JPH0937441A - Electric connection box and method for manufacturing the electric connection box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To connect wires with external terminals provided on the whole surface of an electric connection box. SOLUTION: A circuit forming member 10 wherein wires 4a-4c are laid in a three-dimensional way in an insulation material-made wired member 2 bent in three dimensions and they are connected with terminals 6 is provided along the inner surfaces of the outer walls of an electric connection box, and the input/output terminal portions of the terminals 6 placed in three dimensions protrude from terminal holes bored in the outer walls of the electric connection box. The outer walls of the electric connection box are formed out of divided case members 3a-3f to be fastened respectively in a locking way to the crooked wired member 2 in three dimensions.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrical junction box and a method for manufacturing the electrical junction box, and more particularly, to enable connector connection on the entire surface of the electrical junction box.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrical junction box used for branching and connecting an automobile wire harness or the like to various electric components has branch connection points concentrated in one place to branch and connect wiring reasonably and economically. With the increase in the density of wire harnesses, various types have been developed according to vehicle types or uses.

In the electrical junction box as described above, the busbars are usually stacked inside the upper case and the lower case through an insulating plate in a horizontal direction, and tabs formed by bending the busbars are projected in the vertical direction so that the electrical connection box The tab or the relay terminal connected to the tab is projected to the connector coupling portion formed on the upper surface of the upper case and / or the lower surface of the lower case of the connection box.

That is, in the conventional electric junction box, due to the strength and durability restrictions of the bus bar forming the internal circuit, the case is provided with the connector coupling portions only on the upper surface and / or the upper and lower surfaces, and the left and right side surfaces and the front and rear side surfaces. No connector coupling portion is provided on the four surfaces.

[0005]

As described above, since the connector connecting direction with respect to the electric junction box is limited to the upper and lower surfaces, there is a problem that the connector connecting workability is poor. Further, since the number of connectors to be connected and the direction thereof are limited, the degree of freedom in the layout of the plane of the electric junction box is reduced and the number of design steps is increased. Further, when it is necessary to increase the number of connectors to be connected, it is necessary to increase the area of the fitting surface with the connectors, which causes a problem that the outer shape of the electrical junction box becomes large. However, the outer shape of the electrical junction box is restricted by the space in which it is installed, so the external shape of the electrical junction box is determined by the total area of the mating surfaces with the mating connector rather than the area required for the internal circuit. There was a problem that the degree of freedom was limited.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and enables connector connection on the entire surface of an electrical junction box, thereby improving connector connection workability and layout flexibility and achieving compactness. An object of the present invention is to provide an electric junction box that can be manufactured and a method for manufacturing the electric junction box.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 is such that an electric wire is three-dimensionally laid on a covered member made of an insulating material which is three-dimensionally bent. There is provided an electric connection box characterized in that a circuit forming member whose terminals are connected to the electric wire is arranged along an inner surface of an outer wall of the electric connection box.

The connection between the electric wire and the terminal is crimping, pressure welding,
It is made in various modes such as soldering and welding.
The terminal shape is appropriately selected.

A connector coupling portion is provided on the outer wall of the electric junction box, and the output / input terminal portion is projected through the terminal hole in the connector coupling portion. (Claim 2) The outer wall of the electric junction box is composed of divided case members, and is locked and fixed to the three-dimensionally bent wiring members. (Claim 3) That is, the case member is provided with a locking claw, and the wiring member is provided with a locking hole through which a locking projection is locked, for locking. The case member does not necessarily have to be attached to the surface of the circuit forming member that does not have the connector coupling portion.

The wiring member is provided with a thin refraction line and a wiring groove extending over the refraction line. The refraction line extends through the wiring groove to the back surface. (Claim 4) The length of the penetrating groove formed so as to penetrate is set so as to be equal to the length of the rounded portion of the electric wire when the wiring member is bent.

It is preferable that a single-core wire is used as an electric wire to be laid on the member to be laid, and a pressure contact terminal is connected to the single-core wire. (Claim 5)

The wire-laid member has at least three continuous surfaces out of the six surfaces of the upper, lower, left and right surfaces and the front-back surface, and is formed in the inner hollow portion of the circuit forming member formed by bending the wire-laid member. It is preferable to arrange the required conductive parts. (Claim 6) The wiring member bends into a shape having a maximum of 6 faces as necessary, but for example, even if it bends into a shape having a top face and three left and right side faces continuous on both sides of the top face. Good. A fuse, a relay, a diode, or the like is used as the conductive component arranged in the inner hollow portion, and these conductive components are connected to the electric wire laid on the wiring member through the terminal.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the wire-wound member made of an insulating material that can be bent three-dimensionally is expanded to wire an electric wire to be an internal circuit and connect a terminal to the electric wire. A circuit forming member is provided, the wiring member is bent three-dimensionally, the circuit forming member has a three-dimensional outer shape, and the outer wall of the electrical junction box is fixed to the outer surface of the circuit forming member. A method of manufacturing a characteristic electric junction box is provided.

According to the electric junction box of claim 1 of the present invention,
Since the terminal is connected to the electric wire laid on the wiring member bent in three dimensions and the terminal is positioned in three dimensions, it is possible to provide a connection portion with the external terminal on the three-dimensional outer surface of the electrical junction box. it can. That is, at least the upper surface and the left and right side three continuous surfaces on both sides of the upper surface can be provided with the terminal holes on the upper and lower surfaces, the left and right surfaces, and the front and rear surfaces. The terminal holes can be connected in multiple directions. be able to.

According to the structure of claim 2, the connector coupling portion can be provided in multiple directions. Further, according to the structure of claim 3, the case member can be easily attached to the circuit forming member, and the circuit forming member is housed inside the outer wall of the electrical junction box made of the case member for protection. You can According to the structure of claim 4, it is possible to easily refract along the bending line in which the covered wire member is thin. Further, since the wiring groove is provided so as to straddle the refraction line, it is possible to easily wire the electric wire along the wiring groove in a state where the member to be wired is expanded. In addition, since the wiring groove is formed as a through groove in the bending line, no stress is applied to the electric wire straddling the bending line and the terminals in the vicinity of the bending line when the wiring line is bent from the expanded state. According to the structure of claim 5, it is possible to easily connect the electric wire to be laid on the wiring member and the terminal, and to secure the contact area to stabilize the electric connection.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the required conductive parts are arranged in the inner hollow portion of the circuit forming member formed by bending the wiring member so that the inner hollow portion can be effectively used and the electric junction box can be made compact. Can be realized.

According to the manufacturing method of the seventh aspect, it is possible to perform wiring by using the wiring head on the wiring member placed on the wiring table and having a flat shape in the expanded state. Moreover, since the terminals such as the pressure contact terminals are connected to the electric wires in the expanded state after the wiring, the terminal connecting work can be easily performed. And,
After that, since the light is refracted in three dimensions, the terminal can be protruded to the side surface which is a vertical surface which has been difficult in the past.

The outer wall of the electric junction box is preferably formed of a divided case member, and is provided on the case member in order to lock and fix the divided case member to the above-mentioned bent and three-dimensional circuit forming member. It is possible to project the terminal from the terminal hole. That is, when the case member is an integral type of the upper surface and the front and rear, and the left and right side surfaces as in the conventional upper case, it is difficult to externally fit the circuit forming member in which the terminals are projected from the upper surface and the side surface, By dividing the case member, it is possible to externally fit the circuit forming member having the terminals projected in the three-dimensional direction.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will now be described in detail based on the illustrated embodiments. As shown in FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B), an electric junction box 1 includes an outer wall of an electric junction box on the upper, lower, left, right, and front sides of a hollow square box-shaped (hexahedral) circuit-forming member 10. The divided case members 3a to 3f are attached and assembled. The circuit forming member 10 includes a wiring member 2 made of an insulating plate, electric wires 4a to 4c laid on the wiring member 2, and pressure contact terminals 6 pressed to the electric wires 4a to 4c.
Consists of

As shown in FIG. 2A, the above-mentioned wiring member 2
Is made of synthetic resin in a flat plate shape with the upper surface 2a, the left and right surfaces 2b and 2c, the front and rear side surfaces 2d and 2e, and the lower surface 2f, and the refraction lines of the respective surfaces 2a to 2f are shown in FIG. Thin hinge part 2g, and each side is thin hinge part 2g
Are integrally connected via.

Wiring grooves 2p to 2r for inserting the electric wires 4a to 4c (see FIG. 1), which form an internal circuit, are formed on the respective surfaces 2a to 2f of the wiring member 2 over the adjacent surfaces 2a to 2f. Formed in series. In the portion where the wiring grooves 2p to 2r pass through the thin hinge portion 2g, a through groove 2x is formed as shown in FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B). The length L of the through groove 2x is set to be equal to the length of the wire rounded portion when the wiring member 2 is bent. Single-core wires are used as the electric wires 4a to 4c.

Although not specifically shown, the free ends of the surfaces 2a to 2f of the wiring member 2 are assembled into a hexahedron by bending the surfaces 2a to 2f by a hinge portion 2g in a three-dimensional direction. At this time, a locking portion for locking each of the surfaces 2a to 2f to hold each other in a rectangular box shape is provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the insulating coatings of the electric wires 4a-4c are cut at appropriate places of the wiring grooves 2p-2r of the respective surfaces 2a-2f and pressed against the core wires of the electric wires 4a-4c. Terminal through holes 2h, ..., 2h into which the press contact terminals 6 are inserted are formed. Further, at the four corners of each of the surfaces 2a to 2f, as shown in FIG.
Although only shown in (A), locking holes 2i, ..., 2i for locking the case members 3a to 3f are formed respectively.

Each of the case members 3a to 3f is made of resin and, as shown in FIG. 1, has a flat plate shape to be superposed on each surface 2a to 2f of the wiring member 2, and these case members 3a are formed.
.. to 3f include locking claws 3 that are locked in the locking holes 2i, ..., 2i.
g, ..., 3 g are projected on the inner surface side. The case members 3a to 3f are provided with pressure contact terminals 6 which are pressure-contacted with the electric wires 4a to 4c.
Connector coupling part 3 provided with an insertion hole 3i for the input / output terminal part
H, ..., 3h are projected on the outer surface side.

In the process of assembling the above-mentioned members into the electric connection box 1, first, as shown in FIG. 2A, the wire-laid member 2 is arranged on the upper surface of the wire-laying base 8 in a developed state. At this time, the wiring member 2 is positioned by the positioning protrusions 8a, ..., 8a of the wiring stand 8. Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, the electric wires 4a to 4c drawn out from the wiring head 9 are inserted into the wiring grooves 2p to 2r while being sequentially pushed. At that time, the wiring member 2
If the wiring groove provided in is continuously formed, the electric wire can be continuously inserted into the wiring groove with a single stroke, and after insertion, a required portion can be cut to form each circuit. After inserting the electric wire into the wiring groove, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), the press-connecting terminals 6, ..., 6 are driven into appropriate positions of the inserted electric wires 4a to 4c to make press-connecting connection.

After that, as shown in FIG. 3B, the wiring member 2
The surfaces 2a to 2f are sequentially bent at right angles by the hinge portion 2g, and the surfaces 2a to 2f are locked to each other by a locking portion (not shown).
As shown in FIG. 1 (A), a rectangular box-shaped circuit forming member 10 is provided.

When each of the surfaces 2a to 2f is bent at a right angle, as shown in FIG.
As in (B), the electric wires 4a to 4c are also bent at a right angle at the same time. At this time, since the lengths of the bent rounded portions of the electric wires 4a to 4c and the length L of the through groove 2x of the bending portion are equal, the electric wires are not pulled by the bending portion. Therefore, no stress is applied to the pressure contact terminal near the refraction line.

Finally, the wiring member 2 of the circuit forming member 10
The case members 3a to 3f are superposed on the surfaces 2a to 2f of
The case members 3a to 3f are provided with the locking claws 3g, ...
Are locked in the respective locking holes 2i, ... Of the respective surfaces 2a to 2f. that time,
The output / input terminal portion 6a of the press contact terminal 6 is assembled while being inserted into each terminal hole 3i of the connector coupling portion 3h provided in the case members 3a to 3f. In this way, the case members 3a to 3f are attached to the circuit forming member 10 to complete the assembly of the electrical junction box 1.

As shown in FIG. 6, before bending the surfaces 2a to 2f of the wiring member 2, conductive parts 11 such as relays, fuses, and transistors are mounted on the inner surfaces of the surfaces 2a to 2f in advance. If so, the conductive component 11 can be rationally mounted by utilizing the internal hollow portion (dead space) of the circuit forming member 10, and the electric junction box 1 can be miniaturized and high-density mounted.

In the electrical junction box 1 having the above-mentioned structure, pressure contact terminals are attached to four surfaces other than the upper surface 2a and the lower surface 2f of the wiring member 2, that is, the left and right side surfaces 2b and 2c and the front and rear side surfaces 2d and 2e. Connector coupling part 3 provided on the case members 3b to 3e
Can be projected to h, ... In this way, it is possible to provide the connector coupling portion on the six surfaces of the electric junction box 1. Therefore, the restriction on the connector coupling direction is relaxed, and the connector coupling workability is improved. In addition, connector coupling part 3h
In addition to the connector, a fuse, a relay, or the like can be inserted and connected to the.

Further, since the connector connecting portion 3h can be provided on each of the surfaces 2a to 2f (that is, the entire surface) of the wiring member 2, the restrictions on the number and direction of connecting the connectors are relaxed, and the surface of the electrical junction box 1 is relaxed. The layout flexibility is improved and the design man-hour is reduced. Further, since the connectors can be connected to the connector connecting portions 3h on the respective surfaces 2a to 2f of the wiring member 2, the number of connectors to be connected can be increased without increasing the flat area, and thus the electrical junction box 1 as a whole can be made compact. Can be converted.

In the above embodiment, the covered wire member 2 has 6
Although it is a face piece, it is a top surface 2a that can be self-supporting at a minimum.
It is also possible to use a trihedron having only two side surfaces 2b and 2c.
In addition, in the above embodiment, each surface 2a of the wiring member 2
Although each of the case members 3a to 3f is attached to 2f, it is not necessary to attach the case member 3f to the lower surface 2f when there is no pressure contact terminal 6 or the like on the lower surface 2f.

Further, although the pressure contact terminal 6 is formed by integrally forming the male terminal, it may be formed into a female terminal shape. Also,
Crimping, welding, and
They may be connected by soldering or the like, and in that case, a twisted wire can be used as the electric wire.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, in the electric connection box of the present invention, the electric wires can be wired on three or more surfaces, preferably six surfaces of the wiring member to connect the terminals. It is possible to provide the connecting portion with the terminal on up to 6 surfaces. Therefore, the restriction on the connecting direction of the electric connection box with the external terminal is relaxed, and the connecting workability is improved. As described above, since the external terminal coupling portions can be provided on three or more surfaces of the electrical junction box, restrictions on the number of couplings and directions are relaxed, the degree of freedom in layout of the electrical junction box is improved, and the number of design steps is reduced. . Furthermore, since the number of connections with external terminals can be increased without increasing the horizontal area of the electrical junction box, the overall electrical junction box can be miniaturized.

On the other hand, in the method of manufacturing the electric junction box, since the wiring member can be unfolded and the electric wire can be inserted into the wiring groove, the electric wire can be easily laid using a wiring head or the like.
Moreover, after that, since the terminal is connected to the electric wire in the unfolded state, the terminal connecting work can be easily performed.
Furthermore, since the wiring member is bent three-dimensionally, the terminals can be arranged in the three-dimensional direction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is an exploded perspective view of an electric junction box of the present invention,
(B) is a perspective view of the electrical junction box in the assembled state.

2A and 2B show a wiring member in a developed state arranged on a wiring stand, FIG. 2A is a perspective view of the arrangement state, and FIG.

FIG. 3 (A) is a perspective view of the pressure contact terminal when driven in, (B)
[Fig. 4] is a perspective view of the wiring member being bent.

4A and 4B are cross-sectional views of a hinge portion on each surface of a wiring member.

5A and 5B are cross-sectional views showing the relationship between the through hole of the pressure contact terminal and the pressure contact terminal.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an inner surface of each surface of a wiring member on which a conductive component is mounted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Electrical connection box 2 Covered wire member 2a Upper surface 2b, 2c Left and right side surfaces 2d, 2e Front and rear side surfaces 2f Lower surface 2g Hinge part 2p ~ 2r Wiring groove 2x Through groove 3a ~ 3f Case member 3h Connector coupling part 4a ~ 4c Electric wire 6 Pressure contact terminal 6a I / O terminal section 11 Conductive parts

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An inner surface of an outer wall of an electrical connection box, wherein a wire is three-dimensionally laid on a covered member made of an insulating material which is bent three-dimensionally, and a terminal is connected to the electric wire. An electrical junction box, which is characterized by being placed along the. 2. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein a connector coupling portion is provided on an outer wall of the electrical junction box, and the input / output terminal portion is projected through the terminal hole in the connector coupling portion. 3. The electric machine according to claim 1, wherein the outer wall of the electric junction box is composed of divided case members, and is fixed to each of the three-dimensionally bent wiring members by a lock. Connection box. 4. The wiring member is provided with a refraction line as a thin wall, wiring grooves are provided over the refraction line, and the refraction line penetrates the wiring groove. The electrical junction box according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The electrical junction box according to claim 1, wherein a single-core wire is used as an electric wire to be laid on the wiring member, and a pressure contact terminal is connected to the single-core wire. 6. The wire covering member has at least three continuous surfaces out of the six surfaces of upper and lower surfaces, left and right surfaces, and front and rear surfaces,
The electrical junction box according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a required conductive component is arranged in an inner hollow portion of a circuit forming member formed by bending the wiring member. 7. A wiring member made of a three-dimensionally bendable insulating material is unfolded to lay an electric wire to be an internal circuit, and a terminal is connected to the electric wire to provide a circuit forming member. Electrically characterized in that the wiring member is three-dimensionally bent to make the circuit-forming member have a three-dimensional outer shape, and the case member constituting the outer wall of the electrical junction box is fixed to the outer surface of the circuit-forming member. Junction box manufacturing method.