阅读说明：本技术 一种成形于面布料上的柔性电路及其制备方法 (Flexible circuit formed on fabric and preparation method thereof ) 是由 方钦爽 曹梅娟 于 2020-11-20 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种成形于面布料上的柔性电路及其制备方法,该方法包括如下步骤：S1.将导电金属箔上下表面分别粘附固定上聚合物薄膜层和下聚合薄膜层形成复合导电膜材；S2.将复合导电膜材置于切割设备下方,按照电路图进行切割形成导电电路,将电子元件固定于所述导电电路上；S3.在导电电路的上下表面分别粘附固定上布料层和下布料层,即得。优点为：该柔性电路没有上下整面的由聚合物薄膜形成的基材层和保护层,故该柔性电路相对更加轻柔,与布料结合后有轻柔无感的效果；切割形成的导电线路中的每条线路除导电金属层外还具有上下起增强作用的聚合薄膜层,耐水洗耐弯折性能较好；采用直接切割法生产,生产效率高,工艺简单,更本低。(The invention provides a flexible circuit formed on a fabric and a preparation method thereof, wherein the method comprises the following steps: s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer and a lower polymer film layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil to form a composite conductive film material; s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting the composite conductive film material according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, and fixing an electronic element on the conductive circuit; and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit to obtain the fabric. Has the advantages that: the flexible circuit is not provided with a base material layer and a protective layer which are formed by polymer films on the upper and lower whole surfaces, so that the flexible circuit is relatively more soft and has a soft and non-feeling effect after being combined with cloth; each circuit in the conductive circuits formed by cutting has a polymerized film layer which plays a role in enhancing up and down besides the conductive metal layer, and the washing resistance and bending resistance are good; the production is carried out by adopting a direct cutting method, the production efficiency is high, the process is simple, and the cost is lower.)

1. A method for preparing a flexible circuit formed on a fabric is characterized by comprising the following steps:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer and a lower polymer film layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil to form a composite conductive film material;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting the composite conductive film material according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, and fixing an electronic element on the conductive circuit;

and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit to obtain the fabric.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the upper polymer film layer is pre-perforated with connection terminal holes according to the requirements for connection of electronic components on a circuit diagram before being adhered and fixed to the upper surface of the conductive metal foil in S1.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cutting step of S2 is followed by removing the waste material and then fixing the electronic component at the corresponding connecting hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, or the cutting step is followed by fixing the electronic component at the corresponding connecting hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit and then removing the waste material.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the UV glue is applied to the cut surface exposed by the cutting and cured and sealed before the upper cloth layer is adhered and fixed in S3.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the upper fabric layer is adhered and fixed in S3, and after the upper fabric layer is firmly fixed, the lower fabric layer is adhered and fixed after the upper fabric layer is turned over to make the bottom surface face upward.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein after the upper fabric layer and the lower fabric layer are adhered and fixed in S3, the upper fabric layer and the lower fabric layer are stitched and reinforced along the edge of the conductive circuit by a suture line in a hollow area formed by removing waste materials.

7. The method of manufacturing a flexible circuit formed on a cover fabric according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the upper polymer film layer and the lower polymer film layer are any one of a polyimide film, a polyethylene terephthalate film, a polycarbonate film, a polyethylene naphthalate film, and a silicone film.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the conductive metal foil is a copper foil or an aluminum foil.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the cutting device is a die cutting device.

10. A flexible circuit formed on a cover fabric, produced by the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of flexible circuits and wearable electronic equipment, and particularly relates to a flexible circuit formed on a fabric and a preparation method thereof.

Background

The conventional flexible circuit generally includes a substrate layer located on a bottom surface, a circuit layer located in the middle, and a protective layer located above, and specifically, it can be seen that a wearable device disclosed in chinese patent No. CN111836462 and a flexible circuit, a wearable device, and a system disclosed in chinese utility model No. CN205725175U all disclose flexible circuits having the above structures, respectively. In the flexible circuit in the form, the substrate layer and the protective layer are respectively a complete plastic film (such as a PET film or a PI film), so that the flexible circuit has certain hardness and obviously stronger flexibility although the flexible circuit has flexibility, and the other two plastic films also enable the flexible circuit to have obvious thickness. Therefore, after the flexible circuit is used for combining a wearable electronic device and clothing cloth, a wearer can obviously feel that the flexibility of a combining area is different from that of soft cloth, and the thickness of the combining area is increased to have obvious convex feeling, so that the requirement of ultrathin and no feeling can not be met. Simultaneously, the combination of the flexible circuit of this kind of form and cloth utilizes substrate layer or protective layer and cloth to bond usually, and the monoblock relatively harder substrate layer or protective layer are difficult to buckle and receive stress concentration when the effect of bending to change and appear damaged or partly come unstuck during the washing, and resistant washing is promptly poor with resistant performance of buckling.

Thus, there is a need to provide flexible circuits that are more flexible, and it is apparent that the flexibility of the flexible circuit is significantly improved without the substrate layer and/or the protective layer. However, no effective method has been reported in the prior art for directly bonding the circuit layer of the flexible circuit to the fabric without using a substrate layer or a protective layer. Chinese patent CN100469220C discloses a method for preparing a flexible circuit using a non-woven fabric as a substrate, which forms a nano-structured plating layer on the surface of the non-woven fabric substrate by sputtering metal aluminum, copper or silver with good conductivity on the non-woven fabric with the aid of a mold through a low-temperature magnetron sputtering method, so as to construct various circuits with specific functions. The patent combines the flexible circuit with the non-woven fabric directly, but the method is complex, the production efficiency is low, and the formed flexible circuit is easy to break and damage when the fabric deforms under the action of tensile force and the water washing resistance is also poor.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problem of providing a flexible circuit formed on a fabric and a preparation method thereof, and aims to overcome the defects that the conventional flexible circuit has a whole base material film layer and a protective film layer, and the hardness and the thickness are relatively large, so that the bending resistance and the water washing resistance are poor, the ultrathin and non-inductive requirements cannot be met, and the like.

The technical scheme for solving the technical problems is as follows: a method of making a flexible circuit formed on a cover fabric, comprising the steps of:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer and a lower polymer film layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil to form a composite conductive film material;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting the composite conductive film material according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, and fixing an electronic element on the conductive circuit;

and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit to obtain the fabric.

On the basis of the above technical solutions, the present invention may further have the following further specific or alternative solutions.

Specifically, in S1, the upper polymer film layer is pre-perforated with connection terminal holes according to the requirement of connecting electronic components on the circuit diagram before being adhered and fixed on the upper surface of the conductive metal foil.

Specifically, in S2, after cutting, the waste is removed, and then the electronic component is fixed at the corresponding connecting hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, or after cutting, the component is fixed at the corresponding connecting hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, and then the waste is removed.

Optionally, before adhering and fixing the upper cloth layer in S3, UV glue is coated on the cutting surface exposed by cutting and sealed.

Specifically, in S3, the upper cloth layer is adhered and fixed, and after the upper cloth layer is firmly fixed, the lower cloth layer is adhered and fixed after the lower cloth layer is turned over to make the bottom surface face upward.

Optionally, after the upper fabric layer and the lower fabric layer are respectively adhered and fixed in the step S3, the upper fabric layer and the lower fabric layer are sewn and reinforced in a hollow area formed by removing waste materials by using a suture line along the edge of the conductive circuit.

Specifically, the upper polymer film layer and the lower polymer film layer are any one of a polyimide film, a polyethylene terephthalate film, a polycarbonate film, a polyethylene naphthalate film and a silicone film.

Specifically, the conductive metal foil is a copper foil or an aluminum foil.

Specifically, the cutting equipment is a die cutting device.

In addition, the invention also provides a flexible circuit (including a wearable device) formed on the fabric, which is prepared by the method.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the advantages that:

according to the invention, the polymer films are covered on the two sides of the conductive metal foil, then the conductive circuit is formed by cutting according to a circuit diagram, and finally the electronic element and the upper and lower cloth layers are fixed to obtain the flexible circuit; each line in the conductive lines is provided with a polymeric film layer which plays a role in strengthening up and down besides the conductive metal layer, and is not easy to break and damage when being pulled or bent, so that the water washing resistance and bending resistance of the conductive lines are better; the production is carried out by adopting a direct cutting method, so that the production efficiency is greatly improved compared with the chemical etching or conductive ink printing process, the process is simple, and the cost is lower; in summary, the invention provides a flexible circuit preparation method which has the advantages of low cost, washing resistance, good affinity with human bodies, ultra-thin and noninductive property and can be used for high-speed batch production.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for forming a flexible circuit on a fabric according to the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a cross section of a flexible circuit formed on a fabric according to the present invention (the thickness of each layer is only schematic in the figure, and the thickness ratio between the layers has no practical significance).

In the drawings, the components represented by the respective reference numerals are listed below:

1. a conductive metal foil; 2. an upper polymer film layer; 3. a lower polymer film layer; 4. a cloth layer is arranged; 5. and (5) a lower cloth layer.

Detailed Description

The principles and features of this invention are described in connection with the drawings and the detailed description of the invention, which are set forth below as examples to illustrate the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.

In the description of the present invention, if terms indicating orientation such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc., are used, they indicate orientation or positional relationship based on that shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

For the sake of brevity, the processing methods used in the following examples are all conventional methods in the art unless otherwise specified, and the equipment, materials and the like used in the following examples are all commercially available products unless otherwise specified.

As shown in fig. 1, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a flexible circuit formed on a cover fabric, which comprises the steps of:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer 2 and a lower polymer film layer 3 to the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil 1 to form a composite conductive film material;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting the composite conductive film material according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, and fixing an electronic element on the conductive circuit;

and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper cloth layer 4 and a lower cloth layer 5 on the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit to obtain the fabric.

The structure of the flexible circuit prepared by the above method on a certain cross section is schematically shown in fig. 2, and no electronic element is arranged on the cross section, so that the flexible circuit is not shown.

Example 1

The invention provides a flexible circuit formed on a fabric, and a preparation method of the flexible circuit comprises the following steps:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer (PET film) and a lower polymer film layer (PET film) to the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil (copper foil) to form a composite conductive film material, wherein a connecting end hole is formed in advance in the upper polymer film layer according to the requirement of connecting an electronic element on a circuit diagram before the upper polymer film layer is adhered and fixed to the upper surface of the conductive metal foil;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, fixing an electronic element in a connecting end hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, and then removing cut waste materials, wherein the conductive circuit is in a hollow structure;

and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer to the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit, wherein the specific operation process comprises the steps of coating UV glue on the conductive circuit, adhering the upper fabric layer to the upper surface of the conductive circuit, turning 180 degrees to enable the bottom surface to face upwards after the upper fabric layer is firmly cured through illumination or heating treatment, and repeatedly gluing and curing to adhere and fix the lower fabric layer to the other surface of the conductive circuit.

Example 2

The invention provides a flexible circuit formed on a fabric, and a preparation method of the flexible circuit comprises the following steps:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer thin film layer (PI film) and a lower polymer thin film layer (PI film) to the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil to form a composite conductive film material, wherein a connecting end hole is formed in advance in the upper polymer thin film layer before the upper polymer thin film layer is adhered and fixed to the upper surface of the conductive metal foil according to the requirement of connecting an electronic element on a circuit diagram;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, removing cut waste materials to form a hollowed conductive circuit, and fixing an electronic element in a connecting end hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit;

and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer to the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit, wherein the specific operation process comprises the steps of coating UV glue on the conductive circuit, adhering the upper fabric layer to the upper surface of the conductive circuit, turning 180 degrees to enable the bottom surface to face upwards after the upper fabric layer is firmly cured through illumination or heating treatment, and repeatedly gluing and curing to adhere and fix the lower fabric layer to the other surface of the conductive circuit.

Example 3

The invention provides a flexible circuit formed on a fabric, and a preparation method of the flexible circuit comprises the following steps:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer (PET film) and a lower polymer film layer (PI film) to the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil (copper foil) to form a composite conductive film material, wherein a connecting end hole is formed in advance in the upper polymer film layer according to the requirement of connecting an electronic element on a circuit diagram before the upper polymer film layer is adhered and fixed to the upper surface of the conductive metal foil;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, fixing an electronic element in a connecting end hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, and then removing cut waste materials, wherein the conductive circuit is in a hollow structure; if the conductive circuit needs to be moved after cutting, a layer of release paper needs to be adhered to the lower surface of the composite electric film material in advance before cutting, and only the composite electric film on the release paper is cut without cutting or without cutting through the release paper during cutting, so that the release paper is used as a carrier for transferring the cut conductive circuit.

S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer to the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit, namely coating UV glue on the conductive circuit, coating the UV glue on the top surface of the conductive circuit (including an electronic element) during coating, coating the UV glue on a cutting surface formed by cutting to cover and seal the exposed metal layer, enhancing the waterproof and antioxidant capacity, adhering the upper fabric layer to the upper surface of the conductive circuit, turning 180 degrees to enable the bottom surface to face upwards after the upper fabric layer is firmly cured by illumination or heating, and repeatedly gluing and curing to adhere and fix the lower fabric layer to the other surface of the conductive circuit. If the release paper is adhered to the lower surface of the conductive circuit in advance, the release paper is firstly torn off after the upper cloth layer is adhered, fixed and overturned, and then the lower cloth layer is adhered and fixed.

Example 4

The invention provides a flexible circuit formed on a fabric, and a preparation method of the flexible circuit comprises the following steps:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer (PET film) and a lower polymer film layer (PI film) to the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil (copper foil) to form a composite conductive film material, wherein a connecting end hole is formed in advance in the upper polymer film layer according to the requirement of connecting an electronic element on a circuit diagram before the upper polymer film layer is adhered and fixed to the upper surface of the conductive metal foil;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, fixing an electronic element in a connecting end hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, and then removing cut waste materials, wherein the conductive circuit is in a hollow structure;

s3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper cloth layer and a lower cloth layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit, wherein the specific operation process comprises the steps of coating UV glue on the conductive circuit, coating UV glue on the top surface of the conductive circuit during coating, coating UV glue on a cutting surface formed by cutting to cover and seal an exposed metal layer, enhancing the waterproof and antioxidant capacity, adhering the upper cloth layer on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, turning 180 degrees to enable the bottom surface to face upwards after the upper cloth layer is firmly cured through illumination or heating treatment, repeatedly adhering and fixing the lower cloth layer on the other surface of the conductive circuit through gluing and curing processes, and further using a thin and soft suture line to sew and fix the upper cloth layer and the lower cloth layer along the edges of the hollow areas of the conductive circuit so that the conductive circuit and the upper cloth layer and the lower cloth layer are limited by the suture lines on two sides besides the adhesive fixation, effectively avoid falling off, and the capability of resisting deformation of the cloth is enhanced when the cloth is stretched.

Example 5

The invention provides a flexible circuit formed on a fabric, and a preparation method of the flexible circuit comprises the following steps:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer film layer (PET film) and a lower polymer film layer (PET film) to the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil (aluminum foil) to form a composite conductive film material, wherein a connecting end hole is formed in advance in the upper polymer film layer according to the requirement of connecting an electronic element on a circuit diagram before the upper polymer film layer is adhered and fixed to the upper surface of the conductive metal foil;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, fixing an electronic element in a connecting end hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, and then removing cut waste materials, wherein the conductive circuit is in a hollow structure;

and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer to the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit, wherein the specific operation process comprises the steps of coating UV glue on the conductive circuit, adhering the upper fabric layer to the upper surface of the conductive circuit, turning 180 degrees to enable the bottom surface to face upwards after the upper fabric layer is firmly cured through illumination or heating treatment, and repeatedly gluing and curing to adhere and fix the lower fabric layer to the other surface of the conductive circuit.

Example 6

The invention provides a flexible circuit formed on a fabric, and a preparation method of the flexible circuit comprises the following steps:

s1, respectively adhering and fixing an upper polymer thin film layer (PI film) and a lower polymer thin film layer (PI film) to the upper surface and the lower surface of a conductive metal foil (aluminum foil) to form a composite conductive film material, wherein a connecting end hole is formed in the upper polymer thin film layer in advance according to the requirement of connecting an electronic element on a circuit diagram before the upper polymer thin film layer is adhered and fixed to the upper surface of the conductive metal foil;

s2, placing the composite conductive film material below a cutting device, cutting according to a circuit diagram to form a conductive circuit, fixing an electronic element in a connecting end hole on the upper surface of the conductive circuit, and then removing cut waste materials, wherein the conductive circuit is in a hollow structure;

and S3, respectively adhering and fixing an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer to the upper surface and the lower surface of the conductive circuit, wherein the specific operation process comprises the steps of coating UV glue on the conductive circuit, adhering the upper fabric layer to the upper surface of the conductive circuit, turning 180 degrees to enable the bottom surface to face upwards after the upper fabric layer is firmly cured through illumination or heating treatment, and repeatedly gluing and curing to adhere and fix the lower fabric layer to the other surface of the conductive circuit.

It is to be understood that, in each of the above embodiments, the upper polymer film layer and the lower polymer film layer may be any one of other commonly used polymer films such as a polycarbonate film, a polyethylene naphthalate film and a silicone film, in addition to the polyimide film (PI film) and the polyethylene terephthalate film (PET film). The cutting equipment used may be a die cutting device, preferably a laser cutting die cutting machine dedicated to cutting metal foil. The upper cloth layer and the lower cloth layer are conventional cloth, such as cotton cloth, chemical fiber cloth, linen, wool fabric, silk or blended cloth.

In addition, it should be noted that the thickness of the metal foil in each of the above embodiments is about 9-25 μm, the thickness of the upper and lower polymer film layers is about 20-50 μm, and the thickness of the upper and lower cloth layers is about 0.1-1.0 mm; the number of electronic components may be one or more, including but not limited to one or more of microchip, chip resistor, chip capacitor, or inductive components.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that fall within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included therein.