EMI grounding cap structure for use in mounting a printed circuit board on a plated housing boss

• US 5,519,169 A
• Filed: 03/23/1994
• Issued: 05/21/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dell USA LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell USA LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Garrett, Robert, Kocis, Thomas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Kristine L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CORNELISON, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US08/216,750
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 174/35 R, 174/356 C, 174/51, 174/138 G, 361/679, 361/712, 361/800, 361/704, 361/818, 439/374, 285/162
• US Class Current: 174/371
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 1/16 Earthing arrangements earthing arrangements for substations H02B5/01; earthing arrangements for switchgear H02B11/28, H02B13/075
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0215 Grounding of printed circuits by connection to external grounding means
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10409 Screws
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/142 Spacers not being card guides
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 9/0039 Galvanic coupling of ground layer on printed circuit board [PCB] to conductive casing printed shielding conductors, ground planes or power planes for reduction of cross-talk or noise in printed circuits H05K1/0218

Abstract

A specially designed metal grounding cap is placed over a metal-plated housing boss upon which a printed circuit board is to be mounted by extending a screw through a hole in the circuit board and tightening the screw into a metal insert previously forced into the free end of the mounting boss. As the screw is tightened into the boss insert, an EMI grounding pad on the underside of the circuit board engages an end wall of the grounding cap and pushes it into forcible engagement with the inner end of the boss. The forcible engagement of the grounding cap end wall causes leg portions of the cap to pivot inwardly and engage portions of the plated boss side wall between the boss insert and the metal plated housing wall from which the boss inwardly projects. The installed grounding cap thus serves as a conductive bridge around plating disturbances on the boss, in the region of the forcibly installed insert therein, to maintain an EMI grounding path from the installed circuit board to the metal plating on the housing wall.

Claims

1. Computer apparatus Comprising:

a plastic housing having an exterior wall from which a hollow plastic mounting boss inwardly projects, the interior side of said exterior housing wall and the external surface of said mounting boss being coated with a metallic EMI plating material;

an internally threaded insert member force-fitted into an inner end portion of said mounting boss;

a printed circuit board positioned over the inner end of said mounting boss and having a mounting hole aligned with said inner end;

a fastening member extending through said mounting hole and threaded into said insert member; and

a metal grounding cap positioned over said mounting boss, said metal grounding cap having;

a generally annular end wall portion disposed between said printed circuit board, circumscribing said fastening member, and being axially pressed and deformed between said printed circuit board and said inner end of said mounting boss, and

a side wall section extending generally axially from said end wall portion toward said exterior housing wall, said side wall section having an outer end portion deflected into and held in contact with the side of said mounting boss, between said insert member and said exterior housing wall, by the deformation of said end wall portion.

2. The computer apparatus of claim 1 wherein:

said annular end wall portion of said metal grounding cap has an axially raised peripheral area, and

said side wall section of said metal grounding cap has a circumferentially spaced plurality of slots disposed therein and axially extending from said outer end portion of said side wall section into said axially raised peripheral area, said slots dividing said side wall section into a circumferentially spaced series of axially extending leg portions, each of said leg portions having an inwardly bent outer end portion engaged with the side of said mounting boss between said insert member and said exterior housing wall.

3. A method of mounting a printed circuit board on a hollow, generally tubular plastic boss projecting inwardly from an exterior plastic housing wall, the interior side surface of the wall and the exterior of the boss being coated with a metallic EMI plating material and the printed circuit board having a mounting hole therein, said method comprising the steps of:

forcibly placing a threaded insert member into an inner end portion of the boss;

providing a metal grounding cap member having an end wall portion with a central opening therein, and a generally tubular body portion connected to said end wall portion and having an open outer end portion spaced apart from said end wall portion;

placing said grounding cap member on said boss in a manner such that said end wall portion covers and engages the inner end of the boss with said cap member body portion outwardly circumscribing the boss with the cap member outer end portion being positioned between said insert member and the exterior housing wall;

extending a fastening member through the circuit board mounting hole and said central opening of said grounding cap member end wall portion; and

tightening the fastening member into said insert member to deform said cap member end wall portion between the printed circuit board and the inner end portion of the boss and responsively deflect said cap member outer end portion inwardly into engagement with the side of the boss.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:

said grounding cap member end wall portion is of a generally annular configuration and has an axially raised peripheral portion, and said body portion of said grounding cap member has a circumferentially spaced plurality of slots disposed therein and axially extending from said cap member outer end portion into said raised peripheral portion to thereby form on said body portion a circumferentially spaced series of axially extending leg portions, said leg portions having inwardly bent outer end portions, and

said tightening step is performed in a manner axially deforming said raised peripheral portion of said cap member end wall portion and responsively pivoting said leg portion outer end portions into engagement with the side of said boss.