JPS6047992B2 - Clock motor drive circuit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a drive circuit for a watch motor, particularly an improved drive circuit that can arbitrarily switch and control an indicator hand between continuous hand movement and step hand movement in an analog electronic watch. It is related to.

In general analog electronic watches, a reference frequency pulse output from a reference signal generator is frequency-divided to obtain a hand movement pulse having a desired frequency, and this hand movement pulse is supplied to a timepiece motor consisting of a step motor and other components. It consists of a structure that transmits rotor rotation of a watch motor to an indicator hand.

In this type of analog electronic timepiece, there are two types of hand movement methods, one of which is known as continuous hand movement and the other known as step hand movement. In the continuous hand movement method, a continuous hand movement pulse with a relatively short period is supplied to the watch motor to rotate the rotor almost continuously, and as a result, the movement of the indicator hand is obtained as smooth continuous movement at a constant speed.
On the other hand, in step hand movement, the rotor is intermittently driven to rotate at a predetermined one-step cycle, and as a result, the rotor and the indicator hand move in a step-like manner in which rotation and stopping are repeated alternately. The above-mentioned two hand movement methods can be selected arbitrarily depending on the user's preference, but in conventional analog electronic watches, the drive circuit is configured to adapt to either hand movement method.
Indicator hands were moved only by a preset hand movement method for each electronic watch. Therefore, with the conventional device, it has been impossible to switch and control the hand movement method of the watch during use. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide an improved watch motor drive circuit that can arbitrarily switch between continuous hand movement and step hand movement with a simple configuration. It's about doing. In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a reference signal generator that outputs a pulse train of a reference frequency, a frequency dividing circuit that divides the reference frequency pulse into a plurality of pulse trains of different frequencies, and a plurality of pulse trains of the frequency dividing circuit. A hand movement pulse generation circuit that combines a pulse train to output a continuous hand movement pulse and a step hand movement pulse, a switch that selectively controls either the continuous hand movement pulse or the step hand movement pulse of the hand movement pulse generation circuit, and the hand movement pulse. a drive pulse generation circuit that converts the pulse into a drive pulse for a watch motor, the continuous hand movement pulse consists of a continuous pulse train of equal periods, and the step hand movement pulse consists of a predetermined period divided into a hand movement period and a rest period. It is characterized in that it is output only during the hand movement period in the step cycle, and the number of step hand movement pulses output during the hand movement period is set equal to the number of continuous hand movement pulses output during the step period.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a watch motor drive circuit according to the present invention, in which a reference signal generator 10 including a crystal oscillator etc. outputs a pulse train of a reference frequency, and this reference frequency pulse is divided into two parts. The frequency is divided into a plurality of pulse trains having different frequencies by the frequency dividing circuit 12, and in the embodiment, the frequency dividing circuit 12
Four kinds of pulse trains having frequencies of 1Hz, 16FIZ, and 32Hz are outputted. The three types of pulses in the frequency-divided pulse train are generated by a hand movement pulse generation circuit 14.
The pulse trains of each frequency are combined and continuous.
Output as a hand movement pulse and a step hand movement pulse.
The hand movement pulse generation circuit 14 includes two AND gates 16,1
8 and a D-type flip-flop 20 that supplies gate signals to both AND gates 16 and 18, and the input of the AND gate 16 for continuous hand motion pulses is supplied with a pulse train of 8 Hz to 116 Hz and the O output of the flip-flop 20. , pulse trains of 1 Hz and 16 Hz and the Q output of the flip-flop 20 are supplied to the input of the AND gate 18 for step hand movement. A 1 Hz pulse train is supplied to the clock input of the D-type flip-flop 20, and a switching signal of the switch 22 is supplied to the D input. The switch 22 includes a D-type flip-flop 24 and a manual switch 26, the 32 Hz pulse train of the frequency divider 12 is supplied to the clock input of the flip-flop 24, and the operation input from the switch 26 is supplied to the D input. , and its Q output is supplied to a flip-flop 20 to the hand movement pulse generating circuit 14.

The manual switch 26 is made up of a push button switch or the like mounted on the case of the electronic timepiece, and is connected to the ground side to obtain continuous hand movement, and switchably connected to the power supply side to obtain step hand movement. Continuous hand movement pulse obtained from the AND gate 16 of the hand movement pulse generation circuit 14 and AND gate 1
The step hand movement pulse obtained from 8 is converted into a drive pulse for the watch motor 30 by the drive pulse generation circuit 28, and both output hand movement pulses from the AND gates 16 and 18 are supplied to the clock input of the flip-flop 34 via the OR gate 32. be done. The output of the OR gate 32 is further supplied to NAND gates 36, 38, and both NAND gates 36, 38
to the other input of the flip-flop 34 and the O output of the flip-flop 34.
Output is supplied. Therefore, both NAND gates 36,
An output pulse with a different polarity is supplied to the output side of 38 every time the hand movement pulse is applied, and both output pulses are sent to the preamplifier 40,
42 and amplifiers 44 and 46 to the excitation coil 48 of the watch motor 30, and the roller excitation force causes the rotor 50
is rotated by a predetermined amount. An example of a watch motor 30 is shown in FIG. 2, and the rotor 50 is made of a permanent magnet having six magnetic poles on its outer periphery, and is continuously rotated in a predetermined direction around a rotor shaft 52 pivotally supported on the watch board. Or it can rotate intermittently. A stator 54 is fixedly disposed near the rotor 50, and its magnetic poles 54a and 54b are disposed to face the rotor 50. An excitation coil 48 is wound around the stator 54, and the drive pulse generation circuit 28 described above
The rotor 50 is rotationally driven by drive pulses supplied from the rotor 50 . A preferred embodiment of the present invention has the above configuration,
The operation will be explained below with reference to the waveform diagram in FIG. Since the 8Hz and 16Hz pulse trains of the frequency dividing circuit 12 are simultaneously applied to the AND gate 16 for continuous hand movement of the hand movement pulse generation circuit 14, the O of the flip-flop 20
If the output is 11J, the third
A continuous hand movement pulse 100 shown in the figure is output.

This continuous hand movement pulse 100 has an equal period, and in the embodiment, 1
Consisting of a continuous pulse train having a period of B seconds, this continuous hand movement pulse 100 is converted by the drive pulse generation circuit 28 into a drive pulse train 200A having a different polarity each time the pulse is applied. That is, the drive pulse generation circuit 28 includes a flip-flop amplifier 34, and each time the output of the OR gate 32 is applied to the clock input, the output is inverted, and the drive pulses with different polarities are sent to the clock motor 30 via the amplifier group. The driving coil 48 receives a driving pulse with a different polarity each time the hand movement pulse 100 is applied. Therefore, when the continuous hand motion pulse 100 is supplied to the drive pulse generation circuit 28 from the hand motion pulse generation circuit 14, the rotor 50 performs continuous rotational motion due to the continuous excitation action of reversing the polarity of the excitation coil 48. arise,
As a result, it becomes possible to move the indicator hand continuously. The continuous hand movement in the present invention is the continuous hand movement pulse 100 as described above.
Strictly speaking, it is not possible to obtain completely smooth continuous hand movement, but the continuous hand movement pulse 100 consists of a continuous pulse train of equal period, and as shown in the example, the hand movement is performed at 8 pulse trains per second. Therefore, the actual movement of the indicator hand can be seen as almost continuous movement, and it is clear that a pseudo-continuous movement effect can be obtained. on the other hand,
Since pulse trains of 1 Hz and 16 Hz are supplied from the frequency dividing circuit 12 to the step hand movement AND gate 18 of the hand movement pulse generation circuit 14, when the O output of the flip-flop 20 is 1L, the A step movement pulse 102 shown in FIG. 3 is output.

The step hand movement pulse 102 basically consists of a pulse train that has the same pulse width as the continuous hand movement pulse 100 and has a period half that of the continuous hand movement pulse 100, and this step hand movement pulse 102 is generated by the driving pulse generation circuit 28 in the same way as the continuous hand movement pulse 100 described above.
The driving pulse 200B is converted into a drive pulse example 200B whose polarity is alternately reversed, and is supplied to the excitation coil 48 of the watch motor 30.
Here, it is important that the Q output of the D-type flip-flop 20 is supplied to the input of the AND gate 18 for step hand movement, and the above-mentioned step hand movement pulse 102 is applied only when the Q output of the flip-flop 20 is RlJ. It is output from the AND gate 18. Since a 1Hz pulse train is supplied to the clock input of the AND gate 20,
Even when a switching signal is supplied to the D input, the Q output is alternately switched between r1 and RO at a 1 second cycle. It is understood that this reversing action of the flip-flop 20 enables the step hand movement according to the present invention, and that the reversal period of the flip-flop 20 corresponds to the one-step period T during the step hand movement. In FIG. 3, one step period T is divided into a movement period Td and a rest period Tr,
In the embodiment, the hand movement period Td and the rest period Tr are set at equal intervals, and both periods are 0. It consists of intervals between or,
Since the flip-flop 20 is controlled to switch at a 1 second cycle by the 1 Hz clock input signal of the frequency divider 12, D
Even if the switching signal to the input is supplied at any time, the transition from continuous hand movement to step hand movement can be accurately synchronized with the output of the frequency divider 12, and the indicated time of the indicator hand will not deviate at the time of the switching transition. will not occur. As described above, the Q output of the flip-flop 20 is RlJ only during the hand movement period Td.
Therefore, the step hand movement pulse 102, which is the output of the step hand movement AND gate 18, is outputted only during the hand movement period Td with the same pulse width and half the period of the continuous hand movement pulse.

Therefore, the rotor 50 is driven to rotate at twice the speed when the hands are continuously moving, and is fixedly held at that position at the end of the hand movement period Td, and during the next rest period T, the rotor 50 is
0 will be fixed at its holding position. Therefore, the indicator hand moves intermittently in steps, repeating movement and stopping. In the present invention, the number of continuous hand movement pulses 100 and the number of step hand movement pulses 102 output during one step period T are set to the same value, 8 in the embodiment, and as a result, in either hand movement method, In both cases, the indicator hand is moved by the same amount of rotation. Continuous hand movement pulse 1 in the above-mentioned hand movement pulse generation circuit 14
In order to control switching between 00 and the step hand movement pulse 102, a switch 22 is provided in the present invention, and by connecting the manual switch 26 to the ground side, pseudo continuous hand movement can be obtained, and by connecting the manual switch 26 to the power supply side. By doing this, step hand movement can be obtained.

That is, when the step 26 is grounded, the Q output of the flip-flop 24 becomes RO, and as a result, the Q output of the flip-flop 20 of the hand movement pulse generation circuit 14 becomes 10, and the O output becomes 0L, and the AND gate for continuous hand movement becomes 1
6 is opened, while the AND gate 18 for step hand movement is closed. Therefore, the continuous hand movement pulse 100 described above is supplied only from the AND gate 16 for continuous hand movement to the drive pulse generation circuit 28, and continuous rotation of the timepiece motor can be obtained.

On the other hand, when the manual switch 26 of the changeover 22 is connected to the power supply side, the Q output of the flip-flop 24 becomes r1, and as a result, the flip-flop 20 of the hand movement pulse generation circuit 14 changes its Q output to r1, and then the O output. becomes 10yo, the AND gate 18 for step hand movement is opened, and on the other hand,
The AND gate 16 for continuous hand movement is closed.

Therefore, only the step movement pulse 102 from the AND gate 18 for step movement is supplied to the drive pulse generation circuit 28, and as is clear from the above explanation, the rotor 50 is driven intermittently at a predetermined pulse cycle T. is performed, and it becomes possible to obtain step movement of the indicator hand. As described above, according to the embodiment, the same number of drive pulses are supplied to the timepiece motor 30 during one step cycle in both pseudo-continuous hand movement and step hand movement, and even when the hand movement method is switched, the indicator hand The rotation amounts of the drive pulse generation circuit 28, watch motor 30, and rotor 5 can be made equal.
It becomes possible to arbitrarily switch between pseudo-continuous hand movement and step hand movement while sharing a mechanical deceleration mechanism that transmits the zero drive rotational force to the pointer hand.

In the embodiment, a six-pole rotor is used as the rotor of the watch motor, but any number of poles can be set in consideration of torque characteristics and rotor followability.
Further, in the embodiment, one step period is set to one second, and the hand movement period and the rest period are set to be equal, but these periods can be set arbitrarily.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the pointer movement method of an electronic timepiece can be arbitrarily switched between pseudo-continuous movement and step movement, and switching between the two can be performed by simply operating a manual switch such as a push button switch. can be carried out extremely easily.

According to the present invention, drive control is performed using both hand movement methods while using both the drive circuit section and the mechanical structure, and therefore has the advantage that the structure is simple and only a small number of additional circuits are required.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a watch motor drive circuit according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the watch motor in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing each part in FIG. 1. FIG. 10... Reference signal generator, 12... Frequency divider circuit, 14
...Hand movement pulse generation circuit, 22...Switcher, 26.
...Manual switch, 28...Drive pulse generation circuit, 3
0...Clock motor, 50...Rotor, 100...
・Continuous movement pulse, 1021●Step movement pulse.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reference signal generator that outputs a pulse train of a reference frequency, a frequency dividing circuit that divides the reference frequency pulse into a plurality of pulse trains of different frequencies, and a plurality of pulse trains of the frequency dividing circuit, A hand movement pulse generation circuit that outputs continuous hand movement pulses and step hand movement pulses, a switch that selectively controls either the continuous hand movement pulse or step hand movement pulse of the hand movement pulse generation circuit, and a clock motor that outputs the hand movement pulses. a drive pulse generation circuit that converts the continuous hand movement pulse into a drive pulse, the continuous hand movement pulse is composed of a continuous pulse train of equal periods, and the step hand movement pulse is formed during a predetermined one step period divided into a hand movement period and a rest period. 1. A drive circuit for a watch motor, characterized in that the number of step hand movement pulses outputted only during a hand movement period is set equal to the number of continuous hand movement pulses output during one step period. 2. A timepiece motor drive circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that the hand movement period and the rest period of one step cycle are set to be equal. 3. A drive circuit for a timepiece motor according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the timepiece motor comprises a step motor.