In automatic vehicle transmissions, electronic control units that are installed inside the transmission housing are used to control the shift hydraulics. To prevent the transmission oil from entering this electronic control unit, the electronic control units are hermetically sealed e.g. by welding housing bases and housing covers to one another. The electrical contacts are customarily guided outwardly through glass sealing or glazed enclosures. The design of electronic control units of this type is substantially similar to that of metallic transistor housings but include a larger number of contact pins. Metallic pressed screens are applied to the outer end face of the contact pins to conduct the electrical signals. The former are customarily connected permanently to the contact pins using a bonding method such as laser welding. These pressed screens are coated with plastic to position the parts to be welded and to provide short-circuit-proof insulation.
DE 196 40 466 B4 relates to a metallic carrier part that includes electronic components applied to the component side and/or to printed circuit boards. The printed circuit boards are, in particular, hybrid circuits having connections that are inserted from the component side to the side of the carrier part opposite the component side using a plurality of lead pins sealed in glass passages. The lead pins are disposed on at least one metallic contact strip provided with passage openings. A lead pin sealed in a glass filling is disposed in each passage opening. The contact strip is inserted into an assigned recess in the carrier part and is fastened therein.
Regarding the above-described configuration, it is difficult to ensure adequate flexibility to compensate for component tolerances or to achieve deformation during an assembly procedure. Moreover, the tools required to produce the plastic-coated pressed screens are very expensive. Likewise, any geometric change or the creation of a component variant is a complex undertaking and increases costs. If a wiring harness is used to achieve flexibility, a short but coated pressed screen is typically required as an intermediate part to connect the cable ends since it is only possible to weld the contact pins to a fixed sheet-metal surface and not to connect them directly to the flexible cables.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds