Method for producing an electrical connection part

Abstract

The subject matter of the invention relates to a method for producing an electrical connection part, in which an electrical conductor (2) is provided, the electrical conductor (2) is electroplated and a contact area (4)of the conductor (2) is exposed by removing the electroplating (6). A method is to be specified with the subject matter of the invention which enables an electroplating (6) provided on the connection part (22) to be removed in a way which is particularly cost-effective and reliable. This is achieved according to the subject matter of the invention by removing the electroplating (6) in the contact area (4) using a beaming source (8).

Claims

1. Method for producing an electrical connection part comprising: providing an electrical conductor; electroplating the electrical conductor; exposing a contact area of the electrical conductor by removing the electroplating in the contact area using a beaming source.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein at least one joint formed between two conductor components of the electrical conductor is electroplated, and in that the electroplating on the electrical conductor is removed at a distance (X) from the joint, so that the joint is still electroplated after the contact area has been exposed.

3. Method according to claim 1 wherein the beaming source is a laser beam source.

4. Method according to claim 2, wherein the contact area on the connection part is formed at a distance (X) of less than 2 mm from the joint, and/or in that the width (B1) of the contact area measured transverse to the longitudinal extension of the electrical conductor is at least 80% of the width (B2) of the respective conductor component measured transverse to the longitudinal extension of the electrical conductor.

5. Method according to claim 1, wherein the electroplating in the contact area is removed essentially free of residue.

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the roughness of the surface of the exposed contact area is set by a surface treatment with the beaming source such that the surface of the exposed contact area in particular has an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of less than 15 μm.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein when providing the electrical conductor a first conductor component and a second conductor component of the electrical conductor are firmly bonded together, wherein the first and/or the second conductor components are formed as flat conductors.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein the electrical conductor comprises a copper and/or an aluminium material.

9. Method according to claim 1, wherein the electrical conductor is provided as a strip, wherein the strip is at least partly split up into strip sections, in particular is blanked, before or after plating takes place.

10. Method according to claim 1, wherein the electroplating takes place by means of strip plating or barrel plating.

11. Method according to claim 1, wherein the electrical conductor is coated with at least one electrically insulating material after the electroplating and before the contact area is exposed.

12. Electrical connection part produced according to a method according to claim 1.

13. Electrical connection part according to claim 12, wherein at least one joint formed between two conductor components of the electrical conductor is electroplated, wherein the exposed contact area is arranged at a distance (X) from the electroplated joint, wherein the contact area on the connection part is in particular formed at a distance (X) of less than 2 mm from the joint and/or in that the width (B1) of the contact area measured transverse to the longitudinal extension of the electrical conductor is at least 80% of the width of the respective conductor component measured transverse to the longitudinal extension of the electrical conductor.

14. Electrical connection part according to claim 13, wherein the surface of the contact area exposed by the beaming source has an arithmetic mean roughness Ra of less than 15 μm.

15. Electrical connection part according to claim 12, wherein the electroplating in the contact area is removed essentially free of residue.

16. Electrical connection part according to claim 12, wherein the electrical conductor has a first conductor component and a second conductor component and/or in that the conductor components of the electrical conductor are firmly bonded together and are roll-clad.

17. Electrical connection part according to claim 12, wherein the electrical conductor has a first conductor component and a second conductor component and wherein the first and/or the second conductor components are formed as flat conductors.

18. Electrical connection part according to claim 12, wherein the electrical conductor has a first conductor component and a second conductor component and in that the first and/or the second conductor components are formed from a copper or an aluminium material, wherein the conductor components are formed from different metal materials.

Description

[0032] The subject matter is described in more detail below with the aid of the figures showing exemplary embodiments.

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a schematic design of a production method;

[0034] FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a first method step A;

[0035] FIG. 3 shows another schematic illustration of the method according to FIG. 1;

[0036] FIG. 4 shows a second schematic design of a production method;

[0037] FIG. 5 shows a third schematic design of a production method;

[0038] FIG. 6 shows a plan view of an electrical connection part;

[0039] FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of the electrical connection part from FIG. 6;

[0040] FIG. 8 shows another sectional view of the electrical connection part from FIG. 6.

[0041] A schematic design of a method according to the subject matter for producing an electrical connection part is illustrated in FIG. 1. In a first method step A, an electrical conductor 2 is provided. In a second method step B, the electrical conductor 2 is electroplated. In a third method step C, a contact area 4 of the electrical conductor 2 is exposed. In the process, the electroplating 6 is removed using a beaming source 8. The electrical conductor 2 is produced from a first conductor component 10 and a second conductor component 12. The first conductor component 10 is a flat conductor consisting of a copper material, while the second conductor component 12 is a flat conductor consisting of an aluminium material. However, it is also possible for this combination to be formed exactly the other way round. The first conductor component 10 and the second conductor component 12 can each be provided in a coil and continuously conveyed to the device 14. The first conductor component 10 and the second conductor component 12 can be firmly bonded together in the device 14 by roll cladding.

[0042] A schematic illustration of the roll cladding taking place in the first method step A is shown in FIG. 2. The conductor component 10 and the conductor component 12 are conveyed to the device 14 such that the conductor component 12 is received in a groove provided on the conductor component 10. The conductor component 10 and the conductor component 12 are joined by a roller (not illustrated) provided in the device 14 in such a way that they are flush with the adjacent areas in the area of a surface 16. However, with roll cladding the groove can also be omitted.

[0043] In the second method step B, the electrical conductor 2 formed from the conductor components 10 and 12 is guided through the apparatus 18 in which the electrical conductor 2 is electroplated. The apparatus 18 is a strip plating apparatus. The electrical conductor 2 is, in a continuous process, guided through one or more electrolytic baths and is provided with a plating 6 which is, for example, a few micrometres thick. In method step B, one or more electroplated layers can be deposited on the electrical conductor. A respective layer can, for example, comprise nickel and/or tin. After the electroplating, in method step B another electrically insulating layer can be applied. This layer serves to prevent leakage currents in the completed state of the connection part.

[0044] In the third method step C, the contact area 4 of the electrical conductor 2 is exposed, wherein the electroplating 6 is removed by means of the beaming source 8. In the example illustrated here, the beaming source 8 is a laser beam source. As can be gathered from the schematic illustration according to FIG. 3, the electrical conductor 2 provided with the electroplating 6 and the insulating layer is guided past the beaming source 8 in a continuous process. In the process, the electroplating 6 essentially completely vaporises in the contact area 4, so that the electroplating 6 is removed essentially free of residue. In this way, the conductor component 12, i.e. the aluminium conductor, is exposed, so that in the contact area 4 another conductor (not illustrated) can be directly joined to the aluminium conductor. In particular, in the area of the contact point, a homogeneous connection with another conductor which consists of the material of the contact point can be produced. Another conductor consisting of another material can be firmly bonded to the plating.

[0045] In a fourth method step D, individual sections 20 are separated or split off from the continuous material formed from the two coils of the conductor components 10 and 12, from which individual sections 20 separate electrical connection parts 22 are produced in the further course of the process. The separation process can be effected by means of a blanking device 24, in which, in addition to the separation, shaped elements can also be formed on a respective connection part 22.

[0046] A second schematic design of a production method according to the subject matter of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 4. The design shown in this exemplary embodiment differs from the method described with regard to FIGS. 1 to 3, in that the sections 20 have already been split off directly after the electroplating. The separation process D, previously executed as the fourth method step, now takes place before exposure of the contact area 4 according to method step C. The individual sections 20 can, as illustrated here, already be completely separated from one another or alternatively remain joined together along a longitudinal side via a common band or a common transport strip, in order to make transporting of the sections 20 in the further course of the process easier.

[0047] FIG. 5 shows a third schematic design of a production method according to the subject matter of the invention, in which in this case splitting up of the continuous material formed from the conductor components 10 and 12 into sections 20 already takes place before the plating. In this case, the unplated sections 20 are conveyed to a barrel plating apparatus 26 in method step B. Compared to the previously described methods, this approach has the advantage that the separation or cut edges, along which the sections 20 are separated from one another, are also plated.

[0048] Preferably, in the case of the above described methods, the contact area 4 is exposed directly before joining a further conductor, so that the formation of a non-conducting aluminium oxide layer in the contact area 4 can be prevented.

[0049] An electrical connection part 22, which was produced according to one of the above described methods, is described below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8.

[0050] FIG. 6 shows a plan view of the electrical connection part 22 which has a conductor component 10 and a conductor component 12. The electrical connection part 22 is provided with a metallic plating 6. The plating 6 covers two joints 28 formed between the conductor components 10, 12. It is evident that the respective joint 28 is arranged at a distance X from the exposed contact area 4, so that the joint 28 is completely covered by the plating 6. The distance X is less than 1 mm in the example illustrated here. The width B1 of the contact area 4 is approximately 90% of the width B2 of the aluminium conductor 12. In addition, a through-hole 30, for receiving a screw or a bolt for example, is formed on the electrical connection part 22.

[0051] A sectional view of the electrical connection part 22 along the line VII-VII from FIG. 6 is illustrated in FIG. 7. As can be clearly identified here, the joint 28 is protected from the environment by the plating 6. Layer removal on the surface 32 of the contact area was firstly carried out using the laser beam source 8 and directly after that the surface 32 of the contact area was smooth finished. An arithmetic mean roughness of approximately 10 μm was set on the surface 32 by means of the beaming source 8.

[0052] FIG. 8 shows another sectional view of the electrical connection part from FIG. 6 along the line VIII. While the previously described specifications equally apply for both the first and the second described production methods for producing an electrical connection part 2, the specifications with regard to the plating 6 according to FIG. 8 are limited to the third production method which makes use of barrel plating 26. Thus, it can be identified here that the plating 6 also covers the junction between the conductor component 10 and the conductor component 12 along the lateral separation faces 34, 36 and in this way protects against environmental influences.