Housing for an electronic control device in vehicles

[0002] The present invention relates to a housing for an electronic control device in vehicles, comprising a bottom part that has a metallic baseplate, and a cover part made of plastic.

[0003] Housings for electronic control devices in vehicles for occupant restraint systems, which are the subject matter of German Utility Model 29 918 914, are configured as composite bodies consisting of a plastic body part made by injection molding and of a metallic baseplate that is at least partially embedded in a plastic compound. A narrow front side of the housing is left open to be closed by a plug base that is directly fixed to a printed circuit board. With such embodiments, a variation of the printed circuit board design and fittings is usually associated with changes to the plug base and/or to the pin configuration of the plug.

[0004] The present invention provides a housing for electronic control devices in which a uniform design of the housing parts and of the plug collar allows considerable flexibility in terms of the design of the printed circuit board and the number of plug contacts.

[0005] In accordance with the invention, a housing for an electronic control device in vehicles is provided wherein a bottom part has a front wall that rises up from a baseplate and has an integrally molded plug collar. A contact pin carrier that has multiple through holes and that bears contact pins inserted into the holes can be inserted into the plug collar from the inside of the housing. Thus, the configuration of the plug collar is not dependent on the number and arrangement of the contact pins, nor on the shape and arrangement of a printed circuit board to be accommodated in the housing.

[0006] Further advantages and features of the invention ensue from the following description of several embodiments and from the drawings to which reference is made. The drawings show the following:

[0007] FIG. 1—a perspective view of individual Components of the control device;

[0008] FIGS. 2 through 5—various embodiment variants of an electric ground bridge between the baseplate of the housing and a contact element fixed to the printed circuit board.

[0009] The housing of the control device consists of a bottom part 10 made of plastic with an embedded metal baseplate 12 and a cover part 14 made of plastic. The bottom part 10 has a front wall 16 that rises up from the baseplate 12 and to which a plug collar 18 is integrally molded. The front wall 16 is integrally molded with two side walls 20 which, in the assembled state, slope towards a back wall 22 of the housing. The back wall 22 of the housing is molded to the cover part 14 which, in turn, has two perpendicularly adjoining side walls 24 that are complementary to the side walls 20 of the bottom part 10. The metallic baseplate 12 projects beyond the front wall 16 and one side wall 20 of the bottom part 10 and has attachment openings 26 at its corners. A strip-shaped contact pin carrier 28 can be locked in place by means of locking elements (not shown here) in the plug collar 18. The contact pin carrier 28 has a plurality of through holes into which contact pins 32 are inserted. The contact pins 32 are soldered into a printed circuit board 30. The contact pin carrier 28 is also fixed to the printed circuit board 30 via the contact pins 32.

[0010] The separate configuration of the plug collar 18 and of the contact pin carrier 28 has the advantage that the design of the printed circuit board 30 can be changed independently of the plug collar 18. Any design changes then only affect the contact pin carrier 28 whose simple design makes it possible to change the number or arrangement of the contact pins 32 without great effort and thus cost-effectively. The simple design of the contact pin carrier 28 has the advantage that it is space-saving so that an optimal utilization of the printed circuit board surface is possible.

[0011] A contact element 34 is provided to create an electric ground connection between the baseplate 12 and the printed circuit board 30. Four embodiment variants of this electrically conductive contact element 34 are shown in FIGS. 2 through 5.

[0012] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, an elastic and electrically conductive contact lug 36 is soldered onto the printed circuit board 30. At its opposite end, the contact lug 36 makes contact with the metal baseplate 12 of the bottom part 10 that is maintained in that the contact lug 36 is elastically clamped between the printed circuit board 30 and the baseplate 12.

[0013] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a contact lug 36 has been stamped out of the baseplate 12 and is bent upwards essentially at a right angle. The free end of the contact lug 36 opens up essentially parallel to the printed circuit board 30 into a bushing 38 that is fixed to the printed circuit board 30, for example, by a solder connection and by means of which a plug contact with the printed circuit board 30 is established.

[0014] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the baseplate 12 has a boss 40 with a contact borehole 42. A contact pin 44 in the form of a metal screw has been inserted through a borehole in the printed circuit board 30, in such a way that the pin's lower end in FIG. 4 is fixed to the baseplate 12 in the contact borehole 42.

[0015] The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, except for the fact that the contact pin 44 here is configured as a contact rivet 46.

[0016] During the assembly of the control device, the contact pin carrier 28 is attached onto the printed circuit board 30 by means of the contact pins 32 and subsequently inserted into the plug collar 18 from the end that is opposite from the front wall 16 of the bottom part 10. In this process, locking elements (not shown here) cause the contact pin carrier 28 to lock or latch in the plug collar 18 and the printed circuit board 30 is mounted onto support elements (not shown here) that are molded to the bottom part 10. Then, according to one of the above-mentioned embodiment variants, an electrically conductive ground connection is made between the printed circuit board 30 and the baseplate 12. Finally, the cover part 14 is tightly welded with the bottom part 10, for example, by means of a laser welding process.