Horizontal component retention socket

Details Horizontal component retention socket Horizontal component retention socket

2001-08-24

2003-04-29

Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)

Electricity: conductors and insulators

Boxes and housings

C174S135000, C174S050510, C439S596000, C439S056000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06555746

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for attaching a component to a substrate. In particular, the present invention relates to a horizontal socket for attaching an electronic component to a substrate.
2. State of the Art
In the fabrication of electronic devices, a variety of electronic components may be utilized. A number of these electronic components may be mounted to a substrate, which is used in the fabrication of the electronic device. Some of these electronic components are “through-hole mount” (THM) components, wherein leads of the electronic components extend through and are attached to the substrate. The electronic components may be active or passive, and may include, but are not limited to, crystals, oscillators capacitors, diodes, resistors, and inductors. Within this application, the term “substrate” is defined to include motherboards, peripheral cards, cartridges, multi-chip module substrates, non-printed circuit board products, and similar structures, as will be evident to one skilled in the art.
FIG. 13
illustrates an electronic component
202
having a component body
204
and a pair of leads
206
extending therefrom. Generally, as shown in
FIG. 14
, such electronic components
202
are attached to a substrate
208
by forming plated vias
212
, as known in the art, through the substrate
208
, wherein the plated vias
212
are attached to traces (not shown) that make contact with other electrical components (not shown). The leads
206
of the electronic component
202
are inserted into the plated vias
212
, such that they penetrate through the substrate
208
. The component leads
206
are bent such that the component body
204
resides against the substrate
208
. The component leads
206
may be bent prior to or after insertion into the plated vias
212
. The component leads
206
are attached to the plated vias
212
using solder
214
applied by a wave solder process, as known in the art. The component body
204
may be secondarily attached to the substrate with an adhesive (not shown) and/or with a wire
218
(which encompasses the component body
204
and extends through the substrate
208
). The wave soldering of the component leads
206
also secures the wire
218
. It is, of course, understood that the secondary attachment is merely optional.
Another variation (not shown), as is known in the art, is for the component leads to be fashioned such that a portion of each component lead lies in contact with the substrate when the electronic component is surface mounted to the substrate. However, as will be known to one skilled in the art, these components are difficult to attach to the substrate due to their non-symmetrical configuration which requires placement offsets, due to the fragility of the component leads, and/or due to the round package configuration which may require special vacuum nozzles on the “pick and place” assembly equipment.
However, regardless of the configuration, the process of bending the component leads
206
results in substantial stresses on the seals (not shown) through which the component leads
206
enter the component body
204
. These stresses may result in the fracturing of the seals, which can result in moisture infiltration that can have a performance impact, damage, or even destroy the electronic component
202
. Furthermore, improper installation of the electronic component
202
may result in crossed component leads
206
that may render the electronic component
202
inoperable. Moreover, bending the component leads
206
requires additional fabrication step and costs to the process.
It is also known in the art that electronic components can be placed in a housing
222
to protect the electronic components, as shown in FIG.
15
. These electronic component housings
222
may include a chamber
224
for receiving the electronic component and channels
226
for receiving electronic component leads
228
. Such electronic component housings
222
may be obtained from Chicago Miniature Lamp, Inc. of Hackensack, N.J., USA.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to develop apparatus and techniques to effectively attach an electronic component to a substrate, which lessens or eliminates the problems discussed above.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4065198 (1977-12-01), Jordan
patent: 4195330 (1980-03-01), Savage, Jr.
patent: 4447105 (1984-05-01), Ruehl
patent: 4667270 (1987-05-01), Yagi
patent: 4682829 (1987-07-01), Kunkle et al.
patent: 5116229 (1992-05-01), Savage, Jr.
patent: 5121311 (1992-06-01), Cheselske
patent: 5204498 (1993-04-01), Russell
patent: 5469893 (1995-11-01), Caveney et al.
patent: 5704797 (1998-01-01), Meyerhoefer et al.
patent: 5707249 (1998-01-01), Byrd
patent: 5709554 (1998-01-01), Savage, Jr.
patent: 5798910 (1998-08-01), Holbeche et al.
patent: 6002089 (1999-12-01), Hemingway et al.
patent: 6037543 (2000-03-01), Nicoli et al.
patent: 6231370 (2001-05-01), Morin et al.
patent: 6363198 (2002-03-01), Braga et al.

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