a generally arrow-shaped cross section, resulting in five bending positions. In contrast, the connector 30 of this embodiment has four bending positions: between the first forming body 31 and the pair of second forming bodies 32, and between the pair of second forming bodies 32 and the pair of third forming bodies 33. This simplifies the shape and structure and facilitates processing.

In addition, because the angle between the second forming body 32 and the first forming body 31 is set to a substantially right angle, and the angle between the third forming body 33 and the second forming body 32 is also set to a substantially right angle, the entire connector 30 can be formed into a rectangular shape when viewed from above. This eliminates the portion of the connector 30 that protrudes forward from the third forming body 33, thereby reducing the front-to-back width and the front-to-back length of the joint surface portion 22. As a result, the amount of protrusion from the rear surface of the main surface portion 21 by the joint surface portion 22, protruding surface portion 23, and connector 30 can be reduced, allowing for an expansion of the storage space within the housing 10.

Furthermore, to compare the strength of the connector 30 of this embodiment with that of the sheath member of Patent Document 1, a study was conducted using the models shown in Figures 5A and 5B. Figure 5A is a diagram of a comparative model of the connector of this embodiment, and Figure 5B is a diagram of a comparative model of the sheath member of Patent Document 1. Here, the rigidity of the rectangular unit portion U1 formed by the connector 30 and the protruding surface portion 23 in this embodiment was studied, and the rigidity of the triangular unit portion U2 formed by the arrow shape in the sheath member of Patent Document 1 was also studied.

As shown in Figure 5A, when the left-right width B and the front-to-back width H of the unit part U1 of the embodiment are set, the unit part U1 is rectangular (the left-to-right width B is the longitudinal direction), so the moment of inertia about the left-to-right axis of the unit part U1 is ^BH3 /12. On the other hand, as shown in Figure 5B, when the left-to-right width B and the front-to-back width H of the unit part U2 of Patent Document 1 are set, the unit part U2 is triangular, so the moment of inertia about the left-to-right axis of the unit part U2 is ^BH3 /36.

Here, if the second moment of area is I, the bending rigidity can be calculated by multiplying the second moment of area I by the Young's modulus E of the material. If unit parts U1 and U2 have the same left-right width B and front-to-back width H and are made of the same material, the ratio of their second moments of area will show that unit part U1 has three times the bending rigidity of unit part U2. This makes it possible to increase the connection strength provided by the connector 30 in this embodiment. Furthermore, since unit part U1 in Figure 5A has a higher second moment of area about the left-to-right axis as a cross section with the left-to-right width B as the longitudinal direction, it is possible to improve durability against loads in the front-to-back direction, which is the main direction of vibration and shaking in the side wall body 20.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and can be modified in various ways. The size, shape, orientation, etc. shown in the accompanying drawings in the above-described embodiment are not limited to these and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the effects of the present invention. Other modifications can be made as appropriate within the scope of the purpose of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the angle between the protruding surface portion 23 and the joining surface portion 22 remains unchanged at approximately a right angle before and after the connector 30 is attached, but this is not limited to this, and an example configuration can be changed to the one shown in Figure 6. Figure 6 is a schematic plan view illustrating the connection structure of a wall body according to a modified example.

In the configuration shown in Figure 6, when the connector 30 is removed, the angle between the protruding surface portion 23 and the joining surface portion 22 is an obtuse angle. With this configuration, attaching the connector 30 to the protruding surface portion 23 causes elastic deformation in a direction that reduces the angle between the protruding surface portion 23 and the joining surface portion 22, and after attachment, the angle between the protruding surface portion 23 and the joining surface portion 22 becomes approximately a right angle, as shown in Figure 3. This increases the pressure at which the first and third forming bodies 31 and 33 of the connector 30 contact the protruding surface portion 23, and more firmly restricts relative displacement in the front-to-rear direction between the two side wall bodies 20 via the connector 30.

In addition, while the above embodiment describes a method of attaching two adjacent protruding surface portions 23 by inserting them into the connector 30, this is not limited to this. For example, an external force may be intentionally applied to the connector 30 to cause elastic deformation that widens the gap 35, and the protruding surface portion 23 may be received into the connector 30 from the vertical middle portion of the protruding surface portion 23 through the gap 35. Attaching the connector 30 in this manner allows the connector 30 to be attached without friction between the protruding surface portion 23 and the inner surface of the connector 30, as in the embodiment.

Furthermore, the shape of the main surface portion 21 need only form the outer peripheral surface of the housing 10, and in addition to being flat, it may also be curved along an arc or bent.

Furthermore, the walls connected by the connector 30 may be adjacent walls, such as the side wall 20 and the upper wall 11 or the lower wall 12. In this case, the angle between the main surface 21 and the joining surface 22 may be an acute angle, or the main surface 21 may have a bent shape.

In addition, while the above embodiment describes a configuration in which the connector 30 is provided inside the housing 10, it may also be provided outside the housing 10. In this configuration, the joint surface portion 22 has a tip facing outward (forward) from the housing 10, and the protruding surface portion 23 protrudes from the tip side of the joint surface portion 22 in a direction facing the front surface (outer surface) of the main surface portion 21.

10: Housing 11: Upper wall (wall)
12: Lower wall (wall)
20: Side wall (wall)
21: Principal surface portion 22: Joint surface portion 23: Projecting surface portion 30: Connector 31: First formed body 32: Second formed body 33: Third formed body

Claims (7)

A housing configured by a plurality of walls, at least two adjacent walls being connected via a connector,
the wall body includes a main surface portion that forms an outer peripheral surface of the housing, a joint surface portion that has a base end on the outer edge side of the main surface portion in a surface direction and a tip end on the inside or outside of the housing, and a protruding surface portion that protrudes from the tip side of the joint surface portion in a direction facing the main surface portion,
When the joint surfaces of the two wall bodies are in contact with each other and the protruding surface portions of the wall bodies are aligned, the connector comprises: a first forming body along a surface opposite to the main surface portion of the protruding surface portion; a pair of second forming bodies formed on both sides of the first forming body in the alignment direction of the protruding surface portions and facing the main surface portion; and a pair of third forming bodies respectively provided on the pair of second forming bodies and sandwiching the first forming body and the protruding surface portion therebetween;
a gap greater than twice the thickness of the joining surface portion is formed between the tips of the pair of third formation bodies;
a distance between the inner surfaces of the first and third formation bodies is set to be substantially equal to a thickness of the protruding surface portion;
a distance between the inner surfaces of the pair of second formation bodies is set to be substantially equal to a length in the arrangement direction of the two protruding surface portions when the two are arranged side by side;
The housing is characterized in that the first formation body is formed by a single, substantially flat, plate-like body . The housing described in claim 1, characterized in that the protruding surface portion is oriented in a direction that is approximately perpendicular to the joining surface portion. The housing of claim 1, characterized in that the protruding surface forms an obtuse angle with the mating surface when the connector is removed, and forms a substantially right angle with the mating surface when the connector is attached. A housing according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the angle between the first forming body and the second forming body is approximately a right angle, and the angle between the second forming body and the third forming body is approximately a right angle. A housing according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the connector is elastically deformable. the joining surface portion and the protruding surface portion extend along an outer edge of the main surface portion in a surface direction,
6. The housing according to claim 1, wherein the connectors are provided as separate members on both ends of the joining surface portion and the protruding surface portion in the extending direction. the joining surface portion and the protruding surface portion extend along an outer edge of the main surface portion in a surface direction,
6. The housing according to claim 1, wherein the connector is provided over substantially the entire extension direction of the joint surface portion and the protruding surface portion.