FPC Connector Design for Thin Multi-Interface Touch Screens
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional welded-type flexible printed circuits (FPCs) in touch-sensitive screens and LCD displays face limitations such as high PIN distance, preventing multiple interfaces from coexisting, leading to damage during welding, non-reusability, and increased waste, which hinders the development of thinner, more functional devices.
Innovation Solution
An FPC connector design featuring multiple insulating and circuit layers with conductive strips, vias, and a reinforcing plate, allowing for high routing density, flexibility, and easy insertion onto a mainboard without welding, enhancing strength and reusability through thermosetting adhesive and hot pressing bonding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If welded-type FPC is used, then connection strength is improved, but interface damage and non-reusability occur
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into separate parts: the FPC connector body with conductive strips and the corresponding socket on the mainboard. This segmentation allows the FPC connector to be easily detached and replaced without damaging the mainboard interface, solving the reusability problem while maintaining connection strength through the designed contact structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection method is changed from welding (permanent) to insertion (reversible). The conductive strips are designed with specific dimensional parameters (width, thickness, contact area) that enable reliable electrical connection through simple insertion, eliminating the need for welding and enabling reuse.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple interfaces are integrated, then device functionality is improved, but interface damage during welding increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple independent interfaces are integrated into a single FPC connector body, with each interface having its own conductive strips and contact points. This segmentation allows multiple interfaces to coexist without interfering with each other during the insertion process, eliminating welding-related damage while maintaining versatility.
3Length of moving object
If FPC is made thinner for miniaturization, then device thinning is achieved, but routing density increases complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The connector utilizes a planar structure with conductive strips arranged in specific patterns on the FPC surface. By optimizing the two-dimensional layout of conductive strips and utilizing the third dimension for contact depth, high routing density is achieved within a thin profile, resolving the contradiction between thinness and routing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An FPC connector includes a first insulating layer, a first circuit layer, a second insulating layer, a third insulating layer, and a second circuit layer. The first circuit layer is arranged between the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer. The first circuit layer includes a number of conductive strips. The third insulating layer is arranged between the first insulating layer and the first circuit layer. The second circuit layer includes a number of conductive strips provided on an upper side of the third insulating layer. Ends of the conductive strips of the second circuit layer pass through the third insulating layer and are correspondingly connected to the conductive strips of the first circuit layer. The first circuit layer and the second insulating layer each has a forepart extending beyond a front end of each of the first insulating layer, the third insulating layer, and the second circuit layer.