TWI792853B - Locking mechanism and electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

A locking device for connecting a first housing to a second housing is provided, wherein the first housing and the second housing are arranged along a first direction. The locking mechanism includes a first hook, a second hook, a movable member, and a driving member. The first hook and the second hook are affixed to the first housing, and respectively has a first engaging recess and a second engaging recess. The first engaging recess and the second engaging recess are arranged along the first direction. The movable portion has an engaging portion. The driving member is connected to the second housing and the movable member, and is configured to drive the movable member to move relative to the second housing. When the first housing is affixed to the second housing via the locking mechanism, the engaging portion is accommodated in the first engaging recess. Moreover, an electronic device including the aforementioned locking mechanism is also provided.

Description

Locking mechanism and electronics

The present invention relates to a locking mechanism. More specifically, the present invention relates to a locking mechanism for connecting two housings.

With the rapid development of science and technology, various electrical equipment and mechanical equipment have been widely used in industry or daily life. However, some electrical equipment/mechanical equipment may be risky in use, for example, an explosion may occur when a fault occurs, and the impact force of the explosion may cause the shell of the container containing the aforementioned electrical equipment and mechanical equipment to be blown away. . If the flying casing hits the human body, it may cause physical damage if it is light, or life-threatening if it is heavy. Therefore, how to solve the foregoing problems becomes an important issue.

In order to solve the above known problems, the present invention provides a locking mechanism for connecting a first casing and a second casing, wherein the first casing and the second casing are arranged along a first direction. The aforementioned locking mechanism includes a first hook, a second hook, a movable element, and a driving element. The first hook and the second hook are fixed on the first housing, and respectively have a first engaging groove and a second engaging groove. The first engaging groove and the second engaging groove are arranged along the first direction. The movable element has an engaging portion. The drive element is connected to the second casing and the movable element, and can drive the movable element to move relative to the second casing. When the first housing is fixed to the second housing by the locking mechanism, the engaging portion is accommodated in the first engaging groove.

In some embodiments of the present invention, in the aforementioned first direction, the first engaging groove is located between the first housing and the second engaging groove.

In some embodiments of the present invention, in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, the width of the second engaging groove is greater than or equal to the width of the first engaging groove. In some embodiments, in a third direction, the length of the second engaging groove is greater than that of the first engaging groove, wherein the third direction is perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction.

In some embodiments of the present invention, in the first direction, the distance between the bottom end of the second engaging groove and the end of the second hook is greater than the bottom end of the first engaging groove and the bottom end of the second engaging groove the distance between.

In some embodiments of the present invention, part of the first hook is accommodated in the second engaging groove.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the first hook and the second hook are integrally formed.

In some embodiments of the present invention, when the first housing is fixed to the second housing by the locking mechanism, the engaging portion contacts the first hook.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the driving element includes an operating element, a first pivot, and a second pivot. The first pivot is pivotally connected to the movable element and the operating element, and the second pivot is pivotally connected to the second housing and the operating element. The first pivot is parallel to the second pivot. When the first shell is fixed to the second shell by the locking mechanism, the first pivot is at a first position, and the second pivot is between the engaging portion and the first pivot. When the first casing moves from the first position to a second position around the second pivot, the first pivot is located between the engaging portion and the second pivot.

The present invention also provides a container device, including a first shell, a second shell, and the aforementioned locking mechanism.

The container device and the locking mechanism of the present invention are described below. It should be readily appreciated, however, that the present invention provides many suitable inventive concepts that can be implemented in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments disclosed are merely illustrative of specific ways to use the invention and do not limit the scope of the invention.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It is understood that these terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the background or context of the related art and the present invention, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal manner Interpretation, unless specifically defined herein.

The following disclosures in this specification describe specific examples of each component and its arrangement in order to simplify the description of the invention. Of course, these specific examples are not intended to limit the present invention. For example, if the following disclosure in this specification describes that a first feature is formed on or above a second feature, it means that it includes the embodiment in which the above-mentioned first feature and the above-mentioned second feature are formed in direct contact , also includes an embodiment in which additional features may be formed between the above-mentioned first feature and the above-mentioned second feature, so that the above-mentioned first feature and the above-mentioned second feature may not be in direct contact. Furthermore, for convenience in describing the relationship of one feature to another in the drawings, spatial relative terms such as "below", "below", "under", "above", "above", and the like may be used. terminology etc. Spatially relative terms encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The device may be otherwise positioned (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) as well, and the spatially relative descriptions used herein should be read accordingly.

Fig. 1 shows an electronic device C according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 shows a cross-sectional view along the direction A-A in Fig. 1 . As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the electronic device C includes a first housing 10, a second housing 20, at least one locking mechanism 30, and at least one electronic component 40, wherein the first housing 10 can It is detachably connected to the second housing 20 and can form an accommodating space S therebetween. The electronic component 40 can be accommodated in the accommodation space S. For example, the electronic component 40 can include a battery, a transformer, a motor, an internal combustion engine, a printed circuit board, a capacitor, and/or a power element (such as an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor, IGBT), Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) transistor), but not limited thereto. When the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 are combined with each other, the locking mechanism 30 can be used to fix the two to each other, and the locking mechanism 30 can prevent the electrical devices and/or mechanical devices arranged in the accommodating space from being damaged. When an explosion occurs due to failure, the first housing 10 or the second housing 20 will be detached.

Fig. 3 shows a front view of the locking mechanism 30 in Fig. 1. Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3 together. The locking mechanism 30 mainly includes a fixed element 100 , a driving element 200 , and a movable element 300 .

The fixing element 100 is fixed on the first housing 10, and includes a first hook 110 and a second hook 120, and the first hook 110 and the second hook 120 can respectively form a first engaging groove 111 and a second engaging groove 121 . It should be noted that the first hook 110 and the second hook 120 are arranged along the arrangement direction when the first shell 10 and the second shell 20 are combined. Therefore, since the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 are arranged along the first direction D1 when combined, the first hooks 110 and the second hooks 120 are also arranged along the aforementioned first direction D1, thus, The first engaging groove 111 and the second engaging groove 121 are also arranged along the aforementioned first direction D1.

Both the first hook 110 and the second hook 120 extend downward from the first housing 10 , and the second hook 120 extends lower than the first hook 110 . Therefore, in the first direction D1 , the first engaging groove 111 is located between the first casing 10 and the second engaging groove 121 .

In this embodiment, in the second direction D2 perpendicular to the first direction D1, the width W2 of the second engaging groove 121 is greater than or equal to the width W1 of the first engaging groove 111, and in the second direction D1 perpendicular to the first direction D1. In the third direction D3 perpendicular to the second direction D2 , the length L2 of the second engaging groove 121 is greater than the length L1 of the first engaging groove 111 .

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , in this embodiment, the end E2 of the second hook 120 can extend upwards to align with or exceed the end E1 of the first hook 110 . In other words, in the first direction D1, the distance between the end E2 of the second hook 120 and the bottom end B2 of the second engaging groove 121 is greater than the distance between the bottom end B1 of the first engaging groove 111 and the second engaging groove The distance between the bottom end B2. In addition, a recessed portion 122 can be formed on the second hook 120, and the end E1 of the first hook 110 can be accommodated in the recessed portion 122, therefore, at least part of the first hook 110 can be accommodated in the second engaging portion. slot 121.

In this embodiment, the first hook 110 and the second hook 120 are formed by cutting and/or bending the fixing element 100 of a single plate, so they can be integrally formed. In some embodiments, the first hook 110 and the second hook 120 can be two separate components, and are respectively fixed to the first casing 10 .

Please continue to refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the driving element 200 includes an operating element 210, a first pivot 220, and a second pivot 230, and the movable element 300 includes a body 310, an engaging portion 320, and a casing 330 . The first pivot 220 passes through the casing 330 of the movable element 300 and pivotally connects the body 310 and the operating element 210 , and the second pivot 230 pivotally connects the operating element 210 and the second casing 20 . The first pivot 220 and the second pivot 230 are parallel to each other.

The body 310 of the movable element 300 is an elongated element, one end of which is pivotally connected to the first pivot 220 , and the other end is connected to the engaging portion 320 . In this embodiment, the engaging portion 320 is a cylinder, but the shape of the engaging portion 320 can be adjusted according to requirements, and is not limited thereto. The shell 330 covers the main body 310 to prevent the main body 310 from being damaged by impacts from foreign objects.

The operation steps of the locking mechanism 30 are described below. As shown in FIG. 4A, when the first housing 10 is fixed to the second housing 20 by the locking mechanism 30, the engaging portion 320 is accommodated in the first engaging groove 111 and contacts the first hook 110, The first pivot 220 is located at a first position, and the second pivot 230 is located between the engaging portion 320 and the first pivot 220 .

As shown in FIG. 4B, when the user wants to separate the first housing 10 from the second housing 20, the user can pull the operating element 210 to drive the first pivot 220 to move from the first position to the second pivot 230 around the second pivot 230. a second position. At this time, in the first direction D1, the first pivot 220 will be located between the engaging portion 320 and the second pivot 230, so the engaging portion 320 can be released from the first engaging groove 111, and the user can then separate The first housing 10 and the second housing 20 .

When the user wants to use the locking mechanism 30 to fix the first housing 10 to the second housing 20, it is only necessary to reversely push the operating element 210 after the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 are connected, so that It only needs to move the first pivot 220 around the second pivot 230 from the second position to the first position (FIG. 4A).

As shown in FIG. 5A, when the electronic components 40 (such as batteries, transformers, motors, internal combustion engines, printed circuit boards, capacitors, and/or power components (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor, Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor, IGBT) or Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) transistor) fails and explodes, the gas generated may cause the first hook 110 to break. The first housing 10 will move away from the second housing 20 under the action of the generated gas, so the engaging portion 320 of the movable element 300 will enter into the second engaging groove 121 and contact with the second hook 120 .

Since the width W2 and length L2 of the second engaging groove 121 are greater than the width W1 and length L1 of the first engaging groove 111 , the second hook 120 can withstand greater pressure than the first hook 110 . Furthermore, when the first hook 110 breaks and the first housing 10 moves due to the action of gas, since the first housing 10 is hooked by the lower second hook 120, the first housing 10 and the second A gap G will be formed between the housings 20 . The aforementioned gas can be slowly released from the gap G, and the impact force on the first shell 10 can be gradually reduced, thus avoiding the situation that the first shell 10 is directly detached from the second shell 20 .

Since the end E2 of the second hook 120 in this embodiment extends upwards to align with or exceed the end E1 of the first hook 110, so that part of the first hook 110 is accommodated in the second engaging groove 121, so when the second When a hook 110 breaks, the engaging portion 320 can directly enter into the second engaging groove 121 , and there is no situation that the engaging portion 320 does not enter the second engaging groove 121 .

Please refer to FIG. 5B , when the aforementioned gas is released, the first housing 10 will move back to the state connected with the second housing 20 . It should be noted that since the end E2 of the second hook 120 in this embodiment extends upwards to align with or exceed the end E1 of the first hook 110 , the engaging portion 320 will still be located in the second engaging groove 121 In this case, the locking mechanism 30 can still limit the range of movement of the first housing 10 relative to the second housing 20 in the first direction D1 , the second direction D2 and the third direction D3 . Therefore, it can be ensured that the first shell 10 will not be detached from the second shell 20 after the first hook 110 breaks.

In addition, the first housing 10 or the second housing 20 of the electronic device C may be provided with a power switch (not shown) electrically connected to the electronic component 40, or the power switch may be disposed far away from the electronic device. C is electrically connected to the electronic component 40 at a specific position. When the aforementioned gas is released and the user wants to replace the electronic component 40, the aforementioned power switch can be activated to stop the operation of the electronic component 40 and cut off the power, and then open the first housing 10 to replace the electronic component 40, thereby avoiding the danger of electric leakage Situation happens.

To sum up, the present invention provides a locking mechanism for connecting a first housing and a second housing, wherein the first housing and the second housing are arranged along a first direction. The aforementioned locking mechanism includes a first hook, a second hook, a movable element, and a driving element. The first hook and the second hook are fixed on the first housing, and respectively have a first engaging groove and a second engaging groove. The first engaging groove and the second engaging groove are arranged along the first direction. The movable element has an engaging portion. The drive element is connected to the second casing and the movable element, and can drive the movable element to move relative to the second casing. When the first housing is fixed to the second housing by the locking mechanism, the engaging portion is accommodated in the first engaging groove. In addition, the present invention also provides a container device including the aforementioned locking mechanism.

Although the embodiments of the present invention and their advantages have been disclosed above, it should be understood that those skilled in the art can make changes, substitutions and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In addition, the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the process, machine, manufacture, material composition, device, method and steps in the specific embodiments described in the description, and anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field can learn from the disclosure of the present invention It is understood that the current or future developed processes, machines, manufactures, material compositions, devices, methods and steps can be used in accordance with the present invention as long as they can perform substantially the same functions or obtain substantially the same results in the embodiments described herein. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention includes the above-mentioned process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, device, method and steps. In addition, each patent application scope constitutes an individual embodiment, and the protection scope of the present invention also includes the combination of each patent application scope and the embodiments.

Although the present invention is disclosed above with the aforementioned several preferred embodiments, they are not intended to limit the present invention. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be defined by the scope of the appended patent application. In addition, each claimed claim constitutes an independent embodiment, and combinations of various claimed claims and embodiments fall within the scope of the present invention.

10: The first shell

20: Second shell

30: Locking mechanism

40: Electronic components

100: fixed element

110: The first hook

111: the first engagement groove

120: The second hook

121: the second engaging groove

122: depression

200: drive element

210: Operating elements

220: First Pivot

230:Second Pivot

300: Movable components

310: Ontology

320: engaging part

330: shell

B1: the bottom end of the first engaging groove

B2: the bottom end of the second engaging groove

C: electronic device

D1: the first direction

D2: Second direction

D3: Third direction

E1: the end of the first hook

E2: The end of the second hook

G: Gap

L1: length

L2: length

S: storage space

W1: width

W2: width

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing a container device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the direction A-A in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front view showing a locking mechanism in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing the first pivot at the first position in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing the movement of the first pivot position from the first position to the second position in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram showing that the engaging portion is accommodated in the second engaging groove when the first hook is broken in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram showing that the first hook is broken and the first shell is combined with the second shell in one embodiment of the present invention.

10: The first shell

20: Second shell

30: Locking mechanism

40: Electronic components

100: fixed element

110: The first hook

111: the first engaging groove

120: The second hook

121: the second engaging groove

122: depression

210: Operating elements

220: First Pivot

300: Movable components

310: Ontology

320: engaging part

330: Shell

B1: the bottom end of the first engaging groove

B2: the bottom end of the second engaging groove

D1: the first direction

D2: Second direction

D3: Third direction

E1: the end of the first hook

E2: The end of the second hook

S: storage space

W1: width

W2: width

Claims (13)

A locking mechanism for connecting a first housing and a second housing, wherein the first housing and the second housing are arranged along a first direction, and the locking mechanism includes: a first The hook is fixed on the first housing and has a first engaging groove; a second hook is fixed on the first housing and has a second engaging groove, wherein the first engaging groove and the second engaging groove are arranged along the first direction; a movable element has an engaging portion; and a driving element is connected with the second housing and the movable element, and can drive the movable element relative to the The second housing is movable, wherein when the first housing is fixed to the second housing by the locking mechanism, the engaging portion is accommodated in the first engaging groove. The locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein in the first direction, the first engaging groove is located between the first housing and the second engaging groove. The locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, the width of the second engaging groove is greater than or equal to the width of the first engaging groove. The locking mechanism according to claim 3, wherein in a third direction, the length of the second engaging groove is greater than the length of the first engaging groove, wherein the third direction is perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction . The locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein in the first direction, the distance between the bottom end of the second engaging groove and the end of the second hook is greater than the distance between the bottom end of the first engaging groove and the end of the second hook. The distance between the bottom ends of the second engaging grooves. The locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a portion of the first hook is accommodated in the second engaging groove. The locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the first hook and the second hook are integrally formed. According to the locking mechanism of claim 1, when the first housing is fixed to the second housing by the locking mechanism, the engaging portion contacts the first hook. The locking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the driving element includes: an operating element; a first pivot pivotally connecting the movable element and the operating element; and a second pivot pivotally connecting the second housing and the operating element the operating element. The locking mechanism according to claim 9, wherein the first pivot is parallel to the second pivot. The locking mechanism according to claim 9, wherein when the first housing is fixed to the second housing by the locking mechanism, the first pivot is at a first position, and the second pivot is at the card between the engaging portion and the first pivot, wherein when the first pivot moves from the first position to a second position around the second pivot, the first pivot is located between the engaging portion and the second pivot between the two pivots. An electronic device, comprising: a first casing; a second casing connected to the first casing in a detachable manner, wherein the first casing and the second casing are arranged along a first direction; and a locking mechanism, comprising: A first hook, fixed on the first shell, and has a first engaging groove; a second hook, fixed on the first shell, and has a second engaging groove, wherein the first The engaging groove and the second engaging groove are arranged along the first direction; a movable element has an engaging portion; and a driving element is connected with the second housing and the movable element, and can drive the movable element It is movable relative to the second casing, wherein when the first casing is fixed to the second casing by the locking mechanism, the engaging portion is accommodated in the first engaging groove. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein an accommodating space is formed between the first housing and the second housing, and the electronic device further includes an electronic component accommodated in the accommodating space, wherein the The electronic component includes a printed circuit board, a capacitor, and/or a power component.

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