Electrical connectors – Contact comprising cutter – Insulation cutter
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-21
2001-10-09
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Contact comprising cutter
Insulation cutter
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299473
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
The invention relates to an electrical connector in accordance with the preamble of claim
1
, and also to a method for establishing an electrical connection in accordance with the preamble of claim
16
.
Electrical connectors are being used in ever more diverse ways, in particular in the motor vehicle sector, fox establishing electrical connections between the different functional units. The increasing propagation of electronics in motor vehicles is accompanied by a rise in the demand for reliable electrical connection paths in order to connect the different assemblies to one another permanently and reliably. However, diverse interfering influences occur in the harsh environment of use, influences that may consist, by way of example, in high temperature fluctuations, severe vibrations, dust or dirt, condensation moisture and consequential corrosion.
As competition increases in the market for motor vehicles, there is increasing pressure on the production costs, reduction of which must not entail any losses in quality or in the lasting durability. Consequently, continuous attempts have been made to achieve further improvements in the field of electrical lead-routing and also contact-making. The transition from individually laid leads or preformed bundles of leads to foil conductors, which are also referred to as Flex Foils, brought significant advances, in particular in the field of the indication instruments and fittings of motor vehicles such flexible foils, in which, as a rule, a plurality of electrical conductors are arranged in a planar manner, are, on the one hand, insusceptible to vibration and, on the other hand, can also be used under extremely difficult conditions by virtue of their bending capabilities and also the free configurability of the conductor arrangement. Furthermore, it is possible to dimension contact banks which are designed to be congruent with corresponding connections on the fittings or printed circuit boards. However, conventional methods for establishing an electrical connection for these conductors are time-consuming and cost-intensive. As a rule, the contact areas of the Flex Foils have been connected both electrically and mechanically by soldering. What is particularly detrimental In this case is that vibration forces introduced into soldered connections tend to break open the latter or moisture precipitates in extremely fine cracking, which moisture can lead to the beginnings of corrosion.
Consequently, the invention is based on the object of avoiding the disadvantages described above and of providing a cost-effective electrical connector that is simple to connect and also a corresponding method for establishing an electrical connection. The intention is, moreover, to establish a high-quality and permanent electrical connection with the least outlay on assembly.
This object is achieved, in a surprisingly simple manner, by means of the features of Claims
1
and
16
.
If a force is exerted by at least one contact pin for establishing electrical contact with it least one conductor, which force both ensures that the conductor bears mechanically on the contact pin, and ensures the provision of an electrical contact, it is thereby possible generally to dispense with soldered connections. The bearing of the contact pin can take place, in principle, in a region which is completely free of the flexible foil or which, for example, is coated with the foil on the rear side of the conductor. Furthermore, partial regions of the front contact area of the conductor may also be coated with foil, as long as at least exposed windows of the conductor remain for contact with the contact pin.
If the contact pin penetrates the electrical conductor, or the electrical conductor and a section of the flexible foil, in such a way that an essentially defined flexure of the conductor and/or of the flexible foil is produced, it is possible to generate predefined bending moments with restoring forces assigned thereto, which lie at least partly within the elastic bending region of the conductor and/or of the foil. As a result of this, vibrations or shocks introduced into the foil can be elastically absorbed, without any interruption of the conductive connection. A connection which is actually uninterrupted over time is of great advantage especially in the field of digital signal transmission, where signal edges in the nanoseconds range are used to acquire signal contents.
If, with the contact pin assembled, the conductor or the conductor together with the flexible foil is emplaced both on the contact pin and on an annular shoulder of the dielectric housing of the connector, a predefined rounding of the annular shoulder makes it possible to reliably avoid kinking and also to create a soft tapering-off of a preferably funnel-shaped flexure of the conductor and also of the flexible foil. A funnel-shaped flexure is greatly advantageous since initially elastic restoring forces are provided in every direction of the plane of the foil and, furthermore, a displacement in the axial direction can initially be absorbed elastically by a widening of the funnel angle and consequentially by a harmless displacement of the conductor relative to the contact pin.
What is advantageous, however, is a device for mechanically holding the conductor or the foil together with the conductor, by means of which the conductor is mechanically held in the receptacle on an essentially annular region when the contact pin is driven in. If this device for the purpose of holding comprises a lateral shoulder, which, when the contact pin is pressed in, is pressed downwards and to the side in such a way that a press fit is brought about between the electrical conductor and/or the receptacle, it is also possible to completely absorb vibration forces in the axial direction. Furthermore, it is possible, at the same time, to create within the press fit a closed-off volume which permanently precludes the ingress of moisture or dirt and also subsequent corrosion at the location of the electrical contact.
In a preferred manner, admittedly, the contact pin is pressed, during assembly, through an opening or thinned portion, assigned to the said contact pin, in the foil in such a way that the said contact pin, when in the assembled state, is seated in a funnel-shaped, widened opening or opened thinned portion in the foil. However, it the contact pin is designed such that it ends conically or in a pointed fashion, in an alternative configuration according to the invention it is possible, similarly to the case with insulation-piercing terminals, for the said contact pin also to be driven through any desired region of the elastic foil with the electrical conductor embedded therein in such a way that both the foil and the conductor are punctured and the corresponding dimensioning of the diameter of the contact pin produces the desired defined force conditions between electrical conductor and contact pin.
It is advantageous, furthermore, to provide a second device for strain relief, which is preferably arranged such that it is displaceable in the same direction as the contact pin, this second device for strain relief producing a defined flexure of the flexible foil which, in a particularly preferred refinement, effects deflection through 90 degrees. As a result of this, impulses or vibrations proceeding in the plane of the foil art virtually no longer transmitted to its angular end with which contact has been made.
Furthermore, it lies within the scope of the invention to configure the connection of the foil in an L-shaped fashion, with the result that the bend between the limbs of the L leads to a further reduction in the transmission of mechanical forces.
In a particularly preferred refinement of the invention, both the contact pin and the second device for strain relief are assigned a preassembled position in which the said pin and device are held by latching into place or static friction and from which both can be brought into their assembled position in a common direction. An adhesion-locking retention of the con
Schwarz Uwe
Zischka Helmut
Le Thanh-Tam
Molex Incorporated
Sircus Brian
LandOfFree
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