U.S. patent application number 11/400315 was filed with the patent office on 2006-10-12 for mobile device with detachable power storage device.
This patent application is currently assigned to BENQ CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Yi-Ching Lin.
Application Number | 20060226174 11/400315 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37082235 |
Filed Date | 2006-10-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060226174 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lin; Yi-Ching |
October 12, 2006 |
Mobile device with detachable power storage device
Abstract
A mobile device with a releasable power storage device is
provided. The mobile device comprises a cabinet, a power storage
device detachably engaged with the cabinet, a latch disposed on the
cabinet adjacent to a side wall thereof and capable of moving along
the side, and an engaging portion engaged with the latch. The power
storage device comprises a stopping portion and a guiding portion.
The stopping portion and the engaging portion are alternatively
disposed on one side of the body. When an external force is exerted
on the engaging portion, the latch is moved to push the guiding
portion of the power storage so as to eject the power storage
device from the cabinet.
Inventors: |
Lin; Yi-Ching; (Taipei City,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BIRCH STEWART KOLASCH & BIRCH
PO BOX 747
FALLS CHURCH
VA
22040-0747
US
|
Assignee: |
BENQ CORPORATION
|
Family ID: |
37082235 |
Appl. No.: |
11/400315 |
Filed: |
April 10, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
222/321.1 ;
361/679.58 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 1/0262 20130101;
H01M 50/209 20210101; Y02E 60/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
222/321.1 ;
361/679 |
International
Class: |
B65D 88/54 20060101
B65D088/54 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 11, 2005 |
TW |
94111313 |
Claims
1. A mobile device, comprising: a cabinet; a power storage device
detachably engaged with the cabinet, comprising a stopping portion
and a guiding portion alternately disposed on one side wall
thereof; and a latch disposed on the cabinet, adjacent to the side
of the body and capable of moving along the side wall; and an
engaging portion engaged with the latch.
2. The mobile device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guiding
portion has an inclined surface which has a predetermined angle
with respect to the moving direction of the latch.
3. The mobile device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
predetermined angle is greater than 0.degree. and less than or
equal to 90.degree..
4. The mobile device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the stopping
portion is substantially L-shaped, and has a first lateral surface
parallel to the moving direction of the latch and a second lateral
surface connected to the first lateral surface.
5. The mobile device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the latch
comprises a post and a hole, the cabinet comprises an opening, and
the engaging portion comprises a protrusion, and when the latch and
the engaging portion engages the cabinet, the post is inserted into
the opening and the protrusion engages the hole.
6. The mobile device as claimed in claim 5, wherein when the power
storage device is placed in the cabinet, the post engages the
corner between the first lateral surface and the second lateral
surface, and when an external force is exerted on the protrusion,
the protrusion moves the latch so as to move the post toward the
guiding portion, whereby the post pushes the guiding portion to
eject the power storage device from the cabinet.
7. The mobile device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cabinet
comprises at least one cavity, and the power storage device
comprises at least one tab engaging with the cavity.
8. The mobile device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cabinet
comprises a depression in which the power storage device is
accommodated.
9. The mobile device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cabinet
comprises a channel in which the latch and the engaging portion are
movably disposed.
10. The mobile device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an
elastic element having a first link portion connected to the latch
and a second link portion connected to the cabinet.
11. The mobile device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the elastic
element is an expansion spring.
12. The mobile device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the latch is
made of durable plastic.
13. The mobile device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power
storage device is a battery.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The invention relates to a mobile device, and in particular
to a mobile device with a detachable power storage device.
[0002] Mobile devices such as cell phones, calculators, personal
digital assistances or notebook computers require batteries. In
conventional mobile devices, no engaging structure is provided for
the battery, and the battery is ejected by pushing it to an eject
position in which the battery is removed by hands. Accordingly,
both hands must be used to eject the battery. Thus, replacing the
battery is inconvenient.
SUMMARY
[0003] An embodiment of a mobile device of the invention comprises
a cabinet, a power storage device detachably engaged with the
cabinet, a latch disposed on the cabinet adjacent to the side wall
thereof and capable of moving along the side wall, and an engaging
portion engaged with the latch. The power storage device comprises
a stopping portion and a guiding portion, the stopping portion and
the guiding portion are alternatively disposed on the side wall
thereof.
[0004] The guiding portion has an inclined surface which has a
predetermined angle with respect to the moving direction of the
latch.
[0005] The predetermined angle is greater than 0.degree. and less
than or equal to 90.degree..
[0006] The stopping portion is substantially L-shaped and has a
first lateral surface parallel to the moving direction of the latch
and a second lateral surface connected to the first lateral
surface.
[0007] The latch comprises a post and a hole. The cabinet comprises
an opening. The engaging portion comprises a protrusion. When the
latch and the engaging portion engage the cabinet, the post is
inserted into the opening and the protrusion engages the hole.
[0008] When the power storage device is placed into the cabinet,
the post engages the angle between the first lateral surface and
the second lateral surface, and when an external force is exerted
on the protrusion, the protrusion moves the latch so as to move the
post toward the guiding portion, whereby the post pushes the
guiding portion to eject the power storage device from the
cabinet.
[0009] The cabinet comprises at least one cavity, and the power
storage device comprises at least one tab engaging with the
cavity.
[0010] The cabinet comprises a depression in which the power
storage device is accommodated. The cabinet comprises a channel in
which the latch and the engaging portion are movably disposed.
[0011] The mobile device comprises an elastic element having a
first link portion connected to the latch and a second link portion
connected to the cabinet. The elastic element can be an expansion
spring.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The invention can be more fully understood by reading the
subsequent detailed description and examples with references made
to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0013] FIG. 1 is exploded view of a mobile device of the
invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 is assembly view of a mobile device of the
invention;
[0015] FIGS. 3A to 3C depict the steps of installing a power
storage device into a cabinet of the invention; and
[0016] FIGS. 4A to 4D are cross sections of the mobile device of
the invention along the line A-A' of FIG. 3C.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] In the following description, a mobile phone is described as
the mobile device of the invention. The mobile device of the
invention is, however, not limited to mobile phones, calculators,
digital cameras, personal digital assistants or notebook computers
are also applicable.
[0018] Referring to FIG. 1, a mobile device 100 of the invention
comprises a cabinet 10, a power storage device 20, a latch 30, an
elastic element 40 and an engaging portion 50. The cabinet 10
comprises an upper cabinet and a lower cabinet. For the sake of
clarity, description of the upper cabinet is omitted. The power
storage device 20 is accommodated in the back side of a mobile
phone as shown by arrow B. The power storage device 20 can be a
battery detachably engaged with the cabinet 10. The power storage
device 20 comprises a stopping portion 22 and a pair of guiding
portions 23 alternatively disposed on one side wall 20a of the
power storage device 20. The stopping portion 22 and the guiding
portion 23 can be integrally formed. The latch 30 and the elastic
element 40 are disposed in the cabinet 20 and adjacent to the side
wall 20a. The cabinet 10 comprises a channel 11 and a pair of
openings 12. The latch 30 and the engaging portion 50 are movably
disposed in the channel 11. The latch 30 comprises a pair of posts
31 and a pair of holes 32. The engaging portion comprises a pair of
protrusions 51. When the latch 30 and the engaging portion 50
engage with the cabinet 10, the posts 31 are inserted into the
openings 12, and the protrusion 51 engages the hole 32.
[0019] In this embodiment, the latch 30 is made of wear-proof
plastic. The engaging portion 50 can be a knob which is made of
polycarbonate (PC) or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).
[0020] Referring to FIG. 2, the elastic element 40 comprises a
first link portion 42 connected to the latch 30 and a second link
portion 41 connected to the cabinet. The elastic element 40 can be
a spring pulling the latch 30. When the latch 30 is installed in
the cabinet 30, the power storage device 20 is assembled into the
cabinet 10 along the arrow B.
[0021] Referring to FIGS. 3A to 3C, the cabinet 10 further
comprises a depression 15 and at least one cavity 16. The
depression 15 is formed on the back side of the mobile device 100,
and the cavity 16 is formed in the depression 15. The power storage
device 20 comprises at least one tab 21 disposed on a side wall 20b
opposite to the stopping portion 22 and the guiding portion 23.
When the power storage device 20 is placed in the depression 15,
the tab 21 are inserted into the cavity 16 in the direction of
arrow C. The power storage device 20 is placed straight in the
direction of arrow Y into the depression 15 as shown in FIG. 3B. In
FIG. 3C, the power storage device 20 is positioned in the
depression 15 tightly and contacts a connector (not shown), thereby
preventing the power storage device 20 from escaping from the
depression 15.
[0022] Referring to FIGS. 4A to 4D, the stopping portion 22 and
guiding portion 23 are alternatively disposed on the side wall 20a.
In FIG. 4A, the power storage device 20 has not yet been placed in
the depression 15. The guiding portion 23 is substantially L-shaped
and comprises an inclined surface 23a and a plane 23b. The plane
23b is connected to the inclined surface 23a and parallel to a
surface 20c of the power storage device 20. The inclined surface
23a has a predetermined angle .theta. with respect to the plane
23b. The angle .theta. is between 0 to 90.degree.. The stopping
portion 22 is substantially U-shaped and has two first lateral
surfaces 22a and 22b, a second lateral surface 22c connected to the
first lateral surfaces 22a and 22b. The first lateral surfaces 22a
and 22b are parallel to the plane 23b of the guiding portion
23.
[0023] When the power storage device 20 is placed into the
depression 15 in the Y direction, the elastic element 40 is pulled,
and the engaging portion 50 and the latch 30 is moved in the
direction of arrow X as shown in FIG. 4B. The length of the pulled
elastic element 40 is L1.
[0024] Referring to FIG. 4C, when the power storage device 20 is
positioned in the cabinet 10, the length of the elastic element 40
is recovered to the free length L2. When the elastic element 40 is
in a free state, the post 31 is stopped between the first lateral
surface 22a and 22b to constrain the power storage device 20 in the
y direction.
[0025] When the power storage device 20 is to be detached, the
engaging portion 50 must be pushed in advance. When an external
force is exerted on the protrusion 51 of the engaging portion 50,
the protrusion 51 moves the latch 30, whereby the posts 31 move
from the stopping portion 22 toward guiding portion 23 to abut the
inclined surface 23a as shown in FIG. 4D.
[0026] When the posts 31 push the inclined surface 23a with a
uniform force, the y component of the uniform force pushes the
power storage device 20 in the Y direction to accomplish the
ejection.
[0027] The predetermined angle .theta. is an important parameter
for the smooth ejection of the power storage device 20. The angle
.theta. determines the y component of the uniform force as shown in
FIG. 4D. Fx and Fy are the x and y components of the uniform force
respectively. When .theta. is between 0 to 45.degree., Fx is
smaller than Fy such that the power storage device 20 is easily
ejected from the cabinet 10 easily. When .theta. is between
45.degree. to 90.degree., Fy is smaller than Fx such that the power
storage device 20 is not easily ejected from the cabinet 10. The
angle .theta. is not limited in the invention.
[0028] While the invention has been described by way of example and
in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the
invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended
to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would
be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of
the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation
so as to encompass all such modifications and similar
arrangements.
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