JP2001023404A - Multicolor signal light - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve visibility of a multicolor signal light. SOLUTION: A plurality of light emitting diodes are disposed flat on a substrate, and the light of the LEDs is emitted outside from a window disposed on a front of a case. In the case of composing the LEDs of a red color and a blue color, the red color LED is dispersed in its peripheral part, and the blue color LED is disposed in its inside. Thereby, such an area that is surrounded by the red color LED is enlarged, and the red color light having high-priority of visibility is easily viewed from a distance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a signal light in which light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of different colors are arranged in a plane to selectively emit light of several colors, and is used as a traffic light / railway signal light or a police signal light. It is suitable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, incandescent lamps are used as hand-held signal lights used by station staff to send a signal to fire on a train.
Incandescent lamps have the drawbacks of short life and high power consumption. In view of this, there has been proposed a device using a large number of light emitting diodes arranged in a plane instead of an incandescent lamp (for example, Design Registration No. 1042140). The light emitting diode has several colors such as red, blue, yellow, and white. If LEDs of different colors are mixed and arranged, several colors can be selectively emitted, which is useful as a signal means. If a white LED is arranged in the LED, it can be conveniently used as a lighting fixture.

[0003] In a light-emitting diode type signal light, how to arrange the LEDs of various colors as described above can enhance the visibility of the signal light and make it easy to use as an illumination light. Little research has been done, simply increasing the number of LEDs with low luminous efficiency,
Only a small number of LEDs having high luminous efficiency are arranged (for example, JP-A-6-177425). In this case, visibility is not always good.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve the visibility or the lighting efficiency by devising the arrangement of the colors of the LEDs in a signal light.

[0005]

According to a study conducted by the inventor of the present invention, not only the number of LEDs but also the number of LEDs is determined by the research conducted by the inventor of the present invention. It has been found that the area surrounded by a plurality of light emitting LEDs is significantly involved. That is, when the LEDs are arranged in a concentrated manner and the LED surrounds a large area, it is more visible from a distance than when the LED surrounds a large area.

Therefore, in the present invention, the light emitting diodes of a color having a higher visibility priority are dispersed in the peripheral portion, and the light emitting diodes of a color having a lower visibility priority are arranged inside (claim 1). By doing so, visibility from afar can be enhanced with a small number of LEDs.

Signals used in various fields, such as traffic and railroads, are generally unified in terms of color, with red indicating "danger" or "stop", yellow indicating "caution" or "stop carefully", and blue. Means "safe" or "advance". Therefore, red has the highest visibility priority, and then yellow and blue have lower priority. The high priority of the visual recognition means that it is necessary to make the visual recognition more surely from a distant place, and the colors are arranged from the periphery of the signal lamp in order from the color of the higher priority.

For example, when LEDs of two colors, red and blue, are arranged, the red LEDs are dispersed around the periphery, and the blue LEDs are arranged at the center. In the case where yellow is emitted in addition to red and blue, the yellow LEDs are dispersed between the red and blue LEDs.

[0009] Depending on the signal light, a white light emitting diode may be arranged in addition to red, yellow, and blue, and these white LEDs may be turned on and used as a mere illumination light. When the white light emitting diodes are included in such a manner, the white light emitting diodes are collectively arranged at the center (claim 2). By arranging the white LEDs at the center in this way, the illuminance at the center is greatly increased as compared with the case where the LEDs are scattered, and a high illumination effect can be obtained.

[0010]

FIG. 14 shows an LED-type hand-held signal light. A plurality of light emitting diodes B are arranged in a plane on a substrate A. It goes out of the window D provided in the front. Symbol E is a battery, symbol F is a handle, and symbol G is a switch.

FIG. 1 shows L as viewed from the front of such a signal light.
FIG. 7 shows the arrangement of EDs, where (a) is arranged in a lattice form and (b) is arranged in a honeycomb form. In each case, the LEDs consist of red and blue, the red LEDs are distributed around the periphery and the blue LEDs are located inside. By doing so, the area surrounded by the red LED is increased, and the red light, which has a high priority of visual recognition, can be seen well from a distance.

FIG. 2 shows a case where the LED includes yellow in addition to red and blue, and yellow is dispersed between red and blue. In this way, yellow of priority 2 can be made to stand out next to red of priority 1. In FIG. 2, the LEDs are arranged in a lattice, but may be arranged in a honeycomb shape as in the case of FIG. 1B (the same applies hereinafter). FIG. 3 shows a case where the colors are red, blue, and white. Red is arranged on the outermost side, blue is arranged on the inside, and white is centered.

In a signal lamp intended to illuminate an object, a white LED which can be used for inspection or as a working lamp by illuminating has a higher light-collecting property when collected at the center. FIG. 4 shows a case where a white LED is included in addition to red, yellow, and blue. Red is placed on the outermost side, yellow on the inner side, blue on the inner side, and white on the center. White is generally placed at the center as described above since the priority of visual recognition is generally low. However, it is better to place the center at the center for the following reason.

FIG. 5 shows a case in which white LEDs are collected in the center, and FIG. 6 shows a case in which white LEDs are dispersed all over.
Compare the two. FIG. 8 is an extension of the dashed line in FIG.
It is the figure which represented typically the magnitude of the illuminance in each place when the surface which the light of LED hits from the side was seen, and the light energy of the white LED illuminated the target surface with the illuminance as shown in FIG. . In FIG. 8 (and FIG. 7), the magnitude of the illuminance is shown to the left with respect to the plane. On the other hand, FIG. 7 schematically shows the magnitude of the illuminance at each location when the surface on which the light of the LED shines is viewed from the side, which is an extension of the one-dot chain line portion in FIG. In FIG. 5, since the white LEDs are arranged close to each other, light energy from the white LEDs is combined like a dashed line as shown in FIG. It can be seen that the illuminance is much larger than the illuminance in FIG. Therefore, in a signal lamp intended to illuminate an object, a white LED which can be used for inspection or as a working lamp by illuminating has a higher light-collecting property when collected at the center.

Depending on the type of the signal lamp, a convex lens may be arranged in front of the white LED in order to enhance the light-collecting property of the white LED, but even in such a case, it is better to arrange the white LED in the center. Further, arranging the white LED at the “center” is often due to a design problem, but according to the gist of the present invention, it is not the strict “center” of the signal light but the center. The white LEDs may be collected at a position slightly deviated from the white LED.

By arranging as described above in accordance with the priority of visual recognition, colors that need to be visually recognized from farther away can be arranged more outward. In addition, by arranging as described above in accordance with the type of light to be used for illumination, it is possible to further enhance the illumination. In these examples, the LEDs are arranged with a constant pitch (distance between LEDs). However, it is obvious that the present technology regarding the arrangement of LEDs can be applied even when the pitch between LEDs is not constant. . The “blue” color includes “green” which is similar to “safety” and “green” which is a “signal color” used for traffic signals and the like. “White” includes a slightly yellowish white, so-called “light color”.

In a signal lamp, a plurality of LEDs are connected in series, and a circuit connected in series is further connected in parallel depending on the power supply voltage and the number of LEDs. Typically, the circuit is as shown in FIG. Conventionally, considering the efficiency of wiring, for example, FIG.
The LEDs of the circuit shown in FIG. 10 are arranged according to the circuit configuration as shown in FIG. 10 (the numbers in FIG. 10 and FIG. 12 correspond to the LED numbers in FIG. 9). When the LED itself breaks down, or the wiring of the LED is broken due to an impact or the like, the soldered portion is peeled off, for example, when the series circuit of the LEDs 1 to 4 is broken in the circuit of FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, the LED of a certain unit block of the signal light is turned off when viewed from the front. (In FIGS. 11 and 13, ◎ indicates a lighting state, and ● indicates a non-lighting state.) However, the LED that emits light as described above
It is not preferable to partially turn off the light completely since the visibility from a distant place is improved as the area surrounded by the mark is increased. In the present invention, for one series connection, a plurality of LEDs of the same color connected in series are connected to the entire signal lamp, for example, when the series circuit of LEDs 1 to 4 is disconnected in the circuit of FIG. By arranging the LED numbers so as to be scattered over the entire arrangement surface, unlike FIG.
LED that emits light even if one series circuit becomes inoperable as in 3
Since the change in the area surrounded by is small, it is possible to minimize a decrease in visibility from a distance. This technology is LE
It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to one type of D color but also to a multi-color signal light of various types.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an LED layout diagram of an indicator light composed of red and blue LEDs.

FIG. 2 L of an indicator light consisting of red, yellow and blue LEDs
It is an ED arrangement drawing.

FIG. 3 shows an indicator light L composed of red, blue and white LEDs.
It is an ED arrangement drawing.

FIG. 4 is an LED layout diagram of an indicator light including red, yellow, blue, and white LEDs.

FIG. 5 is an LED layout diagram of an indicator light including white and other color LEDs.

FIG. 6 is an LED arrangement diagram different from FIG. 5 for an indicator light composed of LEDs of white and other colors.

7 shows the illuminance of a white LED corresponding to FIG.

8 shows the illuminance of a white LED corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 9 is an electrical connection diagram for driving a plurality of LEDs.

FIG. 10 shows an LED corresponding to the LED number in FIG.
FIG.

11 shows a state where LEDs 1 to 4 in FIG. 10 are turned off.

FIG. 12 is a view corresponding to the LED numbers in FIG. 9;
It is LED arrangement | positioning drawing different from 0.

FIG. 13 shows a state where LEDs 1 to 4 in FIG. 12 are turned off.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view of a hand-held signal light.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A board B light emitting diode C case D window E battery F handle G switch

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) F21Y 101: 02

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A signal light in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes of different colors are arranged in a plane, and among these light-emitting diodes, the light-emitting diodes of a color having a higher visibility priority are dispersed in a peripheral portion so that the visibility priority is higher. A multi-color signal light, the lower one being placed inside. 2. A signal light in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes of different colors are arranged in a plane.
A multicolor signal light in which white light emitting diodes for illumination are arranged in a central portion.