JP2008191018A - Hinge testing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable an equipment such as a notebook computer or the like which is used by opening/closing its cover having a display section and is subjected to an open/close operation test of its hinge part and an endurance test of the open/close operation, to be subjected to a hinge test by which not only the open/close operation but also centrally-directed pressing with respect to its rotation axis are carried out. <P>SOLUTION: In a testing apparatus which carries out the hinge's open/close operation of the display section, one end of an arm is fixed to a shaft of an actuator which rotationally drives the arm by using a servo motor or the like, and the display section is grasped and rotationally driven by a grasping member disposed at the head of the arm, and an actuator which carries out the centrally-directed pressing with respect to the rotation axis by using an air cylinder and can adjust its load, is disposed so as to contact with and be parallel to the head. The grasping member and the pressing actuator may be disposed integrally at attaching bars arranged on both right-and-left head sides of the arm. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a test apparatus for performing an opening / closing operation test of a lid of a notebook computer or the like, and further, a hinge opening / closing durability provided with a mechanism that presses the lid portion of a liquid crystal panel or the like in the center direction of the rotation axis in addition to the rotation direction. Related to testing equipment.

  For notebook computers, etc. that are used by opening and closing the display part of the lid made up of a liquid crystal panel, etc. with respect to the main body of the information terminal device, testing the hinge opening / closing operation of the panel unit conventionally only by the rotation operation of the arm of the testing device Had gone.

  FIG. 5 shows an external view of a conventional test apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a test device, 2 is a main body of the device under test, 3 is a display unit of the device under test, 4 is an arm, 5 is an actuator for rotation, 6 is a gripping member, and 7 is a mounting bar. 2. Description of the Related Art A device under test such as a notebook electronic device such as a notebook computer generally comprises a main body 2 of a device under test having an operation unit such as a keyboard and a lid having a display unit 3 of the device under test such as a liquid crystal panel. In use, the display unit 3 of the device under test is opened, and the lid is closed after use, movement, and storage. For this reason, an operation test for performing the hinge opening / closing operation of the display unit 3 of the device under test, an endurance test for the opening / closing operation, and the like are required, and the test device 1 causes the display unit 3 of the device under test to open / close. The arm 4 includes a servo motor and the like, and includes a rotation actuator 5 that rotates the arm 4, a gripping member 6 that grips the lid of the display unit 3 of the device under test, and a mounting bar 7 as necessary. The test apparatus itself is fixed on the base of the test apparatus 1 so that it does not move even if a force is applied in the opening and closing direction.

  In the conventional test apparatus 1, an arm 4 that sandwiches the display unit 3 of a device under test such as a notebook electronic device is connected / fixed to the rotation shaft of the test device 1 and is opened by a rotation actuator 5 that drives the rotation shaft. It is designed to be driven to rotate in the closing direction. Further, along with the rotation of the arm 4, the lid is driven to rotate by the gripping member 6 that is attached to the mounting bars 7 fixed to the left and right ends of the arm 4 and grips the lid.

  However, when the user actually operates, a load is applied not only in the rotation direction but also in the direction of the center of the rotation axis of the hinge. By repeating this force, the screw for fixing the hinge portion is loosened, and further, the hinge portion There is a problem that a failure such as a hinge breakage due to friction occurs.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an open / close device that includes an arm that closes a lid and an arm that opens in an open / close endurance test of the lid opening / closing operation of the information terminal device, and can be opened and closed without restricting the free rotational movement of the lid. It is disclosed. Patent Document 2 describes an automatic endurance test method for a vehicle opening / closing unit that detects an abnormality from a sensor output using a camera, a strain gauge, and an acceleration sensor in a car door endurance test.

However, in any of the test apparatuses shown in any of these documents, as described above, the pressure is not applied in the direction of the center of the rotation axis of the hinge part, but a technology that can sufficiently prevent quality related to the hinge part and sufficiently ensure quality. Is not disclosed and does not solve this problem.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-83491 (page 1-2, FIG. 1) Japanese Patent No. 2750632 (page 1-2, FIG. 1)

  The present invention solves the above-described problems and provides a hinge test apparatus that enables a hinge test to apply a load not only in the rotation direction but also in the center of the hinge rotation axis as in the case where the user opens and closes the display unit. For the purpose of provision.

  Mount the gripping member that grips the display unit and the pressurizing actuator that can adjust the load at the tip of the arm on the arm of the test device that opens and closes the hinge of the display unit of the device under test. The display unit is driven to rotate by a rotation actuator that drives the arm to rotate, and the test device is composed of a pressure actuator such as an air cylinder that is provided at the tip of the arm and pressurizes toward the center of the rotation axis. A mounting bar for mounting the actuator is provided.

  By applying a load in the axial direction according to the present invention, it is possible to faithfully reproduce the load operated by the user as compared with the conventional test apparatus, and by repeatedly applying this load, the torque increase / decrease accompanying the frictional change of the hinge portion can be increased. Since it can be detected remarkably, it is possible to detect hinge breakage, and it is possible to perform an endurance test for early detection of problems with hinges that may occur in the future. It can also be used as a test device for verification at the design stage or for inspection before factory shipment.

  FIG. 1 shows an external view of one embodiment of the present invention. In the same figure, 1-7 are the same as FIG. 5, 8 is a pressurizing actuator which pressurizes to the rotation-axis center direction, and is provided with the attachment bar 7 for attaching the pressurizing actuator 8 in a present Example. The main attachment bar 7 is attached to the outer ends of the left and right ends of the lid when viewed from the front of the device under test, in the horizontal direction at the distal ends of the arms 4 at the left and right ends, and parallel to the upper portion of the upper end of the lid. . A gripping member 6 that grips the lid of the display unit 3 of the device under test and a pressurizing actuator 8 are attached to the mounting bar 7, the pressurizing actuator 8 faces toward the center of the rotation axis, and the hinge portion of the lid pressurizes. As described above, the gripping member 6 and the pressurizing actuator 8 are structured to be firmly fixed in the center of the rotation axis.

  Although not shown in particular, the device under test itself is firmly fixed on the base of the test device 1 so that it does not move even if a force is applied in the rotation or axial direction, and it is attached to the mounting bar 7. The positions of the gripping member 6 and the pressurizing actuator 8 can be arbitrarily adjusted and fixed to the left and right in the horizontal direction. Further, in this embodiment, the gripping member 6 and the pressure actuator 8 are integrated with each other and are attached to the mounting bar 7. Although not particularly shown, the pressure actuator 8 is correctly directed toward the center of the rotation axis of the lid. Needless to say, if it can be installed, a separate gripping member for gripping and rotating the lid may be provided, or the mounting location of the gripping member may be a position sandwiching the upper left and right sides of the lid.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the test apparatus of the present invention. 11 is a main body of the sequencer, having a CPU unit and an I / O unit, 12 an AD unit, 13 a monitor unit, 14 a servo motor amplifier, 15 a servo motor, 16 a solenoid valve, 17 an air cylinder, 18 is a regulator, and 19 is a speed controller. The sequencer 11 drives the servo motor amplifier 14 to perform rotation control, and the servo motor 15 uses the output of the servo motor amplifier 14 as the arm rotation actuator 5 to rotate the arm 4 that rotationally drives the display unit 3 of the device under test. Rotating drive. The arm rotation actuator 5 is opened and closed within an arbitrary angle range according to the display unit 3 of the device under test, and is stopped at an arbitrary angle, and the rotation speed and the number of repetitions are timely controlled by instructions from the sequencer. .

  In this embodiment, the sequencer 11 supplies air supplied from the air supply equipment such as a factory via the regulator 18 and the speed controller 19 to the air cylinder 17 from the electromagnetic valve 16. At that time, in accordance with the control of the solenoid valve, by supplying and stopping air to the air cylinder 17, the pressurization pressure is controlled and the pressurization is applied in the direction of the rotation axis of the hinge of the display unit 3 of the device under test. It operates as a pressure actuator 8. The pressurizing actuator 8 can apply an arbitrary load for an arbitrary time while the arm 3 is rotating / stopped according to an instruction from the sequencer 11, and a torque increase generated during the opening / closing operation test described above.・ Detecting hinge breakage from the descent, data such as the number of opening / closing operations, opening / closing operation time, and torque value until that time can be acquired. When hinge breaking is detected, the opening / closing operation is stopped.

  FIG. 3 is a detailed external view of the pressurizing actuator portion of one embodiment of the test apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1. The gripping member 6 and the pressurizing actuator 8 are the same as those in FIG. 1, and 9 is an air tube. A gripping member that is connected to the electromagnetic valve 16 of FIG. 2 and that controls the supply and stop of air to each of the two chambers in the air cylinder 17 and holds the lid by the air pressure in the air cylinder 17. A predetermined pressure is applied to the lid via 6.

  FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of one embodiment by the sequencer of the test apparatus. In the figure, first, in step S01, parameters such as the number of times of opening / closing and pressurizing time are set, activation is performed in S02, and steps S04 and after are repeated until the number of times is reached in S03. In S04, the pressure is applied with a predetermined pressure by the pressure actuator 6, and in S05, the motor is moved to an opening angle by the rotation of the motor. When the pressurization interval ends in S06, the pressure is reduced in S07, and the operation during the opening at the end of the stop interval ends in S08.

  Next, the operation moves to a closing operation. In S09, the pressure is applied with a predetermined pressure by the pressure actuator 6, and in S10, the motor is rotated and moved to a closing angle. In this state, the process waits for the end of the pressurization interval in S11, starts depressurization in S12, waits for the end of the stop interval in S13, ends one opening / closing operation, counts up in S14, returns to S03, and reaches the number of times. The above operation is repeated, and when the number of times is reached in S15, a series of test operations is terminated.

  After that, the parameter setting is changed again, and starting from S01, the pressurizing pressure by the pressurizing actuator 6 is changed and set in various ways. By repeating, either the arm is rotating or stopped. Even in this state, it is possible to perform a hinge test in which a predetermined load is applied for a predetermined time. Further, during this time, the torque of the rotational drive means is measured, and the hinge breakage can be detected from the generated torque rise and fall. When the hinge breakage is detected, the opening / closing operation and the like are stopped. At the same time, data such as the number of opening / closing operations, the opening / closing operation time, and the torque value up to that time can be acquired by the sequencer program.

1 is an external view of an embodiment of a test apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a test apparatus according to the present invention. Detailed external view of pressurizing actuator Operational flow chart of one embodiment by the sequencer of the present invention External view of conventional test equipment

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Test apparatus 2 Main part of apparatus under test 3 Display part of apparatus under test 4 Arm 5 Actuator for rotation 6 Gripping member 7 Mounting bar 8 Actuator for pressurization 9 Air tube 11 Sequencer 12 AD conversion unit 13 Liquid crystal monitor 14 Servo motor amplifier 15 Servo motor 16 Solenoid valve 17 Air cylinder 18 Regulator 19 Speed controller

Claims (5)

A hinge testing device for testing a hinge portion of the lid of an information terminal device having a lid capable of opening and closing which is hinged at an end and opens and closes an opposite end.
Rotation drive means;
An arm whose root is fixed to the rotation shaft of the rotation driving means and whose tip is rotated while gripping the lid;
A pressure actuator mounted on the same plane as the lid, in a horizontal direction parallel to the front end surface of the lid, and in contact with the front end of the lid in a posture toward the central axis of the rotation axis of the arm. When,
With
The rotation drive means drives the arm to rotate within an angle from a state in which the lid is closed to a state in which the lid is opened at a predetermined maximum angle. A hinge testing apparatus characterized by being pressurized to   The pressure actuator is attached to a mounting bar that is fixed to an arm tip portion of the arm provided on the left and right outer sides of the lid when viewed from the front of the information terminal device. Item 2. The hinge test apparatus according to Item 1.   The hinge test apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined load can be applied for a predetermined time regardless of whether the arm is rotating or stopped by the pressure actuator.   The torque of the said rotational drive means during the said hinge opening / closing operation | movement test is measured, and when opening and closing operation is detected from the raise and fall of the generated torque, the opening / closing operation is stopped. Hinge test device.   5. The hinge test apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the hinge breakage is detected, data of at least one of the number of opening / closing operations, the opening / closing operation time, and the torque value up to that time is acquired.

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