The disclosure relates to a door hinge, and more particularly to a door hinge for use with a glass door.
Referring to
The second connecting member 12 is connected to a door panel (not shown). The camshaft 13 interconnects the first and second connecting members 11, 12, and is rotatable between a normal state and an inclined state. The threaded member 14 is screwed to one end of the camshaft 13 through the second connecting member 12 such that the camshaft 13 is fixed to the second connecting member 12. The sliding member 15 and the resilient unit 16 are mounted between the first connecting member 11 and the camshaft 13, such that there exists a gap between the sliding member 15 and the camshaft 13. The resilient unit 16 is capable of driving the camshaft 13 from the inclined state back to the normal state via the sliding member 15. The fluid chamber sleeve 17 is mounted to the first connecting member 11, and cooperates with the sliding member 15 to define a fluid chamber 171. The conventional door hinge 1 further has a fluid passage 18 that is in spatial communication with the fluid chamber 171 and the gap (between the sliding member 15 and the camshaft 13), such that a damping fluid which is in the fluid chamber 171 may be guided to flow in and out of the fluid passage 18 via the gap.
Therefore, when an external force drives the door panel and the second connecting member 12 to pivot relative to the first connecting member 11, the camshaft 13 is driven to rotate from the normal state toward the inclined state, thereby driving the sliding member 15 to compress the resilient unit 16. During this time, the damping fluid in the fluid chamber 171 flows into the abovementioned gap and slows down the movement of the sliding member 15 and the rotation of the camshaft 13, so that the pivotal movement of the second connecting member 12 and the door panel is slowed down as well. When the external force is eliminated, the sliding member 15 is driven by the restoring force of the resilient unit 16 to drive the camshaft 13 back to the normal state. At this time, the damping fluid in the gap is driven to flow back into the fluid chamber 171 via the fluid passage 18. In such a manner, the damping fluid produces a damping effect so that the rotation of the camshaft 13 and the pivotal movement of the second connecting member 12 and the door panel are slowed down to prevent abrupt opening and closing of the door panel.
In order to provide enough resilient force for driving the camshaft 13 back to the normal state, the resilient unit 16 of the conventional door hinge includes two resilient members 161, 162. However, as the resilient force of the resilient unit 16 increases, the external force needed to push the door panel open has to increase as well, which is rather inconvenient from a user's perspective.
Therefore, the object of the disclosure is to provide a door hinge that can alleviate the drawback of the prior art.
A door hinge according to the present disclosure includes a connecting unit, a moving unit, a rotating unit and a resilient unit.
The connecting unit includes a connecting member and a shaft seat. The shaft seat is connected to the connecting member and is formed with a shaft hole and a connecting hole. The shaft hole extends through the shaft seat along a shaft axis. The connecting hole extends along a connecting axis that is transverse to the shaft axis, has one end that is spatially communicated with the shaft hole and the other end that is covered by the connecting member, and has a first section and a second section that are respectively proximate to and distal from the shaft hole and that are connected to each other. The moving unit includes first and second moving members that are adapted to cooperatively clamp a door panel therebetween. The rotating unit includes a camshaft that rotatably extends through the shaft hole of the shaft seat, and that is connected to the first moving member. The resilient unit is disposed in the connecting hole, extends along the connecting axis, is connected to the camshaft, and has a plurality of coils that surround the connecting axis.
A quantity of coils in the first section is less than a quantity of coils in the second section. The moving unit is pivotable about the shaft axis to drive the camshaft to rotate about the shaft axis against a resilient force of the coils of the resilient unit.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the present disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.
Referring to
The door hinge includes a connecting unit 2, a moving unit 3, a rotating unit 4, a resilient unit 5 and a damping unit 6.
The connecting unit 2 includes a connecting member 21 and a shaft seat 22. The connecting member 21 is adapted to be connected to the door frame. The shaft seat 22 is connected to the connecting member 21 and is formed with a shaft hole 221 and a connecting hole 222. The shaft hole 221 extends through the shaft seat 22 along a shaft axis (X). The connecting hole 222 extends along a connecting axis (Y) that is transverse to the shaft axis (X), has one end that is spatially communicated with the shaft hole 221 and the other end that is covered by the connecting member 21, and is adapted for retaining damping fluid therein.
Referring to
Referring to
The rotating unit 4 includes a camshaft 41 and two shaft fasteners 42. The camshaft 41 rotatably extends along the shaft axis (X) through the shaft hole 221 of the shaft seat 22, and has two end portions 411 that are transverse to the protruding subunit 311 of the first moving member 31 of the moving unit 3, and that are respectively received in the securing notches 312 of the protruding subunit 311. The shaft fasteners 42 extend in a direction of the connecting axis (Y) from the protruding subunit 311 of the first moving member 31, and respectively engage the two end portions 411 of the camshaft 41 such that the camshaft 41 is connected to the first moving member 31, and that the moving unit 3 is pivotable about the shaft axis (X) relative to the connecting unit 2 for driving the camshaft 41 to rotate about the shaft axis (X).
The resilient unit 5 is disposed in the connecting hole 222, extends along the connecting axis (Y), is connected to the camshaft 41, and has a plurality of coils that surround the connecting axis (Y). Specifically, in this embodiment, the resilient unit 5 includes a first coil spring 51, a second coil spring 52 and a third coil spring 53. The second coil spring 52 is sleeved on the first coil spring 51, and the third coil spring 53 is sleeved on the second coil spring 52. Each of the first, second and third coil springs 51, 52, 53 surrounds the connecting axis (Y) and has a plurality of coils 511, 521, 531. The coils 511, 521, 531 of the first, second and third coil springs 51, 52, 53 constitute the coils of the resilient units 5.
A length (H1) of the first coil spring 51 along the connecting axis (Y) is different from at least one of a length (H2) of the second coil spring 52 along the connecting axis (Y) and a length (H3) of the third coil spring 53 along the connecting axis (Y).
In the present embodiment, the length (H3) of the third coil spring 53 is greater than the length (H1) of the first coil spring 51 and is smaller than the length (H2) of the second coil spring 52. A difference between the length (H2) of the second coil spring 52 and the length (H3) of the third coil spring 53 equals the length of the first section (L1) of the connecting hole 222 along the connecting axis (Y). A difference between the length (H3) of the third coil spring 53 and the length (H1) of the first coil spring 53 equals the length of the second section (L2) of the connecting hole 222 along the connecting axis (Y). The length (H1) of the first coil spring 51 equals the length of the third section (L3) of the connecting hole 222 along the connecting axis (Y). In such a configuration, a quantity of the coils 521, 531 in the second section (L2) is greater than a quantity of the coils 521 in the first section (L1) and is smaller than a quantity of the coils 511, 531, 521 in the third section (L3).
It should be noted that, in other embodiments of the disclosure, the length (H3) of the third coil spring 53 may be equal or smaller than any of the lengths (H1, H2) of the first and second coil springs 51, 52.
The camshaft 41 of the rotating unit 4 is rotatable about the shaft axis (X) between a normal state (as shown in
The damping unit 6 includes a sliding member 61 and a valve subunit 62. The sliding member 61 is disposed in the connecting hole 222 of the connecting unit 2 and between the resilient unit 5 and the camshaft 41 of the rotating unit 4, abuts against the camshaft 41, and is movable along the connecting axis (Y). The sliding member 61 cooperates with the shaft seat 22 of the connecting unit 2 and the camshaft 41 to define a fluid chamber 610 (see
Referring to
Initially, when the sliding member 61 is driven by the camshaft 41 to start moving, the sliding member 61 only compresses the second coil spring 52, such that only the resilient force of the second coil spring 52 is exerted on the sliding member 61. As the angle (θ) increases, the sliding member 61 further compresses the third coil springs 53 (see
When the external force is eliminated, the sliding member 61 is driven by the resilient force of the resilient unit 5 to move away from the connecting member 21 of the connecting unit 2, thereby driving the camshaft 41 to rotate about the shaft axis (X) in an opposite direction, and resulting in a pivotal movement of the moving unit 3 and the door panel 7 in the same opposite direction.
During the abovementioned process, in which movement of the sliding member 61 results in compression of volume of the fluid chamber 610, the valve plate 622 is driven by the damping fluid in the fluid chamber 610 to move to the closed position to block the valve hole 620. As a result, the damping fluid in the fluid chamber 610 is only permitted to flow back into the connecting hole 222 via a fluid passage (not shown) and, therefore, produces a damping effect which slows down the movement of the sliding member 61.
In addition, by virtue of the abovementioned configuration of the coil springs 51, 52, 53, during the movement of the sliding member 61 away from the connecting member 21, the resilient force is provided by the first, second and third coil springs 51, 52, 53, and then by the second the third coil springs 52, 53, and eventually only by the second coil spring 52, so that the resilient force of the resilient unit 5 decreases in magnitude and rotation of the camshaft 4 is slowed down.
More specifically, as the door panel 7 pivots towards the door frame, the abovementioned movement of the damping fluid and changes of the resilient force of the resilient unit 5 cooperatively slow down the rotation of the camshaft 41 and the pivotal movement of the door panel 7, preventing abrupt closing or slamming of the door panel 7 on the door frame.
Referring to
The connecting hole 222 of the connecting unit 2 has a first section (L1) and a second section (L2) that are respectively proximate to and distal from the shaft hole 221 of the connecting unit 2 and that are connected to each other.
The resilient unit 5 includes a resilient member 54 that surrounds the connecting axis (Y), and that has a plurality of coils 541, 542 constituting the coils of the resilient unit 5. The coils 541 are disposed in the first section (L1) of the connecting hole 222, and the coils 542 are disposed in the second section (L2) of the connecting hole 222. A pitch (d1) of any adjacent pair of coils 541 is greater than a pitch (d2) of any adjacent pair of coils 542, such that a quantity of coils in the first section (L1) is less than a quantity of coils in the second section (L2). Therefore, when being compressed, the coils 541 have a weaker resilient force than do the coils 542.
Initially, when the sliding member 61 is driven by the camshaft 41 to move, the sliding member 61 compresses the coils 541 of the resilient member 54 and, therefore, the resilient force of the coils 541 is exerted thereon. As the sliding member 61 moves further, the sliding member 61 compresses the coils 541, 542 of the resilient member 54 at the same time, and the combined resilient force of the coils 541, 542 is exerted on the sliding member 61.
Similar to the first embodiment, such a configuration of the coil spring 54 produces a multistage damping effect that helps prevent abrupt opening and closing of the door panel 7.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
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202014103333 | Aug 2014 | DE |
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