Flexible housing and fabrication method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10645827-B2
Application number	US-201916368766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2019
Priority date	Mar 30, 2018
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a flexible housing, a fabrication method thereof, and an electronic device. The flexible housing includes: a rigid frame including at least two separate rigid members; an elastic fiber web, where two ends of the elastic fiber web are coupled to the two rigid members to form a bending portion; a flexible outer casing arranged over an outer surface of the elastic fiber web. Wrinkles are formed in corresponding portions of the flexible outer casing and the elastic fiber web in response to the elastic fiber web not being subject to a bending force.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a display screen; and a flexible housing attached to the display screen, wherein the flexible housing includes: a rigid frame including at least two separate rigid members;
an elastic fiber web, wherein two ends of the elastic fiber web are coupled to the two rigid members; and
a flexible outer casing arranged over an outer surface of the elastic fiber web, wherein wrinkles are formed in corresponding portions of the flexible outer casing and the elastic fiber web in response to the elastic fiber web not being subject to a bending force; wherein one or more separate rigid support members are disposed between the two rigid members that are coupled to the two ends of the elastic fiber web and enclosed rotating shafts; the elastic fiber web encloses an outer surface of each rigid support member; lengthwise fibers are arranged parallelly with a bending direction; widthwise fibers are arranged perpendicularly to the bending direction; the lengthwise fibers and the widthwise fibers are interweaved to form the elastic fiber web; and the lengthwise fibers have a diameter greater than that of the widthwise fibers.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein in the flexible housing:
the flexible outer casing is made of a base material including evenly dispersed short fibers.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein in the flexible housing:
the elastic fiber web is made of polyurethane.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein in the flexible housing:
a plurality of thermally-melt coupling posts are placed on an inner surface of the rigid frame.

Assignees

• Lenovo Beijing Co Ltd

Inventors

• Fan Xiaoli
• Yang Run

Classifications

• H05K5/00 Primary

  Casings, cabinets or drawers for electric apparatus · CPC title

• G06F1/1616

  with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

  the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable · CPC title

• G06F1/1615

  with several enclosures having relative motions, each enclosure supporting at least one I/O or computing function (constructional details of portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts H04M1/0206) · CPC title

• G06F1/1681

  Details related solely to hinges (hinge details related to the transmission of signals or power are classified in G06F1/1683) · CPC title