JP7041840B2 - Display device - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a display device mounted on a vehicle or the like.

Vehicles such as automobiles are equipped with display devices such as speedometers and engine speedometers that display information necessary for driving. Such a display device has a dial having a design such as a scale, a number, a character, a symbol, etc. formed in the shape of a blank character. By transmitting the light of the light source provided on the back side of the dial, the design is displayed or illuminated to make it stand out.

The display device has a required light-shielding structure on the dial and its peripheral members so that light does not leak from areas other than the design.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-25865

When the design is provided in the vicinity of the end face, which is a surface along the thickness direction of the dial, it is necessary to guide the light of the light source to the vicinity of the end face directly or by using a light guide or the like. In this case, it is necessary to cover the end face of the light guide with a light-shielding member so that the light diffused inside the light guide does not leak from the end face. However, due to the design of the display device, it may be difficult to secure a space for arranging the light-shielding member, and there has been a demand for a light-shielding member having a high degree of freedom in design.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a display device capable of suitably blocking the end face of a light guide body.

The display device according to the present disclosure includes a light source 17a that emits light, a first dial 14 that is provided on the front side of the light source 17a and displays the design 35 by transmitting the light, and a back surface of the first dial 14. The second dial 13 provided on the side and formed in a larger area than the first dial 14, and the first dial 14 and the second dial 13 provided on the back side of the second dial 13 are provided. The second dial is provided with a case body 18 (14) to be supported, and a covering member 36 arranged in front of the first dial 14 and the second dial 13 and covering the outer peripheral edge 14b of the first dial 14. The dial 13 has a plurality of through-hole portions 13a divided by the connecting portion 13b, and the case body 18 (14) penetrates the through-hole portion 13a and projects toward the first dial 14 side. It has a protruding wall portion 41b, and the covering member 36 is characterized by having a light-shielding wall portion 36d formed so as to fill a gap portion 41c between the protruding wall portions 41b located at the connecting portion 13b.

In the display device according to the present disclosure, the end face of the light guide body can be suitably shielded from light.

The front view which shows the display device which is 1st Embodiment of the display device which concerns on this disclosure. Sectional drawing along line II-II of FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. Sectional drawing along line III-III of FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the positional relationship between a display panel and a light guide body. The perspective view which shows the light guide body and a light-shielding member. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view illustrating the display screen dial, the speedometer dial, and the light guide body of FIG. (A) A perspective view showing the back side of the decorative ring, and (b) a perspective view showing a state in which the display screen dial and the case body are combined. The cross-sectional view which shows the display device which is the 2nd Embodiment of the display device which concerns on this disclosure.

A first embodiment of the display device according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The display device according to the present disclosure 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 will be described in which the display device according to the present disclosure is a display device for an automobile having a speedometer and a display screen.

In the following description, the "front side" means the front side in FIG. 1, the upper side in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, and the side visually recognized by the viewer (driver). "Back side" means the back side in FIG. 1, the lower side in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.

The display device 1 has a speedometer 2 and a display screen 3. The speedometer 2 is a pointer type (mechanical) meter that displays the speed of the vehicle. The display screen 3 is, for example, a liquid crystal display screen, and displays various information such as a mileage, a remaining amount of gasoline, and navigation information. The speedometer 2 points to a speedometer dial 14 provided on the front side of the display screen 3. Further, a part of the speedometer 2 is arranged so as to be superimposed on the front side of the display screen 3.

The display device 1 includes a pointer 11, a display panel 12, a display screen dial (first dial) 13, a speedometer dial (second dial) 14, a light guide body 15, and a light-shielding member 16. It mainly has a circuit board 17 and a case (case body) 18.

The pointer 11 is connected to a pointer shaft of a pointer drive unit provided on the circuit board 17, and rotates on a plane parallel to the plane of the speedometer dial 14. The pointer 11 points to a scale (design 35) formed on the speedometer dial 14 corresponding to the speed according to the speed of the vehicle.

The display panel 12 is provided on the back side of the display screen dial 13 and displays information. The display panel 12 has a pair of surface glass substrates that enclose the liquid crystal layer. A transparent electrode is formed on the pair of glass substrates by ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) or the like. Further, the display panel 12 has a pair of surface polarizing plates (polarizing filters) arranged so as to sandwich the pair of surface glass substrates. The display panel 12 is connected to the circuit board 17 via a flexible substrate such as FPC (Flexible Printed Circuits).

The display panel 12 applies a drive voltage to the liquid crystal layer via the transparent electrode by being controlled by the control unit of the circuit board 17. As a result, the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer is controlled, and the individual pixels of the display panel 12 are switched to the transmissive state or the opaque state. With such a combination of pixels, the display panel 12 displays predetermined information on the display screen 3.

A backlight unit is provided on the back side of the display panel 12. The backlight unit includes a light source such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and a light guide body, and illuminates the display panel 12 from the back surface. The display panel 12 is housed in a display panel case 12a (FIG. 5) together with a backlight.

The display screen dial 13 is a thin plate-shaped member provided on the front side of the display panel 12 and the back side of the light guide body 15. Further, the display screen dial 13 is formed in an area (large area) larger than that of the speedometer dial 14.

The display screen dial 13 has an opening 31 and a design 32. The opening 31 partitions the display panel 12 and exposes the display screen 3. That is, the display screen dial 13 exposes the area of the display panel 12 that becomes the display screen 3, and hides a part of the peripheral side of the display area and the display panel case 12a. The opening 31 may be a transparent layer provided on the base material 21.

The design 32 is, for example, a symbol for displaying the state of the vehicle. The design 32 is lit and displayed by transmitting the light of the light source emitted from the back side of the dial 13 for the display screen.

As shown in FIG. 7, the display screen dial 13 has a base material 21, a light-shielding layer 22, and a reflective layer 23.

The base material 21 is, for example, a transparent polycarbonate resin, and is a plate-shaped member having transparency (translucency).

The light-shielding layer 22 is a print layer printed with black light-shielding ink formed on the front surface side (or back surface side) of the base material 21. The light-shielding layer 22 is provided at least in a visible region of the display screen dial 13, that is, a region where the surface of the display screen dial 13 is not covered by other members. The light-shielding layer 22 has a blank character portion corresponding to the shape of the design 32.

The reflective layer 23 is a region of the display screen dial 13 facing the light guide body 15, and is provided on the front side (or back side) of the base material 21. That is, the reflective layer 23 is a region located on the back surface side of the speedometer dial 14, and is a region that is not visible to the viewer. The reflective layer 23 is provided to reflect the light in the light guide body 15 and diffuse it in the light guide body 15. The reflective layer 23 is, for example, a layer printed with white ink having a high reflectance, and has a higher reflectance than the base material 21 and the light-shielding layer 22 of the dial 13 for a display screen.

As shown in FIG. 4, the speedometer dial 14 is a thin plate-shaped member provided on the front side of the light source 17a and the back side of the pointer 11. The speedometer dial 14 has an arc shape having a constant width. In the speedometer dial 14, one end portion 14a in the circumferential direction (length direction) is superimposed on the display screen 3. The speedometer dial 14 has a design 35 that is illuminated and displayed by transmitting the light of the light source 17a. Design 35 is a scale indicated by numbers, letters and pointer 11.

A decorative ring (covering member) 36 is arranged on the outer peripheral edge 14b of the speedometer dial 14. The decorative ring 36 is formed so as to decorate the outer peripheral edge 14b of the speedometer 2 and at the same time cover the end surface of the speedometer dial 14 and the protruding wall portion 41b of the middle case 41. That is, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the decorative ring 36 is arranged in front of the speedometer dial 14 and the display screen dial 13, and the cross section is formed in an inverted J (alphabet J) shape. It has an upper end surface 36b that abuts on the speedometer dial 14 and a lower end surface 36c that abuts on the display screen dial 13. The decorative ring 36 is not arranged at one end 14a and the inner peripheral edge 14c of the speedometer dial 14. That is, one end 14a and the inner peripheral edge 14c are exposed and are not covered with other members such as the decorative ring 36.

The light guide body 15 is arranged on the back surface side of the speedometer dial 14, and guides the light of the light source 17a to the speedometer dial 14. In FIGS. 5 and 6, the light guide body 15 is shown by diagonal lines.

The light-shielding member 16 covers the end faces 15a and 15c along the thickness direction (direction from the front surface to the back surface) of the light guide body 15. The light guide body 15 and the light-shielding member 16 are integrally molded products in which the light-shielding member 16 is in close contact with the end faces 15a and 15c. The light guide body 15 and the light shielding member 16 are formed by two-color molding or insert molding.

Details of the speedometer dial 14, the light guide body 15, and the light-shielding member 16 will be described later.

The circuit board 17 mainly includes a driver and a control unit for the display panel 12 and the light source 17a, a light source 17a, and a pointer driving unit.

The control unit has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, and executes predetermined arithmetic processing according to, for example, 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 speedometer 2 and the display screen 3 based on the acquired information.

The light source 17a is an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and illuminates the speedometer dial 14. In addition to the light source 17a, the circuit board 17 also has a light source for the design 32 of the dial 13 for the display screen.

The case 18 has a middle case (case body) 41, a lower case 42, and an upper case 43.

The middle case 41 is made of a synthetic resin such as white, and fixes or supports the display panel 12, the dial for the display screen 13, the dial for the speedometer 14, and the circuit board 17.

As shown in FIG. 4, the middle case 41 has a partition wall 41a that surrounds the light source 17a for the dial 14 for the speedometer and guides the light. The partition wall 41a is a wall that divides the illumination (emission) region of the light source 17a and forms a cylindrical space, and light passes through the tubular space. One end of the partition wall 41a (the surface of the partition wall 41a facing the circuit board 17) is in contact with the circuit board 17, and the other end (the surface of the partition wall 41a facing the speedometer dial 14) is the light guide body 15. And is in contact with the back surface of the light-shielding member 16.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the middle case 41 has a protruding wall portion 41b that shields light from the end surface 15b on the outer peripheral side of the light guide body 15. The protruding wall portion 41b penetrates the display screen dial 13 and projects toward the front side, and stands up substantially perpendicular to the display screen dial 13. The protruding wall portion 41b also has a function of reflecting light traveling in the light guide body 15. The protruding wall portion 41b is formed in a band shape having an arc shape along the end surface 15b.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 8, the display screen dial 13 has a through hole portion 13a for penetrating the protruding wall portion 41b. The through hole portion 13a has two connecting portions 13b in order to prevent the width in the radial direction from becoming wider or narrower and to maintain the width in the radial direction. That is, the through hole portion 13a is divided into a plurality (three) by the connecting portion 13b. The protruding wall portion 41b is also divided into a plurality (three) by the connecting portion 13b, and has a slit portion (gap portion) 41c in which the connecting portion 13b is arranged.

Further, the decorative ring 36 has a light-shielding rib (light-shielding wall portion) 36d formed so as to fill the two slit portions 41e. The light-shielding rib 36d protrudes from the front side portion of the speedometer dial 14 toward the display screen dial 13, penetrates the speedometer dial 14, is located at the slit portion 41e, and hits the connecting portion 13b. Contact. In FIG. 8, the display screen dial 13 is indicated by diagonal lines.

The upper case 43 and the lower case 42 are made of, for example, black synthetic resin or the like, and form an internal space formed by being fitted, and the pointer 11, the display panel 12, and the display screen dial 13 are formed in this internal space. , A speedometer dial 14, and a circuit board 17.

Next, the details of the speedometer dial 14, the light guide body 15, and the light-shielding member 16 will be described.

The speedometer dial 14, the light guide body 15, and the light-shielding member 16 are components of the speedometer 2. The light guide body 15 and the light-shielding member 16 which are integrally molded products are arranged so as to face the front surface of the display screen dial 13. That is, the display screen dial 13 faces the light guide body 15 and is provided on the back side of the light guide body 15. In the light guide body 15 and the light shielding member 16, a plurality of hooks protruding from the back side of the light guide body 15 and the light shielding member 16 toward the middle case 41 penetrate the display screen dial 13 and engage with the middle case 41. It is positioned by matching. The speedometer dial 14 is arranged on the front surface of the light guide body 15 and the light-shielding member 16 and on the tip surface 41c of the protruding wall portion 41b (FIG. 2).

The speedometer dial 14 is positioned by the shielding wall 16b of the light shielding member 16. The speedometer dial 14 is fixed to the light guide body 15 via, for example, an adhesive layer printed on the back surface of the speedometer dial 14, and then fixed by a decorative ring 36. Although the speedometer dial 14 faces the shielding wall 16b, it is provided with a certain gap in design. As a result, one end 14a and the inner peripheral edge 14c of the speedometer dial 14 are exposed without being covered by other members.

As shown in FIG. 7, the speedometer dial 14 has a base material 51, a colored layer 52, and a light-shielding layer 53. Further, the base material 51 has a damping layer 54. The colored layer 52, the light-shielding layer 53, and the attenuation layer 54 are laminated on the base material 51. Specifically, on the front surface side of the base material 51, the attenuation layer 54, the colored layer 52, and the light-shielding layer 53 are laminated in this order from the base material 51 side. The light-shielding layer 53 is provided on the attenuation layer 54 in the region where the colored layer 52 is not provided. Further, on the back surface side of the base material 51, the attenuation layer 54, the colored layer 52, and the light-shielding layer 53 are provided in this order from the base material 51 side.

The base material 51 is, for example, a transparent polycarbonate resin, and is a plate-like member having transparency (translucency).

The attenuation layer 54 is a layer provided on the front surface and the back surface of the base material 51 to attenuate the transmitted light or the reflected light. The attenuation layer 54 is, for example, a smoke print layer printed with a smoke-colored ink, and is a layer having a transmittance smaller than that of the base material 51 and a brightness smaller than that of the colored layer 52.

The colored layer 52 is a layer provided at least in the area where the design 35 is provided. The colored layer 52 is a layer having an arbitrary color, for example, printed with white ink. The colored layer 52 acts as the color of the design 35 when it is not illuminated by the light of the light source 17a. Further, the colored layer 52 has a function as a filter for the color of the light of the light source 17a in a state of being illuminated by the light of the light source 17a.

The colored layer 52 on the front surface side is provided only in the region where the design 35 is formed. On the other hand, the colored layer 52 on the back surface side is provided over the entire surface of the dial for the speedometer 14. The coloring layer 52 on the front surface side has a function of displaying the color of the light transmitted mainly through the dial 14 for the speedometer in a desired color. The colored layer 52 on the back surface side has a function of making the color of the light transmitted through the colored layer 52 on the front surface side clearer and a function of reflecting the light in the base material 51 and diffusing it over a wide range. There is.

The light-shielding layer 53 is, for example, a layer printed with black light-shielding ink and provided to block the light of the light source 17a. The light-shielding layer 53 has a blank character portion corresponding to the shape of the design 35. That is, the light-shielding layer 53 shields light from light in a region other than the region of the design 35. The light-shielding layer 53 on the front surface side is provided on the front surface side of the damping layer 54 (base material 51), but the region where the colored layer 52 is provided is provided so as to cover the peripheral edge of the colored layer 52. There is.

The light guide 15 is made of, for example, a transparent acrylic resin (PMMA). The light guide body 15 has a light receiving unit 61 and a light guide unit 62 (FIG. 4). The light receiving unit 61 faces the light emitting surface of the light source 17a, receives the light of the light source 17a, and guides the light from the back surface of the display device 1 toward the front surface (direction from the light source 17a to the dial 14 for the speedometer). The light guide portion 62 is a plate-shaped member that is vertically bent and extended from the light receiving portion 61, and has an arc shape having a constant width. The light guide portion 62 may be provided at least on the back surface side of the design 35 of the speedometer dial 14, and in the present embodiment, it has substantially the same outer shape as the speedometer dial 14.

The light-shielding member 16 is made of, for example, a black ABS resin and is made of a material having a light-shielding property. The light-shielding member 16 covers the end faces 15a and 15c of the end faces of the light guide 15 in order to prevent light leakage from the end faces 15a and 15c that are exposed without being shielded by the decorative ring 36 and the protruding wall portion 41b. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the light-shielding member 16 is an end surface of the light guide body 15 in the circumferential direction (length direction), and is included in the end surface 15a and the light guide body 15 superimposed on the display screen 3. It covers the end face 15c along the periphery (in the width direction).

From the viewpoint of thinning the light guide body 15, it is preferable that the light shielding member 16 is provided only on the end faces 15a and 15c of the light guide body 15 and not on the back surface side of the light guide body 15. As a result, the light guide body 15 can be made thin, and the display screen 3 and the speedometer 2 can be brought closer to each other in the thickness direction. Further, in order to reflect the light in the light guide body 15 by the protruding wall portion 41b of the middle case 41, the end face 15b along the outer peripheral edge facing the protruding wall portion 41b of the end faces of the light guide body 15 It is preferable that the light-shielding member 16 is not provided.

Since the slit portion 41e is provided by being formed in this way, the light from the end surface 15b of the light guide body 15 leaks to the outside of the protruding wall portion 41b, and the lower end surface 36c of the decorative ring 36 and the display screen. There was a risk of leakage to the outside of the decorative ring 36 from the gap with the dial 13. However, since the light-shielding rib 36d that fills the slit portion 41e is formed in the decorative ring 36, it is possible to prevent the light from the end surface 15b from leaking to the outside of the protruding wall portion 41b.

A second embodiment of the display device according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. The same parts and equal parts as those of the first embodiment described above will be described with the same reference numerals.

In the second embodiment, the light guide body 15 is abolished. The speedometer dial 14 is a translucent portion through which light from the light source 17a is transmitted to a region of the speedometer dial 14 facing the display screen dial 13 (a region corresponding to the reflection layer 23 in FIG. 7). Has 24. The speedometer dial 14 has a drawn portion 14e formed on the pointer 11 side so as to overlap the display screen dial 13 by drawing forming (hot plate compressed air forming). The case body 18 has a reflecting surface 41d that guides the light from the light source 17a to the translucent portion 24.

By being formed in this way, the dial 14 for the speedometer can be illuminated from behind even without the light guide body 15, and the decorative ring 36 is formed with the light-shielding rib 36d that fills the slit portion 41e. It is possible to prevent the light transmitted through the display screen dial 13 from leaking to the outside of the protruding wall portion 41b.

Although some embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. 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 disclosure. These embodiments and variations thereof are included in the scope and gist of the disclosure, as well as the disclosure described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

In the first embodiment, the example in which the dial 13 for the display screen has the reflective layer 23 has been described, but the reflective layer may be omitted and the base material 51 may face the light guide body 15. In this case, the light guide 15 faces the white middle case 41 via the base material 51, and the middle case 41 functions as a light reflecting layer in the light guide 15. As a result, the light guide efficiency can be improved, and at the same time, the printing process of the reflective layer 23 of the dial 13 for the display screen can be reduced.

The display panel 12 may be a segment type liquid crystal display panel, an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) panel, a matrix type liquid crystal display panel such as a TFT (Thin Film Transistor), or an organic EL panel.

1 Display device 2 Speedometer 3 Display screen 11 Pointer 12 Display panel 12a Display panel case 13 Display screen dial (second dial)
13a Through hole 13b Connection 14 Speedometer dial (first dial)
14b Outer peripheral edge 15 Light guide 16 Light shielding member 16b Shielding wall 17 Circuit board 17a Light source 18 Case (case body)
21, 51 Base material 22, 53 Light-shielding layer 23 Reflective layer 31 Opening 32, 35 Design 36 Decorative ring (covering member)
36b Upper end surface 36c Lower end surface 36d Light-shielding rib (light-shielding wall)
41 Medium case (case body)
41a Partition wall 41b Protruding wall part 41e Slit part (gap part)
42 Lower case 43 Upper case 52 Colored layer 54 Attenuation layer 61 Light receiving part 62 Light guide part

Claims (2)

A light source that emits light and
A first dial provided on the front side of the light source and displaying a design by transmitting the light,
A second dial provided on the back side of the first dial and formed in a larger area than the first dial,
A case body provided on the back side of the second dial and supporting the first dial and the second dial, and a case body.
A covering member arranged on the front surface of the first dial and the second dial and covering the outer peripheral edge of the first dial is provided.
The second dial has a plurality of through holes divided by connecting portions, and has a plurality of through holes.
The case body has a plurality of projecting wall portions that penetrate the through hole portion and project toward the first dial plate.
The display device is characterized in that the covering member has a light-shielding wall portion formed so as to fill a gap between the protruding wall portions located at the connecting portion. The display device according to claim 1, further comprising a light guide body arranged on the back surface side of the first dial and guiding the light to the first dial.

Images