EP-4300722-B1 - ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR AN AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE

Inventors

• MARTINEZ PEREZ, Jose Ramon
• Rubia Mena, Juan Antonio
• MEDINA CAMACHO, Maria Pilar
• RUIZ SEDEÑO, Salvador

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20220817

Claims (13)

1. Electronic device (10) for an automotive vehicle (100), the electronic device (10) comprising a main connector (3), a first module connector (5), a first module (30) and a driver element (2), wherein the main connector (3) comprises a at least a main power input terminal, a main ground terminal and a bus communication interface with the driver element (2); the first module (30) comprises a first electronic circuit (5) mounted with an electronic element (9) and a ground connection which is in electrical connection with the main ground connection; the first module connector (5) comprises a wired portion comprising first terminals (51) and a receptacle portion (41) affixed on the first electronic circuit (5) comprising second terminals (17), the second terminals (17) being configured to match with the first terminals to establish an electric connection; at least one of the second terminals (17) is in electric connection with the electronic element (9); characterized in that one of the first terminals is a first connector position assurance terminal (27) and one of the second terminals is a second connector position assurance terminal (20), configured to provide information about the connection status with the first connector position assurance terminal (27); the second connector position assurance terminal (20) is connected to the ground connection of the first electronic circuit (5) by the interposition of a first connection impedance and the first connection impedance comprises at least a first resistor (23); and the driver element (2) is configured to manage the operation of the electronic element (9), the driver element (2) comprises a measure input, the first connector position assurance terminal (27) being connected to the measure input, and the driver element (2) is configured to communicate the value received at the measure input to the main connector via the bus communication interface.
2. Electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a second module and a second module connector (7), wherein the second module comprises a second electronic circuit (6) mounted with an electronic element (9) and a ground connection; the second module connector (7) comprises a wired portion comprising first terminals (71) and a receptacle portion (61) affixed on the second electronic circuit (6) comprising second terminals, the second terminals being configured to match with the first terminals to establish an electric connection; at least one of the second terminals is in electric connection with the at least one light source; one of the first terminals is a first connector position assurance terminal (27) and one of the second terminals is a second connector position assurance terminal (20), configured to provide information about the connection status with the first connector position assurance terminal; the second connector position assurance terminal is connected to the ground connection by the interposition of a second connection impedance and the first connection impedance comprises at least a second resistor; and the first connector position assurance terminal (27) of the second connector (7) is connected to the first connector position assurance terminal (27) of the first connector (5).
3. Electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the second resistor has a different value than the first resistor.
4. Electronic device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the electronic element of the first electronic circuit (5) and/or the electronic element of the second electronic circuit (7) is a solid-state light source (9) or an auxiliary electronic element which is configured to provide control or power supply to a solid-state light source (9).
5. Electronic device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first connector position assurance terminals (27) are only connected with each other and with the measure input.
6. Electronic device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the second connector position assurance terminal (20) is configured to be the last in making electric contact with the corresponding first connector position assurance terminal (27).
7. Electronic device according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a housing and an outer lens, wherein the joint between the housing and the outer lens is watertight, and wherein the housing comprises holes which are sealed in a watertight manner.
8. Electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the main connector (3) is the only connector accessible from the exterior of the region defined by the housing and the outer lens.
9. Electronic device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein each module connector (5, 7, 13) is a card edge connector.
10. Electronic device according to claim 9, wherein each electronic circuit is comprised in a corresponding printed circuit board (4, 6, 12), and at least one of the printed circuit boards has a retention portion which forms a retention element, such as a pair of resilient arms, configured for resiliently receive the card edge connector and retaining it after reception.
11. Electronic device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the bus communication is Local Interconnect Network, LIN or Controller Area Network CAN or Clock Extension Peripheral Interface, CXPI.
12. Electronic device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the driver element is configured to communicate the value of the measure input to the main connector using Unified Diagnostic Services.
13. Electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the driver device comprises a micro controller which integrates both the communication of the value of the measure input to the main connector and the bus communication interface.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD This invention is related to the field of automotive lighting devices, and more particularly, to the electric connections between elements comprised therein. STATE OF THE ART Card edge connections are massively used in different electronic assemblies. Automotive vehicles also make use of these connections in their lighting devices, where multitude of different channels need independent control electric signals. The connection operation of a card edge connector is easy, since it relies on introducing a plane portion inside a female housing. No individual pins are used in these connections, so the risk of bending or breaking very thin elements is eliminated. However, due to the ease of this connection operation, these two portions may be easily disconnected as well, and a reliable mechanism to detect an accidental disconnection is useful in these cases. Connector position assurance pins are a good solution for this problem. One of the pins of the connector provides information about the connection state of the whole connector: if the connector position assurance pin is connected, the rest of the pins are connected for sure. Document WO2021005134A1 discloses an electrical connection assembly including a connector having a verification contact intended for the transmission of an electrical signal for verifying the electrical connection between the connector and the printed circuit. However, the main connector does not usually have such an amount of spare pins to be dedicated to this function. A solution for this problem is therefore sought. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a solution for this problem by an electronic device for an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 1. With such an arrangement, the main connector does not need extra terminals to transmit the information about connection position assurance, since the same bus connection of the driver may provide this information, in the shape of a measure input value, which is measured in one of its inputs. Hence, this measure value provides a reliable information about the connector position assurance pin without the need of a dedicated pin in the main connector. The concept of "terminals" is used as a generic way of referring to the elements which produce the electric contact between a wired portion of a connector and the corresponding receptacle portion. In some cases, the connector is needles connector, so the first terminals are spring plates and the second terminals are needles (or vice versa). In other embodiments, the connector is a card edge connector, so the receptacle portion are the tracks of the circuit, while the wired portion comprise the complementary tracks which are to be connected with the tracks of the circuit. Hence, the concept of terminals may be extended to any type of male-female electrical connection, especially the ones used in automotive electric connections. In some embodiments, there is a single main power input but in other embodiments there are more than one main power input. This is a frequent arrangement when there is more than one function to be supplied. In some particular embodiments, the electronic device further comprises a second module and a second module connector, wherein the second module comprises a second electronic circuit mounted with an electronic element and a ground connection;the second module connector comprises a wired portion comprising first terminals and a receptacle portion affixed on the second electronic circuit comprising second terminals, the second terminals being configured to match with the first terminals to establish an electric connection;at least one of the second terminals is in electric connection with the at least one light source;one of the first terminals is a first connector position assurance terminal and one of the second terminals is a second connector position assurance terminal, configured to provide information about the connection status with the first connector position assurance terminal;the second connector position assurance terminal is connected to the ground connection by the interposition of a second connection impedance and the first connection impedance comprises at least a second resistor; andthe first connector position assurance terminal of the second connector is connected to the first connector position assurance terminal of the first connector. The invention is particularly advantageous when more than one module is involved, since all the first connector position assurance terminals (no matter how many of them there are) are connected to the same measure input in the driver, without the need of a dedicated terminal in the main connector. In some particular embodiments, the second connection resistor has a different value than the first connection resistor. When more than one module is present, if each module is associated to a different resistor value, the resistor value measured at the measure input of the driver not only provides i