A self-locking and unlocking structure for a charger and a battery assembly

Abstract

The present invention relates to a self-locking and unlocking structure of a charger and a battery assembly, which comprises a base, a cover plate, a lock assembly, an unlocking assembly and a battery assembly, wherein the lock assembly and the unlocking assembly are both located on the base, and the cover plate covers the lock assembly and the unlocking assembly and is fixedly connected to the base; a card slot is provided on the battery assembly, and a card position is correspondingly provided on the lock assembly, the card position is engaged in the card slot so that the battery assembly is limited, and the card position can perform elastic telescopic movement in the card slot to achieve locking or unlocking between the lock assembly and the battery assembly; the unlocking assembly abuts against the lock assembly, and the unlocking assembly can also generate elastic telescopic movement to drive the lock assembly to achieve locking or unlocking with the card slot, thereby proposing a technical solution for locking the component in a working state and facilitating unlocking of the component in a non-working state.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of electronic products, and in particular to a battery charger, and a self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and a battery assembly. Background Art

[0002] In the specific application of various electronic products, it is usually necessary to carry extra backup batteries due to environmental inconvenience or limitations of the electronic products themselves. When charging the backup batteries, the most common method is to use a separate charger.

[0003] When charging the battery, taking a waterproof battery as an example, it is a public technology in the industry to design the waterproof battery and the battery cover as an integral sealing structure. In this application, we define this combination design as a battery assembly; and a suitable charger is usually provided with a battery placement slot, in which a metal spring is provided for electrically contacting the battery assembly. The battery assembly is inserted into the placement slot, and the metal spring is electrically connected to the battery assembly to achieve charging.

[0004] For the existing charger for the waterproof battery mentioned above, the placement groove only provides the insertion and removal of the battery assembly without any limit. Therefore, the electrical connection between the battery assembly and the metal spring sheet relies on the gravity of the battery assembly itself. In actual applications, since the protruding height of the metal spring sheet is limited, and the battery assembly lacks a locking structure such as a limit or positioning structure in the placement groove that can ensure good electrical contact during charging; and other structures that affect the position stability of the battery assembly may also be provided on the charger; all of these will lead to poor contact between the battery assembly and the metal spring sheet, resulting in a situation where charging cannot be performed.

[0005] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a self-locking and unlocking structure for the charger and the battery assembly, which can ensure that the battery assembly is in good contact with the metal spring when inserted and is easy to plug and unplug, so as to solve the problem of poor charging contact and inability to charge in the prior art due to the lack of a lock to fix the position of the battery assembly on the charger. Summary of the invention

[0006] The present invention provides a self-locking and unlocking structure for a charger and a battery assembly. The structure can solve the problems of poor charging contact and failure to charge that exist in various types of battery chargers currently in the prior art, either because the charger is not provided with a locking positioning or limiting structure for the battery assembly; or because the charger may be provided with other structures that affect the charging position of the battery assembly on the charger, which will lead to poor charging contact and failure to charge.

[0007] A self-locking and unlocking structure for a charger and a battery assembly, comprising a base, a cover plate, a lock assembly, an unlock assembly and a battery assembly, wherein the lock assembly and the unlock assembly are both located on the base, the cover plate covers the lock assembly and the unlock assembly and is fixedly connected to the base; the battery assembly is assembled on the base and is self-lockingly connected to the base;

[0008] The battery assembly is provided with a card slot, and the lock assembly is correspondingly provided with a card position, the card position is engaged in the card slot so that the battery assembly is limited, and the card position can perform elastic telescopic movement in the card slot to achieve locking or unlocking between the lock assembly and the battery assembly;

[0009] The unlocking component abuts against the locking component, and the unlocking component can also generate elastic telescopic movement to drive the locking component and the card slot to achieve locking or unlocking.

[0010] The beneficial effects produced by the present invention are:

[0011] Due to the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly described in the present invention, when the battery assembly needs to be charged, when it is inserted into the charger to the charging position, the card slot on the battery assembly and the card position on the lock assembly realize the locking function, thereby limiting the battery assembly from being misplaced or dislodged due to various conditions existing in the prior art, thereby causing poor contact and charging failure; in addition, when the battery assembly needs to be unlocked after charging is completed, the present invention provides another unlocking assembly to drive the lock assembly to achieve unlocking, which is very convenient and fast; the lock assembly and the unlocking assembly are both configured to have an elastically compressible function, and the elastic compression and deformation recovery force are effectively utilized to effectively solve the charging limit and charging completion unlocking functions of the battery assembly, which not only solves the problems of poor charging contact and charging failure in the prior art, but also proposes a new technical solution for locking limit and unlocking that can be adapted to any component. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0013] Figure 1 It is an exploded view of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 2 It is an enlarged view of point "A" of the exploded view of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 3 It is a three-dimensional diagram of the locking member of the present invention.

[0016] Figure 4 It is a three-dimensional diagram of the unlocking member of the present invention.

[0017] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional diagram of the cover plate of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 6 It is a three-dimensional diagram of the semi-assembled state of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 7 It is an enlarged view of point "B" of the three-dimensional diagram of the semi-assembled state of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 8 It is a partially enlarged three-dimensional view of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention in the assembled state.

[0021] Fig. 9 This is a cross-sectional view of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention. Figure 1 .

[0022] Fig.10 This is a cross-sectional view of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention. Figure 2 .

[0023] Fig.11 It is a cross-sectional view of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention in a semi-working state. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0025] It should be noted that this embodiment is described by taking the self-locking and unlocking structure of a waterproof battery charger and a battery assembly as an example. To facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the particularity of the waterproof battery will be described first when describing the specific structure.

[0026] Since waterproof batteries have special properties such as waterproof, dustproof, shockproof, and even explosion-proof, in actual applications, a common practice is to seal the battery cell of the waterproof battery and the battery cover into an integrated structure, which is referred to as a battery assembly in this application.

[0027] Please refer to Figure 1 and Figures 6 to 8, which is an exploded view and assembly diagram of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the waterproof battery charger and the battery assembly of this embodiment. The waterproof battery charger comprises a base 1, a cover plate 2, a lock assembly 3, an unlocking assembly 4 and a battery assembly 5. The lock assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 are both located on the base 1. The cover plate 2 covers the lock assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 and is fixedly connected to the base 1. The battery assembly 5 is assembled on the base 1 and realizes a self-locking connection with the base 1. The battery assembly 5 realizes electrical conduction with the base 1 for charging.

[0028] Please refer to Figures 1 to 5 , which is a specific structural diagram of each component in the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention, and will be described in detail below;

[0029] Reference Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Fig. 9 The base 1 is provided with a placement groove 11 for accommodating the battery assembly 5, and the placement groove 11 includes a side surface 111, and the side surface 111 is provided with a hole 1111, and the hole 1111 passes through the side surface 111. The base 1 is also provided with a storage bin 12, and the storage bin 12 and the placement groove 11 are respectively adjacent to the two sides of the side surface 111, and the placement groove 11 is arranged on the outer surface of the base 1, and the storage bin 12 is arranged on the back side of the base 1; the base 1 is also provided with a through hole 13, and the through hole 13 is located on the side wall of the storage bin 12.

[0030] It can be understood that the battery assembly 5 is inserted or pulled out from one side of the outer surface of the charger 1 to realize the taking and placing of the charger whether it is charged, while the locking assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 are installed from the back of the charger 1 and covered and fixed by the cover plate 2.

[0031] Reference Figure 1 and Figure 3The locking assembly 3 includes a spring 31 and a locking member 32, wherein the locking member 32 includes a first bottom wall 321 and a first side wall 322 arranged perpendicular to the first bottom wall 321; both sides of the first side wall 322 further extend along the edge of the first bottom wall 321 to form another opposite side wall 323, thereby forming a three-sided surrounded groove structure, a locking position 324 is convexly provided on the outer surface of the first side wall 322, and a first protrusion 335 is provided on the inner side surface of the first side wall 322 on the side of the groove structure, the locking position 324 is directly opposite to the setting position of the first protrusion 325, the spring 31 is sleeved on the first protrusion 325, and at the same time, one end of the spring 31 is against the first bottom wall 321; when an external force is applied or removed, the spring 31 can use the first bottom wall 321 as a stop to generate compression deformation and deformation recovery movement along the first protrusion 325.

[0032] Furthermore, a guiding inclined surface 3241 is provided at the front end of the locking position 324 to provide an assembly guide for the locking position 324 to be locked in the locking slot 521 .

[0033] Reference Figure 1 and Figure 4 The unlocking assembly 4 includes an unlocking spring 41 and an unlocking member 42, the unlocking member 42 includes an unlocking button 421 and a flange 422 arranged around its root, the flange 422 includes a back side 423, a second boss 424 is vertically arranged on the back side 423, a second bottom wall 425 is vertically arranged on the back side 423 below the second boss 424, and a second side wall 426 is arranged at a right angle to the edge of the second bottom wall 425; the unlocking spring 41 is sleeved on the second boss 424, and one end of the unlocking spring 41 abuts against the second bottom wall 425; when an external force is applied or removed, the unlocking spring 41 can use the second bottom wall 425 as a stop to generate compression deformation and deformation recovery along the second boss 424.

[0034] Reference Figure 1 and Figure 5 A first baffle 21 and a second baffle 22 are disposed on the cover plate 2 . The first baffle 21 is disposed corresponding to the position of the spring 31 , and the second baffle 22 is disposed corresponding to the position of the unlocking spring 41 .

[0035] Reference Figure 1 The battery assembly 5 includes a battery 51 and a battery cover 52. The battery cover 52 is also provided with a card slot 521. The battery 51 is located at one end of the battery cover 52 and is tightly connected to the battery cover 52 to form an integrated structure. The card slot 521 is provided at the other end of the battery cover 52.

[0036] The above describes the structures of the various components involved in the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly of the present invention. The following will describe the connection and assembly relationship between the various components.

[0037] Please refer to Figures 6 to 10 , which are stereoscopic and cross-sectional views of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly of the present invention. The locking assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 are both located in the accommodating compartment 12, and the cover plate 2 covers the locking assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 and is fixedly connected to the back of the base 1 with screws, and the locking assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 are elastically abutted against the cover plate 2.

[0038] Furthermore, the latching position 324 passes through the side surface 111 from the hole 1111 and is protruded into the placement groove 11. The spring 31 is mounted on the first protruding column 325 and is in a non-compressed state, while respectively abutting against the first baffle 21 and the first bottom wall 321.

[0039] Furthermore, the unlocking button 421 passes through the through hole 13 and protrudes from the outer surface of the charger 1, so that the user can press and unlock the battery assembly 5; and the flange 422 is pressed against the through hole 13 to ensure that the unlocking button 421 does not fall out.

[0040] Furthermore, the first side wall 322 and the second side wall 426 abut against each other, and matching inclined surfaces 326 and 427 are provided on the first side wall 322 and the second side wall 426 at the abutting position; the inclined surface is set so that when the unlocking button 421 is pressed, the unlocking component is elastically compressed, and at the same time, relative movement between the inclined surfaces 326 and 427 is provided, so that the second side wall 426 moves along the inclined surface 326 and drives the first side wall 322 to move, so that the locking position 321 in the locking component 3 is disengaged from the locking slot 521 and unlocked, and this description will be described again in the subsequent charging unlocking state.

[0041] It should be noted that the unlocking spring is sleeved on the second boss 424 and is also in a non-compressed state, and is abutted against the second baffle 22 and the back side 423; when the charger 1 is not in working state, the locking assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 are both in an elastic non-compressed state, and the latch 324 protrudes from the side 111 and is accommodated in the placement groove 11, and the unlocking button 421 protrudes from the outer side of the base 1 to provide the user with a better feel when pressing.

[0042] In order to facilitate the understanding of the technical solution of the present invention, the following will describe different action states of gradually inserting the battery assembly 5 into the placement groove 11 to achieve good charging contact with the charger 1 in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0043] Please refer to Figures 9 to 11 ,in Fig. 9 and Fig.10 It is a diagram of the initial state of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly. Fig.11 It is a cross-sectional view of the battery assembly 5 when it is inserted into the placement groove 11 and initially contacts the guide slope 3241 .

[0044] After the user connects the charger 1 to a charging power source, the user inserts the battery assembly 5 into the placement slot 11. The structural shape of the placement slot 11 corresponds to the battery assembly 5, and one end of the battery 51 is arranged to face upward, and there is a clearance fit between the placement slot 11 and the battery assembly 5 to achieve a better plugging and unplugging experience. During the gradual insertion of the battery assembly 5, since the latch 324 protrudes from the side of the placement slot 11, the end side edge of the battery cover 52 contacts the latch 324, and considering the guide slope 3241 provided on the latch 324, the end of the battery cover 52 is avoided from touching the right angle between the latch and the latch.

[0045] As the battery assembly 5 is further inserted, the end of the battery cover 52 presses against the guide slope 3241 to make it retreat backward. That is to say, the locking assembly 3 as a whole presses against the first baffle 21 and retreats toward the accommodating compartment 12 until the end of the battery cover 52 presses against the end of the latch 324 and stops retreating. At this time, the spring 31 is in an elastic compression deformation state, and the unlocking assembly 4 maintains its initial position and initial state.

[0046] The battery assembly 5 continues to be inserted, and the mutual movement between the end of the battery cover 52 and the latch 324 ends. At this time, the latch 432 is in contact with the latch slot 521, that is, the latch is engaged in the latch slot 521, and the battery assembly 5 and the base 1 are electrically connected to achieve charging. At this time, the spring 31 returns to its original position under the action of the compression restoring force, and the lock assembly 3 returns to its initial non-compressed state. The latch 324 limits the position of the battery assembly 5 in the insertion direction, so that the battery assembly 5 can maintain good electrical contact with the base 1; and the unlocking assembly 4 is still in the initial position and initial state.

[0047] It can be understood that when the battery assembly 5 is in the charging lock state, the lock assembly 3 and the unlock assembly 4 are both as follows. Fig. 9 and Fig.10 In the initial state shown, only when the battery assembly is inserted, the locking assembly 3 will be driven to generate compression deformation, and when the locking position 324 is engaged with the locking groove 521, the compression deformation of the locking assembly 3 is restored.

[0048] After describing in detail the process of locking the battery assembly 5 described in the present application onto the charger 1 to ensure good charging contact, the unlocking process of the battery assembly 5 after charging is completed will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0049] It is not difficult to know that when the battery assembly 5 needs to be unlocked and taken out, the user only needs to manually press the unlock button 421 located on the outer surface of the base 1. At this time, the unlock button 421 retreats toward the accommodating compartment 12 under the action of the pressing force, and the unlock assembly 4 as a whole presses against the second baffle 22 to achieve retreat; at the same time, since the first side wall 322 and the second side wall 426 are provided with matching inclined surfaces 326 and 427, when the unlock assembly 4 retreats, the second side wall 426 will move along the inclined surface 326 and drive the first side plate 322 to retreat, and then the lock assembly 3 retreats as a whole, the spring 31 is elastically compressed and deformed, and the card position 324 disengages from the card slot 521 and retreats toward the accommodating compartment 12 synchronously; the battery assembly 5 is disengaged from the card fit of the lock assembly 3, so that the user can easily take out the battery assembly 5.

[0050] When the user takes out the battery assembly 5 and removes the external force on the unlocking button 421 at the same time, the locking assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4 automatically return to the initial non-elastic compression state under the action of their respective elastic compression restoring forces.

[0051] The above embodiments of the present application, through a detailed description of the working state and non-working state of the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly, and the structural coordination of the elastic locking assembly 3 and the unlocking assembly 4, ensure that the charger 1 automatically locks the battery assembly 3 when it is in the working state, and specifically, it is achieved synchronously when the battery assembly 3 is gradually inserted into the placement slot 11 until the predetermined charging position, so as to ensure that the battery assembly 3 maintains a good electrical connection with the base 1 during the charging process and does not fall out; and when the battery assembly 5 needs to be taken out after charging, it can be achieved by simply pressing the unlocking button 421 by the user, specifically including the design of the inclined surface between the unlocking assembly 4 and the locking assembly 3, and the movement of the unlocking assembly 4 along the inclined surface under the action of the pressing force to drive the locking assembly 3 to retreat and unlock.

[0052] From the above description, it can be seen that the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly described in the present application essentially provides an automatic limit lock structure of the component, and a new technical solution that is easy to unlock when needed. In its actual application, it is not only limited to the self-locking and unlocking structure of the waterproof battery charger and the battery assembly described in the above embodiments, but also involves the locking and unlocking requirements of the components in specific situations, which can refer to or draw on the technical solution of the present application.

[0053] The embodiment described in the present invention only lists a specific form of the self-locking and unlocking structure of a waterproof battery charger and a battery assembly. Obviously, in actual applications, locking and unlocking between components are very common, and the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly described in the present invention provides a technical solution for locking and positioning the components when the components are in working state and facilitating unlocking when the components are not in working state. Therefore, whenever it involves assembling and connecting between components, when locking and unlocking need to be achieved in different situations, the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly described in the present invention can be adopted or referenced to achieve stable and reliable locking and unlocking effects. Therefore, any various structures and applications derived from the self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly described in this application can be understood as changes and expansions based on the ideas of the present invention, and should belong to the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A self-locking and unlocking structure for a charger and a battery assembly, characterized in that: The invention comprises a base, a cover plate, a lock assembly, an unlocking assembly and a battery assembly, wherein the lock assembly and the unlocking assembly are both located on the base, the cover plate covers the lock assembly and the unlocking assembly and is fixedly connected to the base, the battery assembly is assembled on the base and realizes a self-locking connection with the base; a card slot is provided on the battery assembly, and a card position is correspondingly provided on the lock assembly, the card position is engaged in the card slot so that the battery assembly is limited, and the card position can perform elastic telescopic movement in the card slot to realize locking or unlocking between the lock assembly and the battery assembly; the unlocking assembly abuts against the lock assembly, and the unlocking assembly can also generate elastic telescopic movement to drive the lock assembly and the card slot to realize locking or unlocking; The base is provided with a placement slot for the battery assembly, the placement slot includes a side surface, the side surface is provided with a hole, the battery assembly is located in the placement slot, the locking assembly is located on the other side of the side surface, and the locking position passes through the hole and protrudes into the locking slot to achieve locking of the battery assembly; The base is also provided with a storage bin, the storage bin and the placement groove are respectively adjacent to the two sides of the side surface, and the placement groove is arranged on the outer surface of the base, and the storage bin is arranged on the back side of the base; the locking assembly and the unlocking assembly are both located in the storage bin, and the cover plate is fixedly connected to the back side of the base; The clamping position is also provided with a guiding inclined surface at its front end, and the battery assembly is accommodated in the placement slot via the guiding inclined surface, while the clamping position is clamped in the clamping slot; The lock assembly includes a spring and a lock member, the lock member includes a first bottom wall and a first side wall arranged perpendicular to the first bottom wall; both sides of the first side wall further extend along the edge of the first bottom wall to form another opposite side wall, thereby forming a three-sided surrounded groove structure, a clamping position is convexly provided on the outer side surface of the first side wall, and a first protrusion is provided on the inner side surface thereof, the clamping position is directly opposite to the setting position of the first protrusion, the end of the first protrusion is in a frustum shape, the spring is sleeved on the first protrusion and is in a non-compressed state, the spring is respectively against the first bottom wall and the cover plate; the spring can generate reciprocating motion along the first protrusion; The cover plate is provided with a first baffle plate abutting against the spring, and a second baffle plate abutting against the unlocking spring. The cover plate covers the locking assembly and the unlocking assembly and is fixedly connected to the base with screws. At the same time, the locking assembly and the unlocking assembly both elastically abut against the cover plate.

2. The self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The unlocking assembly includes an unlocking spring and an unlocking member, the unlocking member includes an unlocking button and a flange arranged around its root, the flange includes a back side, a second boss is vertically arranged on the back side, a second bottom wall is vertically arranged on the back side below the second boss, and a second side wall is arranged at a vertical position at the edge of the second bottom wall; the unlocking spring is sleeved on the second boss, and the unlocking spring is respectively abutted against the back side and the base; the unlocking spring can cause the second boss to produce compression deformation and deformation recovery movement.

3. The self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The base is provided with a through hole, the through hole is located on the side wall of the accommodating compartment, the unlocking button protrudes from the base through the through hole and the flange abuts against the through hole for limiting position, and pressing the unlocking button can realize elastic telescopic movement of the unlocking component.

4. The self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and the battery assembly as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that: The first side wall and the second side wall are pressed against each other, and matching inclined surfaces are provided on the first side wall and the second side wall at the pressing point. The elastic compression of the unlocking component can make the second side wall move along the inclined surface to drive the first side wall to move, so that the locking component can be disengaged from the card slot.

5. The self-locking and unlocking structure of the charger and battery assembly as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The battery assembly includes a battery and a battery cover. The battery is located at one end of the battery cover and is tightly connected to the battery cover to form an integrated structure. The card slot is arranged at the other end of the battery cover.

Images