Board Assembly Cable Interconnection Automation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for connecting cables to circuit boards, particularly for high-speed data transmission, face challenges in automation and reliability due to the difficulty in soldering inner conductors and the lack of shielding, leading to limitations in process reliability and electrical symmetry.
Innovation Solution
A cable assembly and board assembly configuration with stacked layers, including a dielectric intermediate layer and conductive outer layers, allows for efficient and automated connection of inner and outer conductors, providing a recessed space for cable insertion and optimized RF connections with minimal impedance mismatch, and includes a cable-collecting and aligning device for precise alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If inner conductors of cables are soldered to corresponding contact pads on circuit boards using conventional methods, then electrical connection is achieved, but the process becomes difficult to automate and process reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a specialized connector as an intermediary component between the cable and circuit board. This connector includes a housing with a cable-receiving space and contact elements that facilitate automated insertion and soldering. The connector acts as a mediator that simplifies the connection process, enabling automation while maintaining reliability through standardized interfaces and precise positioning features.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention divides the connection system into separate functional modules: the cable assembly, the connector with housing and contact elements, and the circuit board. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and facilitates automated assembly processes. The connector housing is separated into distinct functional zones including the cable-receiving space, contact element mounting areas, and mounting features for securing to the circuit board.
2Device complexity
If inner conductors are disposed without shielding, then device complexity is reduced, but electrical symmetry and signal quality deteriorate at high data rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements shielding by nesting conductive elements within the connector housing structure. The housing itself can serve as a shield, and additional conductive shielding elements can be positioned around the inner conductors within the cable-receiving space. This nested arrangement provides electrical symmetry and signal protection without significantly increasing external device complexity, as the shielding is integrated into the existing connector architecture.
3Ease of operation
If connectors are angled 90° for PCB connection, then cable routing parallel to circuit board is enabled, but manufacturing precision and electrical symmetry of conductor spacing are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The connector design incorporates flexible positioning features and adjustable mounting orientations. The housing includes mounting features that can accommodate different angles and positions on the circuit board, allowing optimization of conductor spacing symmetry while maintaining cable routing flexibility. The cable-receiving space is designed to accommodate cable entry at various angles, and the contact elements can be positioned to maintain electrical symmetry regardless of the connector's orientation on the board.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient, automated, and cost-effective high-speed data interconnections with improved electrical properties and shielding, addressing the limitations of prior art by allowing for precise alignment and secure soldering of cables to circuit boards.
Implementation Method 1
the intermediate layer including a dielectric material
Implementation Method 2
The inner conductor of the at least one first cable is electrically conductively soldered via a first soldered inner-conductor connection to a first inner-conductor connection region of at least one of the first and second outer layers
Data Source
AI summary
An interconnection includes a cable assembly and a board assembly. The cable assembly includes a cable having an inner conductor. The board assembly comprises an intermediate layer disposed between first and second outer layers, a recess disposed between the first and second outer layers so as to form a cable-receiving space at a first side edge, and a first inner-conductor contact opening extending through at least one of the first and second outer layers and opening into the cable-receiving space. The inner conductor is inserted at the first side edge into the cable-receiving space and is disposed at an offset in a longitudinal direction relative to the first inner-conductor contact opening. The inner conductor is electrically conductively soldered via a first soldered inner-conductor connection to a first inner-conductor connection region of the first and/or second outer layers, at least in a region of the first inner-conductor contact opening.