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The advantage of the rigid-flex board is that it has both the characteristics of FPC and the characteristics of PCB board. Therefore, it can be used in some products with special requirements. It has both a certain flexible area and a certain rigid area, which is useful for saving internal products. Space, reduce the volume of the finished product, and improve the performance of the product are of great help.
The shortcomings of the rigid-flex board are many production processes, difficult production, low yield rate, more materials and labor, therefore, its price is relatively expensive and the production cycle is relatively long.
1. Rigid-flex board is not cheap, why use rigid-flex board?
When designing hardware, cost is often not a key element;
First, reliability: Rigid-flex board can solve the reliability problem of FPC installation.
The FPC is connected through a connector, which brings about installation costs, inconvenient installation, installation reliability problems, and easy short-circuiting, falling off and other problems. After the FPC is installed, repair welding is performed on the FPC and the PCB in the design of a mass-shipped tube machine of Hikvision. Rigid-flex board solves the problem of FPC installation reliability.
Second, the overall cost:
Rigid-flex board, although the price per unit area has increased, but it saves the cost of the connector, and at the same time reduces the installation time, reduces the repair rate, reduces the repair rate, and improves the productivity and reliability. The use of mass-shipped products is often effective in reducing costs.
So the calculated cost:
Rigid-flex board area * Rigid-flex board unit price-processing time cost-FPC loosening and repairing cost * loosening probability-whether the management cost brought by fewer single board types is greater than the original PCB area * PCB unit price + FPC price + connector price
Third, in the PCB layout and design, effectively improve the signal quality
Since the connection is not made through a connector, the wiring continuity is better and the signal integrity is better.
Traditional IPC uses FPC and connectors to connect the Sensor (video sensor) board and the main control board.
The use of rigid-flex boards can integrate the main control board and the sensor board, which solves many problems and also meets the structural design requirements of the drum machine.
2. Design attention of rigid-flex board:
A. The bending radius of the flexible board needs to be considered. If the bending radius is too small, it will be easily damaged.
B. Effectively reduce the total area, optimize the design and reduce the cost.
C. It is necessary to consider the structure of the three-dimensional space after installation.
D. It is necessary to consider the optimal design of the number of layers of the flexible part of the wiring.
3. Consider whether PCBs with strange shapes can be printed after the development of 3D printing in the future? Avoid the weakness of FPC or rigid-flex board.
The installation is more convenient, the reliability is higher, the shape is more random, and it is not easy to be damaged. Whether 3D printing can subvert the traditional PCB processing, we will wait and see.
