Rotational to translational locking hinge

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9551177-B2
Application number	US-201314141196-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 26, 2013
Priority date	Dec 26, 2013
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

Techniques related to a hinge in a computing device are described herein. The techniques may include forming a shaft to move rotationally, and forming a sliding component to move translationally as a result of rotational movement of the shaft.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hinge for adjustably connecting a display to a support of a computing device, comprising:
a shaft with a plurality of ridges adapted to be fixedly mounted to the support and rotationally mounted to the display;
at least one sliding component adapted to be mounted to the display and to move translationally as a result of rotational movement of the shaft, wherein a plurality of ridges in the sliding component are operatively coupled to the plurality of ridges of the shaft; and
at least one locking mechanism, wherein the locking mechanism is activated by said sliding component and releasably inhibits translational movement of the sliding component via locking components that are configured to apply a force to the sliding components, wherein the locking mechanism is self-locking such that the locking mechanism applies increasing pressure to the sliding component based on an increasing frictional forces between the sliding component and the locking mechanism, each locking component defining an opening, wherein the sliding component is to move translationally through the opening; and
a spring to apply pressure to each locking component, wherein movement of the sliding component is inhibited by the pressure applied to each locking component resulting in an increased pressure on the sliding component.

2. The hinge of claim 1 , wherein movement of the sliding component is relatively uninhibited by the locking mechanism when the locking component is in a position perpendicular to the sliding component, and the movement of the sliding component is inhibited when the locking component is in a position not perpendicular to the sliding component.

3. The hinge of claim 1 , comprising a back plate adapted to couple the shaft to a back side of the computing device, wherein the translational movement of the sliding component is in a plane of the back plate.

4. The hinge of claim 1 , comprising legs as the support of the computing device, wherein the shaft is to be coupled to the legs such that rotation of the legs results in rotational movement in the shaft, translational movement of the sliding components.

5. The hinge of claim 1 , wherein the hinge is for an all-in-one (AIO) computing device.

6. A hinge system for adjustably connecting a display to a support of a computing device, comprising:
a backplate to be coupled to a back side of a display of the computing device;
a shaft with a plurality of ridges adapted to be fixedly mounted to the support and rotationally mounted to the display; and
at least one sliding component adapted to be mounted to the display and to move translationally in a plane defined by the backplate as a result of rotational movement of the shaft, wherein a plurality of ridges in the sliding component are operatively coupled to the plurality of ridges of the shaft;
at least one locking mechanism, wherein the locking mechanism is activated by said sliding component and releasably inhibits translational movement of the sliding component via locking components that are configured to apply a force to the sliding components, wherein the locking mechanism is self-locking such that the locking mechanism applies increasing pressure to the sliding component based on an increasing frictional forces between the sliding component and the locking mechanism, each locking component defining an opening, wherein the sliding component is to move translationally through the opening; and
a spring to apply pressure to each locking component, wherein movement of the sliding component is inhibited by the pressure applied to each locking component resulting in an increased pressure on the sliding component.

7. The hinge of claim 6 , wherein movement of the sliding component is relatively uninhibited by the locking mechanism when the locking component is in a position perpendicular to the sliding component, and the movement of the sliding component is inhibited when the locking component is in a position not perpendicular to the sliding component.

8. The hinge system of claim 6 , comprising legs as the support of the computing device, wherein the shaft is to be coupled to the legs such that rotation of the legs results in rotational movement in the shaft, translational movement of the sliding components, and rotational movement in the backplate.

9. The hinge system of claim 6 , wherein the hinge is for an all-in-one (AIO) computing device.

10. The hinge system of claim 6 , wherein the hinge is composed of a material of high hardness, or has been processed through mechanical, chemical, or metallurgical processes to increase a hardness of the hinge.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Varadarajan Krishnakumar
• Jagadish Harish
• Reddy Anand V
• Patil Madhukar
• Panakkal James
• Prakash Guru

Classifications

• G06F1/1679 Primary

  for locking or maintaining the movable parts of the enclosure in a fixed position, e.g. latching mechanism at the edge of the display in a laptop or for the screen protective cover of a PDA (G06F1/1681 takes precedence) · CPC title

• Y10T16/54025

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y10T29/24

  Hinge making or assembling · CPC title

• E05D11/1007 Primary

  with positive locking · CPC title

• G06F1/1681 Primary

  Details related solely to hinges (hinge details related to the transmission of signals or power are classified in G06F1/1683) · CPC title