Method for producing a printed circuit board-cooling body structure

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a printed circuit board—cooling body structure and such a printed circuit board—cooling body structure, in particular for arrangement in a lighting device of a vehicle, the method comprising at least the following steps: providing a base plate; coating a carrier side of the base plate with an insulation layer and/or with a solder resist; fitting the carrier side with at least one electronic component and applying cooling rib bodies to a cooling side of the base plate opposite the carrier side.

Claims

1. A method for producing a printed circuit board cooling body structure for arrangement in a lighting device of a vehicle, the method comprising: providing a base plate; coating a carrier side of the base plate with an insulation layer and/or with a solder resist; fitting the carrier side of the base plate with at least one electronic component; and attaching cooling rib bodies to a cooling side of the base plate located opposite the carrier side, wherein the cooling rib bodies are attached to the cooling side of the base plate by rivet connections, and wherein, to generate the rivet connections, portions of the insulation layer and/or the solder resist are removed from the carrier side of the base plate, such that rivet areas are created.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, after creating the rivet areas, clinching areas are created in the rivet areas via clinching the based plate in a clinching direction to generate projections that project from the cooling side of the base plate.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the projections are first passed through openings formed in base regions of the cooling rib bodies and the rivet connections are created by axial upsetting of the projections against the clinching direction.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the base plate is provided from a metallic material and/or from an aluminum material and/or that the base plate has a thickness of at least 1 mm to 5 mm.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the base plate is provided in a composite with another base plate in a panel.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, after the removal of the portions of the insulation layer and/or the solder resist from the carrier side of the base plate and/or after the fitting of the carrier side with at least one electronic component, the base plate is removed from the panel.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rivet areas are created via deep milling on the carrier side of the base plate, in which the portions of the insulation layer and/or the solder resist are locally removed.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention, and wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a panel comprising several base plates,

(3) FIG. 2 is a sectional view A-A according to FIG. 1,

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a panel having several base plates, on which further work steps have already been carried out,

(5) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view B-B according to FIG. 3,

(6) FIG. 5 is an isolated base plate in a perspective view,

(7) FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view C-C according to FIG. 5,

(8) FIG. 7 is a detailed view of a rivet area of the base plate with a generated projection on a cooling side,

(9) FIG. 8 is a view of the base plate with the rivet areas, in which several rivet connections are prepared,

(10) FIG. 9 is a detailed view of the base plate with the printed circuit board applied on the top side and the cooling rib body arranged on the underside and a finished riveted connection for connecting the cooling rib body to the base plate, and

(11) FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a printed circuit board—cooling body structure having a circuit board and having a cooling body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(12) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a panel 5, which receives six base plates 10, for example. The base plates 10 serve as a base plate for a cooling body and at the same time as a carrier substrate of a printed circuit board for the application of a corresponding structure on a carrier side 11, which is shown pointing upwards.

(13) FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view according to the cross-sectional profile A-A, as shown in FIG. 1. The base plate 10 has a carrier side 11, to which an insulation layer 12 and a solder resist 13 are applied. On the carrier side 11 there are also conductor tracks 23 which rest on the insulation layer 12 when the solder resist 13 is removed.

(14) FIG. 3 shows a further perspective view of the plurality of base plates 10 in the composite of a panel 5, wherein rivet areas 18 have been generated laterally to the arrangement of the electronic components 14 on the support side 11. The rivet areas 18 were produced by deep milling the carrier side 11, as a result of which at least the insulation layer and the solder resist were removed, as shown in cross section in FIG. 4.

(15) FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view according to the cross-sectional profile B-B, and the rivet area 18 in which the insulation layer 12 and the solder resist 13 have been removed is shown on the carrier side 11 of the base plate 10. The coatings on the carrier side 11 are removed by deep milling, wherein the conductor tracks 23 and, for example, an electronic component 14 have already been applied to the carrier side 11.

(16) FIG. 5 shows an isolated base plate 10 with the method steps performed according to the previous figures, so that the rivet areas 18, in which the insulation layer 12 and the solder resist were removed, were generated by deep milling and wherein on the carrier side 11 the conductor track 23 and the electronic components 14 are already applied.

(17) FIG. 6 shows a detailed view of the section C-C according to FIG. 5. Analogously to FIG. 4, the rivet area 18 is shown, in which the insulation layer 12 and the solder resist 13 have been removed on the carrier side 11 of the base plate 10. The conductor track 23 and the electronic component 14 have already been applied to the carrier side 11. Here, the base plate 10 is in an isolated state, as shown in FIG. 5, in order to be fed to a subsequent process.

(18) Further to FIG. 6, FIG. 7 shows the base plate 10 with the rivet area 18, in which the insulation layer 12 and the solder resist 13 have been removed, with the conductor tracks 23 and the electronic component 14 already being applied. Clinching has been carried out in the rivet area 18, which was performed in a clinching direction 20. This creates a projection 19 on the cooling side 16 of the base plate 10, which can serve for the later production of a riveted connection. In order to enable clinching in the clinching direction 20 without influencing the insulation layer 12 and the solder resist 13, the rivet areas 18 have been produced by deep milling.

(19) FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of the base plate 10 with conductor tracks 23 and electronic components 14 applied to the support side 11, as well as the rivet areas 18 in which the plurality of rivet connections 17 are prepared. By means of the through-printing, the projections 19 are formed on the underside so that corresponding recesses are formed on the carrier side 11. The rivet areas 18 can be seen because the insulation layer 12 and the solder resist 13 have been removed, whereby it cannot be ruled out that the thickness of the base plate 10, for example made of aluminum or copper, is slightly reduced in the rivet areas 18 by the deep milling.

(20) FIG. 9 shows a detailed view of the base plate 10 with the conductor tracks 23 and the electronic components 14 applied to the carrier side 11, as well as with the insulation layer 12 and the solder resist 13, which are removed in the rivet area 18. The projection 19 has been upset against the clinching direction shown in FIG. 7, after the projection 19 has been passed through an opening 21 in a base region 22 of a cooling rib body. The base region 22 is an angled area of the lamellar cooling rib body 15, which projects perpendicularly from the cooling side 16. The base region 22 can thus lie flat over its width against the cooling side 16 of the base plate 10. Due to the generated rivet connection 17, which can be done multiple times and is shown only once, a firm and heat-conducting connection between the base plate 10 and the cooling rib body 15 is created. The structure now shows a cooling body 2 and a printed circuit board 3 with the components applied to the carrier side 11, and on the opposite side 16, the same base plate 10 comprises the cooling rib bodies 15.

(21) This structure is shown again in a perspective view in FIG. 10, indicating a printed circuit board—cooling body structure 100 having a single, in particular metallic base plate 10. The cooling body 2 consists of the base plate 10 and the cooling rib bodies 15, and the circuit board 3 likewise comprises the base plate 10 and at least the conductor tracks 23 and the electronic components 14. In the rivet areas 18, the plurality of rivet connections 17 are produced which do not further impair the electrical function of the electronic components 14 arranged on the printed circuit board.

(22) The result is a printed circuit board—cooling body structure 100 having electronic components 14, which are applied directly or via their conductor tracks 23 directly to the insulation layer 12 of the, in particular, metallic base plate 10. Since the cooling rib bodies 15 are arranged directly on the same base plate 10, minimal heat transfer barriers are created from the electronic component 14 to be cooled into the cooling rib bodies 15.

(23) The embodiment of the invention is not limited to the preferred exemplary embodiment described above. Rather, a number of variants are conceivable which make use of the solution provided, even in the case of fundamentally different embodiments. All of the features and/or advantages resulting from the claims, the description or the drawings, including structural details, spatial arrangements and method steps, can be essential to the invention both individually as well as in a wide variety of combinations.

(24) The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims.