Uniform Thickness Hinge With Elevated Center Segment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Closure systems with variable thickness hinges are prone to mechanical failure due to weak thinner sections, which can lead to stretching, deformation, or breakage, and are difficult and costly to manufacture.
Innovation Solution
A closure system with a flexible hinge of uniform thickness, featuring a crimp or dual jog design that maintains uniformity in both open and closed configurations, reducing stress concentration and enhancing durability while allowing for intermediate configurations and efficient manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If variable thickness hinge design is used to enable bending, then the hinge can move between opened and closed configurations, but the thinner sections create weak points that are susceptible to stretching, deformation, or breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge introduces localized geometric features (jogs and crimps) that create bending zones without reducing the overall thickness of the hinge member. These localized features concentrate the deformation in specific areas while maintaining uniform thickness throughout, thus preserving strength while enabling movement.
2Ease of operation
If variable thickness hinge design is used to concentrate bending in thinned areas, then the hinge can flex, but the thinned sections increase stress concentration and lead to mechanical failure
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of varying thickness in the plane of the hinge, the invention introduces out-of-plane geometric features (jogs and crimps) that create bending capability. The hinge portions extend in multiple dimensions with uniform thickness, allowing flexing through three-dimensional geometric configuration rather than through thickness reduction.
3Reliability
If uniform thickness hinge is used to eliminate weak points, then the hinge strength is improved, but the hinge may not be able to bend effectively between configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge is divided into multiple hinge portions connected by openings, with each portion maintaining uniform thickness. The segmentation allows each portion to maintain structural integrity while the overall assembly achieves flexibility through the geometric configuration of multiple uniform-thickness segments.
4Ease of operation
If variable thickness or complicated geometry is used to enable hinge bending, then the hinge can flex, but the manufacturing process becomes difficult or costly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the hinge (introducing jogs and crimps) while maintaining the constant thickness parameter. This allows the hinge to be manufactured using standard molding processes with uniform material flow, avoiding the need for complex variable thickness molding while achieving the desired flexibility through geometric configuration rather than dimensional variation.
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 uniform thickness hinge design increases durability, reduces mechanical failure, and simplifies manufacturing, providing a longer-lasting and cost-effective closure system with improved performance and structural flexibility.
Implementation Method 1
The structure of any hinge takes advantage of features of the molding materials (i.e., flexibility and capacity to retain a molded shape after being placed under varying degrees of tensile loads that can occur during the repeated closing and opening of the hinge)
Data Source
AI summary
A closure system can include a body member, cap member, and flexible hinge member joining the body and cap members. The hinge member includes a pair of hinge portions with an opening between them. The hinge portions can include substantially planar segments of uniform thickness, providing hinge portions with uniform thickness along their lengths when the closure system is in open and closed configurations. When the closure system is fully opened, the hinge portions can extend axially between the body and cap members when viewed from above, the substantially planar segments can include end segments that are substantially coplanar to each other and a central segment that occupies another plane parallel to that occupied by the end portions, giving the central portion of the hinge portion an elevated orientation relative to its end portions, or the appearance of a hump when viewed from the side.