Next Generation Power Distribution Unit in Wiring Harness

摘要

With the exponential advancement in technological features of automobile’s EE architecture, designing of power distribution unit becomes complex and challenging. Due to the increase in the number of features, the overall weight of power distribution unit increases and thereby affecting the overall system cost and fuel economy. The scope of this document is to scale down the weight and space of the power distribution unit without compromising with the current performance. The concept of next generation power distribution unit in automobiles is achieved using miniaturization of its sub-components which involves replacing the mini fuses and JCASE fuses with LP mini and LP JCASE fuses respectively. The transition doesn’t involve any tooling modification and hence saves the tooling cost. Furthermore, to address stringent weight and space targets, LP mini fuses and LP JCASE fuses were further replaced with micro-2 fuse and M-case fuse respectively. Similarly, Micro relay and Mini relay were replaced with Ultra micro and high current micro relay respectively. We took MPV segment vehicle for our initial testing and validation and it has been observed to have significant reduction in plastic weight and relay weight, which has consecutively led to significant overall cost reduction. Along with cost and weight, packaging space optimization is yet another advantage. This paper discusses the effectiveness of the latest technologies in the domain of power distribution system. These technologies have been validated and successfully implemented in several current platforms of Mahindra and Mahindra and have shown significant cost, weight and space benefits to the organization and thereby the same strategy is being deployed in new vehicle models as well.