EP2515388B1 - Electric heating device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electric heating device with an electric heating element, a housing receiving the electrical heating element, which forms a connector receptacle for receiving a at least one electrical plug contact carrying plug housing of a plug, and a recorded in the housing circuit board, the one with the at least one plug contact having contactable plug element receptacle.

Such an electric heater is for example from the EP 2 127 924 A1 known. In this prior art heater, the connection of power current and control signals via separate cables, which are plugged into the housing. The housing forms for this purpose each different plug receptacles. Associated with these plug receptacles are conductor tracks and female plug element receptacles and, if appropriate, contact projections which contact counter-elements of a plug-in connector. These arranged within the housing contact areas and tracks lead to a circuit board in which the power current is controlled and forwarded to the electrical heating elements of the electric heater depending on the desired power output.

The prior art electric heater has several disadvantages. So the space is relatively large. Furthermore, the structure of the electric heating device is complicated due to the separate configuration of conductor tracks and contact elements of the connector receptacle to the circuit board. Furthermore, contact problems may arise in the contacting of the conductor tracks provided on the housing to the conductor tracks of the printed circuit board, which is usually mounted in the housing. This can lead to contact resistance and problems in the passage of power current or control signals. Especially at high power currents, this can lead to local heating at the point with increased contact resistance and thus damage to the electric heater.

The present invention aims to provide an electric heater which avoids the disadvantages described above in whole or in part.

To solve this problem, the present invention provides an electric heating device having the features of claim 1.

The electric heating device according to the invention can be a heating device for liquid media and air, in particular in a motor vehicle, and has at least one electrical heating element. This heating element is typically a PTC-type heat generating element having a PTC element, typically a plurality of PTC elements, and sheet metal strips adjacent thereto on opposite sides. The heating element may be a heating element for heating liquid media, as for example from the EP 2 127 924 A1 is known. The heating element may as well be a heat generating element of an air heater in PTC design, as this example in the EP 1 928 214 A1 is specified and in which the electrical heating elements are contained in a layer structure comprising adjacent to the heating elements on both sides of these regularly rod-shaped heating elements adjacent radiator elements. This layer structure is usually held under spring bias in an outer frame.

The heating device according to the invention has a plug receptacle for receiving a plug housing, which carries at least one electrical plug contact. The plug receptacle is usually arranged on a housing cover or the like, which is a part of the housing receiving the heating device. In the case of an air heater according to EP 1 928 214 A1 the housing cover is usually located at the front end of the layer structure, ie at a front end in the longitudinal direction of the elongated corrugated fin elements or heating elements where individual, the PTC elements contacting contact plates are guided over the front side of the heating block to form contact tongues. The same applies to a housing cover as he basically from the EP 2 127 924 A1 is known. Again, the plug receptacle is usually in the longitudinal direction in extension of the elongated electrical heating elements, ie in extension of the respective contact plates, between which abut the or the PTC elements of the at least one electrical heating element. Accordingly, the plug receptacle of the electric heater according to the invention is usually part of the housing, which accommodates the at least one electrical heating element in itself. In this case, especially in that housing portion or part, which the electrical contact and / or the inclusion of controls to the electric heater is used and accordingly also referred to as a control housing, there is at least one circuit board. This printed circuit board may be a printed circuit board which groups a plurality of electrical heating elements with their respective contact tongues and is not equipped with components which control the power current. But the circuit board can just as well be such, equipped with components circuit board.

The printed circuit board has a plug element receptacle which can be contacted with the at least one plug contact. Accordingly, the electrical connection is made from the plug to the electric heater directly by inserting the plug or the plug contacts of the plug into a plug-element recording of the circuit board. According to the invention, the plug element receptacle is provided in the housing in such a way that when the plug housing is provided in the plug receptacle, the electrical plug contact usually provided on the plug housing and electrically in contact with this plug housing is received in the associated plug element receptacle. The plug element receptacle is accordingly electrically conductive and electrically contacted with at least one conductor track of the printed circuit board and / or one of the printed circuit board associated external current-carrying path such as a parallel to the circuit board with a small distance extending busbar. The initiation of control signals, but in particular of the power current and a possible ground connection of the electric heater is carried out accordingly via the connector directly by contacting in the circuit board.

As a result, the number of required for the passage of power and / or control signals line paths is reduced. The cable routes are also shortened. The number of electrical transitions from the plug receptacle to the PCB is significantly reduced. The electric heater according to the invention builds accordingly more compact. It is to be expected with fewer contact resistance, so that the electric heater can be operated more reliable.

In view of an exact positioning of the plug relative to the printed circuit board is proposed according to the present invention, to provide the plug receptacle with a collar which forms a guide surface for the plug. This guide surface usually extends parallel to the insertion direction of the plug in making the plug connection between the plug and the electric heater and at right angles to the circuit board. The collar is located between the housing surface of the housing and the circuit board, ie protrudes from a substantially planar outer housing surface inwardly in the direction of the circuit board and is provided in the interior of the control housing or the housing cover. As a result, an exact positioning of the plug is made possible.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the guide surface formed by the collar is also electrically conductive and can therefore be used for ground connection between the housing and the plug. This may have a Abschirmkontaktierung which is electrically connected to an outer shield of a cable connected to the plug, so that the shield is effectively formed by the cable via the plug into the housing when the plug has been inserted into the plug receptacle.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the circuit board has an electrically conductive connected to at least one conductor track of the printed circuit board elongated connector. This connector has longitudinally opposing spring tongues. In this case, the spring tongues transversely to the longitudinal direction do not exactly opposite each other. Rather, these spring tongues can be provided offset to one another in the longitudinal direction, in particular alternately. An inserted into the electrical circuit board plug contact is accordingly clamped between each other substantially opposite spring tongues and contacted on both sides. The connector is elongate and accordingly has a preferred orientation corresponding to a usually also elongated molded plug contact, so that a secure contact can be ensured by a plurality of contact points formed by the spring tongues between the plug and the circuit board.

With a view to a compact design of the circuit board and thus the electric heater, especially in the control housing is proposed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the spring tongues provided in a recessed on the circuit board plug-in element bore. A corresponding connector is for example from the EP 2 236 330 A1 known to the present applicant. It has surprisingly been found that with Such a connection piece can be countered in a particularly good manner any tolerance problems, which are justified by the fact that the circuit board must be mounted in the housing and is therefore not always provided in the necessarily exact position relative to the provided on the housing connector receptacle. Thus, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is proposed to provide the plug element receptacle in the longitudinal direction by at least 10% longer than the associated dimension of the associated plug contact. For example, if the plug contact formed by an elongated contact plate, the associated connector has a longitudinal slot for receiving the plug contact, which is at least 10%, preferably 15%, more preferably 20% longer than the elongated dimension of the plug contact. Accordingly, in the longitudinal direction of the plug contact / connector no exact positioning must be made. The spring tongues, in particular those which protrude into the plug-in element bore, can moreover be elastically deformed in a direction transverse to the longitudinal extent. Also in this respect, it is possible to effect a tolerance compensation by unbalanced bending of the contact tongues during insertion of the plug contacts into the associated plug element receptacle.

According to its independent aspect, the present invention proposes a heating arrangement with the features of claim 6. This electrical heating arrangement has, in particular, an electrical heating device of the type initially discussed. Furthermore, a plug is provided as part of the electrical heating arrangement, which has at least one plug-in contact which can be introduced into the associated plug receptacle. The electric heater assembly according to the invention then corresponds to the previously discussed electrical heater with plugs.

To compensate for positioning tolerances between the circuit board and the plug is proposed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention to hold the plug in such a way with interposition of a spring element in the connector receptacle that the plug is movable in one direction to the insertion of the connector receptacle. The said spring element can be assigned to the housing. However, it is preferably assigned in particular to the plug. The spring element allows an additional transverse displacement of the plug relative to the insertion direction to compensate for any incorrect positioning between the housing-side connector receptacle and the circuit board-side plug element receptacle.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plug can be shielded in an improved manner and with this shield to the housing of the consumer, i. the electric heater are conductively connected to achieve a complete shield between the housing of the electric heater and the shielding of a cable connected to the plug. In view of this, the electric heater assembly preferably has a plug with an outside exposed on the connector housing shield connection. The shield connection is conductively connected to a shield of the cable, preferably in a manner to be explained in more detail below. For shield connection at least the connector housing is at least two parts formed with a cable bushing forming housing base part and at least one opening having housing head part. These two parts are connected to each other, with intermediate storage of said shield connection, so that it can be guided from the outside of the housing between the two housing parts inwards and contacted there with the shield of the cable.

Preferably, the shield connection comprises a plurality of shield contacts arranged distributed on the circumference of the plug housing and formed on the free end of spring arms of the shield connection movably held in the plug housing. Although other embodiments, for example, with a rectangular orientation of the supplied cable relative to the extension direction of the plug contacts are conceivable, with the present invention in particular an embodiment of the plug is preferred in which the supplied cable is coaxial with the direction of extension of the plug contacts. In this embodiment, the spring arms extend at least predominantly in the longitudinal direction of the supplied cable, so that the resilient compensating movement leads to a radial movement of the Abschirmkontakte. A housing of a consumer has for this purpose a correspondingly cylindrically shaped receptacle into which the shield contacts are inserted. For this purpose, they can be slightly bevelled at their front end in the insertion direction, in order to promote displacement of the shielding contacts radially inwards. With the elastic return, the plug contacts finally put on the inner peripheral surface of the recording.

According to a preferred embodiment, the housing base part and the housing head part are formed overlapping in the cable extension direction. This is usually done in that the housing base part is formed with a bell end, in which a spigot end of the housing head part protrudes, preferably forming an annular gap, which is usually cylindrical and in which the spring arms are held radially movable, such that the necessary spring travel to elastic contact with the housing-side recording by free pivoting the spring arms can be done in the annular gap.

The contact between the shield connection and the cable shield, i. a conductive fabric usually surrounded by the cable sheath can be done in various ways, such as a ferrule assembly, in which the cable shield is introduced and electrically connected under terminals with the shield connection. However, with the present invention, an embodiment is preferred, which inevitably leads to a contact between the Abschirmkontakten the cable shield with appropriate preparation of the cable. This connection is preferably carried out inevitably upon insertion of the shield in the shield connection, which is preferably designed so that in this case also results in a strain relief of the cable. Tensile forces are then introduced directly through the shield in the connector housing.

With a view to the simplest possible electrical contact between the cable shield and the shield connection, this preferably comprises an annular surface whose bore is surmounted by contact webs. These contact webs are adapted such that a shielded from the cable sheath and frontally beyond the end of the cable sheath shield pressed by the contact webs radially inwardly and is pressed against the exposed electrical wires or an inner sheath of the cable. This results in an electrical contact between the cable shield and the shield connection. The contact webs are usually inclined obliquely inwards, so that they form a funnel-shaped configuration tapering in the insertion direction, which facilitate the insertion of the part of the supplied cable projecting beyond the uncovered cable jacket. It must be ensured regularly that the contact webs do not press sharp edges against the shield connection, which is usually due to this is realized that the contact webs have a crowned and cooperating with the cable shielding surface.

According to a preferred embodiment, the said annular surface has at least one bore, which is penetrated by a pin which protrudes from an end face of the housing head part. The pin located in the bore causes a rotationally secure securing the Abschirmanbindung on the housing head part and also allows the pre-mounting of the shield connection to the housing head part.

The housing base part preferably forms a pin receptacle for each pin, in which the pin is accommodated for a rotationally secure mounting of the housing head part together with the shield connection. A rotation in this sense, however, is also given when a certain rotational movement between the housing base part and the housing head part is possible in the mounted state.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the pin has a thickened pin head, the housing base side is assigned a stop. By virtue of this configuration, the housing base part and the housing head part are also captively connected to each other in the longitudinal direction. In any case, the housing head part can not be pulled out of the housing base part in the longitudinal direction of the pins.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the housing base has a sealing lip for sealing engagement with a housing receiving the plug. This sealing lip is formed from a component which has a lower hardness than the material forming the housing base part. It is assumed that the plug housing and the functional surfaces formed directly on the plug housing are usually made of plastic, and that only the plug contact or contacts are formed from an electrically conductive material.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the cable gland on at least one can be applied to the cable sheath cable sealing lip. Also, this sealing lip has a lower hardness than the housing base forming material. Preferably, the sealing lip and the at least one cable sealing lip are formed of identical material, for example a thermoplastic elastomer. In this case, it is preferably assumed that the said sealing elements produced by molding a base body of a housing shell element of the housing base part are, wherein a plurality of housing shell elements form the Gehäusebasisteil. This encapsulation usually takes place via a single injection point, so that the sealing lip at the front end of the housing base part in the insertion direction and the at least one cable sealing lip at the rear end are formed via this single injection point.

In view of this, it is preferable to form the housing base part from at least two, preferably identically designed housing shell elements, which are joined with the inclusion of a housing sealing lips formed on the edge of the housing shell elements. In the case of two housing shell elements, these are designed as half shells and have at their abutting edge sides a contour favoring the seal with a projecting sealing lip, which is preferably in a sealing groove on the other housing shell element in engagement, so that the joined housing shell elements form a circumferentially sealed housing base part ,

According to a further preferred embodiment, the housing head part is formed from at least two housing head segments, which are connected to each other via a film hinge. With a view to easy wiring of the plug, at least one of the housing head elements has an insertion groove open at the edge and leading to a plug contact receptacle. This groove preferably extends in the circumferential direction of the housing head part, usually in the circumferential direction and is accordingly open to an edge surface which extends substantially parallel to the extension direction of the plug contact. An electrical wire connected to a plug contact element of a connected cable can accordingly be inserted laterally into the groove so that the corresponding plug contact is arranged in the plug contact receptacle. This position of said plug contact is preferably finally secured by the fact that the insertion is located in the assembled state within the housing base part, wherein the interaction of the housing base part and the housing head part prevents the cable core from extruding out of the groove.

Figur 1

eine perspektivische Explosionsdarstellung eines Ausführungsbeispiels eines Steckers;

Figur 2

das in Figur 1 gezeigte Ausführungsbeispiel des Steckers im zusammengebauten Zustand;

Figur 3

eine Längsschnittdarstellung des in den Figuren 1 und 2 gezeigten Steckers mit Kabel;

Figur 4

eine Längsschnittansicht eines Gehäusedeckels mit einem daran angeschlossenen Stecker gemäß den Figuren 1 bis 3; und

Figur 5

das in Figur 4 eingezeichnete Detail V in vergrößerter Darstellung.

Further details and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment in conjunction with the drawings. In this show:

FIG. 1

an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a plug;

FIG. 2

this in FIG. 1 shown embodiment of the plug in the assembled state;

FIG. 3

a longitudinal sectional view of the in the Figures 1 and 2 shown connector with cable;

FIG. 4

a longitudinal sectional view of a housing cover with a plug connected thereto according to the FIGS. 1 to 3 ; and

FIG. 5

this in FIG. 4 drawn detail V in an enlarged view.

That in the FIGS. 1 to 3 shown embodiment of a connector comprises a two-part connector housing 2 with a housing base part 4 and a housing head part 6, which are partially inserted in the assembled state. For this purpose, the housing base part 4 has a bell end 8 into which a spigot end 10 of the housing head part 6 fits. The bell end 8 and the spigot 10 are present rotationally symmetrical and formed with a cylindrical peripheral surface. In the joined state (cf. FIG. 4 ), the bell end 8 and the spigot end 10 between an annular gap 12 free. In this annular gap 12 spring arms 14 extend a marked with reference numeral 16 shield connection. The spring arms 14 are based on a ring segment 18, the bore 20 are projected by a plurality of contact webs 22 radially inwardly. The contact webs 22 are arched in the axial direction to the front end of the housing base part 4 in the insertion direction and accordingly form a funnel opening 24. The contact webs 22 are circumferentially separated from each other by slits formed by punching. In the same way, the spring arms 14 are separated from each other. The ring segment 18 forms a base of the shield connection 16 around which both the spring arms 14 and the contact webs 22 are pivotable. The outer diameter of the ring segment 18 and the spring arms 14 which extend substantially at right angles to it are dimensioned such that an outer circumference of a ring 26 formed by the spring arms 14 corresponds approximately to the inner circumference of the bell end 8.

The ring segment 18 has bores 28 distributed at equal intervals distributed in the circumferential direction. The inner end face of the housing head part 4 is of pins Surmounted 30, which have a thickened pin head 32. Corresponding to this, the housing base part 4 pin receptacles 34 for rotationally secure mounting of the housing base part 4 relative to the housing head part 6. The pin receivers 34 form in the direction of the housing head part 6 stops 36 for the journal heads 32, so that the housing base part 4 and the housing head part 6 in axial direction relative to the longitudinal extent of a supplied cable 38 are captively interconnected.

The housing base part 4 consists of two housing shell elements 40, which are of identical construction and respectively form two receptacles 42 which open in the circumferential direction and form locking lugs 44 formed on the opposite edge side of the housing shell elements 40 and projecting beyond the edge side. In each case a free edge side of a housing shell 40 has a housing base sealing lip 46 which projects beyond one of the edge sides of the respective housing shell elements 40 marked with reference numeral 48 and engages in a correspondingly formed on the other edge side of the other housing shell element 40 sealing groove, so that the two housing shell elements 40 are sealed in the joined state in the circumferential direction. These housing base sealing lips 46 are each integral with segments of a cable sealing lip 50, which are formed in the region of a cable gland 52 of the housing base part 4, and segments of a sealing lip 54, which at the free end in the insertion direction of the housing base part 4 for sealing engagement with a heater housing 56 (see. FIG. 4 ) are connected. The formation of the housing base sealing lip 46 and the segments of the cable sealing lip 50 and the sealing lip 54 is usually carried out by molding a base body of the respective housing shell elements 40 over a single injection point. The respective segments of cable sealing lip 50 and sealing lip 54 form a circumferentially closed sealing arrangement in the assembled state of the housing shell element 40. Accordingly, the cable 38 routed through the grommet 52 is sealingly held in the grommet 52. Moisture can not get into the plug housing 2 from the outside and along a cable sheath 58. Sealed in the same way is the connector housing 2, namely alone the housing base part 4 sealed by a circumferentially closed sealing lip 54 relative to the heater housing 56.

In the present case, the housing head part 6 has two housing head segments 60, which are connected to one another via a film hinge 62. A separate sealing of these housing head segments 60 is not required, since the housing head part 6 is arranged in the assembled state in a plug receptacle 64 of the housing 56, which is sealed to the outside via the sealing lip 54 (cf. FIG. 5 ). The plug receptacle 64 is formed by a protruding from a surface 63 of the heater housing 56 collar 65. One of the housing head segments 60, which is referred to below as the housing head cover 66, has a circumferentially extending Einführnut 68 which opens to an edge side 70 of the housing head cover 66 and projects in the circumferential direction up to a plug contact receptacle 72, which one of in FIG. 2 shown plug contacts 74 receives. A correspondingly designed plug contact 76 is received in a recess of the other housing head segment 60 and is held by a retaining pin 78 which protrudes at the front in the insertion direction of a semicircular partition wall 80 of the housing head cover 66 in position. Two further plug contacts 82, 84 are inserted into the parting plane of the housing head segments 60, 66 towards open recesses and fixed there. When the housing head part 6 is closed, these plug contacts 82, 84 lie with their holding groove 86 formed between projections at the level of the completed partition wall 80, wherein the projections project beyond the partition wall 80 on the front side and the inside and are thus fixed in the axial direction.

To attach the cable 38 of the cable sheath is removed so that on the one hand, the individual electrical wires 88, 90, 94 of the cable 38 with its associated cable sheaths frontally exposed to the cable 38 and a shield 96 of the cable 38 slightly surmounted the free end of the cable sheath 58 , The individual cable cores 88 to 94 are connected in a conventional manner by crimping with the plug contacts 74, 76, 82, 84. The plug contacts 74, 82, 84 are inserted into the housing head segment 60. The wire 90 associated with the plug contact 74, i. the insulated cable is passed through the insertion groove 68. The plug contact 74 is inserted into the plug contact receptacle 72. Thereafter, the housing head cover 66 is pivoted about the film hinge 62 and the housing head part 6 is closed.

The previously pushed onto the cable sheath shield 16 is now moved in the axial direction. In this case, the contact webs catch with the shield 96 and the holes 28 are brought to the pin 30 to cover. This orientation is relatively easy to handle, since significantly more holes 28 are provided as pin 30, the housing head part 6 project beyond the front. It goes without saying that the circumferential distance between adjacent pins 30 corresponds to a multiple of the circumferential distance of the holes 28. By engaging the pin 30 in the associated holes 28, the housing head part 6 is secured in its closed position. Thereafter, the housing shell elements 40 are fed in the radial direction, such that the pins 30 are inserted into the pin receivers 34. The locking pins 44 engage in the receptacles 42 and latch therein. The connector housing 2 is completed.

To connect the thus prepared cable 38 with the plug 1, this is inserted into the connector receptacle 64. In this case, the spring arms 14 first slide past a slightly conical and formed on the heater housing 56 opening to the connector receptacle 64 over, so that the spring arms 14 are urged inwards. In the course of a further insertion movement, shield contacts 98 formed on the front free end of the spring arms glide past the inner circumferential surface of the plug receptacle 64 forming a guide surface 100. The plug-in movement finds its end when the front-side front end of the housing base part 4 abuts against a wall of the housing 56 surrounding the connector receptacle 64. In the radial direction, i. transverse to the insertion direction is due to the elastic spring arms 14 and the compressibility of the seal 54 a certain mobility of the plug 1 relative to the heater housing 56 within the connector receptacle 64 to compensate for positional tolerances between the circuit board 110 and connector 1 is possible. The forwardly inclined contact webs 22 can act as a strain relief, which secure the supplied cable 38 in the longitudinal direction of the connector housing 2 via the shield 96.

The FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal sectional view through a designated by reference numeral 102 housing cover. This housing cover 102 is usually part of a control housing, which is not shown, however, is part of a housing, not shown, which comprises at least one electric heating element usually in PTC structure. The housing may be formed, for example, as a multi-part plastic housing. The housing and in particular the heating element are prepared and manufactured, for example, as shown in EP 2 242 327 A1 is known. The electric heater Accordingly, in particular, an additional heater in PTC technology for heating the interior of a motor vehicle may be. The in FIG. 4 Housing cover shown is usually provided on that end face on which selected contact plates projecting from a heat generating elements and radiator elements formed heating block, which is arranged under bias of a spring in the housing, end overhanging and provide electrical connection points for the heating block. On the contact tongues formed by contact plates can in FIG. 4 shown printed circuit board 104 may be postponed. Alternatively, the in FIG. 4 shown circuit board 104 and the housing cover to be a housing cover of an electric heater, as shown in the EP 2 127 924 A1 is known. The aforementioned examples of electric heaters with PTC structure are given by way of example only, as well as the features of the construction of the heating block, ie the PTC electrical heating elements and the features relating to the housing and the housing cover of these two documents. The structural features of the individual electric heaters after EP 2 127 924 A1 such as EP 2 242 327 A1 may be part of the heating device of the present invention.

How out FIG. 4 can be seen, the housing cover 102 integrally forms a projection 106 at its top. The housing cover 104 is made of an electrically conductive material, such as aluminum. The projection 106 forms the plug receptacle 64 and thus the guide surface 100. Within the enclosed by the connector receptacle 64 projection surface, ie in the insertion direction in extension of the connector receptacle 64, the circuit board 104 has a plurality of plug element bores 108 (see. Fig. 5 ). In this plug-in element bores 108, conductive elongate connecting pieces 110 are inserted, as they are basically made of EP 2 236 330 A1 are known. An attachment section (cf. EP 2 236 330 A1 . FIG. 1 , Reference numeral 4) is on the projection 106 facing side of the circuit board 104 on this. As in particular from FIG. 5 it can be seen, the plug-in element bore 106 is larger sized than the associated plug-in contact. The plug-in element bores 108 are elongate, that is to say have a direction transverse to the plane of representation of the plug FIGS. 4 and 5 a slot-shaped configuration. How specifically the Figures 1 and 2 refer to is, at least the plug contacts 82, 84 are elongated. Accordingly, the connecting pieces 110 associated with these plug contacts 82, 84 are also provided with an elongated plug element receptacle 112 in which at least the plug contact 82 or 84 fits. This plug-in element receptacle 112 has an elongated extent which is at least 10%, preferably 15%, preferably 20% greater than the longitudinal extent of the associated plug-in contact 82, 84. Also in a direction transverse to this longitudinal extent, ie parallel to the circuit board 104 and in the plane of the drawing after the FIGS. 4 and 5 the width of the plug element receptacle 112 is considerably larger than the width of the associated plug contact 82, 84. In this width direction, the plug element bore 108 is limited by mutually opposite, mutually offset longitudinally provided spring tongues 114 whose shape and design in the EP 2 236 330 A1 are described.

However, in the present invention, the plug-in bore 108 leaves a substantial clearance between the spring tongues 114 and the circuit board 104. By this dimensioning of the plug-in element bore 108 relative to the associated plug contact 82, 84 and the corresponding dimensioning of the connector 102 in the longitudinal and transverse directions and the relatively high flexibility of the spring tongues 114, a tolerance compensation is possible, unless the printed circuit board 104 is positioned exactly relative to the connector receptacle 64 is. Thus, even with an eccentric alignment of the plug contacts 74, 76, 82, 84 reliable electrical contacting of these plug contacts can be achieved with the fittings 110. Each of the terminals 110 is electrically connected to traces of the circuit board 104. As a result, for example, the power current and / or a grounding pole can be electrically coupled into the printed circuit board 104.

In the embodiment shown, the spring tongues 114 are completely disposed within the plug element bores 108, i. do not project beyond the printed circuit board 104 on the underside of the printed circuit board 104 opposite the plug 1.

In addition, the plug 1 is shielded via the shield connection 16 and the direct electrical contact of this shield connection 16 with the metallic guide surface 100 of the connector receptacle 64, so that no Significant EMC problems can emanate from the heater assembly shown, if it is installed in a motor vehicle. The electrical traces of the circuit board 104 may be further electrical receptacles within the circuit board according to EP 2 236 330 A1 lead into which contact tongues of PTC heating elements are inserted. Accordingly, a single circuit board 104 is sufficient for making electrical contact with the externally supplied cable 38 through the plug 1 on the one hand and the electrical heating elements on the other hand. The electric heater assembly shown is then very simple, can be produced inexpensively and shows no electrical transition problems by the formation of a variety of transfer points for the power current.

It goes without saying that the previously presented plug-in connection for introducing the power current can be designed in the same way for a control plug, can be introduced via the control signals for controlling components of the circuit board 104 in this.

Only for completeness it should be noted that a formed on the housing base 4 fastening eye 116 of the fuse of the connector 1 is used on the housing from which, for example, a threaded bolt can protrude, which passes through the fastening eye 116.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

plug

2

plug housing

4

Housing base part

6

Housing headboard

8th

bell end

10

spigot

12

annular gap

14

spring arm

16

shield connection

18

ring segment

20

drilling

22

contact bars

24

funnel opening

26

wreath

28

drilling

30

spigot

32

tapping head

34

pin receiver

36

attack

38

electric wire

40

Housing shell element

42

admission

44

locking pin

46

Housing main sealing lip

48

edge side

50

Cable sealing lip

52

Grommet

54

sealing lip

56

heater housing

58

cable sheath

60

Housing head segment

62

film hinge

63

Surface of the heater housing

64

plug receptacle

65

collar

66

Housing head cover

68

insertion groove

70

edge side

72

Plug contact receiving

74

plug contact

76

plug contact

78

retaining pins

80

partition wall

82

plug contact

84

plug contact

86

retaining groove

88

Vein

90

Vein

92

Vein

94

Vein

96

shielding

98

shield contact

100

guide surface

102

housing cover

104

circuit board

106

head Start

108

Contact element bore

110

connector

112

Plug element receptacle

114

spring tongue

116

fastening eye

Claims (11)

1. Electric heating device comprising an electric heating element, a housing (102) which receives the electric heating element and forms a plug receptacle (64) for receiving a plug housing (2) of a plug (1), which plug housing supports at least one electric plug contact (74, 76, 82, 84), and comprising a printed circuit board (104) received in the housing (102), the printed circuit board (104) having a plug element receptacle (112) which can contact the at least one plug contact (74, 76, 82, 84), characterised in that the plug element receptacle (112) is provided in the housing (102) such that, when the plug housing (2) is received in the plug receptacle (64), the electric plug contact (74, 76, 82, 84) is received in the associated plug element receptacle (112) in an electrically contacting manner and in that the plug receptacle (64) has a guide area (100) for the plug (1), which guide area is formed on a collar (65) provided between a housing surface (63) and the printed circuit board (104).
2. Electric heating device according to claim 1, characterised in that at least part of the guide area (100) is electrically conductive.
3. Electric heating device according to either claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the printed circuit board (104) has an elongate connection piece (110) which is connected in an electrically conductive manner to a conducting path of the printed circuit board (104) and has resilient tongues (114) that are opposite one another in the longitudinal direction.
4. Electric heating device according to claim 3, characterised in that the resilient tongues (114) project into a plug element hole (108) which has been made in the printed circuit board (104).
5. Electric heating device according to either claim 3 or claim 4, characterised in that the plug element receptacle (112) is at least approximately 10 % longer in the longitudinal direction than the relevant dimension of the associated plug contact (82, 84).
6. Electric heating arrangement comprising an electric heating device, more particularly an electric heating device according to any of the preceding claims, said heating device comprising an electric heating element, a housing (102) which receives the heating element, a printed circuit board (104) received in the housing (102), and a plug (1) which has a plug housing (2) that supports at least one electric plug contact (74, 76, 82, 84), can be inserted into a plug receptacle (64) of the housing (102) in an insertion direction and is received in the plug receptacle (64), characterised in that the plug (1) is guided through a guide area (100) of the plug receptacle (64), which guide area is formed on a collar (65) provided between a housing surface (63) and the printed circuit board (104) and in that the plug contact (74, 76, 82, 84) of the plug (1) penetrates and electrically contacts a plug element receptacle (112) formed on the printed circuit board (104).
7. Electric heating arrangement according to claim 6, characterised in that the plug (1) is held in the plug receptacle (64) by mounting a spring element (98) therebetween, such that the plug (1) can be moved in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction of the plug receptacle (64).
8. Electric heating arrangement according to either claim 6 or claim 7, characterised in that the plug housing (2) has a plug base part (4), which forms a cable bushing, and a housing top part (6) having at least one opening associated with the electric plug contact (74, 76, 82, 84), the plug base part (4) and the housing top part (6) being interconnected by mounting therebetween a shield attachment (16) which is exposed on the outside of the plug housing (2) and abuts a guide area (100) of the plug receptacle (64), at least part of which guide area is electrically conductive.
9. Electric heating arrangement according to claim 8, characterised in that the shield attachment (16) forms a plurality of shield contacts which are distributed on the circumference of the plug housing (2), abut the guide area (100) of the plug receptacle (64) and are formed at the free end of spring arms (14) of the shield attachment (16) which are movably held in the plug housing (2).
10. Electric heating arrangement according to either claim 8 or claim 9, characterised in that the plug (1) has a sealing lip (54) which seals the plug receptacle (64) and is arranged between the housing top part (6) and the housing (102).
11. Electric heating arrangement according to any of claims 6 to 10, characterised in that the plug (1) is connected to a cable (38) of the power supply of a motor vehicle.

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