Abstract:
An IC socket comprises an insulative housing having a plurality of periphery walls and a cover pivotally assembled to one end of the insulative housing and adapted to be locked to the insulative housing at the other end. The cover includes a plurality of peripheral edges. The cover also has a plurality of spring arms upwardly extending therefrom and disposed at the edges.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to an integrated circuit (IC) socket, and more particularly, to an IC socket for supporting a heat sink to distribute part of force that the heat sink is seated on the electronic package so as to prevent deformation of an electronic package. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    An Land Grid Array socket generally comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulative housing and a fasten member. The fasten member comprises a stiffener surrounded the insulative housing, a load plate assembled to one end of the stiffener to urge an electronic package received in the insulative housing and a lever assembled to the other end of the stiffener to lock the load plate in a close position. The insulative housing secures the electronic package by the fasten member and then is soldered on a printed circuit board to establish an electrical connection between the electronic package and the printed circuit board. 
         [0005]    However, the fasten member of the IC socket comprises a lot of members and the fastening process is complex, therefore, the cost of the IC socket is high. 
         [0006]    CN Pat. No. 2924841 issued to Molex on Jul. 18, 2007 discloses a present IC socket, which could solve said problem which is descripted above. The IC socket comprises an insulative housing and a cover assembled to one end of the insulative housing. The cover has an urging portion at a corner thereof for pushing the electronic package to be located in the insulative housing. Understandably, there will be a heat sink assembled upon the electronic package and the heat sink has a weight itself and will generate shake in running process. According, the electronic package will generate deflection under the long term of load and shake. Under that condition, the life of the electronic package will be reduced. Therefore, an improved IC socket is needed to prevent the deflection of the electronic package to extend the life of the electronic package. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an IC socket with an improved structure to support a heat sink to distribute part of load that the heat sink is seated on the electronic package for preventing deformation of an electronic package 
         [0008]    In order to achieve the object set forth, an IC socket comprises an insulative housing having a plurality of periphery walls and a cover pivotally assembled to one end of the insulative housing and adapted to be locked to the insulative housing at the other end. The cover includes a plurality of peripheral edges. The cover also has a plurality of spring arms upwardly extending therefrom and disposed at the edges. 
         [0009]    In order to further achieve the object set forth, an IC socket for using with an electronic package and a heat sink, comprises an insulative housing and a cover pivotally mounted to the insulative housing for pressing the electronic package secured in the insulative housing. The insulative housing includes a bottom surface and a plurality of peripheral walls commonly defining an upward receiving cavity for receiving the electronic package. Outer side of the cover have a plurality of upwardly extending spring arms for supporting a bottom surface of the heat sink. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is an exploded view of an IC socket in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an assemble view of the IC socket shown in  FIG. 1  with an electronic package assembled thereon; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is similar to  FIG. 2 , with the IC socket in an open position; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a side view of the IC socket shown in  FIG. 2 , while a heat sink is assembled to the IC socket and the electronic package. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0014]    Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe the present invention in detail. 
         [0015]    Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 3 , an IC socket is used for electrically connecting an electronic package  2  and a printed circuit board (not shown). The electronic package  2  is substantially formed a rectangular shape and includes a planar substrate  20  and two dies  21  mounted upon a top surface of the substrate  20 . The IC socket includes an insulative housing  3 , a plurality of contacts (not shown) received in the insulative housing  3  and a cover  4 . 
         [0016]    The insulative housing  3  is essentially of a rectangular configuration. The insulative housing  3  has a base  30  with a plurality of passageways (not shown) and a plurality of periphery walls  31  and commonly defining an upward receiving cavity (not labeled) for receiving the electronic package  2 . The periphery walls  31  are called front sidewall  311 , rear sidewall  312 , left sidewall  313  and right sidewall  314  in accordance to the position which they are disposed on the insulative housing  3 . 
         [0017]    The left and right sidewalls  313 ,  314  have cutouts as pick-up slots  315  for the convenience of runners to assemble and pick-up the electronic package  2 . The rear sidewall  312  has a pair of hooks  3121  in a vertical direction with openings toward downwardly and the front sidewall  311  has an engaging portion adapted to lock the cover  4  in a close position. In present embodiment, the engaging portion is a pair of spring cantilevered arms  3111  extending from the front sidewall  311  in the vertical direction and substantially parallel to a vertical sidewall. The spring cantilevered arm  3111  is substantially extending in a horizontal direction with a tab  3112  extending in the vertical direction. The periphery sidewalls  31  have a plurality of small protrusions  32  extending upwardly therefrom so that the cover  4  can be applied to the electronic package  2  on the desired location. 
         [0018]    The cover  4  has a planar frame  41 . The frame  41  defines a front end, rear end, left end and right end corresponding to the periphery walls  31 . The rear end of the frame  41  forms a pair of pivotal portions  411  corresponding to the hooks  3121 . The pivotal portions  411  are symmetrically aligned. Each pivotal portion  411  includes a bent portion  4111  extending rearward firstly and then extending downwardly, a pivotal axis  4112  connected with the bent portion  4111  and perpendicular to the bent portion  4111  and opposite to the other pivotal portion  411 . Each pivotal axis  4112  is extended in the horizontal direction and received in the hook  3121  for pivotal rotation with regard to the insulative housing  3 . The front end of the frame  41  has a pick-up portion  412  extending forward to open and close the cover  4 . The front end of the frame  41  also has a latch  413  with a locking portion  4131  bent downwardly for engaging with the spring cantilevered arms  3111 . The locking portion  4131  has a plurality of slots  4132  adapt to lock to the spring cantilevered arms  3111 . 
         [0019]    The peripheral borders of the frame  41  have a plurality of spring arms  414  extending upwardly. The spring arms  414  are uniformed disposed on each edge of the frame  41  and have substantially horizontal supporting portions  4141  for supporting a heat sink  5  which is mounted upon the electrical package  2 . The number of the spring arms  414  could be disposed in accordance to actual enablement. In present embodiment, there are eight spring arms  41  and each edge of the frame  41  has two. 
         [0020]    In assembly, firstly, the pivotal portions  411  of the cover  4  are aligned to the hooks  3121  of the insulative housing  3 , open the cover  4  and put the electronic package  2  to the insulative housing  3 . Then, rotate the cover  4  to the close position and lock the locking portion  4131  to the tab  3112  of the spring cantilevered arms  3111 . Now, the electronic package  2  is mounted to the IC socket and could establish an electrical connection between the electronic package  2  and the printed circuit board by the contacts. Last, the heat sink  5  is assembled upon the electronic package  2  and is secured to the printed circuit board by nuts. 
         [0021]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , shown a side view of the heat sink  5  begin to assemble to the IC socket and the electronic package. After assembled the electronic package  2  to the IC socket, the supporting portions  4141  of the spring arms  414  are formed a common surface witch is higher than the dies  21  of the electronic package  2 . The supporting portions  4141  are extended above the periphery walls  31  of the insulative housing  3  and have a distance with the periphery walls  31  in a vertical direction. In process of assembling the heat sink  5  to the electronic package  2 , the bottom surface of the heat sink  5  touches the supporting portions  4141  firstly and then presses the supporting portions  4141  downwardly until to touch the dies  21  of the electronic package  2 . When the heat sink  5  touches the die  21 , the supporting portions  4141  of the spring arms may touch to the periphery walls  31  or not. In the present embodiment, the supporting portions  4141  touch the periphery walls  31  when the heat sink  5  is located in the last position. 
         [0022]    In present invention, the heat sink  5  applies a loading force between the spring arms  414  and the dies  21 . The spring arms  414  could share parts of the loading force for the dies  21 , and the total loading force that the spring arms  414  have can be changed by changing the number of spring arms  414 . The structure of the spring arms  414  are used to distribute parts of the loading force that the heat sink  5  is seated on the electronic package  2  to present deflection of the electronic package  2 . 
         [0023]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.