Littelfuse, Inc.

Edwin J Harris

Julio Cesar Urrea

Juergen Scheele

Gregory G Stumpo

Kerri Michelle Hood

Ronald Michael Rygiel

William P Brown

Timothy Goldsberry

John Adamczyk

Joseph Butler

Douglas Fischer

Jeffrey John Ribordy

A power distribution module for a vehicle includes an insulating housing including a component grid, the component grid defining a plurality of circuit protection footprints, the housing further including at least one connector mount or terminal mating location; a printed circuit board ('PCB') located within the housing and beneath the component grid, the PCB holding a plurality of fuse mounting terminals and at least one connector mounting terminal, the PCB including a plurality of conducting traces connecting the fuse mounting terminals to the at least one connector mounting terminal; and a cover that threadingly engages the housing, the threading engagement leading to a locking of the cover to the housing that tends to prevent the cover from loosening from the housing when the vehicle is being driven, the locking of the cover able to be overcome by a person so that the cover can be unthreaded readily from the housing.

Flexible power distribution module

A fuse for a high voltage/high current application, such as a hydro-electric vehicle ('HEV') application is provided. The fuse employs a variety of arc quenching features to handle a large amount of arcing energy that is generated when such fuse is opened due to a fuse opening event. In one embodiment, an insulative substrate, such as a melamine substrate, is metallized with a fuse element. The fuse element extends to multiple surfaces of the substrate. A fuse opening portion of the element is located so that the arcing energy is forced to travel along multiple insulative planes, increasing an impedance across the opening of the element and decreasing the likelihood of a sustained arc. Also, the substrate and element are disposed in a sealed housing, which is packed in one embodiment with an arc quenching material, such as sand.

High voltage/high current fuse

Growing community of inventors

Oak Park, IL, United States of America

Edwin J Harris