Electrical connectors – Coupling part having handle or means to move contact...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-29
2002-02-26
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Coupling part having handle or means to move contact...
C439S070000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06350137
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to contact pins for connecting IC-side leads to an external circuit board and an IC socket having a plurality of contact pins in order to perform an electrical test of IC, and more specifically to contact pins in which accuracy in an IC support position is improved and an IC socket.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIG. 14
, an IC socket
100
of an open top type has a plurality of contact pins
101
, which connects IC (e.g., QFP, SOP, TSOP) leads (not shown) to an external electrical test circuit (not shown) attached to a socket main body
102
. In the socket main body
102
, a cover
104
, which has an IC insertion window
103
, is supported to be movable up and down.
Then, when the cover
104
is depressed, the contact pins
101
shown in
FIG. 14
are bent and deformed, so that the movable side pin
105
is depressed by the cover
104
, a movable side contact portion
106
retracts from a fixed side pin
107
and an IC lead is guided onto the fixed side pin
107
. Also, when the cover
101
returns to the original position, contact pins
101
press a lead
111
of an IC
110
to a fixed side contact portion
108
of the fixed side pin
107
by a restoring force, so that the lead
111
of IC
110
is sandwiched between the movable side contact section
106
and the fixed side contact portion
108
(see FIG.
15
). Under this state, current-carrying to the lead
111
of IC
110
is established, and an electrical test of IC
110
is carried out.
When the electrical test of IC
110
ends, the cover
104
is depressed and the movable side contact portion
106
is retracted from the fixed side contact portion
108
, and IC
110
is taken out of the IC socket
100
.
In such IC socket
100
, the tip of the lead
111
is brought into contact with the tip of a rib
112
of the socket main body
102
, which divides the contact pins
101
so as to position IC
110
as shown in
FIG. 16
in order that the above-mentioned electrical test is performed without fail. Thereafter, the lead
111
is sandwiched between the fixed side contact portion
108
and the movable side contact portion
106
.
However, in the above-explained conventional IC socket, the pitch between leads is narrow. If the width of lead
111
has to be the same as that of the contact pin
101
or smaller than that of the contact pin
101
, there occurs a case in which the tip of the lead
111
comes in a contact pint containing groove
113
formed between ribs
112
,
112
, with the result that IC
110
cannot be correctly positioned. This makes it difficult to sandwich the lead
111
between the side contact portion
108
and the movable side contact portion
106
.
In order to avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages, as shown in FIG.
18
(
a
), a positioning projection
114
, which is formed on the socket main body
102
, is brought into contact with the side surface of resin mold
115
so as to position IC
110
. However, as shown in FIG.
18
(
b
), if IC
110
is inserted in an inverted position, the side surface of resin mold
115
to be positioned is not present in the socket main body
102
, so that the positioning of IC
110
cannot be carried out.
In connection with the IC socket of a clamshell type, there is proposed the technique in which a tip
121
of a contact pin
120
is engaged with a bend portion
122
of the lead
111
of IC
110
so as to position IC
110
as shown in
FIG. 19
(for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Sho No. 63-25476, Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication Sho No. 63-25477). However, in such inventions, as shown in
FIG. 20
, the tip
121
of the contact pin
120
is not positioned to the socket main body
102
. If the IC
110
is depressed by a cover
123
, the contact pin
120
is bent and deformed, so that the position where the contact pin
120
and the lead
111
are contacted is shifted. As a result, there is a case in which the correct positioning of IC
110
cannot be expected.
Moreover, in connection with the IC socket of clamshell type, there is proposed the technique in which the lower surface of lead
111
and a side surface of resin mold
115
are supported by a pogo pin
130
, which slides in up and down directions in the figure, allowing IC
110
to be positioned at a predetermined position of the socket main body
102
(Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Hei No. 4-178574). However, according to such conventional structure, a movable portion
131
of the pogo pin
130
is mated with an engaging hole
133
of a fixing portion
132
of a movable portion
131
of the pogo pin
130
. Further, the movable portion
131
of pogo pin
130
is elastically supported by a spring
134
attached in the engaging hole
133
. For this reason, there is a limitation in a reduction in size of the pogo pin
130
. Such structure cannot be applied to such IC
110
in which the pitch between leads
111
is narrow and the width of lead
111
is small as the present invention aims. Also, in such prior art, there is a problem in which the structure of pogo pin
130
is complicated and IC socket
100
becomes expensive. Further, in such prior art, there is a possibility that the movable portion
131
will rattle and fall down since a mate space is formed between the movable portion
131
of pogo pin
130
and the fixing portion
132
. For this reason, high accurate positioning of IC
110
cannot be expected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an IC socket, which can accurately position and support an IC with relatively a simple structure, and contact pins for use in the IC socket.
The invention of the first aspect is an IC socket comprising a socket main body for elastically supporting a cover having an IC insertion window formed thereon to be movable up and down; and a plurality of contact pins, which are attached to the socket main body, for connecting gull-wing shaped leads taken out of a side surface of an IC resin mold to an external electrical test circuit. Each of the contact pins comprises a base portion fixed to said socket main body; a first contact portion, which is extended from the base portion, for supporting the lead in a state that it is positioned by a pin support portion formed on the socket main body; and a second contact portion, which is connected to the base portion through a spring portion, for bending and deforming the spring portion by being pressed by the cover when the cover is depressed, and for guiding the IC lead onto the first contact portion after retracting from the first contact portion, and for sandwiching the lead between the first contact portion and the second contact portion by an elastic restoring force of the spring portion when the cover returns to an original position, whereby performing an electrical connection. A positioning step portion, which is engaged with the lead to position the IC, is formed on the first contact portion.
According to the invention of the first aspect, since the first contact portion of each contact pin, which supports the lead, is positioned by the pin support portion of the socket main body, the positioning step portion formed on the first contact portion is correctly positioned to the socket main body. Therefore, in the invention of the first aspect, when IC is inserted from the IC insertion window after the cover is depressed and the second contact portion is retracted from the first contact portion, the IC lead is engaged with the first positioning step portion of the first contact portion and IC is correctly positioned at a predetermined position of the IC socket. Thereafter, when the cover is returned to the original IC lead is surely sandwiched between the first contact portion of the contact pin and the second contact portion and the electrical test of IC can be correctly performed.
The invention of the second aspect is an IC socket comprising: a socket main body for elastically supporting a cover having an IC insertion window formed thereon to be movable up an
Bachman & LaPointe P.C.
Enplas Corporation
Gilman Alexander
Paumen Gary
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