The technology described in the present specification relates to a circuit structure and an electrical junction box.
An electrical junction box such as a DC-DC converter is mounted in vehicles such as automobiles, and a coil is used as a circuit component of this electrical junction box. In an electrical junction box disclosed in JP 2014-103747A, a frame-like member made of a synthetic resin is placed on the outer periphery portion of a heat dissipation member, a circuit substrate is housed in this frame-like member, and a choke coil is disposed in a portion partitioned by the frame-like member.
Incidentally, another electronic component cannot be implemented in a region where the coil is disposed on the heat dissipation member, and thus a region for implementing another electronic component needs to be secured in the electrical junction box, and it is not easy to reduce the size of the electrical junction box. In particular, if a coil that enables conduction of a large current is mounted in the electrical junction box, the size of the coil increases, resulting in a problem in which a region occupied by the coil increases and the size of the electrical junction box is likely to increase.
The technology described in the present specification has been achieved based on the above circumstances, and an object is to reduce the sizes of a circuit structure and an electrical junction box.
A circuit structure described in the present specification includes: a circuit substrate provided with a conductive path and a through hole that is electrically connected to the conductive path; a coil apparatus that includes a coil including a terminal portion and a core made of a magnetic material; a heat dissipation member that includes a housing cavity that houses the coil apparatus, and on which the circuit substrate is laid; and grease that comes into contact with an inner surface of the housing cavity and the coil apparatus, and the terminal portion in the coil apparatus is inserted into the through hole and is soldered.
A method for manufacturing a circuit structure described in the present specification includes: in a state where grease is disposed in a housing cavity formed in a heat dissipation member, housing a coil apparatus that includes a coil and a core made of a magnetic material in the housing cavity so as to come into contact with the grease, and inserting a terminal portion of the coil into a through hole and soldering the terminal portion thereto, the terminal portion being formed in a circuit substrate along with a conductive path and electrically connected to the conductive path.
According to the above configuration, the coil apparatus is housed in the housing cavity of the heat dissipation member, and the grease comes into contact with the inner surface of the housing cavity of the heat dissipation member and the coil apparatus, and thus it is possible to perform positioning of the coil apparatus in the housing cavity using the grease, and heat generated by the coil apparatus can be transferred to the heat dissipation member via the grease. Accordingly, a configuration for fixing the coil apparatus does not necessarily need to be provided outside of the housing cavity, and thus it is possible to increase a region outside of the housing cavity where another component can be implemented. Thus, it is possible to increase the implementation density of components of the circuit structure, and to reduce the size of the circuit structure.
The following aspects are preferable as embodiments of the technology described in the present specification.
Room-temperature curing grease is used as the grease.
With such a configuration, work for curing grease does not necessarily need to be performed, and thus the manufacturing process can be simplified.
The housing cavity includes a bottom surface portion and an inner wall portion that stands upright from the bottom surface portion, and the grease is disposed on the bottom surface portion side in the housing cavity.
With such a configuration, it is possible to easily perform the work of housing the coil apparatus in the housing cavity.
The grease is disposed between the circuit substrate and the heat dissipation member outside of the housing cavity, in addition to being disposed between the inner surface of the housing cavity and the coil apparatus.
With such a configuration, when grease is applied in the housing cavity, grease for adhesion, insulation, and the like between the circuit substrate and the heat dissipation member can be applied, and thus the manufacturing process can be simplified.
The coil is an edgewise coil wound such that a short side of a rectangular wire forms an inner diameter plane, and is wound around an axis that passes through a plane that extends along a surface on the circuit substrate side of the heat dissipation member.
With such a configuration, it is easy to reduce the size of the circuit structure depending on the orientation of the coil apparatus.
The circuit substrate is screwed to the heat dissipation member using a screw in a state where there is a gap between the circuit substrate and the heat dissipation member.
With such a configuration, it is possible to implement a component in the gap between the circuit substrate and the heat dissipation member, and to firmly fix the circuit substrate to the heat dissipation member using a screw.
An electrical junction box that includes the circuit structure and a cover that covers the circuit structure.
According to the technology described in the present specification, it is possible to reduce the sizes of a circuit structure and an electrical junction box.
An electrical junction box 10 according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to
The electrical junction box 10 according to this embodiment is disposed, for example, on a power supply path between a power source such as a battery of a vehicle such as an electric automobile or a hybrid automobile and loads that include in-vehicle electrical components such as lamps and wipers, and a motor, and can be used for a DC-DC converter, an inverter, and the like. In the following description, the X direction in
As shown in
As shown in
The circuit substrate 21 is a printed board in which a conductive path made of copper foil is formed on an insulation plate made of an insulation material according to a printed wiring technique, and an electronic component (not illustrated) is implemented on the conductive path of the circuit substrate 21. As shown in
The heat dissipation member 30 is, for example, made of a metal that has a high heat conductivity such as aluminum or aluminum alloy, and is molded through aluminum die casting or the like, and includes a main body 31 on which the circuit substrate 21 is placed, and a plurality of heat-dissipation fins 49 that are continuous in a lower portion of the main body 31 and are aligned in a comb-tooth manner, as shown in
On the front side of the main body 31, a notch portion 31A in which a connector (not illustrated) that includes a terminal that is connected to the circuit substrate 21 is disposed is formed. The upper surface of the main body 31 is defined as the placement surface 32 on which the circuit substrate 21 is placed in a state where the grease 25 is layered.
The placement surface 32 is depressed to form the housing cavity 34 that houses the coil apparatus 50. As shown in
Attachment portions 42 that enable attachment of the cover 11 are provided on the outer periphery of the main body 31. The attachment portions 42 each have a screw hole 42A formed to extend therethrough. As a result of the attachment portions 42 being fixed to the body of a vehicle, for example, the heat dissipation member 30 can be connected to the ground potential.
As shown in
The coil apparatus 50 is, for example, a choke coil for smoothing an output voltage, and includes a pair of coils 51 (in
The core 54 is formed of a material that has high magnetic permeability such as a ferrite, and is constituted by combining a pair of half bodies 55A and 55B. The half bodies 55A and 55B each include a pair of cylindrical column portions that are inserted into the coils 51, a plate-like connection portion that couples the pair of column portions, and a partition wall that is disposed between the pair of column portions and separates the pair of coils 51 from each other, and these are formed in an integrated manner. The bobbin 60 is made of an insulating synthetic resin, is constituted by a pair of combined division members 61A and 61B, includes cylindrical tube portions into which the column portions of the core 54 are inserted, and maintains the positions of the coils 51 in the core 54.
Next, assembly of the coil apparatus 50 will be described.
The coil apparatus 50 is formed by disposing the coils 51 between the pair of division members 61A and 61B, and combining the pair of half bodies 55A and 55B.
Next, as shown in
Next, as shown in
According to this embodiment, the following actions and effects are achieved.
The circuit structure 20 includes: the circuit substrate 21 provided with a conductive path and the through holes 22 that are electrically connected to the conductive path; the coil apparatus 50 that includes the coils 51 including the terminal portions 52 and the core 54 made of a magnetic material; the heat dissipation member 30 that includes the housing cavity 34 that houses the coil apparatus 50, and on which the circuit substrate 21 is laid; and grease 25 that comes into contact with the inner surface of the housing cavity 34 and the coil apparatus 50, and the terminal portions 52 in the coil apparatus 50 are inserted into the through holes 22 and are soldered thereto.
According to this embodiment, since the coil apparatus 50 is housed in the housing cavity 34 of the heat dissipation member 30, and the grease 25 comes into contact with the inner surface of the housing cavity 34 of the heat dissipation member 30 and the coil apparatus 50, it is possible to perform positioning of the coil apparatus 50 in the housing cavity 34 by using the grease 25, and transfer heat generated by the coil apparatus 50 to the heat dissipation member 30 via the grease 25. Accordingly, a configuration for fixing the coil apparatus 50 to the outside of the housing cavity 34 does not necessarily need to be provided, and thus it is possible to increase a region outside of the housing cavity 34 where another component can be implemented. Thus, it is possible to increase the implementation density of components in the circuit structure 20, and reduce the size of the circuit structure 20.
In addition, during manufacturing of the circuit structure 20, before soldering, a state can be set in which the circuit substrate 21 is laid on the heat dissipation member 30 and the terminal portions 52 are inserted into the through holes 22. Accordingly, for example, in contrast to a configuration in which an adhesive is used instead of grease, work for assembling the circuit substrate 21 can be performed after the coil apparatus 50 is housed in the housing cavity 34 without waiting for an adhesive to cure, and thus the manufacturing process can be simplified.
In addition, room-temperature curing grease is used as the grease 25.
With such a configuration, work for curing the grease 25 does not necessarily need to be performed, and thus the manufacturing process can be simplified. In addition, at the time of manufacturing, due to the flexibility of grease, it is possible to reduce stress that acts on the circuit substrate 21 and the like.
In addition, the housing cavity 34 includes the bottom surface portion 35 and the inner wall portion 36 that stands upright from the bottom surface portion 35, and the grease 25 is disposed on the bottom surface portion 35 side in the housing cavity 34.
With such a configuration, it is possible to easily perform work for housing the coil apparatus 50 in the housing cavity 34.
In addition, the grease 25 is disposed between the circuit substrate 21 and the heat dissipation member 30 outside of the housing cavity 34 in addition to between the inner surface of the housing cavity 34 and the coil apparatus 50.
With such a configuration, when the grease 25 is applied in the housing cavity 34, the grease 25 for adhesion, insulation, and the like between the circuit substrate 21 and the heat dissipation member 30 can be applied to the placement surface 32 of the heat dissipation member 30, and thus the manufacturing process can be simplified.
In addition, each of the coils 51 is an edgewise coil wound such that a short side of a rectangular wire forms an inner diameter plane, and is wound around an axis that passes through a surface on the circuit substrate 21 side of the heat dissipation member 30.
With such a configuration, depending on the orientation of the coil apparatus 50, it is easy to reduce the size of the circuit structure 20.
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
Next, assembly of the coil apparatus 50 will be described.
As a result of disposing the coils 51 between the pair of division members 61A and 61B and attaching the pair of half bodies 55A and 55B to each other, the coil apparatus 50 is formed.
In addition, the grease 25 is applied with a predetermined thickness to the bottom surface portion 35 of the housing cavity 34 of the heat dissipation member 75. Next, in the orientation where all of the terminal portions 52 of the coil apparatus 50 are directed upward, the coil apparatus 50 is inserted into the housing cavity 34 of the heat dissipation member 75. When the coil apparatus 50 is inserted to a predetermined depth in the housing cavity 34, the coil apparatus 50 is placed on the grease 25 as shown in
Next, the circuit substrate 72 is disposed on the heat dissipation member 75, and the terminal portions 52 of the coil apparatus 50 are inserted into the through holes 22 of the circuit substrate 72. At this time, for example, when the upper surface of the coil apparatus 50 is positioned higher than the upper surfaces of the boss portions 76 as shown in
According to the second embodiment, the circuit substrate 72 is screwed to the heat dissipation member 75 using the screws 79 in a state where there is a gap between the circuit substrate 72 and the heat dissipation member 75, and thus a component can be implemented in the gap between the circuit substrate 72 and the heat dissipation member 75, and the circuit substrate 72 can be firmly fixed to the heat dissipation member 75 using the screws 79.
The technology described in the present specification is not limited to the embodiments described above and in the drawings, and for example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the technology described in the present specification.
A configuration may be adopted in which the grease 25 and the grease 74 are disposed on the bottom surface portion 35 side in the housing cavity 34, but there is no limitation thereto. For example, a configuration may also be adopted in which the grease 25 and the grease 74 are disposed on the inner wall portion 36 side in the housing cavity 34.
A configuration is adopted in which the grease 25 is disposed between the circuit substrate 21 and the heat dissipation member 30 outside of the housing cavity 34 in addition to between the inner surface of the housing cavity 34 and the coil apparatus 50, but there is no limitation thereto. For example, a configuration may also be adopted in which an adhesive is disposed between the circuit substrate 21 and the heat dissipation member 30 in place of the grease 25.
The coils 51 are edgewise coils, but there is no limitation thereto. For example, coils with a circular cross-section may be used as the coils 51.
The coil apparatus 50 is a coupling coil that includes the two coils 51, but there is no limitation thereto. For example, a configuration may also be adopted in which the coil apparatus includes one coil. In addition, the coil apparatus 50 is a choke coil, but there is no limitation thereto, a coil apparatus that is used for other use may also be used.
The number of times each coil 51 is wound is not limited to the above embodiment, and a different number of times may also be adopted.
A configuration is adopted in which the coil apparatus 50 includes the bobbin 60, but there is no limitation thereto, and a coil apparatus that does not include the bobbin 60 may also be used.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-010131 | Jan 2019 | JP | national |
This application is the U.S. national stage of PCT/JP2020/000809 filed on Jan. 14, 2020, which claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. JP 2019-010131 filed on Jan. 24, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated herein.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2020/000809 | 1/14/2020 | WO | 00 |