Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-29
2001-06-05
Arbes, Carl J. (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
C029S855000, C429S121000, C429S160000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240637
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to connecting plates mounted in a battery holder for containing a number of columnar batteries for use in an electric vehicle or the like and to a method of producing the same.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 9-279257, which is incorporated herein by reference
As a member for connecting plural batteries in series or in parallel, conventionally, a connecting plate
100
shown in FIGS.
25
(A) and
25
(B) is proposed.
The connecting plate
100
comprises a molded resin board
103
and bus bars
102
which are integrally molded with a resin. The bus bars
102
respectively connect to two batteries
101
. In a molded resin board
103
of the connecting plate, a hexagonal window
103
a
and a rectangular window
103
b
through which electrode holes
102
a
at the ends of the batteries
101
are exposed are formed, The two batteries
101
are connected to each other by fastening the bus bars
102
respectively to nut-shaped positive and negative electrodes
101
a
and
101
b
by bolts
104
. Also a ring terminal
105
partially constituting a voltage detection circuit is connected to one of the windows or the hexagonal window
103
a
. A fuse case
107
is connected in series to the other end side of an electric wire
106
which is connected at one end to the ring terminal
105
. The other end of the electric wire is connected to an ECU which is not shown. A fuse
108
is housed in the fuse case
107
. The ends of the fuse are connected to electrical contact portions
109
a
of female terminals
109
connected to the electric wire
106
, respectively.
FIG. 26
shows another example of a connecting plate of the prior art.
In the connecting plate
100
′, plural L-shape bus bars
102
, respectively having connecting legs
102
b
′ of different lengths are moldingly fixed by a molded resin board
103
. One end of each of the connecting legs
102
b
′ protrudes from one side edge of the molded resin board
103
. Ends on one side of electric wires
106
are welded to the protruding ends, respectively. The other ends of the wires are connected via a fuse case
107
′ to an ECU which is not shown.
In the fuse case
108
′, two L-shape pressure contact terminals
111
are opposingly disposed on a case substrate
110
. The electric wires
106
are welded to basal plates
111
a
of the pressure contact terminals
111
, respectively. Lead wires
108
a
′ of fuses
108
are connected by pressure contact to slots
111
c
of pressure contact pieces
111
b
upstanding from the basal plates
111
a
, respectively.
The connecting plate
100
of
FIG. 25
has many connecting portions in one circuit. In the voltage detection circuit, for example, there are six connecting portions indicated by letters a, b, . . . , and f. The number of parts is large. Therefore, there is a fear that the reliability of electrical connection is impaired. Furthermore, a work of fastening bblts must be conducted while holding respective ring terminals
105
one by one by a hand. As the number of electric wires to be connected is larger, therefore, the works of laying and routing the electric wires become more cumbersome and difficult.
By contrast, in the connecting plate
100
′ of
FIG. 26
, the L-shape bus bars
102
′ of different dimensions are used. Therefore, the plate has difficulties in cost and production management. In the same manner as the connecting plate
100
, the number of parts is large and there are many connecting portions in one circuit (five portions a′, b′, . . . , e′). Moreover, the connecting plate has a problem in that the welding portions between the electric wires
106
and the connecting legs
102
b
′ must be protected.
Furthermore, the electric wires
106
for the connecting plates
100
and
100
′ are directly connected to the batteries
101
, and therefore an adequate protecting structure may be required. However, such protecting structure is complicated since bulky members such as the fuse cases
107
and
108
′ are attached to the electric wires
106
.
FIG. 27
shows a structure in which batteries for an electric vehicle or the like are directly connected to one another without using connecting plates. In each of rectangular batteries
101
′, the positive and negative electrodes
101
a
′ and
101
b
′ are juxtaposed in one end side. Adjacent batteries are connected to each other by a main power source wire
112
. An electric wire
106
(a voltage detection circuit) which has a fuse case
107
in the same manner as
FIG. 25
is connected to a required electrode
101
b′.
Also in this case, in the same manner as described above, the number of parts is large (the voltage detection circuit). Since the electric wires have many exposed portions, it is dangerous. Furthermore, the main power source wire
112
and the electric wire
106
of the voltage detection circuit intersect with each other, so that the wiring is complicated. This often causes the wiring to be erroneously conducted.
In the cases of the connecting plates
100
,
100
′, it may be reasoned to form the connecting electric wire
106
in the molded resin plate
103
by insert molding.
However, a group of electric wires
113
are rigidly secured within a molded resin plate
114
but set free outside by the conventional insert molding as shown in FIG.
28
and this allows stress to be concentrated in the root portion
113
a
of the electric wires
113
as the boundary portion. In an extreme case, slight external force acting on the root portion
113
a
may result in rupture that portion. In order to prevent this situation, the group of electric wires
113
may be bound with a band
115
for fixing purposes or fixed by providing fixing means in part of or on the periphery of the molded resin plate
114
. Even in this case, such work is done after the insert molding operation and it is impossible to eliminate the concentration of stress in the root portion
113
a.
Moreover, one of the factors causing such a rupture to the root portion
113
a
of the electric wire
113
is biting in an electric-wire mounting grooves
117
in the exit portion between the top and bottom forces.
In the conventional insert molding of electric wire, molten resin forced into a mold
114
from the nozzle
119
of a molding machine
118
is higher in heat-resistant temperature than the insulating cover of the ordinary electric wire
113
as shown in
FIG. 29
, which results in raising cost because a heat-resistant electric wire such as what is covered with polyimide resin has to be used.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention made in view of the foregoing problems to provide a connecting plate for a battery holder and a method of producing the connecting plate in which battery-to-battery connecting bus bars and voltage detection terminals forming voltage detection circuits are resin-molded integrally by insert molding to decrease the number of parts exposed outside so that an easy-to-fabricate, safety structure is provided.
It is an another object of the present invention to provide a connecting plate for a battery holder, which connecting plate has a smaller number of component parts and connections and offers excellent reliability of electrical connections and is unlikely to produce errors in battery-to-battery connection and wiring.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a connecting plate so structured as to prevent stress from being concentrated in a portion where resin-molded connecting electric wires by insert molding are drawn outside.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a low-cost connecting plate capable of using ordinary electric wires covered with polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene in place of special heat-resistant electric wires covered with polyimide resin.
Other and further objects of the invention will appear more fully from the following description.
In
Fukao Yasuyoshi
Ikeda Tomohiro
Arbes Carl J.
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
Yazaki -Corporation
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