JP3212032B2 - Flexible substrate holding structure and electronic device having the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device having a hinge, and more particularly, to a structure for holding a flexible substrate at a hinge portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art To electrically connect a pair of operating parts having a hinge in a conventional electronic device, Japanese Patent Application No. 6-25 / 1993.
There is one having a structure disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3589. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional structure, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are cross-sectional views. The flexible substrate 4 for making electrical connection via the hinge cavity of the housing performing the rotational movement is connected to the flexible substrate base 4a passing through the hinge cavity, the display-side operation unit 1 and the keyboard-side operation unit 2, respectively. Connection part.

[0003] Referring to the cross-sectional view of FIG. 7, the flexible substrate base 4a passing through the hinge cavity is set to the width of the hinge cavity, or the flexible substrate base 4a is folded or rolled to form a housing cavity. The structure is such that it does not interfere with the inner surface of the hinge rotating part by keeping it within the diameter of the part. As shown in FIG. 8, the flexible substrate 4 is held by laying or sandwiching a sponge 7 or the like on the inner surface of the hinge housing away from the hinge rotating portion, or holding the sponge 7 so that no external force is applied to the bent portion of the flexible substrate 4. The structure had no parts.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional structure, the flexible substrate 4 is preliminarily placed in consideration of the repulsive force opposing the bending of the flexible substrate 4 with emphasis placed on fitting the flexible substrate base 4a in the hinge cavity. 4 was sharply bent, or was bent with a gentle curve that would interfere with the hinge cavity in order to avoid sharp bends. Therefore, it has the following problem. First, since a structure for securely holding the flexible substrate 4 with respect to the center of rotation of the hinge cavity of the housing cannot be taken, the flexible substrate base 4a cannot suppress the movement in the hinge cavity due to the rotational movement of the hinge 6. In addition, a stress caused by repeated movement was applied to the bent portion by interfering with the inner surface of the hinge cavity, and the flexible substrate wiring was cut or cracked.

Further, in the conventional holding structure, there is a problem that when the casing is opened and closed, the flexible board 4 interferes with the inner surface of the hinge cavity or the casing, thereby generating abnormal noise. An object of the present invention is to provide a structure for holding a flexible substrate, thereby reducing the stress applied to the flexible substrate due to the rotational movement of the hinge, and suppressing the occurrence of cutting and cracking.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in an electronic device having a hinge portion and a pair of operating portions, a flexible substrate holding structure includes: a flexible substrate base portion passing through a hinge cavity; A flexible board including a first flexible board connection section connected to the operation section and a second flexible board connection section connected to the keyboard-side operation section, and a state in which the flexible board base is parallel to the hinge rotation axis and bent. A holding shaft that holds the holding shaft and suppresses the operation of the flexible substrate, and a storage portion that stores the holding shaft in parallel with the hinge rotation axis in the hinge cavity, and also holds the rotation of the hinge portion. Stress applied to the bent portion of the flexible substrate by rotating while maintaining the bent shape of the flexible substrate It is characterized in that to reduce.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. This embodiment is an electronic device having a hinge 6 and comprising a pair of operation units, and is constituted by a display-side operation unit and a keyboard-side operation unit like a word processor, an electronic organizer or an electronic dictionary. Each of these operation units has a configuration that can be opened and closed by a rotation shaft centered on a hinge. The display-side operation unit 1 and the keyboard-side operation unit 2 are also electrically connected by a flexible substrate 4. The dashed line portion in FIG. 1 is a see-through expression of the holding structure of the flexible substrate 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section taken along the cross-section indication line AA shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows a cross section cut along the cross section indicating line BB shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows that the flexible board 4 has a flexible board base 4a, a flexible board connecting section 4b and a flexible board connecting section 4c , and a connecting section 4 for connecting each of them.
d and 4e .

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an enlarged view and a sectional view. First, the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the enlarged view of FIG. In the enlarged view, a flexible substrate 4 for electrically connecting a pair of operation units is provided.
2 shows the arrangement of a storage section 5 provided on one hinge section 6 of the operation section and a holding shaft 3 for fixing the flexible substrate 4 to the storage section 5.

The hinge portion 6 is provided on the flexible substrate base portion 4.
a through which a flexible board connecting portion 4b connected to the display side operating portion 1 and a flexible board connecting portion 4c connected to the keyboard side operating portion 2 via the flexible board base portion 4a. Connected. The holding shaft 3 is characterized in that the flexible board base 4a can be held in a bent state and the flexible board base 4a can be fixed to the storage section 5.

The arrangement of the storage section 5 must be provided in any one of the paired operation sections. In addition, storage section 5
A flexible substrate base 4a is fixed to a hollow portion of a hinge portion 6 of the display operation section 1 substantially parallel to a hinge rotation axis of the display-side operation section 1, and the flexible substrate base 4a is rotated when the hinge is rotated. In order to reduce the stress applied to the bending of the flexible substrate, the flexible substrate base portion 4a formed by bending is housed and securely fixed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the casing forming the display-side drive unit 1, showing the relationship between the flexible shaft base 4 a formed and bent on the holding shaft 3 and the shape accommodated in the housing 5. Here, the conditions relating to the shapes of the flexible substrate 4, the holding shaft 3, and the storage section 5 and the fixing method thereof will be described.

First, the shape of each member will be described. FIG.
The holding shaft 3 shown in (1) is required to have a shape that can be fixed to the storage portion 5, and thus is shown with a shape in which R is added to each square corner. However, the cross-sectional shape in contact with the flexible substrate base portion 4a is Since the holding shaft 3 is intended to maintain the bending of the flexible substrate base 4a, the flexible substrate base 4a is used to reduce the stress caused by the bending of the flexible substrate base 4a.
The cross-sectional shape may be circular if the bent portion has a larger R and can be securely fixed to the storage portion 5.

The shape of the storage part 5 is such that it surrounds the holding shaft 3 from the inner surface of the hinge part 6 like a bathtub, and the surface facing the fixing shaft 3 is opposite to the inner surface of the hinge part 6. It is desirable to have a rib configuration that rises vertically. In addition, the holding shaft 3 and the flexible substrate base 4
When a is press-fitted, the surface facing the holding shaft 3 may be tapered. Further, the ribs constituting the storage section 5 may have a guide function for positioning the flexible substrate base 4a.

The dimensions of the ribs forming the storage portion 5 are such that no gap is formed when the flexible substrate base portion 4a disposed on the outer periphery of the holding shaft 3 is inserted into the bent shape of the flexible substrate base portion 4a. Next, conditions relating to a method of fixing the flexible substrate 4, the holding shaft 3, and the storage section 5 will be described.

The holding shaft 3 and the storage portion 5 are provided on the flexible substrate base 4 to reduce the stress applied to the bent portion of the flexible substrate base 4a by the rotation of the hinge.
It must have a feature to securely fix a to the storage section 5. Therefore, as a method of fixing the flexible substrate 4, the flexible substrate 4 is securely fixed to the holding shaft 3 by bending and forming the flexible substrate base portion 4 a around the holding shaft 3 by attaching it to the holding shaft 3 by a method such as bonding. A substrate module can be formed. As a method of fixing the bending R of the flexible substrate base 4a without being affected by the rotation of the hinge, after the flexible substrate base 4a is positioned with respect to the storage section 5, the holding shaft 3 is moved to the storage section 5. A means for holding and fixing to the hinge portion of the display-side drive unit 2 by press-fitting or the like may be adopted.

FIG. 4 shows that, according to the present invention, the flexible substrate base 4a does not interfere with the cavity of the hinge 6 which is attached to the keyboard-side operation unit 2 so that the display-side operation unit 1 can rotate. Flexible substrate base 4a
Is shown to pass through. Usually, stress is applied to the wiring pattern of the flexible substrate due to repeated bending applied to the flexible substrate, and the wiring pattern on the flexible substrate is cut or cracked. It has been reported that the rate of occurrence of this cutting or cracking increases as the bending R becomes smaller and the number of times of bending increases, and the results of the reliability evaluation by a flexible substrate manufacturer show the notation of the bending R and the number of times of bending. Have been.

Referring to FIG. 4 in consideration of these phenomena, the flexible substrate 4 is bent and formed according to the shape of the holding shaft 3. The minimum R portion of the bending generated by this bending is fixed inside the storage portion 5 arranged in the hinge portion 6 and receives direct stress from the rotational movement by the keyboard side operation portion 2 and the display side drive portion 1. There is no structure.

[0019]

The present invention is embodied in the form described above, and has the following effects. The holding shaft, which holds the bent state through the hinge cavity and can maintain the bent state of the flexible substrate 4 even when an external force is applied, and the storage portion 5 arranged in the hinge portion, store the holding shaft almost parallel to the hinge rotation axis. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the stress applied to the bent portion of the flexible substrate 4 while maintaining the bent shape of the flexible substrate 4 even when the hinge 6 rotates, and to fix the flexible substrate base 4a. Since the hinge is rotated in a state where the holding shaft is held and fixed by a housing that is housed substantially parallel to the hinge rotation axis, the flexible substrate base portion 4a does not interfere with the inner surface of the hinge cavity. In addition, since the housing has the storage section 5, there is no need for alignment during product assembly, and the efficiency of the process is increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a cross section cut along the cross-sectional indication line AA shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 shows a cross section cut along the cross-sectional indication line BB shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a configuration of a flexible substrate 4;

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the prior art.

FIG. 7 shows a sectional view AA of the prior art.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view BB of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display side drive part 2 Keyboard side operation part 3 Holding axis 4 Flexible board 4a Flexible board base part 4b Flexible board connection part 4c Flexible board connection part 5 Storage part 6 Hinge part 7 Sponge

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H05K 7/14 G06F 15/02 301

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. Passing through a hinge portion and being connected by the hinge portion
Has been electrically connected to a pair of operation portions consisting of the display-side operation unit keyboard side operation section, housed et Re in the hinge portion
And the flexible board base portion to be retained, the pair of operation
First and second flexible bases respectively connected to the parts
The board connecting portion and the flexible substrate base portion are different from each other.
Extending from the position where the hinge rotates.
Extending in the direction of contact with the first and second flexible substrates.
First and second extension portions respectively connected to the connection portion
Flexible substrate is provided in the cavity of the hinge portion.
And the first extension portion holds the first extension portion.
That is, the portion near the fixing portion is bent against rotation of the hinge portion.
Bending in the rotation direction so that it can rotate while maintaining the bending state
And the fixed portion of the second extending portion.
The part near the fixed part is opposite to the bending direction of the first extension part
Direction and the bending portion is added to the rotation of the hinge portion.
Around the fixing part so as to reduce the stress
The flexible base configured in a winding shape around the rotation direction.
In the holding structure of the flexible substrate for holding the plate, the fixing portion, and the coercive <br/> lifting shaft for holding the flexible substrate base portion in parallel and while being bent and the rotation axis of the hinge portion, the holding a shaft comprising a housing part for parallel housed with respect to the rotation axis of the hinge, is configured to fix by clamping by adhesion or press fitting the flexible substrate base portion between said holding shaft and said housing portion holding structure of the flexible substrate, characterized in that that. 2. An electronic apparatus comprising the flexible substrate holding structure according to claim 1.