JP2002341798A - Guide lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a guide lamp which is provided with a spare light source for power failure and has a simple structure and is superior in appearance and design. SOLUTION: A guide lamp 1 is constituted of a surface light emitting device like an edge light consisting of a transparent light transmission plate 3 and a linear light source (a cold cathode-ray tube 5) arranged in the vicinity of its end face and an field light emitting body 4 like a sheet stuck to the rear side of the surface light emitting device. Normally, the linear light source of the surface light emitting device is always lit and a spare battery is charged; and at the time of a power failure, the surface light emitting device emits light by the spare battery.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a guide light installed for guidance, guidance, crime prevention, and the like in public facilities and commercial facilities.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a guide light used for various kinds of guide and guide signs, a transparent or translucent sign board on which characters or figures are pasted or printed is illuminated by an illumination light source disposed behind the sign or the sign. In addition to objects (so-called internal light type), an illumination light source is arranged on the end face of a transparent sign board (light guide plate) so that light incident from the end face of the sign board is diffused and transmitted to the front side of the sign board. A device using a so-called edge light type surface light emitting device is known.

[0003]

Such guide lights are mainly installed for the purpose of safety, disaster prevention, crime prevention, etc., including indication of emergency exits. When installing a guide light for such a purpose, the sign board must be illuminated in a legible manner not only during normal times but also in the event of a power failure. For that purpose, a standby power supply for supplying power to the illumination light source at the time of power failure or a standby light source that irradiates the sign plate only at the time of power failure needs to be incorporated in the guide light.

[0004] However, among the above conventional guide lights, although it is relatively easy to incorporate a standby power source and a standby light source behind the sign board, the depth for incorporating such devices is relatively easy. This is necessary, and there is a limit in reducing the thickness of the entire device.

On the other hand, among the conventional guide lights using an edge light type surface light emitting device, it is difficult to provide a spare power supply or a spare light behind or beside a sign board due to external and structural restrictions. There are many.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and incorporates a spare light source for a power outage while using an edge light type surface emitting device so as to hardly affect the appearance and design of the device. It is intended to provide guidance lights.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a guide light according to the present invention has a line light source disposed near an end face of a transparent light guide plate, and emits light from the line light source incident from the end face of the light guide plate. The light guide plate is formed so as to irradiate characters, figures, symbols, etc. adhered or printed on the surface of the light guide plate by reflecting on a large number of dots engraved on the back surface of the light guide plate and diffusing and transmitting the light to the front surface side of the light guide plate. A surface light emitting device, a surface light source made of an electroluminescent body adhered to substantially the entire back surface of the light guide plate in the surface light emitting device, and control means for controlling energization of the surface light emitting device and the surface light source. In a normal state, the line light source of the surface light emitting device is always turned on, and the spare battery provided in the control means is charged, and at the time of power failure, the spare light source emits light by the spare battery.

That is, according to the present invention, a surface light source composed of an electroluminescent element is adhered to the back surface of a so-called edge light type surface light emitting device as a standby light source at the time of power failure. Then, the characters or figures marked on the surface of the light guide plate are irradiated. The light guide plate constituting the surface light emitting device is formed of a transparent resin (acryl, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, etc.) or glass having a thickness of about several mm. In addition, a cold cathode tube or a fluorescent tube can be used as the line light source of the surface light emitting device.

On the other hand, a surface light source composed of an electroluminescent material is also called an electroluminescence type luminescent material, and a fluorescent compound is sandwiched between a transparent electrode and a back electrode to form a sheet-like laminate, and a fluorescent compound is formed. An electric field is applied to the device to emit light. Such a laminate can be formed as extremely thin as about 1 mm or less, and requires only a small amount of electric power to emit light from such a luminous body (in the case of an emergency exit guide light, about 12 V).
degree). Therefore, if such a surface light source is attached to the back surface of the edge light type surface light emitting device, the guide light can be economically installed with a simple structure without impairing the appearance and design of the entire guide light.

In the guide light according to the present invention, a large number of dots are engraved on the back surface of the light guide plate in the edge light type surface light emitting device, and the light of the line light source made incident from the end face of the light guide plate is reflected on the dots. It is configured to diffuse and transmit light to the surface side of the light guide plate, so that even if the light guide plate is curved, light can be emitted almost uniformly even if the light guide plate is curved by appropriately selecting the dot density and cross-sectional shape. Can be. Therefore, it is possible to form the entire surface or a part of the light guide plate in a curved shape according to the installation location. For example, if the light guide plate is formed in a convex shape and is installed around a pillar, a corner, or the like, the light guide plate can be viewed from a wide range, so that the effect at the time of guidance and guidance is also improved.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a guide light 1 (1A) according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The guide light 1 (1A) includes a flat sign board 2 which is rectangular in a front view. An arrow graphic 21 formed by cutting out a cutting sheet is attached to the surface of the marking plate 2. The sign plate 2 is formed of a light guide plate 3 made of a transparent acrylic resin, and a sheet-shaped electroluminescent body 4 adhered to substantially the entire back surface of the light guide plate 3. Near the left and right end surfaces of the light guide plate 3, an elongated line light source composed of a cold cathode tube 5 is disposed in parallel with the end surface.
These constitute an edge light type surface emitting device.

The light guide plate 3 has a smooth surface and upper, lower, left and right end faces, and a reflection sheet 31 for preventing light leakage is adhered to an upper end face and a lower end face. Also, on the back surface of the light guide plate 3, a large number of fine dots 32 are engraved over almost the entire surface. The dots 32 are, for example, a large number of dashed grooves extending in the vertical direction of the light guide plate 3 arranged in parallel, and the cross sections of the grooves are formed in a U-shape or a V-shape.

A protection cover 6 having a substantially U-shaped cross section is attached to the side of the cold cathode tube 5 so as to surround the cold cathode tube 5. A highly reflective finish is applied to the inner surface of the protective cover 6 so that the light from the cold-cathode tube 5 is reflected and made to effectively enter the end face of the light guide plate 3.

An electric wire 7 is connected to each of the cold cathode tubes 5 and the electroluminescent body 4. A control box (not shown) is attached to a part of the electric wire 7. The control box contains
A control circuit and a rechargeable backup power supply are built in. The control circuit supplies power to the cold-cathode tube 5 to turn on the cold-cathode tube 5 in normal times. The light of the cold cathode tube 5 enters the inside of the light guide plate 3 from the end face of the light guide plate 3, is reflected by the dots 32 engraved on the back surface of the light guide plate 3, and diffuses and transmits to the front surface side of the light guide plate 3. As a result, the arrow graphic 21 on the front side is always illuminated from the back side. In addition, the control circuit normally charges the spare battery, and at the time of a power failure, causes the electroluminescent element 4 to emit light by the power of the spare battery.

FIG. 3 shows a sectional structure of the electroluminescent element 4. The electroluminescent body 4 has a structure in which a transparent electrode 41, a light emitting layer 42, and a back electrode 43 are laminated in this order from the front side, and both sides are covered with a protective laminate film 44. The transparent electrode 41 is connected to the anode of the auxiliary power supply 8, and the back electrode 43 is connected to the cathode of the auxiliary power supply 8. The thickness of such an electroluminescent body 4 is within 1 mm including the laminate film 44. The transparent electrode 41, the light emitting layer 42, and the back electrode 43 can be appropriately made of a material according to a known technique.

In this way, an extremely thin guide light 1 having a flat overall configuration is constructed. The light source of the guide light 1 is an elongated line light source arranged on the side of the sign 2,
Since this is a surface light source composed of the sheet-like electroluminescent body 4 adhered to the back surface of the sign plate 2, the structure is also simplified. Therefore, even when it is mounted on the wall surface of a building or when it is hung from a ceiling, it can be installed without any particular restrictions on its structure and appearance. The control box can be appropriately selected depending on the installation location, such as being embedded in a wall or a ceiling or juxtaposed near the guide light 1.

Next, another embodiment of the guide light 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the same names and reference numerals are used for parts and members that are functionally common to the above-described embodiment.

The guide light 1 (1B) shown in FIG. 4 is of a form suspended from the ceiling, and two sign boards 2 each having an arcuate cross section are arranged back to back so that they can be seen from both sides. ing. Each of the sign plates 2 includes a light guide plate 3 and an electroluminescent body 4 attached to the back surface thereof, as in the above-described embodiment. Emits light. The dots on the back surface of each light guide plate 3 are engraved so as to diffuse and transmit the incident light as uniformly as possible inside the light guide plate 3 thus curved. In the guide light 1 (1B) having such a configuration, two sign boards 2
The control box can be accommodated in the internal space surrounded by.

The guide light 1 (1C) shown in FIG. 5 is of a type that is installed at an independent pillar or at a protruding corner portion of a wall surface, and has a substantially cylindrical curved surface portion 11 and a flat plate-shaped flat portion 12 continuous. It is formed. The curved surface portion 11 is placed over the corner of the protruding corner portion so as to be visible from a wide angle range. The sign plate 2 of the guide light 1 (1C) is also formed of a light guide plate and an electroluminescent body attached to the back surface thereof, as in the above embodiment. The light guide plate emits light by a linear light source provided in the protective cover 6 near both end faces. In this type of guide light 1 (1C),
The control box 9 can be accommodated in a space formed between the curved surface portion 11 and a pillar or a wall surface.

[0022]

According to the present invention, a surface light source made of an electroluminescent material is attached as a backup light source to the back surface of an edge light type surface light emitting device so that this surface light source emits light by a backup battery in the event of a power failure. With this configuration, the entire structure of the guide light can be reasonably reduced in thickness. Therefore, the degree of freedom for the installation location is ensured, and an excellent design is obtained.

Further, by forming the light guide plate for displaying characters and figures in a curved shape, the visibility can be further improved according to the installation location.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a guide light according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the guide light.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a structure of an electroluminescent body in the guide light of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of a guide light according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of a guide light according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 (1A, 1B, 1C) Guide light 2 Sign board 21 Graphic 3 Light guide plate 32 dots 4 Electroluminescent element 5 Cold cathode tube (Line light source) 9 Control box (Control means)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme court ゛ (Reference) // F21Y 103: 00 F21Y 113: 02 105: 00 F21S 9/02 A 113: 02 XMP PF term ( Reference) 5C096 AA22 BA01 CA13 CA14 CA22 CA32 CB02 CC07 CC10 CD02 CD24 DD01 DD03 FA03

Claims (2)

[Claims] A line light source is disposed near an end surface of a transparent light guide plate, and light of the line light source incident from the end surface of the light guide plate is reflected by a number of dots engraved on the back surface of the light guide plate to reflect the light. By diffusing and transmitting to the front side, a surface light emitting device formed to irradiate characters, figures, symbols, etc. attached or printed on the surface of the light guide plate, and almost the entire back surface of the light guide plate in the surface light emitting device A surface light source composed of an attached electroluminescent element; and a control unit for controlling energization of the surface light emitting device and the surface light source. In a normal state, the line light source of the surface light emitting device is always turned on and the control unit A guide light, wherein a spare battery provided is charged, and the surface light source emits light by the spare battery during a power failure. 2. The guide light according to claim 1, wherein the entire surface or a part of the light guide plate is formed in a curved shape.