JP2002174846A - Arrangement structure of main condenser for strobe device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] The main condenser provided in a conventional strobe has a cylindrical shape, so if it is arranged inside a device, a wasteful dead space is generated around the capacitor, so that the arrangement efficiency is poor and a small portable device is provided. Cannot be equipped with a strobe. The problem can be solved by making the shape of a main capacitor flat and arranging the capacitor on a flat portion of a body of a portable device such as a camera or a mobile phone.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flash device, and more particularly, to a flash device built in a portable device such as a camera or a portable telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of taking a picture at night using a camera, in order to take a clearer picture, a subject is irradiated with a flash emitted from a strobe to take a picture. The principle of the strobe is that a capacitor called a main capacitor is charged with electric charge, and the electric charge is instantaneously discharged to a flash tube such as a xenon tube to generate a flash. For this reason, a strobe is always provided with a main capacitor.

[0003] In the past, strobes were previously provided as a single product, but in recent years, except for cameras used by professional photographers and the like, strobes are generally built into cameras. As an example of such a camera with a built-in strobe, a case of a “disposable camera” will be described. This camera is convenient when it is necessary to take a picture suddenly at a travel destination because it is easily available and inexpensive.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a strobe built in a "disposable camera". Reference numeral 1 denotes a main condenser having a cylindrical shape. Reference numeral 2 denotes a transformer for boosting a low battery voltage to a high voltage, 3 denotes a coil, and 4 denotes a transistor. Such electronic components are the main components of the electronic flash circuit. Reference numeral 5 denotes a trigger switch for causing the xenon tube to emit light, and reference numeral 6 denotes a printed board on which electronic components are arranged. The light emitting section including the xenon tube is arranged on the back side of the main condenser.

FIG. 8 is a view taken in the direction of arrows BB with respect to the front view of FIG. In the view from the arrow, the light emitting unit hidden in the front view is shown as 7. This light emitting section is composed of a reflector indicated by 7a and a lens indicated by 7b. A xenon tube is arranged inside the reflector. The main condenser is arranged on the side of the light emitting section opposite to the side from which the flash light is emitted. The capacitance of this capacitor is about 100 μF, and its size is 12 mm in diameter.
The length is about 35 mm.

[0006] The capacity of the main condenser of the strobe built in the camera differs depending on the type of the camera. The capacity is determined by the amount of light emitted, and the capacity is large when irradiating far, and small when near. Usually, a capacitor having a capacity of 30 μF to 200 μF is used as the main capacitor, and the cylindrical shape as described above is used.

In recent years, the progress of cameras has been remarkable, and electronic cameras using memory cards instead of films have been developed and put into practical use. Such cameras also have a built-in strobe, and the main condenser uses a cylindrical condenser.

[0008]

However, the flow of miniaturization of portable devices such as cameras is rapidly progressing. Conventional film cameras always have space to store the film. Therefore, the main capacitor could be stored without any problem even with the cylindrical capacitor as described above.However, if the film standard is changed and becomes smaller in the future, the camera will become smaller, the storage space for the main capacitor will be reduced, and the main capacitor can be arranged. The problem of disappearing occurs.

[0009] In addition, since there is a trend toward miniaturization of electronic cameras that do not use a film, there is a problem that if a smaller electronic camera is to be developed, it cannot be arranged with a conventional cylindrical main capacitor.

[0010] In addition, although the size of a portable telephone is still sufficiently small, a strobe as an attached device will surely be mounted when a CCD camera is further mounted on the portable telephone. Also in this case, there is a problem that the conventional cylindrical capacitor cannot be arranged.

As described above, in order to cope with the miniaturization of portable equipment, it is necessary to study the miniaturization of the strobe, especially the arrangement structure of the main capacitor for the small equipment. The present invention provides an arrangement structure of a main capacitor which can sufficiently cope with such miniaturization of portable equipment.

[0012]

In order to solve such a problem, a strobe device according to the present invention is configured as follows.

(1) A strobe device built in a portable device such as a camera or a mobile phone, wherein a main capacitor has a flat shape and the capacitor is disposed on a flat portion of a body of the portable device such as a camera or a mobile phone. I did it.

(2) In the strobe device described in (1),
As a method of arranging the main capacitor on the flat portion of the body, the main capacitor was attached with an adhesive member.

(3) In the strobe device described in (1),
As a method of arranging the main capacitor on the body flat portion, a concave portion and a lid of the concave portion are provided on the body flat portion, the main capacitor is arranged on the back side of the lid, and the capacitor electrode is arranged on the front side so as to be connectable to the outside, The main capacitor is housed in the recess.

(4) In the strobe device described in (1),
A main capacitor is disposed on a flat portion of the body of the battery box, and the electrodes are disposed inside from the body surface to prevent electric shock by touching the electrodes of the capacitor, and / or The electrodes were electrically insulated except when the electrodes were connected.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The inventor of the present invention has studied the view taken in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 8 from the viewpoint of efficiently using the space of a portable device. As a result, since the main capacitor 1 is cylindrical, dead spaces 8a to 8d are generated around the main capacitor 1. I knew it was there. If the shape of the main capacitor is changed from a cylindrical shape to a flat shape in order to eliminate the dead space, it is understood that the dead space does not occur around the capacitor (four corners). And, if the printed circuit board is placed as a placement place, the layout efficiency of the printed circuit board becomes poor, that is, the printed circuit board becomes large, so if it is placed on a flat body part of the device in which the strobe is built, useless space is generated. I thought it would not be a placement method.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a main part of a flat capacitor in which a main capacitor is changed from a conventional cylindrical shape to a flat shape. 9a is a sheet-like upper electrode. 9b is a sheet-like lower electrode. Reference numeral 10 denotes a dielectric, which is formed in a sheet shape. 11a and 11b are respective electrode terminals.
The capacity of the capacitor needs to be about 100 μF, and an electrolytic solution is used to realize this capacity. Although not shown in the flat capacitor of FIG. 1 to prevent the electrolyte from leaking to the outside, the periphery is sealed with a sealing material such as an aluminum sheet or a resin sheet.

Although the capacity of the condenser is set to about 100 μF, this capacity is a capacity used in a “disposable camera”, and is a capacity that can capture an image even if a subject is several meters away. In addition, when used for a mobile phone, if the object is considered to be within 1 meter, the capacitor capacity in that case is about 30 μF. When a prototype of a 30 μF flat capacitor is manufactured, the thickness is 0.1 to 0.2 m.
m, length × width was about 40 × 50 mm.

Although the dielectric is a flat plate in FIG. 1, the surface of the aluminum electrode plate is actually roughened by etching to increase the surface area. Next, the surface is oxidized to form an oxide film. The oxide film is used as a dielectric. An electrolytic solution is disposed around the oxide film, and the shape including the electrolytic solution is formed into a sheet shape. Such an electrode structure is formed by a general electrolytic capacitor having a cylindrical shape.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining an effective place when the above-mentioned flat type condenser is arranged in the camera, and is a view when the camera 12 is viewed from above. Reference numeral 13 denotes a lens, 14a denotes a film storage unit, 14b denotes a film winding unit, 15 denotes a film winding knob, and 16 denotes a film. In the present invention, in order to store the flat condenser in the flat part of the body of the camera, the body part close to the film is considered as a place for storing the condenser.

That is, it is stored in a portion indicated by 17 in FIG. If it is stored in this place, a flat capacitor can be arranged efficiently. If the thickness of the camera body is, for example, 1 mm and the thickness of the flat capacitor is 0.2 mm, it can be embedded inside the body. In the case of a conventional cylindrical capacitor, a dead space is generated around the capacitor, but such a space is not generated.

FIG. 3 shows a method of arranging flat capacitors.
This will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the film proximity portion body, which is a view of the body portion indicated by 17 in FIG. 2 as viewed from the inside of the camera. Reference numeral 18 denotes a rectangular recess formed inside the body.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a lid formed to have a size that can be fitted into the recess. Reference numeral 19 denotes a flat capacitor arranged on the lid, and reference numerals 20a and 20b denote electrodes of the flat capacitor, which are connected to a strobe circuit.

Then, the lid on which the flat capacitor is disposed is inserted into the recess formed in the body in the direction A in FIG. 4 in the direction A in FIG. Thus, the capacitor is housed in the recess. The lid is not shown, but the lid is locked to the body by locking means so as not to come off when fitted. Then, when the body is incorporated into the camera with the lid locked, the electrodes of the strobe circuit (not shown) come into contact with the capacitor electrodes 20a and 20b and are electrically connected.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state where the flat capacitor is housed in the body. 21 is a camera body, 22 is a lid, 9a and 9b are capacitor electrode sheets,
10 is a dielectric sheet, 11a and 11b are electrodes of a capacitor, 20a and 20b are external electrodes connected to the electrodes and electrodes connected to a strobe circuit. The external electrode is connected to the capacitor electrode by welding or the like.
Reference numeral 23 denotes a sealing material for sealing the electrodes and the dielectric of the capacitor. The sealing method is, for example, a method in which a resin sheet is formed into a bag, a flat capacitor is put in the bag, and the entrance is sealed with ultrasonic waves or the like. Will be Reference numeral 24 denotes an adhesive layer made of an adhesive for fixing the sealed capacitor to the lid.

In this figure, the thickness of the resin case is d1,
Here, a concave portion having a depth of d2 is formed. Specifically, for example, the case has a thickness d1 of 1 mm and a depth d2 of O.D. 4 mm, the thickness of the lid is 0.1 mm, the thickness of the flat capacitor is 0.2 mm, and the thickness of the sealing material plus the adhesive layer is 0.1 mm. Thus, the flat capacitor can be stored in the body case. Of course, it is premised that the case strength does not decrease even if the concave portion is formed.

Next, a case where a strobe is built in a portable telephone will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a mobile phone and a battery box, 25 is a main body of the mobile phone,
26 is a battery box. When a mobile phone is used, the battery box is fitted into the recess of the main body, so that power is supplied to the telephone circuit from the battery.

A convex electrode having elasticity indicated by 27a and 27b is provided on the telephone body side, and an electrode corresponding to the electrode is provided on the battery box side, and the battery box is fitted to the main body. Thereby, the electrode on the battery box side is connected to the electrode on the main body side. A locking means 28 is provided for locking the battery box so that it does not come off from the main body when the battery box is fitted to the main body.

Then, when a suitable place for arranging the flat capacitor in the portable telephone was examined, it was found that the battery box 26 was effective as a place for arranging the capacitor for the following reasons. The first is that the shape of the capacitor is flat and the battery is also flat, so that it can be arranged so that unnecessary space is not created by stacking. And secondly, the capacitor also has electrodes in the same way as the battery, it is necessary to connect to the circuit of the main body, and for that purpose a connection structure must be provided, but this connection structure already has a connection structure to the battery And the same structure as the connection structure can be used. In FIG. 6, the electrodes connected to the capacitors are shown as 29a and 29b.

Of course, the place where the capacitor is placed is not limited to the battery box, but may be placed at another place, for example, at the bottom surface 30 of the main body side recess where the battery box is fitted.

In the present invention, a method of preventing an electric shock by touching an electrode is also studied. Capacitor electrode 29
The electrodes on the side of the flat capacitor connected to a and 29b have a voltage for generating flash, specifically several hundred volts, and the capacitor is charged when this voltage is required. Then, it is conceivable that the battery box is removed while being charged. In this case, if a person comes into contact with the electrode, an electric shock is dangerous and it is necessary to prevent it.

As the prevention method, there are the following two methods.
In the first method, the electrodes of the capacitor are arranged inside the body surface of the battery box so that they cannot be touched. In the second method, the electrode is an electrode having elasticity, and in a state where the elastic member is extended, that is, in a state where the battery box is detached from the main body, the voltage charged in the capacitor is not connected to the electrode, and the battery box is This can be prevented by connecting the voltage charged in the capacitor to the electrodes 29a and 29b on the main body side when fitted to the main body.

[0034]

As described above, the conventional main capacitor has a cylindrical shape, so that when it is disposed inside the device, there is a wasteful dead space around the capacitor, and the placement efficiency is poor. Since the shape of the main capacitor is changed from a cylindrical shape to a flat shape, there is no wasteful space, and the arrangement efficiency is improved.

When the flat main capacitor is arranged on a printed circuit board, the area of the printed circuit board corresponding to the area of the capacitor is required. However, the flat main capacitor is arranged on the flat body of the portable device. There is an effect that the arrangement efficiency is improved and the portable device can be sufficiently reduced in size.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flat capacitor.

FIG. 2 is a view of the camera viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a body including a concave portion formed in the camera body of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a lid on which the flat capacitor of the present invention is arranged.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a structure in which the flat capacitor of the present invention is arranged in a body recess.

FIG. 6 is a structural explanatory view of disposing a flat capacitor in the mobile phone of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a conventional strobe.

8 is a view taken in the direction of arrows BB in FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main capacitor 2 Transformer 3 Coil 4 Transistor 5 Trigger switch 6 Printed circuit board 7 Light emitting part 7a Reflector 7b Lens 8a-8d Dead (wasteful) space 9a, 9b Electrode sheet of capacitor 10 Dielectric sheet of capacitor 11a, 11b Electrode of capacitor 12 A top view of the camera 13 Camera lens 14a Film storage section 14b Film take-up section 15 Film take-up knob 16 Film 17 Body flat capacitor placement section 18 Depression formed in body 19 Flat capacitor 20a, 20b Flat capacitor 21 External body 21 Camera body 22 Concave lid formed on body 23 Sealing material for flat capacitor 24 Adhesive layer 25 Mobile phone main body 26 Battery box 27a, 27b Connect to battery electrode Convex electrodes 28 battery box locking portion 29a, 29b flat bottom d1 case depth of the thickness d2 recess of recesses formed in a convex electrode 30 mobile phone body for connection with the capacitor electrode of the order

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A strobe device incorporated in a portable device such as a camera or a mobile phone, wherein a main capacitor has a flat shape and the capacitor is arranged on a flat body portion of the portable device such as a camera or a mobile phone. A strobe device characterized in that: 2. The strobe device according to claim 1, wherein the main capacitor is attached to the flat portion of the body by an adhesive member. 3. A method for arranging a main capacitor on a flat portion of a body, wherein a concave portion and a lid for the concave portion are provided in the flat portion of the body, a main capacitor is disposed on the back side of the lid, and a capacitor electrode is connected to the outside on the front side. 2. The strobe device according to claim 1, wherein the strobe device is disposed so as to be capable of being housed in the recess. 4. A main capacitor is disposed on a flat portion of the body of the battery box, and the electrodes of the capacitor are disposed inward from a surface of the body in order to prevent a person from touching an electrode of the capacitor and receiving an electric shock, and / or The strobe device according to claim 1, wherein the electrode is electrically insulated except when an external electrode is connected to the electrode.