Display Window Adjustment via Oblique Fastener
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing display window assemblies in electronic devices face challenges in achieving precise positioning without visible fasteners, while accommodating thickness tolerances and aesthetic requirements.
Innovation Solution
A display window assembly is mounted in a housing with a resilient element urging it outward, and a fastener extending through a non-visible side of the bezel, with a unique orientation and interaction mechanism that allows adjustment in the desired direction without moving the assembly orthogonally, using components like screws, elastomeric masses, and chamfered edges to convert motion into adjustment direction movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a fastener is used to secure the display window assembly, then the positioning precision is improved, but visible fasteners on the bezel compromise aesthetic appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The fastener is extracted from the visible bezel area and relocated to the non-visible side of the housing. The fastener extends through a non-visible side surface, allowing it to secure the display window assembly internally without being presented to the user during normal use, thus maintaining aesthetic appearance while achieving precise positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The fastening direction is changed from the normal direction (perpendicular to the display window) to an oblique angle. The fastener advances at an angle that is not substantially normal to the display window (outside the 15° tolerance), allowing the fastener to engage from a different spatial dimension while still providing precise positioning control.
2Ease of manufacture
If the fastener is oriented perpendicular to the display window for simple installation, then ease of manufacture is improved, but the ability to adjust position while preventing orthogonal movement is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The fastener orientation is made asymmetric relative to the display window surface. Instead of being perpendicular (symmetric), the fastener advances at an oblique angle, creating an asymmetric configuration that enables position adjustment in the normal direction while the oblique orientation itself prevents orthogonal movement through geometric constraint.
Solution Approach 2:
The fastener system provides dynamic adjustment capability. The oblique orientation allows the fastener to be adjusted to change the position of the display window assembly relative to the bezel, enabling dynamic positioning while the geometric configuration of the oblique fastening prevents unwanted orthogonal movement.
3Stability of the object's composition
If multiple fasteners are used to prevent orthogonal movement, then stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The single oblique fastener performs multiple functions simultaneously. It secures the display window assembly, enables position adjustment, and prevents orthogonal movement all through one component. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for multiple separate fasteners, reducing device complexity while maintaining assembly stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The orientation parameter of the fastener is changed from perpendicular to oblique. This parameter change fundamentally alters the mechanical behavior, allowing a single fastener to provide both securing and stabilization functions that would traditionally require multiple fasteners, thereby reducing overall device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise adjustment of the display window's position relative to the bezel while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing appearance by allowing adjustment without visible fasteners, effectively addressing thickness tolerances and aesthetic concerns.
Implementation Method 1
a force is exerted against the assembly by a suitable resilient element—e.g., one or more springs or a compressible elastomeric material such as a closed-cell foam—urging it outward through the opening
Implementation Method 2
the opening in the tab may be threaded and the fastener may be a screw (or any other type of fastener whose degree of advancement and withdrawal may be controlled), and the advancement/withdrawal direction of the screw may be oblique to the adjustment direction
Implementation Method 3
An elastomeric mass is mounted on the threaded shaft. As the screw is tightened against the elastomeric mass, the elastomeric mass is compressed between the body mass and the shoulder, expanding in a direction radially outwardly of the shaft and contacting the distal edge of the opening in the tab, pushing the tab, and thus the display window assembly, in the adjustment direction
Implementation Method 4
the distal edge of the opening in the tab is chamfered so that, as measured along the adjustment direction, the opening is larger on the side facing the direction from which the screw is inserted than it is on the side facing away from that direction
Data Source
AI summary
A display window assembly is mounted in the opening of a bezel of a housing, and a force is exerted against the assembly by a suitable resilient element urging it outward through the opening. The assembly may be mounted on a support or frame, from which depends one or more tabs extending inwardly of the housing. At least one of the tabs is fastened with a fastener that extends from the exterior of the housing, through a portion other than the bezel and through a surface not generally facing the user when the user is viewing the display. The advancement/withdrawal direction of the fastener is not substantially normal to the display window. However, advancement/withdrawal of the fastener causes movement of the tab, and therefore of the assembly, in an adjustment direction substantially normal to the display window to adjust the position of the display window relative to the bezel.