Electricity: conductors and insulators – Overhead – Towers – poles or posts
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-26
2001-10-09
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Overhead
Towers, poles or posts
C220S003700, C052S220300, C248S049000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06300561
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexure absorbing structure for an electric wire protector which can absorb positional misalignment occurring, for example, at insert molding in the electric wire protector which constitutes a part of a battery connecting plate for an electric car.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 7
shows a conventional electric wire protector for protecting a wire harness which is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-28722 of Unexamined Application.
This wire protector
53
is formed of synthetic resin in a shape of trough, and provided with a plurality of notches
56
in parallel along both side walls
54
and an upper wall
55
to impart flexibility to the wire protector in a bending direction.
At front and rear ends of the wire protector
53
, are provided fixing pieces
57
. The wire protector
53
is bent following a crooked contour of a vehicle body or the like in a state where a wire harness (a plurality of electric wires) is passed through the wire protector
53
, and then, fixed by means of the fixing pieces
57
with screws.
However, in the above described conventional structure, although the wire protector
53
can be deflected in the bending direction because of presence of the notches
56
, expansion and contraction of the wire protector in a longitudinal direction are extremely poor because the top wall
55
is integral in the longitudinal direction.
FIG. 8
shows a wire protector to be used in a battery connecting plate for an electric car which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-120986 of Unexamined Application. This wire protector
61
includes a plurality of electric wires
62
arranged in a desired shape and insert molded into the resin bodies
63
.
The electric wires
62
are contained in a central main line part
64
and a plurality of branch line parts
65
which are branched to right and left from the main line part
64
. The electric wires
62
in the main line part
64
are bundled into one and guided out to the exterior of the resin body
63
. A terminal
66
is press-fitted to ends of the electric wires
62
in each the branch line part
65
, and an electrical contact portion
67
of the terminal
66
in a shape of a square plate is exposed to the exterior of the resin body
63
. A fuse connecting portion of the terminal
66
is exposed to the interior of a frame-like part
68
of the resin body
63
.
A fuse (not shown) is connected to the fuse connecting portion in a later step of assembling, and the electrical contact portion
67
is connected to the electric wires
62
through the fuse. Into the electrical contact portion
67
is inserted one of electrodes
70
of a battery
69
(FIG.
10
), while the electric wires
62
are connected to a voltage detector (not shown) in the exterior.
FIG. 9
shows a battery connecting plate
72
which includes a second resin body (resin material)
71
incorporating the above described wire protector
61
(
FIG. 8
) by insert molding.
The electric wires
62
of the main line part
64
are guided out to the exterior from one end of the resin body
71
.
Bus-bars
90
formed of electro-conductive metal in a rectangular shape are overlapped on and connected to the electrical contact portions
67
of the voltage detecting terminals
66
(FIG.
8
), and in this state, the insert molding is conducted.
Each of the bus-bars
90
is provided with two holes
73
. The electrodes
70
of the batteries
69
(
FIG. 10
) of male screw type are respectively inserted into the holes
73
and screwed with nuts (not shown) to be connected. The two adjacent batteries
69
are connected in series by means of the bus-bar
90
. The electrical contact portion
67
of the aforesaid terminal
66
(
FIG. 8
) is screwed together with a nut into one of the holes
73
of the bus-bar
90
. Near one end of the battery connecting plate
72
, is provided a bus-bar
74
having a single hole, and an electric wire (not shown) for power supply is connected to the bus-bar
74
.
FIG. 10
shows a state wherein the above described battery connecting plate
72
is being connected to the electrode
70
at one end of the cylindrical battery
69
, while another battery connecting plate
75
is being connected to the electrode
76
at the other end of the battery
69
.
The battery
69
is contained in a holder
78
having a plurality of round holes
77
, and in this state, the battery connecting plates
72
,
75
are connected to both the electrodes
70
,
76
and screwed with nuts. The holder
78
is fixed to the vehicle body by means of brackets
79
and bolts
80
. The above described voltage detecting terminals
66
are arranged on the battery connecting plate
72
, and the electric wires
62
are guided out to the exterior from the terminals
66
.
However, since the above described conventional wire protector
61
(
FIG. 8
) is composed of hard resin bodies, when a resin body of the battery connecting plate in
FIG. 9
is formed by two-color molding around the wire protector
61
, the holes
73
of the bus-bars
90
and the terminals
66
of the wire protector
61
cannot be accurately aligned. Accordingly, there has been a fear that positioning accuracy of the terminals
66
may be deteriorated.
In view of the above, the applicant has proposed, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 12-123802 of unexamined application, a flexure absorbing structure for a wire protector as shown in FIG.
11
.
The structure is so constructed that inwardly bent parts
83
in a V-shape are formed in longitudinally offset positions on both side walls
82
of a protector body
81
in a rectangular trough shape, and an opening
85
is formed in a bottom wall
84
of the protector body
81
in an area including both the bent parts
83
enabling the protector body
81
to be longitudinally expanded and contracted.
When the protector body
81
is pulled in directions of arrows x, the bent parts
83
are deflected outward in directions of arrows y to expand the protector body
81
. On the other hand, when the protector body
81
is pressed, both the bent parts
83
are compressed to contract the protector body
81
.
After the electric wires are arranged in the protector body
81
, a cover (not shown) is closed. An obtained protector assembly is insert molded in a resin material as shown in
FIG. 9
, to complete a battery connecting plate.
However, because the bent parts
83
project into the protector body
81
through which the electric wires are to be passed, in the above described flexure absorbing structure for the wire protector, the electric wires interfere with the bent parts
83
when they are arranged in the protector body
81
. Therefore, it has been a problem that workability of arranging the electric wires may be worsened. Moreover, in case where the protector body
81
is compressed to position the voltage detecting terminals when conducting the two-color molding of the resin, in order to form the battery connecting plate as shown in FIG.
9
, there has been a risk that the electric wires may be clamped between the bent parts
83
and likely to be deformed or damaged.
Further, there has been a fear that the electric wires may be subjected to resin forming pressure during the two-color molding, and tend to protrude from the opening
85
in the bottom wall
84
of the protector body
81
.
In view of the above described problems, it is an object of the invention to provide a flexure absorbing structure for a wire protector which can, of course, reliably correct a longitudinal positional misalignment of the wire protector at two-color molding, and in which electric wires can be easily arranged in a protector body, the electric wires are hardly deformed or damaged when the protector body is compressed, and the electric wires will not protrude from the protector body to the exterior even though they are subjected to resin molding pressure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to attain the above described object, according to the present invention, there is provided a fle
Ikeda Tomohiro
Saito Satoshi
Armstrong Westerman Hattori McLeland & Naughton LLP
Patel Dhiru R
Reichard Dean A.
Yazaki -Corporation
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