Flexible PCB Tongues for LED Angular Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The assembly of medical lighting devices with LED light sources and collimator optical systems is laborious due to the need for mechanical pressure and adjustments to orient light beams, which complicates the convergence of light axes and prolongs the assembly process.
Innovation Solution
A medical lighting device design featuring a flexible printed circuit board with cut-out tongues that can be bent to align with collimator optical systems in recesses within a rigid support structure, allowing for easy orientation and locking of LEDs and optical systems using clipping, screwing, or adhesive bonding, simplifying the assembly process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If mechanical pressure is exerted by screwing to orient LED light sources on the printed circuit board, then the light beams can converge with different angular orientations towards the operative field, but the assembly operations become laborious and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The PCB is pre-cut with tongues during manufacturing before assembly. These tongues are designed with specific geometries that enable them to be bent into predetermined angular orientations. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for time-consuming mechanical adjustments during assembly, as the orientation capability is built into the PCB structure in advance
Solution Approach 2:
The PCB is segmented into multiple independent tongues, each carrying LED light sources and capable of independent bending. This segmentation allows each tongue to be oriented separately to achieve the required angular convergence of light beams, while simplifying the assembly process through modular installation rather than adjusting the entire board
2Ease of manufacture
If the printed circuit board is cut to form flexible tongues that can be bent for orientation, then assembly is simplified, but the structural complexity of the PCB increases
Solution Approach 1:
The PCB is designed with flexible tongues that can be bent to achieve different angular orientations. This flexibility is built into the PCB structure through strategic cutouts and scoring lines, allowing the tongues to be easily deformed during assembly without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms. The flexibility enables simple manual or automated bending to achieve precise orientations
Solution Approach 2:
The orientation function and the structural support function are merged into a single element - the flexible tongue on the PCB. The tongue simultaneously provides mechanical support for the LED light sources and enables angular orientation through bending, eliminating the need for separate orientation mechanisms and reducing overall system complexity
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
This design streamlines the assembly of medical lighting devices by allowing for quick and precise alignment of light sources without the need for extensive mechanical adjustments, reducing assembly time and enhancing the ease of disassembly while maintaining accurate light convergence on the operative field.
Implementation Method 1
The tongue can be deformed under bending stress about the bending axis in such a manner that its flexible free end is oriented substantially perpendicularly to the illumination axis
Data Source
AI summary
A medical lighting device for illuminating an operative field, which device includes light-emitting diode (LED) light sources that cooperate with collimator optical systems to light the operative field. LEDs are mounted on a flat printed circuit board so that their illumination axes (B) passing through the collimator optical systems (7) have different angular orientations. The printed circuit board (6) may be cut out to form tongues, each of which is flexible and has a free end carrying an LED. Each tongue can be deformed under stress in such a manner that its free end is oriented substantially perpendicularly to the illumination axis (B).