Abstract:
A seal detecting device and means for detecting an electronic device includes providing a through hole on an outer case of the electronic device, an inner side of the electronic device is connected to an outer side of the electronic device; providing an airtight container, placing the outer case of the electronic device into the airtight container, one of the inner side and outer side of the outer case is defined as an gas supply side, and the other side is an detecting side; supplying compressed gas to the gas supply side; leading the detecting side to outside and detect the gas flow, so as to detect if there is a leakage on the electronic device. The device and means have the advantages of high sensitivity, quick detecting speed, and high accuracy.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The technical field relates to a seal detecting device and means for detecting if there is a leakage in the sealing of the electronic device. 
       RELATED ART 
       [0002]    Electronic devices, such as smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet, and computer, etc., have plenty of powerful functions, and also have become indispensable items in modern people&#39;s life and work. More and more requirements for the specification of the electronic devices from the consumers have been requested, and waterproof function is one of them. The electronic devices with waterproof function can be used in the rain or in the water. Therefore, by the more and more production of the water-proofed electronic devices, each one of them should pass the waterproof test to see if there is a leakage after being manufactured. 
         [0003]    The current method used to test the sealing condition of the electronic devices is mainly focused on pressure test, which includes providing a sealed pressure chamber. The initial pressure in the sealed pressure chamber is larger than atmosphere; placing the waterproofed electronic device into the sealed pressure chamber and staying for a predetermined time. After staying in a predetermined time, test if the pressure in the chamber decreases to lower than the predetermined threshold pressure. If the pressure is lower than the threshold pressure, it means that the electronic device has poor waterproof ability, and thus cannot fulfill the waterproof requirement. 
         [0004]    Even though this testing method can find out if there is a leakage in the electronic devices, this method still has the following drawbacks: 1. The electronic devices are placed inside a pressure chamber. If the electronic devices have a leakage, the gas in the pressure chamber will enter into the electronic devices to lower the pressure in the pressure chamber, so as to detect if a leakage of the electronic devices exists. However, the detecting sensitivity is low, and thus the detecting result is often inaccurate. Moreover, this method takes longer time for detecting, about 30 seconds or longer, which results in higher cost, and thus the time to present the electronic devices to the market will be postponed due to the longer product testing time. 2. If the sealed pressure chamber itself or the sealing elements has a leakage, the pressure in the pressure chamber will decrease as well, and thus it cannot be detected where the leakage is. This may also cause low detecting accuracy and affect the detecting results. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0005]    An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a quick-testing, sensitive, and high accuracy seal detecting device and means. 
         [0006]    In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a seal detecting device for detecting the electronic device is provided. An outer case of the electronic device is provided with a through hole, an inner side of the outer case is connected to an outer side of the outer case through the through hole, the seal detecting device comprising: a container includes an accommodating space, the accommodating space has an opening, the accommodating space communicates with outer space and has a cover disposed thereon to cover the opening so as to form an airtight container; when being under detection, the electronic device is placed inside the airtight container, the cover covers the through hole, one of the inner side and outer side of the outer case is an gas supply side, and the other side is an detecting side; a compressed gas supplying device connected to the gas supply side of the electronic device inside the airtight container to provide compressed gas; and a flowmeter connected to the detecting side of the outer case of the electronic device to detect a flow so as to detect if there is a leakage on the outer case of the electronic device. 
         [0007]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, wherein the inner side of the electronic device is gas supply side, and the outer side is detecting side. 
         [0008]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, wherein the outer side of the electronic device is gas supply side, and the inner side is detecting side. 
         [0009]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, wherein the compressed gas supplying device is a gas compressor or a container storing compressed gas. 
         [0010]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, wherein the compressed gas supplying device has a control valve at an outputting end for turning on or shutting off an outputting of compressed gas. 
         [0011]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, wherein the gas supply side of the outer case of the electronic device has a control valve for exhausting gas. 
         [0012]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, wherein the gas supply side of the outer case of the electronic device has a control valve for discharging gas. 
         [0013]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, further comprises a signal processor, the signal processor including a calculating module, an analogue-digital convertor, and an input/output module; the flowmeter is an electronical gas flowmeter, wherein an analogue signal of the flowmeter is converted to a digital signal by the analogue-digital convertor, and the digital signal is processed by the calculating module; the input/output module inputs a command to the calculating module to output figure and text messages. 
         [0014]    The seal detecting device according to the present invention, wherein the flowmeter is a digital display flowmeter. 
         [0015]    Another preferred embodiment according to the present invention further provides a seal detecting means, comprising: a) providing a through hole on an outer case of the electronic device, an inner side of the outer case being connected to an outer side of the outer case through the through hole; b) providing an airtight container, placing the outer case of the electronic device in step a) into the airtight container, the through hole of the outer case being in close contact with the airtight container, one of the inner side and outer side of the outer case being an gas supply side, and the other side being an detecting side; c) supplying compressed gas to the gas supply side in step b); d) leading the detecting side to outside; e) detecting gas flow in step d); determining if there is a leakage; the leakage existing if the gas flow is detected, otherwise no leakage exists. 
         [0016]    The seal detecting means according to the present invention, wherein the inner side of the outer case of the electronic device is gas supply side, and the outer side is detecting side. 
         [0017]    The seal detecting means according to the present invention, wherein the outer side of the outer case of the electronic device is gas supply side, and the inner side is detecting side. 
         [0018]    The seal detecting means according to the present invention further comprising adjusting the compressed gas to a fixed value and then supplying the compressed gas to the gas supply side. 
         [0019]    The preferred embodiment of the present invention supplies high pressure compressed gas to the gas supply side of the outer case of the electronic device, and detects the output gas to calculate the flow. Since the detecting side normally is under the atmosphere pressure, if the outer case of the electronic device has a leakage, the high pressure gas will immediately flow from the gas supply side to the detecting side, and then the detecting side will further output large amount of gas to the flowmeter to show the leaking amount. The sensitivity of the flowmeter is high and can show the results quickly. Therefore, even a very little leakage can also be detected, which can resolve all the problems caused by the conventional technique. Moreover, by detecting the gas flow, the leaking amount of the gas can be known, which can also be provided as the reference to improve the product. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]    These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which: 
           [0021]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of the seal detecting device of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is a signal processing flowchart of the seal detecting device of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 3  is another schematic diagram of the seal detecting device of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the seal detecting means of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0025]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which shows a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the seal detecting device  100  according to the present invention. In order to show the features of the present embodiment, the surface of the outer case, the interior elements and devices of the electronic device are all omitted. Only the structures related to the claimed feature of the present invention are shown. In the present embodiment, the electronic device can be a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet, smart watch, camera, cam recorder, etc. 
         [0026]    In the present embodiment, the seal detecting device  100  is mainly used to test the sealing condition of the electronic device. The Outer case  11  of the electronic device  10  is provided with a through hole  12 . The inner side  13  of the outer case  11  communicates with the outer side  14  of the outer case  11  of the electronic device  10  via the through hole  12 . 
         [0027]    The seal detecting device  100  includes a container  20 , a compressed gas supplying device  30 , and a flowmeter  40 . 
         [0028]    In the present embodiment, the container  20  has an accommodating space  21 . The accommodating space  21  has an opening  23 . The accommodating space  21  communicates outside  22  through the opening  23  and has a cover  24 . The cover  24  covers the opening  23 . When the cover  24  covers the opening  23 , an airtight container is formed. The periphery of the airtight container is in sealed condition, and there is a sealing element  25  disposed between the container  20  and the cover  24 . When being under testing, the electronic device  10  is placed inside the airtight container, and the cover  24  covers the through hole  12  of the electronic device  10 , creating two spaces in the container  20 . One of the two spaces is a space inside the inner side  13  of the electronic device  10  (shown in the FIGS., element  13 ), the other one of the two spaces is another space outside the outer side  14  of the electronic device  10  (shown in the FIGS., element  14 ). Of course, the sealing element  26  between the airtight container  20  and the electronic device  10  is essential. In the airtight container  20 , either the inner side  13  or the outer side  14  of the outer case  11  is used as a gas supply side, while the other one of the inner side  13  and the outer side  14  is used as detecting side. Besides, the cover  24  of the container  20  has a gas outlet  242  in the detecting side. The gas outlet  242  corresponds to and is within the range of the through hole  12  of the electronic device  10 . The container  20  also has a gas inlet  201  and gas outlet  202  in the gas supply side. The gas inlet  201  and the gas outlet  202  are away from the through hole  12  in the outer case  11  of the electronic device  10 . That is to say, the gas inlet  201  and the gas outlet  202  are not situated in the corresponding position of the through hole  12 . Besides, the container  20  has a fixture (not shown in the figures) for securing the electronic device  10 . The fixture is not the claimed feature of the present invention, thus not being described hereinafter. 
         [0029]    In the present embodiment, the compressed gas supplying device  30  is mainly used to provide the compressed gas which is needed by the seal detecting device of the present invention. The compressed gas supplying device  30  is linked to the gas supply side in the outer case  11  of the electronic device  10  inside the airtight container  20 . In the present embodiment, the gas supply side is the outer side  14  in the outer case  11 , and the inner side  13  of the outer case  11  is the detecting side. Since the gas supply side is full of compressed gas, and the detecting side is under normal atmosphere pressure, the gas pressure in the gas supply side is higher than that of the detecting side. In the present embodiment, a pipeline  73  is further provided to be connected to the compressed gas supplying device  30  and the gas supply side of the outer case  11  in the airtight container  20 , which is also known as the outer side  14  of the outer case  11 . 
         [0030]    The compressed gas supplying device  30  in the present embodiment is a gas compressor or a container storing compressed gas. The gas pressure applied in the present embodiment is 5 kg/cm 2 -10 kg/cm 2 . 
         [0031]    The flowmeter  40  in the present embodiment is connected to the detecting side of the outer case  11  in the airtight container  20 , which is also known as the inner side  13  of the outer case  11 , and thus the gas flow can be detected to evaluate if the sealing of the outer case  11  has a leakage. The pipeline  71  interconnects the flowmeter  40  and the detecting side of the outer case  11 . Besides, the flowmeter  40  can be a digital display flowmeter. The present embodiment further includes a shutoff valve  38 . When the gas flow is over a threshold, the shutoff valve  38  can prevent the flowmeter  40  from being damaged. In the present embodiment, the shutoff valve  38  is disposed on the gas supply side of the outer case  11 . That is to say, a control valve  31  for controlling the gas exhausting is disposed on the outer side  14  of the case  11  in the airtight container  20 . After the detecting process, the control valve  31  will be driven to discharge the gas on the gas supply side. Since the gas used in the present seal detecting device is air, the gas can be directly discharged to the outside and thus not harm the environment. In the present embodiment, a pipeline  75  interconnects the control valve  31  and the air supply side. 
         [0032]    In one of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a control valve  32  is disposed at the output end of the compressed gas supplying device  30  to turn on or shutoff the gas output from the compressed gas supplying device  30 . 
         [0033]    Besides, in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a pressure control valve  33  is also disposed at the output end of the compressed gas supplying device  30 . The pressure control valve  33  limits the outputted gas pressure of the compressed gas supplying device  30  within a fixed value, so that the detecting process can be standardized. Of course, a first pressure meter  35  is disposed at the output end of the compressed gas supplying device  30 , and a second pressure meter  36  is also connected to the gas supply side, as known as the outer side  14 , of the outer case  11  in the airtight container  20 . The second pressure meter  36  is able to display and monitor the outputted gas pressure of the compressed gas supplying device  30 , and the gas pressure on the gas supply side of the outer case  11 . 
         [0034]    When the electronic device  10  is under sealing detection process, the gas of the compressed gas supplying device  30  is supplied to the gas supply side, as known as the outer side  14  of the outer case  11 , of the airtight container  20  via the pipeline  73 . If there is a leakage on the outer case  11  (as shown in  FIG. 1 , arrow L 2 ), the high pressure gas will pass through the leakage on the outer case  11  and enter into the detecting side, which is known as the inner side  13  of the outer case. After the high pressure gas expands, the expanded gas will flow through the flowmeter  40  via the pipeline  71  to drive the flowmeter  40 , so that the leakage of the outer case  11  can be detected. If there is no leakage on the outer case  11 , the high pressure gas will not enter into the detecting side, so that there will be no gas outputted to the flowmeter  40  from the detecting side. As such, the flowmeter  40  will not be activated. The advantage of the present embodiment lies in that, even the airtight container  20  has a leakage (shown in  FIG. 1 , arrow L 1 ), the flowmeter  40  will still work if the outer case  11  has a leakage (L 2 ); if the outer case  11  has no leakage, the flowmeter  40  will not be activated. Therefore, the leakage of the airtight container  20  will not influence the detecting results of the flowmeter  40 , which can thus solve the problem caused by the conventional technique that when the airtight container  20  has a leakage, the detecting results can be interfered. Besides, the flowmeter is very sensitive, a detecting process can be done in about 2-5 seconds, which is convenient and fast compared to the 30 seconds detection time of the traditional detecting device. 
         [0035]    Besides, please refer to  FIG. 2 , the seal detecting device  100  according to the present invention further includes a signal processor  41 . The signal processor  41  includes a calculating module  42 , an analogue-digital convertor  43 , and an input/output module  45 ; the flowmeter  40  is an electronics gas flowmeter. 
         [0036]    In the present embodiment, the calculating module  42  is used to calculate the input/output and all kinds of information. The analogue-digital convertor  43  can convert the analogue signal of the flowmeter  40  into a digital signal. The input/output module  45  can use touch screen as an operating panel to input command and output graph/text message. The analogue gas flow signal obtained by the flowmeter  40  is converted to digital signal and processed by the calculating module  42 , and then the result is shown by the input/output module  45 . The seal detecting device according to the present invention has high sensitivity and can detect the very small leakage. The detecting result can be shown in numerical format or graphical format, which can show the amount of the leakage for the further improvement of the detecting device. 
         [0037]      FIG. 3  shows another preferred embodiment of the seal detecting device  200 .  FIG. 2  is also included in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, all the similar elements as the previous embodiment are shown with the same labeling number. The present embodiment also includes an electronic device  10 , a container  20 , a compressed gas supplying device  30 , and a flowmeter  40 . The present embodiment also includes a first pressure meter  35 , a second pressure meter  36 , a pressure control valve  33 , a shutoff valve  38 , control valves  31 / 32 , signal processor  41 , and all kinds of pipeline  71 / 73 / 75 . The structure and function of all these elements are the same as the previous embodiment. The differences of the present embodiment and the previous embodiment lie in that: 
         [0038]    In the previous embodiment, the gas supply side is the outer side  14  of the outer case  11 , and the detecting side is the inner side  13  of the outer case  11 . In the present embodiment, the gas supply side is the inner side  13  of the outer case  11 , and the detecting side is the outer side  14  of the outer case  11 . Therefore, the gas inlet  201  and the gas outlet  202  are disposed at the position of the cover  24  and correspond to the through hole  12  on the outer case  11 ; the gas outlet  242  on the detecting side is disposed on the airtight container  20 . The gas leakage direction L 2  on the outer case  11  and the gas leakage direction L 2  on the airtight container  20  are opposite to the previous embodiment (as shown in  FIG. 2 , the arrow direction). The structure, operation, and the effect of the present embodiment are the same as the previous embodiment, and thus not described hereinafter. 
         [0039]      FIG. 4  shows the seal detecting means  500  according to the present embodiment. Even though the seal detecting means  500  is described as a series of actions, the sequence of these actions is not limited as the following description. For example, some of the actions can deviate from the mentioned illustration and the executing sequence. These actions can be co-executed with other actions or executed in different sequence. Besides, not all of the actions described in the present invention are executed in a same embodiment or multiple embodiments. Moreover, one or more actions described herein may be accomplished by employing one or more separate actions and/or stages. 
         [0040]    In step a, open a through hole on the outer case of the electronic device. The inner side of the electronic device communicates with the outer side of the electronic device via the through hole. 
         [0041]    In step b, provide an airtight container, place the electronic device in step a into the airtight container, and the through hole on the outer case is in close contact to the airtight container; define that one of the inner side and outer side of the electronic device is gas supply side, and the other side is the detecting side. The airtight container is under normal atmosphere; the gas pressures on the inner side and the outer side of the electronic device are the same. 
         [0042]    In step c, supply compressed gas to the gas supply side in step b; supply compressed gas to the gas supply side of the electronic device from the outer side of the airtight container to the inner side of the airtight container. In the present embodiment, the compressed gas can be air or other gases. A high safety, non-polluted, and easy-discharged gas is a better choice, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, or inert gas. Wherein, the gas pressure on the gas supply side filled with compressed gas is larger than that of the detecting side. 
         [0043]    In step d, lead the detecting side in step b to outside. 
         [0044]    In step e, detect gas flow in step d. The present embodiment use flowmeter to detect the gas flow. 
         [0045]    In step f, determine if there is a leakage by detecting result of the step e; the leakage existing if the gas flow is detected, otherwise no leakage exists. In this seal detecting means, the leaking amount can be known by monitoring the gas flow, which can be used as the reference to improve the seal detecting device. 
         [0046]    In step b, the inner side of the outer case of the electronic device is gas supply side, and the outer side is detecting side; however, the outer side of the outer case of the electronic device can also be the gas supply side, and the inner side is the detecting side. 
         [0047]    In the present embodiment, this seal detecting means comprising adjusting the compressed gas to a fixed value and then supplying the compressed gas to the gas supply side. By the standardized detecting procedure, the monitoring, analyzing, and judging of the leaking is more convenient. Of course, this seal detecting means further including discharging the gas after the detecting procedure is completed. 
         [0048]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various equivalent variations and modifications can still occur to those skilled in this art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.