Connector device for multiple electric circuits

Abstract: A method for the realization of polyvalent electric connection devices between a number of electric components pertaining to independent and different electric circuits, particularly in domestic refrigerators. The method is devised to realize an association between a variety of connectors and a base in such a manner that one and the same base and a suitable combination of connectors selected from the variety thereof may be used as required for interconnecting selected electric circuits having different functional and structural characteristics.

Description: The present invention relates to a connector assembly as set forth in the preamble part of claim 1. Such a connector assembly is known from EP-A-240 453 which discloses a connector base comprising a plurality of terminals being arranged at predetermined locations. There are provided a plurality of different connectors called bus bars, each bus bar having a plurality of tabs which are to be inserted into the terminals for joining the conductive pathways corresponding to various vehicle options. Each bus bar has a different physical shape and/or a different arrangement of tabs at different locations. From US-A-4 429 935, an electrical connector comprising a plug including a plurality of outwardly extending blades and a socket defining a plurality of receptacles for receiving the blades is known. The socket can be positioned in a first and a second position thereby in the different positions the socket is connected to different voltage sources. This type of electrical connector may be used with refrigeration machines. For a better understanding of the present invention, reference shall be made to the electric components and their connections installed in a refrigeration appliance for domestic use, without of course limiting the invention to only this type of components and use. It is generally known that the compressor of a refrigerator appliance for domestic use often constitutes the point of convergence of all of the electric connections of the refrigeration appliance, i. e. the point whereat the appliance is connected to the main power supply and from where the respective connections extend to the various "consumers" embodied in components that have to be supplied with electric power and/or generate signals to be applied to the compressor or other components. These "consumers" may typically include one or more thermostats, a second compressor, one or more solenoid valves, an ice maker and so on. The reason for which it is preferred to concentrate all of the connections at the compressor, and specifically at a connector base associated thereto, resides in the fact that the compressor is usually directly connected to all of the various components and disposed in a readily accessible manner in an open housing portion at the rear of the refrigeration appliance, so that the required connections to the compressor can be made very simply and correctly. There exist known proposals for improving the connection of the various components to the compressor, as described for instance in the present applicant's Italian utility model application no. 34058 B/87, which proposes an advantageous form of connection to the compressor applicable in the case of employ of a separate base whereat the connections of all components including the compressor converge, and in the case of a base devised as an integral part associated to the compressor. The actual market trends in the domestic refrigeration sector have led to the appearance, however, of an inconveniency: the widening of the range of performance and functional characteristics of refrigeration appliances entails a corresponding increase of the number of functional components to be supplied with electric power, for instance two compressors, two thermostats, one or two fans, an automatic ice maker, an electronic monitoring and control circuit and so on. This obviously entails a corresponding increase of the number of connections required for connecting the various components to the base associated to the compressor, as a result of which the base itself assumes steadily growing dimensions, resulting in the twofold disadvantage of cost increase and progressively increasing difficulties as regards the installation of the compressor and the establishment of the connections due to the increasing dimensions and reduced accessibility of the base. As anybody skilled in the art will recognize, these disadvantages have as an additional negative consequence the degradation of the quality of the connections as regards both their mechanical reliability and correctness. It has of course been tried to eliminate these problems by the employ of fool-proof connectors (provided with polarizing keys and grooves) for the conductors leading to the various components, but while this has solved the problem of possible connection errors, it has also resulted in a still further problem: because the number of different models of refrigeration appliances and their complexity is continually increasing, while the number of different compressor models remains limited for obvious economical reasons, there is an increasing proliferation of connector base constructions, resulting in a steep rise in design and manufacturing costs. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a connector assembly for the realization of the electrical connection of the components of a plurality of different electric circuits being of economic and reliable construction. This object is attained according to the invention by a connector assembly having the features of patent claim 1. A preferred embodiement of the invention will be discribed with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: fig. 1 shows a connector base according to an embodiment of the invention, fig. 2 shows an example of a variety of connectors associated to the base shown in fig. 1, figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 show four groups S1, S2, S3, S4 of connectors selected from the variety shown in fig. 2 for simultaneous use with the base of fig. 1, and figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10 show the placement of the connectors of the four groups on the base of fig. 1. The characteristics of the invention will be specified in the attached claims. The basic idea of the invention can be described as follows: Proceeding from a multiplicity of different refrigerators each having different electric circuits devised to converge on a single connector base, preferably associated to a compressor, what is intended to be achieved is the greatest possible reduction of the dimensions of the base (and consequently the greatest possible reduction of the number of terminals provided thereon), and the possibility of using one and the same connector base in the greatest possible number of different refrigerators. This object is attained by using selected ones of the terminals provided on the base for different types of refrigerators by causing them to cooperate with different types of connectors. For the practical implementation of this solution, use is made of a connector base having a particular configuration, and of a variety of connectors of specific geometric characteristics in association with the base. The base and connectors satisfy the following requirements: a) a specific base is adapted to have a specific variety of connectors associated thereto; b) the connectors included in a given variety are designed for use in selected groups for connecting the components in specific refrigerator models (so that there are as many groups of connectors as there are different models of refrigerators); c) one or more connectors can be included in different groups, i.e. different groups may have one or more connectors in common (in practice any group of connectors is a combination of connectors selected from a given variety thereof); d) the various groups of connectors of a given variety thereof are adapted to make the connections in all refrigerator models provided with a specific base (possibly in combination with the respective compressor); e) any given base can at the same time accommodate any single group of connectors selected from the associated variety thereof. The invention functions in the following manner: all of the conductors connected to the various components of any refrigerator model equipped with a specific connector base and associated compressor are connected to a selected group of connectors which are themselves placed on the base at determined positions. When a specific base (possibly in combination with a specific compressor) is mounted in a refrigerator of a different model, the conductors associated to the various components are connected to a different group of connectors which are then placed on the same base, although at different positions. It is evident that in a first model, the connectors cooperate with a certain number of terminals of the base, and that the connectors in a second model cooperate with terminals of the base which may at least in part be the same as in the case of the first model (this being a particular advantage of the present invention), while part of the terminals are different ones permitting a different circuit configuration to be established. The connectors cooperating with these different terminals are necessarily different from the connectors of the first model, whereas the same connectors or types of connectors may be used for the terminals the two models have in common At this point it will be evident to those skilled in the art for what reason the connectors can be combined in different groups selected from a given variety or set of connectors: it is because in this manner it is possible to use the greatest possible number of terminals of the base for accommodating different connectors pertaining to different groups thereof associated to respective refrigerator models. As it is possible in this manner to use individual terminals of the base for different refrigerator models, one obtains the desirable result that the number of terminals can be considerably smaller than in the case of each terminal being "dedicated" to a specific function in a specific model. The reduced number of terminals permits a more compact design of the connector base, which is therefore more accessible and more economical than an equivalent prior-art base while retaining the capability of having variable combinations of components connected thereto. A practical example of the invention shall now be explained with reference to figs. 1 to 10 of the drawings. Shown by way of example in fig. 1 is a connector base according to the invention, provided with terminals 1 - 4 interconnected by a metal strip 10, terminals 11 - 14 interconnected by a metal strip 20, terminals 21 - 23 interconnected by a metal strip 30, terminals 31 - 35 interconnected by a metal strip 40, terminals 41 - 43 interconnected by a metal strip 50, and an insulated single terminal 45. Also shown in fig. 1 are polarizing elements 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50 provided on the connector base. These polarizing elements serve the purpose of preventing connectors provided with complementary polarizing elements from being mounted on the base in any position other than the correct one. Fig. 2 shows a set or variety of connectors provided for use with the base described above. As shown in this figure, there is a total of nine connectors designated by letters A to I. Shown in figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are four groups of connectors designated respectively S1, S2, S3 and S4 and composed of selected ones of the variety of connectors shown in fig. 2. It is noted that in the examples shown, some of the connectors are included in more than one group; thus connector I is included in groups S1 and S3, connector F is included in groups S1 and S4, connector E is included in groups S1 and S4, connector D is included in groups S2 and S4, and connector C is included in groups S2 and S3. As already indicated above, each group of connectors can be mounted on the connector base, the mounting configurations of the respective groups S1, S2, S3 and S4 on one and the same connector base being shown in figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10, respectively. The possible connection combinations are based on the following conditions: The total number of terminals required for accommodating all groups of connectors would be forty (arithmetic sum of all terminals shown in figs. 3 to 6). The actual number of terminals on the connector base shown in fig. 1 is twenty. A certain number of these base terminals is therefore designed to cooperate with respective terminals of connectors of more than one group as already explained. The connectors of any single group can be accommodated on one and the same base as illustrated in figs. 7 to 10. It is finally impossible to mount the connectors of any group at wrong positions, since the above described complementary polarizing elements only permit them to be mounted at their correct positions. It is to be understood that what has been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings is solely intended to explain the principle of the invention by way of example, and that numerous variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention as claimed.

Claims: A connector assembly for the realization of the electric connection of the components of a plurality of different electric circuits, in particular of domestic refrigeration appliances, comprising a connector base, comprising a plurality of terminals (1-4, 11-14,...) being arranged at predetermined locations, a set of different connectors (A-I), whereby the connectors differ from each other by the physical shape and/or the arrangement of terminals at different locations, characterized by the connectors being adapted to be combined in different groups (S1-S4) which are defined by particular combinations of at least two connectors (A-I) selected from the set of connectors, whereby each group connects the components of a specific electric circuit corresponding to a specific appliance model, and the connector base being adapted to accommodate one of the plurality of groups (S1-S4) of connectors at a time. Connector assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that said connector base is provided with a number of polarizing elements (46,47,48,49) and said connectors of each group (S1,S2,S3,S4) are provided with complementary polarizing elements permitting said connectors to be mounted on said connector base only in a predetermined position. Connector assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each and any type of said connector base is attached to a predetermined type of a compressor installed in refrigeration appliances for domestic use.

Inventors: MORET DORINO, MORET, DORINO
Applicants: ZANUSSI ELETTROMECC, ZANUSSI ELETTROMECCANICA S.P.A.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: H01R29
IPC codes: H01R29