Silent Spring Hinge with Damping Assembly to Reduce Cabinet Door Noise
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spring hinges in household appliances generate high noise and vibration when closing cabinet doors due to rapid acceleration, which affects the product's lifetime.
Innovation Solution
A silent spring hinge design featuring a damping assembly with a sleeve body, steel ball, spring, and lock nut, combined with a deceleration and self-locking groove mechanism on a rotating wheel, which slows down the door closure and self-locks it, reducing noise and impact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a spring and eccentric cam combination mechanism is used to ensure the cabinet door can be satisfactorily closed and kept in an open state, then the door can remain stationary without external force, but relatively high noise and vibration are generated during closing
Solution Approach 1:
The closing process is segmented into multiple phases: the deceleration groove divides the motion into a fast-initial-closing phase and a controlled-final-closing phase. The steel ball interacts with different groove sections at different times, creating distinct functional stages that separate the harmful high-speed impact from the beneficial closing completion.
Solution Approach 2:
The deceleration groove is designed beforehand to cushion the closing impact before the door reaches the fully closed position. The groove's curved geometry pre-prepares a deceleration path that reduces the steel ball's velocity, cushioning the impact before it occurs at the final closing stage.
2Productivity
If the cabinet door is freely closed under spring action, then the closing process is simple and quick, but relatively high noise is generated and the product is greatly vibrated
Solution Approach 1:
The deceleration groove is not applied uniformly throughout the entire closing path but is localized to specific critical sections where the steel ball interacts with the groove walls. This local application of deceleration quality maintains high closing speed in non-critical phases while reducing noise and vibration in critical final phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The closing mechanism transitions from a static spring-force-only system to a dynamic system where the steel ball actively engages with the deceleration groove. The groove's geometry dynamically adjusts the resistance force during closing, creating a variable deceleration profile that optimizes both speed and noise reduction.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If a damping assembly with deceleration groove is added to slow down door closure, then noise and vibration are reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The damping function is merged with the existing hinge structure by integrating the deceleration groove directly into the hinge body and the steel ball into the spring assembly. This combination eliminates the need for separate damping components, reducing overall device complexity while achieving noise reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The steel ball serves multiple functions: it acts as both a spring element in the assembly and a damping element when interacting with the deceleration groove. The deceleration groove itself serves dual purposes of controlling closing speed and reducing impact noise, making the added structure highly efficient and justifying the complexity increase.
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 effectively reduces noise and vibration during cabinet door closure, stabilizes the closing process, and extends the product's lifespan by decelerating the door's closing speed and self-locking it, making it suitable for appliances like ovens and microwave ovens.
Implementation Method 1
a spring assembly which is mounted on the fixing base and is eccentrically and elastically connected to a wheel surface of the rotating wheel
Implementation Method 2
a damping assembly corresponding to a side edge of the rotating wheel is further provided on the fixing base, the damping assembly including a sleeve body, a steel ball, a spring and a lock nut
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to the technical field of spring hinges, and to a silent spring hinge, which addresses the technical shortcoming that relatively high noise is generated when an existing spring hinge used in a household appliance drives a cabinet door to close. The silent spring hinge includes a fixing base, a hinge arm and a spring assembly, a damping assembly corresponding to a side edge of a rotating wheel being further provided on the fixing base, the damping assembly including a sleeve body, a steel ball, a spring and a lock nut, an outer wall of the sleeve body being snap-fitted on the fixing base, the steel ball, the spring and the lock nut being mounted within the sleeve body in sequence, a portion of the steel ball being exposed from the sleeve body and being elastically connected to the side edge of the rotating wheel, and a deceleration groove and a self-locking groove mated with the steel ball at a final stage of the process of closing a cabinet door being provided on a gear edge of the rotating wheel. By means of the present invention, the closing speed of the cabinet door is effectively reduced, and an effect of damping is achieved, such that the cabinet door is closed in a more stable manner, and a force of the spring assembly is not affected after the spring assembly drives the cabinet door to close. The present invention is particularly suitable for use on such products as ovens and microwave ovens.