PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-9192046-B2
Application Number: US-201213679939-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Component mounting structure with flexible jumper

Abstract:
An electronic device contains electrical components. An electrical component is mounted to an electronic device housing using mounting structures. The mounting structures include a flexible printed circuit jumper having opposing ends with metal contact pads. Metal traces in the flexible printed circuit jumper form contact traces within openings in a solder mask layer. Solder in the openings may be used to connect the metal contact pads to the contact traces. A metal bracket may be screwed into the electronic device housing to mount the electrical component to the electronic device housing. The metal bracket may press the metal contact pads on one end of the jumper against mating contact terminals on the electrical component and may press the metal contacts on the other end of the jumper against mating contact pads on an additional printed circuit.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. Apparatus, comprising:
 a mounting bracket; 
 a flexible printed circuit having a polymer substrate layer, metal traces in the polymer substrate layer, and a metal contact pad; and 
 an electrical component, wherein the electrical component has an electrical terminal that is electrically connected to the metal contact pad when the mounting bracket presses against the electrical component, wherein the mounting bracket covers the entire flexible printed circuit. 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus defined in  claim 1  further comprising:
 a solder mask layer on the polymer substrate layer, wherein the solder mask layer has an opening and wherein the metal traces in the polymer substrate include a metal trace in the opening. 
 
     
     
       3. The apparatus defined in  claim 2  further comprising solder that solders the metal contact pad to the metal trace in the opening. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus defined in  claim 3  further comprising a device housing, wherein the mounting bracket mounts the electrical component to the device housing. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus defined in  claim 4  wherein the device housing comprises a metal electronic device housing having an opening and wherein the apparatus further comprises a screw that screws into the opening to mount the mounting bracket and the electrical component to the metal electronic device housing. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus defined in  claim 5  wherein the electrical component comprises a vibrator. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus defined in  claim 6  wherein the mounting bracket comprises a bent metal member. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus defined in  claim 6  wherein the flexible printed circuit comprises a jumper having first and second ends. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus defined in  claim 8  wherein the metal contact pad is located at the first end and wherein the apparatus further comprises an additional metal trace, additional solder on the metal trace, and an additional metal contact pad at the second end. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus defined in  claim 9  further comprising a printed circuit having at least one contact that presses against the additional metal contact pad on the jumper at the second end. 
     
     
       11. An electronic device, comprising:
 a vibrator having terminals; 
 a housing to which the vibrator is mounted; 
 a flexible printed circuit having contact pads that directly press against the terminals; and 
 a bent metal member that is separate from the flexible printed circuit and that is screwed to the housing to press the flexible printed circuit against the vibrator and to press the contact pads against the terminals, wherein the bent metal member has first and second bent regions, wherein the flexible printed circuit has first and second bent regions, and wherein the first and second bent regions of the bent metal member conform to the first and second bent regions of the flexible printed circuit. 
 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  wherein the contact pads comprise gold contact pads that directly press against the terminals. 
     
     
       13. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  further comprising an additional printed circuit, wherein the additional printed circuit has first contact pads and wherein the flexible printed circuit has second contact pads that mate with the first contact pads. 
     
     
       14. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the flexible printed circuit has opposing first and second ends, wherein the contact pads that directly press against the terminals are located at the first end and wherein the second contact pads are located at the second end.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with components and component mounting structures. 
     Electronic devices include electrical components. Some electrical components such as integrated circuits can be mounted on printed circuit boards. Other electrical components such as vibrators serve more mechanical functions and may need to be mounted to sturdy support structures such as portions of a device housing. 
     Challenges arise when mounting electrical components in an electronic device. If care is not taken, electrical components may be inadequately secured within a device, which can make the device prone to mechanical failure. Components should also be mounted in a way that allows signals to be distributed to the component over reliable signal paths that are not excessively bulky. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide electronic devices with improved arrangements for mounting electronic components. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device contains electrical components. An electrical component is mounted to an electronic device housing using mounting structures. The mounting structures include a flexible printed circuit jumper having opposing ends with metal contact pads. Metal traces in the flexible printed circuit jumper form contact structures within openings in a solder mask layer. Solder in the openings may be used to connect the metal contact pads to the contact structures. This type of arrangement may raise the metal contact pads above the solder mask layer to promote satisfactory formation of electrical connections with mating metal contacts. 
     A metal bracket may be screwed into the electronic device housing to mount the electrical component to the electronic device housing. The electrical component may be a component such as a vibrator. The vibrator or other electrical component may have contact terminals. The metal bracket may press the metal contact pads on one end of the jumper against the contact terminals on the electrical component. The metal bracket may also press the metal contacts on the other end of the jumper against mating contact pads on an additional printed circuit. 
     Further features, their nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device of the type that may be provided with electrical component mounting structures in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of an illustrative electronic device of the type that may be provided with electrical components and mounting structures for electrical components in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an electronic device having electrical components and electrical component mounting structures in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional side view of an electrical component such as a vibrator that has been mounted within an electronic device housing using electrical component mounting structures in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an electrical interface formed from mating metal contacts in an electrical path that provides signals to an electrical component mounted using mounting structures in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of electrical component mounting structures being used to mount an electrical component such as a vibrator in a corner of an electronic device housing in an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the electrical component mounting structures of  FIG. 6  following assembly in the corner of the electronic device housing in the electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An illustrative electronic device that may be provided with component mounting structures and electrical components is shown in  FIG. 1 . Electronic devices such as device  10  of  FIG. 1  may be cellular telephones, media players, other handheld portable devices, somewhat smaller portable devices such as wrist-watch devices, pendant devices, or other wearable or miniature devices, gaming equipment, tablet computers, notebook computers, desktop computers, televisions, computer monitors, computers integrated into computer displays, or other electronic equipment. 
     In the example of  FIG. 1 , device  10  includes a display such as display  14 . Display  14  has been mounted in a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12 , which may sometimes be referred to as an enclosure or case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of any two or more of these materials. Housing  12  may be formed using a unibody configuration in which some or all of housing  12  is machined or molded as a single structure or may be formed using multiple structures (e.g., an internal frame structure, one or more structures that form exterior housing surfaces, etc.). 
     Display  14  may be a touch screen display that incorporates a layer of conductive capacitive touch sensor electrodes or other touch sensor components (e.g., resistive touch sensor components, acoustic touch sensor components, force-based touch sensor components, light-based touch sensor components, etc.) or may be a display that is not touch-sensitive. Capacitive touch screen electrodes may be formed from an array of indium tin oxide pads or other transparent conductive structures. 
     Display  14  may include an array of display pixels formed from liquid crystal display (LCD) components, an array of electrophoretic display pixels, an array of plasma display pixels, an array of organic light-emitting diode display pixels, an array of electrowetting display pixels, or display pixels based on other display technologies. The brightness of display  14  may be adjustable. For example, display  14  may include a backlight unit formed from a light source such as a lamp or light-emitting diodes that can be used to increase or decrease display backlight levels and thereby adjust display brightness. Display  14  may also include organic light-emitting diode pixels or other pixels with adjustable intensities. In this type of display, display brightness can be adjusted by adjusting the intensities of drive signals used to control individual display pixels. 
     Display  14  may be protected using a display cover layer such as a layer of transparent glass or clear plastic. Openings may be formed in the display cover layer. For example, an opening may be formed in the display cover layer to accommodate a button such as button  16 . An opening may also be formed in the display cover layer to accommodate ports such as speaker port  18 . 
     In the center of display  14 , display  14  may contain an array of active display pixels. This region is sometimes referred to as the active area of the display. A rectangular ring-shaped region surrounding the periphery of the active display region may not contain any active display pixels and may therefore sometimes be referred to as the inactive area of the display. The display cover layer or other display layers in display  14  may be provided with an opaque masking layer in the inactive region to hide internal components from view by a user. 
     A schematic diagram of device  10  is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , electronic device  10  may include control circuitry such as storage and processing circuitry  40 . Storage and processing circuitry  40  may include one or more different types of storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in storage and processing circuitry  40  may be used in controlling the operation of device  10 . The processing circuitry may be based on a processor such as a microprocessor and other suitable integrated circuits. With one suitable arrangement, storage and processing circuitry  40  may be used to run software on device  10  such as internet browsing applications, email applications, media playback applications, operating system functions, software for capturing and processing images, software implementing functions associated with gathering and processing sensor data, software that makes adjustments to display brightness and touch sensor functionality, etc. 
     Input-output circuitry  32  may be used to allow input to be supplied to device  10  from a user or external devices and to allow output to be provided from device  10  to the user or external devices. 
     Input-output circuitry  32  may include wired and wireless communications circuitry  34 . Communications circuitry  34  may include radio-frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry formed from one or more integrated circuits, power amplifier circuitry, low-noise input amplifiers, passive RF components, one or more antennas, and other circuitry for handling RF wireless signals. Wireless signals can also be sent using light (e.g., using infrared communications). 
     Input-output circuitry  32  may include input-output devices  36  such as button  16  of  FIG. 1 , joysticks, click wheels, scrolling wheels, a touch screen such as display  14  of  FIG. 1 , other touch sensors such as track pads or touch-sensor-based buttons, vibrators, audio components such as microphones and speakers, image capture devices such as a camera module having an image sensor and a corresponding lens system, keyboards, status-indicator lights, tone generators, key pads, and other equipment for gathering input from a user or other external source and/or generating output for a user. 
     Sensor circuitry such as sensors  38  of  FIG. 2  may include an ambient light sensor for gathering information on ambient light levels, proximity sensor components (e.g., light-based proximity sensors and/or proximity sensors based on other structures), accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetic sensors, and other sensor structures. 
     A cross-sectional side view of electronic device  10  is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , display  14  may be mounted in housing  12 . Display structures  44  such as a liquid crystal display module, an organic light-emitting diode display layer, or other display structures that include an array of active display pixels may be formed under active area AA of display cover layer  42 . Display cover layer  42  may be formed from a clear glass layer, a layer of transparent plastic, or other cover layer material. A layer of ink (e.g., black ink or white ink or ink of other colors) such as opaque masking layer  46  may be formed on the underside of display cover layer  42  in inactive area IA. 
     Device  10  may contain one or more substrates such as substrate  48 . Substrate  48  may be a dielectric carrier such as a molded plastic carrier or may be a printed circuit. For example, substrates  48  may be a printed circuit such as a rigid printed circuit board formed from a dielectric material such as fiberglass-filled epoxy or may be a flexible printed circuit formed from a dielectric layer such as a sheet of polyimide or other flexible polymer layer. Metal interconnect paths may be provided on substrate  48  to allow substrate  48  to covey signals between components. 
     Substrate  48  may be coupled to additional substrates in device  10  such as printed circuit  50  using connectors such as connector  52  (e.g., a board-to-board connector or other connection structures). Substrates such as substrate  50  may, in turn, be coupled to additional substrates such as substrate  54 . In general, there may be any suitable number of substrates within device  10  (e.g., one or more substrates, two or more substrates, three or more substrates, ten or more substrates, etc.). 
     With one illustrative configuration, which may sometimes be described herein as an example, substrate  50  is a flexible printed circuit substrate and substrate  54  is a flexible printed circuit substrate. Substrate  54  may be relatively short section of material that is used in forming an electrical path between substrate  50  and electrical component  56 . Substrates such as substrate  54  may have signal paths that are coupled to contacts at opposing ends and may therefore sometimes be referred to as jumper substrates or jumpers. 
     Electrical components such as components  58  and  56  may be electrically connected to conductive paths in substrates such as substrates  48 ,  50 , and  54 . The conductive printed circuit paths in substrates  48 ,  50 , and  54  may sometimes referred to as lines, traces, or interconnects and may be formed from conductive materials such as metal (e.g., copper, gold, aluminum, etc.). Using these printed circuit paths, components  58  may be interconnected with each other and may be interconnected with other components in device  10  such as component  56 . 
     Components  58  and  56  may include integrated circuits, sensors, buttons, connectors, audio components, cameras, and other components in control circuitry  40  and input-output circuitry  32  of  FIG. 2 . As an illustrative example, component  56  may be a vibrator of the type that can be used to vibrate device  10  and thereby alert a user of device  10  in response to receiving an incoming telephone call or other event. 
     Mounting structures  58  are used to secure component  56  to device housing  12 . In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 3 , mounting structures  58  include jumper  54 , mounting member  60 , and fasteners  62  and  64 . 
     Mounting member  60  is formed from metal, plastic, or other materials. With one suitable arrangement, mounting member  60  is a bracket formed from a bent metal structure. The bent metal structure can be provided with one or more openings such as screw holes. Fasteners  62  and  64  may be screws with threaded shafts that pass through the screw holes in mounting member  60 . Housing  12  may have threaded openings into which the threaded shafts of screws  62  and  64  are screwed, thereby holding bracket  60  against printed circuit jumper  54  and pressing printed circuit jumper  54  against component  56  and printed circuit  50 . 
     The downwards force exerted by bracket  60  and screws  62  and  64  may help attach component  56  to housing  12 . Flexible printed circuit jumper  60  may have opposing ends. Contacts at one end of jumper  60  may mate with corresponding contacts in component  56  such as terminals on a vibrator or other electrical component. Contacts at the other end of jumper  60  may mate with corresponding contacts in flexible printed circuit  50 . The force that is created by bracket  60  and screws  62  and  64  may help electrically couple the contacts in jumper  60  to component  56  and to printed circuit substrate  50 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , printed circuit  50  may have metal lines such as metal traces  66  that are coupled to contacts such as contact  68 . Contacts at a first end of flexible printed circuit jumper  60  such as metal contact pad  72  on the left-hand end of jumper  60  in  FIG. 4  may mate with contacts such as contact  68 . Contacts at an opposing second end of flexible printed circuit jumper  60  such as metal contacts  74  and  76  may mate with corresponding contacts on component  56  such as metal terminals  78  and  80 . Metal traces  70  in printed circuit  54  may form signal paths that interconnect contacts  72 ,  74 , and  76 . During operation of device  10 , signals may be conveyed between component  56  and components  58  using paths such as path  66 , contacts such as mating contacts  68  and  72 , path  70 , and mating contacts such as mating contacts  74  and  78  and mating contacts  76  and  80 . 
     There may be any suitable number of signal lines in paths such as paths  66  and  70 . As an example, a pair of positive and negative signal lines in paths  66  and  70  may be used to supply current to terminals  78  and  80  of component  56  that control the operation of component  56  (e.g., a current that powers a vibrator or other component  56 ). When using metal pads for forming contacts such as contacts  68 ,  72 ,  74 , and  76 , there is no need to use spring structures to form electrical connections for the paths of  FIG. 4 . Electrical contacts formed from pad-shaped structures may exhibit a lower profile than springs, may exhibit less movement than springs, may be less subject to fatigue as a result of temperature fluctuations than springs, and may avoid issues with spring plating corrosion. Terminals  78  and  80  may be formed using springs, using solid contact pads, or using other conductive contact structures. 
       FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electrical connection of the type that may be formed from mating contacts such as contacts  74  and  78 ,  76  and  80 , or (as shown in the example of  FIG. 5 ), contacts  72  and  68 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , printed circuit  50  may have conductive traces  66  that are coupled to contacts such as contact  68 . Contact  68  may be formed in an opening in solder mask  86  on the surface of printed circuit substrate  50 . As an example, contact  68  may be formed within a rectangular opening in solder mask  86 . 
     Contact  68  may be formed from conductive structures such as metal trace (pad)  68 - 3 , conductive material such as solder  68 - 2 , and metal pad  68 - 1 . Metal trace  68 - 3  may have a rectangular shape that fills the rectangular opening in solder mask  86 . Solder  68 - 2  may be used to solder contact pad  68 - 1  to metal contact trace  68 - 3 . Contact pad  68 - 1  may be formed from a material such as gold that resists oxidation and therefore forms a good ohmic contact with other structures. 
     With one suitable arrangement, metal trace  68 - 3  may be formed from a metal such as copper. The surface of metal trace  68 - 3  may lie below the surface of solder mask  86 . The addition of gold contacts such as contact pad  68 - 1  to contacts such as contact  68  may help ensure that contact  68  protrudes sufficiently from printed circuit  50  to form satisfactory electrical contact with mating contact  72 . Contact  72 , which is coupled to metal traces such as trace  70  in printed circuit  54 , may be formed from printed circuit traces such as metal contact pad  72 - 3 , solder  72 - 2 , and gold contact pad  72 - 1  in a rectangular opening in solder mask  84 . 
     Solder mask layers such as solder mask layer  86  and solder mask layer  84  may be formed from a dielectric material such as polyimide or other polymer. Solder mask layers may be formed from screen printed liquid polymer materials, photoimageable polymer layers, and dry polymer films. 
     If desired, conductive material such as material  82  may be interposed between contacts  72  and  68  to facilitate formation of a satisfactory low resistance electrical connection. Conductive material  82  may be conductive adhesive such as conductive epoxy, metal paint such as silver paint, solder, or other conductive materials. 
       FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of illustrative component mounting structures  58  in a corner of electronic device  10 . Component mounting structures  58  may be mounted under an inactive region in display  14  such as region IA in  FIG. 3  or may be mounted under an active region in display  14  using as region AA of  FIG. 3 . 
     In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 6 , printed circuit  50  has an opening such as opening  110  to accommodate the shaft of screw  64  while screw  64  is being screwed into threaded opening  112  of housing  12 . Contact structures  68 - 1  may include first contact  68 - 1 A and second contact  68 - 1 B. Contacts  68 - 1 A and  68 - 2 B are configured to extend around opposing sides of screw  64  when screw  64  is being used to secure bracket  60  to housing  12 , so that the pressure exerted by screw  64  bears on contacts  68 - 1 A and  68 - 1 B to help form electrical connections with mating contacts. 
     Contacts  68 - 1 A and  68 - 1 B may be configured to mate with corresponding contact structures  72 - 1  such as contact  72 - 1 A and contact  72 - 1 B on printed circuit  54 . Printed circuit  54  may also be provided with contact  74  to mate with terminal  78  of component  56  and contact  76  to mate with terminal  80  of component  56 . 
     Component  56  may be a vibrator having an asymmetric (off-axis) weight such as weight  100 . Weight  100  may be mounted on one side of a shaft that is rotated by a motor in vibrator  56 , thereby producing vibrations in device  10 . Support structure  114  may be used to support component  56  when component  56  is being held against housing  12  using bracket  60  and screws  62  and  64 . Structure  114  may be formed from plastic, foam, or other suitable material. 
     Adhesive  102  may be used to help attach metal bracket  60  to flexible printed circuit jumper  54 . Adhesive  102  may have an opening such as opening  113  to accommodate screw  64 . When structures  58  are assembled, opening  106  may be aligned with openings such as opening  113 , opening  108 , the openings formed in the center of structures  72 - 1 A and mating structures  68 - 1 A, opening  110 , and opening  112 . Opening  104  may likewise be aligned with an opening in housing  12  and, if desired, other openings. The openings in mounting structures  58  allow mounting structures  58  to accommodate fasteners such as screws  64  and  62 . 
     A perspective view of mounting structures  58  of  FIG. 6  in an assembled configuration is shown in  FIG. 7 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , fasteners such as screws  64  and  62  or other suitable attachment structures may be used in mounting bracket  60  on housing  12 . Printed circuit  50  may be used as a flexible signal cable for routing signals between printed circuit  48  and jumper  54 . Additional components such as components  58  and  56  may be mounted to printed circuit  50 , if desired. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20121116
Publication Date: 20151117
Grant Date: 20151117
Priority Date: 20121116
Inventors: MALEK SHAYAN
STEPHENS GREGORY N.
WITTENBERG MICHAEL B.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H05K1/147", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/10083", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/026", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K3/361", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04R11/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/118", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04R2499/11", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/10409", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1658", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/189", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/2009", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K3/325", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/0281", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/189", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/026", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K3/361", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04R2499/11", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/0281", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1658", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04R11/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/118", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K3/325", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/10083", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/10409", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/2009", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/147", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 49378560