Wrapped Flexible PCB Connector for Creepage and Water Ingress
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical connectors for medical devices are susceptible to water ingress and contamination, and they struggle to achieve appropriate creepage and air clearances, leading to large and heavy connectors. Additionally, the flat surfaces of these connectors make it difficult to protect against accidental contact with non-flat surfaces.
Innovation Solution
The development of an electrical connector featuring a rigid base with fingers and walls that provide increased creepage distances and air clearances, along with a flexible circuit board that is wrapped around the fingers, allowing for compact form factor while maintaining safety requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional flat electrical connector design is used, then manufacturing is simple, but creepage distance and air clearance requirements cannot be met, compromising electrical isolation safety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by wrapping the flexible circuit board around a cylindrical form, transforming the flat connector into a three-dimensional curved structure. This curvature enables the circuit board to achieve the required creepage distance and air clearance between conductive elements while maintaining a compact overall form factor, directly resolving the electrical isolation safety requirement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a two-dimensional flat connector design to a three-dimensional wrapped structure. By adding the dimensional aspect of wrapping around a cylinder, the design achieves greater spatial separation between conductive elements, thereby meeting creepage and air clearance requirements without proportionally increasing the connector's external dimensions.
2Reliability
If creepage distance and air clearance are increased to meet safety standards, then electrical isolation is improved, but connector size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The curved wrapped structure allows the connector to achieve increased creepage distance and air clearance within a compact volume. The three-dimensional arrangement of conductive elements along the curved path provides greater electrical isolation without requiring a proportional increase in the connector's linear dimensions, thereby avoiding excessive weight increase.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible circuit board is wrapped around a central cylindrical form, nesting the conductive elements within a compact three-dimensional structure. This nesting arrangement achieves the required electrical isolation distances while keeping the overall connector size and weight manageable.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If flat connector surfaces are used, then manufacturing is easier, but protection against accidental contact with non-flat surfaces is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The curved wrapped structure naturally resists accidental contact with non-flat surfaces such as sharp edges or protrusions. The cylindrical geometry distributes contact forces more evenly and prevents concentrated stress points that could compromise electrical isolation, thereby improving protection against harmful factors while the wrapping process remains manufacturable.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible circuit board acts as a thin film that can conform to the cylindrical form, creating a protective curved structure. This flexible film approach maintains ease of manufacture through standard flexible PCB fabrication and wrapping processes while achieving the protective geometry needed to resist accidental contact with non-flat surfaces.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3A~3B
Figure 4A~4B
AI summary
An electrical connector having a main support with a front and back, top and bottom, and left and right opposite the left. Fingers extend forwardly from the front of the main support to a tip. The fingers each have a top and bottom and are arranged from left to right of the main support with gaps defined between them. A flexible circuit board has inner and outer surfaces with electrical leads on the outer surface. Openings are defined through the flexible circuit board between the electrical leads. The flexible circuit board is wrapped around the fingers such that the outer surface of the flexible circuit board is supported on both the top and the bottom of the fingers and the openings in the flexible circuit board are aligned with the gaps between the fingers.