Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
  • H01H49/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted to the manufacture of relays or parts thereof
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
  • H01H51/00—Electromagnetic relays
  • H01H51/28—Relays having both armature and contacts within a sealed casing outside which the operating coil is located, e.g. contact carried by a magnetic leaf spring or reed
  • H01H51/281—Mounting of the relay; Encapsulating; Details of connections
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/49002—Electrical device making
  • Y10T29/4902—Electromagnet, transformer or inductor
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/49002—Electrical device making
  • Y10T29/49105—Switch making
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/49002—Electrical device making
  • Y10T29/49117—Conductor or circuit manufacturing
  • Y10T29/49174—Assembling terminal to elongated conductor
  • Y10T29/49176—Assembling terminal to elongated conductor with molding of electrically insulating material

Definitions

• a method of manufacturing a low current switching module and device obtained by said method is a method of manufacturing a low current switching module and device obtained by said method.
• the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a low current switching module and a device obtained by said method. It also relates to a special machine for implementing said method.
• the low current switches usually involve a stack of mechanical parts comprising a plate on which electrically conductive tracks and a rotational contact driven by a rotor are overmolded.
• the rotor is further provided with contact pads to be worn on tracks.
• This set is housed in a housing made of electrically insulating material.
• the tracks are made on one of the two faces of a printed circuit, the other side is equipped with electronic components and connection pins.
• the type of assembly has a weakness in the connection, each connector clipping (Vehicle beam) on the connection pins, the printed circuit works in bending, generating a risk of rupture of said wafer and / or tracks that it supports.
• the solution to this problem therefore requires the use of remotely controllable switches without mechanical connection so as to be embedded in a plastic material without this being detrimental to its operation.
• the invention proposes for this purpose a switching module comprising: on the one hand a magnetic control switch more commonly called “REED relays” or contact bulbs comprising in a sealed bulb two flexible contact tongues sensitive to a magnetic field and on the other hand an integrated connection assembly and possibly other electronic components .
• This type of switch is known to have a certain fragility at the same time to the mechanical stresses (breaks), to the pressure and even to the temperature. The properties therefore seemed incompatible with pressure injection operations.
• the invention succeeds in overcoming this prejudice by means of a method for producing a switching module of the aforesaid type comprising a thin conductive trace, at least one contact bulb, connection, and a housing enclosing the contact bulb and constitute with the connecting members a connection element.
• This process comprises the phases of:
• the problems relating to the stresses exerted on the contact bulb are solved because they are carried by deformable elements (trace of copper) which by deforming absorb stresses.
• deformable elements trace of copper
• the method according to the invention has the following additional features:
• the step of electrical and mechanical connection of the electronic components to the conductive trace may be a welding or crimping operation
• the step of encapsulation in an insulating material of the assembly composed of the conductive trace, the components, their legs and the electrical connections may be an injection operation under pressure of plastics
• the plastics used for the injection may be plastic materials loaded with high strength fibers and / or high mechanical rigidity
• the fibers of high strength and / or mechanical rigidity are glass fibers or aramid fibers
• the plastics injection mold may be arranged in such a way that the flow of material in the mold circulates substantially along the components so that said components do not tend to move in the mold during the filling under pressure, nor that internal stresses in the tabs and / or welds are generated,
• the method may comprise an additional step of separating several elements made simultaneously on the same conductive trace,
• the step of separating several elements made simultaneously on the same conductive trace may be carried out by local stamping.
• the invention also proposes a switch device produced according to the manufacturing method stated above.
• the invention also proposes a special machine which can be produced continuously and from a continuous trace according to the manufacturing method stated above.
• Figure 1 schematically shows a manufacturing method according to the invention comprising an injection operation after welding.
• FIG. 2 shows an example of a perforated metal trace making it possible to produce several switching modules at a time.
• FIG. 3 shows an exemplary embodiment of several switching modules on the same perforated metal trace before the separation operation.
• FIG. 4 schematically shows a switch obtained after separation of several switches obtained according to the method according to the invention.
• FIG. 5 schematically shows a continuous production line of switching modules obtained according to the method according to the invention.
• the method mainly comprises the following four steps:
• Step 1 Cut a continuous thin perforated metal trace 14.
• This perforated metal trace here is a continuous strip of copper of small thickness less than one millimeter.
• This metal strip 11 is wound on a roll 12.
• This conductive strip 11 advances by saccade and passes under a cutting tool 12 which is driven by a punching machine 13.
• This continuous metal strip becomes a perforated trace 14.
• FIG. in more detail a part of an example of a conductive trace according to the invention. We see that this trace is on the one hand very perforated to have great flexibility, and on the other hand includes enough material to stand mechanically. We can see the two main conductors 21 and 22, and the pins 23 which form the conductive part of the integrated connection.
• Step 2 Place and weld on the perforated metal trace electronic components some of which are fragile, such as contact lamps for example. This operation is performed using the automatic welder 24. The components are placed on a transfer belt and wound on a reel 22. The empty transfer tape is wound on the reel 23.
• Step 3 the plastic material filled with fiberglass is injected around the components and the perforated metal trace in order to mechanically and electrically protect the components, their tabs, welds and both sides of the perforated metal trace.
• the injection mold 30 comprises material inlets and vents arranged so that the molten hot plastic material including glass fibers and therefore relatively viscous flows in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the components so that the components do not tend to move in the mold during injection.
• Figure 3 shows in more detail a set of five switching modules according to the invention. We can see the part reserved for the connection 31, and the zones 32 and 33 which will be used for the separation of the modules. Areas 34 may also be seen which will be used for milling or stamping the mechanical connecting elements of the conductive trace.
• Step 4 The switching modules are separated by cutting or drawing from each other and placed by gravity in a basket 51 provided for this purpose. It should be noted that the punch 40 separating the switching modules from each other at the same time cuts out tracks which have not been placed to give an overall mechanical strength of the metal strip and which must be interrupted to ensure a uniform correct operation of the electrical circuit of each switching module.
• FIG. 4 shows a view from above of a switching module 43 made according to the invention. One can see on the one hand the locations 41 of three punching intended to cut the unwanted tracks, and the locations 42 punching provided to separate the switching modules from each other.
• this method can be used to design a special automatic machine for continuously performing switching modules according to the invention without intermediate human intervention. For example with a rate of 10 seconds per injection and a mold comprising 10 switching modules, it is therefore possible to make a switching module per second (about 80,000 switching modules per day) without human intervention which is significantly more efficient than the current process involving the "potting" operation which leads to being able to achieve only a few hundred switching modules / day with many human handling.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Manufacture Of Switches (AREA)
• Switches That Are Operated By Magnetic Or Electric Fields (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=38261476

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

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Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (8)

• 2006
  • 2006-10-30 FR FR0609529A patent/FR2907962B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2007
  • 2007-10-18 JP JP2009535051A patent/JP2010508632A/ja active Pending
  • 2007-10-18 EP EP07821540A patent/EP2087499A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2007-10-18 WO PCT/EP2007/061176 patent/WO2008052891A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2007-10-18 US US12/446,557 patent/US8122592B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (3)

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