KR20010098079A - Electrofluidic multilayer printed circuit board - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electromagnetic fluid integrated printed circuit board, comprising: a fluid circuit panel having various fluid circuits such as fluid transfer and branch points; An upper printed circuit board in close contact with an upper portion of the fluid circuit panel and having a plurality of communication holes communicating with the fluid circuit; And a lower printed circuit board bonded to the lower part of the fluid circuit panel. In such a fluid electronic integrated printed circuit board, fluid flows to the inner layer of the substrate to form a fluid circuit, and electrons flow to the surface of the substrate to form an electronic circuit. Electronic components and fluid parts are mounted on the surface of the substrate at the same time, and each electronic part is used as a path through which lead wires protrude and electrons move, and the fluid parts are used as paths through which tubes and tubes protrude as well as lead wires.

By employing a fluid-electronic integrated printed circuit board having such a structure, a device for electrically controlling the flow of fluid can be produced in a small size and at a low price.

Description

Electrofluidic multilayer printed circuit board {Electrofluidic multilayer printed circuit board}

Reference patents and licenses

Patent

Korean Patent

10-1997-033869 , Son Mun- tak

10-1997-033870 , Son Mun- tak

1998-017565, Son Moon Tak

United States Patent

5,879,738 March., 1999 McKinnon et al.

5,640,995 June, 1997 Packard et al.

5,964,239 Oct, 1999 Loux et al.

5,989,445 Nov, 1999 Wise et al.

European patent

P19960907859, Jan, 1996, Packard et al.

WO 9846438, Oct, 1998, CALIPER TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

WO 9822811, May, 1998, CALIPER TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

WO 9116966, Jan, 1991, PHARMACIA BIOSENSOR AB

literature

[1] J. Ruzicka, Flow Injection Analysis - From test tube to integrated microconduits, Analytical Chemistry, 55 (1983),, 1040A-1053A

[2] E. Steme and G. Stemme, A novel piezoelectric valve-less fluid pump, Technical digest of Transducers, 1993, 110-113

[3] S. Shoji, S. Nakagawa and M. Esashi, Micropump and sample-injector for integrated chemical analyzing systems,Sensors and Actuators,A21-A23 (1990), 189-192

[4] CF Coombs, Printed Circuits Handbook, McGraw Hill, 1995

[5] A. Manz, N. Graber and M. Widmenr, Miniaturized total chemical analysis systems: a novel concept for chemical sensing, Sensors and Actuators, B1 , pp244-248, 1990

[6] B.H. van der Schoot, A. Jeanneretm, van der Berg and N.F. de Rooji, Modular setup for a miniature chemical analysis system, Sensors and Actuators, Vol. B6, pp 57-60,1992

[7] J. Ruzicka and E.H. Hansen, Integrated microconduits for flow injection analysis, Analytical Chimica Acta,Vol. 161, pp 1-25, 1984

The present invention forms an integrated electrofluidic printed circuit board by using a multilayer printed circuit board technology, mounts various fluid control components on the integrated printed circuit board, and then mounts the electronic components on the integrated printed circuit board together to form a fluid and electronic circuit. It relates to a method for simultaneously producing on one substrate.

The inventors of the present invention invented a micro-wafer and micro valves based on silicon wafers in 1997, but invented a patent application by inventing a plastic-based micro pump and micro valves in view of the fact that it is advantageous to manufacture using plastic with the same structure. ( 10-1997-033869 , Son Moon-Tak) At the time, the invention focused on not only the individual structure of each microfluidic component but also the interconnection method of each component. A fluid channel layer was formed in the fluid invented to allow fluid to flow on the board ( 10-1997-033870 , Son Moon Tak).

However, the patent was filed in 1998 again with a three-layer substrate structure in consideration that it is more preferable to form another layer under the fluid channel layer rather than this method (1998-017565, Son Moon-Tak). The advantage of this structure is that the fluid channel layer is made of a thin metal plate to form the fluid channel by the corrosion method, there is an advantage that the formation of the fluid channel layer is simple.

However, experimentation has shown that this method has many advantages in the actual process and has produced a practical prototype called a microchemical analyzer.

Then, in order to control microfluidic parts, electronic parts must be used together anyway. The idea of using printed circuit boards instead of plastic boards is that the fluid parts and the electronic parts can be mounted at the same time. The patent filed in 1998 mentions that a printed circuit board may be used, but the detailed method is unknown, but the idea is summarized in detail in the present application.

Most of the devices that perform useful functions by controlling the flow of fluid are composed of the fluid circuit part and the electric circuit part controlling it. In current technology, the interconnection between the fluid control element and the fluid control element is mostly connected by piping. And in most devices, the electrical connection between the fluid control element and the electronic element is by air wiring. These pipes and aerial wiring has a problem that it is difficult to mass production because it has to rely on manual work.

On the other hand, assembling technology has also been developed to collect such electronic devices to form a useful electronic device, the crystal is a printed circuit board. Electronic components are mounted on a printed circuit board, and lead wires mounted on the electronic component are soldered to the printed circuit board, so that electrical signals can pass through the electronic components. In recent years, the surface mount method has been developed to greatly simplify the mounting process because the lead wire is soldered directly to the surface instead of penetrating the printed circuit board (Coombs, 1995).

On the other hand, what has been described so far is only an integrated technology of a device in which electrons move along a certain circuit. If the fluid is highly integrated in a device that moves along a certain circuit, the technology still remains in its infancy.

On the other hand, with the development of processing technology of these microminiature devices, the assembly technology of interconnecting them was also studied. There is a method of forming a microfluidic circuit board by forming a microfluidic circuit on a back plate by spreading microfluidic devices on one wafer using a silicon wafer as a manifold (Manz et al., 1990). There is a way to make two and then stack them together. (van der Schoot et.al. 1995).

However, since these methods use silicon wafers as manifolds, they require expensive semiconductor processes, and increasing the size of the fluid channel is not economical because thick wafers are required.

Because of this, attempts have been made to convert the manifolds to plastics, resulting in the formation of fluid channels by digging grooves in plastic substrates and attaching cover substrates to form flat fluid channels (Ruzicka, 1983).

However, these attempts may improve the economics in the piping problem due to the use of plastic substrates. However, there are still disadvantages in that an electronic control circuit part is required and a complicated wiring between each fluid element and an electronic circuit is required. The problem is that it requires more careful attention, so the mass production is more difficult.

Investigating the patents, however, focuses on the idea of creating an integrated system for interconnecting microfluidic microcontrollers. According to a patent filed by Loux et al. (US Patent 5,964,239) describes a microfluidic wiring structure in which micro valves and sensors can be interconnected by mechanical processing, but mechanical processing is required without using a printed circuit board. Therefore, the manufacturing process is difficult.

Meanwhile, US Patent No. 2,989,445, which forms a fluid channel on a silicon wafer and interconnects microfluidic components, uses a silicon wafer to obtain an extremely fine structure, but has a disadvantage in that the process is complicated because a wafer processing process is required.

On the other hand, microfluidic parts processed by micromachining eventually require electronic circuits to control them. Fluid I / O tubes and electrical leads must be exposed to the outside. There is a patent on the method of integrating the electronic circuit part and the fluid piping part into a single module (US patent, Packard et al.). This patent focuses on the modular part, and the fluid channel layer and Consists of a fluid element mounting layer and an electric circuit layer, and each layer is configured through machining, which also has a disadvantage in that the structure is complicated. And because each module acts as a component, their interconnection also does not solve new challenges.

Examining patents filed in Europe with a similar idea to Packard's structure, many ideas appear as patents, such as where micromachining is more advanced than in the United States. Many patents for microfluidic parts using silicon wafers (and hundreds of patents can be found by searching for micropump, microvalve or micromachining & fluid by keyword), and patents that combine each microfluidic part into one system It is an important part of the present invention. The patent using the silicon wafer which occupies most of the patent differs in a direction from this invention. However, some patents have attempted to mount microfluidic components using plastics (WO 9846438, Oct, 1998, CALIPER TECHNOLOGIES CORP., WO 9822811, May, 1998, CALIPER TECHNOLOGIES CORP., WO 9116966, Jan, 1991, PHARMACIA BIOSENSOR AB). However, there are no examples of this attempt using the printed circuit board itself.

The present invention relates to a structure capable of simultaneously mounting a microelectronic component and a microfluidic component by using a printed circuit board technology, which is positioned as an industry standard process in the electronic industry. The use of the printed circuit process simplifies the production process, but it is a technology developed only for the formation of electronic circuits and the mounting of electronic components. Therefore, a special structure is required to form a fluid circuit and mount a fluid component. In order to allow the fluid to flow inside and the electrons to flow on the surface, the fluid channel must be formed inside, and unlike the electronic parts, the fluid part is not easily mounted on the printed circuit board because the electrical signal lead wire and the fluid tube exist at the same time. In particular, the leakage of fluid must be overcome.

1 is a perspective view of a representative embodiment according to the present invention.

2 is a front view of an electromagnetic fluid integrated multilayer printed circuit board.

3 is a view showing that the first substrate, the fluid circuit panel and the second substrate layer are aligned and bonded.

4 is a perspective view of the bonding of each layer is completed.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating processing of solder masks of a first and a second printed hero substrate. FIG.

6 is a view showing a design of a continuous fluid analyzer according to the present invention in a preferred embodiment the electrofluidic printed circuit board.

7 is a diagram showing the actual implementation of the design of FIG.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a fluid and electronic integrated circuit board using a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) and a fluid circuit panel layer is provided on a lower second printed circuit board (PCB). The fluid circuit panel is attached, and the first printed circuit board (PCB) is attached thereto again.

Using the fluid circuit panel to implement various functions, transfer and flow switching of the fluid flow; Attaching various devices, such as field small valves and pumps, to printed circuit boards attached above and below the fluid circuit panel, and controlling them as printed circuits; To control fluid flow.

Hereinafter, referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, an electromagnetic fluid integrated multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) according to the present invention will be described in detail.

Referring to FIG. 1, a fluid printed circuit board (PCB) and a fluid and electronic integrated circuit board using a metal plate include a first printed circuit board constituting an electric circuit, a fluid circuit panel constituting a fluid circuit, and a second printed circuit board. There is; The first and second printed circuit boards are printed circuit boards, for example, epoxy resin substrates, and are printed with electronic circuits. The fluid circuit panel is made of a thin metal plate (1 .5 mm thick) formed by corrosion treatment. ) Constitutes a fluid circuit through which fluid flows; The necessary part is formed by digging a groove to form a fluid circuit on a thin plastic sheet. The three layers are tightly bonded with an adhesive to prevent the outflow of the fluid. A plurality of through holes are formed in the first printed circuit board, and may be largely divided into through holes 102 for lead wires of electronic parts or fluid parts, and through holes 101 for tubes of fluid parts. The electronic component 105 and the fluid component are mounted on the first printed circuit board by the through holes. On the other hand, through holes for lead wires of electronic components are formed in the second printed circuit board. Meanwhile, the through-circuit 105 of the lead wires of the electronic component or the fluid component is formed in the fluid circuit panel and has a large diameter to prevent electrical contact with the lead wires. The electrical circuits on the first and second printed circuit boards are designed in the usual way, ie by CAD software, then the masks are made and constructed using the corrosion and drilling processes. This method is an industry standard process.

Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen how the electronic component and the fluid component are mounted on the first printed circuit board. The surface mount electronic component 117 is mounted on the surface of the first or second substrate in a conventional manner. However, in the case of general components, unlike the conventional mounting method, the lead wire passes through the first printed circuit board to the bottom of the second printed circuit board and is soldered (118).

On the other hand, unlike electronic components, a fluid flowing tube and an electrical signal lead protrude simultaneously. The lead may be left or right in a surface mount (115) or downward in a transmissive (114). This lead wire is soldered on the surface 115 or on the underside of the second printed circuit board like the electronic component. The tube 120 is connected to the upper portion of the fluid circuit panel through the first printed circuit board and is responsible for the transfer of the fluid (119). Meanwhile, in order to prevent leakage of the fluid, the fluid parts have a gasket on the bottom thereof (113). Meanwhile, the pins 111 are embedded and soldered to the first and second printed circuit boards 112 for electrical connection and mechanical bonding between the first and second substrates, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 3, the meanings of the pins 122 interconnecting the three layers may be understood. These pins are soldered through the through holes 121 of the first printed circuit board and the through holes of the second printed circuit board, respectively, and serve as alignment, electric signal transmission, and mechanical coupling.

4 is a view showing an assembled electrofluidic printed circuit board.

FIG. 5 discloses that the first and second printed circuit boards 302 are designed to be well adhered to the fluid circuit panel by exposing the epoxy substrate layer without forming the solder mask layer 301 on one side thereof.

On the side where the solder mask is formed, general electronic and fluid components 303 to 305 may be mounted.

Figure 6 shows an embodiment with a continuous fully automatic chemical analyzer as a preferred embodiment. Four micro-pumps, four metal tubes connecting external plastic tubes, and sensors are mounted on an integrated circuit board. First, the carrier solution is transferred by the pump to wash the sensor, and the external sample is sucked by the pump, and then measured in the sensor. The correction liquids I and II are compensated by measuring the sensitivity reduction of the iso audio sensor with a pump. Inhaled solutions exit to the waste. Thus, it is possible to make a continuous chemistry measuring instrument that performs functions such as automatic measurement, automatic calibration, and automatic cleaning in a compact and inexpensive manner.

7 is a photograph of an actual product of such a continuous chemistry meter.

The electronic fluid printed circuit board manufactured by the above method is not only a manual method but also can be equipped with electronic components using automation equipment for general electric circuit boards, and is used to make inexpensive and compact fluid control device modules.

The electronic fluid printed circuit board according to the present invention can be easily mass-produced by the existing printed circuit board process, and not only replaces the existing product throughout the home and industry, but also a new demand for a simple fluid device, for example, a scent generator. The development of integrated circuits that simultaneously control fluid and electricity will create new electricity for the printed circuit board industry.

Claims (9)

The first substrate is placed on top; The fluid circuit panel is placed in the middle layer; A second substrate underlying; Multi-layered board, in which gas or liquid flows through a fluid channel formed in the central fluid circuit panel, electrons flow in the first and second boards, and an electronic fluid integrated board in which electronic parts and fluid parts are simultaneously mounted on the first board. Electro-fluidic integrated multilayer printed circuit board with circuit boards used on top and bottom. The lead wire for electric signal of the surface mount electronic component is soldered to the printed circuit formed on the surface of the first substrate, and the general through type electronic component passes through the through holes vertically aligned with the first substrate, the fluid circuit panel and the second substrate. An electro-fluid integrated multilayer printed circuit board, which is soldered under the board, so that all electronic components can be mounted like a general printed circuit board. The lead wire for electric signal of the surface mount fluid component is soldered to the printed circuit formed on the surface of the first substrate, The lead wire for electric signal of the flow-through fluid part is soldered in the lower part of the second substrate through the through hole vertically aligned with the first substrate, the fluid circuit panel and the second substrate. The fluid tube of each fluid part is connected to the central fluid circuit panel through the through hole of the first substrate so that fluid flows. Electro-fluidic integrated multilayer printed circuit board, characterized in that the two kinds of fluid parts can be mounted. Two types of through-holes are formed in the upper first substrate. The first through-hole passes through the lead wire of the electronic component or the fluid component, passes through the through-hole of the middle fluid circuit panel and is soldered under the second substrate. Electro-fluidic integrated multilayer printed circuit board that is designed to fit the tube of fluid parts so that the fluid flows between the center fluid circuit panel and the fluid parts. The upper first substrate, the middle fluid circuit panel, and the lower second substrate have vertically aligned through holes, and metal pins are inserted into the through holes to be soldered on the first and second substrates, respectively, to serve as alignment and mechanical properties. Electro-fluidic integrated multilayer printed circuit board that serves as bonding and electrical signal transfer between the first and second substrates In the embodiment of attaching the three layers using an adhesive, an epoxy substrate is exposed to prevent the solder mask layer from being formed on the lower portion of the first substrate and the upper portion of the second substrate, so that the adhesive layer is well adhered to the fluid circuit panel. Electronic fluid integrated multilayer printed circuit board. The fluid circuit panel is inserted between the first substrate and the second substrate by a metal plate or a plastic plate having a thickness of 0.5 mm to 1 mm, and the fluid is prevented from leaking by using an adhesive between the fluid circuit panel and the first and second substrates. Electromagnetic integrated multilayer printed circuit board, characterized in that. The method according to claim 7, In the embodiment where the fluid circuit panel is a metal plate, stainless steel, brass or copper plate is used, and the second substrate is pressed by a hot press process, a fluid channel is formed by a corrosion process, and then a second substrate is prepreg or adhered thereon. Electro-fluidic integrated multilayer printed circuit board, characterized in that the bonding by film or adhesive The method according to claim 7 In the embodiment in which the fluid circuit panel is a plastic plate, a panel in which a groove for a fluid channel is formed by an injection process is made by using a resin for flat plate injection, preferably a polycarbonate, polystyrene, or polymesamethacrylate. An electro-fluidic integrated multilayer printed circuit board is bonded to a second substrate, and the second substrate is bonded to the second substrate by a prepreg, an adhesive film or an adhesive.