GB2288082A

GB2288082A - Terminal board

Info

Publication number: GB2288082A
Application number: GB9504793A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alberto Bassi
Original assignee: ITW Fastex Italia SpA
Current assignee: ITW Fastex Italia SpA
Priority date: 1994-03-11
Filing date: 1995-03-09
Publication date: 1995-10-04
Anticipated expiration: 2015-03-09
Also published as: BR9500928A; GB2288082B; ITTO940173A0; FR2717315A1; GB9504793D0; ES2110352A1; IT1267406B1; DE19508606A1; ITTO940173A1; ES2110352B1; FR2717315B1

Description

2288082 1 1P - Terminal board, in particular for electric household

aRnliances The present invention relates to a terminal board comprising a main body, and an auxiliary device support, e.g. for a thermal protector or PTC, connectable to the main body; which terminal board is particularly suitable for electrically supplying household appliance facilities, such as the sealed compressor of a refrigerator.

Terminal boards of the above type are described in EP- A-0313024, wherein the main body forms the actual terminal board with all the contacts for wiring, while the support provides simply for supporting the auxiliary devices and relative supply circuits, and one or more blade contacts which, when the support is connected to the main body, are inserted inside corresponding female connectors which must be electrically connected to the main supply contacts on the main body.

Terminal boards of the above type are therefore expensive and relatively bulky, due to the two parts of the terminal board having to be electrically connected when fitted together.

Moreover, supports for auxiliary thermal protectors particularly the PTCs used for controlling refrigerator compressors - are invariably expensive to produce (being moulded from synthetic plastics materials) and to assemble, due to comprising a number of parts, e.g. at least a base and a cover, for housing all or part of the auxiliary devices. 30 It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact, low-cost, terminal board of the aforementioned type, which provides for troublefree assembly and for overcoming the above drawbacks typically associated with known types. According to the present invention, a terminal board, in particular for electric household appliances, comprises a main body; a support for one or more auxiliary devices, 2 W_ e.g. a thermal protector or PTC, connectable to the main body; and a number of main electric contacts for connection to the wires of a supply cable; characterized in that at least one of said main electric contacts of the terminal board is fixed to the support, while the other main contact (s) are fixed side by side to the main body and aligned with an opening formed through the main body; the support being so formed that, when it is connected to the main body, said at least one main contact on the support fits through said opening and to the side of the other main contact (s), so as to def ine a composite electric connecting element in the form of a connector connectable to a single external connector.

As such, the terminal board may be moulded cheaply and easily from synthetic plastics material, by virtue of the precise function of each part, thus eliminating shapes that are too complex to achieve in a single moulding operation, while at the same time enabling troublefree, low-cost connection of the various electrical parts of the terminal board by means of a single external connector, with no need for means whereby to electrically connect the two parts of the terminal board.

Preferably, the support presents a seat for a said auxiliary device, in particular for a PTC pellet, defined by a recess between a respective pair of blade contacts and open on a first side facing said blade contacts, and on a second side perpendicular and adjacent to the first, for permitting insertion of the device inside the seat, the seat, when the support is connected to the main body, being closed along said sides by respective plugging elements forming one piece with the main body.

As such, the part of the terminal board defined by the auxiliary device support may be formed compactly and produced and assembled cheaply by eliminating the usual cover for enclosing and protecting the PTC pellet.

3 p A non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view, on the supply side, of a terminal board in accordance with the present invention; Figures 2 and 3 are exploded side and front views, respectively, of the two component elements of the terminal board of Figure 1; and Figures 4 and 5 are a side view and a side section, respectively, of the terminal board of Figure 1.

The accompanying drawings show a terminal board 1, here as an example suitable for a known refrigerator compressor (not shown), comprising a first element defined by a main body 2, and a second element connectable to the is first and defined by a support 3 for one or more auxiliary devices of the appliance, e.g. a starter, and a thermal protector 4 comprising a PTC pellet 5 (Figure 2), hereinafter referred to simply as PTC 4, and, like pellet 5, of known type shown only schematically.

Elements 2 and 3 are made of insulating material, e.g. synthetic plastics material, and are moulded separately using known injection techniques.

Terminal board I also comprises at least one number of main electric contacts 6, 7, 8 for connection respectively to the neutral, live and ground wires of a known supply cable (not shown) of the appliance.

At least one of the main electric contacts 6, 7, 8 of terminal board 1 in the example shown, neutral contact 6 - is fixed to support 3, while the other main contacts 7, 8 are fixed side by side to main body 2 and aligned with a rectangular opening 10 (Figure 3) formed through main body 2. As shown clearly in Figures 1 and 3, main body 2 and support 3 are so formed as to be mutually connected on the opposite side to contacts 7, 8, and with contact 6 (Figures 1, 4, 5) facing body 2 and through opening 10.

More specifically, contacts 6, 7, 8 consist of semi blanked, bent sheet metal elements, each presenting one or 4 W M M more known contact blades 11 for connection to Faston (RTM) type female connectors, and are fitted by means of screws 12 to f ace 13 of support 3 and f ace 14 of body 2, f rom which blades 11 project perpendicularly.

As such, when elements 2 and 3 are connected, contact 6 is located to the side of and equioriented in relation to contacts 7 and 8 with which it defines, on terminal board 1 - in particular, on f ace 14 (Figure 1) - a composite electric connecting element in the form of a connector def ined by blades 11, indicated as a whole by 15, and formed jointly by side by side contacts 6, 7, 8. The side by side arrangement of contacts 6, 7, 8 also provides for connecting composite connecting element 15 to a known single external connector (not shown) with a multiple -contact base, i.e. with a number of individual Faston (RTM) connectors.

According to one possible variation (not shown, but which falls within the same inventive scope), terminal board 1 may be more complex, e.g. may present more than three main contacts, so that the above description relative to contact 6 may also apply to a number of contacts. In which case, support 3 will present two or more contacts 6, as opposed to one, and body 2 will present a number of openings or a larger single opening 10.

Terminal board 1 in the example shown also comprises a number of auxiliary blade contacts 16, 18 which, depending on the wiring, may be either connected enbloc to or fully independent of contacts 6, 7, 8. In the example shown, contacts 16 are formed enbloc with contacts 6, 7, 8, and at least some of them (indicated 16a) are f ixed to support 3 and f ormed enbloc with contact 6. Support 3 also presents a pair of blade contacts 18 perpendicular to contacts 16a and also connected enbloc to contact 6.

Contacts 16a and 18 are so formed on support 3 that, when support 3 is connected to main body 2, they f it through respective corresponding openings 20 and 21 formed through main body 2. On the other hand, contacts 16 on body W r 2 are formed on face 14 so that, when elements 2 and 3 are connected, contacts 16 and 18 all project perpendicularly from face 14, together with contact 6, on the same side as main contacts 7, 8.

Support 3 and body 2 are preferably snap-on connected so that they are stable but removable, and may be connected either directly by fitting contacts 16a, 18 through respective openings 20, 21, or, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, by means of respective guides 24 and flexible teeth 25 projecting perpendicularly on body 2 on face 26 opposite face 14, and which are engaged by respective appropriately shaped portions 27 of support 3.

In the non-limiting example shown (Figures 2, 4, 5), support 3 presents a housing 30 for the starter of the motor of said compressor serviced by terminal board 1; and a seat 31 for thermal protector 4 defined by PTC pellet 5 and by a pair of flexible contact plates 32 between which pellet 5 is pushed in. Seat 31 is defined by a recess formed in portion 27 and located between the two blade contacts 18 which are each formed enbloc with a respective plate 32 from which they extend radially in the same direction and parallel to each other. Recess or seat 31 is open on a first side 40 facing contacts 18, and on a second side 41 (Figures 2 and 3) perpendicular and adjacent to side 40, and is closed on the other sides by the walls of support 3 forming portion 27.

The two open sides 40 and 41 of seat 31 are closed, with no need for the usual lid when support 3 and body 2 are connected to each other, by plugging elements provided on body 2.

More specifically, side 41, which is perpendicular to faces 14, 26 when support 3 is connected to body 2, is closed by a plugging element defined by a tab or wall So formed in one piece with body 2 and projecting from face 26; and face 26 faces and closes side 40, in the example shown, by means of a channel-shaped rib 44 extending from 6 p face 14 of body 2 and presenting the two through openings 21 for blade contacts 18 of the thermal protector.

il a ]m 7

Claims

1. A terminal board, in particular for electric household appliances, comprising a main body; a support for one or more auxiliary devices, e.g. a thermal protector or PTC, connectable to the main body; and a number of main electric contacts for connection to the wires of a supply cable; characterized in that at least one of said main electric contacts of the terminal board is fixed to the support, while the other main contact(s) are fixed side by side to the main body and aligned with an opening formed through the main body; the support being so formed that, when it is connected to the main body, said at least one main contact on the support fits through said opening and to the side of is the other main contact(s), so as to define a composite electric connecting element in the form of a connector connectable to a single external connector.

2. A terminal board according to claim 1, in which a number of electric blade contacts are provided, at least some of which are fixed to the support and formed enbloc with said at least one main contact on the support; said blade contacts, when the support is connected to the main body, fitting through respective corresponding through openings in the main body and projecting perpendicularly from a face of the main body, on the same side as the main contacts.

3. A terminal board according to claim 2, in which the support is snapon connected mechanically to the main body.

4. A terminal board according to claim 3, in which said snap-on connection is achieved by means of said blade contacts.

5. A terminal board according to any preceding claim, in which the support presents a seat for said auxiliary device(s) - in particular for a PTC pellet - defined by a recess between a pair of blade contacts and open on a first side facing said blade contacts, and on a second side perpendicular and adjacent to the first, for permitting 8 ]m insertion of the device inside the seat, said seat, when the support is connected to the main body, being closed along said sides by respective plugging elements integral with the main body.

6. A terminal board according to claim 5, in which said plugging elements are defined by a channel-shaped rib formed on a face of the main body, on the same side as the main contacts, and presenting a pair of through openings for said pair of blade contacts, and by a wall formed integral with the main body and projecting perpendicularly on the opposite side to said face of the main body.

7. A terminal board substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.