VIBRATING MOTOR

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to vibrator technologies, and more particularly, to a vibrating motor for providing vibration feedback.

[0002] With development of mobile communication technologies, mobile devices, such as mobile phones, handheld game players, tablet computers, portable multimedia players, or the like, become more and more popular. Mobile devices generally include vibrating motors for generating vibration feedback. For example, a vibrating motor may be used in a mobile phone for performing vibration and providing system feedback while receiving an incoming call or a message such as a short message, a multimedia message, an instant message, or a push message.

[0003] A typical vibrating motor includes a vibrator and a coil for driving the vibrator to vibrate, the coil includes a lead wire for receiving an electric signal. However, when the vibrator operates in a resonance state with great vibration amplitude, the lead wire of the coil may be over-stretched and suffer fracture, which may further cause the vibrating motor to become failure. Therefore, a reliability of the vibrating motor is low.

[0004] Therefore, it is desired to provide a vibrating motor to overcome the aforesaid problems.

[0009] The present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings and embodiments thereof.

[0010] Referring to FIGS. 1-2, a vibrating motor 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The vibrating motor 1 includes a shell 11 for providing an accommodating space, a vibrating system 12 accommodated in the accommodating space, a pair of elastic connectors 13 for elastically suspending the vibrating system 12 in the shell 11, and a flexible circuit board 15 for transmitting electric signals to drive the vibrating system 12 to perform linear vibrate along a vibration direction. The vibration direction of the vibrating system 12 may be parallel to an X-axis direction as illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0011] The shell 11 includes a base 111 and a cover 110 covering the base for forming the accommodating space. The base 111 includes a supporting platform 1111 extending from an end of the base 111, the supporting platform 111 is coplanar with a main surface of the base 111, and is not covered by the cover 110. The supporting platform 1111 may include one or more solder pad for electrically connecting to an external circuit.

[0012] The vibrating system 12 includes a first vibrating unit and a second vibrating unit. The first vibrating unit includes a first mass member 122, a first pole plate 123 and a coil assembly 121. The first mass member 122 is in a substantially rectangular plate shape, and includes a groove 1221 recessed from a bottom surface thereof for receiving the coil assembly 121. The first mass member 122 may also include a pair of protrusions 1222 protruding outwards from two opposite sidewalls thereof along a Y-axis direction perpendicular to the vibration direction (i.e., the X-axis direction). The pair of protrusions 1222 is diagonally located at two opposite sides of the groove 1221, and is adjacent to the groove 1221. The first pole plate 123 is attached to the coil assembly 121, and is also received in the groove 1221.

[0013] The coil assembly 121 may include a first coil 1211, a second coil 1213 and a circuit substrate 1212. The circuit substrate 1212 may be a flexible printed circuit board for supporting the first coil 1211 and the second coil 1213. The first coil 1211 and the second coil 1213 are electrically connected in serial via the circuit substrate 1212. In particular, the first coil 1211 includes a first lead wire 1214, and the second coil 1213 includes a second lead wire 1215; both of the first lead wire 1214 and the second lead wire 1215 may be led out from a bottom of the coil assembly 121 along two opposite directions.

[0014] The second vibrating unit includes a second mass member 124, a second pole plate 125 and a magnet 126. The second mass member 124 is also in a substantially rectangular plate shape, and includes a through hole 1241 formed at a central region thereof. The through hole 1241 is opposite to the groove 1221 of the first mass member 122, and the magnet 126 is received in the through hole 1241. The second pole plate is attached to a bottom surface of the second mass block 125.

[0015] Referring also to FIG. 3, the flexible circuit board 15 of the vibrating motor 1 includes a fixing part 151 fixed to the shell 11, a connecting part 153 electrically connected to the vibrating system 12, and a flexible connecting arm 155 connected between the fixing part 151 and the connecting part 153.

[0016] The fixing part 151 may have a shape and a size in accordance with the supporting platform 1111 of the base 111, for example, the fixing part 151 may be in a rectangular shape, and the fixing part 151 is electrically fixed onto the supporting platform 111.

[0017] The connecting part 153 includes a first connecting end 1531 electrically connected to the first lead wire 1214 of the first coil 1211, and a second connecting end 1532 electrically connected to the second lead wire 1215 of the second coil 1213.

[0018] The flexible connecting arm 155 includes a first connecting strip 1551 connected to the first connecting end 1531, a second connecting strip 1552 connected to the second connecting end 1532, a third connecting strip 1553 connected between the first connecting strip 1551 and the second connected strip 1552, and a fourth connecting strip 1554 connected between the third connecting strip 1553 and the fixing part 151.

[0019] The first connecting strip 1551 includes a first strip portion 1551a and a first curved portion 1551b. The first strip portion 1551a is connected between a first end of the third connecting strip 1553 and the first curved portion 1551b. The first curved portion 1551b extends towards the fixing part 151 from an end of the first strip portion 1551a in a U-shaped manner, and the first connecting end 1531 is connected to an end of the first curved portion 1551b.

[0020] The second connecting strip 1552 includes a second strip portion 1552a, a third strip portion 1552b and a second curved portion 1552c. The second strip portion 1552a is an orthogonal zigzagged strip portion connected between a second end of the third connecting strip 1553 and the third strip portion 1552b. The third strip portion 1552b is perpendicularly connected to an end of the second strip portion 1552a. The second curved portion 1552c extends opposite to the fixing part 151 from an end of the third strip portion 1552b in a U-shaped manner, and the second connecting end 1532 is connected to an end of the second curved portion 1552c.

[0021] The second strip portion 1552a of the second connecting strip 1552 is substantially parallel to the first strip portion 1551a of the first connecting strip 1551, and the third strip portion 1552b is substantially parallel to the third connecting strip. Both the first strip portion 1551a and the second strip portion 1552a is substantially perpendicular to the third connecting strip 1553

[0022] Moreover, the first strip portion 1551a of the first connecting strip 1551, the second strip portion 1552a and the third strip portion 1552b of the second connecting strip 1552, and the third connecting strip 1553 is coplanar with each other. The first connecting end 1531 and the second connecting end 1532 are coplanar with each other, but are non-coplanar with the first strip portion 1551a, the second strip portion 1552a, the third strip portion 1552b and the third connecting strip 1553. The fourth connecting strip 1554 extends vertically from a central edge of the third strip portion 1552b, and is connected to the fixing part 151. With the above-described configuration, the first connecting strip 1551, the second connecting strip 1552, the third connecting strip 1553 and the fourth connecting strip 1554 cooperatively form a frame structure matching a profile of the first mass member 122.

[0023] The flexible circuit board 155 may be placed on an upper surface of the first mass member 122, the first curved portion 1551b and the second curved portion 1552c enables the first connecting end 1531 and the second connecting end 1532 to bypass the pair of protrusions 1222 of the first mass member 122. Accordingly, the first connecting end 1531 can be fixed to a bottom of one of the protrusions 1222, and is connected to the second lead wire 1215 of the second coil 1213 by welding; similarly, the second connecting end 1532 can be fixed to a bottom of the other one of the protrusions 1222, and is connected to the first lead wire 1214 of the first coil 1211 by welding. Furthermore, the fixing part 151 of the flexible circuit board 15 can extend to the supporting platform 1111 of the base 111 via the fourth connecting strip 1554, and is further connected to the external circuit for receiving the electric signals via the solder pad on the supporting platform 1111.

[0024] In operation, the coil assembly 121 receives the electric signals via the flexible circuit board 155, and drives the vibrating system 12 to perform linear vibration. During the vibration of the vibrating system 12, the connecting part 153 and the flexible connecting arm 155 of the flexible circuit board 155 are driven to vibrate accompanying with the coil assembly 121 and the lead wires 1214 and 1215 thereof, and consequently, the lead wires 1214 and 1215 can be protected from being over-stretched. As such, a reliability of the vibrating motor 1 can be improved.

[0025] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present embodiments have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structures and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.