Patent Application
20140174823
1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to a method for sleeve retaining a solder material; in particular, to an electric connector terminal unit
2. Description of Related Art
As technology advances, electronic components are becoming increasingly miniaturized. Consequently, soldering precision of miniaturized electronic components is becoming a greater challenge for surface mount technology (SMT).
To retain soldering materials onto a terminal unit, one of the conventional approaches includes dipping the terminal unit into a sphere-shaped soldering material. However, with the conventional approach, soldering material is highly susceptible to falling off from the terminal unit which leads to poor welding quality/reliability. Another approach disposes the soldering material onto the side surface of the terminal unit. However, since the positioning of the soldering materials is susceptible to shift from the terminal unit, welding accuracy is hindered in the traditional method unless a welder resets and fine-tunes the positioning of the soldering materials. Based on today's miniaturization trend, soldering accuracy is quite critical to production especially when electronic components are in close proximity, a minuscule deviation can cause tremendous repercussions.
To address the above issues, the inventor strives via associated experience and research to present the instant disclosure, which can effectively improve the limitation described above.
The main purpose of the instant disclosure is to provide a method for a terminal unit to retain a solder material which solves the problems of conventional welding such as solder materials susceptible to fall off and position shifting on the terminal unit.
In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, a plurality of embodiments of the present disclosure provides a method for retaining solder material onto a terminal unit. Initially, a generally elongated terminal unit having a fixing portion formed toward one end thereof is provided. Next, a solder material is provided and processed to form a pre-processed sleeve structure adapted to envelop a corresponding end of the terminal unit, thus forming a gap between the pre-processed sleeve structure and the terminal unit. Successively, applying an external force to the pre-processed sleeve structure to envelop the terminal unit, thus causing local deformation thereof, thereby causing the solder material to retain onto the fixing portion of the terminal unit.
To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the instant disclosure also provides a solder material and an electrical connector terminal unit combination structure, comprising: a generally elongated terminal unit having a fixing portion formed toward one end thereof and a solder material processed to form a pre-processed sleeve structure adapted to sleevingly coupled to the fixing portion of the terminal unit.
In summary, the instant disclosure not only efficiently stabilizes the connectivity between the terminal unit and the solder material, but also significantly reduces the chances of solder material from falling off of the terminal unit. Therefore, highly reliable retaining effect can be attained.
In order to further the understanding of the method for sleeve retaining a solder material onto a terminal unit thereof, the following embodiments are provided along with illustrations to facilitate the disclosure. However, the detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of the disclosure, rather than limiting the scope being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
The following illustrations and detailed descriptions are exemplary for the purpose of further explaining the scope of the present disclosure. Other objectives and advantages related to the present disclosure will be illustrated in the subsequent descriptions and appended drawings.
Referring to
Continually referring to
One end of the terminal unit 10 has a hollowed square structure (not labeled) known as a retaining slot 15 which connects the front face 11 to the back face 12. Said retaining slot 15 is also a fixing portion A which is designed on the terminal unit 10 for retaining onto the solder material 20.
The solder material 20 is not limited to the form of a strip, a bit and a sheet. Once the pre-processed form as mentioned above is defined, said solder material 20 becomes a pre-processed sleeve structure 201. In the first instant embodiment, the form is a solder bit. Before sleeve retains on the terminal unit 10, the pre-processed sleeve structure 201 is processed into a processed sleeve 203. In details, the pre-processed sleeve structure 201 is disposed in a pre-defined distance (preferably close distance) away from the terminal unit 10 in a corresponding position with a fixing portion A. The fixing portion A is a feature of the terminal unit 10 which has the characteristics of fixating another feature of the solder material 20 onto the terminal unit 10. Then the pre-processed sleeve structure 201 is pressed into the shape of the processed sleeve 203 onto the terminal unit 10. In particular, the processed sleeve 203 in the first instant embodiment has a cylindrical shape known as a cylindrical sleeve 2031.
After the pre-processed sleeve structure 201 is processed into the processed sleeve 203 and envelops the terminal unit 10, a plurality of features is generated which depends on the form in which the pre-processed sleeve structure 201 takes. In particular,
When the processed sleeve 203 envelops the terminal unit 10, the solder bottom 206 is disposed flushed against the bottom face 14. However, the solder bottom 206 may also be circumventing while being a step-up from the bottom face 14.
The terminal unit 10 also includes a plurality of surfaces as follow: a front face 11, a back face 12, two side faces 13, and a bottom face 14. The fixing portion A is a protrusion 131 in the first instant embodiments of the instant disclosure. Said protrusion 131 is disposed on each of the two side faces 13 to facilitate retaining of the solder material 20.
The terminal unit 10 also has a width W which is defined by the distance between the two side faces 13. Said width W is also the width of the protrusion 131 where width W is defined by user. In addition to the protrusion 131, a recess 132 is also disposed along each side face 13.
After the solder material 20 envelops the terminal unit 10, an external force F (not illustrated in
According to
According to the
According to the
Preferably, the pre-processed sleeve structure 201 takes the form of a processed sleeve 203 which envelops the terminal unit 10 in one of the following forms: a cylindrical sleeve 2031 (
Moreover, the slit 204 only pertains to the first and second instant embodiments according to the instant disclosure. In the third instant embodiment of bullet-type sleeve 2033, only the solder top 205 is formed. Finally, in the fourth instant embodiments of spiral-type sleeve 2034, only the solder top 205 and the solder bottom 206 are formed.
Preferably, the fixing portion A is the protrusions 131. Said protrusions 131 are disposed on the two side faces 13 of the terminal unit 10 to facilitate retaining of the processed sleeve 30 by the application of the applied force F. As a consequence, enabling the solder material 20 to retain onto the fixing portion A. In the other example, the fixing portion A is the retaining slot 15. Specifically, an external force F is applied onto portions of the two ends of the enveloping processed sleeve 203 towards the direction of the retaining slot 15. Said portions consequently deforms and displaces into the retaining slot 15, and forms a groove 207 which retains onto the terminal unit 10. In addition to the protrusion 131, the recess 132 which is disposed on the two side faces 13 may also support retaining the solder material 20.
In further details, the external force F describes in
In summary, the method of retaining the soldering material structure 20 onto the terminal unit 10 according to the instant disclosure allows soldering materials to be effectively deposited onto the terminal units. The instant disclosure is space saving, does not require additional positioning adjustments during welding, and effectively simplifies welding. Thus, ensures welding efficiency.
The descriptions illustrated supra set forth simply the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure; however, the characteristics of the present disclosure are by no means restricted thereto. All changes, alternations, or modifications conveniently considered by those skilled in the art are deemed to be encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure delineated by the following claims.
