Built-in amplifier-type combustion pressure sensor and manufacturing method thereof

• US 5,402,683 A
• Filed: 07/20/1994
• Issued: 04/04/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kosugi, Masahide, Ohashi, Kyosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Chilcot, Jr., Richard E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Oen, William L.
• Application Number:
  US08/277,115
• Time in Patent Office: 258 Days
• Field of Search: 73/706, 73/718, 73/723, 73/724, 73/756, 361/283
• US Class Current: 73/756
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 23/10 by pressure-sensitive members of the piezoelectric type

Abstract

A built-in amplifier type combustion pressure sensor which can be assembled by simplified operation. A pressure detecting device is fixed to one end of a housing with leads extending inside the housing. The leads are bent in a predetermined form by inserting a spacer and a cover from an opening of the housing located on the opposite side of the pressure detecting device. An amplifier circuit board is inserted into the housing from the opening so that the leads are inserted into holes provided on the amplifier circuit board and protrude from the surface of the amplifier circuit board facing the opening side. The protruding end of each lead is connected to the amplifier circuit board.

Claims

1. A built-in amplifier-type pressure sensor comprising:

a housing having a first chamber formed on a first end thereof, a second chamber formed on a second end of the housing, the second end being opposite the first end, and a passage connecting said first chamber and said second chamber, wherein an inner diameter of said first chamber is greater than an inner diameter of said passage and wherein a diameter of an inner surface of the housing is reduced in the passage relative to an inner diameter of the housing in the first chamber;

a pressure detecting means fitted into said first chamber for detecting an external pressure and converting the pressure into electric signals so as to output the electric signals via a lead extending through the passage in the housing, wherein an outer diameter of said pressure detecting means is greater than the inner diameter of the passage;

an amplifier circuit board provided in the second chamber, wherein the amplifier circuit board has a through hole into which said lead is inserted and is situated in said housing so that a mounting surface of said amplifier circuit board lies perpendicular to an extending direction of said lead, and wherein the amplifying circuit board amplifies said electrical signals provided via said lead; and

a connecting means for connecting said lead, extending through said through hole and protruding from a surface of said amplifier circuit board facing opposite to said pressure detecting means, to said amplifier circuit board from an opposite side of said pressure detecting means.

2. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein said connecting means comprises an electrically conductive bush, provided on said surface of said amplifier circuit board facing opposite to said pressure detecting means, comprising a guiding portion guiding an end of said lead to a predetermined position and a connecting portion being connected to said end of said lead.

3. The sensor as claimed in claim 2, wherein said guiding portion comprises a tapered hole and an end surface of said guiding portion having a larger diameter of said tapered hole is mounted onto said amplifier circuit board in a state where said tapered hole is situated over said through hole of said amplifier circuit board.

4. The sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein said connecting portion of said bush comprises a cylindrical hole extending from the smaller diameter of said tapered hole and a predetermined small clearance is provided between said cylindrical hole of said bush and an outer diameter of said lead.

5. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a guiding means, provided within the passage between said pressure detecting means and said amplifier circuit board, for guiding said lead to said through hole of said amplifier circuit board.

6. The sensor as claimed in claim 5, wherein said guiding means comprises two separate members, said lead sandwiched between said two separate members so that a portion of said lead extends in a direction perpendicular to an extending direction of said lead from said pressure detecting means.

7. The sensor as claimed in claim 6, wherein one of said two separate members comprises a guiding member which includes a guiding hole into which said lead is inserted and a groove one end of which is coupled to said guiding hole and extending in a direction perpendicular to an axis of said guiding hole, the other of said two separate members comprising a pressing plate which encloses said portion of said lead extending in a direction perpendicular to an axis of said guiding hole inside said groove, said lead being bent in the same direction as the extending direction of said lead from said pressure detecting means at the end of said groove opposite to said end coupled to said guiding means so that the end of said lead is guided to said through hole of said amplifier circuit board.

8. The sensor as claimed in claim 7, wherein said guiding member and said pressing plate are formed of plastics giving an electrical insulation.

9. The sensor as claimed in claim 8, wherein said guiding member includes a plurality of protrusions on a surface abutting with a surface of said housing lying in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the extending direction of said lead from said pressure detecting means.

10. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a metal plate member including a capacitor having a pin insertion hole of which an inner surface is provided with an electrode and being fixed to an opening of said housing located on a side opposite to said pressure detecting means so as to enclose said housing, said amplifier circuit board having an output pin being mounted on said surface of said amplifier circuit board and extending in a direction perpendicular to said surface, said output pin extending outside of said housing via said pin insertion hole of said capacitor and soldered to said electrode of said capacitor.

11. A manufacturing method of a built-in amplifier-type pressure sensor comprising:

fitting a pressure detecting device into a first chamber of a housing, wherein the first chamber is formed on a first end of the housing and wherein the pressure detecting device is inserted into the first chamber through the first end of the housing, said pressure detecting device detecting an external pressure and converting said detected pressure into electric signals so that said electric signals are output from said pressure detecting device via a lead extending through a passage formed in said housing, wherein the passage extends from the first chamber to a second chamber formed on an end of the housing opposite the end on which the first chamber is formed, and wherein an outer diameter of the pressure detecting device is greater than an inner diameter of the passage;

inserting an amplifier circuit board into the second chamber of said housing from a second end of the housing opposite to the first end, wherein the amplifying circuit board amplifies said electric signals provided via said lead and having a through hole into which said lead is inserted, so that a mounting surface of said amplifier circuit board lies perpendicular to an extending direction of said lead and an end of said lead protrudes from a surface of said amplifier circuit board facing opposite to said pressure detecting device by passing through said through hole; and

connecting the end of said lead to said amplifier circuit board from a direction from which said amplifier circuit board is inserted.

12. A manufacturing method of a built-in amplifier-type pressure sensor comprising:

fitting a pressure detecting device into a first chamber of a housing, wherein the first chamber is formed on a first end of the housing and wherein the pressure detecting device is inserted into the first chamber through,the first end of the housing, said pressure detecting device detecting an external pressure and converting said detected pressure into electric signals so that said electric signals are output via a lead extending through a passage formed in said housing from said pressure detecting device, wherein the passage extends from the first chamber to a second chamber formed on a second end of the housing opposite the first end of the housing, and wherein an outer diameter of the pressure detecting device is greater than an inner diameter of the passage;

inserting a guiding member into said housing from a side opposite to said pressure detecting device, said guiding member including a guiding hole into which said lead is to be inserted and a groove, one end of which is coupled to said guiding hole, extending in a direction perpendicular to an axis of said guiding hole;

inserting a pressing plate into said housing from the side opposite to said pressure detecting device through the second end of the housing, said pressing plate enclosing said portion of said lead extending in a direction perpendicular to the axis of said guiding hole inside said groove, said lead being bent in the same direction as the extending direction of said lead from said pressure detecting device at an end of said groove opposite to said end coupled to a guiding means;

inserting an amplifier circuit board into the second chamber of said housing from a side opposite to the first chamber through the second end of the housing, wherein said amplifier circuit board amplifies said electric signals provided via said lead and has a through hole into which said lead is inserted, so that a mounting surface of said amplifier circuit board lies perpendicular to the extending direction of said lead and so that an end of said lead protrudes from a surface of said amplifier circuit board facing opposite to said pressure detecting device by passing through said through hole, wherein the end of said lead is guided into said through hole of said amplifier circuit board by means of the pressing plate; and

connecting the end of said lead to said amplifier circuit board from a direction from which said amplifier circuit board is inserted.

13. The manufacturing method of a built-in amplifier-type pressure sensor as claimed in claim 12, wherein said amplifier circuit board includes an output pin mounted on and extending from the surface of said amplifier circuit board facing opposite to said pressure detecting device, said manufacturing method further comprising:

fixing a plate member inside the second chamber of said housing, wherein the plate member has a hole into which a capacitor is inserted so that a center of said hole matches an axis of said output pin;

inserting a capacitor into the hole in the plate member so that said output pin is inserted into said pin insertion hole, wherein the capacitor has a pin insertion hole, an inner surface of which is provided with an electrode, and wherein a second electrode is provided on an outer periphery of the capacitor; and

soldering said electrode provided on the inner surface of said pin insertion hole to said output pin and soldering said second electrode to said plate member.