CN112128216A - Folding screen device and hinge mechanism - Google Patents

Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, an embodiment of the

foldable screen apparatus

100 of the present invention is suitable for being connected to a flexible screen (not shown), and can be folded in an inward folding manner along a folding direction B1 shown in fig. 1. In this embodiment, "flexible" means that the structure and the material can be bent and deformed to a certain extent after being stressed, so the flexible screen can also be referred to as a flexible screen or a flexible screen, which is not limited by this embodiment.

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, one embodiment of the

foldable screen device

100 includes two

housings

1, a

side back housing

2, and a plurality of

hinge mechanisms

4. Each

housing

1 includes an

outer shell

11 and a

carrying plate

12. Each of the

outer housings

11 has a

base plate

111, three surrounding

plates

112 respectively connected to a long side edge and two short side edges of the

base plate

111, and a plurality of

positioning posts

113 disposed on the

base plate

111. The inner surface of the surrounding

plate

112 forms a

receiving portion

112 a. The

bearing plate

12 is disposed inside the

outer housing

11, and each

bearing plate

12 abuts against the

positioning pillar

113 and the

corresponding receiving portion

112a inside the

enclosing plate

112 to form an

installation space

13 with the

substrate

111, and is fixed to the

positioning pillar

113 through a plurality of locking members (not shown). The

carrier plate

12 is adapted to be connected to the flexible screen. The

side back cases

2 are located between the

housings

1 to extend in a left-right direction D1 for the

hinge mechanisms

4 to be aligned and accommodated therein in the left-right direction D1. When the

housing

1 is unfolded to a horizontal state as shown in fig. 1, 3 and 4, the

side back case

2 is shielded by the

outer housing

11 and is accommodated in the

installation space

13, and when the

housing

1 is folded to an upright state as shown in fig. 2, the

side back case

2 is exposed to one side of the

outer housing

11.

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, the

hinge mechanism

4 is accommodated in the side back

shell

2 along the left-right direction D1 and partially extends into the

installation space

13 to be connected to the bottom side of the bearing

plate

12. The

foldable screen device

100 further includes a plurality of

link members

3, and the

link members

3 are used to connect the

hinge mechanisms

4 two by two and fix the hinge mechanisms to the side back

shells

2. In this embodiment, the number of the

hinge mechanisms

4 is 4, and the number of the

link members

3 is 2, but not limited to this embodiment.

Referring to fig. 6 to 8, in the present embodiment, each

hinge mechanism

4 defines a rotation center P located at the center of the

hinge mechanism

4 and a central axis C1 passing through the rotation center P and extending in the left-right direction D1 to divide the

hinge mechanism

4 into two upper and lower halves, the two upper and lower halves of the

hinge mechanism

4 have 180-degree rotational symmetry about the rotation center P, and the detailed structure and advantages of this design will be described in detail in the following paragraphs.

Referring to fig. 9 and 10, each

hinge mechanism

4 includes a

bottom housing

5, two

rotating members

6, and a

transmission unit

7. The

bottom case

5 defines a

track area

51 at the center, and two mounting

areas

52 adjacent to the left and right ends of the

track area

51 in the left-right direction D1, respectively. The

bottom case

5 includes a first

bottom plate portion

53, two

first rib portions

54, two second

bottom plate portions

55, and two

second rib portions

56. The first

bottom plate portion

53 and the second

bottom plate portion

55 are integrally connected in the left-right direction D1 to form an arc structure that is concave downward. The

first rib portions

54 are disposed at both ends of the first

bottom plate portion

53 in the left-right direction D1 at intervals from each other, and define the

track area

51 together with the first

bottom plate portion

53. The first

bottom plate portion

53 has a

track groove

531 located at the center of the

track area

51 and extending to the

first rib portion

54 along the left-right direction D1, and the

track groove

531 has a

first end

531a and a

second end

531 b. The second

bottom plate portions

55 are located at both left and right ends of the first

bottom plate portion

53, and each second

bottom plate portion

55 has a

front side

551 and a

rear side

552 spaced apart in a front-rear direction D2 perpendicular to the left-right direction D1, and a

fixing section

553 connecting the first

bottom plate portion

53 in the left-right direction D1. The second

bottom plate portion

55 at the right in the drawing of fig. 9 is formed with a

slot

554 rearward from the

front side

551, thereby forming arc-shaped supporting

sections

555 at the left and right sides of the

slot

554, and the

fixing section

553 of the second

bottom plate portion

55 at the right in the drawing is connected to the

rear side

552. The second

bottom plate portion

55 at the left side of the drawing of fig. 9 is formed with another

slot

554 forward from the

rear side

552, thereby forming arc-shaped supporting

sections

555 at the left and right sides of the

slot

554, and the

fixing section

553 of the second

bottom plate portion

55 at the left side of the drawing is connected to the

front side

551. The

fastening portion

553 is used to fasten the

transmission unit

7 via two fasteners (not shown). The

second rib portions

56 are provided at outermost ends of the second

bottom plate portion

55 in the left-right direction D1, respectively, and are spaced from the

first rib portions

54 in the left-right direction D1. Each second

bottom plate portion

55, each

second rib portion

56 and the corresponding

first rib portion

54 define the aforementioned mounting

area

52. In the present embodiment, the

bottom case

5 further has two lower pivot blocks 57 respectively disposed on the fixing

segments

553, and the functions thereof will be described in detail in the following paragraphs.

Referring to fig. 11 and 12, the rotating

members

6 are respectively disposed at the mounting

regions

52 of the

bottom chassis

5. Each rotating

member

6 includes an arc-shaped

plate

61, and a connecting

plate

62 extending from one side of the arc-shaped

plate

61 to the outside of the

bottom case

5 and the

transmission unit

7. The arc-shaped

plate

61 is disposed on the corresponding

second bottom plate

55, and has a downward guiding

surface portion

611, two downward sliding

surface portions

612 respectively located at the left and right sides of the guiding

surface portion

611, an upward

tooth groove portion

613, and a limiting

groove

614 arranged at the

tooth groove portion

613 in parallel and facing upward. In this embodiment, the guiding

surface portions

611 are disposed in the corresponding

slots

554, so that the rotating

member

6 can be located in the mounting

area

52 in the left-right direction D1, and the stability of the rotating

member

6 during rotation is improved. In an alternative embodiment, the

second bottom plate

55 may not have the

slot

554, and the arc-shaped

plate

61 can be disposed on the mounting

area

52 and slide on the

second bottom plate

55 without the

slot

554. The sliding

surface portions

612 are respectively arranged on the corresponding arc-shaped supporting

sections

555, and the arc-shaped supporting

sections

555 and the sliding

surface portions

612 are matched with each other in an arc shape, so that the smoothness of the

rotating piece

6 during rotation is increased. The connecting

plate

62 is connected to the bottom surface of the bearing plate 12 (see fig. 4) to connect the

rotary member

6 with the

cabinet

1. The functions of the

tooth groove portion

613 and the limiting

groove

614 will be described in detail in the following paragraphs.

Referring to fig. 13 and 14, the

transmission unit

7 is disposed on the

bottom case

5 and the rotating

member

6, and includes a

base

71, two

transmission shafts

72, a synchronizing

member

73, and two

elastic positioning members

74. The

base

71 includes two assembling

portions

711 extending in the left-right direction D1, a

joint plate portion

712 connected between the assembling

portions

711 and aligned with the bottom side of the assembling

portions

711, and two

outer plate portions

713 connected to the left and right ends of the assembling

portions

711, respectively. Each assembling

portion

711 is generally semi-cylindrical and has a receiving

groove

711a extending in the left-right direction D1 from the bottom side. Each assembling

portion

711 has an

upper pivot block

711b located at one end of the receiving

groove

711a, a

hollow area

711c adjacent to the other end of the receiving

groove

711a, a

horizontal rod section

711d horizontally disposed in the

hollow area

711c, and a stopping

section

711e located at one end of the

hollow area

711c far from the

horizontal rod section

711 d. The

transmission shafts

72 are respectively disposed in the

accommodating groove

711a, and each

transmission shaft

72 has a

pivot end

721 and a tooth-shaped

end

722 at opposite ends, and a

spiral rod portion

723 between the

pivot end

721 and the tooth-shaped

end

722. The pivoting

end

721 is pivoted to the

upper pivoting block

711b and the

lower pivoting block

57 which are opposite and connected to each other in a vertical direction D3, and the

toothed end

722 is engaged with the corresponding tooth-shaped

portion

613 of the rotating

member

6, so that the

transmission shaft

72 can be positioned in the

accommodating groove

711a by the

upper pivoting block

711b and the

lower pivoting block

57 and driven by the rotating

member

6 to pivot in the

accommodating groove

711 a. The

helical rod portion

723 defines a

helical guide groove

723 a.

With reference to fig. 11 to 14, the synchronizing

member

73 is disposed in the

track area

51 and is abutted to the

transmission shaft

72, so that the

transmission shaft

72 rotates synchronously. Specifically, the

synchronizer

73 has two arc-shaped

engaging portions

731, four

first guiding portions

732, a

web portion

733, and a

second guiding portion

734. The arc-shaped

engaging portions

731 are engaged with the

spiral rod portion

723, respectively. The

first guiding parts

732 are disposed in pairs on the arc-shaped

engaging parts

731, and extend into the corresponding

spiral guiding grooves

723a, so that when at least one of the

transmission shafts

72 rotates, the

spiral guiding grooves

723a guide the first guiding

parts

732 to move along the left-right direction D1, and further link the whole synchronizing

member

73 to move along the left-right direction D1, so that the two

transmission shafts

72 rotate synchronously. The

link plate part

733 is connected between the arc-shaped

engaging parts

731 in the front-rear direction D2 and is located between the

link plate part

712 of the

base

71 and the first

bottom plate part

53 of the

bottom case

5 in the up-down direction D3. The

second guide portion

734 is disposed at the bottom side of the connecting

plate portion

733 and extends into the

track groove

531, so that the synchronizing

member

73 can move in the

track area

51 along the

track groove

531 when the

transmission shaft

72 rotates, thereby improving the stability of the synchronizing

member

73 during moving. It should be noted that, by designing the

link plate portion

733 of the synchronizing

member

73 to move in the

track region

51 while vertically abutting the

joint plate portion

712 and the first

bottom plate portion

53, the height of the synchronizing

member

73 in the vertical direction D3 is reduced, and the overall height of the

hinge mechanism

4 can be reduced, so that the overall thickness of the

hinge mechanism

4 is not increased by installing the synchronizing

member

73. In addition, the arc-shaped

plate

61 of the rotating

member

6 is engaged with the arc-shaped profile of the bottom side of the assembling

portion

711 of the base 71 in a manner of being upward matched, which not only helps to reduce the overall thickness of the

hinge mechanism

4, but also helps to reduce the overall thickness of the

hinge mechanism

4, and the rotating

member

6 and the

outer plate portion

713 are separated by a

gap

714 as shown in fig. 15 for the

second rib

56 of the

bottom shell

5 to extend into and be clamped with the assembling

portion

711, which also helps to reduce the overall thickness of the

hinge mechanism

4 and strengthen the structural stability of the

hinge mechanism

4.

Referring to fig. 11 to 14, the limiting

groove

614 of each rotating

member

6 has a

first clamping end

614a and a

second clamping end

614b at opposite ends. The

elastic positioning members

74 are respectively disposed in the

hollow areas

711c of the

base

71 and respectively correspond to the limiting

grooves

614 of the rotating

member

6. In this embodiment, each

elastic positioning element

74 is formed by connecting a plurality of elastic sheets, and has a bending

portion

741, an abutting

portion

742 at one end of the bending

portion

741, and a

pressing portion

743 at the other end of the bending

portion

741. The bending

portion

741 spans the

corresponding cross rod

711d, the abutting

portion

742 abuts against the corresponding stopping

portion

711e, and the biasing

portion

743 is used for elastically pressing against the

first clamping end

614a or the

second clamping end

614b to achieve a locking effect.

Referring to fig. 6 to 8 and 16 to 20, in detail, the rotating

member

6 can rotate relative to the

bottom shell

5 between an unfolded position shown in fig. 6 to 8 and 16 and a folded position shown in fig. 17 to 20. When the rotating

member

6 is at the extended position, the

housing

1 is in a horizontal state as shown in fig. 1, and the connecting

plate

62 of the rotating

member

6 is located on the same horizontal plane as shown in fig. 6. The synchronizing

member

73 is close to the rotating

member

6 on the left side of the drawing of fig. 10, and the

second guide portion

734 of the synchronizing

member

73 is located at the

first end

531a of the

track groove

531 as shown in fig. 8. The

elastic portions

743 of the

elastic positioning members

74 respectively elastically press against the

first clamping end

614a of the limiting

groove

614 of the rotating

member

6 as shown in fig. 16, so that the rotating

member

6 can be elastically positioned at the unfolding position by the

elastic positioning members

74, and the

housing

1 is locked in the horizontal state.

With reference to fig. 1, 17 to 20, when the user wants to fold the flexible screen, the user can apply a force to pull the housing 1 to rotate in the bending direction B1, and when the applied force exceeds the elastic force applied by the elastic positioning element 74 to the first clamping end 614a, the connecting plate 62 of the rotating element 6 is forced to drive the arc-shaped plate 61 to disengage from the elastic pressing of the first clamping end 614a, so that the arc-shaped plate 61 can rotate along the second bottom plate 55 with the corresponding transmission shaft 72 as the axis; during the rotation of the arc-shaped plate 61, the tooth-shaped end 722 (see fig. 12) of the transmission shaft 72 is linked by the tooth-shaped groove 613, and the rotation stroke of the transmission shaft 72 is controlled by the synchronizing member 73, so that the transmission shaft 72 rotates synchronously; further, the second guide portion 734 of the synchronization member 73 moves from the first end portion 531a of the track groove 531 to the second end portion 531b along the track groove 531 during the rotation of the transmission shaft 72 until the connecting plate bodies 62 rotate at least 90 degrees in opposite directions, so that the rotation member 6 rotates to the retracted position, and the second guide portion 734 moves to the second end portion 531 b. In the embodiment, the

rotating element

6 and the

housing

1 are rotated by more than 90 degrees to reach the retracted position and the upright position, but in other embodiments, the

rotating element

6 and the

housing

1 may be rotated by only 90 degrees to reach the retracted position and the upright position.

Referring to fig. 6 to 8, as mentioned above, the upper half and the lower half of each

hinge mechanism

4 are rotationally symmetric about the rotation center P by 180 degrees. The design has the advantages that the two

rotating parts

6 of each

hinge mechanism

4 do not need to be designed into a symmetrical structure, the

rotating parts

6 with the same shape can be uniformly used, and the cost of die sinking manufacturing is reduced; in addition, the two

rotating members

6 of each

hinge mechanism

4 are respectively disposed at the upper right corner of the drawing of fig. 7 and the lower left corner of the drawing of fig. 7, and when a plurality of

hinge mechanisms

4 are arranged as shown in fig. 4, the connecting

plate body

62 of the

hinge mechanism

4 is in a zigzag staggered arrangement, which is helpful for improving the connection stability of the

hinge mechanisms

4 and the

housing

1 within the same number of

hinge mechanisms

4.

Of course, in alternative embodiments, the

hinge mechanism

4 may not be of rotationally symmetrical design. In the embodiment, the mounting

areas

52 are respectively adjacent to the left and right ends of the

track area

51, but when the

hinge mechanism

4 is not rotationally symmetrical, the mounting

areas

52 can be all adjacent to one end of the

track area

51, that is, the

slots

554 are all disposed on the

second bottom plate

55 located on the left side of the drawing of fig. 9 or on the right side of the drawing of fig. 9, and the fixing

sections

553 are all disposed on the other second

bottom plate

55 located on the left side of the drawing of fig. 9 or on the right side of the drawing of fig. 9.

In summary, the foldable screen device of the present invention designs the

second bottom plate

55 of the

bottom casing

5 into an arc shape, so that the arc-shaped

plates

61 of the two

rotating members

6 of the

hinge mechanism

4 can rotate along the

second bottom plate

55 with the corresponding

transmission shafts

72 as axes, thereby increasing the smoothness of the rotation of the

hinge mechanism

4, and the

synchronization members

73 make the

transmission shafts

72 rotate synchronously, thereby increasing the stability of the rotation of the

hinge mechanism

4, and reducing the risk of screen damage, so as to achieve the purpose of the present invention.

1. A hinge mechanism adapted to connect two housings adapted to connect a flexible screen, the hinge mechanism comprising:

the bottom shell comprises a first bottom plate part, two first rib parts, two second bottom plate parts and two second rib parts, wherein the first rib parts are arranged on the first bottom plate part at intervals and define the track area together with the first bottom plate part;

a transmission unit covering the bottom case and including

A base having two assembling parts extending in the left and right directions, each assembling part having an accommodating groove formed upward at a bottom side thereof and an upper pivot block at one end of the accommodating groove,

two transmission shafts respectively arranged in the accommodating groove, each transmission shaft having a pin-jointed end part and a tooth-shaped end part at opposite ends, and a spiral rod part between the pin-jointed end part and the tooth-shaped end part, the pin-jointed end parts being pin-jointed to the corresponding upper pin-jointed blocks, the spiral rod part defining a spiral guide groove, and

the synchronous piece is arranged in the track area and is provided with two arc-shaped joint parts which are respectively jointed with the spiral rod part, two first guide parts which are respectively arranged on the arc-shaped joint parts and respectively extend into the spiral guide grooves, and a connecting plate part which is connected between the arc-shaped joint parts and movably arranged in the track area, wherein the synchronous piece is used for enabling the transmission shaft to synchronously rotate when rotating; and

the two rotating pieces are respectively arranged in the mounting area of the bottom shell and can drive the transmission shafts to rotate, each rotating piece comprises an arc-shaped plate body which is arranged on the corresponding second bottom plate part and can rotate along the second bottom plate part by taking the corresponding transmission shaft as an axis, and a connecting plate body which extends out of the bottom shell and the transmission unit from one side of the arc-shaped plate body and is suitable for connecting one of the shells, and the arc-shaped plate body is provided with a tooth socket part which faces upwards and is meshed with the tooth-shaped end part of the corresponding transmission shaft;

the rotating piece can rotate relative to the bottom shell between an unfolding position where the connecting plate bodies are located on the same horizontal plane and a folding position where the connecting plate bodies rotate oppositely by at least 90 degrees.

2. A hinge mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: the installation area is in about the direction in the border on respectively in the left and right sides both ends of track district, each second bottom plate portion have perpendicular to the fore-and-aft direction of left and right sides is last spaced preceding side and back side, wherein a second bottom plate portion from preceding side forms the fluting backward so as to form and is located the arc support section of fluting left and right sides, wherein another second bottom plate portion from the back side forms the fluting forward so as to form and is located the arc support section of fluting left and right sides, the arc plate body of each rotating member still has face down and sets up in the grooved guide face portion of corresponding, and two are located respectively the guide face portion left and right sides and set up in the corresponding sliding connection face portion of arc support section.

3. A hinge mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: the arc plate body still has the face up and parallel in the spacing groove of tooth tank portion, the spacing groove has first joint tip and the second joint tip that is located opposite end, transmission unit still include two set up in the base and correspond respectively the elastic positioning spare of spacing groove works as the rotating member rotates to the expansion position, elastic positioning spare respectively elasticity press support in first joint tip makes rotating member elasticity is fixed in the expansion position, and works as the rotating member rotates to receipts position, elastic positioning spare respectively elasticity press support in second joint tip makes rotating member elasticity is fixed in receive the position.

4. A hinge mechanism according to claim 3, wherein: each assembly part is further provided with a hollow area, a transverse rod section transversely arranged in the hollow area, and a stop section positioned at one end of the hollow area, the elastic positioning pieces are respectively arranged in the hollow area of the assembly part, and each elastic positioning piece is provided with a bending part used for being arranged on the corresponding transverse rod section in a spanning mode, a butting part positioned at one end of the bending part and used for being abutted against the corresponding stop section, and an elastic pressing part positioned at the other end of the bending part and used for elastically pressing and abutting against the first clamping end part or the second clamping end part.

5. A hinge mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: the first bottom plate part is provided with a track groove positioned in the track area, and the synchronous piece is also provided with a second guide part which is arranged at the bottom side of the connecting plate part and extends into the track groove so that the synchronous piece can move along the track groove.

6. A hinge mechanism according to claim 5, wherein: the base is also provided with a connecting plate part which is connected between the assembling parts and is aligned with the bottom sides of the assembling parts, and the connecting plate part of the synchronous part moves in the track groove in a manner of being matched with the bottom sides of the connecting plate part and the top sides of the first bottom plate parts.

7. A hinge mechanism according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein: a rotation center located at the center of the hinge mechanism and a central axis passing through the rotation center and extending in the left-right direction to divide the hinge mechanism into upper and lower halves, the upper and lower halves of the hinge mechanism being rotationally symmetric by 180 degrees with the rotation center.

8. A foldable screen device adapted to be connected to a flexible screen, the foldable screen device comprising:

each shell comprises an outer shell and a bearing plate body arranged on the inner side of the outer shell, and the bearing plate body of the shell is suitable for being connected with the flexible screen; and

a plurality of hinge mechanisms according to any one of claims 1 to 6, arranged between the housings in the left-right direction, the connecting plate body of the rotary member of each hinge mechanism being connected to the bearing plate body, respectively.

9. The foldable screen device of claim 8, wherein: the hinge mechanism further comprises a side back shell and a plurality of connecting rod pieces, wherein the side back shell is used for arranging and containing the bottom shell of the hinge mechanism along the left-right direction, and the connecting rod pieces are used for connecting the two hinge mechanisms and fixing the two hinge mechanisms on the side back shell.

10. The foldable screen device of claim 8, wherein: each hinge mechanism defines a rotation center located at the center of the hinge mechanism, and a central axis passing through the rotation center and extending in the left-right direction to divide the hinge mechanism into upper and lower halves, the upper and lower halves of the hinge mechanism being rotationally symmetric by 180 degrees with respect to the rotation center.