Angle Detection Device

Abstract

An angle detection device for a fuel fill level detection device, including: a support, a potting composition, which is arranged on the support in coherently bonded manner; a sensor for the contactless detection of an orientation of a magnetic field of a magnet, which is at least partly arranged in the potting composition, in particular on the support, and at least one conductor track which is arranged flat on the support, in particular in coherently bonded manner.

Claims

1.-13. (canceled)

14. An angle detection device for a fuel fill level detection device, comprising: a support; a potting composition arranged on the support in coherently bonded manner; a sensor arranged on the support and at least partially in the potting composition and configured for contactless detection of an orientation of a magnetic field of a magnet; and at least one conductor track arranged flat on the support in a coherently bonded manner.

15. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 14, wherein an external edge of the potting composition is at a distance of at least 1 mm and at most 15 mm from an external edge of the support.

16. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one conductor track extends beyond the potting composition.

17. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one conductor track is arranged entirely or partly within the potting composition and/or is connected by an electrical conductor structure, configured as a through-contact structure, which passes at least partly through the support, and/or comprising at least one further conductor track, to a connection arranged on a side of the support, the side facing toward the potting composition or facing away from the potting composition.

18. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 14, further comprising: an evaluation circuit configured to evaluate of the sensor, which is programmable by way of the at least one conductor track and which is arranged at least partly within the potting composition, on the support, and configured as a bare chip and/or an integrated circuit with the sensor, or separately from the sensor.

19. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 14, further comprising at least one capacitor, which is arranged at least partly within the potting composition, on the support, and is electrically connected to the sensor and/or to an evaluation circuit, by way of the at least one conductor track.

20. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the support comprises: at least one electrically insulating surface region and/or ceramic material, glass material, plastics material and/or epoxy-resin material, and/or the potting composition comprises silicone material, acrylate material, plastics material, and/or epoxy-resin material.

21. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 14, further comprising: a covering that at least partly coats the support, the potting composition, and/or at least one conductor track.

22. The angle detection device as claimed in claim 21, wherein the covering comprises parylene and/or is applied by chemical vapor deposition.

23. An angle detection arrangement comprising: an angle detection device, comprising: a support; a magnet; a potting composition arranged on the support in coherently bonded manner; a sensor arranged on the support and at least partially in the potting composition and configured for contactless detection of an orientation of a magnetic field of the magnet; and at least one conductor track arranged flat on the support in a coherently bonded manner; wherein the support is arranged between the potting composition and the magnet or the potting composition is arranged between support and magnet, and/or the magnet is mounted rotatably around an axis (R) of rotation which passes through the potting composition and/or the support includes an angle of at most 45° with a height axis of the support in a direction of its wall thickness.

24. A fuel fill level detection device for a motor vehicle, comprising: an angle detection device, comprising: a support; a magnet; a potting composition arranged on the support in coherently bonded manner; a sensor arranged on the support and at least partially in the potting composition and configured for contactless detection of an orientation of a magnetic field of the magnet; at least one conductor track arranged flat on the support in a coherently bonded manner; and a float coupled to the magnet, wherein an orientation of a magnetic field of the magnet is detected in contactless manner by the sensor.

25. A method for the detection of an angle by an angle detection device, comprising: an angle detection device, comprising: a support; a magnet; a potting composition arranged on the support in coherently bonded manner; a sensor arranged on the support and at least partially in the potting composition and configured for contactless detection of an orientation of a magnetic field of the magnet; and at least one conductor track arranged flat on the support in a coherently bonded manner; wherein the support is arranged between the potting composition and the magnet or the potting composition is arranged between support and magnet, and/or the magnet is mounted rotatably around an axis (R) of rotation which passes through the potting composition and/or the support includes an angle of at most 45° with a height axis of the support in a direction of its wall thickness; and detecting an orientation of a magnetic field of the magnet in a contactless manner by the sensor; processing a corresponding signal via an evaluation circuit and/or on a basis of a characteristic curve stored in the angle detection device; and outputting the processed signal output by way of the at least one conductor track.

26. A method for production of at least one angle detection device comprising: a support; a potting composition arranged on the support in coherently bonded manner; a sensor arranged on the support and at least partially in the potting composition and configured for contactless detection of an orientation of a magnetic field of a magnet; and at least one conductor track arranged flat on the support in a coherently bonded manner, the method comprising: arranging the potting composition in a coherently bonded manner on the support, at least partly on the sensor, and/or applying a plurality of sensors to a support plate and dividing the support plate to give supports for the at least one angle detection device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0069] The invention will be explained below in detail with reference to depictions in figures. Other advantageous further developments of the invention can be found in the dependent claims and in the description of preferred embodiments hereinafter. In this connection, the figures, which are partly in diagrammatic form, show the following:

[0070] FIG. 1 is a fuel fill level detection device with an angle detection arrangement with an angle detection device;

[0071] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the angle detection arrangement;

[0072] FIG. 3 is a section of the angle detection arrangement along the line in FIG. 2;

[0073] FIG. 4 is an angle detection arrangement depicted as in FIG. 3; and

[0074] FIG. 5 is a plan view of a support plate during the production of the angle detection device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0075] FIG. 1 shows a fuel fill level detection device arranged in a fuel tank 200 with an angle detection arrangement with an angle detection device according to an aspect of the present invention.

[0076] A float 201 is coupled to a permanent magnet 100 of the detection device in a manner such that a change of fill level leads to a rotation of the magnet 100 around an axis R of rotation, which is perpendicular to the plane of the join of FIG. 1.

[0077] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the angle detection arrangement. FIG. 3 shows the angle detection arrangement in a section along the line of FIG. 2.

[0078] The angle detection device of this angle detection arrangement has a support 10 and a potting composition in the form of a glob top 20.

[0079] Arranged in a coherently bonded manner on a surface, as shown in FIG. 3, an upper surface, of the support 10 there are two conductor tracks 60, 61, which are partly covered by the potting composition 20.

[0080] An external edge 21 of this potting composition 20 is at a distance of between 1 mm and 15 mm from an external edge 11 of the support 10.

[0081] Arranged within the potting composition 20 there is a sensor for the contactless detection of an orientation of a magnetic field of the magnet 100, this being combined in the implementation example of FIGS. 2, 3 with an evaluation circuit to give an integrated circuit 40, which is arranged in a coherently bonded manner on the support 10 and is connected by way of bond wires 80 to the conductor tracks 60, 61, which in turn extend beyond the potting composition 20 and by way of which firstly signals from the integrated circuit 40 can be output to lines 300 which, at connections 301, are connected in coherently or frictionally bonded manner to the conductor tracks 60, 61, and by way of which secondly, in the reverse direction, a characteristic curve of the evaluation circuit of the integrated circuit 40 is in-situ programmable, in particular reprogrammable, for the evaluation of the sensor.

[0082] In the implementation example of FIGS. 2, 3, the support 10 is arranged between the potting composition 20 and the magnet 100, the axis R of rotation of which passes through the potting composition 20 and includes an angle of about 0° with a height axis of the support in the direction of its wall thickness, which corresponds with the vertical in FIG. 3.

[0083] In order to detect the fill level, the orientation of the magnetic field of the magnet 100 is detected in contactless manner by the sensor of the integrated circuit 40, and a corresponding signal, processed via the evaluation circuit of the integrated circuit 40 on the basis of a characteristic curve programmed or stored therein, is output by way of the conductor tracks 60, 61 to the lines 300.

[0084] For the production of a plurality of the angle detection devices explained above of identical design, firstly a plurality of the integrated circuits 40 are applied to a support plate 400, indicated by broken lines in FIG. 3, arranged on the surface of which are the respective conductor tracks 60, 61, then the respective potting compositions 20 are arranged in coherently bonded manner with the support plate 400, and then the support plate 400 to which said components have thus been applied is divided to give supports 10 for the, or of the individual angle detection device(s).

[0085] FIG. 4 shows, in a depiction corresponding to FIG. 3, an angle detection arrangement according to another embodiment of the present invention, which can be used instead of the angle detection arrangement of FIGS. 2, 3 for the fuel fill level detection device of FIG. 1.

[0086] Identical reference signs are used here to indicate features that are identical or have identical functions, and reference is therefore made to the description above, and details are provided below only in relation to differences.

[0087] In the implementation example of FIG. 4, the conductor tracks 60, 61 do not extend beyond the potting composition 20, but instead are connected to through-contacts 90, which pass through the support 10 and in turn are connected to conductor tracks 62, which are arranged on the surface of the support 10, said surface facing away from the potting composition (underneath in FIG. 4). The through-contacts 90 are sealed with a filler 92.

[0088] In the implementation example of FIG. 4, furthermore, the sensor 41 for the contactless detection of the orientation of the magnetic field of the magnet 100, the evaluation circuit in the form of a bare chip 42, and also a capacitor 43, are separately configured, respectively arranged in coherently bonded manner on the support 10, and connected by bond wires 80 to the conductor tracks 60, 61.

[0089] In the implementation of example of FIG. 4, the potting composition 20 is moreover arranged between support 10 and magnet 100 and coated with a fuel-resistant covering 70, where in particular the edge or transition region between support and potting composition is also coated with this covering 70.

[0090] FIG. 5 shows a plan view of the support plate 400 during the production of the angle detection device(s).

[0091] Although exemplary embodiments have been explained in the above description, it should be noted that numerous modifications are possible.

[0092] It is therefore also possible in particular to provide three or more conductor tracks instead of the two that are shown.

[0093] In addition, or alternatively, features explained with reference to the implementation example of FIG. 4 can also be realized in the implementation example of FIG. 2, 3 and vice versa, i.e. in particular the integrated circuit 40 and/or the arrangement of the magnet 100 in relation to the support side in the implementation example of FIG. 4, and/or the separate arrangement of sensor 41, evaluation circuit 42 and/or capacitor 43, the covering 70 and/or the arrangement of the magnet 100 in relation to the potting-composite side in the implementation example of FIG. 2, 3. In one embodiment here, the connections 301 and/or corresponding regions of the conductor tracks 60, 61 are free from any covering.

[0094] In addition or alternatively, the sensor 40 or 41 can be arranged, in an embodiment in coherently bonded manner, partly on the two conductor tracks 60, 61 or on one of these two conductor tracks 60, 61, or in an embodiment can (respectively) partly cover these.

[0095] It should be noted, furthermore, that the exemplary embodiments are merely examples which are in no way intended to limit the scope of protection, the applications, and the structure. Instead, the above description gives a person skilled in the art a guideline for the realization of at least one exemplary embodiment, and various changes can be made here, in particular with regard to the function and arrangement of the component parts described, without departing from the scope of protection resulting from the claims and feature combinations equivalent thereto.

[0096] Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.