Shock-resistant Protective Shell Of Portable Appliance

Yin; Xuejun

Patent Application Summary

U.S. patent application number 14/395194 was filed with the patent office on 2015-04-23 for shock-resistant protective shell of portable appliance. This patent application is currently assigned to QINGDAO CREATE ENVIROMENT CONTROL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.. The applicant listed for this patent is QINGDAO CREATE ENVIRONMENT CONTROL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., Xuejun YIN. Invention is credited to Xuejun Yin.

Application Number20150108030 14/395194
Document ID /
Family ID46623133
Filed Date2015-04-23

United States Patent Application 20150108030
Kind Code A1
Yin; Xuejun April 23, 2015

SHOCK-RESISTANT PROTECTIVE SHELL OF PORTABLE APPLIANCE

Abstract

A shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance includes a protective shell additionally arranged on a surface of a portable electric appliance and matching the shape of the portable electric appliance, with a buffer body protruding towards an exterior of the protective shell arranged at the corner of the protective shell. A primary buffer axis of the buffer body points to the centroid of the portable electric appliance, or the projection of the primary buffer axis in the principal plane of the electric appliance extends along the angular bisector between two adjacent sides. The buffer body is arranged with a secondary buffer axis arranged perpendicular to the primary buffer axis or perpendicular to the principal plane of the portable electric appliance. The thickness of the buffer body is at least 3 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body.


Inventors: Yin; Xuejun; (Qingdao City, Shandong, CN)
Applicant:
Name City State Country Type

YIN; Xuejun
QINGDAO CREATE ENVIRONMENT CONTROL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

Qingdao, Shandong

US
CN
Assignee: QINGDAO CREATE ENVIROMENT CONTROL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Qingdao, Shandong
CN

Xuejun
Qingdao City, Shandong
CN

Family ID: 46623133
Appl. No.: 14/395194
Filed: April 12, 2013
PCT Filed: April 12, 2013
PCT NO: PCT/CN2013/074134
371 Date: October 17, 2014

Current U.S. Class: 206/521
Current CPC Class: A45C 11/00 20130101; H04M 1/185 20130101; A45C 2011/003 20130101; A45C 2011/002 20130101; B65D 81/022 20130101; A45C 2011/001 20130101; A45C 13/36 20130101; H04M 1/04 20130101
Class at Publication: 206/521
International Class: B65D 81/02 20060101 B65D081/02

Foreign Application Data

Date Code Application Number
Apr 17, 2012 CN 201210111661.2

Claims



1. A shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance, comprising a protective shell additionally arranged on the surface of a portable electric appliance and matching the shape of the portable electric appliance, with a buffer body which protrudes towards the exterior of the protective shell arranged at the corner of the protective shell, wherein a primary buffer axis of the buffer body points to the centroid of the portable electric appliance, or the projection of the primary buffer axis in the principal plane of the electric appliance extends along the angular bisector between two adjacent sides; the buffer body is also arranged with a secondary buffer axis, which is arranged perpendicular to the primary buffer axis or perpendicular to the principal plane of the portable electric appliance; and the thickness of the buffer body is at least 3 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body.

2. (canceled)

3. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer stroke of the buffer body is at least 2 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body.

4. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 3, wherein the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body is greater than the ratio of the square of the design ground impact speed to the maximum permissible impact acceleration.

5. (canceled)

6. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the rigidity of the buffer body in the primary buffer axis direction is 2 times of the ratio of the design ground impact energy to the square of the maximum buffer stroke.

7. (canceled)

8. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the rigidity of the buffer body in the secondary buffer axis direction is 0.3.about.0.5 time of the rigidity in the primary buffer axis direction.

9. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is arranged with a helical spring structure in it made of a metal material, or a rubber material, or a polyurethane material, or a plastic material, or combinations of these above.

10. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is arranged with a flexural spring structure in it made of a metal material, or a rubber material, or a polyurethane material, or a plastic material, or combinations of these above.

11. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is arranged with a shear spring structure consisting of a base, a movable body, and an elastic material arranged between the two parts.

12. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is arranged with a telescopic structure in it consisting of an outer sleeve and at least one movable core; in that the moving axis direction of the movable core is arranged along the primary buffer axis of the buffer body; and in that a friction pair and/or damping air pores are/is arranged between the outer sleeve and the only movable core, or a friction pair and/or damping air pores are/is arranged between the outer sleeve and the movable cores and between adjacent movable cores respectively.

13. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is made of an elastic macromolecular material, which comprises rubber material, PVC material, or polyurethane material.

14. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 13, wherein the buffer body is arranged with closed cavities, cavities with open-pore damping structures, closed cavities containing a liquid damping material, or viscous damping structures or pinhole throttling damping structures.

15. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is arranged with local protrusions on it.

16. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is made of a solid damping material at least in part, which comprises high damping rubber material or high damping polyurethane material.

17. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein an integral continuous buffer body is arranged at two corners at the two ends of the same edge in the thickness direction of the protective shell.

18. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body and the protective shell are arranged integrally.

19. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is fixed to the protective shell by anchored connection, adhesive bonding, threaded connection, fastener connection, hinging, snapping connection, or fitting connection.

20. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is made of a metal material, a plastic material, a rubber material, a polyurethane material, a leather material, a natural fiber material or chemical fiber material, or a combination of any at least two of these above.

21. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the buffer body is in a spherical shape at least in part, a ellipsoidal shape at least in part, a plant shape at least in part, a human shape at least in part, an animal shape at least in part, or a cartoon shape at least in part.

22. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to claim 1, wherein the protective shell is arranged with local functional through-holes, which are in a square, rectangular, round, apple, triangular, star, or rhombic shape.
Description



FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of products associated to portable electric appliances such as cell phones, and relates to a protective shell applied to the surface of a portable electric appliance, in particular to a protective shell that has better shock-resistance performance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] As the society makes progress, portable electric appliances, such as cell phones, have become indispensable tools increasingly in people's daily life. For example, cell phones with rich functionality and beautiful appearance emerge endlessly nowadays, and many cell phones are expansive. Many people choose to protect their cell phones with a protective shell, to prevent abrasion or scratching of the cell phone surface during daily use. At present, protective shells available in the market for cell phone products are usually made by injection molding from rubber and plastics. These protective shells can protect the cell phone surfaces and attain a dust-proof effect to some degree. However, existing protective shells for cell phones are usually in a shell structure in uniform thickness. It is a common sense that a corner part of a cell phone will touch the ground first in case the cell phone falls to the ground, but a protective shell in uniform thickness has inadequate structural strength at the eight corners. Therefore, once the cell phone falls to the ground, often the internal parts of the cell phone will be damaged, the phone body and protective shell may be deformed or damaged at the corners, or the touch screen may be broken and can't be used any more, and has to be replaced. Especially, for some cell phones available in the market, such as iPhone from Apple, the replacement cost of a touch screen is almost comparable to the price of an ordinary cell phone, and the protective shell that is sold as an accessory is also costly. The high replacement cost of a protective shell not only brings economic burden on the consumers but also results in resource waste. The same problem exists in other portable electric appliances, such as iPad computers, digital cameras, mobile hard disks, GPS navigators, laptop computers, calculators, etc. In summary, it is urgent task to overcome the problem of inadequate buffering capability and unsatisfactory protective effect of existing protective shells for portable electric appliances.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] To overcome the drawbacks described above, the present invention provides a shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance, which has better buffering performance.

[0004] In order to realize the aim, the present invention provide a shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance comprising a protective shell additionally arranged on the surface of a portable electric appliance and matching the shape of the portable electric appliance, characterized in that the corner part and/or the vicinity of the corner part of the protective shell are/is arranged with a buffer body which protrudes towards the exterior of the protective shell.

[0005] The core technical principle of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention is: a buffer body is utilized to increase the buffer stroke. For example, in the case of an iPhone 4 cell phone, which is in weight of 0.13 kg, when the cell phone falls from 1 m height, it will touch the ground at a speed of v= {square root over (2gh)}=4.43 m/s; suppose the speed of the cell phone is decreased to zero after the impact and the stiffness curves of the protective shell and the buffer body are linear during impact deformation, according to the law of conservation of energy, the maximum impact force borne on the cell phone will be F.sub.max=mv.sup.2/s, where, `s` is the impact buffer stroke. That formula is abbreviated as a buffer formula in the present invention. It is seen from the buffer formula: the impact force is proportional to the mass and the ground impact speed, and is inversely proportional to the buffer stroke. Suppose the thickness of an ordinary protective shell in uniform thickness is 1.2 mm, the buffer stroke of the protective shell is 0.8 mm, the ground surface is rigid floor made of marble or cement, the maximum impact force will be 3189N, equivalent to 325 Kg, and the maximum impact acceleration is 2,500 g, i.e., 2,500 times of gravitational acceleration. That is the reason why a falling cell phone may be damaged easily. If there is no protective shell, the buffer stroke will be shorter, and the cell phone may be damaged more easily. If the buffer stroke is increased by 20 times, i.e., the buffer stroke is 16 mm, the maximum impact force will be 16 Kg only, and the impact acceleration will be 125 g only. Thus it can be seen: increasing the buffer stroke can effectively reduce the maximum impact force and impact acceleration when a portable electric appliance (e.g., a cell phone) falls to the ground, and thereby greatly reduce the damage to the cell phone. To attain an ideal buffering effect, it should be noted that when the buffer body is designed: preferably, the buffer body shall meet the following requirements: the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body should be greater than the ratio of the square of the design ground impact speed to the maximum permissible impact acceleration; the rigidity of the buffer body in the primary buffer axis direction should be 2 times of the ratio of the design ground impact energy to the square of the maximum buffer stroke; and, the rigidity of the buffer body in the secondary buffer axis direction should be 0.3.about.0.5 time of the rigidity in the primary buffer axis direction, wherein, the primary buffer axis of the buffer body points to the centroid of the portable electric appliance, or the projection of the primary buffer axis in the principal plane of the electric appliance extends along the angular bisector between two adjacent sides; the secondary buffer axis of the buffer body is arranged perpendicular to the primary buffer axis or arranged perpendicular to the principal plane of the portable electric appliance. Under normal circumstances, the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body is at least 2 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body. In the present invention, since the buffer body is arranged locally only and a highly elastic material or highly elastic structure is used in the buffer body, the buffer stroke of the buffer body can be very long, up to 5.about.40 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body. In addition, to ensure a necessary buffer stroke, usually the thickness of the buffer body is at least 3 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body, and can even be 10.about.50 times of the average thickness according to the actual demand.

[0006] To improve the elasticity of the buffer body and increase the buffer stroke, a highly elastic material or highly elastic structure can be arranged in the buffer body. For example, a helical spring structure, which is made of a metal material, or a rubber material, or a polyurethane material, or a plastic material, or any combination of these materials, can be arranged in the buffer body; alternatively, a flexural spring structure, which is made of a metal material, or a rubber material, or a polyurethane material, or a plastic material, or any combination of these materials, can be arranged in the buffer body; alternatively, a shear spring structure, which comprises a base, a moving body, and an elastic material arranged between the two parts, can be arranged in the buffer body; furthermore, a telescopic structure, which comprises an outer sleeve and at least one movable core, can be arranged in the buffer body, wherein, if only one movable core is arranged, a friction pair and/or damping air pores are/is arranged between the outer sleeve and the only movable core; if a plurality of movable cores are arranged, a friction pair and/or damping air pores are/is arranged between the outer sleeve and the movable cores and between adjacent movable cores; alternatively, local protrusions can be arranged on the buffer body to improve local elasticity of the buffer body; of course, the buffer body can be made of an elastic macromolecular material directly, and the elastic macromolecular material comprises rubber material, PVC material, or polyurethane material. In addition, if the buffer body is not provided with additional damping means or high damping material, the natural damping property of the buffer body is usually too low; consequently, the cell phone will bounce after it hits the ground, and then the cell phone will hit the ground again. If a damping means is arranged and the damping ratio of the impact system composed of the electric appliance and the buffer body is close to the critical damping, the electric appliance will rest on the ground and will not bounce after it hits the ground; in that case, the damping is optimal. Another benefit of employing optimal damping is: under the condition of the same buffer stroke and the same impact force, more impact energy can be absorbed, which is to say, a higher ground impact speed is permissible. Therefore, additional damping structures can be arranged in the buffer body, for instance, closed cavities, closed cavities containing a liquid damping material, cavities with open-pore damping structures, or viscous damping structures or pinhole throttling damping structures, can be arranged in the buffer body. Of course, the buffer body can be made of a solid damping material at least in part, wherein, the solid damping material comprises high damping rubber or high damping polyurethane. Preferably, the damping rating of the damping structure is designed according to the critical damping in the most common impact pattern.

[0007] The buffer body described in the present invention can be diverse in shape. For example, it can be in a streamline shape that is spherical at least in part or ellipsoidal at least in part, or can be in a cylindrical shape. Alternatively, it can be in a plant shape at least in part, wherein, the plant here not only comprises flower, grass, and tree, but also comprises vegetable, fruit, and seed, etc., specifically, the plant shape can be flower, Christmas tree, peanut, pea, pumpkin, apple, strawberry, orange, or watermelon shape at least in part. Alternatively, it can be in a human shape at least in part, including real characters and fictitious characters, for example, a real character represented by Einstein, a mythological character represented by the Monkey King, a comic character represented by Crayon Shin-chan, or a cartoon character represented by the Pleasant Sheep, etc.; in addition, the human shape at least in part can be an organ of a human, such as eye, ear, mouth, nose, heart, hand, foot, etc. Alternatively, it can be in an animal shape at least in part, such as any of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, penguin, lion, or Coccinella septempunctata, etc., of course, the animal shape at least in part also comprises an organ of an animal, such as ear, paw, mouth, shell, etc. In addition, it should be noted: in actual applications, the shape of the buffer body in the present invention can be an artistic evolution or abstract of the physical form of the human or thing described above.

[0008] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention, not only a buffer body can be arranged on each corner part of the protective shell, but also an integral continuous buffer body can be arranged at the corners at two ends of the same edge along the thickness direction of the protective shell, i.e., a buffer body protects two corners of the protective shell at the same time.

[0009] The buffer body can be formed integrally with the protective shell when the protective shell is manufactured; or, the buffer body can be fixed to the protective shell by anchor connection, adhesive bonding, threaded connection, hinging, fastener connection, snapping connection, or fitting connection, etc. Therefore, the material of the buffer body can be selected in a wide range. For example, the buffer body and the protective shell can be formed from a plastic material by plastic molding in one operation; alternatively, the buffer body can be produced from a metal material, a plastic material, a rubber material, a polyurethane material, a natural fiber material (e.g., cotton or hemp, etc.), a chemical fiber material, or a combination of any at least two of these above, and then fixed to the protective shell. If the buffer body is arranged as a separate part, it will be unnecessary to replace the entire protective shell in case the buffer body is damaged, and the selection range of the material of the buffer body can be further widened. Thus, it is more helpful for improving the shock-resistant and damage-resistant performance, and the texture and form of the buffer body will be more diverse, and the characteristics of the buffer body will be more distinctive. For example, a buffer body made of a rubber material has high elasticity and high buffering performance; a buffer body made of a cotton material confers good hand feeling and will not cause injury to clothing and bags; a buffer body made of a combination of light metal material (e.g., aluminum alloy) and leather or rubber material is more durable and fashionable, and, when decorated in different colors, can meet different demands of different people. Moreover, the buffer body will be universal if the interface for connecting the protective shell and the buffer body is standardized; thus, the buffer body on the protective shell can be replaced as required at any time, to adapt to the change of taste and favor.

[0010] In addition, to make room for some devices such as a camera and for the purpose of heat dissipation from the electric appliance or presentation of the product logo, etc., the protective shell can be arranged with local functional through-holes. According to the actual conditions, the through-holes can be in a square, rectangular, round, triangular, apple, star, or rhombic shape, etc.

[0011] In most cases, when a portable electric appliance falls to the ground, for example, when a cell phone falls from a desktop or hand to the ground, a corner part will hit the ground first. Existing protective shells for cell phones in the market are usually rubber or plastic protective shell in uniform thickness, which provide a very limited buffering effect, owing to the limited thickness of protective shell. If the thickness of the protective shell is increased uniformly, the protective shell will become very unhandy. Such protective shells can't be accepted by fashionistas and are not economic. In the present invention, by arranging convex buffer bodies at the corner parts of a protective shell, the shock-resistant performance of the protective shell and the protected portable electric appliance is greatly improved, while the cost is not increased significantly and the appearance is not compromised. Such a protective shell can meets the requirements for practicability, economic efficiency, and safety.

[0012] By arranging buffer bodies at the corner parts and in vicinity of the corner parts of a protective shell, the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention can greatly improve the buffer stroke, decrease the impact force generated when the portable electric appliance falls to the ground accidentally, and improve local shock-resistant performance. Thus, this scheme can effectively ensure that the corner parts of the protective shell will not be damaged by external impact, and is helpful for prolonging the service life of the product and improving safety performance. The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention is simple in structure. It not only inherits all merits of existing protective shells but also is diverse and lovely in form, and has high practicability and can greatly improve the shock-resistant performance of the product. The shock-resistant protective shell can be widely applied to portable electric appliances such as cell phones, Walkman devices, cameras, mobile hard disks, laptop computers, GPS navigators, electronic dictionaries, and iPad computers, etc., and has broad application prospects in the market.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0014] FIG. 2 is a left view of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

[0015] FIG. 3 is a 3D view of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 1;

[0016] FIG. 4 is a broken-out sectional view A-A of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

[0017] FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 3 of the present invention;

[0019] FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 4 of the present invention;

[0020] FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 5 of the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 6 of the present invention;

[0022] FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 7 of the present invention;

[0023] FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 8 of the present invention;

[0024] FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 9 of the present invention;

[0025] FIG. 13 is a left view of the structure shown in FIG. 12;

[0026] FIG. 14 is a 3D view of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 12 in the present invention;

[0027] FIG. 15 is a broken-out sectional view C-C of the structure shown in FIG. 12;

[0028] FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 10 of the present invention;

[0029] FIG. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 11 of the present invention;

[0030] FIG. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 12 of the present invention;

[0031] FIG. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 13 of the present invention;

[0032] FIG. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 14 of the present invention;

[0033] FIG. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 15 of the present invention;

[0034] FIG. 22 is a left view of the structure shown in FIG. 21;

[0035] FIG. 23 is a broken-out sectional view D-D of the structure shown in FIG. 21;

[0036] FIG. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 16 of the present invention;

[0037] FIG. 25 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 17 of the present invention;

[0038] FIG. 26 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 18 of the present invention;

[0039] FIG. 27 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 19 of the present invention;

[0040] FIG. 28 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 20 of the present invention;

[0041] FIG. 29 is a bottom view of the structure shown in FIG. 28;

[0042] FIG. 30 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 21 of the present invention; and

[0043] FIG. 31 is a bottom view of the structure shown in FIG. 30;

[0044] FIG. 32 is a schematic structural diagram of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in embodiment 22 of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiment 1

[0045] In view that the existing portable electric appliances are diverse in type and their shells are diverse in shape, it is impossible to described them in detail one by one; therefore, hereunder the technical principle of the present invention will be detailed exemplarily in the case of a shock-resistant protective shell for a cell phone. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4, the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to the present invention (specifically, a shock-resistant protective shell for a cell phone) comprises a protective shell 1 that matches the shape of a cell phone (not shown). The protective shell 1 is made of an elastic PVC material, and the eight corner parts of the protective shell are provided respectively with a buffer body 2 that protrudes towards the exterior of the protective shell, and the buffer body 2 is in a shape that is spherical in part; the buffer body 2 can also be made of an elastic PVC material, and is integrally formed with the protective shell 1 by plastic molding. In this embodiment, the thickness of the buffer body is 3.5 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell 1 except for the buffer body 2.

[0046] During use, the portable electric appliance to be protected can be directly embedded in the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention. Since buffer bodies 2 are arranged at the corner parts of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention, in case the portable electric appliance with the shock-resistant protective shell in the present invention falls to the ground accidentally, usually the buffer body 2 at a corner part of the protective shell 1 will hit the ground first. Since the buffer body 2 employs a structure that is spherical in part, the buffer stroke is greatly increased, and the shock-resistant performance is good; thus, the protective shell 1 not only effectively protects the portable electric appliance against damage, but also ensures that its structure will not be damaged. Therefore, the protective shell 1 has longer service life and is more durable.

[0047] It should be noted: the direction Z in FIG. 4 is the primary buffer axis direction of the buffer body, and it is the same as the extension direction of the intersection line between the section A-A and the section B-B of the buffer body in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and points to the centroid of the portable electric appliance. In view that the properties of the buffer body vary in different directions since the buffer body employs a structure that is not uniform in thickness, the primary buffer axis direction (i.e., direction Z) of the buffer body will be used as a standard to describe the properties of the buffer body, and the directions (e.g., the secondary buffer axis direction) and parameters (e.g., maximum buffer stroke) of the buffer body will be determined on the basis of that standard in the following text. The maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body has direct influence on the attainable buffering protection effect of the buffer body. To attain an ideal buffering effect, it should be noted that when the buffer body is designed: preferably, the buffer body shall meet the following requirements: the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body should be greater than the ratio of the square of the design ground impact speed to the maximum permissible impact acceleration; and, the rigidity of the buffer body in the primary buffer axis direction should be 2 times of the ratio of the design ground impact energy to the square of the maximum buffer stroke. In addition, the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body should be at least 2 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body. In the present invention, since the buffer body is arranged locally only and a highly elastic material or highly elastic structure is used in the buffer body, the buffer stroke of the buffer body can be very long, up to 5.about.40 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body. In addition, to ensure a necessary buffer stroke, usually the thickness of the buffer body is at least 3 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body, and can even be 10.about.50 times of the average thickness according to the actual demand.

[0048] In addition, the buffer body can be diverse in shape. Besides a shape that is spherical in part, it can also be in a streamline shape that is ellipsoidal at least in part, such as a rugby shape. Alternatively, it can be in a plant shape at least in part, wherein, the plant here not only comprises flower, grass, and tree, but also comprises vegetable, fruit, and seed, etc., specifically, the plant shape can be flower, Christmas tree, peanut, pea, pumpkin, apple, strawberry, orange, or watermelon shape at least in part. Alternatively, it can be in a human shape at least in part, including real characters and fictitious characters, for example, a real character represented by Einstein, a mythological character represented by the Monkey King, a comic character represented by Crayon Shin-chan, or a cartoon character represented by the Pleasant Sheep, etc.; in addition, the human shape at least in part can be an organ of a human, such as eye, ear, mouth, nose, heart, hand, foot, etc. Furthermore, Alternatively, it can be in an animal shape at least in part, such as any of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, penguin, lion, or Coccinella septempunctata, etc.; naturally, the animal shape at least in part also comprises an organ of an animal, such as ear, paw, mouth, shell, etc. If the buffer body is painted into the colors that match the thing reflected by the shape, the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention will confer a stronger aesthetic feeling, and will be more vivid in form. The description in this paragraph is also applicable to other embodiments of the present invention, and will not be iterated in the description of other embodiments.

[0049] Besides the elastic PVC material mentioned above, the buffer body in the present invention can also be made of other elastic macromolecular materials, such as rubber material or polyurethane material, etc., and can attain equivalent buffering effect, as long as the buffering capability is adequate.

[0050] The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention is simple in structure, has high practicability, elegant appearance, long service life, and attains a good buffering protection effect. Moreover, the present invention is not limited to the cell phone application illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which is to say, the technical principle of the present invention can also be applied in improvement and application of protective shells for different kinds of portable electric appliances, such as cell phones, Walkman devices, electronic dictionaries, iPad computers, digital cameras, mobile hard disks, GPS navigators, laptop computers, calculators, etc., and thereby corresponding shock-resistant protective shells for portable electric appliances can be created. Therefore, the present invention has broad application prospects in the market.

Embodiment 2

[0051] In the present invention, the buffer body can not only be in diverse shapes but also in different structures. In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 5 according to the present invention, the difference from the embodiment 1 lies in: the protective shell 1 is made of a rigid plastic material, and is provided in it with a helical spring structure consisting of a protective enclosure 4 and a helical spring 5, wherein, the protective enclosure is made of stainless steel plates, the helical spring 5 is made of a stainless steel wire, the upper part of the helical spring 5 is fixed to the protective enclosure 4 by welding, the lower end of the helical spring 5 is anchored in the protective shell 1, and the axis direction of the helical spring 5 is arranged in the primary buffer axis direction of the buffer body.

[0052] During use, in case a portable electric appliance with the protective shell in the present invention falls to the ground accidentally, once a corner part hits the ground first, the protective enclosure 4 at the corner part of the protective shell 1 will come into contact with the ground and transfer the impact force to the helical spring 5. Moreover, since the helical spring 5 has high elasticity and can absorb the impact energy greatly and attain a buffering effect. Therefore the purpose of protecting the portable electric appliance and the protective shell 1 can be attained.

[0053] It should be noted: since the buffer body is provided with a metal helical spring, which has high elasticity both in its vertical direction and in its lateral direction, as shown in FIG. 5, the buffer body not only provides buffering effect in direction Z, but also provides some buffering effect in direction F. Here, the direction Z is the primary buffer axis direction of the buffer body, and the direction F is the secondary buffer axis direction, and the secondary buffer axis direction of the buffer body is perpendicular to the primary buffer axis direction. It should be noted that in the design: to ensure the buffering effect, preferably the rigidity of the buffer body in the secondary buffer axis direction is 0.3.about.0.5 time of the rigidity in the primary buffer axis direction. A benefit of that scheme is: in case two, three, or four corners of the portable electric appliance hit the ground at the same time, a plurality of buffer bodies will provide a buffering effect at the same time, and the rigidity in the impact direction is still kept to be about 1 time of the rigidity in the primary buffer axis direction at the maximum probability; thus, the impact force will not be extremely high because the total rigidity in the impact direction is very high.

[0054] In this embodiment, since the protective enclosure 4 and the helical spring 5 in the buffer body are made of a stainless steel material, the protective shell has a longer service life and is more durable. Compared with embodiment 1, with the technical scheme in this embodiment, the selection range of the material of the buffer body is wider. Beside a stainless steel material, the helical spring structure can also be made of a different metal material, or a rubber material, or a polyurethane material, or a plastic material, or any combination of these above, and can attain equivalent function, as long as the helical spring structure can attain a good buffering effect. Since the material selection is more diversified, in conjunction with different shapes and colors, a better decorative effect can be attained, and thereby diversified requirements of the users can be met in a better way. Since the buffer body employs a helical spring, the buffer stroke can easily meet the technical specification, i.e., the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body should be at least 2 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body, and may even reach a level of 40 times; in addition, the rigidity is uniform. Moreover, the buffer body also has high buffer capability in the secondary buffer axis direction.

Embodiment 3

[0055] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 6 according to the present invention, compared with the embodiment 2, there are differences as follows. The buffer body is in a flexural spring structure consisting of a protective enclosure 4 and a flexural spring 6. Moreover, the protective enclosure 4 is made of a plastic material; the flexural spring 6 is made of a steel spring wire; the upper part of the flexural spring 6 is fixed in the protective enclosure 4; the lower end of the flexural spring 6 is anchored in the protective shell 1; and the maximum deformation direction of the flexural spring 6 is arranged in the primary buffer axis direction of the buffer body.

[0056] Similar to the embodiment 2, the flexural spring structure can also be made of a metal material, or a rubber material, or a polyurethane material, or a plastic material, or any combination of these above, not limited to the materials mentioned in this document, and can attain an equivalent function, as long as the flexural spring structure can attain a good buffering effect. Alternatively, based on the technical principle of this embodiment, the protective enclosure can be made of a rubber or polyurethane material, and can attain an equivalent function.

Embodiment 4

[0057] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 7 according to the present invention, which is implemented on the basis of the technical principle of embodiment 3, compared with embodiment 3, the differences lie in: the flexural spring structure is formed by a flexural spring 6, the flexural spring 6 is made of steel spring plates, and is connected with the protective shell 1 into one piece via a connecting part 20 fixed to its lower part by welding, and the maximum deformation direction of the flexural spring 6 is arranged in the primary buffer axis direction of the buffer body.

[0058] Since the flexural spring 6 made of steel spring plates in this embodiment not only has high elasticity but also takes the role of a protective enclosure, it is unnecessary to arrange an additional protective enclosure. Therefore, the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in this embodiment is simpler in structure, and is helpful for cost reduction. Likewise, the flexural spring structure can also be made of a metal material, or a rubber material, or a polyurethane material, or a plastic material, or any combination of these above; for example, a highly elastic material, such as rubber material, can be filled in the middle cavity in the flexural spring 6 in this embodiment.

Embodiment 5

[0059] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 8 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 1, the differences lie in: the shape of the buffer body 2 is ellipsoidal in part, and the buffer body 2 has closed cavities 7.

[0060] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in this embodiment according to the present invention, since closed cavities 7 are arranged in the buffer body 2, the elastic deformation capability of the buffer body is stronger, and the maximum buffer stroke can be longer; therefore, the buffering protection capability is stronger, and the practicability is higher.

Embodiment 6

[0061] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 9 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 5, the differences lie in: the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in this embodiment is made of an elastic polyurethane foam material, and the buffer body 2 has many closed small cavities 21.

[0062] Similar to the technical principle of embodiment 5, since many closed cavities 21 are arranged in the buffer body 2, the elastic deformation capability of the buffer body is stronger, and the maximum buffer stroke can be longer; therefore, the buffering protection capability is stronger.

Embodiment 7

[0063] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 10 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 2, there are differences as follows. The buffer body comprises a protective enclosure 4 and a shear spring structure that consists of a base 9, a moving body 8, and an elastic material 10 between the two parts. Furthermore, the protective enclosure 4, the moving body 8, and the base 9 are made of steel; the elastic material 10 is a rubber material; the protective enclosure 4 and the moving body 8 are connected together by welding; the moving body 8 and the base 9 are bonded with the elastic rubber material 10 by vulcanization respectively; the lower end of the base 9 is fixed in the protective shell 1; and the moving axis direction of the moving body 8 is arranged in the vertical direction of the buffer body.

[0064] In case a portable electric appliance with the protective shell in this embodiment according to the present invention falls to the ground accidentally, once a corner part hit the ground first, the protective enclosure 4 of the buffer body 2 will come into contact with the ground first, and drive the moving body 8 and the base 9 to move in relation to each other and thereby shear the elastic rubber material 10. Since the rubber material has a good damping characteristic, it will consume the external impact energy in the shearing process and thereby attain a buffering effect. Therefore, the portable electric appliance and the protective shell will be protected effectively against damage.

Embodiment 8

[0065] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 11 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 2, there are differences as follows. The buffer body comprises a protective enclosure 4 and a telescopic structure that consists of an outer sleeve 12, a movable core 10, and a movable core 11. Furthermore, the protective enclosure 4, outer sleeve 12, movable core 10, and movable core 11 are made of steel, one end of the movable core 10 is connected with the protective enclosure 4 by welding, and the lower end of the outer sleeve 12 is anchored in the protective shell 1. In addition, the movable core 10 can extend out from the movable core 11 or retract into the movable core 11; the movable core 12 can extend out from the outer sleeve 12 or retract into the outer sleeve 12 separately or together with the movable core 10; the moving axis directions of the movable core 10 and movable core 11 are arranged in the vertical direction of the buffer body; and a friction pair is arranged between the movable core 11 and the outer sleeve 12 and between the movable core 10 and the movable core 11 respectively.

[0066] During use, in case a portable electric appliance with the protective shell in the present invention falls to the ground accidentally, once a corner part hits the ground first, the protective enclosure 4 at the corner part of the protective shell 1 will come into contact with the ground and transfer the impact force to the telescopic structure. Consequently, the telescopic structure is compressed, and relative movement happens between the movable core and the outer sleeve and between the movable cores. Since a friction pair is arranged between the movable core and the outer sleeve and between the movable cores respectively, the frictional resistance will consume some impact energy in the process of relative movement, and thereby the maximum impact force and impact acceleration of the portable electric appliance when the portable electric appliance hit the ground will be effectively reduced, and the portable electric appliance and the protective shell are protected against damage.

[0067] Though the telescopic structure in the buffer body described in this embodiment is arranged with two movable cores, in actual application, the telescopic structure can be arranged with a single movable core or three or move movable cores. Under the same technical principle described in this embodiment, if a single movable core is arranged, a friction pair can be arranged between the outer sleeve and the only movable core; if a plurality of movable cores are arranged, a friction pair can be arranged between the outer sleeve and the movable cores and between adjacent movable cores, so as to realized the same function described in this embodiment. A benefit of employing frictional damping is: under the condition of the same ground impact speed and the same maximum buffer stroke, the maximum impact force is smaller than that in the case of elastic buffering, and no bounce will occur. Therefore, a better buffer damping effect can be attained. However, the movable cores should be pulled back to their original positions after the ground impact.

Embodiment 9

[0068] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIGS. 12, 13, 14, and 15 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 1, the differences lie in: the protective shell 1 and the buffer body 2 are made of a high damping rubber material, and an integral continuous buffer body 2 is arranged at the corners at the two ends of the same edge in the thickness direction of the protective shell 1, i.e., a single buffer body 2 protects two corners of the protective shell 1; in addition, the shape of the buffer body 2 is ellipsoidal in part. Moreover, for the purpose of presenting the product logo, the protective shell 1 is arranged with local through-holes 3, which are in a rectangular shape respectively. In this embodiment, as indicated by the direction Z in FIG. 12 and FIG. 15, the projection of the primary buffer axis of the buffer body in the principal plane of the electric appliance extends along the angular bisector between two adjacent sides; as indicated by the direction F in FIG. 13 and FIG. 15, the secondary buffer axis of the buffer body is arranged perpendicular to the principal plane of the portable electric appliance. For example, for an iPhone cell phone, the plane of the touch screen is the principal plane of the portable electric appliance. The rigidity in the secondary buffer axis is 0.3 time of the rigidity in the primary buffer axis; thus, in case the portable electric appliance falls to the ground with its principal plane approximately parallel to the ground surface, the four corners will touch the ground simultaneously, and the maximum rigidity in the impact direction will be 1.2 times of the rigidity in the primary buffer axis direction; similarly, in case three corners touch the ground simultaneously first, the rigidity is 0.9 time; in case two corners touch the ground simultaneously first, the rigidity will be 0.6 time.

[0069] Of course, arranging through holes 3 locally in the protective shell 1 is not only for presenting the product logo but also for making room for a camera or meeting the requirement for heat dissipation when the electric appliance operates. Moreover, according to the actual conditions, more than one through hole can be arranged, and the through holes can be in other shapes, such as square, round, apple, triangular, star, or rhombic shape, beside the rectangular shape mention above.

[0070] A benefit of employing a high damping rubber material is: under the condition of the same ground impact speed and the same maximum buffer stroke, the maximum impact force is smaller than that in the case of pure elastic buffering, and the bounce will be smaller. Therefore, a better buffer damping effect can be attained for the portable electric appliance. Besides a high damping rubber material, the protective shell 1 and the buffer body 2 can be made of other solid damping materials, such as a high damping polyurethane material, etc.

[0071] Similar to embodiment 1, in the technical scheme of this embodiment, beside a shape that is ellipsoidal in part, the buffer body 2 can be in other shapes, such as in a plant shape at least in part, or in a human shape at least in part, or in an animal shape at least in part, and can attain an equivalent effect, as long as the buffer stroke can be improved effectively.

Embodiment 10

[0072] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 16 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 9, the differences lie in: the protective shell 1 and the buffer body 2 are formed integrally from an ordinary rubber material, and three cavities 7 are arranged in the buffer body 2 to improve the elasticity. Channels 30 that communicate with each other and communicate with the exterior are arranged between the cavities 7, forming open-pore damping structures.

[0073] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in this embodiment according to the present invention, since closed cavities 7 are arranged in the buffer body 2, the elastic deformation capability of the buffer body is stronger, and the maximum buffer stroke can be longer; therefore, the buffering protection capability is stronger, and the practicability is higher. Furthermore, in the technical scheme of this embodiment, since channels 30 that communicate with each other and communicate with the exterior are arranged between the cavities in the buffer body, the air in the cavities 7 will be expelled out through the channels 30 when the buffer body is deformed; since the channels 30 has small sectional dimensions, a pinhole damping effect will be produced when the air passes through the channels 30, and thereby the damping effect of the buffer system can be improved. Preferably, the damping performance of the damping structure is designed according to the critical damping in the most common impact pattern, so as to further improve the buffer damping capability of the buffer body, reduce the maximum impact force, and reduce bounce.

[0074] Based in the technical principle described in this embodiment, the shape, size, and quantity of the cavities 7 can be determined according to the actual requirement to implement the same function, not limited to the shape, size, and quantity illustrated in the drawings, as long as they can improve the buffering capability. In addition, a separate communicating channel 30 can be arranged only between each of the three cavities and the exterior respectively, so as to improve the damping capability of the buffer system and improve the damping effect. Of course, a plurality of channels 30 can be arranged. Such modifications are simple modifications to the technical scheme in this embodiment. Therefore, they are only described briefly but not illustrated in separate drawings, and shall be deemed as falling into the scope of protection claimed for the present invention.

Embodiment 11

[0075] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 17 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 10, the difference lies in: the cavities 7 in the buffer body 2 are provided with a liquid damping material 13 in them.

[0076] Usually, if the buffer body is not provided with additional damping means or high damping material, the portable electric appliance will bounce after it hits the ground, and then it will hit the ground again since the natural damping property of the buffer body is very low. In this embodiment, a liquid damping material 13 is provided in the cavities 7 in the buffer body 2; therefore, the local damping performance of the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention is greatly improved. When the buffer body touches the ground, the buffer body will have elastic deformation. Thus, not only the material of the buffer body attains an energy consumption effect owing to its elasticity, but also the liquid damping material 13 in the cavities 7 will be squeezed to have relative movement in relation to the side walls of the cavities 7, which further consumes energy. If the damping ratio of the impact system composed of the electric appliance and the buffer body is set to be close to the critical damping (i.e., optimal damping) by parameter optimization, the electric appliance will rest on the ground and will not bounce after it hits the ground. Another benefit of employing optimal damping is: under the condition of the same impact force, more impact energy can be consumed, which is to say, a higher ground impact speed is permissible. Thus, a better buffer damping effect can be attained. Specifically, the liquid damping material 13 can be selected from a variety of liquid-state damping materials, such as silicone oil or modified bitumen, etc.

Embodiment 12

[0077] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 18 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 11, the differences lie in: the buffer body 2 is provided with two closed cavities 7 that contain a liquid damping material 13, and the two cavities 7 communicate with each other through two small channels 14 and 15, forming pinhole throttling damping structures.

[0078] During use, in case a portable electric appliance with the protective shell implemented in this embodiment according to the present invention falls to the ground accidentally, energy will be consumed owing to the elasticity of the buffer body material and the friction in the relative movement between the liquid damping material 13 and the side walls of the cavities 7 in combination; in addition, since the pressure in a cavity that is deformed severely under the impact force is increased suddenly, a part of the liquid damping material will be squeezed from that cavity through the two channels 14 and 15 into the other cavity. In that process, since the cross-sectional dimensions of the channels 14 and 15 are very small, a pinhole throttling effect will be produced between the two cavities, and thereby the energy is consumed further. Therefore, the buffering and energy consumption effect of the technical scheme in this embodiment is better.

[0079] Likewise, an advantage of such a structure is: optimal damping can be realized easily.

Embodiment 13

[0080] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 19 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 12, the differences lie in: a plurality of columnar protrusions 16 are arranged on the inner walls of the cavities in the buffer body 2, and a high-viscosity liquid damping material is selected as the liquid damping material 13; thus, viscous damping structures are formed between the liquid damping material 13 and the protrusions 16.

[0081] During use, in case a portable electric appliance with the protective shell implemented in this embodiment according to the present invention falls to the ground accidentally, not only the material of the buffer body 2 attains an energy consumption effect owing to its elastic deformation, but also relative movement happens between the protrusions 16 on the inner walls of the cavities 7 and the high-viscosity liquid damping material 13 and thereby further energy consumption will be realized owing to the viscous resistance during the relative movement; thus, the buffer damping effect is effectively improved. Likewise, an advantage of such a structure is: optimal damping can be realized easily.

Embodiment 14

[0082] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 20 according to the present invention, which is implemented on the basis of the technical principle in embodiment 13, compared with embodiment 13, the differences lie in: only one cavity 7 is provided in the buffer body 2, and a high-viscosity liquid damping material 13 is provided in the cavity 7; in addition, bar-shaped bosses 17 and 18 that can fit with each other in a staggered manner are arranged correspondingly on the top part and bottom part of the inner wall of the cavity 7.

[0083] During use, in case a portable electric appliance with the protective shell implemented in this embodiment according to the present invention falls to the ground accidentally, the buffer body 2 will have elastic deformation when it touch the ground, the boss 17 and boss 18 will have relative movement between them and thereby squeeze the liquid damping material 13 between them; consequently, the liquid damping material is forced to move about in the clearance between the boss 17 and the boss 18. Since the effective contact area between the buffer body and the liquid damping material is greatly increased owing to the existence of the boss 17 and boss 18, the viscous resistance produced by the liquid damping material is higher, and the energy consumption effect will be stronger. Thus, the buffer damping effect of the product can be effectively improved. An advantage of such a structure is: optimal damping can be realized more easily.

Embodiment 15

[0084] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 21, FIG. 22, and FIG. 23 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 9, the differences lie in: the buffer bodies 2 are made of a high damping polyurethane material separately, and are still in a shape that is ellipsoidal in part. The buffer bodies 2 are fixed to the corners of the protective shell 1 by bonding.

[0085] Since a split structure is employed between the buffer body 2 and the protective shell 1, the material of the buffer body can be the same as or different from the material of the protective shell. Therefore, the material of the buffer body can be selected in a wider range; for example, the buffer body can be produced with a metal material, a plastic material, a rubber material, a polyurethane material, a natural fibrous material (e.g., cotton or hemp, etc.), a chemical fiber material, or a combination of any at least two of these above, and then fixed to the protective shell. Besides the adhesive bonding mentioned above, the buffer body can be fixed to the protective shell by fastener connection, threaded connection, snapping connection, or fitting connection, etc.

[0086] With the technical scheme in this embodiment, since the buffer body is arranged as a separate part, it will be unnecessary to replace the entire protective shell in case the buffer body is damaged, and the selection range of the material of the buffer body can be further widened. Thus, it is more helpful for improving the shock-resistant and damage-resistant performance, and the texture and form of the buffer body will be more diverse, and the characteristics of the buffer body will be more distinctive. For example, a buffer body made of a rubber material has high elasticity and high buffering performance; a buffer body made of a cotton material confers good hand feeling and will not cause injury to clothing and bags; a buffer body made of a combination of light metal material (e.g., aluminum alloy) and rubber or leather material is more durable and fashionable, and, when decorated in different colors, can meet different demands of different people. Moreover, the buffer body will be universal if the interface for connecting the protective shell and the buffer body is standardized; thus, the buffer body on the protective shell can be replaced as required at any time, to adapt to the change of taste and favor.

[0087] Based on the technical principle in this embodiment, in the technical scheme in embodiment 1, the buffer body and protective shell can be manufactured separately and then fixed and connected together. That approach can also attain the same effect.

Embodiment 16

[0088] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 24, compared with embodiment 15, the differences lie in: the buffer body is provided with a flexural spring structure in it, which is different from the flexural spring structure described in embodiment 4; the flexural spring structure that forms the buffer body comprises a `C`-shaped flexural spring 6 made of steel spring plates, and a screw element 32 is fixed to the lower part of the flexural spring 6 by welding. Specifically, the screw element 32 illustrated in the drawing is a steel screw rod. The protective shell 1 is made of a stainless steel material, a connecting base 31 is fixed to the corner part of the protective shell 1 by welding, and the flexural spring 6 is fitted into a screw hole in the connecting base 31 via the screw element 32, so that the buffering part is connected with the protective shell.

[0089] The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in this embodiment according to the present invention has all advantages in the embodiment 4. In addition, since the buffer body and the protective shell are connected together by a screw element, the buffer body can be removed from or assembled to the protective shell at any time. Thus, the buffer body can be replaced conveniently in the service work; in addition, after the threaded interface between the protective shell and the buffer body is standardized, the buffer body on the protective shell can be changed at any time according to the fashion trend, so as to adapt to the change of taste and favor. Of course, based on the technical principle in this embodiment, alternatively, the screw element 32 can be arranged in the protective shell, and a connecting base 31 with a screw hole can be arranged in the buffer body. Such a modification is a simple modification made on the basis of the technical principle of the present invention, and shall be deemed as falling into the scope of protection claimed for the present invention. Thus, such a modification is not illustrated in a separate drawing.

Embodiment 17

[0090] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 25 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 15, the differences lie in: the buffer body 2 is provided with cavities 7 in it; furthermore, the buffer body 2 is provided with a plurality of pinhole channels 33 that connect the cavities 7 to the exterior, forming air-pore damping structures. In addition, the buffer body 2 and the protective shell 1 are connected together by fasteners 34, and the protective shell 1 is made of a plastic material.

[0091] Compared with embodiment 15, since cavities are provided, the buffer body 2 in the technical scheme in this embodiment has higher elasticity, longer buffer stroke, and better buffering performance. In addition, the air in the cavities 7 will be expelled out through the pinhole channels 33 when the buffer body is deformed under the impact force; since the pinhole channels 33 has small sectional dimensions, a pinhole damping effect will be produced when the air passes through the pinhole channels 33, and thereby the damping effect of the buffer system can be improved. Thus, the buffer damping performance of the buffer body can be improved further.

Embodiment 18

[0092] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 26 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 17, the difference lies in: the buffer body 2 and the protective shell 1 are hinged together via a pin shaft 35.

[0093] By connecting the buffer body 2 with the protective shell by means of hinging, the following beneficial effect can be attained: when the protective shell falls together with the portable electric appliance, the buffer body will adjust its attitude automatically. When the center of gravity of the buffer body is arranged appropriately, the attitude direction of the buffer body can be the same as the direction of maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body as far as possible when the buffer body touches the ground. That approach is helpful for the buffer damping effect of the buffer body to play in a better way.

Embodiment 19

[0094] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 27 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 15, the difference lies in: the buffer body 2 is provided with local protrusions 36 in the primary buffer axis direction indicated by direction Z and the secondary buffer axis direction indicated by direction F respectively. The local protrusions 36 are arranged integrally with the buffer body and are made of the same material as the buffer body, the primary buffer axis is parallel to the principal plane and points to the centroid of the portable electric appliance, and the secondary buffer axis is arranged perpendicular to the principal plane of the portable electric appliance.

[0095] In the technical scheme in this embodiment, since local protrusions are arranged on the buffer body 2, the buffer body 2 has higher local elasticity and can attain a longer buffer stroke, and the rigidity in the primary buffer axis direction and the rigidity in the secondary buffer axis direction can be optimized separately in the design in an easier way. Therefore, the buffering protection performance is higher.

Embodiment 20

[0096] The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 28 and FIG. 29 according to the present invention is a shock-resistant protective shell for a laptop computer, and comprises a protective shell 38, wherein, a laptop computer 37 can be embedded in the protective shell 38, and the protective shell 38 is made of an elastic rubber material; thus, the screen part can be opened or closed smoothly when the laptop computer is used. Buffer bodies 40 are arranged at appropriate positions on the protective shell 38 respectively, corresponding to the eight corner parts of the laptop computer when the laptop computer is in closed state, and the buffer body 40 and protective shell 38 are integrally formed from the same material. To facilitate heat dissipation, the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance according to the present invention is further arranged with a plurality of through holes 39 corresponding to a heat dissipation device of the laptop computer.

[0097] Since the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention is arranged on the surface of the laptop computer, in case the laptop computer falls to the ground accidentally, the buffer bodies 40 will touch the ground first and attain a buffer damping effect, and the buffer stroke is very long. Thus, the damage to the laptop computer resulted from the impact force can be alleviated effectively, so that the laptop computer is protected against damage.

[0098] Based on the technical principle in this embodiment, alternatively, the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention can be made of a polyurethane material, a plastic material, or a stainless steel material, etc. However, it should be noted: to facilitate the open/close operation of the screen part of the laptop computer, when a material that has high rigidity and is difficult to fold is used, such as a stainless steel material, the protective shell can be arranged into a split structure. Of course, to improve integrity, the split parts can be connected together by means of a connecting part, such as hinge, flexible rope, or belt. Such approaches can attain the same effect. Since such modifications are simple modifications made on the basis of the technical principle in the present invention, they are described briefly but not illustrated in separate drawings, and shall be deemed as falling into the scope of protection claimed for the present invention.

Embodiment 21

[0099] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 30 and FIG. 31 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 20, the difference lies in: since the upper part of the laptop computer (i.e., the part where the display screen exists) is lighter, it is highly probable that the lower part of the laptop computer where the battery exists may touch the ground first when the laptop computer falls to the ground. Therefore, buffer bodies 40 are provided on the lower part of the protective shell 38 at positions corresponding to the four corners of the laptop computer, and the buffer bodies 40 are arranged parallel to the principal plane of the laptop computer. In addition, buffer bodies 41 are provided on the protective shell 38 and arranged perpendicular to the top surface and bottom surface of the laptop computer. The buffer bodies 41 are arranged near the corner parts of the protective shell, and altogether eight buffer bodies 41 are provided, wherein, four buffer bodies 41 correspond to the four corners on the top surface of the protective shell, and the other four buffer bodies 41 correspond to the four corners on the bottom surface of the protective shell.

[0100] Of course, based on the technical principle in this embodiment, alternatively, buffer bodies 41 can be arranged only on the bottom surface of the protective shell. Thus, when viewed from top, the laptop computer with the protective shell in the present invention is more regular in shape and is more esthetic in appearance. Similar to the protective shell in embodiment 20, the protective shell in this embodiment can also employ a split structure.

Embodiment 22

[0101] In the shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance shown in FIG. 32 according to the present invention, compared with embodiment 8, the difference lies in: not only a friction pair is arranged between the movable core 11 and the outer sleeve 12 and between the movable core 10 and the movable core 11 respectively, but also pinhole damping pores 42 are arranged in the movable core 10, movable core 11, and outer sleeve 12 respectively. Thus, open-pore damping structures are formed.

[0102] Since open-pore damping structures are added, when relative movement happens between the movable cores and between the movable core and the outer sleeve, the air flowing through the damping pores will create a pinhole damping effect. Thus, the damping effect of the buffer system can be improved, and the buffer damping performance of the buffer body can be improved further. In addition, if the damping effect of the open-pore damping structures is satisfactory enough, friction pairs can be omitted.

[0103] The technical schemes described in the above embodiments of the present invention are explained only for the purpose of understanding the technical principle of the present invention better. The present invention is not limited to the technical schemes described in the embodiments. The technical schemes can be utilized cross the embodiments and attain a good effect. Such utilization approaches are not enumerated here, and shall be deemed as falling into the scope of protection claimed for the present invention.

[0104] It should be noted especially that to attain an ideal buffering effect, preferably, the buffer body shall meet the following requirements when the buffer body is designed: the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body should be greater than the ratio of the square of the design ground impact speed to the maximum permissible impact acceleration; the rigidity of the buffer body in the primary buffer axis direction should be 2 times of the ratio of the design ground impact energy to the square of the maximum buffer stroke; and, the rigidity of the buffer body in the secondary buffer axis direction should be 0.3.about.0.5 time of the rigidity in the primary buffer axis direction. Moreover, the primary buffer axis of the buffer body points to the centroid of the portable electric appliance, or the projection of the primary buffer axis in the principal plane of the electric appliance extends along the angular bisector between two adjacent sides; the secondary buffer axis of the buffer body is arranged perpendicular to the primary buffer axis or arranged perpendicular to the principal plane of the portable electric appliance. Under normal circumstances, the maximum buffer stroke of the buffer body is at least 2 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body. In the present invention, since the buffer body is arranged locally only and a highly elastic material or highly elastic structure is used in the buffer body, the buffer stroke of the buffer body can be very long, up to 5.about.40 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body. In addition, to ensure a necessary buffer stroke, usually the thickness of the buffer body is at least 3 times of the average thickness of the rest parts in the protective shell except for the buffer body, and can even be 10.about.50 times of the average thickness according to the actual demand. All these factors are applicable to all technical schemes of the present invention.

[0105] The shock-resistant protective shell for a portable electric appliance in the present invention is simple in structure, has high practicability, elegant appearance, long service life, and attains a good protection effect and has broad application aspects in the market. Due to the space constraint of this document, it is impossible to illustrate and describe the shock-resistant protective shells for a portable electric appliance according to the present invention associated to every type of portable electric appliances, including products in different shapes in each type of portable electric appliances. Therefore, the technical principle of the present invention is described in the embodiments exemplarily in the case of protective shells for cell phones and laptop computers. However, the technical schemes explained in the present invention are not limited to the application in shock-resistant protective shells for cell phones and laptop computers, which is to say, the technical principle of the present invention can also be applied in protective shells in other shapes for cell phones and laptop computers, and the technical schemes in the present invention are also applicable to shock-resistant protective shells for different kinds of portable electric appliances, such as cell phones, Walkman devices, electronic dictionaries, iPad computers, digital cameras, mobile hard disks, GPS navigators, laptop computers, calculators, etc. All these applications shall be deemed as falling into the scope of protection claimed for the present invention.

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