JPS59113477A - Braille cell and braille unit using same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a Braille cell using a piezoelectric element piece and a Braille unit using this Braille cell.

As is well known, Braille letters for the blind are currently created by the Frenchman Louis Braille, who uses a combination of 6 points in 3 vertical columns and 2 horizontal columns. It plays a major role in education and life.

However, in the past, most of these types of Braille characters were made by cutting out protrusions on a thick piece of paper.

Recently, so-called Braille cells have been devised that output and display Braille characters by converting electrical signals into mechanical motions.

For example, there is a system in which a solenoid is used as a drive source for each point of a Braille character, and the Braille character is displayed by driving the solenoid. However, since this device transmits the driving force of the solenoid to each Braille character via links etc., if a total of six such configurations are used (3 x 2), the overall configuration will be extremely complex and large, making it difficult to assemble. Not only is this troublesome, but it also requires a considerable amount of effort to change the scenery, making it inconvenient to handle. In addition, the solenoid consumes a large amount of power, and the solenoid coil generates heat, making it unsustainable for long periods of continuous use.

In addition, as another example, a piezoelectric element is used as a drive source for each point of a Braille character, and the Braille character is displayed by vibrating the piezoelectric element.

However, since this device transmits the drive of the vibrating part to the fingertips, if you use it continuously for a long time, the sensation in your fingertips will decrease and there is a risk of misrecognizing characters. There was also the risk of causing photography problems (white wax disease). Furthermore, the imaging of the piezoelectric element becomes a source of noise, which may have an adverse effect on others.

Therefore, recently, as seen in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 57-17981, a piezoelectric element is used as a drive source for each point of a Braille character, and the curved displacement of this piezoelectric element is used to statically display Braille characters. Things are being thought of. In other words, this device fixes the base ends of six piezoelectric element pieces arranged parallel to a support body, provides a sensing piece at the free end of these element pieces, and applies an electric signal to the element pieces to cause them to bend and displace. Braille is output and displayed through the sensing piece.

However, the piezoelectric material used for this product has a width of 6 mm.
It is about 0.2 mm thick and 5 Q mm long.

Moreover, since the piezoelectric material is extremely thin, it is difficult to paste the conductive material on it! 5) It is easy to be damaged by the application of force, and when assembling such piezoelectric element pieces to a support, there is a risk that the piezoelectric element will be damaged if adjacent pieces touch each other.

Furthermore, when soldering leads, they are easily affected by heating.
The heat generated at this time may cause the piezoelectric material and the conductive material to separate or their polarities to separate. Moreover, this device has the drawback that the sensing piece must be able to handle the necessary displacement, which is disadvantageous economically.

Furthermore, since the amount of displacement of the piezoelectric element piece is not particularly regulated, distortion or slack due to curvature accumulates in the piezoelectric element piece due to long-term use, and this causes the amount of displacement of the sensing piece to become unstable, making it difficult to accurately write Braille characters. There is also a risk that it will not be possible to display the Furthermore, in this device, a large operating force is applied to the piezoelectric element having a high voltage of 160 V in order to maintain the bending displacement of the piezoelectric element piece having a small length.

For this reason, the sensing piece is protruded with a strong force, so the tactile scanning is normal. To provide a Braille cell capable of outputting and displaying high-quality Braille characters by obtaining stable curved displacement.

Another purpose is to be able to accurately display Braille characters by using such a Braille cell, and to increase the reading speed by being able to read the Braille characters by sliding the fingertip over them during tactile scanning. It is also possible to provide a braille unit.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows a Braille cell. 11 are formed in parallel. In this case, a slit 12 is formed at one end of the groove 11, and the other end is open at the edge of the plate surface of the base 1. In addition, the base 1 has a step portion 13 on the opening side of the groove portion 11.
has been formed. A piezoelectric element piece 2 is set on such a base body 1. In this case, the piezoelectric element piece 2 is made by inserting a thin piece 23 of an elastic conductive material such as bronze or nibcolloy between a piezoelectric layer 2122 made of a piezoelectric material, for example, PZT, as shown in FIG. It is covered with a thin layer 24 of a conductive material such as silver, and a silver flake 25 is used to short-circuit the tips of the piezoelectric layers 21,22. Specifically, the piezoelectric element piece 2 here has a width of 2 mm, l! X 0.
94 mm and a total length of about 95 mm, and the length is relatively long for one piece of meat.

Such a piezoelectric element piece 2 is housed in each groove 11 of the base body 1 as shown in FIG. The free ends are slightly protruded from the openings of the respective grooves 11, and the tip portions are arranged in a step-like manner so as to correspond to the step portions 13.

A tactile pin 3 is attached to the tips of these piezoelectric element pieces 2. As shown in FIG. 4, this tactile pin 3 has a columnar base 3 with a neck 33 smaller in diameter than the base 31 via a step 32 at the tip. Insulating materials such as acrylic resins, which have good adhesion to other materials, are used. Further, the pin 3 has a groove portion 311 cut out in the radial direction in the base portion 31, and the head portion of the neck portion 33 has a hemispherical or elliptical shape. And tactile pin 3 like this
The tip of the piezoelectric element piece 2 is inserted into the groove 311 and fixed with an adhesive or the like.In this case, the tactile pin 3 is attached to the base 3.
The height dimensions of the neck parts 33 are made to be different so that the heads of the neck parts 33 are at the same height. Also, as shown in Figure 5, the base 3
By adjusting the insertion position of the tip of the piezoelectric element piece 2 into the groove 311 of the piezoelectric element 1, the interval A between the neck parts 33, that is, the interval between the dots in the lateral direction of the Braille characters, is set to about 2.5 mm, for example.

Note that in FIG. 1 (al), the base 31 of the tactile pin 3 is
A cushioning material 4 is provided on the stepped portion 13 on the side of the base 1 facing the piezoelectric element 2 to absorb preliminary bending displacement of the piezoelectric element piece 2, which will be described later.

With this configuration, a Braille cell 5 having a Braille display section 4 formed by a combination of a total of six 2×3 tactile pins 3 is obtained as shown in FIG. 1(b).

However, according to a braille cell with such a configuration.

Since the piezoelectric element pieces 2 are housed along each groove 11 of the base T, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience of adjacent piezoelectric element pieces 2 being accidentally touched and damaged during assembly. Since the base end of the piezoelectric element piece 2 is inserted into the slit 12 of the base body 1 and fixed with adhesive or the like, the piezoelectric element piece 2 can be positioned accurately and a stable fulcrum for bending displacement can be secured. As a result, a stable curved displacement of the piezoelectric element piece 2I can be obtained, and high-quality Braille display can be performed via the tactile pin 3. Furthermore, by connecting the leads of the piezoelectric element piece 21\ at the base end protruding from the slit 12 of the base body 1, the influence of heating on the free end side of the piezoelectric element piece 2 during soldering etc. can be minimized. Therefore, by using a material that ensures peeling of the piezoelectric material and conductive material and separation of polarities by heat, it is possible to prevent element pieces from being inadvertently damaged during handling before assembly.

Next, a braille unit using such a braille cell 5 will be explained with reference to FIG. 6.

That is, the braille cell 5 is attached to an attachment means such as a fixture 6 as shown in the figure.

In this case, the fixing metal fittings 6 are used for a plurality of braille cells 5, for example, eight braille cells 5.
As shown in FIG. 7, both ends of the mounting portion 61 are bent into an L shape to form leg portions 62 and 63, and one of the leg portions 62 is equipped with a control circuit board to be described later. It has a notch 64 for inserting the legs 62, 63, etc.
Mounting seats 621 and 631 having a screw hole 7 are formed at the tip of the mounting seat 621 and 631, respectively. In addition, the mounting portion 61 has four notches 611 each having a side of about 12 mm for penetrating two Braille character display portions 4 of the Braille cell 5 on the plate surface on the leg portion 63 side, and a central portion of the plate surface. At the base 31 of each Braille cell 5
The screw holes 612 and 613 for attaching are formed in two stages.

Then, the eight Braille cells 5 are attached to the fixing fitting 6 with the screws 8 through the screw holes 612 and 613, and the tactile scanning display panel 9 is mounted on the fixing fitting 6. This panel 9 has a hole 91 formed at a position corresponding to the notch 611 of the metal fitting 6 from which only the neck 32 of the tactile pin 3 of the Braille cell 5 can protrude.

As a result, a Braille unit capable of displaying 8 Braille characters is completed.

Next, the control circuit for controlling such a braille unit is constructed as shown in FIG. Piezoelectric element pieces 2 at each stage of one Braille cell 5
has one terminal commonly connected to one terminal of the piezoelectric element 2 located in the same stage of each Braille cell 5, and these common connection points a1 to a6
are respectively connected to one Braille character designation circuit 101, and the other terminals of the piezoelectric element pieces 2 are commonly connected within the same Braille cell 5 via the illustrated polarity diode 2a, and this common connection point bi
-bs are respectively connected to the other braille character designation circuit 102. Here, one Braille character designation circuit 101 is D1 to D.
6, a total of 6 input terminals, and each terminal Dl-D
A power supply circuit (only the one corresponding to the input terminal D2 is shown) having a transistor TI I t T12 is connected every 6. For example, when there is an input to the input terminal I) 2, the transistor T, 1T12 is connected. 5 on and DC1
00■ is supplied to the corresponding Braille cell 5 side. The other Braille character designation circuit 102 has a total of eight input terminals, 01 to G8, and a grounding circuit having a transistor T□ for each terminal G, to G8 (only the one corresponding to input terminal G is shown). .) is connected, −
For example, if there is an input to input terminal G1, transistor T2
1 is turned on and the corresponding Braille cell 5 is grounded.

On the other hand, in each braille cell 5, the common connection points a1 to a6 on one terminal side of the piezoelectric element piece 2 are commonly connected via a diode group 103, and the other terminal of the piezoelectric element piece 2 is connected via the illustrated polarity diode 2b. They are commonly connected within the same Braille cell 5, and the common connection points C1 to C8 are roughly connected to the preliminary energizing port @104. This pre-energizing circuit 104 has an input terminal F and a transistor T31 y T112 +
When there is an input to the input terminal F, the transistors TIIIF T32t and T33 are turned on, and the piezoelectric element pieces 2 of all Braille cells 5 are supplied with DCl by the power supply circuit described above.
It is connected to the preliminary energizing circuit 104 by supplying L)C100V, which has the opposite polarity to ooV. This pre-energizing circuit 104 has an input terminal F and a transistor TII l t T31.
s T3B and there is an input at input terminal F, the transistor T, 1°'v32 v Ts! Turn on the piezoelectric element pieces 2 of all braille cells 5 by the above-mentioned power supply circuit.
By supplying I)C100v of polarity opposite to oov and pre-energizing, these piezoelectric element pieces 2 are bent in a predetermined direction, that is, in a direction in which the tips of the pins 3 do not protrude from the panel 9 surface.

Such a control circuit is formed on a substrate and housed in the lower part of the fixture 6 of the braille unit.

In the braille unit constructed in this way, an input is first given to the input terminal F of the preliminary energizing circuit 104 of the control circuit. Then, the transistors T81+T112t""IB are turned on and DClooV is applied to the piezoelectric element pieces 2 of all the Braille cells 5 with opposite polarity. Then, the piezoelectric element piece 2 is curvedly displaced, but in this case, the piezoelectric element piece 2 in FIG.
By applying 100 V of the above-mentioned reverse polarity I), the free end is moved downward (this direction is the buffer material 4 provided on the stepped portion 13 of the base 1).
It is curved and displaced in a convex shape until it comes into contact with. As a result, the tip of the pin 3 does not protrude beyond the surface of the panel 9.

In this state, each input terminal of the Braille character designation circuit 101, 102, ~D6. When a predetermined character input is given to G, ~G8 from the microcomputer Natoka, the piezoelectric element piece 2 of the Braille cell 5 corresponding to the terminal to which the input is given is supplied with a positive polarity 1) C100V from the power supply circuit. is applied.

The piezoelectric element piece 2 is displaced concavely in one plane, contrary to the above, but in this case, the piezoelectric element piece 2 is displaced at the 61st stiffness l.
The free end is upwardly separated from the cushioning material 4 and is displaced in a circular plane while moving the tactile pin 3 upward. This causes the neck 33 of the pin 3 to protrude by a predetermined amount from the hole 91 of the display panel 9, and a Braille character is displayed in each Braille cell 5.

Hereinafter, input terminals D1 to D, , G, to G8 are connected in the same manner.
By appropriately inputting characters to the display panel 9, desired Braille characters are displayed in each Braille cell 5 on the display panel 9, and when d people scan these with their tactile fingers, the character content is read. In this case, it goes without saying that the display in each Braille cell 5 is not limited to Braille characters, but can also display numbers and symbols.

According to the Braille unit having such a configuration, the piezoelectric element pieces 2 of each of the plurality of Braille cells 5 arranged in parallel are always pre-energized with opposite polarity and displaced in a wrinkled plane, and when one character is input, the corresponding piezoelectric element is activated. The piece 2 is biased to the positive polarity and displaced in one plane in the opposite direction to that described above, so that the neck 32 of the tactile pin 3 protrudes from the surface of the panel 9, so that desired characters are displayed in each Braille cell 5.

The operation when displaying Braille characters by the piezoelectric element piece 2 can be made clear, and thereby the Braille characters can be displayed accurately even if some distortion occurs in the piezoelectric element piece 2. In addition, as described above, the piezoelectric element piece 2 of each printing cell 5 is made of a sandwiched material and has a relatively large length. Since the tactile pin 3 is displaced in one plane, the tactile pin 3 is pushed out from the panel surface with an optimal force that is not very large. As a result, the tactile pin 3 is pushed back to the extent that it does not get caught in response to the movement of the fingertip during tactile scanning, so that the tactile reading is possible by sliding the fingertip over the Braille characters.

Furthermore, since DClooV is used as the source, the source device can be simplified in terms of insulation treatment and is economically advantageous compared to the conventional DClooV which uses a high voltage.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be implemented with appropriate modifications without changing the gist.

For example, although the Braille unit has been described as having an 8-digit display in which 8 Braille cells are arranged in parallel, it is of course not limited to 8-digit displays. Further, the piezoelectric element piece of the Braille cell is just one example, and other piezoelectric elements may be used as long as they have similar characteristics.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a piezoelectric element piece used in the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a tactile pin used in the same embodiment. A configuration diagram, Fig. 5 is a diagram for explaining the mounting state of the same tactile pin, Fig. 6
Figure tal [bl shows an example of a Braille unit using the Braille cell shown in Figure 1, (a) is a plan view, fbl is a vertical sectional view taken along the line A-A of lal, and Figure 7 is a A perspective view of the mounting bracket used in the braille unit hl of the same embodiment, No. 8
The figure is a circuit diagram showing a control circuit used in the Braille unit. 1...Base 11...Groove 12...
・Slit 13... Staircase part 2... Piezoelectric element piece 21.22... Piezoelectric no. 23.25... Thin piece 24... Thin layer 3... Tactile pin
31...Base 32...Stepped part 33...
・Neck portion 311...Groove portion 4...Buffer member 5...Braille cell 6...Mounting bracket 61・
...Mounting parts 62, 63...Legs 64...
・Notch part 612, 613, 7...Screw hole 8
...Screw 9...Panel 101, 1
02...Braille character designation circuit 103...Diode group 2a, 2b...Diode 104...Preliminary energizing circuit Fig. 1(b) Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Whistle 5 Fig. 5 Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office Oro Wakasugi Husband 1. Indication of the case Japanese Patent Application No. 57-223500 3, Person making the amendment 1 character "°' 1 City matter extra-municipal related patent applicant Kogyosha Communication Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 5, Voluntary amendment 7, Contents of the amendment (1) The present application Specification middle page 4, line 15, page 5, line 5
"Pressure element" written in the 6th line, 20th line is "
"Piezoelectric element piece" is corrected. (2) [Jitsukai Sho 5] stated in the 4th line of No.
7-17981 is corrected to ``Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57-17981.'' (3) In the same specification, page 6, line 3, "Polarity is separated" is corrected to "Polarization disappears.""Bronze" written in the eyes is corrected to "phosphorus is steel." (5) "Piezoelectric equipment" stated in the 19th line of No. 8 of the same specification is corrected to "piezoelectric material." (6) "Cushioning material 4" stated on page 9, lines 13 to 14 of the same specification is corrected to "buffering material 41." (7) As stated in page 10, line 14 of the same specification
Correct "separation of polarity" to "disappearance of polarization". (8) As stated in page 10, line 18 of the same specification
Damaged element piece J is corrected to "Damaged element piece." (9) "Neck 32" written in No. 11, line 20, page 16, line s77 of the same specification is corrected to "neck 33." (11 "Buffering material 4" stated in line 19 of page 14 of Nakaon in the same specification is corrected to "buffer material 41". Correct "8 digits" to "8 letters". Grudge "..." written in the 17th line, 12th line of the same order statement
・can also be used. ” can also be used as [...]. Furthermore, in the above, the into a voltage was set to DCIO, but 1
)C may be around 100V, or pressure 1! The width, thickness, and overall length of the element piece are also examples, and the ejection pressure can also be changed by changing the stiffness dimension. ” he corrected. 0 The code ``4'' in Figure 1 18) of the attached drawings in the same order is corrected to ``41'' as if it were red. I The symbol "2a" r2 in red in Figure 8 of the attached drawings in the same order
Add bJ and r102J.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A base having a plate shape and having a plurality of grooves formed in parallel on the plate surface, a slit formed at one end of the groove, and the other end opening at the edge of the plate surface; A Braille cell characterized by comprising a tactile pin which is housed in the groove of the base body, has its base end inserted and fixed into the slit, and has its free end aligned at the same height. (2) The Braille cell according to claim 1, wherein the base body has a stepped portion formed on the opening side of the groove portion to receive the curved displacement of the piezoelectric element piece. (3) The braille cell according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the piezoelectric element piece has a width of 2 mm, a thickness Q of 94 mm, and a total length of about 95 mm. (4) The above-mentioned tactile pin has a columnar base, a small-diameter end portion formed on the base via a recess, and a groove portion into which the piezoelectric element piece is inserted and fixed in the base. A Braille cell according to claims 1 to 3. 15) A base having a plate shape and having a plurality of grooves formed in parallel on the plate surface, a slit formed at one end of the groove, and the other end opened at the edge of the plate surface; At the same time, a plurality of Braille cells each having a tactile pin whose equal end portions are inserted and fixed into the L-shaped slit t and whose free end portions are aligned at the same height are arranged side by side, and only the tip of the tactile pin is inserted. a mounting means having a tactile scanning display panel having a hole through which the pin can be projected; and a mounting means having a touch scanning display panel having a hole through which the pin can be projected; It is characterized by comprising means for causing a curved displacement, and means for biasing a piezoelectric element piece of a corresponding Braille cell in a positive direction by a predetermined input to cause a curved displacement so that the tip of the bottle protrudes from the panel surface to display Braille. (6) The braille unit according to claim 5, wherein the means for performing the reverse polarity preliminary energization and the positive polarity energization uses a DClooV power source.