Consumption Meter Housing with Battery-Safe Dismantling Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing consumption meters are difficult to dismantle for recycling due to their hermetic encapsulation and robust construction, which hinders easy disassembly without damaging components, particularly batteries, and this challenge is exacerbated by increasing regulatory pressures on electronic waste recycling.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves designing a measurement device with dedicated penetration zones on the housing that allow push members to separate the housing sides without damaging internal components, specifically positioned to avoid batteries, and incorporating breaking zones to facilitate easy disassembly while minimizing force requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the housing is hermetically encapsulated to protect internal components, then the protection of internal components is improved, but the ease of dismantling for recycling deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into a first housing part and a second housing part that can be separated from each other. The first housing part contains penetration zones that allow push members to pass through and apply force to the stack of elements, enabling controlled dismantling while maintaining hermetic protection during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Penetration zones are pre-formed in the first housing part at locations that allow push members to access the stack of elements. These zones are positioned to avoid batteries and other sensitive components, enabling easy dismantling without requiring damage to the hermetic sealing during normal operation.
2Ease of operation
If the housing wall thickness is reduced at penetration zones to facilitate push member penetration, then the ease of dismantling is improved, but the structural strength of the housing deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The housing exhibits different wall thicknesses at different locations. At the penetration zones, the wall thickness is reduced to allow easy penetration by push members, while other areas of the housing maintain full wall thickness to preserve structural strength and hermetic sealing during operation.
3Ease of operation
If the housing is designed for easy dismantling with penetration zones, then the ease of dismantling for recycling is improved, but the protection against water intrusion and tampering deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into separable parts with breaking zones that allow controlled separation. During normal operation, the housing remains hermetically sealed. During dismantling, push members pass through penetration zones and apply force through the stack of elements to activate breaking zones, enabling separation without compromising the hermetic design during use.
Solution Approach 2:
The stack of elements acts as an intermediary mechanism. Push members apply force to the first element of the stack, which transmits force through intermediate elements to the second element, which then applies force to the second housing part to activate breaking zones. This intermediary force transmission enables controlled dismantling without direct contact between push members and housing walls.
4Ease of operation
If push members are applied through penetration zones to separate housing sides, then the ease of dismantling is improved, but the risk of damaging internal components increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stack of elements serves as an intermediary that distributes and transmits force from push members to the housing parts. The force is applied sequentially through the stack, allowing controlled separation without direct impact on sensitive components like batteries, which are positioned away from the penetration zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The penetration zones are pre-positioned and the stack of elements are pre-arranged in a configuration that guides force application away from sensitive components. This preliminary arrangement ensures that during dismantling, force is applied through safe pathways that do not damage internal components.
Data Source
AI summary
A measurement device, such as a consumption meter, which is designed for dismantling with the purpose of recycling. The measurement device has a housing with a first side (FS) and a second side (LD) forming an enclosure in which a stack of elements (E1, E2) are arranged. The stack of elements (E1, E2) comprises a first element (E1) adjacent to the first side (FS) of the housing, an upper second (E2) arranged adjacent to the second side (LD), where at least one of the elements (E1, E2) comprises a circuit board with electronic components configured for measuring a physical quantity, and one or more additional components. The housing has at least one penetration zone (PZ1, PZ2, PZ3) on its first side (FS), so as to allow easy penetration of an associated push member (PM1, PM2, PM3) and to allow said associated push member (PM1, PM2, PM3) to apply a force on the first element (E1) of the stack of elements (E1, E2) which, via the second element (E2), is arranged to apply a force on the second side (LD) of the housing to cause the second side (LD) of the housing to separate from the first side (FS) of the housing and to further allow the stack of elements (E1, E2) to separate from the housing. The penetration zone(s) (PZ1, PZ2, PZ3) is positioned so in relation to a position of a battery inside the housing, so that the associated push member(s) do not contact and/or damage the battery during the dismantling process.