Flexible PCB Socket Insert for Reliable Medical Power Connections
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical connection devices for medical instruments and other components face challenges in safely transmitting power and signals while being difficult to produce using modern methods with minimal effort.
Innovation Solution
A socket arrangement featuring a socket housing with a socket insert made of folded insulating material, which includes electrical conductors and contact elements, allowing for flexible bending points and multiple conductor levels to enable robust electrical connections and additional functions like plug detection and NFC integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional sockets with movable components are used to allow device closure, then the socket can flatten when the laptop is closed, but the structure becomes complex and difficult to manufacture with minimal effort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) as the socket structure, which is a thin, flexible insulating material that can bend and flatten without requiring complex movable components. The FPC allows the socket to adapt to closed device positions while maintaining electrical connections, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The socket is designed with dynamic flexibility through the FPC material, allowing it to transition between flat and bent states as the device opens and closes. This dynamic capability is achieved through material properties rather than complex mechanical mechanisms, reducing overall device complexity.
2Reliability
If reliable electrical power and signal transmission is achieved for medical instruments, then connection reliability is improved, but manufacturing effort and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines power transmission and signal transmission functions into a single integrated FPC socket structure. Multiple conductors are embedded within the flexible circuit board, allowing reliable electrical connections to be achieved without separate components or complex assembly processes, thus improving reliability while maintaining ease of manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The socket uses composite construction with an insulating FPC material containing embedded conductors. This composite structure provides both electrical connectivity and insulation in a single manufactured component, achieving reliable power and signal transmission without increasing manufacturing complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple conductor planes are used to provide different electrical functions, then functionality and versatility are improved, but the insulating material complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements multiple conductor planes stacked in different layers within the FPC structure. By utilizing the third dimension (depth/layers) rather than spreading conductors across a larger surface area, the design achieves multiple electrical functions while maintaining a compact form factor and manageable manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The FPC socket is designed to handle multiple electrical functions (power, signal, data) through its multi-layer conductor structure. The same insulating material and basic socket design accommodate various electrical requirements, achieving versatility without proportionally increasing complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
The socket arrangement according to the invention comprises a socket housing (12) and a socket insert (22) arranged therein, which is preferably made of a multilayer printed circuit board. The socket insert (22) contains opposing contact elements (37, 38), each of which is held by the printed circuit board material. The mechanical forces acting on the contact elements (37, 38) when a plug connector is inserted are transmitted via the printed circuit board material to the housing parts (13, 14) and absorbed by them.With this concept according to the invention, it is possible to provide very reliable socket arrangements in a very simple way, which, in addition to their actual function of electrically connecting a medical instrument to a power supply device, can perform other functions, such as protective functions or control functions, for example, to ensure the correct insertion of plugs or information technology communication with them via contacts or NFC chips or the like.