The Home Media Center

Water-Cooled PC / TV / Smart-Control / Media center / Network hub
and more

Contents

I. Concept and Concept Evolution

II. Subassemblies

II-I. Core Frame

II-II. TV Arm

II-III. Enclosure Frame

II-IV. Mounting Rails

II-V. Mounting Plates

II-VI. Details

III. Add-ons

III-I. Soundbar

III-II. PC transport frame

IV. Finished Solution

V. Comparison Idea VS Solution

I. Concept and Concept Evolution

Initial idea

The prime focus was to design a low-footprint, noninvasive home electronics platform.

As many components as possible of household electronics had to be incorporated.

The purpose of this was to free up space, reduce messy wiring and simplify transport and reinstallation.

A design life of 10 years was desired. Thus, the design had to be kept modular to a degree.

Quality would also have be prioritized to ensure the required longevity.

The transportability element meant that a dedicated housing would be required.

Electronics also require power and generate heat while being fairly sensitive, requiring protection.

External power sources would be necessary but could be minimized by employing internal distribution.

Initial concept main points

-Solution for home electronic installation

-design lifetime 10 years

-Low footprint, as inconspicuous as possible

-Stealthy and inconspicuous design

-Good transportability max. once per year

-High rigidity during transport

-Component protection included

-Quiet operation

-Easy access

-Easy maintenance

-upgradeability

-modularity

Standard home electronics are:

-TV

-Internet Router

-PC

Optional home electronics are:

-Sound System

-Gaming Console

-NAS

-Circuit protection

Initial design studies

Among all components, the PC is it's own multi-component solution.
It had to be treated as a sub-solution in the concept.
As PC cases for performance applications take up a rather cubic footprint, this component could easily dictate the design if I wasn't careful.

Preferably, parting with the traditional PC case was desirable in order to improve accessibility and reduce footprint.
Considerations into an 'open case', planted into a cupboard or shelf, were made.
An unability to rely on standard shelf sizes, potential damage to said shelf in order to enable venting as well as the fact that it would cost shelf space led to the idea being abandoned for this project.

I then looked into using a small form factor case (see image), but this didn't provide enough improvement.
The biggest issue here was that some sub-components were rather tall as per their standards and the cubic shape of the assembly was a major issue that needed solving.

Out of this cristalyzed the key design imperative:
Focusing the layout on a flat plane.
Reducing a third dimension as much as possible would lead to a minimized perceived footprint when deployed.
A tall and wide, yet extremely flat solution could be fairly simply squeezed behind existing furniture for example, where it would have negligible impact on the overall layout compared to having 'yet another box standing around somewhere' that nothing could be stacked onto anyway.

A flat layout also meant that the solution could be made to be easily assembled, accessed, networked, maintained, upgraded and transported.

Component Mounting tests

In the proof-of-concept, black PE sheets provided a truly universal surface to allow experimentation with component orientation, among other things.
Cabling would simply be tied in place.
That's a quite cost-effective and cheap solution.
However, full system builds would be inconvenient to do without dismounting the assembly from the wall.
Also, the space behind the plates woud not be well used and the cabling hinders airflow.
The component layout would also be revised.

Evolved concept

Based on this concept, it was quickly realized that the space behind one of the major components, the TV, lent itself excellently to the idea.

Especially when wall-mounting, dust - a major maintenance factor - could be significantly mitigated.

Holes would have to be made in the wall for the TV anyway.

There would also be comprehensive cooling benefits as a stream of air could be directed over every component by inherent thermals (chimney effect), keeping noise down, supported where necessary by the addition of active cooling fans.

Using the TV as a front cover would efficiently reduce space, weight and cost as well as allow most direct integration.

Resulting challenges were maintaining accessibility and serviceability.

II. Subassemblies

II-I. Core Frame

The Core frame is the basis and cornerstone of the solution.
To create such a central frame, I'm using universal profiles fixed to each other at the corners in a specific way.
A thin metal sheet is strung in between these profiles and sandwiched by thick, laser cut reinforcement brackets which in turn also connect directly to the extrusions.
The brackets primarily provide the mounting points but also allow clearance of uneven parts of wall, balancing out a possible uneven mounting surface (building construction follows different tolerances).

Another optional feature will be mentioned later.

The resulting base frame provides a highly rigid, lightweight compound construction that's easy to transport.
The universal T-Slot profiles allow a great degree of freedom for modular addition of almost anything.

II-II. TV Arm

As another major component of the overall solution, the TV arm/mount had to be specifically considered with accessibility in mind while also following the primary design concept.
Just removing the TV would be inefficient, unsafe and disallow diagnosis via the display.
External furniture as well as internal component clearance forbade a linear sliding solution.
There would have to be two main positions, open and closed.
Optionally, it'd be beneficial to peek inside the enclosure for supervision purposes.
At the same time, all the weight of TV and the arm's own weight needed to be reliably spread out to the frame.

The final solution:
-Forwards and upwards swiveling arm that opens to 100 degrees
-Motion pattern first clears any furniture, then provides generous level of access
-Hold open as well as soft open and close via pneumatic shocks
-Hold closed by negative angle on shock attachments
-Main arm supports the TV's weight and acts as cable traverse
-Specifically designed supporting arms, allowing the TV to tilt forward prior to opening and improving viewing angle when open
-Weight transfer and spread to the frame by multi-point compound integration into the base frame structure

A key point is that, when closed, almost the entire weight of the assembly is located millimeters off the wall anchor points.
This means an extremely short leverage for wall mounting and is thus highly secure.

Ball bearings ensure smooth, stable and quiet operation.

Thin, light aluminium arms maintain the front-facing angle of the screen mounting plate. Their slight offset from the main arm's mounting point was carefully considered and provides some nice benefits.
The mounting plate for the TV is simple and can be universally scaled to fit any device.

Image shows the proof-of-concept prototype.

II-III. Enclosure Frame

A robust yet lightweight aluminium frame designed to provide high-quality, sleek aesthetics and internals protection as well as transport safety.
Bolted onto the flexible outer slots of the base frame, they're designed to be easily adjustable to the TV's outline.
Corners are protected by thin, adjustable and stylish (should they be noticed) looking brackets.
Picture (taking during initial install) shows how neatly the frame follows the TV outline, improving cooling and underlining the premium appearance.
Vents on the bottom and top ensure cooling.
It's worth noting that the installation height significantly reducesinternal dust-buildup, helping maintenance.

II-IV. Mounting Rails

A smarter solution needed to be found.
In order to facilitate full rebuilds and access the gap between mounting plate and frame rear, removable mounting plates were desirable but challenging.
It would also be beneficial to have more than two options - in and entirely removed - for the mounting plates.
Thus, a guide and retention mechanism needed to be invented.
After careful consideration of the options, I decided to create a mechanism that would allow for the plates to move from their standard vertical position to a horizontal one, enabling work to be done in that position or to slide the mounting plate free of the assembly entirely, if required.

Said mechanism would have to be:
-Compact enough to not exceed the format of the universal profiles
-Stable enough to prevent warping even at lenght and thus prevent mechanism failure
-Provide ample clearance to the opened TV when moving and upon reaching the horizontal position
-Provide a stable horizontal platform
-allow a locking mechanism to firmly retain the mounting plates
-Disallow movement out of bounds, preventing "lock-up"

Final mechanism components are showin in the picture.
Machined from billet, these sit in between the universal extrusions.
A center piece is slotted into the side rails and keeps the entire unit rigid.
The rails also hide the top wall mount screws.
At the top, the mounting rails are retained and guided along the inside of the vertical universal profiles by sliders.
These sliders also serve as stoppers and define the horizontal end position.
Slotted into the mounting rails are arms which are hinged again at the lowest part of the frame.
Part of the space at the bottom of the rails is cut out to provide a space for the simple locking mechanism, which is auto locking but manually unlocking, to intrude into.

The resulting downward-and-and out slide-swiveling motion provides considerable clearance where needed and a stable horizontal working platform.

Taken during initial install, this picture shows pretty well the fundamental mecchanisms.

II-V. Mounting Plates

Experience gained from the proof-of-concept enabled the use of aluminium plates on the finished solution
When being inserted into the Mounting Rails, the locking mechanisms at the bottom of the Mounting Plates engage and secure the Plates against violent disassembly during transition while allowing for a few millimeters additional upwards travel in the Rails.
This part of the design allows the Plates, when close to the vertical position, to be pushed upwards far enough to clear the universal profiles of the frame. Once completely vertical, the Mounting plate can slide into and interlock with the groove of the universal profile.
Disassembly is thus achieved by pushing the plate up and gently nudging it towards the user until it clears the lower profile.
Both the tilting and locking mechanisms are designed to force two-handed operation.

The entire left plate is dedicated and customized to match the PC.
Component placement, in part, has to follow the layout of the TV rear and mounting bracket resulting in an odd looking but functional layout.
A water cooling loop transports heat from the powerful components to radiators at the very top of the assembly.
Fans then blow the warm air directly out of the top of the enclosure while promoting the flow of fresh air from the bottom.
Since it's now possible to use the gap behind the Mounting Plate, most of the cables are cleanly and invisibly laid at the back creating a desirable, clean look.
Cables that are too bulky for the rear compartment are laid out along the sides.
Again, the universal profiles come in handy thanks to cable retainers I've specifically designed (although I'm thinking of an upgrade).

On the right hand side, a different paradigm is applied.
It's very much a blank canvas that's meant to receive addons and changes.
There's plenty of space available with only a few things predetermined:
-The power hub for the entire Home Media center
-The network switch
-NAS and accompanying hard drives

Picture shows the first iteration.
Some upgrades have already been implemented by means of plate removal and processing in a factory, putting the easy removal functionality to good use.

Thanks to the power and network hubs being neatly arranged here, It's possible to have only two cables actually exiting the Home Media Center: Power and Ethernet. Doing so is done through a cutout in the bottom rear of the back plate, allowing for the cables to be pulled either through a cable canal (if the wall has one) or along a gap at the back of the Home Media Center.

II-VI. Details

Are what it's all about:
Hidden mounting bracket fixpoints.
Invisible cable management.
Minimal I/O.
Safe, organized and universal power.
Sleek integration into the structure.
For the fans, I've started work on something very special.

III. Add-Ons

III-I. Soundbar

The first major Add-on, between prototype and finished solution.
It takes care of all one may need in terms of home audio.
Simple steel brackets, which help cable management, bolt right onto the Home Media Center's structure and hold the Soundbar in place.

III-II. PC transport frame

In order to reduce weight during transport and specially protect the most sensitive and pricey components, this simple and modular frame is used.

It can also used to use the PC as a standalone, i.e. on a long offsite stay.

By removing the acrylic top and bottom plates, this neat auxiliary frame can also be used as a convenient substrate for complete external system rebuilds, allowing full access from all sides and even cable management.

IV. The finished solution

This is what everything looks like when done and in use.
Hardly anyone would take a second look at the assembly and that's just as intended.
The TV is normal. The case is normal.
One wouldn't give it a second glance.

The entire assembly comes about 15mm further off the wall than a traditional wall mount. Negligible.
Compared to the TV's feet, this solution actually saves about 20mm.

It's sleek.
It's high quality.
It can do everything.
It traveled around the world without a scratch.
It's patented.

And there are many upgrade paths.
Some of them are already being worked on.

V. Comparison Idea VS Solution

The solution space to spare for all kinds of upgrades.

From a lifetime perspective, the assembly is rigid enough to outlast even the ambitious initial goal if used right.

The Low footprint has certainly been overachieved. Independent people, both with and without technical background, have attested the essential invisibility of it all. The concept takes stealth and inconspicuousness to the max.

Mainly due to the combined weight but also cost of individual subassemblies, concessions had to be made regarding transportability.

Increased safety in transit, the availabilty of a tailored system rebuild frame and the possibility of standalone usage of the PC led to the decision of having and storing a seperate transport box.

Component protection during deployment is perfect, transport needs no extra care comparatively.

It's worth noting that, at the time of writing, the solution has been transported multiple times including one global shipment.

There were zero visible flaws, wear or reduced functionality.

Operation is quiet, with some components having their built-in cooling removed and bing thermally coupled to the mounting plates which proved capable of dissipating the heat generated.

Ease of access can be considered as somewhat overachieved, considering the overall versatility of the system.

The same goes for maintenance.

Upgradeability was also achieved, however there is a possibility that non-consumer grade tools may facilitate this.

Modularity has been overachieved. Mainly responsible for this were observations from the first prototype which led to the substantial new design additions.

All required components were able to be fitted, thus fulfilling that last crucial requirement.