Electricity: electrothermally or thermally actuated switches – Electrothermally actuated switches – Fusible element actuated
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-02
2004-06-22
Vortman, Anatoly (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrothermally or thermally actuated switches
Electrothermally actuated switches
Fusible element actuated
C337S159000, C337S194000, C337S197000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06753753
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuse. More particularly, the present invention relates to a blade-type fuse in which a fuse element, having a fusible portion provided between a pair of parallel flat-plate terminal portions, is mounted within an insulating housing.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-143952, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related fuse
50
, shown in
FIG. 7
, is a blade-type fuse in which a fuse element
56
is formed by providing a fusible portion
52
between a pair of parallel flat-plate metal terminals (hereinafter referred to as “flat-plate terminals”)
51
and
51
, and a proximal end portion of this fuse element
56
(at which the fusible portion
52
is provided) is received in an insulating housing
53
.
Each of the flat-plate terminals
51
includes a terminal body portion
54
, received in the insulating housing
53
, and a tab terminal portion
55
considerably projecting outwardly (downwardly in
FIG. 7
) from the insulating housing
53
.
The fusible portion
52
, having a predetermined cross-sectional area, extends between opposed inner side edges
54
a
and
54
a
of the flat-plate terminals
51
and
51
.
As shown in
FIG. 8
, the fuse
50
is mounted in a fuse mounting portion
60
such as a fuse box, and the tab terminal portions
55
are fixedly gripped by mating terminals
61
of the fuse mounting portion
60
, respectively, and therefore are electrically connected to these mating terminals
61
, respectively.
As shown in
FIG. 9
, the mating terminal
61
is, for example, a so-called tuning fork-type connection terminal comprising a terminal piece portion formed at one end of a bus bar, and a distal end portion of this terminal piece portion is bifurcated by a slot
61
b
of a U-shaped contour extending in a direction of extending of the terminal piece portion, and upper ends of this bifurcated distal end portion are bulged inwardly toward each other to form a pair of gripping portions
61
a
and
61
a
, respectively.
However, if the tab terminal portions
55
(the lower portions of the flat-plate-terminals
51
in
FIG. 9
) are merely supported by and fixed to the mating terminals
61
, respectively, when the fuse
50
is mounted in the fuse mounting portion
60
, the balance of supporting of the fuse in the fuse mounting portion
60
is not good.
Therefore, fuse guide walls
62
, which support the insulating housing
53
, and serve to guide the insertion of the fuse during the mounting operation and also to prevent the deflection and the like of the fuse
50
in its mounted condition, must be provided at the fuse mounting portion
60
as shown in FIG.
8
.
The fuse mounting portion
60
has an insulating wall
63
for preventing a leakage of current between the tab terminal portions
55
and
55
of the mounted fuse
50
. This insulating wall
63
need to have a sufficient height in the direction of the length of the tab terminal portions
55
and
55
considerably projecting outwardly from the insulating housing
53
. An upper end of the insulating wall
63
is abutted against a lower end edge of the insulating housing
53
, thereby positioning the fuse
50
relative to the fuse mounting portion
60
.
Therefore, the height of the fuse mounting portion
60
in the fuse-mounting direction is increased because of the provision of the fuse guide walls
62
and the insulating wall
63
, and this has invited a problem that the fuse box or the like is increased in size. In addition, the fuse guide walls
62
need to have a high molding precision so as to prevent the deflection of the fuse
50
.
And besides, for mounting the fuse
50
in the fuse mounting portion
60
, each tab terminal portion
55
must be gripped by the gripping portions
61
a
and
61
a
of the meting terminal
61
disposed in a deep bottom portion enclosed by the fuse guide wall
62
and the insulating wall
63
, and therefore the efficiency of the inserting operation was not good.
Furthermore, the tab terminal portions
55
of the flat-plate terminals
51
of the fuse element
56
considerably project outwardly from the insulating housing
53
, and therefore there have been encountered problems that upon contact of a plurality of fuses
50
with each other during transport or others, the tab terminal portions
55
of these fuses are damaged, and that the fusible portion
52
is liable to be deformed or broken by an external force applied to the tab terminal portions
55
upon contact with other member.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems, and more specifically to provide a good fuse in which a balance of supporting of the fuse in a fuse mounting portion is enhanced, and the fuse mounting portion can be formed into a small size, and the efficiency of an inserting operation can be enhanced, and besides the deformation and breakage of a fusible portion by an external force can be prevented.
To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuse which comprises a fuse element including a pair of parallel flat-plate terminal portions, and a fusible portion formed between inner side edges of the flat-plate terminal portions; and an insulating housing covering the fusible portion and upper end edges and the inner side edges of the flat-plate terminal portions, wherein a middle portion of each of the flat-plate terminal portions in a mounting direction of the fuse can be fixedly gripped between gripping portions of each mating terminal of a fuse mounting portion in a plate thickness direction of the flat-plate terminal portions, so that the flat-plate terminal portions are electrically connected respectively to the mating terminals.
To achieve the above object, according to the second aspect of the present invention, there may be provided a fuse which comprises a fuse element including a pair of parallel flat-plate terminal portions, and a fusible portion formed between inner side edges of the flat-plate terminal portions; and an insulating housing covering the fusible portion and upper end edges and the inner side edges of the flat-plate terminal portions, wherein middle portions of the flat-plate terminal portions, that are respectively located at lateral positions relative to the fusible portion, can be fixedly gripped between gripping portions of mating terminals of a fuse mounting portion in a plate thickness direction of the flat-plate terminal portions.
In the above construction, the fuse element, in which the inner side edges and upper end edges of the flat-plate terminal portions and the fusible portion are covered with the insulating housing, does not have any tab terminal portions considerably projecting outwardly from the insulating housing as in the related fuse.
Therefore, even when a plurality of fuses are brought into contact with each other during transport or others, the fuse elements, each having no tab terminal portion projecting from the insulating housing, are not liable to be brought into contact with each other, and besides are not liable to receive an external force which would be produced upon contact with other member. Therefore, the flat-plate terminal portions are prevented from damage, and also an external force is prevented from being applied to the fusible portion, thus preventing the fusible portion from being deformed or broken.
The middle portion of each flat-plate terminal portion of the fuse element in the mounting direction is fixedly gripped by the mating terminal in the direction of the plate thickness of the flat-plate terminal portion. Therefore, as compared with the related fuse in which the tab portions, projecting from the insulating housing, are adapted to be fixedly supported, the balance of supporting of the fuse in the fuse mounting portion is better, and the deflection of the fuse in its mounted condition is suppressed, and besides the overall height of the fuse can be r
Endo Takayoshi
Ohashi Norihiro
Shimochi Eiji
Vortman Anatoly
Yazaki -Corporation
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