Patent Application
20150048994
The present invention relates to an antenna module and a manufacturing method thereof.
Generally, an antenna module for a mobile terminal such as a cellular phone, a PDA, a laptop computer, and a DMB is installed therein, or connected or attached to a case thereof. In order to enhance a transmitting/receiving efficiency of an antenna, it is necessary that an antenna is disposed outside the mobile terminal to be maximally apart from a main board of the mobile terminal. However, there is a limitation in making an antenna module or a case of a mobile terminal to be thin, so there is a problem in that the transmitting/receiving efficiency of an antenna is deteriorated.
The present invention has been made in an effort to provide an antenna module and a manufacturing method thereof in which a thickness of a second injection-molded part can be minimized.
Further, the present invention has been made in an effort to provide an antenna module and a manufacturing method thereof in which flowing of resin during a second injection molding can become easy.
An antenna module according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a first injection-molded part which is formed to have a base portion and a protrusion portion to be protruded from the base portion by an injection molding; an antenna pattern which is positioned on the protrusion portion; and a second injection-molded part which is formed to cover the antenna pattern by an injection molding.
The first injection molded-part may be formed in an insert injection molding using the antenna pattern.
The antenna pattern may be formed by irradiating a laser on a top of the protrusion portion and coating metal material on an area where the laser is irradiated or by printing an electrically conductive material on the top of the protrusion portion.
The protrusion portion may be formed by a combination of a curved surface portion and a planar surface portion.
The curved surface portion may include an upper curved surface portion which is adjacent to the antenna patter and is formed at a periphery of the protrusion portion.
The curved surface portion may further include a lower curved surface portion which is adjacent to the base portion and is formed at the periphery of the protrusion portion.
The protrusion portion may be formed such that an area of a section perpendicular to a protrusion direction of the protrusion portion decreases as it goes toward the protrusion direction of the protrusion portion from the base portion.
The area of the perpendicular section may nonlinearly decrease.
The area of the perpendicular section may linearly decreases.
The antenna pattern may include at least one of a main antenna for transmitting/receiving, an LTE antenna, a GPS antenna, a Bluetooth antenna, a sub antenna, and a Wi-Fi antenna.
An edge protrusion portion may be formed by being upwardly protruded at an edge area of the first injection-molded part.
The second injection-molded part may be formed by an injection molding in a state the formed first injection-molded part is not separated from a base mold.
A method for forming an antenna module according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: forming a first injection-molded part by an insert injection molding using an antenna pattern; and forming a second injection-molded part which covers the antenna pattern by an injection molding. The first injection-molded part comprises a base portion and a protrusion portion which is protruded from the base portion, and the antenna pattern is formed on the protrusion portion.
The second injection-molded part may be formed by an injection molding in a state that the formed first injection-molded part is not separated from a base mold.
A hole may be provided to the antenna pattern, and the base mold is provided with a position fixing pin which is inserted into the hole during the insert molding to fix position of the antenna pattern.
The base mold may be provided with a supporting protrusion pin which supports the antenna pattern during the insert molding.
A method for forming an antenna module according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: forming a first injection-molded part having a base portion and a protrusion portion which is protruded from the base portion; forming an antenna pattern on the protrusion portion; and forming a second injection-molded part which covers the antenna pattern by an injection molding.
The antenna pattern may be formed by irradiating a laser on a top of the protrusion portion and coating metal material on an area where the laser is irradiated or by printing an electrically conductive material on the top of the protrusion portion.
The second injection-molded part may be formed by an injection molding in a state the formed first injection-molded part is not separated from a base mold.
According to the present invention, since the antenna pattern is formed on the protrusion portion of the first injection-molded part, the thickness of a portion of the second injection-molded part on the antenna pattern can be minimized, and accordingly the antenna module and the mobile terminal case can be formed to be thin, light-weight and slim while the transmitting/receiving efficiency of the antenna can be maximized.
Further, since the protrusion portion is formed as a combination of a planar surface portion and a curved surface portion, the flowing of resin can be easier and accordingly the defect of an injection molding such as a burr can be minimized.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail referring to accompanying drawings hereinafter.
Referring to
The antenna pattern 102 receives signal from the outside and transmits the received signal to a signal processing unit (not shown) of a mobile terminal (not shown). For example, the antenna pattern 102 may be made of conducting material such as aluminum, copper, or iron, and may include one or more of a main antenna for transmitting/receiving, an LTE antenna, a GPS antenna, a Bluetooth antenna, a sub antenna and a Wi-Fi antenna. The antenna pattern 102 may be formed to have a planar surface or a curved surface of more than one axis, and may be formed by a press forming such as cutting and bending. The shape of the antenna pattern 102 may be variously varied depending on the frequency used in the mobile terminal, and the shape of the antenna pattern 102 is not limited to the shape shown in
The first injection-molded part 104 is formed by an injection molding to have a base portion 104a and a protrusion portion 104b which is protruded therefrom.
The antenna pattern 102 is disposed on the protrusion portion 104b. In this embodiment, the antenna pattern 102 may be secured onto the protrusion portion 104b. The first injection-molded part 104 may be formed by an insert injection molding with the antenna pattern 102. The first injection-molded part 104 may be formed by an injection molding such that one surface of the antenna pattern 102 is secured thereon, and as described later the first injection-molded part 104 may be formed by an injection molding by a base mold 110 and a first cover mold 120.
As shown in
The base portion 104a is a part of forming a base of the first injection-molded part 104, and is formed to be adjacent to the protrusion portion 104b to which the antenna pattern 102 is secured. The protrusion portion 104b is formed by being protruded from the base portion 104a, and accordingly the protrusion portion 104b forms a step from the base portion 104a.
The protrusion portion 104b is a part to which one surface of the antenna pattern 102 is secured, and is formed to be protruded from the base portion 104a. Generally, in order to enhance a transmitting/receiving efficiency of an antenna, it is necessary that an antenna is apart as far as possible from a main board of a mobile terminal toward the outer direction of a mobile terminal. Accordingly, in embodiments of the present invention, one surface of the antenna patter 102 is secured on the top of the protrusion portion 104 which is protruded from the base portion 104a, the antenna patter 102 may be apart from a main board of the mobile terminal by a predetermined distance and a thickness of the second injection-molded part 106 which is formed on the antenna pattern 102 can be minimized. Since one surface of the antenna pattern 102 is secured onto the protrusion portion 104b, the antenna pattern 102 may also be at least partly inserted inside the protrusion portion 104b. Here, for example, a protrusion height of the protrusion portion 104b may be less than the whole thickness of the antenna module 100 or the mobile terminal case 200. That is, the thickness of the protrusion portion 104b is less than the whole thickness of the antenna module 100 or the mobile terminal case 200 after the second injection molding such that the protrusion portion 104b is not exposed outside the antenna module 100 or the mobile terminal case 200. For example, an upper surface of the protrusion portion 104b may be protruded from the base portion 104a to be spaced more than 0.1 mm in a downward direction (i.e., direction toward the inside of the second injection-molded part 106) from an upper surface of the second injection-molded part 106. In other words, the protrusion portion 104b is protruded to have a distance of more than 0.1 mm from an upper surface of the second injection-molded part 106. If the protrusion 104b is protruded to have a distance of less than 0.1 mm from the upper surface of the second injection-molded part, it may be difficult to form a thin film by injection molding during the second injection molding due to the protrusion portion. According to embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to make the antenna module 100 which is thin, light-weight and slim, and at the same time it is also possible to maximize the transmitting/receiving efficiency of an antenna. Detailed structures and embodiments of the protrusion portion 104b will be described later referring to
The edge protrusion portion 104c may guide a position of a downward movement of a second cover mold 130 in order to obtain smooth coupling of the first injection-molded part 104 and the second injection-molded part 106 during the second injection molding process. Further, the edge protrusion portion 104c may be formed along the entire edge of the first injection-molded part 104, so that resin which is injected during the injection molding process of the second injection-molded part 106 can be prevented from being leaked from the first injection-molded part 104.
That is, the edge protrusion portion 104c is formed by being protruded at an edge area of the first injection-molded part 104, and the second cover mold 130, which will be explained later, can be landed onto the edge protrusion portion 104c. In case that the second cover mold 130 is landed onto the edge protrusion portion 104c, the gap between the first injection-molded part 1409 and the second cover mold 130 is sealed from the outside. Accordingly, resin which is injection into the gap during the injection molding process of the second injection-molded part 106 can be prevented from being leaked to the outside. This will be explained in detail referring to
The second injection-molded part 106 is a structure which is formed by injection molding so as to cover the other surface of the antenna patter 102. After the first injection-molded part 104 is formed by the first injection molding process, the second injection-molded part 106 can be formed by a double injection molding during the second injection molding process. As described later, the second injection-molded part 105 may be formed by an injection molding by the base mold 110 and the second cover mold 130. Due to these processes, the antenna pattern 102 is interposed between the first injection-molded part 104 and the second injection-molded pattern 106. The second injection-molded part 106 may be formed to have a shape corresponding to the first injection-molded part 102, but it is not limited thereto. Further, as described later, the second injection-molded part 106 may be formed integrally with an outer surface of the mobile terminal case 200 or may be connected or attached to the outer surface of the mobile terminal case 200. Hereinafter, processes for forming the antenna pattern 102, the first injection-molded part 104 and the second injection-molded part 106 will be explained sequentially referring to
The position fixing pin 112 is a member for fixing the position of the antenna 102, and is inserted into the hole 102a of the antenna pattern 102 so as to prevent the antenna pattern 102 from getting out of its position. The position fixing pin 112 may be formed by being protruded from the base mold 110 at a position corresponding to the hole 102a of the antenna pattern 102. Although it is shown in
The supporting protrusion pin 114 supports one surface of the antenna pattern 102. Accordingly, the antenna pattern 102 is supported by the supporting protrusion pin 114 so as to form and maintain a gap by a predetermined distance from the bottom of the base mold 110. Subsequently, resin is injected into the gap to form the first injection-molded part 104. Although it is shown in
After one surface of the antenna pattern 102 is secured or coupled to the base mold 110, the first cover mold 120 may be positioned to be adjacent to the other surface of the antenna pattern 102. As shown in
Subsequently, the first injection-molded part 104 having the base portion 104a and the protrusion portion 104b may be formed by injecting resin into the first space 51. Here, resin may be injected into the first space 51 through a nozzle (not shown), but means for injecting resin is not limited thereto.
Further, as described above, the edge protrusion portion 104c may be formed by being protruded at the edge area of the first injection-molded part 104. The second cover mold 130 may be landed on the outer surface of the edge protrusion portion 104c, and in such case the second space S2 is sealed from the outside. In case that the edge area is formed to have the same surface with the base portion 104a, the second cover mold 130 should be precisely located on the side surface of the first injection-molded part 104 in order to seal the second space S2 from the outside, but this is a work which should be precisely performed and is difficult. Even though the second cover mold 130 is precisely located to the side surface of the first injection-molded part 104, resin which is injected into the second space S2 during the injection molding process for the second injection-molded part 106 may be leaked to the outside if there is any minute gap between the base mold 110 and the second cover mold 130, and this may cause a defection of an injection molding such as burr. Accordingly, in order to solve the problem that the coupling between the first injection-molded part 104 and the second injection-molded part 106 is not smoothly coupled, the embodiments of the present invention are configured such that the edge protrusion portion 104c is formed by being protruded at the edge area of the first injection-molded part 104, and the above problem can be solved by this configuration.
As described above, resin should be injected into the second space S2 of
The upper curved surface portion 402 may be disposed to be adjacent to the antenna pattern 102 and may be formed at the periphery (side surface) of the protrusion portion 104b. Since the upper curved surface portion 402 is formed at the periphery of the protrusion portion 104b which is adjacent to the antenna pattern 102, flowing of resin moving from the periphery of the protrusion portion 104b toward the planar surface portion 404 and flowing of resin moving from the planar surface portion 404 toward the protrusion portion 104b can be easier. That is, according to embodiments of the present invention, the periphery of the protrusion portion 104b which is adjacent to the antenna pattern 102 is formed as a curved surface, flowing of resin can be easier, and accordingly it is not needed to increase the injection pressure so that the defect in an injection molding (e.g., occurrence of burr) can be minimized.
The planar surface portion 404 is a part where one surface of the antenna pattern 102 is secured or inserted, and may be formed to be flat. The planar surface portion 404 may be formed to be adjacent to the upper curved surface portion 402.
In addition, as shown in
The lower curved surface portion 406 may be adjacent to the base portion 104a and may be formed at the periphery of the protrusion portion 104b. The lower curved surface portion 406 can make the flowing of resin moving from the base portion 104a toward the periphery of the protrusion portion 104b and the flowing of resin moving from the periphery of the protrusion portion 104b toward the base portion 104a easier. That is, according to embodiments of the present invention, since the periphery of the protrusion portion 104b which is adjacent to the base portion 104a is formed in a curved shape, the flowing of resin can be easier, and accordingly it is not needed to increase the injection pressure and the defect (e.g., occurrence of burr) of injection molding can be minimized. The remained features of
Meanwhile, the first injection-molded part 104 may be formed integrally with the mobile terminal case 200, and the second injection-molded part 106 may be formed as an injection-molded part which is added to a portion or the whole of the first injection-molded part 104.
An antenna module according to another embodiment of the present invention will be hereinafter described referring to
Referring to
LDS method is one of various methods for forming the antenna pattern 102, and compared to other methods cost for developing and manufacturing is low and it is easy to change micro pattern (micro circuit). First, a laser may be irradiated on the top of the protrusion portion 204b. The laser may be irradiated onto the top of the protrusion portion 204b corresponding to the shape of the antenna pattern 202 to be formed. Here, the top of the protrusion portion 204b means the portion of the protrusion portion 204b which are located at the side of the protruding direction. Subsequently, the antenna pattern 202 may be formed by coating metal material on the area where the laser is irradiated. At this time, for example, the metal material may include at least one of copper, nickel and gold, and a plurality of metal materials can be sequentially coated on the area where the laser is irradiated. For example, copper may be firstly coated on the area where the laser is irradiated, nickel may be secondly coated, and the gold may be thirdly coated. In addition, gold may be coated partly or entirely on the area where copper and nickel are coated. By such processes, the antenna pattern 202 may be formed on the top of the protrusion portion 204b.
Meanwhile, the metal printing method is a method of forming the antenna pattern 202 by printing (used as a meaning including “attaching”) electrically conductive material, e.g., electrically conductive ink (or paint) on the top of the protrusion portion 204b, and has an advantage that a printing process is very simple so as to substantially improve productivity and it is possible to form patterns of various shapes. At this time, the electrically conductive material may include at least one of gold, silver, copper, and nickel. Since a detailed method for printing the electrically conductive material is well known in the art, detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.
Meanwhile, although a process for forming the antenna pattern 202 may be performed after the first injection-molded part 204 is separated from the base mold 110, it is not limited thereto and this process may also be possible to be performed in a state that the first injection-molded part 204 is not separated from the base mold 110.
As shown in
Further, as described above, the edge protrusion portion 204c may be formed at the edge area of the first injection-molded part 204. The second cover mold 130 may be landed on the outer surface of the edge protrusion portion 204c, and in such case the second space S2 is sealed from the outside. In case that the edge area is formed to have the same surface with the base portion 204a, the second cover mold 130 should be precisely located on the side surface of the first injection-molded part 204 in order to seal the second space S2 from the outside, but this is a work which should be precisely performed and is difficult. Even though the second cover mold 130 is precisely located to the side surface of the first injection-molded part 204, resin which is injected into the second space S2 during the injection molding process for the second injection-molded part 206 may be leaked to the outside if there is any minute gap between the base mold 110 and the second cover mold 130, and this may cause a defection of an injection molding such as burr. Accordingly, in order to solve the problem that the coupling between the first injection-molded part 204 and the second injection-molded part 206 is not smoothly coupled, the embodiments of the present invention are configured such that the edge protrusion portion 204c is formed by being protruded at the edge area of the first injection-molded part 204, and the above problem can be solved by this configuration.
Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the second injection-molded part may be formed in a state that the first injection-molded is not separated from the base mold after the first injection-molded part is formed.
For example, after forming the first injection-molded part by an insert injection molding using the antenna pattern, the second injection-molded part may be formed in a state that the first injection-molded part is not separated from the base mold, and in another example, after forming the first injection-molded part by an injection molding, the antenna pattern may be formed on the protrusion portion of the first injection-molded part in a state that the first injection-molded part is not separated from the base mold, and subsequently the second injection-molded part may be formed thereon.
For this, the cover molds 231 and 232 may be configured to linearly move as shown in
That is, in case of
Since the second injection-molded part is formed in a state that the formed first injection-molded part is not separated from the base mold, damages which may be caused while the injection-molded part is separated from the mode and is again inserted into the mold can be minimized.
While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2013-0097801 | Aug 2013 | KR | national |
| 10-2013-0097810 | Aug 2013 | KR | national |
| 10-2014-0021345 | Feb 2014 | KR | national |
| 10-2014-0045837 | Apr 2014 | KR | national |
