Electro-mechanical fuse for detecting monitored component deflection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10533919-B2
Application number	US-201715809064-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2017
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Jan 14, 2020
Grant date	Jan 14, 2020

Abstract

An electro-mechanical fuse is provided and includes a chassis component, an extrusion disposed on a monitored component which is disposable proximate to the chassis component and a sensor. The sensor is mounted to the chassis component. The sensor is mechanically breakable in power-on and power-off conditions by the extrusion as a result of a predefined action of or relative to the monitored component. The sensor electrically signals an occurrence of the mechanical breakage during power-on conditions following mechanical breakage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating an electro-mechanical fuse for detecting a predefined action of or relative to a monitored component, the method comprising:
disposing an extrusion on the monitored component with the monitored component proximate to a chassis component;
mounting a sensor to the chassis component;
configuring the sensor to be mechanically breakable in power-on and power-off conditions by the extrusion as a result of the predefined action of or relative to the monitored component; and
configuring the sensor to electrically signal an occurrence of a mechanical breakage of the sensor occurring during the power-off conditions upon the power-on conditions taking effect following the occurrence of the mechanical breakage of the sensor during the power-off conditions.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mounting of the sensor comprises sizing a mounting for the sensor to provide for clean mechanical breakage.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a conductor assembly comprising:
a conducting filament;
a body to support the conducting filament; and
circuitry configured to identify the mechanical breakage of the sensor occurring during the power-off conditions upon the power-on conditions taking effect.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising sampling the sensor upon the power-on conditions taking effect to electrically signal the occurrence of the mechanical breakage of the sensor occurring during the power-off conditions.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the configuring of the sensor to be mechanically breakable comprises configuring the sensor as a singular element with multiple stages embodied therein to mechanically break in the multiple stages; and
the configuring of the sensor to electrically signal the occurrence of the mechanical breakage of the sensor comprises configuring the sensor to correspondingly electrically signal occurrences of the mechanical break in each of the multiple stages.

6. A method of operating an electro-mechanical fuse for detecting a predefined deflection of a printed circuit board (PCB) inside a housing of a computing device, the method comprising:
disposing an extrusion on the PCB with the PCB proximate to a chassis component of the housing;
mounting a sensor to the chassis component;
configuring the sensor to be mechanically breakable in power-on and power-off conditions by the extrusion as a result of the predefined deflection of the PCB; and
configuring the sensor to electrically signal an occurrence of a mechanical breakage of the sensor occurring during the power-off conditions upon the power-on conditions taking effect following the occurrence of the mechanical breakage during the power-off conditions.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the mounting of the sensor comprises sizing a mounting for the sensor to provide for clean mechanical breakage.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the sensor comprises a conductor assembly comprising:
a conducting filament;
a body to support the conducting filament; and
circuitry configured to identify the mechanical breakage of the sensor occurring during the power-off conditions upon the power-on conditions taking effect.

9. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising sampling the sensor upon the power-on conditions taking effect to electrically signal the occurrence of the mechanical breakage of the sensor occurring during the power-off conditions.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein:
the configuring of the sensor to be mechanically breakable comprises configuring the sensor as a singular element with multiple stages embodied therein to mechanically break in the multiple stages; and
the configuring of the sensor to electrically signal the occurrence of the mechanical breakage of the sensor comprises configuring the sensor to correspondingly electrically signal occurrences of the mechanical break in each of the multiple stages.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bradbury Jonathan D
• Fry Jonathan R
• Kane Michael R

Classifications

• H05K1/0268

  for electrical inspection or testing · CPC title

• G01M5/0033

  by determining damage, crack or wear · CPC title

• G01R31/2818

  using test structures on, or modifications of, the card under test, made for the purpose of testing, e.g. additional components or connectors (G01R31/2805 takes precedence; printed circuits having, e.g. symbols, test patterns or visualisation means H05K1/0266) · CPC title

• H05K7/1461

  Slidable card holders; Card stiffeners; Control or display means therefor · CPC title

• G01M5/0083

  by measuring variation of impedance, e.g. resistance, capacitance, induction · CPC title