JPH10285751A - Electrical junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] An electric junction box capable of extremely easily holding a heat absorbing portion of a heat pipe by a bus bar without using a dedicated jig, thereby reducing a work cost required for a holding operation. I will provide a. SOLUTION: A bus bar 4 and a heat collecting part 5a for connecting first and second cases 2, 3 fitted to each other, electronic components arranged in the first and second cases are formed by first and second cases. The electric connection box 1 including the heat pipe 5 in which the heat radiating portion 5b is disposed outside the first and second cases. The bus bar 4 has a holding portion 4a for detachably holding the heat pipe.
Are integrally formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric junction box provided with a heat pipe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an electric connection box is constructed by stacking bus bars via an insulating plate inside an upper case and a lower case which are fitted to each other, and installing electronic components such as fuses and relays arranged on the upper surface of the upper case. In this structure, components are connected to a bus bar via a connection portion, wires are connected to a lower case via a connector, and an upper case is covered with an upper cover.

In an electric connection box, since metal such as copper or brass is used for the bus bar, the bus bar generates heat due to internal resistance and becomes high temperature due to internal resistance when the bus bar is energized during use. For this reason, there is known an electric junction box provided with a heat pipe for the purpose of lowering the internal temperature (for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 4-13111).
No. 20, etc.).

[0004] Here, the heat pipe is one in which a working fluid is sealed in a sealed tubular body, one of which functions as a heat absorbing portion and the other functions as a heat radiating portion by vaporization and liquefaction of the working fluid.
Therefore, the heat pipe is used with the heat absorbing portion held by the bus bar. When the heat pipe is held by the bus bar, it is preferable that the holding portion is a portion of the bus bar which generates the most heat.

[0005]

When the heat-absorbing portion is held by the bus bar, the heat-absorbing portion of the heat pipe is swaged to a mounting portion formed by extending the bus bar into a flange shape, and the heat-absorbing portion is formed by rivets or bolts and nuts. It is fixed. Therefore, in any of the above means, when the heat absorbing portion of the heat pipe is held by the bus bar,
There is a problem that a special jig, a member and the like are required, and a work cost for holding is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a heat absorbing portion of a heat pipe can be extremely easily held by a bus bar without using a dedicated jig, thereby reducing the operation cost required for the holding operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical junction box capable of performing the following.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, first and second cases fitted to each other, and an electronic component arranged in the first and second cases are provided. In an electric junction box, a bus bar to be connected and a heat collecting unit are provided in the first and second cases, and a heat radiating unit is provided with a heat pipe arranged outside the first and second cases. The holding portion for detachably holding the heat pipe is formed integrally.

Preferably, when one of the first and second cases is fitted to the other case, the holding portion is pressed to fix the heat pipe to the bus bar. A pressing part is formed.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The electrical junction box 1
As shown in FIG. 1, an upper case 2 and a lower case 3 fitted to each other, a bus bar 4 for connecting electronic components (not shown) arranged in the two cases 2, 3, and one heat collector 5.
a includes a heat pipe 5 in which the heat radiating portion 5b is disposed outside the two cases 2 and 3 and covers the upper case 2 of the fitted two cases 2 and 3 with the upper cover 6; Assembled. Here, the electric connection box 1 is configured such that the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 are lock-fitted, and the bus bar 4 is pressed by the two cases 2 and 3 at the time of fitting.

The electric junction box 1 configured as described above is
It is characterized in that the bus bar 4 is integrally formed with a holding portion 4a for detachably holding the heat collecting portion 5a side of the heat pipe 5. The bus bar 4 is designed in advance in a predetermined shape according to the arrangement of electronic components such as fuses and relays in the two cases 2 and 3, and a tab 4b is provided at a predetermined position together with the holding portion 4a at a predetermined position as shown in FIGS. It is formed integrally by press working. The material of the bus bar 4 is preferably a metal having a large thermal conductivity, for example, brass or a copper alloy.
As long as the thermal conductivity is large, a conductive resin other than metal may be used. It is desirable that the holding portion 4a is formed at a position where the cooling effect of the bus bar 4 by the heat pipe 5 is most effectively exerted. As shown in FIG. , And the distal end side is lifted upward away from the plate surface of the bus bar 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, the heat pipe 5 has a holding surface 5c formed by crushing the holding portion 4a into a flat surface at a position corresponding to the holding portion 4a on the heat collecting portion 5a side.
The heat pipe 5 may have a circular or elliptical cross-sectional shape as long as it can exhibit its function, and the cross-sectional shape is not limited to a specific shape. Therefore, heat pipe 5
As shown in FIG. 3, if the holding surface 5c is fitted to the holding portion 4a while being slid from the front end side of the holding portion 4a, the heat collecting portion can be provided as shown in FIG. 5a can be very easily held by the bus bar 4, and the operation is simple.

At this time, as shown in FIG.
Is in a state where the tip side is lifted up. But,
As shown in FIG. 4, the upper case 2
If the pressing portion 2a is formed at a position corresponding to the tip a,
When the upper case 2 is fitted to the lower case 3, the pressing portion 2a presses the tip of the holding portion 4a, and the heat pipe 5 can be very easily fixed to the bus bar 4.

However, if the holding portion 4a can reliably hold the heat collecting portion 5a of the heat pipe 5, the pressing portion 2a is not necessarily required. For example, the holding unit 4a holds the heat collecting unit 5a of the heat pipe 5 by using the spring property, or holds the heat collecting unit 5a.
May be pressed by an operator to bring the holding portion 4a into contact with the holding surface 5c. Further, as long as the holding section 4a can hold the heat pipe 5, for example, it may be curved in a semicircular shape as shown in FIG. 5A, or may be formed in a triangular shape as shown in FIG. 5B.

In the electric junction box of the above embodiment, a holding portion for detachably holding the heat collecting portion of the heat pipe is formed on the bus bar. However, when the electric junction box further includes a heat collecting plate (heat sink) for collecting heat of the bus bar, the holding portion of the heat pipe may be formed on the heat collecting plate instead of the bus bar. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the holding portions are provided at two places has been described, but the number is not particularly limited as long as the heat pipes can be held. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the bus bar has one layer has been described, but it is needless to say that a plurality of layers may be stacked.

[0015]

According to the electric junction box of the present invention, the heat absorbing portion of the heat pipe can be extremely easily held by the bus bar without using a dedicated jig, and the operation cost required for the holding operation is greatly reduced. can do. At this time, when one of the first and second cases is fitted with the other case, the electric connection box presses the holding portion to fix the heat pipe to the bus bar. Since the heat pipe is formed, the heat pipe can be securely held by the bus bar, and it is effective to use the heat pipe as an electric junction box for an automobile or the like on which vibrations during traveling act.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view partially showing components of an electric junction box of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which a heat pipe is held by a bus bar used in the electric junction box of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a holding portion is pressed by a pressing portion formed on an upper case to fix a heat pipe to a bus bar.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another shape of the holding unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric connection box 2 Upper case (1st case) 2a Pressing part 3 Lower case (2nd case) 4 Bus bar 4a Holding part 5 Heat pipe 5a Heat collecting part 5b Heat radiating part 5c Holding surface 6 Upper cover

Claims (2)

[Claims] A first case and a second case, which are fitted to each other, a bus bar for connecting electronic components disposed in the first and second cases, and a heat collecting portion, are formed in the first and second cases. In an electrical junction box having a heat pipe in which a heat radiating portion is disposed outside the first and second cases, the bus bar is formed integrally with a holding portion that detachably holds the heat pipe. An electrical junction box characterized by the following. 2. When one of the first and second cases is fitted to the other case,
The electric connection box according to claim 1, wherein a pressing portion that presses the holding portion to fix the heat pipe to the bus bar is formed.