Part for timepiece movement, timepiece movement, timepiece, and method for manufacturing such a part for timepiece movement

Abstract

Part for a timepiece movement, made of a composite material comprising a rigid matrix and a forest of nanotubes contained in the rigid matrix.

Claims

1. A spring for a timepiece movement comprising at least one spiral flexible portion extending in a plane around a central axis perpendicular to said plane. said flexible portion being made of a composite material comprising nanotubes bound in a matrix, wherein the nanotubes form a forest of nanotubes, the nanotubes being juxtaposed and generally arranged in parallel to said central axis, wherin bending of said spiral flexible portion in said plane does not result in a bending of the nanotubes, mechanical properties of said spiral flexible portion being provided mostly by the matrix.

2. The spring for a timepiece movement according to claim 1, wherein the nanotubes are of carbon.

3. The spring for a timepiece movement according to claim 1, wherein the nanotubes are multi-walled.

4. The spring for a timepiece movement according claim 1, wherein the nanotubes have a diameter comprised between 7 and 30 nm.

5. The spring for a timepiece movement according to claim 1, wherein the nanotubes have a length comprised between 200 and 400 microns.

6. The spring for a timepiece movement according to claim 1, wherein the matrix is of carbon.

7. The spring for a timepiece movement according to claim 1, said spring for a timepiece movement being a coil spring adapted to oscillate about said central axis.

8. The spring for a timepiece movement according to claim 1, said spring for a timepiece movement being a mainspring.

9. A timepiece movement having a spring according to claim 1.

10. The timepiece comprising a timepiece movement according to claim 9.

11. An oscillator for a timepiece movement, said oscillator extending in a plane and comprising a fixed part, a rotor rotatable around a central axis perpendicular to said plane and elastic suspensions connecting the rotor to the fixed part, at least said elastic suspensions being made of a composite material comprising nanotubes bound in a matrix, wherein the nanotubes form a forest of nanotubes, the nanotubes being juxtaposed and generally arranged in parallel to said central axis, whereby bending of said elastic suspensions in said plane does not result in a bending of the nanotubes, mechanical properties of said elastic suspensions being provided mostly by the matrix.

12. A Timepiece movement having an oscillator according to claim 11.

13. A Timepiece comprising a timepiece movement according to claim 12.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of several of its embodiments, given as non-limiting examples, with regard to the accompanying drawings.

(2) In the drawings:

(3) FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a timepiece able to comprise a coil spring according to a first embodiment of the invention,

(4) FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the movement of the timepiece of FIG. 1,

(5) FIG. 3 is a photograph of a coil spring usable in the timepiece of FIG. 1,

(6) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the coil spring of FIG. 3,

(7) FIG. 5 highly schematically illustrates the composition of the material of the coil spring in the form of a forest of nanotubes, the nanotubes being deliberately enlarged for clarity and therefore not represented to scale,

(8) FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a mainspring usable in a timepiece such as the one in FIG. 1, according to a second embodiment of the invention,

(9) FIG. 7 represents a mechanical oscillator also usable in a timepiece such as the one in FIG. 1, according to a third embodiment of the invention,

(10) and FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a method of manufacture of a spring by growing a forest of nanotubes on a substrate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

(11) In the various figures, the same references denote identical or similar elements.

(12) FIG. 1 represents a timepiece 1 such as a watch, comprising: a case 2, a timepiece movement 3 contained in the case 2, generally, a winding mechanism 4, a dial 5, a crystal 6 covering the dial 5, a time indicator 7, for example comprising two hands 7a, 7b for the hours and minutes respectively, arranged between the crystal 6 and the dial 5 and actuated by the timepiece movement 3.

(13) As is schematically represented in FIG. 2, the timepiece movement 3 may for example comprise: a device 8 for storing mechanical energy, typically a mainspring, a mechanical transmission 9 driven by the device 8 for storing mechanical energy, the abovementioned time indicator 7, an energy distribution wheel 10 (for example an escapement wheel of a Swiss anchor escapement or similar), a locking mechanism 11 (for example a Swiss anchor or similar) suitable for sequentially holding and releasing the energy distribution wheel 10, a regulator 12, which is an oscillating mechanism controlling the locking mechanism 11 to move it regularly so that the energy distribution wheel 10 is moved at constant time intervals.

(14) The regulator 12 comprises an oscillating weight, for example a balance (not shown) and a coil spring 12a such as the one represented in FIGS. 3 and 4.

(15) The coil spring 12a may include: a central ring 13 intended to be fixed at the center of the balance, and rotating with the balance about a central axis X, several turns 14 winding about the central axis X, from the ring 13 to a terminal portion 15 called the terminal curve.

(16) The terminal portion 15 is attached, usually by a stud (not shown), to a bridge (not shown) on which the balance is pivotally mounted.

(17) The turns 14 and the terminal portion 15 of the coil spring 12a may have a thickness e (in the plane perpendicular to the central axis X) and a height h (parallel to the central axis X). The thickness e may for example be several tens of microns, for example from about 10 to 100 microns.

(18) The coil spring 12a is made of a composite material comprising nanotubes 16 (FIG. 5) bound in a matrix 16a.

(19) The nanotubes 16 form a forest of nanotubes, which means that the nanotubes 16 are juxtaposed and all arranged substantially parallel to one another.

(20) Advantageously, the nanotubes 16 are all arranged substantially parallel to the central axis X, therefore generally parallel to the central axis X. They are generally evenly spaced apart from one another and are present throughout the entire mass of the composite material, with a surface density (in the plane perpendicular to the axis X) that is controlled by the nanotube growth process during the manufacture of the coil spring 12a.

(21) The nanotubes 16 may advantageously be made of carbon.

(22) The nanotubes 16 may advantageously be essentially multi-walled. Optionally, the nanotubes 16 may advantageously be primarily single-walled.

(23) The nanotubes may have a diameter d comprised between 7 and 30 nm. Optionally, the nanotubes may have a diameter comprised between 2 and 10 nm, preferably between 3 and 7 nm, in particular about 5 nm.

(24) The nanotubes may have a length comprised between 200 and 400 microns. Optionally, the nanotubes may have a length of between 100 and 200 microns, in particular about 150 microns. This length may advantageously correspond to the abovementioned thickness h of the turns 14 of the coil spring.

(25) The matrix 16a may advantageously also be made of carbon. The matrix 16a is highly schematically represented in FIG. 5. It may advantageously encompass the nanotubes 16, being present in the gaps 17 between nanotubes 16 and within the inner space 18 of the nanotubes 16. This matrix makes it possible to provide cohesion between nanotubes and thereby modify the mechanical properties of the forest of nanotubes.

(26) The coil spring 12a may be manufactured by a method comprising for example the following steps: a) a step of growing the forest of nanotubes, during which the forest of nanotubes 16 is grown, generally on a substrate (not shown) such as a wafer of silicon or other, b) an infiltration step, during which the component material of the matrix 16a infiltrates the forest of nanotubes 16, c) a separation step during which the composite material is separated from the substrate.

(27) During step a), it is advantageous to grow the forest of nanotubes 16 substantially perpendicularly to the substrate, which is arranged perpendicularly to the central axis X.

(28) The substrate is pretreated for example by photolithography, in a known manner, so that the growth of the forest of nanotubes occurs at the exact locations desired, along the exact path of the coil spring 12a. Examples of controlled processes for the growing of nanotubes and the infiltration by a carbon matrix are given for example in the document Mechanical and electrical properties of carbon-nanotube-templated metallic micro-structures by the author Richard Scott Hansen (June 2012), or in the Senior Thesis of Collin Brown (22 Apr. 2014) of Brigham Young University entitled Infiltration of CNT forests by Atomic Layer Deposition for MEMS applications.

(29) Infiltration of the carbon matrix, which is known per se, particularly from the above documents, generally takes place by vapor deposition. By acting on the infiltration time, one can affect the amount of infiltrated matrix between the nanotubes, which makes it very easy to change the mechanical properties of the spring.

(30) As represented in FIGS. 8 and 9, the substrate 19 (silicon or other) may be covered with a silica layer 20, itself covered with a catalyst layer 21 (in particular iron) on which the forest of nanotubes 16 is grown. The silica layer 20 and catalyst layer 21 remain integral with the forest of nanotubes 16 and are therefore separated from the substrate 19 along with the layer of nanotubes in the above step c).

(31) Prior to the above step a), additional nanotubes may optionally be dispersed in a solvent and sprayed, in particular by ultrasound, on the catalyst layer 21, in order to define an additional layer 22 of nanotubes. This additional layer 22 of nanotubes is sufficiently porous for the carbon (or other component material) of the forest of nanotubes 16 to be deposited through said additional layer 22 of nanotubes and grow beneath said additional layer of nanotubes (FIG. 9). In this manner, the growth of nanotubes 16 of the forest of nanotubes is equalized, so they thus all have substantially the same length. The infiltration step b) is then also carried out through the additional layer 22 of nanotubes, due to its porosity.

(32) During step c), the composite material can be separated from the substrate 19 by wet etching or preferably by vapor phase etching, in particular using hydrogen fluoride HF.

(33) The coil spring 12a obtained has many advantages: the coil spring can be created with nanometric precision, with an orientation of the nanotubes and a homogeneity that are fully controlled and reproducible, obtained by the process of nanotube growth and infiltration of the matrix into the forest of nanotubes, resulting in exceptional timekeeping accuracy of the coil spring; it is easy to obtain the desired mechanical properties of the coil spring, for example by adjusting the material of the matrix and/or the amount of infiltrated matrix in the forest of nanotubes and by adjusting the geometry of the coil (particularly its thickness); the coil spring 12a is particularly flexible in the plane perpendicular to the central axis (which allows decreasing the mass of the balance) and is practically inflexible outside this plane (which is of particular interest for a timepiece coil spring, in order to limit the effects of accelerations outside the plane due to impacts or user movements); the composite material has very little sensitivity to changes in temperature (low coefficient of thermal expansion, low variation of the elastic modulus), has a low density, is non-magnetic, and is corrosion-resistant.

(34) The material described above can also be used in other parts for a timepiece movement comprising at least one flexible portion, said flexible portion being adapted to bend in a plane perpendicular to the axis X of the nanotubes.

(35) For example, in a second embodiment of the invention, the material described above can be used in a mainspring 8 such as the one in FIG. 6, usable as an energy storage device as explained above. Such a spring may for example be wrapped around a central shaft 8a along the axis X, within a barrel 8b.

(36) According to another example, in a third embodiment of the invention, the material described above can be used to form a mechanical oscillator other than the aforementioned coil spring. In particular, the material described above can be used to form a regulator 12 such as the one in FIG. 7, usable in the timepiece in place of the abovementioned regulator 12. The regulator 12 may for example be formed as a single part in a plate 110, inside of which are formed a rotor 111 and elastic suspensions 112 connecting the rotor 111 to the rest of the place 110. The elastic suspensions may be formed by very fine and slender arms formed in the plate 110. The rotor 111 oscillates in rotation about the axis X, according to the double arrow R. An example of such a regulator 12 is described in detail in document EP3021174A.