Electricity: conductors and insulators – Boxes and housings
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-30
2004-10-19
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Boxes and housings
C174S059000, C220S003200, C337S290000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06806421
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuse unit attached directly to a vehicle mounted battery, and having a fusible portion in supplying an electric power from the battery to the electric wire.
2. Related Art
FIGS. 10 and 11
show one form of the conventional fuse unit.
A fuse unit
101
connects a vehicle mounted battery with the electric wire for power supply, and comprises a plate-like fuse element
110
made of conductive metal having a fusible portion (not shown), and an insulating resin body
120
having the fuse element
110
insert molded.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, this resin body
120
is sprit into the front and rear divided bodies
121
and
122
which are extended in one-dimensional direction. Further, in use, the divided bodies
121
and
122
are bent like an L-character shape at an intermediate section, as shown in FIG.
11
. Since the previous fuse unit bent like L-character shape at the time of molding takes a lot of time to perform the punching process, the conventional example facilitates the punching process and makes the resin body
120
bendable to solve this problem.
Both the divided bodies
121
and
122
are bent like L-character shape by a locking mechanism constituted by an engaging projection
125
and an engagement groove
126
and fixed. The engaging projection
125
is formed to project from a side face wall
127
rearward of a front divided body
121
(to the left in FIG.
10
), and the engagement groove
126
is provided on a side face wall
128
forward of a rear divided body
122
(to the right in FIG.
10
). When the engaging projection
125
engages the engagement groove
126
, both the divided bodies are maintained in the L-character bent form.
This fuse unit
101
is used in L-character bent form, because the fuse unit
101
can be restrained from increasing in size (total length) due to an increased set number of fusible portions (greater fuse circuit) to incorporate a more diverse or complex form of the circuit into a narrow space around a battery post.
The fuse element
110
is punched from one sheet of conductive metal plate, having integrally a flexible portion
111
in the intermediate section to be freely bendable in a direction of plate thickness from the flexible portion
111
. The flexible portion
111
is disposed in a portion of a resin metal mold (not shown) into which a resin material is not injected, so that the flexible portion
111
is exposed outside the resin body
120
.
The fusible portion serves to protect the electrical parts by melting when there is an overcurrent flowing, and is constituted by a metal chip of tin or lead alloy. The fusible portion is provided at each of both front and rear sides of the fuse element
110
, and located within a space area (not shown) of the resin body
120
to be visible.
With this constitution, the resin body
120
can be molded integrally in a state where the fuse element
110
is expanded in plane, whereby there is no need of molding the resin body in the bent shape as conventionally performed, the punching direction is only met with the 180 degree direction, the metal mold is simplified with lower cost, and the fuse unit
101
of complex shape can be easily molded.
However, when the divided bodies
121
and
122
that are sprit forward and rearward were bent around the flexible portion
111
of the fuse element
110
as the center of rotation, they might be bent excessively because there was no stopper for restricting the bending, bringing about the risk that the divided bodies
121
and
122
were unlocked. Additionally, there was a problem that due to a spring back of the rear divided body
122
tending to return, the divided bodies were unlocked and not maintained in the L-character bent form. This is because the flexible portion
111
is formed in smaller thickness to be easily bendable and have insufficient strength, and is likely to deform due to an external force, whereby the divided bodies can not be maintained in the L-character bent form only by the flexible portion
111
.
Further, if the divided bodies are not maintained in L-character bent form, it is permitted to fit smoothly a partner connector (not shown) into a connector housing
123
of the rear divided body
122
vertically stood along the side wall surface of the battery, causing a risk of interfering with the outside from the narrow space around the battery.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been achieved in the light of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the invention to provide a fuse unit that has improved reliability of locking mechanism for the fuse unit and is maintained in the L-character bent form.
In order to accomplish the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuse unit comprising an electrically conductive fuse element having a plurality of fusible portions and formed with a flexible portion in an intermediate section, and a resin body containing the fuse element, the resin body being divided into a first divided body and the second divided body at the boundary of the flexible portion, the first divided body and the second divided body being bendable, characterized in that a restricting wall confronting an inner face wall of the first divided body is stood on an inner face wall of the second divided body.
With this constitution, the restricting wall stood on the second divided body makes contact with the inner face wall of first divided body that is the partner, thereby acting as a stopper wall against an external force in a bending direction, when both the divided bodies are bent.
In the fuse unit, the restricting wall may be provided with an inclined wall surface inclined in a direction away from the inner face wall of the first divided body.
With this constitution, if the restricting wall is provided with the inclined wall surface, the divided bodies can be bent over 90 degrees in locking, and maintained in the L-character bent form without causing a spring back, after locking.
In the fuse unit, the first divided body may be provided with a flexible arm having a latch, and the restricting wall of the second divided body may be provided with a notched wall portion, wherein a first locking mechanism may be constituted by the flexible arm and the notched wall portion.
With this constitution, if the locking mechanism is constituted by the flexible arm having the latch and the notch, the flexible arm is inserted through an opening of the notch, when the divided bodies in one dimensional direction are bent to be disposed in an orthogonal direction, whereby the divided bodies are bent in L-character form and completely locked.
In the fuse unit, the first divided body may be provided with an engaging projection, and the second divided body may be provided with an engagement groove that is engaged by the engaging projection, wherein a second locking mechanism may be constituted by the engaging projection and the engagement groove.
With this constitution, if the second locking mechanism is constituted by the engaging projection and the engagement groove, the engaging projection and the engagement groove are engaged, when the divided bodies are bent, so that the fuse unit is locked without rattling and the divided bodies are maintained in the L-character bent form.
In the fuse unit, the flexible arm may be provided on the inner face wall of the first divided body, the engaging projection may be provided on a side face wall of the first divided body, and the engagement groove may be provided on an extension wall from the side face wall of the second divided body.
With this constitution, the flexible arm provided on the first divided body is inserted through an opening into the notch of the second divided body, when the divided bodies are bent, so that both the divided bodies are bent in the L-character form to effect the first lock. At the same time, the engaging projection provided on the side face wall of the one resin body engages the engagement groove on the extension wall fr
Estrada Angel R.
Reichard Dean A.
Yazaki -Corporation
LandOfFree
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