Abstract:
The invention relates to a metal housing  1 , especially for an airbag control device, comprising a bottom plate and a cover plate, a rear wall and two side walls  5, 6 , having mounting elements in the interior of the housing for at least one printed circuit board, and with a terminal element arranged at the front side of the housing for at least one connection element. According to the invention, the bottom—and/or the cover plate is/are connected with an installation plate  22, 23  which is attachable to a support. In this arrangement, projections are being utilized which are embeddable in and can be pressed into recesses of the installation plate.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to housings that are particularly well suited for use with airbag control devices. The subject housing includes a bottom plate, a top plate, a rear wall, two side walls, and receiving elements arranged inside the housing for receiving at least one printed circuit board. The subject housing further includes a terminal element arranged at the front side of the housing and at least one connection element. 
     The general state of the art includes design of such housings comprising several components. The components are respectively adapted to the installation conditions. This results in substantial inventory maintenance costs. Additionally, the several components must be arranged so that the components are installed in a functionally correct manner. 
     In contrast thereto, it is an object of the invention to provide a housing of the aforementioned type in such a fashion so that the result is an element which can readily and quickly be adapted to its installation environment. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The above object and others are solved according to the invention in that the bottom plate and/or the cover plate of the housing is selectively connectable with one or more mounting plate(s) which is/are attachable to a support. The housing is of a single-piece construction and the bottom plate and/or cover plate of the housing is provided with projections. The projections are arranged and impressed inside recesses of the mounting plate. This produces the benefit that by means of the mounting plate, which is adapted to the mounting conditions, only a single housing is needed for use in a wide range of applications. Thereby, the housing can be attached, in any fashion, to an associated support by merely selecting a suitable mounting plate. Thus, only one housing type is required. The singular housing type is attachable to the support via the mounting plate. The mounting plate is adapted to fit the particular installation environment. Said mounting plate additionally effectuates a reinforcement function resulting, overall, in a stable structure. 
     In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the projections extend in several parallel rows and/or lines. The projections are manufactured from ribs formed onto the bottom plate and/or the cover plate of the housing. This results in efficient manufacturing since the ribs and/or rows of ribs are formed integrally with the housing, as a single piece construction. Depending upon the installation requirements, the ribs or rows are machined, e.g. by milling, so that the locations and arrangement of the projections correspond to the recesses formed in the mounting plate. 
     Portions of the mounting plates selectively extend, at least in part, beyond the bottom plate and/or the cover plate to present attachment regions as desired. These attachment regions can, for example, serve as flanges that include at least one transverse opening, by which it is possible to attach the metal housing, e.g. an airbag control device housing, to the appropriate associated support in a functionally correct manner. 
     According to a first embodiment of the invention, the mounting plate is selectively fastened at either the bottom plate or the cover plate of the housing, and includes three attachment regions. In this arrangement, the mounting plate is attachable to the bottom plate or to the cover plate of the housing, and can be rotated by 180° with respect to its original position and relative to the cover or bottom plate of the housing. This arrangement of the mounting plate enables many mounting combinations, so that the metal housing can be installed in many types of motor vehicles without requiring vehicle-specific housing configurations. 
     In order to guarantee excellent control of the circuit board within the housing using the aforementioned attachment, in another embodiment of the invention, the side walls of the single-piece housing and the rear wall include guide elements for receiving and holding the circuit board. In a preferred arrangement, the guide elements of the side walls are preferably grooves defined by the side walls and the guide elements of the rear wall are electrically conducting contacts. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, the contacts define a fork-shaped area for contacting and supporting the circuit board and an area which is connectable with the rear wall and includes at least one opening that positions and presses together with a projection of the rear wall. 
     In order to provide another installation aid, in yet another embodiment, the terminating element is selectively connected via at least one detent connection with the front side of the housing. In this arrangement, detent units are provided in the area of the front side of the housing as desired. The detent units clip into corresponding detent grooves of the terminating element which is preferably made of plastic. In this way it is possible to connect, in simple fashion, the terminating element with the single-piece housing in a functionally correct manner. 
    
    
     Numerous benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention may take form in various components and arrangements of components, and in various steps and arrangements of steps. The drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. 
     FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a housing in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention used in an airbag control device application; 
     FIG. 2 shows a top view of the device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of the device of FIGS. 1 and 2 taken along the line III—III of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the single-piece housing of the device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 shows a top view of the mounting plate of the device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 shows an enlarged view of a detent stop portion at the front side of the housing of the device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a portion of the front area of the terminating elements of the device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 shows a partial front view of an electrically conductive contact; 
     FIG. 9 shows a side view of the contact according to FIG. 8; 
     FIG. 10 shows a perspective view of a metal housing in accordance with another embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the housing of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 12 shows a top view of the housing of FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 13 shows a perspective view of a metal housing in accordance with another embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 14 shows a front view of the housing of FIG. 13; and, 
     FIG. 15 shows a top view of the housing of FIG.  13 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     With reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, a metal housing  1 , particularly suited for housing an airbag control device, includes a bottom plate  2 , a cover plate  3 , a rear wall  4 , and two side walls  5 ,  6 . These individual components of the housing  1  are all provided as a single unitary construction, i.e. as a single-piece housing. The single-piece housing  1  is preferably made of aluminum and is preferably produced in one manufacturing step, e.g. by continuous extrusion casting. 
     The front side of the housing is tightly closed by a terminating element  20 , as best shown in FIG. 1. A circumferential gasket  25  (FIG. 3) provides sealing between the terminating element  20  and the interior wall and/or the front side of the housing  1 . The gasket  25  seals the interior of the single-piece housing  1 . The terminating element  20  preferably includes detent grooves  17  (FIG. 7) which are clipped into correspondingly designed detent stops  16  (FIG. 6) to provide a quick and secure connection between the plastic terminating element  20  and the single-piece housing  1 . 
     With reference to FIGS. 1 through 5, the bottom plate  2  and/or the cover plate  3  are connected with one or more mounting plates  22 ,  23  which are attachable to a support (not shown). In the arrangement shown in FIGS. 2,  4 , and  5 , the bottom plate  2  includes projections  40  (FIG.  4 ). The mounting plate(s)  22  or  23  is/are positioned relative to the projections. The projections  40  are placed and impressed, after positioning, into recesses  45  (FIGS. 2 and 5) of the mounting plate  22  or  23 . 
     With reference to FIGS. 2 and 5, the projections  40  preferably extend in several parallel rows I, II, III, and IV and are manufactured, e.g. by milling, from ribs formed onto the bottom plate  2  and/or the cover plate  3  during the extrusion process. By retention of a given detent and/or the manufacturing of installation plates  22  or  23  with different recesses, the metal housing  1  of the exemplary airbag control device is easily adapted to the installation environment and can be installed onto a wide range of supports corresponding to different types of motor vehicles. 
     As seen in FIG. 3, the installation plates  22  and  23  extend, at least partially, beyond the edge(s) of the bottom plate  2  and/or the cover plate  3  and have attachment regions  50 . 1 ,  50 . 2 , and  51 . As seen in FIG. 2, these attachment regions  50 . 1 ,  50 . 2 , and  51  are preferably formed into flanges having at least one traversing opening  55 . However, other forms for the attachment regions are also contemplated. The housing  1  can thus be installed in a wide range of support types using the mounting plates  22  and  23  with appropriately formed attachment regions, e.g. attachment regions  50 . 1 ,  50 . 2 , and  51 . 
     With reference next to FIGS. 3 and 4, the side walls  5 ,  6  of the one-piece housing  1  and the rear wall  4  include guide elements  8 ,  8 ′,  18  adapted to receive a circuit board  10 . In the illustrated embodiment, the guide elements of the side walls  5 ,  6  are simple recesses  8 ,  8 ′, while the guide elements  18  of the rear wall  4  include electrically conducting contacts. 
     With reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the contacts  18  include a fork-shaped region  48  that impinge upon and support the circuit board  10 . The contacts  18  also include a region  49  which connects with the rear wall  4 . The region  49  includes at least one opening  52  for embedding and pressing together with a projection  53  (FIG. 4) of the rear wall  4 . As best seen in FIG. 3, this arrangement provides secure support of the circuit board  10  inside the metal housing  1  that is equipped with installation plates  22 ,  23 . 
     The projections  40  arranged on the bottom plate  2  and/or the cover plate  3  are preferably arranged in rows. However, other arrangements of these projections are also contemplated, such as a cross-shaped projection or other arrangement, based upon the design and shape of the corresponding support plate  22 ,  23 . 
     With reference to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 3, the attachment region  51  is located in the vicinity of the opening  30  of the metal housing  1 . The attachment region  51  is connected via an edge  28  of the mounting plate  22  with the attachment region  50 . 2 . The attachment region  50 . 1  is preferably arranged in parallel with the rear wall  4 . The attachment region  50 . 1  includes a flange. 
     With reference to FIGS. 10 through 12, a housing in accordance with another embodiment of the invention will be described. The installation plate  22 , which in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 10 through 12 includes three attachment regions  50 . 1 ,  50 . 2 , and  50 . 3 , is attached to the cover plate  3  of the metal housing  1  in such a fashion that the installation plate  22  is rotated by 180° vis-a-vis the original position. Consequently, the attachment region  50 . 1  is located in the area of the opening  30  of the metal housing  1  and parallel to the attachment region  50 . 2 . The attachment region  50 . 2  includes a through-pass opening  55 ′ which in the illustrated embodiment is a longitudinal hole. The attachment region  51  is arranged parallel to the side wall  5  of the metal housing  1 . The three regions  50 . 1 ,  50 . 2 ,  50 . 3  include flanges. 
     The installation plate  22  also includes recesses  45 . In a manner similar to that of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 3, projections  40  embed into and, after positioning, compress into the recesses  45 . 
     With reference to FIGS. 13 through 15, a housing in accordance with yet another embodiment of the invention will be described. In this embodiment, the attachment regions  50 . 2  and  51  are arranged at ends of an edge  28  of the mounting plate  23 , in the vicinity of the opening  30  of the metal housing  1  and along-side the side wall  6 . As seen in FIG. 15, the third attachment region  50 . 1  includes a flange and extends alongside the rear wall  4  of the metal housing  1 . 
     The three aforementioned embodiments have in common that the one installation plate  22  includes at least three attachment regions  50 . 1 ,  50 . 2 ,  51 , and is connectable either with the bottom plate  2  or the cover plate  3  of the housing  1  via the recesses  45  and the projections  40 . Furthermore, the embodiment of FIGS. 10 through 12 shows that the installation plate  22  is selectively attachable to the bottom plate  2  or to the cover plate  3  of the housing  1 , rotated by 180° vis-a-vis the original position. Thus, a single metal housing is attached to associated support members or areas in a wide variety of ways as desired using differently designed installation plates  22 ,  23 . 
     Moreover, the metal housing  1  is advantageously produced by extrusion molding. This production method enables manufacture of housings having different lengths without incurring added manufacturing costs. By merely providing a detent (not shown) when cutting the housing to length, a diversity of housing sizes are produced. This expands the functional scope of the housings, and also enables optional integration of other electronic sub-assemblies into the housing  1 . 
     Beneficially, the invention enables use of only a single housing type in a wide range of applications through simple use of different bottom/cover plate combination(s), resulting in reduced inventory maintenance costs. The extrusion molding process and the versatile attachment options afforded by the installation plates  22 ,  23  result in substantial reduction in the cost of the metal housing  1 . 
     Overall, this results in a simply constructed metal housing, which has particular application for an airbag control device, that can be employed in conjunction with a diversity of installation arrangements corresponding to a wide range of vehicle types, while substantially reducing the inventory maintenance costs. 
     The invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the invention be construed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.