Electrically conductive film
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrically conductive films and structures, such as flat ribbon cables, lack sufficient mechanical strength and deformability, making them unsuitable for various applications, and their manufacturing often involves harmful substances like etching processes.
Innovation Solution
An electrically conductive film with a metal layer structured by material removal, featuring strip conductors with bent sections and varying widths, integrated with an elastic substrate and cover layer, allowing for complex patterns and reduced material usage without toxic etching processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If etching processes are used to create electrically conductive structures, then complex structural patterns can be produced, but harmful or toxic substances are produced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the chemical etching process with a mechanical machining process. The metal layer is structured by mechanically removing material using a cutting tool that moves along the metal layer to create strip conductors with bent sections, eliminating the need for harmful chemical etchants while achieving the desired complex structural patterns
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of the structuring process from chemical to mechanical. By using a physical cutting mechanism instead of chemical etching, the process achieves the same structural complexity without producing toxic byproducts, fundamentally altering the process parameters to eliminate environmental harm
2Object-generated harmful factors
If material removal process is used to structure the metal layer, then harmful substances are eliminated, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the manufacturing process into distinct stages: providing a laminate with metal layer, structuring the metal layer by material removal to create strip conductors, and optionally adding a cover layer. This segmentation allows each step to be optimized independently, making the overall process manageable despite the complexity of material removal
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the process parameter from chemical etching to mechanical machining, which eliminates harmful substances. While this introduces manufacturing complexity, the use of standard machining equipment and processes makes the complexity manageable and acceptable given the environmental benefits
3Ease of manufacture
If known electrically conductive films are used, then manufacturing is simplified, but mechanical strength and deformability are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite laminate structure consisting of a metal layer bonded to a substrate layer. This composite construction provides both the electrical conductivity of the metal layer and the mechanical strength and deformability of the substrate layer, overcoming the limitations of simple conductive films while maintaining ease of manufacture through laminated construction
4Strength
If flat ribbon cables are used, then mechanical strength is improved, but electrically conductive structural pattern is lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the metal layer into multiple strip conductors with specific patterns including bent sections, corners, and varying widths. This segmentation provides the electrical conductive structural pattern needed for various applications while maintaining the mechanical strength of the laminated construction, making the film adaptable to different electrical and mechanical requirements
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an electrically conductive film (10) having an electrically nonconductive substrate layer (12), and an electrically conductive metal layer (14) that has a structure produced by material removal and that on a first side is joined, at least in sections, to the substrate layer (12).