JP2007034921A - Electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the amount of catching liquid spilled on an operation part to improve the effect of drip-proof and the operability for the operation part with a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: An electronic device has a housing 9 provided with a mounting part 14, an operation part (a touch pad 6) mounted on the mounting part 14, and an external size larger than the outer size of the mounting part 14. In addition, the electronic device also has a drip-proof member 26 provided with ribs 28, 29 and 30 which are provided on the lower side of the mounting part 14 and ridged on a plain part 27 and its surroundings, and recessed parts 33 and 34 which are hung down from the plain part 27 and touch to a structure (e.g., a base housing 11 or an electronic board 36) under the operation part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device with improved waterproofness in an operation unit.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which a drip-proof member is installed below an operation unit in order to ensure waterproofness (drip-proof property) in an operation unit such as a keyboard or a touch pad of a notebook computer.

Here, a flat shallow tray-shaped (tray-shaped) drip-proof member is installed below the keyboard. Accordingly, even if liquid is spilled on the keyboard, the liquid is captured on the drip-proof member, so that it is possible to prevent the electronic board or the like installed below the keyboard from getting wet or fouling and failing.
JP 2002-352659 A

  However, in the structure disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the drip-proof member is formed in a flat shallow saucer shape, there is a problem that the amount of liquid that can be captured is small. For this reason, when covering an operation part with a large area such as a keyboard, yet when covering an operation part with a small area such as a touchpad, the amount of liquid trapped is absolutely insufficient and sufficient drip-proofing is achieved. The effect was not obtained.

  In addition, in order to hold the drip-proof member at a fixed position and prevent a shift or the like, a dedicated fitting shape or holding tool must be provided, and there is a concern that the structure becomes complicated.

  Furthermore, since the lower part of the operation part is shielded from the inner wall of the housing and the structure below by the drip-proof member, a structure such as a support leg for supporting the operation part from below cannot be provided. There is a problem in that the operation portion tends to bend downward when the button is pressed and the operation feeling is poor.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems. With a simple structure, the amount of liquid spilled on the operation unit is increased to improve the drip-proof effect, and the operation feeling of the operation unit is improved. It is an object to provide an electronic device capable of improving the performance.

  In order to achieve the above object, an electronic device according to the present invention has a casing having a placement portion, an operation portion to be mounted on the placement portion, and an outer dimension larger than an outer peripheral size of the placement portion. And provided on the lower surface side of the mounting portion, and a flat portion, a rib erected around the flat portion, and hanging downward from the flat portion, and comes into contact with a structure below the operation portion. A drip-proof member having a recess.

  According to the electronic device of the present invention, with a simple structure, it is possible to increase the amount of liquid spilled on the operation unit to increase the drip-proof effect and improve the operational feeling of the operation unit.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a notebook personal computer showing an example of an electronic apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. In the personal computer 1, a display unit 3 is connected to a main body 2 via a hinge unit 4 so as to be opened and closed. On the upper surface of the main body 2, operation units such as a keyboard 5 and a touch pad 6 are provided. A liquid crystal display panel (LCD) 7 is provided inside the display unit 3.

  The main body 2 has a main body housing 9 made of resin, and the display unit 3 has a display unit housing 10 made of resin. The main body housing 9 includes a lower base housing 11 and a cover housing 12 that is fixedly mounted on the base housing 11 from above. As shown in FIG. 2, an opening-shaped mounting portion 13 on which the keyboard 5 is mounted and a concave mounting portion 14 on which the touch pad 6 is mounted are formed on the upper surface of the cover housing 12. An opening 15 is formed on the front side of the mounting portion 14. The left and right sides of the mounting portion 14 are flat palm rest areas 16.

  The touch pad 6 includes a pad portion 20 and touch pad buttons 21 and 22 held by a frame body 23 and is unitized as a unit, and the frame body 23 is closely fitted and fixed to the mounting portion 14. As a result, the pad unit 20, the touch pad buttons 21 and 22, and the upper surface of the frame body 23 have a height that smoothly follows the upper surface of the palm rest region 16. The touch pad buttons 21 and 22 are aligned directly above the opening 15.

  And the drip-proof member 26 is covered from the lower surface side of the mounting part 14 (opening part 15), and, thereby, the lower surface of the touch pad 6 is covered. 3 is a perspective view of the drip-proof member 26 as viewed from above, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the drip-proof member 26 as viewed from below, and FIG. 5 is a first cross-sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. It is a figure which shows embodiment.

  The drip-proof member 26 is formed by forming a resin sheet such as a PET resin, for example, and is integrally formed in a tray shape including a flat portion 27 and ribs 28, 29, and 30 standing around the flat portion 27. The outer dimensions of the mounting portion 14 are larger than the outer peripheral dimensions. The ribs 28, 29, and 30 are provided on the front side and the left and right sides of the flat portion 27, and are not provided on the back side of the flat portion 27. The back portion of the flat portion 27 is bonded to the lower surface of the placement portion 14 with a double-sided tape 31, for example. The ribs 28, 29, and 30 circumscribe the front edge and the left and right side edges of the mounting portion 14, respectively.

  The flat portion 27 of the drip-proof member 26 is integrally formed with two left and right concave portions 33 and 34 that hang downward. These recesses 33 and 34 are drawn simultaneously when the drip-proof member 26 is formed. The positions of the recesses 33 and 34 are set so as to be positioned below the opening 15 when the drip-proof member 26 is mounted on the lower surface side of the mounting portion 14, and the recess 33 is a touch pad button of the touch pad 6. The concave portion 34 is located immediately below the touch pad button 22.

  As shown in FIG. 5A or FIG. 5B, the lengths (depths) of the recesses 33 and 34 are such that the lower ends of the recesses 33 and 34 are in light contact with the structure below the touch pad 6. . In the example of FIG. 5A, the recesses 33 and 34 are set to contact with the base housing 11, and in the example of FIG. 5B, the recesses 33 and 34 are set to contact with the electronic substrate 36. The electronic board 36 is fastened and fixed to a fastening boss 38 formed on the bottom surface of the base housing 11 with screws 37.

  In addition, you may make it the lower end of the recessed parts 33 and 34 contact | abut not only the base housing | casing 11 and the electronic substrate 36 but another internal structure. In addition, although the concave portions 33 and 34 are formed in a square column shape here, other shapes such as a polygonal column shape, a columnar shape, a truncated cone shape, and the like may be considered as long as the bottomed shape is open at the top. It is desirable that the volume of the recesses 33 and 34 be as large as possible as long as the side surfaces of the recesses 33 and 34 do not interfere with other internal structures.

  By providing such a drip-proof member 26, liquid should be spilled on the touch pad 6, and the liquid will flow down through the gap between the frame body 23 and the touch pad buttons 21 and 22. However, since the liquid is captured on the drip-proof member 26, the electronic substrate 36 and the like installed below the touch pad 6 can be prevented from getting wet or fouled and failing. At this time, since the amount of liquid that can be captured by the drip-proof member 26 is greatly increased by the recesses 33 and 34 formed in the drip-proof member 26, a sufficient drip-proof effect can be obtained.

  Further, since the movement (displacement) of the drip-proof member 26 in the vertical direction is restricted by the concave portions 33 and 34, there is no need to provide a dedicated fitting shape or holder, and the structure can be simplified in this respect. Can do.

  In addition, since the lower ends of the recesses 33 and 34 located below the touchpad buttons 21 and 22 of the touchpad 6 are in light contact with the internal structure below the touchpad 6, the recesses 33 and 34 themselves are touchpad buttons 21. , 22 functions as a support leg for supporting from below. For this reason, when the touch pad buttons 21 and 22 are pressed, the entire touch pad 6 is not bent downward, and the operational feeling of the touch pad buttons 21 and 22 can be improved.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 6 is a view showing a second embodiment of the present invention by a longitudinal section taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

  Here, a drip-proof member 42 having a large area is provided so as to cover the board substrate 41 of the keyboard 5 as an operation unit from below. The drip-proof member 42 is also formed by forming a resin sheet of PET resin or the like, and is integrally formed in a tray shape including a flat portion 43 and ribs 44 and 45 standing around the flat portion 43. The outer dimensions of the mounting portion 13 into which the keyboard 5 is fitted are larger than the outer dimensions.

  The flat portion 43 of the drip-proof member 42 is integrally formed with a plurality of concave portions 46 and 47 that hang downward. The positions of the recesses 46 and 47 are appropriately set according to the position of the key 48 on the keyboard 5.

  The lengths (depths) of the recesses 46 and 47 are set such that the lower ends of the recesses 46 and 47 lightly contact the structure below the keyboard 5. For example, the recess 46 has a length that makes contact with the electronic board 49 installed below the keyboard 5, and the recess 47 has a length that makes contact with the base casing 11. The recesses 46 and 47 may be brought into contact with a structure other than the electronic substrate 49 and the base casing 11.

  By providing the drip-proof member 42, the liquid spilled on the keyboard 5 is reliably captured by the recesses 46 and 47 to prevent damage to the electronic substrate 49 and the like, and the recesses 46 and 47 are formed in the lower internal structure. By making contact, the vertical movement (displacement) of the drip-proof member 42 is restricted, and a dedicated fitting shape and a holder are omitted to simplify the structure. At the same time, the board when operating the key 48 of the keyboard 5 The feeling of operation of the keyboard 5 can be improved by preventing the substrate 41 from being bent downward.

  The drip-proof member 26 of the first embodiment and the drip-proof member 42 of the second embodiment are both formed by forming a resin sheet such as a PET resin, but other materials such as a light alloy sheet are used. It is also conceivable to form a drip-proof member by pressing a sheet.

1 is a perspective view of a notebook personal computer showing an example of an electronic apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. The perspective view of a cover housing | casing, a touchpad, and a drip-proof member. The perspective view which looked at the drip-proof member from the upper part. The perspective view which looked at the drip-proof member from the lower part. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the first embodiment of the present invention by a longitudinal section along the line VV in FIG. 1, and (a) is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a state in which a drip-proof member is in contact with a base housing; b) is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the concave portion is brought into contact with the electronic substrate. The figure which shows 2nd Embodiment of this invention by the longitudinal cross-section in alignment with the VI-VI line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Personal computer (electronic equipment)
2 Main unit housing 6 Touch pad (operation unit)
9 Main body case 11 Base case (structure under the operation unit)
14 Placement part 21, 22 Touch pad button 26 Drip-proof member 27 Flat part 28, 29, 30 Rib 33, 34 Recess 36 Electronic substrate (structure under the operation part)

Claims (2)

A housing having a mounting portion;
An operation unit mounted on the mounting unit;
It has an outer dimension larger than the outer peripheral dimension of the mounting part, is provided on the lower surface side of the mounting part, and has a flat part, a rib erected around the flat part, and downward from the flat part. A drip-proof member that has a recessed portion that hangs down and abuts against a structure below the operation portion;
An electronic apparatus comprising: The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the drip-proof member is formed by forming a resin sheet and integrally forming the flat portion, the rib, and the concave portion.

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