IE53318B1 - Hairpin shaped connection for electrical components having two contact zones and use thereof for connecting said component - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Pin-shaped connection for an electrical component (59) provided with two opposed contacting zones (18, 19), comprising two lateral arms (39, 40) interconnected on their lower ends (35), each upper end (60, 61) of said arms being adapted to be connected to one of the contacting zones (18, 19) of the component (59), characterized in that the two upper ends (60, 61) of the lateral arms and/or the contacting zones (18, 19) of the component (59) together have at least three protuberances (A, B, C), each protuberance bearing on one contacting zone (18, 19) or on one upper end (60, 61) of the lateral arms, respectively, avoiding relative translational and/or rotational movement between said contacting zones and said ends of the arms.

Description

The present invention relates to a connection for electric components having two contact zones, comprising two lateral arms connected together at their lower end so as to form a hairpin, each upper end of said arms being intended to be connected to a contact zone of the component. It also relates to the use thereof for connecting said component. ί This type of connection in the form of a hairpin, disposed on a support strip is more particularly used in the manufacture of capacitors. Each connection support strip is provided with a plurality of pairs of notches spaced evenly apart along said support. Each pair of notches is formed from an upper notch and a lower notch in which the hairpins slide. The capacitors are fixed between the two arms of the hairpin substantially at the end thereof. Such a technique for fixing capacitors by means of a strip provided with hairpins such as described above is more particularly used in the field of flat capacitor manufacture, in particular parallelepipedic type capacitors. It is in fact known that, to manufacture ceramic capacitors formed simply from a ceramic disk covered with two metal plates, the hairpin shaped connections which are used are such that each of the arms is positioned on one side or other of the disk. It is then necessary to bend and curve the connections so as to bring them respectively above and below said disk. Since the two arms of the connect25 ion are connected together to form a hairpin, they exert a reaction mutually on each other which causes the disk to be nipped and held between the two arms of said hairpin, for easy handling during the subsequent steps for manufacturing - 3 the capacitors. So as to avoid problems of pivoting of a disk between the two arms, the hairpin is generally given a shape such that the forces applied by the arms of the hairpin are situated in the same plane.

However, for parallelepipedic capacitors the problem is different. In fact, the metal layers on which the arms of the hairpin must bear are no longer in this case disposed on the upper and lower faces of the capacitor but disposed laterally. These connections, generally formed by schooping, are consequently of small thickness and have a limited surface of about a square millimeter, and are disposed laterally with respect to said upper and lower faces of the capacitor. Under these conditions, it will be readily understood that the connection of the arms to the schooping zones is not an easy problem to solve.

The hairpins which are used are then disposed so that each arm of said hairpin comes into contact with said connecting or schooping surfaces. When the physical contact is established between the end of the arms and the connections, the mechanical ana electrical assembly of the two is generally effected by immersion in a bath of liquid solder. During this operation, different technical problems arise which are particularly difficult to solve : - the first problem which arises is to maintain a sufficient force applying the arms to the lateral electrical connections so that, when putting the capacitor into the bath of solder and. taking it out therefrom, the block does not become loosened from the arms; - the second problem which arises is to avoid rotat53318 ion of the capacitor with respect to the arms during these same operations. In this case, in fact, as in the preceding case, the capacitors thus produced cannot be subsequently used.

The hairpin shaped connection of the invention avoids these disadvantages and allows the above mentioned problems to be solved.

The invention accordingly provides a hairpinshaped connection for an electrical component provided with two opposed contacting zones, comprising two lateral arms interconnected on their lower ends, each upper end of said arms being adapted to be connected to one of the contacting zones of the component, wherein the two upper ends of the lateral arms and/or the contacting zones of the component together have at least three protuberances, each protuberance bearing on one contacting zone or on one upper end of the lateral arms, respectively, avoiding relative translational and/or rotational movement between said contacting zones and said ends of the arms. Preferably, these protuberances are spaced apart on the two arms, no two protuberances being disposed on the same axis perpendicular to the arms.

According to a third embodiment, each upper end of an arm has a flattened zone disposed facing the other arm and supporting the protuberance(s). Preferably, each flattened zone will end in a lower land turned towards the other arm, on whioh the component bears.

It is necessary to have at least three protuberances on the assembly of the two flats and/or contact zones so as to avoid rotating phenomena of the capacitor when it is immersed in the bath of solder. The number of protuberances or bosses is of course not limited but considering generally the dimensions of manufactured capacitors, it will generally be preferred to use no more than five bosses since the solution with three bosses - 5 gives particularly satisfactory results. However, it is possible to replace one or two bosses by the lower edge of the flat or flattened zone forming a sloping land. In this case, said flat must be formed of course on the inner face of the end of the corresponding arm of the hairpin shaped connection so as to create in the neighborhood of its base a small lip on which the capacitor bears. This solution may be adopted for the two arms of the hairpin and therefore one boss is sufficient for example in the vicinity of the end of one of the flats so as to obtain the desired result. Depending on the type of capacitor produced and the type of material used, a man skilled in the art will determine by simple routine tests the solution best adapted to his problem.

The invention will be better understood from the following embodiments given by way of non limiting examples, with reference to the figures which show : Figure 1, a connection support strip after folding and insertion of the hairpin-shaped connections.

Figure 2, a sectional view of a capacitor laterally nipped by the arms of a hairpinTshaped connection , Figure 3, another embodiment of figure 2 in which the arms of the hairpin have been bent, and Figure 4, another enbodiment of the invention in which one of the protuberances is on the capacitor.

In figure 1, there is shown one embodiment of a support strip provided with hairpin shaped connections for connecting capacitors. After folding along lines 10, 16, 11 and 17, formed by aligning U-shaped perforations, tongues 23, 24 ... are thus formed. The tongues such as 23 are situated in a plane 2 whereas tongues such as 24 are situated in plane 1. Hairpin shaped connection 36 is introduced into the corresponding U-shaped perforations.

Each hairpin shaped connection 36 is formed fran two arms 39 and 40 connected at their lower end 35, each upper end 60, 61 being intended to receive a contact zone of the capacitor as will be explained hereafter.

In figure 2 are shown the ends 60 and 61 of a hair1 o pin shaped connection 36 in accordance with the invention. In this figure, the same elements as those on the preceding figure bear the same references. The ends 60 and 61 of arms 39 and 40 of the hairpin shaped connection are formed respectively from a land 53, a boss 54 (point C) and a boss (point B) connected to the preceding one by a vefctical land 56, whereas the end of arm 40 comprises a sloping land 51 and a vertical land 58 on which a boss A is situated. The contacts between contact zones 18 and 19 of capacitor 59 and the flattened ends of flats 60 and 6lof these arms are formed respectively at points A, B, C, D and E.

Capacitor 59 bears then on the two sloping lands 53 and 51 (points E and D respectively) whereas bosses 54 and 55 provide contact with the contact zone 19 at points C and B. Boss A provides contact with the contact zone 18 at end 61, A and C on the one hand and A and B on the other not being on the same axis perpen25 dicular to the flattened ends 60 and 61 of the arms 39 and 40. Of course, a very large number of variations may be envisaged for these ends : it is essential that in all cases there are at least three contact points between the assembly of the two arms and the lateral connections of the capacitor - 7 59, the contact points being chosen among the points such as A, B, C, D and E. In particular, lands D and E are not necessary although they greatly facilitate operations in particular holding the capacitor in place. Ends 60 and 61 of arms 39 and 40 will generally be formed by flattening and so as to form the two sloping lands D and E disposed inwardly of the hairpin. (In the rest of the description, the word boss will designate not only A, B and C but also lands C and D).

Figure 3 shows a variation of figure 2, in which capacitor 59 has a more rectangular shape than in the case of figure 2. The arms 39 and 40 are bent so as to space them apart depending on the requirements of the user. In this figure, the same elements as those in figure 2 bear the same references, the connection of the arms and the component being provided in the same way.

Figure 4 shows a variation of the invention in which one of the bosses is carried by the capacitor itself. In this figure, the same elements as those of the preceding figures bear the same references. In this embodiment, the end 60 of arm 39 carries two bosses B and C whereas the end 61 of arm 40 is simply a thin flattened part at the level of contact A with capacitor 59. This latter has in the vicinity of point A a very bulging shape serving as boss. Preferably, arm 40 will be slightly curved in the same direction as the curve of the boss of capacitor 59 at point A so as to increase the nipping effect of the arms on said capcitor. Such a variation is particularly important in the case of capacitors having a relatively rounded shape. It has in fact been discovered that in this case the boss carried by the capacitor itself was - 8 sufficient to hold said capacitor in place between arms 39 and 40 by means of bosses B and C. Of course, as in the preceding case, A and B on the one hand and A and C on the other are not on the same axis perpendicular to the two arms 39 and 40. It should be noted that in this figure flattened zones 60 and 61 have a length d greater than the height of ‘"compdhent 59· The 'sloping lands 51 and 53 do not then play the role of boss in this precise case, the capacitor being held in place by the three bosses A, B and C only.

Support strips provided with hairpins such as described with reference to the preceding figures are used in the same way as the support strips at present commercially available. The arms are positioned laterally on the contact zones of the component. The presence of at least three con15 tact points on the assembly of the two arms, namely A, B and C, thus avoids during subsequent manufacturing operations separation of said capacitor from said lugs or rotation there of making the capacitors thus produced unusable in both cases Of course, the use of the invention is not limited to capacitors alone : by this term was meant any type of electric component requiring connection by nipping and/or soldering on two opposite faces thereof such as 18 and 19.

Claims (8)

1. CLAIMS:1. Hairpin-shaped connection for an electrical component provided with two opposed contacting zones, comprising two lateral arms interconnected on their 5 lower ends, each upper end of said arms being adapted to be connected to one of the contacting zones of the component, wherein the two upper ends of the lateral arms and/or the contacting zones of the component together have at least three protuberances, 10 each protuberance bearing one on contacting zone or on one upper end of the lateral arms, respectively, avoiding relative translational and/or rotational movement between said contacting zones and said ends of the arms. 15

2. Connection according to claim 1, wherein the protuberances are distributed on the two arms, two protuberances not lying on a same axis which is perpendicular to the arms.

3. Connection according to claims 1 or 2, 20 wherein each upper end of the lateral arms has a flattened zone facing the other arm and carrying the protuberance or protuberances,

4. Connection according to claim 3, wherein each flattened zone terminates in a lower shoulder - 10 533 18 oriented towards the other arm and on whioh the component bears.

5. Connection according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein each arm is cambered before its 5 upper end.

6. Connection according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the component is a capacitor having the shape of a parallelepiped provided with two lateral connection zones, 10

7. Use of the connection according to any of claims 1 to 6 on a carrier provided with slots, the component being clamped between the arms of the pin.

8. Connection according to claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to or as illustrated 15 in the accompanying drawings.