JP2007008498A - Fastening band containing radio ic tag - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fastening band containing a radio IC tag capable of communicating with an external device even under a harsh condition. <P>SOLUTION: The fastening band 1 contains the radio IC tag 6, to which an antenna 7 of the IC tag 6 is annexed at a given position that is calculated from a current interference condition and/or at a position that is calculated from a condition of bringing the radio IC tag 6 at an operation guarantee temperature or lower upon fastening the fastening band 1. The antenna 7 of the radio IC tag 6 can be so annexed that the antenna 7 encircles the whole outer periphery of a fastened article upon fastening the fastening band 1. The radio IC tag 6 can be formed of a semiconductor having a SOI (silicon-on-insulator) structure. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a binding band including a wireless IC (Integrated Circuit) tag.

  The wireless IC tag is composed mainly of an integrated circuit having an information processing function and a communication control function in which information such as its own identification code is recorded, and an antenna, and is a reader / writer that is an external device using radio waves. An apparatus configured to transmit and receive information via wireless communication. This wireless IC tag can read and write information in a non-contact manner, is resistant to dirt, and is not easily affected by obstacles other than metal. Various shapes and types have been developed. In particular, a wireless IC tag of a type that obtains electric power from radio waves received without a battery is attracting attention because it can achieve downsizing and cost reduction.

  When attaching such a wireless IC tag to an article to be identified and managed, a method of directly attaching the wireless IC tag to the article using an adhesive, a tag or string attached with the wireless IC tag A method of separately creating a dedicated tag having a shape such as a shape and binding and attaching the tag to an article is mainly used. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a binding band with an IC tag in which flat small pieces of wireless IC tags are attached to a binding band at predetermined intervals.

JP 2003-12020 A (paragraph 0017, FIG. 1)

However, the binding band with an IC tag described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that the wireless IC tag malfunctions or is damaged or communication performance is lowered depending on use conditions.
The operation guarantee temperature of a general wireless IC tag currently being developed is a normal temperature range of about 0 ° C. to 50 ° C. For example, a binding band with an IC tag is bound to a pipe through which a high-temperature fluid flows. Then, the guaranteed operating temperature is exceeded, and the wireless IC tag may malfunction or be damaged.
In addition, when a binding band with a microwave IC tag is bound to a metal object to be bound, for example, radio waves reflected from the surface of the object to be bound and radio waves emitted from the wireless IC tag interfere with each other. As a result, communication performance may deteriorate.

  In addition, for example, when a binding band with an IC tag is bound to a bound object having a spherical shape or a cylindrical shape having a diameter exceeding the communication distance of the wireless IC tag, the wireless IC tag is attached to the external device with respect to the device. Behind the bundles, the communication performance is significantly reduced. Further, in an environment where the wireless IC tag is exposed to radiation, the wireless IC tag may malfunction or be damaged by leakage current generated in the semiconductor components of the wireless IC tag due to radiation irradiation.

  Therefore, it is very difficult to use the band for binding with an IC tag described in Patent Document 1 in a place where the above severe use conditions overlap, for example, in a plant.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a binding band including a wireless IC tag that can communicate with an external device even under severe use conditions.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a binding band including a wireless IC tag, in which the antenna part of the wireless IC tag is calculated at a predetermined position and / or when calculated based on interference conditions of radio waves. Provided is a binding band including a wireless IC tag attached at a position calculated under a condition that the wireless IC tag is at or below an operation guarantee temperature. Further, the antenna portion of the wireless IC tag can be attached so as to surround the entire outer periphery of the object to be bound when the binding band is bound. Further, this wireless IC tag can be formed of a semiconductor having an SOI structure.

  According to the binding band including the wireless IC tag according to the present invention, the wireless IC tag can be normally operated even under severe use conditions such as in a plant.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a view showing an appearance of a binding band (hereinafter simply referred to as a binding band) including a wireless IC tag according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) shows the binding band from above. FIG. 1B is a side view of the binding band when viewed from a partial cross-sectional view.
As shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), a binding band 1 includes a band portion 2 formed integrally with a wireless IC tag 6, and a head portion 3 formed in a rectangular cylindrical shape. Consists mainly of.

  The binding band 1 has a flexible property such as a general flexible material such as polyethylene or nylon, or a polyimide or polyether amide, depending on the temperature condition or atmosphere of the environment in which it is used. A heat-resistant material, a flexible corrosion-resistant material such as a fluororesin, or the like can be selected as appropriate.

Next, each part which comprises the binding band 1 is demonstrated.
The band portion 2 includes a portion in which the wireless IC tag 6 is included and a locking portion 4 formed at an end opposite to the head portion 3. Serrated locking teeth 5 are provided continuously. The locking portion 4 is formed to be narrower than the other portions of the band portion 2, and when the object to be bound is bound, the portion of the band portion 2 including the wireless IC tag 6 is The band insertion hole 10 of the part 3 is not passed. This is because when the object to be bound is bound by the binding band 1, it is conceivable that the remaining locking portion 4 is cut, and at this time, the antenna portion 7 of the wireless IC tag 6 is not cut by mistake.

The head 3 is formed in a rectangular cylindrical shape, and the distal end portion of the locking portion 4 is inserted from the band insertion hole 10 on the side opposite to the locking portion 4 and pulled out from the band insertion hole 10 on the locking portion 4 side. Thus, it has a function of binding and locking the objects to be bound.
An upper portion of the inner surface of the band insertion hole 10 of the head 3 is provided with a flexible locking piece 9 that extends in an L shape toward the locking portion 4 side. The locking portion 4 is locked to the head 3 by engaging with locking teeth 5 provided on the upper surface of the locking portion 4. For this reason, the gap between the locking piece 9 and the inner bottom surface of the band insertion hole 10 is set to be thinner than the thickness of the band portion 2.

  In addition, the latching | locking part 4 and the head 3 of the band part 2 are equivalent to the latching means of a claim. Further, the shape of the locking portion 4 and the head 3 and the mechanism thereof are not limited to this embodiment and can be appropriately changed as long as the locking portion 4 can be locked in the head 3.

Next, the wireless IC tag 6 included in the band part 2 of the binding band 1 will be described.
In this embodiment, the wireless IC tag 6 included in the band unit 2 is a type that operates by converting received external radio waves into electric power, and an antenna unit 7 that transmits and receives radio waves with an external device (not shown). At least identification information unique to the wireless IC tag 6 is stored, and the wireless IC tag 6 includes a circuit unit 8 having a wireless communication function with an external device.

  The binding band 1 of the present embodiment example has the length of the binding band 1 determined in accordance with the outer periphery of the binding object on the assumption that the shape of the binding object is known in advance. The length is formed so as to surround the object to be bound except for the locking part 4, and the antenna part 7 of the wireless IC tag 6 is included so as to surround the object to be bound. At this time, when the loop antenna shown in FIG. 1 is used as the antenna unit 7, it is desirable that the total length of the coil of the antenna unit 7 is 1/10 or less of the wavelength of the radio wave to be used. By configuring the antenna unit 7 in this way, communication with an external device is possible from all the circumferential directions of the binding band 1 bound to the object to be bound.

Here, under the use conditions in which the wireless IC tag 6 is exposed to radiation, a leakage current is generated by the radiation, so that a soft error may occur and the wireless IC tag 6 may not operate normally. In this case, the circuit unit 8 is preferably formed of a semiconductor having an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure. This SOI structure is a structure in which a silicon (Si) layer is formed on an insulating layer made of silica (SiO ₂ ), alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ), etc., and a semiconductor is formed on the SOI substrate thus formed. By forming the operation area of the component, the leakage current from the lower part of the silicon layer is suppressed, and the occurrence of a soft error in the wireless IC tag 6 is suppressed. At this time, a substrate in which an SOI structure is formed by sandwiching the upper and lower sides of an insulating layer between silicon layers can be used. In this case, the silicon layer below the insulating layer is used as a physical support substrate, and the silicon layer above the insulating layer is 1 μm. The effect of suppressing power consumption can be obtained by setting the thickness to a certain extent.

  In this embodiment, the wireless IC tag 6 is previously sealed with an epoxy resin or laminated with a resin material such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyvinyl chloride. Here, it is possible to form the circuit portion 8 and the antenna portion 7 directly in the band portion 2 without sealing or laminating the wireless IC tag 6 with a resin material. It is desirable that the wireless IC tag 6 be sealed or laminated with a resin material in order to protect the wireless IC tag 6 from heat during formation and to facilitate handling of the wireless IC tag 6.

  Note that the wireless IC tag 6 may be of a type in which a battery is built in and a radio wave is transmitted to an external device. In addition to the identification information, various information can be stored in the wireless IC tag 6 in accordance with its use.

Next, FIG. 2 is a drawing showing a state in which a steel pipe 20 as an example of an object to be bound is bound using the binding band 1 of the present embodiment. Here, FIG. 2A is a perspective view of the state in which the binding band 1 binds the steel pipe 20, and FIG. 2B is a side view of the state in which the binding band 1 binds the steel pipe 20.
As shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B (see FIG. 1 as appropriate), the binding band 1 of this embodiment is a material to be bound with the band portion 2 rounding the bottom inward. After surrounding the steel pipe 20, the distal end portion of the locking portion 4 is inserted from the band insertion hole 10 on the side opposite to the locking portion 4. And the front-end | tip part of the latching | locking part 4 passes the lower part of the latching piece 9 of the head 3, and extracts from the band insertion hole 10 of the other side.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the distal end portion of the locking portion 4 extracted from the band insertion hole 10 is pulled in the circumferential direction of the steel pipe 20, the steel pipe 20 is fastened and bound by the binding band 1. At this time, since the locking teeth 5 provided in the locking portion 4 are locked in a ratchet manner to the end of the locking portion 4 due to the flexibility of the locking piece 9, the binding band 1 is connected to the steel pipe 20. It is fixed in a state of binding.

  Next, a procedure for determining the thickness t, which is the distance between the bottom surface of the binding band 1, that is, the surface of the object to be bound and the antenna unit 7 will be described.

1) Determination based on temperature condition The operation guarantee temperature of the wireless IC tag 6 is determined in advance and is generally about 0 ° C to 50 ° C. Therefore, when the binding band 1 is bound to an object to be bound, it is necessary to arrange the wireless IC tag 6 so as to have a thickness t that does not exceed the guaranteed operating temperature in a steady state.
Therefore, for example, the operation guarantee temperature of the wireless IC tag 6, the surface temperature of the object to be bound, the temperature of the atmosphere where the binding band 1 is installed, the resin forming the binding band 1 and the wireless IC tag 6 The wireless IC is analyzed by using Fourier law based on the thermal conductivity, which is a physical property value of the surrounding resin, and the predetermined thickness of the resin surrounding the wireless IC tag 6 or the resin forming the binding band 1. The distance at which the temperature of the tag 6 does not exceed the operation guarantee temperature can be determined, and the thickness t can be determined with this distance as the minimum value.

2) Determination based on radio wave interference conditions Next, when the wireless IC tag 6 is a type that performs communication by a microwave method and the object to be bound is made of metal, radio waves emitted from the antenna unit 7; Radio waves reflected from the surface of the object to be bound may interfere with each other, and the communication distance between the wireless IC tag 6 and the external device may be shortened. For this reason, the communication distance between the wireless IC tag 6 and the external device can be increased by adjusting the distance between the antenna unit 7 and the object to be bound. At this time, when the distance between the object to be bound and the antenna unit 7 is ¼ of the wavelength of the radio wave emitted from the antenna unit 7, the communication distance is maximized.

For example, in the case of a wireless IC tag 6 that uses radio waves in the 2.45 GHz band, the wavelength is about 12 cm, so the thickness t is set so that the distance between the antenna unit 7 and the surface of the object to be bound is about 3 cm. When adjusted, the communication distance is maximized.
Therefore, in the case of the wireless IC tag 6 that performs communication by the microwave method, the thickness t can be determined according to the required communication distance with the distance obtained based on the temperature condition as the minimum value.

  In addition, when the wireless IC tag 6 is a type that performs communication by an electromagnetic coupling method and the object to be bound is made of metal, the radio wave is canceled by the eddy current generated on the surface of the object to be bound, Although it may be difficult to communicate with the apparatus, a sheet made of a high permeability material such as ferrite is inserted between the antenna unit 7 and the band unit 2 of the wireless IC tag 6. Thus, the eddy current generated on the surface of the metal object to be bound can be suppressed. By using such a high magnetic permeability material, the thickness t can be determined based only on the temperature condition in the wireless IC tag 6 that performs communication by the electromagnetic coupling method.

  If the object to be bound is made of metal and the surface temperature of the object to be bound does not exceed the operation guarantee temperature of the wireless IC tag 6 in a steady state, the thickness t is determined based only on the radio wave interference condition. Further, if the object to be bound is not a metal and the surface temperature of the object to be bound does not exceed the operation guarantee temperature of the wireless IC tag 6 in a steady state, the thickness t is arbitrarily determined. Can do.

Next, FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the binding band 1b using the wireless IC tag 6b having a different shape in the binding band 1 of the present embodiment as viewed from above. As shown in FIG. 3, the wireless IC tag 6 b includes antenna portions 7 b that form dipole antennas on the left and right sides of the circuit portion 8. As described above, even if the wireless IC tags (6, 6b) are variously different, the antenna unit (7, 7b) is placed on a portion other than the locking unit 4 of the band unit 2 so as to surround the object to be bound. The band (1, 1b) can be formed by enclosing and determining the thickness t by the above procedure.
At this time, the total length of the antenna portion 7b is preferably about one half of the wavelength of the radio wave used.

As described above, according to the binding band (1, 1b) of the present embodiment example shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, communication with the external device is possible from all the circumferential directions of the binding band 1 surrounding the object to be bound. Communication between the apparatus and the wireless IC tag (6, 6b) can be easily performed. Further, even if the object to be bound has a surface temperature exceeding the operation guarantee temperature of the wireless IC tag (6, 6b), the wireless IC is formed by forming the binding band (1, 1b) having a predetermined thickness t. A tag (6, 6b) can be attached and used.
In addition, even when the surface of the object to be bound is metal, communication with an external device is possible, and the wireless IC tag (6, 6b) is sealed with a resin material. The wireless IC tag (6, 6b) is not damaged even in a dusty atmosphere. Furthermore, since the wireless IC tag (6, 6b) is surrounded by a flexible resin, the impact resistance of the wireless IC tag (6, 6b) is improved.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a binding band including a wireless IC tag according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, the same components as those of the binding band of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  4A and 4B are views showing the appearance of a binding band according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A is a partial cross-sectional view of the binding band when viewed from above, and FIG. 4B is a binding band. It is a side view of a band. 4 (a) and 4 (b), the binding band 1c of the present embodiment example includes the wireless IC tag 6 in the same manner as the binding band (1, 1b) of the first embodiment example. The band part 2 and the rectangular cylindrical head part 3 are mainly configured.

In this embodiment example, it turns out that the latching | locking part 4 of the binding band 1c is formed long compared with the latching | locking part 4 of the binding band (1, 1b) of 1st Embodiment. Thereby, although the antenna part 7 does not necessarily surround all the outer periphery of a to-be-bound object, the to-be-bound object which has various external shapes can be bound.
Further, in the binding band 1c of the present embodiment example, the wireless IC tag 6 is integrally molded with a resin material and is not sealed inside the band portion 2, but by a separately formed plate-like lid portion 12, Sealed. Thereby, although the molding temperature exceeds the operation guarantee temperature of the wireless IC tag 6, the binding band 1c using the heat-resistant resin material having higher heat resistance can be formed.

  Furthermore, the lid portion 12 of the binding band 1c can be formed of a resin material that is the same as or different from the other portions of the binding band 1c, and the step portion 11 formed so as to surround the wireless IC tag 6 in the band portion 2 The wireless IC tag 6 is sealed by being fixed with an adhesive or the like.

  In addition, since the antenna part 7 of the wireless IC tag 6 may not surround the outer periphery of the object to be bound when binding the binding band 1c of the present embodiment, the wireless IC tag is visually observed from the shape of the binding band 1c. 6 detection ranges need to be confirmed. For this reason, it is desirable for the cover part 12 to have a color different from that of the other parts of the binding band 1c, so that the detection range of the wireless IC tag 6 can be confirmed more accurately by visual observation.

  As described above, according to the binding band 1c of the embodiment described above, the length of the locking portion 4 is made longer than that of the binding band (1, 1b) of the first embodiment, thereby having various outer circumferences. The objects to be bound can be handled by one type of binding band 1c. Further, since the communication range of the wireless IC tag 6 can be visually confirmed, the external device and the wireless IC tag 6 can reliably communicate. The wireless IC tag 6 can be included even with a resin having a higher molding temperature and higher heat resistance than the binding band (1, 1b) of the first embodiment.

  As described above, the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail. The binding band (1, 1b, 1c) including the wireless IC tags (6, 6b) of the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above is as follows. The shape of the binding band locking means and the wireless IC tag is not limited to the embodiment described above. Accordingly, the present invention is defined by the technical ideas described in the claims.

It is drawing which shows the binding band which included the wireless IC tag by the example of 1st Embodiment, (a) is the front fragmentary sectional view, (b) is the side view. It is drawing which shows the binding state of the binding band which included the radio | wireless IC tag shown in FIG. 1, (a) is the perspective view, (b) is drawing seen from the side surface. It is a front fragmentary sectional view of the binding band which included the wireless IC tag which has a different shape. It is drawing which shows the binding band which included the wireless IC tag by the example of 2nd Embodiment, (a) is the front fragmentary sectional view, (b) is the side view.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1b, 1c Bundling band 6, 6b Wireless IC tag 7, 7b Antenna part 8 Circuit part

Claims (8)

An antenna unit used for transmission and reception of radio waves with the outside, and a wireless IC tag having a circuit unit that stores at least identification information for identifying itself and is connected to the antenna unit and executes predetermined wireless communication processing;
It is composed of a binding band provided with locking means for locking one end and the other end of itself.
The wireless IC tag is included in the binding band;
A binding band containing a wireless IC tag characterized by The antenna unit uses a wavelength of a radio wave transmitted and received by the wireless IC tag, and the wireless IC tag operates at a predetermined temperature calculated based on an interference condition of the radio wave and / or when the wireless IC tag is bound to a bound object. Attached to a predetermined position calculated under the following conditions,
A binding band including the wireless IC tag according to claim 1. The radio wave interference condition is a condition that the distance between the surface of the object to be bound and the antenna unit is a quarter of the wavelength of the radio wave transmitted and received by the wireless IC tag.
A binding band including the wireless IC tag according to claim 2. The wireless IC tag is disposed in a concave portion provided in the binding band, and the upper portion of the concave portion is covered with a lid portion and sealed.
A binding band including the wireless IC tag according to claim 2. The lid portion has a color different from that of the binding band;
A binding band including the wireless IC tag according to claim 4. The antenna unit is attached so as to surround the entire outer periphery of the object to be bound when the binding band is bound.
A binding band including the wireless IC tag according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The binding band is formed of a heat-resistant resin having flexibility;
A binding band including the wireless IC tag according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The circuit part of the wireless IC tag is formed of a semiconductor having an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure;
A binding band including the wireless IC tag according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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