WO2001061781A1

WO2001061781A1 - Antenna spring for electrical connection of a circuit board with an antenna

Info

Publication number: WO2001061781A1
Application number: PCT/DE2000/004533
Authority: WO
Inventors: Edwin Schenk; Martin OELSCHLÄGER
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2000-02-15
Filing date: 2000-12-19
Publication date: 2001-08-23
Also published as: DE10006530A1

Abstract

An antenna spring for electrical connection of a circuit board with an antenna is disclosed. Said antenna spring comprises a pushfit connector means for a connection of the antenna spring with the circuit board and/or the antenna.

Description

1 description

ANTENNA SPRING FOR ELECTRICALLY CONNECTING A CIRCUIT BOARD TO AN ANTENNA

The invention relates to an antenna spring for the electrical connection of a printed circuit board to an antenna. The invention further relates to a circuit board with a corresponding antenna spring, an antenna with an antenna structure arranged on an antenna circuit board and with a corresponding antenna spring, and a device with a circuit board, an antenna and such an antenna spring.

Antenna springs of this type can generally be used in all devices which transmit or receive signals by means of an antenna. A main area of application is in the field of mobile radio technology, since there is often only a small installation space available in the devices. As a rule, the antenna springs are firmly connected to a printed circuit board which carries the further electrical components required for reception, as well as corresponding conductor tracks etc. Mobile devices are typically the device's motherboard. The antenna spring usually consists of a wire or a sheet metal strip or the like protruding vertically or obliquely upwards from the surface of the board. Due to the installation in the housing, the antenna is pressed with a contact element against the upper free end of the antenna spring in such a way that, due to the spring tension, there is good electrical contact between the antenna and the antenna spring without any further mechanical connection.

Up to now, the antenna spring has usually been soldered onto the circuit board for fastening. For this purpose, the printed circuit boards are equipped with the antenna springs, just like with the other components, using an automatic assembly machine before the soldering process. Then the circuit boards with the components arranged on them are pushed into a soldering oven, in which the Heat the antenna springs to be soldered onto the boards.

For this purpose, the antenna springs must be constructed in such a way that they can stand independently on the contact surface of the circuit board, the so-called “antenna pad *. So that the antenna springs, which are relatively high in relation to their thickness, do not fall over during the soldering process, they must also have a certain stability. This is achieved in that the footprint is chosen to be relatively large, so that the center of gravity of the antenna spring is in the middle of the footprint even with an antenna spring pointing obliquely upwards. Antenna springs with a low stability due to a too small footprint and a very lateral center of gravity cannot be used with this method. This applies in particular to antenna springs that are at a relatively small angle to the surface of the circuit board.

Another disadvantage is that, for example, in so-called multi-antenna concepts, simultaneous soldering of antenna springs on both sides of a printed circuit board is not possible with the aforementioned method due to the relatively heavy antenna spring.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative to this prior art.

This object is achieved in that the antenna spring has plug connection means for connecting the antenna spring to the circuit board and / or the antenna.

Due to the plug connection, no soldering process is required to mount the antenna springs. Therefore, the footprint of the antenna spring required on the circuit board can be reduced. Furthermore, the antenna springs can also be arranged on both sides of the circuit board. A further advantage is obtained when using an antenna with an antenna structure arranged on an antenna circuit board, ie with a so-called “PCB antenna”. Since such an antenna circuit board does not differ fundamentally from another circuit board, it is of course also possible not to attach the antenna spring, as is usual, for example on the motherboard of the mobile radio device, but instead to fasten it to the antenna. In this case it is on the in the

Usually very tightly populated main board only requires a relatively small contact surface against which the antenna spring attached to the antenna presses with its free end and thus establishes contact.

Furthermore, it is of course possible to design the antenna spring so that it has plug connection means at both ends. In this way, a firm connection to both the printed circuit board and the antenna is possible. Such a construction is particularly useful for devices that can be exposed to higher mechanical loads, such as strong shocks or vibrations.

There are various options for realizing the plug connection.

In a first preferred embodiment, the plug connection means have a clamping element for plugging the antenna springs onto an edge of the printed circuit board and / or the antenna. With such an attachable antenna spring, the edge area of the circuit board is optimally used. In addition, a hole or special insertion device on the circuit board is not absolutely necessary for this embodiment. In a particularly simple embodiment of this version, the clamping element is a U-shaped or C-shaped clamping section which is molded onto the antenna spring. With this clamping section, the antenna spring is simply pushed over the edge. With an appropriate arrangement of the antenna pads, ie the contact areas on the printed circuit board, due to the spring force of the clamping element on the printed circuit board surface, good electrical contact with the printed circuit board is simultaneously produced.

Of course, it is also possible to design the clamping section in another suitable shape, for example similar to a paper clip.

A second preferred embodiment provides that the

Plug connection means comprise a plug element for inserting the antenna spring into a receiving opening in the printed circuit board and / or the antenna. This version has the advantage that the antenna spring can be placed anywhere on the circuit board. This version also allows the antenna spring to be attached to the circuit board from one side or the other. It is only necessary that the receiving opening, for example in the form of a simple hole, is introduced at the corresponding point on the circuit board.

The antenna spring expediently has securing elements which secure the antenna spring against detachment from the printed circuit board and / or the antenna. Such security elements can be, for example

Act barbs, teeth, locking elements or the like.

Further advantages result from the interaction between a specially designed printed circuit board and an antenna spring according to the invention. According to a particularly preferred embodiment, for example in the edge or in the area near the edge, the printed circuit board has a recess into which an antenna spring which is plugged onto the edge with a clamping element engages at least with one section. Such an arrangement of the clamping element in a recess or groove on the edge of the circuit board has the advantage that the antenna spring is inevitably secured against rotation. In the case of milled printed circuit boards, such a recess does not result in any additional costs.

Likewise, the circuit board can preferably have latching means which interact with the securing elements of the antenna spring. A particularly simple, inexpensive exemplary embodiment is simply snap-in recesses which are arranged in the printed circuit board at a predetermined distance from the edge of the printed circuit board. Corresponding barbs of the antenna spring engage in these latching recesses when the antenna spring is attached to the edge. This is a particularly good backup of the

Antenna spring given on the circuit board. In the simplest case, the latching recesses can be produced by a through hole through the circuit board.

An antenna circuit board of a PCB antenna can of course also be provided with these special advantageous configurations in order to attach the antenna spring to the antenna.

The invention is explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings using exemplary embodiments. The features shown there and the features already described above and below and in the claims can be essential to the invention not only in the combinations mentioned, but also individually or in other combinations. Show it: FIG. 1 shows a side view of an antenna spring according to the invention, which is plugged onto a printed circuit board, according to a first exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of an antenna spring according to FIG. 1 with additional barbs;

Figure 3 is a side view of an antenna spring according to Figure 2 with an additional recess in the circuit board;

Figure 4 is a side view of an antenna spring according to the invention according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows a side view of an antenna spring according to FIG. 4 with an additional clamping element for a PCB antenna;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the edge of a circuit board for attaching an antenna spring according to the invention;

FIG. 7 shows a side view of an antenna spring according to a third exemplary embodiment;

Figure 8 shows a section through an antenna spring according to Figure 7 along the section line A-A.

The drawings essentially show two basic types of the antenna spring according to the invention. Figures 1 to 5 show the first basic type, in which the antenna spring 10 is designed so that it is plugged onto an edge 2 of a circuit board 1. The second basic type is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in which the antenna spring 20 is inserted into a bore 8 in the printed circuit board 1. The same features of the antenna spring and the printed circuit board are provided with the same reference numbers in the figures. It is pointed out once again that these are merely exemplary embodiments, so that of course there are also other options for providing the antenna spring according to the invention with plug-in connection means for connecting the antenna spring to a printed circuit board or an antenna.

As FIG. 1 shows, the antenna spring 10 extends with a connecting section 11 relatively steeply upwards away from the surface 6 of the printed circuit board 1. At the end, the connecting section 11 is bent at a small angle to form the spring contact 13 toward the printed circuit board 1. When installed in the device, the antenna presses on the spring contact 13, the spring contact 13 lying on a contact pad of the antenna. The inclined resilient connecting section 11 ensures that the spring contact 13 always lies well against the contact pad of the antenna.

Unlike the conventional antenna springs, however, the connection section 11 is not on the underside

Printed circuit board 1 soldered, but here is an integrally formed clamping section 14. This clamping section 14 is C-shaped and dimensioned so that it can be pushed over an edge 2 of the circuit board 1 and is automatically held there due to the spring tension in the C-shaped clamping section. The circuit board 1 is provided at this position either on one side or on both sides with electrical contact surfaces 4, so that at the same time the contact from the antenna spring 10 to the sections 15 of the clamping section 14 pressing onto the circuit board 1

Printed circuit board 1 is given. This means that the clamping section 14 inherently contains suitable contact sections 15 due to its special shape, so that additional contacting of the antenna spring 10 with the printed circuit board 1 can be dispensed with. ⁾ ) M

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FIG. 4 again shows a relatively simple exemplary embodiment of an antenna spring 10, without further securing elements or barbs 16. This antenna spring 10 only has an oppositely directed spring contact 13 compared to the exemplary embodiments shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. That means that the distance between the Printed circuit board 1 and an antenna bridging connecting section 12 has the plugging direction R obliquely m and not, as in the examples in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, counter to the plugging direction R.

Another embodiment of this antenna spring 10 according to FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 5. Instead of the simple spring contact 13 at the upper end of the connecting section 12, there is a further C-shaped clamping section 17 which is clamped to the antenna circuit board 23 of a PCB antenna 3. In this embodiment, both the antenna 3 and the circuit board 1 are consequently firmly connected to the antenna spring 10.

A further possibility of additionally preventing the antenna spring 10 from rotating on the printed circuit board 1 is shown in FIG. Here there is a groove 5 on the edge 2 of the printed circuit board 1. Directly adjacent to the groove 5 there are electrical contact surfaces 4 on the upper and lower sides 6, 7 of the printed circuit board 1. The antenna spring 10 is pushed onto these electrical contact surfaces, see above that it lies with its part 2 of the clamping section 14 spanning the edge in the groove 5. In this area of the clamping section 14, the antenna spring 10 is preferably just as wide as the groove 5. A twisting of the antenna spring 10 on the printed circuit board 1 is then no longer possible.

The C-shaped configuration of the clamping section 14 has the additional advantage that this clamping section 14 can also be used with printed circuit boards of different thicknesses. In principle, a precise adaptation to the Printed circuit board thickness but also a U-shaped clamping section is sufficient, which, for example, is in turn secured with barbs or the like to prevent it from slipping off the edge of the printed circuit board.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show another basic type of an antenna spring 20 according to the invention. This antenna spring 20 also has a connecting section 11 which points obliquely upwards from the printed circuit board 1 and a spring contact 13 arranged thereon.

However, this antenna spring 20 is shaped in such a way that plug elements 21 are formed on the underside, with which the antenna spring 20 m a hole 8 m of the printed circuit board 1 is inserted. This antenna spring 20 is also made from a one-piece stamped and bent part.

In detail, the antenna spring 20 is designed such that a straight section 18, which runs parallel to the surface 6 of the printed circuit board 1, adjoins the connecting section 11 which points obliquely upward. On this straight section 18, sheet metal strips are arranged laterally transversely to the direction of extension of section 18, which are bent vertically downward to form the plug elements 21 and which are pushed through the opening 8 m of the printed circuit board 1. On the rear side 7 of the printed circuit board 1, these sections 21 are again bent obliquely upward in the direction of the rear side 7 of the printed circuit board 1 to form latching hooks 22. These locking or barbs 22 prevent the antenna spring 20 from being withdrawn from the bore 8 of the printed circuit board 1 against the insertion direction.

In order to ensure good contact between the antenna spring 20 and the contact surfaces 4 on the surface 6 of the printed circuit board 1, another is connected to the straight section 18 in the longitudinal direction of section 18 cυ) M) t- ¹ P ¹

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then there is the possibility, especially with multi-antenna concepts, to contact the various antennas at any point with the main board.

Since the antenna springs according to the invention can be produced in a simple manner from stamped and bent parts, this connection technique is also extremely inexpensive and very suitable for mass production.

Claims

claims

1. antenna spring (10, 20) for the electrical connection of a circuit board (1) to an antenna (3), characterized in that the antenna spring (10, 20)

Plug connector (14, 17, 21) for connecting the antenna spring (10, 20) to the circuit board (1) and / or the antenna (3).

2. Antenna spring according to claim 1, characterized in that the plug connection means (14, 17) comprise a clamping element (14, 17) for attaching the antenna spring to an edge (2) of the printed circuit board (1) and / or the antenna (3).

3. Antenna spring according to claim 2, characterized in that the clamping element (14, 17) has a U-shaped or C-shaped clamping section (14, 17) formed onto the antenna spring (10).

4. Antenna spring according to claim 1, characterized in that the plug connection means (21) comprise a plug element (21) for inserting the antenna spring (20) into a receiving opening (8) in the printed circuit board (1) and / or the antenna (3).

5. Antenna spring according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plug connection means (14, 21) have securing elements (16, 22) which prevent the antenna spring (10, 20) from being detached from the printed circuit board (1) and / or the antenna (3) secure.

6. Antenna spring according to claim 5, characterized in that the securing elements (16, 22) comprise barbs (16, 22).

7. Antenna spring according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the securing elements (16) cooperate with corresponding locking means (9) of the printed circuit board (1) and / or the antenna (3).

8. Antenna spring according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by a contact element (15, 19) which, in the assembled state, presses on a contact surface (4) of the printed circuit board (1) or antenna (3).

9. Antenna spring according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the antenna spring (10, 20) is bent in one piece from a blank.

10. Printed circuit board (1) with an antenna spring (10, 20) according to one of claims 1 to 9.

11. Printed circuit board according to claim 10, characterized in that the antenna spring (10) with a clamping element (14) on an edge (2) of the printed circuit board (1) is attached.

12. Printed circuit board according to claim 11, characterized by a recess (5) molded into the printed circuit board (1), into which the antenna spring (10) which is plugged onto the edge (2) with the clamping element (14) engages at least with one section.

13. Printed circuit board according to claim 10, characterized by a receiving opening (8) into which the antenna spring (20) with a plug element (21) is inserted.

14. Printed circuit board according to one of claims 10 to 13, characterized by latching means (9) which cooperate with securing elements (16) of the antenna spring (10) in order to secure the antenna spring against loosening from the circuit board (1).

15. Printed circuit board according to claim 11 and 14, characterized in that the latching means (9) of the circuit board (1) comprise latching recesses (9) which are at a predetermined distance from the edge (2) of the circuit board (1) in the circuit board ( 1) are arranged, and the

When the antenna spring (10) is attached to the edge (2) of the printed circuit board (1), the locking elements (16) of the antenna spring (10) engage in the locking recesses (9).

16. Printed circuit board (1) according to claim 13, characterized in that the securing elements (22) of the antenna spring (20) when inserting the plug element (21) of the antenna spring (20) into the receiving opening (8) of the circuit board (1), the circuit board ( 1) reach behind against the direction of insertion.

17. Antenna (3) with an antenna structure arranged on an antenna circuit board (23) and with one

Antenna spring according to one of claims 1 to 9.

18. Antenna (3) according to claim 17, characterized in that the antenna circuit board (23) has the features according to one of claims 11 to 16.

19. Device with a circuit board (1), with an antenna and with an antenna spring according to one of the preceding claims.

20. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that the device is a mobile phone.