Keyed/anti-rotation grounding bus bar

• US 7,458,861 B1
• Filed: 10/23/2007
• Issued: 12/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Navistar Incorporated (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: International Truck Intellectual Property Co. LLC (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Omar, Sabrina, Snapp, Dale R., Eke, Gerald N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Tulsides C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel; Harshad C
• Application Number:
  US11/877,334
• Time in Patent Office: 406 Days
• Field of Search: 439/798, 439/797, 439/92, 439/97, 439/883, 439/777, 439/801
• US Class Current: 439/798
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 11/12 End pieces terminating in an eye, hook, or fork
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 11/32 End pieces with two or more terminations
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2201/26 for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 4/64 Connections between or with conductive parts having primarily a non-electric function, e.g. frame, casing, rail

Abstract

A bus bar (20) for grounding multiple wires/cables (74) in an engine compartment of a truck. The bus bar has four threaded studs (24, 26, 28, 30) extending from an outer face of a plate (22) and two circular rings (32, 34) on an opposite face spacing the plate from the dash panel (60). An array of multiple through-slots (24A, 26A, 28A, 30A) in the plate surround each threaded stud with the through-slots arranged in unique circumferential locations about the respective stud to provide unique circumferential locators for a tab (78) of an eyelet terminal (76) on a wire/cable (74) to locate the terminal in a correspondingly unique circumferential location about the threaded stud when placed thereon and in contact with the plate preparatory to tightening of a nut (80) that, when tightened, forcefully holds the terminal against the plate.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle comprising:

a body/chassis; and

an electrical system, at least a portion of which is grounded to the body/chassis via a bus bar that comprises an electrically conductive metal plate having one or more threaded studs extending from an outer face of the plate, an electrically conductive spacer on an opposite face of the plate disposed against a surface of an electrically conductive part of the body/chassis to place the plate in electric continuity with the body/chassis part while spacing the plate from the surface of the body/chassis part, one or more fasteners holding the bus bar against the part, an array of through-slots in the plate surrounding each threaded stud, and an electrically conductive wire/cable terminating in an eyelet terminal comprising a generally flat annular contact area having a perimeter edge that includes a bent tab sized to lodge in any of the through-slots of the array surrounding one of the threaded studs, the terminal being in place on the one threaded stud with the tab lodged in a selected one of those through-slots to locate the terminal in a circumferential orientation about the one threaded stud correlated with the selected through-slot, and a nut tightened onto the one stud forcing the contact area of the terminal against an area of the outer face of the plate surrounding the one threaded stud.

2. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 1 wherein the surface of the body/chassis part comprises a generally vertical surface of a dash panel on an engine compartment side of the dash panel.

3. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 2 including a further bus bar disposed inside a cab of the vehicle against a cab side surface of the dash panel opposite the surface on the engine compartment side, and wherein the one or more fasteners holding the bus bar that contains the threaded studs against the body/chassis part comprise one or more threaded members which pass from the further bus bar through one or more through-holes in the dash panel and through one or more through-holes in the plate and on which a respective threaded nut is forcing the bus bar containing the threaded studs against the dash panel.

4. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 3 wherein the one or more through-holes in the plate align with one or more through-holes in the spacer, and the one or more threaded members also pass through the one or more through-holes in the spacer.

5. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 1 wherein each array of through-slots in the plate surrounding each threaded stud comprises spaced-apart through-slots arranged along sides of an imaginary equal-sided polygon centered on the axis of the threaded stud.

6. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 5 wherein each array comprises four through-slots arranged along sides of an imaginary square.

7. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 6 wherein the plate comprises four of the threaded studs arranged at respective corners of an imaginary parallelogram with one pair of threaded studs that are diagonally opposite each other being spaced farther apart from each other than the threaded studs of the other pair are from each other.

8. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 7 wherein the one or more fasteners holding the bus bar against the part pass through-holes in both the plate and the spacer that lie on the diagonal between the threaded studs of the one pair.

9. A motor vehicle as set forth in claim 8 wherein the through-slots surrounding each of the threaded studs of the one pair have lengths that are oblique to respective mutually parallel portions of a perimeter edge of the plate that are perpendicular to an imaginary line coincident with the longer diagonal of the imaginary parallelogram, and two of the through-slots that are on opposite sides of the imaginary square surrounding each of the threaded studs of the other pair have lengths that are parallel with respective mutually parallel portions of the perimeter edge of the plate that are perpendicular to an imaginary line coincident with the shorter diagonal of the imaginary parallelogram.

10. A bus bar comprising:

an electrically conductive metal plate having multiple threaded studs extending from an outer face of the plate, an electrically conductive spacer on an opposite face of the plate, an array of multiple through-slots in the plate surrounding each threaded stud, the through-slots of each array being arranged in unique circumferential locations about the respective threaded stud to provide unique circumferential locators for a tab of an eyelet terminal on a wire/cable to locate the terminal in a selected unique circumferential location about the respective threaded stud when placed on the respective threaded stud in contact with the plate and with the tab lodged in a selected through-slot.

11. A bus bar as set forth in claim 10 wherein the plate is symmetric about an imaginary medial plane, the spacer comprises two circular annular rings arranged symmetric to the imaginary medial plane, and the plate has through-holes aligned with center voids of the rings.

12. A bus bar as set forth in claim 11 wherein each array of through-slots in the plate surrounding each threaded stud comprises spaced-apart through-slots arranged along sides of an imaginary equal-sided polygon centered on the axis of the threaded stud.

13. A bus bar as set forth in claim 12 wherein each array comprises four through-slots arranged along sides of an imaginary square.

14. A bus bar as set forth in claim 13 wherein the plate comprises four of the threaded studs arranged at respective corners of an imaginary parallelogram with one pair of threaded studs that are diagonally opposite each other being spaced farther apart from each other than the threaded studs of the other pair are from each other.

15. A bus bar as set forth in claim 14 wherein the through-slots surrounding each of the threaded studs of the one pair have lengths that are oblique to respective mutually parallel portions of a perimeter edge of the plate that are perpendicular to an imaginary line coincident with the longer diagonal of the imaginary parallelogram, and two of the through-slots that are on opposite sides of the imaginary square surrounding each of the threaded studs of the other pair have lengths that are parallel with respective mutually parallel portions of the perimeter edge of the plate that are perpendicular to an imaginary line coincident with the shorter diagonal of the imaginary parallelogram.