WO2011091551A1

WO2011091551A1 - Supporting foot

Info

Publication number: WO2011091551A1
Application number: PCT/CN2010/000129
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wenxin Huang; Kian Choy Kiew; Ke Zhang
Original assignee: Thomson Licensing
Priority date: 2010-01-29
Filing date: 2010-01-29
Publication date: 2011-08-04

Abstract

A supporting foot (200) for supporting a device on a placement includes a base part (210) acting as a force bearing element, and at least two parallel elements (220) vertically formed on the top surface (240) of the base part (210). The two parallel elements (220) are spaced with an open surface (280), and each parallel element has a clip part (260) and a support part (250), wherein the clip part (260) is used to clip the supporting foot (200) into a housing (300) of the device. In addition, an assembly including the supporting foot (200) and the housing (300) of the device is provided.

Description

SUPPORTING FOOT

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates in general to a supporting foot, and more particularly to a supporting foot to support a device with housing, and an assembly structure including the supporting foot.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Some devices, especially some electronic devices usually need feet to space the bottoms of their main housings from a place, e.g. the ground, a table, to disperse the produced heat, to get supported, to be steady, to protect the surfaces of their standings, etc. Usually, most of the feet are formed of soft material and without sharp corners.

There are several kinds of existing feet. Fig.lA shows one kind of supporting foot is adhesively connected to an electronic device's housing. In this case, the foot size usually is big. Otherwise it will not be steady, which is not suitable for small products. In addition, the height of foot should be short. Otherwise it will not be steady, this is not suitable for electronic devices which need a high foot for airflow. Another disadvantage is that, since good adhesive is needed, otherwise it will get failed after running under high temperature for a period of time, this causes the cost rising.

Fig.l B shows another kind of supporting foot 100, which traditionally has a round-shaped base 110 with a clip part 120 formed thereon to clip it to an object needing support. However, in this condition, it is required that the size of the base 110 and the clip part 120 should be big, or else it will not be steady, which is not suitable for small devices.

So it is challenging to design a steady and cheap foot for small devices, especially when a sufficient height is needed and the fixing space for the foot is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a supporting foot, which is suitable for being assembled to a housing of a device, e.g. a STB to support the STB and space a room for the STB to disperse the generated heat. The supporting foot includes a base part acting as a force bearing element, at least two parallel elements vertically formed on the top surface of the base part, with an open surface spacing them, each element including a clip part to clip the supporting foot to the housing.

Further, each of the two parallel elements has a support part connecting the clip part and the base part, and at least one of the horizontal dimensions of the clip part is larger than the corresponding one of the support part.

In more details, the two parallel elements have a symmetry axis coincident with the center axis of the base part.

Further, the two elements are respectively formed into a "T" shape on the base part.

In addition, the two elements have a cross-section of rectangle.

Further, the supporting foot is made of flexible material.

Moreover the supporting foot is compression molded into one piece.

The elements respectively have a smooth top surface.

In another aspect, an assembly is provides in the current invention. The assembly consists of a housing with at least two mounting holes formed thereon and said supporting foot. The at least two elements are assembled through the at least two mounting holes to clip the supporting foot to the housing, and wherein at least one of the horizontal dimensions of the clip part is larger than that of the corresponding holes which is larger than that of the support part.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG.1A is a perspective view of a traditional adhesive supporting foot attached to a device.

FIG.1 B is a perspective view of a traditional supporting foot with a round base and a clip part formed thereon;

FIG.2 is a perspective view of a supporting foot according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG.3 is a bottom view of the supporting foot according to the embodiment of the invention; FIG.4 is a top view of the supporting foot according to the embodiment of the invention;

FIG.5 is a front view of the supporting foot according to the embodiment of the invention;

FIG.6 is a side view of the supporting foot according to the embodiment of the invention;

FIG.7 shows a housing to which the supporting foot according to the embodiment of the invention is used;

FIG.8 shows the supporting foot according to the embodiment of the invention and the housing before they are assembled together;

FIG.9 is an illustrative diagram showing the supporting foot according to the embodiment of the invention is assembled on a part of the housing;

FIG.10 shows the assembly of the supporting feet according to the embodiment of the invention and the housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereafter, a supporting foot which can be used in various devices is introduced. Especially, the below description will describe the foot and how it is assembled through mounting holes on the bottom of an electronic device housing, e.g. a Set Top Box, to support the electronic device, and to remain a space to disperse the heat generated by the electronic device, etc.

As can be seen from Fig.2, the supporting foot 200 according to the embodiment has a base part 210 at bottom of the supporting foot 200, and two T-shaped elements 220 formed on the top surface plane 240 of the base part 210. The base part 210 in the current embodiment is an upside-down trapezoid in the side view and front view (see also Fig.5 and Fig.6) and acts as a force bearing element to support the electronic device, however, it is not a limitation to the invention, and can be a cuboid, a cube or cylindrical. The bottom plane of the base part 2 0 contacts with the ground or a table where the electronic device is placed. The top surface plane 240 of the base part 210 shown in Fig.2 has an edge 230 extending beyond the length and width of the top surface, but it is not a limitation to the invention, and the base part 210 can be formed without the edge 230 too.

On the top surface 240 of the base part 210, the two T-shaped elements 220 with thickness "t" are formed in parallel (further refer to Fig. 5) and vertical to the top surface 240 of the base part 210. And their symmetry axis is coincident with the responding centre axis of the top surface plane 240 and the base part 210, so that there is open surface 280 as a main force bearing part (combined with Fig.5) between the two T-shaped elements 220, which is a open part of the top surface plane 240 to contact with a housing 300 (as shown in Fig 7, 8 and 10) of an electronic device to support the electronic device. As the center of the base part 210 is acting as one of the points of force bearing, the foot according to the embodiment is less compressed than the prior art foot. The T-shaped elements are used to hook the foot to the housing of the electronic device. Each T-shaped element consists of a support part 250 with a width of "w1 " and a clip part 260 with a width of "w2" (see also Fig.6). "w2" is larger than "w1 ". The support part 250 also has a height of "h" (see also Fig.6). In this way, the cross section of the each formed T-shaped elements is basically a rectangular shape. As an alternative, at least two opposite sides of regular shape can be replaced with an arc shape. The top surface 270 of each clip part has a smooth shape, e.g. like an arc so that the clip part can be assembled through the mounting holes on the electronic device easily.

Fig.7, Fig.8 and Fig.10 respectively shows the housing 300 of the electronic device, especially its bottom, where the foot 200 according to the embodiment is used, the status before their assembly, and the assembly of the foot 200 and the housing 300. Fig. 9 shows a part of the housing assembled with the foot 300.

It can be seen from Fig.7 and Fig.8 that on the bottom of the housing 300, there are 4 pairs of holes 310. Preferably the holes are rectangular to match the shape of the foot, especially its T-shaped elements. Through each pair of the holes 310, one foot 200 is assembled, each T-shaped element of the foot fitting into one hole 310 along the direction as the dashed arrows show.

Refer to Fig.2 to Fig.10. To assemble the foot 200 onto the housing 300, the foot is made of flexible material, e.g. rubber. In addition, the height "h" of the support part 250 is preferably set according to the depth of the hole 310 so that the foot and the housing have a tight match between each other. Further, the width "w2" and the thickness "t" of each clip part 260 are respectively larger than the corresponding dimensions of the hole 310, e.g. its length and width, so that the foot can be hooked into the corresponding holes. Further, the thickness "t" and the width "w1" of each support part 250 are slightly smaller than the corresponding dimensions of the hole 310, e.g. its length and width. The base part 210 is left outside of the housing 300. Thus the whole foot can be tightly assembled on the housing.

In the drawings, the foot is shown having round corners. However, it can have shape corners too, which will be easily got according to the teaching of the current invention.

In the above embodiment, though the T-shaped elements are formed to have a constant thickness, the clip part and the support part can have different width too, e.g. the clip part is thicker than the support part.

In the above embodiment, there are two T-shaped elements formed on the base part. But definitely there can be more T-shaped elements depending on the implementation.

In the embodiment and its variants, the foot is molded, e.g. compression molded into one piece.

Although the present invention has been described with above detailed embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art. It is intended that the present invention encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A supporting foot (200) to support a device with a housing (300), including

a base part (210) at bottom of the supporting foot,

at least two parallel elements (220) vertically formed on the base part (210), with an open surface (280) spacing them, wherein the open surface (280) is adapted to contact with the housing (300) to support the device.

2. The supporting foot (200) according to claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two parallel elements (220) includes a clip part (260) to clip the supporting foot (200) to the housing (300), and a support part (250) connecting the clip part (260) and the base part (210), and at least one of the horizontal dimensions of the clip part is larger than the corresponding one of the support part (250), so as to contact with the housing (300) to support the device.

3. The supporting foot (200) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the two parallel elements have a symmetry axis coincident with the center axis of the base part (210).

4. The supporting foot (200) according to claim 3, wherein the two elements (220) are respectively formed into a "T" shape on the base part (210).

5. The supporting foot (200) according to claim 4, wherein the two elements (220) have a cross-section of rectangle.

6. The supporting foot (200) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the foot is made of flexible material.

7. The supporting foot (200) according to claim 6, wherein the supporting foot is compression molded into one piece.

8. The supporting foot (200) according to claim 7, wherein the elements (220) respectively have a smooth top surface (270).

9. An assembly consisting of,

the supporting foot (200) according any of the claims 1 to 8, and a housing (300) with at least two mounting holes (310) thereon, wherein the at least two elements (220) are assembled through the at least two mounting holes (310) to clip the supporting foot (200) to the housing (300).

10. The assembly according to claim 9, wherein at least one of the horizontal dimensions of the clip part is larger than that of the corresponding holes (310) which is larger than that of the support part (250).

11. The assembly according to claim 10, wherein the at least two holes (310) have a rectangular shape to match the at least two elements.