JP7619770B2 - Battery holders, electronic devices and electronic locks - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a battery holder, an electronic device, and an electronic lock.

When using batteries in an electronic lock or other device equipped with an electronic device, a technique is known in which multiple batteries are mounted in a battery holder and the battery holder is attached to the electronic device in order to facilitate the attachment and detachment of the batteries. In this case, a battery holder is known that is formed with an elastically deformable member to absorb shocks applied to the battery holder or to facilitate the attachment and detachment of the battery holder.

JP 2018-195484 A JP 2015-76372 A JP 2015-228385 A

However, forming an elastically deformable member in the battery holder may complicate the structure of the battery holder, which may increase manufacturing and processing costs.

In one aspect, the objective is to provide a battery holder, electronic device, and electronic lock that are simply configured and can be easily attached and detached.

In one embodiment, a battery holder accommodates a battery having electrodes on its top and bottom and is attached to an electronic device. The battery holder includes an engagement portion that is directly or indirectly engaged with a portion of the electronic device, and a support portion that supports a portion of the top or bottom of the battery. At least one of the electrodes is biased in a direction in which the battery holder is removed from the electronic device by a terminal provided on the electronic device. The support portion holds the portion of the bottom of the battery other than the electrode.

According to one aspect, it is possible to provide a battery holder, electronic device, and electronic lock that are simply configured and can be easily attached and detached.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an electronic lock to which a battery holder according to a first embodiment is attached. FIG. 2 is a side view of the electronic lock according to the first embodiment with the bottom cover removed. FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the cover panel in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a side view of the electronic lock according to the first embodiment with the cover panel removed. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the engagement mechanism in the first embodiment. FIG. 6A is a perspective view of the battery holder in the first embodiment. FIG. 6B is a perspective view of the battery holder in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the battery holder with the battery removed in the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a side view of the electronic device with the battery holder removed in the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a bottom plate of the electronic device according to the first embodiment.

The battery holder, electronic device, and electronic lock disclosed in this application are described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the dimensional relationships and ratios of each element in the drawings may differ from reality. The drawings may also include parts with different dimensional relationships and ratios. To make the description easier to understand, each drawing may illustrate a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system with the positive Y-axis direction being the direction in which the battery holder is attached to the electronic lock described later.

[First embodiment]
Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of an electronic lock to which a battery holder according to the first embodiment is attached, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the electronic lock according to the first embodiment with a bottom cover 4 removed. The battery holder 40 according to the embodiment is used by being attached to an electronic lock 1 as shown in Fig. 1, for example.

The electronic lock 1 is retrofitted to the thumb turn (not shown) of an existing door, and receives operation instructions wirelessly or via wired connection from a controller (not shown) such as a smartphone or control panel, and performs the corresponding operation (locking, unlocking, etc.). Bluetooth (registered trademark), WiFi, etc. are used as the wireless method.

In FIG. 1, the electronic lock 1 has a generally rectangular appearance with about half of the back surface cut away, and is covered by a top cover 2 and a bottom cover 4. The cut-away portion of the back surface of the top cover 2 is provided with a thumb turn connector 9 that engages with a thumb turn of an existing door (not shown). On the opposite side of the top cover 2 from the thumb turn connector 9, a knob 3 that can be manually operated by a user is provided. The knob 3 has a concave surface 3a that is perpendicular to the rotation axis of the knob 3, and a roughly crescent-shaped knob portion 3b provided in the center of this concave surface 3a. Note that the shape of the knob 3 is not limited to that shown in the figure. The electronic device 6 provided in the electronic lock 1 is stored inside the bottom cover 4 of the electronic lock 1 shown in FIG. 1.

Figure 2 shows the electronic lock 1 with the bottom cover 4 removed, viewed from the negative Y-axis direction. As shown in Figure 2, the battery holder 40 is attached to the electronic device 6 mounted on the electronic lock 1. The negative Y-axis side of the battery holder 40 is covered by a cover panel 41 having an opening 41a. The battery holder 40 has an attachment/detachment button 42. The attachment/detachment button 42 protrudes further in the negative Y-axis direction than the cover panel 41 through the opening 41a of the cover panel 41.

Figure 3 is a bottom view of the cover panel in the first embodiment, and Figure 4 is a side view of the electronic lock in the first embodiment with the cover panel removed. Figure 3 shows the cover panel 41 removed from the battery holder 40 as viewed from the positive direction of the Y axis.

As shown in FIG. 3, two bosses 43a and 43b are provided on the bottom surface of the cover panel 41. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, the battery holder 40 has a fixing plate 44 equipped with an attachment/detachment button 42, engagement claws 46a and 46b, and two long holes 47a and 47b. The cover panel 41 is fixed to the battery holder 40 by inserting the two bosses 43a and 43b into the two long holes 47a and 47b. The engagement claws 46a and 46b are an example of an engagement portion.

As shown in FIG. 4, the electronic device 6 includes a locking portion 66a. The electronic device 6 further includes a locking portion 66b. In this embodiment, the engagement claw 46a of the battery holder 40 engages with the locking portion 66a of the electronic device 6, and the engagement claw 46b engages with the locking portion 66b. This fixes the battery holder 40 to the electronic device 6. In the following, the combination of the engagement claws 46a and 46b and the locking portions 66a and 66b may be referred to as the "engagement mechanism."

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the engagement mechanism in the first embodiment. Also, Figures 6A and 6B are perspective views of the battery holder in the first embodiment. Figure 5 shows the part indicated by the symbol L in Figure 4 as viewed from diagonally above (negative X-axis and negative Y-axis). Figure 6A shows the battery holder 40 removed from the electronic device 6 as viewed from the same perspective as Figure 5 (negative X-axis and negative Y-axis), and Figure 6B shows the battery holder 40 removed from the electronic device 6 as viewed from a different perspective than Figures 5 and 6A (negative X-axis and positive Y-axis).

The detachable button 42 shown in FIG. 6A is biased in the negative direction of the Z axis by a spring 45, and when a force greater than the biasing force of this spring 45 is applied in the direction of the arrow (positive direction of the Z axis), the detachable button 42 moves in the positive direction of the Z axis. As a result, the fixed plate 44 to which the detachable button 42 is fixed, and the engagement claws 46a and 46b provided on the fixed plate 44 also move in the direction of the arrow. As a result, the engagement between the engagement claw 46a and the locking portion 66a and the engagement between the engagement claw 46b and the locking portion 66b are released, and the battery holder 40 is no longer fixed to the electronic lock 1. In this case, the battery holder 40 detaches from the electronic lock 1, as described below.

As shown in FIG. 5, the bottom surface of the engagement claw 46a engages with the upper surface of the locking portion 66a. Similarly, the bottom surface of the engagement claw 46b shown in FIG. 4 engages with the upper surface of the locking portion 66b. As shown in FIG. 4, the fixed plate 44 is biased downward (negative Z-axis direction) by the spring 45. As a result, even if an impact is applied to the electronic lock 1, the engagement between the engagement claws 46a and 46b and the locking portions 66a and 66b is maintained unless a force greater than the biasing force of the spring 45 is applied to the engagement mechanism.

As shown in Figures 6A and 6B, the battery holder 40 in this embodiment is composed of, for example, a cover panel 41, a fixing plate 44, and a battery holding portion 70. The battery holding portion 70 has, for example, a bottom portion 71 and a top surface 72. The battery holding portion 70 is formed of an insulating material such as resin. In this embodiment, plate-shaped terminals 78a and 78c are disposed on the bottom portion 71. The bottom portion 71 is an example of a support portion.

As shown in Figures 6A and 6B, in this embodiment, the battery holding portion 70 of the battery holder 40 is equipped with, for example, four batteries 8a to 8d. In the following description, when there is no need to distinguish between the batteries 8a to 8d, they may simply be referred to as batteries 8.

In this embodiment, the battery 8 is a cylindrical battery with a protruding electrode (positive electrode) at the top and a flat electrode (negative electrode) at the bottom, like a size AA battery. In the following, the protruding electrode may be referred to as a convex electrode 88, and the flat electrode may be referred to as a planar electrode 89. As shown in FIG. 6B, the batteries 8a and 8b are mounted from the upper side (positive side of the Z axis) of the battery holder 40, and the batteries 8c and 8d are mounted from the lower side (negative side of the Z axis) of the battery holder 40. The batteries 8a and 8c are mounted on the battery holder 40 so that the convex electrodes 88a and 88c are in contact with the plate terminals 78a and 78c arranged on the bottom 71, respectively. In FIG. 6B, the convex electrodes 88a and 88c are not shown because they are located behind the plate terminals 78a and 78c, respectively. In addition, the batteries 8b and 8d are mounted in the battery holder 40 so that the portions other than the bottom planar electrodes 89b and 89d are supported by the bottom 71, as described later.

Figure 7 is an oblique view of the battery holder with the battery removed in the first embodiment. Figure 7 shows the battery holder 40 removed from the electronic lock 1 as viewed from the same perspective as Figure 6B (negative direction of the X-axis and positive direction of the Y-axis). As shown in Figure 7, the top surface 72 of the battery holding section 70 in this embodiment has battery locking claws 73a to 73d. In the following, when there is no need to distinguish between the battery locking claws 73a to 73d, they may be simply referred to as battery locking claws 73.

As shown in FIG. 7, the top surface 72 of the battery holding portion 70 is provided at a position facing the bottom portion 71 in the direction in which the battery holder 40 is attached (Y-axis direction). The top surface 72 has convex terminals 49a and 49c and flat terminals 48b and 48d. The convex terminals 49a and 49c and the flat terminals 48b and 48d are formed of an elastic conductor such as a copper wire.

The convex terminal 49a is electrically connected to the flat electrode 89a of the battery 8a and biases the battery 8a toward the bottom 71 (positive Y-axis direction). Similarly, the convex terminal 49c is electrically connected to the flat electrode 89c of the battery 8c and biases the battery 8c toward the bottom 71 (positive Y-axis direction). The flat terminal 48b is electrically connected to the convex electrode 88b of the battery 8b, and the flat terminal 48d is electrically connected to the convex electrode 88d of the battery 8d. The battery locking claws 73a and 73b lock the batteries 8a and 8b from above (positive Z-axis direction), and the battery locking claws 73c and 73d lock the batteries 8c and 8d from below (negative Z-axis direction). That is, battery 8a is locked by battery locking claw 73a, and is held in place by the biasing force of convex terminal 49a, preventing it from falling out of battery holding portion 70. Similarly, battery 8c is locked by battery locking claw 73c, and is held in place by the biasing force of convex terminal 49c, preventing it from falling out of battery holding portion 70. Batteries 8b and 8d are held in place by battery locking claws 73b and 73d, and flat terminals 48b and 48d, respectively, preventing them from falling out of battery holding portion 70.

As shown in Figures 6B and 7, in this embodiment, the bottom 71 of the battery holding portion 70 of the battery holder 40 is formed in a portion excluding the portion facing the flat electrodes 89b, 89d of the batteries 8b and 8d. In other words, the bottom 71 of the battery holding portion 70 holds only the portion of the bottom of the battery 8b excluding the flat electrode 89b. Similarly, the bottom 71 of the battery holding portion 70 holds only the portion of the bottom of the battery 8d excluding the flat electrode 89d.

In this embodiment, the convex electrodes 88a, 88c and the flat electrodes 89b, 89d of the batteries 8a to 8d are electrically connected to terminals provided on the electronic device 6. FIG. 8 is a side view of the electronic device with the battery holder removed in the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic device in the first embodiment. Also, FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the bottom plate of the electronic device in the first embodiment.

8, the bottom plate 61 of the electronic device 6 includes two protruding terminals 68a and 68c and two spiral terminals 69b and 69d. The spiral terminals 69b and 69d are formed of an elastic conductor such as a copper wire, for example, like the convex terminals 49a and 49c. The protruding terminals 68a and 68c are formed of an elastic conductor such as a copper plate. In the following, the protruding terminals 68a and 68c may be referred to as "protruding terminal 68" when they are not differentiated from each other, and the spiral terminals 69b and 69d may be referred to as "spiral terminal 69" when they are not differentiated from each other. The protruding terminal 68 is an example of a terminal formed in a protruding shape, and the spiral terminal 69 is an example of a terminal formed in a coil spring shape.

In this embodiment, the spiral terminals 69b and 69d are provided at positions facing the flat electrodes 89b and 89d of the batteries 8b and 8d, respectively, and the protruding terminals 68a and 68c are provided at positions facing the convex electrodes 88a and 88c of the batteries 8a and 8c via the plate terminals 78a and 78c provided at the bottom 71 of the battery holding portion 70. That is, in this embodiment, the spiral terminals 69b and 69d are electrically connected to the batteries 8b and 8d, respectively. Also, the protruding terminals 68a and 68c are electrically connected to the batteries 8a and 8c, respectively, via the plate terminals 78a and 78c provided at the bottom 71 of the battery holding portion 70.

The spiral terminals 69b and 69d provided on the electronic device 6 urge the batteries 8b and 8d in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 9 (negative Y-axis direction). Similarly, the protruding terminals 68a and 68c urge the batteries 8a and 8c in the negative Y-axis direction via the plate terminals 78a and 78c provided on the bottom 71 of the battery holding portion 70. That is, the battery holder 40 with the batteries 8a to 8d attached is urged by the spiral terminals 69 and the protruding terminals 68 in the direction of removal from the electronic device 6. In this case, when the battery holder 40 engaged with the electronic device 6 by the engagement mechanism having the engagement claws 46a and 46b and the locking portions 66a and 66b is released from the electronic device 6, it is pushed out in the negative Y-axis direction by the urging force of the spiral terminals 69 and the protruding terminals 68.

As described above, the battery holder 40 according to this embodiment houses a battery 8 having electrodes 88, 89 on the top and bottom, and is attached to the electronic device 6. The battery holder 40 includes engagement parts 46a, 46b that are directly or indirectly engaged with a part of the electronic device 6, and a support part 71 that supports a part of the top or bottom of the battery 8. At least one of the electrodes 88, 89 is biased in a direction in which the battery holder 40 is removed from the electronic device 6 by terminals 68, 69 provided on the electronic device 6. In this configuration, since there is no need to provide terminals or elastic members on the battery holder 40, a battery holder, electronic device, and electronic lock that are simple in structure and easy to attach and detach can be provided. In addition, regardless of the posture in which the battery holder 40 is attached to the electronic lock 1, etc., the battery holder 40 can be easily attached and detached, and the falling off of the battery 8 during attachment and detachment can be suppressed.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in this embodiment, the battery holder 40 can be attached to the electronic device 6 equipped with the electronic lock 1 from any direction. In this case, in this embodiment, the configuration in which the protruding terminal 68 and the spiral terminal 69 urge the battery holder 40 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 9 (negative Y-axis direction) has been described, but the urging direction may be any direction in which the battery holder 40 is removed from the electronic lock 1. For example, the protruding terminal 68 and the spiral terminal 69 may urge the battery holder 40 in a diagonally downward direction (negative Y-axis direction and negative Z-axis direction). In addition, the direction in which the battery holder 40 is attached to the electronic lock 1 is not limited to the positive Y-axis direction, but may be any other direction, such as a diagonally downward direction (positive Y-axis direction and negative Z-axis direction), a diagonally upward direction (positive Y-axis direction and positive Z-axis direction), or a positive Y-axis direction and a positive X-axis direction.

9 and other figures have been used to describe a configuration in which the bottom plate 61 is formed separately from the wall surface on the positive Y-axis side of the electronic device 6, but this is not limited thereto, and the protrusion terminal 68 and the spiral terminal 69 may be formed directly on the wall surface on the positive Y-axis side of the electronic device 6.

The engagement mechanism for engaging the battery holder 40 with the electronic device 6 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 5 and can be changed to any configuration. For example, the battery holder 40 and the electronic device 6 may be indirectly engaged with each other using a member different from the battery holder 40 and the electronic device 6. In addition, the configuration in which the attachment/detachment button 42 of the battery holder 40 is moved upward (positive direction of the Z axis) when the battery holder 40 is removed from the electronic device 6 has been described, but the embodiment is not limited to this. For example, any configuration can be adopted, such as a configuration in which the engagement between the battery holder 40 and the electronic device 6 is released by pushing the battery holder 40 into the bottom plate 61 side (positive direction of the Y axis) of the electronic device 6, or a configuration in which the engagement is released by twisting the battery holder 40 around the Y axis.

Although the battery holder 40 has been described as being capable of mounting four batteries 8a to 8d, this is not limited thereto, and the battery holder may be capable of mounting only one battery, or may be capable of mounting five or more batteries. Furthermore, the battery holder 40 in this embodiment can accommodate both series and parallel battery arrangements by changing the shape of each terminal arranged on the electronic device 6 and the battery holding section 70.

In addition, the cover panel 41 of the battery holder 40 and the surface of the top cover 2 on the negative Y-axis side (the top surface 72 side of the battery holder 40) may be flush when the battery holder 40 is attached, or one of them may be shaped to protrude.

The shape of the battery locking claws 73a to 73d is not limited to that shown in the figure, and may be, for example, a plate-like cover that can be opened and closed, or may be made of an elastically deformable material. Also, if the battery holding portion 70 alone can hold the battery 8, the battery holder 40 may be configured not to include the battery locking claws 73a to 73d.

In this embodiment, the spiral terminal 69 has a larger biasing force than the protruding terminal 68. In addition, the spiral terminal 69 faces the flat electrode 89 of the battery 8, and the protruding terminal 68 faces the convex electrode 88 of the battery 8 via 78a and 78c provided on the bottom 71 of the battery holding portion 70. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and the spiral terminal 69 may face the convex electrode 88 of the battery 8, or the protruding terminal 68 may face the flat electrode 89 of the battery 8. Therefore, the biasing force may be adjusted by adjusting the number of spiral terminals 69 and the number of protruding terminals 68. For example, the electronic device 6 may include only the spiral terminal 69 or only the protruding terminal 68. The biasing force may be adjusted by changing the height or material of the spiral terminal 69 and the protruding terminal 68 in the Y-axis direction.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. The present invention also includes configurations in which the above-mentioned components are appropriately combined. Furthermore, further effects and modifications can be easily derived by those skilled in the art. Therefore, the broader aspects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

1 Electronic lock, 2 Top cover, 3 Knob, 4 Bottom cover, 6 Electronic device, 9 Thumb turn connection, 40 Battery holder, 41 Cover panel, 41a Opening, 42 Attachment/detachment button, 43a, 43b Boss, 44 Fixing plate, 45 Spring, 46a, 46b Engagement claw, 47a, 47b Long hole, 48b, 48d Flat terminal, 49a, 49c Convex terminal, 61 Bottom plate, 66a, 66b Locking portion, 68a, 68c Protruding terminal, 69b, 69d Spiral terminal, 70 Battery holding portion, 71 Bottom, 72 Top surface, 73a to 73d Battery locking claw, 78a, 78c Plate terminal, 8 Battery, 88 Convex electrode, 89 Planar electrode

Claims (7)

A battery holder that houses a battery having electrodes on a top and a bottom and is attached to an electronic device,
an engagement portion that is directly or indirectly engaged with a part of the electronic device;
a support portion that supports a part of the top portion or a part of the bottom portion of the battery,
At least one of the electrodes is biased in a direction in which the battery holder is removed from the electronic device by a terminal provided on the electronic device ;
The support portion holds a portion of the bottom of the battery other than the electrodes .
Battery holder. a terminal contacting the electrode on a surface facing the support portion,
The battery holder of claim 1 , wherein the terminal biases the battery toward the bottom side. The battery is a cylindrical battery,
The battery holder according to claim 1 , further comprising a claw portion for holding a side surface of the battery. A battery holder according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is attached to the battery holder,
an electronic device comprising a terminal for biasing the battery in a direction in which the battery holder is removed from the electronic device; The electronic device according to claim 4 , wherein at least one of the terminals is formed in a coil spring shape. The electronic device according to claim 5 , wherein at least one of the terminals other than the terminal formed in the coil spring shape is formed in a protrusion shape. a battery holder for housing a battery having electrodes on a top and a bottom;
an electronic device to which the battery holder is attached ; and
Equipped with
The battery holder includes:
an engagement portion that is directly or indirectly engaged with a part of the electronic device;
a support portion that supports a part of the top portion or a part of the bottom portion of the battery;
Equipped with
At least one of the electrodes is biased in a direction in which the battery holder is removed from the electronic device by a terminal provided on the electronic device;
The electronic device includes:
a terminal for biasing the battery in a direction in which the battery holder is removed from the electronic device;
The battery holder is attached to the electronic device in any direction.
Electronic lock.

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