The present invention relates to a fuse unit attachment structure.
In
The battery terminal 110 includes, as shown in
The post fastening section 111 has a structure including a post insertion hole 111a into which the battery post 210 is inserted, a slit 111b forming a partially separated structure of the post insertion hole 111a, and a fastening screw 111c for fixing the post fastening section 111 to the battery post 210 by narrowing the slit 111b when tightened.
The fuse unit mounting section 112 is configured such that a stud bolt 112b is provided upright on a conductive plate portion 112a provided integrally with the post fastening section 111. The stud bolt 112b is provided such that the extending direction of its center axis line C1 is parallel to the direction of the center axis line C2 of the post insertion hole 111a of the post fastening section 111.
The battery directly attaching type fuse unit 120 includes a terminal connection section 121 having a terminal connection conductor 121a to be fastened to the fuse unit mounting section 112 and electrically connected to the battery post 210 via the battery terminal 110 and a resin housing 122 accommodating a plurality of connection terminals and fuses that are connected to the terminal connection conductor 121a in a branched manner.
The resin housing 122 includes a terminal accommodating section 122a accommodating the plurality of connection terminals connected to the terminal connection conductor 121a in a branched manner. Electric wires receiving electric power from the battery 200 are connected to the connection terminals accommodated in the terminal accommodating section 122a. The plurality of fuses provided between the terminal connection conductor 121a and the connection terminals are accommodated in a fuse accommodating section 122b.
The resin housing 122 accommodating the plurality of fuses and connection terminals is provided in a shape that extends downward perpendicularly from the end section of the terminal connection conductor 121a. As shown in
However, according to the attachment structure described above, when the mounting direction of the battery terminal 110 is inclined by an angle 0 from the proper mounting direction as shown in
As a countermeasure for preventing such a drawback, the structure of the battery terminal 120 itself or the structure of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 120 itself may be modified such that the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 120 does not hit the battery 200. However, such a countermeasure requires the battery terminal or the battery directly attaching type fuse unit to be newly designed and has a problem in that the prevention of the hitting cannot be made for existing products.
Illustrative aspects of the present invention provide a fuse unit attachment structure in which a battery directly attaching type fuse unit to be connected to a battery post of a battery via a battery terminal is prevented from hitting a lateral surface of the battery without modifying a structure of an existing battery terminal or battery directly attaching type fuse unit.
(1) According to an illustrative aspect of the present invention, a fuse unit attachment structure includes a fuse bracket configured to be mounted on a battery directly attaching type fuse unit, the battery directly attaching type fuse unit configured to be connected to a battery terminal to be fastened to a battery post of a battery such that a portion of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit is disposed on a side of a lateral surface of the battery, and a bracket connecting member configured to connect the fuse bracket to the battery. The fuse bracket includes a unit supporting portion configured to support the battery directly attaching type fuse unit such that the battery directly attaching type fuse unit is movable in a direction perpendicular to the lateral surface of the battery and a connecting member engaging portion configured to engage with the bracket connecting member so as to be movable in a direction along the lateral surface of the battery. The bracket connecting member includes a guide plate portion configured to engage with the connecting member engaging portion to support the fuse bracket such that the fuse bracket is movable in the direction along the lateral surface of the battery and a battery connection portion configured to engage with an engaging portion provided on a top surface of the battery around a post arranging section of the battery on which the battery post is arranged such that a movement of the battery connection portion in a direction along the top surface of the battery is restricted.
(2) The engaging portion on the top surface of the battery may be an existing mounting hole provided on the top surface of the battery to mount a post cover that covers an upper portion of the battery post.
(3) The unit supporting portion may include a pair of first guide grooves with which respective sides of a terminal connection section of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit to be connected to the battery terminal are engaged such that the respective sides of the terminal connection section are slidable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface of the batter. The connecting member engaging portion may include a pair of second guide grooves with which the guide plate portion of the bracket connecting member provided in a protruding manner is engaged such that the guide plate portion is slidable in the direction along the lateral surface of the battery.
According to the configuration of (1) described above, the battery directly attaching type fuse unit connected to the battery terminal is positioned on the battery by the fuse bracket mounted on the battery directly attaching type fuse unit and by the bracket connecting member for connecting the fuse bracket to the battery. Moreover, with the configuration of (1) described above, when the mounting direction of the battery terminal is inclined from the proper mounting direction, the movement direction of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit connected to the battery terminal is restricted by the engagement between the unit supporting portion of the fuse bracket and the battery directly attaching type fuse unit and by the engagement between the guide plate portion of the bracket connecting member and the fuse bracket.
Hence, the moving operation of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit accompanied by the inclination of the battery terminal becomes parallel movement operation with respect to the lateral surface of the battery while the battery directly attaching type fuse unit maintains the same mounting posture as that obtained when the mounting direction of the battery terminal is proper, whereby the battery directly attaching type fuse unit is prevented from hitting the lateral surface of the battery. Consequently, the battery directly attaching type fuse unit is prevented from being damaged due to hitting the lateral surface of the battery.
Further, with the configuration of (1) described above, the positioning of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit with respect to the battery is performed by the fuse bracket mounted on the battery directly attaching type fuse unit and by the bracket connecting member for connecting the fuse bracket to the battery, whereby the battery directly attaching type fuse unit itself and the battery terminal itself are not particularly required to be modified in structure. Consequently, the battery terminal and the battery directly attaching type fuse unit are not required to be designed newly, whereby the prevention of the hitting of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit with respect to the battery can be achieved at low cost.
According to the configuration of (2) described above, the engaging portion on the top surface of the battery, with which the bracket connecting member is engaged, is provided as the mounting holes that are conventionally provided on the top surface of the battery to mount the post cover for covering the upper portion of the battery post. In other words, it is not necessary to form a special-purpose engaging structure on the battery to mount the bracket connecting member, whereby the prevention of the hitting of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit can be achieved by applying the fuse unit attachment structure according to the present invention without any remodeling of the battery.
According to the configuration of (3) described above, both the unit supporting portion and the connecting member engaging portion provided for the fuse bracket have simple structures each having a pair of guide grooves, whereby the structure of the fuse bracket can be made simple.
With the fuse unit attachment structure according to illustrative aspects of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the battery directly attaching type fuse unit to be connected to the battery post of the battery via the battery terminal from hitting the lateral surface of the battery without modifying a structure of an existing terminal or battery directly attaching type fuse unit.
The present invention has been briefly described above. Details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through a mode for carrying out the invention (hereafter referred to as “embodiment”) described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Hereinafter, embodiments of a fuse unit attachment structure according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
The battery post 12 is a columnar electrode provided on the battery 10 and is arranged at a post arranging section 11 at a corner of an upper surface of the battery 10. The post arranging section 11 is provided at a position one-step lower than the top surface 13 of the battery to suppress the battery terminal 20 fastened to the battery post 12 from protruding toward the top surface 13 of the battery.
On the top surface 13 of the battery around the post arranging section 11, a pair of mounting holes 15 is provided as an engaging portion to be engaged with the battery connection portion 52 of the bracket connecting member 50. This pair of mounting holes 15 serves as cover mounting holes conventionally formed on the top surface 13 of the battery to mount a post cover (not shown) for covering the upper portion of the battery connection portion 52. In other words, in the embodiment, the existing mounting holes 15 for mounting the post cover are used so as to be engaged with the bracket connecting member 50.
The battery terminal 20 includes, as shown in
The post fastening section 21 has a structure including a post insertion hole 21a into which the battery post 12 is inserted, a slit 21b in which the post insertion hole 21a is partially cut, and a fastening screw 21 for fastening the post fastening section 21 to the battery post 12 by tightening the slit 21b so that the clearance in the slit 21b becomes narrow.
The fuse unit mounting section 22 is configured such that a stud bolt 22b is provided upright on a conductive plate portion 22a integrated with the post fastening section 21 as shown in
The battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 includes, as shown in
The terminal connection section 31 has a terminal connection conductor 31a fastened to the fuse unit mounting section 22 and a housing section 31b made of an insulating resin and accommodating the terminal connection conductor 31a.
The housing section 31b is integrated with the resin housing 32. The housing section 31b covers the circumference of the terminal connection conductor 31a so as not to prevent the conductive connection between the terminal connection conductor 31a and the fuse unit mounting section 22. Since the terminal connection conductor 31a is fastened to the fuse unit mounting section 22, the terminal connection section 31 becomes conductive with the battery terminal 20, thereby being electrically connected to the battery post 12 via the battery terminal 20.
According to the present embodiment, in the housing section 31b, a vacant space section 312 is defined on the back side of the terminal connection conductor 31a by a pair of side wall portions 311 extending downward at both sides of the terminal connection conductor 31a as shown in
A plurality of connection terminals and fuses that are connected to the terminal connection conductor 31a in a branched manner are accommodated in the resin housing 32.
The plurality of connection terminals connected to the terminal connection conductor 31a in a branched manner are accommodated in the terminal accommodating section 32a of the resin housing 32. Electric wires receiving electric power from the battery 10 are connected to the connection terminals accommodated in the terminal accommodating section 32a. The plurality of fuses provided between the terminal connection conductor 31a and the connection terminals are accommodated in a fuse accommodating section 32b.
The resin housing 32 accommodating the plurality of fuses and connection terminals is formed in a shape that extends downward perpendicularly from the end section of the terminal connection conductor 31a. As shown in
The fuse bracket 40 is mounted on the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30. The fuse bracket 40 has a unit supporting portion 41 and a connecting member engaging portion 42 as shown in
The unit supporting portion 41 has a pair of first guide grooves 411 with which both sides of the terminal connection section 31 of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 are slidably engaged as shown in
In other words, the unit supporting portion 41 allows the pair of first guide grooves 411 to be engaged with both sides of the terminal connection section 31, thereby supporting the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 so that the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 is movable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10.
The connecting member engaging portion 42 has a pair of second guide grooves 421 with which the guide plate portion 51 protruding from the bracket connecting member 50 is slidably engaged as shown in
In other words, since the guide plate portion 51 of the bracket connecting member 50 is engaged with the pair of the second guide grooves 421, the connecting member engaging portion 42 is engaged with the bracket connecting member 50 so as to be slidable in the direction along the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10.
The bracket connecting member 50 is a member for connecting the fuse bracket 40 to the battery 10 and has the guide plate portion 51 and the battery connection portion 52 as shown in
The guide plate portion 51 is formed into a rectangular protruding shape extending along the direction indicated by arrow X in
The battery connection portion 52 includes, as shown in
The pair of protrusions 521 forming the battery connection portion 52 is fitted into the pair of mounting holes 15 on the top surface 13 of the battery, whereby the movement of the bracket connecting member 50 in the direction along the top surface 13 of the battery is restricted.
The fuse bracket 40 and the bracket connecting member 50 described above are assembled with the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 before the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 is mounted on the battery terminal 20. Furthermore, when the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 assembled with the fuse bracket 40 and the bracket connecting member 50 is mounted on the fuse unit mounting section 22 of the battery terminal 20 from the upper side of the battery 10, the pair of protrusions 521 of the bracket connecting member 50 is engaged with the mounting holes 15 on the top surface 13 of the battery, whereby the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 is positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the battery 10.
In the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment described above, the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 connected to the battery terminal 20 is positioned on the battery 10 by the fuse bracket 40 mounted on the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 and by the bracket connecting member 50 for connecting the fuse bracket 40 to the battery 10. Moreover, in the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, when the mounting direction of the battery terminal 20 is inclined by angle θ1 from the proper mounting direction as shown in
Hence, the moving operation of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 accompanied by the inclination of the battery terminal 20 becomes parallel movement operation with respect to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 while the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 maintains the same mounting posture as that obtained when the mounting direction of the battery terminal 20 is proper, whereby the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 is prevented from hitting the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10. Consequently, the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 is prevented from being damaged due to hitting the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10.
Further, with the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, the positioning of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 with respect to the battery 10 is performed by the fuse bracket 40 mounted on the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 and by the bracket connecting member 50 for connecting the fuse bracket 40 to the battery 10, whereby the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 itself and the battery terminal 20 itself are not particularly required to be modified in structure. Consequently, the battery terminal 20 and the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 are not required to be designed newly, whereby the prevention of the hitting of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 with respect to the battery 10 can be achieved at low cost.
Further, with the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, the engaging portion on the top surface 13 of the battery, with which the bracket connecting member 50 is engaged, is provided as the mounting holes 15 that are conventionally provided on the top surface 13 of the battery to mount the post cover for covering the upper portion of the battery post 12. In other words, it is not necessary to form a special-purpose engaging structure on the battery 10 to mount the bracket connecting member 50, whereby the prevention of the hitting of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 can be achieved by applying the fuse unit attachment structure according to the present invention without any remodeling of the battery 10.
Further, with the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, both the unit supporting portion 41 and the connecting member engaging portion 42 provided for the fuse bracket 40 have simple structures each having a pair of guide grooves, whereby the structure of the fuse bracket 40 can be made simple.
Further, the unit supporting portion 41 provided for the fuse bracket 40 has the pair of first guide grooves 411 for slidably holding both sides of the terminal connection section 31 of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30. Hence, the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 can be supported so as to be movable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 without performing special processing to the terminal connection section 31 itself of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30. Consequently, prevention of hitting can also be achieved for the existing battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and changes and modifications may be made therein as appropriate. The materials, shapes, dimensions, quantities, arrangement positions, and the like of the respective components in the embodiments described above are optional and not limited in so far as the present invention can be achieved.
Here, features of the embodiments of the fuse unit attachment structure according to the present invention described above will be briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] to [3].
1 A fuse unit attachment structure including a fuse bracket (40) configured to be mounted on a battery directly attaching type fuse unit (30), the battery directly attaching type fuse unit (30) configured to be connected to a battery terminal (20) to be fastened to a battery post (12) of a battery (10) such that a portion of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit (30) is disposed on a side of a lateral surface (16) of the battery (10), and a bracket connecting member (50) configured to connect the fuse bracket (40) to the battery (10),
wherein the fuse bracket (40) includes a unit supporting portion (41) configured to support the battery directly attaching type fuse unit (30) such that the battery directly attaching type fuse unit (30) is movable in a direction perpendicular to the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10) and a connecting member engaging portion (42) configured to engage with the bracket connecting member (50) so as to be movable in a direction along the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10), and
wherein the bracket connecting member (50) includes a guide plate portion (51) configured to engage with the connecting member engaging portion (42) to support the fuse bracket (40) such that the fuse bracket (40) is movable in the direction along the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10) and a battery connection portion (52) configured to engage with an engaging portion (mounting holes 15) provided on a top surface (13) of the battery around a post arranging section (11) of the battery (10) on which the battery post (12) is arranged such that a movement of the battery connection portion (52) in a direction along the top surface (13) of the battery is restricted.
[2] The fuse unit attachment structure according to [1] described above, wherein the engaging portion on the top surface (13) of the battery is an existing mounting hole (15) provided on the top surface (13) of the battery to mount a post cover that covers an upper portion of the battery post (12).
[3] The fuse unit attachment structure according to [1] or [2] described above, wherein the unit supporting portion (41) includes a pair of first guide grooves (411) with which respective sides of a terminal connection section (31) of the battery directly attaching type fuse unit (30) to be connected to the battery terminal (20) are engaged such that the respective sides of a terminal connection section (31) are slidable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10), and
wherein the connecting member engaging portion (42) includes a pair of second guide grooves (421) with which the guide plate portion (51) of the bracket connecting member (50) provided in a protruding manner is engaged such that the guide plate portion (51) is slidable in the direction along the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10).
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013-195776 | Sep 2013 | JP | national |
This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2014/074887 filed on Sep. 19, 2014, claiming priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-195776 filed on Sep. 20, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2014/074887 | Sep 2014 | US |
Child | 15072595 | US |