The present invention relates to a cordless blind apparatus that can be conveniently operated without a cord and a method of adjusting the cordless blind apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cordless blind apparatus of which the balance can be precisely adjusted and a method of precisely adjusting the balance of a cordless blind apparatus.
A blind apparatus is installed over a window and has a structure that can cover/uncover the window. It is possible to obtain a desired effect by controlling the amount of incident light by adjusting the degree of the window blocked by a blind apparatus. For example, it is possible to produce a soft glow effect using a blind apparatus and it is also possible to block unnecessary gaze from the outside.
A blind apparatus may include a screen that is rolled and unrolled. It is possible to open a portion or the entire of a window and adjust the amount of incident light by adjusting the length of the unrolled screen. In such a blind apparatus, the length of the unrolled screen can be controlled by using a cord that rotates the rolled part of the screen.
However, when the rolled screen is rotated by pulling the cord, force may be concentrated on the cord's connecting side. That is, when the cord is pulled to operate the apparatus, the external force is concentrated on the side connected with the cord, so the apparatus may be structurally unbalanced or the joint between the rolled part of the screen and the cord may be easily broken.
Also, the long cord is an obstacle that people, particularly, careless children easily trip on, so there is a high possibility of a safety accident. Further, it is difficult to uniformly rotate the entire rolled part of the screen with the cord, so the rotary structure is unnecessarily complicated to compensate the defect. Therefore, it is required to solve this problem.
(Patent Literature 1) Korean Utility Model No. 20-0480955 (2016 Jul. 29)
The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problem and an object of the present invention is to provide a cordless blind apparatus that can be conveniently operated without a cord and a method of adjusting a cordless blind apparatus, particularly, to provide a cordless blind apparatus of which the balance can be precisely adjusted and a method of precisely adjusting balance of a cordless blind apparatus.
A cordless blind apparatus of the present invention includes a roller coupled to a shaft to rotate, a screen wound or unwound on the roller, and a torsion spring contracting or stretching by rotating with the roller, in which an increasing ratio A1 of torque applied to the roller by the screen to a rotational angle of the roller and an increasing ratio A2 of torque applied to the roller by the torsion spring to the rotational angle of the roller are matched to each other through the following correlation equation,
using, the wire diameter ‘d’ of the torsion spring, the Young's modulus ‘E’ of the torsion spring, the diameter ‘D’ of the torsion spring, the winding number ‘N’ of the torsion spring, the density ‘ρ’ of the screen, the thickness ‘t’ of the screen, the width ‘S’ of the screen, the radius ‘R’ of the roller, and gravitational acceleration ‘g’.
The cordless blind apparatus may further include a weight connected to the lower end of the screen and offsetting the difference between the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller by the torsion spring and the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller by the screen.
When the screen has been fully rolled up, the initial value of the torque applied to the roller by the torsion spring may be the same as the initial value of torque applied to the roller by the weight and the screen.
The torsion spring may share a rotational center with the roller.
The torsion spring may be inserted on the rotational center of the roller in parallel in the roll.
An end of the torsion spring may be connected to the roller and the other end may be fixed to a shaft passing through the rotational center of the roller.
The cordless blind apparatus may further include a bearing disposed between the roller and the shaft coupled to the roller.
A method of adjusting a cordless blind apparatus that includes a roller coupled to a shaft to rotate, a screen wound or unwound on the roller, a torsion spring contracting or stretching by rotating with the roller, and a weight connected to the lower end of the screen includes: a first step of matching an increasing ratio of torque applied to the roller by the screen to a rotational angle of the roller and an increasing ratio of torque applied to the roller by the torsion spring to the rotational angle of the roller to each other; and a second step of removing the difference between the magnitude of torque applied to the roller by the weight and the screen and the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller by the torsion spring by adjusting tension of the torsion spring.
The first step may match an increasing ratio A1 of torque applied to the roller by the screen to a rotational angle of the roller and an increasing ratio A2 of torque applied to the roller by the torsion spring to the rotational angle of the roller to each other through the following correlation equation,
using, the wire diameter ‘d’ of the torsion spring, the Young's modulus ‘E’ of the torsion spring, the diameter ‘D’ of the torsion spring, the winding number ‘N’ of the torsion spring, the density ‘ρ’ of the screen, the thickness ‘t’ of the screen, the width ‘S’ of the screen, the radius ‘R’ of the roller, and gravitational acceleration ‘g’.
The second step may, when the screen has been fully rolled up, match the initial value of the torque applied to the roller by the torsion spring to the initial value of torque applied to the roller by the weight and the screen.
According to the present invention, it is possible to achieve a cordless blind apparatus that is operated by a very simple structure without a cord. It is also possible to easily operate a screen and stably maintain the length of the screen even without an operating member such as a cord. In particular, according to the present invention, it is possible to more conveniently and accurately operate the cordless blind apparatus, since it is possible to very precisely adjust and maintain balance of a cordless blind apparatus including a screen. Further, according to the preset invention, it is possible to very precisely adjust the balance of a cordless blind apparatus including a screen, even if parameters such as the material of the screen and the diameter of the roll are changed, so it is possible to achieve a cordless blind apparatus that is very precisely and accurately operated in various ways.
The advantages and features of the present invention, and methods of achieving them will be clear by referring to the exemplary embodiments that will be describe hereafter in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described hereafter and may be implemented in various ways, and the exemplary embodiments are provided to complete the description of the present invention and let those skilled in the art completely know the scope of the present invention and the present invention is defined by claims. Like reference numerals indicate the same components throughout the specification.
A cordless blind apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a method of adjusting the cordless blind apparatus will be described hereafter in detail with reference to
First, a cordless blind apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is described.
Referring to
To this end, according to the present invention, the increasing ratios (see the slopes A1 and A2 in
[Characters]
d: wire diameter of torsion spring, E: Young's modulus of torsion spring, D: diameter of torsion spring, N: winding number of torsion spring, ρ: density of screen, t: thickness of screen, S: width of screen, R: radius of roller, g: gravitational acceleration.
The correlation equation is set such that the left side and right side maintain the same increasing ratios A1 and A2 to the rotating angle (hereafter, referred to as rotational angle) of the roller 100. Accordingly, when the initial conditions (the initial values of the torques) are the same, the torques applied in opposite directions to the roller 100 can be finely offset with the balance maintained in accordance with a linear proportional relationship. Further, in the cordless blind apparatus 1 of the present invention, it is possible to completely match the initial values (that is, the initial conditions) of the torques applied to the roller 100 by adjusting the tension in the screen 200 using a weight 210 connected to the screen 200 or by winding or unwinding the torsion spring 300 in the initial state (for example, when the screen has been fully rolled up). Accordingly, it is possible to not only make the blind apparatus very simple, but more finely and accurately operate the blind apparatus without a structure (for example, a friction structure) that is added in preparation for unbalance.
The cordless blind apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a roller 100 coupled to a shaft to rotate; a screen 200 that is wound or unwound on the roller 100; a torsion spring 300 that is rotated with the roller 100 to contract or stretch; and a weight 210 that is connected to the lower end of the screen 200 to remove the difference between torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 and torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen 200. Hereinafter, the structure of the cordless blind apparatus 1 is described first, and then the correlation equation, the torque that is applied to the roller 100, torque increasing ratios that are matched by the correlation equation, the initial values of torques, and an adjustment process are described in detail.
The roller 100, as shown in
The roller 100 is coupled to a shaft to rotate. Both ends of the roller 100 can be coupled to the frame through rotary structures having a shaft. The shaft structure that rotatably fixes the roller 100 may be changed in various ways. A shown in
The screen 200 is wound or unwound on the roller 100, whereby the length is changed. The screen 200 has an upper end fixed to the outer side of the roller 100 and a lower end connected with the weight 210, so tension can be increased. When the roller 100 is rotated in a direction, the screen 200 is wound up around the roller 100, so the length of the unwound part is decreased. When the roller 100 is rotated in the opposite direction, the screen 200 is unwound down from the roller 100, so the length of the unwound part is increased. That is, the screen 200 can be moved up and down by rotation of the roller 100. The screen 200 may be made of fabric and may be made of other various materials that can block light.
The screen 200 extends in the direction of gravity from the outer side of the roller 100, as shown in
The torsion spring 300 is disposed in the roller 100, as shown in
The torsion spring 300 has a common rotational center C (see
The connection shaft 320 passes through the rotational center of the rotary block 310 and the rotary block 310 can simultaneously rotate with the roller 100 because holders 311 on the outer side of the rotary block 310 are fitted in guide rails 101 (see
According to this structure, when the roller 100 is rotated, the rotary block 310 is also rotated and a first end, which is connected to the rotary block 310, of the torsion spring 300 can be twisted. The connection shaft 320 rotatably supports the roller 100, but does not rotate, so a second end, which is fixed to the connection shaft 320, of the torsion spring 300 is maintained fixed. Accordingly, torsion is generated between the first end and the second end of the torsion spring 300, whereby elastic energy is stored. The torsion spring 300 can be configured in this way. However, the configuration of the torsion spring 300 should not be construed as being limited thereto and the torsion spring 300 may be configured in other ways that can generate torque by applying elastic force to the roller 100.
The more the roller 100 is rotated, the larger the deformation of the torsion spring 300 is and the larger the restoring force is accordingly. The restoring force acts in the opposite direction to the rotation causing the deformation, so torque is generated in the opposite direction to the rotational direction of the torsion spring 300. That is, torque (second-directional torque) is applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 in the opposite direction to the torque that is applied by the screen 200. The roller 100 is rotated in the winding direction of the screen 200 (in a first direction) by the torque applied by the torsion spring 300. The magnitude of the torque generated by the torsion spring 300 is in proportion to the rotational angle and the rotational angle of the torsion spring 300 is the same as the rotational angle of the roller 100, so the increment (magnitude) of the torque generated by the torsion spring 300 is also in proportion to the rotational angle of the roller 100. Accordingly, it is possible to set the increasing ratio A2 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 to the rotational angle of the roller 100.
That is, it is possible to set the increasing ratio A1 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen to the rotational angle of the roller 100 and the increasing ration A2 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 to the rotational angle of the roller 100, and the increasing ratios can be matched by the correlation equation satisfied by parameters of the roller 100, the screen 200, and the torsion spring 300. Accordingly, it is possible to offset (cancel out) the torques generated in the opposite directions and finely maintain balance by matching the increments of torque at rotational positions of the roller 100. Further, the difference between the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 and the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen 200 can be removed by the weight 210 connected to the lower end of the screen 200. Further, it is possible to remove the difference between the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the weight 210 and the screen 200 and the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 by adjusting tension of the torsion spring 300. As described above, it is possible to offset the torques generated in the opposite directions and finely maintain the balance by correcting not only the increasing ratios of the torques, but the differences of the magnitudes of the torques. This will be described in more detail below.
The coupler 400 may be fastened to the end, opposite to the other end which is coupled to the torsion spring 300, of the roller 100, as shown in
It is possible to manufacture a modified coupler 400a, as shown in
Hereafter, the correlation equation, the torques applied to the roller, the increasing ratios of torques that are matched through the correlation equation, the initial values of the torques, and an adjustment process are described in more detail with reference to
In
First, the increasing ratio A1 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen 200 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 is determined from the following equation.
A1=ρ×t×S×R2×g [Equation 1]
[Characters]
ρ: density of screen, t: thickness of screen, S: width of screen, R: radius of roller, g: gravitational acceleration
As shown in
The weight expressed as above generates torque in the tangential direction from the outer side of the roller 100 at the position spaced by the radius of the roller 100 from the rotational center C of the roller 100, so torque that is the multiple of the weight and the radius of the roller is generated. That is, the increment of the torque applied by the screen 200 becomes ρ×t×S×R2×θ×g. It is possible to obtain the increasing ratio A1 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen member 200 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 by differentiating the increment with respect to the rotational angle θ (or dividing the increment by the rotational angle), as in Equation 1.
Meanwhile, the increasing ratio A2 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 is determined by the following equation.
[Characters]
d: wire diameter of torsion spring, E: Young's modulus of torsion spring, D: diameter of torsion spring, N: winding number of torsion spring.
The proportional relationship between the magnitude of the torque generated by the torsion spring 300 and the rotational angle θ can be obtained from the relationship between the elastic energy accumulated in an elastic body and displacement, and particularly, for the torsion spring 300 having a circular cross-section, it can be rotational angle×(wire diameter of torsion spring)4×Young's modulus of torsion spring× 1/64×1/diameter of torsion spring×1/winding number of torsion spring. That is, the increment of the torque applied by the torsion spring 300 is θ×(d4×E)/(64×D×N), and it is possible to obtain the increasing ratio A2 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen member 200 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 by differentiating the increment with respect to the rotational angle θ (or dividing the increment by the rotational angle), as in Equation 2.
Therefore, it is possible to match the increasing ratio A1 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen 200 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 and the increasing ratio A1 of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 to each other, as in the correlation equation, A1=A2. For example, it is possible to match the increasing ratios A1 and A2 of torque for different cordless blind apparatuses, if necessary, by adjusting parameters such as the diameter 2R of the roller 100, the diameter D of the torsion spring 300, the wire diameter d of the torsion spring 300, the winding number of the torsion spring 300, the density of the screen 200 (which can obtained by dividing the total mass of the screen 200 by the volume of the screen 200, that is, total length L of the screen 200×thickness t of the screen 200×width S of the screen 200), the thickness t of the screen 200, and the width S of the screen 200, as shown in
The increasing ratios A1 and A2 of torques are ratios when the magnitudes of the torques T1 and T2 (see
The difference between the magnitudes of the torques can be very easily removed by the weight 210 (see
In particular, the initial values of the torques may be the torque values when the screen 200 has been fully rolled up (the unwound length (l) of the screen may be 0 in
Accordingly, as shown in
First, the screen 200 can be unwound, as shown in
Further, the first-directional torque T1 (the torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen 200) is also increased. The load as much as the unwound length of the screen is added to the load of the weight 210, the gravitational action is enhanced. Accordingly, the tension in the screen 200 is increased by the gravity and the increased tension acts as the first-directional torque T1. The first-directional torque T1 is formed in the exact opposite direction to the second-directional torque T2, so balance can be maintained. In particular, according to the cordless blind apparatus 1 of the present invention, the increasing ratios A1 and A2 of torques are matched through the correlation equation, as described above, and the initial values of the torques are also matched, so the magnitudes of the first-directional torque T1 and the second-directional torque T2 finely increase and balance.
This action is performed in the same principle even though the screen 200 is wound, as shown in
In particular, in the state shown in
That is, regardless of winding or unwinding of the screen 200, the pair of opposite torques applied to the roller 100 is increased or decreased with the balance finely maintained, so the position of the roller 100 can be maintained. In particular, since the increasing ratios A1 and A2 of the torques are matched through the correlation equation and the initial values of the torques are also matched so that the magnitudes of the first-directional torque T1 and the second-directional torque T2 are finely increased with the balance maintained, the screen 200 can be finely operated by a smaller external force. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain a remarkably improved and very convenient use environment using the cordless blind apparatus 1 of the present invention.
A method of adjusting the cordless blind apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is described hereafter in detail with reference to
Referring to
The method includes a first step (S100) of matching the increasing ratio of torque applied to the roller 100 by the screen 200 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 and the increasing ratio of torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 to the rotational angle of the roller 100 to each other.
The method includes a second step (S200) of removing the difference between the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the weight 210 and the screen 200 and the magnitude of the torque applied to the roller 100 by the torsion spring 300 by adjusting tension of the torsion spring 300.
The first step corresponds to the step of adjusting the increasing ratios A1 and A2 of torques described with reference to
This may be a process of matching the inclinations of torque curves in the graph of
The second step is a step of adjusting the initial values of the torques described with reference to
By performing the first step and the second step, as described above, it is possible to offset the pair of torques applied in opposite directions to the roller 100 with the balance finely maintained. After the second step, it is possible to check and examine the operation through a test run of the cordless blind apparatus 1 (S300), and when it is determined that there should be additional correction or readjustment (S400), the second step may be performed again. That is, since it is possible to easily change the initial values of the torque by winding or unwinding the torsion spring 300 through the second step, it is possible to balance the torques by repeatedly and more precisely adjusting the torsion spring, if necessary. It is possible to more precisely operate the screen 200 by adjusting the cordless blind apparatus 1 in this way. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain a remarkably improved and very convenient use environment through the method of adjusting a cordless blind apparatus of the present invention.
Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention were described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art would understand that the present invention may be implemented in various ways without changing the necessary features or the spirit of the prevent invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments are not limiting but illustrative in all aspects.
The present invention relates to a cordless blind apparatus that allows for easily operating a screen and stably maintaining the length of the screen even without a cord, and is very useful for a blind apparatus and various related industrial fields. In particular, according to the present invention, it is possible to precisely adjust and maintain balance of a cordless blind apparatus including a screen, so it is possible to more conveniently and accurately adjust a cordless blind apparatus. Further, according to the preset invention, it is possible to very precisely adjust balance of a cordless blind apparatus even if parameters such as the material of the screen and the diameter of the roll are changed, so it is possible to achieve a cordless blind apparatus that is very precisely and accurately operated. Accordingly, the present invention has very high industrial applicability.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2017-0077589 | Jun 2017 | KR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/KR2017/009578 | 8/31/2017 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2018/235993 | 12/27/2018 | WO | A |
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20070023151 | Judkins | Feb 2007 | A1 |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20200141183 A1 | May 2020 | US |