EP1278277A1 - Method of manufacturing of an electrical end-product having a welding or soldering point - Google Patents

Abstract

A package pre-product (41) is manufactured by injecting a plastics package around a connectionless contact piece (23) of an electrical component (21), the plastics being transparent for a defined laser radiation. A cable (10) is inserted through an opening in the package up to the contact piece. A defined laser ration is supplied onto the package pre-product, to reach the conductor ends (13) of the cable and cause a solder or weld connection to be formed between he contact piece and the conductor ends.

Description

The invention relates to a method in the preamble of claim 1 specified type.

Such a method is known from US Pat. No. 5,724,730 A. The end products of this known method include at least one electrical component with a cables connected to it. The cable has at least one conductor with one conductor end piece protruding from the cable insulation. The electrical component points a solderable or weldable contact point for the conductor end of the cable. to Insulation and corrosion protection is a plastic housing at least around Injection molded area. The plastic case can also overlap Extend areas of the cable or the components.

Have such end products with soldered or welded connection areas a cheaper contact resistance than other products where the connection between the cable and the electrical component by a detachable Plug connection comes about. With such connectors is on Cable end around a contact member in a first injection molding process Shaped plug housing and a mating contact element on the electrical component provided around which, in a second injection molding process, a suitable one Mating connector housing is generated.

It is known from DE 298 11 333 U1 for positioning the contact pins to use an alignment bar with an integrated electronics, which bushings have according to the arrangement of the contact pins. The Bushings can be tapered in a funnel shape. The one from the alignment bar protruding bent ends of the contact pins lie in guide grooves, where they be welded to conductors. The welding point is not inside one Housing.

According to DE 197 51 487 A1 it is known from the back of a transparent Laser energy up to pads between this substrate and a to carry further substrate. This should make the pads in pairs are welded together. Connection-free contact points of a preliminary product there is not any.

In the known method of the type mentioned in the preamble of claim 1 first, in a first step, the conductor end piece from the cable welded the contact point of the electrical component. So that came first Unit between the electrical component and its cable. In one The second process step was then around the welding point Injection molded plastic housing. This second process step is as follows Completely cumbersome and expensive.

For cost reasons, it is always important to use a common injection mold, several plastic housings for several end products side by side manufacture. The handling of the building units when inserting them into the common Injection mold is because of the bulky, sometimes very long cables cumbersome and time consuming. The for inserting the known building units required idle times of the injection molding machine are relatively long. Because of the large cable lengths, the known units are bulky and require much larger injection molds and are therefore considerably more expensive than that Injection molds of the other products mentioned with plug connections, where at Injection molding of the plug and mating connector housings either only the electrical component or just need to handle the cable. Despite the expensive larger ones Injection molds can be made using the known method described in the preamble of Claim 1 type not a similarly large number of end products generate, as with the other products provided with connectors were possible. The production of fewer products in an injection mold leads however to an increase in production costs.

Because the plastic masses also have higher temperatures during injection molding can, it was not readily possible in the known methods, a Solder connection between the contact point of the electrical component and the To use the conductor end of the cable. One was familiar with this Connection point practically solely dependent on welded connections.

The invention has for its object a reliable method in Develop the preamble of claim 1 mentioned type, which is cheaper can be carried out. This is according to the invention by those mentioned in claim 1 Measures and procedural steps achieved, the following special meaning due.

The invention is completely new compared to the known methods Path; First, a special housing pre-product is manufactured. This The basic product of the housing does not yet have a connected cable. The Invention creates around the future contact point of the electrical component initially only the desired plastic housing, but ensures a free one Access to the contact point, for which only a blind hole has to be formed in the housing needs. So that in a relatively small injection mold large number of housing pre-products according to the invention simultaneously be made side by side. The process is similarly quick and easily executable, as with the other product pairs mentioned with one Plug connection, in which either a plug or a mating connector a contact or a counter contact member were generated. In the preparation of of the housing pre-product according to the invention only needs to be taken into account that in the selection of materials and / or the wall design of the Plastic housing at least that in the area of the contact point Housing area is permeable to a certain laser radiation. Such Plastics are known per se.

In the second step of the invention, the cable is through the open access in the housing pre-product is plugged in until Conductor end piece reaches the contact point in the integrated plastic housing Has. Then, in a third process step, all that is needed is the laser radiation to be routed through the permeable housing point in the preliminary product, so that only at the end the desired weld connection or one at lower temperature running solder joint is generated.

Compared to the known method, the method according to the invention performs the Order of the process steps in opposite ways; it will be at the Invention first injected the plastic housing and only then the inside of the Contact point of the housing pre-product is subsequently attached to the conductor end piece of the cable that was introduced later. Because with this connection of the Conductor end piece, the plastic housing itself is already completely finished if necessary, a solder connection for contacting the cable on the component be used. This solder connection is only created afterwards The method according to the invention no longer supports the possibly unauthorized high Temperatures of the liquid plastic exposed during the spraying process. At the time The plastic housing is already the solder connection carried out according to the invention completed.

Fig. 1

zwei Ausgangsprodukte zur Herstellung eines ersten elektrischen Endprodukts,

Fig. 2

ein erster Verfahrensschritt des bekannten Verfahrens zur Herstellung des Endprodukts,

Fig. 3

das Endprodukt nach Vollzug des sich nach Fig. 2 ergebenden weiteren Verfahrensschritt vom bekannten Verfahren,

Fig. 4

eine erste Verfahrensstufe des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens zur Herstellung eines der Fig. 3 entsprechenden Endprodukts,

Fig. 5

einen sich nach dem Verfahrensschritt von Fig. 4 anschließenden zweiten Verfahrensschritt vom erfindungsgemäßen Verfahren,

Fig. 6,

in einer der Fig. 4 analogen Darstellung, einen ersten Verfahrensschritt zur Herstellung eines ersten Alternativprodukts zu Fig. 5,

Fig. 7,

in einer weiteren Abwandlung des ersten Verfahrensschritt eine zweite Alternative zur Herstellung des erfindungsgemäßen Endprodukts von Fig. 5,

Fig. 8,

in einer der Fig. 5 entsprechenden zweiten Verfahrensstufe, die Anwendung des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens zur Herstellung eines zweiten elektrischen Endprodukts und

Fig. 9,

in Analogie zu Fig. 8, die entsprechende Verfahrensstufe zur Herstellung eines gegenüber Fig. 8 abgewandelten Endprodukts mit dem erfindungsgemäßen Verfahren.

Further measures and advantages of the invention result from the subclaims, the following description and the drawings. The prior art and the invention are shown in several exemplary embodiments in the drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1

two starting products for the production of a first electrical end product,

Fig. 2

a first process step of the known process for producing the end product,

Fig. 3

the end product after completion of the further process step resulting from FIG. 2 from the known process,

Fig. 4

a first process stage of the process according to the invention for the production of an end product corresponding to FIG. 3,

Fig. 5

4 a second method step of the method according to the invention following the method step of FIG. 4,

Fig. 6,

in a representation analogous to FIG. 4, a first method step for producing a first alternative product to FIG. 5,

Fig. 7

in a further modification of the first process step, a second alternative for producing the end product according to the invention from FIG. 5,

Fig. 8,

in a second process stage corresponding to FIG. 5, the use of the method according to the invention for the production of a second electrical end product and

Fig. 9,

in analogy to FIG. 8, the corresponding process step for producing an end product modified compared to FIG. 8 with the method according to the invention.

Fig. 1 shows two starting products 10, 20, with which both the known as well as the method according to the invention and to a first electrical End product 30 or 31 of Fig. 3 or Fig. 5 leads. That is a starting product a cable 10, which has an electrical conductor 11 and a surrounding insulating cable sheath 12 has. At the cable end, a cable end piece 13 is through Stripping of the jacket 12 exposed.

Regardless, the other electrical starting product 20 is manufactured, which in this case contains at least one electrical component 21 which is at least one contact point 23. In the embodiment 1, the electrical component consists of a sensor with several electrical connections 22, of which in Fig. 1 to illustrate the only one connection line 22 is shown. The In this case, future contact point 23 will be of an end piece Connection line 22 formed. It goes without saying that instead of the sensor 21 e.g. a Printed circuit board with numerous electrical components that could be used has numerous connection lines and thus numerous contact points 23. Accordingly, the cable 10 could be provided multiple times in FIG. 1 or have several electrical conductors 11 to be contacted in its cable sheath 12.

In the known methods, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the two Output products 10, 20 first contacted by a welded joint 25. This is done by welding the conductor end piece 13 from the cable 10 to the Contact point 23 of the electrical starting product 20. This results in FIG. 2 a prefabricated unit 15, which contacted each other firmly Starting products 10, 20.

Fig. 3 shows the result after the method step of Fig. 2 in the known Process subsequent process stage. For this purpose, the assembly 15 is in a brought injection mold, not shown, into which a plastic 24th is injected. This plastic 24 envelops at least the one by welding 25 generated connection area of the generated assembly 15. The plastic housing 26 extends in the present case also over the integrated in the assembly 15 Sensor 21. In this way, what is evident from FIG. 3 arises with the known method electrical end product 30, which because of the problems mentioned very is expensive. After or during its injection molding manufacture, elastomer rings 27 or. Like. Be provided on the plastic housing 26, the later intended use of the end product 30 are beneficial.

The method according to the invention also goes into the production of an analog one End product 31 of similar starting products 10, 20 as the prior art from, but opposing measures are used, whose The result from FIGS. 4 and 5 can be seen. A first peculiarity of the The method according to the invention results from that shown in FIG. 4 Intermediate result.

In this first method step according to the invention, in this case electrical output product 20 in an injection mold, not shown brought. Appropriate slides move into this form, which close you even closer create descriptive cavity 40 inside the mold after a special one Plastic 14 has been introduced. This plastic 14 is opposite one Laser radiation of a defined wavelength is essentially transparent. This is through a hatching in the resulting plastic housing 16 of FIG. 4 illustrated. 4, one receives after the first process stage Housing pre-product 41 which is not yet connected to the desired electrical cable 10 connected.

Through the cavity 40 in the housing pre-product 41 there is free access up to the integrated in the plastic interior 14 contact point 23 of the electrical Starting product 20. The cavity 40 is in accordance with the outline profile of the Cable end designs and includes a wide start 45 and a narrow end 44. In a subsequent process step, the cable 10 according to the in Fig. 4 clarified arrow 17 inserted into the cavity 40, the Line end piece 13 enters the receiving end piece 44. Radial or how shown, tangentially borders the contact point 23 of the housing pre-product 41st integrated electrical starting point 20 to this receiving end piece 44. If the insertion movement 17 is completed, the last one shown in FIG. 5 takes place Method step of the method according to the invention.

5, the conductor end piece overlapping with the contact point 23 is used 13 a symbolically indicated laser beam 51 is guided. This laser beam 51 lies in that electromagnetic frequency range for which this plastic 14 from Housing 16, as I said, is transparent. The point of contact is heated and it Only now a laser welded connection 28 is created Process step or later, the following further measures can be taken become.

For strain relief of the laser welded connection 28 between the conductors 13, 23 it is recommended that additional connections between the cable 10 and the Provide plastic housing 16. One could use adhesive connections for this. In the present case, laser technology is used for this and, according to FIG. 5, a second laser beam 52 on the plastic housing in the area of the expanded Initial piece 45 of the cavity passed where, after inserting 17 the Cable sheath 12 comes to rest. The additional connection 18 here consists of a Welding between the peripheral surface 19 of the cable 12 and the inner surface 29 from the starting piece 45 of the cavity. The two laser beams 51, 52 can be of equal frequency. Because the welded connections 28, 18 described in Fractions of a second could arise, one and the same Laerstrahl one after the other or, by deflecting means, act simultaneously at 51 and 52. Because of The advantages of the method according to the invention described at the outset are obtained a very inexpensive end product 31 according to FIG. 5.

The mentioned additional connection between the cable 10 and the invention Plastic housing 16 can also in a different way from FIG. 5 occurrence. This is illustrated in FIG. 6 in a first alternative. you in this case uses an absorption material 34 at defined points for the Laser radiation 52, which at least in some areas contains the cavity 40 mentioned Housing pre-product 42 lines. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 6 the absorbent material 34 is e.g. using a two-component spraying process generated in the plastic housing 16. The one Plastic component is the transparent plastic 14, the other is that Absorbent material 34.

After the cable 10 is inserted into the housing pre-product 42 and the Laser radiation 51, 52 has been exerted, leads to the absorption of the laser radiation 52 in material 34 at least at the border crossings to liquefy the for one towards both the transparent plastic 14 and the cable sheath 12 there, an intensive fusion bond ensures. Incidentally, the laser radiation 52 can not only at one point, but also linearly in the axial and radial directions are passed onto the absorption layer 34 in the plastic housing 16, whereby a particularly fixed and radially and / or axially extended media-tight connection between the cable 10 and the housing pre-product 42 comes about.

FIG. 7 shows, in an analogous representation to FIG. 6, a third alternative to Manufacture of such a housing pre-product 43. In this case too also uses a material 34 absorbing the aforementioned laser radiation 52, but not in the area of the transparent plastic housing 16 here, but in Area of the cable to be inserted 10. The absorption material 34 is on the End piece 35 of the cable jacket 12 set. The latter can already in the course of Cable production take place. But you could also the absorption material 34 in Create the shape of a sleeve 36 and only afterwards by press fitting or gluing put on the jacket end piece 35.

The housing intermediate 43 of FIG. 7 differs from that in FIG. 5 described housing pre-product 41 only by a correspondingly large Cavity 37. The cavity 37 is complementary in profile to the circumferential profile formed by the cable 10 in FIG. 7. After the laser beam 52 is incident, it occurs the fusible link already described in connection with FIG Plastic materials of 12, 34 and 14. From this point of view anyway the absorbent material 34 selected.

FIG. 8 shows an alternative end product 32 compared to FIG. 5, which in Modification of the described method according to the invention was produced. The 8 shows, like FIG. 5, the last phase of the method according to the invention.

In the end product 32 of FIG. 8, an is used instead of an electrical component Counter cable 46 used, which has at least one electrical conductor 47, to distinguish the person who is also using the cable 10 located, should be referred to as "counter conductor". This counter conductor 47 is naturally also provided with an insulating cable sheath 48. The tail of the Mating cable 46 is stripped and a corresponding conductor end piece 49 projects out.

A possible procedure for producing this second end product 32 can be as in the case of the end product 31, by molding a plastic housing 16 transparent material 14 on the counter conductor 47 of the counter cable 46, which leads to lead to a modified housing pre-product not shown in FIG. 8 would. In this case, the process steps run in analogy to those of the Preproduct 41 and end product 31.

However, as can be seen in FIG. 8, it is more favorable to proceed here in such a way that First, one of the two cables 10, 46 free plastic intermediate 50 from the for the laser radiation 51, 52 transparent plastic 14 is generated. This creates At one end of the preliminary product, a first cavity 40 for subsequent insertion of the cable 10 and at the other end a second counter cavity 53 for later Receiving the counter cable 46. These two cavities 40, 53 can, as shown in FIG. 8 shows, in the area of their abutting receiving end pieces 44, 54 at 56 be connected.

In the process illustrated in FIG. 8, the prefabricated housing preliminary product is used 50 a conductor intermediate piece 39 is injected, which at least in regions over the two narrow receiving end pieces 44, 54 of the two Cavities 40, 53 extends. A wire section, serve a plate or a sleeve.

In this method, modified according to FIGS. 1 to 7, according to FIG. 8 now the cable 10 in the cavity 40 and the counter cable in the counter cavity 53 46 introduced in an analogous manner to the cable 10 in Fig. 6. In doing so Conductor end piece 13 and the opposite conductor end piece 49 in contact with the Intermediate conductor piece 39 in the housing pre-product 50. Then the last one sets Process stage.

In this last process stage of the process demonstrated in FIG. 8, the laser beams 51, 52 simultaneously or successively to those marked there Jobs brought. The laser beams 51, 52 penetrate the transparent plastic 14 and warm the corresponding points of contact between 49, 39 on the one hand and 39, 13 on the other hand. First, those marked with 57, 58 are created Laser welded connections that are used for continuous contacting of the conductor 11 with the opposite conductor 47.

In this case, too, there are additional connections between the cable 18 and the Housing pre-product 50 on the one hand and the counter cable 46 with the housing pre-product 50 desired on the other hand. There are several ways to do this Analogy to the methods described in FIGS. 5 to 7. In the embodiment 8 is carried out analogously to FIG. 5. This is where the laser radiation 52 hits the respective cable sheaths 12 and 48 of the two cables 10, 46 and it comes to with 18 and 38 marked two weld connections of these materials.

FIG. 9 shows an alternative for an end product 33 modified from FIG. 8, which differs from the preceding end product 32 only in that that instead of analogous measures according to FIG. 5, that of FIGS. 6 and 7 of the previous examples of analogous measures can be used. It is sufficient only to consider the differences from FIG. 8.

The difference in the end product 33 of FIG. 9 compared to FIG. 8 is that for interior wall cladding in the cavities 40, 53 on both sides, inserts 61, 62 of absorption material 34 can be used for the laser radiation 52. If then, 9 also shows that laser radiation 52 can be exerted in this area there are multiple welds 59, 60. It is the material 14 with the absorption material 34 of the two inserts 61 and 62 on the one hand and the two Inserts 61 and 62 with the insulation material of the cable sheaths 12, 48 on the other hand laser-welded.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

first output product, cable

11

electrical conductor of 10

12

Cable sheath from 10

13

Head end piece of 11

14

transparent plastic

15

Unit from 20, 10 (Fig. 2)

16

transparent plastic housing

17

Arrow of the insertion movement from 10 in 41 (Fig. 4)

18

Additional connection, welded connection between 19, 29

19

Circumferential area of 12

20

second, electrical output product

21

electrical component, sensor

22

electrical connection line of 21 (Fig. 1)

23

Contact point for 21

24

usual plastic for 26 (Fig. 3)

25

Welded connection, connection area between 13, 23 (Fig. 2, 3)

26

Plastic housing made of 24 (Fig. 3)

27

elastomeric ring

28

Laser welded connection between 13, 23 (Fig. 5)

29

Inner surface of 45

30

electrical end product according to the prior art

31

first embodiment of the end product according to the invention (FIG. 5)

32

second embodiment of the end product according to the invention (FIG. 8)

33

third embodiment of the end product according to the invention (FIG. 9)

34

Absorbent material for laser radiation

35

Mantle end piece of 12 (Fig. 7)

36

Sleeve made of 34 (FIG. 7)

37

expanded cavity in 43 (Fig. 7)

38

Additional connection, weld connection between 55, 48 (Fig. 8)

39

Intermediate conductor piece in 32 (FIG. 8)

40

Access for 10, cavity in 41 or 50

41

Housing pre-product (Fig. 4)

42

Housing pre-product (Fig. 6)

43

Housing pre-product (Fig. 7)

44

narrow receiving end piece in 40 (Fig. 4)

45

wide recording starting piece of 50 (Fig. 4)

46

Counter cable (Fig. 8, 9)

47

Counterpart of 46

48

Cable sheath from 46

49

Counter conductor end piece (Fig. 8)

50

alternative housing pre-product, plastic housing (Fig. 8)

51

first laser beam

52

second laser beam

53

Counter access in 50, counter cavity (Fig. 8)

54

narrow receiving end piece from 53 for 49 (Fig. 8)

55

wide recording start piece from 53 for 48 (Fig. 8)

56

Intermediate chamber between 44, 54 (Fig. 8)

57

Laser welded connection between 49 and 39 (Fig. 8)

58

Laser welded connection between 13, 39 (Fig. 8)

59

Welded connection between 61, 14 and 62, 14 (Fig. 9)

60

Welded connection between 61, 12 and 62, 48 (Fig. 9)

61

Insert from 34 for 40 (Fig. 9)

62

Insert from 34 for 53 (Fig. 9)

Claims (16)

Method for producing an electrical end product (31), which has at least one electrical component (21) with at least one cable (10) connected to it, and a plastic housing (16) is injected at least around this connection area,
on the one hand the cable (10) is manufactured with at least one conductor (11) integrated therein and one end piece of the conductor (conductor end piece 13) is exposed in the cable (10)
and on the other hand the electrical component (21) is produced and provided with at least one solderable or weldable contact point (23) for the conductor end piece (13),
characterized in that a housing pre-product (41) is first produced by injecting the plastic housing (16) at least around the still connection-free contact point (23) of the electrical component (21) and at least one free access (40) to the contact point ( 23) is generated
wherein a plastic (14) is used in the injection molding of the housing (16), in which the housing wall produced is transparent to a defined laser radiation (51) at least in the area of the contact point (23),
that the cable (10) with its exposed conductor end piece (! 3) is then inserted (17) through the free access (40) into the housing pre-product (41) to the contact point (23)
and that finally the defined laser radiation (51) is directed onto the housing pre-product (41), hits the conductor end piece (13) located at the contact point (23) and a soldered or welded connection (28) between the contact point (23) and the conductor end piece (13). A method according to claim 1, characterized in that a printed circuit board is used as the electrical component (21). A method according to claim 1, characterized in that a sensor (21) is used as the electrical component. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the plastic (14) at least partially also coats the electrical component (21) during injection molding. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that there is a flexible connection between the electrical component (21) and the contact parts in the plastic housing (16) and this connection is enclosed by an insulation sleeve
and that the plastic (14) is also injected around the beginning of the insulation sleeve. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that a counter cable (46) is used as the electrical component, which contains at least one counter conductor (47),
and that at the end of the opposite conductor (47) the contact point (49) is generated. A method according to claim 6, characterized in that an end piece (49) of its counter conductor (47) is exposed on the counter cable (46) and that this counter conductor end piece (49) forms the contact point. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that a counter cable (46) is used as the electrical component, which contains at least one counter conductor (47) and that an end piece (49) of the counter conductor (47) on the counter cable (46) is exposed,
that an alternative housing pre-product (50) is first produced by injecting the plastic housing from a plastic (14) that is transparent to a defined laser radiation (51) around an intermediate conductor piece (39), which is one of both the cable (10) and the Counter cable (46) has a connection-free double contact point,
in addition to free access (40) up to the first contact of the double contact point, a further free counter-access (53) to the second contact of the double contact point is generated in the housing pre-product (50),
that then not only the cable (10) is inserted through the access (40), but also the mating cable (46) through the mating access (53) into the housing pre-product (50) until the conductor end piece (13) and the counter conductor end piece (49 ) touch the double contact point on the intermediate conductor piece (39),
and that finally the laser radiation (51) directed onto the housing pre-product (50) strikes the two inserted conductor and counter conductor pieces (13, 49) simultaneously or at different times and a double soldered or welded connection (57, 58) between the double contact points generated on the intermediate conductor piece (39) and the conductor and opposite conductor end piece (13, 49). Method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that during the manufacture or after the soldering or welding connection (28; 57, 58) between the cable (10) or mating cable (46) and the plastic housing (16; 50) a tensile and / or media-tight additional connection (18; 18, 38) is generated. A method according to claim 9, characterized in that the additional connection (18; 18, 38) at least in regions between the peripheral surface (19) of the cable (10 or 46) and the inner surface (29) from the access (40) or counter-access (53 ) is generated in the plastic housing (16). A method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the additional connection (18; 38) is produced by laser welding (52). A method according to claim 11, characterized in that the same laser radiation (51, 52) is used to produce the additional connection (18; 38) that generates the soldered or welded connection (28; 57, 58) at the contact point or double contact point. A method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that before or after the injection molding of the plastic housing (16) a material (absorption material 34) absorbing the laser radiation (52) into the access (40) or counter-access (53) of the preliminary product (42, 43; 33) is brought
and that the laser radiation (52) directed onto the absorption material (52) creates a fused connection between the cable (10) or the counter cable (46) and the plastic housing (16; 50). A method according to claim 13, characterized in that the absorption material (34) is introduced by a two-component injection molding process of the plastic housing (16; 50). A method according to claim 13, characterized in that during the manufacture of the cable (10), the absorption material (34) is arranged in the end piece of the cable jacket (12). A method according to claim 13, characterized in that first a sleeve (36) is made of absorption material (34)
and that this sleeve (36) is plugged onto the cable (10) and / or inserted into the access of the preliminary product (42).

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