Electronic Control Unit Housing with Adjacent Mounting Frame
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional protective cases for electronic control units, especially those with backup batteries, lack stability during vehicle vibrations and impact, leading to potential damage and complicate device layouts, increase manufacturing costs, and result in larger device sizes due to unnecessary space and additional parts.
Innovation Solution
An electronic control unit design featuring a plate-shaped control board, a long pillar-shaped battery pack, and a housing with a bent battery holder and a fixing frame that securely mounts both components adjacently, eliminating the need for separate partitions and dead spaces, thus enhancing stability and miniaturization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a control board is fixed only by one support rail (or rib) on the left and right peripheral walls of a housing, then the housing structure is simple, but the control board cannot be stably supported in the housing during vibration and impact
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into multiple functional regions: a control board receiving region with support rails, a battery pack receiving region, and a partition wall separating them. This segmentation allows each component to be independently supported and secured, improving overall stability while maintaining structural organization
Solution Approach 2:
The partition wall serves multiple functions simultaneously: it separates the control board region from the battery pack region, provides additional support for the control board, and acts as a structural reinforcement element. This multi-functionality improves stability without adding separate support components
2Strength
If a battery case is provided integrally with an upper part of a housing, then the supporting strength of the control board is improved, but the protective case is increased in width size
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of extending the housing width to accommodate a separate battery case, the battery pack receiving region is integrated into the depth dimension of the housing. The partition wall extends vertically to provide support, utilizing the Z-dimension rather than expanding the X-dimension, thus maintaining compact width while achieving adequate support strength
3Strength
If a partition wall part for partitioning control board space and battery pack space is provided in a housing, then the supporting strength of the control board is held, but the protective case is increased in width size
Solution Approach 1:
The partition wall is strategically positioned and dimensioned to provide support strength exactly where needed - at the control board receiving region - rather than uniformly reinforcing the entire housing. This localized reinforcement achieves the required support strength without unnecessarily increasing overall housing width
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic control unit includes a control board, a battery pack, and a housing that accommodates the control board and the battery pack. The electronic control unit further includes a battery holder that has a bent shape and includes a bottom surface along a longitudinal direction of the battery pack, the battery holder clamping a main body of the battery pack, and a fixing frame that includes a juxtaposing and mounting part on which a plate surface of the control board and the bottom surface of the battery holder are mounted in a state of being adjacent to each other with a boundary line along the longitudinal direction therebetween, the control board and the battery holder being fixed to the juxtaposing and mounting part. The housing includes an opening portion into which the juxtaposing and mounting part of the fixing frame is inserted, and a back side holding portion that holds the juxtaposing and mounting part at an inner back side of the housing opposed to the opening portion. The fixing frame further includes a sealing front part that closes the opening portion of the housing with the juxtaposing and mounting part accommodated in the housing and that is fixed to the housing in a state of closing the opening portion.