Patent Publication Number: US-2015063618-A1

Title: Housing assembly

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The disclosure generally relates to housing assemblies, and particularly to a housing assembly having a speaker module for electronic devices. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A portable electronic device such as a mobile phone commonly includes a speaker module fixed to a housing of the electronic device. However, a special receiving chamber is usually needed in the housing to accommodate the speaker module with a sound channel corresponding to speaker module to output sound from the speaker module, thus making the structure of the housing complex. In addition, the speaker module is commonly fixed by screws which may increase a thickness of the housing. 
     Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 1  is a disassembled view of a housing assembly, according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is an assembled view of the housing assembly of  FIG. 1   
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the housing assembly in  FIG. 2  along line III-III. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  is a disassembled view of a housing assembly, according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The housing assembly is used in electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers. The housing assembly includes a housing  10  and a speaker module  20  assembled to the housing  10 . 
       FIG. 2  shows that the housing  10  includes a bottom wall  11  and a side wall  12  extending from a peripheral edge of the bottom wall  11 . The bottom wall  11  includes a first surface and an opposite second surface. In this embodiment, the first surface is an outer surface  13  of the bottom wall  11 . The second surface is an inner surface  14  of the bottom wall  11 . The bottom wall  11  defines a through slot  15  configured for assembling the speaker module  20 . A step-shaped recess  151  is formed along a peripheral edge of the slot  15  in the inner surface  14 . Two strip-shaped opposite ribs  16  protrude from the inner surface  14  adjacent to the recess  151 . 
       FIG. 3  shows that the speaker module  20  includes a speaker  21  (schematically shown), a base  22 , and a cover  23 . The speaker  21  is received in the base  22 . The base  22  includes a top surface  221 , and a side surface  222  extending from a peripheral edge of the top surface  221 . A protrusion  224  protrudes from the side surface  222  surrounding the base  22  and parallel to the top surface  221 . A distance between the protrusion  224  and the top surface  221  is substantially equal to a thickness of the housing  10 . The cover  23  is attached to the top surface  221  to protect the speaker  21 . A plurality of sound holes  231  are defined in the cover  23  to output audio signals from the speaker  21 . The cover  23  and the base  22  can be formed by integrated molding. 
     In assembly, the speaker module  21  is received in the slot  15  with the protrusion  224  abutting against the recess  151 . The protrusion  224  is adhered to the recess  151 . Furthermore, a sealing material  26  such as foam, can be positioned between the protrusion  224  and the recess  151  to seal the recess  151 . The speaker module  21  is fixed to the housing  10  with the ribs  16  resisting against two sides of the protrusion  224 . The cover  23  is coplanar with the outer surface  13  to provide a smooth surface of the housing  10 . 
       FIG. 4  shows that in other embodiments, the housing assembly further includes a circuit board  30 . The circuit board  30  is received in the housing  10  and resists against at one side of the speaker module  20 . The speaker module  20  is sandwiched between the housing  10  and the circuit board  30 . The sealing material  26  positioned between the speaker module  20  and the housing  10  may be deformed in order to seal the recess  151 . Thus, the sealing material  26  provides an elastic force to the speaker module  20  outward of the recess  151 , which may lead to the speaker module  20  coming out of from the recess  151 . However, the circuit board  30  resists against the speaker module  20  toward the recess  151  to prevent the speaker module  20  from escaping from coming out of the recess  151 . In other words, the circuit board  30  resists against the speaker module  20 , so the speaker module  20  cannot loosen easily due to elastic force provided by the sealing material  26 . 
     The speaker module  20  is assembled to the housing  10  by fixing the protrusion  224  to the recess  151 . Therefore, no extra fasteners are used in the housing assembly so that the housing assembly can have a relative simple structure and thinness. 
     In other embodiment, the recess  151  can be omitted. The protrusion  224  is directly fixed to the inner surface  14 . 
     In addition, the ribs  16  and the protrusion  224  can be elastic. The protrusion  224  abuts against the inner surface  14  of the housing  10  and is sandwiched between the ribs  16  fixing the speaker module  20  to the housing  10 . 
     It is believed that the exemplary embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the disclosure.