JP2001107324A - Road setting reflector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a road setting reflector allowing the recognition of the presence of a triangular indicator even by an automotive radar of milli-wave band. SOLUTION: This road setting reflector is set on a road to call the attention of a vehicle running on this road. This reflector comprises an optical reflection part 10 for reflecting the light of the headlight emitted from the running vehicle, and a radio wave reflection part 30 for reflecting the automotive radar emitted from the running vehicle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a triangular display panel or the like for indicating that a stopped vehicle is present in another running vehicle when the vehicle has stopped on a highway or a general road due to a failure. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improvement in a case where another traveling vehicle is automatically driven by using an automobile radar.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional triangular display panel. The triangular display panel includes an optical reflector 10 that reflects headlights emitted from a traveling vehicle, and informs a driver of the traveling vehicle that a stopped vehicle exists on an expressway or a general road. When driving on a highway, the duty to load the vehicle is specified by law. The triangular display panel has a base 20 installed on a road and three foldable optical reflectors 10 for easy storage in a vehicle. The optical reflection unit 10 includes a fixed plate 22 mounted on a base 20 and two movable plates 24 having shaft support ends 24 a supported on both ends of the fixed plate 22. The triangle of the triangular display plate is formed by the fixed plate 22 and the two movable plates 24 by fixing the movable end 24b opposite to the pivot support end 24a of the movable plate 24.

[0003] Such a triangular display plate comprises a fixed plate 22 and two movable plates 24 when the vehicle is stopped on a highway.
Are assembled to form a hollow triangle, and the optical reflector 10
Reflects the light of the headlight to notify other traveling vehicles that a stopped vehicle is present. Optical reflector 10
Has a polygonal pyramid-shaped reflector on the surface, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-123309.
The polygonal pyramid-shaped reflector preferably has one side at least twice the wavelength of the light of the headlight in order to increase the reflectance, and is set to, for example, about 200 μm.

[0004]

By the way, Patent No. 25
The number of vehicles equipped with an automotive radar for an alarm device for preventing rear-end collision or collision as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 67332 is increasing. Vehicles equipped with this automotive radar are extremely promising as next-generation vehicle automatic driving. However, since a millimeter-wave band frequency region is used for an automotive radar, a sufficient reflectivity cannot be obtained with a conventional optical reflector. For this reason, there is a case where the presence of the triangular display board cannot be recognized by the automotive radar. That is, the length of one side of the polygonal pyramid reflector of the optical reflection portion is, for example, about 200 μm, which is likely to cause interference at about 1/20 of the wavelength of a millimeter-wave band automotive radar, and has a required reflectance. May not be obtained.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reflector for road setting which can recognize the existence of a triangular display plate even in a millimeter-wave automobile radar.

[0006]

As shown in FIG. 1, a road-installing reflector according to the present invention, which solves the above-mentioned problems, is installed on a road to call attention to a vehicle traveling on the road. In the reflector for road setting, an optical reflector 10 for reflecting the light of the headlight radiated from the traveling vehicle, and a radio wave reflector 30 for reflecting the automotive radar radiated from the traveling vehicle. It is characterized by having.

In the device configured as described above, the optical reflector 10 reflects the light of the headlights radiated from the running vehicle to notify the driver of the running vehicle that there is a stopped vehicle. Inform. The radio wave reflection unit 30 reflects an automobile radar radiated from a running vehicle to notify a rear-end collision / collision prevention alarm device and an automatic driving device of the running vehicle that there is a stopped vehicle.

Preferably, the radio wave reflection section 30 has a polygonal pyramid-shaped reflector having a side having a length substantially equal to or more than twice the transmission beam wavelength of the automotive radar. Reflectivity increases. Further, when one side of the polygonal pyramid-shaped reflector is 10 mm or more, the transmission beam frequency of the automotive radar is 60 GHz to 77 GHz.
, The transmission beam wavelength corresponds to 3.9 to 5.0 mm.

Preferably, the reflector for road setting has a triangular shape, the optical reflector 10 is provided at the periphery of the triangle, and the radio wave reflector 30 is provided at the center of the triangle. The shape of the triangular display panel is small while the radio wave reflecting section 30 is mounted on the general-purpose triangular display panel, so that it can be easily stored in a vehicle. The reflector for road installation is a fixed plate 22 and a movable plate 2 having one end pivotally supported at both ends of the fixed plate 22.
4, two movable plates 24 are fixed so that their movable ends 24b overlap each other to form a triangle, and the optical reflector 10 is provided on the surfaces of the fixed plate 22 and the movable plate 24. It is preferable that the radio wave reflecting section 30 is provided by assembling a cone forming plate 26 attached to the center side edge of the triangle of the fixed plate 22 and the movable plate 24 in a triangular pyramid shape.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B are configuration diagrams illustrating an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a front view, and FIG. 1B is a side view. In FIG. 1, components having the same functions as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. In the figure, fixing plate 2
On the surfaces of the two and two movable plates 24, an optical reflecting portion 10 is provided. The optical reflector 10 is formed by coating the surfaces of a fixed plate 22 and a movable plate 24 made of plastic with aluminum. The cone forming plate 26 is attached to the edges of the fixed plate 22 and the movable plate 24 by a hinge-like pivot 26a, and is provided at the center of a triangle formed by the fixed plate 22 and the two movable plates 24. Form a triangular pyramid. Cone forming plate 26
Is made of plastic and the surface is coated with aluminum.

Next, the operation of the thus constructed apparatus will be described. The triangular pyramid formed by the cone forming plate 26 constitutes the radio wave reflection unit 30. When the transmission beam frequency of the automotive radar is 60 GHz to 77 GHz, the transmission beam wavelength is 3.9 to 5.0 mm. Therefore, the cone forming plate 2
If the length of one side of the triangular pyramid formed in 6 is 10 mm or more, the length of one side of the triangular pyramid becomes twice or more the transmission beam wavelength of the automotive radar, and the reflectance is improved.

When the road installation reflector is housed in a vehicle, the fixed plate 22 and the two movable plates 24 are folded, and the fixed plate 22 and the two movable plates, each of which supports the cone forming plate 26, are supported. By folding it to 24, the reflector for road installation becomes very compact.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are configuration diagrams for explaining another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a front view and FIG. 2B is a side view. The radio wave reflection unit 30 includes an optical reflection unit 1 provided around the triangle.
It is surrounded by 0. The radio wave reflection unit 30 has a triangular shape formed by combining 16 unit cones 32. The unit cone 32 is
The length of one side is formed to be at least twice the transmission beam wavelength of the automotive radar. With this configuration,
Since there are a large number of unit cones 32, the reflected wave of the transmission beam of the automotive radar is substantially reflected in the radio wave reflecting portion 30 in any direction.
Since there is the entire area, there is little possibility that the reflected wave is overlooked on the receiving side of the automotive radar.

In the above embodiment, the case where the reflector for road installation is triangular is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the reflector for road installation may be rectangular or circular. Further, the optical reflection unit 10 and the radio wave reflection unit 3
The relative position of the road setting reflector 0 is not limited to the peripheral part and the central part of the triangle, but may be divided into an upper part and a lower part, or a left part and a right part. Alternatively, the radio wave reflecting portion 30 may be formed on the entire surface of the road setting reflecting plate, and the optical reflecting portion 10 may be provided on the surface of the unit cone 32 constituting the radio wave reflecting portion 30.

[0015]

As described above, according to the reflector for road setting of the present invention, the optical reflector for reflecting the light of the headlight radiated from the traveling vehicle, and the radiation from the traveling vehicle. And a radio wave reflecting portion for reflecting an automobile radar, so that the optical reflecting portion reflects the headlight light emitted from the traveling vehicle to stop the driver of the traveling vehicle. The radio wave reflector reflects the radar for the vehicle radiated from the running vehicle, and can notify the warning device for preventing collision and collision of the running vehicle and the automatic driving device that there is a stopped vehicle. it can.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the reflector for road setting has a triangular shape, the optical reflecting portion is provided at the periphery of the triangle, and the radio wave reflecting portion is provided at the center of the triangle. Then, the shape of the triangular display panel is small while the radio wave reflecting portion is attached to the general-purpose triangular display panel, so that it can be easily stored in a vehicle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional triangular display panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Optical reflection part 20 Base 22 Fixed plate 24 Movable plate 26 Conical body forming plate 30 Radio wave reflection part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A road setting reflector installed on a road to draw attention to a vehicle traveling on the road, comprising: an optical reflector for reflecting light of a headlight radiated from the traveling vehicle. And a radio wave reflecting portion for reflecting an automobile radar radiated from the running vehicle. 2. The reflector according to claim 1, wherein the radio wave reflector has a polygonal pyramid-shaped reflector having a side having a length substantially twice or more of a transmission beam wavelength of the automotive radar. Reflector for road installation. 3. A side of the polygonal pyramid-shaped reflector is 10 mm.
The reflector for road setting according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The road setting reflector has a triangular shape, the optical reflecting portion is provided at a peripheral portion of the triangle, and the radio wave reflecting portion is provided at a central portion of the triangle. The reflector for road installation according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The road setting reflector has a fixed plate and two movable plates each having one end pivotally supported at both ends of the fixed plate, and the movable ends of the two movable plates overlap each other. And the optical reflecting portion is provided on the surface of the fixed plate and the movable plate, and the radio wave reflecting portion is provided on the center side edge of the triangle of the fixed plate and the movable plate. The reflector for road installation according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the attached cone forming plate is assembled and provided in a triangular pyramid shape.