ELECTROMAGNETIC DRIVE AND POLARIZED RELAY

Abstract: The present invention relates to a polarized electromagnetic relay apparatus in which a coil spool assembly (30) is destined to be assembled on a terminal carrying base plate (37) comprising: a coil spool having a collar (33), flexible projecting pieces (43,44) formed on said collar and having stoppers (43b,44b), a latch projection formed (40) in the top surface of said base plate and having a latch hole (40a), wherein said coil spool assembly is mounted on said base plate through engagement of said flexible projecting piece with said latch hold.

Description: Field of Invention The present invention relates to an electromagnetic relay. Summary of Invention German Patent Application DD-A-120321 describes a relay construction in which a coil spool is assembled on a terminal-carrying base plate. An object of the present invention is to provide a relay construction in which the coil spool and base plate can be assembled in a single-stroke operation in a simple manner. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description made by referring to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a polarized relay embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the polarized relay of Fig. 4 at an intermediate step of assembling; Fig. 3 is a perspective view for illustrating of a coil spool assembly on a terminal-pin carrying base plate upon assembling the polarized relay shown in Fig. 4, several parts being omitted from illustration for clarification thereof; and Fig. 4 is a side elevational view showing the polarized relay in the assembled state with several parts being omitted from illustration. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, reference numeral 30 generally indicates a bobbin or spool which is wound with the coil 14 and has a collar 31 at which a terminal post 32 is provided for leading out a coil conductor. A front collar 33 is provided with a pair of guide projections 34a and 34b at a same height, each of the guide projections being generally in a L-like configuration each having a upstanding verticalear. A numeral 35 denotes a rectangular through-hole into which the bar-like iron core 13 having a head or free end portion 13a is inserted. In the state in which the bar-like iron core 13 is inserted into the bore 35 of the coil spool 30, the head portion 13a bears on the outer surface of the collar 33 and projects from the latter while the other end portion denoted by 13b snugly fitted in a through-hole 18 formed in an upstanding wall 17 which is provided at the rear end of the yoke body 16 of the yoke 15, as viewed in Fig. 4. In this state, the yoke body 16 extends in parallel with the iron core bar 13 wound with the coil 14. In opposition to the end of the yoke body 16 at which the upstanding wall 17 is formed, there are formed a pair of the upstanding opposite pole plates 19a and 19b mentioned above which may be realized by bending upwardly the lateral arms of the generally T-like yoke body 16. The head or free end portion 13a of the bar-like iron core 13 is positioned at a center between the upstanding pole plates 19a and 19b, whereby air gaps or working gaps 20a and 20b are defined between the inner surface of the upstanding pole plate 19a and one side surface of the core end porton 13a on one hand and between the inner surface of the upstanding plate 19b and the other side surface of the end portion 13a on the other hand. The movable block 23 is constituted by the permanent magnet 21 and the pair of magnetic side plates (pole pieces) 22a and 22b between which the permanent magnet 21 is sandwiched with the magnetization axis thereof extending perpendicularly to the plates 23a and 23b. The movable block 23 thus assembled is generally in a C-like configulation as from the above and held together by a frame-like holder generally denoted by 26 in such a manner in which lower portions of the magnetic side or pole plates 22a and 22b are exposed outwardly from the holder 26 towards the rear as shown in Fig. 2. The frame-like holder 26 has arms 24a and 24b formed at an upper end thereof and extending in lateral directions, respectively. These arms 24a and 24b have respective lower edges formed with notches 25a and 25b. When the arms 24a and 24b are slideably placed in the L-like guiding projections 34a and 34b of the front collar 33 of the coil spool 30 mentioned heretofore, the magnetic pole pieces 22a and 22b of the movable block 26 are movably positioned within the air gaps 22a and 22b defined between the core end portion 13 and the upstanding opposite magnetic plates 19a and 19b, respectivey. In this state, movable contact plates or bars 50a and 50b of relay contact mechanisms 49a and 49b engage in the notches 25a and 25b, respectively, of the arms 24a and 24b of the holder frame 26. A reference numeral 38 denotes a cover which is on the relay structure generally designated by 39. Next, description will be made of a manner in which the coil spool assembly 30 is combined with a terminal pin carrying base plate 37 by also referring to Fig. 3 and 4 in which several components such as the terminal-pins, cores and others are omitted from illustration for for clarification of the drawings. The terminal-pin carrying base plate 37 has a top surface 37a on which an engaging projection 40 having a latch hole 40a is formed at a position closer to the front edge of the base plate 37, as viewed in figs. 3 and 4. Although the latch hold or aperture 40a is of an elongated rectangular form in the case of the illustrated embodiment, the shape of the hole 40a may be modified as to comply with the configuration of flexible locking members 43 and 44 described hereinafter. The base plate 40 has a rear edge in which a pair of jaw-like offset portions 41a and 41b are formed at both sides, respectively, with a central offset portion 42 being formed between the lateral offset portions 41a and 41b. The front collar 33 has a pair of flexible or deformable projecting pieces 43 and 44 formed at the bottom end and projecting forwardly in parallel with each other. The flexible projecting pieces 43 and 44 have respective free ends formed with slanted side surfaces 43a and 44a tapered towards the tips so as to define stopper surfaces 43b and 44b, respectively. On the other hand, the lower portion of the rear collar 31 is formed integrally with a terminal holder 31a in which supporting Offset portions 45 are formed at both sides with a recess 46 being formed at a center bottom portion of the collar 31, as is clearly shown in Fig. 3. It is now assumed that a distance between the pair of the flexible projecting pieces 43 and 44 is represented by A, the thickness of which is represented by B, and that the width of the latch hold 40a of the engaging projection 40 is represented by A' with the height of the hole 40a being represented by B', as is shown in Fig. 3. Further, the distance between the level of the offset portion 45 and the top surface of the recess 46 is represented by C while the thickness of the jaw-like offset portion 41a, 41b is represented by C'. Then, these dimentions A, B, A', B', C and C' are so selected as to satisfy the following conditions: A ≦ A' On these conditions, the coil spool assembly 30 is assembled wth the terminal-pin (post) carrying base plate 37 by moving the coil spool assembly 30 in sliding contact with the top surface 37a of the pin carrying base plate 30 so that the flexible projecting pieces 43 and 44 are inserted through the latch holes 40a, the jaw-like offset portions 41a and 41b are complementarily engaged with the supporting offset portions 45, respectivey, and that the central projection 42 is fitted into the recess 46. It will be noted that when the flexible projecting pieces 43 and 44 are inserted into the latch hole 40a, the tapered surfaces 43a and 44a bear on both lateral inner surfaces of the engaging projection 40 to be resiliently deformed toward each other. After having passed through the hole 40a, the projecting pieces 43 and 44 are restored to the original state due to an intrinsic elastic restoring force. Then, the stoppers 43a and 43b snugly engage with the projection 40 to positively maintain the engaged states between the jaw-like offsets 41a and 41b and the supporting offsets 45 on one hand and between the center projection 42 and the recess 46 on the other hand, whereby the coil spool assembly 30 is integrally and fixedly combined with the terminal-pin carrying base plate 37, This assembling can be offhand accomplished through a single stroke of job in a much facilitated manner without fail. Additionally, the relative positioning of the coil spool assembly 30 and the base plate 37 can be attained with high precision. Reference numerals 32 and 47 denote terminal posts to which leads 30a and 30b of the coil wound on the spool are connected by soldering or the like means. A reference numeral 48 generally denotes a contact mechanism comprising movable contacts and stationary contacts. In the hitherto known electromagnetic relay apparatus, it is common that the coil terminal-pin or post is anchored in the terminal-pin carrying base plate 37. In contrast, in the case of the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, the coil terminal pin 47 is mounted on the terminal holder 31a formed integrally in the collar 31 of the coil spool assembly 30, the reason for which will be mentioned below. In the case where the coil terminal pin or post is anchored in the base plate 37 as in the conventional electromagnetic relay, the coil lead 30b is allowed to be connected to the coil terminal pin 32 by soldering or the like only after the coil spool assembly 30 has been secured to the base plate 37. As the consequence, a delicate work of connecting the coil lead 30b to the terminal pin or post 32 by soldering must be performed in a much restricted or narrow space, giving rise to a problem or difficulty concerning the assembling of the relay apparatus, particularly in connecting the lead to the terminal. On the contrary, in the case of the illustrated embodiment of the invention, since the coil terminal pin 32 is mounted on the terminal holder 31 formed in the collar 31 of the spool 30, soldering of the coil lead to the terminal 32 can be carried out before the coil spool assembly 30 is mounted on the base plate 37. Thus the connection of the coil lead to the associated terminal pin can be realized very easily because relatively large space is available for the soldering. Additionally, the anchoring of the coil terminal pin 32 in the terminal holder 31a increases the rigidity of the mounted terminal pin 32. This will be explained below. It is assumed that the thickness of the terminal-pin carrying base plate 37 is represented by H' while that of the terminal holder 31a is represented by H. Then, the rigidity can be assured by selecting the dimentional relationship such that H > H'. The reason will be clearly seen from Fig. 4. Since the top surface 31b of the terminal holder 31a must be higher than the top surface 37a of the base plate 37 in order that the center projection 42 can be fitted in the recess 46, the condition that H > H' can be readily realized. It is then apparent that the rigidity of the coil terminal pin 32 anchored in the terminal holder portion 31a of a greater thickness H is enhanced when compared with the coil terminal pin anchored in the base plate of a smaller thickness H'.

Claims: A polarized electromagnetic relay apparatus comprising a coil spool (30) and a terminal-carrying base plate (37) assembled to the coil spool (30), and collars (31 and 33) on both end portions of the coil spool (30), characterised in that one collar (33) has a pair of flexible projecting pieces (43, 44) provided with stopper surfaces (43b and 44b), said flexible projecting pieces (43 and 44) being formed on the collar (33), the other collar (31) has a recess (46) formed on a central lower portion of the collar (31) and supporting offset portions (45), said supporting offset portions (45) being respectively placed at a right portion and a left portion of the recess (46), the terminal-carrying base plate (37) has a projection (40) provided with a latch hole (40a) into which hole (40a) the flexible projecting pieces (43 and 44) are inserted, and with which hole (40a) the flexible projecting pieces (43 and 44) become engaged, when the flexible projecting pieces (43 and 44) move in parallel with the terminal carrying base plate (37), and further the terminal-carrying base plate (37) has a central offset portion (42) and lateral offset portions (41a and 41b), said central offset portion (42) is adapted to fit into the recess (46) of the coil spool (30) and the lateral offset portions (41a and 41b) are adapted to fit into the supporting offset portions (45) when the coil spool (30) moves in parallel with the terminal-carrying base plate (37).

Inventors: HONDA, SUEAKI, KISHIMOTO, SHUICHI, KOGA, HIROFUMI, MAENISHI, KOZO, SANO, TAKEZO, TSURUYOSHI, KENICHI
Applicants: OMRON TATEISI ELECTRONICS CO.
Application year: 1984
Main classification: H01H50
IPC codes: H01H51, H01F7, H01H50