Smart meter

Abstract

To provide a smart meter including a terminal connection member capable of connecting and a disconnecting between an instrument side terminal and a distribution line side terminal with one touch, without using a screw.SOLUTION: A smart meter includes an instrument side connection terminal disposed to protrude from a body of an instrument and a distribution line side connection terminal of a terminal block, and a distribution line side connection terminal corresponding to each of a plurality of distribution lines and an instrument side connection terminal are overlapped with each other in a length direction to form a terminal connection part. The smart meter includes: a terminal pressing member that is disposed through the terminal connection part and that has a side groove extending in the length direction of the terminal connection part; and a moving cam member that is moved in the length direction of the terminal connection part and that has a cam face part moving the terminal pressing member in a direction perpendicular to the movement direction of the moving cam member, by engaging with the side groove. The terminal pressing member has a terminal pressing face capable of pressing the terminal connection part against the moving cam member when the cam face part engages with the side groove.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a smart meter (in other words, an electronic watt-hour meter with a communication function), and more particularly to a terminal connection member for a smart meter. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, in a power integrator installed in a detached house or condominium, the integrator body and the conductor are generally connected by overlapping the conductor terminal on the integrator body terminal and tightening the screws to establish a conductive connection. However, this requires a separate tool such as a screwdriver during the connection work, and the screws may be dropped when installing them, making the handling unexpectedly troublesome, so a connection structure that does not use screws has been desired.

[0003] A conventional technique that does not use screws is shown in, for example, Patent Document 1. In this terminal connection structure, in order to connect terminals, the knob is pulled up against the biasing force of the coil spring, and in this state, the terminal is inserted between the base's presser plate and the connection fitting, and the knob is released. Then, the coil spring is released, causing the rod to descend, and the terminal is sandwiched between the presser plate and the connection fitting with the protrusion inserted into the hole. In this case, since the rod is inserted into the hole, the terminal cannot be removed. Conversely, to remove the terminal, it is necessary to lift the knob against the biasing force of the coil spring and remove the rod inserted into the hole.

[0004] In conventional terminal connection structures, as described above, in addition to inserting or removing the terminal, the rod must be kept lifted by the knob against the spring each time, making the task of maintaining the position cumbersome.

[0005] Patent Document 2 also describes a terminal connection structure that utilizes the biasing force of a coil spring and eliminates the need for screws. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-161868 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2021-170455 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] The present invention has been made to solve such problems in the conventional technology, and has an object to provide a smart meter equipped with a terminal connecting member that can establish and release the connection between an instrument terminal and a power line terminal with one touch without using screws. Another object of the present invention is to provide a smart meter equipped with a terminal connecting member that can establish and release the connection between an instrument terminal and a power line terminal with one touch without using screws and that has a simple structure. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a smart meter can be provided which includes an instrument side connection terminal protruding from a main body of an instrument and a distribution line side connection terminal of a terminal block, wherein the distribution line side connection terminal and the instrument side connection terminal corresponding to each of a plurality of distribution lines are overlapped with each other in the longitudinal direction to form a terminal connection portion, and which includes a terminal pressing member which is arranged penetrating the terminal connection portion and has a side groove extending in the longitudinal direction of the terminal connection portion, and a movable cam member which is moved in the longitudinal direction of the terminal connection portion and has a cam surface portion which engages with the side groove to move the terminal pressing member in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the movable cam member, and wherein the terminal pressing member has a terminal pressing surface which is capable of pressing the terminal connection portion against the movable cam member when the cam surface portion engages with the side groove. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a smart meter according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2]FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 with an outer cover removed. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 with an outer cover removed. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing components of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 in a separated state. [Figure 4A] 13 is an exploded perspective view showing the details of the movable cover member and the assembly method thereof. FIG. [Figure 4B] 13 is an exploded perspective view showing the details of the movable cover member and the assembly method thereof. FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 with an outer cover removed, showing a state in which terminal connections are released. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 5. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 with the outer cover removed, showing a state in which terminal connection has been achieved. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken along line 8-8 in FIG. 7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the following description is merely an example, and is not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention to the following embodiment. In addition, in the drawings, the same or corresponding components are given the same reference numerals, and duplicated descriptions are omitted.

[0011] FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a smart meter according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2 and 3 are external perspective views of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 with the outer cover removed. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing each component of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 in a separated state. FIGS. 4A and 4B are exploded perspective views showing details of a movable cover member among the components of the smart meter and an assembly method. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 with the outer cover removed, showing a state in which the contact conduction state is released. FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged longitudinal section taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a plan view of the smart meter shown in FIG. 1 with the outer cover removed, showing a state in which the contact conduction state is achieved. FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged longitudinal section taken along line 8-8 in FIG. 7.

[0012] [Overview] According to this embodiment, a terminal connection member for ensuring a reliable contact and electrical continuity state at a terminal connection portion of a smart meter is provided. An overall outline of a smart meter to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described below.

[0013] When the outer cover 10 shown in FIG. 1 is removed, the smart meter 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes the meter 20 and the terminal block 40 as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, and a communication device (not shown). The meter 20 is configured by incorporating an electronic board (not shown) for measuring the amount of electric power and the like in a case formed of a non-conductive material such as resin. The terminal block 40 is used to electrically connect the meter 20 to a distribution line (not shown). The meter 20 and the terminal block 40 are attached to the attachment member 60 so as to be housed and arranged in the attachment member 60 arranged on the rear side of the smart meter 100. The communication device is connected to the meter 20 via a modular jack 21 as shown in FIG. 3 and arranged in a predetermined part of the case of the meter 20. The smart meter 100 is used in a state where it is attached to a wall surface of a building or the like via the attachment member 60. The outer cover 10 shown in FIG. 1 is attached to the attachment member 60 so as to cover the front side of the smart meter 100.

[0014] As shown in Fig. 4, the meter 20 includes a meter body 22 including a housing that houses an electronic board and the like. Although not shown in Fig. 4, an instrument-side connection terminal 24 that protrudes from the meter body 22 is fixed to the meter body 22. For example, as shown in Fig. 6, in this embodiment, the meter 20 has a straight-shaped instrument-side connection terminal 24. In this embodiment, when the meter 20 and the terminal block 40 are attached to the attachment member 60, the instrument-side connection terminal 24 is arranged at a position overlapping in the length direction with a power line-side connection terminal 44 of the terminal block 40, which will be described later, so as to be located on the front side of the smart meter 100.

[0015] The terminal block 40 includes a frame unit 42 formed of a non-conductive material such as resin, and a power distribution line side connection terminal 44. The power distribution line side connection terminal 44 is fixed to the frame unit 42 and is configured to be connected to a power distribution line (not shown) and to be connected to the instrument side connection terminal 24. The power distribution line is inserted into the terminal block 40 in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 4 (in other words, the vertical direction in FIG. 4). On the lower surface of the frame unit 42 shown in FIG. 4, power distribution line insertion holes 46 into which the power distribution line is inserted are arranged side by side (in other words, horizontally with respect to the insertion direction A of the power distribution line). For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the power distribution line side connection terminal 44 has an internal hole 45 that receives the power distribution line. The power distribution line side connection terminal 44 is fixed to the frame unit 42 at a position where the internal hole 45 is aligned with the power distribution line insertion hole 46. In this embodiment, the straight power distribution line side connection terminal 44 is fixed to the frame unit 42. The distribution line inserted into the distribution line insertion port 46 is fixed in the internal hole 45 by the screw 48. This electrically connects the distribution line side connection terminal 44 and the distribution line. However, the method of connecting the distribution line side connection terminal 44 and the distribution line is not limited to using a screw.

[0016] In this embodiment, when the meter 20 and the terminal block 40 are attached to the attachment member 60, as shown in Fig. 6, the distribution line side connection terminals 44 and the meter side connection terminals 24 corresponding to each distribution line are layered with tiny gaps that are invisible to the naked eye (exaggerated in Fig. 6 for ease of understanding) and are arranged in a roughly contacted state. This forms the terminal connection part of each distribution line. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, the frame unit 42 of the terminal block 40 has a partition wall 50 for insulating adjacent terminal connection parts from each other.

[0017] [Terminal connection parts] Next, a terminal connection member applied to the terminal connection portion of the smart meter 100 will be described. As described with reference to FIG. 6, when the meter 20 and the terminal block 40 are attached to the attachment member 60, the distribution line side connection terminal 44 and the meter side connection terminal 24 are arranged in a state of rough contact at the terminal connection portion of each distribution line. According to this embodiment, a terminal connection member for bringing about a tight and reliable contact and conduction state between the distribution line side connection terminal 44 and the meter side connection terminal 24 is provided. As such a terminal connection member, in this embodiment, a terminal pressing member 80 and a movable cam member 90 can be provided. As described later, the movable cam member 90 is configured to be manually operated by an operator. The terminal pressing member 80 is configured to operate by the cam action of the movable cam member 90. As a result, the meter side connection terminal 24 and the distribution line side connection terminal 44 are pressed and clamped between the terminal pressing member 80 and the movable cam member 90, and a reliable contact and conduction state can be achieved.

[0018] [Terminal pressing member 80] For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the terminal pressing member 80 of this embodiment is a substantially columnar member overall. Specifically, the terminal pressing member 80 includes a mounting portion 82 attached to the attachment member 60, an outer peripheral protrusion 84 adjacent to the mounting portion 82, and a shaft portion 86 adjacent to the outer peripheral protrusion 84. The terminal pressing member 80 is disposed such that the shaft portion 86 is located on the front side of the smart meter 100 and the mounting portion 82 is located on the rear side of the smart meter 100. The terminal pressing member 80 is attached to the mounting recess 62 of the attachment member 60 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction of the smart meter 100. In order to prevent the terminal pressing member 80 from rotating, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the mounting portion 82 of the terminal pressing member 80 and the mounting recess 62 of the attachment member 60 can have polygonal shapes that mesh with each other.

[0019] When the terminal pressing member 80 is attached to the attachment member 60, for example as shown in FIG. 6, the outer peripheral protrusion 84 of the terminal pressing member 80 is positioned so as to be located below the terminal connection portion (i.e., the meter side connection terminal 24 and the power distribution line side connection terminal 44 which are overlapped with each other). In the example shown, the outer peripheral protrusion 84 has a flat pressing surface 84a which is substantially rectangular so as to be able to press the terminal connection portion. As shown in FIG. 4, the pressing surface 84a has a large length in the length direction of the terminal connection portion. However, the outer peripheral protrusion 84 only needs to include a pressing portion which is able to press the terminal connection portion, and the specific shape thereof is not limited to that shown in the figure.

[0020] For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the shaft portion 86 of the terminal pressing member 84 is disposed through the through-hole 30 formed in the power distribution line side connecting terminal 44 and the instrument side connecting terminal 24. The through-hole 30 is formed by arranging the through-hole 24a of the instrument side connecting terminal 24 and the through-hole 44a of the power distribution line side connecting terminal 44 in alignment. The through-hole 30 extends in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction A of the power distribution line or the length direction of the terminal connection portion. This allows the terminal pressing member 80 to move in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction A of the power distribution line or the length direction of the terminal connection portion (in other words, the moving direction of the moving cam member 90 described later). A pair of side grooves 88 are formed in positions facing each other in the diameter direction of the outer circumferential surface of the shaft portion 86. For convenience, only one side groove 88 of the pair of side grooves 88 is shown in the drawings. The side groove 88 can be formed, for example, by forming a groove extending transversely to the length direction of the shaft portion 86 on the outer circumferential surface of the solid shaft portion 86. This allows the terminal pressing member 80 to be formed with a surface that can engage with the movable cam member 90. The pair of side grooves 88 extend in the same direction as the movement direction of the movable cam member 90, at positions that allow the entry of cam surface portions 94 of the movable cam member 90, which will be described later. Also, as shown in Figure 6, for example, each side groove 88 has an engagement surface 88a that interacts with and engages with the cam surface portion 94.

[0021] [Moving cam member 90] The movable cam member 90 is arranged on the terminal block 40 as shown in Fig. 3, for example, and is configured to be moved by manual operation. Specifically, the movable cam member 90 is movable along the terminal connection portion in the same direction as the distribution line insertion direction A. As will be described later, it is sufficient that the movable cam member 90 has a cam surface portion 94 that can enter the side groove 88 of the terminal pressing member 80 in the moving direction. In addition, it is sufficient that the movable cam member 90 has a predetermined portion configured to be able to press and clamp the instrument side connecting terminal 24 and the distribution line side connecting terminal 44 between itself and the outer peripheral protrusion 84 of the terminal pressing member 80.

[0022] The movable cam member 90 can be translated (in other words, moved linearly) along the terminal connection portion on the terminal block 40 between a release position where the contact conduction state of the meter side connection terminal 24 and the distribution line side connection terminal 44 is released, and a conduction position where the contact conduction state is achieved. The release position of the movable cam member 90 is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The conduction position of the movable cam member 90 is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The movable cam member 90 can reach the conduction position shown in Figs. 7 and 8 by being moved in the direction of arrow B1 from the release position shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The movable cam member 90 can reach the release position shown in Figs. 5 and 6 by being moved in the direction of arrow B2 from the conduction position shown in Figs. 7 and 8. In the following description, the movement of the movable cam member 90 from the release position toward the conduction position (movement in the direction of arrow B1) is also referred to as forward movement, and the movement from the conduction position toward the release position (movement in the direction of arrow B2) is also referred to as backward movement.

[0023] 4A and 4B show exploded perspective views of the movable cam member 90. The movable cam member 90 can be constructed by mounting a cam surface portion 94 to a frame unit 92. In order to explain the method of mounting the cam surface portion 94, Figs. 4A and 4B show the cam surface portion 94 alone before and after mounting.

[0024] The movable cam member 90 includes a frame unit 92 extending generally transversely to the moving direction of the movable cam member 90. The frame unit 92 is generally formed of a non-conductive material. The frame unit 92 has a mounting portion 92a to which a cam surface portion 94 is attached. The mounting portions 92a are formed in the same number as the number of the terminal connection portions in correspondence with the arrangement of the terminal connection portions. The mounting portion 92a has an opening 93 capable of receiving the shaft portion 86 of each terminal pressing member 80 in the moving direction. The cam surface portion 94 can be attached around the opening 93 of the mounting portion 92a. A partition wall 96 provided between adjacent openings 93 can insulate adjacent shaft portions 86 from each other when the shaft portions 86 are received. Thus, the terminal pressing member 80 may be formed of a conductive material. However, the terminal pressing member 80 may be formed of a non-conductive material. The cam surface portion 94 may also be formed of a conductive material or a non-conductive material.

[0025] In this embodiment, the cam surface portion 94 can be formed of a metal material having elasticity. As an example, in this embodiment, the cam surface portion 94 is formed of stainless steel. Also, in this embodiment, the cam surface portion 94 has the form of a bent leaf spring. An opening (in other words, a notch portion) 95 is formed at the end portion (in other words, a bent portion) of the bent side of the leaf spring. When the cam surface portion 94 is attached to the attachment portion 92a of the frame unit 92, the opening 95 of the cam surface portion 94 is substantially aligned with the opening 93 of the attachment portion 92a. This makes it possible to form the attachment portion 92a and the cam surface portion 94 that are substantially U-shaped having openings 93, 95 on the inside in a plan view as shown in FIG. 5, for example. As shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, an engagement surface (in other words, a cam surface) 94a that can come into contact with the engagement surface 88a of the side groove 88 is formed on the side of the opening 95 of the cam surface portion 94.

[0026] Also, referring to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, before being attached to the mounting portion 92a, the cam surface portion 94 is opened from a natural closed form (in other words, a free state) at an angle (for example, 10° to 20°) within the elastic limit of the material of the cam surface portion 94 (stainless steel in this embodiment) as shown by an arrow C1. Thereafter, the cam surface portion 94 is inserted into the frame unit 92 in a direction in which the opening 95 is substantially aligned with the opening 93 of the mounting portion 92a, and is attached to the mounting portion 92a. The insertion direction of the cam surface portion 94 at this time is shown by an arrow C2 in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The cam surface portion 94, which is a leaf spring, is elastically closed at the same time as being attached to the mounting portion 92a. In this way, the cam surface portion 94 is attached to the frame unit 92 by the spring pressure while sandwiching the mounting portion 92a.

[0027] 6, the cam surface portion 94 of this embodiment has a contact surface 94b that can come into contact with the terminal connecting portion on the surface opposite to the engagement surface 94a (in other words, the lower surface in FIGS. 4A and 4B). In this embodiment, the engagement surface 94a of the cam surface portion 94 is in sliding contact with the engagement surface 88a of the terminal pressing member 80, and the contact surface 94b of the cam surface portion 94 is in sliding contact with the instrument side connecting terminal 24. By forming the cam surface portion 94 from a metal material such as stainless steel, it is possible to impart wear resistance to the engagement surface 94a and the contact surface 94b. The metal material forming the cam surface portion 94 is not limited to stainless steel. The cam surface portion 94 may also be formed from, for example, a resin.

[0028] An operator can manually operate the movable cam member 90 by gripping an appropriate portion (e.g., partition wall 96) of the frame unit 92 of the movable cam member 90. The engagement surface 94a of the cam surface portion 94 can interact with the engagement surface 88a of the side groove 88 when the cam surface portion 94 enters the side groove 88. In this embodiment, the engagement surface 94a acts to push the engagement surface 88a of the side groove 88 upward (in other words, in a direction away from the terminal connection portion) as the movable cam member 90 is advanced and approaches the conductive position. Therefore, the engagement surface 94a has an inclined portion 98 (see FIGS. 4A and 4B) that rises backward with respect to the forward advancement direction (in other words, toward the side closer to the terminal block 40).

[0029] [How to operate] Next, the operation of the terminal connecting member will be specifically described with reference to Fig. 5 to Fig. 8. Note that in Fig. 6 and Fig. 8, the front side of the smart meter 100 is located at the top of the drawings. For ease of understanding, the side grooves 88 on the outer circumferential surface of the terminal pressing member 80 are shown by solid lines in the cross-sectional views of Fig. 6 and Fig. 8. Also, in Fig. 8, the engagement state between the cam surface portion 94 of the movable cam member 90 and the side grooves 88 is shown by solid lines.

[0030] The operator grasps an appropriate gripping portion (e.g., partition wall 96) of the movable cam member 90 and places the movable cam member 90 on the front surface of the terminal block 40. Then, the movable cam member 90 is advanced (in other words, slid) in the direction of the arrow B1 from the release position shown in Figs. 5 and 6 to the conductive position shown in Figs. 7 and 8. When the engagement surface 94a of the cam surface portion 94 engages with the engagement surface 88a of the side groove 88 of the terminal pressing member 80, the engagement surface 88a is pushed up by the inclined portion 98 protruding from the rear of the engagement surface 94a. As a result, the terminal pressing member 80 is moved upward as a whole, as shown in Fig. 8. As a result, the instrument side connecting terminal 24 and the distribution line side connecting terminal 44 can be pressed and clamped between the pressing surface 84a of the outer peripheral protrusion 84 located below the terminal connecting portion and the contact surface 94b of the cam surface portion 94. In this way, the meter side connecting terminal 24 and the power distribution line side connecting terminal 44 are pressed and clamped between the terminal pressing member 80 and the movable cam member 90, thereby achieving a reliable contact and electrical continuity. It can be seen that the minute gap between the instrument side connecting terminal 24 and the power distribution line side connecting terminal 44 shown in Fig. 6 does not exist in Fig. 8.

[0031] The movable cam member 90 can be advanced, for example, until the frame unit 92 abuts against the instrument body 22. In other words, the instrument body 22 can be used as a stop for stopping the advancement of the movable cam member 90 at the conductive position. However, a stop for the movable cam member 90 is not necessarily provided. In addition, in this embodiment, since the cam surface portion 94 has the form of a leaf spring, the cam surface portion 94 can be held in the side groove 88 of the terminal pressing member 80 only by the spring pressure. Therefore, the movable cam member 90 can be held in the conductive position on the front surface of the terminal block 40 without the intervention of the operator's hand. However, the means for holding the movable cam member 90 in the conductive position is not limited to the spring pressure.

[0032] In this embodiment, the instrument side connecting terminal 24 and the power distribution line side connecting terminal 44 are configured to be pressed and clamped between the contact surface 94b of the cam surface portion 94 and the pressing surface 84a of the terminal pressing member 80. However, according to other embodiments, the terminal connecting portions may be pressed and clamped between a predetermined portion of the frame unit 92 and the pressing surface 84a of the terminal pressing member 80.

[0033] To release the electrical continuity, the worker grips the movable cam member 90 again and moves the movable cam member 90 backward in the direction of arrow B2 from the conductive position shown in Figures 7 and 8 to the released position shown in Figures 5 and 6. The movable cam member 90 after the release operation can be carried by the worker. Since the movable cam member 90 is formed as a single part, it can simultaneously connect or disconnect all of the terminal connections of the smart meter 100.

[0034] As described above, according to this embodiment, at the site where the smart meter 100 is installed, after the distribution line is connected to the terminal block 40, the meter side connection terminal 24 and the distribution line side connection terminal 44 can be reliably connected in a good conductive state simply by manually operating the movable cam member 90. The connection between the end meter side connection terminal 24 and the distribution line side connection terminal 44 can be achieved by an extremely simple operation without the need for tools such as a screwdriver or screws. Also, unlike the conventional technology, a coil spring is not used, so a terminal connection member with a simpler structure can be realized.

[0035] In this embodiment, the meter side connection terminal 24 is disposed on the front side of the smart meter 100, and the power distribution line side connection terminal 44 is disposed on the rear side of the terminal connection portion. However, according to other embodiments, the power distribution line side connection terminal 44 may be disposed on the front side of the smart meter 100, and the meter side connection terminal 24 may be disposed on the rear side of the terminal connection portion.

[0036] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the embodiment of the present invention is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and does not limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit thereof, and the present invention naturally includes equivalents thereof. Furthermore, any combination or omission of each component described in the claims and specification is possible within the scope of solving at least a part of the above-mentioned problems or achieving at least a part of the effects.

[0037] The present invention includes the following aspects. 1. A smart meter comprising a meter-side connection terminal arranged to protrude from a meter body and a distribution line-side connection terminal of a terminal block, the distribution line-side connection terminal and the meter-side connection terminal corresponding to each of a plurality of distribution lines being overlapped with each other in the length direction to form a terminal connection section, a terminal pressing member disposed through the terminal connection portion and having a side groove extending in a longitudinal direction of the terminal connection portion; a movable cam member that is movable in the length direction of the terminal connection portion, the movable cam member having a cam surface portion that engages with the side groove to move the terminal pressing member in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the movable cam member; The terminal pressing member has a terminal pressing surface capable of pressing the terminal connection portion against the moving cam member when the cam surface portion engages with the side groove. 2. A smart meter as described in 1., wherein the movable cam member includes an opening capable of receiving the terminal pressing member in the direction of movement of the movable cam member. 3. A smart meter as described in 1. or 2., wherein the movable cam member has a frame unit formed of a non-conductive material, and the cam surface portion is formed by a metal leaf spring attached to the frame unit. 4. A smart meter as described in 3., wherein the cam surface portion includes an engagement surface that engages with the side groove and a contact surface on the side opposite the engagement surface that is capable of contacting the terminal connection portion. [Industrial Applicability]

[0038] The present invention is applied to a smart meter in which a distribution line side connection terminal and an instrument side connection terminal are overlapped with each other in the length direction to form a terminal connection portion. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] A Distribution line insertion direction B1 Forward direction B2 Reverse direction C1 Opening direction C2 Mounting direction 10 Outer cover 20 Instruments 21 Modular Jack 22 Instrument body 24 Instrument connection terminal 24a through hole 30 Through hole 40 Terminal Block 42 Frame Unit 44 Power distribution line connection terminal 44a through hole 45 Internal hole 46 Power distribution line insertion hole 48 Screw 50 Bulkhead 60 Attachment parts 62 Mounting recess 80 Terminal pressing member 82 Mounting part 84 Outer periphery protrusion 84a Pressing surface 86 Shaft 88 Side Ditch 88a Engagement surface 90 Moving cam member 92 Frame Unit 92a Mounting part 93 Aperture 94 Cam surface 94a Engagement surface 94b Contact surface 95 Aperture 96 Bulkhead 98 Slope 100 Smart Meter

Claims

1. A smart meter comprising a meter-side connection terminal arranged to protrude from a main body of the meter and a power distribution line-side connection terminal of a terminal block, the power distribution line-side connection terminal and the meter-side connection terminal corresponding to each of a plurality of power distribution lines being overlapped with each other in a longitudinal direction to form a terminal connection section, a terminal pressing member disposed through the terminal connection portion and having a side groove extending in a longitudinal direction of the terminal connection portion; a movable cam member that is movable in the length direction of the terminal connection portion, the movable cam member having a cam surface portion that engages with the side groove to move the terminal pressing member in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the movable cam member, the terminal pressing member has a terminal pressing surface capable of pressing the terminal connection portion against the movable cam member when the cam surface portion engages with the side groove; Smart meter.

2. The smart meter according to claim 1 , wherein the movable cam member includes an opening capable of receiving the terminal pressing member in a moving direction of the movable cam member.

3. 3. A smart meter as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the movable cam member has a frame unit formed of a non-conductive material, and the cam surface portion is formed by a metal leaf spring attached to the frame unit.

4. The smart meter according to claim 3 , wherein the cam surface portion includes an engagement surface that engages with the side groove, and a contact surface that is on a side opposite to the engagement surface and is capable of contacting the terminal connection portion.

Images