This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-048292 filed on Mar. 18, 2020, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to an electrical connection component in which a conductor is press-fitted into a housing.
In related art, an electrical connection component in which a conductor such as a bus bar is fixed to a resin housing has been proposed. This type of electrical connection component can be used, for example, as a so-called terminal block for providing a power circuit for a vehicle or the like. For example, one of the related-art electrical connection components includes a resin housing and a metal bus bar fixed to the housing (for example, see JP-A-2011-176928).
When the bus bar is fixed to the housing, a part of the bus bar may be press-fitted into a through hole or the like provided in the housing. When such press-fitting is performed, if a direction of an external force for press-fitting applied to the bus bar is not appropriate, unintended deformation such as bending of the bus bar may occur. Such deformation is due to a positional displacement of the bus bar from an original attachment position, for example, when an external terminal is attached to the bus bar (for example, bolt fastening or the like is performed) after press-fitting, which may cause a decrease in workability of attachment work. In addition, the same deformation may occur when a conductor other than the bus bar is press-fitted into the housing. For this reason, it is desirable to prevent the unintended deformation of the conductor press-fitted into the housing as much as possible.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide an electrical connection component capable of preventing deformation of a conductor when the conductor is attached to a housing by being press-fitted.
In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure provides an electrical connection component including a conductor; and a housing into which the conductor is press-fitted, in which the housing includes a press-fitted portion having a hollow shape and into which the conductor is press-fitted in a press-fitting direction; and a restriction portion provided at a position different from a position of the press-fitted portion, the restriction portion restricting at least a part of the conductor from being displaced in a direction different from the press-fitting direction from a time point when press-fitting of the conductor into the press-fitted portion is started to a time point when the press-fitting is completed.
As described above, according to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide an electrical connection component capable of preventing deformation of a conductor when the conductor is attached to a housing by being press-fitted.
The present disclosure has been briefly described above. Further, details of the present disclosure will be further clarified by reading through embodiments for carrying out the present disclosure described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Hereinafter, an electrical connection component 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. As will be described later, an electrical connection component 1 shown in
Hereinafter, as shown in
As shown in
First, the nut 3 will be described. The nut 3 functions as a part of a component to be used when the terminal 6 is fastened and fixed to the bus bar 4 of the terminal block 1. In this example, the nut 3 is a metal component formed by casting, forging or the like. As shown in
Next, the bus bar 4 will be described. The bus bar 4 functions to electrically connect the terminal 6 and the mating connector 8. As shown in
The wide portion 11 has a substantially rectangular flat plate shape, and a through hole 14 penetrating in a plate thickness direction is formed at a predetermined position of the wide portion 11. The wide portion 11 functions as a portion where the terminal 6 is placed and connected. The shaft portion 51 of the bolt 5 is inserted into the through hole 14.
The female terminal portion 12 has a rectangular tubular shape penetrating in the front-rear direction. The female terminal portion 12 functions as a portion where a mating terminal (a male terminal) (not shown) belonging to the mating connector 8 is inserted and connected.
The press-fitting portion 13 has a belt-like flat plate shape extending in the front-rear direction, and connects the wide portion 11 and a bottom wall portion of the female terminal portion 12 (a flat plate-shaped portion of the rectangular tubular shape positioned on a lower side) without a step in the front-rear direction. Protrusions 15 protruding outward in the width direction are formed on both end surfaces of the press-fitting portion 13 in the width direction. When the bus bar 4 is inserted into a through hole 26 (see
In this example, as shown in
Next, the housing 2 will be described. The housing 2 is a resin molded product, and includes a main body portion 21 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape extending in the width direction as shown in
A pair of ribs 23 protruding inward in the width direction and extending in the front-rear direction are formed on inner side surfaces of a pair of side walls extending in the front-rear direction to define both widthwise edges of each bus bar accommodation portion 22 (see
Three connector portions 25 protrude forward from a front wall 22a extending in the width direction to define front edges of the three bus bar accommodation portions 22. so as to be side by side in the width direction corresponding to the three bus bar accommodation portions 22. When the terminal block 1 and the mating connector 8 are connected, the three connector portions 25 are inserted into three connector accommodation holes (not shown) formed on a rear end surface of the mating connector 8.
The through hole 26 penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed inside each connector portion 25 (see
As shown in
Each press-fitting groove 27 has a rectangular contour shape corresponding to the contour shape of the nut 3 as viewed in the upper-lower direction (see
As shown in
As shown in
After the press-fitting of the nut 3 into each press-fitting groove 27 is completed, the corresponding bus bar 4 is then accommodated in each bus bar accommodation portion 22 of the housing 2. Therefore, the bus bar 4 is pushed forward into the main body portion 21, from a state in which the bus bar 4 is placed on the bottom surface of the bus bar accommodation portion 22 such that the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 protrudes rearward from a rear end of the main body portion 21, and the female terminal portion 12 and the press-fitting portion 13 of the bus bar 4 cover the nut 3 press-fitted into the press-fitting groove 27.
When the bus bar 4 is pushed forward, the bus bar 4 slides forward while rubbing on the bottom surface of the bus bar accommodation portion 22, the female terminal portion 12 and the press-fitting portion 13 are inserted into the through hole 26 of the connector portion 25 in this order, and the pair of side edge portions of the wide portion 11 are inserted into the pair of grooves 24 of the bus bar accommodation portion 22.
As insertion of the press-fitting portion 13 into the through hole 26 progresses, as shown in
At the press-fitting start time point (that is, at the time point when the pair of protrusions 15 are positioned at the rear end portion 26a of the through hole 26), the pair of side edge portions of the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 are already held and covered by the pair of ribs 23 of the bus bar accommodation portion 22, as shown in
Therefore, even when a direction of an external force applied to the bus bar 4 for press-fitting the bus bar 4 is not appropriate (specifically, when the direction is slightly tilted with respect to a forward direction), a posture of the bus bar 4 is less likely to be deviated from an original press-fitting posture. Therefore, even in such a case, unintended deformation of the bus bar 4 is prevented. Further, deformation of the bus bar 4 in a direction away from the bottom surface of the bus bar accommodation portion 22, which is a typical deformation pattern of the bus bar 4, is prevented by the pair of ribs 23.
When the bus bar 4 reaches a predetermined position in the front-rear direction with respect to the main body portion 21 as the press-fitting of the bus bar 4 into the through hole 26 progresses, accommodation of the bus bar 4 into the bus bar accommodation portion 22 is completed. In a state in which the accommodation of the bus bar 4 into the bus bar accommodation portion 22 is completed, the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 covers the nut 3, the through hole 14 of the wide portion 11 and the bolt fastening hole 3a of the nut 3 are coaxially positioned, and the female terminal portion 12 of the bus bar 4 is positioned in vicinity of a front end opening of the through hole 26 provided in the through hole 26 of the connector portion 25 (see also
Since the pair of protrusions 15 are in pressure-contact with the inner wall surface of the through hole 26, the bus bar 4 can be prevented from coming off rearward. In addition, since the pair of side edge portions of the wide portion 11 are inserted into the pair of grooves 24 of the bus bar accommodation portion 22, the bus bar 4 can also be prevented from floating upward. Thereby, the bus bar 4 is securely fixed at the predetermined position of the bus bar accommodation portion 22.
As describe above, assembly of the terminal block 1 is completed. The three terminals 6 (see
Further, the mating connector 8 (see
As described above, according to the terminal block (the electrical connection component) 1 according to the present embodiment, when the bus bar 4 is press-fitted into the through hole 26 of the housing 2, at least a part (the wide portion 11) of the bus bar 4 is restricted from being displaced in a direction different from a press-fitting direction by the pair of ribs 23 of the housing 2 during a period from the press-fitting start time point to a press-fitting completion time point. Thereby, even when the direction of the external force for press-fitting applied to the bus bar 4 is not appropriate (for example, when the direction is slightly tilted with respect to the original press-fitting direction), the posture and position of the bus bar 4 are less likely to be deviated from the original posture and position at the time of press-fitting due to an action of the pair of ribs 23. Therefore, even in such a case, unintended deformation of the bus bar 4 is prevented. Accordingly, in the terminal block 1 having the present configuration, deformation of the bus bar 4 when the bus bar 4 is attached to the housing 2 by being press-fitted can be prevented.
Further, the distance b in the press-fitting direction from a near-side end portion (26a) of the through hole 26 in the press-fitting direction to near-side end portions (23a) of the pair of ribs 23 in the press-fitting direction is equal to or larger than the distance a in the press-fitting direction from the protrusion 15 to a far-side end portion (11a) of the wide portion 11 in the press-fitting direction (b≥a). Thereby, at a time point when the press-fitting portion 13 of the bus bar 4 is inserted into the through hole 26 (that is, the through hole 26) and the protrusion 15 protruding from the press-fining portion 13 starts to come into contact with an inner peripheral surface of the through hole 26 (that is, the press-fitting start time point), the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 can come into contact with the pair of rib-shaped ribs 23 of the housing 2. In other words, the pair of ribs 23 restrict the wide portion 11 from being displaced in the direction different from the press-fining direction at least at the press-fitting start time point. As a result, unintended deformation of the bus bar 4 at the time of press-fitting is prevented.
Further, the pair of rib-shaped ribs 23 are provided in the accommodation portion of the housing 2. Thereby, the pair of ribs 23 can come into contact with both ends of the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 in the width direction. Therefore, not only deformation of the bus bar 4 that warps in a direction away from the bottom surface of the bus bar accommodation portion 22, but also deformation of the bus bar 4 that is twisted as a whole is prevented.
Further, the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 is inserted into gaps (the grooves 24) between the bottom surface of the bus bar accommodation portion 22 and the pair of ribs 23. Thereby, in addition to preventing the deformation of the bus bar 4, the bus bar 4 can be easily guided toward the through hole 26.
The present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiment and various modifications can be adopted within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be appropriately modified, improved or the like. In addition, the material, shape, size, number, arrangement position and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are optional and are not limited as long as the present disclosure can be achieved.
In the above embodiment, the pair of ribs 23 are formed in the bus bar accommodation portion 22. On the other hand, only one rib 23 of the pair of ribs 23 may be formed in the bus bar accommodation portion 22. In this case, when the bus bar 4 is accommodated in the bus bar accommodation portion 22, only one side edge portion of the pair of side edge portions of the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 is inserted into the groove 24 defined between the one rib 23 and the bottom surface of the bus bar accommodation portion 22.
Further, in the above embodiment, the pair of ribs 23 maintains a state of covering both end portions of the wide portion 11 of the bus bar 4 even after the press-fitting of the bus bar 4 is completed. However, as long as the ribs 23 restrict unintended displacement of the wide portion 11 during the period from the press-fitting start time point to the press-fitting completion time point of the bus bar 4, the ribs 23 do not necessarily need to cover the wide portion 11 after the press-fitting completion time point. For example, the ribs 23 and the wide portion 11 may have lengths and shapes in the press-fitting direction such that the wide portion 11 comes out of the grooves 24 between the ribs 23 and the bottom surface at the same time as the press-fitting is completed.
Here, features of the terminal block 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure described above will be briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] to [4].
[1] An electrical connection component (1) includes: a conductor (4); and a housing (2) into which the conductor (4) is press-fitted.
The housing (2) includes a press-fitted portion (25) having a hollow shape and into which the conductor (4) is press-fitted in a press-fitting direction, and a restriction portion (23) provided at a position different from a position of the press-fitted portion (25), the restriction portion (23) restricting at least a part of the conductor (4) from being displaced in a direction different from the press-fitting direction from a time point when press-fitting of the conductor (4) into the press-fitted portion (25) is started to a time point when the press-fitting is completed.
[2] In the electrical connection component (1) according to [1],
the housing (2) includes an accommodation portion (22) having a recessed shape and opened on a near side in the press-fitting direction;
the press-fitted portion (25) defines a through hole (26) communicating with the accommodation portion (22) in the press-fitting direction and haying a shape extending toward a far side in the press-fitting direction, the far side being opposite to the near side;
the restriction portion (23) has a rib-like shape protruding from a side wall of the accommodation portion (22) in a width direction intersecting the press-fitting direction and extending along the press-fitting direction;
the conductor (4) includes a press-fitting portion (13) extending in the press-fitting direction, a protrusion (15) protruding from the press-fitting portion (13) in the width direction and a wide portion (11) having a dimension in the width direction larger than that of the press-fitting portion (13), and the conductor (4) is press-fitted into the press-fitted portion (25) by the protrusion (15) coming into pressure-contact with an inner peripheral surface of the through hole (26); and
a distance (b) in the press-fitting direction from a near-side end portion (26a) of the through hole (26) in the press-fitting direction to a near-side end portion (23a) of the restriction portion (23) in the press-fitting direction is equal to or larger than a distance (a) in the press-fitting direction from the protrusion (15) to a far-side end portion (11a) of the wide portion (11) in the press-fitting direction.
[3] In the electrical connection component (1) according to [2],
the restriction portion (23) has a pair of rib-like shapes protruding from a pair of side walls of the accommodation portion (22) so as to face each other such that the wide portion (11) of the conductor (4) is sandwiched by the pair of rib-like shapes, the pair of side walls facing each other.
[4] In the electrical connection component (1) according to [2] or [3],
the restriction portion (23) receives the wide portion (11) of the conductor (4) in a gap (24) between the restriction portion (23) and a bottom surface of the accommodation portion (22) to restrict the wide portion (11) from being displaced in the direction different from the press-fitting direction.
According to the electrical connection component having a configuration of [1], when the conductor is press-fitted into the press-fitted portion of the housing, at least a part of the conductor is restricted from being displaced in the direction different from the press-fitting direction by the restriction portion of the housing during a period from the press-fitting start time point to the press-fitting completion time point. Thereby, even when a direction of an external force for press-fitting applied to the conductor is not appropriate (for example, when the direction is slightly tilted with respect to the original press-fitting direction), a posture and a position of the conductor are less likely to be deviated from the original posture and position at the time of press-fitting due to an action of the restriction portion. Therefore, even in such a case, unintended deformation of the conductor is prevented. Accordingly, in the electrical connection component having the present configuration, deformation of the conductor when the conductor is attached to the housing by being press-fitted can be prevented.
According to the electrical connection component having a configuration of [2], the distance in the press-fitting direction from the near-side end portion of the through hole in the press-fitting direction to the near-side end portion of the restriction portion in the press-fitting direction (for example, a distance b in
According to the electrical connection component having a configuration of [3], the pair of rib-shaped restriction portions are provided in the accommodation portion of the housing. Thereby, the pair of restriction portions can come into contact with both ends of the wide portion of the conductor in the width direction. Therefore, not only deformation of the conductor that warps in a direction away from the bottom surface of the accommodation portion, but also deformation of the conductor that is twisted as a whole is prevented.
According to the electrical connection component having a configuration of [4], the wide portion of the conductor is inserted into the gap between the bottom surface of the accommodation portion and the restriction portions. Accordingly, in addition to preventing the deformation of the conductor, the conductor can be easily guided toward the press-fitted portion.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2020-048292 | Mar 2020 | JP | national |