EP0731978B1 - Verfahren zur regelung der schaltstrecke in einem reed-schalter - Google Patents

Verfahren zur regelung der schaltstrecke in einem reed-schalter Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0731978B1
EP0731978B1 EP95929989A EP95929989A EP0731978B1 EP 0731978 B1 EP0731978 B1 EP 0731978B1 EP 95929989 A EP95929989 A EP 95929989A EP 95929989 A EP95929989 A EP 95929989A EP 0731978 B1 EP0731978 B1 EP 0731978B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
reed
switch
gap
envelope
laser
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP95929989A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP0731978A1 (de
Inventor
Willem Hoving
Johannes Paulus Cornelis Van Dooren
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
COTO TECHNOLOGY BV
Original Assignee
Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV
Philips Electronics NV
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Publication date
Application filed by Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, Philips Electronics NV filed Critical Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV
Publication of EP0731978A1 publication Critical patent/EP0731978A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0731978B1 publication Critical patent/EP0731978B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H51/00—Electromagnetic relays
    • H01H51/28—Relays having both armature and contacts within a sealed casing outside which the operating coil is located, e.g. contact carried by a magnetic leaf spring or reed
    • H01H51/287—Details of the shape of the contact springs
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H11/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of electric switches
    • H01H11/005—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of electric switches of reed switches
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00—Contacts
    • H01H1/64—Protective enclosures, baffle plates, or screens for contacts
    • H01H1/66—Contacts sealed in an evacuated or gas-filled envelope, e.g. magnetic dry-reed contacts
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H11/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of electric switches
    • H01H11/04—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of electric switches of switch contacts

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a method of adjusting the mutual separation of the overlapping metallic cantilever members within the vitreous envelope of a reed switch.
  • two lightweight metallic rods are hermetically sealed through opposite ends of an elongated hollow glass tube in such a manner that they extend substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tube.
  • a portion of each rod within the tube is flattened out, and these flattened portions (referred to as "reeds") are mutually positioned in such a way as to face each other across a narrow intervening gap (of the order of a fraction of a millimeter) and to overlap each other.
  • Each rod behaves as a cantilever, since it is fixed at one end into the wall of the glass tube, but is free at its flattened end.
  • a portion of each rod protrudes outward through the wall of the tube, to facilitate electrical contact with the portion located within the tube.
  • the rods, or at least their flattened portions comprise a soft-magnetic material such as NiFe.
  • a soft-magnetic material such as NiFe.
  • the flattened portions Under the influence of an appropriate external magnetic field, which can penetrate the vitreous tube, the flattened portions thus become magnetised and mutually attracted, and will converge and physically contact one another if the external field is strong enough.
  • the assembly can act as a magnetically-triggered electrical switch.
  • the reed switch can be used as an electrical relay.
  • the value of the external magnetic field strength at which the reeds are caused to contact each other is referred to as the AW-value of the reed switch.
  • the term "AW” is an abbreviation for "Ampère Winding", in reference to the fact that the magnetic field strength generated along the longitudinal axis of a current-carrying coil is determined both by the magnitude of the electrical current in the coil and by the fashion in which the coil is wound (number of turns per axial unit of length, and the radius of the turns).
  • the AW-value of the reed switch is inter alia a sensitive function of the size of the gap between the flattened portions.
  • Reed switches are usually manufactured in batches according to the specifications of a given customer, and a particular customer's stipulated admissible range of AW-values is generally the most crucial quality-control factor in meeting each order.
  • AW-value the very nature of the reed switch itself results in inevitable deviations from the desired gap-value (and thus AW-value) for a given batch, since automated sealing of lightweight and easily-pliable metallic rods into the walls of a tiny glass envelope can hardly be expected to occur with an absolute guarantee of a strictly maintained mutual orientation, degree of overlap and intervening gap.
  • a typical batch of reed switches will demonstrate a (Gaussian) distribution of gap-values around the intended gap-value.
  • a method of adjusting the mutual separation of the overlapping metallic cantilever members within the vitreous envelope of a reed switch characterised in that a beam of radiant energy to which the envelope is substantially transparent is directed for a controlled period of time through the envelope onto a localised area of at least one of the members, thereby effecting permanent thermally-induced bending of that member about the irradiated area.
  • the inventors directed a controlled, sharply-focused burst of laser radiation through the glass envelope of a reed switch and onto the "back" of one of the reeds therewithin, i.e. onto that surface of the flattened portion facing away from the opposing reed.
  • the metallic material in the highly-localised irradiated area was hereby abruptly heated and caused to expand, forcing the reed-back to temporarily bend away from the irradiating beam.
  • the reed-back bent back through its original position, and became permanently bent towards the original line of the irradiating beam. It is postulated that this change in bending-direction was caused by the occurrence of plastic deformation in the metallic material within the irradiated area, whereby cooling of the irradiated material caused it to undergo a net contraction.
  • the same method can also be successfully used to obtain a decrease in the switch-gap, by directing the irradiating beam onto the "front" of one of the reeds (i.e. onto that surface of the flattened portion facing toward the opposing reed) instead of onto its back.
  • This is made possible by the fact that the flattened portions (generally) only overlap to a slight extent, so that a relatively large portion of each can be accessed from all sides.
  • the obtained change ⁇ g in the gap-value can be tailored by appropriate choice of a number of parameters. These include:
  • a particular embodiment of the inventive method is characterised in that the beam of radiant energy is embodied as a pulsed laser beam.
  • the beam of radiant energy is embodied as a pulsed laser beam.
  • the beam By pulsing the beam, its energy content is concentrated into successive short bursts, in which the delivered power is consequently much greater than in the case of a continuous energy output.
  • Particularly suitable pulsing for this purpose can be achieved, for example, by optically pumping the employed laser device with a flash source.
  • the pulse-length of the employed laser radiation is chosen to lie in the range 0.1-2.0 ms, and the delivered radiative energy per pulse is chosen to lie in the range 0.05-1.0 J.
  • Values within these ranges typically result in ⁇ g-adjustments of the order of 10-20% per radiative "shot" (for x i in the range 0.5-4.5 mm), with negligible production of evaporated metallic material. ⁇ g-adjustments of this size are quite practical, since smaller adjustments (e.g. 5%) generally fall within the tolerances quoted by the customer anyway.
  • the manner in which the reed bends under the influence of irradiation is inter alia a function of y i .
  • y i is zero (i.e. when the reed is irradiated at some point along its longitudinal axis)
  • the bending motion of the reed occurs linearly in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane of the flattened portion.
  • y i has a value other than zero (i.e. when the reed is irradiated at a point to one side of its longitudinal axis)
  • the bending motion of the reed will additionally contain a degree of torsion about the longitudinal axis.
  • Such torsion decreases the homogeneity of the switch-gap, since it causes one edge of the irradiated flattened portion to be twisted towards the opposing reed, whilst the facing edge is twisted away from the opposing reed.
  • this effect can be prevented by ensuring that the reed is irradiated symmetrically with respect to its longitudinal axis, e.g. by successively (or simultaneously) irradiating it at two points which are mirror images of one another in the longitudinal axis.
  • the homogeneity of the change ⁇ g in the switch-gap improves even further when the irradiated region on the reed's surface extends across the full width of the reed (measured substantially at right angles to the reed's longitudinal axis).
  • One way of achieving such irradiation is to quickly scan a sharply focused laser beam across the width of the reed, thereby creating a narrow "score mark" instead of a spot-like burn.
  • typically suitable scan speeds of the laser beam across the reed surface generally lie in the range 20-600 mm/s.
  • an advantageous embodiment of the inventive method is characterised in that the employed laser radiation has a wavelength in the range 525-540 nm, to which the commonly used green glasses are highly transparent. Radiation of this wavelength, and of sufficient intensity, can be conveniently derived from a (pulsed) frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser, for example.
  • the induced alteration ⁇ g of the switch gap is dependent upon the geometrical positioning of the localised irradiated area on the reed, inter alia via the parameters x i and y i .
  • the inventors have developed an apparatus for accurately positioning the reed switch with respect to the irradiating beam.
  • This apparatus employs an electromagnetic coil both to orient the reed switch and to determine its AW-value, whilst a television camera is used to accurately aim the irradiating beam with respect to the reed's free extremity (thereby determining x i , and ultimately ⁇ ).
  • FIGS 1-4 render various views of a reed switch whose switch-gap has been adjusted in accordance with the current inventive method.
  • Corresponding features in the various Figures are denoted by identical reference symbols.
  • the Figures are not drawn to scale, so as to facilitate clear illustration of the various aspects of the inventive method.
  • FIG 1 shows an elevation of a reed switch 1 in which the switch-gap has been adjusted using the method according to the invention.
  • the switch 1 comprises an oblong green glass envelope 3 (in practice, of the order of 10 mm long) into which two metallic cantilever members 5, 7 have been sealed at opposite ends. These members 5, 7 are comprised of a soft-magnetic NiFe alloy (permalloy). They are substantially parallel, and have flattened portions 9, 11 which overlap in the region 17. Also depicted are the longitudinal axes 13, 15 of the respective members 5, 7.
  • Figure 2 renders a plan view of the same reed switch 1.
  • Figure 3 depicts the central region of Figure 1 in more detail.
  • the switch is in its relaxed state, with an open gap between the flattened portions 9, 11.
  • Each of these portions 9, 11 has a "back" surface 9a, 11a and a "front” surface 9b, 11b.
  • the minimum separation of the front surfaces 9b and 11b, measured perpendicular to the (local) plane of one of these surfaces, defines the size (value) of the switch-gap.
  • the portions 9, 11 had an original switch-gap of size g, but this has since been increased by an amount ⁇ g using the inventive method.
  • a localised region of the back surface 11a was briefly irradiated at a location p situated at a distance x i from the free extremity 19 of the flattened portion 11, thereby causing the free end of the portion 11 to bend slightly about point p through an angle a with respect to the longitudinal axis 15, in a direction away from opposing portion 9.
  • the irradiating beam 21 is here schematically illustrated via a dashed outline.
  • a further possibility is to irradiate a localised region of the front surface 11b of the portion 11, in which case the free end of that portion 11 can be caused to bend towards the opposing portion 9.
  • Figure 4 renders a (partial) plan view of the flattened portions 9, 11 as depicted in Figure 3.
  • the mark 23 made by the irradiating beam 21 is schematically depicted.
  • the mark 23 extends across the full width of the reed-back 11a along the axis 25, and was made by rapidly drawing the (sharply focused) irradiating beam 21 across the surface 11a along the axis 25.
  • the reed-back 11a can also be irradiated at one or more distinct points along the axis 25. It is then preferable to position these points symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis 15, e.g. by irradiating at a single point at the intersection of axes 15 and 25, or by irradiating at two points on the axis 25 which are mirror images of each other in the axis 15, etc.
  • the glass tube 3 has a length of about 14 mm and a diameter of about 2.5 mm.
  • the flattened portions 9, 11 are each approximately 4.5 mm long, 1.2 mm wide and 0.15 mm thick.
  • the amount of longitudinal overlap 17 is about 0.2 mm, and the gap-value g is approximately 30 ⁇ m (depending on the exact specifications of a given batch).
  • the inventors irradiated the back 11a of each flattened portion 11 using a beam 21 from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser, with a wavelength of 532 nm and a pulse-length of 0.5 ms.
  • the beam 21 was focused to an approximate diameter of 200 ⁇ m, and each reed switch was subjected to a single "shot" at some point along its longitudinal axis 15.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Manufacture Of Switches (AREA)

Claims (4)

  1. Verfahren zur Regelung des Abstandes zwischen den sich überlappenden metallischen Biegefederelementen in der Glashülle eines Reed-Schalters, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß ein Strahlungsenergiebündel, für das die Hülle im Wesentlichen transparent ist, während einer bestimmten Periode durch die Hülle hindurch auf ein bestimmtes Gebiet wenigstens eines der Elemente gerichtet wird, wodurch dauerhaft eine thermisch induzierte Biegung dieses Elementes um das bestrahlte Gebiet herum verursacht wird.
  2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß das Strahlungsenergiebündel als gepulstes Laserbündel ausgebildet ist.
  3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 2, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Impulslänge der Laserstrahlung in dem Bereich von 0,1 - 2,0 ms gewählt ist und daß die gelieferte Strahlungsenergie je Impuls in dem Bereich von 0,05 - 1,0 J gewählt ist.
  4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 2 oder 3, wobei die Glashülle eine grüne Farbe hat, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Laserstrahlung eine Wellenlänge im Bereich von 525 - 540 nm aufweist und von einem in der Frequenz verdoppelten Nd:YAG-Laser hergeleitet wird.
EP95929989A 1994-10-04 1995-09-20 Verfahren zur regelung der schaltstrecke in einem reed-schalter Expired - Lifetime EP0731978B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NL9420286 1994-10-04
NL9420286 1994-10-04
PCT/IB1995/000771 WO1996010833A1 (en) 1994-10-04 1995-09-20 Method of adjusting the switch-gap in a reed switch

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0731978A1 EP0731978A1 (de) 1996-09-18
EP0731978B1 true EP0731978B1 (de) 1998-06-10

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95929989A Expired - Lifetime EP0731978B1 (de) 1994-10-04 1995-09-20 Verfahren zur regelung der schaltstrecke in einem reed-schalter

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EP (1) EP0731978B1 (de)
JP (1) JP3645266B2 (de)
DE (1) DE69502928T2 (de)
WO (1) WO1996010833A1 (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN103310094A (zh) * 2013-04-23 2013-09-18 哈姆林电子(苏州)有限公司 一种干簧管at值调整方法

Families Citing this family (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2796622B2 (ja) * 1996-03-07 1998-09-10 セイコーインスツルメンツ株式会社 微細加工方法および微細加工構造物
DE69908098T2 (de) 1999-06-10 2004-04-08 Chevron Chemical S.A. Erdalkalimetalsulfonate, ihre Verwendung als Schmierölzusatz und Herstellungsmethode
DE10210344A1 (de) * 2002-03-08 2003-10-02 Univ Bremen Verfahren zur Herstellung mikromechanischer Bauteile und nach dem Verfahren hergestellte Bauteile
EP1381063B1 (de) * 2002-07-10 2004-11-24 Kearney-National Netherlands Holding B.V. Verfahren zur Regelung der Schaltstrecke der Kontaktzungen in einem Reed-Schalter
JP4682130B2 (ja) 2003-06-26 2011-05-11 コーニンクレッカ フィリップス エレクトロニクス エヌ ヴィ 曲げカミソリ刃及びそのようなカミソリ刃の製造
RU2667495C1 (ru) * 2017-12-28 2018-09-21 Акционерное общество "Рязанский завод металлокерамических приборов" ("АО "РЗМКП") Способ регулирования взаимного расположения контакт-деталей геркона

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CH500583A (de) * 1969-06-06 1970-12-15 Hasler Ag Verfahren und Vorrichtung zum Regulieren von Reed-Relais
US4179798A (en) * 1978-04-12 1979-12-25 Western Electric Co., Inc. Methods of adjusting sealed contact switches
DE2918100A1 (de) * 1979-05-04 1980-11-13 Siemens Ag Automatisiertes justieren in der feinwerktechnik
DE3235714A1 (de) * 1982-09-27 1984-03-29 Siemens AG, 1000 Berlin und 8000 München Verfahren und vorrichtung zum justieren von kontaktfedern in einem relais

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN103310094A (zh) * 2013-04-23 2013-09-18 哈姆林电子(苏州)有限公司 一种干簧管at值调整方法

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPH09506466A (ja) 1997-06-24
EP0731978A1 (de) 1996-09-18
WO1996010833A1 (en) 1996-04-11
DE69502928D1 (de) 1998-07-16
JP3645266B2 (ja) 2005-05-11
DE69502928T2 (de) 1998-12-24

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