KR102780992B1 - Method of manufacturing a circuit board, the circuit board manufactured thereby, electric vehicle having the circuit board - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention proposes a method for manufacturing a circuit board, comprising: a process of forming a main board substrate and a sub board substrate respectively on a single base substrate; a process of cutting the main board substrate and the sub board substrate and separating them from the base substrate; and a process of mounting a plurality of first components on the main board substrate to manufacture a main board and mounting a plurality of second components on the sub board substrate to manufacture a sub board.

Description

Method of manufacturing a circuit board, the circuit board manufactured thereby, and electric vehicle having the circuit board

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a circuit board, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a circuit board for manufacturing a circuit board for a main board and a circuit board for a sub board from a single base substrate.

Secondary cells that can be recharged, or batteries, are used as energy sources for mobile devices such as smartphones. In addition, batteries are also used as energy sources for electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, which are being proposed as a solution to air pollution caused by gasoline and diesel vehicles that use fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, batteries are also being used as an energy source for e-mobility, which is gaining attention these days as demand for a healthy lifestyle increases. E-mobility is a general term for personal transportation for 1-2 people that is eco-friendly and powered by electricity, and includes various types of light electric vehicles, including upright transportation vehicles such as electric kickboards, electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, and micro electric vehicles (three-wheeled vehicles).

Accordingly, the types of applications that use batteries, including electric vehicles (EVs) and light electric vehicles (LEVs), are becoming increasingly diverse due to the advantages of batteries, and it is expected that batteries will be applied to more fields and products in the future than now.

Electric vehicles, including light electric vehicles powered by batteries (hereinafter collectively referred to as "electric vehicles"), must be equipped with a battery management system (BMS) to control the operation of the battery. In addition, a controller, etc. for controlling the electric vehicle, such as driving and controlling the motor, must be equipped. At this time, the controller, etc. for driving the motor and the BMS, etc. for managing the battery are mounted on different boards. That is, the electric vehicle has a main board on which the controller, etc. for controlling the motor is mounted, and a sub board on which the BMS, etc. for managing the battery is mounted. Each of the main board and the sub board can use a printed circuit board (PCB) on which a circuit pattern is printed. That is, the main board has the controller, etc. mounted on the printed circuit board, and the sub board has the BMS, etc. mounted on the printed circuit board. In addition, the main board and the sub board have different sizes, and generally, the size of the main board is larger than the size of the sub board.

In order to manufacture such main boards and sub boards, conventionally, main board substrates and sub board substrates are manufactured separately. That is, main board substrates are manufactured on a first base substrate, and sub board substrates are manufactured on a second base substrate. At this time, since the first and second base substrates have the same size, and the main board substrate has a larger size than the sub board substrate, the main board substrates and sub board substrates are manufactured in different numbers. For example, two main board substrates can be manufactured on the first base substrate, and 20 sub board substrates can be manufactured on the second base substrate. That is, smaller sub board substrates are manufactured in larger numbers than larger main board substrates.

However, since the main board and sub board are used 1:1 in electric vehicles, more sub board boards are produced than main board boards. Therefore, many unnecessary sub board boards are produced, making it difficult to manage the quantity of main board boards and sub board boards. In other words, more sub board boards are produced unnecessarily than main board boards, which may result in waste of base boards.

Korean Patent No. 10-1726751 Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1971654

The present invention provides a circuit board manufacturing method that can facilitate quantity management of a main board substrate and a sub board substrate.

The present invention provides a circuit board manufacturing method for manufacturing a main board substrate and a sub board substrate in the same number on the same base substrate.

The present invention provides a circuit board manufactured by a circuit board manufacturing method for manufacturing a main board substrate and a sub board substrate in the same number on the same base substrate, and an electric vehicle that uses such a circuit board as a main board and a sub board.

A method for manufacturing a circuit board according to one aspect of the present invention includes: a process of forming a main board substrate and a sub board substrate respectively on a single base substrate; a process of cutting the main board substrate and the sub board substrate and separating them from the base substrate; and a process of mounting a plurality of first components on the main board substrate to manufacture a main board and mounting a plurality of second components on the sub board substrate to manufacture a sub board.

The above base substrate includes a printed circuit board on which the substrate for the main board and the substrate for the sub board have the same number of layers and different circuit patterns are printed.

The substrate for the main board and the substrate for the sub board are formed in the same number on the base substrate.

The substrate for the above main board has a larger size than the substrate for the above sub board.

The first component includes a plurality of components for driving and controlling the electric vehicle, and the second component includes a plurality of components for battery management.

It further includes a process of forming a protective layer on the main board and sub board.

A circuit board according to another aspect of the present invention is a circuit board manufactured by a manufacturing method according to one aspect of the present invention, comprising: a main board having a plurality of first components mounted on a main board substrate; and a sub board having a plurality of second components mounted on a sub board substrate.

It further includes a protective layer formed on the main board and sub board.

The above protective layer is formed with the same thickness on the main board and sub board.

The above protective layer is formed with different thicknesses on the main board and sub board.

The above protective layer is formed with a uniform thickness along the steps.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an electric vehicle includes a battery for providing electric energy, a BMS for managing the battery, a controller for controlling a state of the electric vehicle, and a motor for driving the electric vehicle, wherein the BMS is mounted on a substrate for a sub-board manufactured according to one aspect of the present invention, and the controller is mounted on a main board manufactured according to one aspect of the present invention.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a main board substrate and a sub board substrate having different sizes are respectively formed on the same base substrate. That is, in the present invention, the main board substrate and the sub board substrate can be formed in the same number on one base substrate. Since the main board substrate and the sub board substrate are formed simultaneously on the same base substrate, it is possible to easily manage the quantity of the sub board substrates compared to the prior art. That is, in the past, by respectively forming the main board substrate and the sub board substrate on different base substrates, an excessively large number of small-sized sub board substrates were produced, resulting in waste of the base substrate, but in the present invention, the base substrate is not wasted, and thus the production cost can be saved.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for manufacturing a circuit board according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a planar schematic diagram of a method for manufacturing a circuit board according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electric vehicle that uses a circuit board manufactured by a method for manufacturing a circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention as a main board and a sub board.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in various different forms, and these embodiments are provided only to ensure that the disclosure of the present invention is complete, and to fully inform a person having ordinary skill in the art of the scope of the invention. In the drawings, the thickness is enlarged to clearly express various layers and each region, and the same reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same elements.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining a method for manufacturing a circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention. In addition, FIG. 2 is a planar schematic diagram of a method for manufacturing a circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a planar diagram of a base substrate on which a main board substrate and a sub board substrate are formed.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a method for manufacturing a circuit board according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a process (S110) of forming a main board substrate (110) and a sub board substrate (120) on a base substrate (100), a process (S120) of cutting the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120), and a process (S130) of mounting a controller for driving and controlling an electric vehicle on the main board substrate (110) to manufacture a main board and mounting a BMS for battery management and control on the sub board substrate (120) to manufacture a sub board. That is, while the main board substrate and the sub board substrate were manufactured on different first and second base substrates in the past, the present invention manufactures the main board substrate and the sub board substrate on the same base substrate. In addition, the method may further include a process (S140) of forming a protective layer to waterproof-coat the main board and the sub board. A method for manufacturing a circuit board according to one embodiment of the present invention is described in detail step by step as follows.

S110: First, the base substrate (100) may include a printed circuit board (PCB) having a circuit pattern formed on an insulating layer. The printed circuit board is generally formed by attaching a copper foil to the surface of a phenol resin insulating layer or an epoxy resin insulating layer, and then etching the copper foil according to a predetermined pattern to form a required circuit pattern. Such a printed circuit board may be used as the base substrate (100). Meanwhile, the printed circuit board may use a single-sided substrate, a double-sided substrate, a multi-layer substrate, etc. depending on the number of circuit layers and insulating layers. The more layers there are, the better the mounting force of electronic components is, and since it is used for high-precision products, the number of layers may be selected depending on the number and integration degree of components mounted on the printed circuit board.

The base substrate (100) according to the present invention may each include at least one main board substrate (110) and one sub board substrate (120). That is, the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) may be formed simultaneously on a single base substrate (100). A predetermined circuit pattern for use as a main board and a sub board may be printed on the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120). That is, a plurality of components including a controller for driving a motor and controlling an electric vehicle may be mounted on the main board substrate (110), and a circuit pattern for mutual connection and external connection of each component may be formed. In addition, a plurality of components including a BMS for managing a battery may be mounted on the sub board substrate (120), and a circuit pattern for mutual connection of each component and external connection with a battery may be formed. The substrate (110) for the main board and the substrate (120) for the sub board may differ from each other in the shape of the circuit pattern, the spacing between the circuit patterns, etc. However, since the substrate (110) for the main board and the substrate (120) for the sub board are manufactured on the same base substrate (100), the substrate (110) for the main board and the substrate (120) for the sub board have the same number of layers.

The main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) may be formed in the same number on the same base substrate (100). For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) may be formed in two pieces each on the base substrate (100). At this time, the number of the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) implemented on the base substrate (100) may vary depending on the size of the base substrate (100), the sizes of the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120), etc. However, the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) may be formed in the same number on the same base substrate (100). However, depending on the characteristics of the electric vehicle, etc., the sub board may be mounted in a greater number than the main board. For example, the BMS and the charge/discharge protection circuit may be separated and mounted on different sub-boards, and accordingly, one main board and two or more sub-boards may be required. Accordingly, as needed, the number of sub-board substrates (120) may be formed on one base substrate (100) twice as many as the number of main board substrates (110). That is, the number of main board substrates (110) and sub-board substrates (120) corresponding to the number mounted on the electric vehicle may be formed on the base substrate (100).

At this time, the substrate for the main board (110) and the substrate for the sub board (120) have different sizes, and the substrate for the main board (110) has a larger size than the substrate for the sub board (120). The substrate for the main board (110) and the substrate for the sub board (120) can be manufactured at various ratios depending on the type of electric vehicle including the light electric vehicle to which it is applied, the number and density of components mounted on the circuit board, etc. The substrate for the main board (110) and the substrate for the sub board (120) can have a ratio of 2:1 to 5:1 in width and 2:1 to 10:1 in height, for example, can have a ratio of 2:1 in width and 5:1 in height. That is, the horizontal length of the substrate (110) for the main board is 2 to 5 times longer than the horizontal length of the substrate (120) for the sub board, and the vertical length of the substrate (110) for the main board is 2 to 10 times longer than the vertical length of the substrate (120) for the sub board. In addition, the substrate (110) for the main board and the substrate (120) for the sub board may have an area ratio of 4:1 to 50:1, for example, an area ratio of 10:1. That is, the area of the substrate (110) for the main board is 4 to 50 times larger than the area of the substrate (120) for the sub board.

Meanwhile, the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) on the base substrate (100) may be arranged in various forms. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, two main board substrates (110) may be formed in a vertical direction, and two sub board substrates (120) may be positioned horizontally between the two main board substrates (110). As another example, two main board substrates (110) may be arranged adjacent to each other on the upper side, and two sub board substrates (120) may be arranged adjacent to each other on the lower side. The arrangement shape may be arranged in an appropriate form so as to minimize the wasted portion of the base substrate (100).

S120: The main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) formed on a single base substrate (100) and each having a circuit pattern printed thereon can be cut along the cutting lines (111, 121). That is, the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) are divided on the base substrate (100) using the cutting lines (111, 121) as boundaries, and the circuit patterns can be formed inside the cutting lines (111, 121). By cutting the base substrate (100) along the cutting lines (111, 121), the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) can be separated from the base substrate (100), respectively.

S130: Then, at least one component for driving and controlling an electric vehicle is mounted on the substrate for the main board (110). For example, a controller as well as passive components such as capacitors, inductors, and resistors are mounted on the substrate for the main board (110). By mounting the controller and passive components on the substrate for the main board (110) in this way, a main board can be manufactured. Then, at least one component for managing a battery is mounted on the substrate for the sub board (110). For example, a battery management system (BMS), a charge/discharge protection circuit, and passive components such as capacitors, inductors, and resistors are mounted on the substrate for the sub board (120). By mounting the BMS, the charge/discharge protection circuit, and passive components on the substrate for the sub board (120) in this way, a sub board can be manufactured.

S140: Optionally, at least one component is mounted on the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) respectively, and a protective layer is formed on the main board and the sub board, and the main board and the sub board on which the protective layer is formed are dried. That is, the circuit boards forming the main board and the sub board electrically connect the components mounted thereon using a conductive material to form a circuit, and the circuit patterns formed on these circuit boards generally have narrow gaps between them, so that even slight moisture or heat may cause them to conduct electricity with each other, which frequently damages the circuit boards. Therefore, it is generally desirable to always keep the circuit boards dry. Therefore, a protective layer is formed on the main board and the sub board. The protective layer may include a polymer coating material such as silicone, acrylic, epoxy, urethane, fluoropolymer, polyolefin, rubber, polyethylene rubber copolymer, or other appropriate polymers or combinations thereof. This protective layer may be formed to a predetermined thickness using spraying, spin coating, vapor deposition, etc. Meanwhile, depending on the components mounted on the circuit board and the gaps between the components, the main board and the sub board have a predetermined step difference. At this time, the protective layer may be formed so as to fill the step difference. In addition, the protective layer may be formed with a uniform thickness along the step difference. That is, the protective layer may be formed with the same thickness on the upper part of the circuit board, the side surface, and the upper surface of the component. However, the protective layer may be formed with a different thickness in at least one area from the other areas. That is, the protective layer may be formed thicker or thinner in at least one area than in the other areas. And, the protective layer may be dried using at least one method of hot air drying and high-temperature drying. Meanwhile, the protective layer may be formed with the same thickness on the main board and the sub board, or may be formed with different thicknesses. That is, the thickness of the protective layer formed on the main board may be different from the thickness of the protective layer formed on the sub board.

As described above, in one embodiment of the present invention, a main board substrate (110) and a sub board substrate (120) having different sizes are respectively formed on the same base substrate (100). That is, the present invention can form the same number of main board substrates (110) and sub board substrates (120) on one base substrate (100). At this time, the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) may have different circuit patterns formed thereon depending on the components mounted thereon, and may be cut along cutting lines (111, 121). In the present invention, since the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) are simultaneously formed on the same base substrate (100), it is easy to manage the quantity of the sub board substrate (120) compared to the prior art. That is, in the past, by forming the main board substrate (110) and the sub board substrate (120) on different base substrates (100), more small-sized sub board substrates (120) were produced than necessary, resulting in waste of the base substrate (100). However, in the present invention, the base substrate (100) is not wasted, and thus the production cost can be reduced.

The main board and sub board manufactured as described above can be used in electric vehicles including light electric vehicles that drive a motor using a battery as a power source and transmit the driving power of the motor to the wheels to drive the wheels. An example of an electric vehicle equipped with the main board and sub board manufactured according to the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 3.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an electric vehicle equipped with a main board and sub-board manufactured according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, an electric vehicle according to the present invention may include a battery (210) that provides electric energy, a BMS (220) that manages the battery (210), a controller (230) that controls the state of the electric vehicle, an inverter (240) that converts power of the battery (210), and a motor (250) that drives the electric vehicle. Here, the BMS (220) is mounted on a substrate for a sub-board (120) of the present invention to form a sub-board, and the controller (230) is mounted on a substrate for a main board (110) of the present invention to form a main board.

The battery (210) is an electric energy source that provides driving force to the motor (250) to drive the electric vehicle. The battery (210) is managed by the BMS (220) and can be charged by an external power source. Here, the battery (210) may include at least one battery pack, and each of the at least one battery packs may include a plurality of battery modules, and the battery modules may include a plurality of battery cells that are rechargeable and dischargeable. The plurality of battery modules may be connected in series and/or in parallel in various ways to meet the specifications of the vehicle or the battery pack, and the plurality of battery cells may also be connected in series and/or in parallel. Here, the type of the battery cell is not particularly limited, and may be composed of, for example, a lithium ion battery, a lithium polymer battery, a nickel cadmium battery, a nickel hydrogen battery, a nickel zinc battery, etc.

The BMS (220) estimates the state of the battery (210) and manages the battery (210) using the estimated state information. For example, it estimates and manages battery (210) state information such as the SOC, the life (State of Health; SOH), the maximum input/output power allowance, and the output voltage of the battery (210). Then, it controls the charging or discharging of the battery (210) using the state information. The BMS (220) according to the present invention includes a SOC estimation device for estimating the SOC of the battery. In addition, the BMS (220) controls cell balancing for balancing the state of charge of each battery cell. That is, a battery cell having a relatively high state of charge can be discharged and a battery cell having a relatively low state of charge can be charged. Meanwhile, in order to manage the battery (210) using the BMS (220), a sensing unit for sensing the state of the battery (210) may be further included. The sensing unit may include a current sensor for sensing the current of the battery (210), a voltage sensor for sensing the voltage, and a temperature sensor for sensing the temperature. At this time, at least one current sensor, one voltage sensor, and one temperature sensor may be provided. This BMS (220) is mounted on a sub-circuit board (120) to form a sub-board. That is, a plurality of components for SOC estimation, a plurality of components for cell balancing, a plurality of components forming the sensing unit, and other passive components may be mounted on the sub-circuit board (120) to form a sub-board. Meanwhile, although not shown, a charge/discharge protection circuit for controlling the charging/discharging of the battery (210) to protect the battery (210) may be further provided. That is, the charge/discharge protection circuit may be mounted on the sub-circuit board (120) as a separate component from the BMS (220).

The controller (230) is an electronic control device that controls the state of the electric vehicle. For example, it determines the torque level based on information such as an accelerator, a brake, and a speed, and controls the output of the motor (250) to match the torque information. In addition, the ECU (230) allows the battery (210) to be charged or discharged based on state information such as the SOC and SOH of the battery (210) transmitted by the BMS (220). For example, if the SOC transmitted from the BMS (220) is 55% or less, the charge/discharge switch is controlled so that power is output toward the battery (210) to charge the battery (210), and if the SOC is 55% or more, the charge/discharge switch is controlled so that power is output toward the motor (250) to discharge the battery (210). This controller (230) is mounted on the main circuit board (110) to form a main board. In addition to the controller (230), communication components for transmitting and receiving signals with components that constitute the electric vehicle and for transmitting and receiving signals with the battery (210) and BMS (220) may be mounted on the main circuit board (110) to form a main board.

The inverter (240) drives the motor (250) to enable driving of the electric vehicle based on the control signal of the controller (230).

The motor (250) drives the electric vehicle based on control information (e.g., torque information) transmitted from the controller (230) using the electric energy of the battery (210).

Although the technical idea of the present invention as described above has been specifically described according to the above embodiments, it should be noted that the above embodiments are for the purpose of explanation and not for the purpose of limitation. In addition, those skilled in the art will be able to understand that various embodiments are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

100: Base board 110: Main board board
120 : Sub board board

Claims (12)

A process of forming an equal number of main board substrates and sub board substrates, each having a predetermined circuit pattern printed thereon for use as a main board and sub board on a single base substrate;
A process of cutting and separating the substrate for the main board and the substrate for the sub board from the base substrate; and
A board manufacturing process comprising: manufacturing a main board by mounting a plurality of first components on a substrate for the main board; and manufacturing a sub board by mounting a plurality of second components on a substrate for the sub board;
The first component includes a plurality of components for driving and controlling an electric vehicle, and the second component includes a plurality of components for battery management.
A method for manufacturing a circuit board, wherein a predetermined circuit pattern for use as the main board and sub board is a circuit pattern for interconnecting the first components and the second components or for external connection, respectively.
A method for manufacturing a circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the base substrate includes a printed circuit board in which the main board substrate and the sub board substrate have the same number of layers and different circuit patterns are printed.
delete A method for manufacturing a circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the substrate for the main board has a larger size than the substrate for the sub board.
A process of forming a main board substrate and a sub board substrate on a single base substrate, each having a predetermined circuit pattern printed thereon for use as a main board and a sub board, and forming the number of sub board substrates twice that of the main board substrate;
A process of cutting and separating the substrate for the main board and the substrate for the sub board from the base substrate; and
The method comprises the steps of: manufacturing a main board by mounting a plurality of first components for driving and controlling an electric vehicle on the main board substrate; and manufacturing a sub board by separately mounting, on different sub board substrates, a BMS and a charge/discharge protection circuit among the second components for battery management;
A method for manufacturing a circuit board, wherein a predetermined circuit pattern for use as the main board and sub board is a circuit pattern for interconnecting the first components and the second components or for external connection, respectively.
In claim 1 or 5,
Further comprising a process of forming a protective layer on the main board and sub board,
The above protective layer is,
A method for manufacturing a circuit board, wherein a predetermined step created by the gap between components mounted on the main board and the sub board is filled in.
A circuit board manufactured by the manufacturing method of any one of claims 1 or 5,
A circuit board including a main board having a plurality of first components mounted on a substrate for a main board, and a sub board having a plurality of second components mounted on a substrate for a sub board.
A circuit board according to claim 7, further comprising a protective layer formed on the main board and the sub board.
In claim 8, the protective layer is a circuit board formed with the same thickness on the main board and the sub board.
In claim 8, the protective layer is a circuit board formed with different thicknesses on the main board and the sub board.
A circuit board according to claim 8, wherein the protective layer is formed with a uniform thickness along the steps. It includes a battery that can be recharged and discharged and provides electric energy, a BMS that manages the battery, a controller that controls the state of the electric vehicle, and a motor that drives the electric vehicle.
An electric vehicle wherein the BMS is mounted on a substrate for a sub-board manufactured by any one of claims 1 or 5, and the controller is mounted on a main board manufactured by any one of claims 1 or 5.

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