Illumination – Supported by vehicle structure – Automobile
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-13
2003-02-04
Pape, Joseph D. (Department: 3612)
Illumination
Supported by vehicle structure
Automobile
C296S214000, C362S546000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06513959
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly for mounting on a ceiling of a vehicle room of various kinds of vehicles, and more particularly to an assembly structure in which the efficiency of an assembling operation is enhanced, and the number of component parts can be reduced.
2. Related Art
Interior vehicle lamps, such as a room lamp and a spot lamp, have heretofore been mounted on a ceiling of a vehicle. One example of structures of wiring to such interior vehicle lamps by a roof wire harness is shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 2-124344A.
As shown in
FIGS. 7
to
10
, a groove
52
is formed in a peripheral surface of each of a spot light unit
50
and a room lamp unit
51
, and a clamp
53
for retaining the unit on a vehicle body is formed on and projects from an upper surface of each of the units. Similarly, clamps
53
are formed on and project from a switch unit
54
on which operation switches of the units
50
and
51
are provided in a concentrated manner.
A flat wire harness
56
includes a plurality of circuit members
57
fixed together in an insulated manner into a flat plate-shape by an insulating sheet
58
. The circuit members
57
forms input-output wiring patterns for the units
50
,
51
and
54
. The circuit member
57
is formed by covering and fixing flattened conductors by the insulating film
58
, or by coating an electrically-conductive paste.
As shown in
FIG. 10
, as the flat wire harness, there can be used a flat cable
56
a
which is formed by molding a plurality of insulating sheathed wires
57
a
into a flat plate-shape.
As shown in
FIG. 9
, mounting holes
60
for the units
50
and
51
are formed through a formed ceiling
59
adapted to be mounted on a ceiling portion of the automobile. A fitting projection
61
for engagement in the groove
52
is formed on an inner peripheral edge of the mounting hole
60
.
Similarly to the units
50
and
51
, a connector
62
for connecting the flat wire harness
56
to a body harness (not shown) has a clamp
53
.
In the roof wire harness W, the connector
62
is connected to a trunk line portion
56
A of the flat wire harness
56
. The units
50
and
51
are connected respectively to branch line portions
56
B. The switch unit
54
is connected to a pillar mounting portion
56
C of the trunk line portion. With this arrangement, the circuit members
57
are integrally connected to the units
50
,
51
and
54
.
FIG. 10
shows the connection structure in which the flat cable
56
a
is used instead of the flat wire harness
56
. More specifically, press-connecting terminals
69
for electrical connection to circuit members are beforehand fixed to the switch unit
54
by press-fitting, a unit cover
55
, having clamps
72
for retaining this cover on the switch unit
54
, as well as wire-pressing projections
71
, is pressed against the switch unit
54
to be attached thereto, so that the insulating sheathed wires
57
a
are press-fitted respectively into slots
70
of the press-connecting terminals
69
, and therefore are connected thereto, respectively.
Therefore, the installation and fixing of the roof wire harness W can be effected by inserting each clamp
53
into a hole
73
in the vehicle body R, as shown in FIG.
9
. Then, the formed ceiling
59
is arranged such that the mounting hole
60
in this formed ceiling is disposed in registry with the unit
50
, and in this condition the formed ceiling
59
is pushed in a direction of arrows to be set in position. As a result, the formed ceiling
59
is provisionally fixed through the engagement of the fitting projection
61
in the groove
52
. In this condition, an outer peripheral portion of the formed ceiling
59
is fixedly held between a garnish (not shown) and the vehicle body R.
Alternatively, the units
50
and
51
can be beforehand fixedly fitted respectively in the mounting holes
60
in the formed ceiling
59
, as shown in FIG.
8
. In this case, it is only necessary to mount the formed ceiling
59
, having the roof wire harness-W installed thereon, on the vehicle body R, and the provision of the clamp
53
on each unit
50
,
51
can be omitted.
In the above related roof wire harness, although the number of the exterior parts, such as tapes and tubes, covering the wire harness, can be reduced, it is difficult to reduce the number of component parts including a printed circuit board (PCB), a connector and a lamp lead wire circuit in the lamp unit.
Namely, the printed circuit board and the wire harness are separate from each other, and a connector and so on are required for connecting the two together. In addition, the wiring for the lamp need to be installed separately. Therefore, because of these, the number of the component parts increases, and also the time and labor, required for the operation, increase.
And besides, in the wire harness and the wires, integrally mounted on the formed ceiling, it is necessary to apply a flattening processing such as adhesive bonding and molding, and this increases the cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly in which the number of component parts, as well as the time and labor for the operation, can be reduced, and besides a compact, lightweight design can be achieved.
The above problems have been solved by a vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly including:
a casing fixed to a vehicle ceiling and including a lamp unit provided with a interior lamp;
a flexible printed circuit fixed to the casing and provided with a switch for controlling a lighting of the interior lamp;
a flexible flat cable for external connection electrically connected to one end of the flexible printed circuit;
an over head console retained on the casing and provided with a operation switch witch operates the switch.
In the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly, preferably, bosses, formed on the casing, are passed respectively through boss passage holes formed in the flexible printed circuit, and the flexible printed circuit is welded to the casing by heating the bosses.
Therefore, any screw or the like is not necessary for fixing the flexible printed circuit, and the whole of the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly can be formed into a thin design.
In the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly, preferably, an end portion of the flexible printed circuit is folded to be inserted into a fitting portion of a recess-shape formed on the casing, and a circuit pattern of the flexible printed circuit is exposed to a side surface of the fitting portion to form a connection portion for electrical connection to a member (e.g. an interior vehicle lamp or an optional member) fitted into the fitting portion.
Therefore, part of the circuit pattern is used as the connection terminal for electrical connection to the interior vehicle lamp or other member, and parts, such as a printed circuit board and a connector, are unnecessary, and also lamp lead wires are unnecessary, and therefore the time and labor, required for wiring, can be saved.
In the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly, preferably, the flexible printed circuit and the flexible flat cable are connected together by press-claming or welding.
Therefore, the compact, lightweight design of the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly can be achieved, and the transfer in the production process is easy, and the assembly can be handled easily when it is distributed as a product.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4054353 (1977-10-01), Saunders et al.
patent: 4241870 (1980-12-01), Marcus
patent: 4818010 (1989-04-01), Dillon
patent: 5239449 (1993-08-01), Wnuk et al.
patent: 5357408 (1994-10-01), Lecznar et al.
patent: 5526241 (1996-06-01), Ferrell
patent: 5697693 (1997-12-01), Wittkopp, Jr. et al.
patent: 5944414 (1999-08-01), Nishitani et al.
patent: 692 19 189 (1992-01-01), None
p
Nishitani Keizo
Serizawa Yasuyoshi
Yamagushi Atsuyoshi
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