Abstract:
The invention relates to the attachment of a multiple-conductor electronic cable to an electronic circuit in a sealed housing. The cable is placed in a sheath of a heat-deformable material and the method comprises the following steps: placing a rigid bushing ( 40 ) with a protruding collar ( 48 ) on the exposed end of the cable, heating the end in a conical mold or softening the sheath, inserting the bushing between the cable conductors and the softened sheath, the collar of the bushing pushing the sheath material until the conical portion of the mold is filled, cooling the sheath for solidifying it, extracting the end of the cable from the mold, the end having a conical portion with an increasing diameter ending with the protruding collar, inserting the cable in the housing opening from the inside before closing the housing. The invention can be used or an intra-oral dental radiology sensor.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present Application is based on International Application No. PCT/EP2008/054475, filed on Apr. 14, 2008, which in turn corresponds to French Application No. 0702780, filed on Apr. 17, 2007, and priority is hereby claimed under 35 USC §119 based on these applications. Each of these applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety into the present application. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention relates to the attachment of a multiple-conductor electronic cable to an electronic circuit contained in a sealed housing. 
         [0003]    The invention will be described in conjunction with the attachment of a cable to an intra-oral dental radiology sensor although it can also be applied to other scenarios. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    It is important that the attachment of the cable be highly resistant to being pulled out, and also to the twisting of the cable on itself, repeated bending, and the risk of the cable being bent with too small a bend radius about its attachment. It is also important to provide sealing in contexts where there is a risk of ingress of moisture (or of any other gaseous or liquid corrosive atmosphere) into the housing, as is the case, for example, of a radiological sensor placed in the mouth of a patient. 
         [0005]    It is not easy to design methods of attaching cables which allow all these constraints to be satisfied optimally. 
         [0006]    In the prior art, a cable attachment was often reinforced by overmolding flexible plastic around the cable outlet, this overmolding encompassing both part of the cable and part of the housing. The problem with this overmolding was that it was bulky. 
         [0007]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacture that is more effective than those proposed hitherto for improving the robustness and other qualities (such as the sealing) of the attachment without thereby increasing the bulk thereof, bulk being critical in certain applications. 
         [0008]    In order to achieve this, the invention proposes a method of attaching an electric cable, covered with a sheath made of a thermodeformable plastic, to an electronic circuit housing. A rigid bushing is fitting onto the stripped end of the cable having a hollow body, the inside diameter of which accepts the conductors but not the sheath of the cable. The bushing has a protruding collar at its end. The end of the cable and the bushing is fitted into a heated mold comprising a slightly conical interior surface part of a diameter smaller than that of the collar and a cylindrical part of a diameter larger than the large diameter of the conical part. The mold is heated to a temperature at which the material of the sheath will soften. The bushing is driven in the direction of the axis of the cable, so that the body of the bushing becomes inserted between the conductors of the cable that it surrounds and the softened sheath. The collar of the bushing is upset so that the material of the sheath to the point it fills the conical part of the mold. In order to solidify the sheath, it is cooled. The end of the cable is extracted from the mold. The end has a conical sheath portion of increasing diameter ending with the protruding collar. Another end of the cable is inserted, from inside the housing, through an opening in the housing, the diameter of which is very slightly smaller than the largest diameter of the conical sheath portion. The housing is closed. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    What is meant by the fact that the mold has a “slightly conical shape” is that the half cone angle does not exceed 0.1 radians or even, for preference, 0.05 radians. 
         [0010]    The bushing is preferably made of a hard plastic such as nylon; it also preferably has a conical shape or a conical shape extended by a cylindrical part. Its exterior surface is preferably ribbed to exhibit annular peripheral grooves that improve the pull-out strength. A second conical bushing, preferably made of brass, may be inserted between the first bushing and the conductors of the cable; this second bushing makes it possible to maintain the taper of the first bushing during and after molding and plays a part in the electrical grounding of a metal shielding braid when the cable has such a braid. 
         [0011]    For preference, while the first bushing is being molded and driven into the softened sheath, the collar of the bushing presses the end of the sheath against a step between the cylindrical part and the conical part of the mold, thus forming, at the end of the cable, a plastic collar which adds to the collar of the bushing. 
         [0012]    Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein the preferred embodiments of the invention are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein elements having the same reference numeral designations represent like elements throughout and wherein: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  depicts an overview of an electronic circuit housing connected to a multiple-strand cable using the method according to the invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a detailed cross-sectional view of the end of the cable; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a bushing that is partly cylindrical and partly conical, intended to be inserted between the conductors of the cable and the sheath during manufacture; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a cross section of the heated mold intended to shape the end of the cable; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  depicts one step in the fitting of the bushing on the stripped end of the cable; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  depicts the start of a step of driving the bushing into the mold; 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  depicts the end of the step of driving the bushing into the mold; 
           [0021]      FIG. 8  depicts the extraction of the end of the cable from the mold; 
           [0022]      FIG. 9  depicts the insertion of the other end of the cable into the opening in the electronic circuit housing; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 10  depicts a configuration with two bushings, one made of plastic and the other of brass. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]    The invention will be described by way of example in connection with an intra-oral X-ray imaging sensor visible in  FIG. 1 . The X-ray imaging electronic circuit is symbolized by a printed circuit board  10  to which various components not depicted, and notably an X-ray imaging integrated circuit chip, are attached in the conventional way. 
         [0025]    The electronic circuit is mounted in a housing  12  comprising a cap  14  and a blanking plate  16 . The cap and the blanking plate may be made of plastic or of composite resin or of metal. 
         [0026]    The connection between the electronic circuit and the outside is provided by a multiple-strand cable  20 , the conducting wires  22  of which are soldered to the electronic circuit  10  inside the housing. The wires are enclosed in a sheath made of thermodeformable plastic (preferably polyurethane). This sheath passes through an opening  24  made in the cap  14  of the housing. The wires leave the end of the sheath longitudinally, inside the housing. 
         [0027]    The cable sheath has a diameter which is generally constant D, except at the end where it is connected to the housing. At this end, the sheath widens into a slightly conical shape in a region  26 : its diameter increases as it nears the end of the cable and therefore as it nears the opening  24  in the housing. The natural diameter of the sheath at the point at which it is held in the opening  24  is very slightly greater than the diameter of the opening (for example one tenth of a millimeter greater); during fitting, the sheath is forced into the opening, its natural elasticity allowing it through; once it has been fitted, the sheath is pressed very closely against this opening around its entire periphery, providing sealing between the inside and the outside of the housing. 
         [0028]    The end of the cable comprises a protruding collar  28 , of a diameter larger than the diameter of the opening  24  so that the cable cannot leave the opening even under the effect of a strong pulling force from the outside. A dome  30  of hard adhesive may terminate the sheathed part of the cable; the conducting wires  22  are held in position by the dome and leave it to be soldered to the electronic circuit  10 . 
         [0029]      FIG. 2  depicts the structure of the conical end of the cable in greater detail. 
         [0030]    The cable is depicted as having several wires  22  surrounded overall by a shielding braid  32 , although this braid is not compulsory. The wires  22  may be coated with an insulating layer which is stripped off only at the site (not depicted) of the soldered connection with the electronic circuit. 
         [0031]    A rigid bushing  40 , preferably made of hard plastic such as nylon, surrounds the conducting wires  22  and the braid  32  and is itself surrounded by the sheath  50  made of thermodeformable plastic. The bushing  40  preferably comprises ribs in the form of recesses and protrusions which anchor it into the sheath  50 , increasing the resistance of the bushing to being pulled out of the sheath (in the longitudinal direction of the cable). The ribs are preferably in the form of circular annuli around the bushing. They preferably have a width (width of the recesses or width of the protrusions) of 0.2 to 0.5 millimeters and a depth of 0.2 to 0.5 millimeters. 
         [0032]    The dome of adhesive  30  helps to secure the bushing and the sheath to one another while at the same time holding the conductors  22  in place. 
         [0033]    The bushing  40 , also visible in  FIG. 3  and, in another form, in  FIG. 10 , is a hollow body which preferably has a cylindrical part  42  (at the end driven most deeply into the cable sheath) and a conical part  44  (at the end closest to the end of the cable). The conical part widens from the cylindrical part toward the outside of the cable. It will be seen later on (in  FIG. 10 ) that, in one particular configuration, a second conical bushing may be inserted between the first bushing  40  and the shielding braid  32 . 
         [0034]    The material of the bushing  40  does not have to be thermodeformable at the softening temperature of the material of which the cable sheath is formed. 
         [0035]    The bushing preferably has, on the side of the cylindrical part  42 , a small inside diameter DO barely greater than the diameter of the stripped cable but smaller than the diameter D of the sheath, so that the stripped cable can enter the bushing but the sheath cannot. 
         [0036]    The bushing preferably ends in a protruding annular collar  48  of diameter D 1  greater than the outside diameter of the conical part  44 . The protrusion may be by about 1 millimeter. 
         [0037]    The collar  48  of the bushing is preferably supplemented by a protruding collar  52  of the sheath  50 , of a diameter greater than the largest diameter of the conical part of the sheath. This sheath collar  52 , reinforced by the bushing collar  48 , presses against the rim of the opening  24  in the housing ( FIG. 1 ), on the inside thereof, when the cable is in place. The diameter of the collar  52  of the sheath is, in principle, equal to the diameter D 1  of the collar of the bushing. 
         [0038]      FIG. 4  depicts the mold used to shape the end of the cable. This is a heated mold able to raise the end of the cable to a temperature at which the plastic that forms the sheath  50  softens. 
         [0039]    The mold  60  is depicted in a closed state; the mold is preferably one that can open in two parts, although this is not compulsory given its shape with one side fairly open. 
         [0040]    The mold preferably comprises:
       a cylindrical interior surface part  62 , preferably smooth, of a small diameter equal to the diameter D of the sheath of the cable in its non-widened part;   a conical interior surface part  64 , intended to shape the end of the cable, widening slightly from the part  62  and reaching a diameter D 2  greater than D; the diameter D 2  is very slightly greater (for example one tenth of a millimeter greater) than the diameter of the opening  24  of the housing but less (about 2 millimeters less) than the diameter D 1  of the collar of the bushing so that the collar cannot enter this conical part; the conical surface  64  is preferably smooth;   a cylindrical interior surface part  66  of a diameter D 3  greater than D 2 , with a step  68  of a height measuring (D 3 −D 2 )/2 (about 1 millimeter) between the cylindrical part  66  and the conical part  64 ; the diameter D 3  is greater than or equal to (preferably very slightly greater than) the diameter D 1  of the collar  48  of the rigid bushing  40  so that the collar can enter the cylindrical part  66 .       
 
         [0044]    The half cone angle is preferably less than 0.05 radians (about)3°. The length is a few centimeters, for a cable with an outside diameter of a few millimeters. 
         [0045]      FIG. 5  shows the initial steps in the method of manufacture according to the invention: the starting point is a cable  20  with a sheath  50  of thermodeformable material of uniform diameter D; a first end of the cable (on the left in  FIG. 5 ) is stripped; the bushing  40  is slipped via the small diameter thereof onto the stripped end (here, over the top of the braid of the cable), the bushing coming to butt against the sheath  50 . 
         [0046]    The cable end provided with the bushing is placed inside the mold  60  ( FIG. 6 ). 
         [0047]    The cable is fitted in such a way that part of the sheath is situated in the cylindrical part  66  of diameter D 3 . It is held firmly in the other cylindrical part  62  of diameter D. 
         [0048]    The mold is heated to a softening temperature of the material of the sheath. The small end of the bushing  40  is driven into the softened sheath using a piston  70  which presses against the collar  48  of the bushing. The piston  70  is provided with an opening to accept the end of the conductors of the cable so that the piston does not push the conductors of the cable at the same time as it pushes the bushing. 
         [0049]      FIG. 7  depicts the end of the process of driving the bushing into the softened sheath. The material of the sheath has been upset by the collar of the bushing until it fills all of the conical part of the mold surrounding the body of the bushing, and any sheath material that is in excess of this conical part forms a collar of plastic, pressed by the collar of the bushing against the step  68  of the mold. If the diameter of the collar of the bushing is D 1  very close to the diameter D 3  of the mold, the collar of plastic of the sheath will have practically the same diameter (D 1 ) as the bushing, as may be seen in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0050]    The mold is then cooled to solidify the sheath thus deformed, then the cable end is extracted from the mold.  FIG. 8  shows this extraction in the case of an opening two-part mold, which is the simplest form to implement. 
         [0051]    The cable then comprises a widened first end terminating in a double collar  48 ,  52 . The small diameter of the widened part is the original diameter D of the cable. The large diameter is the large diameter D 2  of the conical interior surface  64  of the mold, and the diameter of the collar is D 1  for the bushing, D 3  almost equal to D 1  for the sheath. Apart from the protrusion formed by the collar, the cable is smooth, which is beneficial from the point of view of cleaning. 
         [0052]    The second end of the cable (the end that has not been shaped by the mold) is inserted through the opening  24  from the inside of the electronic circuit housing. The cable is pulled, forcibly driving the widened part of the sheath (diameter D 2 ) into the opening  24  (slightly smaller than D 2 ) until the collar ( 48 ,  52 ) of the sheath is pressed against the interior rim of the opening  24 . Because of this forcible driving, the widened part of the sheath makes the desired seal within the opening  24 . 
         [0053]    The conductors are soldered to the electronic circuit if that has not already been done prior to insertion. 
         [0054]    The housing is hermetically sealed, for example by bonding the blanking plate  16  in position ( FIG. 1 ). 
         [0055]    In the above described embodiment, the bushing  40  has a conical part  44 , and this conical part is conical both on its exterior surface (in contact with the sheath) and on its interior surface (surrounding the stripped cable). In this case, provision may be made for there to be a rigid second bushing, conical in shape on the outside but cylindrical on the inside, to be inserted into the conical part of the first bushing in order to maintain the conical shape thereof.  FIG. 10  depicts this two-bushings assembly. The second bushing  80  has an inside diameter DO just greater than the diameter of the stripped cable, and an exterior surface cone angle corresponding to the cone angle of the interior surface of the first bushing. It is preferably made of brass and, if the cable has a metal shield braid surrounding the other conductors, the bushing comes into contact with this braid and may encourage the grounding of this braid; for example if a conducting wire intended to be soldered to the electronic circuit is inserted between the two bushings. 
         [0056]    It will be readily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention fulfils all of the objects set forth above. After reading the foregoing specification, one of ordinary skill in the art will be able to affect various changes, substitutions of equivalents and various aspects of the invention as broadly disclosed herein. It is therefore intended that the protection granted hereon be limited only by definition contained in the appended claims and equivalents thereof.