Door-Mounted Laptop Battery Access Panel With Auto-Disconnect
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current laptop battery replacement is difficult, unsafe, and prone to damage due to the need for tools and exposure of sensitive components, with existing designs compromising device thickness, cost, weight, and battery capacity.
Innovation Solution
A hinged access panel with latches and chamfered walls allows tool-free battery replacement, ensuring safe disconnection and reconnection of battery contacts through angled edges and push-pin contacts, preventing electrical shock during access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a hard shell battery is used, then battery protection and structural strength are improved, but device thickness, cost, and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The battery system is divided into two separate components: a soft-shell battery pack and a hard protective access panel. The battery itself maintains a flexible, thin profile while the rigid panel provides external protection and structural support, resolving the contradiction between battery protection and device thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The access panel acts as an intermediary between the external environment and the battery. It provides the mechanical strength and protection traditionally required of a hard-shell battery while allowing the battery itself to remain thin and flexible, thus resolving the thickness-protection contradiction.
2Stability of the object's composition
If multiple screws and tools are used to access the battery, then secure retention is improved, but ease of operation and safety deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The fastening function is extracted from the battery itself and transferred to the access panel system. The battery can be freely removed once the panel is opened, eliminating the need for users to manipulate multiple screws and tools while maintaining secure retention during normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The access panel combines multiple functions into a single component: it provides structural protection, serves as the retention mechanism through its latch system, and acts as the access interface. This integration eliminates the need for separate screws, fasteners, and tools, greatly simplifying battery replacement.
3Ease of operation
If the access panel is opened to replace the battery, then battery accessibility is improved, but electrical shock risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical disconnection action is performed automatically and preliminarily when the access panel is opened. The latch mechanism triggers the cable disconnect before the user can access the battery, eliminating the electrical shock risk while maintaining full accessibility for battery replacement.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically performs the safety function of electrical disconnection without requiring user action. The mechanical opening of the panel self-triggers the cable disconnect mechanism, providing protection without interfering with the user's ability to access and replace the battery.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a chassis containing electrically powered circuitry and a chassis cavity for supporting a battery having a set of battery contacts. The chassis also include a latch and a circuitry connector having circuitry contacts to electrically connect to the battery contacts and provide power to the electrically powered circuitry. An access panel is coupled to the chassis by a hinge to selectively cover and expose the chassis cavity. The access panel has walls configured to secure and register the battery to cause the battery contacts to engage the circuitry contacts with the access panel in a closed position secured by the latch.