Wiring structure of flat circuit for vehicle

Details Wiring structure of flat circuit for vehicle Wiring structure of flat circuit for vehicle

2000-07-26

2002-10-08

Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)

Electricity: conductors and insulators

Conduits, cables or conductors

Combined

C174S0720TR, C439S034000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06462279

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a flat circuit wiring structure for installing a flat circuit having a circuit for electrically connecting an electric appliance mounted on a molded panel, such as a door trim and an instrument panel of a vehicle with another electric appliance mounted on a door panel or a vehicle body side via a wire harness connector.
In general, a main switch unit including a power window switch for operating opening/closure of a window glass, and a door mirror switch, and a plurality of electric appliances such as a courtesy lamp to be turned off when the door is closed and to be turned on when the door is opened are mounted on a door trim of a vehicle door as the standard components. As an electric appliance on the door panel side to be electrically connected with the standard electric appliances, a door control unit having a power window control function for vertically moving the window glass by controlling a power window motor according to an up/down signal outputted from the power window switch, and a courtesy lamp control function for turning on/off a courtesy lamp according to the output of a switch to be on/off according to opening/closure of the door can be presented. Moreover, as optional electric appliances to be optionally mounted on the door trim, optional switches such as a power seat switch for adjusting the position and angle of seats by driving a motor, a memory switch for storing the adjusted position and angle of the seats, a fuel cover opener switch, and a trunk cover opener switch can be presented. Furthermore, in the case of high grade vehicles, the optional switches such as the power seat switch are included in the standard components to be mounted on the door trim.
FIG. 7
shows a related structure comprising a flat circuit for electrically connecting the electric appliances on the door trim side and the electric appliances on the door panel side (disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-309390A). In the related structure, a flexible printed circuit board
72
of a flat circuit
71
to be mounted on a door trim
70
of a vehicle door is provided with a connecting section
73
to be connected with a main switch unit including a power window switch, a lamp connecting section
76
to be connected with a bulb of a courtesy lamp mounted on a lamp holder
75
having a bulb mounting hole
74
, and a printed circuit
79
having a connecting section
78
to be connected with optional switches such as a power seat switch to be mounted on a holder
77
. Tongue-like connecting sections
80
leading to the circuit
79
are formed in the middle part of the flexible printed circuit board
72
. As shown in the part enlarged in
FIG. 7
, the connecting sections
80
, which are formed by notching and bending the flexible printed circuit board
72
, have an exposed conductor part
81
elongating to the circuit
79
. As shown in
FIG. 8
, the connecting sections
80
are inserted into a recess part
83
of an insulating resin connector housing
82
assembled in the door trim
70
. The connector housing
82
having a clip insertion hole (not illustrated) is fixed on the door trim
70
by a push-in clip. With the connecting sections
80
inserted in the recess part
83
of the connector housing
82
as shown in
FIG. 8
, a connector part of a control board provided on the inner panel side (not illustrated) is inserted in the recess part
83
so as to electrically connect terminals of the connector part and the exposed conductor parts
81
of the connecting sections
80
.
However, according to the above-mentioned related structure, since the exposed conductor parts
81
of the connecting sections
80
and the connector part of the control flexible board on the inner panel side are connected, using the terminals (connecting sections
80
) of the circuit
79
of the circuit
71
without providing a terminal in the flat circuit
71
, the connector housing needs to be provided on the rear face of the door trim
70
. In this case, a high fitting accuracy is required to the recess part
83
of the connector housing
82
with respect to the connector part of the control flexible board. However, since it is difficult to mold the large size resin door trim
70
with a high accuracy, the connector housing
82
needs to be produced independently from the door trim
70
. Accordingly, the number of parts is increased so as to soar the production cost.
Moreover, in the related structure, in addition to the connecting section
73
to be connected with the main switch unit and the lamp connecting section
76
, the optional switch connecting section
78
to be connected with the optional switches such as power seat switch is formed integrally with the flexible printed circuit board
72
of the flat circuit
71
. Therefore, the flexible printed circuit board
72
is bulky and the cost is increased therefor. Furthermore, in the case of vehicles without having the optional switches such as the power seat switch, the switch circuit face of the optional switch connecting section
78
without a counterpart to be connected should be protected at the time of or after assembling the flat circuit
71
on the door trim
70
. In order to avoid the inconveniences, it is conceivable to provide the flat circuit having the optional switch circuit and connecting section independently from the flat circuit having the connecting section
73
to be connected with the main switch unit and the lamp connecting section
76
. However, in the case of merely dividing the flat circuit in two, the terminal parts of the two flat circuits and the door wire harness are connected respectively in vehicles with the optional switches mounted, two connecting points are required. Therefore, two pieces of the connector housings
82
to be provided in the door trim
70
are needed so as to increase the number of parts as well as to increase the number of steps of the work, resulting in the cost rise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In light of these related problems, a first object of the invention is to provide a wiring structure of a flat circuit for a vehicle capable of eliminating a connecting section on the molded panel side for connecting a flat circuit installed on the molded panel and a wire harness for reducing the cost. Moreover, a second object of the invention is to provide a wiring structure of a flat circuit for a vehicle capable of capable of connecting a plurality of flat circuits and a wire harness at one point without increasing connecting sections for reducing the cost.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a wiring structure for a vehicle, comprising:
at least one first electric appliance provided on a molded panel in the vehicle;
at least one second electric appliance provided on the molded panel;
a connector provided with terminals to which wire harnesses are connected;
a mount section provided on the molded panel and including a polygonal insertion hole into which the connector is inserted;
at least one first flat circuit including a first connecting portion connected to the first electric appliance, and a second connecting portion attached on at least one of inner walls of the polygonal insertion hole while exposing conductors of the circuit; and
at least one second flat circuit a first connecting portion connected to the second electric appliance, and a second connecting portion attached on at least one of another inner walls of the polygonal insertion hole while exposing conductors of the circuit.
The first and second electric appliances are electrically connected via the connector when the connector is inserted into the insertion hole by contacting the respective terminals with the respective exposed conductors. Preferably, the first electric appliance is an electric appliance provided standardizedly and the second electric appliance is an electric appliance provided optionally. The first flat circuit includes a standard circuit for the first electric appliance and the second flat circuit includes a optio

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