Electronic equipment with cavity isolator

Details Electronic equipment with cavity isolator Electronic equipment with cavity isolator

2000-04-28

2002-08-27

Martin, David S. (Department: 2841)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C361S800000, C361S799000, C174S034000, C174S032000, C174S051000, C439S607070, C439S607560, C439S607560

Reexamination Certificate

active

06442046

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention is directed to a electronic equipment with an apparatus for isolating cavities. More specifically, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide an electrical equipment with an apparatus for electrically isolating cavities within the electrical equipment.
2. Description of Related Arts
For electronic equipment, such as a RF amplifier, components that emit or are susceptible to electromagnetic interference (“EMI”) must be contained or shielded, respectively, within the electronic equipment. Often times the components within an electronic equipment are contained or shielded by being placed in an isolated cavity.
FIG. 1
shows an example of a conventional apparatus for isolating a cavity within an electronic equipment. Specifically,
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a bulkhead plate
10
that includes an overhang support
11
, alternating fingers
12
on the sides with dimplings
13
, and spring fingers
14
on the bottom.
FIG. 2
shows the bulkhead plate
10
installed onto a surface such as a printed circuit board
15
with open ended inner walls
16
, wherein the bulkhead plate
10
is held in place by clipping the fingers
12
on the inner walls
16
, and wherein the dimplings
13
on the fingers
12
apply additional resilient force against the open ended inner walls
16
. The spring fingers
14
provide resilient support for the bulkhead plate
10
, and partially compensate occasional irregularities on the lower surface
15
. The fingers
12
and spring fingers
14
also serve as grounding paths, hence isolating the adjacent cavities from EMI. Typically, the spring fingers
14
are required to be about half as thin as the bulkhead plate
10
. This is required because the spring fingers
14
must be sufficiently thin to be flexible and thus provide the spring-like qualities. Due the requirements that the spring fingers
14
be very thin, it is often necessary to chemically etch the spring fingers
14
in order to achieve the desired thinness.
FIGS. 1 and 3
of U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,368 show another example of a similar conventional apparatus for isolating a cavity within electrical circuitry. More specifically, bulkhead plate
1
includes an overhang support
4
, fingers
3
with dimplings
6
, and passthrough filters
2
. The bulkhead plate
1
can be mounted within an enclosure
7
with a frame member
8
. Electrical wires can passthrough the bulkhead plate
1
through filters
2
, allowing the two adjacent compartments to maintain EMI isolation while still permitting electrical connections between the two compartments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The preferred embodiments of the present invention include a cavity isolator that provides a grounding path from wall to wall and from lid to base of an enclosure such that the isolated cavities are shielded from each other's EMI emissions. More specifically, the preferred embodiments provide a S-shaped plate structure having fingers on opposite edges. The S-shaped plate structure can be vertically inserted between two cavities with the fingers applying loads to the inner support walls that separate the two cavities.
Advantages of the present invention include ease and cheap manufacturing, since it is not necessary to individually bend the fingers, and no etching of edges are necessary. The present invention also provides the advantage of permitting flexibility in the design of the actual S-shape, allowing the designer to vary the dimensions and curves with ease to match a variety of application requirements.
Additional advantages of the present invention include superior EMI isolation over the conventional bulkhead plates, ability to interface with the base and lid at a wide range of locations relative to the support walls, ability to control the interface between the fingers and the support walls, and improved grounding of the EMI emissions. The details of specific embodiments and their respective advantages will be further described below.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5039825 (1991-08-01), Samarov
patent: 5610368 (1997-03-01), Smith

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