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(11) | EP 1 162 702 A2 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Pivotal power supply plug device |
| (57) A pivotal power supply plug device having a compact and simple structure corresponding
to 200 V of the European and U. S. standards and formed with a reduced number of parts
can be provided. A plug supporting piece (10) is pivotably provided on one end side
of an insertion plug storing recess (3) provided at a surface of a housing (1). Insertion
plugs (11, 11) made of a metal conductive material are supported at the plug supporting
piece (10) and projected therefrom. A contact (19) in electrical connection with each
insertion plug (11) is provided at the bottom surface (10b) of the plug supporting
piece (10). Each contact (19) is contacted to a connection terminal (20) in the housing
(1) when the plug supporting piece (10) is upraised together with the insertion plugs
(11, 11). The insertion plugs (11, 11) are pushed down together with the plug supporting
piece (10) and stored into the recess (3). A stopper projection (31) is provided at
a bottom surface (10a) of the plug supporting piece (10) and is urged by a spring
(36) in the projecting direction and allowed to advance/retract. A stopper operation
knob (34) for operating the stopper projection (31) in the retracting direction is
provided on a surface of the plug supporting piece (10). The housing (1) includes
a stopper engagement portion (30) to which the stopper projection (31) engages when
the insertion plugs (11) are upraised. |
[0001] The present invention mainly relates to a pivotal power supply plug device for use in an AC charger or the like for charging a storage battery type portable electronic appliance from an AC power supply, and more specifically, to a pivotal power supply plug device having an insertion plug stored in the recessed portion of the housing and allowing the plug to project for insertion into a receptacle in use.
[0002] Conventional AC chargers used to charge a storage battery for a portable electronic appliance such as cellular phones and notebook type personal computers and mainly connected to a power supply of 200 V based on the European standards have the following structure. As shown in Fig. 11, a plug supporting piece 102 is integrally formed with a housing 101, and round rod type, insertion plugs 103, 103 project as they are supported by the plug supporting piece 102.
[0003] The device thus having insertion plugs projecting from the housing plug in a fixed manner could be bulky as a whole and inconvenient for carrying. However, most of these round rod type plugs typically have integrally formed insertion plugs projecting from the housing.
[0004] Meanwhile, as a device disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. Hei. 6-68930, for example, various kinds of pivotal power supply plug devices have been developed and used for AC chargers according to the Japanese standards. In such a device, a pair of insertion plugs having a rectangular plate shape are integrally held by a plug supporting piece, and the plug supporting piece is pivotably supported at the housing. The insertion plugs are pushed down together with the supporting piece into a plug storing recess formed at the outer surface of the housing when they are not in use. The plugs are upraised in the direction to project perpendicularly to the housing when they are in use.
[0005] Note however that the conventional pivotal power supply plug device of this type according to the Japanese standards cannot be used as they are as a power supply plug device corresponding to 200 V according to the European and U.S. standards.
[0006] A conventional pivotal power supply plug device has a complicated mechanism for protecting the plug supporting piece from falling toward the housing or for releasing such protection, which increases the size of the housing. This imposes a limit for reducing the size of the device.
[0007] The present invention is directed to a solution to the problems associated with the conventional devices, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a pivotal power supply plug device having a compact and simple structure corresponding to the European and U.S. standards of 200 V and formed with a reduced number of parts.
[0008] In order to solve the problems associated with the conventional device described above and achieve the primary object, a pivotal power supply plug device according to the present invention is composed of a housing; an insertion plug storing recess provided at a surface of the housing; a plug supporting piece pivotably supported on one end side of the recess; insertion plugs made of a conductive metal material supported at and projecting from the plug supporting piece; and contacts in electrical connection with respective insertion plugs and provided at a bottom surface of the plug supporting piece. The contacts are contacted to respective connection terminals in the housing when the plug supporting piece is upraised together with the insertion plugs, and the insertion plugs are pushed down and stored into the recess together with the plug supporting piece. In the construction, a stopper projection is provided at a bottom surface of the plug supporting piece, and the projection is urged by a spring in the projecting direction and allowed to advance/retract. A stopper operation knob for operating the stopper projection in the retracting direction is provided on a surface of the plug supporting piece. The housing includes a stopper engagement portion to which the stopper projection engages when the insertion plugs are upraised.
[0009] The above-described device preferably has the following features. More specifically, a slider may be provided to be movably stored in the plug supporting piece, and the stopper operation knob may be integrally provided at the back surface of the slider. The stopper projection may be integrally provided at a tip end of the slider on the side in the moving direction of the slider. The slider may be urged in the direction to press the stopper projection using the spring. A surface of the plug supporting piece opposite to the plug projection surface may be formed into a semi-cylindrical surface around the pivotal center of the plug supporting piece, and the bottom surface of the recess may be extended to a position in close proximity to the semi-cylindrical surface of the plug supporting piece. An electronic circuit device for an AC charger may be stored in the housing main body, terminals in contact with the contacts on the back surface of the plug supporting piece may be fixed to a printed circuit board in the circuit device. Moreover, the insertion plug may have a round rod shape.
[0010] In the accompanying drawings;
Fig. 1 is a front view showing an example of an AC charger to which a pivotal power supply plug device according to the present invention is applied, with the plugs being in an upright state;
Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view thereof;
Fig. 3 is a partially sectional view of a bearing portion in the device shown in Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in Fig. 1;
Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in Fig. 4;
Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line C-C in Fig. 5;
Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line D-D in Fig. 5;
Fig. 8A is a plan view of a slider in the device shown in Fig. 1;
Fig. 8B is a front view thereof;
Fig. 8C is a vertical sectional view thereof;
Fig. 9A is a plan view of a main body in a plug supporting piece of the device shown in Fig. 1;
Fig. 9B is a front view thereof;
Fig. 9C is a vertical sectional view thereof;
Fig. 10A is a plan view of a lid body in the plug supporting piece of the device shown in Fig. 1;
Fig. 10B is a front view thereof;
Fig. 10C is a vertical sectional view thereof; and
Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a conventional device.
[0011] An embodiment of the present invention will be now described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
[0012] Figs. 1 to 10 show a pivotal type power supply plug device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0013] According to the embodiment, in a power supply plug device for 200 V, round rod shaped insertion plugs are pivotably supported at a housing. The reference numeral 1 represents the housing in the drawings. The housing 1 is formed into a hollow box shape by fitting a housing main body 1a and a lid body 1b with one another.
[0014] A so-called AC charger circuit to convert an AC power supply of 200 V to a DC power supply of 6V for supplying to a battery in a cellular phone or the like is held on a substrate 2 and stored in the housing main body 1a.
[0015] A plug storing recess 3 is integrally formed at the lid body 1b in a shape with the outer surface of the lid body being depressed. A plug supporting piece 10 made of insulating synthetic resin is pivotably stored within one end of the recess 3. The round rod shaped insertion plugs 11 have their proximal end sides integrally buried in the plug supporting piece 10 and projected therefrom.
[0016] At both ends of the plug supporting piece 10, shafts 10a, 10a are integrally provided at the rotation center of the plug supporting piece 10 and project therefrom. The shafts are pivotally supported by bearings 12, 12 provided at both end portions of the recess 3.
[0017] The bearings 12 each include a pair of bearing half bodies 12a, 12b having an approximately semi-circular shape provided on the sides of the housing main body 1a and of the lid body 1b, respectively. One bearing half body 12a is formed at the tip end of a bearing projection piece 13 projecting from the housing main body 1a, while the other bearing half body 12b is formed under a bearing bracket piece 14 projecting horizontally to the opening edge on both side portions of the recess 3 on the one end side in the lid body 1b. The housing main body 1a and the lid body 1b are fitted with one another so that the bearing projection piece 13 is inserted into the lid body 1b, and both half bodies 12a and 12b are joined with one another to form the circular bearing 12.
[0018] The plug supporting piece 10 is set into the recess 3 as the shaft 10a is thus adjusted to the bearing half body 12b. Then, the lid body 1b and the housing main body 1a are fitted, which causes the bearing projection piece 13 on the main body to be inserted into the lid body 1b. Then, the bearing half body 12a on the tip end thereof is adjusted to the other bearing half body 12b from the lower side of the shaft 10a, and the bearing 12 supporting the shaft 10a is assembled. Thus, the assembling operation for the plug supporting piece 10 to the housing 1 is completed.
[0019] The bottom surface 10b of the plug supporting piece 10 on the opposite side to the plug projection portion is formed into a semi-cylindrical surface around the rotation center of the shafts 10a, 10a. The bottom plate portion 3a of the recess 3 has its end extended to a position under the plug supporting piece 10, and has its upper surface substantially in contact with the bottom surface 10b.
[0020] A window hole 16 through which the bearing projection piece 13 projecting at the housing main body 1a is passed is provided on both sides of the end of the bottom plate portion 3a.
[0021] At the bottom surface of the plug supporting piece 10, in a position extended from the buried rear end of the insertion plugs, contacts 19, 19 in electrical connection with the plugs are provided in a projecting manner. Meanwhile, on the surface of the substrate 2 for the AC charger circuit stored in the housing main body 1a, a connection terminal 20 of a plate spring is fixed at a position of the plug supporting piece 10 corresponding to each contact 19. The insertion plugs are pivoted in the upright direction together with the plug supporting piece 10, so that each contact 19 is elastically contacted into the contact terminal 20.
[0022] The substrate 2 is fixed by a screw 21 at a position to block the opening of the lid body 1b. The lid body 1b and the housing main body 1a are fitted with one another, so that electronic parts for each circuit fixed at the substrate 2 are stored in the housing main body 1a.
[0023] The plug storing recess 3 has a wide portion formed to have a depth and a width corresponding to the outer shape of the plug supporting piece 10 and a narrow portion narrower and shallower than the wide portion and having a depth and a width corresponding to the length and width of both insertion plugs 11. These wide portion and the narrow portion are formed in a continuous arrangement, and the entire plug supporting piece 10. The insertion plugs 11 are stored into the plug storing recess 3 as the insertion plugs 11 are pushed down to be parallel to the upper surface of the housing.
[0024] On both sides of the narrow portion in the plug storing recess 3, a pair of plug engagement projections 22, 22 facing to the central side of the open edge portion are integrally provided. When the insertion plugs are pushed down into the recess 3, the engagement projections 22, 22 elastically deform the insertion plugs to be pressed in, which restricts the operation of the insertion plugs 11 in the uprising direction, and the storing state in the recess 3 is maintained.
[0025] A power supply output cord guiding window 23 is formed at the housing main body 1a, and an electrical cord 24 for DC power supply output extends outward from the window.
[0026] A falling protection mechanism is provided at the plug supporting piece 10 and the bottom plate portion 3a of the plug storing recess 3. In this mechanism, a stopper projection 31 projecting in a retractable manner at the bottom surface, in other words on a surface of the plug supporting piece 10 on the opposite side to the plug projection portion, engages a stopper engagement portion 30 formed as an opening at the end of the bottom plate portion 3a, so that the plug supporting piece 10 can be prevented from falling. When the projection 31 is retracted into the plug supporting piece 10, the engagement is released, which allows the plug supporting piece 10 to pivot in the falling direction.
[0027] The stopper projection 31 is formed integrally to the tip end of a slider 33 and projects therefrom. The slider 33 is slidably stored in a slide groove 32 formed in the central part of the plug supporting piece 10.
[0028] The slider 33 is formed into a rectangular plate shape as shown in Fig. 8, and has the stopper projection 31 described above at its tip end and an integrally formed, projecting stopper operation knob 34 at the central part of its front surface. The stopper projection 31 is fitted into a projection insertion hole opened at the center of the bottom surface of the plug supporting piece 10, while the stopper operation knob 34 is incorporated in a manner projecting outward from a window hole 35 formed at the front surface of the plug supporting piece 10. A coil spring 36 urges the stopper projection 31 in the projecting direction.
[0029] The stopper projection 31 has an inclined surface 31a formed by one side in the pivoting direction of the plug supporting piece 10, so that the inclined surface 31a slides and is pressed into contact with the tip end surface of the bottom plate portion 3a of the recess during the uprising operation of the insertion plugs 11. Then, the surface 31a reaches the stopper engagement portion 30, is pressed by a coil spring 36 and projects into the engaging portion 30 to stop the pivotal movement of the plug supporting piece 10.
[0030] The plug supporting piece 10 includes a main body 40 as shown in Fig. 9, and a lid body 41 as shown in Fig. 10. Round rod shaped, insertion plugs 11, 11 are incorporated in symmetrical positions on both sides in the main body 40, and a slider storing portion 42 is formed in the central part thereof. In communication with the slider storing portion 42, a window hole 42 is opened. The lid body 41 has a slider presser 44 formed integrally at its central part and projecting therefrom.
[0031] The main body 40 and lid body 41 have contact fitting portions 45a, 45b formed at a bottom surface of the plug supporting piece, and the fitting portions are fitted with contacts 19, so that the main body 40 is fitted with the lid body 41. As a result, contacts 19 are incorporated in an undetachable manner. The contacts 19 are in electrical connection with the insertion plugs 11 through conduction members 46.
[0032] In the pivotal power supply plug device as described above, the insertion plugs are pushed down into the recess 3 together with the plug supporting piece 10 when the device is not used, and the projection of the plugs is leveled, which makes the device into a less bulky, easy to carry form. In use, the insertion plugs 11 are pulled up from the recess 3 and pivoted in the uprising direction around the shafts 10a, 10a, and the falling protection projection 31 which projects from the plug supporting piece 10 is engaged with the stopper engagement portion 30 opened at the bottom plate portion 3a of the recess 3 to maintain the upright state. At the same time, each contact 19 elastically contacts the connection terminal 20 on the substrate 2 to establish electrical connection with the AC charger circuit.
[0033] From this upright state, using the stopper operation knob 34, the slider 33 is operated in the direction to retract the projection against the coil spring 36, so that the stopper projection 31 is retracted into the plug supporting piece 10. The engagement with the stopper engagement portion 30 is released, so that the operation of the plug supporting piece 10 in the falling direction is enabled.
[0034] As in the forgoing, a pivotal power supply plug device according to the present invention includes a housing; an insertion plug storing recess provided at a surface of the housing; a plug supporting piece pivotably supported on one end side of the recess; insertion plugs made of a conductive metal material supported at and projecting from the plug supporting piece; and contacts in electrical connection with respective insertion plugs provided at a bottom surface of the plug supporting piece. The contacts are contacted to respective connection terminals in the housing when the plug supporting piece is upraised together with the insertion plugs. The insertion plugs are pushed down and stored into the recess together with the plug supporting piece. The stopper projection is provided at a bottom surface of the plug supporting piece and the projection is urged in the projecting direction by a spring and allowed to advance/retract. The stopper operation knob for operating the stopper projection in the retracting direction is provided on a surface of the plug supporting piece. The housing includes a stopper engagement portion to which the stopper projection engages when the insertion plugs are upraised. Therefore, the falling protection mechanism for the insertion plugs in the upright state is accommodated in the plug supporting piece, and the plug supporting piece is stored in the plug storing recess when it is not in use. Therefore, the mechanism can be mounted without increasing the size of the housing. In addition, as the falling protection mechanism is incorporated in the plug supporting piece, the plug supporting piece can be incorporated in the housing, which alleviates the assembling operation.
[0035] Furthermore, according to the present invention, in the pivotal power supply plug device as described above, a slider is provided to be movably stored in the plug supporting piece, and the stopper operation knob is integrally provided at the back surface of the slider. Moreover, the stopper projection is integrally provided to the tip end of the slider on the side in the moving direction of the slider, and the slider is urged in the direction to press the stopper projection using the spring. Therefore, a compact falling protection mechanism can be implemented with a reduced number of parts. In a power supply plug device for 200 V according to the European standards using round rod shaped insertion plugs. In particular, the mechanism can be incorporated without increasing the shape of the plug supporting piece.
[0036] In addition, in the pivotal power supply plug device as described above, a surface of the plug supporting piece opposite to the plug projection surface is formed into a semi-cylindrical surface around the pivotal center of the plug supporting piece, and the bottom surface of the recess is extended to a position in close proximity to the semi-cylindrical surface of the plug supporting piece. Therefore, the back surface of the pivoting plug supporting piece and the bottom surface of the recess are always in the close proximity, so that the gap connecting to the inside of the housing can be readily set to a size equal to or lower than a prescribed specification.
[0037] Furthermore, according to the present invention, in the above described pivotal power supply plug device, an electronic circuit device for an AC charger is stored in the housing main body, terminals in contact with the contacts on the back surface of the plug supporting piece is fixed to a printed circuit board in the circuit device. Thus, a compact and convenient-to-carry AC charger having foldable plugs can be implemented.
1. A pivotal power supply plug device, comprising :
a housing (1);
an insertion plug storing recess (3) provided at a surface of the housing (1);
a plug supporting piece (10) pivotably supported on one end side of the recess (3);
insertion plugs (11,11) made of a conductive metal material supported at and projecting from the plug supporting piece (10); and
contacts (19, 19) in electrical connection with the respective insertion plugs (11, 11) and provided at a bottom surface of the plug supporting piece (10), the contacts (19, 19) being contacted to respective connection terminals (20, 20) in the housing (1) when the plug supporting piece (10) is upraised together with the insertion plugs (11, 11), the insertion plugs (11, 11) being pushed down and stored into said recess (3) together with said plug supporting piece (10), said device characterised in that
a stopper projection (31) is provided at a bottom surface of said plug supporting piece (10), said projection (31) being urged by a spring (36) in the projecting direction and allowed to advance/retract,
a stopper operation knob (34) for operating the stopper projection (31) in the retracting direction is provided on a surface of said plug supporting piece (10), and
said housing (1) includes a stopper engagement portion (30) to which said stopper projection (31) engages when said insertion plugs (11, 11) are upraised.
2. The pivotal power supply plug device according to claim 1, wherein a slider (33) is
provided to be movably stored in the plug supporting piece (10), the stopper operation
knob (34) is integrally provided at a back surface of the slider (33), the stopper
projection (31) is integrally provided at a tip end of the slider (33) on the side
in the moving direction of the slider (33), and the slider (33) is urged in the direction
to press the stopper projection (31) using the spring (36).
3. The pivotal power supply plug device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a surface
of the plug supporting piece (10) on the opposite side to the plug projection surface
is formed into a semi-cylindrical surface around the pivotal center of the plug supporting
piece (10), and the bottom surface of said recess (3) is extended to a position in
close proximity to the semi-cylindrical surface of said plug supporting piece (10).
4. The pivotal power supply plug device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein
an electronic circuit device for an AC charger is accommodated in the housing main
body (1a), terminals in contact with the respective contacts (19, 19) on the back
surface of the plug supporting piece are fixed to a printed circuit board in said
circuit device.
5. The pivotal power supply plug device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein
each insertion plug (11) has a round rod shape.