JP2541839Y2 - Electronic device hinge structure - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hinge structure for a portable electronic device such as a notebook personal computer or a word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In many portable electronic devices, a main body having an operation portion and a lid having a display portion are hinged so as to be openable and closable. The main body and the lid are made of a wire or a flexible wiring board. Are electrically connected via this house,
In the case where a large number of signal lines are required, it takes time and effort to connect the wires, and thus a flexible wiring board is generally used.

By the way, in a structure in which the main body and the lid are simply connected by a flexible wiring board, when the lid is widely opened, the flexible wiring board is largely exposed to the outside, and a disconnection accident is likely to occur. Therefore, in an electronic device using a flexible wiring board, a hinge structure capable of increasing the opening angle of the lid and covering and protecting the flexible wiring board is required.

In view of the above, a hinge structure as shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7 has been conventionally proposed.

FIG. 6 shows a circuit disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-7516. In this structure, a flexible wiring board 2 is provided.
1 is twisted into a coil shape in the hinge portion 22 to form a main body 23.
From the side to the lid 24 side.

FIG. 7 shows a structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 2-35219, in which a hinge shaft 25 is formed in a hollow shape and a narrow and U-shaped portion is formed in a middle portion of a flexible wiring board 26. Of the U-shaped portion 26a.
The flexible wiring board 26 is guided from the main body 23 side to the lid 24 side by passing a through the hollow portion of the hinge shaft 25.

[0007]

In each of the above conventional examples, the opening angle of the lid 24 can be made sufficiently large, and the exposure of the flexible wiring boards 21 and 26 can be reduced. However, the shape of the flexible wiring boards 21 and 26 is special, and it is necessary to manufacture and prepare a dedicated circuit board in advance, resulting in a problem that the cost is increased.

The flexible wiring board 21 twisted into a coil shape is accommodated in the hinge part 22, and the U-shaped part 26 a of the flexible wiring board 26 is passed through the hinge part 22 in the axial direction of the hinge part 22. Becomes wider,
On the hinged side between the main body 23 and the lid 24, most of the space is occupied by the hinge portion 22 and cannot be used for purposes other than the hinge portion 22.

That is, in recent portable electronic devices, it has been considered that an IC card is used as an external storage medium in addition to a magnetic disk. In this case, the IC card is mounted on one of the peripheral portions of the main body. It is necessary to provide a new entrance. However, a switch, a magnetic disk loading port, and a connection terminal for an external device are already provided on the peripheral edge of the main body, so that there is little extra space. Here, if there is sufficient space on the hinged side between the main body and the lid, an IC card insertion port can be provided at a location adjacent to the hinge portion. Then
Since the hinge part is wide, IC side
It is not possible to secure sufficient space for providing a card loading slot.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention addresses the above-mentioned conventional problems. The present invention relates to an electronic device in which a main body and a lid are electrically connected by a flexible wiring board. An object of the present invention is to provide a hinge structure capable of connecting a main body and a lid at a large opening angle without exposing the flexible wiring board to the outside and reducing the axial width of a hinge portion.

The present invention has been made in order to achieve the above object.
The main body and the lid are hinged so as to be openable and closable via respective hinge portions, and both are electrically connected via a flexible wiring board. The lid hinge portion is provided inside the peripheral wall. Is formed in a shape having an empty room, the empty room has a pair of slit-shaped openings communicating with the main body side and the lid side, respectively, the flexible wiring board,
The cover is inserted from the main body side to the cover side through an empty chamber in the cover hinge portion, and a rotation cover that can rotate substantially coaxially with the cover hinge portion is provided on the outer periphery of the cover hinge portion, and the rotation cover is opened with the opening of the cover body To cover the opening of the lid hinge part on the main body side.

[0012]

In the above construction, a flexible wiring board having a general straight shape is passed through the empty space of the lid hinge through a slit-shaped opening. In the state where the lid is widely opened, a part of the flexible wiring board is pulled out from the opening on the body side of the lid hinge, but in this case, the rotating cover follows the lid hinge and rotates in the same direction. The exposed portion of the flexible wiring board is covered with the rotating cover because the opening faces the outer periphery of the body side opening of the lid hinge portion.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic device having a hinge structure according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a hinge structure portion, and FIG. , FIG.
Is an exploded perspective view of a hinge structure, and FIGS. 5A and 5B.
Are longitudinal sectional views each showing an open state of the hinge structure.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a main body, 2 is a lid hinged to the main body 1, 3 and 4 are respective hinge portions,
3 is a lid hinge part, 4 is a main body hinge part, and 5 is a hinge shaft. At the side edge of the main body 1, a magnetic disk loading port 6a and a connection terminal 6b for an external device are provided. On the hinged side of the main body 1, the width of the hinge portions 3 and 4 is relatively narrow, and a loading port 8 of the IC card 7 is provided at a location adjacent to the hinge portions 3 and 4. I have.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show the interior of the hinge structure of the present invention, wherein 1a is a main body case, 2a is a lid case, 9 is a flexible wiring board, and this flexible wiring board 9 is a general type in the present invention. A shape, that is, a straight band is used.

The lid hinge portion 3 includes a pair of inner and outer peripheral walls 3a, 3
b, the inner and outer peripheral walls 3a,
An empty space 10 is provided between 3b and the hinge shaft 5. Of the inner and outer peripheral walls 3a, 3b, the outer peripheral wall 3a is integrally connected to the lid case 2a, and circular side walls 3c, 3c are connected to both ends in the axial direction as clearly shown in FIG. Has been established. The side wall 3c has a shaft hole, and the hinge shaft 5 is inserted through the shaft hole into the shaft hole of the main body hinge portion 4. on the other hand,
The inner peripheral wall 3b is formed on a base plate 11 along the inner surface of the lid case 2a, and is fixed at a position facing the outer peripheral wall 3a by attaching the base plate 11 to the inner surface of the lid case 2a. .

At two opposing portions of the inner and outer peripheral walls 3a and 3b, as shown in FIG. 3, there are slit-shaped gaps, respectively, and these gaps are formed by the vacancies 10 in the both peripheral walls 3a and 3b. Openings 10a, 1 communicating with the main body 1 side and the lid 2 side
0b. The main body side opening 10a of the empty room 10 is formed between the front ends of the inner and outer peripheral walls 3a and 3b, and faces the inside of the main body case 1a. Lid side opening 10 of vacant room 10
“b” communicates with the inside of the lid 2 through a gap between the lid case 2 a and the base plate 11. Flexible wiring board 9
The vacant chamber 10 enters the vacant chamber 10 through the main body side opening 10a, and the lid side opening 10
b is inserted into the inside of the lid 2.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a rotating cover for covering the opening 10a on the main body side of the vacant chamber 10, and is provided on the outer periphery of the lid hinge portion 3, more precisely, on the inner peripheral wall 3b. The rotating cover 12 has a locking edge 12a on the outer surface and a mounting leg 12b for attaching to the hinge shaft 5 on the inner side. Its mounting legs 12b
Is inserted into the empty space 10 from the gap between the side wall 3c of the lid hinge portion 3 and the inner peripheral wall 3b, and is fitted to the hinge shaft 5.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.

First, with the lid 2 closed,
As shown in FIG. 2, the rotating cover 12 is located at an angular position overlapping the inner peripheral wall 3 b, and
Are separated from the rotating cover 12 and communicate directly with the inside of the main body 1.

Next, when the lid 2 is opened, the lid hinge 3 rotates about the hinged shaft 5, and the main body side opening 10a of the empty chamber 10 also turns upward. °, the rotating cover 12 as shown in FIG.
Is stopped at a position accommodated in the main body case 10a, and the main body side opening 10a is covered with the rotating cover 12.

When the lid 2 is further opened, as shown in FIG. 5B, the main body side opening 10a of the vacant chamber 10 is
a, and together with this, the flexible wiring board 9
Is drawn out between the opening 10a and the main body case 1a. At this time, the tip of the outer peripheral wall 3a pushes the mounting leg 12b of the rotating cover 12 in the rotating direction. It rotates following the direction and comes out of the main body case 1a. Therefore, with the rotating cover 12,
The main body side opening 10a of the vacant room 10 is covered, and the flexible wiring board 9 drawn out from the opening 10a.
Of the flexible wiring board 9 is not exposed to the outside. When the rotating cover 12 is rotated by a certain angle, the locking edge 12a is received by a part of the main body case 1a, so that it does not rotate any more.

Since the cover-side opening 10b of the empty room 10 is covered with the cover case 2a and the base plate 11, the flexible wiring board 9 is not exposed to the outside on the side of the opening 10b.

[0024]

According to the present invention, a flexible wiring board having a special shape is required since a flexible wiring board having a general shape is guided from the main body side to the lid body through an empty room in the lid hinge portion. Cost can be reduced.

In the conventional structure, when the opening angle of the lid is increased, a part of the flexible wiring board is generally exposed to the outside. In the present invention, when the lid is opened widely, the rotating cover is opened. Since the follow-up rotation is performed to cover the exposed portion of the flexible wiring board, there is no possibility of an accident such as disconnection due to the exposure, and therefore, the opening angle of the lid can be increased without any trouble.

Further, the cover hinge portion may have a width enough to accommodate the entire width of the flexible wiring board, and the main body hinge portion may have a width enough to support the cover hinge portion. The width in the direction can be reduced. For this reason, the hinged side between the main body and the lid can be used for purposes other than the hinge portion, such as providing an IC card insertion port at a location adjacent to the hinge portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic device having a hinge structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hinge structure of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a main part of the hinge structure.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the hinge structure.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an open state of the hinge structure at different angles.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a conventional hinge structure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Lid 3 Lid hinge part 3a Outer peripheral wall 3b Inner peripheral wall 4 Main body hinge part 5 Hinge axis 9 Flexible wiring board 10 Empty room 12 Rotation cover

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A body (1) and a lid (2) are hinged so as to be openable and closable via respective hinge portions (3, 4), and both are electrically connected via a flexible wiring board (9). A hinge structure, wherein the hinge portion is a lid hinge portion (3)
Is formed in a shape having an empty space (10) inside the peripheral walls (3a, 3b), and the empty space (10) has a pair of slits communicating with the main body (1) side and the lid (2) side, respectively. The flexible wiring board (9) is inserted from the main body (1) side to the lid body (2) side through the empty room (10) in the lid hinge part (3). A rotation cover (12) that can rotate substantially coaxially with the lid hinge (3) is provided on the outer periphery of the lid hinge (3), and the rotation cover (12) is opened when the lid (2) is opened. A hinge structure for the electronic device, wherein the hinge structure is rotated to cover the opening (10a) on the body side of the lid hinge portion (3).