Keystone Assembly for Portable Information Handling System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional portable information handling systems are difficult to break down for recycling and reuse due to their complex designs, which often require manual disassembly involving screws and specific cable configurations, making recycling cost-prohibitive and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A portable information handling system architecture that couples components without screws, using a single keystone assembly for automated disassembly and assembly with robotic arms, eliminating the need for screws and cables, and employing a membrane-based keyboard assembly with integrated sensors and a cable-free design for efficient component management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional designs use screws and complex housing arrangements to ensure robust assembly, then system reliability is improved, but ease of disassembly for recycling deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into modular functional units (display assembly, keyboard assembly, battery module, processing components) that can be independently removed. This segmentation allows the system to maintain robust internal connections while enabling easy disassembly of entire modules for recycling, resolving the contradiction between reliability and ease of disassembly.
Solution Approach 2:
Screws and cable connections are extracted from the system design. Instead, modules are retained through mechanical engagement features and released through a keystone assembly removal, which triggers automatic release mechanisms. This extraction eliminates the need for manual screw removal while maintaining secure assembly during operation.
2Manufacturing precision
If conventional designs use specialized housing arrangements with screws to optimize interior space, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into main housing portions and removable cover assemblies. The keystone assembly serves as a centralized retention mechanism that simplifies the complex network of individual fasteners. This segmentation reduces assembly complexity while maintaining manufacturing precision through standardized engagement features.
Solution Approach 2:
The keystone assembly serves multiple functions: it retains the cover assembly, triggers the release mechanism, and coordinates the disassembly process. This multi-functionality consolidates multiple complex components into a single element, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining precise assembly requirements.
3Reliability
If conventional designs use numerous screws and cables to interface components, then reliability is improved, but productivity of recycling process deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Cables and screws are extracted from the system architecture. Component interfaces use direct mechanical and electrical contacts through connector assemblies that disassemble as unified units. This extraction eliminates the time-consuming processes of individual cable unpluging and screw removal, dramatically improving recycling productivity while maintaining connection reliability during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple connection functions (mechanical retention, electrical connection, signal transmission) are merged into integrated connector assemblies. These unified components maintain reliable connections during operation but can be removed as single units during recycling, improving productivity without sacrificing reliability.
4Adaptability or versatility
If conventional designs use specialized cable configurations to interface components, then adaptability deteriorates, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Cables are extracted from the system and replaced with direct electrical contacts through standardized connectors. This elimination of cable management complexity enables easier component interchangeability and adaptability, as connectors can be directly mated without cable routing constraints, reducing both complexity and improving versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
Standardized connector assemblies serve multiple components and functions throughout the system. These universal interfaces enable different modules to be interchanged and reconfigured without requiring specialized cable configurations, thereby improving adaptability while reducing the complexity of cable management.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable information handling system is assembled and disassembled by a keystone assembly that couples at an upper surface of the portable housing to overlap a keyboard assembly that covers processing components disposed in the portable housing. A motherboard couples to the portable housing under the keyboard assembly with openings aligned to insert over retaining nuts extending from the housing and slides to an engaged position having contacts on a bottom surface of the motherboard interfaced with a battery connector coupled the housing. A battery rests on the housing to align contact pads at a bottom of the battery with the battery connector. One or more additional battery modules couple to the battery and selectively configure with parallel and serial interfaces to adjust voltage and current supplied collectively by the assembled battery, such as based upon battery and/or CPU operational states.