Semi-Rigid Flat Cable Layout for Stable Circuit Board Connection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic devices with multiple circuit boards face complications in connecting flat cables due to their tendency to deform, leading to instability and difficulty in alignment.
Innovation Solution
The use of semi-rigid flat cables with a specific substrate and connector configuration, designed to maintain a stable shape and facilitate easy connection between circuit boards, by incorporating a laminated structure with insulator layers and signal conductors, and featuring bent portions that maintain a three-dimensional shape.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If flexible flat cables are used to connect circuit boards, then the cables can be easily bent and adapted to different arrangements, but the cables deform in unwanted directions leading to complications in connecting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flat cable with a flexible substrate that maintains its shape while allowing controlled bending. The substrate is designed as a thin film structure that provides both flexibility for adaptation and stability for reliable connection, resolving the contradiction between cable adaptability and connection ease.
2Stability of the object's composition
If flat cables are made rigid to maintain shape, then alignment stability improves, but the cables cannot be easily deformed to facilitate connection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the cable by using a semi-rigid substrate with controlled flexibility. The substrate's mechanical properties are optimized to provide shape stability during operation while allowing temporary deformation during connection, resolving the contradiction between stability and ease of operation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple flat cables are used to connect three or more circuit boards, then all boards can be connected, but the cables deform and complicate the connecting process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs a universal flat cable structure that can be used to connect any two circuit boards in various arrangements. The standardized semi-rigid cable design with consistent shape and flexibility characteristics reduces the variety of cable types needed, simplifying the overall connection system despite connecting multiple boards.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a circuit boards that have a same or substantially same shape, and flat cables that have a same or substantially same shape. The circuit boards are provided in a predetermined arrangement and are connected by the flat cables. Each of the flat cables is a semi-rigid cable, having a shape in accordance with the predetermined arrangement of the circuit boards.