Repairable Keyboard Assembly With Magnetic Layer Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing keyboard assemblies for information handling systems are difficult to repair, leading to unnecessary waste when individual components fail, as users often opt to replace the entire keyboard rather than attempting to repair damaged components.
Innovation Solution
A sustainable and user-repairable keyboard structure is designed with stacking user-replaceable components, including a keyboard bottom case and top case that can be easily separated using magnetic gaskets, allowing users to replace damaged components such as batteries, keyboards controllers, and key presses without tools.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If keyboard components are integrated into a single assembly, then manufacturing and assembly are simplified, but repairability deteriorates as entire keyboard must be replaced when individual components fail
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard assembly is divided into multiple separable components including key switches, stabilizers, and circuit board sections that can be individually accessed and replaced. The bottom case is separated from the top case, and internal components are made accessible through removable sections, enabling partial disassembly and selective component replacement without replacing the entire keyboard.
2Reliability
If keyboard structure is made robust and sealed, then durability and protection are improved, but ease of repair deteriorates as components become inaccessible
Solution Approach 1:
The sealed keyboard structure is segmented into accessible modules. The bottom case can be separated from the top case, and specific internal components like key switches and stabilizers are made accessible through designed access points and removable sections, maintaining overall structural integrity while enabling component-level repair.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyboard structure incorporates dynamic, reversible connections between components. Magnetic gaskets and snap-fit mechanisms allow the bottom case and internal components to be easily attached and detached multiple times, providing both structural integrity during use and accessibility during repair without permanent modification.
3Reliability
If entire keyboard assembly is replaced when component fails, then reliability is maintained, but electronic waste increases and cost rises
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of discarding the entire keyboard when a component fails, the invention enables recovery and reuse of functional components. Individual key switches, stabilizers, and circuit board sections can be replaced while retaining the majority of the keyboard structure, significantly reducing electronic waste and disposal costs.
Solution Approach 2:
Specific failed components are extracted and replaced individually from the keyboard assembly. The design allows for removal of only the defective key switch, stabilizer, or circuit section while leaving the rest of the keyboard intact, eliminating the need to replace the entire assembly and reducing waste.
4Ease of repair
If keyboard components are made user-replaceable, then ease of repair is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional assembly mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard incorporates self-aligning and self-locking mechanisms that guide users through the repair process without requiring specialized tools or knowledge. Magnetic gaskets automatically align components during assembly, and snap-fit mechanisms provide tactile feedback for proper installation, enabling users to perform repairs independently while minimizing the perceived complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Traditional mechanical fasteners like screws and clips are replaced with magnetic attachment mechanisms. The magnetic gaskets provide both attachment and alignment functions, simplifying the user interface for assembly and disassembly while reducing the mechanical complexity of traditional fastening systems.
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 design enables users to easily access and replace individual components, reducing electronic waste and extending the life of the keyboard, while also simplifying the repair process and minimizing environmental impact.
Implementation Method 1
A plurality of the user-replaceable keyboard component layers have housing guide magnetic gaskets for aligning and magnetically coupling to another of the keyboard component layers
Data Source
AI summary
A sustainable and user-repairable keyboard structure for an information handling system may comprise a plurality of keyboard component layers for detecting and registering a user's downward force on keys as a keystroke, each of the keyboard component layers housing a guide magnetic gasket for aligning and magnetically coupling to another of the keyboard component layers, each of the keyboard component layers being separable from one another by a user exerting force to overcome a magnetic coupling between the guide magnetic gaskets, the keyboard component layers including a keyboard bottom case housing a replaceable battery disposed beneath a replaceable electrical key press detection membrane, the replaceable electrical key press detection membrane disposed beneath a replaceable rubber dome layer, and the rubber dome layer disposed beneath a keyboard top case housing the replaceable keys, and the keyboard bottom case fixed to the keyboard top case via mechanical fasteners.