Equipment and methods for producing continuous metallized thermoformable EMI shielding material
The present invention provides in-line equipment and methods for manufacturing an EMI/RFI shield that is integrated formed in a formable sheet. The EMI/RFI shield may comprise a shaped thermoform shell that has one or more conductive layers applied to one or more surfaces. The EMI/RFI shield may be integrally formed with the formable sheet via attachment tabs that are positioned along one or more edges of the EMI/RFI shield.
1 . An EMI/RFI shield integrally formed in a thermoformable sheet, wherein portions of the thermoformable sheet are removed around a periphery of the EMI/RFI shield, wherein the portions of the thermoformable sheet that are not removed integrally connect the EMI/RFI shield to a remainder of the thermoformable sheet.
2 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 1 wherein the EMI/RFI shield comprises at least one layer of a conductive material.
3 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 2 wherein the EMI/RFI shield is multi-compartmentalized.
4 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 2 wherein the EMI/RFI shield defines a single compartment.
5 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 2 wherein the layer of conductive material comprises at least one layer of tin, aluminum, copper, and nickel.
6 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 5 wherein the conductive material comprises a vacuum metallized first layer of tin and an electroplated second layer of tin.
7 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 1 wherein the formable polymer sheet comprises a recycled, conductively coated polymer EMI/RFI shield that has been mechanically disintegrated and then recombined back into the formable polymer sheet.
8 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 7 where the mechanically disintegrated EMI/RFI shields comprise a metallized film comprising one of a painted film, a vacuum metallized film, and an electroless plated film.
9 . The EMI/RFI shield of 1 wherein the EMI/RFI shield comprises a top surface, a plurality of sidewalls extending at an angle from the top surface and a flange around a periphery of the side walls, wherein the flange and the top surface define substantially parallel planes.
10 . A reel of material for in-line processing equipment, the reel comprising:
a sheet of material;
a spool that receives the sheet of material; and
a plurality of EMI/RFI shields attached to the sheet of material that is rolled on the spool.
11 . The reel of material of claim 10 wherein the EMI/RFI shields are integrally attached to the sheet of material.
12 . The reel of material of claim 11 wherein the EMI/RFI shields are attached to the sheet of material with tabs of material.
13 . The reel of material of claim 10 wherein the EMI/RFI shields comprise at least one layer of conductive material.
14 . The reel of material of claim 10 wherein the EMI/RFI shields and sheet of material comprise recycled material.
15 . An EMI/RFI shield integrally attached to a formable polymer sheet formed by a method comprising:
shaping the formable polymer sheet to create at least one EMI/RFI shield;
applying a conductive layer to the formable polymer sheet; and
removing a portion of the material around a periphery of the conductive EMI/RFI shield so as to leave the EMI/RFI shield integrally attached to a remainder of the formable polymer sheet.
16 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 15 wherein the shaping is carried out before the applying the conductive layer.
17 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 15 wherein the shaping is carried out after applying the conductive layer.
18 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 15 further comprising applying a gasket to the EMI/RFI shield.
19 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 15 comprising forming the polymer sheet from recycled material that comprises conductive material.
20 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 15 wherein removing a portion comprises leaving tabs of material that integrally connect the EMI/RFI shield to the formable polymer sheet.
21 . The EMI/RFI shield of claim 5 wherein the conductive material comprises a vacuum metallized first layer of tin and an electroplated second layer of nickel.
22 . The reel of material of claim 12 wherein the tabs of material are perforated.