Elastic Flexible Substrate With Slit-Defined Bellows Shape
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible substrates lack expansion and contraction properties, leading to distortion when used in devices requiring regular arrangement of electronic components, such as image display devices or sensors, which limits their suitability for applications involving bending or curvature.
Innovation Solution
An elastic flexible substrate is developed with an insulating film base material and a wire, featuring a plurality of slits with a predetermined space between them, allowing the substrate to adopt a bellows shape that expands and contracts by deforming the slits when stretched, maintaining the regular arrangement of electronic devices during expansion and contraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible substrate is made thin to achieve flexibility and bendability, then the substrate can be bent and used in space-saving applications, but the substrate lacks expansion and contraction properties causing distortion when electronic components are arranged regularly
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is segmented by forming multiple slits that divide the insulating film into separated regions. These slits create independent expansion/contraction zones that allow the substrate to change size without distorting the overall arrangement of electronic components. Each slit acts as an independent element that can deform locally while maintaining global structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate transitions from a two-dimensional flat structure to a three-dimensional bellows shape by forming slits and bending the substrate between them. This dimensional change allows the substrate to expand and contract in the thickness direction while maintaining a compact form factor, enabling size adjustment without planar distortion of electronic components.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the substrate is designed to expand and contract, then the substrate can accommodate size changes up to 200% of original size, but the structural complexity increases due to the need for slits and bellows shape
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate utilizes the natural flexibility of thin film materials to achieve expansion and contraction without adding complex mechanical structures. The insulating film itself serves as the flexible element, and the slits are simple openings rather than complex joints or hinges. This approach achieves large size changes (up to 200%) while keeping the structure relatively simple and manufacturable.
3Stability of the object's composition
If slits are provided in the insulating film base material to enable expansion and contraction, then the substrate can deform without distorting electronic components, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is simplified by segmenting the substrate into regions separated by slits. This segmentation allows each region to be processed independently and facilitates the formation of the bellows shape through simple bending operations. The slits can be formed using standard fabrication techniques, and the subsequent bending to create the bellows shape is a straightforward mechanical operation that does not require complex assembly steps.
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
The substrate achieves high degrees of expansion and contraction (up to 200% of its original size) while maintaining the regular arrangement of electronic devices, enhancing the substrate's performance and simplifying design and manufacturing, thus improving flexibility and usability.
Implementation Method 1
the slits are deformed when the insulating film base material is stretched
Data Source
AI summary
An elastic flexible substrate including an insulating film base material provided with a wire is provided. In the insulating film base material, a plurality of slits are provided with a predetermined space left therebetween, the insulating film base material has a bellows shape in which the insulating film base material is bent or curved by using the slits as base points, and the slits are deformed when the insulating film base material is stretched.