JPH0863111A - Lighting device for control panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To effectively light many operating members by few light sources. CONSTITUTION: The color of the operating member 22 is a light shielding color and the leading edge part 25 of a light guiding member 29 is fitted in a lighting part 23 on the front surface of the member 22. An incident part 26b and a reflecting part 26a are formed at the base part of the member 24. Light from the light source 39a positioned apart from the operating member 22 is made incident on the member 24 from the incident part 26b, and reflected by the reflecting part 26a so as to illuminate the lighting part 23 brightly. Thus, the light source lighting only the operating member 22 is not necessitated and the operating member 22 is lighted by the light source 39a lighting the lighting parts 31a and 34a of other operating members 31 and 34. Therefore, many operating members are effectively lighted by the fewest light sources.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an illuminating device for an operation panel which can illuminate an operation member such as a push button in an operation panel of various electronic devices such as in-vehicle audio equipment, and particularly with a minimum light source. The present invention relates to an illumination device for an operation panel that can effectively illuminate an operation member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Vehicle-mounted audio equipment and the like have a built-in illumination device for illuminating an operation panel on the surface of the nose at night. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a nose portion of a vehicle-mounted audio device equipped with a conventional illumination device. The main body 20 of the on-vehicle audio equipment is formed on a console panel or the like inside the vehicle.
The main body 20 is embedded in a DIN-sized storage section.
The nose portion 1 which is a decorative portion provided on the front part of the device appears on the surface of the console panel or the like. In FIG. 5, the left side in the figure is the vehicle interior side.

The front surface of the nose portion 1 is an operation panel 1a. The operation panel 1a is formed with a plurality of holes, and operation members for operating (operating) various operation electronic parts such as switches are provided in the holes. 2, 3, 4 are arranged. The operation member 2 provided at the uppermost portion in the drawing is made of resin, and the surface or the whole thereof has a light-shielding color such as black. On the surface of the operation member 2, an illumination portion 2a having an arrow shape, a triangle, a quadrangle, or a surface shape such as letters and numbers is formed by being cut out. A light guide member 5 made of a translucent material such as acrylic resin is fixed to the back surface of the operation member 2, and the tip end of the light guide member 5 is fitted to the illumination unit 2a. The operation member 2 is provided with a pair of protrusions at positions sandwiching the light guide member 5 in both the front and back directions of the paper surface of FIG. The circuit board 6 provided inside the operation panel 1a is provided with a switch that opposes the pair of protrusions and is operated by the protrusions, and each switch is operated by the seesaw operation of the operation member 2. Has become.

The other operating members 3 and 4 are made of a transparent resin material, and their surfaces are coated or plated so as to have a light-shielding color such as black. Then, a part of the surface of each operation member 3, 4 serves as an illumination unit 3a, 4a. The illuminating parts 3a and 4a are coated or plated so as to have a light-transmitting color such as white instead of the light-shielding color. The illumination units 3a and 4a are numbers, letters, or arrow shapes. Switches 7 and 8 are provided on the circuit board 6, and the projections 3 formed integrally with the operation members 3 and 4 are provided.
The switches 7 and 8 are pressed and operated by b and 4b.

Conventionally, as an illumination device at night, a light source 9 for illuminating the operating member 2 and other operating members 3, 4 are used.
And a light source 10 for illuminating the. The light sources 9 and 10 are lamps attached to the circuit board 6, and their surfaces are covered with covers such as orange and green. A translucent cover 11 is provided between each operation member 3 and 4 and the circuit board 6.
The light from the light source 10 is guided into the cover 11, is diffusely reflected in the cover, and is given to the operation members 3 and 4 as light having a uniform light amount distribution. And the illumination section 3 of the operation members 3 and 4
a and 4a are illuminated. On the other hand, the light from the light source 9 is
The illumination section 2a is directly incident on the inside of the light guide member 5, transmitted through the inside of the light guide member 5, or diffusely reflected by the wall surface of the light guide member 5a.
And the illumination unit 2a is illuminated.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The conventional nose portion 1 described above.
In the illumination device provided in the light source 10, a light-transmitting cover 11 is provided in front of the light source 10.
The amount of light emitted from the light sources is made uniform so that the illumination portions 3a, 4a of the plurality of operation members 3, 4 can be illuminated. However, the operation member that can be illuminated by the light source 10 is
It is limited to those arranged in front of the light source 10 or those very close to the light source 10 as shown by reference numerals 3 and 4. That is, there is a limit to the distance that the light from the light source 10 can be guided by the translucent cover 11, and for example, in the area indicated by B of the cover 11, a certain amount of light from the light source 10 can be secured, and the illuminating section 3a is sufficient. It is possible to illuminate with the amount of light, but the light source 1 up to the area indicated by A
When it is separated from 0, the amount of light from the light source 10 guided by the cover 11 decreases, and it becomes difficult to illuminate the operation member 2 with a sufficient amount of light by the light guided by the cover 11.

Therefore, it is necessary to separately provide a light source 9 for directly illuminating the operating member 2 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the number of light sources provided in the nose portion 1 increases,
Not only the number of parts increases and the manufacturing cost increases,
Power consumption also increases. Further, when the light source 9 is provided so as to face the inside of the operation member 2, the mounting area of various components on the circuit board 6 is narrowed, and for example, a pair of switches operated by the operation member 2 are provided in the light source 9. Therefore, it is necessary to provide them at a distance apart from each other, so that it is necessary to make the operation member 2 that operates the seesaw larger. As described above, by increasing the number of light sources, the arrangement structure of various components within a limited space is restricted.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an illuminating device for an operation panel capable of effectively illuminating many operation members with a few light sources.

[0009]

An illumination device according to the present invention includes an operating member operably provided on an operating panel, and a light guiding member provided on the operating member for guiding light to at least a part of the surface of the operating member. And a light source located inside the operation panel and away from the operation member, wherein the light guide member has an incident portion that guides light from the light source into the light guide member, and an incident portion. A reflecting portion for directing the guided light toward the surface of the operating member is formed.

The operation panel is, for example, the front surface of the nose portion of the vehicle-mounted audio equipment, but the operation panel of the present invention may be a panel of equipment other than the vehicle-mounted audio equipment. The operation member and the light guide member may be separately formed and fixed to each other, but the operation member and the light guide member may be integrally formed of a translucent material. A part of the surface of the operation member may be illuminated, or the entire front surface or almost the entire area of the operation member may be illuminated. The reflection portion formed on the light guide member is formed by a flat surface or a curved surface that is inclined with respect to the incident direction of light from the light source, and preferably a metal film or the like is formed on the reflection portion.

The light from the light source is given to the light guide member through the space in the operation panel. However, the structure may be such that the light from the light source is guided through a light guide member such as a translucent material or a lens, and is incident from the incident portion of the light guide member.

Further, the light source is arranged inside another operation member provided on the operation panel, and the light source illuminates both of the other operation member and the operation member having the light guide member. Is preferred.

Furthermore, an operation electronic component facing the light guide member provided on the operation member may be provided inside the operation panel, and the operation force of the operation member may be applied to the operation electronic component via the light guide member. Good. The operation electronic parts in this case are
The push-button switch is operated by pressing the operation member. Alternatively, the operation electronic component may be a slide resistor or the like that is operated by sliding operation of the operation member, or a variable resistor or the like that is operated by rotating operation of the operation member.

[0014]

In the above means, the operation member is provided with a light guide member, and the light guide member is made of a transparent material such as transparent or semitransparent acrylic resin.
An incident portion that guides the light from the light source to the inside and a reflecting portion that directs the internal light toward the front surface of the operation member are formed. It is preferable that the reflecting portions face each other at a predetermined angle with respect to the direction of the light from the light source. By forming the reflecting portion on the light guide member, it is possible to positively direct the light from the light source located away from the light guide member toward the front surface of the operation portion. Therefore, even if the operating member and the light source are located apart from each other, the light from the light source can be captured with a sufficient amount of light and directed toward the front surface of the operating member, and at least a part of the front surface of the operating member is sufficiently bright. Now you can illuminate. In order to allow the light from the light source to be sufficiently captured by the reflection portion, it is preferable to provide a metal film or the like on the reflection portion, or the reflection portion can be formed in a concave shape to secure the amount of light captured from the light source. The structure is preferable.

Further, even when the light from the light source is made to enter the light guide member through the space inside the operation panel, the provision of the reflecting portion allows the light passing through the space to be sufficiently supplied. It can be captured in. By guiding the light from the light source through the space to the light guide member, the internal space of the operation panel can be effectively used.

Further, if another operating member is arranged in front of a light source for giving light to the light guide member and the other operating member is illuminated by this light source, a large number of operating members can be effectively provided with the minimum number of light sources. You will be able to illuminate.

Since it is not necessary to separately provide a light source for independently illuminating the operation member provided with the light guide member, not only can the number of light sources in the operation panel be reduced, but also a light source other than the light source can be provided inside the operation member. You can secure the area to mount the parts of
For example, it is possible to directly operate the operation electronic component by the light guide member.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an operation panel of an on-vehicle audio equipment equipped with the illumination device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a II-II of FIG.
2 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. The nose portion 21 is a device body 2 of an in-vehicle audio device.
It is provided at the front of 0. The device body 20 is embedded in a storage part of a console panel of an automobile, and has a nose part 21.
Appears on the surface of the console panel. The front surface of the nose portion 21 is an operation panel 21a. The left side of the drawing in FIG. 2 is the passenger compartment, and the operation panel 21a is directed to the passenger compartment.
Various electronic circuits such as an AM / FM tuner, a cassette tape drive mechanism, and an amplifier are built in the main body 20 of the audio equipment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the operation panel 21a is provided with a cassette tape insertion port M and a liquid crystal display panel D. On the liquid crystal display panel D, the tuning frequency of the tuner, the drive mode state of the cassette tape, etc. are displayed. An operation member 22 for inputting fast forward and rewind instructions of the cassette tape player is provided on the right side of the operation panel 21a in FIG.
Six operation members 30 to 35 for selecting a tuner are arranged on the lower side thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, the operation member 22 is made of resin, and the front surface (front surface) or the whole thereof has a light-shielding color such as black. Operation member 22
An illumination unit 23 is provided on a part of the surface of the. The illuminating section 23 is formed by penetrating the front surface of the operating member 22. As shown in FIG. 1, the illuminating section 23 is an elongated slit in this embodiment, but the illuminating section 23 may be formed by punching out in the shape of an arrow, a number, a letter, or the like.

A light guide member 24 made of a transparent material such as transparent or translucent acrylic resin is fixed to the back surface of the operation member 22. Tip 25 of light guide member 24
Has the same shape as the illuminating section 23, and the tip 25 is fitted to the illuminating section 23. On the base end side of the light guide member 24, the plane on the lower side in the drawing is a light incident portion 26 in which the plane is guided in the Y direction.
b, and the upper side in the drawing is the reflecting portion 26a. The reflecting portion 26a is an inclined surface formed at an angle of approximately 45 degrees or the like with respect to the Y direction (vertical direction in the drawing), and reflects the light guided in the Y direction and entering the light guide member 24 from the incident portion 26b. It is oriented so that it can be reflected toward the front surface of the operating member 22.
Due to the difference between the refractive index of the material of the light guide member 24 and the refractive index of air, the light guided to the inside of the light guide member 24 is reflected by the reflecting portion 26a.
However, in order to prevent light from leaking from the inside of the light guide member 24 to the outside, it is preferable to form a metal film or the like on the reflecting portion 26a. Alternatively, the reflecting portion 26a may be a concave surface shape in which the concave portion side faces toward the front surface direction of the light source 39a and the operating member 22, that is, the reflecting portion 26a may be a cylindrical surface that is convex upward in FIG.

At the base end side of the operation member 22, a light guide member 24 is provided.
The operation protrusions 27 and 28 located on both sides (in the left-right direction of FIG. 3 and the direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 2) sandwiching the are integrally formed.
A pair of switches 29, 29 as operation electronic parts are arranged at intervals on a circuit board 36 provided inside the nose portion 21, and the switches 29, 29 are pressed by the respective operation protrusions 27, 28. It is supposed to be operated. The operating member 22 operates in a seesaw operation. When one of the left and right ends of FIG. 3 is pressed on the surface of the operating member 22, one of the switches 29 is pressed to operate.

In the sectional view of FIG. 2, two operation members 31 and 34 among the operation members 30 to 35 are shown. The operation members 31 and 34 are injection molded from a transparent resin material, and their surfaces are painted or plated with a light-shielding color such as black. Illuminated portions 31a and 34a having numbers such as "2" and "5" are provided on the exposed surfaces of the operation members 31 and 34 on the vehicle interior side. This illuminated portion 31a
The portions 34 and 34a have a translucent color such as white. For example, white and black are overlapped on the surfaces of the operation members 31 and 34 and painted, and the black color on the outermost surface is illuminated by the illumination portions 31a and 34a.
Is removed by etching at the part of "2",
Illuminated portions 31a and 34a having a numeral shape such as "5" are formed. Further, operation projections 31b and 34b are integrally formed on the back surface side of the operation members 31 and 34. Nose part 2
1 (inside the operation panel 21a), the circuit board 3
6 is provided on the circuit board 36.
9 and 29 (see FIG. 3), switches 37 and 38 as operating electronic components are mounted, and the switches 37 and 38 are mounted.
Is pressed by the operation protrusions 31b and 34b of the operation members 31 and 34.

As shown in FIG. 1, six operating members 30 to
The reference numeral 35 is regularly arranged in the vertical and horizontal directions, but two light sources 39a and 39b are arranged at positions which are central portions of four adjacent operation members. Each light source 39a and 39
b is formed by covering the surface of the lamp mounted on the circuit board 36 with an orange or green cover. Alternatively, the light sources 39a and 39b may be configured by light emitting diodes or the like. A light-transmitting cover 40 made of a light-transmitting plastic material is provided between the operation panel 21a and the circuit board 36.

Next, the illumination operation of the illumination device shown in FIG. 2 will be described. When the light sources 39a and 39b are turned on at night or the like, the light is guided into the translucent cover 40 made of a translucent material, diffusely reflected in the translucent cover 40, and the distribution of the light amount is made uniform. Therefore, when viewed from the front of FIG. 1, the respective illumination parts 30a to 35a of the operation members 30 to 35 are illuminated with substantially uniform brightness (light amount), and the illumination parts are illuminated on the surfaces of the operation members 30 to 35 at night. 30a to 35a are in a brightly embossed state.

Further, the light emitted from the light source 39a travels through the space inside the nose portion 21 (the space between the circuit board 36 and the translucent cover 40) and enters the light guide member 24 through the incident portion 26b. It is preferable to form an antireflection film on the surface of the incident portion 26b so that the light is surely incident on the light guide member 24. The reflecting portion 26a is an inclined surface facing the light source 39a. Therefore, the light guided to the inside of the light guide member 24 is reflected by the reflection portion 26 a and transmitted through the inside of the light guide member 24, or is reflected or irregularly reflected by the wall surface of the light guide member 24, and is directed toward the surface direction of the operation member 22. To be Therefore,
The surface of the operation member 22 is illuminated so that the illuminated portion 23 is brightly projected. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the light guide member 2
Since the reflecting portion 26a of No. 4 is an inclined surface facing the light source 39a, the light that has exited from the light source 39a and enters the light guide member 24 from the incident portion 26b is positively operated by the reflecting portion 26a. Is directed toward the front (surface) of the. Therefore, a sufficient amount of light is given to the illumination unit 23, and the illumination unit 2
3 will be brightly illuminated.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. Operation members 42 and 43 are provided on the left portion of the operation panel 21a shown in FIG. 1, and slit-shaped illumination units 44 and 44 are provided respectively. FIG. 4 shows one operating member 43. Illumination unit 44 of operation member 43
In the same manner as the operation member 22 shown in FIG. 2, the operation member 43 is formed by being removed. A light guide member 45 made of a translucent material is fixed to the back surface of the operation member 43, and a tip end portion 46 of the light guide member 45 is fitted to the illumination unit 44. In this embodiment, the operation members 42 and 43 are separate switches (operation electronic components).
It is supposed to operate. As shown in FIG. 4, a switch 60 supported by the circuit board 36 is provided inside the operation member 43. The base end surface 48 of the light guide member 45 serves as an operation pressing surface and faces the switch 60, and the pressing force (operation force) of the operation member 43 is applied to the switch 60, which is an operation electronic component, via the light guide member 45. Transmitted, switch 6
0 is pressed. Light guide member 4
5, an incident portion 47b facing the light source 59a and a light source 59a
And a reflecting portion 47a that is inclined at an angle of 45 degrees or the like.

At the lower position of the operating member 43, push button type operating members 50 to 55 for controlling the CD changer and tuning the tuner are provided, and the illumination parts 50a to 55a are provided on the respective surfaces. It is provided. FIG. 4 shows the operating members 51 and 54. These operating members 51, 54 are the operating members 31, 34 shown in FIG.
The switch 57, 58 mounted on the circuit board 36 is pressed by operating protrusions 51b, 54b integrally formed at the base end. Then, the operation members 50 to 5 are provided on the circuit board 36.
5, a pair of light sources 59 for illuminating the illuminating parts 50a to 55a.
a and 59b are provided. Further, a translucent cover 40 is provided between the operation panel 21a and the circuit board 36, the light amounts of the light from the light sources 59a and 59b are made uniform by the translucent cover 40, and the illumination parts of the operation members 50 to 55 are illuminated. 50a-5
The brightness for illuminating 5a is made uniform.

Also in FIG. 4, the light from the light source 59a passes through the space, is guided from the incident portion 47b into the light guide member 45, and is positively reflected toward the surface of the operating member 43 by the reflecting portion 47a to be directed. To be Therefore, the illumination unit 44 provides uniform illumination with a sufficient amount of light. In addition, the operation member 4
Since it is not necessary to provide a separate light source inside the switch 3, the switch 60 can be arranged at the portion where the base end faces of the light guide members 45 face each other.

The illumination device shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 does not require a light source for individually illuminating the operating members 22 and 43, and a light source 39a for illuminating the other operating members 30 to 35,
A light source 59a that illuminates the operation members 50 to 55 is used to illuminate the illumination parts of the operation member 22 and the operation member 43. Therefore, the light source used is the minimum, and a margin can be provided in the component mounting area of the circuit board 36. In addition, as shown in FIG.
The light guiding member 45 can be configured to give an operating force to
It is possible to use the operating member 43 having a button as a simple pressing button, and it is possible to increase the degree of freedom in designing the switch operating structure.

2 and 4, the operation members 22, 43 are
Although the light guide members 24 and 45 are separate, the operation member and the light guide member may be integrally formed. In addition, the illumination unit 2
3, 44 may have any shape and may illuminate the entire front surface or almost the entire area of the operation member. Further, the light guide member 24 or 45 is connected to the operation panel 21.
The light from the light source is directly attached to the light guide member 24 or 4
It is possible to guide the light into the area 5 and illuminate the illuminated portion such as characters formed on the operation panel 21a with this light.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to positively direct the light from the light source at the position distant from the light guide member toward the front surface of the operation portion, and to provide the operation member at the position distant from the light source. It is possible to illuminate with a sufficient amount of light.

Further, even when the light from the light source is made to enter the light guide member through the space inside the operation panel, the provision of the reflecting portion allows the light passing through the space to be sufficiently supplied. It can be captured in. By guiding the light from the light source through the space to the light guide member, the internal space of the operation panel can be effectively used.

Further, if another operating member is arranged in front of a light source for giving light to the light guide member and the other operating member is illuminated by this light source, a large number of operating members can be effectively used with the minimum number of light sources. You will be able to illuminate.

Further, since it is not necessary to separately provide a light source for independently illuminating the operation member provided with the light guide member,
Not only the number of light sources in the operation panel can be reduced, but also an area for mounting components other than the light source can be secured inside the operation member, and for example, the operation electronic component can be directly operated by the light guide member. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a nose part (operation panel) of an in-vehicle audio device equipped with an illumination device of the present invention,

FIG. 2 shows an illumination device of the present invention, which is indicated by I in FIG.
I-II line sectional view,

3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an illumination device of the present invention, which is indicated by I in FIG.
V-IV line sectional view,

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a nose portion of a vehicle-mounted acoustic device showing a conventional illumination device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21 Nose part 21a Operation panel 22 Operation member 23 Illumination part 24 Light guide member 25 Tip part 26a Reflection part 26b Incident part 27,28 Operation protrusion 30-35 Other operation members 36 Substrate 37,38 Switch 39a, 39b Light source (lamp) 40 translucent cover 43 operation member 44 illuminating section 45 light guiding member 47a reflecting section 47b incident section 59a light source 60 switch

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An operation member operably provided on an operation panel, a light guide member provided on the operation member for guiding light to at least a part of a surface of the operation member, the operation member inside the operation panel, and the operation member. A light source located at a position away from the light guide member, and the light guide member has an incident portion that guides the light from the light source into the light guide member, and the light that is guided from the incident portion toward the surface of the operation member. An illuminating device for an operation panel, characterized in that a reflecting portion to be directed is formed. 2. The illumination device for an operation panel according to claim 1, wherein the light from the light source is given to the light guide member through a space in the operation panel. 3. The light source is arranged inside another operation member provided on the operation panel, and both the other operation member and the operation member having the light guide member are illuminated by the light source. Illumination device for the operation panel described. 4. An operation electronic component facing a light guide member provided on the operation member is provided inside the operation panel, and an operation force of the operation member is applied to the operation electronic component via the light guide member. Item 4. An illumination device for an operation panel according to any one of items 1 to 3.