JP2001183132A - Sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sensor having a simple structure, small number of parts, a possibility of reducing the size and cost and sure operation capability. SOLUTION: A substrate 50 forming a first contact pattern and a second contact pattern by turns by way of a specific slit 56 and a conductor 40 connecting the specific first contact pattern and the second contact pattern by way of the slit 56 by rolling on the first contact pattern and the second contact pattern are provided. On the substrate 50, a detection circuit for detecting whether either of the first contact pattern and the second contact pattern is connected is provided. On which slit 56 the conductor 40 rolls on the bent substrate 50, and which part of the slit 56 it stops is detected with a detection circuit to detect the inclination angle of the sensor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sensor used for detecting that a device is tilted at a predetermined angle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an inclination angle sensor has been used to detect how much various devices are inclined from a predetermined posture.

[0003] Conventional tilt angle sensors are, for example,
The tip of a lever swingably mounted in the case is projected from the case, a variable resistor that changes the resistance value according to the swing position of the lever is attached to the case, and a weight is further attached to the tip of the lever. It was configured to be attached. Then, the case is attached to the device to be detected with the tip of the lever facing downward, and the case is tilted with respect to the lever that is always facing directly downward according to the inclination of the device, and the resistance value of the variable resistor changes. The inclination angle is detected.

However, the above-described conventional tilt angle sensor has a problem that the structure is complicated and the number of parts is large, so that not only a reduction in size but also a reduction in cost cannot be achieved. There is also a problem that the range of the tilt angle that can be detected is narrow.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object the simple structure, the small number of parts, the reduction in size and cost, and the reliable operation. It is to provide a sensor.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a substrate comprising a first contact pattern and a second contact pattern alternately formed with a predetermined gap therebetween; A conductor that rolls over the pattern and the second contact pattern and conducts between the predetermined first contact pattern and the second contact pattern through the gap, and conducts between any of the first contact patterns and the second contact pattern And a detection circuit for detecting the presence of the sensor. It is preferable that the sensor is configured as an inclination angle sensor that detects the inclination angle of the sensor by rolling a conductor on a curved substrate. Further, the detection circuit may connect any one of the first contact pattern and the second contact pattern with a resistor pattern and connect the other plurality of contact patterns with a connection pattern. Preferably, the resistance value is changed according to the first contact pattern and the second contact pattern that are conducted by the conductor. Further, it is preferable that the substrate and the conductor are housed in a case, and the conductor is moved in a conductor guide portion provided in the case.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an inclination angle sensor according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the tilt angle sensor is composed of an upper case 10 and a lower case 3.
0, the conductor 40 and the substrate 50 are provided. Hereinafter, each component will be described.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the upper case 10, and FIG.
FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 1, the upper case 10 is made of a synthetic resin, and has a substantially semicircular (U-shaped) groove-shaped conductor between two substantially semicircular side walls 11. A guide portion 17 is provided, and both side walls 11,
Locking portions 13, 13 protrude from the lower end of 11, and locking portions 15, 15 also protrude from both sides of the upper part of upper case 10.

Next, returning to FIG. 1, the lower case 30 is made of synthetic resin or metal, and is formed in a shape in which a flat plate is curved in a U-shape. And the locking portion 1 of the upper case 10
Notched locking portions 33, 33 and locking portions 35, 35 are provided at positions corresponding to the locking portions 3, 13 and the locking portions 15, 15, respectively.
(Only the near side is shown in the figure).

Next, the conductor 40 is a metal sphere and is made of a metal having good conductivity. The conductor 40
Is only required to have conductivity on its surface, and the inside need not necessarily be made of a material having conductivity. In any case, it is preferable that the surface of the conductor 40 be plated with gold.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the substrate 50. Substrate 50
Is on a flexible sheet 51 made of a synthetic resin (for example, polyethylene terephthalate) formed in a substantially rectangular shape.
A plurality of first contact patterns 53 and a plurality of second contact patterns 55 are provided alternately and in parallel via a gap 56 formed by a slit passing therethrough. There is no conduction between the first and second contact patterns 53 and 55.
A drawer 52 is drawn out of the flexible sheet 51.

The ends of the first contact pattern 53 are connected by a connection pattern 57 and are drawn out to a drawing pattern 59. On the other hand, the second contact patterns 55 are independent of each other, and their ends are connected by the resistor pattern 61. Second contact patterns 55, 5 at both ends
5, lead patterns 63 and 64 are drawn, respectively.

Notch-shaped locking portions 65, 6 are provided at positions corresponding to the locking portions 13, 13 and the locking portions 15, 15 of the upper case 10 around the flexible sheet 51, respectively.
5 and locking portions 67, 67 are provided.

Each of the above patterns is formed by printing, but may be formed by other means such as copper foil etching. The gap 56 is made up of slits.
After the first contact pattern 53 and the second contact pattern 55 are formed by printing, slits are provided so as to cut the edges thereof, so that the width dimension of the gap 56 can be made extremely accurate. This is to position it on the gap 56. Therefore, when there is no need for them, the gap 56 may not be formed by a slit, but may be simply formed by a gap between the first contact pattern 53 and the second contact pattern 55 when the two are formed by printing.

Next, in order to assemble the tilt angle sensor, as shown in FIG. 1, the conductor 40 is housed in the conductor guide 17 of the upper case 10 and the upper case 10 and the lower case 30 are separated. The substrates are joined and integrated with a U-shaped bent substrate 50 interposed therebetween. At this time, the locking portions 13, 13 provided on the upper case 10 are engaged with the locking portions 65, 65, 33, 33 provided on the substrate 50 and the lower case 30, and the locking portions 15,
15 is engaged with the locking portions 67, 67, 35, 35. Then, when the tips of the locking portions 13, 13 are thermally caulked below the lower case 30, the tilt angle sensor is completed.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the assembled tilt angle sensor. FIG. 2A is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG.
FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. As shown in the figure, in this inclination angle sensor, a substrate 50 is arranged below a conductor guide portion 17 formed in an upper case 10, and a conductor 40 contacts the substrate 50 in the conductor guide portion 17. It is configured to move smoothly.

Reference numerals 70, 70 shown in FIG. 2B denote elastic bodies attached to both ends of the conductive body guide portion 17, respectively. The elastic bodies 70, 70 are attached to muffle the sound when the conductive body 40 comes into contact with this surface.

Then, the tilt angle sensor is fixed to a device (not shown), and a predetermined voltage (for example, 5 V) is applied between the extraction patterns 63 and 64 shown in FIG. In the state shown in FIG. 2, that is, when the inclination angle sensor is in a horizontal state, the conductor 40
Is located at the center of the substrate 50 and has the first contact pattern 5 at the center.
3 on either side of the gap 56. The reason why the conductor 40 stops on the gap 56 is because the recessed gap 56 is at a position where the spherical conductor stably stops.

The conductor 40 stopped above the gap 56 contacts the first and second contact patterns 53 and 55 on both sides thereof.
Conduction occurs between the five. This means that the extraction patterns 59 and 63 are connected via half the resistance value of the resistor pattern 61, so that the output voltage is substantially half (approximately 2.5V) of the applied voltage, and the device is in a horizontal state. Can be detected.

When the device is tilted from the horizontal state and the tilt angle sensor is tilted, the conductive body 40 always moves to the lowest position in the conductive body guide portion 17 due to gravity, and stabilizes on the gap 56 at the moved position. And stop. Therefore, the gap 5 that has stopped
The connection between the first and second contact patterns 53 and 55 on both sides of 6 is conducted, a voltage corresponding to the position is output from the extraction pattern 59, and the inclination angle is detected.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims and the technical idea described in the specification and the drawings. Is possible. It should be noted that any shape or material not directly described in the specification and the drawings is within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention as long as the effects and effects of the present invention are exhibited.

For example, in the above embodiment, the slit is used to form the gap 56, but the gap may be a recess. The substrate 50 is not limited to a flexible substrate, but may be a hard substrate. In that case, the lower case 30 is not always necessary.

In the above embodiment, the inclination angle sensor is configured by placing the conductive body 40 in a free state on the curved substrate 50. For example, the conductive body 40 may be a member for rotating or sliding the device ( If it is configured to be linked to the movement of the moving member, it can be used as a sensor for detecting the position of the moving member. In that case, the substrate 50 is not curved,
It may be planar.

In the above embodiment, each first contact pattern 53
Are connected by a connection pattern 57, and the second contact patterns 55 are connected by a resistor pattern 61, the detection circuit is configured. However, the configuration of the detection circuit is, for example, that the connection pattern 57 is also formed of a resistor pattern. For example, various modifications are possible. In short, any first contact pattern 53
Any circuit may be used as long as it is a detection circuit for detecting whether or not there is conduction between the second contact pattern 55 and the second contact pattern 55.

In order to further increase the resolution, the pitch between the first and second contact patterns 53 and 55 and the gap 56 may be narrowed to increase the number thereof.

The arc angle (angle viewed from the center) of the conductor guide portion 17 can be variously changed. For example, if it is formed in a circular shape (endless), a rotation angle of 360 ° can be detected.

[0027]

As described in detail above, the present invention has the following excellent effects. Since the number of parts is small and the overall structure and the structure of each part are simple, not only miniaturization can be achieved, but also assembly is easy,
Cost reduction can be achieved.

The simple structure ensures its operation.

It is possible to detect even a large detection angle.

An output voltage corresponding to the inclination angle is obtained,
Since it can be used as it is as the output voltage for the detection circuit,
Unlike other inclination angle sensors, a circuit for separately converting the output to a voltage is not required, and the detection circuit can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an inclination angle sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are diagrams showing an inclination angle sensor, FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view on line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view on line BB of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view of the upper case 10, FIG. 3 (a) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 (b) is a BB of FIG.
It is sectional drawing of a line part.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a substrate 50.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Upper Case 17 Conductor Guide 30 Lower Case 40 Conductor 50 Substrate 51 Flexible Sheet 52 Leader 53 First Contact Pattern 55 Second Contact Pattern 56 Gap 57 Connection Pattern (Detection Circuit) 61 Resistor Pattern (Detection Circuit) 59 , 63, 64 drawer pattern

Claims (4)

[Claims] A first contact pattern and a second contact pattern that are alternately formed with a predetermined gap therebetween; and a substrate that rolls over the first contact pattern and the second contact pattern with the gap interposed therebetween. A conductor that conducts between a predetermined first contact pattern and a second contact pattern, and a detection circuit that detects which of the first contact pattern and the second contact pattern are conducting, and Sensor. 2. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a tilt angle sensor that detects a tilt angle of the sensor by rolling a conductor on a curved substrate. 3. The detecting circuit connects a plurality of contact patterns of one of a first contact pattern and a second contact pattern with a resistor pattern and connects the other plurality of contact patterns with a connection pattern. By concatenating with
3. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the resistance is changed according to the first contact pattern and the second contact pattern conducted by the conductor. 4. 4. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the substrate and the conductor are housed in a case, and the conductor moves in a conductor guide provided in the case.