Adapter for connecting a chip and a socker

ABSTRACT

An adapter. The adapter comprises inner and outer guiding ribs for smoothly guiding the adapter into and out of a socket soldered on a circuit board without bending or breaking translation pins. This substantially enhances lifetime of the adapter and prevents damage to the internal structure of the socket holes.

INFORMATION

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 092127531 filed in Taiwan, Republic of China on Oct. 3, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an adapter and in particular to an adapter electrically connecting a chip and a socket.

2. Description of the Related Art

For easy assembly and replacement, certain chips are not directly soldered to circuit boards, such as CPU chips, but are inserted into a socket or slot soldered on a mother board.

For a CPU chip with PGA package, a CPU socket with socket holes matching CPU pins is soldered onto a mother board. Such a socket as shown in , is referred to zero insertion force (ZIF) socket. For easy description, a rough structure of a socket for CPU chip is shown in . The socket is provided with a socket top surface , a plurality of socket lateral surfaces and a plurality of socket holes . The socket further has a socket opening provided with a plurality of flat socket opening lateral surfaces .

Each pin of the CPU chip is inserted into the corresponding socket hole to electrically connecting internal circuits of the CPU chip to circuits on the mother board . During manufacture, the CPU chip is frequently inserted into and removed from the socket for testing purposes. Chip pins are thus easily bent or broken.

To reduce damage, the CPU chip is inserted into an adapter shown in first, and then the adapter is inserted into the socket . However, the adapter is frequently inserted into and removed from the socket , as was the chip previously. Obviously bent or broken pins can now occur in the adapter . This results in shortest life-time for the adapter .

Furthermore, in certain conditions, some bent pins may be forced into socket holes , and potentially damaging the internal structure thereof.

Hence, an improved adapter is needed to resolve the problems described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide an adapter having guiding ribs contributing to smooth insertion and removal of a socket.

In the present invention, the socket is provided with a socket top surface, a plurality of socket lateral surfaces and a plurality of socket holes arranged on the socket top surface. The adapter of the invention comprises a mounting plate having a top surface, bearing the chip, and a bottom surface, a plurality of translation pins and at least one outer guiding rib projecting from the bottom surface and contacting the socket lateral surface at two or more points to guide the adapter into the socket. Each translation pin includes a finger portion protruding from the bottom surface for insertion into the socket hole and a root portion embedded in the mounting plate, the root portion provided with a recess receiving the chip pin.

The outer guiding rib is higher than the finger portion of the translation pin, contacting the socket ahead of the finger portion, and at least two contact points are provided so that the adapter can be smoothly inserted into or removed from the socket without bending or breaking the translation pins.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adapter particularly adapted to a socket having at least one socket opening. The socket opening is provided with a plurality of socket opening lateral surfaces. The adapter comprises a mounting plate and a plurality of translation pins as described above. The adapter further comprises an inner guiding rib extending from the bottom surface and contacting the socket opening lateral surface to guide the adapter into the socket.

The inner guiding rib is higher than the finger portion of the translation pin, contacting the socket ahead of the finger portion so that the adapter can be smoothly inserted into or removed from the socket without bending or breaking the translation pins.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adapter having both the outer and the inner guiding ribs described previously to smoothly insert into and remove it from the socket without bending or breaking the translation pins.

A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the preferred embodiment, while the CPU chip and CPU socket as shown in are used to illustrate the invention, the adapter is not limited to CPU chip and CPU socket, but is also suited for use with other chips and sockets with PGA package.

Referring to , , and , an adapter comprises a mounting plate having a top surface bearing the CPU chip and a bottom surface , a plurality of translation pins including a finger portion and a root portion , an inner guiding rib projecting from the bottom surface to contact the socket opening lateral surface to guide the adapter inserted into or out of the socket and an outer guiding rib projecting from the edge of bottom surface to contact the socket for guiding the adapter .

In , the finger portion of the translation pin is aligned with socket hole before insertion into the socket . In , when the adapter is inserted into the socket , the inner guiding rib is inserted into the socket opening and maintains contact with the socket opening lateral surface to smoothly guide the adapter into socket without bending or breaking the translation pin . When the adapter is removed from the socket , the inner guiding rib also smoothly guides the adapter out.

In addition to the inner guiding rib , an outer guiding rib is also provided, maintaining contact with the socket lateral surface as the adapter is inserted into and removed from the socket .

Thus, even if the inner guiding rib is accidentally broken, the adapter can still be smoothly inserted or withdrawn.

In addition, the outer guiding rib is protrudes from one specific edge of the mounting plate so that the adapter can be inserted only when the outer guiding rib matches a specific edge of the socket , providing real-time check function.

As shown in , , since the inner and outer guiding ribs , are higher than the finger portion , as long as inner guiding rib abuts the socket opening lateral surface , or the outer guiding rib abuts the socket lateral surface , the finger portion is aligned with the socket hole without touching the socket preventing damage thereto.

The inner and outer guiding ribs , of the invention ensure the adapter smoothly insertion and removal of adapter with socket to prevent the pin being bent or broken. This previously increased lifetime for the adapter and prevents damage to the internal structure of the socket holes .

In the embodiment described, although the inner guiding rib is a cannular square post comprising four plates and the outer guiding rib is a rectangular post, inner and outer guiding ribs of other shapes are also suitable as long as the inner guiding rib can contact the socket opening lateral surface or the outer guiding rib can contact the socket lateral surface , for example:

As shown in , an L-shaped post is provided as the inner guiding rib and two contact planes are available between the L-shaped post and the socket . More precisely, two contact planes are available between the L-shape post and the socket opening lateral surface .

As shown in , a U-shaped post is provided as the inner guiding rib and three contact planes are available between the U-shaped post and the socket . More precisely, three contact planes are available between the U-shape post and the socket opening lateral surface .

As shown in , a square post is provided as the inner guiding rib and four contact planes are available between the square post and the socket . More precisely, four contact planes are available between the square post and the socket opening lateral surface .

As shown in , a cylindrical post is provided as the inner guiding rib and four contact points are available between the cylindrical post and the socket . More precisely, four contact points are available between the cylindrical post and the socket opening lateral surface .

As shown in , two cylindrical posts are provided as the inner guiding ribs , and two contact points are available between the two cylindrical posts and the socket . More precisely, two contact points are available between the cylindrical posts and the socket opening lateral surface .

As shown in , a triangular post is provided as the inner guiding rib and three contact points are available between the triangular post and the socket . More precisely, three contact points are available between the triangular post and the socket opening lateral surface .

As shown in , another triangular post is provided as the inner guiding rib and two contact planes are available between the triangular post and the socket . More precisely, two contact planes are available between the triangular post and the socket opening lateral surface .

As shown in , two cylindrical posts are provided as the outer guiding rib , and two contact points are available between the two cylindrical posts and the socket . More precisely, two contact points are available between the two cylindrical posts and the socket lateral surface .

As shown in , two rectangular posts are provided as the outer guiding rib , and two contact planes are available between the two rectangular posts and the socket . More precisely, two contact planes are available between the two rectangular posts and the socket lateral surface .

As shown in , an L-shaped post is provided as the outer guiding rib and two contact planes are available between the L-shaped post and the socket . More precisely, two contact planes are available between the L-shaped post and the socket lateral surface .

As shown in , a U-shaped post is provided as the outer guiding rib and three contact planes are available between the U-shaped post and the socket . More precisely, three contact planes are available between the U-shaped post and the socket lateral surface .

As shown in , a cannular square post is provided as the outer guiding rib and four contact planes are available between the cannular square post and the socket . More precisely, four contact planes are available between the cannular square post and the socket lateral surface .

As shown in , a cylindrical post is provided as the inner guiding rib to contact the socket at one point, and another cylindrical post is provided as the outer guiding rib to contact the socket at one point as well.

Although the socket in the embodiments described above is provided with a socket opening , even without the socket opening , the outer guiding rib can alone guide the adapter .

In the invention, the inner and outer guiding ribs , guide the adapter inserted into and out of the socket smoothly without bending or breaking the translation pins . This enhances lifetime of the adapter and prevents damage to the internal structure of the socket holes .

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

CLAIMS

1. An adapter for electrically connecting a chip having a plurality of pins to a socket having a top surface, a plurality of lateral surfaces, a plurality of holes arranged on the top surface and at least one socket opening having a plurality of lateral surfaces, the adapter comprising: a mounting plate having a top surface bearing the chip and a bottom surface; a plurality of translation pins including a finger portion protruding from the bottom surface for inserting into the socket hole and a root portion embedded in the mounting plate, provided with a recess for receiving the chip pin; and at least one inner guiding rib projecting from the bottom surface and contacting the socket opening lateral surface for guiding the adapter into the socket, the inner guiding rib being higher than the finger portion of the translation pin.

2. The adapter as claimed in claim 1 further comprising at least one outer guiding rib contacting the socket lateral surface at one or more points, wherein the inner guiding rib is inserted into the socket opening in such a manner that at least one contact point is provided therebetween.

3. The adapter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib is cylindrical and the at least one outer guiding rib is also cylindrical.

4. The adapter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib contacts the socket opening lateral surface at two or more points.

5. The adapter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib is cylindrical.

6. The adapter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib comprises two cylindrical posts.

7. The adapter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib comprises a post.

8. The adapter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib comprises a rectangular post.

9. The adapter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib is L-shaped.

10. The adapter as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one inner guiding rib is U-shaped.

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