Electrical transmission or interconnection systems – Vehicle mounted systems – Automobile
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-22
2004-02-17
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2836)
Electrical transmission or interconnection systems
Vehicle mounted systems
Automobile
C307S147000, C174S068200, C361S637000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06693370
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric junction box and terminals used in the electric junction box. The electric junction box is used for a vehicle for electrically connecting a plurality of vehicle-mounted loads to a power source such as a battery mounted therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as an electric junction box provided in a vehicle, one is generally known which is provided with a bus bar board in which each group of metallic bus bars and each of insulating plates are alternately laminated, and a vehicle-mounted power source (e.g., a battery) is connected to a multiplicity of vehicle-mounted loads (electrical apparatuses) through bus bar circuits formed by the bus bar board. Further, a mechanical relay block is incorporated in the bus bar board such that current between the vehicle-mounted power source and the loads can be subjected to on/off switching midway thereof, as required.
FIG. 13
illustrates an example of a structure for incorporating the mechanical relay into an electric junction box. In
FIG. 13
, a bus bar board
102
is accommodated within an insulated housing
101
, and end portions of bus bars making up the bus bar board
102
are bent upward to form a plurality of tab terminals
103
, relay terminals
105
being adapted to be fitted to the tab terminals
103
. Meanwhile, a connector housing portion
104
for relay is integrally formed on the insulated housing
101
to project outward from its outer surface. A plurality of terminal accommodating chambers
104
a
, into which the tab terminals
103
and the relay terminals
105
are inserted from the reverse side (lower side in the drawing), are formed in the housing portion
104
. Further, as terminals of a relay block
106
are inserted in the terminal accommodating chambers
104
a
, the terminals of the relay block
106
are connected to the tab terminals
103
through the relay terminals
105
, and the relay block
106
is fitted to the outer surface of the insulated housing
101
.
With the above-described conventional electric junction box, it is necessary to build the relay block
106
on the bus bar board
102
, but since the relay block
106
is of a mechanical type and of large-current specifications in which the relay block
106
is directly connected to the vehicle-mounted battery, its structure is inevitably large in size.
Meanwhile, on the bus bar board
102
side, a space for presenting the relay block
106
is required in its appropriate portion, so that the area of the bus bar board
102
increases by that margin, and the structure becomes complex. Moreover, since it is necessary to raise the plurality of (three in the illustrated example) tab terminals
103
at mutually proximate positions from the bus bar board
102
in order to connect the relay block
106
to the board, it is necessary to design the layout having leeway so that the bus bars do not interfere with each other. In some cases, there arises a need to increase the number of laminations of the bus bars.
For the above-described reasons, with the conventional electric junction box, its compact size and simplification of its structure are considered difficult, and drastic measures for them have been important tasks.
Furthermore, with the above-described conventional structure, in a case where a change of the working current, i.e., a change of the relay capacity, is made in accordance with the grade and the like of the vehicle, the size of the relay block
106
also changes in correspondence with the change. For this reason, the intervals between the plurality of tab terminals
103
and their positions of formation for connection of the relay block
106
must be changed. Namely, with the above-described conventional structure, since the relay block
106
is interposed in the circuitry formed by the bus bar board
102
, in the case where the relay block
106
having a different size is used in correspondence with a change of specifications and the like, a design change of the overall bus bar board
102
must be made in correspondence with the relay block
106
, so that there is a drawback in that versatility is low.
By the way, another example of the electric junction box is also disclosed in JP-A-9-182251, in which circuits whose current values differ from each other are integrated on the same board.
In its configuration, circuits whose current values differ are formed in a pair of housings, and bus bars for large currents, covered wires for medium currents, and printed circuits for small currents are selectively used in correspondence with the current values of the circuits.
In the above-described configuration, since necessary and sufficient wiring materials can be adopted in correspondence with the current values, it is possible to form a very compact electric junction box.
In recent years, however, a configuration has come to be required in which the covered wires and the printed circuits are satisfactorily connected as the structure of electrical wiring. However, if the wiring materials are merely selected in correspondence with the current values, it has been difficult to satisfactorily connect the covered wires and the printed circuits.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-described circumstances, an object of the invention is to provide an electric junction box which makes it possible to establish electrical connection between a power source and loads with a compact and simple structure and which excels in versatility.
Another object of the invention is to provide terminals which, in particular, make it possible to satisfactorily connect covered wires and printed circuits in adopting necessary and sufficient wiring materials in correspondence with current values, and an electric junction box using the same.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an electric junction box for a vehicle for connecting a plurality of vehicle-mounted loads to a power source mounted in a vehicle, comprising: a power distributing unit which has an input terminal connected to the power source and a plurality of output terminals and in which semiconductor switching devices are interposed between the output terminals and the input terminal; and a bus bar circuit unit which has metallic bus bars for forming circuits and insulating plates each laminated thereon and connects the output terminals of the power distributing unit to the plurality vehicle-mounted loads, wherein the power distributing unit and the bus bar circuit unit are incorporated in a common housing in a state in which some of the bus bars of the bus bar circuit unit and the output terminals of the power distributing unit are connected.
In accordance with the above-described construction, since the semiconductor switching devices of the power distributing unit connected to the bus bar circuit unit function as a relay block in the conventional electric junction box, not only can the relay block be omitted, but a terminal structure for attaching the relay block to the bus bar board can be omitted from the bus bar circuit unit, so that the construction of the bus bar circuit unit can be remarkably simplified. Moreover, the power distributing unit is arranged such that small semiconductor switching devices are interposed between the input terminal and the output terminals, so that the power distributing unit is provided with a compact and lightweight arrangement as compared with the mechanical relay block. Accordingly, the electric junction box in accordance with the invention is able to establish electrical contact between the power source and the loads with a compact and simple structure as compared with the conventional electric junction box.
In addition, with this electrical junction box, since the power distributing unit and the bus bar circuit unit are independent of each other, the following advantages are offered as compared with the conventional construction in which a relay block is present in the bus bar circuit unit.
(1) In a case where, for example, the semicon
Isshiki Isao
Onizuka Takahiro
Yamane Shigeki
Autonetworks Technologies Ltd.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Rios Roberto J.
Sircus Brian
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