Housing including snap-fit connection between housing components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11355993-B2
Application number	US-201816125933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2018
Priority date	Sep 10, 2018
Publication date	Jun 7, 2022
Grant date	Jun 7, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle seat actuator includes an electric motor and a gear set that connects the drive motor to the seat and transmits the output of the motor to the vehicle seat. The drive motor and gear set are each disposed in an individual, dedicated housing component. The individual housing components are then assembled together to provide the actuator. The housing components are maintained in the assembled configuration using snap fit mechanical fasteners. Each snap-fit fastener includes a receiving portion provided on one housing component and an insertion portion provided on the other housing component. The receiving portion may be a slot formed in the gear housing that is partially obstructed by an elastic member, while insertion portion is an ear that protrudes from an outer surface of the drive motor housing and forms both a snap-fit engagement with the elastic member and a press-fit engagement with the slot.

First claim

We claim:

1. A housing assembly comprising a first housing portion and a second housing portion that is secured to the first housing portion via a fastener, wherein
the fastener comprises:
an ear that that protrudes from a sidewall of the first housing, portion in a direction perpendicular to the sidewall;
a slot that is formed in a housing surface of the second housing portion; and
an elastic latch that protrudes into the slot so as to at least partially obstruct the slot,

the second housing portion includes an internal vacancy that communicates with the slot, and the latch is cantilevered from a surface of the vacancy in such a way as to protrude into the slot, and
when the second housing portion is assembled with the first housing portion, the ear is press fit in the slot and the latch forms a snap-fit engagement with a portion of the peripheral edge of the ear in such a way as to prevent withdrawal of the ear from the slot.

2. The housing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the ear is configured to be inserted into the slot via a relative rotation between the first housing portion and the second housing portion.

3. The housing assembly of claim 1 , Wherein the surface of the vacancy is parallel to and spaced apart from the slot, and the latch is curved and protrudes from the surface in such a way as to overlie the surface.

4. The housing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the latch is configured to be deflected into the vacancy by the ear when the ear is partially inserted into the slot, and to elastically return to an undeflected configuration when the ear is fully inserted into the slot.

5. The housing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the latch includes a fixed end that is secured to the second housing portion, a free end that is spaced apart from the fixed end, and a hook portion disposed at the free end, wherein the hook portion protrudes from surface of the latch in such a way as to define a shoulder.

6. The housing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the latch is an elastic member having an arc shape between a fixed end that is secured to the second housing and a free end that is opposed to the fixed end, the latch including a hook portion at the free end that is configured to engage the peripheral edge of the ear.

7. The housing assembly of claim 1 , wherein
the first housing portion includes
a first end that is closed,
a longitudinal axis that is perpendicular to the first end,
a sidewall that protrudes from and surrounds the first end and is parallel to the longitudinal axis,
a second end that is opposed to the first end, and
a flange the protrudes outward from the sidewall at the second end,

the second housing portion includes
a wall structure having an inner surface, an outer surface and a wall structure op end, the wall structure open end facing the first housing portion second end, and
a pillar that adjoins the wall structure and includes the housing surface, the pillar protruding beyond the wall structure open end in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis and including an end face that is parallel to and spaced apart from the wall structure open end, the pillar being configured so that the housing surface faces the longitudinal axis,
and wherein
the ear comprises an enlarged portion of the flange, and
the slot is provided hi the housing surface of the pillar at an axial location between the wall structure open end and the pillar end face.

8. The housing assembly of claim 7 , wherein
the sidewall comprises a pair of planar sidewall portions joined at each end by a pair of curved sidewall portions,
the ear protrudes outward from the sidewall hi a direction away from the longitudinal axis, and is disposed along one curved sidewall portion of the pair of curved sidewall portions,
the wall structure comprises a pair of planar wall portions joined at each end by a pair of curved wall portions, and
the pillar is disposed on an outer surface of the wail structure at a location along one curved wall portion of the pair of curved wall portions so as to be longitudinally aligned with the ear.

9. The housing assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first housing portion includes
a closed end,
a longitudinal axis that is perpendicular to the closed end,
the sidewall that protrudes from and surrounds the closed end and is parallel to the longitudinal axis, the sidewall comprising a pair of planar sidewall portions joined at each end by a pair of curved sidewall portions,
an open end that is opposed to the closed end, and
a flange the protrudes outward from the sidewall at the open end, and
wherein the ear protrudes outward from the sidewall in a direction away from the longitudinal axis, and is disposed along one curved sidewall portion of the pair of curved sidewall portions.

10. A fastener configured to join a first housing portion to a second housing portion, the fastener comprising a receiving portion and an insertion portion that is received in and engages with, the receiving portion, wherein
the insertion portion includes an ear that protrudes from a sidewall of the first housing portion, the ear protruding in a direction perpendicular to the sidewall,
the receiving portion includes:
a housing surface of the second housing portion, the housing surface configured to face the sidewall, the housing surface having a slot formed therein; and
an elastic latch disposed in the slot so as to at least partially obstruct the slot,

the second housing portion includes an internal vacancy that communicates with the slot, and the latch is cantilevered from a surface of the vacancy in such a way as to protrude into the slot, and
when the insertion portion is assembled with the receiving portion,. the ear is press-fit into the slot, and the latch forms a snap-fit engagement with a peripheral edge of the ear in such a way that the ear is prevented from being withdrawn from the slot.

11. The fastener of claim 10 , wherein the fastener is configured so that when the first housing portion and second housing portion are relatively rotated in a first direction about an axis that is parallel to the sidewall, the ear is moved relative to the slot between
an initial position in which the ear is positioned external to the slot and in alignment with the slot, and
a final position in which the ear is in the slot and the ear is engaged with the latch.

12. The fastener of claim 11 , wherein the first housing and second housing are configured to be relatively rotated in the first direction about the axis that is parallel to the sidewall in such a way that the ear is movable relative to the slot
from the initial position in which a leading edge of the ear is positioned external to the slot and in alignment with the slot to an intermediate position in which the ear is in the slot and the leading edge of the ear contacts a ramp portion of the latch and causes the latch to deflect on of the slot, and
from the intermediate position to the final position in which the ear is in the slot and a trailing edge of the ear is engaged with a hook portion of the latch.

13. The fastener of claim 11 , wherein the first housing portion and the second housing portion are configured so that once the ear is moved relative to the slot to the final position, relative rotation of the first housing portion and the second housing portion in a second direction about the axis is prevented via the engagement of the ear with a hook portion of the latch, where the second direction is opposed to the first direction.

14. The fastener of claim 10 , wherein the latch is configured to be deflected into the vacancy by the ear when the ear is partially inserted

Assignees

• Robert Bosch Mexico Sist Automotrices S A De C V
• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Ortiz Luis Angel Ramirez
• Cardozo Pablo Daniel Molina
• Martin Alex

Classifications

• H02K5/22 Primary

  Auxiliary parts of casings not covered by groups H02K5/06-H02K5/20, e.g. shaped to form connection boxes or terminal boxes · CPC title

• H02K7/081

  specially adapted for worm gear drives (H02K7/09 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02K5/04

  Casings or enclosures characterised by the shape, form or construction thereof · CPC title

• H02K5/15 Primary

  Mounting arrangements for bearing-shields or end plates · CPC title

• H02K7/145

  Hand-held machine tool · CPC title