EP1919026A1 - Housing for an electronic assembly, for mounting onto a motor vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The assembly (10) has a base plate (24) for attachment to an outer side of the body (26) of a motor vehicle and for receiving of a portable radio antenna (16). A fixing section has a supporting section that is spaced from the base plate by a light distance. A latch body (30) is arranged inside the body and cooperates with the fixing section. The latch body has a latch section, which is wedgable in the distance such that the base plate is deformed against the body. An adapter plate (28) is arranged inside the body.

Description

The present invention relates to a mounting assembly with which a motor vehicle antenna can be attached to the body of a motor vehicle.

Basically, two different mounting options for external attachment of a motor vehicle antenna to the body of a motor vehicle are known. On the one hand, it is possible to screw the antenna to the body; On the other hand, the antenna can be glued to the body.

In the screwed variant, an antenna base is applied to the outside of the body, wherein the antenna base extends with a screw through a body opening into the interior of the body onto which a nut is screwed for attachment and tension with the body, as for example in the EP 1 120 853 B1 is described.

However, the screwed variant proves to be disadvantageous in that additional tool, such as a wrench is required to screw the nut on the screw socket. Furthermore, the assembly in the screwed variant designed as difficult, since the antenna socket must first be arranged on the outside loose on the body before an assembly person from the inside can screw the said nut so that there is a risk that the antenna socket moves in the meantime, which is why often two assemblers for mounting such screwed Antenna socket is required, one of which holds the antenna base and the other makes the Schraubbefestigung. In addition, in the screwed variant, the antenna cables protrude directly vertically into the interior of the body, which is why they must be bent over for laying, which can cause cable breaks.

In the glued variant of the antenna base, however, is merely glued to the body, so special adhesives must be used to ensure a durable resistance of the adhesive can, thereby causing undesirably relatively high costs. In addition, arise in the glued variant problems with respect to the maintenance of the antenna components, which are accessible only by destruction of the adhesive bond.

Based on the above-described problems, which adhere to the known attachment variants, the object of the present invention is to provide a mounting assembly for mounting a motor vehicle antenna to the body of a motor vehicle, which overcomes at least some of the problems indicated.

This object is achieved with a mounting assembly, which has the features of claim 1. In particular, the object is achieved in that the protruding from the foot plate mounting portion has a support portion which is spaced from the base plate by a clearance, and in that the locking body has a locking portion which is wedged in said distance between base plate and body in that the foot plate is braced against the bodywork. The latch portion may, for example act include a ramp or wedge portion act, which is inserted with its tapered side ahead in the said distance and thus is supported at deeper penetration into the clear distance to one on the support portion and the other on the inside of the body, whereby the attachment portion on the support section is pulled deeper into the interior of the body, so that the foot plate of the mounting assembly is clamped to the body.

Due to the wedging action of the locking portion, no additional tools are required during installation of the mounting assembly, as the locking portion can be inserted by hand in the clearance between the base plate and the body. The smaller the inclination of the ramp section, the less force is required to wedge the ramp section at the said distance, so that the assembly can be carried out with only a small amount of force.

Furthermore, in contrast to the known glued variant no expensive adhesives are required, which can become brittle over time, so that the problems with regard to the durability of the known glued variant can be overcome with the assembly assembly according to the invention.

Finally, the assembly assembly according to the invention can also be easily removed by removing the locking portion, so that it is not necessary to destroy parts of the assembly assembly for maintenance purposes.

Advantageous developments of the assembly assembly according to the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims, the description and from the drawings.

In order to allow the installation of the assembly assembly according to the invention to be carried out by untrained personnel, it is desirable to standardize the assembly process as far as possible in order to exclude any sources of error during assembly can. Accordingly, the mounting assembly may include an adapter plate to be disposed inside the body, which may have at least one first electrical terminal that connects to at least one electrical mating terminal projecting from the footplate into the interior of the body. In particular, the locking body of the mounting assembly may be movably mounted on the adapter plate such that it can be wedged repeatedly in the distance, guided on an identical trajectory.

When the adapter plate has a (first) electrical connection for coupling to the electrical counterpart connection to the footplate, the relative position of the latch section located on the latch body with respect to the attachment section or its support section is accurate by the coupling of the first electrical connection with the associated mating connection set so that no errors during assembly with regard to the placement of the at least one latch portion with respect to the associated attachment portion may occur. This can prove to be advantageous in particular when bolt bodies with mutually differently shaped bolt sections are used, since thus unintentional swapping of the different bolt sections can be avoided.

The reproducibility of the assembly can be further improved in particular by the movable mounting of the locking body on the adapter plate, as a result of incorrect assembly, such as a tilting the ramp-shaped Riegelababschnitts, can be excluded.

In order to avoid the risk of cable break described above, as it can occur in the screwed mounting variant, the adapter plate may have at least a second electrical connection, which branches off in the plane of the adapter plate of the same. Each of these (second) terminals may, for example, be connected via a conductor plate to an associated first electrical terminal of the adapter plate, which is coupleable to a mating terminal on the foot plate, so that there is a rigid connection between the first and second electrical terminals, which in contrast to the bent cable in the screwed variant is not subject to movements, which otherwise could lead to cable break over time.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the locking body can be pivotally mounted on the adapter plate via a hinge. As will be explained later, a lever effect can be achieved via this joint, by means of which the locking portion can be wedged with little effort in the clear distance between the support portion and the body.

Thus, the latch portion due to the pivotal movement of the latch body without occurrence of any clamps in the clearance and can be wedged therein, the latch portion of the latch body can form a pivot wedge with a receptacle for the support portion of the mounting portion. For example, the locking portion may have a concave and convexly curved wedge shape, which here is a partially tapered shape which is curved in such a way that one of the two opposite wedge surfaces a concave curvature as a receptacle for the support portion, whereas the other wedge surface has a convex curvature as a sliding surface. As a result of such shaping, as a result of the pivoting movement of the locking body, the locking section can be easily inserted into the distance between the support section and the body, without any jamming occurring.

The pivoting of the locking portion in the clearance between the support portion and the body can be achieved in particular in that the locking portion is arranged on the pivot axis of the joint, so that the locking portion is pivoted during the pivotal movement of the locking body about its own axis.

In order to be able to generate the previously mentioned lever action, the locking body can have an actuating lever, by the actuation of which the locking element experiences a torque. So it is not necessary to apply the locking body or its locking portion directly with a correspondingly large torque; Rather, this torque can be achieved by a small force is applied to the operating lever, so that multiplied by the lever arm or its length can be achieved a correspondingly enhanced moment.

In order to fix the base plate of the assembly assembly according to the invention temporarily (at least to avoid possible slippage) during installation on the body (releasably), the base plate may have at least one spring element. In particular, for example, at least one spring element protruding into the interior of the body can protrude from the foot plate, which has a shape such that it can be detachably latched in an opening in the body. To this Way, the foot plate can be releasably fixed in abutment with the outside of the body, so that no second assembler is required to prevent slippage of the foot plate during assembly. The spring element may be, for example, a barb-like catch, which initially deforms slightly when inserted into the opening of the body, in order to releasably lock it to the contour of the body opening. In this way, a simple disassembly can be ensured in the maintenance case, without additional tools is required.

To protect the electrical mating connection, the base plate may have a protruding tubular connecting piece, in the interior of which the mating connections of the base plate are located, so that damaging effects can be largely avoided. In addition, the connecting piece can also serve as a guide which cooperates with a corresponding counterpart on the adapter plate in order to be able to combine these according to a plug connection.

Since a protruding into the interior of the body element is already present through the connection piece, the previously mentioned spring element may be provided on the connection piece. Apart from that, however, it is also possible to form the spring element on the projecting into the interior of the body mounting portions. By such an integral design of the spring elements on the one hand weight and on the other hand costs can be saved due to the lower material cost.

Since the latch portion can be keyed in the clearance, it may be desirable to insert it in the clearance limiting friction to a certain extent. It may also be desirable that the latch portion does not interfere directly with the inside of the body to avoid scratching the body. Accordingly, the adapter plate may comprise at least one sliding portion arranged such that when the base plate is braced, the locking portion slides with its convex sliding surface therealong. In order to reduce the friction as much as possible, the sliding portion may for example be made of a material or at least coated with it, which has a very low coefficient of friction, as is the case for example with Teflon ^® (PTFE).

Since modern motor vehicle antennas usually comprise a plurality of transmitting and / or receiving antennas, including the associated electronic components, which can be picked up by the footplate, there is a need to pre-populate the footplate prior to the actual assembly of the assembly assembly to the body in order to complete the finished assemble equipped foot plate as a whole. However, since the aforementioned transmitting and / or receiving antennas and the associated electronic components are sensitive to both weathering and mechanical stresses during transport and assembly, the mounting assembly may further comprise a housing cap for housing the electronic components of the antenna which is detachable with the foot plate connected is. The entire unit of foot plate and the associated housing cap can thereby attach as a whole during assembly of the mounting assembly to the body, whereby the assembly can be accelerated.

For receiving the base plate, the housing cap may have such an adapted to the shape of the foot plate opening for receiving the base plate that is closed by the base plate, the interior of the housing cap to the outside.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the housing cap may be provided with a rubber coating, which forms a projecting over the opening of the housing cap sealing lip. This sealing lip comes in the assembly of the base plate or the unit of base plate and housing cap into contact with the outside of the body and thus seals the interior of the housing cap from the outside atmosphere, so that moisture can not penetrate into the interior of the housing cap.

Fig. 1

eine Explosionsdarstellung der erfindungsgemäßen Montagebaugruppe zeigt;

Fig. 2

den Zusammenbau der Einheit aus Fußplatte und Gehäusekappe erläutert;

Fig. 3

einen Schnitt durch die Gehäusekappe zeigt;

Fig. 4

eine perspektivische Untersicht der Adapterplatte und des Riegelkörpers zeigt;

Fig. 5

eine perspektivische Untersicht der Einheit aus Adapter-platte und Riegelkörper einschließlich eines Details zeigt;

Fig. 6

eine perspektivische Draufsicht auf die Einheit aus Adapterplatte und Riegelkörper zeigt;

Fig. 7

eine vergrößerte Darstellung eines von der Fußplatte abstehenden Federelements zeigt; und die

Fig. 8 bis 10

die Montage der erfindungsgemäßen Montagebaugruppe erläutern.

In the following, the present invention will be explained in more detail by means of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the attached figures. In all figures, identical or corresponding elements are identified by the same reference numerals, wherein:

Fig. 1

an exploded view of the assembly assembly according to the invention;

Fig. 2

explains the assembly of the base plate and housing cap unit;

Fig. 3

shows a section through the housing cap;

Fig. 4

shows a perspective bottom view of the adapter plate and the latch body;

Fig. 5

shows a perspective bottom view of the unit of adapter plate and bar body including a detail;

Fig. 6

shows a perspective top view of the unit of adapter plate and latch body;

Fig. 7

shows an enlarged view of a projecting from the foot plate spring element; and the

Fig. 8 to 10

explain the assembly of the mounting assembly according to the invention.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the individual components of the mounting assembly 10 as well as the electronic components received therefrom are presented. The mounting assembly 10 has a base plate 24 which externally comes into contact with the body 26. Furthermore, the mounting assembly 10 has a latch body 30, which is located inside the body 26 and serves to clamp the base plate 24 to the body 26. Also in the interior of the body 26, an adapter plate 28 is arranged, on which the locking body 30 via a hinge, such as a hinge connection is pivotally mounted (see in particular Figs. 4 and 5).

In addition, the mounting assembly 10 includes a housing cap 12, in the interior of which come to be accommodated by the base plate 24 electronic components 16 to 22. These electronic components 16 to 22 may be, for example, a mobile radio antenna 16, a GPS electronic component 18, a printed circuit board 20, and electronic SMD components soldered directly to the printed circuit board 20 act. The housing cap 12 has an opening 13 on the underside, in order to be able to receive the foot plate 24 therein. Between the foot plate 24 and the opening 13 of the housing cap 12, an inner seal 14 is arranged to prevent any ingress of moisture into the interior of the housing cap 12.

3, the actual housing cap 24 is provided with a rubber coating 34, which forms a projecting over the opening 13 of the housing cap 12 and circumferential sealing lip 35. With this sealing lip 35, the housing cap 12 rests with the base plate 24 received by it on the body 26, so that a second sealing barrier is created by the sealing lip 35 in addition to the inner seal 14.

In order to ensure a quick mounting of the mounting assembly 10 on the body 26, the unit of housing cap 12 and base plate 24 together with the electronic components 16 to 22 received therefrom can be assembled in an upstream assembly step, as illustrated in FIG. In this case, first of all the electronic components 16 to 22 are mounted on the base plate 24, so that it can then be inserted together with the inner seal 14 into the opening 13 of the housing cap 12 in order subsequently to be screwed thereto. This state is shown in the right-hand illustration of FIG. 2.

As can best be seen in the right-hand illustration of FIG. 2 and in FIG. 1, two fastening sections 36 protrude from the underside of the foot plate 24, of which only one can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 due to the perspective illustration is. At their free distal ends of the mounting portions 36 cylindrical support portions 37 from right angles, which are opposite to the Bottom of the base plate 24 are spaced by a clearance. The support portions 37 serve to cooperate with the already mentioned latch portions, so that the base plate 24 is clamped against the body 26. For this purpose, the attachment portions 36 protrude through an opening 32 in the body 26 into the interior thereof, to be acted upon there by the locking body 30 with a tensile force into the interior of the body 26.

In addition to the mounting portions 36 is from the bottom of the base plate 24 from a tubular connecting piece 38 from which also protrudes through the opening 32 into the interior of the body 26. The connecting piece 38 receives in the figures not shown in more detail electrical connection pins, which serve to connect the electronic components 16 to 22 with a receiver inside the body 26.

The unit comprising the adapter plate 28 and the latch body 30 will be explained in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the locking body 30 has a substantially E-shaped configuration with two outer arms 40 and one inner arm 42. The inner arm 42 is provided at its free distal end with two hinge or pivot pin 44, by means of which the locking body 30 can be pivotally connected to the adapter plate 28. The pivot pins 44 thus define a pivot axis about which the latch body 30 can be pivoted with respect to the adapter plate 28, as best seen in the illustrations of FIGS. 8 to 10 can be removed.

At the free distal ends of the outer arms 40, the locking body 30 is provided with pivoting wedges in the form of concave and convexly curved locking portions 54 extending in extension of the pivot pins 44 are located on the pivot axis defined by these. For fastening the locking body 30 to the adapter plate 28, it has corresponding hinge openings 46 (FIG. 4) into which the pivot pins 44 engage, as shown in FIG. 5 and in particular the detail A of FIG.

On the upper side, the adapter plate 28 has three electrical connection sockets 48 (FIG. 6) for making electrical connection with the connection pins (not shown) already mentioned above, which protrude from the foot plate 24 into the interior of the body 26. Of the connection sockets 48, three strip-shaped conductor plates 15 extend in the plane of the adapter plate 28 to the edge region to the outside, where they branch off in the form of three terminals 58 in the plane of the adapter plate 28 thereof. In this way, the connection cable between a receiver and the antenna can be laid without having to be bent over.

In extension of the pivot pin 44 (Fig. 5), where the locking portions 54 are located, the adapter plate 28 corresponding recesses 52, which are bridged on the top of the adapter plate 28, however, by sliding portions 56, in which the locking portions 54 with its convex outer contour during a pivoting of the latch body 30 can slide along.

The assembly and mode of operation of the assembly assembly 10 according to the invention on a body 26 will now be explained below with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10. First, it is begun to bring the prefabricated unit of housing cap 12 and base plate 24 in abutment with the outside of the body 26, so that the sealing lip 35 the interior of the housing cap 12 against the outside atmosphere seals. As a result of the attachment of the unit of housing cap 12 and base plate 24 to the body 26, both the connecting piece 38 and the two attachment portions 36 extend into the interior of the body. To secure the position of the unit 12, 24 during assembly to the body 26, the connecting piece 38 circumferentially more projecting into the interior of the body spring elements 60, which engage due to the insertion of the connecting piece 38 in the opening 32 of the body 26 at the contour of the opening 32 so that an undesirable change in position of the unit of housing cap 12 and base plate 24 can be excluded during assembly.

After the unit of housing cap 12 and base plate 24 has been secured in the manner just described on the body 26, then the adapter plate 28 together with the pivotally mounted thereto locking body 30 inside the body 26 with the body 12 located outside the unit 12, 24 is connected be, including the adapter plate 28 together with the hinged thereto latch body 30 is brought from below to the unit of housing cap 12 and base plate 24 so that first an electrical connection between the unrecognizable here connecting pins, which protrude from the base plate 24 into the interior of the body 26 , And the connection sockets 48 of the adapter plate 28 is made. As a result, the relative position of the adapter plate 28 is initially secured with respect to the base plate 24, as shown in FIG. 9.

Finally, only the locking body 30 is now pivoted through approximately 90 °, as shown by the transition from Fig. 9 to Fig. 10, whereby the konkavkonvex curved locking portions 54 viewed from the interior of the body from the support portions 37 engage behind and record them to themselves in the clearance between the support sections 37 and the body 26 to be wedged. In this case, slide the locking portions 54 with its convex sliding surface of the sliding portions 56 of the adapter plate 28 along, thereby scratching the body 26 is avoided.

In order to secure the pivoted about 90 ° position of the locking body 30 permanently, may be provided on the adapter plate 28 and / or on the locking body 30 itself a locking element 62 (Fig. 6), via which the locking body 30 in the 90 ° pivoted position with the adapter plate 28 can be engaged.

By wedging the locking portion 54, a tensile force is introduced via the support portions 37 in the associated mounting portions 36, which causes the base plate 24 is clamped together with the attached housing cap 12 against the body 26, whereby the assembly of the assembly assembly 10 is completed.

As will be apparent from the foregoing explanations, the entire assembly of the mounting assembly 10 may be performed on the body 26 without additional tools. In addition, the assembly assembly 10 for maintenance purposes just as easily disassemble without having to destroy any components of the assembly assembly 10.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

mounting assembly

12

housing cap

13

Opening in 12th

14

inner seal

16

cellular antenna

18

GPS electronic component

20

circuit board

22

SMD (surface-mounted device)

24

footplate

26

body

28

adapter plate

30

Riegel twill

32

Opening in 26

34

coating

36

attachment section

37

support section

38

spigot

40

Outer arm of 30

42

Inner arm of 30

44

pivot pin

46

hinge opening

48

Connection socket of 28

50

conductor plate

52

recess

54

locking portion

56

sliding

58

connection

60

spring element

62

locking element

Claims (14)

A mounting assembly (10) for mounting a vehicle antenna to the body (26) of a motor vehicle, comprising: a foot plate (24) formed to engage the exterior of the body (26) and to receive at least one electronic component (16-22) of the antenna, at least one of which is to be inserted through an opening (32) of the body (26) Mounting portion (36) protrudes, and - a locking body (30) to be arranged in the interior of the body (26) and cooperating with the fastening portion (36), characterized in that the attachment portion (36) has a support portion (37) spaced from the foot plate (24) by a clearance, and the lock body has a latch portion (54) which is keyed in the distance such that the foot plate (24) is clamped against the body (26). Mounting assembly (10) according to claim 1,
characterized in that the mounting assembly (10) has a in the interior of the body (26) to be arranged adapter plate (28) on which the locking body is movably mounted. Mounting assembly (10) according to claim 2,
characterized in that the adapter plate (28) has at least one first electrical connection (49), which with at least one of the base plate (24) into the interior of the body (26) projecting electrical mating connector is connectable. Mounting assembly (10) according to claim 2,
characterized in that the adapter plate (28) has at least one second electrical connection (58) which branches off in the plane of the adapter plate (28) from this. Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of claims 2 to 4,
characterized in that the locking body (30) via a hinge pivotally mounted on the adapter plate (28) is mounted. Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that the latch portion (54) of the latch body (30) forms a pivot key with a receptacle for the support portion (37) of the mounting portion (36). Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of claims 5 or 6,
characterized in that the latch portion (54) is disposed on the pivot axis of the hinge. Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that the locking body (30) has an actuating lever (42), by the actuation of the locking portion (54) experiences a torque. Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that on the base plate (24) at least one spring element (60) is provided, with which the foot plate (24) on the body (26) is fixable. Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of claims 2 to 8,
characterized in that a connecting piece (38) projecting therefrom is provided on the foot plate (24), which receives the at least one mating connection. Mounting assembly (10) according to claim 10,
characterized in that the spring element (60) on the connecting piece (38) is provided. Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of claims 2 to 11,
characterized in that the adapter plate (28) comprises at least one sliding portion (56) arranged such that the latch portion (54) slides along the base plate (24) during tensioning thereof. Mounting assembly (10) according to at least one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that it further comprises a housing cap (12) serving to encase the electronic component (16-22) of the antenna with a shaped aperture for receiving the footplate (24) so as to close the interior of the housing cap (12) outwardly , Mounting assembly (10) according to claim 13,
characterized in that the housing cap (12) is provided with a coating of an elastic material (34) which forms over the opening of the housing cap (12) projecting sealing lip.

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