JP4500864B2 - Information equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information device such as a video camera that can use a fuel cell.

In an information device such as a video camera, a rechargeable secondary battery can be used as a power source. As these rechargeable secondary batteries, lithium ion secondary batteries, nickel metal hydride secondary batteries, nickel cadmium secondary batteries, lead storage batteries, and the like are used.
JP 09-213359 A

  On the other hand, in recent years, a fuel cell has been proposed as a power source for information equipment such as a video camera. A fuel cell is one that generates electricity by generating electricity using hydrogen as a fuel. As a fuel cell fuel, in addition to a method using pure hydrogen as a direct fuel, gasoline, LP gas, natural gas, methanol, etc., which are made from crude oil, are used as fuel to reform these fuels to produce reformed hydrogen. Various types of power generation from the reformed hydrogen have been proposed.

  However, when a fuel cell is used as a power source for an information device such as a video camera, how to detect the timing of refueling and the replacement timing of the fuel cartridge is an issue. Furthermore, it has been a problem how to make the user know the detection result.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information device capable of notifying a user of fuel replenishment timing, fuel cartridge replacement timing, and the like.

  An information device according to the present invention is an information device that operates according to the output of a secondary battery, and is charged by means for detecting a remaining amount of fuel supplied to the fuel cell and electricity generated by the fuel cell. Means for detecting the remaining amount of the secondary battery; and when the secondary battery is charged by electricity generated by the fuel cell, the remaining amount of fuel supplied to the fuel cell; and the secondary battery And a display means for displaying the remaining amount of the battery and displaying that the secondary battery is being charged.

  According to the present invention, when the secondary battery is charged by electricity generated by the fuel cell, not only the secondary battery is being charged but also the fuel supplied to the fuel cell. And the remaining amount of the secondary battery can be displayed. Accordingly, it is possible to notify the user of the fuel replenishment timing, the fuel cartridge replacement timing, and the like.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
<Hardware configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the information device according to the first embodiment. The information device according to the first embodiment may be a video camera using a fuel cell as a power source or an image processing apparatus other than that.

  In FIG. 1, 101 is a video camera block, 102 is a recording / reproducing block, and 103 is a randomly accessible recording medium (optical disk, magneto-optical disk, hard disk, solid-state memory, nonvolatile memory, etc.). The operation is controlled by the CPU 104 connected via the CPU bus 108. A still image or a moving image captured by the camera block 101 is compressed and encoded by the recording / reproducing block 102 and recorded on the recording medium 103.

  The switch 106 is an external operation switch, and notifies the CPU 104 of the mode and state (for example, the recording mode and the playback mode) of the device instructed by the user, and the CPU 104 controls each unit of the device accordingly. The EEPROM 105 is a non-volatile memory for storing device information in advance, and the display 107 is a monitor display typified by a liquid crystal display or a CRT display. The display 107 displays a moving image or still image output from the video camera block 101 or a moving image or still image recorded on the recording medium 103 and reproduced by the recording / reproducing block 102. Then, various information on the device instructed by the CPU 104 is displayed as characters and icons on the video as an on-screen display, for example, as shown in FIGS.

  The fuel cartridge 110 is a fuel container that stores fuel such as methanol, gasoline, LP gas, and natural gas. The fuel 122 is sent to the reformer 111 and reformed into reformed hydrogen by the reformer 111. Is done. At this time, the reformer 111 is controlled via the reformer control circuit 114 according to an instruction from the CPU 104. The reformed hydrogen 123 reformed by the reformer 111 is sent to the fuel cell 112, and is combined with oxygen in the atmosphere (not shown) to generate power, and simultaneously discharges water (not shown).

  The electricity generated by the fuel cell 112 is supplied to the secondary battery 113 as a current 124 and charged. At this time, the secondary battery 113 is charged by being controlled by the charge control circuit 115 under the instruction of the CPU 104. Each part of the video camera (camera block 101, recording / reproducing block 102, CPU 104, etc.) operates by receiving a current 121 from the secondary battery 113.

  The fuel remaining amount detector 116 detects the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel cartridge 110. The fuel flow rate detector 117 detects the supply flow rate of the fuel 122 supplied from the fuel cartridge 110 to the reformer 111. The reformed hydrogen flow rate detector 118 detects the supply flow rate of the reformed hydrogen 123 that is reformed by the reformer 111 and supplied to the fuel cell 112. The charging current detector 119 detects the charging current amount 124 charged from the fuel cell 112 to the secondary battery 113, and the secondary battery remaining amount detector 120 detects the remaining amount (charging amount) of the secondary battery 113. To do.

  Further, the CPU 104 periodically supplies the remaining fuel amount detector 116, the fuel flow rate detector 117, the reformed hydrogen flow rate detector 118, the charging current detector 119, and the secondary battery remaining amount detector 120 via the CPU bus 108. Access. As a result, each information of the power supply system is obtained, and based on these information, the operable time is detected for each device mode (recording mode / playback mode, etc.), or the power is sequentially supplied to the user via the display 107. Inform the status information.

<Operation time detection algorithm>
Next, an algorithm in which the CPU 104 detects the operable time of the video camera will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S201, the CPU 104 detects the fuel flow rate with the fuel flow rate detector 117, and in step S202, the operation status of the reformer 111 is checked. The operation status described here represents the current operating temperature of the reformer 111 and the operation mode of the reformer 111 (for example, during start-up, steady operation, end operation, etc.).

  Based on the flow rate of the fuel and the operation status of the reformer 111, in step S203, the reformed hydrogen generation efficiency V220 in the current status is read from the EEPROM 105. The EEPROM 105 is memorized in advance by measuring the generation efficiency of reformed hydrogen in accordance with the flow rate of fuel and the operating condition of the reformer 111.

  Next, in step S209, the remaining amount of the fuel cartridge 110 is detected by the remaining amount detector 116, and in step S208, the generation efficiency V220 is multiplied, thereby obtaining a possible reformed hydrogen generation amount V221. Further, in step S211, the amount of reformed hydrogen that has been converted and has not yet generated power (the amount of reformed hydrogen accumulated between the reformer 111 and the fuel cell 112) is detected, and the process proceeds to step S210. The total amount V223 of reformed hydrogen that can be generated is obtained.

  On the other hand, in step S204, the power generation efficiency V222 is examined by detecting the operating status (for example, operating temperature, operating load status, etc.) of the fuel cell 112 and reading the data from the EEPROM 105 in which these correlation data are stored in advance. . In step S212, the total amount of reformed hydrogen V223 obtained in step S210 is multiplied by the power generation efficiency to obtain the amount of power V224 that can be generated by the fuel cell 112.

  Subsequently, in step S213, the remaining amount is detected by the remaining amount detector 120 of the secondary battery 113, and the amount of electric power V224 that can be generated in the fuel cell 112 is added in step S214, whereby the device can be used. The total electric energy V225 is obtained.

  In step S206, the operation mode (for example, recording mode or reproduction mode) of the device is read from the EEPROM 105 in which the relationship between the operation mode of the device and current consumption is stored in advance in step S207. Thereby, the current consumption current V226 of the device is checked. In step S214, the operable time (step S216) is obtained by dividing the total electric energy V225 that can be used by the device by the consumption current V226.

<Display of operating time>
Next, how to display the operable time determined by the above-described algorithm and notify the user will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIGS. 3A to 3F are screen views showing the remaining amount display of the first embodiment, and show an example of displaying information by characters.

  Reference numeral 301 in the figure denotes an outer frame of the screen of the display unit 107. In this screen, a recorded / reproduced image of a camera or a recording medium is displayed in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 104, and at the same time, the user is displayed on-screen. This is an example of informing information.

  FIG. 3A shows an example in which only the fuel remaining amount of the fuel cartridge 110 detected by the fuel remaining amount detector 116 is displayed in the display frame 302 as character information. FIG. 3B shows an example in which only the remaining amount of the secondary battery 113 detected by the secondary battery remaining amount detector 120 is displayed on the display frame 303 as character information. FIG. 3C shows an example in which only the operable time obtained by the above algorithm is displayed in the display frame 304 as character information.

  FIG. 3D shows a display frame 305 that displays the remaining amount of fuel, the remaining amount of secondary battery, and the operable time, which are separately displayed in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C. Shows an example of displaying character information. Note that the display formats shown in FIGS. 3A to 3D can be switched by operating the switch 106, and the user's favorite display format can be freely selected.

  Next, FIGS. 3E and 3F show examples expressed using icons. That is, the remaining amount of fuel is represented by an icon 311 and the remaining amount of secondary battery is represented by an icon 313. The operable time is expressed in a character form such as an icon 314.

  3E and 3F, an icon 312 indicating the operating state of the fuel cell 112 is also newly displayed. The icon 312 in FIG. 3E indicates that the fuel cell 112 and the reformer 111 are in operation and the secondary battery 113 is being charged. The icon 312 in FIG. 3F indicates that the fuel cell 112 and the reformer 111 are stopped because the secondary battery 113 is fully charged.

<Display warning>
Next, display examples for issuing various warnings to the user will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same element as FIG. 3 (A)-(F), and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  4A and 4B are screen diagrams showing a warning display according to the first embodiment, which is an example of a warning notifying the user that the fuel cartridge 110 is empty.

  In FIG. 4A, if the remaining amount of the cartridge falls below, for example, 10%, even if the display at that time is not the cartridge remaining amount display (FIGS. 3B and 3C), An example is shown as follows. In other words, an example is shown in which the display is forcibly switched to the cartridge remaining amount display (302), and in addition the display "402 Replace cartridge" is displayed.

  FIG. 4B shows an example in which the fuel cartridge 110 is empty, the icon 311 of the fuel cartridge 110 is blinked, and “Replace cartridge” is displayed (415). Yes.

  4C and 4D show examples of warnings that inform the user that the fuel cartridge 110 will soon be empty. FIGS. 4C and 4D are both icon displays, and warning indications 425 and 435 indicating “please prepare the cartridge” are displayed for a predetermined time while the fuel cartridge icon 311 blinks and warns. To do.

  Note that the timing for issuing this warning is also determined depending on the remaining amount of the secondary battery 113. Since the remaining amount indicated by the secondary battery remaining amount display 313 in FIG. 4C is greater than the remaining amount indicated by the secondary battery remaining amount display 313 in FIG. This is an example in which a warning is issued even though the remaining amount of the cartridge 110 is smaller in FIG. 4C than in FIG. 4D. Here, the warning is issued depending on the remaining amount of the secondary battery 113. However, the warning is not dependent only on the secondary battery 113, but depending on the operable time of the device and the remaining amount of the cartridge. It doesn't matter.

  4E and 4F, when the device is not used for a long period of time and the remaining amount of the secondary battery 113 does not remain even though the remaining amount of the fuel cartridge 110 is still present. An example of a warning is shown. That is, an example of a warning when the reformer 111 is still sufficiently activated and the reformed hydrogen cannot be generated sufficiently and the charge cannot catch up is shown.

  In the example of FIG. 4E, since the device cannot be operated because charging is not in time, the operable time display 314 is a cancel display as shown in FIG. Then, an icon 312 indicating the operating state of the fuel cell 112 blinks, and a warning display 445 “charging is not in time” is displayed.

  Further, in the example of FIG. 4F, similarly, since the charging is not in time, the device cannot be operated sufficiently. However, for example, there is power that can be operated only in the playback mode with low power consumption, so the operation possible time The display 314 becomes an effective display as shown in FIG. This is an example in which the warning display 455 is issued as “Only the playback mode can be operated”.

  Note that the on-screen display words, icon patterns, and warning words expressed here are not limited to this, and any expression can be used as long as the same meaning can be conveyed to the user. I do not care.

  According to the present embodiment, in an information device such as an image recording / reproducing apparatus that uses the fuel cell 112 as a power source, the power generation efficiency corresponding to the operation state of the fuel cell 112 is stored in advance. And based on this, the fuel cartridge 110 can be replaced | exchanged at an exact timing by calculating the time which an apparatus can operate | move.

  Further, the remaining amount display of the fuel cartridge 110, the remaining amount display of the secondary battery 113, and the operable time of the device can be selectively displayed or simultaneously displayed. Thereby, there exists a merit which can select the display which a user desires in the limited display space, and a usability | use_condition can be improved.

  Further, the remaining amount display of the fuel cartridge 110, the remaining amount display of the secondary battery 113, the operable time of the device, and the charging operation from the fuel cell 112 to the secondary battery 113 are all or partly indicated by icons. indicate. Thereby, it is possible to make the user accurately know the usage status and the operating status in a limited display space.

  As the fuel is decreased, warnings for cartridge replacement are displayed step by step, and are displayed with letters or icons in consideration of the remaining capacity of the secondary battery 113 and the operable time of the device. Refueling and cartridge replacement are possible.

  Furthermore, a warning is issued when the amount of charge of the secondary battery 113 is small even when the fuel cell 112 or the reformer 111 is being activated and the secondary battery 113 is not yet fully charged. Accordingly, it is possible to notify the user of the situation, prohibit the operation of the device, or limit the operation of the device.

  In the present embodiment, the embodiment has been described with the type in which the fuel cartridge 110 is replaced. However, a type in which fuel is directly supplied to the fuel tank may be used, and an on-screen word or design such as a warning may be used accordingly. You can change it.

[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment, a case where a fuel cell of a type using pure hydrogen as a direct fuel is used as a power source will be described.

<Hardware configuration>
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the information device according to the second embodiment. The information device according to the second embodiment may be a video camera using a fuel cell as a power source or an image processing apparatus other than that. In addition, about the block which has the same function as FIG. 1 of said 1st embodiment, it represents with the same code | symbol and abbreviate | omits description.

  The hydrogen fuel is stored in the hydrogen storage 510, and pure hydrogen (hydrogen fuel) 523 is supplied to the fuel cell 112 to generate power. The remaining amount of pure hydrogen in the hydrogen storage 510 is detected by a remaining hydrogen detector 516, and the amount of hydrogen supplied (flow rate) from the hydrogen storage 510 to the fuel cell 112 is detected by a pure hydrogen flow detector 518. Are transmitted to the CPU 104 via the CPU bus 108. Further, the output of the secondary battery 113 is supplied to each part of the device and the device operates. The current supplied to each part of the device is detected by the current consumption detection circuit 519 and similarly transmitted to the CPU 104.

<Operation time detection algorithm>
Next, the calculation algorithm (first example) of the operable time according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S601, the CPU 104 detects the operating status of the fuel cell (for example, the operating load status such as the operating temperature and the operating mode). In subsequent step S602, the power generation efficiency is examined by reading the data from the EEPROM 105 in which the data of these correlations are stored in advance.

  Then, by multiplying the total remaining amount of hydrogen detected by the remaining amount detector 516 in step S603 by the power generation efficiency in step S604, a power amount V630 that can be generated by the fuel cell is obtained. In step S605, the remaining amount detector 120 of the secondary battery 113 detects the remaining amount, and in step S606, the total amount of power that can be used by the device is added to the amount of power V630 that can be generated by the fuel cell. V631 is obtained.

  On the other hand, in step S607, the current state of the device is read from the device operation mode (for example, the recording mode or the playback mode) by reading from the EEPROM 105 in which the relationship between the device operation mode and the current consumption is previously stored in step S608. Check the current consumption. In step S609, the operable time is obtained by dividing the total electric energy V631 that can be used by the device by the current consumption current (step S610).

  FIG. 6B illustrates a second example relating to the algorithm for calculating the operable time according to the present embodiment.

  In this example, the power consumption of the device is not estimated from the data of the EEPROM 105, but the operable time is obtained based on the result measured in the current consumption detection circuit 519 in step S620.

  FIG. 6C illustrates a third example relating to the algorithm for calculating the operable time according to the present embodiment.

  In this example, as a method of obtaining the operable time, the following method is used instead of the method of converting the power generation efficiency data of the EEPROM 105 into the amount of electric power of the device. That is, in this example, the remaining amount of hydrogen stored detected by the remaining hydrogen detector 516 is divided by the hydrogen flow detected by the pure hydrogen flow detector 518, and the remaining amount of the secondary battery 113 is divided by the consumed current amount. This is an algorithm of a method for obtaining the operable time by adding the values obtained. The remaining amount of the secondary battery 113 is detected by the secondary battery remaining amount detector 120, and the consumption current amount is detected by the consumption current detection circuit 519.

<Display of operating time>
Next, FIGS. 7A to 7F are screen views showing the remaining amount display and the like of the second embodiment on how to display the operable time determined by the algorithm described above and notify the user. Will be described with reference to FIG.

  While the display example shown in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment displays the remaining amount of cartridge fuel, FIGS. 7A to 7F are replaced to display the remaining amount of hydrogen in the hydrogen reservoir 510. (702, 703, 705, 711). The expression on the display also changes from “remaining cartridge amount” to “remaining hydrogen amount” (702, 703, 705).

<Display warning>
Next, display examples for issuing various warnings to the user will be described with reference to FIGS. 8A to 8F which are screen diagrams showing warning displays of the second embodiment.

  The display examples shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D are obtained by changing the wording of the warning in FIGS. 4A to 4D so that hydrogen is directly supplied to the cartridge. Therefore, the warning indications 402 and 415 for “Replace cartridge” are replaced with warning indications 802 and 815 for “Replenish hydrogen”. The warning indications 425 and 435 of “Please prepare the cartridge” are replaced with the warning indications 825 and 835 of “Need to supply hydrogen soon”.

  However, the on-screen display words, icon patterns, and warning words expressed here are not limited to this, and any expression can be used as long as the same meaning can be conveyed to the user. I do not care.

  Further, in this embodiment, since pure hydrogen is stored in the hydrogen storage 510 and used as a fuel, it is an image of replenishing the tank with hydrogen from the outside. However, a hydrogen cartridge may be replaced or a liquid may be used. A type that replenishes hydrogen may be used.

  According to the present embodiment, in an information device such as an image recording / reproducing apparatus that uses the fuel cell 112 as a power source, the power generation efficiency corresponding to the operation state of the fuel cell 112 is stored in advance. And based on this, the time which can operate | move an apparatus is calculated, and it can refuel with an exact timing.

  Furthermore, the remaining amount display of the hydrogen storage 510, the remaining amount display of the secondary battery 113, and the operable time of the device can be selectively displayed or simultaneously displayed. Thereby, there is a merit that the display desired by the user can be selected in a limited display space, and the usability can be enhanced.

  In addition, all or part of the remaining amount display of the hydrogen storage 510, the remaining amount display of the secondary battery 113, the operable time of the device, and the charging operation from the fuel cell 112 to the secondary battery 113 are displayed as icons. To display. This makes it possible for the user to accurately understand the usage status and the operating status in a limited display space.

  As the fuel decreases, warnings for fuel replenishment are displayed step by step, taking into account the remaining capacity of the secondary battery 113 and the operable time of the device, and displayed with letters or icons at an appropriate timing. Refueling and cartridge replacement are possible.

  Furthermore, when the fuel cell 112 or the reformer 111 is being activated and the secondary battery 113 is still not fully charged, but the charge amount of the secondary battery 113 is low, a warning is given to the user. Inform the situation. Then, the operation of the device can be prohibited, or the operation of the device can be limited.

  The above-described control method can be realized by storing and operating the program according to the flowchart of FIG. 2 or FIG. 6 described above in, for example, the EEPROM 105.

    In addition, the objective of this invention is achieved by performing the following processes. That is, a storage medium that records a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus is stored in the storage medium. This is the process of reading the code.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

  Moreover, the following can be used as a storage medium for supplying the program code. For example, floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM or the like. Alternatively, the program code may be downloaded via a network.

  Further, the present invention includes a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by executing the program code read by the computer. In addition, an OS (operating system) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on an instruction of the program code, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing. Is also included.

  Furthermore, a case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by the following processing is also included in the present invention. That is, the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Thereafter, based on the instruction of the program code, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing.

  Thus, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications (including organic combinations of the embodiments) are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are excluded from the scope of the present invention. Not what you want.

It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the information equipment which concerns on 1st embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the detection algorithm of the operation possible time which concerns on 1st embodiment. It is a screen figure showing the residual amount display of 1st embodiment. It is a screen figure showing the warning display of 1st embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the information equipment which concerns on 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detection algorithm of the operation possible time which concerns on 2nd embodiment. It is a screen figure showing the residual amount display etc. of 2nd embodiment. It is a screen figure showing the warning display of 2nd embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

101 video camera block 102 recording / reproducing block 103 recording medium 104 CPU
107 Indicator 110 Fuel cartridge 111 Reformer 112 Fuel cell 113 Secondary battery 114 Reformer control circuit 115 Charge control circuit 116 Fuel remaining amount detector 118 Reformed hydrogen flow rate detector 119 Charging current detector 120 Remaining secondary battery Quantity detector 510 Hydrogen storage 516 Hydrogen remaining amount detector 519 Current consumption detection circuit

Claims (6)

An information device that operates by the output of a secondary battery,
Means for detecting the remaining amount of fuel supplied to the fuel cell;
Means for detecting the remaining amount of the secondary battery charged by electricity generated by the fuel cell;
When the secondary battery is charged by electricity generated by the fuel cell, the remaining amount of fuel supplied to the fuel cell and the remaining amount of the secondary battery are displayed, and the secondary battery An information device comprising display means for displaying that the battery is being charged.   2. The information device according to claim 1, wherein the display means is also a display means for displaying a warning display for warning the replacement of the storage means for storing the fuel supplied to the fuel cell.   The information device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is also a display unit that displays a warning display for warning the replenishment of fuel supplied to the fuel cell. It further has a photographing means for photographing an image,
The information apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is also a display unit that displays an image captured by the imaging unit.   The information device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is also a display unit that displays an image reproduced from a recording medium.   The information device according to claim 1, wherein the information device is a video camera.

Images