Electricity: conductors and insulators – Boxes and housings – Hermetic sealed envelope type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-13
2001-07-31
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Boxes and housings
Hermetic sealed envelope type
C174S050510, C174S050620, C361S679090
Reexamination Certificate
active
06268561
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to an integrated terminal board for supplying electric devices, in particular, electric household appliances such as washing machines, cookers with electric lighters, etc. In particular, the invention relates to a highly compact terminal board integrated with an electronic noise filter, and which is cheap and easy to produce.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As is known, standards governing the electric components of electric household appliances require that the various components be supplied by means of terminal boards which can only be opened using tools, and which distribute electric current to the various user devices on the appliance by means of contacts supplied with current by a supply cable. Noise filters are also required to prevent the user devices on the appliance from generating electromagnetic noise; and the supply cable must be retained to prevent it, when pulled sharply, from being detached from the terminal board.
At present, all these requirements are met using separate devices. In particular, the noise filter is normally in the form of a separate component defined by a plastic body housing the electronic components and relative connections embedded in insulating resin; the body is fitted to the inside of the appliance body, and wires extend from the filter body and are connected downstream from the terminal board. This therefore calls for two specific assembly operations—in addition to those required to assemble the terminal board—whenever a filter is required, thus increasing the assembly cost of the appliance.
The terminal board, on the other hand, normally comprises a molded synthetic plastic box which, once the supply cable wires are connected to the various contacts, is closed and eventually made inaccessible in various ways (e.g. using irremovable connecting means between the cover and base of the terminal board), all of which are expensive systems calling for extra work in addition to actual assembly of the terminal board itself. To eliminate the above drawbacks, most currently known terminal boards feature a built-in cable clamp normally defined by a screw-operated pressure member for gripping the cable, and which therefore need not be produced as a separate element as in the past.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks by providing an integrated terminal board also incorporating a noise filter (to reduce appliance assembly time and cost), and which, at the same time, is compact, highly reliable, and cheap and easy to produce and assemble.
According to the present invention, there is provided an integrated supply terminal board, in particular for electric household appliances, comprising a body made of electrically insulating material, an insulated electric supply cable carried integrally and inseparably by the body, and a number of electric contacts carried by the body and connected electrically to conducting terminals of respective electric wires of said cable; characterized by also comprising an electronic noise filter carried by a supporting base; said body being cup-shaped and internally defining an outwardly open cavity; the supporting base being inserted inside said cavity to at least partly close the cavity, and having respective electrically conducting tracks to which respective electronic components of said filter and said terminals of the cable wires are connected and secured; a first face of said base, facing away from said cavity, supporting in projecting manner said electric contacts, which are connected to said electrically conducting tracks, and said cable, which comes out of said cavity through a corner recess defined by the base which is L-shaped; said cavity being filled with an electrically insulating resin joined integrally to said body and in which are embedded the base with said electronic components and said wires, and at least a portion of cable issuing from said cavity and of such a length that the resin acts as a cable clamp.
By virtue of the particular general structure of the terminal board body described above, an operation which must be performed anyway—i.e. pouring of the insulating resin to safeguard operation of the electronic components of the filter—also provides for making the terminal board as a whole inaccessible, thus safeguarding against tampering, as well for retaining the cable (i.e. acting as a cable clamp) with no need for a special cable clamp device, which is defined by the resin itself and by the particular path imposed on the portion of cable embedded in the resin.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3251015 (1966-05-01), Denham
patent: 4455538 (1984-06-01), Kinzler
patent: 4620165 (1986-10-01), Kinzler
patent: 4760357 (1988-07-01), Yamaguchi
patent: 5789703 (1998-08-01), Choi
I. T. W. Fastex Italia S.p.A.
Lowe Hauptman & Gilman & Berner LLP
Oliva Carmelo B.
Reichard Dean A.
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