JP2005353311A - Charger - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a charger capable of stabilizing rotation state of a rotary plug 4 when contacts 5a, 5a are connected to plug terminals 3b, 3b by exposing the contacts 5a, 5a at recessed part of a bulged part of peripheral face of a first rotation axis part 4a made of resin. <P>SOLUTION: In the charger receiving power supply by inserting tap blades 5, 5 protruding from the rotary plug 4 into an external receptacle, the tap blades 5, 5 are made free to draw out and draw in by rotation, by axially supporting the first rotation axis part 4a protruded from side face of the rotary plug 4 in enveloping cases 1, 2, and the contacts 5a, 5a connected to the tap blades 5, 5 are exposed at a part of the peripheral face of the first rotation axis part 4a. The part of the resin where the contacts 5a, 5a are not exposed is formed so as to bulge out toward outer peripheral side than the contacts 5a, 5a, and the plug terminals 3b, 3b connected to a charging circuit on a circuit board 3 are energized and made to contact to the peripheral face of the first rotation axis part 4a in sliding. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a charger that receives power from an external outlet and charges a battery pack of a secondary battery.

  When charging a battery pack such as a cellular phone, the plug can be rotated by 90 °, and a pair of plug blades protruding from the rotary plug can be pulled out / retracted from the charger main body, so that the battery pack can be retracted. There is one in which the plug blade is retracted so as not to get in the way, and the plug blade is pulled out and inserted into an outlet only when charging is performed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  However, in the charger of Patent Document 1, the rotary plug is made swingable by pivotally supporting the rotary shaft portions projecting from both side surfaces of the rotary plug on the charger main body side, and each plug blade has Plugs that are connected to the charging circuit in the charger body when the rotating plug is rotated so that the connected contacts protrude from the tip surface of one rotating shaft and the plug blade is pulled out. It is made to press contact with the terminal. Accordingly, the two contact points protruding from the front end surface of the rotary shaft portion rotate together with the rotary plug, and when the plug blade is pulled out, the connection is established by pushing a pair of elastic plug terminals from the inside. Will be done. For this reason, when the rotary plug starts rotating from the state in which the plug blade is retracted, as the plug blade is pulled out, the pair of plug terminals are pushed and spread against the urging force. When it is rotated, it becomes the most unstable rotation state, and there is a possibility that the plug blade will be pulled in by rotating to the opposite side again only by applying a slight force. Therefore, in the actual charger, the square blade formed at the tip of the other rotating shaft is sandwiched by a sandwiching plate having elasticity, so that the plug blade is pulled out most as well as in the retracted state. Even in this state, the clamping plate is narrowed to stabilize the rotation of the rotary plug so that a click feeling is generated when the rotary plug rotates.

  For this reason, the conventional charger is required to have a structure that causes a click feeling such as a regular quadrangular prism portion and a clamping plate on the other rotating shaft portion of the rotary plug, which not only increases the number of parts and the number of assembly steps, There has been a problem that the space for mounting the rotary plug also increases. In addition, since the urging force with which the clamping plate clamps the regular rectangular column part is not sufficiently stable unless the contact is larger than the force that pushes the plug terminal, the rotating state is not stable enough, so the click feeling when rotating the rotary plug becomes stronger. It was too difficult to handle.

Note that the reason why Patent Document 1 protrudes only two contacts from the tip surface of one rotating shaft is to make the plug terminal slidably contact only with these contacts. This is to avoid contact with the contact point due to shaving caused by sliding contact with the resin of the rotating shaft portion. However, in practice, for example, by selecting a resin material with high wear resistance and high slipperiness, it should be ensured that no shaving will occur even if the plug terminal slides against the resin on the rotary plug or rotary shaft. Is fully possible.
Japanese Patent No. 3329258

  The present invention has a problem that the rotating state of the rotating plug becomes unstable when the plug terminal is pressed against the contact by exposing the contact to the raised valley formed on the peripheral surface of the insulating rotating shaft portion. It is something to be solved.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in a charger that receives power supply by inserting a plug blade protruding from a rotary plug into an external outlet, the rotary shaft portion protruding from the side surface of the rotary plug is provided on the charger main body side. The plug blade can be pulled out / retracted by supporting the shaft, and the contact point connected to the plug blade is exposed on a part of the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft portion, and the charger body is formed on the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft portion. The plug terminal connected to the internal charging circuit is brought into sliding contact with an urging force.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the rotary plug has a rotary shaft projecting from the side opposite to the side projecting the rotary shaft, and both of the rotary shafts are pivotally supported on the charger body side. In addition, the protruding portion formed at the tip of the rotating shaft portion on the opposite side is clamped by clamping means having elasticity.

  According to the invention of claim 1, since the plug terminal is in sliding contact with the peripheral surface of the rotary shaft portion of the rotary plug, the urging force of the plug terminal is increased in the insulating portion of the peripheral surface of the rotary shaft portion. In the exposed portion, the urging force of the plug terminal is weakened and the rotating state of the rotary plug is stabilized. Therefore, for example, the rotary plug is in a state in which the plug blade is pulled out most, without causing a click feeling separately by, for example, clamping the regular rectangular column formed on the rotary shaft portion of the rotary plug with a clamping plate having elasticity. Since the rotation state can be stabilized so that a click feeling can be generated, the number of parts and assembly man-hours of the charger can be reduced, and the mounting space for the rotary plug can be reduced.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the projecting portion such as a regular quadrangular prism formed on the opposite rotation shaft portion is held by the holding means having elasticity, a click feeling is surely generated when the rotary plug rotates. Can be. The plug terminal needs to be urged with an optimum force when it comes into contact with the contact of the rotating shaft so that a reliable connection can be obtained. Therefore, the insulating peripheral surface of the rotating shaft is raised so much. In addition, the elasticity may deteriorate due to repeated use, and the urging force may be weakened. However, if the rise of the insulating peripheral surface of the rotating shaft portion is reduced, a sufficient click feeling cannot be obtained. Therefore, as in claim 2, if the protruding portion of the opposite rotation shaft portion is clamped by the clamping means, the click feeling can be assisted to reliably stabilize the rotating state of the rotary plug. Moreover, this clamping means does not stabilize the portion where the rotational state of the rotary plug is unstable, but rather stabilizes the rotational state, but this further stabilizes the insufficient portion. , A large biasing force is unnecessary, and the click feeling is not too strong.

  Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In this embodiment, a charger that receives power from a commercial AC power outlet and charges a battery pack such as a mobile phone will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, this charger constitutes rectangular box-shaped exterior cases 1 and 2 by superposing a resin upper case 1 and a lower case 2 from above and below. In the lower case 2, a circuit board 3 on which each element of a charging circuit (not shown) is mounted is attached, and a rotary plug 4 is rotatably attached to the right end portion. The upper case 1 is provided with a concave mounting portion 1a for mounting a battery pack (not shown) on the left side of the upper surface, and a plurality of battery terminals 3a attached to the circuit board 3 protrude into the mounting portion 1a. The battery pack and the charging circuit of the circuit board 3 are connected to each other.

  The rotary plug 4 is a resin molded product, and projects a pair of plug blades 5 and 5 from the top and bottom of the front end face, and the first rotary shaft portion 4a (not shown in FIG. 2) from the left and right side surfaces, respectively. The 2nd rotating shaft part 4b is protrudingly provided. Further, a regular quadrangular prism portion 4c is formed at the tip of the second rotating shaft portion 4b, and a clamping plate 6 sandwiches the regular quadrangular prism portion 4c. The regular quadrangular prism portion 4c is a square prism portion having a square cross section, but actually, the corner portion may be rounded or chamfered or may not be an accurate square. The rotary plug 4 has rotary shaft portions 4a and 4b mounted on rotation support portions 2a and 2b that are recessed in an arc shape formed in the lower case 2, and the same rotation (not shown) formed in the upper case 1 is provided. It can be rotated by covering the support part from above. However, the rotary plug 4 is from a retracted state in which the plug blades 5 and 5 face forward to a state in which the plug blades 5 and 5 are pulled out downward through an opening (not shown) formed in the lower case 2. Only the rotation angle range of 90 ° swings. The sandwiching plate 6 is formed by molding a strong elastic resin material into a U-shape with the top open, and is fitted into the right-hand corner of the right-side rotation support portion 2b in the lower case 2 to fix the lower end portion. By doing so, the regular quadrangular prism portion 4c of the rotary plug 4 is sandwiched. Accordingly, the clamping plate 6 has a slight gap between the regular square column part 4c of the rotary plug 4 only when the plug blades 5 and 5 are in the retracted state facing forward and in the pulled out state facing downward. A fitting state or a weak interference fit state is established, and between these, the corner portion is pushed and a strong interference fit state is established.

  As for the 1st rotating shaft part 4a protrudingly provided from the left side surface of the said rotation plug 4, the surrounding surface is not a circumferential surface, but as shown in FIG. That is, the first rotating shaft portion 4a is formed such that the four circumferential surfaces facing obliquely up and down when the plug blades 5 and 5 are in the retracted state facing forward are raised on the outer peripheral side. In addition, contacts 5a and 5a are embedded in the upper and lower portions of the first rotary shaft portion 4a when the plug blades 5 and 5 are retracted, and the upper and lower surfaces of the contacts 5a and 5a are the first and lower surfaces. The upper and lower troughs of one rotation shaft portion 4a are exposed to the peripheral surface. These contact points 5 a and 5 a are made of a conductive metal like the plug blades 5 and 5, and are connected to these plug blades 5 and 5 inside the rotary plug 4. In particular, in this embodiment, each plug blade 5 forms this contact 5a by bending a narrow conductive metal plate on the base side and narrowing the width, and these are embedded in the resin of the rotary plug 4 by insert molding. It is out.

  A pair of plug terminals 3 b and 3 b are attached to the right end portion shown in FIG. 2 on the circuit board 3 and connected to the AC power supply section of the charging circuit on the circuit board 3. Each of these plug terminals 3b, 3b is a terminal made of a conductive metal plate, and its upper end portion is bent obliquely downward in a direction facing each other so that the tip end portion can exhibit sufficient elasticity. As shown in FIG. 1, between the plug terminals 3b and 3b, the tip end portion of the first rotary shaft portion 4a of the rotary plug 4 pivotally supported by the rotary support portion 2a of the lower case 2 is sandwiched. It has become so. Moreover, the front-end | tip part of these plug terminals 3b and 3b press-contacts the surrounding surface of the front-back direction of the 1st rotating shaft part 4a from both sides. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, when the plug blades 5 and 5 are in the retracted state facing forward, they come into contact with the valleys of the resin between the upper and lower raised portions on the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a. As shown in FIG. 4, when the plug blades 5 and 5 are in the pulled-out state facing downward, the contact points 5a and 5a on the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a come into contact with the exposed valley portions.

  When the battery charger is stored, the plug blades 5 and 5 are drawn forward into the outer cases 1 and 2 so as not to get in the way. Further, when charging the battery pack, the battery pack is mounted on the mounting portion 1a and the plug blades 5 and 5 are pulled out downward. Then, the first rotary shaft portion 4a of the rotary plug 4 is rotated by 90 ° so that the tips of the plug terminals 3b and 3b are pressed against the contacts 5a and 5a. Connected to the charging circuit. The battery pack can be charged by inserting the plug blades 5 and 5 drawn out from the bottom of the charger in this way into an outlet of an external commercial AC power source.

  According to the charger having the above configuration, when the first rotating shaft portion 4a of the rotary plug 4 rotates, the tip ends of the plug terminals 3b and 3b are urged and slid on the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a. You will be in touch. Further, when the plug blades 5 and 5 are in the retracted state facing forward and in the retracted state facing downward, the tip portions of these plug terminals 3b and 3b are contact points 5a and 5a on the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a. Since the exposed valley and the resin valley are pressed against each other, the rotation state is stabilized. That is, when the first rotating shaft portion 4a tries to rotate in any direction from these states, the bulging portion on the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a spreads the plug terminals 3b and 3b against the urging force. Therefore, a force that hinders the movement to rotate is exerted, thereby making it difficult to rotate and a stable state. When the rotary plug 4 is forcibly rotated 90 ° from these states, the peripheral surface of the first rotary shaft portion 4a gradually rises in the first 45 ° rotation, so that the plug terminals 3b and 3b are biased. The rotation of the plug terminals 3b, 3b is weakened because the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a gradually rises in the latter 45 ° rotation. Is promoted, and a click feeling is generated during the transition from the stable state before the rotation to the stable state after the rotation.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, since the sandwiching plate 6 sandwiches the regular quadrangular prism portion 4c at the tip of the second rotating shaft portion 4b that protrudes rightward on the opposite side to the first rotating shaft portion 4a, This also causes a click feeling when the blades 5 and 5 are rotated by 90 ° between the retracted state facing forward and the retracted state facing downward. Further, since the clamping plate 6 is provided only for generating a click feeling when the rotary plug 4 rotates, the strength of the click feeling can be arbitrarily adjusted, and the plug terminal 3b. , 3b is provided in order to compensate for the shortage of the click feeling, so that it can be set optimally without fear of the click feeling becoming too strong.

  In the above embodiment, the plug terminals 3b, 3b are in sliding contact with not only the exposed portions of the contacts 5a, 5a on the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a but also the resin surface. However, if a resin material with high wear resistance or high slip is used as the resin material of the first rotating shaft portion 4a, resin plugs are caused by the sliding contact of these plug terminals 3b, 3b, and the contact at the contacts 5a, 5a. Inconveniences such as poor contact can be reliably prevented. Moreover, since the 1st rotating shaft part 4a should just be an insulator, it can replace with resin and can also use other materials, such as ceramics with high abrasion resistance and lubricity. Furthermore, a surface treatment may be performed in order to improve the wear resistance and the slipperiness of the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a.

  Moreover, although the case where the cross section of the 1st rotating shaft part 4a swelled in the shape of a petal was shown in the said embodiment, it is this 1st rotation that the surrounding surface of this 1st rotating shaft part 4a swells and is formed. Since it is sufficient if there is a portion that swells on the outer peripheral side of the circumferential surface having a radius from the rotation center of the shaft portion 4a to the peripheral surface where the contact points 5a and 5a are exposed, for example, a regular quadrangular prism shape with rounded corners The contacts 5a, 5a may be exposed at the center of the two opposing side surfaces. In addition, the first rotating shaft portion 4a may be configured such that, for example, the center portions of two opposing side surfaces in this regular quadrangular prism shape are further recessed toward the rotation center side, and the contacts 5a and 5a are exposed at the bottom of this recess. Good. Furthermore, this 1st rotating shaft part 4a may be made to pivot-support by mounting only this base on the rotation support part 2a, for example by forming the surrounding surface of a base in a circumferential surface.

  Moreover, although the case where the clamping plate 6 which shape | molded the elastic resin material in the U-shape opened upwards was used was shown in the said embodiment, this clamping plate 6 is elastic of the 2nd rotating shaft part 4b by elasticity. As long as the peripheral surface is sandwiched, the material and structure thereof are arbitrary, and a combination of a plurality of parts may be used. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the regular quadrangular prism portion 4c is formed on the second rotating shaft portion 4b and the click feeling is generated by the sandwiching plate 6 is shown, but the plug terminal 3b of the first rotating shaft portion 4a is shown. , 3b is sufficient, the regular square column part 4c and the sandwiching plate 6 are also unnecessary. In addition, in this case, the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced, and the space for mounting the rotary plug 4 in the outer cases 1 and 2 can be reduced. However, as in the above-described embodiment, if each of the rotary shaft portions 4a and 4b projecting from both side surfaces of the rotary plug 4 is caused to have a click feeling, the force for generating the click feeling is generated by the rotary plug 4. Therefore, rotation can be performed more smoothly than when force is applied only from one side.

  In the above embodiment, the pair of contacts 5a and 5a are exposed on the peripheral surface of the first rotating shaft portion 4a, and the pair of plug terminals 3b and 3b are in pressure contact with the contacts. The number of sets of is arbitrary. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, a charger that receives power from a commercial AC power outlet and charges a battery pack such as a mobile phone has been described, but the type of power supplied from the outlet is arbitrary, The type and application of the secondary battery to be charged are not limited to these. Further, the secondary battery inside the device may be charged by mounting the device itself, such as a mobile phone.

1 is a partially enlarged perspective view illustrating a state in which a plug terminal is in sliding contact with a first rotating shaft portion of a rotating plug in a charger according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a charger according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a partial enlarged view showing a state where the plug terminal is in sliding contact with the first rotating shaft portion of the rotary plug when the plug blade is retracted, showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged view showing a state in which a plug terminal is in sliding contact with a contact in a first rotary shaft portion of a rotary plug when a plug blade is pulled out according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper case 2 Lower case 2a Rotation support part 2b Rotation support part 3 Circuit board 3b Plug terminal 4 Rotation plug 4a 1st rotation shaft part 4b 2nd rotation shaft part 4c Regular square pillar part 5 Plug blade 5a Contact 6 Clamping plate

Claims (2)

In a charger that receives power supply by inserting a plug blade protruding from a rotating plug into an external outlet,
The plug blade can be pulled out / withdrawn by pivotally supporting the rotating shaft protruding from the side of the rotating plug on the charger body side,
The contact connected to the plug blade is exposed on a part of the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft portion, and the plug terminal connected to the charging circuit in the charger body is applied to the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft portion by an urging force. A charger characterized by sliding contact.   The rotary plug protrudes from the side opposite to the side where the rotary shaft protrudes, and both the rotary shafts are pivotally supported on the charger body side, The charger according to claim 1, wherein the protruding portion formed at the distal end portion of the rotating shaft portion is held by holding means having elasticity.

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