Related Application

[0001] This application claims convention priority from Australian provisional patent application 2021221639 filed on 25 August 2021 , the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates to housings suitable for containing electronics, particularly electronics required for automotive usage, in situations where multiple different housings contain different types of electronics to be used together, rendering interconnectable and stackable modular housings useful.

[0003] While the use of such housings will be described below with respect to the automotive industry, it will be appreciated that the housing of the present invention may be used in any situation or environment where modular housings for electronics might find use.

Background of the Invention

[0004] The automotive industry today relies heavily on advance electronic systems and circuitry, not only due to the advent of autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles, but also due to the sophistication of traditional vehicles that almost all now include lane and speed control systems, light detection and ranging systems, vehicle- to-vehicle communications and collision avoidance systems, amongst many others.

[0005] It is thus often necessary to house multiple different electronic systems in vehicles, ideally reasonably closely together to assist with maintenance and repair access. However, electronics systems such as these often generate reasonable amounts of heat during use, which can work against having too many of these systems mounted near each other, without at least some form of heat dissipation assistance. [0006] Before turning to a summary of the solution provided by the present invention, it should be appreciated that reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in any country.

[0007] Also, the following description will use directional terms such as downward and downwardly, upward and upwardly, lower and upper, and above and below, which will be used with reference to the housing of the invention when positioned generally horizontally within, for example, the engine bay of a vehicle. There is, of course, generally no need for such a housing to be positioned horizontally in a vehicle, and housings often are not installed horizontally, but this language will be used in this specification for ease of description and understanding. Further, there will also be references to inner and outer, and inwardly and outwardly, which will be references made with respect to the interior of the housing of the present invention.

Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present invention provides an electronics housing, the housing including a base module and at least one interconnected stackable module thereabove, the base module and each stackable module being open upwardly and including a floor with upright integral side walls, each floor being capable of receiving and having mounted thereto a printed circuit board, the base and stackable modules having corner edges between their floors and their side walls, with each side wall having an upper free edge and exterior heat sink fins, wherein: a. the free edges of the side walls each have outwardly projecting connecting flanges therealong; and b. each stackable module also has, along its corner edges, outwardly projecting but inwardly opening flange receiving grooves for receiving and interlocking with the connecting flanges of either a base module below or another stackable module below.

[0009] In a preferred form, the flanges and grooves are respectively sized to permit slidable engagement therebetween to interlock the base module to a stackable module and then, separately, the stackable module to any subsequent stackable module. In this respect, it will be appreciated that a suitable housing may include one base module and, most likely, one, two, three or four stackable modules, depending upon the electronics required to be housed. The side walls of the modules, and specifically both the base module and the stackable modules, may be of any suitable height, depending upon the size of the electronics requiring to be housed in each. In this respect, it will be appreciated that the base module and the stackable modules may be any length as desired, although it is expected that the base module and the stackable modules will be the same length.

[0010] In another preferred form, the flanges and grooves may include one or more fastener channels therealong, ideally being opposed channels in each of a flange and a groove wall, which align once modules are interconnected, to form a fastener aperture that extends longitudinally at least part way along the interconnected flanges and grooves. In this form, the interconnected modules are lockable once interconnected such as by inserting an end fastener, such as a selftapping screw, into one or more of the apertures formed between a flange and a groove and thus between interconnected modules.

[0011] A benefit of having connecting flanges projecting outwardly from the sidewalls, in conjunction with flange receiving grooves also projecting outwardly (but being inwardly open to receive the connecting flanges), is that the fastener apertures formed therebetween do not lie within the housing where the electronics will be seated. It will be appreciated that the insertion of an end fastener such as a selftapping screw can sometimes cause swarth to be generated and it is generally undesirable to have such swarth generated within the housing with the electronics.

[0012] With further reference to the use of such fastener apertures, in another form it might be preferred to include similarly configured fastener apertures between two or more of the heat sink fins. These additional fastener apertures provide further points at which other products or parts can additionally be secured, providing design freedom for future use of the modular and stackable housing of the present invention.

[0013] Preferably, the housing of the present invention also includes end walls, which may be singular end walls sized and configured to fit across and enclose the entire housing, regardless of how many modules make up the housing, or which may be separate base module end walls and/or stackable module end walls sized to enclose respective ends of some or all of each respective module. The end walls may include a series of perforations that permit airflow therethrough so as to exhaust, for example, warm air that might be generated by internal fans associated with the housed electronics.

[0014] The end walls may be securable to the housing or to respective modules either permanently or removably and may include suitable securing members or configurations to permit the end walls to be attached to either or both of respective floors and the side walls. The housing of the present invention may also include an uppermost cover that is sized and configured to be securable to the uppermost module either permanently or removably to enclose that uppermost module. In this respect, it will be appreciated that the floor of a stackable module will act as the cover for a module below that stackable module.

[0015] In a preferred form, at least one end wall will include an air flow re-direction section capable of receiving warm air exhausted out of one or more modules and redirecting that air through 180 degrees over at least some of the exterior heat sink fins. For example, each module, whether a base module or a stackable module, may include in one of its end walls such a section, or both end walls of the housing or a module may include such a section.

[0016] In an alternative form, the housing of the present invention might include one or more end wall covers that are each arranged to lie at least partially over an end wall to re-direct airflow exhausted through perforations of an end wall, around through 180 degrees and again across at least some of the exterior heat sink fins.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0017] Having briefly described the general concepts involved with the present invention, a preferred embodiment of an electronics housing assembly will now be described that is in accordance with the present invention. However, it is to be understood that the following description is not to limit the generality of the above description. [0018] In the drawings:

[0019] Figures 1 (a) and 1 (b) are end views of a stackable module and a base module respectively that together form a housing in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 2(a) is an isometric view of one end of the housing formed by the modules of Figures 1 (a) and 1 (b), and Figure 2(b) is an exploded view of the fastening aperture and end fastener of the housing;

[0021] Figure 3 is a schematic expanded view of an example arrangement of a base module with several stackable modules, end walls and electronics in situ in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figures 4 and 5 are section and isometric views respectively of the arrangement illustrated in Figure 3; and

[0023] Figure 6(a) is an end view of the arrangement illustrated in Figure 3, showing an end wall cover in place over an end wall, while 6(b) is a schematic section view of the end wall cover and end wall shown in Figure 6(a).

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiment

[0024] Illustrated in Figures 1 (a) and 1 (b) respectively are a stackable module 10 and a base module 12 that together form a housing 14, an end portion of which is illustrated in Figure 2(a). A larger version of a housing 114 is illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5, which includes a single base module 112 and three stackable modules 110a, 110b and 110c.

[0025] Referring now just to the modules 10,12 and the housing 14 of Figures 1 (a), 1(b), 2(a) and 2(b), the base module 12 and the stackable module 12 are both open upwardly and include a respective floor 16,18 with upright integral side walls 20,22. The base module 12 and the stackable module 12 both have corner edges 24,26 between their floors 16,18 and their side walls 20,22, with each side wall 20,22 itself having an upper free edge 28 and exterior heat sink fins 30. [0026] The free edges 28 of the side walls 20,22 each have outwardly projecting connecting flanges 32 therealong, while the stackable module 10 also has, along its corner edges 24, outwardly projecting X but inwardly opening Y flange receiving grooves 36 for receiving and interlocking with the connecting flanges 32 of the base module 12 below.

[0027] As can be seen, the flanges 32 and the grooves 36 are respectively sized to permit slidable engagement therebetween to interlock the base module 12 to the stackable module 10. The flanges 32 and grooves 36 in this embodiment also include one fastener channel 38 each therealong, which are opposed channels in each of the flange 32 and groove 36 wall, which align once the modules 10,12 are interconnected, and which together form a fastener aperture that extends longitudinally at least part way along the interconnected flanges 32 and grooves 36. The interconnected modules 10,12 are then locked once interconnected by inserting an end fastener, such as the self-tapping screw 40, into the fastener aperture.

[0028] Also in this embodiment there can be seen similarly configured fastener apertures 42 between various of the heat sink fins, again being outwardly open apertures. These additional fastener apertures 42 can provide further points at which other products or parts can additionally be secured, again without risk of any swarth formed by a self-tapping screw falling into the interior of the housing where electronics will be housed.

[0029] Turning now to a description of the embodiment illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5, it will be appreciated that the features described above in Figures 1 (a) 1 (b), 2(a) and 2(b) for the simple housing with a base module 12 and a single stackable module 10 are generally reproduced in the larger housing 114, but the larger housing 114 includes three stackable modules 110a, 110b and 110c. Printed circuit boards and electronics can be seen mounted to the various floors of the modules, within the interior of each of the modules, and an uppermost cover 150 is provided for the uppermost stackable module 110c.

[0030] End walls 152a and 152b can also be seen, in the form of single-piece end walls sized and configured to fit across and enclose the entire housing 114, the end walls 152a and 152b including a series of perforations 154 that permit airflow therethrough so as to exhaust warm air that might be generated by internal fans (not shown) associated with the housed electronics.

[0031] In this embodiment, and as is more clearly shown in Figures 6(a) and 6(b), there is also included an end wall cover 156 that is each arranged to lie partially over the end wall 152a to re-direct airflow exhausted through the perforations 154, around through 180 degrees (see reference numeral 158 in Figure 6(b)) and across at least some of the exterior heat sink fins 130 to help dissipate that heat. In this embodiment, the end wall cover 156 is removable by a user to expose whatever cables and connections might be at that end of the housing, and extends only partially down across the central portion of the end wall 154, leaving air-flow channels down both sides of the end wall cover 156 to direct air-flow in direction 158 across at least a portion of some of the heat-sink fins 130.

[0032] Of course, it will be appreciated that the end walls and any end wall covers may be securable to the housing 114 either permanently or removably, and may for instance be secured thereto by end fasteners in the form of self-tapping screws 140 screwed into the additional fastener apertures 42 that can be seen in Figure 2(a).

[0033] In conclusion, it must be appreciated that there may be other variations and modifications to the configurations described herein which are also within the scope of the present invention.