One-Piece Electronic Housing Forming With a Separable Mold Core
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for fabricating smartphone or tablet housings using injection molding or thermoforming require separate molds for front and back covers, leading to increased costs and tolerance issues that allow filth accumulation due to interference during the manufacturing process.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a mold with a first core and a second core, where the second core forms a hook structure that allows the sheet to be separated from the first core vertically, preventing interference and enabling a single-piece housing production, with optional use of a third core to address material differences and thermal expansion issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate molds are used for front cover and back cover, then interference during manufacturing is avoided, but manufacturing costs increase and tolerance issues cause filth accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is divided into a first core and a second core that are separable. The second core forms the hook structure and can be detached from the first core after the sheet is formed, allowing the housing to be manufactured as a single piece while avoiding interference during the forming process.
Solution Approach 2:
The hook structure is pre-formed as part of the sheet during the initial forming process using the second core. This preliminary formation of the hook structure eliminates the need for separate assembly operations and reduces tolerance accumulation between different manufactured parts.
2Device complexity
If a single mold is used for one-piece housing, then manufacturing costs are reduced, but interference prevents sheet separation from the mold
Solution Approach 1:
The mold core is segmented into a first core and a second core that can be separated. The second core, which forms the hook structure, is designed to be detachable from the first core, enabling the formed sheet to be separated from the mold without interference while maintaining a single-mold manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold structure transitions from a static single-piece core to a dynamic separable core system. The second core can move relative to the first core, allowing it to be extracted after forming the hook structure, thereby enabling sheet removal without interference.
3Adaptability or versatility
If different materials are used for first core and second core, then functional requirements are met, but thermal expansion differences cause steps in the sheet
Solution Approach 1:
The temperatures of the first core and second core are controlled during the forming process to compensate for differences in thermal expansion coefficients of different materials. By adjusting the thermal parameters, the sheet maintains uniformity without visible steps despite being formed on cores made of different materials.
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
This method allows for the production of a single-piece housing without interference, reducing costs and filth accumulation, and enables further machining of internal structures, improving manufacturing efficiency and product quality.
Implementation Method 1
providing a mold, in which the mold comprises a first core and a second core... pressing the sheet to the mold to make the sheet attach to the second core
Implementation Method 2
moving the pressed sheet away from the first core along a vertical direction perpendicular to the plane and separating the second core from the first core
Data Source
AI summary
A method of fabricating housing includes steps of: providing a sheet; providing a mold including a first core and a second core, in which the first core substantially extends along a plane, and the second core is adjacent to the first core; pressing the sheet to the mold to make the sheet attach to the second core, in which the second core is fixed to the sheet; and moving the sheet away from the first core along a vertical direction perpendicular to the plane to separate the second core and the first core so as to make the second core become an internal member, in which a housing is formed of the sheet and the internal member.