Abstract:
A rotation apparatus comprises a sleeve, a retaining means, a first base, a second base, a pivot and a pivot base. The sleeve passes through the first base and the second base and screws into the retaining means. The pivot is fixed onto the second base and the pivot base is coupled to the pivot. After mounting a display panel to a host body via the rotation apparatus, the display panel can be flipped open via the pivot/pivot base linkage and then rotated around the axis of the sleeve. Furthermore, the components constituting the rotation apparatus are easy to manufacture and assemble.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a rotation apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a rotation apparatus used in a portable electrical appliance.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    To meet the high-speed, high-efficiency, lightweight and streamline requirements of modern day electronic products, electronic components are increasingly miniaturized. With component miniaturization, various types of portable electronic appliances including notebook PCs, mobile phones, electronic dictionaries, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital versatile disk players (DVD players), web pads and tablet PCs are out in the market.  
           [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional notebook computer. The notebook computer shown in FIG. 1 mainly comprises a host body  10  and a display panel  14 . In general, the display panel  14  is a liquid crystal module (LCM) connected to a driving and control circuit inside the host  10  through a flexible circuit board. The display panel  14  is hinged onto the host  10 . Hence, the display panel  14  is free to flip open through a pivot set along the Y-axis of the host  10  but is prevented from rotating in the Z-axis.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0006]    Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a rotation apparatus having a host body, a display panel and a rotation apparatus that facilitates the display panel to flip open and rotate relative to the host body. Hence, the display panel on the portable electrical appliance is more versatile under most operating conditions.  
           [0007]    To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention provides a rotation apparatus. The rotation apparatus mainly comprises a sleeve, a retaining means, a first base and a second base. One end of the sleeve has a stopper and the outer wall of the sleeve has threads. The threads on the sleeve are located on the outer wall away from the stopper. Furthermore, the outer wall of the sleeve also has a transmission flat or a transmission slot. The first base is set up over the retaining means. The first base has a first opening such as a circular opening or other types of openings that permits the sleeve to pass through without impeding the rotation of the sleeve. The second base is set up over the first base. The second base has a second opening with a profile that matches the outer wall of the sleeve. The sleeve passes through the first opening in the first base and the second opening in the second base and screws into the retaining means. Since the second opening in the second base has a profile that matches the outer wall of the sleeve, the sleeve can be rotated via the second base.  
           [0008]    In this embodiment, the first base furthermore comprises a protruding pin and at least a latching slot. The protruding pin is located on a surface away from the retaining means and the latching slot is located somewhere around the peripheral region of the first opening. In addition, the rotation apparatus furthermore comprises a rotation-limiting ring, a buffering element, a latching ring, a first pad ring, a second pad ring and a third pad ring. The rotation-limiting ring slides into the sleeve between the first base and the second base. The outer edge of the rotation-limiting ring has a pair of engaging means that correspond to the protruding pin. The buffering element comprises a first buffering ring and a second buffering ring both slide into the sleeve. The inner edge and the outer edge of the first buffering ring are on different planes. Similarly, the inner edge and the outer edge of the second buffering ring are on different planes. The outer edge of the second buffering ring is in contact with the outer edge of the first buffering ring. A gap is maintained between the inner edge of the first buffering ring and the inner edge of the second buffering ring. The latching ring is also slide into the sleeve between the first base and the buffering element. The latching ring has at least a bump on the surface close to the first base that corresponds with the latching slot. The first pad ring, the second pad ring and the third pad ring also slide into the sleeve. The first pad ring, the second pad ring and the third pad ring are located between the buffering element and the retaining means, the first base and the latching ring and the latching ring and the buffering element respectively. In addition, the second opening in the second base, the inner edge of the latching ring and the inner edge of the rotation-limiting ring all have a profile that matches the outer wall of the sleeve. Hence, the second base is able to drive the sleeve, the latching ring and the rotation-limiting ring into rotation.  
           [0009]    The rotation apparatus of this invention also comprises a pivot and a pivot base. The pivot is tightened to the second base with the axle direction of the pivot perpendicular to the axis of the sleeve. The pivot base is coupled to the pivot. However, the pivot and the second base can be fabricated as an integrative unit.  
           [0010]    After the host body and the display panel are connected together through the rotation apparatus, the portable electrical appliance can be opened or closed via the pivot/pivot base linkage and can be rotated around the axis of the sleeve. Furthermore, the components constituting the rotation apparatus are easy to manufacture and assemble. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional notebook computer.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portable electrical appliance having a rotation apparatus according to one preferred embodiment of this invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is an explosion view showing all the components constituting a rotation apparatus according to one preferred embodiment of this invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the buffering element with the rotation apparatus according to one preferred embodiment of this invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIGS. 5A through 5D are diagrams showing a few possible orientations of the display panel according to the embodiment of this invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0017]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portable electrical appliance having a rotation apparatus according to one preferred embodiment of this invention. As shown in FIG. 2, a portable electrical appliance  70  mainly comprises a host body  80 , a display panel  90  and a rotation apparatus  100 . The portable electrical appliance  70  is a notebook computer, a digital versatile disk player or a mobile phone for example. The rotation apparatus  100  provides a design with two rotating degrees of freedom. One rotating degree of freedom lies in the rotation about a central axis of the display panel  90  and a second rotating degree of freedom lies in flipping open the display panel  90  from the host body  80 .  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 3 is an explosion view showing all the components constituting a rotation apparatus according to one preferred embodiment of this invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the rotation apparatus  100  for the display panel  90  mainly comprises a sleeve  110 , a nut  120 , a first base  130  and a second base  140 . One end of the sleeve  110  has a stopper  112 . The outer wall of the sleeve  110  has a thread  114  located on the outer wall far away from the stopper  112 . The other components of the rotation apparatus  100  are retained between the stopper  112  and the nut  120  after the nut  120  is screwed into a thread  114  of the sleeve  110 . Furthermore, the outer wall of the sleeve  110  has a transmission flat  116  or a transmission slot for driving components whose inner edges has a shape that matches the outer wall of the sleeve  110 . Obviously, the transmission flat  116  can be replaced by a transmission slot or any design that will not impede the rotation of the rotation apparatus  100 . The only criterion is that the inner edges of these components must be fabricated into a shape that matches the outer wall of the sleeve  110 . In FIG. 3, the sleeve  110  has a transmission flat  116 .  
         [0020]    The first base  130  is set up above the nut  120 . The first base  130  has a first opening  132 . The first opening  132  has a circular shape or some other shapes that permit the sleeve  110  to pass through without impeding its rotation. The second base  140  is set up above the first base  130 . The second base  140  has a second opening  142 . The second opening  142  has a shape that matches the outer wall profile of the sleeve  110 . The sleeve  110  passes through the first opening  132  of the first base  130  and the second opening  142  of the second base  140  before tightly screwed into the nut  120 . Since the second opening  142  has a shape that matches the outer wall of the sleeve  110 , the second base  140  is able to drive the sleeve  110  into rotation.  
         [0021]    The first base  130  furthermore includes a protruding pin  134  and at least a latching slot  136 . The protruding pin  134  is located on a surface away from the nut  120  and the latching slot  136  is located somewhere around the peripheral region of the first opening  132 . In view of the protruding pin  134  and the latching slot  136  design, the rotation apparatus  100  furthermore comprises a rotation-limiting ring  150  and a latching ring  170 . In addition, the rotation apparatus  100  of this embodiment also includes a buffering element  160 , a first pad ring  182 , a second pad ring  184  and a third pad ring  186 . All the interior edge profile of the rotation-limiting ring  150 , the latching ring  170 , the first pad ring  182 , the second pad ring  184  and the third pad ring  186  match the outer wall profile of the sleeve  110 . Hence, all these component will be driven when the sleeve  110  rotates.  
         [0022]    Aside from the rotation apparatus for rotating the display panel  90 , this embodiment furthermore includes a pivot  144  and a pivot base  190  for flipping the display panel  90  open or close relative to the host body  80 . The pivot  144  is locked up with the second base  140 . The axle line of the pivot  144  is perpendicular to the axle direction of the sleeve  110 . The pivot base  190  engages with the pivot  144 . In addition, the pivot  144  and the second base  140  can be an integrative unit.  
         [0023]    The aforementioned is a description of various components and their relative positions with respective to each other inside the rotation apparatus  100 . In the following, finer structural design and operating mechanism of the rotation-limiting ring  150 , the buffering element  160 , the first pad ring  182 , the second pad ring  184  and the third pad ring  186  are described.  
         [0024]    As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rotation-limiting ring  150  is located between the first base  130  and the second base  140 . The outer edge of the rotation-limiting ring  150  has two engaging means  152  that correspond with the protruding pin  134 . When the second base  140  rotates, the rotation-limiting ring  150  is also driven. Due to the setup between the latching hook  152  and the protruding pin  134 , an angle of rotation of more than 180° is forbidden. In this way, over-twisting of the circuit wires linking the host  80  and the display panel  90  is largely prevented. Obviously, the engaging means  152  can be set in many ways to obtain other desired suitable angle of rotation.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the buffering element with the rotation apparatus according to one preferred embodiment of this invention. The buffering element  160  comprises a first buffering ring  162  and a second buffering ring  164  as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The inner edge and the outer edge of the first buffering ring  162  are located on a first plane S 1  and a second plane S 2 . The first plane S 1  and the second plane S 2  are parallel to each other. The outer edge of the second buffering ring  164  is in contact with the outer edge of the first buffering ring  162 . The inner edge and the outer edge of the second buffering ring  164  are located on a third plane S 3  and a fourth plane S 4  respectively. The third plane S 3  and the fourth plane S 4  are parallel to each other. When the rotation apparatus  100  rotates, there is slight variation in the distance (greater or smaller) between the stopper  112  and the nut  120  because the sleeve  110  screws into or out of the nut  120 . The buffering element  160  is a means of ensuring tight engagement of every component within the rotation apparatus  100  even when the display panel is rotated so that the sensation of loosening up the display panel can be voided.  
         [0026]    The latching ring  170  is located between the first base  130  and the buffering element  160  as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The latching ring  170  has at least a bump  172  on a surface close to the first base  130  that corresponds with the latching slot  136 . When the sleeve  110  has made an angular rotation of close to 180°, the bump  172  will slide into the latching slot  136  and produce a clicking sound. The clicking sound serves as a reminder to a user that the display panel  90  has already rotated to a desired position. The clicking sound issued when the bump  172  slips into the latching slot  136  prevents a user damaging the rotation apparatus  100  and the connecting circuit due to an over-twisting the display panel  90 .  
         [0027]    The first pad ring  182  is located between the buffering element  160  and the nut  120 . The second pad ring  184  is located between the first base  130  and the latching ring  170 . The third pad ring  186  is located between the latching ring  170  and the buffering element  160 . These pad rings serve as buffers for reducing the friction between various components during rotation. In addition, the first pad ring  182  is fabricated using a soft material. Aside from preventing frictional damage, the first pad ring  182  also protects the interior components against any possible impact by external objects.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIGS. 5A through 5D are diagrams showing a few possible orientations of the display panel according to the embodiment of this invention. The portable electrical appliance of this invention has a display panel designed to flip open from a host via a pivot at a connecting edge and then rotate the display panel in a direction perpendicular to the connecting edge. The display panel is also designed to stack on top of the host with the display screen facing out. In addition, various components constituting the rotating structure are easy to manufacture and assemble.  
         [0029]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.