JPS58179379A - Electronic timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily manufacture a timepiece which requires no battery as an energy source, and has the same high accuracy as a crystal timepiece, by providing a mechanism for accumulating the mechanical energy, a ring train for supplying the energy from this accumulating mechanism, and a mechanical vibrator for governing this train wheel. CONSTITUTION:A barrel drum 6 for accumulating the mechanical energy accumulates the energy manually or an automatic winding mechanism. A train wheel 7 executes display of an hour, a minute, a hand, a calendar, etc. A governing mechanism 8 by a mechanical vibrator applies a balance with a timed annular balance a tuning fork, etc. A power generating mechanism 9 driven by the train wheel 7 executes electromagnetic power generation or piezoelectric power generation. A circuit 10 provided the circuits for rectifying the power generating energy 9 and adjusting the voltage, a crystal oscillator, and a logical circuit. Also, this timepiece has a mechanism 11 for controlling a period of a mechanical vibrator 8 by an output of the circuit 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece using stored mechanical energy as a driving source.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a conventional electronic watch.

In FIG. 1, a chemical battery, 2 a crystal oscillator, 5 a drive circuit for the crystal oscillator, and 4 a circuit for frequency-dividing the source signal of the crystal oscillator to create a drive signal for the motor 5. The motor is used as the power source to drive the wheel train and display the hours, minutes, day, day, etc.

Such conventional electronic watches have the following drawbacks.

That is, a battery is used as an energy source, and it is necessary to replace the battery after consumption. This requires the user to pay for battery replacement, and there is no guarantee that the battery replacement service will be provided at the end of the service period, resulting in instability.

Some use a secondary chemical battery as the first battery and charge it with a solar cell or the like, but based on the durability of the chemical battery, when the battery life runs out, it needs to be replaced.

The present invention eliminates such drawbacks of the conventional technology and has the following features.

(1) In conventional mechanical watches, the barrel is called the barrel.
The energy stored in the mechanical energy storage mechanism by a self-winding mechanism using hands or a weight is used as an energy source to drive the watch. This allows it to withstand semi-permanent use, except for failures.

(2) A crystal oscillator provides a highly accurate, time-standard signal that controls the regulating oscillator, achieving extremely high accuracy.

The invention will be explained in detail below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the structure of the timepiece of the present invention. Second
In the figure, 6 is a barrel that stores mechanical energy, and the energy is stored manually or by an automatic winding mechanism.

7 is a gear train, which displays the hours, minutes, hands, calendar, etc. 8 is a speed regulating mechanism using a mechanical oscillator.
Apply tuning fork etc. Reference numeral 9 denotes a power generation mechanism driven by the wheel train 7, which performs electromagnetic power generation or piezoelectric power generation. 10 is 9
This circuit includes a circuit that rectifies and adjusts the voltage of the generated energy, a crystal oscillator, and a microprocessor circuit. Reference numeral 11 is a mechanism for controlling the period of the 8 mechanical oscillators using the output of 10.

A more detailed explanation will be given below.

In FIG. 2, the mechanism 6.7 is a conventional mechanism commonly used in mechanical watches, and further explanation is omitted as it does not require further explanation.

The mechanism of No. 9 will be explained.

Figure 3 shows an application example of the power generation mechanism.

In FIG. 3, a 12 escape wheel has a permanent magnet coaxially fixed thereto.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a stator made of a material with high magnetic permeability and a solenoid coil, and current is excited in the solenoid coil by rotation of the escape wheel.

In addition, a method of driving with a piezo element to generate electricity can also be applied.

10 mechanisms will be explained.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an application example of the ten mechanisms. In FIG. 4, 15 and 16 connect the current obtained from both ends of the solenoid of the power generation mechanism of FIG. 16.17
, 18 and 19 are diodes that perform rectification. 20
．． 21 is a capacitor and a diode for leveling the voltage. 22 is a driving circuit for a crystal oscillator, and 23 is a crystal oscillator.

24 is a logic circuit whose source signal is a crystal oscillator signal, and
This is an amplifier circuit that outputs an output to 11 in FIG. Reference numeral 25 is a circuit for obtaining a periodic signal shown in FIG. 2, and obtains a reference for the control signal.

As a signal source, the output 13 in FIG. 3 is used.

Alternatively, as will be described later, it can also be obtained from the mechanism shown in FIG. 2, 11.

The mechanism No. 11 will be explained.

FIG. 5 is a partial block diagram of an applied example of the eleven mechanisms. In FIG. 5, 26 is an escape wheel and corresponds to 12 in FIG. 3. 28 is a balance wheel, which together with the balance spring 29 constitutes a mechanical oscillator. This vibration controls the speed of the wheel train. 29 is an ankle.

30 is a solenoid coil. 27 is a magnetic material or highly magnetic material fixed to the balance wheel. The vibration period is controlled by a solenoid of 30. If high magnetism is required due to revised conditions, high magnetic permeability material
29 is used.

The electronic mechanism of mechanism No. 11 will be explained.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an application example.

31.32 in FIG. 6 is the output of 13 in FIG. 33 is a rectifier circuit, as shown in Fig. 6 16.17
, 18.19.

This can also be used in combination. 34 is a backflow prevention diode, 35 is a capacitor, and 36 is a Zener diode. 37 is a logic storage circuit.

The logic storage circuit inputs the output signal 24 in FIG. 4 through 38 and 39 and stores it in memory. 40 is a switching circuit, which leads the output signals 31 and 32 to 30 in FIG.

The operation of this application example will be explained.

The circuit of FIG. 4 incorporates a voltage measuring circuit, and when a specified voltage is reached, activates a crystal oscillator and an electronic circuit. The reference signal shown in FIG. 4 25 is compared with the crystal oscillator signal, and a control signal is created in the circuit 24.

An application example of the control method will be explained.

FIG. 7 is a graph representing the angular motion of FIG. 528.

The vertical axis is angle and the horizontal axis is time. At point 46 on the graph, the balance wheel gains more acceleration than the ankle. At this point, the isochronism of the vibrator is maintained within the instantaneous drive range.

When the circular motion period is divided into 4·/-n of 41.42 and 44.45, the period of the vibrator changes when acceleration and braking forces are obtained in each zone.

In this application example, a mechanism is applied that accelerates and decelerates in zones 42 and 44, but 24 output signals are stored in 27 circuits and 40 switches are performed, as shown in Figure 5.3.
0 solenoid is used to perform braking and acceleration.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of 40 mechanisms.

In FIG. 8, 46.49 corresponds to the signals 31 and 32 in FIG. 6, and 4B, 49, 50, and 51.52 are parallel switches whose opening and closing are controlled by the memory 37. 53 is a current direction control circuit.

This is also controlled by 57 memory circuits. 54 is a capacitor that performs timing control. 55.56 as 5th
Output to solenoid 30 in the figure.

Through the above operation, high accuracy is obtained by finally synchronizing the crystal source signal and the vibration period of the balance system.

In addition to this application example, if sufficient generated current is obtained, it is of course possible to perform adjustment by cumulative comparison.

Furthermore, as a power generation method, piezoelectric power generation can also be applied.

As described above, by applying the present invention, it is possible to easily manufacture a timepiece that does not require a battery as an energy source and has high precision comparable to that of a quartz watch.

This mechanism can also be applied to digital watches, and as a high-reliability, maintenance-free watch, it has an extremely wide range of applications such as clocks and wristwatches.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1: Block diagram of a conventional quartz crystal electronic watch Figure 2: Block diagram of an application example of the present invention Figure 3: Application example of the power generation mechanism of the present invention Figure 4: Book Rectification and control circuit application example of the invention Figure 5... Mechanical vibrator application example Figure 6... Memory mechanism application example Figure 7... Operation explanatory diagram Figure 8... Switching circuit schematic diagram Applicant Shiojiri Kogyo Co., Ltd. Souwa Seikosha Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Tsutomu Mogami vIIj Prisoner Komasu En Hz - 1U1RO Former 14th En, Gl, 4IIl

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An electronic timepiece comprising a mechanism for accumulating mechanical energy, a wheel train that supplies energy from the accumulating mechanism, and a mechanical oscillator associated with the wheel train, and also having the following mechanisms: (1) It has a power generation mechanism that supplies mechanical energy through the wheel train. (2) It has a crystal oscillator and an electronic circuit that are driven by electrical energy obtained from the power generation mechanism. (3) It has a mechanism for electromagnetically controlling the period of the mechanical vibration using the ability of the electronic circuit.