JP2765430B2 - Instrument equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an instrument device in which a pointer is connected to a movable shaft protruding from a movable portion main body and a measured value is displayed in comparison with a dial index.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of instrument device, a cross-coil movable magnet type is used as a movable portion main body structure for displaying a measured amount by a pointer rotation instruction, such as a speedometer or a tachometer for an automobile. And a stepping motor type, in which the size of the main body is reduced and the thickness of the entire instrument device is reduced.

That is, while the drive circuit of the electric display device including the movable portion main body of the instrument device has been integrated and reduced in size by using an IC or a chip, the movable portion main body has a considerable occupied volume of the instrument device. For example, mounting an instrument device on an instrument panel of an automobile is required to be thinner in an environment in which various other electrical components such as an air duct are provided.

A general structure of such an instrument is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-191969, in which a cross-coil type movable magnet type is used for a movable portion main body, and in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-191969 using a stepping motor. 62-2202
No. 0, there is a common sense structure of such an instrument device, in which a movable portion main body is disposed behind a dial, and a movable shaft protruding from the movable portion main body is disposed above a shaft insertion hole of the dial. And a pointer is fixed to this tip.

In other words, as an old assembling structure of an instrument device, there is a common sense concept in design in which a movable portion main body is fixed in a casing of the instrument device and a dial is attached thereon. Even if the main body, that is, the movable portion main body itself is reduced in size or thickness, it is designed within the range of the above-described assembly structure.

In particular, only the hands are present on the dial that covers the inner unit due to the problem of visibility, and the hands themselves cannot be made extremely small. This has been subject to design restrictions that the movable body has to be disposed behind it.

[0007]

By the way, in the instrument device having the above structure, the basic assembly structure is such that a movable portion main body is disposed behind a dial and a movable shaft insertion hole is formed in the dial. Since the pointer is fixed to the movable shaft that stands up from here, even if the size of the movable part main body is reduced, the pointer and the movable part main body will eventually be separated by the dial, and with the extension of the movable shaft Problems such as deviation of the shaft center and bending of the shaft at the time of sticking of the pointer occur, and the size of the movable portion main body is also restricted by such a basic assembly structure.

Accordingly, the present invention makes it possible to effectively assemble a main body whose practicality has been sufficiently improved by reducing the size of the movable part main body and securing the rotational torque in recent years, and has no influence on the visibility from the instrument surface side. It is intended to provide an instrument device structure which can be reduced in thickness without giving a problem.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an instrument device in which a movable portion main body is disposed in a hole provided at an appropriate portion of a dial, and at least an upper portion of the movable portion main body is covered. A pointer cap having a larger diameter is provided, and the pointer is connected to the movable shaft of the movable portion main body.

In addition, a movable portion main body is mounted and fixed on an appropriate portion of the dial, and a pointer cap is provided for covering an upper portion and a side portion of the movable portion main body. And a pointer that rotates integrally therewith.

Further, the dial is formed of a transparent substrate,
An opaque layer is formed on the front surface except for the indicator, an electroluminescent layer is provided on the back surface of the substrate, and a circuit pattern is formed on the surface of the substrate, on which circuit components for driving the movable body are placed. It is characterized by being connected.

[0012]

When the movable body is driven in accordance with the measurement signal,
The movable shaft of the movable portion main body is rotated, and the pointer fixed thereto is rotated alone or together with the pointer cap, so that the pointer can be read in comparison with the index on the dial. At this time, the main body of the movable part is covered with the pointer cap, the hands and the dial can be visually recognized from the front of the instrument, and the space occupied by the main body of the movable part on the back side of the dial becomes extremely small. It is easy to attach the instrument device to the installation place as well as to make it thinner.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a structural view of an instrument device showing an embodiment of the present invention. A dial 1 has a light-transmitting layer 4 printed on the surface of a transparent substrate 2 except for indices 3 such as scales and numerals. And a hole 5 is formed at a substantially central portion thereof. The indicator 3 is brightly illuminated by light from behind due to its light-colored translucency. For example, white printing is performed below the opaque layer 4 or the transparent substrate 2 of the dial 1 is made of a milky white material. May be.

On the back surface of the transparent substrate 2 of the dial 1, an electroluminescent layer 6 is formed behind the index 3 and around the hole 5, and the electroluminescent layer 6 is transparent to the transparent substrate 2. It has a laminated structure in which a phosphor is sandwiched between electrode printing, deposition of a rear aluminum electrode, and a transparent electrode. The periphery of the hole 5 of the dial 1 is not provided with the light-transmissive layer 4 and transmits the illumination light of the electroluminescent layer 6 at the back to be used for pointer illumination described later.

In the hole 5 of the dial 1, a movable portion main body 7 is disposed with its upper side protruding from the surface of the dial 1, and is attached to the dial 1 by an adhesive or a screw formed by forming a flange. Fixed. As such a fixing method, the shape of the hole portion 5 of the dial 1 and the shape of the flange of the movable portion main body 7 can be effectively used as a one-touch fixing by rotation of a bayonet coupling method such as a so-called lamp socket mounting. In particular, a circuit pattern is formed on the back surface of the dial 1 by printing or the like, or a flexible printed board is laminated, and a signal input terminal to the movable section main body 7 is assembled and electrically connected at the same time. Is also possible.

The movable body 7 fixed to the hole 5 of the dial 1 has a small overall structure, and at least its upper side can protrude above the dial 1 through the hole 5. Desirably, especially those having a recent stepping motor structure have been able to obtain a sufficient rotational torque with a reduction in size, and are suitable for use here. In recent years, such motor structures have been reduced in size to a body housing having a diameter of about 5 mm.
Three flat coils are insulated and arranged with a phase difference of 120 degrees on the inner peripheral wall of the cylindrical metal case, and a cylindrical magnet is mounted vertically on the rotating shaft in the center. It is possible to employ one in which the rotating magnet is made capable of performing a step operation or an analog rotation operation by applying a pulse signal or a sine wave signal.

A pointer assembly 9 is fixed to the tip of a movable shaft 8 which projects from the upper part of the movable part body 7 disposed in the hole 5 of the dial 1 and is fixed to the internal rotating magnet. The upper end of the movable portion main body 7 exposed above the dial 1 is covered with the pointer assembly 9. The pointer assembly 9 includes an inverted cup-shaped pointer cap 10 made of an opaque resin that covers the upper end side of the movable portion main body 7 and a pointer 11 for indicating the index 3 of the dial 1. It has a fixing cylinder portion 12 that is pressed into the movable shaft 8 of the movable portion main body 7 from the lower surface, and the pointer 11 bends its rear end and extends below the pointer cap 10, around the hole 5 of the dial 1. And a light receiving portion 13 facing the light emitting surface of the electroluminescent layer 6 exposed to the light.

The movable section main body 7 has its signal input terminal, that is, the signal input section to the internal drive coil, connected to an external drive circuit via a lead wire or an electric circuit pattern on the back surface of the dial 1 to correspond to the measured quantity. The pointer assembly 9 can be rotated via the movable shaft 8 by the input signal that changes. However, if the drive current of the movable part main body 7 is small, the dial 1 It is also possible to form a circuit pattern similar to the formation of an electrode such as the electroluminescent layer 6 on the back surface of the device, and to mount and connect circuit components on the pattern. Therefore, if the illumination source and the driving circuit are mounted on the dial 1, it is only necessary to provide a power supply terminal and a supply terminal for supplying a measurement signal to the instrument device. By having a connector function of forming a connection terminal pattern with the outside, an extremely thin instrument device as a whole can be obtained.

In the instrument device according to the present invention having the above-described structure, the structure shown in FIG.
In the case where the use environment is used as an instrument of a car, for example, in terms of more practical handling, a transparent protective cover is provided on the front surface of the dial 1 and is covered with a protective cover for the purpose of protection from behind. It may be configured.

In the meter device having the above-described configuration, when a signal from a drive circuit (not shown) is supplied to the movable portion main body 7 and a voltage is applied to the electroluminescent layer 6 from a power source at night, the movable The main body 7 rotates the movable shaft 8 in response to an input signal, and the pointer assembly 9 rotates around the movable body 8 while covering the movable main body 7 on the dial 1. Therefore, when viewed from the front of the dial 1,
The movable part main body 7 is not visible by the pointer cap 10 and can read the indicated value in the same manner as a conventional general pointer instrument.

When the electroluminescent layer 6 is illuminated and illuminated at night, illumination light enters the light receiving portion 13 of the pointer 11 from around the hole 5 and emits light up to the tip side, and the transmitted light is illuminated. A bright display is made together with the index 3.
The pointer 11 is formed of a transparent material such as acrylic, and the incident light from the light receiving unit 13 is guided to the pointer tip side using the reflection surface. In order to make the pointer 11 luminous, an occupied space such as the light receiving unit 13 is required.However, when illumination is not particularly required or when illumination is performed from the front side or the tip side, the diameter of the pointer cap 10 is reduced. Can be designed with a size closer to the outer diameter of the movable part body 7, so that the pointer cap
A movable portion main body 7 having an outer diameter close to the size of 10 can also be employed.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration in which the pointer cap 10 and the pointer 11 are integrally formed. That is, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the movable body 7 is covered with the pointer cap 10 as a part of the pointer assembly 9, and the electroluminescent layer 6 is used to illuminate the indicator 3 of the dial 1. However, in this embodiment, a light guide plate for illumination is arranged behind the dial 1 and the movable portion main body 7 is fixed using the light guide plate.

In the figure, the pointer assembly 9 is formed by integrally forming a pointer cap 10 and a pointer 11 so as not to perform any illumination. The balance weight 14 is installed to obtain weight balance. Index 3 behind dial 1
A light guide plate 15 for illuminating the body is provided, and a concave portion 16 for supporting the movable portion main body 7 is formed at a position corresponding to the hole portion 5 of the dial 1, and the movable portion main body 7 is It is fixed to the light guide plate 15 by screws 17 and the signal input connection cord 18 is led out downward.

In this embodiment, the movable body 7 disposed in the hole 5 of the dial 1 is covered and hidden by the pointer cap 10, and the lower part of the movable body 7 is also located above the light guide 15. Since the pointer assembly 9 is completely stored, the external appearance of the pointer assembly 9 on the dial 1 is as if the pointer assembly 9 is rotating as if there were no movable part, and it is possible to greatly reduce the thickness of the instrument device. Become.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration in which the pointer cap 10 is fixed to the dial 1 side or the movable portion main body 7, and only the pointer 11 is fixed to the movable shaft 8 of the movable portion main body 7. 1 and 2 show a structure in which the pointer assembly 9 rotates around the movable portion main body 7, but in the present embodiment, the movable shaft 8 penetrates the pointer cap 10 and the distal end thereof. The pointer 11 is fixed to the main body.

That is, a pointer cap 10 shaped to cover the movable part main body 7 disposed in the hole 5 of the dial 1 is fixed to the upper end of the movable part main body 7 with an adhesive or the like. A through hole is formed, through which the movable shaft 8 protrudes, and a pointer 11 is fixed to the tip thereof. In this case, the pointer cap 10 may be fixed to the dial 1 instead of being fixed to the movable body 7, and in any case, the upper side of the movable body 7 that is exposed on the surface of the dial 1. The size and the shape may be such that they cover the area.

According to such a structure, the pointer 11 is driven by the movable section main body 7 according to the input signal so that the pointer cap is moved.
In this case, the pointer 11 having a high brightness generally appears to rotate together with the pointer cap 10 having a low brightness when viewed from the outside, and almost no unnaturalness is felt.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration in which the movable portion main body 7 is mounted and fixed on the dial 1 and is the same as the previous embodiment except for the arrangement hole 5 of the movable portion main body 7 in the dial 1. It has a structure, and the effect of reducing the thickness can be obtained similarly. In the case of this embodiment, it is effective that the movable portion main body 7 is very small and does not require a large height on the dial 1 surface.

In the figure, the movable portion main body 7 is placed on the dial 1.
Are mounted and fixed (for example, by screwing), and a pointer assembly 9 is fixed to the protruding movable shaft 8. Moving part body 7
The upper side and the side are covered with a pointer cap 10 of the pointer assembly 9, and the indicator 3 on the dial 1 is
It is possible to read in contrast to. For inputting a signal to the movable portion main body 7, a code hole may be provided at a position below the dial 1 where the movable portion main body 7 is attached, and a signal code may be derived therefrom. If a signal terminal piece protruding downward is formed on the dial 1, the main body 7 itself can be fixed to the dial 1 at the same time as the electrical connection with the back electrode or the printed board through the through hole to the dial 1 can be performed. It is.

Also in this embodiment, it is possible to make the dial 1 and the pointer assembly 9 as thin as possible on the outer shape, and the pointer cap 10 is fixed as shown in FIG. It can also be configured to be fixed to the surface. Also,
In the configuration in which the pointer cap 10 is fixed and the pointer 11 is fixed to the movable shaft 8, in addition to the structure in which the movable shaft 8 protrudes through a through hole provided in the pointer cap 10 as shown in FIG. The pointer 11 may be fixed to the movable shaft 8 on the side, and at least the upper end surface of the movable portion main body 7 may be covered together with the fixed portion to form a pointer cap structure in which the side is opened by the rotation area of the pointer 11. Even with such a structure, when viewed from the front of the dial 1, the pointer 11 extending outward from the back together with the surface of the pointer cap 10 is visible, so that there is no problem as an instrument device.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, the movable portion main body protruding from the surface of the dial is covered with the pointer cap, and the pointer is rotated by the movable shaft, whereby the movable portion can be moved to the back side of the dial. Since the space for disposing the main body is extremely small or not required at all, the instrument device can be provided with an extremely thin configuration of only the dial and the pointer in appearance, so that, for example, an instrument for an automobile to which the instrument device is mounted. The space inside the panel can be freely used, and there is no restriction on the air duct, so that a very favorable use environment can be given to the mounting environment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment structure of an instrument device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the meter device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of the meter device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the meter device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 dial 2 transparent substrate 3 indicator 5 hole 6 electroluminescent layer 7 movable section main body 8 movable axis 9 pointer assembly 10 pointer cap 11 pointer

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] A dial provided with an index such as a scale or a number;
A movable portion main body disposed in a hole provided at an appropriate position of the dial, a pointer cap covering at least an upper portion of the movable portion main body and having a larger diameter than the hole of the dial, An instrument device comprising: a pointer connected to a movable shaft protruding from a main body. 2. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein said pointer is formed integrally with a pointer cap, and said pointer assembly is fixed to a movable shaft projecting from a movable portion main body. 3. The pointer cap is disposed fixedly on the dial or the movable body, and the pointer is fixed to the movable shaft of the movable body above or below the pointer cap. Instrumentation device as described. 4. A dial provided with indices such as scales and numbers,
A movable portion main body mounted and fixed at an appropriate position on the dial,
An instrument device comprising a pointer cap for covering the upper and side portions of the movable portion main body, and a pointer connected to a movable shaft protruding from the movable portion main body and rotating independently or integrally with the pointer cap. 5. The dial according to claim 1, wherein an opaque layer is formed on the surface of the transparent substrate except for the indicator, and an electroluminescent layer is provided on at least the indicator on the rear surface of the substrate. The instrument device according to claim 1. 6. A circuit component for forming a circuit pattern on the back surface of the dial, connecting a signal terminal of a movable portion main body to the circuit pattern, and supplying a drive signal to a signal terminal of the movable portion main body. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein the measuring device is mounted and fixed so as to be connected to the measuring device.