Clamp with hinge

Abstract

To provide a hinge structure capable of preventing a phenomenon where a hinge for connecting a lid and a body is broken during work of closing the lid to the body.SOLUTION: A clamp is so configured that a first member and a second member are connected by a hinge, and the first member and the second member are abutted by bending the hinge. The hinge comprises: outside parts extending for the same length from the first member and the second member and in a fixed thickness; a central part located between the outside parts and thinner than the outside parts; and curved parts extending to between the outside parts and the central part. In the cured part, a shape of the curved part to be outside when the hinge is bent is curved so that a thickness of the curved part gradually becomes thin from the outside part to the central part in a state that the hinge extends. A shape of the hinge to be inside when the hinge is bent is a straight shape from the first member to the second member in a state that the hinge extends.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] FIELD OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to clamps, and more particularly to hinged lid and body clamps. [Background technology]

[0002] Integral molded products in which the lid and the body are connected by a hinge are widely used in various industries due to the convenience of the parts being integrated and the reduction in the number of molding dies. In the automotive industry, pipe clamps in which the lid and the body are connected by a hinge are known to fix long parts such as vehicle piping and hoses to the vehicle. In addition, integral molded products in which the lid and the body are connected by a hinge are also known for protectors that incorporate electric wires and wire harnesses. The material of the part in which the lid and the body are integrally molded is appropriately selected depending on the part to be used and the environment in which it is used. For example, polyamide-based plastics are selected for parts that become hot, and plastics such as polypropylene and polyethylene are selected for parts that require chemical resistance. For pipe clamps placed under the floor of a vehicle, polypropylene (PP) and semi-aromatic polyamide (PA6T) are selected in consideration of acid resistance, and it is known that integral molded products in which the lid and the body are connected by a hinge are effective in improving the workability of pipe assembly and reducing costs.

[0003] However, if the length of the hinge part is made longer, a space will be generated between the lid and the main body after the lid is closed, which will cause a gap between the lid and the object to be fastened, and will cause the fastened object to rattle due to vehicle vibration. As a countermeasure to this, in order to bend the hinge with the smallest radius after the lid is closed, it is necessary to narrow the gap between the lid and the main body (the length of the hinge part). Furthermore, in a hinge structure in which the thickness of the hinge part is uniform, flat, and parallel, and the bending angle of the hinge is 180°, the hinge bending may only start in a narrow range biased to the left and right of the base of the hinge due to the processing accuracy of the mold, and the expected hinge shape after the lid is closed may not be achieved.

[0004] This causes the starting point of the bend to change during the rotational movement when the hinged lid is closed, increasing the burden on the hinge. In other words, a one-piece molded product in which the lid and body are connected by a hinge requires high machining precision in the mold, and the mold must be adjusted to a high degree of precision so that the hinge bending does not have the effects described above, and the condition of the hinge bending must be confirmed on the molded product.

[0005] Conventional hinge structures include those that prevent the hinge from cracking when the lid is closed by controlling the shape of the starting point where the hinge bends when the lid is closed, as shown in Patent Documents 1 to 4. However, in hinge structures in which the bending angle of the hinge is 180°, the hinge may crack when the lid is closed, and more effective improvements are desired. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 10-185003 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2020-149938 [Patent Document 3] Patent Publication 2014-043909 [Patent Document 4] Patent Publication No. 09-137823 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENTS Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a hinge structure capable of preventing the hinge from cracking during the lid closing operation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To this end, one aspect of the present invention comprises: A clamp in which a first member and a second member are connected by a hinge, and the first member and the second member are configured to come into contact with each other by bending the hinge, The hinge is an outer portion extending from said first member and said second member by the same length and with a constant thickness; a central portion located between the outer portions and having a thickness less than the outer portions; a curved portion extending between each of the outer portions and the central portion, the shape of the curved portion that becomes outer when the hinge is bent being curved such that the thickness of the curved portion gradually decreases from the outer portion toward the central portion when the hinge is extended; Equipped with The shape of the hinge that becomes the inside when the hinge is bent is a straight shape from the first member to the second member when the hinge is extended. It is a clamp.

[0009] Preferably, in the clamp, the hinge is formed from polypropylene. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, a hinge structure is obtained that can prevent the hinge connecting the lid and the main body from cracking during the operation of closing the lid on the main body. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hinged clamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a side view of a hinge structure of a hinged clamp according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the bending angle of the hinge is 180° for the hinge structure of the hinged clamp according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 1A and 1B are diagrams showing experimental results of evaluation of a hinge structure of a hinged clamp according to an embodiment of the present invention and a conventional hinge structure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0013] 1 shows a perspective view of a hinged clamp 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The hinged clamp 100 is a pipe clamp commonly used to secure, for example, piping arranged under the floor of an automobile, or fuel or brake piping, to the vehicle body.

[0014] The hinged clamp 100 has a body portion 130, hinges 110, 120, and lid portions 140, 150 connected to the hinges 110, 120. The hinged clamp 100 is a one-piece molded pipe clamp with the lid portions 140, 150 and the body portion 130 connected by the hinges 110, 120, the pipe clamp material being a thermoplastic, and the hinges 110, 120 preferably having hinge structures injection molded from polypropylene.

[0015] By bending hinge 110, lid portion 140 can be abutted against a predetermined portion of main body portion 130, thereby closing lid portion 140, and by bending hinge 120, lid portion 150 can be abutted against a predetermined portion of main body portion 130, thereby closing lid portion 150.

[0016] 2 is a side view of the hinge structure of the hinge 110 of the hinged clamp 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the hinge 110 is shown in an extended (open) state, similar to the hinge 110 shown in FIG.

[0017] The hinge 110 has outer portions 220 extending from each of the ends 250 of the lid portions 140, 150 and the end 260 of the body portion 130, a central portion 210 between the outer portions 220, and curved portions 215 extending between each of the outer portions 220 and the central portion 210.

[0018] Each of the outer portions 220 extends from the end 250 of the cover portion 140, 150 and the end 260 of the main body portion 130 by the same length and with a constant thickness. The central portion 210 is configured to have a thinner wall thickness than the outer portion 220. The shape of the curved portion 215 that becomes the outer side (the lower side of FIG. 2: surface B) when the hinge 110 is bent is curved such that the thickness of the curved portion 215 gradually decreases from the outer portion 220 toward the central portion 210 when the hinge 110 is extended. The shape of the hinge 110 that becomes the inner side (the upper side of FIG. 2: surface A) when the hinge 110 is bent is a straight shape between the end 250 and the end 260 when the hinge 110 is extended.

[0019] In this way, the hinge 110 is configured so that the part that becomes the outer side (side B) when the hinge 110 is bent gradually becomes thinner from the straight outer part 220 through the curved part 215, with the central part 210 being the thinnest part.

[0020] 3 is a diagram showing the hinge structure of the hinged clamp 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention in a state where the bending angle of the hinge 110 is 180°. As shown in FIG. 3, in this state, the ends 250 of the lid portions 140, 150 and the end 260 of the body portion 130 are in contact with each other, and the lid portions 140, 150 are closed relative to the body portion 130.

[0021] When transitioning from the open state of the hinge 110 in FIG. 2 to the closed state of the hinge 110 in FIG. 3, since the central portion 210 of the hinge 110 is configured to be the thinnest, it is possible to control the starting point of bending of the hinge 110 to the central portion 210. In addition to this configuration, the outer portion 220 is not curved and is configured to avoid becoming too thick in a straight shape, so that the stress applied until the central portion 210 is bent to 180° after starting to bend is concentrated on the central portion 210 can be avoided. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, bending can be propagated from the central portion 210 to the bent portion 215, causing the hinge 110 to bend in an arc shape as a whole, and the phenomenon of the hinge 110 cracking can be avoided.

[0022] [Evaluation Test] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the experimental results of the evaluation of the hinge structure of the clamp 100 with a hinge according to an embodiment of the present invention and a conventional hinge structure.

[0023] The left side of FIG. 4 shows the state in which the hinge is extended for the hinge structure 440a according to the present invention and Comparative Examples 410a, 420a, and 430a. The right side of FIG. 4 shows the states of the hinge structure 440a according to the present invention and Comparative Examples 410a, 420a, and 430a as the stress distribution when these hinges are bent by 90°.

[0024] For the hinge according to the present invention and the hinge according to the comparative example, polypropylene was used as the material of the hinge. In a pipe clamp formed of polypropylene having a conventional hinge structure in which the bending angle of the hinge is 180°, as in the case of polyamide-based products, the problem has been that the hinge does not have the expected hinge shape after closing the lid. Therefore, using polypropylene as the material of the hinge, the state of the stress distribution of the hinge when the hinge is bent and whether the hinge cracks were evaluated. The distance between the main body portion and the lid portion was made the same, and the minimum thickness of each part was defined as relatively t2 < t0 < t1.

[0025] In hinge structure 440a according to the present invention, when the hinge 442 is bent 90°, it can be seen that the greatest force is applied to the central portion at thickness t0, and that the force applied therefrom gradually decreases evenly to the left and right. In this regard, it has been confirmed that hinge structure 440a according to the present invention does not crack even when the hinge is bent 180°, and is an effective structure even when polypropylene, which has been often used as a hinge material in recent years, is used.

[0026] In contrast, in comparative example 410a, the thickness (t1) of hinge 412 is uniform, so that the stress when bent 90° is not greatest in the center, and the starting point of bending is not determined. As a result, in comparative example 410a, there is a possibility that the cover parts 140, 150 and the main body part 130 may not be able to abut at a desired position. From the hinge structure of comparative example 410a, it is expected that the starting point of bending will not be determined even if the thickness of hinge 412 is changed.

[0027] Comparative example 420a has a structure in which the base portion of hinge 422 is thick while the central portion is the thinnest (t2) compared to the other examples, and the stress in the central portion is very large, and the starting point of bending is concentrated at one point in the central portion, so that in fact, hinge 422 may crack if it is bent beyond 90°. From the hinge structure of comparative example 420a, it is expected that the thickness of hinge 422 will require reconsideration of the hinge thickness depending on the molded product.

[0028] In the comparative example 430a, the hinge 432 has a curved structure as a whole, and the starting point of the bend is easily determined near the center of the hinge. However, when looking at the stress near the base of the hinge 432 in a state where it is bent 90 degrees, it can be seen that the load is applied differently on both sides near the base. This is thought to be because the thickness of the hinge 432 is constant over the entire length of the hinge, so the load is not applied in a fixed manner. As a result, when the hinge 432 is further bent to 180 degrees, the load may be unevenly concentrated and the hinge may break from the part where it is concentrated. In addition, as described above, the hinge 432 is curved as a whole, and the entire length of the hinge 432 is relatively longer than the other examples. Therefore, when the hinge 432 is adopted, there is a possibility that the cover parts 140, 150 may abut at a position offset from the main body part 130 when the cover parts 140, 150 are closed to the main body part 130. The hinge structure of comparative example 430a may not have the expected hinge shape after the lid is closed, and the hinge 432 may crack. If a crack occurs, it is expected that processing using a new corresponding mold will be necessary, which will be uneconomical.

[0029] The hinge structure 440a according to the present invention is based on the hinge 110 shown in FIG. 2. In the present invention, the hinge 110 has a central portion 210 (t0), an outer portion 220 (t1), and a curved portion 215 between the central portion 210 and the outer portion 220. When the hinge structure 440a according to the present invention is stretched to a 90° bent state, bending starts from the central portion 210 (t0) of the hinge 110. Then, the bending propagates to the curved portions 215 located on the left and right of the central portion 210, and a bending behavior occurs over a wide range of the entire hinge 110. When the hinge structure 440a is bent by 90°, the hinge structure 440a is in the state shown on the right in FIG. 4. The hinge 110 according to the present invention can be further bent up to 180° as shown in FIG. 3, but in this case, the load on the outer portion 220 near the base of the hinge 110 becomes large. In the present invention, unlike the base portion of the hinge in comparative example 420a, outer portion 220 is configured to be slightly thicker than central portion 210 and to have a constant thickness so that it can follow bending up to 180° even in a situation where the load on outer portion 220, which is the base portion of hinge 110, increases (in the example of hinge structure 440a in FIG. 4, the thickness of outer portion 220 is (t1) relative to the thickness (t0) of central portion 210, and it is desirable for t0 / t1 to be approximately 0.8).

[0030] Moreover, the hinge structure 440a according to the present invention is set so that the total line length before bending the hinge is close to the total line length after bending the hinge 180°. That is, in FIG. 2, the upper side (A side) of the hinge 110 in FIG. 2 becomes the inside when the hinge 110 is bent, and the upper side of the hinge 110 has a straight shape. On the other hand, in FIG. 2, the lower side (B side) of the hinge 110 in FIG. 2 becomes the outside when the hinge 110 is bent, and the outer side (B side) of the hinge has a curved portion due to the curved portion 215. Therefore, in the state of FIG. 2 in which the hinge 110 is not bent, the B side that becomes the outside when the hinge 110 is bent is longer than the total line length of the A side that becomes the inside when the hinge 110 is bent. In other words, when hinge 110 is bent, surface B (the surface on which force is applied in the expanding direction) which is on the outside is designed to be longer than surface A (the surface on which force is applied in the contracting direction) which is on the inside, resulting in a structure that can reduce the burden on hinge 110 during the process of bending hinge 110.

[0031] As described above, in hinge 110 of the present invention, central portion 210 is thinner than other portions, so that the starting point when hinge 110 bends can be set at central portion 210, and the total line length of the outer surface of hinge 110 is designed to be relatively long, so that the burden on hinge 110 is reduced when hinge 110 bends up to 180°.

[0032] It should be noted that by increasing the overall length of the hinge 110, it is possible to reduce the load on the hinge 110 when the hinge 110 is bent. However, it should be noted that in such a structure, when the lid parts 140, 150 are closed on the main body part 130, the lid parts 140, 150 may abut at a position that is offset from the main body part 130. Therefore, in the present invention, the hinge 110 is not configured to have a relatively long overall length, and by configuring the central part 210, the curved part 215, and the outer part 220 as described above, when the hinge 110 is bent as shown in FIG. 3, the end 250 of the lid parts 140, 150 and the end 260 of the main body part 130 can abut at a desired position while reducing the load on the hinge 110.

[0033] As described above, the hinge of the present invention is less likely to crack than conventional hinges, and is capable of abutting the lid against the main body without causing misalignment. Therefore, the hinge of the present invention reduces the time and labor required for adjustment during manufacturing, making it more economical.

[0034] Furthermore, according to the hinge of the present invention, it is possible to provide a hinge that will not break even when the material of the clamp hinge is polypropylene (PP). In recent years, polypropylene (PP) has been used as the material of the hinges of vehicle pipe clamps, but the hinge structure of polypropylene (PP) often causes the hinge to not assume the desired shape when the pipe clamp lid is closed, and the hinge to break, which is particularly likely to occur at low temperatures of around 0°C. The hinge structure of the present invention can be applied to various plastic materials, but is particularly useful when manufactured from polypropylene (PP) and used in low-temperature environments.

[0035] As described above, one embodiment and an example of the hinged clamp according to the present invention have been described, but it is easily understood that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned example, and various modifications can be made thereto. As long as they fall within the scope of the matters described in the claims and equivalents thereto, they are naturally included in the technical scope of the present invention. The above-mentioned example is directed to a lid and a body having a predetermined shape, but this is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this specific example. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 100 hinged clamp 110, 120 hinge 130 Main body part 140, 150 Lid part 210 Central part 215 Curved Section 220 Outer part 250, 260 End

Claims

1. A clamp in which a first member and a second member are connected by a hinge, and the first member and the second member are abutted against each other by bending the hinge, The hinge is an outer portion extending from said first member and said second member, respectively, of the same length and with a constant thickness; a central portion located between the outer portions and having a thickness less than the outer portions; a curved portion extending between each of the outer portions and the central portion, the shape of the curved portion that becomes outer when the hinge is bent being curved such that the thickness of the curved portion gradually decreases from the outer portion toward the central portion when the hinge is extended; Equipped with The shape of the hinge that becomes an inner side when the hinge is bent is a straight shape from the first member to the second member when the hinge is extended. Clamp.

2. The clamp of claim 1 , wherein the hinge is formed of polypropylene.

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