Flexible Substrate LED Keyboard for Thinner Profile
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional light emitting keyboard designs using LED boards with expensive curing-resin materials face challenges in thinning and cost due to the rigidity and high manufacturing costs of these boards.
Innovation Solution
A light emitting keyboard design featuring a flexible substrate with silver-paste circuit layers on both surfaces, via pillars for electrical connection, and a copper layer for signal transmission, allowing for thinner and more cost-effective construction while maintaining illumination functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If LED board is made of curing-resin material to improve manufacturing yield, then manufacturing reliability is improved, but board thickness cannot be reduced and manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional rigid curing-resin LED board with a flexible substrate that can be made extremely thin. The flexible substrate supports the LED chips and circuit traces while enabling thinning of the overall keyboard structure. This principle directly resolves the contradiction by allowing the board to be thin yet maintain manufacturing reliability through the flexible material properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite structure combining flexible substrate material with LED chips and conductive layers. This composite approach allows the board to achieve both thinness and manufacturing reliability by integrating multiple materials with complementary properties - the flexible substrate provides thinness and flexibility, while the integrated LED chips and circuits provide functional reliability.
2Reliability
If LED board is made of curing-resin material to improve manufacturing yield, then manufacturing reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible substrate replaces expensive curing-resin material, reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining production reliability. The flexible material is more cost-effective and allows for simpler manufacturing processes compared to rigid curing-resin boards, directly addressing the cost issue while preserving manufacturing yield.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a cost-effective flexible substrate that can be manufactured at lower cost than conventional curing-resin LED boards. This approach prioritizes economic efficiency while maintaining sufficient manufacturing reliability for the application, using more affordable materials and processes.
3Illumination intensity
If conventional LED board design is used, then illumination function is achieved, but keyboard thickness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible substrate enables the LED board to be extremely thin while maintaining full illumination functionality. The flexible material can be made much thinner than rigid curing-resin boards, allowing the keyboard to achieve a thin profile without compromising the light-emitting capability of the LED chips mounted on the flexible substrate.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a rigid three-dimensional board structure to a thin, flexible two-dimensional structure. This dimensional change allows the LED board to maintain its illumination function while reducing thickness dramatically, as the flexible substrate can be laid flat and conform to thin keyboard designs.
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 design achieves a thinner and more cost-effective light emitting keyboard by utilizing flexible substrates and copper layers for signal transmission, reducing material costs and enabling various illumination effects without increasing board thickness.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of multiple-light emitting diodes, each corresponds to the plurality of keyswitches respectively for generating light
Implementation Method 2
a copper layer... plated on the first silver-paste circuit layer and the second silver-paste circuit layer
Data Source
AI summary
A light emitting keyboard includes a bottom board, keyswitches, and a lighting board. The lighting board is disposed between the bottom board and the keyswitches or under the bottom board and includes a flexible substrate having a first hole, multiple-light emitting diodes corresponding to the keyswitches, first and second silver-paste circuit layers formed on upper and lower surfaces of the flexible substrate respectively, a via pillar formed in the first hole to be coupled to the first and second silver-paste circuit layers, a copper layer plated on the first and second silver-paste circuit layers, and a first protection layer coated on the copper layer and having second holes. Each multiple-light emitting diode is disposed on the copper layer plated on the first silver-paste circuit layer through the corresponding second hole to be coupled to the first silver-paste circuit layer.