JP6084088B2 - Biaxial hinge - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a hinge mechanism that connects two chassis arranged in a spread such as a main body part and a display screen part of a portable electronic device, and more particularly to a biaxial hinge that allows two chassis to rotate up to 360 degrees.

  There is known a tablet PC that does not have a keyboard and allows information input by touching a virtual keyboard displayed on a display screen such as a liquid crystal panel. Also, a notebook PC is known that can be used like a tablet PC by rotating the display screen part 360 degrees with respect to the main body part by introducing a virtual keyboard displayed on the display screen. In such a notebook PC, the display screen portion is about 120 degrees with respect to the main body portion from the state in which the surfaces of the main body portion and the display screen portion are attached and closed by the hinge connecting the main body portion and the display screen portion Through the state of use in a conventional notebook type PC that is open, a state like a tablet type PC in which the back surfaces of the main body and the display screen are attached to each other can be handled.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, the display screen can be rotated up to 360 degrees with respect to the main body, and can be used as a notebook PC placed on a desk or knee, and the display can be folded from the touch panel. A portable information processing apparatus that can be used as a tablet PC for inputting information by pen input is disclosed. A gear is provided at each of the connecting portions between the main body and the display screen, and the two gears are rotated relative to each other while being engaged with each other, thereby enabling the 360-degree rotation as described above. .

  Further, in Patent Document 2, the display screen unit cannot be rotated up to 360 degrees with a uniaxial hinge applied to the side portion of the main body, and can be rotated up to 360 degrees using a biaxial hinge. Talk about the fact that if the shafts of the two-axis hinges rotate without any restriction, the main body and the display screen will be relatively staggered and the operability will be inferior. Yes. Then, the biaxial hinge which used the gear for the axial part similarly to the hinge of patent document 1 is disclosed.

  By the way, as described above, when a gear is used for each shaft of the biaxial hinge, backlash occurs due to the torque of the gear during rotation, unstable operation due to shakiness of the shaft, synchronization deviation due to gear skipping, etc. Some have pointed out that it lacks operability and functionality. Therefore, a method has been proposed in which a sliding link including a cam hole and a link pin is provided between the two shafts so as to synchronize the rotation of the two shafts.

  For example, Patent Document 3 discloses a link mechanism that synchronizes the rotation of the first and second hinge shafts, which are the two axes of the biaxial hinge, by a bridge member provided therebetween. The first and second hinge shafts are respectively attached with substantially disk-shaped first and second link cam members for coaxial rotation. Link pins are implanted in the peripheral portions of the first and second link cam members and on the attachment side of the first and second hinge shafts, and can be moved up and down between the first and second hinge shafts. Two cam holes, which are long holes, are provided in the vicinity of both sides of the bridge member attached to each of the bridge members, and each accommodates a link pin. As a result, the link pin is restricted by movement inside the cam hole provided in the bridge member, and the rotation of the first and second hinge shafts is synchronized with the vertical movement of the bridge member. Here, each of the first and second hinge shafts is rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the bridge member, and is relatively rotated by 180 degrees.

JP 2004-227420 A JP 2006-064000 JP 2012-237392 A

  When the display screen unit is rotated at a larger angle with respect to the main body unit, in particular, when the display screen unit is rotated beyond 180 degrees to 360 degrees, the force applied to the rotating shaft of the hinge mechanism is increased. Shake and play become more serious. In addition, when a gear is used for the biaxial hinge as described above, a missing gear or a synchronization shift may occur. In particular, in a relatively compact housing such as a portable electronic device such as a notebook PC, it is difficult to incorporate a large gear that can withstand the load on the shaft.

  The present invention has been made in view of the situation as described above, and an object of the present invention is to connect a hinge connecting two chassis arranged in a spread such as a main body portion and a display screen portion of a portable electronic device. With regard to the mechanism, in particular, it is to provide a biaxial hinge that allows two chassis to be rotated up to 360 degrees.

  In the biaxial hinge according to the present invention, first and second bearing holes, which are penetrated from the back surface, are provided in parallel to each other through the first and second openings located symmetrically with respect to the virtual straight line on the surface. A first and second bearing block, which is combined with the bearing block so as to reciprocate on the surface along the virtual straight line and extends toward the virtual straight line in the vicinity of the first and second openings, respectively. A cam plate having a long cam hole, and first and second hinge round bars rotatably supported by inserting the first and second bearing holes from the back surface toward the surface; And a protrusion provided on the insertion end face of each of the first and second hinge round bars is disposed in the first and second long cam holes to extend the first and second hinge round bars. The first and the second so that the cam plate crosses the line. The hinge rod, characterized in that is in sync rotated by 180 degrees, respectively in the opposite direction to the bearing block.

  According to this invention, the first and second hinge round bars can be rotated synchronously by 180 degrees with each other by the cam plate capable of crossing the extended line of the first and second hinge round bars. That is, the biaxial hinge to which the chassis is attached can be rotated synchronously up to 360 degrees. Moreover, the biaxial hinge is a link mechanism using a cam plate, and no synchronization shift occurs.

  In the above-described invention, a restriction plate for restricting reciprocation of the cam plate may be inserted between the bearing block and the cam plate. According to this invention, the cam plate can be easily reciprocated, and each of the first and second hinge round bars can be more reliably synchronously rotated.

  In the above-described invention, the first and second hinge round bars are attached to the first and second chassis, respectively, and the first and second hinge round bars are opposed to the bearing block. The first and second chassis may be moved close to each other at positions rotated synchronously by 90 degrees. According to this invention, at least at the position where the biaxial hinge is opened at 180 degrees, it becomes possible to fill the gap between the first and second chassis unavoidable by the rotation of 360 degrees, and both chassis are arranged compactly. can do.

  In the above-described invention, the first and second hinge round bars may include a large-diameter portion, and the insertion end surface may be provided on the large-diameter portion. According to this invention, the torque applied to the protrusion provided on the large diameter portion can be increased, and the operation of the biaxial hinge can be stabilized.

It is (a) top sectional view and (b) back view of the biaxial hinge by this invention. It is a perspective view of the principal part of the biaxial hinge by this invention. It is a top sectional view of the important section of the biaxial hinge by the present invention. It is a perspective view of the principal part of the biaxial hinge by this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the use condition of the biaxial hinge by this invention. It is a front view explaining operation | movement of the biaxial hinge by this invention. It is (a) front view for demonstrating operation | movement of the biaxial hinge by this invention, (b) Front sectional drawing, (c) Front sectional drawing. It is a front view explaining operation | movement of the biaxial hinge by this invention.

  One embodiment of the biaxial hinge according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the biaxial hinge 1 includes a bearing block 2 that has left and right bearing holes 21a and 21b that pass through in the front-rear direction (up and down direction in the drawing) and are parallel to each other. Hinge round bars 25a and 25b respectively inserted into the bearing block 2, and a link mechanism 3 attached to the surface 22 side of the bearing block 2 to synchronize the rotation of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b. The bearing holes 21a and 21b rotatably support the hinge round bars 25a and 25b, respectively.

  The bearing block 2 is attached with a cover 50 whose shape extends around the surface 22 side (upward in the drawing). The cover 50 forms a passage through which the cable 52 is inserted in front of the link mechanism 3 by a wall surface opposite to the bearing block 2 and two through holes 51 provided in the wall. The cable 52 is inserted into the left and right chassis 60 (see FIG. 5) attached to the biaxial hinge 1, and connects the devices inside each other. For example, the cable 52 is a display cable, and electrically connects a circuit board forming the main body and an LCD forming the display unit.

  Referring also to FIG. 1B, the biaxial hinge 1 further has arms 11a and 11b fixed to the hinge round bars 25a and 25b on the back surface 23 side of the bearing block 2, respectively. The arm 11a (11b) has a flat plate shape extending in a direction away from the rotation axis Ma (Mb), and a protrusion 26 provided on the rear end surface of the hinge round bar 25a (25b) is fitted into the hole 14 and fixed. Is done. Thereby, the arm 11a (11b) can rotate around the rotation axis Ma (Mb) together with the hinge round bar 25a (25b). The arm 11a (11b) is integrally provided with a flat frame mounting portion 12a (12b) whose normal is directed in the rotational direction. The frame attachment portion 12a (12b) has a long hole 13a (13b) extending in a direction away from the rotation axis Ma (Mb).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the link mechanism 3 is provided on the surface 22 of the bearing block 2 symmetrically with respect to a virtual straight line L extending in the vertical direction between the hinge round bars 25 a and 25 b. That is, the regulation plate 35 is fixed to the surface 22 of the bearing block 2. The restricting plate 35 has a slide hole 36 that extends so as to surround the periphery of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b so as to fix the position thereof, and extends vertically along the virtual straight line L at the center in the left-right direction. . A plate-like cam plate 31 extending in the left-right direction is attached to the front end faces of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b located in front of the restriction plate 35 (front side in the drawing). The cam plate 31 has long cam holes 32a and 32b extending from the vicinity of both ends toward the virtual line L at the center. Projections 27a and 27b provided on the front end faces of the hinged round bars 25a and 25b are inserted into the long cam holes 32a and 32b, respectively. When the protrusions 27a and 27b are positioned directly below or directly above the rotation axes Ma and Mb of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b, respectively, the protrusions 27a and 27b come into contact with the outer ends of the long cam holes 32a and 32b, respectively (FIG. a), and the dimensions of the long cam holes 32a and 32b are determined. That is, since the protrusions 27a and 27b contact the long cam holes 32a and 32b, respectively, the protrusions 27a and 27b do not move outward in the left-right direction from the rotation axes Ma and Mb of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b.

  Referring to FIG. 2 together with FIG. 3, the cam plate 31 has a prismatic body 33 that protrudes toward the back side at the center. The prism body 33 is inserted into the slide hole 36 of the restriction plate 35, extends into the groove 28 provided in the center of the front surface 22 of the bearing block 2, and is engaged in the groove 28 on the back side of the restriction plate 35. It is fixed to the piece 34 to prevent the slide hole 36 from falling off. Thereby, the prism body 33 can reciprocate in the vertical direction along the slide hole 36 with respect to the restriction plate 35. In addition, the prismatic body 33 is dimensioned so as not to rotate within the slide hole 36, and the cam plate 31 can be translated in the vertical direction along the slide hole 36.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a thin plate-like frame 41 having a bent portion 45 is attached to a frame attachment portion 12a that is integrated with the arm 11a. The frame 41 is fixed by two shaft bodies 43 to a stop plate 42 made of plate-shaped small pieces facing each other with the frame attachment portion 12a interposed therebetween. At this time, each shaft body 43 is inserted into the elongated hole 13a (see FIG. 1) of the frame attachment portion 12a and is slidable along this. Thereby, the frame 41 is slidable in the extending direction of the elongated hole 13a with respect to the arm 11a. Further, a chassis (housing plate) 60 is fixed to the frame 41 by a fastener (not shown) engaged with the hole 46. That is, the chassis 60 is also movable along the elongated hole 13a, that is, in a direction away from or close to the rotation axis Ma of the hinge round bar 25a (up and down direction on the paper surface). A spacer 44 having a concave portion 44 ′ facing the rotation axis Ma is fixed to the bent portion 45 of the frame 41, and is disposed between the bearing block 2 (see FIG. 6A). The arm 11b is the same except that it is symmetrical with the arm 11a.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the biaxial hinge 1 is used in a portable electronic device such as a notebook PC with the two as a pair. That is, the two biaxial hinges 1 are arranged with the back surfaces 23 of the bearing blocks 2 (see FIG. 1) facing outward, that is, with the front surface 22 facing each other, and are connected by the chassis 60.

  Next, the operation of the biaxial hinge 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the arms 11a and 11b are in an initial position (rotation: 0 degree) with their longitudinal directions parallel to each other. Although not shown in the figure, the chassis 60 have their main surfaces close to each other, and the portable electronic device is in a so-called closed state. Further, the protrusions 27a and 27b of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b are located on the opposite sides of the rotation axes Ma and Mb with respect to the extending directions of the arms 11a and 11b, respectively. Here, the arms 11a and 11b extend directly above, and the protrusions 27a and 27b are positioned directly below the rotation axes Ma and Mb. At this time, the protrusions 27a and 27b are in contact with the outer ends of the long cam holes 32a and 32b of the cam plate 31. Therefore, the protrusions 27a and 27b do not move further outside and can move only inside. That is, at the initial position, the directions in which the hinge round bars 25a and 25b can rotate are determined to be one counterclockwise and clockwise direction with respect to the paper surface.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6B, the arms 11a and 11b are rotated 45 degrees to the left and right from the initial position. When the hinge round bar 25a rotates 45 degrees counterclockwise, the protrusion 27a also rotates 45 degrees counterclockwise. At this time, the protrusion 27a is disposed in the elongated hole 32a of the cam plate 31, and the cam plate 31 translates upward. Since the projection 27b of the hinge round bar 25b is also disposed in the elongated hole 32b of the cam plate 31, it moves upward in accordance with the parallel movement of the cam plate 31. That is, the protrusion 27b rotates 45 degrees clockwise while synchronizing with the protrusion 27a via the cam plate 31. Thereby, the hinge round bar 25b also rotates 45 degrees in the reverse direction in synchronization with the hinge round bar 25a together with the arm 11b.

  As shown in FIG. 7A, the arms 11a and 11b are further rotated from the initial position to a position of 90 degrees to the left and right, respectively. That is, the biaxial hinge 1 is opened 180 degrees. Again, the hinge round bars 25a and 25b are synchronized via a cam plate 31 that translates with the protrusions 27a and 27b.

  Further, referring to FIG. 7B, at this time, the left and right chassis 60 are also in positions rotated 90 degrees left and right from the initial positions. Since the chassis 60 has a thickness with respect to each of the rotation axes Ma and Mb, adjusting the position of the rotation axes Ma and Mb and the projecting dimension toward the center of the chassis 60 so as not to interfere with each other during rotation. There is a gap between the two 180 degrees opened. Therefore, the left and right frames 41 are slid toward the rotation axes Ma and Mb with respect to the frame mounting portions 12a and 12b, respectively, and the concave portions 44 'of the spacer 44 are brought into contact with the left and right curved surfaces of the bearing block 2, respectively. Then, as shown in FIG. 7C, the left and right frames 60 can be moved close to each other, and the ends of the frames 60 can be brought into contact with each other so as to fill the gap. Thereby, the left and right chassis 60 can be arranged in a compact manner. Further, for example, in the case where both left and right chassis 60 are equipped with LCDs, it is possible to make the user seem to connect the end portions of both LCDs. Furthermore, if the stopper which prevents rotation is added and it is made to engage with this by a slide, the opening angle of the biaxial hinge 1 can also be stabilized.

  Again, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), the left and right frames 41 are slid back to their original positions, and the rotation angle is further increased as shown in FIG. 8 (a), so that the arms 11a and 11b. Is rotated from the initial position to a position of 135 degrees to the left and right. Again, the hinge round bars 25a and 25b rotate in synchronism.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8B, when the arms 11a and 11b are rotated from the initial position to a position of 180 degrees to the left and right, the biaxial hinge 1 is rotated 360 °. At this time, as in the initial position, the protrusions 27 a and 27 b are in contact with the outer ends of the long cam holes 32 a and 32 b of the cam plate 31. That is, the hinge round bars 25a and 25b do not rotate in the same direction any more. Thus, the rotation directions of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b are determined in one direction by the long cam holes 32a and 32b, and can operate stably without causing a synchronization shift.

  As described above, since the cam plate 31 is on the front end surfaces of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b, the cam plate 31 can cross the front of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b without interfering with the rotation axes Ma and Mb. Accordingly, as described above, each of the hinge round bars 25a and 25b can be synchronously rotated by 180 degrees.

  Further, since the hinge round bars 25a and 25b are synchronized with each other, the rotation angle from the initial position of the arm 11a or 11b is always the same, and only one of them is not greatly rotated. Thereby, in the cable 52 (refer FIG. 1), the substantially same deformation | transformation will be given inside each of the left and right chassis 60, and only one side is not deformed largely. Therefore, unnecessary deformation of the cable 52 can be prevented and its life can be kept long.

  As mentioned above, although the Example by this invention and the modification based on this were demonstrated, this invention is not necessarily limited to this, A person skilled in the art will deviate from the main point of this invention, or the attached claim. Various alternative embodiments and modifications could be found without doing so.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Biaxial hinge 2 Bearing block 3 Link mechanism 21a, 21b Bearing hole 25a, 25b Hinge round bar 27a, 27b Protrusion 31 Cam plate 32a, 32b Long cam hole L Virtual straight line

Claims (4)

A bearing block provided with first and second bearing holes penetrating from the back surface to the first and second openings located symmetrically across the virtual straight line on the surface so as to be parallel to each other;
First and second long cam holes that are combined with the bearing block so as to reciprocate along the virtual straight line and extend toward the virtual straight line in the vicinity of the first and second openings, respectively. A cam plate having
First and second hinge round bars that are rotatably inserted by inserting the first and second bearing holes from the back surface toward the surface;
Protrusions provided on the insertion end surfaces of the first and second hinge round bars are disposed in the first and second long cam holes, and the extension lines of the first and second hinge round bars are on the extension line. A biaxial hinge characterized in that the first and second hinge round bars are synchronously rotated 180 degrees in opposite directions with respect to the bearing block so as to cross the cam plate.   The biaxial hinge according to claim 1, wherein a restriction plate for restricting reciprocation of the cam plate is inserted between the bearing block and the cam plate.   First and second chassis are attached to the first and second hinge round bars, respectively, and the first and second hinge round bars are synchronized with each other up to 90 degrees in the opposite direction with respect to the bearing block. 3. The biaxial hinge according to claim 1, wherein the first and second chassis are moved close to each other in a rotated position. 4. The biaxial shaft according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first and second hinge round bars include a large-diameter portion, and the penetrating end surface is provided on the large-diameter portion. Hinge.

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