Relay unit

Abstract

To provide a relay unit capable of suppressing vibration of a relay when the relay undergoes high-frequency vibration.SOLUTION: A relay unit includes a case having a support plate portion 16, a relay support portion 18A provided on an upper surface, which is one side in the thickness direction of the support plate portion, being configured to contact and support a relay 40A connected to a bus bar, and an outer peripheral wall extending downward from a lower surface, which is the other side in the thickness direction of the support plate portion. At least a portion of the thickness Th1 of the relay support portion is greater than the thickness of the support plate portion and the outer peripheral wall.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a relay unit. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 below discloses a battery device that includes a case, a relay fixed to the case via a vibration-isolating material, and a bus bar that is connected to the relay and is capable of supplying power to the relay.

[0003] The relay vibrates when power is supplied from the bus bar, but vibration-damping material is provided between the case and the relay, so the vibration generated by the relay is not easily transmitted to the case. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-192410 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When the vibration of the relay of the battery device described in Patent Document 1 is high frequency, it is difficult to suppress the vibration even if a vibration-proof material is provided between the case and the relay. If the high frequency vibration of the relay cannot be suppressed, the battery device is likely to generate unpleasant noise.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In consideration of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a relay unit capable of suppressing vibration of the relay when the relay vibrates at a high frequency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The relay unit of the first aspect includes a case having a support plate portion, a relay support portion provided on an upper surface, which is one surface in the thickness direction of the support plate portion, and which contacts and supports a relay connected to a bus bar, and an outer peripheral wall extending downward from a lower surface, which is the other surface in the thickness direction of the support plate portion, wherein the thickness of at least a portion of the relay support portion is greater than the thickness of the support plate portion and the outer peripheral wall.

[0008] The case of the relay unit of the first aspect includes a support plate, a relay support provided on the upper surface, which is one surface in the thickness direction of the support plate, and which contacts and supports the relay connected to the bus bar, and an outer circumferential wall extending downward from the lower surface, which is the other surface in the thickness direction of the support plate. Furthermore, the thickness of at least a portion of the relay support is greater than the thicknesses of the support plate and the outer circumferential wall. Therefore, the rigidity of at least a portion of the relay support is high. Increasing the rigidity of at least a portion of the relay support allows the relay support to suppress vibration of the relay when high-frequency vibration occurs in the relay.

[0009] In the relay unit of the second aspect, in the first aspect, the planar shape of the relay is rectangular, the relay has a pair of first side surfaces that are spaced apart from each other, and a pair of second side surfaces that are located between the pair of first side surfaces, are spaced apart from each other, and have smaller areas than the first side surfaces, and the portion of the relay support portion is a pair of first side wall portions that contact the first side surfaces.

[0010] The relay support portion of the relay unit of the second aspect has a pair of first sidewalls that contact the first side surface of the relay, which has the largest area among the side surfaces of the relay. Therefore, the contact area between the first sidewalls and the first side surface of the relay is large. Furthermore, the thickness of the first sidewalls is greater than the thickness of the support plate portion and the outer peripheral wall. In this way, the relay support portion of the relay unit of the second aspect has first sidewalls that have a large contact area with the relay and high rigidity, so that when the relay generates high-frequency vibration, the relay support portion can more effectively suppress vibration of the relay.

[0011] The relay unit of a third aspect is the second aspect, wherein the first side wall portion is in contact with the corresponding first side surface entirely.

[0012] In the relay unit of the third aspect, the first side wall portion entirely contacts the corresponding first side surface. In other words, the first side wall portion does not have any irregularities that would prevent the first side wall portion entirely from contacting the first side surface. Therefore, the relay support portion of the relay unit of the third aspect can more effectively suppress vibration of the relay. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] As described above, the relay unit according to the present invention has the excellent effect of being able to suppress vibration of the relay when the relay vibrates at a high frequency. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a relay unit according to the embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an upper case and a lower case. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the relay unit. [Figure 5] 10 is a graph showing acoustic power of the relay unit of the embodiment and the relay unit of the comparative example. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a plan view of a portion of a modified relay unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Hereinafter, a relay unit 10 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that in each drawing, the arrows UP, FR, and LH indicate the upper side in the vehicle vertical direction, the front side in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and the left side in the vehicle width direction, respectively.

[0016] The relay unit 10 of this embodiment is part of a battery pack mounted on a vehicle such as an electric vehicle (BEV: Battery Electric Vehicle) or a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV: Hybrid Electric Vehicle). This battery pack includes a number of battery cells (not shown), a relay unit 10, and a battery case (not shown) that houses the battery cells and the relay unit 10. The battery cells and the relay unit 10 are electrically connected. The relay unit 10 is further connected to an electrical circuit mounted on the vehicle and located outside the battery pack. Electric power generated in the battery cells is supplied to, for example, an electric motor, which is a drive device for the vehicle, via the relay unit 10 and the electrical circuit.

[0017] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the relay unit 10 includes an upper case (case) 15, relay terminals 30-1, 30-2, and 30-3, relays 40A and 40B, bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50, a lower case (case) 60, and multiple electronic components (not shown) different from the relays 40A and 40B.

[0018] Upper case 15, which is an integrally molded resin product, includes support plate 16, relay support portions 18A and 18B, and an annular wall portion (outer peripheral wall) 20. Support plate 16 is a generally plate-like portion having a generally rectangular planar shape.

[0019] The upper case 15 includes two relay support portions 18A and 18B. Each relay support portion 18A and 18B includes a pair of left and right wall components 19 that protrude upward from the upper surface of the support plate portion 16. Each wall component 19 has a generally U-shaped planar shape. Specifically, each wall component 19 includes a plate-shaped first side wall portion 19A that is generally perpendicular to the left-right direction and a pair of second side wall portions 19B that are connected to the front and rear ends of the first side wall portion 19A and are generally parallel to the left-right direction. Furthermore, a gap 19C is formed between the second side wall portions 19B that are aligned on the left and right sides of each pair of wall components 19. Furthermore, a protrusion 18A1 is provided on the left-hand first side wall portion 19A of the relay support portion 18A. Specifically, the portion of the left-hand first side wall portion 19A that corresponds to the protrusion 18A1 is recessed toward the left. A relay storage space 22 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape is formed between the upper surface of the support plate portion 16 and the inner surfaces of the relay support portions 18A, 18B.

[0020] Furthermore, the upper end of an annular wall portion 20 is connected to the outer periphery of the lower surface of the support plate portion 16 .

[0021] The support plate 16 is provided with a plurality of relay terminal housing spaces (not shown), and each relay terminal housing space is provided with a metallic, conductive relay terminal 30-1, 30-2, 30-3.

[0022] The relay unit 10 includes two relays 40A and 40B. The relays 40A and 40B are electronic components that include a coil and a switch. The relays 40A and 40B generate a magnetic field by passing a current through the coil, which switches the relays 40A and 40B on and off. When the switches of the relays 40A and 40B are in the on state, power supplied from the battery cells to the relays 40A and 40B is supplied from the relays 40A and 40B to the electric circuit. On the other hand, when the switches of the relays 40A and 40B are in the off state, power supplied from the battery cells to the relays 40A and 40B is not supplied from the relays 40A and 40B to the electric circuit.

[0023] Each of the relays 40A, 40B includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped relay case 41 that houses a coil, a switch, and other components, and four conductive metallic relay terminals 43 that protrude downward from the bottom surface of the relay case 41. The external shape of the relay case 41 is substantially the same as the relay housing space 22, which is the internal space of the relay support parts 18A, 18B. The planar shape of the relay case 41 is a rectangle whose front-to-back dimension is longer than its left-to-right dimension. The relay case 41 has a pair of first side surfaces 41A that are spaced apart from each other, and a pair of second side surfaces 41B that are located between the pair of first side surfaces 41A, are spaced apart from each other, and have smaller areas than the first side surfaces.

[0024] Relays 40A and 40B are provided on the respective relay support portions 18A and 18B of the upper case 15. The entire inner surface of the first side wall portion 19A of the right wall portion 19 of the relay support portion 18A is in surface contact with the first right side surface 41A of the relay 40A. Meanwhile, the inner surface of the first side wall portion 19A of the left wall portion 19 of the relay support portion 18A, excluding the protrusion 18A1, is in surface contact with the first left side surface 41A of the relay 40A. Furthermore, the entire inner surface of each second side wall portion 19B of each wall portion 19 of the relay support portion 18A is in surface contact with the second side surface 41B of the relay 40A. Furthermore, the entire inner surface of the first side wall portion 19A of the left and right wall portions 19 of the relay support portion 18B is in surface contact with the left and right first side surfaces 41A of the relay 40B, and the entire inner surface of each second side wall portion 19B of each wall portion 19 of the relay support portion 18B is in surface contact with the second side surface 41B of the relay 40B. Furthermore, the relays 40A and 40B are fixed to the corresponding relay supports 18A and 18B. Furthermore, the relay terminals 43 protruding downward from the bottom surface of the relay case 41 of each of the relays 40A and 40B come into contact with the relay terminals 30-1 and 30-2 provided in the corresponding relay terminal housings.

[0025] A plurality of relay terminal housings are also provided in positions different from the inner peripheral positions of relay support portions 18A, 18B of support plate portion 16, and relay terminals 30-3 are provided in these relay terminal housings. Furthermore, terminals of the electronic components different from the plurality of relays 40A, 40B provided on the upper portion of support plate portion 16 come into contact with relay terminals 30-3 provided in the corresponding relay terminal housings.

[0026] 2, the relay unit 10 includes six metal bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50. The bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 are integrally molded products manufactured by pressing a metal plate.

[0027] Conductive bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 have different shapes. However, bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 each include a main body 45A, 46A, 47A, 48A, 49A, or 50A located on a plane perpendicular to the vertical direction, and protrusions 45B, 46B, 47B, 48B, 49B, or 50B extending upward from the ends of main body 45A, 46A, 47A, 48A, 49A, or 50A. Bus bars 47 and 48 each include two protrusions 47B and 48B. Furthermore, the bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 include protrusions 45X, 46X, 47X, 48X, 49X, and 50X extending upward from the main body portions 45A, 46A, 47A, 48A, 49A, and 50A.

[0028] The main body portions 45A, 46A, 47A, 48A, 49A, and 50A are located directly below the support plate portion 16. Furthermore, eight protruding pieces 45B, 46B, 47B, 48B, 49B, and 50B come into contact with the corresponding relay terminals 30-1 and 30-2, respectively.

[0029] In addition, each of the protrusions 46X, 47X, 48X, 49X, and 50X comes into contact with the relay terminal 30-3 provided in each relay terminal storage section provided in a section different from the inner peripheral section of the relay support sections 18A and 18B of the support plate section 16.

[0030] The lower case 60, which is an integrally molded resin product, includes a bottom plate portion 61, an outer peripheral wall 62, and an inner wall 63. The bottom plate portion 61 is a flat plate-like portion that is perpendicular to the up-down direction and has a substantially rectangular planar shape. The outer peripheral wall 62 protrudes upward from the outer peripheral edge of the bottom plate portion 61 and has an annular planar shape. A plurality of inner walls 63 are provided on the upper surface of the bottom plate portion 61 at portions located on the inner periphery of the outer peripheral wall 62. Each inner wall 63 protrudes upward from the upper surface of the bottom plate portion 61. A plurality of spaces (rooms) are formed between the bottom plate portion 61, the outer peripheral wall 62, and the inner wall 63.

[0031] 3, lower case 60 is inserted from below upper case 15 into the space formed between support plate portion 16 and annular wall portion 20, and lower case 60 is fixed to upper case 15. As a result, outer peripheral wall 62 is positioned on the inner peripheral side of annular wall portion 20, and bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 fixed to upper case 15 are arranged in the above-mentioned spaces (rooms) of lower case 60. Note that main body portions 45A, 46A, 47A, 48A, 49A, and 50A may or may not contact the upper surface of bottom plate portion 61.

[0032] 4, the first side wall portion 19A and the second side wall portion 19B of the relay support portions 18A, 18B have a thickness Th1. This thickness Th1 is greater than the thickness of the portions of the upper case 15 other than the relay support portions 18A, 18B and the thicknesses of the bottom plate portion 61, the outer peripheral wall 62, and the inner wall 63 of the lower case 60. In other words, the thickness Th1 of the first side wall portion 19A and the second side wall portion 19B is the greatest among the upper case 15 and the lower case 60.

[0033] The completed relay unit 10 is placed inside the battery pack and connected to the battery cells and the above-mentioned electrical circuit.

[0034] (Action and effect) Next, the operation and effects of the embodiment will be described.

[0035] The relay unit 10 of the embodiment configured as described above includes an upper case 15 and a lower case 60. The upper case 15 includes a support plate 16, relay support portions 18A and 18B provided on an upper surface, which is one surface in the thickness direction of the support plate 16, and in contact with and support the relays 40A and 40B connected to bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 via relay terminals 30-1 and 30-2, respectively, and an annular wall portion 20 extending downward from a lower surface, which is the other surface in the thickness direction of the support plate 16. Furthermore, a thickness Th1 of wall components 19 (first side wall portion 19A and second side wall portion 19B) of the relay support portions 18A and 18B is greater than the thicknesses of portions of the upper case 15 other than the relay support portions 18A and 18B and the thicknesses of a bottom plate portion 61, an outer peripheral wall 62, and an inner wall 63 of the lower case 60. Therefore, the mechanical strength (rigidity) of relay support portions 18A and 18B is greater than that of the lower case 60 and the portions of upper case 15 other than relay support portions 18A and 18B.

[0036] When electricity is supplied to each of the relays 40A and 40B from each of the bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50, a ripple current flows through each of the relays 40A and 40B. This ripple current causes the coils provided inside each of the relays 40A and 40B to generate a magnetic field, which switches the switches of the relays 40A and 40B on and off. At this time, an attractive force is generated between the iron cores in the coils and the iron cores of the switches, which causes the components provided inside each of the relays 40A and 40B to vibrate. This can cause the relays 40A and 40B to generate high-frequency vibrations.

[0037] However, the inner surfaces of the wall-forming portions 19 of the relay support portions 18A, 18B, which have high rigidity, support the relays 40A, 40B while contacting the side surfaces of the relay case 41. Therefore, when the relays 40A, 40B generate high-frequency vibrations, the relay support portions 18A, 18B can suppress the vibrations of the relays 40A, 40B. According to the results of experiments conducted by the inventors, the rigidity of the relay support portions 18A, 18B has a stronger causal relationship with suppressing the vibrations of the relays 40A, 40B than the rigidity of portions of the upper case 15 other than the relay support portions 18A, 18B and the rigidity of the bottom plate portion 61, outer peripheral wall 62, and inner wall 63 of the lower case 60. Therefore, in the relay unit 10, when the relays 40A, 40B generate high-frequency vibrations, the relay support portions 18A, 18B can suppress the vibrations of the relays 40A, 40B.

[0038] Furthermore, the relay supports 18A, 18B include a pair of first side wall portions 19A having a thickness Th1 and in contact with the first side surface 41A, which has the largest area among the side surfaces of the relay case 41 of the relays 40A, 40B. Because the relay supports 18A, 18B include the first side wall portions 19A, which have a large contact area with the relays 40A, 40B and high rigidity, when the relays 40A, 40B generate high-frequency vibrations, the relay supports 18A, 18B can more effectively suppress vibrations of the relays 40A, 40B.

[0039] Furthermore, the entire first side wall portion 19A of the wall portion 19 on the right side of the relay support portion 18A and the entire first side wall portions 19A of the wall portions 19 on the left and right sides of the relay support portion 18B come into contact with the first side surfaces 41A of the relay cases 41 of the corresponding relays 40A and 40B. These first side wall portions 19A do not have protrusions 18A1. In other words, these first side wall portions 19A do not have any irregularities that would prevent the entire first side wall portion 19A from coming into contact with the first side surfaces 41A. Therefore, these first side wall portions 19A can more effectively suppress vibration of the relays 40A and 40B.

[0040] As described above, the relay unit 10 of this embodiment can suppress vibration of the relays 40A and 40B. Furthermore, the relay unit 10 can reduce the risk that high-frequency vibrations generated in the relays 40A and 40B will cause the bus bars 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50 to vibrate, which in turn will cause large vibrations in the support plate 16 that contacts the main bodies 45A, 46A, 47A, 48A, 49A, and 50A, or large vibrations in the air in the space surrounded by the upper case 15 and the lower case 60. Therefore, the relay unit 10 is less likely to generate noise when the relays 40A and 40B generate high-frequency vibrations.

[0041] FIG. 5 shows experimental results for the relay unit 10 of the embodiment and the relay unit of the comparative example. Graph (A) shows the experimental results for the relay unit 10 of the embodiment, and graph (B) shows the experimental results for the relay unit of the comparative example. The relay unit 10 of the embodiment and the relay unit of the comparative example vibrated at approximately 11.5 kHz. The structure of the relay unit of the comparative example was the same as that of the relay unit 10, except that the thickness of the relay support portion 18A and the relay support portion 18B was less than the thickness of the portions of the upper case 15 other than the relay support portions 18A and 18B and the thickness of the bottom plate portion 61, the outer peripheral wall 62, and the inner wall 63 of the lower case 60. In this case, the acoustic power of the relay unit of the comparative example was 39.1 dB, while the acoustic power of the relay unit 10 of the embodiment was 35.0 dB.

[0042] Although the battery pack according to the embodiment has been described above, the design thereof can be appropriately modified within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0043] For example, the present invention may be implemented in a modified form shown in FIG. 6 . The relay support 18A of this modified form includes a pair of first sidewalls 19A and a pair of second sidewalls 19D that connect the ends of the first sidewalls 19A and are generally parallel to the left-right direction. The left-right dimension of the second sidewalls 19D is shorter than the front-to-rear dimension of the first sidewalls 19A. That is, the planar shape of the relay support 18A of this modified form is a rectangle whose front-to-rear dimension is greater than its left-to-right dimension. A relay 40A is accommodated in a relay storage space 22 formed on the inner periphery of the relay support 18A, and the relay 40A is fixed to the relay support 18A. Furthermore, the entire inner surface of each first sidewall 19A contacts the respective first side surface 41A of the relay case 41, and the entire inner surface of each second sidewall 19D contacts the respective second side surface 41B of the relay case 41. Furthermore, the thickness of the first sidewalls 19A and the second sidewalls 19D is Th1. Although not shown in the drawings, relay support portion 18B of this modified example has the same structure as relay support portion 18A, so this modified example can also achieve the same effects as the embodiment.

[0044] The number of relay support portions and relays in the embodiment and modified examples may be one, or may be a number other than two.

[0045] In the embodiment and modified examples, the thickness of only a part of the relay support portion may be Th1. [Explanation of symbols]

[0046] 10 Relay Unit 15 Upper case (case) 16 Support plate part 18A 18B Relay support 19A 1st side wall part 20 Annular wall portion (outer wall) 40A 40B relay 41 Relay case 41A 1st side 41B 2nd side 45 46 47 48 49 50 Busbar 60 Lower case (case) Th1 Thickness

Claims

1. A support plate portion; a relay support portion provided on an upper surface of the support plate portion, the upper surface being one surface in a thickness direction of the support plate portion, the relay support portion being in contact with the relay connected to the bus bar and supporting the relay; an outer peripheral wall extending downward from a lower surface, which is the other surface in the thickness direction of the support plate portion; a case having a A relay unit in which the thickness of at least a portion of the relay support portion is greater than the thickness of the support plate portion and the outer peripheral wall.

2. The relay has a rectangular planar shape, the relay has a pair of first side surfaces spaced apart from each other, and a pair of second side surfaces located between the pair of first side surfaces, spaced apart from each other, and having an area smaller than that of the first side surfaces; The relay unit according to claim 1 , wherein the part of the relay support portion is a pair of first side wall portions that contact the first side surface.

3. The relay unit according to claim 2 , wherein the first side wall portion entirely contacts the corresponding first side surface.

Images