CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application claims priority to and incorporates by reference the entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-213896 filed in Japan on Nov. 27, 2019.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connection box and a wire harness.

2. Description of the Related Art

Some of the electric wires arranged in an electrical connection box mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile are provided as a plurality of electric wires having their conductors at the ends electrically connected to each other, with a protective cap referred to as a bonder cap attached to the connected part. For example, Japanese Patent No. 3334099 and Japanese Patent No. 5896416 describe a structure in which a bonder cap is attached to an end of each of a plurality of conductor cables having conductors electrically connected, and the bonder cap is accommodated in an electrical connection box.

In recent years, with an increase of the number of electronic components mounted in the electrical connection box, the number of electric wires arranged in the electrical connection box is also increasing. This leads to a concern of enlargement of the electrical connection box. Here, regarding the accommodation of the bonder cap, an exemplary technology in Japanese Patent No. 3334099 uses a pair of bonder caps coupled at a coupling portion, and an accommodating portion is provided with a regulator that engages with the coupling portion to regulate the movement of the bonder cap. This leads to a complicated structure, making it difficult to contribute to miniaturization. As another example to accommodate the bonder cap, the technology described in Japanese Patent No. 5896416 uses a configuration in which the electric wire bundle covered with the bonder cap is supported with a covering in a state where the covering is attached to a frame so as to prevent the bonder cap from falling from the accommodating portion of the frame, with no effects of contributing to miniaturization.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and aims to provide an electrical connection box and a wire harness capable of efficiently accommodating an electric wire bundle covered with a bonder cap.

In order to achieve the above mentioned object, an electrical connection box according to one aspect of the present invention includes a housing that houses electronic components; and a lower cover that closes a lower part of the housing, wherein the housing includes an electric wire bundle holder whose lower side open so as to be able to allow insertion of a bonder cap of an electric wire bundle in which conductors of a plurality of electric wires are connected to each other in a state where the electric wire bundle is covered with the bonder cap, the lower cover includes a deep bottom part having a drainage hole; and a shallow bottom part located above the deep bottom part below the electric wire bundle holder, with the shallow bottom part being formed to include an inclined surface inclined downward toward the deep bottom part, and a state where the bonder cap is inserted into the electric wire bundle holder is maintained on the inclined surface of the shallow bottom part on the lower cover.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in the electrical connection box, it is possible to configure that a portion of the shallow bottom part that is arranged below the electric wire bundle holder comes at an uppermost position on the lower cover.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, in the electrical connection box, it is possible to configure that the electric wire bundle holder has a partition wall that partitions a single or a plurality of bonder caps to enable accommodation.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, in the electrical connection box, it is possible to configure that the electric wire bundle holder is provided along a side wall around the housing.

In order to achieve the above mentioned object, a wire harness according to still another aspect of the present invention includes a wiring member having conductivity; and an electrical connection box connected to the wiring member, wherein the electrical connection box includes: a housing that houses electronic components electrically connected with the wiring member; and a lower cover that closes a lower part of the housing, the housing includes an electric wire bundle holder whose lower side open so as to be able to allow insertion of a bonder cap of an electric wire bundle in which conductors of a plurality of electric wires are connected to each other in a state where the electric wire bundle is covered with the bonder cap, the lower cover includes a deep bottom part having a drainage hole; and a shallow bottom part located above the deep bottom part below the electric wire bundle holder, with the shallow bottom part being formed to include an inclined surface inclined downward toward the deep bottom part, and a state where the bonder cap is inserted into the electric wire bundle holder is maintained on the inclined surface of the shallow bottom part on the lower cover.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical and industrial significance of this invention will be better understood by reading the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

