DE3725803C2 - - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a method for producing small electrical household appliances, for example from Coffee machines or the like, whereby those to be interconnected Connection contacts of modules in a single joining direction in the area of a common contact level end, and being a non-conductive over the terminal contacts Contact plate is pushed on the electrical Connections made of conductive material attached and be contacted with the connection contacts.

Such a method is essentially from the DE 36 25 580 known.  

To the group of numerous electrical Small household appliances include e.g. B. mixer, stirrer, Irons, toasters, fryers, irrigators, Hair treatment devices, vacuum cleaners, waffle irons, Food processors, juicers, centrifuges or the like. The invention relates to these devices. Nevertheless, for the sake of simplicity only electric coffee machines mentioned because doing so preferred application can be represented. The However, procedure is common to all electrical Small household appliances applicable, where in one Cavity of the device an interconnection of several Contact points is required.  

It is known to manufacture coffee machines, i.e. H. when assembling the individual parts into one device, in Base area the intended modules and Modules, e.g. B. instantaneous water heater, thermostat switch, Overtemperature protection, on and off switch, Use connections for supply line and similar parts and then the electrical connection between the individual contact points. The some of the modules used are already included attached electrically flexible cables, so-called strands, provided with the second Contact point in the device with the corresponding Mating contacts are often connected to difficult accessible places. Already in this step previous work steps, also called pre-assembly, all wire sections are pretreated individually. The Pieces of wire are cut to length, stripped and depending on Use with end sleeves, cable lugs or the like. This elaborate preparation will in connection with semi-automatic devices executed.

The final assembly of the device is also carried out by hand, with specific assemblies, eg. B. the instantaneous water heater can be removed from a further pre-assembly. In this case, too, mechanical components and electrical components are partially delivered in pairs and installed on the assembly line. Overall, the manual wiring and the difficult - because reciprocal - installation of the modules proves to be particularly labor-intensive. The costs for the pre-assembly and for the final assembly can be determined exactly and represent a considerable part of the production costs on the production side. To reduce these assembly costs, the operating processes are summarized as follows:
semi-automatic preparation of the wire connections, manual pre-assembly of the water heater, manual assembly of the electrical wiring and ultimately manual final assembly of the entire device (US-PS 39 70 354).

To improve these workflows, attempts have been made to to automate these workflows. This should be by hard wiring the assemblies respectively. Due to the hard wiring is only one to capture a small part of the entire wiring because with such devices on the one hand assemblies with different heights or locations Connections are required so that significant automatic work steps could not be achieved. On the other hand, automatic bending requires the Single wires for hard wiring one above average technical effort equipment without the ultimate goal of Automation to come much closer (DE 32 39 238 A1; CH 5 68 679).

The object of the invention is a method and To create a device with the help of the wiring of the individual assemblies and their electrical Connections in a small electrical household appliance automated to a large extent at low cost can be.  

This object is achieved by the characterizing part of claim 1 solved. variants of the method are in subclaims 2 to 4 spelled out.

This ensures that the semi-automatic preparation of wire connections not applicable. The wiring of the individual connections of the different assemblies is automated. The Security of a method according to the invention small electrical household appliance has been increased significantly.

Already during the manufacture of the individual assemblies these are with specially designed electrical connection ends of the individual electrical contacts and by geometric design and longitudinal tuning prepared so that their All connections after their installation in the device base end in one level. Be fully automatic in this Level the connections between the contacts produced. It is conceivable that the connections through automatic wiring and soldering, gluing or similar, prefabricated contact levels insert and this with the contacts connect automatically. The security of after Device manufactured according to the method is significantly increased because of human error conditional assembly errors are eliminated and the Cannot loosen connection points.  

Exemplary embodiments are shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 and are described in more detail below.

Fig. 1 shows a side view of the invention

Fig. 2 shows a top view of the side view;

Fig. 3 shows another side view of the invention showing the electrical connections;

Fig. 4 also shows the electrical connections and the contacts in the corresponding top view;

Fig. 5, 6 show a variant of the method.

In the area of the device base plate 11 shown contacts the end of the 1 to be interconnected assemblies 6, wherein the connection contacts 1 can be formed as flat conductors 2 and / or as a pin with different geometrical design of the form part.

All contacts 1 are aligned in the joining direction "A". Its length is adjusted so that their ends open into the surface region of the contact plane 4, wherein the contact layer 4 has the contact to facilitate insertion into the Durchdringungspositionen after expanding downward through openings. 5 The latter are adapted to the respective profile of the contacts 1 (flat conductor 2 and / or the pin 3 ), so that they are almost form-fitting to the through openings 5 - or vice versa.

In the practice of the inventive method, a contact layer 4 to the plurality of flat conductors 2 and / or pin 3 is pushed, wherein Justiernocken not shown fix the inserted position right at the edge of the contact plane. 4 The downwardly widening through openings 5 facilitate the joining process, so that the desired work step can also be carried out automatically. Locking cams molded onto the device base plate 11 , which are also not shown, hold the contact plane in its position.

In Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, for example, grooves 10 are recessed, which receive the pasty or liquid, conductive material. Fig. 1 shows the grooves 10 in the partial sections AB, CD, EF and GH. The grooves 10 each end at the through openings 5 .

By means of a program-controlled, automatic application device, the pasty or liquid, conductive material is placed both in the grooves 10 and the contact points 9 are applied with this material, after the curing of which the entire connection is complete.

In a preferred application example of the method - claim. 2, 3, 4 - the contact planes are prepared 4 in a previous step, already in an automatic device. There, the grooves 10 are filled with the pasty or liquid, conductive material, as can now be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. The contact points 9 are not yet applied. The contact level 4 thus prefabricated, which has been treated by means of, for example, a programmable robot or the like, is then inserted with its electrical connections 8 - in a station on the assembly line - into the corresponding household appliance, the flat conductors 2 and the pins 3 being almost form-fitting in the through openings 5 of the contact levels 4 are inserted. The previously mentioned support aids on the edge ensure that the contact plane 4 is in a perfect position.

In this case, only the contact points 9 are applied to an assembly line with a program-controlled, automatic device (robot or axis handling system). The initially pasty and / or liquid conductive material hardens during further transport in the assembly line.

The manufacture and design of the contact planes 4 can also be expanded and varied as desired, there being no restriction either in terms of material or format, and the sequence of the work steps can also be varied as desired. A standardized configuration of the contact level 4 is particularly advantageous, with all the necessary grooves and through openings 5 being provided for a type series in the different positions and dimensions, and ultimately only the device-specific configuration using the program-controlled application device being used.

The design of the electrical connections 8 can also be present in other embodiments. For example, the use of pieces of wire or the like, the ends being contacted accordingly with the flat conductors 2 and / or the pins 3 , for. B. by welding, soldering or dotting.

As the present statements show, are different variations of the method given, whereby, as already mentioned, always the Basic idea remains, automation steps - in connection with the characteristic parts of the Claims - to create.

Reference numerals

1 contacts
2 flat conductors
3 cones
4 contact level
5 through opening
6 assembly
7 surface
8 connection
9 contact point
10 groove
11 Device base plate

Claims (4)

1. A method for producing small electrical household appliances, for example, electric coffee machines or the like, the connection contacts of modules to be interconnected ending in a single joining direction in the region of a common contact plane, and wherein a non-conductive contact plate ( 4 ) is pushed over the connection contact ends on which electrical connections made of conductive material are attached and contacted with the connection contacts, characterized in that the assembly ( 6 ) of different designs is installed on a device base plate ( 11 ) and is equipped with specially designed connections which act as flat conductors and / or tappers with different geometrical designs and length adjustment protrude into the common contact level. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that contact plates ( 4 ) which have the electrical connections ( 8 ) with the exception of the contact points ( 9 ), and instead of the contact points ( 9 ) have through openings ( 5 ) inserted into the corresponding household appliance will. 3. The method according to claim 1 and 2, characterized in that the flat conductor ( 2 ) and / or pin ( 3 ) are inserted into the through openings ( 5 ) of the contact plate ( 4 ). 4. The method according to claim 1 to 3, characterized in that the contact points ( 9 ) in the region of the through openings ( 5 ) are applied.