GB2400409A

GB2400409A - Cabinet with hinged lid

Info

Publication number: GB2400409A
Application number: GB0308148A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Halvor J Kverneland
Original assignee: GLAEND SYSTEM AS
Current assignee: GLAEND SYSTEM AS
Priority date: 2003-04-09
Filing date: 2003-04-09
Publication date: 2004-10-13
Also published as: GB0308148D0

Abstract

A cabinet (1) has flange/edge (16) surrounding the opening (12) of the cabinet (1) and a cover/door (20) abutting the flange (16) when closed. At least two of the opposite side edges of the flange (16) are each equipped with at least one hinge (24). The cover/door is attached to the cabinet via the hinges. The cover/door may be detached from the hinges on one side and hinged open on the hinges on the other side. The cover/door may be bolted to the hinges.

Description

1 2400409

ARRANGEMENT AT A CABINET

This invention regards attachment of a door in a cabinet, typically a switching cabinet for electrical equipment, which when closed must be impervious, and s where the door is preferable formed so as to allow it to be opened selectively in a hinged manner towards one of the side edges of the cabinet.

Impervious electrical switching cabinets according to prior art are typically constructed as a buckled and lo welded plate structure. A flange is normally provided at the front of the cabinet, which is designed to sealingly abut a seal arranged on the inside of the cabinet door.

The sealing effect is established and maintained by the closing mechanism of the door exerting sufficient compressive force between the flange on the cabinet and the seal on the door.

Cabinet doors of the type in question may be attached to the cabinet by means of conventional screw connections or quick action locks such as bayonet locks so and over centre clamping locks. Alternatively, the doors may be suspended in a hinged manner along one of the side edges of the cabinet and attached to the opposite side edge by means of one of the above fasteners. Some cabinet/door structures are constructed in such a manner that the direction of hinging of the door can be selected when mounting the cabinet.

Cabinet/door structures that allow optional opening of the door in a hinged manner towards one of the side edges of the cabinet, are not known.

so In areas that make strict demands with regards to the imperviousness of the cabinets, such as in the petroleum industry, and where the cabinets must also meet certain standards, including imperviousness requirements, it is vital that the cabinets remain impervious, also after a long period of use that includes opening and s shutting of the door.

Most known hinge constructions are not designed to be post-tensionable upon closing the door. Leakages between the flange and the door are known to have occurred because the door seal has become less elastic o with time, whereby the pressure between the seal and the cabinet flange is no longer sufficient to ensure an impervious installation.

According to the present invention, there is provided An arrangement at a cabinet of the type where a IS flange/edge encloses the opening of the cabinet and a cover/door is designed to abut the flange, and where at least two of the opposite side edges of the flange are each prepared to be equipped with at least one hinge, wherein two of the opposite side edges of the flange are zo equipped with at least one hinge, the hinges being releasably connected to the cover/door by means of a fixing device, whereby the hand of the cover/door may be selected when the cover/door is to be opened.

Preferably, along each of the two sides of the as cabinet there is provided at least two hinge bodies arranged on the outside of the flanges of the cabinet.

The part of each hinge body that faces away from the cabinet door is connected by means of a hinge fitting such as a hinge pin and a shackle, to the flange or side so of the cabinet about an axis that is substantially parallel to the side of the cabinet. The part of each hinge body that faces the cabinet door is provided with a snap-in locking device designed to make the hinge body remain in its original position even when detached from the door.

In the hinge body there is provided a threaded portion that is a complementary fit to the threaded portion of a door bolt. The door bolts are screwed through corresponding through openings in the door and lo into the hinge bodies.

To open the door, all the door bolts must first be opened in order to relieve the contact pressure between the cabinet flange and the door seal. Then the door bolts situated on the "side of opening" of the cabinet are unscrewed fully from the hinge bodies, whereby the door may be opened about the hinge axis on the opposite side of the cabinet. The hinge bodies on the side of opening will be kept in an unchanged position by the snap-in locking device, so as to allow easy insertion of the door so bolts into the hinge bodies when the door is to be re- closed. Tightening the door bolts to a suitable torque after closing the door will make it easy to ensure that the correct surface pressure is obtained between the flange of the cabinet and the door seal.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the present cabinet equipped with hinges; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a hinge on a larger scale; s Figure 3 is a sectional view along II-II of the hinge in figure 2; Figure 4 is a sectional view along I-I in figure 1, showing a hinge where the cover is in the open position; Figure 5 shows the same as figure 4, but here the cover is in the closed and tightened position; and Figure 6 shows a simplified embodiment of a hinge.

In the drawings, reference number 1 denotes a cabinet comprising a base 2 with fixing brackets 4, a right-hand side plate 6, a left-hand side plate 8, a lower plate 10 and an upper plate 12. The plates 6, 8, 10 and 12 are processed, buckled and welded together, so that together, the portions of the plates 6, 8, 10 and 12 projecting from the base 2 form a flange 14 that encloses the opening 16 of the cabinet. The sides 6, 8, 10 and 12 so are sealingly connected to the base 2, e.g. through a welding operation, and may be equipped with internal brackets 18.

A cover/door 20 equipped with an internal seal 22 is designed to sealingly abut the flange 14 when in the as closed position.

At each side edge 6 and 8, preferably connected to the flange 14, the cabinet 1 is equipped with at least two hinges 24. In a preferred embodiment, a hinge 24, see figure 2, comprises a U-shaped shackle 26, the back of which is rigidly mounted to the flange 14, e.g. through welding, and a hinge body 28, the towards the base 2 facing end portion of which is hinged to the shackle 26 by means of two hinge pins 30, where the longitudinal axes of the hinge pins 30 are substantially parallel with their respective side plates 6, 8. The hinge body 28 is provided with a threaded, preferably through-going bore o 32. The centre lines of the hinge pins 30 and the bore 32 are preferably at right angles to each other.

The cover/door 20 is connected to the cabinet 1 by means of door bolts 34 that extend from the outside of the door 20 through through bores 36 in the door 20 and IS into the bore 32 of the hinge body 28, where the thread of the door bolt 34 is a complementary fit to the thread of the bore 32.

Radially spaced from the centre line of the hinge shaft 30 the hinge body 28 includes at least one cavity So 38, which when the hinge body 28 is in a position that corresponds to the door 20 being closed, coincides with a projecting bulb 40, preferably provided in the projecting flange of the shackle 26. Together, the cavity/-ies 38 and the bulb(s) 40 form a snapin locking device designed to maintain the hinge body 38 in an appropriate position when screwing in a door bolt 34 to close the door 20. The hinge body 28 can easily be tilted away from the snap-in position, in as much as the shackle flange 26 is moved out sufficiently in an elastic manner to allow the cavity 30 to bend out over the bulb 40.

When the door 20 is sealingly closed, the flange 16 is pretensioned against the seal 22, see figure 5. The door bolts 34 are pretensioned upon being screwed into their respective hinge bodies 28, which are connected to 5the shackle 26 via the hinge shafts 30. The cavities 38 of the hinge bodies 28 are snapped into the bulbs 40 of the shackles 26.

Upon opening the door 20 all the door bolts 34 are unscrewed sufficiently from their hinge bodies 28 to lo relieve the contact pressure between the seal 22 and the flange 16. The door bolts 34 situated on the side to be opened, the left side 8 in figure 1, are unscrewed fully from their hinge bodies 28. The door may then be swung to the open position about the hinge shafts 30 on the opposite side, see figure 4.

In an alternative simplified embodiment, see figure 6, the hinge body 28 may be constituted by e.g. a hinge shaft of a somewhat larger dimension than that of hinge pin 30. The larger hinge shaft may be provided with a so threaded through bore similar to bore 32 for fastening of door bolts 34.

Such an alternative simplified embodiment without a snap-in locking device would be more difficult to use, as the hinge body 28 could easily slip out of position.

It is unimportant to the invention whether the seal is arranged in the door 20 or on the flange 16.

Seen in relation to prior art, the invention allows the direction of opening of the door 20 to be optional every time the cabinet door 20 is to be opened. Another advantageous feature is that the seal 22 may be sufficiently pretensioned to seal against the flange 16 every time the door 20 is closed, thus helping to meet s the certification requirements over long term.

Claims

Claims 1. An arrangement at a cabinet of the type where a flange/edge

encloses the opening of the cabinet and a cover/door is designed to abut the flange, and where at s least two of the opposite side edges of the flange are each prepared to be equipped with at least one hinge, wherein two of the opposite side edges of the flange are equipped with at least one hinge, the hinges being releasably connected to the cover/door by means of a o fixing device, whereby the hand of the cover/door may be selected when the cover/door is to be opened.
2. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein the hinge body of the hinge is hinged to a shackle by means of two hinge pins.

Is
3. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1 or 2, wherein the hinge is equipped with a snap-in locking device designed to maintain the hinge body in a prepared position for being entered by the fixing device of the door.

so
4. An arrangement in accordance with claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the snap-in locking device is arranged between the hinge shaft of the hinge body and the door.