JP2002206955A - Measuring instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance the visibility of a measuring instrument by increasing the brightness of a dial and a pointer. SOLUTION: The measuring instrument 10 includes a dial 17, a pointer 14, and a light guide board 16 located on the lower surface of the dial 17. A light source (LED) 21 for illuminating the dial is positioned below the light guide panel 16 and a light source (LED) 22 for illuminating the pointer is positioned on top of the light guide panel 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an instrument device suitable for use in automobiles and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle instrument system has a dial and hands, a light guide plate on the lower surface side of the dial, and an LED as a light source arranged below the light guide plate (FIG. 4). . FIG.
, 1 is a dial, 2 is a light guide plate, and 3 is an LED.

[0003]

The prior art has the following problems. The LED 3 illuminates the dial 1 via the light guide panel 2 and further illuminates the hands. Since the LED 3 illuminates the hands through the light guide panel 2, the brightness of the hands cannot be increased. Also, LE
The light of D3 illuminates the dial 1 and the hands through the single light guide plate 2, and the dial 1 and the hands cannot be illuminated with lights of different colors.

[0004] Since the bottom surface of the light guide plate 2 is entirely flat, the light of the LED 3 is repeatedly reflected inside the light guide plate 2, not only from the upper surface of the dial 1 but also from the side surfaces of the light guide plate 2. It leaks out. For this reason, the amount of light reaching the dial 1 from the LED 3 decreases as the distance from the LED 3 increases,
The brightness of the dial 1 cannot be increased, and the dial 1 also has uneven color. Further, in order to ensure a constant amount of reflected light on the upper surface of the dial 1, the light guide plate 2 needs to be thick (for example, 5 mm) due to the reflection angle inside the light guide plate 2.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to increase the brightness of the dial and hands and improve the visibility of the instrument device.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an instrument device having a dial and hands, and a light guide plate provided on a lower surface side of the dial, wherein a light source for dial illumination is provided under the light guide plate. In addition, a light source for pointer illumination is arranged above the light guide panel.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the bottom surface, which is a surface opposite to the surface of the light guide plate opposite to the dial, has a flat central portion and a peripheral portion thereof. In the shape of a curved surface asymptotic to the side.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first or second aspect, the upper surface of a portion of the light guide plate corresponding to the dial illumination light source is formed into a slope, so that the light from the dial illumination light source is incident. The light is directed in the outer diameter direction of the light guide panel.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the following operations are provided. The dial light source was arranged at the lower part of the light guide panel, and the pointer illumination light source was arranged at the upper part of the light guide panel. Since the light from the pointer illumination light source directly illuminates the pointer without passing through the light guide panel, the brightness of the pointer can be increased. Therefore, the visibility of the instrument device can be improved.

Since the illumination path of the dial illumination light source to the dial and the illumination path of the pointer illumination light source to the pointer are separated, the color of the dial illumination light source and the pointer illumination light source are separated. The dial and the hands can be illuminated with different colors of light without mixing the colors of light. Therefore,
The visibility of the instrument device can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the following operations are provided. The bottom surface of the light guide panel was flat at the center and curved at the periphery. Therefore, light incident on the light guide from the dial light source is efficiently reflected toward the dial by the curved reflecting surface around the center of the light guide, and the side surfaces of the light guide are also curved. As a result, light is prevented from leaking out, so that the brightness of the dial can be improved and color unevenness does not occur on the dial. Since the irradiation efficiency of light from the dial light source to the dial is improved, the light guide plate can be made thin (for example, 3 mm).

Since the central part of the bottom surface of the light guide panel is made flat, the light guide panel can be easily attached to the base, and the efficiency of light irradiation from the central part to the peripheral part is good.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the following operation is provided. The upper surface of the part corresponding to the dial light source of the light guide panel is
The entire dial is uniformly illuminated because the light is sloping and the incident light from the dial illuminating light source is directed in the radial direction of the light guide.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a meter device, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a main part of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a light irradiation path of a light source for dial illumination. FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a conventional example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle instrument device 10 has a pointer 14 on a pointer shaft 13 which is driven to rotate by an instrument driver 12 built in an instrument case 11. The instrument device 10 includes a light guide panel 16 on a base 15 fixed to the front of the instrument drive unit 12 inside the instrument case 11.
The dial 17 is overlapped, and the light guide plate 16 and the dial 17 are fixed to the instrument case 11 with the bezel ring 19 together with the front cover 18 on the front surface thereof in a state where the central axes of the dial 17 and the dial 17 are coaxially arranged. The base 15 includes a dial illumination light source (LED) 21 and a pointer illumination light source (LED) to be described later.
And a power supply unit connected to the power supply unit 22. The light guide 16 guides the light of the dial illumination light source (LED) 21 to the dial 17,
The transmitted illumination of the dial 17 is performed. The dial 17 is provided with a memory, characters, and the like, and is illuminated by transmission light from the light guide 16.

However, in the case of the meter device 10, FIG.
As shown in the figure, an LED 21 as a dial illumination light source is arranged below a central portion of the light guide plate 16 (a notch main portion), and an LED 22 as a pointer illumination light source is arranged above the central portion of the light guide plate 16. The LED 21 emits blue light, for example, and emits light in the circumferential direction 2 around the pointer shaft 13 between the base 15 and the light guide panel 16.
And irradiates the light guide panel 16 with light. LED2
Numeral 2 emits red light, for example, and is arranged at four circumferential positions around the pointer shaft 13 on the same plane as the dial 17 immediately below the pointer 14, and irradiates the pointer 14 directly with light.

In the instrument device 10, the light guide panel 1
6 is a bottom surface 3 which is a surface opposite to the top surface of the dial 17
0 is a flat bottom 31 at the center around the pointer shaft 13 and a curved bottom 32 asymptotic to the dial 17 side.

In the instrument device 10, as shown in FIG.
The upper surface of the portion corresponding to the light guide plate 16 is coaxial with the pointer shaft 13 and has an inclined outer conical surface 41 and an inner conical surface 42 inclined with respect to the axial direction of the pointer shaft 13. A counterbore-shaped annular V-shaped groove portion which opens upward by an outer conical surface 41 and an inner conical surface 42 is formed on the outer surface.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the following operations are provided. A dial illumination light source (LED) 21 was arranged below the light guide panel 16, and a pointer illumination light source (LED) 22 was arranged above the light guide panel 16. Since the light from the pointer illumination light source (LED) 22 directly illuminates the pointer 14 without passing through the light guide panel 16, the pointer 1
4 can be increased in luminance. Therefore, the visibility of the instrument device 10 can be improved.

The irradiation path of the light of the dial illumination light source (LED) 21 to the dial 17 and the pointer illumination light source (LED)
Since the illumination path of the light 22 to the hands 14 is divided, the color of the light of the dial illumination light source (LED) 21 and the color of the light of the pointer illumination light source (LED) 22 are not mixed, and And hands 14 can be illuminated with light of different colors. Therefore, the visibility of the instrument device 10 can be improved.

The bottom surface 30 of the light guide panel 16 (the flat bottom surface 3)
1. The curved bottom surface 32) has a flat central portion and a curved peripheral portion. Therefore, the light source (LED) for dial illumination
The light incident on the light guide plate 16 from the light guide plate 21 is reflected by a curved reflecting surface (curved bottom 32) around the center of the light guide plate 16.
And the light guide plate 16 has a curved side surface to prevent light from leaking out, so that the brightness of the dial 17 can be improved and the dial 17 has uneven color. I won't let you. Since the irradiation efficiency of light from the dial illumination light source (LED) 21 to the dial 17 is improved, the light guide plate 16 can be made thin (for example, 3 mm).

Since the central portion of the bottom surface 30 of the light guide panel 16 is made flat, the light guide panel 16 can be easily attached to the base 15 and the efficiency of light irradiation from the central portion to the peripheral portion can be improved.

The light source for illuminating the dial of the light guide panel 16 (LE)
D) The upper surface of the portion corresponding to 21 is formed into a slope (outer conical surface 41, inner conical surface 42), and the dial illumination light source (L
Since the incident light from the ED 21 is directed in the outer diameter direction of the light guide plate 16, the entire dial 17 can be uniformly illuminated.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the design may be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention. The present invention is included in the present invention.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the luminance of the dial and the pointer can be increased, and the visibility of the instrument can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of an instrument device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an irradiation path of light from a dial illumination light source.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 instrument 14 pointer 16 light guide panel 17 dial 21 dial illumination light source (LED) 22 pointer illumination light source (LED) 30 bottom surface 31 flat bottom surface 32 curved bottom surface 41, 42 conical surface

Claims (3)

[Claims] An instrument device having a dial and hands and a light guide plate on the lower surface side of the dial, wherein a light source for dial illumination is provided below the light guide plate, and a light source for pointer illumination is provided above the light guide plate. An instrument device characterized by being arranged in: 2. A bottom surface of the light guide plate, which is a surface opposite to a surface facing the dial, has a central portion formed into a planar shape, and a peripheral portion formed into a curved surface asymptotic to the dial side. 2. The instrument device according to 1. 3. The light guide panel according to claim 1, wherein an upper surface of a portion corresponding to the dial illumination light source has a sloped shape, and directs incident light from the dial illumination light source in a radial direction of the light guide panel. 3. The instrument device according to 2.