Hinge Unit Cable Routing for Thinner Laptop Profiles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic devices with rotating hinge units face challenges in managing cables connecting the main body and display chassis, particularly in maintaining a compact design while ensuring cable protection and ease of rotation around multiple axes.
Innovation Solution
A hinge unit design that incorporates a hollow body with a path for cables to pass through, parallel to the vertical axis and overlapping with the horizontal axis, featuring a cover at the display chassis to conceal cables, thereby eliminating the need for additional covering at the hinge unit, allowing for thinner device profiles and improved cable management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cables are routed through the hinge unit, then cable protection is improved, but device thickness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent routes cables through the hollow interior space of the hinge unit, nesting the cables within the existing hinge structure. This eliminates the need for separate cable protection layers, maintaining compact device thickness while protecting cables through the hollow body enclosure
2Shape
If a cover is added to conceal cables, then cable concealment is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the cable concealment function directly into the display chassis cover, merging the cover's protective/concealment role with the cable routing function. The cover simultaneously serves as both a structural component and a cable concealment mechanism, eliminating separate cable management components
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the cable routing path from the hinge unit and relocates it to the display chassis, specifically routing cables along the horizontal axis toward the vertical axis where they can be concealed by the display chassis cover rather than requiring hinge unit modifications
3Ease of manufacture
If cable path is parallel to vertical axis, then cable installation is simplified, but cable protection is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates different cable routing zones: a first zone with a path parallel to the vertical axis for easy cable installation, and a second zone with a path toward the vertical axis for enhanced cable protection. The display chassis cover provides localized protection at the overlapping region where cables transition between zones
Data Source
AI summary
A laptop personal computer (PC) is disclosed. The laptop PC includes a hinge unit that turns around a vertical axis and rotates around a horizontal axis, and the hinge unit connects a main body chassis to a display chassis. The hinge unit includes an inside, through which cables connecting a main body and a display pass. A path is provided, along which the cables are installed, and the path includes a part that is parallel to the vertical axis and is apart from the vertical axis and having a part overlapping with the horizontal axis towards the vertical axis. The cover is provided at the display chassis for covering the cables overlapping with the horizontal axis. This can eliminate the necessity of a cover for the cables on the side of the hinge unit, thus making the laptop PC thinner.