JPH11289168A - Structure for housing electric device in case - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a case easily and surely closable without hindrance even when the case has a thin wall thickness at the time of closing the case after an electric device is housed in the case, by housing parts in a non-lidded case and injecting and curing a photosetting or thermosetting liquid resin in the case by using the case as a container. SOLUTION: At the time of housing electric parts 2, a circuit board 25, etc., in a case 1 formed by molding a plastic, the parts 2 are put in a resin injection mold 3 made of such a transparent material as the transparent plastic or glass, and the case 1 is put in the mold 3 so as to cover the mold 3 with the case 1. Then, a photosetting liquid resin is injected into the mold 3 through a port provided on the side of the mold 3. After the liquid resin spreads to the bottom side of the mold 3 and the belly side of the parts 2, the parts 2 are enclosed in the case by curing the resin by irradiating the resin with light from the bottom side. Then an electric device is taken out by overturning the mold 3 and tapping the edge of the mold 3. Since the case 1 is integrally formed with the injected resin, no trouble occurs even when the wall thickness of the case 1 is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for packaging an article such as a power supply device which is detachably attached to a portable electric device.
Such a power supply device is of a rechargeable type and includes a storage battery and a charging circuit. These are housed in a case, treated as one independent article, and attached to and detached from an electric device. Because it is treated as an independent article, it is housed in a plastic molded case.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to constitute an electric device such as the above-described power supply device as one independent article, the entire device is housed in one case. Was closed with a lid. In order to close the lid, it is common to make an engagement between the lid and the main body to make it fit and kill, or to connect the two with an adhesive, but reduce the weight of the whole,
As the thickness of the case has become thinner in order to make it less expensive, it has become difficult to combine the cases. Therefore, welding between the case body and the lid by an ultrasonic welding method has been performed.

[0003] When using the ultrasonic welding method, reliable welding cannot be performed unless the mating surfaces of the case body and the lid are in good contact. This problem becomes more serious as the thickness of the case becomes thinner. In order to solve this problem, a method of embedding and molding the resin by putting the entire electric part in a mold can be considered, but the electric part is difficult to withstand high temperature and high pressure during molding. A method using a photocurable resin instead of a normal thermosetting or thermoplastic resin can be considered, but since it is transparent,
There is a problem that the battery and circuit inside can be seen and the appearance as a product is poor.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, when housing and closing an electric device in a case, there is no problem even if the case is thin, and it can be simply and securely closed and has a good external appearance. It is something to offer.

[0005]

The components are housed in a case without a lid, and the case is used as a container to inject and cure a light-curable or thermosetting liquid resin.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the manufacturing process of the present invention. The example shown here is a detachable charge / discharge battery case of a portable electric device. Reference numeral 1 denotes a plastic molded product having a thickness of about 0.3 mm. Reference numeral 2 denotes an electric component housed in the case, which is a battery body 21 and a charge / discharge circuit element 22.
, Terminal fittings 23, lead plates 24 and the like, and 25 is a circuit board. Numeral 3 denotes a resin injection mold made of a transparent material such as transparent plastic or glass. This is a transparent material because a photocurable resin is used. FIG. 1B shows a case where the electric component 2 is put in the mold, and the case 1 is fitted in the mold 3 so as to cover from above. In this manner, the photocurable liquid resin is injected into the mold 3 from the horizontal injection port 31.
Inject with. Thereafter, light is applied from below the mold 3 to cure the injected resin.

FIG. 2A is a sectional view taken along the arrow a of FIG. 1B. The battery body 21 rides on the ridges 32 in the mold 3, and the liquid resin flows between the bottom of the mold 3 and the battery body 21. The back surface of the battery main body 21 and the inner surface of the case 1 are in contact with each other, and almost no resin flows into this portion. FIG. 2B shows a cross section taken along the line b in FIG. 1B. A set of terminal fittings 23A is exposed on the abdominal side of this electrical component.
Is provided. The periphery of the dent 33 is a small ridge-shaped ridge 34
Is formed so that the resin flows between the circuit board 25 and the bottom of the mold 3. Another set of terminal fittings 23B
Are exposed through the window 11 of the case 1 on the back side of the electrical components. The terminal fitting 23B is bent and fixed to the terminal block 23C. When the case 1 is put on the terminal block 23C, the circuit board 25 is pressed by the ridges 34 via the terminal block 23C. In this manner, the liquid resin injected into the mold 3 spreads between the bottom surface of the mold 3 and the abdomen of the electrical component 2 and is cured by light irradiation from below. Although the liquid resin also flows into a place where direct light does not hit, such as the back side of the electrical component, the light is transmitted repeatedly through the transparent body by reflection, and eventually hardens. Will be completely contained in Case 1.

FIG. 3 shows the ventral side of a completed electrical device enclosed in a case by the liquid resin cured as described above. 5 is a cured liquid resin, 51 is a mold 3
Groove in the trace of the protrusion 32 of the
In this example, the side surface of the battery body 21 is exposed.
The inside of the cured resin is visible because it is transparent, but it is not shown in this figure. In order to take out the completed electric device from the mold 3, it is sufficient to turn the mold downward and gently tap the edge. At this time, to make it easier to disconnect the electrical device,
A release agent may be applied to the inner surface of the mold 3. The release agent is also convenient when cleaning by removing the resin that has adhered to the inner surface of the mold 3 and cured. In order to take out the electric device from the mold 3, it is preferable to open a small window 34 at the bottom of the mold 3 and provide a peripheral levee 35 at the same height as the ridge 32 around the small window 34. In this way, the finished product can be easily removed from the mold by pressing the electric device inside at this window. In FIG. 3, the central round hole 52 corresponds to this window.

In the above embodiment, a photo-curable liquid resin is used as the liquid curable resin, but a liquid resin that is cured by using both light and heat may be used. Instead of using the mold 3, the liquid resin may be injected into the case 1 as a container with the inside facing upward, and the electric components therein may be embedded in the liquid resin. In this case, it is difficult to use a resin that is cured only by light, and a combined use of light and heat is convenient.

The electric device according to the present invention has an appearance characteristic in that there is a case on only one side and the surface of the resin in which the contents of the case are embedded is exposed on the other side. Since it is used by being attached to the parent device, by attaching the parent device with the case side out, even if there is no lid on the belly side of the device of the present invention, there is no appearance problem at all, and the case body The case does not need to be thick, as in the case where the cover and the lid are fitted, and the joint between the body and the lid must be closely contacted precisely, as in the case where the case body and the lid are welded by ultrasonic waves. Also, since the case is integrated with the injected resin, there is no problem even if it is made thinner, and the case can be thought of as the exterior painting of the device, leading to weight reduction, and the case can be assembled even if it is assembled. To match the body with the lid It is simple and the internal parts are embedded in the resin, so it is strong against mechanical shock, prevents moisture from entering, improves insulation, etc. Can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention in the order of manufacturing steps.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along arrows a and b in FIG. 1B.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the ventral side of the finished product shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case 2 Electrical parts 3 Resin injection type 4 Injector 5 Solidified resin

Claims (1)

[Claims] After storing parts to be housed in a case without a lid, the case is put into a molding die, and a photo-curable or thermosetting liquid resin is poured into the mold, and the resin is injected into the mold. A structure for storing an electric device in a case, wherein the case is removed from the mold after curing.