JP2008077927A - Portable electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide portable electronic equipment mounted with a fuel cell in which water leakage is prevented and dust intrusion is prevented by closing an air passage of the fuel cell at unused time, but in this case, closing operation of the air passage is carried out without power consumption, surely, and with less failures. <P>SOLUTION: The portable electronic equipment is constituted so that by installing a valve body 16 mechanically in conjunction with the opening/closing operation of a lid body 3, the air passage 11 in order to circulate air between the inside and outside of the fuel cell 1 is put into a shut-off state by the valve body 16 when the lid body 3 is closed and into an open state by the valve body 16 when the lid body 3 is opened. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable electronic device such as a notebook personal computer, and more particularly to a portable electronic device equipped with a fuel cell as its power source.

  Recently, the use of a fuel cell that does not require charging from an AC adapter has attracted attention as a power source for portable electronic devices.

  Examples of fuel cells mounted on portable electronic devices include direct methanol fuel cells and polymer electrolyte fuel cells.

  As is well known, the direct methanol fuel cell includes a fuel cell body, a fuel tank, a water storage tank, a pump, a gas-liquid separator, a fan, a pipe, and the like disposed in the fuel cell case. An opening for sucking and discharging air is provided.

  Further, as is well known, the polymer electrolyte fuel cell is provided with a fuel cell body, a hydrogen storage cylinder, a fan, a water retention material, a pipe and the like in the fuel cell case, and an opening for sucking and discharging air into the fuel cell case. Is provided.

  In these fuel cells, water is generated at the time of power generation and is stored by a water retaining material or the like. However, it is necessary to prevent leakage to the outside through the opening. And since the attitude | position of a portable electronic device is not fixed at the time of carrying and there exists a possibility that water may leak through an inlet / outlet, the necessity of closing an inlet / outlet and preventing water leakage when not in use is very large. There is also a demand for preventing dust from entering the fuel cell case through the intake / exhaust port.

  As a response to such a request, a conventional example shown in Patent Document 1 below has been proposed.

This conventional example opens the intake / exhaust port of the fuel cell case when the power switch of the portable electronic device is turned on and is in use, and opens when the power switch is turned off and is not in use. It has a shutter that closes the part. This shutter is configured to be opened and closed by a drive motor.
JP 2006-24398 A

  When the shutter is closed by the drive motor so as to close the opening when not in use, as in the above-described conventional example, the portable electronic device becomes large and consumes power to operate the drive motor. There is a problem. Another problem is that portable electronic devices cannot be used if the drive motor fails. Further, the above conventional example has a problem of high cost.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention includes a device main body and a lid provided to be openable and closable with respect to the device main body. In a portable electronic device using a fuel cell as a power source, the lid is opened and closed. When a mechanically interlocking valve body is provided, and an air passage for circulating air between the inside and outside of the fuel cell is shut off by the valve body when the lid body is closed, and the lid body is opened Further, the valve body is configured to be opened.

  In the present invention, the air passage can be closed without consuming electric power by closing the lid, preventing water leakage when not in use such as when carrying a portable electronic device, and preventing dust from entering. . Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size of the device and reduce the failure, and also to reduce the power consumption. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to perform a special operation of opening the shutter each time it is used and closing the shutter every time it is used, so that it is possible to forget to open and close the air passage.

  1 to 6 show a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a notebook personal computer equipped with a direct methanol fuel cell 1.

  The notebook personal computer includes a device main body 2, a lid 3 that is provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to the device main body 2, and includes a display or the like, and the fuel cell 1.

  The device main body 2 has an operation portion 4 and the like, and pivot portions 5 and 5 for pivotally supporting the lid 3 on both sides of the rear portion. The lid 3 is pivotally supported at the rear portion of the device body 2 by the pivot 6 at the pivots 5 and 5. As is well known, the lid 3 can be opened and closed between a closed position in contact with the upper surface of the device main body 2 and an open position inclined at a slightly larger angle than the right angle with respect to the upper surface of the device main body 2. It is comprised so that it can stop at arbitrary inclination-angle positions.

  The fuel cell 1 is configured by arranging a fuel cell main body, a fuel tank 8, a water storage tank, a pump, a gas-liquid separator, a fan 9, a pipe and the like in a fuel cell case 7. The rear surface 10 of the fuel cell case 7 is provided with an intake port 11 for taking in air (oxygen) from the outside and an exhaust port 12 for discharging air having a high concentration of carbon dioxide and water vapor to the outside. ing.

  The fuel cell case 7 is made of plastic and has a substantially flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is detachably attached to the rear lower part of the device body 2 from the rear. The fuel cell case 7 may be formed integrally with the device main body 2. The intake port 11 is opened at a position close to the fan 9, and the exhaust port 12 is opened at a position close to an exhaust section (not shown) of the gas-liquid separator.

  The rear surface 10 of the fuel cell case 7 has a flat upper surface and a rounded surface 15 at the lower portion. On both sides of the intake port 11, guide rails 13, 13 having an L-shaped cross section are formed integrally with the fuel cell case 7 so as to form a pair on the left and right sides. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 6, the fuel cell case 7 is formed in parallel to each other from the rear surface 10 to the bottom surface 14. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the guide rail 13 has an arc portion 26 that bends in an arc shape in a side view along the rounded surface in relation to the lower portion of the rear surface 10 being a rounded surface. is doing.

  A belt-like valve body 16 is slidably guided and supported by a pair of guide rails 13 formed on both sides of the intake port 11. The belt-like valve body 16 is made of a flexible plastic plate having flexibility and is guided by a pair of guide rails 13 and 13 to advance and retreat by its own rigidity. The belt-like valve body 16 can also be constituted by a thin metal plate such as a stainless steel thin plate.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rear end 19 of the lid 3 is formed in a semicircular shape when viewed from the side. The base end portion 20 of the belt-like valve body 16 is fixed to the upper surface in the vicinity of the rear end portion 19 of the lid body 7 with a fixing screw 18. Further, the belt-like valve body 16 is provided with a long hole 17 along the center line thereof. As shown in FIG. 3, when the lid body 7 is in the open state, the intake port 11 and the long hole 17 4 and the intake port 11 communicates with the outside, and as shown in FIG. 4, when the lid 7 is closed, the non-hole portion of the belt-like valve body 16 comes on the intake port 11. In position, the intake port 11 is closed. In order to improve the sealing performance at the time of closing, it is preferable to provide a sealing member such as an O-ring around the outer surface of the intake port 11.

  As shown in phantom lines in FIG. 6, the tension spring 21 that pulls the strip-shaped valve body 16 toward the opening direction side of the lid body 7 is connected to a proper position between the tip of the strip-shaped valve body 16 and the bottom surface 14 of the fuel cell case 7. If it is stretched between the two, it is possible to contribute to smooth sliding of the belt-like valve body 16. Further, even if the belt-like valve body 16 is made of a soft material that cannot advance and retreat due to its own rigidity, it can advance and retreat guided by the guide rails 13 and 13 by the tension spring 21.

  The exhaust port 12 is also provided with a pair of guide rails 13a, 13a and a strip-shaped valve body 16a having the same operation principle as the guide rails 13 and 13 and the strip-shaped valve body 16 for the intake port 11. It has been.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.

  Since the lid 3 is closed when the notebook computer is not used, the intake port 11 and the exhaust port 12 are closed by non-hole portions of the strip-shaped valve bodies 16 and 16a as shown in FIG. . Therefore, even if the laptop is carried in a free posture, liquid such as water can be prevented from leaking from the intake port 11 and the exhaust port 12, and dust can be prevented from entering the fuel cell case 7. Can be prevented.

  When the notebook computer is used, the device main body 2 is placed in a substantially horizontal state and the lid 3 is opened. At this time, the strip-shaped valve bodies 16 and 16a are guided by the guide rails 13 and 13a. 3 and the intake port 11 and the exhaust port 12 are in communication with the outside so that the fuel cell can be operated without hindrance and the personal computer can be used smoothly.

  7 to 10 show a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a notebook personal computer equipped with a polymer electrolyte fuel cell 51. FIG.

  The notebook personal computer includes a device main body 52, a lid 53 provided with a display 31 and the like, which is openable and closable with respect to the device main body 52, and the fuel cell 51.

  The device main body 52 has an operation portion 54 and the like, and pivot portions 55 and 55 for pivotally supporting the lid 53 on both sides of the rear portion. The lid 53 is pivotally supported at the rear portion of the device main body 52 by a pivot 56 at the pivot portions 55 and 55. As is well known, the lid 53 can be opened and closed between a closed position in contact with the upper surface of the device main body 52 and an open position inclined at a slightly larger angle than the right angle with respect to the upper surface of the device main body 52. It is comprised so that it can stop at arbitrary inclination-angle positions.

  The fuel cell 51 is configured by arranging a fuel cell main body, a hydrogen storage cylinder, a fan, a water retaining material, piping, and the like in a fuel cell case 57. Further, the fuel cell case 57 is provided with an intake port for sucking outside air and an exhaust port for discharging internal air.

  The fuel cell case 57 is mounted in the device main body 2 as shown in FIGS. An air intake port and an exhaust port provided on the front surface of the fuel cell case 57 are connected to an intake passage 32 and an exhaust passage (not shown) provided in the device main body 52, and an air intake opening that opens to the front upper portion of the device main body 52. 33 and the air discharge port 34.

  As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, an opening / closing valve 35 that shuts off the intake passage 32 only when the lid 53 is closed is provided at an intermediate position of the intake passage 32. The on-off valve 35 is provided with a hooked valve body 36, a compression spring 37 that biases the hooked valve body 36 upward, and a stop ring 38 that restricts the upward movement of the hooked valve body 36 in the device main body 52. The valve housing hole 39 is incorporated. The upper part of the valve housing hole 39 is open to the outside, and the lower part communicates with the intake passage 32. The flanged valve body 36 has a main body portion 41 made of hard plastic or metal, and a lower portion 42 made of a soft material such as rubber in order to improve sealing performance.

  Corresponding to the on-off valve 35, the lid 53 is provided with a valve pressing projection 40. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, when the lid 53 is closed, the valve pushing projection 40 abuts and pushes against the flanged valve body 36, and the intake passage 32 is shut off. When the lid 53 is opened, as shown in FIG. 8, the flanged valve body 36 is moved upward by the urging force of the compression spring 37, and the intake passage 32 is opened.

  An opening / closing valve 35a having the same operation principle as that of the opening / closing valve 35 with respect to the intake passage 32 is provided for the exhaust passage, and the valve pushing protrusion is provided so as to correspond to the opening / closing valve 35a. A valve pressing projection 40 a having the same function as that of the valve 40 is provided.

  Since the second embodiment also operates in the same manner as the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  The first embodiment relates to a notebook personal computer equipped with a direct methanol fuel cell, but this configuration can be applied to a notebook personal computer equipped with a solid polymer fuel cell.

  The second embodiment relates to a notebook personal computer equipped with a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, but this configuration can be applied to a notebook personal computer equipped with a direct methanol fuel cell.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is useful when applied to a portable electronic device that includes a lid that can be opened and closed with respect to a device body such as a notebook personal computer, a portable information terminal, and a mobile phone and that is equipped with a fuel cell.

The perspective view of 1st Embodiment of this invention. The disassembled perspective view of the principal part. The partial vertical side view of the principal part. The partial vertical side view of the principal part explaining the effect | action. The AA cross-sectional enlarged view of FIG. The bottom view of the principal part. The perspective view of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing of the principal part. Sectional drawing of the principal part explaining the effect | action. BB cross-sectional enlarged view of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,51 Fuel cell 2,52 Fuel main body 3,53 Cover body 7,57 Fuel cell case 11 Inlet (air passage, opening)
12 Exhaust port (air passage, opening)
16, 16a Strip valve (valve)
17 Long hole 32 Air intake passage (air passage)
35, 35a Open / close valve (valve)
40, 40a Valve push projection

Claims (3)

In a portable electronic device using a fuel cell as a power source, a valve body that mechanically interlocks with the opening and closing movement of the lid body is provided. An air passage for allowing air to flow between the inside and outside of the fuel cell is shut off by the valve body when the lid body is closed, and is opened by the valve body when the lid body is opened. A portable electronic device characterized in that it is configured as described above. An opening established in the case of the fuel cell constitutes an air passage for circulating air between the inside and outside of the fuel cell, and a valve body that is mechanically interlocked with the opening and closing movement of the lid with a belt-like valve body having a long hole When the lid is closed, the non-hole portion of the strip-shaped valve body closes the opening, and when the lid is opened, the long hole of the strip-shaped valve body overlaps the opening to open the opening. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the belt-like valve body is guided and supported on a case of the fuel cell so as to be opened. An air passage for circulating between the inside and outside of the fuel cell is provided on the device main body side, the air passage is opened and closed, and a valve body biased in the opening direction is arranged facing the air passage, and the lid body is provided. Providing a valve pushing projection, when the lid is closed, the valve pushing projection contacts and pushes the valve body to shut off the air passage, and when the lid is opened The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the valve body is configured to return in the opening direction to open the air passage.

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