JPH10123200A - Device for inspecting fine-pitch connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To protect a measurement cable from being damaged by improving the connection reliability between a conductive contact pin and a connector to be tested, inspecting a printed circuit board where the connector to be tested is mounted even if it is extremely dense, and improving a working efficiency when attaching or detaching a relay substrate. SOLUTION: A measurement pad 6a is formed at a relay substrate 6 where a relay connector 7 that is fitted to a connector (DUT) 2 to be tested is mounted at a sufficiently larger pitch interval than the terminal of the DUT. A conductive contact pin 3 is positioned and retained at a pin board 8 and is connected to a detector 4 by a cable 5. The DUT 2 or a sample support panel 9 that positions a printed circuit board 1 for mounting the DUT 2 and supports it is provided, a pin board 8 is moved by an elevation mechanism, and the sample support panel 9 is preferably taken in and out freely by a slide mechanism.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting a fine pitch connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent high-density mounting of printed circuit boards, connectors mounted thereon are also of a surface mounting type, and the pitch between terminals is 0.5 mm or less. Tend to. When a micro-pitch connector is surface-mounted on a printed circuit board, the difficulty of soldering increases as the pitch decreases, and soldering defects such as solder bridges increase.

Conventionally, the following method has been used for inspection of a minute pitch connector. (A) As shown in FIG. 4, N conductive contact pins 3 are brought into contact with N terminals 2 a of a connector under test (DUT) 2 mounted on a printed circuit board 1, for example, to establish continuity between terminals 2 a. Test the block. The number of terminals N is about 20 to 120 and is often derived separately on the left and right. The conductive contact pin 3 is a cable 5 derived from a conduction / interruption detector 4.
Connected to. This method has the following problem when the pitch of the connector terminals 2a becomes narrow.

[0004] It becomes difficult to ensure the required positional accuracy of the conductive contact pin with respect to the connector terminal 2a, and the contact reliability is reduced. It is necessary to finely process the conductive contact pins, which increases the cost. Also, the durability of the pins decreases. Depending on the shape of the solder applied to the terminal 2a, contact with the tip of the pin may be unstable.

Since the flux used when soldering the connector under test 2 to the printed circuit board 1 may adhere to the terminals 2 a and the surrounding solder, it is necessary to wash to obtain good contact with the pins. is there. (B) In another method, as shown in FIG. 5, on a printed circuit board 1 on which a connector under test 2 is mounted, N measuring pads 1a corresponding to N connector terminals 2a are provided, and a wiring pattern 1b is provided. To connect to the corresponding terminal 2a.
The interval between the measurement pads 1a is set sufficiently larger than the pitch interval between the connector terminals 2a. This method has the following problems.

When the printed circuit board 1 is mounted at a high density, there is a case where the measurement pad 1 a cannot be provided due to space limitations. Due to the space, there is a case where the measuring pad 1a must be considerably separated from the connector 2 to be tested, leading to a long wiring of the wiring pattern 1b, causing noise and an erroneous detection. (C) In still another method, the relay board 6 is connected to the cable 5 derived from the detector 4 as shown in FIG. A relay connector 7 is mounted on the relay board 6, and the relay connector 7 is fitted to the connector under test 2 for inspection.
This method has the following problems.

Since the worker directly inserts and removes the relay board 6 by hand, the cable 5 is easily cut. When connecting and disconnecting the relay board 6, the cable 5 is in the way, which makes the work difficult. The present invention has the above-mentioned conventional problems in (a) to (c), namely, (a) the problem that the positional accuracy of the conductive contact pins is insufficient. (B) Cost and durability problems due to miniaturization of conductive contact pins. (C) The problem of the reliability of the connection between the conductive contact pin and the connector terminal. (D) The problem of space for forming measurement pads on the printed circuit board on which the connector under test is mounted. (E) Problems of workability and cable damage when attaching / detaching the relay board. It is intended to solve.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(1) The inspection apparatus for a fine pitch connector according to claim 1 includes:
A relay connector to be fitted to a connector under test having N (arbitrary integer) terminals is mounted, and N of the relay connector is
Conducting or interrupting between the relay board where the measuring pads are arranged at the pitch ends larger than the terminals of the connector under test, and the terminals at least the terminals of the connector under test And N conductive contact pins that respectively contact the N measurement pads of the relay board are positioned and held, and the conductive contact pins are connected to a cable connected to the detector.・ A board is provided.

(2) In the invention of claim 2, in the above (1), a sample support board for positioning and supporting the connector under test or the printed circuit board on which the connector under test is mounted is provided. (3) In the invention of claim 3, in the above (1), an elevating mechanism for elevating the pin board and bringing the conductive contact pins into detachable contact with the measurement pads is provided.

(4) In the invention of claim 4, in the above (2), a slide mechanism for sliding the sample support board in a horizontal direction is provided. (5) In the invention of claim 5, in the above (3), the lifting mechanism has a lever, and raises and lowers the pin board by a distance corresponding to the rotation angle of the lever.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the embodiment of FIGS.
An embodiment of the invention will be described. In these figures, parts corresponding to those in FIGS. 4 to 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The inspection apparatus for a micro-pitch connector according to the present invention includes at least a relay board 6, a detector 4, and a pin board 8.

On the relay board 6, a relay connector 7 to be fitted to the connector under test 2 having N (arbitrary integer) terminals 2a is mounted, and wirings respectively extended from the N terminals of the relay connector 7 are provided. The measuring pads 6a are arranged at the pitch end d of the extended end of the pattern 6b at a pitch d larger than that of the terminal 2a of the connector under test. The detector 4 is configured to detect conduction or interruption between at least terminals of the connector 2 under test. Other functions may include a function of applying a test signal to a predetermined terminal and detecting or measuring a signal generated at another terminal.

On the pin board 8, N conductive contact pins 3 to be brought into contact with the N measuring pads 6a of the relay board 6 are positioned and held.
Is connected to the cable 5 connected to the detector 4. When inspecting the connector 2, the relay connector 7 is fitted to the connector under test 2, the pin board 8 is positioned with respect to the relay board 6, and lowered, and the tips of the N conductive contact pins 3 correspond. The N measurement pads 6a to be measured. In this state, conduction / interruption between the connector terminals 2a and other inspections are performed as necessary.

In the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a sample support board 9 for positioning and supporting the connector 2 to be tested or the printed circuit board 1 on which the connector 2 to be tested is mounted is provided (claim 2). The sample support board 9 includes an insulating board 10 for positioning and supporting the connector 2 or the printed board 1 to be tested.
And a substrate 12 connected to and opposed to the substrate 10 via four spacers 11. The substrate 12 is placed on a slide plate 13, and the slide plate 13 is fixed by screws 15 of an inverted L-shaped hook 14 fixed to both ends of the slide plate 13.
Fixed to

The pin board 8, the sample support board 9, the slide plate 13 and the like are housed in a housing 20. The housing 20 includes a bottom plate 21, left and right side plates 22, and an upper plate 23.
As shown in FIG. 3, an elevating mechanism 30 for elevating and lowering the pin board 8 and detachably contacting the conductive contact pins 3 with the measuring pads 6a is attached to the housing 20 (claim 3). The lifting mechanism 30 includes a lever 31, and the lever 3
The pin board 8 is moved up and down by a distance corresponding to one rotation angle (claim 5).

A lower convex rail 40a of a pair of slide units 40 is fixed to the left and right sides of the bottom plate 21, and a concave rail 40b slidably engaged with the convex rail 40a via a bearing (not shown). It is fixed to the back surface of the slide plate 13. Since the sample support board 9 is fixed to the slide plate 13, the sample support board 9 is pulled out forward (toward the operator) together with the slide plate 13, and the sample can be easily attached and detached.

The alignment between the pin board 8 and the sample supporting board 9 is performed by the guide pins 51 holding the pin board 8 and the guide holes 52 formed in the substrate 10 when the pin board 8 is lowered. The slide can be performed by sliding the sample support plate 9 back and forth so that the guide pins 51 and the guide holes 52 always fit when the sample support plate 9 is slid backward. If the substrate 12 is set once and fixed so as to be sandwiched between the slide plate 13 by the screws 15, the positioning between the pin board 8 and the sample support board 9 is always reproduced.

Next, the lifting mechanism 30 of the pin board 8 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. A is a front view of the principle in which only the lifting mechanism 30 is extracted, and FIG. B is aa ′ of FIG.
It is sectional drawing. One end of a shaft 32 supported by the left and right side plates 22 is fixed to a base 31 a of the lever 31, and one end of an arm 33 is fixed to the shaft 32. Therefore, if the lever is rotated around the axis L by θ, the shaft 3
2 and the arm 33 are rotated together with the lever 31 by θ.

The arms 33, 36, and 37 are sequentially connected with bolts 3
4, 38 are connected rotatably. The tip of the arm 37 is connected to the pin board 44, specifically, a U-shaped bracket 50 supporting the pin board 44 by a bolt 44. A corner portion of the arm 37 bent in a letter-like shape is connected to one end of an arm 39 by a bolt 40, and the other end of the arm 39 is planted on the side plate 22 and is rotatably stopped around a fixed bolt 42. Can be

The lifting mechanism 30 is symmetrically arranged.
The left and right arms 37 are connected to both ends of the shaft 45 by bolts 46. Arm 33 is moved to shaft 3 by lever 31
When the arm 39 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow around the center 2, one end of the arm 39 is engaged with the bolt 42 fixed to the side plate 22, so that the arms 36 and 37 move in the direction of the arrow around the bolt 42. The pin board 8 is moved down. When the lever 31 is returned to the original position, the arms 33,
The pins 36 and 37 are also rotated to the original positions, and the pin board is raised to the original position.

As described above, the lifting mechanism 30 is constituted by a link mechanism in this example, but may be constituted by other mechanisms such as a ball screw and a cam. pin·
In order to move the board 8 up and down smoothly,
Numeral 0 is fitted to a guide shaft 56 via bearings 54 at two right and left positions so as to be able to move up and down. The upper end and the lower end of the shaft 56 are fixed to the upper plate 23 and the bottom plate 21, respectively.

[0022]

According to the present invention, instead of the conductive contact pin 3 being directly in contact with the connector terminal 2a as in the conventional example (a), the measuring pad 6a (much larger than the connector terminal 2a) of the relay board 6 is used. In this case, the pitch interval is much larger than that of the connector terminal), so that the required positional accuracy can be easily secured.

For the same reason as described above, the conductive contact pins 3
Does not need to be finely processed precisely as in the conventional example (a).
Since it may be relatively thick and large, an inexpensive and robust product can be easily obtained. For the same reason as described above, even if solder is applied to the connector terminal 2a or flux is attached, no inconvenience occurs in contact of the conductive contact pins.

Since the measurement pads are formed on the relay board 6 instead of the printed board 1 on which the connector under test 2 is mounted as in the conventional example (b), even if the printed board 1 is mounted at high density, No inconvenience. In addition, since the measuring pad 6a is abnormally separated from the connector under test 2 due to space, there is no problem of erroneous detection due to noise.

In the present invention, since the cable 5 for connecting to the detector is not connected to the relay board 6 to be connected to the connector under test 2 as in the conventional example (c), the cable 5 is attached and detached by attaching and removing the relay board 6. There is no problem that the workability of attachment / detachment is poor due to disconnection or the presence of the cable 5.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view showing a principal part of the present invention, and FIG.
3 is a plan view of the relay board 6 of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the present invention.

3 is a view showing the lifting mechanism 30 of FIG. 2, wherein A is a front view in principle, and B is a sectional view taken along the line aa ′ of A. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of a conventional inspection apparatus for a fine pitch connector.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an example of a printed circuit board provided with measurement pads for inspecting a minute pitch connector.

FIG. 6 is a principle front view showing another example of a conventional inspection device for a fine pitch connector.

Claims (5)

[Claims] A relay connector to be fitted to a connector under test having N (arbitrary integer) terminals is mounted on an extension end of a wiring pattern extended from each of the N terminals of the relay connector. A relay board in which pads are arranged at a pitch larger than a terminal of the connector under test; a detector for detecting conduction or interruption between at least terminals of the connector under test; and N measurement pads of the relay board A pin board in which N conductive contact pins to be respectively brought into contact with each other are positioned and held, and the conductive contact pins are connected to a cable connected to the detector. Inspection equipment. 2. The micropitch connector inspection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sample support board for positioning and supporting the connector under test or the printed circuit board on which the connector under test is mounted. 3. The fine pitch connector inspection device according to claim 1, further comprising an elevating mechanism for elevating the pin board and bringing the conductive contact pins into detachable contact with the measurement pad. 4. The inspection apparatus for a micro-pitch connector according to claim 2, further comprising a slide mechanism for sliding the sample support board in a horizontal direction. 5. The inspection apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the lifting mechanism has a lever, and moves the pin board up and down by a distance corresponding to a rotation angle of the lever.