Magnetic Foldable Hinge Structure for Low-Wear Motion Damping
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Solution Overview
Problem
The frequent unfolding and folding of foldable terminal devices lead to severe wear of the hinge's damping structure, resulting in reduced stability and service life due to excessive friction forces.
Innovation Solution
A hinge design incorporating magnetic forces to provide damping, unfolding, and folding forces, utilizing a linear sliding mechanism with magnetic areas to reduce friction and extend the life of the hinge by changing magnetic force direction in sync with the sliding motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a mechanical damping structure (such as a pair of cams) is used to provide damping during hinge motion, then the damping function is achieved, but the structure becomes severely worn due to frequent unfolding and folding operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical damping structure (cams) with a magnetic damping mechanism. Magnetic blocks interact with guide posts through magnetic attraction and repulsion forces, providing damping effects without direct mechanical contact. This substitution eliminates wear between damping components while maintaining the damping function, directly resolving the contradiction between reliability and wear.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces magnetic fields as an intermediary between moving components. The magnetic blocks and guide posts interact through magnetic forces rather than direct contact, using the magnetic field as a mediator to transmit force without mechanical wear. This intermediary approach allows the damping structure to function reliably over extended periods without degradation from friction.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If magnetic forces are used to provide damping and motion control, then wear on damping structures is reduced, but the device complexity increases due to additional magnetic components
Solution Approach 1:
The magnetic blocks serve multiple functions simultaneously: they provide damping during motion, assist in holding the hinge at folded and unfolded positions, and guide the linear sliding movement. By making the magnetic components multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for separate dedicated components for each function, thereby limiting the increase in overall device complexity while achieving wear reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the damping function, positioning function, and guiding function into an integrated magnetic mechanism. The magnetic blocks and guide posts work together as a unified system that performs multiple operations simultaneously, combining what would traditionally require separate mechanical components into a single cohesive magnetic interaction system.
3Ease of operation
If magnetic forces are used to assist unfolding and folding, then the operational smoothness is improved, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase due to magnetic alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the magnetic blocks and guide posts with symmetric magnetic pole arrangements (N-S-N or S-N-S patterns) that create equipotential regions along the sliding path. This symmetric configuration ensures that magnetic forces remain balanced and predictable throughout the motion range, reducing sensitivity to minor alignment variations and simplifying manufacturing tolerances while maintaining smooth operation.
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 magnetic hinge design effectively reduces wear on the damping components, enhancing stability and service life by providing controlled motion damping and forces during unfolding and folding, thus improving the operational longevity of foldable devices.
Implementation Method 1
the first magnetic area and the second magnetic area are configured to generate magnetic forces therebetween to interact on each other
Data Source
AI summary
A hinge and a foldable display device are provided. The hinge includes a fixed trestle and a rotation mechanism. The rotation mechanism includes a linear slider rotationally connected to the fixed trestle and having a first magnetic area and a linear chute having a second magnetic area. During unfolding and folding processes of the hinge, the linear slider slides relative to the linear chute, magnetic forces are generated between first magnetic area and the second magnetic area, and the magnetic force acting on the first magnetic area has a direction changing from an opposite direction to a same direction of the sliding direction of the linear slider.