초록 ▼

A protective enclosure is disclosed that provides protection and energy management for a sensitive or fragile part or device that can be enclosed. The enclosure comprises one or more rigid structural components and one or more soft touch surface components from which one or more ribs originate and p

A protective enclosure is disclosed that provides protection and energy management for a sensitive or fragile part or device that can be enclosed. The enclosure comprises one or more rigid structural components and one or more soft touch surface components from which one or more ribs originate and pass through the rigid structural component(s) to provide the energy management for the part or device when it is enclosed. The soft touch surface and rib material can be a low modulus, plastic material such as a thermoplastic elastomer and can optionally be foamed to provide further softness for the soft touch surface effect and/or for the energy management needs in the pass through ribs. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is a particularly suitable thermoplastic. It has also been found that the protective enclosure can be designed to utilize the soft touch component to provide a substantially continuous liquid and dust resistant seal for any moveable or removable structural components. Preferably the pass through ribs and the soft touch surface are molded onto the first rigid component(s) by molding them onto the first component using a two shot molding, insert molding or overmolding process.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A protective enclosure that provides protection and energy management for a sensitive or fragile part or device that can be enclosed, the enclosure comprising one or more rigid structural components and one or more soft touch surface components and having one or more low modulus ribs that are des

1. A protective enclosure that provides protection and energy management for a sensitive or fragile part or device that can be enclosed, the enclosure comprising one or more rigid structural components and one or more soft touch surface components and having one or more low modulus ribs that are designed appropriately to position and seat the part or device when it is enclosed, such ribs originating from the soft touch surface component and passing through the rigid structural component(S) to provide the energy management for the part or device when it is enclosed. 2. The protective enclosure according to claim 1 wherein the soft touch surface component comprises a surface layer over at least a part of one or more of the rigid structural components. 3. The protective enclosure according to claim 1 wherein the surface layer sections of the soft touch component have a thickness of from about 0.05 to about 5 millimeters. 4. The protective enclosure according to claim 1 wherein there is a moveable structural component that (a) opens to provide an opening to receive or remove a device that is protectively enclosed and (b) closes to provide a substantially continuous liquid and dust resistant seal provided by the soft touch component(s). 5. The protective enclosure according to claim 1 wherein the soft touch component is prepared from a low modulus, plastic material. 6. The protective enclosure according to claim 5 wherein the soft touch component plastic material is a thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer, a thermoplastic silicone vulcanizate or a thermoplastic polyurethane.