Field of the invention

The invention refers to a large size clock product, which is similar to tower clocks originated in the 19 ^th century and found in many places all over the world that some of them are the most famous such as Zytglogge (Switzerland), Big Ben (UK), Philadelphia (US), Spasskaya - Moscow (Russia), Rathaus Glockenspiel (Germany), Peace Ottawa (Canada) and Rajabai (India), etc.

Comparing the clock of the invention to the conventional clock, there are similar characteristics such as: they both have a mechanical machine, a hand indicator, and a simple pendulum mechanism. The difference is the position and function of the pendulum oscillation in each machine. Particularly, in the conventional machine, the oscillation is passive object, positioned at the end of mechanical wheel system, it receives energy from gravity of a heavy weight and transfers the energy through a wheel system to maintain its frequent oscillation and through wheel system to maintain its harmonic oscillation, making the wheel system to rotate at a speed compatible to the correct displaying needed of the hand system. In the machine of the invention, the pendulum oscillation is active object, it controlled by an electric pulse with a standard frequency created by quartz, this oscillation produces energy to rotate the wheel system and the displaying hands of clock. Thanks to the quartz, this clock has thousand times higher degree of accuracy than conventional clocks. It is regarded as one large size electronic clock, consuming electric current with low amplitude and having many excellent characteristics which is suitable to new industrial era.

Background of the invention

Clocks have a long history. From the medieval, humans have known how to measure time by monitoring shades of trees and objects under the sun and the moon. The clock of the principle is called Sundial, the first clock dated back 3,700 BC. Due to the demand of life, religion and science, etc., the history of clocks has non-stop developed. It takes thousands of years to develop from sundial clocks, water clocks, sand clocks, mechanical clocks to become tower clocks.

From the early 20 ^th century, French brought mechanical clocks to Vietnam. This was the very significant event that the first time Vietnamese had known about a device to measure time of modern world which is called clock. Since then, people changed the way to measure from times of the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger and the Cat, etc. to times of hours, minutes and seconds of today. From time to time, due to the lack of maintenance, the said clocks have been broken gradually. There are few ones at some places such as Notre-Dame Cathedral in Saigon and Da La Station, etc.

Also in Vietnam, there is a company named SEN SJC which has taken an initiative to manufacture and assemble clocks publicly in this country. In 1980, an electronic engineer of SEN SJC, the inventor, researched and produced successfully the first large size electronic Quartz clock in Vietnam. This clock has its diameter of 1.8m, located at Hang Co train station in Hanoi in 1981. It has been still working correctly after 40 years. Many clocks assembled by French have been replaced by SEN clocks in many locations such as train stations of Hai Phong, Hue, Nha Trang city, Long Bien bridge, Albert Sarraut school, Hanoi Chu Van An (Buoi) school and Hai Phong Ngo Quen (Bonnal) school, etc. SEN clocks has shown up in many provinces in the country.

Nowadays, clock technology has a significant development. At the moment, international time, i.e., international date and time are measured by an atom method. Time is measured following Caesium clock with an error of 1 second over 20 million years. Hundreds of this clocks are located all over the world.

On the market, many clocks with high degree of accuracy, using battery, high quality and cheap price have become a popular item appeared in every house and in society everywhere. However, big clocks in public and magnificent tower clocks in Europe and America styles are still the dream of many people for their home country. Particularly in Vietnam, tower clocks have been installed in many provinces and offices. However, these tower clocks are not good in appearance and quality. They are just in operation in a short time and then they gets wrong time measuring, broken and repaired in few times after that no longer in use with remaining of old towers. Finding a provider to build a tower clock with good quality and long lifespan is not easy. Specifically, a large size clock of 4mx4m with 4 sides positioned on top of Hoan Kiem Lake post office is one of the example for that situation. This clock was originated in China, installed in 1976. At first, there were tens of people to monitor, maintenance and take care it in 24 hours daily. So far, it has gone 45 years in use, the machine has become seriously degraded, the operation is in a critical condition as the change of time is done daily. Its owner, Hanoi Telecommunication Corporation, needs to replace it by a new one but has not found out any domestic provider because if importing a clock from a foreign country, it is expensive and the maintenance is difficult.

It has been known that, old tower clocks, regardless of the ones which are heritage of the world, are still in need of human to change the time to avoid the wrong timing. For example, Zytglogge Bern (Switzerland) is famous with an engineer named Markus Marti who has taken care of this clock for over 40 years. Big Ben London (UK) must be in maintenance in each 5 years, each maintenance time costs tens of millions pound. The adding or removing of coins is still required to adjust the time for this clock.

The selection of clocks to be installed in public areas on the tall tower is not an easy work. The manufacturing for machine of old clock is not the good option because this type of clock reveals a disadvantage even it has been used for hundreds of years, for example, its machine is large, the accuracy is not high because it depends on the pendulum oscillation mechanism wherein its oscillation cycle depends on the height, material and ambient temperature, etc. On the other hand, it needs human to adjust the time, maintenance and pull the weight up periodically.

Nowadays, clocks have been in use with a large electric motor, a kind of new clock machine since 1970s, to install on each side of tall towers. In Vietnam, there has been companies to import that kind of clock to install for many provinces. This kind of clock machine has a disadvantage of consuming high electric current, when power is off, the clock stops in few hours. It causes the wrong time indication on each side. Because there is no choice, this type of clock is still in use. Clocks of SEN JSC (as mentioned above) have good quality and long lifespan and they are selected to install for government organizations and national assembly, etc. but the maximum size is just 2m and it is a disadvantage.

Recently, the world has witnessed a magnificent clock with many world records, it is Makkah clock on Abrax Al-Bait tower in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. This is the biggest clock in the world with a diameter of 36m, located on the highest position (530m) and it is the most modern and expensive clock with its cost of 800 million US Dollars. These types of clocks are only afforded by the richest countries.

Summary of the invention

This invention is to provide a new clock to overcome disadvantages of conventional clocks and have outstanding characteristics.

The large size clock consuming low energy of the invention includes: an electronic pulse controlling box wherein an electronic circuit applies piezoelectric effect of quartz crystal to create an oscillation with stable frequency of 32,768 Hz, separated by a complex integrated circuit into a pulse oscillation with a frequency of 1Hz, wherein the pulse width is one per 20 seconds and the electric pulse changes direction each second; a harmonic oscillation structure includes an electromagnet, a pendulum bob, a pendulum rod, a hook holding the pendulum rod and a pawl wherein the generated electric pulse amplified many times is conducted through an electromagnetic coil, the electromagnetic coil becomes a changing electromagnet with frequency of a standard pulse of 1 Hz at the input and a standard frequency of 1 Hz that is almost equal to 1 Hz of a caesium clock which is used as a standard for the international time, in the electronic circuit, as the square pulse has almost vertical side, the change speed of the current through the coil is large, from 0 to maximum value (and in turn) in a period nearly equal to zero so that a large electromotive force and a large electromagnetic field are created, a cylinder electromagnet with a large electromotive force is provided on a selected position on the pendulum rod of the pendulum bob, this magnet is placed in the changing magnetic field of the electromagnetic coil to make the pendulum bob to oscillate following the standard frequency of the coil so that the harmonic oscillation of the pendulum bob is maintained without depending on any factor, the moment due to the oscillation of the pendulum bob rotates the ratchet wheel, and then it is amplified in many times by the gear box and the mechanical machine to rotate hands in sides, the private oscillation of the pendulum is adjusted by a knob on the pendulum rod so that it resonates with frequency of electric pulse oscillation, the pendulum bob herein reaches the maximum amplitude while the kinetic energy of oscillation pendulum reaches the maximum, it will be transferred through the pawl to create a non-reversible rotating moment for the input shaft of the gear box, the energy of pendulum oscillation herein is also amplified up to tens of times thanks to the lever principle applied on the pendulum rod with the pendulum oscillation; a gear box is a group of mechanical wheels assembled inside a seal box containing lubricant, its function is to reduce rotation speed of the input shaft down to several times which is called the reduction index i, at the output of the gear box, rotation speed is reduced i times, as such the rotation moment is additional amplified to hundreds of times, as a result a very large moment is applied to the shaft of clock hands, finally hand sets are assembled with different desired size and designs; and a time indication set including hands of stainless steel or other non-corrosive materials directly assembled to the output shaft of the gear box or indirectly assembled through a separation and direction changing set of the shaft, in the mean time a sound indication set to show the time based on the bell sound can be installed.

Brief description of figures

Fig.l is to demonstrate the block diagram of the machine of conventional clocks.

Fig.2 is to demonstrate the block diagram of the machine of the clock of the invention.

Fig.3 is to demonstrate structure of the pendulum bob of the clock with the design of a pawl to make the wheel to rotate non-reversibly.

Fig.4 is to demonstrate the machine of the large size clock consuming low energy of the invention.

Fig.5 is to demonstrate the position of the arm of the pawl, the ratchet wheel and the pawl in the relation to the pendulum rod. Fig.6 is to demonstrate the square pulse with its width of 1/20 Hz.

Fig.7 is the perspective view to illustrate the position the pawl on the arm.

Fig.8 is the enlarged view of the pawl according to Fig.7.

Fig.9A is to demonstrate the position of the stainless blade.

Fig.9B is the perspective view to illustrate the position of the stainless blade.

Fig.10 is to illustrate the bevel gear.

Fig.l 1A is to demonstrate the quartz circuit.

Fig.1 IB is to demonstrate the pulse generated by the quartz circuit.

Fig.12 is to demonstrate changing direction bevel gear set of the shaft.

Fig.13 is to demonstrate the gear box.

Fig.l4A is to demonstrate the thin steel sheet in the hanging structure of the conventional pendulum bob.

Fig.l4B is the perspective view to illustrate the hanging position of the thin steel sheet in the hanging structure the conventional pendulum bob.

Fig.l5A is to demonstrate the electromagnetic coil in the relation to the electromagnet from front.

Fig.l5B is the perspective view of electromagnetic coil in the relation to the electromagnet. Detailed description of the invention

The invention is described in details below is based on the enclosed figures. The structure of the large size clock according to the invention is illustrated by figures.

Fig.l is to show the block diagram of the machine of conventional clocks wherein the weight over 300 kg transfers a kinetic energy to the hand indication set, the clock hands rotate to make the mechanical machine to operate and transfer oscillation to the pendulum. Fig.l4A and Fig.l4B illustrate the hanging structure of the conventional pendulum bob. The principle of the conventional clocks has been replaced by the principle of the new clock of the invention.

The part to make the accuracy of the clock is quartz. The finding out of the piezoelectric effect, its great physical property, is the background to produce the clock with a very high degree of accuracy. In the electronic circuit of the invention, it is possible to adjust the frequency of quartz oscillation so that the error of the clock is ± 10 seconds per year based on the international time, i.e., the degree of accuracy is ± 1 second per 20 million years.

The clock of the invention includes following parts:

As shown in Fig.2, the operation mechanism of the clock machine of the invention is an electronic controlling box which operates to create the oscillation for pendulum bob 3, the pendulum oscillation generates a kinetic energy to transfer to gear reducer 4 and gear box 61 then transfer to the time indication set including hands 6. A pendulum oscillation is first generated, this oscillation is transfer to gear reducer 4 and rotate the clock hands. This is the reversed principle compared to the principle of conventional clocks. As shown in Fig.3 to Fig.5, Fig.7 to Fig.10 and Fig.13, the large size clock consuming low energy of the invention includes electronic pulse controlling box 2, pendulum bob 3, gear reducer 4 containing ratchet wheel 42, arm 411 and pawl 41, direction unit 5, gear box 61 and a time indication set 6 including hands made of stainless steel.

The most important part of the clock of the invention is electronic circuit 2 (it is called the electronic controlling box). The quartz oscillation circuit is shown in Fig.11 A, Fig.1 IB with the frequency of 32,768 Hz, separated by a complex integrated circuit into the pulse oscillation with frequency of 1 Hz and the pulse width is one per 20 seconds and the direction of the pulse is changed second by second. With the said frequency of 1 Hz, the degree of accuracy reaches as high as mentioned above. As shown in Fig.6, the pulse with square side is to increase the electromotive force for the electromagnetic coil while the width of 1 per 20 seconds is to make the current to be consumed as low as 5pA.

The generated electric pulse amplified many times is conducted through electromagnetic coil 7, the electromagnetic coil becomes a changing electromagnet with a frequency of standard pulse of 1 Hz at the input. The square pulse has almost vertical side so that the change speed of the current through the coil is large, from 0 to maximum value (and in turn) in a period nearly equal to 0 so that it generates a large electromotive force. Electromagnet 8 with a large electromotive force is provided on pendulum rod 33 of pendulum bob 3; it is placed in the changing electromagnetic field of the coil so that the harmonic oscillation is maintained without depending on any factor. The arrangement of electromagnetic coil and the electromagnet is shown in Fig.15 A and Fig.l5B wherein the proportion between a and b is the gold proportion of 1.618033989. According to the principle of a simple pendulum, this is the constrained oscillation to follow the frequency of the electromagnet. It has been known that, the oscillation of a simple pendulum has its private frequency of the following equation: wherein f is the private frequency; g is the gravitational acceleration and I is the length of hanging rod.

When adjusting the length of the hanging rod, the frequency of oscillation will be changed. At the frequency of 1 Hz which is equal to the standard frequency of the electromagnet, the two oscillations will be resonated each other, since then the pendulum bob reaches the maximum amplitude of about 0.22 m with its angle a of 7.0°. At this time, the energy of the oscillation pendulum reaches the maximum value which is calculated by the following equation: wherein W is the energy of the oscillation pendulum; m is the weight of the pendulum bob; and v _max is the maximum speed of the pendulum bob.

In a preferred embodiment, m is equal to 10 kg and the length of pendulum rod is 1.0 m, the energy of oscillation pendulum is significantly high.

At the position that the kinetic energy of oscillation is maximum, it will be transferred through pawl 41 to generate a non -reversible rotating moment for the input shaft of the gear box in the machine. The energy of the oscillation of the pendulum bob 3 herein is also amplified up to tens of times, preferably 20 times thanks to the lever principle applied on the pendulum rod with the pendulum oscillation. Gear reducer 4 is a group of mechanical wheels assembled inside a seal box containing lubricant, its function is to reduce the rotation speed of the input shaft down to several times which is called the reduction index i. At the output of gear reducer 4, rotation speed is reduced i times, as such the rotation moment is additionally amplified to hundreds of times. The gear box is commonly used in lift machine for heavy weight. The preferred gear box for the invention has the i index of 120 and a motor with the input 0.1 KW is in install to generate output of hundreds of horsepower (Ihp is 745.7 W). With that power, it is possible to lift up items of hundreds of kilograms. When the gear box is used as shown in Fig.13, a large moment for the shaft of clock hands is generated, so that it is possible to assemble hand sets with different desired size and designs.

In the machine, the pendulum bob is the non-stop working mechanical part which is designed to permit fulcrum 15 as shown in Fig.9A and Fig.9B to support stainless steel knife blade 151 to hang the pendulum bob so that the friction and the corrosion are very small. The ratchet wheel and the pawl are also parts under heavy working and they are designed with automatic lubricant to minimize the corrosion.

With the one side clocks, hands are directly attached to the output shaft of the gear box while with the multiple side clocks, the gear box with the input shaft and orthogonal output and separation and a direction changing set of the shaft for clock hands as shown in Fig.12 must be used. This is not difficult for mechanical manufacturing. Besides showing time with hands, it is possible to add a sound indication unit such as bell to notify time. Nowadays, an electronic sound can be replaced by the conventional sound. Therefore, the set up of sound for the clock is very convenient.

The clock of the invention is different from the conventional clocks as below:

Although the two clocks have a harmonic oscillation of a simple pendulum, the oscillation of simple pendulum in the machine of the conventional mechanical clock just has one duty which is to keep for the fall of the weight and the wheel system to rotate with a specific speed so that the time indication set is accurate. Therefore, the accuracy of the clock fully depends on the frequency of oscillation of pendulum. The energy for the clock is from the gravity of the weight.

On the other hand, with the machine of the invention, the energy is from the electronic circuit quartz to generate and maintain the harmonic oscillation of pendulum. The mechanical energy of pendulum is converted to the rotation moment of the mechanical wheel system of the clock. The harmonic oscillation has a standard frequency of 1 Hz so that the degree of accuracy of the clock is high. In contrast, when designing the mechanical system of the pendulum oscillation, the gold proportion in math and Fibonanci series are used so that the effect of the machine is increased, for example, at the balance position of the pendulum oscillation, if the cylinder electromagnet is placed inside the electromagnet coil with the proportion of the inside length of 0.618, the amplitude oscillation is much greater than other options. It has been known that, the gold proportion ) is 0.61803 which is the proportion between the sum of two values and the higher value and it is equal to the proportion between the higher value and the lower value. The equation is shown as follows: wherein q> is the gold proportion; a is the higher value and b is the lower value.

By applying this proportion to many fields such as technique, arts and architecture, it is possible to provide great results.

A DC power from 15V to 30V (depending on the length of hands) provided from the electric power system is the power used for the electronic circuit of the clock. The pulse generated from this circuit controls the harmonic oscillation of the machine the clock. The circuit consumes a current of about 5pA so that a power unit of 24V-2200mAh in reality permits the clock to work at least 15 days. Comparing to the power of an iPhone 11 of 5V-4500mAh, the iPhone only operates in about 1 day. This is to show that the machine of the clock of the invention consumes a low energy. It has been known that, the large conventional clock has its huge mechanical machine with big wheel system and facilities which occupies a space of several square meters or occupies a room. To permit the clock to operate, it requires people to take care and maintenance frequently.

The machine of the invention is much more simple, it includes main parts as below:

(i) an electronic controlling box, with its size equal to an iPad;

(ii) A harmonic oscillation system includes a pendulum bob, preferably a pendulum bob of 10 Kg, with a pendulum rod to hang which is made of stainless steel, a small cylinder electromagnet and an electromagnetic coil. A force transferring system in the form of a pawl to transfer energy from pendulum oscillation to become one way moment to rotate a gear box.

(iii) A gear box with average capacity of 100W and its size of 2 dm ³ ; a ratchet wheel to change the force direction; and a time adjusting unit in the form of a motor.

(iv) One or four sets of time indication including hands to display outside.

With the said machine, the invention has provided a large size clock, consuming low energy and achieving criteria: accuracy, durability and simplicity as mentioned above. However, this is just to mention the principle of the clock. From the design and manufacture, it is required skills and a long time experience to produce the clock.

Advantages of the invention

The large size clock consuming low energy of the invention has provided a type of new clock for public areas. It can be said that this is a type of large sized electronic clock with very high degree of accuracy and many outstanding characteristics.

The product in the testing period has its size up to 5 m. In the future, based on its principle, it is possible to produce larger sizes. It is possible to install the clock at any place without affecting by environment and climate.

The manufacturing and mass production are not difficult with low cost. The product has a long lifespan because it uses non-oxidation materials and its machine design is simple.

The clock does not require any person to monitor. The period maintenance time is longer and there is no break-down problem as well as the repair is minimized, etc. In addition, thanks to the global Internet and the intelligent electronic equipments applied, the monitor and adjustment for the clock from a far center or by a mobile phone are convenient.

Another great application is that the operation principle of this invention can be applied to repair machines of old tower clocks all over the world. By only repairing and adding several items, it can change a huge mechanical machine to become a machine of electronic clocks and the bell system is also not required to make significant changed. This work does not require much cost and labor as long as their owners permit to do so.