Device for regulating the motion of a mechanical horological movement

• US 10,001,753 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ETA SA Manufacture Horlogã¨Re Suisse (The Swatch Group AG)
• Original Assignee: ETA SA Manufacture Horlogã¨Re Suisse (The Swatch Group AG)
• Inventors: Winkler, Pascal, Di Domenico, Gianni, Born, Jean-Jacques
• Primary Examiner(s): Miska, Vit W
• Application Number:
  US15/509,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20170300015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 17/32 Component parts or constructional details, e.g. collet, stud , virole or piton
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 18/02 Regulator or adjustment devices; Indexing devices , e.g. raquettes
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 3/08 wherein movement is regulated by a mechanical oscillator other than a pendulum or balance, e.g. by a tuning fork , e.g. electrostatically
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 5/005 Magnetic or electromagnetic means
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 49/10 of the permanent-magnet type

Abstract

A device regulating motion of a mechanical horological movement includes: a frame; a resonator attached to the frame and including a first annular magnetic structure including N1 magnets arranged regularly in a circle and a resilient structure; a second annular magnetic structure including N2 magnets defining a central axis about which the structure rotates, N2 being different than N1. The resonator is configured so that a resonant mode in which the first magnetic structure is subject to curvilinear, or substantially circular, translation about the central axis may be excited by rotation of the second magnetic structure. The two magnetic structures define a magnetic cycloid gear such that the regulating device incorporates a reducer of frequency between the resonance frequency and the rotational frequency of the second magnetic structure which is rigidly connected to an escapement wheel.

Claims

1. A device for regulating motion of a mechanical horological movement, the regulating device comprising:

a frame;

a resonator attached to the frame and comprising a first annular periodic magnetic structure including a first whole number N1 of angular periods and which defines a first central axis, the first magnetic structure forming an inertial portion of the resonator;

a second annular periodic magnetic structure including a second whole number N2 of angular periods and which defines a second central axis, the second number N2 being different from the first number N1, the second magnetic structure being configured to rotate relative to the frame about the second central axis which has a determined position relative to the frame;

wherein at least one magnetic structure from among the first and second magnetic structures includes magnetized material in each of the angular periods thereof;

the resonator is configured to have a resonant mode in which the first magnetic structure is subject to a curvilinear translation relative to the frame about the second central axis with a resonance frequency F1;

the first and second magnetic structures are configured to have a magnetic interaction between them such that a rotation at a frequency F2 of the second magnetic structure relative to the frame and about the second central axis, by application of torque within a useful torque range, allows the resonant mode to be excited and such that the frequency F2 of the relative rotation of the second magnetic structure and the resonance frequency F1 have between them, within the useful torque range, a given relationship R_Fr, that is R_Fr=F1/F2, which is equal to the second whole number N2 divided by the difference Δ

N between the second whole number N2 and the first whole number N1, such that Δ

N=N2−

N1 and R_Fr=N2/Δ

N.

2. An horological regulating device according to claim 1, wherein the resonator comprises a resilient structure connecting the first magnetic structure to the frame, the resilient structure being configured so that the first magnetic structure has a rest position in which the first and second central axes are substantially merged, and to apply a return force substantially in a direction of the second central axis whatever the angular position of the first magnetic structure relative to the second central axis.

3. The horological regulating device according to claim 2, wherein return force of the resilient structure is substantially isotropic and substantially proportional to the distance between the first and second central axes.

4. A regulating device according to claim 2, wherein the relationship R_Fr is greater than five, R_Fr>

5.

5. The regulating device according to claim 2, wherein the first magnetic structure comprises a first plurality of magnets distributed regularly in a circle and of which the number is equal to the number N1, and the second magnetic structure comprises a second plurality of magnets distributed regularly in a circle and of which the number is equal to the number N2.

6. The regulating device according to claim 5, wherein the second plurality of magnets is arranged in repulsion relative to the first plurality of magnets.

7. The regulating device according to claim 1, wherein the first and second magnetic structures are arranged in two general parallel planes that are distant from one another.

8. The regulating device according to claim 7, wherein magnetized material of the at least one magnetic structure is magnetized axially.

9. The regulating device according to claim 7, further comprising a third magnetic structure which has a similar configuration to the first or second magnetic structure, the two similar magnetic structures being aligned in the direction defined by the first central axis or the second central axis respectively and arranged on both sides of the different magnetic structure at substantially a same distance therefrom.

10. The regulating device according to claim 1, wherein the first and second magnetic structures are arranged in a same general plane, one of the first and second magnetic structures being situated inside the other;

and magnetized material of the at least one magnetic structure is magnetized radially.

11. The regulating device according to claim 2, wherein the second magnetic structure forms an escapement wheel to which the torque is applied.

12. The regulating device according to claim 2, wherein the frame forms an escapement wheel to which the torque is applied.

13. The regulating device according to claim 1, further comprising a mechanical anti-loss-of-synchronization system between the first and second magnetic structures including a planetary gear with a planet wheel including a first set of teeth and rotating inside a crown provided internally with a second set of teeth,

the planet wheel being associated with the structure that has a lower number of angular periods from among the first and second magnetic structures and the crown being associated with the other structure that has a higher number of angular periods;

wherein the structure associated with the second magnetic structure is rigidly connected in rotation to the second structure;

wherein the mechanical anti-loss-of-synchronization system is configured so that, at least in an upper zone of the useful torque range of which the higher value defines the maximum value of the useful range, the first and second sets of teeth penetrate one another at least in part; and

wherein the first and second sets of teeth are configured and configured relative to one another so that, within the useful range, the first and second sets of teeth do not touch one another, coupling between the first and second magnetic structures being purely magnetic within the useful range.

14. The regulating device according to claim 13, wherein the relationship R_Z between a number Z1 of teeth of the set of teeth of the crown and a number Z2 of teeth of the set of teeth of the planet wheel is equal to the relationship R_M* between the higher number of angular periods and the lower number of angular periods.

15. The regulating device according to claim 13, wherein the mechanical anti-loss-of-synchronization system is configured so that the first and second sets of teeth penetrate one another at least in part without touching each other over the entire useful torque range.

16. The regulating device according to claim 13, wherein the useful torque range is a first useful range of purely magnetic coupling of the first and second magnetic structures, the maximum value of the first useful range being less than a loss-of-synchronization value of the purely mechanical coupling,

wherein the regulating device comprises a second useful torque range, greater than the first useful range and contiguous thereto, corresponding to a useful range of magneto-mechanical coupling in which the first and second sets of teeth mesh with one another so that one applies a mechanical driving torque to the other;

wherein the first and second sets of teeth are configured and configured relative to one another so that, at least in a lower zone of the second useful range of which the lower value defines the minimum value of the second useful range, the first and second sets of teeth have some radial play allowing an increase of amplitude of the curvilinear translation of the first magnetic structure during an increase in the torque; and

wherein the resilient structure is configured to have substantially resilient deformation in the first and second useful ranges of torque applied to the regulating device.

17. The regulating device according to claim 13, wherein the first set of teeth of the planet wheel is arranged relative to the second set of teeth of the crown so that, in a zone of the useful torque range in which the first and second sets of teeth have contactless penetration, some teeth of the first set of teeth situated in the corresponding spaces of the second set of teeth, in a zone where the first and second sets of teeth are radially closest, are substantially centered within a given total tangential play for a median relative angular shift, between the angular periods of the first magnetic structure and the angular periods of the second magnetic structure, within a range of relative angular shift defined by a variation of the torque within the useful range.

18. The regulating device according to claim 2, wherein the difference as an absolute value |Δ

N| between the second whole number N2 and the first whole number N1 is equal to one, that is |Δ

N|=1.

19. The regulating device according to claim 2, wherein the difference as an absolute value |Δ

N| between the second whole number N2 and the first whole number N1 is greater than one, that is |Δ

N|>

1.

20. The regulating device according to claim 19, further comprising mechanical means to decenter initially the first magnetic structure relative to the second magnetic structure, to produce an initial magnetic coupling between the first and second structures which is sufficient to allow starting of the regulating device by the relative rotation of the second magnetic structure.

21. A mechanical horological movement comprising:

a regulating device;

a counting train regulated by the regulating device; and

a motor device driving the counting train and maintaining a resonant mode of the regulating device;

wherein the regulating device is a regulating device according to claim 1.

22. A mechanical horological movement comprising:

a regulating device;

a counting train regulated by the regulating device; and

a motor device driving the counting train and maintaining a resonant mode of the regulating device;

wherein the regulating device is a regulating device according to claim 3.

23. A mechanical horological movement comprising:

a regulating device;

a counting train regulated by the regulating device; and

a motor device driving the counting train and maintaining a resonant mode of the regulating device;

wherein the regulating device is a regulating device according to claim 5.

24. A mechanical horological movement comprising:

a regulating device;

a counting train regulated by the regulating device; and

a motor device driving the counting train and maintaining a resonant mode of the regulating device;

wherein the regulating device is a regulating device according to claim 13.

25. A mechanical horological movement comprising:

a regulating device;

a counting train regulated by the regulating device; and

a motor device driving the counting train and maintaining a resonant mode of the regulating device;

wherein the regulating device is a regulating device according to claim 16.