JPH11284358A - Shock resistance structure for electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce deformation and warp of a casing when an electronic apparatus falls and receives impact, so that the shock resistance is improved. SOLUTION: This shock resistance structure of an electronic apparatus is provided with a pair of case members 11 and 12 which are abutted with each other, a first reinforcing member 13a which is disposed on the inner side of the joined ends of the paired case members 11 and 12, a second reinforcing member 23 which is disposed on the outer side of the joined ends of the members, and a fastening member 15 which fastens the first and second reinforcing members 13a and 23 so as to bring the members closer to each other and which sandwiches and presses the joined ends. With this arrangement, when the electronic apparatus falls and receives impact, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a shift between the case members and to reduce deformation stress applied to the entire electronic apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shock-resistant structure of an electronic device, and more particularly, to a shock-resistant structure of an electronic device suitable for being applied to a case of a pen-input computer, a notebook personal computer and other portable electronic devices. It is about structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As electronic components have become smaller and more sophisticated,
Various electronic devices have been developed to be carried around. In particular, there have been remarkable technological innovations in computers (notebook computers, pen-input computers, and the like), and portable computers that are not much different in performance from stationary computers have already been supplied to the market. Portable electronic devices, including computers, always involve the danger of falling. Therefore, in the development of portable electronic devices, in addition to miniaturization, it is important to improve the shock resistance when dropped. It is an issue of.

In many portable electronic devices, from the viewpoint of easy assembly and disassembly, divided upper and lower case members for covering components of the electronic device with their peripheral ends abutting each other. Is used to configure the housing.

[0004]

In a drop test of a portable electronic device, one of the causes of damage to internal components due to an impact at the time of dropping is distortion or bending of a housing when the electronic device is subjected to an impact. . In particular, the risk of damage due to distortion or bending of the housing is extremely high for electronic components having a planar spread, for example, circuit boards and liquid crystal display panels.

[0005] In the conventional general housing structure,
When the electronic device is subjected to an impact by dropping, a displacement occurs between the upper and lower cases, particularly at the corners thereof, and this causes distortion and bending of the entire electronic device.

On the other hand, there is an electronic device having a housing structure in which a fitting groove is formed in a butt portion of the case so that mutual displacement does not occur. However, the molding of the fitting groove becomes complicated, and the strength of the surrounding groove is reduced by the groove. If the impact is large, this portion may be damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to reduce the "slip" at the butting portion of the case at the time of impact, thereby reducing the distortion stress of the entire electronic device and increasing its impact resistance.

Another object of the present invention is to suppress occurrence of the displacement without performing special processing on the butted portion of the case, thereby facilitating molding of the case and preventing damage due to the impact. It is in.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an impact-resistant structure of an electronic device according to the present invention comprises a pair of divided parts covering the components of the electronic device with their peripheral ends abutting each other. A case member, a first reinforcing member disposed on the inner peripheral side of the butted peripheral end of the pair of case members, and a first reinforcing member disposed on the outer peripheral side of the butted peripheral end of the pair of case members; A second reinforcing member, the first and second
And a fastening member that acts so as to clamp the butted peripheral ends of the pair of case members by the first and second reinforcing members. Thereby, the displacement between the case members at the time of the drop impact of the electronic device is suppressed, and the strain stress acting on the entire electronic device is reduced.

Here, the first and second reinforcing members are
It is preferable to dispose at the corners of the pair of case members. Since the electronic device usually falls from the corner, the shift between the case members at the corner, which is most concerned at that time, can be suppressed by this configuration.

It is preferable that the second reinforcing member is fitted to a corner of the pair of case members so as to cover the corner.

The second reinforcing member includes a first member that comes into surface contact with the pair of case members, a second member positioned outside the first member, the first and the second members. And an elastic cushioning material interposed between the two members. Thereby, the impact resistance of the electronic device is further ensured.

Further, it is preferable that a frame member for mounting the components of the electronic device is provided between the pair of case members, and the first reinforcing member is integrally formed on an outer peripheral portion of the frame member. Accordingly, it is not necessary to separately prepare the first reinforcing member, and the number of parts of the apparatus can be reduced.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an electronic device employing a shock-resistant structure according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view thereof. The electronic device 1 shown in the figure is a pen-input computer in which various electronic components are built in a rectangular casing 10.
The casing 10 is divided into an upper case 11 and a lower case 12, and the electronic components are covered with the peripheral ends thereof abutting on each other.

The electronic device 1 has a liquid crystal display panel 2 in the center of the upper surface thereof, and its display area is an upper case 11.
And is exposed from the opening 11a formed at the bottom. A transparent touch panel is disposed on the surface of the liquid crystal display panel 2, and the electronic device 1 can be operated by pointing the display area with an arbitrary pen or fingertip.

A protective member 20 is provided at each corner of the housing 10. The protection member 20 functions to alleviate the impact due to the drop of the electronic device 1 and to suppress the distortion and bending of the housing 10 due to the impact. Each protection member 20 has a structure in which a cushioning material is interposed therebetween, thereby mitigating an impact when the electronic device falls. Details of the protection member 20 will be described later.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a housing structure of the electronic device 1. In this figure, the liquid crystal display panel and other internal electronic components are omitted. The figure shows an upper case 11, a lower case 12, an inner frame material 13, a waterproof packing material 14, and a protective member 20.
The upper case 11 has an opening 11a at the center thereof to expose a display area of the liquid crystal display panel. Upper case 11
Extends downward to form the upper half of the side wall of the housing 10. The lower case 12 is formed corresponding to the upper case 11, and its periphery extends upward to form the lower half of the side wall of the housing 10. The upper case 11 and the lower case 12
They are fixed to each other by a plurality of screws (not shown) from a vertical direction. The upper case 11 and the lower case 12 are cast using a reinforced resin material such as polycarbonate or a metal material such as magnesium.

The internal frame member 13 is a member on which the main components of the electronic device 1 are mounted, such as the liquid crystal display panel 2 and a circuit board on which various electronic components are mounted. As a material of the inner frame member 13, a metal material suitable for a portable electronic device in terms of strength, Young's modulus, weight, and the like, for example, magnesium or aluminum is used. Internal frame material 13
A contact piece 1 having a width in the thickness direction of the housing 10
3a is formed integrally. The contact piece 13a has an L-shape in plan view along the corner of the housing 10, and has a T-shape with the inner frame member 13 in a vertical cross section. In a state where the electronic device 1 is assembled, each contact piece 13a faces the inner wall of the corner of the housing 10. In addition, a screw hole 13b for screwing the screw 15 is cut in each contact piece 13a.

The packing material 14 is a hard rubber member that prevents rainwater from entering the housing 10 from between the upper case 11 and the lower case 12. In a state where the electronic device 1 is assembled, the packing material 14 is arranged so as to be sandwiched between the butting portions of the upper case 11 and the lower case 12 around the inner frame material 13.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the protection member 20 attached to the corner of the housing 10. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the protection member 20 includes an outer member 21, an elastic cushioning member 22, and an inner member 23. The outer member 21 has a groove 21a on the inner periphery along the outer shape, and the elastic cushioning member 22 and the inner member 23 are accommodated therein. The elastic cushioning material 22
This is for reducing the propagation of the impact applied to the outer member 21 to the inner member 23 and thus to the housing 10. As a material of the elastic cushioning member 22, foamed urethane foam or a natural or synthetic rubber material can be used.

The inner member 23 is housed in the groove 21a of the outer member 21 with the elastic cushioning member 22 interposed therebetween. Inner member 23
A fitting groove 23a for fitting to the housing 10 is formed on the inner peripheral side of. The groove width of the fitting groove 23a corresponds to the thickness of the housing 10, and is fitted to a corner thereof and attached so as to cover the corner. A screw 15 is formed in the hole 23b formed in the inner member 23.
Is inserted and screwed into the inner frame member 13 to fix the protection member 20 to the housing 10 side. In addition,
The holes 21b and 22a formed in the outer member 21 and the elastic cushioning member 22 allow the screw 15 to be inserted into the hole 23b of the inner member 23, and have a diameter larger than the head of the screw 15. I have.

Outer member 21, elastic cushioning member 22, and inner member 2
An adhesive can be used for the interconnection between the three. However, when urethane foam is used as the material of the elastic cushioning member 22, the outer member 21 and the inner member 23 are fixed with a space therebetween, and the urethane foam is injected and foamed during this, so that the adhesive is applied. Interconnection is possible without use.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line VV of FIG. 1 of a corner of the electronic device 1 which is a main part of the present invention. In the figure, the ends of the upper case 11 and the lower case 12 are butted from above and below with a packing material 14 interposed therebetween. Butted upper and lower case 1
Inside the insides 1 and 12, the contact piece 13 of the internal frame material 13 is provided.
a is located.

The protection member 20 is fitted to the butted corners of the upper and lower cases 11 and 12 and is fixed to the housing 10 by screws 15. Here, the tip of the screw 15 penetrates the lower case 12, and the screw hole 1 of the contact piece 13a is formed.
3b. When the screw 15 is fully tightened, the upper case 11 and the lower case 12
And the inner member 23. As a result, at each corner of the housing, the butting state between the upper case 11 and the lower case 12 is firmly maintained, and even if the electronic device 1 falls, the displacement between the upper and lower cases due to the impact is eliminated. . By suppressing mutual deviation,
The upper case 11 and the lower case 12 can have the same level of resistance to distortion and bending as when they are integrally molded.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the matters shown in the above embodiment, and the claims and the detailed description of the invention, and The range in which those skilled in the art can make changes and applications based on well-known techniques is included. In the present embodiment, the abutting portion between the upper case 11 and the lower case 12 is sandwiched between the contact piece 13a of the inner frame member 13 and the inner member 23 of the protection member 20,
An internal reinforcing member provided separately from the internal frame material 13,
Alternatively, the butted portion may be sandwiched by an external reinforcing member provided separately from the protection member 20. In the present embodiment, the packing material 14 is disposed between the upper case 11 and the lower case 12, but it is apparent that the present invention can be applied to a housing structure without such a waterproof member.

Also, when a step or a groove that can be engaged with the upper case 11 and the lower case 12 is formed at the butt portion, the butt portion is sandwiched from both sides by the reinforcing member according to the present invention. In addition, the stress generated at the abutting portion between the two cases at the time of the impact is suppressed, and the damage of the portion is prevented.

[0027]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A pen input type computer of about 3 kg
In a test in which the impact-resistant structure according to the present invention was dropped from a height of cm, a test was performed by comparing the test with a test sample that did not.
As a result, in the case where the structure of the present invention was not adopted, a part of the internal electronic component was damaged, but in the case where the structure of the present invention was adopted, the electronic component was not damaged.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, when an electronic device receives an impact due to a drop, mutual displacement at the butted portion between the upper and lower cases can be suppressed. Thereby, distortion and bending of the entire electronic device are reduced, and the impact resistance of the electronic device is improved.

In addition, since it is not necessary to apply special processing to the butted portion of the case in order to guarantee the above-mentioned effects, it is easy to mold the case.

When the reinforcing member is arranged at the corner of the case member as in the present invention, the electronic device usually falls from the corner, and the corner which is most worrisome at that time. Is effectively suppressed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the corners of the pair of case members are covered with the reinforcing member, the butting portions of the pair of case members are prevented from separating from each other due to an impact at the time of drop. And the impact strength is further increased.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the shock wave propagating toward the case member is suppressed by the elastic cushioning material, and the impact strength is further increased.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the strength of the electronic device is increased by the frame member, and the number of parts can be reduced by integrally forming the reinforcing member on the frame member.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an embodiment of an electronic device employing a shock-resistant structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the electronic device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the electronic apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a protection member.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic device 2 Liquid crystal display panel 10 Case 11 Upper case 11a Opening 12 Lower case 13 Inner frame material 13a Contact piece 13b Hole 14 Packing material 15 Screw 20 Protective member 21 Outer member 21a Groove 21b, 22a Hole 22 Elastic buffer material 23 Inner member 23a Fitting groove 23b Hole

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A pair of divided case members covering the components of an electronic device, with their peripheral ends abutting each other, and an inner peripheral side of the abutted peripheral ends of the pair of case members. A first reinforcing member disposed, a second reinforcing member disposed on an outer peripheral side of a butted peripheral end of the pair of case members, and a direction in which the first and second reinforcing members approach each other. Wherein the first and second reinforcing members act so as to clamp the butted peripheral ends of the pair of case members between the first and second reinforcing members. Construction. 2. The impact-resistant structure of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said first and second reinforcing members are arranged at corners of said pair of case members. 3. The impact-resistant structure of an electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the second reinforcing member is fitted to a corner of the pair of case members so as to cover the corner. 4. The second reinforcing member includes a first member that is in surface contact with the pair of case members, a second member that is located outside the first member, and the first and the second members. 4. The shock-resistant structure for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the shock-resistant structure is constituted by an elastic buffer material interposed between the two members. 5. A frame member for mounting a component of the electronic device is provided between the pair of case members, and the first reinforcing member is integrally formed on an outer peripheral portion of the frame member. The shock resistant structure for an electronic device according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein