JP4084137B2 - Light guide device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a light guide device improvable in lighting efficiency by improving light directivity. <P>SOLUTION: The light guide device is provided with a light guide body 6 made of a soft and elastic material with a high light permeability, and an insulating substrate 2 as a reflective member having a reflective face 8 of a color with a high light reflectance. The reflective face 8 is brought into contact with a lower surface 6b crossing the light guiding direction of the light guide body 6 so as to collapse the light guide body 6, by the above, the reflective face 8 closely comes into contact with the lower surface of the light guide body 6, and leakage of light is eliminated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a light guide device that has been improved to improve the light directivity of a light guide.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a switch device for a vehicle, a light source such as a light emitting diode or a light bulb is provided to illuminate a display related to the operation thereof, and light emitted from the light source is guided to the display portion. A light body is provided.
For the light guide, a material having a high light transmittance such as an acrylic resin is used.
Although not directly related to the problem of the present invention, there is also a light guide layer provided on the back surface of the transparent light guide (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-11117
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the case of the conventional light guide, the light passing through the light guide leaks from the surface in the direction intersecting the light guide direction of the light guide. For this reason, the light directivity of the light guide is not good, and the illumination efficiency for illuminating the display with the light emitted from the light source is never good.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a light guide device capable of improving the light directivity of the light guide and improving the illumination efficiency.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a light guide device according to the present invention includes a light guide formed in an elongated shape with a soft elastic material having a high light transmittance, and a reflective surface having a color reflecting surface with a high light reflectance. The light guide is attached to a contact sheet having an electrical contact, a light source is disposed on one end of the light guide, and a translucent display is provided on the other end. The reflective member of the reflective member is placed on a surface in a direction intersecting the light guide direction from one end of the light guide to the other end, and the light guide is contacted with the contact sheet. It is characterized by crushing between them.
According to this structure, the reflecting surface of the reflecting member is located in close contact with the surface in the direction intersecting with the light guiding direction of the light guide, thereby eliminating light leakage.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
First, FIG. 2 shows a contact sheet 1 and an insulating substrate 2 in a switch device, particularly a vehicle switch device. Among these, the contact sheet 1 is made of a soft elastic material such as silicon rubber, and is opaque such as white or black and has a low light transmittance.
[0007]
Therefore, the contact sheet 1 is provided with a plurality of operation units 3 (two in this case). As shown in FIG. 3, the operation unit 3 has a cylindrical shape whose upper surface is higher than the other upper surface of the contact sheet 1, and the peripheral portion is connected to the other part of the contact sheet 1 with a thin portion 4. As a result, it can be elastically displaced up and down in the figure. A movable contact 5 is provided on the lower surface of the operation unit 3.
[0008]
The light guide 6 is attached to the back surface of the contact sheet 1. Therefore, the contact sheet 1 is a base member to which the light guide 6 is attached. The light guide 6 is made of a soft elastic material having a high light transmittance, such as transparent silicon rubber, soft silicon resin, or soft acrylic resin. In this case, the light guide 6 is formed in a long and thin kamaboko shape as shown in FIG. The flat surface of the contact sheet 1 is fixed to the back surface of the contact sheet 1 so as to partially penetrate into the contact sheet 1 by integral molding or adhesion. Furthermore, in this case, the light guide 6 has one end (not shown) facing downward on the back side of the contact sheet 1 and the other end 6 a protruding upward from the contact sheet 1.
[0009]
On the other hand, the insulating substrate 2 is made of, for example, a circuit board, and on its upper surface, electric components represented by two sets of fixed-side contacts 7 shown in FIG. 3 are provided. The contacts 7 on the fixed side are arranged in parallel with each other at a necessary distance from each other for insulation. In addition, a light source such as a light emitting diode or a light bulb (not shown) is provided on the insulating substrate 2.
[0010]
The upper surface of the insulating substrate 2 forms a reflection surface 8 having a high light reflectance. Specifically, the reflecting surface 8 is formed by forming the entire insulating substrate 2 with a reflective color material such as white, or by forming a reflective color surface such as white on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 2. Is painting and printing, especially screen printing for circuit boards. Further, the reflected color may be silver or the like, and in that case, aluminum is preferably deposited.
[0011]
Thus, the insulating substrate 2 which is a reflecting member having the reflecting surface 8 is joined with the contact sheet 1 over the upper side, and the reflecting surface 8 of the insulating substrate 2 is folded to connect the light guide. The light guide 6 is crushed against the lower surface 6b which is a surface in a direction intersecting with the longitudinal direction of the light guide 6. As a result, on the lower surface 6b of the light guide 6, the semi-cylindrical surface shown in FIG. 2 is a flat surface shown in FIGS.
[0012]
Further, the light source is opposed to the one end portion of the light guide 6, and the fixed contact 6 is opposed to the movable contact 5. Further, an operation knob (not shown) is located above the operation unit 3 via a pusher or the like (not shown). Above the other end 6 a of the light guide 6, a transparent display for displaying the operation of the switch is provided. An optical display is located (also not shown).
[0013]
In the above configuration, if the operation knob (not shown) is pressed, the operation unit 3 is pushed down via a pusher (not shown), so that the movable contact 5 comes into contact with the fixed contact 7. Is made conductive.
In addition, light emitted from a light source (not shown) is guided from one end of the light guide 6 to the other end 6 a through the light guide 6. In this case, the lower surface 6 b of the light guide 6 is a surface in a direction intersecting the light guide direction of the light guide 6, and the light guided to the light guide 6 is the other end 6 a of the light guide 6. Is emitted upward to illuminate the translucent display portion.
[0014]
At that time, the light guide 6 is pressed against the lower surface 6b by the reflection surface 8 of the insulating substrate 2 serving as a reflection member, so that the reflection surface 8 is in close contact with the lower surface 6b of the light guide 6. So that no light leaks. Thus, the light directivity of the light guide 6 can be improved, and the illumination efficiency can be improved.
[0015]
4 to 6 show the second and third embodiments of the present invention. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted. Only the differences are described.
[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the translucent portions 11 are provided at several places on the contact sheet 1 where the light guide 6 is attached, whereby the light guided by the light guide 6 is transmitted through the translucent portion 11. The light is also emitted from the light source so as to illuminate the part other than the display part corresponding to the other end part 6a.
[0016]
[Third embodiment]
In the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a prismatic light guide 21 is used instead of the light guide 6 described above, and the lower surface 21b is a surface in a direction intersecting the light guide direction. The light guide 21 is crushed by applying the reflecting surface 8 of the insulating substrate 2 (in FIG. 6, the cross-sectional shape of the light guide 21 before being crushed is indicated by a two-dot chain line, and after being crushed. Is represented by a solid line).
[0017]
Even in this case, as in the first embodiment, the reflecting surface 8 is positioned in close contact with the light guide 21, thereby eliminating light leakage, so that the light directivity of the light guide 21 can be improved, Lighting efficiency can be improved.
In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings. For example, the reflecting member may be a case or the like. obtain.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the light guide device of the present invention, it is possible to improve the light directivity of the light guide and improve the illumination efficiency.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cutaway perspective view of the main part of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a broken exploded perspective view of the overall configuration. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the overall configuration. FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing the third embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a contact sheet, 2 is an insulating substrate (reflective member), 5 is a contact point, 6 is a light guide, 6a is the other end of the light guide , 6b is a lower surface of the light guide (in a direction intersecting the light guide direction) Surface), 8 is a reflecting surface, 21 is a light guide, 21a is the other end of the light guide, and 21b is a lower surface of the light guide (a surface in a direction intersecting the light guide direction).

Claims (1)

A light guide formed in an elongated shape from a soft elastic material having a high light transmittance;
A reflective member having a reflective surface of a color having a high light reflectance,
The light guide is attached to a contact sheet having an electrical contact, a light source is disposed on one end of the light guide, and a translucent display is disposed on the other end. And
The reflective surface of the reflective member is applied to a surface in a direction intersecting with the light guide direction from one end portion to the other end portion of the light guide member, and the light guide member is crushed between the contact sheet and the contact sheet. A light guide device.

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