JPH1165569A - Vibration-type alarm device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inexpensively manufacture a device and to provide low power consumption and the superior durability by housing a shim member supported at least by one end in a housing and providing a piezoelectric element on at least one surface of the shim member. SOLUTION: A housing 2 is formed almost rectangular parallelepiped in shape, made of synthetic resin or the like, and one end part is stopped with a plug, supporting one end part of a shim member 3. The shim member 3 is an elastic metallic material, for example, a phosphor bronze long stripe-shaped set to have a thickness of 0.1 mm. A connection part 6 with almost a U-shaped cross section is formed for every prescribed size in the shim member 3, so as to be easily deformable elastically. Piezoelectric elements 4a, 4b are bimorph types stuck to both surfaces of a flat part 3a of the shim member 3, except for the connection part 6. The piezoelectric elements 4a, 4b are stuck to the shim member 3, so as to extend and contract in the longitudinal direction at the time of applying a voltage on them. The expanding/contracting directions of the piezoelectric elements 4a, 4b stuck to the front and rear surfaces and the piezoelectric elements adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction of the shim member 3, are mutually opposite.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vibration-type notifying device for notifying a user by generating a vibration in a portable telephone, a pager or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a vibration-type notifying device, a device having an eccentric weight attached to the output shaft of a traveling-wave / standing-wave ultrasonic motor, or a leaf spring having a weight at the tip of a laminated piezoelectric element. There is something composed of. In the former vibration type notification device, the output shaft is rotated by driving the motor,
Large vibrations are generated by the eccentric weight attached to the output shaft. On the other hand, in the latter vibration type notification device, a large vibration is generated by driving the piezoelectric element at the resonance frequency of the system and amplifying the displacement.

[0003]

However, in the former vibration-type alerting device, the ultrasonic motor used is expensive, and high accuracy is required for assembling the ultrasonic motor. There is. Further, the ultrasonic motor has a problem that the energy conversion efficiency is low, it is difficult to reduce power consumption, and the life is short due to friction driving.

[0004] On the other hand, the latter type of vibration-type notification device has a problem that it is more expensive than an electromagnetic type motor used for vibration notification and is not suitable for practical use.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a vibration type alarm device which can be manufactured at a low cost with a simple structure, consumes less power, and has excellent durability.

[0006]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above problems, a housing accommodates a shim material having at least one end supported, and a piezoelectric element is provided on at least one surface of the shim material. It is provided.

With this configuration, when an AC voltage having the resonance frequency is applied to the piezoelectric element, the piezoelectric element expands and contracts and vibrates.

[0008] The piezoelectric element may be provided on both sides of a shim material.

The piezoelectric element may be provided in series in the longitudinal direction of the shim.

[0010] A plurality of the shim members may be arranged in parallel.

In this case, the shims may be connected to each other.

The housing can be used as a thin type that can be built into a card.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First Embodiment) In a vibration-type notifying device 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a shim material 3 is accommodated in a housing 2, and piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b are adhered to both surfaces of the shim material 3. Configuration.

The housing 2 is formed of a synthetic resin or the like in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. One end of the housing 2 is closed by a stopper 5 supporting one end of the shim 3. This housing 2
Is not limited to a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, but may be formed into various shapes such as a cylindrical shape depending on the equipment to be applied. Further, it is preferable that the housing 2 itself be made of a material having a low viscosity in order to effectively generate the following vibration.

The shim material 3 is made of an elastic metal material, for example, phosphor bronze in a long strip shape. In the present embodiment, the thickness of the shim 3 is 0.1 mm. The shim material 3 has a substantially U-shaped cross section for each predetermined dimension so as to be easily elastically deformed.
A letter-shaped connection 6 is formed.

The piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b are of a so-called bimorph type, which are adhered to portions of the shim material 3 except for the connection portion 6, that is, to both surfaces of the flat portion 3a. The piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b are attached to the shim material 3 so as to expand and contract in the longitudinal direction when a voltage is applied. Further, the piezoelectric elements 4a, 4b adhered to the front and back surfaces, respectively, and the piezoelectric elements 4a, 4a, 4b,
4b, the directions of expansion and contraction are opposite to each other.

The method of connecting the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b includes a parallel type shown in FIG. 3A and a series type shown in FIG. 3B. In the present embodiment, a parallel type is adopted (see FIG. 2B).

In the parallel type, the shim material 3 and each piezoelectric element 4
a and 4b so that an AC voltage is applied between them. In this case, the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b are attached so that the polarization directions are the same (indicated by arrows in FIG. 3A). Here, of the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b,
The direction in which the voltage application direction and the polarization direction match is elongated,
The opposite direction contracts.

On the other hand, in the series type, the wires are connected so that an AC voltage is applied between the piezoelectric elements 4. In this case, the polarization directions of the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b are opposite (FIG. 3B).
Indicated by the middle arrow. ).

The frequency of the AC voltage to be applied is set to a value at which the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b are most displaced, that is, the same value as the resonance frequency of the vibration-type notification device 1 as a whole. In this embodiment, the single-phase frequency is 350 Hz.

In the vibration-type alerting device having the above-described structure, the shim member 3 is formed by press working, the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b are attached to both surfaces of the flat portion 3a, respectively, and connected. It is manufactured by being housed in the housing 2 while being fixed to the housing 2. Each of the shim material 3, the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b, and the housing 2 has a simple structure and is inexpensive.
Since assembly can be performed easily, it can be manufactured at low cost.

In addition, the vibration-type notification device 1 having the above-described configuration vibrates by applying an AC voltage to expand and contract each of the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b. This vibration is transmitted to the housing 2 through the plug 5 to which one end of the shim material 3 is fixed.

As described above, the vibration can be generated only by the expansion and contraction of the piezoelectric elements 4a and 4b, and the vibration can be transmitted to the housing 2 through the plug 5 to which the shim member 3 is fixed, so that the energy is transmitted. It is not necessary to separately provide a mechanism (for example, a friction drive source shown in the conventional example). Therefore, power consumption is small and durability is excellent. The vibration has a small amplitude (in the present embodiment, the amplitude is 10 to 40 μm). For this reason, the distance between the housing 2 and the shim material 3 to be accommodated can be set small. Moreover, the piezoelectric element 4a, 4b attached to the shim material 3 can be formed to be thin. Therefore, the vibration type notification device 1 can be made very small (or thin).

As described above, since the vibration-type notification device 1 can be formed inexpensively and small, it is most suitable for a cellular phone, a pager, and the like. Especially when applied to pagers,
Even if the pager itself is a card type as shown in FIG. 4, the vibration type notification device 1 can be formed thin and incorporated so as not to protrude from the surface.

Since the vibration-type notification device 1 can be formed in a small size as described above, it can be used for a fountain pen, glasses, and the like in addition to a mobile phone and a pager.

(Second Embodiment) The vibration type notification device 1 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is different from that of the first embodiment in the shape and arrangement of the shim 3. That is, the shim material 3 has a configuration in which the connecting portion 6 is not U-shaped in cross section, but has slits 7 formed from both side edges. In addition, shim material 3
Are arranged side by side, one end of which is fixed to the plug 5, and the other end of which is connected by a connecting piece 8. However, the position to be connected by the connecting piece 8 is not limited to the end portion, and may be an intermediate position or the like. In short, it is only necessary that the two shim members 3 can be connected so as to be able to vibrate synchronously. The number of the shim members 3 arranged in parallel is not limited to two, but may be three or more.

In each of the above embodiments, the piezoelectric element 4
Although the case of applying a so-called bimorph type in which a and 4b are attached to both surfaces of the shim material 3 has been described,
It is also possible to apply a monomorph type in which the piezoelectric element 4a or 4b is attached only to one surface.

In each of the above embodiments, only one end of the shim 3 is supported by the housing 2 (plug 5). However, both ends may be supported.

Further, a weight may be provided at the free end of the shim material 3. According to this, by changing the weight of the weight, it is possible to freely set the form of the vibration to be generated.

Although wires are used for connecting the piezoelectric elements 4a, 4b, etc., it is also possible to use a flexible substrate.

[0032]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the vibration-type alarm device of the present invention, a shim material having at least one end supported in a housing is provided, and at least one of the shim materials is provided. Since a piezoelectric element is provided on the surface,
It can be manufactured at a low cost with a simple configuration. Moreover, vibration can be generated only by the expansion and contraction operation of the piezoelectric element,
Since a special energy transmission mechanism or the like is not required, power consumption can be suppressed and durability is excellent.

Further, since the piezoelectric elements are provided on both sides of the shim material, provided in series in the longitudinal direction, or a plurality of shim materials are provided in parallel, larger vibration can be obtained.

In particular, when a plurality of shim members are arranged side by side, they are connected to each other, so that the vibrations are not canceled out and the vibrations are synchronized with each other, so that a larger vibration can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vibration type notification device according to a first embodiment.

2 shows a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1, (a) is a plan cross-sectional view,
(B) is a side sectional view.

3A and 3B show examples of the connection state of FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 3A is a parallel type and FIG. 3B is a series type.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a card-type pager to which the vibration-type notification device of FIG. 1 is applied.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a vibration-type notification device according to a second embodiment.

6 shows a sectional view of FIG. 5, (a) is a plan sectional view,
(B) is a side sectional view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Housing 3 Shim material 4a, 4b Piezoelectric element 8 Connecting piece

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A vibration-type notifying device, wherein a shim material having at least one end supported in a housing is accommodated, and a piezoelectric element is provided on at least one surface of the shim material. 2. The vibration-type alarm device according to claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric elements are provided on both sides of a shim material. 3. The vibration-type notifying device according to claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric elements are provided in series in a longitudinal direction of the shim material. 4. The vibration-type alarm device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the shim members are arranged in parallel. 5. The vibration-type notifying device according to claim 4, wherein the shim members are connected to each other. 6. The vibration-type notifying device according to claim 1, wherein the housing is made thin so as to be built in a card.