In mold electronic ime is the combination of traditional in mold decoration (IMD) technology and printed electronics. The result is a beautiful, high-function, lightweight and lower cost alternative to the traditional human-machine interface (HMI) with mechanical switches. In mold electronic ime will be widely used in automotive, medical equipment and white goods markets.

IME advantages

IME process can integrate and inject the diaphragm, circuit, electronic components and LED lights together, and integrate the decorative and functional parts such as traditional mechanical keys into one product. The advantages of this technology are mainly reflected in the following four aspects:

1、 Light weight

Eliminate large volume printed circuit boards; Take the production of atmosphere lamp as an example. In order to meet the lighting requirements, the product needs to be welded with a large PCBA board and LED lights on it; When using the IME process, we can directly print the circuit on the back of the diaphragm, and the LED lamp can be placed in any required position.

Combined with sensor led connector; The large area of wire harness is reduced, and the internal structure is simpler.

Circuit from plastic to plastic; IME film adopts PC or pc/pmma film, and the circuit is integrated on the plastic substrate by injection molding.

The weight is reduced by more than 70%. Taking the automobile air conditioning panel as an example, the traditional process requires the led+pcba backlight of spray painted radium carving /iml+ light guide strip / light guide plate, with a thickness of about 30~40mm; The IME process can reduce the total thickness to 3~4mm, which greatly reduces the thickness.

2、 Optimized design

For car companies with rich shapes such as new energy, it can provide greater design freedom.

There is no need to use dead space to accommodate; In addition to occupying space, the light guide plate of traditional structure will also affect the overall shape of interior parts.

Reduce the assembly requirements of wires, connectors and other harnesses;

The design freedom of capacitor switch is high;

The design can be modified quickly: relevant optimization can be achieved only by reprinting the circuit and reprogramming the software.

3、 Reduce costs

At present, in the sample production stage, the cost of IME is still relatively high, but if mass production is realized, IME will show its cost advantage. For example: simplify assembly, reduce labor and processes, and finally reduce tooling investment; There is no wire at the single connection point behind the console, reducing the use of harness; Cost savings of about 30%, even after mass production (even when the entire ime industry chain is mature), higher and fewer components and raw materials can be achieved;

4、 Higher reliability

Reduce production steps and reduce the risk of product quality control; All kinds of parts are injected by integrated injection molding, without moving parts failure or wear; The high variation in capacitance leads to less noise; Additional protection is realized from the total package of the circuit.