JPH0125284B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an improvement in a wiring harness interconnection device that has a large number of branch conductive paths formed by arranging bus bars and is used to connect wires of a wiring harness to form a branch circuit configuration. It is related to.

Wiring harnesses used for internal wiring of automobiles require a large number of branch circuits in the middle, so branch conductive paths corresponding to the branch circuits of the wiring harness are consolidated on the wiring board by bus bar arrangement. 2. Description of the Related Art A wiring harness interconnection device (hereinafter simply referred to as an interconnection device) that connects wires of a wiring harness to centrally configure required branch circuits is known. In order to incorporate electronic circuits to perform the functions of each branch circuit, such as an intermittent wiper relay and a fuel cut relay, control elements necessary for each branch circuit, that is, functional parts such as relays, diodes, and capacitors, are installed. An interconnection device is used in which each branch circuit is aggregated and housed in a separate casing, and has relay units connected to the middle of the busbar conductive paths through tab-shaped terminals provided in the casing.

However, as automobiles have become more sophisticated in recent years, the number of electrical components attached to the vehicle body has increased significantly and has become more sophisticated.In order to meet the demands for improved performance such as safety, drivability, and comfort, wiring harnesses are becoming more and more sophisticated. The number of branch circuits is increasing, and there is a growing trend to incorporate an extremely wide variety of electronic components into each branch circuit.

Therefore, in the above-mentioned relay unit type interconnection device, as the number of relay units increases, each relay unit gradually becomes larger, so the connection device becomes larger and the space required for mounting it on the vehicle body increases, causing problems. Moreover, as the structure becomes more complex, problems such as a gradual decline in the productivity of wiring harnesses occur.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to provide a small and compact interconnection device that is compatible with the increasingly sophisticated automobiles.

Embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a wiring board 1 has thin insulating plates 1' stacked in multiple layers, and on each insulating plate 1' there is a branch conductor corresponding to a branch circuit of the wiring harness. A known busbar 3 forming a group of paths is provided. A case body 2 that covers the wiring board 1 from above, a printed wiring board 5 on which functional parts 22 groups are densely arranged, and a cover body 6 thereof.
In addition, the wiring board 1 is formed with a rectangular bottomed recess 4 for receiving the printed wiring board 5 with the cover body 6 attached. The printed wiring board 5 covered with the cover body 6 is attached to the recess 4, and the conductive path of the printed wiring board 5 and the end of the bus bar 3 are connected.

Specifically, the terminals of the bus bar 3 into which the required functional component circuits are to be incorporated are formed and arranged in a concentrated manner on the tab-shaped contact portion 7 erected on a straight line at a midpoint of the wiring board 1 . Further, when the case body 2 is covered with the wiring board 1, the side edge portion of the recess 4 of the case body 2 has a
A slit-like through hole 8 through which the tab-like contact portion 7 is inserted and protrudes upward is cut in correspondence with the position of the tab-like contact portion 7.
A relay terminal receiving seat 9 is formed which is divided by 0. The relay terminal 12 placed on the catch seat 9 is
With reference to FIG. 7 showing an orthogonal projection view of one embodiment (the rear view appears symmetrical to the front view), the substrate 1
The L-shaped female terminal has a central part 2' bent at 90 degrees with a small curvature, and a pair of receptacle-shaped contact parts 13A13B for receiving tab-shaped contact parts are formed on the outside of both end parts (the figure shows both sides of the board The lower edge of the curled portion curved upward by approximately 180 degrees is a first type (first type) in which the lower edge of the curled portion is curved at both ends in the longitudinal direction, and the lower contact portion 13B is formed as shown in Fig. 3.
is inserted into the tab-shaped contact portion 7 at the end of the bus bar 3 protruding from the through hole 8, and the upper contact portion 13A is placed and attached to the seat 9 partitioned by the barrier wall 10. Then, the printed wiring board 5 to be described later is indicated by the arrow C in the figure.
a tab-shaped contact portion 14' of the terminal 14 inserted from the direction and attached to the front side edge 5' of the printed wiring board 5;
The contact portion 13A of the relay terminal 12 is connected.

Note that 15 in FIG. 1 is a tab-shaped contact portion at the end of the bus bar 3 that is connected to the electric wire 18 of the wiring harness, and is formed intensively at the corner of the case body 2 when the case body 2 is covered. It is built into the connection port 16, and is connected by receiving the connector 17 at the end of the electric wire 18. Reference numeral 19 in the figure is a fuse portion of each branch conductive path arranged near the side edge of the wiring board 1, which is internally attached to the fuse receiving frame portion 20 of the case body 2, and has a bifurcated fuse 21 inserted from above. Insert.

On the other hand, on the printed wiring board 5, all necessary and sufficient functional parts 22 groups such as relays, diodes, capacitors, etc. in the branch circuit group of the wiring harness are densely arranged on the board.
As shown in the figure, conductive paths 23 for each of the functional components 22 are printed and wired on the lower surface, and the ends of the conductive paths 23 are arranged in parallel at appropriate intervals on one side edge 5' of the front side of the printed wiring board 5. The position of the printed wiring board 5 corresponds precisely to the tab-shaped contact portion 7 of the wiring board 1 when the printed wiring board 5 is attached to the wiring board 1. As shown in FIG. 3, a terminal 14 (shown in the eighth figure) having a tab-shaped contact portion 14' connected to the relay terminal 12 is attached to the upper surface of the printed wiring board 5 corresponding to the conductive path 23. is soldered and electrically connected to the conductive path 23 on the back side by a script 14'' formed on the plate-shaped base, and an engagement piece 36 with sufficient strength is erected in the middle of the upper surface to form a tab-shaped contact. The portion 14' projects from the side edge 5'.Furthermore, the printed wiring board 5 is provided with a cover body 6, and the cover body 6 is a protective cover that covers the printed wiring board 5 in the form of a bottom plate. , is attached to the printed wiring board 5 so as to enclose the functional parts 22 group in its hollow portion, and is detachably attached to the wiring board 1. That is, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 to 6, the printed wiring board A mounting hole 24 is formed near the rear of the left and right side edges 5'' of the cover body 6, and an engagement groove 26 is formed inside the middle lower edge of the left and right side walls of the cover body 6. The left and right side edges 5'' engage with the engagement groove 26 by being pushed in lightly, and the mounting hole 2
A stop pin 27 for fixing the base portion to the boss portion 28 of the cover body 6 is inserted into the cover body 4 and attached to the printed wiring board 5. The head of the stop pin 27 is provided with an elastic piece 29 that presses against the bottom surface of the printed wiring board 5.
This is prevented by the bias of 9.

Furthermore, a terminal 14 is provided in the front hollow part of the cover body 6.
A clamping part 34 is formed vertically directly above the clamping part 34, and a clamping hole part 35 is provided at the lower end of the clamping part 34, into which an engaging piece 36, which is vertically provided on the upper surface of the intermediate part of the terminal 14, is fitted and clamped. As shown in FIG. 4B, the width B ₁ of the engagement piece 36 in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 4) is the width of the clamping hole 3.
The width _B2 of 5 is slightly smaller than that of engagement piece 3.
It is formed so that the engagement piece 36 is reliably fitted into the clamping hole 35 by absorbing the variations in dimensions due to work such as the size and position of the mounting hole 24 and the amount of play between the mounting hole 24 and the stop pin 27. satisfies the correlation that is greater than or equal to the difference between B ₂ and B ₁ described above. The engaging piece 36 and the clamping hole 35 constitute a clamping mechanism that supports the resistance to attachment and detachment that occurs in the terminal 14 during attachment and detachment.
Further, inside the inner end of the cover body 6, there is a guide piece 3 that contacts the upper edge of the relay terminal 12 when the printed wiring board 5 to which the cover body 6 is attached is correctly attached on the wiring board 1.
7 is provided, and the guide piece 37 is connected to the curved edge 3 in front of the lower end.
The guide 8 is configured to correctly guide and correct the posture of the relay terminal 12 when the printed wiring board 5 is attached. Note that the locking piece 39 at the frontmost end of the cover body 6
is a locking piece that is engaged with the frame portion of the case body 2 to stabilize the attached posture after the printed wiring board 5 is attached.

On the other hand, inside the left and right side edges of the recess 4 of the wiring board 1,
A pair of upper and lower holding pieces 30A30 are located near the front.
A holding piece 31 is provided near the rear side of the cover body 6, and the holding piece 30 is provided on the outside of the left and right side edges of the cover body 6.
An engagement ridge 32 to be inserted into A30B is formed in the front-rear direction, and an opening 25 for receiving the holding piece 31 is further rearward thereof, and an engagement ridge 32 is formed in the upper part of the opening 25 to receive the holding piece 31. A slit 25' is cut at the rear and holds the holding piece 31. Then, the printed wiring board 5 with the cover body 6 attached thereto
is parallel to the wiring board 1 and inserted near the rear end of the recess 4 at the dotted line position in Figure 5, inserts the holding piece 31 into the opening 25, and then slides it forward as shown by the arrow. , the engagement ridge 32 is the holding piece 30
Between A30B, the holding piece 31 has a slit 25'
The outer side of the cover body 6 is engaged with the inner side of the recess 4, and the cover body 6 is configured to be attached without play in the left-right direction. In addition, 33 in Figure 5
is a guide portion provided inside the recess 4 to assist in holding and guiding the lower edge of the inserted printed wiring board 5.

Then, when the printed wiring board 5 with the cover body 6 attached is mounted on the wiring board 1 with the above configuration,
The functional component circuits formed on the printed wiring board 5 are incorporated and connected to the branch conductive paths constituted by the bus bar 3, respectively.

Incidentally, when performing maintenance and inspection of the functional component 22, the printed wiring board 5 can be freely detached from the wiring board 1 by following the reverse procedure.

Then, when attaching and detaching the clamping portion 34, the guide piece 3
7 mag works as follows. That is, the tab-shaped contact portion 14' of the terminal 14 is guided by the curved surface of the relay terminal 12, and the relay terminal 12 does not contact the seat 9 due to a defective shape or installation and is in a floating position. When the cover body 6 is slid forward from the rear, the cover body 6 is guided by the curved edge 38 of the guide piece 37, and its posture is corrected, and smooth insertion of the relay terminals 12 and the terminals 14 is facilitated. And relay terminal 12
When the insertion resistance increases at the initial stage of insertion between the group and the group of terminals 14, the printed wiring board 5 moves to the rear of the cover body 6 by the amount of play between the engagement piece 36 and the clamping hole 35, and then When the portion 35 and the engagement piece 36 are engaged, the insertion resistance is supported by the clamping portion 34, and the terminal 14
a leg piece 14″ that is fixed to the soft printed wiring board 5;
It also protects the soldered portion from being subjected to unnecessary external forces. Note that when the printed wiring board 5 is detached, the detachment resistance acts in the opposite direction and the detachment resistance is caused by the gripping portion 3.
Carried by 4.

The above-described interconnection device of the present invention densely arranges the functional parts required for the branch circuit group of the wiring harness on the printed wiring board, thereby saving wasted space.
Since the space is offset, the structure is extremely compact, compared to the conventional relay unit method described above, which has a lot of wasted space and a large casing volume.
This has the effect of making it more compact. Furthermore, it is possible to fully cope with the increase in the number of functional parts and the increase in the quality and complexity of branch circuits that will accompany the future advancement of automobiles, as well as to satisfy the narrow installation space requirements allowed by the vehicle body.

Furthermore, since the connection device of the present invention simplifies the overall configuration of the wiring harness, it is easy to introduce division of labor and mechanization in the production process, which has the effect of improving productivity.

Furthermore, since the printed wiring board 5 with the cover body 6 attached can be easily attached and detached by holding the cover body 6 with the fingertips, it can easily and easily resist the insertion resistance of the terminal group during insertion and the detachment resistance when detaching. In addition to accurate attachment/detachment operations, the printed wiring board 5 and the terminals 14 attached to its upper surface are prevented from being damaged or deformed due to the guide straightening action of the relay terminal 12 by the guide piece 37 and the supporting action of the attachment/detachment resistance by the clamping mechanism. In addition to being protected without any damage, smooth attachment and detachment can be repeated, which has the unique effect of stably continuing the electrical function of the device.

Note that in the above configuration of the present invention, the conductive path 23 of the printed wiring board 5 is not connected only to the intermediate portion of the bus bar 3, but one end of the functional component circuit may be connected to the bus bar 3 depending on the circumstances of the device. and the other end may be connected to a terminal of a connector. Also, the holding piece 30A30 of the printed wiring board 5
B. The catch 9 barrier 10 and the like may be formed on the wiring board 1, and furthermore, the printed wiring board 5 is assembled with the cover body 6 by directly engaging the left and right side edges 5'' of the printed wiring board 5 with the recess 4. It may be attached to 1.

As described above, the present invention provides a useful interconnection device that responds to the recent trend toward higher-grade automobiles and meets the demands thereof.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1: A perspective view showing the whole of one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2: A perspective view showing the back side of the printed wiring board of the embodiment of Figure 1, Figure 3: Printed wiring board of the embodiment of Figure 1. An enlarged perspective view showing the connecting part of the and bus bar,
Figure 4: A vertical sectional view A showing the attached state of the printed wiring board in the embodiment of Figure 1, and its AA cross-sectional partial view B, Figure 5: The attached state of the printed wiring board in the embodiment of Figure 1. Vertical sectional view shown in Figure 6: BB in Figure 5
Cross-sectional view, Figures 7 and 8: Shows orthogonal projection views (the rear view appears symmetrical to the front view) of the relay terminal (Figure 7) and terminal (Figure 8) of one embodiment of the present invention. A is a front view, B is a right side view, C is a left side view, D is a top view, E is a bottom view, F in Fig. 7 is a CC end view of Fig. 7A, and Fig. 7G is a FIG. 7A is a DD end view, and FIG. 7H is an EE cross-sectional view of FIG. 7B. Main symbols: 1: Wiring board, 2: Case body, 3: Bus bar, 4: Recess, 5: Printed wiring board, 6: Cover body, 7: Tab-shaped contact part, 8: Penetration hole, 9: Receiver ,
10: Barrier wall, 12: Relay terminal, 13A13B: Receptacle-shaped contact portion, 14: Terminal, 22: Functional component, 23: Conductive path, 24: Pin hole, 27: Stop pin, 30A30B31: Holding piece, 32: Engagement Ridge, 34: Clamping part, 35: Clamping hole part, 36: Engagement piece, 37: Guide piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Consists of a wiring board on which a group of branch conductive paths are formed by disposing bus bars, and a printed wiring board that is moved parallel to the wiring board and detachably attached to the wiring board, On one side of the printed wiring board, a group of terminals of a circuit of a group of functional components arranged on the board are arranged in parallel,
A cover body is attached to cover the functional parts group, and the cover body is provided with a clamping part for clamping the engaging piece of the terminal, and a contact part is formed at the end of the bus bar to connect the terminal with the clamping part. Along with being connected,
An interconnection device for a wiring harness, characterized in that the attachment/detachment resistor is carried by the holding portion, and the functional component circuit is incorporated and connected to the branch conductive path. 2. The wiring ring according to claim 1, wherein the terminal of the printed wiring board and the contact portion of the end of the bus bar are connected via the relay terminal, and the cover body is provided with a guide piece that contacts the upper edge of the relay terminal. Harness interconnection device.