Electricity: conductors and insulators – Boxes and housings
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-13
2002-04-09
Dinkins, Anthony (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Boxes and housings
C174S034000, C174S017070
Reexamination Certificate
active
06369320
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an enclosure for a piece of electronic equipment including a printed circuit board (hereinafter called a PCB), and more particularly to an improved enclosure that both reduces the number of components making up the enclosure and simplifies its assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, there has been a desire to reduce the number of components of and improve the efficiency of assembling a piece of electronic equipment that includes a PCB, and in particular, diecast frames and chassis with various structures have been proposed to that end (for example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application publications H11-1-3177 and H7-85645).
For example, FIG.
8
and
FIG. 9
show an enclosure structure that is applied in radio equipment, these drawings respectively being an outer perspective view thereof and an exploded perspective view of the constituent components thereof.
In these drawings, the reference numeral
101
denotes a diecast chassis,
102
is a PCB,
103
is an upper cover,
104
is a lower cover
105
are operating electronic components such as potentiometers, rotary encoders, and variable capacitors,
106
is a liquid-crystal display panel (hereinafter called an LCD panel),
107
is a panel circuit board,
108
is a front panel,
109
are knobs, and
110
is an acrylic sheet. The enclosure of the radio apparatus
100
is assembled by the following procedure.
First, the PCB
102
is mounted to the diecast chassis
101
, this being done after a connector
102
a
is mounted to the PCB
102
.
The panel circuit board
107
also constitutes a PCB, to which each of the operating electronic components
105
is soldered and fixed, with these electronic components passing through holes formed therein. The terminals of the operating electronic components
105
are soldered to conductive pattern parts of the panel circuit board
107
, and the LCD panel
106
panel is mounted to a window formed in the panel circuit board
107
.
Additionally, a cable
107
a
with a connector is connected to the panel circuit board
107
, thereby completing the overall panel circuit board assembly
107
b.
Next, there are holes and a window formed in the front panel
108
at positions corresponding to the holes and window of the panel circuit board
107
, and the panel circuit board assembly
107
b
, to which are mounted the components
105
,
106
, and
107
a
, is mounted to the rear surface of the front panel
108
, the transparent acrylic sheet
110
being mounted to the window part formed in the front surface of the front panel
108
.
Then the overall front panel
108
, to which is mounted the panel circuit board assembly
107
b
, is mounted to the front side of the diecast chassis
101
, after which the cable
107
a
with a connector of the panel circuit board assembly
107
b
is connected to the connector
102
a
on the PCB
102
side, and if there is a connector or the like mounted to the rear surface of the diecast chassis
101
, this is also connected to the PCB
102
.
After the above, the upper cover
102
and the lower cover
104
are mounted to the diecast chassis
101
, and finally knobs
109
are pressed onto shafts that pass through the holes in the front panel
108
and which serve as operating parts, thereby completing the radio apparatus
100
as a product.
Recently a bracket or the like for mounting discrete components has come to be fixed to the PCB
102
, the components
105
being directly mounted to the PCB
102
along with an electronic circuit, so as to form an assembly, thereby simplifying the assembly procedure.
When using a diecast chassis
101
such as described with regard to the related art example, because the diecast chassis serves as a base frame that forms the enclosure, the upper and lower covers
103
and
104
and the front panel
108
become essential members of the enclosure.
Therefore, there is not only an increase in the number of components, but also an increase in the number of screw tightening locations, this leading to an inevitable increase in the work of assembling the enclosure. When a panel circuit board
107
is used, because discrete components
105
,
106
, and
107
b
are also mounted at the same time, management of components at the assembly stage becomes extremely troublesome.
Additionally, because the diecast chassis
101
, the upper and lower covers
103
and
104
, and the front panel
108
are each fabricated at separate diecast and sheet metal process steps, the procurement scheduling for these components also becomes troublesome.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chassisless enclosure structure with an outer enclosure having a split construction, thereby providing rational solutions for the above-noted problems
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an enclosure structure for electronic equipment having an internal PCB, this structure being formed by:
a PCB having mounted to it a plurality of electronic components operable from outside, the operating parts of these electronic components being disposed on one and the same plane and extending outside the PCB; and
an outer enclosure formed of a pair of diecast housings, each integrally formed by a frame-shaped side wall part and a planar part so as to enable the housing of the PCB, by joining edges of the frame-shaped side walls of each housing together;
wherein the PCB is mounted in one housing of the outer enclosure so that a plane in which the operating parts are disposed substantially coincides with an edge of the frame-shaped side wall, and cutouts are formed in edges of the housings so that, when the PCB is mounted, holes are formed in regions of the outer enclosure corresponding to the operating parts of the electronic components of the PCB.
In the enclosure structure of the present invention, a PCB is installed in the well of an outer enclosure made of a pair of diecast housings that are joined together.
A plurality of electronic components that are operated from the outside are mounted on the PCB, the operating parts of these components being disposed on one and the same plane.
Therefore, it is possible to have the joining surface of each of the housings of the outer enclosure coincide with the plane on which the operating parts of electronic components of the PCB are disposed.
If cutouts are formed in the joining plane of the housings (edges of the side wall on the frame side), taking into consideration the positions of the operating parts with the PCB mounted to one of the housings so as to be installed within the outer enclosure, holes are formed in the side wall of the outer enclosure in regions that corresponds to the positions of the operating parts, enabling the mounting of knobs onto the operating parts from outside the outer enclosure.
According to the present invention, by merely joining a pair of divided housings that form an enclosure, it is possible to achieve a chassisless structure for directly mounting a PCB to one of the housings, so that in the assembly step it is only necessary to mount the PCB to the housing and tighten the screws that join the housings.
An enclosure for electronic equipment generally has externally mounted connectors and an LCD panel. In the present invention, if these items are disposed on the same plane onto which the operating parts of the electronic components are disposed, and cutouts are formed so as to form a corresponding region of the housings to serve as holes of appropriate sizes and windows, the same method can be used to install connectors and an LCD panel to the side wall of the outer enclosure.
Additionally, because the outer enclosure is formed by a pair of housings that are split into top and bottom parts, it is possible to simplify the method of mounting the transparent sheet provided at the front surface of the LCD panel.
More specifically, a slit into which the side edge of a transparent sheet is inserted is formed in both inside surfaces of the half-frame cutout formed so
Dinkins Anthony
Estrada Angel R.
Fulwider Patton Lee & Utecht LLP
Westwood Co., Ltd.
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