FR2828344A3 - Interior lighting mechanism for vehicle has support light and plug connectors with female section or plug holder having inner spring return grip engaging male section - Google Patents

Abstract

The interior lighting mechanism has lighting on a support, connected to electrical plugs and electrical mechanisms. A female section (8) with a plug holder (9) has an engaging male plug holder (10a). There are push sections (14) which part when the male section is inserted and have a spring return (15) mechanism.

Description

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The invention relates to a lighting device for vehicles, in particular an interior lamp, comprising at least one lighting means arranged on a support part, which is connected via electrical plug junctions arranged at least on the support part with at least an electrical assembly, for example a switch and / or a component holder, the electrical plug junction having a female part with a male plug housing in which a male part engages when the plug junction is in the connection position, points of support for the male part being provided on the female part, on opposite sides of the male plug housing, which are variable from the point of view of their mutual spacing against the restoring force of at least one element spring and which, in the connection position of the plug junction, rest on either side of the male part, and at least one of these support points being produced in the form of a con electric tact.

From practice, an interior lamp of the aforementioned type is already known which has as a support a printed circuit board on which is arranged a lighting means. To switch the lighting means on and off, a switch is provided on the housing, from which protrude male parts made on the rear face in the form of contact tabs, which are electrically connected with the switching contacts of the switch. The male parts each engage in the connection opening of a female part which is arranged on the printed circuit board and which is welded to one of the tracks of the card which leads to the lighting means. The connection plugs formed by the male parts and by the female parts allow a simple terminal mounting of the lighting device, during which it is no longer necessary to plug on the male parts of the switch the prefabricated printed circuit board with its female parts.

Due to the ever increasing requirements in terms of lighting techniques and comfort in vehicles, it is desirable to connect with the printed circuit board or with the support part several electrical assemblies produced in different ways, for example several switches for different lighting functions arranged on the support part, like lighting means provided for

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 interior lighting or lighting for reading, and additionally a printed circuit board on which lighting means can be arranged for at least one other lighting function, such as for example ambient lighting.

The invention therefore aims to achieve a lighting device of the aforementioned type which can have several assemblies electrically connected with the support part, and which can however be manufactured inexpensively.

This objective is achieved by the fact that the lighting device has at least two connection plugs, the male parts of which have different thicknesses, in that the female parts of these connection plugs are produced coincidentally, and in that the movement of the spring elements of these female parts have dimensions such that the support points establish respective contact with each of the male parts of different thicknesses in the connection position of the plug coupling.

The individual electrical assemblies connected to the support part can then have plug contacts with different thicknesses, and yet the female parts associated with these respective plug contacts are produced in the same way. It is therefore no longer necessary, in the manufacture of the lighting device, to store different female parts separately. Likewise, there is no longer any need to distinguish between the female parts when mounting the lighting device, that is to say that there can no longer be any confusion between different female parts. The lighting device can therefore be mounted in a simple manner and with great mounting security, even if it has several different assemblies. Since the lighting device has only one kind of female parts, these can be produced in large numbers and therefore inexpensively.

 According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, it is expected that the assembly has a printed circuit board on which is

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 arranged at least one electrical component connected to the conductive tracks of the printed circuit board, that at least one edge region of the printed circuit board is produced in the form of a male part capable of being connected to the female part, and that 'a section of conductive track located in this edge region establishes, in the connection position of the plug junction, a contact with a fulcrum of the female part, made as an electrical contact. The male part is therefore formed by an edge region of the printed circuit board itself, so that it is possible to save a soldering point or a similar connection point to connect a part. separate male with printed circuit board. The lighting device thus allows simple, inexpensive and rapid assembly. The printed circuit board is arranged with its extension plane transversely and in particular at right angles to the extension plane of the support part.

It is advisable that the spring element is produced in the form of a leaf spring which is connected at its fixing end with a socket housing of the female part, the fulcrum for the male part being provided on the end region of the leaf spring which is opposite the fixing end. Said at least one spring element and the socket housing preferably connected in a single piece with the latter can then be produced in the form of a part produced inexpensively by folding and combined cutting.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, there is provided on the end region of the spring element which is opposite the fixing end, a tab-shaped extension which extends the spring element and which, to form an introduction slope for the male part, is arranged with its longitudinal extension oblique to the direction of insertion of the female part and the male part. The male part thus slides when plugged into the female part along the insertion slope, whereby on the one hand the spring element is deflected from its rest position into the position of use and on the other hand, the male part is guided on the introduction slope.

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According to an advantageous configuration of the invention, there is provided on the sleeve housing, on either side of a longitudinal median plane of the plug socket, at least one respective spring element with a fulcrum arranged on this, for the male part, the female part being produced in particular symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal median plane of the male plug housing. If the female part is combined with male parts of different thicknesses, the difference in thickness between the male parts is then compensated by the spring elements located on either side of the longitudinal median plane of the male plug housing , and it is therefore distributed over two respective spring elements. The female part thus adapts particularly well to male parts of different thicknesses. This also results here also in good electrical contact between the female part and the male part.

According to a judicious embodiment of the invention, the support part is produced in the form of a printed circuit card with at least one conductive track which connects a female part arranged on the support part by means of lighting, directly or indirectly via the minus an electrical component. The lighting device can then be further manufactured at a moderate price. If at least one other printed circuit board, the extension plane of which is arranged transversely to that of the lighting device, is connected to the support part via the connection plugs, the device simply allows three-dimensional guidance of the tracks conductive.

According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention, provision is made for the socket housing to be made in the shape of a U with branches connected to each other by a spacer, which laterally delimit the plug socket, and that the male plug housing is made with an open edge on its front faces arranged transversely to the branches. The male parts can then be placed obliquely in the male plug housing with their direction of insertion or their longitudinal extension in a longitudinal median plane arranged approximately parallel to the parts of branches of the U shape of the male plug housing. If the male parts are each formed by an edge region of a card to

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 printed circuits, a conical slot can be formed between this printed circuit board and the support part. The printed circuit board can be inclined with its longitudinal median axis relative to the extension plane of the support part.

According to a judicious embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the female part passes through a passage hole of the support part, that the branches of the female part are elastically mobile in the manner of a spring in the pre-assembly position against the restoring force of their material and that on the outer sides of the branches are formed retaining projections respectively spaced from each other, between which the female part is kept engaged in the mounting position in the hole of the support part. The branches of the female part are here, in the pre-assembly position, capable of being moved towards one another and away from each other against the restoring force of their material, thanks to at which the distance between the most protruding point of a retaining projection arranged on one of the branches and the most protruding point of a retaining projection arranged on the other branch being greater than the corresponding transverse dimension of the hole for passage of the support part. When placed in the passage hole, the female part then engages with the edge region delimiting the passage hole, of the support part, and it is thus fixed on the support part already directly after the establishment in the through hole. The female part can then be welded during another operation with a section of conductive track of the support part, arranged in the vicinity of the female part, and it can thus be connected integrally to the support part.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in detail below with the aid of the drawings. These show: FIG. 1, a support part produced in the form of a printed circuit board, of a vehicle interior lamp, on which are arranged several different electrical assemblies which are detachably connected to the support part via plugs connection,

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 Figure 2, a section through a plug junction to connect an assembly made in the form of an electrical switch to a support part made in the form of a printed circuit board, Figure 3, a section through a plug-in coupling to connect an assembly made in the form of a printed circuit board with a support part also made in the form of a printed circuit board, FIG. 4, a section through a support part made in the form of a printed circuit board, of an interior vehicle lamp, the support part being connected to another printed circuit board by a plug connection, and FIG. 5, a side view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 4, in the direction of the arrow designated by V in FIG. 4.

An interior lamp for a vehicle has a support part 1 made in the form of a printed circuit board which is arranged in a lamp housing which is not shown in detail in the drawing. The interior lamp can for example be arranged on the ceiling of the interior space of the vehicle. On the support part 1 are arranged several lighting means 2, which are each produced in the form of an incandescent bulb, and which can be detachably connected by means of a fixing 3 with passage openings 4 provided in the support part 1. On the fastening 3 are arranged respective contact elements which, in the position of use, come into contact by one of their ends with a contact for connection of the lighting means 2 and by their other end with tracks conductive 5 of the support part 1. The conductive tracks are arranged on the front face, facing the lighting means 2, of the support part 1. On the support part 1 are also provided connection terminals 6 to establish a connection with vehicle power supply.

Each lighting means 2 is connected respectively, via two electrical connection plugs arranged on the support part and connected to the conductive tracks 5 of the support part 1, with an electric switch 7 with which the means can be switched on and off.

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 lighting 2 concerned. Among the switches 7, only one is shown in the drawings. Each plug junction has a female part 8 with a male plug housing 9 in which a male part 10a engages in the connection position of the plug junction. Each male part 10a is formed by a contact tab which is arranged on the rear face of the switch 7 and which is electrically connected with a switching contact of the switch 7.

On the support part 1 is also arranged a component holder 11 produced in the form of a printed circuit board, which carries two lighting means produced in the form of light-emitting diodes which are provided for ambient lighting of part of the interior equipment of the vehicle interior. The lighting means 12 are connected in series to a protective resistor 13. The terminals of this series arrangement formed by the lighting means 12 and the protective resistor 13 are connected to male electrical parts 10b which each engage in a male plug housing 9 of a female part 8 located on the support part 1 and which contact the latter.

These female parts 8 are connected via conductive tracks 5 of the support part 1 with connection terminals 6 of the support part 1. The lighting means 12 are connected so that they are permanently on during night-time operation. vehicle.

On mutually opposite sides of the plug socket 9, support points 14 for the male part 10a, 10b are provided on the female part 8 and each of these is produced in the form of a conductive contact of the electricity. Each of the support points 14 is variable with respect to the others from the point of view of their mutual spacing against the return force of a spring element 15. In FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the points of support 14 rest on either side of the male part lOa, lOb in the connection position of the plug junction so that the latter is clamped between the support points 14.

By comparing FIGS. 2 and 3, it can also be seen that the male parts lOb of the component holder 11 have a greater thickness dl than the thickness d2 of the male parts lia of the switches 7. The parts

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 females 8 associated with these male parts 10a, lOb are produced coincidentally despite the differences in thickness dl, d2. To this end, the movement of the spring elements 16 of the female parts 8a, 8b is dimensioned in such a way that the support points 14 respectively contact the male parts 10a, lOb of different thicknesses of the coupling coupling formed by the female parts 8 and the male parts 10a, lOb. In Figures 2 and 3, we see that in the connection position, the support points 14 are spaced from each other by the value of the thickness of the male part 10a, lOb.

As can be seen particularly clearly in FIG. 5, the male parts 10b are connected in one piece to the component holder produced in the form of a printed circuit board and they are each formed by an edge region of the component holder 11 This edge region is here produced in the form of a tongue-shaped projection. It can be seen in FIG. 3 that a section of conductive track 16 located in this edge region comes into contact with the support points 14 of the female part 8, which are produced as electrical contacts.

The spring element 15 is produced in the form of a leaf spring which is connected with its fixing end in one piece with a socket housing 17 of the female part 8. On its end region opposite the end of fixing, the spring element 15 has the fulcrum 14 for the male part 10a, lOb. This end region is connected in one piece with a lug-shaped extension 18 which extends the spring element 15 and which, to form an insertion slope for the male part 10a, 10b, is arranged with its extension longitudinal obliquely to the plugging direction, marked by the arrow Pfl, of the female part 8 and the male part 10a, lOb. We see in Figures 1 to 3 that the female parts 8 are each made symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal median plane 19 extending approximately in the direction of insertion Pfl. Each female part 8 has two pairs, located one next to the other, of spring elements 15 located on either side of the longitudinal median plane 19. In FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the spring elements 15, starting from the fixing end towards their fulcrum 14, approach the longitudinal median plane 19 and the lug-shaped extensions 18,

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 each starting from the fulcrum 14 towards their free end, move away from the longitudinal median plane 19. The extensions 18 of the spring elements 15 associated with each other in pairs are each arranged in the shape of a V and form an introduction funnel for the male part 10a, lOb.

The socket housing 17 is produced approximately in the form of a U in front lateral view and it has two branches 20 extending over the entire length of the female part 8, which are connected to each other by two spacers 21 in U-shaped provided at the front ends of the socket housing 17. The branches 20 form lateral delimiting walls for the plug socket 9. As can be seen particularly clearly in FIG. 1, the plug socket 9 is produced at open edge on its front faces arranged transversely to the branches 20.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the female part 8 passes through a through hole of the support part 1. In a pre-assembly position, in which the female parts 8 are not yet inserted in the through hole, the branches 20 of the female part 8 are elastically movable in the manner of a spring against the restoring force of their material. On the outer sides of the branches 20 are formed retaining projections 22a, 22b respectively spaced from one another and between which the female part 8 is kept engaged in the mounting position in the through hole of the support part 1. The retaining projections 22a are welded with the conductive tracks 5 of the support part 1.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the component holder 11 is arranged with its direction of longitudinal extension oblique to the extension plane of the support part 1. Here a conical slot 23 is formed between the holder -component 11 and the support part 1.

In this exemplary embodiment, the male part 10b arranged at the wide end of the conical slot 23 in the extension plane of the component holder 11, transverse to the direction of extension of the support part 1, may have dimensions larger than the part

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 male 10b arranged on the narrow end of the conical slot 23. In a direction extending in the extension plane of the component holder 11 relative to the extension plane of the support part 1, the female parts 8 have a width greater than the width of the male parts lOb.

The lighting device for vehicles therefore has at least one lighting means 2 arranged on the support part 1, which is connected via electrical connection plugs arranged on the support part 1 with at least one electrical assembly, for example a switch. 7 and / or a component holder 11. The plug junction has a female part 8 with a male plug housing 9 in which a male part 10a, lOb engages in the connection position of the plug junction. On opposite sides of the plug socket 9, support points 14 are provided on the female part 8 for the male part 10a, 10b, at least one of which is produced in the form of electrical contact. The support points 14 are variable from the point of view of their reciprocal spacing against the restoring force of at least one spring element 15 and, in the connection position of the plug junction, they rest on both sides and on the other side of the male part 10a, lOb. The male parts 10a, 10b of at least two connection plugs have different thicknesses. Despite these differences in thickness of these male parts 10a, 10b, the female parts 8 of the connection plugs are produced so as to coincide. The movement of the spring elements 15 has dimensions such that the support points 14 establish a respective contact with the male parts
10a, lOb of different thicknesses in the connection position of the plug-in coupling.

Claims (8)

 Claims 1. Lighting device for vehicles, in particular interior lamp, comprising at least one lighting means (2) arranged on a support part (1), which is connected via electrical connectors with plugs arranged at least on the part support (1) with at least one electrical assembly, for example a switch (7) and / or a component holder (11), the electrical plug junction having a female part (8) with a male plug housing (9) in which a male part (10a, 10b) engages when the plug joint is in the connection position, support points (14) for the male part (10a, 10b) being provided on the female part (8) , on mutually opposite sides of the plug housing, which are variable from the point of view of their reciprocal spacing against the restoring force of at least one spring element (15) and which, in the connection position of the plug connection, rest on both sides on the male part ( 10a, lOb), and at least one of these support points (14) being produced in the form of an electrical contact, characterized in that the lighting device has at least two connection plugs, the male parts of which (10a , lOb) have different thicknesses, in that the female parts (8) of these connection plugs are made coincidentally, and in that the movement of the spring elements (15) of these female parts (8) have such dimensions that the support points (14) establish a respective contact with each of the male parts (10a, 10b) of different thicknesses in the connection position of the plug coupling. 2. Lighting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the assembly has a printed circuit board on which is arranged at least one electrical component connected to conductive tracks of the printed circuit board, in that at at least one edge region of the printed circuit board is produced in the form of a male part (10b) capable of being connected to the female part (8), and in that a section of conductive track (16) located in this edge region establishes in connection position of the plug junction, a contact with a fulcrum (14) of the female part (8), produced as an electrical contact. <Desc / Clms Page number 12> 3. Lighting device according to either of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the spring element (15) is produced in the form of a leaf spring which is connected at its fixing end with a housing sleeve (17) of the female part (8) and in that the fulcrum (14) for the male part (10a, 10b) is provided on the end region of the leaf spring, which is opposite to the fixing end. 4. Lighting device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that on the end region of the spring element (15), which is opposite the fixing end, there is provided an extension ( 18) in the form of a tab which extends the spring element (15) and which, to form an insertion slope for the male part, is arranged with its longitudinal extension oblique to the direction of insertion of the female part (8) and the male part (lOa, lOb). 5. Lighting device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it is provided on the socket housing (17), on either side of a longitudinal median plane (19) of the housing male plug (9), at least one respective spring element (15) with a support point (14) arranged thereon, for the male part (10a, 10b), and in that the female part (8 ) is produced in particular symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal median plane (19) of the male plug housing (9). 6. Lighting device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the support part (1) is produced in the form of a printed circuit card with at least one conductive track which connects a female part (8) arranged on the support part (1) by means of lighting (2), directly or indirectly via at least one electrical component. 7. Lighting device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the socket housing (17) is made in the shape of a U with branches (20) connected to one another by a spacer (21), which laterally delimit the male plug housing (9), and in that the male plug housing (9) is made with an open edge on its front faces arranged transversely to the branches (20). <Desc / Clms Page number 13> 8. Lighting device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the female part (8) passes through a through hole of the support part (1), in that the branches (20) of the part female (8) are resiliently mobile in the manner of a spring in the pre-assembly position against the restoring force of their material, and in that on the outer sides of the branches (20) are formed retaining projections (22a, 22b) respectively spaced from each other, between which the female part (8) is kept snapped in the mounting position in the through hole of the support part (1).