Electrical connectors – Including or for use with tape cable
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-19
2001-02-06
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Including or for use with tape cable
C439S495000, C439S067000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06183290
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connection configuration including an electrical connection element for connecting an electrical assembly accommodated in a housing, in particular a transmission housing of a motor vehicle, to an electrical peripheral system disposed outside the housing.
In motor vehicle technology, it is often necessary to establish electrical connections to components which are accommodated in a sealed housing. By way of example, in the case of electronically controlled automatic transmissions of passenger cars, a sensor system present in the transmission housing as well as mechanical actuating elements present therein have to be connected to an electrical peripheral system disposed outside the transmission housing. That makes it necessary to lead voltage supply lines, as well as control signal lines in the case of a transmission control unit disposed outside the transmission housing, through a transmission wall into an interior of the transmission. For that purpose, use is made of special transmission connectors which are inserted into holes in the transmission wall. Those connectors have a comparatively complicated configuration since it is necessary for both the connection between the hole and the outer side of the connector and the contact pin fittings integrated in the connector, to be oil-tight.
For some time there has been a trend toward relocating the control electronics for the automatic transmission to a greater and greater extent in the interior of the transmission. In that case, it is no longer necessary to pass the signals supplied by the sensor system of the transmission out of the interior of the transmission. However, an electrical lead-through from the outside into the interior of the transmission cannot be dispensed with in such a structure either. In the case of such “on site” electronics, the problem additionally arises that the control electronics have to be accommodated in their own control-unit housing so that they are protected against the extremely aggressive additives which are added to the transmission oils. That necessitates further electrical bushings, which are generally constructed in the form of oil-tight plug connections on the control-unit housing.
European Patent 0 513 263 B1 describes a fuel injection pump in which electrical conductors in the form of conductor tracks applied on a flexible conductor sheet are guided through a sealing gap between a housing and a housing cover into the interior of the housing. That document relates neither to a transmission housing nor to the case where a plurality of electrical components are present in the housing. Furthermore, the control electronics which are used for the fuel injection pump described in that document are situated outside the sealed housing region.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a simple and cost-effective configuration for the electrical connection of an assembly having a plurality of electrical components within a sealed housing, in particular a transmission housing, to an electrical peripheral system outside the housing, which overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an electrical connection configuration, comprising a housing, in particular a motor vehicle transmission housing, having at least two housing parts and a housing seal tightly coupling the housing parts to one another; an electrical assembly accommodated in the housing and having a plurality of electrical components; and an electrical connection element for connecting the electrical assembly to an electrical peripheral system outside the housing, the electrical connection element having a flat, flexible conductor-track carrier formed of an electrically insulating material and electrical conductor tracks integrated in the conductor-track carrier, the electrical connection element guided through in the vicinity of the housing seal between the housing parts, and the electrical connection element having end sections leading to individual components of the electrical peripheral system electrically contact-connected to the conductor tracks at the end sections.
By virtue of the dual function of the electrical connection element, namely of establishing the electrical connection to the electrical peripheral system in the external region of the housing on one hand, and of jointly making contact with a plurality of components present in the housing on the other hand, a highly cost-effective overall structure of the electrical connection configuration is obtained. The sealing gap lead-through or bushing provides a simple and effective possibility of electrical connection from the outside, which makes it possible to omit the expensive housing connector used heretofore. At the same time, it is possible to retain the seals used heretofore, and the construction of the electrical connection elements as a flat conductor-track carrier means that it is not necessary to take any additional measures for sealing. Furthermore, the line routing in the transmission housing to the individual electrical components is considerably simplified since a plurality of the electrical components are contact-connected on one and the same electrical connection element, on end sections thereof which are guided to the component in each case, through the use of the conductor tracks provided there. Consequently, the use of the novel electrical connection element, constructed as a conductor-track carrier with conductor tracks, enables the advantages obtained in the context of the electrical lead-through or bushing into the housing to be combined with advantages in the context of the line routing within the housing.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, one of the electrical components is a control unit which controls other electrical components contained in the housing. Electrical connections inside the housing between the control unit and the controlled components are necessary in this case. The effect achieved in this case by the joint connection, provided in accordance with the invention, of the electrical components and of the control unit to the electrical connection element, is that the electrical supply leads from the outside as well as the interconnections discussed are accommodated in one and the same conductor-track carrier. In addition to the aspect of the comparatively low production costs of such an electrical connection element, the costs incurred during mounting are also reduced due to the simple assembly.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the control unit includes at least two control-unit housing parts connected to one another in an oil-tight manner, and the electrical connection element is guided between the controlunit housing parts into the control unit. This obviates the necessity of using a through-connecting housing connector on the control-unit housing.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the electrical connection element has a central section which is accommodated in the control unit and is provided with component extensions, which are guided out of the control unit between the control-unit housing parts and, on their end sections, make contact with the electrical components. Such an, as it were, star-shaped structure of the electrical connection element enables particularly effective disentanglement of the line routing to the individual electrical components, which cannot be realized when using a common housing connector with respectively separate supply lead cabling.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the central section of the electrical connection element has a cutout formed therein, and a circuit carrier is disposed in the cutout and contact-connected by the conductor tracks of the connection element in the cutout.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the elect
Greenberg Laurence A.
Lerner Herbert L.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Sircus Brian
Stemer Werner H.
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