JP3533071B2 - Clock dial - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dial such as a wristwatch, and more particularly to a dial for a timepiece using a solar cell.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A solar cell using natural light as a light source is widely used as a power source for a timepiece, but the surface of the solar cell has a unique dark purple color, which may cause a problem in terms of decoration. . For this reason, conventionally, the display part such as a dial is colored or patterned to make the dark purple peculiar to the solar cell inconspicuous.

As a technique for making the dark purple of such a solar cell inconspicuous, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-244174.
There is one disclosed in the publication. In this case, a ceramic material is used for a display plate on which hour characters and the like are formed, and convex portions and concave grooves are further formed on the ceramic material to form a pattern. The dark purple of the solar cell can be made inconspicuous by using a white ceramic material, and the decorative effect can be enhanced by forming a convex portion or a concave groove on the surface.

In addition, as another conventional technique, a solar cell in which a colored transparent resin substrate is used as a display plate in place of the ceramic material to soften the dark purple color of the solar cell is often used.

[0005]

However, although it is possible to make the dark purple of the solar cell layer inconspicuous by using the white ceramic material or the colored translucent resin material as described above, the opposite is true. In addition, there is a problem that the light receiving area and light transmittance of the solar cell layer are reduced.

Further, the material of the display plate arranged on the upper surface of the solar cell layer is limited to a white ceramic material or a translucent resin substrate having a light transmissive property, which is easy to process and decorative. A metal plate having excellent properties cannot be used because it has a poor light transmittance.

Therefore, the present invention expands the selection range of materials that can be used as the display plate by using the light guide plate to guide the light to the solar cell layer, and at the same time, processes the display plate with high decorativeness. It was possible.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the timepiece dial according to claim 1 of the present invention is a solar cell.
It has a layer and is arranged above the solar cell layer
In a dial for a watch, which is a display plate formed,
The light guide plate is integrally provided on the lower surface of the plate, and the light guide plate is
Recessed shape having an outer peripheral wall so that the display plate fits
And the upper surface of the outer peripheral wall is flush with the upper surface of the display plate.
Surface to form a lighting surface, and guide the light from the lighting surface.
The solar cell layer is then irradiated .

A timepiece dial according to a second aspect of the present invention has a solar cell layer and is arranged above the solar cell layer.
The timepiece dial, which is the display plate on which the hour and other characters are formed
The light guide plate is integrally provided on the lower surface of the display plate.
, An opening is provided in the lower part of the hour character of the display board, and the opening is fitted into the opening.
Formed in a shape with protrusions on the light guide plate so as to fit in
The top surface of the protrusion is flush with the surface of the display board.
Formed into the lighting surface, and from the gap between the time character on the lighting surface
The feature is that the collected light is guided and applied to the solar cell layer .

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a timepiece dial according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1
2 and FIG. 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
The timepiece dial M according to this embodiment is arranged on the movement 1 via the supporting legs 2, and is provided on the substrate 5 having the hole 4 through which the pointer shaft 3 penetrates at the center thereof. The light guide plate 7 and the light guide plate 7 are disposed on the solar cell layer 6.
And a display plate 9 having an hour-shaped character 8 integrally disposed on the display panel 9. There are two methods of fixing the substrate 5 to the movement 1 by the support legs 2 and a method of sandwiching the substrate 5 and the movement 1 by a support frame.

As shown in FIG. 2, the light guide plate 7 is made of a disc-shaped acrylic plate in which a recess 10 into which the display plate 9 is fitted is formed. A light guide surface 11 for guiding outside light is formed inside the light plate 7 over the entire circumference and is flush with the upper surface of the display plate 9.
It A reflection film 12 is formed on the bottom surface of the recess 10, the inner peripheral surface and the outer surface of the outer peripheral wall, and the light introduced from the light guide surface 11 is dispersed inside by the reflection film 12.
Thereby, the introduced light can be efficiently applied to the solar cell layer 6 without leaking to the outside. Reflective film 12
As the material, silver, aluminum, titanium oxide or the like having high reflectance can be used.

The light guide plate 7 has two protrusions 18 on its outer peripheral portion, and the protrusions 18 are fixed inside the watch case by engaging with a support frame for fixing the movement 1. (Not shown), and is fixedly arranged on the solar cell layer 6.

The display plate 9 is fitted in the recess 10 of the light guide plate 7 and fixed integrally with the light guide plate 7. Since the display panel 9 in this embodiment does not require light transmission, a material that hardly transmits light such as a metal plate in addition to the conventional resin plate or ceramic plate can be selected. Further, even when a resin plate or a ceramic plate is used, the conventional restrictions are eliminated. When a metal plate having a high reflectance is used as the display plate 9, the same effect as that provided with the reflection film 12 can be obtained.

As described above, the light guide plate 7 is sandwiched between the solar cell layer 6 and the display plate 9, and the dial plate M has the upper surface of the display plate 9 and the light guide surface 11 of the light guide plate 7 on the same plane. Connected smoothly on the top, giving a sense of flatness and a sense of discomfort
It becomes a dial plate that does not let you twist. In addition, the external light 13 incident on the light guide surface 11 is internally dispersed by the reflection film 12 while being guided by the light guide plate 7.
And the light receiving surface 14 of the solar cell layer 6 disposed directly below the light guide plate 7 is uniformly illuminated.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the prism surface 15 is processed on the entire lower surface of the light guide plate 7 described above. When used for a wristwatch, the prism surface 15 preferably has an angle of about 70 to 110 degrees, optimally about 90 to 100 degrees and a pitch of 30 to 50 μm. The prism surface 15 is
The acrylic plate may be directly processed, or a lens film having a prism surface may be attached to the light guide plate 7.

Since the prism surface 15 is arranged near the light receiving surface 14 of the solar cell layer 6 as described above, the light dispersion area is increased, and at the same time, the light is more condensed and the light receiving surface 14 of the solar cell layer 6 is collected. It is possible to obtain a larger amount of power generation by increasing the irradiation amount to the.

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an opening portion is provided in the lower portion of the hour-shaped character 8 formed on the display plate 9, a protrusion 16 is formed on the light guide plate 7 corresponding to the opening portion, and the protrusion 16 is formed in the opening portion. It has been fitted. The shape of the protrusion 16 is not particularly limited, but is, for example, a columnar body having the maximum length of the hour character 8 as a diameter, or a prismatic body having the maximum length of the hour character 8 as one side. By making the surface of the display plate 9 and the upper surface of the protruding portion 16 flush with each other, the upper surface of the protruding portion 16 becomes the light guide surface 11 of the external light 13,
External light 13 is guided through the gap of the hour character 8. As in the above embodiment, the light guide plate 7 is provided with the reflection film 12 on the surface in contact with the lower surface of the display plate 9 and the outer peripheral surface of the protrusion 16.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the external light 13 is incident on the light guide surface 11 through the gaps between the twelve hour marks 8 formed on the display plate 9, and the incident external light is the same as in the previous embodiment. Thirteen
Is internally dispersed by the reflection film 12 of the light guide plate 7, and the light receiving surface 14 of the solar cell layer 6 arranged directly below the light is intensively irradiated.

[0019]

As described above, according to the timepiece dial according to the present invention, the timepiece dial is provided between the lower surface of the display board and the solar cell layer.
The light guide plate integrated with the display plate is provided to identify the light guide plate.
There is a restriction on the material of the display board because the lighting surface is formed at the position of and the solar cell layer is irradiated with the light guided from this lighting surface to ensure sufficient power generation for operation as a watch. It is possible to use a metal plate that has not been used as a display plate of a solar-cell-powered timepiece in the past, and it is possible to form an abundant design for a dial.

Further, since the light guide plate is provided with the reflection film so as to face the solar cell layer , the light introduced into the light guide plate has a good reflection efficiency and does not leak the light to the outside. Therefore, it is possible to intensively irradiate the solar cell layer.

Further, the light-guiding surface of the light guide plate is arranged on the outer peripheral portion of the display plate.
Or, it should be installed at the position where the hour character is formed and on the lighting surface and the display board.
By making the surface the same, it is difficult to see the dark purple color of the surface of the solar cell, and the dial plate has a feeling of flatness that makes it look uncomfortable.
It is possible to form a no decorative highly timepiece plate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of a timepiece dial according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the timepiece dial according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the timepiece dial according to the invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a third embodiment of the timepiece dial according to the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

M dial 6 solar cell layer 7 Light guide plate 8 o'clock 9 Display board 11 Light guide surface 12 Reflective film 13 Outside light 14 Light receiving surface

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Toshio Hosoya 2 6663 Funatsu, Kawaguchiko-cho, Minamitsuru-gun, Yamanashi Prefecture Kawaguchiko Precision Co., Ltd. Watch Co., Ltd. Tanashi Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (56) Reference Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-54170 (JP, A) Actual Development Sho 59-152479 (JP, U) International Publication 95/027234 (WO, A1) (58) Fields investigated ( Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G04B 19/06 G04B 19/30 G04C 10/02

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A timepiece dial which has a solar cell layer and is arranged above the solar cell layer to form hour characters and the like. A light guide plate is integrally formed on a lower surface of the display plate. With the provision
The light guide plate has an outer peripheral wall so that the display plate is fitted therein.
It is formed in a concave shape, and the upper surface of the outer peripheral wall is the upper surface of the display plate.
Formed on the same plane as the lighting surface, and lighting from the lighting surface
A dial for timepieces, which is characterized in that it guides the emitted light to irradiate the solar cell layer . 2. A timepiece dial, which has a solar cell layer and is arranged above the solar cell layer to form hour characters and the like, wherein a light guide plate is integrally formed on a lower surface of the display plate. With setting, table
An opening is provided in the lower part of the hour character of the indicating plate, and it fits into the opening.
So that the light guide plate is provided with a protrusion so that
Form the upper surface of the protrusion in the same plane as the surface of the display board.
Use the lighting surface, and illuminate from the gap between the hour surface on the lighting surface.
A dial for timepieces, which is characterized in that it guides the emitted light to irradiate the solar cell layer .