JP2924639B2 - Analog electronic clock and charging method thereof - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an analog electronic timepiece, and more particularly to an analog electronic timepiece that generates power using kinetic energy generated by a user's operation and charges a secondary power supply.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional electronic timepiece, electricity as an energy source for driving the timepiece is supplied from a battery. However, batteries need to be replaced when they run out of energy. For this reason, an electronic wristwatch equipped with a self-winding power generating mechanism that generates electric energy necessary for driving a clock by natural movement of a user's arm has been developed. This type of electronic timepiece has attracted attention from the viewpoint of resource saving and environmental protection because not only does it not require troublesome battery replacement but also does not generate waste such as used batteries.

[0003] This electronic timepiece has a power generating mechanism inside, converts kinetic energy accompanying the operation of the user into electric energy, and outputs a charging voltage from a power generating coil. A secondary power supply is charged using the charging voltage, and the charging energy is used as a power supply for a clock circuit.

[0004]

In the case where analog display is performed using the electronic timepiece of this configuration, a motor for moving the analog display hand is arranged in the same watch case as the generator. For this reason, there has been a problem that a malfunction of the hand driving motor occurs due to the magnetic flux generated in the power generation coil of the generator.

That is, in a wristwatch or the like, the generator and the hand-operating motor are often arranged adjacent to each other in order to efficiently mount components in a narrow watch case. For this reason, when a relatively large current flows through the power generation coil, a part of the generated magnetic flux becomes a leakage magnetic flux, which adversely affects the hand driving motor,
In some cases, malfunction of the needle driving rotor may be caused.

[0006] This problem appears remarkably when a bypass circuit is formed between the power generation coil and the secondary power supply in order to prevent the secondary power supply from being overcharged. That is, when the voltage of the secondary power supply exceeds a certain reference level, both ends of the power generation coil are short-circuited by a limiter or the like, and charging of the secondary power supply is stopped. At this time, a large short-circuit current flows through the power generation coil. In this state, when a drive pulse is applied to the drive coil of the hand driving motor,
Leakage of magnetic flux from the generator causes malfunction of the hand-operating motor, making accurate time display impossible.

In particular, an analog electronic timepiece using a crystal oscillator or the like is required to have extremely high accuracy. Therefore, when the above-described operation failure occurs, the commercial value of the quartz electronic timepiece is significantly reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and has as its object to prevent a malfunction of a hand driving motor during an overcharge preventing operation of a secondary power supply and to perform an accurate analog display. It is an object of the present invention to provide an analog electronic timepiece and a charging method thereof.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is a power generating means for converting kinetic energy accompanying a user's operation into electric energy and outputting the converted kinetic energy from a power generating coil as charging electric energy. And a secondary power supply charged by the charging electric energy, and when a voltage of the secondary power supply reaches a predetermined voltage, a bypass circuit of the charging electric energy to the secondary power supply is formed, and Overcharge prevention means for preventing charging, a clock circuit which operates using the charging energy of the secondary power supply and outputs a motor drive pulse, and During the output of the motor for driving the hand for rotating the rotor and the pulse for driving the clock of the clock circuit, the bypass current flowing through the bypass circuit is forcibly limited. A current limiting means that, characterized in that it comprises a.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the current limiting means is a forced shutoff means for forcibly shutting off a bypass circuit of the overcharge prevention means during a motor drive pulse output of the timepiece circuit. It is characterized by being formed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first and second aspects, the power generation means is rotatably mounted,
A rotating weight that converts kinetic energy generated by a user's operation into rotational motion, and a power generating rotor that is driven to rotate by the rotational motion, and as the charging electric energy from the power generating coil by the rotation of the power generating rotor. And a generator that outputs a charging voltage of

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the second and third aspects, the overcharge preventing means is provided, and the second aspect of the present invention is provided such that the power generating means is rotatably mounted, and A rotating weight that converts kinetic energy generated by the operation into a rotating motion, a speed increasing wheel train that speeds up the rotating motion of the rotating weight, and a power generating rotor that is rotationally driven by the increased rotating motion. A generator for outputting a charging voltage as electric energy for charging from the power generation coil by rotation of the power generation rotor, and a short circuit of the secondary power supply turned on.
A switch means for turning off is provided, and the forcible cut-off means is configured to detect an output timing of the motor drive pulse and to forcibly turn off the switch means during output of the motor drive pulse.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the second to fourth aspects, the forcible shut-off means detects an overcharge prevention operation of the secondary power supply of the overcharge prevention means, and during the overcharge prevention operation, The forcible shutoff of the bypass circuit of the overcharge prevention means is forcibly interrupted prior to the output of the motor drive pulse, and the forcible shutoff of the bypass circuit is released after the output of the motor drive pulse is completed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects, the invention is formed as a wristwatch.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of charging a secondary power source serving as a drive power source of a clock circuit for outputting a motor drive pulse to a drive coil of a hand driving motor, wherein a kinetic energy associated with a user's operation is converted into electric power. Converting the energy into energy, outputting charging electric energy from a power generation coil to charge a secondary power supply, and, when a voltage of the secondary power supply reaches a predetermined voltage, a bypass circuit of the charging electric energy for the secondary power supply. Forming an overcharge of the secondary power supply, and forcibly restricting a bypass current flowing through a bypass circuit of the overcharge prevention unit during output of the motor drive pulse of the clock circuit. It is characterized by.

[0016]

According to the analog electronic timepiece of the first aspect, the kinetic energy generated by the operation of the user is converted into electric energy by the power generation means, and is output from the power generation coil as charging electric energy. Thereby, the secondary power supply is charged.

The clock circuit operates by using the charging energy of the secondary power supply and outputs a drive pulse. When the drive pulse is energized to the drive coil, the driving rotor of the driving motor is driven to rotate, and the time is displayed in an analog manner.

By the way, when the secondary power supply is charged by the power generation means and reaches a predetermined voltage level, the overcharge prevention means becomes:
A secondary power supply bypass circuit is formed. Thereby, the charging energy output from the power generation coil of the power generation means is 2
It passes through the bypass circuit without charging the next power supply.

At this time, a large current flows through the power generation coil, and a large magnetic flux is generated. A part of this magnetic flux becomes a leakage magnetic flux, which links with the motor for hand movement to cause a malfunction.

In the present invention, the current limiting means is used to forcibly limit the bypass current flowing through the bypass circuit during the output of the motor drive pulse from the clock circuit.
Thus, during output of the motor drive pulse, the effect of the magnetic flux received from the power generation coil on the hand driving motor can be significantly reduced. Therefore, the hand driving motor operates reliably by the application of the motor drive pulse, and accurately displays the time in analog form.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an analog electronic timepiece capable of preventing a malfunction of the hand driving motor during the operation of preventing the secondary power supply from being overcharged and performing accurate analog display.

The bypass current may be limited so that the current value is reduced, or the current may be forcibly cut off.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the current limiting means is formed as a forcible interrupting means, and the bypass circuit of the overcharge preventing means is forcibly interrupted during the output of the motor drive pulse of the clock circuit. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the adverse effect of the magnetic flux received from the power generation coil on the hand driving motor during the output of the motor drive pulse, and to display the time more accurately in analog.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the kinetic energy generated by the operation of the user is converted into the rotational motion by the rotary weight, and the generator rotor is driven to rotate. For this reason, electric energy for charging can be satisfactorily output from the generator coil of the generator.

According to the invention of claim 4, the overcharge preventing means is formed by using a switch means for turning on / off a bypass circuit of a secondary power supply, and the switch means is formed by using the forcible shutoff means. ON / OFF control. Thereby, the above-mentioned overcharge is prevented, and furthermore, the configuration of the circuit for preventing the malfunction of the hand driving motor during the overcharge prevention operation,
It can be simple.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, during the overcharge prevention operation, the bypass circuit of the overcharge prevention means is forcibly cut off before the output of the motor drive pulse, and after the output of the motor drive pulse, the bypass circuit of the overcharge prevention means is turned off. It is configured to cancel the forced cutoff. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent a malfunction of the hand driving motor during the operation of preventing overcharge of the secondary power supply.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, it is possible to obtain an analog electronic wristwatch having an automatic winding charging function.

Further, according to the invention of claim 7, there is provided a method of charging an analog electronic timepiece for charging a secondary power supply of the analog electronic timepiece so as not to cause a malfunction of a hand movement motor during a charging prevention operation. Obtainable.

[0029]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a detailed description will be given of a case where the present invention is applied to an analog display type electronic wristwatch.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the power generating means 10 used in the electronic timepiece of the embodiment. This charging means 10
Is a semicircular rotary weight 12 rotatably attached to a main plate in a timepiece case, a wheel train mechanism 14 for increasing the rotation of the rotary weight 12, and a power generation rotor 1 by the wheel train mechanism 14.
8 includes a rotating generator 16.

When the user wears the electronic timepiece and moves his arm, the rotary weight 12 rotates, and the kinetic energy at that time becomes a rotational motion in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The rotation of the oscillating weight 12 is increased by about 100 times by the train wheel mechanism 14 and transmitted to the power generation rotor 18. The magnetic flux linked to the power generation coil 22 via the power generation stator 20 is changed by the high speed rotation of the power generation rotor 18 composed of the N-pole and S-pole permanent magnets.

When the magnetic flux changes, an AC voltage is output from the power generation coil 22 by electromagnetic induction, and the AC voltage is
It is rectified by the rectifier diode 30 shown in FIG. 1 and charges the capacitor 40 as a secondary battery. Then, leveled electric energy is supplied from the capacitor 40, and the clock circuit 70 using the quartz 72 is driven.

The capacitor 40, together with the booster circuit 60 and the auxiliary capacitor 42, constitutes a secondary power supply. As described above, when the generator 16 is operated, the capacitor 40 is charged. In the embodiment, when the capacitor voltage is low and less than the drivable voltage of the timepiece, the capacitor voltage is converted by the booster circuit 60 into a high voltage. To drive the timepiece. The voltage-converted power is stored in the auxiliary capacitor 42. Therefore, the driving power supply of the actual timepiece is the auxiliary capacitor 42.

In order to prevent the capacitor 40 from being overcharged, a limiter circuit 50 functioning as an overcharge prevention means.
Is provided. The limiter circuit 50 is connected in parallel with the power generation coil 22 and forms a bypass circuit for the capacitor charging circuit.

The limiter circuit 50 includes a switch element 52 for turning on and off a bypass circuit.
The switch element 52 is turned on by detecting that the charging voltage of 0 exceeds the reference value for overcharge detection.

As a result, the charging current 200 that has charged the capacitor 40 as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the flow through the bypass circuit of the power generating coil 22 constituted by using the limiter circuit 50 as shown by 210 in the figure prevents the capacitor 40 from being overcharged.

The clock circuit 70 includes an oscillating circuit 74 using a quartz 72 as a vibrating portion, a frequency dividing circuit 76 for dividing the starting output, and a driving pulse having a different polarity every 1 ms based on the frequency dividing output. And a driving circuit 78 for outputting the driving pulse.
2 is output. As a result, a drive pulse as shown in FIG. 5 is supplied to the drive coil 82 of the stepping motor 80 which functions as a hand driving motor every second, and the rotor 86 shown in FIG. 2 is driven to rotate each time.

The rotation output of the rotor 86 is transmitted through the three-hand drive train wheel mechanism 90 shown in FIG.
The time is transmitted to the minute hand 106 and the hour hand 108, respectively, and the time is displayed in an analog manner.

As described above, in the analog electronic timepiece employing the self-winding power generation mechanism, the generator 16 and the stepping motor 80 for moving the hands are mounted in the timepiece case.
In particular, in today's high-density mounting type electronic timepieces, the generator 16 and the step motor 80 are often arranged adjacent to each other inside the watch case 2 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the magnetic flux generated by the generator 16 is
Adversely affect the operation of This adverse effect increases as the magnetic flux generated from the generator 16 increases.

In particular, the switching element 5 of the limiter circuit 50
2 is turned on and the overcharge prevention operation is performed,
When the oscillating weight 12 rotates and the power generating operation is performed, FIG.
A short-circuit current flows through the power generation coil 22 as shown in FIG. This causes a malfunction such as an increase in the amount of magnetic flux generated from the generator 16 and a failure in rotation of the rotor 86 even though a drive pulse is applied to the step motor 80.

In order to prevent such a malfunction, the electronic timepiece of the embodiment is provided with a forced cutoff circuit 56 as shown in FIG. 1, and forcibly turns off the switch element 52 of the limiter circuit 50 during the driving pulse output. Then, the bypass circuit for preventing overcharge is cut off. Thereby, the magnetic flux output from the power generation coil 22 at the time of the output of the driving pulse is greatly reduced, and the step motor 80 can be reliably driven to rotate.

FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the forcible shutoff operation of the embodiment. The forced cutoff circuit 56 includes the limiter circuit 50
, The overcharge prevention operation of the capacitor 40 as the secondary battery is detected. Then, when the switch element 52 of the limiter circuit 52 is turned on at the timing of ta in FIG. 5 and the overcharge prevention operation is started, the output timing of the drive pulse is detected from the internal state of the drive circuit 78. Then, prior to the output of the drive pulse, the control operation of turning off the switch 52 and returning the switch circuit 52 to the on state after the output of the drive pulse is performed.

The detection of the drive pulse is performed based on the count value of the frequency division output performed by the drive circuit 78 for the output of the drive pulse. That is, the drive circuit 78 outputs a drive pulse every time the count value reaches a value corresponding to one second. Therefore, the forced cutoff circuit 5
0 indicates that the switching element 52 is forcibly turned off at a time point tb about 30 ms before the drive pulse is output from the count value of the drive circuit 78, and the switching element 52 is turned off again at a time point tc about 30 ms after the drive pulse output ends. Control to return to the ON state is performed.

As described above, by forcibly turning off the switching element 52 with a margin for the driving pulse, it is possible to more reliably prevent the step motor 80 from malfunctioning during the overcharge prevention operation of the secondary battery. .
When the limiter circuit 50 does not perform the above-described overcharge prevention operation, the forcible off control operation for the switching element 52 by the forcible cutoff circuit 56 is not performed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the electronic timepiece of the embodiment, the forced cutoff circuit 56 for forcibly cutting off the bypass current is used as the current limiting means. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A current limiting circuit or the like may be used.

Although the preceding embodiment has been described by taking the case where the present invention is applied to a wristwatch as an example, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to various other portable watches.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Utilizing kinetic energy associated with the movement of the user, 2
In an analog electronic watch that charges the next power supply,
There is an effect that it is possible to provide an analog electronic timepiece that can prevent a malfunction of the hand movement motor during an overcharge prevention operation of the secondary power supply and can display an accurate time and a charging method thereof.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an analog electronic timepiece according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a main part of a mechanical configuration of the electronic timepiece according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a positional relationship between a generator stored in a case of a wristwatch and a step motor.

FIG. 4A is a schematic explanatory diagram of a charging operation for a secondary battery, and FIG. 4B is a schematic explanatory diagram of an overcharge protection operation.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart illustrating an operation of the electronic timepiece according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Power generation means 12 Rotating weight 14 Wheel train mechanism 16 Generator 22 Generator coil 40 Capacitor 50 Limiter circuit 56 Force cutoff circuit 70 Clock circuit 72 Quartz 78 Drive circuit 80 Step motor 82 Drive coil 104 Second hand 106 Minute hand 108 Hour hand

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A power generating means for converting kinetic energy accompanying a user's operation into electric energy and outputting the electric energy from a generating coil as charging electric energy; a secondary power supply charged by the charging electric energy; When the voltage of the secondary power supply reaches a predetermined voltage, a bypass circuit of the charging electric energy for the secondary power supply is formed, and overcharge prevention means for preventing overcharge of the secondary power supply; A clock circuit that operates using the motor drive pulse and outputs a motor drive pulse; a motor for driving a hand-operated rotor by energizing the motor drive pulse to a drive coil; and a motor drive pulse output of the clock circuit. in the analog electronic timepiece which comprises a current limiting means to limit the bypass current flowing through the bypass circuit. 2. The current limiting device according to claim 1, wherein the current limiting device is formed as a forced shutoff device that forcibly shuts off a bypass circuit of the overcharge prevention device during a motor drive pulse output of the clock circuit. An analog electronic timepiece. 3. The rotating weight according to claim 1, wherein the power generating means is rotatably mounted, and converts a kinetic energy generated by a user's operation into a rotating motion. An analog electronic timepiece, comprising: a generator that includes a power generation rotor that is driven to rotate, and that outputs a charging voltage as charging electrical energy from the power generation coil by rotation of the power generation rotor. 4. The overcharge prevention unit according to claim 2, wherein the overcharge prevention unit includes a switch unit for turning on and off a short circuit of the secondary power supply, and the forcible cutoff unit includes a switch for the motor drive pulse. An analog electronic timepiece formed to detect an output timing and to forcibly turn off said switch means during output of a motor drive pulse. 5. The claim 2-3, the forced blocking means, said detecting the overcharge prevention operation of the secondary power supply overcharge prevention means, in anti-overcharging operation, the motor drive pulse An analog electronic timepiece formed so as to forcibly shut off a bypass circuit of said overcharge prevention means prior to output, and to cancel the forced shutoff of said bypass circuit after output of a motor drive pulse is completed. 6. An analog electronic timepiece according to claim 2, wherein the analog electronic timepiece is formed as a wristwatch. 7. A method of charging a secondary power supply serving as a drive power supply of a clock circuit that outputs a motor drive pulse to a drive coil of a hand driving motor, comprising: converting kinetic energy accompanying a user's operation into electric energy; Outputting a charging electric energy from a generating coil to charge the secondary power supply; and forming a bypass circuit of the charging electric energy for the secondary power supply when the voltage of the secondary power supply reaches a predetermined voltage. a step of preventing overcharging of the following power supply, in the motor driving pulse output of the clock circuit is characterized in that it comprises before and fang Ipa <br/> step to limit the bypass current flowing through the scan circuit, the How to charge an analog electronic watch.