Circuit board testing apparatus and circuit board testing method
AssigneeNidec-Read Corporation
InventorMunehiro Yamashita
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a circuit board testing apparatus for performing a four-terminal measurement method on a wiring pattern formed of a plurality of wires on a circuit board, a control part connects in series contact probes to be connected to upstream-side voltage detection terminals or downstream-side voltage detection terminals, via connection terminals, allows a power supply part to apply power between the test points with which the contact probes connected in series are in contact, allows a voltage detection part to detect a voltage between the test points, and makes a determination as to conductive contact states of the contact probes with the test points, based on the detected voltage.
Claims20
A circuit board testing apparatus for measuring at least one electrical characteristic of a wiring pattern formed of a plurality of wires on a circuit board, the wiring pattern having at least two test points defined thereon, the apparatus comprising:
- at least two pairs of contact probes each of the pairs of contact probes configured to establish electrical contact with one of said test points, each contact probe comprising, respectively:
- an upstream power terminal having a switchable connection to an upstream side of a power supply part,
- a downstream power terminal having a switchable connection to a downstream side of the power supply part,
- an upstream voltage detection terminal having a switchable connection to an upstream side of a voltage detection part,
- a downstream voltage detection terminal having a switchable connection to a downstream side of the voltage detection part, and
- a switchable connection terminal;
- and
- a control part configured to perform a measurement of a first value related to the at least one electrical characteristic of the wiring pattern, based on a determination of a second value related to a contact state of the at least two pairs of contact probes to the two respective test points.
A circuit board testing method comprising:
- a) providing a testing apparatus configured to test a wiring pattern formed of a plurality of wires on a circuit board, the test based on a measurement of a first value, the testing apparatus having at least two pairs of contact probes, the test probes each having:
- an upstream power terminal having a switchable connection to an upstream side of a power supply part,
- a downstream power terminal having a switchable connection to a downstream side of the power supply part,
- an upstream voltage detection terminal having a switchable connection to an upstream side of a voltage detection part,
- a downstream voltage detection terminal having a switchable connection to a downstream side of the voltage detection part, and
- a switchable connection terminal;
- b) holding the circuit board in contact with the contact probes;
- c) connecting the at least two pairs of contact probes together in a series via the respective connection terminals and the circuit board;
- d) applying power from the power supply part to the series via at least one of said upstream power terminals and at least one of said downstream power terminals;
- e) measuring, using the voltage detection part, a voltage across the series via at least one of said upstream voltage detection terminals, and one of said downstream voltage detection terminals;
- f) calculating a second value, for an electrical characteristic of the series based on the measured voltage;
- and
- g) determining a contact state of the at least two pairs of contact probes, each pair to one of at least two test points defined on the wiring pattern, based on the second value.
The method of claim 18 wherein determining in i) comprises comparing the first value to a predetermined range of first values for said characteristic.
The method of claim 19 wherein said testing apparatus includes a memory part for storing the values of said predetermined range of first values.
A circuit board testing apparatus for conducting a continuity test on a wiring pattern formed of a plurality of wires on a circuit board, and performing a four-terminal measurement on test points defined on each wire with a pair of contact probes brought into conductive contact with each test point, in the continuity test,
- the circuit board testing apparatus comprising:
- a power supply part configured to apply power between the test points;
- upstream-side power supply terminals provided for the contact probes in a one-to-one correspondence and connectable to an upstream side of the power supply part;
- downstream-side power supply terminals provided for the contact probes in a one-to-one correspondence and connectable to a downstream side of the power supply part;
- a voltage detection part configured to detect a voltage between the test points;
- upstream-side voltage detection terminals provided for the contact probes in a one-to-one correspondence and connectable to an upstream side of the voltage detection part;
- downstream-side voltage detection terminals provided for the contact probes in a one-to-one correspondence and connectable to a downstream side of the voltage detection part;
- connection terminals provided for the contact probes in a one-to-one correspondence to connect the contact probes to one another;
- a selection part configured to selectively connect the contact probes to the respective terminals;
- and
- a control part configured to operate the power supply part, the voltage detection part, and the selection part to stimulate measurement processing for performing the four-terminal measurement,
- wherein
- the control part connects in series the contact probes to be connected to the upstream-side voltage detection terminals or the downstream-side voltage detection terminals, via the connection terminals, and
- the control part allows the power supply part to apply power between the test points with which the contact probes connected in series are in contact, allows the voltage detection part to detect a voltage between the test points, and makes a determination as to conductive contact states of the contact probes with the test points, based on the detected voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.