Power distribution box cover with anti-rattle feature

Details Power distribution box cover with anti-rattle feature Power distribution box cover with anti-rattle feature

2001-01-05

2002-10-08

Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)

Electricity: conductors and insulators

Conduits, cables or conductors

Single duct conduits

C174S0450TD, C220S003300

Reexamination Certificate

active

06462276

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is in the field of automotive power distribution boxes, and more particularly the cover portion (usually the “lower” cover) covering wires or wire bundles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Power distribution boxes (PDB's) are commonly used in the automotive industry to streamline wiring by eliminating multi-branch wiring. A power distribution box consolidates branch circuits and fuses, connecting vehicle battery power to various electrical components. Small gauge electrical wires, numbering in the dozens or hundreds, are typically bound or bundled together in a “wire harness” leading to a PDB, where the wires are connected internally to mating terminals and connectors.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a typical PDB arrangement is illustrated on an interior vehicle panel
10
. A first wire harness
12
, and in particular a branch
13
b
thereof, is routed into a first power distribution box
14
for electrical interconnection with a first set of consolidated branch circuits and fuses and further with the wires and circuits of a second harness
18
whose branch
18
a
is routed through a second power distribution box
16
and an interconnect harness
15
.
Referring to
FIGS. 2 and 3
, power distribution box
14
is shown disassembled into its three basic components: a “base”
14
c
for mounting power terminals, connectors, wire terminating and rerouting structure, fuses, busbar and other known structure, sandwiched between and enclosed by protective upper and lower covers
14
a
,
14
b
. PDB base
14
c
will typically include a number of vertically oriented partitions, sockets, or terminals for making wire harness connections.
Various subsets of terminated wires
13
a
,
13
b
,
13
c
, etc. emanate from the lower side of base
14
c
and are merged by bundling or sheathing into the various wire harnesses such as
13
b
and
15
entering or exiting the PDB
14
from either side. The panel-or-through-like PDB structure illustrated is fairly typical, particularly in interior vehicle panel installations to accommodate the limited space between the vehicle panel
10
and any decorative and/or insulative interior covering. It will be understood by those skilled in the art, however, that the exemplary PDB structure illustrated in
FIG. 2
is but one of many known variants whose specific shape and internal structure varies from application to application.
In general, the PDB wiring bundles
13
a
,
13
b
,
13
c
, etc. contained by the lower cover
14
b
have a tendency to rattle against the sides of the cover during vehicle operation. This is particularly irritating to vehicle operators and passengers when the PDB is installed in an interior vehicle panel as illustrated in
FIG. 1
, making the rattle quite audible to the occupants of the vehicle. Since unexplained rattles and the like are not only irritating but difficult to diagnose by the repair facility to which a rattle-prone vehicle is inevitably brought, automotive manufacturers place an emphasis on eliminating audible rattle in vehicle components, including the PDB.
A common prior art solution to the problem of rattling wires in a PDB is to glue or otherwise secure a shaped block of open-cell foam into the lower cover. The foam in its uncompressed state typically has sufficient volume that the wire bundles must first partially compress the foam before the PDB base
14
c
can be mated with the lower cover. Such foam-type solutions, while reducing and even eliminating rattle, are expensive and interfere with the assembly of the PDB, particularly in high volume wire bundle applications. Another problem with foam is that a standard PDB may be used in several locations in a vehicle or on different vehicles, in some cases accommodating high volume wire bundles and low volume wire bundles. Since the PDB's are pre-manufactured, the foam tends to be cut to a standard size and volume, which may be too great for high volume wire bundles and not enough to prevent the rattling of low volume wire bundles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an anti-rattle structure molded directly into the plastic wire cover of a PDB, equally suitable for both high volume and low volume wire bundles to prevent rattle of even low volume bundles without hindering the assembly of high volume bundles. The interior of the cover (usually the “lower” cover) is provided with a plurality of transverse, generally U-shaped ribs extending up each side and across the bottom of the cover. A plurality of the ribs are spaced along the length of the trough to define a reduced volume, reduced surface area passage for the wires which keeps the wires away from the flat, noisy plastic sidewalls and bottom of the cover.
In the preferred form, the upper ends of each rib are beveled or chamfered to smoothly guide wires extending from the PDB base into position as the parts of the PDB are being assembled.


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