Multilayer Skate Probe Tip with Curved Wear-Resistant Surface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional multilayer skate probes have a short lifespan due to mechanical wear from cleaning and testing processes, limiting their operational life.
Innovation Solution
A multilayer probe design featuring a smooth curved probe tip with a mechanically wear-resistant skate layer that can be re-formed through abrasive processing, providing increased mechanical support and extending the probe's lifespan by encapsulating the skate layer between other layers for enhanced durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of moving object
If a conventional multilayer skate probe is used, then the probe can maintain contact pressure, but the probe lifespan is short due to mechanical wear from cleaning and testing processes
Solution Approach 1:
The probe tip is designed to dynamically self-reform through abrasive cleaning processes. The skate layer, being the most mechanically wear-resistant, is progressively exposed through abrasion during normal operation and cleaning, allowing the probe to maintain its functional skate geometry throughout its lifespan without requiring replacement after initial wear.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical state of the probe tip changes from a factory-finished surface to a worn surface that progressively reveals the underlying skate layer. This parameter change in surface geometry through controlled abrasion allows the probe to extend its operational life by exposing the wear-resistant skate material as the outer layers deteriorate.
2Force
If the vertical height of the skate layer is increased, then the contact pressure can be increased, but the skate layer becomes too thin to permit this approach
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing the vertical height of the skate layer in the traditional sense, the design uses the horizontal dimension by making the skate layer extend laterally beyond the probe tip edges. This lateral extension creates a broader base that, when combined with the wear-resistant properties, effectively increases the contact pressure area without requiring excessive vertical thickness that would compromise structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The probe tip employs a composite multilayer structure where the skate layer is combined with other materials having different mechanical properties. The skate layer provides wear resistance and contact pressure, while the surrounding layers provide structural support and mechanical strength, allowing the skate layer to be optimized for pressure without excessive thickness requirements.
3Duration of action of moving object
If the skate layer is made thinner to maintain probe flexibility, then the probe can be more flexible, but the skate layer wears off too quickly reducing lifespan
Solution Approach 1:
The skate layer is positioned specifically at the tip region where wear occurs, while the body of the probe maintains its flexibility. This local placement of the wear-resistant material only where needed allows the probe to have a thin, flexible overall structure while the critical tip area provides enhanced wear resistance to extend lifespan.
Solution Approach 2:
The probe is designed to dynamically adapt to wear through the abrasive cleaning process. As the outer layers wear away, the skate layer is progressively exposed and reformed, allowing the probe to maintain its functional properties throughout its lifespan without requiring the entire probe structure to be overly thick or rigid.
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 significantly increases the probe's lifetime by allowing the skate layer to be re-formed during operation, maintaining contact pressure and reducing electrical resistance, thus outperforming conventional probes.
Implementation Method 1
The skate layer forms the peak of that smooth curved surface as a result of abrasive cleaning of the probe in operation
Implementation Method 2
the thin skate layer gives rise to a higher contact pressure than would be obtained from a probe without a skate
Data Source
AI summary
A skate on a tip of a probe for testing electrical devices is a reduced thickness probe tip contact. Such a skate can advantageously increase contact pressure, but it can also undesirably reduce probe lifetime due to rapid mechanical wear of the skate. Here multilayer skate probes are provided where the overall shape of the probe tip is a smooth curved surface, as opposed to the conventional fin-like skate configuration. The skate layer is the most mechanically wear-resistant layer in the structure, so abrasive processing of the probe tip leads to a probe skate defined by the skate layer. The resulting probes provide the advantage of increased contact pressure without the disadvantage of reduced lifetime.