This application claims the priority benefit of China application serial no. 201310165002.1, filed on May 7, 2013. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
1. Field of the Application
The invention relates to a hinge structure and an electronic device having the same, and more particularly, to a hinge structure including a torsion assembly and an electronic device having the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Benefitting from the advancement of semiconductor element and display technologies, electronic devices have been continuously developed toward directions of being small, versatile and easy to carry, and commonly seen portable electronic devices include a tablet PC, a smart phone, a notebook computer and so forth. Taken the notebook computer as an example, the general notebook computer is mostly composed of a host and a display, wherein the host and the display are coupled with each other through a hinge structure. A user may close the host with the display of the notebook computer for easy carrying via a relative rotation between the host and the display, and then the display can be expanded from the host to facilitate the operation when the user wants to use the notebook computer.
In general, the hinge structure of the notebook computer provides a torsion required by the notebook computer during opening and closing through fractional force generated between components such as washers, and a torsion test is required to be performed in phases of producing the notebook computer so as to ensure the torsion provided by the hinge structure thereof is prevented from being excessive attenuated due to repetitive openings and closings of the display. Following a thinning developmental trend of the notebook computer, a space in the notebook computer for accommodating the hinge structure is limited, and therefore, how to enable the hinge structure to have sufficient frictional interfaces within a limited accommodation space and reduce an attenuation degree of the torsion of the hinge structure have become the current most essential issues for the hinge design.
The invention provides an electronic device, and a hinge structure thereof has sufficient frictional interfaces to reduce an attenuation degree of torsion thereof.
The invention provides a hinge structure having sufficient frictional interfaces to reduce an attenuation degree of torsion thereof.
The electronic device of the invention includes a first body, a second body and a hinge structure. The hinge structure includes a shaft, a bracket, a torsion assembly and a first washer. The shaft is fixed to the first body. The bracket is fixed to the second body and rotatably connected to the shaft. The bracket includes two assembling portions fixed to each other. The torsion assembly is disposed at the shaft and provides torsion to the hinge structure. The first washer is fixed to the shaft and located between the two assembling portions. Two sides of the first washer contact the two assembling portions respectively to increase the torsion of the hinge structure through frictional force between the first washer and the two assembling portions.
The hinge structure of the invention is adapted to be used in an electronic device, the electronic device includes a first body and a second body, and the hinge structure includes a shaft, a bracket, a torsion assembly and a first washer. The shaft is fixed to the first body. The bracket is fixed to the second body and rotatably connected to the shaft. The bracket includes two assembling portions fixed to each other. The torsion assembly is disposed at the shaft and provides torsion to the hinge structure. The first washer is fixed to the shaft and located between the two assembling portions. Two sides of the first washer contact the two assembling portions respectively to increase the torsion of the hinge structure through frictional force between the first washer and the two assembling portions.
In an embodiment of the invention, the shaft has a stopper portion, and the torsion assembly includes a pressing element, a second washer and a plurality of elastic pieces. The pressing element is fixed to the shaft, wherein the bracket is located between the stopper portion and the pressing element, and the pressing element provides a pressure toward the stopper portion along an axial direction of the shaft. The second washer is fixed to the shaft and located between the bracket and the pressing element, wherein the second washer contacts the bracket to provide torsion through frictional force between the second washer and the bracket. The elastic pieces are disposed at the shaft and located between the second washer and the pressing element, wherein the pressing element transmits the pressure toward the stopper portion through the elastic pieces.
In an embodiment of the invention, the bracket contacts the stopper portion to provide torsion to the hinge structure through frictional force between the bracket and the stopper portion.
In an embodiment of the invention, the torsion assembly further includes a convex cam and a concave cam, the convex cam and the concave cam are located between the second washer and the elastic pieces, the convex cam is fixed to the shaft and has a first friction surface, the concave cam is fixed to the bracket and has a second friction surface, and the first friction surface and the second friction surface are configured to contact with each other to provide torsion to the hinge structure through frictional force between the convex cam and the concave cam.
In an embodiment of the invention, the convex cam has a first guiding inclined plane adjacent to the first friction surface, the concave cam has a second guiding inclined plane adjacent to the second friction surface, when an angle between the first body and the second body is greater than a preset angle, the first friction surface and second friction surface contact with each other, and when the angle between the first body and the second body is reduced to the preset angle following a rotation of the bracket in relative to the shaft, the first guiding inclined plane begins to contact with the second guiding inclined plane and the pressure provided by the pressing element drives the first guiding inclined plane to slide in relative to the second guiding inclined plane, so that the bracket continues to rotate in relative to the shaft and drives the first body to be closed to the second body.
In an embodiment of the invention, the second washer contacts the concave cam to provide torsion to the hinge structure through frictional force between the second washer and the concave cam.
In an embodiment of the invention, a surface of the concave cam is configures to contact the second washer, the surface has a plurality of grooves, and the grooves are configured to accommodate lubricating oil.
In an embodiment of the invention, a surface of the second washer is configures to contact the bracket, the surface has a plurality of grooves, and the grooves are configured to accommodate lubricating oil.
In an embodiment of the invention, a surface of the first washer is configures to contact the bracket, the surface has a plurality of grooves, and the grooves are configured to accommodate lubricating oil.
According to the foregoing, the bracket of the invention is composed of the two assembling portions fixed to each other, and the two assembling portions are disposed with the first washer therebetween, so as to enable the hinge structure to have more frictional interfaces through the contacts between the first washer and each of the assembling portions. As such, the hinge structure, in addition to providing the torsion required by the electronic device during the opening and closing of the first body and the second body via the torsion assembly, may also further increase the torsion through the frictional force between the first washer and the two assembling portions, so as to prevent the torsion of the hinge structure from an excessive attenuation due to repetitive openings and closings of the first body and the second body, and thereby enhance a durability of the electronic device.
In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the application, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.
Under the abovementioned configuration, through contacts between the first washer 138 and each of the assembling portions, the hinge structure 130 may have more frictional interfaces. As such, the hinge structure 130, in addition to providing the torsion required by the electronic device 100 during the opening and closing of the first body 110 and the second body 120 via the torsion assembly 136, may also further increase the torsion through the frictional force between the first washer 138 and the two assembling portions (the assembling portion 134a and the assembling portion 134b), so as to prevent the torsion of the hinge structure 130 from an excessive attenuation due to repetitive openings and closings of the first body 110 and the second body 120, and thereby enhance a durability of the electronic device 100.
In the following, the structure of the torsion assembly 130 of the present embodiment is specifically illustrated with drawings. Referring to
As described above, the hinge structure 130 of the present embodiment forms four frictional interfaces between the second washer 136b and the bracket 134, between the bracket 134 and the stopper portion 132a, between the convex cam 136d and the concave cam 136f, and between the second washer 136b and the concave cam 136f, so as to provide torsion to the hinge structure 130. Furthermore, by disposing the first washer 138 between the assembling portion 134a and the assembling portion 134b of the bracket 134, two frictional interfaces are formed between the first washer 138 and the two assembling portions, such that the frictional interfaces of the hinge structure 130 are increased into six, so as to effectively prevent the torsion of the hinge structure 130 from an excessive attenuation due to the repetitive openings and closings of the first body 110 and the second body 120.
Referring to
In summary, the bracket of the invention is composed of the two assembling portions fixed to each other, and the two assembling portions are disposed with the first washer therebetween, so that the hinge structure may have more frictional interfaces through the contacts between the first washer and each of the assembling portions. As such, the hinge structure, in addition to providing the torsion required by the electronic device during the opening and closing of the first body and the second body through the frictional force between the second washer and bracket, the frictional force between the convex cam and the concave cam, and the frictional force between the second washer and the concave cam, may also further increase the torsion through the frictional force between the first washer and the two assembling portions, so as to prevent the torsion of the hinge structure from an excessive attenuation due to repetitive openings and closings of the first body and the second body, and thereby enhance a durability of the electronic device.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the application without departing from the scope or spirit of the application. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the application cover modifications and variations of this application provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201310165002.1 | May 2013 | CN | national |