Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-22
2002-06-25
Abrams, Neil (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
C439S949000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06409522
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit forming method and a circuit connection structure in an electrical connection box for use in a vehicle, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electrical connection box of the sort mentioned above, an electronic circuit board
104
provided with electronic parts
103
between a lower case portion
101
and an upper case portion
102
constituting the electrical connection box, and an insulating board
106
provided with bus-bars
105
are generally housed in a laminated form as shown in FIG.
5
.
The electrical connection of the electronic parts
103
to the bus-bars
105
is accomplished by fitting a connector housing
107
retaining female terminals
108
to an edge portion of an electronic circuit board
104
and stacking the electronic circuit board
104
in this state on top of the insulating board
106
thereby to fit bus-bar tabs (male terminals)
105
a
with the bus-bars
105
in an upright condition into the respective female terminals of the connector housing
107
. An insulating spacer
109
is provided between the electronic circuit board
104
and the insulating board
106
to avoid unnecessary electrical connection.
However, there have been the following problems concerning the connection structure of the bus-bar in the conventional electrical connection box.
(1) When a wiring pattern (not shown) is formed for a number of electronic parts provided on the electronic circuit board
104
, it is needed to form the wiring pattern up to the edge portion where the female terminals
108
are provided. Moreover, as a space for use in fitting up the female terminals
108
becomes necessary and this results in a large-sized electronic circuit board
104
, thus increasing the cost.
(2) The edge portion of the electronic circuit board
104
requires the female terminals
108
and the connector housing
107
so as to electrically connect the electronic parts
103
to the respective bus-bars
105
, so that the number of parts tends to increase.
(3) Moreover, because the bus-bar tab
105
a connected to the female terminal
108
is formed by processing the edge portion of the bus-bar
105
, any intermediate part of the bus-bar
105
cannot be connected to the female terminal
108
and when one bus-bar is connected to two or more connecting parts, for example, it is needed to use the same number of bus-bars as the number of connecting parts. Consequently, the utilization efficiency of the space for used in arranging the bus-bars has been poor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to solve the foregoing conventional technical problems and to provide a circuit forming method and a circuit connection structure that are capable of making smaller an electronic circuit board as well as reducing the number of parts.
There is provided a circuit forming method in an electrical connection box according to the invention with an electronic circuit board and an insulating board being stacked up and housed therein, comprising the steps of providing not only a through-hole in the electronic circuit board but also lead wires or electric wires of electronic parts in a manner straddling the through-hole, providing the bus-bars on the insulating board so that the upright pressure-contact knife-edges of the respective bus-bars may be arranged in a position corresponding to the through-hole of the insulating board, and stacking up the electronic circuit board and the insulating board by moving both the boards close to each other in such a condition that the pressure-contact knife-edges are passing through the through-hole, and pressure-welding the lead wires or electric wires to the respective pressure-contact knife-edges.
There is provided a circuit connection structure comprising: an electronic circuit board having a through-hole, the electronic circuit board being provided with lead wires or electric wires of electronic parts in a manner straddling the through-hole, and an insulating board provided with bus-bars having upright pressure-contact knife-edges electrically connected to the lead wires or electric wires, wherein the electronic circuit board and the insulating board are stacked up by relatively moving both the boards close to each other in such a condition that the pressure-contact knife-edges are passing through the through-hole; and the lead wires or electric wires are pressure-welded to the respective pressure-contact knife-edges.
As the lead wires are pressure-welded to the respective pressure-contact knife-edges passed through the through-hole provided in the electronic circuit board in this circuit forming method and the circuit connection structure, the space for use in fitting the female terminals to the edge portion of the board in the prior art can be dispensed with, which results in making it possible to reduce the size of the electronic circuit board. Moreover, the pressure-contact knife-edges are directly pressure-welded to the respective lead wires, so that female terminals and the connector housing necessitated in the prior art can be omitted, which results in reducing the number of parts.
In the circuit connection structure according to the invention, the pressure-contact knife-edges are formed separately from the respective bus-bars, and the pressure-contact knife-edges may be fitted to the respective bus-bars in such a condition that the former has been electrically connected to the latter.
With this arrangement, as any number of pressure-contact knife-edges can freely be provided to the end portion or mid position of the bus-bar, the utilization efficiency of the space for use in disposing the bus-bars becomes improvable thereby.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4200900 (1980-04-01), McGeorge
patent: 5040993 (1991-08-01), Krug et al.
patent: 5091826 (1992-02-01), Arnett
patent: 5624274 (1997-04-01), Lin
patent: 6238221 (2001-05-01), Ikeda et al.
Abrams Neil
Autonetworks Technologies Ltd.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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