DESC:Form 2
The patent Act 1970
(39 of 1970)
AND
Patent Rules 2003
Complete Specification
(Sec 10 and Rule 13)
Title: Epoxy Based Flexible Printed Circuit board
Applicant(s)
AMX Innovation Private Limited
Nationality India
Address
No. 132, 4th Floor, Chitrapur Bhavan, 15th Cross, 8th
Main Road, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru – 560055,
Karnataka, India.
The following specification, particularly describes the invention and the manner in
which it is to be performed.
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DESCRIPTION
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a flexible printed circuit board and more particularly to a
method and system to develop an epoxy based flexible printed circuit board to mount a flight
controller unit in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) / drone to provide aerodynamic balance.
RELATED ART
[0002] A printed circuit board (PCB) is a complex circuitry of copper tracks on a heat resistant
material called PCB substrate, a rigid substrate comprising of a fiber glass and a copper foil. The
copper foil is rigidly attached to the fiber glass using adhesives. Conventionally, a desired circuit
pattern is etched by removing a copper from the substrate.
[0003] The PCBs provide mechanical support and electrically connects electrical or electronic
components using conductive tracks, pads and other features etched from one or more sheet layers
of copper laminated onto and /or between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate. The
components are generally soldered onto the PCB to both electrically connect and mechanically
fasten them to it.
[0004] In that, the electric connectivity is provided from one side of PCB to other or through
multiple layers using a vias. The vias are conductive holes drilled on the substrate at the desired
location to connect conductive strips and pads. The conventional PCBs are made as single side
PCBs, double side PCBs, multilayered PCBs, rigid PCBs, flexible or flex PCBs, and rigid-flex
PCBs.
[0005] The commonly used PCBs are rigid and flexible PCBs. The rigid PCBs are a board which
cannot be bend or force out of shape whereas the flexible PCBs are flexible and folded to any
shape. In that, rigid PCBs are commonly used in unmanned aerial vehicle such as drones,
quadcopter etc where flight controller unit is mounted to meet the aerodynamic requirement.
These rigid PCBs cause mounting inconvenience altering the aerodynamic balance when mounted
on the drones. The drones are employed with different capacity and multiple end application, the
standard flight controller PCB needs to be differently balanced on different drones.
[0006] Another disadvantage of rigid PCBs is breakdown of flight control where the rigid PCBs
prevent or reduce the flexibility in designing/constructing the drones. The drones used for
commercial applications and agricultural industries are of Z shape where center of gravity falls in
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the middle which makes impossible to mount the rigid flight control on that as we get a tall on
that. Therefore it is required to make an angle and mount the flight controllers on the drone so that
when a drone is crashed, the flight control gets split over and brake.
[0007] Hence, an effective, efficient and a malleable flexible flight controller is required to
mount on the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) / drone to provide aerodynamic balance.
SUMMARY
[0008] In one embodiment, the method of preparation of an epoxy based flexible printed circuit
board with a flight controller unit comprising: forming multiple white epoxy thin layers; preparing
a required flight controller unit; preparing a conductive strip pattern of the flight controller unit;
inscribing or placing each conductive strip patterns of the flight controller unit on the epoxy layer
interleaving them alternatively; and joining or stitching the layers together to form a multilayer
epoxy substrate flexible flight controller, wherein the thickness of the multiple white epoxy is 0.3
mm to 0.5 mm makes epoxy based flexible printed circuit board flexible and strong. A multilayer
epoxy substrate flexible flight controller comprising: a first layer comprising a first set of
components of the flight controller unit placed on a first epoxy layer; a second set of components
of the flight controller unit placed on a second epoxy layer; a third set of components of the flight
controller unit placed on a third epoxy layer; and another layer of the epoxy layer is laminated on
the third set of components of the flight controller unit, wherein these layers are joined or stitched
to form a multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight controller.
[0009] Several aspects are described below, with reference to diagrams. It should be understood
that numerous specific details, relationships, and methods are set forth to provide a full
understanding of the present disclosure. One who skilled in the relevant art, however, will readily
recognize that the present disclosure can be practiced without one or more of the specific details,
or with other methods, etc. In other instances, well-known structures or operations are not shown
in detail to avoid obscuring the features of the present disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0010] Fig. 1A and Fig. 1B are schematic views illustrating a conventional rigid and a flexible
printed circuit board (PCB) with a flight controller unit respectively.
[0011] Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the method of preparation of an epoxy based flexible
printed circuit board with a flight controller unit in an embodiment of the present disclosure.
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[0012] Fig. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight controller
in an embodiment of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EXAMPLES
[0013] Fig. 1A and Fig. 1B are schematic views illustrating a conventional rigid and a flexible
printed circuit board (PCB) with a flight controller unit respectively. As shown in 100, is a rigid
printed circuit board (PCB) 104 with a flight controller unit 102 which cannot be twisted or folded
into any shape as it is made up of a base material of rigid substrate 110 which gives rigidity and
strength to the board 104. The copper trances and path incorporated on a single board in order to
connect different components of the flight controller unit 102 on the board 104. It comprises of a
single solid substrate layer 110 made of a fiber glass that provides rigidity and stiffness to the
board 104 and on top of the substrate layer 110 resides a single conductive layer made of copper
108 which is laminated on the board 104 with the help of added amount of heat and adhesive. A
solder mask layer present above the copper layer 108 is added on the board 104 to add insulation
on the copper layer 108 in order to avoid any damage the conductive material is touched with the
copper layer 108. A silkscreen layer 112 present above the solder mask layer 106 is used to add
characters or symbol on the board 104 that provide better understanding of the board 104.
[0014] As shown in 120, is a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) 122 with a flight controller unit
102 that can be bent, folded or twisted into any configuration based on the requirements. The
flexible printed circuit board (PCB) 122 uses lines, tracks or paths incorporated on a single board
122 to connect multiple components together. The paths or tracks are made up of copper foil
which is laminated on a substrate material which is mainly composed of epoxy glass resin. The
flight controller unit 102 on the flexible printed circuit board (PCB) 122 is protected using a
protective layer 124.
[0015] Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the method of preparation of an epoxy based flexible
printed circuit board with a flight controller unit in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As
shown in 200, in step 201, initially multiple white epoxy thin layers of thickness 0.3 mm to 0.5
mm are formed. In step 202, required flight controller unit is prepared. In step 203, a conductive
strip pattern of the flight controller unit is prepared. In step 204, each conductive strip patterns of
the flight controller unit is inscribed or placed on the epoxy layer interleaving them alternatively.
In step 205, the layers are joined or stitched together to form a multilayer epoxy substrate flexible
flight controller.
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[0016] Fig. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight controller
in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in 300, initially, a first layer 304
comprising a first set of components of the flight controller unit is placed on a first epoxy layer
304. Then the second set of components 308 of the flight controller unit is placed on a second
epoxy layer 306. Then the third set of components 312 of the flight controller unit is placed on the
third epoxy layer 310.finally another layer of the epoxy layer 314 is laminated on the third set of
components 312 of the flight controller unit. All these layers are joined or stitched to form a
multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight controller.
[0017] In an embodiment, a very thin layer of white epoxy with layers of PCB is imprinted onto
the provided white epoxy that makes it flexible and strong. Such epoxy flight controller is very
easy to be mounted inside the drone at any given point and at any angle.
[0018] In one embodiment, the epoxy based PCB is formed using a very thin multiple membrane
or layers of white epoxy stitched individually to make a layer of board. Therefore, the Flight
control is not heavy and can be shrunk and make it flexible using the white epoxy. The entire arm
controller comes with 12 bit bins. The entire STMP comes with only 6 bins. The flexibility to the
3 is easily given using this method of preparation. Thus, complete flight controller is made
flexible as against known flexible keyboard buttons, flexible connecting strips, and ribbon type
limited circuitry PCBs.
[0019] In embodiment, the First epoxy layer is made, and then an already etched copper strip or
the conductive strip pattern of the flight controller unit is placed/inscribe into the white epoxy
layers. Then, laser cut the copper strip and then final strip is placed within the white epoxy
making the entire board flexible not just a specific part.
[0020] While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, it should
be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus,
the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the abovediscussed
embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and
their equivalents. ,CLAIMS:CLAIMS
I/We Claim,
1. The method of preparation of an epoxy based flexible printed circuit board with a flight
controller unit 200 comprising:
forming multiple white epoxy thin layers 201;
preparing a required flight controller unit 202;
preparing a conductive strip pattern of the flight controller unit 203;
inscribing or placing each conductive strip patterns of the flight controller unit on the
epoxy layer interleaving them alternatively 204; and
joining or stitching the layers together to form a multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight
controller 205,
wherein the thickness of the multiple white epoxy is 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm makes epoxy
based flexible printed circuit board flexible and strong.
2. A multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight controller 300 comprising:
a first layer 304 comprising a first set of components of the flight controller unit placed
on a first epoxy layer 304;
a second set of components 308 of the flight controller unit placed on a second epoxy
layer 306;
a third set of components 312 of the flight controller unit placed on a third epoxy layer
310; and
another layer of the epoxy layer 314 is laminated on the third set of components 312 of
the flight controller unit,
wherein these layers are joined or stitched to form a multilayer epoxy substrate flexible
flight controller.
3. The multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight controller 300 of claim 2, wherein a very
thin layer of white epoxy with layers of flight controller units is imprinted onto the
provided white epoxy that makes it flexible and strong.
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4. The multilayer epoxy substrate flexible flight controller 300 of claim 2, wherein makes it
easy to be mounted inside the drone at any given point and at any angle.
5. Method, system and apparatus providing one or more features as described in the
paragraphs of this specification.