U.S. patent application number 11/394070 was filed with the patent office on 2007-04-26 for fixing structure for battery module.
This patent application is currently assigned to INVENTEC CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Cheng-Chung Hsu.
Application Number | 20070090266 11/394070 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37564801 |
Filed Date | 2007-04-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070090266 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hsu; Cheng-Chung |
April 26, 2007 |
Fixing structure for battery module
Abstract
A fixing structure for a battery module having a first coupling
portion and a second coupling portion, includes a base and a
rotating member pivotally mounted to the base. The base has a first
fixing portion and a second fixing portion. The first fixing
portion includes a first end for being coupled to the first
coupling portion, and a second end communicating with the first end
thereof and for fixing the first coupling portion. The second
fixing portion includes a first end for being coupled to the second
coupling portion, and a second end communicating with the first end
thereof and for fixing the second coupling portion. The rotating
member includes a third fixing portion for being fixed to the first
end of the first fixing portion, and a poking portion for allowing
the third fixing portion to be separated from the first end of the
first fixing portion.
Inventors: |
Hsu; Cheng-Chung; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FULBRIGHT AND JAWORSKI LLP
555 S. FLOWER STREET, 41ST FLOOR
LOS ANGELES
CA
90071
US
|
Assignee: |
INVENTEC CORPORATION
|
Family ID: |
37564801 |
Appl. No.: |
11/394070 |
Filed: |
March 29, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
248/500 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02E 60/10 20130101;
H01M 50/20 20210101 |
Class at
Publication: |
248/500 |
International
Class: |
A47B 97/00 20060101
A47B097/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 13, 2005 |
TW |
94217698 |
Claims
1. A fixing structure for a battery module having a first coupling
portion and a second coupling portion, the fixing structure
comprising: a base having a first fixing portion and a second
fixing portion, wherein the first fixing portion comprises a first
end for being coupled to the first coupling portion and a second
end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing the
first coupling portion, and the second fixing portion comprises a
first end for being coupled to the second coupling portion and a
second end communicating with the first end thereof and for fixing
the second coupling portion; and a rotating member pivotally
mounted to the base, the rotating member comprising a third fixing
portion for being fixed to the first end of the first fixing
portion, and a poking portion for allowing the third fixing portion
to be separated from the first end of the first fixing portion.
2. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the first fixing
portion is an opening.
3. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the second fixing
portion is an opening.
4. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the base further
comprises a first combining portion for being connected to the
rotating member.
5. The fixing structure of claim 4, wherein the first combining
portion is a stud.
6. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the third fixing
portion is selected from the group consisting of a lug, a stopper,
a bearing rib and a tenon.
7. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the rotating member
further comprises a second combining portion for being connected to
the base.
8. The fixing structure of claim 7, wherein the second combining
portion is a screw hole.
9. The fixing structure of claim 1, wherein the rotating member
further comprises a limit portion for limiting the third fixing
portion.
10. The fixing structure of claim 9, wherein the limit portion is
selected from the group consisting of a lug, a stopper, a bearing
rib and a tenon.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to fixing structures, and more
particularly, to a fixing structure for assembling a battery module
to an electronic device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] With development of the information technology, various
kinds of electronic devices have been developed. In response to the
requirement of expanding the amount of processing data and the
operational efficiency, the electronic devices are necessarily
provided with a sufficient supply of power. Besides having a
power-saving design for the electronic device itself to allow power
to be more effectively used, a common approach is to prepare a
portable spare battery for the electronic device.
[0003] Taking an electronic device such as a desktop computer, a
notebook computer or a server as an example, a cache memory is
typically provided on a mainboard of the electronic device. When
the electronic device is turned on, a power supply unit supplies
power to the cache memory such that data can be temporarily stored
in the cache memory without being vanished. However, when the
electronic device is shut down, the cache memory no longer has
power being supplied by the power supply unit, and the data stored
in the cache memory are accordingly vanished. Therefore, in order
to completely reserve the data, a cache memory battery module is
usually provided in the electronic device.
[0004] A battery module is generally mounted in an electronic
device by a fixing structure. As shown in FIG. 1, the fixing
structure comprises a fixing mount 2 having a size corresponding to
that of the battery module 10. The fixing mount 2 is mounted in the
electronic device such as a server (not shown), and then the
battery module 10 is fixed to the fixing mount 2. This fixing
structure uses screws for fixing, wherein the battery module 10 is
formed with holes 101, and the fixing mount 2 is provided with
studs 21 corresponding to the holes 101, allowing screws 9 to be
inserted into the studs 21 and the holes 101 to combine the fixing
mount 2 with the battery module 10.
[0005] Although the use of screws provides a secure fixing effect,
since an inner space of the server is normally small, any assistant
tool such as a screwdriver entering the inner space of the server
to lock the screws may easily touch an important component such as
a mainboard of the server and cause damage to the server. Moreover,
not all servers have enough space for allowing the screw-locking
action to be easily performed therein. Thereby, it is complicated
and time-ineffective to perform the fixing process with the screws,
and it may happen during the fixing process that the screws drop
into the server and cause electrically interrupt at some areas of
the server. Accordingly, the conventional fixing structure using
screws not only requires the assistant tool for assembly and
disassembly of the battery module to and from the fixing structure,
but also causes inconvenience in performing the fixing process.
[0006] Moreover, when the battery module is disassembled from the
fixing mount of the above fixing structure by unscrewing the
screws, this action may often be affected by the surroundings and
cause drop or loss of the screws. Therefore, such conventional
fixing technology using screws not only makes disassembling and
assembling processes of the battery module to and from the fixing
structure not time-effective to implement but also increases the
cost for the screws if they drop or are lost.
[0007] Accordingly, there has been proposed another method for
fixing a battery module to a fixing mount in an engagement manner.
As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing mount 6 includes two holes 61 and an
elastic hook 63, and the battery module 5 includes two tenons 501
respectively corresponding to the two holes 61, and a groove 503
corresponding to the elastic hook 63. When assembling the battery
module 5 to the fixing mount 6, firstly, the tenons 501 are
inserted into the holes 61, and then the battery module 5 is
pressed towards the fixing mount 6 until the elastic hook 63 is
engaged with the groove 503, such that the battery module 5 is
fixed to the fixing mount 6.
[0008] However, it is found that the above engagement-fixing
structure after being tested may have the battery module easily
dropping from the fixing mount especially during movement of an
electronic device provided with such battery module. Moreover, the
elastic hook used in the engagement-fixing structure may easily
become fatigued or may be cracked and broken if not being used
properly. Accordingly, the fabrication cost is increased and the
product yield is reduced, such that the above engagement-fixing
mechanism is considered necessary to be improved for these
drawbacks.
[0009] Therefore, the problem to be solved here is to provide a
fixing structure for a battery module, which can overcome the
foregoing drawbacks of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] In light of the foregoing drawbacks of the prior art, an
objective of the present invention is to provide a fixing structure
for a battery module that can be assembled and disassembled to and
from the fixing structure without any assistant tool.
[0011] Another objective of the present invention is to provide a
fixing structure for a battery module to allow assembling and
disassembling processes of the battery module to and from the
fixing structure to be quickly and conveniently performed.
[0012] Still another objective of the present invention is to
provide a fixing structure for a battery module, so as to well fix
the battery module to an electronic device.
[0013] A further objective of the present invention is to provide a
fixing structure for a battery module, so as to decrease the
fabrication cost.
[0014] A further objective of the present invention is to provide a
fixing structure for a battery module, so as to improve the product
yield.
[0015] In order to attain the above and other objectives, the
present invention proposes a fixing structure for a battery module
having a first coupling portion and a second coupling portion. The
fixing structure includes a base and a rotating member. The base
has a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion, wherein the
first fixing portion includes a first end for being coupled to the
first coupling portion and a second end communicating with the
first end thereof and for fixing the first coupling portion, and
the second fixing portion includes a first end for being coupled to
the second coupling portion and a second end communicating with the
first end thereof and for fixing the second coupling portion. The
rotating member is pivotally mounted to the base, and includes a
third fixing portion for being fixed to the first end of the first
fixing portion, and a poking portion for allowing the third fixing
portion to be separated from the first end of the first fixing
portion.
[0016] Preferably, the first fixing portion and the second fixing
portion are openings. The base further includes a first combining
portion for being connected to the rotating member, wherein the
first combining portion can be a stud. The third fixing portion of
the rotating member can be a lug, a stopper, a bearing rib or a
tenon. The rotating member further includes a second combining
portion for being connected to the base, wherein the second
combining portion can be a screw hole. The rotating member further
includes a limit portion for limiting the third fixing portion,
wherein the limit portion can be a lug, a stopper, a bearing rib or
a tenon.
[0017] The battery module can be provided in an electronic device.
By the above fixing structure of the present invention, the battery
module can be assembled and disassembled to and from the fixing
structure without any assistant tool, so as to easily fix the
battery module in the electronic device by means of the fixing
structure, such that the battery module can supply power to a cache
memory of the electronic device to reserve data in the cache
memory.
[0018] Compared with the prior art, by the fixing structure
including the base and the rotating member according to the present
invention, there is no need to use screws and various drawbacks
caused by using the screws in the prior art can be eliminated, such
as inconvenient in operation, time-ineffective assembly and
disassembly processes, and increased cost for the screws, and so
on. Therefore, assembling and disassembling processes of the
battery module to and from the fixing structure can be performed
quickly and conveniently by means of the fixing structure of the
present invention without any assistant tool.
[0019] Moreover, the fixing structure of the present invention can
well fix the battery module to the electronic device, and does not
require an elastic hook that may easily become fatigued, cracked or
broken. Further, the use of the fixing structure of the present
invention can decrease the fabrication cost and improve the product
yield, thereby overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0020] The present invention can be more fully understood by
reading the following detailed description of the preferred
embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
[0021] FIG. 1 (PRIOR ART) is an exploded schematic diagram of a
conventional fixing structure and a battery module to which the
fixing structure is applied;
[0022] FIG. 2 (PRIOR ART) is an exploded schematic diagram of
another conventional fixing structure and a battery module to which
the fixing structure is applied;
[0023] FIG. 3 is an exploded schematic diagram of a fixing
structure for a battery module according to a preferred embodiment
of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 4 is an assembly schematic diagram of the fixing
structure of FIG. 3;
[0025] FIG. 5 is an exploded schematic diagram of the fixing
structure according to the preferred embodiment of the present
invention and a battery module to which the fixing structure is
applied;
[0026] FIG. 6 is an assembly schematic diagram of the fixing
structure and the battery module of FIG. 5; and
[0027] FIG. 7 is an assembly schematic diagram of the fixing
structure and the battery module according to another preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0028] Preferred embodiments of a fixing structure for a battery
module according to the present invention are described as follows
with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7. It is to be noted that the drawings
are simplified schematic diagrams and only show components relating
to the present invention. In practice, the layout of components
could be more complicated. It should be understood that the
following embodiments are not construed to limit the scope of the
present invention.
[0029] It should be noted that the fixing structure of the present
invention can be applied to a battery module used in an electronic
device such as a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a server or
any other electronic device having a cache memory. In the following
embodiments, the battery module used in the server is taken as an
example, which does not set a limitation for the present
invention.
[0030] As shown in FIG. 3, the fixing structure 1 of the present
embodiment comprises a base 11 and a rotating member 13. The base
11 has a first fixing portion 111 and a second fixing portion 113,
wherein the first fixing portion 111 includes a first end 1111 and
a second end 1113 communicating with the first end 1111, and the
second fixing portion 113 includes a first end 1131 and a second
end 1133 communicating with the first end 1131. The first fixing
portion 111 and the second fixing portion 113 can be openings with
the same shape. The base 11 further has a first combining portion
115 and an opening 117, wherein the first combining portion 115 can
be disposed between the first fixing portion 111 and the opening
117 and can be a stud.
[0031] The rotating member 13 is pivotally mounted to the base 11.
The rotating member 13 comprises a third fixing portion 131 for
being fixed to the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111;
a poking portion 133 for allowing the third fixing portion 131 to
be separated from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion
111; and a second combining portion 135 corresponding to the first
combining portion 115. The third fixing portion 131 can be a lug as
shown in FIG. 3, but can be a stopper, a bearing rib, a tenon or
any other equivalent structure in other embodiments. The poking
portion 133 can be an L-shaped bent piece, and the second combining
portion 135 can be a screw hole.
[0032] Moreover, the rotating member 13 further has a limit portion
137 for limiting the third fixing portion 131, and the base 11
further has a fourth fixing portion 119 for fixing the limit
portion 137. The limit portion 137 can be a stopper in this
embodiment, but can be a lug, a bearing rib, a tenon or any other
equivalent structure in other embodiments. The fourth fixing
portion 119 can be a semicircular bearing rib, or any other
equivalent structure capable of fixing the limit portion 137. In
addition, a combining component 7 can be employed to pivotally
mount the rotating member 13 to the base 11. When the rotating
member 13 is inserted into the opening 117 of the base 11, and the
second combining portion 135 of the rotating member 13 is put
around the first combining portion 115 of the base 11, the rotating
member 13 can be pivotally mounted to the base 11 by the combining
component 7 that is coupled to the first combining portion 115 and
the second combining portion 135. As shown in FIG. 4, the assembled
fixing structure 1 is obtained after combining the base 11 with the
rotating member 13.
[0033] The fixing structure 1 in this embodiment can be assembled
with a battery module 3. The battery module 3 has a first coupling
portion 31 and a second coupling portion 33. As shown in FIG. 5,
when it is to assemble the battery module 3 to the fixing structure
1, the first coupling portion 31 and the second coupling portion 33
of the battery module 3 can be inserted into the first ends 1111,
1131 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113 of the fixing
structure 1, respectively. In this embodiment, the first coupling
portion 31 and the second coupling portion 33 can be tenons. The
first ends 1111, 1131 of the first and second fixing portions 111,
113 are sized relatively wider to sufficiently accommodate the
first and second coupling portions 31, 33, respectively, and the
second ends 1113, 1133 of the first and second fixing portions 111,
113 are sized relatively narrower for fixing the first and second
coupling portions 31, 33, respectively.
[0034] When the first and second coupling portions 31, 33 of the
battery module 3 are inserted into the first ends 1111, 1131 of the
first and second fixing portions 111, 113, respectively, the
rotating member 13 can be rotated, for example by finger(s), to
allow the third fixing portion 131 to abut against the first
coupling portion 31 and push the first coupling portion 31 into the
second end 1113 of the first fixing portion 111, and simultaneously
the second coupling portion 33 is operationally associated with the
first coupling portion 31 and pushed into the second end 1133 of
the second fixing portion 113, such that the first and second
coupling portions 31, 33 are fixed by the second ends 1113, 1133 of
the first and second fixing portions 111, 113, respectively, and at
the same time the third fixing portion 131 of the rotating member
13 still abuts against the first coupling portion 31 to maintain
the fixing status of the first and second coupling portions 31,
33.
[0035] Alternatively, when the first and second coupling portions
31, 33 of the battery module 3 are inserted into the first ends
1111, 1131 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113,
respectively, the battery module 3 can be moved, for example by
finger(s), to push the first and second coupling portions 31, 33
into the second ends 1113, 1133 of the first and second fixing
portions 111, 113, respectively, and then the rotating member 13
can be rotated to allow the third fixing portion 131 to abut
against the first coupling portion 31, such that the first and
second coupling portions 31, 33 are fixed by the second ends 1113,
1133 of the first and second fixing portions 111, 113,
respectively, and the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the
first coupling portion 31 maintains the fixing status of the first
and second coupling portions 31, 33. FIG. 6 shows the assembled
fixing structure 1 and battery module 3.
[0036] As shown in FIG. 6, when the battery module 3 is assembled
to the fixing structure 1, the limit portion 137 of the rotating
member 13 is blocked by the fourth fixing portion 119 of the base
11 and keeps the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the
first coupling portion 31 to maintain the fixing status of the
first and second coupling portions 31, 33 of the battery module 3.
Accordingly, the fixing structure 1 can be mounted to the
electronic device such as a server (not shown), for example, the
fixing structure 1 may further comprise a connecting piece 15
formed on a side of the base 11 and for mounting the fixing
structure 1 to the electronic device, such that the battery module
3 assembled to the fixing structure 1 can provide power to a cache
memory (not shown) of the electronic device.
[0037] It should be understood that the limit portion 137 and the
fourth fixing portion 119, which are used to keep the third fixing
portion 131 abutting against the first coupling portion 31 in this
embodiment, may be modified in structure according to a structure
of the electronic device or any other design requirements in other
embodiments. For example, the limit portion 137 and the fourth
fixing portion 119 may be modified to have mutually matching
concave and convex structures, or any equivalent structure that can
keep the third fixing portion 131 abutting against the first
coupling portion 31 and also allow the third fixing portion 131 to
be separated from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion
111 after operating the poking portion 133 of the rotating member
13.
[0038] For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the limit portion 137 can
be formed with a groove 1371, and the fourth fixing portion 119 can
be a protrusion corresponding to the groove 1371, and in this
embodiment, there are two fourth fixing portions 119 provided to
respectively keep the third fixing portion 13 1 abutting against
the first coupling portion 31 of the battery module 3 and separate
the third fixing portion 131 from the first coupling portion 31.
Similarly as the foregoing embodiment, the limit portion 137 can be
fixed by one of the fourth fixing portions 119 to keep the third
fixing portion 131 abutting against the first coupling portion 31
but not permanently locking the first coupling portion 31.
[0039] Thus, by operating or pressing/lifting the poking portion
133, the limit portion 137 can be moved to the one of the fourth
fixing portions 119 where the third fixing portion 131 is kept
abutting against the first coupling portion 31, or can be moved to
the other one of the fourth fixing portions 119 where the third
fixing portion 131 is allowed to separate from the first end 1111
of the first fixing portion 111.
[0040] When it is to disassemble the battery module 3 from the
fixing structure 1, a user can simply operate the poking portion
133 with finger(s) to make the limit portion 137 separate from the
fourth fixing portion 119 and associatively make the third fixing
portion 131 separate from the first end 1111 of the first fixing
portion 111 (for the embodiment shown in FIG. 6), or to make the
limit portion 137 separate from the one of the fourth fixing
portions 119 and associatively make the third fixing portion 131
separate from the first end 1111 of the first fixing portion 111
(for the embodiment shown in FIG. 7), such that the first coupling
portion 31 and the second coupling portion 33 of the battery module
3 can be uncoupled from the first and second fixing portions 111,
113 with the user's finger(s), and the battery module 3 can be
removed.
[0041] The fixing structure 1 is assembled with the battery module
3 and then is mounted to the electronic device as described in the
above embodiment. It should be understood that alternatively the
fixing structure can be mounted to the electronic device before the
battery module is assembled to the fixing structure. The order of
steps of the assembling and disassembling processes in the present
invention is not particularly limited to that described in the
above embodiments.
[0042] Compared with the prior art, by the fixing structure
including the base and the rotating member according to the present
invention, there is no need to use screws and various drawbacks
caused by using the screws in the prior art can be eliminated, such
as inconvenient in operation, time-ineffective assembly and
disassembly processes, and increased cost for the screws, and so
on. Therefore, assembling and disassembling processes of the
battery module to and from the fixing structure can be performed
quickly and conveniently by finger(s) and without any assistant
tool by means of the fixing structure of the present invention.
[0043] Moreover, the fixing structure of the present invention can
well fix the battery module to the electronic device, and does not
require an elastic hook that may easily become fatigued, cracked or
broken. Further, the use of the fixing structure of the present
invention can decrease the fabrication cost and improve the product
yield, thereby overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.
[0044] The present invention has been described using exemplary
preferred embodiments above, however, it is to be understood that
the scope of the present invention is not limited to the disclosed
embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various
modifications and similar changes. The scope of the claims,
therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to
encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
* * * * *