JPS61161484A - Charging mechanism of electronic timepiece having step motor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a charging mechanism and to attain the continuous driving of a timepiece even if light is not irradiated on its battery for a while by forming an external operation member, driving patterns, charging patterns, coil patterns, etc. CONSTITUTION:The external operation member 10, the driving patterns 18, 21, the coil patterns 19, 22, charging patterns 20, 23, etc. are formed. When the member 10 is drawn out in the arrow 10a direction, a duck 11 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction and the projected part of the duck 11 is engaged with the recessed part of a bar 13 while rotating the arm 13a of the bar 13 in the clockwise direction. Consequently, a drum wheel 12 is moved by the arm 13a, engaged with a small iron wheel 9 and set up to indicator position correcting state. At that time, an insulating plate 14 fixed on the leading part of the arm part 13a is also slid. Consequently, the patterns 18, 19 are separated from each other and the patterns 22, 23 are connected with each other. Therefore, the timepiece can be continuously driven even if light is not irradiated form a while.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece having a step motor, and more particularly to a charging mechanism for an electronic timepiece.

[Background of the invention]

Recent electronic watches have been designed to have longer battery life due to higher battery dimensions, lower power consumption circuits, and lower power consumption systems for step motors.

However, at some point the battery will need to be replaced.

In recent years, electronic watches have appeared that charge a capacitor or secondary battery with a solar cell and use this capacitor or secondary battery as a power source.

In general, capacitors and secondary batteries have a longer service life than primary batteries, so electronic watches like the ones mentioned above almost never require replacing the power supply, eliminating the hassle of replacing batteries as in the past.

[Conventional technology and problems]

However, watches that use a lot of solar cells have the disadvantage that they do not work unless exposed to light; in the case of Tokucho Ukitobe, the watch will stop immediately if it is not exposed to light for a while and is not used. It has the following drawback. [Object of the Invention] The first object of the present invention is to obtain an electronic watch having a simple charging mechanism, and the second object of the present invention is to charge the power supply with the charging mechanism at the beginning of use. The objective is to obtain an electronic clock that does not stop even if it is not exposed to light for a while.

[Structure of the invention]

The configuration of the present invention is an electronic timepiece whose hands are driven by a step motor, and the electronic timepiece includes an external operating member that can be switched to a plurality of stages, a switch member that is slidable while engaging with the external operating member, and a rotor. a step motor comprising a stator and a coil; a drive circuit for driving the step motor; a rechargeable power source; a drive pattern connected to the drive circuit; a charging pattern connected to the power source; and a circuit board having a coil pattern connected thereto, and when the external operating member is in the 19th position, the switch member drives the step motor by connecting the coil pattern of the circuit board to the drive pattern. When the external operating member is in the second position, the switch member connects the coil pattern of the circuit board to the charging pattern, and in response to the operation of the external operating member, the step motor is activated. The present invention is characterized in that the power source is charged by rotating the rotor.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the main parts of an electronic timepiece having a charging mechanism according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the hands move every 20 seconds.
Let me explain about the hand clock. Reference numeral 1 denotes a step motor, which is composed of a coil 2, a stator 6, and a rotor 4. 5
is the 4th wheel and meshes with rotor 4, 6 is the 3rd wheel and meshes with the 4th wheel 5
7 is the minute wheel and meshes with the 3rd wheel 6, 8 is the Hinoura wheel and meshes with the minute wheel 7, 9 is the Kotetsu wheel and meshes with the Hinoura wheel 8.
are meshed with each other. Although not shown, an hour wheel (hour hand wheel) provided coaxially with the minute hand wheel 7 is also meshed with the date wheel 8. These gear train groups normally rotate when the rotor 4 of the step motor 1 advances every 20 seconds, and are attached to the minute hand and hour wheel (not shown) attached to the minute hand wheel 7. The time is displayed by the hour hand. 10
1 is a winding stem as an external operating member, 11 is a mandarin duck, 12 is a screw wheel, and 16 is a cannula, which constitutes a known pointer pointing position correction mechanism. An insulating plate 14 serving as a switch member is fixed to the tip of the arm 13a of the cannula 16, and two lead plates 15 and 16 (indicated by diagonal lines) are provided on the upper surface of the insulating plate 14. 17 is a rotating board, and the lower surface of this circuit board 17 has drive patterns 18 and 21.
, coil pattern 19.22, charging pattern 20.26
In the normal hand movement state, the drive pattern 18 and the coil pattern 719 come into contact with the lead plate 15 as shown in FIG. 1, and the drive pattern 21 and the coil pattern 22
is in contact with the lead plate 16.

Therefore, drive pattern 18, coil pattern 19 and □
The driving pattern 21 and the coil pattern 22 are in a conductive state. The drive pattern 18 is connected to the output terminal 01 of a drive circuit 61 (to be described later), the coil pattern 19 is connected to one end (a) of the coil 2, and the drive pattern 21 is connected to the main drive circuit 6.
1, and the coil pattern 22 is connected to the IC at one end (b) of the coil 2. Further, in the state shown in FIG. 1, the charging patterns 20, 26, which are not in contact with the lead plates 15, 16, are connected to the (+) side and (-) side of a power supply capacitor 62, which will be described later, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of the electronic timepiece shown in FIG. 1, and 60 is a composite circuit, which includes an excavation circuit, a frequency dividing circuit, and a waveform shaping circuit. 61 is a drive circuit for driving the step motor 1 shown in FIG. During normal hand movement, both ends (a) and (b) of the coil 2 are connected to both ends O1 and 02 of this drive circuit 61 via switch mechanisms 66 and 64. Furthermore, this switch mechanism 63.64
In FIG. 1, the lead plates 15 and 16 and each pattern 18
．． Corresponds to 19.20.21.22.26. 62 is a capacitor, which serves as a power source for the electronic clock.

Since this capacitor 62 only needs to be a rechargeable power source, it can be replaced with a secondary battery. Reference numeral 66 denotes a solar cell that "charges" the capacitor 62 when exposed to light.

65 is a diode that connects the switch mechanism 33 and the capacitor 62
It is set between 0 and 0.

67 is also a diode, solar cell 66 and capacitor 320
is provided in between.

As mentioned above, during normal hand movement, both ends of the coil 20 (a) and (b)
) is connected to the output end 01.02 of the drive circuit 61 via the switch mechanism 66.64, so the capacitor 62
When the composite circuit 60 is driven, a current flows through the coil 2 through the drive circuit 61, and the rotor 4 shown in FIG. 1 moves forward.

Next, we will explain the charging operation when the rotor 4 cannot be driven because the voltage of the capacitor 62 is low because it has not been used for a long time.

In this case, first, the external operating member 10 shown in FIG.
Pull it out in the direction of arrow 10a shown in the figure.

When this operation is performed, the mandarin duck 11 rotates counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 3, which is a plan view of the switch mechanism of the electronic watch shown in FIG. The protruding portion 11a of the mandarin duck 11 engages with the recess 13b of the canine 16 while rotating the arm 13a of the canine 13 clockwise. Therefore, the thrush wheel 12 is moved by the arm portion 13a of the cannula 16, meshes with the small iron wheel 9, and is set to the pointer position correction state. Also, at this time, the insulating plate 14 fixed to the tip of the arm 13a of the force/pull 13 also slides.
The lead plates 15, 16 also slide. Therefore, the drive pattern 18 and the coil pattern 19 are disconnected, the coil pattern 19 and the charging pattern 20 are connected, and the drive pattern 21 and the coil pattern 22 are disconnected, and the coil pattern 22 and the charging pattern 26 are connected. .

This operation will be explained using the circuit block diagram in FIG.
"Connected to both ends of 2.

Next, when the gate is pulled out from the first position shown in FIG. 1 to the second position shown in FIG. The small iron car 9 rotates. Therefore, sequentially, the day wheel is 8, and the minute wheel is 7.3.
The rotor 4 rotates via the 6th and 4th wheel 5. When the rotor 4 rotates, an electromotive force is induced in the coil 2, and the capacitor 62 is charged via the diode 65 shown in FIG. If the withstand voltage of the capacitor 62 is a problem, a Zener diode may be provided in parallel with the capacitor 62, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. The position of the pointer should be adjusted to the correct time after charging is completed.

Next, after charging and correcting the position of the hands to the correct C/time, pushing the external operating member 10 in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. The rotor 4 can continue to move even if it does not hit the battery 36.

In a watch with a solar cell like the one described above, it is desirable to use a small capacitor that requires less charging time and to continue operating for a long time without light hitting the solar cell. For this purpose, it is desirable to reduce the electricity consumed by the step motor as much as possible.

Figure 4 is a circuit block diagram of a system for driving a watch with as little driving energy as possible, and although various proposals have already been made and are publicly known, this system is adopted in the electronic watch obtained by the present invention. It is valid to do so. To briefly explain this system, in FIG. 4, 41 is an oscillation circuit, and 42 is a divider circuit, which divides the signal from the oscillation circuit 41 into signals necessary for clock operation. 46 is a waveform shaping circuit which appropriately combines the signals from the frequency dividing circuit 42;
Create the signal section necessary for clock drive. 44 is a drive circuit;
This is a circuit for driving the step motor 47. 45
A stop detection circuit is a circuit that electronically detects whether the step motor 470 rotor has stopped. A control circuit 46 controls the output signal of the waveform shaping circuit 46 based on the signal from the stop detection circuit 45. Therefore, the waveform shaping circuit 46 is controlled so as to output a signal that reduces the energy consumed by the step motor 47 as much as possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the charging mechanism is simple because the step motor normally used for hand movement is used as part of the charging mechanism, and the charging mechanism is simple when the watch is first used. The clock can continue to run even without it, and you can get an electronic clock that is easy to use.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a plan view of the main parts of an electronic watch, FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram, and FIG.
The figure is a plan view of the switch mechanism, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a known step motor drive system. 1...Step motor, 2...Coil, 4...Rotor, 5...4th wheel, 6...
...3rd wheel, 7...minute wheel, 8...
...Hinoura car, 10...External operation member, 18.
21... Drive pattern, 19.22...
- Coil pattern, 20.23... Charging pattern, 61... Drive circuit, 62... Capacitor, 66.64... Switch mechanism. 1II O2b 21f j/ Fig. 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] An electronic timepiece whose hands are driven by a step motor, which comprises an external operating member that can be switched to multiple stages, a switch member that is slidable by engaging with the external operating member, a rotor, a stator, and a coil. a step motor, a drive circuit that drives the step motor, a rechargeable power source, a drive pattern connected to the drive circuit, a charging pattern connected to the power source, and a coil pattern connected to the coil. It is equipped with a circuit board having
When the external operating member is in a first position, the switch member drives the step motor by connecting a coil pattern of the circuit board to a drive pattern;
When the external operating member is in the second position, the switch member connects the coil pattern of the circuit board to the charging pattern, and rotates the rotor of the step motor in response to the operation of the external operating member, thereby controlling the power source. 1. A charging mechanism for an electronic watch having a step motor, characterized in that the charging mechanism is configured to charge a step motor.