JPS61194588A - Counter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect a correct number by motion by bending a sensor rapidly among various divided segments corresponding to the bending of a human body to generate large distortion in the piezoelectric element and by outputting large signals of amplitude. CONSTITUTION:Sensor 1, centering around the interior conductor 35 comprises piezoelectric member 36 in the periphery with bar-like piezoelement having outer electric line 37 on the outer periphery. Also the sensor 1, as it bends at the gap between a pair of split segments 5, 5, the bend becomes rapid with the distortion of the member 36 increasing, and outputting a large amplification signal. In so doing the walking is surely detected and the output signal of the sensor 1, after amplified in the amplification circuit 15 of the circuit 8, built-in the main body 2, the noise in the high frequency due to the vibration etc., in contacting the ground not corresponding with walking in the filter circuit 16, is eliminated, and the signal corresponding to the walking inputted in the discrimination circuit 17 is drawn out, counted 18, and displayed 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a counter, and particularly to a counter that counts and displays the number of steps in walking, the number of abdominal muscle exercises, etc.

[Background technology]

Conventionally, counters have been provided that count and display the number of steps taken when walking, for example, by installing a sensor consisting of a pair of contact electrodes, a strain gauge, a piezoelectric element, etc. on the footrest or heel of footwear. Walking is detected by detecting changes in load due to weight shift associated with walking, and the number of steps is counted and displayed. As the above-mentioned counter, for example, Utility Model 12-909
A pedometer described in Publication No. 4 is known, which detects walking with a pair of contact terminals arranged at the heel of a shoe, and counts and displays the number of steps. In this case, when walking on a paved road, the change in the load applied to the heel due to the weight shift associated with walking is approximately constant, so walking can be accurately detected using the pair of contact terminals. When walking on gravel roads, stairs, etc., the load on the heel changes irregularly, causing the pair of contact terminals to chatter, resulting in a higher number of steps being counted than the actual number of steps, making it impossible to obtain the correct number of steps. was there.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned aspects of furnaces, and its aim is to provide a counter that can count the correct number even when walking on gravel roads, stairs, etc. It is about providing the equipment.

[Disclosure of the Invention] 2 A first embodiment of the present invention, which is a pedometer type that is attached to footwear and counts and displays the number of steps, will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. This is attached to footwear 10, which is a so-called athletic shoe called a sneaker, and includes a sensor 1 for detecting walking, and a tongue piece 4 that surrounds the sensor 1 and protrudes from one side. The main body 2 is configured to include a mounting base 3 and a main body 2 attached to the mounting base 3. The sensor 1 includes a piezoelectric member made of a mixture of piezoelectric ceramic powder and synthetic rubber arranged around an inner electric wire A made of a conducting wire, and an outer electric wire arranged around the outer circumference of the piezoelectric member. η and an outer cover member made of vinyl chloride or the like that covers the outer electric wire m, and is formed into a long rod shape.3) It is composed of nine so-called piezo elements and has flexibility. The sensor has a stopper 6 having an Ω-shaped cross section on a pair of divided pieces 5.5 spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel.
It is fixed at . The divided piece 5 is made of a synthetic resin material such as plastic or hard rubber and is formed into a flat plate shape. The sensor and the pair of divided pieces 5.5 are mounted on the mounting base 3.
It is surrounded by a tongue piece 4 made of a flexible member such as soft rubber, which protrudes from one side. The mounting base 3 is provided with a pair of terminal electrodes m, 3) connected to the inner and outer electric wires η of the sensor at the center of its upper surface, and retaining pins n at the corners of the upper surface, Further, an engagement recess 31 for attaching the main body 2 is formed on the other side surface.

The main body 2 includes a built-in circuit section 8 for counting the number of steps by counting the output signal of the sensor and a battery, and has a display 19 made of liquid crystal and a reset button ρ on the top surface. An elastic engagement hook 2] is suspended. Attachment of the main body 2 to the mounting base 3 is as follows:
A recess (not shown) formed at the corner of the lower surface of the main body 2 is engaged with the retaining pin 32, and the retaining hook 21 is engaged with the lower surface of the mounting base 3 through the engagement recess 31 of the mounting base 3. It is done by At this time, the pair of terminal chambers Wi20.20 disposed on the bottom surface of the main body 2 and the pair of terminal electrode fields on the top surface of the mount come into contact, and the main body 2
electrically connected to. As is clear from FIG.
1.It is attached to the outside surface and detects walking.
Walking as shown in Figure 6 1b+.

Alternatively, when the sensor 1 is bent while driving, a voltage is generated between the inner wire and the outer wire of the sensor 1, and the main body 2 connects the output signal of the sensor 1 to the circuit. The unit 8 counts the steps, and the display 19 displays the number of steps. As shown in FIG. 5 181, when the bottom surface of the footwear 10 is completely in contact with the ground, the sensor 1 is in a substantially straight state, and at this time, the sensor 1 outputs a signal with a high frequency and small amplitude due to vibration. There is. Next, when the foot is just about to leave the ground during walking or running, the sensor 1 bends in response to the bending of the foot at the base of the toe, as shown in FIG. 5, 1b+. As a result, distortion occurs in the piezoelectric member of the sensor 1, so that the sensor 1 outputs a signal with a low frequency and a large amplitude. here,
Since the sensor 1 is attached to the pair of divided pieces 5.5, the pair of divided pieces 5.5 are bent at the parts separated from each other, so that the bending becomes rapid and the piezoelectric member is bent. The greater the distortion, the greater the amplitude of the signal, which ensures the detection of walking. Said sensor 1. The output signal is output from the circuit section 8 built into the main body 2.
After being amplified by the amplifier circuit 16, high-frequency noise caused by vibrations caused by ground contact that does not correspond to walking is removed by the filter circuit 16, and then a pulse signal is output when the output signal is equal to or higher than the reference voltage. The output signal is inputted to the discrimination circuit 17 that performs the determination.

The output signal of the discrimination circuit 17 is a signal corresponding to walking, and this signal is counted by a counting circuit to count the number of steps,
-Displayed on the display 19. The counter/circuit is returned to its initial state by operating the reset button ρ.
It is possible to wait for the next count. As above,
Since the counter of this embodiment detects walking by detecting the bending of the legs rather than the change in load due to weight shift during walking or running, the sensor 1 does not chattering even when walking on gravel roads, stairs, etc. The sensor 1 does not cause a signal that does not correspond to walking to be output due to the
Since the pair of divided pieces 5.5 are sharply bent at the portions separated from each other, a signal with a large amplitude is output from the sensor 1 in response to walking, and walking can be reliably detected. In this embodiment, the sensor 1 is attached to a pair of divided pieces 5.5, but it may be attached to one or more pairs of divided pieces.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG. 6. This is a pair of divided pieces 5.5 connected by a connection H6 which is thinner than each divided piece 5, and the sensor 1 is bent at the connection H6 to form the above-mentioned first structure. In addition to producing the same effects as in the embodiment, in this case, the sensor 1 can be easily attached to the pair of divided pieces 5.5, and the ease of assembly is improved. The rest of the structure is similar to the first embodiment described above.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG. 7. The sensor 1 is composed of a long or flat piezoelectric element, and the piezoelectric element is a flat and flexible piezoelectric member with thin flat conductive members arranged on the upper and lower surfaces, respectively. This is what I did. The lower surface of the sensor 1 is glued to a pair of divided pieces 5.5. The rest of the structure is similar to the first embodiment described above.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG. This device is attached directly to the human body and counts the number of exercises such as sit-ups and push-ups during muscle training.
．． Bells 55 and 56 to be wrapped around the human body are respectively disposed at 5. In this embodiment, the sensor 1 is integrally surrounded by divided pieces 5 made of synthetic resin such as plastic or hard rubber. Figure 8 (18+) shows how it is used in abdominal muscle exercise, in which the bell (55) attached to one divided piece 5 is tied around the waist, and the bell (56) of the other divided piece (5) is wrapped around the thigh. When the counter of this embodiment is attached to a human body and the person performs abdominal muscle exercises, the sensor latch will respond to the bending of the upper body.
is bent between the pair of divided pieces 5.5, a signal is output corresponding to the abdominal muscle exercise, and the number of abdominal muscle exercises is counted and displayed. Figure 8tb) shows the state of use for push-ups, with bells) 55. F16
If you wrap the arms above and below the elbows and do push-ups, the sensor 1 will bend between the pair of divided pieces 5.5 in accordance with the bending of the arms at the elbows, which will reduce the number of push-ups. Can be counted. As mentioned above, since the counter of this embodiment was attached by wrapping the V) 55 and 56 provided on the pair of divided pieces 5.5 and 56 on both sides of the human body, sandwiching the bent part of the human body, With the bending of the human body, the sensor 1 is sharply bent between the pair of divided pieces 5.5, so that the bending of the human body can be reliably detected, and the number of movements can be accurately counted. In this embodiment, the counter is attached to the human body with a belt, but this may also be a rubber band or the like. The rest of the structure is similar to the first embodiment described above.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention provides a counter that includes a sensor that is made of a flexible piezoelectric element in the shape of a long rod or plate and that detects motion, and a circuit section that counts the output signal of the sensor. Since the sensor is attached to a plurality of divided pieces arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the sensor, the sensor bends sharply between the divided pieces in response to the bending of the human body accompanying exercise movement. Since large distortion occurs in the piezoelectric element, the sensor outputs a signal with a large amplitude, making it possible to reliably detect movement movements and accurately count the number of movements. This also has the effect of being able to accurately count the number of steps.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the same, FIG. 3 is a cutaway perspective view of the same sensor, FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram of the same, and FIG. Figure 181, tb
1 is an explanatory diagram of the same operation as above, FIG. 6 is a cutaway perspective view of the main part of the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a cutaway perspective view of the main part of the third embodiment of the invention, and FIG. a). lbl is a usage state diagram of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A counter comprising a sensor that is made of a flexible piezoelectric element in the shape of a long bar or plate and that detects motion, and a circuit section that counts output signals of the sensor. . A counter, characterized in that the sensor is attached to a plurality of divided pieces arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the sensor. 2) The counter according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is disposed on the outer surface of the surrounding portion of the footwear. 3) The counter according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of divided pieces has a belt to be wrapped around the human body.