Mechanical stress isolation conductors in lead frames
AssigneeVitesco Technologies USA, LLC
InventorsAndrew Wisniewski, Laura Church
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrical device includes an electrically conductive member, an overmold material disposed about a portion of the electrically conductive member and a membrane disposed between the overmold material and at least a portion of the electrically conductive member. The membrane has a compressibility greater that a compressibility of the overmold material such that at least a portion of relative thermal expansion between the electrically conductive member relative to the overmold material is absorbed by the membrane.
Claims17
An electrical device comprising:
- an electrically conductive member;
- an overmold material disposed about a portion of the electrically conductive member;
- and
- a membrane disposed between the overmold material and at least a portion of the electrically conductive member, wherein the membrane has a compressibility greater that a compressibility of the overmold material such that at least a portion of relative thermal expansion between the electrically conductive member relative to the overmold material is absorbed by the membrane;
- wherein the electrically conductive member comprises a bus bar with a first end and a second end that extend outward from the overmold material and the membrane is disposed over the bus bar and the membrane encapsulated on all sides with the overmold material.
A mainframe assembly comprising:
- a connector portion including a plurality of conductors;
- a bus bar in electrical communication with some of the plurality of conductors;
- a mainframe portion formed from an overmold material encapsulating portions of the plurality of conductors and the bus bar;
- and
- a membrane disposed between the overmold material of the main frame portion and at least a portion of the bus bar, wherein the membrane has a compressibility greater that a compressibility of the overmold material such that at least a portion of relative thermal expansion between the electrically conductive member relative to the overmold material is absorbed by the membrane;
- wherein the membrane comprises an elastic material and the overmold material comprises a thermoplastic material, and the membrane is disposed at several separate areas of the bus bar and the membrane is encapsulated entirely within the over mold material.
A method of assembling an electrical device comprising:
- pre-molding a portion of an electrical conduit with an elastic membrane;
- and
- molding the electrical conduit with an thermoplastic overmold material that covers all portions of the electrical conduit covered by the elastic membrane such that the elastic membrane is encapsulated entirely by the overmold material, wherein the elastic membrane has a compressibility greater that a compressibility of the thermoplastic overmold material such that at least a portion of relative thermal expansion between the electrically conductive member relative to the overmold material is absorbed by the elastic membrane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.