JP4089845B2 - Shock recorder - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an impact recorder that measures and records the acceleration that an article receives by various operations.
[0002]
[Prior art]
When an item is handled or transported, it may be damaged by an impact caused by a drop, collision or bounce. When it is damaged, it is necessary to clarify at which point of impact it was damaged during handling and transportation. When an article is subjected to an impact, it receives acceleration, so if you measure the acceleration and record it in time series, it becomes clear at which point during handling and transportation it is possible to grasp the cause of damage. it can. Such an impact recorder (acceleration recorder) is used by being attached to the product, receives the same handling and transportation as the product, measures the acceleration generated, records it, handles it, and transports it into the impact recorder. Read the stored records and check the impact that the product will have received. For this reason, the impact recorder repeats measurement and recording for a long time, but it is necessary to reduce the size and weight for the purpose of use. Naturally, it is desired that the power consumption is low and a large amount of measurement data can be accumulated. If the acceleration is measured and recorded over a long period of time, the measurement and recording operations increase. Therefore, it is desired that the power consumption of the impact recorder is further reduced. The measurement recording operation as well as the reading of the record stored in the impact recorder must be operated with low power consumption. The acceleration measurement and recording operation may be continued even during communication. In this case, power consumption for communication is required in addition to the power consumption during acceleration measurement and recording operation during communication.
[0003]
Usually, reading of the record stored in the impact recorder is performed by communicating with a personal computer or the like. At that time, the impact recorder is operated by a power source such as a built-in battery. Further, since the measured and accumulated data is recorded for a long time, the number of data is large and it takes time to read the accumulated data.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When communicating with a personal computer or the like for reading a record stored in the impact recorder, a large amount of power is consumed, and the life of a built-in battery or the like is shortened by performing communication.
[0005]
In addition, since it takes time to read the accumulated data, there is a risk that the remaining capacity of the built-in battery, etc. will be lost during communication, making communication impossible and reading the accumulated record impossible. There is.
[0006]
In addition, since the generated voltage differs depending on the power consumption used for batteries, etc., the difference in power consumption between acceleration measurement and recording operation and communication operation allows measurement and recording of acceleration, but communication becomes impossible. There is also a risk of end.
[0007]
The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, eliminates power consumption of batteries, etc. due to communication, lengthens the life of batteries, etc. An object of the present invention is to provide an impact recorder capable of reliably reading the measured and recorded acceleration.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In an impact recorder that measures and records the acceleration received by various operations, when the impact recorder is connected to a personal computer, etc., the impact recorder is driven by receiving power from the outside and connected to the personal computer, etc. When it is not connected, the power source is switched so as to be driven by a battery or the like built in the impact recorder, and when the impact recorder is connected to a personal computer or the like, it is incorporated in the impact recorder. The CPU turns on the operation of the communication unit , senses a communication request from the outside, transitions to a communicable state, and when not connected to a personal computer or the like, the CPU incorporated in the impact recorder turning off the operation of the communication unit without transition to the communication state without detecting a communication request from the outside, communicating with the personal computer or the like When the connection with the personal computer or the like is disconnected transitions to incommunicable state without detecting a communication request from the outside to clear the operation of the communication unit by the CPU built in the impact recorder Use an impact recorder.
[0009]
The switching of the power source and the transition to the communicable / impossible state are performed by an impact recorder that is automatically performed inside the impact recorder by connecting and disconnecting the impact recorder to a personal computer or the like.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the present invention. The impact recorder 1 includes a sensor unit 2, a processing circuit unit 3, and a power supply unit 4. The impact recorder 1 can measure and record as a single unit. The sensor unit 2 includes an acceleration sensor and a detection circuit, and the power supply unit 4 is a battery. The processing circuit unit 3 includes an output reading unit, a recording unit, a communication unit, and the like of the sensor unit 2.
[0012]
FIG. 2 is a wiring diagram for explaining the operation during communication according to the present invention. The impact recorder 1 is connected to a personal computer 6 via an interface 5 and performs communication for reading the records stored in the impact recorder 1. The impact recorder 1 and the interface 5 are connected by a connector. At this time, the interface 5 performs level conversion and the like, and the communication formats of the impact recorder 1 and the personal computer 6 are matched. The interface 5 is supplied with a power supply 7.
[0013]
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram for performing a power source switching operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The connector 9 is a connector for connecting to the interface 5.
The power supply to the impact recorder main body is connected to the battery 8 via the diode D1. Alternatively, it is connected to the connector 9 (power source connected to the interface) via the diode D2. The source of the FET 10 is connected to the ground, the gate is connected to the connector 9 and the ground via the resistors R1 and R2, and the drain is connected to the power supply to the impact recorder main body via the resistor R3. If nothing is connected to the connector 9, power is supplied from the battery 8 via the diode D1. If a voltage higher than the battery voltage is supplied to the connector 9 (when the impact recorder is connected to the interface), a reverse voltage is applied to the diode D1, that is, no power is supplied from the battery 8, and the connector 9 passes through the diode D2. Power is supplied. By using a diode as described above, an impact recorder that is powered from the outside when connected to a personal computer or the like via an interface and powered from a battery when not connected is easily configured. it can.
[0014]
Further, the FET 10 is turned off by the FET 10 when the battery 8 supplies power, and the power supply voltage of the impact recorder main body, that is, “H” appears at the drain of the FET 10. When power is supplied from the connector 9, the FET 10 is turned on, and a ground voltage, that is, “L” appears at the drain of the FET 10. This makes it easy to determine from which power supply is being supplied.
[0015]
FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram for performing a power source switching operation according to the second embodiment of the present invention. A power source for the impact recorder main body is connected to the battery 8 via the FET 11. The gate of the FET 11 is connected to the ground and the connector 9 through a resistor R4. If nothing is connected to the connector 9, the FET 11 is turned on, and power is supplied from the battery 8 via the FET 11. If a voltage equal to or higher than the voltage of the battery 8 is supplied to the connector 9, the gate voltage of the FET 11 rises and the FET 11 turns off. Therefore, power is not supplied from the battery 8 but supplied from the connector 9. Thus, it is possible to easily configure an impact recorder that is supplied with power from the outside when connected to a personal computer or the like via an interface and supplied with power from a battery when not connected. Further, by using the FET, a circuit with low current consumption and stable operation can be configured.
[0016]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the whole of the present invention. A signal indicating whether the power supply from the power supply switching unit 12 is from the battery 8 or the connector 9 (external power supply) is connected to the CPU 13. The CPU 13 switches the state of the communication operation by turning on or off the operation of the communication unit 14 according to a signal from the power supply switching unit 12. That is, when the battery 8 is operating, the operation of the communication unit 14 is turned off, and even if there is an external communication request, the CPU 13 does not detect the request and does not transition to the communicable state. When operating with an external power supply, the communication unit 14 is turned on. If there is a communication request from the outside, the CPU 13 senses the request and transitions to a communicable state.
Even if the connection is interrupted during communication, since the CPU 13 can sense that the power supply has been switched to the battery, the CPU 13 can immediately interrupt the communication and transition to a communication impossible state.
Further, even if the remaining amount of the battery 8 is very small, it can be operated and communicated by supplying power from the outside. Thereby, it is possible to see the output from the voltage detector 15 by connecting the voltage detector 15 directly to the battery 8 and to know the remaining amount of the battery 8 accurately.
[0017]
Thereby, the power consumption of the battery or the like due to communication can be eliminated, and the life of the battery or the like can be extended. In addition, it is possible to easily configure an impact recorder that realizes highly reliable communication by eliminating the inability to communicate due to a decrease in the remaining amount of a battery or the like. Further, by turning off the operation of the communication unit 14, the power consumption when the battery 8 supplies power can be reduced.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, since there is no battery power consumption due to communication, a product having a long life such as a battery can be easily realized and provided.
[0019]
Communication with high reliability can be realized, and the measured and recorded acceleration can be read reliably.
[0020]
Moreover, since it can operate | move without depending on the state of an internal battery etc., the state inside a product can be easily implement | achieved, communicating.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the present invention. FIG. 2 is a wiring diagram for explaining operation during communication according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram for performing power source switching operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a circuit diagram for performing a power source switching operation according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the whole of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Impact recorder 2 Sensor part 3 Processing circuit part 4 Power supply part 5 Interface 6 Personal computer 7 Power supply 8 Battery 9 Connector 10 FET
11 FET
12 Power supply switching unit 13 CPU
14 Communication unit 15 Voltage detector D1 Diode D2 Diode R1 Resistor R2 Resistor R3 Resistor R4 Resistor

Claims (2)

In an impact recorder that measures and records the acceleration received by various operations, when the impact recorder is connected to a personal computer or the like, the impact recorder is driven by receiving power from the outside and connected to the personal computer or the like. When it is not connected, the power source is switched so as to be driven by a battery or the like built in the impact recorder, and when the impact recorder is connected to a personal computer or the like, it is incorporated in the impact recorder. The CPU turns on the operation of the communication unit , senses a communication request from the outside, transitions to a communicable state, and when not connected to a personal computer or the like, the CPU incorporated in the impact recorder turning off the operation of the communication unit without transition to the communication state without detecting a communication request from the outside, communicating with the personal computer or the like When the connection with the personal computer or the like is disconnected transitions to incommunicable state without detecting a communication request from the outside to clear the operation of the communication unit by the CPU built in the impact recorder Shock recorder characterized by that.   The switching of the power source and the transition to the communicable / impossible state are automatically performed inside the impact recorder by connecting and disconnecting the impact recorder to a personal computer or the like. The impact recorder according to 1.

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