JP2003298254A - Instrument case and electronic instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an instrument case and an electronic instrument capable of keeping rigidity and not obstructing the detection of earth magnetism. <P>SOLUTION: In a portable telephone 10 equipped therein with electronic parts 14, a substrate 15, and a bearing sensor 19, etc., electroless copper plating is applied to opposite surfaces of core sections (e.g. core 11a) of an upper case 11 and a lower case 12 constituting an instrument case 13 in the thickness of about 0.1 μm. Further, copper electroplating is applied thereonto in the thickness of about 20 μm, onto which phosphorus-nickel electroplating is applied with the content of nickel of from 83% to 90% in the thickness of about 5 to 7 μm. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device case for housing electronic components and an electronic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, mobile phones, PHS (Personal Han)
Plastic is used as a material for a device case of an electronic device for mobile communication such as a dy phone system) and a mobile wireless data terminal. This is because, compared with metal materials such as magnesium die-cast, it is possible to make it lighter and is suitable for carrying, and at the same time it has the advantages of lower cost and less restriction on the shape of the mold. Is. The equipment case made of plastic is generally metal-plated for the purpose of decoration.

[0003]

By the way, a mobile phone is required to have impact resistance against a drop or the like due to its characteristic of being portable, but in the metal plating for the purpose of decoration,
Since the plating layer was thin, the rigidity of the equipment case itself could not be improved. Therefore, it is conceivable to thickly plate the metal to secure the rigidity, but if the thick plating is applied, the device case itself becomes magnetic, and there is a problem that it is difficult to use in an electronic device for measuring the earth magnetism. It was

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a device case and an electronic device that maintain rigidity and do not interfere with the detection of geomagnetism.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 discloses an electronic component (for example, electronic component 14, substrate 15,
A device case (eg, device case 13, upper case 12, lower case 13) for housing the orientation sensor 19 and the like.
Etc., which is a plastic core (eg, core 1)
1a) and the like, on at least one of the inner and outer surfaces, a nonmagnetic metal plating layer (for example, a nickel component content of between 83% and 90%, and an element that suppresses the band magnetization of nickel) (for example,
Electrolytic phosphorus-nickel layer 11d, etc.) 5 μm or more and 10 μm
The feature is that the thickness is less than or equal to m.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the metal plating layer is applied to the plastic core of the equipment case with a thickness of 5 μm or more and 10 μm or less, the rigidity of the equipment case can be improved and the weight is lightened. In addition, the metal plating layer has a nickel content of between 83% and 90% and contains an element that suppresses the magnetization of nickel. It is possible to suppress the band magnetization of itself.

Here, the element for suppressing the band magnetization of nickel is, for example, phosphorus or boric acid, but is not limited to this, and any element can be used as long as non-magnetic metal plating is possible. It may be.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the equipment case according to the first aspect, the element that suppresses the band magnetization of nickel is phosphorus, and the element contains at least 2% of phosphorus.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the invention can be obtained. In particular, since it contains at least 2% or more of the phosphorus, the metal plating layer is used. It is possible to suppress the magnetization of the device case due to nickel while maintaining the rigidity of the device case.

An invention according to claim 3 is an electronic device (for example, a mobile phone 10 or the like), which comprises the device case according to claim 1 or 2, and an electronic component housed in the device case. Is characterized by.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the non-magnetic metal plating layer is applied to the equipment case according to the first or second aspect, it is not affected by magnetism. It is possible to provide an electronic device that houses an electronic component that needs to be magnetized.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device according to the third aspect, an azimuth sensor (for example, azimuth sensor 19 or the like) for obtaining azimuth information is provided in the device case.

According to the invention described in claim 4, it goes without saying that the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 3 can be obtained.
In particular, since the direction sensor for obtaining direction information is provided in the device case, an electronic device capable of providing the user with information on the direction in which the user is facing is realized.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device according to the third or fourth aspect, the electronic device is a portable device.

According to the invention described in claim 5, it goes without saying that the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 3 or 4 can be obtained. In particular, since the electronic device is a portable device, The electronic device according to Item 3 or 4 can be carried and used. Further, since the device case of the electronic device is provided with rigidity, it is hard to be broken even if it is dropped or otherwise shocked while being carried.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
A description will be given with reference to the drawings. Incidentally, in the present embodiment,
As an electronic device according to the present invention, a mobile phone will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile phone (electronic device) 10 according to the present embodiment has a substrate (electronic device) provided with an electronic component 14 inside a device case 13 composed of an upper case 11 and a lower case 12. (Components) 15 are provided so as to be located at the boundary between the upper case 11 and the lower case 12, and the display device 16 of the electronic component 14 and a plurality of operation buttons 17 are provided.
Is provided so as to be exposed on the front surface of the upper case 11, and a battery lid or a battery lid-integrated battery 18 is provided on the back surface of the lower case 12, and an orientation sensor (electronic component) 19 for obtaining orientation information is further provided. A GPS (Global positioning System) (not shown) is provided in the lower portion of the substrate 15.
m) It is a configuration equipped with functions.

Upper case 11 constituting the equipment case 13
The lower case 12 has a structure in which a core portion made of a thermoplastic such as ABS resin is coated with three layers on both sides. Specifically, as shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2, for example, both sides of the core 11a of the upper case 11 are provided with electroless copper plating layers 11b with a thickness of about 0.1 μm,
About 20 electrolytic copper plating layers 11c are formed on the electroless copper plating.
In addition, a phosphorus-nickel plating layer 11d is applied to the electrolytic copper plating to a thickness of about 5 to 7 μm. Although not shown, in the lower case 12, as in the upper case 11, a plastic core is provided with an electroless copper plating layer, an electrolytic copper plating layer, and an electrolytic phosphorus-nickel plating layer in the same configuration. .

Next, a method of applying the metal plating configured as described above to the plastic core portion of the equipment case 13 will be described below. Although the following description will be made by taking the upper case 11 as an example, the lower case 12 has the same structure.

First, the core 11 made of a plastic material
Prior to plating a, a generally used pretreatment process is performed. In this pretreatment step, oil and dirt on the molded surface of the plastic are washed and surface adjustment treatment such as drying is performed. Then, in order to strengthen the adhesion of the plated film, chemicals are used to form recesses on the surface of the core 11a. A chemical etching process for forming is performed. Then, a catalyst treatment for imparting a catalyst with a hydrochloric acid aqueous solution of stannous chloride, an accelerator treatment for activating with a hydrochloric acid aqueous solution of palladium chloride, and the like are performed.

Next, electroless copper plating is performed on the core 11a subjected to the above-mentioned pretreatment process to a thickness of about 0.1 μm to form an electroless copper plating layer 11b. Electroless copper plating is chemical plating, and is performed as a pretreatment for electroplating that is subsequently performed. Specifically, it is a method of forming a plating surface film on the surface of a material by chemically reducing metal ions in a solution with a reducing agent without passing an electric current from the outside.

Next, the electroless copper-plated material is electroplated for thick plating to give rigidity. In the electroplating, first, electrolytic copper plating is applied to a thickness of about 20 μm to form an electrolytic copper plating layer 11c. Then, electrolytic phosphorus-nickel plating is applied to a thickness of about 5 to 7 μm to form an electrolytic phosphorus-nickel plating layer 11d.

Here, instead of the electrolytic nickel plating that is normally used, the phosphorus-nickel plating is applied. When nickel plating is applied, the equipment case becomes magnetic, but the electrolytic phosphorus-nickel plating is applied to the upper case 11 and the lower case. This is because it is possible to suppress the magnetism of No. 12 and make it substantially non-magnetic. The reason why the magnetic susceptibility of the device case 13 must be suppressed is that the azimuth sensor 19 provided in the mobile phone 10 is an element that detects the earth's magnetism as described above. Is not accurately detected. More specifically, the geomagnetism is 0.3
Since it is G (30 μT), in order to be detected by the azimuth sensor 19, the surrounding magnetism, that is, the upper case 11,
The magnetism of the lower case 12 is 0.3 G (30 μT) of the earth's magnetism.
Need to be kept lower than.

Therefore, the electroplated phosphorus-nickel is composed of 90% nickel and 10% phosphorus. In addition, the allowable range of the composition of components defined by JIS as phosphorus-nickel plating is such that the nickel content rate is 83 to 98% and the phosphorus content rate is 2 to 15%.
Other components are between 0 and 2%.

However, for example, when phosphorus-nickel having a phosphorus-nickel content of 95% (phosphorus is 5%) is applied as a thick plating having a rigidity effect of 5 μm or more, the magnetic susceptibility becomes high and the above-mentioned tolerance is allowed. It exceeds the magnetic range. Therefore, as described above, phosphorus-nickel having a nickel content of 90% is used in order to keep the magnetism within the range of the above-mentioned permissible magnetism even when the thickness of plating is 5 μm or more. However, the nickel content is not limited to 90%, and the nickel content may be between 90% and 83%.

In order to give rigidity to the equipment case made of a plastic material, electroplating is performed to a thickness of about 5 μm or more, but phosphorus-nickel having a nickel content of 90% is 1
If the plating is performed with a thickness of 0 μm or more, magnetic susceptibility is generated, and it becomes impossible to keep the surrounding magnetism at 0.03 G or less. That is, thick plating is possible in the range of approximately 5 μm or more and less than 10 μm, but in the present embodiment, plating is performed with a thickness of approximately 7 μm in view of the balance between rigidity and non-magnetic property.

As described above, according to this embodiment, electrolytic copper plating is 20 μm and electrolytic phosphorus-nickel plating is 7 μm.
Since the thick metal plating is applied, the rigidity of the plastic device case 13 can be improved, and substantially non-magnetic rigid plating is realized. Therefore, a sufficient function can be achieved as a device case of a mobile phone incorporating the orientation sensor 19.

That is, for example, GPS (not shown) receives radio waves from an artificial satellite to know the latitude and longitude of the source of the radio waves of the mobile phone. Therefore, the operator of the mobile phone displays on the display screen of the mobile phone. It is possible to display a map near the place where there is. Then, in the map as described above, if the operator of the mobile phone does not know the intended direction (direction) unless he / she knows the direction (direction) to which he / she is currently facing, the direction sensor 19 accurately detects the geomagnetism. If the map is displayed with the north facing up, you can display the direction (direction) you are currently facing on the map with an arrow or the like, or the direction your map is currently facing (direction). When displayed with up, the north direction (direction) can be displayed on the map with an arrow or the like, so that the user can head to the destination by relying on the map.

Further, the rigid plating on the inside has a shielding effect for preventing electromagnetic waves from the internal parts.

The above embodiment is merely an example and can be modified as appropriate. For example, as an electronic device, a mobile phone 10
However, the electronic device using the plastic device case is not limited to the mobile phone, but may be any other device such as a PHS, a mobile communication terminal, and a PC.

In the present embodiment, the plastic cores 1 of both the upper case 11 and the lower case 12 are made.
1a, electroless copper plating layer 11b, electrolytic copper plating layer 11
c, the electrolytic phosphorus-nickel plating layer 11d is applied, but only one of them may be applied. When the plating as described above is applied to only one of the upper case 11 and the lower case 12, it is desirable to apply it to the side having the larger number of holes. That is,
In the configuration example shown in FIG. 1, it is desirable to apply it to the upper case 11 side. Further, in that case, the orientation sensor 19 includes the substrate 1
5 is preferably provided on the side covered with the lower case 12 which is not plated.

In the present embodiment, the method of applying the rigid plating to both sides of the plastic core has been described, but it may be applied to one side. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when only the inner surface is metal-plated and the surface exposed to the outside is not plated, the plastic surface is coated with a resist and then electroplating is performed. After that, if the resist is removed, the metal plating can be applied to the inner surface without attaching the metal plating to the surface portion. In this case, the rigidity is inferior to that in the case where metal plating is applied to both surfaces, but it is possible to cover the drawback that there is a limitation in selection of paint for coating on metal plating.

Similarly, a method may be used in which only the front surface of the equipment case 13 is metal-plated and the inner back surface is not metal-plated. In this case, it is possible to prevent a circuit component such as the electronic component 14 housed in the device case 13 from coming into contact with the device case 13 and causing a short circuit.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the plastic core of the equipment case is provided with the metal plating layer in a thickness of 5 μm or more and 10 μm or less, so that the rigidity of the equipment case can be improved. Since a light and shock-resistant device case is possible, the metal plating layer has a nickel content of between 83% and 90% and contains an element that suppresses the magnetization of nickel. The magnetization of the device case itself can be suppressed.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the invention can be obtained. In particular, since the phosphorus is contained in an amount of at least 2%, the metal plating layer is used. It is possible to suppress the magnetization of the device case due to nickel while maintaining the rigidity of the device case.

According to the invention described in claim 3, since the non-magnetic metal plating layer is applied to the equipment case described in claim 1 or 2, it is not affected by magnetism. It is possible to provide an electronic device that houses an electronic component that needs to be magnetized.

According to the invention described in claim 4, it goes without saying that the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 3 can be obtained.
In particular, since the direction sensor for obtaining direction information is provided in the device case, an electronic device capable of providing the user with information on the direction in which the user is facing is realized.

According to the invention of claim 5, according to the invention of claim 5, the same effects as those of the invention of claim 3 or 4 can be obtained. Is a portable device, the electronic device according to claim 3 or 4 can be carried and used. Also,
Since the device case of the electronic device is provided with rigidity, it is not easily broken even if it is dropped or otherwise shocked while being carried.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of a mobile phone 10 according to the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view of an upper case 11 of the device case 13 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the device case of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Cellular phones (electronic devices) 11 upper case 11a core 11d electrolytic phosphorus-nickel layer 12 Lower case 13 equipment case 14 Electronic components 15 Substrate (electronic component) 19 Direction sensor (electronic parts)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A device case for accommodating an electronic component, wherein the content of nickel is between 83% and 90% on at least one of the inner and outer surfaces of a plastic core, and the magnetization of nickel is magnetized. A device case, characterized in that a non-magnetic metal plating layer containing an element that suppresses the above is applied to a thickness of 5 μm or more and 10 μm or less. 2. The equipment case according to claim 1, wherein the element that suppresses the band magnetization of nickel is phosphorus and contains at least 2% of phosphorus. 3. An electronic device comprising the device case according to claim 1 and an electronic component housed in the device case. 4. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein an azimuth sensor for obtaining azimuth information is provided in the device case. 5. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the electronic device is a portable device.