Patent Publication Number: US-2016227896-A1

Title: Buoyancy device and portable electronic assembly using the same

Description:
FIELD 
     The subject matter herein generally relates to buoyancy devices and portable electronic assemblies using the same. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the improvement of wireless communication, portable electronic devices have become important tools in daily life. But the portable electronic devices are easily damaged when dropped into water or other liquid. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached figures. 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a portable electronic assembly, according to a first embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is an isometric view of a buoyancy device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view taken along line of the buoyancy device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of the buoyancy device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is an isometric view of a portable electronic assembly, according to a second embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is an isometric view of a portable electronic assembly, according to a third embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the different figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevant feature being described. Also, the description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts may be exaggerated to better illustrate details and features of the present disclosure. 
     Several definitions that apply throughout this disclosure will now be presented. 
     The term “substantially” is defined to be essentially conforming to the particular dimension, shape or other word that substantially modifies, such that the component need not be exact. The term “comprising” when utilized, means “including, but not necessarily limited to”; it specifically indicates open-ended inclusion or membership in the so-described combination, group, series and the like. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an isometric view of a portable electronic assembly  100  including a buoyancy device  50  and a portable electronic device  90 , according to a first embodiment. The buoyancy device  50  is used to accommodate the portable electronic device  90  to protect the portable electronic device  90  from shock, and to improve a buoyancy force of the portable electronic device  90  in liquid, as such limiting the time the portable electronic device  90  is submerged, thus improving water resistance. 
     The buoyancy device  50  can be a protection case made of plastic material or silica gel.  FIG. 2  illustrates the buoyancy device  50  includes a housing  51 . The housing  51  includes a bottom board  511  and a plurality of side boards  513  surrounding the bottom board  511 . The side boards  513  are higher than the bottom board  511 , the bottom board  511  and the side boards  513  cooperatively form an accommodation cavity  515  to accommodate the portable electronic device  90 . 
     It is to be understood, the buoyancy device  50  can be made of other materials with low density. For example, when the buoyancy device  50  is designed to enable the portable electronic device  90  to float on a kind of liquid, the density of the buoyancy device  50  should be low enough such that the overall density of the portable electronic assembly  100  is lower than the density of that kind of liquid. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates the bottom board  511  includes a bottom wall  5111  and a top wall  5113  apart from the bottom wall  5111 . The bottom wall  5111 , the top wall  5113  and the side boards  513  cooperatively form a cavity  53  inside the housing  51  for accommodating gas with low density, such as air, nitrogen or helium or other gas. It is to be understood, the cavity  53  can be vacuum. In at least one embodiment, the cavity  53  includes at least one first primary cavity  531  and at least one second primary cavity  533  isolated from the first primary cavity  531 . The first primary cavity  531  is defined inside the bottom board  511  and located between the bottom wall  5111  and the top wall  5113 , and the second primary cavity  533  is defined inside the side boards  513 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates the first primary cavity  531  is substantially a honeycomb structure and includes at least two isolated first subsidiary cavities  5311 . Each first subsidiary cavity  5311  is substantially a hexagonal structure and includes six separating plates  5313  connected end to end. Each separating plate  5313  connects to the bottom wall  5111  and the top wall  5113  to strengthen the first primary cavity  531  of the buoyancy device  50 . 
     The second primary cavity  533  is disposed outside of the first primary cavity  531 . The second primary cavity  533  includes at least two isolated second subsidiary cavities  5331 . As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , each second subsidiary cavity  5331  includes two supporting plates  5333 , and each supporting plate  5333  connects to two of the separating plates  5313  and the side board  513  to strengthen the second primary cavity  533 . The separating plates  5313  and the supporting plates  5333  can be made of elastic materials or vibration-absorptive materials to absorb impact force. 
     Although the cavity  53  is illustrated as a honey comb structure in  FIG. 4 , in another embodiment the cavity  53  can have another shape such as a triangle structure, a quadrilateral structure or a cubic structure. 
     In assembly, the buoyancy device  50  can be made by injection molding in a gas chamber and the gas in the chamber can be nitrogen, helium or other gas with low density, thus the gas with low density can be filled in the first primary cavity  531  and the second primary cavity  533 , then the portable electronic device  90  can be accommodated in the accommodation cavity  515 . Alternatively, the buoyancy device  50  can be made by injection molding in a vacuum chamber. When the portable electronic device  90  and buoyancy device  50  are dropped to the ground, the separating plates  5313  and supporting plates  5333  can support the buoyancy device  50  and the portable electronic device  90  to prevent the portable electronic device  90  from being broken by impact force. When the buoyancy device  50  and the portable electronic device  90  are dropped into liquid, the gas in the first primary cavity  531  and the second primary cavity  533  can improve the buoyancy force of the buoyancy device  50  to make the portable electronic device  90  float on the liquid, thereby preventing the portable electronic device  90  from being submerged under the water or other liquid, thus limiting the amount of liquid that enters the portable electronic device  90 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a portable electronic assembly  200  includes a buoyancy device  150  and a portable electronic device  190 , according to a second embodiment. The buoyancy device  150  defines a cavity  153 , structures and functions of the cavity  153  in the second embodiment are substantially the same as the cavity  53  in the first embodiment. The buoyancy device  150  differs from the buoyancy device  50  only in that the buoyancy device  150  is a battery cover configured to protect a battery of the portable electronic device  190 . The portable electronic assembly  200  further includes a membrane  155  which can be either transparent or non-transparent coating, and the membrane  155  is defined on the battery cover  150  and is facing to the battery to cover the cavity  153  to hermetically seal the cavity  153 , when the cavity  153  is filled with the air, then membrane  155  seals the cavity  153  to prevent the air from getting out to provide a buoyancy force for the portable electronic device  190 . 
     It is to be understood, in other embodiments, the buoyancy device  150  can be a whole housing of the portable electronic device  190  or a partial housing of the portable electronic device  190 . 
       FIG. 6  is an isometric view of a portable electronic including a buoyancy device  250 , and the honeycomb structure of the buoyancy device  250  can be made of small cells with low density. The buoyancy device  250  includes a bottom board  2511  and a plurality of side boards  2513  surrounding the bottom board  2511 . The buoyancy device  250  further includes a plurality of separating plates  2512  disposed on the bottom board  2511 . The bottom board  511 , the side board  2513  and the separating plates  2512  cooperatively form a cavity  253 . The bottom board  511 , the side board  2513  and the separating plates  2512  can be made of small cells and the small cells can be made by 3D printing. The small cells can be solid and made by materials with low density, or the small cells can be hollow and filled with air or other gas with low density. It is to be understood, when the small cells are hollow, the inside space of the small cells can be vacuum. Also, the small cells can be made of elastic materials or vibration-absorptive materials to absorb impact force. The buoyancy device  50 ′ can replace the buoyancy device  50  in  FIG. 1  or the buoyancy device  150  in  FIG. 5 . 
     In summary, the buoyancy device  50  defines the first primary cavity  531  and the second primary cavity  533  between the bottom board  511  and the side boards  513  which can be filled with low density gas, thereby improving the buoyancy force of the buoyancy device  50 . The first primary cavity  531  is substantially a honeycomb structure and includes a plurality of first subsidiary cavities  5311 , the second primary cavity  533  includes a plurality of second subsidiary cavities  5331 , when any one of the first subsidiary cavities  5311  and the second subsidiary cavities  5331  is damaged, other first subsidiary cavities  5311  and second subsidiary cavities  5331  can still function. The first primary cavity  531  has a plurality of separating plates  5313 , the second primary cavity  533  has a plurality of supporting plates  5333 , the separating plates  5313  and the supporting plates  5333  are connected to strengthen the cavity  53  of the buoyancy device  50 . 
     The embodiments shown and described above are only examples. Many details are often found in the art. Therefore, many such details are neither shown nor described. Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present technology have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the present disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in the detail, including in matters of shape, size and arrangement of the parts within the principles of the present disclosure up to, and including the full extent established by the broad general meaning of the terms used in the claims. It will therefore be appreciated that the embodiments described above may be modified within the scope of the claims.