Search

EP-3799537-B1 - METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING A REVERSIBLE ELECTRONIC CARD

EP3799537B1EP 3799537 B1EP3799537 B1EP 3799537B1EP-3799537-B1

Inventors

  • VANDORP, JEFFREY

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20200706

Claims (11)

  1. A method (400) for implementing an electronic card (102), the method (400) comprising: providing the electronic card (102) with a printed circuit board, PCB (301); selecting one of a first side (101) and a second side (201) of the electronic card (102) as a specified connector side on which only connection hardware (104) is to be mounted; selecting the respective other of the first side (101) and the second side (201) as a specified functional side on which functional hardware may be mounted, to provide one or more functionalities to the electronic card (102); wherein the first side (101) is located at a first x-y plane and the second side (201) is located at a second x-y plane, the first and second x-y planes being separated by a length equal to a thickness of the PCB (301); wherein the first and second x-y planes are parallel; providing a first solder ball pattern (304) on the first side (101) and a second solder ball pattern (306) on the second side (201); characterized in that the first and second solder ball patterns (304, 306) are each a symmetric pattern; the first and second solder ball patterns (304, 306) have the same x and y coordinates on their respective x-y planes; and the electronic card (102) is reversible such that a signal routed on an intermediate layer of the PCB (301) is accessible with a through via to a first pad on the first side (101) and with the through via to a second pad on the second side (201).
  2. The method (400) of claim 1, wherein providing electronic card (102) with the PCB (301) includes providing a multi-layered PCB (301).
  3. The method (400) of claim 1 or 2, wherein providing the electronic card (102) with the PCB (301) includes providing a switched mezzanine card.
  4. The method (400) of claim 3, wherein providing the providing the electronic card (102) with the PCB (301) includes providing the switched mezzanine card with a multi-layered PCB (301).
  5. The method (400) of claim1, further including designating the specified connector side as the cold side.
  6. The method (400) of claim1, further including designating the specified functional side as the hot side.
  7. The method (400) of any of claims 1 to 6, further including mounting a connector on the specified connector side.
  8. The method (400) of any of claims 1 to 7, further including encapsulating an unused solder pattern on the specified functional side.
  9. The method (400) of any of claims 1 to 8, further including making a stub of an unused solder pattern on the specified functional side shorter than a predetermined length.
  10. The method (400) of claim 2 or any preceding claim that is dependent on claim 2, further including routing the signal on a middle layer of the multi-layered PCB (301).
  11. The method (400) of claim 10, further including branching the signal using the through via to the first pad on the first side (101) and to the second pad on the second side (201).

Description

I. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to electronic cards, such as, for example and not by limitation, computer cards and switched mezzanine cards or the like. The present disclosure additionally relates to a method for implementing a reversible electronic card. II. BACKGROUND Electronic cards or computer cards are typically an assembly of electronic components that fit on a single or multi-layered PCB. An electronic card can include a connector that allows it to be mated with another carrier card (e.g., a mother board) in order to provide additional functionality to a larger system. Thermal management hardware are typically inserted between the electronic card and the carrier card to provide cooling. One issue encountered when using a typical electronic card is that it cannot be easily reused and integrated in a different product that has a different cooling strategy. An example illustrating the aforementioned issue is a VITA 42.0-compliant mezzanine card. This type of card is typically designed such that the connectors are located on the hot side of the card. The mezzanine mounts via its connectors to a carrier card, and a heatsink is designed to fit between them to conduct heat out towards the sides of the module, typically to chassis walls that transfer heat externally to cooling air. If this same mezzanine card were to be used in a different chassis that did not have the same structure (i.e., walls on both sides), the cooling strategy would be more complex and costlier to design. The ideal cooling strategy in that case might be to conduct heat from the hot side directly to the top cover of the chassis, but because the connector is fixed on the hot side, there is no mating connector to plug it in to other modules. As such, the design of typical electronic cards is inherently limiting, and it impedes re-use or versatility. EP 3 386 278 A1 relates to printed circuit boards used in lighting devices installed in automative vehicles. III. SUMMARY The embodiments featured herein help solve or mitigate the above noted issues as well as other issues known in the art. For instance, an exemplary method as described below allows a manufacturer to develop a single computer card that can be integrated into a product using different thermal management strategies. A card designer may select one side of the card as the hot side and the other side as the cold side. The printed circuit board (PCB) is then designed and routed such that all the components are allocated to one of these sides, with the exception of the board-to-board connectors. Moreover, the PCB design can support the placement of these connectors on either side of the card. The embodiments described herein feature several novel aspects in the electrical and mechanical implementation steps undertaken when designing and manufacturing a computer card, and they go beyond the steps involved in a typical computer card design or manufacturing flow. For example, and not by limitation, the embodiments feature novel signal routing methodologies, signal allocation, hole placement, and manufacturing processes that would not be employed as part of the design of a standard computer card that relies on a single thermal management approach. Two embodiments are summarized below. In one embodiment, there is provided a method for implementing an electronic card as claimed in claim 1. Additional features, modes of operations, advantages, and other aspects of various embodiments are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that the present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein. These embodiments are presented for illustrative purposes only. Additional embodiments, or modifications of the embodiments disclosed, will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings provided. IV. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Illustrative embodiments may take form in various components and arrangements of components. Illustrative embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, throughout which like reference numerals may indicate corresponding or similar parts in the various drawings. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure. Given the following enabling description of the drawings, the novel aspects of the present disclosure should become evident to a person of ordinary skill in the relevant art(s). FIG. 1 illustrates a view of an electronic card according to an embodiment.FIG. 2 illustrates a view of an electronic card according to an embodiment.FIG. 3 illustrates a view of an electronic card according to an embodiment.FIG. 4 illustrates a method according to an embodiment. V. DETAILED DESCRIPTION While the illustrative embodiments are described herein for particular applications, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art and with access