Inspection Socket Guide Structure for Terminal Inclination Correction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sockets for inspection often experience contact failures due to terminal inclination, leading to potential damage and instability in the contact between the terminal and the solder ball or electrode.
Innovation Solution
A socket design featuring a contact terminal with a cylindrical barrel and flange, a housing with a stepped hole, and a movable pedestal with a guide part and counterbore, which corrects terminal inclination and stabilizes contact by applying a preload and avoiding interference, while allowing for efficient formation of counterbores and reduced housing thickness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a through hole is formed in the movable pedestal to allow contact between probe terminal and solder ball, then electrical contact is enabled, but terminal inclination occurs causing contact failure or terminal damage
Solution Approach 1:
The guide part acts as an intermediary element between the movable pedestal and the probe terminal. It provides a constrained pathway that guides the terminal during insertion, preventing inclination while enabling electrical contact. The guide part mediates between the need for contact and the need for alignment precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide part changes the geometric parameters of the insertion pathway by providing tapered surfaces and controlled clearance. This transforms the insertion process from an unguided movement to a controlled alignment process, maintaining terminal orientation within acceptable tolerances.
2Volume of moving object
If the housing thickness is reduced to decrease overall socket size, then compactness is improved, but the movable pedestal cannot be made thick enough to form an effective guide part
Solution Approach 1:
The guide part utilizes the radial dimension of the movable pedestal by forming tapered surfaces and circumferential grooves, rather than relying solely on the axial thickness. This allows effective guidance functionality to be achieved within a compact axial profile while maintaining sufficient radial engagement with the terminal.
3Reliability
If a guide part with inner diameter matching terminal outer diameter is formed in the movable pedestal, then terminal inclination is corrected, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The guide part applies local quality by providing precise geometric features (tapered surfaces, circumferential grooves) only in the specific region where terminal guidance is needed, rather than complicating the entire movable pedestal structure. The rest of the pedestal maintains its simple function of supporting and moving the terminal.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design effectively corrects terminal inclination, stabilizes contact between the terminal and electrode, and prevents deformation of the housing, ensuring reliable inspection and reduced impedance mismatch.
Implementation Method 1
a spring in contact with the test board side terminal and the device side terminal in the barrel
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a socket for inspection that can correct inclination of a terminal in contact with a device under inspection to stabilize the terminal-to-electrode contact. The socket includes: a contact terminal having a barrel with a flange, a device side terminal, a test board side terminal, and a spring; a housing having a stepped hole through which the contact terminal is inserted and in which a step that abuts against the flange is axially formed; and a movable pedestal provided so as to move closer to and away from the housing and having a receiving hole through which a distal end side of the device side terminal projecting from the barrel is inserted and which receives an electrode of the device. A guide part whose inner diameter is substantially the same as the outer diameter of a projecting portion of the device side terminal is formed in the receiving hole.