CN107887210B

CN107887210B - Waterproof side button structure and waterproof mobile phone using same

Info

Publication number: CN107887210B
Application number: CN201711368107.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈东明; 熊斌; 杨栋
Original assignee: Power Idea Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Current assignee: Power Idea Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-12-18
Filing date: 2017-12-18
Publication date: 2020-06-16
Anticipated expiration: 2037-12-18
Also published as: CN107887210A

Abstract

The invention relates to a waterproof side key structure, which comprises a key body made of elastic material, a key support made of hard material, an elastic piece and a shell, wherein the key body, the key support and the elastic piece are all assembled on the shell, and the pressing force can be transmitted to the elastic piece through the key support by pressing the key body, so that the side key is triggered to be conducted; and to the side button in the limited structure space realize multiple waterproof protection simultaneously in order to effectively promote waterproof reliability's novel technical thinking.

Description

Waterproof side button structure and waterproof mobile phone using same

Technical Field

The invention relates to side key waterproofing in the field of waterproof electronic products, in particular to a side key structure with multiple waterproof functions, and also relates to a waterproof mobile phone adopting the side key structure.

Background

Along with the enthusiasm of people for outdoor exercises, electronic products with waterproof functions are more and more. The waterproof of the side key is usually a difficult point in product development because there is not enough space for reliable waterproof design due to the limitation of the structural size.

The invention relates to a waterproof key of Chinese invention patent, a combination of the waterproof key and an electronic device shell (authorization publication number: CN201247703Y discloses a side key waterproof structure, which includes a key body made of elastic material, a hard supporting layer and a waterproof ring, wherein the hard supporting layer is a metal sheet and is combined with the key body in a hot pressing manner, the waterproof ring is sleeved in a groove on the outer peripheral surface of the key body and is in interference fit with the housing to achieve waterproof, a touch portion and a cap portion are arranged on the key body, and the touch portion and the circuit unit are pressed against each other to achieve conduction of the circuit unit.

In the above prior art, when the key body is pressed to turn on the circuit unit, the conduction is realized by transmitting the pressing force through the pressing part, because of the structural limitation of the housing, the pressing part has a larger length, and considering that the key body is made of elastic materials such as rubber and silica gel, the key body is softer and is easy to deform under stress, so that a larger pressing stroke is required to be provided from pressing to the time of turning on the trigger circuit unit to trigger the circuit unit after the pressing part is sufficiently deformed, that is, the pressing stroke required in the prior art includes two parts, namely, the stroke generated by the elastic deformation of the pressing part and the stroke required by the pressing part to the time of abutting against the circuit unit; therefore, the problems that the key stroke is large and the circuit unit is difficult to be pressed in place to conduct in the prior art exist; in addition, the hard supporting layer increases the assembly difficulty of the waterproof ring, and meanwhile, the hard supporting layer is connected with the waterproof body in a hot pressing mode, so that the processing cost is increased, and the processing procedures are increased; in the prior art, the waterproof ring is extruded to deform to realize the waterproof of the key position, and although the waterproof ring is supported by the hard supporting layer, the waterproof ring has processing errors and moves synchronously along with the pressing and returning of the key body, so that the risk of easy failure of the waterproof ring exists.

Based on the above analysis of the problems of the prior art, it is necessary to provide a novel waterproof side key structure to solve the above problems.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a waterproof side key structure which can solve the problems that in the prior art, as the key pressing stroke is too long, the transmission of pressing force needs to be realized by means of a soft pressing part, and a user still needs to provide a stroke for the pressing part to abut against a circuit unit and conduct after overcoming the deformation of the pressing part, the key stroke is large, the pressing force is difficult to transmit, and the circuit unit is difficult to press in place; the hard supporting layer is arranged, so that the assembly difficulty of the waterproof ring is increased, and meanwhile, the processing cost and the processing procedures are increased due to the hot-press combination between the hard supporting layer and the waterproof body; meanwhile, multiple waterproof protection is provided, and the problem that in the prior art, the waterproof performance is easy to lose efficacy is effectively solved.

The invention also provides a waterproof mobile phone, which can solve the problems that the existing waterproof mobile phone has large key stroke, difficult pressing force transmission and difficult pressing in place to conduct the circuit unit because the key body and the pressing part are made of soft materials, and a user still needs to provide a stroke for the pressing part to abut against the circuit unit and conduct after overcoming the deformation of the pressing part; the hard supporting layer is arranged, so that the assembly difficulty of the waterproof ring is increased, and meanwhile, the hard supporting layer and the waterproof body are combined in a hot pressing mode, so that the processing cost is increased, and the processing procedures are increased; and the problem that the existing waterproof ring is easy to lose efficacy due to the influence of the processing precision and the repeated linkage of the waterproof ring in the prior art is solved.

A waterproof side key structure, comprising:

the key body is made of elastic materials and comprises a top wall, a surrounding wall extending downwards from the top wall and an edge extending outwards from the bottom edge of the surrounding wall;

the key support is a rigid material component and is positioned in a cavity enclosed by the surrounding walls, the key support comprises a pressing part and a head part formed by extending the edge of the pressing part outwards, and the head part is abutted against the top wall and is connected with the top wall;

the elastic piece comprises a bottom plate and a circle of side wall extending around the outer edge of the bottom plate, an elastic arm is further arranged on the bottom plate close to the middle, two ends of the bottom plate are fixed on the key support, and the elastic arm abuts against the pressing part;

the key body, the key support and the elastic piece are accommodated in the key hole, a key stroke limiting structure is further arranged between the surrounding arm and the side plate of the key hole, the surrounding arm and the shell are in extrusion interference, and the side wall of the sinking groove and the edge are further provided with dispensing seals.

A waterproof mobile phone adopts the waterproof side key structure.

The beneficial effects produced by the invention are as follows:

according to the waterproof side key structure, the hard key support is adopted for transmitting the pressing force, so that the problem of elastic deformation of the key support does not exist, the pressing force can be directly transmitted to the elastic body, the function of instantly switching on the side key can be realized, and a technical scheme for converting a large key stroke into a small key stroke is provided; meanwhile, the key support is an independent component, and is fixedly connected with the key body by adopting inter-plane adhesion, so that the processing cost is low, and the processing procedure is simple; in addition, in the aspect of the waterproof function, the invention adopts a multiple waterproof design, and the edge is adhered to the bottom surface of the sinking groove to realize the first waterproof between the key body and the shell; the surrounding arm and the shell are in extrusion interference to form second waterproof protection; and the side wall of the sinking groove and the edge are also provided with a third waterproof protection generated by dispensing and sealing, so that the waterproof reliability of the side key is greatly improved, and a novel technical idea for simultaneously realizing multiple waterproof protections on the side key in a limited structural space so as to effectively improve the waterproof reliability is provided.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, the present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of the waterproof side key structure of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an assembly view of the waterproof side key structure of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the key body of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is another perspective view of the key body of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the key holder of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is another perspective view of the key holder of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an elastomer of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is another perspective view of an elastomeric body of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the housing of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is another perspective view of the housing of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is an assembled cross-sectional view of the waterproof side key structure of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is another sectional view of the waterproof side key structure of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clear, the following will take a side key of a waterproof mobile phone as an example, and further describe the waterproof side key structure of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings and the detailed description.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, there are shown an exploded view and an assembled view of the waterproof side key structure of the present invention. The waterproof side key structure comprises a key body 1, a key support 2, an elastic body 3 and a shell 4, wherein one end of the key support 1 is accommodated in the key body 1, the other end of the key support 1 is abutted against the elastic body 3 and is accommodated in the key body 1 together, and the key body 1, the key support 2 and the elastic body 3 are assembled on the shell 4 together, so that the waterproof side key structure with the controllable pressing stroke is formed.

Please refer to fig. 3 and 4, which are structural diagrams of the key body 1. The key body 1 is made of elastic materials, such as rubber, silica gel and the like; the key body 1 comprises a top wall 11, a surrounding wall 12 extending downwards from the top wall 11, and a rim 13 extending outwards from the bottom edge of the surrounding wall 12; the top wall 11 includes an outer side surface 111 and an inner side surface 112, the outer side surface 111 is an arc surface with an anti-slip design, and the inner side surface 112 is a plane; a limit groove 121 is further arranged on the outer circumferential surface of the surrounding arm 12 close to the edge 13, the edge 13 further comprises a bottom surface 131, and a circle of protrusions 1311 are annularly arranged on the bottom surface 131.

Please refer to fig. 5 and fig. 6, which are three-dimensional illustrations of the key frame 2 according to the present invention. The key holder 2 is a rigid member, and includes a pressing portion 22 and a head portion 21 formed by extending an edge of the pressing portion outward; in addition, the head 21 is provided with a corresponding hole position 212 adjacent to the hook 211, and the arrangement of the hole position 212 enables the hook 211 to be directly demoulded during molding production without adopting a complicated die structure such as an inclined top.

Referring to fig. 7 and 8, there are shown three-dimensional views of the elastic member 3 according to the present invention. The elastic member 3 comprises a bottom plate 31 and a ring of side walls 32 extending around the outer edge of the bottom plate 31; the bottom plate 31 further comprises two end portions 311, two clamping grooves 313 are arranged at positions close to the two end portions 311, and the clamping grooves 311 are symmetrically arranged; a raised surface 3111 extends from the two end portions 311 of the side wall 32, and two opposite square protrusions 321 extend from the other side of the side wall at positions close to the middle; a resilient arm 312 is further arranged at the middle position of the bottom plate 31; the elastic arm 312 includes an elastic portion 3121 and a supporting portion 3122, the elastic portion 3121 connects the side wall 32 and the supporting portion 3122, the elastic portion 3121 is an arched structure between the side wall 32 and the supporting portion 3122, the arched structure protrudes toward a cavity surrounded by the side wall 32, and the supporting portion 3122 protrudes from the bottom of the side wall 32 so as to better contact and conduct with the circuit unit of the side key.

Fig. 9 and fig. 10 are perspective views of the housing 4 according to the present invention. A sunken groove 41 is formed in the shell 4, a key hole 411 is formed in the bottom surface of the sunken groove 41, and a limit baffle 4111 is arranged on the inner side wall of the key hole 411.

After the structural features of the respective members relevant to the present invention are detailed, the assembling positional relationship will be explained below.

In order to more clearly illustrate the assembly relationship of the side key structure of the present invention, the structure of each component in this embodiment is not illustrated in the description of the circuit unit pressed and conducted by the side key, but in the description of the assembly relationship, the component of the circuit unit 5 is added to help better understand the working principle and the structural assembly of the present invention; obviously, when a user applies a pressing force to the key body 1, the pressing force is transmitted to the circuit unit 5 through the key holder 2 and the elastic body 3, so that the circuit unit 5 can be conducted.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 2, fig. 11 and fig. 12, the key structure of the waterproof side of the present invention is shown in an assembled sectional view.

Firstly, the key body 1 and the housing 4 need to be connected and assembled, and the assembly structure relationship is as follows: before the key body 1 is assembled, a double-sided adhesive tape or other adhesive materials are attached to one surface of the edge 13, which is attached to the bottom surface of the sink groove 41; because the button body 1 is the elastic material component, utilizes the compressibility and the resilience of elastic material, will button body 1 certainly the inboard of casing 4 is packed into, border 13 paste in on the bottom surface of heavy groove 41 down, limit baffle 4111 is located spacing groove 121 is interior and support and lean on border 13, at this moment, limit baffle 4111 with spacing groove 121 in the direction of pressing of button body 1 forms a interval, the interval does button body 1 presses the stroke, simultaneously limit baffle 4111 with extrude the interference between the bottom surface of spacing groove 121.

It should be added that, in the assembly connection structure of the key body 1 and the housing 4, in order to achieve a better waterproof effect, triple waterproof protection is provided: the first heavy waterproof protection is that the edge 13 and the bottom surface of the sink groove 41 are adhered to each other to realize waterproof, and meanwhile, in the invention, the edge 13 is set to have a larger length so as to be adhered to the shell 4 more firmly; the second waterproof protection is the extrusion interference between the surrounding arm 32 and the casing 4, and the interference position is on the side wall of the key hole 411 perpendicular to the edge 13, and simultaneously, the function of keeping the good adhesion between the edge 13 and the bottom surface of the sink groove 41 is also achieved; in addition, the side wall of the sink groove 41 and the end of the edge 13 are provided with dispensing seal to form a third waterproof protection, in the invention, a gap of not less than 0.5mm is arranged between the end of the edge 13 and the side wall of the sink groove 41, and the protrusion 1311 is also arranged, so that a free space for dispensing seal is formed between the protrusion 1311 and the side wall of the sink groove 13, and the protrusion 1311 plays a role in forming a dispensing groove and stopping the dispensing operation; the arrangement of triple waterproof greatly improves the waterproof reliability of the side key and simultaneously provides a novel technical idea for realizing multiple waterproof protection for the side key in a limited structural space.

After the key body 1 and the shell 4 are connected, the key support 2 is assembled: according to the structural characteristics of the key body 1, the surrounding wall 12 extends downwards from the top wall 11 to form an accommodating cavity, the key support 2 is located in the accommodating cavity, the head 21 abuts against the top wall 11 and is connected with the top wall 11, in a specific connection mode, the head 21 is adhered to the inner side surface 112 to be realized, so that the key support 2 and the key body 1 are connected into an integral structure, when the key body 1 is pressed, the key support 2 is interlocked therewith, the rapid transmission of the pressing force is well realized, and compared with the situation that the stroke is increased due to self deformation when the pressing force is transmitted through a soft material in the prior art, the invention obviously has no stroke increase in the transmission process of the pressing force; in addition, the inner side surface 112 of the key body 1 is also provided as a plane, so that effective and reliable adhesion between the key support 2 and the inner side surface 112 is ensured.

In the present application, the key body 1, the key holder 2 and the elastic body 3 are all in a long strip shape, further, the elastic member 3 is fastened on the key holder 2, the hooks 211 are arranged opposite to the slots 313, two ends of the bottom plate 31 are mutually engaged with the hooks 211 on the key holder 2 through the slots 313, the hooks 211 are stopped on the bottom plate 31, so as to connect two ends of the key holder 2 and the elastic body 3 together, and a distance equal to a pressing stroke of the key body 1 is also arranged between the head 21 and the bottom plate 31; meanwhile, the elastic arm 312 abuts against the pressing portion 22, and in the present invention, in order to achieve better pressing force transmission and better conduction effect of the side key, the pressing portion abuts against the abutting portion and the contact surfaces are both set to be a plane.

Here, it is necessary to specifically explain a partial assembly relationship in the side key structure according to the present invention after assembly: the key body 1, the key support 2 and the elastic body 3 are connected into an integral component, a pressing stroke is arranged between the key body 1 and the shell 4, an equal pressing stroke is also arranged between the bottom 31 of the elastic body 3 and the head 21 of the key support 2, and the elastic arm 312 of the elastic body 3 is directly abutted against the pressing part 22 of the key support.

In this embodiment, the elastic body 3 is arranged based on the consideration of the hand feeling of the side key, so that the key support 2 is prevented from directly abutting against the hard touch mode of the circuit unit 5, and meanwhile, the elastic deformation and resilience functions of the elastic body 3 are utilized to realize the return of the side key.

In this embodiment, when the side key is turned on in a specific operation, a user presses the key body 1, and at this time, the key body 1 and the key support 2 will move together along the force application direction of the pressing force until reaching the pressing stroke between the key body 1 and the housing 4; for the elastic body 3, since a pressing stroke along the force application direction of the pressing force is provided between the bottom 31 of the elastic body 3 and the head 21 of the key holder 2, and the hook 211 and the slot 313 are in the engaged state, when the user applies the pressing force, the pressing force transmitted by the key holder 2 and the pulling force of the hook 211 on the slot 313 at two ends thereof are applied at the same time, so that the elastic arm 312 of the elastic body 3 generates elastic deformation along the pressing force direction under the pressing force, and the circuit unit 5 can be turned on; at the same time, the head 21 of the key holder 2 moves toward the bottom plate 31 of the elastic body 3 in the pressing direction, and due to the pulling force, the head 21 will move by one pressing stroke and abut against the bottom plate 31.

When the user removes the pressing force, the elastic arm 312 rebounds to the initial state under the action of the elastic rebounding force, and the rebounding force pushes the key support 2 and the key body 1 back to the initial state.

Preferably, in order to prevent the assembly between the key holder 2 and the elastic body 3 from shaking or being unstable, the square protrusion 321 abuts against the first reinforcing rib 221, and in order to prevent the hook 211 and the slot 313 from affecting the assembly of other components after being assembled, the raised surface 3111 is set to be higher than the protruding height of the hook 211 on the bottom plate 31.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments listed in the present application, the technical design idea is to utilize the key support made of a rigid material to perform lossless transmission on the pressing force of the side key, and at the same time, to skillfully adopt the elastic body to realize better key hand feeling and realize the pressing return of the side key; meanwhile, a new technical idea of arranging multiple waterproof protections in the same side key structure is provided.

The embodiment of the invention only lists one structural form of the waterproof side key structure, obviously, the waterproof side key structure is not limited to the above embodiments, and all electronic products needing to be provided with the waterproof side key structure can be differently expanded and extended by referring to the technical scheme of the application as long as the problems of large pressing stroke, high processing cost, easy failure of waterproof and the like listed in the prior art exist, so that any structures derived by referring to the waterproof side key structure of the application can be understood as changes and expansions according to the idea of the invention and should belong to the protection scope of the application.

Claims

1. A waterproof side key structure characterized by comprising:

the key body is made of elastic materials, the key body comprises a top wall, a surrounding wall extending downwards from the top wall, and an edge extending outwards from the bottom edge of the surrounding wall, and a limit groove is further arranged on the peripheral surface of the surrounding arm close to the edge;

the key support is a rigid material member and is positioned in a cavity enclosed by the surrounding walls, the key support comprises a pressing part and a head part formed by extending the edge of the pressing part outwards, two clamping hooks which are opposite to each other are arranged on one surface of the head part close to the pressing part, and the head part is abutted against the top wall and is connected with the top wall;

the elastic piece comprises a bottom plate and a circle of side wall extending around the outer edge of the bottom plate, an elastic arm is further arranged on the bottom plate close to the middle, two ends of the bottom plate are fixed on the key support, and the elastic arm abuts against the pressing part; the bottom plate is also provided with a matched clamping groove relative to the clamping hook, and the clamping hook is positioned in the clamping groove, so that two ends of the elastic piece are fixed with the key support;

the key body, the key support and the elastic piece are accommodated in the key hole, a key stroke limiting structure is further arranged between the surrounding arm and the side plate of the key hole, the surrounding arm and the shell are in extrusion interference, and the side wall of the sinking groove and the edge are further provided with adhesive dispensing sealing.

2. The waterproof side key structure of claim 1, wherein: the limiting baffle is further arranged on the side wall of the key hole, an interval is further formed between the limiting baffle and the limiting groove in the pressing direction of the key body, the interval is the pressing stroke of the key body, and the limiting baffle is in extrusion interference with the bottom surface of the limiting groove.

3. The waterproof side key structure of claim 2, wherein: the border still includes a bottom surface, the bottom surface is fitted with a contraceptive ring and is equipped with the round arch, protruding with form a little gluey groove between the casing.

4. The waterproof side key structure of claim 3, wherein: the roof includes an lateral surface and an medial surface, the lateral surface is an arcwall face that has anti-skidding design, the medial surface is a plane, the head paste in on the medial surface.

5. The waterproof side key structure of claim 1, wherein: the pressing part is located in the middle of the clamping hook, and the clamping hook is arranged close to the edge of the head.

6. The waterproof side key structure of claim 5, wherein: the outer peripheral surface of the pressing part is also provided with a first reinforcing rib and a second reinforcing rib which are opposite, and the back surface of the clamping hook is provided with a third reinforcing rib.

7. The waterproof side key structure of claim 6, wherein: the elastic arm is arranged in the middle of the bottom plate and comprises an elastic part and a butting part, the pressing part abuts against the butting part, a contact surface of the pressing part and the butting part is a plane, the elastic part is connected with the side wall and the butting part, the elastic part is located between the side wall and the butting part and is of an arch structure, the arch structure protrudes towards a cavity defined by the side wall, and the butting part protrudes out of the bottom of the side wall.

8. The waterproof side key structure of claim 7, wherein: the bottom plate further comprises two end portions, the clamping grooves are symmetrically arranged near the end portions, the clamping hooks are clamped with the clamping grooves, the clamping hooks are stopped on the bottom plate to connect the key support and the two ends of the elastic body together, and a distance equal to the pressing stroke is also arranged between the head portion and the bottom plate.

9. The waterproof side key structure of claim 8, wherein: one side of the side wall extends out of a lifting surface from the two end parts smoothly, the other side of the side wall extends out of two opposite square convex blocks near the middle position, the square convex blocks are abutted against the first reinforcing rib, and the lifting surface is higher than the protruding height of the clamping hook on the bottom plate.

10. A waterproof cellular phone, the side key adopts the waterproof side key structure of any one of claims 1 to 9.