Electrical connectors – With vehicle structure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-07
2002-03-05
Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With vehicle structure
C439S364000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06352433
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an instrument panel mounting structure in which an instrument panel of an automobile is mounted on a partition wall that separates an engine compartment from a passenger compartment of a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional instrument panel mounting structure is shown in
FIG. 5
in which an instrument panel is mounted on a partition wall separating an engine compartment from a passenger compartment.
An equipment box
4
is provided on a partition wall
3
separating an engine compartment
1
from a passenger compartment
2
of an automobile, and an engine control unit
10
is accommodated therein for controlling an engine. A plurality of female connectors
12
a
to
12
c
are secured to the engine control unit
10
via a wiring harness.
An opening
4
a
is formed in a bottom of the equipment box
4
for allowing the connectors
12
a
to
12
c
to be pulled into the passenger compartment
2
. In addition, the equipment box
4
is designed to be given an interior space larger than the engine control unit
10
so as to accommodate therein the female connectors
12
a
to
12
c
and male connectors
22
a
to
22
c
on an instrument panel
20
side, which will be described later, together with the associated wiring harness
11
after those connector are connected to each other, respectively.
Provided on an instrument panel
20
are a connector mounting portion
21
to which the male connectors
22
a
to
22
c
are fixed and an instrument panel fixing portion
23
at which the instrument panel
20
is fixed to the vehicle body.
In general, a connector secures an electrical connection when a male terminal is press fitted in a female terminal. Due to this, the number of pins is limited to that which allows connectors to manually be connected to each other. Thus, as shown in
FIG. 5
, the leading end of the wiring harness
11
is divided into a plurality portions so that a plurality of connectors
12
a
to
12
c
,
22
a
to
22
c
are used to satisfy required connections.
Next, shown in
FIG. 6A
, FIG.
6
B and
FIG. 6C
are a conventional instrument panel mounting procedure.
FIG. 6A
shows a state in which the engine control unit
10
is mounted in the equipment box
4
and in this state, a pre-process is completed for a mounting process of an instrument panel.
FIG. 6B
shows a state in which the female connectors
12
a
to
12
c
on the engine control unit
10
side are connected to the male connectors
22
a
to
22
c
on the instrument panel
20
side, respectively.
FIG. 6C
shows a state in which mounting of the instrument panel
20
is completed.
In mounting the instrument panel
20
on the partition wall
3
, a worker starts from the state shown in FIG.
6
A and opens a lid
4
b
to the equipment box
4
from the engine compartment side so that the female connectors
12
a
to
12
c
are allowed to suspend from the opening
4
a
in the bottom of the equipment box
4
into the passenger compartment
2
side. Next, as shown in
FIG. 6B
, with the instrument panel
20
being retained with a jig, the female connectors
12
a
to
12
c
are connected to the male connectors
22
a
to
22
c
, respectively. Moreover, the instrument panel
20
is positioned relative to the partition wall
3
while pushing the wiring harness
11
and the then connected connectors
12
a
to
12
c
and
22
a
to
22
c
, and then as shown in
FIG. 6C
, the instrument panel
20
is fixed with bolts
24
to the partition wall
3
or any other suitable position on the vehicle body at the instrument panel fixing portion
23
.
According to the aforesaid conventional instrument panel mounting structure, however, the female connectors
12
a
to
12
c
on the engine control unit
10
side have to manually be connected to the male connectors
22
a
to
22
c
on the instrument panel
20
side. In view of work involved in a narrow space such as inside a cockpit of an automobile, this leads to a drawback in that a very difficult mounting operation is required.
In addition, provided on the instrument panel
20
are equipment directly relating to driving of an automobile such as a speedometer and a fuel gauge, and other equipment such as an air conditioner, audio equipment, a GPS car navigation system, and air bags. This tends to increase the number of circuits required. In conjunction with increase in number of connectors, there is increasingly caused a risk of erroneous connections, and failures to or of connection.
Furthermore, since the equipment box
4
is designed to accommodate therein the connected connectors
12
a
to
12
c
,
22
a
to
22
c
and the associated wiring harness
11
, with increase in number of connectors, the equipment box
4
also has to be made larger, this leading to a drawback in that the equipment box
4
shares a larger space inside the engine compartment
1
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made to solve the aforesaid problems inherent in the prior art and an object thereof is to provide an instrument panel mounting structure that can allow an increase in number of connectors without any increase in size of an equipment box, which can effect easy and secure connections between connectors on the engine control unit side and connectors on the instrument panel side, and which can allow an instrument panel to be mounted on a partition wall separating an engine compartment from a passenger compartment in an extremely easy fashion.
With a view to attaining the above object, the present invention provides an instrument panel mounting structure in which an instrument panel including at least a first connector is mounted on a partition wall which separates an engine compartment from a passenger compartment while said first connector is being connected to a second connector of an engine control unit fixed to said partition wall, wherein in a case where with the second connector being fixed to the engine control unit, the instrument panel is mounted on the partition wall, the engine control unit is fixed to the partition wall such that the second connector faces the first connector on an instrument panel side and is located at a position allowing the second connector to be connected to said first connector, whereby positioning and temporary fixation of the instrument panel relative to the partition wall is effected by connecting the first connector to the second connector.
In the above construction, the engine control unit may be allowed to finely move so that the second connector can finely move in transverse and longitudinal directions.
In addition, lever-type connectors may be used as the first and second connectors in which a swivel lever having an engagement portion is provided on one of the lever-type connectors, while a boss adapted to engage the engagement portion of the swivel lever is provided on the other.
Furthermore, male threads may be provided in the first connector, while female threads may be provided in the second connector for thread engagement with the male threads.
The present disclosure relates to the subject matter contained in Japanese patent application No. Hei. 10-374155 (filed on Dec. 28, 1998) which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirely.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4954085 (1990-09-01), Inoue et al.
patent: 5975928 (1999-11-01), Tsuji
Autonetworks Technologies Ltd.
Bradley P. Austin
Gilman Alexander
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