JP2008204585A - Shock absorbing material for electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a shock absorbing material for electronic equipment, capable of effectively absorbing an impact by impact absorption, vibration absorption or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The shock absorbing material for electronic equipment 10 is interposed between a peripheral portion 11a of a hard disk 11 as an electronic part and an electronic part casing 12 which supports the hard disk 11. Namely, the shock absorbing material 10 includes a contact part 13 which surface-contacts with the peripheral portion 11a of the hard disk 11, an elastic part 14 provided outside the contact part 13 to cover the contact part 13, and a retaining part 15 provided outside the elastic part 14 to cover the elastic part 14, which are mutually adhered in an integrated manner. The contact part 13 and the retaining part 15 are formed with hardness higher than that of the elastic part 14. The contact part 13, the elastic part 14 and the retaining part 15 are formed to have a U-shaped sectional form to fit and fix the peripheral portion 11a of the hard disk 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is used to support, for example, a hard disk, a CD ROM, an optical disk and the like, which are electronic components of a computer as an electronic device, and protects the electronic component by buffering an impact. The present invention relates to an impact buffer material.

  Conventionally, among these types of electronic devices, particularly cellular phones, digital cameras, portable music players, and the like, they are often shocked due to the property of being carried in pockets or bags. In that case, since a hard disk or the like as an electronic component incorporated in the electronic device is vulnerable to impact, means for buffering the received impact is provided.

For example, an insulator of a portable electronic device that is interposed between an electronic component such as a hard disk and the electronic component casing and absorbs an impact applied to the electronic component is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). That is, the insulator includes a first insulator constituent member and a second insulator constituent member made of a material having a hardness lower than that of the first insulator constituent member. The second insulator component member is formed so as to protrude in a substantially hemispherical shape or a cone shape from a surface of the first insulator component member facing the electronic component housing, and the tip portion contacts the electronic device housing. ing.
JP 2006-153108 A (Page 2, FIGS. 3 and 4)

  However, in the insulator described in Patent Document 1, the second insulator constituent member having a low hardness is embedded in the first insulator constituent member so as to protrude into a substantially hemispherical shape at a constant interval. For this reason, when an insulator receives an impact, the buffering effect is mainly obtained by absorption by the second insulator constituent member. However, the absorption by the second insulator constituent member having a low hardness alone is not satisfactory as a shock-absorbing effect because the deflection due to the received impact is large and the damping of the vibration is delayed.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an impact cushioning material for electronic equipment that can effectively cushion an impact by impact absorption, vibration absorption, or the like.

  In order to achieve the above object, an impact shock absorbing material for an electronic device according to claim 1 is interposed between an electronic component that constitutes the electronic device and an electronic component support that supports the electronic component so as to apply an impact. It is a buffer. A contact portion that is formed to extend along the electronic component, contacts the electronic component, an elastic portion that is provided outside the contact portion so as to cover the contact portion, and an elastic portion is provided outside the elastic portion. A holding portion provided so as to be covered is fixed and integrally configured. The contact portion and the holding portion are formed with higher hardness than the elastic portion, and the contact portion, the elastic portion, and the holding portion are formed in a cross-sectional shape. The edge part of an electronic component is fitted and fixed, and it is characterized by the above-mentioned.

The impact buffer material for electronic equipment according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the Young's modulus of the contact portion and the holding portion is 1.0 × 10 ^{3 to} 3.0 × 10 ⁵ MPa, and the elastic portion According to JIS K6253, the durometer E type hardness is 5 degrees or more and the durometer A type hardness is 30 degrees or less.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the first or second aspect, the contact portion and the holding portion are formed of the same kind of material.

According to the present invention, the following effects can be exhibited.
The shock absorber for an electronic device according to claim 1 is formed so as to extend along the electronic component, and a contact portion that contacts the electronic component, an elastic portion provided to cover the contact portion outside the contact portion, A holding portion provided so as to cover the elastic portion is fixed to the outside of the elastic portion, and is integrally configured. The contact portion and the holding portion are formed with higher hardness than the elastic portion. In addition, the contact portion, the elastic portion, and the holding portion are formed in a U-shape in cross section, and are configured so that the edge portion of the electronic component is fitted and fixed.

  For this reason, when the electronic device receives an impact, the impact force is transmitted to the electronic component, and is applied as a compressive force to one of the protrusions forming the U-shaped cross section of the shock absorber for the electronic device. At this time, it is considered that the impact force is mainly absorbed by the elastic portion through the contact portion and is attenuated by the contact portion and the holding portion, and further, the vibration is considered to be blocked by the contact portion and the holding portion. It is done. In addition, since the shock-absorbing material is integrally formed and fixed to the electronic component, the other protrusion is pulled to receive an extension force so as to follow the displacement of the one protrusion. The same buffering action as that of the one projecting portion that receives the compressive force can be obtained. Therefore, the shock absorbing material for electronic equipment can effectively buffer the shock by shock absorption, vibration absorption or the like.

In the shock absorber for electronic equipment according to the invention of claim 2, the Young's modulus of the contact portion and the holding portion is 1.0 × 10 ^{3 to} 3.0 × 10 ⁵ MPa, and the durometer E type according to JIS K6253 of the elastic portion The durometer A type hardness is 30 degrees or less from a hardness of 5 degrees or more, and the durometer A type hardness of 30 degrees corresponds to a Young's modulus of 1 MPa. Therefore, in addition to the effect of the invention according to claim 1, since the difference in hardness between the contact portion and the holding portion and the elastic portion is sufficiently large, both functions can be exhibited effectively.

  In the shock absorber for electronic equipment of the invention of claim 3, since the contact part and the holding part are formed of the same kind of material, in addition to the effect of the invention according to claim 1 or claim 2, The holding part exhibits the same behavior, and the design of the shock absorbing material for electronic equipment can be facilitated and the configuration can be simplified.

In the following, embodiments that are considered to be the best of the present invention will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 1, an impact shock absorbing material for electronic equipment (hereinafter also simply referred to as an impact cushioning material) 10 in this embodiment includes a hard disk 11 as an electronic component constituting the electronic equipment, and an electronic device that supports the hard disk 11. It is interposed between the electronic component casing 12 as a component support and cushions the impact. The shock absorber 10 for electronic equipment is formed in a U-shaped cross section so as to extend along an end edge (peripheral edge) 11a of the hard disk 11 formed in a plate shape. The electronic device shock absorbing material 10 is fitted to the end edge portion 11a of the hard disk 11 so as to contact and support (surface contact), and extends along the contact portion 13 so as to cover the outer peripheral surface thereof. The elastic part 14 provided and the holding part 15 provided so as to cover the outer peripheral surface of the elastic part 14 are fixedly configured integrally. In other words, the shock absorbing material 10 is formed in a sandwich shape in which the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 are joined to both sides of the elastic portion 14 as a center. In FIG. 1, the thickness of the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 is exaggerated and thicker than the thickness of the elastic portion 14.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shock absorbing material 10 is configured by integrating a contact portion 13, an elastic portion 14, and a holding portion 15 that are each formed in a U shape.
The shock-absorbing material 10 for electronic equipment, which is formed in a U-shaped cross section, protrudes from the main body portion 16 extending in the vertical direction in FIG. 1 so that the upper protrusion portion 17 and the lower protrusion portion 18 face each other with the hard disk 11 interposed therebetween. Formed and configured. The upper surface of the edge 11 a of the hard disk 11 is in surface contact with the upper protrusion 17, the lower surface of the edge 11 a of the hard disk 11 is in surface contact with the lower protrusion 18, and the hard disk 11 is in contact with the inner surface of the main body 16. The peripheral surface of the edge portion 11a is in contact with and in surface contact. 1, when the electronic device receives an impact and a downward force is applied to the hard disk 11, the lower protrusion 18 of the shock absorbing material 10 is compressed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. At the same time, the upper projecting portion 17 is deformed so as to be stretched by being pulled in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

The contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 are formed with higher hardness than the elastic portion 14. Thus, by forming the contact part 13 and the holding part 15 hard and forming the elastic part 14 softly, the elastic part 14 can express a function of absorbing impact force, and the contact part 13 and the holding part. 15, the function of attenuating the impact and blocking the vibration can be exhibited. The hardness of the contact part 13, the holding part 15, and the elastic part 14 is represented by, for example, Young's modulus, and the Young's modulus of the contact part 13 and the holding part 15 is 1.0 × 10 ^{3 to} 3.0 × 10 ⁵ MPa. Is preferred. The durometer E type hardness according to JIS K6253 of the elastic portion 14 is preferably 5 degrees or more and the durometer A type hardness is preferably 30 degrees or less. The reason why the standard defining the hardness of the elastic portion 14 differs between the lower limit and the upper limit is that it is difficult to measure high hardness with E type hardness and difficult to measure low hardness with A type hardness. That the A type hardness is preferably 30 degrees or less is preferably 1 MPa or less in terms of Young's modulus. Thus, by setting the difference in Young's modulus between the two in the order of 10 ³ to 10 ⁵ , the functions of both can be clearly exhibited. Here, the Young's modulus is a coefficient calculated based on Hooke's law that the strain with respect to stress is constant in the elastic range. The greater the Young's modulus, the higher the rigidity (hardness) and the smaller the deformation against stress.

When the Young's modulus of the contact part 13 and the holding part 15 is smaller than 1.0 × 10 ³ MPa, the hardness of the contact part 13 and the holding part 15 tends to be insufficient, and the expression of the function is reduced. On the other hand, when the Young's modulus of the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 is larger than 3.0 × 10 ⁵ MPa, the hardness of the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 tends to be excessive, and the function is strongly expressed. This may hinder the function of the elastic portion 14 from being expressed. In addition, when the durometer E type hardness of the elastic portion 14 is smaller than 5 degrees, it is difficult to ensure the strength of the elastic portion 14 and it is difficult to mold, which is not preferable. On the other hand, when the durometer A type hardness of the elastic portion 14 is larger than 30 degrees, the absorbability of impact and vibration is lowered, which is not preferable.

Examples of materials constituting the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 include steel (Young's modulus 2.06 × 10 ⁵ MPa), aluminum (Young's modulus 7.03 × 10 ⁴ MPa), and copper (Young's modulus 1.30 × 10). Metal such as ⁵ MPa), synthetic resin such as ABS resin (Young's modulus 2.06 × 10 ³ MPa), polypropylene resin (Young's modulus 1.47 × 10 ³ MPa), and the like are used. As a material constituting the elastic part 14, for example, rubber, gel, or the like is used. Examples of rubber include silicone rubber, urethane rubber, chloroprene rubber, and fluorine rubber. Examples of the gel include styrenic gel and silicone gel.

  By forming the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 with the same kind of material, the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 exhibit the same behavior, and the design is easily performed when the shock absorbing material 10 is manufactured. And can simplify their configuration.

  By the way, in the shock absorber 10 for electronic equipment, since the lower protrusion 18 and the upper protrusion 17 receive a bending stress due to contraction or expansion, bending rigidity is important as a physical property thereof. This bending rigidity is a value obtained by multiplying the Young's modulus by the moment of inertia of the cross section. If the Young's modulus is constant, the moment of inertia is proportional to the cross-sectional area of the lower protrusion 18 or the upper protrusion 17, that is, the thickness of the lower protrusion 18 or the upper protrusion 17. Therefore, the performance of the shock absorber 10 for electronic equipment is determined with this bending rigidity as the most important index.

  The thicknesses of the contact portion 13, the elastic portion 14, and the holding portion 15 constituting the shock-absorbing material 10 are determined by the target electronic component, the impact force received, and the like. 1-0.2 mm and the elastic part 14 are 2-3 mm. When the thickness of the contact part 13 and the holding part 15 is thinner than 0.1 mm, the rigidity of the contact part 13 and the holding part 15 is lowered, and the function expression tends to be insufficient. On the other hand, when it is thicker than 0.2 mm, the rigidity of the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 tends to be too high, and it becomes difficult to sufficiently develop the function of the elastic portion 14. Moreover, when the thickness of the elastic part 14 is thinner than 2 mm, the function of the elastic part 14 cannot be fully exhibited. On the other hand, when the thickness is larger than 3 mm, the displacement of the electronic component becomes too large, and the electronic device cannot be thinned.

  The shock absorbing material 10 does not need to cover the entire periphery of the end edge portion 11a of the target electronic component. For example, when the connection terminal of the hard disk 11 is located at the end edge portion 11a, it is not necessary to install the shock absorbing material 10 at that portion. Further, the shock absorbing material 10 may not be installed continuously, but may be installed at a plurality of locations partially on the edge 11 a of the hard disk 11. The total length of the shock-absorbing material 10 at this time is determined by the hardness of the elastic portion 14 and the mass of the hard disk 11, but is preferably a length that does not sink when stationary, and further on each side of the hard disk 11. It is preferable to install them, and it is more preferable to install them at the corners of each side.

Although the manufacturing method of the shock absorbing material 10 of this embodiment is not specifically limited, For example, the following four methods are mentioned.
(1) A co-extrusion method using ABS resin as a material for forming the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 and a gel of styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene copolymer (SEBS) as a material for forming the elastic portion 14 Method of integrating by. In that case, in the case where a flat plate-like integrated product is formed in advance and then bent, it is possible to make the folding easy by providing a cut in the bent portion.
(2) A method of integrating by a so-called insert extrusion method in which the elastic portion 14 is extruded from the opening of the extrusion die while the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 formed in advance are supplied to the extrusion die.
(3) When metal is used as the material for forming the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 and rubber or resin is used as the material for forming the elastic portion 14, the metal forming the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 is U-shaped. A method in which a mold is placed at a predetermined interval in a bent state, and a raw material of rubber or resin is injected and integrated between them in that state, that is, an insert molding method using a mold.
(4) A method in which different resins or rubbers are used as the material for forming the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 and the material for forming the elastic portion 14 and are integrated by injection molding.

Now, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. The shock absorbing material 10 has a U-shaped cross section in which the contact portion 13, the outer elastic portion 14, and the holding portion 15 outside the elastic portion 14 are fixed. The end edge 11a of the hard disk 11 is fitted. In this case, the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 (Young's modulus is, for example, 1.0 × 10 ^{3 to} 3.0 × 10 ⁵ MPa) are elastic portions 14 (E type hardness is 5 degrees or more and A type hardness is 30). The degree of hardness is less than or equal to the degree. For this reason, when the electronic device receives an impact and the hard disk 11 is displaced downward as indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1 by the impact force, the lower protrusion 18 is compressed and contracted in the direction of the arrow, and at the same time, the upper protrusion Since the portion 17 is bonded to the edge 11a of the hard disk 11, the lower portion of the upper protruding portion 17 is pulled in the direction of the arrow, and the upper protruding portion 17 expands (expands).

  At this time, the compressive force acting on the lower projecting portion 18 and the stretching force acting on the upper projecting portion 17 are mainly absorbed by the deformation of the flexible elastic portion 14 via the contact portion 13 and are rigid. It is assumed that the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 are attenuated. Furthermore, the vibration based on the impact force is considered to be insulated (blocked) by both the rigid contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15. In addition, since the shock absorbing material 10 is integrally formed with the contact portion 13, the elastic portion 14 and the holding portion 15 fixed, the above action is achieved as a result of good transmission of compressive force and extension force. Works effectively. In addition, in FIG. 2, the upper protrusion 17 of the shock absorbing material 10 is provided above the edge 11 a of the hard disk 11, the lower protrusion 18 is provided at the lower part, and the main body 16 is provided at the tip. The above action is also exerted against the impact force on the heel. Therefore, sufficient shock absorbing action and vibration absorbing action can be exhibited even with weak impact force and high frequency vibration.

The effects exhibited by the above embodiment will be described collectively below.
The shock absorber 10 for electronic equipment in the present embodiment is formed so as to extend along the hard disk 11, and is provided so as to cover the contact part 13 outside the contact part 13 and a contact part 13 that makes surface contact with the hard disk 11. The elastic portion 14 and the holding portion 15 provided so as to cover the elastic portion 14 on the outside of the elastic portion 14 are fixed and integrally configured. The contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 are formed with higher hardness than the elastic portion 14. In addition, the contact portion 13, the elastic portion 14, and the holding portion 15 are formed in a U shape in cross section, and are configured so that the end edge portion 11 a of the hard disk 11 is fitted. Therefore, it is considered that the impact force received by the hard disk 11 is mainly absorbed by the elastic portion 14, attenuated by the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15, and the vibration is blocked by the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15. Therefore, the shock absorbing material 10 can effectively buffer the shock mainly transmitted from the electronic component housing 12 to the hard disk 11 by shock absorption, vibration absorption or the like. Therefore, the shock-absorbing material 10 is suitably used for electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, portable music players, electronic notebooks, etc., and protects hard disks 11, which are electronic components that are vulnerable to shocks, as well as CD-ROMs, optical disks, etc. Useful to do.

The Young's modulus of the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 in the shock absorbing material 10 is 1.1 × 10 ^{2 to} 1.0 × 10 ⁴ , and the durometer E type hardness according to JIS K6253 of the elastic portion 14 is 5 degrees or more. It is preferable that durometer A type hardness is 30 degrees or less. In this case, since the difference in hardness between the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 and the elastic portion 14 is large, both functions can be effectively exhibited.

  In addition, by forming the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 with the same kind of material, the contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 exhibit the same behavior, so that the design of the shock absorbing material 10 is facilitated and the configuration Can be easy.

In addition, this embodiment can also be changed and embodied as follows.
The contact portion 13 and the holding portion 15 are not the same configuration, and may be configured by changing the material, hardness, thickness, and the like depending on the purpose of use.

It is also possible to configure the elastic portion 14 with a plurality of layers of a plurality of materials so as to adjust the absorption of impacts and vibrations.
-A thermoplastic elastomer etc. can also be used as a material which comprises the elastic part 14. FIG.

A conductive powder such as carbon black can be blended with the contact portion 13, the elastic portion 14, or the holding portion 15 so as to prevent electrostatic charging.
In order to increase the adhesive strength in the bonding between the contact portion 13, the elastic portion 14 and the holding portion 15 of the shock absorbing material 10 or the bonding between the contact portion 13 and the edge 11a of the hard disk 11, in advance A primer layer can also be formed.

Further, the technical idea that can be grasped from the embodiment will be described below.
-The thickness of the said contact part and a holding | maintenance part is 0.1-0.2 mm, respectively, The thickness of an elastic part is 2-3 mm, The any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The shock-absorbing material for electronic equipment described in 1. In such a configuration, in addition to the effects of the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the functions of the contact portion, the holding portion, and the elastic portion can be sufficiently exhibited while achieving a reduction in thickness.

  -It is formed in a U-shaped cross section by a pair of projecting portions projecting from both ends of the main body, and is configured such that an edge portion of an electronic component is fixed between the pair of projecting portions. The shock-absorbing material for electronic equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 3. In this case, in addition to the effect of the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, a compression force and an extension force can be applied to the pair of projecting portions, respectively, so that the shock buffering effect can be improved.

Sectional drawing which shows the state which supported the hard disk as an electronic component in the shock absorbing material for electronic devices in embodiment which actualized this invention. The disassembled perspective view which shows each member which comprises the shock absorbing material for electronic devices.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Shock absorber for electronic devices, 11 ... Hard disk as electronic component, 12 ... Electronic component housing | casing as an electronic component support body, 13 ... Contact part, 14 ... Elastic part, 15 ... Holding part.

Claims (3)

An impact cushioning material for an electronic device that is interposed between an electronic component constituting the electronic device and an electronic component support that supports the electronic component and cushions an impact,
A contact portion that is formed to extend along the electronic component, contacts the electronic component, an elastic portion that is provided outside the contact portion so as to cover the contact portion, and an elastic portion that covers the elastic portion outside the elastic portion. And the contact portion and the holding portion are formed with higher hardness than the elastic portion, and the contact portion, the elastic portion, and the holding portion are U-shaped in cross section. A shock absorbing material for electronic equipment, characterized in that it is formed in a shape, and is configured such that an edge of an electronic component is fitted and fixed. The Young's modulus of the contact part and the holding part is 1.0 × 10 ^{3 to} 3.0 × 10 ⁵ MPa, and the durometer E type hardness of the elastic part according to JIS K6253 is 5 degrees or more and the durometer A type hardness is 30 degrees. The shock-absorbing material for electronic equipment according to claim 1, wherein: The impact buffer material for an electronic device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the contact portion and the holding portion are formed of the same kind of material.

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