JPS621173B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cigarette lighter for an automobile. With all conventional car cigarette lighters, by pushing the plug inserted into the socket deeper than the normal state, the electrode that connects to the car's power supply installed in the socket and the tip of the plug are connected. It has a structure in which it is electrically connected to a heater to make the heater red hot. Therefore, this conventional type of cigarette lighter generates heat within the socket for the required time.
The heat effect on surrounding parts of the heater is large,
Furthermore, the reliability of the heater itself was greatly affected.

In addition, the conventional model has a very complicated structure, with a bimetal mechanism and an automatic plug return mechanism to prevent the heater from overheating.Furthermore, the plug automatically returns after the heater becomes red hot. too,
Depending on the driver's driving condition, there may be cases where the plug cannot be removed from the socket immediately or the driver may not notice that the plug has returned. The plug must be pushed into the socket.

The above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional plug are due to its structure, as described above, in which the heater of the plug is heated to red by pushing the plug into the socket.

The present invention has been made based on this recognition, and provides an automobile cigarette lighter which uses a method completely opposite to the conventional method, that is, a method in which the heater of the plug becomes red-hot when the plug is pulled out of the socket. be.

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows a cigarette lighter consisting of an insulating socket 1 and a plug 2. This cigarette lighter is characterized by having a small, large-capacity (approximately 1F) capacitor 3 built into the plug 2. In the past, capacitors with a capacity of about 1F were large in volume and could not be used in this type of cigarette lighter, but recently, such small capacitors with large capacities are available. . For example, the product name "Super Capacitor" manufactured by NEC Corporation is a cylindrical body with diameter and height dimensions of 30 mm x 30 mm, which can be realistically applied to this type of cigarette lighter. It is.

The socket 1 is a bottomed cylindrical body with a U-shaped cross section, and is designed to be installed in, for example, an automobile instrument panel.
A pair of band-shaped charging electrodes 4a, 4b are arranged and fixed in an annular manner, and each electrode 4a, 4b is connected to an electrode of a power source of an automobile, respectively.

On the other hand, the plug 2 that is inserted into and removed from the socket 1 has a knob 6 fixed to one end of the cylindrical body 5, and a heater 8 connected to the other end via an insulator 7.
is fixed, and further incorporates the capacitor 3, limit switch 9, etc. The heater 8 is preferably made of a material with a small specific heat, such as ceramics.

When the plug 2 is inserted into the socket 1, the electrode 4 of the socket 1 is attached to the circumferential surface of the cylindrical body 5 of the plug 2.
Screw-shaped charging electrodes 10a and 10b are fixed in contact with a and 4b in a one-to-one correspondence, and each electrode 10a and 10b is connected to each electrode 12a and 12b of the capacitor 3 via lead wires 11a and 11b, respectively. connected in series. Further, the heater 8 is connected in parallel to each electrode 12a, 12b of the capacitor 3, and specifically, one screw-shaped electrode 14a for fixing the heater 8 itself to the insulator 7 is connected to the lead wire 1.
3, one electrode 1 of the capacitor 3 via 11a
2a, and the other screw-shaped electrode 14b is connected to the other electrode 12b via a lead wire 15a, the limit switch 9, and lead wire 15b.

The limit switch 9 has a bracket 1 attached to the cylindrical body 5 between the capacitor 3 and the insulator 7.
6, and its actuator 17 is made to protrude through a window 18 formed in the cylindrical body 5. This limit switch is turned off when the actuator 17 is depressed and turned on when it is released.

Therefore, the electrical circuit of the cigarette lighter having the above structure is as shown in FIG. Note that 19 in FIG. 3 is a protective resistor.

Now, if we consider a state in which the plug 2 is inserted into the socket 1 (not shown), in this state, each electrode 10a, 10b of the plug 2 comes into contact with any part of each electrode 4a, 4b of the socket 1. The charging circuit is closed, and the capacitor 3 is connected to the power supply E.
is charged by At this time, since the actuator 17 of the limit switch 9 is pushed in by the inner peripheral surface of the socket 1, it is turned off and the discharge circuit is opened, so that no current flows through the heater 8.

When the plug 2 is pulled out from the socket 1, the electrodes 4a and 4b of the socket 1 and the electrode 10a of the plug 2,
10b becomes non-contact and the charging circuit is open, while the actuator 17 of the limit switch 9
is released from the pressing force by the inner peripheral surface of socket 1 and turns on, closing the discharge circuit, and as a result,
The charge in the capacitor 3 is discharged, and the heater 8 becomes red hot.

In one embodiment, when the electrical specifications of each member are <heater 8: 1Ω, power source E: 12V, capacitor 3: 1F>, discharge characteristics as shown in FIG. 2 are exhibited. That is, at the start of discharge, the current is 12A, the energy rate is 144W, and after 2 seconds the current
1.5A, energy rate 2.5W, for example, if a ceramic heater with low specific heat is used, it will generate enough red heat to ignite a cigarette in about 1 second. Also, after about 5 seconds, the charge in the capacitor 3 is completely discharged, and the heater 8 cools down easily, so that when the plug 2 is inserted into the socket 1 again, the residual heat of the heater 8 has very little thermal effect on surrounding components. .

Although the above embodiment shows an example in which a capacitor 3 is used in the plug 2, it is also possible to use a rechargeable battery instead. When using a rechargeable battery, the discharge characteristics are different from those shown in Figure 2, and the graph is parallel to the horizontal axis, so the discharge energy is greater than when using capacitor 3, and the reliability of igniting the cigarette is therefore improved. There are advantages.

As is clear from the above description, according to the automobile cigarette lighter according to the present invention, the heater becomes red hot when the plug is removed from the socket. Therefore, the thermal influence on surrounding members of the heater is extremely small, and the heater itself is less likely to deteriorate. In addition, in order to make the heater red hot, there is no need to push the plug into the socket like in conventional cigarette lighters, just pull it out, and the time it takes for the heater to heat up red after the plug is pulled out is short, so it is very easy to use. A cigarette can be quickly lit. In addition, when using this cigarette lighter, the driver pulls out the plug from the socket only when driving conditions permit, so there is no need to re-insert the plug into the socket, which occurs with conventional cigarette lighters. It is very convenient because there is no need to push it in at all. Furthermore, this cigarette lighter has an extremely simple structure because it does not require any bimetallic mechanism or automatic return mechanism that conventional cigarette lighters require.

As described above, the present invention has many advantages not found in conventional cigarette lighters and is of extremely high practical value.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an automobile cigarette lighter according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a graph and an electric circuit diagram showing the discharge characteristics of the device. FIG. 1... Socket, 2... Plug, 3... Capacitor, 4a, 4b... Charging electrode, 8... Heater,
9...Limit switch, 10a, 10b...Charging electrode.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pair of charging electrodes connected to the power source of the automobile are fixed on the circumferential surface of the socket, and on the circumferential surface of the plug that is inserted into and removed from the socket, when the plug is inserted into the socket, a pair of charging electrodes connected to the power source of the automobile are fixed, and when the plug is inserted into the socket, a pair of charging electrodes are connected to the respective electrodes of the socket. A pair of charging electrodes that are in contact are fixed, and a capacitor or rechargeable battery is connected in series to each electrode of the plug, a heater is connected in parallel to the capacitor or rechargeable battery, and the capacitor or charging A cigarette lighter for an automobile, characterized in that a limit switch is connected in series between the batteries and is turned off when the plug is inserted into a socket, and turned on when the plug is pulled out.