JPH0328453Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention relates to a Braille cell using piezoelectric element pieces.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, Braille letters for the blind, which consist of a combination of 6 points in 3 vertical columns and 2 horizontal columns, invented by the Frenchman Louis Braille, are now widely used around the world, and are now widely used in education and daily life for the blind. plays a major role in

Conventionally, most of these Braille characters were made by forming protrusions on thick paper, etc., but recently, so-called Braille characters are being output and displayed by converting electrical signals into mechanical movements. Braille cells are being considered.

For example, there is a system in which a solenoid is used as a drive source for each point of a Braille character, and the Braille character is displayed by driving the solenoid. However, this configuration transmits the driving force of the solenoid to each Braille character via links etc.
If a total of six pieces (x2) were used, the overall structure would be extremely complicated and large, which would not only be troublesome to assemble, but also considerably heavy, making it inconvenient to handle. In addition to this, the solenoid consumes a large amount of power, and the solenoid coil generates heat, making it unsustainable for long periods of continuous use.

As another example, a piezoelectric element piece is used as a drive source for each point of a Braille character, and the Braille character is displayed by vibrating the piezoelectric element piece.

However, since this device is designed to transmit the vibrations of the vibrating part to the fingertips, if used continuously for a long time, the sensation in the fingertips may decrease and characters may be misrecognized. There was also the risk of causing a disability (white wax disease). Furthermore, the vibration of the piezoelectric element piece may also become a source of noise, which may have an adverse effect on others.

Therefore, recently, as seen in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-17981, a piezoelectric element piece is used as a drive source for each point of a Braille character, and the curved displacement of this piezoelectric element piece is used to statically produce a Braille character. What to display is being considered. In other words, this device fixes the base ends of six piezoelectric element pieces arranged in parallel to a support body, provides a sensing piece at the free end of these element pieces, and applies an electric signal to the element pieces to cause them to bend and displace. Braille is output and displayed through the sensing piece.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, in the Braille cell disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-17981, the piezoelectric material has a width of 6
mm, thickness of 0.2 mm, and length of about 50 mm, and extremely thin material is used, so when applying a conductive material to such a piezoelectric material, it is easily damaged by the slightest amount of force. When assembling piezoelectric element pieces to a support, there is a risk of damaging the piezoelectric element pieces if adjacent pieces touch each other.
The problem was that the yield of the product was poor. Further, in this case, after fixing the base end of the piezoelectric element piece to the support, a sensing rod must be attached to the tip, and the neck of the sensing rod must be passed through a hole in the sensing surface. For this reason, when inserting the sensing rod into the hole, the piezoelectric element piece must be bent significantly, which may also damage the piezoelectric element piece, so extreme care must be taken during assembly. It also has the disadvantage of extremely poor workability. Furthermore, when soldering the leads, the piezoelectric material and the conductive material may separate from each other or the polarization may disappear due to the heat generated at this time. In addition, this device requires a high operating voltage of 160V DC to obtain the necessary displacement of the piezoelectric element piece, so a special power supply must be prepared when considering insulation treatment, which is also economically disadvantageous. There is. Furthermore, since there is no particular regulation on the amount of displacement of the piezoelectric element piece, over long periods of use, distortion or slack due to curvature accumulates in the piezoelectric element piece, which causes the amount of displacement of the sensing rod to become unstable, making it difficult to accurately read Braille characters. There is also a possibility that the image cannot be displayed.

In addition, the piezoelectric element pieces supported in a cantilever type are 2
The piezoelectric element piece at the top of each set has a window that allows the sensing piece mounted on the bottom piezoelectric element piece of each set to pass through.
A wide material is required for the piezoelectric element piece, two types are required, one with a notch and one without, and the process of forming the notch increases, resulting in an increase in price. In addition, since six piezoelectric element pieces are stacked in one example, six types of sensing pieces are required, which complicates the assembly work and makes it difficult to make the device thinner.

This idea was made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks. It is possible to assemble the piezoelectric element piece easily and reliably without damaging it, and it is thinner. In addition, stable bending displacement can be obtained and high quality is achieved. The purpose is to provide a Braille cell that can display Braille characters.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

This device has a plurality of piezoelectric element pieces that are bent and displaced by applying an electric signal, one end of these piezoelectric element pieces is fixed, and a tactile pin is provided at the other free end. a Braille cell having a stylus scanning part with a corresponding hole;
A spacing plate that is shaped like a thick plate and separates the front and back sides of the plate surface, and the piezoelectric element piece is placed on the front and back sides of the plate surface separated by the spacing plate, and the piezoelectric element piece is preliminarily bent downward. The invention is characterized in that it has a plurality of mounting tables that also serve as stoppers for suppressing the amount of pressure to a required amount, and that the thick frame is provided with a support body in which the tactile scanning section is integrally formed, By providing a spacing plate and a mounting table, assembly is facilitated, and the mounting table also serves as a stopper, thereby suppressing the downward preliminary bending displacement of the piezoelectric element piece to the required amount, making it possible to make this Braille cell thinner. Make it.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1 a, b and FIG. 2, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. This support body 2 has an upper frame portion 3a and a lower frame portion 3b forming thick parts of the upper and lower edges, a plurality of grooves 4 provided in the center thereof, and openings that penetrate through the front and back of the support body 2. It is composed of an opening 2a. Further, the upper frame portion 3a is integrally provided with a hole for passing a tactile pin, which will be described later, and a tactile scanning section for fixing a tactile scanning plate.

The groove portion 4 is separated on both the front and back surfaces of the support body 2 by a spacing plate 4a and a mounting table 4b. A mounting table 4b for holding the piezoelectric element piece 5 in the groove portion 4 is provided on both the front and back surfaces of the support body 2 in a step-like manner along the horizontal direction in the figure, and is provided on the stepped surface of the lower frame portion 3b. A plurality of, for example, four, mounting tables 4b are provided on each of the front and back surfaces, including the mounting tables 4b. As shown in FIG. 2, these mounting tables 4b are configured to place and hold eight piezoelectric element pieces 5, two on each of the front and back surfaces of the support 2.

At the left end of the groove 4 of the support 2 in the drawing, there is a base end 5a of the piezoelectric element piece 5 flush with the mounting surface of the mounting table 4b.
A slit 6 is formed for fixing the
The base end 5a of the piezoelectric element piece 5 is fixed to the support 2 through the slit 6 with an adhesive or the like.

A semi-cylindrical convex friction reducing portion 7 is provided near the right end in the diagram of both the front and back sides of the spacing plate 4a.
This friction reducing portion 7 provides a space between the spacing plate 4a and the piezoelectric element piece 5, thereby reducing the contact area between them and smoothing the bending motion of the piezoelectric element piece 5.

Furthermore, the mounting table 4b also serves as a stopper to keep the preliminary downward bending displacement of the piezoelectric element piece 5 at a predetermined amount when no Braille is displayed. The length is set to about half the length of the curved portion of the piezoelectric element piece 5 to balance the preliminary curve displacement amount and the curve force during display operation. Furthermore, slit 6
An opening 8 is formed in the support 2 extending to the left side of the support body 2 to pull out the leads of the piezoelectric element piece 5 mounted on the back side in the figure to the front side, and when the base body 1 is arranged side by side, the lead led out from the adjacent base body is held down. A lead holding part (not shown) to be attached is formed on the back side of the support body 2.

Here, the piezoelectric element piece 5 used is a piezoelectric layer 5 made of a piezoelectric material, for example, PZT, as shown in FIG.
A thin piece 503 of an elastic conductive material such as phosphor bronze or Nibroy is inserted between the piezoelectric layers 501 and 502, and the piezoelectric layers 501 and 502 are further covered with a thin layer of conductive material such as silver. A thin silver piece 504 is used to short-circuit between the tips. Here, 9a and 9b are leads. Moreover, such a piezoelectric element piece 5 has a width of 2 mm, a thickness of 0.94 mm, and a total length of about 95 mm, which is narrow, thick, and relatively long.

Such piezoelectric element pieces 5 are placed on a mounting table 4b as shown in FIG. 1b and stacked in parallel and in a stepped manner, and are formed on both the front and back surfaces of the support 2 as shown in FIG. It is stored in each groove part 4. At this time, the base end 5a of the piezoelectric element piece 5 is inserted into the slit 6, the end is made to protrude slightly, and is fixed with an adhesive or the like, and the piezoelectric element piece 5 is used as a fulcrum to cause a curved displacement.

These piezoelectric element pieces 5 are arranged in a stepped manner as shown in FIG. 1b, and a tactile pin 10 is attached to the tip of the free end 5b. As shown in FIG. 4, this tactile pin 10 is attached to the tip of a columnar base 10a via a stepped part to a neck 10b having a smaller diameter than the base 10a.
The neck portion 10b has a hemispherical or elliptical head. In this case, the height of the base 10a of the tactile pin 10 is made different so that the heads of the neck 10b are at the same height. The tactile pin 10 is inserted through a through hole formed in the upper frame portion 3b of the frame portion 3 and is held so as to be movable in the vertical direction according to the bending displacement of the piezoelectric element piece 5. A tactile scanning unit 12 having a plurality of holes 11, for example eight, from which the necks 10b of the tactile pins 10 protrude is removably provided above this, and the distance between the necks 10b, that is, the horizontal direction of the Braille characters. The dot spacing is set to be approximately 2.5 mm. Further, this touch finger scanning section 12 has a convex portion on one side edge and a concave portion on the other side edge for connection when Braille cells are arranged side by side.

In the illustrated example, the frame 3 of the base 1 has a boss 13 on one side and a hole 14 corresponding to the boss 13 on the other side for connection when a plurality of Braille cells are arranged side by side. . It also has a through hole 15 that passes through the substrate 1 and into which a connecting rod (not shown) is inserted.

With this configuration, as shown in FIG.
A braille cell having a tactile scanning section 12 is obtained by combining a total of eight tactile pins 10. In reality, a plurality of such Braille cells are used in parallel. In this case, each support 2 connects the boss 13 to the adjacent support 2.
By inserting the connecting rod into the hole 14, the connecting rod is temporarily connected, and at the same time, the connecting rod is inserted into the through hole 15 and fixed. In addition, in this state, the piezoelectric element piece 5 is selected in each Braille cell, and these leads 9a, 9b are
When DC100V is applied to the piezoelectric element 5, the piezoelectric element piece 5 bends, the stepped part of the tactile pin 10 comes into contact with the hole 11 of the tactile scanning part 12, and the tip of the neck 10b protrudes from the hole 11, causing the tactile element to bend. Desired Braille characters will be displayed on the surface of the finger scanning section 12.

Therefore, according to the Braille cell having such a configuration, four sets of piezoelectric element pieces 5 each consisting of two piezoelectric element pieces 5 arranged in parallel on the left and right are arranged in a stepped manner, so that the height dimension of the Braille cell can be reduced. It is possible to reduce the thickness to about half that of the conventional one and achieve a thinner profile, and further to achieve a thinner profile by suppressing the preliminary downward bending displacement of the piezoelectric element piece 5 by the mounting table 4b which also serves as a stopper. I can do it. Furthermore, by arranging the piezoelectric element pieces 5 in a stepwise manner, the terminals provided at the base end 5a of each piezoelectric element piece 5 do not overlap, making it possible to easily connect the leads 9a and 9b, and to By connecting the leads 9a and 9b at the base end protruding from the base end 6, it is possible to minimize the influence of heating on the free end side of the piezoelectric element piece 5 during soldering etc. It is possible to reliably prevent separation between the conductive material and the conductive material and separation of polarity. Moreover, since the tips of the free ends 5b are arranged in a step-like manner, the tactile pins 10 implanted in the lower piezoelectric element piece 5 do not penetrate through the upper piezoelectric element piece 5. There is no need to cut out the piezoelectric element piece 5, and the piezoelectric element piece 5 can be constructed using only one type of piezoelectric element piece 5.The number of tactile pins 10 is only four types, which is half the number of conventional ones, which simplifies parts management and reduces costs. can be achieved. Furthermore, since no notch is formed in the piezoelectric element piece 5, mechanical strength is not impaired.

In addition, the piezoelectric element pieces 5 are positioned in the vertical direction by being placed on the mounting table 4b in each groove 4 of the support body 2, and are separated by the spacing plate 4a, so that adjacent pieces 5 can be There is no inconvenience such as the piezoelectric element piece 5 being accidentally touched and damaged, and furthermore, by providing the friction reducing part 7 on the plate surface of the support body 2, the movement of the piezoelectric element piece 5 is not hindered and stable curvature displacement is achieved. can be ensured. Furthermore, after mounting the piezoelectric element piece 5 on the support 2 of the base 1, the tactile pin 10 can be inserted into the through hole formed in the upper frame portion 3b and implanted at the tip of the piezoelectric element piece 5. In this case, the piezoelectric element piece 5 is not unnecessarily bent, and damage caused by this can be prevented, and the assembly can be simplified and reliably performed, and this type of workability can be extremely improved. Furthermore, the tactile scanning plate 12a is attached to the tactile scanning unit 12.
The Braille cell completed by attaching the Braille cell can be used as it is for one character.Moreover, even if a plurality of such Braille cells are installed side by side, the connecting boss 13 is inserted into the hole 14 of the adjacent one, and the connecting boss 13 is temporarily connected. Hole 1
Since it is only necessary to pass the connecting rod through 5, handling is extremely simple.

Furthermore, the base end 5a of the piezoelectric element piece 5 is attached to the support body 2.
Since the piezoelectric element piece 5 is fixed with adhesive or the like when inserted into the slit 6, it is possible to accurately position the piezoelectric element piece 5 and to ensure stable bending displacement. A stable curved displacement can be obtained, and high-quality Braille display can be performed via the tactile pin 10.

Note that this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be implemented with appropriate modifications without changing the gist.

For example, in the above embodiment, a 2×4 tactile pin 10
Although the above description has been made regarding those having the following, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this. Furthermore, the piezoelectric element piece is just one example, and other piezoelectric elements may be used as long as they have similar characteristics.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to this invention, assembly is facilitated by positioning a plurality of piezoelectric element pieces on a mounting table, and the mounting table allows the downward curved displacement of the piezoelectric element pieces to be controlled appropriately. By reducing the amount required, it is possible to make the Braille cell thinner.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1a and b show one embodiment of the braille cell of this invention, a is a plan view, b is a front view, Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in Figure 1b, FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a piezoelectric element piece used in the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a tactile pin used in the same embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Base body, 2... Support body, 3... Frame part, 3a
...Lower frame part, 3b...Upper frame part, 4...Groove part, 4a
... Spacing plate, 4b... Mounting table, 5... Piezoelectric element piece, 5a... Base end, 5b... Free end, 501,
502... Piezoelectric layer, 503... Thin piece, 6... Slit, 7... Friction reducing portion, 8... Opening, 9a,
9b...Lead, 10...Tactile pin, 10a...
Base, 10b... Neck, 11... Hole, 12...
Tactile scanning section, 13...boss, 14...hole, 15
...through hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) It has a plurality of piezoelectric element pieces that are curved and displaced by applying an electric signal, one end of these piezoelectric element pieces is fixed, and a tactile pin is attached to the other free end. A braille cell is provided with a tactile scanning section having holes corresponding to the tactile pins, and a spacer plate that is shaped like a thick wall and separates the front and back sides of the plate surface, and a plate that is separated by the spacer plate. The piezoelectric element piece is placed on the front and back sides of the surface, and the piezoelectric element piece is placed on a thick frame portion. A Braille cell characterized by comprising a support body in which the tactile scanning section is integrally formed. (2) Braille according to claim 1 of the utility model registration claim, characterized in that the spacing plate of the support body has a friction reducing part for reducing frictional resistance by providing a gap between the spacing plate and the piezoelectric element piece. cell. (3) Utility model registration claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the support has a boss on one side and a hole corresponding to the boss on the other side for connection when they are installed side by side. Braille cell.