CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-112851 filed on Jun. 18, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electric wire holding structure and a bus bar module.

BACKGROUND ART

The case of the bus bar module includes an electric wire holding structure for routing an electric wire. The electric wire is housed in an electric wire routing groove portion in the electric wire holding structure, so that a routing path is regulated. The electric wire holding structure includes a lid portion that closes an upper part of the electric wire holding structure such that the housed electric wire does not slip out.

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2011-65863

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In the bus bar module including the electric wire holding structure, when the electric wire is routed, the electric wire is housed in the electric wire routing groove portion, and then an upper part of a housing groove portion must be covered with the lid portion. It is required to prevent the electric wire from being caught by the lid portion and to improve workability of routing the electric wire.

Therefore, an electric wire holding structure is conceivable in which locking pieces protruding in directions approaching each other are provided on upper edge parts of both side wall portions of the housing groove portion, and the electric wire is pushed into a gap between the locking pieces so as to be housed in the housing groove portion. In this electric wire holding structure, the electric wire is prevented from slipping out by the locking pieces. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the electric wire from being caught by the lid portion or to omit the lid portion, so that it is possible to improve the workability of routing the electric wire.

However, when the electric wire is pushed into the housing groove portion, a finger hits the upper edges of the side wall portions, and the electric wire cannot be smoothly pushed into the housing groove portion through the gap between the locking pieces. Therefore, further improvement in routing workability is desired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances. An aspect of the present invention provides an electric wire holding structure capable of smoothly and easily housing an electric wire and excellent in routing workability and a bus bar module including the electric wire holding structure.

The above-described aspect according to the present invention is achieved by the following configurations.

(1) An electric wire holding structure including an electric wire routing groove portion in which an electric wire is housed, in which the electric wire routing groove portion includes: a bottom portion; a pair of side wall portions that are erected from the bottom portion and are provided facing each other; and locking pieces that protrude from the side wall portions in directions in which the locking pieces approach each other and are formed with a gap through which the electric wire is passed between distal ends of the locking pieces, and in which the side wall portions include low edge portions that are provided on both sides of the locking pieces and are provided closer to the bottom portion than a position of the locking piece on a bottom portion side. More specifically, the low edge portion is formed such that a length from the bottom portion to the low edge portion is smaller than a length from the bottom portion to the locking piece.

According to the electric wire holding structure having the configuration (1), the side wall portion includes the low edge portions that are provided on both sides of the locking piece and are provided closer to the bottom portion than the position of the locking piece on the bottom portion side. Therefore, when the electric wire is pushed into the gap between the pair of locking pieces with the fingers and is routed, interference of the fingers that push the electric wire with the side wall portion is prevented. Therefore, it is possible to smoothly push the electric wire into the electric wire routing groove portion through the gap between the locking pieces, and to improve the routing workability.

(2) The electric wire holding structure according to (1),

in which recesses are formed on both sides of the locking pieces in the side wall portions, so that low edge portions are provided on both sides of the locking pieces.

According to the electric wire holding structure having the configuration (2), it is possible to easily provide the low edge portion on both sides of the locking piece in the side wall portion by forming the recesses on both sides of the locking piece. During the routing of the electric wire, the operator can easily view the recesses. Accordingly, it is possible to easily determine a routing position of the electric wire and to smoothly route the electric wire.

(3) The electric wire holding structure according to (2),

in which a guide portion that gradually inclines toward the bottom portion and toward the locking piece is formed at an end of the recess on a side opposite to the locking piece.

According to the electric wire holding structure having the configuration (3), the fingers that push the electric wire are guided to the low edge portion by the guide portion. Accordingly, it is possible to reliably prevent the interference of the fingers with the side wall portion when the electric wire is pushed into the electric wire routing groove portion through the gap between the pair of locking pieces.

(4) The electric wire holding structure according to (1), in which slits are formed on both sides of the locking piece in the low edge portion in at least one of the side wall portions, so that a flexible arm including the locking piece at an end of the flexible arm is formed.

According to the electric wire holding structure having the configuration (4), the flexible arm is easily and elastically deformed when the electric wire is pushed through the gap between the pair of locking pieces, so that it is possible to further improve the routing workability of housing and routing the electric wire in the electric wire routing groove portion.

(5) A bus bar module including: a case that is assembled to a battery assembly including a plurality of single cells; and a bus bar that is supported by the case and that is electrically connected and fixed to electrodes of the single cells of the battery assembly,

in which the electric wire holding structure according to (1) is provided in the case.

According to the bus bar module having the configuration (5), the electric wire connected to the bus bar and the electric wire extending from the thermistor configured to detect the temperature of the single cell or the like are smoothly housed and routed in the electric wire routing groove portion provided in the case. Accordingly, it is possible to improve the routing workability of the bus bar module to be assembled to the battery assembly.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electric wire holding structure capable of smoothly and easily housing an electric wire and excellent in routing workability and a bus bar module including the electric wire holding structure.

The present invention has been briefly described as above. Details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading a mode (hereinafter, referred to as an “embodiment”) for carrying out the present invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

