MONOLITHIC TERMINAL INTERFACE

摘要

A monolithic terminal interface for supporting, and establishing electrical contact to, components such as releays and fuses includes a terminal board fabricated from a self-supporting sheet of resilient, electrically insulating material. The terminal board includes one or more terminal sockets, each being defined by a terminal slot formed through the board. The terminal slot creates opposed contact beams which include contact portions spaced by a distance less than the thickness of a terminal. The contact portions of the contact beams engage a terminal inserted therebetween, and because of the resilient nature of the material of the board, maintain contact pressure with the terminal. A pattern of metalization extends across at least one face of the board and into the terminal slot so as to cover the contact regions. In this manner, electrical contact can be established through the conductive metal pattern to a terminal inserted in the slot. The monolithic terminal interface can be used to fabricate a power distribution box for a motor vehicle.