CN110809794A

CN110809794A - Folding mechanism and terminal

Info

Publication number: CN110809794A
Application number: CN201780092093.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张强; 陈松亚; 杨松龄
Original assignee: Shenzhen Royole Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Royole Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-08-03
Filing date: 2017-08-03
Publication date: 2020-02-18
Also published as: WO2019024044A1

Abstract

A folding mechanism and terminal with the folding mechanism, the folding mechanism comprises a first support body (11), a second support body (12) and a bending part (15), the bending part (15) is connected between the first support body (11) and the second support body (12) so as to realize the folding of the first support body (11) relative to the second support body (12); the bending part (15) comprises a flexible support plate (17) and n connecting rods (16) arranged side by side, the outer surface (171) of the flexible support plate (17) is used for bearing a flexible screen, the first surfaces (161) of the n connecting rods (16) jointly form a bearing surface (160) used for bearing the flexible support plate (17), the first surfaces (161) of the n connecting rods (16) are sequentially fixed on the inner surface of the flexible support plate (17), a gap (S) is arranged between any two adjacent connecting rods (16) in the n connecting rods (16), the width of the gap (S) from the connecting rods (16) to the flexible support plate (17) is gradually reduced, the length of the flexible support plate (17) is unchanged in the bending process, when the bending part (15) is bent, the flexible support plate (17) drives the n connecting rods (16) to mutually approach each other, and the gap between any two connecting rods (16) is reduced, so that the length of the bearing surface (160) after bending is equal to the length of the bearing surface (160) when flattening.

Description

Folding mechanism and terminal

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of terminal equipment, in particular to a folding mechanism and a terminal.

Background

The existing part of mobile phones or notebook computers adopts full screen arrangement in order to improve the operation performance and the viewing performance, for example, the notebook computer comprises two parts of main bodies which are connected in a convex column crossing mode to realize folding and unfolding, and the screens are also respectively arranged on the two parts of main bodies for operation and display.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a folding mechanism capable of realizing screen bending and a terminal.

The folding mechanism is applied to a terminal with a flexible screen, and comprises a first support body, a second support body and a bent part, wherein the bent part is connected between the first support body and the second support body so as to realize the turning of the first support body relative to the second support body;

the bending part comprises a flexible support plate and n connecting rods arranged side by side, the outer surface of the flexible support plate is used for bearing the flexible screen, the first surfaces of the n connecting rods jointly form a bearing surface for bearing the flexible support plate, the first surfaces of the n connecting rods are sequentially fixed on the inner surface of the flexible support plate, a gap is arranged between any two adjacent connecting rods in the n connecting rods, and the width of the gap from the connecting rods to the direction of the flexible support plate is gradually reduced,

the length of the flexible supporting plate is unchanged in the bending process, when the bending portion is bent, the flexible supporting plate is bent to drive the n connecting rods to be close to each other, a gap between any two connecting rods is reduced, so that the length of the bent bearing surface is equal to the length of the bearing surface when the bearing surface is unfolded, wherein n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

The invention provides a terminal which comprises a folding mechanism and a flexible screen, wherein the flexible screen is fixed on a first supporting body and a second supporting body, and a flexible supporting plate supports a bending area of the flexible screen.

The folding mechanism is fixedly connected with the connecting rods through the flexible supporting plate with unchanged length in the bending process, the gap between every two connecting rods after the bending of the bending part is reduced, the length of the bearing surface formed by the connecting rods is the same as that of the bearing surface when the bending part is unfolded, and therefore the bending area of the flexible screen fixed on the folding mechanism is not stretched by the bending part of the folding mechanism when the flexible screen is bent, namely the flexible screen is not stretched by external force, and the flexible screen is prevented from being damaged.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art that other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a folding mechanism provided by the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 2 having a position-limiting portion.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 3 in a folded state.

Fig. 5 is a top view of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 1, without the flexible support panel.

Fig. 6 is a partially enlarged view of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a schematic side view of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 2 with a positioning element.

Fig. 8 is a partially enlarged view of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a side view of the folding mechanism of fig. 7 in a folded state.

Fig. 10 is a partially enlarged view of the folding mechanism shown in fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of the terminal structure of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention provides a folding mechanism and a terminal with the same. The folding mechanism supports a flexible screen of the terminal. The terminal can be a tablet Computer, a mobile phone, a flexible display, an electronic reader, a remote controller, a Personal Computer (PC), a notebook Computer, a vehicle-mounted device, a network television, a wearable device, and the like. In the embodiment, a tablet computer is taken as an example for description.

Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, the folding mechanism includes a first supporting body 11, a second supporting body 12, and a bending portion 15. The bending portion 15 is connected between the first supporting body 11 and the second supporting body 12, so as to turn the first supporting body 11 over relative to the second supporting body 12.

Referring to fig. 3, the bending portion 15 includes a flexible support plate 17 and n connecting rods 16 arranged side by side, an outer surface 171 of the flexible support plate 17 is used for bearing the flexible screen, first surfaces 161 of the n connecting rods 16 together form a bearing surface 160 for bearing the flexible support plate 17, the first surfaces 161 of the n connecting rods 16 are sequentially fixed on an inner surface 172 of the flexible support plate 17, a gap S is formed between any two adjacent connecting rods 16 of the n connecting rods 16, and a width of the gap S from the connecting rods 16 to the flexible support plate 17 is gradually reduced, where n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

The length of the flexible supporting plate 17 is not changed during the bending process, when the bending portion 15 is bent, the flexible supporting plate 17 is bent to drive the n connecting rods 16 to move relatively, and the gap S between any two connecting rods 16 is reduced, so that the length of the bent bearing surface 160 is equal to the length of the bearing surface 160 during flattening.

The flexible supporting plate 17 is a plate body made of one of flexible stainless steel, carbon fiber composite material and Kevlar. In this embodiment, the flexible supporting plate 17 is a plate made of flexible stainless steel, and two opposite sides of the flexible supporting plate are respectively connected to the first supporting plate 11 and the second supporting plate 12. In this embodiment, two ends of the flexible supporting plate 17 are connected to the first supporting plate 11 and the second supporting plate 12 in a stacked manner, and the connection area is large, so that the supporting stability of the flexible supporting plate 17 can be ensured. When the bending portion 15 is bent, the n connecting rods 16 are not separated and may be bent in an arc shape. The outer surface 171 of the flexible supporting plate 17 is fixedly connected to the first surface 161 of each connecting rod 16, so that the first surfaces 161 of any two adjacent connecting rods 16 are movably connected, and the bearing surface 160 is formed by the first surfaces 161 of n connecting rods 16 and is located between the first supporting plate 11 and the second supporting plate 12. In this embodiment, the flexible supporting plate 17 is fixed to each connecting rod 16 by welding. Of course, whether the flexible supporting plate 17 is provided or not, every two first surfaces 161 may be connected by a flexible body (such as rubber, cloth, etc.) or by a hinge.

Folding mechanism pass through unchangeable flexible backup pad 17 fixed connection several connecting rod 16 of length in the bending process, the clearance between per two connecting rod 16 becomes littleer after kink 15 buckles, the length of the loading face 160 that several connecting rod 16 formed with the length of loading face 160 is the same when kink 15 is flat exhibition, and then makes the flexible screen that is fixed in this folding mechanism not stretched by folding mechanism's kink when buckling the region, can not receive external force stretching promptly, avoids damaging the flexible screen.

Referring to fig. 2, in the present embodiment, each of the connecting rods 16 includes the first surface 161 and a second surface 162 opposite to the first surface 161, and a width of the first surface 161 is greater than a width of the second surface 162 in a direction in which the first supporting body 11 extends toward the second supporting body 12. In the present embodiment, the n connecting rods 16 are independently provided. The width of the gap S gradually decreases from the second surface 162 to the first surface 161, and in this embodiment, the gap S is substantially V-shaped, and the gap S is also spaced every two first surfaces 161. Specifically, the connecting rod 16 is a long rod body, and the cross section of the rod body is approximately trapezoidal. The second surface 162 is the upper base of the trapezoid, and the first surface 161 is the lower base of the trapezoid. Each of the connecting rods 16 includes two opposite side surfaces 163 connecting the first surface 161 and the second surface 162. n the connecting rods 16 are arranged side by side and are sequentially and movably connected, the side surfaces of two adjacent connecting rods 16 are opposite, and the gap S is positioned between the side surfaces of two adjacent connecting rods 16. Referring to the bending state of fig. 4, when the flexible support plate 17 is bent, the flexible support plate 17 is bent without extending the bending direction, the side of the connecting rod 16 having the first surface 161 moves along the bending track of the flexible support plate 17 and is not elongated, the gap S between the two connecting rods 16 provides a moving space and becomes smaller, and the n connecting rods 16 move closer to each other, and the second surfaces 162 are connected to each other until the bending is completed. The first surfaces 1631 are sequentially close to the bearing surfaces connected to form an arc shape along with the connecting rod 16. When the folding mechanism is unfolded, the connecting rod 16 is completely unfolded, and the plurality of first surfaces 161 are coplanar to form the bearing surface of the plane. In other embodiments, the n connecting rods 16 may be integral, such that the first surfaces 161 of the connecting rods 16 are movably connected, and the gap S does not extend through two adjacent first surfaces.

Referring to fig. 3 and 4, on the basis of the above embodiment, a limiting portion 18 is connected between any two adjacent connecting rods 16, and the limiting portion 18 is used for limiting the bending direction of the bending portion 15. In this embodiment, the position-limiting portion 18 includes a position-limiting protrusion 181 and a position-limiting groove 182. The limiting groove 182 is formed on one side surface 163 of each of the n connecting rods 16 except for one connecting rod 16 connected to the first support 11, and the limiting groove 182 is formed in a concave manner toward the connecting rod 16. The other side surface 163 of each of the n connection bars 16 except for one connection bar 16 connected to the second support 12 is provided with a limit protrusion 181, and the limit protrusions 181 of the n connection bars 16 extend in the same direction. Every two adjacent connecting rods 16 of the n connecting rods 16 are inserted into the limiting groove 182 through the limiting protrusion 166, so as to limit the bending direction of the bending portion 15 during the bending process of the bending portion 15, so that the bending portion 15 can only be bent toward the bearing surface 150 to prevent reverse bending.

Specifically, the limiting groove 182 includes a groove bottom wall 183 and a groove side wall 184, and the groove side wall 184 is located on a side of the limiting groove 182 close to the first surface 161. Starting with the connecting rod 16 installed on the first carrier 11 as the first one, the first connecting rod 16 is provided with the limiting protrusion 181, the second connecting rod 16 adjacent to the first connecting rod 16 is provided with a limiting groove 182 facing the limiting protrusion 181, the first connecting rod 16 is connected with the second connecting rod 16, the limiting protrusion 181 is inserted into the limiting groove 182, a certain moving space is reserved between the limiting protrusion 181 and a groove bottom wall 183 of the limiting groove 182, the limiting protrusion 181 abuts against a groove side wall 184, during the bending process of the bending portion 15, the two connecting rods 16 approach each other, and the limiting protrusion 181 moves into the limiting groove 182 along the groove side wall 184. If the bending direction of the bending portion 15 is toward the flexible connecting surface 151, the groove sidewall 184 limits the limiting protrusion 181 from sliding out of the limiting groove, thereby limiting the bending of the bending portion 15.

Referring to fig. 5 and fig. 6, based on the above embodiment, the folding mechanism further includes a positioning element 19 bent along with the bent portion, each of the connecting rods 16 includes an end surface 164 connecting the first surface 161 and the two side surfaces 163, and a convex pillar 168 is convexly disposed on the end surface 164 of each of the connecting rods 16. The positioning member 19 is disposed on the protruding columns 168 of the n connecting rods 16, and the bending angle of the bending portion 15 is positioned by the positioning member 19 itself and the friction between the positioning member and the protruding columns 168.

Referring to fig. 7 and 8, specifically, there are two positioning elements 19, and one positioning element 19 is connected to one end surface 164 of the n connecting rods 16 facing the same direction; the other end face 164, to which the n connecting rods 16 are also directed.

The positioning member 19 includes n-1 positioning bodies 191. In order to more clearly illustrate the relationship between the limiting body and the convex pillar, the convex pillars of the n connecting rods 16 are divided into a first convex pillar 168a, a second convex pillar 168b and a third convex pillar 168c which are sequentially arranged. One end of any two adjacent positioning bodies 191 is simultaneously sleeved on the second convex column 168b, and the other end of the two positioning bodies 191 is respectively sleeved on the first convex column 168a and the third convex column 168 c. The connection relationship between the n convex columns and the n-1 positioning bodies 191, and so on.

As shown in fig. 9 and 10, in the present embodiment, the positioning body 191 is provided with an arc-shaped sliding slot 192, and the positioning body 191 is sleeved on the protruding column 168 through two ends of the sliding slot 192; when the bending portion 15 is bent, the two protruding columns 168 in the same positioning body 191 slide relatively in the sliding grooves 192 of the positioning body. Specifically, the positioning body 191 is substantially in the shape of an arc ring, the sliding groove 192 includes a first end 193 and a second end 194 opposite to the first end 193, the two ends 192 and 194 are at two end positions of the arc, and two protruding columns 168 in the same positioning body 191 are respectively located at the first end 193 and the second end 194. When the flexible supporting plate 17 is bent, the connecting rod 16 is pulled by a pulling force opposite to the bending direction, one side of the connecting rod 16 provided with the first surface 161 moves towards the pulling direction, the two connecting rods 16 are relatively closed by an arc-shaped moving track, the two convex columns 168 are opposite in the sliding grooves 192 of the positioning bodies, the two positioning bodies 191 are sleeved on the same convex column 168, the rotating position of the connecting rod 16 can be limited by the friction force between the two positioning bodies 191 and the friction force between the positioning bodies 191 and the convex columns 168, the bending angle of the bending part 15 is further limited, and the first supporting body 11 and the second supporting body 12 are positioned at an angle. In other embodiments, the positioning bodies 191 may be strip-shaped sheets, through slots are formed at two ends of each positioning body 191, and the positioning body 191 is sleeved on the protruding columns 168 through the through slots.

In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 6, a protection plate 169 is disposed at the free end of each convex column 168, and the protection plates 169 of the convex columns 168 of the n connecting rods 16 are staggered back and forth along the axial direction. The protective plate 169 is a rectangular plate having substantially the same shape and area as the end face of the connecting body 16, and is used to shield the end of the connecting rod. The protective plates 169 on the n convex columns 168 are positioned on the same plane at the odd positions, are positioned on the same plane at the even positions, and are parallel to each other.

In this embodiment, the first supporting body 11 and the second supporting body 12 are rectangular hollow shells, or may be plate bodies, and the first supporting body 11 and the second supporting body 12 may be used to accommodate a power supply and a circuit board lamp device therein, which are determined according to design requirements. In this embodiment, a power supply is provided in the first support 11 or the second support 12; a circuit board connected with a power supply is arranged in the second support body 12 or the first support body 11. The power supply and the circuit board are electrically connected with the flexible screen using the folding mechanism. Two outermost sides of the n connecting rods 16 of the bending portion 15 are respectively connected to one side of the first supporting body 11 and one side of the second supporting body 12, and the fixing manner may be welding or embedding. The first support 11 and the second support 12 may be made of plastic, metal, or other materials. The first support 11 includes a first surface 111, the second support 12 includes a second surface 121, it should be noted that the first surface 111 and the second surface 121 may form a plane and face the same, and the outer surface 171 of the flexible support plate 17 and the first surface 111 and the second surface 121 face the same to support the flexible screen together.

Referring to fig. 11, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal 100, which includes the folding mechanism 50 and a flexible screen 60, wherein the flexible screen 60 is fixed on the first surface 111 of the first supporting body 11 and the second surface 121 of the second supporting body 12, and the flexible supporting plate 17 supports a bending region of the flexible screen 60. The flexible screen 60 is electrically connected to the circuit board.

When the terminal is bent, the first support body 11 and the second support body 13 are turned over relatively to drive the flexible support plate 17 to bend, the connecting rods 16 are extruded towards the bending direction, the gap S provides a moving space to be reduced, and the n connecting rods 16 move to approach each other until the first surfaces 161 form an arc-shaped bearing surface; since the size of the bent bearing surface 160 is smaller than that of the flat state, the bending portion 15 does not generate a pulling force on the first supporting body 11 and the second supporting body 12 to stretch the flexible screen 60 during the bending process, so as to avoid damaging the flexible screen 60 and ensure the display function.

While the foregoing is directed to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

A folding mechanism is characterized by comprising a first support body, a second support body and a bent part, wherein the bent part is connected between the first support body and the second support body so as to realize the turnover of the first support body relative to the second support body;

the bending part comprises a flexible support plate and n connecting rods arranged side by side, the outer surface of the flexible support plate is used for bearing the flexible screen, the first surfaces of the n connecting rods jointly form a bearing surface for bearing the flexible support plate, the first surfaces of the n connecting rods are sequentially fixed on the surface of the flexible support plate, a gap is arranged between any two adjacent connecting rods in the n connecting rods, and the width of the gap from the connecting rods to the direction of the flexible support plate is gradually reduced,

the length of the flexible supporting plate is unchanged in the bending process, when the bending portion is bent, the flexible supporting plate is bent to drive the n connecting rods to be close to each other, a gap between any two connecting rods is reduced, so that the length of the bent bearing surface is equal to the length of the bearing surface when the bearing surface is unfolded, wherein n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1.
The folding mechanism of claim 1, wherein said flexible support plate is a plate made of one of flexible stainless steel, carbon fiber composite, kevlar.
The folding mechanism of claim 2, wherein any two adjacent connecting rods are movably connected by a limiting portion, and the limiting portion is used for limiting the bending direction of the bending portion.
The folding mechanism of claim 3 wherein said limiting portion includes a limiting protrusion and a limiting groove, each of said connecting rods includes two opposing sides connecting said first and second surfaces,

one side surface of each connecting rod except one connecting rod connected with the first supporting body in the n connecting rods is provided with the limiting groove,

the other side surface of each connecting rod except one connecting rod connected with the second support body in the n connecting rods is provided with the limiting bulge;

and any two adjacent connecting rods in the n connecting rods are spliced with the limiting groove through limiting bulges, and the extending directions of the limiting bulges of the n connecting rods are the same.
The folding mechanism of claim 2 or 4, further comprising a positioning member bent along the bending portion, wherein each of the connecting rods includes an end surface connecting the first surface and the second surface, and the end surface of each of the connecting rods is provided with a convex pillar;

the positioning piece is sleeved on the convex columns of the n connecting rods, and the bending angle of the bending part is positioned through the positioning piece and the friction force between the positioning piece and the convex columns.
The folding mechanism of claim 5 wherein said positioning members comprise n-1 positioning bodies; the convex columns of the n connecting rods comprise a first convex column, a second convex column and a third convex column which are sequentially arranged, one end of each positioning body is adjacent to the corresponding first convex column, one end of each positioning body is sleeved on the corresponding second convex column, and the other ends of the two positioning bodies are sleeved on the first convex column and the corresponding third convex column respectively.
The folding mechanism of claim 6 wherein said positioning body has an arcuate slot, said positioning body being sleeved over said post by said slot; when the bending part is bent, the two convex columns in the same positioning body slide in the sliding groove of the positioning body.
The folding mechanism of claim 5 wherein said positioning members are strip-shaped pieces, and each positioning member has a through slot at both ends thereof, and said positioning member is sleeved on said post through said through slots.
A folding mechanism as claimed in claim 5, wherein a protection plate is provided at the free end of each of said posts, the protection plates of the posts of the n connecting rods being staggered axially back and forth.
The folding mechanism of claim 1 wherein said first support or said second support has a power source disposed therein; and a circuit board connected with the power supply is arranged in the second support body or the first support body.
A terminal, comprising the folding mechanism of any one of claims 1 to 10 and a flexible screen fixed to the first and second supports, the flexible screen being supported by the flexible support plate.
The terminal of claim 12, wherein a power source is disposed within the first support or the second support; and a circuit board connected with the power supply is arranged in the second support body or the first support body, and the flexible screen is electrically connected with the circuit board.