JPH07277246A - Safety marker light - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a safety marker light suitable for use with a bicycle and usable almost maintenance-free without requiring battery replacement and the like. CONSTITUTION:A safety marker light mounted on the mudguard of a bicycle or motorcycle has a power supply portion comprising a combination of a solar cell 11 and an electric double layer capacitor that is charged by the solar cell 11; when the sun shines, the electric double layer capacitor is charged by the solar cell 11, while when no sunlight is available an LED 32 is made to blink by the electric double layer capacitor via an oscillating portion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a safety sign light mounted on a bicycle or a motorcycle, and more particularly to a safety sign light which has a light source such as an LED and can be used without maintenance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A mudguard such as a bicycle or a motorcycle or a stay thereof is equipped with a reflector which reflects light from a rear vehicle and shines particularly at night. In general, this reflector is provided with a large number of small reflecting surfaces having different angles, for example, and is configured to reflect light incident in a predetermined angle range in the illuminated direction.

Although this type of reflector is inexpensive,
It is, so to speak, passive and may not be reflected depending on the incident angle of light, which is a safety issue.

[0004]

Although a highly safe reflector having a built-in light source is commercially available, the power source of a bicycle is a small generator or a battery.
Since the small generator receives driving energy from the wheels, it not only burdens the rider, but also does not generate electricity when it is stopped, which is no different from the above-mentioned inexpensive reflector.

In the case of a motorcycle, the power source thereof is required from a vehicle battery, but when the main switch is turned off to move away from the vehicle, the power source is cut off. There is no difference from the case of a bicycle.

When the battery is used as a power source, it can be turned on or blinked even during stop, but it is a consumable item and must be replaced with a new one. In the case of a solar cell, it does not need to be replaced, but it has the inconvenience that it cannot be used when the sunlight is cut off.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a bicycle or a motorcycle which is provided with a light source but does not require charging and the like and can be used without maintenance. An object is to provide a suitable safety sign lamp.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a housing attached to a predetermined site such as a bicycle or a motorcycle, and a transparent or semi-transparent reflector is provided in the housing. In the safety indicator lamp consisting of A light source that blinks with a current output through an oscillating portion, the solar cell is provided on the outer surface of the housing so as to expose the solar cell, and the light source is arranged in the housing, and the reflector plate is provided. It is characterized in that the light is emitted from the inner surface side of the housing.

A secondary battery may be used instead of the electric double layer capacitor. Further, it is preferable that a switch means for switching charging / discharging of the electric double layer capacitor, in particular, a switching transistor whose on / off is controlled by an electromotive voltage of the solar cell is connected to the power source section.

[0010]

Function: During sunshine, electric energy generated by the solar cell is stored in the electric double layer capacitor. When the day breaks, the electric energy is supplied from the electric double layer capacitor to the oscillating unit and the light source, and the light source blinks. That is, it self-luminesces even at night.

The electric double layer capacitor has a large capacitance per unit volume, has no limitation in charging and discharging, and has a long life. Therefore, it can be used almost maintenance-free without requiring replacement.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram as a first embodiment of a safety sign lamp according to the present invention which is used as a reflector for a bicycle or a motorcycle. according to this,
The safety indicator lamp includes a power supply unit 10, an oscillating unit 30 connected to the power supply unit 10 via a switch means 20, and an oscillating unit 3.
A light source 32 whose blinking is controlled by 0.

The power supply unit 10 has a solar cell 11 and an electric double layer capacitor 12 connected in parallel to the solar cell 11 and charged. In this embodiment, charging and discharging of the electric double layer capacitor 12 is performed. A PNP transistor 21 is used as the control switch means 20.

The solar cell 11 includes an electric double layer capacitor 1
A Zener diode 13 for protecting 2 from its overvoltage is connected in parallel, and a reverse current blocking diode 14 is provided in a charging circuit from the solar cell 11 to the electric double layer capacitor 12.

The transistor 21 has its emitter-collector connected to the current supply path from the power supply section 10 to the oscillation section 30, and has its base connected via a suitable base resistor 22 and auxiliary adjusting resistor 15 to the common circuit of the device. Connected to the side.

In this embodiment, the oscillator 30 includes an oscillator circuit 31 having two output terminals OUT1 and OUT2, and LEDs (light emitting diodes) 32a and 32b as light sources are connected to the output terminals OUT1 and OUT2, respectively. Has been done.

A resistor 33 for limiting current and an electrolytic capacitor 34 are connected to the input side of the oscillator circuit 31. The capacitor 34 is a capacitor that instantly supplies the light emission energy to the LEDs 32a and 32b, and it is required that the internal resistance be low and the leakage current be small so that a large current can be taken out. On the other hand, the electric double layer capacitor 12 is required to have characteristics such that self-discharge is small even if the internal resistance is high.

In the above structure, when the solar cell 11 is in an electromotive state due to sunlight, the emitter potential and the base potential of the transistor 21 are kept at the same potential, so that the transistor 21 is off and therefore the solar cell 11 is in the off state. The electric energy generated at 11 is the electric double layer capacitor 1
Charged to 2.

When the electromotive force cannot be obtained from the solar cell due to the break of the day, the emitter potential of the transistor 21 becomes lower than the base potential, so that the transistor 21 turns on. As a result, the energy stored in the electric double layer capacitor 12 is charged in the capacitor 34, and the LEDs 32a and 32b alternately blink through the oscillation circuit 31.

Here, the electromotive force of the solar cell 11 is 2.0
V, 200 mA, the rating of the electric double layer capacitor 12 is 2.4 V2.2 F, the current limiting resistor 33 is 10 kΩ, the base resistor 22 is 1 MΩ, the adjusting resistor 15 is 100 kΩ, the electrolytic capacitor 34 is rated 16 V 100 μF, and the oscillator circuit is used. First, the solar cell 11 is exposed to sunlight for 20 minutes by using a stepping motor driving IC (model number SM5546) manufactured by Nippon Precision Co., Ltd. 31 and alternately turning on the two LEDs 32a and 32b for 40 msec every second. The electric double layer capacitor 12 was charged.
At this time, the charging voltage of the electric double layer capacitor 12 is 2.
It was 2V.

After that, the solar cell 11 was shielded from light. Along with this, the transistor 21 is turned on, and the electric double layer capacitor 12 starts discharging,
The LEDs 32a and 32b start blinking alternately, and this state continues for about 5 hours.

This service life depends on the capacitance of the electric double layer capacitor 12, the light emission time and the light emission interval set by the oscillation circuit 31, and can be adjusted arbitrarily.

As another circuit example, as shown in FIG. 2, a manual changeover switch 21a may be used as the switch means 20 to arbitrarily turn on and off. In some cases, as shown in FIG. 3, the switch means 20 may be omitted and the power supply section 10 and the oscillation section 3 may be omitted.
It is also possible to connect 0 directly and to make it always blink while charging.

Furthermore, although an electric double layer capacitor is used in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, a secondary battery may be used instead of the electric double layer capacitor in view of the concept of an energy storage element.

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of the safety sign lamp, and FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the safety sign lamp attached to a bicycle, for example, a mudguard. According to this, the safety sign lamp 40 is provided with a housing 41 attached to, for example, a mudguard 50 of a bicycle.

The casing 41 is made of, for example, synthetic resin, and a mounting screw 41a for the mudguard 50 is provided on the back side thereof. The front opening of the housing 41 is covered with a reflector 42 which can transmit light, that is, is made of transparent or translucent synthetic resin or glass. In this case, the reflection plate 42 may be a known reflector plate that can transmit light colored in red, for example.

The solar cell 11 is provided on the outer surface of the housing 41, that is, the upper surface in this embodiment. The electric double layer capacitor 12, the switch means 20, the oscillating unit 30 and the like are housed in the housing 41. Further, a reflecting mirror 43 is provided in the housing 41, and an LED 32 as a light source is arranged at a predetermined portion thereof. In this example, L
Although only one ED 32 is shown, its number is arbitrary.

During the sunshine, the solar cell 11 charges the electric double layer capacitor 12. When the sunshine is interrupted, a current is supplied from the electric double layer capacitor 12 to the oscillation unit 30 via the switch means 20, the LED 32 as a light source starts blinking, and the reflection plate 42 is illuminated from inside the housing 41.

Since the light preferably illuminates the reflecting plate 42 itself and is applied to the rear of a bicycle or the like, it can be well recognized regardless of whether the bicycle is running or stopped.

In the above embodiment, the reflection plate 42 is attached to the front opening of the housing 41, but a simple transparent plate may be used instead of the reflection plate 42. In some cases, the LED 32 may be directly attached to the reflection plate 42. Furthermore, the light of the LED 32 may be guided to the back surface side of the reflection plate 42 using a large number of optical fibers.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The power supply part is a combination of a solar cell that receives energy from sunlight and an electric double layer capacitor that has almost no restrictions on charging and discharging and is suitable for accumulating electric energy. Provided is a safety sign lamp which can be used and has good safety.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a first embodiment of an electrical ornament according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a safety sign lamp according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state where the same safety sign light is attached to a mudguard of a bicycle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Power Supply Section 11 Solar Cell 12 Electric Double Layer Capacitor 20 Switch Means 21 Switching Transistor 30 Oscillation Section 31 Oscillation Circuits 32, 32a, 32b LED 40 Safety Sign Light 41 Case 42 Reflector 43 Reflector

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A safety sign lamp having a housing attached to a predetermined site such as a bicycle or a motorcycle, and a transparent or semi-transparent reflector provided in the housing, the solar battery being charged by the solar battery and the solar battery. A power supply unit composed of a combination of an electric double layer capacitor, an oscillating unit that turns on and off a current supplied from the power supply unit at predetermined intervals, and a light source that blinks with a current output through the oscillating unit. The solar cell is provided so as to be exposed on the outer surface of the housing, the light source is arranged in the housing, and the reflector is illuminated from the inner surface side of the housing. And safety sign light. 2. The safety sign lamp according to claim 1, wherein a secondary battery is used instead of the electric double layer capacitor. 3. The safety indicator lamp according to claim 1, wherein the power supply unit is connected to a switch means for switching charging and discharging of the electric double layer capacitor. 4. The safety indicator lamp according to claim 3, wherein the switch means comprises a switching transistor whose on / off is controlled by an electromotive voltage of the solar cell.