CN103543789B - foldable electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a foldable electronic device, comprising a first component, a hinge device and a second component. The first component is pivotally connected to the second component via the hinge device. When the second component is at an inclined angle relative to the first component, a pivot of the hinge device moves from a first position to a second position. The hinge device of the foldable electronic device of the present invention has a simple structure, which reduces the production cost, and the user can smoothly flip the screen through the hinge device, thereby improving the convenience of use.

Description

foldable electronic device

technical field

The invention relates to an electronic device, in particular to a foldable electronic device.

Background technique

At present, touch screens have gradually become popular, and users have become accustomed to using touch to operate electronic devices. Therefore, in the known technology, the function of touch has been provided by changing the screen of the notebook computer into a touch screen, and the screen can be reversed to the back side of the computer host to facilitate the user to touch the screen. .

However, the hinge of a conventional notebook computer cannot turn the screen to the rear side of the host. Therefore, in the known technology, a double-axis rotating shaft is used to arrange in the notebook computer, so that the screen can be turned over to the back side of the host. However, the structure of the dual-axis rotating shaft is complicated, which increases the production cost, and the process of turning the screen to the back of the host is not very smooth, which causes difficulties in use.

Contents of the invention

In order to solve the defects of the above-mentioned known technologies, the object of the present invention is to provide a foldable electronic device with a hinge device. The structure of the hinge device is simple, and the screen of the foldable electronic device can be smoothly flipped to the back side of the host.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a foldable electronic device, which includes a first component, a hinge device and a second component. The aforementioned first component can be a host, and the second component can be a screen. The first component has a front and a back opposite to the front. The rotating shaft device includes a driving mechanism, a moving mechanism and a pivot. The driving mechanism is arranged on the first component. The moving mechanism is disposed on the driving mechanism, wherein the driving mechanism is used to move the aforementioned moving mechanism. The pivot is pivotally connected to the moving mechanism. The second component is disposed on the pivot and is rotatable relative to the first component via the pivot.

When the second part is covered on the front, the moving mechanism and the pivot are at a first position, and when the second part is at an oblique angle relative to the first part, the driving mechanism drives the moving mechanism and the pivot to move from the first position to a second position, or to move from the second position to the first position. When the second part is located on the back side of the first part corresponding to the back side, the moving mechanism and the pivot are in the second position.

To sum up, the hinge device of the foldable electronic device of the present invention has a simple structure, which reduces the production cost, and the user can smoothly turn the screen over through the hinge device, which improves the convenience of use.

Description of drawings

1 is a perspective view of a foldable electronic device of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the perspective view of the rotating shaft device of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the rotating shaft device of the present invention;

4 is a cross-sectional view of the foldable electronic device of the present invention; and

5 to 7 are schematic diagrams of the operation of the foldable electronic device of the present invention.

Wherein, the reference signs are explained as follows:

Foldable electronic device 1; first part 1a;

the second part 1b; the shaft device 1c;

drive mechanism 10; switch 11;

motor 12; gear set 13;

the first worm 131; the first spur gear 132;

the second spur gear 133; the second worm 134;

Moving mechanism 20; Gear row 21;

fixed groove 211; fixed element 22;

engaging part 221; pivot 30;

pivoting part 31; fixing part 32;

Tilt angle A1; axis AX1, AX2, AX3;

the first direction D1; the second direction D2;

Third direction D3; Front S1;

Back S2.

detailed description

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a foldable electronic device 1 of the present invention. The foldable electronic device 1 can be a notebook computer. The foldable electronic device 1 includes a first part 1a, a second part 1b, and a hinge device 1c. The first component 1a can be a host, which can include various electronic components such as a keyboard, a touch panel, a touch screen, a central processing unit, a memory, and a motherboard. The second component 1b can be a screen, and the aforementioned screen can be a touch screen. The rotating shaft device 1c is disposed on the first part 1a and the second part 1b, so that the second part 1b can rotate relative to the first part 1a through the rotating shaft device 1c.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hinge device 1c of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the hinge device 1c of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the foldable electronic device 1 of the present invention. The hinge device 1 c includes a driving mechanism 10 , a moving mechanism 20 and a pivot 30 . The driving mechanism 10 is provided on the first part 1a. The moving mechanism 20 is movably disposed on the driving mechanism 10 . The pivot 30 is pivotally connected to the moving mechanism 20 . The second part 1 b is fixed on the pivot 30 and can rotate relative to the first part 1 a via the pivot 30 .

The driving mechanism 10 includes a switch 11, a motor 12, and a gear set 13. The switch 11 is coupled to the motor 12. The switch 11 generates a signal of the switch 11 according to a touch event, and the motor 12 receives the signal of the switch 11 to start the forward direction. Rotate or reversely rotate, and drive the gear set 13 to rotate. The aforesaid touch event can be through the user pressing the switch 11 .

In another embodiment, the switch 11 may not be required. For example, the motor 12 may be controlled by detecting the inclination angle of the second part 1b relative to the first part 1a through the processing chip (not shown) of the foldable electronic device 1. .

The gear set 13 includes a first worm gear 131 (worm gear), a first spur gear 132 (spur gear), a second spur gear 133 , and a second worm gear 134 . The first worm 131 is connected with the motor 12 and rotates around an axis AX1 , and the aforementioned axis AX1 extends along a first direction D1 . The first spur gear 132 meshes with the first worm 131 and rotates around an axis AX2. The second spur gear 133 meshes with the first spur gear 132 and rotates around an axis AX3. The second worm 134 is arranged coaxially with the second spur gear 133 and meshes with the moving mechanism 20 . The axes AX2 and AX3 extend along a second direction D2, and the first direction D1 is perpendicular to the second direction D2.

Through the structure of the aforementioned gear set 13 , the driving mechanism 10 can be disposed in the thinned foldable electronic device 1 . In addition, the aforementioned gear set 13 is only an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

The moving mechanism 20 includes a gear row 21 and a fixing element 22 , the gear row 21 engages with the second worm 134 of the gear set 13 , the gear row 21 has a fixing groove 211 , and can ascend or descend along the second direction D2 . The fixing element 22 is an annular structure pivotally connected to the pivot 30 . The fixing element 22 has an engaging portion 221 fixed on the tooth row 21 .

The pivot 30 includes a pivoting portion 31 and a fixing portion 32 disposed on the pivoting portion 31. The pivoting portion 31 and the fixing portion 32 extend along a third direction D3, wherein the first direction D1, the second direction D2 and the second direction D3 The three directions D3 are perpendicular to each other. The second part 1b is fixed to the fixing part 32, and the fixing element 22 is sleeved and pivotally connected to the pivot part 31, so that the second part 1b can rotate relative to the first part 1a.

In this embodiment, when the motor 12 rotates in the forward direction, the tooth row 21 is driven up along the second direction D2, so that the moving mechanism 20 and the pivot 30 are located at a first position; The row 21 descends along the second direction D2, so that the moving mechanism 20 and the pivot 30 are located at a second position. The mechanism of controlling the motor 12 to rotate forward, reverse or stop is not the focus of the present invention, and is well known to those skilled in the art, so no further description is given here.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first part 1a has a front side S1, and a back side S2 opposite to the front side S1. When the second part 1b is covered on the front surface S1, the moving mechanism 20 and the pivot 30 are located at the first position. At this time, the pivot 30 exceeds the front side S1, so that the second component 1b has enough space to cover the front side S1.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the second part 1b is at an inclination angle A1 relative to the first part 1a, the moving mechanism 20 and the pivot 30 are at a first position. At this time, the user can use the foldable electronic device 1 as A laptop is used. Afterwards, the driving mechanism 10 can drive the moving mechanism 20 and the pivot 30 to move from the first position to a second position shown in FIG. 6 , or from the second position to the first position. In this embodiment, the aforementioned inclination angle A1 may be between 90 degrees and 270 degrees.

In detail, when the second component 1b moves from the position covering the front surface S1 of the first component 1a to the inclination angle A1 in FIG. 5 , the driving mechanism 10 is activated to rotate the second worm 134 of the driving mechanism 10 . The second worm 134 drives the tooth row 21 of the moving mechanism 20 to descend along the second direction D2, and drives the fixing element 22 and the pivot 30 to move from the first position to the second position.

As shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, when the moving mechanism 20 and the pivot 30 are in a second position, the pivot 30 exceeds the back surface S2, so that the second part 1b has enough space to continue to rotate, so that the second part 1b can be covered on the back side S2 of the first part 1a. At this time, the foldable electronic device 1 can be used as a tablet computer, or the second part 1b is located on the back side of the first part 1a as shown in FIG. 7 , at this time, the user can place the front surface S1 of the first component 1a on a flat surface such as a desktop, so as to facilitate the user to touch the second component 1b. The aforementioned back side corresponds to the back side S2, and the front side of the first member 1a corresponds to the front side S1.

Similarly, when the second part 1b is moved from the position of covering the back surface S2 of the first part 1a or being located on the back side of the first part 1a as shown in Figure 7 to the inclination angle A1 of Figure 5 (or another inclination angle between 90 degrees to 270 degrees), the driving mechanism 10 is activated to rotate the second worm 134 of the driving mechanism 10 . The second worm 134 drives the tooth row 21 of the moving mechanism 20 to rise along the second direction D2, and drives the fixed element 22 and the pivot 30 to move from the second position (as shown in FIG. 6 ) to a first position (as shown in FIG. 6 ). 5).

Since the first part 1 a and the second part 1 b are pivotally connected by only one pivot 30 , the user can relatively smoothly rotate the second part 1 b relative to the first part 1 a.

In another embodiment, the driving mechanism 10 and the moving mechanism 20 can be further simplified, for example, the elements included in the gear set 13 can be reduced, or the driving mechanism 10 can not include the switch 11 and the motor 12, and the moving mechanism 20 can also not include the gear row 21 , the driving mechanism 10 may be composed of connecting rods and other elements, and the user manually pulls the driving mechanism 10 to move the fixed element 22 of the moving mechanism 20, so that the moving mechanism 20 and the pivot 30 rise to the first position along the second direction D2. position or descend to a second position.

To sum up, the hinge device of the foldable electronic device of the present invention has a simple structure, which reduces the production cost, and the user can smoothly turn the screen over through the hinge device, which improves the convenience of use.

Although the present invention is disclosed above with various embodiments, they are only exemplary references rather than limiting the scope of the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make many modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. move and change. Therefore, the above-mentioned embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention should be determined by the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. a folding-type electronic device, including:

One first component, has a front and in contrast to the back side in this front；

One turning gear, including:

One drive mechanism, is arranged at this first component；

One travel mechanism, is arranged at this drive mechanism, and wherein this drive mechanism is in order to this travel mechanism mobile；

One pivot, is articulated in this travel mechanism；And

One second component, is arranged at this pivot, and can rotate relative to this first component via this pivot；

Wherein when this second component is covered on this front, this travel mechanism and this pivot are positioned at a primary importance, and when being somebody's turn to do Second component towards this back side and be positioned at this first component corresponding to the dorsal part at this back side time, this travel mechanism and this pivot It is positioned at a second position；

Wherein after this second component is positioned at an angle of inclination relative to this first component, this drive mechanism drives this moving machine Structure and this pivot are moved to this second position by this primary importance, or are moved to this primary importance by this second position.

2. folding-type electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein this angle of inclination is between 90 degree to 270 degree.

3. folding-type electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein this first component has one in contrast to the back side in this front, When this pivot is positioned at this primary importance, this pivot is positioned on the extension in this front, and when this pivot is positioned at this second position Time, this pivot is positioned under the extension in this front.

4. folding-type electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein this drive mechanism includes a motor and a gear train, should Motor drives this gear train to rotate.

5. folding-type electronic device as claimed in claim 4, wherein this drive mechanism also includes that one is coupled to opening of this motor Close.

6. folding-type electronic device as claimed in claim 4, wherein this travel mechanism also includes a tooth row and a fixing unit Part, this tooth row is engaged in this gear train, and this retaining element is arranged at this tooth row and is articulated in this pivot.

7. folding-type electronic device as claimed in claim 6, wherein this gear train includes:

One first worm screw, is connected with this motor；

One first spur gear, with this first worm engaging；

One second spur gear, engages with this first spur gear；And

One second worm screw, is coaxially disposed with this second spur gear, and engages with this tooth row.

8. folding-type electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein this first component is a main frame, and second component is one Screen.