Hinge retaining device and electronic machine using same

Abstract

The invention provides a hinge holding device which stably holds a housing in an open state or a closed state. The hinge holding device holds a pair of housings in an open state or a closed state, and includes: a base frame sandwiched between the pair of housings and configured to support the pair of housings so as to be opened and closed; and a buffer mechanism in which the load generating unit is disposed in at least one of the pair of housings. The buffer mechanism generates a non-linear load between the base frame and the one shell, so that the one shell is kept in an open state or a closed state relative to the base frame.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a hinge holding device and an electronic machine using the hinge holding device. The hinge holding device is suitable for various electronic machines such as portable phones, electronic notebooks, PDAs, small notebook computers, and notebook computers. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, electronic devices such as mobile phones that have an organic EL flexible display panel mounted across the two surfaces of a pair of foldable housings have been developed and sold. The electronic devices that have a holding device and can be held in an open state and a closed state are disclosed in the following patent documents 1 and 2.

[0003] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-125841

[0004] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-072199

[0005] The electronic devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are provided with a retaining device in a base frame, and the base frame supports the opening and closing of components such as a housing. In the above structure, since there are multiple components between the retaining device and the housing, if there is any damage in the structure, it will cause a problem that sufficient retaining force cannot be provided to the housing. Summary of the invention

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a hinge holding device and an electronic device using the hinge holding device, wherein the hinge holding device can stably hold a housing in an open state and a closed state.

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the hinge holding device of the present invention holds a pair of shells in an open state or a closed state, and the hinge holding device includes a base frame and a buffer mechanism. The base frame is sandwiched between the pair of shells, and supports the pair of shells to open and close respectively; the buffer mechanism is configured with a load generating part in at least one shell of the pair of shells. The buffer mechanism generates a nonlinear load between the base frame and the one shell, so that the one shell is kept in an open state or a closed state relative to the base frame.

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the buffer mechanism of the present invention includes an arm supported by a base frame so as to be swingable and connected to the one housing so as to be slidable, and a load generating unit controls a sliding motion between the arm and the one housing.

[0009] In order to solve the above problems, the load generating part of the present invention includes a sliding cam, a spring bracket and a spring. The sliding cam is connected to the arm and slides relative to the housing of the one side; the spring bracket is arranged on the housing of the one side and moves along a first direction different from the above sliding direction; the spring makes the spring bracket move in the first direction and abut against the sliding cam.

[0010] To solve the above problems, in the load generating portion of the present invention, the cam apex of the cam provided on the slide cam and the cam apex of the cam provided on the spring bracket abut against each other when the one housing is in an intermediate state between the open state and the closed state relative to the base frame.

[0011] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the load generating portion of the present invention, the load applied by the spring bracket to the slide cam gradually decreases as the one housing moves from the intermediate state to the open state or the closed state.

[0012] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the slide cam of the present invention is supported by the arm so as to be rotatable around an axis which is substantially parallel to the switch axis of the one housing.

[0013] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the electronic device of the present invention uses the hinge holding device described in the above paragraphs.

[0014] According to the structure of the present invention, the open state and the closed state of the housing can be surely maintained.

[0015] According to the configuration of the present invention, the buffer mechanism can be constructed with a small number of components.

[0016] According to the configuration of the present invention, the load generating portion can be constructed with a small number of components.

[0017] According to another embodiment of the structure of the present invention, the open state and the closed state of the housing can also be reliably maintained.

[0018] According to still another embodiment of the structure of the present invention, the open state and the closed state of the housing can also be surely maintained.

[0019] According to the structure of the present invention, the opening and closing load of the buffer mechanism can be made more stable.

[0020] According to the structure of the present invention, the opened and closed state of the electronic device can be reliably maintained. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 The present invention shows an electronic device having a flexible display panel, which uses the hinge retaining device of the present invention, wherein (a) is a stereoscopic view of a pair of shells in a closed state when the shells are closed to 0 degrees; and (b) is a side view of a pair of shells in a closed state when the shells are closed to 0 degrees.

[0022] Figure 2 A perspective view showing a pair of housings of an electronic device having a flexible display panel opened to 180 degrees, the flexible display panel using the hinge holding device of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 3 It is a three-dimensional diagram of the hinge unit in a closed state.

[0024] Figure 4 An enlarged perspective view for explaining the guide device.

[0025] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional view of the hinge holding device in an intermediate state.

[0026] 6 is a perspective view of the hinge holding device, wherein (a) is an exploded perspective view of the load generating portion in the open state; and (b) is a perspective view of the spring bracket viewed from the inside.

[0027] Figure 7 The diagram is a structural illustration of the load generating portion, wherein (a) is a plan view when the hinge retaining device is in an open state; and (b) is a cross-sectional view along the line segment A-A in (a).

[0028] Figure 8 The figures illustrate the operation of the load generating part, wherein (a) is a plan view of the load generating part when the hinge retaining device is in an open state; (b) is a plan view of the load generating part when the hinge retaining device is in an intermediate state; and (c) is a plan view of the load generating part when the hinge retaining device is in a closed state. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The hinge holding device of the present invention and the electronic device using the multi-axis hinge device will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0030] Figure 1 , Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mobile phone A (smart phone) as an example of an electronic device. The mobile phone A (smart phone) uses the multi-axis hinge device of the present invention.

[0031] Figure 1 (a) is a three-dimensional view of the closed state when the angle between the pair of housings 10 is 0 degrees. The appearance of the mobile phone A is composed of a pair of housings 10, a side cover 20 and a flexible display panel 30, which are connected by a hinge unit B ( Figure 1 (not shown) connects a pair of housings 10. And, as Figure 1 As shown in the side view of (b), the side cover 20 side indicated by arrow 10d is the rotation root of the pair of housings 10, and the free end side indicated by arrow 10e is the front end of opening and closing. The mounting hole 10a indicated by the dotted line on the inner surface of the flexible display board 30 is provided to allow the housing 10 to be screwed and locked on the mounting plate 41 described later.

[0032] Figure 2 It is a stereoscopic view of the open state when the angle between the two shells 10 is opened to 180 degrees. Figure 1 (b) Figure 2 As shown, a pair of housings 10 rotate in the direction of arrow 10c around the rotation axis 10b. Figure 2 The open state is switched to Figure 1 (a) The closed state.

[0033] The hinge unit B includes the hinge holding device of the present invention, and most of the components constituting the hinge unit B are axially symmetrical about the longitudinal direction of the base frame 40. Therefore, the following description will only describe the components on one side of the axially symmetrical shape.

[0034] The hinge unit B is composed of a guide device and a hinge holding device. The guide device will be described first.

[0035] Figure 3 It is a perspective view of the hinge unit B in a closed state. The flexible display panel 30 is arranged along the surface 40 b of the base frame 40 . Figure 3 In order to distinguish it from the hinge unit B, the flexible display panel 30 is suspended on the surface 40b of the hinge unit B. More specifically, the surface 40b of the base frame 40 and the auxiliary rod 42 described later are fixed with a double-sided adhesive and the auxiliary rod pressing portion 43 to support the flexible display panel 30. The curved portion 30a of the flexible display panel 30 is fixed to the supporting sheet 30b with a double-sided adhesive. It is also recorded that the supporting sheet 30b is suspended on the surface 40b of the hinge unit B. The two ends 30c of the flexible display panel 30 are fixed to the supporting sheet 30b. Figure 3 The housing 10 is also fixed on a pair of housings 10 not shown in the figure.

[0036] The base frame 40 of the hinge unit B has a plurality of arc arms 50, 51, 52, an end bracket 54 and an arc arm bracket 53, and these components constitute a guide device U50.

[0037] As described above, the auxiliary rod 42 is provided to support the support sheet 30 b , and the support sheet 30 b and the auxiliary rod 42 are mounted on the base frame 40 by the mounting screws 43 a of the auxiliary rod pressing portion 43 . Figure 1 The side cover 20 is connected and fixed to the end bracket 54.

[0038] The base frame 40 , the mounting plate 41 , the auxiliary rod 42 , and the auxiliary rod pressing portion 43 constitute a frame U40 .

[0039] The guide device is used to guide the pair of housings 10 to open and close relative to the base frame 40. Figure 4 This is an enlarged stereogram to illustrate the guide device U50 in the open state. Figure 4The combination of multiple arc arms 50, 51, 52 is described. The arc shaft 52a provided on the arc arm 52 is engaged with the arc groove 40a provided on the base frame 40. The arc shaft 51a provided on the arc arm 51 is engaged with the arc groove 52b provided on the arc arm 52. One of the pair of arc shafts 50a provided on the arc arm 50 is engaged with the arc groove 51b provided on the arc arm 51. The arc arms 51 and 52 are also combined on the opposite surfaces of the arc arm 50, and the arc shaft 52a provided on the arc arm 52 is engaged with the arc groove 54a provided on the end bracket 54. The mounting hole 50b provided on the front end of the arc arm 50 is threadedly locked into the mounting screw hole (not shown) of the arc arm bracket 53 of Figure 6, so that the mounting plate 41 is mounted on the arc arm bracket 53.

[0040] Depend on Figure 4 It can be seen that the arc arm 50 is sandwiched between the base frame 40 and the end bracket 54 via the arc arms 51 and 52 at both ends. In addition, the arc arms 50, 51, 52 slide along the arc axes and arc grooves. The rotation center of the arc trajectory of the arc axes and arc grooves of the combined arc arms 50, 51, 52 is Figure 1 (b) The rotating shaft 10b. In this way, the hinge mechanism formed by the circular arc sliding not only does not need a rotating shaft, but also can freely configure the position of the rotating shaft 10b. Therefore, the space supporting the opening and closing of a pair of shells 10 can be made smaller. In addition, the fitting length of the combined circular arc groove and the circular arc shaft is longer, and the gap is appropriately filled with lubricating oil to generate good viscous resistance, thereby achieving high-quality opening and closing action.

[0041] The hinge holding device is designed to allow a pair of shells 10 to maintain a specific angle such as an open state or a closed state relative to the base frame 40. The buffer mechanism provided in the hinge holding device buffers in the opening direction or the closing direction when the pair of shells 10 are at an angle between the open state and the closed state, thereby maintaining the open state or the closed state.

[0042] The hinge holding device of the present invention is divided into a connecting portion U60 provided on the base frame 40 and a load generating portion U70 provided on the housing 10. First, the connecting portion U60 will be described.

[0043] Back to reference Figure 3 The connecting part U60 of the hinge holding device is composed of a synchronous gear 62, an arm shaft 61 and an arm 60. The synchronous gear 62 is supported on the base frame 40; the arm shaft 61 is coaxial with the synchronous gear 62 and is limited in rotation by a special-shaped shaft; and the arm 60 is limited in rotation by a special-shaped hole on the arm shaft 61.

[0044] Synchronous gear 62 and Figure 3The synchronizing gear 62 (not shown) on the opposite side of the pair of arms 60 meshes with each other and connects the opposite arm shaft 61 and the arm 60 (not shown). Therefore, when one of the pair of arms 60 is operated to swing, the other arm 60 is also synchronously shaken. The arm 60 is connected to the mounting plate 41 through the arm pin 77 and the slide block 73. In addition, the mounting screw holes 41a of the pair of mounting plates 41 are connected to the above-mentioned mounting holes 10a ( Figure 1 (a)) and the screw thread locking not shown in the figure. Therefore, the arm 60 acts to make a pair of shells 10 open and close synchronously.

[0045] Next, the load generating unit U70 will be described.

[0046] Figure 5 To remove the mounting plate 41 from Figure 3 The hinge unit B is opened from the closed state, and the mounting plate 41 is in a perspective view in an intermediate state between the open state and the closed state. Fig. 6(a) shows a perspective view of the mounting plate 41 in the open state.

[0047] The load generating part U70 of the hinge holding device is composed of a sliding cam 70, a spring bracket 71, a spring 72, a sliding block 73, sliding guides 74, 75, an upper plate 76 and an arm pin 77. In Fig. 6(a), each component and the arm 60 are shown in an exploded perspective view. In addition, in Fig. 6(a), the auxiliary rod 42 of one mounting plate 41 is omitted in order to explain the load generating part U70.

[0048] In FIG. 6(a), the arm shaft 61 is engaged with the arm shaft hole 60a of the arm 60, and the special shapes restrict each other from rotating. In addition, the arm pin 77 is rotatably engaged with the arm pin hole 60b. One end of the arm pin 77 is engaged with the arm pin hole 70a of the sliding cam 70, and the other end is engaged with the arm pin hole 73a of the sliding block 73 (not visible in FIG. 6(a)). The sliding cam 70 and the sliding block 73 are arranged on the sliding surface 41c of the oblique line portion on the mounting plate 41. As described above, the arm hole 60b is engaged with the arm pin 77 to rotate, so that the sliding cam 70 and the sliding block 73 are not affected by the shaking of the arm 60 and can slide stably on the sliding surface 41c in the direction of the arrow 73c and the opposite direction. In other words, the sliding cam 70 is supported by the arm pin 77 to rotate relative to the arm 60 around an axis slightly parallel to the rotating axis 10b of the housing 10, and can slide stably on the sliding surface 41c on the mounting plate 41. The spring bracket 71 is disposed on the mounting plate 41 and can move in a first direction indicated by arrows 71 d and 71 e which is different from the sliding direction of the slide cam 70 (arrow 73 c and the opposite direction thereof).

[0049] The sliding cam 70 and the spring bracket 71 each have a cam portion, and the cam vertex 71c of the spring bracket 71 is arranged opposite to the cam vertex 70c of the sliding cam 70. In addition, a pair of springs 72 are accommodated in the spring receiving portion 71a shown in FIG6(b), and the pair of springs 72 are sandwiched between the spring stopper portion 41d of the mounting plate 41 and the spring stopper portion 71b of the spring bracket 71. For the above structure, the spring bracket 71 is opposed to the sliding cam 70, and its respective cam portions are abutted in the first direction (arrows 71d, 71e) by the force of the pair of springs 72. The upper plate 76 is provided to prevent the spring bracket 71 from floating due to the pressure generated by the pair of springs 72, and the upper plate 76 is locked by screw threads not shown in the figure through the mounting hole 76a and the mounting screw hole 41b of the mounting plate 41.

[0050] Figure 7 (a) is a plan view of the load generating portion U70 of the hinge holding device, Figure 7 (b) Figure 7 (a) A cross-sectional view taken along line AA on the axis of the arm pin 77 ( FIG. 6( a )).

[0051] Figure 7 In (a) and (b), the slide block 73 engaged with the arm pin 77 is arranged on the sliding surface 41c of the mounting plate 41, and the guide step 73b and the slide guide 74 rub against each other. In this way, the guide slide block 73 can only slide in the direction of the arrow 73c of the sliding direction and the opposite direction. The arm pin 77 that passes through the arm 60 is engaged with the slide cam 70, and the slide cam 70 is arranged on the sliding surface 41c of the mounting plate 41. The guide step 70b of the slide cam 70 and the slide guide 75 ( Figure 7 In this way, the guide sliding cam 70 can only slide in the direction of arrow 73c and the opposite direction.

[0052] Figure 8 The diagrams are operation explanation diagrams of the load generating unit U70, wherein (a) is a plan view of the load generating unit U70 in an open state; (b) is a plan view of the load generating unit U70 in an intermediate state; and (c) is a plan view of the load generating unit U70 in a closed state.

[0053] from Figure 8 (a) starts the operation from the open state. When a pair of housings 10 are closed to the intermediate state, as shown in FIG. Figure 8 (b) The sliding cam 70 and the sliding block 73 are connected by the arm 60 and the arm pin 77 ( Figure 8The mounting plate 41 slides in the direction of arrow 73c by pressing the cam 70 (not shown) on the mounting plate 41. At this time, the spring bracket 71 moves in the direction of arrow 71e against the force of the spring 72 through the action of the cam inclination 70e of the sliding cam 70 and the cam inclination 71h of the spring bracket 71. The cam vertex 70c of the sliding cam 70 abuts against the cam vertex 71c of the spring bracket 71, and the force of the spring 72 causes the sliding cam 70 to return to the direction opposite to the arrow 73c. ​​Therefore, when the closing operation of the pair of housings 10 is stopped, a buffer force in the opening direction is generated, and the pair of housings 10 return to the direction opposite to the arrow 73c. Figure 8 (a) is the open state. The buffer mechanism is composed of the load generating part U70 and the arm 60 and the arm shaft 61 of the connecting part U60. The load generating part U70 plays the role of the main part of the buffer mechanism that generates the buffer force in the opening direction of the pair of shells 10.

[0054] Figure 8 In the intermediate state of (b), when the contact point between the cam vertex 70c of the sliding cam 70 and the cam vertex 71c of the spring bracket 71 is exceeded, the sliding cam 70 is operated to slide in the direction of the arrow 73c by the force of the spring 72, the cam inclination 70d of the sliding cam 70 and the cam inclination 71i of the spring bracket 71. Therefore, a buffer force in the closing direction is generated, and the weak operating force makes the hinge unit B become Figure 8 (c) shows the closed state. In this way, the load generating unit U70 plays the role of the main part of the buffer mechanism that generates the buffer force in the closing direction of the pair of housings 10. Figure 8 It can be seen that the cam vertex 71c of the spring bracket 71 abuts against the cam vertex 70c of the sliding cam 70 in the intermediate state, and the inclination of the cam is different with it as the boundary. The load generating part U70 of the buffer mechanism thus constituted generates a nonlinear load between the base frame 40 and the mounting plate 41. Through the nonlinear load of the buffer mechanism, the housing 10 receives the buffering effect in both the opening direction and the closing direction, thereby realizing a high-quality opening and closing action.

[0055] Figure 8 (a) The open state and Figure 8 In the closed state (c), the cam vertex 70c of the slide cam 70 is located at the cam recesses 71f and 71g at both ends of the cam of the spring bracket 71. Therefore, the force of the spring 72 to keep the slide cam 70 in its position is activated. In this way, the hinge holding device can ensure that the hinge unit B is kept in the open state or the closed state.

[0056] The cam inclination of the spring bracket 71 is to clamp the cam vertex 71c, so that the open side and the closed side are different. The cam inclination 71h of the hinge holding device when it is switched from the open state to the intermediate state is steeper than the cam inclination 71i when it is switched from the intermediate state to the closed state. In this way, the holding force when the flexible display board 30 is unfolded becomes larger, and the picture can be viewed stably. In addition, the cam inclination 71i of the spring bracket 71 is relatively flat, so when opening the flexible display board 30, it does not require a lot of force and can be operated easily.

[0057] As mentioned above, the connection part U60 of the present invention is provided with a synchronous gear 62. Therefore, only providing the load generating part U70 on one mounting plate 41 allows the other mounting plate 41 to also have a buffering action and a holding action. Of course, providing the load generating part U70 on both sides of a pair of mounting plates 41 can further reduce the possibility of mechanism damage.

[0058] Although the present invention is based on Figure 4 The described combination: the guide device U50 and the hinge holding devices U60 and U70 constitute the hinge unit B, but the structure of the hinge unit B is not limited to the use of Figure 4 The guide device U50 described above may also be replaced by other guide devices, or the guide device may be omitted and only the hinge retaining device may be used as the hinge unit B.

[0059] As described above, the hinge holding device of the present invention holds a pair of housings 10 in an open state or a closed state, and the hinge holding device comprises a base frame 40 and a buffer mechanism, wherein the base frame 40 is sandwiched between the pair of housings 10 and supports the pair of housings 10 to be opened and closed respectively; and the buffer mechanism is configured with a load generating unit U70 in at least one housing 10 of the pair of housings 10. The buffer mechanism generates a nonlinear load between the base frame 40 and the housing 10 of the one side, so that the housing of the one side is kept in an open state or a closed state relative to the base frame 40.

[0060] In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the structure of the hinge holding device is described by taking an electronic device with a flexible display panel as an example. However, the hinge holding device of the present invention is not limited to the flexible display panel, and can also be applied to electronic devices such as notebook computers in which the display panel is provided on one side of the housing and the keyboard is provided on the other side of the housing, or hinges of various mechanisms such as other accessories.

[0061] The hinge holding device of the present invention has the above structure, and can surely maintain the open state and the closed state of a pair of housings 10, thereby avoiding the situation where the mechanism is damaged.

[0062] The hinge holding device of the present invention is applicable to various foldable electronic devices using the hinge holding device, such as mobile phones, electronic notebooks, PDAs, small notebook computers, video screen devices, portable game consoles or notebook computers. The hinge holding device of the present invention is not only applicable to mobile phones, but can also be widely used in various hinge parts such as the above.

Claims

1. A hinge holding device, which holds a pair of housings in an open state or a closed state, the hinge holding device comprising: A base frame, which is sandwiched between the pair of shells and supports the pair of shells to open and close respectively; and a buffer mechanism having a load generating portion disposed in at least one of the pair of housings; in, The buffer mechanism generates a nonlinear load between the base frame and the one shell, so that the one shell maintains an open state or a closed state relative to the base frame.

2. The hinge holding device according to claim 1, wherein the buffer mechanism comprises: An arm supported by the base frame to be able to swing and connected to the housing on one side to be able to slide; in, The load generating unit controls a sliding motion between the arm and the one housing.

3. The hinge holding device according to claim 2, wherein the load generating portion comprises: a sliding cam connected to the arm and sliding relative to the housing of the one party; a spring bracket disposed on the one housing and moving along a first direction different from the sliding direction; and A spring allows the spring bracket to move toward the first direction and abut against the sliding cam.

4. The hinge holding device according to claim 3, wherein in the load generating portion, a cam vertex of the cam provided on the sliding cam and a cam vertex of the cam provided on the spring bracket are butted against each other when the housing on one side is in an intermediate state between an open state and a closed state relative to the base frame. 5 . The hinge holding device according to claim 4 , wherein in the load generating portion, the load applied by the spring bracket to the slide cam gradually decreases as the one housing moves from the intermediate state to the open state or the closed state.

6. The hinge holding device according to claim 3, wherein the slide cam is supported by the arm so as to be rotatable around an axis substantially parallel to the switch axis of the one housing.

7. An electronic device using the hinge holding device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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