Electricity: conductors and insulators – Anti-inductive structures – Conductor transposition
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-16
2001-10-16
Riley, Shawn (Department: 2838)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Anti-inductive structures
Conductor transposition
C361S800000, C361S801000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06303855
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims priority of European Patent Application No. 98460061.9 which was filed on Dec. 23, 1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The field of the invention is that of packs and other cases for the reception and plugging-in of electronic boards, and more generally the field of the manufacture of packs and/or the mounting in the pack of various elements requiring mutual mechanical and electrical contact.
Referring specifically to the techniques of mounting an electronic board in a pack, there are several known systems for the mounting and fixing of boards in a pack. As shall be seen, these techniques are generally accompanied by means for the electrical connection of certain zones of the board with certain zones of the pack, for example a “ground”.
Hereinafter in the present description the following terms shall be defined as follows:
“positioning ” is the action of placing an element in a state where it applies stress to one or more mechanical stops;
“fixing” an element is the action of immobilizing this element or holding it fixedly still;
a “pack” is a container comprising at least one face.
FIG. 1
shows a known technique for the mounting of an electronic board inside a pack
10
by means of several positioning and fixing elements. These various elements include electrically conductive spacers
11
made at the very bottom of the pack
10
as well as non-conductive spacers
12
inserted in apertures made at the bottom of the pack
10
. Each conductive spacer
11
is made out of an element cut out in the bottom of the pack, vertically lifted at right angles and provided with a horizontal notch designed to work with an aperture included in the board and enabling electrical contact with the upper face of the electronic board. The conductive spacers
13
are for their part formed by a tapped cylinder in which a screw (not shown) is inserted to fixedly hold the electronic board. Each conductive spacer
13
and each screw also work with each other to form an electrical contact against the lower face (by the conductive spacer
13
) and against the upper face (by the screw) of the electronic board.
However, this principle of mounting an electronic board in a pack has few advantages. Indeed, this assembly is complex because it requires the prior shaping and/or the fastening of a large number of different independent and specific elements, both on the board and in the pack. It is necessary to use certain screwed-in elements. As a result, the processes of shaping these different specific elements and assembling them gives rise to cumbersome methods and substantial assembly times and hence to correspondingly high costs.
There is another known method of mounting an electronic board within a pack, which consists of the use of one more electrically conductive, elbowed spacers, made at the bottom of the pack, each spacer being for example formed by a slot cut out in a part of the bottom of the pack. This slot is elongated and then bent at two places to form an inverted “L” overhanging the bottom of the pack. The upper horizontal part of the “L” is then drilled and tapped to receive a screw in order to position, fix and form an electrical contact against the lower face (by means of the conductive spacer itself) and against the upper face (by means of the screw) of the slot.
This approach also has certain drawbacks. First of all, the technique of manufacturing a spacer of this kind requires the use of several distinct tools, including especially a punch and a tap. The manufacture of a pack provided with several spacers of this kind is complicated owing to the precision that it requires (especially in the positioning of the drilled hole or holes in the spacers that have to take a screw) and is therefore costly.
Then, the manufacture of each spacer requires a plurality of operations and especially a cutting-out operation, two folding operations, one drilling operation and one tapping operation. Carrying out all these operations requires corresponding time of execution.
Furthermore, an assembly of the board in a pack of this kind requires the vertical positioning of the board followed by a precise positioning of one or more holes provided in the board before the holes drilled in the spacers to introduce and then screw in the screws. An assembly therefore requires firstly adjusting precision, (especially the positioning of the holes made in the board facing the holes in the spacer) and secondly, the use of tools (including especially a screwdriver).
Finally, the dismounting of the board from the pack also requires the use of tools (especially a screwdriver). This dismounting therefore implies considerable time of execution which particularly increases the cost of maintenance of the electronic board.
It is a goal of the present invention in particular to overcome these different drawbacks of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is a pack designed to receive at least one electronic board of the type comprising positioning and fixedly holding structures in said pack,
where at least one such structure comprises at least two supporting elements, at least one of said supporting elements being elastic,
and at least one of said supporting elements comprises a conductive part designed to co-operate electrically with at least one additional element located on said board.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5796593 (1998-08-01), Mills et al.
patent: 5953217 (1999-09-01), Klein et al.
patent: G9103080.13 (1991-03-01), None
patent: 05041592 (1993-02-01), None
patent: 05136578 (1993-06-01), None
Avaya Technology Corp.
Bean Thomas J.
Birnbaum Lester H.
Riley Shawn
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