WO2017182238A1

WO2017182238A1 - Hinge assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2017182238A1
Application number: PCT/EP2017/057299
Authority: WO
Inventors: Valter Svara; Carlo Migli
Original assignee: Titus D.O.O. Dekani
Priority date: 2016-04-20
Filing date: 2017-03-28
Publication date: 2017-10-26
Also published as: GB2553742A; EP3445936A1

Abstract

A hinge assembly comprises a toggle type hinge with an arm assembly (11) anchorable in use to a first member, and a hinge cup (12) pivotally connected to it and anchorable in use to a second member. The assembly is provided with a damping mechanism that is operable to produce a damped resistive force to the hinge over at least part of its closing movement. The damping mechanism is arranged to produce this damped resistive force via a plunger (21) acting on a body of damping fluid within a chamber (23). The plunger is actuated by a rotatable camming element (20) and is arranged to have a relatively short working stroke, but present a relatively large working surface area to the body of damping fluid.

Description

HINGE ASSEMBLY

This invention relates to hinge assemblies, and more particularly, to assemblies comprising toggle hinges, of the sort that are typically used to hang doors on kitchen cupboards, together with a damping device.

The invention provides a hinge assembly comprising a toggle type hinge with an arm assembly anchorable in use to a first member and a hinge cup pivotally connected thereto and anchorable in use to a second member, and with a damping mechanism operable to produce a damped resistive force to the hinge over at least part of its closing movement, wherein the damping mechanism is arranged to produce said damped resistive force via a plunger acting on a body of damping fluid, with the plunger being actuated by a rotatable camming element, and with the plunger having a relatively short working stroke, but presenting a relatively large working surface area to the body of damping fluid.

The invention also provides a hinge assembly comprising a toggle type hinge with an arm assembly anchorable in use to a first member and a hinge cup pivotally connected thereto and anchorable in use to a second member, and with a damping mechanism operable to produce a damped resistive force to the hinge over at least part of its closing movement, wherein the damping mechanism is arranged to produce said damped resistive force via a plunger acting on a body of damping fluid, with the plunger being actuated by a rotatable camming element, and with the plunger being constrained to move in a pivotal motion. By way of example, embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a first form of hinge assembly according to the invention,

Figure 2 shows the damping mechanism of the hinge assembly of

Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail of the damping mechanism of

Figure 2,

Figure 4 illustrates a second form of hinge assembly according to the invention,

Figures 5a, 5b and 5c show the damping mechanism of the hinge assembly of Figure 4 at various different stages of the closing movement of the hinge,

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail of the damping mechanism of

Figures 5a, 5b and 5c, and Figures 7, 8 and 9 show components of the adjusting mechanism of the hinge assembly of Figure 4.

The hinge assembly seen in Figure 1 comprises a hinge mechanism 10 which is essentially of the well known toggle-type construction used, for example, for hanging a door on a kitchen cupboard. The hinge mechanism 10 comprises an arm assembly 11, which is attachable to a door frame in known manner, and a hinge cup 12, which is attachable to a door in known manner. The hinge cup 12 is pivotably connected to the arm assembly 11 in known manner by means of a compound linkage 13.

The hinge cup 12 in this case is of a known kind that is formed with a rectangular cavity 14 for receiving the compound linkage 13 in the closed position of the hinge. As is known, this part of the hinge is designed to be located on a door via a circular mounting hole (typically drilled as standard), with a flange 51 of the hinge cup 12 being attached to the face of the door. The fact that the cavity 14 is rectangular means that there will be a void to either side of it in the mounting hole. Each of these voids will be shaped in cross-section like a segment of a circle, with a depth equating to the depth of the mounting hole. At least one of these voids is designed to accommodate a damping mechanism for the hinge.

In the Figure 1 embodiment, there is a single damping mechanism 15 arranged in one of the voids. In the other void a spring mechanism may be arranged to assist with returning lever 18 (described below) to its starting position (as seen in Figure 1). The damping mechanism 15 is designed to be contained within a housing which is shaped to fit within the void referred to above.

The housing is made conveniently in two parts 16a and 16b out of moulded plastics material. The two parts 16a, 16b are attached together by suitable means such as sonic welding to provide a fluid tight interior. The housing is attached by its housing part 16a to an outer wall 50 of the hinge cup 12 outside the cavity 14 by suitable means such as clips. The housing 16a, 16b is designed to contain a working fluid such as silicone oil to act as a damping medium. Its housing part 16b may be reinforced with ribbing 17 in order to prevent bursting under pressure during operation.

In the cavity 14 of the hinge cup 12 a lever 18 is pivotably mounted. The lever 18 is arranged to be engagable by the compound linkage 13. Specifically, the arrangement is that the lever 18 will be caused to rotate during the final stage of the closing movement of the hinge by engagement with the compound linkage 13. This rotational movement of the lever 18 within the cavity 14 will be transmitted to the damping mechanism 15 within the housing 16a, 16b via a pin 19 which rotates with the lever. The housing part 16a is sealed off around the pin 19 at the point where it extends into the housing interior, to prevent leakage of damping fluid.

Turning to Figure 2, the components of the damping mechanism can be seen in more detail. Mounted on the pin 19 so as to rotate therewith in the housing 16 is a snail cam 20. This arrangement means that there is a direct transmission of rotational forces between the lever 18 and the cam 20. The cam 20 is arranged to act on a movable plunger 21 mounted in the housing 16. As will be seen in Figure 2, the plunger 21 extends between walls 22, 23 in the housing 16, effectively creating a chamber beneath it. Rotation of the cam 20 caused by the closing movement of the hinge will cause downward movement of the plunger 21. Downward movement of the plunger 21 will cause a reduction in the volume of the chamber beneath it. This in turn will cause displacement of the damping fluid contained in the chamber.

With space at a premium, the plunger 21 here is designed with a relatively short stroke (the distance between its uppermost and lowermost positions). However, it is designed to present a relatively large working surface area to the damping fluid. This means that in its working stroke, the plunger 21 is able to cause displacement of a relatively large body of damping fluid (the "swept volume"). If the ratio of working surface area of a plunger to its stroke is considered as a measure of its "aspect ratio", then the plunger 21 here would be regarded as having a relatively large aspect ratio.

In practice, the plunger 21 here might typically be expected to have a length of around 11.5mm and a width of around 3.5mm, with a stroke of around 3.5mm. This means that the plunger 21 presents a n effective working surface area of around 40mm², giving it an aspect ratio of around 11.5. The swept volume generated by the plunger 21 will be around 140mm³. Designing the damping mechanism to have a plunger with a relatively large aspect ratio enables better use to be made of the space available than is achievable by a more conventionally shaped piston and cylinder type damper, which might only be expected to have an aspect ratio of 2 or less.

The interior of the housing 16a, 16b is shaped so that the displaced damping fluid will be forced through an orifice 24 (see Figure 3). The cross-sectional area of the orifice 24 is significantly less than that of the chamber beneath the plunger 21, which means that the displacement of the damping fluid will cause resistance to the downward movement of the plunger 21. This resistance is transmitted back through the plunger 21 to the cam 20 and thence back to the hinge arm 11 via the pin 19, lever 18 and compound linkage 13, effectively providing a damped resistive force to the closing movement of the hinge and hence the door that it mounts.

It will be seen that the walls 22, 23 in the housing 16a, 16b are arcuate in shape. The end faces of the plunger 21 that engage these walls 22, 23 are shaped with correspondingly curved surfaces. The effect of this is firstly to produce a reasonably effective seal to prevent leakage of damping fluid around the edges of the plunger 21. It also has the effect of constraining the plunger 21 to move in a pivotal manner around a virtual axis of rotation when it is acted on by the cam 20. This virtual axis is spaced from and parallel to the axis of the pin 19. In this case, the plunger 21 moves through an angle of roughly 20° between its uppermost and lowermost positions. A leaf spring 25 is positioned underneath the plunger 21 to bias it towards its uppermost position. The orifice 24 is controlled by a valve 26 (seen more clearly in Figure 3). Here the valve 26 is designed to have two positions. In a first, throttling position, the valve 26 partly occludes the orifice 24 so that it presents only a relatively small pathway for passage of damping fluid. In this position, the mechanism produces a damped resistance to the closing movement of the hinge. In its second, release position, the valve 26 does not obstruct the orifice 24, which is thus able to allow free passage of damping fluid. In this position, the damping fluid is free to return to the chamber beneath the plunger 21, whilst this returns to its uppermost position under the biassing action of the spring 25. This re-sets the mechanism ready for the next closing hinge movement. The valve 26 moves automatically between its two positions by virtue of the damping fluid acting on it.

In this embodiment, the damping resistance that the hinge assembly produces is not adjustable, but fixed. The magnitude of the damping resistance is effectively determined by the pathway that remains through the orifice 24 when the valve 26 is in its throttling position. In the embodiment described below, the damping resistance is able to be adjusted.

The use of a plunger 21 with a relatively large aspect ratio as described above has the advantage that it is able to operate on a relatively large body of the damping fluid over a relatively large cross-sectional area. This means that even though the plunger 21 is only able to move through a relatively small distance, its swept volume is nevertheless relatively large and hence the effective damping resistance that it is able to generate is quite significant. The arrangement also has the benefit that it does not rely on fine tolerances in its components, which makes it easier for controlling the manufacturing process on a production line.

The rate at which the plunger 21 is displaced per degree of rotation of the hinge is determined by the profile of the cam 20 (ie its gearing). It will be understood that the cam profile can be designed in many different ways to produce high or low gearing, as desired, or even variable gearing. It is particularly useful to be able to provide for variable gearing, because this allows the possibility of arranging for the mechanism to produce a damping response that starts "softly", ie with a relatively low initial level of resistance, and builds to a harder, ie higher resistance response. This has the benefit of enabling the hinge to avoid the known problem of "bounce" from a closing door in a slam test.

The hinge assembly 110 seen in Figure 4 is similar to the hinge assembly 10 seen in Figure 1, but in this case is adjustable. Again, a damping mechanism 115 is incorporated in a housing 116a, 116b attached to the hinge cup 112 outside the cavity 114, with the housing being shaped to fit within the void in the mounting hole in the door. A lever 118 is again pivotably mounted in the cavity 114 to be engagable by the compound linkage 113 of the arm assembly 111 and caused to rotate in the closing movement of the hinge. Rotation of the lever 118 is transmitted via a pin 119 to a snail cam 120 connected therewith. The cam 120 operates on a plunger 121 movably mounted via arcuate walls 122, 123 in the housing 116a, 116b, which is again filled with damping fluid. The plunger 121 has the same effective aspect ratio as the plunger 21 described above. As seen in the sequence shown in Figures 5a, 5b and 5c, closing movement of the hinge (arrow A) causes rotation of the lever 118 and hence rotation of the cam 120. Rotation of the cam 120 causes the plunger 121 to be displaced downwardly in the housing 116a, 116b, in turn displacing the damping fluid in the chamber beneath it. As with the previously described embodiment, the profile of the cam 120 is chosen with suitable gearing to produce the desired movement of the plunger 121, and hence damped resistive force, in response to closing movement of the hinge. The difference in this case is what happens to the fluid that is displaced by the downward movement of the plunger 121.

In this embodiment, the valve 126 is permanently closed (see Figure 6). In this case, the fluid that is displaced from the chamber beneath the plunger 121 by its downward movement is forced through a bleed hole 130. The fluid passes from the bleed hole 130 into a valve body 131 (see Figure 7) via a slotted opening 132. The slotted opening 132 opens into a metering chamber 133 in the valve body 131 via an inlet port 134. Fluid is able to exit from the metering chamber 133 via an outlet port 135. Outlet port 135 leads via a slotted opening 136 in the valve body 131 (see Figure 7) back into the housing 116a, 116b via a second bleed hole 137 (see Figure 6).

This circulation of damping fluid is controlled by a flow adjuster 138 that is rotatably mounted within the metering chamber 133. The flow adjuster 138 incorporates a variable sized arcuate groove 139 in its surface, as seen in Figure 9. The flow adjuster 138 is mounted so that its arcuate groove 139 provides communication between the two ports 134, 135. It will then be understood that the rotational position of the flow adjuster 138 will determine the size of the pathway communicating the two ports 134, 135. The size of this pathway determines the extent to which the passage of fluid is throttled, and this in turn determines the magnitude of the damping resistance that the mechanism is able to produce.

As seen in Figure 4, the valve body 131 is designed to fit in the void next to the cavity 114 in the hinge cup 112, with the flow adjuster 138 being accessible via a hole 139 in the flange 151 of the hinge cup 112 by a tool such as a cross-head screwdriver, for purposes of adjustment. The flow adjuster 138 is conveniently captured in position in the metering chamber 133 via a washer 140 located within a slot 141 in the valve body 131 (see Figure 8).

The adjusting mechanism described above has the benefit of being easily accessible in use of the hinge assembly. Also, the manner in which the mechanism is designed to work does not require fine control or close tolerance components, but is still able to give an easily controllable and useful range of adjustment.

Claims

1. A hinge assembly comprising a toggle type hinge with an arm assembly anchorable in use to a first member and a hinge cup pivotally connected thereto and anchorable in use to a second member, and with a damping mechanism operable to produce a damped resistive force to the hinge over at least part of its closing movement, wherein the damping mechanism is arranged to produce said damped resistive force via a plunger acting on a body of damping fluid, with the plunger being actuated by a rotatable camming element, and with the plunger having a relatively short working stroke, but presenting a relatively large working surface area to the body of damping fluid.

2. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the ratio of the working surface area of the plunger to its stroke is in excess of 2 and preferably at least 10.

3. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the axis of rotation of the camming element is arranged to be parallel to the axis of rotation of the hinge.

4. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein rotational movement of the hinge is arranged to be transmitted to the camming element via a pivotable lever.

5. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein the pivotable lever located within the cavity of the hinge cup.

6. A hinge assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the camming element has a profile to determine the manner of movement of the plunger in response to closing movement of the hinge.

7. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 6 wherein said profile is arranged to produce a variable amount of movement of the plunger per degree of rotation of the camming element.

8. A hinge assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the plunger is constrained to move in a pivotal motion.

9. A hinge assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the hinge cup is anchorable to said second member via a mounting hole, and the damping mechanism is contained within the mounting hole.

10. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 9 wherein the damping mechanism is located outside the confines of the hinge cup.

11. A hinge assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the damping mechanism is adjustable.

12. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 11 wherein the damping mechanism includes a pathway for the passage of damping fluid, and means for adjusting the size of said pathway.

13. A hinge assembly comprising a toggle type hinge with an arm assembly anchorable in use to a first member and a hinge cup pivotally connected thereto and anchorable in use to a second member, and with a damping mechanism operable to produce a damped resistive force to the hinge over at least part of its closing movement, wherein the damping mechanism is arranged to produce said damped resistive force via a plunger acting on a body of damping fluid, with the plunger being actuated by a rotatable camming element, and with the plunger being constrained to move in a pivotal motion.

14. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 13 wherein the axis of rotation of the camming element is arranged to be parallel to the axis of rotation of the hinge.

15. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 13 or claim 14 wherein rotational movement of the hinge is arranged to be transmitted to the camming element via a pivotable lever.

16. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 15 wherein the pivotable lever is located within the cavity of the hinge cup.

17. A hinge assembly as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16 wherein the camming element has a profile to determine the manner of movement of the plunger in response to closing movement of the hinge.

18. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 17 wherein said profile is arranged to produce a variable amount of movement of the plunger per degree of rotation of the camming element.

19. A hinge assembly as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 18 wherein the hinge cup is anchorable to said second member via a mounting hole, and the damping mechanism is contained within the mounting hole.

20. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 19 wherein the damping mechanism is located outside the confines of the hinge cup.

21. A hinge assembly as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 20 wherein the damping mechanism is adjustable.

22. A hinge assembly as claimed in claim 21 wherein the damping mechanism includes a pathway for the passage of damping fluid, and means for adjusting the size of said pathway.

23. A hinge assembly as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 22 wherein the ratio of the working surface area of the plunger to its stroke is in excess of 2 and preferably at least 10.