DE20116197U1 - Furniture hinge for e.g. cupboard doors, has friction damper as damping device - Google Patents

Abstract

The hinge (10) has a damping device comprises a mechanical friction damper that generates friction forces during relative movement of the hinge parts. The hinge is used to secure a door wing (12) to the body of a furniture item.

Description

ZENZ · HELBER · HOSBACH & PARTNE]R

Patent Attorneys · European Patent Attorneys · 64673 Zwingenberg, Scheuergasse 24

Tel.: 06251-73008 · Fax: 06251-73156

MEPLA-Werke Lautenschläger GmbH & Co. KG, 64354 Reinheim

Furniture hinge with damping device

The invention relates to a furniture hinge for the pivotable articulation of a door leaf on the body of a piece of furniture with a damping device which becomes effective at least during a final part of the closing movement of the door leaf.

Damping devices on door leaves are used to avoid or at least reduce as much as possible the stress and noise that occurs when cabinet doors are closed quickly and forcefully and when the door leaf suddenly slows down as it hits the body. Such damping devices that work with gaseous substances, such as atmospheric air, or with viscous liquids, such as silicone oil, as a damping medium are known per se. One of these known damping devices (DE 195 22 254 Al) is designed in such a way that the damping effect is achieved by compressing and throttling the air enclosed in a cylindrical housing by means of a

housing, the piston rod of which protrudes from the cabinet body when the door is open, so that the door comes to rest on the free end of the piston rod when it is closed and is then braked. In another known damping device (AT 004 213 Ul), an elongated, movable plunger protruding from the cabinet body is provided with a toothing which is connected via a pinion to a rotary damper which works with silicone oil as a damping medium, for example. When used in furniture construction, these known damping devices are mostly attached separately to the cabinet body in such a way that the plunger or piston rod which absorbs the impact of the door leaf comes into effect in the area of the inside of the door leaf opposite the hinges. These damping devices are therefore visible when the door is open and protruding parts of the operating elements, i.e. the piston rod or tappet, can protrude from the cabinet body, so that there is a risk that when loading or removing items from the cabinet, such as items of clothing, these can get caught on the parts of the operating element protruding from the body of the piece of furniture and be damaged in the process. Personal injuries cannot be ruled out either. To avoid these disadvantages, damping devices - not previously published - have been proposed (DE 201 11 085.7) which are assembled with the hinges by means of which the door leaves are hinged to the corresponding cabinet body. Functionally, the damping devices used correspond to the known devices, i.e.

The damping devices work with gaseous substances or viscous liquids as a damping medium. It is clear that when using liquid damping media, this can leak if leaks occur between the damper housing and the associated piston rod or tappet, which leads to a deterioration of the damping function. In addition, leaking damping fluid can also

lead to contamination of the items stored in the cabinet. Such contamination is not to be feared with dampers with gaseous damping media, but due to the elastic compressibility of the gases, the gaseous dampers have the undesirable property that when a door leaf is closed, it can spring back slightly after it has reached the closed position if the damping medium has not yet completely escaped through the associated throttle holes. 10

In contrast, the invention is based on the object of creating a hinge with an attached damping device which does not have the aforementioned disadvantages.

Starting from a hinge of the type mentioned at the beginning, this object is achieved according to the invention in that the damping device has a mechanical friction damper that generates frictional forces during the part of the door leaf movement that is to be dampened when the hinge components move relative to one another. Such mechanical friction dampers are only effective when friction occurs, i.e. during the movement of the interacting mechanical components, so that a door leaf cannot spring open. The escape of damping medium and thus contamination of stored items is not possible.

The design is preferably selected such that the mechanical friction damper has at least two functional components or groups of functional components which have friction surfaces which are pressed against one another in a resilient manner at least during the damped partial movement, the first functional component or the first group of functional components being supported in a driving connection with a hinge component assigned to the door leaf during the damped movement and the second functional component or the second group of functional components being supported on a hinge part assigned to the body of the furniture part.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the design is such that the first functional component or the first group of functional components has or have at least one wrap spring arranged on an axis that rotatably supports the hinge component associated with the door leaf, the spring windings of which are wound onto the axis under pre-tension, and that the axis is held in or on the hinge component associated with the cabinet body in such a way that it is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the cabinet component associated with the body during the damping part of the closing movement. The term "wrap spring" is understood here to mean a spring designed in the manner of a leg spring with a number of helical spring-like spring windings made of spring steel wire, in which the end of at least one of the two opposite outermost spring windings runs integrally into a leg that projects essentially radially. Functionally different from leg springs, wrap springs are mounted on an associated bolt or an associated axle in such a way that the spring coils, which in the unassembled state have a clear inner diameter that is smaller than the outer diameter of the bolt or axle, are held under preload on the bolt or axle.

It is expedient if the axis is additionally mounted rotatably on or in the hinge component assigned to the body, and a freewheel device is arranged between the axis and the hinge component assigned to the body, which blocks the rotation of the axis relative to the assigned hinge component in the closing direction during the part of the closing movement to be dampened, but releases it in the opening direction.

The freewheel device can also have a wrap spring arranged on the axle with its spring coils.

which has a leg which projects essentially radially at one end of the spring coils which wrap around the axle under pretension and which projects essentially radially from the hinge component assigned to the body and is movable by a predetermined angle in the circumferential direction, the position of the projecting leg being selected such that during the closing movement of the hinge it comes into contact with the hinge component assigned to the door leaf at the beginning of the part of the closing movement which is to be dampened and during the continued closing movement it deforms the spring coils of the wrap spring in the sense of a reduction in their clear inner diameter, with the result that the friction between the spring coils and the axle increases. The friction between the spring coils and the axle is expediently designed such that the essentially rotatable bearing of the axle leads to a complete braking of the axle due to the increasing friction, so that only the friction occurring between the spring coils of the wrap spring assigned to the door leaf and the axle then prevails and brings about the desired damping effect. When the door leaf is opened, the clear inner diameter of the wrap spring, which acts as a freewheel device, increases again, with the result that the friction effect is reduced and the axis can rotate freely during the opening movement.

The wrap spring forming part of the freewheel device can be connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the hinge component assigned to the body in the region of its spring winding opposite the end region provided with the protruding leg.

A design has proven to be particularly advantageous in which the axis pivotally connecting the hinge component assigned to the body and the hinge component assigned to the door leaf is rotatably mounted in both hinge components, with the two wrap springs assigned to one of the hinge components each being axially aligned with one another.

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are arranged offset from one another on the axis and the inner surfaces of the spring coils facing the axis rest under at least slight spring tension in the associated axis region, each wrap spring has at least one leg which protrudes approximately tangentially from one of the two opposite outermost spring coils in a plane lying essentially at right angles to the longitudinal central axis of the axis and which engages the respectively associated hinge component or can be brought into engagement during the damped closing movement, wherein the spring coils are arranged on the associated circumferential surface of the axis by different dimensioning of the material thickness of the starting material of the wrap spring with different preload on the associated axis region and the winding direction of the spring coils of both wrap springs is selected such that they increase or decrease their diameter in opposite directions during the closing and opening movement.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the functional components are formed by two groups of disc-shaped slats arranged alternately one after the other on the axis rotatably mounted on the two hinge components and pressed against one another in a resilient manner, of which the slats of the first group are coupled in a rotationally fixed manner to a hinge component assigned to the body and the slats of the second group are coupled in a rotationally fixed manner to a hinge component assigned to the door leaf.

0 The resilient arrangement of the slats is advantageously achieved by at least one pre-tensioned spring.

In this case, it may be useful to provide a pre-tensioning device which changes the pre-tension of the spring which presses the lamellae against each other and which adjusts the pre-tension depending on the direction of the

pivoting movement of the hinge components and/or their relative pivoting position to each other.

In a further embodiment of the hinge according to the invention, the friction damper has at least one elastically deformable friction damper element arranged on a hinge component assigned to the door leaf or body, which protrudes into the pivoting path of the hinge component assigned to the body or door leaf.

The position of the elastically deformable friction damper element in the pivoting path of the hinge components moved relative to one another during the closing and opening movement is preferably selected such that the friction damper element comes to rest on the hinge component moved relative to it during a remaining part of the closing movement of the hinge components.

The invention is explained in more detail in the following description of several embodiments in conjunction with the drawing, which shows:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a single-joint hinge provided with a damping device according to the invention

designed furniture hinge for attaching a door leaf to a wall of a cabinet body;

Fig. 2 a sectional view through the hinge, seen in the direction of the arrows

2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the damping devices of the hinge shown in Figs. 1 and 2

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Fig.

used wrap spring held on the hinge axis;

a view corresponding to Fig. 3, in which two wrap springs are arranged on one axis;

Fig.

a perspective view of a portion of a modified damping device formed by a stack of lamellae which, when axially compressed, generate damping forces by friction;

Fig. 6 is a section through two hinge components that can be rotated relative to one another about an axis, with a damping device using the slats shown in Fig. 5, and

Fig.

schematically the hinge cup and the front end of an associated hinge arm of a furniture hinge with a modified damping device effective between the hinge cup and the hinge arm.

Figures 1 and 2 show a hinge, designated in its entirety by 10, which is used to link a door

25 wing 12 is provided on the side wall 14 of the body of a cabinet in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1. The hinge 10, which in the special case is designed as a single-joint hinge, has two hinge components 18, 20 which can be pivoted relative to one another by a common axis 16.

3 0, of which the first hinge component 18 associated with the cabinet body has a bearing bush 22 penetrated by the axis 16, on which a right-angled

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A fastening flange 24 having sections 24a, 24b running relative to one another is attached. Countersunk fastening holes 26 are provided in the fastening flange section 24b, through which the threaded shafts of fastening screws - not shown - can be screwed into the inner wall of the body side wall 14. The second cabinet component 20 also has a bearing bush 28 which is offset in height from the bearing bush 22 and through which the axis 16 passes, and to which a fastening flange 30 having sections 30a, 30b running at right angles to one another is integrally attached. Countersunk fastening holes 32 are also provided in the fastening flange section 30b, which allow the fastening flange section 30b to be screwed onto the inside of the door leaf 12 near the edge. The fastening flange sections 24a and 30a, which are directly connected to the respective bearing bush 22 and 28, respectively, rest on the end faces of the body side wall 14 and the door leaf 12 in the intended fastening position of the hinge 10. It is clear that in the closed position of the door leaf 12 shown in dash-dotted lines in Fig. 1, only the two bearing bushes 22 and 28 arranged one above the other and the ends of the axis 16, which extend out from their lower and upper end faces and, in the special case, are visually appealingly designed by means of attached spherical end pieces 34, 36, are visible.

The bearing bores 40 in the bearing bushes 22 and 28, through which the axle 16 passes, are extended over a partial area to form a cylindrical spring receptacle 42 and 44, respectively, in order to create space for a wrap spring 46 and 48, respectively, which are mounted with their spring coils under pre-tension on the respectively assigned area of the axle 16, wherein one of the end spring coils of each spring 46, 48 runs out into a radially projecting spring leg 50 and 52, respectively, which is supported by respectively assigned, in circumferential direction

·

Slots (not shown) running in the circumferential direction of the bearing bushes 22 and 28 pass through and protrude from the outer surface of the associated bearing bush. In Fig. 1, the legs 50, 52 are shown in the open position of the door leaf 12 and the leg 50 is additionally shown in dash-dotted lines in the closed position of the door leaf.

To explain the function of the wrap spring, reference is now made to Figures 3 and 4.

In Fig. 3, only the part of the axle 16 is shown on which the spring coils of the wrap spring 46 are wound with pre-tension. This pre-tension is brought about by the spring coils being bent to such a diameter during manufacture of the wrap spring that the remaining clear inner diameter in the spring coils is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the axle 16. When the axle 16 is mounted in the spring coils, these are therefore expanded somewhat, which creates the pre-tension. A holding force is built up between the axle 16 and the inside of the spring coils, which causes friction between the two parts when the axle is rotated relative to the spring coils. It is now clear that when the leg 50 is deflected from the starting position shown in the direction of arrow a, a force is introduced into the spring coils, which tends to increase in diameter. This reduces the holding force 0 between the spring coils and the axis 16 and when the spring coils rotate relative to the axis 16, there is reduced friction. Conversely, if a deflection force acting in the direction of arrow b is exerted on the leg 50, this deflection attempts to reduce the diameter of the spring coils, whereby the holding force between the axis 16 and the spring coils increases and the axis is ultimately braked so firmly that it is held non-rotatably in the spring coils.

In Fig. 4, both wrap springs 46 and 48 are shown mounted on the axis 16 offset from one another in the longitudinal direction of the axis 16. If the wrap springs 46 and 48 are now mounted on the shaft in such a way that the leg 52 is supported on the door and the leg 50 protrudes from the associated bearing bush 22 in such a way that the door leaf comes into contact with the door at least in the end region during the closing movement, the spring coils are stressed in such a way that the friction force transmitted to the axis 16 by the frictional force of the wrap spring 46 is introduced via the axis 16 into the coils of the wrap spring 48, which is arranged in such a way that the leg 52 supported directly or indirectly on the body wall pulls together the associated spring coils of the wrap spring 48 and brakes the axis 16. The axle 16 is then held non-rotatably in the bearing bush 28, while the bearing bush 22 can rotate on the axle, but friction occurs between the spring coils of the wrap spring 46, which are resting on the axle 16 slightly relaxed but still under a reduced preload, and the axle, which leads to a damping braking of the door leaf. By appropriately different dimensions of the preloads in the spring coils of the two wrap springs - be it through different diameters of the spring steel wires selected for the springs or through a stepped design of the shaft with different diameters in the area of the attached spring coils - the strength of the braking or damping effect of the two mechanisms can be adjusted so that the desired opening and in particular closing characteristics are obtained with the desired damping in the end region of the closing movement of the door leaf.

5 In Fig. 5, the functional elements of a modified damper device are shown, the arrangement of which is based on two hinge components that can be pivoted relative to one another.

ing axis is schematically illustrated in Fig. 6. The functional components causing the friction are formed here by planar and essentially circular slats 60 which are put together in a stack, from the circumference of which at least one lever-like projection 62 protrudes. An axis 16 is guided through the central bore 64 of the slats 60, which in turn is rotatably mounted in two hinge components 66 and 68, wherein the hinge component 66 may be, for example, the support arm of an articulated hinge and the hinge component 68 may be an articulated lever of the articulated hinge hinged to it. The projections 62 of the slats 60, which form a lever arm with respect to the central bore of the slats, are arranged radially offset from one another in succession, so that two groups of slats are formed, of which the lever arms 62 of one group are held on the hinge component 66 and the lever arms of the second group are held on the hinge component 68. The slats 60 themselves are arranged so as to be displaceable on the axis 16. The slats of the two functional assemblies are pressed together by a spring 72 under compression, arranged between the hinge component 68 0 and a disk 70 arranged at one end of the slat pack, so that a holding force or, in the case of a relative movement of the hinge components 66 and 68 to one another, friction forces are formed between them, whereby a damping effect is achieved during the movement of the hinge components relative to one another. If such a damping effect is only desired during part of the relative movement of the hinge components 66, 68, this can be achieved by changing the pressure preload of the spring 72 depending on the relative position of the two hinge components. Such a mechanism - not shown in Fig. 6 - can be formed, for example, by two discs lying against one another and provided in some areas with 5 complementary inclined ramp surfaces, which are each connected in a rotationally fixed manner to one of the hinge components. When the comp.

The two discs are then pushed apart by the elemental inclined surfaces and these changes in the distance between the discs can be transferred to the spring 72 and thereby its preload can be increased. 5

Finally, Fig. 7 shows a schematic representation of a damping device for a so-called cup hinge. When the associated door leaf closes, the front end of the hinge arm 80, which is fastened to a mounting plate on the supporting wall of a cabinet body, enters the hinge cup 76, which is shown in section and in the intended fastening position in a recess in a door leaf and is arranged with its fastening flange 78 resting on the inside of the door leaf. In the initial state, flat, elastically bendable spring tongues are arranged on the fastening flange 78 of the hinge cup 76, which protrude into the open mouth of the hinge cup 76. When closing, the front end of the hinge arm 30 comes into contact with the 0 spring tongues 82 and bends them inwards in the manner indicated in Fig. 7, whereby a damping force is built up. This damping force is higher during the closing movement than during an opening movement from the closed position, because the spring tongues, which are only held at their outer ends to the fastening flange, are only bent during closing in the area that protrudes freely into the interior of the hinge cup 76, while during the backward movement they can lift off over a greater length. The difference in the braking effect during closing and opening can be increased even further by arranging the outer ends of the spring tongues 82 on the fastening flange in an articulated manner.

It is clear that within the scope of the inventive concept, modifications and further developments of the described embodiments can be implemented. It is therefore clear that the respective damping principles can also be used in other than those described in the

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The wrap spring principle can also be used for multi-joint hinges and the lamella-d

Damping principle can also be used for single-pivot hinges.

Claims (12)

1. Furniture hinge ( 10 ) for the pivotable articulation of a door leaf ( 12 ) on the body of a piece of furniture with a damping device which becomes effective at least during a final part of the closing movement of the door leaf ( 12 ), characterized in that the damping device has a mechanical friction damper which generates frictional forces during the part of the door leaf movement to be damped . 2. Furniture hinge according to claim 1, characterized in that the mechanical friction damper has at least two functional components ( 46 , 48 ) or groups of functional components ( 60 ; 82 ) which have friction surfaces which are pressed resiliently against one another at least during the damped partial movement, the first functional component or the first group of functional components being supported in a driving connection with a hinge component ( 20 ; 66 ; 76 ) assigned to the door leaf during the damped movement and the second functional component or the second group of functional components being supported on a hinge component ( 18 ; 68 ; 80 ) assigned to the body of the furniture part. 3. Furniture hinge according to claim 2, characterized in that the first functional component or the first group of functional components has or have at least one wrap spring ( 46 ; 48 ) arranged on an axis ( 16 ) rotatably supporting the hinge component ( 20 ) assigned to the door leaf, the spring windings of which are wound on the axis ( 16 ) under prestress, and that the axis ( 16 ) is held in or on the hinge component ( 18 ) assigned to the cabinet body in such a way that it is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the cabinet component ( 18 ) assigned to the body during the damping part of the closing movement. 4. Furniture hinge according to claim 3, characterized in that the axis ( 16 ) is additionally rotatably mounted on or in the hinge component ( 18 ) assigned to the body, and that a freewheel device is arranged between the axis ( 16 ) and the hinge component ( 18 ) assigned to the body, which blocks the rotation of the axis ( 16 ) relative to the hinge component ( 18 ) assigned to the body in the closing direction during the part of the closing movement to be dampened, but releases it in the opening direction. 5. Furniture hinge according to claim 4, characterized in that the freewheel device has a wrap spring ( 46 ) arranged with its spring coils on the axis ( 16 ), which has a leg ( 52 ) which projects essentially radially at one end of the spring coils wrapping around the axis and which projects essentially radially from the hinge component ( 18 ) assigned to the body so as to be movable by a predetermined angle in the circumferential direction, wherein the position of the projecting leg ( 50 ) is selected such that during the closing movement of the hinge it comes to rest on the hinge component ( 20 ) assigned to the door leaf at the beginning of the part of the closing movement to be dampened and during the continued closing movement deforms the spring coils of the wrap spring ( 46 ) in the sense of a reduction in their clear inner diameter with the consequence of an increase in the friction between the spring coils and the axis. 6. Furniture hinge according to claim 4, characterized in that the wrap spring ( 46 ) forming part of the freewheel device is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the hinge component ( 18 ) assigned to the body in the region of its spring winding opposite the end region provided with the protruding leg. 7. Furniture hinge according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the axis ( 16 ) pivotably connecting the hinge component (18; 20 ) associated with the body and the hinge component ( 18 ; 20) associated with the door leaf is rotatably mounted in both hinge components, that the two wrap springs ( 46 ; 48 ) associated with one of the hinge components are arranged on the axis offset from one another in the axial direction, the inner surfaces of the spring windings facing the axis ( 16 ) resting under at least slight spring tension in the associated axis region, that each wrap spring ( 46 ; 48 ) has at least one leg ( 50 ) which protrudes in a plane lying essentially at right angles to the longitudinal center axis of the axis ( 16 ) approximately tangentially from one of the two opposite outermost spring windings and which engages the associated hinge component or can be brought into engagement during the damped closing movement. ; 52 ), wherein the spring coils are arranged on the associated circumferential surface of the axis ( 16 ) by different dimensioning of the material thickness of the starting material of the wrap springs with different preload on the associated axis region and the winding direction of the spring coils of both wrap springs ( 46 ; 48 ) is selected such that they increase or decrease their diameter in opposite directions during the closing and opening movement. 8. Furniture hinge according to claim 2, characterized in that the functional components are formed by two groups of disc-shaped slats ( 60 ) arranged alternately one after the other on the axis rotatably mounted in both hinge components, resiliently pressed against one another in mutual contact, of which the slats ( 60 ) of the first group are coupled in a rotationally fixed manner to a hinge component ( 66 ) assigned to the body and the slats ( 60 ) of the second group of functional components are coupled in a rotationally fixed manner to a hinge component ( 68 ) assigned to the door leaf. 9. Furniture hinge according to claim 8, characterized in that the slats of the two functional groups are urged against one another by at least one prestressed spring ( 72 ). 10. Furniture hinge according to claim 9, characterized in that a pretensioning device is provided which changes the pretension of the spring ( 72) urging the slats (60 ) into contact with one another, the pretensioning being changed depending on the direction of the pivoting movement of the hinge components ( 66 ; 68 ) and/or their relative pivoting position to one another. 11. Furniture hinge according to claim 1, characterized in that the friction damper has at least one elastically deformable friction damper element ( 82 ) arranged on a hinge component ( 76 ) assigned to the door leaf or body, which projects into the pivoting path of the hinge component ( 80 ) assigned to the body or door leaf. 12. Furniture hinge according to claim 11, characterized in that the position of the elastically deformable friction damper element ( 82 ) in the pivoting path of the hinge components ( 76 ; 80 ) moved relative to one another during the closing and opening movement is selected such that the friction damper element or the friction damper elements ( 82 ) come to rest on the hinge component ( 80 ; 76 ) moved relative to it in each case during a remaining part of the closing movement of the hinge components ( 76 ; 80 ).