Electronic device with printed circuit board stress monitoring

摘要

An electronic device may contain electrical components mounted on one or more substrates such as printed circuit boards. During a drop event, the printed circuit boards and components may be subjected to stresses. Strain gauges may be formed from metal traces embedded within dielectric layers in the printed circuit boards. The strain gauges may be used to make stress measurements at various locations on the boards. Stress data may be collected in response to data from an accelerometer indicating that the device has been dropped. Stress data collection may be halted in response to determining that the device has struck an external surface. Impact may be detected using accelerometer data, strain gauge output, or other sensor data. Stress data may be analyzed by the electronic device or external equipment.

主权项

1. An electronic device, comprising:
an accelerometer; storage; and circuitry that is configured to detect whether the electronic device has been dropped based on data from the accelerometer and, in response to determining that the electronic device has been dropped, storing data in the storage, wherein the data comprises stress data and wherein the electronic device further comprise at least one strain gauge that generates the stress data, wherein the storage comprises a circular buffer, wherein the circuitry is configured to collect the stress data in the circular buffer.