Patent Application
20230411909
This application claims the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) of German Patent Application No. 102022114882.3, filed on Jun. 14, 2022.
The invention relates to a shielding arrangement for electrical or electromagnetic shielding of a shielding volume and to a kit for a shielding arrangement.
Shielding arrangements are known in the prior art. These are used to protect electrical lines or connections, for example measuring lines or lines for data transmission, from external influences such as electromagnetic stray fields. Materials with high electrical conductivity are often used for shielding. Thus, shielding arrangements for larger shielding volumes are cost-intensive and/or heavy.
A shielding arrangement for electrical or electromagnetic shielding includes a first shielding body and a second shielding body connected to the first shielding body to form a shielding volume open at a pair of ends. The first shielding body and the second shielding body are each a different electrically conductive material.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described by way of the following drawings. In the drawings:
In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The configuration of the shielding arrangement shown in the drawings is purely exemplary and not limiting. Features shown can thus be combined with each other and/or omitted as desired.
The shielding arrangement 1 comprises a first shielding body 7 and a second shielding body 9, which is connected to the first shielding body 7. Both the first 7 and the second shielding body 9 consist of an electrically conductive material 11, wherein the first shielding body 7 consists of a first electrically conductive material 11a and the second shielding body consists of a second electrically conductive material 11b. The electrically conductive materials 11a and 11b are different. In an embodiment, the first electrically conductive material 11a has particularly good resilient properties in addition to its good electrical conductivity. The different, electrically conductive materials 11a, 11b of the first and second shielding bodies may differ in at least one property from the list comprising density, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, compressive strength, electrical conductivity, and specific thermal conductivity.
Both shielding bodies 7, 9 are self-contained bodies 15 in a circumferential direction 13. The shielding bodies 7, 9 can, for example, be monolithically self-contained. Alternatively, the shielding bodies 7, 9 may first be formed into a self-contained body 15, such as a ring-shaped body, for example by welding, riveting, caulking or similar methods for connecting two ends. In particular, the ends may be interconnected in the circumferential direction 13. A planar element, such as a metal sheet, is bent along the circumferential direction 13, wherein one end of the planar element facing in the circumferential direction 13 and one end facing against the circumferential direction 13 can be bent toward each other. The free ends may oppose each other in the circumferential direction 13. These ends may be straight (for example, oriented perpendicularly to the circumferential direction 13) or have complementary interlocking joint structures. In other embodiments, the ends of the planar element can also be connected to each other by force-locking or friction-locking. The connecting section, in which the shieling bodies 7, 9 are connected to form the self-contained body 15 can also run at an angle deviating from 90° to the circumferential direction 13.
The first shielding body 7 and/or the second shielding body 9 may be formed as a self-contained band and continuously enclose the shielding volume in a band-like manner. Such self-contained bodies 15 provide a circumferential gapless protection of the shielding volume 5 and elements arranged therein against electromagnetic interference. The shielding volume 5 is thus shielded without gaps.
The first shielding body 7 and the second shielding body 9 are arranged sequentially along a direction of passage 17. The direction of passage 17 is oriented parallel to height dimension z and extends from a first end 3a of the shielding volume 5 to a second end 3b of the shielding volume 5. Along this direction of passage 17, elements that are to be electrically shielded can be passed through or placed in the shielding arrangement 1.
The second shielding body 9 can be larger than the first shielding body 7 in height dimension z or along the direction of passage 17. For example, the second shielding body 9 can be twice as large as the first shielding body 7 in the direction of passage 17.
In an embodiment, the second shielding body 9 is made of an electrically conductive material which shields the shielding volume 5, however it may have a lower electrical conductivity than the material of the first shielding body 7. The material of the second shielding body 9 is thus more cost-effective and further also more lightweight than the material of the first shielding body 7. Thus, both the weight and the manufacturing costs of the shielding arrangement 1 can be reduced.
In an embodiment, the material of the second shielding body 9 may have greater bending or torsional stiffness or hardness than the material of the first shielding body 7. For example, and not limiting, the first shielding body 7 may be made of copper or a copper alloy and the second shielding body 9 may be made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy. Other electrically conductive metals and alloys may also be used in any combination.
Good electrical conductivity is understood to be the typical conductivity of conductors, in particular of metals, which is greater than 106 S/m (10 to the power of 6 Siemens per meter). In an embodiment, the first shielding body 7 consists of copper Cu and the second shielding body 9 of aluminum Al. In other configurations, copper or aluminum alloys may also be used. Both metals, copper Cu and aluminum Al, have a high electrical conductivity (for the pure metals: 58×106 S/m or 37×106 S/m, respectively). For alloys, this value falls below that for the pure metals, however both the pure metals and the alloys are suitable for electrical shielding of the shielding volume 5.
The first shielding body 7 is in electrical contact with the second shielding body 9. This electrical contact can be established by interlocking contours 19 or by an overlap 21. Further possibilities for connection are methods such as joggling or clinching, in which, for example, two metal sheets can be interconnected in a stamping process with the formation of an undercut. Alternatively, the shielding bodies 7, 9 can be riveted together or welded, such as by friction welding, friction stir welding or laser welding. The connection between the first 7 and the second shielding body 9 can thus be form-locking.
Further possibilities for electrically connecting the first shielding body 7 to the second shielding body 9 are material-locking connections, which can be produced by welding, in particular laser welding, friction welding or friction stir welding, for example.
In the configuration shown in
Such a connection provides uninterrupted electrical conductivity between the first and second shielding bodies 7, 9 so that, on one hand, eddy currents generated during shielding can also flow between the first and second shielding bodies 7, 9 and, on the other hand, any heat input introduced into the shielding arrangement 10 by the eddy currents can be dissipated.
The configuration of the shielding arrangement 1 shown in
The contact arrangement 23 may have at least one contact spring 25, or a plurality of contact springs 25, wherein each of the contact springs 25 extends in different directions away from the first shielding body 7. In the embodiment shown, the contact springs 25 are bent contact springs 25a that form a ring 27, since the contact springs 25 or the bent contact springs 25a are arranged along the circumferential direction 13. For the sake of clarity, only one contact spring or one bent contact spring 25a is provided with a reference sign in
The shielding arrangement 1 is accessible through two oppositely disposed openings 29, a first opening 29a and a second opening 29b.
By using different materials for the first shielding body 7 and the second shielding body 9, both the weight of the shielding arrangement 1 and its manufacturing costs can be reduced without impairing the shielding properties. Since the first shielding body 7 is configured for the electrical contacting of further elements, it has a flexible and reversibly deflectable material such as copper Cu. A more cost-intensive material with good resilient properties can be used in contact areas and a more cost-effective material can be used in areas where only good electrical conductivity is required. Thus, a function of the corresponding areas of the shielding arrangement can determine the material used in these areas.
With regard to its resilience, the second shielding body 9 is subject to lower requirements than the first shielding body 7. The size of the second shielding body 9 can be used to define and scale the size of the shielding volume 5.
Aluminum Al is, on the one hand, a suitable material for electromagnetic shielding and, on the other hand, has the advantage that it is more lightweight and also more cost-effective than copper Cu. Thus, the costs and the weight of the shielding arrangement 1 can be reduced without reducing the electromagnetic shielding of the shielding arrangement 1.
The second shielding body 9 may have stiffening structures, such as ribs.
The wall 35 of the housing element 33 has a receiving opening 37, which is configured to receive the shielding arrangement 1. The size of the receiving opening 37 may be somewhat larger than a base area of the shielding arrangement 1, in particular of the second shielding body 9.
The second shielding body 9 is inserted into the receiving opening 37 at the second end 3b and is electrically and mechanically connected to the wall 35 of the housing element 33 via a material-locked connection 39. Welding methods such as laser welding, friction welding or friction stir welding are suitable for this purpose. In an embodiment, the housing element 33 can also consist of aluminum Al, which facilitates the welding of the second shielding body 9 to the wall 35. The shielding arrangement 1 is thus captively connected to the housing element 33.
The third shielding body 41 is connected to the second shielding body 9. A connection between the third shielding body 41 and the second shielding body 9 may be identical to the connection between the first shielding body 7 and the second shielding body 9. Alternatively, for the connection between the second 9 and third shielding body 41, other methods or elements can be used than for the connection between the first 7 and second shielding body 9. The possible ways of connecting two shielding bodies 7, 9 is described above and can be transferred to the connection of the shielding bodies 9, 41.
The third shielding body 41 has a further contact arrangement 23a, as shown in
The third shielding body 41 can be made of the same material as the first shielding body 7. The third shielding body 41 can also be configured with further elements, for example an aggregate housing, for electrical and/or mechanical connection.
By the contact arrangement 23 or the further contact arrangement 23a, the shielding arrangement 1 can be electrically and/or mechanically connected to further elements. In an embodiment, the first and/or third shielding body 7, 41 is made of a material with high resilience and high electrical conductivity, for example with higher resilience and/or higher electrical conductivity than the material of the second shielding body 9.
In the configuration of the shielding arrangement 1 shown in
The contact arrangement 23 and/or the further contact arrangement 23a may comprise at least two bent contact springs 25a and/or at least two further bent contact springs 26a, which may further extend in different directions. In other configurations, three, four, five or more bent contact springs 25a or further bent contact springs 26a may be provided, which may be arranged along the circumference of the first and or third shielding body 7, 41, for example equidistantly.
The plurality of contact springs 25 and/or the further contact springs 26 can ensure reliable electrical contact between the first shielding body 7 and a further element and/or vibration damping of the shielding arrangement 1. All contact springs 25, 26 can face in different directions, for example perpendicularly away from the circumference of the first shielding body 7.
The configuration of the shielding arrangement 1 shown in
The at least two bent contact springs 25a and/or the at least two further bent contact springs 26a may each be bent in the direction of the second shielding body 9 and/or extend in the direction of the second shielding body 9.
In an embodiment, the third shielding body 41 is made of copper Cu, just like the first shielding body 7.
The second shielding body 9 proportionally requires the most material, and is made of a cheaper and/or more lightweight material than the first and second shielding bodies 7, 9. Since the second shielding body 9 is not used for electrical and/or mechanical contacting of another shielding arrangement or aggregate, the requirements on the resilience of the second shielding body 9 are lower than those on the resilience of the first and/or third shielding body 7, 41. This has the advantage that the entire shielding arrangement 10 can have a lower weight and can also be manufactured more cost-effectively.
By connecting the second shielding body 9 to the first shielding body 7 and the third shielding body 41, heat input induced by electromagnetic radiation into the shielding arrangement 1 can be effectively dissipated. Furthermore, the connection of the shielding bodies 7, 9, 41 to each other allows electrically possible paths of the eddy currents induced by the electromagnetic radiation to be not locally limited and thus the shielding arrangement 1 is not locally heated.
In
The second shielding bodies 9a, 9b and 9c have different lengths 45, 47, 49 along the direction of passage 17 so that the kit 43 can be used to create or define shielding volumes 5 of different sizes. In this case, a first shielding volume 5a is smaller than a second shielding volume and the second shielding volume 5b is smaller than a third shielding volume 5c. The kit 43 is thus versatilely applicable to cover different application areas or cases with different shielding volumes 5. In a further embodiment, the kit 43 may further comprise a third shielding body 41 of any of the configurations described above.
By the first (in the second described embodiment also the third) shielding body 7, 41 an electrical and/or mechanical connection to a further element can always be established and at the same time, by selecting a suitable second shielding body 9, the size of the shielding volume 5 can be adapted to the respective application. Thus, the kit 43 can be used universally for shielding volumes 5 of different sizes. For this purpose, only the suitable second shielding body 9 has to be selected and connected to the first (or the first and the third) shielding body 7, 41.
In a further configuration, the shielded connector 51 may have a further shielding arrangement on a cable side facing away from a mating face of the connector. The further shielding arrangement can be electrically and/or mechanically connected to the shielding arrangement 1 according to the invention. This additional shielding arrangement can be connected to the shielding arrangement 1 according to the invention in a materially locked manner. The further shielding arrangement can, for example, be a shielding of a cable. The further shielding arrangement can also shield a volume and can differ from the shielding arrangement 1 of the shielded connector 51. The shielding arrangement 1 and the further shielding arrangement can also be configured in the same way.
Continuous shielding can also be ensured on the connector side, i.e. that side of the connector 51 to which the mating face faces. Thus, a shielded connection can be provided between a housing element 33 and a shielding arrangement 1 described above. In such a shielded connection, the housing element 33 can have a receiving opening in which the shielding arrangement 1 can be received and in which the shielding arrangement 1 can be mechanically and electrically connected to the housing element 33 by spring elements or by a material bond.
The shielding arrangement 1 can comprise the first and second shielding bodies 7, 9, wherein the second shielding body 9 can be inserted or fitted into the receiving opening of the housing element 33 and can be connected to the housing element 33. This connection can be made by welding, for example.
In another exemplary configuration, the shielding arrangement 1 may comprise the first, the second and the third shielding bodies 7, 9, 41, wherein the third shielding body 41 can be inserted or fitted into the receiving opening of the housing element 33 and can be connected to the housing element 33 via contact springs. This connection can be made, for example, by a latching mechanism and, in particular, can be repeatedly released. The contact springs 25 contact the housing element 33 in a resilient manner, so that a continuous vibration-damped connection can be made or is made between the shielding arrangement 1 and the housing element 33.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102022114882.3 | Jun 2022 | DE | national |
