Method for manufacturing an arrangement comprising a housing part and at least two conductor paths

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an assembly with a housing part and at least two conductors of shape sheet metal parts may include providing at least one first conductor formed from at least one sheet metal part and at least one second conductor formed from at least one sheet metal part. The method may then include arranging the first and second conductors in an injection mold in such a way that the first conductor may come into mechanical contact with the second conductor in a common contact zone to produce an electrical connection. The method may then include at least partially overmolding the first and second conductors with a plastic to form a joint housing part. The method may further include bonding the first and second conductors in a region of the common contact zone after at least partially overmolding the first and second conductors.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an assembly with at least two conductors of shape sheet metal parts, comprising: providing at least one first conductor formed from at least one sheet metal part and at least one second conductor formed from at least one sheet metal part; arranging the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor in an injection mould in such a way that the at least one first conductor comes into mechanical contact with the at least one second conductor in a common contact zone to produce an electrical connection; at least partially overmoulding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor with a plastic to form a joint housing part for the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor; and bonding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor in a region of the common contact zone after the at least partially overmoulding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor with the plastic; wherein the at least one first conductor is provided with a first joint section and the at least one second conductor is provided with a second joint section, and wherein at least one of: at least one first projection on a surface of the first joint section abuts a surface of the second joint section facing the first joint section in the common contact zone when arranged in the injection mould; and at least one second projection on a surface of the second joint section abuts a surface of the first joint section facing the second joint section in the common contact zone when arranged in the injection mould.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: cooling the joint housing part below a predetermined temperature threshold before bonding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one first conductor includes at least two first conductors and the at least one second conductor includes at least two second conductors; each first conductor comes into mechanical contact with one second conductor in one common contact zone; and at least one of: the at least two first conductors have a different geometry with regard to each other; and the at least two second conductors have a different geometry with regard to each other.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bonding includes welding or soldering of the at least one first conductor to the at least one second conductor in the region of the common contact zone.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one first projection and the at least one second projection has a grid-like structure in a view from above the corresponding surface of the first joint section or the second joint section.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one first projection and the at least one second projection completely encompass one joint area.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: a common joint zone is defined between the first joint section and the second joint section when the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor are arranged in the injection mold, the common joint zone encompassing the common contact zone; and the bonding includes welding the at least one first conductor to the at least one second conductor in the region of the common contact zone prior to welding in an area of the common joint zone outside of the common contact zone.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the first joint section includes the at least one first projection, the at least one first projection protruding from the first joint section toward the at least one second conductor; the second joint section includes the at least one second projection, the at least one second projection protruding from the second joint section toward the at least one first conductor; and the arranging the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor in the injection mould includes bringing the at least one first projection and the at least one second projection into mechanical contact with one another to define the common contact zone.

9. A method comprising: providing at least two first conductors each formed from a sheet metal part and having different geometries from each other, and at least two second conductors each formed from a sheet metal part and having different geometries from each other; arranging the at least two first conductors and the at least two second conductors in an injection mould in such a way that each first conductor comes into mechanical contact with a corresponding second conductor in a common contact zone to produce an electrical connection; at least partially overmoulding the at least two first conductors and the at least two second conductors with a plastic to form a joint housing part for the at least two first conductors and the at least two second conductors; bonding each first conductor with the corresponding second conductor in a region of the respective common contact zone after the at least partially overmoulding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor with the plastic; and cooling the joint housing part below a predetermined temperature threshold before the bonding each first conductor with the corresponding second conductor; and wherein each first conductor and the corresponding second conductor define a conductor pair of a plurality of conductor pairs, and the at least two first conductors and the at least two second conductors are arranged in the injection mould such that the plurality of conductor pairs are electrically insulated from one other when the at least two first conductors and the at least two second conductors are at least partially overmoulded with the plastic.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein at least one of: each first conductor is provided with a first joint section and each second conductor is provided with a second joint section such that at least one first projection on a surface of the first joint section abuts a surface of the second joint section facing the first joint section in the common contact zone when arranged in the injection mould; and at least one second projection on the surface of the second joint section abuts a surface of the first joint section facing the second joint section in the common contact zone when arranged in the injection mould.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the at least one first projection and the at least one second projection has a grid-like structure in a view from above the corresponding surface of the first joint section or the second joint section.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the at least one first projection and the at least one second projection completely encompass one joint area.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the arranging of the at least two first conductors and the at least two second conductors in the injection mould includes arranging the at least two first conductors and the at least two second conductors such that the common contact zone is positioned in an area of a mould separation defined between two mould parts of the injection mould.

14. A method of manufacturing an assembly with at least two conductors of shape sheet metal parts, comprising: providing at least one first conductor formed from at least one sheet metal part and at least one second conductor formed from at least one sheet metal part; arranging the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor in an injection mould in such a way that the at least one first conductor comes into mechanical contact with the at least one second conductor in a common contact zone to produce an electrical connection; at least partially overmoulding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor with a plastic to form a joint housing part for the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor; and bonding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor in a region of the common contact zone after the at least partially overmoulding the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor with the plastic; wherein the arranging of the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor in the injection mould includes arranging the at least one first conductor and the at least one second conductor such that the common contact zone is positioned in an area of a mould separation defined between two mould parts of the injection mould.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Schematically in each case

(2) FIG. 1 shows a plurality of first and second conductors before overmoulding with plastic,

(3) FIG. 2 shows a rough diagram of a first and a second conductor after arrangement in a moulding tool,

(4) FIG. 3 shows the first and second conductors according to FIG. 1 after overmoulding with plastic,

(5) FIG. 4 shows a detailed view of the conductors of FIG. 1 in the area of a common contact zone,

(6) FIG. 5 shows a view from above of a surface of the first conductor forming the contact zone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(7) FIG. 1 shows a plurality of first conductors 1 and a plurality of second conductors 2 which are provided in the form of sheet metal parts in a first processing stage a). For this sheet metal parts can be punched out of one or more strips of sheet metal. By way of a reshaping process following the punching out, typically through bending and/or bevelling, the sheet metal parts can be reshaped in such a way that they extend in all three directions of three-dimensional space as shown in FIG. 1.

(8) In the example of FIG. 1 the first conductors also labelled with reference number 15a have a different geometry from the first conductors 1 also labelled with reference number 15b. The method according to the invention presented here therefore allows the manufacturing of an assembly with different conductor geometries. It is taken as understood the second conductors 2 can also be selected with different geometries (not shown in FIG. 1). In this way many different variation options are opened up for a person skilled in the art.

(9) From the illustration in FIG. 2 it can be seen that during the course of processing stage b) the first conductors 1 and the second conductors 2 are arranged in an injection mould of an injection tool 16 in such a way that in a common contact zone 3 each first conductor 1 mechanically contacts a second conductor 2 assigned to it in order to produce an electrical connection between the conductors 1, 2 (in FIG. 2 for the sake of clarity only one first conductor 1 and one second conductor 2 are shown). As can be seen from FIG. 2, the injection mould or moulding tool 16 can have a first and a second mould part 17a, 17b. The arrow marked 19 shows the direction of opening of the injection tool 16. The contact zone 3 is preferably located in the area of the mould separation 18 between the two mould sections 17a, 17b.

(10) In FIG. 4 the common contact zone 3 between the first conductor 1 and the second conductor 2 is shown enlarged and in a view from the side. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the first conductor 1 and the second conductor 2 are arranged in such a way with regard to each other that the common contact zone 3 is part of a common joint zone 9 which is formed by a first joint section 10 of the first conductor 1 and by a second joint section 11 of the second conductor 2. In the area of the joint zone 9 the two joint sections 10, 11 are arranged at a distance from one another wherein this distance is at most a predetermined maximum value a. In the contact zone 3 which is part of the joint zone 9, this distance assumes a zero value, i.e. the two joint sections 10, 11 are in aligned contact with each other in the joint section 10, 11. In the joint area 14 complementary to the contact zone 3 the two joint sections 10, 11 are arranged at a distance from one another wherein this distance is at most a predetermined maximum value a. For example the predetermined maximum value a defining the joint zone 9 can be 1 mm for the joints sections 10, 11. Preferably the maximum value is 0.5 mm, particularly preferably 0.1 mm.

(11) As shown in FIG. 4, in order to create the common contact zone 3 in which the two joint section 10, 11 abut each other, i.e. before the bonded connection accordance with stage d) they are mechanically in contact with each other, a first projection 12 can be provided on the surface of the first joint section 10 facing the second joint section 11 of the second conductor 2. This can take place in particular during the course of reshaping of the sheet metal parts. Alternatively or additionally a second projection 13 can be provided on the surface of the second joint section 11 facing the first joint section 10 of the first conductor 1. FIG. 4 shows a special case in which both projections 12, 13 of the first and second conductor 1, 2 respectively abut each other to form the contact zone 3.

(12) Particularly preferably a plurality of first and/or second projections 12, 13 can be provided, wherein in a view from above the projections 12, 13 are arranged on the first surface of the first joint section 10 or on the second surface of the second joint section 11 in a lattice or grid-like manner. This is illustrated as an example in FIG. 5 which shows a view from above of the surface of the first conductor facing the second conductor 2. It can be seen that a plurality of first projections 12 is provided which have a lattice-like structure. As can be seen in FIG. 5 the structure of the lattice can have a diamond-shaped geometry, Several joint areas 14 are completely encompassed through the projections 12. In this way it can be prevented that during injection plastic can enter the fully encompassed joint areas 14 and reduce the electrical connection between the two conductors 1, 2. In variants of the example a grid-like arrangement of the projections 12 is conceivable (not shown). Compared with a lattice-like structure the contact area between the two conductors 1, 2 can be reduced again in this way, On the surface of the second conductor 2 facing the first conductor 1 the projections 12 can also form a lattice-like structure as explained in FIG. 5 by way of the first conductor. The above explanations relating to the first conductor 1 can therefore use mutatis mutandis.

(13) In a third processing stage c) the first conductors 1 and the second conductors 2 are at least partially overmoulded with a plastic to form a housing part 4. In this way the conductors 1, 2 are fixed to the housing part 4 so that the latter can act as a carrier component for the conductors 1, 2. Such a housing part 4 is shown in FIG. 3. The housing part 4 can be part of a multiple part housing (not shown) in which the the conductors 1, 2 are to be incorporated.

(14) In the example in FIG. 3 the housing part 4 is a housing cover 5 which together with a housing base (not shown) defines an interior space 6 of the housing. From FIG. 3 it can be seen that overmoulding can take place in that the second conductor 2 is passed through the housing part 4. In the example in FIG. 3 the end sections (covered by the housing part 4 in FIG. 3, labelled 8 in FIG. 1) passed from the interior space 6 of the housing through the housing part 4 out into the surrounding area 7 form electrical connections which are arranged outside, i.e. on the side of the housing part 4 facing the surrounding area 7.

(15) In a fourth processing stage d) each of the first conductors 1 is connected in a bonded manner, preferably by means of a welded connection, to the second conductor 2 assigned thereto in the region of the contact zone 3. In this way a permanent electrical connection is produced between the first conductors 1 and the respective second conductor 2. Preferably the bonding according to step d) is carried out after cooling of the housing part (4) below a predetermined temperature threshold.

(16) In the example in FIG. 4 the effective contact area through which electrical current flows during the welding procedure is restricted to the projections 12, 13. In this way material melting for the bonded connection between the conductors 1, 2 initially takes place in the very small contact zone and only thereafter in the joint area of the joining zone surrounding contact zone. In this way an improved welding seam is formed.