In collaboration with Holland Container Innovations (HCI), TU Delft and STW ValorisationGrant.
Description | The past years InteSpring and Holland Container Innovations (HCI) have collaborated on the development and testing of torsion bars for balancing of hinged objects. Torsion bars can store a large amount of energy relative to their volume, because almost no change in volume is associated with its rotation. Therefore, by using torsion bars instead of conventional springs substantial space savings can be realized in the design of a product.
Thanks to the torsion bars the hinged object can move up and down easily, and can remain in any position because the forces of the torsion bars and the mass are balanced. The length of the torsion bar that rotates can be adjusted by clamping the bar at a certain distance. This way, an adjustable system is created where for different masses an appropriate active length of the bar can be selected.
Implementation | InteSpring is conducting research into various applications of torsion bars. During the past year, several concepts have been conceived and developed in computer models in order to select the best concepts and develop them further into physical models to be tested in practice. InteSpring develops torsion bar hinge systems looking at quality of balance, adjustability for different weights and the best way to integrate the balancing system into a hinge. Material efficiency, manufacturability and scalability play an important role in the developments.
Systems that are hinged at the top are different from systems which are hinged at the bottom. Specifically, a ‘negative stiffness’ is needed for systems hinged at the top. Within the overarching research on torsion bars, in cooperation with the Delft University of Technology and funded by an STW Valorisation Grant, InteSpring does research into the existence of `negative stiffness’ balancing systems that serve as hinges. One advantage of a hinge at the top (such as a high kitchen cabinet where the door opens upwards) is that the hinge system is both visually and physically not intrusive.
Follow-up | InteSpring sees several possibilities for the application of torsion bars in the furniture hinge systems. Think of a TV-commode where the TV is hidden horizontally in the cabinet’s top, and can be folded out vertically. HCI uses the technology to balance the walls of foldable containers. There are many potential application markets imaginable for the torsion hinge system.