WO2005111394A1 - Conductor block for electric motor - Google Patents

Conductor block for electric motor Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2005111394A1
WO2005111394A1 PCT/EP2004/005364 EP2004005364W WO2005111394A1 WO 2005111394 A1 WO2005111394 A1 WO 2005111394A1 EP 2004005364 W EP2004005364 W EP 2004005364W WO 2005111394 A1 WO2005111394 A1 WO 2005111394A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
conductor block
housing element
turbocharger
conductor
housing
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2004/005364
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Philippe Noelle
Pasquale Colia
Original Assignee
Honeywell International Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Honeywell International Inc. filed Critical Honeywell International Inc.
Priority to PCT/EP2004/005364 priority Critical patent/WO2005111394A1/en
Publication of WO2005111394A1 publication Critical patent/WO2005111394A1/en

Links

Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02B—INTERNAL-COMBUSTION PISTON ENGINES; COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL
    • F02B37/00—Engines characterised by provision of pumps driven at least for part of the time by exhaust
    • F02B37/04—Engines with exhaust drive and other drive of pumps, e.g. with exhaust-driven pump and mechanically-driven second pump
    • F02B37/10—Engines with exhaust drive and other drive of pumps, e.g. with exhaust-driven pump and mechanically-driven second pump at least one pump being alternatively or simultaneously driven by exhaust and other drive, e.g. by pressurised fluid from a reservoir or an engine-driven pump
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F01—MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES
    • F01D—NON-POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, e.g. STEAM TURBINES
    • F01D15/00—Adaptations of machines or engines for special use; Combinations of engines with devices driven thereby
    • F01D15/10—Adaptations for driving, or combinations with, electric generators
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02B—INTERNAL-COMBUSTION PISTON ENGINES; COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL
    • F02B39/00—Component parts, details, or accessories relating to, driven charging or scavenging pumps, not provided for in groups F02B33/00 - F02B37/00
    • F02B39/02—Drives of pumps; Varying pump drive gear ratio
    • F02B39/08—Non-mechanical drives, e.g. fluid drives having variable gear ratio
    • F02B39/10—Non-mechanical drives, e.g. fluid drives having variable gear ratio electric
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04D—NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
    • F04D25/00—Pumping installations or systems
    • F04D25/02—Units comprising pumps and their driving means
    • F04D25/04—Units comprising pumps and their driving means the pump being fluid-driven
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
    • F04D—NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
    • F04D25/00—Pumping installations or systems
    • F04D25/02—Units comprising pumps and their driving means
    • F04D25/06—Units comprising pumps and their driving means the pump being electrically driven
    • F04D25/0606—Units comprising pumps and their driving means the pump being electrically driven the electric motor being specially adapted for integration in the pump
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R43/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining, or repairing of line connectors or current collectors or for joining electric conductors
    • H01R43/20—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining, or repairing of line connectors or current collectors or for joining electric conductors for assembling or disassembling contact members with insulating base, case or sleeve
    • H01R43/24—Assembling by moulding on contact members
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02K—DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
    • H02K15/00—Methods or apparatus specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining or repairing of dynamo-electric machines
    • H02K15/14—Casings; Enclosures; Supports
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02K—DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
    • H02K5/00—Casings; Enclosures; Supports
    • H02K5/02—Casings or enclosures characterised by the material thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02K—DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
    • H02K5/00—Casings; Enclosures; Supports
    • H02K5/04—Casings or enclosures characterised by the shape, form or construction thereof
    • H02K5/22—Auxiliary parts of casings not covered by groups H02K5/06-H02K5/20, e.g. shaped to form connection boxes or terminal boxes
    • H02K5/225—Terminal boxes or connection arrangements
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F05—INDEXING SCHEMES RELATING TO ENGINES OR PUMPS IN VARIOUS SUBCLASSES OF CLASSES F01-F04
    • F05D—INDEXING SCHEME FOR ASPECTS RELATING TO NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, GAS-TURBINES OR JET-PROPULSION PLANTS
    • F05D2220/00—Application
    • F05D2220/40—Application in turbochargers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02K—DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES
    • H02K7/00—Arrangements for handling mechanical energy structurally associated with dynamo-electric machines, e.g. structural association with mechanical driving motors or auxiliary dynamo-electric machines
    • H02K7/14—Structural association with mechanical loads, e.g. with hand-held machine tools or fans
    • 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
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02T—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
    • Y02T10/00—Road transport of goods or passengers
    • Y02T10/10—Internal combustion engine [ICE] based vehicles
    • Y02T10/12—Improving ICE efficiencies

Definitions

  • the invention relates to an electric motor for inserting into a center housing of a turbocharger or a housing of an electrically driven compressor, and connectable via conductor elements to a power source, and to a turbocharger comprising the electric motor inserted into the center housing for electrically assisted compression of air for an engine.
  • Turbochargers are well known and widely used in connection with combustion engines. Exhaust gas from the engine is supplied to a turbine and drives a turbine wheel which drives a compressor wheel. The compressor wheel compresses air and discharges it into combustion chambers of respective cylinders of the engine. The thus compressed air contains a larger amount of oxygen to enhance the combustion of fuel and thus to generate more power.
  • exhaust gas having less energy is supplied to the turbine wheel when the rotational speed of the engine is low, the pressure increase of the air supplied to the combustion chambers is low. This results in a so-called Wegturbo-lag N for low engine speed ranges in which an engine output is low.
  • a known solution for overcoming this turbo- lag is to provide an electric motor for the turbocharger which accelerates the compressor wheel when the rotational speed of the engine is low, so that a sufficiently high pressure of the air supplied to the combustion chambers is ensured.
  • FIG. 9 shows a solution for electrical power supply to an electric motor 107 of a turbocharger.
  • the electric motor 107 is received in an electric motor cartridge 103 accommodated in a center housing 102 of the turbocharger.
  • a connector block 100 penetrates a housing flange 101 of the center housing 102 and provides connecting elements to plug a power supply connector thereto so as to conduct electric power through the connector block 100 to the electric motor 107.
  • the connector block 100 comprises a connector base plate 104 at the inside of the electric motor cartridge 103 and connector projections 105 as connecting elements which project from the connector base plate 104 through a flange portion 108 of the electric motor cartridge ' 103 and through the center housing flange 101 to a space radially outside the electric motor 107.
  • the connector block 100 is fixed to the electric motor cartridge at the connector base plate 104 by means of screws, washers and bores in the connector base plate 104 and in the electric motor cartridge.
  • turbocharger or compressor having the features of claim 20.
  • Modifications of the turbocharger or compressor are set forth in the sub claims 21 to 39.
  • the above need is met with a method for manufacturing a housing element, the method having the features of claim 40. Modifications of the method are set forth in the sub claims 41 to 43. According to another aspect of the invention, the above need is met with a method having the features of claim 44. Modifications of the method are set forth in the sub claims 45 and 46.
  • a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device wherein electricity can be conducted to the electrically driven device through a conductor block fixed to said housing element, wherein portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element. Accordingly, the conductor block is fixed to the housing element due to the sandwiching of the housing element wall portion. Therefore, additionally bores for receiving any screws for fixing the conductor block to the housing element and thus, an additional machining process like drilling or milling can be omitted.
  • said sandwiching portions are integrally formed with the conductor block which ensures a tight sealing of the conductor block at the sandwiching region.
  • the conductor block may provide electrical conductivity to windings of the electrically driven device so as to be able to supply the electrically driven device with electricity.
  • the conductor block may be made from a hard material like a thermoplastic or duroplastic material which ensures good fixing properties to the housing element.
  • the conductor block penetrates the housing element through a through hole at a penetrating portion of said conductor block.
  • This through hole can be a circular hole which is obtained by a casting process for forming the housing element. Accordingly, the through hole does not need to be manufactured in an additional process like milling or drilling, and the conductor block can easily be molded to the through hole of the housing element.
  • said conductor block may comprise at least one cavity which extends through the penetrating portion of the conductor block.
  • the conductor block may further comprise at least two openings connecting an outer side of the housing element to an inner side of the housing element via said cavity. Accordingly, the conductor block can serve for supplying electricity from outside of the housing element to the electrically driven device received in the housing element .
  • the conductor block can comprise at least one conductor block projection projecting from the housing element at the outer side thereof and may further comprise a conductor block base portion disposed on the inner side of the housing element.
  • the housing element can be sandwiched between these portions.
  • the sandwiching portions of the conductor block are provided with an inner abutting face and an outer abutting face between which the housing element is sandwiched, wherein the inner abutting face may be formed by the conductor block base portion and the outer abutting face may be formed by the at least one conductor block projection.
  • the conductor block may comprise a plurality of conductor block projections. Then, also a plurality of circular holes can be provided in the housing, each for one of the conductor block projections. The housing portions between the circular holes can then act like bridge portions which provide an appropriate radial stiffness for a possible machining process of the outer diameter of the housing.
  • the through hole may be an elongated hole and the penetrating portion may fill the elongated hole.
  • the outer abutting face may then be formed by an outer bead portion from which the conductor block projections extend.
  • a conducting element is inserted into the cavity of the conductor block.
  • a conducting element may be any connector element and, in particular a plug connector element. Accordingly, instead of threading wires from an electric power source through the conductor block to the electrically driven device, in the latter case a counter plug connector element can be plugged to the conducting element which facilitates the connection of the electrically driven device to the electrical power source.
  • an electric motor cartridge comprises a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device, wherein electricity can be conducted to the electrically driven device through a conductor block fixed to said housing element, wherein portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element.
  • the electrically driven device like an electric motor can be pre-assembled in the electric motor cartridge before applying to a turbocharger or a compressor.
  • Such an electric motor cartridge may further be embodied as described above for the housing element. Accordingly, the above described advantages can be obtained for the turbocharger or compressor according to aspect of the invention.
  • a turbocharger or a compressor comprises a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device, wherein electricity can be conducted to the electrically driven device through a conductor block fixed to said housing element, wherein portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element.
  • the turbocharger or compressor can be provided with all features which are mentioned above for the housing element and can accordingly obtain the same advantages.
  • the turbocharger or compressor may further comprise an electric motor cartridge.
  • a method of manufacturing a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block fixed to said housing element comprises the steps of preparing said housing element and forming the conductor block by a die molding process such that portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element.
  • This process is also named over-molding since portions are formed at the molded workpiece which overlap the edges of an opening which is passed by the molded workpiece.
  • the method may further comprise the step of arranging at least one conducting element so as to pass through said conductor block before or after molding the conductor block.
  • the conductor block may be made from a thermoplastic or a duroplastic material.
  • a method of manufacturing a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block fixed to said housing element comprises the steps of preparing said conductor block and forming the housing element by a die molding process such that portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element.
  • the conductor block is made from a thermoplastic or a duroplastic material.
  • the housing element may be made from a low temperature melting metal alloy, which is used in a molded state when molding the housing element around an already prepared conductor block so as not to damage the conductor block due to high molding temperatures.
  • Fig. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing a turbocharger having a center housing provided with an electric motor received in an electric motor cartridge and having a motor conductor element according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
  • Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a part of the center housing of Fig. 1 schematically showing the motor conductor element.
  • Fig. 3 is a top view of an electric motor cartridge housing showing the positions of openings through which the motor conductor elements extend.
  • Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view schematically showing the motor conductor element of Fig. 2.
  • Fig. 5 is a top view of the electric motor from the compressor side without an electric motor back plate.
  • Figs. 6a to 6f show process steps according to which the motor conductor element is over-molded onto the electric motor cartridge.
  • Fig. 7a to 7e show process steps according to which the electric motor cartridge housing is over-molded onto the motor conductor element.
  • Fig. 8 is a sectional view schematically showing the electric motor cartridge and the center housing of Fig. 2 in a disassembled state.
  • Fig. 9 is a sectional view of a turbocharger having a motor connector element according to another configuration.
  • An electrically assisted turbocharger 51 according to the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 1 comprises a turbine housing 52 for accommodating a turbine wheel 53, a center housing 57 for accommodating an electric motor cartridge 54 and a compressor housing 55 for accommodating a compressor wheel 56.
  • the turbine housing 52 is disposed at the right hand side and the compressor housing 55 is disposed at the left hand side of the center housing 57, respectively.
  • a shaft 58 extends through the center housing 57 and through the electric motor cartridge 54 accommodated therein, and connects the compressor wheel 56 to the turbine wheel 53.
  • the compressor wheel 56 is driven by the turbine wheel 53 by the exhaust gas flowing through an inlet and a volute of the turbine housing 52 thus driving the turbine wheel 53.
  • the driving of the compressor wheel 56 is assisted by an electric motor 2 constituting a part of the electric motor cartridge 54, which needs electric power supply.
  • the electric motor 2 has a stator 60 provided with windings 77, and a rotor 61, wherein the latter may be provided in the form of the shaft 58 itself. According to this exemplary embodiment, the electric motor 2 is accommodated in the prefabricated electric motor cartridge 54, which is slid over the shaft 58 into the center housing 57 when assembling the turbocharger 51.
  • the substantially cylindrical center housing 57 has a bearing section 62 for bearing the shaft 58 (not shown in Fig. 2), and an electric motor accommodating section 63 for accommodating the electric motor cartridge 54, both sections being situated ' in a central portion of the center housing 57.
  • the center housing 57 is provided with a compressor housing attachment section 64 for attaching the compressor housing 55 (not shown in Fig. 2) to the center housing 57.
  • a transition from the electric motor accommodating section 63 to the compressor housing attachment section 64 constitutes a radially extending center housing flange 65.
  • a cylindrical center housing side wall 66 of the electric motor accommodating section 63 has a smaller diameter compared to the diameter of a cylindrical center housing rim wall 67 of the compressor housing attachment section 64.
  • the center housing flange 65 is formed as a ring-shaped plate portion which connects the center housing side wall 66 and the center housing rim wall 67.
  • the center housing flange 65 is provided with openings 68 through which conductor block projections 9 projecting from motor conductor blocks 3 (described later) of the electric motor cartridge 54 extend. Furthermore, a ring flange 70 is formed at the outer peripheral rim surface of the center housing rim wall 67 so as to enable an abutting attachment of the compressor housing 55 which can be secured to the center housing 57 by means of bolts and threaded holes (not shown) as an example.
  • a recessed space 71 is formed, which circumferentially extends around the center housing 57 at the electric motor accommodating section 63 and thus around the electric motor 2.
  • This recessed space 71 is preferably used for positioning the conductor block projections 9.
  • the electric motor cartridge 54 receives, amongst other things, the electric motor 2 and the motor conductor blocks 3 and thus serves as a housing element according to an aspect of the invention.
  • the electric motor cartridge 54 is substantially cylindrical and comprises a cartridge bottom portion 72, a cartridge side wall 73, a cartridge flange 74 and a cartridge rim wall 75.
  • the cartridge bottom portion 72 has a through hole at its center for passing through the shaft 58 and faces the turbine side of the turbocharger 51.
  • the cartridge side wall 73 extends from the cartridge bottom portion 72 towards the compressor side of the turbocharger and has a stator insert recess 76 extending over the axial length of the stator 60.
  • the windings 77 are positioned such that they do not contact the cartridge bottom portion 72.
  • the compressor side end of the cartridge side wall 73 is preferably in alignment with the compressor side end of the stator 60.
  • the compressor side of the windings 77 is located at an open space 89 defined by the cartridge flange 74 and the cartridge rim wall 75, which enables an easy connection of the windings 77 to the motor conductor blocks 3 (described later more in detail) .
  • the cartridge flange 74 radially extends from the compressor side of the cartridge side wall 73 and provides circular cartridge flange openings or through holes 4 which are smaller than the openings 68 of the center housing flange 65.
  • the cartridge rim wall 75 extends from the radial outer end of the cartridge flange 74 towards the compressor side and is coaxial to the cartridge side wall 73.
  • a recess 79 for receiving an electric motor plate 80 is provided at the compressor side end of the cartridge rim wall 75.
  • the electric motor plate 80 has a concave-shaped portion 87 towards the center thereof so as to receive a convex portion of the compressor wheel 56.
  • the outer rim of the electric motor plate 80 fits into the recess 79 of the cartridge rim wall 75 such that the electric motor cartridge 54 with the electric motor 2 and the motor conductor blocks 3 accommodated therein is closed by the electric motor plate 30.
  • the motor conductor blocks 3 are provided in the electric motor cartridge 54 at opposite positions with respect to the axis A of the electric motor 2.
  • the motor conductor blocks 3 are substantially constituted by a conductor base plate 10 and, in this embodiment, three conductor block projections 9.
  • the conductor base plate 10 is disposed at the inside of the cartridge flange 74 and the conductor block projections 9 extend parallel to the electric motor axis A each through one of the cartridge flange openings 4 and through one of the openings 68 of the center housing flange 65 into the recessed space 71, as can be seen in Fig. 2.
  • the conductor block projections 9 are bundled in triples, as can best be seen from Fig. 4.
  • three sets of openings each comprising one opening 4 and one opening 68 are arranged adjacent to each other in a circumferential direction, respectively, and constitute a triple of sets of openings. Two of such triples of sets of openings are disposed at radially opposite positions of the housing flanges with respect to the axis of the electric motor cartridge.
  • the housing portions between the openings 4, 68 in a common housing flange of adjacent sets of openings serve as bridge portions which increase the radial stiffness of the housings 54, 57.
  • the openings 4 are bundled in triples and are arranged in the cartridge flange 74.
  • the housing portions 81 between the openings 4 act thus like bridge portions increasing the radial stiffness of the housing.
  • one common elongated hole can be used for each conductor block 3 having three (the triple) of conductor block projections 9.
  • elongated holes provide the housing flanges with a lower radial stiffness as compared to the circular openings 4, 68 with such bridge portions 81.
  • the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor block projections 9 are connected to each other via a penetrating portion 5 which passes through the cartridge flange opening 4.
  • the conductor base plate 10 abuts against the cartridge flange 74 at an inner abutting face 11 from the inside thereof, and the conductor block projection 9 abuts against the cartridge flange 74 at an outer abutting face 12 from the outside.
  • the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor block projections 9 sandwich a portion 13 of the cartridge flange 74, wherein the portion 13 surrounds the cartridge flange opening 4.
  • the conductor block projections 9 are integrally formed with the conductor base plate 10 from an insulating material and provide a cavity 6 for receiving a conductive sheet plate 15.
  • the conductive sheet plate 15 is exposed through an opening 7 of the conductor block projection 9 thus allowing to plug a counter connector element thereto.
  • the conductive sheet plate 15 is exposed so as to allow the windings 77 of the electric motor 2 to be connected thereto.
  • the orientations of the conductive sheet plates 15 of the respective conductor block projections 9 are such that plug-in directions D perpendicular to respective plug connection surfaces each constituted by the corresponding conductive sheet plate 15 deviate from the radial direction RD of the turbocharger 1 (see Fig. 5) .
  • the deviation angle is about 45°. The deviation angle allows an access to the conductive sheet plates 15 of the respective conductor block projections 9 from the radial outer side of the turbocharger 51 while allowing a minimized positioning space of the conductor block projections 9 in the circumferential direction of the center housing 57.
  • the conductor block projections 9 of the motor conductor blocks 3 are provided with mismatch preventing means 86 (see Fig. 8), also known as "Poka-Yoke-device" for preventing a mismatch connection of a counter connector element which is to be connected to the conductor block projection 9.
  • the mismatch preventing means 86 is provided by giving the conductor block projection 9 a certain plug matching shape which only matches to a corresponding plug matching shape of the pertaining counter connector element. For each pair of the conductor block projections/counter connector elements a different pair of plug matching shapes is provided. Thus, erroneous connecting of a counter connector element and a conductor block projection 9 which are not allowed to be connected to each other is prevented.
  • the conductor base plates 10 are integrally formed with the conductor block projections 9 by an over-molding process of the conductor block 3 onto a housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54.
  • the method steps for this over-molding process are shown in Figs. 6a to 6f.
  • the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 is set into a cavity 96 of a lower mold portion 90 of a mold which has an inner shape corresponding to the outer shape of said housing portion. Furthermore, a conductor projection cavity 95 having an inner shape corresponding to the outer contour of the conductor block projection 9 to be molded is provided in the lower mold portion 90, wherein the opening 4 of the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 overlaps the opening of the conductor projection cavity 95. In other words, the opening 4 has a smaller diameter than the diameter of the conductor projection cavity 95.
  • a slide bock 93 which is slidably provided in the lower mold portion 90 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction into and out of the conductor projection cavity 95, is moved to the right in Fig. 6a so as to project into the conductor projection cavity 95 at a position above the bottom of the conductor projection cavity 95, and the slide block 93 is held in this position.
  • the projecting portion of the slide block 93 is for creating the opening 7 of the conductor block projection 9 to be molded.
  • the conductive sheet plate 15 is inserted into the conductor projection cavity 95, aligned such that its lower part is in contact with the slide block 93 and suitably held in the conductor projection cavity 95 (see Fig. 6b) .
  • the lower edge of the conductive sheet plate 15 is aligned at the lower edge of the slide block 93.
  • an upper mold portion 92 is set into the lower mold portion 90 as a next step of the process.
  • the upper mold portion 92 has such a shape that, when inserted into the lower mold portion 90, a conductor base plate cavity 97 remains between the upper mold portion 92 and the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54, the shape of which corresponding to the shape of the conductor base plate 10 of the conductor block 3 to be molded (see Fig. 6d) .
  • the upper mold portion is provided with an inlet 94 for injecting or pouring resin into the conductor base plate cavity 97.
  • the conductor base plate cavity 97 and the conductor projection cavity 95 are connected to each other via the opening 4.
  • the conductor block 3 is over-molded onto the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 with the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor block projection 9 sandwiching a portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 which surrounds the penetrating portion 5 of the conductor block 3.
  • FIG. 7a to 7e Another process according to an aspect of the invention for incorporating the conductor block 3 to the electric motor cartridge 54 is shown in Figs. 7a to 7e.
  • the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 is over-molded onto a pre-fabricated conductor block 3.
  • a mold for this process comprises a lower mold portion 190 and an upper mold portion 192.
  • the lower mold portion 190 has, as can be seen in Fig. 7a, an inner shape corresponding to the outer shape of a housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 to be molded.
  • the lower mold portion 190 comprises a conductor projection cavity 195 having a cylindrical shape so as to receive the conductor block projection 9 of the conductor block 3.
  • the upper mold portion 192 is, as can be seen in Figs. 7b to 7e, shaped so as to establish to together with the lower mold portion 190 a cavity 196 which corresponds to the shape of the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 to be molded and which additionally provides a space for receiving the conductor base plate
  • the conductor projection 9 of the conductor block 3 is fitted into the conductor projection cavity 195 of the lower mold portion 190 with the upper mold portion 192 removed from the lower mold portion 190.
  • the upper mold portion 192 is placed onto the lower mold portion 190 so as to establish said cavity
  • the cavity 196 between upper mold portion 192 and lower mold portion 190 corresponds to the shape of the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 to be molded and additionally provides a cavity for receiving the conductor base plate 10. Then, a low temperature melting metal alloy is introduced into the cavity 196 through the inlet 194 so as to over-mold the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 onto the conductor block 3 (see Fig. 7d) .
  • the conductor block Since the metal alloy enters the region around the penetrating portion 5 of the conductor block 3, which is smaller in diameter compared to that of the conductor projection 9 and of the conductor base plate 10, the conductor block is securely fixed to the electric motor cartridge 54 when the metal alloy is solidified because the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 is sandwiched between the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor projection 9 of the conductor block 3 at a region surrounding the penetrating portion 5.
  • the conductor blocks 3 are securely fixed to the electric motor cartridge 54 due to the sandwiching of the portion 13 between the conductor block projection 9 and the conductor base plate 10 (see Fig. 4) . Furthermore, due to the shape of the conductor block 3 encompassing the portion 13 around the opening 4 of the electric motor cartridge 54 from inside and outside and due to the provision of the conductor block 3 as an integrally formed piece, the penetrating region of the conductor block 3, at which the electric motor cartridge 54 is penetrated by the conductor block 3, is appropriately sealed. Accordingly, it can be prevented that moisture enters the electric motor cartridge from outside through said penetrating region.
  • the manufacturing preciseness of the housing element of the electric motor cartridge 54 does not need to be so high as compared to when mounting a prefabricated conductor block to a pre-fabricated housing element. This makes it possible, especially for the process shown in Fig. 6, to form the flange openings 4 already in a die casting process for manufacturing the housing element of the electric motor cartridge 54 which, however, offers a lower preciseness compared to a machining process for the openings 4. Furthermore, the flange openings 4 do also not require any finishing process for improving their preciseness .
  • the pre-assembled electric motor cartridge 54 can be slid over the shaft 58 (not shown in Fig. 8) and inserted into the center housing 57 before mounting the compressor housing 55 (not shown in Fig. 8) . While doing so, the conductor block projections 9 projecting from the electric motor cartridge 54 are passed through the openings 68 of the center housing flange 65. Then, the compressor housing 55 is mounted to the center housing 57 while simultaneously fixing the electric motor cartridge 54 in the center housing 57.
  • the electric motor 2 of the thus assembled turbocharger 51 can now easily be connected to an electric power source via the motor conductor blocks 3.
  • the positioning of the conductive sheet plates 15 in the conductor block projections 9 allows a proper and easy connection of an electric power source to the electric motor 2 without changes of any envelope dimensions of the turbocharger being necessary.
  • the opening in the cartridge flange 74 through which the conductor block projections pass may also be provided as a common elongated hole for a triple of conductor block projections.
  • a bead portion would be advantageous at the outside of the cartridge flange 74 and between the conductor block projections 9, such that the whole area around such an elongated opening would be sandwiched between the conductor base plate and this bead portion.
  • the circular openings 4 provide the cartridge flange 74 with bridge portions 81 between the circular openings 4, which give the cartridge flange 74 in the region of the openings 4 a higher stiffness in the radial direction. Accordingly, the cartridge flange 74 is not easily damaged in a turning operation when machining the outer diameter of the electric motor cartridge 54.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Supercharger (AREA)

Abstract

A housing element (54) for receiving an electrically driven device (2) to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block (3) fixed to said housing element (54) is disclosed, wherein portions of said conductor block (3) sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element (54). A turbocharger or a compressor may be provided with such a housing element. One method of manufacturing the housing element comprises the steps of preparing said housing element and forming the conductor block by a die molding process such that the portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element. Another method of manufacturing the housing element comprises the steps of preparing said conductor block and forming the housing element by a die molding process such that portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element.

Description

Conductor Block For Electric Motor
The invention relates to an electric motor for inserting into a center housing of a turbocharger or a housing of an electrically driven compressor, and connectable via conductor elements to a power source, and to a turbocharger comprising the electric motor inserted into the center housing for electrically assisted compression of air for an engine.
Turbochargers are well known and widely used in connection with combustion engines. Exhaust gas from the engine is supplied to a turbine and drives a turbine wheel which drives a compressor wheel. The compressor wheel compresses air and discharges it into combustion chambers of respective cylinders of the engine. The thus compressed air contains a larger amount of oxygen to enhance the combustion of fuel and thus to generate more power. However, as exhaust gas having less energy is supplied to the turbine wheel when the rotational speed of the engine is low, the pressure increase of the air supplied to the combustion chambers is low. This results in a so-called „turbo-lagN for low engine speed ranges in which an engine output is low. A known solution for overcoming this turbo- lag is to provide an electric motor for the turbocharger which accelerates the compressor wheel when the rotational speed of the engine is low, so that a sufficiently high pressure of the air supplied to the combustion chambers is ensured.
An electrically assisted turbocharger needs supply of electrical power from an electrical power source. Fig. 9 shows a solution for electrical power supply to an electric motor 107 of a turbocharger. The electric motor 107 is received in an electric motor cartridge 103 accommodated in a center housing 102 of the turbocharger. A connector block 100 penetrates a housing flange 101 of the center housing 102 and provides connecting elements to plug a power supply connector thereto so as to conduct electric power through the connector block 100 to the electric motor 107. The connector block 100 comprises a connector base plate 104 at the inside of the electric motor cartridge 103 and connector projections 105 as connecting elements which project from the connector base plate 104 through a flange portion 108 of the electric motor cartridge ' 103 and through the center housing flange 101 to a space radially outside the electric motor 107. The connector block 100 is fixed to the electric motor cartridge at the connector base plate 104 by means of screws, washers and bores in the connector base plate 104 and in the electric motor cartridge.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved power connection for an electric motor in a turbocharger or compressor.
According to one aspect of the invention, the above need is met with an electric motor having the features of claim 1. Modifications of the electric motor are set forth in the sub claims 2 to 19.
According to another aspect of the invention, the above need is met with a turbocharger or compressor having the features of claim 20. Modifications of the turbocharger or compressor are set forth in the sub claims 21 to 39.
According to another aspect of the invention, the above need is met with a method for manufacturing a housing element, the method having the features of claim 40. Modifications of the method are set forth in the sub claims 41 to 43. According to another aspect of the invention, the above need is met with a method having the features of claim 44. Modifications of the method are set forth in the sub claims 45 and 46.
According to an exemplary embodiment, a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device is provided, wherein electricity can be conducted to the electrically driven device through a conductor block fixed to said housing element, wherein portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element. Accordingly, the conductor block is fixed to the housing element due to the sandwiching of the housing element wall portion. Therefore, additionally bores for receiving any screws for fixing the conductor block to the housing element and thus, an additional machining process like drilling or milling can be omitted.
Preferably, said sandwiching portions are integrally formed with the conductor block which ensures a tight sealing of the conductor block at the sandwiching region. Furthermore, the conductor block may provide electrical conductivity to windings of the electrically driven device so as to be able to supply the electrically driven device with electricity.
The conductor block may be made from a hard material like a thermoplastic or duroplastic material which ensures good fixing properties to the housing element. Preferably, the conductor block penetrates the housing element through a through hole at a penetrating portion of said conductor block. This through hole can be a circular hole which is obtained by a casting process for forming the housing element. Accordingly, the through hole does not need to be manufactured in an additional process like milling or drilling, and the conductor block can easily be molded to the through hole of the housing element.
Furthermore, said conductor block may comprise at least one cavity which extends through the penetrating portion of the conductor block. The conductor block may further comprise at least two openings connecting an outer side of the housing element to an inner side of the housing element via said cavity. Accordingly, the conductor block can serve for supplying electricity from outside of the housing element to the electrically driven device received in the housing element .
Additionally, the conductor block can comprise at least one conductor block projection projecting from the housing element at the outer side thereof and may further comprise a conductor block base portion disposed on the inner side of the housing element. Thus, the housing element can be sandwiched between these portions. Preferably, the sandwiching portions of the conductor block are provided with an inner abutting face and an outer abutting face between which the housing element is sandwiched, wherein the inner abutting face may be formed by the conductor block base portion and the outer abutting face may be formed by the at least one conductor block projection.
For supplying electrical power to an electrically driven device having a plurality of windings with different phases, the conductor block may comprise a plurality of conductor block projections. Then, also a plurality of circular holes can be provided in the housing, each for one of the conductor block projections. The housing portions between the circular holes can then act like bridge portions which provide an appropriate radial stiffness for a possible machining process of the outer diameter of the housing.
Alternatively, the through hole may be an elongated hole and the penetrating portion may fill the elongated hole. Thus, for example a triple of conductor block projections can share a common hole and a smaller number of holes needs to be provided. Preferably, the outer abutting face may then be formed by an outer bead portion from which the conductor block projections extend.
Preferably, a conducting element is inserted into the cavity of the conductor block. Such a conducting element may be any connector element and, in particular a plug connector element. Accordingly, instead of threading wires from an electric power source through the conductor block to the electrically driven device, in the latter case a counter plug connector element can be plugged to the conducting element which facilitates the connection of the electrically driven device to the electrical power source.
According to another exemplary embodiment, an electric motor cartridge comprises a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device, wherein electricity can be conducted to the electrically driven device through a conductor block fixed to said housing element, wherein portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element. Thus, the electrically driven device like an electric motor can be pre-assembled in the electric motor cartridge before applying to a turbocharger or a compressor. Such an electric motor cartridge may further be embodied as described above for the housing element. Accordingly, the above described advantages can be obtained for the turbocharger or compressor according to aspect of the invention. According to another exemplary embodiment, a turbocharger or a compressor comprises a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device, wherein electricity can be conducted to the electrically driven device through a conductor block fixed to said housing element, wherein portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element. Furthermore, the turbocharger or compressor can be provided with all features which are mentioned above for the housing element and can accordingly obtain the same advantages. The turbocharger or compressor may further comprise an electric motor cartridge.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of manufacturing a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block fixed to said housing element comprises the steps of preparing said housing element and forming the conductor block by a die molding process such that portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element. This process is also named over-molding since portions are formed at the molded workpiece which overlap the edges of an opening which is passed by the molded workpiece. The method may further comprise the step of arranging at least one conducting element so as to pass through said conductor block before or after molding the conductor block. Furthermore, the conductor block may be made from a thermoplastic or a duroplastic material.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of manufacturing a housing element for receiving an electrically driven device to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block fixed to said housing element comprises the steps of preparing said conductor block and forming the housing element by a die molding process such that portions of said conductor block sandwich a portion of a wall of said housing element. Preferably, the conductor block is made from a thermoplastic or a duroplastic material. Furthermore, the housing element may be made from a low temperature melting metal alloy, which is used in a molded state when molding the housing element around an already prepared conductor block so as not to damage the conductor block due to high molding temperatures.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description that follows with reference being made to the enclosed drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing a turbocharger having a center housing provided with an electric motor received in an electric motor cartridge and having a motor conductor element according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a part of the center housing of Fig. 1 schematically showing the motor conductor element.
Fig. 3 is a top view of an electric motor cartridge housing showing the positions of openings through which the motor conductor elements extend.
Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view schematically showing the motor conductor element of Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 is a top view of the electric motor from the compressor side without an electric motor back plate. Figs. 6a to 6f show process steps according to which the motor conductor element is over-molded onto the electric motor cartridge.
Fig. 7a to 7e show process steps according to which the electric motor cartridge housing is over-molded onto the motor conductor element.
Fig. 8 is a sectional view schematically showing the electric motor cartridge and the center housing of Fig. 2 in a disassembled state.
Fig. 9 is a sectional view of a turbocharger having a motor connector element according to another configuration.
An electrically assisted turbocharger 51 according to the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 1 comprises a turbine housing 52 for accommodating a turbine wheel 53, a center housing 57 for accommodating an electric motor cartridge 54 and a compressor housing 55 for accommodating a compressor wheel 56. According to Fig. 1, the turbine housing 52 is disposed at the right hand side and the compressor housing 55 is disposed at the left hand side of the center housing 57, respectively. A shaft 58 extends through the center housing 57 and through the electric motor cartridge 54 accommodated therein, and connects the compressor wheel 56 to the turbine wheel 53.
Generally, the compressor wheel 56 is driven by the turbine wheel 53 by the exhaust gas flowing through an inlet and a volute of the turbine housing 52 thus driving the turbine wheel 53. However, when the energy content of the exhaust gas is too low to produce a required charging air pressure, the driving of the compressor wheel 56 is assisted by an electric motor 2 constituting a part of the electric motor cartridge 54, which needs electric power supply.
The electric motor 2 has a stator 60 provided with windings 77, and a rotor 61, wherein the latter may be provided in the form of the shaft 58 itself. According to this exemplary embodiment, the electric motor 2 is accommodated in the prefabricated electric motor cartridge 54, which is slid over the shaft 58 into the center housing 57 when assembling the turbocharger 51.
As can best be seen from Fig. 2, the substantially cylindrical center housing 57 has a bearing section 62 for bearing the shaft 58 (not shown in Fig. 2), and an electric motor accommodating section 63 for accommodating the electric motor cartridge 54, both sections being situated ' in a central portion of the center housing 57. At the left hand side, as seen in Fig. 2, the center housing 57 is provided with a compressor housing attachment section 64 for attaching the compressor housing 55 (not shown in Fig. 2) to the center housing 57.
From the fact that the diametrical dimension of the compressor housing 55 is larger than that of the electric motor 2 (see Fig. 1), it results that a transition from the electric motor accommodating section 63 to the compressor housing attachment section 64 constitutes a radially extending center housing flange 65. A cylindrical center housing side wall 66 of the electric motor accommodating section 63 has a smaller diameter compared to the diameter of a cylindrical center housing rim wall 67 of the compressor housing attachment section 64. The center housing flange 65 is formed as a ring-shaped plate portion which connects the center housing side wall 66 and the center housing rim wall 67. The center housing flange 65 is provided with openings 68 through which conductor block projections 9 projecting from motor conductor blocks 3 (described later) of the electric motor cartridge 54 extend. Furthermore, a ring flange 70 is formed at the outer peripheral rim surface of the center housing rim wall 67 so as to enable an abutting attachment of the compressor housing 55 which can be secured to the center housing 57 by means of bolts and threaded holes (not shown) as an example.
Furthermore, due to the above-mentioned different diameters of the center housing side wall 66 and rim wall 67, a recessed space 71 is formed, which circumferentially extends around the center housing 57 at the electric motor accommodating section 63 and thus around the electric motor 2. This recessed space 71 is preferably used for positioning the conductor block projections 9.
The electric motor cartridge 54 receives, amongst other things, the electric motor 2 and the motor conductor blocks 3 and thus serves as a housing element according to an aspect of the invention. As can best be seen from Fig. 2, the electric motor cartridge 54 is substantially cylindrical and comprises a cartridge bottom portion 72, a cartridge side wall 73, a cartridge flange 74 and a cartridge rim wall 75. The cartridge bottom portion 72 has a through hole at its center for passing through the shaft 58 and faces the turbine side of the turbocharger 51. The cartridge side wall 73 extends from the cartridge bottom portion 72 towards the compressor side of the turbocharger and has a stator insert recess 76 extending over the axial length of the stator 60. Thus, when the stator 60 is received in the electric motor cartridge 54 with an edge of the stator 60 abutting against an edge of the recess 76, the windings 77 are positioned such that they do not contact the cartridge bottom portion 72. Furthermore, the compressor side end of the cartridge side wall 73 is preferably in alignment with the compressor side end of the stator 60. Thus, the compressor side of the windings 77 is located at an open space 89 defined by the cartridge flange 74 and the cartridge rim wall 75, which enables an easy connection of the windings 77 to the motor conductor blocks 3 (described later more in detail) .
The cartridge flange 74 radially extends from the compressor side of the cartridge side wall 73 and provides circular cartridge flange openings or through holes 4 which are smaller than the openings 68 of the center housing flange 65. The cartridge rim wall 75 extends from the radial outer end of the cartridge flange 74 towards the compressor side and is coaxial to the cartridge side wall 73. A recess 79 for receiving an electric motor plate 80 is provided at the compressor side end of the cartridge rim wall 75.
The electric motor plate 80 has a concave-shaped portion 87 towards the center thereof so as to receive a convex portion of the compressor wheel 56. The outer rim of the electric motor plate 80 fits into the recess 79 of the cartridge rim wall 75 such that the electric motor cartridge 54 with the electric motor 2 and the motor conductor blocks 3 accommodated therein is closed by the electric motor plate 30.
Two motor conductor blocks 3 are provided in the electric motor cartridge 54 at opposite positions with respect to the axis A of the electric motor 2. The motor conductor blocks 3 are substantially constituted by a conductor base plate 10 and, in this embodiment, three conductor block projections 9. The conductor base plate 10 is disposed at the inside of the cartridge flange 74 and the conductor block projections 9 extend parallel to the electric motor axis A each through one of the cartridge flange openings 4 and through one of the openings 68 of the center housing flange 65 into the recessed space 71, as can be seen in Fig. 2. The conductor block projections 9 are bundled in triples, as can best be seen from Fig. 4. Accordingly, three sets of openings each comprising one opening 4 and one opening 68 are arranged adjacent to each other in a circumferential direction, respectively, and constitute a triple of sets of openings. Two of such triples of sets of openings are disposed at radially opposite positions of the housing flanges with respect to the axis of the electric motor cartridge. The housing portions between the openings 4, 68 in a common housing flange of adjacent sets of openings serve as bridge portions which increase the radial stiffness of the housings 54, 57. For the electric motor cartridge 54 this can best be seen in Fig. 3. Accordingly, the openings 4 are bundled in triples and are arranged in the cartridge flange 74. The housing portions 81 between the openings 4 act thus like bridge portions increasing the radial stiffness of the housing. Alternatively, one common elongated hole can be used for each conductor block 3 having three (the triple) of conductor block projections 9. However, for later machining, elongated holes provide the housing flanges with a lower radial stiffness as compared to the circular openings 4, 68 with such bridge portions 81.
As can best be seen from Fig. 4, the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor block projections 9 are connected to each other via a penetrating portion 5 which passes through the cartridge flange opening 4. The conductor base plate 10 abuts against the cartridge flange 74 at an inner abutting face 11 from the inside thereof, and the conductor block projection 9 abuts against the cartridge flange 74 at an outer abutting face 12 from the outside. In other words, the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor block projections 9 sandwich a portion 13 of the cartridge flange 74, wherein the portion 13 surrounds the cartridge flange opening 4. By means of this sandwiching of the cartridge flange 74 by the motor conductor block portions, i.e. the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor block projections 9, the motor conductor block 3 is securely fixed to the electric motor cartridge 54.
The conductor block projections 9 are integrally formed with the conductor base plate 10 from an insulating material and provide a cavity 6 for receiving a conductive sheet plate 15. At the outside of the center housing 57, i.e. in the recessed space 71, the conductive sheet plate 15 is exposed through an opening 7 of the conductor block projection 9 thus allowing to plug a counter connector element thereto. At the inside of the cartridge 54, the conductive sheet plate 15 is exposed so as to allow the windings 77 of the electric motor 2 to be connected thereto.
The orientations of the conductive sheet plates 15 of the respective conductor block projections 9 are such that plug-in directions D perpendicular to respective plug connection surfaces each constituted by the corresponding conductive sheet plate 15 deviate from the radial direction RD of the turbocharger 1 (see Fig. 5) . In' this embodiment, the deviation angle is about 45°. The deviation angle allows an access to the conductive sheet plates 15 of the respective conductor block projections 9 from the radial outer side of the turbocharger 51 while allowing a minimized positioning space of the conductor block projections 9 in the circumferential direction of the center housing 57.
Furthermore, the conductor block projections 9 of the motor conductor blocks 3 are provided with mismatch preventing means 86 (see Fig. 8), also known as "Poka-Yoke-device" for preventing a mismatch connection of a counter connector element which is to be connected to the conductor block projection 9. In this embodiment, the mismatch preventing means 86 is provided by giving the conductor block projection 9 a certain plug matching shape which only matches to a corresponding plug matching shape of the pertaining counter connector element. For each pair of the conductor block projections/counter connector elements a different pair of plug matching shapes is provided. Thus, erroneous connecting of a counter connector element and a conductor block projection 9 which are not allowed to be connected to each other is prevented.
According to an aspect of the invention, the conductor base plates 10 are integrally formed with the conductor block projections 9 by an over-molding process of the conductor block 3 onto a housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54. The method steps for this over-molding process are shown in Figs. 6a to 6f.
Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 6a, the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 is set into a cavity 96 of a lower mold portion 90 of a mold which has an inner shape corresponding to the outer shape of said housing portion. Furthermore, a conductor projection cavity 95 having an inner shape corresponding to the outer contour of the conductor block projection 9 to be molded is provided in the lower mold portion 90, wherein the opening 4 of the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 overlaps the opening of the conductor projection cavity 95. In other words, the opening 4 has a smaller diameter than the diameter of the conductor projection cavity 95.
A slide bock 93 which is slidably provided in the lower mold portion 90 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction into and out of the conductor projection cavity 95, is moved to the right in Fig. 6a so as to project into the conductor projection cavity 95 at a position above the bottom of the conductor projection cavity 95, and the slide block 93 is held in this position. The projecting portion of the slide block 93 is for creating the opening 7 of the conductor block projection 9 to be molded.
Then, the conductive sheet plate 15 is inserted into the conductor projection cavity 95, aligned such that its lower part is in contact with the slide block 93 and suitably held in the conductor projection cavity 95 (see Fig. 6b) . Preferably, the lower edge of the conductive sheet plate 15 is aligned at the lower edge of the slide block 93.
As can be seen in Fig. 6c, an upper mold portion 92 is set into the lower mold portion 90 as a next step of the process. The upper mold portion 92 has such a shape that, when inserted into the lower mold portion 90, a conductor base plate cavity 97 remains between the upper mold portion 92 and the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54, the shape of which corresponding to the shape of the conductor base plate 10 of the conductor block 3 to be molded (see Fig. 6d) . Furthermore, the upper mold portion is provided with an inlet 94 for injecting or pouring resin into the conductor base plate cavity 97. As can be seen in Fig. 6d, the conductor base plate cavity 97 and the conductor projection cavity 95 are connected to each other via the opening 4. Then, as can be seen in Fig. 6e, resin is introduced into the cavities 97, 95 through the inlet 94 of the upper mold portion 92 and as a result, the conductor block 3 is formed with the conductive sheet plate 15 already inserted therein. Then, as shown in Fig. 6f, the upper mold portion 92 is lifted and the slide block 93 is moved to the left such that the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 can be taken from the lower mold portion 90.
As a result, the conductor block 3 is over-molded onto the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 with the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor block projection 9 sandwiching a portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 which surrounds the penetrating portion 5 of the conductor block 3.
Another process according to an aspect of the invention for incorporating the conductor block 3 to the electric motor cartridge 54 is shown in Figs. 7a to 7e. According to this process, the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 is over-molded onto a pre-fabricated conductor block 3. A mold for this process comprises a lower mold portion 190 and an upper mold portion 192. The lower mold portion 190 has, as can be seen in Fig. 7a, an inner shape corresponding to the outer shape of a housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 to be molded. Furthermore, the lower mold portion 190 comprises a conductor projection cavity 195 having a cylindrical shape so as to receive the conductor block projection 9 of the conductor block 3. The upper mold portion 192 is, as can be seen in Figs. 7b to 7e, shaped so as to establish to together with the lower mold portion 190 a cavity 196 which corresponds to the shape of the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 to be molded and which additionally provides a space for receiving the conductor base plate 10.
According to the first step of this process shown in Fig 7a, the conductor projection 9 of the conductor block 3 is fitted into the conductor projection cavity 195 of the lower mold portion 190 with the upper mold portion 192 removed from the lower mold portion 190. In the next step shown in Fig. -7b, the upper mold portion 192 is placed onto the lower mold portion 190 so as to establish said cavity
196 and an inlet 194 shown in Fig. 7c. In this state of the process, the cavity 196 between upper mold portion 192 and lower mold portion 190 corresponds to the shape of the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 to be molded and additionally provides a cavity for receiving the conductor base plate 10. Then, a low temperature melting metal alloy is introduced into the cavity 196 through the inlet 194 so as to over-mold the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 onto the conductor block 3 (see Fig. 7d) . Since the metal alloy enters the region around the penetrating portion 5 of the conductor block 3, which is smaller in diameter compared to that of the conductor projection 9 and of the conductor base plate 10, the conductor block is securely fixed to the electric motor cartridge 54 when the metal alloy is solidified because the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 is sandwiched between the conductor base plate 10 and the conductor projection 9 of the conductor block 3 at a region surrounding the penetrating portion 5.
Then, as shown in Fig. 7d, the upper mold portion 192 is raised and the housing portion of the electric motor cartridge 54 with the conductor block 3 fixed thereto can be taken out of the lower mold portion 190. Finally, a metal alloy portion 197 which remains from the inlet portion 194 is removed in a finishing step (not shown) .
Thus, according to both alternative processes described above, the conductor blocks 3 are securely fixed to the electric motor cartridge 54 due to the sandwiching of the portion 13 between the conductor block projection 9 and the conductor base plate 10 (see Fig. 4) . Furthermore, due to the shape of the conductor block 3 encompassing the portion 13 around the opening 4 of the electric motor cartridge 54 from inside and outside and due to the provision of the conductor block 3 as an integrally formed piece, the penetrating region of the conductor block 3, at which the electric motor cartridge 54 is penetrated by the conductor block 3, is appropriately sealed. Accordingly, it can be prevented that moisture enters the electric motor cartridge from outside through said penetrating region.
Furthermore, according to both manufacturing processes described above, the manufacturing preciseness of the housing element of the electric motor cartridge 54 does not need to be so high as compared to when mounting a prefabricated conductor block to a pre-fabricated housing element. This makes it possible, especially for the process shown in Fig. 6, to form the flange openings 4 already in a die casting process for manufacturing the housing element of the electric motor cartridge 54 which, however, offers a lower preciseness compared to a machining process for the openings 4. Furthermore, the flange openings 4 do also not require any finishing process for improving their preciseness .
With an arrangement as described above, it is possible to easily assemble the turbocharger 1, as can be seen in Fig. 8. According to what is shown in Fig. 8, the pre-assembled electric motor cartridge 54 can be slid over the shaft 58 (not shown in Fig. 8) and inserted into the center housing 57 before mounting the compressor housing 55 (not shown in Fig. 8) . While doing so, the conductor block projections 9 projecting from the electric motor cartridge 54 are passed through the openings 68 of the center housing flange 65. Then, the compressor housing 55 is mounted to the center housing 57 while simultaneously fixing the electric motor cartridge 54 in the center housing 57.
The electric motor 2 of the thus assembled turbocharger 51 can now easily be connected to an electric power source via the motor conductor blocks 3. The positioning of the conductive sheet plates 15 in the conductor block projections 9 allows a proper and easy connection of an electric power source to the electric motor 2 without changes of any envelope dimensions of the turbocharger being necessary.
The invention is not restricted to the above described embodiment and can be changed in various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, the opening in the cartridge flange 74 through which the conductor block projections pass may also be provided as a common elongated hole for a triple of conductor block projections. In this case, a bead portion would be advantageous at the outside of the cartridge flange 74 and between the conductor block projections 9, such that the whole area around such an elongated opening would be sandwiched between the conductor base plate and this bead portion.
However, the provision of circular openings 4, as explained for the above exemplary embodiment, are advantageous in view of the manufacturing process. This is, the circular openings 4 provide the cartridge flange 74 with bridge portions 81 between the circular openings 4, which give the cartridge flange 74 in the region of the openings 4 a higher stiffness in the radial direction. Accordingly, the cartridge flange 74 is not easily damaged in a turning operation when machining the outer diameter of the electric motor cartridge 54.

Claims

Claims
1. A housing element (54) for receiving an electrically driven device (2) to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block (3) fixed to said housing element (1), wherein portions (9, 10) of said conductor block (3) sandwich a portion (13) of a wall of said housing element (1).
2. The housing element (54) according to claim 1, wherein said sandwiching portions are integrally formed with the conductor block (3) .
3. The housing element (54) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conductor block (3) provides electrical conductivity to windings of the electrically driven device (2) .
4. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the conductor block (3) is made from a hard material like a thermoplastic or duroplastic material.
5. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein said conductor block (3) penetrates the housing element through a through hole (4) at a penetrating portion (5) of said conductor block (3) .
6. The housing element (54) according to claim 5, wherein the through hole (4) is obtained by a casting process for forming the housing element (54) .
7. The housing element (54) according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the through hole (4) is a circular hole.
8. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein said conductor block (3) comprises at least one cavity (6) which extends through the penetrating portion (5) of the conductor block (3) .
9. The housing element (54) according to claim 8, wherein said conductor block (3) comprises at least two openings (7, 8) connecting an outer side of the housing element (54) to an inner side of the housing element (54) via said cavity (6) .
10. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the conductor block (3) comprises at least one conductor block projection (9) projecting from the housing element (54) at the outer side thereof.
11. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the conductor block (3) comprises a base portion (10) disposed on the inner side of the housing element (1) .
12. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the respective sandwiching portions of the conductor block (3) are provided with an inner abutting face (11) and an outer abutting (12) face between which the housing element (54) is sandwiched.
13. The housing element (54) according to claim 12, wherein the inner abutting face (11) is formed by the conductor block base portion (10) .
14. The housing element (54) according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the outer abutting face (12) is formed by the at least one conductor block projection (9) .
15. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 10 to 14, wherein the conductor block (3) comprises a plurality of conductor block projections (9).
16. The housing element (54) according to claim 15, wherein the outer abutting face (12) is formed by an outer bead portion from which the conductor block projections (9) extend.
17. The housing element (54) according to claim 15 or 16, wherein said through hole (4) is an elongated hole.
18. The housing element (54) according to claim 17, wherein the penetrating portion (5) fills the elongated hole (4) .
19. The housing element (54) according to any of claims 8 to 18, wherein a conducting element (15) is inserted into the cavity (6) of the conductor block (3) .
20. A turbocharger (51) or a compressor having a housing element (54) for receiving an electrically driven device (2) to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block (3) fixed to said housing element (1) , wherein portions (9, 10) of said conductor block (3) sandwich a portion (13) of a wall of said housing element (1).
21. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 20, wherein said sandwiching portions are integrally formed with the conductor block (3) .
22. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the conductor block (3) provides electrical conductivity to windings of the electrically driven device (2).
23. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 20 to 22, wherein the conductor block (3) is made from a hard material like a thermoplastic or duroplastic material.
24. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 20 to 23, wherein said conductor block (3) penetrates the housing element through a through hole (4) at a penetrating portion (5) of said conductor block (3) .
25. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 24, wherein the through hole (4) is obtained by a casting process for forming the housing element (54) .
26. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 24 or 25, wherein the through hole (4) is a circular hole.
27. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 20 to 26, wherein said conductor block (3) comprises at least one cavity (6) which extends through the penetrating portion (5) of the conductor block (3) .
28. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 27, wherein said conductor block (3) comprises at least two openings (7, 8) connecting an outer side of the housing element (54) to an inner side of the housing element (54) via said cavity (6).
29. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 20 to 28, wherein the conductor block (3) comprises at least one conductor block projection (9) projecting from the housing element (54) at the outer side thereof.
30. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 20 to 29, wherein the conductor block (3) comprises a base portion (10) disposed on the inner side of the housing element (1) .
31. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 20 to 30, wherein the respective sandwiching portions of the conductor block (3) are provided with an inner abutting face (11) and an outer abutting (12) face between which the housing element (54) is sandwiched.
32. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 31, wherein the inner abutting face (11) is formed by the conductor block base portion (10) .
33. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 31 or 32, wherein the outer abutting face (12) is formed by the at least one conductor block projection (9) .
34. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 29 to 33, wherein the conductor block (3) comprises a plurality of conductor block projections (9) .
35. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 34, wherein the outer abutting face (12) is formed by an outer bead portion from which the conductor block projections (9) extend.
36. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 34 or 35, wherein said through hole (4) is an elongated hole.
37. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to claim 36, wherein the penetrating portion (5) fills the elongated hole (4) .
38. The turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 27 to 37, wherein a conducting element (15) is inserted into the cavity (7) of the conductor block (9) .
39. The Turbocharger (51) or the compressor according to any of claims 20 to 38, wherein the housing element (54) is a part of an electric motor cartridge (54) receiving an electric motor for electrically driving a compressor wheel (56) of the turbocharger or the compressor.
40. A method of manufacturing a housing element (54) for receiving an electrically driven device (2) to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block (3) fixed to said housing element (54), the method comprising the steps of preparing said housing element (54) ; forming the conductor block (3) by a die molding process such that portions (9, 10) of said conductor block (3) sandwich a portion (13) of a wall of said housing element (1) .
41. The method according to claim 40, further comprising the step of arranging at least one conducting element (15) so as to pass through said conductor block (3) .
42. The method according to claim 41, wherein said conducting element (15) is arranged before forming the conductor block (3) such that the conducting element (15) is incorporated to the conductor block (3) by the die molding process.
43. The method according to any of claims 40 to 42, wherein the conductor block (3) is made from a thermoplastic or a duroplastic material.
44. A method of manufacturing a housing element (54) for receiving an electrically driven device (2) to which electricity can be conducted through a conductor block (3) fixed to said housing element (54) , the method comprising the steps of preparing said conductor block (3) ; forming the housing element (54) by a die molding process such that portions (9, 10) of said conductor block (3) sandwich a portion (13) of a wall of said housing element (54) .
45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the conductor block (3) is made from a thermoplastic or a duroplastic material .
46. The method according to claim 44 or 45, wherein the housing element (54) is made from a low temperature melting metal alloy.
PCT/EP2004/005364 2004-05-18 2004-05-18 Conductor block for electric motor WO2005111394A1 (en)

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PCT/EP2004/005364 WO2005111394A1 (en) 2004-05-18 2004-05-18 Conductor block for electric motor

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/EP2004/005364 WO2005111394A1 (en) 2004-05-18 2004-05-18 Conductor block for electric motor

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WO2005111394A1 true WO2005111394A1 (en) 2005-11-24

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Cited By (2)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2017203176A1 (en) * 2016-05-27 2017-11-30 Valeo Systemes De Controle Moteur Electrical compressor with a body in two parts
EP2761187B1 (en) * 2011-09-27 2020-02-26 Termodinamica SAS Motor compressor unit with removable cartridge

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EP0486746A1 (en) * 1990-11-20 1992-05-27 Kollmorgen Corporation Flat motor of reduced length
DE19518317A1 (en) * 1995-05-18 1996-11-21 Gerhard Dr Ing Huber Turbocharger for IC engine
WO1998016728A1 (en) * 1996-10-15 1998-04-23 Turbodyne Systems, Inc. Motor-generator assisted turbocharging systems for use with internal combustion engines and control systems therefor
US5889345A (en) * 1996-07-08 1999-03-30 Mitsuba Corporation Waterproof electric motor structure
US6203293B1 (en) * 1997-06-04 2001-03-20 Asmo Co., Ltd. Electric fan apparatus, connector connection structure, and intermediate terminal
US6404086B1 (en) * 1996-09-13 2002-06-11 Hitachi, Ltd. Anisotropic magnet brushless motor having a rotor with elastic insulating support structure

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4253031A (en) * 1978-05-27 1981-02-24 Robert Bosch Gmbh Directly driven dynamo electric machine-gas turbine generator structure
EP0486746A1 (en) * 1990-11-20 1992-05-27 Kollmorgen Corporation Flat motor of reduced length
DE19518317A1 (en) * 1995-05-18 1996-11-21 Gerhard Dr Ing Huber Turbocharger for IC engine
US5889345A (en) * 1996-07-08 1999-03-30 Mitsuba Corporation Waterproof electric motor structure
US6404086B1 (en) * 1996-09-13 2002-06-11 Hitachi, Ltd. Anisotropic magnet brushless motor having a rotor with elastic insulating support structure
WO1998016728A1 (en) * 1996-10-15 1998-04-23 Turbodyne Systems, Inc. Motor-generator assisted turbocharging systems for use with internal combustion engines and control systems therefor
US6203293B1 (en) * 1997-06-04 2001-03-20 Asmo Co., Ltd. Electric fan apparatus, connector connection structure, and intermediate terminal

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2761187B1 (en) * 2011-09-27 2020-02-26 Termodinamica SAS Motor compressor unit with removable cartridge
WO2017203176A1 (en) * 2016-05-27 2017-11-30 Valeo Systemes De Controle Moteur Electrical compressor with a body in two parts
FR3051994A1 (en) * 2016-05-27 2017-12-01 Valeo Systemes De Controle Moteur ELECTRIC COMPRESSOR WITH BODY IN TWO PARTS

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