The present invention relates to household appliance, particularly a cooking appliance, more particularly a cooking hob, even more particularly an induction cooking hob, according to at least one of the claims 1 or 12. Further, the present invention relates to method for assembling a household appliance, particularly a cooking appliance, more particularly a cooking hob, even more particularly an induction cooking hob, according to claim 16.
Generally, household appliances are assembled from modular components, which may be individual parts, e.g. motors, heating elements, pumps, or the like, or systems or subsystems, which themselves may be an assembly of single parts, e.g. printed circuit boards like control units or user interfaces. A relevant number of said modular components is of electrical nature, which modular components have to be supplied with electrical energy and which are electrically connected with other electrical components for information and/or power transfer. In production facilities for household appliances, nowadays, there is already an advanced level of automation, which is reflected in an automated assembly of components, for example arrangeable in a housing of the household appliance. However, there are still manual assembly steps required for establishing electrical contacts, particularly by connecting plug contacts of wiring harnesses.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a household appliance, which is constructed in such a way that the level of automation in production facilities of household appliances can be further increased. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for assembling a household appliance, which supports an advanced level of automation during assembly of a household appliance.
The object is achieved by a household appliance comprising
According to an aspect of the present invention, the intended increase of the level of automation is achieved by a configuration of an electrical module or component, particularly of a circuit board, in such a way as to be electrically connected after its installation in the housing or the installation case, which may be executed in an assembly movement from above. Said electrical connection is performed by equipment of the electrical connector of the module or component, notably of the circuit board, e.g. of the first circuit board, with the connection line. On the other hand, also the household appliance may be configured to receive the connection line for the electrical connection of the electrical module or component, particularly receiving also the electrical module or component itself to be assembled inside of the housing or installation case, during an equipment movement, particularly by an equipment robot moving and connecting the connection line to electrical module or component, which equipment movement is executed at least approximately orthogonally to a base area or reference area of the household appliance, e.g. a base wall of the housing or installation case. In particular, the base area or the reference area of the housing or of the installation case is at least approximately horizontally aligned with a mounting surface or an assembly line in a production facility and said assembly movement and/or an equipment exercise for the connection of the connection line is executed in a top down assembly and/or equipment movement.
The household appliance is particularly a cooking appliance and may be a cooking hob, in particular an electrically driven cooking hob. A specifically selected household appliance is an induction cooking hob.
The installation case may be a receptacle or compartment of the household appliance and it may be included in the housing of the household appliance. In particular, the installation case is a protection box, specifically in the example of a cooking hob.
The circuit board, in particular at least one of said first circuit board and said second circuit board, may be a delivery system for delivery of electrical power to the at least one consumer load, for example a heating element of the household appliance, and said delivery system is in particular a power board, what is specifically valid for the case of a cooking hob, particularly of an induction cooking hob.
The mains connection unit for a connection of the household appliance to the electric power supply may be a module or component that is combined with another component or module, i. e. it may be mounted in combination with said other component or module. It may be a module or component included in one of the first and second circuit boards. Preferably however, the mains connection unit is a separate component or module, which is mounted during a separate mounting step, notably during an automated mounting step, preferably by means of an assembly robot. Specifically, the mains connection unit is a mains terminal block or a power supply box.
The household appliance may also comprise an electric or electronic filter unit, more specifically an interference suppressor filter or mains suppression filter, which may be included in a combined mains connection and interference suppression filter board or which may be positioned on a circuit board separate from the mains connection circuit board. Additionally, or alternatively, any kind of circuit board requiring or switching electrical power may be included in the household appliance as well.
With such a setup, the household appliance may be equippable or may comprise any one of the following example configurations for their electrical interconnection(s):
The first circuit board or at least one of the first and second circuit boards according to the aforementioned example configurations specifically comprising a delivery system for a delivery of electrical power to the at least one consumer load.
It is to be noted that the aforementioned configurations represent just an arbitrary selection of any considerable combination of circuit board(s) and/or electrical or electronic unit(s), which fall under the general composition of electrically interconnectable components as defined by claim 1, but the present invention is not limited to this arbitrary selection.
Another example for said circuit board, particularly at least one of said first circuit board and said second circuit board, is an operating panel for appliance control and/or for user interaction, which may be a user interface. Particularly, especially in the case of a cooking hob, the operating panel is mounted, and subsequently equipped with an allocated connection line, in a late step of the assembling process, preferably before a mounting of a working plate of the household appliance.
According to one specific embodiment of the invention, the first electrical connector of the first circuit board is formed as a push-on contact and the connection line is a contact bar. Said contact bar comprises a first contacting tongue or pin or flap, which may be a first flat connector, at a first end portion thereof. The push-on contact is arranged on the first circuit board in a way as to receive the contacting tongue or pin or flap during an assembly movement mainly in a direction at least approximately orthogonally to the first circuit board.
Preferably, said push-on contact is formed as blade receptacle. A specifically preferred solution for the push-on contact is a crimp contact.
Said contact bar may comprise a second contacting tongue or pin or flap, preferably a second flat connector, at a second end portion thereof and a connecting bridge connecting the first end portion with the second end portion. The second contacting tongue or pin or flap is connectable to a second electrical connector arranged at the second circuit board, which is arrangeable or arranged in the housing of the household appliance at a predefined position, particularly a second predefined position, in a way that also the second electrical connector is arranged at a predefined position, which is notably different from the predefined position of the first electrical connector. The second electrical connector may be a second push-on contact, preferably a second crimp contact.
The first push-on contact, preferably also the second push-on contact, may be soldered to the related circuit board, i. e. the first circuit board in the case of the first push-on contact and the second circuit board in the case of the second push-on contact, with an orientation at least approximately orthogonally to the main surfaces of the related circuit board.
In particular, a solder pin at at least one of the first and second push-on contacts is pushed through a through-hole in the related circuit board, i. e. the first circuit board in the case of the first push-on contact and the second circuit board in the case of the second push-on contact. The solder pin contacts a circuit, particularly a conducting path thereof, arranged at a rear side or bottom side of said circuit board.
One specific embodiment provides a contact bar, which comprises at least a third contacting tongue or pin or flap between its first and second end portions. Such third contacting tongue or pin or flap forms an intermediate connection means, which is preferably formed by a U-shaped or an Omega-shaped tongue or flap implemented by repeated bending of the connecting bridge of the contact bar.
According to an embodiment, a strain relief mechanism is implemented in the contact bar by means of a non-straight, particularly by an undulated or zigzag shaped connecting bridge. Such kind of strain relief mechanism may be advantageous for any vibrations or shocks or displacement of modules or components during subsequent assembly steps or on transportation routes.
The contact bar may comprise a fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap, preferably a fourth flat connector, at a second end portion thereof and a connecting bridge connecting the first end portion with the second end portion. The fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap is arrangeable in the mains connection unit. Said arrangement preferably takes place during the assembly or equipment movement for the connection of the first contacting tongue or pin or flap. It may also take place during the connection of the first contacting tongue or pin or flap with the first electrical connector of the first circuit board. The mains connection unit is preferably a mains terminal block or a power supply box. Additionally or alternatively, the mains connection unit comprises or is connected with a board with an interference suppressor filter.
A specific embodiment is characterized in that the fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap and/or the second end portion of the contact bar comprising the fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap is fixable or fixed to the mains connection unit, particularly to a housing or box of or inside of the housing.
One specific solution for the fixation of the fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap and/or of the second end portion of the contact bar comprising the fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap provides for a fixation means included in the fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap. Said fixation means is particularly at least one hook for hooking into an electrically isolated or plastic housing of the mains connection unit.
According to embodiments, the fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap is configured to be connected to a terminal of a mains supply line, which terminal may comprise a third push-on contact. Also the third push-on contact may be a blade receptacle, preferably a crimp contact. A specific design for the third push-on contact includes an angular deflection by 90 degrees, which may be advantageous for a low installation height.
The object is also achieved by a household appliance comprising a circuit board, particularly a first circuit board, and a grounded housing, in which the circuit board is arrangeable or arranged. The circuit board comprises an electrical connector, which is formed as a push-on contact and which is connected or connectable to a flap or pin or tongue arranged at the grounded housing, in particular a bottom wall of the grounded housing. The push-on contact is arranged on the circuit board in a way as to receive the contacting tongue or flap or pin during an assembly movement mainly in a direction at least approximately orthogonally to the circuit board. Said household appliance is particularly designed according to anyone of the afore-described embodiments.
Preferably, said push-on contact is formed as a blade receptacle. A specifically preferred solution for the push-on contact is a crimp contact.
The household appliance is particularly a cooking appliance and may be a cooking hob, in particular an electrically driven cooking hob. A specifically selected household appliance is an induction cooking hob.
In particular, a cut-out, which may be of rectangular shape, is implemented in the circuit board next to the position of the push-on contact. That way, the flap or pin or tongue at the grounded housing is enabled to pass through, or adapted to be passed through, the cut-out and is arranged to be coupled to the push-on contact from behind or below.
According to another specific embodiment of the invention, the first electrical connector of the first circuit board is a multi-pin connector with top mounted cable connection and the connection line is a plurality of single connection lines, in particular a flat wire or ribbon cable. The multi-pin connector may be a flat wire connector or ribbon cable connector. Said top mounted cable connection is performed by an insulation displacement connector in a particularly advantageous manner.
The plurality of single connection lines, in particular the flat wire or ribbon cable, may be connectable to a second and/or a third electrical connector of the second circuit board and/or of the mains connection unit after its or their arrangement in the housing of the household appliance, which second and/or third electrical connectors are preferably of the same type as the first electrical connector. The connection of the first, the second and/or the third electrical connectors by equipment with the plurality of connection lines is preferably performable in consecutive steps. That way, an interconnection of the first circuit board, the second circuit board and/or the mains connection unit can be established.
The object is also achieved by a method for assembling a household appliance, which comprises the steps
The assembly step a. is the first one and the assembly step d. is the final one of the assembly steps a. to d. and the assembly steps b. and c. are performed in either order.
Each of the assembly steps b., c. and d. may be performed in an assembly or equipment movement in a direction at least approximately orthogonally to a base area of the housing or the installation case. The equipment of the electrical connector is preferably performed in an automated manner. In particular, an equipment robot is in operation.
The household appliance, to which the method applies or which is designed for the method to be applied on, is particularly a cooking appliance and may be a cooking hob, in particular an electrically driven cooking hob. A specifically selected appliance is an induction cooking hob. Further, the method may be applicable to a household appliance according to anyone of the afore-described embodiments.
The installation case that is provided may be a receptacle or compartment of the household appliance and it may be included in the housing of the household appliance. In particular, the installation case is a protection box, specifically in the example of a cooking hob. The interconnection of the first circuit board, the second circuit board and/or the mains connection unit is particularly provided for the purpose of power and/or information transmission.
At least one of said first circuit board and said second circuit board may be a delivery system for delivery of electrical power to the at least one consumer load, for example a heating element of the household appliance, and said delivery system is in particular a power board, what is specifically valid for the case of a cooking hob, particularly of an induction cooking hob.
The mains connection unit for a connection of the household appliance to the electric power supply may be a module or component that is combined with another component or module, i. e. it may be mounted in combination with said other component or module. It may be a module or component included in one of the first and second circuit boards. Preferably however, the mains connection unit is a separate component or module, which is mounted during a separate mounting step, notably during an automated mounting step, preferably by means of an assembly robot. Specifically, the mains connection unit to be mounted is a mains terminal block or a power supply box.
Another example for said first circuit board and/or for said second circuit board is an operating panel for appliance control and/or for user interaction, which may be a user interface. Particularly, especially in the case of a cooking hob, the operating panel is mounted, and subsequently equipped with an allocated connection line, in a late step of the assembling process, preferably before a mounting of a working plate of the household appliance.
According to a first specifically preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, a first contacting tongue or pin or flap arranged at a first end portion of the connection line, which may be formed as a contact bar, is pushed into the electrical connector arranged on the first circuit board during the assembly step d. In particular, this assembly step d. including the equipment of the electrical connector of the first circuit board with said first contacting tongue or pin or flap is performed by an assembly movement mainly in a direction at least approximately orthogonally to the first circuit board. More particularly, this equipment of the electrical connector of the first circuit board is performed by a top down assembly movement. The first contacting tongue or pin or flap is preferably a first flat connector and/or said electrical connector may be formed as a first push-on contact, preferably as a first blade receptacle and more preferably as a first crimp contact.
One embodiment of this first specifically preferred embodiment is characterized by a fourth contacting tongue or pin or flap, preferably a fourth flat connector, which is arranged at a second end portion of the connection line and which is either pushed into an electrical connector arranged the second circuit board or is arranged in the mains connection unit for receiving a terminal of a mains supply line during a subsequent assembly step. It is preferred that one of these afore-mentioned alternative assembling executions is performed during the equipment movement for the connection of the first contacting tongue or pin or flap or during its connection with the first electrical connector of the first circuit board. Said electrical connector on the second circuit board is preferably formed as a second push-on contact, more preferably as a second blade receptacle, for example as a second crimp contact.
A second specifically preferred embodiment of the method is characterized by the first circuit board that is connected to the second circuit board or to the mains connection unit by means of a flat wire or ribbon cable. Each of the first and second circuit boards or of the first circuit board and the mains connection unit comprises at least one electrical connector and particularly electric and/or electronic components. In a first step, electrical contact is applied between each one of the electrical connectors and the related circuit board or between the electrical connector and the mains connection unit. In particular, soldering technique is used for applying the electrical contact during the first step. In a second step, electrical contact is applied between at least one of the electrical connectors and the connection line. The electrical contact is preferably applied between the connection line and a first electrical connector of the first circuit board and a second electrical connector of the second electrical board. In particular, the electrical contact applied during the second step is established by means of insulation displacement connection. At least one of the electrical connectors may be a flat wire connector or a ribbon cable connector.
The second step may be performed in an assembly movement in a direction at least approximately orthogonally to a receiving surface or receiving position in the household appliance. In particular, the assembly movement is orthogonal to the housing or the installation case of the household appliance.
In one specific embodiment the second step is performed during an automated process. Said automated process may be supported by an assembly robot.
The connection line, which is particularly a flat wire or ribbon cable, may be placed on top of the at least one electrical connector and may be pressed against and connected with the at least one electrical connector during the second step.
The second step is particularly a sequence of single second steps for applying contact between the connection line and multiple electrical connectors for their electrical connection. Said single second steps are preferably performed successively.
A specifically preferred embodiment is characterized by a connection line, which is a flat wire or a ribbon cable, and an angled connection between two successively connected terminal points or connection pins or plugs is performed by a respective bending of the flat wire. Prior to the bending step, small cuts are implemented between the single wires or cables at the bending position.
Novel and inventive features of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims.
The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawing, in which
The cooking hob 10 comprises a casing 12 and a panel 14. The casing 12 includes a bottom wall 12a, four sidewalls 12b and an open top side. Preferably, the casing 12 is made of metal, e.g. steel. Alternatively, the casing 12 may be made of plastics. The panel 14 covers the top side of the casing 12. For example, the panel 14 is a glass ceramic panel.
The cooking hob 10 comprises four circular cooking zones 15, two thereof with a smaller diameter, while the diameter of the other two cooking zones 15 are larger. The contours of the cooking zones are indicated by respective circles on the top surface of the glass panel 14. Each cooking zone 15 receives its heating power from a heating element 16 arranged beneath the panel 14.
A carrier 18 supports the heating element 16. Said carrier 18 is arranged beneath the heating elements 16. The carrier 18 is a metallic plate, preferably made of an aluminium material, and may be of an extension adapted to carry all four heating elements 16, in that having dimensions close to the dimensions of the glass panel 14. Alternatively, four carriers 18 may be provided, each carrier 18 supporting merely one dedicated heating element 16.
The cooking hob 10 further comprises a user interface 20 for enabling user inputs including also a control panel for controlling the cooking hob functions. The user interface 20 includes touch sensors and display means corresponding with a user interface zone 21 arranged at the front edge of the glass panel 14.
Preferably, the heating element 16 is an electric heating element. At least one printed circuit board 22 is arranged above the bottom wall 12a of the casing 12. A plurality of electric and/or electronic elements 24, 26 is attached on the printed circuit board 22. The printed circuit board 22 including the electric and/or electronic elements 24, 26 forms a power board of the cooking hob 10. Power electronic elements 26 for supplying the heating elements 16 with electrical power are attached to a cooling channel 28, which extends horizontally through the cooking hob 10. An air stream driven by at least one fan 30 passes the cooling channel 28 and cools down the power electronic elements 26.
In this example, the cooking hob 10 is an induction cooking hob, wherein the heating element 16 is a heating coil unit 16 comprising an induction coil and the carrier 18 is a coil carrier.
Electrical connections for power and/or information transmission between the two power boards 22 are only indicated in
A first example for an electrical connection between component groups, particularly between two printed circuit boards, is shown in
The design of said contact bar 40 is illustrated in
It should be noted that this type of connection, illustrated by
As mentioned above, the power supply comprises phase, neutral and protective conductors. Moreover, each one of the power boards 22 is connected to a separate phase conductor of a three-phase network. Therefore, the induction cooking hob 10 is connected to the network with a four-wire cable, wherein the terminal of the neutral conductor wire is duplicated for a connection to related contact bars 40 of both power boards 22. The neutral conductor is connected by a related contact bar 40 to only one power board 22, which is the right hand one of the illustration according to
The design of the connecting tongues is illustrated in the enlarged detail view of
A second example for an electrical connection between component groups, particularly between two printed circuit boards 22, is shown in
The connection between the flat wire 60 and the group connector 62 is illustrated by the enlarged detail view according to
The electrical contact of the second example embodiment is established in the assembly line for induction cooking hob 10 manufacturing as follows. At first, the unconnected group connectors 62 are soldered to their related circuit board, i. e. on the power boards 22 and on the user interface 20, which, however, is commonly performed already in the assembly line for producing the respective circuit board 20, 22. In the assembly line for the manufacturing of the entire induction cooking hob 10 the individual circuit boards 20, 22 are inserted into the casing 12 at their predefined installation positions according to a predefined assembly order. Preferably, said insertion of the circuit boards 20, 22 is performed in an automated way using an assembly robot. Thereafter, the electrical connection is established, preferably also using a robot having a flat wire dispenser on a robot arm. The dispensed positions the flat wire 60 over a first one of the group connectors 62 arranged on a first one of the circuit boards 20, 22. With a customary and well-known equipment tool the flat wire 60 is pressed into the related insulation displacement connections 68 and is thereby connected. Preferably, in order to more secure the permanence of the electrical connection, a clamping bracket (not shown) may be provided, which has to be arranged above the flat wire 60 after its equipment, particularly secured by a snap coupling, and which keeps the flat wire cables pressed into their contacting positions. After establishing the electrical contact with the first group connector 62, the dispenser of the robot moves to the second circuit board 20, 22 together with the further course of the flat wire 60 for establishing a next electrical connection, notably with the second group connector 62, in the same way as described above for the connection to the first group connector 62. After establishing the second connection at the second one of the circuit boards 20, 22, the dispenser of the robot moves further for establishing a third electrical connection with the third one of the three circuit boards 20, 22, which is the final one in the present example. After establishing said third connection, the flat wire 60 is cut off from the flat wire spool on the dispenser.
As shown in
The specific example embodiment according to
The above-described electrical connection according to the second example can also be serviced by an experienced repair service. In principle, a reuse of the electrical connection is possible, e. g. by an unsoldering and re-soldering at a substitute circuit board. Alternatively, a replacement of the flat wire 60 by a new one is possible using a usual tool for performing manual crimp connections.
All above-described specific embodiments, notably those ones illustrated with
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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20211487.2 | Dec 2020 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2021/082322 | 11/19/2021 | WO |