JP2010021454A - Housing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a housing which facilitates attachment and detachment of a cable while the cable hardly falls, and comprises a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: The housing for housing electronic equipment includes an insertion hole for a cable with a connector bored in a wall portion on a back or side-face side. Further, a projection portion is provided that extends toward the insertion hole and forms a space with the wall portion to allow a cord portion of the cable with the connector to be inserted. A tip of the projection portion is close to the insertion hole in plan view, and when the connector portion of the cable with the connector is inserted into the insertion hole, the interval between an outer periphery of the connector portion and the tip of the projection portion is less than the diameter of the cord portion. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a housing that can accommodate electronic devices (a hard disk drive, a wireless LAN device, a terminal adapter device, a router device, etc.). Specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement of a cable holding mechanism in a housing that can accommodate an electronic device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a structure in which a hook such as a power source cable is provided in a housing that can accommodate an electronic device therein and a hook is provided on a back surface portion and the cable is hung on the hook is known. A structure for holding a cable by combining a protrusion and a groove is also known (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-9-55590

In the method of simply hanging the cable on the hook as in the prior art, the cable may be disconnected due to the restoring force of the cable. Also, it is not possible to prevent the cable connector from coming off. On the other hand, according to the holding structure in which the protrusion and the groove are combined, a sufficient holding force can be expected, but a complicated operation is required when fixing the cable. In addition, since the holding force is high, it is difficult to adjust the position of the cable after fixing one end. Also, it is not easy to remove the cable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a housing having a simple structure in which a cable is difficult to be removed and the cable can be easily attached and detached.

In order to solve the above problems, the first configuration of the present invention is as follows. That is,
A housing that houses electronic equipment,
An insertion port for a cable with a connector is drilled in the wall on the back side or side surface,
A protrusion that extends toward the insertion port and forms a space between the wall portion and a space through which the cord portion of the cable with the connector can be inserted;
The tip of the projection is close to the insertion port in plan view, and when the connector portion of the cable with the connector is inserted into the insertion port, the distance between the outer periphery of the connector portion and the tip of the projection is The casing is characterized by being shorter than the diameter of the cord portion.

According to the above configuration, after the cord portion of the cable with connector (hereinafter abbreviated as “cable”) is inserted into the space formed between the wall portion on the back side or the side surface and the projection portion, When the connector portion is inserted into the insertion port, the cable is held by the housing in a state where the cord portion near the connector portion draws a loop. As a result of forming such a holding structure, even if the cord portion is pulled away from the housing, a part of the cord portion is caught by the protruding portion, and no force is directly applied to the connector portion. In addition, since the direction of the force is converted by the loop-shaped portion, the force in the direction of pulling out the connector portion (that is, the force in the direction away from the housing) is not applied to the connector portion. Such an action makes it very difficult for the connector part to come off. Further, the distance between the outer periphery of the connector part and the tip of the protruding part becomes shorter than the diameter of the cord part, and the cord part cannot pass between the outer periphery of the connector part and the tip of the protruding part. That is, a state in which the cord portion does not come off between the connector portion and the tip of the protruding portion is formed, and the above holding structure can be maintained even if a slight external force is applied.
Furthermore, since the cord portion near the connector portion draws a loop and the restoring force is dispersed there, the load on the connector portion is reduced. This also works effectively to prevent the connector portion from coming off.
On the other hand, the cable can be attached by a very simple operation of inserting the cord portion and subsequently inserting the connector portion. Further, the cord portion is not completely fixed, and the position of the cord portion can be easily adjusted after attachment. Further, if the connector portion is pulled out, the holding state of the cable is released and the cable can be easily removed.
As described above, according to the casing of the present invention, despite the simple configuration, excellent effects are obtained with regard to prevention of cable disconnection and operability.

The cable in the said structure is not specifically limited as long as it is provided with a connector part. Examples of the cable include a power cable, a USB cable, and various audio cables.
As described above, when the cable is attached to the housing of the present invention, a part of the cord portion becomes a loop shape. Usually, a substantially vertical loop is formed on the wall portion in which the cable insertion opening is formed. Therefore, it is preferable to pierce the cable insertion opening not in the side wall portion but in the back side wall portion. In this way, it becomes difficult to see the loop of the code part. In consideration of easiness of wiring, it is preferable to arrange the cable insertion slot at the lower part on the back side.

  In the second configuration of the present invention, the insertion port is formed in a recess formed in the rear or side wall, and the projection is located in the recess. With this feature, there are further effects that (1) damage to the protrusions can be prevented, (2) the outer shape of the housing is reduced (compact), and (3) the design is improved.

  In the third configuration of the present invention, the side surface of the recess is an inclined surface. With this feature, there are further effects that (1) the cord portion can be easily inserted, and (2) interference between the cord portion and the wall portion can be suppressed (deformation of the cord portion can be prevented).

In the fourth configuration of the present invention, the depth of the space is short on the proximal end side of the protrusion and long on the distal end side. That is, a space for inserting the cord portion is widened on the open side. This feature brings about a further effect that the cord portion can be easily inserted while securing a sufficient holding force. In addition, you may comprise so that the depth of the said space may increase in steps, or may increase continuously. If the latter configuration is adopted, for example, the protrusion may be formed so that the wall surface on the space side is tapered.
When using a cable (such as a biaxial power cable) that has a different diameter in the width direction and a diameter in the thickness direction (a larger diameter in the width direction), the depth of the space at the tip of the protrusion is The depth of the space at the base end position of the protrusion is preferably longer than the diameter in the thickness direction of the cord portion and shorter than the diameter in the width direction (fifth configuration of the present invention). If comprised in this way, while being able to perform insertion operation smoothly, without minding the direction of a code | cord | chord part, it can prevent that a code | cord | chord part rotates in the circumferential direction after insertion.
Both the depth of the space at the tip end position of the protrusion and the depth of the space at the base end position of the protrusion may be configured to be longer than the diameter in the thickness direction of the cord portion and shorter than the diameter in the width direction. . Even in this configuration, the cord portion can be prevented from rotating in the circumferential direction after insertion.

  In the sixth configuration of the present invention, the protrusion is located obliquely below or obliquely to the side of the insertion port. This feature brings about the further effect that the handling of the cord portion is improved. This configuration is also advantageous for improving the holding force (improving the effect of preventing the connector portion from coming off).

  In the seventh configuration of the present invention, the tip of the protruding portion has a shape along the outer shape of the connector portion. This feature is effective in preventing a large gap from being generated between the tip of the protruding portion and the connector portion when the connector portion is inserted into the insertion port. Therefore, according to the said structure, the further effect that a retention strength improves (the prevention effect of a connector part omission rises) is brought about. It is also possible to use the tip of the protruding portion as a guide when inserting the connector portion. If the tip of the protruding portion is used as a guide, the connector portion can be easily inserted, and the connector portion can be inserted more reliably.

In the eighth configuration of the present invention, a plurality of the insertion openings are provided, and a plurality of the protrusions are provided so as to correspond to the respective insertion openings. According to the said structure, each said effect is exhibited about not only one cable but several cables. Note that the number of protrusions may be smaller than the number of insertion openings, and one protrusion may be used to hold two or more cables.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

  A housing 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 is a rear perspective view of the housing 1, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a rear view of the housing 1, FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 3, FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 5, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are perspective views showing a cable attachment method.

  The case 1 is a case for a hard disk drive. In this example, ABS resin is used as the material of the housing 1. A substantially rectangular concave portion 11 is formed in the wall portion on the back side 10 of the housing 1 in plan view. Two recesses 20 and 21 are formed in the recess 11. The rectangular insertion port 21 positioned above is for a USB cable, and the circular insertion port 20 positioned below is for a power cable. According to the size of the connector inserted therein, the diameter of the insertion port 20 is about 10 mm, and the diameter of the insertion port 21 is about 13 mm. The upper and lower side surfaces 12 and 13 of the recess 11 are not surfaces perpendicular to the bottom surface 14 of the recess 11 but are inclined surfaces that gently curve.

  A protrusion 30 extending toward the insertion port 20 is provided on the right side wall of the recess 11 in the figure. As shown in the drawing, the protrusion 30 is located obliquely to the insertion opening 20. Further, the protrusion 30 is parallel to the bottom surface 14 of the recess 11, and its tip 31 is close to the insertion opening 20 in plan view (see FIG. 4). In this example, the distance L from the tip 31 of the protrusion 30 to the insertion port 20 is about 3 mm (FIG. 4). The distance is set in consideration of the diameter of the connector portion of the power cable to be used. When the connector portion is inserted into the insertion port 20, the distance between the protrusion tip 31 and the outer periphery 43 of the connector portion 41 is smaller than the diameter of the cord portion 42 (see FIG. 8), for example, about 1 mm to about 5 mm. Set the distance between. In order to increase the strength, the base end 32 of the protrusion 30 is formed thicker than the tip 31.

  The protruding portion 31 has an arcuate shape so as to follow the outer shape of the connector portion 41 of the power cable 40 (see FIGS. 8 and 9). In the housing 1 of this embodiment, the shape of the insertion port 20 is circular so that it conforms to the outer shape of the connector 41 of the power cable 40 in accordance with the convention, so that the protruding portion tip 31 extends along the outer periphery of the insertion port 20. It has a shape.

  The protrusion 30 is located in the recess 11. That is, it is in a state of being accommodated in the recess 11. This can prevent the protrusion 30 from being damaged. In addition, the housing 1 can be made small, and the design on the back side of the housing 1 is improved.

  A space 15 is formed between the protrusion 30 and the bottom surface 14 of the recess 11. As will be described later, the cord portion 42 of the power cable 40 is inserted into the space 15. In order to allow the cord portion 42 to be inserted without hindrance and to prevent the cord portion 42 from being displaced after insertion, the depth d of the space 15 is about 2 mm, and the diameter of the cord portion 42 in the thickness direction (about 1.8 mm) Longer than the diameter of the cord portion 42 in the width direction (about 4 mm). In this embodiment, the depth of the space 15 is constant. However, the depth may be short on the protrusion base end 32 side and long on the protrusion tip 31 side. In this way, the cord portion 42 can be easily inserted. On the other hand, the depth of the space 15 at the position of the protrusion 31 is larger than the diameter of the cable portion 42 in the width direction, and the depth of the space 15 at the position of the protrusion base end 32 is larger than the diameter of the power cable in the thickness direction. It may be longer and shorter than the diameter in the width direction. When this configuration is adopted, the insertion operation can be performed smoothly without worrying about the orientation of the cord portion 42, and the cord portion 42 can be prevented from rotating in the circumferential direction after insertion.

Next, a method for attaching the power cable 40 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, after bending the cord portion 41 at a position slightly away from the connector portion 41 of the power cable 40, the portion is inserted into the space 15 so as to be hooked on the protruding portion 31 (FIG. 8). As shown in the drawing, this operation may be performed while holding the connector portion 41 with one hand. Note that, as described above, the upper and lower side surfaces 12 and 13 of the concave portion 11 are inclined to be gently curved, so that the operation can be performed easily and smoothly. Further, the inclined surface functions as a guide, and wiring is arranged.
Subsequently, the distal end (terminal side) of the connector part 41 is inserted into the insertion port 20 with the housing rear side facing. As a result of the above operation, the power cable 40 is held in the housing 1 in a state where the cord portion 42 is inserted into the space 15 and the cord portion 42 near the connector portion 41 draws a loop (FIG. 9). Thus, in the housing 1, the power cable 40 can be attached by a very simple operation of inserting the cord portion 42 and subsequently inserting the connector portion 41.

Here, as a result of the formation of the above holding structure, even if the cord portion 42 is pulled backward, a part of the cord portion 42 is caught by the projection portion 30, and no force is directly applied to the connector portion 41. In addition to this, since the direction of the force is converted by the loop-shaped portion, the force in the direction of pulling out the connector portion 41 (that is, the force indicated by the arrow X in FIG. 9) is not applied to the connector portion 41 (this If a cable is inserted so as to form a loop above the connector portion 41 as in the example, an upward or diagonally upward force is applied), the connector portion 41 is very difficult to come off. On the other hand, the distance between the connector outer periphery 43 and the protrusion tip 31 is about 1 mm, which is significantly shorter than the diameter (about 1.8 mm) of the cord part 42 in the thickness direction. The cord portion 42 cannot pass between the tip 31. That is, in a normal use, a state is formed in which the cord portion 42 does not come off through between the connector portion 41 and the protruding portion tip 31. As a result, even if some external force is applied, the above-described holding structure can be maintained (a state in which the connector portion 41 is difficult to come off) can be maintained.
Furthermore, the cord part 42 in the vicinity of the connector part 41 draws a loop, the restoring force there is dispersed, and the load on the connector part 41 is reduced. This also works effectively to prevent the connector portion 41 from coming off.

  On the other hand, the cord portion 42 is not completely fixed, and the position of the cord portion 42 can be easily adjusted after attachment. For example, the loop portion can be made smaller by pulling backward with the position of the symbol C in FIG. Moreover, if the connector part 41 is pulled out, the holding | maintenance state of the power cable 40 will be cancelled | released and the power cable 40 can be removed easily. As described above, not only the mounting operation but also the adjustment and removal after mounting do not require any complicated operation.

Although only the holding mechanism for the power cable 40 is provided in the housing 1, a similar holding mechanism may be provided for the USB cable. Or you may make it hold | maintain a USB cable using the projection part 30 together. When a USB cable holding mechanism is separately provided, for example, a protrusion similar to the protrusion 30 may be provided above the protrusion 30 and on the side of the USB cable insertion port 21. However, the shape of the tip of the protrusion is preferably a planar shape in accordance with the shape of the connector portion of the USB cable.
The positional relationship between the insertion port 20 and the protrusion 30 is not limited to that of this embodiment. For example, the protrusion 30 is not disposed on the side of the insertion port 20 as in this embodiment, but below or above the insertion port 20 (in this case, for example, the positions of the insertion port 20 and the insertion port 21 are reversed). You may decide to arrange in.
In the present embodiment, the depth of the space 15 is made constant by forming the projection 30 parallel to the bottom surface 14 of the recess 11, but the depth of the space 15 is short at the position of the projection base end 32, and the tip of the projection It can also be configured to be long at the 31 position. According to the configuration, the cord portion 42 can be easily inserted. In addition, it is easy to remove.
An example of the shape of the protrusion tip is shown in FIG. In the examples of (a) and (c), only a part of the tip of the protruding portion is along the outer shape of the connector portion.

  The housing of the present invention can be used as a housing for housing various electronic devices such as a hard disk drive, a wireless LAN device, a terminal adapter device, and a router device. Also, the type of cable that can be applied is not particularly limited. Thus, the casing of the present invention is very versatile.

The present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments and examples of the invention described above. Various modifications may be included in the present invention as long as those skilled in the art can easily conceive without departing from the description of the scope of claims.
The contents of papers, published patent gazettes, patent gazettes, and the like specified in this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

It is a back perspective view showing the case of an example. It is the elements on larger scale of FIG. 1, and shows the form and positional relationship of an insertion port and a projection part. FIG. 3 is a rear view of the housing 1. It is the elements on larger scale of FIG. 3, and shows the form and positional relationship of an insertion port and a projection part. FIG. 3 is a side view of the housing 1. It is sectional drawing in the AA line position of FIG. It is sectional drawing in the BB line position of FIG. The perspective view which shows the attachment method of a power cable. A state when the cord portion 42 is inserted is shown. The perspective view which shows the attachment method of a power cable. The state after inserting the connector part 41 is shown. The top view which shows the example of the shape of a protrusion part front-end | tip. (A) is an example for a round connector. (B) and (c) are examples for a rectangular connector.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Housing | casing 10 Housing | casing back surface 11 Recessed part 12 formed on the housing | casing back side, 13 recessed part side surface 14 recessed part bottom face 15 Space formed by a recessed part bottom face and a projection part 20 Power cable insertion slot 21 USB cable insertion slot 30 Projection Portion 31 Protrusion tip 32 Protrusion base 40 Power cable 41 Connector portion 42 Cord portion 50 to 52 Connector insertion port 53 to 55 Protrusion portion

Claims (8)

A housing that houses electronic equipment,
An insertion port for a cable with a connector is drilled in the wall on the back side or side surface,
A protrusion that extends toward the insertion port and forms a space between the wall portion and a space through which the cord portion of the cable with the connector can be inserted;
The tip of the projection is close to the insertion port in plan view, and when the connector portion of the cable with the connector is inserted into the insertion port, the distance between the outer periphery of the connector portion and the tip of the projection is A casing characterized by being shorter than the diameter of the cord portion. The insertion port is drilled in a recess formed in the back side or side wall.
The housing according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is located in the recess.   The casing according to claim 2, wherein a side surface of the recess is an inclined surface.   The case according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the depth of the space is short on the proximal end side of the protrusion and long on the distal end side.   The depth of the space is longer than the diameter in the width direction of the cord portion at the distal end position of the protrusion, and longer than the diameter in the thickness direction of the cord portion at the proximal end position of the protrusion. The casing according to claim 4, wherein the casing is shorter than a diameter in a width direction of the portion.   The housing according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is located obliquely below or obliquely to the side of the insertion port.   The case according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a tip of the protruding portion has a shape along an outer shape of the connector portion.   The housing according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a plurality of the insertion openings and a plurality of the protrusions so as to correspond to the insertion openings.

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