JP2017013769A - Direction indicator for bicycle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a direction indicator for a bicycle which contributes to traffic safety by notifying vehicle before and after the bicycle and pedestrians of a travelling direction of the bicycle while riding or stopping the bicycle by LED flash at all hours, so as to reduce accidents involving the bicycle.SOLUTION: The direction indicator, which has LEDs 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, and 11 with yellow color or orange color as light sources, is operated by charging effectively power of a power generator 18 mounted on a bicycle into a capacitor 23 of large capacity while riding the bicycle, and is equipped with function as a hazard lamp which makes all lamps flash at emergency, which further prevents return of an operating switch 15 from being forgotten by ringing a buzzer 33 according to flashing of the LEDs of the direction indicator.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technology field

  It relates to bicycle equipment.

  Recently, the increase in human accidents involving bicycles has become a social problem. At present, the manners of people who use bicycles are also greatly questioned. Under such circumstances, it is necessary to improve the safety of the bicycle as a vehicle as much as possible. As one of them, it is desired to spread a direction indicator device for a bicycle that operates regardless of whether it is daytime or nighttime, running or stopped, and informs the vehicle or pedestrian of the traveling direction.

JP2013-116721A In this document, the inner surface of a cylindrical casing is used as a mirror surface, lenses are attached to both ends, and a light bulb or LED serving as a light source is disposed at the center of the casing. One turn indicator is attached to each side of the bicycle handle, the battery box is attached to the car body, and the control box is attached to the handle. The feature generally requires four illumination parts on the front and rear and left and right, but is constructed with two.

JP 2001-294184 A In this document, an illumination lamp that indicates a traveling direction is attached to both ends of a bicycle handle, and light is scattered using a lens using an LED as a light source. The power supply unit has a built-in charger, storage battery, and control circuit. The feature is that the direction indicator lamp is also used as the vehicle width lamp.

JP 08-119167 A In this document, a light emitting display unit using an LED as a light source is attached to the left and right, and is lit using a switch of a driving unit. The feature is that a plurality of semi-transparent beads are mixed in the synthetic resin covering the LED to scatter the light of the LED.

Actual open hei 05-18893 This direction indicator lamp is attached to the rear wheel mudguard, and has a structure in which a plurality of left and right LEDs are arranged around the tail lamp. A plurality of direction indicating LEDs are lit so as to flow intermittently and sequentially from the inside to the outside by a power switch attached to the handle.

Problems to be solved by the invention

  This bicycle direction indicating device emits direction indicating LEDs arranged at the left and right ends of a high-performance headlight and the left and right ends of a taillight. Using the power stored in the large capacity capacitor during driving as well as during driving, the front direction indicator light and the rear direction indicator light flash, and the direction of the bicycle is Inform pedestrians. In case of an emergency, all LEDs will blink to alert you of the danger.

Means for solving the problem

  First, the plurality of LEDs are driven by a lighting circuit using a PTC thermistor having a PTC characteristic without using a current limiting circuit by a fixed resistor and driving by a conventional constant voltage drive. The shape of the headlamp that incorporates the front direction indicator lamp is a horizontally long rectangle, and yellow or orange LEDs for direction indication are arranged at the left and right ends. Similarly, yellow or orange LEDs for indicating directions are arranged at the left and right ends of the taillight to ensure visibility from the front and rear.

  Secondly, a function to charge the electric power obtained while riding the bicycle to a large-capacitance capacitor such as an electric double layer capacitor and a control circuit for managing the lighting state of the LED are provided, so that it can be normally operated even when starting running when the capacitor is not charged. Ensure safety by operating.

  Third, since the power source for properly operating the control circuit must be obtained from the main power source, a separate rectifying / smoothing circuit is provided at the start of driving so as not to be affected by the main power source as much as possible. Separate and achieve reliable control.

Effect of the invention

  By the invention of the direction indicating device for a bicycle, the traveling direction of the bicycle during traveling can be notified to the surroundings regardless of day or night, and it can be used as a hazard light in an emergency. Even when the vehicle is stopped, the LED can be blinked using the power stored in the large-capacitance capacitor while driving, which greatly improves visibility from the surroundings, helps reduce traffic accidents, and contributes to traffic safety. Social loss can be reduced.

  As shown in FIG. 1, yellow or orange LEDs 3 and 5 are arranged at both ends of a horizontally long and rectangular headlamp to enhance visibility from the front. The direction indicator lamp may be built in as shown in FIG.

  The direction indicator lamps that illuminate the rear direction may be arranged at both ends of the tail lamp as shown in FIG. 2, but may be separated into two on the left and right like the headlamp. AC power generated by a roller-type generator attached to the bicycle or a hub-type generator incorporated in the axle is used for the front and rear direction indication LEDs. As shown in FIG. 4, the output of the AC power supply 18 is rectified by a bridge type diode 19 and used as DC power. A PTC thermistor 32 having PTC characteristics is connected in series to each arm of the LEDs 3, 9, 5, and 11 to limit the current flowing through the LED, and in the worst case, cut off and protect. The PTC thermistor 32 has a property of returning to its original state when its own temperature is lowered. Bicycles that use roller-type generators are not problematic during night driving, but the inconvenience of operating the generator during the day remains. In order to solve this, a secondary battery may be used for backup.

  Further, a PTC thermistor 20 is inserted for the purpose of limiting the current flowing through the entire circuit, and double protection is provided. The PTC thermistor 20 can also be used repeatedly.

Capacitor 23 having a capacity as large as possible is desired as an auxiliary power source for supplying power during stoppage. However, when the bicycle starts to run, the generated power is consumed only for charging, and the LED may not be lit. It was.
In order to solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 4, the present invention can deal with a large-capacity electric double layer capacitor as a result of separating the charge route and the discharge route by using the diode 22 and the power FET 21. An auxiliary power source can be obtained.

  The power FET 21 is controlled by a command signal from the capacitor charging / LED lighting control circuit 27. When the bicycle starts running, a large-capacity capacitor is charged when the bicycle is on, and is used to turn on the headlight and taillight when the bicycle is off. This is repeated until the large capacity capacitor 23 reaches the set voltage. Therefore, the electric charge charged during the traveling is slowed down as the traveling speed of the bicycle is reduced, and when the power generation capacity is reduced, the electric charge is discharged via the diode 22 which is the discharge route. There is a special feature.

  The direction indicator lamp is turned on by operating the direction indicator switch 15. The hazard lamp can be turned on by operating the hazard lamp switch 16 regardless of the direction indicating switch. Since a buzzer sound is generated when the direction indicator lamp operates, it is possible to prevent forgetting to return the operation switch.

  A lighting circuit using a PTC thermistor with PTC characteristics that can light multiple LEDs efficiently, a control circuit to effectively charge a large-capacity capacitor at the start of driving, and use this effectively when stopped It seems that the control circuit for doing so can be used for industrial purposes.

  Headlight   tail light   Operation switch for direction indication   Block diagram of bicycle direction indicator   Example of mounting a headlight and integrated direction indicator on a bicycle   Example of installing a taillight and integrated direction indicator on a bicycle

1 Headlamp housing 2 Mounting bracket 3 Front right LED
4 Headlight LED group 5 Front left LED
6 Connection line 7 Taillight housing 8 Taillight mounting screw hole 9 Rear left LED
10 Taillight LED
11 Rear right LED
12 Connection Line 13 Switch Unit Case 14 Mounting Screw Hole 15 Direction Indicator Switch 16 Hazard Light Switch 17 Connection Line 18 Generator AC Power Supply 19 Bridge Type Diode 20 Main PTC Thermistor 21 Charging Control Power FET
22 Discharge diode 23 Large capacity capacitor 24 Protection constant voltage diode 25 Lighting control circuit power supply rectifier diode 26 Charging / LED lighting control circuit power supply smoothing capacitor 27 Charging / LED lighting control circuit 28 Headlamp / taillight control circuit 29 Direction indication control circuit 30 Buzzer sound generation circuit 31 Direction indication right and left separation diode 32 Direction indication LED PTC thermistor 33 Buzzer piezoelectric speaker

Claims (8)

  Bicycle direction indicator device incorporating LEDs that emit yellow or orange light at both left and right ends of a rectangular, horizontally long headlamp.   A circuit that protects an LED diode from an overcurrent and uses a PTC thermistor having a PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) characteristic as a current limiting element.   A direction indicator device for a bicycle in which LEDs that emit yellow or orange light are incorporated at both right and left ends of a taillight that emits red light.   Bicycle direction indicating device using a large-capacity capacitor such as an electric double layer capacitor as an auxiliary power source for turning on a direction indicating LED while the bicycle is stopped.   When a large-capacitance capacitor is used as an auxiliary power source, when the bicycle starts running, the generated power is used for charging, and the LED cannot be lit. As a solution to this problem, a bicycle direction indicator device that uses a control circuit to separate a charging route and a discharging route of a large-capacitance capacitor, alternately charge and turn on an LED, and reach a set voltage. .   Since the power source for operating the control circuit must use the main power source, at the start of traveling, a rectifier circuit and a smoothing circuit with a small time constant are separately used in order to minimize the influence of the main power source. Bicycle direction indicator that uses a power source in conjunction with the main power source.   A direction indicator device for a bicycle having a function of preventing a user from forgetting to return the operation switch by simultaneously sounding a buzzer when the direction indicator device is operated.   A bicycle direction indicating device having a hazard light function for flashing all the direction indicating LEDs in an emergency.

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