Waterproof Housing Drain Grooves for Electronic Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing waterproof housing designs for electronic devices, such as general-purpose inverter devices, rely on sealing pieces like packing or O-rings that require manual adhesive bonding, which is complex, time-consuming, and prone to variations in quality and long-term deterioration, leading to compromised waterproofing.
Innovation Solution
A waterproof housing design featuring an arched top plate with a fitting stage that includes drain grooves along its peripheral surfaces, allowing rainwater to flow down and out of the case without the need for sealing pieces, with the grooves optionally aligned in two rows and inclined to enhance water drainage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sealing pieces such as waterproof packing or O-ring packing are attached onto the periphery of the section at which the case and the cover are made fitted to each other, then waterproof sealing is provided, but manual adhesive bonding is required which is complicated and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the sealing piece (waterproof packing or O-ring) from the system entirely. Instead of attaching sealing pieces to the case-cover interface, the design uses the arched top plate structure with integrated drain grooves to achieve waterproofing through a different mechanism that requires no separate sealing components.
Solution Approach 2:
The arched top plate structure with drain grooves is designed to be self-sufficient for waterproofing. The geometric shape and integrated grooves automatically channel water away without requiring external sealing pieces or adhesive bonding processes. The structure serves its own waterproofing function inherently.
2Reliability
If sealing pieces are bonded onto the opening of the case by manual work of using an adhesive, then waterproof sealing is achieved, but variation is caused in bonding performance depending on skills of workers
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the sealing piece that requires adhesive bonding, thereby eliminating the source of variation in bonding performance. The waterproofing function is achieved through the arched top plate structure with integrated drain grooves that do not require adhesive application, ensuring consistent results regardless of worker skill level.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the mechanical adhesive bonding process with a geometric water channeling system. The arched top plate with integrated drain grooves uses gravity and surface tension to manage water, substituting the unreliable adhesive bonding mechanism with a passive geometric structure that provides consistent waterproofing.
3Reliability
If sealing pieces are used for waterproofing, then initial waterproof function is provided, but the packing piece deteriorates over time to lower waterproof function
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the sealing piece that is prone to deterioration. By using the arched top plate structure with integrated drain grooves, the design achieves waterproofing without any separate sealing components that could degrade over time, ensuring long-term durability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the approach from using deteriorable sealing materials (rubber packing, O-rings) to a geometric structural solution. The arched top plate with drain grooves uses physical geometry and gravity-based water channeling, transforming the waterproofing mechanism from material-dependent to structure-dependent, thereby eliminating deterioration issues.
4Ease of manufacture
If drain grooves are provided along the peripheral surfaces of the top plate section and side wall sections of the fitting stage, then water drainage is improved, but structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the drain grooves into the fitting stage structure itself, integrating the water drainage function with the structural component. The grooves are formed as part of the fitting stage geometry, combining multiple functions (structural support and water channeling) into a single integrated element rather than adding separate drainage components.
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 ensures high waterproofing reliability without the need for sealing pieces, reduces manual labor and adhesive use, and prevents water from entering the case, while the integral formation of the fitting stage with the case reduces material degradation issues.
Implementation Method 1
the lower ends of the drain groove is opened downward at the bottom of the case
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
In a housing 1 of a waterproof electronic device formed of a box-like case 2 with an opened front in which case circuit components are mounted and a front cover 3 attached to the case 2 so as to cover the case 2, with the front cover 3 fitted onto the periphery of the front opening of the case 2 so as to prevent rainwater from entering from the outside, the case 2 has an arched top plate, at the front of the case 2, a fitting stage 2b, to which the front cover 3 is fitted, is formed so as to protrude from the case 2 along the periphery of the front opening of the case 2, and the fitting stage 2b has drain grooves 2c and 2d provided along the peripheral surfaces of the top plate section and both of the right and left side wall sections of the fitting stage 2b so that the lower ends of the drain grooves 2c and 2d are opened downward at the bottom of the case 2 to let rainwater penetrated into a space between the fitted case 2 and the front cover 3 flow down through the drain grooves 2c and 2d to be drained outward. Thus, a waterproofing structure of a housing of electronic devices is provided which can effectively prevent rainwater from the outside from entering the inside of the case 2 by a system using no packing which system requires no sealing piece such as a packing and no complicated work of bonding a sealing piece with an adhesive.