Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B15/00—Escapements
  • G04B15/06—Free escapements
  • G04B15/08—Lever escapements
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B15/00—Escapements
  • G04B15/14—Component parts or constructional details, e.g. construction of the lever or the escape wheel
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B17/00—Mechanisms for stabilising frequency
  • G04B17/20—Compensation of mechanisms for stabilising frequency
  • G04B17/28—Compensation of mechanisms for stabilising frequency for the effect of imbalance of the weights, e.g. tourbillon
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B18/00—Mechanisms for setting frequency
  • G04B18/02—Regulator or adjustment devices; Indexing devices, e.g. raquettes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B31/00—Bearings; Point suspensions or counter-point suspensions; Pivot bearings; Single parts therefor
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B17/00—Mechanisms for stabilising frequency
  • G04B17/04—Oscillators acting by spring tension
  • G04B17/045—Oscillators acting by spring tension with oscillating blade springs
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
  • G04B17/00—Mechanisms for stabilising frequency
  • G04B17/20—Compensation of mechanisms for stabilising frequency
  • G04B17/26—Compensation of mechanisms for stabilising frequency for the effect of variations of the impulses

Definitions

• the invention relates to a timepiece control mechanism, comprising, arranged on a plate, a resonator mechanism of a Q quality factor, and an exhaust mechanism which is subjected to a pair of motor means that comprises a movement, said resonator mechanism comprising an inertial element arranged to oscillate with respect to said plate, said inertial element being subjected to the action of elastic return means fixed directly or indirectly to said plate, and said inertial element being arranged to cooperate with a mobile device; exhaust that includes said exhaust mechanism.
• the invention also relates to a watch movement comprising motor means, and such a regulating mechanism, the exhaust mechanism is subject to the torque of these motor means.
• the invention also relates to a watch, more particularly a mechanical watch, comprising such a movement, and / or such a regulating mechanism.
• the invention relates to the field of clock regulation mechanisms, in particular for watches.
• a balance-spring oscillates with an amplitude of 300 °, and the angle of emergence is 50 °.
• the angle of emergence is the angle of the pendulum on which the fork of the anchor interacts with the peg, also called ellipse, of the pendulum.
• the lifting angle is distributed on either side of the equilibrium balance point (+/- 25 °), and the anchor tilts by +/- 7 °.
• the Swiss lever escapement is part of the free escapement category because, beyond the half-angle of lift, the resonator no longer touches the anchor. This characteristic is essential to obtain good chronometric properties.
• a mechanical resonator comprises an inertial element, a guide and an elastic return element.
• the pendulum constitutes the inertial element
• the spiral constitutes the elastic return element.
• the balance is guided in rotation by pivots, which turn in smooth ruby bearings.
• the associated friction is at the origin of energy losses and disturbances. We try to eliminate these disturbances, which, moreover, depend on the orientation of the watch in the field of gravity.
• the losses are characterized by the quality factor Q of the resonator. It is generally sought to maximize this quality factor Q, so as to obtain the best possible power reserve. It is understood that guidance is an essential factor of losses.
• the use of a rotating flexible guide, in place of the pivots and the traditional hairspring, is a solution that maximizes the quality factor Q.
• the flexible blade resonators as long as they are well designed, have promising chronometric properties, irrespective of the orientation in gravity, and have high quality factors, notably thanks to the absence of pivoting friction.
• the use of flexible guides makes it possible to eliminate the problems of wear of the pivots.
• the flexible blades generally used in such flexible rotating guides are stiffer than spirals. This leads to working at a higher frequency, for example of the order of 20 Hz, and at a lower amplitude, for example from 10 ° to 20 °. At first glance, this seems unlikely to be compatible with a Swiss anchor type escapement.
• An operating amplitude compatible with a rotary flexible guide resonator, in particular blades, is typically 6 ° to 15 °. This results in a certain lift angle value, which must be twice the minimum operating amplitude.
• the resonator must have an acceptable size, compatible with its housing in a clockwork movement, it is not possible today to achieve a flexible rotary guide of very large diameter, or multiple pairs of levels of blades, which would allow in theory, by putting series of successive flexible guides in series, to obtain an amplitude of oscillation of the inertial element of several tens of degrees: it is therefore advisable to use a flexible guide with one or two levels of blades at most for example as known from EP3035126 in the name of THE SWATCH GROUP RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Ltd.
• the effect of the choice of a flexible rotary guide is that the amplitude of the balance is reduced, and that we can no longer use a traditional Swiss lever escapement, which requires a pendulum magnitude significantly greater than half lifting angle, that is to say greater than 25 °.
• a regulator comprising a flexible guide resonator therefore requires a particular exhaust mechanism, with a different dimensioning than would be a usual Swiss lever escapement designed to operate with the same inertial element of the resonator.
• the present invention has the overall objective of increasing the power reserve and accuracy of current mechanical watches. To achieve this objective, the invention combines a rotatable flexible guide resonator with an optimized anchor escapement to maintain acceptable dynamic losses and limit the time effect of the release.
• the invention relates to a regulating mechanism according to claim 1.
• Such rotary flexible guide resonators have very high quality factors, for example of the order of 3000, to be compared with a quality factor of 200 for a usual watch.
• the dynamic losses are independent of the quality factor. These losses can therefore become too high, high quality factor, relative level compared to the energy transmitted to the pendulum.
• a plate anchor integral with the inertial element must penetrate a certain value, called penetration, into the opening of the anchor fork.
• this plateau pin must then be able, after release of the ankle, to be kept at a certain distance, called safety, the horn of the fork opposite to that on which it was in contact immediately before its release.
• the invention seeks to impose a particular relationship, according to claim 4, between the dimensions of the anchor fork, the values of penetration and safety, and the values of the angles of lift of the anchor and of the inertial element, to ensure that the ankle is retracted correctly from the fork, once the half-angle of lift traveled.
• the invention also relates to a watch movement comprising motor means, and such a regulating mechanism, the exhaust mechanism is subject to the torque of these motor means.
• the invention also relates to a watch, more particularly a mechanical watch, comprising such a movement, and / or such a regulating mechanism.
• FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic, partial and perspective view of a watch movement with a platinum carrying a regulating mechanism according to the invention, comprising a flexible guide resonator with two flexible blades arranged on two parallel levels. and crossed in projection, fixed to the plate by means of an elastic element, this resonator comprising a large inertial element, in the form of an omega letter, and whose central part, carried by the two flexible blades, carries a peg arranged to cooperate with a symmetrical anchor, whose pivoting by a metal shaft on the plate is not shown, which cooperates itself with a conventional escape wheel;
• Figure 3 shows, in plan view, the only regulating mechanism of Figure 2, arranged on the stage of the movement;
• Figure 4 shows, in plan view, the detail of the regulating mechanism of Figure 2;
• FIG. 5 shows, in perspective partially exploded, the regulating mechanism of Figure 2;
• FIG. 6 shows, in plan view, a detail of the zone of cooperation between the plate pin of the inertial element of the resonator, and the fork of the anchor, represented in an abutment position on a limiting pin;
• Figure 7 shows, in plan view, the anchor of the mechanism of Figure 2, in the form of bovine horns watusi;
• Figure 8 shows, in plan view, the flexible guide of the mechanism of Figure 2;
• Figure 9 shows, in plan view, a particular embodiment of a level of the flexible guidance of the mechanism of Figure 2;
• FIG. 10 represents, in side view, the regulating mechanism of FIG.
• FIG. 11 represents, in perspective, a detail of the regulating mechanism of FIG. 2, concerning anti-shock abutments at its platen;
• FIGS. 12 to 14 are graphs comprising on the abscissa the torque applied to the escapement wheel, and in ordinate, respectively the amplitude measured in degrees in FIG. 12, the delay in seconds per day in FIG. 13, and the regulator efficiency in% in Figure 14;
• FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a watch comprising a movement with motor means and a regulating mechanism according to the invention.
• the invention combines a rotatable flexible guide resonator to increase power reserve and accuracy, with an optimized anchor escapement to maintain acceptable dynamic losses and limit the timing effect of the release.
• the invention thus relates to a clocking mechanism 300 comprising, arranged on a plate 1, a resonator mechanism 100 of quality factor Q, and an escape mechanism 200, which is subjected to a pair of motor means 400 that has a movement 500.
• This resonator mechanism 100 comprising an inertial element 2 which is arranged to oscillate with respect to the plate 1.
• This inertial element 2 is subjected to the action of elastic return means 3 fixed directly or indirectly to the plate 1.
• the inertial element 2 is arranged to cooperate indirectly with an escape wheel 4, in particular an escape wheel, which the escape mechanism 200 comprises, and which pivots about an exhaust axis DE.
• the resonator mechanism 100 is a virtual pivot rotary resonator, around a main axis DP, with a flexible guide comprising at least two flexible blades 5, and comprises a plateau pin 6 integral with the inertial element 2.
• the escapement mechanism 200 comprises an anchor 7, which pivots around a secondary axis DS and comprises an anchor fork 8 arranged to cooperate with the plate pin 6, and is thus a free escape mechanism: in its operating cycle, the resonator mechanism 100 has at least one phase of freedom where the plate pin 6 is at a distance from the anchor fork 8.
• the resonator lifting angle ⁇ , during which the plate pin 6 is in contact with the anchor fork 8, is less than 10 °.
• the analytical model of the system has shown that, if we want to limit the dynamic losses, a particular condition links the inertia of the anchor, the inertia of the inertial element, the quality factor of the resonator, and the angles of lift of the anchor and the inertial element: for a coefficient ⁇ of dynamic losses, the inertia IB of the inertial element 2 with respect to the main axis DP on the one hand, and the inertia of the anchor 7 with respect to the secondary axis DS on the other hand, are such that the ratio IB / IA is greater than 20. ⁇ 2 /( ⁇ . ⁇ . ⁇ 2 ), where a is the lifting angle of the anchor corresponding to the maximum angular travel of the anchor fork 8.
• the inertia IB of the inertial element 2 with respect to the main axis DP on the one hand, and the inertia of the anchor 7 relative to the secondary axis DS on the other hand are such that the ratio IB / IA is greater than 2Q.a 2 /(0.1 . ⁇ . ⁇ 2 ), where a is the angle of lift of the anchor which corresponds to the maximum angular travel of the anchor fork 8.
• the resonator lifting angle ⁇ which is an overall angle, taken on either side of the rest position, is less than twice the amplitude angle of which deviates as much as possible. inertial element 2 with respect to a rest position, in one direction of its movement.
• the angle of amplitude from which the inertial element 2 deviates as much as possible from a rest position is between 5 ° and 40 °.
• the plate pin 6 enters the anchor fork 8 with a penetration distance P greater than 100 micrometers, and in a disengagement phase the plate pin 6 remains away from the anchor fork 8 with a safety distance S greater than 25 micrometers.
• the plate pin 6 and the anchor fork 8 are dimensioned so that the width L of the anchor fork 8 is greater than (P + S) / sin (a / 2 + 3/2), the travel of penetration P and the safety distance S being measured radially with respect to the main axis DP.
• the useful width L1 of the plate pin 6, visible in FIG. 6, is slightly less than the width L of the anchor fork 8, and more particularly less than or equal to 98% of L.
• This plate anchor 6 is preferably undercut behind its effective width L1 surface, the peg may in particular have a prismatic shape of triangular section as suggested in the figure, or the like.
• the invention defines, by construction, a new ankle-fork plot, which has a very particular characteristic, according to which the horns of the fork are further apart, and the ankle is wider, than for a Swiss anchor mechanism. known type with a usual lifting angle of 50 °.
• the anchor 7 is in a single level of silicon, mounted on a metal axis pivoted relative to the plate 1.
• the escapement wheel 4 is a silicon escape wheel.
• the escape wheel 4 is an escape wheel which is perforated to minimize its inertia with respect to its pivot axis DE.
• the anchor 7 is perforated to minimize its inertia relative to the secondary axis DS.
• the anchor 7 is symmetrical relative to the secondary axis DS, so as to avoid unbalance, and avoid parasitic couples during linear shocks.
• FIG. 7 shows the two horns 81 and 82 arranged to cooperate with the plate pin 6, the pallets 72 and 73 arranged to cooperate with the teeth of the escape wheel 4, and false horns 80 and false pallets 70 whose only role is a perfect balancing,
• the largest dimension of the inertial element 2 is greater than half of the largest dimension of the plate 1.
• the main axis DP, the secondary axis DS and the pivot axis of the escapement wheel 4 are arranged according to a right-angle pointing whose apex is the secondary axis DS.
• the flexible guide comprises two flexible blades crossed in projection on a plane perpendicular to the main axis DP, at the virtual pivot defining the main axis DP, and located in two parallel and distinct levels.
• the resonator thus has an anisochronism curve that compensates for the delay caused by the escape. That is, the free resonator is designed with an isochronism defect opposite the defect caused by the anchor escapement. We thus compensate the exhaust delay by the design of the resonator.
• each flexible blade 5 is identical and are positioned in symmetry. More particularly, each flexible blade 5 belongs to a one-piece assembly 50, in one piece with its first alignment means 52A, 52B, and fixing 54 on the plate 1, or, advantageously and as shown in FIG. 10, fixing on an intermediate elastic suspension plate 9 fixed to the plate 1 and which is arranged to allow a displacement of the flexible guide and the inertial element 2 in the direction of the main axis DP.
• the first alignment means are a first vee 52A and a first plate 52B, and the first attachment means comprise at least a first bore 54.
• a first veneer blade 53 provides the support on the first fastening means.
• the one-piece assembly 50 comprises, for its attachment to the inertial element 2, second alignment means which are a second vee 56A and a second plate 56B, and the second fixing means comprise at least one second 58.
• a second veneer blade 57 bears on the second attachment means.
• the flexible guide 3 with crossed blades 5 is advantageously constituted by two monobloc assemblies 50 identical silicon parts, assembled in symmetry to form the crossing of the blades, and precisely aligned with respect to each other thanks to the integrated alignment means and auxiliary means such as pins and screws, not shown in the figures.
• the resonator mechanism 100 is fixed on an intermediate elastic suspension plate 9 fixed to the plate 1 and arranged to allow a movement resonator mechanism 100 in the direction of the main axis DP, and the plate 1 comprises at least one anti-shock abutment 11, 12, at least in the direction of the main axis DP, and preferably at least two such abutments 11, 12, which are arranged to cooperate with rigid elements of the inertial element 2, for example flanges 21 and 22 reported during assembly of the inertial element with the flexible guide 3 comprising the blades 5.
• the elastic suspension plate 9, or a similar device allows displacements of the entire resonator 100 substantially in the direction defined by the virtual rotation axis DP of the guide.
• the purpose of this device is to prevent the blades 5 from breaking in the event of a transverse shock in the DP direction.
• FIG. 21 illustrates the presence of shock-proof abutments limiting the stroke of the inertial element 2 along the three directions in the event of an impact, but located at a sufficient distance so that the inertial element does not touch the abutments under the effect of the gravity.
• the flange 21 or 22 has a bore 21 1 and a face 212, able to cooperate respectively abutment abutment bearing with a pin 121 and a complementary surface 122 at the stop 21 or 22.
• the inertial element 2 comprises weights 20 for adjusting the step and unbalance.
• the plate pin 6 is integral with a flexible blade 5, or more particularly, such a one-piece assembly 50 as illustrated in the figures.
• the anchor 7 comprises bearing surfaces arranged to cooperate in abutment with the teeth of the escapement wheel 4 and to limit the angular travel of the anchor 7. These supports make it possible to limit the angular travel of the anchor, as would the stars.
• the angular travel of the anchor 78 may also be classically limited by limiting pins 700.
• the flexible guide 3 is made of oxidized silicon to compensate for the effects of temperature on the operation of the regulating mechanism 300.
• the invention also relates to a watch movement 500 comprising motor means 400, and such a regulator mechanism 300, whose escape mechanism 200 is subjected to the torque of these motor means 400.
• the invention also relates to a watch 1000, more particularly a mechanical watch, comprising such a movement 500, and / or such a regulating mechanism 300.
• the present invention makes it possible to increase the power reserve and / or the precision of the current mechanical watches. For a given size of movement, one can quadruple the autonomy of the watch and to double the regulating power of the watch. That is to say that the invention allows a gain of a factor 8 on the performance of the movement.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Micromachines (AREA)
• Electromechanical Clocks (AREA)
• Piezo-Electric Or Mechanical Vibrators, Or Delay Or Filter Circuits (AREA)

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• 2016
  • 2016-11-23 CH CH01544/16A patent/CH713150A2/fr unknown
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• 2017
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• 2019
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