Electric motor and opening/closing apparatus for vehicular opening/closing body employing the electric motor

A power window apparatus for a vehicle comprising:

• an armature;
• a motor yoke rotatably built in the armature;
• a reduction mechanism constituted by a worm formed integrally with a motor shaft of the armature and by a worm wheel meshing with the worm;
• a gear case fixed to the motor yoke and built in the reduction mechanism;
• and an output shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to the motor shaft at an axis of the worm wheel and protruding from the gear case;
• a brush holder formed by a resinous material and integrally with:
• a holder main body disposed inside the motor yoke and the gear case and retaining a pair of brushes slidably contacting with a commutator;
• a power-supply connector portion disposed outside the motor housing and connected detachably to an external connector;
• a coupling portion provided so as to protrude outside the motor yoke from the holder main body and coupling the holder main body and the connector portion;
• and
• the brush holder including:
• a first lead member formed by a metal plate with a conductive property, the first lead member having:
• a main body portion embedded into the holder main body, the coupling portion, and the connector portion;
• a connector side terminal protruding from the connector portion;
• and a holder-main-body side terminal protruding from the holder main body and connected to one of the brushes;
• and
• a second lead member formed by a metal plate with a conductive property, the second lead member having:
• a main body portion embedded into the holder main body, the coupling portion, and the connector portion alongside the first lead member;
• a connector side terminal protruding from the connector portion;
• and a holder-main-body side terminal protruding from the holder main body and connected to the other of the brushes,
• wherein each of the connector side terminals of the first and second lead members is disposed so as to match its width direction with an axial direction of the commutator and to be mutually aligned in the width direction, and each of the main body portions of the first and second lead members is twisted perpendicularly to the connector side terminal with reference to an axis at a base end of the connector portion, and disposed in the coupling portion so as to match its thickness direction with the axial direction of the commutator and to be mutually aligned in the width direction,
• wherein the electric motor is fixed inside a door panel of the vehicle so that the axial direction of the output shaft is a thickness direction of the door panel of the vehicle.

An electric motor having a brush holder formed by a resinous material and integrally with:

• a holder main body disposed inside a pair of motor housings and retaining a pair of brushes slidably contacting with a commutator;
• a power-supply connector portion disposed outside the motor housings and connected detachably to an external connector;
• and a coupling portion provided so as to protrude outside the motor housings from the holder main body and coupling the holder main portion and the connector portion, the motor comprising:
• a first lead member formed by a metal plate with a conductive property and including:
• a main body portion embedded into the holder main body, the coupling portion, and the connector portion;
• a connector side terminal protruding from the connector portion;
• and a holder-main-body side terminal protruding from the holder main body and connected to one of the brushes;
• and
• a second lead member formed by a metal plate with a conductive property and including:
• a main body portion embedded into the holder main body, the coupling portion, and the connector portion alongside of the first lead member;
• a connector side terminal protruding from the connector portion;
• and a holder-main-body side terminal protruding from the holder main body and connected to the other of the brushes,
• wherein each of the connector side terminals of the first and second lead members is disposed so as to match its width direction with an axial direction of the commutator and to be mutually aligned in the width direction, and the brush holder is clamped and fixed to the pair of motor housings.