Sensor for falling down

Abstract

A free fall sensor of the invention includes a movable electrode including a plurality of moving portions disposed on a circumference at regular intervals so as to be equidistant from a central axis, a fixed electrode disposed outside the movable electrode so as to be brought into contact with and separated from the movable electrode, an inertial member located inside the moving portions of the movable electrode, and a buffer preventing the inertial member from contacting the fixed electrode so that the moving portions serving as movable electrodes are held between the fixed electrode and the inertial member thereby to be prevented from being pressed or rolled. The central axis makes a right angle with a direction of gravity. The inertial member normally deforms the movable electrode elastically by a weight thereof so that the moving portions are brought into contact with the fixed electrode, whereupon an electric circuit is made. Upon fall, the moving portions return the inertial member by the elasticity thereof and the moving portions are separated from the fixed electrode such that the electric circuit is opened.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a small drop sensor for detecting a dropped state of a portable electronic device such as a notebook computer. Background technique [0002] Due to accidents such as dropping of the above-mentioned portable electronic devices during use, even if the hardware thereof is hardly damaged, there is a possibility that significant damage may be caused to data. For example, the hard disk used as the storage device of the above-mentioned portable electronic equipment has been continuously improved in strength against impact or the like in recent years. However, when writing and reading data, the magnetic head supported on the arm scans the vicinity of the disk surface of the hard disk at a small interval, so even the front end of the disk and the magnetic head may be damaged due to a relatively small impact that does not exceed the above-mentioned mechanical strength. damage due to contact. As a measure to prevent such damage,...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Contrary to this, in any case, in the conventional acceleration sensor having a structure that detects a small change in acceleration by utilizing a decrease in apparent weight, the structure of the part holding the weight is very weak, and when receiving a large impact at the time of dropping as described above, Difficult to reuse

In addition, even a slight shock in normal use may damage the sensor and lose its original function.

In addition, even for these acceleration sensors, there is the above-mentioned installation posture problem, and in particular, a sensor that can obtain the same characteristics even if the sensor is installed laterally is practically impossible to obtain except when a plurality of sensors are combined.

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