阅读说明：本技术 包括用于测量表壳内部的相对湿度的设备的手表 (Watch comprising a device for measuring the relative humidity inside the case ) 是由 P·托尔托拉 于 2019-07-18 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种包括表壳(6)的手表(2),其中表壳(6)包括用于测量手表(2)内部的湿度的设备(8),其中用于测量湿度的设备8是包括测量光纤(14)的光纤设备,所述测量光纤(14)包括部分(16),该部分(16)构造成使得所述部分(16)的折射率在表壳(6)内部存在水蒸气的情况下发生变化。(The invention relates to a watch (2) comprising a watch case (6), wherein the watch case (6) comprises a device (8) for measuring humidity inside the watch (2), wherein the device (8) for measuring humidity is an optical fiber device comprising a measuring optical fiber (14), said measuring optical fiber (14) comprising a portion (16), the portion (16) being configured such that the refractive index of said portion (16) changes in the presence of water vapour inside the watch case (6).)

Watch (2) of the kind , comprising a watch case (6), wherein the watch case (6) comprises a device (8) for measuring the relative humidity inside the watch (2);

characterized in that the device (8) for measuring relative humidity is an optical fiber device comprising a measuring optical fiber (14), the optical fiber (14) comprising a portion (16), the portion (16) being configured such that the refractive index of the portion (16) changes in the presence of water vapor within the watch case (6).

2. A watch (2) according to claim 1, characterized in that said portion (16) forms a middle portion of said measuring fiber (14), said middle portion being located between the two ends (14a, 14b) of said fiber (14).

3. A watch (2) according to claim 1, wherein said portion (16) forms a free end of an optical fiber (14), said free end (16) being optically configured to form a fabry-perot cavity.

4. A watch (2) according to claim 3, characterised in that the device (8) for measuring relative humidity further comprises an optical input fibre (22), an optical output fibre (24) and an optical coupler (26), the optical coupler (26) coupling the optical input fibre (22) to the optical output fibre (24), the other end (28) of the measuring fibre (14) being connected to the optical coupler (26).

5. A watch (2) according to claim 1, characterized in that said portion (16) of said measuring fiber (14) is stripped of its optical sheath.

6. A watch (2) according to claim 5, characterized in that said portion (16) of said measuring fiber (14) comprises an outer layer (18) whose refractive index changes in the presence of water vapour.

7. A watch (2) according to claim 6, characterized in that said outer layer (18) comprises an alternating superposition of polymer layers and silica nanoparticle layers.

8. A watch (2) according to claim 5 when dependent on claim 2, characterised in that said portion (16) of said measuring fibre (14) has a length substantially equal to 30 mm.

9. Watch according to claim 1, characterised in that the case (6) is provided with a case middle (10) and further comprises a light transmissive window (12).

10. A wristwatch (2) according to claim 9, characterized in that the light-transmitting window (12) is machined in the case middle (10).

11. A watch (2) according to claim 10, characterised in that said light-transmissive window (12) is formed of a translucent waterproof material.

12. Watch (2) according to claim 9, characterized in that said case (6) comprises a dial (11) and is provided with a mirror (32) closing said case middle (10); the light-transmitting window (12) is machined through the dial (11) and is arranged facing the watch mirror (32).

13. A watch (2) according to claim 12, characterised in that said light-transmissive window (12) is formed by a hole formed through said dial (11).

14. A watch (2) according to claim 10 when dependent on claim 4, characterized in that said device (8) for measuring relative humidity is arranged in a middle part (10) of said watch case (6), the respective free ends (22a, 24a) of said optical input (22) and output (24) fibers being arranged facing said light-transmissive window (12).

15. A watch (2) according to claim 10 when dependent on claim 2, characterized in that said device for measuring relative humidity (8) is arranged in the middle part (10) of said watch case (6), the two ends (14a, 14b) of said measuring fiber (14) being arranged facing said light-transmissive window (12).

Assembly (1) for measuring the relative humidity inside a watch (2), comprising a watch (2) and a device (4), said device (4) being equipped with determination means for determining the relative humidity from light signals and with light emission and reception means (36) connected to said determination means, characterized in that said watch (2) is a watch according to any of claims 9 to 15, said device (4) being configured to emit and receive light through a light-transmissive window (12) of said watch (2), the light passing through said measuring optical fiber (14).

17. Assembly (1) according to claim 16, characterized in that said device (4) is a portable device.

18. Assembly (1) according to claim 17, characterized in that said portable device (4) is pen-shaped.

19. Assembly (1) according to claim 16, characterized in that said light emitting and receiving means (36) comprise a focused light source (40) and a light sensor (42).

20. Assembly (1) according to claim 16, characterized in that said device (4) further comprises an electronic relative humidity sensor and means for comparing the relative humidity value determined by said electronic relative humidity sensor with the relative humidity value determined by said means for determining the relative humidity from the light signal.

21. Assembly (1) according to claim 20, characterized in that said device (4) further comprises display means (38) able to display a plurality of different visual signals, each corresponding to a predetermined difference in relative humidity, according to the comparison result.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a watch comprising a watch case, wherein the watch case comprises a device for measuring the relative humidity inside the watch.

The invention also relates to an assembly for measuring the relative humidity inside a watch, comprising a light emitting and receiving device and a watch.

Background

The water resistance of a watch is measured in bar (bar is a unit of pressure; 1 bar corresponds to 1 atmosphere or atm). The degree of water resistance of a watch is generally expressed in meters (m). Watches marked as waterproof are intended for daily use, which must ensure waterproofing in activities such as swimming or more simply showering. The diver's watch must meet more stringent standards and, according to the current standards, guarantee a minimum depth of 100 meters of waterproofness.

In order to ensure waterproofness, watches are usually provided with sets of sealing gaskets, located at the junctions of certain parts of the watch, such as the mirror, bezel and back cover of the watch, and moving elements such as the crown and push button.

To meet this need, watches are known that comprise a device for measuring the relative humidity inside the watch. Such measuring devices take the form of electronic modules capable of measuring and storing the values of various environmental parameters, including relative humidity. The reduced size of such an electronic module means that it can be arranged in a watch case and measure the relative humidity in the watch case via a dedicated sensor. The measured relative humidity value can then be transmitted wirelessly to a watch docking station (dockingstation), typically by infrared or radio frequency means. For example, the infrared signal emitted by the electronic module then passes through a transparent portion of the watch case, usually a watch mirror, and is received by the infrared sensor of the docking station. The watch user can then view the measured relative humidity value via a computer or smartphone connected to the docking station and equipped with dedicated software.

However, disadvantages of this electronic measuring device are that it requires a battery or battery cell to power the various electronic components.

Another disadvantages are that such devices are relatively bulky and imprecise inside the watch, and furthermore, such electronic measuring devices are relatively expensive and therefore affect the manufacturing costs of the watch.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, objects of the invention are to provide any type of wristwatch, whether mechanical, electronic or hybrid, which can monitor the relative humidity in the case without having to open it, while being economical, simple to manufacture, and capable of measuring the relative humidity in the case quickly and reliably.

To this end, the invention relates to watches comprising the features mentioned in independent claim 1.

Particular embodiments of the watch are defined in the dependent claims 2 to 15.

The measurement of the optical fiber makes this solution a particularly simple and inexpensive solution for measuring the relative humidity inside the watch case.

According to an th embodiment of the invention, the portion forms a middle portion of the measuring fiber, located between the two ends of the fiber.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, the portion forms a free end of the optical fiber, the free end being optically configured to form a fabry-perot cavity.

According to particular features of the invention, the portion of the measuring fiber is free of an optical sheath.

According to another specific feature of the present invention, the portion of the measurement fiber includes an outer layer having a refractive index that changes in the presence of water vapor.

Advantageously, the outer layer comprises an alternating stack of polymer layers and silica nanoparticle/particle layers. This makes it possible to provide the outer layer of the portion of the measuring fiber with hydrophilicity. Thus, the refractive index of the outer layer changes in the presence of water vapor in the environment of the portion of the measurement fiber.

Advantageously, according to a second embodiment of the invention, the length of said portion of the measuring fibre is substantially equal to 30 mm. This makes it possible to obtain a reliable detection of the relative humidity inside the watch case for relative humidities between 10% and 100%.

To this end, the invention also relates to an assembly for measuring the relative humidity inside a watch case of kinds, comprising the above-mentioned watch and a device equipped with a determining means for determining the relative humidity from a light signal and with a light emitting and receiving means connected to said determining means, wherein the watch case is provided with a middle part of the watch case and further comprises a light transmissive window , the device being configured to emit and receive light through the light transmissive window of the watch and the light flowing through a measuring fiber.

According to preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the device is a portable device.

Advantageously, the device further comprises an electronic relative humidity sensor, and comparison means for comparing a relative humidity value determined by the electronic relative humidity sensor with a relative humidity value determined by the means for determining the relative humidity from the light signal. This makes it possible to compare the relative humidity value determined in the watch case with the ambient relative humidity value, thereby improving the reliability of the measurement. In practice, the humidity level inside the watch is usually in equilibrium with the ambient humidity level. If the means for determining the relative humidity indicate that the internal humidity level is higher than the ambient humidity level measured by the electronic sensor, this indicates the presence of excess water vapour in the watch case. In the case where the wearer moves from a non-humid environment to a very humid environment, for example when leaving an aircraft in a tropical country, it may be necessary to wait for a balance to occur between the inside and the outside of the watch before making a measurement of possible distortions.

Drawings

The advantages and characteristics of the watch according to the invention and of the assembly for measuring relative humidity comprising it will emerge more clearly in the following description based on at least non-limiting embodiments illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 is a schematic partial cross-section of an assembly for measuring relative humidity comprising a watch according to the invention, wherein the watch comprises a watch case and an optical fiber measuring device for measuring the relative humidity inside the watch case.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view, taken along section II-II of the watch of figure 1, according to an th embodiment of the invention;

figure 3 is a section view, taken along the section III-III of the watch of figure 1, according to a second embodiment of the invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the steps for processing the part of the measuring fiber of the device for measuring relative humidity of fig. 1.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows an assembly 1 for measuring the relative humidity inside a watch 2. In the present invention, "relative humidity" means "the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor contained in air to the saturated vapor pressure (or vapor tension) at the same temperature". In other words, the value of the relative humidity measurement corresponds to the ratio of the water vapor content in the air to its maximum capacity to contain water vapor under the same temperature conditions.

The assembly 1 comprises a watch 2 and an external device 4 capable of transmitting optical signals to the watch 2. The watch 2 may be any type of watch, such as a mechanical watch or an electronic watch.

The watch 2 is provided with a case 6. The watch case 6 comprises a device 8 for measuring the relative humidity inside the watch 2. The watch case 6 further comprises a case middle 10 in which the measuring device 8 is arranged, for example, as shown in fig. 1 to 3. Preferably, case 6 comprises a dial 11 and time display means (the latter not shown in the figures for the sake of clarity). Also preferably, the watch case 6 is also provided with a light-transmissive window 12.

To achieve this point , according to specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the portion 16 of the measurement optical fiber 14 is, for example, stripped of its optical jacket, the optical fiber portion 16 includes an outer layer 18 in place of the optical jacket, the refractive index of which changes in the presence of water vapor.

It is assumed that the fiber portion 16 has been stripped of its optical jacket.

In step a, the stripped fiber portion 16 is treated by hydroxylation to activate the surface of the fiber core and prepare it for subsequent layer deposition, the hydroxylation including treating the surface of the stripped fiber portion 16 with, for example, a potassium hydroxide solution.

In a next step 20b, a th polymer layer is deposited on the stripped fiber portion 16. the deposited polymer is typically a positively charged polymer, such as a polycation.

In a next step 20c, a th layer of nanoparticles is deposited on the th polymer layer the deposited nanoparticles are typically negatively charged nanoparticles, such as silica nanoparticles.

In a final step 20d, the deposition steps 20b and 20c are repeated in order to obtain the desired number of alternating layers.

Thus, the method is a layer-by-layer formation method to obtain an alternating superposition of polymer layers and silica nanoparticle layers on the optical fiber 14. It should be noted that the successive steps 20a to 20d may be separated from each other by the following sub-steps of washing and drying/polymerizing the layers.

In the th embodiment of the invention shown in fig. 2, the portion 16 forms a middle part of the measuring fibre 14, which is located between the two end parts 14a, 14b of the fibre, the measuring device 8 is arranged in the middle part 10 of the watch case 6 the two end parts 14a, 14b of the measuring fibre 14 face the light-transmitting window 12, as shown in fig. 1 and 2. preferably, in this embodiment, the middle part 16 has a length substantially equal to 30mm when the outer layer 18 of the middle part 16 has the above-mentioned alternating superposition of polymer layers and silica nanoparticle layers, the refractive index of the outer layer 18 of the part 16 increases in the presence of water vapour and the evanescent portion of the light guided into the fibre 14 penetrates step-wise into the layer 18, whereupon the intensity of the light detected at the output end of the fibre 14 is adjusted according to the presence of water vapour around the middle part 16.

In a second embodiment of the invention shown in fig. 3, the portion 16 forms the free end of the measuring fiber 14, the free end 16 being optically configured to form a Fabry-perot cavity (Fabry-perot cavity) to achieve this point , possibilities lie in the specific configuration of the outer layer 18 of the free end 16 described above, i.e. the alternating superposition of polymer layers and silica nanoparticle layers, in fact, this multilayer deposition optically behaves like a Fabry-perot cavity, the reflectivity of which varies with the refractive index, which in turn is influenced by the humidity in the fiber environment, according to this second embodiment, the measuring device 8 further comprises an optical input fiber 22, an optical output fiber 24 and an optical coupler 26 coupling the optical input fiber 22 to the optical output fiber 24, another end 28 of the measuring fiber 14 opposite the free end 16 is connected to the optical coupler 26, the measuring device 8 is arranged within the intermediate 10 of the watch case 6, the respective free ends 22a, 24a of the optical input and output fibers 22, 24 are arranged facing the window 12, the respective free ends 22a 24a being arranged as shown in fig. 3, allowing the light intensity to be measured by the optical input fiber 24, as detailed description of the optical input fiber 24.

Referring again to fig. 1, the case middle 10 is for example annular and is provided with an upper annular edge 30 on which the watch mirror 32 rests on the upper annular edge 30. In the watch case 6 as an example in fig. 1 to 3, the configuration of the watch case is substantially circular. However, the present invention is not limited to this case configuration, nor to the other structures described above for case middle 10.

According to an exemplary embodiment shown in figures 2 and 3, and which is applicable to both the above-described embodiments and second, a light-transmitting window 12 is machined in the middle part 10 of the watch case 6 preferably the window 12 is then formed of a translucent, waterproof material such as mineral glass or sapphire.

According to the second embodiment shown in fig. 1, and which is applicable to both the th and second embodiments described above, the light-transmitting window 12 is machined through the dial 11 of the watch case 6 and is arranged facing the mirror 32, in which case the window 12 is formed, for example, by a hole formed through the dial 11.

The external arrangement 4 comprises determination means for determining the relative humidity from the light signal and light emitting and receiving means 36 connected to the determination means, the determination means not being shown in the figure for the sake of clarity, preferably the external arrangement 4 further comprises an electronic relative humidity sensor and comparison means, these elements not being shown in the figure, the comparison means being connected to the electronic relative humidity sensor and the means for determining the relative humidity from the light signal, the comparison means being configured to compare the relative humidity value determined by the electronic relative humidity sensor with the relative humidity value determined by the means for determining the relative humidity from the light signal, it is also preferred that the arrangement 4 further further comprises display means 38 connected to the means for determining the relative humidity from the light signal and/or the comparison means.

The external device 4 is configured to emit and receive light through the light-transmissive window 12 of the watch 2. According to the preferred embodiment shown in fig. 1, the external device 4 is a portable device, i.e. a device that can be worn by the user without the need for a wired connection for its power supply. As shown in fig. 1, the portable device 4 has, for example, the shape of a pen, the tip of which accommodates a light emitting and receiving means 36.

The storage means store or more correspondence tables between, for example, light intensity values and associated relative humidity values.

As shown in fig. 1, the light emitting and receiving means 36 comprise, for example, a focused light source 40 able to emit light through the light-transmissive window 12 towards the watch 2, and a light sensor 42 able to receive, through the window 12, the light exiting through the measuring fiber 14.

The display means 38 can display different visual signals depending on the relative humidity value determined by the determination means or depending on the result of the comparison made by the comparison means. Each visual signal displayed by the display means 38 then corresponds, as the case may be, to a predetermined relative humidity value, or to a predetermined difference in relative humidity (differential value). As shown in fig. 1, the display device 38 is formed, for example, by a light indicator with light emitting diodes, wherein the illumination of a given diode corresponds to a predetermined relative humidity threshold. Thus, the display device 38 provides the user with visual indicia indicative of the relative humidity within the watch 2.

The operation of the assembly 1 for measuring the relative humidity within the watch 2 will now be described the user of the assembly 1 activates the light emitting and receiving means 36 once the external device 4 is positioned facing the light transmissive window 12 of the watch 2. in particular, in the illustrative example of fig. 1, the user activates the focused light source 40, which makes it possible to inject incident light into the watch case 6, in particular into the measuring optical fibre 14. in the second embodiment of the invention shown in fig. 3, the incident light flows first within the input optical fibre 22, then the light flows within the measuring optical fibre 14, is reflected back by the fabry-perot cavity formed by the free end 16, and then moves into the output optical fibre 24 by passing through the optical coupling 26.

Then, the light having passed through the measuring fiber 14 is received by the light emitting and receiving device 36. In particular, in the illustrative example of FIG. 1, the light sensor 42 receives the outgoing light.

This configuration according to the invention thus makes it possible to obtain a measurement of the relative humidity inside the watch case by sending light to the input end of the measuring fiber and by measuring the intensity of the outgoing light without having to open the watch case.

It should also be noted that according to variants, not shown, at least the display device of the relative humidity can be integrated in the watch case, and the light source can be formed, for example, by a flash of a smartphone.