Self-Aligning Probe Plate for Circuit Board Testing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Circuit board testers face challenges in achieving rapid and reliable alignment of probes with circuit boards, leading to delays in production due to imperfect alignment and variations in board design, which affects testing speed and accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A system with a hinged housing and slideable probe plate, featuring alignment elements such as bolts and pins with chamfered ends, and adjustable alignment blocks to ensure precise alignment just before contact, allowing lateral movement and adjustment to accommodate variations in board positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a hinged cover configuration is used to position the circuit board, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but alignment between the circuit board and probe bed is imperfect and requires frequent realignment
Solution Approach 1:
The probe bed is made laterally movable relative to the circuit board through a slot-and-peg mechanism. The slot in the support plate allows the probe bed to shift position laterally while remaining constrained in the vertical direction, enabling dynamic adjustment to achieve perfect alignment between probes and circuit board contacts.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment system is divided into separate functional components: a fixed support plate, a movable probe bed, lateral movement mechanism, and alignment elements (pins and slots). This segmentation allows independent optimization of each component's function while maintaining overall system simplicity.
2Device complexity
If traditional fixed alignment methods are used, then the device structure is simple, but testing speed is reduced due to alignment delays
Solution Approach 1:
Alignment elements such as pins and slots are pre-positioned on the support plate and probe bed before the testing sequence begins. This preliminary arrangement ensures that when the hinged cover is closed, the probe bed is automatically guided into the correct lateral position, eliminating the need for time-consuming realignment during each test cycle.
Solution Approach 2:
The probe bed automatically aligns itself with the circuit board through the self-aligning mechanism of the slot-and-peg system. When the hinged cover is closed, gravity and mechanical constraint cause the probe bed to naturally settle into the correct position without requiring external adjustment or intervention, thereby maintaining high testing speed.
3Measurement precision
If perfect alignment is required for each test, then testing accuracy is maintained, but time is lost due to frequent realignment operations
Solution Approach 1:
The probe bed transitions from a fixed position to a laterally movable position during the alignment phase, then settles into a stable fixed position during testing. This dynamic capability allows perfect alignment to be achieved once, and then maintained throughout the testing sequence without repeated realignment operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment elements (pins fitting into slots) are designed to automatically guide the probe bed into the correct lateral position as the hinged cover is closed. This preliminary alignment action occurs automatically during the fixture closure, eliminating the need for subsequent time-consuming realignment operations while maintaining measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A circuit board tester and method that precisely aligns the probe plate and circuit board is disclosed. With a circuit board and probe plate mounting within a housing having a top and bottom, hinged together, at closure there may be slight misalignments of the two. By making one of the two plates floating, or laterally slideable with respect to each other, it is possible to make final alignment at closure. One of the two plates can be provided with a pin and the other with a pin receiving alignment block. With the lateral sideability, the pin and block can insure proper probe alignment. Additional systems for correcting misaligned pins or blocks are also disclosed.