Electrical leads for a valve

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9567957-B2
Application number	US-201214239011-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2012
Priority date	Aug 22, 2011
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A valve for metering a fluid (liquid or gaseous medium), in particular, a fuel injector for internal combustion engines, having a valve housing, an actuator accommodated in the valve housing and acting on a valve member, an electrical connector accessible on the outside of the valve housing, and an electrical supply lead that produces an electrical connection from the connector to the actuator and has two lead strands, each having a flexible strand section. To optimize the electrical supply lead to lower production costs, simplified valve assembly and anti-twist protection for the actuator, each lead strand is made of an electrical conductor provided with a plastic sheathing and having a front and rear, in each case elongated conductor section and a middle conductor section in between that has at least one meander-shaped curvature for realizing the flexible strand section, and a plastic bridge member, in one piece with the plastic sheathings in the area of the middle conductor sections of both electrical conductors, connects the two lead strands to form a torsionally stiff supply-lead module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A valve, which meters a fluid, including a liquid or gaseous medium, comprising:
a valve housing;
an actuator accommodated in the valve housing and acting on a valve member;
an electrical connector accessible outside of the valve housing; and
an electrical supply lead that produces an electrical connection from the electrical connector to the actuator, the electrical supply lead having two lead strands, each having a flexible strand section,
wherein each of the lead strands is made of an electrical conductor provided with a plastic sheathing and has a front and rear, in each instance an elongated conductor section and a middle conductor section in between which has at least one meander-shaped curvature that realizes the flexible strand section, and a plastic bridge member, in one piece with the plastic sheathings in an area of the middle conductor sections of both conductors, connects the two lead strands and forms a torsionally stiff supply-lead module, and
wherein the actuator is supported via a gimbal mounting on a valve-member side and on a valve-housing side, respectively, and the elongated front conductor sections of the electrical conductors are secured in position in the valve housing, and the elongated rear conductor sections are secured in position in the actuator.

2. The valve of claim 1 , wherein each of the middle conductor sections has a plurality of axially offset, meander-shaped curvatures, and axially successive curvatures point in inverse directions that extend perpendicularly to a plane in which the front and rear conductor sections run.

3. The valve of claim 2 , wherein the plastic bridge member has a plastic ring that delimits the middle conductor sections with respect to the front conductor sections and is integrally molded in one piece onto the plastic sheathings of the front conductor sections, and a plastic disk segment which delimits the middle conductor sections with respect to the rear conductor sections and has a central flow-through opening, the plastic disk segment being integrally molded in one piece onto the plastic sheathings of the rear conductor sections, and in each instance integrating a nearest curvature branch of the adjacent meander-shaped curvatures of the two middle conductor sections.

4. The valve of claim 3 , wherein the plastic disk segment has a disk surface bounded by a circular arc and a chord of a circle and is aligned causing the chord of a circle extends parallel to the plane in which the front and rear conductor sections run.

5. The valve of claim 4 , wherein the plastic sheathings of each of the middle conductor sections extending between the plastic ring on one side and the plastic disk segment on the other side have a rectangular cross-section with a largest cross-sectional dimension running parallel to the chord of a circle of the plastic disk segment.

6. The valve of claim 1 , wherein each electrical conductor is produced from a round wire made of a non-ferrous metal material, including copper or tin.

7. The valve of claim 6 , wherein the round wire has a diameter of 0.5 mm.

8. The valve of claim 1 , wherein each of the electrical conductors is implemented as a stamped sheet metal part made of a non-ferrous metal material, including copper or tin.

9. The valve of claim 1 , wherein a glass-fiber-reinforced polyamide is used as material for the plastic sheathings and the plastic bridge member.

10. The valve of claim 1 , wherein the two electrical conductors are connected to each other in the area of the middle conductor sections by a high-value resistor.

11. The valve of claim 1 , wherein the gimbal mounting of the actuator on the valve-housing side is accomplished via a hydraulic coupler that is accommodated in a connecting piece which closes the valve housing and has a fitting for the medium, the actuator has a terminating body that is graduated in terms of diameter, having a larger-diameter and a smaller-diameter body section, whose smaller-diameter body section is connected to the hydraulic coupler, and the supply-lead module is placed in the valve housing causing the plastic bridge member to surround the smaller-diameter body section, and the front conductor sections are passed through the connecting piece and the rear conductor sections are passed through the larger-diameter body section, in each case with form locking.

12. The valve of claim 11 , wherein the electrical connector has two electrical plug-in contacts accessible on the outside of the valve housing and two contact tags running from the plug-in contacts to the connecting piece, and the actuator has a piezo stack, and the supply-lead module contacts one contact tag each of the electrical connectors with bare ends of the front conductor sections of the electrical conductors, and with bare ends of the rear conductor sections of the electrical conductors, contacts the piezo stack directly.

13. The valve of claim 1 , wherein the valve is a fuel injector for an internal combustion engine.

14. A valve, which meters a fluid, including a liquid or gaseous medium, comprising:
a valve housing;
an actuator accommodated in the valve housing and acting on a valve member;
an electrical connector accessible outside of the valve housing; and
an electrical supply lead that produces an electrical connection from the electrical connector to the actuator, the electrical supply lead having two lead strands, each having a flexible strand section;
wherein each of the lead strands is made of an electrical conductor provided with a plastic sheathing and has a front and rear, in each instance an elongated conductor section and a middle conductor section in between which has at least one meander-shaped curvature for realizing the flexible strand section, and a plastic bridge member, formed in one piece with the plastic sheathings in an area of the middle conductor sections of both conductors, connects the two lead strands to form a torsionally stiff supply-lead module; and
wherein the plastic bridge member includes a closed plastic ring formed in one piece with a plastic disk segment, the plastic bridge being torsionally stiff.

15. A valve, which meters a fluid, including a liquid or gaseous medium, comprising:
a valve housing;
an actuator accommodated in the valve housing and acting on a valve member;
an electrical connector accessible outside of the valve housing; and
an electrical supply lead that produces an electrical connection from the electrical connector to the actuator, the electrical supply lead having two lead strands, each having a flexible strand section;
wherein each of the lead strands is made of an electrical conductor provided with a plastic sheathing and has a front and rear, in each instance an elongated conductor section and a middle conductor section in between which has at least one meander-shaped curvature for realizing the flexible strand section, and a plastic bridge member, formed in one piece with the plastic sheathings in an area of the middle conductor sections of both conductors, connects the two lead strands to form a torsionally stiff supply-lead module; and
wherein the plastic bridge member includes a closed plastic ring that delimits the middle conductor sections with respect to the front conductor sections and is integrally molded in one piece onto the plastic sheathings of the front conductor sections, and a plastic disk segment which delimits the middle conductor sections with respect to the rear conductor sections and has a central flow-through opening, the plastic disk segment being integrally molded in one piece onto the plastic sheathings of the rear co

Assignees

• Schmieder Dietmar
• Sebastian Thomas
• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Schmieder Dietmar
• Sebastian Thomas

Classifications

• F02M51/005 Primary

  Arrangement of electrical wires and connections, e.g. wire harness, sockets, plugs; Arrangement of electronic control circuits in or on fuel injection apparatus · CPC title

• F02M61/08

  the valves opening in direction of fuel flow {(F02M61/047 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F02M51/0603 Primary

  using piezoelectric or magnetostrictive operating means · CPC title

• F02M2200/21

  Fuel-injection apparatus with piezoelectric or magnetostrictive elements · CPC title