ATExpo Features Innovative Interconnect Products
By John Colwell, Bishop & Associates, Inc.

The 2006 Assembly Technology Expo (ATExpo) was held concurrently with the Surface Mount Technology Expo (SMT Expo) in Chicago, and assembly automation was the main thrust. The ATExpo focused on discrete product assembly automation, including robotics, wire processing, and lean manufacturing, while the SMT Expo focused on surface mount process equipment and RoHs compliance. The SMT exhibition also included a complete SMT processing line.

Innovative interconnect products from Auto Splice and Zierick Manufacturing seemed to straddle the worlds of both automated assembly and SMT processing. San Diego-based Auto Splice featured its Solderball Pin^TM that provides a cost-effective means to interconnect electronic modules to surface mount motherboards.

In many applications, a motherboard will consist of a densely populated, multi-layered substrate. It often makes sense to place the larger, power components on a separate, simpler, and less costly dual-sided board using conventional thru-hole technology. In fact, Texas Instruments and others offer standard DC-to-DC converter modules and similar power modules in this format.

The solderball pin provides an excellent means of interconnecting the module and motherboard. The pin creates a robust solder connection to the module, while the solderball provides a reliable surface mount connection to the motherboard. The solderball automatically adjusts for variations in board co-planarity. The solderball pin is available in EIA tape and reel formats, and is compatible with standard SMT component placement equipment.

Another innovative product exhibited by Auto Splice was a SMiT™ Shield Clip that eliminates the inefficiencies of secondary hand soldering operations associated with mounting EMI/RF shields. Shield clips can be placed using high-speed placement equipment and soldered via standard reflow processes along with all other SMT components.

The shield clip is available in EIA tape and reel formats.

Zierick Manufacturing Company announced a number of new board-to-board and wire-to-board surface mount interconnect products. The new products include a surface mount post, 0.031” x .062” tab (P/N 1276), that can be automatically placed on the board in any configuration using the customer’s SMT placement system. (See below) 

The second new part is a Surface Mount Box Receptacle (P/N 1277) which mates with a 0.025” pin in a vertical, horizontal, or through-hole orientation.

These products provide a versatile set of solutions for board-to-board and module-to-board applications for automotive, telecom, and power supply markets. Zierick’s SMT pins, posts, and standard and specialty headers, feature unique Zierick-patented, capillary action-enhanced solder joints. According to the manufacturer, the benefits of capillary action-enhanced solder joints are reduced solder joint fractures resulting from shock, vibration, and thermal cycling. This product provides significantly stronger solder joints compared to traditional joints.

Zierick’s new SMT/THT quick disconnect tab (P/N 6284) offers all the advantages of both surface mount and through-hole technologies.

Designed for discrete wire-to-board applications in harsh environments, the SMT/THT quick disconnect tab is ideally suited for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), and other building automation markets.

Another Zierick SMT wire-to-board innovation featured at the ATExpo was a new type of very high-reliability torsion insulation displacement contacts. The terminal is capable of terminating a wide range of wire gauges with very high reliability and withstanding repeated mating cycles.

Conventional IDC contacts typically consist of two fairly rigid beams with a wire slot between them. The conductor slot is smaller than the conductor diameter. When a wire is inserted into the slot, the lead-in chamfer cuts and displaces the insulation, making contact with the conductor.

As the conductor is pushed further down into the slot, deformation of the opposing IDC contact beams and the conductor itself may occur.

When the contact beams deflect outward, several degrading mechanisms are set-up which can result in a loss of the gas-tight connection.

The new torsion IDC contact achieves a large force, large deflection characteristic by using contact pre-force. With the right contact pre-load, the minimum contact force, the range of wire sizes, and even the wire strand rearrangement can be controlled effectively.  







For more information on these innovative products contact the following: