Integrated FPC Circuit Board Layout for Connector Area Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing circuit board designs for electronic devices face challenges with area utilization and hardware costs due to the large space occupied by connection positions and the limited pin capacity of connectors, which restricts the complexity and compatibility of circuit modules, especially when handling OLED screens and multiple signal protocols.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves rearranging circuit modules on a circuit board by moving components like screen power chips, speaker power amplifiers, and charging protocol chips from the main board to the sub-board, optimizing signal input terminals, and combining FPCs to reduce the number of connectors and pins required, thereby increasing the complexity of circuit modules that can be carried by the main board.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If two separate FPCs (screen FPC and main-subboard FPC) are used to connect different components, then the connectivity and functionality are ensured, but the area occupied by connection positions on the main board increases and hardware costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the screen FPC and main-subboard FPC into a single integrated FPC that connects both the screen and the sub-board to the main board through one connection position. This merging reduces the number of connectors from two to one, thereby reducing the area occupied on the main board while maintaining all necessary connectivity functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated FPC serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as both the screen FPC for connecting the display and the main-subboard FPC for connecting peripheral components. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate dedicated connectors, reducing overall connector count and board area usage.
2Reliability
If two separate FPCs and two connection positions are used, then all necessary connections are established, but hardware costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
By merging two separate FPC assemblies into one integrated FPC, the patent reduces the total quantity of FPC components and connectors required. This directly reduces hardware material costs and assembly costs, while the integrated design ensures all connection functionalities are preserved through a unified connection interface.
3Productivity
If circuit modules are placed on the main board, then the main board can directly provide signals, but the area occupied on the main board increases and limits the complexity of other circuit modules
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts certain circuit modules (such as power management functions) from the main board and relocates them to the sub-board. This extraction frees up valuable area on the main board for other critical components while the sub-board, connected via the integrated FPC, continues to provide necessary signal functions, thereby increasing the overall complexity and capability of the circuit board system.
Data Source
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AI summary
This application provides a circuit board and an electronic device. A screen flexible circuit board (flexible printed circuit, FPC) is combined with a main and sub-board FPC, so that two board to board (board to board, BTB) connectors on a main board are combined into one, thereby reducing the area on the main board occupied by the BTB connectors, saving the area on the main board, and improving the area utilization of the main board. In addition, quantities of FPCs and main board BTB connectors are reduced, so that hardware costs are reduced. Further, in this solution, circuit module layouts of the main board and the sub-board are optimized to move some circuit modules on the main board to the sub-board, and combination and optimization are further performed for input signals of the circuit modules to reduce a quantity of signals of the circuit modules passing through the main board BTB connector, so that the main board BTB connector can carry signals of an increasing quantity of more complex circuit modules, thereby enabling the sub-board to an increasing quantity of more complex circuit modules.