Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
  • G06F1/18—Packaging or power distribution
  • G06F1/183—Internal mounting support structures, e.g. for printed circuit boards, internal connecting means
  • G06F1/185—Mounting of expansion boards
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
  • G06F1/18—Packaging or power distribution
  • G06F1/183—Internal mounting support structures, e.g. for printed circuit boards, internal connecting means
  • G06F1/184—Mounting of motherboards
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
  • G06F1/18—Packaging or power distribution
  • G06F1/183—Internal mounting support structures, e.g. for printed circuit boards, internal connecting means
  • G06F1/186—Securing of expansion boards in correspondence to slots provided at the computer enclosure
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F13/00—Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units
  • G06F13/38—Information transfer, e.g. on bus
  • G06F13/40—Bus structure
  • G06F13/4063—Device-to-bus coupling
  • G06F13/409—Mechanical coupling
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K1/00—Printed circuits
  • H05K1/02—Details
  • H05K1/14—Structural association of two or more printed circuits
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K3/00—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing printed circuits
  • H05K3/0058—Laminating printed circuit boards onto other substrates, e.g. metallic substrates
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K7/00—Constructional details common to different types of electric apparatus
  • H05K7/14—Mounting supporting structure in casing or on frame or rack
  • H05K7/1461—Slidable card holders; Card stiffeners; Control or display means therefor
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K1/00—Printed circuits
  • H05K1/02—Details
  • H05K1/11—Printed elements for providing electric connections to or between printed circuits
  • H05K1/117—Pads along the edge of rigid circuit boards, e.g. for pluggable connectors
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to printed circuits covered by H05K1/00
  • H05K2201/04—Assemblies of printed circuits
  • H05K2201/044—Details of backplane or midplane for mounting orthogonal PCBs
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
  • H05K2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to printed circuits covered by H05K1/00
  • H05K2201/10—Details of components or other objects attached to or integrated in a printed circuit board
  • H05K2201/10431—Details of mounted components
  • H05K2201/10598—Means for fastening a component, a casing or a heat sink whereby a pressure is exerted on the component towards the PCB

Definitions

• This invention relates to circuit board connections and methods of connecting circuit boards to provide circuit boards of a desirable format and to provide such boards with a rigid structure.
• Circuit boards or cards provide the essential circuitry for many electronic products, including micro computers.
• the boards may bear printed circuits connecting microprocessors, transistors etc. These boards are often arranged in stacks which may be electrically connected. It may be necessary to disconnect a board and replace it if some component on the board proves faulty.
• Personal computer cards are of great interest to designers of equipment for technical, industrial or professional applications because of the broad range of cards available, the great variety of software and , typically, the availability of more than one source of supply.
• the electronic equipment on such cards is generally very good, it is only the mechanical side which causes problems.
• a particular problem which has developed over the years relates to variations in dimensions, for example, of personal computer cards from different sources, with respect to carrier boards so that the cards cannot be mounted in well-defined positions on the boards. This can, for example, result in mechanical instability if the computer cards cannot be attached rigidly to any brackets provided.
• the computer card may comprise, for example, a single, vertically-oriented bracket mounted at one edge of the computer card and the electrical connections either between individual boards or to individual boards from external power sources or peripheral items of equipment. Neither, type of "attachment" is satisfactory. Thus, the computer card may shift up and down around the point or points of attachment. Furthermore, the electrical connectors are not designed to provided stability to the structure.
• Another problem which occurs relates to loose cables in compartments holding circuit boards. If the circuit boards are misaligned or relatively free to move within the compartment, this looseness in itself increases the difficulty of maintenance. Even “maintenance”causes problems where the "repairer” makes wrong connections. It is another object of this invention to eliminate the need to connect or disconnect individual cables when inserting or removing a circuit board.
• a plug-in card module is described.
• a printed circuit board forming part of the module is provided with elongate rail means to receive an electronic circuit board "slidably supported in each pair of elongate guide rails".
• the present invention is not concerned with such a plug-in card module or with such slidable support means for electrical circuit boards,
• This invention has three principal objects, firstly, to provide a carrier for circuit boards of differing dimensions so that a circuit board in one format may be converted to a different format and, accordingly, be usable in a modular form.
• SUBSTITUTE SHEET secondly, to improve the mechanical stability of stacks of circuit boards and thirdly, to make maintenance of circuit boards easier and less prone to errors.
• format is used to refer to the size and shape of a particular circuit board and also to refer to the placement of connectors in standardised positions.
• wafer assembly 7 refers to structures in which some of the original connectors to electronic components cards are free for access, for example, the edge connectors on such cards.
• This invention provides a circuit board which comprises a carrier board, which functions as a base structure, to which is attached rigidly at least one electronic components card to form a wafer assembly, each card being attached to the carrier board by at least two rigid, mechanical connectors as defined herein.
• This invention further provides an array or stack of such circuit boards which comprises a plurality of circuit boards attachable movably or irremovably with respect one to another.
• This invention further provides a method of attaching rigidly at least one electronics components card to a carrier board to form a circuit board, the carrier board and electronics components card(s) forming a wafer assembly, which comprises the steps of:
• Figure 1A is a plan view
• Figure IB is an exploded perspective view of one example of a circuit board according to the invention
• Figure 1C is a detail of a component shown in Figure 1A and IB;
• Figure 2A is a perspective view of a single circuit board according to the invention with an attached front panel and Figure 2B is a perspective view of a stacked set of the circuit boards of Figure 2A.
• This invention has particular reference to personal computer cards, more particularly computer cards made to comply with IBM PC physical format.
• carrier boards of a standard size which are sufficiently extensive in area to accommodate electronic components cards of various sizes.
• the standard-sized carrier boards may be arranged in stacks housed in standard-sized racks.
• the "rigid, mechanical connectors” are , for example, fasteners of a suitable inert plastics material which may be glued to the carrier boards and cards to maintain them at a selected separation.
• the connectors may comprise screws or nuts, bolts and spacer means, the spacer means being adapted to maintain the carrier boards and cards at a selected separation.
• the essential criterion is that the connection between the carrier boards and cards must be such that the components
• SUBSTITUTE SHEET are substantially rigidly connected given normal usage over the life-span of an item of equipment comprising the carrier board/card components.
• the card is generally rectangular in shape, as is usually the case, it is convenient to position the connectors at each corner of the rectangle. Alternatively or in addition it may be desirable for greater rigidity to position one or more connectors at a point or points along each side of the rectangle.
• circuit boards it is convenient to slot the edges of such circuit boards into an arrangement of elongated apertures, positioned to receive the edges, in a suitable rack, for example, to comply with existing international standards.
• the circuit boards themselves can, of course, be arranged horizontally or vertically.
• a card may be aligned with designated regions of the carrier board by use of a jig or template.
• the operation may be automated by any suitable means.
• a circuit board 1 comprises two principal components, a carrier board 2 which is attached , to form a wafer assembly, to a computer (electronic components) card 3 by means of a rigid, mechanical connector 4.
• This connector 4 takes the form of a bolt 4A provided with a washer 4B and nut 4C and is located adjacent one corner of card 3.
• Separator pads 5 are located at various points along sides of the card 3 by means of slot 6 along one end face of each pad; see detail in Figure 1C.
• a perpendicular bracket 7 which may be part of the original card but with this arrangement is not necessary; see Figure 2A.
• Numeral 3 refers to edge connectors.
• each circuit board 1 is provided in use with a lateral fascia plate 9 for use in constructing a stack of circuit boards.
• Each fascia plate is provided with vertically oriented (as viewed in use ) handles 10.
• Adjacent that corner of the end provided with attachment 4 is an electronic circuit connector 11.
• a back plane 12 is provided to electrically • connect the circuit boards by means of sockets 13 interconnecting the original connectors on cards 3.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Combinations Of Printed Boards (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=3776074

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (4)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 1993
  • 1993-04-02 CA CA 2132842 patent/CA2132842A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1993-04-02 EP EP93907649A patent/EP0635192A4/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1993-04-02 JP JP5516907A patent/JPH07506701A/ja active Pending
  • 1993-04-02 WO PCT/AU1993/000144 patent/WO1993020673A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (3)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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