The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field of electronic devices, and, more particularly, to a power line assembly and an electronic device using the power line assembly.
Electronic devices are used in various corners of people's daily life. For example, as an essential appliance, an electric fan uses a motor to drive the rotation of fan blades, so as to cause air circulation and make users feel cool. Often, an electronic device is equipped with a power line, which can be inserted into an electric outlet for delivering power to the electronic device.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a power line assembly, comprising: a power line; a power plug disposed at a first end of the power line and configured to couple with a power outlet; and a power line base disposed at a second end of the power line and having a top surface and a bottom surface, each of the top and bottom surfaces having one or more power-delivery contacts, wherein when the power line base couples with a power-receiving assembly of an electronic device, at least one of the power-delivery contacts contacts with a power-receiving contact of the power-receiving assembly, to deliver power to the electronic device.
According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for use with a power line assembly, the electronic device comprising: a battery; and a power-receiving assembly comprising: a power-receiving contact, and a first connection structure configured to affix the power-receiving assembly to a power line base of the power line assembly by coupling with a second connection structure located on a first surface of the power line base, the first surface being a top surface or a bottom surface of the power line base, wherein when the power-receiving assembly is coupled with the power line base, the power-receiving contact contacts with a power-delivery contact located on the first surface of the power line base, to receive power from the power line assembly.
According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device for use with a power line assembly, the electronic device comprising: a battery; and a power-receiving assembly comprising: a power-receiving contact, and a first connection structure, wherein the power-receiving assembly is configured to couple with a power line base of the power line assembly; when the electronic device is operated in an affixing mode, the first connection structure affixes the power-receiving assembly to the power line base by coupling with a second connection structure formed on a first surface of the power line base, and the power-receiving contact contacts with a power-delivery contact on the first surface of the power line base to receive power from the power line assembly; and when the electronic device is operated in a touch mode, the power-receiving assembly contacts with a second surface of the power line base to connect the power-receiving assembly and the power line base, and the power-receiving contact contacts with a power-delivery contact on the second surface of the power line base to receive power from the power line assembly.
It is to be understood that the forgoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and illustrative only, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.
Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The following description refers to the accompanying drawings in which same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise described. The implementations set forth in the following description of exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Instead, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with aspects related to the present disclosure as recited in the appended claims.
It should be understood that the technical solutions of the present disclosure may apply to all types of electronic devices, and the present disclosure is not intended to limit the types of applicable electronic devices. Solely for the purpose of illustration, “an electric fan” or “an electric fan frame” is used as an example of “an electronic device” in the following embodiments.
However, because the power line assembly 14 is directly connected to the electric fan frame 12, the space range in which the electric fan 1 can be used is fixed by the length of the power line assembly 14 and the position of the power plug.
The present disclosure solves the above-identified problem by improving the structure of an electric fan, including the structures of the electric fan frame and the power line assembly. Exemplary embodiments will be illustrated in the following in connection with
As illustrated by
Consistent with the disclosed embodiments, the electric fan frame 30 may support two different power-supply modes.
In the first power-supply mode, a user may couple the electric fan frame 30 (or more specifically, the power-receiving assembly 34) with the power line assembly 20, for example, by placing the electric fan frame 30 on the power line base 26. This way, the power-delivery contacts 26A may contact with the power-receiving contacts 34A, so as to deliver power to the electric fan frame 30.
In the second power-supply mode, when the electric fan frame 30 is used outside the space range which the power line assembly 20 can reach, a user may detach the electric fan frame 30 from the power line assembly 20 and use the built-in battery 32 to power the electric fan frame 30.
The following description provides more details about various components of the power line assembly 20 and the electric fan frame 30, consistent with the disclosed embodiments.
1. Power-Delivery Contacts 26A and Power-Receiving Contacts 34A
In the disclosed embodiments, power may be supplied to the electric fan frame 30 through physical contact between the power line assembly 20 and the electric fan frame 30. For example, the power-delivery contacts 26A shown in
In some embodiments, to ensure the contact between the power-delivery contacts 26A and the power-receiving contacts 34A, the power-delivery contacts 26A may be formed by bulging from the top surface and/or the bottom surface on which the power-deliver contacts 26A are located. Moreover, the power-delivery contacts 26A may have a partially spherical shape, e.g., a hemispherical shape as shown in
The above-described shapes of the power-delivery contacts 26A and the power-receiving contacts 34A are for illustrative purpose only. The present disclosure does not limit the shapes of the power-delivery contacts 26A or the power-receiving contacts 34A. Moreover, the electric fan frame 30 may employ a non-contact manner to receive power from the power line assembly 20, which is also not limited by the present disclosure.
2. Power-Receiving Assembly 34
The above-described use of the accommodation space 30A is for illustrative purpose only. The present disclosure does not limit the way of forming the contact between the power-delivery contacts 26A and the power-receiving contacts 34A. For example, in some embodiments, the bottom of the electric fan frame 30 has no recessed structure. Instead, the power-receiving assembly 34 is directly formed on the bottom of the electric fan frame 30. In this case, a user may directly place the electric fan frame 30 on the power line base 26 to couple the electric fan frames 30 with the power line assembly 20.
When the power line assembly 20 is used to deliver power to electric fan frame 30, the first connection structure 26B may couple with the second connection structure 34B to affix the power line base 26 to the power-receiving assembly 34.
The coupling of the first connection structure 26B and the second connection structure 34B can prevent the electric fan frame 30 and the power line assembly 20 from being detached from each other easily. This way, power drop of the electric fan frame 30 due to accidents, such as the electric fan frame 30 being kicked unexpectedly, can be avoided.
Based on the above description, the technical solutions of the present disclosure also provide two power-delivery modes, namely an affixing mode and a touch mode, for using the power line assembly 20. The two power-delivery modes may be achieved by a power line base 26 that supports power delivery or has power-delivery contacts 26A on both the top surface 262 and bottom surface 264.
Referring to the example shown in
Referring to the example shown in
The first connection structure 26B and the second connection structure 34B may couple with each other in various ways. In one embodiment, the first connection structure 26B and the second connection structure 34B may be coupled by magnetic attraction. For example, the first connection structure 26B may be made of magnet and the second connection structure 34B may be made of magnet or materials (e.g. metal such as iron, nickel, and the like) attractable by magnet. In another embodiment, the first connection structure 26B and the second connection structure 34B may be coupled via a mortise-and-tenon joint (e.g. a clamping or plug-in structure). The above coupling methods are for illustrative purpose only. The present disclosure does not limit the way of coupling the first connection structure 26A and the second connection structure 34B.
In the above description, the coupling between the power line assembly 20 and the electric fan frame 30 is described in the context of the power line base 26 having a cuboid shape. However, it is contemplated that the power line base 26 may have any possible shapes.
Referring to
Similarly, the power-receiving contacts 34A may be modified to have shapes of ring segments of predetermined lengths. The ring segments may have a circle center coincide with the center of a coupling surface that corresponds to the power line base 26. Here, the “coupling surface” refers to the region on the bottom of the electric fan frame 30 which contacts with the power line base 26. The power-receiving contacts 34A shaped in ring segments tolerate the angle error and relative rotation for reasons similar to those discussed above, which will not be repeated herein.
Other embodiments consistent with the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosures herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following the general principles thereof and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art. It is intended that the specification and embodiments be considered as illustrative only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.
It will be appreciated that the present disclosure is not limited to the exact construction that has been described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention only be limited by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2015 1 0282687 | May 2015 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2016/083414, filed May 26, 2016, which is based on and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201510282687.7, filed May 28, 2015, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20180048102 A1 | Feb 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/CN2016/083414 | May 2016 | US |
Child | 15792055 | US |