COVER ASSEMBLY STRUCTURE

Abstract

Provided are: a cover; a housing; a clip that holds the cover and the housing at an assembly complete position; and a cover locker that locks the cover at the assembly complete position, in which the clip includes: a shaft inserted in a through hole of a flat plate of the cover and a through hole of a flat plate of the housing; a first locker that locks a peripheral portion of the through hole of the flat plate of the cover; and a second locker that locks a peripheral portion of the through hole of the flat plate of the housing, the cover includes a locking target locked by the cover locker, and the cover locker includes an abutment to prevent defective assembly of the cover.

Claims

1. A cover assembly structure comprising: a cover; a housing to which the cover is assembled; a clip that holds the cover and the housing at an assembly complete position; and a cover locker that locks the cover at the assembly complete position, wherein the clip includes: a shaft inserted in a through hole of a flat plate of the cover and a through hole of a flat plate of the housing with the flat plates superposed on each other at the assembly complete position; a first locker that locks a peripheral portion of the through hole of the flat plate of the cover, the first locker being provided to an end of the shaft; and a second locker that locks a peripheral portion of the through hole of the flat plate of the housing at a position where the second locker is located out of the through hole of the flat plate of the housing in a case where the second locker passes through the through holes while bending, the second locker being provided to another end of the shaft, the cover includes a locking target locked by the cover locker at the assembly complete position against a movement in a direction opposite to an insertion direction of the second locker with respect to the through holes, and the cover locker includes an abutment that abuts on the locking target due to approach of the locking target in the insertion direction to prevent defective assembly of the cover.

2. The cover assembly structure according to claim 1, wherein the abutment abuts on the locking target before the second locker is located out of the through holes.

3. The cover assembly structure according to claim 1, further comprising: an installation member installed without displacement with respect to the housing, wherein the cover locker is provided to the housing or the installation member.

4. The cover assembly structure according to claim 2, further comprising: an installation member installed without displacement with respect to the housing, wherein the cover locker is provided to the housing or the installation member.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a cover assembly structure according to an embodiment, and illustrates a cover in a proper assembly state; and

[0009] FIG. 2 is a view illustrating the cover assembly structure of the embodiment, and illustrates the cover in a defective assembly state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of a cover assembly structure according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

EMBODIMENT

[0011] An embodiment of a cover assembly structure according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0012] Reference numeral 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 denotes the cover assembly structure of the present embodiment. A cover assembly structure 1 includes a cover 10, a housing 20 to which the cover 10 is assembled, and a clip 30 that holds the cover 10 and the housing 20 at an assembly complete position. The cover assembly structure 1 further includes a cover locker 41 that locks the cover 10 at the assembly complete position.

[0013] The cover 10 is formed of a synthetic resin material. The cover 10 includes a flat plate 11 at a holding position with respect to the housing 20 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The flat plate 11 has a through hole 11a through which the clip 30 is inserted.

[0014] The housing 20 is formed of a synthetic resin material. Although not illustrated, the housing 20 has an internal space for accommodating an accommodation target, and an opening of the internal space is closed by the cover 10. The housing 20 includes a flat plate 21 at a holding position with respect to the cover 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The flat plate 21 has a through hole 21a through which the clip 30 is inserted.

[0015] With the flat plates 11 and 21 superposed on each other at the assembly complete position, the clip 30 is inserted in the through holes 11a and 21a coaxially disposed, whereby the cover 10 and the housing 20 are held by the clip 30 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The clip 30 illustrated here is formed of a synthetic resin material.

[0016] The clip 30 includes a shaft 31 inserted in the through hole 11a of the flat plate 11 of the cover 10 and the through hole 21a of the flat plate 21 of the housing 20 with the flat plates 11 and 21 superposed on each other at the assembly complete position, a first locker 32 that locks the flat plates 11 and 21 from the side of location of the cover 10, and a second locker 33 that locks the flat plates 11 and 21 from the side of location of the housing 20 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The first locker 32 is provided to an end of the shaft 31, and locks a peripheral portion of the through hole 11a of the flat plate 11 of the cover 10. The second locker 33 is provided to another end of the shaft 31, and locks a peripheral portion of the through hole 21a of the flat plate 21 of the housing 20 at a position where the second locker 33 is located out of the through hole 21a of the flat plate 21 of the housing 20 in a case where the second locker 33 passes through the through holes 11a and 21a while bending.

[0017] The clip 30 clips the flat plates 11 and 21 superposed on each other at the assembly complete position between the first locker 32 and the second locker 33 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The clip 30 is formed of a synthetic resin material, and in view of, for example, a large difference between the tolerance and variation, in order to facilitate and ensure the attachment work, the interval between the first locker 32 and the second locker 33 is larger than the total value of the respective plate thicknesses of the superposed flat plates 11 and 21 to have play corresponding to the difference. Therefore, the cover 10 may cause rattling with the housing 20, and accordingly, an unnecessary overload may be applied to the clip 30 by the load applied to the second locker 33. In order to prevent such an application, the cover assembly structure 1 includes a cover locker 41.

[0018] The cover locker 41 locks the cover 10 so that the cover 10 is not detached from the housing 20 in the axial direction of the shaft 31 of the clip 30 when the cover 10 is at the assembly complete position (FIG. 1). Therefore, the cover 10 includes a locking target 12 locked by the cover locker 41 at the assembly complete position against a movement in the direction opposite to the insertion direction of the second locker 33 with respect to the through holes 11a and 21a (FIG. 1). The cover 10 has a protrusion 13 protruding from the flat plate 11 in the direction opposite to the insertion direction, and the locking target 12 is provided to the leading end of the protrusion 13 on the side in the direction in which the protrusion 13 protrudes. The locking target 12 illustrated here protrudes from the leading end of the protrusion 13 in a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of the second locker 33.

[0019] Here, the cover locker 41 may be provided to the housing 20 or may be provided to an installation member installed without displacement with respect to the housing 20. For example, here, another housing 40 is installed and secured on a member (not illustrated) on which the housing 20 is installed and secured, and the other housing 40 serves as an installation member installed without displacement with respect to the housing 20 (FIGS. 1 and 2). Therefore, here, the cover locker 41 is provided to the other housing 40. The cover locker 41 illustrated here is disposed with a gap in the axial direction of the shaft 31 of the clip 30 with respect to a box body 42 of the other housing 40, and locks the locking target 12 of the cover 10 inserted in the gap between the box body 42 and the cover locker 41 (FIG. 1).

[0020] In the cover assembly structure 1, after the housing 20 and the other housing 40 are installed and secured on the same member, the cover 10 is installed on the housing 20 while the locking target 12 is inserted into the gap between the box body 42 and the cover locker 41, and the flat plates 11 and 21 are superposed on each other with the through holes 11a and 21a coaxially disposed. In the cover assembly structure 1, the clip 30 is inserted in the through holes 11a and 21a in this state, and the flat plates 11 and 21 are clipped between the first locker 32 and the second locker 33 of the clip 30 (FIG. 1).

[0021] However, in a case where the flat plates 11 and 21 are to be superposed on each other without insertion of the locking target 12 into the gap between the box body 42 and the cover locker 41, the locking target 12 is caught by the cover locker 41 that leads to a defective assembly state of the cover 10 (FIG. 2). In the cover assembly structure 1, a countermeasure is taken with the cover locker 41 so that the attachment of the clip 30 is not complete in the defective assembly state of the cover 10. The cover locker 41 includes an abutment 43 that abuts on the locking target 12 due to approach of the locking target 12 in the insertion direction of the second locker 33 into the through holes 11a and 21a to prevent defective assembly of the cover 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The abutment 43 is a protrusion protruding from the cover locker 41 in a direction opposite to the insertion direction of the second locker 33, and abuts on the locking target 12 before the second locker 33 is located out of the through holes 11a and 21a (FIG. 2). With this arrangement, in the cover assembly structure 1, even if the clip 30 is inserted into the through holes 11a and 21a when the cover 10 is in a defective assembly state, the second locker 33 cannot be located out of the through hole 21a of the housing 20, and thus the attachment of the clip 30 cannot be complete (FIG. 2). Therefore, the cover assembly structure 1 can prevent defective assembly of the cover 10.

[0022] In the cover assembly structure according to the present embodiment, even if a clip is inserted into a through hole when the cover is in a defective assembly state, a second locker cannot be located out of a through hole of a housing, so that the attachment of the clip cannot be complete. Therefore, the cover assembly structure according to the present invention can prevent defective assembly of the cover.

[0023] Although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims are not to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying all modifications and alternative constructions that may occur to one skilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein set forth.