JP2009295512A - Electric device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric device for reducing a volume of a battery chamber or housing a larger capacity battery in the battery chamber. <P>SOLUTION: The electric device includes a case 11 having a battery housing concave part of a long rectangular shape, a battery connecting connector 13 arranged on one end of the battery housing concave part, a battery unit 50, a battery connecting lead 53 provided with a plug 53a for connecting with the battery connecting connector, and a thin rectangular shaped battery cover to be fixed with the case, with claw parts 15s formed on both end parts in a longitudinal direction and projected toward a side of the battery housing concave part when fixed on the case. Of the battery unit, a first and a second battery tubes 51, 52 of a cylindrical shape are arranged so that their cylindrical faces may contact with each other and moreover the first battery tube may be offset against the second battery tube in its axial direction and, when the battery unit is housed in the battery housing concave part, a part of the first battery tube projected toward the second battery tube in an axial direction covers the battery connection connector. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electric device that includes a battery housing recess for housing a battery and is driven by the battery stored.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, as in a thermal printer described in Patent Document 1, secondary devices such as a nickel cadmium battery and a nickel metal hydride battery are detachably provided, and electric devices driven by the secondary battery are widely used.
JP, 7-178950, A An electric apparatus which has a heat generating part and a drive motor like a thermal printer often requires DC output of 12V in addition to 3.3V and 5V for driving a control circuit. On the other hand, the voltage per cell of a nickel cadmium battery or a nickel metal hydride battery is about 1.2V. Therefore, in such an electric device, a battery unit having an output of about 9.6 V formed by connecting about 8 cells in series is used. In Patent Document 1, a cylindrical battery unit in which eight button-type cells are stacked in the axial direction is used.

  In order to improve the battery driving time, a battery unit with a larger capacity is required. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 4, two battery tubes in which a plurality of cylindrical cells having a large axial dimension relative to the radial dimension are connected in series in the axial direction are prepared. A configuration has been proposed in which a battery unit that is integrated in a direction and wound with an adhesive tape is integrated. Since such a battery unit does not require an outer case, it has the advantage that the capacity of the battery per volume can be increased.

  For example, the battery unit 150 is accommodated in a battery chamber 112 provided in the case 111 of the thermal printer 101 as shown in FIG. The battery chamber 112 is a concave portion formed along one side surface of the case 111 of the thermal printer 101 in the depth direction (vertical direction in the figure) and having a large width direction (horizontal direction in the figure). A connector 113 is provided at the corner of the battery chamber 112 in the depth direction depth side and one end side in the width direction (left side in the figure), and a plug 153 a provided at the tip of a lead 153 extending from the battery unit 150 is connected to the connector 113. Connected.

  The case 111 has an opening 111o for accessing the battery chamber 112 from the outside (attaching and removing the battery unit 150). The shape of the opening 111 o has a large width direction dimension along the battery chamber 112.

  A cover 115 for closing the battery chamber 112 is attached to the case 111. A claw portion 115a for engaging with the inner wall 111a of the case 111 located on the other end side of the opening 111o is formed at the other end (right side in the drawing) of the cover 115 in the width direction. Further, a leaf spring 115b for biasing the cover 115 toward the other end side is formed on one end side of the cover 115. Therefore, after hooking the claw portion 115a on the inner wall 111a of the case 111, the cover 115 is rotated using the claw portion 115a as a fulcrum, and the leaf spring 115b is fitted into the inner wall 111b of the case 111 located at one end of the opening 111o. The cover 115 can be attached to the opening 111o.

As illustrated, when the battery unit 150 is stored in the battery chamber 112, the battery tubes 151 and 152 are arranged side by side in the depth direction. When the cover 115 is attached to the opening 111o, the claw portion 115a protrudes inward toward the battery chamber 112. In order to make the depth direction dimension of the thermal printer 101 as small as possible, the distance d ₀ between the wall surface 112a in the depth direction side of the battery chamber 112 and the inner surface 115c of the cover 115 with the cover 115 attached is determined by the battery unit. It has a size slightly larger than 150 depth direction dimensions, that is, twice the diameter of the battery tubes 151 and 152. For this reason, the battery unit 150 is arrange | positioned so that the connector 113 and the nail | claw part 151a may be avoided. Therefore, the maximum length of each battery tube 151, 152 is the width direction dimension from the connector 113 to the claw portion 151 a, and a dead space is generated on both ends in the width direction of the maximum battery chamber 112.

  As described above, in the conventional configuration, dead spaces are generated on both sides in the width direction of the battery chamber, and a battery having a sufficient capacity with respect to the size of the battery chamber cannot be prepared. When trying to use this battery unit, there was a problem that the dimension in the width direction of the electric device was increased.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electric device that can reduce the volume of the battery chamber or accommodate a larger capacity battery in the battery chamber. .

  In order to achieve the above object, an electrical device of the present invention is housed in a case having an elongated battery housing recess, a battery connection connector provided at one end in the longitudinal direction of the battery housing recess, and a battery housing recess. A battery connection lead having a plug coupled to the battery unit connector and connectable to the battery connection connector, and an elongated battery lid attached to the case so as to cover the battery housing recess. The claw portions projecting toward the battery housing concave portion when attached to the case are formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction, and the battery unit includes cylindrical first and second battery tubes. The cylindrical surfaces are in contact with each other and the first battery tube is disposed so as to be offset in the axial direction with respect to the second, and when the battery unit is housed in the battery housing recess, the second is provided. Portion of the first battery tube projecting axially is adapted to cover the connector for a battery connected to the battery tube.

  With the above configuration, the maximum length of each battery tube can be extended to the interval between the claw portions of the battery lid. For this reason, the dead space of the battery chamber can be reduced, and the volume of the battery chamber can be reduced, or a larger capacity battery can be accommodated in the battery chamber.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a thermal printer, which is an electrical device in the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the thermal printer 1 according to the present embodiment introduces recording paper from a paper feed slit 11 i disposed on the upper surface 11T of the case 11, and the printed recording paper is applied to the front surface 11 </ b> F of the case 11. The paper is discharged from the provided paper discharge slit 11e. In the present embodiment, the longitudinal direction of the slits 11i and 11e is the width direction (upper left and lower right in FIG. 1), and the direction perpendicular to both the width direction and the height direction (up and down direction in FIG. 1) is set. The depth direction (lower left upper right direction in FIG. 1).

  A top sectional view of the thermal printer 1 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the front surface 11F of the case 11 is located on the upper side in the drawing.

  A battery chamber 12 for accommodating the battery unit 50 is formed in the case 11 of the thermal printer 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the battery chamber 12 is a cavity that is formed along the back surface 11 </ b> B of the case 11 and has a width dimension larger than the depth dimension.

  A connector 13 is provided at a corner of the battery chamber 12 in the depth direction and at one end side in the width direction (left side in the figure), and a plug 53 a provided at the tip of a lead 53 extending from the battery unit 50 is connected to the connector 13. Connected. The lead 53 is connected to the positive and negative electrodes of the battery unit 50, and the power for driving the thermal printer 1 is supplied from the battery unit 50 by connecting the plug 53 a to the connector 13. The plug 53a is connected by being inserted into the connector 13, and the connection state between the connector 13 and the plug 53a is maintained by a frictional force acting between them.

  An opening 11o is formed in the back surface 11 of the case 11 so that the battery chamber 12 can be accessed from outside (attachment and removal of the battery unit 50). The shape of the opening 11 o has a large width-direction dimension along the battery chamber 12.

  A cover 15 for closing the opening 11 o is attached to the case 11. A claw portion 15a for engaging with the inner wall 11a of the case 11 located on the other end side of the opening 11o is formed at the other end in the width direction of the cover 115 (right side in the drawing). Further, a leaf spring 15b for biasing the cover 15 toward the other end side is formed on one end side of the cover 15. Therefore, after hooking the claw portion 15a on the inner wall 11a of the case 11, the cover 15 is rotated using the claw portion 15a as a fulcrum, and the leaf spring 15b is fitted into the inner wall 11b of the case 11 located at one end of the opening 11o. The cover 15 can be attached to the opening 11o.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the battery unit 50 of this embodiment is formed by integrating two battery tubes 51 and 52. Each of the battery tubes 51 and 52 is formed by connecting four secondary battery cells in the axial direction and in series, and winding an adhesive tape around the secondary battery cells. And the battery tubes 51 and 52 are arranged in the direction of an axis of intersection (up-down direction in the figure), and an adhesive tape 54 is wound around them to be integrated. The battery tubes 51 and 52 are connected in series by a terminal (not shown), and the battery unit 50 has a configuration in which eight secondary battery cells are connected in series as a whole.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, when the battery unit 50 is housed in the battery chamber 12, the battery tube 51 on the back side is closer to one end side (the left side in the figure) than the battery tube 52 on the front side. It has a shape that shifts. In the present embodiment, in order to suppress the depth direction dimension of the case 11 as much as possible, the distance d from the front side wall surface 12a of the battery chamber 12 to the inner surface 15c of the cover 15 is the depth direction dimension of the battery unit 50 (that is, each battery tube Slightly larger than the diameter of 51 and 52). For this reason, when the battery unit 50 is housed so that the battery tube 51 on the back side and the claw portion 15a of the cover 15 do not interfere with each other, the other end side (right side in the drawing) of the battery tube 51 is the end surface of the claw portion 15a. It is located on the front side in the width direction. On the other hand, since the battery tube 52 on the front side is shifted to the other end side with respect to the battery tube 51 on the back side, the other end side end surface is disposed so as to cover the claw portion 15a. Since 15a is sufficiently away from the battery tube 52 in the depth direction, they do not interfere with each other.

  In addition, when the battery unit 50 is stored, one end side end face of the front side battery tube 52 is connected to the connector 13 so that one end side (right side in the figure) end face of the front side battery tube 52 does not interfere with the connector 13 or the plug 53a. It is arranged in front of the width direction. In this case, the battery tube 51 on the back side is disposed so as to cover the connector 13 and the plug 53a. However, since the plug 53a is sufficiently separated from the battery tube 51, they do not interfere with each other.

  Thus, in this embodiment, since the battery tube 51 is arranged so as to be displaced with respect to the battery tube 52, the maximum length of the battery tubes 51, 52 is the length from the claw portion 15a to the leaf spring 15b. Thus, it can be made longer than the conventional example of FIG. For this reason, if a secondary battery cell having a long axial dimension and a large capacity is used, the battery unit 150 having a long life can be realized. Moreover, if the secondary battery cell similar to the conventional one is used, the width direction dimension of the battery chamber 12 can be reduced by the configuration of the present embodiment.

  In this embodiment, the adhesive tape 54 for putting together the battery tubes 51 and 52 is wound so that the cylindrical surface and end surface of the battery tubes 51 and 52 may be connected as shown in FIG. . For this reason, on one end side of the battery unit 50, the adhesive tape 54 is obliquely stretched from the one end side end surface of the back side battery tube 51 toward the front side portion of the cylindrical surface of the front side battery tube. In the present embodiment, the elastic body 55 is attached to the outside of the portion 54 a that is stretched diagonally of the adhesive tape 54. The elastic body 55 is arranged at a position that urges the plug 53a toward the connector 13 by its own elasticity and the tension of the portion 54a of the adhesive tape 54, thereby preventing the plug 53a from coming off. .

  In the present embodiment, the battery unit is configured using two battery tubes, but the present invention is not limited to the above configuration. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a configuration including three battery tubes 51, 51 ′, 52 is also included in the present invention. In this configuration, a front side battery tube 51 and an intermediate battery tube 51 ′ are connected in parallel, and a front side battery tube 52 having a larger diameter (ie, larger capacity) than the battery tubes 51 and 51 ′ is connected in series. Connected. As a result, a battery unit 50 having a larger capacity can be stored in the battery chamber 12.

1 is a perspective view of a thermal printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a top sectional view of a thermal printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is another example of the battery unit of embodiment of this invention. It is a top sectional view of the conventional example of a thermal printer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal printer 11 Case 12 Battery chamber 13 Connector 15 Cover 15a Claw part 15b Leaf spring 50 Battery unit 51 Back side battery tube 52 Front side battery tube 53 Lead 53a Plug 54 Adhesive tape

Claims (6)

A case with an elongated battery housing recess,
A battery connecting connector provided at one longitudinal end of the battery housing recess;
A battery unit housed in the battery housing recess;
A battery connection lead having a plug coupled to the battery unit electrode and connectable to the battery connection connector;
An elongate battery lid attached to the case so as to cover the battery housing recess, and claw portions protruding toward the battery housing recess when formed on the case are formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction; ,
Have
The battery unit is arranged such that the cylindrical first and second battery tubes are in contact with each other and the first battery tube is offset in the axial direction with respect to the second,
When the battery unit is housed in the battery housing recess, the portion of the first battery tube protruding in the axial direction with respect to the second battery tube is configured to cover the battery connection connector. Electrical equipment characterized by   2. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein each of the battery tubes is formed by arranging cylindrical cells in an axial direction and winding an adhesive tape around the cylindrical surface so as to be integrated.   The battery unit is formed by aligning the first battery tube and the second battery tube in the direction of the axis of intersection, and winding the adhesive tape around the outer periphery to integrate them together. The electric device according to claim 1 or 2.   On the battery connecting connector side of the battery unit, a plug of the battery connecting lead is connected to the battery connecting connector at a step formed by the first battery tube and the second battery tube. 4. A plug urging member for urging the plug toward the battery connecting connector when the battery unit is housed in the battery housing recess is formed. Electrical equipment as described in.   The plug urging member has a plug urging adhesive tape that is passed from the cylindrical surface of the second battery tube to the battery connection connector side end surface of the first battery tube with a predetermined tension. The electric device according to claim 4, wherein   The electrical apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the plug urging member further includes an elastic member provided on the surface of the plug urging adhesive tape so as to protrude from the battery connecting connector side.

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