CN108668492B - Housing structure of electronic device and method of making the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a casing structure of an electronic device, comprising a casing, a silicone layer and a coupling member. The casing is made of metal and has an outer surface and an inner surface. The silicone layer is arranged on the outer surface, and the edge of the silicone layer extends to the inner surface. The coupling member is arranged on the inner surface so that the edge of the silicone layer is clamped between the casing and the coupling member. A method for manufacturing the casing structure is also provided.

Description

Housing structure of electronic device and method of making the same

technical field

The invention relates to a casing structure and a manufacturing method thereof, in particular to a casing structure of an electronic device and a manufacturing method thereof.

Background technique

The appearance of electronic devices has become one of the factors that consumers consider when choosing products. Therefore, design manufacturers continue to introduce many electronic devices with different appearance designs and appearance designs in order to win the favor of consumers. In order to achieve a transparent and beautiful visual effect.

However, taking notebook computers as an example, under the trend of light, thin and short design of existing electronic devices, although glass material can improve the appearance effect, it is limited by material characteristics, so it cannot be compared with the original in terms of weight and manufacturing cost. Cases with metal or plastic materials are quite competitive, so they are only effective but prohibitive in design.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a casing structure of an electronic device and a manufacturing method thereof, which can achieve the visual effect of imitating glass by disposing a silica gel layer on the casing made of metal.

The casing structure of the electronic device of the present invention includes a casing, a silica gel layer and a bonding member. The shell has an outer surface and an inner surface, and the material of the shell is metal. The silica gel layer is disposed on the outer surface, and the edge of the silica gel layer extends to the inner surface. The binding element is arranged on the inner surface, so that the edge of the silicone layer is clamped between the casing and the binding element.

The manufacturing method of the casing structure of the present invention includes punching and forming a metal shell, the metal shell having an outer surface and an inner surface; vacuum adsorbing the silica gel layer on the outer surface, and folding the edge of the silica gel layer into the inner surface. The plastic bonding element is arranged on the inner surface, so that the edge of the silicone layer is clamped between the inner surface and the plastic bonding element.

Based on the above, by disposing the silicone layer on the outer surface of the metal shell, and allowing the edge of the silicone layer to extend and fold into the inner surface of the metal shell, and then disposing the plastic bonding element on the inner surface of the metal shell, the The silicone layer is sandwiched therein, and the part of the silicone layer on the outer surface can be stretched. In this way, the combination of the silicone layer and the metal casing can make the casing structure of the electronic device produce the effect of mimicking glass, that is, the metal casing can improve its aesthetics through the transparent visual effect of the silicone layer.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the following embodiments are given and described in detail with the accompanying drawings as follows.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of the fabrication of a casing structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 are schematic structural diagrams corresponding to the manufacturing process of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are schematic diagrams of casing structures according to different embodiments of the present invention, respectively.

Description of reference numerals

10, 30, 40: case structure

20: Vacuum Chamber

21: Jig

100: Metal shell

110: Grassroots

120: Processing Layer

122: Pattern Layer

130: Level difference structure

200: Adhesive layer

300: color layer

400: Silicone layer

500: Plastic joints

C: Cut corners

F1: outer surface

F2: inner surface

F1a, F2a: Local

L1, L2: light

R: rounded corners

R1a, R1b: tension

S1～S7: Steps

Detailed ways

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of the fabrication of a casing structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 are schematic structural diagrams corresponding to the manufacturing process of FIG. 1 . Please refer to FIG. 1 and compare FIGS. 2 to 5 respectively. In this embodiment, the electronic device is, for example, a notebook computer, and the casing structure refers to the back cover of the display screen, which visually occupies the space of the electronic device. The vast majority of the overall appearance. However, the casing structure shown in the present invention is not limited to its type. In other words, the casing structure can also be applied to well-known electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablet computers.

In the casing structure described in this embodiment, the metal casing and the silica gel layer can produce the visual effect of mimicking glass. First, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , in step S1, a metal shell 100 is formed by stamping, and the metal shell 100 has an outer surface F1 and an inner surface F2; then, in step S2, the metal shell 100 is formed by stamping. The outer surface F1 of the body 100 is subjected to surface treatment to form the treatment layer 120 . The surface treatment here includes an etching process, that is, the outer surface F1 is eroded to form a microstructure. In this embodiment, etching is only taken as an example, so the metal casing 100 is formed with an unetched base layer 110 and an unetched base layer 110 on the outer surface F1. The pattern layer 122 , wherein the pattern layer 122 is at least part of the microstructure of the handle layer 120 . Conversely, in the metal casing 100 of the present embodiment, the part with the treatment layer 120 is regarded as its outer surface F1, and the part without the treatment layer 120 is regarded as its inner surface F2.

Next, please refer to FIG. 1 and compare with FIG. 3 , in step S3 , the color layer 300 is coated on the outer surface F1 of the metal casing 100 , and in step S4 , the adhesive layer is coated on the outer surface F1 of the metal casing 100 200 , here the color layer 300 is finished by painting the outer surface F1 first, and then glue is applied thereon, so that the adhesive layer 200 covers the color layer 300 . However, this embodiment is not limited to this, and the user can omit step S3 according to requirements, or reverse steps S3 and S4, or mix paint and glue to achieve the desired effect in a single coating. Furthermore, the pattern layer 122 formed by the microstructure can also visually produce color effects due to the change of the paths of the light rays L1 and L2. In addition, the aforementioned microstructures formed on the metal shell 100 can also make the outer surface F1 have a higher roughness, which is beneficial to the bonding strength between the adhesive layer 200 or the color layer 300 and the metal shell. 200 is, for example, a transparent primer to facilitate the bonding of metal and silica gel.

Next, please refer to FIG. 1 and compare FIGS. 4A and 4B. In step S5, a silicone layer 400 is provided first, which can be injected or pressed to form a three-dimensional object, and because of its flexibility, as shown in FIG. 4A, First, the silica gel layer 400 is put on the metal shell 100; then, in step S6, the silica gel layer 400 is attached to the outer surface F1 of the metal shell 100 through the aforementioned adhesive layer 200 by vacuum adsorption, and the The adhesive layer 200 , the color layer 300 and the pattern layer 122 and the like produced in the preceding steps are encapsulated therein.

As shown in FIG. 4A , the molded silicone layer 400 is a three-dimensional object, that is to say, a three-dimensional object (silicone layer 400 ) that is consistent with the outline of the outer surface F1 of the metal casing 100 is formed first, and then the metal casing 100 is formed. The outer surface F1 is used to wear the silicone layer 400 , which is obviously not as flexible as the silicone layer 400 because the existing glass or related materials are limited by the hard and brittle characteristics of the material. Therefore, the use of the silica gel layer 400 can effectively improve the manufacturing efficiency and reduce the material loss rate during the manufacturing process of the casing structure.

It should be noted that, in step S5, after the silicone layer 400 is sheathed on the metal casing 100, the edge of the silicone layer 400 needs to further extend from the outer surface F1 and be folded into the inner surface F2. Furthermore, in step S6, the metal casing 100 and the silicone layer 400 thereon are placed into the vacuum chamber 20 and placed on the jig 21 to facilitate vacuum processing. Air that may remain between the metal casing 100 and the silica gel layer 400 is exhausted during the aforementioned threading action, so as to improve the bonding strength between the silica gel layer 400 and the metal casing through the adhesive layer 200 .

Finally, referring to FIG. 1 and referring to FIG. 5 , in step S7 , the plastic bonding element 500 is arranged on the inner surface F2 of the metal case 100 , so that the edge of the silicone layer 400 is clamped between the plastic bonding element 500 and the metal case Between the inner surfaces F2 of 100 , and as shown in FIG. 5 , there are multiple bonding parts between the plastic bonding member 500 and the metal shell 100 , so that the silicone layer 400 can be formed by a plurality of pulling forces R1a and R1b. A stretch effect is produced in the portion of the outer surface F1.

In this embodiment, the plastic joint 500 is combined with the inner surface F2 of the metal casing 100 by (in-mold) injection molding. In another embodiment, the manufacturer can also attach the plastic bonding member 500 to the inner surface F2 by gluing. Here, the plastic bonding member 500 is, for example, a structural member used for configuring and assembling related components of the display screen in the notebook computer.

At this point, the manufacturing process of the casing structure 10 is completed.

Based on the above, since the silicone layer 400 is disposed on the outer surface F1 of the metal casing 100, and the silicone layer 400 is in a transparent state, and its thickness is 0.3 mm to 1 mm, in addition to avoiding damage due to excessively thin thickness during injection molding, it also After being combined with the metal shell 100 , the silicone layer 400 can not only allow light to pass through smoothly, but also refract the light, thereby making the pattern (the aforementioned pattern layer 122 or/and the color layer) of the metal shell 100 on the outer surface F1 300) Different visual effects can be produced by the optical properties of the silica gel layer 400, so that the casing structure 10 of the present embodiment can have the same visual effect as other casing structures equipped with glass to achieve the purpose of mimicking glass, and In this way, there is no need to face problems such as characteristic limitations and manufacturing costs due to the glass material.

In other not-shown embodiments, other materials can also be added to the silicone layer to have different degrees of light transmittance (light transmittance and refractive index) or to cause light scattering and other effects, so that the aforementioned visual effects can be more diverse At the same time, silica gel layers with different light transmittances can be matched with the surface treatment effects of the metal shell 100 (such as sandblasting, wire drawing, etc.) to produce different visual effects.

Referring again to FIG. 5 , in this embodiment, the plastic bonding member 500 substantially abuts against the bend of the metal casing 100 at the inner side, that is, spans the part F2a of the inner surface F2 and the part of the outer surface F1 as shown F1a, in order to improve the bonding force between the metal shell 100 and the plastic bonding member 500, and thus achieve the effect of stabilizing the edge of the silicone layer 400. However, the present invention does not limit the combination type of the plastic joint and the metal casing. FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are schematic diagrams of the casing structure according to different embodiments of the present invention, respectively. Referring to FIG. 6 first, in this embodiment, the metal casing 100 of the casing structure 30 has a rounded corner R at the junction between the inner surface F2 and the outer surface F1 (where the outer surface F1 is adjacent to the inner surface F2). The plastic bonding element 500 and the inner surface F2 of the embodiment need to be fitted with each other by a stage structure (or a turning structure) 130 correspondingly. Next, please refer to FIG. 7 , similarly, the metal casing 100 of the casing structure 40 of the present embodiment has a chamfer C at the junction between the inner surface F2 and the outer surface F1 (where the outer surface F1 is adjacent to the inner surface F2 ), so The plastic bonding element 500 and the inner surface F2 in this embodiment also need to be fitted with each other by the step structure (or the turning structure) 130 correspondingly.

In other words, in the aforementioned embodiment shown in FIG. 5 , the inner surface F2 of the plastic bonding member 500 does not have a step structure, so the plastic bonding member 500 needs to be bonded to the metal casing 100 in a manner of spanning the inner surface F2 and the outer surface F1 . In the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 7 , the step structure provided on the inner surface F2 enables the plastic bonding element 500 to only need to abut on the inner surface F2 to complete the bonding action. Regardless of any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 , the user can take an appropriate corresponding solution according to the size of the metal casing 100 or the space configuration requirements in the metal casing 100 .

To sum up, in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention, the silica gel layer is arranged on the outer surface of the metal shell, and the edge of the silica gel layer is extended and folded into the inner surface of the metal shell, and then bonded with plastic The part is arranged on the inner surface of the metal shell to sandwich the silicone layer, and the part of the silicone layer on the outer surface can be stretched. In this way, the combination of the silicone layer and the metal casing can make the casing structure of the electronic device produce the effect of mimicking glass, that is, the metal casing can improve its aesthetics through the transparent visual effect of the silicone layer.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with examples, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The protection scope of the invention shall be determined by the claims.

Claims (17)

1. A housing structure of an electronic device, comprising:

the shell is provided with an outer surface and an inner surface and is made of metal;

the silica gel layer is arranged on the outer surface, and the edge of the silica gel layer extends to the inner surface; and

and a coupling member disposed on the inner surface so that an edge of the silicone layer is clamped between the housing and the coupling member, wherein the inner surface and the coupling member are engaged with each other via a step (stage) structure.

2. The housing structure of the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connector is made of plastic.

3. A housing structure for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the silicone layer is transparent.

4. A case structure of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the silicone gel layer is 0.3mm to 1 mm.

5. A chassis structure of an electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising an adhesive layer disposed between the silicone layer and the outer surface.

6. A chassis structure of an electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a pattern layer or a color layer disposed between the silicone gel layer and the outer surface.

7. A housing structure for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said housing forms a microstructure on said outer surface to create a patterned or colored layer.

8. A housing structure for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the housing has a rounded corner or a cut-off corner at the junction of the inner surface and the outer surface.

9. A case structure of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the silicone layer is a three-dimensional object conforming to the outer surface contour of the housing.

10. A method for manufacturing a case structure of an electronic device includes:

punching a metal shell, wherein the metal shell is provided with an outer surface and an inner surface;

the vacuum adsorption silica gel layer is arranged on the outer surface, and the edge of the silica gel layer is folded into the inner surface; and

and arranging a plastic binder on the inner surface so that the edge of the silica gel layer is clamped between the inner surface and the plastic binder, wherein a step structure or a turning structure exists between the plastic binder and the inner surface of the shell.

11. The method of making a cabinet structure according to claim 10, further comprising:

and before the silica gel layer is vacuum-adsorbed on the outer surface, carrying out surface treatment on the outer surface.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the surface treatment comprises etching the outer surface to form a microstructure.

13. The method of making a cabinet structure according to claim 11, further comprising:

and after the surface treatment, coating an adhesive layer on the outer surface, and attaching the silica gel layer to the outer surface through the adhesive layer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the surface treatment is a micro structure formed on the outer surface to generate a pattern layer or a color layer.

15. The method of making a cabinet structure according to claim 11, further comprising:

after the surface treatment, a color layer is coated on the outer surface.

16. The method for manufacturing a housing structure of claim 10, wherein disposing the plastic binder on the inner surface comprises:

injection molding the plastic binder onto the inner surface.

17. The method for manufacturing a housing structure of claim 10, wherein disposing the plastic binder on the inner surface comprises:

and gluing the plastic cement binder to the inner surface.

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