Electrical connectors – With vehicle structure
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-10
2004-02-17
Nasri, Javaid H. (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With vehicle structure
Reexamination Certificate
active
06692261
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle air-conditioning module to be mounted in a vehicle instrument panel.
In general, the vehicle air-conditioning system to be mounted in a motorcar or the like is substantially centrally arranged in the interior of the instrument panel and fixed to the vehicle body directly or through a fixing bracket or the like.
An air-conditioner sub-wire harness arranged on and fixed to the surface of the vehicle air-conditioning system is electrically connected to electrical parts such as a mode-selecting servomotor, air-mixing servomotor, air-conditioning control unit, blower unit and the like. The air-conditioner sub-wire harness includes a connector for electrically connecting with a vehicle wire harness. Such a connector will be connected to a connector on the vehicle wire harness when the air conditioner is or has been mounted on the vehicle.
If the vehicle air-conditioning system is mounted directly in the interior of the instrument panel, the connector in the air-conditioner sub-wire harness is connected to a connector in an instrument panel wire harness.
The instrument panel wire harness comprises a trunk portion arranged across the instrument panel and offset portions branched from the trunk portion and including connectors on the tip portions thereof. The trunk portion is fixedly mounted on the backside of the instrument panel body or on a cross car beam, air-conditioning duct or the like which is mounted in the instrument panel. The offset portions are connected with an air conditioner mounted in the interior of the instrument panel, an electrical components control unit and an electrical connection box or various other electrical components such as a center cluster panel mounted on the mounting surface of the instrument panel, a meter panel or the like.
When the instrument panel wire harness is to be mounted on the instrument panel, the trunk portion thereof is arranged and fixedly mounted in the interior of the instrument panel. Thereafter, the connectors on the tip ends of the offset portion are fitted into the corresponding electrical connectors in electrical components which have previously been mounted in the interior of the instrument panel. At this time, the offset portions may fixedly be mounted, at the middle thereof, on the instrument panel if the offset portions are not sufficiently held since the lengths thereof are too long. The connectors to be connected with the center cluster panel and instrument panel before they are mounted on the mounting surface of the instrument panel are left near the mount openings formed in the instrument panel body, without fixation.
On the other hand, the center cluster panel centrally disposed on the mounting surface of the instrument panel may include various electrical components such as a group of air-conditioner control switches, an audio device, a group of audio device control switches and others. The backside thereof may include connectors for the instrument panel wire harness. The center cluster panel is fixedly mounted around the mount openings which have centrally been formed in the mounting surface of the instrument panel.
FIG. 13
illustrates the prior art method of mounting an electrical component on the mounting surface of an instrument panel.
Referring to
FIG. 13A
, the mounting surface
43
a
of the instrument panel
43
includes a mount opening
43
b
substantially centrally formed therein. A connector
45
in an instrument panel wire harness
44
is left near the mount opening
43
b
without fixation.
Referring to
FIG. 13B
, the connector
45
of the instrument panel wire harness
44
is drawn out from the mounting surface
43
a
of the instrument panel
43
through the mount opening
43
b
and then fitted into a connector
47
on an electrical component
46
, for example, of the center cluster panel or the like.
Thereafter, as shown in
FIG. 13C
, the electrical component
46
is fixedly mounted the mounting surface
43
a
around the mount opening
43
b.
It is required that the offset portions of the instrument panel wire harness
44
including the connector
45
to be connected with the connector
47
of the electrical component
46
is drawn out from the mounting surface
43
a
of the instrument panel
43
through the mount opening
43
b
for connecting with the connector
47
of the electrical component
46
. Therefore, the instrument panel wire harness
44
must have an extra length.
However, the operation for mounting the electrical component
46
of the center cluster panel or the other on the mounting surface
43
a
of the instrument panel
43
is manually carried out as described. Thus, an operator must use one hand to draw out the connector
45
of the instrument panel wire harness
44
from the mounting surface
43
a
of the instrument panel
43
through the mount opening
43
b
while using the other hand to support the electrical component
46
. Under such a situation, the operator must cause the connectors
45
and
47
to fit with each other. This is extremely cumbersome and difficult.
Since each of the offset portions in the instrument panel wire harness
44
must have an extra length, the manufacturing cost is also increased. For the same cause, the offset portions of the instrument panel wire harness may be brought into contact with any other part in the instrument panel
43
when the electrical component
46
has been mounted. This may produce any defect such as production of an abnormal sound, damage of the wire harness, short-circuiting due to wire damage and so on. To avoid such a defect, various sound shut-off and wire protection parts may be mounted in the instrument panel
43
. However, this will greatly increase the manufacturing cost.
FIGS. 14A and B
are block diagrams illustrating different structures around the vehicle air-conditioning system according to the prior art while
FIG. 15
is a perspective view of a dash panel including a vehicle air-conditioning system according to the prior art. As shown in
FIGS. 14 and 15
, the vehicle air-conditioning system
50
is substantially centrally arranged in the interior of an instrument panel
51
and fixedly mounted on the vehicle body directly or through a fixing bracket or the like.
An air-conditioner sub-wire harness
52
arranged on and fixed to the surface of the vehicle air-conditioning system
50
is electrically connected, through a connector
52
a,
to electrical parts
53
such as a mode-selecting servomotor, air-mixing servomotor, air-conditioning control unit, blower unit and the like. The connector
52
a
of the air-conditioner sub-wire harness
52
is electrically connected with a vehicle wire harness.
An electrical connection box
54
is disposed in the instrument panel
51
either on the driver or passenger side or both on the driver and passenger sides and fixedly mounted on the vehicle body directly or through fixation bracket (or brackets) or the like. The electrical connection box
54
includes a connector electrically connected with the vehicle wire harness.
The electrical connection box
54
also includes various electronic parts such as circuit protection parts, electrical components controllers and so on. In many cases, these electronic parts are connected with internal circuits in the electrical connection box
54
and further electrically connected with any external wire harness outside of the electrical connection box through connectors and with various electrical components mounted in the vehicle.
A dash panel wire harness
58
is disposed and fixedly mounted on the inner wall of a dash panel
57
which partitions between a passenger room
55
and an engine room
56
. The dash panel wire harness
58
includes connectors
58
a
for electrical connection with the air-conditioner sub-wire harness
52
and electrical connection box
54
. When the vehicle air-conditioning system
50
and electrical connection box
54
are or have been fixedly mounted on the vehicle body, the connectors
58
a
of the dash panel wire harness
58
are connected with the
Asano Minoru
Matsuda Yutaka
Ohara Mitsutaka
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Le Thanh-Tam
Nasri Javaid H.
The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd.
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