Patent Application
20120008271
The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems (IHSs), and more particularly to a metal laminate via an in-mold film for an IHS.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an IHS. An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An IHS may be configured to be substantially stationary or may be configured to be quite mobile depending its intended use. For each of these types of IHS, the chassis for the IHS is configured to withstand the normal use in its working environment. For example, portable IHSs sometimes have a chassis (e.g., a frame and an outer shell) constructed of plastic, metal, and/or composite materials, which are designed to be light, tough, and small enough to be easily moved from place to place. Some consumers prefer the chassis shell to be formed from metal rather than plastic because the metal shell appears to the consumer to have nicer aesthetics, a more sturdy/durable look and feel, and allows for a thinner profile.
However, there are some limitations to using an entirely metal shell for an IHS. For example, metal shell IHSs may be heavier than their counterpart plastic shell IHSs. Also, due to the heat transfer properties of a thin metal shell, the metal shell IHS may have “hot spots” that feel overly warm to users of the IHS, thereby causing fear in the user that there is a problem with the IHS. Other issues with all metal shells may also exist, such as electric circuit problems if the IHS is dropped and the shell becomes deformed, which may cause electrical circuits to be contacted by the deformed metal shell. If this happens, this can cause an electrical short to the circuits or an electrical potential to be present on the outer metal shell. To combat this, some IHS shells are made of a plastic material, assembled, and then have a metal outer shell layer applied over a painted plastic part using an adhesive at a final assembly stage. Adding such a metal layer after IHS assembly generally has a low production yield due to wrinkles/bubbles formed on the metal outer layer when applying the metal to the IHS. This, in turn, causes a high rework cost to the parts. The metal layer can be made thicker to reduce defects, but doing so requires more metal, which increases the cost and weight of the IHS.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved metal-plastic laminate for an IHS outer shell.
According to one embodiment, a metal laminate assembly includes a plastic film and a metal film bonded together using a pressure-sensitive adhesive between them. The bonded films may be formed into a desired shape. A plastic part is formed to the bonded films using a single-shot in-mold film molding system. Accordingly, the laminate assembly has the plastic part on a first side and the metal film on a second side, opposite the first side of the assembly.
For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system (IHS) 100 includes any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an IHS 100 may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The IHS 100 may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, read only memory (ROM), and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the IHS 100 may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The IHS 100 may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
Other resources can also be coupled to the system through the memory I/O hub 104 using a data bus, including an optical drive 114 or other removable-media drive, one or more hard disk drives 116, one or more network interfaces 118, one or more Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports 120, and a super I/O controller 122 to provide access to user input devices 124, etc. The IHS 100 may also include a solid state drive (SSDs) 126 in place of, or in addition to main memory 108, the optical drive 114, and/or a hard disk drive 116. It is understood that any or all of the drive devices 114, 116, and 126 may be located locally with the IHS 100, located remotely from the IHS 100, and/or they may be virtual with respect to the IHS 100. The components of the IHS 100 are held together and supported by an IHS chassis 128. The chassis 128 may include a frame and an outer shell.
Not all IHSs 100 include each of the components shown in
The present disclosure provides an improved metal-plastic laminate for an IHS outer shell. In an embodiment, the metal-plastic laminate includes a metal film bonded to a plastic film. This laminate is formed to a shape of the desired outer surface for the IHS shell. A plastic part is molded to the formed metal-plastic laminate. This forms the outer shell part, which has an outer metal layer. Accordingly, the IHS chassis outer shell includes attractive metal on the outside and economical and light-weight plastic on the inside.
The metal-plastic laminate of the present disclosure is formed by laminating a thin (e.g., less than 0.05 mm) metal film (e.g., aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, etc.) to an in-mold label (IML)/in-mold film (IMF)/in-mold decoration (IMD) plastic film. The plastic film may include polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), material fibers, and/or combinations thereof. However, it should be understood that other films may be used with the present disclosure. In addition, the film may be a pre-painted film or a transparent PC film. A thickness of the metal film may be selected per requirements of secondary process needs such as anodizing, milling, patterning, painting, etc. For example, when the outer shell is to have diamond cut logos or shapes after molding, relatively thicker metal films may be appropriate.
In an embodiment, the metal foil film is laminated together with PC or PET film laminates using heat or glue. These preassembled laminates can be used as regular IML/IMF/IMD film with and without ink or pigment layers on the same or opposite sides. There are many advantages of the metal-plastic laminates of the present disclosure, as should be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art, including, 1) these external metal foils can be pre-coated, anodized or diamond cut as needed; and 2) many metal films can be molded with IMD systems and processes. Furthermore, the metal-plastic laminate parts of the present disclosure can produce high yield parts and offer a low cost solution to an alternative all-metal IHS shell.
The adhesive layer 144 may be a liquid, spray, film, tape or other type of pressure-sensitive adhesive. The metal film 146 may be any metal in a sheet, roll, or other form and may have a thickness between a range of approximately 0.03 mm to 0.05 mm. For example, foil aluminum (Al) may be used with a thickness of approximately 0.05 mm or foil stainless steel may be used with a thickness of approximately 0.03 mm or 0.05 mm. Other metals and/or other thicknesses may be used so long as the metal can withstand the IMF injection molding process temperature of approximately 250° C. In an embodiment, the metal foil 146 may be bonded to the adhesive 144 using a roller or press system, the plastic film 140 may be prepared with an adhesive primer such as a 3M adhesive primer known in the art (not shown), and the foil 146 and the film 140 may be pressed together using a heated roller or press system to bond the laminated assembly 138 together using the adhesive 144.
An illustration of the formed and trimmed laminate assembly 138 is shown in
The method 160 then proceeds to block 166 where a pigment layer (e.g. pigment layer 142) is applied to a side of the plastic film 140 opposite that of the adhesive primer. In other words, the plastic film 140 may have an adhesive primer on one side of the film 140 and a pigment layer on the opposite side of the film 140. However, the pigment layer 142 may be unnecessary if the plastic film 140 is not transparent, if the plastic part 150 is the desired color, if the metal foil 146 covers the outer surface of the final part 152, or for any other reason.
The method 160 proceeds to block 168 where an adhesive (e.g., adhesive 144) is bonded/laminated to the metal film 146. The adhesive 144 may be applied as a liquid, paste, sheet, or otherwise to the metal film 146 and may be applied using a spray, roller, press or other type of application system. For example, 3M VHB9469 sheet adhesive provided by the 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn. may be used as an adhesive to laminate the metal film 146 to the plastic film 140 and may be applied using a roller press system. However, other adhesives and/or heat may be used to bond the films 140 and 146 together. The method 160 then proceeds to block 170 where the metal film 146 and the adhesive 144 are bonded/laminated to the plastic film 140. Using the adhesive 144 as a bonding agent, the films 140 and 146 are pressed together using a press, roller system and/or a heat system.
The method 160 then proceeds to block 172 where the metal/plastic film lamination 138 may be cut to an approximate size for forming to the desired shape. The lamination 138 may be cut by hand, machine, or using a variety of other techniques known in the art. In an embodiment, the lamination 138 is constructed of a proper size and does not need to be cut. The method 160 proceeds to block 174 where the lamination 138 is formed into a desired shape/form and trimmed to final desired size. A forming die and press system may be used to receive the laminate 138 and perform the final forming and trimming.
The method 160 then proceeds to block 176 where the laminate 138 is placed in a IMF injection molding die and a plastic part (e.g., part 150) is molded to it. In an embodiment, the plastic part 150 is molded using PC/ABS. In another embodiment, the plastic part 150 is molded using PC/ABS/fiber, however, other materials may be used to form the part 150. The part may be molded at temperatures up to approximately 250° C. and above. Therefore, the laminate assembly 138 should be constructed from materials capable of such temperatures as used in molding the plastic part 150. After the plastic part 150 is molded to the laminate 138, the metal laminate/molded plastic part 152 is removed from the mold. Any final trimming, cleaning, and/or sub assembly may also be performed to the part 150 as desired.
The method then proceeds to block 178 where an IHS (e.g., IHS 100) is assembled, including internal components and the chassis 128, using the metal laminate/molded plastic part 152 as a shell for the chassis 128 of the IHS 100. After assembly of the IHS 100, the method 160 ends at block 180 where the IHS is ready for use or sale and has the desired metal exterior surface over at least a portion of the IHS shell.
The metal laminated part 152 may then be used in construction of an IHS 100, as shown in block 178 of
It should be understood that one or more embodiments of the present disclosure provide a metal outer periphery of an IHS to provide a metal look and feel to an end user, while the inner structure of the parts may be plastic. The metal laminated parts of the present disclosure provide significant weight and cost reductions, as compared to using all metal parts for the outer shell of the IHS. The molding of the metal laminated parts maybe formed using single-shot IMF processes that produce a high-yield for the parts. Various thicknesses of metal foils can be used to facilitate secondary processes to the metal outer surface. For example, the outer metal foil may be processed by color anodizing, diamond cutting, and any variety of aesthetic processing as desired. For example, fine laser etched metal foils with transparent plastic parts can provide a see through metal outer shell through which light can pass.
The present disclosure provides an improved metal-plastic laminate for an IHS outer shell. In an embodiment, the metal-plastic laminate includes a metal film bonded to a plastic film. This laminate is formed to a shape of the desired outer surface for the IHS shell. Then, a plastic part is molded to the formed metal-plastic laminate. This, thereby forms the outer shell part, which has an outer metal layer. Accordingly, the IHS chassis outer shell is attractive metal on the outside and economical and light-weight plastic on the inside. In other words, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a metal foil that is attached to a plastic (e.g., PC/PET) film using heat or adhesive. This subassembly may be formed into shapes to cover portions of an IHS, such as tops, sidewalls, periphery, etc, as desired. The sub-assembled pre-formed laminate goes into a molding tool and becomes an outer portion of a molded plastic part. As such, the molded plastic part may have an actual metal outer side that causes the IHS to have a metal appearance and feel, using a single-shot IMF molding system.
Although illustrative embodiments have been shown and described, a wide range of modification, change and substitution is contemplated in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances, some features of the embodiments may be employed without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the embodiments disclosed herein.
