Patent Application
20190090050
Related fields include portable device assemblies, and in particular, techniques to extract back volume for speakers in thin unibody devices.
Recently, consumer electronics have become thinner and incorporate unibody structures. This trend has posed a challenge for placing speakers within consumer devices and providing the necessary back volume for maximum audio performance. Conventional assembly techniques are often incapable of providing the necessary back volume for consumer electronics with speaker devices therein. The present disclosure addresses this need.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the drawings. The present disclosure may readily be understood by considering the following detailed description with the accompanying drawings which are not necessarily drawn to scale, in which:
The description of the different advantageous embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Further, different advantageous embodiments may provide different advantages as compared to other advantageous embodiments. The embodiment or embodiments selected are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
In this document, the following terms will have the following definitions:
Gas AssistMolding: A technique used in injection molding techniques to create hollow plastic objects without openings. Gas assist molding may be used to create concealed chambers within plastic parts by passing pressurized inert gas through the molten plastic during injection molding. The passage and pressure are controlled by the tool core and cavity. By passing the inert gas through the molten plastic, the hollow structure is created within the plastic part. Steering wheels, handles, etc. may be manufactured by this process.
Along with substantial reduction of material cost, additional savings are achieved through use of the gas assist process. Since it requires typically a fraction (e.g, one-third) of the clamping forces of conventional injection molding, this process can be performed more economically on smaller presses and with faster cycle times. Reduced in-mold pressure also allows the use of less expensive steel or aluminum tooling while subjecting it to less wear-and-tear. Parts also weigh considerably less which results in reduced freight expense and improved material handling efficiencies.
Gas assist molding technology offers many design and performance advantages over other large part molding processes. Long shapes and multiple parts with complex designs and differing wall thickness can be molded as a single part and with tighter tolerances. In addition, parts exhibit improved dimensional stability, better quality surfaces, and require minimal or no secondary operations.
Casing 100 is formed by a gas assist molding technique with thin dimensions. Casing 100 may include a unibody structure that has a cross-sectional thickness that is less than 7 mm. In one or more embodiments, the cross-sectional thickness of casing 100 is approximately 6.5 mm. Advantageously, gas assist molding may eliminate process steps to fabricate casing 100.
In some implementations, casing 100 consists of a unibody structure that is formed from a single molding according to some embodiments. As such, the gas assist molding technique not only provides a relatively thin structure but also provides a uniform structure that does not suffer from warpage and leakage problems that are characteristic of devices that are manufactured by other methods.
Casing 100 includes an undercut region 103 that has a chamber region 101. Chamber region 101 is to facilitate a back volume to provide sufficient sound projection from a speaker. One having ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that back volume is essential to project sound from speakers as air within the enclosed volume pushes against the speaker which aids in the sound projection and to achieve better bass performance.
For example, chamber region 101 may facilitate a back volume of at least 0.77 cubic centimeters. In some embodiments, chamber region facilitates a back volume of approximately 1.0 cubic centimeters.
Chamber region 101 may be fashioned to have any suitable set of dimensions to facilitate sufficient back volume. For example, chamber region 101 has a diameter of approximately 4 mm and a length of approximately 100 mm.
Casing 100 also features a speaker cavity 102 in which a speaker may be fitted within. On a peripheral portion of the speaker cavity 102 may be a plurality of vent openings (not shown). In some implementations, the plurality of vent openings may be adjacent to the speaker cavity.
The preceding Description and accompanying Drawings describe examples of embodiments in some detail to aid understanding. However, the scope of protection may also include equivalents, permutations, and combinations that are not explicitly described herein. Only the claims appended here (along with those of parent, child, or divisional patents, if any) define the limits of the protected intellectual-property rights.
