Patent Publication Number: US-2023156942-A1

Title: Hinge for mobile electronic terminal having inward-foldable flexible screen

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a hinge for a mobile electronic terminal having an inward-foldable flexible screen. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     For a mobile electronic terminal, a flexible screen is an ideal screen. A terminal is folded when carrying, and flattened to obtain double display when in use, which can meet the demand for a large-screen display. For a mobile electronic terminal having a flexible screen, it is always hoped that the bending requirements of the flexible screen can be met, and meanwhile, the thickness of the terminal when it is flattened and when it is folded can be as thin as possible. A mobile electronic terminal having an inward-foldable flexible screen is available. When the flexible screen is bent, its bent part will enter the middle housing of the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen, and the left and right rotating support plates squeeze the flexible screen to a certain extent on both sides of the middle bending, but when it is flattened, it is difficult to support the left and right rotating support plates. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention aims to provide a hinge for a mobile electronic terminal having an inward-foldable flexible screen, which can support a left rotation support plate and a right rotation support plate in the middle and reduce the space required by the thickness of the terminal as much as possible. Therefore, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions: 
     A hinge for a mobile electronic terminal having an inward-foldable flexible screen is provided. The mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is provided with a left side flexible screen main support plate, a right side flexible screen main support plate, a middle housing, a left rotation support plate and a right rotation support plate, wherein the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate can rotate together with the left side main support plate and the right side main support plate respectively, and rotate relative to the left side main support plate and the side right main support plate respectively; when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened, the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate cover the left side and the right side of the middle housing respectively; when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is folded, the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate incline to the left side main support plate and the right side main support plate respectively, and the inner ends thereof are rotated into the middle housing; the hinge comprises a left side rotation bracket and a right side rotation bracket; a synchronous reverse rotation connecting mechanism is connected between the left side rotation bracket and the right side rotation bracket to realize synchronous reverse rotation; the hinge for the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is characterized in that: 
     the hinge is provided with a support structure having the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate in the middle housing; the support structure comprises a support part of the left rotation support plate and a support part of the right rotation support plate; the support part of the left rotation support plate and the support part of the right rotation support plate are rotatable parts; and the support part of the left rotation support plate and the support part of the right rotation support plate rotate to form a cross structure, so as to support the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate when the electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened. 
     The support part of the left rotation support plate and the support part of the right rotation support plate rotate only when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened to a certain degree from a folded state, and the support parts are prevented from rotating reversely when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened. In this way, the two support parts do not rotate within a large rotation range of the hinge and start to rotate before supporting is needed, and thus the motion space needed by the support parts can be further reduced. 
     Further, a right end of the support part of the left rotation support plate is rotatably connected with a first shaft which is positioned on the right side of the middle housing and rotates in the same direction as the right side rotation bracket; and a left end of the support part of the right rotation support plate is rotatably connected with a second shaft which is positioned on the left side of the middle housing and rotates in the same direction as the left side rotation bracket. 
     Further, the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate are provided with connecting pins parallel to an axis of the hinge, and the left end of the support part of the left rotation support plate and the right end of the support part of the right rotation support plate are provided with connecting holes connected with the connecting pin of the left rotation support plate and the connecting pin of the right rotation support plate respectively. 
     Further, the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is provided with reset springs of the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate respectively, so that the left rotation support plate is in tightly mated with the support part, and the right rotation support plate is in tightly mated with the support part. 
     Further, the first shaft is connected with a first driving block, the second shaft is connected with a second driving block, a driving idle stroke is formed between the first driving block and the support part of the left rotation support plate, and a driving idle stroke is formed between the second driving block and the support part of the right rotation support plate, so that the driving blocks drive the support parts to rotate only when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened to a certain degree from a folded state, and the support parts are prevented from rotating reversely when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened. 
     Further, an outer end of the left rotation support plate and an outer end of the right rotation support plate are rotatably connected with the left side rotation bracket and the right side rotation bracket respectively. 
     Due to the adoption of the technical solution of the present inventions, by means of the X-shaped cross structure, the left and right rotation support plates in the middle can be stably supported when the terminal is flattened, the motion angle of the support structure is reduced, only a small motion space is needed, and a requirement of reducing the thickness of the terminal is met while it is ensured that the left and right rotation support plates are supported. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is an exploded view of a structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIGS.  2 ,  3  and  4    are schematic diagrams illustrating the structure mating of a mobile electronic terminal having an inward-foldable flexible screen in a folding state, an intermediate state between folding and flattening, and a flattening state according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG.  3   , at an opening angle, a support part of a left rotation support plate and a support part of a right rotation support plate are not driven to rotate, or the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate are still in an in-situ state after being reset by a torsional spring. 
         FIGS.  5  and  6    are schematic diagrams illustrating partial structure of a mobile electronic terminal having an inward-foldable flexible screen in folding and flattening states respectively according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to the figures, a hinge for a mobile electronic terminal having an inward-foldable flexible screen is provided. The mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is provided with a left side flexible screen main support plate and a right side flexible screen main support plate (not shown in the figures), a middle housing  100 , a left rotation support plate  101  and a right rotation support plate  102 , wherein the flexible screen main support plates can be fixedly arranged on a left side housing and a right side housing of the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen or a part of a left side housing body and a right side housing body. The left side housing and the right side housing are connected with a left side rotation bracket  1  and a right side rotation bracket  2  of the hinge respectively and can rotate respectively around shafts of the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2  together with the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2 . 
     The outer ends of the left rotation support plate  101  and the right rotation support plate  102  are respectively rotationally connected with the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2 , thus on the one hand, the left rotation support plate  101  and the right rotation support plate  102  can respectively rotate together with left side main support plate and the right side main support plate, and on the other hand, the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate can respectively rotate corresponding to the left side main support plate and the right side main support plate; when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened, the left rotation support plate  101  and the right rotation support plate  102  respectively cover the left side and the right side of the middle housing  100  (see  FIG.  4   ); and when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is folded, the left rotation support plate  101  and the right rotation support plate  102  respectively rotate to incline to the left side main support plate and the right side main support plate, and the inner ends are rotated into the middle housing  100  (see  FIG.  2   ). Thus, the hinge, the middle housing  100 , the left rotation support plate  101  and the right rotation support plate  102  can form a mounting module, which facilitates the high-precision manufacturing and can remove the errors caused by manufacturing of different parts by different suppliers. Alternatively, the left rotation support plate  101  and the right rotation support plate  102  can be rotatably connected with the left side housing and the right side housing respectively. 
     The outer end of the left rotation support plate  101  and the outer end of the right rotation support plate  102  can be rotatably connected with the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2  through an arc sliding rail and a rotation connecting structure  4  of a sliding block respectively. 
     A synchronous reverse rotation connecting mechanism is connected between the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2  of the hinge to realize synchronous reverse rotation, and the synchronous reverse rotation connecting mechanism is arranged in the middle housing  100 . In this embodiment, the synchronous reverse rotation connecting mechanism is a gear meshing connecting mechanism composed of four gears or two gears; the synchronous reverse rotation connecting mechanism composed of the four gears comprises a first gear  31 , a second gear  32 , a third gear  33  and a fourth gear  34  which are sequentially meshed; and a gear shaft  310  of the first gear  31  and a gear shaft  340  of the fourth gear  34  are connected with the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2  respectively and are shafts of the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2  respectively. 
     A support structure having a left rotation support plate  101  and a right rotation support plate  102  is provided in a middle housing  100  of the hinge; the support structure comprises a support part  51  of the left rotation support plate  101  and a support part  52  of the right rotation support plate  102 ; the support part  51  and the support part  52  are rotatable parts; the support part  51  and the support part  52  rotate to form a cross structure, so as to support the left rotation support plate and the right rotation support plate when the electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened ( FIG.  4    and  FIG.  6   ). 
     In the embodiments, for the four gear shafts of the synchronous reverse rotation connecting mechanism, the gear shafts  310  and  340  are located at the farthest left and right sides of the middle housing  100  respectively; a right end of the support part  51  of the left rotation support plate  101  is rotatably connected with a first shaft (gear shaft  340 ) which is positioned on the right side of the middle housing and rotates in the same direction as the right side rotation bracket; and a left end of the support part  52  of the right rotation support plate  102  is rotatably connected with a second shaft (gear shaft  310 ) which is positioned on the left side of the middle housing and rotates in the same direction as the left side rotation bracket, so that the rotation angle of the support part can be minimized. 
     The left rotation support plate  101  and the right rotation support plate  102  are provided with connecting pins  71 ,  72  parallel to an axis of the hinge, and the left end of the support part  51  of the left rotation support plate  101  and the right end of the support part  52  of the right rotation support plate  102  are provided with connecting holes  73 ,  74  connected with the connecting pin  72  of the left rotation support plate and the connecting pin  72  of the right rotation support plate respectively. 
     The mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is provided with a reset spring  61  of the left rotation support plate  101  and a reset spring  62  of the right rotation support plate  102 ; the reset springs  61  and  62  can be mounted on the left side rotation bracket  1  and the right side rotation bracket  2  respectively and both work to enable the rotation support plates to be in a trend of inclining to the flexible screen main support plates all the time, namely the clockwise rotating trend of the left rotation support plate  101  and the anticlockwise rotating trend of the right rotation support plate  102  shown in  FIG.  4   , so that the left rotation support plate  101  is tightly mated with the support part  51 , and the right rotation support plate  102  is tightly mated with the support part  52 . 
     The first shaft (the gear shaft  340 ) is connected with a first driving block  81 ; the second shaft (the gear shaft  310 ) is connected with a second driving block  82 ; the first driving block  81  and the second driving block  82  are annular and are fixed on the shafts respectively, and are provided with driving keys  80 ; the support parts  51  and  52  are provided with driving mating part  50  mated with the driving keys  80 ; the annular driving blocks cannot drive the driving mating part  50  of the support parts at the parts without the driving keys  80 , so a driving idle stroke is formed between the first driving block  81  and the support part  51  of the left rotation support plate  101 , and a driving idle stroke is formed between the second driving block  82  and the support part  52  of the right rotation support plate  102 ; and therefore, when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened to a certain degree from a folded state, the first driving block drives the support part  51  to rotate, the second driving block drives the support part  52  to rotate, and the support parts  51  and  52  are prevented from rotating reversely when the mobile electronic terminal having the inward-foldable flexible screen is flattened. 
     The foregoing description merely describes specific embodiments of the present invention, but the structural features of the present invention are not limited thereto. Any changes or modifications made by those skilled in the art within the field of the invention shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.