Electrical crimp connector with a shield element

Abstract

A glazing panel comprising an electrical connector with a shield element to avoid a wicking effect, where the connector is an electrically conductive connector connected to an electrically conductive structure such as a heatable coating or an antenna. The glazing panel is particularly suitable for an automobile glazing.

Claims

1. A glazing panel comprising at least: a substrate with an electrically conductive structure; a shield element soldered by soldering material to the electrically conductive structure; an electrical crimp connector fixed on said shield element; an electrical cable crimped with the electrical crimp connector; wherein said shield element protrudes from said electrical crimp connector at least at a region of said cable that connects to said electrical crimp connector to avoid a wicking effect between the soldering material and the cable.

2. The glazing panel according to claim 1, wherein the electrical crimp connector is soldered to the shield element.

3. The glazing panel according to claim 1, wherein the electrical crimp connector is fixed by at least one rivet to the shield element.

4. The glazing panel according to claim 1, wherein the shield element has an oval shape.

5. The glazing panel according claim 1, wherein the shield element has a circular shape.

6. The glazing panel according claim 1, wherein a longest dimension of the shield element is at least 10% larger than a longest dimension of the electrical crimp connector.

7. The glazing panel according to claim 1, wherein said shield element protrudes from said electrical crimp connector at least at the region of said cable that connects to said electrical crimp connector for at least a diameter of the cable.

8. The glazing panel according to claim 1, wherein said substrate is a glass substrate.

9. The glazing panel according to claim 1, wherein the electrical crimp connector is welded to the shield element.

10. The glazing panel according to claim 9, wherein the electrical crimp connector and the shield element are made of a same material.

11. A method of, joining a shield element to a substrate to avoid a wicking effect, comprising: disposing the shield element between a soldering material and a cable crimped with an electrical crimp connector; and soldering the shield element to an electrically conductive structure of the substrate, wherein the shield element protrudes from the electrical crimp connector at least at a region of the cable that connects to said electrical crimp connector to avoid the wicking effect on the cable.

12. A shield element to avoid a wicking effect, the shield element disposed between a soldering material and a cable crimped with an electrical crimp connector comprising: a shield element, wherein the shield element is soldered to an electrically conductive structure of a substrate, and wherein the shield element protrudes from the electrical crimp connector at least at a region of the cable that connects to the electrical crimp connector to avoid the wicking effect on the cable.

Description

FIGURES

(1) The present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to drawings and exemplary embodiments, which are provided by way of illustration and not of limitation. The drawings are a schematic representation and not true to scale. The drawings do not restrict the invention in any way. More advantages will be explained with examples.

(2) FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of the glazing panel according to the invention.

(3) FIG. 2 is a plan view of one embodiment of the glazing panel according to the invention.

(4) Referring to the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of this invention, a glazing panel (1) comprises, a glass substrate (2) with an electrically conductive structure (3), a shield element (7) soldered by soldering material (5) to the electrically conductive structure (3); an electrical crimp connector (4) fixed on said shield element; an electrical cable (6) crimped with the electrical crimp connector. The shield element (7) has a circular shape and protrudes from the said electrical crimp connector (4) at least at the region of the output of the said cable from the said electrical crimp connector to avoid the wicking effect between the soldering material and the cable.

(5) In this embodiment, the electrically conductive structure (3) is an antenna structure. The antenna is a silver layer printed on the surface of the glass substrate. In case of hidden antenna, antennas are printed in border of the glazing panel (1) and hidden by a black band. The black band can be deposited on the other surface of the glazing panel or between the glass substrate (2) and the electrically conductive structure (3). The black band can be a enamel frit deposited by silk printing.

(6) In this embodiment, the electrical crimp connector (4) is a connector that crimps the metallic part of the cable made of Copper. The electrical crimp connector (4) looks slightly like a rectangular parallelepiped and is made of a conductive material such as Copper. The diagonal (D) of the surface slightly parallel to the surface of the glass substrate (2) of the electrical crimp connector (4) is the largest dimension.

(7) In this embodiment, the shield element (7) is made of conductive material such as Copper. The surface parallel to the surface of the glass substrate (2) of shield element (7) has a circular shape with a diameter (Dc) larger than the diagonal (D) of the electrical crimp connector (4).

(8) In that embodiment, the shield element (7) protrudes from the electrical crimp connector (4) in all direction and specially at the region of the output of the cable (6) from the electrical crimp connector (4) to avoid the wicking effect between the soldering material (5) and the cable (6).

(9) The electrical crimp connector (4) is fixed on the shield element by soldering such as a high melting point alloy.

(10) The dimension of electrically conductive crimp depends of the cable and thus the current passing through it. In one embodiment, for a low current application i.e. below 8 A, the diagonal D is about 5 mm, and Dc is at least 6 mm.

(11) The dimension of shield element depends of electrically conductive crimp. In one embodiment, for a low current application i.e. below 8 A, the diagonal D is about 5 mm and Dc is at least 6 mm.

(12) During the manufacturing and the handling of the glazing panel (1), the operator manipulates and folds the cable (6) in direction of the center of glazing panel (1). Due to the shield element, no soldering material, is in contact with the cable (6) thus the cable (6) can be manipulated without risk of breakage.

(13) In another embodiment, the cable (6) is directly soldered on the shield element (7). The second soldering material is considered as the electrical crimp connector. The shield element (7) is larger than the area of the soldering of the cable (6). In this embodiment as for the other embodiments, the soldering material between the shield element (7) and the electrically conductive structure (3) cannot touch the cable (6) due to wicking effect, then risk of glass crack, chips or breakage are limited.