Patent Publication Number: US-2013239654-A1

Title: Impact testing device

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to an impact testing device for testing impact resistances of electronic devices. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Electronic devices, such as mobile phones, are usually impact tested to test their impact resistance. A typical method to test the electronic devices is manually operating an impact head to make the head fall down to hit the testing points of the electronic devices. The impact resistance of the electronic device is determined by the damaged condition of the electronic devices. However, the manual operation of the impact head commonly results in imprecise results. Furthermore, the impact head may hit the tester when it falls down or slides from the electronic devices (e.g., gravity operated). 
     Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following figures. The components in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of an exemplary embodiment of an impact testing device. 
         FIG. 2  is another isometric view of the impact testing device. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of an impact test using the impact testing device shown in  FIGS. 1-2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIGS. 1-3  show an impact testing device  100  according to an exemplary embodiment. The impact testing device  100  is used to test the impact resistance of an electronic device  200 . The electronic device  200  may be a mobile phone, a PDA, for example. 
     The impact testing device  100  includes a main body  10 , a pneumatic pump  30 , a transmitting element  50 , and an impact head  70 . 
     The pneumatic pump  30  and the transmitting element  50  are connected to the opposite two ends of the main body  10  and communicate with the main body  10 . The impact head  70  is connected to the free end of the transmitting element  50 . 
     The main body  10  defines a cavity  11  in the main body  10 . The cavity  11  is cylindrically-shaped or squarely-shaped, for example. The cavity  11  has two cylindrically-shaped ends, each having an inner diameter matching with the pneumatic pump  30  and the transmitting element  50 , which allows the cavity  11  to communicate with the pneumatic pump  30  and the transmitting element  50 . In the embodiment, the main body  10  includes a handle  13  for users to hold during test. The main body  10  further includes a switch  15  for users to operate to connect or cut the communication of the cavity  11  and the transmitting element  50 . 
     The pneumatic pump  30  is connected to the cavity  11  by a pneumatic pipe  31 . The pneumatic pipe  31  has an inner diameter mating with the end of the cavity  11  connecting to the pneumatic pipe  31 . The pneumatic pump  30  may be mounted an adjusting valve (not shown) to adjust the pressure in the cavity  11 . 
     The transmitting element  50  includes a joint pipe  51  and a stretching column  53  slidably mounted in the joint pipe  51 . The joint pipe  51  has an inner diameter mating with the end of the cavity  11  connecting to the joint pipe  51 , the transmitting element  50  is connected to the main body  10  by the joint pipe  51 . The impact head  70  is fastened to the free end of the stretching column  53 . In the embodiment, the outer surface of the stretching column  53  and the inner surface of the joint pipe  51  both are smooth surfaces, thus there is almost no friction between the stretching column  53  and the joint pipe  51  during the stretching column  53  moving out of or moving into the joint pipe  51 . 
     The impact head  70  may be made of steel or iron. In the embodiment, the impact head  70  is a sphere having a diameter of about 50 mm and a mass of about 500 g. 
     In the embodiment, the impact testing device  100  further includes a limiting pipe  90  to limit the testing distance for the electronic device  200 . The limiting pipe  90  is located around the transmitting element  50 , and half of the impact head  70  when the stretching column  53  completely moves out of the joint pipe  51 . In the embodiment, the length of the limiting pipe  90  is larger than the total length of the joint pipe  51  and the impact head  70 , and is smaller than or equal to the total length of the impact head  70  and the transmitting element  50  when the stretching column  53  completely stretches out of the joint pipe  51 . When the electronic device  200  resists against the end of the limiting pipe  90 , the test distance the impact head  70  moves is limited. 
     When testing the impact resistance of the electronic device  200 , the pneumatic pump  30  is first turned on to feed the cavity  11  gas until a desired pressure in the cavity  11  is reached. The desired pressure in the cavity  11  is the pressure that makes the impact head  70  reach a desired speed when the impact head  70  hits the electronic device  200 . Then, the electronic device  200  is positioned against a fixing wall (such as a wall of a housing, not shown), and the testing surface of the electronic device  200  is vertically set. The limiting pipe  90  is resisted against the electronic device  200 , the center of the impact head  70  aims at the testing point of the electronic device  200 . At this time, the switch  15  is turned off and the joint pipe  51  does not communicated to the cavity  11 , and the stretching column  53  is completely received in the joint pipe  51 . Then, the switch  15  is turned on to make the joint pipe  51  communicate with the cavity  11 , thus the stretching column  53  is driven by the pressure of the cavity  11  to move out of the joint pipe  51  and makes the impact head  70  hit the test point at the testing surface of the electronic device  200 . 
     The impact testing device  100  of the exemplary embodiment using an impact head  70 , which is pneumatically controlled to test the impact resistance of the electronic devices. Compared to the manual operation of the impact head, the test result using the impact testing device  100  is much more consistent and precise. Furthermore, the impact testing device  100  has a simple structure, and the impact head  70  cannot pop out of the impact testing device  100  to harm testers. 
     It is believed that the exemplary embodiment and its 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 advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.