Cover opening and closing mechanism and electronic apparatus

Abstract

An opening and closing mechanism for a cover is openable and closable with respect to a body. The mechanism includes a link structure supported at the body rotatably within a range of a first predetermined angle from a closed state of the cover, and supporting the cover rotatably within a range of a second predetermined angle. The link structure is rotated integrally with the cover when being rotated within the range of the first predetermined range. The cover is solely rotated within the range of the second predetermined angle when the link structure has been rotated by the first predetermined angle from the closed state of the cover.

Description

BACKGROUND [0001] 1. Technical Field [0002] The present invention relates to an opening and closing mechanism for a cover openable and closable with respect to a body, and an electronic apparatus provided with the opening and closing mechanism for the cover. [0003] 2. Related Art [0004] An electronic apparatus usually has an opening at an upper surface of a housing to facilitate maintenance of the inside of the housing. Such an opening is necessary to be widely provided for facilitating the maintenance, but otherwise closed to prevent dust and the like from entering. Owing to this, the opening is covered with a cover that is rotated within a range of a large angle to open and close the opening. [0005] An opening and closing mechanism for the cover may be a mechanism in which shafts protrude at both sides of one end of the cover while holes are formed both sides of one end of the opening, and the shafts are inserted to the holes to support the cover rotatably about the shafts. Altern...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that a small opening and closing mechanism for a cover with a sufficient opening and closing angle, and an electronic apparatus provided with the opening and closing mechanism for the cover are provided.

[0010] An opening and closing mechanism for a cover according to another aspect of the invention is openable and closable with respect to a body. The mechanism includes a link having at one end a first hinge supported at the body side, and having at the other end a second hinge supported at the cover side. When the cover is open, the cover is integrally rotated with the link about the first hinge by a first predetermined angle, then the cover is solely rotated about the second hinge by a second predetermined angle, and the cover is maintained in an open state. When the cover is closed, the cover is solely rotated about the second hinge by the second predetermined angle, then the cover is integrally rotated with the link about the first hinge by the first predetermined angle, and the cover is maintained in a closed state. With this configuration, since the cover is opened and closed by the link structure having the two supporting points, the cover can be widely opened without interfering with the body even if the link structure decreases particularly in height. In addition, since the link structure is downsized, it would not interfere with the main components in the body, so that the main components may be more desirably arranged.

[0011] Preferably, the link may include a biasing unit for biasing the cover in its opening direction by a moment substantially equivalent to a moment caused by a weight of the cover when the cover is rotated in the opening direction about the first hinge by the first predetermined angle. With this configuration, the cover can be maintained in the opening state when the cover has reached the first predetermined angle, and also, even when a user releases his / her hand from the cover in the middle of opening the cover toward the first predetermined angle, the cover may be closed slowly. Preferably, the link and the cover may have rotation restrictors that restrict the rotation of the cover and the link when the cover and the link have been rotated by the first predetermined angle, and rotation restrictors that restrict the rotation of the cover when the cover has been rotated by the second predetermined angle. With this configuration, the cover can be always open at accurate angles. Preferably, the first and second hinges may be disposed not to protrude from the body when the cover is in the closed state. With this configuration, the entire body can be designed compactly.

Problems solved by technology

However, with the opening and closing mechanism using the shafts and the holes, or that using the hinge, if a user releases his / her hand from the cover in the middle of opening the cover, the cover may be rapidly closed due to its weight and damaged.

In addition, an interference range of the cover and the housing may increase due to the degree of opening of the cover, the thickness of the cover, and the like.

Therefore, a relatively-large gap is required between the cover and the housing.

However, the opening is necessary to be rotated within a range of a large angle to open and close the opening, the concealed hinge may increase in size, and hence, the rotation space for the concealed hinge must be widely secured in the housing.

Accordingly, it is difficult to downsize the electronic apparatus.

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