Electronic Component

Abstract

The invention concerns an electronic component that comprises a printed circuit board stack with multiple printed circuit boards arranged one on top of the other and that is used, in particular, for model aircraft or commercially utilized unmanned aircraft. The printed circuit boards are held at a distance from one another by spacers. The fastening elements that are provided here are electrically conductive in design, and the printed circuit boards are connected to one another in an electrically conductive manner and also mechanically by these fastening elements.

Claims

1. An electronic component, in particular for a model aircraft or a commercially utilized unmanned aircraft, comprising a printed circuit board stack with at least two printed circuit boards arranged one on top of the other, wherein the printed circuit boards carry electrical or electronic components and electrically conductive connections in the form of conductive traces, wherein an electrical connection is also provided between the different printed circuit boards, wherein the printed circuit boards are held at a distance from one another by spacers and are connected to one another by fastening elements, characterized in that the fastening elements are electrically conductive in design, and the printed circuit boards are connected to one another in an electrically conductive manner and mechanically by the fastening elements.

2. The electronic component according to claim 1, characterized in that the printed circuit boards are positioned one on top of the other and are parallel in arrangement.

3. The electronic component according to claim 1, characterized in that the printed circuit boards have a round shape, an oval shape, or a polygonal shape, preferably a rectangular or square shape.

4. The electronic component according to claim 1, characterized in that the fastening elements reach through the printed circuit boards at openings provided for the electrical and mechanical connection, wherein preferably the openings in the printed circuit boards stacked one on top of the other are provided at the edge and are aligned with one another, namely form a through passage for one or more fastening elements.

5. The electronic component according to claim 1, characterized in that at least three openings are provided in each printed circuit board, and in the case of printed circuit boards with a polygonal shape the openings preferably are provided at the corners of the printed circuit board, wherein the conductive traces to be contacted of the different printed circuit boards extend to the openings or into the openings.

6. The electronic component according to claim 1, characterized in that an electrically conductive spacer, which is connected to the fastening element or is retained by the fastening element, is provided between two openings of adjacent printed circuit boards.

7. The electronic component according to claim 6, characterized in that one or more fastening elements, which include a shank inserted into the opening in question and the spacer arranged between the openings, are provided in a through passage.

8. The electronic component according to claim 7, characterized in that the fastening element has a shank that passes through the entire through passage and has a thread along its length, wherein the shank holds multiple electrically conductive nuts that function as spacers or as a terminating fastener.

9. The electronic component according to claim 7, characterized in that the fastening element has a shank that passes through the entire through passage, wherein multiple electrically conductive spacers are pushed onto the shank, and the shank has at its end a thread for connection with the nut functioning as a terminating fastener.

10. The electronic component according to claim 7, characterized in that the shank of each fastening element passes through only one opening, wherein this shank has a thread and is connected behind the opening to another fastening element or to a nut.

11. The electronic component according to claim 10, characterized in that fastening element also has, in addition to its shank, a head that functions as spacer, wherein the head has, on its side facing away from the shank, a receptacle for the shank of another fastening element.

12. The electronic component according to claim 1, characterized in that the topmost printed circuit board and/or the bottommost printed circuit board of the printed circuit board stack or an additionally provided base plate and/or an additionally provided cover plate is reinforced in design and can be connected mechanically and electrically by one of the fastening elements to the body of the aircraft.

13. The electronic component according to claim 2, characterized in that the printed circuit boards have a round shape, an oval shape, or a polygonal shape, preferably a rectangular or square shape.

14. The electronic component according to claim 2, characterized in that the fastening elements reach through the printed circuit boards at openings provided for the electrical and mechanical connection, wherein preferably the openings in the printed circuit boards stacked one on top of the other are provided at the edge and are aligned with one another, namely form a through passage for one or more fastening elements.

15. The electronic component according to claim 3, characterized in that the fastening elements reach through the printed circuit boards at openings provided for the electrical and mechanical connection, wherein preferably the openings in the printed circuit boards stacked one on top of the other are provided at the edge and are aligned with one another, namely form a through passage for one or more fastening elements.

16. The electronic component according to claim 2, characterized in that at least three openings are provided in each printed circuit board, and in the case of printed circuit boards with a polygonal shape the openings preferably are provided at the corners of the printed circuit board, wherein the conductive traces to be contacted of the different printed circuit boards extend to the openings or into the openings.

17. The electronic component according to claim 2, characterized in that an electrically conductive spacer, which is connected to the fastening element or is retained by the fastening element, is provided between two openings of adjacent printed circuit boards.

18. The electronic component according to claim 3, characterized in that an electrically conductive spacer, which is connected to the fastening element or is retained by the fastening element, is provided between two openings of adjacent printed circuit boards.

19. The electronic component according to claim 2, characterized in that the topmost printed circuit board and/or the bottommost printed circuit board of the printed circuit board stack or an additionally provided base plate and/or an additionally provided cover plate is reinforced in design and can be connected mechanically and electrically by one of the fastening elements to the body of the aircraft.

20. The electronic component according to claim 3, characterized in that the topmost printed circuit board and/or the bottommost printed circuit board of the printed circuit board stack or an additionally provided base plate and/or an additionally provided cover plate is reinforced in design and can be connected mechanically and electrically by one of the fastening elements to the body of the aircraft.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The invention is explained below with exemplary embodiments with the aid of the drawings. Shown are:

[0017] FIG. 1 a perspective view of an electronic component according to the invention;

[0018] FIG. 2 a simplified perspective representation of another electronic component;

[0019] FIG. 3a fastening elements for an electronic component;

[0020] FIG. 3b another fastening element for an electronic component;

[0021] FIG. 3c another fastening element for an electronic component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022] Shown in FIG. 1 is an electronic component, namely a printed circuit board stack 1 with four printed circuit boards 10. Each printed circuit board is equipped with multiple electronic components 11 that are supplied with electric power through electrically conductive connections. These conductive traces 12 are arranged substantially on the underside in this embodiment shown in FIG. 1. Each printed circuit board 10 here consists of a square, insulating support that carries the electronic components 11. Provided at each corner of the printed circuit board stack 1 is a fastening element 20 for electrically conductive and mechanical connection, namely, a bolt shown in FIG. 3b, which bolts are inserted from below through openings 13, 14, 15, 16 in the printed circuit boards 10, which are more clearly visible in FIG. 2, and are coupled to nuts 26 at the top to form a sturdy threaded connection. For a multi-layer printed circuit board stack 1 of this nature, spacers 25 are arranged between the individual printed circuit boards 10. These spacers are advantageously connected to the fastening element 20. In this case, they are nuts that are screwed onto the shank 21, which has a thread 24. The fastening element 20, which includes the spacers 25, advantageously ensures a mechanical fastening and a simultaneous carrying of current from one printed circuit board 10 to the next printed circuit board 10. As is evident from FIG. 1, the printed circuit board stack 1 is a compact, extremely robust unit that does not permit any deformation, even in the event of a crash of a model aircraft.

[0023] Additional fastening elements 20 that can be used in the exemplary embodiment from FIG. 1 are shown in FIG. 3a and FIG. 3c. The fastening element 20 in FIG. 3c is a bolt that has a thread 24 only in the lower region, namely, for connection with the terminating nut 26. In this case, the ring-shaped spacers 25 are merely pushed onto the shaft 21 of the fastening element 20. However, they are firmly pressed against the individual printed circuit boards by the threaded connection with the nut 26, and exert an adequate contact pressure on the conductive traces 12 that extend to the opening 13, 14, 15, 16, thereby ensuring a good electrical connection.

[0024] According to FIG. 3a, fastening is also possible by means of multiple bolt-like fastening elements 20 that can be screwed into one another. Each bolt element 20 has a shank 21 with a thread 24 and a bolt head 22. The thread 24 is not shown in FIG. 2. In the example from FIG. 2, the shank 21 is inserted from below into an opening 13, 14, 15, 16 until the head 22 rests against the underside of the printed circuit board 10. The bolt head 22 can be flat in design in the bottom-most fastening element 20 in order to achieve a space-saving, compact unit. In the rest of the fastening elements 20, the bolt head 22 represents the spacer 25. After it is inserted through the first opening 13, 14, 15, 16, the shank 21 of the bottom-most fastening element 20 is connected to the next bolt-like fastening element 20 located above it. For this purpose, the fastening element 20 preferably has a threaded receptacle in the bolt thread 22. This fastening element 20 is inserted through the next opening 13, 14, 15, 16 in the same manner and connected to the next fastening element 20. In this way, the bottom-most base plate 17 is connected to the printed circuit board 10 located above it, and correspondingly to the other identically designed square printed circuit boards 10, which have openings 13, 14, 15, 16 at the same points, namely, in the corners. Above the cover plate, the top-most fastening elements 20 are each coupled to a nut 26, and, in this way, a sturdy mechanical connection is achieved. In advantageous fashion, the openings 13, 14, 15, 16 are provided at the same point in all printed circuit boards 10 of the same size and shape so that when the printed circuit boards are arranged one on top of the other prior to assembly, these openings align and form a through channel for the fastening elements 20.

[0025] For the electrical supply to this printed circuit board stack 1 in this exemplary embodiment from FIG. 2, solely one fastening element 20 is used, which in this case has a longer shank 21, thereby allowing a connection with the structure of the aircraft. The electrical connection to the power supply is ensured by means of this fastening element 20. The fastening element 20which is electrically conductive in designreaches through the opening 14 and is mechanically and electrically connected to another fastening element 20. This fastening element 20 has a bolt head 22 that is larger than the diameter of the opening 14 and can in this way make contact by means of its electrically conductive head 22 with the conductive traces 12 on the base plate 17, which leads to the opening 13 as shown. In the same manner, it is also possible to provide, on this base plate 17, conductive traces 12 to the other fastening elements 20 that reach through the openings 13, 15, 16, in order to supply electrical energy through all fastening elements 20. For reasons of better clarity, the electrical and electronic components 11 are omitted on the other printed circuit boards 10 in FIG. 2. Owing to the mechanical connection of the base plate 17 to the printed circuit boards 10 located above it, an electrical connection to the conductive traces 12 located on these printed circuit boards 10 is also achieved, these conductive traces in this case extending up to the openings 13, 14. In the event that the base plate 17 has conductive traces 12 which also contact the fastening elements 20 that reach through the openings 15, 16, then the electrical connection with the other printed circuit boards 10 can also be ensured through these fastening elements 20.

[0026] In addition, it is evident from FIG. 2 that the heads 22 of the fastening elements 20 advantageously serve as spacers 25. Serving in each case as a terminating fastener is a nut 26, which is provided above the top-most printed circuit board 10. The bottom-most plate, the base plate 17, is reinforced to make for a sturdy unit and, in this example from FIG. 2, has only the conductive traces 12. The printed circuit board stack 1 is mechanically connected to the aircraft body and electrically connected to the power supply by this reinforced base plate 17 and the fastening element 20. However, a reinforced printed circuit board 10 can also be provided as the base plate 17, as shown in FIG. 1.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0027] 1 component, printed circuit board stack [0028] 10 printed circuit board [0029] 11 electrical components [0030] 12 conductive traces [0031] 13 opening [0032] 14 opening [0033] 15 opening [0034] 16 opening [0035] 17 base plate [0036] 20, 20 fastening element [0037] 21 shank [0038] 22 bolt head [0039] 24 thread [0040] 25 spacer [0041] 26 nut