Bulged Housing Layout for Thin Electronic Assemblies
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic apparatuses with flat or spherical shapes face challenges in optimizing the arrangement of internal elements, leading to inefficiencies in size and thickness.
Innovation Solution
The electronic apparatus is designed with a housing having a top surface bulging upward and a bottom surface bulging downward, with substrates parallel to these surfaces and a power supply section positioned to maximize space utilization, allowing for efficient arrangement of components such as vibrators, speakers, and input sections, and incorporating features like light-emitting and input detection to enhance functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional flat or spherical shapes are used for electronic apparatuses, then manufacturing is simplified, but the arrangement of internal elements is inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into an upper housing and a lower housing with different shapes. The upper housing has a top surface that bulges upward, while the lower housing has a bottom surface that bulges downward. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each housing portion for both manufacturing ease and internal element arrangement efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the housing have different geometric properties. The top surface bulges upward to accommodate certain elements, while the bottom surface bulges downward for others. This local variation in geometry optimizes space utilization for internal elements without complicating the overall manufacturing process.
2Volume of moving object
If substrates are positioned parallel to bulging surfaces, then space utilization is maximized, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is pre-formed with bulging surfaces that create natural reference planes. Substrates are then positioned parallel to these pre-established surfaces, which simplifies the positioning process compared to creating precision references after housing assembly. The bulging surfaces themselves serve as the reference geometry.
3Volume of moving object
If power supply section is positioned to maximize space utilization, then apparatus size is reduced, but accessibility for connection becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The power supply section is extracted from the conventional bottom-positioned location and repositioned to intersect with a reference plane perpendicular to the up-down direction, typically at the center or upper portion of the housing. This extraction from the traditional location allows for more flexible space utilization while maintaining connection accessibility through side surfaces.
4Device complexity
If housing surfaces bulge outward, then internal space arrangement is improved, but external dimensions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The bulging portions of the housing are designed to contain internal elements within the bulge itself, effectively nesting components within the housing's external form. The upper housing bulge contains certain elements while the lower housing bulge contains others, maximizing internal arrangement without proportionally increasing external dimensions.
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~1(d)
Figure 2(a)~2(b)
Figure 3
AI summary
A housing of an electronic apparatus has a top surface and a bottom surface and has a flat shape of which a length in an up-down direction is shorter than a length in a direction perpendicular to the up-down direction. A power supply section having a flat shape is a power supply section, which is a housing case capable of accommodating a battery or is a battery, and the power supply section is provided at a position inside the housing that intersects with a reference plane perpendicular to the up-down direction. A first substrate is provided parallel to the reference plane on the top surface side relative to the power supply section. A second substrate is provided parallel to the reference plane on the bottom surface side relative to the power supply section. The electronic apparatus includes at least one of a vibrator and a speaker at a position that intersects with the reference plane.