Electrical assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11558963-B2
Application number	US-202117395082-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2021
Priority date	Oct 31, 2018
Publication date	Jan 17, 2023
Grant date	Jan 17, 2023

Abstract

An electrical assembly may include a contactor, a bus bar connected to the contactor, a bracket connected to the bus bar, a flexible circuit electrically connected to the contactor, and/or a cooling member connected to the bracket. A method of assembling an electrical assembly may include disposing a flexible circuit at least partially on and/or in the bracket, connecting a bus bar with the one or more contactors, connecting the bus bar with the bracket, electrically connecting the flexible circuit to the one or more contactors, disposing a cooling member on or about the bracket, and/or connecting the cooling member with the bracket.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical assembly, comprising:
a contactor;
a bus bar electrically connected to the contactor;
a bracket connected to the bus bar;
a flexible circuit electrically connected to the contactor,
a cooling member connected to the bracket, the flexible circuit is disposed substantially between the bracket and the cooling member, and wherein the bracket includes a recess; the bus bar is disposed at least partially in the recess; and at least a portion of the flexible circuit is disposed in the recess between the bus bar and a surface of the bracket.

2. The electrical assembly of claim 1 , wherein the flexible circuit is disposed on and along a surface of the bracket.

3. The electrical assembly of claim 1 , including an electronic controller configured to control the contactor to selectively provide power from a power source to one or more electrical loads.

4. The electrical assembly of claim 3 , wherein the contactor includes a first control terminal and a second control terminal.

5. The electrical assembly of claim 4 , wherein the flexible circuit includes one or more conductors.

6. The electrical assembly of claim 5 , wherein the flexible circuit includes a first segment electrically connected to the electronic controller and a second segment electrically connected to the contactor.

7. The electrical assembly of claim 6 , wherein the first segment of the flexible circuit includes an electrical connector having a respective terminal for each of the one or more conductors.

8. The electrical assembly of claim 7 , wherein the second segment of the flexible circuit includes a pair of integrated eyelets.

9. The electrical assembly of claim 8 , wherein the pair of integrated eyelets includes a first eyelet integrally formed with a first conductor of the one or more conductors and a second eyelet integrally formed with a second conductor of the one or more conductors;
the first eyelet is disposed around and connected to the first control terminal of the contactor; and
the second eyelet is disposed around and connected to the second control terminal of the contactor.

10. The electrical assembly of claim 1 , wherein the flexible circuit includes a length, a width, and a thickness;
the width is at least five times the thickness; and
the length is at least five times the width.

11. The electrical assembly of claim 1 , wherein the contactor is fixed directly to and in contact with the bus bar;
the bus bar is fixed directly to and in contact with the bracket; and
the bracket is fixed directly to and in contact with the cooling member.

12. The electrical assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cooling member includes an at least partially hollow body configured to receive a cooling fluid.

13. A method of assembling the electrical assembly of claim 1 , the method comprising:
disposing the flexible circuit at least partially on and/or in the bracket;
inserting one or more contactors, including the contactor, into the bracket;
electrically connecting the bus bar with the one or more contactors;
connecting the bus bar with the bracket;
electrically connecting the flexible circuit to the one or more contactors;
disposing the cooling member on or about the bracket; and
connecting the cooling member with the bracket.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the bus bar is connected with the one or more contactors such that portions of the flexible circuit are disposed directly between the bus bar and the bracket.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein disposing the cooling member on the bracket includes inserting the bracket, the flexible circuit, the bus bar, and the one or more contactors at least partially into a recess of the cooling member.

16. The method of claim 13 , including electrically connecting the flexible circuit to a controller configured to control the one or more contactors to selectively provide power from a power source to one or more electrical loads.

17. The method of claim 16 , including controlling operation of the one or more contactors via the controller providing one or more control signals via the flexible circuit to the one or more contactors.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the flexible circuit is monolithic and connecting the flexible circuit to the one or more contactors includes connecting a pair of integrated eyelets of the flexible circuit to respective control terminals of the one or more contactors.

Assignees

• Lear Corp

Inventors

• Dickerhoof Greg
• Zamieski Matthew
• Anglin Aric
• Schmidt Robert M
• Rai Rutunj

Classifications

• H01H50/12

  Ventilating; Cooling; Heating (for operating electrothermal relays H01H61/013) · CPC title

• H05K2201/10053

  Switch · CPC title

• H01H50/546

  for contactors having bridging contacts · CPC title

• H05K3/3447

  Lead-in-hole components · CPC title

• H05K2201/09754

  Connector integrally incorporated in the printed circuit board [PCB] or in housing · CPC title