Patent Publication Number: US-2010124698-A1

Title: Battery cover assembly for portable electronic device

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The exemplary disclosure generally relates to battery cover assemblies, and particularly to battery cover assemblies used in portable electronic devices. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Portable electronic devices usually include latch mechanisms for latching battery covers to housings. The latch mechanisms must tolerate frequent installation and removal of batteries relative to the housing. 
     A typical battery cover latch mechanism includes a battery cover and a housing. The battery cover may slide relative to and then latch with the housing by a sliding-type structure. However, the battery cover can be damaged during disassembly. 
     Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with references 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 exemplary battery cover assembly and portable electronic device using battery cover assembly. Moreover, in the drawings like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements of an embodiment. 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded, schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a battery assembly used for holding a battery therein, the battery assembly including a battery cover, a housing, magnetic element, an iron core and an inductance coil. 
         FIG. 2  is similar to  FIG. 1 , but showing the battery assembly in another view. 
         FIG. 3  is similar to  FIG. 2 , but the magnetic element is assembled to the batter cover, the iron core and the inductance coil are both assembled to the housing. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of which a latching portion of the battery cover is latched into a latching slot of the housing. 
         FIG. 5  is an assembled view of the battery cover shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of the battery cover shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary embodiment of a battery cover assembly  100  for accommodating a battery therein is shown. The battery cover assembly  100  includes a battery cover  10 , a housing  20 , a magnetic element  30  mounted to the battery cover  10 , an iron core  40  mounted to the housing  20  and an inductance coil  50  wound to the iron core  40 . Referring to  FIG. 6 , the battery cover  10  is latched with the housing  20  by the attractive force between the magnetic element  30  and the iron core  40 . The inductance coil  50  is electrically connected to a power supply P disposed in the housing  20 . When the power supply P electrifies the inductance coil  50 , the inductance coil  50  forms an electric field having a magnetic pole opposite to that of the magnetic element  30 , so a repulsive force is formed between the magnetic element  30  and the iron core  40 . Thus, the latching engagement of the battery cover  10  and the housing  20  can be released when the repulsive force is larger than the attractive force. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the battery cover  10  includes a first surface  12  facing the housing  20 . The battery cover  10  has two spaced latching portions  122  protruding from the first surface  12  and located adjacent to one side thereof. The battery cover  10  further has two spaced positioning portions  124  protruding from the first surface  12  and located adjacent to another side thereof. The battery cover  10  has a hollow frame  126  protruding from the first surface  12  between the positioning portions  124 , and the frame  126  encloses a concave portion  128  for accommodating the magnetic element  30  therein. 
     The housing  20  has a receiving space  22  defined therein corresponding to the battery cover  10 , and a bottom wall  222  defined in the receiving space  22 . The receiving space  22  is configured for accommodating the battery cover  10  therein. The housing  20  has a compartment  224  defined in the bottom wall  222  for accommodating the battery therein. 
     The housing  20  has two spaced latching slots  226  corresponding to the latching portions  122  of the battery cover  10 . Each of the latching slots  226  is configured to latch with a corresponding latching portion  122 . The housing  20  has two spaced positioning holes  228  corresponding to the positioning portions  124  of the battery cover  10 . The positioning holes  228  are configured to accommodate the positioning portions  124  therein, so the battery cover  10  and the housing  20  can be accurately assembled together. 
     The housing  20  has a mating space  229  (see  FIG. 6 ) defined therethrough between the positioning holes  228 . The mating space  229  is configured to accommodate the magnetic element  30  therein. The mating space  229  includes a first opening  2292  defined one side of the housing  20  and a second opening  2294  defined another side of the housing  20 . The first opening  2292  is larger than the second opening  2294 , and the first opening  2292  is communicated with the second opening  2294 . 
     The iron core  40  includes a securing portion  42 , a contacting portion  44  protruding outwardly from one end of the securing portion  42  and a retaining portion  46  protruding outwardly from another end of the securing portion  42 . The securing portion  42  has the same shape as the first opening  2292  with a larger size than the first opening  2292 . The contacting portion  44  has the same shape as the second opening  2294  and is accommodated in the second opening  2294 . The contacting portion  44  is configured to contact with the magnetic element  30 . The retaining portion  46  is configured to wind the inductance coil  50  thereon. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 to 6 , during assembling the battery cover  10  assembly, first, the magnetic element  30  is mounted (e.g., holt-melt) in the concave portion  128 . The inductance coil  50  is wound on the retaining portion  46  of the iron core  40 . The iron core  40  is accommodated in the mating space  229 . At this time, the securing portion  42  is securely accommodated in the first opening  2292  to secure the iron core  40  in the mating space  229 , the contacting portion  44  is accommodated in the second opening  2294 . After that, the latching portions  122  of the battery cover  10  are received in the latching slots  226  of the housing  20 . Then, the battery cover  10  is rotated about the latching portions  122  toward the housing  20 , until the positioning portions  124  of the battery cover  10  are accommodated in the positioning holes  228  of the housing  20 . At this stage, the magnetic element  30  is magnetically attracted with the contacting portion  44  to latching the battery cover  10  with the housing  20 , i.e., yielding to an assembled battery cover assembly  1   00 . 
     When detaching the battery cover  10  from the housing  20 , the power supply P electrifies the inductance coil  50 , the inductance coil  50  forms an electric field having a magnetic pole opposite to that of the magnetic element  30 , so a repulsive force is formed between the magnetic element  30  and the iron core  40 . Thus, the latching engagement of the battery cover  10  and the housing  20  can be released when the repulsive force is larger than the attractive force. 
     It is to be understood, the inductance coil  50  can be omitted, at this case, the latching engagement of the battery cover  10  and the housing  20  can be manually released. 
     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.