Electricity: electrothermally or thermally actuated switches – Electrothermally actuated switches – Fusible element actuated
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-20
2003-04-01
Vortman, Anatoly (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrothermally or thermally actuated switches
Electrothermally actuated switches
Fusible element actuated
C337S282000, C337S234000, C337S252000, C337S295000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06542064
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fuse.
2. Description of the Related Art
A motor vehicle which is a moving body includes a large number of power transmission lines for transmitting power itself and various signals, such as bas bars in electric connection boxes (junction block, relay box, fuse block, etc.), terminals for connectors for electric connection.
The main tendency of the voltage of the power transmitted along the power transmission line is 14 V for a general passenger car, and 28 V (14×2) for a large scale vehicle such as a bus or truck (both in terms of an effective voltage). However, particularly for the passenger car, it has been proposed to adopt a power system for supplying an electric power with a higher voltage value than before in view of demands of improvement in driving efficiency of loads and driving with at an optimum efficiency for each load.
The above power transmission line includes fuse blocks from which a large number of fuses can be removed in order to protect electric circuits for various electric appliances (since the fuse block may have a relay or bus bar, it is referred to as a relay box or junction block, or generally referred to as “electric connection box”. In this specification, the above fuse block, relay box, junction block are generally referred to as “electric connection block.
The fuse which has been conventionally used for the electric connection block is such a fuse
51
as shown in FIG.
7
. The fuse
51
includes a pair of terminals
52
arranged in parallel, a housing
54
which houses one ends
53
of these terminals
52
and a fusible body
55
which is formed integrally to the pair of terminals
52
and connect them to each other.
When the fuse
51
is mounted in the electric connection box, the terminals
52
are electrically connected to receiving terminals of the box, respectively. One of the receiving terminals is supplied with an electric power whereas the other thereof is electrically connected to various loads. Thus, the one of the terminal
52
is supplied with the electric power through the receiving terminal whereas the other thereof is connected to the loads. The terminals
52
are housed within the housing
54
in a state where their inner faces
61
are opposite to each other.
The housing
54
is made of insulating synthetic resin. The housing
54
is formed in a box shape. The interior of the housing
54
constitutes a housing chamber within which the one ends of the above pair of terminals
52
are housed.
The fusible body
55
connects the one ends
53
of the terminals
52
to each other. The fusible body
55
is coupled at its both ends with the inner faces
61
which are located at the one ends
53
of the terminals
52
. The fusible body
55
includes a fusing portion
62
which fuses when the current value of the electric power supplied from the one of the terminals
52
exceeds a prescribed current value. The fusible portion
62
is formed to have a small sectional area of the fusible body
55
.
Where the fuse
51
thus configured is mounted on the electric connecting box, when the current value of the electric power supplied from the one of the terminals
52
through the one receiving terminal exceeds the prescribed current value, the fusing portion
62
of the fusible portion
55
fuses to stop supply of the electric power to the load.
In the fuse
51
shown in
FIG. 7
, since the fusible
55
is coupled with the opposite inner faces of the terminals
52
, there is a relatively small space
60
(
FIG. 7
) in which the fused potion
62
of the fusible body
55
formed between the inner faces
61
within the housing chamber can scatter. Further, it is generally known that the fusing portion
62
of the fusible body
55
scatters higher momentum as the current value in fusing increases.
In the above conventional fuse
51
, when the fusing potion
62
of the fusible body
55
fuses with a higher current value than before, it scatters with higher momentum. The fused fusible body
55
might short-circuits the terminals to each other within the space
60
.
This means difficulty of assuring the insulation between the terminals
52
. In this case, supply of the electric power to the load which should be stopped may continue, and therefore the electric power with an excessive current value may be supplied to the load.
An object of this invention is to provide a fuse which can surely stop supply of an electric power to a load when the electric power with the current which exceeds a current value of fusing a fusible body is supplied.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided a fuse including a pair of terminals arranged in parallel, a housing having a housing chamber for housing respective one ends thereof and a fusible body for coupling said pair of terminals with each other, wherein said housing comprises:
a pair of first inner walls which constitute said housing chamber and are opposite to each other in a direction orthogonal to the direction of arranging said pair of terminals in parallel; and
a first partition wall which is located between said pair of terminals in the direction of arranging the terminals in parallel and extends from the one of said first inner walls toward the other thereof.
In this configuration, since the pair of first inner walls are opposite to each other in a direction orthogonal to the direction of arranging said pair of terminals in parallel, the first partition wall which extends from the one of said first inner walls toward the other thereof extends along the terminals. In addition, the first partition wall is located between the pair of terminals. In short, the first partition wall extends along the terminals between them. Because of such a configuration, when the fusible body is fused and deposited on the surfaces of the terminals, the first partition wall prevents the fusible body thus deposited from being connected mechanically and electrically.
In the fuse described above, the housing preferably a pair of second partition walls which extend from said other of said first inner walls toward said one thereof and located between said first partition wall and said pair of second inner walls, respectively, in a direction of arranging the terminals in parallel.
In this configuration, the pair of second partition walls which extend from said other of said first inner walls toward said one thereof and located between said first partition wall and said pair of second inner walls, respectively. Because of this configuration, when the fusible body
5
is fused and deposited on the surfaces of the terminals
2
, these first and second partition walls prevent the fusible body thus deposited from being connected mechanically and electrically.
In the fuse described above, said first partition wall and said pair of second partition walls extend to a center position between said pair of first inner walls. Because of this configuration, when the fusible body
5
is fused and deposited on the surfaces of the terminals
2
, the partition walls more surely prevent the fusible body thus deposited from being connected mechanically and electrically.
Further, in the fuse described above, between a coupling position with the one of said pair of terminals and another coupling position with the other thereof, said fusible body is formed to bend along the one of the second partition walls, the first inner walls, first partition wall and the other of said second partition walls. This configuration makes it difficult for the fused fusible body
5
to be deposited on the surfaces of the terminals
2
. Therefore, after the fusible body
4
has fused, the fuse
1
surely prevents the pair of the terminals
2
from being communicated with each other. Thus, when the power with a current value which exceeds the fusing current value of the fusible body is supplied, supply of the power to the load can be surely stopped.
REFERENCES:
patent: 441933 (1890-12-01), Cartwright
patent: 480802 (1892-08-01), Blathy
patent: 4544907 (1985-10-01), Takano
patent: 4604
Endo Takayoshi
Kondo Hiroki
Nakamura Goro
Ohashi Norihiro
Sato Takahiro
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Vortman Anatoly
Yazaki -Corporation
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