JPH04311086A - flexible circuit board - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize a flexible board and to easily design a circuit pattern by a method wherein the flexible board is made to function as an ON-OFF switch, a slide switch, and a resistor at the same time, and a jumper pattern is laminated on the flexible board concerned through the intermediary of resist. CONSTITUTION:A circuit pattern, an OFF-OFF contact point pattern 15, a slide contact point pattern 17, and a resistor pattern 19 are provided onto a synthetic resin sheet 11, spacer resists 21 and 23 are doubly applied thereon, and furthermore a jumper pattern 27 is printed on the spacer resists 21 and 23 through the intermediary of a resist 26 for the formation of a first flexible board 1. On the other hand, a circuit pattern and an ON-OFF contact point pattern 85 are provided onto a synthetic resin sheet 81, spacer resists 91 and 93 are doubly applied thereon to obtain a second flexible board 9. The boards 1 and 9 are made to overlap each other making the spacer resists 23 and 29 confront each other and welded by fusion into a flexible board 8 of integral structure.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to flexible substrates.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, flexible substrates in which circuit patterns are formed on flexible insulating sheets have been put to practical use.
It is used. This type of flexible substrate can be bent and stored in a narrow space, and devices using it can be made smaller and lighter.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, conventional flexible circuit boards of this type are those in which circuit patterns are routed around to form a flat cable, or two flexible circuit boards are stacked on top of each other with a spacer film interposed between the two boards. Although there were on-off switches that had contact patterns facing each other, there was no flexible printed circuit board with a structure that had various functions such as on-off switches, slide switches, and resistors all at once.

[0004]Furthermore, conventionally, since flexible substrates are flat, the circuit patterns printed on them are also flat, and when a large number of circuit patterns are printed, the area of the flexible substrate increases accordingly, making it difficult to miniaturize. There was a problem that not only could the circuit pattern be complicated, but also the circuit pattern would be complicated, making it difficult to design.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and it is possible to provide various functions of an on-off switch, a slide switch, and a resistor at the same time on a single flexible substrate, and moreover, it is possible to reduce the size and size of the flexible substrate. An object of the present invention is to provide a flexible substrate that facilitates circuit pattern design.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention forms a circuit pattern on a flexible resin sheet, and on the circuit pattern, a contact pattern for on/off of a push button switch is formed. A sliding contact pattern with which the metal slider of the sliding switch slides and a resistor pattern connecting a predetermined circuit pattern are provided, and a resistor pattern is provided in a portion other than the portion where the on/off contact pattern and the sliding contact pattern are provided. A circuit pattern is formed on a first flexible substrate coated with a thermoplastic spacer resist and a flexible resin sheet, and an on/off contact pattern provided on the first flexible substrate on the circuit pattern. On/off contact patterns are provided at opposing positions,
a second flexible substrate having a thermoplastic spacer resist applied to a portion other than the portion where the on/off contact pattern is provided, and a thermoplastic spacer provided on both the first and second flexible substrates; A flexible substrate was constructed by thermally welding the resists together and integrating them.

[0007]Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for coating a part of the spacer resist of the first flexible substrate with another resist, and connecting predetermined circuit patterns on the first flexible substrate on the other resist. A flexible substrate was constructed by providing a jumper pattern and attaching the second flexible substrate thereon.

[0008]

[Operation] With the above structure, one flexible substrate can have various functions of an on/off switch, a slide switch, and a resistor at the same time.

Furthermore, since the jumper patterns are laminated via the resist, the area of the flexible substrate can be reduced, and not only can the size of the flexible substrate be reduced, but the circuit pattern can be simplified and its design can be facilitated.

Furthermore, since the thermoplastic spacer resist is exposed on the surfaces of both flexible substrates, thermal welding of both flexible substrates can be easily performed.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a first flexible substrate 1 used in the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a second flexible substrate 8 placed over the first flexible substrate 1. As shown in FIG.

The first flexible substrate 1 shown in FIG.
A circuit pattern 13 (not shown in the figure), an on/off contact pattern 15, a slide contact pattern 17, and a resistor pattern 19 (not shown in the figure) are provided on a synthetic resin sheet 11, and two Heavy spacer resist 21, 23
is coated, and a jumper pattern 27 is further printed thereon via a resist 26.

On the other hand, a second flexible substrate 8 shown in FIG.
is constructed by providing a circuit pattern 83 (not shown in the figure) and an on/off contact pattern 85 on a synthetic resin sheet 81, and applying spacer resists 91 and 93 in double layers thereon. The method for manufacturing the flexible substrates 1 and 8 will be described below.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are plan views showing the process of manufacturing the first flexible substrate 1. FIG. That is, in order to manufacture the first flexible substrate 1, first, as shown in FIG. 3(a), a circuit pattern 13 made of a desired silver paint is screen printed on a flexible polyester sheet 11.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3(b), at a predetermined position of the circuit pattern 13, an on/off contact pattern 15 for a push button switch and a slide contact with which a metal slider of a slide switch comes into sliding contact. Screen print pattern 17. In this example, carbon paint was used as these materials.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3(c), resistor patterns 19 made of carbon paint are screen printed to connect predetermined circuit patterns 13 among the circuit patterns 13.

As shown in FIG. 3(d), a first layer of spacer resist 21 is applied to almost the entire surface of the on/off contact pattern 15, the sliding contact pattern 17, and the land portion 13a of the predetermined circuit pattern 13. Apply. This spacer resist 21 is made of a thermoplastic resin material, and in this embodiment, a vinyl chloride-based material is used.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4A, a second layer of spacer resist 23 (hatched lines) made of the same material as the spacer resist 21 is formed on the upper surface of the spacer resist 21 at least in a portion surrounding the on/off contact pattern 15. ). At this time, a groove portion 25 on which the spacer resist 23 is not applied is provided in a portion surrounding the on/off contact pattern 15. This groove portion 25 becomes a hole for air escape when the second flexible substrate 8 described below is stacked on top of each other. The spacer resists 21 and 23 are applied twice to increase the thickness of the flexible substrate 1.
When a push button switch is constructed by overlapping the second flexible substrate 8 described below and facing the on/off contact patterns 15 and 85 provided on both sides, a predetermined gap is formed between both the on and off contact patterns 15 and 85. This is to ensure spacing.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4(b), a resist 26 is applied to a predetermined portion on the spacer resist 23. Then, as shown in FIG. The end of this resist 26 is the spacer resist 2
It has been extended to the vicinity of the land portion 13a of the circuit pattern 13 to which Nos. 1 and 23 have not been applied. This resist 26
In this embodiment, an epoxy resin is used.

As shown in FIG. 1, this resist 2
By printing a jumper pattern 27 made of silver paint on the substrate 6, the first flexible substrate 1 is completed. Note that this jumper pattern 27, as shown in FIG.
It is printed so as to connect predetermined land portions 13a.

Note that 30 shown in FIG. 1 is a connector section in which seven circuit patterns 13 are assembled. As shown in the figure, the connector portion 30 is protruded in the shape of a tongue, and the circuit pattern 13 is exposed at its end (portion a), and only the spacer resist 21 is coated at the portion b.

Next, a method for manufacturing the second flexible substrate 8 will be explained. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the process of manufacturing the second flexible substrate 8. As shown in FIG. In order to manufacture the second flexible substrate 8, first, as shown in FIG.
A desired circuit pattern 83 is screen printed on a flexible polyester sheet 81, and then as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, an on/off contact pattern 85 is screen printed at a predetermined position of the circuit pattern 83. Next, the same figure (
As shown in c), a first layer of spacer resist 91 made of a thermoplastic resin material is applied to almost the entire surface except for the on/off contact pattern 85. As shown in FIG. 2, a second spacer resist 9 made of the same material as the spacer resist 91 is formed on the upper surface of the spacer resist 91.
3 (indicated by diagonal lines), this second flexible substrate 8 is completed. In addition, on/off contact pattern 85
A groove portion 95 on which the spacer resist 93 is not applied is provided in a portion surrounding the groove portion 95 . This groove 95 faces the groove 25 of the first flexible substrate 1 and serves as an air escape hole.

As shown in FIG. 2, two through holes 88, 88 are provided at predetermined positions on the second flexible substrate 8. Further, in the second flexible substrate 8 shown in FIG. 2, the sliding contact pattern 17 shown in FIG.
The second flexible substrate 8 is not provided in the portions A and B facing the connector portion 17 and the portion C facing the connector portion 30. In other words, when both flexible substrates 1 and 8 are overlapped, the sliding contact patterns 17 and 17 and the connector portion 30 are exposed as they are.

The first flexible substrate 1 shown in FIG. 1 and the second flexible substrate 8 shown in FIG. 2 are superimposed so that their spacer resists 23 and 93 face each other. At this time, the on/off contact patterns 15 and 85 provided on the first flexible substrate 1 and the second flexible substrate 8, respectively, face each other to form a push button switch. When the spacer resist 23 on the first flexible substrate 1 and the spacer resist 93 on the second flexible substrate 8 are heat-sealed by applying heat between the two flexible substrates 1 and 8 using a hot press, the two are integrated into one body. becomes. If the on/off contact pattern 15 or 85 is pressed from the back side, the contact between the on/off contact patterns 15, 85 is turned on.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic side sectional views of main parts showing the state of the connector portion 30 and the through hole 88 when both the flexible substrates 1 and 8 are integrated, respectively. As shown in FIG. 6, the flexible substrate 8 is not bonded onto the first flexible substrate 1 constituting the connector section 30. As shown in FIG. Therefore, the connector section 30 can be easily bent or bent, making it easy to connect the connector section 30 to other electronic components. On the other hand, the portion provided with the through hole 88 shown in FIG.
Since the flexible substrate 8 is not bonded, it can be easily bent around this part. In other words, for the portion to be bent, either one of the flexible substrates 1 and 8 may be cut out.

Note that in the first flexible substrate 1,
Although the spacer resist 23 needs to be made of a thermoplastic material for adhesion, the spacer resist 21 and the resist 26 do not necessarily need to be made of a thermoplastic material. Moreover, the resist 26 was applied using this epoxy-based resist 2 rather than the vinyl chloride-based spacer resist 23.
6 has a smoother surface and is pattern 27 for jumpers.
This is because the resist 26 is easy to print, but the resist 26 is not necessarily necessary, and in some cases, the jumper pattern 27 may be applied directly onto the spacer resist 23 without applying the resist 26. In addition, in the above embodiment, in order to ensure the thickness of the spacer, the spacer resist 21,
Although No. 23 was applied in two layers, it may be applied in one layer depending on the case. Further, the epoxy resist 26 in the above embodiment is difficult to be thermally welded. For this reason, a thermoplastic spacer resist may be further applied on top of the resist 26 depending on the case.

That is, for example, the first flexible substrate is
A circuit pattern, an on/off contact pattern, a sliding contact pattern, and a resistor pattern are provided on a flexible synthetic resin sheet. One or two layers of spacer resist is applied, a jumper pattern for connecting the predetermined circuit patterns is provided on the spacer resist, and a thermoplastic spacer resist is further applied on the jumper pattern. You can.

[0028]

As described above in detail, the flexible substrate according to the present invention has the following excellent effects.

(1) A single flexible substrate can have various functions such as an on/off switch, a slide switch, and a resistor at the same time.

■Since the jumper pattern is laminated via a resist layer on the circuit pattern provided on one of the flexible substrates, the area of the flexible substrate can be reduced, and not only can it be made smaller, but the circuit pattern can also be simplified. The design becomes easy.

(2) Since thermoplastic spacer resists are exposed on the surfaces of both flexible substrates, the two flexible substrates can be easily integrated by thermally welding both spacer resists.

[0032] Since both flexible substrates are integrated, each part does not come apart when it is distributed or incorporated into electronic equipment, which is preferable.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a first flexible substrate 1 used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a second flexible substrate 8 used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a part of the process of manufacturing the first flexible substrate 1.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a part of the process of manufacturing the first flexible substrate 1.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a process of manufacturing the second flexible substrate 8. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side sectional view of the main part showing the state of the connector portion 30 when both flexible substrates 1 and 8 are integrated.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side sectional view of a main part showing the state of a through hole 88 portion when both flexible substrates 1 and 8 are integrated.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 First flexible board 11 Sheet 13 Circuit pattern 15 On/off contact pattern 17 Contact pattern for slide 19 Resistor pattern 21, 23 Spacer resist 26 Resist 27 Jumper pattern 8 Second flexible board 81 Sheet 83 Circuit pattern 85 On/off contact pattern 91,93 Spacer resist

Claims (3)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A circuit pattern is formed on a flexible resin sheet, and a slide contact is provided on which the on/off contact pattern of a push button switch and the metal slider of a slide type switch slide. a first flexible substrate provided with a resistor pattern connecting the pattern and a predetermined circuit pattern, and a thermoplastic spacer resist applied to a portion other than the portion where the on/off contact pattern and the slide contact pattern are provided; A circuit pattern is formed on a flexible resin sheet, and an on/off contact pattern is provided on the circuit pattern at a position opposite to the on/off contact pattern provided on the first flexible substrate,
A second flexible substrate is provided with a thermoplastic spacer resist applied to a portion other than the portion where the on/off contact pattern is provided, and the first and second flexible substrates have a thermoplastic spacer resist provided on both. A flexible substrate characterized by being integrated by thermally welding resists together. 2. A jumper for connecting predetermined circuit patterns on the first flexible substrate by applying another resist to a part of the spacer resist of the first flexible substrate and applying the other resist to the other resist. 2. The flexible substrate according to claim 1, wherein a pattern is provided, and the second flexible substrate is mounted on the pattern. 3. A sliding contact in which a circuit pattern is formed on a flexible resin sheet, and on the circuit pattern, an on/off contact pattern of a push button switch and a metal slider of a slide type switch are in sliding contact. A resistor pattern is provided to connect the pattern and a predetermined circuit pattern, a spacer resist is applied to a predetermined portion other than the portion where the on/off contact pattern and the slide contact pattern are provided, and the predetermined resist pattern is applied onto the spacer resist. A first method in which a jumper pattern is provided to connect the circuit patterns, and a thermoplastic spacer resist is applied on the jumper pattern.
A circuit pattern is formed on a flexible substrate and a flexible resin sheet, and the first circuit pattern is formed on the circuit pattern.
A second flexible substrate is provided with an on/off contact pattern at a position opposite to the on/off contact pattern provided on the flexible substrate, and a thermoplastic spacer resist is applied to a portion other than the portion where the on/off contact pattern is provided. A flexible substrate, characterized in that the first and second flexible substrates are integrated by thermally welding thermoplastic spacer resists provided on both.