JPS63318036A - Timer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To set the timer time precisely and easily by providing multiple modes changing the drive speed in steps in response to the rotation angle of an operating shaft in a control means controlling the drive speed of a driving means. CONSTITUTION:When the timer time is set, an operating shaft 12 is rotated in the rewinding direction opposite to the winding direction via a driving means 29, and the timer operation is started. A control means has two driving modes: the unexcited period of 30sec when a timer knob 4 is set to the short-time zone and the unexcited period of 1min when it is set to the long-time zone. If the timer knob 4 is set to the time zone in which the usage frequency of the timer is high, e.g., time zone from the off position to 15min, the driving means 29 is controlled so as to accelerate the drive speed of the operating shaft 12, then the scale interval of the time zone can be set partially wider than the scale interval of other time zones accordingly. The timer time in the time zone with high usage frequency can be set precisely and easily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a timer device used in a cooking appliance such as a toaster oven.

[Prior art]

A toaster oven has a built-in mechanical timer that determines the amount of time the heater is energized depending on the food being cooked. Conventional mechanical timers include a mainspring that urges the operating shaft connected to the timer knob in the rewinding direction, an escape wheel that interlocks with the operating shaft, and a balance that removably engages with the escape wheel. When the timer knob is gripped and the operating shaft is rotated, the mainspring is wound up by an amount corresponding to the amount of rotation, thereby setting the timer operating time. When the balance wheel operates in conjunction with this winding, the operating shaft is rotated in the rewinding direction by the return force of the mainspring, and the timer operation is started.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, since conventional mechanical timers are operated by the restoring force of a mainspring, their operating speed is constant over the entire operating time, and the scale indicating the timer operating time is not evenly spaced in the direction of rotation of the operating shaft. It was attached to the interval. For this reason, as the total operating time of the timer increases, the interval between each scale becomes narrower, making it difficult to set the cooking time because the scale is too fine, and the error in the set time also increases, resulting in excessive cooking time. There are problems such as a lack of resources. On the other hand, if the interval between each scale is increased, the number of scales and the total operating time will be shortened due to space issues, and the cooking time will be significantly limited.

Furthermore, in recent years, timers using microcomputers have been developed in place of this type of mechanical timer.

However, since this timer uses LEDs and the like to perform digital display, there is a problem in that the peripheral circuitry for counting the LEDs is costly and the timer itself becomes expensive.

Moreover, compared to the conventional analog display in which the timer knob is adjusted to the scale, setting the timer time requires more effort and is difficult to use.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the scale interval can be partially widened to match the frequently used time period, the timer time can be set accurately and easily, and the timer time can be displayed in an analog manner. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a timer device that is easy to use and is easy to use.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, in the present invention, the operating shaft that is rotated is
A drive means is provided to rotate the drive means in a direction opposite to the winding direction, and the drive speed of this drive means is controlled by a control means, and this control means adjusts the drive speed of the drive means to the rotation angle of the operating shaft. It is characterized by having a plurality of modes that are changed in stages depending on the situation.

[Effect]

According to this configuration, when the operating shaft is rotated in the winding direction according to an arbitrary scale and the timer time is set, the operating shaft is rotated through the drive means in the rewinding direction opposite to the winding direction, and the timer is activated. is started. At this time, the drive speed of the drive means is changed step by step by the control means, so if the timer is set to a time period when the timer is frequently used, for example, from the cut position to 15 minutes, the drive speed of the operating axis will change. If the driving means is controlled so that the time period becomes faster, the scale interval in the above time period can be set to be partially wider than the scale interval in the other 51 time periods. Therefore, even if the total operating time is long and the number of scales is large, the timer time can be set more accurately and easily in the frequently used time slot than in the past.

In addition, the simple operation of aligning the operating axis with the scale allows
Since the timer time is displayed in an analog manner, the timer time can be set easily in the same way as with conventional mechanical timers, providing excellent usability.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on drawings in which the present invention is applied to a toaster oven.

Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 9 is a case that constitutes the outer shell of the toaster oven, and the front panel 2 of this case 1 has an opening/closing door 3.
is rotatably mounted.

A cooking chamber 5 that is opened and closed by an opening/closing door 3 is formed in the case 1, and a cooking heater 6 is provided in the cooking chamber 5. This cooking heater 6 is connected to a commercial AC power source 7 via a plug 1a.

Inside the case 1, there is a timer storage chamber 8 separated from the cooking chamber 5.
A timer device 9 is provided in the timer housing chamber 8 to control the time period during which the heater 6 is energized.

This timer device 9 has a box-shaped frame 10, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. A bracket 11 is attached to the front surface 10a of the frame 10, and this bracket 11 is screwed to the back surface of the front panel 2.

An operating shaft 12 is rotatably supported on the upper part of the frame 10. One end of the operating shaft 12 extends outward through the front panel 2, and a timer knob 4 is attached to this leading end. It is rotated artificially in the return direction. When the operating shaft 12 is rotated in the timer winding direction, a mainspring (not shown) is wound up in conjunction with this, and due to the return force of this mainspring, the operating shaft 12 is rotated in the timer winding direction (see FIG. 6). (in the direction of the arrow).

A large gear 13 that rotates integrally with the operating shaft 12 is attached to the operating shaft 12. The large gear 13 meshes with a small gear 14 that is pivotally supported on the frame 10, and an escape wheel 15 is coaxially fixed to one end surface of the small gear 14.

A balance wheel 16 is arranged below the escape wheel 15. A balance 116 is rotatably supported on the frame 10 via a pivot 17, and an escape wheel 1 is attached to the balance 16.
A pair of engaging claw portions 19a removably engage with the tooth portion 18 of No. 5 at three locations spaced apart in the circumferential direction.

19b is provided.

A solenoid 21 for rotating the balance 116 via a bracket 20 is attached to the lower rear surface 10b of the frame 10. The solenoid 21 is connected to a stabilized solenoid power supply 23 that converts the alternating current from the commercial AC power supply 7 into direct current and adjusts the voltage. It has become. Further, one end of a metal plate 25 is swingably locked to the bracket 20 so as to be spaced apart from and opposite to the iron core 24 . The other end of the metal plate 25 is connected to the through hole 2 provided in the frame 10.
6 and extends toward the balance wheel 16 side, and a locking portion 27 provided at the other end thereof is hooked on a locking arm portion 31 of the balance wheel 16. The metal plate 25 is a tension coil spring 28.
is constantly biased in the direction away from the iron core 24, and this bias pushes up the locking portion 27 of the metal plate 25, causing the balance 16 to move counterclockwise as shown by arrow B in FIG. It has been rotated to For this reason, the balance 16
Of the engagement claws 19a and 19b, one of the engagement claws 19a located on the rear side in the rotational direction of the escape wheel 15 engages with the teeth 18, and the escape wheel 15 is activated by the return force of the mainspring. It prevents the rotation of.

Further, when the metal plate 25 is attracted with the excitation of the iron core 24, the locking portion 27 of the metal plate 25 is pulled down as shown in FIG. 7, and the balance wheel 16 is moved as indicated by arrow C in FIG. , it is rotated clockwise. Then, the escape wheel 15
One of the locking claws 19a that was locked to the escape wheel 15
The escape wheel 15 is released from the rotation restriction, but on the contrary, the other locking pawl 19b engages the teeth 1 of the escape wheel 15.
Enter the 8th room. Therefore, when the escape wheel 15 rotates by a certain angle due to the release of the rotation restriction, the other teeth 18 are engaged with the locking claws 19b, so that the escape wheel 15 is prevented from rotating again. It has become.

That is, the escape wheel 15 rotates by one pitch of the tooth portion 18 each time the balance wheel 16 rotates once, and this rotation is transmitted to the operating shaft 1 through the small gear 14 and the large gear 13.
2, the operating shaft 12 is intermittently driven to rotate in response to the excitation of the solenoid 21. Therefore, in this embodiment, these large gear 13, small gear 14, escape wheel 15
, balance 16. The metal plate 25 and the solenoid 21 constitute a driving means 29 for driving the operating shaft 12.

Furthermore, on the front panel 2 of the case 1, there is a scale 30 located around the timer knob 4 that displays the energization (cooking) time in 1-minute increments up to 30 minutes. By aligning the index protrusions 4a of No. 4, the timer time is set.

On the other hand, the rear surface 10b of the frame 10 is provided with a load switch 40 that operates the solenoid stabilized power source 23 when the timer knob 4 is rotated from the off position in the timer winding direction. The load switch 40 is a normally open microswitch, and its push button 41 is opened and closed in conjunction with the rotation of the operating shaft 12. To explain this interlocking structure, a first plate cam 42 is fixed to the end of the operation shaft 12 on the opposite side from the timer knob 4.
A cam follower plate 43 is provided below. The cam follower plate 43 is attached to the frame 1 as shown in FIG.
The first plate cam 42 is rotatably supported on the rear surface 10b of the first plate cam 42 via a pivot shaft 44, and the cam surface 42a of the first plate cam 42 is in contact with the pin 45 of the cam driven plate 43. Further, a pressing tongue piece 4G is formed at the end of the cam follower plate 43 on the opposite side from the pivot portion, and the push button 41 of the load switch 40 is in contact with the lower surface of this pressing tongue piece 4G. The push button 41 is always protruded, and thereby the driven plate 43 is urged to rotate upward, and the pin 45 is pushed upward.
is pressed against the cam surface 42a.

Therefore, operation 1 PII 112 via timer knob 4
When is rotated in the winding direction, the cam driven plays 1 to 43 are rotated downward by the cam surface 42a, the load switch 40 is closed, and the solenoid 21 is energized.

By the way, such a timer device 9 includes a microcomputer 35 that controls the solenoid 21, as shown in FIG. The microcomputer 35 converts the alternating current from the commercial alternating current power supply 7 into direct current, and
It is driven by a stabilized power supply 3G for the microcomputer that adjusts the voltage, and in the case of this embodiment, when the timer knob 4 is set to a short time period of 15 minutes from off,
Once every 0 seconds, when the timer knob 4 is set to a long period from 15 to 30 minutes, a program is set up to send an operating pulse to the solenoid 21 once every minute. Therefore, when the timer knob 4 is set to the short time period, the energization interval to the solenoid 21, that is, the de-energization interval from one energization time to the next energization time, becomes 30 seconds, and conversely, when the timer knob 4 is set to the long time period, The de-energization interval is one minute, and the energization of the solenoid 21 is controlled in these two drive modes.

Note that tube number 37 in FIG. 8 is a microcomputer 35.
an oscillation circuit that oscillates a pulse that serves as a time reference; 3
8 indicates a buzzer that notifies completion of the timer operation.

Further, on the operation shaft 12, a second plate cam adjacent to the first plate cam 42 is provided.
A plate cam 47 and a third plate cam 48 are fixed. Cam surfaces 47a, 48 of these plate cams 47.4'8
A normally open enlargement switch 49 and a normal switch 50 for switching the drive mode of the microcomputer 35 are provided at positions facing a. Both switches 49 and 50 are equipped with cam followers 49a and 50a that are in contact with cam surfaces 47a and 48a, and when the operating shaft 12 is rotated in the winding direction via the timer knob 4,
The cam follower 4 is adjusted according to the shape of the cam surfaces 47a and 48a.
9a and 50a are pushed up, and the respective switches 49
50 can be closed individually.

That is, in the case of this embodiment, the indicator protrusion 4 of the timer knob 4
When a is in the off position, both switches 49.50
are both open, and among these, the enlargement switch 49 closes when the index protrusion 4a is set for a short time period from 1 minute to 30 minutes, and the normal switch 50 closes the index protrusion 4a.
It is designed to close when a is set for a long period of time from 15 to 30 minutes. Therefore, the rotation angle of the operating shaft 12, that is, the set timer time is detected by these switches 49 and 50, and the microcomputer 35
The drive mode of the solenoid 21 can be switched to either a first drive mode in which operating pulses are sent to the solenoid 21 at 30 second intervals, or a second drive mode in which operating pulses are sent out at 1 minute intervals.

When the timer time is set to a short time period in this way, the microcomputer 35 sends an operating pulse to the solenoid 21 once every 30 seconds, and the drive mechanism 29 As shown in FIG. 5, the interval L1 between the scales 30 for displaying the short time period is twice that of the scale 30 for the long time period.
is expanded to twice the interval L2.

Further, a wiring board 51 that supports a microcomputer 35 and various electric circuit components (not shown) is provided on the front surface 10a of the frame 10, and a toast switch 52 dedicated to baking bread is provided on this wiring board 51. It is being

The tip of the toast switch 52 passes through the frame 10, and a cam surface 53 is formed at this penetrating end, and this cam surface 53 faces an arm portion 54 extending downward from the cam follower plate 43. There is. Then, when the toast switch 52 is pushed in against the urging force of the return spring 55, the cam surface 53 comes into contact with the arm part 54 and pushes down this arm part 54, similar to when the operating shaft 12 is rotated in the winding direction. Then, the cam follower plate 43 is rotated downward, and the load switch 40 is closed. Moreover, when the toast switch 52 is operated, the microcomputer 35 sets a timer time exclusively for bread baking and the heater 6 is energized without operating the timer knob 4.

Also, on the wiring board 51, there is a cancel switch 56 for canceling baking, and a slide switch 57 for adjusting the baking color.
and an indicator lamp 58 that lights up when the timer knob 4 is wound up or the toast switch 52 is operated. It is exposed on panel 2.

The front panel 2 is provided with a changeover switch 59 for changing the wattage of the heater 6 into three levels: 1+, ``medium,'' and 1+.

According to such a configuration, the indicator protrusion 4a of the timer knob 4
When set for a long period of time from 15 to 30 minutes, the microcomputer 35 sends operating pulses to the solenoid 21 at 1 minute intervals, and the index protrusion 4a is set at 15 minutes.
When set to the period up to 1 minute, the microcomputer 35 sends operating pulses to the solenoid 21 at 30 second intervals.

Then, the solenoid 21 is intermittently excited in response to the operating pulse, intermittently attracts the metal plate 25, and rotates the balance wheel 16. Therefore, each time the balance wheel 16 rotates, the escape wheel 15 The restoring force of the mainspring causes the teeth 18 to rotate by one pitch, and the timer operation is started.

When the index protrusion 4a rotates to the off position and the timer operation is completed, the enlargement switch 49, normal switch 50 and load switch 40 are opened, power to the heater 6 and solenoid 21 is cut off, and cooking is stopped. Upon completion, this completion is notified by the buzzer 38 sounding.

By the way, when the timer time is set to the short poem/interlude period, the solenoid 21 is energized at half the time interval as when it is set to the long period as described above, so the drive speed of the operating shaft 12 is 15 minutes. The interval L1 between the scales 30 in the short time period can be increased by that much.

Therefore, even though the total operating time of the timer is relatively long at 30 minutes and the number of scales 30 is large, even if the short time period is used frequently, the timer time in this short time period is can be set accurately and easily.

At the same time, the timer time is displayed in an analog manner by setting the index protrusion 4a of the timer knob 4 to the desired scale 30, so the setting 17 operation can be performed in the same way as with conventional mechanical timers. Can be done. Therefore, there is no need for any troublesome setting work.
It has the advantage of being easy to use.

Further, in this embodiment, since the solenoid 21 is controlled by the microcomputer 35, the solenoid 21 is controlled by the microcomputer 35.
There is no error in the timer operation time, and the accuracy of the timer operation time is further improved.

In addition, in the embodiment described above, the drive speed of the operating shaft was changed in two steps in two drive modes.
For example, if the total operating time is longer, the operating shaft may be driven in three or more drive modes.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention described in detail above, the driving speed of the operating axis can be set quickly according to the time period of high usage.
The interval between the scales in this time period can be made larger than in other time periods. Therefore, even if the total operating time is long and the number of scales is large, the timer time can be set accurately and easily in frequently used time periods.

In addition, the timer set time is displayed in an analog manner by rotating the operating axis to match the desired scale, so the setting work can be done in the same way as with conventional mechanical timers. It has the advantage of not requiring any troublesome setting work and being easy to use.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the timer device, FIG. 2 is a view taken from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the operating portion of the timer device. Figure 4 is a sectional view of the part where the timer 'I device is incorporated into the toaster oven.
Figure 5 is a front view showing the relationship between the timer knob and the scale;
7 and 7 are operation explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the drive mechanism, FIG. 8 is a block diagram, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the toaster oven. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12... Operation axis, 29... Drive means, 30... Scale, 35... Control means (microcomputer).

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) An operating shaft that is rotated, a scale that displays time provided at intervals in the direction of rotation of the operating shaft, and a drive that rotates the operating shaft in the opposite direction to the winding direction. and a control means for controlling the drive speed of the drive means, the control means having a plurality of modes for changing the drive speed of the drive means in stages according to the rotation angle of the operating shaft. A timer device characterized by: (2) The drive means is removably engaged with a mainspring that rotates and urges the operating shaft in a direction opposite to the winding direction, an escape wheel that is interlocked with the operating shaft, and the escape wheel. and a solenoid that rotates the balance to intermittently rotate the operating shaft. The timer device according to claim 1, wherein the timer device controls the solenoid to intermittently excite the solenoid. (3) The control means is a microcomputer, and the microcomputer is set with a plurality of modes for de-energizing the solenoid with respect to the rotation angle of the operating shaft. ) The timer device described in section 2. (4) The microcomputer has a first mode in which the solenoid is de-energized at a shorter interval, and a second mode in which the solenoid is de-energized at a shorter interval. The timer device according to item 2) or item (3).