Rotatable Door Mechanism with Cantilevered Spring Blade
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing door mechanisms for electrical sockets, such as USB connectors, are either complex or expensive, lacking a simple and cost-effective solution for selectively accessing the socket while protecting it from dust and foreign matter.
Innovation Solution
A user-manipulated door mechanism with a rotatable door panel and a cantilevered spring blade that engages a rectangular shoulder, providing resistance and detent positions for easy opening and closing, allowing access to the socket while maintaining protection when closed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a door mechanism is provided for covering the electrical socket, then protection from dust and foreign matter is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The door mechanism is segmented into distinct functional components: a door panel for covering, a rectangular shoulder for mounting and engagement, and a cantilevered spring blade for providing resilient force. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently while keeping the overall structure simple and manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The cantilevered spring blade provides self-service by automatically exerting resilient force on the rectangular shoulder to maintain the door panel in the closed position. The mechanism uses the natural elasticity of the spring blade to provide continuous protective force without requiring external power sources, complex actuators, or additional control systems.
2Ease of operation
If a hinged door mechanism is used, then access to the socket is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the essential functional elements of a hinged door mechanism, retaining only the critical components needed for operation: the door panel for access, the rectangular shoulder for mounting, and the cantilevered spring blade for providing closing force. By removing unnecessary complex elements from traditional hinged mechanisms, the design achieves simplicity in manufacturing while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The rectangular shoulder is designed with specific geometric parameters including faces at different orientations (substantially parallel to the door panel and substantially perpendicular to the door panel). These parameter changes in the shoulder's geometry enable the cantilevered spring blade to engage at different positions, providing the necessary resilient force for door operation while keeping the manufacturing process simple and cost-effective.
3Device complexity
If an elastomeric plug is used as cover, then simplicity is improved, but protection reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The door mechanism combines different material properties and structural forms: a rigid door panel for structural integrity and protection, a rectangular shoulder for precise mechanical engagement, and an elastomeric cantilevered spring blade for providing resilient force. This composite approach integrates the simplicity of elastomeric materials with the reliability of rigid mechanical structures, achieving both ease of manufacture and dependable protection.
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 mechanism provides a simple, inexpensive way to protect the electrical socket from dust while allowing convenient access, utilizing resilient engagement to ensure reliable operation and user-friendly operation.
Implementation Method 1
a cantilevered spring blade disposed inboard of the faceplate. The shoulder is rotatably mounted about an axis inboard of the faceplate, and is resiliently engaged by the free end of the cantilevered spring blade to resist movement between the open and closed positions of the door panel
Data Source
AI summary
A user-manipulated door mechanism is mounted on the faceplate of an electronic module for allowing user access to an electrical socket disposed inboard of a faceplate aperture. An inwardly extending rectangular shoulder formed along one edge of the door is rotatably mounted about an axis inboard of the faceplate, and is resiliently engaged by the free end of a cantilevered spring blade inboard of the faceplate. The spring blade engages a first face of the shoulder that is substantially parallel to the door when the door is in a closed position covering the socket, and a second face of the shoulder that is substantially perpendicular to the door when the door is in an open position uncovering the socket.