Patent Application
20070294880
Referring to the drawings, and initially to
A wire 20 is to be wound around the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 and includes two ends or terminals 21, 22 coupled to the conductor contacts or welding materials or members 13, 14 of the core 10 respectively for electrically coupling to the electric circuit boards via the conductor contacts or welding materials or members 13, 14 of the core 10. A casing 30 includes a chamber 31 formed therein and defined between a front plate 32 and a rear plate 33 and an upper plate 34 for receiving the core 10 and for forming the surface mount inductor 1. The casing 30 may also be made of ferrite materials, ceramic materials or the like, and may also be formed by such as molding or mold-injection processes or the like.
It is preferable that the front plate 32 and the rear plate 33 of the casing 30 are disposed or arranged or positioned on the front and the rear portions of the core 10, and/or the side panels 11, 12 and the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 are disposed or arranged or positioned between the front plate 32 and the rear plate 33 of the casing 30, and/or the side panels 11, 12 of the core 10 are disposed or arranged or positioned on the two open side portions 35 of the casing 30 and preferably engaged with the front plate 32 and the rear plate 33 of the casing 30 for enclosing the chamber 31 and/or the two open side portions 35 of the casing 30, and thus for suitably receiving the coiled wire 20 within the chamber 31 that is now defined between the front plate 32 and the rear plate 33 of the casing 30 and the side panels 11, 12 of the core 10.
It is to be noted that the upper plate 34 of the casing 30 and the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 may include a suitable height or thickness such that the height of the present surface mount inductor may be made to the required or decreased height. Furthermore, the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 is opened such that the wire 20 may be easily and quickly engaged or wound onto and around the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 with various automatic machines or facilities (not shown). The above-described structure for the surface mount inductor 1 has been filed in a co-pending patent application and will be provided for the reference for the method of the present invention for easily and quickly manufacturing the surface mount inductor 1.
In manufacturing the surface mount inductor 1, a powder material of ferrite materials, ceramic materials or the like is first provided or prepared by the user or worker and suitably mixed together with such as a typical vibrator machine (not shown) in a process 8 as shown in
In a process 81, the powder material is then filled into a typical stirring machine (not shown), and a resin or binder material and an agent, such as a dispersing agent are also filled into the stirring machine for allowing the binder material and the agent to be applied or attached onto the powder material and to form particles. The particles are then dried in a process 82, with such as typical drying machines (not shown) for about 5-10 minutes and with a temperature ranging from 170-190° C., in order to dehydrate the particles. It is preferable that the particles are sieved with such as typical sieving machines (not shown) to form or to collect or to select the particles having a diameter of about 150 μm.
The particles are then molded or hot-pressed together in a process 83, to form the molded casing 30 and the molded core 10, which are then heated or sintered in such as a typical sintering oven (not shown) in a process 84 to a temperature ranging from 1000-1100° C., and keep for about 3-4 hours, in order to form the molded casing 30 and the molded core 10, and to crystallize the ferrite or ceramic material. The molded casing 30 and the molded core 10 are then trimmed or ground or polished in a process 85 to remove burrs and to form a smooth outer appearance to the molded casing 30 and the molded core 10.
In a following process 86, a metal layer 18 (
In a following process 88, one of the two ends or terminals 21 of the wire 20 is first secured or welded to the conductor contact 13 of the side panel 11 of the core 10, and the wire 20 is then wound around the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 with such as a winding machines (not shown), and the other end or terminal 22 of the wire 20 is then secured or welded to the conductor contact 13 of the other side panel 12 of the core 10, to allow the wire 20 to be easily and quickly wound around the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 with the winding machines.
In a following process 89, the core 10 thus formed and having the wire 20 wound thereon is then disposed or positioned or engaged into the chamber 31 of the casing 30, and secured to the casing 30 with such as an adhesive material, for allowing the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 and the coiled wire 20 to be suitably received and contained within the chamber 31 that is defined between the front plate 32 and the rear plate 33 of the casing 30 and the side panels 11, 12 of the core 10.
It is to be noted that the molded casing 30 and the molded core 10 may be directly formed or provided, and then the metal layer 18 of such as silver powder may then be directly applied onto the lower or bottom portion 15 of each of the side panels 11, 12 of the core 10 in the process 86, for allowing the conductor contacts or welding materials or members 13, 14 to be applied or electroplated onto the lower or bottom portions 15 of the side panels 11, 12 of the core 10 respectively in the process 87, and then for allowing the wire 20 to be easily and quickly wound around the horizontal part 16 of the core 10 with the winding machines.
Accordingly, the surface mount inductor in accordance with the present invention includes an improved structure having a suitable or decreased height, and for allowing the surface mount inductor to be easily and quickly manufactured.
Although this invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example only and that numerous changes in the detailed construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
