Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – Flexible panel
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-11
2001-08-28
Patel, Tulsidas (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
Flexible panel
C439S863000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280203
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an electrical contact-making connection and a controller incorporating the electrical contact-making connection. The contact-making connection is formed of a pin which is inserted into a base part formed with a plug-in opening configured for receiving the pin.
For the purpose of making electrical contact between a metal pin and an electrical conductor, it is already known to use a crimp connection, in which the conductor and the pin are together inserted into a compression bush and are then clamped to each other there. In making the clamped contact, it is disadvantageous that only low fit and assembly tolerances can be accepted, that is to say that high dimensional stability in the production of the connecting elements (pin, conductor, compression bush) is necessary, and that precise prepositioning of the same must take place before they are put together. As a result, the production of the contact-making connection is made more difficult, and costs for making the contact are increased.
In the case of a vehicle controller installed in an engine or a transmission, because of the extreme ambient conditions prevailing there (temperatures between −40° and 140° C., vibration accelerations up to 33 g) and the poor accessibility in the event of a failure, high requirements are placed on the reliability of the contact. In the case of the known crimp connection there is the risk that loosening or, in some cases, even detachment of the electrical clamp contact can occur as a result of fatigue of the compression bush material.
In German Utility Model DE 295 01 821 U1, a description is given of a connecting device for connecting lines to multiple plug sockets. A base part of the connecting device has oblique plug-in openings which open into cable ducts which run horizontally and in which electrical conductors to be firmly clamped are laid. Pins project from a plug part of the connecting device and, when the pins are inserted into the plug-in openings in the base part, they are deflected by the latter and, in the process, clamp the lines routed in the base part.
Published, Non-Prosecuted German Patent Application DE 40 20 339 A1 describes a connecting device in which a fine wire can be fixed by a pin in a tapering sleeve. The pin is equipped with notched teeth, in order to assume a blocking frictional seat in the sleeve.
A clamping element in the form of a leaf spring twisted about its longitudinal axis is described in Published, Non-Prosecuted German Patent Application DE 16 65 815 A. By rotating the spring counter to its prestress, conductor ends located in a sleeve are clamped against one another, achieving high contact forces.
In German Patent DE 197 12 842 C1, a description is given of a controller for a motor vehicle. A housing cover of the controller encloses electrical conductors, whose conductor ends project from the housing cover and project into openings in the base plate. Conductor tracks of a flexible printed circuit board are routed to the openings and are crimped there with the projecting conductor ends.
European Patent EP 0 394 327 B1 describes a central electrical unit for a motor vehicle. This contains, inter alia, a distributor plate with lead-through slots which have holding openings in which first electrical contacts in the form of wire clips are compressed with second electrical contacts in the form of pins and are connected electrically in the process.
In Published, European Patent Application EP 0 507 062 A2, a description is given of a plug strip, which is positively shielded against electromagnetic interference, for electronic controllers in motor vehicles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an electrical contact-making connection and a controller for a motor vehicle having an electrical contact-making connection that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art devices of this general type.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an electrical contact-making connection, including:
an electrically conductive pin defining a first electrical contact;
a base part having a plug-in opening formed therein for accommodating the electrically conductive pin, the plug-in opening is defined by an inner oblique wall surface area oriented at an angle a other than zero with respect to a predefined plug-in direction of the electrically conductive pin and by at least one further inner wall surface area disposed to be offset axially from the inner oblique wall surface area, the plug-in opening deflects the electrically conductive pin as the electrically conductive pin is inserted into the plug-in opening and, during insertion the electrically conductive pin is deformed plastically, the electrically conductive pin resting on and exerting a lateral pressure on the at least one further inner wall surface area; and
an electrical conductor routed to the plug-in opening and defining a second electrical contact, after the electrically conductive pin has been inserted in the base part the electrical conductor is clamped between the electrically conductive pin and the inner oblique wall surface area and/or the electrically conductive pin and the at least one further inner wall surface area of the plug-in opening.
The invention is based on the object of providing an electrically secure contact-making connection and a motor vehicle controller whose electrical contact-making connections to electrical subassemblies (actuators, sensors) disposed outside the controller are able to withstand high mechanical and thermal stresses.
On the oblique wall surface area provided according to the invention, deliberate plastic deformation of the pin is brought about within the plug-in opening. The plastic deformation is achieved during and as a result of pressing in the pin. The consequence of this is that the pin, in the course of being pressed in further, strikes (at least) a further inner wall surface area of the plug-in opening. The clamping of the electrical conductor to the pin, which implements the making of the electrical contact, takes place on (at least) one of these inner wall surface areas.
One advantage of the invention resides in the fact that no great dimensional stability requirements relating to the lateral pin and plug-in opening dimensions (pin diameter, opening diameter) have to be met.
Nor is any particularly positionally accurate mutual alignment of the connecting parts (pin, plug-in opening) necessary before they are plugged together. It is merely necessary to ensure that the pin encounters the oblique wall surface area which reshapes it as it is inserted into the plug-in opening.
Because of the low requirements on fit and assembly tolerances, the production of the contact-making connection according to the invention is simple and may be automated in a cost-effective manner.
From the point of view of suitability for automation, it is also advantageous that the plug-in forces to be applied can be predefined in a very defined way, since they depend decisively on the material properties (plastic deformability, flexural elasticity) of the pin and not—as in the case of common plug-in connections—on the fitting accuracy of the pin and of the plug-in opening.
Furthermore, the dimensioning of the electrical conductor in relation to its thickness is not critical either. Even for varying conductor thicknesses, it is always possible to ensure, by adequately large dimensioning of the plug-in opening and suitable prepositioning of the pin relative to the plug-in opening, that the conductor cannot shear off at an opening edge of the plug-in opening during the insertion operation.
The electrical conductor is preferably a moveable tab of a flexible printed circuit board with a conductor track running on it. Before the pin is inserted, the tab can overlay the plug-in opening, so that it is drawn into the plug-in opening by the pin during the insertion operation.
The desired degree of deformation of the
Greenberg Laurence A.
Lerner Herbert L.
Nguyen Son V.
Patel Tulsidas
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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