Field of the Invention

This invention generally relates to hinge mechanism and more particularly pertaining to hinge on the top cover of Fan Tray Units in telecom equipments.

Background of the Invention

Telecommunication circuit networks essentially consist of electronic gadgets arranged in a system. This system provides for a front panel consisting of a face plate, Printed Circuit Board (PCB), card cage and a latch mechanism on either side of the face plate to fasten the front panel with the chassis. The front panel with the PCB is guided by a card cage to attach the PCB with the back plane of the system. The face plate area through the openings is the access point to the services offered by the PCB. The chassis can accommodate as many PCB's that are designed to accommodate. Adverse effects of heat generation by the electronic gadgets are cooled by Fan Tray Units located in the chassis. The Fan Tray Units are provided with an air filter which has to be replaced at regular intervals. The disadvantage with the existing system was that each time an air filter was to be replaced the entire Fan Tray Unit has to be removed from the chassis and the front face of the fan tray unit has to be opened to remove the air filter and then replace it with a new one. This involved repeated removal and assembling of the system which adds to the wear and tear of the system and further much valuable time was lost in the removal and assembly of the system, thereby increasing the burden of maintaining innumerable similar such equipments. For certain systems the fan will not be available for the duration of maintenance.

Summary of the Invention

An aspect of the present invention is to address at least the above mentioned problem or disadvantage and to provide the advantages as discussed below:

Accordingly an aspect of the present invention is to provide a two piece hinge mechanism to provide a fastener less air filter replacement solution for Fan Tray Units. In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention the top cover of the Fan Tray Unit was converted into an assembly of two halves, one male and the other female. A protrusion in the male piece and a slot in the female piece form the coupling intersection. Either of the male protrusion or female slot is joggled at the coupling intersection or both the male protrusion and the female slot are joggled at the coupling intersection thus facilitating the coupling of both the pieces. Upon coupling an obstruction is made upon the male protrusion such that the depth or size of the obstruction is greater that the slot width of the female piece. The obstruction thus caused can also be on the system. This provides for a hinge locking and prevents both the pieces from decoupling. This feature facilitated easy replacement of air filters wherein just by lifting one cover piece of the fan tray unit, air filters could be replaced by removal and fixing without removing the entire fan tray unit.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

Brief description of the drawings

The features, advantages and other aspects of the embodiments of the present invention will be obvious to any person skilled in the art to appreciate the invention when read with the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 depicts the lateral bottom view of the male piece in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 depicts the lateral bottom view of the female piece in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention

Figure 3 depicts the lateral bottom view of the hinge locking mechanism in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention

Figure 4 depicts the lateral bottom view of the hinge motion in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention

Figure 5 depicts the lateral top view of the hinge locking mechanism in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention

Figure 6 depicts the lateral bottom view of the hinge locking mechanism in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention

Figure 7 depicts the lateral bottom view of the hinge locking mechanism in accordance with another aspect of the embodiment of the present invention

Figure 8 depicts the lateral bottom view of the hinge locking mechanism in accordance with yet another aspect of the embodiment of the present invention

The figures are not drawn to scale and are illustrated for simplicity and clarity to help understand the various embodiments of the present invention. Throughout the drawings it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features and structures.

Detail description of the Invention

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Figs. 1 to 8 discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way that would limit the scope of the disclosure.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged systems. The terms used to describe various embodiments are exemplary. It should be understood that these are provided to merely aid the understanding of the description, and that their use and definitions in no way limit the scope of the invention.

By the term "substantially" it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide

Figure 1 depicts a male piece 10 having a protrusion 10e with a joggled part 10f on 10e. The male piece 10 is covered lengthwise on two sides denoted as 10a and 10b. The shape of the male piece 10_resembles a box like structure capable of enclosing any suitable substances within the area 10c. The substance enclosed could be an air filter for fan tray units in telecom equipments removable through the open side 10J. A circular opening 10d on the male surface area 10c acts as an air inlet for cooling the heat generated by the electronic gadgets. The openings 10q provided on the sides 10a and 10b enables the male piece 10 to get it attached with a system. The present inventor envisages the possibility of having a male piece with or without a joggle, of varying shapes and sizes adapting to a specific need and utility in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 2 depicts a female piece 20 having a protrusion 20e with a joggled part 20f on 20e. The female piece 20 is covered on three sides by rectangular flaps denoted as 20a. 20b and 20c. The protrusion 20e is bent to form a joggle 20f at an angle or an arc angle. A slot 20h is provided on the joggled part 20f with a part extending on the protrusion 20e. The slot 20h on the joggled part is provided with a pre-determined slot width on the joggled surface 20f at the bottom most part of the protrude 20e. The slot 20h on the joggled part of the female piece creates an interface to enable coupling it with the male protruded part 10e. The openings 20g provided on the sides 20a and 20b enables the female piece 20 to get it attached with a system.

Figure 3 depicts a hinge formed out of coupling of the male piece 10 with the female piece 20 in accordance with one aspect of the invention. Figure 1 depicting the male piece is coupled to the female piece by insertion of the protrude 10e within the slot 20h of the female piece. After insertion, an obstruction 10h is created on the male protrudes 10e such that the obstruction thus created prevents the male and female piece from decoupling.

Figure 4 depicts the hinge motion after the coupling of male and female pieces in one embodiment of the present invention, particularly at an angle visualizing the movement at the coupling intersection. The motion is directed towards complete coupling position as shown in figure 5.

In the coupling mechanism as illustrated above, the two pieces in a completely coupled position have a linear alignment as shown in figure 5 where the slot 20h provided in the joggled part 20f of the female protrusion 20e is at the bottom most part/position of the protrusion 20e. The male protrusion 10e is at a determined length such that when its entire length is well within the slot, it is at a completely coupled position. Within the coupled position there can be a limited movement horizontally and vertically corresponding to the slot width and the length between male protrusion 10e and the created obstruction 10h on the male piece.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, as can be seen from figure 3, the slot 20h on the female joggled part 20f, when it is at the bottom most part of the protrusion 20e enables the coupling of male protrusion 10e with the female slot 20h so as to provide for a close fit and linear alignment of both the pieces. The present inventor envisages the possibility of providing a slot 20h anywhere on the female protrusion 20e with or without a joggle such that upon coupling of the male and female pieces and creating an obstruction 10h. on male protrusion 10e, it also provides for a hinge mechanism depending on the applications it is used and in applications where hinge mechanism requiring a non-alignment in either of two pieces are sought.

In accordance with the embodiments of the invention the slot 20h provided on the female piece as seen in the above illustrated diagrams can be accomplished by cutting, slitting, drilling, cutting a part and bending, or removal of material in any known methods. The obstruction 10h thus shown in the above illustrative diagrams created on the male piece after coupling is such that the width of the obstruction when added up with the thickness of the male protrusion 10e exceeds the width of the slot 20h. The obstruction thus caused can be accomplished by using a plunge feature 10h as shown in figure 3. The obstruction on the male protrude upon coupling can also be created by bending the edge of the male protrude 10e as denoted by 10j in figure 6. Further the obstruction can also be made by hemming the edge of the male protrude 10e as denoted by 10k in figure 7. Another form of creating an obstruction on the male protrude 10e can be performed by kinking the edge of the male protrude as denoted by 10m in figure 8. In addition to this, the inventor envisages the possibility of creating an obstruction by cutting, slitting, stamping or by removal of material by known methods. The obstruction thus caused can also be on the system. The surface area of the male piece 10c acts as an obstruction to the slot in the mating direction and the obstruction thus provided by 10h, 10j, 10k. 10m or by any of the methods explained above after coupling of the male and female protrusions acts as an obstruction in the opposite direction to the slot. Similarly for the slot 20h, the surface area 20d of the female piece acts as an obstruction in one direction and in the reverse direction obstruction 10h, 10i, 10k, 10m acts as an obstruction. In this manner the decoupling of the coupled male and female pieces are prevented.

The coupled position of male and female pieces caused due to an obstruction on either ends enables a limited horizontal and vertical motion on either of the two pieces thus providing for a hinge mechanism. This hinge mechanism essentially consists of two pieces and either of the two pieces can be fixed or moved. For the purposes of illustration as it can be seen from the diagrams that either of the male or female piece can be an integral part of any entity, system etc., or clamped to another entity or a system by the openings 10g and 20g provided on male and female piece respectively.

The male piece area 10c can be used as a hinged top cover with a magnet to hold the top cover in place. Instead of a magnet to hold the hinged top covers in place other simple attaching mechanism like adhesive tapes and straps etc. could be provided. This facilitates easy removal of top cover that can be lifted from the completely coupled position and allowed to have hinge movement and then replaced. A hinge device as illustrated above can be made from any desired material preferably steel, mild steel, plastic, fibre, moulded materials, etc.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. For example, although the protrusion 20e at the female piece is provided with a joggle 20f and a slot 20h over the joggled surface at the coupling intersection, it may be possible to have a slot anywhere over the female protrusion 20e without a joggle and the male protrusion 10e without a joggle or having a joggle either with a sharp angle or an arc angle at the coupling intersection and still both the pieces upon coupling and creating an obstruction on the male protrusion 10e such that the obstruction prevents its decoupling, also provide for a hinge locking and hinge mechanism. The obstruction can also be on the system.

It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to device numerous alternative arrangements that, while now shown or described herein, embody the principles of the invention and thus are within its spirit and scope.

Advantages:

1. The hinge mechanism provided on the top cover of the fan tray units had a retro fit and so it enabled easy replacement of air filters simply by pulling the top cover from its place and replacing the worn out air filters with a new one and then putting the top cover in its place. This was done without any requirement to remove the entire fan tray unit from the chassis or to remove the casing of the fan tray units thereby reducing the work load and conserving the valuable time.

2. This hinge essentially consists of two pieces and either one of the piece could be integral with the system. Therefore this hinge is simplistic and so easy and economical in production or fabrication.

3. Except for two pieces, it does not involve additional components like rivets, screws etc., for fastening or coupling. Therefore it has cost advantage.

We claim:

1. A method for a hinge by steps comprising of

Making a slotted piece, called female piece, and

Making another piece, called male piece, coupled through the slotted piece and

Providing at least one obstruction on the pieces such that the male and female pieces are not decoupled.

2. Obstruction in claim 1 includes providing an obstruction before coupling.

3. Obstruction in claim 1 includes obstruction on the male piece after coupling in such a way that they are not decoupled.

4. Obstruction in claim 1 further includes obstruction on the female piece after coupling in such a way that they are not decoupled.

5. Providing at least one obstruction in claim 1 includes obstructions not provided on any of the two pieces.

6. Obstruction not provided on any of the two pieces in claim 5 includes obstructions provided externally for preventing decoupling.

7. Slot in claim 1 includes creating an interface by cutting, slitting, drilling or by removal of material etc.,

8. Obstruction on the male piece in claim 3 includes creating an obstruction by cutting, slitting, plunging, stamping, kinking, hemming, bending or removal of material etc.,

9. Coupled in claim 1 includes coupling the male and female pieces by providing a joggle either on one piece or both at the coupling intersection.

10. Hinge in claim 1 further includes a coupling held together horizontally or inclined at an angle.

11. Hinge in claim 1 further includes coupling a piece with one of the piece integral with the systems including air filters of Fan Tray Units, battery cover for battery cage, enclosure for electronic equipments etc.,

12. Hinge in claim 1 further includes hinges made of steel, mild steel, plastic, fibre, moulded materials etc.,

13. A Hinge made of A slotted piece, called female piece, and Another piece, called male piece, coupled through the slotted piece and Providing at least one obstruction in either of the pieces preventing the male and female pieces from decoupling.

14. The Hinge substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.