JPH0644025U - Lead-acid battery display - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] To penetrate the top wall of the lead-acid battery battery case,
A transparent body 24 made of a rod-shaped acrylic resin is attached,
An inverted conical portion 23 is formed at the lower end of the transparent body 24. Below the transparent body 24, a float 31 that changes the display mode according to the change in the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution 30 is arranged. The apex angle 37 of the inverted conical portion 23 is less than 90 °. [Effect] By setting the apex angle to be less than 90 ° as compared with the case where the apex angle of the inverted conical portion is 90 °, the image magnifying function of the float is increased, and the float can be shown larger.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a display device for displaying the liquid level and the specific gravity of an electrolytic solution of a lead storage battery.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 FIG. 5 shows an example of a conventional lead-acid battery display device.

The display device 1 shown here comprises a rod-shaped transparent body 4 which is mounted so as to penetrate the top wall 2 of the lid of a lead-acid battery and which forms an inverted conical portion 3 at the lower end. Further, below the transparent body 4, a float 6 that changes the display mode that is visible through the transparent body 4 by the floating and sinking action that occurs according to the change in the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution 5 in the battery case is arranged. The float 6 has a rotating shaft 7 passing through its eccentric position, and the rotating shaft 7 is rotatably supported by a pair of brackets 8 and 9 extending downward from the transparent body 4.

The float 6 includes an appropriate display section 10 and an inappropriate display section 11 which are distinguished by color coding, for example. As for the specific gravity of the float 6, when the specific gravity of the electrolyte solution 5 is equal to or higher than an appropriate value, that is, when the lead storage battery is fully charged, the appropriate indicator 10 is displayed as shown by the solid line in FIG. On the other hand, when the specific gravity of the electrolyte solution 5 is below the proper value, that is, when the lead storage battery needs to be charged, as shown by the phantom line in FIG. Are selected so that they point upwards. Therefore, when the float 6 is seen through the transparent body 4 from above the transparent body 4, the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution 5 should be grasped depending on whether the proper display section 10 or the improper display section 11 is visible. You can

Further, the display device 1 can also display whether or not the liquid level of the electrolytic solution 5 is within an appropriate range. That is, when the electrolyte 5 is insufficient and the liquid surface is located below the lower end of the transparent body 4, as shown in FIG. The light is specularly reflected (mirror reflection) on the surface of 3 and returns to above the transparent body 4. Therefore, when the electrolyte 5 is insufficient, the float 6 cannot be seen through the transparent body 4, and a whitish display can be provided based on the reflection of the light 12.

In the conventional transparent body 4, when the inverted conical portion 3 is formed, the vertex angle 13 is almost right angle, that is, 90 °, almost without exception. The reason is as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, when the apex angle 13 is 90 °, the light 12 incident in parallel with the transparent body 4 is again reflected when specularly reflected on the surface of the inverted conical portion 3, It returns to the upper end of the transparent body 4 in parallel with the transparent body 4, and as a result, the whitish display indicating the insufficient state of the electrolytic solution 5 can be made brighter.

[0007]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, the above-described display device 1 has a problem that it is relatively difficult to give a sufficient size to the display by the float 6. That is, in order to make the display by the float 6 large, it is simply necessary to make the float 6 large. However, considering the structure shown in FIG. 5, it is not possible to make the float 6 itself large. Can not. This is because if the float 6 is made larger, the distance between the pair of brackets 8 and 9 must be made larger. In such a case, the through hole 14 for receiving the transparent body 4 provided in the top wall 2 of the battery lid is provided. Must be increased. However, increasing the size of the through hole 14 is often difficult due to the design of the battery case of the lead storage battery. Further, the lower end of the transparent body 4 and the float 6 must be arranged in a limited space in the battery case, and for this reason, the float 6 cannot be simply enlarged.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a display device for a lead storage battery which can increase the display by the float without increasing the float.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 This invention is a rod-shaped transparent body that is attached so as to penetrate the top wall of a lead-acid battery lid and has an inverted conical lower end, and the specific gravity of the electrolyte solution that is arranged below this transparent body and that is inside the battery case. And a float for changing the display mode that is visible through the transparent body by the floating / sinking action that occurs according to the change in the transparent material, so that the relative refractive index of light of the electrolytic solution to the transparent body is less than 1. It is intended for the lead-acid battery display device of choice.

In this invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned technical problem, the apex angle of the inverted conical portion at the lower end of the transparent body is set to less than 90 °.

The transparent body is made of, for example, an acrylic resin. Thus, when the transparent body is made of an acrylic resin, the apex angle is less than 90 ° and more than 46.2 °. It is preferable.

Further, the inverted conical portion at the lower end of the transparent body may be configured to include an upper half portion and a lower half portion having different apex angles. In this case, the apex angle of the upper half is smaller than the apex angle of the lower half and is less than 90 °.

[0013]

[Action]

 In this invention, as described above, the material of the transparent body is selected so that the relative refractive index of light of the electrolytic solution to the transparent body is less than 1. However, the optical property of such a transparent body is as follows. Applies to most clear solids. Then, the transparent body which gives such a relative refractive index has an image enlarging function similar to that of the convex lens in the inverted conical portion, and at this point, the float is first enlarged. It should be noted that this also applies to the conventional display device 1 shown in FIG.

In the present invention, as will be apparent from the description below, since the apex angle of the inverted conical portion at the lower end of the transparent body is less than 90 °, the apex angle is less than 90 °. Thus, the image magnification of the float can be increased.

[0015]

[Effect of device]

 Therefore, according to this invention, the float can be made to appear larger through the transparent body as compared with the case where the apex angle of the inverted conical portion is 90 °. Therefore, the display of the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution becomes easier to see.

Further, according to this invention, when the display size of the float is the same as when the apex angle of the inverted conical portion is 90 °, the float can be made smaller. Therefore, this is advantageous for display devices that must be placed in a limited space within the battery case.

A transparent body is made of acrylic resin, and the apex angle of the inverted conical portion thereof exceeds 46.2 ° when the angle is 46.2 ° or less. This is because total reflection occurs on the surface of a part and the float cannot be seen.

When the inverted conical portion includes the upper half and the lower half having different apex angles from each other, as described above, the apex angle of the upper half is smaller than that of the lower half. Although it is made smaller and less than 90 °, the height of the entire inverted conical portion can be reduced by including the upper half portion and the lower half portion in this way. . Therefore, with such a configuration, the display device can be arranged in the limited space in the battery case without any problem.

When the apex angle of the inverted conical portion is set to less than 90 ° as in the present invention, the reflection in the mode shown in FIG. 6 does not occur. Therefore, the visibility of the display when the electrolyte is insufficient must be sacrificed to some extent. However, if air is in contact with the inverted conical portion and the apex angle is at least less than 90 °, the light incident on the transparent body is first totally reflected on the surface of the inverted conical portion and floats. The float cannot be seen from above the transparent body, because it does not reach. Therefore, when the electrolytic solution is insufficient, it is possible to grasp this state by not seeing the float.

[0020]

【Example】

 FIG. 1 is a view corresponding to FIG. 5, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Similar to the display device 1 shown in FIG. 5, the display device 21 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted so as to penetrate the upper wall 22 of the lid of the lead storage battery and has an inverted conical portion 23 at the lower end. The transparent body 24 is provided. More specifically, a male screw 25 is formed near the upper end of the transparent body 24, and a female screw 27 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the through hole 26 provided in the upper wall 22. A large-diameter head portion 28 is formed on the upper end portion of the transparent body 24, and the male screw 25 is screwed into the female screw 27 with the packing 29 sandwiched between the head portion 28 and the peripheral portion of the through hole 26. The transparent body 24 is attached to the upper surface wall 22 by being combined.

Below the transparent body 24, a float 31 for changing the display mode seen through the transparent body 24 by a floating operation that occurs according to a change in the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution 30 in the battery case is arranged. The float 31 is provided with a rotary shaft 32 passing through its eccentric position, and the rotary shaft 32 is rotatably supported by a pair of brackets 33 and 34 extending downward from the transparent body 24. The float 31 includes an appropriate display section 35 and an inappropriate display section 36 which are distinguished by color coding, for example.

As for the specific gravity of the float 31, when the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution 30 is equal to or higher than an appropriate value, that is, when the lead storage battery is in an appropriate charged state, the appropriateness display portion 35 is indicated by a solid line in FIG. When the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution 30 is less than the proper value, that is, when the lead storage battery needs to be charged, the improper display section 36 is indicated by an imaginary line in FIG. Selected to face upwards.

The configuration described above is substantially the same as that of the display device 1 shown in FIG. This embodiment is characterized in that the apex angle 37 of the inverted conical portion 23 at the lower end of the transparent body 24 is less than 90 °. Since the apex angle 37 is less than 90 °, the float 31 can be made to look larger when viewed from above the transparent body 24 than when the apex angle is 90 °. it can. This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a state where the inverted conical portion 23 of the transparent body 24 is located inside the electrolytic solution 30. Further, in FIG. 2, the float 31 is schematically illustrated as a flat plate. Further, in FIG. 2, the inverted conical portion 3 of the transparent body 4 shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, when transparent body 24 is formed of a transparent solid such as acrylic resin, the relative refractive index of light of electrolytic solution 30 to transparent body 24 is less than 1. Therefore, after being reflected on the upper surface of the float 31, the light 38 traveling in parallel with the transparent body 24 and visible from above the transparent body 24 exhibits refraction as shown in FIG. Gives a statue of any size. On the other hand, in the inverted conical portion 3 having the apex angle 13 of 90 °, which is indicated by the alternate long and short dash line, the light 40 reflected from the float 31 shows refraction as indicated by the broken line and then becomes parallel to the transparent body 24. To proceed, give an image of the size shown by the double-headed arrow 41.

Therefore, as can be seen by comparing the respective lengths of the double-headed arrows 39 and 41, when the floats 31 of the same size are viewed through the transparent bodies 24 and 4, respectively, the apex angle 37 is less than 90 °. The transparent body 24 having the inverted conical portion 23 of FIG. 2 can make the image of the float 31 larger than the transparent body 4 having the inverted conical portion 3 having the apex angle 13 of 90 °.

On the other hand, an image of the size indicated by the double-headed arrow 39 provided by the transparent body 24 having the inverted conical portion 23 having the apex angle 37 of less than 90 ° is shown by the inverted conical portion 3 having the apex angle 13 of 90 °. When it is intended to be provided by the existing transparent body 4, a float 31a having a size as indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 is required.

As described above, the display device 21 according to the embodiment of the present invention is superior to the conventional display device 1 in the image enlargement function of the float 31. However, since the apex angle 37 of the inverted conical portion 23 is not 90 °, the reflection in the mode shown in FIG. 6 does not occur, and the display indicating that the electrolyte solution 30 is insufficient becomes slightly dark. There are shortcomings. However, this drawback is not fatal and does not pose a significant problem in practice. This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the lower end of the transparent body 24 when the electrolyte solution 30 is insufficient, that is, when the inverted conical portion 23 of the transparent body 24 is in contact with air. It is a thing. When the transparent body 24 is viewed from directly above, the visible light is the light that travels substantially parallel to the transparent body 24, for example, the light 42. This light 42 is given by the light 44 that is specularly reflected at the surface of the inverted conical portion 23, that is, at the interface between the inverted conical portion 23 and air. Light 44 is provided by light 46 that is reflected at an incident point 45 at another location on the inverted cone 23. The light 46 does not all directly reflect at the incident point 45, and a part of the light 46 passes through the surface of the inverted conical portion 23 as it is as shown by a broken line. The light 46 enters from the upper end of the transparent body 24 and is given by light that is repeatedly reflected on the side surface of the transparent body 24. As described above, when the electrolyte solution 30 is insufficient, the light incident from the upper end of the transparent body 24 is repeatedly reflected on the surface of the transparent body 24 even if not all of the total reflection, and finally the light 42 is emitted. As described above, the light travels from the lower end to the upper end of the transparent body 24 substantially in parallel with the transparent body 24, and can be seen from directly above the transparent body 24. Such light gives a whitish display.

On the other hand, the light 47 entering the transparent body 24 from the float 31 reaches the upper end of the transparent body 24 while repeatedly reflecting on the side surface of the transparent body 24, but does not travel parallel to the transparent body 24. The float 31 cannot be seen from directly above the transparent body 24. Therefore, in the state where the electrolytic solution 30 is insufficient, the float 31 cannot be seen, and this state can be accurately grasped.

As described above, an acrylic resin is often selected as the material of the transparent body 24. This is because the acrylic resin has high transparency and also has a property capable of withstanding the electrolytic solution 30. The absolute refractive index of this acrylic resin is 1.4938, while the absolute refractive index of the electrolytic solution (sulfuric acid) 30 is 1.375 when the specific gravity is 1.30, and the absolute refractive index of air is Is 1.000292. Therefore, the relative refractive index of the electrolytic solution 30 to the acrylic resin, that is, the transparent body 24 is 0.920, and the relative refractive index of air to the transparent body 24 is 0.670.

Therefore, when the light travels from the transparent body 24 toward the electrolytic solution 30, when the incident angle θ at the interface is sin θ = 0.920, that is, θ = 66.9 ° or more, total reflection occurs. Occurs. Therefore, when the inverted conical portion 23 is in the electrolytic solution 30, the incident angle θ must be smaller than 66.9 ° in order to make the float 31 visible. In order to make the incident angle θ smaller than 66.9 °, the apex angle 37 of the inverted conical portion 23 must be larger than (90 ° -66.9 °) × 2 = 46.2 °.

On the other hand, when the light travels from the transparent body 24 to the air, total reflection occurs when the incident angle θ at the interface is sin θ = 0.670, that is, θ = 42.1 ° or more. Therefore, when the inverted conical portion 23 comes into contact with air due to lack of the electrolytic solution 30, the apex angle 37 of the inverted conical portion 23 is set so that the float 31 cannot be seen by total reflection. , (90 ° -42.1 °) × 2 = 95.8 ° or less. However, the condition of 95.8 ° or less is inevitably satisfied by satisfying the condition of less than 90 ° in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of an inverted conical portion 49 at a lower end of a transparent body 48 included in a display device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The inverted conical portion 49 comprises an upper half 50 and a lower half 51, the apex angle 52 of the upper half 50 and the apex angle 53 of the lower half 51 being different from each other. Moreover, the apex angle 52 of the upper half portion 50 is smaller than the apex angle 53 of the lower half portion 51, and is less than 90 °.

According to this embodiment, the height of the inverted conical portion 23 is increased by setting the apex angle 37 to be less than 90 °, as in the above-described embodiments, so that the apex angle 53 is relatively large. It can be suppressed by forming the lower half portion 51. Nevertheless, since the apex angle 52 has an upper half 50 of less than 90 °, the image magnifying function of the float is not compromised.

In the above-described embodiment, the apex angle 53 of the lower half portion 51 is arbitrary as long as it satisfies the condition that it is larger than the apex angle 52 of the upper half portion 50. However, if the apex angle 53 of the lower half portion 51 is selected to be 90 °, when the electrolytic solution is insufficient, reflection occurs in the manner as shown in FIG. It can be displayed brightly.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the inverted conical portion 49 is composed of the upper half portion 50 and the lower half portion 51. However, the inverted conical portion is further divided and the top of each portion is divided. The corners may be changed stepwise. The inverted conical portion may have a peripheral surface obtained by rotating an arc, and the apex angle may be continuously changed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the float 31 that appears as rotation causes floating and sinking motion that occurs in response to a change in the specific gravity of the electrolytic solution 30, but the floating and sinking motion of the floater It is optional, and for example, a spherical shape that moves in the predetermined passage in the vertical direction relatively may be used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view showing a display device 21 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing a lower end portion of the transparent body shown in FIG. 1, showing how the float 31 looks as compared with the case of the conventional transparent body 4.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic front view showing a lower end portion of the transparent body 24 shown in FIG. 1, showing a state in which an electrolyte solution is insufficient.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic front view showing a lower end portion of a transparent body 48 included in a display device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional front view showing a conventional display device 1.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing a lower end portion of the transparent body 4 shown in FIG. 5 in an enlarged manner, showing a state in which the electrolyte solution is insufficient.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21 display device 22 upper surface wall 23,49 inverted conical portion 24,48 transparent body 26 through hole 30 electrolyte solution 31 float 37,52,53 apex angle 50 upper half 51 lower half

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A rod-shaped transparent body, which is attached so as to penetrate an upper surface wall of a lid of a lead storage battery and has a lower end of an inverted conical shape, and an electrolytic solution which is arranged below the transparent body and which is in the battery case. A float for changing the display mode seen through the transparent body by a floating / sinking operation that occurs according to a change in the specific gravity of
The material of the transparent body is selected so that the relative refractive index of light of the electrolytic solution with respect to the transparent body is less than 1, and in the display device of a lead storage battery, A display device for a lead storage battery, wherein the apex angle is less than 90 °. 2. The transparent body is made of acrylic resin,
The lead acid battery display device according to claim 1, wherein the apex angle is less than 90 ° and more than 46.2 °. 3. A rod-shaped transparent body, which is attached so as to penetrate an upper surface wall of a lid of a lead storage battery and has a lower end of an inverted conical shape, and an electrolytic solution which is arranged below the transparent body and which is in the battery case. A float for changing the display mode seen through the transparent body by a floating / sinking operation that occurs according to a change in the specific gravity of
The material of the transparent body is selected so that the relative refractive index of light of the electrolytic solution with respect to the transparent body is less than 1, and the inverted cone-shaped portion at the lower end of the transparent body is And an apex angle different from each other, and an apex angle of the upper half is smaller than an apex angle of the lower half and is less than 90 °. , Lead-acid battery display device.