JP2000097965A - Shock recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (with correction) [PROBLEMS] To provide an impact recorder which measures all generated accelerations with small power consumption and records the main accelerations generated even with a small storage capacity. In an impact recorder that measures and records acceleration received by various operations on an article, the acceleration detected by a sensor unit is output as an electric signal, and a peak detection unit is provided.
Is input to The peak detector 21 has a peak hold circuit. The peak detector 21 receives a signal from the timing generator 22 and receives a signal from the timing generator 22 for a predetermined period (for example, I
s) is detected. The CPU 23 is connected to the timing generation unit 22 similarly to the peak detection unit 21, and receives a timing signal indicating that the peak detection unit 21 has detected a peak value within a certain period, and receives data from the peak detection unit 21. Is recorded in the recording unit 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an impact recorder for measuring and recording an acceleration applied to an article by various operations.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an article is handled or transported, the article may be damaged by an impact due to a drop, collision, or bounce. When damaged, it is necessary to clarify at what point of impact, such as during handling and transportation, the damage. Since an item is subject to acceleration when subjected to an impact, measuring and recording the acceleration in chronological order makes it clear at which point of impact during handling and transport, it is possible to grasp the cause of damage. it can. Such an impact recorder (acceleration recorder) is used by being attached to an article, receiving the same handling and transportation as the article, measuring the generated acceleration, recording, handling, transporting, and then storing it in the impact recorder. Read the stored records to determine the impact that the item may have received. For this reason, the impact recorder repeats measurement and recording for a long time. However, it is necessary to reduce the size and weight of the impact recorder for its intended use. In order to measure and record all the generated accelerations, a large number of data recording (accumulation) means must be provided in the impact recorder, and the number of measurement and recording operations increases, resulting in an increase in power consumption. A large power supply and a large recording means are required, which goes against the above-mentioned demand. An impact recorder has been developed to solve such a problem, but a method of storing only when a certain level of acceleration is detected or a method of storing only a certain time when a certain level of acceleration is detected. A method of recording all the generated accelerations is generally used.

[0003] For example, the impact detector of Japanese Patent No. 2666926 senses physical variables of physical changes that an article undergoes during handling operations such as packaging and shipping, and satisfies predetermined criteria. In an acceleration detecting method for recording a time history portion of the sensed physical variable, (a)
An acceleration in a range of ± 256 g due to a physical change in the X, Y, and Z axis directions is detected, and 0 corresponding to the detected acceleration is detected.
A program that stores an acceleration detection means, a clock means, a storage means, a communication means, a microprocessor means and a power supply for outputting an electric signal in a range of from 5.12 volts to a housing, and constitutes an instruction to the microprocessor means The acceleration is detected under the control of (1) and quantified, and the detected and quantified acceleration and the time when the acceleration is detected are stored in the storage unit, and the acceleration is detected by the acceleration detection unit. Attaching the housing to the article such that the applied acceleration is physically approximately equal to the article, and (b) subjecting the article to a handling operation such that the housing receives the same acceleration as the article; (C) detecting the acceleration exerted by the housing, and (d) detecting the acceleration that satisfies the predetermined criteria. Storing each time interval over time in said storage means, wherein said time interval is of a predetermined duration, and each said duration initially starts with an acceleration that satisfies said criterion; And
(E) The stored acceleration is read out from the storage means to a device outside the housing, and thereby, while the article is being handled, the magnitude of the acceleration, its occurrence time and occurrence frequency are determined by the article handling. Acceleration measurement method determined after execution. An acceleration detection / recording device that can be stored in the housing, wherein acceleration detection means for detecting acceleration due to a physical change in the X, Y, and Z directions and generating a quantified digital signal of the detected acceleration; Storage means for storing program instructions and data representing the digital signal; communication means for communicating with the separator by the digital information; and the acceleration detection means, clock means, storage means and communication means To read and execute the program instruction from the storage means, and to store the digital signal generated by the acceleration detection means and the storage means in the storage means during a time interval of a predetermined duration. Data representing both a digital timer signal generated by the clock means at the beginning of the duration Microprocessor means for controlling said communication means to start said time interval when at least one of said accelerations meets a predetermined criterion and to communicate with said separator by said digital information. The acceleration detection recording device provided with. Etc. are described.

In the shock storage unit disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2719580, a processing module box having a built-in operation storage means for calculating and storing shock information from a shock detection signal and a sensor module box having a built-in shock sensor are separated. And a shock storage unit configured to supply a shock detection signal obtained from the sensor module box to the processing module box via a signal transmission medium, wherein the shock detection signal is an electric signal as the signal transmission medium. Using a signal transmission cable that transmits as
The signal transmission cable is connected to one or both of the sensor module box and the processing module box via a detachable connector, and further converts a shock wave signal output from the shock sensor into a voltage or current signal in the sensor module box. A signal converter for amplification is built in, and a battery for supplying power to the arithmetic storage means is built in the other processing module box, and the power of the battery is supplied to the signal converter in the sensor module box through the signal transmission cable. A shock memory unit characterized in that the shock memory unit is designed to be used. Is described.

[0005] Further, the shock data recording method and the shock data recording card for dropping a conveyed product disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-62240 collect and record the shock data received by the transported luggage L during transportation. A shock data recording card for detecting and storing a shock on the baggage L and transporting the card. After the transportation, the shock data recording card is loaded into a data display device to transfer the shock data. A method of recording impact data such as a drop of a transported product, characterized by obtaining a graph. In a housing formed in a card shape having a predetermined shape and a predetermined thickness, such as a rectangular shape, a small and thin impact detection sensor and an impact history recording means for storing a gravitational acceleration G value by an output in association with time are provided. A card for recording impact data, comprising: The G value memory is normally a memory for a fixed time, such as every minute, and stores a G value and a time in real time when a large G value of a predetermined value or more such as 10 G or more is input. An impact data recording card, characterized in that: And so on.

[0006]

However, a method of recording only when a certain acceleration or more is detected (Japanese Patent No.
In the method of recording all the accelerations generated only for a certain period of time when an acceleration of a certain level or more is detected (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-62240), the influence of an acceleration of a certain level or less on the damage to the product is described. Cannot be confirmed. If a certain value is reduced, the amount of recording increases, and it becomes meaningless to set a certain value. If the number of times of impact is large (uneven road during transportation of automobiles, etc.), the number of times of measurement and recording may increase significantly and the recording capacity may become insufficient.

Further, if the interval for measurement is made longer, the maximum acceleration cannot be measured in some cases. If the interval for measurement is made shorter, the recording capacity becomes larger. In general, since an impact occurs for about several tens of ms, the maximum acceleration cannot be measured unless the measurement interval is several milliseconds or less, which increases the number of processes and power consumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide an impact recorder which measures all the generated accelerations with small power consumption and records the main accelerations generated even with a small storage capacity.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an impact recorder for measuring and recording acceleration received by various operations of an article has a function of detecting a peak value of the acceleration within a predetermined period, and measures the acceleration. The recording is performed using the peak value within a certain period obtained from the peak detection function.

An impact recorder for measuring and recording acceleration received by various operations on an article has a function of detecting a peak value within a predetermined period of acceleration and a function of determining peak value data obtained from the peak detection function. The acceleration is measured with a peak value within a certain period obtained from the peak detection function, and when the obtained peak value data reaches a certain predetermined number of data, a certain predetermined number of peak value data is obtained by the determination function. Find the maximum value in and record the maximum value obtained.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the present invention. The shock recorder comprises a sensor section 1, a processing circuit section 2, and a power supply section 3, and can measure and record with the shock recorder alone. The sensor unit 1 includes an acceleration sensor and a detection circuit, and the power supply unit 3 is a battery. The processing circuit unit 2 includes a peak detection unit, a timing generation unit, a recording unit, a communication unit, and the like, and details will be described in the following embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. The acceleration detected by the sensor unit 1 is output as an electric signal and is input to the peak detection unit 21. The peak detection unit 21 has a peak hold circuit. The peak detection unit 21 receives a signal from the timing generation unit 22 and detects a peak value for a predetermined period (for example, 1 second). The CPU 23 is connected to the timing generation unit 22 similarly to the peak detection unit 21, and receives a timing signal indicating that the peak detection unit 21 has detected a peak value within a certain period, and receives data from the peak detection unit 21. Is recorded in the recording unit 24. The record is the peak value, date and time within a certain period. By continuing this, a peak value is recorded every 1 s in the example. 86 in one day
400 data are recorded, and the amount of data to be recorded is 1 of all the measured data as compared with recording data every 1 ms.
/ 1000. Since it has a peak detection function, the maximum acceleration cannot be measured (measurement omission). The data for which the measurement and the recording have been completed are transmitted from the communication unit 25 to the outside. The communication unit 25 is also used when setting conditions for measurement, recording, and the like, and rewrites conditions for measurement, recording, and the like in the impact recorder according to use conditions.

Conventionally, the CPU 23 had to operate at least several milliseconds in order to confirm the output from the sensor unit 1 or to take in data. However, in the present embodiment, the peak detection unit 21 By having the unit 22, the CPU 23 does not need to perform processing while waiting for a signal from the timing generation unit 22 (in the example, it is sufficient to operate at intervals of 1 s), so that power consumption is small.

The above-mentioned timing may be generated from the CPU, or may have a timekeeping function, so that a reference clock for timekeeping may be used. This is the same in the second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. The acceleration detected by the sensor unit 1 is output as an electric signal and is input to the peak detection unit 21. The peak detecting section 21 receives a signal from the timing generating section 22 and detects a peak value for a preset fixed period (for example, for 1 s). The output from the timing generator 22 is simultaneously input to the counter 26, and the number of times the timing signal is output is counted. The output of the counter 26 is input to a comparator 27. When the input data (count value) matches the previously input data, the comparator 27
3 and outputs a comparison coincidence signal. The CPU 23 is connected to the timing generator 22 in the same manner as the peak detector 21. Is recorded in the recording unit 24. At this time, if the comparison coincidence signal has not been input, the captured data from the peak detection unit 21 is recorded in the sub recording unit 28 as it is. If the comparison coincidence signal has been input, the data from the peak detection unit 21 that has been captured is
8 and then the maximum value in the sub-recording unit 28 is obtained and recorded in the recording unit 24. Further, the counter 26 is initialized, the data in the sub recording unit 28 is deleted, and the process returns to the initial operation.
The above means makes it possible to record the maximum value among the peak values when the peak value within a certain period reaches a certain number of data.

The recorded data is sent to the outside from the communication unit in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the data input to the comparator 27 is also performed by the communication unit via the CPU 23.
The recording interval can be controlled according to the purpose. If the period to be detected is long, the data (count value) set in the comparator may be increased, and if the period is short, the count value may be decreased. Can be used effectively. Since the peak detection period does not need to be so long as a functional characteristic of the peak detection unit, the circuit configuration of the peak detection unit can be realized relatively easily.

Although the data processing has been described for one sensor unit, accelerations in three directions of X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis are actually detected and recorded. The signal processing can be done the same,
By changing the measurement and recording conditions according to the direction as required, it is possible to selectively use the density of the recording data in the axial direction by allocating the capacity of the recording unit and the necessary data.

[0018]

According to the present invention, long-time acceleration data can be recorded with a small recording capacity. In the embodiment, the time can be 1000 times as long as that of the related art, but it is possible to increase the measurement data without changing the time. Since the storage capacity is small, the size and weight can be reduced.

According to the present invention, since the shock recorder can be operated with low power consumption, a product having a long measurement and recording time can be supplied, so that it is easy to use and the running cost can be reduced. Power supply batteries can be small, so miniaturization
Weight reduction becomes possible.

The storage capacity can be effectively used, and the degree of freedom in usage can be increased.

Since the peak detection period does not need to be so long as a functional characteristic of the peak detection unit, the circuit configuration of the peak detection unit can be realized relatively easily. Since the maximum acceleration is not overlooked and the peak value within a certain period is recorded, the acceleration can be recorded even during a period in which only a small acceleration is generated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sensor part 2 Processing circuit part 3 Power supply part 21 Peak detection part 22 Timing generation part 23 CPU 24 Recording part 25 Communication part 26 Counter 27 Comparator 28 Sub recording part

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masaki Shiozawa 4107 Miyota, Miyoshida-cho, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano Prefecture

Claims (2)

[Claims] An impact recorder for measuring and recording acceleration received by various operations on an article has a function of detecting a peak value of the acceleration within a predetermined period, and measures and records the acceleration from the peak detection function. An impact recorder characterized in that the peak value is obtained within a certain period obtained. 2. A function of detecting a peak value of an acceleration within a predetermined period in a shock recorder for measuring and recording acceleration received by various operations of an article, and a function of determining peak value data obtained from the peak detection function. The acceleration is measured with a peak value within a certain period obtained from the peak detection function, and when the obtained peak value data reaches a certain predetermined number of data, a certain predetermined number of An impact recorder characterized in that a maximum value in peak value data is obtained and the obtained maximum value is recorded.