Busbar retaining protector

Abstract

The present invention provides a busbar retaining protector that can suppress misalignment of flat conductors relative to the housing portion of the case. [Solution] The busbar holding protector 1 comprises a case 10 having a housing portion 14 that houses a connecting portion 31 formed at the longitudinal end of a busbar 30 having an inclined upright portion 35 formed in the middle portion; a cover 20 that is attached to the case 10 to cover a part of the upper opening of the housing portion 14 and hold the busbar 30; a lower surface misalignment prevention projection 17 that protrudes from the inclined inner surface 15 of the housing portion 14 which is inclined to correspond to the inclined upright portion 35, and whose contact surface parallel to the lower surface of the inclined upright portion 35 contacts the inclined upright portion 35 to suppress misalignment; and an upper surface misalignment prevention projection 25 that protrudes from the inner surface of the cover 20, and whose contact surface parallel to the upper surface of the inclined upright portion 35 contacts the inclined upright portion 35 to suppress misalignment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a bus bar holder protector.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in a power supply circuit or the like, a conductive member that is connected to a power supply such as a battery and supplies electricity to electrical components or the like has been used. Some of this type of conductive member includes a strip-shaped flat conductor (bus bar) having a predetermined width.

[0003] For such a conductive member, it is necessary to ensure the electrical insulation of the flat conductor. For example, techniques for coating the flat conductor with an insulating material, and techniques for insulating the flat conductor with a case or an exterior member (protector) made of an insulating resin are known (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

[0004] For example, as shown in FIG. 9, a conventional bus bar holder protector 501 includes a case 510 having a pair of accommodating portions 514 that respectively accommodate connection portions 31 formed at longitudinal ends of a bus bar 30 that is a strip-shaped flat conductor, and a cover 520 that is attached to the case 510 so as to cover a part of an upper opening of the accommodating portion 514 and hold the bus bar 30.

[0005] A bolt insertion hole 33 is formed in the connection portion 31 of the bus bar 30. Further, an obliquely rising portion 35 bent in the plate thickness direction is formed in an intermediate portion of the bus bar 30 adjacent to the connection portion 31.

[0006] The case 510 has a substantially rectangular box shape, and a pair of accommodating portions 514 defined by partition walls 512 are arranged side by side. Inside the accommodating portion 514, a bus bar fixing portion 513 integrally formed with a nut 53 is provided, and the connection portion 31 of the bus bar 30 is bolt-fixed by a bolt (not shown) inserted through the bolt insertion hole 33. An inclined inner surface 515 inclined corresponding to the obliquely rising portion 35 of the bus bar 30 is provided on one side wall of the rectangular cylindrical peripheral wall 511 of the accommodating portion 514.

[0007] The cover 520 has an upper wall portion 521 with a rectangular planar shape and side wall portions 523 provided on both longitudinal edges of the upper wall portion 521. The cover 520 is attached to the case 510 so as to cover the upper opening side of the pair of housing portions 514 with the pair of busbars 30 in between. A locking mechanism (not shown) is provided between the side wall portion 523 and the cover 520, allowing the cover 520 to be attached to and detachably from the case 510.

[0008] Therefore, the busbar holding protector 501 can hold a pair of busbars 30 by having the busbar connection portion 31 of the busbar 30 placed on the busbar fixing portion 513 of the housing portion 514, and then having the cover 520 attached to the case 510 so as to cover the slanted upright portion 35 of the busbar 30. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0009] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2012-109152 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2021-89890 [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0010] However, the aforementioned busbar holding protector 501 does not have a structure that suppresses misalignment in the direction of arrow A, as the slanted upright portion 35 of the busbar 30 facing the inclined inner surface 515 of the housing portion 514 is slanted when the busbar 30 is held in place. As a result, the busbar 30 is misaligned in the direction of arrow A, and as shown in Figure 10, the central axis X1 of the threaded portion of the nut 53 and the central axis X2 of the bolt insertion hole 33 do not coincide, resulting in a large misalignment, which worsens the workability when fastening the bolt.

[0011] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to provide a busbar retaining protector that can suppress misalignment of a flat conductor with respect to the housing portion of a case. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] The above objective according to the present invention is achieved by the following configuration. A case having a housing section for housing a connecting section formed at the longitudinal end of a strip-shaped flat conductor with an obliquely rising section formed in the middle, A cover is attached to the case so as to cover a part of the upper opening of the housing and hold the flat conductor, A lower surface misalignment prevention projection is provided on the inclined inner surface of the housing portion, which is inclined in accordance with the aforementioned inclined rising portion, and the contact surface parallel to the lower surface of the inclined rising portion contacts the inclined rising portion to suppress misalignment, An upper surface misalignment prevention projection is provided on the inner surface of the cover, and its contact surface, which is parallel to the upper surface of the slanted rising portion, contacts the slanted rising portion to suppress misalignment, A busbar retaining protector equipped with [features / features]. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] The busbar retaining protector according to the present invention can suppress misalignment of the flat conductor relative to the housing portion of the case.

[0014] The present invention has been briefly described above. Furthermore, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by referring to the attached drawings and reading through the embodiments for carrying out the invention described below (hereinafter referred to as "embodiments"). [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0015] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a busbar retaining protector according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the busbar retaining protector shown in Figure 1. [Figure 3]Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cover shown in Figure 2 as viewed from the lower rear side. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a perspective view of the cover shown in Figure 2 as viewed from the lower front side. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a plan view of the bus bar holder protector shown in Figure 1. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in Figure 5 as viewed in the direction of the arrow. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is an enlarged view of part VII in Figure 6. [Figure 8] Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the state of suppressing the positional deviation of the flat conductor by the enlarged view of part VII in Figure 6. [Figure 9] Figure 9 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional bus bar holder protector. [Figure 10] Figure 10 is a sectional view showing the state in which the bus bar is displaced in a conventional bus bar holder protector.

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The bus bar holder protector 1 according to the present embodiment is used, for example, in an inter-stack wiring module that electrically connects between a plurality of battery stacks. Of course, the bus bar holder protector 1 of the present invention is not limited to the inter-stack wiring module of the present embodiment, and it goes without saying that it can be applied to various power supply circuits such as high-voltage cables that electrically connect a battery assembly and a control device such as an inverter.

[0017] Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bus bar holder protector 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the bus bar holder protector 1 shown in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cover 20 shown in Figure 2 as viewed from the lower rear side. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the cover 20 shown in Figure 2 as viewed from the lower front side. In the present embodiment, the up-down, front-back, left-right directions in the bus bar holder protector 1 follow the arrow directions of up-down, front-back, left-right shown in Figure 2.

[0018] As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the busbar retaining protector 1 according to this embodiment comprises a case 10 having a pair of housing portions 14 that each house a connecting portion 31 formed at the longitudinal end of a busbar 30, which is a strip-shaped flat conductor, and a cover 20 that is attached to the case 10 so as to cover a part of the upper opening of the housing portion 14 and hold the busbar 30. The case 10 and cover 20 are integrally molded from insulating resin by injection molding or the like.

[0019] The busbar 30 in this embodiment is made of a substantially elongated flat conductive metal plate that has been press-formed into a predetermined shape, and bolt insertion holes 33 are formed in the connecting portions 31 formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction. In addition, a diagonally rising portion 35 bent in the thickness direction is formed in the middle portion of the busbar 30 adjacent to the connecting portion 31.

[0020] Various conductive metal materials can be used for the conductive metal plate, such as copper or copper alloys, or aluminum or aluminum alloys.

[0021] As shown in Figure 2, the case 10 of this embodiment has a roughly rectangular box shape, and a pair of storage compartments 14 defined by a partition wall 12 are arranged side by side. A busbar fixing portion 13 with an integrally formed nut 53 is provided inside the housing portion 14, and the connection portion 31 of the busbar 30 is bolted and fixed by a bolt 55 inserted through a bolt insertion hole 33.

[0022] Furthermore, when bolting the connection portion 31 of the busbar 30 to the busbar fixing portion 13, as shown in Figure 1, the busbar 30 and the connection terminal 40 can be electrically connected by inserting a bolt 55 through the bolt insertion hole 43 of the connection terminal 40 in the battery stack and fastening them together.

[0023] One side wall (front wall) of the rectangular cylindrical peripheral wall 11 of the housing section 14 is provided with an inclined inner surface 15 that is inclined to correspond to the diagonally rising portion 35 of the bus bar 30. Furthermore, the inclined inner surface 15 is provided with a lower surface displacement prevention projection 17, which is a ridge extending in the left-right direction of the case 10. The lower surface displacement prevention projection 17 has a contact surface 17a (see Figure 7) parallel to the lower surface of the inclined upright portion 35 of the busbar 30, which contacts the inclined upright portion 35 to suppress displacement of the busbar 30.

[0024] Furthermore, positioning ribs 19 extending in the vertical direction are provided protruding from a pair of opposing inner wall surfaces along the left-right direction of the rectangular cylindrical peripheral wall 11 of the housing section 14. These positioning ribs 19 can restrict the left-right displacement of the busbar 30.

[0025] As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the cover 20 of this embodiment has an upper wall portion 21 having a rectangular plan view shape and side wall portions 23 provided on both longitudinal edges of the upper wall portion 21. The cover 20 is attached to the case 10 so as to fit over the upper opening side of the pair of housing portions 14, sandwiching the pair of busbars 30. A locking mechanism (not shown) is provided between the side wall portion 23 and the cover 20, allowing the cover 20 to be attached to and detachably from the case 10.

[0026] Furthermore, a flat plate-shaped projection 25, which is an upper surface displacement prevention projection 25 extending in the left-right direction of the cover 20, is provided on the inner surface of the upper wall portion 21. The upper surface displacement prevention projection 25 has a contact surface 25a parallel to the upper surface of the inclined upright portion 35 of the busbar 30, which contacts the inclined upright portion 35 to suppress displacement of the busbar 30.

[0027] In this embodiment, the upper surface displacement prevention projection 25 is provided only on the left inner surface of the upper wall portion 21, and contacts only one of the pair of busbars 30 (the left one in Figure 2) with a slanted upward-facing portion 35, thereby suppressing displacement of the busbar 30.

[0028] Then, as shown in Figure 1, two busbar retaining protectors 1 with the same configuration are positioned at both longitudinal ends of a pair of busbars 30. In this case, the busbar 30 on the front side in the figure is prevented from shifting position by the upper surface displacement prevention projection 25 of the cover 20 of the busbar retaining protector 1 on the right side in the figure. Similarly, the busbar 30 on the back side in the figure is prevented from shifting position by the upper surface displacement prevention projection 25 of the cover 20 of the busbar retaining protector 1 on the left side in the figure.

[0029] In other words, the displacement of each of the pair of busbars 30 is independently suppressed by the upper surface displacement prevention projections 25 of the cover 20 of the busbar holding protector 1, which are arranged at each of the longitudinal ends. Therefore, the displacement of both longitudinal ends of the busbars 30 is not suppressed simultaneously by the upper surface displacement prevention projections 25 of the cover 20, thus the influence of dimensional tolerances and assembly tolerances of the cover 20 can be suppressed.

[0030] Of course, it goes without saying that the upper surface displacement prevention projection 25 of the cover 20 may also be configured to contact both slanted upright portions 35 of the pair of busbars 30, thereby suppressing displacement of both busbars 30.

[0031] Next, I will explain the function of the above-described configuration. Figure 5 is a plan view of the busbar retaining protector 1 shown in Figure 1. Figure 6 is a view of the cross-section along the line VI-VI in Figure 5. Figure 7 is an enlarged view of section VII in Figure 6. Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the state in which the displacement of the busbar 30 is suppressed based on the enlarged view of section VII in Figure 6.

[0032] According to the busbar holding protector 1 of this embodiment, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, after placing the connecting portion 31 of the busbar 30 on the busbar fixing portion 13 of the housing portion 14, the cover 20 is attached to the case 10 so as to cover the slanted upright portion 35 of the busbar 30, thereby holding a pair of busbars 30.

[0033] As shown in Figure 7, a projection 17 for preventing lower surface misalignment is provided on the inclined inner surface 15 of the housing section 14 in the case 10, and a projection 25 for preventing upper surface misalignment is provided on the inner surface of the upper wall section 21 in the cover 20.

[0034] When the bus bar 30 moves in the direction of arrow A, as shown in Figure 8, the contact surface 17a of the lower position displacement prevention projection 17 contacts the slanted upright portion 35, thereby suppressing positional displacement of the bus bar 30 relative to the housing portion 14 of the case 10. Also, when the bus bar 30 moves in the direction opposite to the direction of arrow A, the contact surface 25a of the upper position displacement prevention projection 25 contacts the slanted upright portion 35, thereby suppressing positional displacement of the bus bar 30 relative to the housing portion 14 of the case 10.

[0035] Therefore, according to the busbar holding protector 1 of this embodiment, by suppressing misalignment of the connection portion 31 of the busbar 30 held in the housing portion 14 of the case 10, it is possible to prevent the housing portion 14 and the connection portion 31 from shifting significantly, and to improve the workability when fixing the connection portion 31 to the housing portion 14.

[0036] Furthermore, according to the busbar holding protector 1 of this embodiment, the case 10 has a pair of housing sections 14 arranged side by side for housing the longitudinal ends of a pair of busbars 30 arranged side by side, and the cover 20 is provided with an upper surface misalignment prevention projection 25 that contacts only one of the slanted upright sections 35 of the pair of busbars 30 to suppress misalignment.

[0037] As shown in Figure 1, when two busbar retaining protectors 1 with the same configuration are placed at both longitudinal ends of a pair of busbars 30, the positional displacement of the pair of busbars 30 is independently suppressed by the upper surface displacement prevention projections 25 of the cover 20 of the busbar retaining protectors 1 placed at each longitudinal end. Therefore, the positional displacement of both longitudinal ends of the busbars 30 is not suppressed simultaneously by the upper surface displacement prevention projections 25 of the cover 20, thus reducing the influence of dimensional tolerances and assembly tolerances of the cover 20 on positional displacement suppression.

[0038] Furthermore, in the busbar retaining protector 1 of this embodiment, a bolt insertion hole 33 is formed in the connection portion 31 of the busbar 30, and a busbar fixing portion 13 equipped with a nut 53 is provided in the housing portion 14 of the case 10.

[0039] Therefore, according to the busbar holding protector 1 of this embodiment, by suppressing misalignment of the connection portion 31 of the busbar 30 held in the housing portion 14 of the case 10, it is possible to prevent a large misalignment between the central axis X1 of the threaded portion of the nut 53 and the central axis X2 of the bolt insertion hole 33, thereby improving workability when fastening bolts.

[0040] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be modified, improved, etc., as appropriate. In addition, the material, shape, dimensions, number, placement, etc. of each component in the embodiments described above are arbitrary and not limited, as long as they can achieve the present invention.

[0041] For example, in the busbar retaining protector 1 of the above embodiment, a pair of housing sections 14 are arranged side by side in the case 10, but the busbar retaining protector of the present invention is not limited to this, and a single housing section 14 may also be used. Furthermore, the method for fixing the connection part of the flat conductor to the housing part of the case is not limited to bolt fastening; various fixing methods such as rivets and welding can also be used.

[0042] Herein, the features of the embodiments of the busbar retaining protector according to the present invention described above are briefly summarized and listed below in [1] to [3]. [1] A case (10) having a housing portion (14) that houses a connecting portion (31) formed at the longitudinal end of a strip-shaped flat conductor (bus bar 30) having an obliquely rising portion (35) formed in the middle, A cover (20) is attached to the case (10) so as to cover a part of the upper opening of the housing (14) and hold the flat conductor (bus bar 30), A lower surface misalignment prevention projection (17) is provided protruding from the inclined inner surface (15) of the housing (14), which is inclined in accordance with the inclined rising portion (35), and the contact surface (17a) parallel to the lower surface of the inclined rising portion (35) contacts the inclined rising portion (35) to suppress misalignment, An upper surface misalignment prevention projection (25) is provided protruding from the inner surface of the cover (20), and the contact surface (25a) parallel to the upper surface of the slanted rising portion (35) contacts the slanted rising portion (35) to suppress misalignment, A busbar retaining protector (1) is provided.

[0043] According to the busbar retaining protector (1) described in [1] above, the contact surface (17a) of the lower displacement prevention projection (17) protruding from the inclined inner surface (15) of the housing portion (14) of the case (10) contacts the slanted upright portion (35) of the flat conductor (busbar 30), and the contact surface (25a) of the upper displacement prevention projection (25) protruding from the inner surface of the cover (20) contacts the slanted upright portion (35) of the flat conductor (busbar 30), thereby suppressing displacement of the flat conductor (busbar 30) relative to the housing portion (14) of the case (10).

[0044] [2] The case (10) has a pair of housing sections (14) arranged side by side for housing the longitudinal ends of a pair of flat conductors (busbars 30) arranged side by side, The cover (20) is provided with an upper surface misalignment prevention projection (25) that contacts only one of the slanted upright portions (35) of the pair of flat conductors (busbars 30) to suppress misalignment. The busbar retaining protector (1) described in [1] above.

[0045] According to the busbar retaining protector (1) described in [2] above, when two busbar retaining protectors (1) of the same configuration are placed at both longitudinal ends of a pair of flat conductors (busbars 30), the positional displacement of the pair of flat conductors (busbars 30) is suppressed independently by the upper surface displacement prevention projections (25) of the busbar retaining protectors (1) placed at both longitudinal ends. Therefore, the positional displacement of both longitudinal ends of the flat conductors (busbars 30) is not suppressed simultaneously by the upper surface displacement prevention projections (25) of the cover (20), thus reducing the influence of the dimensional tolerances and assembly tolerances of the cover (20) on the suppression of positional displacement.

[0046] [3] A bolt insertion hole (33) is formed in the connecting portion (31), The housing portion (14) is provided with a busbar fixing portion (13) equipped with a nut (53). A busbar retaining protector (1) as described in [1] or [2] above.

[0047] According to the busbar retaining protector (1) described in [3] above, by suppressing misalignment of the connection portion (31) of the flat conductor (busbar 30) held in the housing portion (14) of the case (10), it is possible to prevent a large misalignment between the central axis (X1) of the threaded portion of the nut (53) and the central axis (X2) of the bolt insertion hole (33), thereby improving workability when fastening bolts. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0048] 1…Bus bar retaining protector 10... Cases 14…Detention Unit 17…Protrusion to prevent misalignment on the bottom surface 17a...Abutment surface 20...cover 25…Top surface positioning prevention protrusion 25a...Abutment surface 30…Busbar (flat conductor) 31…Connection part 35... Diagonal rising section

Claims

1. A case having a housing section for housing a connecting section formed at the longitudinal end of a strip-shaped flat conductor with an obliquely rising section formed in the middle, A cover is attached to the case so as to cover a part of the upper opening of the housing and hold the flat conductor, A lower surface misalignment prevention projection is provided on the inclined inner surface of the housing portion, which is inclined in accordance with the aforementioned inclined rising portion, and the contact surface parallel to the lower surface of the inclined rising portion contacts the inclined rising portion to suppress misalignment, An upper surface misalignment prevention projection is provided on the inner surface of the cover, and its contact surface, which is parallel to the upper surface of the slanted rising portion, contacts the slanted rising portion to suppress misalignment, A busbar retaining protector equipped with [features / features].

2. The case has a pair of housing sections arranged side by side for housing the longitudinal ends of the pair of flat conductors arranged side by side. The cover is provided with an upper surface misalignment prevention projection that contacts only one of the slanted upright portions of the pair of flat conductors to suppress misalignment. The busbar retaining protector according to claim 1.

3. A bolt insertion hole is formed in the aforementioned connecting portion. The aforementioned housing section is provided with a busbar fixing section equipped with a nut. A busbar retaining protector according to claim 1 or 2.

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