Balanced magnetic array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017092402-A1
Application number	US-201615267079-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 15, 2016
Priority date	Sep 25, 2015
Publication date	Mar 30, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A consumer electronic device is disclosed that includes at least the following elements: a housing and magnets carried by the housing that form magnetic circuits with corresponding magnets carried by an accessory device. The magnetic circuits taken together (i) magnetically attach the housing to the accessory device, and (ii) have a net zero, or near net zero, torque.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A consumer electronic device, comprising;
a housing; and first magnet elements carried by the housing that form magnetic circuits with corresponding second magnetic elements carried by an accessory device, wherein the magnetic circuits taken together have a net zero, or near net zero, torque value.

2 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a pinning magnetic element carried by the housing, the pinning magnetic element having a magnetic property.

3 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 2 , wherein the magnetic circuits taken together with the pinning magnetic element further comprise a net non-zero attraction force corresponding to the magnetic property.

4 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 3 , wherein net non-zero attraction force provided by the pinning magnetic element magnetically attaches the housing to the accessory device.

5 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic elements carried by the housing and the corresponding second magnetic elements carried by the accessory device are arranged in magnetic diads.

6 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic elements carried by the housing comprise a first magnetic polarity pattern.

7 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 6 , wherein corresponding second magnetic elements carried by the accessory device comprise a second polarity pattern that is different than the first polarity pattern.

8 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 7 , wherein the first and the second polarity patterns result in a net zero, or near net zero, force value between the first magnetic elements carried by the housing and the corresponding second magnetic elements carried by the accessory device.

9 . The consumer electronic device as recited in claim 5 , wherein a first magnetic diad comprises a first magnetic element carried by the housing, the first magnetic element comprising a first magnet having a length 2 L and having a first polarity, the first magnetic diad further comprising a corresponding second magnetic element carried by the accessory device comprising a first magnet having a length L and the first polarity and a second magnet having the length L and a second polarity opposite the first polarity.

10 . A consumer product system, comprising:
a consumer electronic product comprising: a housing, and first magnetic elements carried by the housing and a pinning magnet having a magnetic property and separate from the first magnetic elements; and an accessory device capable of being magnetically coupled to the consumer electronic product and comprising an accessory body arranged to carry second magnetic elements capable of forming magnetic circuits with corresponding first magnetic elements carried by the housing, wherein the magnetic circuits comprise a net torque value of about zero and a net force value corresponding to the magnetic property of the pinning magnet.

11 . The consumer product system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the magnetic circuits taken together further comprise a net zero attraction force.

12 . The consumer product system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the first magnetic elements carried by the housing and the corresponding second magnets carried by the accessory device are arranged in magnetic diads.

13 . The consumer product system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the first magnetic elements carried by the housing comprise a first magnetic polarity pattern.

14 . The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 10 , and the corresponding second magnetic elements carried by the accessory device comprise a second polarity pattern different than the first polarity pattern.

15 . A method, comprising:
for a primary and a secondary magnetic array each comprising corresponding sub-groups of magnets, the primary magnetic array further comprising a pinning magnet having a magnetic property, for each magnetic sub-group, adjusting a magnetic property of a first sub-group of the primary magnetic array and a magnetic property of the second sub-group of the secondary magnetic array such that a net magnetic torque between the first and second sub-groups is a net zero value such that a magnetic attraction between the first and second magnetic arrays corresponds to the magnetic property of the pinning magnet.

16 . The method as recited in claim 15 , further comprising:
wherein the adjusting is carried out for all sub-groups.

17 . The method as recited in claim 16 , wherein the net magnetic torque corresponds to a summation of the magnetic torques of each of the sub-groups.

18 . The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the corresponding sub-groups form magnetic diads.

19 . The method as recited in claim 18 , wherein each of the magnetic diads comprise a net zero magnetic torque.

20 . The method as recited in claim 18 , wherein each of the magnetic diads comprise a net zero magnetic force.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Mallard David F

Classifications

• H01F7/0242 Primary

  Magnetic drives, magnetic coupling devices · CPC title

• H05K5/03

  Covers · CPC title