JPS5818636B2 - Electronic wristwatch with discomfort index meter - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic wristwatch having a function of displaying a discomfort index.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic wristwatch that has a display function and an arithmetic circuit that detects outside temperature and outside humidity and calculates a discomfort index based on these two data.

The aim of the invention is to develop additional functions that give an electronic wristwatch unlimited possibilities and to thereby add to the watch a health management element for the wearer.

FIG. 1 shows the change in electrical resistance of metals or semiconductors with respect to temperature changes, and it can be seen that the resistance of these materials increases and decreases as the temperature rises and falls.

Therefore, it is possible to detect temperature by a change in resistance.

This type of temperature detection element is made of Pt on a porcelain or mica winding frame 1 shown in FIG. 2a.

A resistance linear temperature transducer is formed by winding a Cu or Ni metal resistance wire 2 and covering it with a glass or magnetic protective tube 3.

Thermistors made of composite sintered bodies of transition metal oxides such as Fe and Curb are common.

Thermistors are thought to be suitable for wristwatches in terms of usage, such as shape, tightness, and degree of resistance change with temperature.

Figure 3 shows metal oxides, certain salts, fluorides, iodides,
This is the change in resistance value with respect to temperature of a humidity-sensitive resistance element using a thin film such as a semiconductor.

These have a resistance value that changes depending on the amount of water vapor attached to the thin film, and like temperature, humidity can be detected electrically.

FIG. 4a shows a moisture sensing element using an Al oxide film, in which a mesh gold electrode 6 is deposited on a porous film Al2O35 obtained by anodizing an Al substrate 4 with a suitable electrolyte.

In addition, the same figure shows that the moisture-sensitive resistor is made into a thin film by vapor deposition.
This is an example in which gold electrodes are formed into a comb-teeth shape.

This type of moisture-sensitive element is known as lead iodide,
There is a selenium moisture sensitive resistor.

As a humidity sensing element and a temperature and humidity detection circuit using the humidity sensing element, there are two methods: a method using a Wheatstone bridge having a transducer on one side, and a method of directly detecting a change in resistance of the element.

Further, in order to improve the linearity of the transducer, another resistor is inserted in series or parallel to the transducer for adjustment.

The present invention uses the temperature and humidity converter described herein,
This invention relates to a means for electronically measuring a discomfort index.

- Discomfort index DI is one of the sensible temperatures and is a numerical expression of the degree of discomfort experienced in daily life.

Its definition is shown in the following equation (1).

DI=40.6+0.72 (td+tw)-...
...(1) However, ta and tw are the dry bulb temperature (°C) and wet bulb temperature (°C) of the psychrometer, respectively.

For Japanese people, when the discomfort index is 70 or higher, some people feel uncomfortable, when it is 75 or higher, they feel "slightly hot," half of them feel uncomfortable, and when it is 80 or higher, they feel "hot and sweaty." It is said that everyone feels uncomfortable, and everyone over 85 complains of pain, saying, ``I can't stand the heat.''

Therefore, in the present invention, temperature and humidity are obtained as objective data using the above-mentioned element, and the discomfort index DI is calculated using these and equation (1).

Now, let's look at the unknowns td and tw in equation (1). Since both of these are the temperatures of the psychrometer, td is the outside temperature itself.

Further, tw is the humidity of the wet bulb, and relative humidity is related to the difference in reading between the soft bulb and the wet bulb.

In other words, it is easy to back-calculate tw from the relative humidity and outside temperature.

Hence, the discomfort index. DI can be calculated using equation (1) from td, the outside temperature, and tw, which is derived from the relative humidity using a converter.

The unit of td and tw is "°C", but in the actual calculation process, tw, td, constants, etc. are treated as the electrical changes from the temperature and humidity transducer, and are changed at the final display stage. It would be better to display it proportionally.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an outline of the arithmetic processing of the present invention.

First, a bridge circuit or the like is used: a temperature detection circuit 7 and a humidity detection circuit 8 convert changes in temperature and humidity transducers into changes in voltage, and convert humidity into wet bulb temperature.
A wet bulb temperature converter 9 is required to obtain a corresponding output voltage.

Letting these quantities be Vdo and Vwo, these then pass through a buffer amplifier and linearizer ゛-10゜11,
The voltage is increased to appropriate voltage levels Vd and Vw, linearized at the same time, and input to the adder 12.

The adder 12 performs a coefficient operation simultaneously with the addition operation, and sets the ratio of the resistors 13 and 14 to the resistor 15 to 0.72.

If this is done, the output Va of the adder is an inversion operation, so Va
= −0,72(Vd +Vw).

Furthermore, if the voltage (-Vc) corresponding to (-40, 6) and the previous Va are added by the adder 16 using the coefficient operation l according to equation (1), the output Vdi is Vd i =Vc + 0 .72 (Vd + Vw)
This is the result of the arithmetic processing.

In other words, the discomfort index based on equation (1) has been determined as an amount of electricity.

Therefore, in the present invention, the Vdi is then A/D converted and an operation for digital display is performed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing steps from A/D conversion to display.

The data Vdi after the calculation is applied to the integrator 1-7 after being subjected to appropriate impedance conversion.

After the input signal is integrated for a certain period (Ti), a reference voltage VR with a polarity opposite to that of the input voltage is applied (TR period), and the integrator returns to the original state with a slope of opposite polarity.

(See FIG. 6) When the voltage returns to the integration start voltage, the comparator 18 generates a pulse, and the counting circuit 19 counts the period from the end of the Ti period to this point, and displays the result on the display 20.

In other words, in this operation, the relationship 1 TR=,, xVdt is established, and if Ti and VR are constant, the input voltage Vdi is determined by measuring the reference voltage integration period (TR), that is, by changing the internal reference clock. The calculation is digitized and displayed as a numerical value.

Note that for this reference clock, it would be sufficient to use a frequency-divided output of a standard oscillation frequency for a watch.

In addition, if an appropriate proportional relationship is established when converting the count amount of this clock for display, the output Vdi of the calculation result can be
and the discomfort index DI.

All of the circuit configurations described above are examples using operational amplifiers, but there are other methods for calculation, ~Φ conversion, etc., but they will not be discussed here.

Furthermore, all of these circuits can be integrated into an IC, and the discomfort index measurement circuit can be integrated into a single LSI chip.

Furthermore, it would be possible to combine it with the electronic circuit of an electronic wristwatch into a single chip.

To display the discomfort index, the liquid crystal used for displaying the clock or the LEI) display device can be used, and if the user switches channels only when necessary by external operation, the time and discomfort index can be displayed on a single display. can be done without any inconvenience.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the mounting portions of the temperature sensing element and the humidity sensing element.

That is, the temperature sensing element 22 is placed on the front side of the watch, in line with the display body 21.
and a humidity sensing element 23 are arranged and directly exposed to the outside air.

Since watch cases are usually metallic, these sensors must be thermally insulated from the case or else a correct discomfort index will not be obtained.

As described above, the present invention provides an electronic wristwatch that has the function of measuring and displaying the discomfort index, which is a type of sensible temperature.

Sensible temperature is the heat or cold felt by a person's body, and it is not only the temperature, but also the temperature, wind, sunlight, etc. that make it feel hot or refreshing.

Therefore, it can be said that it is more closely related to daily life from the viewpoint of living climate, and it can be said that the health management function, which is the main purpose of the present invention, is also significant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows the change in electrical resistance of a metal or semiconductor with respect to temperature change. FIG. 2 shows an example of a temperature-sensitive resistor element. a... Line resistance element, b... Thermistor. FIG. 3 is an example of resistance change with respect to humidity of a humidity sensing element using a thin film. Fig. 4a...Al oxide film moisture sensitive element, Fig. 4b...
...Comb tooth electrode type moisture sensing element. FIG. 5 is an example of a block diagram of an arithmetic processing circuit used in the present invention. FIG. 6a is an example of a block diagram of an A/D converter used in the present invention and its display, and FIG. 6b is a diagram of its principle. FIG. 7 is an example of the arrangement of temperature and humidity sensors. 1... Winding frame, 2... Resistance wire, 3...
...Protection tube, 4...--Al substrate, 5...
・A7 oxide film, 6... Gold electrode, 7... Temperature detection circuit, 8... Humidity detection circuit, 9...
・Converter to wet bulb temperature, 10.11... Buffer amplifier, 12.16... Adder, 13, 14
．． 15... Resistor, 17... Integrator, 1
8... Comparator, 19... Control and counting circuit, 20... Display, 21...
... Display body, 22 ... Temperature sensing element, 23 ...
...Moisture sensing element, 24...Semiconductor, 25...
····metal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 An electronic device that has a temperature detection function using a temperature sensor and a humidity detection function using a humidity sensor, and calculates and measures and displays a discomfort index, which is a type of sensible temperature, based on the amount of electrical change from the two temperature and humidity detectors. An electronic wristwatch with a discomfort index meter equipped with a circuit and a display device.