This application is a U.S. national phase of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2021/026745 filed Jul. 16, 2021; which claims the benefit of priority from Japan Patent Application No. 2020-151005 filed Sep. 9, 2020, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a fuse mainly used for an automobile electric circuit or the like, and more particularly to a fuse including a plurality of terminal portions.
Conventionally, fuses have been used to protect an electric circuit mounted on an automobile or the like and various electrical components connected to the electric circuit. Specifically, when an unintended overcurrent flows in the electric circuit, a fusing portion built in the fuse fuses by heat generated by the overcurrent, so that an excessive current does not flow through various electrical components.
There are various types of fuses depending on the application, and for example, a fuse described in Patent Literature 1 is known. As illustrated in
Therefore, the present invention provides a fuse that can be easily manufactured and has an improved yield.
In order to solve the above problems, a fuse according to the present invention includes an input terminal portion, a bus bar portion through which a current input from the input terminal portion flows, and a terminal portion connected to the bus bar portion through a fusible portion, where a fusible portion unit including the fusible portion and the terminal portion is provided in plurals, and each of the fusible portion unit is a separate body from the bus bar portion and is individually attached to the bus bar portion.
According to the above feature, when the rating of the fusible portion is changed, a desired fuse can be easily manufactured in a short period of time by simply preparing fusible portion units with different ratings and attaching the fusible portion units to the bus bar portion. In addition, even in a case complying with a wide variety of specifications required for a fuse (e.g., a change in the number and size of the terminal portions, a change in the shape of the bus bar portion, etc.), it can be easily manufactured in a short period of time by merely individually changing the fusible portion unit and the bus bar portion. Furthermore, by manufacturing the fusible portion unit including the fusible portion whose shape is changed as a separate body from the bus bar portion, the fusible portion unit and the bus bar portion can be individually designed to optimal shapes, respectively, and the yield is improved as a whole.
Furthermore, in the fuse according to the present invention, the fusible portion of the fusible portion unit extends in a height direction connecting the terminal portion and the bus bar portion, and a part of the fusible portion is bent so as to contract in the height direction and protrude from a surface of the bus bar portion.
According to the above feature, since the fusible portion is configured to contract in the height direction as a whole, the size in the height direction can be prevented from increasing even if the rating is changed. Furthermore, even if the plurality of fuses 700 are lined in a fuse box or the like, a part of the fusible portion is bent so as to protrude from the surface of the bus bar portion, so that the fusible portion can be visually confirmed from an upward or obliquely upward viewpoint, and thus whether or not the fusible portion has fused can be easily confirmed.
Furthermore, in the fuse according to the present invention, the fusible portion unit includes a housing that accommodates the fusible portion, the housing protrudes from a surface of the bus bar portion, and a viewing window through which the fusible portion inside can be viewed is formed on an upper surface wall of the housing.
According to the above feature, whether or not the fusible portion has fused can be easily confirmed from above through the viewing window of the upper surface wall of the housing.
Furthermore, in the fuse according to the present invention, the viewing window extends from an upper surface wall to a front surface wall of the housing.
According to the above feature, whether or not the fusible portion has fused can be easily confirmed through the viewing window even from the upward direction and obliquely upper side.
As described above, according to the fuse of the present invention, the fuse can be easily manufactured, and the yield can be improved.
Preferred and alternative examples of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The shape, material, and the like of each member of a fuse in the embodiment described below are merely examples, and are not limited thereto.
As illustrated in
Furthermore, the shape of the fusible portion 200 is appropriately designed in order to realize a resistance value according to the rating. Specifically, in the fusible portion 200, the length of a linear body 210 which is narrower than the coupling portion 100 and the terminal portion 300 and extends in a long shape is appropriately changed according to the rating. For example, when the rating of the fusible portion 200 decreases, the entire length of the linear body 210 is increased to increase the resistance value of the fusible portion 200. The linear body 210 extends in the height direction Y connecting the bus bar portion to which the coupling portion 100 is connected and fixed and the terminal portion 300 (alternatively, height direction Y connecting the coupling portion 100 and the terminal portion 300). When the entire length of the fusible portion 200 is long, the size of the fusible portion 200 in the height direction Y is prevented from increasing by forming a U-shaped portion 211 in which a part of the linear body 210 is bent to a U-shape or the like.
As illustrated in
Furthermore, the curved portion 212 includes an inclined portion 215 inclined obliquely downward from the coupling portion 100 toward the terminal portion 300, and a welding portion 216 for welding a low melting point metal (not illustrated) made of tin, silver, lead, nickel, an alloy thereof, or the like is provided in a part of the inclined portion 215. When an unintended overcurrent flows in the fusible portion 200, the low melting point metal welded on the welding portion 216 melts and moves downward along the inclined portion 215. Then, the moving low melting point metal is bonded to the connecting portion 217 continuing to the lower side of the welding portion 216, the melting point of the connecting portion 217 is lowered, and the connecting portion 217 of the fusible portion 200 is more quickly and effectively fused.
Note that the fusible portion 200 includes one curved portion 212, but is not limited thereto, and two or more curved portions 212 may be provided to lengthen the entire length of the linear body 210. Furthermore, the fusible portion 200 is not limited to the configuration as illustrated in
Next, a housing 500 attached to the fusible portion unit 400 will be described. The housing 500 accommodates and protects the fusible portion 200 of the fusible portion unit 400 so that the fusible portion 200 is not exposed to an external environment.
The housing 500 is made of insulating synthetic resin or the like, and includes a pair of rear surface side divided body 510 and front surface side divided body 520. The rear surface side divided body 510 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and includes an upper end portion 511 in which the coupling portion 100 of the fusible portion unit 400 can be arranged, a recessed portion 512 covering the fusible portion 200 of the fusible portion unit 400, and a lower end portion 513 in which the terminal portion 300 of the fusible portion unit 400 can be arranged. The front surface side divided body 520 includes an upper surface wall 521, side surface walls 522 on both sides, a front surface wall 523, and a lower surface wall 524, and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape with a hollow inside. An upper end hole 526 through which the coupling portion 100 of the fusible portion unit 400 can be inserted is provided on the upper surface wall 521 side, an accommodation space 527 that accommodates the fusible portion 200 of the fusible portion unit 400 is provided on the inner side of the front surface wall 523, and a lower end hole 528 through which the terminal portion 300 of the fusible portion unit 400 can be inserted is provided on the lower surface wall 524 side.
Furthermore, the front surface side divided body 520 has a viewing window 530 made of transparent or translucent synthetic resin or the like. The viewing window 530 includes an upper end window 531 formed in the upper surface wall 521 and a front window 532 formed in the front surface wall 523. Note that the viewing window 530 is made of a transparent or translucent synthetic resin, but may be made of any material as long as the fusible portion 200 accommodated in the housing 500 can be visually recognized. The viewing window 530 includes the upper end window 531 and the front window 532, but is not limited thereto, and may include only the upper end window 531 without the front window 532.
Next, a manner in which the housing 500 is assembled to the fusible portion unit 400 will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
In addition, the upper end window 531 and the front window 532 of the viewing window 530 are arranged to face the front surface side of the inclined portion 215 of the fusible portion 200. Therefore, the welding portion 216 and the connecting portion 217 located at the inclined portion 215 can be easily viewed from the upper end window 531 or the front window 532, and the melting state of the low melting point metal on the welding portion 216 and the melting state of the connecting portion 217 can be easily confirmed.
Next, a fuse 700 in which the fusible portion unit 400 is attached to a bus bar portion 600 will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
As described above, according to the fuse 700 of the present invention, the fusible portion unit 400 including the terminal portion 300 and the fusible portion 200 is manufactured as a separate body from the bus bar portion 600, and each fusible portion unit 400 is individually attached to the bus bar portion 600. Therefore, when the shape of the fusible portion 200 is changed according to the rating, it is only necessary to separately prepare the fusible portion unit 400 in which the shape of the fusible portion 200 is changed and to replace and fix it to the busbar portion 600, and it is not necessary to change the other fusible portion units 400 and the busbar portion 600. That is, in the present invention, since the fusible portion 200, the terminal portion 300, and the bus bar portion 600 are not integrally formed from one metal plate as in the prior art, even if the shape of the fusible portion 200 is changed according to the rating, the influence of the design change is limited to the fusible portion unit 400 including the fusible portion 200, and does not affect the other fusible portion units 400 and the bus bar portion 600. Therefore, when the rating is changed, a desired fuse 700 can be easily manufactured in a short period of time by simply preparing fusible portion units 400 with different ratings and attaching the same to the bus bar portion 600. Even in a case complying with a wide variety of specifications required for the fuse 700 (e.g., a change in the number and size of the terminal portions 300, a change in the shape of the bus bar portion 600, etc.), the desired fuse 700 can be easily manufactured in a short period of time by merely individually replacing and changing the fusible portion unit 400 and the bus bar portion 600 according to the specifications. Furthermore, by manufacturing the fusible portion unit 400 including the fusible portion 200 whose shape is changed as a separate body from the bus bar portion 600, the fusible portion unit 400 and the bus bar portion 600 can be individually designed to optimal shapes, respectively, and the yield is improved as a whole.
In addition, since the fusible portion unit 400 including the terminal portion 300 and the fusible portion 200 is manufactured as a separate body from the bus bar portion 600, a metal material having a relatively high resistance value can be used for the portion constituting the fusible portion 200 in order to secure the fusing performance, and a metal material having a relatively low resistance value can be used for the bus bar portion 600 having a role of distributing the current to each fusible portion unit 400 in order to efficiently flow the current.
In addition, since each of the fusible portion units 400 is configured as a separate body from the other fusible portion units 400 and the bus bar portion 600, fine processing of the fusible portion 200 of the fusible portion unit 400 as illustrated in
In particular, since the size in the height direction Y can be adjusted by adjusting the degree of bending of the curved portion 212, the height of each of the fusible portion units 400 having different ratings can be aligned.
Furthermore, since a part of the fusible portion 200 is configured to contract in the height direction Y of the fuse 700 and protrude from the surface of the bus bar portion 600 (or the surface of the coupling portion 100), whether or not the fusible portion 200 is fused can be easily confirmed. As illustrated in
Even when the fusible portion unit 400 includes the housing 500 that protects the fusible portion 200, the housing 500 protrudes from the flat surface of the bus bar main body 620 of the bus bar portion 600, and the upper surface wall 521 of the housing 500 includes the viewing window 530 (upper end window 531) through which the fusible portion 200 inside can be viewed, so that whether or not the fusible portion 200 has fused can be easily confirmed from above. Furthermore, since the viewing window 530 (front window 532) extends to the front surface wall 523 of the housing 500, whether or not the fusible portion 200 has fused can be easily confirmed even from the upward direction and the obliquely upper side. Each of the fusible portion units 400 includes the housing 500 having the viewing window 530, but is not limited thereto, and for example, the fuse 700 may include a housing that covers the bus bar portion 600 and each of the fusible portion units 400 similarly to the conventional fuse 900 illustrated in
The fuse according to the present invention is not limited to the example described above, and various modifications and combinations are possible within the scope of the claims and the scope of the embodiments, and these modifications and combinations are also included in the scope of rights.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2020-151005 | Sep 2020 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2021/026745 | 7/16/2021 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2022/054404 | 3/17/2022 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
20160005563 | Fukunaga | Jan 2016 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
103415906 | Nov 2013 | CN |
2007-80709 | Mar 2007 | JP |
2011-253679 | Dec 2011 | JP |
2014-182952 | Sep 2014 | JP |
2015-22866 | Feb 2015 | JP |
10-2016-0081061 | Jul 2016 | KR |
WO-0243097 | May 2002 | WO |
WO-2011086995 | Jul 2011 | WO |
WO-2014123168 | Aug 2014 | WO |
Entry |
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Takuchi, Naoto; Title: Method for forming fuse wire circuit of bus bar, fuse, and fuse; CN 103415906; Entire specification and drawings (Year: 2012). |
International Search Report (with English translation) and Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority, dated Sep. 14, 2021, in International Patent Application No. PCT/JP21/26745, 8 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230215675 A1 | Jul 2023 | US |