JPH0944107A - Air bubble display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a new display device which is low in power consumption and does not decrease the display effect even in daytime by controlling the timing and frequency of air bubbles, generated by intermittent jetting of a certain amount of air by an air jet device from the lower end of a transparent liquid crystal container, by using an electric controller to form a character and a figure. SOLUTION: An air nozzle 5 which operates as the air jet device is provided at the lower end of a pipe and compressed air of 0.5atm. is supplied from a direct pipe type air tank 7 to the air nozzle 5 through a control valve 6 which operates as part of the electronic controller. When control valves 6-1, 6-2... of respective display units are opened and closed according to the electric signals sent from a program controller 11, air is sent from a common air tank 7 to respective air nozzles 5-1, 5-2... to produce air bubbles 12-1, 12-2.... Those air bubbles rise at a speed of about 0.2 meter per second, so the production time of the respective air bubbles is controlled by the program controller 11 so that the air bubbles draw a character A.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character / graphic display device installed in a park, an aquarium or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic display board and a neon sign have been known as display devices for displaying characters and figures which can be used for advertisements and the like. In the electronic display board, a large number of light bulbs are regularly arranged and the blinking of each of them is controlled by an electric control device to display characters and figures. Moreover, in the neon sign, the discharge tube itself was made into the shape of a character and a figure, and it was made to light.

[0003]

Since these devices have been used for many years, they not only lack novelty, but also consume a large amount of power for display, and display effect is deteriorated under sunlight in the daytime. There was a drawback to An object of the present invention is to provide a new display device that consumes less power and does not deteriorate in display effect even during the daytime.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, in a display device of the present invention, a transparent container for storing liquid, a gas ejection device for ejecting gas intermittently from the lower portion of the container, and these A gas supply device for supplying gas to
And an electric control device for electrically controlling the gas ejection device.

[0005]

When a certain amount of gas is intermittently ejected from the lower end of the transparent liquid container by the gas ejection device, bubbles are generated inside the container in response to the ejection. These bubbles rise inside the liquid container over time. When a large number of these bubbles are generated and the timing and frequency of the bubbles are controlled by using an electric control device, the generated bubbles form characters / figures when viewed from the horizontal direction. At night, these bubbles are illuminated as needed.

[0006]

An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the structure of a display unit used in a bubble display device according to the present invention. A lower part of a transparent resin pipe 3 having an outer diameter of 20 mm (inner diameter of 15 mm) and a height of 1 m is fitted to a fixing member 2 fixed to a fixing plate 1, and the inside of the pipe is filled with water 4. . This pipe acts as a liquid container. An air nozzle 5 acting as a gas ejecting device is provided below the pipe 3, and 0.5 atm compressed air from a straight tubular air tank 7 is passed through a control valve 6 acting as a part of an electric control device. Is supplied to the air nozzle 5. The pressure inside the tank 7 is controlled to be reduced by the pressure reducing valve 8 and increased by the pressure increasing valve 9 according to the size of bubbles required. These form a part of the gas supply device. An air compressor 10 constitutes a gas supply device.

The amount of air supplied to the air nozzle 5 at one time is controlled by the opening time of the control valve 6. The opening time is about 20 milliseconds, and the opening / closing time is controlled by the program control device 11 acting as a main part of the electric control device. Each time the control valve 6 is opened and closed, a bubble of about 3 cm in length is generated in the pipe 3 and rises. The bubbles are released from the upper end of the pipe 3 into the atmosphere.

FIG. 2 shows a structure (a part) of a bubble display device constituted by arranging a large number of the display units shown in FIG.
When the control valves 6-1, 6-2, ... Of each display unit are opened / closed in response to the electric signal transmitted from the program control device 11, the common air tank 7 causes the respective air nozzles 5-1, 5-2.
The air is sent to -2, ... And bubbles 12-1, 12-2 ,. Since the bubbles rise at a speed of about 0.2 meters per second, when the program controller 11 controls the generation time of each bubble, the rising bubble draws a character (A) as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a front view (elevation view) of the device of FIG. In this device, 132 display units are arranged in a line, and the control valve of each unit, the pressure reducing valve 8 and the pressure increasing valve 9 of the air tank 7 are controlled by the program control device 11. Integrate each display unit into appropriate blocks (5 blocks in the figure) according to the size of the character,
When the opening and closing of each control valve is controlled so that one block displays one character, the sentence / word as shown in the figure is displayed. The same applies when displaying figures and the like. Illuminate from the front or back at night.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a bubble display unit when installed in water. The structure is basically the same as that of the bubble display unit in FIG. 1, but a communication portion 13 is provided to allow water inside and outside the transparent resin pipe to communicate at the lower portion of the pipe. When a bubble display device is constructed using this unit,
Since the water level inside the pipe always matches the water level 14 in the water tank, the water level adjustment / maintenance inspection becomes easy. In addition, since the pipe fixing member does not need a closed structure, various support structures can be used.

FIG. 5 shows an arrangement example (plan view) in the case of installing the bubble display unit inside the water tank and another example of the structure of the display unit. In (1), many display units 3'of FIG. 4 are vertically arranged inside a water tank 1'having a transparent side surface. The control valve, air tank, program control device, and the like of each unit are the same as in the case of FIG. The display unit of this example is installed in the center,
It may be installed near the wall of the aquarium and other objects may be placed inside the aquarium.

FIG. 5 (2) shows an example in which the divided transparent resin pipe piece is adhered to the transparent wall surface of the water tank, and air is injected from the lower end to generate bubbles. The air control method is
Same as the previous example. This eliminates the need for a fixing member for the resin pipe piece, and a transparent vinyl pipe can be used for the bubble generating nozzle. FIG. 3C shows an example in which the divided transparent resin pipe piece is arranged slightly away from the transparent wall surface of the water tank.

[0013]

As is apparent from the above description, since the display device of the present invention uses changes in the reflection / transmission of ambient illumination light due to bubbles, the display effect is reduced during the daytime. There is no. Further, since it is not necessary to emit light by itself, there is an advantage that the electric power required for display is remarkably reduced as compared with an electronic display board and a neon sign. Furthermore, since it can be installed not only in the air but also in water, it has the advantage of wide application.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of a bubble display unit.

FIG. 2 is a partial view of a bubble display device using the display unit of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the bubble display device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a structure of an underwater bubble display unit.

FIG. 5: Example of bubble display device using water tank

[Explanation of symbols]

 (3) is a transparent resin pipe, (5) is an air nozzle, (6) is a control valve, (7) is an air tank, (10) is an air compressor, (11) is a program controller, and (12) is air bubbles. , (13) is a communication hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transparent container for storing a liquid, a gas ejection device for ejecting gas intermittently from the lower part of the liquid, a gas supply device for supplying gas to the ejection device, and a gas ejection from the gas ejection device. An electric control device for electrically controlling a display device, which displays characters, numbers, figures, etc. by the generated bubbles.