Connector

Abstract

To improve heat dissipation property of a connector having a bus bar and a housing.SOLUTION: A connector 1 is provided, assembled in wire harness for an automobile and distributing a power source, and comprises: a plurality of bus bars 2; and a housing 3 housing the bus bars 2. The housing 3 includes a bus bar holding portion 32 in the one side of the housing 3 and includes in the other side, a terminal housing chamber 39 housing a terminal 9 electrically connected to each of the bus bar 2. The bus bar holding portion 32 includes a pair of nipping plates 33 and 34 in which both of the bus bars 2 are nipped from both sides in a thickness direction. The housing 3 includes a plurality of heat dissipation plates 35 vertically standing from the nipping plate 34. Also, each heat dissipation plate 35 standing to the bus bar holding portion 32 side on a lower step side from the nipping plate 34 of the bus bar holding portion 32 on an upper step side has an interval from the nipping plate 33 of the bus bar holding portion 32 on the down step side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a connector including a bus bar and a housing. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Automotive connectors (also called "joint connectors") that include bus bars and a housing and interconnect a plurality of terminals are known.

[0003] For example, the connector disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a bus bar having a band-shaped base portion from which a plurality of tab terminals extend, and a housing that accommodates the bus bar. A bus bar holding groove that holds the base portion is formed on one side of the housing, and an accommodation space that accommodates the plurality of tab terminals is formed on the other side. A female terminal connected to an end of an electric wire is inserted into the accommodation space, and the female terminal is fitted with the tab terminal. Such a connector interconnects the female terminals that are fitted with the plurality of tab terminals. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-17531 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The connector disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem in that when a current flows through the electric wire, terminal, and bus bar in that order, Joule heat is generated, causing the temperature inside the housing to rise, and there is room for improvement.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to improve the heat dissipation performance of a connector having a bus bar and a housing. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention is a connector comprising a bus bar and a housing that accommodates the bus bar, the housing having a bus bar holding portion on one side thereof, the bus bar holding portion having a pair of clamping plates that sandwich the bus bar from both sides in the thickness direction, the housing having a terminal accommodating chamber on the other side thereof that accommodates a terminal that is electrically connected to the bus bar, and the housing having a heat sink that stands upright from one of the pair of clamping plates. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, the housing has a heat dissipation plate that stands upright from one of a pair of clamping plates that sandwich the bus bar, thereby making it possible to improve heat dissipation performance. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the connector of FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] 2 is a cross-sectional view of the connector of FIG. 1 taken in the horizontal direction. [Figure 4] 2 is a cross-sectional view of the connector of FIG. 1 taken in the vertical direction. [Diagram 5] 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of the connector in FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] A "connector" according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0011] 1 to 5, a connector 1 of this embodiment is incorporated into an automobile wire harness to distribute power. The connector 1 includes a plurality of bus bars 2 and a housing 3 that accommodates the bus bars 2.

[0012] The busbar 2 is obtained by pressing a metal plate, and as shown in Fig. 2, a plurality of tab terminals 22 extend from a band-shaped base plate 21. The tab terminals 22 are formed in a tongue shape and extend perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the base plate 21. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a locking projection 23 that locks with the housing 2 is formed on the base end of the tab terminal 22 closer to the base plate 21. As shown in Fig. 4, the tip side of the tab terminal 22 is fitted with a female terminal 9 connected to an end of an electric wire 8. Note that the terminal 9 is not shown in Fig. 3.

[0013] The housing 3 is made of insulating synthetic resin. The housing 3 is formed in a rectangular tube shape having an upper wall 30a, a lower wall 30b, and a pair of left and right side walls 30c, 30d, and has a bus bar holding portion 32 on its rear side (one side), and a terminal accommodating chamber 39 on its front side (the other side) for accommodating a terminal 9 electrically connected to the bus bar 2. In addition, a locking portion 31 is provided on the outer surface of the lower wall 30b for attaching the housing 3 to a structure (such as a vehicle body, an electrical connection box, an electronic unit, etc.).

[0014] It should be noted that the designations "upper wall 30a," "lower wall 30b," "side walls 30c, 30d," etc. are used for the convenience of explanation in this specification, and do not necessarily correspond to the actual up, down, left, right, front, and rear directions when connector 1 is mounted on an automobile.

[0015] As shown in Fig. 2, in this embodiment, twelve terminal accommodating chambers 39 are arranged in the horizontal direction (the direction in which the side wall 30c and the side wall 30d face each other) of the housing 3, and these horizontal terminal accommodating chambers 39 are arranged in three stages in the vertical direction (the direction in which the upper wall 30a and the lower wall 30b face each other) of the housing 3. These terminal accommodating chambers 39 are formed by dividing the space within the housing 3 by eleven vertical partition walls 38 provided between the side wall 30c and the side wall 30d and two horizontal partition walls 37 provided between the upper wall 30a and the lower wall 30b. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a lance 40 that engages with a terminal 9 is provided in each terminal accommodating chamber 39.

[0016] The terminal 9 is obtained by subjecting a metal plate to press working or the like. As shown in Figures 2 and 4, the terminal 9 has a covering crimping piece 91 that crimps a portion covered with a covering at the end of the electric wire 8, a core crimping piece 92 that crimps the core wire exposed when the covering is peeled off, and a fitting portion 93. The fitting portion 93 has a square tube portion 94 that receives the tab terminal 22, and a spring piece 95 that elastically contacts the tab terminal 22 inserted into the square tube portion 94.

[0017] 1, in this example, three bus bar holding portions 32 are lined up in the lateral direction of the housing 3, and these lateral bus bar holding portions 32 are provided in three stages in the vertical direction of the housing 3. The bus bar 2 is accommodated in the housing 3 with the longitudinal direction of the board portion 21 coinciding with the lateral direction of the housing 3 and the thickness direction of the bus bar 2 coinciding with the vertical direction of the housing 3.

[0018] The bus bar holding portion 32 has a pair of clamping plates 33, 34 that sandwich the bus bar 2 from both sides in the thickness direction. The clamping plate 33 is connected to the rear end of the horizontal bulkhead 37 and extends rearward. The clamping plate 34 is connected to the rear end of the vertical bulkhead 38 and extends rearward. For the uppermost bus bar holding portion 32, the upper wall 30a serves as the clamping plate 33, and the bus bar 2 is sandwiched between the upper wall 30a and the clamping plate 34. As shown in FIG. 3, the vertical bulkhead 38 extends to the rear end of the housing 3 to separate adjacent bus bar holding portions 32 in the horizontal direction. This prevents short circuits between adjacent bus bars 2.

[0019] 3, the internal space of bus bar holding portion 32 communicates with the internal space of terminal accommodating chamber 39. At the boundary between bus bar holding portion 32 and terminal accommodating chamber 39, a locked portion 41 is formed to lock with locking projection 23 of bus bar 2.

[0020] The busbar 2 is inserted into the busbar holding portion 32 from the rear end side of the housing 3, and the locking projections 23 are locked into the locked portions 41 of the housing 3, thereby assembling the busbar 2 to the housing 3. In the busbar 2 assembled to the housing 3, the board portion 21 is positioned in the busbar holding portion 32, and the multiple tab terminals 22 are positioned in the multiple terminal accommodating chambers 39, respectively.

[0021] Furthermore, when the busbar 2 is assembled into the housing 3, the rear end surface 20 of the substrate portion 21 is pressed with a jig so that the busbar 2 is inserted into the busbar holding portion 32. For this reason, the busbar holding portion 32 is formed with jig guide grooves 36a, 36b, and 36c.

[0022] Furthermore, the housing 3 has a plurality of heat sinks 35 standing upright from the clamping plate 34. Each heat sink 35 stands vertically from the clamping plate 34 and is connected to the rear end of the vertical partition wall 38. Moreover, the heat sink 35 standing upright (hanging down) from the clamping plate 34 of the upper busbar holding portion 32 toward the lower busbar holding portion 32 is spaced apart from the clamping plate 33 of the lower busbar holding portion 32. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4, the longitudinal direction of the heat sink 35 coincides with the insertion direction of the busbar 2 into the busbar holding portion 32 and the insertion direction of the terminal 9 into the terminal accommodating chamber 39.

[0023] In the connector 1 having the above configuration, current flows in the order of electric wire 8-terminal 9-bus bar 2, as shown by the dashed arrow in FIG. 5. Joule heat is generated by energizing each part in this manner. The generated heat is diffused from the bus bar 2 to the surrounding housing 3, as shown by the dashed arrow in FIG. 5, and is diffused from the surface of the housing 3 into the air. In this connector 1, the above-mentioned heat sink 35 is provided to increase the surface area of ​​the housing 3 around the bus bar 2, improving heat dissipation from the surface of the housing 3 into the air. In addition, the heat sink 35 is vertically erected from the clamping plate 34 and is connected to the rear end of the vertical bulkhead 38, thereby improving the rigidity of the bus bar holding portion 32.

[0024] The above-described embodiment merely shows a typical form of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. In other words, the present invention can be embodied in various modifications without departing from the gist of the present invention. As long as the configuration of the present invention is still provided even with such modifications, it is of course included in the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0025] 1 Connector 2 Busbar 3. Housing 9 Terminals 32 Bus bar holding section 35 Heat sink 39 Terminal housing

Claims

1. A bus bar and a housing that accommodates the bus bar, the housing has a bus bar holding portion on one side thereof, the bus bar holding portion having a pair of clamping plates that clamp the bus bar from both sides in a thickness direction thereof, the housing has a terminal accommodating chamber on the other side thereof for accommodating a terminal to be electrically connected to the bus bar, The housing has a heat sink plate standing upright from one of the pair of clamping plates. A connector characterized by:

2. A plurality of the bus bars are provided, the housing has a plurality of bus bar holding portions, the plurality of bus bar holding portions being aligned in a thickness direction of the bus bar, The heat sink erected from the clamping plate of one bus bar holding portion is spaced apart from the clamping plate of the other bus bar holding portion.

2. The connector according to claim 1 .

3. The heat sink plate is provided vertically from one of the pair of clamping plates.

2. The connector according to claim 1 .

4. A longitudinal direction of the heat sink coincides with an insertion direction of the bus bar into the bus bar holding portion and an insertion direction of the terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber.

2. The connector according to claim 1 .

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