Patent Publication Number: US-2006002065-A1

Title: Notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board, and especially to a notebook computer having a redesigned main board allowing easy disassembly by a user disassembles.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      When equipment of a conventional notebook computer becomes obsolete, it must be replaced without any extensions in order to get a new notebook computer. Conversely, the notebook computer has some extension slots to connect with peripheral equipment, but a main board cannot be updated at all. The reasons are that the electronic components are intricate and formed on the main frame shell across or overlapping, and bus lines which connect the electronic components to the main board are disposed all over the main board in a dispersed manner and may even overlap with the electronic components. They must be disassembled carefully even by a maintenance person, or they cannot be used any more.  
       FIG. 1  is an exploded, perspective view of a conventional notebook computer disclosed in TW application No. 90218795. The notebook computer  7  has a main frame  8  and a liquid crystal display panel  9 . The main frame  8  comprises a top shell  80 , a bottom shell  82 , a main board  81  fixed on the top shell  80 , a fan  84  assembled onto the bottom shell  82 , and a battery  86  disposed on a front end of the main frame  8 . The main board  81  and the top shell  8  are substantially the same size. The main board  81  has a CPU  810 , a heat sink device  811  disposed on the CPU  810 , a CD-ROM  812 , a hard disk  816 , a floppy disk  818  mounted thereon. The bottom shell  82  is formed with a slot  820 .  
      The electronic components mentioned above are mounted on the main board  8  in a dispersed manner. For example, a power connector of the fan  84  is inserted in a top rim of the main board  8 , an electrical connector  813  of the CD-ROM  812  is substantially mounted on a middle of the main board, and a power connector of the battery  86  is inserted into a socket  814  on a corner of the main board  8 . Furthermore, connection points of the other electronic components and the main board  8  cannot be seen clearly at all; some overlap with the electronic components and some are shielded under the top shell  80 . The electronic components are disposed on each corner of the main board  8  in a dispersed manner and may even be shielded by the other electronic components. The design is so intricate that it is not convenient to maintain and change the electronic components.  
      As can be seen from above description, the design of the conventional notebook computer is inconvenient and makes changing and maintaining the electronic components difficult, so it must be improved.  
      Therefore, a notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board that overcomes the above-mentioned problems is desired.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An object of the present invention is to provide a notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board, and especially to provide a notebook computer having a redesigned main board allowing a user to disassemble it easily.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board, in which the other electronic components are disassembled easily, too.  
      To achieve the above objects, a notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board includes a main frame and a display panel. The main frame has a frame for receiving a plurality of electronic components. A main board is disposed under the frame, and a top shell and a bottom shell cover the frame. The frame has a top plate having a slit. A plurality of electrical connectors is formed on a top surface of the main board, and extends out of the slit. The display panel is pivotably mounted on the frame. Bus lines of the electronic components extend above the main board, and connect to the electrical connectors, thereby the bus lines and the main board can be disassembled easily.  
      While the invention may be susceptible to embodiment in different forms, there is shown in the drawings, and herein will be described in detail, a specific embodiment with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to that as illustrated and described herein. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is an exploded, perspective view of a conventional notebook computer;  
       FIG. 2  is an exploded, perspective view of a notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is an assembled, perspective view of the notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a top view of the notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board, wherein the keyboard is disassembled from the notebook computer;  
       FIG. 5  is a top view of the main board of the notebook computer of the present invention;  
       FIG. 6  is bottom view of the main board of the notebook computer of the present invention; and  
       FIG. 7  is an exploded, perspective view of the notebook computer when the notebook computer is inverted. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       FIG. 2  is an exploded, perspective view of a notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board of the present invention. The notebook computer  1  comprises a main frame  2  and a display panel  3 . The main frame  2  comprises a top shell  21 , a bottom shell  22 , and a frame  4  for receiving a plurality of electronic components. The top shell  21  and the bottom shell  22  are made of insulative material and are screwed onto the frame  4  by screws  211 ,  222 , respectively. The top shell  21  of the main frame  2  has a keyboard  212 , which is mounted detachably thereon. The bottom shell  22  is a beautified shell, which is formed integrally. The display panel  3  is pivotably mounted on a side of the frame  4 .  
      The frame  4  is cast from a light metallic material, and a magnesium alloy is preferable. The frame  4  made of a magnesium alloy is light, firm, conductive, shockproof, EMI free, and recyclable in accord with demands of environmental protection, has good heat sink performance, and allows the notebook computer to be assembled modularly and improves the manufacture efficiency. The frame  4  has a top plate  42 , a touch panel  44  and a card reader  46 . The top plate  42  is formed with an opening  420 , which is substantially on middle of the top plate  42 . A reverse side of the frame  4  is formed a plurality of receiving spaces (shown in  FIG. 7 ) for receiving the main board  5  and a plurality of electronic components. The main board  5  is disposed on the reverse side of the frame  4 . The main board  5  has a substrate  50 . A top surface  502  of the substrate  50  is mounted with a plurality of electrical connectors  52  for electrically connecting the electronic components, respectively.  
       FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  are an assembled view of the notebook computer of the present invention and a top view of the notebook computer with a keyboard disassembled, respectively. The keyboard  212  is disposed above the opening  420  of the frame  4 . The keyboard  212  has a plurality of protrusions  214 ,  216 , which are formed on a top rim and a bottom rim, and engaged in a keyboard opening  210  of the top shell  21 . Therefore, the keyboard  212  is easily disassembled from the top shell  21 . The electrical connectors  52  can be seen clearly when the keyboard  212  is disassembled from above. The connection points between the electronic components and the main board  5 , i.e. the electrical connectors  52 , are concentrated above the main board  5  and exposed by the opening  420  of the frame  4 . Bus lines of the electronic components extend above the main board  5  and connect to the electrical connectors  52 , respectively. The electronic components are thus easily and conveniently disassembled from the main board  5 .  
       FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6  are a top view and a bottom view of the main board of the notebook computer of the present invention, respectively. In the embodiment, the electrical connectors  52  of the main board  5  are substantially arranged in a rectangle. The top surface  502  of the main board  5  has a north bridge chip  54  and a south bridge chip  56 . The north bridge chip  54  is mounted among the electrical connectors  52 . The electrical connectors  52  comprise a card reader connector  521  for an electrical memory card, a touch panel connector  522 , a keyboard connector  523 , a LED connector  524 , an internal microphone connector  525 , a speaker connector  526 , a display panel signal connector  527  and a display panel power connector  528 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 6 , the main board  5  at least comprises a CPU connector  51 , a memory  53 , and a plurality of external slots  506  at a bottom surface  504  thereof. The external slots  506  includes, for example, a power socket, a USB socket, a microphone socket, an earphone socket, a network socket and an external display socket. The bottom surface  504  of the main board  5  may further have a hard disk  55 , a wireless module  57 , and a modem  59 . The hard disk  55  is detachably mounted in the main board  5 . The wireless module  57  is disposed adjacent to the rim of the main board  5  for transmitting and receiving signals to a wireless network conveniently.  
       FIG. 7  is an exploded, perspective view of the notebook computer when the notebook computer is inverted. The frame  4  is cast from a light metallic material, and a magnesium alloy is preferable. The frame  4  made of a magnesium alloy allows modular assembly of the notebook computer and improves the manufacture efficiency. The reverse side of the frame  4  has a plurality of receiving spaces for receiving the electronic components and the main board  5 . The main board  5  is formed with a plurality of screw holes  500  in periphery thereof for being screwed onto the frame  4 . The electronic components at least comprise a heat sink module  43 , a data access device  48  and a battery  45 . The heat sink module  43  has one end adjacent to the edges of the frame  4  to dissipate heat conveniently, and the other end is disposed on the CPU  51 . The data access device  48  is, for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM or a Combo CD-ROM.  
      There are no blocks between the electronic components and the main board  5  when the bottom shell  22  is disassembled from the notebook computer  1 . It is easy to assemble and disassemble even if the main board  5  has a plurality of electrical connectors on the bottom surface thereof. Referring to  FIG. 6  again, a layout of a CD-ROM connector  507 , a fan connector  508  and a battery connector  509  is very elastic.  
      The notebook computer with an easily disassembled main board, of the present invention has the following advantages. First, the connectors are concentrated under the keyboard and exposed in a same place so that the user can change the main board easily. The user can even disassemble the electronic components and update them conveniently. Infinite update space and possibilities are thus provided. Second, the step of disassembling the main board is very simple; the top shell need not be removed to disassemble the connecting bus lines even is the main board is rotated and disposed in another angle. Third, all kinds of electrical components are seen on the bottom surface of the frame without overlapping when the bottom shell is disassembled simply. It is easy for the user itself to maintain, change or update the notebook computer, unlike the conventional notebook computer, which cannot be updated by the user easily. Fourth, breaking down the integrative sale mode and disassembling the main board, CPU, memory, hard disk, and CD-ROM are easy, and providing both sellers and consumers with flexible assembly and choices.  
      It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.