Patent Grant
9378911
The present invention relates to a fuse which prevents supply of an overcurrent, and to a fuse attachment structure for attaching the fuse.
As shown in
The fuse attachment unit 64 includes multiple cavities 65, and a fuse 50 is attached to each cavity 65. Here, a width dimension W3 of each cavity 65 is determined by a width W4 of the fuse 50.
[PTL 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-333583
However, the conventional fuse 50 has a problem of producing a large amount of material loss since the fuse element 51 is formed by punching the flat plate with the press machine. Specifically, regions E in
Meanwhile, in the conventional fuse 50, the flat connection terminals 51a each having a large area are connected to both ends of the meltable portion 51b having a small cross-sectional area, whereby the width of the connection terminals 51a is large. Accordingly, the fuse element 51, or in particular, the shape retaining member 52 which retains the shape of the pair of connection terminals 51a is also formed into a wide and complicated shape, whereby the dimension W4 of the fuse 50 is increased. For this reason, the cavities 65 of the fuse attachment unit 64 are increased in size, which is a factor for a size-increase in the outermost shape of the vehicle junction box 60.
The present invention has been made to solve the aforementioned problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a fuse which can be formed with little material loss and can be reduced in size, and to provide a fuse attachment structure using the fuse.
A first aspect of the invention of this application provides a fuse including: a conductive fuse element including a pair of connection terminals formed by bending two ends of a conductive wire rod, and a meltable portion provided between the pair of connection terminals and formed to have a smaller cross-sectional area than the remainder of the fuse element; and an insulative shape retaining member fixed to the fuse element and retaining a shape of the fuse element.
A second aspect of the invention of this application provides the fuse in which the meltable portion of the fuse element has a bent shape.
A third aspect of the invention of this application provides the fuse in which the shape retaining member has a lock portion designed to be locked by elastic deformation, and the shape retaining member is attachable to inside of a fuse container box by use of the lock portion.
A fourth aspect of the invention of this application provides a fuse attachment structure adapted to contain the fuse in a fuse container box including multiple cavities partitioned by partition walls.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the fuse element can be manufactured by cutting the conductive wire rod into a predetermined length and then bending or crushing the cut wire rod. Thus, the fuse element can be manufactured with little material loss of the conductive wire rod. In addition, since the fuse element is the wire rod, each connection terminal has a small width, and the insulative retaining member to retain the shape of the fuse element may have a small width and a simple shape. Thus, the fuse can be reduced in size.
In addition to the above-mentioned effects, according to the second aspect of the invention of this application, it is possible to form the fuse for a low current value and to further reduce the width dimension of the fuse element.
In addition to the above-mentioned effects, according to the third aspect of the invention of this application, the fuse can be attached reliably to the fuse container box so as not to drop off merely by insertion of the fuse.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention of this application, each fuse is small in size, so that each cavity can be formed small. Thus, the fuse container box can be reduced in size (reduced in height). In addition, since the fuse container box has the multiple cavities partitioned by the partition walls, the fuses thus reduced in size can be mounted densely while short circuits among the fuses are prevented.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
As shown in
The meltable portion 2b is crushed and thereby formed to have the smaller cross-sectional area than the remainder. The cross-sectional area and length of the meltable portion 2b are adjusted as appropriate depending on a value of an allowable current. Press-fit lock portions 2c each having a tiny projection protruding from a surface thereof are formed in intermediate positions of the respective connection terminals 2a. A tip end portion of each connection terminal 2a is crushed and thereby formed into a tapered portion 2d that is tapered forward.
As shown in
The shape retaining member 3 is fixed by the pair of connection terminals 2a of the fuse element 2 being press-fitted into the block portion 3a down to the positions of the press-fit lock portions 2c. The shape retaining member 3 fixed by press-fitting does not easily drop off with the assistance of strong locking force of the press-fit lock portions 2c. The shape retaining member 3 retains the shape of the fuse element 2. Accordingly, the shape of the fuse element 2 is retained so as to avoid a deformation such as expansion or contraction of a clearance between the pair of connection terminals 2a.
Next, description will be given of a fuse container box 10 to contain a number of the fuses 1A thus configured.
As shown in
Multiple (ten in this embodiment) cavities 14 partitioned by the partition walls 13 are arranged in a lateral row inside the fuse container box 10. A width dimension W2 of each cavity 14 is set slightly larger than a width W1 of the fuse 1A described above. However, since the width of the fuse 1A is narrow in the first place, the width of the cavity 14 is set sufficiently narrower than the cavity of the conventional example.
Terminal insertion holes 12a (shown in
When the fuse 1A is inserted into the cavity 14, the pair of connection terminals 2a go into the terminal insertion hole 12a and then the lock portions 3b of the shape retaining member 3 hit peripheral edges of the terminal insertion hole 12a. When the fuse 1A is inserted further from this position, the pair of lock portions 3b are elastically deformed and allowed to be inserted into the terminal insertion hole 12a. At the same time as when the pair of lock portions 3b pass through the terminal insertion holes 12a, the block portion 3a of the shape retaining member 3 hits the base plate 12 and the pair of lock portions 3b are elastically restituted and then locked with peripheral edges, on an opposite face side, of the terminal insertion hole 12a. Thus, the fuse 1A is attached to the cavity 14 of the fuse container box 10 as shown in
The fuse container box 10 attaching the fuses 1A thereto is attached to a fuse attachment structure of a power source holder in a vehicle junction box, for instance.
As described above, the fuse 1A includes: the conductive fuse element 2 having the pair of connection terminals 2a formed by bending the two ends of the conductive wire rod in such a manner that the ends extend parallel with each other, and the meltable portion 2b provided between the pair of connection terminals 2a and formed to have the smaller cross-sectional area than the remainder of the fuse element 2; and the insulative shape retaining member 3 fixed to the fuse element 2 and retaining the shape of the fuse element 2. Accordingly, the fuse element 2 can be manufactured by cutting the conductive wire rod into a predetermined length and then bending or crushing the cut wire rod. Thus, the fuse element can be manufactured with little material loss of the conductive wire rod. In particular, cutting work, crushing work, and bending work of the conductive wire rod can be performed by a single piece of equipment, so that the fuse element 2 can be manufactured at very low cost.
In addition, since the fuse element 2 is the wire rod, each connection terminal 2a has a small width, and the shape retaining member 3 to retain the shape of the fuse element 2 may have a small width and a simple shape. Thus, the fuse 1A can be formed to have the width W1 which is smaller than the conventional example. Hence, it is possible to downsize the fuse 1A.
The shape retaining member 3 is press-fitted into the fuse element 2 and is thereby fixed to the fuse element 2. Accordingly, the fuse 1A can easily be manufactured just by press-fitting the fuse element 2 into the shape retaining member 3.
The shape retaining member 3 includes the lock portions 3b to be locked by elastic deformation, and the fuse 1A is attached to the inside of the fuse container box 10 by use of the lock portions 3b. Thus, the fuse 1A can be attached reliably to the fuse container box 10 so as not to drop off merely by the insertion of the fuse 1A.
The fuses 1A are contained in the fuse container box 10 provided with the multiple cavities 14 partitioned by the partition walls 13. Each fuse 1A is small in size as described previously, so that the cavities 14 can be formed small as well. Thus, the fuse container box 10 can be reduced in size (reduced in height). In addition, since the fuse container box 10 has the multiple cavities 14 partitioned by the partition walls 13, the fuses thus reduced in size can be mounted densely while short circuits among the fuses are prevented. Because the fuse container box 10 can be reduced in size (reduced in height) in this manner, it is possible to reduce a thickness of the power source holder and to reduce a resin material for the vehicle junction block.
Meanwhile, in the fuse 1A, the width of the fuse element 2 can be changed by changing the bending positions of the wire rod. It is possible to reduce the thickness of the power source holder and to reduce the resin material for the vehicle junction block in this way as well.
As shown in
The rest of the configuration of the fuse 1B is the same as that of the first embodiment and duplicate description will therefore be omitted. Note that the same constituents in the relevant drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals for the purpose of clarification.
As described above, since the meltable portion 2b of the fuse element 2 is bent, it is possible to form the fuse 1B for a low current value, and to further reduce the width dimension of the fuse element 2.
As shown in
The rest of the configuration of the fuse 1C is the same as that of the first embodiment and duplicate description will therefore be omitted. Note that the same constituents in the relevant drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals for the purpose of clarification.
As described above, since the fuse element 2 has a plate shape, the fuse 1C has significant strength. Meanwhile, an opponent terminal may be formed into a shape of a tuning fork.
In the present invention, the fuse element 2 only needs to be able to undergo the bending work and the crushing work. Hence, the fuse element 2 may be formed of a wire rod having a cross-sectional shape other than the square shape or the plate shape.
According to the present invention, the fuse element can be manufactured by cutting the conductive wire rod into a predetermined length and then bending or crushing the cut wire rod. Thus, the fuse element can be manufactured with little material loss of the conductive wire rod. In addition, since the fuse element is the wire rod, each connection terminal has a small width and therefore the insulative retaining member to retain the shape of the fuse element may have a small width and a simple shape. Thus, the fuse can be reduced in size.
This application is a Continuation of PCT Application No. PCT/JP2011/053555, filed on Feb. 18, 2011, and the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
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| S53-104929 | Aug 1978 | JP |
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| Entry |
|---|
| Korean office action issued on Sep. 17, 2014. |
| The Chinese office action letter issued on Dec. 5, 2014, in the counterpart Chinese patent application. (Application No. 201180067902.1). |
| The Chinese office action letter issued on Aug. 10, 2015 in the counterpart Chinese patent application. |
| The Office Action issued on Mar. 2, 2016 in the counterpart German patent application. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130328658 A1 | Dec 2013 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2011/053555 | Feb 2011 | US |
| Child | 13964146 | US |
