United Technologies Automotive Inc.

Essex Group, Inc.

David V Tinder

Robert S Migrin

George A Wooldridge

Ronald C Nonnenmacher

Hugh C Webber

Glen G Wodnicki

Frank S Loria

Rochford R Basson

A housing assembly (14) for protection of an enclosed printed circuit board (12) with a surface mounted dome switch (18) is disclosed. Various construction details are developed which provide sealing under a variety of atmospheric conditions. In one embodiment, the housing assembly is comprised of an upper portion (22), a lower portion (26), and a one piece, continuous diaphragm (30). The upper portion has an aperture (24) for engagement of a button actuator (20) by an external force. The diaphragm, composed of an elastic material, provides a sealed cavity (32) for the housing and permits substantial equalization between the internal and external pressure of the sealed cavity.

Sealed housing for a remote switching device

A modular trim panel unit for the manufacturing and assembling of doors for motor vehicles, with the preassembly of the interior trim panel for the door including one or more basic mechanical and/or electrical components, which unit is manufactured off the main automotive assembly line, with the preassembled modular trim panel unit to be brought to the main assembly line for final assembly of the door. The trim panel unit adds no significant structural reinforcement to that of the final door assembly and is made up of at least one molded layer and includes the drive and motor of the window lift mechanism, with the window and guide(s) therefor and a drive connection being mounted on the main door frame structure. The panel unit can also include parts, if not all, of the door latch mechanism and door lock motor, as well as the actuating mechanisms therefor, and an electronics module (e.g., a remote multiplexing unit), all of the door switches, and preferably most of the lateral extent of the electrical wiring for the various electrical door components, all completely mounted and interconnected. The innermost molded layer can include a series of cavities or support and positioning walls for holding the various mechanical and electrical components in place, including a covered 'box' area into which uncovered circuit board(s) can be inserted, as well as straddling plateau areas for making screw connections for the components.

Method of simplifying on-line assembly of vehicular door components

An automotive vehicle having a number of electrical components, particularly in the driver's door, with the electrical components powered by the main DC power contained in the main body of the vehicle. A number of relatively low power DC components and relatively high power DC components are in the door, with a main multiplexing unit located in the main vehicle body and a remote multiplexing unit electrically connected to the main multiplexing unit but located in the door, the two multiplexing units being electrically connected together by wiring extending across the hinge gap. A low power control unit is also located in the door controlled by the remote multiplexing unit, the DC power to the low power unit being directly supplied through it through wiring totally contained in the door, while the DC power to the high power unit is directly supplied from the main multiplexing unit in the vehicle body through the wiring extending across the hinge gap. Additionally at least two reversible DC motors are in the door, with a maximum of three electrical wires connected to the motors, a common wire connected across one side of each of the motors, and two separate, isolated wires connected to the other sides of the motors, all three wires being connected to one of the multiplexing units, DC power being supplied independently to the DC motors. A number of logic rules are programmed into the system to establish a series of precedent actions.

Vehicular door multiplexing system

A light pipe including a light diverting section, in which light flowing through the light pipe in a longitudinal direction is diverted at least generally radially out from the light pipe or, alternatively, the light diverting section can be used as a receiver (rather than a transmitter) to collect light rays from light emanating around the device and divert them for passage down through the light pipe. An automotive application of the former, transmitter mode is serving as a visula indicator from a remote location in which the surface end of the light pipe is not clearly visible, such as for example on a 'black box' located under a vehicle seat. An automotive application of the latter, receiver mode is as a light collector to receive or accept infrared rays from any compass position and from a range of vertical positions and direct them to a receptor, as part of an infrared personal entry system into the vehicle. The light diverting section includes a centrally located reflective surface on its side distal to the light pipe section which is conical (FIGS. 4 and 5) or concavely curved (FIGS. 1 and 2), the latter causing vertical as well as radial dispersion.

Remote, automotive light diverting system

A switch having a carriage with a pair of substantially opposite sides and a contact surface of conductive parts facing one of the sides and a reaction surface facing the other of the sides in spaced relation therewith, and wherein the carriage is movable relative to and substantially parallel with the contact surface and the reaction surface, and has an improved contact mechanism carried by the carriage. The carriage has plural openings extending therethrough perpendicular to the contact surface and the reaction surface. The contact mechanism comprises a respective plurality of plungers, springs, conductive contact members and a common conductive retainer. Each contact member is slidably disposed in a respective one of the carriage openings and is adapted for engagement with the contact surface. Each spring is interposed in compression between a respective contact member and a respective plunger. Each plunger is in contact with the reaction surface to urge the respective contact member into engagement with the contact surface. Each plunger includes a head portion and a pin depending from the head portion. Each contact member is hollow and open at its end facing the reaction surface and includes a shoulder in the hollow which faces the open end. The retainer is structured to allow limited resilient deflection of one end relative to the other in a direction axially of the carriage openings, but to be substantially rigid to forces applied in a transverse direction.

Contact mechanism for a switch

An arrangement for mounting a packaged semiconductor with a heat sink includes the heat sink having a channel formed therein with a pair of opposed side walls and utilizes one or more spring beams acting against one side wall of the channel to urge the semiconductor package into good heat transferring relation or engagement with the other side wall. The arrangement is especially suited for use with TO-220 transistor packages and uses an array of spring beam fingers joined by a spine in comb-like fashion to facilitate assembly.

Heat sink mounting arrangement for a semiconductor

A switch for controlling wiper delay includes a housing, a circuit board having a contact pattern of several parts on a surface thereof positioned in the housing, some of the contact pattern parts being arranged in a closely-spaced, radially-extending array, a carriage rotatable in the housing, electrical contacts mounted on the carriage and disposed for engagement with selected parts of the contact pattern as a function of the position of the carriage, a discrete resistive element having at least three conductive leads extending therefrom and subdividing the resistive element into a resistor network having a plurality of resistive values, each conductive lead of the resistive element being conductively affixed to a respective one of the contact pattern parts in the array, and wherein the carriage is manually actuatable to place the electrical contact into contact with successive ones of the contact pattern parts in the array to vary the interval between sweeps of a wiper. An additional electrical contact resiliently supported by a conductive beam spring has one end mounted in fixed conductive engagement with one of the contact pattern parts of the circuit board. The beam spring is biased into engagement with a cam surface on the periphery of the carriage for selective electrical connection of that additional contact with another of the circuit contact pattern parts as a function of carriage position to control high speed operation of a wiper motor.

Delay wiper switch

A method and apparatus is provided for measuring the hysteresis error of a position sensor for a reciprocating element, such as the sensor for determining piston TDC in a reciprocating engine. The sensor is of the proximity type and has a sensing region past which a vane relatively moves. Event timing signals are provided by voltage transitions occasioned by the leading and trailing edges respectively of the vane passing the sensor. The method includes moving a pair of test vanes in opposite directions past the sensor to simulate two passes thereby of a reciprocating vane to generate the event timing signals from the sensor. This may be done by mounting the test vanes on a pair of rotating discs. Independently of the sensor, reference timing signals are generated which are accurately indicative of the positioning of the leading and trailing edges of the one or more test vanes. These reference timing signals may be determined optically. An event timing signal is then compared with a respective corresponding reference timing signal for each of two of the reference timing signals symmetrically disposed with respect to the position to be determined, i.e. TDC, and a difference value is determined for each of those two comparisons. Finally, the two difference values are compared to determine a further difference value, that further difference value being a measure of the hysteresis error.

Method and apparatus for measuring hysteresis of a position sensor

An improved method and apparatus are provided for making vibration sensors, particularly of the type used in automotive applications wherein a piezoelectric element is affixed to a flexing plate which is mounted on a support stem in 'umbrella' fashion. A desired resonant vibrating frequency of the sensor is obtained by progressively working a neck portion of the support stem, as by peening, to effectively decrease the vibrating radius of the plate and thus increase its resonant frequency toward and to a desired resonant frequency. The plate's frequency is monitored and the working of the stem neck portion is terminated when a desired resonant frequency is attained. An inclined support shoulder on the stem below the neck portion facilitates the aforementioned manufacture. An undercut positioned in the stem neck portion near its transition into the support shoulder further facilitates the manufacture.

Vibration sensor and the method of and apparatus for manufacture thereof

A one-piece plastic holder is provided for mounting a generally tubular lamp on a circuit board. The lamp has a filament connected to a pair of leads extending from the lamp base. The lamp holder includes an annular base portion adapted to be supported on a surface of a circuit board, a support spine extending upwardly from the base portion, at least two angularly-spaced, snap-fit mounting members depending from the base portion for insertion through respective mounting apertures in the circuit board and for locking engagement with the reverse surface of the board, and a pair of notches in the lamp base portion through which the respective pair of lamp leads may be led. The support spine of the lamp holder includes a clamp, as for instance a pair of opposed arcuate jaws for resiliently engaging and retaining a respective lamp. The geometry of the lamp holder mounting members and the circuit board apertures cooperatively serve to key the holder to a predetermined angular orientation relative to the circuit board. The notches in the lamp holder base portion are spaced 180.degree. from one another in predetermined angular relation with the lamp holder, such that the lamp is mounted in predetermined angular relation to the holder. The lamp holder mounting members are spaced 180.degree. from one another and differ from each other in respective cross-sectional geometries so as to effect the angularly keyed relation with the circuit board.

Lamp holder for mounting a lamp on a circuit board

An injection timing transducer is provided for use with the fuel delivery system of a compression ignition engine. The transducer is operatively associated with the fuel flow path and provides a signal indicative of fuel pressure pulsations within the fuel delivery system. The electrical signals are representative of the derivative or rate of change of fuel pressure as a function of time and are thereby particularly suited for indicating the onset of fuel injection to the engine. The transducer includes a housing member connectable in the fuel flow path intermediate a fuel pump and injector for defining a chamber through which the fuel may pass and for providing a sensor mounting surface external to the chamber but in pressure transmitting relationship with the fluid path. A piezoelectric sensing element is affixed to the sensor mount surface of the transducer housing member. The housing member is typically an elongated, generally tubular member having a central fuel flow path at either end and wherein the chamber is an annular region within the member and radially offset from the central flow path. A continuous flow of fuel through the chamber is provided by radial flow paths between the central flow path and the upstream and downstream ends of that chamber. The annular chamber is conveniently provided by an insert member inserted in radially spaced relation within a central bore in one end of the housing member.

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Dearborn, MI, United States of America

David V Tinder