JPH08155848A - Power control system in wireless torque wrench - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To save the power of a battery mounted into a wireless torque wrench. CONSTITUTION: Before starting thread fastening work by a wireless torque wrench, voltage applied to a strain gage 1 is made intermittent voltage, and power supply to a transmitting circuit 9 is stopped. When thread fastening is started, intermittent voltage is made continuous voltage, and power supply to the transmitting circuit 9 is started at the same time. A battery mounted into the wireless torque wrench can be made compact, and in its turn the wireless torque wrench can be made compact, and fastening workability can be also heightened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power supply control system for a wireless torque wrench, which is aimed at saving labor in a battery incorporated in the wireless torque wrench.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, as means for managing the tightening torque value when tightening a screw with a torque wrench, the number of screws tightened by the torque wrench and the tightening torque value of the tightened screw are provided inside the torque wrench. It is equipped with a data processing circuit capable of recording, displaying, and further storing (storing) data such as data, and the data accumulated in this data processing circuit can be stored in a predetermined management room (location etc.) by a wireless system (radio waves). ) Is known to be a wireless torque wrench.

In such a wireless torque wrench, it is necessary to incorporate a battery (power supply) for driving a data processing circuit provided inside the torque wrench.

[0004]

The battery to be installed in the wireless torque wrench requires that the data processing circuit be operated for a long time during the screw tightening time by the torque wrench, or the data thereof must be operated. Since the power consumption of the fastening sensor (strain gauge) incorporated in the processing circuit is large, the battery used in the torque wrench inevitably becomes a large battery with a large capacity, which causes However, there was a problem that the entire shape of the torque wrench was enlarged.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art. The torque wrench has a power saving structure, and the battery installed in the torque wrench has a smaller size and a longer life. This is the development of a power supply control method for a wireless torque wrench that has been made possible.

More specifically, if the increase in the torque value detected by the torque detection circuit is below a certain value after the power switch is turned on at the start of the screw tightening work with the torque wrench, When the voltage is intermittently supplied to save power and the torque value rises, a predetermined voltage is continuously applied to drive the data processing circuit to tighten the screw. An object of the present invention is to provide a power supply control method for a wireless torque wrench that can apply a regular voltage to a data processing circuit to save battery power consumption.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a data processing circuit incorporated in the wireless torque wrench of the present invention.
1 is a strain gauge used to detect the tightening torque value, 2 is its amplifier, and 3 is a peak hold circuit. Reference numeral 4 is a voltage application circuit for applying a voltage to the strain gauge 1, 5 is a first switch connected to the application circuit, 6 is a torque setting circuit, and this torque setting circuit 6 is connected via a time circuit 7. The first switch 5
Connected to. 8 is a second switch connected to the torque setting circuit 6, 9 is a transmission circuit, 10 is a power switch,
Reference numeral 11 denotes a battery which is a power source.

Next, the operation of the data processing circuit will be described.

First, when a torque wrench (not shown) equipped with this data processing circuit is used to perform screw tightening work, the power switch 10 is turned on to drive the torque limiting circuit 6 and the time limiting circuit. As a result, the first switch 5 is turned on / off at a constant cycle by the action of the time circuit.
It is turned off repeatedly, and as a result, via the voltage applying circuit 4,
The intermittent voltage (pulse shape) shown in FIG. 2A is applied to the strain gauge 1. Therefore, in the preparatory state before the screw tightening operation of the torque wrench, the intermittent voltage is applied to the strain gauge 1 and the power consumption is suppressed.

Then, a screw tightening operation (work) is started using the torque wrench, the screw tightening torque is increased, and the torque value (b) by the strain gauge 1 is set by the torque setting circuit 6 ( When it exceeds the set value (c), the first switch 5 remains turned on when the set value (c) is exceeded, and a regular voltage is still applied to the strain gauge 1 and the driving state is changed. Retained. Then, the peak torque value of the strain gauge 1 is held by the peak hold circuit 3, and the peak hold circuit 3 outputs the peak hold signal shown in (d). This peak hold signal (d)
Is output until the torque value (b) by the strain gauge 1 drops to the set value (c), and if the torque value (b) does not increase again within the set time, the screw tightening work is completed. The second switch 8 is turned on as it is determined.

By the operation of the second switch 8, the power supply voltage is applied to the transmitting circuit 9 to operate the transmitting circuit, and the torque value data by the torque wrench is output (transferred) to the outside (receiver (not shown)). . When the transfer of the torque value data is completed, the second switch 8 is turned off, the initial state is restored, the first switch 5 is turned on / off, and the intermittent voltage is applied to the strain gauge 1.

As described above, in this embodiment, until the screw tightening work by the torque wrench is started, the voltage supplied to the strain gauge, which consumes a relatively large amount of power, is an intermittent voltage and the transmitter circuit. Since the voltage application to 9 is interrupted, power consumption is suppressed when preparing to tighten the screw with the torque wrench, and when the screw tightening with the torque wrench is started, the strain gauge and the transmission circuit are properly regulated. The voltage application is switched to the normal voltage transfer, and normal data transfer is performed.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to save the power supply of the torque wrench, that is, the battery,
As a result, the battery to be used can be made small in capacity and small in size, and the torque wrench body incorporating this battery can be made small, and the tightening workability can be improved.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, before the screw tightening by the wireless torque wrench is started, the voltage applied to the strain gauge incorporated in the torque wrench is made an intermittent voltage and the power is supplied to the transmission circuit. When the output from the strain gauge exceeds the set value after shutting off and screw tightening is started, the voltage between the above is converted into a continuous voltage based on the output, and voltage is applied to the transmitting circuit to transmit. When it is determined that the screw tightening is finished by the output of the strain gauge, the voltage applied to the strain gauge is returned to the state before the screw tightening is started and the power supply to the transmission circuit is closed. Since this is a power supply control method for a wireless torque wrench, this allows power consumption to be reduced during the so-called screw tightening preparation when screw tightening work by the torque wrench is started. Since the power consumption of the torque wrench, that is, the battery, can be saved, the battery to be used can have a small capacity and a small size. It is possible to improve the tightening workability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram used in a power supply control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between each signal and voltage in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Strain gauge 2 ... Amplifier 3 ... Peak hold circuit 4 ... Voltage application circuit 5 ... First switch 6 ... Torque setting circuit 7 ... Time circuit 8 ... Second switch 9 ... Transmission circuit 10 ... Power switch 11 ... Battery

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Before starting screw tightening with a wireless torque wrench, the voltage applied to a strain gauge incorporated in the torque wrench is set to an intermittent voltage and power supply to a transmission circuit is cut off to start screw tightening. Then, when the output from the strain gauge exceeds a set value, the inter-voltage is converted to a continuous voltage based on the output, and voltage is applied to the transmission circuit to start transmission, and the screw tightening is performed. When it is determined that the output has been completed by the output of the strain gauge, the voltage applied to the strain gauge is returned to the state before the start of the screw tightening, and the power supply to the transmission circuit is closed. Power control method for luque wrench.