JPH07114372A - Electronic musical instrument having built-in solar battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an electronic musical instrument provided with a power source circuit enabling the electronic musical instrument having many chances to be used outdoors to be performed of over a long period of time by executing such control as to charge a secondary battery by solar batteries. CONSTITUTION:A power source circuit 14 for driving a musical instrument body device 19 is composed of a main body battery 16, a charging/discharging control circuit 18 and the solar batteries 20. This charging circuit 18 boosts the output voltage of the solar batteries 20 via an inverter circuit or as it is and sends it to the main body battery 16 via a current rectifier circuit to charge the battery. Namely, natural light or artificial light is made incident on the solar batteries 20 mounted at a panel surface to carry out light to electric energy conversion, and the charging/discharging control circuit 18 charges the secondary battery in the power source circuit 14 when the voltage obtd. by such light to electric energy conversion attains a prescribed value or above. Then, the charging to the secondary battery is eventually executed at all times, insofar as the use environment meets the prescribed conditions.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable electronic musical instrument which is often used outdoors, and more particularly to a solar cell built-in electronic musical instrument.

In recent years, a wide variety of electronic musical instruments having various functions that are infinitely close to or beyond natural musical instruments have become widespread and widely used, and the number of electronic musical instruments used outdoors tends to increase. .

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Usually, as a portable electronic musical instrument which is often used outdoors, a portable electronic musical instrument having a built-in secondary battery which is precharged through a charger at a place where a commercial power source is used is often used. ing. Although there are some that use a primary battery that cannot be charged as a power source, the battery life is short and it is uneconomical.

Therefore, in this type of conventional electronic musical instrument, the operating time is limited by the rated capacity of the battery, and it is necessary to charge the battery or replace the replaceable battery pack when the battery capacity is insufficient. It was

Charging requires a considerable amount of time even if the battery is rapidly charged, and it is necessary to consider such things as replacing a spare battery pack that has been charged in advance or replacing the musical instrument itself prepared separately. Become.

When such an instrument is used, for example, in a marching band, it is constantly moving while playing, and is often played for a considerably long time. There is a possibility that it will become impossible to play as the capacity decreases.

Unless the performer is out of the line, it is impossible to replace the musical instrument itself or the battery, which may disturb the overall harmony.

When such an electronic musical instrument is used, it is fatal that various musical instruments cannot be played at various ceremonies and competitions, and must be strictly avoided.

Further, there are many occasions when young children and students use the electronic musical instrument of this kind, and there is a background in which it is difficult to take appropriate measures.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an electronic musical instrument having a power supply circuit capable of playing an electronic musical instrument, which is often used outdoors, for a long time. This is an issue.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to mount an electronic musical instrument, which is often used outdoors, on a panel surface via a charge / discharge control circuit for a power supply circuit mainly composed of a secondary battery. Connected to the solar cell, the charge and discharge control circuit performs control such that the solar cell charges the secondary battery under the condition that the solar cell generates an output of a predetermined voltage or more, Solved by an electronic musical instrument with a built-in solar cell.

[0012]

In the electronic musical instrument according to the present invention, photo-electric energy conversion is performed by the incidence of natural light or artificial light on the solar cell mounted on the panel surface.

When the voltage obtained by such photo-electric energy conversion reaches a predetermined value or more, the charge / discharge control circuit charges the secondary battery in the power supply circuit. Therefore, the secondary battery is always charged as long as the usage environment meets the predetermined condition.

Therefore, the consumption of the secondary battery continues to be replenished, and long-time performance is possible. As described above, the charging is performed even during the performance, but naturally, during the break time when the performance is not performed, a sufficient charging action can be expected even for a short time.

The charging in this case is automatically performed as long as the incident light can be expected in the solar cell portion, which is not enough for the performer to recognize. Therefore, at ceremonies, marches, competitions, etc.
In addition, the instrument can be used for a long time in a case where the performer does not have particular knowledge.

In recent years, the performance of solar cells has improved, and even artificial light sources such as sunlight in cloudy weather and mercury lamps in a gymnasium have appeared, which makes it possible to perform outdoors during fine weather. The effect of extending the usage time is not limited to this.

[0017]

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall structure of an electronic musical instrument with a built-in solar cell as described above.

The electronic musical instrument shown here is a musical instrument body device 10.
There is a sound output according to the performance, and an audible sound is output from the connected speaker device 12.

A power supply circuit 14 for driving the musical instrument main body device 10 comprises a main body battery 16, a charge / discharge control circuit 18, and a solar cell 20. The charger 22 may be incorporated as a power supply circuit, but in order to reduce the weight,
It is also possible to connect separately when charging.

The main battery 16 is a secondary battery such as a nickel-cadmium battery or a sealed lead battery, and is selected so as to have a voltage and current capacity suitable for the configuration of the musical instrument.

The charge / discharge control circuit 18 charges the output voltage of the solar cell 20 as it is or after boosting it through an inverter circuit, and then feeds it to the main battery 16 through a rectifying circuit to perform charging.

The optimum value for the charging voltage is determined by the power consumption of the electronic musical instrument, the configuration of the main battery 16, and the like. As a matter of course, a configuration is adopted in which backflow from the main battery 16 to the solar battery side is blocked.

The charging / discharging control circuit 18 displays the charging state of the main battery 16, the magnitude of the charging current from the solar battery, etc. as it is, or a value converted into an approximate playable time. Configurations can be added.

The solar cell 20 is a combination of well-known cell panels according to a desired voltage and current capacity, and the larger the number, the more advantageous. However, it is selected within an allowable range that does not limit the design of the electronic musical instrument or the original performance function of the electronic musical instrument.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a portable keyboard. A predetermined number of keyboard groups 26 and panel switch groups 28 are provided on the panel surface of the electronic musical instrument housing 24.

In this embodiment, six solar cell panels 20 are attached to the left side of the keyboard group 26. However, it goes without saying that the number of panels, the mounting positions, etc. can be arbitrarily selected according to the type and shape of the musical instrument.

Also, the form of the electronic musical instrument is not limited to the keyboard, and even if the instrument has an outer shape such as a wind instrument, a string instrument, a percussion instrument, as long as the solar cell can be attached, there is no problem in implementing the present invention.

In this embodiment, six solar cell panels are attached to the panel surface of the electronic musical instrument, but the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, if a part of it is detachable and only fixed solar cells are used in fine weather and sufficient power generation capacity cannot be expected in cloudy weather or rainy weather, consider this. It is also possible to configure so that the number can be appropriately increased.

[0030]

As described in detail above, according to the electronic musical instrument with a built-in solar cell according to the present invention, the electric power generated from the solar cell panel is charged even during outdoor performances and during breaks. , At least a part of the power consumption of the main battery is constantly replenished.

Under strong sunlight, of course, sufficient replenishment charging is performed, and a considerable amount of power is replenished even under cloudy weather. Therefore, the playable time can be significantly extended.

In addition, the electronic musical instrument having such a structure has an advantage that the performance preparation which is conventionally performed by attaching and detaching the charger or confirming the charging state can be performed by simply exposing the musical instrument to the sunlight for a predetermined time. can get.

Such an operation is significant in that there is no fear of overcharging when preparing to play an electronic musical instrument, and that labor is saved especially when a large number of people are prepared with a small number of personnel.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an electronic musical instrument with a built-in solar cell according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of an embodiment of an electronic musical instrument with a built-in solar cell according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 main body device 12 speaker device 14 power supply device 16 main body battery 18 charge / discharge control circuit 20 solar battery 22 charger

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In an electronic musical instrument that is often used outdoors, a solar cell mounted on a panel surface is connected to a power supply circuit mainly composed of a secondary battery via a charge / discharge control circuit, and the rechargeable battery is connected. The discharge control circuit performs control such that the secondary battery is charged by the solar cell under the condition that the solar cell generates an output of a predetermined voltage or higher. . 2. The electronic musical instrument with a built-in solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the musical instrument is a marching band musical instrument.