JPH11163747A - Receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a receiver having an advantage of both a solar battery power supply system and a built-in antenna. SOLUTION: A reception circuit 5 is mounted in a flat outer shell. A solar battery panel 2 is mounted on an upper face of the outer shell and the panel receives external sun light. A secondary battery 6 that is charged by power output of the solar battery panel 2 and a power supply circuit 7, using an output of the secondary battery 6 for power supply of the reception circuit 5 are mounted in the outer shell 1. With such a configuration, the solar battery panel 2 is connected to an antenna input terminal of the reception circuit 5 so as to act as a part of an antenna conductor in terms of high frequencies. The solar battery panel 2 which has behaved to shield radio waves in the conventional configuration, now acts as a part of an antenna, allowing the built-in antenna to receive radio waves.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a compact receiver for receiving road information broadcasts, for example, mounted on an automobile, and more particularly to a receiver using a solar cell as a power source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to receive road information or receive radio communication from a patrol car of the National Highway Public Corporation, etc., to obtain information on traffic congestion and accidents and to utilize them for safe driving, reception with a matching reception band to these radio waves is performed. Machine is provided. This type of receiver is basically required to be easily installed or mounted on a dashboard or sun visor of a general automobile, not to be an obstacle, and to be easy to handle.

[0003] Most of this type of receiver employs a casing structure in which necessary parts are integrally accommodated in a flat outer shell mainly composed of plastic molded parts. However, the appearance in which the external antenna is adopted is greatly different from the appearance in which the built-in antenna is adopted.

That is, as an external antenna, a helical antenna, a whip antenna, a shortened antenna using a loading coil, and the like are generally used, all of which are rod-shaped and project outside a flat outer shell. Installed in state. In addition, many of them employ a rotating mechanism that can change the direction of the rod-shaped external antenna from the base. Such a structure has a drawback that it is complicated to manufacture and easily breaks when used. In addition, it is not preferable that the antenna protrudes outside in the first place as an in-vehicle device.

On the other hand, as a built-in antenna, a bar antenna having a ferrite core, a pattern antenna formed by a pattern of a printed circuit board, an antenna having a metal wire or a plate-like metal mounted in a plastic case, and the like are used. I have. In the case of this built-in antenna, the above-mentioned problem with the external antenna is eliminated.

[0006] Further, as for this type of on-vehicle receiver, a power source is provided by a wire from a connector of a cigarette lighter of an automobile, a type using a built-in dry cell as a power source, and a power source from a solar cell integrally mounted. There are types to get. A power supply combining a solar battery and a secondary battery is excellent because no power cord is required and there is no need to replace the battery.

[0007]

However, the above-mentioned conventional receiver has the following problems. That is, in the case of a receiver using a solar cell, a solar cell panel is attached to the upper surface of a flat outer shell of the receiver to receive sunlight through a windshield of an automobile.
The built-in secondary battery is charged with the power output of this solar cell,
The power of the receiving circuit is obtained from the secondary battery. This power system is very practical and convenient.

Incidentally, solar cells are generally made of amorphous, single-crystal or polycrystalline semiconductors. Therefore, when the solar cell panel is arranged so as to occupy a large area of the upper surface of the outer shell of the receiver, radio waves are cut off or attenuated by the solar cell panel, and thus the above-described built-in antenna provides good reception. There is a problem that performance cannot be realized. Further, if a metal mounting plate also serving as reinforcement is joined to the back surface of the solar cell panel, the mounting plate also functions as a shield for radio waves. Therefore, a built-in antenna cannot be adopted, and an external antenna having various problems must be adopted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems and to adopt both the superiority of a power supply system using a solar cell and the superiority of a built-in antenna. To provide a receiver.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, a receiver according to the present invention is basically provided with the following requirements (1) to (4) (claim 1). (1) A flat outer shell is mainly composed of a plastic molded part, and a receiving circuit is mounted in the outer shell. (2) A solar cell panel is mounted on the upper surface of the outer shell, and the panel receives external light. (3) A secondary battery charged by the power output of the solar cell panel and a power supply circuit that uses the output of the secondary battery as a power source of the receiving circuit are mounted in the outer shell. (4) The solar cell panel is connected to an antenna input terminal of the receiving circuit such that the solar cell panel acts as a part of an antenna conductor at a high frequency.

In the second invention, in addition to the above requirements, a metal mounting plate also serving as a reinforcement is integrated on the back surface of the solar cell panel. It is connected to an antenna input terminal of the receiving circuit so as to act as a part of a conductor (claim 2).

In the third invention, in addition to the above requirements, the solar cell panel is connected to the antenna input terminal via an appropriate matching circuit (claim 3).

According to the present invention, since a solar cell is used as a power supply, there is an advantage that a power supply cord is not required and there is no trouble in replacing the battery. Then, by using the solar cell panel and the mounting plate that also serves as a reinforcement as a part of the antenna, which has conventionally caused the bad effect of shielding or attenuating the radio wave, the above-mentioned bad effect is eliminated and the effect of the built-in antenna is exhibited. become.

It is not preferable to connect only the mounting plate to the antenna input terminal so as to function as a part of the antenna conductor, because the solar cell panel disposed on the upper surface also cuts off and attenuates radio waves. In other words, the object of the present invention is achieved by using the solar cell panel disposed closest to the front surface for receiving light as a part of the antenna conductor.

[0015]

FIG. 1 shows an appearance of a receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the outer shell 1 of the receiver is in the shape of a rectangular flat box. A rectangular solar cell panel 2 is provided over an area of at least half of the upper surface of the outer shell 1. The short side of the outer shell 1 is an operation / display panel 3.

FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the above receiver,
FIG. 3 shows the circuit configuration. That is, the outer shell 1
Consists of an upper case 1a and a lower case 1b, which are plastic molded parts. A large rectangular window hole 12 is formed in the upper case 1a, and the solar cell panel 2 is mounted so as to fit into the window hole 12 together with the metal mounting plate 4 bonded to the back surface. A transparent protective plate 13 is mounted on the surface of the solar cell panel 2. The protection plate 13 is made of a material that transmits radio waves, such as plastic. Receiving circuit 5, secondary battery 6, and power supply circuit 7
Are mounted on the printed circuit board 8 and are mounted on the inner surface side of the lower case 1b. Further, the information received by the receiving circuit 5 is output as sound via the speaker 11.

As shown in FIG. 3, the power generation output of the solar cell panel 2 becomes the charging input of the secondary battery 6 via the diode D1. Then, the power supply circuit 7 stabilizes the voltage of the output of the secondary battery 6 and applies the output to the receiving circuit 5 as power. Furthermore, although the inductors L1 and L2 are added to the charging current path of the solar cell panel 2, these inductors have no DC significance. The solar cell panel 2 and the metal mounting plate 4 are connected to the antenna input terminal of the receiving circuit 5 via the loading coil 9 and the matching circuit 10, and these solar cell panels 2 and the mounting plate 4 Act as part of the antenna conductor.

The matching circuit 10 includes a receiving circuit 5
Antenna input circuit in some cases. The loading coil 9 may not be used depending on the configuration of the antenna input circuit. The inductor L1 is for separating the high-frequency signal from flowing to the secondary battery 6 and the power supply circuit 7, but may be replaced by a pattern or wiring on a printed circuit board. In addition, the inductor L2 can be similarly replaced by wiring, and is not necessary depending on the high-frequency characteristics of the solar cell panel 2. Further, the solar cell panel 2 may be disposed on the upper surface of the receiver outer shell 1 without using the mounting plate 4. Taking these points into consideration, the simplest form of the circuit configuration of the present invention can be illustrated as shown in FIG. Note that the reference numerals given to the respective members in the figure are the same as those shown in FIG.

[0019]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a solar cell panel is disposed on the upper surface of a flat receiver outer shell and used as a power source and an antenna. On the dashboard, receiving the sunlight through the windshield to obtain the operating power of the receiver from the solar battery, and the solar battery panel as an antenna can effectively receive radio waves such as road information broadcasts.
That is, it is possible to realize a practical receiver that adopts both the advantages of the power supply system using the solar cell and the advantages of the built-in antenna.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal structural view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a circuit configuration diagram thereof.

FIG. 4 is a circuit configuration diagram according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Receiver outer shell 1a Upper case 1b Lower case 2 Solar cell panel 3 Operation / display panel 4 Mounting plate 5 Receiving circuit 6 Secondary battery 7 Power supply circuit 8 Printed circuit board 9 Loading coil 10 Matching circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04B 1/16 H01L 31/04 K Q

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A receiver characterized by the following requirements (1) to (4). (1) A flat outer shell is mainly composed of a plastic molded part, and a receiving circuit is mounted in the outer shell. (2) A solar cell panel is mounted on the upper surface of the outer shell, and the panel receives external light. (3) A secondary battery charged by the power output of the solar cell panel and a power supply circuit that uses the output of the secondary battery as a power source of the receiving circuit are mounted in the outer shell. (4) The solar cell panel is connected to an antenna input terminal of the receiving circuit such that the solar cell panel acts as a part of an antenna conductor at a high frequency. 2. The antenna of the receiving circuit, wherein a metal mounting plate also serving as reinforcement is integrated on the back surface of the solar cell panel, and the mounting plate also acts as a part of the antenna conductor at a high frequency. The receiver according to claim 1, wherein the receiver is connected to an input terminal. 3. The receiver according to claim 1, wherein the solar cell panel is connected to the antenna input terminal via an appropriate matching circuit.