JP2010003933A - Flexible printed circuit board and method of holding the same in electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform connection of a terminal of a flexible printed circuit board by using a robot by fixing position and orientation of the flexible printed circuit board held by a holding member. <P>SOLUTION: The flexible printed circuit board 10 includes an engagement portion 24 made up of a pair of protrusions 26 which are arranged with a space, on one side out of two sides extending opposite with each other in an elongated direction. The flexible printed circuit board 10 is inserted in a slit hole or a notch prepared in the holding member, and the boundary portion of the slit or the hole of the notch is engaged between the pair of the protrusions 26 of the engagement portion 24 so that the flexible printed circuit board 10 can be held by the holding member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible printed circuit board on which a circuit is printed on a flexible film, and a method for holding the same in an electronic apparatus.

  Electronic devices often use a flexible printed circuit board in which a wiring pattern is printed on a flexible insulator film. When assembling an electronic device using such a flexible printed circuit board, a slit hole is provided in a holding member such as a sheet metal provided in the electronic device or a part of the housing, and the flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the slit hole. In general, after temporarily holding, a terminal portion provided at an end portion of the flexible printed board is connected to a connector socket provided on another printed board. Moreover, in order to make it easy to hold the terminal portion of the flexible printed board, a holder may be attached to the terminal portion of the flexible printed board (Patent Document 1).

  For example, Patent Document 1 enables holding of a flexible flat cable by engaging protrusions formed inside the holder main body with notches formed on both sides near the tip of the flexible flat cable. A cable holder is disclosed.

JP-A-9-330772

  When automating the assembly of electronic equipment using a robot, the operator inserts the flexible printed board into the slit hole of the holding member arranged in the electronic equipment, temporarily holds it, and then temporarily holds the terminals of the flexible printed board The vicinity of the part is gripped by the gripper of the robot, and this is connected to the connector part of another board. However, in the state where it is simply inserted into the slit hole of the holding member, the relative position of the flexible printed circuit board with respect to the slit hole can vary, so the length from the surface of the holding member to the terminal part of the flexible printed circuit board becomes uncertain, Can vary. For this reason, when gripping the terminal part of a flexible printed circuit board with a robot gripper and connecting it to a connector socket on another board, it is necessary to attach a vision sensor to the robot to detect the position of the terminal part of the flexible printed circuit board. It is a factor that increases the cost of manufacturing equipment.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems existing in the prior art, and to connect the terminal portions of the flexible printed circuit board using a robot while keeping the position and orientation of the flexible printed circuit board held by the holding member constant. Is to make it.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a flexible printed circuit board having a wiring pattern printed on a flexible film, the two side parts extending opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction of the flexible printed circuit board At least one of them is provided with an engaging portion made of a pair of protrusions provided at intervals, and the flexible printed circuit board is inserted into a slit hole or notch provided in the holding member to A flexible printed circuit board is provided that allows the holding member to hold the flexible printed circuit board by engaging a peripheral edge of the slit or the cutout hole between the pair of protrusions.

  The flexible printed circuit board according to the present invention has a slit hole or a notch in the periphery of the holding member between a pair of protrusions of the engaging portion provided on at least one of the two side portions extending opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction. Since the flexible printed board is held by the holding member by being engaged, the holding position in the longitudinal direction of the flexible printed board with respect to the holding member is determined. Therefore, in the state where the flexible printed circuit board is held by the holding member, the lengths of the flexible printed circuit boards protruding from the surface of the holding member can always be made equal.

  The said flexible printed circuit board WHEREIN: It is preferable that the said engaging part is each provided in both of the two side parts of the said flexible printed circuit board. In this way, if the engaging portions are provided on both of the two opposing side portions of the flexible printed circuit board, the inclination of the flexible printed circuit board in the plane including the surface of the flexible printed circuit board can always be the same. The direction of the flexible printed board held in the slit hole or notch of the holding member can always be made the same.

  Moreover, it is preferable that a dummy wiring pattern is provided inside the engaging portion of the flexible printed board.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that one of the pair of protrusions of the engaging portion has a larger protruding amount from the side portion than the other.

  In addition, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for holding a flexible printed circuit board having a wiring pattern printed on a flexible film in an electronic device, and at least one of two side portions extending opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction. A step of preparing a flexible printed circuit board having an engaging portion formed of a pair of protrusions provided at intervals, a step of providing a slit hole or a notch in a holding member provided in the electronic device, The flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the slit hole or the notch portion of the holding member, and the peripheral portion of the slit hole or the notch portion is engaged between the pair of protrusions of the engagement portion of the flexible printed circuit board. To hold the flexible printed board on the holding member.

  According to the method of the present invention, similarly to the flexible printed board, the holding member in the longitudinal direction of the flexible printed board with respect to the holding member in the electronic device is determined, and the holding member is held in the state where the flexible printed board is held by the holding member. The length of the flexible printed circuit board protruding from the surface of the substrate can always be made equal.

  It is preferable that the method further includes a step of chamfering the peripheral surface of the slit hole or the cutout portion of the holding member.

  According to the flexible printed circuit board of the present invention and the method of holding the same in the electronic device, the holding position of the flexible printed circuit board in the longitudinal direction with respect to the holding member is determined, and the terminal portion of the flexible printed circuit board held by the holding member is previously provided. Since it is arranged at a predetermined position, the position of the terminal portion of the flexible printed circuit board can be grasped without using a vision sensor. As a result, it is possible to realize at low cost that the terminal portion of the flexible printed board is connected to the connector socket of another board by the robot.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a flexible printed board according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the flexible printed board shown in FIG. 1 is mounted in an electronic device, and FIG. 3 is a flexible printed board according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a state in which the engaging portion of the flexible printed board shown in FIG. 3 is engaged with the peripheral portion of the slit hole of the holding member, FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the engaging portion surrounded by a circle in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of a modified form of the flexible printed board of the present invention.

  First, the overall configuration of the flexible printed board 10 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The flexible printed circuit board 10 is obtained by printing a wiring pattern 14 formed of a conductive foil such as a thin copper foil on one or both surfaces of a flexible insulating film 12, and for protecting the wiring pattern 14. The portions other than the terminal portions 16 on the surface are further covered with an insulating film. As the flexible insulator film 12, a thin plastic film formed of polyimide, polyester, or the like can be used. The flexible printed board 10 of the present invention includes a flexible cable used as a cable with the same configuration.

  Terminal portions 16 for connecting to other substrates are formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the flexible printed circuit board 10, and metal terminal plates 18 may be connected to the wiring pattern 14 in the terminal portions 16. In order to facilitate the gripping of the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 by the gripper 20 (FIG. 4) of a robot (not shown), there are gripping recesses on both side portions in the vicinity of at least one of the terminal portions 16 at both ends. 22 is formed.

  In addition, engaging portions 24 are provided at positions opposite to each other at intermediate portions on the two side portions extending opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction of the flexible printed circuit board 10. The engaging portion 24 is composed of a pair of protrusions 26 that protrude laterally from the side of the flexible insulating film 12 and are spaced apart from each other, and will be described later between the pair of protrusions 26. An engagement recess 28 for engaging the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 is formed. As shown in FIG. 1, the pair of protrusions 26 are preferably different in length from each other, and one protrusion amount of the pair of protrusions 26 is preferably larger than the other protrusion amount.

  If comprised in this way, the short protrusion (projection with little protrusion amount) 26a of the engaging part 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10a has relatively small resistance, and the peripheral part 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 can be easily formed. If the flexible printed circuit board 10 is inserted into the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 with the short protrusion 26a on the front side, the slit of the holding member 30 is inserted into the engaging recess 28 of the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10. The peripheral edge 34 of the hole 32 can be easily engaged. On the other hand, the long protrusion (protrusion with a large protrusion) 26b has a relatively large resistance and cannot easily get over the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30. Even if the flexible printed circuit board 10 is further inserted into the slit hole 32 from the state in which the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 is engaged with the engaging concave portion 28, the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30. And the engaging recess 28 of the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 are not easily released. Therefore, if the flexible printed circuit board 10 is inserted into the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 with a certain force with the short protrusion 26a on the front side, the peripheral portion 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 and the flexible printed circuit board can be relatively easily obtained. The engagement recesses 28 of the ten engagement portions 24 can be engaged with each other.

  Furthermore, a dummy wiring pattern 36 is provided between the engaging portion 24 and the wiring pattern 14 inside the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed board 10. The dummy wiring pattern 36 is formed of a conductive foil in the same manner as the wiring pattern 14 used as an actual wiring, but is not used as a wiring that actually transmits a signal or the like. Since such a dummy wiring pattern 36 has a higher strength than the flexible insulator film 12, it functions as a reinforcing material for the flexible insulator film 12, and a large force acts on the protrusion 26 of the engaging portion 24 to cause the protrusion. In addition to preventing the crack of the flexible insulator film 12 from reaching the inner wiring pattern 14 beyond the dummy wiring pattern 36 when the 26 is broken, the flexible insulating film 12 is flexible along the dummy wiring pattern 36. The insulating film 12 is torn and the protrusions 26 are separated from the sides of the flexible insulating film 12 to prevent the wiring pattern 14 inside the flexible insulating film 12 from being damaged. Accordingly, even when the flexible printed circuit board 10 is inserted, a large force acts on the protrusion 26 of the engaging portion 24 and the protrusion 26 is damaged, so that the function of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is not affected. be able to. This is particularly advantageous when the flexible printed circuit board 10 is handled by a robot that easily applies a large force to the work target during work.

  When the flexible printed circuit board 10 shown in FIG. 1 is assembled in the electronic device 38, as shown in FIG. 2, an operator attaches to the holding member 30 such as a sheet metal provided in the electronic device 38. The flexible printed circuit board 10 is inserted and temporarily held in the provided slit hole 32, and in this state, the robot gripper 20 holds the vicinity of the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 and is disposed in the electronic apparatus 38. In general, it is connected to a connector socket 42 of another board 40. The housing of the electronic device 38 may be used as the holding member 30.

  By the way, the slit hole 32 has a dimension slightly larger than the cross section of the flexible printed circuit board 10 so that the flexible printed circuit board 10 can be inserted. Therefore, in a state where the flexible printed board 10 is simply inserted and temporarily held in the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30, the flexible printed board 10 moves in the longitudinal direction with respect to the slit hole 32 and protrudes from the surface of the holding member 30. The length of the flexible printed circuit board 10 to be changed can vary from one flexible printed circuit board 10 to another. For this reason, when connecting the terminal part 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 to the connector socket 42 of another board | substrate 40 using a robot, the position of the terminal part 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is located using a vision sensor (not shown). It is necessary to grip the vicinity of the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 by the gripper 20 of the robot based on the detected position of the terminal section 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10.

  Therefore, in the flexible printed circuit board 10 of the present invention, the peripheral edge portion 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 is engaged with the engagement concave portion 28 between the pair of protrusions 26 of the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10. ing. As a result, the flexible printed circuit board 10 moves in the longitudinal direction with respect to the slit hole 32 by the engagement between the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 and the engaging recess 28 of the engaging part 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10. Is prevented. Further, since the flexible printed board 10 is engaged with the slit hole 32 at a predetermined position and the length of the flexible printed board 10 protruding from the surface of the holding member 30 is always equal, the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed board 10 is always the same. Is arranged at a predetermined position. Therefore, the vicinity of the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed board 10 can be gripped by the robot gripper 20 without using a vision sensor.

Next, a method for holding the flexible printed board 10 on the holding member 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.
First, one or a plurality of slit holes 32 are formed in the holding member 30 by punching or the like. Instead of the slit hole 32, a notch may be formed in the peripheral edge of the holding member 30. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the operator performs flexible printing in the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 with the short protrusion 26 a of the pair of protrusions 26 of the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 facing forward. The substrate 10 is inserted. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the worker has a short protrusion 26 a of the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 over the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32, and the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32 is The flexible printed circuit board 10 is further inserted into the slit hole 32 from the state shown in FIG. 3 until it engages with the engaging recess 28 between the pair of protrusions 26 of the engaging portion 24 (ie, in FIG. 3). The flexible printed circuit board 10 is moved upward).

  Here, since the protrusion 26a on the front side in the insertion direction is short, the peripheral portion 34 of the slit hole 32 can be overcome relatively easily, so that the peripheral portion 34 of the slit hole 32 passes through the pair of engaging portions 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10. The engaging recesses 28 between the protrusions 26 can be engaged relatively easily. On the other hand, since the protrusion 26b on the rear side in the insertion direction of the engaging part 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is long, the peripheral edge of the slit hole 32 is formed in the engaging recess 28 between the pair of protrusions 26 of the engaging part 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10. Even if the operator inserts the flexible printed circuit board 10 into the slit hole 32 with the same force after the portion 34 is engaged, the operator cannot easily get over the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32. Therefore, the engagement is not easily released.

  Further, from the state in which the engagement recess 28 of the engagement portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is engaged with the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32, the flexible printed circuit board 10 is further increased in the direction in which the flexible printed circuit board 10 is inserted into the slit hole 32. If a force is applied, the protrusion 26 of the engaging portion 24 may be damaged. However, since the dummy wiring pattern 36 having higher strength than the flexible insulator film 12 forming the protrusion 26 is provided inside the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10, when the protrusion 26 is damaged. The crack of the flexible insulating film 12 cannot exceed the dummy wiring pattern 36, and the flexible insulating film 12 is torn along the dummy wiring pattern 36, so that the protrusion 26 is formed on the flexible insulating film 12. Separated from the side. Therefore, even if the protrusion 26 is broken, the wiring pattern 14 inside the flexible insulating film 12 is not damaged, and the function of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is not affected. be able to.

  On the other hand, when the flexible printed circuit board 10 is moved in a direction opposite to the insertion direction from the state in which the engaging recess 28 of the engaging part 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 and the peripheral edge 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 are engaged, Since the protrusion 26a on the rear side of the engaging portion 24 is short, the engagement can be easily released.

  If the flexible printed circuit board 10 of the present invention is used, the flexible printed circuit board 10 is reliably held by the holding member 30 in this manner. Since the position where the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is provided is determined in advance, the engaging recess 28 of the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is connected to the peripheral portion 34 of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30. If it is in the engaged state, the length from the surface of the slit hole 32 to the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is always equal, and the position of the terminal portion 16 is arranged at a predetermined position. Therefore, without using a vision sensor, as shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to grip the grip recess 22 near the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed board 10 with the gripper 20 of the robot.

  Moreover, if the engaging part 24 is provided in the position which mutually opposes on the two side parts extended in the longitudinal direction of the flexible printed circuit board 10 like embodiment shown in figure, the slit hole 32 will be a flexible printed circuit board. The flexible printed circuit board 10 does not tilt in the lateral direction (left-right direction in FIG. 4) in the slit hole 32 even if it has a size larger than the cross section of 10, and the orientation of the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 also varies. Since it is always the same, the gripping recess 22 in the vicinity of the terminal portion 16 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 by the gripper 20 of the robot becomes easier.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, if a chamfering process such as rounding is performed on the peripheral side surface of the slit hole 32 of the holding member 30 so as to obtain a smooth surface without burrs, the slit hole It is possible to prevent the burr on the peripheral side surface of the slit hole 32 from damaging the flexible printed board 10 when the flexible printed board 10 is inserted into and removed from the 32.

  As described above, after holding the flexible printed circuit board 10 on the holding member 30, the gripper 22 holds the holding concave portion 22 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 held on the holding member 30 by the gripper 20 and holds the flexible printed circuit board. The terminal portion 16 of the board 10 is connected to the connector socket 42 of another board 40, and the flexible printed board 10 is automatically assembled in the electronic device 38. At this time, even if the robot exerts a large force on the flexible printed board 10 and forcibly pulls out the flexible printed board 10 from the holding member 30 engaged therewith, the protrusion 26 of the engaging portion 24 is damaged. Since the dummy wiring pattern 36 is provided inside the engaging portion 24, the flexible insulating film 12 is torn along the dummy wiring pattern 36, and the protrusion 26 is a side portion of the flexible insulating film 12. The wiring pattern 14 inside the flexible insulating film 12 is not damaged. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of defective products without affecting the function of the flexible printed circuit board 10.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the illustrated embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the slit member 32 that is completely surrounded is formed in the holding member 30. Instead of the slit member 32, a part of the peripheral surface is opened to the outside. A part may be provided. In this case, instead of the method of holding the flexible printed circuit board 10 as described above, a pair of protrusions of the engaging portion 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 from the peripheral surface side where the notch portion is opened (the vertical side of the drawing in FIG. 4). The flexible printed circuit board 10 can also be held by the holding member 30 by inserting the flexible printed circuit board 10 into the cutout portion so that the peripheral edge portion of the cutout portion of the holding member 30 is engaged between the holding members 30. In the illustrated embodiment, the engagement portions 24 are provided on both of the two side portions of the flexible printed circuit board 10, but as shown in FIG. 6, only one side portion is engaged. The part 24 may be provided. In this case, there is a possibility that the flexible printed circuit board 10 is inclined in the slit hole 32, but the amount of inclination can be reduced by increasing the thickness of the holding member 30, for example. Moreover, the same effect is acquired by making the surrounding side surface of the slit hole 32 of the side in which the engaging part 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 10 is not provided into T shape or L shape as FIG. 6 shows. be able to.

It is a top view of one embodiment of a flexible printed circuit board of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which mounted | wore the electronic device with the flexible printed circuit board shown by FIG. It is the schematic which shows the state which inserted the flexible printed circuit board of this invention in the slit hole of a holding member. It is the schematic which shows the state which engaged the engaging part of the flexible printed circuit board shown by FIG. 3 with the peripheral part of the slit hole of a holding member. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of an engaging portion surrounded by a circle in FIG. 4. It is a top view of the deformation | transformation form of the flexible printed circuit board of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Flexible printed circuit board 12 Insulator film 14 Wiring pattern 16 Terminal part 24 Engagement part 30 Holding member 32 Slit hole 34 Peripheral part 36 Dummy wiring pattern 40 Other board | substrate 42 Connector socket

Claims (6)

A flexible printed circuit board in which a wiring pattern is printed on a flexible film,
At least one of two side portions extending opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction of the flexible printed circuit board is provided with an engaging portion including a pair of protrusions provided at intervals, and a slit provided in the holding member The flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the hole or the notch portion, and the peripheral edge portion of the slit hole or the notch portion is engaged between the pair of protrusions of the engaging portion, whereby the flexible printed circuit board is engaged with the holding member. A flexible printed board characterized in that it can be held.   The flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the engaging portions are respectively provided on both of the two side parts of the flexible printed circuit board.   The flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein a dummy wiring pattern is provided inside the engagement portion of the flexible printed circuit board.   4. The flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1, wherein one of the pair of protrusions of the engaging portion has a larger amount of protrusion from the side portion than the other. 5. A method of holding a flexible printed circuit board having a wiring pattern printed on a flexible film in an electronic device,
Preparing a flexible printed circuit board having an engaging portion formed of a pair of protrusions provided at intervals on at least one of two side portions extending opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction;
Providing a slit hole or notch in a holding member provided in the electronic device; and
The flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the slit hole or the cutout portion of the holding member, and the peripheral portion of the slit hole or the cutout portion is engaged between the pair of protrusions of the engagement portion of the flexible printed circuit board. By holding the flexible printed circuit board on the holding member,
Including methods.   The method according to claim 5, further comprising chamfering the peripheral surface of the slit hole or the notch of the holding member.

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