Isola HDI PCB Electronics Alarm Panel Control Board

What is rigid flex PCB?

Rigid-Flex Board
Rigid-Flex Printed Circuit Board is a circuit board that combines flexible and rigid board technology in the application. Most rigid flexible boards are composed of multilayer flexible circuit boards that are externally and/or internally connected to one or more rigid boards, depending on the design of the application. The flexible substrate is designed to be in a constant bending state, and usually forms a bending curve during manufacturing or installation.
Rigid-Flex design is more challenging than typical rigid board environment design, because these boards are designed in 3D space, which also provides higher space efficiency. By being able to design in three dimensions, rigid flexible designers can twist, fold and roll the flexible board substrate to achieve the shape required for the final application packaging.
Rigid-flexible PCB manufacturing applications
Rigid-Flex PCB provides a wide range of applications, from military weapons and aerospace systems to mobile phones and digital cameras. More and more rigid flexible board manufacturing has been used in medical devices such as pacemakers because of their space and weight reduction capabilities. The same advantages of rigid flexible PCB can be applied to military weapons and weapon control systems.
In consumer products, R igid-Flex not only maximizes space and weight, but also greatly improves reliability, eliminating many requirements for solder joints and fragile wiring that is prone to connection problems. These are just a few examples, but R igid-Flex PCBs can be used in almost all advanced electrical applications, including test equipment, tools, and automobiles.
Rigid-flexible PCB technology and production process
Whether it is the production of rigid flexible prototypes or mass production that requires large-scale R igid-Flex PCB manufacturing and PCB assembly, this technology has been fully verified and reliable. The flexible PCB part is particularly good at overcoming the space and weight problems of space freedom.
Careful consideration of the Rigid-Flex solution and proper evaluation of the available options in the early stages of the rigid flexible PCB design phase will bring significant benefits. It is vital that R igid-Flex PCB manufacturers are involved in the early stages of the design process to ensure that the design and manufacturing are coordinated and to resolve changes in the final product.
Rigid-Flex manufacturing stage is also more complicated and time-consuming than rigid board manufacturing. All flexible components of R igid-Flex components have completely different processing, etching and welding processes from rigid FR4 boards.
The benefits of Rigid -Fl ex PCB s
· Minimize space requirements by applying 3D
· By eliminating the need for connectors and cables between various rigid components, the size of the circuit board and the weight of the entire system can be reduced.
· By maximizing space, the number of parts is usually smaller.
· Reduce solder joints to ensure higher connection reliability.
· Compared with the flexible board, the operation during the assembly process is easier.
· Simplified PCB assembly process.
· The integrated ZIF contact provides a simple modular interface for the system environment.
· Simplified test conditions. A complete test before installation becomes possible.
· Using R igid-Flex board can significantly reduce logistics and assembly costs.
· The complexity of the mechanical design can be increased, which also increases the freedom of optimizing the housing solution.
Rigid -Fl ex Des ign and Fabrication Issues
In the R igid-Flex PCB design process, certain considerations of the final product size change must be considered. In the manufacture of the Rigid-Flex board, once the bonded copper foil is etched away, the flexible polyimide core will shrink. This change must be considered in the design process.