Patent Grant
11011296
This application claims benefit of priority to Japanese Patent Application 2014-180928 filed Sep. 5, 2014, and to International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2015/075102 filed Sep. 3, 2015, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a surface mounted inductor equipped with a coil formed by winding a conductive wire, and a formed body in which the coil is sealed with a sealing material that mainly contains metal magnetic powder and a resin, and a method for manufacturing the same.
As a conventional surface mounted inductor, as shown in
Recently, accompanying further miniaturization of electronic equipment, in the surface mounted inductor with such a structure, there is a possibility that an external electrode formed on an upper surface is brought into contact with a shielding plate and thereby short-circuited. Therefore, there has been an increased demand for a surface mounted inductor in which the electrode is formed to have an L-shaped structure.
Under such circumstances, in the conventional surface mounted inductor, when attempting to form an external terminal with an L-shaped structure, since the conductive paste is applied to the formed body by dipping, it was difficult to form the external terminal in an L-shape. Furthermore, in the conventional surface mounted inductor, since the formed body is dipped in the conductive paste stored in a conductive paste tank, the conductive paste in an amount enough to immerse portions forming external terminals of the formed body is required, and besides that, if the amount to be disposed of for the sake of quality control is included, a large amount of the conductive paste goes to waste resulting also in a cause of an increase in production cost.
In order to solve such problems, as shown in JP 2009-170488 A, an external terminal was formed with a plate-shaped metal frame, the overall shape is increased by a thickness of the metal frame, while the sizes of the coil and the formed body are reduced, so that the adequate characteristics cannot be obtained, and an increased number of man-hours is required to form the external terminal.
As an alternative solution, forming the external terminals by sputtering is considered, but expensive equipment is required.
An object of one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is providing a surface mounted inductor, an external terminal of which is formed easily without using expensive equipment, and a method for manufacturing the same and thereby achieving a low-profile as well as an improvement in the characteristics.
In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a surface mounted inductor comprises:
Also, in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a surface mounted inductor comprises:
Furthermore, in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for manufacturing a surface mounted inductor comprising a coil formed by winding a conductive wire, and a formed body including a sealing material, the sealing material sealing the coil and mainly containing metal magnetic powder and a resin, comprises the steps of:
In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a surface mounted inductor comprises:
In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a surface mounted inductor comprises:
Furthermore, in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for manufacturing a surface mounted inductor comprising a coil formed by winding a conductive wire, and a formed body including a sealing material, the sealing material sealing the coil and mainly containing metal magnetic powder and a resin, comprises the steps of:
According to one or more embodiments of the surface mounted inductor of the present disclosure, since the resin at the portions of the surfaces of the formed body where the external terminals are formed is removed, the metal magnetic powder forming the formed body is exposed, and plating is easily grown at the portions compared to their surroundings. At this time, by adjusting the shape of the portions of the surfaces of the formed body where the resin is removed, it is easily possible to change the shape of the external terminals. It is also possible to reduce the thickness of the external terminals to as thin as 20 μm or less, so that the size of the formed body can be increased by the reduction in the thickness, or the overall shape can be reduced. When the size of the formed body is increased by the reduction in the thickness of the external terminals, the thickness of the conductive wire can be increased or the size of the coil can be increased.
Furthermore, according to one or more embodiments of the method for manufacturing the surface mounted inductor of the present disclosure, since the resin at the portions of the surfaces of the formed body where the external terminals are formed is removed, the metal magnetic powder forming the formed body is exposed, and plating is easily grown at the portions compared to their surroundings. At this time, by adjusting the shape of the portions of the surfaces of the formed body where the resin is removed, it is easily possible to change the shape of the external terminals. It is also possible to reduce the thickness of the external terminals to as thin as 20 μm or less, so that the size of the formed body can be increased by the reduction in the thickness, or the overall shape can be reduced. When the size of the formed body is increased by the reduction in the thickness of the external terminals, the thickness of the conductive wire can be increased or the size of the coil can be increased.
The best mode for carrying out the present disclosure will hereinafter be described with reference to
In
In the coil 11, by winding a conductive wire in two tiers in an outside-to-outside manner so that both of its ends are positioned at an outer periphery thereof, a coreless coil including a wound portion 11a and lead out ends 11b led out from the wound portion 11a is obtained. A rectangular wire that is rectangular in cross section is used as the conductive wire. The lead-out ends 11b are led out so as to be opposite to each other across the wound portion.
A formed body 12 is formed with a sealing material containing a resin and a magnetic material so as to incorporate the coil 11. The sealing materials used include those obtained by using the magnetic material such as iron-based metal magnetic powder and the resin such as an epoxy resin and mixing them. On side surfaces opposed in the length direction of the formed body 12, surfaces of the lead-out ends 11b of the coil 11 are exposed.
On the side surfaces opposed in the length direction of the formed body 12 and on a bottom surface thereof, external terminals 14 are formed thereby connecting the lead-out ends 11b of the coil 11 and the external terminals 14. Each external terminal 14 is formed in an L-shape by a plating layer using a metal material such as Ni or Sn.
Such a surface mounted inductor is manufactured in the following manner. First, a conductive wire which is rectangular in cross section and provided with an insulation coating is spirally wound in two tiers in an outside-to-outside manner so that both of its ends are positioned at an outer periphery thereof thus forming a wound portion 11a. Thereafter, both the ends of the conductive wire are led out from the outer periphery of the wound portion thereby forming lead-out ends 11b, thus forming a coreless coil 11. The conductive wires used in the present embodiment include those having an imide-modified polyurethane layer as an insulating film. The insulating film may be a polyamide- or polyester-based insulating film, and those with a high heat-resistant temperature are preferred. In the present embodiment, although those which are rectangular in cross section are used, circular conductive wires or those which are polygonal in cross section may also be used.
Next, by using a sealing material obtained by using the magnetic material such as iron-based metal magnetic powder and the resin such as an epoxy resin and mixing and granulating them into powder, a formed body 12 in which the coreless coil 11 shown in
Subsequently, after removing the film on the surfaces of the lead-out ends 11b of the coreless coil 11 by mechanical peeling, as shown in
Furthermore, the formed body 12 is plated with a conductive material, thereby forming a plating layer joined to the metal magnetic powder on the side surfaces opposed in the length direction of the formed body 12 and on the bottom surface thereof, so that the external terminals 14 are formed as shown in
In the thus formed surface mounted inductor of the present disclosure, since the formed body is formed with the sealing material containing the resin and the metal magnetic powder, as shown in
Therefore, in the surface mounted inductor of the present disclosure, the plating layer joined to the metal magnetic powder is formed at the portions of the surfaces of the formed body where the resin has been removed, so that the external terminals connected to the lead-out ends of the coreless coil are formed on the formed body.
Although the above has described the embodiments of the surface mounted inductor and method for manufacturing the same of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is not limited to these embodiments. In examples, in the sealing material, the iron-based metal magnetic powder was used as the magnetic material, and the epoxy resin was used as the resin. As the magnetic material, metal magnetic powders having other compositions, metal magnetic powder whose surface is coated with an insulator such as glass, and surface-modified metal magnetic powder may also be used. As the resin, a thermoset resin such as a polyimide resin or a phenol resin, and a thermoplastic resin such as a polyethylene resin or a polyamide resin may also be used. Furthermore, the external terminals may also be formed by plating the formed body with a conductive material other than Ni or Sn, thereby forming a plating layer joined to the metal magnetic powder. Furthermore, the formed body may also be plated after applying a joint material composed of a conductive paste and the like containing a conductor such as Ag or Cu to the positions at which the lead-out ends of the coreless coil are exposed on the portions of the formed body, where the external terminals are formed, so as to cover the lead-out ends of the coreless coil. In this case, the bonding strength between the lead-out ends of the coil and the external terminals can be improved by this joint material.
Furthermore, although the embodiments have shown an example in which the coil is embedded in the formed body so that the surfaces of the lead-out ends of the coil are exposed on the surfaces of the formed body, they may also be configured so that the coil is embedded in the formed body so that the lead-out ends of the coil are led out from the formed body, that the film of the surfaces of the lead-out ends of the coil is removed, that the resin components and the like existing at the portions where the external terminals of the formed body are formed are removed, that the lead-out ends are processed so as to be positioned at the portions where the external terminals are formed, and that, in this state, the formed body is plated, thereby forming the external terminals. Moreover, in this case, the external terminals may also be formed in the following manner: The joint material composed of the conductive paste containing the conductor such as Ag or Cu or the like is applied so as to cover the lead-out ends of the coil, which are positioned at the portions where the external terminals are formed, and, in the state in which the lead-out ends of the coil are fixed to the formed body, the formed body is plated to form the external terminals.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2014-180928 | Sep 2014 | JP | national |
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| Entry |
|---|
| International Search Report issued in PCT/JP2015/075102; dated Nov. 17, 2015. |
| Written Opinion issued in PCT/JP2015/075102; dated Nov. 17, 2015. |
| International Preliminary Report on Patentability issued in PCT/JP2015/075102; dated Mar. 7, 2017. |
| An Office Action mailed by the Japanese Patent Office dated Aug. 7, 2018, which corresponds to Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-140731 and is related to U.S. Appl. No. 15/446,563. |
| An Office Action; “Notification of Preliminary Rejection,” issued by the Korean Intellectual Property Office dated Mar. 20, 2018, which corresponds to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2017-7006068 and is related to U.S. Appl. No. 15/446,563. |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170178793 A1 | Jun 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2015/075102 | Sep 2015 | US |
| Child | 15446563 | US |
