Rigid-Flex Component Carrier Layout for Asymmetric Bending
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing component carriers face challenges in providing high functionality, flexibility, and robustness while managing heat dissipation and electromagnetic interference, particularly in the context of miniaturized and powerful electronic components.
Innovation Solution
A component carrier design featuring a central rigid portion with two flexible portions extending from different vertical levels, allowing for varied bending behaviors and enabling efficient space utilization and installation, manufactured using established techniques like drilling and etching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a component carrier is made fully flexible to enable bending for installation and service purposes, then ease of operation is improved, but mechanical strength and structural stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The component carrier is divided into distinct rigid and flexible portions. The rigid portion provides structural strength and stability, while the flexible portion enables bending for installation and service access. This segmentation allows each part to fulfill its specific function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the component carrier have different mechanical properties - the rigid portion has high stiffness and strength, while the flexible portion has low stiffness and high deformability. This local differentiation of material properties enables the carrier to be strong where needed and flexible where required.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flexible portions are added to enable bending, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The component carrier is segmented into rigid and flexible portions, where the flexible portion can be bent to different angles and configurations. This segmentation provides adaptability for various installation scenarios without requiring complex mechanisms or multiple components.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible portion of the component carrier is designed to be dynamically bendable, allowing the structure to adapt its shape during installation and service. This dynamic capability is achieved through the flexible portion's material properties and geometric design rather than complex mechanical joints.
3Ease of manufacture
If the first and second flexible portions extend from the same vertical level, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but functional versatility is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The first and second flexible portions extend from different vertical levels of the rigid portion, creating an asymmetric configuration. This asymmetry enables more versatile bending patterns and spatial arrangements, allowing the component carrier to adapt to diverse installation environments while still using standard manufacturing processes.
Solution Approach 2:
By extending flexible portions from different vertical levels rather than the same level, the design adds a vertical dimension to the bending configuration. This dimensional variation enables more complex three-dimensional arrangements and improves functional versatility without significantly complicating the manufacturing process.
Data Source
AI summary
A component carrier having a stack with at least one electrically insulating layer structure and/or at least one electrically conductive layer structure, wherein the stack includes: i) a central rigid portion; ii) a first flexible portion, extending from a first side of the central rigid portion; and iii) a second flexible portion, extending from a second side of the central rigid portion. The first flexible portion extends from a first vertical level from the central rigid portion that is different from a second vertical level from which the second flexible portion extends from said central rigid portion.