Classifications

• • 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
• • 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
  • H02K7/10—Structural association with clutches, brakes, gears, pulleys or mechanical starters
  • H02K7/116—Structural association with clutches, brakes, gears, pulleys or mechanical starters with gears
  • H02K7/1163—Structural association with clutches, brakes, gears, pulleys or mechanical starters with gears where at least two gears have non-parallel axes without having orbital motion
  • H02K7/1166—Structural association with clutches, brakes, gears, pulleys or mechanical starters with gears where at least two gears have non-parallel axes without having orbital motion comprising worm and worm-wheel

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an electric gear motor, particularly for window winders and windscreen wipers for automobiles and the like.
• Such electric gear motors are adapted to be accommodated in narrow spaces like the inside of a car door, or in the rear boot door, or in the engine bonnet of a vehicle.
• Such electric gear motors generally comprise a housing to be fixed to the carcass of an electric motor.
• Such housing contains and protects the gears for reducing the speed of rotation of the drive shaft, and a connector element for the electric power supply to the motor, to be engaged in the housing.
• Such connector element generally has, integrated, a first portion which is an electrical socket, of standard type, for cabling with an electrical system of an automobile, with a direction of engagement of cabling for the electrical socket that is substantially parallel to the axis of the electric motor contained in the housing, and a second portion for connection with such housing, which typically comprises means of electrical connection with the motor and an electronic control card.
• Such second portion is adapted to be engaged in a corresponding seat on the housing according to a radial, i.e. perpendicular, direction with respect to the axis of rotation of such electric motor contained in the housing, with the interposition of a gasket profile for protecting the electrical and electronic components inside such seat.
• gear motors with a socket with a direction of engagement that is parallel to the axis of the motor and with an electronic card that is inserted perpendicularly in the housing are particularly compact and are much appreciated for this quality.
• the electronic card is accommodated in a suitable seat formed beside the electric motor, in a pocket of the housing which is lateral to the carcass of the electric motor.
• a different type of compact gear reducer has a housing that is shaped so as to have the seat for inserting the electronic card in a position whereby the card, which carries sensors for detecting rotation parameters of the drive shaft, is inserted with such sensors facing towards the drive shaft.
• Such second type of gear reducer is slightly more compact than the first type of gear reducers described above.
• the seat for the electronic card, and therefore for inserting the connector element that carries it is formed in the housing in a position that is not affected by the screws for fixing the carcass of the electric motor to such housing, because generally the distance between the centres of two neighbouring screws of a housing of an electric gear motor that is desired to be of minimum overall thickness, is such as to not permit the accommodation of an electronic card together with the electric power supply connections.
• the housing is made with its axial length, i.e. its length with respect to the direction of the axis of the electric motor, longer than that of an analogous gear motor of the first type, but this involves, in order to have an overall axial length of the gear motor that is short and comparable to the axial length of the first type of gear motor, special manufacture of the carcass of the electric motor, such carcass needing to be axially shorter.
• the second portion of such connector element is formed so as to be inserted in a corresponding seat in the housing which is formed between two neighbouring screws for fixing the housing to the carcass of the electric motor.
• annular gasket between the body of the connector element and the window formed in the housing for inserting the second portion of the connector element.
• annular gasket is provided at the base of the second portion of the connector element, and from such base the electronic card and the connection terminals extend, such gasket being adapted to be pressed against the edge of such window of the housing.
• the aim of the present invention is to provide an electric gear motor that is capable of overcoming the drawbacks and limitations of the above mentioned known types of electric gear motor.
• an object of the invention is to provide an electric gear motor that has a thickness and length that are not greater than known types of gear motor, and which can be made without the use of electric motors with modified carcasses.
• Another object of the invention is to provide an electric gear motor in which the connector element does not involve sealed closing operations before assembly with the housing, typical of known types of compact gear motor.
• Another object of the invention is to provide an electric gear motor in which the connector element is simple to assemble even for an assembly line operator with no special training.
• a further object of the invention is to provide an electric gear motor in which the electronic card and the electrical components for powering the motor are sealed in the seat for the second portion of the connector element.
• a further object of the invention is to provide an electric gear motor that is easy to implement and to assemble, that can be produced with known systems and techniques, and at low cost.
• an electric gear motor particularly for window winders and windscreen wipers for automobiles and the like, that comprises
• a second portion for connection with said housing, which comprises means of electrical connection and an electronic control card that are arranged so as to be engaged in a corresponding seat on said housing according to a direction that is substantially transversal with respect to the axis of rotation of said electric motor, - and an intermediate portion, for joining said two first and second portions, upon which a gasket profile is formed for protecting said second part inside said seat,
• said intermediate portion of said connector element has a window to access the region of the electrical terminals of the socket for cabling to the electrical system of an automobile
• said second portion is shaped so as to be inserted in a corresponding seat in the housing which is formed between two neighbouring screws for fixing the housing to the carcass of the electric motor,
• Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electric gear motor according to the invention.
• Figure 2 is a partially exploded perspective view of the gear motor according to the invention.
• Figure 3 is a side view of the connector element
• Figure 4 is a view from below of the connector element
• Figure 5 is a transversal sectional view of the gear motor according to the invention.
• Figure 6 is a front view of the connector element
• Figures 7 and 8 are two further perspective views of the connector element
• Figure 9 is a partially exploded perspective view of a further embodiment of a detail of the gear motor according to the invention.
• a gear motor particularly for window winders and windscreen wipers for automobiles and the like, according to the invention, is generally designated by the reference numeral 10.
• the gear motor 10 comprises
• the connector element 14 is constituted by:
• a gasket profile 21 is formed for protecting the second portion 17 inside its corresponding seat 19.
• the intermediate portion 20 of the connector element 14 has a window 22, shown in Figures 2 and 8, to access the region for mounting electrical terminals 23 of the socket 16 for cabling with the electrical system of the automobile.
• the second portion 17 and the intermediate portion 20 are made monolithically of plastics.
• the window 22 allows access to the terminals 23 substantially in a direction that is parallel to the axis X of the drive shaft.
• the second portion 17 of the connector element 14 is shaped so as to be inserted in the corresponding seat 19 in the housing 11 which is formed between two neighbouring screws 25 and 26 for fixing the housing 11 to the carcass 13 of the electric motor 12.
• the two screws 25 and 26 are the nearest to each other of the three fixing screws 25, 26 and 26a of the housing 11 to the carcass 13.
• Figure 3 shows how the gasket profile 21 is accommodated on the side walls 27 and 28 of the intermediate portion 20 with a first section 29, proximate to the outside face 20a of the intermediate portion 20, that runs in a first direction Xl parallel to the axis X of the motor 12, a second section 30 that runs in a second direction Yl perpendicular to the first direction Xl, and a third section 31, proximate to the inside end part 20b of the intermediate portion 20, which faces the inside of the housing 11, that runs in a third direction X2 also parallel to the axis X of the motor 12.
• the gasket profile 21 is closed by an upper transversal section 32 that passes between the outside face 20a and the edge of the window 22, as shown in Figure 1, and by a lower transversal section 33 that surrounds the inside end part 20b on the side of the first portion 15.
• the gear motor 10 combines the advantages of compactness given by the direction of the socket 16 for engaging the cabling, by the insertion of the second portion 17, with the electronic card 18 and the means of electrical connection, for example two terminals with fork-type connection 54, between the two screws 25 and 26 nearest to each other for fixing the housing 11 to the carcass 13, with the advantage of having a connector element 14 provided with a window 22 through which to either manually attach the connection terminals 23 for providing the socket 16, or pass the supporting devices of the terminals 23 as part of an overforming operation of the body of the connector element 14 on the terminals 23, or indeed a combination of both solutions, so enabling an easy and cheap finishing of the mould for producing the connector element 14.
• the maximum width A, shown in Figures 5 and 6, of the intermediate portion 20 at the inside end part 20b and measured at the base of the corresponding section of the gasket profile 21, is substantially equal to the width B, measured on the distance between the centres of the two screws 25 and 26, of the entrance opening 35 in the housing 11 for the second portion 17.
• the width A of the inside end part 20b of the connector element 14 is greater than the width B of the opening 35 because the annular gasket around the edge of the inside end part is pressed between the facing edges of the inside end part and of the opening.
• the width A is less than the corresponding internal width D of the channel 24, so as to allow the passage and the compression of the gasket profile 21.
• the maximum width A of the intermediate portion 20 is also less than the corresponding width C of the first portion 15.
• the socket 16, and therefore the second portion 17 of the connector element 14 is made in such a way as to contain, as far as possible, the encumbrances in the direction Y.
• the intermediate portion 20 is substantially parallelepiped.
• width A of the parallelepiped body of the intermediate portion 20 is constant in the reference direction Y or it varies between the end part 20b and the outside face 20a by less than 10% of its reference measurement of width A, i.e. measured at the base of the corresponding section of the gasket profile 21.
• the connector element 14 is provided with snap-acting engagement means for fixing to the housing 11 , so as to speed up its assembly.
• Such snap-acting engagement means are provided by two first symmetric teeth 40 each of which laterally protrudes from one wall of the two opposite side walls 27 and 28 of the intermediate portion 20, and two second symmetric teeth 43 which protrude from an upper face 44, perpendicular to the two side walls, which is also part of the intermediate portion 20.
• Such teeth are designed to engage by snap-action into corresponding openings 45 and 46 formed on the walls 47 of the entry channel 24 to the seat 19 for the second portion 17, such walls protruding from the housing 11.
• the abutment element 50 enables the stable positioning of the electronic card 18 at a predetermined, correct distance between one or more hall sensors 51 mounted on the electronic card 18 and a cylindrical magnet 52 mounted on the drive shaft 53.
• the electronic card 18 is mounted on the connector element 14 so as to be parallel to the axis X of the drive shaft 53 once inserted in the housing 11.
• the gear motor 10 according to the invention is particularly adapted for implementation with electric motors 12 that have the diameter of drive shaft 53 comprised between 3.5 mm and 6 mm, and which have the outside diameter of the magnet 52 mounted on the shaft 53 comprised between 9.5 mm and 14.5 mm.
• Figure 9 shows a further embodiment of the snap-acting engagement means, which can be substituted by fixing the connector element 114 to the housing 111 by means of a screw 157.
• an electric gear motor has been provided that has a thickness and length that are not greater than known types of gear motor, and which is made without the use of electric motors with modified carcasses, by forming the seat 19 for the second portion 17 of the connector element 14 between the two screws 25 and 26 nearest to each other for fixing the housing 11 to the carcass 13, a solution that makes it possible for the carcass 13 of the motor 12 not to be modified by making it shorter.
• an electric gear motor has been provided in which the connector element does not involve sealed closing operations before assembly with the housing, typical of known types of compact gear motor, thanks to the characteristic gasket profile 21 which allows the terminals 23 to be attached for the socket 16 through the window 22 which remains accessible until the connector element 14 is mounted on the housing
• an electric gear motor has been provided that is easy to implement and to assemble, and which can be produced with known systems and techniques, and at low cost.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Connection Of Motors, Electrical Generators, Mechanical Devices, And The Like (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=42983997

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Cited By (5)

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Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (1)

• 2009
  • 2009-07-08 IT ITPD20090038 patent/ITPD20090038U1/it unknown
• 2010
  • 2010-06-24 WO PCT/EP2010/058972 patent/WO2011003745A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2010-06-24 DE DE112010002847T patent/DE112010002847T5/de active Pending
  • 2010-06-24 CN CN2010800311994A patent/CN102484409A/zh active Pending

Patent Citations (3)

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