JPH10312837A - Branch junction box - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] In a conventional branch connection box in which a plurality of electric wires are provided with a height difference, the electric wires are manually connected to the press-connecting terminals, which is inefficient. SOLUTION: A stepped joint surface 2 on the front and back of a middle case 25.
8a to 28e, 29a to 29e, and
To 28e, a plurality of terminal insertion holes 30 are provided, and the electric wires 32 intersecting the plurality of terminal insertion holes 30 are fixed.
The upper case 26 having overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e overlapping with the upper surface 28e is connected to the connecting wire 4 crossing the wire 32 with a height difference.
0, and the overlapping surface 41 overlapping the joining surfaces 29a to 29e.
a connection wire 44 crossing the wire 32 with a height difference is fixed to the lower case 27 having
The electric wire 32 and the connecting electric wire 4
Pressing portions 34, 35, 36 electrically connected to 0, 44 are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a branch connection box provided with a press contact terminal for connecting electric wires.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-30222 and 4 discloses a branch connection box provided with a press contact terminal for connecting electric wires.
There is a technique described in JP-A-123071. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an example of such a branch connection box.
A plurality (five in FIG. 7) of electric wire insertion holes 2 penetrating in the direction of the arrow X are provided on the upper side of the case 1 of the branch connection box A, and the base line 3 is inserted into each of the electric wire insertion holes 2. Through hole 2
A plurality (five in FIG. 7) of electric wire insertion holes 4 penetrating in the Y direction substantially perpendicular to the arrow X is provided below, and the branch wire 5 is inserted into each of the electric wire insertion holes 4.

A terminal insertion hole 6 intersecting with the electric wire insertion holes 2 and 4 is provided on the upper surface of the case 1 of the branch junction box A, and a press contact terminal 7 inserted into the terminal insertion hole 6 has a connecting wall 7a, A bent wall 7b that is bent substantially at right angles from both sides of the connecting wall 7a forms a U-shaped cross section, and the lower end of the bent wall 7b projects downward (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Connecting wall 7
a at the lower end of the bent wall 7b and the lower end of both bent walls 7b.
a and 8b are provided, and the tips of the concave press-contact portions 8a and 8b are formed as sharp knife edges.

Accordingly, when the press contact terminal 7 is inserted into the terminal insertion hole 6, the concave press contact portion 8 a of the connecting wall 7 a penetrates the covering of the base line 3 in the electric wire insertion hole 2 and contacts the conductor of the base line 3. Then, since the concave press-contact portion 8b of the bent wall 7b penetrates the covering of the branch line 5 and comes into contact with the conductor of the branch line 5, the base line 3 and the branch line 5 are electrically connected via the press-contact terminal 7. (See FIG. 9). The terminal insertion holes 6 are provided at positions where the electric wire insertion holes 2 and 4 intersect, respectively.
The press contact terminal 7 is inserted into the terminal insertion hole 6 at the intersection of the above.

[0005] At the end of the upper surface of the case 1 of the branch junction box A,
The cover 9 is extended via a thin hinge, and two engaging pieces 10 projecting at right angles at the ends of the cover 9 are provided with square holes 11, and engaging protrusions 12 are provided on the side surface of the case 1. The cover 9 is overlapped on the upper surface of the case 1 to cover the press contact terminal 7,
When the square hole 11 of the engagement piece 10 is engaged with the engagement protrusion 12, the cover 9 is held in a closed state.

In such a branch junction box A, the terminal insertion hole 6 at the intersection of the base line 3 and the branch line 5 to be electrically connected is provided with a press contact terminal 7.
It is convenient because the base line 3 and the branch line 5 can be electrically connected by a simple operation of inserting the base line 3. However, a plurality of base lines 3 are arranged on the same plane, and a plurality of branch lines 5 are arranged below the same plane. Therefore, there arises a problem that the electrical connection between one base line 3 and the branch line 5 interferes with the electrical connection between the other baselines 3. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when one base line 3 and five branch lines 5 are electrically connected, the terminal insertion holes 6 arranged on the other four base lines 3 'become unusable. In addition, a wide area of the junction box A becomes an unusable dead space.

In order to avoid such a problem, as shown in FIG. 11, there is a branch junction box in which a plurality of electric wires are not arranged in the same level plane but are provided with a height difference (actual open flat 1-6).
No. 6759). Branch junction box A shown in FIG.
₁ is a stepped step portion 13a, 13
b, 13c are provided, and the press contact terminals 14 are inserted into a plurality of (four in FIG. 11) terminal insertion holes penetrating the stepped portions 13a, 13b, 13c.

A substantially Z-shaped bending portion 15 is formed on one side (upper side in FIG. 11) of the press contact terminal 14.
A concave press-contact portion 16 is provided at the end of the main body 12, and a tab 17 formed on the other side projects into an opening (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the main body 12. Since the bending portion 15 is mounted on the step portions 13a, 13b, 13c having a height difference, there is no interference between the electric wires 18 electrically connected to the press contact portion 16. After attaching the electric wire 18, the cover 19 is put on the main body 12,
The cover 19 is fixed by engaging the square holes 20 provided on the side surface of the cover 19 with the engagement protrusions 21 protruding from the side surface of the main body.

[0009]

In THE INVENTION Problem to be Solved] The branch joint box A _1, is provided with the height difference the pressure contact terminal 14 provided on the body 13, the wire 19 connected to the press contact terminals 14 on one of the stepped portions Although there is no interference with the press contact terminals 14 on other steps, the upper surface of the main body 13 can be effectively used, and the number of electrical connection points between the press contact terminals 14 and the electric wires 19 can be increased. Wire 19 and insulation displacement terminal 1
4 has to be performed manually one by one, which is inefficient.

In addition, since the wire connection work is performed for the final assembly work, there is a problem that the stock period of the wires and the like becomes long and the stock amount increases. The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and makes use of the effect of avoiding interference between an electric wire and another insulation displacement terminal by providing a height difference to the insulation displacement terminal, efficiently using the electric wire, and waiting for final assembly work. It is intended to provide a branch junction box which can be sub-assembled into a case in a divided state without the need.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a branch junction box according to the present invention has a plurality of step-like joining surfaces formed on both front and back surfaces, and a plurality of terminals on each of the joining surfaces on the front side. In the middle case provided with the insertion holes, fix the electric wires crossing the plurality of terminal insertion holes, the upper case and the lower case having a superposed surface respectively overlapping the joint surfaces of the front and back surfaces,
A connecting wire that crosses each of the wires at a substantially predetermined height difference is fixed, and a press-contact terminal fitted into the terminal insertion hole is provided with a press-contact portion for electrically connecting the wire and the connecting wire.

[0012] An electric wire fixing groove intersecting the plurality of terminal insertion holes is provided on each of the joint surfaces on the front side of the middle case, and the electric wire can be inserted and fixed in the electric wire fixing groove. The overlapping surface of the upper case and the lower case is formed in a step shape, and the upper case and the lower case are provided with a wire insertion hole that intersects the wires at a predetermined height difference when overlapped with the middle case. The connection wire can be inserted and fixed in the wire insertion hole.

The press contact terminal includes an upper press contact portion electrically connected to a conductor portion of the connection wire of the upper case, and a lower press contact portion electrically connected to a conductor portion of the connection wire of the lower case. The arm protruding from the side surface of the intermediate portion may be provided with an intermediate pressure contact portion electrically connected to the conductor of the electric wire fixed to the middle case.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a branch connection box B, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of the branch connection box B. FIG. is there. As shown in FIG. 1, the case of the branch junction box B includes a middle case 25, an upper case 26, and a lower case 27,
A plurality of joining surfaces 28a to 28e, which are raised stepwise toward the right by almost a predetermined dimension, are arranged on the front surface (upper surface in FIG. 1) of the middle case 25, and on the rear surface, only about a predetermined size toward the right. Joining surfaces 29a to 29e that rise in steps
Are arranged.

Each of the joining surfaces 28a to 28e has the same shape and the same structure except that the surface height is different. Therefore, only the joining surface 28a will be described. A plurality of (seven in this embodiment) terminal insertion holes 30 are provided on the surface of the joint surface 28a at substantially equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the joint surface 28a. The terminal insertion hole 30 has a slit-shaped through-hole portion 30a penetrating from the front surface to the back surface of the joint surface 28a, and a shallow-slit slit-shaped arm insertion portion which is bent at substantially right angles from both upper ends of the through-hole portion 30a and extends. 30b and arm insertion part 30
A bottom end portion 30c extending downward from the front end of b has a U-shape opening at the joint surface 28a (see FIG. 4).

An electric wire fixing groove 31 penetrating in the longitudinal direction of the joint surface 28 a is provided on the surface of the joint surface 28 a, and the electric wire fixing groove 31 intersects the tip hole 30 c of each terminal insertion hole 30. The bottom surface 31a of the wire fixing groove 31 is the tip hole 30.
c, the width of the wire fixing groove 31 is narrower than the width of the distal end hole portion 30c, and slightly smaller than the diameter of the base line 32, which is a covered wire (the cross section taken along line VV in FIG. 4). FIG. 5). Accordingly, the base line 32 inserted into the wire fixing groove 31 is sandwiched between both inner wall surfaces of the wire fixing groove 31 (see FIG. 6, which is a WW cross section in FIG. 4).

A press contact terminal 33 fitted in the terminal insertion hole 30
Is composed of a vertically long plate-like connecting piece 33a, and an arm 33b, which is bent at a substantially right angle from both sides of the connecting piece 33a and protrudes, and a tip of which slightly extends downward. An upper press contact portion 34 is formed at the upper end of the connection piece 33a, and the lower press contact portion 3 is formed at the lower end.
5 is formed, and an intermediate pressure contact portion 36 provided at the lower end of the tip of the arm 33b is formed. The upper press contact portion 34, the lower press contact portion 35, and the intermediate press contact portion 36 are formed in a concave shape, and the peripheral edge of the concave is formed as a knife edge.

On the lower surface of the upper case 26, there are provided stepped overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e which respectively overlap the joining surfaces 28a to 28e of the middle case 25. On the upper surface of the upper case 26,
The same number of stepped steps 38a to 38e as the overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e
38e are formed. Each of the overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e is provided with a concave portion (not shown) facing the terminal insertion hole 30 of the middle case, and a connection electric wire insertion hole 39 penetrating from each concave portion to the left side of the upper case 26 into the upper connection electric wire 40. Is inserted and fixed.

The ends of the upper connection wires 40 are exposed in the recesses of the respective overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e, and the wiring height of each upper connection wire 40 is only a predetermined distance from the respective overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e. In a high position. Accordingly, each of the upper connection wires 40 has a height corresponding to the overlapping surfaces 37a to 37e, and the upper connection wires 40 do not interfere with each other.

On the upper surface of the lower case 27, there are provided stair-like overlapping surfaces 41a to 41e which respectively overlap the joining surfaces 29a to 29e of the middle case 25, and on the lower surface of the lower case 27,
The same number of stepped portions 42a to 42e as the overlapping surfaces 41a to 41e.
42e is formed. Each of the overlapping surfaces 41a to 41e is provided with a concave portion 43 facing the terminal insertion hole 30 of the middle case, and a lower connection is made from each of the concave portions 43 to a connection wire insertion hole (not shown) penetrating to the right side of the lower case 27. The electric wire 44 is inserted and fixed. The lower connecting wires 44 are also overlapped surfaces 41a-
It has a height corresponding to 41e, and the lower connection wire 44 does not interfere.

The connection between the base line 32 and the connection wires 40 and 44 by the branch junction box B constructed as described above is performed as follows. The base line 32 is inserted and fixed in the wire fixing groove 31 of the middle case 25, and the upper connection wire 40 and the lower connection wire 44
The pressure contact terminal 33 is inserted at a position where it is electrically connected to the terminal. Thus, the intermediate pressure contact portion 36 of the pressure contact terminal 33 is electrically connected to the conductor of the base line 32 (see FIG. 3).

In the upper case 26, only the upper connection wire 40 connected to the base line 32 is inserted and fixed in the connection wire insertion hole 39, and in the lower case 27, only the lower connection wire 44 connected to the base line 32 is connected. Insert and fix in the hole. At this time, no interference occurs between the upper connection wires 40 and the lower connection wires 44.

When the upper case 26 is overlapped on the middle case 25 by the operation of overlapping the middle case 25 on the lower case 27, the upper press contact portion 34 of the press contact terminal 33 is electrically connected to the conductor of the upper connection electric wire 40. Then, the lower press contact portion 35 is electrically connected to the conductor of the upper connection wire 40 (see FIG. 3). Thus, the electrical connection is completed only by the assembling work of the cases 25, 26, 27.

[0024]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. (1) Since each upper connection wire of the upper case is wired with a predetermined height difference, even if the number of wires of the upper connection wires and the number of electrical connection points are large, they do not interfere with each other. Similarly, the lower connection wires of the lower case do not interfere with each other even if the number of wires and the number of electrical connections are large. (2) Even if the number of wires and the number of electrical connections are large, they do not interfere with each other, so it is easy to increase or decrease the number of electrical connections, and if the branch circuit is an optional circuit,
An optional circuit can be easily added in the final assembly process of the wire harness. (3) Just by overlapping the upper case, the middle case, and the lower case, the electrical connection of the wires is automatically performed collectively.
The inefficient manual work of wire connection that was performed when assembling the case is not required at all, and the wire connection is made more efficient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a branch junction box of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of a branch connection box.

FIG. 3 is a main part side view for explaining connection between a press contact terminal and an electric wire by assembling a case.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a main part around a terminal insertion hole of a middle case.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line WW of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional example of a branch junction box.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a press contact terminal used in the branch connection box of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a connection portion between the press contact terminal and the electric wire in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating a problem of the branch junction box of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing another conventional example of a branch junction box.

[Explanation of symbols]

 B Branch connection box 25 Middle case 26 Upper case 27 Lower case 28a-28e Joining surface 30 Terminal insertion hole 31 Electric wire fixing groove 32 Electric wire (base line) 33 Press contact terminal 34 Upper press contact portion 35 Lower press contact portion 36 Intermediate press contact portion 37a-37e Polymerization Surface 39 Connection wire insertion hole 40 Upper connection wire 41a to 41e Overlapping surface 44 Lower connection wire

Claims (4)

[Claims] An electric wire crossing the plurality of terminal insertion holes is provided in a middle case having a plurality of stepped connection surfaces formed on both front and back surfaces and a plurality of terminal insertion holes provided on each of the front connection surfaces. Fixing, fixing the connection wires crossing over the respective wires at a substantially predetermined height difference to the upper case and the lower case having the overlapping surfaces respectively overlapping the joining surfaces on the front and back surfaces, and fitting into the terminal insertion holes. A branch connection box, wherein a press-contact terminal to be attached is provided with a press-contact portion electrically connected to the electric wire and the connection electric wire. 2. An electric wire fixing groove intersecting a plurality of the terminal insertion holes is provided on each of the joining surfaces on the front side of the middle case,
The junction box according to claim 1, wherein the electric wire is inserted and fixed in the electric wire fixing groove. 3. An overlapping surface of the upper case and the lower case is formed in a step shape, and the upper case and the lower case have electric wires crossing the electric wire at a predetermined height difference when superimposed on the middle case. The branch connection box according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an insertion hole is provided, and the connection wire is inserted and fixed in the wire insertion hole. 4. The pressure contact terminal includes an upper pressure contact portion electrically connected to a conductor of the connection wire of the upper case, and a lower pressure contact portion electrically connected to a conductor of the connection wire of the lower case, On the arm protruding from the side of the middle part of the insulation displacement terminal,
An intermediate press-contact part electrically connected to a conductor part of an electric wire fixed to said middle case is provided.
Or the branch junction box according to 3.