CN1968592A - A rotatable connection device that fixes the position of the object to be rotated by adjusting the friction force - Google Patents

Abstract

A rotatable connection device includes a rotating shaft, a friction element and an elastic element. The rotating shaft is coupled to an object to be rotated, wherein the rotating shaft rotates according to the rotation of the object to be rotated. The friction element is used to contact the surface of the rotating shaft when the object to be rotated rotates to a predetermined position, so as to provide the rotating shaft friction force to fix the object to be rotated at the predetermined position. One end of the elastic element is coupled to the friction element, and the other end is fixed to a fixed position, and is used to generate deformation when the object to be rotated rotates to the predetermined position to adjust the friction force generated between the rotating shaft and the friction element.

Description

A rotatable connection device that fixes the position of the object to be rotated by adjusting the friction force

technical field

The invention relates to a connection device, in particular to a rotatable connection device which uses elastic elements to adjust the friction force between a rotating shaft and a friction element to fix the position of an object to be rotated.

Background technique

Considering the actual use of a product, many products are usually designed with a cover-like part in appearance, so that users can lift the cover to perform operations when in use, and close the cover to prevent dust when not in use Or protect the more valuable parts of the product, such as flip-top mobile phones, scanners or copier covers, etc. These products all have a cover plate, and the cover plate and the product body part are connected together by a connecting device. The connecting device of these products must be a rotatable connecting device, so that the user can freely open or close according to his needs. Close the cover.

Generally known rotatable connection devices can be roughly divided into two types, one is to directly design the cooperation between the shaft and the hole or the column and the groove on the cover plate and the product body, and the other is to use multiple parts ( Such as a gear set) connects the cover plate and the product body. These two methods basically only have the simple function of the generally known rotating shaft, that is, to enable the cover to rotate freely, but in actual use, the user not only needs the cover to be able to rotate freely, but also needs the cover to rotate freely. It can be freely fixed at the position desired by the user. That is to say, when the user stops turning the cover, the cover must stop rotating and be fixed at the position when the user stops turning the cover, but the above two known rotatable connection devices cannot achieve this purpose.

Taking a copier as an example, the user must open the cover when using it, then place the document to be copied on the copy platform, and finally close the cover to perform the copying function. In actual use, if the user accidentally releases the hand after the cover is opened or because he wants to do other things at the same time, if the angle of rotation of the opened cover is not large enough, it will be damaged by the cover itself. The moment of gravity applied to the cover makes the cover close quickly, which not only causes a large impact between the cover and the body, which damages the copier body, and may even pinch the user's fingers. Therefore, the user must always pay attention to whether the cover plate will fall when using the product, and this also causes inconvenience in use.

Invention content.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a rotatable connecting device capable of fixing the position of an object to be rotated by adjusting the frictional force, so as to solve the above problems.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a rotatable connecting device is disclosed. The rotatable connection device includes a rotating shaft coupled to the object to be rotated, wherein the rotating shaft rotates according to the rotation of the object to be rotated; a friction element is used for contacting the surface of the rotating shaft when the object to be rotated rotates to a predetermined position, so as to The friction force of the rotating shaft is provided to fix the object to be rotated at a predetermined position; an elastic element, one end of which is coupled to the friction element, and the other end is fixed at a fixed position, is used to generate deformation when the object to be rotated is rotated to a predetermined position. Adjust the friction force generated between the rotating shaft and the friction element.

The rotatable connection device of the present invention can adjust the frictional force between the rotating shaft and the friction element through the elastic element, so that the object to be rotated (such as the cover plate on the copier, scanner or multifunctional business machine) can be fixed at a predetermined position. Therefore, when the user lifts the cover, the cover will not close quickly because the user lets go, and the frictional force will offset the torque generated by gravity, so that the cover is fixed at the last place where the user let go. Thus, the inconvenience caused by the known rotatable connection device can be solved.

In order to make the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, preferred embodiments are particularly listed below and described in detail with accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the rotatable connecting device of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram when the protruding part of the cover plate in the rotatable connection device of Fig. 1 is in contact with the sliding element;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram when the cover plate in the rotatable connection device of Fig. 2 continues to rotate in the direction of arrow A, and the relative distance between the sliding element and the rotating shaft is at a maximum;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the protruding part of the cover plate in the rotatable connection device of FIG. 3 when it is ready to be separated from the sliding element.

Detailed ways

The rotatable connecting device of the present invention mainly includes a rotating shaft, a friction element, an elastic element, a groove and a sliding element. For convenience of description, the following description will give a copy machine as an example, and use the rotatable connecting device of the present invention as the cover hinge of the copier to connect the cover and the body of the copier, and make the cover open Or in the process of closing, it can be fixed at the place where the user finally lets go.

Referring to FIG. 1 , FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a rotatable connecting device 10 of the present invention. The rotatable connecting device 10 includes a rotating shaft 20 , a cover 30 , a flexible belt 40 , a spring 50 as an elastic element, a sliding element 60 and a groove 70 . Wherein, a tenon 80 is embedded in the groove 70 at the bottom of the sliding element 60 , so that the sliding element 60 can move freely along the groove 70 through the tenon 80 . In this embodiment, the object to be rotated is a cover plate 30, the friction element is implemented by a flexible belt 40, and the elastic element is implemented by a spring 50. In addition, the rotating shaft 20 is installed on the cover plate 30, and it will follow the movement of the cover plate 30. Spin and turn. It should be noted that the cover plate 30 in FIG. 1 is in a closed state, that is, the angle between the cover plate 30 and the copying platform of the duplicating machine (not shown) is zero degrees, and at this time there is no gap between the cover plate 30 and the sliding member 60. There is no contact, therefore the sliding element 60 is in a starting position. On the other hand, as shown in the figure, the flexible belt 40 surrounds the outer surface of the rotating shaft 20, one end of which is fixed on a fixed point S which does not change position with the rotation of the cover plate 30, and the other end is connected by the spring 50 to the sliding member 60. connected, when the sliding element 60 is at the initial position, the spring 50 is at its natural length, that is, the spring 50 is not deformed.

When the user intends to open the cover 30 , the user will exert force on the cover 30 to drive the cover 30 to start rotating. As mentioned above, there is a contact surface between the flexible belt 40 and the rotating shaft 20. According to the law of friction, when the rotating shaft 20 rotates with the rotation of the cover plate 30, a friction will be generated between the flexible belt 40 and the rotating shaft 20. The direction of the force is opposite to the direction of rotation of the rotating shaft 20 . However, in this embodiment, the frictional force applied to the rotating shaft 20 before the protruding portion of the cover plate 30 contacts the sliding element 60 will not affect the movement of the cover plate 30 through the design of the mechanism and the selection of the material of the rotating shaft 20 and the flexible belt 40 rotate.

Referring to FIG. 2 , FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of when the protruding part of the cover plate 30 in the rotatable connection device 10 shown in FIG. 1 is in contact with the sliding element 60 . Comparing Fig. 2 with Fig. 1, at this time the cover plate 30 has been opened to a position, and a protruding part on the cover plate 30 is in contact with the sliding element 60 at point P, since the sliding element 60 is still at the initial position The position, that is to say the relative position between the sliding element 60 and the rotating shaft 20 has not changed, so the spring 50 is still at its natural length, and the friction force between the flexible belt 40 and the rotating shaft 20 remains unchanged. However, when the cover 30 continues to rotate along the direction of opening, that is, when the cover 30 rotates along the direction of arrow A in FIG. Instead, move in the direction indicated by arrow B. Because the direction in which the sliding element 60 moves (the direction indicated by the arrow B) is away from the rotating shaft 20, the sliding element 60 will stretch the spring 50 to deform the spring 50 and generate an elastic force that further pulls the flexible belt 40. , so that the flexible belt 40 wraps around the rotating shaft 20 more closely. Compared with FIG. 1 , at this time, due to the closer contact between the flexible belt 40 and the rotating shaft 20 , the friction force generated by its contact surface is greater than that of the protruding part of the cover plate 30 and starts to push the sliding element 60 to move along the groove 70 previous friction. Through proper design, when the cover plate 30 is opened to a first position, the moment generated by the weight of the cover plate 30 on the rotating shaft 20 and the opposite moment generated by the friction force on the rotating shaft 20 cancel each other out, thereby achieving force balance. At this time, if the rotation of the cover plate 30 is stopped, the cover plate 30 will be fixed at the first position and will not be closed due to gravity.

From the physical properties of the spring, it can be seen that when the relative distance between the sliding element 60 and the rotating shaft 20 is farther, the deformation of the spring 50 is greater, and therefore the pulling force applied to the flexible belt 40 is also greater. Therefore, it has stretchability, so when the pulling force applied to the flexible belt 40 becomes larger, the contact surface with the rotating shaft 20 will be tighter, and the generated friction force will also be larger, that is, the friction force has a greater impact on the rotating shaft. The torque caused by 20 will also increase accordingly. Therefore, too much friction will affect the smoothness of rotating the cover plate 30, so that the user must use more force to lift the cover plate 30. Therefore, it is necessary to make the relative distance between the sliding element 60 and the rotating shaft 20 through proper design. The friction force generated at the maximum value can counteract the moment caused by gravity, but it will not make it difficult for the user to rotate the cover plate 30 . Referring to FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the rotatable connection device 10 shown in FIG. 2 when the cover plate 30 continues to rotate in the direction of arrow A, and the relative distance between the sliding element 60 and the rotating shaft 20 reaches a maximum value. When the cover plate 30 is rotated to a second position, the relative distance between the sliding element 60 and the rotating shaft 20 is the maximum value, at this time, the protruding part of the cover plate 30 is in contact with the sliding element 60 at point Q, that is, the deformation of the spring 50 is reaches the maximum value, and the pulling force applied to the flexible belt 40 is also the maximum value. In other words, when the cover plate 30 rotates to the second position, the corresponding frictional force between the flexible belt 40 and the rotating shaft 20 is maximum value. When the cover plate 30 continues to rotate along the direction of arrow C, the protruding part of the cover plate 30 will no longer continue to push the sliding element 60 away from the shaft 20, so the sliding element 60 will move along the groove 70 due to the tension of the spring 50. Moving in the direction indicated by the arrow D, since the deformation of the spring 50 decreases, the pulling force applied to the flexible belt 40 becomes smaller, so the friction force generated between the flexible belt 40 and the rotating shaft 20 also becomes smaller. But because a not small included angle has been formed between the cover plate 30 and the horizontal plane at this time, the moment caused by the weight of the cover plate 30 to the rotating shaft 20 is relatively small. The moment caused by the rotating shaft 20 is still sufficient to counteract the moment caused by gravity, and it saves effort when the user rotates the cover 30 .

Referring to FIG. 4 , FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the protruding portion of the cover plate 30 in the rotatable connection device 10 shown in FIG. 3 when it is ready to be separated from the sliding element 60 . In Fig. 3, if the cover plate 30 of the rotatable connection device 10 continues to rotate along the direction of the arrow C, the deformation of the spring 50 will become smaller and smaller, and finally return to the natural length, that is, the sliding element 60 finally returns to starting point. At this time, the cover plate 30 is in contact with the sliding element 60 at point R, and if the cover plate 30 continues to be rotated, the cover plate 30 will be separated from the sliding element 60 . As mentioned above, in this embodiment, the frictional force applied to the rotating shaft 20 after the protruding part of the cover 30 is separated from the sliding element 60 will not affect the cover through the design of the mechanism and the selection of materials for the rotating shaft 20 and the flexible belt 40 30 spins. As the rotation angle increases, the moment exerted by gravity becomes smaller, so when the cover plate 30 rotates in the direction of arrow C and separates from the sliding element 60, the user can lift the cover plate 30 more easily, so for the user In other words, the rotatable connecting device 10 of the present invention has the function of accelerating after the rotation angle of the object to be rotated exceeds a certain angle, and when the cover 30 is lifted to the angle between the copy platform of the copier (not shown) When it is 90 degrees, it is considered that the cover plate 30 has been fully opened. Generally, the copier body has a baffle (not shown) to prevent the cover 30 from continuing to rotate (ie, the baffle makes the angle between the cover 30 and the copy platform of the copier not exceed 90 degrees).

It should be noted that although this embodiment only describes the process of the cover 30 being lifted from fully closed to fully opened, the operating principle of the rotatable connection device 10 described in this embodiment is also the same in practical applications. It is suitable for the operation process of the cover plate 30 from fully opening to fully closing. In addition, although this embodiment is described with a copier as an example, in fact, the rotatable connection device 10 of the present invention can be applied to many different machines, such as scanners or multifunctional business machines. Because these machines often need to open and close the cover plate during operation, and the rotatable connection device 10 of the present invention has the function of being able to fix the cover plate 30 at the position where the user finally lets go, so the above-mentioned copying machine, scanning machine, etc. Instruments and multi-function business machines and other machines can be more convenient and safe to use.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the claims of the present invention shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A rotatable connecting device comprising: a rotating shaft coupled to an object to be rotated, wherein the rotating shaft rotates according to the rotation of the object to be rotated; a friction element, used to contact the surface of the rotating shaft when the object to be rotated is rotated to a first position, so as to provide a friction force on the rotating shaft, and fix the object to be rotated at the first position ;as well as An elastic element, one end of which is coupled to the friction element, and the other end of which is fixed at a fixed position, is used for generating a deformation to adjust the rotation shaft and the The friction force generated between the friction elements. 2. The rotatable connection device according to claim 1, wherein the object to be rotated comprises a protrusion, and the rotatable connection device further comprises: a groove; and a sliding element, which is arranged on the groove, when the object to be rotated is rotated to the first position, the protrusion will push the sliding element along the groove away from the rotating shaft, and make the elastic element deform, One end of the elastic element is coupled to the friction element, and the other end is coupled to the sliding element. 3. The rotatable connecting device as claimed in claim 2, wherein when the object to be rotated is rotated to a second position, the protrusion stops pushing the sliding element away from the rotating shaft. 4. The rotatable connection of claim 1, wherein the friction element is comprised of a flexible material. 5. The rotatable connection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elastic element is a spring. 6. The rotatable connection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the object to be rotated is a cover. 7. The rotatable connecting device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the cover is located on a copier, a scanner or a multifunction machine.

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