Abstract:
A pin adjuster for electronic components adjusts and fixes pins of an electronic component while the electronic component is being installed on a circuit board such that the pins correspond in position to and connect to a plurality of contacts on the circuit board, respectively. The pin adjuster includes an insulating body and a plurality of channels. The channels each penetrate the insulating body and have an entry end and an exit end. The entry ends correspond in position to the pins of the electronic component, respectively, and the exit ends correspond in position to the contacts, respectively, such that the pins are adjusted and fixed in place by penetrating the channels, respectively. The pin adjuster enables the pins to be aligned with and connected to the contacts rapidly and precisely, thereby shortening the time taken to mount the electronic component on the circuit board and streamlining manual operation.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 100133338 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Sep. 16, 2011, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
       FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a pin adjuster for electronic component, and more particularly to a pin adjuster for adjusting and holding pins of an electronic component to positions corresponding to contacts on a circuit board. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Generally, various common electronic components are mounted and electrically connected to a circuit board by soldering pins on the electronic components to corresponding contacts on the circuit board. Such electronic components may include but not limited to resistors, capacitors, transistors, transmitter modules, receiver modules, and transceiver modules. These modules have pins protruded from a main body thereof for soldering and electrically connecting to the contacts on the circuit board. The contacts are usually provided on the circuit board according to predetermined layouts, and have very small spaces left between them. Therefore, before the electronic components are soldered to the circuit board, the pins on the electronic components must be adjusted and/or trimmed, so that the pins are located corresponding to and aligned with the contacts pre-arranged on the circuit board. Moreover, the pins must be cut to have suitable lengths to avoid errors in electrical connection or short-circuit. 
         [0004]    Some electronic components might have three or more pins provided thereon. These pins are usually arranged on one side of the electronic components and are spatially staggered to thereby cause difficulty in aligning the pins with the contacts on the circuit board. Please refer to  FIG. 1  that shows an example of an electronic component  100  configured as a bi-directional optical sub-assembly (BOSA). The BOSA includes a transmitter composed of a laser diode (LD) and a receiver composed of a photodiode (PD). The laser diode for the transmitter has four pins  102   a - 102   d , which are arranged on an end surface of the transmitter as four vertexes of a quadrilateral. The photodiode for the receiver has six pins  102   e - 102   j , which are arranged on an end surface of the receiver as six vertexes of a hexagon. Since these pins  102   a - 102   j  are not arranged on the end surfaces of the transmitter and receiver in a manner to be coplanar with surfaces of the circuit board, the pins are spaced from the circuit board surfaces by different distances. Thus, before mounting and soldering the electronic component  100  to the circuit board, the pins  102   a - 102   j  of the electronic component  100  must be bent for them to align and contact with the contacts on the circuit board. Meanwhile, the pins are made of a metal material and are subject to bending and deformation in the procedures of pin adjusting, mounting and soldering to result in confusion in manual operation or defective products. 
         [0005]    Thus, according to conventional technical means, before the BOSA can be mounted and soldered to the circuit board, the pins on the BOSA must first be manually adjusted and trimmed one by one for them to align with the contacts on the circuit board. Furthermore, due to the miniaturization of electronic components, circuits are arranged on the circuit boards in a high density, which results in very small spaces between contacts. Thus, it is very difficult and time-consuming to adjust and trim the pins through manual operation. These conditions also form hindrances to mass production of the electronic components on production lines at controlled time cost. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    A primary object of the present invention is to provide a pin adjuster for electronic component, so that pins on an electronic component can be quickly and correctly aligned with and connected to contacts on a circuit board. 
         [0007]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a pin adjuster for electronic component, so that an electronic component can be mounted to a circuit board with largely reduced time and labor. 
         [0008]    To achieve the above and other objects, the pin adjuster for electronic component according to the present invention is used as an aid for mounting an electronic component having a plurality of pins to a circuit board having a plurality of contacts, and includes an insulating body having a plurality of channels formed on thereon. The channels axially extend through the insulating body and respectively have an inlet end and an outlet end. The inlet ends are arranged corresponding to the pins on the electronic component, and the outlet ends are arranged corresponding to the contacts on the circuit board. When the pins are correspondingly extended through the channels via the inlet ends, the pins finally projected from the outlet ends are adjusted and held to positions corresponding to the contacts, and can therefore be conveniently connected to the contacts. 
         [0009]    In the pin adjuster of the present invention, at least one of the channels is internally formed with a bend guiding section for bending the pin extended therethrough before the pin is projected from the outlet end of the channel. 
         [0010]    According to an embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the channels is internally formed with two bend guiding sections. The pin extended through the channel having two bend guiding sections is bent by a first one of the bend guiding sections to incline downward from a horizontal position by a predetermined length and then bent again by a second one of the bend guiding sections to a horizontal position. 
         [0011]    The circuit board includes a first surface and an opposite second surface, and the contacts of the circuit board are provided on both of the first and the second surface. And, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the outlet ends of the channels are arranged in two straight lines to correspond to the contacts on the first and the second surface of the circuit board. 
         [0012]    According to an embodiment of the present invention, the channels on the pin adjuster are four in number, and the outlet ends of three of the four channels are arranged at positions corresponding to the contacts on the first surface of the circuit board while the outlet end of the fourth channel is arranged at a position corresponding to the contact on the second surface of the circuit board. Alternatively, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the channels on the pin adjuster are six in number, and the outlet ends of three of the six channels are arranged at positions corresponding to the contacts on the first surface of the circuit board while the outlet ends of the other three channels are arranged at positions corresponding to the contacts on the second surface of the circuit board. 
         [0013]    The pin adjuster according to the present invention can be mounted on the electronic component before the latter is mounted and soldered to the circuit board, so as to adjust and hold the pins of the electronic component to desired positions. That is, the electronic component with the pin adjuster of the present invention mounted thereon can have pins correctly aligned with the contacts on the circuit board, enabling the pins to be quickly connected to the contacts with largely reduced time and labor. Further, the pin adjuster also protects the pins against undesired deformation in the mounting process and reduces the probability of defective products caused by improper manual operation during connection of the electronic component to the circuit board. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
         [0014]    The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  shows an example of an electronic component; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  shows the connection of an electronic component to a circuit board with the aid of pin adjusters according to the present invention, being viewed from a first surface of the circuit board; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  shows the connection of an electronic component to a circuit board with the aid of pin adjusters according to the present invention, being viewed from an opposite second surface of the circuit board; 
           [0018]      FIGS. 4   a ,  4   b  and  4   c  are sectional side view, inlet end view, and outlet end view, respectively, of a pin adjuster according to a first embodiment of the present invention for use with a transmitter on an electronic component; 
           [0019]      FIGS. 5   a ,  5   b  and  5   c  are sectional side view, inlet end view, and outlet end view, respectively, showing the pin adjuster according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted to a transmitter on an electronic component for pins of the transmitter to be quickly and correctly electrically connected to contacts on a circuit board; 
           [0020]      FIGS. 6   a ,  6   b  and  6   c  are sectional side view, inlet end view, and outlet end view, respectively, of a pin adjuster according to a second embodiment of the present invention for use with a receiver on an electronic component; and 
           [0021]      FIGS. 7   a ,  7   b  and  7   c  are sectional side view, inlet end view, and outlet end view, respectively, showing the pin adjuster according to the second embodiment of the present invention is mounted to a receiver on an electronic component for pins of the receiver to be quickly and correctly electrically connected to contacts on a circuit board. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0022]    The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof and with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of easy to understand, elements that are the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals. 
         [0023]    Please refer to  FIGS. 2 and 3  that are perspective views viewed from a first surface  204  and an opposite second surface  206  of a circuit board  200 , respectively, showing the connection of an electronic component  100  to the circuit board  200  with the aid of pin adjusters  1 ,  2  according to the present invention. As shown, the pin adjusters  1 ,  2  are configured for adjusting and holding a plurality of pins  102   a - 102   j  of the electronic component  100  in place, so that the pins  102   a - 102   j  can be conveniently and correctly connected to contacts  202   a - 202   j  on the circuit board  200 . Herein, the present invention is described with the electronic component  100  being a bi-directional optical sub-assembly (BOSA) having four pins  102   a - 102   d  provided on an end surface of a transmitter thereof and six pins  102   e - 102   j  provided on an end surface of a receiver thereof, as shown in  FIG. 1 . However, it is understood the pin adjuster of the present invention can be applied to various types of electronic components  100  having multiple pins without being limited to the use with a BOSA. 
         [0024]    Please refer to  FIGS. 4   a  to  4   c , in which a pin adjuster  1  according to a first embodiment of the present invention for use with a transmitter on an electronic component is shown. As shown, the pin adjuster  1  includes an insulating body  10 , on which a plurality of channels  20   a - 20   d  is formed. The channels  20   a - 20   d  are axially extended through the insulating body  10 , and respectively have an inlet end  22   a - 22   d  and an outlet end  24   a - 24   d . Please refer to  FIGS. 4   a  to  4   c  along with  FIGS. 1 to 3 . The inlet ends  22   a - 22   d  on the insulating body  10  are arranged corresponding to the pins  102   a - 102   d  on the transmitter of the electronic component  100 , and the outlet ends  24   a - 24   d  on the insulating body  10  are arranged corresponding to the contacts  202   a - 202   d  on the circuit board  200 . By extending the pins  102   a - 102   d  through the channels  20   a - 20   d  via the inlet ends  22   a - 22   d , the pins  102   a - 102   d  projected from the outlet ends  24   a - 24   d  are adjusted and held to positions corresponding to the contacts  202   a - 202   d  and can therefore be conveniently connected thereto. 
         [0025]      FIGS. 5   a - 5   c  are sectional side view, inlet end view, and outlet end view, respectively, showing the pin adjuster  1  according to the first embodiment of the present invention is mounted to the transmitter on the electronic component  100  for the pins  102   a - 102   d  of the transmitter to electrically connect to the contacts  202   a - 202   d  on the circuit board  200 . Please refer to  FIGS. 5   a - 5   c  along with  FIG. 1 . Here, the illustrated electronic component  100  is a BOSA, the transmitter of which has four pins  102   a ,  102   b ,  102   c ,  102   d  arranged on an end surface thereof as four vertexes of a quadrilateral. It is noted three of the four pins, i.e. pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  are to be correspondingly connected to the contacts  202   a ,  202   b  and  202   c  on the first surface  204  of the circuit board  200  while the fourth pin  102   d  is to be connected to the contact  202   d  on the second surface  206  of the circuit board  200 . Therefore, the pin adjuster  1  for use with the transmitter of the electronic component  100  as a BOSA can have four channels  20   a - 20   d  formed on the insulating body  10 . More specifically, three of the four channels, i.e. channels  20   a ,  20   b  and  20   c , have their inlet ends  22   a ,  22   b  and  22   c  arranged corresponding to the pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  on the end surface of the transmitter of the electronic component  100 . Please refer to  FIGS. 5   a - 5   c  along with  FIG. 2 . The outlet ends  24   a ,  24   b  and  24   c  of the channels  20   a ,  20   b  and  20   c  are arranged corresponding to the contacts  202   a ,  202   b  and  202   c  on the first surface  204  of the circuit board  200 . Meanwhile, please also refer to  FIGS. 5   a - 5   c  along with  FIG. 3 . The inlet end  22   d  of the fourth channel  20   d  is arranged corresponding to the pin  102   d  on the end surface of the transmitter of the electronic component  100  while the outlet end  24   d  of the channel  20   d  is arranged corresponding to the contact  202   d  on the second surface  206  of the circuit board  200 . 
         [0026]    Please refer to  FIGS. 5   a - 5   c  along with  FIGS. 4   a - 4   c . The channels  20   a - 20   d  respectively include two bend guiding sections  26   a - 26   d . It is known the pins  102   a ,  102   b ,  102   c  on the electronic component  100  are not arranged in a straight line. By extending the pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  into the channels  20   a ,  20   b  and  20   c  via the inlet ends  22   a ,  22   b  and  22   c , the pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  will pass a first one of the two bend guiding sections  26   a ,  26   b  and  26   c , respectively, and are bent to incline downward from an original horizontal position by a predetermined distance. Then, the bent pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  further pass the second bend guiding section  26   a ,  26   b  and  26   c , respectively, and are bent again to a horizontal position to project from the outlet end  24   a ,  24   b  and  24   c . The pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  projected from the insulating body  1  via the outlet end  24   a ,  24   b  and  24   c  are now arranged in a straight line within a common plane parallel with the first surface  204  of the circuit board  200  to correspond to the contacts  202   a ,  202   b  and  202   c . That is, by using the pin adjuster  1  according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  extended through the insulating body  10  via the channels  20   a ,  20   b  and  20   c  and projected from the outlet end  24   a ,  24   b  and  24   c  are now aligned with the contacts  202   a ,  202   b  and  202   c , as shown in  FIG. 2 . Then, the pins  102   a ,  102   b  and  102   c  can be soldered and electrically connected to contacts  202   a - 202   c  on the circuit board  200 . Meanwhile, the fourth pin  102   d  on the end surface of the transmitter of the electronic component  100  is spaced from the contact  202   d  on the second surface  206  of the circuit board  200  by a distance. By extending the pin  102   d  into the channel  20   d  via the inlet end  22   d , the pin  102   d  will pass the two bend guiding sections  26   d  and is bent twice, so that the pin  102   d  finally projected from the outlet end  24   d  is aligned with the contact  202   d , as shown in  FIG. 3 . Thereafter, the pin  102   d  can be soldered and electrically connected to the contact  202   d  on the circuit board  200 . 
         [0027]      FIGS. 6   a  to  6   c  show a pin adjuster  2  according to a second embodiment of the present invention for use with a receiver on an electronic component as a BOSA. Please refer to  FIGS. 6   a  to  6   c  along with  FIGS. 1 to 3 . As shown, unlike the pin adjuster  1  of the first embodiment, the pin adjuster  2  is configured for connecting the pins  102   e - 102   j  of the receiver on the electronic component  100  to the contacts  202   e - 202   j  on the circuit board  200 . The pins  102   e - 102   j  are arranged on the end surface of the receiver as six vertexes of a hexagon. Therefore, an insulating body  10  of the pin adjuster  2  is correspondingly provided with six channels  20   e - 20   j , which respectively have an inlet end  22   e - 22   j  corresponding to the pins  102   e - 102   j  on the receiver of the electronic component  100  and an outlet end  24   e - 24   j  corresponding to the contacts  202   e - 202   j  on the circuit board  200 . By extending the pins  102   e - 102   j  through the channels  20   e - 20   j  via the inlet ends  22   e - 22   j , the pins  102   e - 102   j  projected from the outlet ends  24   e - 24   j  are adjusted and held to positions corresponding to the contacts  202   e - 202   j  and can therefore be conveniently connected thereto. 
         [0028]      FIGS. 7   a - 7   c  are sectional side view, inlet end view, and outlet end view, respectively, showing the pin adjuster  2  according to the second embodiment of the present invention is mounted to the receiver on the electronic component  100  for the pins  102   e - 102   j  of the receiver to electrically connect to the contacts  202   e - 202   j  on the circuit board  200 . Please refer to  FIGS. 7   a - 7   c  along with  FIGS. 1 to 3 . Here, the illustrated electronic component  100  is a BOSA, the receiver of which has six pins  102   e - 102   j  arranged on the end surface thereof as six vertexes of a hexagon. It is noted three of the six pins, i.e. pins  102   e ,  102   f  and  102   g  are to be correspondingly connected to the contacts  202   e ,  202   f  and  202   g  on the first surface  204  of the circuit board  200  while the other three pins  102   h ,  102   i  and  102   j  are to be correspondingly connected to the contacts  202   h ,  202   i  and  202   j  on the second surface  206  of the circuit board  200 . Therefore, three of the six channels formed on the insulating body  10  of the pin adjuster  2 , i.e. channels  20   e ,  20   f  and  20   g , have their inlet ends  22   e ,  22   f  and  22   g  arranged corresponding to the pins  102   e ,  102   f  and  102   g  on the end surface of the receiver of the electronic component  100  and their outlet ends  24   e ,  24   f  and  24   g  arranged corresponding to the contacts  202   e ,  202   f  and  202   g  on the first surface  204  of the circuit board  200 . Meanwhile, the other three channels  20   h ,  20   i  and  20   j  have their inlet ends  22   h ,  22   i  and  22   j  arranged corresponding to the pins  102   h ,  102   i  and  102   j  on the end surface of the receiver of the electronic component  100  and their outlet ends  24   h ,  24   i  and  24   j  arranged corresponding to the contacts  202   h ,  202   i  and  202   j  on the second surface  206  of the circuit board  200 . 
         [0029]    As can be seen in  FIGS. 1 to 3 , on the end surface of the receiver of the electronic component  100 , the pins  102   e  and  102   g  are originally located at positions aligned with the contacts  202   e  and  202   g , respectively, and the pins  102   h  and  102   j  are originally located at positions aligned with the contacts  202   h  and  202   j , respectively. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the channels  20   e ,  20   h  and the channels  20   h ,  20   j  corresponding to the pins  102   e ,  102   g  and the pins  102   h ,  102   j , respectively, are straight channels extended through the insulating body  10 , as can be seen from  FIGS. 6   a - 6   c  and  FIGS. 7   a - 7   c . That is, only the channels  20   f ,  20   i  are respectively internally formed with two bend guiding sections  26   f ,  26   i . Therefore, when the pins  102   e - 102   j  are correspondingly extended into the channels  20   e - 20   j  via the inlet ends  22   e - 22   j , only the pins  102   f ,  102   i  are bent while all other pins  102   e ,  102   g ,  102   h ,  102   j  are just straightly extended through the channels  20   e ,  20   g ,  20   h ,  20   j . The pins  102   e - 102   j  finally projected from the outlet ends  24   e - 24   j  are now adjusted and held in place, and are arranged in two straight lines, as shown in  FIG. 7   c , to align with the contacts  202   e - 202   g  and the contacts  202   h - 202   j , respectively, as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . Thereafter, the pins  102   e - 102   j  can be conveniently soldered and electrically connected to the contacts  202   e - 202   j  on the circuit board  200 . 
         [0030]    Therefore, before mounting an electronic component to a circuit board, an operator may first connect the pin adjusters  1 ,  2  according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention to the pins of the electronic component, so that the pins can be easily adjusted and held in place to align with contacts on the circuit board. The electronic component with the pin adjusters  1 ,  2  connected to the pins thereof can be quickly and correctly aligned with and connected to the corresponding contacts on the circuit board at largely reduced time and labor. The pin adjusters of the present invention also protect the pins of the electronic component against undesired deformation in the mounting process, and reduce the probability of defective products caused by improper manual operation. 
         [0031]    The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.