The present invention relates to an electronic components mounted wiring body for use in vehicles and others as well as an electronic components mounting structure.
In recent years, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been widely used for lamps on the front and rear of automobiles. An Electric wire, bus bar or flat wiring body has been used to form a wiring circuit or power feed circuit for such LEDs. For instance, a light emitting structure in which LEDs that are connected to electric wires are arranged in three dimensional steps is known (see patent documents D1 and D2). Also known is another light emitting structure in which LEDs that are connected to a flat wiring body are arranged in a three dimensional steps (see patent documents D3 to D6).
Patent Document D1: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2000-243110
Patent Document D2: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2002-245812
Patent Document D3: Japanese Patent Application Publication H10-247421
Patent Document D4: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2001-222915
Patent Document D5: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2002-133917
Patent Document D6: Japanese Patent Application Publication 2004-247281
However, the above mentioned conventional art disclosed in the respective patent documents generally has two problems: The first problem is associated with the operability of the mounting and assembling. In the case of patent documents D1 and D2, the light emitting structure using a wiring circuit in the form of electric wires or bus bars requires time-consuming and troublesome operations for mounting and wiring LEDs on a complicated and integrally formed, three-dimensional base of the structure. Similarly in the case of patent documents D3 to D6, the light emitting structure using a flat wiring body requires time-consuming and troublesome operations for positioning LEDs at respective steps and fixing the flat wiring body. Thus in either case, the mounting cost is increased accordingly.
The second problem is associated with the cost of parts and material. Specifically, the art disclosed in patent documents D1 to D6 uses an integrally fixed base for arranging a plurality of LEDs. Such a base generally serves as the one specialized for an individual particular light emitting structure. Hence, in order for the base to address various kind of the light emitting structure, increased kinds of such bases are required, thus increasing the material and management cost. In addition, the volume of the base tends to be increased for the mounting capability requirement so that the freedom of designing the base is limited. Furthermore, in the case of the patent documents D3 to D6, which use a straight flat wiring body, it is difficult to arrange the light emitting devices in a curved line (e.g. circular arc) in order to correspond to the shape of the light emitting structure, thus requiring a specialized pattern circuit and increasing the material cost.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic components-mounted wiring body with which mounting operations on the structure can easily and surely be done even when a complicated wiring pattern is required, and the mounting cost and the material cost are thus reduced.
According to the present invention, a first embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body comprises a flat wiring body on which a plurality of electronic components is mounted, and a plurality of base members on which the flat wiring body is mounted, wherein the flat wiring body includes arrangement direction changing folds which are bent so as to change an arrangement direction of the electronic components, and wherein the base members include arrangement direction changing members which fix the arrangement direction changing folds.
In a second embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, the base members are identical in shape.
In a third embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, the flat wiring body is preformed with fold lines at which the flat wiring body is bent afterward to form bends.
In a fourth embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, the electronic components comprise light emitting diodes.
In a fifth embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, a pierce terminal and a feed line are connected to the flat wiring body at a portion thereof so that the piece terminal mechanically and electrically connects the flat wiring body to the feed line.
In a sixth embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, connectors each having a rear plate and a piercing member are provided to electrically and mechanically connect the electronic components to the flat wiring body.
In a seventh embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, leads of the electronic component are connected to the rear plate of the connector by means of shear connection.
In an eighth embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, the base members are formed with holes at appropriate positions thereof to fix or expose the electronic components.
In a ninth embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body, the base members include fixing structures which fix the flat wiring body to the base members.
According to the invention, a tenth embodiment of the electronic components mounted wiring body comprises a flat wiring body on which a plurality of electronic components is mounted, and a plurality of base members on which the flat wiring body is mounted, wherein the flat wiring body includes arrangement direction changing folds which are bent so as to change an arrangement direction of the electronic components, wherein the base members include arrangement direction changing members which fix the arrangement direction changing bends, and wherein joining members are used to join the plurality of the base members to configure the electronic components mounted wiring body into a three-dimensional shape.
The present invention provides an electronic components mounted wiring body which comprises a flat wiring body on which a plurality of electronic components is mounted, and a plurality of base members on which the flat wiring body is mounted, wherein the flat wiring body includes arrangement direction changing folds which are bent so as to change an arrangement direction of the electronic components, and wherein the base members include arrangement direction changing members which fix the arrangement direction changing folds. Thus, the present invention reduces the time-consuming operations that are required in the conventional art to individually mount and wire electronic components on the base structure at respective positions which is integrally formed in a complicated three dimension. In addition, unlike the conventional art, there is no need for preparing a variety of base structures according to product kinds. The present invention can be adapted to different product kinds by simply combining and assembling a reduced set of standard base members, thus increasing the freedom of design.
According to the present invention, the electronic components mounting structure uses the base members which are identical in shape. Hence, unlike the conventional art, there is no need for preparing various kinds of base structures according to product kinds, and thus the component cost and the management cost are significantly reduced.
In addition, according to the present invention, the base members of the electronic components mounting structure include arrangement direction changing folds which are bent so as to change an arrangement direction of the electronic components. Hence, a curved arrangement of electronic components, which has been difficult for the conventional flat wiring body to make, can be realized by a simple operation and at low cost so that the mounting cost and the material cost is reduced.
Further, according to the invention, the electronic components mounted wiring structure uses joining members to join the plurality of the base members to configure the electronic components mounted wiring body into a three-dimensional shape. Hence, a variety of electronic components mounted wiring structures having different shapes can be provided at a low cost.
The present invention will now be described with respect to an embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the drawings.
In the embodiment of the invention, the electronic component mounted wiring body is assembled by mounting a plurality of the base members 31 to the flat wiring body 2, on which a plurality of electronic components 20 is mounted. According to a feature of the present invention, each base member 31 has an arrangement direction changing member 37 to change the arrangement direction of the electronic components 20 of the flat wiring body 2. This feature will be described in more detail in the following.
As shown in
Changing the arrangement direction of electronic components 20 is realized by fitting or inserting one of arrangement direction changing folds 9 of the flat wiring body 2 into the arrangement direction changing member 37 in the form of a hole formed in each base member 31, as indicated in
The direction of the flat wiring body 2 is changed by fitting its arrangement direction changing fold 9 into the arrangement direction changing member 37. If desired, the number of the base members 31 could be one. In the embodiment illustrated in
In
It should be noted in
For example, the angle θ formed between the side edges of the flat wiring body 2 and the mountain fold 9a is set to a right angle. The distances x1, x2, y1 and y2 between the mountain fold 9a and the valley folds 9b at the side edges are set so as to meet the relations of x1=x2, y1=y2, x4≠y1 and x2≠y2. With these settings, the arrangement direction of the electronic components 20 of the flat wiring body 2 is changed at the position of the arrangement direction changing fold 9 with respect to the angle of the arrangement direction while sections of the flat wiring body 2 extending from opposite sides the arrangement direction changing fold 9 are kept generally flat. The amount of the changing angle of the arrangement direction may be adjusted by values of the distances x1, x2, y1 and y2 between the mountain fold 9a and the valley folds 9b.
In
For example, the angle θ formed between the side edges of the flat wiring body 2 and the mountain fold 9a is set to an acute angle of 0<θ<90 degrees or obtuse angle of 90<θ<180 degrees. The distances x1, x2, y1 and y2 between the mountain fold 9a and the valley folds 9b at the side edges of the flat wiring body 2 are set so as to meet the relations of x1=x2, y1=y2, x1=y1 and x2=y2. With these settings, the arrangement direction of the electronic components 20 of the flat wiring body 2 is laterally shifted at the position of the arrangement direction changing fold 9 while sections of the flat wiring body 2 extending from opposite sides the arrangement direction changing fold 9 are kept generally flat.
In
For example, the angle θ1 formed between the side edges of the flat wiring body 2 and the mountain fold 9a is an acute angle of 0<θ1<90 degrees or obtuse angle of 90<θ1<180 degrees. The angle θ2 formed between the side edges of the flat wiring body 2 and the left valley fold 9b is 0<θ2<180 degrees. The angle θ3 formed between the side edges and the right valley fold 9b is 0<θ3<180 degrees. These angles θ1, θ2, and θ3 are set so as to meet the relation of (θ2−θ1)=(θ1−θ3). With these settings, the arrangement direction of the electronic components 20 of the flat wiring body 2 is angularly changed and laterally shifted at the position of the arrangement direction changing fold 9 while sections of the flat wiring body 2 extending from opposite sides the arrangement direction changing fold 9 are kept generally flat. The distances x1, x2, y1 and y2 between the mountain fold 9a and the valley folds 9b at the side edges of the flat wiring body 2 may be represented by a function of angles θ1, θ2, θ3. The right angle for θ1 (θ1=90 degrees) is excluded from this arrangement since the right angle of θ1 would produce the same result as the embodiment of
The invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments of the electronic components mounted wiring body, which can be assembled into an electronic components mounting structure in the manner as described in the following.
The electronic components mounting structure is assembled as follows. First, the electronic components 20 are mounted on the flat wiring body 2, as shown in
The flat wiring body 2, electronic components 20 and their connection will now be described. The electronic components 20 mounted on the flat wiring body 2 may comprise light emitting devices 21 such as LEDs each having two leads 22 as shown in
The electronic component 20 is electrically and mechanically connected to the flat wiring body 2 by a connector 23. As shown in
Each connector 23 is set such that the piercing member 23b is positioned on both sides of the lead 22. The piercing member 23b pierces through a flat conductor 3 of the flat wiring body 2 and is inwardly bent and crimped onto the rear side of the flat wiring body 2 (see
It should also be noted that the lead 22 of the electronic component 20 is shear-connected to the back plate 23a of the connector 23 by a shear 23c. This shear connection is made by the shear 23c, which is formed by shearing overlapping portions of the back plate 23c of the connector 23 and the lead 22 in a parallel or substantially parallel direction such that the shear 23c is shifted relative to the surrounding portions to form a concave, as shown in
As shown in
With this electrical and mechanical connection between the flat wiring body 2 of the electronic components mounted wiring body 10 and the feed line 6, there is no need for stripping off the insulating coating 4 of the flat wiring body 2. In addition, this method is preferred in terms of the operability and the quality control since it will not generate a heat during making the connection, which heat is experienced in a soldering or welding process. Moreover, according to this method, any desired point of the electronic components mounted wiring body 10 can be connected to the feed line 6. A circuit separator (not shown) is provided in the electronic components mounting body 10 to configure an electric circuit for supplying power to the electronic components 20.
Fold lines or creases 50 may advantageously be preformed at bends 5 and the arrangement direction changing folds 9 of the flat wiring body 2 as shown in
In the alternative, the fold lines 50 may extend only partially from the side edges of the flat wiring body 2 as shown in
Although the present invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments thereof, it is to be understood, of course, that the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereto.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-016379 | Jan 2005 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2006/001032 | 1/24/2006 | WO | 00 | 6/12/2008 |