US-12620865-B2 - Circuit connection apparatus, electric rotating machine apparatus and manufacturing method for circuit connection apparatus

US12620865B2US 12620865 B2US12620865 B2US 12620865B2US-12620865-B2

Abstract

A circuit connection apparatus has a connector including a housing in which a connection terminal is contained, a positioning guide portion provided therein at an opposite side to an opening portion of the housing, and a press-fit terminal extended from the connection terminal. Moreover, the circuit connection apparatus has a heat sink that includes a guide receipt portion fitted with the positioning guide portion—and an opening to be penetrated by the press-fit terminal and to which the housing is fixed. Furthermore, the circuit connection apparatus has a circuit board that includes a board positioning guide portion and a through-hole to which the press-fit terminal is pressure-bonded and that is fixed to the heat sink. Because the press-fit terminal and the through-hole can accurately be positioned, it is made possible that the reliability is raised and a simple assembly process suppresses the production cost from rising.

Inventors

Junya Suzuki
Hideya Nishikawa
Yoshihiko Onishi
Isao Sonoda
Takayuki Nakao

Assignees

MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210224

Claims (11)

1 . A circuit connection apparatus comprising: a connector including a housing which has an opening portion and in which a connection terminal is contained, a positioning guide portion provided at an opposite side to the opening portion of the housing, and a press-fit terminal extended from the connection terminal; a heat sink that has a guide receipt portion fitted with the positioning guide portion and an opening to be penetrated by the press-fit terminal and to which the housing is fixed; and a circuit board that has a board positioning guide portion and a through-hole to which the press-fit terminal is pressure-bonded and that is fixed to a surface of the heat sink, opposite to a surface to which the housing is fixed, wherein the guide receipt portion of the heat sink is a penetration hole, wherein the board positioning guide portion of the circuit board is a board penetration hole concentric with the penetration hole, and wherein a diameter of the board penetration hole of the circuit board is larger than a diameter of the penetration hole of the heat sink.
2 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the positioning guide portion of the connector is a protruding portion and the press-fit terminal thereof is extended in parallel with the protruding portion.
3 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein in the connector, the length from a front end of the protruding portion to the surface of the heat sink, to which the housing is fixed, is longer than the length from the front end of the press-fit terminal to the surface, of the circuit board, that is fixed to the heat sink.
4 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the heat sink has a stepped hole in the penetration hole at a position close to the surface thereof to which the housing is fixed; a diameter of the stepped hole is larger than a diameter of the penetration hole.
5 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the heat sink has a stepped hole in the penetration hole at a position close to a surface opposite to the surface thereof to which the housing is fixed; a diameter of the stepped hole is larger than a diameter of the penetration hole.
6 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in the connector includes another positioning guide portion at an opposite side to the opening portion of the housing, and the respective positioning guide portions are provided at opposite sides of the press-fit terminal in such a way that the press-fit terminal is sandwiched therebetween.
7 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the connector has a first positioning protruding portion in which a columnar portion and four ribs parallel to an axle of the columnar portion are provided and a second positioning protruding portion in which a columnar portion and two ribs parallel to an axle of the columnar portion are provided.
8 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the respective diameters of the columnar portion and the ribs in the connector become smaller, as the positions thereof approach a front end of the positioning protruding portion.
9 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit board is screwed to the heat sink.
10 . The circuit connection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the connector is screwed to the heat sink.
11 . An electric rotating machine apparatus provided with the circuit connection apparatus according to claim 1 .

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT/JP2021/006749 filed Feb. 24, 2021. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a circuit connection apparatus, an electric rotating machine apparatus, and a manufacturing method for the circuit connection apparatus. BACKGROUND ART There exists a circuit connection apparatus to be connected with a through-hole of a circuit board, spaced a predetermined distance apart from the housing of an external connection connector. A circuit connection apparatus here means an apparatus in which a circuit board and an external connection connector are connected with each other in such a way that a terminal of the external connection connector is extended and is connected with a through-hole of the circuit board. For example, a circuit connection apparatus is utilized in a control unit for an electric rotating machine apparatus. Heat-generating components such as an inverter for controlling an electric rotating machine, a switching device utilized in a power-source circuit or the like, a shunt resistor, a microcontroller, and an IC are mounted on the circuit board in the control unit for the electric rotating machine apparatus. Accordingly, in many cases, the circuit board is adhered to a heat sink so as to be cooled and an external connection connector is connected with the circuit board in such a way that the heat sink is sandwiched between the circuit board and the external connection connector. In such cases, a terminal of a connector is connected from the housing of the connector to a through-hole of the circuit board via a predetermined space where the heat sink is provided. A press-fit terminal may be utilized for connecting the connector with the through-hole of the circuit board. A press-fit terminal is a terminal to be inserted into the through-hole of the circuit board so that electric connection can be performed. Utilizing the press-fit terminal makes it possible to secure electric connection between the circuit board and the connector terminal without applying soldering. Accordingly, utilizing the press-fit terminal makes it possible to facilitate manufacturing of the circuit connection apparatus and hence shorten the manufacturing time. As a result, the cost of the circuit connection apparatus can be reduced. There has been proposed a circuit connection apparatus to be connected with a through-hole of a circuit board, through a press-fit terminal and spaced a predetermined distance apart from the housing of an external connection connector. Because a predetermined distance is provided between the housing of a connector and a circuit board, the distance between the housing and the front end of the press-fit terminal becomes large; thus, there is posed a problem that it is difficult to insert the press-fit terminal into the through-hole of the circuit board. There has been disclosed a technology in which in order to facilitate insertion of a press-fit terminal into a through-hole of a circuit board even when the distance from the housing of a connector to the through-hole of the circuit board becomes large, a terminal-alignment member is provided in the circuit board (for example, Patent Document 1). The terminal-alignment member has a penetration hole corresponding to the through-hole of the circuit board and is provided with a guide hole that opens more widely as the press-fit terminal penetrates it and approaches the outer surface. This guide hole facilitates adjustment of the position of the press-fit terminal of the connector and insertion of the press-fit terminal into the through-hole. CITATION LIST Patent Literature Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-302614 SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is required to additionally dispose the terminal-alignment member in the circuit board. Accordingly, the number of components in the circuit connection apparatus increases and hence the product cost rises. Moreover, because there is required a process where the terminal-alignment member is assembled to the circuit board, the number of man-hours increases, the manufacturing cost rises, and the production cost further rises. Moreover, in the case where the relative position between the connector and the circuit board largely deviates from a reference dimension, the front end of the press-fit terminal may collide with the guide hole or the periphery of the guide hole of the terminal-alignment member at an obtuse angle and hence the quality may be adversely affected, for example, the terminal is buckled. A circuit connection apparatus according to the present disclosure is an apparatus for solving the foregoing problems in the conventional apparatuses. With regard to a circuit connection apparatus for connecting a press-fit terminal with a through-hole of a circuit board spaced a predetermined distance apart from t