Fuse unit attachment structure

Abstract

A fuse unit attachment structure includes a fuse bracket to be mounted on a fuse unit directly attachable to a battery and a bracket connecting member for connecting the fuse bracket to the battery. The fuse bracket has a unit supporting portion to support the fuse unit so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to a lateral surface of the battery and a connecting member engaging portion to be engaged with the bracket connecting member so as to be movable in a direction along the lateral surface of the battery.

Claims

1. A fuse unit attachment structure comprising: a fuse bracket configured to be mounted on a fuse unit directly attachable to a battery, the fuse unit configured to be connected to a battery terminal to be fastened to a battery post of the battery such that a portion of the fuse unit is disposed on a side of a lateral surface of the battery, and a bracket connecting member configured to connect the fuse bracket to the battery, wherein the fuse bracket comprises a unit supporting portion supporting the fuse unit such that the fuse unit is movable in a direction perpendicular to the lateral surface of the battery when the fuse unit is attached to the battery; and a connecting member engaging portion engaging with the bracket connecting member so as to be movable in a direction along the lateral surface of the battery when the fuse unit is attached to the battery, and wherein the bracket connecting member comprises a guide plate portion engaging with the connecting member engaging portion to support the fuse bracket such that the fuse bracket is movable in the direction along the lateral surface of the battery when the fuse unit is attached to the battery; and a battery connection portion configured to engage with an engaging portion provided on a top surface of the battery around a post arranging section of the battery on which the battery post is arranged such that a movement of the battery connection portion in a direction along the top surface of the battery is restricted.

2. The fuse unit attachment structure according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portion on the top surface of the battery is an existing mounting hole provided on the top surface of the battery to mount a post cover that covers an upper portion of the battery post.

3. The fuse unit attachment structure according to claim 1, wherein the unit supporting portion comprises a pair of first guide grooves with which respective sides of a terminal connection section of the fuse unit to be connected to the battery terminal are engaged such that the respective sides of the terminal connection section are slidable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface of the battery, and wherein the connecting member engaging portion comprises a pair of second guide grooves with which the guide plate portion of the bracket connecting member provided in a protruding manner is engaged such that the guide plate portion is slidable in the direction along the lateral surface of the battery.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a fuse unit attachment structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

(2) FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the fuse unit attachment structure shown in FIG. 1;

(3) FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a structure on a back side of a terminal connection section of the fuse unit directly attachable to a battery shown in FIG. 2;

(4) FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a fuse bracket shown in FIG. 2, viewed from the direction A;

(5) FIG. 5 is a view illustrating the fuse bracket shown in FIG. 2, viewed from the direction B;

(6) FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a bracket connecting member shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, viewed from a lower side thereof;

(7) FIG. 7 is a view illustrating the bracket connecting member shown in FIG. 2, viewed from the direction C;

(8) FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a state in which the terminal connection section of the fuse unit directly attachable to a battery and the unit supporting portion of the fuse bracket shown in FIG. 2 are engaged with each other;

(9) FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the fuse bracket and the bracket connecting member shown in FIG. 2 are engaged with each other;

(10) FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating a structure for mounting the bracket connecting member shown in FIG. 2 on the battery;

(11) FIG. 11 is an explanatory view illustrating a state in which the terminal connection section of the fuse unit directly attachable to the battery and the battery terminal shown in FIG. 2 are connected to each other;

(12) FIG. 12 is a plan view illustrating the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment of the present invention in a case in which the mounting direction of the battery terminal is proper;

(13) FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment of the present invention in a state in which the mounting direction of the battery terminal is inclined by a predetermined angle from the proper direction;

(14) FIG. 14 is a perspective view illustrating the mounting state shown in FIG. 13;

(15) FIG. 15 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional fuse unit attachment structure;

(16) FIG. 16 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a battery terminal and a fuse unit directly attachable to a battery to be connected to a battery post in an attachment structure similar to the one shown in FIG. 15;

(17) FIG. 17 is a plan view illustrating a state in which the battery terminal is mounted on the battery in a proper mounting direction in the fuse unit attachment structure shown in FIG. 16; and

(18) FIG. 18 is a plan view illustrating a state in which the mounting direction of the battery terminal is inclined from the proper mounting direction in the fuse unit attachment structure shown in FIG. 16.

EMBODIMENTS OF INVENTION

(19) Hereinafter, embodiments of a fuse unit attachment structure according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(20) As shown in FIGS. 1 to 14, the fuse unit attachment structure according to an embodiment of the present invention is used to restrict the position of a fuse unit 30 directly attachable to a battery 10 at the time when the fuse unit 30 is connected to the battery post 12 of the battery 10 via a battery terminal 20. In the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, the mounting position of the fuse unit 30 is restricted by two components, i.e., a fuse bracket 40 and a bracket connecting member 50.

(21) The battery post 12 is a columnar electrode provided on the battery 10 and is arranged at a post arranging section 11 at a corner of an upper surface of the battery 10. The post arranging section 11 is provided at a position one-step lower than the top surface 13 of the battery to suppress the battery terminal 20 fastened to the battery post 12 from protruding toward the top surface 13 of the battery.

(22) On the top surface 13 of the battery around the post arranging section 11, a pair of mounting holes 15 is provided as an engaging portion to be engaged with the battery connection portion 52 of the bracket connecting member 50. This pair of mounting holes 15 serves as cover mounting holes conventionally formed on the top surface 13 of the battery to mount a post cover (not shown) for covering the upper portion of the battery connection portion 52. In other words, in the embodiment, the existing mounting holes 15 for mounting the post cover are used so as to be engaged with the bracket connecting member 50.

(23) The battery terminal 20 includes, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a post fastening section 21 which is fastened to the battery post 12 and a fuse unit mounting section 22 to which the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to the battery is screw-fastened.

(24) The post fastening section 21 has a structure including a post insertion hole 21a into which the battery post 12 is inserted, a slit 21b in which the post insertion hole 21a is partially cut, and a fastening screw 21 for fastening the post fastening section 21 to the battery post 12 by tightening the slit 21b so that the clearance in the slit 21b becomes narrow.

(25) The fuse unit mounting section 22 is configured such that a stud bolt 22b is provided upright on a conductive plate portion 22a integrated with the post fastening section 21 as shown in FIG. 2. The stud bolt 22b is provided such that the extending direction of the center axis line C3 thereof is parallel to the direction of the center axis line C4 of the post insertion hole 21a of the post fastening section 21.

(26) FIG. 12 illustrates a state in which the battery terminal 20 is mounted on the battery post 12 of the battery 10 in its proper mounting direction. The proper mounting direction of the battery terminal 20 is a direction in which the straight line L2 connecting the center of the post insertion hole 21a to the center of the stud bolt 22b is perpendicular to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 as shown in FIG. 12.

(27) The fuse unit 30 directly attachable to a battery includes, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a terminal connection section 31 and a resin housing 32.

(28) The terminal connection section 31 has a terminal connection conductor 31a fastened to the fuse unit mounting section 22 and a housing section 31b made of an insulating resin and accommodating the terminal connection conductor 31a.

(29) The housing section 31b is integrated with the resin housing 32. The housing section 31b covers the circumference of the terminal connection conductor 31a so as not to prevent the conductive connection between the terminal connection conductor 31a and the fuse unit mounting section 22. Since the terminal connection conductor 31a is fastened to the fuse unit mounting section 22, the terminal connection section 31 becomes conductive with the battery terminal 20, thereby being electrically connected to the battery post 12 via the battery terminal 20.

(30) According to the present embodiment, in the housing section 31b, a vacant space section 312 is defined on the back side of the terminal connection conductor 31a by a pair of side wall portions 311 extending downward at both sides of the terminal connection conductor 31a as shown in FIG. 3. This vacant space section 312 is a vacant space into which the fuse unit mounting section 22 advances as shown in FIG. 11. The width dimension W (see FIG. 3) of the vacant space section 312 is set so as to be larger than the width dimension of the fuse unit mounting section 22 so that spaces s1 and s2 are left on both sides of the fuse unit mounting section 22 that is placed on the back face of the terminal connection conductor 31a as shown in FIG. 11. These spaces s1 and s2 secured on both sides of the fuse unit mounting section 22 in the vacant space section 312 allow relative rotation with the fuse unit mounting section 22.

(31) A plurality of connection terminals and fuses that are connected to the terminal connection conductor 31a in a branched manner are accommodated in the resin housing 32.

(32) The plurality of connection terminals connected to the terminal connection conductor 31a in a branched manner are accommodated in the terminal accommodating section 32a of the resin housing 32. Electric wires receiving electric power from the battery 10 are connected to the connection terminals accommodated in the terminal accommodating section 32a. The plurality of fuses provided between the terminal connection conductor 31a and the connection terminals are accommodated in a fuse accommodating section 32b.

(33) The resin housing 32 accommodating the plurality of fuses and connection terminals is formed in a shape that extends downward perpendicularly from the end section of the terminal connection conductor 31a. As shown in FIG. 12, when the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to the battery is properly mounted on the battery terminal 20 that is mounted on the battery post 12 in the proper mounting direction, the resin housing 32, that is, part of the fuse unit 30, is disposed along the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10, whereby the protruding amount thereof from the battery 10 is reduced.

(34) The fuse bracket 40 is mounted on the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to the battery. The fuse bracket 40 has a unit supporting portion 41 and a connecting member engaging portion 42 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

(35) The unit supporting portion 41 has a pair of first guide grooves 411 with which both sides of the terminal connection section 31 of the fuse unit 30 are slidably engaged as shown in FIGS. 4 and 8. The first guide grooves 411 are grooves with which both sides of the terminal connection section 31 are slidably engaged in a direction perpendicular to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 (in the direction indicated by arrow Y in FIGS. 2 and 8).

(36) In other words, the unit supporting portion 41 allows the pair of first guide grooves 411 to be engaged with both sides of the terminal connection section 31, thereby supporting the fuse unit 30 so that the fuse unit 30 is movable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10.

(37) The connecting member engaging portion 42 has a pair of second guide grooves 421 with which the guide plate portion 51 protruding from the bracket connecting member 50 is slidably engaged as shown in FIGS. 5 and 9. The pair of second guide grooves 421 serves as grooves with which the guide plate portion 51 of the bracket connecting member 50 is engaged so that the guide plate portion can move in a direction along the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 (in the direction indicated by arrow X in FIGS. 2 and 9).

(38) In other words, since the guide plate portion 51 of the bracket connecting member 50 is engaged with the pair of the second guide grooves 421, the connecting member engaging portion 42 is engaged with the bracket connecting member 50 so as to be slidable in the direction along the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10.

(39) The bracket connecting member 50 is a member for connecting the fuse bracket 40 to the battery 10 and has the guide plate portion 51 and the battery connection portion 52 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

(40) The guide plate portion 51 is formed into a rectangular protruding shape extending along the direction indicated by arrow X in FIG. 2. Both side edges of the guide plate portion 51 are engaged with the second guide grooves 421 of the connecting member engaging portion 42, whereby the guide plate portion 51 supports the fuse bracket 40 so that the fuse bracket is movable in the direction along the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 (in the direction indicated by arrow X in FIG. 9) as shown in FIG. 9.

(41) The battery connection portion 52 includes, as shown in FIG. 10, a pair of protrusions 521 to be engaged with (fitted into) the pair of mounting holes 15 serving as the engaging portion on the top surface 13 of the battery from the upper side of the battery 10. However, the battery connection portion of the bracket connecting member and the engaging portion according to the present invention are not limited to the protrusions 521 and the mounting holes 15 according to the embodiment, but can take various modes, such as a concave-convex fitting mode, as a matter of course, provided that the battery connection portion of the bracket connecting member can be engaged with the engaging portion.

(42) The pair of protrusions 521 forming the battery connection portion 52 is fitted into the pair of mounting holes 15 on the top surface 13 of the battery, whereby the movement of the bracket connecting member 50 in the direction along the top surface 13 of the battery is restricted.

(43) The fuse bracket 40 and the bracket connecting member 50 described above are assembled with the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to a battery before the fuse unit 30 is mounted on the battery terminal 20. Furthermore, when the fuse unit 30 assembled with the fuse bracket 40 and the bracket connecting member 50 is mounted on the fuse unit mounting section 22 of the battery terminal 20 from the upper side of the battery 10, the pair of protrusions 521 of the bracket connecting member 50 is engaged with the mounting holes 15 on the top surface 13 of the battery, whereby the fuse unit 30 is positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the battery 10.

(44) In the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment described above, the battery directly attaching type fuse unit 30 connected to the battery terminal 20 is positioned on the battery 10 by the fuse bracket 40 mounted on the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to the battery and by the bracket connecting member 50 for connecting the fuse bracket 40 to the battery 10. Moreover, in the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, when the mounting direction of the battery terminal 20 is inclined by angle θ1 from the proper mounting direction as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the movement direction of the fuse unit 30 connected to the battery terminal 20 is restricted by the engagement between the unit supporting portion 41 of the fuse bracket 40 and the terminal connection section 31 and by the engagement between the guide plate portion 51 of the bracket connecting member 50 and the second guide grooves 421 of the fuse bracket 40.

(45) Hence, the moving operation of the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to the battery accompanied by the inclination of the battery terminal 20 becomes parallel movement operation with respect to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 while the fuse unit 30 maintains the same mounting posture as that obtained when the mounting direction of the battery terminal 20 is proper, whereby the fuse unit 30 is prevented from hitting the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10. Consequently, the fuse unit 30 is prevented from being damaged due to hitting the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10.

(46) Further, with the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, the positioning of the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to the battery 10 is performed by the fuse bracket 40 mounted on the fuse unit 30 and by the bracket connecting member 50 for connecting the fuse bracket 40 to the battery 10, whereby the fuse unit 30 itself and the battery terminal 20 itself are not particularly required to be modified in structure. Consequently, the battery terminal 20 and the fuse unit 30 are not required to be designed newly, whereby the prevention of the hitting of the fuse unit 30 with respect to the battery 10 can be achieved at low cost.

(47) Further, with the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, the engaging portion on the top surface 13 of the battery, with which the bracket connecting member 50 is engaged, is provided as the mounting holes 15 that are conventionally provided on the top surface 13 of the battery to mount the post cover for covering the upper portion of the battery post 12. In other words, it is not necessary to form a special-purpose engaging structure on the battery 10 to mount the bracket connecting member 50, whereby the prevention of the hitting of the fuse unit 30 can be achieved by applying the fuse unit attachment structure according to the present invention without any remodeling of the battery 10.

(48) Further, with the fuse unit attachment structure according to the embodiment, both the unit supporting portion 41 and the connecting member engaging portion 42 provided for the fuse bracket 40 have simple structures each having a pair of guide grooves, whereby the structure of the fuse bracket 40 can be made simple.

(49) Further, the unit supporting portion 41 provided for the fuse bracket 40 has the pair of first guide grooves 411 for slidably holding both sides of the terminal connection section 31 of the fuse unit 30 directly attachable to the battery. Hence, the fuse unit 30 can be supported so as to be movable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface 16 of the battery 10 without performing special processing to the terminal connection section 31 itself of the fuse unit 30. Consequently, prevention of hitting can also be achieved for the fuse unit 30.

(50) The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and changes and modifications may be made therein as appropriate. The materials, shapes, dimensions, quantities, arrangement positions, and the like of the respective components in the embodiments described above are optional and not limited in so far as the present invention can be achieved.

(51) Here, features of the embodiments of the fuse unit attachment structure according to the present invention described above will be briefly summarized and listed in the following [1] to [3].

(52) [1] A fuse unit attachment structure including a fuse bracket (40) configured to be mounted on a fuse unit (30) directly attachable to the battery, the fuse unit (30) configured to be connected to a battery terminal (20) to be fastened to a battery post (12) of a battery (10) such that a portion of the fuse unit (30) is disposed on a side of a lateral surface (16) of the battery (10), and a bracket connecting member (50) configured to connect the fuse bracket (40) to the battery (10),

(53) wherein the fuse bracket (40) includes a unit supporting portion (41) configured to support the fuse unit (30) directly attachable to the battery such that the fuse unit (30) is movable in a direction perpendicular to the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10) and a connecting member engaging portion (42) configured to engage with the bracket connecting member (50) so as to be movable in a direction along the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10), and

(54) wherein the bracket connecting member (50) includes a guide plate portion (51) configured to engage with the connecting member engaging portion (42) to support the fuse bracket (40) such that the fuse bracket (40) is movable in the direction along the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10) and a battery connection portion (52) configured to engage with an engaging portion (mounting holes 15) provided on a top surface (13) of the battery around a post arranging section (11) of the battery (10) on which the battery post (12) is arranged such that a movement of the battery connection portion (52) in a direction along the top surface (13) of the battery is restricted.

(55) [2] The fuse unit attachment structure according to [1] described above, wherein the engaging portion on the top surface (13) of the battery is an existing mounting hole (15) provided on the top surface (13) of the battery to mount a post cover that covers an upper portion of the battery post (12).

(56) [3] The fuse unit attachment structure according to [1] or [2] described above, wherein the unit supporting portion (41) includes a pair of first guide grooves (411) with which respective sides of a terminal connection section (31) of the fuse unit (30) directly attachable to the battery to be connected to the battery terminal (20) are engaged such that the respective sides of a terminal connection section (31) are slidable in the direction perpendicular to the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10), and

(57) wherein the connecting member engaging portion (42) includes a pair of second guide grooves (421) with which the guide plate portion (51) of the bracket connecting member (50) provided in a protruding manner is engaged such that the guide plate portion (51) is slidable in the direction along the lateral surface (16) of the battery (10).