JPH116882A - Electronic controlling mechanical timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic controlling mechanical watch capable of exactly adjusting hands even in the case where a generator stops owing to hand adjustment and the like. SOLUTION: To an electronic controlling mechanical timepiece provided with a generator 20 converting the mechanical energy of a coil spring to electric energy and a rotation controlling means 50 controlling a rotation period of the generator, provided is a power supply means consisting of a solar battery 40 and the like supplying the rotation controlling means 50 with electric energy during the termination of the generator 20. Even with the termination of the generator during hand adjustment and the like, electric energy can be continuously supplied from the solar battery 40 to the rotation control means 50, so that an IC 51 and a quartz oscillator 52 can be stably and continuously driven, exact time control is possible and exact hand adjustment is also possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention converts mechanical energy when a mainspring is opened into electric energy by a generator.
The present invention relates to an electronically controlled mechanical timepiece that accurately drives a pointer fixed to a wheel train by controlling a rotation cycle of a generator by operating a rotation control unit using the electric energy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A generator converts mechanical energy when a mainspring is opened into electric energy by a generator, and operates a rotation control means using the electric energy to control a current value flowing through a coil of the generator, thereby forming a wheel train. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-5758 discloses an electronically controlled mechanical timepiece that accurately drives a fixed pointer and displays the time accurately.

At this time, electric energy from the generator is once supplied to a smoothing capacitor, and the circuit control means is driven by the power from this capacitor. This capacitor has an alternating current synchronized with the rotation cycle of the generator. Therefore, it is not necessary to maintain power for enabling operation of the circuit control means including the IC and the crystal oscillator for a long period of time. For this reason, conventionally, a capacitor having a relatively small capacitance capable of operating an IC or a quartz oscillator for about several seconds has been used.

[0004] This electronically controlled mechanical timepiece is characterized in that a mainspring is driven by a mainspring as a power source, so that no motor is required, the number of parts is small, and the cost is low. In addition, only a small amount of electrical energy required to operate the electronic circuit was required, and the watch could be operated with low input energy.

[0005]

However, the electronically controlled mechanical timepiece has the following problems. That is,
When adjusting the time (time adjustment), which is usually done by pulling out the crown, the hour, minute,
The second hand was stopped. Stopping the guidelines
To stop the train, the generator was also stopped.

For this reason, while the input of the electromotive force from the generator to the smoothing capacitor is stopped, the IC continues to be driven, so that the electric charge stored in the capacitor is discharged to the IC side, and the terminal voltage decreases. As a result, the circuit control means has also stopped.

[0007] Then, even if the crown is depressed after the needle adjustment and the generator starts rotating, the IC operates until the voltage of the capacitor reaches the drive start voltage of the circuit control means (the voltage at which the IC can be driven). Therefore, there is a problem that accurate time control cannot be performed.

[0008] In addition, after applying a voltage to the crystal unit,
Since it takes a little time to stably output an oscillation signal, there is a problem that even if the IC is driven, it takes time until the crystal oscillator stabilizes, and accurate time control cannot be performed during that time. .

For this reason, there has been a problem that accurate needle adjustment cannot be performed.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronically controlled mechanical timepiece capable of performing accurate hand setting even when the generator is stopped at the time of hand setting or the like.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to the present invention is connected to a mainspring, a generator for converting mechanical energy of the mainspring transmitted through the wheel train into electric energy, and coupled to the wheel train. An electronically controlled mechanical timepiece having a pointer and a rotation control means driven by the converted electric energy to control a rotation cycle of the generator, wherein when the generator is stopped, the rotation control means And a power supply means for supplying electric energy to the power supply.

In the present invention, even when the generator is stopped at the time of adjusting the hand, the electric power supply means is provided, so that the electric energy can be continuously supplied to the rotation control means. Therefore, it is possible to stably drive the rotation control means including the IC and the quartz oscillator, and to perform accurate time control and perform accurate hand adjustment even when the clock is operated after the hand adjustment. it can.

At this time, the power supply means includes a solar cell for converting light into electric energy, a stray electric wave generator for converting stray electric waves to electric energy, a thermoelectric generator for converting a temperature difference into electric energy, Further, batteries and the like can be used.

Further, when the generator is stopped, the power supply means is connected to the rotation control means. When the generator is driven, the power supply means is disconnected from the rotation control means. It is preferable to provide a switch for performing the operation.

If such a switch is provided, the power supply means can be separated from the circuit while the generator is being driven, so that unnecessary power consumption and the like can be prevented.

[0016]

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

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a main part of an electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to this embodiment, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views thereof.

The electronically controlled mechanical timepiece includes a barrel wheel 1 comprising a mainspring 1a, barrel gear 1b, barrel barrel 1c, and barrel lid 1d. The mainspring 1a has a barrel gear 1 at the outer end.
b, the inner end is fixed to barrel barrel 1c. The barrel case 1c is supported by the main plate 2 and the train wheel bridge 3, and is fixed by a square hole screw 5 so as to rotate integrally with the square hole wheel 4.

The square wheel 4 is meshed with a hammer 6 so as to rotate clockwise but not counterclockwise. The method of rotating the hour wheel 4 in the clockwise direction and winding the mainspring 1a is the same as the automatic winding or the manual winding mechanism of the mechanical timepiece, and thus the description is omitted.

The rotation of the barrel gear 1b is increased by a factor of 7 to the second wheel & pinion 7, and is sequentially increased by 6.4 times to the third wheel & pinion 8.
Increased 5 times to 4th car 9 Increased 3 times to 5th car 10
The speed is increased by a factor of 10 to the sixth wheel 11 and to the rotor 12 by a factor of 10 to increase the speed by a total of 126,000 times.

The center pinion 7a is fixed to the center wheel 7a, the minute hand 13 is fixed to the center pin 7a, and the second hand 14 is fixed to the center wheel 9 respectively. Therefore, to rotate the second wheel & pinion 7 at 1 rpm and the fourth wheel & pinion 9 at 1 rpm, the rotor 12 must rotate at 5 rpm.
What is necessary is just to control so that it may rotate. At this time, the barrel gear 1b becomes 1/7 rph.

This electronically controlled mechanical timepiece has a rotor 12,
A generator 20 including a stator 15 and a coil block 16 is provided. The rotor 12 has a rotor magnet 12
a, a rotor pinion 12b, and a rotor inertia disk 12c. The rotor inertia disk 12 c is for reducing the fluctuation of the rotation speed of the rotor 12 with respect to the fluctuation of the driving torque from the barrel car 1. The stator 15 includes a stator body 15a.
Is wound with a 40,000 turn stator coil 15b.

The coil block 16 has 11
The coil 16b of 10,000 turns is wound. Here, the stator body 15a and the magnetic core 16a are made of PC permalloy or the like. Further, the stator coil 15b and the coil 16b are connected in series so that an output voltage is obtained by adding the respective generated voltages.

Next, a control circuit of the electronically controlled mechanical timepiece will be described with reference to FIG.

The AC output from the generator 20 is boosted and rectified through a boosting rectifier circuit comprising a boosting capacitor 21 and diodes 22 and 23, and is charged into a smoothing capacitor 30. The rotation control means 50 including the IC 51 and the crystal oscillator 52 is connected to the capacitor 30.

Then, a predetermined voltage, for example, 1 V, capable of driving the IC 51 and the quartz oscillator 52 is applied to the capacitor 30.
Is stored, the IC 51 and the crystal oscillator 52 are driven by the stored power, and the amount of current flowing through the coil of the generator 20 is varied to adjust the electromagnetic brake amount.
That is, the rotation period of the pointer is adjusted.

The means for varying the amount of current flowing through the coil is described in Example 1 of JP-A-8-101284.
The method of varying the resistance of the load control circuit connected in parallel with both ends of the generator 20 as described in the above, and the method of varying the number of boosting stages as described in the second embodiment are effective. The switch 24 provided in the boost rectifier circuit
This is a limiter when an overcurrent or overvoltage is applied.

This circuit is provided with a solar cell 40 as power supply means. The solar cell (cell) 40 is I
It is only necessary to output a small power enough to drive the C51 and the quartz oscillator 52, and therefore, the size may be as large as the typesetting portion of the dial of the timepiece. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG.
A part of the dial of the watch, for example, may be arranged in place of the planting portion indicating 12 o'clock, the entire dial may be a solar cell, or may be incorporated in a watch band.

The solar cell 40 is connected to the IC 51 via a switch 41. The switch 41 is connected when pulling out the crown 60 of the timepiece (performing the hand setting operation), and is configured to be cut off when the crown 60 is pushed in (the hand setting operation is completed and the timepiece is driven).

In this embodiment, when the crown 60 is pulled out and the hands are stopped to adjust the hands, the generator 20 is also stopped. At the same time, the switch 41 is turned on, and power is supplied from the solar cell 40 to the IC 51 and the crystal oscillator 52. Note that even if the generator 20 is stopped, power is also supplied from the capacitor 30 for a certain period of time (1 to several seconds), so that power is supplied without interruption to the IC 51 and the like, and the rotation control means 50 operates. to continue.

When the crown 60 is pushed in after the needle adjustment is completed, the generator 20 rotates to generate electric power, and the output power drives the rotation control means 50 to perform time control.
Since a certain period of time is required to charge the capacitor 30 until the terminal voltage becomes the predetermined voltage after the generator 20 starts rotating, the switch 41 is turned off after a certain period of time after the crown 60 is pushed. It may be.
However, in the present embodiment, while the generator 20 is stopped, power is supplied from the solar cell 40, and the voltage in the capacitor 30 hardly decreases. 30 can supply power.

As a result, power is supplied from the solar cell 40 even when the generator 20 is stopped at the time of hand setting or the like,
Rotation control means 5 composed of IC 51 and quartz oscillator 52
“0” always drives.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

Since the solar cell 40 as power supply means is provided, the solar cell 40 can be operated even while the generator 20 is stopped.
Accordingly, power can be continuously supplied to the rotation control means 50 such as the IC 51. Therefore, the time can be accurately controlled immediately after the needle adjustment operation is completed and the generator 20 is started to be driven, so that the accurate needle adjustment operation can be performed.

Since the switch 41 is provided and the solar cell 40 is disconnected from the circuit side while the generator 20 is driven, the electric power supplied from the capacitor 30 to the rotation control means 50 is supplied to the solar cell 40 side. There is no leakage and energy efficiency can be improved. In particular, when the solar cell 40 is receiving light and generating power, there is no problem. However, when the solar cell 40 is connected to a circuit when receiving no light, part of the power from the capacitor 30 is partially However, in the present embodiment, since the switch 41 is provided, the leak current can be cut off and the energy efficiency can be improved.

The solar cell 40 only needs to be able to output a small amount of electric power capable of driving the IC 51 and the like, and may be as large as the typesetting portion of the dial. There is no decrease in performance.

Normally, the needle setting operation is performed under light such as sunlight or fluorescent light, so that the solar cell 40 can reliably output electric power. During the needle setting operation, the IC 51 and the like are reliably driven. You can continue to do.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following embodiments, the same or similar components as those in the above-described embodiments will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted or simplified.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, instead of the solar cell 40 of the first embodiment, a stray electric wave generator 70 for receiving stray electric waves and generating power is used as a power supply means.
Is used. The floating radio wave generator 70 is configured by a tuning circuit including an antenna 71, a coil 72, and a capacitor 73, receives a floating radio wave by the antenna 71, generates power by the coil 72 and the capacitor 73, and outputs power of a predetermined voltage. Things.

In this embodiment as well, when the crown 60 is pulled out at the time of needle setting, the switch 41 is turned on, and power is supplied from the floating radio wave generator 70 to the rotation control means 50. The power is always supplied even when the hand is adjusted.

In this embodiment, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained. That is, power can be supplied to the rotation control means 50 even when the generator 20 is stopped by the floating radio wave power generator 70, so that accurate needle setting work can be performed and the switch 4
Since the number 1 is provided, it is possible to prevent a leak current to the floating radio wave power generation device 70 side while the generator 20 is being driven, thereby preventing unnecessary power consumption.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the power is generated by the stray radio wave, the power can be generated even when there is no light like the solar cell 40. In particular, if the number of turns of the coil 72 is increased so that electric power can be generated even with a radio wave having a magnitude of about the geomagnetism, power can be generated in any place.

The coil 72 and the capacitor 73 can be configured inside the movement of the watch, and the antenna 71 can be incorporated in a watch band or the like. It can be easily incorporated into a design watch.

When adjusting the hands with a clock,
Since the watch is held in a hand, the capacitor 73 and the antenna 71 can be realized using a human body. In this case, only the coil 72 may be incorporated in the timepiece.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a thermoelectric generator 80 is used as power supply means. The thermoelectric generator 80 utilizes the Seebeck effect, in which one end of a p-type and n-type semiconductor is connected, the other end is a branch end, and a current is generated when a temperature difference is applied between these ends. Yes, chalcogen compounds such as ZnSb and PbTe, Ge
It is composed of a silicide such as Si, a boride such as BP, or the like.

The thermoelectric generator 80 is provided on the back cover 81 of the watch as shown in FIG. 8, incorporated in the watch band 82, or provided in the crown 60 as shown in FIG. In addition, when the wearer touches the mounting portion at one end of the thermoelectric generator 80 and warms at body temperature, a temperature difference is generated to generate power.

In other words, taking the case shown in FIG. 9 as an example, the plus electrode plate 8
4. The thermoelectric generator 80 and the negative electrode plate 85 are stacked. The negative electrode plate 85 is connected to a circuit inside the watch through a shaft 86 of the crown 60, and the positive electrode plate 84 is connected to an internal circuit via a wiring 87 having a spring property and an external case 88 of the watch. When a person touches the negative electrode plate 85 on the surface of the crown 60, the positive electrode plate 84
Therefore, a temperature difference is generated between the thermoelectric generator and the thermoelectric generator 80.

In this embodiment as well, when the crown 60 is pulled out at the time of needle setting, the switch 41 is turned on. At this time, when the person touches the thermoelectric element 80, the rotation control means 50 is turned off. Is supplied with power,
Electric power is supplied to the IC 51 and the crystal oscillator 52 even while the generator 20 is stopped.

Also in this embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, power can be supplied to the rotation control means 50 by the thermoelectric generator 80 while the generator 20 is stopped. And the switch 41 blocks the leakage current to the thermoelectric generator 80 side, thereby providing the same effect that extra power consumption can be prevented.

In this embodiment, since the thermoelectric generator 80 is used to generate electric power, it is possible to generate electric power only by touching the thermoelectric generator 80, and it is possible to generate electric power reliably even when there is no light or stray radio waves. Can be.

Further, since the back cover 81, the band 82 and the like are places where the user unconsciously touches them when adjusting the needles, it is possible to reliably generate electric power even if the user is not so conscious.
In the case where the thermoelectric generator 80 is provided, the crown 60 is always touched at the time of needle setting, so that power can be reliably generated.

Since the thermoelectric generator 80 can be incorporated into the interior of the watch, the band 82, the crown 60, etc., the thermoelectric generator 80 does not affect the design of the watch, and can be incorporated into watches of various designs. Can be.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes modifications and improvements as long as the object of the present invention can be achieved.

For example, the power supply means is not limited to the solar cell 40, the stray radio wave generator 70, and the thermoelectric generator 80 of each of the above-described embodiments, but may be an ordinary battery. In short, the generator 20 is stopped. Any device may be used as long as it can supply power to the rotation control means 50 such as the IC 51 and the crystal oscillator 52.

In particular, the solid electrolyte battery has no dry-up or liquid leakage as compared with the solution type electrolyte, has a reliability of several decades, and can be used sufficiently by being incorporated in the electronically controlled mechanical timepiece of the present invention. Then, while using a battery of 0.1 mAH, the battery is connected to the rotation control means 50 via a switch 41 which is intermittently operated in accordance with the operation of pulling out and pushing in the crown, so that power is supplied only at the time of hand adjustment. If it takes 5 minutes to set the needle once,
This means that it has power for 2,000 times and can be used without replacing it for a long time.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the switch 41 for intermittently connecting the power supply means to the rotation control means 50 is provided. However, the switch 41 is not necessarily provided. However, it is better to provide the switch 41
When the power supply is driven, the power supply means can be separated from the circuit, which is preferable in that unnecessary power consumption and the like can be prevented.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By providing power supply means in addition to the main generator, even if the generator is stopped at the time of needle setting, etc.
Power can be supplied and the oscillation of the crystal oscillator can be maintained, so that accurate needle alignment can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a main part of an electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a circuit of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a dial in which the embodiment is incorporated.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a circuit of a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a circuit of a main part according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a schematic cross section of a timepiece incorporating the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a schematic cross section of a crown portion of a timepiece incorporating the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 barrel car 1a mainspring 13 minute hand 14 second hand 20 generator 30 smoothing capacitor 40 solar cell 41 as power supply means 41 switch 50 rotation control means 51 IC 52 crystal oscillator 60 crown 70 floating electric power generator as power supply means 80 power Thermoelectric element as supply means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G04G 1/00 310 G04G 1/00 310Y

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A mainspring, a generator for converting mechanical energy of the mainspring transmitted via a train wheel into electric energy, a pointer coupled to the wheel train, and driven by the converted electric energy, An electronically controlled mechanical timepiece including: a rotation control unit configured to control a rotation cycle of a generator, comprising: a power supply unit that supplies electric energy to the rotation control unit when the generator is stopped. Electronic controlled mechanical watch. 2. The electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said power supply means is a solar cell that converts light into electric energy. 3. An electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said power supply means is a floating electric wave generator for converting a floating electric wave into electric energy. 4. An electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said power supply means is a thermoelectric generator for converting a temperature difference into electric energy. 5. The electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said power supply means is a battery. 6. The electronically controlled mechanical timepiece according to claim 1, wherein the power supply unit is connected to the rotation control unit when the generator is stopped, and the generator is An electronically controlled mechanical timepiece, comprising: a switch for disconnecting the power supply unit from the rotation control unit when driven.