High volume low cost products are extremely sensitive to the cost of parts and the ease with which their constituent assemblies can be fabricated. Small toroidal inductors can be difficult to mount on printed circuit boards, owing to the toroidal shape and small wire size (too weak to hold the part in place during shock or vibration). Furthermore, fine wire gauges are often difficult to insert into the mounting holes of a printed circuit board.
Conventional solutions to the problems of mounting small toroidal inductors include gluing the toroid to the printed circuit board and affixing the toroid to a plastic carrier, or "boat", that has stiff leads of its own. Also included are various forms of staking the toroid to the board. These conventional solutions raise the cost of assemblies that use small toroidal inductors.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds