JP2000092362A - Portable equipment with solar battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable equipment with a solar battery where light energy is recovered as electric power with a surface area as large as possible by utilizing a characteristic of the transparent solar battery through which a visual light is transmitted so as to avoid functions of other components from being lost even when the battery is mounted on the equipment. SOLUTION: A transparent solar battery 28 through which a visual light is transmitted is placed overlapped on an LCD 26 put on a rear side of a digital camera 10. The surface area of the solar battery 28 is enlarged without provision of an exclusive space by placing the solar battery 28 on a place where an opaque solar battery has been unable to be installed in this way and sufficient electric power can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable device equipped with a solar cell, and more particularly to a portable device equipped with a solar cell in which a transparent solar cell is placed on a display of a portable device such as a camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, a transparent sheathed amorphous silicon solar cell which transmits visible light has been developed as a solar cell which is a photoelectric conversion element (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5 (1993)).
-152593).

[0003]

By the way, opaque solar cells which are generally known from the past have been used as power sources for charging batteries in portable devices such as cameras. However, since the surface of many portable devices is occupied by a liquid crystal display (LCD), operation switches, and the like, the space for disposing the solar cell is small, and the surface area of the solar cell is often limited to a small one. . For this reason, the power that can be recovered from the light energy is small, and the power may be insufficient during use of the device.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and makes use of the characteristics of a transparent solar cell that transmits visible light without impairing the functions of other members even when installed in a portable device. It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable device with a solar cell that can recover light energy as electric power with a surface area as large as possible.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a transparent solar cell that transmits visible light is placed on a display surface of a display of a portable device so as to achieve the above object.
A feature is that a solar cell having a large surface area is provided. According to the present invention, the transparent opaque solar cell is placed on the display surface of the display, which cannot be placed with the conventional opaque solar cell, so that the transparent solar cell is placed on the display surface. Can be increased, and sufficient power can be obtained from the solar cell.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a transparent solar cell that transmits visible light is disposed on an optical member of a camera.
A feature is that a solar cell having a large surface area is provided. According to the present invention, similarly to the first aspect of the present invention, a transparent solar cell is installed on an optical member of a camera, such as a lens, which cannot be installed with a conventional opaque solar cell. Therefore, the surface area of the solar cell can be increased without providing a dedicated space, and sufficient power can be obtained from the solar cell.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a portable device with a solar cell according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of a camera with a solar cell to which the present invention is applied. As shown in the figure, a grip portion 12 (left side in the figure) is provided on the front side of a camera (digital camera) 10 which protrudes forward from other portions, and a strobe 14, a viewfinder 16 and Lens 18
Is arranged. Then, a transparent solar cell (solar cell panel) 20 which is formed in a flat plate shape on the front surface of the strobe 14, the finder 16 and the lens 18 on the plane portion is installed.

The solar cell 20 has a characteristic of mainly converting ultraviolet energy into electric power and transmitting visible light. Therefore, since the light (visible light) is not blocked by the solar cell 20, the camera 1
The solar cell 20 can be disposed on the front surface of the optical members such as the strobe 14, the finder 16, and the lens 18 as described above, without impairing the function of each member installed in the solar cell 20. Thereby, without being limited to the members arranged in the camera 10 and without providing a dedicated space for installing the solar cell 20 in the camera 10,
A solar cell 20 having a large surface area can be installed, and sufficiently large electric power can be supplied from the solar cell 20 to the camera 1.
0 can be supplied. The solar cell 20 also functions as a lens cover for the lens 18.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the camera 10 showing a case where solar cells are installed on the back side of the camera 10 instead of on the front side. As shown in FIG. 1, a finder (eyepiece) 22, various operation switches 24, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 26, and the like are provided on the back side of the camera 10.
The LCD 26 displays an image taken from the image sensor, various character information, and the like. A transparent solar cell 28 similar to that shown in FIG. As described above, since the solar cell 28 transmits visible light, a problem that an image, characters, and the like displayed on the LCD 26 are cut off by the solar cell 28 and cannot be seen does not occur. In addition, an LCD for displaying an image taken like a digital camera usually occupies most of the area of the flat portion of the camera.
By installing the solar cell 28 over the entire surface of D26, the solar cell 28 can also secure a large surface area. Therefore, a sufficiently large power can be supplied to the camera 10. In addition, the solar cell 28 also has the effect of acting as a protective glass for the LCD 26.

The size of the solar cell 28 may be adjusted to the size of the LCD 26. However, it is not necessary to adjust the size, and the solar cell 28 may be made larger than the LCD 26 or may be made smaller. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the solar cell may be provided on either the front or the back of the camera, or may be provided on both sides.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of usage of the solar cell 20 or the solar cell 28 in the camera 10 with a solar cell. Camera 10 shown in FIG.
When the release switch 62 is pressed, the main CPU
50 detects this and sends a command to the camera CPU 42. The camera CPU 42 performs focus control, photometry, and exposure control, and forms image light of a subject on the light receiving surface of the CCD 32 via the optical unit 30. CCD 32
The image light formed on the light receiving surface is converted into an amount of signal charges corresponding to the amount of light. The signal charges thus accumulated are sequentially read out as voltage signals (image signals) corresponding to the signal charges based on the clock pulse from the clock generation circuit 44. The image signal output from the CCD 32 is
The signal is applied to an analog processing circuit 34, where white balance adjustment and gamma correction are performed. The image signal analog-processed by the analog processing circuit 34 is converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter 36 and then temporarily stored in a buffer memory 38.

The camera CPU 42 operates the flash control circuit 46 when the subject is dark, and causes the xenon tube 48 to discharge (emit light) in synchronization with the operation of the release switch 62. The YC processing circuit 40 includes a main CPU 5
The image signal in the buffer memory 38 is converted into a YC signal (a luminance signal Y and a chroma signal C) by a command from 0, and the YC signal is stored in the buffer memory 38 again. Thereafter, the main CPU 50 sends a command to the compression / expansion circuit 32, which compresses the YC signal in the buffer memory 38, and transmits the compressed image data to the memory card 5 via the card interface 54.
Record in 6. Further, the main CPU 50 converts the YC signal into a signal for LCD display, and converts this signal into the camera 1.
The captured image is displayed on the LCD 26 by outputting it to the LCD 26 (see FIG. 2) installed on the back of the “0”.

The print / continuous photographing CPU 58 and the continuous photograph
The print memory 60 operates when outputting a captured image to a printer or performing continuous shooting. The power of the camera 10 is supplied from the battery 64 mounted on the camera 10 or the solar cell 20 (or the solar cell 28) installed on the front (or back) of the camera 10 as described above.
It is supplied via a / DC converter 66. Camera 10
When an external power supply 68 is connected to the camera 10, it is also possible to supply power to the camera 10 from the external power supply 68. Since the solar cell 20 (or the solar cell 28) has a large surface area and can collect a large amount of electric power, it is unnecessary to supply electric power from the battery 64 when photographing in a situation where sufficient light can be obtained. You can do it.
While the power consumption of the camera 10 is low, the solar cell 2
The power recovered at 0 can be charged in the battery 64.

In the above embodiment, a case where a transparent solar cell is installed in a digital camera has been particularly described. However, the present invention is not limited to a digital camera, and all types of cameras (still cameras, movie cameras, etc.) are used. I don't care),
Alternatively, the present invention can be applied to not only cameras but also all portable devices for which it is difficult to secure a commercial power supply. In many mobile devices having a display such as an LCD, the display occupies a large space. Therefore, the solar cell is installed by installing a transparent solar cell on the display surface of the display of such a mobile device. Large power can be obtained from the solar cell without providing a dedicated space for the battery.

As described above, how the power collected by the solar cell installed in a portable device such as a camera is used by the camera depends on a main power source and a power source for charging a battery mounted on the portable device. However, the present invention is not limited to a specific application such as an auxiliary power supply, but in any case, a sufficiently large power can be obtained from the solar cell by installing the transparent solar cell on the LCD or the optical member as described above. Therefore, the number of times of battery replacement can be reduced, or battery replacement can be made unnecessary. If battery replacement becomes unnecessary, mechanical parts for battery replacement,
For example, a battery cover / battery box is not required, and a portable device such as a camera can be further reduced in size.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, a transparent solar cell is placed on a display surface of a display which cannot be placed with a conventional opaque solar cell. The surface area of the solar cell can be increased without providing a dedicated space, and sufficient power can be obtained from the solar cell.

Further, in the camera, since the transparent solar cell is set on the optical member of the camera, such as a lens, which cannot be installed with the conventional opaque solar cell, a dedicated space is provided in the same manner as described above. Without providing the solar cell, the surface area of the solar cell can be increased, and sufficient power can be obtained from the solar cell.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a camera with a solar cell to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the camera with a solar cell to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the camera with a solar cell to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Camera 12 ... Grip part 14 ... Strobe 16 ... Finder 18 ... Lens 20, 28 ... Solar cell 22 ... Finder 24 ... Operation switch

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A portable device with a solar cell, wherein a transparent solar cell that transmits visible light is placed on a display surface of a display of the portable device so as to be superposed, and a solar cell having a large surface area is provided. . 2. The portable device with a solar cell according to claim 1, wherein said solar cell is made larger than said display. 3. The portable device with a solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the portable device is a camera. 4. The portable device with a solar cell according to claim 3, wherein the display is an image display for displaying an image. 5. A portable device with a solar cell, wherein a transparent solar cell that transmits visible light is placed on an optical member of a camera so as to provide a solar cell having a large surface area.