JP2992387B2 - Open / close hinge structure of electronic device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device and an opening / closing hinge structure thereof, and is suitable for an information device such as a radio terminal, an electronic organizer, a notebook personal computer, and particularly for an opening / closing portion of a portable electronic device. The present invention relates to an electronic device and an open / close hinge structure thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an open / close hinge portion of an electronic device is provided with an FPC (flexible printed circuit) or a cable in a pipe-shaped hollow ring of the open / close hinge portion as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-225920. The opening and closing hinges are enlarged for this reason, and the FPC is exposed outside the housing as another method, which is not preferable in terms of external design.

[0003]

In order to open and close the above-mentioned conventional electronic device with one touch, a spring, a motor and the like must be built in the open / close hinge, and the open / close hinge becomes complicated and large, and the design is free. However, there are problems such as a decrease in the degree of reliability, a decrease in the reliability of the device, a difficulty in waterproofing, and an increase in cost.

An object of the present invention is flexible to open and close the above-mentioned problems of the prior art solve all rather, on the housing and a lower housing
In the open / close hinge structure, it can be free without applying force.
The angle of opening is optimal, and when folded
When the door is opened widely, excessive stress is applied to the housing.
Open / close hinges for electronic devices designed to prevent intrusion
It is to provide a partial structure .

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides at least an input unit, an output unit, and a processing unit.
Opening and closing hinges for the upper housing and lower housing
An electronic device that opens and closes via a part,
Made of a flexible and elastic resin to form a hinge
A thin portion and a thick portion connected to both sides of the thin portion.
And a flexible opening / closing hinge with a built-in flexible conductor.
The upper and lower housings each have the above flexible
For mounting the thick part of the resin that constitutes the hinge
A fixed portion, and a space portion in which the thick portion of the mounted resin can be loaded.
And deformation of the thick portion of the resin in this space.
The upper housing at a predetermined angle with respect to the lower housing
An electronic device characterized in that opening is stopped.
The opening and closing hinge part structure of the device .

Further , the present invention provides at least an input unit and an output unit.
Part and the processing part are stored in any of the upper case and the lower case.
In an electronic device that opens and closes via an opening and closing hinge,
The open / close hinge is made of a flexible and elastic resin.
Flexible opening / closing hinge with built-in flexible conductor
Tree that constitutes the flexible open / close hinge
For the fat, the inner surfaces of the upper and lower housings facing each other
The upper case is fixed to the lower case
Inner fixed part configured to open at a small angle to the body
And fixed to the outer surfaces of the upper housing and the lower housing facing each other.
And the upper case is attached to the lower case
To stop opening beyond an excessive angle
An electronic device characterized by comprising a side fixing portion.
The opening and closing hinge part structure of the device . In addition, the present invention
In the open / close hinge structure of the slave device,
And a mechanical opening / closing hinge
It is characterized by .

[0007]

According to the above construction, the upper housing and the lower housing are opened and closed.
Flexible opening and closing hinge structure
Optimum opening angle when free and folded
Too large or too large
Stress can be avoided .

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. [Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an opening / closing hinge portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a closed state of the opening / closing hinge portion of the device, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an opened state of the opening / closing hinge portion, and FIG. 5 is a state in which excessive force is applied to the state of FIG. FIG.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a flexible opening / closing hinge made of a resin such as silicone and Teflon based thermoplastic elastomer which is flexible and elastic, 2 denotes an FPC relating to a flexible conductor, and 3 denotes a pin and a screw. Mechanical opening / closing hinges 4 and 4 (comprising frames 4a and 4b) have an upper housing 5 (comprising frames 5a and 5b)
Is a lower housing. The upper and lower housings 4 and 5 store at least an input / output unit and a processing unit. The upper housing 4 shown in FIG. 1 has a display unit, and the lower housing 5 has a keyboard. Is provided. A storage unit such as a microcomputer and a processing unit are stored in the housing.

As shown in FIG. 2, a flexible opening / closing hinge 1 made of a resin such as a silicon type, a Teflon type, or a thermoplastic elastomer has an FPC 2 (which may be a cable) sealed in the elastic resin and is built in. Are sandwiched and fixed by the housings 4 (frames 4a, 4b) and 5 (frames 5a, 5b). The means for attaching the flexible opening / closing hinge 1 to the housing will be described with reference to FIGS. The elastic resin that constitutes the flexible hinge 1 has an FPC inside.
2 are integrally formed by sealing, but for convenience of explanation, the frame 4a side of the upper housing is
a, the lower housing frame 5a side is 6b, the upper housing frame 4b side is 7a, and the lower housing frame 5b side is 7b.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 4c denotes an elastic resin fixing portion of the upper housing 4, and 5c denotes an elastic resin fixing portion of the lower housing 5;
Is an elastic resin mounting surface that forms a space portion of the upper housing 4 where the elastic resin can be loaded, and 5d is an elastic resin mounting surface that forms a space portion of the lower housing 5 where the elastic resin can be loaded. The elastic resin portions 6a and 7a are attached via an elastic resin fixing portion 4c and an elastic resin attaching surface 4d of the upper housing 4, and the elastic resin portions 6b and 7b are attached to the elastic resin fixing portion 4c and the elastic resin attaching portion of the lower housing 5. It is mounted via surface 5d.

The rotation axis of the mechanical opening / closing hinge 3 is aligned with the opening / closing center axis of the flexible opening / closing hinge 1 so that stress at the time of opening / closing the apparatus is not concentrated on the opening / closing center axis of the flexible opening / closing hinge 1. ing. In the state of FIG. 3 in which the device is closed, the elastic resins 6a and 6b inside the flexible opening / closing hinge are deformed with each other. When the lock of the device opening / closing unit is released, the opening / closing unit opens up to the state shown in FIG. 4 due to the elasticity of the elastic resins 6a and 6b inside the flexible opening / closing hinge. In this state, the pressing force between the elastic resins 6a, 6b inside the flexible opening / closing hinge and the elastic resins 7a, 7b outside the flexible opening / closing hinge is balanced, and stops at the angle set in the design stage of the apparatus.

If an excessive stress is generated in the casings 4 and 5 beyond the elastic resin 7a and 7b outside the flexible opening / closing hinges by dropping the apparatus, the state shown in FIG. Elastic resin 7a outside the hinge,
7b is deformed and absorbs stress to prevent breakage of the open / close hinge. When the stress is released, the state returns to the state shown in FIG. 4 due to the elasticity of the elastic resins 7a and 7b outside the flexible opening / closing hinge. The upper and lower casings 4a, 4b, 5a, 5
It is not necessary to attach them to both of them, and even if they are attached to either one of the housings 4a, 4b or 5a, 5b, a corresponding effect can be obtained.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
An inexpensive, waterproof, and highly reliable one-touch hinge structure can be easily realized.

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an opening / closing hinge of a mobile phone according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an upper perspective view showing the configuration of the opening / closing hinge of the apparatus of FIG. FIG. In the figure, components having the same reference numerals as those in FIG. The flexible opening / closing hinge 9 in the present embodiment includes a fibrous reinforcing member 8 made of metal, resin, carbon fiber, or the like in order to prevent the elastic resin from being easily cut in the twisting direction. The reinforcing member 8
Needless to say, it is not necessary to be a fibrous shape, and it may be a thin metal plate, a resin plate, a metal rod, a resin rod, or the like.

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an opening / closing hinge portion according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, those having the same reference numerals as those in FIG.
The description is omitted. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the flexible opening / closing hinge 1A has an elastic resin directly attached via the elastic resin fixing portion 4c of the upper housing 4 and the elastic resin fixing portion 5c of the lower housing 5, as shown in FIG. Attachment surface 4d,
There is no 5d. According to this embodiment, the same effects as those of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are provided, and in particular, the resin has a waterproof function by utilizing the characteristics of the flexible resin.

[Embodiment 4] FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an opening / closing hinge portion according to still another embodiment of the present invention is opened at a small angle, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows a state. The open / close hinge section shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 is provided near the mechanical open / close hinge 3 separately from the flexible open / close hinge 1 incorporating the flexible conductor shown in FIG. In the embodiment shown in FIG.
Elastic resin 6A, 6B, 7 made of a soft and elastic resin such as silicone, Teflon, or thermoplastic elastomer
A, 7B are formed by adhesive, double-sided tape, two-color molding, etc., and the inner frames 4a, 5 of the upper and lower casings 4, 5 are respectively provided.
a, It is joined to each fixed part of the outer frames 4e, 5e.

The device of this embodiment opens only a small angle (to the extent that a finger can enter) due to the elasticity of the elastic resins 6A and 6B inside after releasing the open / close lock. After being opened by a small angle, it is manually opened and stopped in the state of FIG. 10 where the outer elastic resin 7A and the elastic resin 7B hit. That is, the upper and lower housings 4,
When the upper and lower housings 4 and 5 are opened excessively, the elastic resins 6A and 6B abut on the inner surfaces of the housings 4a and 5a facing each other when the upper and lower housings 4 and 5 are opened excessively, as shown in FIG. Elastic resin 7A, 7B on the surface of each outer casing 4e, 5e
Abuts. Here, the elastic resin 7A,
7B has the same function as the elastic resins 7a and 7b shown in FIG. 5, and the description thereof is omitted.

According to this embodiment, the same effects as those of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are provided, and one-touch opening / closing, minute angle opening / closing, and excessive opening / closing can be performed safely and with high reliability. effective. It is not always necessary to attach the elastic resin to both the frames 4a, 4e, 5a, 5e of the upper and lower casings 4, 5, but the frame 4a,
It goes without saying that a corresponding effect can be obtained even if it is attached to either 4e or 5a, 5e.

In each of the above embodiments, an example of a portable telephone has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the above-mentioned open / close hinge structure may be, for example, a mobile radio terminal, an electronic organizer, a notebook computer, a word processor. Etc. are widely applied to electronic devices.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When in the free state without applying force,
When folded and forced open
To prevent excessive stress on the housing
Device with flexible open / close hinge structure
Is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an opening / closing hinge part of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state in which an opening / closing hinge portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1 is closed.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an open / close hinge portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in an open state;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an excessive force is applied to the state of FIG. 4 to relieve stress.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an opening / closing hinge part of a mobile phone according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a top perspective view showing the configuration of an opening / closing hinge part of the device of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an open / close hinge according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a hinge is opened by a small angle according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the opening / closing hinge portion of FIG. 9 is greatly opened.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1A, 9 Flexible opening / closing hinge 2 FPC 3 Mechanical opening / closing hinge 4 Upper housing 5 Lower housing 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 4e, 5e Frame 4c, 5c Elastic resin fixing portion 4d, 5d Elastic resin mounting surface 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B Elastic resin 8 Reinforcing member

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 15/02 B65D 43/16 F16C 11/10 G06F 1/16 H01M 1/00 H04B 7/00 H05K 5 / 00-7/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] At least an input unit, an output unit, and a processing unit
An electronic device that opens and closes an upper housing and a lower housing via any of the open / close hinges , wherein the open / close hinge is made of a flexible and elastic resin,
Connected to the thin portion and both sides of the thin portion to form a hinge
Flexible body with flexible conductors
A flexible opening / closing hinge is provided on each of the upper housing and the lower housing.
A fixing portion for mounting a thick portion of a resin constituting the nozzle;
Form a space where the thick part of the resin
Due to the deformation of the thick part of the resin in the space
The upper housing stops opening at a predetermined angle with respect to the lower housing.
Opening / closing hinges of an electronic device,
Ji structure . 2. An input unit, an output unit, and a processing unit.
In an electronic device that opens and closes an upper housing and a lower housing via any of the open / close hinges , the open / close hinges are made of a flexible and elastic resin.
Flexible opening / closing hinge with built-in flexible conductor
About constituted by di-, constituting the flexible closing hinge resin,
Fixed to the inner surfaces of the upper housing and the lower housing facing each other,
By contacting each other, the upper housing is
Internal fixing parts configured to open at a small angle and
Are fixed to the outer surfaces of the upper
Contact makes the upper housing less than an excessive angle with respect to the lower housing.
With an outer fixed part configured to stop opening up
Opening / closing hinges for an electronic device,
Ji structure . 3. An open / close hinge as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
The opening and closing hinge is provided side by side.
3. An open / close hinge structure of the electronic device according to claim 1 .