Circuit board mounting device

{
  "publication_number": "US6781055B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Circuit board mounting device",
  "abstract": "A motherboard mounting device (100) includes a standoff (10) and an annular elastic clip (20), both of which are made of electrically conductive material. The standoff includes a head (12), a body (16), and a neck (14) between the head and the body. The clip is undulated, and defines a central opening (22). The clip has a plurality of radial upper and lower ridges (24, 26). The clip is mounted around the neck of the standoff. Several motherboard mounting devices are used to mount a motherboard (50) to a computer enclosure. The heads of the standoffs are extended through the motherboard, and the motherboard is pushed horizontally so it is sandwiched between the heads and the bodies. The motherboard is accordingly securely mounted to the enclosure. The upper ridges and the heads maintain good electrical contact with a grounding trace formed on both upper and lower surfaces of the motherboard.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A mounting device adapted to mount a circuit board to a computer enclosure, the mounting device comprising: a standoff comprising a head, a body and a neck connecting between the head and the body; and an undulated clip surrounding the neck, the clip defining an opening for extension of the head therethrough, the clip having a plurality of upper ridges and lower ridges surrounding the opening for pressing and electrically contacting the circuit board.",
    "2. The mounting device recited in claim 1, wherein the standoff and clip are made of electrically conductive material.",
    "3. The mounting device recited in claim 2, wherein the head is generally hemispherical, and the neck and the body are cylindrical.",
    "4. The mounting device recited in claim 2, wherein the head comprises a distal generally hemispherical first guiding portion, and a proximal generally hemispherical second guiding portion.",
    "5. The mounting device recited in claim 4, wherein the second guiding portion has an annular surface for pressing the circuit board.",
    "6. The mounting device recited in claim 1, wherein a diameter of the neck is less than a diameter of the head and a diameter body respectively.",
    "7. The mounting device recited in claim 1, wherein the body of the standoff has a support surface at the neck supporting the clip.",
    "8. The mounting device recited in claim 1, wherein the standoff further comprises a mounting portion for engaging with the computer enclosure.",
    "9. The mounting device recited in claim 1, wherein the upper ridges slant downwardly from a periphery of the clip to the opening of the clip, and the lower ridges are substantially coplanar with each other.",
    "10. The mounting device recited in claim 1, wherein the upper ridges are substantially coplanar with each other, and the lower ridges are substantially coplanar with each other.",
    "11. The mounting device recited in claim 1, wherein the clip defines a plurality of grooves in communication with the opening for enhancing elastic deformability thereof.",
    "12. A mounting device assembly comprising: a circuit board defining a mounting hole comprising a through portion and a locking portion; and a mounting device comprising: a standoff comprising a head, a body and a neck connecting between the head and the body, and an undulated clip surrounding the neck, wherein the standoff is extendable through the through portion of the mounting hole and engagable in the looking portion of the mounting hole with the circuit board being sandwiched between the head of the standoff and the clip.",
    "13. The mounting device assembly recited in claim 12, wherein the standoff and clip are made of electrically conductive material.",
    "14. The circuit board mounting device recited in claim 12, wherein at least one grounding trace is formed on the circuit board and surrounds the mounting hole, and at least one of the head of the standoff and the clip electrically contacts the at least one grounding trace.",
    "15. A mounting device assembly comprising: a printed circuit board defining a plurality of mounting holes each with a large section and a small section; and a mounting device including: a plurality of standoffs each defining a narrowed neck between a head and a body, the neck being not diametrically larger than the small section, and the head being diametrically larger than the small section while smaller than the large section; a clip restrictively supported by the body, said clip being compressible along an axial direction of said standoff; wherein the head of the standoff vertically extends through the large section of the corresponding mounting hole of the printed circuit board with an extent and moves horizontally to the small section where the clip is compressed to allow the head to downwardly abut against the printed circuit board.",
    "16. The assembly recited in claim 15, wherein said clip is diametrically larger than the large section."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "1. Field of the Invention\n\nThe present invention relates to circuit board mounting devices, and more particularly to a motherboard mounting device which has a standoff and a clip between the standoff and an associated motherboard.\n\n2. Description of Related Art\n\nA motherboard is the foundation of electronic components used in a typical personal computer system. Firm and accurate mounting of the motherboard in the computer system is important for the computer system to operate properly and reliably. An enclosure of a computer system is typically made of metallic material. Solder portions of the motherboard cannot contact the enclosure, because this causes short circuiting of the motherboard. In general, some kind of supporting device is used to mount the motherboard to the enclosure while keeping the motherboard distanced from the enclosure.\n\nOperating frequencies of modern electronic components on the motherboard are becoming higher and higher. A correspondingly large amount of static electricity is produced, which accumulates on the motherboard. The static electricity needs to be efficiently dissipated to ground, to avoid possible damage to sensitive electronic components on the motherboard. Accordingly, supporting devices should also function to provide electrical pathways from a grounding trace on the motherboard to a ground source such as the enclosure of the computer system.\n\nU.S. Pat. No. 4,760,495 discloses one kind of motherboard supporting device. The supporting device is pillar-shaped. One end of the supporting device is mounted on the enclosure.",
  "cpc": [
    "H05K 7/142"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "H05K 7/14"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Li Ping Chen"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2002-11-26",
  "publication_date": "2004-08-24",
  "grant_date": "2004-08-24",
  "priority_date": "2002-06-13",
  "application_number": "US-30633802-A",
  "family_id": "28451825",
  "cited_by_count": 51,
  "citations": [
    "US2747166A",
    "US4495380A",
    "US4760495A",
    "US5620290A",
    "US5833480A",
    "US6535394B1"
  ]
}