WO2016012628A1

WO2016012628A1 - Device for installing a sensor, in particular an optical sensor, through a thin wall

Info

Publication number: WO2016012628A1
Application number: PCT/EP2015/067163
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thierry Camus
Original assignee: Société Muller & Cie
Priority date: 2014-07-25
Filing date: 2015-07-27
Publication date: 2016-01-28
Also published as: FR3024187B1; FR3024187A1; EP3172534A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for attaching an apparatus, in particular a sensor including a detector (430) and measurement electronics (450), by snap-fitting via axial insertion through a recess of a thin wall, characterised in that said device includes: a. a mounting (110) including bearing means capable of engaging with the so-called outer surface of the wall in order to axially engage the outside of the recess; b. a reverse piece including resilient bearing means capable of axially and resiliently engaging the inner surface of the thin wall outside the recess; and c. snap-fitting means extending between the mounting and the reverse piece.

Description

DEVICE FOR THE INSTALLATION OF A SENSOR, PARTICULARLY OPTICAL, THROUGH A THIN WALL

The invention relates to a device for installing a sensor, particularly an optical sensor, through a thin wall. The invention is more particularly, but not exclusively, dedicated to the installation of a presence detection device placed on the radiating facade of a heater. Such a detection eye makes it possible, in particular, to detect a presence in a room heated by the heater provided with it, in order to operate said apparatus only if said room is occupied. According to exemplary embodiments, the front of such an apparatus consists of a metal sheet, flat or curved, solid or perforated. The invention is more generally adapted to the economical and discrete installation of small equipment, requiring precise and reproducible positioning, through a thin wall, in particular a metal foil, for a commodity consumer product mass produced. .

Such equipment, consisting for example of a presence sensor, comprises a part, called detector, which must be on the visible face of the wall, and an electronic part, comprising means for supplying the detector and means for acquisition, conditioning and transmission of the signal from said detector. This electronic part, for aesthetic and protective reasons, is placed on the opposite, hidden side of the wall. The requirements of quality of performance and efficiency of operation of the sensor, require that it must be fixed in a stable manner, without play and reliable over time, to the wall. Furthermore, depending on the nature of the equipment thus fixed, it must be positioned and particularly oriented precisely relative to said wall.

However, the small thickness of the wall does not allow to achieve a centering or implement fastening means to ensure these functions while maintaining the aesthetics of said wall.

In addition, according to certain applications, particularly when said wall is the radiating facade of a heating appliance, it is subjected to constraints, for example thermal, during the operation of the appliance, and the addition of mass or patches locally modifying the rigidity of said wall, are likely create stress concentrations and adversely affect the reliability of the device or its comfort of use by producing noises and vibrations.

Many fastening systems by clipping a piece of equipment through a thin wall are known from the prior art. These systems are based on an interaction between elastic elements carried by the equipment or a support of this equipment and the wall, or elements attached to said wall.

By way of example, document US Pat. No. 7,607,807 describes an attachment device by clipping, according to an axial introduction, of a ceiling lamp in an automobile. Elastic claws carried by the equipment to be installed interact with the hooks of an intermediate piece, extending on the inner face of the wall. The stability of the piece thus assembled is a function of the axial clamping generated by the tension installed between the claws and the bearing face of the equipment on the visible part of the wall. This voltage depends on a stack of dimensions and tolerance, namely, the thickness tolerance of the wall, the tolerance of axial distance between the claws of the equipment and the bearing surface of this equipment on the outer face of the wall, the height tolerance of the hooks of the intermediate piece, and the axial positioning tolerance of this intermediate piece relative to the wall. This tolerance stack does not guarantee, in series and in economic conditions, sufficient clamping to ensure the stability of the equipment. All fasteners by simple clipping present, more or less, this type of limitation and sensitivity to manufacturing tolerances.

The invention aims to solve the drawbacks of the prior art and concerns for this purpose a device for fastening by clipping in axial introduction of a device, in particular a sensor comprising a detector and a measurement electronics, through a recess practiced. in a thin wall, which device comprises: a. a support, comprising support means adapted to cooperate with the so-called outer face of the wall, to provide an axial support outside the recess;

b. a counterpart comprising resilient support means adapted to provide an axial elastic support on the inner face of the thin wall outside the recess;

vs. clipping means extending between the support and the counterpart Thus, unlike the devices of the prior art where the clamping of the thin wall between the support and the counterpart depends directly on the axial elasticity of the clipping means, the elasticity of the bearing means against the -pièce offers an additional degree of freedom, and makes it possible to ensure clamping of the thin wall between the support and the counterpart, over a wide range of tolerances, in particular thickness or flatness of said thin wall, while retaining clip-on capability over this tolerance range.

The invention is advantageously implemented according to the embodiments described below which are to be considered individually or in any technically operative combination.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the device according to the invention, the resilient support means of the counterpart consist of two resilient tongues. Thus, said support means retain a certain compliance vis-à-vis the orientation of the support of the counterpart relative to the normal to the inner face of the thin wall.

Advantageously, the clipping means of the device which is the subject of the invention comprise:

this. two resilient claws extending axially from the support face of the support towards the counter-part which claws have at their free end a ratchet profile;

cii. stop means, on the counterpart comprising a profile adapted to cooperate with the profile of the claws for clipping; ciii. guide means for facilitating insertion of the claws towards the stop means.

Thus, the guide means facilitate the establishment of the support on the counterpart.

According to a particular embodiment of the device according to the invention, the support comprises a bore and the clipping means consist of two resilient claws diametrically opposite with respect to this bore in a first radial direction, the two resilient tongues also being arranged diametrically opposite. , according to this first radial direction. This embodiment offers a degree of freedom of orientation of the support and against the workpiece relative to the thin wall along an axis of rotation corresponding to said first radial direction.

Advantageously, the guide means comprise two insertion tunnels of the claws, diametrically opposed in the first radial direction. These guide means facilitate the relative positioning of the support and the counterpart in particular for a series connection.

Advantageously, the tunnels comprise a progressive section inlet able to tighten the ratchet profiles of the claws. This arrangement facilitates the introduction of clipping means.

Advantageously, the progressive section comprises an arrangement adapted to cooperate with the ratchet profile of the claws to perform an intermediate axial clipping of the clipping means. These provisions make it possible to facilitate the relative positioning of the support and the counterpart especially when the support and the counterpart are also centered on an element of the equipment.

Advantageously, the guiding means comprise means cooperating with the claws of the support for orienting the support and the counterpart around the first radial direction. Thus when these means are engaged, the support and the counterpart are perfectly oriented relative to the wall.

Advantageously, the support and the counterpart are made according to a plastic injection method. Thus, these are obtained economically in large series.

The device according to the invention is advantageously used, according to any one of its embodiments for the installation of a detection eye on the front of an appliance, in particular a heating appliance, the optical axis of said appliance. eye being inclined relative to the normal to the facade by an angle between 0 ° and 20 ° around the first radial direction. Compared to the prior art, this embodiment allows to fix such a detector on the front of the device with a reduced number of parts and without adding intermediate parts on said facade.

The invention is explained below according to its preferred embodiments, in no way limiting, and with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7 in which:

- Figure 1 shows, in an exploded perspective view in profile, an embodiment of a fixing device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view along F, indicated in FIG. 1, of the counterpart, according to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1 of the device that is the subject of the invention;

FIG. 3A shows a front view along R, indicated in FIG. 1, of the support of the device according to the invention according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

Figure 3B is a left view of Figure 3A;

- Figure 3C shows, in a view along R, an embodiment of the recess made in the thin wall of an apparatus receiving the device of the invention;

- Figure 4 shows in a perspective view and exploded, an embodiment of the device of the invention adapted to the installation of a sensor;

FIG. 5 shows the device that is the subject of the invention, according to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1 and a profile view;

FIGS. 6A to 6D show, in a partial view of the profile, a different example of the orientation of the support in the counterpart during the clipping operation of the device that is the subject of the invention according to the embodiment of FIG. 5;

- And Figure 7 illustrates an example of use of the device object of the invention for fixing a presence sensor on the front of a heater.

FIG. 1, according to an exemplary embodiment, the device that is the subject of the invention comprises a support (1 10) capable of cooperating with a counterpart (120) on either side of a thin wall (100) represented here symbolically.

The terms "support" and "counterpart" are used arbitrarily without reference to a particular technical function.

According to this embodiment, the support (1 10) comprises a bearing surface (11 1) adapted to cooperate with the face (101) said external or visible wall (100) thin. Two resilient claws (1 15), terminated by a ratchet profile (1 16), extend in an axial direction (103), substantially normal to the thin wall (100). The counterpart (120) comprises two resilient tongues (121) able to bear on the internal face (102) of the thin wall, and stop means (126) comprising a profile (126) capable of cooperating with the profile. ratchet claws (1 15) of the support (1 10) for clipping during the axial insertion of said claws into said stop means.

2, according to this exemplary embodiment, the counterpart (120) is adapted to contain a sensor comprising an emergent detection eye with a bore (230) of said counterpart. The body of said counterpart (120) consists of several parts assembled by clipping and obtained by a plastic injection method.

4, according to an exemplary embodiment, the device according to the invention is adapted to the attachment of a detection eye (430) and the counterpart consists of 3 parts (421, 422, 423) assembled together. clipping, able to contain said eye (430) detection and the electronics (450) adapted to the operation of the sensor.

Returning to FIG. 2, the two support tongues (121) are, according to this exemplary embodiment, positioned diametrically opposite with respect to a first (201) radial direction. Thus, when the claws of the support are clipped into the stops of the counterpart, said tongues (121) bear elastically on the inner face of the thin wall, but this support of said tongues (121) retains a certain rotation compliance. around this first radial direction (201).

Figure 3, according to this embodiment the support (1 10) has a bore (330) for the passage of a detection eye. The clawing claws (115) are disposed diametrically opposite with respect to this bore (330) so that said claws are aligned with respect to the first radial direction (201) when engaging the stop means of the counterpart. According to this exemplary embodiment, the bearing face (1 1 1) is not perpendicular to the axial direction (103) and makes with this perpendicular (303) an angle 'a' of 10 ° by rotation of said face around an axis parallel to the first radial direction. According to this embodiment, this angle of 10 ° corresponds to a desired orientation of the optical axis of the detector relative to the normal to the outer face of the thin wall. This direction normal to the wall is equivalent to the direction (103) axial in Figures 1 and 3B. Thus, during clipping of the claws (1 15) of the support (110) in the stop means of the counterpart, the bearing face (1 1 1) of the support is pulled against the outer face of the wall slim. The tension installed in the claws compresses the resilient tabs of the counterpart against the inner face of said wall, thereby providing a clamping force over a wide range of thickness of said wall. By way of example, the same device makes it possible, according to this exemplary embodiment, to clip a detector on walls with thicknesses ranging from 0.8 mm to 1.2 mm.

Figure 5, when the equipment fixed by the device object of the invention requires a certain known orientation with respect to the normal to the outer wall surface, for example, when said equipment comprises a detection eye (430) whose optical axis, after assembly, must be oriented at 10 ° relative to this normal, then the bearing ends of the elastic tabs (121) of the counterpart are advantageously made with a bias in a direction (503) substantially parallel to the plane of the support face (1 1 1) of the support relative to the direction (103) axial.

Returning to Figure 3, the claws (1 15) of the support (1 10) comprise, according to this embodiment, means (315) adapted to cooperate with the guide means of the counterpart to facilitate orientation relative support (110) and said counterpart around the first (201) radial direction. According to this embodiment, said means (315) of orientation consist of a stud whose one face (316) is oriented perpendicular to the bearing face (1 1 1) and whose opposite face (317) is substantially parallel to the direction (103) axial.

3, the means of the counterpart for guiding the claws of the support comprise two tunnels (225) in which said claws are introduced during clipping. These tunnels (225) facilitate the relative initial positioning of the counterpart and the support.

Figure 5, the guide means comprise at the entrance of said tunnels, tenons (526, 527) adapted to cooperate with the pad (315) orientation of the support and the faces (316, 317) of this pad. For this purpose, the guiding means comprise circular shoulders (525) guiding the ratchet profiles of the claws of the support towards the abutment means (126) of the counterpart making the clipping.

3C, the recess (300) made in the thin wall, for example by punching, comprises passages (305) for the claws, so that the wall does not influence, other than by the support of the face d support (1 1 1) of the support (1 10), the orientation thereof. According to this exemplary embodiment, the recess (300) comprises a notch (301) cooperating with a lug (31 1) for polarizing the support, for the axial orientation of said support. No other operation than this punching operation is necessary to configure the wall for the installation of the device object of the invention. This recess (300) is easily closed by a plug having claws cooperating with the notches (301, 305) of said recess when no equipment is installed on the device. FIGS. 6A to 6D show how the orientation surfaces (316, 317) of the claw stud, the circular claw guide shoulders (525) and the tenons (526, 527) of the counterpart guide means cooperate. to bring the support and the counterpart into the desired orientation, regardless of the initial relative orientation inaccuracy of the support and against the workpiece, so that the device object of the invention is very easily installed without the need for a particular tool or qualification of the operator.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the guiding tunnels (225) comprise an inlet of evolutive section tending to bring the ratchet profiles closer to the claws of the support during the introduction thereof into said tunnels. This evolutive section opens into the zone comprising the circular shoulders, and comprises means forming a stop and making an intermediate clipping. In this intermediate clipping, the bearing surface of the support is not in contact with the thin wall.

Figure 7, according to an example of use of the device of the invention, it is used to install a motion sensor on the facade (100), here symbolically represented, a heater. The bearing surface of the support bearing on said facade, the elastic tabs (121), combined with the guide means, orient the counterpart with respect to said facade, so that the optical axis (700) of the detector contained in said counterpart is oriented at an angle of the order of 10 ° from normal to said facade. The elasticity of the two support tongues (121) makes it possible, by their compliance, to compensate for the thickness tolerances of said facade as well as the tolerances of parallelism between the faces of this thin wall.

The above description and the exemplary embodiments show that the invention achieves the desired objectives, in particular it allows the easy fixing by clipping of equipment on a thin wall, oriented with respect to said wall by limiting the clipping function. with 2 pieces, the support and the counterpart, and limiting the preparation of the wall to the sole realization of a punching.

Claims

Device for clipping fastening in axial introduction of equipment, in particular a sensor comprising a detector (430) and a measurement electronics (450), through a recess (300) made on a thin wall (100), characterized in that what he understands:

at. a support (1 10) comprising support means (1 1 1) adapted to cooperate with the so-called outer face (101) of the wall, to provide an axial support outside the recess;

b. a counterpart (120) comprising resilient support means (121) capable of providing axial resilient support on the inner face (102) of the thin wall outside the recess;

vs. means (1 15, 1 16, 126) for clipping extending between the support and the counterpart

Device according to claim 1, wherein the means (121) of elastic support of the counterpart consist of two elastic tongues.

Device according to Claim 1, in which the clipping means comprise:

this. two resilient claws (1 15) extending axially from the bearing face (1 1 1) of the support towards the counterpart and having at their free end a profile (1 16) forming a ratchet;

cii. means (126) abutment on the counterpart comprising a profile adapted to cooperate with the profile (1 16) of the claws to perform clipping;

ciii. guiding means (225, 226, 525, 526, 527) for facilitating insertion of the claws (1 15) to the stop means (126).

Device according to claims 2 and 3, wherein the support (1 10) has a bore (330) and that the clipping means consist of two claws (1 15) elastically diametrically opposed relative to this bore in a first direction (201 ) radial, the two tabs (121) elastics being also arranged diametrically opposite in this first direction (201) radial.

5. Device according to claim 4, wherein the guide means comprise two tunnels (225) for introducing the claws (1 15) diametrically opposed in the first radial direction.

6. Device according to claim 5, wherein the tunnels (225) comprise an inlet of progressive section adapted to tighten the profiles (1 16) ratchet claws.

7. Device according to claim 6, wherein the progressive section comprises a fitting (226) adapted to cooperate with the profile (116) ratchet claws (1 15) for performing an axial intermediate clipping means clipping.

8. Device according to claim 4, wherein the guide means comprise means (525, 526, 527, 315) cooperating with the claws of the support for orienting the support (110) and the counterpart (120) around the first direction (201) radial ..

9. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, the support (110) and the counterpart are (120) made by a plastic injection method. 10. Use of a device according to claim 8, for the installation of a sensor eye (430) on the front of a device, in particular a heater, the optical axis (700) of said eye being inclined. relative to the normal to the facade at an angle between 0 ° and 20 ° around the first direction (201) radial.