The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. ยง119 of Japanese Application No. 2010-267476, filed on Nov. 30, 2010, which is herein expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This invention relates to an electrical junction box, and more particularly relates to an electrical junction in which connecting terminals protruding from an insulation plate project outward from a casing.
Heretofore, an electrical junction box has been known in which an insulation plate is contained in a casing and connecting terminals protrude from the insulation plate. Such electrical junction box has been disclosed in, for example, JP HEI 9(1997)-163555 A and JP 2000-295736 A. In the electrical junction box, the connecting terminals that protrude from the insulation plate extend outward from the casing through terminal-receiving holes provided in a bottom wall of an electrical component-mounting section that is open in a surface of the casing. The connecting terminals are connected to electrical components such as connectors.
It is necessary to precisely set a projecting dimension of each connecting terminal from the casing to be a desired size in order to ensure a connection between the connecting terminals and mating electrical components. Accordingly, in the prior art, each connecting terminal having a necessary projecting dimension in length is newly designed in accordance with a specification of each electrical component and the projecting dimension can be obtained.
However, such structure must newly produce connecting terminals every time when an electrical junction box that contains electrical components having different specifications are newly produced. This will invite an increase of kinds of connecting terminals, will require time and effort in a parts control such as addition of a parts number and will increase a cost in production.
Accordingly, it will be contemplated that already available connecting terminals to be made in an already-existing production line are converted to an electrical junction box to be newly produced. However, it will be apparent from JP HEI 9(1997)-163555 A and JP 2000-295736 A that the insulation plate is provided with support projections that receive and support the connecting terminals. A dimension in height of each support projection must be set to be a given size in correspondence with a length of each connecting terminal in order to stably support the connecting terminal. Accordingly, if an insulation plate includes the support projections with projection heights corresponding to the already available connecting terminals and the insulation plate is applied to a new electrical junction box as it is, the support projections will interfere with a casing, a desired projecting dimension of each connecting terminal cannot be obtained, the connecting terminals cannot be stably supported on the casing under a projection state of the connecting terminals from the casing on account of the fact that the support projections are spaced excessively apart from the casing and are shifted from the casing. This will make it difficult to stably support the connecting terminals under the projection state of the connecting terminals from the casing.
In particular, in the case where the sheathed wire is arranged on the insulation plate and is pressed by insulation displacement terminal portions provided on proximal ends of the connecting terminals, it is not possible to alter a pressing position of only any connecting terminal, since the pressing positions of the insulation displacement terminal portions onto the sheathed wire are set to be not variable on the insulation plate. Therefore, in the prior art structure, it is difficult to convert the already available connecting terminals to new connecting terminals so that the projecting dimensions of the new connecting terminals from the casing become variable. Consequently, there has been no proposal in the prior art except that connecting terminals having different lengths corresponding to the specifications of electrical components to be connected to the terminals must be produced individually.
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical junction box having a new structure that can simplify a parts control and can lower a cost in production by enabling already available connecting terminals to be converted.
A first aspect of the present invention is directed to an electrical junction box wherein a plurality of connecting terminals protrude from an insulation plate, said insulation plate is contained in a casing, the connecting terminals protrude outward from the casing through terminal-receiving holes provided in the casing. The insulation plate is provided with support projections having projecting dimensions in correspondence with the connecting terminals. The connecting terminals are fitted into and held in the support projections. The casing is provided on a surface opposed to the support projections with recess-like or bump-like matching portions that contact with projection end surfaces of the support projections to position the support projections.
According to the electrical junction box in the first aspect of the present invention, since the contact positions between the support projections and the matching portions are adjusted while the support projections are set to be the projecting dimensions corresponding to the connecting terminals to stably support the connecting terminals, it is possible to adjust the projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing. That is, in the case where the support projections interfere with the casing and thus the projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing cannot be obtained, it is possible to obtain great projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing by forming the recess-like matching portions and inserting the support projections into the casing. On the other hand, in the case where the support projections are excessively spaced apart from the casing when the projection amounts of the support projections from the casing are small and the projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing are set to protrude outward from the casing, it is possible to support the connecting terminals while restraining the support projections and casing from being shifted with respect to each other by forming the bump-like matching portions and approaching the support projections to the casing. Thus, it is possible to readily alter the projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing, to set the projection amounts precisely and stably, to convert the already-existing connecting terminals produced on the already available production line to new connecting terminals.
A second aspect of the present invention is directed to the electrical junction box according to the first aspect. In the electrical junction box in the second aspect, a sheathed wire is arranged on the insulation plate. The connecting terminals are provided on proximal ends with insulation displacement terminal portions. The sheathed wire is pressed onto the insulation displacement terminal portions.
According to the electrical junction box in the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to suitably alter and set the projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing without altering the pressing position of the connecting terminals for the sheathed wire on the insulation plate merely by adjusting a depth of each recess-like matching portion or a height of each bump-like matching portion on the insulation plate. Consequently, it is possible to set the projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing in correspondence with the specification of the electrical component to be connected to the connecting terminals without involving a design change of the insulation plate by utilizing the already available insulation plate and connecting terminals.
According to the present invention, the support projections having projecting dimensions in height corresponding to the connecting terminals are provided on the insulation plate. The connecting terminals are fitted into and supported in the support projections. The casing is provided on the surface opposed to the support projections with the recess-like or bump-like matching portions with which the projection end surface of the support projections contact. Thus, it is possible to avoid an interference between the support projections and the casing and an excessive spacing between them, and to precisely and stably set the projection amounts of the connecting terminals from the casing by utilizing the already available connecting terminals. In result, it is possible to restrain the number of parts from increasing, to prevent an addition of parts number control, and to lower a cost in production.
The present invention is further described in the detailed description which follows, with reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way of non-limiting examples of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, in which like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings, and wherein:
The particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the present invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the present invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the present invention, the description is taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the forms of the present invention may be embodied in practice.
Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of an electrical junction box in accordance with the present invention will be described below.
As known in the prior art, the upper casing 10 is provided with connector-mounting sections 12, fuse-mounting sections 14, relay-mounting sections 16, and the like. The mounting sections 12, 14, and 16 are provided with terminal-receiving holes 18 that penetrate the upper casing 10 in correspondence with configurations of tab-like terminals 28a, pin-like terminals 28b, and tuning fork-like terminals 28c. These terminals 28a to 28c serve as connecting terminals and will be described after.
An insulation plate 20 shown in
The support projections 26 are formed into substantially rectangular tube-like configurations that protrude toward the upper casing 10 (upward in
Three pairs of pinching projections 34, 34; 34, 34; 34, 34 that protrude from a rear side 32 of the insulation plate 20 are integrated with the insulation plate 20 at the side opposite from the support projections 26. Each pair of pinching projections 34, 34 are formed into projection configurations that protrude toward the lower casing (downward in
As shown in
Each tab-like terminal 28a is formed by punching out a metal sheet, or by another suitable process. The terminal portion 38 of the tab-like terminal 28a is a tab-like configuration having a longitudinal rectangular flat shape in cross section. On the other hand, the insulation displacement terminal portion 40 of the tab-like terminal 28a has a pair of insulation displacement blades 42, 42 that are spaced apart from and opposed to each other. Furthermore, the tab-like terminal 28a is provided with projecting piece-like stoppers 44, 44 between the terminal portion 38 and the insulation displacement terminal portion 40.
On the other hand, Each pin-like terminal 28b is formed by punching out and bending a metal sheet, or by another suitable process. The terminal portion 38 of the pin-like terminal 28b is formed into a pin-like configuration that has a smaller dimension in width (dimension in right and left directions in
Each tuning fork-like terminal 28c is formed by punching out a metal sheet, or by another suitable process. The terminal portion 38 of the tuning fork-like terminal 28c includes a pair of insulation displacement terminal blades 46, 46 that are spaced apart from each other so as to form a so-called tuning fork-like configuration. On the other hand, the insulation displacement terminal portion 40 includes a pair of insulation displacement blades 42, 42, as is the case with tab-like terminal 28a. The stoppers 44, 44 are also provided on the tuning fork-like terminal 28c, as is the case with the tab-like terminal 28a.
Already available connecting terminals, which are produced for electrical junction boxes that are different from that of the first embodiment and are ready for a producing line, may be converted to the tab-like terminals 28a, pin-like terminals 28b, and tuning fork-like terminals 28c.
The tab-like terminals 28a, pin-like terminals 28b, and tuning fork-like terminals 28c are inserted into the support projections 26a, 26b, and 26c, respectively. These terminals 28 are inserted into the through-holes 30 in the support projections 26 from the side of the insulation displacement terminal portions 40. Amounts of inserting the tab-like terminal 28a and tuning fork-like terminal 28c into the support portions 26a and 26c are determined by contacting the stoppers 44 and 44 with step-like latching surfaces 48 and 48 provided in the support projections 26a and 26c. Although the pin-like terminal 28b is not illustrated in detail in
When the connecting terminals 28 are inserted into the through-holes 30 in the support projections 26, the connecting terminals 28 are supported by the support projections 26. While the connecting terminals 28 are inserted in the support projections 26, the terminal portions 38 protrude from the support projections 26. On the other hand, the insulation displacement terminal portions 40 protrude via the through-holes 30 from the rear side 32 of the insulation plate 20 and are inserted into the receiving grooves 36 for the insulation displacement terminal portions provided on the pinching projections 34, 34. The sheathed wire 50 are disposed between the pinching projections 34, 34 to be pinched by the pinching ribs 35, 35, and the sheathed wire 50 is arranged on the rear side 32 of the insulation plate 20. When the insulation displacement terminal portions 40 of the connecting terminals 28 are inserted into the spaces between the pinching projections 34, 34, the sheathed wire 50 disposed between the pinching projections 34, 34 are inserted into the space between the insulation displacement blades 42, 42 of the insulation displacement terminal portions 40, and an insulation sheath of the sheathed wire 50 is removed by the insulation displacement blades 42, 42. Thus, the sheathed wire 50 is pressed onto the insulation displacement terminal portions 40 to be electrically coupled to the connecting terminals 28.
It will be apparent from
The insulation plate 20, from which the tab-like terminals 28a, pin-like terminals 28b, and tuning fork-like terminals 28c protrude, is contained in the space between the upper casing 10 and the lower casing (not shown) to form the electrical junction box.
A projection amount h of the tab-like terminal 28a protruding from the upper casing 10 must be set to be a given size in correspondence with a configuration of a connector (not shown). As described above, since a projecting dimension in which the support projection 26a that support the tab-like terminal 28a protrudes from the front side 24 of the insulation plate 20 is defined in correspondence with a configuration of the tab-like terminal 28a, a projection end surface 54 of the support projection 26a will interfere with the inner surface 22 of the upper casing 10 in the first embodiment, if the projection amount h of the tab-like terminal 28a must be obtained. Accordingly, a recess-like matching portion 52 is provided around the terminal-receiving hole 18 in the upper casing 10. The matching portion 52 is provided on a surface of the upper casing 10 to be opposed to the projection end surface 54 of the support projection 26a to be depressed from the inner surface 22. A bottom surface 56 of the matching portion 52 is disposed on a forward position from the inner surface 22 in a projecting direction of the tab-like terminal 28a (upward direction in
As shown in an area colored in black in
According to the first embodiment, it is possible to set the projection amount h of the tab-like terminal 28a from the upper casing 10 to be a desired size while avoiding an interference between the support projection 26a and the upper casing 10 by adjusting a dimension d in depth (see
In particular, the projection end surface 54 of the support projection 26 contacts with the bottom surface 56 of the recess-like matching portion 52. Thus, it is possible to stably position the support projection 26 on the upper casing 10 and to precisely and stably set the outward projecting dimension of the connecting terminal 28, which protrudes from the support projection 26, from the upper casing 10. Furthermore, it is possible to set the outward projecting dimensions of the respective connecting terminals 28 from the upper casing 10 to be the desired sizes without changing the contact positions between the respective connecting terminals 28 and the sheathed wire 50 on the insulation plate 20 merely by adjusting the dimensions in depth of the matching portions 52. Thus, it is possible to set the projection amount of the support projection 26 in correspondence with a specification of an electrical component to be connected to the connecting terminal 28 by using the already available insulation plate 20 and connecting terminal 28, without involving a design change of the insulation plate 20. The recess-like matching portion 52 can be readily formed by combining a bush with a mold that forms the upper casing 10, thereby cheaply forming the matching portion 52 by utilizing already-existing parts or instruments.
That is, under an assembling condition between the upper casing 10 and the insulation plate 20, in the case where the projecting dimension h of the tab-like terminal 28a from the upper casing 10 must be set to be a desired size, the projection end surface 54 of the support projection 26a may be spaced apart from the inner surface 22 of the upper casing 10. Accordingly, the bump-like matching portion 52 is provided on a surface opposed to the projection end surface 54 in the inner surface 22 in the second embodiment. Thus, a contact position between the projection end surface 54 of the support projection 26a and the upper casing 10 is disposed at a backward position from the inner surface 22 (downward in
In the case where the projecting dimension h of the tab-like terminal 28a from the upper casing 10 is set to be a desired size and the support projection 26a is spaced apart from the upper casing 10, it is possible for the second embodiment to bring the support projection 26a into contact with the upper casing 10 through the bump-like matching portion 52. Thus, it is possible to reduce a relative shift between the support projection 26a and the upper casing 10, thereby stably supporting the tab-like terminal 28a in the upper casing 10.
Although the embodiments of the present invention are described above in detail, it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, a recess-like matching portion and a bump-like matching portion may be provided on a single casing, as a matter of course.
It is possible to utilize connecting terminals known in the prior art or various kinds of connecting terminal that have been produced for other electrical junction box. Specific configurations of the connecting terminals of the present invention are not limited to the above embodiments.
It is noted that the foregoing examples have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the present invention. While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the words which have been used herein are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. Changes may be made, within the purview of the appended claims, as presently stated and as amended, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention in its aspects. Although the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular structures, materials and embodiments, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein; rather, the present invention extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are within the scope of the appended claims.
The present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments, and various variations and modifications may be possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2010-267476 | Nov 2010 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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6045391 | Jaag | Apr 2000 | A |
6050845 | Smalley et al. | Apr 2000 | A |
7901238 | Muir et al. | Mar 2011 | B1 |
20110039422 | Muir et al. | Feb 2011 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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9-163555 | Jun 1997 | JP |
2000-295736 | Oct 2000 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20120135614 A1 | May 2012 | US |