Balanced Hinge Brake With Selective Friction for Free Closure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hinges with friction elements for doors or shutters are complex, bulky, and costly due to high stress requirements, leading to excessive wear and sensitivity to liquids and oils, and fail to provide sufficient force for final closure and precise braking control.
Innovation Solution
A balanced hinge device with a brake mechanism that selectively applies braking action in predetermined sectors of the rotation arc using a combination of cut and moulded metal sheet connecting means, elastic means, and kinematic elements, allowing for adjustable friction and actuation characteristics through substitutable parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If friction elements are used to balance door weight and provide braking, then the door can be balanced and slowed down, but the braking action acts throughout all rotation arc slowing the door in every position, preventing or making difficult to obtain functionalities
Solution Approach 1:
The rotation arc is divided into multiple sectors with different friction characteristics. The friction element selectively engages with different sectors of the rotation arc, providing high friction in some sectors and low friction in others, allowing the door to be held in certain positions while allowing free movement in other positions.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sectors of the rotation arc are assigned different friction properties. The friction element has varying friction coefficients across different angular positions, enabling localized braking action only where needed while maintaining ease of operation in other sectors.
2Reliability
If friction elements are used for braking, then the door can be slowed down, but the friction elements become very complex and bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The friction element is integrated with the door or hinge structure, combining multiple functions into a single component. The friction element serves both as a structural component and as the braking element, eliminating the need for separate complex braking mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The friction element automatically engages and disengages based on the door's position and movement, without requiring external control mechanisms. The design allows the friction element to self-regulate its braking action through its geometric configuration and interaction with the hinge mechanism.
3Strength
If robust materials are used to handle high forces, then the hinge can transmit high forces, but the elements become very expensive, extremely overweighed and oversized, causing significant wear and excessive sensitivity to liquids
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge design changes the operating parameters to reduce force transmission requirements. By using elastic elements to balance the door weight and selective friction braking, the peak forces on the hinge components are significantly reduced, allowing the use of lighter materials and smaller cross-sections.
Solution Approach 2:
Elastic elements are used to counterbalance the door weight, reducing the gravitational load that the hinge must support. This counterbalancing mechanism decreases the forces transmitted through the hinge components, enabling the use of lighter, less expensive materials.
4Strength
If robust materials with high friction reduction are used, then the hinge can handle high forces, but the elements become extremely sensitive to accidental liquids presence, detergents or oils
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge design reduces the operating forces through elastic counterbalancing and selective friction, thereby reducing the sensitivity to lubricants and contaminants. Lower force transmission requirements allow the use of materials and surface treatments that are less sensitive to liquid contamination.
5Reliability
If known hinges are designed, then the door can be balanced, but they generally do not allow a final closure free stroke having sufficient force to achieve the closing lock
Solution Approach 1:
The rotation arc is segmented into zones with different friction characteristics, including a final closure zone with reduced friction. This allows the door to accumulate sufficient kinetic energy during the closure stroke to overcome the locking mechanism, while maintaining balancing and holding functions in other zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The friction braking action is applied periodically or selectively at specific positions rather than continuously. This allows the door to have free movement during the final closure stroke while providing braking and holding at intermediate positions, enabling both balancing and sufficient closure force.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a compact, reliable, and cost-effective hinge that balances door weight, allows for precise locking and free closure, and reduces wear by selectively applying braking, enabling efficient and durable operation with adjustable friction characteristics.
Implementation Method 1
a first connecting means (3), preferably made of cut and moulded metal sheet and being mainly flat shaped, assigned to be fixed to a structure or frame such as a dishwasher or another type of apparatus. One end of the first connecting means (3) which in the device operating condition is placed inferiorly in relation to the latter, is pivotally connected via a second pin (4) of the hinge to a second connecting means (5), also preferably made of cut and moulded metal sheet and being mostly flat shaped, assigned to be fixed to a door or shutter
Implementation Method 2
a friction means (9) fixed to the pinion means (12) that sliding contacts, with mutual sliding, the first connecting means (3) and a contact means (11)
Data Source
AI summary
A balanced hinge device with a brake has a first connector (3) adapted to be fixed to a structure or frame and connected via at least a kinematic element (8) to a second connector (5) adapted to be fixed to a door or a shutter. The device (1) has at least one friction part (9) fixed to at least one among the first connector (3), the second connector (5) and the kinematic element (8). Each friction part (9) slidably contacts, at least at a predetermined rotation arc of one connector (3, 5) with respect to the other connector, a portion of at least one among the first connector (3), the second connector (5) and the kinematic element (8) and with at least a contact (11).