Field of the Invention

[0001 ] The present invention refers to a housing assembly of voltage suppressor diode, particularly developed for application in starting engine solenoids used on automotive vehicles. More preferably, the solenoid provided with diode housing, object of the invention, comprises technical, constructive and functional features totally innovative and that are capable of having a simple solution, practical, and highly efficient related to the installation and accommodation of diodes on the solenoids without, with this, affecting the structural configuration of diodes or the structure of the starter motors.

Background of the Invention

[0002] According to the prior art, and as should be the knowledge of the skilled in the art, the starter motors are formed by a structure comprised basically by a solenoid cooperating with an actuating lever that, in turn, displaces the pinion or free wheel to connect with the crankshaft of a combustion engine. The actuation of these mechanisms occurs by an electrical supply from when the automotive vehicle conductor rotates the key, actuates the stating button on the vehicle panel or the ECU of the vehicle activates the starting.

[0003] More particularly, at the moment of the starting of combustion engine of the automotive vehicles, the solenoid receives an electrical signal by its actuating terminal of the engine, which is also called "borne #50", in a way to actuate the coil of said solenoid and, this way, generates a magnetic field that pulls the armature of the solenoid, dragging the actuating lever of the stating engine. On this moment, said actuating lever pushes the pinion or free wheel for connecting on the crankshaft gear and, at the same time, solenoid closes the electrical contact of the main circuit and energizes the coil and the armature of the starting engine, producing a magnetic field and, consequently, the rotation movement of the motor with torque and speed sufficient to the crankshaft actuates the combustion engine.

[0004] From the moment that the combustion engine can move by itself, the electrical signal applied on borne #50 of the solenoid can be interrupted and, with this, the coils cease to be energized and pinion or free wheel is, so, disengaged from crankshaft gear, normally by the action of a spring disposed to guarantee this disengagement.

[0005] Sometime ago it was noticed that when the electrical signal on said borne #50 was interrupted, electrical pulses were created because of the inductance properties of the solenoid coils, being these pulses harmful for the electrical system of the automotive vehicles, affecting the equipment and electrical and electronical components functioning.

[0006] Thus, in order to solve and/or minimize these inconvenient, the manufacturing companies of starting engines started to install a voltage suppressor diode together with the solenoid, particularly connected in parallel with the coils, to limit said electrical pulses to more acceptable values and levels to reduce risks and damage to the electrical system of the automotive vehicle.

[0007] In this way, it is known on the prior art a variety of ways to insert, position and install the voltage suppressor diode together with the solenoid structure, which can necessary be connected electrically, in one side with the actuating terminal (borne #50), and on the other side with a reference of electrical grounding that can be, for example, the solenoid shell or solenoid magnetic core.

[0008] One of the known ways of the prior art consists in providing welded supports on the diodes terminals, which are used to fix and contact said electrical contacts of the solenoid. This solution is not practical and simple, once it is necessary to weld the diode terminals together with said supports, so then, insert and install them on the solenoid structure, which makes difficult the assembling process, as well as increases the costs involved. An example of this solution can be seen on document JP2008196373, which describes a diode housing comprising two terminals that are welded or with "knife" ending on the places that the diode wire is mounted, being, thus, built by three components that collaborates with a resin cover.

[0009] Another available solution on the prior art comprises a combination of welding and locking by crimping of the diode terminals together with the solenoid structure. More specifically, this way of insert and install said diode consists on crimping one of diode's terminals together with the male support of borne #50, while the other terminal is welded on the solenoid magnetic core. It is observed that, despite being functional until nowadays, this solution is still complicated, and can be improved and/or optimized, especially regarding the manufacturing process to guarantee the proper positioning of said electrical contacts.

[00010] Additionally, are also known on the prior art solutions which eliminates welds, keeping just the locking by crimping of diode terminals together with respective contacts, this is, folding and crimping the diode terminals on borne #50 and on solenoid magnetic core. However, it is noted that this process is fairly complex and very difficult of being realized on practice, once, as should be appreciated by the person skilled in the art, there is no available space on the solenoid structure for manipulation and crimping of diode terminals and, consequently, there is a great difficulty on having the correct and safe positioning of this diode without the risk of being released.

[0001 1 ] This way, as it is possible to note, the known ways on the prior art for application and installation of suppressor diodes in starter motor solenoids reveals solutions relatively complex, which requires complementary structural elements or substantial adaptations on the solenoid structure as a whole. Besides that, it is noted that these solutions can, additionally, damage the remaining components of the solenoid or the own starter motor, because of the difficulty and complexity of the insertion and installation process of these diodes.

[00012] More particularly, it is verified that the proposed and known solutions until nowadays use welds and/or locking by crimping, means that can affect and damage the diodes and solenoid. Clearly, the welding process is relatively dangerous for the diodes, considering that the high temperatures needed to promote welding can damage the internal structure of the diodes.

[00013] Additionally, the locking by crimping process requires elements and additional parts to support and lock the terminals and, moreover, to serve as connectors of the diodes. It should be noted that this crimping, not rarely, makes the solenoid manufacturing overly laborious, once the access to the parts to be connected and locked can be hard due to the device design, mainly to the tools that perform the process.

[00014] It is noted, therefore, that both fixing and installation ways of diodes faces serious difficulties, due to the available space for manipulation of the elements involved and, consequently, ends up compromising the fixing quality and the contact level necessary to reduce and/or eliminate the problems generated by the electrical pulses coming from coil power up and power down of the starter motor.

[00015] This way, facing all above related, it is possible to note that means for insertion and installation of suppressors diodes on starter motors for automotive vehicles known on prior art presents problems, inconvenient and restrictions for proper accommodation of the diode, as well as the safe disposition of its terminals. More specifically, it can be noted that the current state of the art lacks of solutions capable of effectively eliminate the use of harmful means like weld, as well as solutions that facilitates the crimping problem.

Objectives of the Invention

[00016] Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a diode housing assembly, particularly suitable or solenoids of starter motors, used on automotive vehicles, being comprised by technical, structural and functional features specially developed by solving, simply, efficiently and economically, the limitations and inconvenient revealed by the several known ways on the state of the art of insertion and installation of diodes in solenoids of starter motors.

[00017] More preferentially, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a diode housing assembly whose features were designed to promote the simplification of diodes insertion and installation together with the solenoid structures, facilitating the locking by crimping and, mainly, eliminating the need to use welds.

[00018] It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a diode housing assembly that allows to use the geometries and the currently "available" spaces on the structural components of the solenoid, avoiding, with this, the need of large adaptations and/or modifications that can affect in some way the production lines of the starter motor.

[00019] It is, further, another among the objectives of the present invention, to provide a diode housing assembly whose configuration allows to position, safely and adequately the diode contact terminals, isolating them from each other, and ensuring that each terminal remain in electrical contact with its respective pair.

[00020] Accordingly, synthetizing, it can be said that is one of the main objectives of the present invention to propose a diode housing assembly, especially for starter motors solenoids, constituted by technical aspects developed to facilitate the manufacturing and assembling process of the solenoids, but mainly to assure the positioning of the terminals by the electrical connection by pressing, without requiring large adaptations on the geometrical structure of the solenoid currently available on the market and eliminating the obligatory use of weld.

Summary of the Invention

[00021 ] This way, with the aim to achieve the objectives and technical effects above indicated, the present invention refers to a housing assembly for voltage suppressor diode, especially for starter motor solenoids, said solenoid comprising a lid in which are disposed electrical contact terminals, including an actuating terminal, which is fixed together with the lid body by a fixing element, the assembly characterized by the fact that the fixing element comprises at least one housing port in which the voltage suppressor diode is mounted; the voltage suppressor diode comprises a first terminal and a second terminal, being the first terminal disposed tightly and completely involved by the internal surface of the housing port, providing electrical contact with the fixing element; and the second terminal projecting outside the housing port and cooperating with an intermediate element, responsible for providing electrical grounding of this second terminal.

[00022] In a preferred embodiment of the invention the intermediate element is a metallic support that can be crimped on the second terminal, or comprises an elastic component guiding the second electrical terminal and cooperating with the solenoid lid.

[00023] Preferentially, said intermediate element includes an annular portion with which involves and contacts with the second terminal and at least one rod that extends from the annular portion and projects beyond the longitudinal extension of said second terminal, being the height of the intermediate element larger than the height of the space between the fixing element end and the solenoid magnetic core.

[00024] Furthermore, also according to a second preferred embodiment, the electrical contacts of the first and second terminal of the voltage suppressor diode are due to mounting by interference.

[00025] The present invention relates, also, to a manufacturing and assembling method of housing assembly for voltage suppressor diode, characterized by comprising the following steps:

machining a housing port, which have variable diameter in a fixing element;

inserting a voltage suppressor diode inside the housing port;

assembling an intermediate element together with a first terminal of the voltage suppressor diode;

fixing an actuating terminal together with a solenoid lid, using said fixing element;

assembling said lid together with the solenoid body, causing consequent electrical contact by pressing.

[00026] Optionally, said method can include, before insertion of the voltage suppressor diode inside the housing port, the gluing, welding or injection step of resin on the housing port, between the voltage suppressor diode and the internal surface.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[00027] The features, advantages and technical effects of the present invention as above indicated, will be better understood by a technician on the art, by the following detailed description, merely exemplary, and not limitative, of preferred embodiments, and referred to the schematic figures attached, in which:

[00028] Figure 1 shows a sectional view of a conventional starter motor for automotive vehicles.

[00029] Figure 2A shows a perspective view of the solenoid lid of a starter motor, as shown on Figure 1 ;

[00030] Figure 2B shows a top view of the solenoid lid, as shown on Figure 2A;

[00031 ] Figure 2C shows an enlarged sectional view, as lines C-C indicated on solenoid lid shown on Figure 2B;

[00032] Figure 3 shows a sectional perspective view of part of the housing assembly for the voltage suppressor diode, as preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[00033] Figure 4A shows a front view from part of the diode housing assembly, as preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[00034] Figures 4B and 4C shows sectional frontal views from the fixing element, as the present invention, without the diode and with the diode mounted respectively;

[00035] Figure 4D shows a top view from part of the diode housing assembly, as the present invention.

[00036] Figure 5 shows a schematic view of the diode housing assembly, as a whole, with the solenoid lid already mounted on the body.

Detailed Description of the Invention

[00037] According to the schematic figures above indicated, some examples of the preferred, alternate and/or optional embodiment of present invention will be described more detailed as follows, however, should be clear that is a merely exemplary description and not limitative, once the present diode housing assembly can present different details and structural aspects and dimensional without, with this, flee the protection scope.

[00038] Additionally, it highlights that some indicative references of the features of the present invention will not totally be reproduced in all figures above mentioned, in view that the reproduction of all references is all figures could affect the understanding and the definition of the protection scope in question.

[00039] According to the attached figures, particularly referring to Figures 1 , 2A, 2B and 2C, it is verified that the diode housing assembly, subject of the present invention, is applied preferentially to starter motors (M), which are built with a structure that comprises, basically, a solenoid (S) cooperating with a starting lever (A) which, in turn, displaces the pinion or free wheel (R) to connect with the combustion engine crankshaft. The driving and functioning of these components is well known by technicians on the art and was also briefly commented before, reason that it is believed to be unnecessary to detail it again.

[00040] In this sense, it is observed that said solenoid (S) comprises a lid (T) where the electrical contact terminals are positioned, including the starting terminal (B), also called borne #50, which is fixed together with the lid body (T) by a fixing element (P).

[00041 ] Additionally, it is noted that said lid (T) is seated together with the body of the solenoid (S) in a way to press the magnetic core (N), forming, between the head of the fixing element (P) and said magnetic core (N), a space (E), which, currently, is totally free of any material. Figure 2C shows clearly this space (E) between the head of the fixing element (P) and the surface of the magnetic core (N).

[00042] The subject of the present invention is especially innovative, so, due to the fact that the fixing element (P) have a housing port (1 ), in which the voltage suppressor diode (D) is mounted, being this diode (D) provided with a first terminal (6') and a second terminal (6") that extend in opposite directions from the distal ends of its body.

[00043] Thus, when the diode (D) is mounted inside the housing port (1 ), defined at the fixing element (P), which refers, preferentially, to a bolt (rivets or other components capable of doing the same function can be used), the first terminal (6') is disposed tightly and completely involved by the internal surface (2) of the housing port (1 ), which ends up defining the electrical contact between this first electrical pair (6', 2). This is, the first terminal (6') of diode (D) contacts the fixing element (P), which, in turn, is contacted with the starting terminal (B), by which the electrical current reaches the solenoid (S).

[00044] On the other hand, the second terminal (6") of the diode (D) projects outside the housing port (1 ) and cooperates with an intermediate element (3), which is responsible for providing electrical grounding of this second terminal (6"). [00045] It can be highlighted that said intermediate element (3) is responsible for helping the electrical connection of the second terminal (6") with one reference (ground). This way, it is possible that the intermediate element (3) is a metallic support, preferentially crimped together with said second terminal (6") or, alternatively, a guide elastic component.

[00046] According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the guide elastic component is manufactured in a flexible and insulating material, and mainly that is capable of deforming when subjected to pressure when the lid (T) is coupled to the body of the solenoid (S). More preferentially, this material can be chosen between rubber, silicone, plastic and other insulating polymers.

[00047] Particularly on this case, the guide elastic component would be responsible just for conducting the second terminal (6") to its respective electrical pair, which is, the magnetic core (N) or the shell of the solenoid (S), for example.

[00048] This manner, it is noted that such guide elastic component can be a tablet having an accommodating groove for said second terminal (6"), being capable, thus, of housing and electrically insulating the second terminal (6"), due to the material properties and, also, its geometry.

[00049] On the other hand, on the preferred embodiment of the present invention, said intermediate element (3) is a metallic support crimped, as already mentioned, wherein this support has several possible shapes. In one particularly preferred geometry, the metallic support has an annular portion (4) which involves, at least partially, and contacts the perimeter of the second terminal (6"). From this annular portion (4), extends at least one rod (5) projecting beyond the longitudinal extension of said terminal (6").

[00050] It is foreseen, also, that height (H) of the intermediate element (3) is greater than the height on space (E) between the end of the fixing element (P) and the magnetic core (N) of solenoid (S).

[00051 ] This way, when said lid (T) is mounted together with the solenoid (S), it occurs an axial pressure, due to mounting interference, which ends up guarantying the electrical connection of the diode (D) with the fixing element (P) and the magnetic core (N).

[00052] So, by this disposition, it is possible to close the diode (D) linking with the starting terminal (B) and the reference of electrical grounding, on this preferential case, the magnetic core (N), without the need of any welding process.

[00053] It is noted that such constructions, preferential or alternative, reveals a single piece - intermediate element (3) - capable of promoting electrical connection between the second terminal (6") of diode (D) with its respective pair, due to said axial pressure when mounting the lid (T) of the solenoid (S), significantly simpler, more practical and more efficiently than the others similar knowns.

[00054] Besides that, and according to the alternate embodiment of the invention, when the intermediate element (3) refers about a guide elastic component, said mounting interference causes deformation of this intermediate element (3) and, consequently, exposure, at least partially, of the second terminal (6") itself, causing its contact with said magnetic core (N).

[00055] Being described the preferential and alternate embodiments of the present invention, foresee from now on a preferential manufacturing and assembling method of the housing assembly for voltage suppressor diode, according to referred embodiments.

[00056] In this way, it is noted that said method includes, particularly, the steps of machining a housing port (1 ) on a fixing element (P), in a way that this housing port (1 ) should have, preferentially, variable diameter; the insertion of a voltage suppressor diode (D) inside the housing port (1 ), in a way that its first terminal (6') is positioned on the more interior portion of the housing port (1 ), region in which the diameter is smaller than on the more exterior regions of the housing port (1 ). This way, said first terminal (6') remains tightly housed and in contact with the internal surface (2).

[00057] After that, it is mounted the intermediate element (3) together with a first terminal (6') of the voltage suppressor diode (D) and the fixing of a starting terminal (B) together with the lid (T) of the solenoid (S), using said fixing element (P). At the end of the mounting process, said lid (T) is seated together with the body of the solenoid (S), causing consequent electrical contact by pressing.

[00058] Beyond that, optionally, it is plausible, after the insertion of the voltage suppressor diode (D) inside the housing port (1 ), the step of gluing, welding or injecting resin inside the housing port (1 ), between the voltage suppressor diode (D) and the internal surface (2), in a way to guarantee the housing and positioning of the diode (D) on the fixing element (P).

[00059] According to the above exposed, it is possible to verify that the diode housing assembly, according to possible embodiment of present invention, is capable of promoting several advantages and technical benefits, practical and functional, eliminating complex, costly and hard process steps. Furthermore, it is possible to guarantee the adequate positioning of the first and second terminals (6', 6") of diode (D) related to the starting terminal (B) and the reference of electrical grounding, on this case, the magnetic core (N) of solenoid (S).

[00060] This adequate positioning and connection is also possible due to first and second terminals (6', 6") of diode (D) being apart and isolated from each other, without providing any contact risk between them and, consequently, eliminating eventual risks on diode functioning fault and, as a result, can reduce the problems and inconvenient generated by the electrical pulses generated by power up and power down solenoid coils.

[00061 ] More particularly, it is clear that the diode housing assembly, object of the present invention, can have, as practical result, the adequate support of diode (D), and at the same time, assures that terminals (6', 6") of said diode (D) are positioned against the starting terminal (B) contact and the reference of electrical grounding, each one with its respective pair.

[00062] Beyond that, according to preferential construction proposed for the object, it is noted that the disposition of diode (D) inside the housing port (1 ) provided on the fixing element (P) makes possible an advantage referring to manufacturing and mounting method of the assembly, which is, the possibility of mounting diode (D) and realizing the crimping process of the intermediate element (3) together with the second terminal (6") before "screwing" (or "riveting" for example) the fixing element (P) together with the starting terminal (B).

[00063] Thus, the access to the object to be crimped is overmuch facilitated, once this process, according to the objectives of the prior art, showed really hard, mainly due to the size and tools handling need, such as pliers, on a reduced space inside solenoid (S).

[00064] At last, considering all above exposed, it is important to highlight that the present description has a single purpose of describing exemplary, preferred embodiments of the diode housing assembly for starter motors, according to the invention in question. Next, as well as the technician on the matter understands, there are possible several modifications, variations and constructive combinations of the elements that exert substantially the same function the same way to reach the same results, which should be included inside the protection scope delimited by attached claims.