Plastic Hinge Spacer for Quiet Fabric Treatment Machine Lid Operation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current slow close hinges in fabric treatment machines face issues with shaft stability and noise due to metal-on-metal contact, requiring additional components and increased costs, and plastic top panels are expensive alternatives.
Innovation Solution
A plastic hinge spacer with a socket portion and flange portion is press-fit into the top panel, featuring a parallelogram bore to securely hold the hinge shaft and prevent incorrect assembly, manufactured from PA66 with high glass fill percentage for torque resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the shaft is inserted directly into a hole in the metal top panel, then the assembly is simple, but the connection is not strong enough to resist high torque and produces noisy metal-on-metal contact
Solution Approach 1:
A plastic spacer is introduced as an intermediary component between the metal hinge shaft and the metal top panel. The spacer includes a bore that receives the shaft and features a flange that contacts the panel, eliminating direct metal-on-metal contact. This intermediary plastic component reduces noise while providing sufficient torque resistance through its press-fit connection to the panel.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution uses a composite approach by combining plastic material (for the spacer) with metal components (shaft and panel). The plastic spacer provides noise reduction and adequate torque resistance, while the metal shaft and panel maintain structural strength. This composite material strategy resolves the contradiction between simplicity and reliability.
2Reliability
If current styles of slow close hinges are secured into the top panel on its bottom side, then the hinge can function, but an additional component is required increasing cost and assembly steps
Solution Approach 1:
The spacer combines multiple functions into a single component: it provides the mounting interface for the hinge shaft, eliminates noise through plastic material, and integrates directly with the top panel through press-fit. By merging these functions into one component that can be positioned inside the lid assembly, the solution reduces the number of parts and assembly steps compared to external mounting styles.
3Reliability
If plastic top panels with posts are used for hinge interface, then the same functions are provided, but the cost is higher than metal panels
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the entire top panel from expensive plastic with integrated posts, the solution segments the plastic hinge interface function into a separate, smaller spacer component. This allows the majority of the panel to remain as cost-effective metal, while only the specific hinge mounting area uses plastic. This segmentation significantly reduces material costs while maintaining the functional benefits of plastic at the hinge interface.
Data Source
AI summary
A fabric treatment machine has a cabinet housing. A lid enables access inside the cabinet. Fabric treatment components such as a drum are positioned inside the cabinet housing. A panel on the cabinet housing includes an opening to receive the lid. At least one hinge spacer couples with the panel to receive a shaft of a slow close hinge on the lid. The at least one hinge spacer includes a socket portion and a flange portion. The socket portion inserts into an aperture in the panel. The socket portion includes a bore with at least one flat side to receive a mating shaft from the slow closing hinge. The hinge shaft has at least one flat surface. The flange portion covers the panel around the socket.