Geared radial synchronous hinge and folding screen mobile phone manufactured thereby

Abstract

A toothed radial synchronous hinge and the foldable screen mobile phone manufactured using it belong to the field of mechanical technology. The toothed radial synchronous hinge comprises a structural bar, a rotating shaft, and a radial slider. The radial slider and the structural bar are connected via a matching connection between a slide groove and a slide column. Furthermore, the radial slider is driven by the rack, gear, and latch hole and latch column machined onto the structural bar and the radial slider. When the entire hinge is bent, the radial sliders are linked and constrained to the same cylindrical surface, ensuring the same curvature at all points along the hinge. The main structure of the foldable screen mobile phone with a toothed radial synchronous hinge is characterized by the addition of a toothed radial synchronous hinge between the structure of the phone's additional screen and the main structure of the phone. The hinge's two ends are rooted to the structure of the phone's additional screen and the main structure of the phone, respectively, through bonding, welding, riveting, or by excessively rigid or elastic components. The hinge is installed below the OLED composite layer.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of structural design; to be more precise, it uses the linkage control of radial synchronous displacement components driven by teeth or paddles to achieve the purpose of increasing the number of screens. [Background Technology]

[0002] With the continuous development of the communications industry, smartphones have open operating systems, hardware and software scalability, and support for third-party secondary development.

[0003] Smartphone Structure: A smartphone can be thought of as a pocket-sized computer. It includes a processor, memory, input / output devices (keyboard, display, USB port, headphone jack, camera, etc.), and I / O channels. The phone communicates with base stations via an air interface protocol (such as GSM, CDMA, PHS, etc.), transmitting both voice and data.

[0004] The main circuit board (PCB) of a smartphone is the most important component: located inside the smartphone, it connects to various components via data cables or contacts. The PCB is arguably the core component of the phone, responsible for signal input, output, processing, and transmission, as well as powering and controlling the entire device. The PCB design varies between smartphone brands. Some smartphones have only a single PCB, while others include a secondary PCB in addition to the main circuit. The secondary PCB typically connects to accessories such as interfaces and cameras. The PCB of a smartphone is densely packed with surface-mount components, and the main chips are soldered onto the PCB using a BGA (Ball Grid Array) format. Smartphone circuit structure: The PCB is the core of the smartphone, responsible for powering, controlling, and implementing various functions. The PCB circuitry of a smartphone primarily includes: RF circuitry, voice circuitry, processor and memory circuitry, power and charging circuitry, operating and display circuitry, interface circuitry, and other functional circuitry (such as Bluetooth, antenna, radio, sensor, vibrator, and camera circuitry).

[0005] The specific design process includes: determining the motherboard plan, determining the phone's appearance, structural modeling, producing and adjusting the exterior prototype, structural design, structural design optimization, structural review, and verification of the large-scale structural prototype. Furthermore, it also involves mold review, project follow-up during the mold casting process, mold trials and modifications, trial production, and mass production. In the field of mobile phone structure, foldable screen technology is undoubtedly a development trend.

[0006] Foldable screens have become the ideal solution for driving the convergence of mobile phones and tablets. Samsung, a pioneer in this field, has been implementing this technology for years, showcasing its "Infinity Flex Display" foldable screen solution at the Samsung SDC Developer Conference. The launch of Samsung's first foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold, not only addresses the trade-off between screen size and portability, but also offers a superior visual experience. Consequently, the industry generally believes that foldable screens are poised to usher in another wave of mobile phone innovation following the full-screen era. Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank, considers the Samsung Galaxy Fold a "major potential challenge" for Apple. Judging by the Galaxy Fold's launch, it boasts unique features unlike traditional phones, including an ultra-infinite foldable screen, up to six cameras, and a dual-battery system. It should be noted that the Galaxy Fold not only offers a satisfying visual experience, but also surpasses traditional flagship phones in camera, performance, and battery life. Therefore, the Galaxy Fold not only revolutionizes mobile screens but also promises to elevate the mobile phone industry to a higher level. In the demonstration, the effect was quite stunning. You can see that the tablet-sized screen folds inward to become a small screen, while the outer display is no different from the mobile phones we use every day. It is full of technology and completely breaks away from the current rut of mobile phone manufacturers in exploring full-screen displays. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a revolution. Unlike previous hinge designs, Samsung's "Infinity FlexDisplay" foldable screen folds into a single screen. According to the foldable screen patent applied by Samsung, this foldable screen has two electrode layers that can be powered separately, and the bottom substrate is made of flexible plastic material to facilitate the bending and folding of the screen. From a structural design point of view, the Galaxy Fold adopts an inward folding design with two states: open and closed. When in the closed state, the user is presented with a cover display with a size of 4.6 inches, a resolution of 1960x840 pixels, a screen density of 420ppi, and an aspect ratio of 21:9, which is about the same size as an ordinary mobile phone. When the Galaxy Fold is opened, what appears in front of the user is a main display with a size of 7.3 inches, a resolution of 2152x1536 pixels, an aspect ratio of 4.2:3, and a screen density of the same 420ppi. In simple terms, when closed, the Galaxy Fold is an ordinary smartphone, and when unfolded, the Galaxy Fold transforms into a tablet. It is easy to understand by looking at the structure alone, but the problem is how to ensure that the screen performance does not decrease during the opening and closing process, so that users can have a smooth and comfortable experience. This has to mention Samsung's new ultra-border folding screen, which can be bent 360 degrees to meet any folding needs. Based on this screen technology, the screen performance always remains at its best during the user's repeated opening and closing process, so that users will not feel any visual discontinuity.Whether the Galaxy Fold is in the open or folded state, the applications it displays can be seamlessly converted, allowing users to switch between the main screen and the cover screen at any time. Samsung said that if developers allow them to scale the applications, then all regular Android applications will run perfectly on the Galaxy Fold. For example, when the phone switches from portrait mode to landscape mode, the system will also adjust the application according to tablet mode. In addition, the Galaxy Fold can also provide users with a more efficient user experience in open mode to adapt to more complex scenarios. The Galaxy Fold's powerful multi-window function can handle three tasks at the same time.

[0007] The hinge designs of Huawei and Apple's folding parts are extremely complex. Huawei adopts a turning design with 5 small sections, using more than 100 components and taking 3 years of dedicated research and development; Apple's similar design uses more than 200 components; the technical difficulty lies in the real-time and uniform radius of the bending part, which requires not only a certain support strength, but also a service life of more than 100,000 times.

[0008] Samsung has also developed a three-layer foldable and stacked stretchable screen mobile phone, similar to a "scroll" experience. Patent documents show that it needs to be bent and stretched in two directions; the difficulty is much higher than a two-layer folding screen. [Summary of the invention]

[0009] Existing product defects: The current design representatives of mobile phone bending mechanisms are: Samsung, Apple, Lenovo, etc.; the common characteristics of their design ideas are: the holding force of the hinge bending of multiple connecting plates mainly relies on the friction of the hinge or the combination of steel wire and plastic strip support objects; the point of application of the holding force is too concentrated at the hinge bending point, resulting in complex structure, too little holding force or excessive space occupation at both ends.

[0010] The purpose of the present invention is to design a thin, light, internally bent, pull-out structure suitable for OLED screens in response to the defects of current products, which has the advantages of simple structure, space saving, beautiful appearance and reliable operation.

[0011] The present invention has the following features: simple conception, limited cost increase, significant volume reduction, and reliable operation.

[0012] The specific embodiment of the present invention:

[0013] The structure of the toothed radial synchronous hinge includes: a structural bar, a rotating shaft, and a radial slider. The structure of the structural bar includes: a rotating shaft or shaft hole along the direction of the structural bar, a radial slide and slide column, a gear, a rack, a card-push column, and a card-push hole; the structure of the radial slider includes: a radial slide column and slide, a rack, a gear, a card-push hole, and a card-push column; assembly and working principle: All structural bars are connected together by the rotating shaft constraint, and the radial slider and the structural bar are connected by the matching connection between the slide and the slide column. In addition, the rack, gear, card-push hole, and card-push column processed on the structural bar and the radial slider are mutually driven (the driving structure is processed on two relatively moving objects, corresponding relationship: gear matches rack, card-push column corresponds to card-push hole), so that the radial slider and the structural bar produce relative displacement along the direction of the slide. The radial sliders are nested and inserted into the card-push holes and columns of the hinge. When the entire hinge bends, the radial sliders are linked and constrained to the same column, ensuring a consistent curvature throughout the hinge. To ensure the hinge's rigidity when the phone screen is unfolded, the problem of the hinge being stuck when extended needs to be addressed, requiring a blocking mechanism in the extended state.

[0014] The main structure of a folding screen mobile phone with a toothed radial synchronous hinge includes: a motherboard, a camera, a battery, a speaker, a microphone, a wired or wireless interface device, a screen and a shell; the assembly relationship is that the interior and periphery of the shell accommodate: the motherboard, the battery, the speaker, the microphone, the interface device, and the screen is part of the surface of the mobile phone, and the display side faces outward; other technologies of the mobile phone can be used, such as: E-SIM card issuance technology, screen sound technology, wireless charging technology; Bluetooth technology, etc.; its feature is that: a toothed radial synchronous hinge is added between the structure of the mobile phone's additional screen and the main structure of the mobile phone; the two ends of the hinge are rooted in the structure of the mobile phone's additional screen and the main structure of the mobile phone respectively through bonding, welding, riveting, excessive rigidity or elastic component connection; and the installation position of the hinge is located below the OLED composite layer.

[0015] Further: The blocking structure of the meshing radial synchronous hinge is characterized in that: the blocking structure directly utilizes the friction force of the moving surface of the rotating shaft, radial slide groove or sliding column U-shaped slide; or an elastic mechanism with a snap-on function, a spring push-pull mechanism, the elastic mechanism refers to the two parts that move relative to each other in the hinge, respectively installed or processed with positioning recesses and elastic protrusions (the elastic protrusions can be part of the original structural member, or they can be elastic sheets or springs attached to the structural member, which are lifted up and constrained by the surrounding boundaries. Steel balls or blocks), the embedding of the elastic body into the positioning recess due to the relative movement between the two parts forms a resistance positioning function; the spring push-pull mechanism utilizes at least one end of the spring to connect to the moving part of the hinge, and utilizes the change in the position of the two connection points of the spring to change the force direction of the moving part.

[0016] Further: Since the screen is in the outer circular part bent by the toothed radial synchronous hinge, the screen length required in the bent and flattened states is different. The length of the bent screen is slightly longer than the length in the straight state, and the length difference can reach more than 1mm; therefore, either keep the constraints on the screen around the mobile phone's additional screen in a relaxed state so that the screen can allow a small amount of string movement therein; or add an outward push spring and a linear constraint when the two ends of the hinge are connected between the structure of the mobile phone's additional screen and the main structure of the mobile phone, so that the distance between the structure of the mobile phone's additional screen and the main structure of the mobile phone can be flexibly fine-tuned to adapt to changes in the length of the screen assembly.

[0017] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: greatly simplifying the structure of the curved screen mobile phone, making it light, thin and beautiful. [Brief Description of the Drawings]

[0018] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the toothed radial synchronous hinge structure

[0019] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of synchronous and coordinated bending of toothed radial synchronous hinges

[0020] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of a foldable phone with a toothed radial synchronous hinge

[0021] Description of labels:

[0022] 1 Structural strips

[0023] 2 radial slides

[0024] 3 radial slides

[0025] 4 shafts

[0026] 5 Gear parts

[0027] 6 Slide

[0028] 8 Rack area

[0029] 9 Card opening

[0030] 10. Card column

[0031] 11 The other end of the mirror

[0032] 12 Exploded View

[0033] 13OLED composite layer

[0034] 15 hinge layer

[0035] 16 Interconnecting shaft holes

[0036] 17 Normals

[0037] 18 Enlarged image

[0038] 19 mobile phone additional screen

[0039] 20 Mobile phone main structure

[0040] 21 Foldable mobile phone screen

[0041] 22 hinge's 2 end zones

[0042] 23 mobile phone screen placement surface

[0043] [Example proof]

[0044] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in relation to preferred embodiments:

[0045] like Figure 1 、 Figure 2 As shown:

[0046] Figure 1 The exploded view (12) in the figure expresses the assembly relationship of the parts, and the enlarged view (18) is a partial enlargement. For the sake of brief introduction, the structure of the other end (11) of the mirror symmetry is not drawn; the two-end structure of the entire hinge is radially symmetrical, and a radial slider (2) is configured at each end of a structural bar (1), with a total of 2 sliders configured, with a quantity ratio of 1:2.

[0047] The structure of the toothed radial synchronous hinge is as follows: the structural bars (1) are connected to each other by a rotating shaft (4), and the structural bars (1) can rotate around the rotating shaft (4); the rotation angle can be constrained by the external shape of the structural bar (1).

[0048] The slide column (6) of the radial slider (2) is embedded in the radial slide groove (3) of the structural bar (1) and slides freely. The gear portion (5) of the structural bar (1) and the rack portion (8) of the radial slider (2) are meshed with each other, so that when the structural bars (1) can rotate with each other around the rotating shaft (4), the radial slider (2) is driven by the gear portion (5) and moves along the direction of the radial slide groove (3). On the other hand, two adjacent radial sliders (2) are nested and plugged together through the card hole portion (9) and the card column portion (10). After the multiple structural bars (1) are connected to each other by the rotating shaft (4), a hinge is formed, thereby constraining the displacement linkage of all radial sliders, so that when the entire hinge is bent, the axes of each rotating shaft are on the circumference of the same cylinder. We define the normal line of the circumference of the cylinder as the radial direction, and the radial slide groove (3) is in this direction.

[0049] The structural bars (1) can rotate relative to each other around the rotation axis (4); the angle of rotation can be constrained by the external shape of the structural bar (1).

[0050] Mainly from the side Figure 2 It can be seen that the two interconnected shaft holes (16) of each structural bar (1) are interconnected hand in hand to form a complete hinge. Figure 2 The left end of the figure shows the connection relationship between the structural bar (1) and the radial slider (2) in the hinge straight state. Figure 2 The right end of the figure shows the mutual driving relationship between the structural bar (1) and the radial slider (2) with 6 sections of interconnected hinge structure bent 180 degrees; it can also be seen that the direction of the normal (17) is consistent with the displacement direction of the radial slider (2).

[0051] like Figure 3 As shown:

[0052] The structure of the two end regions (22) of the hinge is Figure 1 、 2 The display structure is the same, and the length of the structural strip is almost equal to the distance between the two end regions. The folded mobile phone screen (21) is connected to the mobile phone body via the connecting edge of the hinge. The OLED composite layer (13) includes an OLED display layer, a surface anti-scratch protection layer, etc., and requires a soft base material layer at least in the bending area, and the lower layer is a hinge layer (15).

[0053] The two sides of the hinge are connected by bonding, welding, riveting, excessive rigidity or elastic components to the structure of the mobile phone additional screen (19) and the structure of the mobile phone main body (20); and the installation position of the hinge is located below the OLED composite layer. This connection method is a conventional connection, and the contact point is at the shell or the mobile phone frame.

[0054] The soft base material layer is placed between the OLED composite layer (13) and the hinge layer (15) to play a buffering and protective role. The screen assembly of the mobile phone is placed Figure 1 、 2 The mobile phone screen is placed on the surface (23) shown.

Claims

1. Geared radial synchronous hinge, characterized by : The structure of the meshing radial synchronous hinge includes: a structural bar, a rotating shaft and a radial slider; the structure of the structural bar includes: a rotating shaft, an interconnected shaft hole, a radial slide groove and a gear running along the structural bar; the structure of the radial slider includes: a radial slide column, a rack, a card-pulling hole part and a card-pulling column part; assembly and working principle: all the structural bars are connected together by the rotation shaft constraint, and the radial slider and the structural bar are connected through the matching connection relationship between the radial slide groove and the slide column, and are also driven by the rack, gear and card-pulling hole part and card-pulling column part processed on the two relatively moving structural bars and the radial slider, and the corresponding relationship is: the gear matches the rack, the card-pulling column part corresponds to the card-pulling hole part, and the card-pulling hole part and the card-pulling column part between each radial slider are nested and plugged together; the hinge is provided with a blocking structure when the hinge is in the straight state; The structure of the toothed radial synchronous hinge is as follows: the structural bars (1) are connected to each other by a rotating shaft (4), and the structural bars (1) can rotate relative to each other around the rotating shaft (4); the rotation angle can be constrained by the external shape of the structural bars (1); The slide column (6) of the radial slider (2) is embedded in the radial slide groove (3) of the structural bar (1) and slides freely. The gear portion (5) of the structural bar (1) and the rack portion (8) of the radial slider (2) are meshed with each other, so that when the structural bars (1) can rotate with each other around the rotation axis (4), the radial slider (2) is driven by the gear portion (5) to move along the direction of the radial slide groove (3). Two adjacent radial sliders (2) are nested and plugged together by the card-push hole portion (9) and the card-push column portion (10). After the multiple structural bars (1) are connected to each other by the rotation axis (4), a hinge is formed, thereby constraining the displacement linkage of all radial sliders. The structural bars (1) can rotate with each other around the rotating shaft (4); the two interconnected shaft holes (16) of each structural bar (1) are interconnected hand in hand to form a complete hinge.

2. The toothed radial synchronous hinge according to claim 1, characterized in that: The blocking structure directly utilizes the surface friction of the moving surface of the rotating shaft, radial slide groove or sliding column U-shaped slide; or an elastic mechanism with a snap-on function, a spring push-pull mechanism, the elastic mechanism refers to the two parts that move relative to each other in the hinge, respectively installed or processed with positioning recesses and elastic protrusions. The embedding of the elastic body into the positioning recess caused by the relative movement between the two parts forms a resistance positioning function; the spring push-pull mechanism utilizes at least one end of the spring to connect to the moving part of the dynamic axis folding screen mobile phone, and utilizes the change in the position of the two connection points of the spring to change the force direction of the moving part.

3. A foldable screen mobile phone with a toothed radial synchronous hinge according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The foldable screen mobile phone includes: a motherboard, a camera, a battery, a speaker, a microphone, a wired or wireless interface device, a screen and a shell; the assembly relationship is that the interior and periphery of the shell accommodate: the motherboard, battery, speaker, microphone, interface device, and the screen is part of the surface of the mobile phone, with the display surface facing outward; the screen of the foldable screen mobile phone is connected to the mobile phone shell through the connecting edge of the meshing radial synchronous hinge.

Images