The main applications, advantages and disadvantage of Flexible circuit boards

Flex Printed Circuit Board (FPC) is made of flexible insulating substrates (mainly polyimide PI or polyethylene terephthalate PET), which can be freely bent, wound, folded, and can withstand hundreds of thousands to millions of bends without damage.

The main application areas of FPC

Consumer electronics, Flexible printed circuit products have important applications in consumer electronics. For example, in electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, FPC products are used to connect various components and transmit signals. The flexibility and bendability of FPC products enable them to meet the design requirements of devices of different shapes and sizes, providing a better user experience.

Automotive electronics, With the rapid development of automotive electronics, FPC products are becoming increasingly widely used in the automotive electronics industry. FPC products can be used in electronic devices such as instrument panels, center control panels, seat adjusters, and in car entertainment systems inside automobiles to achieve functions such as signal transmission, power supply, and data processing. FPC products have a small volume and good temperature resistance, which can meet the special needs of automotive electronic devices.

Industrial Control, Multilayer FPC can provide high-performance industrial control systems, such as manufacturing automation and robotics.

Medical equipment, Multilayer FPC flexible circuit boards are also widely used in medical equipment, such as medical instruments and some life monitoring devices.

Advantages of FPC

FPC can be bent and folded, providing greater freedom in the design and operation of applications. FPC can also adapt to small spaces or irregularly shaped spaces, which is a function that standard rigid pcbs do not possess.

FPC occupy less space, thereby reducing the weight of the application motherboard. In addition to optimizing space utilization, it can also achieve better thermal management, then reducing the amount of heat to be dissipated.

Compared to rigid PCBs, flexible printed circuits are also more reliable and durable, especially in applications where the circuit can withstand continuous vibration and mechanical stress. The standard interconnection technology based on welding wires and manual wiring connectors has been replaced by flexible printed circuits. The characteristics of flexible printed circuits are extremely light weight, extremely thin thickness, high mechanical resistance, high temperature and atmospheric resistance, and good electromagnetic interference (EMI) resistance.

The use of FPC can reduce the incidence of human errors during the wiring process, thereby improving quality and reducing costs. FPC technology helps significantly reduce the size and weight of applications, which is a key factor in creating reliable, compact, and highly integrated electronic devices.

Disadvantages of FPC

Compared to rigid PCBs, FPC has a higher one-time initial cost. Due to the fact that flexible circuits are designed for very specific applications, the initial cost associated with circuit and prototype design is higher than that of rigid PCBs.

Due to the size limitations of production equipment, FPC generally cannot be made very long or wide. And FPC is difficult to repair once damaged.

FPC is almost invisible in the application of high-power electronic circuits because it cannot cope with high conduction current and voltage.