JP4965938B2 - Electronic clock with solar battery - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of an electronic timepiece with a solar battery, and more particularly to an electronic timepiece with a solar battery in which solar cells are arranged substantially perpendicular to the surface of a timepiece dial.

Electronic watches that place solar cells in the watch movement have become widespread because there is no need for battery replacement, and not only the three-hand type watch with the usual second, minute, and hour hands, but also a chronograph function and Products with additional functions such as an automatic time correction function that receives standard radio waves have been put into practical use.
An electronic timepiece equipped with a solar cell generally has a structure in which a dial plate is formed of a translucent material and a plate-like solar cell is disposed between the dial plate and the movement.

When the above arrangement structure is adopted, there is a problem in that the design of the dial plate is restricted because the dial plate needs to be formed of a light translucent material.
The surface of the solar cell has a dark brown color. In order to make this dark brown inconspicuous, it is necessary to arrange the dial on the light incident surface side of the solar cell.

However, since the dial shields the dark brown of the solar cell and at the same time requires a certain amount of light to be transmitted to the solar cell to generate photovoltaic power, a beautiful dial with no color restrictions is mounted on the watch. It is difficult to do. In order to improve the power generation efficiency of the solar cell, if the dial is made of a material with high light transmittance, the power generation efficiency will improve, but the dark brown color of the solar cell will appear through the dial, so white letters In the case of a board, white and dark brown are mixed, resulting in a slightly dull white dial.
Contrary to this, when the dial is made of a material with low light transmittance, the above-mentioned color mixture does not occur, and the appearance quality as a completed watch is improved, but the power generation efficiency is reduced, so as a result, The watch stops due to insufficient charging of the secondary battery.

Therefore, Patent Document 1 is an example of an electronic timepiece with a solar cell that can be mounted with a beautiful dial plate without any restrictions on the dial plate and design constraints described above.
In the electronic timepiece with solar cell of Patent Document 1, the power generation surface of the solar cell is arranged substantially perpendicularly to the dial surface in the outer region of the outer periphery of the dial.

The structure of an electronic timepiece having a solar cell in Patent Document 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
A solar cell (solar cell) 17 fixed to the flexible printed circuit board 18 has an annular groove 20 between an annular support wall 19 provided in the rear case 11 and a convex portion formed on the inner peripheral side of the annular support wall 19. Place in. And the dial 14 is arrange | positioned on the top part of a convex part. A prism portion 22 is provided on the outer peripheral side of the annular groove 23 formed in the front cover 15. By disposing the prism portion 22 so as to face the solar cell 17, the prism portion 22 functions as a light guide and can efficiently irradiate the solar cell 17 with light.

Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 62-32425 (column 3, line 16 to column 4, line 25, and FIG. 7)

In Patent Document 1, the power generation surface of the solar cell 17 is arranged perpendicular to the surface of the dial 14. Therefore, there is no need to arrange the dial on the light receiving surface side of the solar cell, so it is not necessary to form the dial 14 with a light translucent material. As a result, the dial 14 material has a high texture. It has an excellent advantage that it can be made of a metal material.

However, in patent document 1, the dial 14 is mounted on the top part of the convex part formed in the inner peripheral side of the annular support wall 19 which supports the solar cell 17. For this reason, the lower surface side (the bottom surface side of the annular groove 20) of the solar cell 17 is shielded by the convex portion and the dial 14 and does not reach the light, and thus the solar cell 17 is not irradiated with light.
As a result, the solar cell 17 cannot obtain a photovoltaic power sufficient to drive the electronic timepiece, and due to power shortage, the electronic timepiece has a disadvantage that the display time is distorted or the electronic timepiece is stopped. is there.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic timepiece with a solar battery that solves the above-described problems and can obtain photovoltaic power in a solar cell sufficient to drive the electronic timepiece.

  In order to achieve the above object, the solar cell electronic timepiece of the present invention employs the following means.

An electronic timepiece with a solar cell according to the present invention has a solar cell disposed substantially perpendicular to the surface of the dial, a convex portion formed of an outer wall, an inner wall and a top , and a solar cell guide facing the outer wall. In an electronic timepiece with a solar battery that includes a support member and houses the solar cell between the outer wall of the convex portion and the solar cell guide, the dial is disposed inside the inner wall, An inner wall is opposed to the end face of the dial , and the projections are provided in islands at a plurality of locations, so that the solar cell is irradiated with light between the plurality of projections.
It is characterized by the formation of notches .

In the electronic timepiece with solar cell according to the present invention, the plurality of convex portions are arranged on the same circumference, and the region between the plurality of convex portions is more than the region of the plurality of convex portions on the same circumference. The feature is that the area of the notch is enlarged .

Solar electronic timepiece battery of the present invention, arranged a prism having a bottom surface of the planar shape on the light-receiving surface side of the solar cell, the prism may contact the bottom surface of the planar shape on top of the plurality of protrusions It is made to mount and it mounts on these convex parts .

  The dial in the electronic timepiece with solar cell according to the present invention is characterized in that a dial decoration portion is provided at a peripheral portion.

  An electronic timepiece with a solar cell according to the present invention includes a solar cell arranged substantially perpendicular to the surface of the dial, a support member having a convex portion composed of an outer wall, an inner wall, and a top portion, and a solar cell guide. In an electronic timepiece with a solar battery that houses solar cells between the solar cell guide and the solar cell guide, the dial is disposed inside the inner wall, and the inner wall faces the end face of the dial.

In Patent Document 1, the dial is placed on the top of the convex portion provided on the inner peripheral side (light-receiving surface side) of the solar cell, whereas the electronic timepiece with solar cell of the present invention is on the inner side of the convex portion. A dial is disposed inside the wall, and the inner wall is configured to face the end face of the dial.
As a result, since the dial is not placed on the top of the convex part, in the electronic timepiece with solar battery of the present invention, light is irradiated to the bottom surface of the solar cell storage part, and almost the entire surface of the solar cell. Can be irradiated with light. Therefore, in the present invention, photovoltaic power sufficient to drive the electronic timepiece can be obtained from the solar cell. Therefore, the inconvenience that the electronic timepiece is distorted in display time due to power shortage and the inconvenience that the electronic timepiece stops will not occur in the present invention.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the electronic timepiece with solar cell in the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an electronic timepiece with a solar cell according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an electronic timepiece with a solar cell in the embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 alternately.

As shown in FIG. 1, a support member 1 that is disposed on the outer peripheral side of the movement main portion 10 and holds the movement main portion 10 is provided. The support member 1 holding the movement main part 10 is accommodated in the case 5. The movement main part 10 is not shown, but the minute hand is provided between the main plate which is a base material of the movement main part 10 and holds the components of the timepiece movement such as the train wheel mechanism and the circuit board and the train wheel bridge. The center wheel, which is the train wheel that drives the vehicle, is pivotally supported. The center wheel pushes and fixes the minute hand.
The ground plane holds a crystal resonator serving as a time reference source. The vibration of the crystal resonator is divided by a semiconductor integrated circuit device mounted on a circuit board, and is given as a signal having a predetermined period, for example, one second period, to the coil block constituting the step motor, and the rotor is rotated at a predetermined period. The rotation of the rotor is transmitted to the central vehicle via the fourth wheel and the third wheel, which are reduction gear trains, and the central vehicle rotates once in one hour. The rotation of the central wheel is transmitted to the hour wheel via the minute wheel as a speed reduction wheel train, and the hour wheel rotates once in 12 hours or 24 hours. The hour hand is pushed in and fixed to the hour wheel.

The support member 1 is made of a resin material, and a convex portion 1f is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the support member 1, and a solar cell guide 1b is provided on the outer peripheral portion side of the convex portion 1f.
The convex portion 1f includes an inner wall 1c facing the end surface 3a of the dial 3, an outer wall 1g facing the solar cell guide 1b with a predetermined gap, and a top portion 1e between the inner wall 1c and the outer wall 1g. Have Further, the support member 1 is provided with a dial receiving surface 1d on which the dial 3 is placed and in contact with the dial back surface 3b. The dial plate 3 is disposed in the inner region of the convex portion 1f.

A gap between the inner peripheral wall surface and the outer wall 1g of the solar cell guide 1b becomes a solar cell storage portion 1a for storing and holding the solar cell 2. The solar cell 2 stored and held in the solar cell storage portion 1a can be prevented from being inclined obliquely by the outer wall 1g of the convex portion 1f, and the power generation surface can be held substantially perpendicular to the surface of the dial plate 3. .
The solar cell 2 is configured by laminating amorphous silicon layers having different conductivity types on a resin substrate typified by polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyether nitrile (PEN). The solar cell 2 can be freely rounded or bent without impairing the characteristics of the substrate made of the resin material.

An annular prism 4 made of a translucent material is disposed on the light receiving surface side of the solar cell 2. The prism 4 has a role of making the solar cell 2 difficult to see when the solar cell 2 is viewed from the glass 6 side, and efficiently refracting light incident on the prism 4 through the glass 6 to the light receiving surface of the solar cell 2. It has the role of light irradiation.
The prism 4 includes a prism surface and has a cross-sectional shape having six surfaces. The annular prism 4 has a flat shape that does not form fixing irregularities.

A tapered surface made of an inclined surface is formed on the upper surface side (glass 6 side) of the end surface 3a of the dial plate 3 so that the amount of light irradiation is increased on the power generation surface of the solar cell 2. Instead of the tapered surface, a step may be provided on the end face 3a of the dial plate 3, and the thickness of the peripheral portion may be made thinner than the central portion of the dial plate 3. Furthermore, the dial 3 may be configured such that the surface facing the inner surface of the glass 6 has a convex spherical shape, and the thickness of the peripheral portion is thinner than the central portion of the dial 3.
Even when the dial 3 is formed in the above step or convex spherical shape, it can exhibit substantially the same function as the tapered surface, the amount of light irradiation to the solar cell 2 is increased, and a large photovoltaic power is obtained as a result. .

Thus, if a means for forming a tapered surface or a step on the end face 3a of the dial plate 3 or a means for forming a convex spherical surface on the surface side facing the inner surface of the glass 6 of the dial plate 3, the sense of depth is eliminated. be able to.
In other words, unlike conventional electronic watches with solar cells, where the dial and solar cells are placed so as to overlap in a plane, in order to obtain enough generated power to cover the power consumption of the watch movement, solar power is used to some extent. The cell 2 needs to have dimensions in the height direction (up and down direction in FIG. 1). For this reason, compared with the conventional electronic timepiece with a solar cell, there is a problem that a so-called back feeling is likely to occur due to a longer distance from the surface of the dial plate 3 to the inner surface of the glass 6. In the case of this embodiment, the dimension in the height direction of the solar cell 2, that is, the distance from the bottom surface of the solar cell storage portion 1a to the upper end of the solar cell 2 is about 1.5 mm. For this reason, when the dial 3 having a flat cross-sectional shape is employed, the above-mentioned feeling of depth is conspicuous and the electronic timepiece with solar cell is unsatisfactory in design.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the end surface 3a of the dial plate 3 has a tapered surface or a step, or means that forms a convex spherical shape on the surface side facing the inner surface of the glass 6 of the dial plate 3, The cross-sectional shape of the dial 3 is configured such that the peripheral edge side is thin and the watch center is thick.
As a result, at the center of the watch, the gap between the dial 3 and the glass 6 is made small, and the hour hand minute hand (not shown) is arranged in a balanced manner between them, thereby making it possible to eliminate the above-mentioned feeling of depth.

The prism 4 is fixed so as to be sandwiched between the top portion 1e of the support member 1 and the flange portion 5a of the case 5, and has a prism bottom surface 4a that contacts the top portion 1e and a prism top surface 4b that contacts the flange portion 5a.
Further, an inclined surface is formed on the prism 4 so as to coincide with the tapered surface of the end surface 3 a of the dial 3.
As described above, when the gap is eliminated between the prism 4 and the tapered surface of the end face 3a of the dial 3 so that the two are in close contact with each other, the appearance quality of the electronic timepiece is improved.

The prism 4 is formed of a colorless and transparent polycarbonate material that easily transmits light. Therefore, the light that passes through the glass 6 and enters from the dial 3 side passes through the prism 4 and enters the power generation surface of the solar cell 2, and a photovoltaic power is generated in the solar cell 2.
Further, since the end face 3a of the dial plate 3 is tapered, the light reaching the tapered surface is reflected by the tapered surface and applied to the light receiving surface of the solar cell 2, thereby increasing the photovoltaic power. . Even when a step is formed on the end surface 3a of the dial 3 or when a convex spherical surface is formed on the surface facing the inner surface of the glass 6 of the dial 3, light can be reflected by the step or the convex spherical surface. The photovoltaic power of 2 can be increased.

  A back cover 11 that seals the inside of the case 5 is fixed to the side of the case 5 opposite to the glass 6 fixing surface. A packing (not shown) is disposed between the back cover 11 and the case 5 in order to ensure a sealed structure.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the convex portions 1f are divided into islands and provided at eight locations on the same circumference. That is, the region between the convex portion 1f and the convex portion 1f is cut out, and the solar cell 2 is configured to be irradiated with light through the cutout. The photovoltaic power of the solar cell 2 can be increased also by the notch between the convex portions 1f. In order to exhibit the effect of increasing the photovoltaic power, it is preferable to make the notch region larger than the island-shaped convex portion 1f region.

Since the solar cell 2 is formed on the substrate made of the resin material as described above, when the solar cell 2 is incorporated in the solar cell storage portion 1a of the support member 1, the solar cell 2 will spread due to the elastic force of the resin substrate. The force which acts is hold | maintained so that it may stick to the inner wall wall surface of the solar cell guide 1b.
The length of the solar cell 2 is configured to be longer than the outer peripheral length of the dial 3. For this reason, when the solar cell 2 is incorporated in the solar cell storage portion 1a, as shown in FIG. 2, both ends of the solar cell 2 in the length direction are disposed between the solar cell guide 1b on the opposite side of the winding stem 12 and the convex portion 1f. The parts overlap.

In this way, in the handling and assembling process after the solar cell 2 is incorporated into the support member 1 by being housed and held in the solar cell housing 1a so that the lengthwise ends of the solar cell 2 overlap, 2 does not come off from the solar cell guide 1b, and an effect of improving workability can be obtained.
In order to exhibit this effect, the gap dimension between the inner wall surface and the outer wall 1g of the solar cell guide 1b, that is, the width dimension of the solar cell storage portion 1a is slightly more than twice the thickness dimension of the solar cell 2 ( It is set to be larger (from 0.05 mm to 0.1 mm).

The dial 3 of the electronic timepiece with solar cell of the present invention is not placed on the top of the convex portion as in Patent Document 1, but is arranged inside the inner peripheral wall 1c of the convex portion 1f as shown in FIG. Has been established.
In the present invention, the height of a member that blocks light irradiation on the light receiving surface of the solar cell 2 is lower than that in Patent Document 1, and light is irradiated to the bottom surface of the solar cell storage portion 1a. It is possible to irradiate light on almost the entire surface. As a result, in the present invention, photovoltaic power sufficient to drive the electronic timepiece can be obtained from the solar cell. Therefore, the inconvenience that the electronic timepiece is distorted in display time due to power shortage and the inconvenience that the electronic timepiece stops will not occur in the present invention.

  Furthermore, in this invention, since the structure which makes the dial 3 thickness thinner than the center part and the structure which provides a notch between the convex parts 1f is employ | adopted, the light irradiation amount to the solar cell 2 is carried out. The photovoltaic power can be increased by increasing the number.

In the present invention, the inner wall 1c of the convex portion 1f adopts a structure facing the end face 3a of the dial plate 3. For this reason, when an impact is applied to the electronic timepiece with solar cell by vibration or dropping from the outside, the convex portion 1 f serves as a buffer material that suppresses the movement of the dial 3 in the horizontal direction of FIG.
For this reason, the present invention can cushion the impact by the convex portion 1 f of the support member 1, and prevent the damage of the dial plate 3 and the damage of the solar cell 2 due to the end face 3 a of the dial plate 3 colliding with the solar cell 2. You can also.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the prism bottom surface 4a has a flat shape and no irregularities for fixing the prism 4 are formed.
For this reason, the light incident on the prism 4 can be reflected or scattered by the prism bottom surface 4 a and incident on the solar cell 2, improving the light use efficiency and contributing to the improvement of the photovoltaic power of the solar cell 2.

  An embodiment different from the above description will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an electronic timepiece with a solar cell according to another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description of common components is omitted or simplified.

The difference between the configuration shown in FIG. 3 and the configuration shown in FIG. In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the dial decoration portion 8 is provided in the vicinity of the prism 4 at the peripheral portion of the dial 3. The dial decoration portion 8 may be provided in an island shape, or may be provided on the entire circumference of the inner peripheral portion of the prism 4. Further, the dial decoration portion 8 may also be used as a cut portion for displaying time by a pointer, and a pattern may be formed on the surface of the dial decoration portion 8.
By providing the dial decoration portion 8, the distance between the inner surface of the glass 6 and the surface of the dial 3 is shortened, and the sense of depth can be eliminated.

  In the electronic timepiece with solar cell of FIG. 3, the configuration other than providing the dial decoration portion 8 is substantially the same as the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, and the operational effects are also substantially the same.

It is sectional drawing which shows the electronic timepiece with a solar cell in embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the electronic timepiece with a solar cell in embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the electronic timepiece with a solar cell in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support member 1a Solar cell storage part 1b Solar cell guide 1f Convex part 2 Solar cell 3 Dial 4 Prism 5 Case 6 Glass 8 Dial decoration part 10 Movement main part

Claims (4)

It includes a solar cell arranged substantially perpendicular to the surface of the dial, and the convex portion composed of an outer wall and an inner wall and a top, the support member having the outer wall opposite to the solar cell guide, the said protrusions In an electronic timepiece with a solar battery that houses the solar cell between an outer wall and the solar cell guide,
The dial is disposed on the inner side of the inner wall, the inner wall is opposed to an end surface of the dial , and the convex portions are provided in islands at a plurality of locations, so that the gap between the convex portions is increased. Further, a notch for irradiating the solar cell with light is formed . The plurality of convex portions are arranged on the same circumference, and the region of the notch between the plurality of convex portions is made larger than the region of the plurality of convex portions on the same circumference. The electronic timepiece according to claim 1. Wherein arranged a prism having a bottom surface of the planar shape on the light-receiving surface of the solar cell, the prism is placed on the bottom surface of the flat shape to the plurality of convex portions by abutting the top of the plurality of protrusions The electronic timepiece with solar cell according to claim 1. The electronic timepiece with solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the dial is provided with a dial decoration portion at a peripheral portion.

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