JP7008264B2 - Vehicle instruments - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle instrument mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile.

Vehicles such as automobiles are equipped with instruments such as speedometers and engine speedometers that display information necessary for driving. The instrument has, for example, a dial with a design such as a scale or a number, and a pointer pointing to the design. The instrument displays information to the viewer by pointing to the design with a pointer.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an instrument having a ring-shaped translucent member arranged so as to cover the design on the front side of the display plate in order to give the design a three-dimensional effect.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-61326

The translucent member of Patent Document 1 can give a three-dimensional effect to a design such as a scale. However, it is desired to further improve the appearance of the design within the limited display range of the instrument.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle instrument capable of improving the appearance of a design on a dial.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the vehicle instrument according to the present invention has a case, a dial provided on the front side of the case and having a design having an inner edge and an outer edge, and the design on the front surface of the dial. An exposed portion having an inner edge and an outer edge that coincides with the outer edge of the design in the stacking direction, and a reflective wall that rises to the front side at the outer edge of the exposed portion and reflects the light of the design. With a transparent decorative frame and.

In the vehicle instrument according to the present invention, the appearance of the design on the dial can be improved.

A partial front view of an instrument according to an embodiment of the vehicle according to the present invention as viewed from the front side. Sectional drawing along line II-II of FIG. Enlarged view of region III of FIG. Explanatory drawing for explaining the action of a reflective wall.

An embodiment of a vehicle instrument according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The vehicle instrument according to the present invention is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile or a two-wheeled vehicle, a ship, an agricultural machine, or a construction machine. In the present embodiment, an example in which the vehicle instrument according to the present invention is an instrument mounted in an instrument panel of an automobile will be described.

FIG. 1 is a partial front view of the instrument 1 which is an embodiment of the vehicle instrument according to the present invention, as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of region III of FIG.

In the following description, the "front (front) side" is the front side in FIG. 1 and the upper side (cover 60 side) in FIG. 2, and means the side visually recognized by the viewer (driver). The "back (rear) side" means the back side in FIG. 1 and the lower side in FIG. 2 (the outer case 42 side with respect to the cover 60).

The instrument 1 is mounted in the instrument panel of the vehicle. The instrument 1 displays various information to the driver (visual person) via the speedometer 2, the engine speedometer, the display panel, and the like (omitted in FIG. 1). The speedometer 2 is a pointer type (mechanical) meter that displays the speed of the vehicle.

The instrument 1 mainly has a pointer 11, a pointer base 12, a dial 20, a circuit board 30, a case 40, a counter 50, a cover 60, and a decorative frame 70.

The pointer 11 is connected to the pointer shaft of the pointer driving unit 32 via the pointer base 12. The pointer 11 points to the scale 25 (design) of the dial 20 corresponding to the speed by rotating on a plane parallel to the plane of the dial 20. The pointer 11 and the pointer base 12 are covered with a pointer cover 15.

The dial 20 is provided on the back side of the pointer 11. The dial 20 has a base material 21, a light-shielding layer 22, and a design layer 23. The base material 21 is, for example, a plate-shaped member of a polycarbonate resin having transparency (translucency). The light-shielding layer 22 is a printing layer printed with black light-shielding ink formed on the front surface or the back surface of the base material 21. In FIGS. 2 to 4, the base material 21 and the light-shielding layer 22 are shown integrally. The design layer 23 is a print layer formed on the front surface of the light-shielding layer 22 and printed with, for example, white ink.

In this embodiment, the design layer 23 forms a scale 25, which is an example of a design having an inner edge and an outer edge. The scale 25 has a plurality of scales 25 arranged in an arc shape corresponding to the range pointed to by the pointer 11. The plurality of scales 25 are formed linearly radially from the center of rotation of the pointer 11. Each scale 25 has an inner edge (scale inner edge) 25a which is an inner (rotation center side) end portion and an outer edge (scale outer edge) 25b which is an outer end portion. The design layer 23 also has a number 26 indicating the speed corresponding to the scale 25 and a character 27 indicating a unit of speed inside the scale 25.

The design layer 23 may be formed by printing a translucent ink on a portion of the light-shielding layer 22 in which a design such as a scale, a number, a character, or a symbol is removed and formed into a character shape. The design in this case is lit and displayed by transmitting the light of the light source 31 emitted from the back surface side of the dial 20.

The circuit board 30 is provided on the back side of the dial 20. The circuit board 30 mainly includes a control unit, a light source 31, and a pointer drive unit 32.

The control unit has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, and for example, executes a predetermined arithmetic process according to a program written in the ROM. For example, the control unit acquires vehicle speed, various vehicle information, and the like from the ECU (Electronic Control Unit) of the vehicle via various sensors and the like. The control unit drives and controls the light source 31, the pointer driving unit 32, and the like based on the acquired information.

The light source 31 is an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and illuminates the dial 20 from the back side. The pointer drive unit 32 rotates the pointer shaft according to the input traveling speed of the vehicle.

The case 40 accommodates the pointer 11, the dial 20, and the circuit board 30 in the internal space. The case 40 has an inner case 41 and an outer case 42.

The middle case 41 is made of a light-shielding synthetic resin (for example, polypropylene) such as white, and the dial 20 and the circuit board 30 are fixed and supported in the outer case 42. The outer case 42 is made of a light-shielding synthetic resin (for example, polypropylene) such as black, and forms the back surface of the instrument 1.

The counter 50 is made of a light-shielding synthetic resin (for example, polypropylene) such as black. The counter 50 is attached to the front side of the outer case 42 (case). The counter 50 also functions as a case on the front side of the instrument 1. Further, the dial 50 covers an unnecessary area on the dial 20 and partitions the dial 20.

The cover 60 is made of, for example, a translucent polycarbonate resin or inorganic glass. The cover 60 is attached to the front side of the facing 50 by covering the opening formed in the facing peripheral edge 51 so that dust and the like do not enter the dial 20 and the circuit board 30.

The decorative frame 70 is, for example, a ring-shaped frame made of a colorless and transparent acrylic resin, and is provided in contact with the front surface of the dial 20. The decorative frame 70 has an exposed portion 71, a reflective wall 75, and a covering portion 76.

The exposed portion 71 is provided so as to overlap the scale 25 as a design, and is a portion exposed to the viewer. The exposed portion 71 has a base portion 72, an inner edge (inner edge of the exposed portion) 71a, an outer edge (outer edge of the exposed portion) 71b, and a raised portion 73.

The base portion 72 is a portion in contact with the front surface of the dial 20, and has a substantially constant thickness (length in the stacking direction with the dial 20). The exposed inner edge 71a is the inner peripheral edge of the exposed portion 71 (decorative frame 70), and coincides with the scale inner edge 25a (position) in the stacking direction with the dial 20. The inner edge 71a of the exposed portion may be outside the inner edge 25a of the scale.
The exposed portion outer edge 71b is the outer peripheral edge of the exposed portion 71 of the decorative frame 70, and coincides with the scale outer edge 25b (position) in the stacking direction with the dial 20. The exposed outer edge 71b is a perpendicular line drawn in the direction of the dial 20 from the point where the base 72 and the raised portion 73 (reflection wall 75) intersect.

The raised portion 73 is a portion that is gently curved so as to increase the amount of protrusion in the front direction from the position on the outer edge 71b side by a predetermined amount from the inner edge 71a of the base portion 72 toward the outer edge 71b side. The raised portion 73 acts on the visual effect of making the scale 25 visible through the decorative frame 70 three-dimensional.

The reflective wall 75 is an outer end surface of the raised portion 73, and is a wall that rises from the base portion 72 to the front side at the outer edge 71b of the exposed portion. The reflective wall 75 reflects the light of the scale 25 incident on the decorative frame 70, and causes the viewer 100 to visually recognize the reflected light. The reflective wall 75 may not only stand up perpendicular to the base 72, but may also have a slight inclination with respect to the exposed outer edge 71b. The height and inclination of the reflective wall 75 are appropriately set so as to appropriately reflect the scale 25 according to the thickness of the base 72 and the position with the scale 25.

The covering portion 76 is a portion sandwiched between the dial 20 and the facing 50 and covered with the facing 50. That is, the covering portion 76 is a portion that is not visible to the viewer. The covering portion 76 extends outward from the outer edge 71b of the exposed portion, and has a substantially constant thickness (length in the stacking direction with the dial 20) like the base portion 72. The covering portion 76 has a fixing convex portion 77 as a fixing portion for fixing the decorative frame 70 to the dial 20. The fixing convex portion 77 fits into the hole 29 of the dial 20 and is welded to the hole 29 by applying heat. Since it is preferable that the fixing convex portion 77 is not visible to the viewer, it is preferable that the fixing convex portion 77 is provided on the outside of the decorative frame 70 as much as possible.

In such an instrument 1, the appearance of the design on the dial 20 can be improved by the action of the decorative frame 70.

Here, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the action of the reflective wall 75.

The reflective wall 75 reflects the light 101 on the scale 25 on the dial 20. As shown by the dotted line 103, the reflected light 102 is made visible to the viewer 100 as if the scale 25 is formed on the outside of the reflective wall 75 on which the scale 25 is not formed, that is, on the covering portion 76. Therefore, the viewer 100 appears that the scale 25 extends from the outer edge 25b of the scale to the region 105, and the viewer 100 sees the scale longer than the actual scale 25. For example, even when a scale 25 having a desired length cannot be formed within a limited range on the dial 20, it is possible to visually recognize a scale longer than the actual scale by visually recognizing the scale 25 through the decorative frame 70. can.

Further, although the fixing convex portion 77 is covered with the facing 50, there is a possibility that the viewing person 100 will visually recognize the fixing convex portion 77 when viewed from an oblique direction. On the other hand, by acting the reflected light 102, the fixing convex portion 77 becomes invisible. As a result, the degree of freedom in designing the position of the fixing convex portion 77 can be improved.

Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other embodiments, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and variations thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and its average.

For example, the decorative frame 70 is not limited to a circular shape, but may have another shape such as a square shape.

1 Instrument 2 Speedometer 11 Pointer 12 Pointer base 15 Pointer cover 20 Dial 21 Base material 22 Shading layer 23 Design layer 25 Scale 25a Scale inner edge 25b Scale outer edge 26 Number 27 Character 29 Hole 30 Circuit board 31 Light source 32 Pointer drive 40 Case 41 Medium case 42 Outer case 50 Back 51 Back edge 60 Cover 70 Decorative frame 71 Exposed part 71a Exposed part inner edge 71b Exposed part outer edge 72 Base 73 Raised part 75 Reflective wall 76 Covering part 77 Fixing convex part 100 Viewer 101 Light 102 Reflected light 103 dotted line

Claims (3)

With the case
A dial provided on the front side of the case and having a design having an inner edge and an outer edge,
An exposed portion that is provided on the front surface of the dial so as to overlap the design and has an inner edge and an outer edge that coincides with the outer edge of the design in the stacking direction, and an exposed portion that rises to the front side at the outer edge of the exposed portion to stand up on the front side of the design. A vehicle instrument comprising a reflective wall that reflects light and a transparent decorative frame having. Further provided with an endpaper provided on the front side of the case,
The vehicle instrument according to claim 1, wherein the decorative frame has a covering portion sandwiched between the dial and the dial and covered by the dial. The vehicle instrument according to claim 2, wherein the covering portion has a fixing portion for fixing the decorative frame to the dial.

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